just brilliant. amazing artstyle and stellar work on sprites (having come from previous AA games made me appreciate how far they've come in their attention to details and subtle expressions! the characters felt so alive), unbelievably good music and, of course, an astonishing story.

one of the things i loved most about this game is that it respects the player's intelligence by not dumbing things down and rewards the moments when you are attentive by not leaving plot holes and undoing all the knots it ties. i like a good Chekhov's gun, and hoo boy does this game deliver a whole damn armory.