RotW viewing comments--this review was motoring along til after "Everyone judges him not on his character, but on their fear of the magic he wields."
"Unfortunately, the conspiracy that wraps Layle up, which jeopardizes the kingdom and heralds a new magic age, goes for the predictable xxx instead of looking at stereotypes."
A few stock phrases too--"rinse and repeat" and "sore thumb" feel like writing by inertia, and when you try for a story-review, these things are more noticeable, especially since the beach party and ballroom examples are funny, as is "mugging moogles" later--though there, the tossing furniture around bit should go with combat. Unless it's noncombat--in which case I think you have a trump card that noncombat recklessness is more fun than combat.
Some paragraphs are also a bit chunky, with the combat descriptions being hit into the ground a bit (and you might do well to link weak combat with too many mini-games more explicitly, earlier,) and I also think the graphics could be moved up. If people know the plot gets in the way of enjoying all this, it's a good thing.
The beginning and ending work very well, and I think you have a good idea of what you wanted to do. I have to wonder, though, given the timing of the review and how some sentences don't go together, if you weren't just trying to sneak it in before week's end, especially if you have a review queued for next week. It's still an enjoyable review, if not all it could be.
My principal said, 'Emo, Emo, Emo.'
I said 'I'm the one in the middle, you lousy drunk!'
-- Emo Phillips
