TIDY! Don't miss this breathtaking adventure.
Familiars can either be your best companion or a real pain in the neck, depending on how much work you put into convincing them to join up. Your first one, the Mite, is a likable little fellow who's noble when it comes to defending his friends with a sword and shield. And like Pokemon, they evolve over the course of the journey, as the Mite eventually becomes the blue-colored Mermite, after three evolutions. With so many familiars scattered throughout the game (we're talking dozens), the course of your journey can easily change up depending who's in your party. Which is easily one of the best things going for the game.
The battle system does take some getting used to, and dungeon crawling can be a real pain, because if you die, you have to start all the way over at the beginning, fighting through the same monsters again. But there's still something remarkable about how well Level-5 has done with it, letting you pick and choose commands with ease and defend with a somewhat fair chance, unless it's a truly overwhelming enemy that gets the jump on you first. It's free-flowing in a way, but also concentrated enough to let you do the sufficient damage needed to your enemies. And the magic spells can be divine, just as they would be in a well-realized RPG. Well done, indeed.
Along with the main quest, you can visit towns and complete side missions, earn additional stamps to spruce up your capabilities, and, of course, help your familiars (both the main ones you're carrying and the secondary ones on back-up) to grow and nurture as a part of your group. It'll take you about 45-60 hours in all to get the gist of the game, and even then, you'll find some startling new discoveries. (I've had the game for two and a half weeks now and it took me that length of time just to get all the aspects for the review. That should say something.)
