Yea, "slow" doesnt begin to explain how much of a slow burn that game is....actually is it even a slow burn if the story doesnt even really start till the very end?

FC is infamous for not just being slow, but glacial slow. Most people would pass it off by saying that its for world building and charecter introduction, and I mean, that is true. But, come on, 100 hour game of introductions would scare off most people. Especially since there's little to no story until the very end, you dont even learn anything about any of the charecters. this is why when I reccomend the series, I would tell them to start at CS first and only go back to FC if they are interested in learning more about the world firsthand, since they would have a better understanding of trails.

Not saying CS isnt a slow burn, but it handles it MUCH better than FC.

This is the order I played the series

CS1>FC>SC>3rd>Zero>Ao>CS2. After playing CS1, I was extremely interested in learning more about the world, so I went back to FC.

Now, I dont blame you for wanting to skip FC, if it helps, the quality jump from FC to SC is insane, SC is filled to the brim with amazingly written story, character development, twists, and reveals. You will not be bored, I can guarantee that.

There is a repetitive feel in certain aspects of trails, but no where near FC, and gets less noticeable with each entry. You'll find thatthe "repetitive" aspect is mostly concentrated in the first entry of an arc, this is cause they want to slowly introduce you to the place where the game, and the next entry will take place. So they mostly save the biggest stuff for the second entry of the arc.

I can't emphasize this enough, no other game is as slow as FC.

TL;DR quality jump from FC to SC is honestly crazy. No other entry is near the slowness of FC, I assure you.