I had become so used to being able to jump into the next Trails automatically after finishing the previous one that I never even considered how hard the wait for Hajimari would hit me. Honestly, this franchise now has a massive grip on me, and I don’t know if I’ll ever recover after finishing Reverie and seeing how all of these arcs that have been actively accompanying for these two years end now
Truly, the wait for Reverie has made me appreciate this franchise more than ever, and seeing how much it means to me and how used I had become to be able to continue and explore it further at a moment’s notice. So, now that the sappiness is out of the way, maybe it’s time to explain the unexpected struggle that popped up with this game?
So… I have played every single Trails on Steam, except for Zero and Azure that hadn’t even released at the time I was playing so I went with Geofront’s patch. However, this time… I had the option between playing Reverie in Switch, or waiting a little more and spend the full price on Steam. The fact that I wouldn’t be able to record my time, save file or achievements in Steam honestly killed me, so I wasn’t really sure what to do. For now, I’ll just try it out on Switch and see if I stay
Story & Gameplay
Prologue – Operation: Liberate Crossbell
My fucking god. I cannot with this excitement. It’s been a “short” wait, all things considered, but the hype that filled me every time I thought of Reverie and being able to play it at some point… it really made me feel all kinds of positive emotions. I don’t know why, but I have a lot of hopes for this game, and I’m almost certain it will become one of my favourite ones in the franchise if everything goes well. Being able to see my babies once again, specially the Crossbell route… it’s enough to make me cry happy tears
MANNNNNNNNN SINCE I’M PLAYING ON SWITCH, I CAN’T GET MY SAVE DATA BONUS FOR ZERO/AZURE AND CS3/4………… MAN……….. ANYWAYS… it seems we start with Crossbell!!! SSS my beloveds!!!!!!! So, there’s a side of the Defense Force wanting to reignite the war, but nevermind that! Arc en Ciel!!! AND FINALLY RIXIA IS HERE, THANK GOD
holy SHIT, WAZY IS HERE!!!!!!!!!! AND I DIDN’T KNOW THEY WOULD BRING SCARLET AND WALD BACK IN REVERIE TOO, THAT’S A SURPRISE FOR ME ALREADY!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
ARIOS TOO, THEY ARE GOING ALL OUT WITH CROSSBELL IN THE PROLOGUE HUH? I FUCKING LOVE IT MAN. AND THEY GAVE MODELS TO THE GUILD MEMBERS WE MET IN AOZERO!!!!!! AND NOEL MY BELOVED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AND DUDLEY!!!!!!!!!!! Though I’m sad he probably will not be playable………. But wow, they are going all out in models for everyone we’ve met and known in Crossbell, it’s amazing
ZEIT AND SERGEY TOO!!!!!!!!!! AND OF COURSE, AT LAST, THE SSS!!! AND JUNA IS WITH THEM TOO!!!! AND I DON’T THINK WE EVER SAW FRAN TOO. AND HOLY FUCK, THE SSS BEING CARRIED BY JUNA ON A SOLDAT TO THE PEAK OF THE TOWER IS ACTUALLY SO RAW. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AND THEY BROKE IN WHILE ‘DESTINATION OF FATE’ PLAYS, THIS IS TOO GOOD, THIS IS TOO FUCKING GOOD
How many times have we raided the poor Orchis Tower now? It’s almost getting funny, I love it. And I love that now we are told what arts are useful automatically instead of having to check individually each enemy!! Plus, there are some more new QoL changes that I’m really appreciating in here!!
At the peak of the tower, where SSS talks about how they are enduring these tough situations for the sake of their “daughter” (I cried), I think they use a theme from Ao/Zero? So fucking cool. Time to beat a huge ass mecha with an epic ass theme!
Ouch, the following cutscene showing us Lloyd feeling relieved that his home, Crossbell, is finally free… it’s gonna hurt when shit happens AGAIN to fuck them up, they really cannot catch a break. AND LOL WE GET SOME KIND OF GLITCHED CREDITS AT THE END OF THE PROLOGUE AS IF IT WAS GONNA BE OVER HERE, THEY REALLY POURED SALT ON THE WOUND
Huh, so Crossbell gained its independence again so soon? And what’s Project Babel, the next Ouroboros plan? Well, the prologue ends here and, sadly, this is most likely where my playthrough on Switch ends until I get it on PC
OHHHHH GODDDDDDDDDD IT’S BEEN SO LONG, BUT FINALLY I GOT REVERIE IN PC AND I CAN FINALLY CONTINUE MY MOST ANTICIPATED GAME OF ALL YEAR. MY GOD, ENDURING THE WAIT HAS BEEN TERRIBLE. Oh, and you know what? Let’s fucking do my first run on Nightmare difficulty for the first time in all of my Trail playthroughs, we’re going ALL OUT
Lloyd’s route, Act 1 – Signing Ceremony
I re-did the prologue, and so far everything good with the new difficulty. Time to finally see what lies beyond Lloyd’s route, Chapter 1. I like how it begins with the Crossbell News interviewing a few NPCs we’ve met a long time ago in ZeroAo
THEY KEPT TOWER OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH’S JUKEBOX, HELL YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Overall, I’m having the most delightful time of my life being able to visit and explore around Crossbell once again, seeing familiar faces all around and absorbing the marvelous atmosphere. AURRGHHHH WE FINALLY GET TO SEE THE BRACER GUILD AGAIN, AND SHIZUKU IS ALL GROWN UP
OHHHHHHHHH Agate and Tita are here too! Even Erika Russell is here, things are gonna get awkward fast huh? ESTELLE FUCKING BRIGHTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT MY BELOVED, MY SUN, MY EVERYTHING, IM SO HAPPY TO SEE MY BABY IN HERE!!!!!! HAVING A NICE ICE CREAM
Oh! TOWA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And Alisa and Sharon!! Lol, they put together Dudley and Machias on purpose, didn’t they? I’m really enjoying this whole first part of “slice of life” full of Crossbell fanservice. I just wish they hadn’t done this before in CS3/4, otherwise it would hit much harder than it does now, but it’s fine
The new Geofront theme goes hard huh? Not as good as the previous ones but I really like it. And I haven’t mentioned it yet, but one of the themes I was looking forward to the most is “Stand Up Again and Again”, which is the battle theme for Lloyd’s route and… holy shit it’s just so good, I love it, it gets me pumped up instantaneously
I’m loving being able to use Noel, Wazy and Rixia once again after SO long. They are really fun to use and Noel’s Brave Order goes hard as hell. But do you know what goes even harder? United Front. That shit is BUSTED and I absolutely love it, it’s definitely going to help me not suffer as much as I would with nightmare difficulty, which, by the way, hasn’t been a big problem so far and I’m getting through every boss first try so far, even this chapter’s final boss and its RP requirement
So, as the Signing Ceremony is about to begin.. of course, shit has to hit the fan and Rufus appears OUT OF NOWHERE with an overpowered defense force that takes power from… a black aura like the Curse? And if that was not enough, Rufus is able to singlehandedly take down the entire SSS, even with Noel, Wazy and Rixia joining… huh. Okay I guess. That kinda fucking sucks taking on account the powerscaling but aight
Oh but the twists are not over yet, guess who are back? GARCIA ROSSI AND DIETER. AND THEY’RE WITH RUFUS. Oh my god, I loved Garcia’s segment with Lloyd breaking out of the prison so they better not shit on it. There’s also the Guardian from the 3 & 9 novel I think, the Ouroboros’ scientist Anguis and someone who resembles Ilya… sigh. I fucking can’t with this trope of using characters we know to turn them into brainwashed villains. They better COMMIT TO IT or do nothing. I swear to god, the only time they did it right was with Crow, and then they fucking repeated it and flopped with every-fucking-one else
PLEASE, if they are going to repeat the Curse shit, they better do it well this time or I’ll go fucking insane. It was the WORST plot device in this entire fucking series so far, and I’m definitely not looking forward to seeing it again in any sort of form
But enough of the criticism. It was honestly a really good chapter and I’m SO looking forward to seeing what else is coming. It’s a really good setup that takes on account Zero/Ao and what Cold Steel established to bring a new story centered around Crossbell and SSS. I’m praying they do it right, but so far they got me very hyped
Rean’s route, Act 1 – As the Snow Thaws
GOSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I’M ACTUALLY SO EXCITED TO BE BACK WITH REAN TOO, I ACTUALLY MISS THEM A LOT. The intro cutscene (which, btw, have cutscenes in Trails ever looked as good as in here or for example the tower infiltration sequence in the prologue?) has “Flash Your Fighting Spirit” which is such a cool track too
OH FUCK WE ARE AT YMIR, WE HAVEN’T BEEN HERE SINCE CS2 EVEN THOUGH IT’S AN IMPORTANT LOCATION HUH? Or am I mistaken? Though, uhg, New Class VII focus huh? I’m sorry, I wish I could like them more but their group dynamic is boring as hell. They work better as independent characters. But I love that Claire is here at least
We get to see Rean’s parents again after so long, that’s nice. But, huh, the inventory and notebook are different for each route? Well, that might prove to be a problem later on for sure. And oh, I really liked Rean and Claire’s chat, but I wish it wasn’t in… the hot springs lol
AND WOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, WE FINALLY GET TO LISTEN TO REAN’S ROUTE BATTLE THEME, “LIKE A WHIRLWIND”. And ohhh, the guy we saw was Kurt’s father, the Thunder God. AND OHHHHHHHHHHH THIS IS WHERE “SWORD OF SWORDS” PLAYS?!?!
…God fucking dammit. That sure was a struggle in nightmare, given that we had 3 consecutive boss battles where we couldn’t save between any. I beat all of them in my first try, but guess what? I didn’t get the +5 RP of the last battle because I finished it on turn NUMBER 30, AND I HAD TO DO IT IN LESS THAN 30 AAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRGHGHHHH. Then, when I re-tried it… Fucking Claire suddenly was impossible to beat without good RNG, so I swear to god that she suddenly flipped a switch or something. Anyways, after some struggle I finally did it
HELL NAH, THE STRUGGLE DOESN’T END, THAT MAGIC KNIGHT WAS SO TOUGH. I was able to beat it second try, but oh my lord that took all of my mental health. I wonder if I’ll be able to keep up with the nightmare difficulty at this rate, hopefully it doesn’t get worse
So, Olivier and Schera have disappeared and Rean’s group is tasked with finding them, but that’s not all: we finally get our first look at C, self-proclaimed leader of the Reborn Imperial Liberation Front. They are behind Olivier’s disappearance too
C’s route, Act 1 – Evening of Encounters
WOOHOOOOOOOOO, WE FINALLY GET TO MEET Swin and Nadia, and I love how they implemented Swin’s Mark status in his gameplay! C appears out of nowhere as well to give out a hand against a combat shell which… gives me the creeps taking into account that they are usually related with the Black Workshop
C steals the case, which was supposed to be delivered to him since the start, and inside they find… yep, just I thought, an alive doll that will be the fourth party member and a huge plot point for this game. Honestly, I’m looking forward to see what this route will offer taking into account that it’s the new focus of Reverie and brings new characters
Then, the OPENING FINALLY ROLLS AND OH MY GOD I WAITED FOR SO LONG FOR IT TO PLAY AND IT’S BEAUTIFUL. I was not a big fan of replacing the animation with 3D, but it honestly works pretty well for Reverie. After CS3/4’s low budget openings, unless they went back to the incredible openings they did before, this is the next best thing I suppose. Though I don’t like that they reuse cutscenes from the actual game in it
Though, C’s route already ends here? That’s weird, given how long the other routes were during this first act. Now, for act two, I can choose whichever route I want to play first. Routes will start overlapping now, so I’m not entirely sure how I will divide it in here now
Act 2 – Lost Heroes, Vermillion Muck and Mire
I started with Lloyd’s route, and it seems we are left with only Lloyd and Rixia as if it was CS2 all over again. Though, we get a very unexpected assist, motherfucking Lechter. Later on, once we get to Armorica Village we find Elie, there’s an interesting scene where Rixia’s friend is starting to be “cursed” by the black aura too and Lloyd and Elie have quite an… interesting scene, with “Surely, Someday” from Zero playing. Now, Lloyd finds a strange mirror and we have to move onto Rean’s route now
Rean and the gang are in Heimdallr now, and meet up with Kurt’s mother. OH HELL NO, ELISE IS HERE, NOT THE FUCKING INCEST AGAIN PLEASE. I wonder if she’ll be playable this time as in CS2? OHHHHHHHHH SHE IS, that’s cool. While exploring Heimdallr, we come across a few Thors graduates, specially Vivi and Linde my beloveds
WOOOOOO WE GET TO SEE MILLIUM ONCE AGAIN!! And she’s with Jusis, siblings ❤ OMG AND THE OOMFIE HUG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Elliot also joins us later on. Time to have lunch, and it seems Alfin is here
Reverie Corridor, 1st visit
Rean finds the same mirror as Lloyd and welp, sounds like this is the end for now. OH WAIT, IS REVERIE FINALLY OPEN NOW? Wow, it’s really reminiscent of the Garden from Sky the 3rd. Though, I don’t like the fact that they were setting everything up so nicely and that communication between the teams was closed just for… this fantasy place to magically solve it. Oh wait lmao, they just lose their memories and that’s it, well that’s hella convenient. There’s so much stuff in here and nothing makes sense yet… interesting. Black Mirror, trials, the Reverie Corridor and Garden…
Oh boy, this is going to be either a chore or very fun, guess we will see. Will we finally see what was the purpose of the Reverie Corridor in CS2? Ohhh, it’s here where we can report our RP, aka Reverie Points, and apparently there’s finally a cool quest interface as seen in the tutorial? HUH THIS PLACE HAS ITS OWN BATTLE THEME TOO. Also, is the voice Roselia?
Overall, the Reverie Corridor looks… like a bit of a pain since it’s automatically generated and will probably require a bit of a grind. Not only that, but the first fucking guardian is fucking hell. It has an attack that will put all of your party at 8 HP, faint them and… goddamn, it took a bit of preparation to be able to defeat this fucker, but at least I now have an evasion tank Rixia, plus I discovered that Elie is pretty good thanks to the heal S-craft
Now that that’s finally done, we unlock the missions which seem to be pretty cool. And the shards are called PHANTASMAL shards… Hello Sky the 3rd nation. And oh lmao, we can use the stones we got in… a GACHA???!·?”! FJAFKAJFASKFA. Though this is where we get daydreams, which would be a similar concept to the doors in Sky, so I’m really excited to see those as they were pretty good back then
I just had an insane thought but, what if the Black Mirror also activated back in CS4 and was what helped Rean and everyone get strong enough to avoid the Normal ending where he has to sacrifice himself alongside Crow and Millium? That’d be a hell of a twist, but I feel like KeA has to be related in some sort too just like in Zero
Oh gosh, Vantage Masters is back… Can’t say I’m too happy about it. Anyways, the Reverie Corridor seems to have a lot of functionalities to it and that makes me very excited!
Daydream – Buried Trails, Beaten Trails, Blazed Trails
So, Rixia, Swin and Nadia? Interesting combination. HUH, Swin and Nadia are aware of Three & Nine books so that’s… interesting to say the least, I thought the characters wouldn’t be aware of those in-universe. But it makes sense that the Organization put those out as a threat for these two
Seems like this story revolves around Swin and Nadia infiltrating Arc en Ciel on a whim, while Rixia, Ilya and Sully rehearse. Rixia noticed them, and they end up in a duel later (HOLY FUCK CS4’S ENFORCERS THEME LET’S GO). We play as the kids against Rixia, but luckily it is not any kind of hard battle. Later on they realise they fought over a misunderstanding lol, and they moves onto… sharing a meal. Not something I would expect from people who usually have their guard up all the time but alright. It’s kinda nice to see them open up to each other about their lives and that they helped Rixia with her struggle over Yin. And uh, we get a glimpse on how they could have brainwashed Ilya, I hate this trope
Daydream – A Day in the Lives of the SSS
So, a bit of the SSS’ lives right after liberating Crossbell for the 2420th time and before the ceremony. OHHH THEY ARE PLAYING SOME MUSIC FROM THE CROSSBELL GAMES. We fight a… golden mechanical Mishy that got a virus, huh. I do wonder who built it tho, since they said it was donated from Roer
Anyways, they celeberate a farewell party for Randy since he has to go back to Erebonia, and we get a lot more teasing on Randy x Mireille. THOUGH, WHY DID KEA LAUGH ONCE LLOYD SAID “BLISSFUL DREAM”? PLEASE, DON’T TELL ME THEY ARE SAYING WHAT I THINK THEY’RE SAYING. AND OH MY GOD, KEA SAW LAPIS IN THE FUTURE… I love how they give these little hints for the current setting in the Daydreams
Act 2 – Slinking in the Shadows & Vermillion Muck and Mire
Well, back to using all of my stones. I got Alfin in the gold stones… gacha. I also got a minigame, Magical Alisa, which is probably related to some of the costumes we could see in CS4. Lmao, we even get a plot for it and the Infernal Castle from CS2. This is actually so fucking funny, plus it has visual novel elements combined with Kid Icarus. It’s actually pretty damn fun not gonna lie. We get Juna and Musse as playable girls, Fie as asssistant and Altina is out first boss
Anyways, back to Zemuria, shall we? Rean’s route gets blocked off, but Lloyd’s can continue. However, I’m going to go with C now for a while since I haven’t been on his route since forever, plus I found a patch for the Link Attack bug that NISA introduced out of nowhere, cough cough. Anyways, Lapis’ surname is Rosenberg and the client was Joerg from Ouroboros, so that’s extremely interesting. A Rosenberg doll for real this time
Ahhhh, we finally get to properly play with them. The battle theme for this route, “Wind-Up Yesterday!” is so good and has such a distinct vibe as well as the others. I love it. Huh, so the presence Rean felt was C, I like when they do stuff like this with connected routes in games. Nadia and Lapis also find Rean’s group while wandering around Heimdallr, and they steal Millium’s ARCUS unit
Huh, so we get a confrontation between both groups, that goes hard. HUH, WE GOT MOVED TO REAN’S GROUP? I did not expect that but I like that we are using this team instead. OHHHH WAIT WE PLAY AS BOTH CONSECUTIVELY, cool, “Sword of Swords” is such a good boss theme
Oh gosh, after a harsh boss on C’s route, we have to fight Rean’s group once again… BUT CROW IS WITH THEM!?!?!? MY FUCKING BELOVED, I MISSED YOU SO MUCH, I DIN’T THINK I’D GET SO HAPPY TO SEE HIM AGAIN. Now, as C’s group, we fight against Rean, Crow, Jusis and Millium this time. This is gonna be tough… or not, definitely easier than the previous boss even with the onslaughter of enemy S-crafts. I’m very happy with my progress in nightmare so far
HUH. HUHHHH. HUHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. So C’s identity is revealed this early? I was expecting them to reveal waaaay later, at least around Act 3, but I guess they want to get right down to business from this point onwards. Though I would have liked the reveal to be a little more jawdropping (plus this hell of a company already spoiled C’s identity in a lot of official merch)
Rufus drops the hint that the one in Crossbell is not the same person as him (huh wtf), and he reveals that he was not the one who kidnapped Olivier and Schera. And with that, both C and Rean’s routes come to a close for now, insane
Lloyd’s Route, Act 2 – Lost Heroes
Well, back to Lloyd and the gang for now. The other two routes were pretty fucking good, and I loved how they automatically interconnected with each other. So far, Reverie is being… fucking amazing. The pacing is really good, and I find myself wanting to play more and more constantly. If it keeps up the pace and manages to deliver even greater moments, we may be in front of one of my new favourite Trails games
ALSO LMAOOOO LECHTER MAKES A POKEMON REFERENCE WHEN GETTING CHESTS. Damn, I can’t believe that after so many games I’m finally starting to warm up to him this much
Well well, if it isn’t Cao the mf. This fucker really just won’t stop causing trouble for everyone, and now kidnapped Ilya and KeA. Oh, of course, he got bought out by Rufus. And the one who sold them out to Cao must have been Rixia’s friend after being consumed by the aura
So after a boss fight with Lau, Garcia is here and it seems his motives are based around having been offered turf and riches in this united nation, which makes sense given his character. Garcia and Cao teaming up though… holy fuck that’s one wild combination. And holy fuck, getting that RP requirement took me a few tries, that was one hell of a battle
Now we get a cutscene on Ilya, which seems to be have taken over by the black aura as we expected since the beginning. AND BEST DOGGO IS BACKKKKK, WELCOME BACK ZEIT I MISSED YOU. AND WAZY IS HERE TOO LETS GOOOOO. Well well, I hope they do well with the Ilya stuff or else I’ll probably be very disappointed
Rufus’ Route, Act 3 – Light in the Dark
We are forced to begin Act 3 with Rufus group… damn, it feels weird to call him Rufus already so early. And, huh, it’s Jindo’s airship the one that rescued them, that’s a strange connection. So, apparently the Rufus in Crossbell is a fraud? Hm… I wonder what path they’ll take this to.
So, the Ebon Forces tried to assassinate Rufus in his cell, but he flipped things on his favour and was able to escape and learn of his fraud at Crossbell and used the Olivier incident to lure Class VII
We get a little wholesome scene between Lapis and Rufus that I really liked, and Rufus starts wondering about his purpose in life and who he is. Since the beginning, his noble blood made him feel like a product rather and a human being, and when he sought the father he never had in Osborne, he took anything no matter how tainted to surpass him, but it never truly filled him, while his brother became even stronger. Gosh, I’m really liking all of this, Rufus’ character has always been very interesting to me and I like that we are finally going to these depths
Huh… so the way this new curse spreads is through Ilya’s dancing. Uhg, please don’t let me down. BUT, HELLO RENNEEEEEEEEE MY DAUGHTER, I’m so happy she’s joining the group, she will have a great dynamic with Nadia. Anyways, Rufus finally gets his Reverie mirror part, I wonder how the rest will react? But it seems I need to continue the other routes first
Rean’s route, Act 3 – Cruel Blue Skies
Onto Rean’s route next. It seems we are making onto Nord Highlands after Rufus’ hint. Also, MUELLEERRRRRRR, HE CAME TO RESCUE HIS BOYFRIEND. Woohoo, Emma and Sara are here too, I missed them. AND GAIUS WOOOO, his family really has grown up and we get an introduction for every one of them, that’s unexpected
Huh, what’s Grace doing here? Ohhh, yeah, back at the start we left Crossbell to follow a tip, which seems to be related to Olivier’s disappearance. Rean’s route gets locked here, so time to go to Lloyd’s route
Lloyd’s Route, Act 3 – Illusions Shattered
So, we are St. Ursula, in order to get to a Reinford military factory that might be related to the EDF. Sadly, our party has stayed behind except for Wazy, so now I no longer have my beloved evasion tank Rixia </3 But Tio (and Jona) are here, woohoo! And another scene where “A Barrier to Get Over” plays, which is pretty good considering Wazy was the one to stood up for them, AND OH GOSH “STARING AT THAT BACK” FROM ZERO ALSO PLAYS HERE. Oughhh, I love Crossbell so much, at this rate Lloyd’s route will become my favourite even if it has a few issues
OGHHH WE FIND AGATE AND TITA TOO, MY BELOVEDS… if only they hadn’t ruined their characters and boiled them down to whatever shitty romance they are pushing. The boss fight here against the mecha is also a bit tough. So, it seems Erika has found herself in trouble and we gotta rescue her, so… same format as previous act
Reverie Corridor, 2nd visit
Now, all three routes have synced their mirrors, so it seems our next visit to the Reverie Corridor is here. This is Rufus’ group first time here, plus Renne is reunited with Tita. I also unlocked “Who Qants to be Mirannaire” which I’m very excited about since it’s a callback to the same minigame in Sky the 3rd! I just wish Campanella was the host once again, though they acknowledge it. They can break the fourth wall a lot here so that’s fun, and I got a perfect score first try
Oh wow, for the mid-boss we face a hollow version of the SSS with eyes similar to Rean’s ogre form. They even had their S-craft portraits changed, cool. I also unlocked the Trials and… holy shit, I don’t know if it will be the norm, but the first one was insanely difficult: only Lloyd and Kurt against Shirley and Rixia, and I was forced to build Kurt as the best evasion tank I could, and even then I got unlucky for a few tries
I also discovered the Void Spires and Dreamland Hills for the first time. I swear to god, this is all so much fun and now that I have strong characters, playing through the Corridor feels so much satisfying. Also, is it just me or do the Dreamland Hills look like the inside portal of the Azure Tree? Anyways, I defeated the final boss of the 2nd Stractum with little trouble even though it looked difficult. Having Rixia as evasion tank, Rean as STR powerhouse and Elie and Tio as powerful art casters is doing wonders as a team so far
Oh and I unlocked the beach minigame which… is supposed to be the worst shit ever. Honestly, I’m just going to pretend I haven’t seen it.
Daydream – St. Astraia’s Violet in Bloom
Hm… This is the only Daydream so far where no character we know is on focus on the little picture so I’m intrigued. Instead, we have a student from this school with their face hidden. So… it begins with Myka, a student from there who is also Wayne’s sister
…OH LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO DON’T TELL ME THAT MYSTERIOUS STUDENT IS JUST KURT DISGUISED AS A GIRL, THEY JUST PULLED A JOSHUA ON HIM. Anyways, Myka is a huge lesbian
This time, while investigating the coma incidents in the school, we end up in a dungeon related to an artifact… WHICH IS THE SPIRAL OF EREBOS FOR SOME RASON!?!? AND THE FUCKING GODLIKE THEME PLAYS?!?! I’M GONNA CRY I LOVE THIS. IT DOESN’T MAKE ANY FUCKING SENSE AND THERE’S NO BUILD UP OR HYPE FOR THE SPIRAL OF EREBOS BEING HERE, BUT I’M HAPPY ENOUGH LISTENING TO ONE OF MY FAVOURITE TRAILS THEMES AGAIN… but ouch, it doesn’t remain during battles
HUH, MYKA ACTUALLY OWNS UP TO LIKING GIRLS, GO LESBIANS GO. Well, that was a cute little story. I suppose Kurt, Juna, Musse, Elliot and Elise are the focus for this one after all
Daydream – Home Sweet Turf
So Wazy and Wald huh? I’m guessing this will be about their fight that took place before the story. Though, it seems they didn’t bother making the Downtown District…. what a bummer. Given this will be the last game where we will see Crossbell in a long time and, in fact, it’s a huge focus of the game… they could have at least brought back all of it
I really like seeing Wald reunited with his old gang even though he still feels the guilt, and Wazy seems to have reunited with a few members of his gang too. There’s a little bit of focus on Noel too, since if I remember correctly she is the one who breaks up the fight between the two later on. And ahhhh Fran my beloved
LMAOOOOOO NOEL TOOK BOTH WAZY AND WALK DOWN IN ONE MOVE, GO QUEEN GO. It’s weird we didn’t get any kind of battle for this one, I wanted to fight against Wald
Daydream – Down the Rabbit Hole
So it seems this one is related to a hidden section of the Black Workshop and Millium’s Lammy right after she was revived. George lends Millium his combat shell, and Rean, Alisa, Jusis, Altina and Millium infiltrate this new section
This one is a lot of dungeon and battles, and in the end we find Lammy as well as a hologram of Alisa’s father. A little nice daydream
Daydream – To Your Blessed Future
Oh man… one centered around the newly weds, I’m really looking forward to this one. Schera and the Empress are talking about her wedding dress, and Schera gets a call from Aina! Man, I wish Liberl had a bigger focus on this game, I miss them so much. They even talk about the old bracer guild receptionists, which unfortunately most of them have been forgotten
OOF, THEY ALSO MENTION ZIN, KEVIN AND RIES COMING FOR THE WEDDING. Pouring salt in the wound, right? And Bleublanc took their wedding dress to make them go through his riddles? Not cool man, but it seems the real intent was to make them go down a memory lane and congratulate them for their union. It’s really wholesome, actually, and he even gets them the lost tiara from Olivier’s family as a gift. AND OH MY GOSH, EVEN LUCIOLA LEFT A MESSAGE… They even acknowledge her little cameo in Azure as fortune-teller, that’s so cool. This one was definitely one of my favourite Daydreams so far
Act 3 – Light in the Dark, Illusions Shattered
Back to Rufus’ route now. Time to infiltrate Rosenberg Doll Studio! It seems we will be entagled with other route though, and I’m guessing it will be Lloyd’s since we are both at Crossbell
With Lloyd, when we get to RF Military Factory we find Alisa and Sharon! Though we are thrown into a boss fight immediately after, which is… quite annoying. It seems the only connection between Lloyd and Rufus’ routes are the terminals, which is quite a shame since it’s so uninteresting
Lloyd’s route, Act 3 – Illusions Shattered
Huh, so there are traces of humanoid tech experiments taking place in the RF factory by the Sixth Anguis’ hand. Lloyd thought of the impostor Rufus which… makes some sense, but they better elaborate well on this. Uh oh, Project Babel also came up in here…
Welp, time for the bosses in these routes. First, I went with Lloyd, where we find Professor Novartis (and Lloyd calls KeA his child… sobs, found family). Not only he abducted Erika, but also Doctor Seiland. OH HELL FUCKING NO, WHAT’S MCBURN DOING HERE? I THOUGHT THIS BITCH WENT ON A SELF DISCOVERY JOURNEY?!?! It seems like he’s being controlled by the Professor in some way, but not like he will say not to a good battle. Gosh, this battle was hard and he kept spamming his S-craft, but somehow I was able to beat him first try, I’m really really happy with how I’m doing in nightmare so far
Goddamn, Lloyd confronting McBurn was really fucking good, I liked that cutscene a lot. AND HELL FUCKING YEAH. THEY USED THE ENFORCERS SUPER ARRANGE THEME HERE TOO, though just when McBurn was about to go full power… boom, his arm is cut off and makes a mechanical noise. So… these people are just robots infused with “real” memories? Uhg, that’s a very bad twist and concept. Dolls with the same abilities and thoughts as the originals… lame
And then, poof, the Professor self-destroyed the factory, but the Simulacra McBurn got a last hit on him before “dying”. We get now a cool timed escape sequence AND HOOOOOLY FUCK WHAT A COOL CUTSCENE AND ENTRANCE FOR NOEL, THAT WAS AMAZING
Rufus’ route, Act 3 – Light in the Dark
Now, back to Rufus’ route… Uh oh, our party has been separated, and I know very well what this gravity power thing comes from… Swin and Nadia are not gonna have a nice time here. Oh shit, the robots are also happening here, including Renne’s parents. Oh wait, will Lais also be a robot of this sort? Hm… maybe this is getting interesting
Oh well, just as I thought that, we find a room full of dolls like Lapis. Ough… it’s actually so good how both Lapis and Rufus reflect on each other so well and struggle finding their own identity. We even get a sweet cutscene of Rufus pulling Lapis into the light. And then, damn, we fight three entire wave of Lapis dolls
As for Swin and Nadia’s side… yep, as expected, it was The Emperor that was supposedly dead in their book. I’m gonna assume this guy is a doll too but, damn. This fight isn’t that hard, but this motherfucker kept healing itself due to the turn bonuses. After it, Nadia actually notices that this is not the same guy they fought before, so yep, a doll as I expected. Now, same fight again but with the whole party and… a very nasty RP requirement of 40 turns. Thankfully I was able to do it, but I definitely came completely unprepared since I did not have an evasion tank or the correct weakness arts on my casters
We learn a little more about Professor Novartis’ involvement, and how Ouroboros is not interfering in any way with the current events, only him out of curiosity. Also, it seems there’s a “greater” force that has made even better dolls, which is probably behind Supreme Leader Rufus as well. They also mentioned the Astral Code, which has not been talked about in a looong while. Anyways, we get Lapis’ memory back back, though it’s still locked and the key to it is… someone called Ian. Oh fucking hell. Ian Grimwood, is it you? Things are getting fucking interesting
Rean’s route, Act 3 – Cruel Blue Skies
Now there’s only one route left for this act, so back to Rean and the squad at Nord Highlands. After all the bombs of the other routes, I wonder what’s waiting for us in this one. Well well, first of all, we have a veteran Cryptid from Cold Steel as optional boss here. It kinda sucked at first, but once I realized I could just Crescent Mirror its attacks, it went down easily
We finally arrived at the Watchtower and what would you expect, Calvard is trying to… invade us? Once the tanks are down, yep, no sign of life, so it means someone is working up a war behind the scenes. Oh! And Aurelia is here! …and so is Professor Schmidt. It seems the 23rd division is up to something, so time to raid the Watchtower as if we were on CS2. Is that Cassius at the top though? Did they clone as a doll this guy too?
WELP, I GUESS I GOT THE DIVINE BLADE WRONG, BUT THAT’S FUCKING ARIOS. I’ve been wondering where the hell this guy is since the beginning when he disappeared during the Signing Ceremony. I’m guessing this is a doll and not the real deal, but what is going on with him in that case? Fortunately he isn’t that hard, but has a ton of HP. Yep, a doll in the end
It seems also that the weapons oofered as a peace treaty were just an illusion, and were hiding the Courageous II underneath, huh… And as expected, the whole division is behind it, but this kind of technology is beyond what we’ve ever seen. We also finally get to see both Olivier and Schera, who are trapped in the ship. ALSO, DID FUCKING OLIVIER IMPLY THAT SCHERA IS PREGNANT?! HUH?! and dayum we get a escape sequence as Olivier with Schera as support (sobs, I wish Schera was playable)
Time to raid the Courageous with our full party! It’s a pretty underwhelming segment to tell the truth, but I liked the focus on Olivier here. And Dalton can’t even be called a boss lol. Anyways, then the unmanned tanks from earlier just… start attacking everyone?? After a lot of stuff going on and a new plan formed to stop whatever they are planning to stage, we get a… 1vs1 fight between Rean and the doll Arios which would be infinitely way more hype if it was a real human being and not just some clone lol. No weight or repercussions whatsoever, no hype at all
Then, Musse realizes that all of the recent ploys have been sloppy, as if our victory was expected and their true intent lied somewhere else. And so it seems, a railway gun is poinitng at the settlement… HUH?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? THAT WAS A DOPE ASS CUTSCENE, I LOVED IT, BUT WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING? A NEW VALIMAR? A NEW DIVINE KNIGHT THREAT TOO AFTERWARDS? AND IT’S TAKING DOWN ALL THE AIRSHIPS INCLUDING THE CORAGEOUS? AND ZEIT AND ROSELIA CAME OUT OF NOWHERE TO HELP? ?????????????????????????? God, Rean’s new look and the heterochromia looks fucking cool on him, though the poor guy can’t stop getting new edgy designs lol
Fuck, after all of that I don’t even know which route to play next, they’ve all ended with a bang, and even though Rean’s seemed like the most uninteresting one at first, now I am extremely interested in knowing what happened
Rean’s route, Act 4 – Zeroth Hour
Ngl, the curiosity got me so I went ahead with Rean’s route again. I’m so sad that the game is slowly getting closer to an end though… I’m already in Act 4, and 50h in, I love Trails so fucking much, I wish it never ended
So… the new look on Rean has faded away, the knight he called was a new model of Panzer Soldat that was being developed for him, but they have no idea how he managed to call it from so far away, and we know nothing of the new looming threat that is apparently a Divine Knight
It seems Cecine and Zeit were with Roselia this whole time. The Knight seems to have headed in the direction of Crossbell, so the whole gang teleports from the Shrines over there- Oh god, everyone is truly here from the Rean squad, even Claire, and Lechter comes to say hi too
Oh, thank god, our party has the new members instead and we don’t have to choose among all of them. I’m looking forward to having Laura, Fie, Celine and Crow with us. After a few random battles in Mishelam, we are gonna have to progress in the other routes for the Reverie Corridor
Rufus’ route, Act 4 – Elysium
Ohhh, Knox Forest, so they’re heading for the prison as expected huh? I wonder if we will actually see Grimwood. HOOOOOOOOLY FUCK, WE FIND DUVALIE WITH THIS TEAM!!!!! HELL YEAH!!!! I HOPE SHE JOINS US CAUSE I’D LOVE TO SEE HER DYNAMIC IN THIS GROUP, I LOVE HER
Oh gosh, I had completely forgotten that Rufus was the one who murdered Arianrhod so… of course Duvalie would go nuts at him. A duel between them is just perfect, though I wish Duvalie had been the victor… my poor girlfail
We proceed to infiltrate the Crossbell Police Station and… what the actual fuck. TWO FAKE ARIOS?!?!?!?!? AND THEN THE REAL ONE POPS UP TOO?!?!? GODDAMN WHAT’S GOING ON LMAOOOOO, WHERE HAS HE BEEN ALL THIS TIME… And holy fuck, he actually joined the party, this is shaping up to be quite an interesting Imperial Picnicking Front
Lloyd’s route, Act 4 – Will, Tempered by Dusk
Can’t say I wish I could continue the other routes to the end since the piqued my interest so hard, but it’s time to do Lloyd’s route as well so we can go to the Reverie Corridor. So, as expected, this time we will have to find Randy, and most likely Estelle and Joshua at last!
On our way to Mainz, we are just Lloyd and Noel. Of course, Randy comes save our ass AND AWWWWW HE HUGGED LLOYD, I LOVE THEM SO MUCHHHHHH. AND OMGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG TOWA (and Machias) IS HERE!!! MY BELOVED!!! I MISSED HER SO MUCH, SHE BETTER BE PLAYABLE THIS TIME!!
Oh no… Mireille is critically injured, I hope she ends up okay (this is Trails, no one is ever in danger). Ouugh… Mainz’s old theme… that hits the spot
Reverie Corridor, 3rd visit
WOOHOOOOOO!!! TOWA!!!! MY BELOVED!!!!!!!!!!! It’s funny to see that Noel’s motorbike is part of Alisa’s company and also part of what Crow and the others were working on during CS1. And Tio and Laura fangirling over Mishy with all the Mishy merch is so funny!!
God… why does the Magical Alisa minigame still go so hard, and the new art of the girls is so cool, I love Duvalie’s. I got Toval in a golden sealing stone too! And I unlocked Project Tyrfing so time to see what’s that about. So, it seems it tells us about the origins of the new mecha that appeared for Rean, and how they’re trying to mimic Divine Knights’ functionalities. Oof, it’s a bit sloppy to control but it’s fun
Holy fuck are the Trials hard tho, I literally had to build Nadia as a EVA tank or else the Trial 4 with her and Musse against Aurelia would have been simply impossible
Daydream – A Maiden’s Melancholy
Sara, Claire and Sharon? This promises, I love all of them a lot and I’d like to see more of them together. And ough ough, it starts off with Claire’s regrets and inability to forgive herself. Ohhh and the Emperor infiltrated the RMP a few days earlier, I wonder if it’s the copy or true one
Huh, a new character, Isara Irving… She is Claire’s cousin, but it’s so sudden that I’m inclined to agree that it’s a trap? She was real mean to her, but inside she cares, so it’s confusing… And oh shit, of course the Emperor is the one to kidnap her. Time to beat his ass
OH WAIT FUCK, WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHARON IS A SURVIVOR OF THE ORDER OF THE MOONLIGHT HORSE? IS IT RELATED TO WHY SHE KNOWS SOME VILLAIN CHARACTERS FROM CALVARD? This had been teased ever since CS3 so… oh my god. Hmmm, and Isara takes up an offer related to Thors? I wonder what is being teased in here, but it was a nice little daydream
Daydream – The Path Chosen
Ouughhh… this one is about the older Thors class, Crow, Towa, George and Angelica. It’s kinda funny how this group has two of my favourite characters in all of Erebonia (Towa and Crow) and then there’s whatever mess that Angelica and George are
So, it’s a reunion of Thors’ 220th class huh? Cool, they even got a few of the other classmates here. It’s fun to see the Branch campus interact with the older Thors students too!
Huh, so Crow is pondering about some kind of self-disvocery journey later on (I hope with Rean), while Towa is thinking about leaving the Branch campus. SOBSSSS CROW SAYING TOWA IS THE GLUE HOLDING THEM TOGETHER IS SO HEARTWARMING, EVEN MORE KNOWING HOW SHE WENT THROUGH SO MUCH WHILE THEY WERE… EITHER DEAD, ON THE EVIL SIDE OR BRAINWASHED. THERE’S EVEN A CUTE ART OF THEM I HADN’T SEEN BEFORE WHERE THEY ARE OUT EATING TOGETHER. And so, it seems Towa has finally decided to join the NGO. I know we will be meeting her in Kuro 2, so now I’m more excited than ever to see her future opening up like this
Ahaha, I should have expected this from Towa: she twill take on jobs from the NGO while still working on the branch campus. And ohhh, so Isara will take over Michael at the branch campus as they teased before
Daydream – Project Orbal Gear IV Pt. 1
Oh gosh! This is a callback to Tita and Agate’s door back in Sky the 3rd (even the separation in two parts!). It was a really nice door back then, but with how Cold Steel ruined their characters I cannot say that I am not scared shitless of how this one will go…
OHHHH so this is how Erika came back, and she’s all over Tita just like back then. It seems a lot of the party from Liberl is here to deal with the Black Workshop’s remainings and consequences
Huh, so Erika wants to take Tita back home? I really like how they went over why Tita is still in Erebonia and why she came in the first place: to help Olivier while Estelle and the others couldn’t since they couldn’t enter the country, and complete the Orbal Gear III. Since all of those have been cleared, Erika wants her back in Liberl, but Tita (and the rest) refuses, so… she’ll give her best as usual to produce results and convince her mother of otherwise. I like the Liberl fanservice so far
Tita is doing her best with the new Orbal Gear IV project, and a lot of her classmates supporting her. I like that we finally get a bit of focus on her as deserved. Awww, even Tio is lending a hand
So, flying will be the prominent feature of her new design, and when she tries it out, we get the old mecha theme! BUT NOOOOOOOOOOOO, IT BREAKS WHILE TRYING TO HELP AND AIRSHIP and… Agate saves her … somehow? AND WHY IS THE EMPEROR DISGUISED AROUND HERE????? IS HE RELATED TO THE ANTI GRAVITATIONAL ENGINE?
Daydream – Justice a Deux
LET’S GOOOO, I really like the idea of pairing up Machias and Dudley together, they make a great combo so I’m excited to see a little daydream about them
It seems it happens right after the prologue, with Machias coming to the Orchis Tower for investigation purposes. It is during this that Machias and Dudley get to know each other, and, of course, over coffee
They investigate together a possible case of fraud and counterfeit, and honestly? They are great together, plus I love how Dudley can support and advice Machias given how similar their paths have been
OH WAIT, THE CULPRITS… THERE’S AN OLD WOMAN AMONG THEM, IS IT THE SAME ONE FROM THE OLD SIDEQUESTS IN CROSSBELL??? AND THE OLD GUY IS THE ONE WHO PLAYED THE CAPUA FAMILY INTO SELLING THEIR WEALTH, THIS IS SUCH A NICE CALLBACK. I really like that we finally get an ending for these two fuckers, and at the hand of Machias and Dudley no less. I love their bond
Daydream – The Fallen Prince
Not gonna lie, I wasn’t expecting them to bring up Cedric in any shape or form during Reverie, but he even got a badass new art and outfit so I feel like this is the best way to continue his arc in the sidelines. Plus, we even get to see Shirley and the inside of the Corageous again
He trains under Shirley and the Red Constellation, but struggles to keep up. HUH, WE CONTROL CEDRIC FOR THIS???? Damn, we got Cedric as playable (and the damned arcahsim for some reason) but not Dudley or Scherazard, what a world we live in
Wow, I did not really like Cedric all this time, but this daydream is very nice and helps dig into his character and how he owns up to his sins. HUH, AND WE FACE GILBERT AND THE RED CONSTELLATION GUY WITH SWORD OF SWORDS, that’s cool. We even fight Gilbert in his stupid G-Apache, lol
Ouuughhh, Cedric also attended Olivier’s wedding, though hidden. It seems he did become an Enforcer
Lloyd’s route, Act 4 – Will, Tempered by Dusk
Back to Mainz! Ough, I love how Randy and Machias can support each other, it’s an unexpected duo. Gosh, I love Randy and Lloyd together, they make such a good pair (and ship) and Lloyd always knows how to hit Randy’s weak spot so he doesn’t do anything crazy. Randy has really grown on me more and more with each game… AND OH MY GOD LLOYD REALLY DROPPED THE “WE LOVE YOU” ON RANDY, THESE GAY ASSES. I really liked this part
WOOHOO, OPERATION STARTTTT, we even get the cool theme from the prologue as a mainstay here. I love having Towa in my party, I missed this
WOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, ESTELLE AND JOSHUA FINALLY MAKE THEIR APPEARANCE. GOD, I MISSED YOU SO MUCH ESTELLE, WHERE HAD YOU BEEN?! AND THEY EVEN CALLED FOR SERGEY AND DUDLEY
Time to make for Moon Temple! I never used Estelle and Joshua as much as I would have liked back in CS4, so it’s time to solve that. I turned Joshua into my EVA tank (he has 25% evasion by default so he’s CRAZY just like Rixia and Fie), and while Estelle isn’t particularly good, she excels at breaking bosses so I’ll be using her for that
OHHHH this time we get to explore the Moon Temple just like back in AoZero, even with the exterior “pool” and all. Uhg, we are back to the whole Ilya thing, I still don’t like where this is going. Alas, it’s confirmed she’s being brainwashed, so a really really weak plot device once again. AND OF COURSE, LLOYD WITH THE POWER OF LOVE AND FRIENSHIP OVERCOMES ILYA’S POWERS LMAO. I swear this was not this bad back in AoZero so I’m sad to see how dirty they’re doing Lloyd here
Gosh, I’m very happy with my builds causet his fight was a walk in the park, though that S-craft’s deathblow hurt. Though, I’m realising, is this really the end for Lloyd’s route? It’s sad to see how uneventful it was compared to the others… They definitely could have done a lot better, but hey, it’s still a really good route
Back to the post-fight scenes, it seems every party member of the Lloyd route is here in Jingo’s airship. They all reunite back in Mainz, and Ilya just poofs 
Anyways, now the Supreme Leader is up to something, delcaring war to the entire continent. AND REAN COMMUNICATES WITH LLOYD AND HE IS ON HIS NEW FORM? OH BOY WHAT’S WAITING FOR US IN REAN’S ROUTE?
Rean’s route, Act 4 – Zeroth Hour
Huh… okay… so gotta find M’s treasures, alright. So, the gargoyles are robots, and we are about to reenact a long-lost event… could it be about KeA again? And we have to fight the damn golden Mishy again (with a different new theme for some reason?) What the hell is going with this robot understanding human speech and self-destructing itself in the air as Rean in CS4’s normal ending?
So… inside the Castle of Mirrors we are. Huh, do the Hollows come from here? And we keep getting hints of a white-haired Rean, just like the one afflicted from the Curse in CS4…
YEAH. YEAH. FINALLY. Rean enters the final mirror where KeA once used to be (nice foreshadowing for parallel timelines) and Rean sees what happened in the Normal Ending, while Ishmelga tells him that it’s the fate he should have faced. I was SO looking forward to them finally tying the Normal Ending from CS4 in some way, BUT PLEASE TELL US MORE
…The true king of this place is… edgiest Rean? AND HE HAS ALISA’S FATHER’S COMBAT SHELL? AND THE OPENING THEME AS INSTRUMENTAL BOSS THEME AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. God, that truly was SOME battle, and we finally got to play as the new Rean form!!!!!
Hm… he speaks of this person as his sacrificial self. Actually, I never stopped to think how well knit the whole “Sacrifice” thing was in regards to Rean’s biggest struggle: his sacrificial self, which we are facing right now. It’s tue that Rean’s character and development has slightly felt a bit one step forward and two steps back at times, but at the same time it truly is a realistic portrayal of overcoming these struggles, and give a special shape and form on his whole character, which I love so much. And with all the events he has been forced to go through, it’s no wonder he keeps falling: CS1 had him being taken away in an unknown mecha and leaving his classmates behind to a possible death, not to mention the whole power inside of him that he feared so much and amde him go berserk; CS2 had the whole war, Osborne being his father and Erebonia using him as a tainted hero that did the dirty work he never agreed with; CS3 had the Northern War, the Ogre power, the Sacrifice and him being the key to almost destroying the entire world. This man truly needs a break, and hopefully Reverie will be the time to overcome his greatest wall
I love this scene of him crossing swords with himself, it is an important moment in his whole character. When the sacrifical Rean is unmasked… surprise surprise, two amber eyes and a lost name that rings a bell to Ishmelga. Huh, he even called for a… Divine Knight? Zoa Gilsten, the Zeroth Knight. This Rean keeps speaking like the Rean from the Normal Ending, this is so dope
The communication artifact is here and… oh lord, we are getting closer to the truth. Clones of artifacts too? Beings that defy the very laws of reality… just what the hell is the twist waiting for us in here? God, I’m so extremely excited, this game keeps getting better and better, it is genuinely going to be at the level of Azure and SC at this rate
Rufus’ route, Act 4 – Elysium
How will Rufus’ route tie into the other two? Guess we will have to see. Gosh, the Prison truly has a banger theme huh? And it’s quite funny to see how different it is now due to Lloyd’s escape back in Azure. Anyways, the current party in this Act is definitely the most curious to see so far, I really like it
Welp, at the end of the prison, as expected, was not only Ian, but also Shizuku for some reason, which is Arios’ reason for being here. And well well, look who’s here. I did not think they would actually let us see Ian Grimwood or that he would even have a model, but here we are
HUH, AND WHAT’S THAT? THE EMPEROR AS A DEVIL? Gosh, I thought it was going to be about Gnosia which would be fucking cool to tie some things up, but it seems all they said is something about artifacts malfunctioning. HUH, AND ZEIT CAME TO THE RESCUE HERE?? Bro coming in clutch for EVERY ROUTE
WOOOOHOOOOOO, WE GET A CUTSCENE FOR THIS BATTLE’S CLIMAX AS WELL, AND I LOVE HOW WE GOT SUCH A NICE FOCUS ON SWIN AND NADIA, MY BABIES!!!!! Finally, after so long, they’ve put their greatest fear to rest for the time being
So, back to Ian, he had been allowed a computer in the cell and was contacted by someone by the name of Elysium. Apparently, it was an AI (oh lord, not on these times) but… you’re fucking telling me the whole reason for these advanced AIs coming up all of a sudden is because… the spirit veins just came into contact with the orbal net????? My biggest bruh moment- AND IT CAN PREDICT THE FUTURE? NAH MAN STOP FUCKING WITH ME, WHAT DID YOU SMOKE FOR THIS PLOT
Wait, and Lapis is Elysium? An identity born from Elysium after its talks with Ian? HUH, and given how Lapis lost her memories and how the Supreme Leader came to visit Ian later on, it would seem that Elysium is being used for the wrongdoings of our antagonists. What I did not expect is that Garcia and Dieter were part of Ian’s plan to outwit the supreme leader, and did not actually agree with him
Elysium was taken over as I said, and then Lapis trasnferred herself to Rosenberg in order to avoid deletion, and offered herself to a man named C, knowing Rufus to be a capable man who goes off the set road. The one final piece that they cannot put together is: who would take over Elysium and cause this crisis? And from what we already know… I’d probably say it’s Ishmelga in some shape (what was Shizuku doing here anyway?)
It is a bit heratwarming to see Lapis encouraging Ian to believe in himself more even after all the mistake he had committed, and the camera panning at Arios during that too is… damn, it hurts
Finale – Hope in Reverie
AAAHGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG I DON’T WANT TO BE AT THE FINALE ALREADY!!!! I WANNA PLAY REVERIE UNTIL MY ARMS COME OFF AND KURO NO KISEKI HAS RELEASED, THIS HURTS SO MUCHHHHH, I LOVE TRAILS SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
They let me choose between the three routes but, I’m pretty sure this is where they merge all in one for the final act. Lloyd and Rean’s groups are talking and putting together the information that they have, and then Rufus joins in as well. Damn, all the groups are finally “together”, and seeing everyone’s reactions to Rufus is priceless
And so it seems, it’s time to finally liberate Crossbell. First group is composed of the SSS + Liberl gang, cool. Even Dieter and the guy from the Red Constellation, Gareth, are helping, it’s curious to see how he’s using the same jaegers he used for his own plot back in Azure being used for good now. Though, in all of this, it’s a bit sad to see how LITTLE they even used Dieter or Garcia at all. Lloyd’s route truly feels like it got the short end of the stick in every aspect, and they had so much more potential to work with
And aww, Lechter and Claire came to aid Rufus’ team, I like seeing the Ironbloods together since they are one of my favourite groups due to their dynamics. Huh, even Heiyue is helping? These fuckers always be acting out of their own interest
Finally, time for Rean’s group (and of course, the biggest too). Oh, and yeah, Alisa, Sharon, Machias and Towa had to join them as well. AND HEY, WITH THE CHAINED SPIRIT UNIFICATION, WE FINALLY GET TO SEE REAN’S NEW S-CRAFT ART. IT GOES SO FUCKING HARD, SO INCREDIBLY HARD. And now Garcia is the one who comes to help!
Lloyd and Rean’s tams come together, and it looks like we are about to face Ilya at last. And… she buckled under the pressure of having to rise again for Crossbell, and that’s how she ended up a victim of the mask. Welp, bruh. AND RIXIA IS COUNTERING ILYA’S DANCE WITH ONE OF HER OWN? LMAO. This is a bit ridiculous but aight
And, of course, Rufus’ group is the first one to encounter the imposter supreme leader. He offers Rufus to take on his role, as Rufus Albarea is the only man who can unite all of Zemuria, fraud or not. Overall, this scene is really fucking good, given how this is sort of Rufus facing himself and his past sins, and now he has to prove he has gotten over his obsession with perfection and overcoming his father. And not only a test for him, but the Ironbloods altogether. Time to face him!
WOOHOO, DESTINATION OF FATE AGAINST RUFUS AND ILYA. It’s weird to see how they keep hyping up Ilya to be a huge opponent when I literally could not care less about her, but oh well. The battle against the two of them at the same time is tough, but so satisfying. This was my first time bringing three casters, and I went wild with it
Woohhoo!! Cutscene!! It’s the sequences from the opening, with C against Rufus but this time unmasked, as well as Rixia agasint Ilya. Ilya is “saved” (oof), and the supreme leader is finally cut down but… what about the Zeroth Knight and its Awakener?
HUH. SOMETHING CAME OUT OF LAKE ELM AND… IT LITERALLY ERASED JUNO NAVAL FORTRESS. So, that was Novartis’ aim, birthed from Elysium, given shape into a singularity. so, HERE IT FINALLY IS: Reverse Babel (I refuse to call it Retributive Tower)
Huh, Roy Gramheart, president of Calvard… he’ll play a huge role in Kuro, won’t he? The next targe of Reverse Babel is on Calvard, so this is due to make some whiplash
FUCKING OLIVIER FINALLY APPEARS, and vita and Thomas as well! Took them long enough. Time to patrol around Crossbell before our final operation, but, Lapis says something interesting about Lloyd being the key to unravel the truth…. Interesting, I was expecting Rufus or Rean to carry that spotlight. And ohhhh, it seems we are gonna have to make a break for the Reverie Corridor now
Reverie Corridor, 4th visit
Elysium has tried to interfere with Reverie, and to combat that, they will be granted their memories of current events, though will not leave with them
Huh, is Rufus the last VM opponent? I beat him first try, and it had an interesting conversation later on, but the only reard was a Zeram Capsule. Oh, yeah, the achievement popped up so that was the last one, cool
Oh fuck, I got Arseid in a golden stone, that’s raw. AND THEN I HAD TO BEAT ARSEID IN TRIAL 7 WITH REAN AND ARIOS, GODDAMN THAT WAS HARD. Mariabell’s trial with Elie and Juna was also fucking tough, my god, I am gonna have a hard time with these huh? Way later on I also got Aurelia in a gold stone
I also beat every Pom-pom party oppponent (oh my fucking god, some of them were ruthless) and faced KeA as my final opponent! Gosh, puyo puyo is so much fun
Also, I’ve come to the HORRIFIC realization that apparently… you have to SCAN every enemy for the achievement, not just log them… and oh my god that puts a huge dent on my plan to platinum the game on my first run. I genuinely thought you didn’t need the green checkmark, so I never bothered with it, but I was too dumb. Since in CS games, you get the master quartz or whatever reward without the green checkmark, I thought it would be the same here, but nope. Hopefully I can still get the Master Missions achievement, but man, that fucking hurts. And yeah, now I’m realizing that I never got the enemy notebook achievement in the past CS games, I sure am stupid
Anyways, I think it’s time to look around Crossbell. There are a few quite interesting conversations around which I really liked. There are a few extra scenes to see as well, where we find out more about Project Babel. In the Prison, we also come to realise that the Emperor’s replica isn’t perfect even though it came from an AI
This doesn’t really have anything to do with where I am at the game, but I’ve been thinking and… man, if the Finale or post-game doesn’t magically solve many of Reverie’s issues, maybe it is not fated to be the 5 stars game I had started to envision after literally 100h of playtime. My biggest issues are: robots, fucking robots, they cannot fucking get away with making a few of the final bosses for a few Acts just fucking clones of the originals with no weight or importance whatsoever: fucking McBurn? Arios? The Emperor? What was even the point in fighting those?
And don’t get me started on how fucking much wasted potential there is in Lloyd’s route. It makes me so fucking sad that it’s so rough around the edges and overall… pretty mid. There was SO much potential in a new adventure centered around the SSS to put a decisive end to the Crossbell problem, but they ended up getting the worst route by far. And let’s not even fucking talk about Ilya, that shit is going to end me
Rufus’ route… gosh, I really like it, but once again I think they could have done a lot more for this one. I don’t know, I feel like something just didn’t click with me since it’s usually everyone’s favourite route, but as much as I like their dynamics and the members, I think it was too short in comparison, and the fact that it did not have a proper Act 1 hurts it
Overall, I am just not invested in whatever this AI shit, and it feels like a massive asspull. I am crossing my fingers that the finale makes up for it but… damn, Reverie started off so fucking strong that it makes me sad to see the overarching plot getting weaker and weaker. I still have hope for the Finale though
Time to see the current Daydreams though! And as for the minigames, damn the Alisa magical girl’s finale was actually so fun too, plus I did not expect to BATTLE FUCKING ISHMELGA WITH CS4’S FINAL BOSS THEME TOO. Actually hilarious, and I battled that entire stage with Alisa cause I did not expect her to join as playable too, THOUGH POOR MILLIUM DID NOT EVEN GET AN ASSIST
There’s Project Tyrfing too, where we face Crow and Gaius this time. It’s still funny to me that avoiding the normal enemies is way harder that facing the bosses, which I did practically no-hit
Daydream – Wishes of a Witch
OHHHHHHHH one centered around the witches! Feels incredible to finally dip into Emma’s past in depth, and even getting to see partially an art of her later mother and how she received Celine from Roselia. They even tied CS2’s ending photo of young Emma watching Vita leave
So… Rose was hiding a dairy of Emma’s mother, Isola. AND ZEIT COMES OUT OF NOWHERE TO MEET ROSE LMAO. Huh, we even get to explore around Eryn with Emma, Roselia and Vita in our party. Later on, we take on the Ivory Shrine with Celine, while we uncover new pages of Isola’s diary. So, she noticed Ishmelga’s existence since very early, and she was followed by the previous incarnation of the Alberich, where they both fell in battle 11 years ago
Ourgh, we get to hear Isola’s parting words to her beloved witches before her demise, and she did this so that in the future we had a fighting chance against Ishmelga. It was a really sweet daydream honestly, and I loved seeing all the witches together as I really love them
Daydream – The More Things Change
Oh lord, a continuation to that one door from Sky 3rd about Lechter, Kloe and Lucy huh? Can’t say I’m particularly looking forward to it since I’m a huge hater of the Lechter and Kloe ship, but oh my lord it gets me really happy to see more of my beloved Kloe and such a nice nod to Sky
It begins with their reunion, though it’s quickly ended by a call Lechter ceieves and the story changes focus to him. We get to see Millium too, and the aftermath on the Intelligence Division after the events of CS4. We get a nice scene on Lechter’s loyalty to Osborne, and how he followed him so that if one day he strayed from his path, he would be the one to take his life, though everything ended up in Rean’s hands, his true son (I actually like this analogy since the Ironbloods treated themselves as a sort of children of the Chancellor)
Huh… so a partner of his, Hubert, ended up siding with Calvard’s CID (Intelligence Division I assume?) to take Lechter out. This gives us a look at Calvard’s corruption so I wonder how it will tie into Kuro. Though Lechter foresaw this since the start, and they had even structured a new ID, though it surprised me to see a familiar face: Reins, who is Grace’ partner and also a member of R&A back in AoZero
Ough, it hit me that one part where Lechter says he drowns himself in work since he has no loved ones, unlike the other Ironbloods who still have families or people to turn to. And once this happened, I knew Kloe would come find him in that rooftop, just like back in Jenis. So, it seems he never realised he had people he could be his true self with… and they drag him to Liberl to have a Jenis reunion! Awwww
I must say, I ended up liking this daydream a lot more than I expected, and it makes a good statement on how my opinion of Lechter has been getting better and better with each game. I really really like what they have been doing with his character and his role in the Ironbloods, and seeing how he has appeared through so many games, it seems he finally got a nice little conclusion for now after so many burdens to carry
Daydream – Project Orbal Gear IV Pt. 2
Back to Agate and Tita’s daydream! So, the Western Zemuria Tech Union huh? Given the current standing of Calvard, plus how advanced the Thirteen Factories are getting, this sounds like a logical move. Holy hell, Erika sure is overtaking Estelle on quippy comments, I may start liking her a lot more
So, gotta put the new Orbal Gear to the test at Einhel Keep huh? The NC7 girls are helping us, including even Alfin too. LMAOOOOOOOOOOO, and our enemy is Estelle, Renne and Kurt pretending to be baddies. Feels weird to battle against Estelle and Renne but I welcome it!
Damn, that wasn’t all though. Ash, Joshua and Rean were waiting in the next room too. And taht’s not all, Agate seems to be the final boss here, fitting. BUT LMAOOOOO, RIGHT WHEN SWORD OF SWORDS WAS PLAYING, ERIKA’S MOM INTERRUPTED THE THING TO DO HER OWN SUCCESS DANCE WHILE AIMING AT AGATE EVEN THOUGH THEY’RE FIGHTING TOGETHER. My god, I can’t believe this mad woman ended up being so charismatic
In the end, as expected, Tita was able to stay becase Agate presented a report of what happened during testing to Erika. Gosh, they would be such a damn cute found family if they stopped the stupid shipping!!! Tita and Agate are the sweetest SIBLINGS, nothing else. LMAOOOOOOOOOOO OKAY, the Erika being murderous towards Agate bit was annoying at first, but it’s getting more hilarious every time just by seeing how differently they approach this humour compared to the other humor in this game. Like, how can I not burst out laughing seeing Erika covered in a black aura with capital separated letters and ready to murder Agate in cold blood?
In the end, this daydream ended up being pretty damn good if we ignore the shipping part and focus on them being siblings. I was super sad at seeing how Cold Steel had ruined Tita and Agate, but this put a smile in my face even if it doesn’t make up for whatever they’ve done to them
Daydream – Ultimate Wilderness Cooking
…Huh? The thumbnail for this one is just… Freddy??? I hope it’s not just about him since, you know, while he’s likeable, he’s just some branch campus student that doesn’t contribute much to the overall plot lol. I wouldn’t particularly care, but I’d be sad that one of the daydream slots is just… this
Okay so, it feels more like a branch campus daydream, having Freddy go around asking them for their opinion on his cooking. We even get to control him just destroying monsters lol, I thought for a sec that we’d control him or smth. This little trip is kinda hilarious tho, I admit the guy has personality
Looks like it’s time for the cooking contest. Overall, it was a nice little daydream, very enjoyable slice of life
Daydream – One Lucky Stone & One Unlucky Ship
…I cannot say I expected a daydream centered around Jingo but, the fucking annoying noble related to Musse too? Oh my fucking god, this better be worth my time
Ohhh, so it seems this will explain how Jingo got her hands on an airship, and apparently she first tried getting the Bobc, who oat II, but the sentimental value for the Capuas was too high
It looks like Jingo came across a shiny stone from Liberl, which caught Beryl’s attention, putting in motion a trade that would attract people like Shirley, Leonidas, Xeno… and finally, Tio the Mishy hunter once the golden Mishy happened, who oofered Jingo the disposed airship of the noble
At the same time, the motherfucking Marquis Ballad bought an airship just cause he can and is residing at Juno Naval Fortress, which is bringing him lots of unlucky situations, like getting investigated by Machias. OHHHHHHH AND HE WAS THE ONE IN THE AIRSHIP FROM TITA’S DAYDREAM THAT SHE SAVED
Honestly, just nice slice of life once again, I liked it
Daydream – Unlimited Blade Crafts
LMAOOOOOOO IS THAT TITLE A FATE REFERENCE? Duvalie is in the thumbnail so I’m PRAYING that we get focus on her, but Rean is there too so…
OHHHHHHHHH SO WE’RE GETTING A TORUNAMENT LIKE THE ONES AT LIBERL? THAT’S SO FUCKING COOL. though, I must admit the teams are a weird choice overall, I was expecting many of the others to take part too, like Kurt or Laura, so that’s a shame
So… Arseid & Arios, Cassius & General Vander, Craig & Bardias, Aurier & Aurelia, Patrick & Ferris… and Rean & Duvalie plus two optional teammates, so I went with Estelle and Lloyd cause why not. It’s interesting to see how Arios and Arseid defeated Cassius and General Vander though, but it mostly feels like they didn’t wanna bother making a Cassius boss fight LMAO. Oh, and we get a sudden fight against Olivier, Alfin, Roselia and Toval too (why is Roselia everywhere now)
The final is against Arios and Arseid, and it seems that here is where Rean’s Spirit Unification is explained and how he comes to terms with it, even if he fears losing himself and hurting someone dear to him
I liked seeing Duvalie’s resolve and conviction at the end, with her following the path of her lord and probably remaining in Ouroboros for her own purposes. I wish there had been a daydream on the Stahlritter and Arianrhod though, not gonna lie
THOUGH. WAIT. WAS THIS THE LAST DAYDREAM? The achievement just popped up for me and I am GONNA CRY. I mean, I know there’s extra content and DLC daydreams that come in the base game for this version, but this is where the original base game’s daydream content finished? Cause I’d be sad as hell not to see more daydreams focused on a few characters that might benefit from them, like, nothing for Rufus? Fie? Noel? ESTELLE?!
Finale – Hope in Reverie
Now. Now it’s finally time to continue and get ourselves to the Reverse Babel (and its fucking banger theme). The operation begins, and our whole party waits at the top of Orchis Tower. Reverse Babel liberates a ton of mechas to fight back, but we are backed up by the main and branch campuses
LMAO I like how they say “omg there’s another bobcat! it’s Don and Kyle” just for us not to see ANYTHING about them. And huh, we are backed up by society airships too, with Garcia, Ines and Ennea, Leo and Xeno, Gilbert, etc… like, why? Ouroboros was technically involved in this because of Novartis so, this is a weird ally. Of course, the church helps too, and Thomas for example makes an appearance. AND THEY DO THE SAME SHIT WITH “OMG JOSHUA, LOOK, KEVIN AND RIES ARE HERE TOO”, I AM GONNA GO INSANEEEEEEEE JUST LET ME SEE THEM, FUCK YOU SO MUCH
WOOOOOOOOO, Olivier gets his time to present the 2842th airship: THE ARSEILLE III (OKAY SO WHERE THE FUCK IS JULIA THEN, OH MY FUCKING GOD, IF YOU WANT TO HONOR LIBERL THAT BAD, JUST BRING BACK ALL THE CHARACTERS THEN INSTEAD OF TEASING). Arrhgg, after 5 games of THIS SAME STUFF, you cannot expect me to get any hyped about this, please just get a new trope already. AND YOU’RE TELLING ME ELYSIUM “DIDN’T PREDICT THIS”, OH MY GODDDD JUST GET A NEW FUCKING ONE, WE LITERALLY SAW THIS IN CS4 ALREADY, MY GOD
Is it just me or is the game’s plot getting worse the more it adavanced? My fucking god, and now they brought all the powerful swords from Erebonia, how lucky out of nowhere. I’m gonna go insane, this part is somehow worse than CS4, I’m holding out hope for Reverie but PLEASE THIS IS JUST AS BAD AS CS4. For a game that had to focus on Crossbell and Rufus… I am just sobbing at the waste of potential of how this finale is going
That aside, we are finally at Reverse Babel and… oh my god, what a fucking vibe, I absolutely love this theme and I love that it remains during battles. Though, I must admit, I’m a bit sad that the place aesthetically is just… the Black Workshop 2.0
Aaaaand, every chest has been obtained! Great! And here come our first bosses, which remind me of some of the Reverie Corridor bosses too, which is a nice nod to have “trained” for these. Both groups are now together and… time for our final confrontation, maybe?
Elysium’s terminal is here, powered by a copy of the shell artifact, and of course, our friend edgy Rean comes greet us. In his presence, everyone that has known Rean closely starts crying. Lloyd comes forward, and explains the truth: this Rean is the real deal, had he made a different choice in the past (aka, CS4’s normal ending where he sacrificed himself). And what makes this even greater is that Lloyd himself is the one to deliver this truth, as he has already been through a similar thing at the end of Zero because of KeA
So, this Rean standing before us, Ishmelga Rean, is that one possibility of the future calculated by Elysium, wielding a Sword of the End. When he went onto space, Rean and Ishmelga rejected one another, until the being before us was birthed from that unwinnable rivalry: the very representation of Rean’s self-sacrifice
Lloyd being the one to lay all of this out caught Ishmelga Rean by surprise, and it’s also the basis for the secret achievement. And, Elysium’s goal was to… unite the continent and gift it eternal peace by finding Rean and Ishemlga? What? Lapis counters this, telling he is a bug on the system and Elysium never drew any conclusions and can’t “calculate” the qualities of humanity
Time to face Ishmelga Rean again! We have No End No World’s instrumental again as battle theme, so that’s great
….DID THEY JUST FUCKING PULL A CS1 WHERE WE ARE INTRODUCED TO MECH BATTLES *RIGHT AT THE END OF THE GAME*??? OH MY GOD I THOUGHT WE HAD FINALLY ESCAPED THESE, GODDAMN (oh my god, I know the translation is a fucking mess but they somehow butchered it even harder for the mech battle, almost every text is unfinished)
HUH, VALIMAR??????? NO ONE CAN STAY TRULY DEAD IN THIS GAME, HUH? What an asspull to “have reestablished the concept of the seven Divine Knights” but hey, I’ll take it. This motherfucker is strong though, and I’m not fond of mech battles to begin with, and when he goes Enhanced… poof, rip your team, not like you can even prepare any setup either
Once it’s finished, we get the usual anime internal dialogue between the two Reans, and of course, Ishmelga Rean proposes to get rid of Ishmelga by sacrificing himself once they become one through the assimilation. However, Rean rejects it, as if finally refusing that self-sacrifice of him. My god, it feels so satisfying to finally see him come around and get to the peak of his development
Welp, there’s another battle ahead, and this time it’s against… Ishmelga, again. Uh…. Elysium is to be deleted since humanity is not ready for it yet but, what the hell is going on lol, a new force higher than Ishmelga? I’m honestly getting a little tired of them not outright saying things just to pull more asspulls. What the fuck do you mean they can grow some artificial plemora grass TO READ PEOPLE’S MINDS SO THAT IF THERE’S HATRES, A BEAM IS FIRED? Please MAKE IT MAKE SENSE, I know this happens a ton in Trails but oh my fucking god I am gonna go crazy, this kind of asspulls only make sense or feel satisfying is you have set a precedence or laid the logic beforehand
Anyways, while escaping that place since it was dangerous with an upcoming beam, Rufus decides to stay behind sneakily. He… he is planning to pin down everything on himself and act as the supreme leader, as if everything went according to “his plan”. Gosh, thank god they FINALLY are doing something super interesting with Rufus’ character and role as protagonist. This whole thing so far after the routes merged just felt… Rean Rean Rean Lloyd Rean
OH FUCK, I JUST UNDERSTOOD NOW: HE WANTS TO CONCENTRATE THE HATRED OF ALL OF ZEMURIA ON HIMSELF SO THAT REVERSE BABEL DESTROYS ITSELF. My god, he’s… pulling a Rean right now, sacrificing himself for everyone. Bravo, this is actually brilliant, this is actually fucking brilliant given his character, the contrast with Rean and everything leading up to this moment
So, our true final mission: saving Rufus. I’m actually so fucking happy they turned everything around and gave us this. This is SO good, plus our party is composed of limited members this time: the picnic squad, Lloyd and Jusis. Gosh, THANK YOU for giving us a real interesting concept at this finale that felt so bleak
…It’s 9am, and I’m battling with myself on whether I should finish the game now or rest and do this last segment later after I’ve slept. Guess I’ll go sleep, but gosh, it hurts to leave it at such an nail-biting point
Gosh, it’s such a magnificent segment here. We’re just going through the same Reverse Babel and with the same theme, but hearing Rufus do his speech while we rush for him feels so… man, I wish the entire finale was like this. AND OH MY GOD, ISHMELGA REAN HAS GONE BACK TO BEING JUST REAN NOW OF ALL TIMES. Fuck, NOW I am loving what they’re doing with this alternate Rean, and how they’re playing right into your feels by how he sacrificed himself for everyone, and will be gone again soon
He tries to warn them of a grim future in about three years as well (if you remember the Grandmaster scene in CS4… yeah, it all fits), but they decide they’re better not knowing
UHHHGGGGAAAAAAAAAA, LLOYD TELLING RUFUS HIS WORST SIN IS NOT UNDERSTADING HOW LOVED HE IS AND THE CAMERA PANNING ON THE PICNIC SQUAD AND JUSIS… THESE ARE SUCH GOOD SCENES
Sobs… now a week after, looks like we are seeing the aftermath of the events, and Lloyd tells us how Crossbell is back on its feet rapidly, while a myriad of mysteries like the Divine Knights reappearance is being looked into. Rean and Crow have a talk about the future and… man, Valimar leaves one last message for him…
Rufus wakes up next to Lapis in a hospital bed. Apparently, he was close to dying before being saved. Olivier comes in and explains a man like him would get the death penalty but… in the eyes of the world, supreme leader Rufus Albarea had died in the destruction of the Reverse Babel so… who is this fellow in front of us 😉
It’s actually great, because he’s not being protected or being given a magical fix. He will suffer, he has lost his title, name, nobility, even his place in the Empire and the chance to atone for his sins. But he’s still here, and he can accompany Lapis on her world discovery journey
And, of course, Crossbell finally has its very deserved independence signing ceremony. Lloud takes the stage and… credits roll. MAN. MAN. MAN. MANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN. THE PICTURES ARE SO BEAUTIFUL, I AM GONNA MISS ALL OF THEM SO MUCH, SO FUCKING MUCH (though I am gonna go crazy cause there was no picture with Estelle as a focus, whyyyyyyyy). Plus, in the ending sequence with Lapis… they let us a see a peek of what the Kuro engine will look like in the future, please localize it soon…
I… man. It’s technically over. I know there’s more content coming my way in the Reverie Corridor now, but the main story is now over for real. It took me 120h to get here, and I have had such a good time every minute of it
Post-Game – Beyond the Reverie
Ouch. Ouch. I’m writing this a few days after finishing Reverie and having already been doing a few things in the post-game, but I’ve been doing nothing but thinking and thinking. Gosh, I love Trails so much, it has genuinely been a blast and, man, I wouldn’t have ever expected back when I started Trails in the Sky to end up as attached to this series as I am already to Ys
So, the post-game takes place only in the Reverie Corridor as expected, and sadly it’s mostly dungeon crawling without much plot except “oh no something is happening and we need to fix it as thanks for training us”. The dialogue of everyone post-game is really sweet to see though, being able to see how they’re holding up after the ending sequence
I know now what’s waiting for me are just a few DLC daydreams and the bridges to Kuro, so I may as well enjoy all of this content I have left
As for the remaining guest characters to recruit, I got Vita! I love her so much, my beloved, plus I love her seiyuu. I also got Olivier and Schera! My beloveds, I just wish Schera was playable as well. I got… McBurn????? Okay, I can pretend shock but I already had this spoiled since forever, still cool as fuck to see him join as playable, it’s a huge surprise. I’m surprised I haven’t recruited George or Angelica yet though. I eventually got them, and Angelica was the last one of them all so, a blessing in disguise
Holy shit, we face two Holy Beasts at once as if McBurn’s true form wasn’t a huge thing already. My god, playable McBurn is just Rean on steroids, I’m gonna have so much fun breaking the game with this motherfucker. Anyways, why is this mysterious being just a white KeA recolor? I thought she was supposed to be KeA, man, that would have been infinitely much more interesting. Bummer
And so… the Black Mirror’s true identity is AZOTH, and is the author of the Black Records? Hmmmm, so it laid down the Black Records and Spirit Shrines to steer down Erebonia to the right path. Aaaaand, the white girl is not the one behind the new guardians (holy shit that Thomas boss battle was cool), and she says to be the first Oz… as in like Millium and Altina?
Ohhhh, I forgot about how the Crois alchemists and gnomes stole technology from each other, so this girl being the first homonculi and looking like KeA can make sense. Though… they just assume she appeared because of Elysium? Gosh, I’m so tired of whatever deus ex machina this hell of an AI is being in this game, it undermines so many concepts that would be cool to explore otherwise
So… it’s time for the “final dungeon” of the post-game huh? I really like the 0th Stratum theme, it’s calm and reminds me of CS2’s own Reverie Corridor. It’s a bit sad the game is finally coming to a proper end, and while the post-game story hasn’t been that engaging, it’s nice to have had a little something before saying the definitive goodbye to them
In-between before I come for the true final boss… damn, a few of those trials got hands in nightmare huh? I think Arianrhod’s has been the toughest one for me yet, where I had to build both Agate and Laura as EVA tanks in order to survive. And oh my lord, McBurn’s trial goes hard as fuck, facing himself in his true form
Daydream – A Look on the Bright Side
YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH, A DAYDREAM BASED AROUND ESTELLE AND THE BRIGHT FAMILY, I’VE FINALLY WON. PLEASE PLEASE I HOPE IT IS GOOD
So, the Bright family, even including Cassius, takes a deserved rest at Ymir. AWWWW, THEIR SNOWBALL FIGHT WAS SO WHOLESOME TOO, I LOVE THIS FAMILY SO BAD. It’s also sweet to see how Cssius worries about not having enough time to spend with his family, and how he and Renne still have to warm up to each other. And Renne benig able to have fun in her family… sobs, I love them
WHY IS GILBERT STIRRING UP TROUBLE HERE???? AND WE HAVE TO FIGHT HIS UGLY ASS???? It’s nice to see Renne and Cassius team up for this tho! I wish they let us have more Cassius action tho, poor guy hasn’t even been a boss fight in so long, not to mention not even playable ever
It was a sweet daydream but ahhhhhh, I wanted more…
Daydream – One Step Forward
Huh… can’t say I expected a daydream centered around Makarov and Mary, as well as Wallace. I did expect a daydream related with Aurelia, but only with Wallace if anything
So, it begins with an arranged marriage meeting for Mary, as her father isn’t satisfied with Makarov. It’s a bit funny to see how this ties up with what we saw in CS4’s intermission at Mishelam, where Makarov had to confront Mary’s father over the phone
As expected, Wallace comes into the picture as the arranged marriage candidate. However, he does know of Mary’s romantic troubles, so it’s more than likely that he accepted in order to help her… or so I thought, but this motherfucker actually wants to pursue Mary as well cause he know how she cares for Makarov. Uhhh, alright then, he’s just making the burden on her way bigger
Mary turns him down and explains her feelings for Makarov, and then… Aurelia comes to FAVOR THE ARRANGED MARRIAGE TOO, WHAT IS GOING ON WITH THESE GUYS, if it’s a farce it has gone too far now. Makarov appears at the last minute as well and boom! Everyone is happy and Mary and Makarov are getting married
So… it was a performance but huh, that felt too unnecessary. Anyways, I fucking knew they were gonna tease Wallace and Aurelia together at the end as well. Not a huge fan of the ship, BUT WE GOT A CUTE YOUNG AURELIA ARTWORK FROM WHEN THEY MET
Daydream – Thors’ Open House
Ash is the only one in the thumbnail? That’s unexpected, I didn’t think we would get a daydream centered around him. Ash and Toval together huh? That’s an unexpected duo
Ohhhh, we get an internal conflict of Ash, where he doesn’t believe he deserves to live his current live after the events of CS3 where he tried to assassinate the emperor. This guy is just going down on Rean’s path, huh? And it seems he’s considering dropping out from the branch campus that same month
So, back at Thors’ branch campus, it seems Ash has to be part of the organization committee for the open house event. His relationship with Tatiana is cute to be honest. It feels strange to be able to explore around the branch campus again, I almost miss it even if it’s not Trista. Awww, seeing all the clubs doing their thing is so wholesome, I like this daydream so far. I’m not Ash’s biggest fan, but at moments like this I really like him. It’s also nice to see some CS3 and CS4 side quests being referenced here
It seems everyone is slowly catching up on Ash and they are all offering him his support, but he’s a tough nut to crack. Then, he checks on the instructors and, man, the interaction with Randy where he tells him they are not so different is very nice
LMAOOOOO DID THEY REALLY PUT ASH AS A STUDENT COUNCIL PRESIDENT CANDIDATE BEHIND HIS BACK. Poor guy ended up being elected, and his conversation with Towa now makes more sense
I like that the first one to talk with Ash about him leaving is Rean, given how they both share a similar internal struggle. I’m not a big fan of NC7, and I don’t think they have good connections or dynamics with each other, but it’s nice to see them care for Ash, as well as Tatiana. It’s heartwarming to see the other Instructors care as well, this has been a really good daydream honoring CS3, probably one of my favourites
AND LMAOOO ASH DID GET BACK AT MUSSE BY MAKING HER VICE-PRESIDENT, GET FUCKED
Daydream – Through Memories Aglow
I’m putting it out here before I even see anything: this is going to be one of my favourite daydreams, so let’s see if it lives up to those expectations
It stars off with Emperor Eugent giving Rean a photo of his family that Osborne treasured. We get to see Osborne’s thoughts as he recruited the Ironbloods, and gosh, it’s really good. Specially when Millium joins, and he hopes that she will be the key for the other members to regain what the Ebon Knight took away, even if he knows her grim purpose is to become a sword of the end
He even mentions his visit to Liberl from Sky 3rd’s door, and how he himself feels excited to see what Olivier’s third path will bring about in the future
We get a few new artworks here and there during this, and I’m fucking loving it, as well as some past tracks from across CS. We get a new art of Rean back in CS1, and how Osborne laments the heart and link to the curse he put on him. Then, we get a fire new artwork of Crow, the one who defied him beyond the Black Records and almost got rid of him. Then, the Gral of Erebos, where Olivier supposedly met his end, and Rean became the Sacrifice
It’s here where it’s revealed this has all been part of Osborne’s diary, and then, before the last Rivalry, he prayed to the Goddess for a bright future for Rean. Okay, this actually was a different approach to what I was expecting, but it still was a fantastic daydream that sheds light into Osborne’s thoughts across all of these past games, and how he still cared for Rean. And having the artwork of them, including Rean’s mother, as a family when Rean was young to end the daydream… fuck, you got me
Daydream – Look Back to Look Forward
I left this one for the very end, right before the true final boss of the TRC. This is the daydream to definitely bridge into the future of Trails, and I’m extremely excited for it
Just like in CS4’s epilogue’s spirit, we get to see the Gradnmaster at Ouroboros’ main place, Celestial Globe, where McBurn suddenly breaks in. She comments she was the one to give him and Leonhardt their swords, and that McBurn must have recovered half of his memories. McBurn has an idea of her true identity (Aidios maybe…?), and acknowledges that the next plan, Eternal Recurrence, might need him to fulfill his duty as Enforcer n.01
Novartis appears, and it seems one of his investigations was interrupted by an external group, most likely hailing from Calvard’s new organizations… and just like that, the president of Calvard appears, and strucks a deal with the Grandmaster not to interfere with each others’ plans. What is this motherfucker plotting up…
Post-Game – Beyond the Reverie
Anyawys… I should not delay it any further: it’s time to face the true boss of the Reverie Corridor, and the last obstacle between me and the final completion. I can’t believe I actually hit the level cap before I even got to it
I’ve been building some characters I was looking forward to use in the final battle. Honestly, I probably went a bit overkill since they are all mostly in the +200 level and I gave them really good builds, so we will see if this preparation was worth it. I don’t even need to confront the final boss in nightmare since I already have the achievement but what’s the fun in changing that now?
My main team for the TRC has been Fie, Renne, McBurn and Towa. Afterwards, I went and finished building Tio (I had been using her before McBurn), Estelle, Rean, Rixia, Arios, Nadia, Vita and Elie. I wish I could have used a few other characters as well though, such as Crow, Lloyd, Rufus, Celine, Duvalie, Wazy, etc… but there are not quite enough resources (or time to farm)
OzXX, of course, is the first iteration to get to the Zero Child, so that’s why she looks like young KeA. OH GOSH… “THE TRUTH OF THAT RAINY DAY” IS PLAYING FOR THIS PART… I must admit, a lot of flying over my head, and while I’m not entirely content with how they are executing this, it’s an interesting plot thread. Oh , but I do love that KeA, Lapis and Altina are closely related to OzXX in their development, knowing that they were the three girls to “end” the game in their ending visual
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA FUCK, I KNEW THE AZURE ARBITRATOR WOULD PLAY HERE, BUT GODDAMNNNNN I LOVE THIS TRACK SO MUCH. Demiourgos is “back”, but this time is not like what we saw in Azure, time to set the Zero Child free and finish this game for good! AND AH FUCK, I FORGOT TO TURN OFF THE PLUS 50 LEVELS SO THIS BOSS IS MORE BUSTED THAN IT’S SUPPOSED TO BE, WILL I PULL THROUGH??????? …and the answer is no, I was very close but I got real unlucky first phase, like this guy stacked 15 turns AT THE SAME TIME
Back to standard levels and, yeah, this was a lot easier. The biggest problem with this boss is its broken order, which fucks with your team’s delay if not careful. So, we finally freed OzXX, and the Reverie Corridor has finally fulfilled its purpose, so it’s shutting down. This scene reminds me a lot of Phantasmagoria’s ending, where everyone had to say goodbye to each other, though this time they will not remember anything
Man, they really ha to use “Entrusting Kindness to the Future” here huh? This tracks makes me SOB. It seems AZOTH’s purpose has also come to and end, and with that, the long chapter of stories related to western Zemuria. We get a sight of some of the beautiful artworks from Hajimari, and with that, Trails into Reverie is truly over
Daydream – Beyond the Reverie
And right before saying goodbye to this game forever, we get one last chance to look into the future, and how Kuro will be set up. They are presented in the form of books, and we get a look at beautiful artworks to accompany them
“Another Hot Springs Paradise”, centered around Rean’s family being on vacation in a hot springs in Calvard. It seems his only purpose for being there was not only for family vacation, but as well to track his old master Ka-fai, who had gone untraceable ever since he turned into a Divine Blade
It also seems like his students are finally about to graduate, and the emotions are getting to him. I love this part honestly, I love that we finally get a sense of closure to their arc
Later on, Rean goes into the mountains, reminiscing of his early days training, and he’s ambushed by shinobis there. They reveal a new school, the Ikaruga, Black God One Blade school, and there’s a leader among them that almost took a hit on Rean. It’s likely that his new foe is going to play a big villain role in Kuro, Kurogane
They both engage in a quite interesting fight to read through, and then their “Princess” appears, which, as expected, is the new Divine Blade from Calvard, Shizuna. I did not know she had an antagonistic role though. Then, she sliced Rean’s tachi in two
Apparently, she knows of him, and tells him to go enjoy his vacation as Ka-fai is not to be found around here. Rean knows there’s looming threat brewing up in Calvard, but that he won’t be the one to be able to do anything right now and, instaead, he will reforge himself for when the time comes that he will be needed
DAMN… this was a fantastic debut for Shizuna, and I love how, even though we haven’t seen Rean yet in Kuro or Kuro II, he’s teased to make an appearance at some point to deal with a greater threat, and I love the metaphorical passing torch to a new cast (thank goodness finally). I’m not so sure about using Rean as a device to make Shizuna seem much greater tho, as we have been with him for 5 consecutive games and like… damn, just let the guy rest, he doesn’t need to constantly be pressured to reach new heights
“An Unconventional Student”, telling us Renne’s exchange transfer at Aramis Academy at Calvard. Her true purpose here is, however, to freely operate on Calvard under a schoolgirl pretense
Some guy from the school and his lackeys are after her influence and tried to recruit her, but she quickly shot them down. I wonder if this has any significance for the future, as they seemed to be pretty forgettable
Then, RENNE IS CALLING WITH HER GIRLFRIEND TITA!!!!!!!! Barely any time has passed, but they both look so grown up and gorgeous!! Tita has already graduated from the branch campus, and they both call weekly!!! They are so gfs!!!!!
It seems there’s also something important cooking up with Verne Company, which seems to have ditched the Epstein Foundation after years of co-parnership on orbment development. There’s also Professor Hamilton, which will probably play a role in Kuro
Right as Tita and Renne are about to end their call, we get a mention from Renne about visiting Zin, and very likely Walter as well. It’s been so long since we last saw the two of them
Now, Renne is being bullied for Ronald and his lackeys, but fail to actually achieve anything. They really don’t know who they are messing with lol. AND WOOOOOOOOOO SHE GETS DEFENDED BY AGNES, THIS GIRL REALLY CAN’T STOP ATTRACTING BLONDE GIRLFRIENDS
Renne finally gets back at Ronald in the day of the student council elections, where he replaces his promotional video with one of his forgeries, threats and blackmail. She even ended with his father’s career, and faced a whole hired gang. It seems she has an ally too, but I don’t recognize this man, Dingo, though he most likely will appear in Kuro as the reporter figure. They also mention Kirika
In the end, Renne ended up becoming the student council president, though not by her own choice at first, and she will most likely get more acquainted with Agnes in here
“Forward, Sword in Hand”, and lastly, the final bridge to Kuro no Kiseki. I’m assuming this one is for Elaine, and how she became the youngest A-rank bracer yet. It seems she’s talking with Zin, who is trying to persuade her into accepting
Zin was also offered S-rank at some point, and given how headquarters want to give them these titles to have someone advertise them in Calvard, none of them truly feel deserving of any of those titles
Later on, it seems like Elaine is finding herself against a wall in the investigation of the kidnapping of two young children. There had been no new progress, and being from the guild meant she couldn’t get information as easily as she wishes for. That’s when she remembered about a childhood friend who had started a new line of work, a big on the edge of legality
Apparently, he left and came back without saying much of a word, putting a dent in their friendship. It’s likely that this guy is Van, our next protagonist. There also seems to be a third childhood friend in the group, and I’m guessing it’s the glasses guy that looks like a lawyer or from the CID similar to Dudley or Machias
Elaine and the guild later take on the mafia’s base that kidnapped the children. What we learn is that there’s a higher organization, plus they go as far as murdering their members so that no information is leaked. All of these scenes… wow, I cannot fucking wait for Kuro, I love the set-up so far, and how they have presented Elaine
In the end, she decides to accept the guild’s recommendations, and becomes the youngest A-rank bracer alongside Sara: the Beauty’s Blade (Sword Maiden sounded better tbh). And with this, I’m finished with all of the content of Hajimari. What a wild ride, I love this game
Characters
Okay so, this time I haven’t been able to find a nice tier list for Reverie, but given that I already have this one from CS4, all I really need is to say a little bit about whoever is truly new to the game, while everyone from Zero and Azure have pretty much still the same opinion to me, or haven’t changed too much
Rufus… my god, I already loved him since before, he played a fantastic role as a villain, and seeing him as a protagonist and understanding him further has been great. Plus, his “sacrifice” and saving him at the end is one of my favourite scenes of the entire game. Not only that, but the bonds between the Imperial Picnicking Front are really sweet and I love me a found family
As for Lapis, I loved how she complemented Rufus, though the truth behind her existence left me a bit cold, I don’t really like the whole Elysium thing tbh. I still love her though
Finally, as for Swin and Nadia, I loved them even before playing thanks to the S&N novel, and I’ve ended up really liking them, though I wish they could have had better scenes than just getting over “a copy” of the Emperor. I’m really looking forward to seeing them again in Kuro 2
Ishmelga Rean… fuck, I may not like the whole Ishmelga side of the coin, but that one last scene where the Rean from the Normal Ending came back and said his goodbyes? That shit had me SOBBING, I love the angst and even if they didn’t play as much with it as I hoped, that one scene is one of my favourites in the whole game as well
Music
Reverie’s OST is amazing, it genuinely has some of the best battle themes in the whole series. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have its weaknesses, and… man, it’s not strictly Reverie’s problem, but I swear Falcom doesn’t care as much about its soundtracks as before. Many themes feel unpolished, unfinished or are straight up mediocre. Nevertheless, fantastic OST, I’ve already been listening to it for hours, usual Yukihiro Jindo W (he fucking carried, Koguchi seems promising too, and I wish Unisuga did more tracks)
Though, where the hell is my ending vocal song?
Conclusion
Oh god. Alright. I’ve let my thoughts on Reverie cook for a week after I finished the main game. At first, I was going to write down my conclusions after I at least finished the post-game but, honestly, it doesn’t include as much content as I hoped for and feels more like extra content to get you hyped for the future. Plus, I’m not a huge fan of the whole OzXX plotline out of nowhere
Okay so… my biggest conflict has been if this game deserves actually a “perfect” rating (on my standards) or lower. I loved it, I had fun with it every step of the way, and it’s the Trails that I have put the most hours into. I’ve enjoyed the gameplay more than ever, and I’ve had a lot of fun building my favourite characters and making them deal broken damage. Plus, it has been my first time running a Trails game in Nightmare difficulty and it has been so stupidly satisfying to play through and think on how to defeat the hard bosses from early game
Unfortunately, not everything has been as good, and… while I’ve tried to gaslight myself into thinking of it better: the plot of this game is just mediocre. It starts out wonderfully, making any player excited with the great events of the prologue and the new three routes to follow to expand an overarching united plot. And the mysteries they set up at first are great and genuinely make you think things over and be super exited for the reveeals!
The problem is, the more this game’s plot advances, the worse it gets. Your last hope is hoping the big reveals make the journey worth it, but nope. Ever since the clones were introduced, the plot’s quality of the game went downhill for me. It’s such a cheap trope that relies a lot on how it’s delivered, executed and where it comes from: and they absolutely failed to deliver in any of these. At first I had hope for them, thinking that maybe the underlying reasons would be good, but yeah, no, we are never explained where or how these clones came to be EXCEPT FOR: A FUCKING SUPER GODLY ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE THAT MANIFESTED *OUT OF NOWHERE FROM THE VEINS*
oh my god. A fucking AI. At that point I knew we were fucked, but I did not expect them to actually GO BEYOND AND SHAMELESSLY USE IT FOR EVEN MORE CHEAP TROPES AND TO REUSE MORE CONTENT. I swear to god, the whole finale feels like such a massive shitfest (even worse than CS4 somehow) until you finally get to the redeeming part (aka, Reverse Babel, Normal Ending’s Rean’s goodbye and saving Rufus). These last three parts I mentioned were fucking spectacular, but I just wish the later half of the game could say the same. And yeah, the final boss was great, but I never liked Ishmelga to begin with…
What I will never forgive is the treatment of Lloyd’s route though. That shit was abysmally bad, and they had all the right tools to actually deliver a fucking amazing experience, but they fumbled it in almost every possible way imaginable. It’s just so bad, and there’s SO much wrong with it. Why were Dieter, Garcia or Ian even there if they are going to forget about using them? It almost made me feel relieved that the Sky cast gets treated so badly and always in the sidelines, cause otherwise they would have probably gotten this godawful treatment too lol. It had so MUCH potential, but they just had to fuck up Crossbell once again, and I swear to god they better leave this place alone so all I can remember from it is Azure and Zero’s peaks
Oh and yeah, as I just mentioned… what the fuck is this treatment of the Sky cast. I know they are not the focus, but it feels like they half-assed everything related to them for this very reason. Not to mention how CS has absolutely annihilated two of my fav characters, Tita and Agate. Like, genuinely, I don’t know how they managed to fuck them up SO BADLY. Anyways, do any of you remember a green-haired priest?
Overall, my sentiments with the game were already explained quite nicely during the Story segment of the post, so all I’m writing in here is pretty much a summary of how those thoughts have developed after a while of meditating over my final rating on this game. It’s a tremendous game, it’s probably my favourite game of the CS saga, but at the end of the day… it’s still a CS game sadly. Maybe I trusted the other fans too easily, thinking that Reverie would fix a lot of my problems with CS4, but overall… yeah, it does very good things, but the plot it delivers feels at times just as bad as CS4’s. I did not even feels like I experienced peaks as high as some moments from CS1, CS2 or CS3 delivered, which is… quite a huge statement
But hey! I have to remind myself that at the end of the day, if I’m being so harsh with this game, it’s for a reason, and it’s that I love it a lot. I did not feel any pacing issues like with CS4, and I could barely put it down without wanting to play more and more. I literally had been thinking to give it a perfect rating just out of how much enjoyment I derived from it, even with its issues. After all, a lot of it stems from its great structure focusing on routes, having no stupid sidequests and bringing back Sky’s door in form of daydreams. And not only that, but also the fact that it has been the first Trails game I had to actively wait for its release, and since I couldn’t take it for granted (as I won’t have a new Trails game to play after this one until Kuro’s localization is announced), I got as much from it as I could, and oh my lord I did so
It feels good to get all of my thoughts on the game out of my chest at last. Every game has issues and problems, that’s to be expected and is part of the charm of many. It’s good to be critical with your most liked media, and that doesn’t take away from the huge joy the Trails franchise overall has brought me. I love these games with my whole heart, much more than I ever imagined the day I began playing through Trails in the Sky FC, and I would have never expected to reach this point nowadays
When one trail ends, another begins. We will see each other next time in Calvard!
Silvy 