I couldn’t figure out the spoiler tags or I’d have left it up. I played it out on my DS so I got the full experience. If I remember correctly even if there wasn’t dialogue you’d still get a short cutscene of the gang eating ice cream after a long day of fighting stuff, which (for a middle schooler at least) really built up a connection by the end of the game.
Oh nice, I just replayed The Last Autumn since the trees are changing color, just waiting on the first snowfall to play the main game. Let me know if there’s anything especially challenging you want advice on!