I'll start with saying that I don't really like these type of RPG games. They just bore me in general.
Regardless the game is pretty well done (story and gameplay wise). I like the over-world map, although not sure why I went downtown instead of straight to the pool (didn't make much sense story-wise) ...
I lost at the pool, cause I didn't kill the monster quick enough ? That ended my game session right there since I was not going to replay the whole game. Maybe ask the player to save if the ending can be so harsh?
I guess, I'd like to be able to see the monsters HP or would have been nice to see a "turns till friend drowns" so I would have been able to maybe more wisely choose my strategy.