hokay. hokay so. my heart. there are a few things that still need a bit of work, primarily the wait mode and how the game occassionally starts to chug every now and again. But the gameplay is solid, the story is fantastic, and the ending made my heart warm. 10/10 will play again

I just finished the game after two sessions, and I honestly loved every second of it. I can’t wait for New Game Plus (NG+) and any future DLC the developers might have planned. I hope for additional content similar to the Colosseum—it was both challenging and rewarding, and I’d love to see more of that in NG+.

I truly appreciate how this game encourages grinding, as it feels efficient and rewarding in most cases whether it be grinding monsters or more lucrative ways *wink* *wink*. I think I might be addicted to Blackjack now haha

The story was truly magnificent and I found myself truly in love with the characters (mostly Aiden because family trauma and such) although Zach was mostly just a side character I was also really committed to seeing how his story will plan out and was really hoping after playing through this game could see more content of him (he's so mysterious, I NEED MORE OF HIM I KEPT HAVING SO MANY THOUGHTS ON HOW HIS STORY ARC and uhhh somewhat of a love-triangle which I REALLY WANTED HUHU) I find most of the characters enjoyable and sort of a grayish villians and found myself saying hey, most of them aren't that BAD tbh lets hear them out lol (except that one girl who gets decapitated fr was fanboying so hard for Yohan during that moment I was so shocked and fell in love with him frfr)

The game environment and areas were truly breathtaking I spent almost 4-6 hours on one big city (I did NOT know I needed to do the quest to find Zach....... I was talking to random npc thinking he was there somewhere) exploring and talking to the npcs (some of them had quests which I didn't even realise there was a bulletin board for those quests until only 3 hours in through my gameplay in that city)

I would highly recommend this game to anyone looking for a fun JRPG I enjoyed every moment and was left with a roller coaster of emotions that left a very nice lasting impact as I finished the game.


Some Areas for Improvement (Note: I love this game, I promise!)

While I thoroughly enjoyed the game, I did encounter a few challenges. Magic felt incredibly strong in the early game but somewhat lackluster by the end. For example, my 900 Magic Adrian was dealing around 500 damage per spell during the final boss fight, with his Relica barely hitting 1.9k. In contrast, my lance was consistently delivering 3–4k damage per Relica hit. I wish there were a spammable, hard-hitting, single-target spell that wasn’t tied to a Relica. Of course, this is just a personal preference, but for certain bosses, I found myself relying on my lance for most of the damage. (granted I went in this blind and might just be a skill issue on my part on how to properly play some characters)

I do wish there were more ways to buff your allies or debuff enemies (sort of like a support) and creating sort of a hyper-carry esque playstyle since tonic and feathers can get you only so far (just a personal preference with me since I just want to buff up one person to do a million dmg)

I also learned the hard way how rewarding and enjoyable side quests can be—especially after a few chapters in. However, I do wish there were more armour types with unique abilities. While the rings fulfil this purpose to some extent, it would be great to see special effects extended to boots and armour as well.

One challenge I faced was the limited availability of extra shards. Missing most of the early-game quests left my weapons under-levelled or most cases kinda sub par dmg wise and characters being forced to be just a character that throws bombs or items (Enter image of Yohan chugging bombs at enemies and using tonics on someone that can actually do damage), forcing me to choose between upgrading Yohan or Krysta. While this was ultimately due to my own decisions, it’s a situation other players might encounter.

Lastly, I found the lack of physical spells a bit disappointing. It would feel more rewarding to level them up if they provided more variety. As it stands, the reliance on normal attacks and occasional Relica abilities felt somewhat repetitive.

My favorite game this year! The story, characters, and graphics were amazing. I highly recommend it!