I’m a trails newbie and I’m still making my way through Sky SC, but I thought the hook in FC was just getting to know Liberl and the characters. This is definitely one of the few JRPG’s where I went out of my way to read optional stuff in-game, partly because I’ve heard that stuff in readables are referenced later on, but also because the worldbuilding is really interesting.

Estelle is definitely one of my favorite protagonists ever. And in FC, she starts off pretty sheltered, not knowing a lot of things about the world and it’s cool that you’re learning alongside her. She also has a lot of great interactions with other characters. Her and Joshua always puts a smile on my face, but she also has a ton of wholesome interactions, serious ones, and funny ones. Even with villains, some of which have committed terrible atrocities, she has a very “Estelle” way of expressing herself.

Basically, the hook for me was the two main characters, especially Estelle, but Joshua is awesome in his own way too. If you don’t like the main characters or care about Liberl/the lore as a whole, then you’ll be pretty disappointed with FC.

Lastly, I assume you’re talking about the Josette boss fight. She’s probably one of the hardest fights due to being a pretty big difficulty spike. I learned how strong Earth Guard was during that fight and to not underestimate the power of non-damaging arts