I genuinely have no words. This game has become my favourite video game of all time, with the exception of a single visual novel. It set a new standard that I think I'll have to readjust quite a few of my ratings now. It's honestly difficult to even begin describing how I feel about this game, but I'll try.

Reverie is both a love letter and epilogue to the first three arcs of Trails, as well as the prologue to what comes next.

From the homely Liberl, to Crossbell's history of oppression and melting pot of a culture, to Erebonia's oppressive yet fascinating existence. From Estelle and Joshua's journey, to Lloyd's unyielding determination, to Rean's saga. All of that was already settled in Cold Steel IV, but unlike the bombastic, massive battles where everyone (well, almost — sorry, Kevin) from every possible side joined to end the conflict once and for all, Reverie decides to focus on a smaller amount of characters and make them go through incredible character development. That's not to say the stakes are low, though — this is still a JRPG. And so, the game, before the finale is split into three routes (actually just POV chapters but whatever), between which you can usually switch at will.

Lloyd's route, despite being the weakest of the three, is something that his character definitely benefits from. We have seen the SSS fight tooth and nail for Crossbell so many times that they, and other people, have forced expectations onto them. The land of Crossbell has been under constant threat of dictatorship and occupation by multiple parties. They just don't want to leave them alone. In spite of that, though, our guy Lloyd, who would face down the sun falling from the sky onto him and would still get back up, is still Lloyd, and it's hard not to love him for it.

Rean's route is a fitting after-story for the completion of his arc in CS4. While that arc may have ended, having doubts after everything is said and done is natural. It feels very organic and fitting as a character study.

C is a newcomer protagonist, and compared to the other two in this game, is more morally questionable. As someone with a dark past, he bonds with other misfits with complicated backgrounds. It's honestly really difficult to talk about this any further without spoilers, so I won't. But I'll just say that he's incredible.

Making a shorter Trails game split into three routes does wonders for this story's pacing, while at the same time having a wealth of side content. This is probably the best paced Trails game since Azure, and possible ever.

Falcom is at its peak with the technical (or at least until Daybreak/Kuro, wow that game is phenomenal), visual and sound aspects here. This is a very stylised game, with probably my favourite Trails soundtrack, which is saying a lot. Every route gets their own battle themes in a fitting style, such as having the spiritual sequel to Zero's Get Over the Barrier! and Azure's Seize the Truth! in Lloyd's route and Crossbell, as well as C's route's tracks, which blew me away. Not to mention the wonderful OP track. The gameplay is pretty much the same as CS4, but no complaints at that front either, especially since I enjoyed the fights in this one more. Trails was already my favourite JRPG turn-based combat of all time, and this just further cemented it.

While playing this series I was wondering what about it works so well for me. Before starting Trails, I was wondering if a 500+ hour series can even be worth it. Seemed like a series that would not be amazing enough to justify such a lengthy commitment over shorter, yet acclaimed JRPGs.

Trails, when it wants to be, is a masterclass on what you can achieve with characters and world building in a JRPG. Well, of course the several hundred hour long series would have good world building, but it is impressive nonetheless, especially if you're a completionist. I'm not one myself, but it would be a perfect fit if I was. The amount of dialogue NPCs have after any given story event is crazy. And then there's the in-story lore and world. The regions in every game feel completely different, and if you go back to a previous region in a future game, it feels like coming home. Different musical styles, viewpoints, vibes, etc. It's not like Falcom made a carbon copy of Tolkien's world or something — to me, Zemuria is one of a kind. This variety extends to the characters, too. The protagonists of the games so far (Estelle, Kevin, Lloyd, Rean, C) couldn't be more different. Despite being a series with plenty of tropes, it has enough diversity to feel fresh every time. That includes thematically. It's impossible for me not to look forward to what they'll show me next, especially with this behemoth of a buildup. Trails is just special to me. This review I'm writing is longer than my usual ones, but it feels like I can always say more.

It's also impressive but kind of funny how this game doubles as damage control for people's issues with CS4. If you liked CS4, there's little doubt you'll like this a lot. And if you hated CS4, you will probably enjoys this a lot more. This game is as much Cold Steel 5 as it is Crossbell 3, and as someone who's greatly enjoyed both sagas, I couldn't be happier. I will probably do some side content in this game for some time, or maybe I'll take a break. Or maybe I'll just boot up Kuro 1 (Daybreak 1) ASAP. Who knows.

This game marks the end of one thing, but the beginning of another. Liberlian Bracers, Kevin, the SSS, Class VII, it's been a pleasure to witness your journeys. This is goodbye for now, but I'm sure I'll see you again... Someday, somewhere.

Small edit: Rating changed to 4.5/5 because this game is fun as hell despite being very stupid at times

Wow, what a journey.

I'm not surprised this one is polarising, with people most often either yelling "peak fiction" or seeing this game as the one that messed up Cold Steel, or even Kiseki so far, right at the end. This game is a bit more difficult to write about than the other Trails games for me because it's so inconsistent. You have genuinely the worst padding in the series at times, and a lot of time wasted on stuff that doesn't amount to anything. On the other hand, you have some of the most hype stuff you'll ever see in a JRPG, and plenty of emotional moments.

On one hand you have MCU-level "Avengers moments" as opposed to the more organic ones in Zero to Cold Steel III (in CS4 they try to include everyone, so as opposed to something like Zero or CS3, they sometimes say/do their one thing then take a break from being in the story for a while relatively often), on the other hand you have some of the coolest stuff you'd dream to see in a connected universe that is only possible on this scale in Trails, such as 5-team dungeon raids and boss fights while old dungeon themes play in the OST. I am into so many long series with connected universes whose fans would salivate at the idea of even a fraction of this amount of crossover-ness.

It was difficult to decide whether to give this a 4/5 or 4.5/5, but I ultimately went with the more generous option since I enjoyed this more than CS3. It's definitely one of the coolest and most fun JRPGs out there, just heavily flawed and inconsistent, with both extremely tropey and generic ideas, as well as very creative ones that you don't see often.

Really looking forward to Reverie, I played the prologue and it's everything I've ever wanted. The best start to a video game I've ever seen, it has potential to be my favourite game of all time.

When I played Vol. 0, I made the joke that I had many unanswered questions regarding the existence and status of catfolk in this world. I fully expected it to just be glossed over or handwaved, to be honest. Now I just feel like a fool.

Imagine my genuine surprise when the mental checklist of out-there, absurd worldbuilding requests I planned to joke about was slowly ticked off throughout the game. Things like the view of catfolk/human relationships, the rate of aging, catfolk's status in society, whether or not catfolk and people can reproduce, etc. Why would a cutesy eroge bother even mentioning any of this, I thought? Hence why my absurdist review would mark that as a faux complaint. But it's all there, and as subtly horrific as it should be. And I love that.

In all seriousness, it's very cute. The ero scenes are whatever, I'd honestly say not to bother spending the extra cash on em if you're on the fence about it. Ultimately, though, it's your call whether you want this as a hardcore eroge or a cutesy romance story. I can respect the fact that it caters to both crowds.

Halloween special! Although I don't consider this a halloween game, it does feature spoopy forests and a moody soundtrack and atmosphere. Also, this game is terrifyingly mediocre. That must count for something, right?

Shrek 2: Beg for Mercy! mostly stars Puss in Boots as the main character, though there are a few levels where you play as Shrek and Donkey. The mechanics are similar to Shrek 2 for the same system, but The Lost Vikings style puzzle gameplay has been removed, putting focus on platforming and combat. Unfortunately the mechanics aren't solid enough to make this game good to play. Puss's moveset has been expanded with stuff such as blocking, rolling attack, downward attack and big cute eyes move (y'know, that from the movie) that can charm certain enemies, but for the most part these are worthless. I'd occasionally use the cutesy move, but for attacking I almost always used air attack, as it can penetrate enemy defense. The rolling attack is pretty worthless as I found myself taking damage most of the time trying to perform it, and it just doesn't feel very good to use. Downward attack is required to defeat a single enemy type and is needed to access a few areas for progression or secrets. There's some enemy variety, but overall the combat is still fairly generic. Shrek and Donkey act remain unchanged from how they behaved in the previous game, though all of them have the same health pool now. Shrek is strong, and Donkey is Donkey.

The platforming is pretty mediocre. It wasn't great in Shrek 2 and probably the worst aspect to put the focus on. The camera is painfully slow at scrolling vertically, I had to stop at many spots as Puss to see what's below because the game features some blind jumps, and some secrets are hidden that way. Not to mention, you can't even pan the camera as Donkey or Shrek, and I did miss secrets that way. The platforming is also pretty punishing, with instant death pits and water, and there's still that pesky knockback from taking damage. I mean, the levels aren't terribly long, but they can be pretty annoying since the controls aren't tight enough, especially if you go for 100% completion, which means collecting coins in the same spots you've been in. I don't think it's really worth going for 100% completion anyway. As a reward, you unlock mini-games, which do make interesting use of the game's mechanics, and at least they're not rehashed from the main game, because there aren't mini-games in the main game, unlike Shrek 2 GBA. But I wouldn't really call it a satisfying reward for the amount of frustration I had to go through.

About graphics, I think the game looks average. The cave levels in particular feature a background that mostly consists of black color, which is jarring to me, since I'm used to GBA games having a some detail in the background. It doesn't feel very GBA to me, as if I'm playing an unfinished game and the artists didn't fill the background yet. The pre-rendered sprites still look fine and are well animated, I think a few of them look kinda impressive, such as frog enemies. The music unfortunately is a miss for Shin'en this time. I think it goes for a more atmospheric tone, but it is a step down from a banger soundtrack of Shrek 2 GBA. There are a couple decent tracks still, but overall I don't like it that much.

Overall, this is an unsurprisingly mediocre licensed game. I think it stripped some of the more enjoyable aspects of the original Shrek 2 GBA, focusing on things that don't quite work, resulting in a frustrating experience. I don't really recommend playing this one.