An intriguing plot and world/setting, in which the protagonists are fending off some kind of alien race and seem to be making a deal to use demonic powers in order to defend themselves. The world and gameplay seem very typical of high fantasy, except a bit alien in design, and with little hints of sci-fi in cutscenes and plot.
From the creative side:
The art is imaginative, with creepy creatures and mysterious landscapes. And the plot is complex and intriguing.
From the game play side:
Combat - The turn-based gameplay uses a combination of grid-based strategy and Final Fantasy style ATB gauges in a way that makes it feel fast-paced and exciting, even though you can technically take all the time in the world.
Exploration - It has just the right balance of open but guided. It's neither linear nor pure open-world. And the side quests are really manageable: not the millions that many modern games have that ultimately make them all feel worthless; a few hunts and a few side stories per region, and just a couple of longer lasting quests, enough for variety while keeping it all meaningful. The maps are interesting and there are plenty of 'secrets' and things to uncover. All the usual item gathering to create weapons, armour, gems, etc.
Variety - There are a number of features such as riding a certain animal that also has a 'sniff and find treasure' element, and optional flag/gate-based races with traps to dodge; and puzzle-towers that vary in the ways each works, which keep things interesting.
Controls:
There's something about the game that suggests it's not *top* quality (see below), but despite that, the controls are really fluid. When exploring the world, and especially when riding, it's smooth and responsive like a triple A game.
Negatives:
The 3D views aren't quite right. When you're not moving, everything looks great. When you look around, you get a subtle feeling of being in a fishbowl. I'm not sure exactly what it is, but it feels like a first attempt at first/third person 3D game design, and the world turns in an odd way. Subtle, but does feel odd.
Sound effects and voice acting aren't great. Fine, but not great. And there are occasional bugs with the sound - mostly when a sound effect from the world exploration gets stuck on repeat when you move to combat. So far it's happened to me only in one particular area, but happened regularly in that area.
They have one of those dumb final boss battles where it keeps going and going and going, so you have to beat it *many* times to actually win. And it's waaaaay more difficult than anything else, leaving it all feeling very unbalanced. A shame, because it's quite unique in a number of ways.
The characters faces can look like mannequins at times. Don't be turned off - the worst facial design is early on, and it's such an impressive game despite that.
But most of all, the characters are one-dimensional and dialogue is pathetic. It's hard to engage with the story/plot as a result, despite that part actually being really good.
Overall:
Almost a hidden gem. Hadn't heard any hype; didn't expect it to impress me when I first tried it; it slowly built into something quite enjoyable, only to fall flat mostly due to the dialogue and characters.
