In a nutshell, this game involves playing it in many different ways such as action RPG, shoot-em up style, platforming, and various other ways. The gameplay constantly changing is a very unique idea and really keeps the game from getting stale. Unfortunately, the further you get into the game, the more fake difficulty you encounter. You can level up to increase your stats, but the level ups often only boost a single stat by about 2 points. Furthermore, many areas have enemies or hazards that can either one-shot you (meaning your HP/Defense mean nothing), or combo you in a way pro-gamers can only dream about. Later bosses & areas are especially bad for this, ESPECIALLY the bosses that aren't fought in the usual real-time action-rpg method. You'll often find yourself later in the game trying to figure out where you are supposed to go or how to get there, which isn't helped by the slow movement speed of the character. When the gameplay style flips, controls are never explained (Not everyone has played tons of games to know right away what to do). The near-useless level ups artificially make the game harder because you can't get your stats up much even if you grind for hours (there is equipment, but it only helps a bit), and overall many things are just tedious; later on you'll often have to go back and forth between multiple locations just to advance the story and get to the next area. I thought I'd like this and I did for quite a while, but the game would have been better off keeping the more irritating mechanics out and making the game nice & easy. It can be fun, and the music is great (especially the boss theme), but I shouldn't have to push aside mountains of junk design choices just to have bits of fun every now and then.
