Whisper of a Rose

I was going to write a full review of this game after I finished playing all the way through, but considering that I've been stuck for a couple of months, I figured I might as well write it now. Let's get the positive aspects out of the way. Every single map, dungeon, and town has its own unique look, with what I think is an original soundtrack to back it up. The battles work well, with quite a bit of strategy involved. The pixel art is good, and the custom face graphics add a nice touch. However, I still rate this game negatively. Why? For several reasons... First off, this game's plot can't decide what it wants to be: a psychological exploration into dreams (which is what the trailer made me think this was), a government conspiracy (which comes out of nowhere after a few hours in), a horror story (which they really lay on in the first section of the game), or a girl-gets-sucked-into-another-world story (present almost throughout). It took four good ideas and put them together into one game. In theory, this sounds really good, but what results is a very bipolar story that doesn't focus on any of these points long enough to develop any of them. I don't even know what genre this game fits into. Second, Melrose is a Mary Sue. Not the worst I've come across, but all the symptoms are there. It starts off with her being bullied in school by 2 dimensional bullies (who bully her like elementary schoolers would, even though they're supposed to be older than that), then goes home to abusive, 2 dimensional parents, who beat her up for coming home late from school, and then she cries and wishes that her life was better. The writers are trying too hard to make us pity her, it makes it downright impossible to. Even if you disagree with me on that sentiment, Mary-Rose is a character just as bipolar as the story she stars in. They want to write her as the tortured girl who has distanced herself from others because she either doesn't wanna get hurt or just doesn't know how to interact with others. But then they need her to be a clueless outsider who's curious about everything at the same time. Have one or the other--you can't have both. Also, she's kind of a terrible person too. She tricks the one person who gives her sympathy so she can steal something extremely expensive, and treats arguably her only friend like dirt. Melrose...Melthorn is more like it. Third...the dungeons... While they all look unique and have a different score, there are just too many of them. I found myself on more than one occasion wading through three consecutive dungeons to get the plot to advance. However, whenever I DID get through them, I was rewarded with only a sliver of plot before I had to go back and wade through three more. And while there are no random encounters, most of the enemies run towards you in corridors that are only one square thick, making 95% of the battles mandatory. This really doesn't help when you find yourself low on health and supplies and need to make a quick run back to the nearest town (which I would find myself doing a LOT, since I would have to go through three dungeons in a row). The result was me hating every dungeon, despite how atomspheric and beautiful it looked. (The main reason I'm hopelessly stuck right now is because I did do what the game required me to do, but nothing happened. I thought this was a glitch, but then I recalled that the characters mentioned prior that there would be one part of the game that would require me to go into the heart of a dungeon, and then backtrack outside again. Considering that getting INTO the heart of the dungeon drained me of all my resources, going back would certainly kill me. So, yeah. I'm not continuing, because that is just ridiculous.) Fourth...the characters were disappointments. (I'm excluding Mary Rose, since I already dedicated a paragraph to her.) The first party member you get was described as a "girl with black and green hair". Naturally, I assumed she was a cool, no nonsense Goth chick. Instead, she's mild mannered and demure, who Melrose pushes around most of the time (Melrose is bullied all the time, yet she so readily bullies others...?). Later, not-goth-girl's mom shows up out of the blue and puts a curse on the main character for no reason other than to drag out the plot some more. Then there's this lady bug guy who I seriously thought was a part-time party member until he refused to leave after several hours. The only two characters I liked were this mysterious blonde dude (who I hoped would join the party, but turned out to be evil), and this redheaded secret agent chick that doesn't show up until much later on (she almost makes it worth it, though). Apart from those two, I was sitting through a story about an unlikable girl and her bland "friends", bored out of my skull. Fifth, which kinda ties into the fourth, none of the townsfolk are interesting. I get it, it's an RPG and programming all of these individuals to be unique is challenging, and I know this is a nitpick... But, like, 95% of the dialogue from the people I talked to was generic town stuff. Do none of these people have lives? The only town I liked was a town called Valentown (I think; it's been a while), because the entire town is powered by a love device, and somebody shut it off, making everyone really crabby. It was mildly hilarious and a good change of pace. I expected the townsfolk's dialogue to shift to ultra-lovey-dovey sap when I turned the machine back on, but it made the dialogue turn back to just the same old generic stuff. Kinda wish I didn't have to turn the machine on... Lastly, how the game discouraged and didn't account for exploration drove me CRAZY! Example, there was this one time where I encountered a fork in the road and thought "sweet! Optional areas to explore", only to find out much later that the areas I thought were optional were all mandatory. I seriously spent hours looking for a key item in one area only to find it was in Valentown. Why? Why can't the world have extra areas optional to explore that aren't directly linked to the plot in any way? It would, you know, make it feel more like an actual WORLD. Another example I want to mention is that early on in the game, an Inn Mary Rose was staying in caught fire. When I backtracked there, days or weeks later in game, I found the Inn still in the process of burning to the ground. Really? I just...GAH! There are other things, like the complicated crafting system which I never used, and an overpowered boss or two, but I think anyone who is considering getting this game gets the picture. Even though I got this game for free, I had to force myself to play on several occasions; usually while listening to Game Grumps. Is this game the worst thing ever? No; I've come across much worse, and this game does have its highlights. But I still wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

Whipser of a Rose is great, until you actually start playing it. In the opening scenes, I was immediately drawn into the game. Whisper of a Rose has an immersive narrative pulling from the real world into a fantasy one with a played out but fitting transition. Everything in the game is quite symbolic of the paralells between the real world and the dream world you enter. Melrose is a unique character to follow around as far as RPG worlds go, and the cast that was starting to form as I played through seemed at least not totally cheesy (but if the super powerful person who can't control their powers! trope bothers you, red flag). Unfortunately, once the opening scenes end and you actually start existing in the game world, the reality sets in that this not an exciting adventure, it's a typical JPRG grindquest without the tension relievers most of them typically throw in. I have to state before I get too far into this review, that I only played 5 hours of the gameplay. Maybe after the 5 hours I played, the game would magically become 200% better, but I find it doubtful. It's obvious from the get-go that the game was not very well play tested early on in the development process. If it was, the obvious feedback would have been that The areas within the game are far too large. How often do you hear people complaining about that in an RPG game? Typically when RPGs have large areas, when you go well off the beaten path, you are rewarded. This is something WoaR attempts to do, but fails miserably at. Let me paint the picture. You are going through the dungeons with your party, spamming the attack button on small groups of enemies because it literally takes less time to do that than to cast a spell that would kill the enemies in one hit (in addition to your turns refilling, your spells have their own cast bar. You also have to wait for every other characters turn to end before your spells go off). So you're going through the area, killing off the exact same enemies over and over and over and over and over again, trying to see if the path you're traveling on is the main one or a little detour. When you get to a dead end, you see a chest. "Ah, this isn't the right way, but maybe I'll get something cool!" you may think. But no, what you'll get is a weapon or armor piece that literally increases a stat by one, or memory orbs. Memory orbs are the currency of the game. So imagine spending literally 30 minutes going through a dead end path (I'm not exaggerating, the game is that poorly planned) only to end up at a chest that gives you more of the same money that you're already frustrated of seeing... and that's it. YOu have to backtrack all the way back to the beginning of that path and find a new one. This is all the game is in the first 4 real hours of playing it. A mindless treck through bats to find very small upgrades or useless money. That's it. I didn't even encounter a TOWN in the first 4 hours of gameplay. The game is a constant motion forward through dungeons. There was one point where I found an inn, but there was nothing to do or explore there, and there were no NPCs worth talking to (about 3 total anyways). Typically in JRPGs, towns offer a kind of tension relief their repetitive nature can sometimes cause. It gives the player a chance to relax, plan, and become immersed in the world they are exploring. Whisper of a rose ingnoring this convention in an otherwise convetional game becomes one of its greatest flaws. I'm sad that I quit the game so soon into it. The environments are gorgeous and inventive, the story, while a bit cliche, is rather interesting and makes sense with the surroundings you find yourself in... but the gameplay is just... boring. That's all there is to it. Perhaps at some point, the game does a complete 180 and the paths becomes more linear and the combat becomes more complex, but I personally couldn't force myself to sit through any more of it after the sidequest boss I spent an hour and a half trying to find died in about three turns.... and then I realized I would have to backtrack all the way back to a teleporter just to get back into the story (would probably take at least 20 minutes to do). I didn't want to hate this game, but unfortunately Whisper of a Rose stands as a perfect example of how a great story and world can be hindered by the actual gameplay of a poorly planned JRPG.

Nice art but quite frustrating. Not in difficulty sense, the game is rather easy. It’s just boring. I thought I was in for a treat as the game went through in beginning phases but it fell flat pretty quickly once it starting moving. Many of the environments are beyond annoying to navigate. Between world objects blocking you such as plants, rocks and the tiresome enemies chasing you endlessly to make you engage in a snooze fest of a battle it really starts to become a chore. Whisper of a Rose attempts at bringing in a skill tree to the genre which works but not as well as it could. You collect skill upgrades in random places or talking to random npcs, many which can be easily missed. You do not earn any skills from just leveling up so It’s nice that they did something different and encourage exploration but this game simple isn’t worth exploring. Its pointless to escape from battles because the enemies simply spawn right next to you only to engage the battle again. If you try running far away hoping you can lose them don’t bother. They can often navigate the annoying terrain better than you. If you do successfully get away you’ll only be met by another horde immediately after or during your escape. Want to find a way to that chest you see on that ledge? Well then be prepared to put 30 minutes at least trying to painstakingly get to it. First JRPG I’ve ever desperately tried not to get into any battles. Not just because they are pointless and boring but because it will cause you to level way to quickly, obliterating any challenges. 5/10

As far as classic rpg's go, this is like a classic that never happened, almost like a dream (pun completely intended) the story is fresh and interesting like the true twisted face of "wonderland". The art style is impressive and the music is amazing, the gameplay is reminiscent of old school final fantasy with some current day practices. My only problem is not being able to select the resolution, my screen seems to cut off a little, but beside that little fact, I wish modern rpg's would take a step back and see what an indie can do with a little passion and a whole lot of style. I give Whisper of the Rose a 9.5.

I love this game and has been playing it for 100+ hours. I would like to recommend this game to those that love good RPG Maker games with an excellent storyline. You can play this game as a Warrior, Paladin or Summoner. In this game the Summoner is the most interesting character which also enables you to unlock a lot more achievements. The combat mechanics is interesting as you play with different form of elemental damages (fire, water, air, earth) which are resisted by different degrees by different monsters. You also alternate between real and dream worlds. Unlike most other RPGs, you do not gain skill points as you gain more experiences and levels. You need to explore every nook and cranny to look for skill upgrade points. You also need to talk to every character and do every quests to get skill upgrade and unlock points as well as better gears. As a summoner, you can also unlock different creatures to summon through various quests as well. There is also an excellent crafting mechanism in this game as well. The best armors in this game, called Relic Armors cannot be bought or received as drops from monsters. They need to be crafted using various crafting items, as well as some very difficult to get monsters drop. Furthermore you need to keep your very first set of armor for all 4 characters as well, because you need to use them to craft Relic armors at the very end. You can buy better weapons from differnet vendors in this game, but the very best weapons, called Ultimate Weapons can only be receive through quests too. Hence this elevate the importance of doing all quests. To get all achievements, you will need to play this game twice, and hence giving it more replay value. This is because there is a New Journey+ mode which can only be unlocked when you finished the game. Furthermore there are quest that are started during your first game which can only be completed during the New Journey+ as well. So the achievements associated with these quests can only be received if you play the game twice. The second time you play this game, you get a lot of benefits, including new skill sets which can only be unlocked in New Journey+ You can also get better creatures to summon and start of with certain crafting recipes which are not present in the first game. I have started on my New Journey+ and this game is still sustaining my interests even though I am playing it a second time. This is a great game. The only shortcoming I can think of is that the graphics are OK, but not top-notched. However, considering that I got the game on sale at about $10, this game is defintely worth its weight in gold, in terms of the enjoyment value and the time played. -------------------Review Update after Finishing New Journey+ --------------------------- I am finally done with this game, after 156 hours I played the game twice, and finished New Journey+ with allthe steam achievements. In the end, all my characters were at level 47, and I had 31 DRAGON TEETH. I just love grinding that green dragon for lots of XP and orbs. That dragon also got me a lot of levels too!!!! All my characters were equipped with Relic Armors and Ultimate Weapons. I also made 4 of those awesome Tanzanite Rings with game my characters +9 magic attack and +3 magic defense. In the end, Helenna's Tornado was so overpowering that she can wiped out all the enemies in a single turn (equipped with Relic Armor, Ultimate Weapon and Tanzanite Ring). I simply fell in love with this game, and that is why I spend 156 hours on it. I put the prequel, "Sweet Lily Dreams" on my wishlist and will buy it when it is on sale. I am sure I will enjoy the prequel very much too. Once again, thank you for the wonderful game, developer Lucia Silvermoon !!

When I first saw the trailer I was immediately reminded of Alice in Wonderland and had to get it! I haven't played far yet (and apparently the game is over 25 hours so I still have a long way to go) but here are my thoughts so far: Story: Very interesting and bittersweet. I feel like the story was written by a 17 year old girl, but in a good way, because it makes the story and dialogue believable. You also see the story behind the other characters, and it seems like the villains are heroes in their own way. It's very good, I almost teared up at a certain scene in the beginning (no spoilers). Graphics: Beautiful! It has a nice old school look. It doesn't look perfect and modern, but that's good, because it fits in with the entire game's "retro" feeling. I've only played a little bit and have already seen SO many different areas with a lot of variation! There's a candy land, sewers, a museum, a dark school, etc. Music: Sounds great. Some songs are just "OK". They fit the mood but are nothing special. Other tracks (like when you fight the first boss) are absolutely amazing. I wish I could fight that boss over and over just to listen to the track! Gameplay: The most important part! I really like that Melrose can summon a helper. It makes the beginning of the game more fun and strategic before you get the other main characters in your party. The battles are also real time so you can time your actions with the enemy! It's a lot of fun! Conclusion: It's a really amazing game. It's right up to par with To The Moon and Skyborn for me. Actually, as a game it's WAY better! But I still have to finish it so I can't say for sure yet which of the three is best.

Whisper of a Rose is a very well done RPG Maker game about a girl named Melrose who has a pretty awful life and very much wants to find some way to escape it. She finds a device called the iDream and uses that to escape into her Dream World. But she ends up finding out that the Dream World isn't as nice as she thinks it is. After all, not all our dreams are nice and happy, there are plenty of nightmares as well. Whisper of a Rose takes us on Melrose's trip through the Dream World. Everything in the game is based on things that happened to Melrose and her own fears and wishes. Even her own repressed memories show up at times. The settings range from rolling hills to unpleasant forests and swamps. And all Melrose wants to do is find a way home. Overall pros: +Lengthy game, it took me just under 30 hours to beat it, though that included having to redo some stuff when I was defeated. +Gorgeous settings, you can barely even tell it's RPG Maker +Wonderful soundtrack. All the music fits great with the scenes and the battle themes are just amazing. You can get the soundtrack for free at the dev's website too. +Very responsive dev which is always a good thing. Overall cons: -Never thought I'd say I wanted random encounters in a game, but this game really would have been better off with them. Visible encounters just don't work here with how difficult it is to avoid enemies and how they immediately respawn with no chance for immunity to avoid the encounter. Monsters also don't stop while you grab treasure which leads to encounters you may not want. (Edit: This has been improved upon as well with a short delay between respawn and an item to avoid encounters. New Game+ mode gets an important item to allow unlimited avoiding of encounters) -Regular battles can get lengthy and tedious. (Edit: This has been improved upon and they are much shorter as long as you aren't avoiding everything and not upgrading equipment) -While there is a quick means of travel, it only covers limited areas and you'll be backtracking a bit for sidequests, which makes the encounter annoyances even greater because you'll get stuck fighting some monsters when you just wanted to make a quick run to grab an item. Achievement wise, it's not an easy 100%. You'll need two full playthroughs to 100% the game and there are a few missables. It's about 30 hours per playthrough from the looks of things if you want to be sure to miss nothing. There is some replay value though since you get some new stuff on a second run and there's one sidequest that can only be finished on the second playthrough and it nets you the best summon in the game. Still, it's a very good game and I do recommend it. It's not exactly short and sweet, but it's worth playing all the way through. Also a little tip for anyone playing it: don't sell your initial armor for any characters. You'll need that later if you want to get the best stuff in the game. It's doable to beat the game without it, but more difficult.

Sedetevi comodi che qui c’è da discutere (linguaggio sconcio incluso). Questo gioco è uno di quelli che mi mette in grosse difficoltà perché devo giustificare la mia bocciatura di fronte a più di 40 ore di gioco e all’ottenimento di quasi tutti gli achievement. D’altro canto penso di poter esprimere un parere che penso non possa venirmi contestato. Parto dal fondo, ovvero dagli achievement: il gioco potenzialmente potrebbe permettere di prenderli QUASI tutti in relativa facilità durante la partita, ma non te lo permette perché inizialmente è possibile scegliere la classe della nostra eroina e se non si prende quella che hanno previsto gli sviluppatori ve la pigliate nel culo, perché un certo numero di achievement va sbloccato solo con la classe dell’evocatore (mai vista una penalizzazione di questo tipo per l’ottenimento degli achievement). Iniziamo quindi con gli applausi. Dopo avervi presentato la frutta prima del pasto, due parole sulla storia. Inizialmente è la cosa che mi ha più galvanizzato, perché sembra che sia curatissima ed anche toccante, con la protagonista una ragazza maltrattata dai genitori e che ha difficoltà nel rapportarsi con il mondo. E non le va mai bene nulla. Il livello di empatia è davvero alto e la mia attenzione per il proseguimento degli eventi è stata subito elevatissima. Poi succedono cose. Tipo che si ruba un aggeggio da un museo che permette di entrare in un mondo dei sogni/delle memorie. Ma questo non disturba, perché inizialmente è tutto molto curato e l’interesse prosegue. Si incontra il primo personaggio (Hellena, che poi risulterà essere una macchietta, altra delusione) che viene introdotto in modo interessantissimo e con esso si comincia l’esplorazione di questo mondo. Ma pian piano iniziano gli alti e bassi per poi finire in un “crescendo” di bassi. Si raggiungono locazioni molto belle e di atmosfera (il villaggio alla Halloween) da una parte, ma nel contempo la trama diventa un puttanaio superficialissimo. Non voglio svelare nulla, ma alla fin fine si accavallano 4 tipi di eventi: quello iniziale della protagonista socialmente in difficoltà, il viaggio nel mondo delle sue memorie, la corporazione cattiva che vuole conquistare il mondo ed una serie di villain che ancora non ho capito che c’azzeccano col tutto. Il boss finale poi: è come andare alla festa della salsiccia e poi trovarci le tortine alla mela, cioè, ma chi è? E il gioco finisce. E il giocatore si chiede: ma tutta la parte empatica iniziale che fine ha fatto? Che è sta roba? Cosa mi sono perso? Cosa si è perso chi ha scritto la storia? Forse l’aveva scritta su un foglietto che poi ha perso da qualche parte e alla fine hanno tutto chiuso con un “e bon”? Boh? Ok, direte voi, ma il gioco è bello. Beh, una cosa molto bella di questo gioco, per essere un titolo RPG Maker, è la grafica davvero molto curata, con ambientazioni estremamente varie e alcune con oggetti di sfondo unici (l’ingresso della casa delle marionette ad esempio). Peccato che il level design ed il game design siano PESSIMI. Davvero è tutto pessimo. Uno dei problemi dei giochi RPG Maker è trovarsi di fronte mappe con oggetti invalicabili sul terreno (tipo pietre, fiori, erba): bene, ogni livello è disseminato di oggettini a terra che rendono asfissiante la circolazione. Inizialmente ci si passa sopra, ma poi quando si affrontano sezioni in backtracking diventa TERRIBILE. Un continuo bloccarsi, sbattere contro qualcosa, slalom perenne. Ci sono i mostri visibili sullo schermo, quindi gli incontri non sono casuali. Peccato che non serva a un cazzo così, visto che nella gran parte dei casi si muovono in corridoi stretti, ti vedono a 1 km di distanza e ti corrono con la Redbull che gli mette le ali. Nemici visibili e scontri al 90% obbligati. Applausi. C’è un oggetto che permette di evitare gli incontri per 1 minuto. Ma questo oggetto (acquistabile nella prima run e una arpa ad uso illimitato nella seconda run) semplicemente non mette all’erta i nemici che quindi permangono sulla mappa. Se dovete attraversare dei corridoi (spessissimo) i combattimenti sono ancora difficilmente evitabili. Questione ostacoli: gli NPC nelle città e nelle case camminano in continuazione e a volte vi bloccano all’angolino addirittura non permettendovi di uscire dalla locazione. RPG Maker ha i suoi anni, ma c’è gente che ancora non ha capito che errori non devono essere fatti. Non lo capiscono, forse si divertono così, boh? Mistero. Gli NPC cominciano a foraggiarci di missioni su missioni e diventa il valtzer del backtracking. Più in là nel gioco si diventa anche molto forti: immaginatevi il backtracking per locazioni piene così di nemici che vi danno 1 punto esperienza (quando a voi ne servono 90mila per passare di livello) e quindi la costrizione a combattimenti DAVVERO INUTILI. Soffocante. Le mappe poi: molte di quelle al chiuso sono topologicamente assimilabili ad una spirale. Entrate dal perimetro esterno e dopo mezz’ora (con combattimenti obbligati visto lo spazio di manovra) raggiungete il centro. Poi dovete riuscire. Niente applausi: lancio di pomodori. Tra le singole locazioni, poi, si viaggia in una mappa del mondo, disegnata da qualcuno che deve avere dei problemi con l’agorafobia. Spazi immensi inutili, uscite da una caverna e viaggiate per 1 minuto verso nord nel nulla (ci sono i disegnini degli alberi, ma qualcuno dica allo sviluppatore che fanno schifo anche da vedere) per raggiungere la locazione successiva. Ma davvero: il senso qual è? Dio bono, i teletrasporti: si trovano per il mondo di gioco, ma tutti posizionati secondo la tecnica informatica detta “a cazzo di cane”. Cioè, mi metti il teletrasporto per aiutarmi e poi non me lo metti per metà delle locazioni? E come le raggiungo le altre? Vedi sopra: backtracking a gogo e combattimenti inutili obbligati. A volte è necessario viaggiare per locazioni così arzigogolate che non si capisce un cazzo con le direzioni, mancando le mappe. Più di una volta ho raggiunto 4-5 volte di seguito lo stesso vicolo cieco, perché ogni scorcio si autoreplica tipo i frattali. Non esistono sistemi di riferimento. E se sbagliate l’uscita da una locazione e ci rientrate. Indovinate? Bravi! C’è il respawn, quello dei mostri che vi danno 1 punto esperienza: altra mezz’ora per rifare quella mappa al contrario. Sperando di prendere l’uscita giusta. Se non lo avete capito, sì, questo gioco è il paradiso del grinding: trovata la locazione giusta, potete stare 4 ore a livellare e acquisire valuta. Poi arrivate al boss finale e questo, casualmente, potrebbe lanciarvi un incantesimo che uccide all’istante tutto il party. Non si scappa: è a caso. Io ci sono arrivato sovralivellato con tanti begli oggettini di equipaggiamento. Ho tentato 4 volte: le prime tre volte mi faceva quella mossa e la partita è finita. La quarta volta non ha fatto la mossa e l’ho sconfitto. Game design con i fiocchi, notevole. Capitemi, mi ha intrattenuto e volevo assolutamente vedere come finiva, nonostante questi difetti. Ma alla fin fine domanda e riposta sono: Ma ne è valsa la pena? No. Però l’ho fatto ed è giusto così. 5/10 EDIT: mi sono dimenticato di aggiungere roba sparsa: 1- il gioco prevede un sistema di crafting scomodissimo, dandovi le ricette per costruire oggetti. Nella schermata del crafting però non potete leggere le ricette, quindi dovete scrivervi a mano la lista degli ingredienti. Terribile. 2- i teletrasporti vanno scoperti prima di essere utilizzati: di base sono così trasparenti da confondersi con lo sfondo. Non ho capito il senso di questa scelta, se ne vede a mala pena il contorno... 3- il menù è scomodissimo come spesso accade nei giochi RPG Maker: volete la pozione per il mana? Scorrete ogni santa volta la lista fino in basso 4- vi è un sistema di skill ad albero: graficamente è terribile, ultrazoomato. Come mangiare gli gnocchi con una mannaia

Sigh. I should have read the reviews. The main character is a loathesome person with a victim mentality. She is played off as the "innocent girl surrounded by big meanies", yet she silently and coldly judges everyone she comes across, even people who are actually being nice to her. Her parents and the childhood bully are cartoonishly evil. In other words, her reality is a lala land of victimhood that doesn't really exist. The NPC dialogue is also noticeably bland. Did a high school fanfic writer from Tumbler write this? It's a shame because the art and spritework was very well done. This boat anchor of a story was a waste of good artistic talent. Next time, devs, find a better writer.

I would not recommend this game. It's main problem is that it is unable to decide if it's a more traditional grind fest for experience points or a more story based adventure. Early game is low on combat but high on roaming around finding events. Then the game turns heavily to the grinding part with the super annoying mechanic where already cleared places are re-populated once you change level. Problem here is that areas are mazes and you are forced to do a lot of turning back and forth trying to find your way. I did not find this very amusing in a longer run as there are far better alternatives regardless if you like more story based rpgmaker games or the more traditional jprg style grinding.