This was a very impressive game! To me, this feels like the abridged version of what could be an amazing JRPG. The worldbuilding and backstories really intrigued me; I wish I got to see more of it. The king struck me as not evil, but rather someone fearful of things out of his control and took that to the extreme of imprisoning those he deemed too powerful to be loose. I'm not sure if Arnalze quite fits the description of an anti-hero; with the way I played, I never got the impression that he was anything but virtuous. Honing in on the self-loathing mentioned in the final act could make for an engaging character flaw. The characterization of Arnalze and the king might benefit a lot from showing things like the burning of the town, or the moments leading up to the Dark Lord's seal.

The battle system I found enjoyable, especially with how useful counters were, though the random encounters were annoying and felt unnecessary (I'd also shorten the gauntlet while stealing the ship). There were definitely a couple technical issues, including being stuck in a house or the text going off-screen for skill descriptions. Aside from that, I'd also suggest increasing the movement speed of the party. I understand it might affect the balance of the lite stealth system, but more often than not I felt like the party was moving too slowly for the large maps.

This game starts pretty strong, but its final act is by far the highlight (aside from the annoying random encounters in the forest temple lol). The moment with the phoenix is honestly so great, because it really feels like the payoff for the player's actions. However, the romance felt like it came completely out of nowhere, and it got me thinking that this does feel like a JRPG with the middle act taken out. It's obviously understandable for a jam game, but I believe an expanded version of this story with time to develop the cast and the setting has a ton of potential.

Hey, I just played through your game. I really liked the concept of a hero becoming corrupted and continuing onwards as an Anti-hero. The intro scene was also amazing and I really loved your EXP idea. That said the slow walking/running killed my enthusiasm a lot and the mapping left a lot to be desired.

I did notice some bugs:

• The dungeon walls are on tile high, but the doors are two.
• The dead sprite in the cell, changed into another one when I interacted with it.
• In battle Arnalze is called "Analze" (on his faceset, the battle log uses the correct spelling)
• The game got laggy once I got outside and fought the king.
• I lost all of my followers when I entered the armory.
• I was exploring the royal castle (since I didn't know where to go) and whil leaving the balcony from the dining room, the screen turned to day again. (Is this a bug or are you working with a day/night system?)
• There's no music in Aldivaria at first. I had to enter a home and leave to get the BGM to start.
• I got stuck in the lord and lady's house in Aldivaria after defeating their guards. I tried to leave the house, but the transfer didn't work.
• Caspelle doesn't do anything if you've rescued the civilians. You can't even talk to her. (I just went back to the town to check something and my last save was from the dungeon, and only now completely alone does the Caspelle scene start.)

Congrats on submitting something so massive in a four week span! I'm glad the jam inspired you, this game has a lot of great ideas :)

Just a heads up: I think there's a game-breaking bug if you enter the burning city (I went there directly after leaving the first area; it might be safe to enter later in the game, or if you enter it without the (full?) set of recruits I had with me). Arnalze ran toward the burning building, stopped moving at the entrance tile, and then I never regained control. 

I'll continue my playthrough later, but I can say this much already: This is shaping up to be nothing short of an exceptional project. Heck of a well-directed opening scene, and more freedom of choice (both in terms of making important decisions on where to go (and not to go), character recruitment, and "build"/equipment) than you see from most projects, whether Jam-based or long-in-the-making ones. Great writing, too! You should definitely be proud of this.