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Okaaaay, end of the line, folks! The train from Crossbell is now ready to depart! The next station is Erebonia. This is the second and final game of the Crossbell arc, filled with memorable moments, a great conclusion, and, of course, as is the norm with Falcom, a setup for more!

Even though I have enjoyed myself plenty with all of the Trails games up til now, this game and Sky 3rd are among the most memorable ones for me. Following the events of Trails from Zero, the Special Support Section finds themselves with some new faces and more than enough new duties. However, rising tensions in Crossbell, along with immense pressure from two neighboring political superpowers, threaten the safety of their home and the integrity of their own team. Lloyd and his old and new allies must now gear themselves for the threats that loom ahead. Crossbell, as we know it, will soon become the stage for a climactic conflict that will test the populous and also determine its future.

This game has done weird things to me. Never would I ever think that while I'm at work every day, I'd be thinking about the geopolitical state of Crossbell and constantly looking forward to seeing the result of said political disputes, which were as tense as they could be. The story itself overwhelmed me with numerous plot twists that just kept on coming. I constantly brainstormed what direction it might pursue and how it would all unfold. It was a ride like no other, and I'll keep repeating myself as often as I have to, but the Trails series is among the best JRPG series I've ever played. You don't see that much detail with its world-building, character development, and overall writing in many games, at least not with this magnitude.

In terms of combat, the skeleton is still the same but built upon more with new features, which include a mechanic known as Burst. Burst is a great mechanic, which in this game is locked behind specific climactic story moments. The gist is that you attack to fill a gauge; once you activate Burst, you can cast all your strongest Arts without waiting, granted that you have the EP for them. It can turn the tide and enable you to buff up your team very quickly. I am indeed a fan. However, I'm looking forward to its evolution in future games.

Soundtrack department? Blew it out of the park. There's not much more I need to say. If you've read my previous Trails reviews, it's the same deal here—fantastic soundtracks that further enhance your gameplay experience. From mellow and ambient tracks while exploring to remarkably heavy boss tracks that get your blood pumping and make you feel like you're challenging the world itself. Some of my favorites from this title are Delusion of a Thousand Years, Feelings in the Moonlight (EVO version), Destruction Impulse, Orchis Tower, Silence in the Sunlight Filtering Through Trees, and last but not least, who could forget The Azure Arbitrator.

In conclusion, it is a fantastic ending to the beloved Crossbell arc. If you were hesitant before, there's no need to be. You are in for a ride.

So...here I am, already on the fourth title, Trails from Zero. As I mentioned in my Trails in the Sky FC review, I initially wanted to start the Kiseki series from Cold Steel. Still, after starting from the beginning to now playing the fourth game, I would have missed so much context for our returning characters and events from the Sky trilogy. So far, I'm still nowhere near burned out, happily trekking on, and looking forward to the rest of the series.

It has been some time since our adventure in Liberl ended, so we moved northeast to Crossbell State. It is a bustling state in a very unfavorable position, stuck between the Erebonian Empire and the Calvard Republic. A state in which people have forgotten the meaning of the word justice. The Crossbell Police Department's hands are mostly tied; a corrupt government does whatever it wants, and the Mafia gets away with the majority of its crimes. But not everything is as bleak as it sounds. We are introduced to a young detective, Lloyd Bannings, a fresh recruit to the police department who gets thrown into a brand new branch of the police called the S.S.S, otherwise known as the Special Support Section. Alongside him, we get to meet three new faces, namely Randy Orlando, Tio Plato, and Elie MacDowell. I am a big fan of the group interactions and their overall dynamic throughout the game as a team. As for the rest of the story, however, you're gonna have to play the game and find out for yourself ;)

Regarding the combat aspect, if you liked it in the previous games, you will also be well acquainted with it in Zero. Several new additions, such as new arts, Persona-like team-up attacks, and new combined S-craft techniques, can turn the tide of battle rather quickly.

I also love that they've started improving upon the quality of life mechanics, such as High-Speed Mode, with options such as customizing the speed and being able to choose between holding and a toggle. Also, an auto mode for reading as well as a message log has been added. I only use high-speed mode during combat and when NPCs walk during cutscenes, but auto dialogue is a must for me, so I'm happy with the addition of it.

What can I say about the music? I've been repeating myself for four games now and don't see myself stopping. Falcom Sound Team jdk always makes soundtracks that elevate the games above and beyond. From the beginning, you have a strong first impression of the title track, Zero no Kiseki. The Way of the Tree Spirit made me actively want to explore more and more because I couldn't get enough of it. Some other great tracks include Temptation of Wisdom, Gazing at Your Back, Intense Chase, the grandiose Arrival Existence, and last but certainly not least, Formidable Enemy.

In conclusion, I enjoyed Trails from Zero. From the get-go, I wanted to find out why Crossbell is the way it is and see for myself how people fight to improve it as a whole. I was not disappointed with what I received in return.

Here we are, the end of the Sky trilogy and a new dawn to upcoming adventures across Zemuria. Trails in the Sky 3rd is a bit of a mixed bag among the general fandom. Still, I feel that what it lacks compared to previous entries in the form of free-roaming exploration is balanced by the ever-important Door system, which gives more spotlight to the characters we've come to love.

Trails in the Sky 3rd is set half a year after the events of the previous installment. Liberl has settled into peace yet again, but even during peaceful times, many among the fortunate are burning with greed thanks to the influence of ancient artifacts. As our new main duo, Kevin Graham and Ries Argent, it is our task to snuff out these would-be villains and claim back the artifacts.

As mentioned before this game is non-standard in the Trails series up until now. We are no longer exploring our beloved Liberl, instead, this game shifts more into a "dungeon crawling" aspect. Along the way, we find these Doors with different symbols and challenges. Make no mistake, as is tradition with Trails, these doors are very important as they all give our most beloved characters more spotlight and development. The Doors are sorted into 3 different types. We have Moon Doors (contain the longer stories), Star Doors (contain shorter stories), and Sun Doors which contain exclusively mini-games. At first, I was hesitant but the amount of them is shorter than I initially anticipated, so I figured I might as well do them all, and for the most part I'm glad that I did. The combat itself is the same as SC which I'm fond of so I feel that if you liked SC's combat, you'll like 3rd as well.

As is the norm with Trails, wonderful soundtracks all around. I honestly thought that it would be hard to beat SC with its repertoire but I was shocked at how many great soundtracks are in 3rd. My favorites in no particular order would be: Jade Corridor, Recluse Cube, A Still World, A Faint Glitter of Light, Primal Ground, Reminiscence, Maybe it was fated, and last but not least Looking Up at the Sky.

In conclusion, I understand that some people might be put off by the lack of exploration and condemn the entirety of 3rd. However, I'd urge you to at least give it a try for yourself. The events inside the Doors are worth it alone, along with set-ups for the upcoming games. SC was amazing in its own right but 3rd is probably my favorite game out of the entire Sky trilogy.

This is a direct continuation of our first game, Trails in the Sky First Chapter. What can I say? At first, I was apprehensive due to the series' sheer length, but now I'm fully hooked.

The game follows Estelle who sets out on a new adventure, after completing some training by the Bracer Guild. You will find party members and characters both old and new which will aid you on your journey. I won't write too much regarding the story because I'm afraid I will spoil people who have not yet finished the first game. All you need to know is that it's very much worth it. A negative point might be that you will visit locations where you were in the first game, however you now have a solid objective. The game is longer, no longer only 4 chapters + prologue. In this game, you play through 8 chapters + your standard prologue and finale. Depending on how you play, you're free to explore, chat with NPCs after the events of your training, or read your local newspapers for additional world-building. It is one of the best things about the Trails series after all.

In the gameplay department, there haven't been many changes but you can now use chain S-crafts, along with a changed orbment system which enables you to upgrade slots and attach even more powerful orbments into your arsenal.

Once again, as is the norm, Falcom Sound Team has done a wonderful job with the soundtrack. Many more action-packed pieces in this game, however, I have to say that I preferred the battle bgm in the first game over this one. Some of my favorite tracks from this game are Fight with Assailant, which is present in plenty of fights but personally, it fits the Jaegers the most in my opinion (you will know why when you play it), Infiltration, and last but not least Fateful Confrontation.

Overall, the enjoyment is purely subjective. I enjoyed SC more than I did FC but that does not mean that either game is bad. Both of them are amazing games and I'm so excited to continue with the series and see how it evolves.

Ah, the infamous Trails series. Some like to call this the "One Piece of JRPGS," and I'd like to agree. It's a very daunting and long series not meant for everyone. Personally, I wanted to start with the Cold Steel arc because I was afraid that the Sky trilogy being older might not hold up as well, but I was mistaken.

As the start of the Trails series, serving as the beginning to the Liberl arc we are introduced to Estelle Bright and her adopted brother Joshua, who journey through the country of Liberl to train and become senior rank Bracers. This multinational organization acts to keep the peace and protect civilians. Their travels will take them to all the major towns in Liberl where they can explore and help the local populace with their troubles. Gaining trust, eventually earning you recommendations from the Bracer guild of said town which enables you to move to the next city. This game has a Prologue along with 4 chapters, all of which are pretty long. This is because FC (First Chapter) and SC (Second Chapter), were originally meant to be one game, but due to the size of it all nihon falcom split them into 2.

Due to my original worries, I was hesitant about the gameplay. I can with confidence say that the game holds up quite well even in 2025. The gameplay while quite simple provides a layer of depth with the quartz/orbment system. You can go to town to customize the abilities of your party for whatever suits your needs. Suffice it to say for me, I got quite a whiplash from it at the start, but as I progressed more throughout the story, I unlocked more orbments and it was pretty smooth sailing from there. The game doesn't want you to grind either, in that regard it's pretty fair since you'll be doing a fair bit of sidequests to help the local populous with their troubles.

Additionally, I have to give major props to the Falcom Sound Team. The OST perfectly complements FC's vibe. The soundtrack is filled to the brim with amazing tracks that only enhance your journey as you travel across Liberl. My Personal Favorites have to be Secret Green Passage and Hollow Light of the Sealed Land, along with one of the best Battle BGMs, Sophisticated Fight.

What it doesn't do well for me is that the overall story was kind of weak. It only started to ramp up from Chapter 3 onwards. The game often does this thing of not naming stuff, instead, they opt for vaguely naming important characters or places in a sort of wink-wink fashion, which annoyed me a tiny bit since it's supposed to be the start of the journey, but in the end, it wouldn't be that fun if they revealed all their aces early on.

Ultimately, even with the negatives I'm willing to overlook them for the most part. It would be a different conversation if this was a standalone game, but this game mainly serves to establish and set up the overarching lore of the entire franchise. If you want to start the Trails series you can pick this game up for pretty cheap, or you can wait for the remake named "Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter" that's coming out in Fall 2025. Either way, it's a great game to start the series with.

Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin came as a surprise to me. I'm relatively new to farming simulators and cozy games, but I've taken a big liking to this game. This game is a blend of 2D platforming with some combat and a rice cultivating simulator, I must say I'm reminded of the Atelier series with the overall vibe.

At the beginning, you meet Sakuna. The daughter of a goddess of harvest and a war god. Spending her days in the Lofty realm (Realm of the Gods) just drinking every day, relying on her parents' fame, and doing the bare minimum. Due to some circumstances, a couple of humans wander into the Lofty realm following Sakuna. They are hungry and they just found her stash of rice, Sakuna chases after them, and after a small quarrel, a candle sets everything ablaze. Now without any stash, Sakuna has nothing to offer to the main goddess Lady Kamuhitsuki, and is then banished, along with the humans to the Isle of Demons. There Sakuna has to work together with the humans to grow rice and learn what it is to be a Goddess of Harvest herself. The story does a fantastic job showcasing Sakuna's growth, from being a lazy drunkard going off of her parent's fame and fortune to pulling her weight and being ready to sacrifice anything for her home and friends. During dinner time, you are often involved in conversations between the characters that deepen their bonds and understanding of each other. The game also tackles some more mature themes of religion and life circumstances, and I must say that they're done quite well.

The leveling system took me a bit to figure out, but essentially it involves rice harvests. The better the harvest, the more Sakuna's power grows. The game does a great job at teaching you how to properly cultivate rice and as Sakuna's understanding of what it means to grow rice deepens and as she does the necessary hard work, she gets more efficient and earns more skills that make her harvests that much bountiful. All of this is accommodated with a beautifully calming and peaceful soundtrack that compliments the game's adorable aesthetic and farming aspect.

If you're looking for a game that you can take at your own pace, or you're into cozy games with farming elements, look no further than Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin.

As an ex-fighting game player, back then apart from your usual Street Fighters and Tekkens, I really enjoyed Granblue Fantasy Versus and its successor called Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising.
I was pleasantly surprised to hear that they were working on an actual RPG title. So fast forward to now, I got to sit down and play Granblue Fantasy: Relink for the first time. Right off the bat, the thing I used to enjoy the most about the world of Granblue was the funny banter the characters had, the music was stellar and the artstyle was dropdead gorgeous. Suffice to say there's plenty of that in Relink as well.

The story itself takes place in the Sky Realm, a world where various islands float in a great blue expanse. Your role is being the captain of a skyfaring crew, alongside your little dragon companion named Vyrn and a young girl with mysterious powers named Lyria. Your objective is straight forward, to sail for Estalucia which is a fabled island beyond the end of skies. It follows a simple shounen anime-esque linearity, it's simple and very predictable. For additional character backstories there's also Fate Episodes which I assume are similar in nature to their gacha game counterpart. Personally I haven't dived into the gacha game myself as I don't really have any inclination to do so, so I can't comment further on that. However my minor disappointment with the Fate episodes is that I kind of expected them to be playable mini-missions rather than just pure text. I don't mind reading, however when there's so many of them it got tiring quickly and I don't feel that the minor stat boost you got as a reward for each and every one was enough to keep me going back to more.

Combat is fairly simple, straightforward and in typical Cygames fashion, flashy as hell. Which is both a positive and negative in it's own right. It looks great, however, sometimes you are in situations where there's so much going on it's really hard to see around you. Each character has their own simple "gimmicks" or variations. You are able to link chain attacks and link your super attacks which are called Skybound Arts. I was hoping it would be more akin to games like Tales of Arise where you can interchange between all 4 of your party members freely instead of Relink's version where you only command 1 main character backed by 3 ai, but the ai does its job most of the time, so I guess it's fine. Alongside main story missions you can also go to the alliance board and go on quests, very similar to the Monster Hunter franchise. You can either venture solo with your own predetermined party or go online and play with other players. Which is nice to have however good luck joining other players since from my testing it was pretty barren. Personally what I liked the most were the boss fights, they were indeed eye candy spectacles mixed with what seemed like raid mechanics from games such as Final Fantasy XIV, that was very cool. The real negative however is the "late game farming", which is essentially copy pasted from the gacha game and it feels extremely lazy, where you tackle the same recycled bosses with different elemental properties and on higher difficulties. Ultimately I am not someone that will stick to farm post game, but if you're into that more power to you.

In conclusion, Granblue Fantasy: Relink is a fun game either solo or with a group of buddies. The combat is easy enough and the raid style bosses and mechanics are great. If you don't mind post game gacha-esque grind towards higher and higher numbers, this game is right up your alley.

The remaster of one of the most beloved Final Fantasy titles does an amazing job albeit with some slight caveats, as a whole it looks fantastic but the new face models are rather "stiff". If you like Tidus' PS2 expressiveness I recommend downloading a mod to alleviate that issue. So, characters consist of Tidus, Yuna, Lulu, Wakka, Kimahri, Rikku and Auron. The main story starts us off at Zanarkand, right from the bat we are introduced to our main character Tidus as he's on his way to his blitzball match, but it all gets interrupted by a mysterious entity known as Sin. After, we continue our journey in Spira where we venture on a Pilgrimage with Yuna and the rest of the crew to defeat Sin once and for all. The story has a few twists and turns which kept me quite engaged and intrigued all throughout my playthrough.

The turn based system is amazing, probably has to be my favorite among the Final Fantasy titles. Later you get introduced to a system called the "Sphere Grid" where you unlock additional skills and gain additional stats from nodes within a skill tree similar to games like Path of Exile (although it is not as expansive, you still have a lot to play around with). The only issue or rather a slight annoyance I had were the Cloister Trials you do as you progress through the story. They serve as a "Dungeon puzzle". At the start they were kind of fun, I later on ended up googling guides because they kind of turned into annoyances for me and honestly, I have no idea how I would do some of them without a guide. Final Fantasy X even after 23 years is still a lot of fun and it holds up quite well, definitely recommend it if you're into JRPGs and you haven't already played this gem.

CRISIS CORE -FINAL FANTASY VII- REUNION is a prequel to one of the most beloved JRPG games in the entire genre Final Fantasy VII. I personally played the original Crisis Core back when it came out on the PSP system but never actually finished it, so I thought it would be a good idea to play the remaster, suffice to say it didn't disappoint me one bit. If you're a fan of Final Fantasy VII, this game as mentioned above is a prequel, and gives further context to things that happened before VII. Zack Fair is honestly one of my favorite characters of all time, very goofy but hard set on his dreams. This prequel serves as a look into his life and his journey of becoming a hero. If you loved VII and would love to know more about Shinra, Sephiroth, Zack and Cloud, you should definitely pick this game up and play it. Just remember, the price of freedom is steep.

A cutesy, easy to get into and play at your own pace 3D platformer. Reminds me a lot of Super Mario 64. Your main objective is to gather all of your lost Time Pieces which you lost due to the mafia knocking on your door. You collect yarn and craft other hats with various abilities and attach pins to them for additional effects which is a cool touch. The controls are simple, intuitive and very forgiving. The soundtrack is great and the game is filled with humorous dialogue sprinkled all throughout. If you want a chill 3D platforming experience with a cute protagonist and pretty worlds, this is right up your alley.