Genuinely a blast. Incredible that such an influential and iconic game feels almost avant-garde - definitely the rocky English script plays a part, where intense character restrictions led to something that has to be brief and evocative.
I didn't end up liking the combat but it doesn't matter. One of those cases where the iconic thing is iconic for a reason. The characters, the art, the world, the plot - it all sings, and the ways that it's lighter or less detailed than modern games actually works to it's benefit - it feels like an impressionist painting, where when you look closely at any one point you just see blobs of paint, but if you take it as a whole you're left breathless by its beauty.
I didn't end up liking the combat but it doesn't matter. One of those cases where the iconic thing is iconic for a reason. The characters, the art, the world, the plot - it all sings, and the ways that it's lighter or less detailed than modern games actually works to it's benefit - it feels like an impressionist painting, where when you look closely at any one point you just see blobs of paint, but if you take it as a whole you're left breathless by its beauty.