The Legend of Heroes: Maboroshi no Kiseki is probably the longest denouement in gaming history, but I don’t expect (and, frankly, hope) more from this series. This entry in the long-running series attempts to tie together his two somewhat separate storylines that were already thought to be linked. Whether it all works out depends on what you want out of your JRPG.
Let me explain this as plainly as possible. The game follows his three separate storylines. One centers around his SSS Lloyd Bannings, the new police department in the recently released games Trails from Zero and Trails to Azure. Another one focuses on Rean Schwarzer, the Class VII instructor, Harlem King, and hero of the “Sen no Kiseki” series. Games III and IV of that story arc came to his Switch, but I and II did not.
Finally, there’s a new group featuring the mysterious masked C and the apparently important ‘puppets’.
All of these groups include numerous characters from previous games and come and go at various intervals. If you’ve never played The Legend of Heroes before, don’t start here. Keeping track of everyone in the three storylines is difficult enough if you’re already familiar with them. If you’ve only played the “Trails of Cold Steel” game, you’ll be fine, but if you’re starting new, you’ll want to beat “Zero” and “Azure” first, then “Cold Steel III” and “Cold Steel III”. IV”, then immerse yourself in “Reverie”.
That aside, what’s going on? Now, without revealing any key elements of the previous game, just that the city of Crossbell was about to declare independence when a supposedly imprisoned character staged a coup and took control of the town. Let me tell you. Ultimately, some people aren’t happy with how the war ended at the end of Sen no Kiseki IV, so we’ll have to wait a little longer for the long-awaited happy ending. Our various groups are divided, so much of the early game was about rallying to figure out exactly who was behind this rebellion and how we could stop it. Emphasis on
Anyone who’s played one The Legend of Heroes knows to expect a lot of political intrigue and ambiguity about exactly who’s on which side. That certainly carries over here as well, especially since characters from different series come and go in and out of his three groups. I’m glad they’re better at recognizing each other than I am, but in real life I’m even worse at it without the help of brightly colored anime hair.
Players can traverse freely between the three stories most of the time, but there are points where one story cannot progress until a certain point in the other story is reached.
The three stories may intersect, and you can expect multiple battles between heroes as they gradually figure things out. My initial gripe stems from there being an early segment where the two groups fight multiple times in quick succession. Switching perspectives and locations, it still felt like we were doing the exact same thing for hours. That part of the story didn’t need much drawing.
And while we’re talking about stories, my longstanding complaints about The Legend of Heroes still haven’t gone away. While I enjoy deep lore, I wish the developers didn’t throw too much narrative at us at once, especially between boss fights where the game is unsaveable. There are still segments where he has to play over an hour without saving, so don’t start a big brawl before bedtime or the bus arrives.
These boss fights, like all battles, use the same turn-based mechanics as previous games. For those unfamiliar with the series, it’s basically an immediate physical attack, an art that can target weak points but usually has a delay, or can deal more damage and inflict status effects. There are special skills that can Arts use EP that slowly fades until you rest or refill potions, while skills wear out quickly and mostly use CP that recovers in normal combat. Destroying an enemy deals more damage and prevents them from unleashing powerful attacks on you. And of course, you’ll have to spend a lot of time healing and buffing your group as you cycle through available party members (often picks) during big battles.
You can also power up your abilities with quartz and orbs that can be enhanced and traded, and you can trade and upgrade your weapons, armor and accessories. The combat system is very deep and optimizing your party for each individual battle is a big part of the fun. If you don’t agree, playing on easy mode will allow you to progress through the party menu with less fuss.
Of course, a new Legend of Heroes game must have new elements. This time, the united front will appear. When this gauge is full, the entire party (4 active and 1 support) can launch enhanced physical or artistic attacks with additional benefits. There are also party healing options if you prefer. United Front isn’t available all the time, but can be a godsend in tough fights (or when you want to break through a weak group of enemies quickly).
But the biggest changes aren’t combat-related. Trails Into Reverie omits the typical town/field/dungeon flow by adding the new True Reverie Corridor. If you have access, all three groups will come together and engage in a number of tasks that are completely separate from the story. For example, here a fan of the series will play his Vantage Masters and Pom! Pom! Party! You can purchase rare items that you missed in the main game. Enter randomly generated dungeons and have unique battles you can initiate to improve your skills and earn rare items. You can also play completely unrelated mini-games, such as series trivia contests or rail shooters.
This is also where most of the fan service took place thanks to the beach segment where everyone can lounge in their bathing suits.
The men show off their toned abs while splitting watermelon, and Rean returns to his harem while having drinks and casual conversation with the women. If you had trouble with such content in previous games, you can easily skip it here. Personally, I had an even bigger problem with Vantage Masters. I know it’s a popular trend, but I hope developers don’t put extra video games into my video games.
The complaint extends to the entire Mayu Corridor. In Trails Into Reverie, you’ll be forced into this area at multiple points, completely ruining the momentum of the story. And given that story is so important to the game, it’s strange that it mostly pulls us out of it for superfluous minigames and disconnected “memories.” Players don’t have to spend a lot of time in the Mayu Corridor, but considering the items available and level progression are so important, it would be silly not to.
Also in Chapter 3 there is a certain area where the game crashes every time after catching a fish. I believe this is a bug that will be resolved in an update (if it hasn’t already), but to be safe always save the game before fishing.
The result is a more disjointed experience than previous The Legend of Heroes games. The combat is still great, the characters are lively and fun, and the story progresses in decent clips (if you’re not bogged down by lengthy combat segments). It looks great and plays great on Switch.
It’s a thrilling world to delve into, and Trails Into Reverie serves as a wonderful thank-you gift for those who’ve played the entire Legend of Heroes series. If you accept it as such, you will surely enjoy it.
However, if you’re expecting a game as compelling as previous Switch-compatible entries, you’ll be happier going a different route.
