For almost 20 years, The Legend of Heroes series has brought out one of the best JRPG stories to many players worldwide. Every game in the series tells a different story with twists, turns, and unexpected endings that leaves players wanting more. Recently, Nihon Falcom released its latest game, Legend of Heroes Trails into Reverie, worldwide and after logging in almost 48 hours into the game, I can say for certain that this new installment is worth investing your precious time in.
Trails into Reverie is considered to be the ending to the Crossbell Arc, the Liberl Arc, and the Erebonia Arc. Following the event of End of Saga, all the main characters of the previous Trails games will need to work together to fend off the aftermath of the great war and have to solve the mystery of this new enemy that has shaken the core of Zemuria. With over 50 plus characters, players will have their hands full challenging themselves to master the various techniques and skills of each playable character in the game. And they will need it to take on the game’s more tedious boss battles.
The game uses the previous engine of End of Saga which focuses on a turn-based battle system with the improved and death-defying Brave Orders. Through this new system, players can perform Rush Attacks or Burst Attacks that help in turning the tide of battle in favor of our protagonists. Diligent use of the Brave Orders increases all of your team’s offensive and defensive stats and makes future encounters easier to deal with.
At the same time, a new battle system has been implemented into the game called United Fronts. In this new feature, 5 or more characters in one’s party will use the Brave Orders and will perform United Attacks, United Arts, or United Heals to quickly deal with challenging and tough enemies. This ability can be used in any combat at any time or any place. This new feature shows that Falcom still has the drive to try out new things and fans such as myself can expect more in the future.
Aside from participating in the story quests of the game, players are able to improve their party’s stats and skills as they gain access to a mysterious realm known as the Reverie Corridor. In this realm, players will take on multiple dungeon floors where various materials can be found, face off against new and returning enemies, and discover multiple rare chests.
Players should take this opportunity to upgrade their BP, AG points, level up, and more. This is especially useful considering the large cast of casters to the player can utilize in battle at any given time. Adding this new challenging realm adds quite a bit of depth and I could see future Legend of Heroes games using this concept.
But it’s not all just multiple story quests and mysterious dungeon exploration. Players can also partake in clearing certain mini-games as well as interact with various NPCs of the game. Most of these mini-games allow players to have a broader view of the Trails series. Some of these might show scenes revealing what a character’s plans are for the future. While others might hint at what’s to come in the next installment of the Legend of Heroes.
There are a couple of things I didn’t particularly about the game, however. First, is that not all characters that are playable in the game get their own dialogue in the main story. Considering the game has over 50 plus characters and not all of them can have a voice in the main story, I think the developers should have at least extended or added some optional scenes for characters who aren’t the focus of the game’s main story. That would go a long way with fans of those Trails games.
The second issue I have is that there are some frame rate issues that need to be addressed in the Nintendo Switch version of the game. For example, there are certain cutscenes where certain characters seem to freeze on screen. With a few minor updates, these errors can hopefully be fixed.
The Legend of Heroes Trails into Reveire is an excellent addition to the series. My only advice is that players should consider playing the previous Trails game in order to have a full grasp of the lore surrounding the game and the events leading up to this new conflict. Knowing that this is the epilogue of the Erobonia and Crossbell arcs, I was surprised at how immersed I was with the story and how impressed I was with the JRPG mechanics that don’t feel like they are restricted to just consoles.
