This game proves to me that the entire arc has but one goal: infantilizing you. Whether it's the predictable structure, the harem, or nothing ever leading to any real consequences; it all feels like it's meant to pander to a baby that needs their diapers to be pristine, feeding you nothing but feel-good moments ad nauseam.
I can't accept that this the same series anymore: the one that had victims of war crimes be mentally torn apart, the one that had a child be nearly asphyxiated by his own mother, the same series that had a girl be abducted into child prostitution, subjected to sexual violence, drugging, and intoxication, someone who's alluded to be putting up a defensive front in her psyche this many games later. The whole series hinges on exploitation of other people, be it wars and propaganda, cults and human experiments, all kinds of manipulation you can think of yet, no longer does this series want to portray what these tragedies entail, they're now only concerned with undoing any nuance the series could ever claim to have, by dumbing everything down and making sure you never feel uncomfortable, eventually devolving into what feels like a middling 2000s Romance/Comedy/SoL.
It's just so, so, so boring. 3 quarters of the game boils down to go to this place x3, save these people x4, with the situations having no variety in them. Class VII has become a blob of nothing revolving entirely around Rean that only ever agree with each other, not a collection of characters with their own wills, troubles and interpersonal relationships. It's all the same problems as CS II.
14 years and 8 games worth of characters, so much potential to make something varied happen with a literal world war about to break out and a battle royale-like introduced... and there's simply nilch. The main villains don't do anything to stop you even though they have so many ways to manipulate the odds in their favour, even if they have to let us be free for their goals past act 1, and the battle royale is entirely a pointless extra used only in the last quarter.
You trek and trek along the same situations over and over again, you listen to all the characters in your bloated party add nothing to most conversations again and again, you can predict how everything will go and be resolved, even the motivations of your enemies end up feeling repetitive.
When it isn't being a repetitive slog, you instead have to endure someone magically turning up alive to destroy all stakes and ruin the driving forces of other characters, or it's pure scum getting redeemed with a pat on their back for their troubles, usually accompanied with the most inconsistent plot device that's humanly conceivable for taking away characters' agencies and razing the foundation of the overarching plot.
The curse can do anything at any time, from being a logical extension of someone's thought process in a negative way, to making someone who would never fight us do so, from making kids go back for their toys, to being a part of the mechas, while also being curable with just about any method, like talking about the strength of bonds or playing music.
Somehow the bond events manage to not only ruin so many of the characters by making their culminations be optional and followed with unavoidable character-assassination-level confessions to Rean, they also manage to be too short to be proper fanservice for the people that actually do want to see such scenes with these characters. (Nope, definitely not me wanting to see Sara and Rean interact more, but her second scene is like a minute long. Also, no Juna, you did not fall in love with Rean when he saved you in the mech, and even if that's how you've internalized your relationship with him in your brain, that isn't explored either because again, the scenes are too short. RIP, Fie and Altina, your familial love won't be forgotten. Let's not even talk about how gross reciprocating like half of these confessions is.)
Such a big part of Rean's character climax is sudden desperation of something to cling onto in what he perceives to be the last moments of his chronically depressed life, with the "romance" built up so far being used for this, which makes the existence of the vague harem throughout the entire arc even more questionable for how important the said romance is.
If only there was an arc in this series that showed you can have the protagonist in a romantic relationship that is important for the development of both characters involved, and IF ONLY there was a duo front and centre on the cover of the first game who they've been pushing since then to be in such a relationship, but never committing; a duo who have troubles with family they could both relate on, someone who Rean could go through highs and lows between 4 games, someone whose first bond event in this game even showcased how that could go. Too bad, Alisa, Musse put in all the work necessary to get a desperate man in a shorter timeframe while you were twiddling your thumbs across 4 games, so in my timeline she gets the man, whilst you get to sit in the cuckstoel. (All the options are ass and unsatisfying in every way.)
Oh right, the gameplay, it's basically the exact same with the fun of making strong builds still there, except somehow regressed in some parts. I can count on half a hand how many defensive orders I had to use even on nightmare, when it was a staple to save BP for enemy ults in the previous game, and turbo mode doesn't speed up orders anymore making everything slow down to a crawl. (Skipping it makes you wait the same amount of time as watching the animation??)
I looked forward to getting to talk with NPCs between main story more than the main story itself, as that's where there's any interesting depiction of what effect the war is having; and doing minigames, even though I'm not a Tetris/Puyo Puyo guy and the card game barely offers a challenge, though still more than in the last game where you steamrolled everything with the starting cards.
Just one game ago this series was getting me emotional with Juna's wailing speech on Orchis Tower and Tita talking about how Renne and herself are simply trying to do their best, this game is instead making me bawl my eyes out from how much this series has lost everything to sell to... who exactly? Who is this series getting made for anymore? This game is overstuffed with fanservice that is incomprehensible to people who didn't start with Sky, but most of it rings hollow in my ears, everything about this game is not made for me, the supposed fan.
[strike] At least this game gave me three of the funniest moment in the series: when they showcase Musse's intelligence through a boardgame in her mind, Fie turning 18 right on The Day, and when 20 people in the same room all start glazing Rean's new fit one by one. (I'd agree if it wasn't for the front cutout.)
More seriously, I feel like Renne being comfortable showing any amount of skin that can be considered revealing is a big leap for her character that should be a moment of its own but, she's already doing it so, oh well. [/strike]
[spoiler]OK, I really liked the McBurn fight, it was a fun use of the shounen with good comedical timing, and a revelation that I feel like confirms my gut feeling in Sky that this world is a simulation, with a now added extra of probably being a loop, going from ouroboros symbolism. Would not be embarassing at all to be completely wrong.
I like Osborne on paper, but it all gets ruined from him not putting enough effort in act 1 to ensure Rean doesn't leave his beast-mode, thus guaranteeing that his son has no chance of sacrificing himself to kill Ishmelga, and his plan ending up too perfect outside of that. If the deaths didn't get reversed, and if Rufus and Cedric, who he doesn't have full control over, did far more than he expected, it would make it feel far more human and, in turn, interesting.
[/spoiler]
