I just finished the game. I'll be frank it's really short as I imagined, mainly due to the fact that my power levels were too strong or that it was just normal. I also already brought Amayui Labyrinth Meister and installed it—in fact, the videos will be uploaded tomorrow.
So anyway—back to the review (spoilers).
It's more of a VN than an actual combat game due to the fact that there are more scenes than there are more gameplays, but the grinding makes up for those moments. I especially had to keep on clicking a lot of scenes before going into battle which was making me bored... but I wouldn't say most scenes were boring because of the character's chemistry and voice acting.
I definitely have a thing with grinding materials for crafting which really lives up to the same immersion as going to the market to buy food ingredients only to find out you forgot one more and had to go back. Having to move your character again, and defeat the same enemies (which are hard to deal with), then occupy the same area... rinse and repeat, and you get a masochistic experience That's what it means when it's grindy... it doesn't even have any auto-grind so you suffer having to make your characters better to deal with enemies that has over 500 health and kills you in one turn.
Save for the fact that you can't really put most summons so you're stuck with having to sacrifice characters or summons which means having to neglect others and making them completely useless when the front rows are dead. Also, the party and wide area moves are so useless because they can kill your teammates and requires a lot of CP... it's a waste of time especially when other moves hit harder than them. Also, the elements become so useless as you go through because you can spam void element and just shut your enemies out.
Next up is the story... it's not really that bad—actually, I have some concerns regarding them. It's hard to see any development with some of the characters during the playthrough because it's hard to know what to do without any guide (assuming anyone played it normally and just craft and levelled up).
Especially the dragon arc, Katorit was not a fully fleshed characters while also getting locked out until the end of the game... seriously, I thought this loli would turn into a mommy MILF after transforming from an epic battle... but no, you beat the boss and then she just gets escorted by the villain to become the next heir LMFAO... the entire chapter was unrewarding fr unless you follow the Katorit Flag. I'd also add the Mik angel which seriously didn't have her own chapter other than her joining the party and having a few scenes about her being an introvert... srsly she is too boring of a character.
I like the build up of the story though but I just hate how the drama is utilized during the entire game. You'd read an entire conflict for an hour and expect the authors making the most of it... come on, it just ends with a few words. "I believe in you" aah talk no jutsu bs... well whatever, sometimes—I imagine myself punching Fia because Avaro is so scrawny as heck.
Anyway... game can be beaten without any guide but it's easy to waste more than 12 hours doing so. Some materials are hard to find and having to train your summons is more of an NG+ than anything... anyway, I won't be touching Castle and then doing to Labyrinth now... oof just kill me lol. Oh, I forgot to put the rating... this is 7.5 for me.
Don't be distracted with the fact that I finished this in 3 days LOL
I was just busy overseeing MTL-translations with Madou Koukaku.