At some point, NIS America seemed to be closing the gap between the Japanese and Western releases of Falcom games. Yet NISA adjusted its pace in order to localize older The Legend of Heroes titles, pushing The Legend of Heroes: Trails into Reverie back, so it's now finally launched three long years after it was first available in Japan. After all this time, what value can we find in Trails into Reverie in the wake of the already lengthy Trails of Cold Steel saga?

Trails into Reverie's narrative feels quite efficient, at least at first. It follows three storylines at the same time, two of which are focused on the lead characters of The Legend of Heroes' Crossbell and Erebonia arcs: Loyd and Rean. The third story, which is by far the most intriguing, stars an entire new group of characters headed by a mysterious masked man called "C". I personally dislike that Estelle, the lead character of the first arc in the series, gets shoved into a secondary role, while the male characters get all the top billing. It's certainly a minor point, but I think it's worth pointing out before I go into more detail.

C's identity is probably the best crafted mystery in the Trails series. It's precisely engineered so that you can never find out who C is before the game tells you. The masked hero is joined by Swin and Nadia, a humorous young duo of former assassins. They carry a huge trunk containing a very special package: a talking doll called Lapis. This new team is incredibly fun to use and to follow. There are lots of fun scenes and conversations between them, with C and Swin adopting a serious tone that contrasts with the more mischievous personalities of Lapis and Nadia. They also benefit from cool and impressive battle moves, which illustrate the slight visual progresses made since the Cold Steel titles (at the time, Falcom was testing a new engine with Trails into Reverie). That said, it hasn't aged well in three years, and now looks significantly outdated compared to Kuro No Kiseki, or a competing JPRG like Atelier Ryza 3.

As much as C's prologue is enjoyable, the story as a whole left me with very mixed impressions. The basic principle in Trails into Reverie is that you swap between the three big parties in order to move forward. Sometimes, one group must take a particular action in order to clear the way for another (like unlocking doors). Therefore, you're not really free to pursue either of the three stories as you'd wish. The narrative is as linear as Trails of Cold Steel III and IV were, despite the three parties system. My second complaint is that the story doesn't even feel coherent most of the time. Trails into Reverie actually feels like a collection of mini-stories because each group visits very different places, faces antagonists who are completely unrelated to each other, and takes part in events with entirely different stakes. All of them converge towards a common truth at the very end of the game, but before that I felt like I was playing through chapters that didn't make much sense.

Falcom presented Trails into Reverie as the first part of something new for the series, and despite not wanting to link it directly to Trails of Cold Steel, it is de facto Trails of Cold Steel V. The battle system is mostly inherited from Trails of Cold Steel III, the only addition being the "V" system. With it, the player can use three ultimate cooperation moves that are called V Art, V Attack, and V Heal. By doing so, all eight characters (including those on back row) concentrate on the same thing: physical attack, magic, or defense & healing, the latter being the most interesting tactical option since it can save you from a tight spot. The narrative is also so heavily centered on Rean and other Cold Steel characters that it's hard to shake off the impression that you're still playing Trails of Cold Steel.

But even in doing so, the aftertaste is utterly bizarre because Trails into Reverie doesn't really answer any of the questions left by Trails of Cold Steel IV. Many of the antagonists from the fourth game have completely disappeared; it isn't clear how the Empire could recover after the war in Trails of Cold Steel IV; McBurn's mystery remains unexplained (and it seems it only starts to get answered in Kuro no Kiseki II), and the same goes for the character on the actual boxart. I assumed she would be a pretty important character, but she shows up just five minutes before the end, leaving only more unanswered questions. So storywise, I can't say that Trails into Reverie was particularly interesting.

Yet it does something I had hoped for since Trails of Cold Steel II: with about 50 available teammates, Trails into Reverie has the largest playable cast in the entire The Legend of Heroes series, and maybe even in JRPG history. Characters that haven't been playable for ages are finally back in the party, like Elise, Alfin, and Claire, plus there are some new entries too. And to make the best use of this large choice of party members, Trails into Reverie has the first permanent dungeon since Trails of Cold Steel II in 2014. The True Reverie Corridor, as it's called, is a vast playground where you can fight your way through numerous floors full of diverse enemies, boss battles, and challenges, as well as enjoy mini-games and earn lots of rewards. With that many characters at your disposal, you can form countless different parties and then tackle the challenge in a large variety of ways.

I must say I enjoyed the True Reverie Corridor from start to finish. It's quite long, but being able to change between so many characters makes it worth the time, not to mention it offers some of the craziest battles I can remember from the series. The giant whale in the screenshot above made me bite the dust like never before, and it's not even the final battle. The gameplay value far surpasses Trails of Cold Steel IV, and it even competes with the epic experience in Trails of Cold Steel III.

But the True Reverie Corridor has much more to offer than just battles. You'll find a large device that gives you random rewards in exchange of several types of orbs, which are gained when progressing through the floors. In short, it's a giant gatcha machine, but a safe one since it doesn't ask for money in terms of microtransactions. The rewards are significant and motivating; there's lots of rare quartz to improve your characters' stats and magic, numerous costumes from previous games, and even exclusive characters for your team! There are challenges too - like taking certain actions with certain characters, winning while wearing special costumes, defeating powerful foes, etc. - and these grant further bonuses. All of this, in the long run, can earn you more super rare quartz. Time-limited challenges also allow for the enhancement of the True Reverie Corridor facilities, and of non-combat abilities (such as having more back row characters).

Trails into Reverie is a mini-game paradise as well. The fishing, of course, returns, as does the card game and the Puyo Puyo-esque puzzle game in which you can challenge your teammates. As for new content, you'll find a quiz mini-game that tests your knowledge of The Legend of Heroes, and a hilarous shooting mini-game inspired by Alisa's magical girl costume in Trails of Cold Steel II. Yuna, Myuse, Altina, and Alisa are turned into magical girls firing colorful spells at waves of foes. Like old-school shoot 'em up games, it's quite fast-paced and fun to play. You can even enjoy a small goofy story of the girls trying to take on a demonic version of Rean.

Trails into Reverie's funniest proposal is its extensive beach resort, which you can access from the True Reverie Corridor as well. There you can enjoy more mini-games that'll earn you extra (swimsuit) costumes, and also date your favorite characters on the shore. But there's a snag, as every beach activity takes vouchers that you randomly acquire on the True Reverie Corridor's floors. That sort of limitation is quite an awkward decision in my opinion; I don't see why these activities shouldn't be entirely free to enjoy, since the side content and character interactions are a huge point of the game. Trails of Reverie may also be a unique case of a PS4 version being more interesting than the PS5 one, because all of the beach dating is compatible with PlayStation VR (but only the first PSVR), which certainly adds some excitement.
 
The Legend of Heroes: Trails into Reverie is the all-star game of the series fans have been waiting for. Its extreme wealth of content, from the countless characters to the extreme combat and enjoyable mini-games, promises around a hundred hours of fun. It's just a shame the bizarre story produces more questions than answers, while also being dull most of the time. In the end, Trails into Reverie is an excellent bonus game in the Trails of Cold Steel arc, but struggles to advance beyond that.

After graduating from a French business school, Thomas felt an irresistible force drawing him to study Japanese, which eventually led him to Japanese Profeciency Test level 1 in 2012. During the day, Thomas is a normal account manager. But at night he becomes Ryuzaki57, an extreme otaku gamer hungry for Japanese games (preferably with pretty girls in the main role). His knowledge now allows him to import games at Japanese release for unthinkable prices, and then tell everyone about them. You may also find him on French video games media. Feel free to contact on twitter at @Ryuz4ki57