The game is quite impressive for a handheld, in fact as Zeromus and my original post stated, side stories are far more rewarding and interesting than the main one. That is why its a bit baffling to me.

The gameplay is an improvement over TA but I still have issues cause I feel the game places a bandaid on the issues I disliked (Skill system, AP accumulation) and outright cripples other things (party starts battles with 0mp meaning all mages have to wait a few rounds to cast spells).

Its still lacks balance and caters too much to casual fans of the genre.