Trails into Reverie solidified what I thought was never going to be a franchise I would think highly of. The trails series was a series that I picked off of the whim in late January/ early february to past time while I was waiting for SMTVV and FFXIV Dawntrail that would be released in June.

It was a game that I did not have much expectations of since I usually associated it with the Tales of franchise as being a series of games full of anime cliches and piss poor story, but Trails was a franchise full of anime cliches but broken down to the core to the point where it separates itself from the generic tropes. Throughout the ups and downs of the series and arcs that did not found all that enjoyable or Kondos hesitation to be able to kill off major characters, Trails was still able to become a series that I found myself enjoying and connected to.

Now this is a Trails into Reverie review not a Trails in general review. I had 9 other games to do so(ignore the impulsive hate comment of azure)

The gameplay in Reverie impressed me as they took the concept of Sky 3rd and made it playable. The addition of Reverie Corridor was the most fun I had in the Trails franchise as they rewarded you nicely for basically addicting dungeon crawling. Also made it very fun to build the trails dream team with basically every playable character in the 3 arcs. They added alot more minigames in reverie, Masters Vintage will always be fun, I unironically enjoyed Magical Alisa LS and I still hate Pom Pom party. Daydreams are similar to doors in Sky 3rd but much easier to get with similar quality (for reference Sky 3rd had like a requirement to defeat 10000 enemies or sum shit for a singular door we good off that).

The turn based combat itself is pretty much the same as CS3/4 but they added a new feature called United Fronts which is a more overpowered Burst attack (which also adds 2 Battle points) so that made the game unnecessarily easier but i am not really complaining.

The story in Trails into Reverie is a wrap up of the last 2 arcs separated into 3 routes of Lloyd,Rean and “C”. Trails to Walk was a great addition to the game as they made the story flow easy and smooth. I gotta give credit on how you are basically able to play each route at any order and will flow into another route perfectly without spoiling too much. Although there is an order that makes things flow a bit more easier but regardless you start and end at the same place

Since the majority of the story is set in Crossbell, naturally Lloyd would get the main character treatment but him having a whole route was at times tiring to play through since his arc was pretty much finished in Azure and not much was added to his character other than the concept of that the people of Crossbell never really believed in them but it had a meh execution. One thing they will always do well is the interactions between Randy and Lloyd but other than that not much of the plot was really apparent in his route at least compared to the other two.

C’s route was a breath of fresh air with a character that I did not expect would get the focus of but happy they did. Theres not much to say about his route without literally spoiling it so imma just talk about another character in his route that left an impression on me which was Lapis. Lapis is the robot or in this case a doll trope where they are built by another human (figuratively or metaphorically)and trying to find a reason/purpose to live blah blah. That trope can get boring especially when Trails did with similarly with altina,tio and fie (ish)so Trails decided off the rip to give Lapis a personality, so instead of a doll figuring out emotions it was her with an outburst of emotions of a child but trying to find her memories of her past. Lapis being surrounded with characters that had done immoral things in the past was perfect to her character but to C as well. The concept of accepting the good and bad of a human being has been apparent in the Trails franchise and they done it perfectly in C’s route. I would add more onto how much I enjoyed C’s route but I can’t rly say anything that doesnt immediately give away his identity

Best route for last, Rean’s Route was something I was most looking forward to despite the new protagonist in C: Rean was character that really made me appreciate the Trails Franchise. I am a proud Rean glazer even if he has a line of girls waiting to confess their deep profound love for him(which that would be a rant for itself but I played Persona).

Despite being the most “slice of life anime” protagonist at its base that is not just all he is. Rean is a brilliant character that explores the concept to be needed and to be the one who burdens all the problems since he believes himself that he is a burden due to a power he cannot control. As a result, Rean from the start of Cold Steel suffers from an inferiority complex which can be mistaken as humble whenever he gets a compliment but in truth, Rean finds trouble in being able to pay back people who has treated him as an equal. CS4 tackles his conflict perfectly as Rean is responsible for causing the Great Twilight which has caused never ending conflict. Rean had the power to stop this but will cost him his life, through this Rean found his reason to live which was to die for the people he loves to live happy.

This would be a main plot line in Rean’s route as they utilized the two endings from CS4 to challenge Rean’s conflict once more and this time it was how he can be able to be happy with the actions that he feels guilt for. Ishmelga Rean who was based off of if Rean successfully sacrificed himself was fucking genius Through the ending of Ishmelga Rean, Rean finds out that sacrificing himself never made the people who he loved happy but in a world where they all feel guilt to live in a future without him and regret that they couldn’t save him. There is alot more I can talk about his character but i already turned into a Rean Character analysis instead of a review, but he is the character that made me appreciate this franchise.

The finale in Reverie was a perfect conclusion to these characters/arcs as they are able and to finally move from the past and to the future. C as he can never truly redeem his past actions under his name but at least influence and lead a new life with a responsibility to live for the people he cares for. As Rean finally finds a place that he truly feels he belongs to and people who he can rely on. And I guess for Lloyd to finally free Crossbell after being colonized like a billion times. Im joking. Lloyd did have a couple good scenes in the finale which made me appreciate his character a bit more.

I just realized how much I typed but playing 9 long games was worth it for this game.

TL;DR Rean Schwarzer

I read this vn in chinese translation and it was nothing short of a masterpiece. A sophisticatedly written story about friendship and growth with a lot of japanese folklore and cultural references. Easily one of the most emotional and beautiful journeys I've ever experienced. I need Araragi route so bad and HIYO MY BELOVEDDDD. I plan to reread this vn after I'm fluent in japanese since I've heard there are a lot of wordplays in this vn. Well the chinese translation was pretty good tho from what I could tell. Thank you Shumon Yuu for creating masterpiece