Finished this yesterday. I don't usually like JRPG's, I find the combat lacking and simplistic, this one's not an exception, and the equipment system is trash, however this game introduces a few ideas that make the combat a bit more interesting during the beginning, since you have a combo attack system that makes it possible to use special skills during a "normal" attack and there are a few companions with interesting mechanics, like one that doesn't have a normal attack but instead four no-cost skills with a very high chance to inflict a condition on a single enemy. However it doesn't take long for the novelty to wear off and you're left with a simplistic combat system that becomes a chore later on, where you're most of the time fighting with the menus to input the orders and finish the combat as fast as possible.
The game loves to punish you at every chance it gets in lots of ways. There are scripted events where you'll have to make a choice, others where you won't get that choice, random events that can fuck you up... it's pretty cool and even has it's fair amount of C&C (admittedly, simplistic, but much better done than most). It's a great mechanic that really makes you feel you're in a ruthless, dangerous world. At least until you realize how meaningless and easy it is to recover from any of these punishments and the illusion is kind of broken. And there are lots of things you can miss, characters to recruit and secrets to find.
It follows the current trend of not explicitly explaining anything, instead leaving most of the storytelling for you to find out in clues and shit. I'm not the biggest fan of "read the description of this drink coaster to find out what happened to that character's brother" since I usually miss most of that shit, however I later enjoy reading about all that I've missed, so I guess this is mostly a matter of preference, there's not much deep to the worldbuilding but some of it it's there, if you want to look for it. The main story, however, it's quite straightforward, aside from some things unexplained that have been told by the developer will be explained in a sequel, so yeah...
The music is
weird and trippy, perfect for the game and I enjoyed it a lot. The character sprites are also very good and have a lot of charm, but I can't say the same about the maps and/or backgrounds as most of them are very plain and uninteresting.
The game has a lof of black humour and it's full of funny characters and dialogue but also tries to approach much more mature aspects. While I feel both areas are very well done separately, some of the topics don't mix too well in the game, like, I can't feel guilty for my character slaughtering a bunch of dudes because they're mindlessly rolling on barrels and attacking me.
Overall, despite the criticism, I enjoyed it. It's a game full of good ideas that could use a better implementation but ends being a very enjoyable experience nonetheless.
