This review contains spoilers
I'd play a full rufus game ngl
This review contains spoilers
TL;DR: a shot in the arm the series needed after how disappointing CS4 felt.
The writing has many interesting concepts, I'll go through my lasting impressions of each route:
- Lloyd's route - Same old, same old
By far the worst route in the game, Lloyd's route contains many of the tired tropes I've come to detest in this series. Not only is the crux of this story a tired concept (Oh no!! Crossbell got taken over AGAIN![AGAIN!!{AGAIN!!}]), the storyline of the SSS reevaluating their position in that nation isn't that interesting to me. Still, it has some hype moments and cool SSS interactions, so isn't all bad!
- Rean's route - The true End of SAGA
This route actually managed to deliver the satisfaction I felt was lacking in CS4. Rean finally concludes his character arc, there are some really good scenes in this route too (and also the best normal battle theme, Like a Whirlwind!)
- C's route - A sign of hope for the future
I keep thinking about how to put what I felt with this route on text, but I don't think I can make it justice - C's route is an achievement for the series. The way it makes you care and empathize so much with a new group of characters, this late in the arc, is nothing short of a miracle. It has a very clear tone and message, and it doesn't waste any time to deliver it too. I really hope this is a sign of how the writing of the series will be in the next games. The Picnic Squad is KINO!
- TRC Episodes: Almost all of them are FANTASTIC. It really reminded me of the sharp quality of Sky The 3rd's writing. My favorite episode is Ash's.
Speaking about the gameplay now, it feels like the ultimate Kiseki experience in a lot of ways - from the combat system (the new mechanic "Valiant Rage" is a really good addition to an already very robust arsenal) to the sheer amount of content itself (absurd variety of minigames / side content to experience).
It sets up the future of the series in interesting ways too, while not neglecting to give a satisfying conclusion to most of the plot threads brought up to this point. I'm really satisfied with my time playing this game!
Few lasting notes:
- The music is good!
- The post game is long!
- I want to play Kuro no Kiseki now!!
The writing has many interesting concepts, I'll go through my lasting impressions of each route:
- Lloyd's route - Same old, same old
By far the worst route in the game, Lloyd's route contains many of the tired tropes I've come to detest in this series. Not only is the crux of this story a tired concept (Oh no!! Crossbell got taken over AGAIN![AGAIN!!{AGAIN!!}]), the storyline of the SSS reevaluating their position in that nation isn't that interesting to me. Still, it has some hype moments and cool SSS interactions, so isn't all bad!
- Rean's route - The true End of SAGA
This route actually managed to deliver the satisfaction I felt was lacking in CS4. Rean finally concludes his character arc, there are some really good scenes in this route too (and also the best normal battle theme, Like a Whirlwind!)
- C's route - A sign of hope for the future
I keep thinking about how to put what I felt with this route on text, but I don't think I can make it justice - C's route is an achievement for the series. The way it makes you care and empathize so much with a new group of characters, this late in the arc, is nothing short of a miracle. It has a very clear tone and message, and it doesn't waste any time to deliver it too. I really hope this is a sign of how the writing of the series will be in the next games. The Picnic Squad is KINO!
- TRC Episodes: Almost all of them are FANTASTIC. It really reminded me of the sharp quality of Sky The 3rd's writing. My favorite episode is Ash's.
Speaking about the gameplay now, it feels like the ultimate Kiseki experience in a lot of ways - from the combat system (the new mechanic "Valiant Rage" is a really good addition to an already very robust arsenal) to the sheer amount of content itself (absurd variety of minigames / side content to experience).
It sets up the future of the series in interesting ways too, while not neglecting to give a satisfying conclusion to most of the plot threads brought up to this point. I'm really satisfied with my time playing this game!
Few lasting notes:
- The music is good!
- The post game is long!
- I want to play Kuro no Kiseki now!!
Fantastic
Peak gaming
Carried by the best gameplay in the series and the incredible new cast of characters, as well as a few strong doors. Lloyd route is honestly pretty bad and while I enjoyed Rean route for what it was it really should not have taken five games.
I love the picnic squad
I love the picnic squad
This game is so good, definitely play it!
WHY COULDN’T HAVE COLD STEEL BEEN THIS GOOD (though the CLE port sucks ass)
I like this one, it has Lloyd Bannings in it
been a while since a jrpg has pandered to me so specifically also Aurelia and Victor Arseid sex :thumbsup:
Okay so what if we made a game that was 60 hours of pure fanservice and managed to make it a compelling story as well
Its ok but cringe gameplay ruins it
WHAT TOP 5 ARE YOU SMOKING KENDRICK
BECAUSE MY TOP 5 IS
REAN
REAN
REAN
REAN
REAN
BECAUSE MY TOP 5 IS
REAN
REAN
REAN
REAN
REAN
haha...
ohhhhhhhh ohhhhhhhhhhhh ohhhhhhhh its so good
Peak
the Cold Steel series has been very rocky so far, and Hajimari is no different. Concluding Cold Steel (and, pretty much the Crossbell arc too) pretty well, and doing some great things with Rean's character (though i feel like 5 games was way too much for what was told), gameplay is also a bit more refined, but the bloated cast and size issue is still there from CS4, just less prevalent imo. definitely the most fun ive had in a Trails game thus far in terms of gameplay though. was fun to break this one.
This review contains spoilers
The best send off Crossbell and Cold Steel could ask for
Probably my best trails experience ever, Combat was fun and the Reverie part of the game had more challenging combat that I really enjoy. I love how the game divides the characters in routes making you able to use the wide cast of characters in trails and not just sticking to one team, I love how 3 things are happening at once and it's mostly not filler that gets me engaged and just makes me keep playing. I think this is a great conclusion for the Erebonia arc despite the main story of Hajimari is purely just a side arc that had nothing to do with the Ouroboros's plans. but it's the post game character interactions that I was looking for in this game and I think it delivered. I had a lot of fun with Hajimari
Crossbell and Erebonia's Trails in the Sky the 3rd. It's a wonderful treat for the land of Crossbell to get the 3D treatment and a true conclusion. Storywise, I think I like CS3 and CS4 better but man the gameplay in this one can get even more nuts. From a technological standpoint, this also is a big step for Falcom. Not only do they have some motion capture scenes, but they finally have good camera work and actual fight scenes instead of the slow-mo bs within the Cold Steel games. The new crafts benefit greatly from this change.
nah man this game creams
I crave Mr. Randolph Orlando carnally.
This review contains spoilers
(edit - slightly outdated review/takes)
My honest take is that the main story, particulary C's route but also part of Rean's route are pretty refreshing and fun. Especially after all the bloated, artificial beats of CS2-4 repeated ad nauseum.
Lloyd Route is a mixed bag but it's also an expected product of how lackluster they've been handling Crossbell for a while now. I don't outright dislike it but I also could not see how else they could've handled it with everything else going on. It's a sensible reasonable enough conclusion to Crossbell.
but the optional content, specifically the episodes and the TRC I found kind of dissapointing personally. the TRC I really expected the Grandmaster to take some role here but we got some other weird shit. I've heard about how she was supposed to have more of a role but they scrapped that.. so why the bait ass cover art lol? The dungeon itself and all the things you can is fun enough but it isn't all that. I expect to appreciate TRC more when the game releases though because I played on Normal.
Half of the episodes I like a fair bit. My favourites are Ash's which was a heartwarming conclusion to the Branch Campus, as well as the "Beyond the Genesis" episodes which serve as segways to Kuro. Some other ones were cool and funny because they patched some of CS4's mess and give some interestinng development to Erebonia characters without being in CS4 prison (Lechter's, Wallace, etc.). But honestly half the other episodes were meh to me. Why was Tita's just a straight up repeat of her door in 3rds??? and ngl I don't mind Cedric and Shirley as characters but that episode didn't have anything going on besides Cedric getting used to his new job.
Overall Hajimbo is a cool and refreshing game that's both 1) trying to salvage all of the shit CS2-4 coughed up and 2) an actual return to form for some of the stuff that made people love the earlier games (in my eyes the first 6) with grounded character writing and less curses and 10 million IQ Paul Shitass 14th commander of the cum division speeches
and props to this game for not being so absurdly long like CS3 & CS4. it's probably the most well paced game alongside Sky the 3rd
My honest take is that the main story, particulary C's route but also part of Rean's route are pretty refreshing and fun. Especially after all the bloated, artificial beats of CS2-4 repeated ad nauseum.
Lloyd Route is a mixed bag but it's also an expected product of how lackluster they've been handling Crossbell for a while now. I don't outright dislike it but I also could not see how else they could've handled it with everything else going on. It's a sensible reasonable enough conclusion to Crossbell.
but the optional content, specifically the episodes and the TRC I found kind of dissapointing personally. the TRC I really expected the Grandmaster to take some role here but we got some other weird shit. I've heard about how she was supposed to have more of a role but they scrapped that.. so why the bait ass cover art lol? The dungeon itself and all the things you can is fun enough but it isn't all that. I expect to appreciate TRC more when the game releases though because I played on Normal.
Half of the episodes I like a fair bit. My favourites are Ash's which was a heartwarming conclusion to the Branch Campus, as well as the "Beyond the Genesis" episodes which serve as segways to Kuro. Some other ones were cool and funny because they patched some of CS4's mess and give some interestinng development to Erebonia characters without being in CS4 prison (Lechter's, Wallace, etc.). But honestly half the other episodes were meh to me. Why was Tita's just a straight up repeat of her door in 3rds??? and ngl I don't mind Cedric and Shirley as characters but that episode didn't have anything going on besides Cedric getting used to his new job.
Overall Hajimbo is a cool and refreshing game that's both 1) trying to salvage all of the shit CS2-4 coughed up and 2) an actual return to form for some of the stuff that made people love the earlier games (in my eyes the first 6) with grounded character writing and less curses and 10 million IQ Paul Shitass 14th commander of the cum division speeches
and props to this game for not being so absurdly long like CS3 & CS4. it's probably the most well paced game alongside Sky the 3rd
LOL
Hajimari recycles so much of the previous games locations and arcs that it’s actually the most environmentally friendly game out there.
-Written on February 17-
Hajimari no Kiseki is the 10th game in the Trails series, wrapping up multiple plot points and character arcs from the Cold Steel and Crossbell series while setting up what is next to come in the series. One could say Hajimari is very similar to Trails in the Sky the 3rd as far as structure. After playing the game for 135 hours, Hajimari no Kiseki just might be one of the strongest entries in the series with its various improvements in the game.
Aesthetic-wise, the visuals for Hajimari are largely the same as Cold Steel 3 and 4 and there are hardly any new locations with the exception of nearly all of Crossbell is now fully modeled in 3D. However, one of the biggest improvements is the animations. There are quite a lot of scenes with really smooth animations, from lip flaps to dynamic camera work to full-blown action scenes. The increased quality of animations is near Triple-A quality, and that's rather impressive considering Falcom was never for high visual quality. The OST is also amazing. Falcom always had great tunes for their games but they have really knocked out of the park for this one. Me personally I love so many of the new battle themes since it's much heavier and the music is more complex, to the point I can say the OST for Hajimari is my favorite in the series.
Gameplay-wise, Hajimari is the best in the series as well. Although it's much the same as Cold Steel 3 and 4, what's different this time is there's a new mechanic called Valiant Rage when you can use 5 or more people in your party to do an all-out physical or art attack or recover your party. This adds an extra element to the series' combat. What else is noteworthy is the number of playable characters in the game. With over 50 characters, Hajimari boots one of the largest playable casts in an RPG. There are tons and tons of party combinations you can form with different builds. You could easily spend hours and hours just setting up characters. Not to mention Hajimari is more battle-focused than all of Cold Steel and Crossbell, so there's plenty of room for combat.
Getting to the core format of Hajimari, the game is split into two parts. The main story that you can go back and forth with Rean's, Lloyd's and C's routes that are more aligned toward the traditional main stories for Trails and the True Reverie Corridor which is very similar to Phantasmagoria from Trails in the Sky the 3rd from all of the playable characters are gathered together and do dungeons to playable episodes that flushes out what happened between Cold Steel 4 and Hajimari and fun, silly minigames.
The main story for Hajimari has to be the best-paced and streamlined game in the series. No filler side quests, no harem bonding events, and once the ball gets rolling for each route, it stays rolling until the end and they all kick off by the end of Chapter 1. Hajimari no Kiseki essentially got rid of 2 of my biggest issues with Cold Steel 4, so it's a massive improvement as far as maturity and pacing.
I wasn't too excited for Lloyd's route since....without spoiling it too much, it's very repetitive to the story beats of Ao no Kiseki plus it's predictable with its twists at times but it gave the SSS new character development and a new outlook on Crossbell. Lloyd's route is overall fine but it's the weakest route. Rean's route plays out very similar to Cold Steel 3 by visiting different locations in Erebonia with different characters in every chapter. While Rean's route is a slow-burner, the payoff is very high and I felt like it had moments that rival the quality of Cold Steel 3 and Ao no Kiseki (my two favorite games of the series).
C's route is the best route in the game. You have a brand new set of characters with different but yet similar backgrounds and without spoiling much, it really gave everyone sustainable character development and reflection. Plus it really drives home some of the series' themes such as forgiveness and starting over with a new group of people. It's just phenomenal writing.
Of course, the three routes do connect to each other, which led to my biggest issue with the game. It's very convoluted. Trails always were great with keeping its stories and its lore very clean and understandable but with trying to tie up Cold Steel and Crossbell with the new plot points and lore introduced in Hajimari, I just ended up counting a lot of plot holes that just don't make sense. This is especially apparent in the final chapter when everything is supposed to connect but the presentation is just very complicated and the execution is messy. Falcom is usually great with writing stories but it seems like they shot for the moon too far this time, to the point the story hardly holds up by the time you're done with the extra chapter.
And there is the True Reverie Corridor, which is the strongest part of the game. Everyone across the Sky, Crossbell, and Cold Steel games are gathered together, providing an endless combination of character interactions you would not get otherwise between conversations in the hub areas, the group missions, and the trial doors. These conversations really complement the characters and bring out a new side of their personality and their interests. Not to mention there are a lot of dungeon levels to play in the TRC that boost the number of characters and the updated gameplay to good use.
There are randomly generated missions you can do to collect purple stones. You can use these purple stones to upgrade various gameplay elements such as increasing brave points, charge meter, the number of characters you can have in your party at one time, etc. There is even a gacha system you can collect orbs to unlock minigames, episodes, orbments, accessories, etc. Considering there are 51 playable characters, the gacha isn't a bad system to get orbments and accessories to make building the characters easy. Plus there are items that can help boost a character's level, so you don't have to grind all day to boost up a character that is 50 levels behind. It's just really nice to have the quality of life elements as far as character, gameplay, and build management.
However, my biggest complaint about the gacha element is the way you unlock characters. You will get 40 of the characters by the story mode alone but the other 11 must be obtained by the gacha system. This might not sound too bad, considering you can't even use real money but considering the dialogue for the characters in the TRC updates for every chapter, you will permanently miss dialogue for the characters just for not having them and the 11 characters you get are randomized. Not to mention you can only get a few yellow orbs (the orbs you use to get the characters) per chapter. So unlocking all 11 immediately isn't possible either. New game plus does not fix this issue either sadly. This might not sound like a huge killer but considering talking to the NPCs that always have updated dialogue is one of the biggest highlights in this series, it's a real bummer.
In addition to that, there are also episodes that provide a strong bridge not only between Cold Steel 4 and Hajimari but between Hajimari and the upcoming Kuro no Kiseki. The quality of the episodes varies but most of them are good at least while there are a few that are really amazing. These episodes highlight and explore the character and the actions they made in previous games, give the characters proper conclusions to their arc that spans across games and expand the lore and give them new context and hindsight. There are also a few episodes that are just plain silly and goofy that just show the everyday life of a character, so not all of them are serious or deep. The episodes overall enhance the world of Zemuria with its many sides and the characters that are involved in them.
There are also minigames, while it doesn't add much to the grand scope of Hajimari, it's fun extra content you can do. From playing a bullet hell-like Magical Girl minigame that spilled into three episodes and played out like a super generic high school magical girl anime (which is pretty charming in its own right), to going to the beach and ugghhhh.....having romantic dating sim conversations with a lot of girls in first person, to other things like a quiz game, mecha combat and POM makes a return again. I can't speak for the quiz game since it was untranslated and the story for the mecha minigame is untranslated as well but I found it unfun to play due to chunky controls. It felt like I was playing an unlocalized and niche PS1 game. Overall none of the minigames are amazing but if you want more Trails in various ways, then it's worth checking out.
Hajimari no Kiseki is overall a great game with a lot of strengths and the amount of content is massive that really made the game shine well. While it took a step back with clear storytelling and lore that is easy to follow through on top of a flawed gacha system, it took 2 steps forward for everything else from gameplay, character writing and interaction, plot pacing, further separating the waifu harem dating from the main story, etc. Hajimari is an excellent send-off and a strong conclusion for the Crossbell and Cold Steel arcs. Out of all of the Trails games, Hajimari is a close second for my favorite Trails game with Ao and CS3 still sits as a tie for my all-time favorite. And even then, I can totally see why someone would say Hajimari is their favorite game. After all, the game just does so much right in all areas.
Hajimari no Kiseki is the 10th game in the Trails series, wrapping up multiple plot points and character arcs from the Cold Steel and Crossbell series while setting up what is next to come in the series. One could say Hajimari is very similar to Trails in the Sky the 3rd as far as structure. After playing the game for 135 hours, Hajimari no Kiseki just might be one of the strongest entries in the series with its various improvements in the game.
Aesthetic-wise, the visuals for Hajimari are largely the same as Cold Steel 3 and 4 and there are hardly any new locations with the exception of nearly all of Crossbell is now fully modeled in 3D. However, one of the biggest improvements is the animations. There are quite a lot of scenes with really smooth animations, from lip flaps to dynamic camera work to full-blown action scenes. The increased quality of animations is near Triple-A quality, and that's rather impressive considering Falcom was never for high visual quality. The OST is also amazing. Falcom always had great tunes for their games but they have really knocked out of the park for this one. Me personally I love so many of the new battle themes since it's much heavier and the music is more complex, to the point I can say the OST for Hajimari is my favorite in the series.
Gameplay-wise, Hajimari is the best in the series as well. Although it's much the same as Cold Steel 3 and 4, what's different this time is there's a new mechanic called Valiant Rage when you can use 5 or more people in your party to do an all-out physical or art attack or recover your party. This adds an extra element to the series' combat. What else is noteworthy is the number of playable characters in the game. With over 50 characters, Hajimari boots one of the largest playable casts in an RPG. There are tons and tons of party combinations you can form with different builds. You could easily spend hours and hours just setting up characters. Not to mention Hajimari is more battle-focused than all of Cold Steel and Crossbell, so there's plenty of room for combat.
Getting to the core format of Hajimari, the game is split into two parts. The main story that you can go back and forth with Rean's, Lloyd's and C's routes that are more aligned toward the traditional main stories for Trails and the True Reverie Corridor which is very similar to Phantasmagoria from Trails in the Sky the 3rd from all of the playable characters are gathered together and do dungeons to playable episodes that flushes out what happened between Cold Steel 4 and Hajimari and fun, silly minigames.
The main story for Hajimari has to be the best-paced and streamlined game in the series. No filler side quests, no harem bonding events, and once the ball gets rolling for each route, it stays rolling until the end and they all kick off by the end of Chapter 1. Hajimari no Kiseki essentially got rid of 2 of my biggest issues with Cold Steel 4, so it's a massive improvement as far as maturity and pacing.
I wasn't too excited for Lloyd's route since....without spoiling it too much, it's very repetitive to the story beats of Ao no Kiseki plus it's predictable with its twists at times but it gave the SSS new character development and a new outlook on Crossbell. Lloyd's route is overall fine but it's the weakest route. Rean's route plays out very similar to Cold Steel 3 by visiting different locations in Erebonia with different characters in every chapter. While Rean's route is a slow-burner, the payoff is very high and I felt like it had moments that rival the quality of Cold Steel 3 and Ao no Kiseki (my two favorite games of the series).
C's route is the best route in the game. You have a brand new set of characters with different but yet similar backgrounds and without spoiling much, it really gave everyone sustainable character development and reflection. Plus it really drives home some of the series' themes such as forgiveness and starting over with a new group of people. It's just phenomenal writing.
Of course, the three routes do connect to each other, which led to my biggest issue with the game. It's very convoluted. Trails always were great with keeping its stories and its lore very clean and understandable but with trying to tie up Cold Steel and Crossbell with the new plot points and lore introduced in Hajimari, I just ended up counting a lot of plot holes that just don't make sense. This is especially apparent in the final chapter when everything is supposed to connect but the presentation is just very complicated and the execution is messy. Falcom is usually great with writing stories but it seems like they shot for the moon too far this time, to the point the story hardly holds up by the time you're done with the extra chapter.
And there is the True Reverie Corridor, which is the strongest part of the game. Everyone across the Sky, Crossbell, and Cold Steel games are gathered together, providing an endless combination of character interactions you would not get otherwise between conversations in the hub areas, the group missions, and the trial doors. These conversations really complement the characters and bring out a new side of their personality and their interests. Not to mention there are a lot of dungeon levels to play in the TRC that boost the number of characters and the updated gameplay to good use.
There are randomly generated missions you can do to collect purple stones. You can use these purple stones to upgrade various gameplay elements such as increasing brave points, charge meter, the number of characters you can have in your party at one time, etc. There is even a gacha system you can collect orbs to unlock minigames, episodes, orbments, accessories, etc. Considering there are 51 playable characters, the gacha isn't a bad system to get orbments and accessories to make building the characters easy. Plus there are items that can help boost a character's level, so you don't have to grind all day to boost up a character that is 50 levels behind. It's just really nice to have the quality of life elements as far as character, gameplay, and build management.
However, my biggest complaint about the gacha element is the way you unlock characters. You will get 40 of the characters by the story mode alone but the other 11 must be obtained by the gacha system. This might not sound too bad, considering you can't even use real money but considering the dialogue for the characters in the TRC updates for every chapter, you will permanently miss dialogue for the characters just for not having them and the 11 characters you get are randomized. Not to mention you can only get a few yellow orbs (the orbs you use to get the characters) per chapter. So unlocking all 11 immediately isn't possible either. New game plus does not fix this issue either sadly. This might not sound like a huge killer but considering talking to the NPCs that always have updated dialogue is one of the biggest highlights in this series, it's a real bummer.
In addition to that, there are also episodes that provide a strong bridge not only between Cold Steel 4 and Hajimari but between Hajimari and the upcoming Kuro no Kiseki. The quality of the episodes varies but most of them are good at least while there are a few that are really amazing. These episodes highlight and explore the character and the actions they made in previous games, give the characters proper conclusions to their arc that spans across games and expand the lore and give them new context and hindsight. There are also a few episodes that are just plain silly and goofy that just show the everyday life of a character, so not all of them are serious or deep. The episodes overall enhance the world of Zemuria with its many sides and the characters that are involved in them.
There are also minigames, while it doesn't add much to the grand scope of Hajimari, it's fun extra content you can do. From playing a bullet hell-like Magical Girl minigame that spilled into three episodes and played out like a super generic high school magical girl anime (which is pretty charming in its own right), to going to the beach and ugghhhh.....having romantic dating sim conversations with a lot of girls in first person, to other things like a quiz game, mecha combat and POM makes a return again. I can't speak for the quiz game since it was untranslated and the story for the mecha minigame is untranslated as well but I found it unfun to play due to chunky controls. It felt like I was playing an unlocalized and niche PS1 game. Overall none of the minigames are amazing but if you want more Trails in various ways, then it's worth checking out.
Hajimari no Kiseki is overall a great game with a lot of strengths and the amount of content is massive that really made the game shine well. While it took a step back with clear storytelling and lore that is easy to follow through on top of a flawed gacha system, it took 2 steps forward for everything else from gameplay, character writing and interaction, plot pacing, further separating the waifu harem dating from the main story, etc. Hajimari is an excellent send-off and a strong conclusion for the Crossbell and Cold Steel arcs. Out of all of the Trails games, Hajimari is a close second for my favorite Trails game with Ao and CS3 still sits as a tie for my all-time favorite. And even then, I can totally see why someone would say Hajimari is their favorite game. After all, the game just does so much right in all areas.