I have no idea where to start. Seeing all the characters grow over the course of 4 VNs was great, don't think that wasn't the case for any of the main cast, even Rikka who I disliked for most of the series lmao. The relationships formed and how they grew was definitely my favourite aspect. The mystery was well built up across the VNs, from the start there was always something built upon, whether it was subtle or in your face. The references to literature, movies, or the secondary meanings to different flowers added so much meaning to different situations throughout, brought me into the series even more. I feel I have so much to say about this, I could keep rambling about it, or just not have the ability to sum it up with words

GOING TO REITERATE!!!, THIS APPLIES JUST TO PART ONE
The graphic for part 1 I don't like so I don't want it on my favorite games list so using this one instead. My review to part 1 is under that entry
Love everything prior to some bits of the ending, not going to change rating of it atm though
The Ending just hasnt made me love the series as much as I used to
Still love the series as a whole and the characters dearly, the ending just doesn't give me that sense of feeling as I once did and the part 2 announcement didn't do much for it either as I hate the way they're going with it.
Update: Part 2 fucking sucks wow i wasn't expecting this bad of a mess

Umm, well this is not how you do an introductory game. Yes it's the first in a trilogy, setting up a story, it does it pretty poorly for the most part. Everything prior to the final chapter and a bit of chapter 3 was such a drag. Annoying character interactions (except Olivier, you get a gold star babes) and nothing about the world that got be interested in the setting. Felt like a quest completer for most of it. Thought the ending bits were pretty nice, nothing special and found a couple things about it generic? or nothing new for me, but was at least a step up from the rest of the game.

7.5/10
TLDR: Great plot with some good SOL bits here and there but the rest of the SOL events and the volume of them and the format of it lets down the VN a bit
I feel this score might be a bit generous cuz it feels like I have a few problems with the VN, I'll talk about the bad and the good though. I found some of the SOL bits boring and dragged, only enjoyed the School Trio, Rin, Caren, Taiga and some of Rider's SOL bits. The format of the VN doesn't really help with it either, was not a fan of the "choose your event" style of the VN as it kind of made it where you are going through dregs of SOL before getting to a plot event and by the time I got there I felt a bit drained. So in short, the plot events were just a bit far inbetween and the SOL should have been more spread out across the VN and I think I would have enjoyed the SOL a lot more. Though I did find the plot events when they came around interesting and didn't actually have any problems with that in itself. Really really like the new character editions in Caren, Angra Mainyu and Bazett. The last segment bit was great to read in one sitting. Maybe overtime my rating is prone to go up as I think about it more but I think this is a good rating for now

Hm, while I think this game kept my interest a lot more than it did for 1, I didn't particularly find it much better or good. Definitely feel there was a more engaging story here, just didn't connect with it, it didn't feel anything new to me and I guess was a bit predictable at times. I hate Joshua's character and background, was completely generic to me, wasn't a big fan of him prior to this game anyways. Thought Estelle's and Joshua's romance wasn't needed and forced while I much had rather preferred they kept their previous relationship and grew on that more than something shallow here for the sake of it. None of the plot beats really piqued my interest or got me feeling a certain emotion. I feel I have a lot more to say on the narrative and characters of the story but don't know where to start.
The gameplay itself, wasn't a huge fan of it before, but in particular this game, the bosses absolutely BLEW. The Loewe fight having a continue glitch was so jarring, the final boss having unnecessary stages with vats of HP that really did nothing to the narrative has me questioning the point. Multiple bosses throughout the game put you at unreasonably unfair advantages to the point there's nothing you can do before you get one shot by some super move at the start, and I was definitely not under leveled.
The pacing was better but at times it definitely was padding out certain events and making the experience longer