(If you're too lazy to read the whole review, scroll down for pros and cons)

(SPOILER-FREE)

Well, first of all, I must warn you that I'm very nitpicky and this review has two main obvious purposes: give the players enough information to know whether they should try the game or not and provide feedback to the hard-working devs. Please, don't be offended by anything I write here--it's just my humble opinion and I share it with the best of intentions. Oh, by the way, English is not my native language, so please forgive any of my mistakes. And let's get to it.

Introduction:

This game doesn't seem like it's supposed to be a long journey in which you're able to dive into a fantastic world and feel like you're a big part of it. Most of the original version was made in something like three days and the whole process seems to have taken around two weeks. That's nothing, even with the aid of RPGM. So of course the game has its limitations and this should be considered when you assess its value.

Concept:

To put it shortly (and in a spoiler-free way), the game takes place in a world full of alchemy, demons, necromancy, illusionists, magic and forests and caves and crystals and potions and all that stuff. The story portrays a mission undertook by four people to find an elixir of immortality rumored to be inside a long-forgotten tomb. It takes place in the Arun universe--so it seems--, but I don't know nothing about it and haven't played any other of the games.

Anyway, it's amazing how much depth they managed to achieve in such a short story. It's just a single short mission, but it still has plot twists and you really feel like most things were really well thought out. What bothered me was that many things were addressed or mentioned, but had no further development, which disappointed me a bit.

Characters:

As you've probably already seen on the main page, we have four characters. Actually, five, but two of them count as one playable character, since it's an illusionist boy and its "pet" demon. Each one of them is very unique in personality, style, and as a fighting character, which is always a good thing.

But I'm sad to say I didn't like them very much. First of all, they all seemed to be trying way too hard to be funny and it didn't work for me (it did for a lot of people, though, or so it seems). And I found many things to be weird. The main married couple made absolutely no sense to me as such. It also seemed weird that the kid was the alchemist's nephew. Overall, the characters didn't strike me as plausible in almost no sense. I don't mean I wanted "reality" plausible; I mean that, considering their universe, their thoughts and speechs and actions didn't make sense as a whole. But that's to be expected. Sentient beings are just way too complex to be completely developed in a couple of weeks.

Gameplay:

So, the most important part of my review. Is it a nice game to play?

First all, ISoI is a very easy game. And I played it on hard mode. Ok, I'm a hardcore gamer and have already played hundreds of RPGs. Still, the game is at most "slightly easy" on hard mode. By the way, I beat the final boss before it even had the chance to play! The only hard fight was the final side-quest boss, but just because the fight against this boss was different. And full heal after battle is OP.

Does it mean I didn't like to play the game? Not at all! As said before, each character has their unique features and it's really nice to play (and learn to play) with each of them. Each of them learn skills in their own ways and I must say it's one of the games that could best make characters that feel like they have a different fighting mechanic, not only different skills and attributes. And it still doesn't feel awkward when you play the game. Kudos to the devs for that! But once you learn how to best use your characters, you'll probably just do the exact same thing over different battles. It worked for me at least (even against the final boss).

Most of the skills are really useful. This goes especially for Ezekiel, the strongest character by a mile. The Conditional Turn Battle System is really nice and I've never seen it before. But it needs some polishing, since I think Ezekiel turned out way too strong because of it. Well, but some skills are not so useful and characters are somewhat unbalanced. I found myself reducing Alma's agility just so I wouldn't have to skip her turn with something useless (I did the same to Ezekiel's agility so that others could get a turn and learn new skills). Isaac's resources for crafting kind of lose most of their importance after you mix them in battle. And Ellis is mostly effective when he uses his haste skills. I know it's a short game and it's supposed to be that way, but it seems like I've mastered everything there was to the battles halfway through it.

I also like the idea of the Mods and they were well implemented. It's like equipping, but it feels like you're able to customize your characters more than just the regular changing of equipment.

It may seem that I didn't like it, but I did. As I mentioned before, I'm nitpicky. So let me be clear:

I enjoyed battling monsters and learning skills , as well as learning how to best use the characters as fighters and getting mods and customizing them.

I must mention some minor pros and cons, too.

Pros
- You don't have to walk to start a battle. Just choose the option from the menu.
- Battles are usually fast.
- Leveling up is really well balanced (no need to grind and you don't get too strong ahead of time either).

Cons
- Elements (like fire and ice) are in the game, but I never really knew if they made any difference. I've always used what seemed stronger judging only by power. And it worked.
- Some ability texts are wrong (like a thunder attack saying it's an ice attack), which can be confusing.
- Seems like you get way too many items too easily.

Graphics:

I love the graphics. It's that same old retro RPG style. Each region you visit is unique and beautiful. Characters have nice graphics, too. I'm not sure if they came in a pre-made pack or not, but it all seemed generic to me. Not "bad" generic, since they look nice and mostly cute. It just wasn't outstanding. My only real problem were the monsters. I thought they were all kind of ugly and didn't fit in the game, graphically speaking.

Music and Sound:

That's one area I don't have much to add. I usually don't pay much attention to it. Unless it's incredibly awesome OR terrible. They were good. I remember paying attention to one or two background tunes when they were pleasant to my ears. That's all. Again, I have no clue if they came in a pre-made pack.

Verdict:

That said, I do recommend this game! Would I run to a friend screaming "HEY, YOU'VE GOTTA CHECK THIS GAME, IT'S, LIKE, CHRONO TRIGGER, ONLY BETTER!!!!!"? No, I won't, but I've already told a friend he should check it out. Will I be on lookout for new games by the same developers? YOU BET!

SO GO AHEAD AND TRY IT! =)

Pros & Cons:

Pros:

• Cute game with a beautiful and interesting world
• Story has depth considering the game's length
  
• Very unique characters with distinguished personalites, battle mechanics and skills
  
• Fun to play and to learn how to play--slightly addictive!
  
• Well-balanced game mechanics in general
  
• No need to grind and you're never overleveled
  
• Nice unique game systems like Conditional Turn Battle System and Mods
  
• Pleasant BGM
  

Cons:

• Too short
  
• Too easy
  
• Humor didn't work for me
  
• Ugly enemies that don't seem to belong in the game
  
• Characters don't sound or act realistically
  
• Characters are unbalanced in combat
  
• Still needs a significant amount of polishing