So funnily enough, I actually think the biggest flaw of this game was the monster raising system. I did not think it really fit a Tales game, especially when we have a whole cast of previously known characters. It was also annoying as shit to manage.

Other than that, I actually quite liked the game. Emil/Marta was a weird and cheesy romance but I liked it. Helps it's one of the few outright for sure canon pairings in the whole series.

Most of the new characters were amusing or interesting enough. Could the older characters have been used more? Sure but I thought their role was perfectly fine.