This game is amazing. It's a very beautiful, relaxing game. There's nothing really challenging here, but it keeps you completely engaged and immersed in the world it creates. The artwork is amazing. It's like individual water color paintings in motion. My only complaint would be that the game is very simple and on the shorter side (I think I beat it in about 3 hours, but it's been a while since I played). I'm also not sure it has much replay value. I could probably come back to it again now and play it for another nice experience, but it wouldn't be the same fresh game, of course.
I had an Atari 1040ST growing up and we collected a LOT of SSI games, including this one (the Phantasie series will always hold a very special place in my heart). SSI games are always worth a play and this one is no different. Combat is a bit tedious, but it gives you the option to "auto combat" if you don't want to micro manage everything, which as a child was NOT something I wanted to do (also as an adult it's not something I'm seriously interested in [except for certain important battles that you'll want to micro], as I played this game again a few years ago). I never did finish it, so I actually cant' speak to the entirety of the game, I just remember really enjoying playing what I did play and figuring out how this game works. I used to watch my father play this (I'm pretty sure he finished it) as his attention span was much greater than mine at the time, and the style of this game kind of demands patience (it has that original Ultima look, which I was never really a big fan of, especially after playing Dungeon Master, and being a child who liked pretty games). I did find that the raw graphical style grew on me as I deepened my interest and understanding of the game.
