Going thru all the games and I finally got to this. The writing in these games has no business being this good
The dragon engine upgrade is impressive, but some character models aren't given as much attention to their details. For example, some of the hostesses look chopped compared to their actual models. AIKA is probably the best example:
These side games are so fun im spending several hours playing just that and then binging the main story for a few hours at a time. These writers clearly are big movie fans because these cutscenes feel like they're straight out of a beat takeshi film.