I dunno why this game has been getting review bombed on here recently.
Anyways, I will admit my current opinions on this game are that it's great, but also mixed.
I do feel like the story doesn't exactly live up to the potential it starts out with. But it doesn't matter too much because even with playing just a decent translation meant to help you understand the story and nothing more, I actually really like these characters more than most Trails casts, a lot.
Van Arkride's morally grey attitude is just what the series needed. It never feels too edgy or contrived and straddles that line between "light and dark" as the game puts it, perfectly. For the most part, this game does feel a little more mature than the other Trails games.
Until the end. I have issues with the finale chapter. It's a little stretched out and while a cool twist gets revealed, the rest of it does feel like the standard "go through the final dungeon hallway gauntlet, beat the final boss" ect. It's very by the books.
That being said I bet they are saving most of the cool story moments for Kuro 2, but given recent events with the Zerofield takedown I bet I won't be playing that for quite a while unless some brave souls translate it before NISA puts it out.
If there's another thing that's really good about this game, it's the gameplay. Switching between action and turn based combat is actually really neatly implemented. Turn based having an advantage sometimes and vice versa is cool too.
However I almost wish they did... more with this switch? The formula is mostly stun the enemy in action combat, deplete a bit of health, then activate turn based combat before the stun goes away. Fun, but you start to see how repetitive it is after 50 or so hours.
Maybe mixing things up a bit and having enemies deactivating your shard would be cool... they can already force you into it if you get hit enough? I think it would be a neat idea to play around with but maybe Falcom doesn't want to get that meta.
Great game though. Good start to the arc. Looking forward to playing Kuro 2 from my retirement home.
Anyways, I will admit my current opinions on this game are that it's great, but also mixed.
I do feel like the story doesn't exactly live up to the potential it starts out with. But it doesn't matter too much because even with playing just a decent translation meant to help you understand the story and nothing more, I actually really like these characters more than most Trails casts, a lot.
Van Arkride's morally grey attitude is just what the series needed. It never feels too edgy or contrived and straddles that line between "light and dark" as the game puts it, perfectly. For the most part, this game does feel a little more mature than the other Trails games.
Until the end. I have issues with the finale chapter. It's a little stretched out and while a cool twist gets revealed, the rest of it does feel like the standard "go through the final dungeon hallway gauntlet, beat the final boss" ect. It's very by the books.
That being said I bet they are saving most of the cool story moments for Kuro 2, but given recent events with the Zerofield takedown I bet I won't be playing that for quite a while unless some brave souls translate it before NISA puts it out.
If there's another thing that's really good about this game, it's the gameplay. Switching between action and turn based combat is actually really neatly implemented. Turn based having an advantage sometimes and vice versa is cool too.
However I almost wish they did... more with this switch? The formula is mostly stun the enemy in action combat, deplete a bit of health, then activate turn based combat before the stun goes away. Fun, but you start to see how repetitive it is after 50 or so hours.
Maybe mixing things up a bit and having enemies deactivating your shard would be cool... they can already force you into it if you get hit enough? I think it would be a neat idea to play around with but maybe Falcom doesn't want to get that meta.
Great game though. Good start to the arc. Looking forward to playing Kuro 2 from my retirement home.
Reviewed on Sep 09, 2022