-Okay, let me just take a moment here to gush over that intro. It didn't try to be a movie, which is smart, because RTP movies are rarely good. Rather, it used a minimalist approach to ensure that the player had nothing to distract them from the scene playing out. It mixed exposition and action in just the right ratio to get information across while keeping the player's eyes on the screen. It wasn't technically anything new, but it was old stuff done right, which is often better.

-Immediately after the intro, it launches into an RTP MOVIE. The text moves automatically and everything, and I miss some of the beginning due to adjusting my BLANKET. It's a modest movie and well-executed, though the fighting bit lacks umph due to limited graphics. There are some edits though, and those make it worthwhile. I wouldn't mind seeing more of these.

-The character's we're introduced to, though, are slightly worrisome. Or rather, the way the introduction is done is a bit off-setting. It's not terrible, but it feels like the author really likes this character and thinks the player should too, but we don't even know her yet. For a specific example, the THUG has a 'so that's why they call you STOCK TITLE' line, which comes a little ways after a 'LEONA CRAWFORD, LEGENDARY CLAYMORE WIELDER' line. If he really believes she is the LEGENDARY STOCK TITLE, then why is he engaging her in solo combat? His words are detached from his actions for the sake of exposition and it's painfully obvious. Given how easily the THUG is dispatched, he must have known next to nothing about LEONA to challenge her.

-Also, that's a really short CLAYMORE.

-On to the next scene. I'm given a CHOICE, though it seems rather pointless. As far as I can tell, the only effect was to have a character stand around for a few seconds. On one hand, that action informs me about the character...but on the other, I can't really attribute it to that char as I was the one that made the choice. So in the end, I gain nothing from my choice AND miss out on potential character development.

-There's a short conversation bit where I choose dialogue options. It seems well done and approximates actual conversation in that I only get to choose one option, rather than cycling through.

-I now have to enter a name. It seems this is a player-as-PC deal, which is fine, though not my cup of tea.

-I then walk into town and everyone gives me STRANGE LOOKS via emote bubbles. This effectively gets the point across quite quickly and without and potentially strange dialogue.

-The PROLOGUE or w/e continues. LEONA shows up and talks for a while in a mostly concise fashion. She lays out the CONFLICT and then hauls me on a tour of the town. I'm somewhat itching to use my ARROW KEYS by this point, though.

-I get to use said keys shortly thereafter, at 12:35 game-time. Granted, there wasn't really any gameplay that happened, so it made sense for the whole thing to be basically a cutscene, but perhaps it would be better to pare it down some by moving LEONA'S section to a later point. Whether she kills the THUG before my character meets her or after is of little consequence, and giving the player control as early as possible should take precedence.

-The walking speed is very fast, which makes sense if a person is just trying to get from point A to point B as quickly as possible. There is a price paid, however, in immersion. If you want to cut travel times, cut map size. A compact town is more believable than an absurdly fleet-footed hero.

-I enter the MAGICK shop or w/e it was. My memory is not what it used to be, I think. It's dark, though lamps on either side snap on as I walk forward. Just as I'm beginning to DROOL over this well-crafted atmosphere, a character steps out and claims to know 'everything in the universe.' That feels overdone to the point of killing the mood, though she immediately backs off of the statement and says LEONA told her. That would be a good point to have a player dialogue CHOICE to capture the 'lolwat' feeling and make it work for you. Make sure at least one option is to the tune of 'yeah, sure lady, w/e.' Then, when she backs down from the statement, it has more of a comedic effect instead of a 'yeah, sure lady, w/e' deal.

-YULIE explains MAGICK to me, though I don't really understand it all. I suspect it will make more sense as I go along. I attempt to buy a box from her, but instead of her saying 'you have not enough MAGICK,' I get a nondescript text pop-up that lets me know while YULIE is silent on the matter. To preserve immersion/atmosphere, it would be best to have her say as much, or even have her disallow me from shopping if I don't have the means to buy her cheapest item.

-Also, her opening line contains a grammatical error. Either 'items' should be singular or 'its most basic component' should be 'their most basic components.'

-I visit the BAKERY where BREAD LADY says one line to me, then apologizes in the next for not realizing who I was sooner. I feel like she picked up on it quite quickly, though.

-A HANDBOOK explains the food system. It seems interesting, though I shall have to see it in action.

-Someone in the shop exclaims that there's too much to choose from, though, since I can't interact with anything, I wouldn't know.

-The BLACKSMITH'S greaves bit is legitimately funny. The part that follows feels tacked on, though, as there's a complete shift in the flow of the scene.

-The mapping is detailed, believable and beautiful, btw. The realistic-ish shadows are especially notable.

-I enter the bar, staffed by someone apparently named MR. BARKEEP. The NPCs range from amusing to 'what a great day to hang out with my best friend!' One lady even tells me that she's been stalking some guy for years but hasn't talked to him...which is odd, as she's so comfortable telling a total stranger this, but apparently can't go up and say hi.

-BARKEEP will either be seen as awesomely hilarious or trying-too-hard not funny.

-I ZIP into the other part of town, which consists of a bunch of houses and a church with a WOODEN DOOR. Up to this point, I've just had to walk into a door to open it, but these require me to use the action button to interact. It's fine that every door says there's no one at home, but, the interaction method should be changed to be consistent with earlier doors.

-If I try to leave the castle, I hit an invisible wall, but get no feedback.

-In the military district, the first soldier I see does not respond to interaction requests. The rest of them trigger a notice saying 'this soldier is not paying attention to you.' I'm not sure if it's intentional or not, but the first should trigger that same message so that the player gets some form of feedback.

-I return to the MANOR where LEONA talks some more. She implores me not to wear JACK'S BOOTS ever again, to which I SMILE.

-I explore my quaint MANOR then go to bed.

-When I wake, I'm prompted to save, and realize that I'm 30 minutes into the game without much real grasp of conflict. I've heard a fair bit about DEIMOS and know that I've just become a new LORD after my father was POISONED, but so far it's been pure setting. Nothing has really HAPPENED via gameplay. I actually don't have any idea what the gameplay is like, at this point, as the most I've done is walk around talking to NPCs.
Perhaps, and this is just a quick suggestion, the game could start with ME at my father's grave, then MACK picks me up to escort me to town. We are ACCOSTED by THUGS and fight the grunts. When we get to the BOSS, LEONA shows up and MACK exclaims that she is the LEGENDARY CLAYMORE WIELDER. THUG BOSS is new in town since he just heard of LORD TARRON'S death and hasn't heard of LEONA. He fights her and is SLAIN, establishing her badassery. LEONA joins the party and we make it to town where we fight SOMETHING. She remarks that the SOMETHING exists due to DEIMOS but doesn't go into detail so as not to alarm MACK. She then takes me into town and gives me a tour, then asks me to meet her at the MANOR. At the manor, she tells me the stuff about DEIMOS.
That way, the player is an active participant and gets to see the bad things happening rather than just hearing about them.

-My MAIDs have been diligently cleaning all night, it seems. JENNIE the cook has also stood vigil over the stove the whole time.

-When leaving, I have the option to go to the MILITARY district or the SHOPPING district. I've been told that LEONA is in the latter, but I check out the former for completion's sake or w/e. Turns out, there's 100% nothing to be done there. Probably best not to make it an option until there's some point to it existing, as the player gains nothing from choosing to explore it at this time.

-LEONA introduces me to TARLACH. I'm guessing she's RUAIRI, so now I'm just waiting on MARI to show up. It would not surprise me if DEIMOS resembled GLAS GHABLEAILIJAFLEN or w/e his name is.

-LEONA talks for a while, then we set off to wreak great JUSTICE on some BANDITS.

-As I leave, I'm brought to a PARTY FORMATION window thing. There are no meaningful choices to be made here as my party is under the maximum size, so...perhaps hold off on showing that until needed?

-I exited town via the north, but enter it via the east on the WORLD MAP. I bristle.

-The WORLD MAP seems to use many custom sprites, including a miniature PLAYER CHARACTER. It looks detailed and charming all at once. Included on it at markers indicating towns I can visit and dungeons I can enter.

-Stepping on a dungeon marker gives information about said dungeon.

-When actually inside of the dungeon, it seems like it's set-up is rather similar to a game called MABINOGI. I doubt many people will recognize it, but, I LOVE this. I happen to have played MABINOGI since it's NA release over half a decade ago.

-The similarities extend to the minimap, the room breakdown and the keys. I'm pretty EXCITED to see how it plays out.

-In combat, LACKEY'S animation seems more like he's being sucked into a vacuum cleaner than anything natural. It's not AWFUL, but the game would likely be better off without it.

-Right off the bat, I have 6 commands I can use in battle. ATTACK, SKILLS, CHARGE SKILLS, 0-SKILLS, GUARD and SCAN. So far, only SCAN has been mentioned to me.

-Of note, CHARGE skills have a TP cost, despite TARLACH having a CHARGE bar instead of a TP bar. Also, CHARGING magic? This is definitely MABINOGI.

-I use SCAN and am given a full breakdown of LACKEY'S abilities via a nice PICTURE. I note that he is weak to SWORDS which comes in handy as it is now my turn and I have SWORD SKILLS. I cannot use them, however...perhaps I did not equip a SWORD? Indeed, it seems I have a MACE equipped as I can use my MACE SKILLS. Shouldn't the whole SWORD SKILLS type be sealed, then, rather than just the individual skill being unavailable? Also, why do my WEAPON SKILLS cost MP? Especially since it's just 1 MP.

-I hit him and do perhaps 10% of his hp in damage. It seems this battle may take a while. Of note, LEONA has less hp than I do and is apparently slower, despite being LEGENDARY. She also uses HATRED as a resource, which is a bit too not subtle at all. RAGE is generally accepted, though a fresh name would be nice, so long as it isn't so over the top as HATRED.

-LEONA does TONS OF DAMAGE and finishes the LACKEY off in one go. That bit of her, at least, is LEGENDARY.

-I encounter more ENEMIES. They appear to be struggling to escape the grasp of a BLACK HOLE.

-LEONA'S damage is like 7x lower, for some reason.

-TARLACH keeps mentioning GOD, those apparently this benevolent GOD isn't cool enough to have a proper name like DEIMOS.

-I walk into a room and it is locked by a MYSTERIOUS FORCE. To maintain the setting, perhaps it should be locked by a rote TRAP or perhaps a DOOR.

-It seems being weak to sword skills makes them do 7x damage. Well ok. That kind of discrepancy turns it from a 'bonus damage' situation to a 'you're dumb if you're not doing this' deal. Thus, instead of adding gameplay (I should use swords if I can!) , it restricts gameplay (No point using a mace on these guys...).

-CALIBER says it's an AoE skill, but I can't seem to hit two enemies that are standing next to each other.

-In the KEY ROOM, I turn into a BLUE-HAIRED WOMAN. I am not entirely disappointed.

-I find a KEYWARDEN. Rather than talking to it, I'm given a CHOICE to fight it or not. As in, literally asked and then being presented with a YES/NO. Probably could do better there.

-Since it takes one hit with weakness to down someone, but ~5+ otherwise, it often makes literally no difference to attack an enemy with something other than what they are weak to. LEONA and ME can wail on a FAITHLESS BANDIT the whole time TARLACH is charging, but it's all rendered moot when he OHKOs the sucker with his HOLY BALLS.

-CHIEF OF LACKEYS is an odd title. It's like, a title given to the head of the people without titles. Since, that is exactly what this guy seems to be, I guess it works. I find it AMUSING.

-CYCLONE'S AoE is also too small to hit multiple enemies.

-We get a bunch of LOOT then head into town. I'm given control of my character for a few steps, but the only option is to walk into a cutscene, so I'm not sure why.

-TARLACH says 'Jeez...I thought you knew me longer than yesterday by now.' I'm not sure what he means by this, and I'm pretty sure 'Jeez' is derived from 'Jesus' who probably doesn't exist in this world.

-I'm told about a system to increase SOCIAL RANK with party members. I don't really like the idea of potentially missing out on STATS/SKILLS/STORY because I chose to talk to someone else. Rather, it seems like it adds nothing positive to the game.
If I could talk to everyone, I would talk to whoever I cared about enough to do so, but not really stress over it. The STATS/SKILLS would make it a bit of a chore, though, since I'd feel compelled to talk to people I don't care about in case I need them to be useful later.
As is, I'm forced to make a decision that affects gameplay quite blindly, and can't really enjoy the potential story as perhaps I feel the most interesting characters are not the most useful ones. No matter what I do, it seems I'm going to miss out on some things.
If there's time to reach max SOCIAL RANK with everyone and it's just a matter of who comes first, there are better ways to implement that.

-I talk to LEONA because I dislike BEARS. She shows some unconvincing STOCK CONCERN then over-shares with some remarks about her STOCK PAST. The game declares that I've gotten closer to her, but in truth, I rather regret talking at all. Her character was rather diminished as a result.

-I upgrade the BLACKSMITH because I have little idea of the effects of my choice here and rather liked those STYLISH BOOTS.

-Rather, I was going to, but there's an explanation available upon choosing. Most of it is clear, though I don't know if I should be worried about my residents not paying taxes due to being in the military. Also, I don't really care that upgrading the military bit will change how the story plays out. Regardless of possibilities, I, as the player, only see one story happen and am often unaware of alternatives. An in-world explanation would be better, especially if the EVENT happened and I realized 'I should probably upgrade that for a different outcome.' Even better, it'd be nice to have a hint that the EVENT is coming and that the quality of my military will be put to the test, rather than being outright told like this.

-I upgrade my SUPPORT TEAM.

-The next morning, I realize the taxes being paid are money that comes directly me.

-I go to change my equips and realize that I have tons of items. Some of them fall firmly into the 'why would I ever eq that' category. It's not so much because they're bad as that they're outclassed by something else I happened to get. Like, I get five clubs, but two are just weaker versions of another, for example. I imagine this is because I'm supposed to break them down into MAGICK, so it's ideal to have lots and lots of weapons.

-I suspect the little girl in the middle of town that first day with pink hair was MARI. At any rate, two new party members join. MAYRA wastes no time making a typo, replacing 'quite' with 'quiet.'

-They seem to have fairly unique combat styles centered around resource management. Future experience will reveal whether this is cool or annoying.

-Already at five party members. With the time pressure and apparently limited improvement opportunities, that means I already have to pick someone to be a permanent bench-warmer.

-'It's not possible to leave the Inn at this moment.' Well why not?!

-LEONA says she's going to 'stay guard' for us all. I rather wish she would 'stand guard' instead.

-The character descriptions could use some work.

-I remove TARLACH from the party because I want to see if I can get through without the main healer. Also, I need to see how HEAL BULLET works, because...huh?

-What does PIERCING mean?

-Also, SPIRIT EYES needs a cooler sounding name. And SOUL BLAST needs a period after 'Spiritual' in the description.

-Combat is looking more and more like I'm not making too many real choices. It's:
~Use the skill that builds my resource.
~Use the resource for another skill that's basically the same except more damage.
This would be remedied if the AoE stuff worked or perhaps it will get better later on with more skills to choose from.

-It occurs to me that dropping the priest for the undead dungeon was a FOOLISH idea.

-I encounter a group of GHOULS or something that is very tightly bunched. Practically screams 'Remember those useless AoE skills?!?! We're here to justify their existence!'

-ALMA sees nothing with her SPIRIT EYES. Perhaps they just aren't her BRAND.

-Seeing ME say '...' all the time is rather eh.

-In the bloody KITCHEN, there are two small blood smears that seem to block off whole squares for some reason. As in I can't walk on those squares.

-Again with the MYSTERIOUS FORCE. In a HAUNTED HOUSE full of SPIRITS, I'm sure there's some better, immersion building reason the door is impassable.

-Not really digging ALMA'S character, but I think I just fell in love with that POISON CLOUD.

-One room is so dark I can't SEE. There are also, apparently, holes in the floor. This is super ANNOYING. There is nothing fun about waiting to take a few steps when the light flashes.

-In the next room, I see some BLOODY DOLLS or girls or something. When the light blinks out, they are gone. TRULY CREEPY.

-In general, things being too dark to SEE properly does not a fun experience make.

-Combat still isn't remotely challenging, though it's DAY 2 so that's not TERRIBLE.

-I IGNORE the boss's attacks and just do my thing. ALMA finally sees a spirit and I kill it, making the battle even easier.

-The INNKEEPER walks through me 3-4 times over the course of this scene. Would really help immersion if she would just take a step to the side at some point.

-Not really sure what INNKEEP was talking about. Also, having LEONA say something and then apparently admit to having messed up in the next breath is not really within belief. Especially when it wasn't anything particularly bad.

-The color flashes on opening a BOSS CHEST look tacky. If I wasn't already going blind, I'd be upset.

-I wonder why no one but LEONA is supposed to know about DEIMOS, what with him being a world-destroying god and all.

-Not sure why I'm getting a dialogue choice for ARI, as she is not the PLAYER CHARACTER.

-We return to KYNDALE. I get control for some reason for a brief bit, then CUTSCENE.

-Up to 6 characters now. I REALLY hope this slows down soon, especially since I'm asked to divy up limited resources into building a team that will likely have to fight some GOD. Also, there's limited CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT time and it's not like things are going swimmingly on that end anyway.

-It seems like each subsequent character has more interesting combat abilities than the last. Unfortunately, that makes me want to dump the PLAYER CHARACTER like a hot potato.

-'Those tears say more than she ever could.' This is a very IRONIC line because it's true, but in being stated explicitly, it ruins the effect of said tears.

-I get the feeling that if I'm running multiple DUNGEONS later, I'm going to want to be able to save outside of town, even if it's only possible at the end of a DUNGEON.

-Yes, I get that there's something between them that 'no one may know.' That was quite effectively demonstrated. Saying it outright just kills the delivery. SUBTLE is good.

-BOUNTIES, DEATH and FOOD. Seems the challenge level may finally be rising.

-I can't remove PLAYER CHARACTER from the party. Sad day. I hate to remove LEONA as I put a SOCIAL RANK into her, but oh well. ALMA seems useful and has her SPIRIT EYES which can't really be replaced. MAYRA/ARI can both heal, meaning I'll be less reliant on food and can get away with spending resources on other things.
I guess I'm supposed to identify with this PLAYER CHARACTER and what not, but honestly, I rather pity the guy.

-If the doors have been locked since the 'dawn of time' then how were the ruins ever useful?

-I EXPLORE and find numerous DEAD ENDS where I can't enter this or cross that.

-'Focusing' is not spelled 'focussing,' unlike what the MEDITATION task seems to think.

-MinotaurOS.

-I use the same attack 100% of the time on the PLAYER CHARACTER.

-I'm allowed to target dead allies with HEAL BULLET, though it is not allowed to heal them.

-I go to learn skills and find that I can't see how much SP I have in the learning window. I see it when I choose to learn something, though, so it's not as much of an issue as it first seems.
UPDATE: I can't seem to see my SP anywhere, though, so if I have less than 1k then I'm really lost.

-HEAL BULLET II says it doesn't restore any more HP than HEAL BULLET. It has a lower TP cost, but higher MP...not sure what the benefit is.

-Being able to save after actions on the world map would go a LONG way. One unlucky round in a BOUNTY fight and I have to reload and sit through tasks all over again. It would not be terribly gamebreaking to allow the tasks to be one and done via a save after.

-The name of the game seems to be SCAN -> WRITE NOTE -> OHKO happily ever after.

-I encounter an AUDIO PUZZLE, it seems. Given that I can't hear a thing (not an issue with the game), this may prove difficult.

-There are 6 pipes to hit in a certain order, I surmise. Assuming no repeats, that's 700 possible combinations. However, the next room is the key room and it won't open until I pass this PUZZLE...I try patterns first, then patterns with one move transposed. It works. Finally.

-Despite it being the next day, I can talk to ALMA for SOCIAL RANK again. We have basically the same conversation as before. As in, just about literally...maybe a line or two of difference. Also, while at the start it said her SOCIAL RANK was 3 somehow, at the end of the convo, she levels up to SOCIAL RANK 1. Seems I just wasted it.

-My party places their trust in me for some reason. It's not tied to anything I actually did, that I know of, so I'm like w/e.

-It'd be nice to have a TASK list so I didn't have to explore the whole open world every day.

-The ASSASSIN I killed yesterday is looking quite spry this morning. I kill him again.

-Afterwards, it seems I'm able to talk to ALMA again. This time, I know that it really is too good to be true...so I save first. Seems she does get the stats, so that's cool.

-The BOUNTY GUY gives me my three bounties for the day and declares that I have finished all of them, even though I never killed the DRAGON. I'm guessing it just marks up to 4 and thus counted the ASSASSIN twice.

-I wonder what happened to all the urgency of before...after that 'the world is ending' opening, I was expecting a faster pace, or at least something more directly related to Deimos each day.

-It'd be nice to know which DUNGEONS dropped what resources. I can only do one a day and have to guess unless I'm taking notes.

-I find a NOTE on the table in the morning. It is a rambling note with a few spots of grammatical dubiousness. It ends with a 'believe in yourself' line. I'm not really sure why she felt she had to do this alone or why she didn't tell me or why she has to explain herself beyond 'getting useful info lol, brb.'

-I head into TOWN and MAGICK my items away, though I dare not buy any of the boxes before I find time to lvl the shop and/or increase LK or w/e else might help. I suspect I shall have limited chances to get boxes, thus, the longer I can put it off, the better.

-I note there is a SILENT SOLDIER in town now too, giving absolutely zero feedback despite being a fleshy being.

-TARLACH wants to run away together. I REFUSE.

-My SOLDIERS are easily dispatched by LACKEYS. If I was that weak, I'd be silent too.

-'You're even more pathetic than I could ever imagine.' The BANDIT LEADER'S lines are too forced...I can tell that the author desperately wants me to think he's some kind of badass, and its backfiring drastically.

-The TOWNSFOLK talk amongst themselves for several textboxes, though the meaning is relayed in one. The rest just feel like a waste, as they're not engaging and don't put any new info out.

-There is a play on some actual CONFLICT here with the highlight on PLAYER CHARACTER'S decision to leave the town in the dark. Unfortunately, like with other such instances of legitimate drama, the moment is ruined by a frightening disregard for subtlety.

-ARI tells me to 'stand up on my own feet for once' just a day after she inexplicably expressed utmost confidence in me.

-Meanwhile, TARLACH complains that he is SCARED STIFFLESS.

-There are some BOSS ONLY graphical presentation bits weighed down by meh speech, then we FIGHT. BALDER hopes to avenge his son, I hope to avoid having to watch that cutscene again.

-After bragging about killing me in one blow, BALDER proceeds to hit slightly harder than the average enemy, taking off ~15% of PLAYER CHARACTER'S hp.

-I chunk his ample health down by 300s and 500s until ALMA crits him for 11,000 damage due to elemental weakness. He dies soon thereafter, having landed only one blow for less than 200 damage.

-I rather wish I had been able to eat SUSHI before that fight, though I was not expecting a cutscene before leaving town.

-The BANDIT LEADER goes on to preach about how perfect my father was. Makes me wonder why he's a BANDIT instead of a SOLDIER.

-Apparently, that whole battle was a FARCE and BALDER emerged unscathed then ABUSED my party in a cutscene. Thankfully, LEONA shows up and kills him in a SINGLE BLOW...SOMEHOW, despite not being all that awesome when actually in the party.

-And that's the end~