this game is mid because it has too much singa

this game is mid because it has no unisuga

this game is peak because it has resonance of ray

this game is peak because it has lots of koguchi

this game is peak because it has van

this game is peak.

The best Kiseki game. The cast is incredible, the story is engaging the whole time (none of those boring chapters where nothing happens at all), there is a clear focus on the character stories while ignoring the grand scheme of things (which already became boring by CS4, so I appreciate it)...

The worst thing about this game was the OST. The same 3-4 songs playing constantly and the important moments didn't have those hard hitting tunes that this franchise always delivers with.

I hope this trend of not having a gigantic cast and not bringing everyone and their mothers from the past to the new games continues.

The villains are engaging, cool and have that "bad guy" atmosphere until the very last chapter, where they become completely irrelevant and it feels like they're there just for the sake of telling Van's story.

Van is the best character until now in this franchise, period. Finally a protagonist that is smart, mature and has a personality that anyone can relate with. His backstory is also not told from the first 5 minutes of the fucking game and it makes sense how long it takes to learn about him given how he is the kind of character that listens about the problems of the world, but never tells about his own.

Another great thing about Van and his group is that you finally feel again (haven't felt like this since Azure) like they are the weaklings and the rest of the villains and even allies are way stronger than them. There's true tension throught this game and you really don't know what is gonna happen or who is gonna die at any given time.

For the final note I must say, I LOVE how this story is MUCH more mature than the past ones. PLEASE FALCOM, keep giving us stuff like this, like Renne's story, like Kevin's story... The Legend of Heroes isn't meant to be a story for kids, It's ment to be a story for grown men.

Without a doubt the strongest game to kick off a Trails arc!
I'm so glad we didn't get yet another reset in terms of stakes but jumped right back to an experience as intense as Reverie before it - hell, even way more I'd say.

There's a lot to appreciate here; the new engine is gorgeous, the mixture of real-time and turn-based combat for overworld encounters works surprisingly well despite the real-time combat being a bit one-dimensional due to it working as a sort of prelude to regular turn-based encounters by giving you an easy-to-achieve break and follow-up on it as soon as you switch to turn-based afterwards and the more mature tone of the game is a very welcome surprise.

The fact that it gives you more reason to actively go for side-content is great to see as someone who wouldn't dare skip it either way; having full bonding points as long as you do all sidequests is SUCH a welcome improvement after Cold Steel requiring you to do a NG+ run to see all of them and the new Alignment system that goes up way easier through sidequests was a fantastic addition as well. It didn't end up mattering as much as I thought it would, but it's definitely made me more excited for my eventual replay when the official localization drops.

But the cast is easily my favorite thing about it. Right off the bat, Van Arkride is a phenomenal protagonist, and slowly realizing just how vast his connections are is such a blast, as his impact on the world at large adds so much to previous games too. His fractured and awkward friendship with René and Elaine is fantastic - it's rare to see something like that in these games, and it's easily one of my favorite things about the mature mood this game has. I'm sure everyone around his age has been there at some point in their lives, so there's a bittersweet catharsis in seeing them slowly warm up to one another yet again.
I'm genuinely surprised at how much Agnès feels like a second protagonist due to how involved she is in the story aswell; for a long while, Van feels more like the conduit that ties everyone together while the story revolves more around her; and considering we haven't seen something like that since Sky, I'm really glad about that. She has so much agency and story focus, and the stuff she's dealing with really strikes a chord with me, so she's a surprising favorite of mine considering I didn't expect that beforehand at all.
The rest of the cast is fantastic too, and the way they're nearly all united by grief in one way or another is bittersweet. The build-up from co-workers to feeling like a genuine family is perfect, and I'm glad the formulaic structure of the chapters is used well to properly give everyone some time to shine; sometimes in surprisingly non-linear ways.
Bonding Events are therefore not nearly as necessary to get to know certain characters properly here which is such a relief; it's simply an addition to the character that's properly established in the story, because this game knows what to do with it's entire cast despite it's size. No shade towards any class from a predecessor of this game or anything, ofcourse.

I'm also amazed at how well it follows up from Reverie - I fully expected that game to be closure for Crossbell and Cold Steel respectively primarily; but now I fully understand why Swin and Nadia are making a return in Kuro 2, and I can't wait to see them again.

Overall just a really solid game! I can't think of any complaints that really stand out to me as worth mentioning honestly, it's been an absolute blast from start to finish.

A good start to my most anticipated arc in Kiseki. The cast is probably the best since Sky and Van is a stellar protagonist. The battle system could use some polish but it's definitely on its way there. The OST has its moments but is sadly a bit weak due to a large talent exodus in Falcom's sound team jdk. My biggest gripe with Kuro as things stand is the writing, which, while not terrible, doesn't hold the momentum from the excellent Chapters 1 and 2. The mafia antagonists seldom behave like an actual mafia while the plot point of an immigration crisis promised in earlier arcs isn't delivered on very well. It's a fun game but today's Falcom is perhaps focused too much on the sci-fi, the supernatural and the showy. While these elements can definitely be exciting, they tend to be at their best as garnish for more grounded, human struggles, a touch of magic to make the ordinary seem extraordinary. Perhaps I'm being a bit unfair to hold 2021's Kuro no Kiseki to the standard of what Falcom started building in the early 00s but they are so, so close to making something great. All they need is to find that bit of harmony between the classic and the modern.

Incredible fucking game. I loved it from start to finish and never wanted it to end even when it did. Van is an amazing protagonist and honestly one of my favourites in anything ever, and the cast overall is great. The gameplay shift from real-time to turn-based is also excellently implemented, taking advantage of both while not feeling overwhelming or confusing at all

With another amazing OST to accompany it, the game feels like such a breath of fresh air for the series, whilst still upholding it's main value of continuity, and it helped me fall in love with it all over again like I did with Sky. Absolutely can't wait to play the sequel when I can

Didn't play but looks completely like ass so I'll skip

I keep coming back to see this and write something new about my hate for Kuro every now and then because damn, the more I see about this game the more it scares me away, I fucking hate the character design and it becoming another mine of porn and "mature" story as if Cold Steel didn't trample on that enough and seeing everyone gas it up makes me cry
I just want Kuro to be over with so I can skip it peacefully and see if the new arc at least has some decency and Falcom finally retiring Enamid because damn he really doesn't know how to make good character designs

Best starting entry, best main cast and probably one of my favorite protagonist of all time already as well. I think one of the biggest reason Kuro works is that it's desperately the type of game Trails needs, overtime even though I fucking love Trails there definitely has been many problems and tropes especially in the Cold Steel that did bugged people including me. While Kuro definitely isn't perfect it does take steps to improve on that while still keeping all the elements of a Trails game that I came to love. The new combat system got bad responses upon release but I actually really like the field + shard system, Hajimari and Cold Steel 4's battle system was already great and almost perfected so it was hard to see where it could go from here. They implement mechanics and different quartz system which is fresh and I could see being really fun in the future.

One of the coolest things in the story is how they utilize the wide cast of characters and world building. Van being someone "who walks in the realm of bluish-black" like he said is already someone familiar with the way the world works, making connections with pre-existing and new parties along the story culminating in one of the most fun chapters at the end I had in a while. I love every single one of the main party cast introduced, Agnes and Aaron definitely being my fav, the way everyone of them offers something to the group dynamic is so good and I can't believe I'm already as attached to them as I am. The story gets a bit slow around Chapter 3 and 4 but man everything else is peakkkk. Almata aren't the best group of villains ever but they certainly did their jobs and all had a memorable narrative role. The whole ending section really was a journey, me making this far into it and putting countless hours, was definitely worth the grind, seeing the conclusion to Van's character arc in this story was really an indescribable feeling and one of the reviews here goes more details into it (damn I can't believe I actually managed to write all this without mentioning much major spoilers lol)

Tldr 10/10 top 1 in fiction I'm done.. but if they make Kuro 2 and future games better than this and Hajimari it's fucking over man

Gameplay is definitely a downgrade from the last few games however that’s pretty much my only gripe with the game.
Characters are amazing, Side content is fun, the game feels very homey, Story is pretty good up ch3 and then ch4 onwards is straight fire, one of the best finales in the series, a great antagonist which is rare for this series, one of my favorite Trails scenes in the finale, and the craziest thing is this is an arc-starter game that held no punches and just went all out from the start and I love that. Addresses literally ever problem with the last arc’s starter game

"It's not black, white, or any shade of gray in between. It's sort of in the realm of being bluish-black."

I'm already locked into this series for the foreseeable future, and I sure hope the rest stay as amazing as this one was. This is my favorite start to a Trails arc no contest. It's a significant change of pace to have setpieces and themes for a more mature audience.

Honestly, I didn't have high hopes for most of the cast going in. After finishing the game, I was completely blown away by how much I loved these guys. Judith was one of my favorites and someone I did not expect to like in the slightest, especially at the start. Agnes was also a real standout for me, as I expected another Elie or Alisa (completely inoffensive 100% of the time), but was speechless with the genuine conviction and personality traits she gained throughout working with Van.

The music, while still Falcom Sound Team, feels like they need a breath of fresh air. I don't hate the songs in the slightest, but MAN do they feel out of place in some spots. Some terrific songs play that would be SO hype if they'd played somewhere actually impactful and not when I'm fighting a random pillar (YES I AM TALKING ABOUT DIABOLIC HOWL) to get into the final dungeon. This is a small gripe because the songs are still great. Just a missed opportunity in my opinion.

I could write on and on about how the themes, tone, and whatever else is different blah blah blah. I'd encourage fans of Zero/Azure to check this one out. To sum up, GOAT PROTAGONIST VAN ARKRIDE!! DON'T FUCK WITH HIS STYLE, SNACKS, MOVIES, OR BATHS!!!!!!!!!