People DO hate alisa because of that one thing but I don't really feel like it was too long. she basically got over it instantly as soon as they had to team up and apologized for taking so long to do it. I wonder if people quit playing for a day or two between her being upset and getting over it and subconsciously held that length of time against her.
I felt like it was too long in that while we know she was ready to apologize it just feels like they dragged it on. On a second playthrough I understand a bit why knowing a lot more of her story, but still not something I like. However, I agree that people, myself included at one point, will point to that and disregard all else that the game does to give a pretty good story. I think there a few reasons why this happens.
A. First impressions mean a lot, and for many when you throw in the trope used it just makes our eyes roll. I'm used to that trope with a slap or punch and moving on, but this one went on the rest of the prologue and it wasn't until they the day for their first field trip it finally got resolved
B. Nuance is lost on a lot of people. My friend is a great example as things are pretty black and white with maybe a slight gray. While Alisa's personality can be bit rough around the edges, that goes with her story but many can lose sight of that
C. Many will most likely play each game once. I replay these games from time to time and have to opportunity to see what I missed and see the games again having matured in how I view things. Many will look at the play time of all these games and think once is enough, so their initial impressions will stay.
This can apply to things outside of Alisa, but I will stop there because I don't want to devolve this thread about Zero into Cold Steel. It does give me an idea about talking about Cold Steel in some threads I could make at some point.
More on topic, I've had time to digest the game as a whole and while a strong game, I would put it below Sky FC and Third. I like the uniqueness of Third and there are so many highs, tying up character arcs, and lore bits that I put it high. FC, while not having the emotional highs from Third or even SC, to me still has the best pacing and writing. Everytime I replay the 1st game I'm impressed with how well everything flows together leading towards the final showdown then from there to the credits. Zero is pretty good but I feel the Cult stuff was introduced a bit out of nowhere and from that the wrap up of the mafia and corruption problems came way too fast with all of that.
I only played zero once so far but I'm pretty darn sure The Antagonist reveal isn't nearly as forshadowed as it was for Weismann, while simultaneously being less shocking too. The game itself compares the two like they are similar, but the first's wham factor was leagues ahead I think.
I'm struggling to think of anything that was remotely foreshadowing. Perhaps the drug itself had a little foreshadowing with the secretary, but not much outside of that. But yeah, overall the main antagonist just does not work that well outside of what a crazy creep that has no remorse. Outside of Garcia, none of the antagonists were really that interesting or well developed. The Don shows up a few times and Hartmann shows up for a small part in one chapter and that's all we see. I know Sky had an antagonist of the week for the first few chapters but it made sense in the greater context of building up to the true antagonist and the greater plan. Here, these are the big bosses that are causing the problems permeating Crossbell, and we get very little screen time until they are unceremoniously taken out because of the Cult stuff.
