A very satisfying experience. Been following the game for a year and thoroughly enjoyed sinking the hours into it. Just had a few thoughts I wanted to share on my way out.
Requiring the salamander exclusively to enter the west part of the endless desert threw me for a loop. I had found the dragon by that point and couldn't understand why the desert was too hot even in dragon form. some kind of hint that you need to be salamander, or having Dragon also be able to cross would have saved me around 45 minutes of wandering around and heat resist testing.
The broken key fragment in the western plains was a little too well hidden. Maybe I'm a smooth brain, but I spend around 2 to 3 hours alone trying to find the key and happened to find it entirely by accident. Bush hiding it plus the fog effect on the map just made it very difficult to see and the grind was very much not a fun experience. To be fair, the reward is optional, but when you are nearing the end of the game, you start pulling any threads that might be the progress. Any kind of hint in the game, even an NPC that mentions seeing a dull blue box on the western coast of the plains would do a lot to cut down that hunt.
I don't know if it applies to other hints, but hint 18 and hint 21 did not remove themselves from the inventory. I assume the one mentioning the forest on the edge of the frost plains is the snow owl, and I assume the volcano hint is the dragon but unlike other hints I used those didn't remove themselves. Maybe there are 2 very well hidden forms I didn't find to complete the game, I've tried to not spoil myself too hard, but if my guess is right those hints probably shouldn't be there. Spent a few good hours combing over the entire frost plain looking for some different forest, and combed the forest as well to make sure I didn't miss anything and didn't have any luck. Same with the volcano
Overall the game is well paced. The first quest has a lot to be desired though. There aren't a lot of options and most enemy groups can beat you down after only one fight, requiring running back to the shrine and heal up which drags the beginning out and dull the experience. After you beat rabbit and get your first party member, the world opens up and gives you access to a large number of combat options and level grinding new forms outside of their tutorials are easier since your party keeps growing. Having a less time consuming way to heal in the southern plains in that early part of the game would help cut down on the grind, especially if you're trying hard mode.
Not wanting the review to seem all negative, like I said I had a very enjoyable experience outside of a few problematic movements and enjoyed my time very much. Thanks for sharing your vision with the world and giving me many hours of enjoyable puzzle solving.
