As a fan of Falcom's Trails series for several years now, who's enjoyed many of the other games, I was pretty disappointed with this one. The entire plot feels like a long, drawn-out side-quest that doesn't add much of anything to the overall story arc built up in games that come before and after this particular title. Though it pains me to say it, I got the distinct impression this installment was a shameless money-grab that used the popularity of the previous two games as a selling point. This becomes painfully clear with all the recycled assets (i.e. 80% of the game has you trudging through the same old locations introduced in Trails 1 and 2. You even fight a gauntlet of the SAME EXACT bosses you dealt with in the prior games!) One of the strengths behind the Trails series is its penchant for good story-telling and character development. While Trails in the Sky - The Third does add some background to major and minor characters from the first two games, it does so mainly through 'memory doors', a ham-handed flashback mechanism that makes the added story elements feel fragmented and out-of-context. Much of these stories could have been explored in the previous two games, in my humble opinion, and to be quite honest, many of them just...aren't...that...gripping. Some deal with minor NPCs that I didn't particularly care about to begin with, and some are simple slide shows with some background text on in-world people, places, and events. Only the combat mechanics kept me from giving this 1 star. The battle system is polished and intuitive, and you can employ some decent strategy with orbment combinations. Thank God that underlying system was still intact. In conclusion, if you're a die-hard Trails fan and can't get enough in-world lore and character tidbits, no matter how small, you'll probably be okay with this game. Otherwise I'd just skip the 40+ hours it'll take to play through and just watch a 20-min youtube video summarizing the plot and key events instead.
Excellent TBS game. Will have you up until the wee hours of the morning telling yourself "I should really go to sleep...after one more level."
Great storytelling, fantastic world-building, interesting characters, lots of cool spells and real-time RPG combat. With Pillars of Eternity, Obsidian takes the best of classic, story-driven isometric role-playing games from the past and polishes these attributes until they shine. There are many wonderful things I could say about this game, but if I was forced to pick just one, it would be the writing -- hands down. Everything from monster, item, and environment descriptions, side-quests and character dialogue, is phenomenal. And where do I even being to describe the main story arc! Suffice it to say, if you like stories that question reality, faith, truth, and religion, you will LOVE the plot. Words simply can't express the wow feeling I got when everything came together at the game's climax. If you have any interest in good storytelling, this game is a must have for you.
Love in Space did a great job with the latest entry in its Sunrider series. While some of the earlier games suffered from bugs during combat, The Captain's Return is well-polished from a quality standpoint. Other positives: -As with previous installments, the music is excellent. -The artwork is very good and should please any anime fan. -Large increase in number of side-missions. -User interface is sleeker than previous games and bug-free. -Game universe lore and history are fleshed-out. Minor gripes: -English voice-overs would have been nice, at least for the quips characters give during combat. -While the combat is fun, I honestly miss the close-up cut-scenes of the mechs and ships when they fire/take damage (these were part of the first two games and were done away with in Liberation Day and the current game). Nevertheless, The Captain's Return is a great sci-fi turn-based strategy and visual novel experience. Can't wait for the next one!
