The game isn't perfect, but the 5 rating reflects on overall enjoyment while finishing the game, as well as its position for someone who has played the entire Trails series.
A great protagonist, endearing party members (especially the first three you get + Judith) and a lot of heart elevate the characters to a surprising level, given this is the first game of an arc. There were slight cracks toward the end as more party members joined, with chapter 5 getting the annoying Falcom "let's all stand behind the main character and utter a single line of agreement" and "AS A JAEGER/ENGINEER/ACTRESS, I THINK..." bullshit.
The narrative's darker tone shines, especially coming from Cold Steel's power-of-heart speeches. Even the side quests are all generally meaningful from a character development or narrative perspective, instead of the usual fetch quest crap.
The story within the individual chapters are interesting, though I can't say as much for the thread binding everything together. I felt the over-arching narrative relies a bit too much on hand-wavey magitek miracle stuff, though the villains are deliciously evil.
The battle system is great though unbalanced. Shard skills are interesting but there are only few of them, and it becomes quite clear early on that some are stronger than the others. The result, of course, is a typical easily-broken Falcom game, Even on nightmare, only the boss fights required a bit of thinking, and not even all of them.
All these weaknesses do not take away from the highs of the game though, and I had an absolutely enjoyable time with the game.
A great protagonist, endearing party members (especially the first three you get + Judith) and a lot of heart elevate the characters to a surprising level, given this is the first game of an arc. There were slight cracks toward the end as more party members joined, with chapter 5 getting the annoying Falcom "let's all stand behind the main character and utter a single line of agreement" and "AS A JAEGER/ENGINEER/ACTRESS, I THINK..." bullshit.
The narrative's darker tone shines, especially coming from Cold Steel's power-of-heart speeches. Even the side quests are all generally meaningful from a character development or narrative perspective, instead of the usual fetch quest crap.
The story within the individual chapters are interesting, though I can't say as much for the thread binding everything together. I felt the over-arching narrative relies a bit too much on hand-wavey magitek miracle stuff, though the villains are deliciously evil.
The battle system is great though unbalanced. Shard skills are interesting but there are only few of them, and it becomes quite clear early on that some are stronger than the others. The result, of course, is a typical easily-broken Falcom game, Even on nightmare, only the boss fights required a bit of thinking, and not even all of them.
All these weaknesses do not take away from the highs of the game though, and I had an absolutely enjoyable time with the game.