I've reached the end game now, only the final boss battle to go. Except that I haven't completed the quest for getting the true ending, and seeing that it requires that I collect all 60 of a certain item, I don't think I can be bothered. I'm enjoying the game but backtracking (even after getting the final ability) is a bit of a pain.
I think I got about half of them, though. And the parrot can help.
Other than that, this game is brilliant and can't recommend it enough if you want something fresh and old-school.