It was an interesting game. I liked the options to explore and having those lock you out of certain other options. The battles were a little rocky, but only because it seems they were event based, not 'hit enemy until they are dead' so they could be a little frustrating in that regard. The final battle sequence was fun, but a bit repetitive. 

Suggestion: More sequences where you explore an area are good, and if a battle needs an ability to end it, make sure the player can easily get to that ability without having to wait for their energy to fill up (in my case RIGHT after I used the ability that would end things, the game told me to use it :P)

Right off the bat I like the backgrounds and anime looking busts, nice art. Morgan has a Naruto look to him. I like the ability to pick certain options at certain times in the dialog. This has a little bit of a choose your own adventure feel, but it's still different. 

The music and sound effects are very quiet. It's hard to hear anything unless you crank it up, but as soon as you crank it up, WHAM loud battle music hits you. Ultimately this is an issue where the tracks need to be normalized closer together in volume.

The battle system is an interesting take on a first person and while not really a bad combat system it does a few things wrong in my opinion. Allowing the giant snakes to heal only serves to pad the game and make the fights take longer, and forces the player to consume more items. I'd completely remove the healing from the snakes. It just doesn't make sense for them to heal for 50, or at all really.

Onigiri should heal for 50% because it's often a waste of a turn at only 35% max HP recovered.

The story writing is really good, even in the battles.

This game is a weird breed of visual novel mixed with a choose your own adventure book and a slice of first person RPG, all wrapped in a kaiju themed anime style experience. Even though it sounds odd... it's not bad. :)

Thank you for participating in this game jam. I found this game to very weird and different, but in a good way. Keep up the great work, I can't wait to see what you're working on next.

If there is any dictionary with the word "anime", then this game can be put as the definition  :D

There's mockery of cliches, everything is shonen to the max and so the narrative is appropriately very dynamic, it's a very wild ride.

Gameplay: 

I think that the idea of exploring locations by sections in the form of arrows is interesting, but not quite necessary if it won't stay purely for the sake of aesthetics, because instead of arrows, there could've simply been a few buttons or illuminated objects, or something else akin. I think I'll count this as a stylistic choice, which I have no problem with. 

Improving the relationship between characters by constantly communicating with them is cute, but way too straightforward, and yet I feel that there is really significance in this, I love when small actions affect the overall picture. There are subtle branching paths as well, which is really neat and always welcome (I wonder if I could have just smashed that door open? Well, whatever, I finished the puzzle by pure instinct before I even interacted with the door, which made me feel both bummed and proud the moment I saw the "break down" option :D)

The battle system is incredible, I like how you (successfully) tried to make each fight unique and therefore introduced different mechanics in every confrontation, which is really creative, plus there are moderate to high levels of challenge, this made me feel a lot of tension and different feels, as if I actually experienced a shonen in videogame format :)

Due to reasons stated in the paragraph above ^ I feel like combat is the best part of this game ;)

Everything else related to gameplay that I haven't mentioned doesn't need mention, 'cause those are very basic things that are a part of nearly every RPG ever (I hope that didn't sound offensive, Starline my dude)

Story:

I like your worldbuilding, you do not take the players for fools and organically present different setting elements one after another, which are revealed in a timely manner (Highlighting important words/phrases hits just right in this, I'd even say it's visually pleasant. Though just in case I'll warn you to not spoil anything in the future with this move, but you know that)

The narrative, as I mentioned before, is very dynamic, always intriguing, keeps the player hooked, in some ways it's unpredictable and bizarre.

Graphics/visuals:

The visuals are simple and at the same time very pleasant. Colors, pictures, characters, everything conveys an energetically relaxed atmosphere that I loved (minimalistic battle icons, female characters' looks and overall feel of the aesthetics just screams SMT/Persona to me, haha. I immediately noted how oddly similar looking Morgan is to Nanashi from SMT4A. There's nothing bad about this, although I sincerely hope you'll manage to develop your own style that takes SMT/Persona's and make something even better out of it :D)

Music:

It. Slaps. Hard. Even if there are not a lot of tracks, the ones that are used are very powerful, always appropriate (in a weird way), drive-filling. I like the emphasis on techno-rock, it's charming :)

Characters (SPOILERS!):

Morgan:

He's your pure, typical go-lucky happy guy that is ichi go (did you rike it?) years old, he's very simple, but it works because characters like him are starting to become rare in nowadays stories as this character archetype is kind of a classic, and so he stands out among the cast, his very being is ingrained  in every aspect of the game, tying everything together (in other words: you did it Starline!)

Maju:

She's waifu-bait, the average tsundere that's a self proclaimed commander (I hate people like her IRL) with a golden heart. Her part in the story isn't big, but she served great as exposition and goal in certain story moments, plus I actually felt that comradery between her and Morgan. Despite everything I loathe about this character, I liked her (though she needs good development in the future to stay relevant for people like me, but I know you'll manage :D)

Lachlan: 

A glamorous melancholic mercenary with powerful charisma, unknown abilities and an aura of mystery. Those are tropes upon tropes, but the unusual combination of character traits and design seal the deal for me by creating this really interesting fellow that makes you want to keep your eye on him. Also, I applaud you for avoiding pointless conflict during his and Morgan's first meeting by introducing Lachlan's c. trait of being observant, quite clever)

Bubz: your regular weird but enjoyable merchant.

Garl: that one serious, pragmatic mister that's being taught new things about life in a positive way.

Wilma: a walking example of how excessive dependence on another person shatters an individual utterly and completely, leading them to an early grave. She's a good lesson for some people playing this, but not me, I already had my share of eye-opening experiences.

NPCs: I liked 'em all, especially the old man and that humming guy.

And now, the moment I've been waiting for! It's time for the highlight of this review, the character that I LOVED, my pick for best girl of The Compass Star - Haaaaasssst! (even her name is just sounds snakes make)

Haast:

She has a masterful, fascinating, wildly attractive design. Her piercing eyes, cutting smile, gray strands of hair that show her true age - everything is just mmm, what a woman.

At first, she quickly charmed me, leaving me intrigued, aroused and wondering who this "auntie" was in the grand scheme of things and whether I could trust her or not, I wanted to know more and more about her, and she was able to inspire trust by allegedly helping Maju.

The moment with Wilma at the infirmary's doorstep showed her as a selfish sociopath who does not want to act outside of her own interests, so I was a little upset and became somewhat colder in regards to her.

When the village chief was killed, I didn't want to believe she's to blame for that, for I considered such an option too obvious, hoping for an extra twist, but no, she ended up the antagonist...

When I checked different places in the ifirmary, the lore didn't disappoint me at all, I was a bit surprised but not impressed either, because she got revealed as your average mad scientist that seeks immortality.

During the encounter in the basement I lost all sympathy for her as a person, but not as a character, because she showed stunning charisma, practical meanness, an interesting fighting style (I read all the text in battles, it's very neat) and demonstrated a powerful determination, purposefulness on the way to her goal.

When she was dying and told Morgan about her true intentions I felt sorry, and weighed the truth of her words about her path being the most promising for humanity, and as it turned out, the big snake was not under her control, it only protected it's home, hated the pests of nature.

And you know, I agree with Haast from a certain point of view because she planned to make everyone as immortal, eternally beautiful and with an ideal metabolism as herself, but that excessive cruelty, sadism, apathy for everything except the "great work" makes one abandon the idea of such a slippery snakey road.

On the other hand if she achieved her goals, then humanity wouldn't lose anything, only gain. If it weren't for her careless attitude in regards to everything else, then I would have considered her path to be "right", that final destination is too good.

But she does not pay attention to the consequences of her actions at all, does not see any other ways to make people's lives better, devotes time only to the physiological side of things. If she tried to be better as a person, without isolating herself from everything and everything, she would in some ways be a hero, an anti-hero at worst, but someone who can still lead humanity into a brighter future.

And yet, no, she is evil, alas.

If the in-universe events during the game were not so extreme, then one could slowly but surely teach her sanity.

And the funny thing is that if I met her, I would be completely charmed and eventually used for experiments because of my prying, not for scientific and practical reasons :D

A bit of introspective about me: 

I'm attracted to sociopathic women with good end goals because on the inside they are good people who clearly lost their way. Personally, I see myself in them as I'am a not particularly empathetic, selfish man, you could say I'm a black sheep of human society. I may act either quite unusually or extremely ordinary in an attempt to keep the facade of being "normal" to properly fit in the big picture.

I have a very, very good moral compass, great principles and ideas for humanity, but I, myself, am very flawed, it's rare that I properly realise my own views on life.

People like Haast is what I could've become, which is why I feel like I understand her.

Welp, this ended up turning into a deep thirstpost, sorry :D

5/5, would shoot railguns at kaiju snakes and simp for Haast again :)

I'll be waiting for your next games!

Very cool style of game that's part visual novel part RPG. Really loved the backgrounds which made it feel like there was more than one map. The characters were all well-done, though I thought the central relationship was a little underdone. The tone switches back and forth from "I hate you" to "I secretly like you" so much and so quickly it felt like whiplash. And the villain was pretty obvious. Overall, though, I really enjoyed this game. The music was great and the battles were fairly strategic and really made you work for a victory. I will say they felt a bit too long at times, and some of the abilities weren't balanced too well. Pure attacks do nothing. The one attack that does two hits does more than the firey attack or whatever it's called that's supposed to be one strong attack, yet it's 2 points less than the "stronger" attack. The last battle was the most fun, and certainly the most innovative. Would love to see the rest of these characters adventure.

Well, I finally found the time to play the games of other participants!
I really liked the lightness of this story. A small, pleasant adventure.

As for the characters, I appreciated Maja, as I have a love for female characters of the tsundere type :)

I feel that special attention was paid to the battles. They are quite complex, but at the same time a balance is maintained.

The musical accompaniment also had to be in the spirit, as well as the art of the characters.

The only thing I missed was the visual display of characters on the map, instead of abstract icons. But this is not such a significant disadvantage, and someone may even like it :)

This was a bit interesting. Definitely a very 'shonen' feel, including the deus ex machina style "I'm going to be stronger now because I feel like it".

The first battle was kind of annoying. At first it sounded like you were expected to keep the resist buff on until I experimented with it and realized I can just use the resist when the state is applied. The fight is also extremely long. It felt longer than even what should have been the longest fight.

The boy's ultimate skill is just unbelievably weak. It does maybe 4-8 times the weaker skill and costs 10 times as much with a buff state? One of the boss fights mentions being able to finish the fight in one hit. Not true because the ultimate doesn't do that much damage.

The story was pretty obvious the moment you meet certain characters. The game doesn't hide their role at all. This may be fine given that this seems to be a very shonen genre game, but I just wanted to point it out in case that wasn't the intention.

For one of the fights, there is a bit of an infinite loop where you can just effectively max your resources at will.

One of the fights felt a bit annoying because... if there is only one enemy, there is no real need to make us select the enemy, you can make that selection automatic.

Also, the wording regarding multiple weapons is a little bit unclear. That could have been made somewhat more clear.

It is very easy to accidentally select the default choice when clicking through dialogue and considering the long dialogue, it might be nice to have an option to save before the fights.

One of the enemy looks weird with dialogue though because there is a gap in the image instead of being seamless. You could fix this by either having a second image that appears/disappears over the first image when dialogue is present or by having the image extend to the edge or have the image naturally fade away.

For the multi-part fight, the second fight feels a bit weird because it looks like you are fighting the head.

Might be worth using a spellchecker and maybe a grammar checker.

For post-game, might want to add a cancel option instead of making someone press ok 18 times to exit. You can do that using a few different methods, but might want to use something.

Otherwise, the graphics were fine. The attack sprite animations felt a bit weird since they only show up during attacks. 

I really enjoyed this one! Loved all of the artwork. The story is very enthralling. I love that it plays almost like a visual novel too ^.^ Great work! I'll be looking forward to more of this one ^.^

First impressions are great,  the title screen is literally anime-worthy of a shounen show. Music is quite fitting too.

Now into the game, it plays almost like a visual novel which I really love. The story is easy to follow as it's paced quite well and information is given in a short amount. The options to search and make decisions is great for player of freedom and interaction. I also like the characters personalities, again with the anime-like characteristics and such. KUSO!!! As they say. You also made a great effort in creating different busts for different expressions. The use of background pictures and contrast between text and characters is well thought out. The SFX and background music are well-used too appropriately and transition nicely.

Combat-wise, actually well made. Profile faces and different icons look personally crafted. I appreciate the different attack animations with character art in them.  Fighting a giant snake never felt so anime before.  Although the battle menu is simple, the complexity behind each ability is thought out when fighting, especially in the many different fights. Do you want to hit them hard? Sure, apply defensive buffs and charge up a few times to do an ultimate attack move. Or debuff the enemy and hit them swiftly. Also, my favourite fight had to be commanding the force against the snake, really nice to play.

Next, world exploration. I love how you gave opportunities to interact with NPCs and stuff before heading to main events, while also changing NPCs when events do occur. Great for the player to understand the world a bit more with their freedom. Instead of a character sprite when exploring, you used well-thought icons to differentiate events.  A great idea that I might steal for future projects.

Feedback, although I haven't finished playing, the game is impressive. Things I would work on would be more difficult fights like the first snake encounter but make it less HP sponge. I would incorporate a guard/dodge system where you need to dodge or block certain attacks to avoid certain death. Also, minor spelling mistakes, such as "soilder" when using Rally other skills and "Undesireable" Snake Head. 

Overall, great anime about beating evil snakes. Needs a season 2 against an evil frog or something.  5/5. Looking forward to seeing more great work and talent in the future. Good luck in winning!