Love the concept of the story and gameplay is soooooo interesting - I also enjoy the soundtracks and battle strategy game as well! I do enjoy the personality quizzes that depending on what you answer, it reflects on your personality stats.

The reason why I'm giving a negative review is because the beginning of the story seems too rushed.. There isn't really developments on the characters or doesn't provide much scenes to "get to know" the main characters. It just felt rushed.. The characters in the game didn't seem too shocked on what was happening in the school.. you can feel a bit of the emotion, but it didn't seem as realistic. For example, if the school is engulfed by the mist and madness spreading everywhere in parts of the school, I should see more panicking, etc. But after a short scene where they were confused and scared, and learning a bit about the unknown supernatural thing that is happening in their school, the characters just accepts everything easily as if its normal thing and continue their mission to remove mist, save lives, etc.

The main! main reason! of the negative review is I especially HATE games where in battle, if the main character is dead, its game over and you have to restart the battle from the beginning. Especially when I start on the first turn, you got all the enemies aiming for the main character, its already game over.. or if you are so close to beating the boss, while your other teammates are healthy, they just critical KO your full HP main character and you have to start the from the beginning of the battle.. like wtf.. sorry my language x].

Other than that, this is another potential game I may return to play someday. This game has so much potential! In the meantime I rather prioritise playing other games I have on my list x] I wouldn't recommend to buy this in full price, if you want to still try it out, best to buy it in a discount.

Is this one of the best games I've played? No. But low key, I really enjoyed this. There are issues, no doubt, but there's a lot to like, for example. at how it skews many of the expectations of the genre - even if the vast majority of the twists are signposted very clearly (which, don't get me wrong, is FAR preferable to the opposite).

Combat is a tactical affair, which is quite easy to pick up if you've ever played a tactical jrpg. Your party can assist each other in battle if close enough, you can launch uncounterable back attacks, you have magic abilities for offence, support, and health. You probably know the drill. Then comes the slight skewing of the genre - magic costs sanity (going insane turns you berserk and then die after three turns - which loses you the fight if it's the MC) and physical attacks (other than basic ones) cost HP - think the same kind of stuff as Persona, for example. However... you can also use said madness to achieve Enlightenment for a few terms, vastly increasing your stats, giving you a risk versus reward set-up.

The combat itself could have benefited massively from more variety in the maps and enemies (but honestly, I've found that in a lot of tactical jrpgs that get praised to high heaven (like FFT, or Disgaea for example) and it feels more of a criticism of the genre itself, and the limitations of it.) Once you work out what you are doing (and the sheer power of the MCs special abilities) there is no need to grind unless you want to 100% it like I did. I was going into the final fight of the post game with almost all of the party 30 levels below, it's that powerful when utilised properly.

The story is... Well, let's just say it has its fair share of things that make me wince, wondering why the devs would think it was a good idea. Silent protagonist - big wince. (Seriously, I can't think of a good reason to include it other than (maybe) not having to pay much for the little voice acting you then include.) Amnesia (and other plot points) which people barely seem to comment about, and questions that should be asked rarely being done - big wince, albeit slightly redeemed later on. Being willing to die for your friends... but not give them all of the very important info you have on the situation at hand because... reasons I guess. Wince. A student body and faculty staff being remarkable unbothered by lots of people dying, people going mad, and a whole host of things that in a normal world would have seen them all panicking and running around willy-nilly before being claimed themselves - Seriously, I don't even want to go to a Japanese college/high school (depending on what they are called where you live...). Those places are unhinged! I spent most of the start of my time playing the game wanting to scream at the characters why they aren't freaking out more.

But I still loved it. It's dark, and off piste, and isn't afraid to touch some dark stuff, or unconventional wisdom into the mix. I liked the central thrust of the conceit which essentially takes the emotions labelled as the deadly sins, and play around with how these emotions can actually lead to drives for good things as well as bad if you get consumed by them. The romantic interest - such as it is, isn't the one you would have expected it to be. The music is in general really rather good and scene setting. There are some ACTUAL puzzles in it. Not fetch quests, but things you actually have to work out yourself, which is groundbreaking in today's world. (The final one is either really tough, or really simple, and if you find it tough I wouldn't blame you for looking up the answer. There is one other one I found a little difficult, as well, but most of them had enough info given to you that you could work it out okay.) Honestly, I had an absolute blast, and if there was a sequel for it, or something similar made off the back of it, I'd be interested.

That said, I don't have all that much money, and don't think I could have justified my purchase at full price. Getting in a sale softens your expectations and lets you put up with some things you wouldn't usually.

I'd say, give it a shot - it might not be for you, but equally, it might be your very own guilty pleasure.