That felt like a massive kick in the balls............
I'm not really sure how to put my thoughts into words regarding the game, I almost forgot I also didn't end up writing down my PALF review either. My brain is a bit jumbled, but I'll at least give my thoughts, overall feelings are mixed but generally positive, I think the game is a solid 7.5, it's a game I'd largely recommend, but it has plenty of issues, from shitcode, to terrible map design, poorly explained mechanics and the story often struggling with pacing in a few ways. I still had a good time, especially when the game stopped being rather railroady and allowed me to hunt the legendary Pokemon at my own leasure, the exploration is largely good in spite of a few maps, as alluded to, sucking ass like the wind temple and the mines, I like that the game encourages backtracking, which is so rare in spic fangames, the routes aren't perfect, many of them are just empty corridors with trainers and seldom else, but the respawning items, totem Pokemon and active spawns, however the events are rather confusing and not exactly clear, I also don't like the Persona like bonds thing, or the nu Persona inspirations in general actually, there is a also a large amount of it that's borked due to shitcode or by being placed in areas the player would normally not return to at any point. I do like that the story tries to incorporate several aspects of FE and SMT with Pokemon, however I believe as the story progresses it's clear Pokemon somewhat lose their importance, not entirely obviously, but by the final battle the game makes it seem like your Pokemon aren't even the ones fightning the big bad (on the order route). The characters are alright-ish, Pixi's dynamic with the MC is cute, but she sadly just disappears for long sections of the game, Holly's adorable, but we also don't see too much of her, the rest are.....around, mostly, and there's A*dan, holy fuck I hate this character. I feel still some of the villains should have gotten more time to shine or at least a few more scenes, I understand the potential ramifications of this considering we've seen the WIN THE BATTLE LOSE ANYWAY in games like UB, but still, at least some buildup, the plot with the MC's mother comes in out of nowhere and is resolved rather abrutly with no further interactions, it happens, you barely get time to stew over it and that it's over. I am terribly split on this, I understand why many scenes were kept short and I am even somewhat thankfully certain story beats don't drag on for an eternity, but I really wanted to see more, the game's writing is good, that is not something I'm questioning, I just wished certain aspects of it were expanded upon. Noah as a character is interesting but it almost feels like she was completely changed halfway through the game outta nowhere, I'm probably not doing a CHAOS playthrough since I think my issues with chapter's 2 and 3 still feel rather brazen. I also feel the northern continent was far too rushed, heck, the pendragon city is literally just a copypaste of aster city with minimal changes. For final thoughts, I hope the game eventually gets a neutral path of sorts, the Order ending felt like a kick in the balls and that you were making a bad decision all along, it has a bitter taste to it. Classes are also contentious, I hate that I kept having to switch to thief every 5 seconds, certain class abilities are also explained poorly, don't work or are just plain confusing. Besides all my bitching, I still recommend the game to a good extent, it's definitely solid, especially if you like SMT.