I finished the demo a little while ago and I was pretty impressed, but I have some issues.
Pros:
Most of the maps are done really well. I do like the old RM2K graphics, because I think they look less goofy than some of the new ones. Also, I really like the character graphics. Good job on the menu system as well.
The shadows were a very nice touch and were done very well.
The characters would be really nice if they weren't all the same personality. Also, you could add a few more unimportant agents. It seems kinda strange that they're staging a rebellion against the Empire with only the few fighters and the two maids.
I really enjoy the music in the game. I didn't experience any noticeable lag, so whatever format you're using seems fine to me.
The game is plenty challenging (although maybe a little shake-up in things you fight would be fine). The recovery crystals kinda throw things off a little bit, but it's just a demo, so that wasn't that big of an issue.
Cons:
Like JStreet said, the dialogue seemed really choppy and progression seemed to move too quickly for the story. It seemed to be heading in an interesting direction, but things could've been slowed down a little more. The introduction of new characters was always really sudden (namely Nora).
Every character really has the same personality (based on gender), which is pretty annoying. That's probably the area that needs the most work, in my opinion.
The title screen really kills me. You could really use a different font color or at least some sort of shadowing, because as it is right now, it's very difficult to read and does not match the rest of the game.
A different battle system would work very well, probably either ATB or CTB. I feel like characters like Nora should be attacking a little more frequently than Cain or Josh.
I don't know if this was intentional, but Cara was almost a clone of Cain in battle.
I might be the only one, but I found the mapping to be a little confusing on that first forest map.
The story also isn't all too riveting, and I'm kinda confused whether or not the main enemy is the Dark Lord or the Emperor.
Overall, good job so far, but there are a few kinks that you need to work out.
