Counting the days, the story of FC is depicted across 21 days (actually 27 days but they skip a whole week towards the end, we only actually see 21 days ingame). Apparently the characters of FC became BFFs over a few days of knowing each other (remember, the party kept splitting up. They were never together for the whole duration).
I was surprised to find several instances of "holding back", though it is presented as more low key compared to Cold Steel and Crossbell. I think it has to do with presentation. In Cold Steel and Crossbell, you beat villains in battle... and then they stand up and go "well I was actually holding back, but I'll waltz off right now and let you go on your merry way for... reasons", whereas in FC they go "well I COULD continue fighting you, but at this point doing something else seems more productive". It was always clear as to why the bad guys waltzed off, even though they may have been still a match for us.
I liked how if you forgot to return the fishing rod you borrowed for a sidequest in Ruan and tried to leave Ruan for Zeiss, the characters stopped at the exit and went "Oh! Don't we have that fishing rod we need to return?". It was an unexpected extra tidbit of immersion.
One thing I really like about FC are the extra steps involved in a plot point, the extra attention to detail. It really feels like they really thought this through. Not that Cold Steel and Crossbell didn't have good writing, but I wish that they took a few extra steps in their plot points like FC did.
"Okay, so the thieves knew that the mayor ordered a jewel and that he probably had a safe to put it in. How did they open the safe?"
"The thieves must've coated the safe's combination lock in a powder, so that the numbers that were pressed have less powder than the ones that weren't."
"Okay, so the thieves know which numbers were pressed. How'd they figure out the order of the numbers?"
"As their finger accumulated dust, their fingers would accumulate less dust each time it pressed a number. So the one number with the least dust was pressed first, and so on."
"We have a pic of the men in black's airship found by Leiston Fortress. The professor is probably there. How do we rescue him?"
"How about taking a boat?"
"There is only a single wharf and it's always guarded. Using grappling hooks to scale the walls would cause too much noise. Besides, there is a watchtower that can see the entire compound and the lake. We'd be seen long before we actually reached the fortress".
"How about sneaking in on a maintenance airship?"
"Nope. They have sensors that can detect lifeforms."
"But we have the Black Orbment, which is a black hole for detection wave?"
"Oh snap you're right! Let's stow inside a concealed compartment in a container with the black orbment turned on, and wait until after dark to exit the container. Oh, and we'll bring and release a cat, so as to cause a false alarm and relax the guards' attention".
"Yay, we've rescued the professor! Now we need to go into hiding."
"Hold up. There are five of us. It'll be hard for all five of us to hide together. Furthermore, they don't know that you two are involved. You should go back and try to expose them while we hunker down."
"Okay. We'll go to Grancel. We'll order tickets for a passenger airship".
"Oh crap, the military predicted that we'd try to move by airship, and has grounded flights. They're also sending an inspection team to the airport."
"Let's hike to Grancel on foot"
"Oh crap they're on the look out for Bracers at the checkpoints too."
"Ah, being the escort of an archaeologist makes sense".
CS3 ending spoilers don't click
Estelle's reasoning for opposing Richard was bullshit.
"We'll just hold hands and hope for the best!". Yeah.
Sure. Whatever lady. Try that out when you're getting shelled from miles away by railway guns and battleship batteries from sea and invaded from six different directions by divisions of tanks, protected by air support. You should already know that Cassius and his bomber gimmick was a fluke; Erebonia was just getting warmed up when Cassius retook lost territory. Once Erebonia had fully mobilized, Liberl would've been screwed.
Even if Liberl had an incredible kill/loss ratio, you can't beat economics. You had no hope of beating Erebonia in a prolonged war then, and you certainly have no hope of beating Erebonia in a war now.
Queen Alicia's "skilled leadership" is an informed attribute. We certainly don't see any indication of this in the Trails series. Not in Sky. Not in Crossbell. Not in Cold Steel.
Liberl is going to become a battlefield. Erebonia has been on a 14 year annexation spree and they are in the middle of an increasing tense cold war with Calvard. Erebonia is either going to try to annex Liberl, or Erebonia is going to get into a full blown war with Calvard, which means the countries in between Erebonia and Liberl are going to get crushed underneath.
What has Queen Alicia done to prepare for this eventuality?
Nothing at all.
Queen Alicia is content to just let Erebonia continue to get more and more powerful without taking adaquate measures to protect her country.
If she was a competent ruler, she would have had sit downs with the country's top strategists, such as Morgan and Richard. "Heya, we've got two monstrous superpowers surrounding us that are getting ready to fight and grab any resources they can, and they are way, way more powerful for us. Any suggestions?". The fact that Richard does not believe Queen Alicia is doing anything to prepare for the inevitable conflict implies that Queen Alicia has not consulted the military at all, which means Alicia is incompetent of basic teamwork and forthought. She is actively threatening the existence of Liberl as an independent nation.
Furthermore, Richard found out that there was a power in Liberl that could be used to save the country, and that Alicia knew about this power all along, and was doing absolutely nothing to acquire it. Another nail in the coffin for trusting the Queen.
With an imminent invasion within the next few years, Richard's evaluation of the situation was correct, and was right to try to seize control. The only problem would have been factors he could not have possibly forseen - the Liber Ark inhibiting orbal energy and the Empire invading with steam tanks - but Richard could have navigated around that. Once the Liber Ark was summoned, Weissman reached the Aureole almost immediately. He only waited around because he wanted to toy with Joshua and Estelle. In the event Richard's coup succeeded, Weissman would have had no reason to stick around, and Ouroboros would have taken off with the Aureole immediately. The power outage would've only lasted a few hours, and Richard would have been able to use orbal energy to counteract the Empire's steam tanks.
With the power outage gone, Erebonia no longer has a cassus belli to invade Liberl. In fact, the suspicious timing will be incriminating. Richard could call upon Calvard's air force to help out. At this point, Osborne still does not have complete control over Erebonia, and he does not have assets confiscated from the NA. The Empire is unprepared for war with Calvard, let alone a war on multiple fronts. Osborne will have no choice but to withdraw.
Ao ending don't click