introductory note: did not know a thing about RWBY before finding out this game, and there's a high likelihood things will stay this way in the foreseeable future (out of sheer lazyness and lack of free time amongst other things).

what kept me in until the very end: interesting and involving story that kept me intrigued throughout the entire gameplay; plot twists (when they popped up) left me wondering about what was still in store; main characters are likeable and I did enjoy spending my time in their company (well that applies to... two out of the three girls in JDPE team actually, but that's... kind of a matter of personal tastes).

the good: game world is consistent and the way it's explored has a nice progression.

the in-between: dedicated scenes very often have a very different feel and quality with respect to the graphics found during "everyday" gameplay. the sudden change felt a bit jarring at times, however that's something I could definitely live with. the fact they were generally well-made surely helped out with that.

the not-so-good: the time spent doing stuff around the city/academy often felt a bit too repetitive, and gave me that "stats-grinding" feel that really is not my poison; at times, interaction with other characters (including main ones) felt a bit off - like having happy & funny moments right after something climatic/dramatic, as if whatever happened was "not that much of an issue after all"; the cast of secondary characters is simply too wide, ultimately making me a bit confused about their roles - most of the times I would just shrug and stick to my team, anybody else ended up being a nuisance.

the one thing that I could not quite live out with: the main character having his own sprites on-screen disrupted my ability to immerse into the story. turned from a "live-your-own-adventure" kind of experience into... something else. wasn't for the fact I was curious to see where the whole thing was headed for I would have likely stopped reading early on.

final considerations: I'd rate it 3.5 out of 5 however I don't seem able to give "half a star" (and again I'm too lazy to search for a way - granted there's one). considering the size of the project, the fact it's free and the passion that shines through it (no matter whatever I wrote up to this point) I've concluded that rounding by excess is the right approach.