I love trails

It's called Trails into Reverie because the game is so good that it feels like you're in a state of Reverie the whole time while playing it!

Another outstanding Trails adventure in the books.

I was expecting a somewhat "condensed" experience going into this one, since it was mostly described as a sort of "bridge" from the Western Zemuria era to the next one. As you can see from my play time (yes that is all from one playthrough) this game can vary significantly in that regard depending on how much you enjoy all of the other aspects of Trails games apart from the story.

The story itself certainly lives up to the lofty expectations of this franchise. It was interesting being able to switch between the three different paths, all of which have their own set of characters from the previous games to play as. As always, no shortage of surprising twists and heartfelt moments. I know we got a sample of it in Cold Steel already, but it was awesome seeing all of these characters from the previous series interact with one another. It really makes it feel like we're building toward something epic. Side note, I would recommend reading "3 & 9" which can be found in the "summary" section of the main menu in game. You don't have to before you play, but you should at some point before the end.

The only critique I would mention regarding the story itself is that I really hope this is as far as this series goes in the whole "parallel universes" direction. This was the first time I was left scratching my head when everything came together at the climax. I had to look up an explanation of what just happened on reddit. In my opinion, bringing parallel universes/multiple timelines/time travel into your story makes things needlessly complex and it is a massively overused trope these days. Yeah I know they already did it in Azure, but that was a straightforward use of that plot device and wasn't difficult to follow.

Now for the other main feature of this game, the Reverie Corridor. The Reverie Corridor is a massive dungeon with randomly generated floors. These can be reset as many times as you want so you can keep re-exploring to level up different characters and get sweet loot. They recommend that you use it during the story, but I never really felt like you NEED to if you'd rather not. In addition to the dungeon, they have approximately 30 "daydreams" which are small side-stories that are sometimes just cutscenes, but often involve a small dungeon to explore as well. Very similar to the "mirrors" from Trails in the Sky 3. I enjoyed basically all of them, I only remember 1 specifically that felt like filler. Yeah it's the Makarov one lol. Not only that, but there are a bunch of trials that you can complete using a specified group of characters to get upgrades for their abilities. There are also a handful of minigames to play, including the return of Vantage Masters and many other fan favorites.

So, back to my earlier point, you can really sink a lot of time into this one depending on how much you enjoy dungeon crawling, side stories, and all that other jazz. You even get some teasers for future events if you make it all of the way to the end of the Reverie Corridor (most of which is actually post-game content). Either way, you're still in for a top-notch story and, of course, bangin' tunes. On that note, I know this game is a bit old already, but it would be amazing to add a customizable soundtrack to the Reverie Corridor. Being able to choose from the legendary library of Falcom tunes would really spice it up.

Can't wait to jump into the Calvard trilogy after this one.