LOL.Awaking has no plot, no mechanics, no interesting characters and no fun It's easily one of the worst in the series, so while Fates doesn't really have good mechanics, it at least has plot and interesting characters, making it decent-good.
Btw, since this thread got bumped out of the blue, I'll ask some stuff...
1) I've seen people having a lot of (if not all) characters with the "Replicate" skill, but when I buy it, it doesn't show up... What's going on? It happens for other skills too at times.
Did you go to the Equip Skills menu option to see if it was there?
2) I know you need to get your character to be a specific class to get it if you go the long way around, but with so many classes, I don't know how to do it for everyone. I could do it for some like Kenzo because it was very simple, but can someone post a detailed class tree showing from what class you can go to what?
Kenzo...? Who is Kenzo? The Replicate skill is learned by Mechanists level 15 or higher. The Ninja and the Apothecary classes get access to the Mechanist class.
3) I tried playing versus and visiting the castle of that friend I mentioned in the OP who has the game too, but I got an error. Turns out, she apparently used PowerSaves (because she still lives under a rock and doesn't know CFW is a think if you want to cheat) and it would seem she's gotten partially banned from online because of it... She can visit castles and send feedback/gifts, but can't play versus and people can't visit her castle. Is there any way to fix it? Would deleting the old save and starting over work for her?
She doesn't need to start over. She just needs to inject a save file from before she did whatever changes she did to get her banned.
4) I've finished all 3 paths now and have 3 save files, if I start over a new one and save in one of the slots that read "Extra Data", will it require to backup the extra data if I want to backup the save from those extra slots?
Yes, you'll have to choose the Extra Data option when backing up your save files if you wish to back those up.
PS: Valla path is by far the best, you miss the goo Garon, but at least it's not entirely terrible However, that ending cutscene is SO damn cringey I felt like vomiting... "We swear to you", lol, who even speaks like that to their sister, let alone the king (queen since I played with a female character but oh well) of the strongest kingdom in the in-game world? And don't forget the weird and stupid reactions by the little sisters
Answers to the questions are in bold.