MONARK

Only a few hours on the Steam version as of the time of writing this but I have over 100 hours in the game on other versions and have beaten it multiple times. This game is amazing. My favorite game. The gameplay is incredibly fun, the story is engaging and interesting all the way through, the characters are amazing and very relatable, and the music is incredible. I can go on and on about how much I love this game. It is truly incredible.

I really like this game and I’ve played it on other systems it’s a mid but fun jrpg with an absolutely great soundtrack. I just wish it worked on the steam deck. I thought the December update might include that but meh. 6/10 game.

This is a very messy game. Gameplay has 10 different mechanics and characters have 20+ options, but very few of them actually matter (namely deferals, PSY buffs, and Resonance). The story starts in media res, but takes a painfully long time to explain how and why things got there. Outside of the brief exposition from pactbearer ideals, we never get a glimpse of what the characters were like before the anomalies started, which can make their characterization murky. Date's motivations come off as weak compared to the other protagonists, while Nozomi straight up disappears for most of Act 2. Finally, Yoru and the Monark of Woe do not have satisfying conclusions to their stories in Act 3.

However, I still genuinely enjoyed my time with the game. The boss battle music is absolutely incredible, and the character portraits are excellent. The voice acting is generally solid. The gameplay, while repetitive, is satisfying. The characters are generally interesting, with the character chatter in the TSC room doing wonders to make the characters likable. Most importantly, it manages to nail the major emotional beats in its story in a satisfying manner.
Overall, I would recommend getting the game on sale. I would also firmly recommend getting your hands on the album of Monark boss themes.
PS: The achievement to fully level up every character to 99 is completely psychotic compared to every other achievement in the game. It exists to add 10+ hours of rather mindless grinding to the playtime of anyone hoping to get 100% completion in the game. It really should be changed to something else.

Story was great, however I felt the ending was rushed. It's presentation / direction left me feeling unsatisfied and thinking "oh that's it, I beat the game".The combat on the other hand was hitting the neurons when you realize it revolves around the resonance system. When you link up with teammates and acquire their skills, it just opens up disgusting combos that can one shot enemies. The Boss music in this game is PEAK. They're all good and catchy and just get me hyped for the battle. I even listen to them outside of the game.

My only complaints are that the grind in this game is TEDIOUS. it feels like the developers made it as boring and long to bloat your play time. It wasn't worth doing the last 2 Fertile Grounds because i would end up clearing the previous ones way faster and get a better rank netting me more SP (Fertile Ground 7 my beloved). The last thing i absolutely despised are the instant death moves. You could be nearing the end of a battle and an enemy uses a skill that just straight kills you saying "death". This wouldnt be a problem if it wasn't for the fact that if the MC dies, it's game over. This becomes extremely frustrating during boss fights where the enemies are tough and it takes a a lot of turns to even get to the boss in the first place.

Overall, its a gem in a rough game. I don't regret getting all the achievements and was actually sad that it was over. If you don't think this game is worth the full price tag, that's fine. I personally feel like getting it on sale is the best option. Please Try Out Monark!

I liked the characters, the music and story, but the combat just wasn't for me.

I looked up the answers for some of the puzzles, but if I put in the effort, I could've probaly figured it out, maybe.

Is this one of the best games I've played? No. But low key, I really enjoyed this. There are issues, no doubt, but there's a lot to like, for example. at how it skews many of the expectations of the genre - even if the vast majority of the twists are signposted very clearly (which, don't get me wrong, is FAR preferable to the opposite).
Combat is a tactical affair, which is quite easy to pick up if you've ever played a tactical jrpg. Your party can assist each other in battle if close enough, you can launch uncounterable back attacks, you have magic abilities for offence, support, and health. You probably know the drill. Then comes the slight skewing of the genre - magic costs sanity (going insane turns you berserk and then die after three turns - which loses you the fight if it's the MC) and physical attacks (other than basic ones) cost HP - think the same kind of stuff as Persona, for example. However... you can also use said madness to achieve Enlightenment for a few terms, vastly increasing your stats, giving you a risk versus reward set-up.
The combat itself could have benefited massively from more variety in the maps and enemies (but honestly, I've found that in a lot of tactical jrpgs that get praised to high heaven (like FFT, or Disgaea for example) and it feels more of a criticism of the genre itself, and the limitations of it.) Once you work out what you are doing (and the sheer power of the MCs special abilities) there is no need to grind unless you want to 100% it like I did. I was going into the final fight of the post game with almost all of the party 30 levels below, it's that powerful when utilised properly.
The story is... Well, let's just say it has its fair share of things that make me wince, wondering why the devs would think it was a good idea. Silent protagonist - big wince. (Seriously, I can't think of a good reason to include it other than (maybe) not having to pay much for the little voice acting you then include.) Amnesia (and other plot points) which people barely seem to comment about, and questions that should be asked rarely being done - big wince, albeit slightly redeemed later on. Being willing to die for your friends... but not give them all of the very important info you have on the situation at hand because... reasons I guess. Wince. A student body and faculty staff being remarkable unbothered by lots of people dying, people going mad, and a whole host of things that in a normal world would have seen them all panicking and running around willy-nilly before being claimed themselves - Seriously, I don't even want to go to a Japanese college/high school (depending on what they are called where you live...). Those places are unhinged! I spent most of the start of my time playing the game wanting to scream at the characters why they aren't freaking out more.
But I still loved it. It's dark, and off piste, and isn't afraid to touch some dark stuff, or unconventional wisdom into the mix. I liked the central thrust of the conceit which essentially takes the emotions labelled as the deadly sins, and play around with how these emotions can actually lead to drives for good things as well as bad if you get consumed by them. The romantic interest - such as it is, isn't the one you would have expected it to be. The music is in general really rather good and scene setting. There are some ACTUAL puzzles in it. Not fetch quests, but things you actually have to work out yourself, which is groundbreaking in today's world. (The final one is either really tough, or really simple, and if you find it tough I wouldn't blame you for looking up the answer. There is one other one I found a little difficult, as well, but most of them had enough info given to you that you could work it out okay.) Honestly, I had an absolute blast, and if there was a sequel for it, or something similar made off the back of it, I'd be interested.
That said, I don't have all that much money, and don't think I could have justified my purchase at full price. Getting in a sale softens your expectations and lets you put up with some things you wouldn't usually.
I'd say, give it a shot - it might not be for you, but equally, it might be your very own guilty pleasure.

Ok game is fun, with a combat system that really is too repetitive to grind but enough interesting for the little times you had to do it, basicly you go for the story that is actually well made so if you want a good game with good story with a little side TRPG this game is for you but if you want a good TRPG with story well go for disgaea or other games like that.