cs3 spoilers in this review:

this game is so uneven. strong start, great intermission, weak middle, good ending (though loses nearly all impact in retrospect :/), a great epilogue and then ANOTHER epilogue because they dont want to end the game on as sad a note (even though it kind of ruins the mood they Just set up)

seriously, so much of the finale chapter fails to hit knowing that IMMEDIATELY in the next game they walk back crow dying. and i know theres Reasons for it, but man theres looong scenes of weeping and an entire credits sequence all around this that I remember hitting when i played this for the first time on vita, that just totally misses now.

and speaking of weird choices this game has basically three endings. the game could have ended with the occupation epilogue and it would have worked Really well as a downer ending, and a great point of comparison for where rean and lloyd both end up at the end of their respective stories to this point. i’m even willing to give falcom that last free day, because the mood of it at the start is Really good, and having one last free day does being it back around in a nice way. rean returning from tangram gate feeling so bad about everything, claire not even being able to talk to him, all his friends leaving him to move on with their lives as he’s stuck in this rut, its great. but because thats too sad of a way to go out they have to just do the old schoolhouse again so everyone can come together for a SECOND full length final dungeon. I dont remember the epilogue feeling as out of place the first time i played it but i was so wrapped up in my feelings with everything that first time in a way i was less so this time, and it stuck out so much more.

I still like this game and its highs are good, but its lows are so much more pronounced this time. weird game

edit: also oh yeah putting important story content into ng+ only and even then you have to finish the whole game finding these hidden items to get a secret cutscene is so stupid, what were they thinking