The "it was all a dream" is real (sort of)!
That everything was a dream from the very start (including "Reality") was one of the big inferences from the prologue, and kind of an obvious play in this "land of dreams." A lot of people picked up on the hints about Misha (like how he spoke/appeared to no one but Trailblazers). The "too good to be true" fake-out ending was pretty well played, even if it got a bit overly-obvious. ("Oh, everyone just agreed to be happy! Isn't that great?")
All in all, I liked the story.
I did feel that the first half was a bit too much just straight exposition, and they couldn't quite integrate it all "organically" into the game that well. It's just like "okay, now this person's here so let's answer these questions" and "okay, now this person showed up, so let's answer that." For all of Gallagher being a fictionologist until now, now he told everyone the unvarnished truth. I liked how, regarding the Death Meme, Misha's just like "he may look scary, but he's a good boy!" It was a bit funny with Firefly because they couldn't quite decide if she was "part of the group" or not (she'd leave in one scene, but then in another scene she'd be mysteriously back because she had lines to say). The "let's break this up with a contest" part was so obviously silly and tension-breaking that the game itself made fun of it relentlessly. (Since they clearly knew it was silly, why didn't they just move it to a side-story/event?
It's like someone realized that "we've had way too many cutscenes in a row with no gameplay, so let's put in some gameplay!" but in the most forced way possible.)
But once we got to Sunday's main story, I think the story sort of found its stride. (Although the "tell" that he was going to "turn" was way too bloody obvious. And in case you missed the extremely obvious nod, Welt even called it out!
) Once we got to the Grand Theater, there was a better integration between gameplay and story and improved general flow.
The true final battle I didn't find difficult gameplay wise, but presentation wise was fun. The use of the special music and adding the vocal layer for the last phase is clearly evocative of Wildfire, and was well done. The cutscene after the fight was touching. I want to note that this time they did the thing they should have done last time where they carefully prepped the players for the mechanics before they arrived at the final battle. In that sense there were less "surprises" (although Sunday getting runover by the Express was fun) but they made up for it in the presentation.
I felt like Robin was a bit underdeveloped in the story. She's basically there to be the optimistic antithesis to Sunday, and they milked the "caged bird" analogy for everything it was worth and beyond. By the time we meet her, she has already basically undergone her whole transformation/realization off-screen. Rather than just having people explain everything to us outright, it might have been a bit more effective if they could have done a flashback to how Robin realized the truth, her original "death" and arrival in the Reef, and her coming to terms with how far the Oak Family and her brother have slipped away from true Harmony. That did all come out, but she basically just told us. That she puts herself in the way of danger to promote Harmony in places torn by war/conflict certainly makes her more of a saint, but I feel like there's a bit a bit more there they could develop (beyond just the impact this had on Sunday's fall from grace). Although she's a superstar in the lore, in the story she's a bit more of a background singer.
The other person who was a bit underdeveloped -- or that is to say, her development was purposefully unfinished -- is obviously Firefly. Them revealing the "three deaths" thing now is a bit of a cheap trick. Is anyone actually going to be gullible enough at this point to actually believe they're going to kill her off "for real this time"? Plus, Archeron makes sure to tell us how hard Firefly worked to basically save us, but it happens off-camera again. Clearly they're saving the last bit of development for next patch, along with the loose ends with the IPC. I guess my assumption (given the rest of the hints from Elio's script) is that the "third death" is the death of her identity as "Sam the Stellaron Hunter." Based on her articulating the ideals of the Trailblaze in the scene with Sunday (and her proclaimed goals of wanting to be remembered as herself, not Sam), it would not surprise me if she ends up travelling along with the crew. (If that happens, though, I think they're out of death flags for her!)
Speaking of the IPC, we see Aventurine again safe and sound at the end, but also would have liked to have seen a bit of how that played out after all the build-up. But I guess now that the "cat's out of the bag" in terms of the "big secret," they're acting like it no longer matters, although I would say that each person's perspective when finding out is pretty important to their character development. Either way, though, it seems that Aventurine's gamble played off and the IPC now feels able to play its hand.
In the end, the star of the whole arc is definitely Acheron (Raiden Mei). She had the most complete and well-rounded character development that spanned the whole story and closely tied together both the plot's themes and all the dangling plot threads. Her having come to Penacony in the first place to fulfill a promise to one of the past Trailblazers (as she guides lost souls down the river Acheron) is a good way of tying everything together. And of course, as fully expected, the story must end with a reprise of the prologue, now with eyes-unclouded and determination clear. (I heard some say that the decisions you state at the end are the same as you selected during the prologue.)
Despite it all, it was indeed a story with a hopeful message, essentially aligned to the story's main overall message about the "Spirit of the Trailblaze" -- finding meaning in the journey and in self-determination. As the one who rejected nihility said, "what matter isn't your answers, it's that you've found your determination." By them recharacterizing what was previously suggested as the "evils" of Harmony into its perversion as "Order," now they can redefine Harmony with a more "righteous" meaning, aligned to the Trailblaze.
So yeah, on the whole, I'd say quite good. And it still at least looks like there's some significant aspects for the Epilogue next time, so I guess we'll see how it all fully concludes then.
(Edit: Oh yeah, the other person the ended up with a smaller role than imagined is Sparkle. Was there even any point to her handing out the explosives in the end? (The "Don't Press the Red Button" Red Buttons...
) Who is the one she's working for anyway? I wonder if she'll have more of a role next patch as well, or if she and Sampo will just be this sort of "Team Rocket" style of quasi-villains/troublemakers that show up from now on to cause chaos.)