Ethereal Dreams

Battle System- 3/5
Very traditional combat here. Things are reasonably balanced, and on the easy side of the spectrum. Although that's not really a bad thing the battles just aren't very engaging. Mashing attack will get you through normal battles easily enough, and it doesn't take anything more than spamming your strongest skills for a handful of rounds to take down the bosses. The method for which you learn skills has been changed up a bit here however. Instead of learning strictly through levels, you gain points in various weapon proficiencies based on the weapon you have equipped at the time of leveling up. While it's a decent idea, there's always a best weapon to use at any given time so there's really not much of a choice involved. Unless you're willing to choose a skill path that requires you to weaken your own damage output.

Storyline- 3/5
The story was rather slow to pick up, and by the end of the demo it hadn't really gone anywhere significant. From what I've seen thus far it seems like a typical fantasy adventure. It's been very predictable so far, but since the demo is in an early state there's still plenty of directions things might end up going.

Characters- 4/5
Although the story didn't impress me much, things fare much better in this category. The main character is a lazy drunk dragoon, who begins the game by attempting to cure one severe hangover. He is joined by a centaur who appears to be a longtime friend, and his daughter who is clearly eager to go on adventures with him. The script is competently written and a lot of these characters are quite interesting, even if a few of them are a bit stereotypical. This aspect is enhanced by optional campfire scenes you can view on the overworld, in which the party discusses a few of the things that have happened recently in the storyline. I'd have liked to see these campfire scenes go on a bit longer, but they are still a worthy addition. The demo ends before any of these characters develop beyond their initial personalities, but things are definitely moving in the right direction here.

Level Design- 3/5
Most of the demo consists of you wandering through various forests, though there is the odd cave or mountain range thrown in. For the most part there's not much involved here other than getting from point A to point B. There are a few minor puzzles, but they tend to serve only as a minor inconvenience at best. One minor hiccup here is that it's not always clear what kind of terrain you can walk over and which kind will stop you in your tracks.

The exceptional addition to this category is the Encounter Orb which rests in the corner of the screen. It warns you of how close you are to your next battle, starting out green and eventually shifting over to red when a battle is imminent. The best part of this feature is the rate at which the orb speeds up is based on the terrain you walk on. Each tile has a noise level associated with it, and the noisier the tile the more monster attention you will attract. If you're trying to avoid combat you can stick to wide open plains, while walking through thick grass my attract attention a bit sooner. Start splashing around in water and you're going to be swarmed almost immediately. It's a great system to have and it operates logically.

Graphics- 5/5
The game uses almost entirely custom graphics. Custom battlers, custom tilesets, custom monsters, even custom battle animations. All of it appears to be hand drawn, looks good, and most importantly every object is recognizable. Both the status and battle menus seem to be custom, and they all look great without slowing the game down. Some of the story sequences are accentuated with a quick cut to a portrait displaying a bit of action, and overall this entire category just feels superbly polished. Everything looks great while retaining all functionality. Really that's all you can ask from graphics in a game.

Music/Sound- 3/5
I never recognized any of the songs, which is always a plus for me. None of them grated on me and none of them really stood out, so that's about all I have to say here.

Random stuff I liked-
The main character's tendency to notice strange things and comment on them.

Random stuff I hated-
The agility stat has been renamed to Elusion. Aside from the fact I had to grab a dictionary to confirm the definition of this word it isn't really as descriptive as it could be. Although this stat does determine evasion, it also determines turn order. Really sticking with Agility or Speed or something of that nature which describes both aspects of the stat would probably be best.

Final Thoughts-
A visually pleasing game. It's a bit average in the gameplay department but is not without a few choice innovations.