The artwork, design, and overall ambience is really, really nice. I enjoyed it a lot.
Some thoughts:
- The dialog seems to run as one long line, with no spaces between sentences. I think it would be easier to handle if you spaced it one or two sentences per dialog box instead of a continuous stream.
- The first battle can roll 3 or 4 enemies making it really challenging/slow. I'd suggest forcing it to have only 1 or 2 enemies, since it's the first thing the player encounters.
- Battles feel really slow. Even with ATB set to max, it drags on quite a bit. I think the max HP of the enemies / starting damage of the player should be adjusted. Edit: Just saw your comment about selling items first in the main post--I'll check this out!
- The battle damage text graphic is glitched.
Seriously though, I really love the art direction and I hope to see more from you guys.