I first played this in the mid-2000s after seeing it covered on G4/TechTV. I knew there was some creative new game plus trickiness to it, but when I game over'd for the first time and saw my story progress reset to 0%, I took the game straight back to Babbage's. Upon reacquiring it I scoffed at Child Me's lack of sophistication. Had I not heard the soundtrack by Hitoshi Sakimoto?? A beautiful looking and sounding game to Adult Me's eyes and ears to be sure. I even engaged with the Scenario Overlay system in good sportliness for the first 4 game overs I had upon replaying it. I love the understated plot and character writing. More JRPGs could stand to reduce their dialog to a more Dragon Quarterly proportion. However the bell curve of my enjoyment of the game mechanics quickly crested and fell. This game makes some interesting bets with using some rogue-like elements. But the static dungeon layouts leave out the hallmark of why I like to replay more proper rogues: variability. My taste for yet another wipe and reset through the campaign was dampened by the fact that nothing changes other than the extra secret cutscenes. And those cutscenes are good, just not enough to get me excited about retreading old ground for the third time. The combat animations feel sluggish, especially given the building intensity toward combos, once you've had to execute them hundreds of times already. I may come back for a higher D-Ratio run or two if my interest is ever sparked again. For now I'm glad to have given this a second shot. It's a good example of designers trying something weird and making something Not For Everyone. An effort we only see in the indie sphere circa 2020's.

A rare experience of finding an old game that was Made For You. Combat difficulty is balanced to the point where naysayers will call it easy, but the player is given an exactly appropriate amount of education in order to navigate new enemy and boss mechanics as they arise. Grinding is unnecessary. My goodness, the art. I can’t properly elucidate how much I love every aspect of visual design, the dragons and monsters especially. The music so perfectly reflects the encounters, characters, and locales. A simple straightforward story with characters painted in broad, fairytale strokes. In summary, this is My Kind of JRPG: Vibey, Beautiful, and Short.