I'm finding it really hard to get into Trails in the Sky The Third.

[NZerker12]

My experience with Trails series has been a great one.

I played and loved CS1 then played and enjoyed CS2 (I didn't feel as good as CS1). Then went on to TiTS FC and liked the slower pace along with the world building and loved the conclusion of it all with SC.

Which now brings me to The Third. Leading up to this game I heard a lot of conflicting reports some saying it isn't needed and only has bonus minuscule story stuff and while others say its the most important game in the series. Now I enjoyed my first hour with the game, I enjoyed Kevin Grahams character a lot in the previous 2 games so seeing him here as the protagonist was quite the pleasant surprise. However what wasn't a pleasant surprise was the fact that game takes place in some dark dimension and is nothing more than a dungeon crawler. Don't get me wrong I enjoy Trails gameplay but to have an entire game dedicated to it is a bit too much. The worse part is how the game gives you the extra story. You have to find these special doors by exploring the different floors of the world (The entire structure is like mementos in P5 except you're going up instead), these doors however differ and either tell short stories or stories that take up to 45 mins (the length Tita's first Moon door was) usually I don't mind the length (I played MGS4) but what I don't like is way I go can go from an hour of gameplay to then watching a 45 min cutscene, it just feels really jarring and slow.

Is there a way to speed this up and make it not feel like such a slog ?

 

[Deleted member 26768]

you just played up to the first moon door? If so you don't have to worry, it's placed badly and quite jarring because of it's length. The other doors you get thereafter are not that long in length and more diverse. As a rule of thumb moon doors are long, star doors are short and sun doors and minigames.
If you push to star door 2 which is encountered very early you'll start to see why people say this game is so important.
It puts a confusing scene at the end of SC in perspective.

 

[NZerker12]

you just played up to the first moon door? If so you don't have to worry, it's placed badly and quite jarring because of it's length. The other doors you get thereafter are not that long in length and more diverse. As a rule of thumb moon doors are long, star doors are short and sun doors and minigames.
If you push to star door 2 which is encountered very early you'll start to see why people say this game is so important.
It puts a confusing scene at the end of SC in perspective.

Click to shrink...

Do know how much dungeon crawling I have to do in between? One of the things I like about Trails games is visiting new towns and seeing he different locale. Not having it here is such a shame.

 

[Deleted member 26768]

Do know how much dungeon crawling I have to do in between? One of the things I like about Trails games is visiting new towns and seeing he different locale. Not having it here is such a shame.

Click to shrink...

depending on your difficulty mode you can go through the dungeons very quickly, while they are a sizeable portion, the doors are a large potion too
the main story is entirely focussed on kevin's past and will give you a lot of information on the church's inner works

but discovering towns and npc's isn't really going to happen, the game focusses a lot more on large world building events, like a door that details the orbal revolution and epstein's disciples of which you've seen one so far

 

[Apollo]

I get the dungeon crawling aspect being a tough sell. I was super apprehensive going into it, but it did end up being my favorite Trails game in the end so I really encourage you to stick with it. It's certainly a different kind of Trails, but the world and character building is still very much alive here if you give it a chance. Don't forget to use turbo mode liberally, when you've found a good rhythm you can really blitz through the dungeons.

 

[citrusred]

The Dungeons in third aren't that though.

 

[SatelliteOfLove]

Er...I mean, The 3rd is above all very subtle with some of the most sublime long-form writing in games. There's threads of entire ARCS weaving thru this game, with character arc exposes, and Kevin's story, AND hammering out the full foundation for the lore going forwards, plus little vignettes, and that wonderful writing and the Door format allows it to work. Trust me.

The 3rd is a gaiden yet also so so so much more than any other Trails I've played. It goes places, man.

 

[NZerker12]

I'll try stick with it then. I'm playing on normal difficulty so hopefully it shouldn't be to bad. How many playable characters are there in this? I remember seeing Olivert as Prince Olivier in screenshots for this game. Do any other CS characters make their debut here?

 

[Solarc]

I'll try stick with it then. I'm playing on normal difficulty so hopefully it shouldn't be to bad. How many playable characters are there in this? I remember seeing Olivert as Prince Olivier in screenshots for this game. Do any other CS characters make their debut here?

Click to shrink...

You will learn more about a character who was only mentioned in CS and two other ones who do show up in CS make their debut here.

Also, remember that lady Kevin was speaking with during the very beginning of the game?

Spoiler: CS1 spoiler

I believe it was revealed outside of the games that was actually Vita Clotilde, Ouroboros' Second Anguis.

 

[Theswweet]

The 3rd lays the foundation for some story threads in Calvard's upcoming arc. It's crazy!

 

[Tibarn]

I felt that the balance between dungeon crawling and long story sections was really good. At first I was worried about sitting for an hour reading text, but as most of the Moon/Star doors have really relevant and well-written content, I was delighted by the decision.

Also Kevin is IMO a far more interesting MC compared to Rean.

 

[ShadowSoldier89]

Third is by far the worst game in the series to play, the dungeons drag on and though no doors are as poorly placed as that first one, they are all awkward delivery methods for story

However the game does some things very well, especially Kevin and Ries story

 

[Tibarn]

The 3rd lays the foundation for some story threads in Calvard's upcoming arc. It's crazy!

Click to shrink...

Unrelated to the topic but I must ask. How long until CS III reviews? I'm from Europe and I don't have any official european embargo time.

 

[Theswweet]

Unrelated to the topic but I must ask. How long until CS III reviews? I'm from Europe and I don't have any official european embargo time.

Click to shrink...

8 hours.

 

[Mauricio_Magus]

The 3rd is probably the best jrpg I have ever played, nothing even comes close to how amazing it is and it's such a weird ass game, I love it.

The "Door" system does so much to give you story telling that you usually don't see in many games, it gives you important events of every character and also fleshes out the world in an incredible way, by the end I couldn't believe that such a masterpiece exists.

Also the dungeon crawling + gameplay is the best out of the trilogy by a lot, it's just wonderful.

 

[TeenageFBI]

I loved most of the doors in The Third and it's SUPER IMPORTANT to the series lore but I have to agree that it's my least favorite game*. I really miss the town to town format and the disjointed story beats + the single dungeon thing wore on me.

*Haven't played Crossbell's stuff (looking foward to playing Zero when that translation is released).

 

[Tibarn]

The 3rd is probably the best jrpg I have ever played, nothing even comes close to how amazing it is and it's such a weird ass game, I love it.

The "Door" system does so much to give you story telling that you usually don't see in many games, it gives you important events of every character and also fleshes out the world in an incredible way, by the end I couldn't believe that such a masterpiece exists.

Also the dungeon crawling + gameplay is the best out of the trilogy by a lot, it's just wonderful.

Click to shrink...

Agreed 100%, maybe playing it after FC + SC can be a bit too much (IIRC I played Xc2 between SC and 3rd), but as a "gaiden" episode is the best thing ever.

I really really hope the new game that has been confirmed (that seems to be between CS and Calvard as Falcom has confirmed that it will close some unresolved plotlines from CS IV) follows too a crazy structure like the 3rd.

I'm posting this art I've found because why not:

 

[Cassius Bright]

I'm playing it right now on my commute after beating the first two games (with Cold Steel 3 around the corner.)

I like it lots but I can understand why it wouldn't be to everyone's taste. It's very different to the two previous games but I love how it goes to great lengths to flesh out the characters with the doors and it's all very weird but very cool.

I've just got

Spoiler

Alan Richard

on my team and fucking hell, they're a monster, combat-wise.

 

[djinn]

I finished Third earlier this year and honestly, I loved it. It's a brilliant conclusion to the Sky trilogy and solidified Trails in the Sky as one of my favourite rpg ever.

 

[dark494]

Yeah, Third is my least favorite trails game by a long shot. It's a horrible slog and incredibly grindy, but I guess you just gotta put up with it and stomach the crawl to get those scenes behind all the doors. They're kind of worth it? It's hard to justify when the game sets up right at the start with one plot that could've been way more interesting if it was focused purely on the church and that part of the world but then immediately pivots to a completely different, uninteresting, unchanging location and "plot" that

Spoiler

ultimately has 0 relevance or significance to anything in the overarching narrative whatsoever, since the entire space takes place in a frozen space in time and has no effect on the outside world and at the end it's all treated as if it never existed in the first place. It's nothing but a glorified convenient vehicle to smash a ton of extra lore and plot dump that could've much more easily and coherently have been in Sky SC and Zero/Ao instead of in here.

 

[Ultimadrago]

Yes, Trails in the Sky The Third is probably the worst entry in the series. Just try to roll with it for the pieces of information it provides to the greater narrative, completing every door if you can. You could simply try reading up on doors, since some are much more important than others. However, if you pick and choose doors make sure you don't skip important ones.

Tips? Use that Turbo Mode (when applicable and not during the story-heavy doors) and take solace in the fact that it's much shorter than the average Kiseki title.

 

[Erpy]

I'll try stick with it then. I'm playing on normal difficulty so hopefully it shouldn't be to bad. How many playable characters are there in this? I remember seeing Olivert as Prince Olivier in screenshots for this game. Do any other CS characters make their debut here?

Click to shrink...

Two characters who appear in Cold Steel 1 make their first on-screen appearance here. (both in doors)

3rd has 16 playable characters. The entire playable cast of SC, temps included, minus one temporary character who was only playable during a brief sidequest (which makes for 13), Riesz as the only truly newly introduced character and two others who were NPCs in previous games and who are very, very good. And Tita finally gets to kick ass with the big boys too. (Estelle's "nemesis" still sucks though)