Firstly, I want my review to counter the 1 star review below (which breaks GOG's first guideline on review requirements). I completed the hardest difficulty in about 36 hours. I don't believe I missed any side quests as they were not difficult to come across with a minimal amount of exploration. You run around fighting bad guys, crafting equipment, solving puzzles, gaining skills & levels, and doing side-quests, all while pushing towards your final goal. Standard stuff, but the way it's implemented makes it extremely cohesive & wholly realized. But that's not what this game is about anyway - the story and world are. This is my favorite story to come out of a JRPG in over 20 years. A light-hearted version of a very adult tale. Not getting too deep into it, and to avoid any spoilers, the game follows a group of resistance fighters who've received intelligence that the leader of a former empire has given the go ahead to reestablish control over its two former subordinate polities. You will be that resistance. Your path will be rife with twists, betrayal, and forced love interests (Rowan's serial monogamy is frightening). Without question, it's best to have the experience with no foresight. I strongly discourage guides for your first playthrough. The world is absolutely gorgeous. NPCs are plentiful & dialogue rich. Each time I returned to a town/city it still felt fresh & you can spend a good amount of time just running around learning the lore of each town/nation & the world of Rin. R3P doesn't have an openness to the world until you're about half-way through the game, which was a bummer. Yet, I honestly cannot comprehend how an open world could be done together with the story. Really what you have here is a throwback to the great SNES & PS JRPGs. One that holds itself to the standards of those greats, and then takes it further. It does not surpass it's spiritual predecessor Ara Fell, but if you like story rich JRPGs with a beautifully realized world, buy it.
