hey guys perhaps making every boss spawn like 10 enemies every other turn was a bad idea

A wonderful, beautiful little game. I can’t believe I hadn’t heard about it until it was four years old; it needs way more attention!

The presentation is top notch. The GBA-style pixel graphics are colorful, cute, and smoothly animated. The soundtrack has everything: calming overworld music, upbeat character ballads, thick dungeon moods, and banger battle tracks. I can think of no significant complaints for the visuals, though it does look a little funny when overworld sprites nod their heads in profile. For the music, I only have two complaints. One, the credits don’t have original music, just extended versions of character themes that aren’t even arranged in a medley, though it makes up for this with some original after-credits music. Two, “Paint the Future” is a little overused, and the lyrical version takes me out of the fantasy setting. It’s not because it’s a rap; the lyrical version of “Between the Lines” suits the setting just fine, but it only shows up in one optional fight. Even then, it's a good tune, and there are no bad tracks. As for my favorites, “It’s Showtime” is pretty upbeat, especially with the lyrics, then I found “Yearn to Bloom” just enchanting, but when its sister track “Rose Thorns” hit me… OOH!

The gameplay is very well designed, alternating between tactical RPG combat and overworld puzzles. The single-button prompts and forgoing of mana make combat elegantly straightforward. The former makes it possible to respond to attack patterns on the fly, while still requiring effort to learn the correct timing. The latter means the flow of battle is never forcibly interrupted, so it’s always your choice what strategies you want to implement. Each magic spell scales with your level and has a different AOE, so they never become obsolete, you simply find which ones suit your play style the best, with the narrow three-lane field encouraging you to mix things up, and experience sharing between all party characters allowing you to use any combination of characters, though the first half of the game requires you to include the main character in the battle rotation, and places a couple restrictions here and there until the mid-to-late game.

The game certainly isn’t difficult. This is fine in the overworld, where puzzles and secrets skew easy but remain engaging, and with the generous objective markers and medium-small dungeon sizes, you’ll have a hard time getting stuck or lost. The combat, on the other hand, requires self-imposed limits to be challenging, and gets a little slow and repetitive if you engage too many enemies. My normal play style is to try defeating every individual encounter once and otherwise try to avoid them. When I got to the endgame, I had to stop buying items to give myself a real challenge, and I still cleared the final boss in two attempts and beat one of the secret bosses in one try at the same levels (25-26). There is also an embarrassment of riches when it comes to money from battles and equipment from chests, allowing for the purchase of and the best weapons can be obtained pretty easily near the end of the game. Enemies are very avoidable, and running from battles is a free action, so keep this in mind if you find yourself tiring of battles or want a steeper challenge.

That’s my only significant issue with the game. It and the lack of replay value make me understand why this is a “very positive” game instead of an “overwhelmingly positive” game. However, I was surprised to see a handful of complaints directed elsewhere, with some of the negative reviews calling the story and characters “shallow.” I actually saw these a bit early in my playthrough, when I was really enjoying the characters, so I waited to see if these warnings came true. Things slowed down a bit in the mid-game, and I felt maybe I was setting up for disappointment, but by the end I was satisfied and therefore confused again. Once I took a step back, things made a little more sense to me. My response to those reviewers is that simple is not the same as shallow. Just because characters have simple problems that are explained in the text doesn’t make them two-dimensional or the story badly told. The core theme of the game is about the consequences of keeping secrets and hiding burdens, how facing hardships alone only causes more hardship for the bearer and the people they care about. This is reflected in all of the main protagonists and antagonists in unique, distinguishable ways, with a lone exception proving the rule by being a humble, cooperative leader who helps guide some of the other characters through those problems. Most of the story complaints don’t go into specifics, so I’m inclined to think that these feelings are byproducts of a lack of investment in the game rather than incisive criticisms. I don’t mean to rag on these critics; the story and characters won’t resonate with everyone, but don’t believe for a second that they have no substance.

As someone who played Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga growing up and who wishes they could have watched The Owl House growing up, I can see my glasses being slightly rose-tinted when it comes to this game, but it really does have a charm all its own, and I happily recommend it.