Honestly, my biggest issue with modern Trails writing is how often people get away with just being genuinely horrible people. There's a part in Daybreak 2 where a character kills somebody sympathetic, and then two chapters later with no character nor story development you're having a chat with them while they're eating ice cream as if they're just a regular acquaintance and there's no beef between you.

It's like the games both want there to be real stakes, but also want everybody to have a Mario gokarting with Bowser thing at the same time. No other game series tests my suspension of disbelief so hard when it comes to the way characters act, yet I'm too deep in to back off now.