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[Paltheos]

Release Information

Developer: Nihon Falcom | Publisher: NISA
Launch Dates: JP - August 27, 2020 | US & EU - July 7, 2023 | AU - July 14, 2023
Price: Digital & Deluxe Editions - $59.99 | Limited Edition (PS5/PS4/Switch) - $99.99
Systems: PC (Steam/GOG) | PS5 | PS4 | Switch

Reviews

The Legend of Heroes: Trails into Reverie

What destinies await these three fateful figures? Use the Crossroads system to switch between Rean Schwarzer, Lloyd Bannings, and the masked figure "C", and determine the fates of key characters and locations within Zemuria. Dive into refined tactical combat with new features such as United...

www.metacritic.com

The Legend of Heroes: Trails into Reverie Reviews

The Legend of Heroes: Trails into Reverie is rated 'Strong' after being reviewed by 56 critics, with an overall average score of 80. It's ranked in the top 17% of games and recommended by...

opencritic.com

Summary

The Legend of Heroes: Trails into Reverie (Eiyū Densetsu: Hajimari no Kiseki) is a turn-based RPG focused on world-bulding and is the 10th game in the Trails series by long-time RPG developer Nihon Falcom.

Like the previous titles in the series, Trails into Reverie is set shortly after the events of the previous games. Generally speaking, this series is niche enough that if you're here, you already know what Trails is all about. To be crystal clear for the rest of the audience though, this game is not an entry point. It functions chiefly as an epilogue to the Crossbell and Erebonian story arcs and a prologue to the Calvard arc and the 11th title in the series, the not yet localized officially in English Kuro no Kiseki.

If you're interested in getting into Trails, below is a brief outline of the series chronology and availability. Much discussion has been had over starting points - the first Sky or Cold Steel game is by my estimate most commonly cited. If you want more info, feel free to ask.

Liberl Arc
Trails in the Sky - (PSP/PC)
Trails in the Sky SC - (PSP/PC)
Trails in the Sky the 3rd - (PC)
Crossbell Arc
Trails from Zero - (PS4/Switch/PC)
Trails to Azure - (PS4/Switch/PC)
Erebonia Arc
Trails of Cold Steel - (PS3/Vita/PS4/PC)
Trails of Cold Steel II - (PS3/Vita/PS4/PC)
Trails of Cold Steel III - (PS4/Switch/PC)
Trails of Cold Steel IV - (PS4/Switch/PC)

Systems

Experience Reverie through the Trails to Walk system, bouncing back and forth between stories and heroes throughout the adventure.

Rean Schwarzer
Former member of and now instructor of Class VII in Thors Military Academy, and savior of Erebonia. What life awaits him after the tragedies of the war and what adventures will he and his class find themselves in this time?

Lloyd Bannings
Detective and leader of the Special Support Section in the Crossbell Police Department, and freedom fighter in Crossbell. Will Lloyd and his companions finally get over the barrier and win true freedom for their home?

C
The mysterious C. Who is this person who dons a mask and has adopted the moniker of the head of the old Imperial Liberation Front and what are his aims?

Also journey through the True Reverie Corridor, and play Trails in a fashion not seen since Trails in the Sky the 3rd, unlocking story sequences starring secondary members of the cast, new and old mini-games to play, and trials to overcome!

Before You Begin

Recommended reading: Some fans have recommended reading Three & Nine, if you haven't already, for some background on new characters in Reverie. It's available in-game in Trails of Cold Steel IV, on NISA's official website (with new artwork!), in the wiki, and in a physical book if you ordered the Limited Edition.

Save bonuses: When booting up the first time, the game will scan your files for system data for Trails from Zero, Trails to Azure, and Trails of Cold Steel I-IV. It should be noted that for all but one of these games, the scan for system data is the only thing the game is looking for (meaning that if you, like me, played the Geofront releases of Zero/Azure and then bought the official releases later to support without actually playing them, you can still get a bonus just for starting up those titles). Reverie will however scan for clear data of Cold Steel IV for your Thors rank to provide a matching reward. You will not be bound by your choice for the final bonding event from Cold Steel IV.

Trailers







Closing

Enjoy one, last hurrah across western Zemuria!

7/28/23 edit: Link level bug has been fixed on all platforms. All can now play safely!

 

[Paltheos]

A little less core to the OT, so I figured I'd cut these into a separate post.

One redditor has posted a suggested play route for maximum impact of the story beats. I think I've seen such routes posted before but have not gone super-far out of my way to vet them. I'll post here (spoiler-tagged, in case you don't even want to see it).

Chapter 1: Lloyd -> Rean -> C
Chapter 2: Lloyd -> Rean -> TRC -> Lloyd -> C -> Rean
Chapter 3: C -> Lloyd -> Rean -> TRC -> C -> Lloyd (finish first) -> C (finish second) -> Rean
Chapter 4: C -> Lloyd -> Rean (you can do the TRC before finishing)

Finally, the Falcom Sound Team workload balance has changed this time around. Music in Falcom games is one of the elements of their titles that I look forward to the most every time, so info on this front is something I look forward to. Unfortunately Falcom does not directly credit tracks to their composers, but analysis by fans suggest composers and track counts as such (not counting returning tracks from older games):

Mitsuo Singa (37)
Hayato Sonoda (23)
Yukihiro Jindo (8)
Shuntaro Koguchi (7)
Takahiro Unisuga (4)
Saki Momiyama(?) (1)

Singa's work is somewhat controversial in the community and I'm not a fan of much of his music personally, so his increased involvement is a disappointment to me, but I am looking forward to listening to newcomer Koguchi who allot of people have praised as quite talented and as always I enjoy near-anything with Unisuga's name on it. Unfortunately, Reverie seems to be the last Falcom game Unisuga has any significant hand in whatsoever (anything in newer games has been 1 or 2 and clear leftover tracks). Thank you again, Unisuga, for 15 years of wonderful music.

PS: I've never made an OT before, so if I did anything poorly, let me know. (I actually think it's a little cluttered and tonally inconsistent but resigned myself to just rolling with it because it was late and I'd put in allot of time already)

 

[adamsapple]

A little less core to the OT, so I figured I'd cut these into a separate post.

One redditor has posted a suggested play route for maximum impact of the story beats. I think I've seen such routes posted before but have not gone super-far out of my way to vet them. I'll post here (spoiler-tagged, in case you don't even want to see it).

Chapter 1: Lloyd -> Rean -> C
Chapter 2: Lloyd -> Rean -> TRC -> Lloyd -> C -> Rean
Chapter 3: C -> Lloyd -> Rean -> TRC -> C -> Lloyd (finish first) -> C (finish second) -> Rean
Chapter 4: C -> Lloyd -> Rean (you can do the TRC before finishing)

Finally, the Falcom Sound Team workload balance has changed this time around. Music in Falcom games is one of the elements of their titles that I look forward to the most every time, so info on this front is something I look forward to. Unfortunately Falcom does not directly credit tracks to their composers, but analysis by fans suggest composers and track counts as such (not counting returning tracks from older games):

Mitsuo Singa (37)
Hayato Sonoda (23)
Yukihiro Jindo (8)
Shuntaro Koguchi (7)
Takahiro Unisuga (4)
Saki Momiyama(?) (1)

Singa's work is somewhat controversial in the community and I'm not a fan of much of his music personally, so his increased involvement is a disappointment to me, but I am looking forward to listening to newcomer Koguchi who allot of people have praised as quite talented and as always I enjoy near-anything with Unisuga's name on it. Unfortunately, Reverie seems to be the last Falcom game Unisuga has any significant hand in whatsoever (anything in newer games has been 1 or 2 and clear leftover tracks). Thank you again, Unisuga, for 15 years of wonderful music.

PS: I've never made an OT before, so if I did anything poorly, let me know. (I actually think it's a little cluttered and tonally inconsistent but resigned myself to just rolling with it because it was late and I'd put in allot of time already)

Sorry, but what's TRC stand for ?

I plan to play this when done with FFXVI. Played all the games in the franchise, eager to see how this big cross-over one is.

 

[Paltheos]

Sorry, but what's TRC stand for ?

I plan to play this when done with FFXVI. Played all the games in the franchise, eager to see how this big cross-over one is.

True Reverie Corridor. It plays outside the stories of the three mains by its nature, although having not played the game yet myself I don't know how/if it gates progress.

 

[ShadyAcshuns]

We're so lucky to have all these games outside of Japan.

 

[YeulEmeralda]

The real GOTY. Although if it counts that title could go to Trails to Azure.

 

[Sub_Level]

 

[yurqqa]

What is the general atmosphere of the game ?

Is it self-aware slice of life and less cliche like Skies/Zero or more cliche teenage drama like Cold steel ?

 

[PonyStation4]

What is the general atmosphere of the game ?

Is it self-aware slice of life and less cliche like Skies/Zero or more cliche teenage drama like Cold steel ?

Neither. It's non stop action with no filler content

 

[NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt]

 

[German Hops]

Rean bean?

 

[drganon]

 

[NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt]

(Headpats)

 

[Mister Wolf]

Buying as soon as I get home.

 

[NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt]

Buying as soon as I get home.

Buying as soon as it becomes live on the eShop

 

[graywolf323]

Buying as soon as it becomes live on the eShop

same except Steam (NISA has a trend lately with Trails games where they give you a digital soundtrack but only at launch week and then never seem to make it available separately later on)

 

[NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt]

same except Steam (NISA has a trend lately with Trails games where they give you a digital soundtrack but only at launch week and then never seem to make it available separately later on)

I'm disappointed that there's not that many sexy DLC Costumes for the characters

 

[Thief1987]

Why it's still not available...

 

[NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt]

I hope there's no censorship in Reverie

 

[Thief1987]

 

[Thief1987]

Received bonuses for Zero, Azure and ToCS 3,4 save files, feels good

 

[ShadyAcshuns]

Received bonuses for Zero, Azure and ToCS 3,4 save files, feels good

Bikini armor bonuses?

 

[graywolf323]

man I was not expecting the prices for the Ultimate Edition… and smack dab in the middle of the big Summer sale now less

edit: looks like launch ‘week’ is actually the next two weeks so I think I’ll wait a lil bit & pick it up on the 20th when I get paid again

 

[Thief1987]

Bikini armor bonuses?

Just sepith and some gear items. I like when developers make this kind of connections with previous games. It's also taking something from ToCS IV clear save data. Romancing choice, I guess.

 

[yurqqa]

With every game it looks more and more like generic anime JRPG. I dropped Trails of cold steel when I saw screenshots from the 3rd part.
Fortunately I still have Zero and Azure to play.

Ain't there enough JRPG with sexy lolies on the market ?
Why every japanese RPG series has to go this way now?

 

[NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt]

With every game it looks more and more like generic anime JRPG. I dropped Trails of cold steel when I saw screenshots from the 3rd part.
Fortunately I still have Zero and Azure to play.

Ain't there enough JRPG with sexy lolies on the market ?
Why every japanese RPG series has to go this way now?

I hope every JRPG goes this way

I hope they put every female in every future JRPG into skimpy sexy outfits

 

[Thief1987]

With every game it looks more and more like generic anime JRPG. I dropped Trails of cold steel when I saw screenshots from the 3rd part.
Fortunately I still have Zero and Azure to play.

Ain't there enough JRPG with sexy lolies on the market ?
Why every japanese RPG series has to go this way now?

What lolis spooked you so much in ToCS 3? Beside Altina i can't think of anyone, and she just wearing her regular school uniform. Her outfit in ToCS2 was worse in that sense. If you saw screenshots with some bonus outfits like bath towels or swimsuits then no one forcing you to use them.

 

[Darkmakaimura]

It's on GOG.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails into Reverie

What destinies await these three fateful figures? Use the Crossroads system to switch bet

www.gog.com

 

[yet_another_alt]

I hope every JRPG goes this way

I hope they put every female in every future JRPG into skimpy sexy outfits

A man of taste.

 

[ShadyAcshuns]

Just sepith and some gear items. I like when developers make this kind of connections with previous games. It's also taking something from ToCS IV clear save data. Romancing choice, I guess.

Bah! I don't want no stupid sephiroth!

 

[yet_another_alt]

Steam version is $10 cheaper ($50) from Fanatical and GMG.

EDIT: My bad, coupons don't work. Thanks graywolf323

 

[Pejo]

And here I am with TitS installed and haven't started it yet, and I refuse to play them out of order....

 

[Paltheos]

Bought and installing. Since I am a simp for Falcom, I put down extra for the DLC. Looking through the pack, I noticed some costumes Tio classic and wedding dress Rixia that I was aware of not included, but my googling is telling me they're earned in-game.

And here I am with TitS installed and haven't started it yet, and I refuse to play them out of order....

That's fine. I usually recommend Cold Steel I & II as starters but plenty of people play from the very beginning without a problem. I personally bounced off the first game (Sky) twice because it didn't come together fast enough to keep me and was tough to play too. If you decide to play, stick it out through Chapter 2.

 

[KàIRóS]

Wake me up when the Calvard Arc drops as I already played this 3 years ago and for once I'm actually waiting for the NISA versions of the Kuro games. Hope you guys enjoy it though.

 

[graywolf323]

Steam version is $10 cheaper ($50) from Fanatical and GMG.

it’s actually not, GG.deals mistakenly think the coupons work on the game but they don’t

 

[NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt]

A man of taste.

 

[Paltheos]

Booted it up and played the first half hour tonight. I laughed a little at the Crossbell gang using the exact same trick from the previous game to distract imperial forces in Crossbell for an Orchis Tower incursion, but I can't hold it against the game for seeing everyone, right down to the mousy vice chief of the CPD, joining in on the ground efforts to fight the imperials (I also think it's a little silly the Zauber Soldats still work but I appreciate the consistency of the rogue forces using what's likely the most readily available Soldat unit). The sequence for breaking into the tower was bombastic and cinematic in just the ways I wanted, and the lovely violin piece for the raid that's telltale Jindo has me pumped.

Had to cut my session short but I'm hopping back in ASAP.

Side note: Once again I appreciate the technical work in improving the English release. Little stuff like allowing you to change your control UI matter allot to me. Even allot of big budget games screw this up and force you on XBox overlays on PC; I love my Dualshock buttons!

 

[Croga]

Started briefly last night and played a bit on Steam Deck, great port, runs perfectly fine the Deck as expected.

I'll be putting my playthough on hold though for now, apparently link attacks are bugged for any new characters introduced in this.

All individual link attacks are not listed correctly and don't work, stuff like finishing blow, cheer, etc etc.

Example of it here:

Seeing a few thread around Steam and other places mentioning it, so will wait for it to be patched before I continue, plenty of other games to play in the meantime.

 

[NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt]

I'm on Chapter 1 of Rean Path. Great game so far. Only disappointment is that there's no DLC costumes for Musse

 

[Teletraan1]

Going to pick this up next week, busy all weekend and I want to finish off my playthrough of CSIV after playing though the entire series again as a refresher.

 

[adamsapple]

Oh man, there's a bucket load of history stuff. It's been ages since I played any of the games, I should probably read it, but that's gonna take hours in itself lol

What is this 3 x 9 (?) in the recaps? A manga, book ?

 

[NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt]

Got through C Chapter 1 Route

This was short lol

Got to Act II in Trails Into Reverie

 

[Teletraan1]

Oh man, there's a bucket load of history stuff. It's been ages since I played any of the games, I should probably read it, but that's gonna take hours in itself lol

What is this 3 x 9 (?) in the recaps? A manga, book ?

It is a book series you had to collect in IV. It was about some of the people in Cs group in this game. Gives a bit of backstory to these new characters in the same way that Roselia and others were introduced through books before being shown proper in the games.

 

[adamsapple]

Playlist recaps of the 4 cold steel games for anyone interested (and wants more info than just reading the text in the game)

 

[Thief1987]

Spent 4 hours talking with everyone in Crossbell. Good old Trails experience

 

[adamsapple]

So what's the best/recommended order to tackling the 3 stories ? Open to suggestions for maximizing my enjoyment.

edit: I see the recommended order in post #2.

 

[Paltheos]

Started briefly last night and played a bit on Steam Deck, great port, runs perfectly fine the Deck as expected.

I'll be putting my playthough on hold though for now, apparently link attacks are bugged for any new characters introduced in this.

All individual link attacks are not listed correctly and don't work, stuff like finishing blow, cheer, etc etc.

Example of it here:

Seeing a few thread around Steam and other places mentioning it, so will wait for it to be patched before I continue, plenty of other games to play in the meantime.

Sucks. I put a notice in the top of the OP. Hopefully we hear something soon. Thanks for sharing.

NISA's had a rough go of the launch, eh? Between this bug (although some bugginess is not unusual in their launches) and the shipping issues it hasn't been the easiest past two days, I imagine.

 

[jshackles]

Ordered a physical Switch copy. It's going on the pile, as I'm still balls-deep in Trails SC - meaning I have about 8 more 100-hour RPGs to climb through before I catch up to this one.

 

[Mister Wolf]

A love all the enhanced visual feature's Durante's team add to the port. HBAO+, FOV control, and unlimited draw distance are a must have.

 

[Croga]

Sucks. I put a notice in the top of the OP. Hopefully we hear something soon. Thanks for sharing.

NISA's had a rough go of the launch, eh? Between this bug (although some bugginess is not unusual in their launches) and the shipping issues it hasn't been the easiest past two days, I imagine.

Yeah I'm quite surprised as PH3 (Durante's Team) have delivered rock solid versions of Azure, Zero and Kuro(JP version) that were free of any major bugs right at launch for each title, and this seems like a massive oversight with the link system not working for every "new" member of the cast.

Fingers crossed they'll work it out soon, or at least acknowledge it so we know a fix is on the way sharpish so I can continue my playthrough bug free.