Zeddex

Trails in the Sky: SC 10/10

I actually started playing this in 2023 but finished it early 2024. I was hesitant to start this series because it's massive and I really wanted to try to play them all. I'm glad I finally got around to it. I loved this game. It's not for everyone but if you enjoy games with good world building, twists, tons of characters, and of course an amazing soundtrack, give it a go.

Trails in the Sky: The Third 8/10

I almost skipped this one. I'd heard a lot of mixed opinions about it. It's a very different kind of game from FC and SC. It's more of an homage or send of kind of for the cast of FC and SC. The story here is good but it's not a grand scale story with conspiracy, plotting, and intrigue like FC and FC. Other than returning characters it doesn't tie into the first two much at all.

The whole game also takes place in a dungeon with multiple layers which makes it feel smaller and more confined than the first two games.

The final dungeon almost ruined it for me though. It's one of those types where you're forced to use all characters. Fortunately I had enough leveled characters to carry the weaker ones but I still didn't like it. The balance of the game overall is also just off. Most of it is incredibly easy until the final dungeon, partly because you're forced to use all characters.

As usual though the soundtrack is great. Overall a good game. If you enjoyed FC and SC definitely give it a chance.

Fire Emblem: Three Hopes 8/10

Took me awhile to get to this one but I'm glad I got to it. It's a great game. I hadn't played a Warriors game in years but after playing lengthy RPGs back-to-back, and BG3 not long before, I was looking for a change. The story was kind of hard to wrap my head around and it feels like there's a lot I missed out on by only playing one route in Three Houses as well as Three Hopes but the gameplay is a lot of fun and it was cool to see characters from Three Houses again. A voiced protagonist was also a nice change and I hope they keep this going after Engage and Three Hopes.

Trails from Zero 10/10

This game is just so good. If there is only one game in the Trails series you play, make it this one. Amazing soundtrack like usual, great world building here too. It's a bit smaller in scope than FC and SC but manages to find a good balance. I actually liked that the main party cast is much smaller than the previous three, much much smaller than Sky the Third especially.

It's connected to the first three but is the start of its own arc. It was cool to see some characters return.

I almost took a point off for no Olivier though.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed 9/10

This is DLC done right. It wraps up a lot of loose ends from XC3. It was really great to see old favourites return again. The combat is a lot of fun still and the soundtrack is great. It's missing some of the depth from XC3 but the collectopedia I think is done better here.

Persona 4 Golden 10/10

I actually played this way back on the PS Vita but never finished it. I decided to finally give it another go and it sucked me in. The story and characters are great, the music is great, and the gameplay is good. The dungeons can get a little repetitive and the balance is kind of off. I found the first two dungeons to be pretty hard but then by about the fourth dungeon things just kept getting easier and easier.

Persona 5 Royal 10/10

P4G but better. I liked the story and characters a lot more in this one. It's easier than P4G but had a smoother difficulty curve I found. The music is fantastic! It's loooong though. I was not prepared. I have no idea how people are finishing it in less than 100 hours. Tycoon is easily the best minigame in any game ever.

Echoes of Wisdom 8/10

I was looking for something different after playing a lot of heavy RPGs. I really liked this game! I thought it would a be gimmicky, but it really stands on its own. I loved looking through my list of Echoes and trying to figure out which would help solve the puzzle. Combat kind of sucks when you're sword energy is empty though because you're stuck waiting for the Echoes to hopefully do what you need them to.

The Legend of Dragoon - in progress

Just started playing this recently. Really enjoying it. I had played it when I was a kid but just had an urge to play it again.

Did something similar when I was still learning Linux. Had some issue with Python. Decided to reinstall it. Did a force remove and my computer restarted immediately. I was brought back into a shell but basically nothing worked right. Turns out Python is a dependency for a lot of things in Ubuntu. Who knew? :D

I'm quite happy with my Framework 13 Intel 12th Gen, but yeah probably overkill for TUI only.

My employer is the same and it drives me crazy. wInDoWs iS mOrE sEcUrE! Yet literally all of our software runs in Linux environments. We even tell people to build in Windows but target Linux. I had a M2 Max at one point because I finally convinced them to at least let me have that and was forced back to Windows because our stupid MDM software only really works properly on Windows. :(

So I realize this post is over a year old but this is the only(!) Trails/Falcom community I could find on Lemmy. Maybe we can revive it lol!

Maybe you've already found your answer and moved on. Maybe you finished and loved it. Maybe someone else will stumble across this. I see this kind of question come up a lot.

Sky the 3rd is a very different game. It's much more linear, it's smaller in scope, it's a focus on different group. It was a big shift to go from Estelle, Joshua and co. to Kevin and Ries.

There's also no exploring the world and everything comes back to the hub world. I also found it to be very unbalanced. Most of the game is incredibly easy until the final dungeon. I breezed through until I got there and then was forced to grind because some of my party members were under leveled.

I also didn't like it at first but as willing to give it a chance. And I'm glad I did. Kevin's character arc and story paid off. This is very much a story about Kevin, the Church, and the Gralsritter. Some other characters do have their moments but this game by and large is about Kevin.

That's mostly what the Memory Doors are about. Giving the rest of the cast their moment in the spotlight.

There's also a certain boss fight in chapter 6 that was just so amazing. The way the boss just approaches, the music comes in and then the fight starts. I won't spoil it but that was probably one of the best fights in the entire trilogy.

Speaking of music it's also top quality here.

With all that said though surely that must mean I rank it highly? Well no.

My rankings would be this so far:

1. Sky 2nd
2. Zero
3. Sky
4. Sky 3rd

That's not to say I didn't like it, I did, but it's definitely the weakest game so far but is by no means bad. But I can totally understand why someone would drop it and not come back.

Yeah the "main" times always seem way off. Must be people skipping stuff. I usually find somewhere around main+side or in between that and completionist is where my time usually is.

P5R and The Legend of Dragoon. I put off P5R for so long but I'm glad I finally got around to playing it. It's so good!

I haven't played much of The Legend of Dragoon yet but I just had an urge to play it again. I loved that game when I was a kid. Playing on Steam Deck is great!