Definitely a lot more enjoyable than Virtue's Last Reward due to its achronological approach. Instead of slogging through 20~ hours of branching scenarios to reach all of the locks, you're immediately thrust into the action with short playable Fragments. The player also has a sense of whiplash and complete bewilderment that compliments the story well (and the characters' position within it).

Where this game really falls down is the production value. There was a clear step down in budget between Virtue's Last Reward, resulting in stilted character animations and not a lot of new music, but I don't think that this gets in the way of the story and engaging with the characters nearly as much as people make out.

In terms of the story and characters, it's a mixed bag. Some of the new additions are great (Carlos, Q, Diana) and those returning from past titles are just as good as you remember them (Phi, Sigma, Junpei, Akane). That being said, Mira and Eric are both some of the worst characters I've ever seen in a visual novel/adventure game.

Zero's plan in this final installment is also a little... underwhelming. I won't go into spoilers here, but I can see why so many people came away from ZTD disappointed. I'm honestly not sure that Uchikoshi could've done a better job considering all of the expectations, however.

7/10 places it just above VLR (6/10) and below 999 (8/10) for me.