I got to Bloodpool tonight, and while I'm still largely enjoying the game, the sim elements drag on a bit too long so far. Took me three hours to get to Bloodpool, ffs! I don't really understand why I can't place defensive towers/palisades on any road I want, and am limited to whatever random squares the game says I can place them at. And I don't even mind the loquacious angel and townspeople, just the sim bits themselves go on too long. I wish the MP regen items spawned more quickly, for example, so I could use more lightning or other spells to interact some more during the defense segments... too much time was spent just waiting for my hero guy to kill the boss, who got stuck on a palisade while the hero went around very slowly (imo) killing regular enemies while I just... watched.
All of that said, I still want to play more of it, so it's doing something right. I never could get into tower defense games, though, so I'm not sure if I'll finish this...