I'm incredibly split on this game. The art direction and the way this game presents its narrative feels incredibly refined and creative but the flaws in its storyline just can't be ignored. The soundtrack is immaculate but I resent the jarring decision to stop it every time you die or take damage. The gameplay feels serviceable in a way that feels like it should be better. It's incredibly abundant in bugs and there's one boss that is so unbearable to fight I would've given up had it not been so close to the end. By far the biggest issue with this game though is the ending, it near ruined the entire experience for me. I don't think I've ever seen another piece of media try THIS hard to have an emotional moment. It is so unbelievably sappy which completely contrasts what I liked about the subtle, detached presentation of the entire game prior and they just seem to completely drop the rest of the climax. I was in disbelief that it ended as it did.
Overall this game definitely has what I want to see more of in games, that being an interesting approach to presenting a story, but it hits far too many sour notes to fully realise its potential.

Also just stop writing Futaba-archetype characters please, thank you.

I really respect how committed the devs were to making this game as accurate to the original release given this is a ground up remake. Most of the game is perfect and an overall upgrade besides the combat, which loses a lot of the style the original had and is keeping me from actually recommending this over it.

Probably the most outstanding issue with the combat is the action text. The font is way too big compared to other UI elements, when you hit multiple enemies it can completely cover the screen, it goes over other menu boxes and is completely out of sync with actions as they happen. Certain moves also just have the text completely missing i.e. “_ is astounded by your stupidity” or “_ doesn’t want to do this”. The text that indicates damage taken or status ailments is also animated way slower compared to the original and is probably the cause of battles feeling way slower paced than they used to. The transitions after battle always feel a lot more abrupt than they did and the victory menu feels really buggy. The one great thing I can say about it is the animated backgrounds are a really nice addition.

People have also been complaining about the sound effects for Brad’s punches. The devs clearly wanted to distance this from the stock RPGMaker elements and I respect this decision. I think the new particle sprites are incredible and the new sound effects are mostly okay but the punch sound effects, as well as the sound effect for Brad falling flat on his face outside battle, feel considerably less satisfying.

Whether these aspects get changed or not will depend on if I recommend this over playing the original. The new campfire conversations are a decent addition but they kinda kill the pacing a bit, and some of the dialogue just feels like out of place fanservice. I really loved the new superboss though and I like that it feels tucked away so new players probably won’t find it on their first playthrough. Overall I am happy that this remake exists and the game is finally playable on consoles, I just feel it could’ve had an extra lick of polish before release.