Ikenfell

This RPG is surprisingly good for an indie. The first half of the game is pretty good for what it is, featuring turn-based battles on grid based maps with characters that have their own unique mix of area spells and traps (think 2D Disgaea with a dash of Earthbound). Enemies don't just simply attack you, having a few of their own odd ball traits, and it has just enough story and gear to find to keep things interesting. But the second half of the game really ramps it up. The story gets much more interesting, spells more varied, monster encounters more tricky, and gear choices make you think. There are plenty of secrets and extras to find, and you're rewarded for gearing up the characters the way you want. While the game isn't as deep as the greatest SNES RPGs of old, it's roughly just as complex, minus 10 or so hours of overall game time which is still mighty impressive. If the game has any glaring flaws, it's that the graphics are a little too retro, featuring something more akin to very early SNES graphics, a la pre FF4, and lacks the charm those games managed to capture with simpler graphics. If the game used the style of the concept art, that would have been so much better. There's also a bit of woke stuff going on, some abilities and gear don't work as they should, and some heroes feel a little unbalanced. It's also a shame the second half of the game is so much better than the first and the story is something of a Harry Potter knock-off; still, it's a fun ride, and if you've been missing the classic RPGs of the SNES era, but have already played them to death, give this game a try.

Good RPG, that uses real-time aspects to make the combat more active and challenging. Overall, timing has real weight, where some spells will completely fizzle on misses. As such, its a bit more punishing than most other RPGs using this mechanic - as the developers expect you to be learning the timing. Its a little long for what it is - cutting out half of the runtime would have been to its benefit; took me some 24 hours to complete, and each time a new main objective showed up in the main story a detour would need to happen to be taken to unblock the fight you need. The plot is fairly charming, but does lose a few threads that didn't seem like they needed to be there in the first place or wrote a check that the story didn't back up. The characters are probably the best part, as they are all fairly likeable.

Clocking in at around 20 hr, I had a wonderful time playing this charming and wholesome RPG. The story, the music, the characters, and little micanics in the game are all top notch.

The game feels like a combination of Undertale, The Owl House, a Mario RPG and a Trails game. You explore a wizard school, fighting quirky enemies in grid-based turn-based combat, and there are plenty of surprises along the way. The game's not very long, and the story takes a good while before it gets interesting, but it's still pretty good if you're into retro-style RPGs.

Immediately fell in love with this game. The music, characters and world are all incredibly charming. I stopped playing it for a few months and still love this game. The combat system isn't the best and sometimes it's hard to time the presses but I can mostly overlook it, outside of a few very difficult fights. Also you can avoid most fights by simple walking around enemies. It's a fun adventure game even if the battles aren't that great.