An extremely crunchy tactics game that doesn't quite stick the landing. The game has all of the gorgeous art and character design you would expect from a Vanillaware project, and the 2D animation and style is incredible. The tactics remain fun for most of the game's runtime, but where the game falls flat is with the story. Despite some decent character writing, the story feels like it was written for about a 5th-grade reading level, which makes this game shrink in comparison to other tactics titles like Tactics Ogre. No character has any conviction that is stronger than losing a fight, and the fact that you can recruit everyone means that there's essentially no reason to ever not spare a vanquished enemy. I started skipping some cutscenes towards the end of the game, and I feel incredibly confident in that decision. Despire the story being a dull mess, programming your units and getting an overpowered party is pretty fun, although the battles become extremely rote in the last quarter of the game. I am glad I played and finished it, but I'm a little disappointed that the game didn't turn out to be quite the banger I thought it would shape up to be.