Other reviewers have already commented on the annoying nature of the Virtual Theatre system, so I won't say much more than I heartily agree. Most of the game's length comes from waiting to get control of your character back after he's bounced off every NPC on the screen, or from trying to snag the NPC you were trying to talk to after you've spent so long wandering around that both of you forgot what was going on. There was a glitch in my playthrough near the end, but it didn't seem to matter and I was able to finish. The ending was quick and anticlimactic (that's what she said!). What little 'fighting' there was amounted to a few button-mash moments that could've been skipped for all they mattered to the story. Conclusion: there are far better point-and-clicks to play, but it's hard to argue with the price.
Having played many point and click adventure games, this one was a lovely example of simple, fairly intuitive gameplay. No moon-logic, and no inventory puzzles - unless you count drafts as 'inventory'. Caveats: make sure to have a pencil and paper ready to jot down drafts (spell patterns) as you go; and be prepared for a lack of conclusion. Great beginner's adventure game, though the old SCUMM interface might be a tad frustrating for those unused to its finicky nature.
I've had fun with this game, but I can't recommend purchasing it unless you're a hardcore fighting game fan. It has a great skeleton on which to build a great game, but it's not there yet. Their next updates are also focusing on improving the game specifically for the top 1% players; it's all end-game and high level stuff. It's a shame that adding more world for the rest of us is so low on their priority list because what little they've created is so damn beautiful. Though I can't get behind buying it, I think it's worth keeping an eye for future purchase.
