This game has a truly insane amount of content, more than any other roguelite I've played. It's also really, really fun. I'm approaching 200 hours in and I feel like I could double that without running out of stuff to do here. How this hasn't caught on to the extent of Balatro and Spire is beyond me.

Easily one of the greatest visual novels ever made. It's as close to perfect as anything else I've played. The writing seamlessly shifts between being hilarious, thrilling, heartrending, and back to being hilarious. You will laugh, a lot, and then at some point the game will trick you into really caring about the characters.

Gameplay-wise, there are some cool ideas that were very new in 2008; the gameplay is less unique now but it holds up well. The use of photo and video is still very unique, and it works well. The acting and directing is excellent.

You owe it to yourself to play this.

TL;DR: Innovative and fun gameplay that left me always wanting more. Amazing scene writing, with a good-if-not-too-remarkable story. Instant buy for quirky RPG fans, or anyone who likes Mario & Luigi or WarioWare gameplay.

Love this game to bits. The gameplay is genuinely innovative and incredibly fun. I've seen people say that the game is repetitive or doesn't value their time, and I honestly think that's an insane take. I mean people are entitled to their opinions, but there's not one moment in the game where I felt like my time was being wasted, and I found myself actively getting into random battles that I could have skipped just because the combat was fun and engaging. How many RPGs can you say that about? Outside of combat, the overworld exploration and puzzles are well done. The dungeons aren't the most innovative, but they've got enough meat to be miles ahead of most RPG puzzles without being too onerous.

The story has a strong hook, and I don't really have any complaints about it. It's not the greatest story I've ever seen in an RPG, but it's far from the worst. I would put it on a level similar to Earthbound, not really hitting the same highs as Mother 3 or Undertale, but it's a good vehicle for the game's beat-by-beat writing, which is stellar. Good comedy writing is hard, and games trying to be quirky often fall into a writing style that ends up being a little on the nose. This is not that. The game is just consistently hilarious, unexpected, and weird. One of the funniest RPGs I've ever played, maybe the funniest honestly.

Basically, the game has some things it does really really really really well, and everything else it does competently enough to build a foundation for the really great stuff.

GOTY 2023