Game play

Tutorials:
• They were very useful and unobtrusive and I like how for each character you get a quick rundown on what they can do.

Battles/Enemies:
• I liked how the battles were all touch battles, the lack of random encounters made the experience of going through the caves and the maps very comfortable. Had there been random encounters I feel I may have been very loath to explore the cave system, and would likely be very annoyed that battles kept interrupting me when I was trying to open switches and the like.
• The battles felt well balanced; at no point did I feel the enemies were too overpowered (except with that blasted mimic! But I'm leaving that in its box until I come up with a good way to kill it in one blow). I also never felt like I was too overpowered.
• One question though... why did those bandits at the cross roads at the beginning of the playable area only drop 2 Vala, but the monsters were dropping 10-40 a battle? I was very confused.
Skills: (these deserve their own section)
• I love the skills and how they are utilised. I also like how all the characters are Mercs, and they all have Mug, but just like in real life, they all have their individual little skills. Very nice touch.
• Julian’s skills in Cunning where very useful, and I found myself using them more than anything else, his status skills were ok, but I wasn't so into using them, might have been personal preference, but that's just me.
• Sarah's skills were good, I was Chakra her right at the start of battle and just ... hm (probably shouldn't curse)... just leathered into those enemies! She really was a tank.
• Trey's skills were my favourite, especially after I found out you could combine a magic attack with his sword attacks, very, very clever.
• I also loved that Julian’s states dealt damage as well, that was awesome!

Misc:
• The jump spots, awesomely well done. I enjoyed them immensely.
• Clever use of the switches (though it did take me a long time to realise what the reset switch did)
• Handy random merchant man!
• Why did the signs not have words on them? I think that would have been good.
• I liked the book. That was good. A very interesting way to give world information to people who are interested and leave the people who are not to just carry on. (there will be more of these right? because I would make it my mission in a full game to find all of them just to learn all about the world)
• Mapping was good, clear defined paths, not too cluttered and not too empty.
• Lots of chests. I wasn't expecting that many!
• Why in the battles at the start did some of the enemies have faces when they talked to Julian and some did not? That was a little inconsistent.
Overall Thoughts on Game play:
Overall the game play aspects were good, I enjoyed the varied skill section, the switches and the handy merchant man were neat and the experience was good.

Story
I don't want to say much on the story as I haven't played the full game, and reviewing the story without playing the whole thing just feels wrong. However, what I've seen so far makes me very happy, and I want to play more.
The scene in the introduction was pretty emotional between Julian and Charlotte, and then later when Julian is speaking to the grave. I’d really like to know what happened to the other mercs. Jaal was kinda interesting at the start and then he was mentioned again at the start of the playable section, so I’m wanting to know more about that.
Only one thing... where is the son? I was waiting for the son to appear and he never did... I was very sad.

Characters
Your characters were very well done.
I particularly enjoyed the interactions between Julian and Sarah; they have a very sibling like relationship that reminds me a bit of how me and my brother bait each other which was refreshing and fun.
Trey was very serious and I liked the little talk he had with Julian. All characters were very natural and conveyed their personalities very well.
Again, without the missing pieces (where you meet Trey in the story for instance) and some more information on why our lovely little trio are wandering the wilds, I can't speculate too much on them. But I did enjoy their interactions immensely and hope there will be more soon.
I would also like to know more about this Martin character, for some reason he intrigues me, don't know why, but he does. Is Trey his brother? I feel like I missed so much...
I also feel that the Handy Merchant man should have a littler personality, maybe some conversations with the characters.

Misc Comments
• lol. breaking the fourth wall a little bit there Trey (at the switches)
• I think the basic badge should read "Worth substantial money" not "with"
• What’s with the rope on that cliff top?
• Very nice spring... but why is this room interesting? Should the spring heal me?

I am aware that my review focused a lot on game play, but as I stated before, it wouldn’t feel right reviewing the story so far in depth before I’ve seen the whole thing. So you’d better hurry up and finish it!