Finished the game and liked it.
The story and characters were really fun. While the story had it's generic parts, and I could tell most of the time where it's going and what twists to except (the exception was the incident with slade and the black guard), the game managed to keep me interested and immersed in the plot.
To me, the villains and the main character, Nero, were kind of corny, but I really liked most of the other characters (my favourites were Lamia and slade). I also kind of liked Malakai (he had a great theme when you first met him), even though it took me about two seconds to understand he is not as stupid as he looks and that he is probably evil.
The gameplay and plot kind of reminded me of Lufia 2, for some reason, in a good way (even though your game had less generic story and seemed to use graphics from Romancing Saga 3 and maybe Treasures of Rudra). However, while Lufia 2 had amazing puzzles to keep the player entertained, your game seemed to lack those, and it's a shame. On the other hand, the battles were quite enough to compensate for that. Yes, Corvus was kind of useless (his scribe ability took two turns and had zero use so I just spammed his darkness ability until he was out of mp, which happened a lot. you kinda expect a big guy in an armor to pack more of a punch), and Nero was way overpowered after about halfway through the game. However, each character had unique skills, and I actually found use for most of those.
A note about the difficulty, the game was really laid out well in terms of difficulty. I personally can't enjoy overly difficult rpg games, because I feel it tends to spoil the continuity of the story, which is my main focus in a game. However, your game was for the most part well balanced. I say for the most part, because the game kinda became too easy in the end (with the exception of two amazing boss battles, against slade, and the last battle with Lamia's old pet friend whose name I forgotten). As I already said, Nero becomes overpowered (as a healer) around halfway through the game, and if the super mp steal+super healing combination isn't enough, you get a mp replenisher in the last dungeon (which for all practical reasons makes Nero a walking inn, since he can also replenish his own mp using that skill). While I personally don't mind such things, since I care more about the story, I felt it did take some of the tension from exploring the last dungeon, which became a tedious task of easily sweeping one cool monster after another. I think blocking the possibility of Nero replenishing his own mp can help, but considering his mp steal ability, maybe it will just be blocking a licking dam with the help of some tissue paper.
Another note about graphics and music (and sound). Ripped or not, it's the way you use your materials that counts and not only the sheer quality of each component. It's rare for games to leave an impression on me through the music, and your choice of music seemed like it was sewed to every scene diligently. I actually had my favourites, whether it was Malakai's introduction theme, the Slade boss battle theme, or the "all too familiar" party theme near the end). As for the mapping, it really complimented the story, and it felt like each town and every dungeon had a unique feel to it.
On the overall I really enjoyed your game, and it really will stay with me for a while (which is, I think, the biggest compliment I can give a game).
Bug issues (Just the things that bugged me, I don't care for small stuff)
(1) The game did crush on me once or twice. I'm kind of a save freak, so none of those caught me with my pants down, and I can't point an exact, since it didn't happen more than once, but it did happen.
(2) What I think is a major issue, which can be easily solved, after killing slade, you can return to rgan lowtown (to kill his wife too and stuff), some npcs seem to not be tempered with. Most notably, you can find Alister in his room at the inn, which you can't leave after entering. You are actually trapped in a series of long cutscenes leading to the boss battle with slade.
(3) Another minor issue which bugged me was you can also find Lamia sleeping in her room at the inn in Dalmar (on a different note, props about remembering the "it's not yet time" dude in Dalmar, it was a decent boss battle with a great prize which I gave Lamia for some of the tougher boss battles).