This is a neat concept. I'll go ahead and list some pros and cons as well.
Pros...
- I haven't played a game quite like this. The way you pull in surrounding items ties the overworld and battles together in a nice way.
- There's a nice amount of variety right from the beginning. I don't feel like I'm being drip fed new monsters or mechanics.
- Even though there's several systems I'm unfamiliar with, I never felt frustrated.
Cons...
- I had a hard time losing, even when I was trying to.
- I know there was a word limit, but item descriptions would have been nice. Most other things I was able to figure out without reading the tutorial.
- I wish there were some music or sound effects.