I've put about 2 hours of my time into the game. I found what I expected- a really good, if not great RPG that feels like it was a SNES game. I've not gotten far actually, but far enough to judge some of the basic gameplay and such. Note- I have played for a while now and have had none of the freezing issues people have reported. The only thing even close to a glitch was a slight jittering and discoloration of the menu screen while you are saving the game. Not a big deal.
Battles are random and happen extremely often. That is one of the flaws- too common random battles every few steps. The battles ARE well done though. You enter a battle field as large as the DS screen. When attacking an enemy physically, you need to take into account your position. When your turn comes, you can target an enemy for attack. If you are not near the enemy, you can still select them and have your character auto-run towards them. This takes a few seconds and the enemy can make its own move while you guy/girl tries to make it over. You can take complete control of your movement by holding L during your turn and moving with the Dpad.
You need to equip usable items that you want to bring into battle. You have four slots to equip whatever you need. This is actually kind of like the original Shining Force, except you can hold several of the same item in one single slot as long as it's the same item.
So far, battles with one character have been kind of slow. Don't worry though as I got my second character, Aurora, very early in the game. Having two characters in battles speeds them up a LOT. Aurora has a whip and attack long range. This means she doesn't need to be RIGHT next to an enemy to attack, but also means she needs to be a little bit away from the enemy to attack (otherwise she can't attack). She, unlike Kairu, has magic. I believe she has a fire spell and a healing spell. Both are useful. The fire spell can do 3x the damage of your sword (at least in early levels) and the heal spell can heal for a ton more than those blue herbs. Kairu has one special skill so far- I think it was called Avernian Thrust or something. It is a little more powerful than his normal attack and can target more than one enemy as long as they are in range (a red circle will appear to tell you the range).
Besides having to position your characters more strategically in battle, the battles are very much like Chrono Trigger. The obvious similarity is that active time bar which fills up to let you have your next turn.
Graphics are great! 2D pixel art that will remind you of Chrono Trigger (although CT is certainly still the king). No qualms here so far. The towns are vibrantly colored and detailed. It never looks exactly like any other game though. The game DOES have its own unique style and I really can't see anything they could have directly ripped off of those classic games. Just a really clean looking game that exists on its own, while paying homage to the classic look.
Sound is great so far, but nothing the GBA couldn't do. The compositions are quite good though, just not as high quality as DS sound can be. No complaints really though.
The writing is well done to. I actually found myself WANTING to talk to every person I could find in a town. I also liked how you're not this happy kid OR an emo kid. Kairu is the center of negative attention here because he shares an uncommon trait with a villain from the past- he has no magic. He relies on his sword. He's quite good with a sword, but is constantly put down by his peers and everyone around him due to his similarities with the magicless villain Vai. He doesn't act like a happy sap, but nor does he cry about his sorrows like an emo. He has remained pretty silent so far, but seems to open up to his sister Aurora since she is one of the few who treats him with love.
I clearly haven't gotten far enough to truly judge the story or gameplay, but really, this game so far achieves what it set out to do- pay homage to classic RPG's and is a darn good game in its own right. First impressions-
Scores below are tentative. Just a first impression. I may come away with a totally different feel later on when I complete more or beat the game. Know this.
Graphics- 8/10
Sound- 8/10
Gameplay- 8/10
Story (so far)- 8/10
Overall- 8/10
Flaws I have seen are the ridiculously high random battle rate. Battles can be fairly short with two characters, but they should have made the battles occur at half this rate at least. Also, you move pretty slow on the world map, which kind of sucks. But I can feel these flaws will get less noticeable or I'll get used to them. Later on I hear you get an airship, so that solves the map speed issue.