This review contains spoilers
Spoilers for Sky FC/SC, Zero, Azure, and CS1
I dunno, man. Maybe it was my tempered expectations. From hearing that the Cold Steel arc was filler, or my overhype from Azure. Maybe I was just really in the mood for an RPG. Maybe it was just one of those right time right place things. Maybe it was something I don’t really wanna bring up on backloggd dot com. I’m not really sure. But fuck, this was awesome. It’s got the second best ending in the series(out of the 6 games I’ve played). Nothing beats the ending of FC. The cast, for how big they are all end up feeling relatively unique, the soundtrack has a metric ton of highs compared to the previous games, the gameplay is actually fun with a streamlined quartz system, I could go on and on as a ramble but let’s get down to business. I got this format down to a science now.
Characters: There’s not many I dislike, with the exception of one which I have a whole dedicated rant towards. They all really grew on me and feel unique, I think my favorites are probably Crow, Fie and Rean. I liked Alisa’s arc, it hit home for me, same with Crow’s words at the festival afterparty. Fie is definitely going to be expanded on in future, and I’m excited to see where her arc goes. I was worried after Machias’ and Jusis’ arc that Laura and Fie’s would be the exact same, but they’re different. Fie and Laura become lesbros and I loved their dual, not only that it was where you fight Rean and Machias and it just shows how much they get each other and link well, I loved that part. Machias/Jusis conflict on the other hand is very abrasive and loud, but then gets quietly resolved once they overhear each other’s struggles and come to terms with why they feel a certain way. The cherry on top was the cheesy duet they did at the concert. All of Class 7 feels unique in their own way, even if some of the tropes overshadow their uniqueness.
Music: First off, Exceed is a worthy successor to Fateful Confrontation. I wasn’t really feeling it at first but after the C fight I was a huge fan. The regular battle theme is pretty good, definitely better than Azure but doesn’t beat get over the barrier or sophisticated fight. I was a huge fan of “Class 7’s Inevitable Struggle” the song I don’t know the name of that vaguely sounds like Inevitable Struggle but is clearly different. Even the Practical Exam theme which has this awful out of tune guitar at the height of the song grew on me. Is that you, Singa? The town themes for the field studies reminded me of the unique town themes of Sky. They all felt different and I don’t remember Crossbell having that many themes. The dining bar theme is awesome and reminds me of Arc en Ciel. The “ethereal” themes that play when you fight otherworldly things are really great too. The credits theme was too good. Felt like an OP for CS2 tbh but I was groovin the entire time. I didn’t think it was possible but Trails now has a soundtrack that isn’t mostly mediocre/forgettable.
Story/Lore :So the whole shtick of CS1’s story is that it’s happening concurrently with the events of Azure. Good thing I forgot most of what happened there lol. I mostly remember the Crois stuff but I forget how much the Trade Conference was a big deal. Now with the chancellor either fucking dead or gravely wounded I really wanna go back and see what he told the SSS in Azure. Might have a double meaning. I didn’t expect Sharon to be an Ouroubouros Enforcer, it is kinda cool. I liked how there was a single fucking offhand mention of Estelle and Joshua from Bleublanc, it made me giggle a bit. Anyway the story itself is kinda like Sky FC(which I have some nostalgia for by now, I miss the days when it was just Joshua and Estelle doing junior bracer things). Class 7 ends up going on a bunch of field studies to different towns in Erebonia to see how things are. It’s simple, but I really like it. As stated in the music section I really like how each place has its own unique atmosphere, the Nord Highlands and Legram are examples of this. I had initially thought that CS2 was going to be the rest of Class 7’s first year, but with Rean off to who knows where by the ending, things seem to be taking a drastic turn. The ending was fantastic, but I already mentioned it. I still like the police feel to Zero more but the story here is great. As for lore/worldbuilding, I’m really enjoying seeing how the technology is evolving as well as politics. We get to know more about Calvard here, if just a bit, and Alisa just mentions air conditioning and everybody loses their shit. It’s a really stupid example but it does show just how much they’ve come and how far the world still has to advance. Important figures have flip phones, but I wonder when they will take off with the public, or the orbal net. It’s just a real joy to see this world advance bit by bit. Erebonia is a very different continent from what I had imagined it to be, the Nobles vs Reformists is a really compelling narrative and I hope they can do some unique things with it like they did with Crossbell’s Indepence. I hear CS3 and 4 practically require you to have played Crossbell beforehand so I bet those games expand on the slideshow we got as an ending to Azure/Crossbell’s independence arc. Which means I get to see my boys Wade and Wazy again. Anyway I like how Cold Steel’s story feels like a piece to a much bigger puzzle between Crossbell, Erebonia, and Calvard.
Gameplay: Remember two years or so ago when I went on a huge rant about why the Sky games’ combat sucks? Probably not, in fact dont go read them they’re probably really fucking cringy to read back. But the gist was the quartz system that needed an entire supplemental manual to figure out how to use arts made me avoid the combat like the plague and just spam the weaken enemy button after I died. And bosses’ overreliance on cheap status gimmicks to make the fight difficult sucked as well(looking at you Renne). By the time I got to Zero/Azure I was just coasting on easy mode, not giving whatever changes they brought a chance. Does CS1 change anything? Yes. I love the combat in this game. The quartz system was streamlined, there’s now like 500 different quartz that you can fuse to make a certain skill. Technically it is pretty cluttered but I’ll take it over the other system. You simply find a skill(s) you want and then fuse it, and now can use it. I don’t know why the Sky/Crossbell games weren’t like this. The regular combat loop is fun, and I honestly like how S-Breaks were tied to character growth, it really made early game difficult but rewarding. Resounding Beat is kinda OP and carried the first 20 hours or so for me. Bosses are also really fun, and exploitable if you know how to abuse the turn order. I really like that aspect, it adds another layer to pre-planning. If a boss is set to get a 10% HP Boost you gotta scramble to find a way to avoid that outcome. Or in the places with higher elements, you can grind and wipe out enemies with ease if you keep track of deathblow effects. The only Boss I had to use the weaken enemy button on were C and either Floor 5 or 6’s Schoolhouse boss. I went all out on V so C was too much for a back to back fight. (I tried him like 5 times then weakened once and then 3 attempts later I got him). The Schoolhouse boss I just didn’t save so I didn’t have a way to grind S-Breaks or anything and didn’t want to do the dungeon again. Patrick too, maybe? But that was because I thought you needed to get the goals to progress. Anyway, point is the only reason I used the weaken enemy button were my own faults, not because of infuriating game design. CS1 combat is SO much better, and I feel like if I were to ever replay the series I’d find something to love in the previous 5 games combat, too. Not really a place to mention this elsewhere in the gameplay section but the one on one brawl with Crow as the true final boss was awesome, I’m a sucker for shit like that.
Biggest Gripes:Angie. Not only does her dubbed actress grate on my ears, but her entire character is just “haha lesbian sexual harrassment”. She honestly makes my blood boil I fucking hate Angie so much. The social sim element feel tacked on. The Septian calendar's inclusion doesn’t add anything. It’s like Falcom saw the success of persona 3 and 4 and decided to include elements of it in the next trails game but god they just really fucking suck. The free day quests are fetch quests outside of schoolhouse trips, thankfully in the later chapters the schoolhouse is the only required quest on these days. The bonding events feel really fucky. they didn’t commit to full on social link style events so they’re just kinda click through things to get a few arcus points. The bonding events just end up feeling like a nothingburger. Dungeons still suck, they were never a strong suit of trails but with the move to full on 3d there seems to be more unintentional backtracking. It’s the same as in the previous games where you go find a switch, hit it and then go back but because the dungeons all look so samey I ended up missing a ton of those switches and had to go back. The final dungeon was a slog too, though easily binged. The song for that dungeon was great. Another issue I had was some of the characters feel tropey/ samey to other characters in the series. This is mostly alleviated by the end of the game with all of Class 7’s backstories mostly revealed but I worry that their arcs are going to take on a similar path to characters from previous games. I get this is a relatively shonen rpg and that kind of overlap should be expected, but iunno, I still hope they find new ground to cover. My biggest worry for this is Crow himself, I legit didn’t see the twist coming(I figured it was Campnella for whatever reason) but I hope that his arc isn’t just Joshua’s arc again.
Final Thoughts: Honestly? Surpasses Zero for me. The best Trails game there is. The next “peak trails” is supposedly Reverie but I learned my lesson with Azure, keeping my expectations in check for that one. On schedule Reverie is gonna be played early 2025 tho. I don’t even own it yet. I’ll jump into CS2 sometime this year, but I am definitely watching all those recap videos first lol. So many small details I’d forgotten and need to brush up on. Despite the fact it takes place concurrently with Azure I’d forgotten so much that some of the developments got me a second time. Damn you Ian Grimwood and your shitty game ruining twists. After a few days of post game depression I’ll hop into Raincode and after that… well hoo boy the rest of the year is fucking stacked methinks. Many amazing games in the backlog I’m gonna play this year.
I dunno, man. Maybe it was my tempered expectations. From hearing that the Cold Steel arc was filler, or my overhype from Azure. Maybe I was just really in the mood for an RPG. Maybe it was just one of those right time right place things. Maybe it was something I don’t really wanna bring up on backloggd dot com. I’m not really sure. But fuck, this was awesome. It’s got the second best ending in the series(out of the 6 games I’ve played). Nothing beats the ending of FC. The cast, for how big they are all end up feeling relatively unique, the soundtrack has a metric ton of highs compared to the previous games, the gameplay is actually fun with a streamlined quartz system, I could go on and on as a ramble but let’s get down to business. I got this format down to a science now.
Characters: There’s not many I dislike, with the exception of one which I have a whole dedicated rant towards. They all really grew on me and feel unique, I think my favorites are probably Crow, Fie and Rean. I liked Alisa’s arc, it hit home for me, same with Crow’s words at the festival afterparty. Fie is definitely going to be expanded on in future, and I’m excited to see where her arc goes. I was worried after Machias’ and Jusis’ arc that Laura and Fie’s would be the exact same, but they’re different. Fie and Laura become lesbros and I loved their dual, not only that it was where you fight Rean and Machias and it just shows how much they get each other and link well, I loved that part. Machias/Jusis conflict on the other hand is very abrasive and loud, but then gets quietly resolved once they overhear each other’s struggles and come to terms with why they feel a certain way. The cherry on top was the cheesy duet they did at the concert. All of Class 7 feels unique in their own way, even if some of the tropes overshadow their uniqueness.
Music: First off, Exceed is a worthy successor to Fateful Confrontation. I wasn’t really feeling it at first but after the C fight I was a huge fan. The regular battle theme is pretty good, definitely better than Azure but doesn’t beat get over the barrier or sophisticated fight. I was a huge fan of “Class 7’s Inevitable Struggle” the song I don’t know the name of that vaguely sounds like Inevitable Struggle but is clearly different. Even the Practical Exam theme which has this awful out of tune guitar at the height of the song grew on me. Is that you, Singa? The town themes for the field studies reminded me of the unique town themes of Sky. They all felt different and I don’t remember Crossbell having that many themes. The dining bar theme is awesome and reminds me of Arc en Ciel. The “ethereal” themes that play when you fight otherworldly things are really great too. The credits theme was too good. Felt like an OP for CS2 tbh but I was groovin the entire time. I didn’t think it was possible but Trails now has a soundtrack that isn’t mostly mediocre/forgettable.
Story/Lore :So the whole shtick of CS1’s story is that it’s happening concurrently with the events of Azure. Good thing I forgot most of what happened there lol. I mostly remember the Crois stuff but I forget how much the Trade Conference was a big deal. Now with the chancellor either fucking dead or gravely wounded I really wanna go back and see what he told the SSS in Azure. Might have a double meaning. I didn’t expect Sharon to be an Ouroubouros Enforcer, it is kinda cool. I liked how there was a single fucking offhand mention of Estelle and Joshua from Bleublanc, it made me giggle a bit. Anyway the story itself is kinda like Sky FC(which I have some nostalgia for by now, I miss the days when it was just Joshua and Estelle doing junior bracer things). Class 7 ends up going on a bunch of field studies to different towns in Erebonia to see how things are. It’s simple, but I really like it. As stated in the music section I really like how each place has its own unique atmosphere, the Nord Highlands and Legram are examples of this. I had initially thought that CS2 was going to be the rest of Class 7’s first year, but with Rean off to who knows where by the ending, things seem to be taking a drastic turn. The ending was fantastic, but I already mentioned it. I still like the police feel to Zero more but the story here is great. As for lore/worldbuilding, I’m really enjoying seeing how the technology is evolving as well as politics. We get to know more about Calvard here, if just a bit, and Alisa just mentions air conditioning and everybody loses their shit. It’s a really stupid example but it does show just how much they’ve come and how far the world still has to advance. Important figures have flip phones, but I wonder when they will take off with the public, or the orbal net. It’s just a real joy to see this world advance bit by bit. Erebonia is a very different continent from what I had imagined it to be, the Nobles vs Reformists is a really compelling narrative and I hope they can do some unique things with it like they did with Crossbell’s Indepence. I hear CS3 and 4 practically require you to have played Crossbell beforehand so I bet those games expand on the slideshow we got as an ending to Azure/Crossbell’s independence arc. Which means I get to see my boys Wade and Wazy again. Anyway I like how Cold Steel’s story feels like a piece to a much bigger puzzle between Crossbell, Erebonia, and Calvard.
Gameplay: Remember two years or so ago when I went on a huge rant about why the Sky games’ combat sucks? Probably not, in fact dont go read them they’re probably really fucking cringy to read back. But the gist was the quartz system that needed an entire supplemental manual to figure out how to use arts made me avoid the combat like the plague and just spam the weaken enemy button after I died. And bosses’ overreliance on cheap status gimmicks to make the fight difficult sucked as well(looking at you Renne). By the time I got to Zero/Azure I was just coasting on easy mode, not giving whatever changes they brought a chance. Does CS1 change anything? Yes. I love the combat in this game. The quartz system was streamlined, there’s now like 500 different quartz that you can fuse to make a certain skill. Technically it is pretty cluttered but I’ll take it over the other system. You simply find a skill(s) you want and then fuse it, and now can use it. I don’t know why the Sky/Crossbell games weren’t like this. The regular combat loop is fun, and I honestly like how S-Breaks were tied to character growth, it really made early game difficult but rewarding. Resounding Beat is kinda OP and carried the first 20 hours or so for me. Bosses are also really fun, and exploitable if you know how to abuse the turn order. I really like that aspect, it adds another layer to pre-planning. If a boss is set to get a 10% HP Boost you gotta scramble to find a way to avoid that outcome. Or in the places with higher elements, you can grind and wipe out enemies with ease if you keep track of deathblow effects. The only Boss I had to use the weaken enemy button on were C and either Floor 5 or 6’s Schoolhouse boss. I went all out on V so C was too much for a back to back fight. (I tried him like 5 times then weakened once and then 3 attempts later I got him). The Schoolhouse boss I just didn’t save so I didn’t have a way to grind S-Breaks or anything and didn’t want to do the dungeon again. Patrick too, maybe? But that was because I thought you needed to get the goals to progress. Anyway, point is the only reason I used the weaken enemy button were my own faults, not because of infuriating game design. CS1 combat is SO much better, and I feel like if I were to ever replay the series I’d find something to love in the previous 5 games combat, too. Not really a place to mention this elsewhere in the gameplay section but the one on one brawl with Crow as the true final boss was awesome, I’m a sucker for shit like that.
Biggest Gripes:Angie. Not only does her dubbed actress grate on my ears, but her entire character is just “haha lesbian sexual harrassment”. She honestly makes my blood boil I fucking hate Angie so much. The social sim element feel tacked on. The Septian calendar's inclusion doesn’t add anything. It’s like Falcom saw the success of persona 3 and 4 and decided to include elements of it in the next trails game but god they just really fucking suck. The free day quests are fetch quests outside of schoolhouse trips, thankfully in the later chapters the schoolhouse is the only required quest on these days. The bonding events feel really fucky. they didn’t commit to full on social link style events so they’re just kinda click through things to get a few arcus points. The bonding events just end up feeling like a nothingburger. Dungeons still suck, they were never a strong suit of trails but with the move to full on 3d there seems to be more unintentional backtracking. It’s the same as in the previous games where you go find a switch, hit it and then go back but because the dungeons all look so samey I ended up missing a ton of those switches and had to go back. The final dungeon was a slog too, though easily binged. The song for that dungeon was great. Another issue I had was some of the characters feel tropey/ samey to other characters in the series. This is mostly alleviated by the end of the game with all of Class 7’s backstories mostly revealed but I worry that their arcs are going to take on a similar path to characters from previous games. I get this is a relatively shonen rpg and that kind of overlap should be expected, but iunno, I still hope they find new ground to cover. My biggest worry for this is Crow himself, I legit didn’t see the twist coming(I figured it was Campnella for whatever reason) but I hope that his arc isn’t just Joshua’s arc again.
Final Thoughts: Honestly? Surpasses Zero for me. The best Trails game there is. The next “peak trails” is supposedly Reverie but I learned my lesson with Azure, keeping my expectations in check for that one. On schedule Reverie is gonna be played early 2025 tho. I don’t even own it yet. I’ll jump into CS2 sometime this year, but I am definitely watching all those recap videos first lol. So many small details I’d forgotten and need to brush up on. Despite the fact it takes place concurrently with Azure I’d forgotten so much that some of the developments got me a second time. Damn you Ian Grimwood and your shitty game ruining twists. After a few days of post game depression I’ll hop into Raincode and after that… well hoo boy the rest of the year is fucking stacked methinks. Many amazing games in the backlog I’m gonna play this year.