Good to hear! I also remember that manual had the backstory that your "hero" Winwood was an Isekai protagonist who seeks shelter in an inn before the Nazgûl-likes burn it down. It was ahead of it's time :-D

The Start screen theme is etched into my mind somehow

I never made much progress in it. It always felt very difficult to me. You need to get enough people to fill multiple parties soon too, required for puzzles and such. You could switch between 4 parties, I think? Might be wrong here, it has been a long time since I even tried to remember that game.

You always seem to end up with games I know. :-D The enemies depend on your location and party size. Got enough of snakes get an additional recruit and never see them again. Try to find a fighter-types to recruit, they are very rare. I should still have the box/manual float about somewhere.

The original had sever balancing issues and difficulty spikes. The PSP version is the worst remake of any game I've ever seen, designed in complete ignorance of the games core mechanics. Seriously, that version is a disaster zone. Reborn managed to actually resolve all issues the game had. Go Reborn

Vampire Hunter D Bloodlust