I first heard about this game through a Let's Play on Something Awful back when it was a PSP game. It looked interesting but I didn't really watch it and didn't really know what the fuck it was -- I mean, it looked complicated. This, it turned out, was a lie; It's been released on Steam and it's not complicated at all...just awesome.
The basic premise is that you're playing an oldschool RPG, but you're playing it in fast forward. Each stage is an "episode" (maybe correlating to iteration of a series installment) where you have 30 seconds to level up, get new equipment, maybe meet new companions, complete side objectives, and defeat the Evil Lord who's cast a spell dooming the world. Battles are random (although you can "dash" and skip the chance of encounters at the expense of health) and completely automated. You enter a battle, you run across the screen, bouncing off enemies and giving/receiving damage.
See, the game really isn't an RPG at all, but an interesting exercise in time management. There's a timer counting down the entire time and if it reaches 0, game over. You need to get strong enough to defeat the boss and complete all the side objectives as fast as you can so you can run over and fight him before zero hits. You do have the option of resetting the timer in towns (where time conveniently stops), but at increasing cost (and not in every town).
Really, it's quite an interesting game and I urge you to
check it out. It's on sale as part of the Steam Big Picture Sale
Note: Change the graphics mode before playing. The retro graphics option is far superior to the default cartoon graphics.I'm actually really really impressed by this.
