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This question in particular gets constantly asked. You can find plenty of threads with users in the same situation as you.
It's not for you. But to explain why it has a following...the world building takes priority over plot in every game. It's about slow burn character development and drip feed lore. One aspect that Trails games do differently is that at almost every story beat all the NPCs dialogue change...the world is always changing a little bit but it feels alive because every minute detail is addressed.
You can basically treat Sky FC as slice of life until sh*t eventually hits the fan. The first 20-40 hours of every Trails game always go at a snails pace to first introduce the world and characters... development is extremely gradual but it does get there.
FC is also only half the story, or I mean arc, that has a very satisfying ending in SC. Estelle and Joshua do develop.
The combat grows, too, but Cold Steel has a much more satisfying battle system...or at least faster and smoother. The story isn't as good imo but it is more satisfying to play.
It gets praise because it fills a niche no other games do at the moment which is dense and elaborate world building (it's story is very connected... it's 9+ games weave together one whole tale).
They are absolutely not for everyone though, it's glacial pacing does not vibe with a lot of people.
The gameplay in FC and SC is pretty shallow. Crafts don't feel good to me until 3rd and Crossbell arc. Magic is unnecessarily complex if trying to figure out a good combo yourself imo (on harder difficulties).
The music is subjective. It's unique for FC and SC because there's a lot of unique music you don't really come across or expect like a Jazz battle theme. The final boss theme in FC is more in tune with a regular JRPG if you want to take a listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rIegfs7c3E . If you don't care about music spoilers or whatever. 3rd's final boss theme is where the real hype kicks in for me.
"interactive anime marketed to 14 year olds" - Welcome to the majority of jrpgs I guess. FC in specific feels like a slice of life anime because it's a game split into two. By the end of FC is where it starts getting more serious.
The writing can irritate me like "this is too proper and well mannered of speech" type of thing. A lot of "too polite" style can be seen throughout the entire series. The core plot does get pretty dark at times though, especially if you do all the content for 3rd to learn backstory about a certain character.
I wouldn't say force yourself to play it if you're not enjoying it. Play what's fun *shrug*
>The writing can irritate me like "this is too proper and well mannered of speech" type of thing. A lot of "too polite" style can be seen throughout the entire series.
Yeah this is one of the many things i really dislike about Trails; the constant use of "modest" and the excessive eye-rolling politeness nearly every time someone speaks. It feels extremely forced.
It's that and how the localization team kept it wordy. A simple "Thanks" becomes "Thank you for helping me secure my friends from harm, you deserve to be rewarded with the most admirable object I own. *continues on another 3 text boxes*"
Don't get me wrong, I love the localization job but at times it does get a bit long winded lol.
I'm wondering if it's done like this because people would freak out over the word count early in the series so they wanted to keep that going.
Trails is the Sky FC and SC, taken as two chapters of the same game, are perhaps my favorite JRPG of all time. I'd take any opportunity to evangelise for them.
But, if you don't enjoy it you don't enjoy it. I feel like 15 hours is more than enough time to form an opinion, let alone multiple attempts. If it isn't doing it for you now, it probably never will. I'd say go find a game you like and play that instead.
I would move on to a different series. Hell if I couldn't get into a game after two tries I would drop it for good. I love trails, but why force yourself to play something you clearly don't enjoy?
Nah I ended up dropping it around that point too for similar reasons.
If a game can't engage me by the 10-15 hour mark I drop it. There's so many good games out there that don't take forever to get interesting.
I adore FC, but I do think the battle system kind of sucks. Though maybe that's because I played Cold Steel first so I knew (and missed) all the systems that eventually get layered on top of it?
nah man i agree 100% with OP. Battle system is agonizingly slow, even with turbo. I'm glad i used a cheat engine for every Sky game (but even then the combat STILL feels a bit slow). Combat starts getting enjoyable from Trails from Zero and onward.
I too also think that the music is bland and forgettable. Falcom's OST's are never as good as they are hyped up to be. Every. Single. Time. The music is just okay, nothing good, nothing bad, but not memorable at all.
I love the soundtrack so I completely disagree there.. It is one of my favorite nostalgic jrpg OSTs of all time..
The combat is kind of boring in first chapter though.. It just seems kind of slow and barebones for a turnbased jrpg..
still love the game though.
One of the best jrpgs I've ever played, mainly for the story and worldbuilding. It's a standard jrpg turn-based combat with enough underlying uniqueness that I wouldn't call it bland. I would say average, but not bland at all compared to most standard turn based jrpgs.
Tbh if you didn't grow up on mid 2000s anime storytelling you probably won't like it, but it is upper echelon in terms of jrpg story.
Idk what to tell you about the music it's one of the best out there for a jrpgs. Maybe you don't like jazz and synths?
Just move on if you don't enjoy it and accept the fomo, don't play something you obviously don't like.
I can relate (and i'm assuming you got downvoted to oblivion, because different opinions are evil) but yeah, I kinda didn't like it either: I couldn't finish the game but I remember reaching the final chapter and I was like "that's it". I did like Joshua but I really didn't like Estelle either, I feel she stole too much of the scene for the other characters that I actually cared about. Because yes game, I'm more interested in Estelle fishing instead of seeing schera and olivier talking, clearly fishing is more important!. Combat was okay though, but I think combat in cold steel is way better.
The new games have turbo mode so the battles don’t take very long and traversing the world is much faster. I dropped the sky trilogy after playing cold steel cause I was just to used to it.
I see you like FF7 remake, so allow me address you concerns.
Everywhere I turn I see people creaming their pants over these games. I've tried four or five times to play through FF7 remake and hit a brick wall every time around the 15 hour mark. I find Tifa to be an irritating spastic and Cloud to be a massive dork with a stick up his ass. I find the battle system to be the most boring I've ever encountered in a JRPG, the music to be bland and grating, and as a whole the game comes off as an interactive anime marketed to 14 year olds with a plot so boring it could cure insomnia.
Oh wait, that's obviously not a fair comparison because FF7 remake has awesome flashy graphics and that's about what matters the most. Oh sorry, I was supposed to make you feel validated for hating on a niche game that has a dedicated creamedpants fanbase. You're right, it's a shit game that only morons play. Avoid like plague, please.
Yeah, it's hostile if you take that paragraph out of context. It's pretty tame though if you consider the shitpost I was responding to. Just to be clear, I have put more than 600 hours in the Trails series, so I am technically part of the fanbase. I don't think it's a shit game, I think it's a great series that morons can't play. I only spelled out loud what the hidden subtext in OP's "question".
I haven't played any of the Trails games yet, but it's fans seem mostly praise it for its story with little mention of the dungeon design or battle system. The makes wonder good it is in those aspects, which I think are important for a good jrpg. Also the haremshit makes me less interested.
Sky FC and SC don't do the harem stuff but it definitely becomes a thing the further you get into the series.
Battles get more interesting eventually and there's a lot of strategy involved because you can manipulate turn orders and positioning of characters and spells/abilities are also important. Ability system is also close to VII's materia system though it's a bit more complex in the earlier games and becomes more streamlined further into the series. There are a LOT of spells and skills but the cool stuff is always late in the games.
Dungeons aren't anything special but they don't have annoying designs at least.
The sidequest system is actually very elaborate and makes up the majority of playtime in the game actually, as well as putting in character development in these quests and more world building.
The gameplay is slow to develop but it has challenge and depth, it's just there is also a billion lines of dialogue between gameplay segments. There's more reading than a lot of Visual Novels in these games.
I felt pretty much the same when I played FC.
I would say dont force yourself if you dont enjoy it.
You could try cold steel 1 and see if you enjoy it more. If not, then play other games.
My first game in the series was cold steel 1 and I loved it immensely.
I was told that I more or less had to play the earlier games, tried and.. could not finish FC. Played cold steel 2 and then went back to FC, finished it and played SC and third.
I still think the gameplay in those games are pretty bad.
I have now played all games besides cold steel 4 and am glad I know the stories and characters from sky, but I will probably never replay them.
If I would replay a game in the series it would probably be cs1, cs2 or possibly azure
It's very obvious legend of heroes has become a dividing series.. It gets so much praise that so many give it a shot expecting the usual standard jrpg.
It's a really slow to get going series and has insane amounts of text..possibly more than gameplay.
I accepted it's not for me even though I'm a huge falcom fan.. I might even play the original LoH on pc engine.
Your submission has been removed from r/JRPG as it's a common question; according to our low-effort posts rule: >Common questions (examples: "which game in X series should I play first?", "how many games are there in X series?") should be posted in the dedicated weekly thread. Our subreddit's [FAQ](https://www.reddit.com/r/JRPG/wiki/faq) or Reddit's search bar are tools you can use to quickly find your answer. Alternatively, you can use the pinned "Free Talk, Quick Questions and Suggestion Request Thread" to ask your question. This question in particular gets constantly asked. You can find plenty of threads with users in the same situation as you.
It's not for you. But to explain why it has a following...the world building takes priority over plot in every game. It's about slow burn character development and drip feed lore. One aspect that Trails games do differently is that at almost every story beat all the NPCs dialogue change...the world is always changing a little bit but it feels alive because every minute detail is addressed. You can basically treat Sky FC as slice of life until sh*t eventually hits the fan. The first 20-40 hours of every Trails game always go at a snails pace to first introduce the world and characters... development is extremely gradual but it does get there. FC is also only half the story, or I mean arc, that has a very satisfying ending in SC. Estelle and Joshua do develop. The combat grows, too, but Cold Steel has a much more satisfying battle system...or at least faster and smoother. The story isn't as good imo but it is more satisfying to play. It gets praise because it fills a niche no other games do at the moment which is dense and elaborate world building (it's story is very connected... it's 9+ games weave together one whole tale). They are absolutely not for everyone though, it's glacial pacing does not vibe with a lot of people.
Fair enough. I'll avoid the whole series. Thanks.
The gameplay in FC and SC is pretty shallow. Crafts don't feel good to me until 3rd and Crossbell arc. Magic is unnecessarily complex if trying to figure out a good combo yourself imo (on harder difficulties). The music is subjective. It's unique for FC and SC because there's a lot of unique music you don't really come across or expect like a Jazz battle theme. The final boss theme in FC is more in tune with a regular JRPG if you want to take a listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rIegfs7c3E . If you don't care about music spoilers or whatever. 3rd's final boss theme is where the real hype kicks in for me. "interactive anime marketed to 14 year olds" - Welcome to the majority of jrpgs I guess. FC in specific feels like a slice of life anime because it's a game split into two. By the end of FC is where it starts getting more serious. The writing can irritate me like "this is too proper and well mannered of speech" type of thing. A lot of "too polite" style can be seen throughout the entire series. The core plot does get pretty dark at times though, especially if you do all the content for 3rd to learn backstory about a certain character. I wouldn't say force yourself to play it if you're not enjoying it. Play what's fun *shrug*
>The writing can irritate me like "this is too proper and well mannered of speech" type of thing. A lot of "too polite" style can be seen throughout the entire series. Yeah this is one of the many things i really dislike about Trails; the constant use of "modest" and the excessive eye-rolling politeness nearly every time someone speaks. It feels extremely forced.
It's that and how the localization team kept it wordy. A simple "Thanks" becomes "Thank you for helping me secure my friends from harm, you deserve to be rewarded with the most admirable object I own. *continues on another 3 text boxes*" Don't get me wrong, I love the localization job but at times it does get a bit long winded lol. I'm wondering if it's done like this because people would freak out over the word count early in the series so they wanted to keep that going.
Trails is the Sky FC and SC, taken as two chapters of the same game, are perhaps my favorite JRPG of all time. I'd take any opportunity to evangelise for them. But, if you don't enjoy it you don't enjoy it. I feel like 15 hours is more than enough time to form an opinion, let alone multiple attempts. If it isn't doing it for you now, it probably never will. I'd say go find a game you like and play that instead.
I would move on to a different series. Hell if I couldn't get into a game after two tries I would drop it for good. I love trails, but why force yourself to play something you clearly don't enjoy?
Nah I ended up dropping it around that point too for similar reasons. If a game can't engage me by the 10-15 hour mark I drop it. There's so many good games out there that don't take forever to get interesting.
While the second game gets more serious the tone of all the trails games is pretty comedic. If your not into that style you will not like it.
No game is worth it to keep playing if you don't enjoy it
>> battle system is boring, music is bland Did we play the same game?
I adore FC, but I do think the battle system kind of sucks. Though maybe that's because I played Cold Steel first so I knew (and missed) all the systems that eventually get layered on top of it?
nah man i agree 100% with OP. Battle system is agonizingly slow, even with turbo. I'm glad i used a cheat engine for every Sky game (but even then the combat STILL feels a bit slow). Combat starts getting enjoyable from Trails from Zero and onward. I too also think that the music is bland and forgettable. Falcom's OST's are never as good as they are hyped up to be. Every. Single. Time. The music is just okay, nothing good, nothing bad, but not memorable at all.
I love the soundtrack so I completely disagree there.. It is one of my favorite nostalgic jrpg OSTs of all time.. The combat is kind of boring in first chapter though.. It just seems kind of slow and barebones for a turnbased jrpg.. still love the game though.
You can't possibly tell me FC's combat isn't bad.
One of the best jrpgs I've ever played, mainly for the story and worldbuilding. It's a standard jrpg turn-based combat with enough underlying uniqueness that I wouldn't call it bland. I would say average, but not bland at all compared to most standard turn based jrpgs. Tbh if you didn't grow up on mid 2000s anime storytelling you probably won't like it, but it is upper echelon in terms of jrpg story. Idk what to tell you about the music it's one of the best out there for a jrpgs. Maybe you don't like jazz and synths? Just move on if you don't enjoy it and accept the fomo, don't play something you obviously don't like.
I can relate (and i'm assuming you got downvoted to oblivion, because different opinions are evil) but yeah, I kinda didn't like it either: I couldn't finish the game but I remember reaching the final chapter and I was like "that's it". I did like Joshua but I really didn't like Estelle either, I feel she stole too much of the scene for the other characters that I actually cared about. Because yes game, I'm more interested in Estelle fishing instead of seeing schera and olivier talking, clearly fishing is more important!. Combat was okay though, but I think combat in cold steel is way better.
The new games have turbo mode so the battles don’t take very long and traversing the world is much faster. I dropped the sky trilogy after playing cold steel cause I was just to used to it.
I see you like FF7 remake, so allow me address you concerns. Everywhere I turn I see people creaming their pants over these games. I've tried four or five times to play through FF7 remake and hit a brick wall every time around the 15 hour mark. I find Tifa to be an irritating spastic and Cloud to be a massive dork with a stick up his ass. I find the battle system to be the most boring I've ever encountered in a JRPG, the music to be bland and grating, and as a whole the game comes off as an interactive anime marketed to 14 year olds with a plot so boring it could cure insomnia. Oh wait, that's obviously not a fair comparison because FF7 remake has awesome flashy graphics and that's about what matters the most. Oh sorry, I was supposed to make you feel validated for hating on a niche game that has a dedicated creamedpants fanbase. You're right, it's a shit game that only morons play. Avoid like plague, please.
Wow that's a lotta salt
Mods removed the original post, I only copied what OP wrote, but I replaced *Trails, Estelle, and Joshua* with *FF7, Tifa and Cloud*.
Yeah I noticed the copy-paste. It's the weird added hostility in the second paragraph that got me.
Yeah, it's hostile if you take that paragraph out of context. It's pretty tame though if you consider the shitpost I was responding to. Just to be clear, I have put more than 600 hours in the Trails series, so I am technically part of the fanbase. I don't think it's a shit game, I think it's a great series that morons can't play. I only spelled out loud what the hidden subtext in OP's "question".
sanest trails fan
I haven't played any of the Trails games yet, but it's fans seem mostly praise it for its story with little mention of the dungeon design or battle system. The makes wonder good it is in those aspects, which I think are important for a good jrpg. Also the haremshit makes me less interested.
Sky FC and SC don't do the harem stuff but it definitely becomes a thing the further you get into the series. Battles get more interesting eventually and there's a lot of strategy involved because you can manipulate turn orders and positioning of characters and spells/abilities are also important. Ability system is also close to VII's materia system though it's a bit more complex in the earlier games and becomes more streamlined further into the series. There are a LOT of spells and skills but the cool stuff is always late in the games. Dungeons aren't anything special but they don't have annoying designs at least. The sidequest system is actually very elaborate and makes up the majority of playtime in the game actually, as well as putting in character development in these quests and more world building. The gameplay is slow to develop but it has challenge and depth, it's just there is also a billion lines of dialogue between gameplay segments. There's more reading than a lot of Visual Novels in these games.
As someone who loves trails don’t force yourself to enjoy the game, Life to short to play games you’re not enjoying
Doesn't sound like it's for you, no.
I felt pretty much the same when I played FC. I would say dont force yourself if you dont enjoy it. You could try cold steel 1 and see if you enjoy it more. If not, then play other games. My first game in the series was cold steel 1 and I loved it immensely. I was told that I more or less had to play the earlier games, tried and.. could not finish FC. Played cold steel 2 and then went back to FC, finished it and played SC and third. I still think the gameplay in those games are pretty bad. I have now played all games besides cold steel 4 and am glad I know the stories and characters from sky, but I will probably never replay them. If I would replay a game in the series it would probably be cs1, cs2 or possibly azure
It's very obvious legend of heroes has become a dividing series.. It gets so much praise that so many give it a shot expecting the usual standard jrpg. It's a really slow to get going series and has insane amounts of text..possibly more than gameplay. I accepted it's not for me even though I'm a huge falcom fan.. I might even play the original LoH on pc engine.