i wish this game had a little more time to bake. it's not bad by any means, and i had a lot of fun with it, but it's just a little disappointing that it feels so close to something, but never quite reaches it. i found that after i finished the main story, i didn't really open the game again afterwards, because i didn't really feel compelled to. i felt like i had seen pretty much everything the game had to offer me. (and i hadn't even been married, because i realized far too late the "only one romance chance per heart lv" thing and by that point i was at a high enough heart lv it was just tiring to try and get to the next just so i could reload and try again however many times.) it lacked what it was about rf4 that kept me coming back to it, over and over for years on different playthroughs, making it my most played 3ds game.

however. However. like i said, it's not bad by any means. i found myself extremely grateful for some improvements, and very disappointed by others. in other words, this feels like a title that has the seemingly natural clunky-ness of a series' first foray into 3d (despite not technically being so.) while i may be disappointed, i don't dislike it whatsoever, and i actually found myself very hopeful for what rf6 may look like - if it ever comes. i feel that this game provided much-needed experience, and that, hopefully, the lessons learned will transfer over into a much more refined game in the future.

why'd they lock important story/character development elements behind marriage :(