Wow that tower defense mode is an awful experience, way to ruin the flow of gameplay with an awful, constant, and required minigame.

It's a lovely game.

this was a genuinely enjoyable playthrough. the gameplay is solid all round, the story is reasonably interesting and the soundtrack is genuinely amazing. i can understand why people dislike the "tower defence" sections but i personally feel that they add to the game by allowing you to interact a bit more with the area heroes and their abilities. actively using a character in some form builds a bit more of a bond over dialogue alone, and i can see just about any other method stepping on the toes of other aspects of the game.