If you like games like Persona, but want much more simple social mechanics and way shorter dungeons, then I think you may like Dungeons of Hinterberg. The game is loop is to go explore dungeons, then go shopping in the town, then spend your nights socializing with the locals. It's a fun intro take on the dungeon RPG.

One of the best parts were the stories with the people you meet. This was better than the main narrative, which was also good, but not as good as the NPCs stories. Another positive was the art style. Especially on the ski lodge area. Every dungeon in that region felt unique and grand. Other regions as well, but this one was the best. Also the way each area has it's own type of magic ability that helped with puzzles and combat.

I played entirely on the Steam Deck and it ran fairly smooth 60fps medium settings with minor dips to the high 40s at time. The dips were mostly during some traversal in an area with lots of water and rain effects. Never an issue during combat.

The only negatives I really had was the games economy. It felt like shops were very expensive, but if you just wait you can find better stuff within the dungeons anyway. They almost didn't feel like they had a point to them.

I was never truly a pokemon many, but this game adds so many other elements that improves on the monster capturing game play. The way they do element match ups is also a nice change from the original. I mine if I put water on a fire monster, of course it would make steam which creates an obstruction on the battlefield. Or if I play fire on Plastic it changes them to posion type.

This and not to mention the relationship building with the other characters is adds a lot to the formula.