I really want to get through this... I had half a mind to shelve it simply because I don't have the patience, but the combat takes soooo long to do and it's soooo easy to do. I try to play so optimally so it's difficult to measure whether I should be autobattling or optimizing the tactics, and there's not a lot of reward for playing super well at all early in. With Caligula making a theatric out of combat every single time, I immediately missed the massive amount of rpgs I played where attacks and small engagements go quick and painlessly. When the first dungeon took me more than three hours because I kept exploring and checking out the whole map I realized I was sort of playing this "wrong" but the game honestly doesn't give me a way to do this "right", other than cheating just to skip the combat equation altogether. But now it's too late. The cold clinical aesthetic has drained me dry, the budget is wearing on me, the main battle music has already gotten "annoying" (dangerous), the weight of the real anxieties these characters are facing that I imagine could be incredible note drops later have become a grueling Ask. Disgustingly unfortunate.