I really wanted to give Crystal Project 5 stars. Don't be put off by the Minecraft aesthetic, this is an RPG that has a neat class system and old-school turn-based combat, with some deeper subsytems going on under the hood like turn order and threat. You can do some very overpowered things by combining class abilities, and set up the dream party. But even more amazing is the emphasis on exploration, as Crystal Project's world is huge, with many secrets. So with that out the way, it's time to get into the flaws. As the game progresses, the platforming challenges become increasingly tricky- you may find yourself bashing your head against the wall or throwing your controller at your monitor in frustration. This is a YMMV moment- handling pixel-perfect platforming was a thing I could do in the 80's and 90's, but it's a little trickier for me these days. The bewildering array of classes can start to become tedious as well- outside of passive abilities (which you are limited in how many you can stack), you can only mix the powers of two classes, and there are many to choose from. You may find that you've mastered a class and actually regret switching to another one, as your mix of abilities have served you very well up until this point. And the truth is, you don't need to master all the classes, but a completionist will certainly want to (the only reward for mastering a class is an accessory that lets you master that class faster, after all). Of course, the game has a randomizer function that can be a blast to play with...up to a point. It seems inevitable that, no matter how powerful your team is, you will enter new areas and find massive difficulty spikes, where enemies will laugh off the damage of your melee, and some enemies can one shot even your tankiest characters. Without the right job, you can't use items in battle, making you increasingly reliant on spells (and supporting and protecting the spellcasters), and at some point, things no longer feel fun
