While a relatively modest and old game, Lacrimosa of Dana built up into a classic of mine that I will forever remember fondly. While it starts off rough, with an opening scene reminding me of bland PS2 games and an eyeroll inducing anime moment when recruiting Laxia, the fun action fights and great soundtrack kept me playing until the story picked up. The story is truly the stellar aspect of this game. Unraveling the mystery of the island is thrilling, and the characters are fun and interesting. The game is about Dana, and rightfully so. She is fun, and you get attached to her pretty strongly, leading to an ending that I still cry over a bit. The camp and people you meet there also grow with you, a big family-by-circumstances. This final version of the game, with all the DLC and adds, is really well paced. You have many ways of acquiring items, either by gathering, or fighting in diverse special game modes that break up the pace and renews your interest. A certain dungeon, I later learned was added DLC, and yet the story it provides and how it expands the lore of the mystery of Seiren clicks into place like it was always meant to be there. It is not a polished, triple A modern game, but if you like action RPGs and good stories, I'd wager you will like this one. It has been circulating among our friends and family, as we fall in love with it one by one and convince them to try it out. I played the Switch version, so I can't comment on how stable the PC version is, but it's certainly a bit prettier and more fluid than I experienced.
