What I like:
+ Characters have clear personalities and serve the story
+ Clear, beautiful not-default art
+ The battle system has some strategic depth to it
Criticisms:
- Battles are unforgiving
- Story takes up so much time that there isn’t much time to see the combat
Summary:
It’s difficult to deliver a jam game that provides a complete RPG experience, and this game is just shy of hitting the mark. With a game this story-focused it might have been better to have gone with a shorter, simpler battle system (though still have some strategy involved) or shorten the story bits down to showcase the battles more.
All that said, it is impressive how much original art is present in the game - I know that side view battle sprites alone are very time consuming to make, so the fact that virtually everything, including the battlers, are custom is commendable.
I also enjoyed the story. The characters feel real and even the good characters have clear flaws to overcome without being unlikable. There also is a lot of mystery built up during the story, which has me interested in seeing the whole story some day. Note: I didn’t play the game to the end so I don’t know if it gets wrapped up in this game or not.
Overall, a noteworthy entry. Good job!