Finished it, and it wasn't as bad as the internet told me it would be, i even enjoyed it at times. This is the first game of the Gagharv trilogy (not II), and weirdly enough i get the same roadtrip feel from this as the first game in the trails trilogy. Obviously not as extensive (and even less truly interesting things happening), but it certainly has the cozy vibe that is a signature of Falcom games (and what i love about them). It is a bad game, but you see an attempt at a certain story style that pays off for the company many years later.
Two children go on a pilgrimage to see some famous shrines with mirrors spread throughout the country.The witches were apparently using those to make prophecies. It's a relatively safe trip that is custom for children in the village to mature up, like a big trip will in real life. They get a silver dagger that is a pass for free lodging and travel, and only children (and witches, but those are gone) are allowed to look in the shrine mirrors. Interesting premise.
The two young main characters actually act how you expect children to, but have a certain kind of humor and charm that made them likeable for me. That surprised me because i dislike young children characters relatively fast. If you are looking for a more edgy/mature take on a mc however, you are going to be sorely disappointed.
The story is mostly roadtrippy, but not void of interesting world building, especially regarding the mirrors and the Moonlight Witch(in the coverbackground). The combat is bare without the gem system of trails, and the difficulty easy. But the focus is on the story and characters. Npc's have new dialogue regularly like in future entries. The translation makes it a bit harder to enjoy than the Japanese audience most certainly did. But the spirit of the text still shines through.
It's really trails 0.5 (or maybe 0.3), without interesting combat but with the same kind of charm, just really unpolished and (evidently) harder to fall in love with. Which isn't weird considering there is a 10 years difference between the two games. Diehard Falcom fans can potentially get something out of it. The translation has quite some spelling errors, and is a little stiff at times, but nothing so major that it completely threw me of. Music was fine for me, but like with persona 1 i didn't listen how the original sounded. I have no doubt it is bad in comparison to it.
It's like a SNESlike rpg in the combat and some story beats, and expectations should be set accordingly. it had some unique things, like the trippy cgi visuals of the prophesy in the mirrors. The story starts interesting, losses a bit of fuel in the middle, but ends on quite a strong note with some twists i thought were decent. They even make allegations to possible sequels, which makes me curious how those connect. In 2004 it wasn't uncommon of multiple games to connect the way Legend of heroes does, but in 1994 it probably wasn't done that much.
A remake where i completely see why it failed, but as a Falcom fan i can't help but enjoy even when it sometimes does everything in it's power to make it difficult. Definitely didn't scare me away from the sequels, since most people see this game as the worst of the trilogy. If this is the worst it has to offer i probably see lots to love about the others.
Two children go on a pilgrimage to see some famous shrines with mirrors spread throughout the country.The witches were apparently using those to make prophecies. It's a relatively safe trip that is custom for children in the village to mature up, like a big trip will in real life. They get a silver dagger that is a pass for free lodging and travel, and only children (and witches, but those are gone) are allowed to look in the shrine mirrors. Interesting premise.
The two young main characters actually act how you expect children to, but have a certain kind of humor and charm that made them likeable for me. That surprised me because i dislike young children characters relatively fast. If you are looking for a more edgy/mature take on a mc however, you are going to be sorely disappointed.
The story is mostly roadtrippy, but not void of interesting world building, especially regarding the mirrors and the Moonlight Witch(in the coverbackground). The combat is bare without the gem system of trails, and the difficulty easy. But the focus is on the story and characters. Npc's have new dialogue regularly like in future entries. The translation makes it a bit harder to enjoy than the Japanese audience most certainly did. But the spirit of the text still shines through.
It's really trails 0.5 (or maybe 0.3), without interesting combat but with the same kind of charm, just really unpolished and (evidently) harder to fall in love with. Which isn't weird considering there is a 10 years difference between the two games. Diehard Falcom fans can potentially get something out of it. The translation has quite some spelling errors, and is a little stiff at times, but nothing so major that it completely threw me of. Music was fine for me, but like with persona 1 i didn't listen how the original sounded. I have no doubt it is bad in comparison to it.
It's like a SNESlike rpg in the combat and some story beats, and expectations should be set accordingly. it had some unique things, like the trippy cgi visuals of the prophesy in the mirrors. The story starts interesting, losses a bit of fuel in the middle, but ends on quite a strong note with some twists i thought were decent. They even make allegations to possible sequels, which makes me curious how those connect. In 2004 it wasn't uncommon of multiple games to connect the way Legend of heroes does, but in 1994 it probably wasn't done that much.
A remake where i completely see why it failed, but as a Falcom fan i can't help but enjoy even when it sometimes does everything in it's power to make it difficult. Definitely didn't scare me away from the sequels, since most people see this game as the worst of the trilogy. If this is the worst it has to offer i probably see lots to love about the others.
3 Comments
@FallenGrace Yea, because of how Bamco localized the Gagharv PSP releases in NA, it made Tear of Vermillion, the 2nd entry, first and this game here the "sequel". Song of the Ocean still stayed as the third game, at least.
@BlazingWaters - I never knew. I played a bit of the first game on psp and thought it was ok but never went back. I have all 3 games though. Good to know I should start at II
FallenGrace
1 year ago