The route does feel fairly par for the course with regards to Cold Steel’s atmosphere, themes, and such, but with better execution throughout. If I had to shorten my thoughts, it’d be that Rean Route is the best of Cold Steel without the worst of it. Rean Route, on the other hand, surprised me consistently in its quality.
Characters like Wazy and Randy do get good moments, but the route feels like a weaker retelling of Azure, an already fairly flawed entry in the series. The route on a whole feels sort of like a retelling of Azure’s highest points but with notably worse context and execution surrounding those events. The problem with this route mostly lies within it feeling rather unnecessary and boring. The city is sieged by former Governor-General Rufus, the public is against the SSS, and they need to take Crossbell back once again. Due to shenanigans, the Erebonian Curse is back, and really only affecting Crossbell.
The macro story beats are fairly weak overall, what with the independence of Crossbell feeling like a tired trend at this point and odd story decisions from before making a return. Unfortunately, this part of the game is easily the worst to many fans, myself included. Going a bit deeper into things, Lloyd Route starts the player off. C’s identity will not be spoiled in this section, and only my main thoughts will be featured here. The three routes will be discussed individually, then as a collective. I think it would be fitting to start with the story of a JRPG, so let’s go with that. It felt appropriate to review the game with the title it currently has after all. Additionally, while I will be referring to the game as Haji, Hajimari, or Hajimari no Kiseki, I will be using the English localized names of past arcs. There will be spoilers ahead, though only one major spoiler will be in this review: the identity of one of the three main protagonists.
READ MORE: The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV Review (PS4) While I do think Hajimari no Kiseki is something of a return to form or at least a huge step in the right direction, it should be noted that this review is from someone who generally had a bad taste in his mouth through the Cold Steel arc. I’ve made my distaste of Cold Steel IV abundantly clear before, but I do at least try to give any positive aspects of recent games the time of day in discussion and debate about the series.
#THE FALCONEER THE HUNTER FULL#
To those on the fence between waiting for the localization and playing with the spreadsheet and those who are merely looking for an English review alike, here’s my full take on Hajimari no Kiseki!Īs something of a foreword, I’m something of a Skyboomer with regards to the Trails franchise. Huge props to Kitsune and the Zero Field team for their work on the Haji spreadsheet! A very impatient Trails fan, I ended up caving when the Japanese Steam version of the game, Hajimari no Kiseki, launched. While the official localization of Trails into Reverie isn’t set for release until 2023, a dedicated team of fans took on the challenge of making a spreadsheet translation available for the game. Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl.