The Benza RPG

For fans of the television show, The Benza RPG is a dream come true. Literally every character in The Benza and Benza English can be found in the game.
The battle system reminds me of Final Fantasy 10 as you can switch characters in and out of combat if you have more than four. Each weapon has different skills attached to it which allows you to customize your team a bit. Party members each have their own set role in combat. Each character is really useful, and there is no character that I just left on the bench. My favorite part about this is that even characters not in combat gain experience. It was really fun that the main cast of the television show voiced their characters, but I wished they had subtitles. Maybe a future update?
The music and story are the best parts about this game. There are so many good songs. I was kind of sad the music wasn't for sale. I would have bought the soundtrack for sure. I really loved how funny the plot of the game was. I wanted to stop Inko Sensei of course, but mainly I just wanted to keep reading Chris and Kyle's meta commentary on what was happening. The ghost (yurei?) Tamura also made me laugh a lot.
If you play retro RPGs it is quite intuitive and easy to pick up. In this version, there are only 3 or 4 of each weapon and armor type so it felt a bit easy at times. However, especially for people not used to JRPGs, this isn't the type of game you can just speed through. Especially later boss fights, you need to use strategy and take advantage of the "Switch" function in battle to win. I lost a few of the boss fights I tried to rush through. Not understanding character's roles in combat is another sure fire way to lose. The game doesn't feel unbalanced though, and learning new abilities and progressing felt natural.
If you aren't familiar with the show, this game would be confusing. A lot of the quests involve looking for certain characters, and if you don't know who they are, it might be hard to find them. There was never a need for grinding, but if you don't properly heal and buy equipment bosses can take out the entire team quickly.
If you're a fan of Earthbound, Final Fantasy 9 or 10-2, Lunar, or to a lesser degree Sega Genesis/Mega Drive era Phantasy Star 2 or 4, I recommend this game. If you prefer your RPG's to be broody or haven't seen the show it might not be the game for you. Stay away if you don't like retro graphics or comedy in your RPGs.

I never heard of or seen the show but this game is pretty well made. I did run into a few bugs and errors but its a decent length (so far) and theres a large cast each with their own skillsets which can make for some pretty interesting strategies.
After finishing version 3 I have to say, Im really glad to have finally finished this game after such a long wait for it to come out! The final part was alot easier than expected, I think it was even easier than the version 2 final boss! Felt like the enemies in floor 40-50 didnt get much stronger while the player characters were already quite powerful by the end of version 2. And final thing was that after defeating the final boss the game ended but put me back in to finish any leftover sidequests and stuff, but I had no party members and couldnt get out of the house. Hope that gets fixed soon!

A bit of backstory. The Benza is a Japanese web tv show about a couple guys wanting to replace their broken toilet seat and end up getting dragged into a crazy supernatural quest to save the world. The Benza RPG is a nice companion to the show, trapping the whole cast of characters in a video game universe. If you're familiar with the show, the humor sticks, so I recommend watching a few episodes first. Otherwise, I don't know if anything would make sense.
Pros
-surprisingly deep story
-witty dialogue
-catchy music adapted from the show
-VOICE-ACTING by the cast
-Inko-sensei
-a fun hodgepodge of languages
Cons
-a lack of backstory or at least a compendium of the characters for people who haven't seen the original show
-enemy designs are lacking and inconsistent
-enemy encounters during puzzle segments was annoying

A super fun retro RPG! It's may be a free game, but it is super in depth. It has a real story, great characters, awesome music and great battles to boot. Even if you don't know the show this is adapted from, you'd have a fun time playing through it. It definitely gets pretty addictive, especially as it delivers a good challenge and isn't too punishing!

Great game if you like throwback JRPGs. Pretty good story (I never have seen the show). Lots of skills and good maps/dungeons and combat. Dialogue is great English (if it was translated?).

Finally closure. Love the show and the game was an excellent tie-in.
Recommend for old-school RPG lovers and fans of the show.
End game bug: After the end credits I'm a ghost. It says I can complete side quests but I have no party members.

It's clever and pretty funny, the gameplay is good too. As one reviewer pointed out, the enemy battles can get boring and it falls into the common problem where battles get progressively "cheaper" as you go. Eg, there's one point where you're fighting multiple enemies that act several times for each round of yours and love using different flavors of AOE stun. Also it auto saves just at the start of boss cut-scenes, so there's that.
So, yes, it's a great game and excellent marketing material for the comedy team, but be prepared to accept that you won't finish it.