After playing this I fully understand why it's a first ballot JRPG hall of famer. The storytelling is fantastic and tightly-woven, combat is incredibly fun and offers the chance for so many possible strategies, and the music/artwork heightens the already great experience into an amazing one. The fact that they were doing this shit in 1995 makes this even crazier. How it took everyone else so long to have bench leveling and remove random encounters in their JRPGs is beyond me. There's absolutely no padding to this game, each part of the game is fun and meaningful.

The story is killer. I love each of the characters so much that I'm not sure I could pick a favorite. Their personalities show in the writing and the spritework and it made the adventure that much more charming. Doing all the side quests right before the end was some of the most fun I've had in an RPG ever. This is really where the interaction between party members stood out. I didn't use Robo or Lucca too much until late game but after seeing them take the spotlight in some of these side quests, I used them way more often and really appreciate their characters way more. I wish the whole game had that level of party interaction, but it's just fine without it. At the present I have not gone for all of the alternate endings, but if I find myself wanting to return to the game, I think I will.

Getting to explore the world and uncover all its secrets was also very cool. The way the time-traveling storyline wove together the different maps and different characters was awesome. There were big, obvious connections, but also small, hidden ones that you only found if you looked. Every detail was meticulously planned out, which I admire a ton

Since there was no need to grind, and bench characters gained xp, I was trying all sorts of party combinations to tackle different problems. The Tech system is so sick, and it was cool to see what each character combination's Dual and Triple Techs would do. I loved how the combat was conscious of space too, and rewarded you for choosing attacks that beat certain enemy formations.

In terms of old games, it doesn't get much better than this- and it's better than a lot of newer stuff too. If you're even considering playing this game, I highly recommend trying it.