>>724508528 (OP)
Honestly, this game has been a major influence on me and my late adolescence after discovering it a decade ago in 2015. I was intrigued and gripped by its dark, moody story and how often it took risks that no other company dared to reach speaks volumes about its cult status today. Especially since it came out 2 years after 9/11 in Japan.
But I find what intrigues me the most about this game are two things. One, its aesthetic. Two, the non-conventional soundtrack.
In spite of it being a medieval game, a lot of the parts that stand out in the character models look a lot more sleeker than when compared to other Japanese-made medieval contemporaries in which they look like they could've come out of a sci-fi/fantasy infusion and could've well fit into there.
Just look at the armbands and pieces and character designs for Caim and Leonard. Even if they're fantasy-esque, they look almost akin to modern-era clothing.
The music, even when it's a butchering of classical compositions, also has that urbanesque early 00s sound (kind of a darker Aphex Twin but butchered and looped in between). The spectrum between classical-influenced and urban-influenced shows between pieces like Chapter 2 Sky and Chapter 7 Sky/Vs. Inuart. One moment, it sounds like a symphony from Dvorak. The next it sounds like an ambient nightmare.
I could go on but I will wrap this up by saying that I don't think there's a video game writer that's as introspective and sadomasochistic as Yoko Taro. Apart from Yoshiyuki Tomino of Gundam or early Nasuverse with Mahoyo/Tsukihime. Or Innocent Grey with Kara No Shoujo and Cartagra. But these are all outliers in their own fields in anime and VN respectively.
