Crystal Ortha

This is a preliminary first impression review based on the first three hours of game.
First I'd like to say that this is not the worst indie JRPG you can get. It has some neat ideas and competent if rough execution.
The story is very much inspired by Breath of Fire, with lots of references/elements from other classics, like Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, etc. Characters are also pretty cliche archtypes. Also story/map progression is pretty linear and handholding is very strong (with lots of invisible walls/story driven requirements to do specific actions).
Localization quality is on the level of a fan translation. A lot of lines read stilted, or outright incomprehensible. Some terms used are also questionable. Overall it's still possible to get through, and proper pauses on punctuation are appreciated.
Dungeons are only pretend to be classic labyrinth, you're even given a minimap with all the treasures on the screen so you can plan your route.
Combat difficulty is more of a puzzle than anything. You have to take out monsters in specific order to prevent party wipe. That is until you fight them a couple of times in the area and gain a level or two, then it's autobattle time, as the challenge goes as quickly as it comes.
Basic crafting system is used instead of traditional shops, you can customize skills, but for some reason they require you to switch upgraded skills manually. Battle system is reminiscent of original Phantasy Star series with quite frankly useless turn queue/indicator.
Music is inspired, but also just a mixed bag of varied compositions that are put approximately to the cause. At least there are some memorable tunes, if maybe because you'll hear them bajillion times.
All in all it might worth your time, but don't expect AAA polish.

NICE! this game is great, nice pixel graphics, nice animations, and you can guarantee that it will be a pretty excellent game considering its a colab between Kemco and Hit-Point.

So, you probably already know if you will enjoy this game, but if you are on the fence, I have to say this game is pretty fun and the retro style plus the easy to use interface makes it really fun to play. I love JPRPG's and this one is pretty fun.