The regular battles were a little boring and too frequent.
I found it a fun and interesting system, but it got overwhelming to do often, especially since the only thing at stake is coins.
I just started this game on Friday and got to the...third or fourth named area? Still in Red streamer territory; the one past Picnic (Hills?). These are my takeaways so far, too. The battles at this early level are a little simplistic, so they get really repetitive. Honestly, there are a few times when I have to fight two battles in a row and I can't see any reason that the game would have made me do this. Not awarding anything but coins is a major demerit; for the time and engagement they require, I feel like the battles
really need more reward to them; it feels like I get almost nothing at all for each one.
Maybe more weapon types than "line or block" could help change things up? I
just got to the point where I have iron shoes and enemies that require them, so things are starting to kinda-sorta get more interesting, but it sounded like those are consumables, too? That could lead to some Oof moments down the road.
I also haven't fought any bosses yet, which some people above say is a high point, so I guess I'll find out soon!
The exploration, the environments and visual design, basically everything else so far is all charming and delightful. There are already a lot of tags for "come back later to figure this out!" (or maybe "I'm too dumb to figure this out") things around, fighting the big paper mache goombas was a lot of fun, etc. But a lot of times it really does feel like the momentum grinds to a halt every time I have to fight more than one battle in a few-minute span.