>>56286732Aside from that, the writing for the game was incredibly enjoyable from start to finish, with a few notable hiccups. Like mentioned earlier, the game feels too eager to move on with itself until it introduces the Dreamscape, where it feels like the pace stablizes now that you've seen more of Ayrith and are introduced to the other half of the game's world (Though more in spirit rather than actual size). I love all the hints leading up to Darkrai's offer for the fact they aren't outright shoved in your face and it's up to (You) to personally pick up on them, though I think it's muddied a bit by the fact even noticing them if you dont read enough specific books you outright can't actually reject Darkrai without an immediate game over. It can be a bit hard to follow at times because of how much it's trying to juggle, but it does a better job at it than some other games I've played so it's more a natural side effect than an outright failing. The characters as well are pretty good on average, while there's a couple I personally dislike I can genuinely see why others would like them, though I have a few things to say about some specific ones.
Scarlett, at the time of playing, I feel is very heavily underused and despite playing a big role early on could've been gutted with only minimal changes needing to be made. You don't spend nearly enough time with her before she switches sides, and it happens so fast that it feels like it was only done to create drama, and after if you manage to save her she still continues to hold 0 plot relevance. The few times she does get to speak up, it's to serve Connor's character and not her own save for 1 battle at the Cellia tournament, which is only if she doesn't die.
Keep in mind for the tier list, I have the rows ordered highest->lowest and I consider Reeve to be the most average quality character, anyone above him is at least good. And Cedric I actively avoided so cant rank him genuinely