Oops didn't realize i forgot to write a review of this game.

Compared to the previous trails games this one is............................ Alright.

it has the plot pacing of sky fc without the characters being as endearing or well written so it's a bit of a slog at times

Music is pretty good sometimes thou

kuuntelin talk tuah podcästiä samalla kun runkutin piplaa. hyvä combo 4.5/5

2/10

This game has left me speechless. As a disclaimer, I've only ever played Trails in the Sky FC years ago and, although I enjoyed the game, it never really left me with much of an impression of the franchise. This game, however, just did so many things right from its addictive gameplay to its entrancing story---not to mention one of the best cast of characters I've ever had the pleasure to play as. As a longtime Persona fan, I was quite surprised that I thoroughly enjoyed how they adapted some of the mechanics from those games and made it work in this game. I'd say that they borrowed just enough, altered them, and introduced some other systems that makes this game unique in my eyes. Personally, the gameplay loop they created here stands proudly on its own and is far removed from the more infamous Persona games.

Considering that this series has released several titles at this point, it was no surprise that the world is rich with lore and history. I'm sure that the game threw a lot of references from the previous games that flew right over my head, but it never really bothered me that much. If anything, it only got me interested in checking out the previous games once I'm done with this arc. Despite having such a world that is "grounded" by its own rules, the story does provide a lot of twists and turns that really changed how I viewed this world. How they managed to achieve this and still have a world that is "believable", at least in my opinion, is a testament to the game's fantastic worldbuilding and narrative design. Even, the NPCs were created with such unique flair that at some point I was just as invested in their small stories as I was with what was happening in the main story.

The only thing that really frustrated me was how the game ended quite abruptly and left the story at such a terrible cliffhanger that I'm sure adding a short epilogue could have solved. Maybe this is just me wanting more of the game even though it's already quite a huge game to begin with. Also, to be honest, the final battle was NOT fun at all. This was quite a disappointment as all the other boss battles were fun and had a lot of tactical leeway that allowed me to adjust my party, equipment, and strategies to overcome them without being too tedious. To be fair, I did play this in hard mode---I shudder to think how difficult that battle would have been in nightmare. Nevertheless, I can count finally count myself as a fan and look forward to checking out the next games and finally experiencing this arc in its entirety. This is a definite must-play for me and timeless classic that will forever live on as one of the best JRPGs I have ever played.