This game is absolutely brilliant, I would recommend this game to anyone. There are so many good things about it (and very few bad things). I played this as a kid and now over a decade later this game is even better than I remember, and I distinctly remember it being the best game I played as a kid, To say the least:

It's art style is incredible, it is a change of pace to other games and the style they went for really shines. Everything from the waves of flowers to some of the incredible monster designs and locations in the game, they all feel like they've been designed with purpose to fit and theme and create and atmosphere and it does it very well. And that's when the music and soundtrack really blends into it thus creating a great experience. And that's just the surface.

The story is amazing, they really took it to many different places. At it's core the story is a journey of a God fighting Demons but the journey along the way is so much richer than that, the characters are flavourful, even characters such as "Nameless man" and "City Dweller" have some personality to them. The character with actual names are more detailed and there is a lot to learn about the main characters you meet. The story if definitely one that captures the struggle of character within people.

The gameplay is fair yet challenging (mostly), I really enjoy the gameplay, you get brush powers at the start and they really shake things up as they add layers of puzzle to the main world but also to the combat. As you gain more powers the game challenges you to use them and even has you seek back out old areas with new powers, as well offering secret techniques to find as well. There are plenty of collectables the main one being these beads which give an overpowered reward if you collect all of them. However you can only use this reward on New Game+ which is understandable given the raw power it gives you. And a clearly marked "point of no return" for if you want to go back and hunt the collectables is given. There are a fair few puzzles in the game and some of them might have you stuck in which case you might need a guide, but overall they're all fairly obvious once you see the solution. The strategy you need to use in some fights is also somewhat of a puzzle.

I can sing praises about this game all day however I do wish to address the very few minor flaws it does have:

1) Some quick time events are broken, Like Mr. Oranges Dance to revive the tree, as the circles you have to draw will sometimes flat out not work or draw a sun instead therefore you keep failing can be quite annoying. However still doable so it's not gamebreaking.

2)a) There's a broken quest: The charcoal girl and Kimono shop quest where you are given The star pattern twice instead of the heart like it's supposed to be.
b) On the other side of that quest when actually drawing the shapes not only is it way to strict on what is accepted as the pattern but I found 2 of the 5 times that it was one of my worst attempts that got me the pass When I had the "V" shape I drew normal Vs, the attempt I passed I slight of handed it and ended up with one side being 1.5X the size of the other, that was what passed me, that part was a lot of trouble for a side quest. But it all still works so it isn't gamebreaking.

3) Rarely your brush powers will be mistaken I drew a waterspout line and it treats it like I drew an inferno figure 8 sometimes and When drawing the lightning bolt it treats it as inferno or galestorm Most of the time this won't be an issue.

4) Rarely my brush skips across the screen. Normally in vertical lines up or down. Causing me to have to redo the drawing. This can be off putting but it's fairly easy to ignore it.

But those 4 things are hardly an issue when you consider how great the game is overall. It is absolutely worth the download, especially if it's on sale. The start is a little slow but if you can get into it there is easily hours of fun to be had in this game.

This game is absolutely brilliant, I would recommend this game to anyone. There are so many good things about it (and very few bad things). I played this as a kid and now over a decade later this game is even better than I remember, and I distinctly remember it being the best game I played as a kid, To say the least: It's art style is incredible, it is a change of pace to other games and the style they went for really shines. Everything from the waves of flowers to some of the incredible monster designs and locations in the game, they all feel like they've been designed with purpose to fit and theme and create and atmosphere and it does it very well. And that's when the music and soundtrack really blends into it thus creating a great experience. And that's just the surface. The story is amazing, they really took it to many different places. At it's core the story is a journey of a God fighting Demons but the journey along the way is so much richer than that, the characters are flavourful, even characters such as "Nameless man" and "City Dweller" have some personality to them. The character with actual names are more detailed and there is a lot to learn about the main characters you meet. The story if definitely one that captures the struggle of character within people. The gameplay is fair yet challenging (mostly), I really enjoy the gameplay, you get brush powers at the start and they really shake things up as they add layers of puzzle to the main world but also to the combat. As you gain more powers the game challenges you to use them and even has you seek back out old areas with new powers, as well offering secret techniques to find as well. There are plenty of collectables the main one being these beads which give an overpowered reward if you collect all of them. However you can only use this reward on New Game+ which is understandable given the raw power it gives you. And a clearly marked "point of no return" for if you want to go back and hunt the collectables is given. There are a fair few puzzles in the game and some of them might have you stuck in which case you might need a guide, but overall they're all fairly obvious once you see the solution. The strategy you need to use in some fights is also somewhat of a puzzle. I can sing praises about this game all day however I do wish to address the very few minor flaws it does have: 1) Some quick time events are broken, [spoiler]Like Mr. Oranges Dance to revive the tree,[/spoiler] as the circles you have to draw will sometimes flat out not work [spoiler]or draw a sun instead[/spoiler] therefore you keep failing can be quite annoying. However still doable so it's not gamebreaking. 2)a) There's a broken quest: [Spoiler]The charcoal girl and Kimono shop quest[/spoiler] where you are given [spoiler]The star pattern twice[/spoiler] instead of the heart like it's supposed to be. b) On the other side of that quest when actually drawing the shapes not only is it way to strict on what is accepted as the pattern but I found 2 of the 5 times that it was one of my worst attempts that got me the pass [Spoiler]When I had the "V" shape I drew normal Vs, the attempt I passed I slight of handed it and ended up with one side being 1.5X the size of the other, that was what passed me[/spoiler], that part was a lot of trouble for a side quest. But it all still works so it isn't gamebreaking. 3) Rarely your brush powers will be mistaken [spoiler]I drew a waterspout line and it treats it like I drew an inferno figure 8 sometimes[/spoiler] and [spoiler]When drawing the lightning bolt it treats it as inferno or galestorm[/spoiler] Most of the time this won't be an issue. 4) Rarely my brush skips across the screen. Normally in vertical lines up or down. Causing me to have to redo the drawing. This can be off putting but it's fairly easy to ignore it. But those 4 things are hardly an issue when you consider how great the game is overall. It is absolutely worth the download, especially if it's on sale. The start is a little slow but if you can get into it there is easily hours of fun to be had in this game.