Okay, I put in a good 2-3 hours into the game so far. Hard to tell since I just lost an hour of gameplay due to DEATH! That's the only reason I'm even here typing this and not playing the game! :lol
Okay, first things first, this is most definitely a R&D1 game. When I got to the point where I had to name my character, I actually looked up the kana for the kanji characters of my Chinese name just so I could get my character named after me. I was going to call him duckroll but there was no katakana and only large caps for alphabets. Also, you have to pick a surname and a former name, so it fit. Thank god the game's database has like every single kanji in the world. :lol
The writing as expected is really good, and the characters have excellent seiyuu. The anime FMVs are so ****ing well directed, whoever's doing them needs to do a real anime. Definitely reminds me of Lain as well. The progression of the story outside of the "dungeon" gameplay is a very nice school life simulation of sorts. You basically see parts of every day, if something interesting happens. There's usually a class or so were you can answer a question or decide between staying awake or sleeping through it. After school you get to walk around the school and talk to people, or you can leave the school and check out the various other locations on the island. The day ends when you return to the boarding house.
At night is when the game turns into a full dungeon RPG. There's a huge tower called Tataros and every floor is randomly generated. There's a minimap where you can see enemies slightly before you actually see them on your screen. You use O to swing your sword, and if you hit the enemy you get Player Advantage in the battle. If the enemy sees you and attacks you before you hit it, it's Enemy Advantage. So basically each floor has limited enemies and there are no random encounters. There are random treasures around each floor too, as well as stairs to the next floor. There are also sometimes teleporters on certain floors that allow you to return to the entrance if you've had enough.
In battles you only control the main character, and the game only ends if your main character dies. When any other character dies, after a turn or two he/she "wakes up" with 1-2 HP. The other characters are AI controlled. When not in battle you can also split up the party of 3 and the other two people will wander the floor of the dungeon on their own and fight enemies on their own too. When you regroup, they'll give you any treasures they've found. When you get into an encounter when seperated you'll have to take on enemies yourself. It's a really interesting system and is REALLY addictive for dungeon crawling fans.
That's about all the game is so far, because well, I only got so far before I found some "new" enemies on the 5th floor, and decided to fight them.... but I was out of SP and low on items so well yeah, DIED. Will have to replay an entire hour again later but at least I'll know that it'll be entirely different next time round! :lol (yes there is only a save point at the entrance of the dungeon)
For those that find this too damn hardcore, there's an EASY MODE you can pick at the start which makes battles easier and gives you 10 continues throughout the entire game. The game also features the BEST soundtrack of the year I've heard in ANYTHING, movie/anime/game.