90%PC

The start of the Crossbell arc is one of Falcom’s best works — a grounded, character-driven RPG that balances small-town charm with deep political intrigue. Lloyd and the Special Support Section carve out their place in a city caught between two great powers. The cast shines with strong chemistry, and the city of Crossbell itself feels alive, bustling, and endlessly explorable. The combat builds on Sky’s foundation with more speed and tactical options. The story is tighter than the Sky trilogy, but still dense with worldbuilding that connects beautifully to the larger series.

80%PlayStation 4

The entire world of the Trails series feels lived-in. Everything is considered, every little piece of worldbuilding is accounted for & it's always a place where, alongside the antics of whatever group are our protagonists & antagonists in each game, everyone else lives too.

The fantasy of this thing struck me in two moments; an offhand comment about the bracer guild that made me remember the almost nomadic fantasy espoused in the first half of Sky FC, walking the country on foot without the particular worry of money floating over these characters' heads - what a life that would be! But also in the section in the finale where the CEO of a large private banking institution offers his unwavering assistance to our heroes without apparent concern for how wrecking likely millions of mira in his personal & company property will affect his bottom line. I think in the year of someone's lord 2025, that belief that everyone is, deep down, not-so-secretly willing to assist with the common good is a powerful fantasy.

The gameplay is great too, but it doesn't leave me crying the way the most heartfelt moments of this do. I just like these fictional wee guys, man. I just do. It's a privilege to be able to spend time with them for 30 hours or so at a time.

85%PC

One of the best jrpg in my life. Really loved how developers inputed their soul into this project. Glad that i've completed trails in the sky before zero and was fully able to understand a lot of corresponding aspects. Good character development and crazy plot events and twists.

70%PC

Crossbell was fun. A nice change from the rural Liberl. Basically the same game but new characters. Similar personalities, played the same, etc. Still enjoyable though. Story was pretty alright. Took a while to get there, but seems like it just set up the groundwork for something bigger (like Trails in the Sky 1 & 2). I guess with how this game builds its characters, they couldn't just jump into conflict immediately. Revache was kinda lame compared to what I was hoping, Zeit the legendary wolf literally did nothing after his chapter? The Liberl crew joining for a bit was fun.

Cool to see all the things from "Sky" play a bigger role in the grand scheme of things and connect to this story, like Renne's family and explanations for her backstory from Sky 3. Lots of doors opened in this one, like Lloyd's brother (reminds me of Ace) and what happened with him, this new evil anti-Aidios group, and where Crossbell and its neighboring countries go from here.

Tried to do everything I could. All chests, items, best quartz. I missed one support request in Chapter 1 because I advanced a day. I used a guide sometimes later to make sure i wouldn't miss one by advancing. Saved my life because some requests you had to advance the story to progress in the request.

The game felt harder at first, but I started chessing with Ingenuity on Elie and Tio, and having Tio just Avalon Gate mfs to death and regen the EP, which made it easy. Felt fine though because I felt like I could die really easily. If I got ambushed late, I would get one tapped. Final boss 2nd phase almost fucked me, but Lloyd spamming Adamantine Guard and Randy spamming buffs made it really doable. No clue how you win that fight without Ingenuity regen in the cutscene to phase 2 or tons of EP restoration items.

Couple new mechanics in this one. Dual crafts were stronger than I thought and should've used more. The "shoot the little monster in the field twice to instakill it" thing was great. Elie was making that thing sing. New quartz (like the astrology ones) & arts were very welcomed. This series always does a good job at making your characters feel stronger than before in subsequent games.

Could keep going, might come back later to add more, but all in all, another good Trails game. Looking forward to the sequel.

7/10, which feels like the baseline for these games. Good, no real complaints, but wanted more. Story, setting, characters, etc. was good, but the game felt too similar to previous. Dual crafts wasn't a big enough change, hope the sequel has some new mechanics.

In-game time: 45:54:35
Steam time: 57.8 hours
20/49 (41%) achievements.

90%Nintendo Switch

You're in for a treat 'cause this Zero is a Hero
There are lots of hyperbolic statements I could make on this game. "Its the best one yet!" "I was BLOWN AWAY!" or "One of my favorite RPGs; an instant classic!" but all in all Trails from Zero (Zero) is nearly everything that all the praisers say. At times it *is* the best (yet) of the Trails series. In moments it will certainly BLOW YOU AWAY. While its too early to say its a favorite of mine, it truly can be an instant classic. This game is just darn great. Its also just darn long (for me).

If you arent familiar the "Trails of-" games are relatively recent and wide spanning JRPGs. They are turn-based. They are decently anime inspired. They all take place in the same world, same continent, and in the same timeline. The three previous entries all **needed** to be played in order to just understand what was going on. Zero is different.

This is the next "jumping off point" so to speak, where a new player can (should?) be introduced. Returning players (me) are greeted with tells, cameos, references, and a decent amount of extra 'stuff' to chew on. None of that is necessary, though a caution must be had: this game *does spoil quite a bit of what happens in the previous three game arc*. Could a player go back and enjoy the "in the Sky" trilogy after this? Sure, but consider yourself warned.

Story is king in these games, and Zero has this in spades. Be wowed that quests, while simple, have several narrative steps and you'll get constant reactions and feedback from the entire populace on what and how things have changed. This is par for this series, but really only it. This game makes you want to go back and talk to everyone, over and over and over. And even nobody minor characters have some shading and depth due to this. You'll get a mining town colored in, complete with slack offs, or over working dads, or nervous mayors. You'll be greeted and over joyed when supporting character continually change what they say and why as you do things for and around them. Its just so deep! Its the second best part of the whole deal even.

The best part are the central characters. Your main four person cast is well thought out, well characterized, and most of them have good arcs and feel human. As the game goes on you'll grow into each of their lives and their growing bond with each other. It really works! A minor neg in this regard is that there are "romance" options, but they are more schoolyard than anything Persona or Mass Effect throws around. Nothing more than a half said "I like you..." and such, which is kinda disappointing given how incredible the romance story was in the previous trilogy (play it, its honest gold).

Gameplay the game is pretty great again. Its not the most diverse or engaging of turn based systems, but it does offer a large variety of customization of states and spells via the tried and true Orbal/Quartz system. Configuring and even understanding the quartz/lines mechanic can be befuddling if this is your first game, but if you're like me and its #4 then you'll rush to the best combos fast. However, those combos are very different. They condense and reshuffled stats and spells to other colors, so expect Blues to be much better, greens to have wider variety, and those silver and gold spells to be just the same world enders (but awfully pricey) that they were in The 3rd. If you know, you know. Other gameplay mechanics are simply the same stuff from the other line of games, so you'll have AoE attacks, crafts (skills) that you build up and unleash in a sort of reverse MP bar, and ultimate skills which are always a highlight. Combos exist, but only after the halfway point.

Speaking of halfway point; the game's length is large. HowLongToBeat labels Main+sides as ~60 hours and that's about what my time was. I was sorely feeling the length of the game at hour 38, but wasn't aware I'd signed up for another 25 hours. Trails games are almost always back loaded, and Zero is no different. You might think you're gearing up for the finale, but friend you have tens more hours to go through! This can be mitigated by doing the bare essentials, but you'd miss out on so, so much. The game does have a New Game + mode, with perks purchased from achievements, but I didnt play around in that.

Quick notes: the music and sound are fire, again. Falcom is always great in this regard, though I can say I didnt find these tracks as memorable as the Sky trilogy. They rock, though there are better ones. Visuals are fine. The PH3 port to switch cleaned up a lot, but the AI stuff is very noticeable and likely stuck with us forever.

Wrapping up: there is very little wrong here. Game is a solid 9. At times its the best (yet) and at others its solidly in the middle. Lengthy, but worth it and a great point of entry. 9/10

90%PC

One of the best JRPGS of all time.

80%PC

Awesome continuation of the Trails series!
No other series ever got me this hooked. Gonna start with the sequel right away.

Does it live up to expectations? HELL YEAH!

Is the new cast of characters as likeable as Trails in the Sky's? IMO, nothing beats Estelle (and Olivier :D).
Personally, it's hard for me to fall in love with a new group after spending 200+ hours with my all-time-favorite cast in JRPG history.

Also, Elie is the first character in the series (so far; playing chronologically) that I kind of dislike. The attempted romance in Trails from Zero felt forced and rushed too, including jealousy scenes and whatnot.

Battles were (surprisingly) easy in Normal mode and I didn't have that feeling of accomplishment after beating the game. Will attempt "Hard" mode in 'Trails to Azure'.

A solid 8/10 for me.

85%Nintendo Switch

Holy cow what a marathon of a game. Took me weeks. Most of it is very “B” jrpg. It’s good, but not the best. It’s a good filler when you want to play a jrpg but have already played all the best ones. I was going to give it a B, but the final few hours get really epic earning it a B+. The basics of the story is you’re a new division of the police detective department and solving crimes and mysteries around the city. You uncover a sinister plot by the mafia involving some ancient evils and magical powers. Towards the end there’s a big city wide civil war between people the mafia paid off and the police. It gets pretty awesome and then you go into a temple to deal with the ancient evils. However leading up to that final chapter there’s a lot of dull samey moments. The fast forward button is your best friend for much of that. The combat is fun. I like the extras such as the jokes told by treasure chests after you loot them, the interesting side quests, heavily modifiable ability system. Overall it’s good even really good in places but just falls behind greatness aside from that final chapter. Soo

90%Nintendo Switch

Game: 9/10
Game Direction: Fantastic
Story: Impeccable
Art: Shows its age
Gameplay: Great
Sound Design And Music: Great
Difficulty: 3/5
Enjoyment: 4/5
Recommendation: Yes! (but try to play the Sky games first)

90%Nintendo Switch

My first experience with a title from this famous RPG series and I have to admit, it was fantastic!
Trails from Zero was originally released for the PSP in 2010 and brings together all the elements that make up a memorable RPG: interesting characters, an engaging story, intelligent combat and a multi-layered universe that embraces everything organically. The development of the story and the attention given to the main characters are impressive, each with their own distinct personality and who mature as a team throughout the journey. This narrative construction makes the player sympathize with everyone and is encouraged to learn more about each one's origin.
It's a long game with a lot of text, but the narrative is so good that I hardly felt tempted to speed up the dialogues. Now I'm eager to finish the Crossbell duology and discover the outcome of the questions that remained unanswered in this first game.
Highly recommended!

80%PC

A little too long, but still as good a game as its predecessors. A little underwhelmed with the ending, but knowing there's a sequel, it feels okay.

100%PlayStation 4

Once again amazing. Love Llyod.

80%Nintendo Switch

Overall great experience! Fun to play an older game in a modern year, gave me flashbacks on old RPGs I played as a kid. While it is my least fav gameplay wise, the characters and most of the story draw this game to me.

100%Nintendo Switch

I suspect it’s because of the jump for the Sky trilogy’s PC releases to Zero’s Remaster on Switch, but man does the jump in graphics and features really impress me. It looks so crisp and runs mostly great on the Switch OLED aside from some light frame drops in the city. The inclusion of voice acting really blew me away at how natural it feels (I couldn’t get the voice mod to work for Sky on Steam Deck). There’s also stuff like the flashy new UI, text backlog button, and text/menus that actually look scaled for consoles.

I think what surprised me the most was that the devs really tried to make this a detective story first that happened to be in the Trails universe. The set up of Crossbell as this sprawling city with gangs, mafia, and corrupt police and bureaucrats, the main character having an almost stereotypical rookie cop backstory of an unsolved case relating to a loved one, and the chapter structure revolving around trying to solve the problem by figuring out a mystery. This is the RPG I was hoping Decapolice was going to be before it got delayed.

The combat is the slickest so far in the series, but despite the game throwing you the occasional 5th party member, it's not enough to mix things up. It also might be the easiest of the first four Trails games.

It’s hard not to compare Trails from Zero to Trails in the Sky FC. Zero hits highs close to the first game and it’s hard to say whether Zero or Sky FC is my favorite Trails game so far. The way Zero sets up and makes you invested in Crossbell and its citizens and then painstakingly explains the frustrations of the city state’s corruption makes me love it as much or more than Liberl. Lloyd, Randy, Tio, and Ellie are great new main characters on their own and I appreciate that the inclusion of elements carried over from Sky didn’t overshadow them too much.

My only big complaint is how some things were locked behind the ending Bond scene. Also after how great the romance was in the first trilogy, it’s disappointing to not have a canon romance in this game.

Final Grade:

A+ or 10/10
50 Hours
9/20/2024

90%PC

Yet another masterpiece, and the fourth one in a row at that for this series. While I don't think it quite reaches the emotional highs of the Sky games, and if you come from Sky Evolution it feel like nothing has changed gameplay wise, everything that makes this series so incredibly special is on display here, from some of the best writing in video games to stellar characters and music, and a detailed world that is just insane in its scope and detail.

90%PlayStation Vita

first foray into crossbell arc and how well it ties to other arc in kiseki series

100%PC

Wow, what a game. If you're right after Trails in the Sky trilogy (which you should be. Don't play out of order), you are in for a treat. Great addition to the story from Sky. It does start incredibly slowly and I got tired of all the talking in the first two chapters, but the latter half of the game is all straight gas. Everything just keeps snowballing into craziness. The finale is not one to miss.

Gameplay is not terribly changed from Sky trilogy. It could have really used a way to see what requirements there are for spells. I did not use many because nobody really had any interesting spells to cast except for one to reduce enemy speed by half. Not even any for reducing defense. Felt like after chapter 4, enemies became real bullet sponges. Attacks seemed to always do the same damage, but enemy health pools were bigger. But the Trails combat formula is still rock solid. I love it.

I wish I had more to say, but I just don't. You need to play it. Endure the first two slow chapters. That is all you need to know.

100%PC

no joke one of the best games i have ever played

90%PC

- Amazing OST.
- More Balanced and More Fun Combat System than previous trails, with more balanced arts and surprise attacks for faster farming.
- Interesting Plot as always, but not as heart-wrenching as in Trails in the Sky.
- Amazing Characters and Character Development (also past characters made a worthy appearance).
- Overall a great entry to the Trail series.

80%PC

This can be a DnD campaign and it'll still work

100%PlayStation Vita

plot: 10/10
cast: 10/10
music: 8/10

80%PC

A qualidade dessa série continua implacável. Temos aqui o início de uma nova saga, e os personagens são muito bem desenvolvidos, com o retorno de alguns que já vimos anteriormente. É um ótimo começo. No entanto, achei o ritmo desse jogo muito lento; a história demora muito para engrenar. Embora tenha seus momentos no início, parece se arrastar demais. Mesmo assim, é mais um jogo sensacional!

100%PC

(Updated review after replaying the game with the official translation).

I loved this game! I really enjoyed the updates to the graphics and gameplay, though I didn't like the new character art as much as the old ones from Trails in the Sky. Also, much like Trails in the Sky FC, this game primarily serves to introduce the world and characters, and the story beats were all interesting and engaging. This game takes place in the enthralling city of Crossbell and the worldbuilding is fantastic as always.

You play as a group of police officers and I'm a big fan of mysteries so playing as a detective that solves crimes and works toward unraveling evil plots is always a good time. I also liked that the playable team sucked at first and had to work hard to earn recognition for their efforts. It all felt very natural and believable in how it was handled. Each of the featured characters are unique and likable and I was fully invested in seeing them grow and overcome their barriers over the course of the game. The villains in this were great too and piecing together their involvement with the events that the main characters experienced was a lot of fun.

Overall this game is fantastic, and if you enjoyed Trails in the Sky, then you definitely should play this!

95%PC

The best trails game i have played. The more grounded story had me never want to stop playing.

60%Nintendo Switch

Bring your reading glasses, it's gonna be a long reading session.
If you like JRPGs/Turn-Based combats and like games such as the older FFs or Dragon Quest, stay away from this visual novel. lmao
The fans will boast about muh continuous story 20 years in the making, but 95% of all dialogue is just typical anime slop, plus the fan service for Trails in the Sky are mid as fuck.

My main problem is not the story, but the fact that there isn't enough gameplay in this GAME. Normally with JRPGs i want to go from point A to point B to progress the story but there's too much gameplay in the way (which i love), this game is the opposite. All the reading is occasionally interrupted by some gameplay.

90%Nintendo Switch

For someone that played only the Sky trilogy, the Crossbell arc is a huge step up in terms of quality.

The story follows Lloyd Bannings and the Special Support Section of the Crossbell Police, which solves every day life problems of the citizens of Crossbell City and the surrounding areas.

The cast is probably the strongest point of the game. Lloyd, Ellie, Randy and Tio are pretty much polar opposites with their own worries, and the game takes its time to develop each character thoroughly. Throughout the game, they build their relationship with each other while the secrets of the city slowly start to unravel.

The story itself is well written, and can be played in its entirety without touching the side jobs. It expands on some bits and pieces from the Sky trilogy while maintaining originality, and we even get to see some of the characters from the previous games on our journey.

The gameplay is standard The Legend of Heroes slop. You have your arts, crafts and interesting mechanics here and there. Nothing too special.

Overall, unless Trails of Cold Steel changes my mind, the Crossbell arc will be the Magnum Opus of Falcom. 9/10

85%PC

Starts slow but it ended up really strong!

It's a ordeal to talk to every NPC every time something happen, I guess you could not do that, and rush it, just the events, with a guide, but then again, why would you play a trails game if you wanna do that?

70%Nintendo Switch

Great story but gameplay could be boring

85%PC

Such a big improvement on Trails in the sky with QoL changes, auto advance text, voice acting, better portraits. However I'm still glad to have played the Sky trilogy because it makes this make so much more sense
Felt slightly more concise which is good for a Trails game.

70%PlayStation 4

A 5/7
H 1/1
S 1/2

85%PC

8.0-8.5

90%PC

Absolute banger, and maybe my favorite of the Trails games so far. Looking forward to starting Azure once I crash my way through a couple of other games. Easily recommended, although I wouldn't say it's a great *starting* point for the series.

95%PC

First things first: I have to thank the incredible people at on the Geofront translation team. They went above and beyond with translating this game. They didn't just simply translate it, they added a bunch of quality of life features like turbo and a chat log, which I actually used a lot more than I expected, and added the infamous chest messages gathered from the community. It's honestly amazing, and I'm very grateful to the team.

NOTE: As of the time of writing this review, I've not played the Cold Steel series yet. I'm playing all the games in order, so I've only played the Sky Trilogy so far.
Now, the actual game itself. It's great! I played on Nightmare mode, and found the gameplay to be pretty challenging. I also had some self imposed rules I forced myself to abide by, which were:
(1). Not use any hotels, (2). Start boss/challenge chest fights at less than 100 CP for my party. (3) Buy all Decorations for all the characters (4). No grinding, which is my usual rule for most RPGs.

Reason being you can really easily cheese a lot fights by instantly spamming S-crafts before enemies can even attack. Zero is definitely much easier than Sky, and I recommend everyone playing Zero to try out these rules on Nightmare. You might have a lot more challenging fights, but that makes them all the more satisfying!
Overall, Nightmare was really fun and I highly recommend it if you're looking for a challenge. As usual with Trails games, there's no need to grind for EXP since EXP gain scales.

Combat remains largely the same from Sky. There's the usual arts and quartz, though they did change up some arts, like making Wind sepith more important as they changed Water arts having both single and AoE heals to giving Wind arts AoE heal and Water only having single-target, which I appreciated.
Zero also introduces Combo Crafts, which are a bit similar to Chain Crafts from Sky, except they're locked to certain characters and can only be activated by having 2 participating characters each use 100 CP. They're really strong, especially Lloyd and Randy's. In exchange, you have both characters turns delayed, which is a fair trade off.

Worldbuilding is what the Trails series excels at, and Zero is no exception. Crossbell feels very fleshed out, and despite being the the smallest state in Zemuria, there's a ton of details packed into the city. More than the Sky trilogy, it's much easier to see NPCs change over time, since you're going to spend a lot of time roaming the city. Maybe a lot of people will talk to each NPC a couple times and be done with it, but not me. I specifically made it a point to talk to EVERY NPC within the city and went to talk to EVERY major character, AKA anyone with a portrait. If I went to visit a town, I talked to everyone over there everytime. I love how you can track down bracers by checking where they're currently stationed from the guild schedule. I absolutely love the dialogue in the game and it makes me appreciate Geofront's translation even more.

Speaking of characters, they're all great. Apparently people don't like Lloyd, but that I find that odd. He's definitely not as dynamic as Estelle & Joshua, but he has his own set of goals that he's trying to accomplish. He's definitely better than many other JRPG protagonists I've seen. Same goes for Elie, Tio, and Randy. Watching the SSS all banter with each other and grow closer over the course of the game is really heartwarming. The supporting characters aren't fully developed, but they have clear personalities and are fun to interact with. Keep in mind that there is the sequel of Trails from Azure, so they might get even more development.
Also, KeA is absolutely precious.

Finding hidden quests from talking to characters feels great. However, that's also a double-edge blade.
There are so many hidden quests or quest items than can be missed very easily if you don't talk to everyone or if you use a guide, which I didn't. The prime suspects are the collectable books and hidden sidequests which require a high amount of DP. If you don't have enough DP, you won't even know there is a hidden sidequest EVEN if you talked to the person that would give the quest. I find that very frustrating, not because I need the mira or rewards, but because I missed out on dialogue. That's really my only major complaint with the game.

Overall, Trails from Zero is wonderful. I really, really, enjoyed this game. In my opinion, at the time of writing this, I would say my ratings for the games I've played so far are:

1. Zero
2. Sky SC
3. Sky 3rd
4. Sky FC

Zero comes very close to Sky SC for me personally. All of these games are great, and I'm looking forward to playing the rest of them.

90%Nintendo Switch

Another instalment of The Legend of Heroes series. A series which is quickly rising in terms of my favourite series of all time. It's been fun to explore Crossbell this time around and to meet our new band of heroes (and some old favourites of course).

What I liked:
* The music is once again fantastic. I'm constantly humming along when I'm going through the different town.
* Randy! He's OP and I'm there for it. His Crash Bomb and later his line of Death is sublime. He was my tank, my strength and my bond.
* The fact that some characters from Trails in the Sky make a comeback.
* Attack enemies from behind gives you extra advantage. It makes encounters easy.
* The chest messages, especially one towards the end is very cheeky ('so you finally found out how to open me', ha!)
* What started out as a story about two rival gangs and some politicians actually gets much better than I anticipated.

What I didn't like:
* A tiny tiny thing this time around was that you 'have' to make too many rounds through the same town. I'm almost dizzy from running around talking to every NPC to see what new things they have to say. It does add to the story and after 60+ hours literally everyone grew on me, but it's not just at the start of a day or chapter which means that you're going around the town a lot.
* A guide is adviced if you don't want to miss things. I almost didn't complete the bond because I forgot to do something even though I used a guide, so you have to be careful.

All-in-all great game. There are a few storylines which are left in the air a bit but that's because Trails from Azure is next, so I can't wait to dive into that one after a short break.

85%PC

Это как бы продолжение серии, но при этом в другой стране и с другими героями. В начале главный герой, закончив обучение детективному мастерству в другой стране возвращается в родной город-государство. По прибытии он должен бы устроится на работу в здешний полицейский департамент, и ему заранее уже сообщили что он будет служить в какой-то там специальной дивизии поддержки. Только вот при появлении в участке его сначала не поняли, потом приходит какой-то мужик с сигаретой и говорит пойдем со мной, и приводит его в кабинет, в котором уже сидят 3 разношерстных персонажа – одна пай девочка, как будто бы аристократка, парень с огненными волосами и отпускающий сальные шуточки в сторону девушек и еще одна девушка, очень мелкая на первый взгляд с гарнитурой в виде кошачих ушек. И этот мужик с сигаретой представившись говорит, что я ваш начальник, а вы только что сформированный отдел специальной поддержки секции, и поскольку вы новички вы будете в основном на побегушках у полиции и выполнять всякие никому неинтересные запросы и квесты мирных жителей, чтобы под ногами не мешались. Так начинается интересная история дружбы, любви и эпичности в этой каморной на первый взгляд, но при этом чертовски хорошей игре.

85%PC

Amazing character writing with lots of room for character development since you start out with the core party. Very enjoyable to see returning Trails in the Sky characters Estelle, Joshua and Renne play such a big role in the game too. The city of Crossbell is a major character in its own right, as you get to see how its inhabitants react to every major event, instead of traveling to other regions as other games in the overarching series. This showcases Nihon Falcom's master class worldbuilding at its finest. The main story is engaging too. The combat was good, but necessarily felt a step back after playing Cold Steel, although that's not a fault of Zero itself, as the original game came out before Cold Steel. The music is top-notch, as expected of Sound Team Nihon Falcom. Visuals are fine; I didn't play the vanilla version but imagine the portraits have been touched up for this Kai release.

90%PC

New feel for the trails series as it hit a new platform for this game. Great story with great characters as expected. (familiar faces from trails in the sky involved.)

90%Nintendo Switch

Great game, awesome port. I loved the gameplay loop. Disliked some story elements ... too many damn kids >:[

90%PlayStation 4

Very, very, very good game! Had a blast from beginning 'til the end.
I did 3 playthroughs to get the platinum, but with the high speed mode, the 2nd and 3rd playthrough were shortened quite a bit, and prevented the game from being boring.

90%Nintendo Switch

Fantastic story and characters.

100% worth the time spent.

90%PC

Better structure, gameplay, ost, sound and difficulty than Sky.

50%Nintendo Switch

Obsolete rpg, slow and full of futile dialogue. Feels like an
mediocre mid 90's console rpg, both in graphics and gameplay

80%PlayStation 5

This series has roped me in time and time, and this game is no exception. In the west now we are getting the missing piece that this series in this duology of games, and I could not be happier. After going through the Sky series earlier this and jumping onto this one I saw how improved everything was.
Combat runs smoothly (just like Cold Steel games), with the biggest takeaway is moving a character around the field in battle was far smoother than it is was in the sky games. As for the characters, all were wonderful. I went through the whole Cold Steel series so I know about these characters from that arc, so that helped a bit when getting into the motivations of the characters. The music was A+ with a shoutout to Incredible Struggle as it is one of my favorite Trails songs now. The one downside of this game is its plot, I was not in it as much as other Trails games. For it is the first in an arc that is not surprising because a lot of setups happen. It is not as bad as Sky FC because of the moments that made this game and having some of the returning characters helped. I just found myself not very invested in the plot, the characters were a very main reason why I kept going.
Overall though it is a very great start to this duology, and am looking forward to Azure next year 8/10

90%PC

A great game of the Trails Series. Not a great epilogue like the first Trails in the Sky or Trails of Cold and Steel though.

80%PC

It just started, but you can feel it will be a great game.

90%PC

Fantastic Game. Easily the best part 1 in the Trails series.

70%PC

Characters were great, story was recycled from older games but the action found in the final chapters was so good. The final chapter dungeon was weak but the game ended strong. By far the best music I've seen in a Trails game (so far). The beginning few chapters had you meandering a little too much but I understand why. The overarching villain is questionable, pretty much Weissman but without the charisma and intrigue.