You know, I honestly kind of hate the term "flawed masterpiece". It's extremely overused, and often times people don't even really use it correctly.
Truth be told, there's only one game I can confidently hand this fabled accolade to. Trails in the Sky SC.
Sky SC has an extremely strong foundation, beginning right after FC's devastating cliffhanger. And while the prologue to this game is extremely good, what ensuses after well... isn't. See, Sky SC might have one of the most repetitive and mind numbing first halves I've seen in a videogame. It almost entirely consists of investigating odd occurrences throughout Liberl, and finding out who's behind them. It's pretty cool the first like, two times, but it gets old really fucking fast. It's not without its pros though, as there's some really good sequences and character moments interspersed throughout the tedium. On top of that, you have consitent qualities such as the stellar world building, dialogue, combat, and music.
However, when you board The Glorious near the mid point of this game, EVERYTHING changes. Sky SC goes from being pretty okay, to literally being one of the best games ever made. The game kicks into high gear, and pays off everything both it and the previous game set up. At a certain beach scene I thought to myself "Yeah this might be one of the best scenes I've ever seen in a videogame." and then I went on to see this moment get trumped MULTIPLE TIMES during the final act of the game. All of this concludes with an ending that's just like... what the hell do you even want me to say? The back half of this game is legendary, and it blew me away in every aspect.
It's so easy for me to downtalk this game by talking about its first half, which admittedly isn't even as bad as I painted it out to be. However, I can just as easily prop this up as being one of the greatest games ever made by talking about its masterful back half. While I can't just ignore this game's issues, in the end I choose to love and embrace this game for everything it is and what it stands for.
"That's love and peace, baby."
Truth be told, there's only one game I can confidently hand this fabled accolade to. Trails in the Sky SC.
Sky SC has an extremely strong foundation, beginning right after FC's devastating cliffhanger. And while the prologue to this game is extremely good, what ensuses after well... isn't. See, Sky SC might have one of the most repetitive and mind numbing first halves I've seen in a videogame. It almost entirely consists of investigating odd occurrences throughout Liberl, and finding out who's behind them. It's pretty cool the first like, two times, but it gets old really fucking fast. It's not without its pros though, as there's some really good sequences and character moments interspersed throughout the tedium. On top of that, you have consitent qualities such as the stellar world building, dialogue, combat, and music.
However, when you board The Glorious near the mid point of this game, EVERYTHING changes. Sky SC goes from being pretty okay, to literally being one of the best games ever made. The game kicks into high gear, and pays off everything both it and the previous game set up. At a certain beach scene I thought to myself "Yeah this might be one of the best scenes I've ever seen in a videogame." and then I went on to see this moment get trumped MULTIPLE TIMES during the final act of the game. All of this concludes with an ending that's just like... what the hell do you even want me to say? The back half of this game is legendary, and it blew me away in every aspect.
It's so easy for me to downtalk this game by talking about its first half, which admittedly isn't even as bad as I painted it out to be. However, I can just as easily prop this up as being one of the greatest games ever made by talking about its masterful back half. While I can't just ignore this game's issues, in the end I choose to love and embrace this game for everything it is and what it stands for.
"That's love and peace, baby."
I don't know how to start this. But I will say this took WAY longer than I expected it would take me.
After finishing FC I pretty much just kept on going at the pace I was at since I got to chapter 3 or so. SC prologue really tugs the heartstrings after the ending of FC and you just NEED answers man. Then after that the game really gets... repetitive.
The time period from when I completed the first half versus literally the rest of the game is INSANE. Took me about 2 months for the first half and the second half took me a business week. I don't mind the first half as I do think there were great moments interspersed. But god that was mind-numbing. Repeating the same sequences for a good portion of the game was a turn off. But don't let this fool you. The moment you get on The Glorious EVERYTHING changes.
The story picks up tremendously and it just builds and builds until the finale.
This is when I started to realize "yea this may be one of the greatest video games ever made."
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC is the definition of a sequel in every sense of the word. Every facet gets improved. And the stakes are higher than the last. This was essentially a 70 hour long JRPG finale. And I love it for everything it stands for.
This may sound conflicting as you have two opposing opinions for each half but let me assure you that the highest of highs overshadows the lowest of lows.
Trails in the Sky SC is truly one of the best JRPG games there is and even with its flawed and monotonous first half, on the other hand you have one of the most legendary second halves to a video game. In the end I will cherish it all the same.
Oh and this soundtrack is cool.
After finishing FC I pretty much just kept on going at the pace I was at since I got to chapter 3 or so. SC prologue really tugs the heartstrings after the ending of FC and you just NEED answers man. Then after that the game really gets... repetitive.
The time period from when I completed the first half versus literally the rest of the game is INSANE. Took me about 2 months for the first half and the second half took me a business week. I don't mind the first half as I do think there were great moments interspersed. But god that was mind-numbing. Repeating the same sequences for a good portion of the game was a turn off. But don't let this fool you. The moment you get on The Glorious EVERYTHING changes.
The story picks up tremendously and it just builds and builds until the finale.
This is when I started to realize "yea this may be one of the greatest video games ever made."
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC is the definition of a sequel in every sense of the word. Every facet gets improved. And the stakes are higher than the last. This was essentially a 70 hour long JRPG finale. And I love it for everything it stands for.
This may sound conflicting as you have two opposing opinions for each half but let me assure you that the highest of highs overshadows the lowest of lows.
Trails in the Sky SC is truly one of the best JRPG games there is and even with its flawed and monotonous first half, on the other hand you have one of the most legendary second halves to a video game. In the end I will cherish it all the same.
Oh and this soundtrack is cool.
the more time passes and the more i think about it the more i realize how peak it is
"My Estelle...you shine like the sun"
JRPG is my favorite videogame genre, but the big thing that gets me down about them in general is that:
Most of them present the mechanics and almost everything that you will see during the game in terms of gameplay in the first hours, and proceed to abuse everything to the limit, presenting few new elements.
And most of all, they lack consistency. I'm not even talking about pace, but that often the best passages are given in the first hours or halfway through, and the quality declines as the game progresses. And this is something even more serious when it's a genre where you can easily find games with more than 50 hours of main story alone.
Fortunately, Trails in the Sky SC goes against the grain of these things, being not only one of the most consistent I've played but having perhaps the best second half I've experienced in any game.
The plot improves with each passage of the game, the characters' arcs are all closed in a satisfactory way, the bosses and events of the final stretch are very memorable and the elements of customizing your party and combat progressively evolve over time. It really fails to use the exact same map as the previous game, which is kind of bland and diminishes the potential of what could have been the experience.
Truly a great game and an example of how to make a direct sequel.
Spent a while considering the rating for this one, it’s an incredible game that I sadly had issues with. There’s a strange issue when it comes to dialogue. Due to the freedom you get in terms of how many reserve party members you can get, a lot of them do not get dialogue in sections they should, and it’s really off putting. The first 4 chapters are incredibly formulaic, and chapter 8 as a whole just pissed me off.
Having said that, while those are definite issues for me, I loved this game to bits, it starts off right where FC left off, and bit by bit as the chapters go on, you start to piece just exactly what is going on. Plenty of big moments, fun encounters and great music on display here.
It’s one of the best RPG’s I’ve ever played, Falcom were so close to greatness with this one. Can’t wait to play 3rd.
P.S. - Dragon Dive
Having said that, while those are definite issues for me, I loved this game to bits, it starts off right where FC left off, and bit by bit as the chapters go on, you start to piece just exactly what is going on. Plenty of big moments, fun encounters and great music on display here.
It’s one of the best RPG’s I’ve ever played, Falcom were so close to greatness with this one. Can’t wait to play 3rd.
P.S. - Dragon Dive
games lucky i don't give it a half star for having the abbreviation SC and not having it stand for SoulCalibur
IF YOU'RE NOT A FAN OF THE WORDS
PEAK FICTION
GOAT
RAW
FIRE
Click off the review rn!
PEAK FICTION
GOAT
RAW
FIRE
Click off the review rn!
Not as good as the first one in my opinion thanks to weird pacing but it's still absolutely right next to it. I have an embarrassing review of the first one i cba to do this one in detail. Check out my list for more in detail thoughts.
oomf lost their save data by installing chinese malware siajaosofjaifiiaskdsj
JOSHUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
The emotions this game put me through is insane.
This game isn't really a sequel but rather the second part of a cohesive whole. It takes all the good parts of the first game and improves on them. My love for the franchise grows as I continue to get to know the whole world from the lighthouse keeper to the friendly airship engineer.
MERCILESS SAVIOR
If you didn't like FC then don't play this-- it's a lot more of the same but digs a lot deeper into the game's world, the main conflict, and the partys' characterizations. I personally loved FC and found it super cozy, so going into this was really exciting. The story picks up directly where the first game leaves off and the gameplay does too, carrying over your levels and data including everything you interacted with or didn't. Seeing the payoff of sidequests I did in the first game and even the continuing stories of random NPCs I talked to absentmindedly was rewarding in such a mundane but satisfying way.
The gameplay itself improves decently from FC. I don't see people talk about it much but the dungeon design in this is pretty significantly improved; it's still Falcom jank but it's not nearly as mind-numbing as FC's dungeons (the final one in that game made me wanna kms). Re-exploring the areas between cities and dungeons might get kinda tiring depending on how long ago you played the first game, because they're largely the same, but as always the constantly evolving city dialogue and fun sidequests keep things engaging. As for the combat itself, the game gives you much more options now as you continue to level your characters and progress through the game (the first game capped at around the 40s, this game goes from 40 to the 90s). The amounts of crafts you have on each character doubles and the amount of abilities you have like... triples. There's a shit ton of new orbments, causing your orbment set-up to feel like it really matters and it can completely change the tide of boss battles for you. The dude a few reviews below me complaining about bosses being too tanky and getting instakilled was just preparing for fights incorrectly, orbments are very accessible and the game gives you a surplus of gear and accessories to take on the tough fights even without having to buy any. There's also a ton of party members you can use, whose crafts have a pretty big effect on battles, but seeing as how dialogue changes based on what party members you have you'll prolly end up just rocking with the characters you like the most (Agate and Olivier the GOATs). The amount of options you have actually kinda gets pretty annoying at the end since the final stretch gives you a handful of cool new party members to use, but you can't really use them since a few climatic scenes in the final dungeon require specific party members to see.
I can't say much about the story without spoiling stuff, if you played the first game you know what it's gonna be about and what you're getting into, but the twists and surprises the plot has in store are absolutely mindblowing and several of them end up recontextualizing the first game entirely. All of the mysteries shot off in the first game land on their feet with perfect precision and do a double fucking somersault in the middle of it. The weakest part of the story is prolly the Enforcers that serve as the main group of antagonists throughout the game, they feel pretty one-note monster of the week-y and their backstories are way too "tell don't show" for me to care about them besides Loewe and Renne. This is a pretty big problem since some of the party members' arcs are paired with the Enforcers' stories that aren't very relevant to the world and don't even go anywhere, at least in this game, causing characters like Zin and Schera who were already on the weaker end of the cast in terms of substance not really coming out of this game feeling any stronger.
Overall it was a fantastic and memorable ride that honestly has me itching to start 3rd already, but I'm gonna force myself to take a break so I don't get burned out. Dunno what to expect from the rest of the series, but if it has as many beautiful, awesome, and emotional moments as the first two then it may grow to be one of my favorites.
The gameplay itself improves decently from FC. I don't see people talk about it much but the dungeon design in this is pretty significantly improved; it's still Falcom jank but it's not nearly as mind-numbing as FC's dungeons (the final one in that game made me wanna kms). Re-exploring the areas between cities and dungeons might get kinda tiring depending on how long ago you played the first game, because they're largely the same, but as always the constantly evolving city dialogue and fun sidequests keep things engaging. As for the combat itself, the game gives you much more options now as you continue to level your characters and progress through the game (the first game capped at around the 40s, this game goes from 40 to the 90s). The amounts of crafts you have on each character doubles and the amount of abilities you have like... triples. There's a shit ton of new orbments, causing your orbment set-up to feel like it really matters and it can completely change the tide of boss battles for you. The dude a few reviews below me complaining about bosses being too tanky and getting instakilled was just preparing for fights incorrectly, orbments are very accessible and the game gives you a surplus of gear and accessories to take on the tough fights even without having to buy any. There's also a ton of party members you can use, whose crafts have a pretty big effect on battles, but seeing as how dialogue changes based on what party members you have you'll prolly end up just rocking with the characters you like the most (Agate and Olivier the GOATs). The amount of options you have actually kinda gets pretty annoying at the end since the final stretch gives you a handful of cool new party members to use, but you can't really use them since a few climatic scenes in the final dungeon require specific party members to see.
I can't say much about the story without spoiling stuff, if you played the first game you know what it's gonna be about and what you're getting into, but the twists and surprises the plot has in store are absolutely mindblowing and several of them end up recontextualizing the first game entirely. All of the mysteries shot off in the first game land on their feet with perfect precision and do a double fucking somersault in the middle of it. The weakest part of the story is prolly the Enforcers that serve as the main group of antagonists throughout the game, they feel pretty one-note monster of the week-y and their backstories are way too "tell don't show" for me to care about them besides Loewe and Renne. This is a pretty big problem since some of the party members' arcs are paired with the Enforcers' stories that aren't very relevant to the world and don't even go anywhere, at least in this game, causing characters like Zin and Schera who were already on the weaker end of the cast in terms of substance not really coming out of this game feeling any stronger.
Overall it was a fantastic and memorable ride that honestly has me itching to start 3rd already, but I'm gonna force myself to take a break so I don't get burned out. Dunno what to expect from the rest of the series, but if it has as many beautiful, awesome, and emotional moments as the first two then it may grow to be one of my favorites.
This review contains spoilers
This game is an improvement from FC for sure but it's still very flawed for me.
For one thing, the pacing in the game is very bad. Every chapter until chapter 6 has the same repetitive structure of going to a country, an ouroboros member is causing problems, beat them, rinse and repeat. It's tedious. The game often doesn't even try to make these chapters feel distinct apart from chapters 3 and 5. The game is also filled with a ridiculous amount of backtracking which makes the tedium even worse.
Another thing is I did not personally vibe with Estelle and Joshua's dynamic very much. It had potential, but I didn't enjoy their personalities too much.
Estelle is a decent protagonist who's main characteristic is that she's optimistic no matter the situation she's placed in, and will also be a beacon of hope to everyone around her. That's a trope I'm typically fine with but Estelle doesn't do it in an interesting way imo. She lacks any flaws that would make her feel more grounded for me. By the end she didn't impress me much. Her dynamic with Renne was pretty good though and has a lot of potential moving forward in the series.
Joshua is a different beast entirely. He was incredibly disappointing especially with the amount of potential he had. He barely accomplished anything when he was separated from Estelle, and spends most of the entire game sitting on his airship instead. The game decided not to give more introspection for his character during his time alone which is a puzzling decision. Instead he either does very inconsequential things or just sits on his ass. Estelle reunites with Joshua again in chapter 6, and in that same chapter she convinces him to join her again, which I felt is very rushed as she essentially just talk no jutsus his lifelong trauma away. It overly simplifies what could have been an interesting exploration on his lack of self worth, and martyr complex. Joshua's dynamic with Loewe I liked quite a bit though.
Speaking of Loewe, he's by and large the best character of the game for me. Very enigmatic with a lot of presence, a cool design, and just being plain badass. His role in the story was very strong too as it greatly emphasizes the game's core message of forming connections with others and how doing that can enable people to walk towards a brighter future, free from tragedy. Loewe is the antithesis of that merely believing in "testing humanity's worth" by a trial with fire through conflict essentially. His clash of ideals with Joshua is one of the main highlights of the game despite it's very short runtime. Loewe's conclusion while rushed, is one of the few payoffs that worked for me. All in all a very good character.
This segues into another problem I have with this game where it spreads itself too thin by spending time on things that don't matter much while integral elements such as Joshua/Loewe dynamic and Weissman's motivations get barely any screentime to make them more impactful. Though for the former it still worked for the most part.
The other characters are somewhat improved in SC partly due to how some of the antagonists serve as foils to them which helps their characters get explored more. Though the execution of this I'm very iffy on. Scherazard and Zin's struggles are not handled well for me as it directly ties into their foils' storylines, which are barely present in the game to begin with. So it's hard for me to care about them. Agate gets a cool arc in chapter 5 and is an example of a well handled arc in this game. Olivier is fairly interesting though his story was backloaded at the very end, and didn't even show up for very much. Kloe didn't do anything particularly standout in this game which is disappointing as I decently enjoyed her character in FC and believed she had potential. Tita isn't all that great but she did her job servicing Agate's arc. Kevin is a standout character who is not only incredibly entertaining, but interesting as well. His scene where he kills Weissman really makes me excited for his character in 3rd.
The antagonists themselves were okay with the highlights being Loewe and Renne. Weissman was an underwhelming main villain for me. He barely had any screentime, and didn't do much with the screentime that he has. His motivations of basically wanting humanity to become ubermensches to stop all conflict was fascinating but it literally comes in the last hour of the game, and it more so feels like an excuse he's using to cause more suffering to people as he enjoys it.
All in all the story was fairly disappointing for me despite the huge potential it had.
The ost was fairly decent throughout with a few notable standouts like Silver Will which is often noted as being Loewe's theme.
As for the gameplay, it's very good. It is basically a mix of tactical RPG combat and traditional turned based JRPG combat, and it's great. You have to react to enemy arts as you can cancel them out which is cool. The gameplay is made easier with arts such as earth wall, which is borderline necessary for some fights. The enemies though are incredibly annoying with how they consistently spam status effects, and almost always operate as a group which makes it difficult sometimes to react to them. They also often pullout very cheap moves that can just one shot you without warning (looking at you Weissman). Hopefully the later games make the enemies less annoying. Really interested to see how the gameplay evolves from here.
Overall, I really wanted to like this game more especially given its near universal praise, but sadly it just has too many glaring issues for me to ignore. I am still very excited to experience 3rd and the later games as they looked very appealing to me.
For one thing, the pacing in the game is very bad. Every chapter until chapter 6 has the same repetitive structure of going to a country, an ouroboros member is causing problems, beat them, rinse and repeat. It's tedious. The game often doesn't even try to make these chapters feel distinct apart from chapters 3 and 5. The game is also filled with a ridiculous amount of backtracking which makes the tedium even worse.
Another thing is I did not personally vibe with Estelle and Joshua's dynamic very much. It had potential, but I didn't enjoy their personalities too much.
Estelle is a decent protagonist who's main characteristic is that she's optimistic no matter the situation she's placed in, and will also be a beacon of hope to everyone around her. That's a trope I'm typically fine with but Estelle doesn't do it in an interesting way imo. She lacks any flaws that would make her feel more grounded for me. By the end she didn't impress me much. Her dynamic with Renne was pretty good though and has a lot of potential moving forward in the series.
Joshua is a different beast entirely. He was incredibly disappointing especially with the amount of potential he had. He barely accomplished anything when he was separated from Estelle, and spends most of the entire game sitting on his airship instead. The game decided not to give more introspection for his character during his time alone which is a puzzling decision. Instead he either does very inconsequential things or just sits on his ass. Estelle reunites with Joshua again in chapter 6, and in that same chapter she convinces him to join her again, which I felt is very rushed as she essentially just talk no jutsus his lifelong trauma away. It overly simplifies what could have been an interesting exploration on his lack of self worth, and martyr complex. Joshua's dynamic with Loewe I liked quite a bit though.
Speaking of Loewe, he's by and large the best character of the game for me. Very enigmatic with a lot of presence, a cool design, and just being plain badass. His role in the story was very strong too as it greatly emphasizes the game's core message of forming connections with others and how doing that can enable people to walk towards a brighter future, free from tragedy. Loewe is the antithesis of that merely believing in "testing humanity's worth" by a trial with fire through conflict essentially. His clash of ideals with Joshua is one of the main highlights of the game despite it's very short runtime. Loewe's conclusion while rushed, is one of the few payoffs that worked for me. All in all a very good character.
This segues into another problem I have with this game where it spreads itself too thin by spending time on things that don't matter much while integral elements such as Joshua/Loewe dynamic and Weissman's motivations get barely any screentime to make them more impactful. Though for the former it still worked for the most part.
The other characters are somewhat improved in SC partly due to how some of the antagonists serve as foils to them which helps their characters get explored more. Though the execution of this I'm very iffy on. Scherazard and Zin's struggles are not handled well for me as it directly ties into their foils' storylines, which are barely present in the game to begin with. So it's hard for me to care about them. Agate gets a cool arc in chapter 5 and is an example of a well handled arc in this game. Olivier is fairly interesting though his story was backloaded at the very end, and didn't even show up for very much. Kloe didn't do anything particularly standout in this game which is disappointing as I decently enjoyed her character in FC and believed she had potential. Tita isn't all that great but she did her job servicing Agate's arc. Kevin is a standout character who is not only incredibly entertaining, but interesting as well. His scene where he kills Weissman really makes me excited for his character in 3rd.
The antagonists themselves were okay with the highlights being Loewe and Renne. Weissman was an underwhelming main villain for me. He barely had any screentime, and didn't do much with the screentime that he has. His motivations of basically wanting humanity to become ubermensches to stop all conflict was fascinating but it literally comes in the last hour of the game, and it more so feels like an excuse he's using to cause more suffering to people as he enjoys it.
All in all the story was fairly disappointing for me despite the huge potential it had.
The ost was fairly decent throughout with a few notable standouts like Silver Will which is often noted as being Loewe's theme.
As for the gameplay, it's very good. It is basically a mix of tactical RPG combat and traditional turned based JRPG combat, and it's great. You have to react to enemy arts as you can cancel them out which is cool. The gameplay is made easier with arts such as earth wall, which is borderline necessary for some fights. The enemies though are incredibly annoying with how they consistently spam status effects, and almost always operate as a group which makes it difficult sometimes to react to them. They also often pullout very cheap moves that can just one shot you without warning (looking at you Weissman). Hopefully the later games make the enemies less annoying. Really interested to see how the gameplay evolves from here.
Overall, I really wanted to like this game more especially given its near universal praise, but sadly it just has too many glaring issues for me to ignore. I am still very excited to experience 3rd and the later games as they looked very appealing to me.
Kevin and the White Boy Summer gang save the day from a used condom.
Man, it'd probably be more reasonable to let my opinion settle before making a bold statement, but this series hasn't consumed my mind over the past several months for nothing. I spent a good 90 hours on Trails in the Sky SC only to come out thinking "yeah, this is one of the best games I ever played."
I've barely scratched the surface of this series yet and I'm both amazed at how I simultaneously feel like I've already found an absolute peak story and that there's still so much more to uncover in this series' lore. The world feels incredibly fleshed out thanks to the abundance of flavor text and dialogue but it never feels like every answer is just given to you as there are always hints of bigger, more sinister events taking place behind the scenes. Even though Trails is often seen as a slow burn, I never found myself bored with the story as I found it interesting to let my mind wander and guess where the story will go and I can't say I've experienced many games that strike such a rich balance.
The stakes of the story in SC are much higher than that of the first game and that game's set of already established characters are all given time to shine in some of their most emotional and badass moments yet. It definitely helped that most of the characters were likeable from the get-go but now they feel far more fleshed out with backstories being explored and development taking place throughout the story. I don't want to give too many details for the sake of spoilers but I'll let you know that this game left me speechless more than once. And that doesn't even get into Estelle and Joshua's relationship which was a huge emotional Rollercoaster throughout the game and led to some of the absolute peak of JRPG writing if I've ever seen it.
I am slightly disappointed that they mainly reused locations from the first chapter as I liked the new location the game starts out in, but I never found this to be a major hindrance as the aforementioned world-building gives each location enough depth to feel like fully realized settings and the new dungeons revealed in these previous locations contributes to the sense of mystery in this world. The combat similarly went through little change though I found it significantly more addicting this time around, but maybe that's because I actually made stuff resembling character builds and liked playing with the new arts/orbments. I'm almost inclined to do a second playthrough to experiment with more combinations, which rarely happens with RPGs for me.
Either way, I have no clue why it took me so long to try the Trails series. It doesn't really revolutionize the genre but the concepts, mechanics and storytelling are so well executed that I find it hard to call this game anything less than a masterpiece.
I've barely scratched the surface of this series yet and I'm both amazed at how I simultaneously feel like I've already found an absolute peak story and that there's still so much more to uncover in this series' lore. The world feels incredibly fleshed out thanks to the abundance of flavor text and dialogue but it never feels like every answer is just given to you as there are always hints of bigger, more sinister events taking place behind the scenes. Even though Trails is often seen as a slow burn, I never found myself bored with the story as I found it interesting to let my mind wander and guess where the story will go and I can't say I've experienced many games that strike such a rich balance.
The stakes of the story in SC are much higher than that of the first game and that game's set of already established characters are all given time to shine in some of their most emotional and badass moments yet. It definitely helped that most of the characters were likeable from the get-go but now they feel far more fleshed out with backstories being explored and development taking place throughout the story. I don't want to give too many details for the sake of spoilers but I'll let you know that this game left me speechless more than once. And that doesn't even get into Estelle and Joshua's relationship which was a huge emotional Rollercoaster throughout the game and led to some of the absolute peak of JRPG writing if I've ever seen it.
I am slightly disappointed that they mainly reused locations from the first chapter as I liked the new location the game starts out in, but I never found this to be a major hindrance as the aforementioned world-building gives each location enough depth to feel like fully realized settings and the new dungeons revealed in these previous locations contributes to the sense of mystery in this world. The combat similarly went through little change though I found it significantly more addicting this time around, but maybe that's because I actually made stuff resembling character builds and liked playing with the new arts/orbments. I'm almost inclined to do a second playthrough to experiment with more combinations, which rarely happens with RPGs for me.
Either way, I have no clue why it took me so long to try the Trails series. It doesn't really revolutionize the genre but the concepts, mechanics and storytelling are so well executed that I find it hard to call this game anything less than a masterpiece.
This review contains spoilers
While FC had a smaller scope and executed that very competently as setup for this game, SC aims for a greater scope and ambition, with what I think is more flawed execution. It turns into Trails in the Backtracking: Padding Chapter at times, though it generally didn't bother me (yes, even in chapter 8, turn on turbo), other than the final dungeon which was backtracking incarnate in identically looking hallways across multiple floors.
When in FC the game's main villain was most present right at the end and didn't have a very strong dynamic with the cast, though it was serviceable, the FC antagonist group, Ourorobos, are present throughout all of the game. Each member of that group serves as a foil to most people in the main cast, such as Renne for Estelle, Leowe for Joshua, etc. When in FC you had initially episodic stories that didn't connect until the end, you have a central plot from the get-go here. When in FC Joshua's backstory wasn't revealed until the end, it is front and center here. And when in FC the moral/themes of the story don't really come into play until the very end, they are pretty clear here from early on.
So what's the issue? Well, I think it spread itself thin despite having plenty of time to deeply develop all of these things.
I felt like Joshua's exile arc had too little screen time to hit hard before his return. And while Estelle is insanely charismatic and likable, more than my favourite protagonists across fiction, and I like her, I would resonate with other types of protagonists more than pretty much an all-good person. Well-adjusted, hopeful, "bright" protagonists have their place, and I generally like them, but they don't leave a long-lasting impression beyond their personality being charismatic for me. I get that there's a cool dynamic between Estelle and Joshua in the way that she brings him back into the light in a sense, and their romance is fine for me, but I dunno, I just don't care for it that much. Her connection with Joshua and Renne of trying to bring them back to the human side and tell them how to join in on the warmth of human connection is neat, but it doesn't really wow me. The ending was cool, but yeah. Joshua himself seemed to have more potential when he was in his edgelord arc, and his dynamics with Leowe and Weissmann are cool, but again, not enough screen time for them to truly resonate with me.
The supporting cast is much better in this. They all get deeper dynamics, and most of them have their backstories explored more, such as Agate, Schera, and Joshua, of course.
The theme that Weissmann discusses is very interesting, but unfortunately I feel like it was not featured enough to truly resonate with me. The game definitely did have the runtime for it, so I don't know what happened.
Also, what's up with the OST in this game? While some songs, like the opening, are great, I overall felt that the first game's soundtrack had both better and more atmospheric tracks on average, as well as higher highs. The final boss themes in SC feel a little more lowkey and for the worse, in my opinion. Still cool, though.
Overall though, just like FC, definitely a good game, but it didn't blow my mind. I am however excited for 3rd, as Kevin was really cool in what little screen time he had in this game, and Azure, which everyone is excited for at the point in my journey anyway. I think I prefer SC to FC for sure.
When in FC the game's main villain was most present right at the end and didn't have a very strong dynamic with the cast, though it was serviceable, the FC antagonist group, Ourorobos, are present throughout all of the game. Each member of that group serves as a foil to most people in the main cast, such as Renne for Estelle, Leowe for Joshua, etc. When in FC you had initially episodic stories that didn't connect until the end, you have a central plot from the get-go here. When in FC Joshua's backstory wasn't revealed until the end, it is front and center here. And when in FC the moral/themes of the story don't really come into play until the very end, they are pretty clear here from early on.
So what's the issue? Well, I think it spread itself thin despite having plenty of time to deeply develop all of these things.
I felt like Joshua's exile arc had too little screen time to hit hard before his return. And while Estelle is insanely charismatic and likable, more than my favourite protagonists across fiction, and I like her, I would resonate with other types of protagonists more than pretty much an all-good person. Well-adjusted, hopeful, "bright" protagonists have their place, and I generally like them, but they don't leave a long-lasting impression beyond their personality being charismatic for me. I get that there's a cool dynamic between Estelle and Joshua in the way that she brings him back into the light in a sense, and their romance is fine for me, but I dunno, I just don't care for it that much. Her connection with Joshua and Renne of trying to bring them back to the human side and tell them how to join in on the warmth of human connection is neat, but it doesn't really wow me. The ending was cool, but yeah. Joshua himself seemed to have more potential when he was in his edgelord arc, and his dynamics with Leowe and Weissmann are cool, but again, not enough screen time for them to truly resonate with me.
The supporting cast is much better in this. They all get deeper dynamics, and most of them have their backstories explored more, such as Agate, Schera, and Joshua, of course.
The theme that Weissmann discusses is very interesting, but unfortunately I feel like it was not featured enough to truly resonate with me. The game definitely did have the runtime for it, so I don't know what happened.
Also, what's up with the OST in this game? While some songs, like the opening, are great, I overall felt that the first game's soundtrack had both better and more atmospheric tracks on average, as well as higher highs. The final boss themes in SC feel a little more lowkey and for the worse, in my opinion. Still cool, though.
Overall though, just like FC, definitely a good game, but it didn't blow my mind. I am however excited for 3rd, as Kevin was really cool in what little screen time he had in this game, and Azure, which everyone is excited for at the point in my journey anyway. I think I prefer SC to FC for sure.
loewe
Trails in the Sky SC is the best of the series that I've played so far, no doubt.
It's got the world-building and characterization of the first game, but without the super sluggish prologue and a more realized and expanded upon combat system. The plot just keeps pushing forward and there's a ton dabbled with and drastically improved with fantastic storytelling and even deeper dives into every character. This one's going to sit with me for a while. I'll keep playing through more of the series (3rd, then Trails of Cold Steel IV once that comes to PC), and hopefully it's just as good, if not better than this. But if this ends up being the peak, I'd honestly be okay with that. SC is just that good.
It's got the world-building and characterization of the first game, but without the super sluggish prologue and a more realized and expanded upon combat system. The plot just keeps pushing forward and there's a ton dabbled with and drastically improved with fantastic storytelling and even deeper dives into every character. This one's going to sit with me for a while. I'll keep playing through more of the series (3rd, then Trails of Cold Steel IV once that comes to PC), and hopefully it's just as good, if not better than this. But if this ends up being the peak, I'd honestly be okay with that. SC is just that good.
I wasn’t really planning on writing any long form pieces of writing about Trails where I’d go in-depth in relentlessly praising it and talking about how much of a destressing, genuine experience it’s been until I was done with Sky the third because acting like a huge fan of an 11 game long series when I’ve only played 2 games seemed weird, but between the engaging political conflict that’s incredibly ambitious because of the increasing amount of parties with different motivations involved with each conflict, the twists surrounding each conflict, how these political conflicts impact the characters in realistic ways that enforce challenges upon the leading main characters to overcome both on an ideological level and a physical level, the heartwarming large cast full of good for nothing goofy ahh misfits with earnesty and charm filling their banter as much as it fills their genuine moments of emotional vulnerability, the ridiculously large scale amount of global level conflicts being set up for events far into the future with lots of twists and turns and conspiracies that kept me at the edge of my seat at times, the deep lore that’s not too convoluted and is moreso used as a backdrop for kiseki’s characters’ struggles, and most importantly, the human and grounded struggles that characters like Joshua, Estelle, Loewe, and Agate go through that brings this insanely ambitious narrative that covers several continents to a grounded level, it was hard not to scream at the top of my lunges “AHHHHHHHH I LOOOVVVEE TRAIILLSSS I LOOVVEE BRAZIL KONDO MADE A SERIESS THAT’S FOR ME BRUH”
Ok but frfr it’s virtually impossible to write down every single thing I loved about Sky FC/SC, but the best starting point I can think of is the central driving force, that being Joshua and Estelle’s dynamic and how it plays out during the story. There’s a line Joshua says in FC where he tells Estelle to go about expressing her unbridled trust towards her surroundings, her innocence, and to not so much as doubt what’s infront of her and see the darkness within it, practically telling her to avoid seeing the unpleasant side of things and questioning them and to leave the anxiety driven suspicions and doubts to joshua instead because that’s his speciality as an assassin. In a way, Joshua was keeping her vision unclouded, and telling her what he doubts and sees as dangerous to help her avoid making the wrong choice as much as he can. Similarly, at the end of SC, due to Joshua’s self isolationist, self hating tendencies that always look to make him run away from what’s right before him and wallow in his misery because that is more convenient to him than thinking he’s worth other people’s company and troubling them with his presence, Estelle told Joshua that she'll be the one to keep him in check and walk alongside him because Joshua always fails to see the obvious things like people’s love for him, how much they want to be there for him, and how important he is to them, which Estelle regulates by pointing to him these obvious cues and keeping him on the right track. In their own ways, at different points, they covered for each others’ weaknesses, and seeing their method of helping each other out transition from an unhealthy one to a much more empowering one was super poetic. That beautiful, organic transition where Estelle goes from being a naive, innocent dork to an emotionally mature, determined lady with unwavering, grounded optimism and Joshua goes from being a tryhard tough act who pretends to be emotionally mature and determined to a vulnerable, scarred soul trying to walk the right path with the bad bitch he bagged by trauma dumping and correct all the sins he’s made with his previous antics, perfectly sums up why I love their relationship so much. It’s so full of parallels like the one I mentioned yet so opposing, and in their opposition to each other in terms of background, they manage to connect to a spiritual level and works so well as the main force that pushes Sky’s themes about facing your fears and embracing the truth as the guiding light that’ll help you carve your path with others instead of losing it no matter how different you all seem.
All of what I mentioned are things I like to see in media being on full display in Trails, but…what really struck me wasn’t any of the larger than life aspects I mentioned as much as Joshua’s personal struggles did. Drowning in self denial for solace, shifting the responsibilities you’re supposed to uphold by running away from them and attaching them to external sources, hurting others in the process of putting your guilt elsewhere, and self isolating to avoid hurting others as much as possible while maintaining the distance you’ve built between you and the guilt you shifted elsewhere to balance things out, all being a byproduct of abandonment issues and the fear of losing others dear to you, are all things that terribly resonate with me and since I’m in the middle of trying to uncover the root cause for them and get rid of these toxic habits once and for all, going through Sky fc/sc was like going through my own small journey of revisiting myself and re-evaluating it from a different perspective that rung true to me. Relatibitly aside, while I do relate to Joshua in some aspects, I don’t wholeheartedly relate to him, and most of my appreciation for his character comes down to how much of a unique spin it is on the ideas and struggles I mentioned above. While most characters who fall under that trope direct that guilt towards a different person, Joshua directs it at a different version of himself, the puppet like person inside him that was born after Weissman experimented with his heart and the source of his inner turmoil, which is a very interesting touch Kondo made with his character because while it’s a less common coping mechanism than laying the blame on another different person, it’s just as realistic and potent because of how it fits his background with being a test subject who had his sense of self played with in the past.
Ok but frfr it’s virtually impossible to write down every single thing I loved about Sky FC/SC, but the best starting point I can think of is the central driving force, that being Joshua and Estelle’s dynamic and how it plays out during the story. There’s a line Joshua says in FC where he tells Estelle to go about expressing her unbridled trust towards her surroundings, her innocence, and to not so much as doubt what’s infront of her and see the darkness within it, practically telling her to avoid seeing the unpleasant side of things and questioning them and to leave the anxiety driven suspicions and doubts to joshua instead because that’s his speciality as an assassin. In a way, Joshua was keeping her vision unclouded, and telling her what he doubts and sees as dangerous to help her avoid making the wrong choice as much as he can. Similarly, at the end of SC, due to Joshua’s self isolationist, self hating tendencies that always look to make him run away from what’s right before him and wallow in his misery because that is more convenient to him than thinking he’s worth other people’s company and troubling them with his presence, Estelle told Joshua that she'll be the one to keep him in check and walk alongside him because Joshua always fails to see the obvious things like people’s love for him, how much they want to be there for him, and how important he is to them, which Estelle regulates by pointing to him these obvious cues and keeping him on the right track. In their own ways, at different points, they covered for each others’ weaknesses, and seeing their method of helping each other out transition from an unhealthy one to a much more empowering one was super poetic. That beautiful, organic transition where Estelle goes from being a naive, innocent dork to an emotionally mature, determined lady with unwavering, grounded optimism and Joshua goes from being a tryhard tough act who pretends to be emotionally mature and determined to a vulnerable, scarred soul trying to walk the right path with the bad bitch he bagged by trauma dumping and correct all the sins he’s made with his previous antics, perfectly sums up why I love their relationship so much. It’s so full of parallels like the one I mentioned yet so opposing, and in their opposition to each other in terms of background, they manage to connect to a spiritual level and works so well as the main force that pushes Sky’s themes about facing your fears and embracing the truth as the guiding light that’ll help you carve your path with others instead of losing it no matter how different you all seem.
All of what I mentioned are things I like to see in media being on full display in Trails, but…what really struck me wasn’t any of the larger than life aspects I mentioned as much as Joshua’s personal struggles did. Drowning in self denial for solace, shifting the responsibilities you’re supposed to uphold by running away from them and attaching them to external sources, hurting others in the process of putting your guilt elsewhere, and self isolating to avoid hurting others as much as possible while maintaining the distance you’ve built between you and the guilt you shifted elsewhere to balance things out, all being a byproduct of abandonment issues and the fear of losing others dear to you, are all things that terribly resonate with me and since I’m in the middle of trying to uncover the root cause for them and get rid of these toxic habits once and for all, going through Sky fc/sc was like going through my own small journey of revisiting myself and re-evaluating it from a different perspective that rung true to me. Relatibitly aside, while I do relate to Joshua in some aspects, I don’t wholeheartedly relate to him, and most of my appreciation for his character comes down to how much of a unique spin it is on the ideas and struggles I mentioned above. While most characters who fall under that trope direct that guilt towards a different person, Joshua directs it at a different version of himself, the puppet like person inside him that was born after Weissman experimented with his heart and the source of his inner turmoil, which is a very interesting touch Kondo made with his character because while it’s a less common coping mechanism than laying the blame on another different person, it’s just as realistic and potent because of how it fits his background with being a test subject who had his sense of self played with in the past.
PEAK, RAW, GOAT, FIRE
Peak
If you haven't played Trails in the Sky: First Chapter, let me STOP YOU RIGHT HERE and tell you to go purchase that and play it ASAP. The Trails series is NOT Final Fantasy, it NEEDS to be played consecutively because the entire series is one massive interconnecting story. Second Chapter is a direct sequel to the events of the first game and if you haven't played the first game before going into this one, you'll be completely lost. It'll be like starting The Lord of the Rings trilogy on Return of the King instead of The Fellowship.
Now that I've said that piece, if you HAVE played First Chapter and you're reading reviews instead of purchasing this game INSTANTLY after that jaw-dropping ending of the first game. WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU WAITING FOR? PLAY THIS GAME NOW. It takes everything you loved about the first and amplifies it 10 fold. The story, characters and lore of the world are greatly expanded upon and developed even further, the combat is even more refined and varied with extra attack options like chain crafts and 3rd tier artes and the music is just as beautiful as the first game. If you thought First Chapter was a masterpiece like I did, you haven't seen anything yet because SC surpasses it in every-way possible.
Honestly if you're a J-RPG fan and you still haven't gotten into the Trails series in 2020, you're missing some of the absolute best the genre has to offer and should rectify that IMMEDIATELY.
Now that I've said that piece, if you HAVE played First Chapter and you're reading reviews instead of purchasing this game INSTANTLY after that jaw-dropping ending of the first game. WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU WAITING FOR? PLAY THIS GAME NOW. It takes everything you loved about the first and amplifies it 10 fold. The story, characters and lore of the world are greatly expanded upon and developed even further, the combat is even more refined and varied with extra attack options like chain crafts and 3rd tier artes and the music is just as beautiful as the first game. If you thought First Chapter was a masterpiece like I did, you haven't seen anything yet because SC surpasses it in every-way possible.
Honestly if you're a J-RPG fan and you still haven't gotten into the Trails series in 2020, you're missing some of the absolute best the genre has to offer and should rectify that IMMEDIATELY.
This review contains spoilers
All I have to say is that this game is PEAK PEAK PEAK.
Anyways second Trails game review. I didn't know what I was getting myself into after the cliffhanger of the first game but I definitely needed to play this game for some closure.
I'll actually talk about the gameplay first. Maybe I'm just an idiot but I actually decided to use the food we cook in recipes for this game! Especially the food where you can use it to damage enemies in battle. Also, I'm glad that they finally incorporated actual attack arts for space, I was really annoyed that the first game didn't have any. Most of the gameplay remains the same, but they incorporated Chain Crafts (I think that's what they were called, it's been a while since I played this game). Now coming from someone who completed this game on Nightmare, I didn't really use them (maybe I should've, might've made this game way more forgiving on the hardest difficulty), just never really saw the need to when most of my characters had no CP to use anyways. But EP will always be king in these games.
Like I said in my last review, the worldbuilding is phenomenal, and only continues to get better in this game. The grave importance of the Non-Aggression Pact between Liberl, Erebonia and Calvard made the situation all the more tense. On top of all of that, you had Ouroboros being snakes around the entirety of Liberl and trying to cause chaos, and they're just really weird. And Hamel, that stuff got my blood boiling when I found out about it. I think if a game is truly able to get my blood boiling for fictional content, I may as well just resign myself to the entire series, it's seriously that great.
I love love love the story in this game. Estelle goes on a double mission, to gather intel on Ouroboros, and to find Joshua. Dammit Joshua, why'd you have to leave, you carried me in the previous game. Anyways, I enjoyed going back to each city in different order, as well as being able to use the old squad, but also new characters like Anelace and Kevin. I enjoyed getting to discover the different Enforcers of Ouroboros, with many having relationships with other party members. Ouroboros in a whole is just mysterious, but I think it's better that way, as we aren't really meant to know how they operate. Oh yeah, did I ever mention how much I hate Weissman? Well, I hate him, he sucks. The one part of the game that I disliked was where you had to climb the four Tetracyclic Towers, it felt so repetitive, but I enjoyed each of the boss fights (even if I had to restart on each of them a bunch of times until I figured out a strategy). Now, the endgame was truly when this game became peak. Olivier being royalty, yeah sort of saw that coming, but the Liber Ark and how they essentially just eliminated our orbments for part of the final chapter. Brilliant incorporation of the story into the gameplay, even if it was annoying to deal with. The Liber Ark felt like a true boss rush, fighting some of the strongest members of Ouroboros to stop their Gospel plan. The Joshua and Loewe scene kind of got me near the end there. The final boss, honestly not that memorable, all I remember is Weissman summoning a bunch of ads that just kept deleting my Earth Wall.
Kevin killing Weissman was the cherry on top, and really got me interested in Kevin's character and backstory. I felt that Estelle and Joshua's arc was handled great, and I just love a lot of things about this game. That last part of the game where Joshua and Estelle are about to 'die' didn't have as much of an emotional impact on me, as I knew they would survive due to there being another game after this one, but nonetheless, it still did hit me. And of course, Cassius had to ride in on his dragon and rescue us.
A great game, and a great game to end Estelle and Joshua's story, but only beginning their adventures as senior bracers.
BLORF.
Anyways second Trails game review. I didn't know what I was getting myself into after the cliffhanger of the first game but I definitely needed to play this game for some closure.
I'll actually talk about the gameplay first. Maybe I'm just an idiot but I actually decided to use the food we cook in recipes for this game! Especially the food where you can use it to damage enemies in battle. Also, I'm glad that they finally incorporated actual attack arts for space, I was really annoyed that the first game didn't have any. Most of the gameplay remains the same, but they incorporated Chain Crafts (I think that's what they were called, it's been a while since I played this game). Now coming from someone who completed this game on Nightmare, I didn't really use them (maybe I should've, might've made this game way more forgiving on the hardest difficulty), just never really saw the need to when most of my characters had no CP to use anyways. But EP will always be king in these games.
Like I said in my last review, the worldbuilding is phenomenal, and only continues to get better in this game. The grave importance of the Non-Aggression Pact between Liberl, Erebonia and Calvard made the situation all the more tense. On top of all of that, you had Ouroboros being snakes around the entirety of Liberl and trying to cause chaos, and they're just really weird. And Hamel, that stuff got my blood boiling when I found out about it. I think if a game is truly able to get my blood boiling for fictional content, I may as well just resign myself to the entire series, it's seriously that great.
I love love love the story in this game. Estelle goes on a double mission, to gather intel on Ouroboros, and to find Joshua. Dammit Joshua, why'd you have to leave, you carried me in the previous game. Anyways, I enjoyed going back to each city in different order, as well as being able to use the old squad, but also new characters like Anelace and Kevin. I enjoyed getting to discover the different Enforcers of Ouroboros, with many having relationships with other party members. Ouroboros in a whole is just mysterious, but I think it's better that way, as we aren't really meant to know how they operate. Oh yeah, did I ever mention how much I hate Weissman? Well, I hate him, he sucks. The one part of the game that I disliked was where you had to climb the four Tetracyclic Towers, it felt so repetitive, but I enjoyed each of the boss fights (even if I had to restart on each of them a bunch of times until I figured out a strategy). Now, the endgame was truly when this game became peak. Olivier being royalty, yeah sort of saw that coming, but the Liber Ark and how they essentially just eliminated our orbments for part of the final chapter. Brilliant incorporation of the story into the gameplay, even if it was annoying to deal with. The Liber Ark felt like a true boss rush, fighting some of the strongest members of Ouroboros to stop their Gospel plan. The Joshua and Loewe scene kind of got me near the end there. The final boss, honestly not that memorable, all I remember is Weissman summoning a bunch of ads that just kept deleting my Earth Wall.
Kevin killing Weissman was the cherry on top, and really got me interested in Kevin's character and backstory. I felt that Estelle and Joshua's arc was handled great, and I just love a lot of things about this game. That last part of the game where Joshua and Estelle are about to 'die' didn't have as much of an emotional impact on me, as I knew they would survive due to there being another game after this one, but nonetheless, it still did hit me. And of course, Cassius had to ride in on his dragon and rescue us.
A great game, and a great game to end Estelle and Joshua's story, but only beginning their adventures as senior bracers.
BLORF.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC is a fantastic sequel to an already good game.
In what can only be described as a mix between Golden Sun and Fire Emblem, Tales of the Sky SC doubles down on what made the older Final Fantasy games great by proving once again that the best JRPG's of all time were produced by Tri-Ace in the early 2000's. I would go as far as to say that this is the Final Fantasy X of the 2000's, it's just that good.
Nihon Falcon's second entry in the long-running Dragon Slayer saga picks up right at the end of FC, where Josh has left Estelle behind after realizing that he really was in fact the bad guy all along. Having vanished without a second rational thought, Josh leaves immediately to go hang out with the Akatsuki. Estelle leaves with her friend Anal Lace to go train in the woods, and after a very traumatic and horrifying experience, Estelle realizes that harmonica's are only capable of creating awful music.
Returning characters Tifa, Calvin, and Adol have their back-sides expanded upon, and much like sunscreen, gets everywhere and makes you feel good. Other characters include the very dull and unintersting Chloe von Einzburn, and Zin the Avatar, references to Orie and Aang specifically. Estelle continues to be the star of the show; brandishing a very large stick and a mouth that would get her sent to the principal's office, Estelle leads the gang very obviously, and it's clear form the get-go that she will be the one that takes the final step to villainhood.
The visuals are nice, taking inspiration from Breath of The Wild and Dragon Quest XII
(Thanks Dhoom)
In what can only be described as a mix between Golden Sun and Fire Emblem, Tales of the Sky SC doubles down on what made the older Final Fantasy games great by proving once again that the best JRPG's of all time were produced by Tri-Ace in the early 2000's. I would go as far as to say that this is the Final Fantasy X of the 2000's, it's just that good.
Nihon Falcon's second entry in the long-running Dragon Slayer saga picks up right at the end of FC, where Josh has left Estelle behind after realizing that he really was in fact the bad guy all along. Having vanished without a second rational thought, Josh leaves immediately to go hang out with the Akatsuki. Estelle leaves with her friend Anal Lace to go train in the woods, and after a very traumatic and horrifying experience, Estelle realizes that harmonica's are only capable of creating awful music.
Returning characters Tifa, Calvin, and Adol have their back-sides expanded upon, and much like sunscreen, gets everywhere and makes you feel good. Other characters include the very dull and unintersting Chloe von Einzburn, and Zin the Avatar, references to Orie and Aang specifically. Estelle continues to be the star of the show; brandishing a very large stick and a mouth that would get her sent to the principal's office, Estelle leads the gang very obviously, and it's clear form the get-go that she will be the one that takes the final step to villainhood.
The visuals are nice, taking inspiration from Breath of The Wild and Dragon Quest XII
(Thanks Dhoom)
trails is my favorite series of all time and I do tierlists of like what my favorite game in the series is and why and shit, and I always put 3rd and azure in the highest one and then sit there going where do I put SC. Ive seen so many opinions and takes on this game and its writing and gameplay and pacing and characters and yada yada and thought about this game so much man. I just want to say yes of course certain character and there backstories weve seen before, joshua bright isnt the first to have this character arc, estelle bright isnt the first to have a stubborn happy go lucky character have to mature and grow up to the task at hand type character arc, but god damn man does this game do it so fucking well. its soundtrack its art its world its characters and just how fucking falcom does not care that this is an rpg they do not care they are going to make you run around the entire country again in chapter 8, because thats what they want estelle and them to do it just has so much fucking guts and confidence and its doing a story we more or less have seen aspects of somewhere or another but I will prolly never play anything ever again that made me feel like this. When I am making my little trails/falcom game tierlist SC always makes me stop and go I cant rank this I cant compare this. Im not saying others cant but god what cast what a soundtrack what a fucking game dude. I wont give it 5 stars idk why maybe cause i dont wanna fill up my 5 star ratings or whatever but this shit MEANS sumn to me man. Cold steel 4 killed all my goodwill the series had built up in me and it destroyed in future interest in the series, but thinking about SC again makes me wanna give reverie and kuro a shot. I love this game so much I could also write about how its orbment system feels really good and how its just another thing that helps immerse you into liberl and zemuria and shit but you know different people play things for different things.
Some enemy designs, including bosses and normal foes, can be frustrating however this time we have much better plots, character improvement and dialogues than previous game and it has the best OST entire series for me... "IN MY HEART"
one of the single best jrpg stories ive experienced, i never thought it would be possible for something to trump xenoblade chronicles 1-3 in my mind, but i've found it. nihon falcom just continues to surprise me with the effort and care and passion within their games, and im happily looking forward to playing the third installment in this trilogy.
Falcom was able to build peak in cave! With a box of scraps!
After the first game I was impressed, but now I am hooked and I am eating. It's incredible how thought-out and thorough the work that's gone into this is. I tried at several points to trick the game into giving me a single line of generic dialogue from ANY town NPC and they just kept beating my ass with more world-building. They would not let me stop reading. There's no wonder this took longer to translate than the dead sea scrolls
The combat is better but it's still the weakest part. There's a lot more to building a party than the previous entry but it still feels like it needs a bit of tightening.
Anyway, looking forward to spending another 500 hours catching up to this until the games suddenly get bad or whatever
After the first game I was impressed, but now I am hooked and I am eating. It's incredible how thought-out and thorough the work that's gone into this is. I tried at several points to trick the game into giving me a single line of generic dialogue from ANY town NPC and they just kept beating my ass with more world-building. They would not let me stop reading. There's no wonder this took longer to translate than the dead sea scrolls
The combat is better but it's still the weakest part. There's a lot more to building a party than the previous entry but it still feels like it needs a bit of tightening.
Anyway, looking forward to spending another 500 hours catching up to this until the games suddenly get bad or whatever