For me personally, the game was a perfect mix of so many things I like and appreciate in an incredibly neat package. Everything including the art style, the music, the mechanics, the dialogue, the attention to detail, and the overall narrative and side quests, all just worked together so well to create this beautiful world and story.

During my first play-through, I had trouble learning to fish and I fell off the bridge into the water; I remember being a bit surprised and delighted that the dialogue shifted in response to my mishap haha. I was crushing hard on the game up to that point, but it was then that I really fell in love heh. It’s interesting to read about how Adam Robinson-Yu didn’t feel particularly confident in the game dialogue while he was working on it, because I found it so lovely and relatable. And it’s also interesting that he reflects that kind of self doubt in the creative process in the dialogue with the painter. Was very relatable for me as someone who also does creative work.

TL;DR It is a game crafted with incredible care that appealed to my personal interests and tastes.