As both an enthusiast of Shiren and Etrian games, allow me to thank you for the recommandation, as, pretty much like you, I had never even heard of the game.
I bought it on monday. My wife - a desperate Shiren 5 addict, nearly 200 hours clocked in there - snatched it and seems to appreciate it very much. She says she finds it harder than a Shiren game, but I think that is merely because she isn’t used to the system variations yet (those forts seem to be confusing everyone! She was talking to me about how you were supposed to dig moats around them to block monsters?).
Now I am just sad there is a single save slot :-/