My cousins who are in their late 20s probably spend more time watching playthroughs than playing the games themselves. I think part of it is they simply can’t afford to buy all the games they want to play. Another part is some games are just a good story that can actually be viewed and experienced through a playthrough.
Personally, if the game is easily available to me, I’d prefer to just play it.
I’m honestly shocked that don’t leverage that idea more where the terrain changes (unless they do later again in the series).
I started from Trails in the Sky FC two years ago and I actually regret not playing this series sooner. What’s funny is I got FC as part of a bundle ages ago but never got around to playing it. I probably won’t play the new remake until I finally catch up on all the games hahaha.