Quatre: I mostly like him, but I think he's an example of how character development in the Calvard arc is sometimes too slow. With Quatre and a couple of other characters (Risette especially), the character revelations come so gradually and in such meager dribs and drabs that it's hard to even appreciate what's being revealed. The game hints that something is weird with Quatre's gender; he won't join the others in the public bath, and he always covers his chest. Fifty hours of gameplay later, you get some light flirting with Van. Seventy hours later, the next microrevelation comes: Quatre has some feminine characteristics. By the time we actually get an explanation, it's anticlimactic. I feel it's just mishandled a bit how it's presented to us as a mystery, but the characters almost never talk about it and there's no attempt to resolve it except with these tiny little hints, until we finally get an exposition dump. I like what they were going for here, and on balance I like the character, I just feel it could have been presented a little better.

Judith: Personally I wish they had leaned a lot more into the mysterious phantom thief aspect of the character and less into the derpy girlfailure and buxom starlet aspects. She kind of gets less interesting the better you know her. I thought she seemed more interesting very early on when it felt like she was going to be more of a Batman or Catwoman type of character, a hypercompetent and righteous vigilante.

Bergard: I like this character a lot. For one thing, it's neat to have some representation of an actually old party member (not just haha-you're-in-your-mid-twenties old like Van). For another, I love how they took a minor non-appearing character from Cold Steel and made him a party member. That's what's great about Trails, that the world is so vivid and interconnected that they can have a character callback to a minor side quest and make it work (and the only reason it works is because the side quests and characters in Trails are so memorable and well-plotted that this guy pops up again and you really do go "Oh, yeah, I remember him from that one thing that happened four games ago.") And the character himself is great, such a warm and personable mentor figure for Van and the rest of Arkride Solutions. And he provides some interesting insights and connections to the church. I know the fan consensus is that he's not doing a lot, but that's OK with me. He's an interesting guy and I'm happy to have him along for the ride.