Wow! What a captivating opening cinematic! There's so much love and attention to detail that has gone into this game -- from the shaking ship, the footprints in the snow, and the NPCs actually missing after they're killed -- and I think the idea of gaining experience for exploration is really interesting!
Once the crash happens, I found it funny that the guards didn't join the battles out in the snow. Why are they there, if not to help fight (it makes sense with who I am assuming is Septitus, since he takes them out first)? The fight with Septitus is great; I was pretty sure it was a fight we were meant to lose, but even with that expectation, it still felt almost balanced and like I could win, with the items I had. I also liked the eerie music used for the fight. It tied into all the other Final Fantasy-esque references.
There are some rough mapping (walls with no ceilings, walking on the bed), collisions, and eventing (after the "dream" you see the character first in front of their journal and then pop over to stand on the bed, and the movement speed is SLOWWWW after that initial fight. I think it was changed for the cutscene and never changed back, maybe?)... And then unfortunately, after talking to Estevaila, I went exploring, as she suggested, and got stuck here, unable to move or open the menu or do anything:
Estevaila saying "to the right of us" makes sense to a player, but there are walls to both of their rights, which are different, since they're facing each other. Maybe have her say "over that way" or something would be better, since we see her walk off screen, too.
Overall, I think you have a great start here and hope you'll keep working on the game post IGMC!