So I've finally got around playing through the story, and I liked this chapter a lot.
The only "downsides" I can name were somewhat poor pacing at the start and a lack of some sort of ultra-powerful culmination - but if every single patch is EPIC then none truly is.
Otherwise, the execution was great, and the story was nice.
A lot of things just made sense - I'm generally pretty good at suspending my disbelief, so I can overlook even rather major plot holes, as long as they aren't too obvious and/or stupid, and I'd say the last few patches in ZZZ had me rise my eyebrow quite regularly. The worst offender being the Season 1 : Epilogue: Part 2
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But I felt absolutely none of that during this chapter.
I had a few moments where I thought a stupid plot point was about to introduce itself, and I was pleasantly surprised and proven wrong.
Very nice.
A bit too long, but still nice.
Gameplay-wise, the new locations were pretty good.
I really appreciated the vent sections. An incredibly cheap and simple idea that helps to break up the pace, set mood, and add some variety to the gameplay. Those could get real annoying real quick if the devs start overusing them, but once in a while it can be pretty nice. The very first one was pure genius and perfectly set the atmosphere for what was about to follow.
The in-combat dialogues in English are still a problem. I kinda got used to just dodging enemies until the characters finish yapping, so I'm not particularly annoyed about that, but I'd prefer if they'd fucking fix it already.
Getting more enemies is nice. Reskins also looked pretty cool.
Fairy did something a few times.
I wish Harin had more lines, but I was happy to see her and Trigger.
Seed (the robot) looks nice, everyone thinking otherwise is high and retarded.
I didn't count them, but I felt there was more cutscenes, splash art, and comic panels. Maybe they just reduced the amount of "white text on black screen" storytelling. Either way, I liked that.
Unironically one of the best chapters all things considered.
Only now getting into the events, but those also look nice.
Also Belle's fat bouncy ass in summer shorts scores some points as well.