Thanks for the review. I just read it and I just wanted to explain this one thing:
Also, the characters don’t have levels here, so fighting the monsters don’t reward you with EXP, which, in other games, could increase HP and SP—not to mention, it could also increase the player’s motivation to actually defeat the said monsters. I’m not sure why it wasn’t included;
The short answer is I didn't have enough time to implement it. Keep in mind that this was done for NaNoRenO so time was limited and I had to cut corners ^^;
Long story is, if I added EXP I would have to re-balance everything to make sure that the leveling up mechanic doesn't break the game. I would have to figure out how much stats to increase for every level up, for every character. That might sound easy, but it's actually quite intricate, in that I have to take into account many things including:
+ Balancing enemy EXP drops, in a way that doesn't make the game too grindy but also not too easy
+ Deciding enemy stats itself, such that enemies provide adequate challenge as the game progresses but also takes into account the player's general level when they fight them
+ Balancing player equipment, such that equipment plays a bigger role in improving the character stat while leveling up gives a balanced and permanent stat gain
+ Level caps, which ties into enemy EXP drop
+ Game testing (which is probably the most time-consuming part)
+ Something else I don't recall
All of that combined takes a big chunk of time and planning. Without EXP, I didn't think about all of that. It was a matter of deciding what weapon the player can craft in an area. Then once they craft those weapons/equipment, they would then be able move to the next area.
So in a way, removing EXP and relying only on equipment for stat gain is a more manageable way to balance the game. I didn't want to include EXP just for the sake of it too, not only because of the reasons above, but I also wanted to have different kinds of EXP and progression (such as individual Character Level and Crafting Level for Van).
But long story short, I just took the easy way out :P
By the way, I'm not saying this to dismiss the criticism about the lack of EXP, I totally understand it and I know that it's a flaw going by the general RPG standards. I'm just sharing my point of view as the developer as to why this decision was made :) EXP is actually implemented in the currently on-hold sequel but I'll talk about that when the time comes.
Again, salamat sa review and I've noted your observations ^_^
Side quests are always fun.
