Ideology In Friction is a story more than it is a game. In fact, it would probably be better without the game aspect of it.
The Good:
The premise of political intrigue underpinning social tensions makes for what is initially an engrossing mystery.
Giant, juicy, jiggly kickballs
Plenty of cute/sexy cutscenes to be found, all thankfully de-censored
Zepp's veteran cynicism is genuinely insightful.
Eliza's carefree insanity comes across as its own kind of wisdom in a story where other characters seem to get their goals hopelessly confused.
The Bad:
Zepp and Eliza are not the main characters.
The love interest is a cardboard cutout Chosen One.
Battles are so absurdly easy that they could have been better done by replacing the whole mechanic with two buttons that say "Win" and "Lose."
The villains are comic-book-evil for absolutely no goddamn reason, which entirely undercuts every moral and social commentary that the narrative attempts.
The second half of the story is full of the most egregious and unexplained hand-waves.
The Ugly:
All the Japanese tropes are in full-effect.
You will know who will live and who will die from the moment you meet them in the game.
THIS IS NOT EVEN MY FINAL FORM
In fact, everything becomes progressively more ridiculous as the story progresses to the point that where you end up--regardless of which path you choose--makes entirely no sense whatsoever from the perspective of where you started from.
The early promise of subtlety gets short-shifted in favor of I'MMA CHARGIN MAH LAZOR.