Thank you for the excellent feedback Charlotte.
I wasn't sure how well the free exploration and non-linearity would be received but it seems like that's resonated fairly well with most players. In retrospect I do wish that I had made the initial story hook more prominent as most of the real backstory is gated behind the post-boss cutscenes and I appreciate the folks that have pointed out the need for a more compelling intro.
Regarding the aesthetic, I surprisingly couldn't find any RMMZ conversions of the 2k3 tile set and ended up making my own, which was time consuming (especially those blasted autotiles as they work differently in 2k3). It was very worth it in my opinion however. And I am very glad the overall vibe and atmosphere seems to have come through as intended.
It was a joy to make and a it's been a joy to see people's responses to the game.