>>14043406
>Combat
It's a turn based JRPG with a party of up to four members, each with their own skills and abilities. You can switch between party members, at certain points in the game, however some are necessary to continue the main quest, and others are necessary if you want a few extra scenes in a dungeon/dialogue with the boss. The one interesting thing about the game, is it's magic system, to use magic you need crystals that are obtained after defeating enemies and bosses, they range from doing elemental damage, to healing, to poisoning, debuffing and buffing. Each time you use a spell, you use up a crystal, however you easily gain crystals and can carry up to 99 of them, don't worry you don't need to grind for them. There are also some machines that let's you combine crystals into obtaining more powerful crystals(2 X 30 fire damage gives a 90 fire damage crystal, for example). Whenever you get a powerful crystal, by using the machine, you can find out it's components, so it's not all that much guess work.
>General Gameplay
It's a semi linear story, in that you aren't told exactly where to go, and can visit a large part of the main map from the very beginning, but you can't do all that much in those other towns. Other parts of the map are guarded by high level monsters to block your progress(and yes you are warned about them) or they require a story specific item/event to go further. Personally I enjoyed aimlessly searching the land, and I do think that it's better if you explore without a guide. The people from cities, mostly have clues about where to go, or where you can find X, or they tell you the legend of Y and where it is. There is also a journal that records the most important events, so you won't get lost in all that information. You can also fight bosses, much earlier than you are required to do, miss out other boss fights, and so on. Interesting enough, you never truly die in the game, when your party HP reaches zero you wake up at an in, however from what I heard if you loose a fight with certain bosses, some dialogue and future events change.
>Story
Without going into spoilers, the Taiko/King has just died, evil spirits have risen and will plunge the world into hell Makai, and you have received a strange letter from the now deceased king. It's your job to find out your place in this world and story, traveling through different countries and meeting all sorts of creatures and beasts, and also Jews. Overall the story is quite mature and dark, without any of the trappings of modern JRPG tropes, well besides the whole save the word from the darkness.
>Characters
The array of party members is quite vast, from a troll, a lizardman, your waifu, a scientist, Shadow the Hedgehog and others. They all have their individual stories, and I really enjoyed Shadow's story, about how she picked up a cursed sword, made by her husband, to avenge his death, by fighting a jealous spirit who killed her husband, while he tried to protect the life of the king, from the jealous woman. From what I have read, some party members are miss-able, and depending on your choices, they get replaced with others, Shadow being one such example.
>Soundtrack
Sadly, I am not too good at distinguishing good soundtrack from mediocre soundtrack, nor do I have excellent taste in music. With that said, I never found the music to be bad, or horrible, and there were one one or two moments were the music and visuals went nicely together, like when the blue castle has risen.
Overall I enjoyed the game, and would recommend to you, if you are a fan of JRPGs. Hope that this has helped you, and sorry if my review is a bit too dry, this is one of the few reviews I have ever written.