I have no regrets spending $20 and 16 hours on this game. Overall a very solid and enjoyable experience with a handful of forgiveable hiccups along the way. First, the good. The pacing is excellent with a slight exception of the ending few dungeons, but thats no big deal. I never felt like I had some big arduous chore in front of me. The dungeons were just long enough to feel like an a proper endeavor on an adventure, but never long enough to feel like a chore for me. The combat is also very good. A bit simplistic, but the constant balancing act of the magic system being charged by the melee was always enagaging and enjoyable. Lastly, the characters and story were good by modern indie standards and great by the standards of the era of games it was going for. Likeable characters, funny moments, strong females that don't feel like girlbosses, a nice twist at the end of the story, and two different endings (It felt a bit obtuse at times but (no major spoilers) go talk to Shelley just before the crystal cavern. There are two McGuffins to go get. Use a video guide to find where unless you want to waste an hour running around old dungeons. Then continue the main story which takes you to the crystal cavern and the third McGuffin is in there. Also use a guide to find this if you dont by the time you exit the dungeon. Take the McGuffins back to Shelley). Now the bad. The combat can often be cheesed by just keeping the healing magic up and face tanking everything. This isnt every boss and every enemy, but many can be trivialized by just healing while attacking. There are a few bosses that just arent well designed (mostly the poison jell when going for the true ending. I had to cheese it by standing in a corner and not aggro-ing the smaller enemies while praying for a bit of RNG) and several point where a puzzle solution, ability, or some piece of information just isnt very well communicated. Also, are charged attacks supposed to be thing? Theres an item that is supposed to charge them faster, but I never unlocked any charged abilities. This should be a mainstory acquired ability, not missable like it apparently is. Lastly, there are some visual bugs right at the end of the game. The player character has bugged animations in the final fight and there is a hood animation that seems to not work right either. Give it a shot. Its not perfect, but thats why its $20 instead of $80. If you want the SNES ARPG itch scatched, this will definitely do it for you.
