i have a huge weakness for ensemble rpg casts and i feel really spoiled by this one, lots of little glimpses into different characters with different relationships to recent history... a lot of the joy of rpg storytelling comes through here in a way that many full-length games would be jealous of. selfishly it makes me want to play the 40-hour version of the game and really sink into the world. the character writing and story structure chops on display here give me a lot of confidence that you could make it work hehehehe....... of course, i'll be excited to see more from you of any size and shape
i dug the combat design for all the characters too, they're creative interpretations of familiar archetypes and they all have a lot to chew on. aesthetically i like the commitment to "overloaded" skills that serve multiple functions, though i think the short chapter length and gentle difficulty meant that some of the nuances didn't get a chance to come through. the battles that gave me the deepest opportunities to engage with the skill design, namely the last two chapter bosses, were major highlights