“But we’re here now, aren’t we? We defied the odds and came through every time.”
The Legend of Heroes is a rare novelty when It comes to JRPG sequels, in that while each saga largely revolves around a new cast of characters, often with a story that is built solely towards them, the world and narratives are intrinsically connected, often tied to major events occurring behind the scenes. Given the history of this series, it's not wise for Trails into Reverie to be your starting point given it is the tenth title in a massively connected series.
Trails into Reverie is a stunning culmination of several events of the entire Trails series, especially that of Trails to Azure, and that of Trails of Cold Steel IV, games that each wrapped up numerous plots that have been cooking for years. While Trails into the Sky does feature here with notable appearances of its central roster, it is the most disconnected of the three individual sagas, at least to the extent of the other two.
In a lot of ways, Trails into Reverie feels like the third game in the Crossbell saga, simply due to the majority of the plot being built around Crossbell's continued desire for independence, a topic that was the central pillar of Zero and Azure's narrative, and also factored into moments of Trails of Cold Steel. Reverie’s plot does feature several characters who are part of Crossbell’s past, largely in the same roles, albeit with entirely new context and mystery. I'm going to be pretty light on much of the story simply due to many events here feeling like solid impactful moments for not just the characters themselves, but for the player as well. While Trails into Reverie may at times feel like nothing more than excessive fan service or retreading of previous ideas, its emotional core continues to bring the same undeniable charm along with it.
Trails into Reverie's plot is told through the perspective of three individual protagonists; Trails of Cold Steel's Rean Schwarzer, the Crossbell Saga's Lloyd Bannings, and the mysterious C, a man who takes the name and attire of a villain Trails fans are all too familiar with. Each of these characters presses forward with plots unique to them, unknownst that they are very much connected. Seeing these stories come together, as well as many characters across the series meeting and interacting for the first time, despite knowing them from afar, is the charm of what Reverie offers, even if I feel it's the weakest of the Trails game from a story perspective. This is largely due to a few reveals that don't quite satisfy me as much as I had hoped they would. While I do believe this has my favorite final encounter of the series, the lead-up to this battle wasn’t always consistently as impressive.
As the story unfolds, you'll have three paths to follow, one for each protagonist and their relative cast of characters. This "Trails to Walk" system will lock events for one character until the other two have been equally as exhausted. We've had party switching before, but this is a bit more involved as characters are often on entirely different sides of the country. The game will alert you when your progress is at its limit with the currently selected character, allowing you to either continue on with another path, or pull back and tackle anything you left unresolved, such as character interactions, cooking, fishing, and more.
One point to make on Trails into Reverie is that it is far more linear than we've had before in the series, especially across an entire game. We've had moments across the series where it zeroes in on the story and guides your hand rather strictly, blocking off areas and keeping you focused. Trails into Reverie is that across its entire length. This may dissuade fans of the series wanting to take a certain cast of characters to certain locations, but that simply isn't allowed due to several locations being locked down due to the story. You'll revisit several locations from the Crossbell saga as well as from some of the early Cold Steel games, but Reverie for the most part is a very linear story-focused journey.
When it comes to purchasing gear, experience grinding, mini-games, and efficiently tinkering with your quartz, much of this is done via the Reverie Corridor, a place known to fans of Trails of Cold Steel II. While this differs greatly from that game's postgame content, the Reverie Corridor here brings forth each roster of characters from each path and gives them a location to grind, equip, and play through a variety of mini-games.
That latter content makes a great more sense to take part in here since the group will have their memories paused while visiting the corridor, unaware of what is urgently happening outside of it. This is a fairly smart idea since the urgency of the story doesn't make sense that the group would be taking part in such mini-game trivialities. It also prevents characters from sharing crucial information with the other groups so that those moments in the story have a better range of impact on its cast.
The Reverie Corridor's main feature is to give you a place to endlessly grind, earning Septiem and giving the group a shop they can access at any point in the game, especially since most commerce options will not be available for them outside of the Corridor. This grinding is through a dungeon where its floors are procedurally generated with enemies both big and small, chests containing a wide variety of loot, and the different paths you'll take, with the option to reset it at any time to refresh its halls with new paths, new enemies, and more loot. While the visual aspects of each floor can often be a bit too samey, the sheer amount of characters you can build your party from allows some of that repetition to fade away. Not all of it mind you, but it certainly helps. While I don’t think this area has the length to back it up without being monotonous after a few hours, I can certainly see what they were aiming to do.
It's a solid idea especially since you can make teams of characters that never have interacted before. And honestly, hearing characters saying particular names link attacks is incredibly cool and is a nice touch to see here. Another aspect of the Reverie Corridor is unlocking playable side-story memories and trials to take part in. While the trials are solid challenges to take on, should the cast of each trial be leveled appropriately, the memories are interesting ways to see events we wouldn’t have seen otherwise, such as Cedric’s training as he joined Ouroboros after the events of Cold Steel IV. Some memories are part of the core story, such as a chance meeting between Rixia and newcomers, Nadia and Swin, characters who Trails of Cold Steel IV fans will know from the 3 & 9 novellas, albeit sporting their real names.
As you explore the Corridor, you’ll earn colored spheres that grant different rewards. Gold will unlock additional characters to use in the Corridor, Blue will unlock the aforementioned memories, and Red will unlock additional mini-games or more content within them. Other colors will offer you additional rewards such as new costume pieces, items, or quartz to add to your kit. As mentioned before, the Reverie Corridor also features a shop to deal with anything from new gear to various costume pieces, to being able to play Vantage Masters or Pom Pom Party with much of the cast. While the intent of the Corridor is to make your team stronger, it acts as a home base for the team, even if they don't know why they are there and what awaits them outside.
Unlike the previous titles leading up to this, the structure is a bit different from how you'll engage with elements outside the story. You'll have some side quests to take on, but both Cold Steel and Zero/Azure had you taking on multiple requests to fill the game's length and occupy each day. Reverie doesn't quite offer that same structure, again as mentioned, this experience is far more lean and focused, being more intent on providing things to do that are more story-based than that of a side event. You'll still be able to traverse your surroundings, finding those secret conversations and moments, but the clear objectives that were present in the previous games just aren't there.
Trails into Reverie is very much a continuation of the Trails of Cold Steel saga when it comes to the game's combat and visuals, with very little added to distinguish itself, and feels almost identical in every way. I've mentioned before that Reverie is meant for players who have been part of the series for years, so there isn't a need to dig too deep into combat since there are only a small handful of changes since Cold Steel IV, if that. Still, as a brief refresher, combat still relies on Brave Orders to buff your team, Art, Crafts, and your standard attacks to defeat your foes and items and movement to gain the upper hand. Each system still functions as it has since Trails of Cold Steel III, and most systems from even before that.
What is new to Reverie are United Fronts, a special ability that is gained by having at least five people in your party and gets stronger with the more you have with you. While teams are still comprised of four on the active battlefield, you can have numerous characters on the sidelines, granting your their Brave Orders or function towards this new United Fronts system. When you have enough gauge filled for this ability, you are able to use United Fronts to activate one of three skills; an attack that raises strength, restores CP, adds two Brave Points, and deals physical damage, as well as an Arts attack that raises ATS, restores EP and grants 2 BP, and deals a magical attack. Lastly, is a healing skill that heals the entire party, adds 2 BP, and cures all status ailments. It's a fun and flashy skill, but it's basically a variation of the link attacks but with a slightly bigger roster to dish them out.
With Trails from Zero and Trails to Azure finally being available in English, it's a shame those games lacked an English voice-over, especially as their entire cast is here in fully voiced in English. Still, it certainly seems as if COVID had a hand in some of the game's vocal quality as several characters sound as if they are recorded on a much lower quality microphone, and certainly stand out. Thankfully, this is only present with a small handful of the cast. That said, the game picks weird moments to have voicework, sometimes in the middle of a conversation that feels oddly out of place. There are also major moments that lack any voice work, yet a great deal during plenty of the mini-games. It simply feels weird to see such an inconsistency in the presentation here.
Both Trails into Cold Steel III & IV kept me engaged from start to finish, providing closure to events and character arcs that were deeply satisfying. While several characters get a suitable sense of closure within this game's narrative, I simply felt the story behind it all to just not be as engaging, with some characters barely featuring in the story at all and are there to simply make an appearance. Going into Trails into Reverie, I was incredibly hyped to revisit with its wonderful cast, an ensemble so vast that it’s impressive to see them all on-screen at once. Still, that charm can only go so far with a story that just doesn’t satisfy in ways I truly wanted. Regardless, I still enjoyed a great deal of my time here, tinkering with my team, embracing some of its best character moments, and jumping back into a world I simply find to be the best across the JRPG landscape.
Developer - Nihon Falcom Publisher - NIS America. Released - July 7th, 2023. Available On - PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, Windows. Rated - (T) Fantasy Violence, Blood, Suggestive Themes, Language, Use of Alcohol, Simulated Gambling. Platform Reviewed - PlayStation 5. Review Access - A review code was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review.
Jeff is the original founder of Analog Stick Gaming. His favorite games include The Witcher III, the Mass Effect Trilogy, Hi-Fi Rush, Stellar Blade, Hellbade: Senua’s Sacrifice, and the Legend of Heroes series, especially Trails of Cold Steel III & IV.