I should preface this by acknowledging my biases. Yes I am a huge Dragon Quest fan and Dragon Quest VII is my favorite in the series. This game takes a lot of cues from Dragon Quest VII, which highly appeals to me. Thankfully this is done in a manner that doesn't feel like a rehash, but rather a homage. The content is quite original and works well within the framework of a Dragon Quest. Now I haven't beaten the game yet, I am only about 25% of the way through, but I think I've played enough to give an opinion on it.

Things I like
+ The graphics. At first I was skeptical when I realized the game was using GBC tilesets. But it works. It's very colorful and the maps are well constructed.

+ The story. The basic story is quite well done. Yes there are a few lines here and there that feel odd, but most of the time it seems quite natural. Once you get to the first region in the past, the game really starts to shine. As I mentioned before, the story takes quite a few elements from Dragon Quest VII, though never to the point of being redundant.

Like Dragon Quest VII, you start off on a small island. Eventually you are sent to investigate a mysterious shrine. The shrine houses several pedestals where, when shards are placed upon them, you are sent to the past version of various islands. There you must solve whatever problem ails that land. Afterwards, you return to the present and can explore the present version of the land you just save. Rinse and repeat until the world is fully restored. It's a bit formulaic, but it works well. The individual stories are well done and varied. In one story you will help a town solve its food supply problem, while in another you will help a priest fight prevent a town from burning down.

+ The custom scripts. Really makes this game stand out in my opinion. I never thought I'd see stuff like monster breeding, an alchemy pot, etc in an RPGmaker game. Really sets the mood for me.

+ The grinding. This game pulls no punches with regards to challenge. It's very much as difficult as old school games in the series were. This is not a bad thing.

+ Deep gameplay. There are lots of underlying mechanics that made it into this game. Monster raising, monster breeding. Alchemy pot, tons of secrets. A mini-game here or there. Just a lot of things that really make this feel like a real Dragon Quest experience.

If you've ever played a Dragon Quest, you know what to expect, but if you haven't, the game basically plays like this: You reach a town, some sort of problem troubles the town, which you find out by talking to NPCs. You then must explore a dungeon, either get a key item or defeat a monster. Each regions typically has 2 or 3 dungeons that must be cleared before the region is saved. Typically there are puzzles in each dungeon, which range from pressing buttons in a specific order, to answer riddles, to finding and entering passwords correctly.

Things I don't like
- Musical Inconsistency. Don't get me wrong, I find the music choices to be superb. But it's a little jarring having it switch between 8-bit, midi, and MP3 quality.

- Inability to change formations from your menu. In order to change the order your party is, you have to talk to an NPC. I understand having the NPC, since he switches out people in your party. It'd be nice if you could change the order your party is in without him though.

So yeah, very minor complaints. I've been addicted ever since I downloaded it a few days back. It's rare to see an RPGmaker project reach completion, and it's rarer yet to see one that is so good. So congrats! I can't wait to see what's next for me in this game.