I remember I thought CR1 was "ok". I didn't like the 2 person party mechanic and I didn't find the actual levels or plot too enthralling.
I hope this changes things.
The plot did get a bit more interesting as you went through the other storylines. Just beating the game on one path was ok, but as you saw more paths the story opened up a bit more at the end and it got more interesting... then you are able to complete the story after finishing the four branches. I enjoyed it enough to see it through.
The 2 person combat system was a very limited though, and the weakest link, aside from the way it is structured to almost play like a dungeon crawler, where you just have one main hub to get supplies, then you descend to a chosen level and clear it and return to the main hub and repeat. Except the levels were always easy, even if you purposively picked the ones that were supposed to be difficult.
The puzzles were occasionally fun though, at least. And the pre-rendered backgrounds were pleasant enough as well.