i played this because it's the prequel to recettear, but i just can't bring myself to finish it. there's not much to it, you slash and you cast magic, marvelous.

Alright, I'm on the fence about this one, but when push comes to shove, I didn't want to finish it and I can't recommend it.

The good:
Graphics are fine, character designs are cute, and I don't mind the music. Totally acceptable for an old indie game.
Hack and slash game play is awkward, but forgivable.
Overall the section clearing gameplay loop is not too onerous, and the bosses aren't insurmountable. However...

The bad:
The "gameplay fun to difficulty" ratio is too low. You are basically faced with a dungeon of about 5 areas. To be able to reach the next area, you have to clear out all the monsters from the area you are currently on. Fair enough. But if you die in the next area, you can't restart at the start of that area; you have to just barrel through the previous area. Sometimes you can do this quickly depending on the layout. But other times you're going to lose a bit of health in each area unless you're very lucky. So here's the situation: I'm on the second dungeon, I've beaten every level except the boss at the end, but instead of just starting at the beginning of the boss fight, I have to go through the entire previous 4 areas first - where inevitably I'm going to be cheap-shotted by rolling boulders or buzzing mosquitoes or SOMETHING. And then when I finally get to the boss, my health bar is already like halfway dead. And there are no health potions or anything.
That "low health" alert is annoying AF.
Grinding for money to increase your health will only get you so far.
That camera. Ugh. The lock on system is cumbersome and got me killed more often than not as well.

The verdict:
This isn't an impossible game; the game allows you to practice areas you've gotten to so you can figure out boss patterns, for example. But if you want to progress, you've got to go through the whole level again, and the combat itself just wasn't fun enough to justify that pain for me. If you're into games like Dark Souls, you'll probably feel right at home, but for a more casual player, this is a bit too punishing.