The title sounds obvious but what I mean is that Trails of the Sky FC is a game that is *only* for a JRPG fan and nobody else. There's no hook, there's no intricate battle system, there isn't fancy graphics, and the soundtrack isn't amazing. You'll either like or dislike Trails specifically for what you're looking for. A well written, slow, good JRPG. If you want anything else, save your money. If you're not a JRPG fan, or you're looking to dabble, usually you want a hook of some sort to grab onto. That could be a great early story twist or a battle system. Even graphics in the case of FF7 but Trails has none of that. Eventually a compelling story will develop but by that point you'll have had to invest atleast two to three hours to get there. Trails is set up in a way that you're supposed to talk to NPC's to absorb the world, take a look around and not rush through...but that's also one of its major faults. NPC's go through their own storylines such as a rich merchant trying to make a business deal; every "blip" of the main story will advance that NPC's personal story and you'll be able to read if they succeed or fail or whatever happens to them. There's many such stories but they have absolutely no bearing on your character or the main plot. They are in effect meaningless to the overall game structure. But that's what Trails is going for, to show you that the world exists beyond your characters through these NPC's. You have to seek things out. It also means the game is very slow if you're going to do that. And it means a lot of reading. A lot. If you don't like reading a lot of dialogue this is not the game for you. And if you don't like backtracking this is not the game for you. I've enjoyed my time with it but it's largely just because I wanted to play a JRPG. If I wasn't in the mood for a JRPG (and this was one of the few that work well on PC) I wouldn't be playing it. It also needs to always be known this ends in a cliffhanger. Be aware of that.
Fallen Enchantress Legendary Heroes is the stand alone expansion of Fallen Enchantress that significantly expands upon the base game. Fallen Enchantress was the sequel to War of Magic which was Stardock's first disastrous attempt at a fantasy 4X game. Because of that lineage most people and reviewers never gave the follow up games a fair shot while throwing praise at (IMO) inferior games such as Endless Legend. FELH is a unique strategy game due to the setting of the world. The world was destroyed by the "Cataclysm" which destroyed nations, the world, and even the gods. Your goal is not only to do the usual 4X of eXplore, eXpand, eXploit & eXterminate but to actually revive and explore the world. The gameworld is not a nice place and is full of enemies and deserted world space. With civilization destroyed you have to rediscover technology and magic along with the still lingering chaos and evil left on the world. Combat takes place in a tactical battle map with turns. Not the greatest implementation but workable and I personally prefer it to say Age of Wonders. One of the most unique features of the game is the limitation of city placement, Only certain areas can hold cities which produce Grain (Food), Materials (Production) or Essence (Spell Slots), but these locations are very spread apart and once a city is placed it erases all other spaces nearby. That means you are constantly fighting for expansion space against AI and random enemies such as Dragons. Enemy AI is a little iffy but solid. The real danger is the world around you is a wandering Dragon just so happens to walk by your city and you have no means to stop it. You just have to hope it wanders off. Or random events (which there are many) spawn hordes of spiders led by a Spider Queen. Not to mention all the quests scattered across the world. I have over 125 hours split between FE & LH. I highly recommend LH for anyone looking for a unique but still traditional 4X.
