The whole question for a successor of the throne turning into a magic popularity contest with magic rules is just ridiculous. Like I get that this makes it easier to integrate it into the gameplay loop, but it betrays a critical lack of imagination, that they had to add what is basically one of those reality tv competition shows into their fantasy world (not to mention that Persona 5 already had a very similar mechanic). Like can you seriously not think of any other way to tell this story?

What did really rub me the wrong way though was that as soon as you step like a single step outside of the main city on your cool-ass-submarine-that-has-giant-monster-legs-that-walks-across-the-landscape, they introduce teleportation and fast-travel to the game. The game makes a huge deal about you leaving Maria behind in the city, all with you making big promises to return and to tell her about your journey, just for the game to basically go “oh also you can just immediately return to her in an instant with this magical fast travel mechanic”.

Like all the mechanics of the game feel almost perfectly set up for you to be able to get you that “big journey across the world” feeling: The calendar system actually turns the time spend on the road into a mechanical feature of the game, the social links you can bring with you on your runner can obviously develop quicker and deeper than those you have to leave behind and there is a really cozy feeling to being on the road, with nothing else to do but pass the time with your party. Introducing fast travel with absolutely no cost to this system so quickly just makes it feel like the designers gave up, didn’t feel like going all the way with it, or just felt convenience trumps all. I think it is a shame either way.