I'm going to talk about this game a bit more.

I really, really like the Gift system, and I want to bring it up in further detail, because it has some really interesting applications, especially in regards to the game's New Game+.

A "Gift" is essentially a job. Each one is a pack of abilities that you can unlock for GP. When you unlock one, the next time you level up, you will learn all the abilities that the Gift allows that you are within the level range for. So when you first unlock "Black Mage", you'll probably learn the Eclipse spell the next time you level up, but not much else for a few levels (do it anyway, Eclipse is non-elemental, and is a very reliable, extremely powerful attack that you'll probably use for most of the first chapter, at least). And if you have seven gifts unlocked, you can probably pick up multiple abilities on some level ups. Or, if you go back to unlock one you skipped, you can pick up all of its previous abilities the next time you level up.

The result is that you get a fairly nice degree of control on all the systems. You choose which jobs you get, but each job progresses at a steady rate with your levels, so you have a really easy time implementing each new skill as you get it (of those that you choose to implement).

A really interesting facet of this, though, is that even some of the higher tier Gifts have skills that unlock at really low levels. So, while you don't have a chance of picking up Mathematician anywhere near level 7 (unless you straight for it on a side-quest heavy, low level speed run), it still has a fairly powerful passive unlocked at level 7. Why is this noteworthy? Because the game's New Game+ carries over Gifts and GP, but not levels. So, while you still have to work your way up level-wise, you'll still be more powerful due to more passives, and have a much wider degree of customization at lower levels due to the higher rate of skill acquisition from all your old Gifts, and you'll get to try some new combinations of lower level abilities and such. Not sure how it will play out once I get there, but I find the concept quite interesting.

Which is pretty much this game in a nutshell. It has a lot of concepts I find very interesting. From the Dual Soul relationship between Toki and Towa and how it has played out in their life and relationship, to the time travel and paradoxes and how they effect the story, to the concepts of how they've built their gameplay mechanics (which actually remind me a lot of the previews I've seen of Lightning Returns), to even the hand-drawn artwork. I find a lot of this game incredibly engaging, and surprisingly deep, at the core of it.

But, at the surface? Problems. From simple things like poorly implemented subtitles (white text with thin border and no backgrounds can be hard to see sometimes), to the frustrating camera issues, to the really awful parts of the writing (which have, fortunately, been diminishing in number, so we'll see if that keeps up), to the problems with the animation (while the hand drawn artwork is fantastic, there are plenty of animations in the game which simply don't have enough artwork to smooth them out fully or make them realize their full potential, or where they're forced to use a pre-existing animation that doesn't quite fit the scene), to the camera which I really don't like (L2 zooms out! It only took me something like 5 hours to realize that!).

And I know, from the tone and presentation of the game, that it isn't going to fully explore some of the things I'm interested in. Some of the depths and nuances available in this plot are, simply, too deep for this game. Nevertheless, it's also clear that they are going to be addressed more, and I'm looking forward to seeing how things play out. I'll list some of my suspicions and hopes below.

If you don't care about spoilers, or merely want some discussion on some of the good parts of the game, feel free to take a gander.

Skyblade's Story SuppositionsTime Travel is integral to the plot, and I'm fairly sure it's important to the murder as well. I'm thinking that whomever set this up is a time traveler, which seems to also mean that they're a member of the royal family, and one of TokiTowa's relatives (why they can time travel has yet to be explained, but supposedly time travel is something closely tied to the royal family). I'm hoping that it might be Toki or Towa herself, from the future. It actually makes a lot of sense with the issues they've brought up about the two living together.

See, while the two live in the same body, for a long time, Towa was repressing herself, because it was too confusing and lacking in continuity for them to keep switching when dealing with interactions, especially of a personal nature. For this reason, even though your protagonist was engaged to Toki, he didn't know Towa even existed (and Toki was afraid to tell him). The two share memories, however, and both of them know the protagonist, and Towa's feelings are rather odd. While she has some romantic feelings for the protagonist, she also has feelings of jealousy and, in a way, violation. She doesn't know how many of her feelings are Toki's, and which are her own, or how Toki's feelings and views, through their shared memories, are influencing her own.

Or, if your protagonist chooses Towa over Toki, you have the former lead being passed over for her other self, being judged as less worthy by the man she loves, and relegated to the sidelines. Either of them run the risk of being stuck into a life they can't control, going through actions they don't agree to, or even being with the one they love while at the same time being trapped into it. Plenty of motivation to end things there, and it would explain why sorting out the relationships is also a pretty important part of the game.

But, that may be too deep for this game. I'm definitely suspicious at this point, however, that with the paradoxes involved with the murder, that some time traveler outside of the protagonists is interfering.