Overall I recommend this game. It is one of the better hobbyist indie rpgs out here on steam that I have played, and the developer's passion and care for it shines through. That being said, it does have its flaws. I'll go into more detail below, where there will be spoilers, so be warned.
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This game improves significantly upon the original version (which I've also played a couple years ago). The combat is somewhat more balanced and more content has been added, in terms of story, exploration and gameplay. However if you have played the original, do be advised: some previously optional areas seem to have been made mandatory, and the game does not necessarily hint at that very well, like the fire cavern.
There are a couple of new additions that will impede progression if you miss the one vague hint the game throws at you from random NPCs, such as the necessity to upgrade the pickaxe you eventually get. For the longest time, the story does not require an upgraded pickaxe to progress, as most of the obstacles hide treasures and extra abilities, so by the time it's required to actually complete the game, you forget how and what you're supposed to do to upgrade it in the first place, if you even had a hint of that to begin with. I myself needed a guide to figure this out (Janice smith -> ship haven smith, incidentally)
Speaking of things that show up too late to be relevant: the two side characters who join the party. They appear far too late in the game to have time for their stories to develop organically. You get a plot dump backstory cutscene for each of them as soon as they join, which would have worked much better if it was revealed over the course of the game, had they joined earlier. There is also the issue of the frankly silly and hilarious love subplot between the main character and one of the characters that joins. Again, this character shows up and joins so late into the plot, the game can do nothing but shove saccharine love at first sight cliches down your throat to maintain even an ounce of credibility.
The writing itself is not the best, and makes me think the writer either doesn't practice creative writing often or english isn't their first language. The plot beats are easily understandable and there are no confusions, thankfully, it's just the dialogue and narration quality that leaves to be desired.
There are also the two open areas, the desert and the snowfields. The desert gets a map, thankfully, though you cannot carry it with you so better screenshot it when you do get to view it, however the snowfields offer no such luxury. These two areas are confusing to navigate unless you go to great lengths to memorize where all the landmarks are in relation to each other. Add this to the fact that they both have their own time limits, one a literal countdown, the other ticking down your health every couple steps. This added grievance turns the wandery mess these areas are into a frustrating experience.
My final issue is with the exploration aiding accessories. They take up the character's accessory slot, so you can only use one at a time, as only the main character can even equip them. This wouldn't be too much of an issue if there weren't the occasional places that require the use of at least two of them, which ends up in a lot of menu hopping. If it was up to me, I would have made these accessories key items instead and have the obstacles automatically passable once they are in your inventory.
The combat is significantly improved in this version of the game. When I played the first one, it was an unbalanced mess of creatures that could oneshot you early on to zero threat after a certain level. While the latter is still somewhat a concern after a certain level in this version of the game, it is now much better balanced. My only gripe would be the endgame bosses in relation to the creatures that populate their dungeons. The random encounters are incredibly weak by the time you're prepared to face the disproportionately deadly bosses. And then there are bosses that aren't a threat, but just take forever to kill due to their massive health pool.
The game world is interesting, and there is definitely a great amount of effort put into worldbuilding. Exploring it is mostly fun, especially when you're looking for all the optional extra abilities, though the fact that you cannot get them all until you have all the characters in the party is yet another argument against how late they join. some of these extra abilities also prompt some dialog from the party, which makes me think it was a missed opportunity for character building to not include scenes for more, if not all of them.
The simplicity of the story (defeat four elemental monsters, get their crystals, find out the truth about yourself) serves the scope of the game well. It's no grandiose convoluted plot and I can appreciate that. The main character, though bland and without much development, is a good player insert to experience this world for the first time, making this a good introductory title to the Labyronia series. You receive the traditional jRPG airship just in time for the backtracking to start getting old (though i question the necessity of the seaship, as you only need it to get a small number of treasures out of the ocean, equipment that by the time you're getting would realistically already be outdated by your current equipment anyway).
I really appreciate the encounters in the dungeons being physical creatures you can see on the map, rather than invisible random encounters a la final fantasy. Thi does not apply to the more traditional approach on the overworld, but I prefer it this way.
The cue system through which you gain new abilities is a wonderful core mechanic, and is the backbone of this game in its latter half, as some of them will make your life much easier. I only have the two aforementioned issues with it: you can find many of them early but you can only obtain character specific ones once those characters are in your party, which happens very late into the game., and the cues themselves are a wasted opportunity for more character interactions.
If I sound overly critical in tone to the point where my recommendation surprises you, it's because I enjoyed my time with it despite its flaws. All in all, it is a charming indie title. Passion went into this and it shows. It's far from being a polished product, but the developer took the time to create a complete experience. For the price, I'd recommend it, especially since few indie jRPGs here on steam are of this level of quality.
