This was my first complete introduction to the Trails series after trying Sky FC, getting through the Prologue and dropping it because of its slow start and the fact that I just wasn't invested enough in the series' world yet to get through that game.
Now here I am a few months later and I can definitely say with confidence that I now plan on consuming all the Trails content I possibly can, and all it took was this game.
To me it felt like a perfect blend of what I loved about some of my other favourite JRPGs in terms of gameplay and structure. The Persona games come to mind with this game's calendar, "bonding" system and the chapter structure in CS feeling almost equivalent to the story arcs in, for example, P5 (sorry to be THAT Persona 5 fan, and also I'm aware that this game was released first and that the other Persona games also have this structure, as do many other JRPGs), but this game isn't as heavily time-management involved, which worked in its favour. In short it uses these same elements but sparingly enough to work in the context of this game.
What I loved most about this game was its ever-moving narrative right down to the most minor NPCs. Every time a new story beat happens, the NPCs in the area it concerns have something new to say, which really made the world feel alive and made the events feel as significant as they needed to. Despite this game's hefty 75-80 hour runtime with a fair amount of use of its turbo mode, it never overstayed its welcome or felt like a chore (Note: I didn't 100% but I'd say I probably did most side quests, perhaps bar a few hidden ones I missed and one fishing-related one I didn't bother with)
The story itself was a lot of fun. Sure, there were some anime tropes, and sometimes certain things felt kind of rushed, but I absolutely loved the main cast of Class VII and seeing them become a close group of friends throughout the course of their first few months at Thors. Without giving too much away I also like how it steadily amped up the action and tension building up to its final hours, which were pretty crazy and left me more than eager for more.
I should also mention the soundtrack, too- The battle themes, particularly some boss fights', were amazing, and even some of the tracks that played in cutscenes and exploration etc. are probably going to stay stuck in my head for a long while after the fact.
My only minor complaints were that certain stuff felt glossed over that could have been interesting had they been fully dealt with (although I'm told this was due to time constraints and the part in question is explored in an audio CD), and also the game's graphics felt kind of dated in places, although that's much less a complaint than a nitpick and didn't bother me at all most of the time.
Long story short, this is an amazing RPG, and if you're like me and struggled with Sky FC, this might be a better starting point. I now plan to play CS2 before backtracking to the Liberl and Crossbell arcs, to prepare myself for CS3 and 4, and eventually beyond.
Now here I am a few months later and I can definitely say with confidence that I now plan on consuming all the Trails content I possibly can, and all it took was this game.
To me it felt like a perfect blend of what I loved about some of my other favourite JRPGs in terms of gameplay and structure. The Persona games come to mind with this game's calendar, "bonding" system and the chapter structure in CS feeling almost equivalent to the story arcs in, for example, P5 (sorry to be THAT Persona 5 fan, and also I'm aware that this game was released first and that the other Persona games also have this structure, as do many other JRPGs), but this game isn't as heavily time-management involved, which worked in its favour. In short it uses these same elements but sparingly enough to work in the context of this game.
What I loved most about this game was its ever-moving narrative right down to the most minor NPCs. Every time a new story beat happens, the NPCs in the area it concerns have something new to say, which really made the world feel alive and made the events feel as significant as they needed to. Despite this game's hefty 75-80 hour runtime with a fair amount of use of its turbo mode, it never overstayed its welcome or felt like a chore (Note: I didn't 100% but I'd say I probably did most side quests, perhaps bar a few hidden ones I missed and one fishing-related one I didn't bother with)
The story itself was a lot of fun. Sure, there were some anime tropes, and sometimes certain things felt kind of rushed, but I absolutely loved the main cast of Class VII and seeing them become a close group of friends throughout the course of their first few months at Thors. Without giving too much away I also like how it steadily amped up the action and tension building up to its final hours, which were pretty crazy and left me more than eager for more.
I should also mention the soundtrack, too- The battle themes, particularly some boss fights', were amazing, and even some of the tracks that played in cutscenes and exploration etc. are probably going to stay stuck in my head for a long while after the fact.
My only minor complaints were that certain stuff felt glossed over that could have been interesting had they been fully dealt with (although I'm told this was due to time constraints and the part in question is explored in an audio CD), and also the game's graphics felt kind of dated in places, although that's much less a complaint than a nitpick and didn't bother me at all most of the time.
Long story short, this is an amazing RPG, and if you're like me and struggled with Sky FC, this might be a better starting point. I now plan to play CS2 before backtracking to the Liberl and Crossbell arcs, to prepare myself for CS3 and 4, and eventually beyond.