I did spend about an hour with TOEE and I have deeply positive impressions. The game manual is 176 pages and it's spiral bound. That alone is a huge positive for me, because I believe it demonstrates a commitment to the people who purchase the game. It's an old-school manual, the kind you'd take hours to read because there was so much information. There's also a fold-out map made out of nicely weighty paper.

The interface is extremely well designed, the character generation system is excellent, and everything seems to be well thought-out and top quality. I don't see any tremendous innovations, but existing conventions have been carefully tuned to their finest possible state. I get the feeling as I start this game that I might be looking at the last great 2D RPG. That's just a gut feeling, because I haven't spent very much time with the game at all, but I'll have more for you on Friday.