Only for hard-core JRPG fans
This game is all width without depth. You've got an enormous amount of different monsters, weapons, ingredients and armours.
The game is also extremely linear. There's NO exploration.
The tactical combat ignores cover and elevation and obstacles don't exist.
You can't see the weaknesses of monsters so you can't adjust your attacks.
(You MIGHT get a visual indiction if you leave on the attack animations - don't know)
You have a quadrizillion possible "combination attacks". The ones you "know" are available under the "Esoterica" button. If your party members are all linked the game could let you SELECT those combination attacks but nope.
If you change your weapon half of your spell layout changes so that "upgrade" you planned might not be one ...
If you obtain a title from the Adventures Guild you get rewards but you don't know beforehand what those rewards will be so you can't plan for them. Might be that weapon you just had made!
To get needed ingredients you might have to slay a monster, buy from the Adventures Guild or from the Item Shop.
You can see what monsters drop in the "monster picture book". Scolling through 150 monsters, selecting one at a time: FUN! (use the wiki)
The game COULD tell you in the smithing screen WHERE you can find or buy the ingredients but that would remove a lot of the busywork. What would REALLY be user-friendly: put a button "buy at the Item Shop" or "buy at the Adventurer's Guild" next to the ingredient!
Also: you need A LOT of "experience points" to enhance everything or convert into an ingredient.
I ended up putting the game in lo-res windowed mode and on automatic combat while I did something else.
Got as far as the end of the first generation but lost interest.
You can choose your bride there and that will select the stats of your offspring.
But there's no way of knowing anything beforehand (nothing found in the wiki)
Forgot to mention the dialogs: never use one sentence when you could provide the same information in three!
13 gamers found this review helpful