Although in the beginning, I was rather sceptical of this novel's concept, I ended up liking it very much in the end.
"Game's End, Pt. 1" follows Shiroe and the fellow members of the Round Table on a diplomatic mission at the heart of the People of the Earth's political landscape while also showcasing the training and growth of Touya, Minori, and other newbies rescued in the previous volume. The chapters following the older cast members on their diplomatic mission, which is defined by everything that made the second volume so great, and a lot of other components: Battles of wits, superb world-building, a deeper look into the lore of the world, and a clever reimagining of how a world defined by MMO mechanics might work if you actually live there. There is no real addition to the cast in this storyline - however, the novel doesn't really need that. Krusty, for example, is one of the POV characters we follow in this book, and I was very intrigued by his character, even though he is not technically "new" to the cast.
The second half (or more like 3/4) of the book are devoted to Touya, Minori and other newbies training and going through the basics of living and surviving in the newly formed reality of Elder Tales. Although I was rather annoyed by this storyline at first - as it broke the flow from the political debates and world-building revelation of the older cast's story - I quickly grew to love the storyline as well as its characters. While Shiroe and the crew work great for the economic/political aspects of the story, something they simply cannot convey -due to them being seasoned veterans and high-level players - is the terror that monster can pose for Adventurers as well as the process of learning the ropes in this new world. Although this is technically the focus of the young crew's storyline, the real focus of their chapters is on their character development, psychological changes, and the actions which mould them into a group of friends rather than a group of strangers. Especially Rundelhaus developed from a character I loaded to one of my favourites of the series, and the conclusion concerning the young cast members in this first story half was beautiful and heartwarming.
And with all the big world-building aspects that were revealed in this volume as well as the cliffhanger of the ending, I cannot wait to jump right into the second part of this story. Although there are plenty of volumes left, it pains me already to know that the series is not finished yet and at some point, I will have to wait for the next one patiently instead of jumping right into the newt one.