Whisper of a Rose (2014)

I eventually gave up on this game because the relationships between the characters were pretty terrible, and the dungeons were difficult to navigate intuitively, so the gameplay wasn't all that fun. I was mostly playing for the story, but once party members start being added, you realize the main character is kind of horrible to people. Like, really horrible.

I skimmed some reviews that pointed out she never gets any better or redeems herself, and she's actually worse to characters I haven't met yet. Soooo... no thanks.

Currently playing! This apparently gets bad reviews? Haha. So far... I mean, it's a simplistic RPG Maker-esque game. You wander around and the same 2-3 monsters attack you and combat is turn-based and grindy. The art is well done, in my opinion, and I'm intrigued by the story enough to keep playing.

You are living the modern (Slightly futuristic/grungier?) world and extreme bullying at your college (unsure if this is the British definition of college or American, but I assume British.... she seems youngish) and abusive parents lead you to steal a prototype of an "iDream" a device you press to you temple and it transports you to a magical dreamworld where everything is perfect. Time does not pass in the real world while you are in the dreamworld.

So you steal it, and just as the cops shoot you, you get the thing in your head, so the entire story takes place 2 seconds from you getting shot.

This dreamworld turns out to be nothing like the fantasy it was supposed to be. It's scary and full of nightmares that you have to fight, including a particularly creepy clown who is after you in particular.

So... I'm interested enough in this story and what's going on to keep playing, and I personally like the simple old turn-based RPG style. A lot. :)