Mike B

Looks good and sometimes the battles can be fun but otherwise it sucks. It's like a mixture of JRPG from the 90s but somehow nowhere near as good. The story is weak, dialog is convoluted, characters are underdeveloped with no discernible personalities and trying to do away with leveling up was a mistake. I get the point is to kind of rip off FF8's concept of enemies always having some challenge by eliminating grinding but taking away the ability to earn currency in battle kills the idea of upgrading weapons. Couple that with the facts retreats are instant and you just retry a battle with the ability to switch formation and equipment if you lose then you get battles that don't feel like they have any stake. If you haven't played Chrono Trigger, FF3, Secret of Mana, and the other superior games this game is trying too hard to be I'd say play them first. Give Octopath Traveler a shot instead if you haven't. I'm almost done with the game and it doesn't get much better.