Given my like since its a fairly solid game overall.

Story is a little forced since some people are obviously evil, but the party just kind of ignores them until it gets to a point, ending is a little open for a sequel though i wont say in what way.

Visuals are a nice 16-bit look but as you progress you're reminded a lot of pokemon funnily enough.

Exploration is alright, you just pick a cardinal direction to go from the main castle and the enemies/bosses scales up based on order you pick, so there is no real right or wrong answer unless you are aiming for something specific. Like each one has a QoL key item that'll let you do various things, like a item to move over water, item to hover over spikes (and just move faster overall), and an item to let you teleport. You'll also notice numbered chests near regular ones, which is just implemented progression for each area you clear, since each clear adds 1 to the number of chest you can open (it not tied to getting the crystal at the end as i found out, but more how many bridge passes you collected after the first one). Usually they contain a more powerful version of an item you got from the un-numbered chest.

Game has various QoL options as well, you can increase or decrease how much exp you get. You can also turn off encounters at any point if you don't feel like doing them, or are backtracking to open chests (which you'll do a lot), or once you're done with the beastiary there. Trash mobs don't actually drop anything so unless you are using them to level then there is no reason to have them on otherwise.

Battle system is good, usual turn-based stuff with the ability to turn spells into AoEs with the R button (on my controller). That said, for trash fights there really is no reason not to just AoE enemies and ST bosses every time. You can also change the element of your ally with gems, doing so will increase your damage with that element and makes you take less from that element and resistant element, so there is no reason not to until enemies with multiple elements starts showing up.

Similarly with skills, each member starts out with one and unlocks more every few levels (though they aren't really unique since others will unlock them in order eventually). Your 1st mc starts out with the spin ability and honestly, its something you'll just use the entire game it's so broken, just give them 2 ailment or an elemental weapon and they'll just apply both to everything. Even when it gets to the point where its better to fight trash mobs with frenzy (perform 2-5 attacks on regular autos), having your supporter spin ailments after buffing allies is very valuable. Also stat changes are broken, give em a go.

TLDR: Good game, solid if you like turn-based games and broken combos, trash fights are only for exp, you can boost the exp you get if you want, or turn them off when you're done, just collect everything.