Besides steam I own a digital copy of this game on PS3, PS4, Nintendo switch and a physical copy for PS3, 100% completion on all of them, it's safe to say I love this game.

Long story short: Quirky turn based 3rd person shooter with a fixed roster of characters separated into unit types.

The story is serviceable and in broad strokes about a small country getting invaded by the much larger empire, you follow squad 7, a makeshift band of misfits, who have to beat the odds to help save their home, not exactly an uncommon story.

What really got me hooked was the art direction and gameplay, every shadow looks like it has pen marks drawn in combined with a classic anime style, this meshes incredibly well as the story is marked down with pictures, drawings and text in this file ledger which doubles as a record of your progress and a menu with everything else you could need.

The formula is watch some story then play a mission, rinse and repeat, if an important story character dies then the mission fails and you have to restart the mission.
While in a mission you look on a map and have action points (AP) which you use to activate units and commands, your turn ends when you select to end it or you run out of AP.
If you select a unit on the map it is activated and you zoom into 3rd person and gain control of that unit, you can move and do one action per activation, activating a unit multiple times decreases the amount they can move but there's mostly no other penalty for making the same unit shoot 5 times in 1 turn.
While moving any enemy unit in range will fire at you, they stop shooting while you aim, you can't move and aim at the same time, if you shoot at an enemy and they don't die then they will fire back, if a unit is crouched near some cover then they can't get head shot no matter how much it should.

You have 6 unit types: scouts, shock troopers, snipers, lancers, engineers and tanks.
Each type, besides tanks, can be leveled up to elites.
You can improve most of your gear through R&D and find hidden gear in missions.
Every character has a unique combination of potentials that can buff or debuff a character if certain conditions are met, as you use a character their potentials might change or increase as you "get to know them" and level up their unit type.
Besides this there are also squad leaders (important story characters) and the commander (MC), besides these you can mix and match your squad of units to your liking, if you don't want any engineers then that's up to you.

Scouts: High mobility, unlimited ammo, Interception fire 270 degree field of view, doesn't do all that much damage if you're not landing head shots, turns into swiz cheese from any machine gun fire.

Shock Troopers: Close quarters anti-personal units, unlimited ammo, Interception fire 90 degree field of view, lower mobility because of armor, devastating if lined up properly sometimes killing 2-3 with 1 clip, can take a decent amount of enemy fire so long as they don't hit the head.

Snipers: Long range, can safely ignore most return fire, limited ammo, can't intercept, low mobility, least armor.

Lancers: Anti-tank, limited range, limited ammo, can't intercept, low mobility in exchange for blast proofing, carries around a lance shaped rocket launcher that doesn't really make sense, but looks cool.

Engineers: Ammo crate on legs, can also restock grenades, has a scout rifle with less damage, Interception fire 90 degree field of view, can repair structures and tanks, dismantle mines, somewhere between sniper and scout in armor.

Tanks: 2 AP cost per use, mobile cover, devastating damage, Interception fire 90 degree field of view with limited turning, okay mobility, nearly invulnerable to gunfire, has giant glowing weakspot on the back.

I'm fairly biased as I've essentially completed the game normally and new game+ 4 times, but I'd say the game is decent in length and does a good job mixing it up as long as you don't fail the same mission a lot, don't expect your playthrough to be the same length as mine either though, as I knew where every enemy and ambush was.

Loved both the Japanese and English VA, soundtrack and sound design was great.

PS: be careful of perma death, if an enemy unit walks near someone that's downed they die, if you lose all your engineers then that's it, no restocking ammo for snipers or lancers, which can make the last missions nearly impossible.

Besides steam I own a digital copy of this game on PS3, PS4, Nintendo switch and a physical copy for PS3, 100% completion on all of them, it's safe to say I love this game. Long story short: Quirky turn based 3rd person shooter with a fixed roster of characters separated into unit types. The story is serviceable and in broad strokes about a small country getting invaded by the much larger empire, you follow squad 7, a makeshift band of misfits, who have to beat the odds to help save their home, not exactly an uncommon story. What really got me hooked was the art direction and gameplay, every shadow looks like it has pen marks drawn in combined with a classic anime style, this meshes incredibly well as the story is marked down with pictures, drawings and text in this file ledger which doubles as a record of your progress and a menu with everything else you could need. The formula is watch some story then play a mission, rinse and repeat, if an important story character dies then the mission fails and you have to restart the mission. While in a mission you look on a map and have action points (AP) which you use to activate units and commands, your turn ends when you select to end it or you run out of AP. If you select a unit on the map it is activated and you zoom into 3rd person and gain control of that unit, you can move and do one action per activation, activating a unit multiple times decreases the amount they can move but there's mostly no other penalty for making the same unit shoot 5 times in 1 turn. While moving any enemy unit in range will fire at you, they stop shooting while you aim, you can't move and aim at the same time, if you shoot at an enemy and they don't die then they will fire back, if a unit is crouched near some cover then they can't get head shot no matter how much it should. You have 6 unit types: scouts, shock troopers, snipers, lancers, engineers and tanks. Each type, besides tanks, can be leveled up to elites. You can improve most of your gear through R&D and find hidden gear in missions. Every character has a unique combination of potentials that can buff or debuff a character if certain conditions are met, as you use a character their potentials might change or increase as you "get to know them" and level up their unit type. Besides this there are also squad leaders (important story characters) and the commander (MC), besides these you can mix and match your squad of units to your liking, if you don't want any engineers then that's up to you. Scouts: High mobility, unlimited ammo, Interception fire 270 degree field of view, doesn't do all that much damage if you're not landing head shots, turns into swiz cheese from any machine gun fire. Shock Troopers: Close quarters anti-personal units, unlimited ammo, Interception fire 90 degree field of view, lower mobility because of armor, devastating if lined up properly sometimes killing 2-3 with 1 clip, can take a decent amount of enemy fire so long as they don't hit the head. Snipers: Long range, can safely ignore most return fire, limited ammo, can't intercept, low mobility, least armor. Lancers: Anti-tank, limited range, limited ammo, can't intercept, low mobility in exchange for blast proofing, carries around a lance shaped rocket launcher that doesn't really make sense, but looks cool. Engineers: Ammo crate on legs, can also restock grenades, has a scout rifle with less damage, Interception fire 90 degree field of view, can repair structures and tanks, dismantle mines, somewhere between sniper and scout in armor. Tanks: 2 AP cost per use, mobile cover, devastating damage, Interception fire 90 degree field of view with limited turning, okay mobility, nearly invulnerable to gunfire, has giant glowing weakspot on the back. I'm fairly biased as I've essentially completed the game normally and new game+ 4 times, but I'd say the game is decent in length and does a good job mixing it up as long as you don't fail the same mission a lot, don't expect your playthrough to be the same length as mine either though, as I knew where every enemy and ambush was. Loved both the Japanese and English VA, soundtrack and sound design was great. PS: be careful of perma death, if an enemy unit walks near someone that's downed they die, if you lose all your engineers then that's it, no restocking ammo for snipers or lancers, which can make the last missions nearly impossible.