#hajimari

July 28th, 2023 - Trails Into Reverie

This was the game I was most looking forward to this year and I finished it with mixed feelings. I really enjoyed the Cold Steel games and Lloyd’s adventures (especially Azure) were pretty good themselves. Since this game was both a "Cold Steel V" and third Crossbell game, I was really looking forward to it. I did like the concept of switching between different routes throughout the game but they didn’t really get interesting until everyone started crossing paths.

Then there’s the Reverie Corridor where everyone from each route ends up having to work together. It’s really just an extra area for grinding and so far, it hasn’t had any importance to the plot. It’s all felt like side content. It is similar to Trails In The Sky 3rd Chapter, so there’s plenty of world building, although this content is optional in a playthrough. There are also some gacha mechanics which I don’t really mind considering there’s no micro transactions or any greedy shit like that.

As for the plot, I’m a little disappointed. It sounded like it was going to be really cool but I found it a bit underwhelming. I was already feeling underwhelmed by the twists/reveals in Cold Steel IV and for the most part, there wasn’t really anything that came as a shock. For me, everything just happened. What I’m a bit confused about is how I thought certain characters debuted in the game but they haven’t shown up in any form and that includes someone that appears in the artwork. 

Like Cold Steel IV, it didn't feel like a conclusive ending to the arc and still leaves things unresolved. Other Trails games do that as well but Sky and Azure had a bit more satisfying endings to their arcs. At the very least, I did like what I played a little bit more than Cold Steel IV, but I think it is the weakest of all the Crossbell games. It was still cool to see Crossbell characters that we hadn’t seen in 3D yet though.