Beat the main dungeon twice using save states, otherwise I would have died a lot. I instantly felt the gameplay was familiar because it is very similar to the Izuna games I played a few years ago. I very much enjoyed the tactical aspect of deciding which items to keep, when to use them, figuring out what unidentified stuff does, deciding how thoroughly to explore and how long to risk passive healing.

I used the best weapon I could get along with a heavy shield, because those late game enemies hit HARD. I would often micromanage equipping the shield to offset its hunger penalty. If I had a lighter shield I would use that until getting into a tough fight, but I most often threw extra equipment for free damage. Arrows were great but I barely found any on my 1st run so I saved them for the things that drop food but flee, since I felt that hunger was the most limiting factor. I used staves and scrolls frequently. I found that many enemies (especially late game) hit so hard that you need to use something to take the edge off the damage, never mind all the enemies with other nasty effects. I beat the final boss by nuking with a dragon herb and then repeatedly using decoy staves on him (I had 2 but 1 was enough), which caused him to waste most turns and draw attacks from the other enemies. I did not do any side content that run.

2nd run was much easier. I had a bracer with immunity to confusion (which is awesome) and had tons of arrows this time. I had the blind old man and little girl following me until I found a store with 3 entrances, 1 leading into the exit room. You are damn right I sold him everything I had and then stole everything. Old man and little girl ditched me after that. Now I am at the beginning again with full inventory.

I looked at a walkthrough and there is more content to be had, though it would take quite a few more runs through the game. Am I right that the tutorial like thing in the beginning has 50 levels but you can only do 1 each run? Damn that is tedious. I really enjoy the core gameplay but I am most likely never going to play enough to unlock that secret 99 level dungeon.