Interesting. While it offers some nice innovation and some small bit of replayabilty, it totally forgets the rest.
Gameplay: 7/10
One thing this game does right is the gameplay. Instead of the Archaic and overlooked formula (used by such overrated juggernauts as Final Fantasy) where you choose "hit" and then they choose "hit", or some variation of it, the game manages to offer something different. When you enter combat, a "combat field" is set up. Enemies and your character have a small glowing white band around them. There is also a large white band around everything. When it is person's turn, they may move anywhere around in that band, but may not leave it. On the next turn, their band moves accordingly, which makes for an interesting form of gameplay, and is refreshing (and unfortunately overlooked).
While most RPGs let you select "Run away" (or some variation", in this game, you must be able to touch the large white band around the combat field. If you can touch it, you can run away. There won't be any "OMG YOU COULDN'T ESCAPE" messages. You run. While it removes the element of chance, it's a nice change, and works quite well.
To select a spell, you use the C-Buttons to select the element (Up is fire, left is earth, right is wind, down is water), and then select which spell. If you wish to use your staff (useful in the beginning, as a last resort, or if your fire level is high), you must be able to make contact with an enemy, in which a staff icon appears above their head.
When an enemy attacks, for the duration of the animation (such as a rock flying through the air), you can move, and possibly dodge. This is much better than the game this is compared to much, Final Fantasy VII. You can actually DODGE an enemy attack, instead of enemies just randomly missing (although that still does happen).
Unfortunately, this doesn't get an 8 because of the somewhat mundane spells, easy difficulty (in fact, leveling up water enough can get you an invincibility spell, among other things), and lots of running. You run reasonably fast, but the areas are far too large (in possibly to make up for the lack of paths, there's essentially one road in the game). The only substitute for the running is getting colored wings, which teleport you to areas depending on the wing color.
On the topic of items, there is no shop system or equipment system. This is somewhat of a double edged sword. One one hand, it means you don't go out and kill tons of monsters for some cash to spend, but on the other it means you get all your items from random people, creatures, and chests.
Lastly, when you "level up", you choose to level one of the four elements. Enough power in an element improves it's spells and can get you more spells. Fire increases melee damage, but I'm not sure what the others do beyond upgrading their coresponding attacks.
Graphics: 7
These graphics might not be Majora's Mask quality, but for their time they're okay. The dark areas are surprisingly depressing, the models for monsters all look cool (although the same can't be said for most NPCs, this is made up for with bosses, and especially the rose nights near the end), and the textures are all okay. Sadly, the game suffers from some backgrounds being too bright, and some being too dark to see, although to note the game does have a nice draw distance in some areas.
Sound: 7 (again...)
The music in the game, minus the plains theme, is surprisingly good. Some of it is very simplistic, and this at some points gets annoying, but usually it's okay, and some tracks (like the final boss theme) are surprisingly well done, (the final boss theme actually rivals some big time boss themes) and the normal fight theme ain't too shabby either.. The music played in the plains (heard first on the very first path out of the city) is ok, but quickly gets on your nerves.
Sound effects are similar, although the effect that plays when you kill an enemy is kinda neat, the rest are okay.
Story: 4
You're an apprentice wizard dude thing (oh how original), and the sacred book held by your monestary has been stolen (oh how original), so your dad went off to get it back but never came back (oh how original). Heck, at the beginning, the priest actually says things to the effects of "You want to get and I can't stop you. I wish you luck on the quest, and your personality will surely help." and the like. Even then, they make it a point to make it so that you care as little about the plot as you can. If you actually pay attention to the plot, you could paraphrase everything useful they say and write it down on less than two pieces of paper. It's that bland. Heck, the game doesn't really even have cutscenes. There are scenes, but they're simply text boxes.
Bells and whistles: 3
There's a secret area filled with more free items. Weeeeeak!
Final Score: 7
It might not be epic, it might be easy, and it's incredibly linear. Thankfully, the music is okay and sometimes great, the entire combat system is simple and yet very unique and refreshing, and the graphics aren't that bad. It's a nice quick romp that will be over in less than two days. It's bland, but at the same time has some nice innovation. Although it's entire flow is "Go to a, kill boss for item, take it back to owner, kill boss, etc", the combat is nice, and the music is worth a listen (I actually got the music ripped from the game because of how much I like the final boss theme). Basically, it's an RPG that, instead of the opposite, has gameplay but no story. Worth a rental, and some might actually buy (although it's not really replayable). About the same quality as the oh-so-popular-FFVII, although it's shorter, it's more involved in some spots, and the graphics are better.