Generally fun game even if it takes a fair bit to click and give you enough options to actually get around to messing with its systems, and surprisingly for the more open-ended games without proper time limits in the series, the general story and event progression is very natural. Sadly the endgame is bogged down by the rumor mechanic. While not much, some key materials (and recipes that are unlocked by gathering those materials) are locked behind getting specific rumors to trigger in the café, leading to situations in which you can basically spend 4 hours just fishing for a rumor to gain access to a material that would let you finish specific event chains. The idea for purchasing rumors being tied to actually spawning what they're about instead of just nudging the player in the direction of a nice secret in general feels completely wrong. Thankfully the postgame is its entire own thing, so you can ignore having to deal with that.

On a more positive note, this game has some of the best tracks in the series, and considering how good the music in GUST games tends to be, that's saying something.