Somewhat of a nostalgia pick for me but I really do believe it to be a great game. Without nostalgia I'd probably have given it a 4 or 4.5.
Gameplay:
So this game game and a few others have this dungeon crawler/seamless turn based combat and it feels amazing. One of things that really turns me off of turn based RPGs is waiting ages for all the text boxes and animations. Even the easiest fights take way too long, but this style of turn based combat completely resolves that. It also makes the combat way more dynamic, with floor items, traps, shops and a focus on positioning your characters correctly. it elevates itself above all traditional turn based RPGs in my eyes.
Story:
Story is quite simple and child friendly, full of one dimensional characters and tropes. but it certainly has it's moments and some characters that are surprisingly compelling, so it's worth getting invested in.
Music:
Music consists of a lot of reused tracks from rescue team, which is fine, and late game dungeons change track every floor, which I really dislike because you don't get to hear much of a track before it changes, but the music itself is really good, so overall it was done well in this game.
Misc Mechanics:
Evolution - Evolution sucks in this game; your starters can't evolve until after the post game, and even then they don't get sleeping animations, even though those animations already exist for the sleep status effect in dungeons. Huge wasted potential and something that is never resolved in the sequels.
Endgame - Endgame revolves around very long dungeons with recruitable legendaries at the end, increasing your rank through the job system and completing the challenge dungeons that restrict things such as your level. It's a fantastic endgame especially considering how long the story is. The dungeons are fun, recruiting legendaries is rewarding and the challenge dungeons really are a challenge.
Gameplay:
So this game game and a few others have this dungeon crawler/seamless turn based combat and it feels amazing. One of things that really turns me off of turn based RPGs is waiting ages for all the text boxes and animations. Even the easiest fights take way too long, but this style of turn based combat completely resolves that. It also makes the combat way more dynamic, with floor items, traps, shops and a focus on positioning your characters correctly. it elevates itself above all traditional turn based RPGs in my eyes.
Story:
Story is quite simple and child friendly, full of one dimensional characters and tropes. but it certainly has it's moments and some characters that are surprisingly compelling, so it's worth getting invested in.
Music:
Music consists of a lot of reused tracks from rescue team, which is fine, and late game dungeons change track every floor, which I really dislike because you don't get to hear much of a track before it changes, but the music itself is really good, so overall it was done well in this game.
Misc Mechanics:
Evolution - Evolution sucks in this game; your starters can't evolve until after the post game, and even then they don't get sleeping animations, even though those animations already exist for the sleep status effect in dungeons. Huge wasted potential and something that is never resolved in the sequels.
Endgame - Endgame revolves around very long dungeons with recruitable legendaries at the end, increasing your rank through the job system and completing the challenge dungeons that restrict things such as your level. It's a fantastic endgame especially considering how long the story is. The dungeons are fun, recruiting legendaries is rewarding and the challenge dungeons really are a challenge.