Despite reading unfavorable reviews about this game and being a bit dismissive about it based on others' opinions, this became my favorite game in the Sky Arc and as of this review, the best Trails game I've played (All Sky games and Cold Steel I and II). The parts of the story are more densely packed together than the other Trails games I've played. Despite the "dungeon crawler" aspect, the dungeon/map exploration parts don't feel drawn out or too long before getting to another story point, which I really like. However, there are fights, especially some optional ones, that really challenged how I prepared for them and strategized. I do have to give credit to the first 2 Sky games for giving a great build up to this game even though pacing was slow at times for them. I like to play as a completionist, so not having to talk to all NPCs with every new town or event change to check it off my list was a welcome break. The main part of the game is focused on Kevin's story, which was done very well. However, the other characters got the attention they deserved to wrap up the Sky arc and set them up well to appear again in future arcs. The soundtrack was also the best I've heard overall in a Trails game. No game is perfect, so there are a few things that I didn't like about the game. Some of the story cutscenes can be quite long (~1 hr) without warning and the option save during them. There are monsters that can create a shadow clone of one of your characters and does so at random, which each shadow clone having its own bestiary entry can be quite annoying to fill. There are also two special quartz that you can only get one of with each playthrough by fulfilling special hidden conditions, but you most likely won't reach either in one playthrough if playing without a guide. Despite those flaws, this game has become my favorite in the Trails series so far and one of the best games I've played in my life.
