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After having finished this game, I feel satisfied abou most of what I've seen. It's a neat little game, with gorgeous art and very ambitious and ahead of its time mechanics-wise. It also feels unfinished, rushed and experimental in a way that shows it was trying to do more than what they could handle at that time. For example, despite the cartridge having the largest size a SNES cartridge ever had at its time, there is a lot of reuse and repetition, a lot of tiles and enemy sprites are palette swapped to death, and it gets a bit tiresome not seeing really new things. The game isn't even that big. Another instance of the producers being in over their heads is tht the story feels disjointed, some plot threads ended up in nothing, others came out of nothing. That is because of the nonlinear way in which the game presents itself, with many characters being able to join (or not) your party. It probably is true that I missed some story beats because some characters never joined. But even the characters that joined, had no closure, and I think it's a mistake that the stories of characters I have depend on characters I don't have. In my playthrough, the missing sister of Joshua never came to an end. And even in the main story, there are unexplained things. But still, the story is good, intriguing and the characters are engaging. Simple, but engaging. Yes, the story could've used more sci-fi, since the beginning is all about that, then it settles for all the basic fantasy clichés possible, whereas the sci-fi aspects, while derivative of Star Trek, where rather unique. The clash of new tech and medieval stuff simply didn't happen, because it is almost never mentioned during the game. They even find an excuse for the characters to not be able to use modern guns. This all makes most of the game have an element of wasted potential. To pull down things even further, the characters show up and become a part of the story, but they also feel disconnected to it. In the grand scheme of things, there is little in terms of personal stakes here. Only two in the cast really have that. The rest is together because of gameplay and feel forced into your party. Their stories don't help round out the story and, because of that, the game is you going from dungeon to dungeon-like places with little in-between, which makes it a dungeon crawler. There isn't story enough to pepper through the game and the main story is good as is, so character-driven side-plots could've helped the game feel fuller. It doesn't help that the citizens of the towns you visit have nothing interesting to say, also their dialogue doesn't change throughout the game. In one instance, for example, a spaceship falls near a little town, if you go there there are people around the ship wondering what is that thing (it's an underdeveloped planet)... but if you go into the town, the citizens are saying the same things they were saying when you first got there, at the beginning of the game. To go back to this town, you have to backtrack. In this particular case it's optional, but there is a lot of mandatory backtracking to be had here. Also, there is no overworld, which means it's all connected. There also isn't any means of transportation, so it's a bit tedious. There is a world map but it's tiny and doesn't help, and I got tired of being constantly lost in places I had already visited, because some areas that connect the towns are complex. Now that I remember, there is one method of transportation, which is ships. But they don't go to every town, and you still have to remember which towns tie to which others and in what continent they are. All of this without a map. No wonder I had to use walkthroughs sometimes. Another complex map is that of the dungeons. They are neat mazes, just the right amount of complex. For the most part. Some in the end go too far, because the enemies there get hard. But the game itself isn't too hard, it's just right IMO. The systems of the game also help there, because they feel good. There is the private action system, or PA, that is what allows you to change what characters will join or leave you and also define the ending you get. It's underused, though. There is the skill system, that really feels like you're making the characters your own, that you're making meaningful choices. In battle, all of your choices feel they matter, including battle formations and strategies, it's awesome! Although I like Final Fantasy XII's gambit system much more than the usual tactics system used here. As I said, this is experimental, thus unrefined. It might feel like a button masher most of the time, but sometimes the depth is really apparent. What isn't evident is item creation. It's not in the most intuitive place, and I only found it near the end of the game, which made it useless to me. This probably happened because the game is fantranslated, which means I never got to read the instructions manual, but still it looks like these aspects are hidden. Still, it's rather robust for its time, although I feel like the innate Talents of the characters make it more rigid and scripted than it would be ideal. Another thing that had no impact in my playthrough was elemental damage or healing. Yes, sometimes one of your attacks or spells against an enemy will heal him instead of damaging, but you'll rarely know why that is and you'll win without knowing. On to story again, you might feel disappointed when the story begins to shift to demon armies and such, but I was pleasantly suprised when it all began to connect, and it's these connections that made the story good, if a bit anticlimactic in the end. There are outdated sci-fi concepts, no doubt fruits of science itself back then, like people becoming invisible when they die because there is copper instead of iron in their blood. It's something that wouldn't fly nowadays. That said, I still think it is good enough for what it is, it's very charming and intriguing and it does deliver for the most part. I would recommed this game to people.
