LogFAQs > #901949212

I grew to like all of them and the game wants you to do this as it'll lock you out of them permanently once you reach a new chapter. Don't worry, if you liked that one particular town, you'll be back there in SC. When Joshua and Estelle reach a new town, the game goes on into story mode and basically let you explore the city and show/tell you what it's all about. It's all fun and games for Estelle and Joshua up till the final chapter. See, at the end of Chapter 3, Joshua and Estelle, along with fellow party members Agate and Tita and her grandfather Professor Russell, stumble upon a conspiracy involving corruption and a coup d'etat in Liberl's military. All of these scenes were done with great care and a bit of foreshadowing so it's not like they were pulled out of their ass. Reaching the capital city of Grancel, with its happy music, felt different. For Bose, Ruan, and Zeiss, the party was happy to be in a new city and ready to meet new friends and take on new Bracer gigs. With Grancel however, the mood is completely different. Joshua and Estelle know exactly what's at stake now, and are on a timeframe to attempt to solve this crisis that nobody else knows about yet before it's too late. I absolutely loved it.

The final chapter also succeeds in bringing back the rest of the party members together to save the country from the coup and the payoff is completely worth it. I spend a great chunk of the game getting to know Liberl and its history, so by the time I was midway through the final chapter I was ready to fight for this country that I felt like I knew so well. FC also sets up new plot threads and mysteries that are revisited in SC. The final reveal after the ending was out of left field but if you think about it, it makes sense and was foreshadowed. Same with all the other intricate plot details, like Kurt being "K" and his brainwashing being extremely relevant to the plot. I loved the final plot twist, and I was sad the game ended right there. Those of you who played this game more recently or when SC was already out didn't have to endure the long wait for the English localization of the sequel. I did, and it sucked. It sucked having to wait 4.5 years, more than half of those not even knowing if SC would get localized. I wanted to know what would happen and that information was readily available for me online but I had to force myself not to look at it.

Then there were all the other sequels -- TC, Zero, Ao, CS1-2. Luckily, I've now played almost all of them in English. So why is FC #1 on this list when SC is regarded by many as the clearly superior game? Fans will often say that FC is the weakest entry. Well, to me, this was more than just a game in the Trails franchise. It changed my view of RPGs and in some ways it changed my life. Just knowing that my favorite genre is capable of producing such quality releases like this left me with a warm, fuzzy feeling inside. Yes, the sequels were great, sometimes way better than the game it all started at, but they never replicated that feeling I got when I was playing through FC. I was more than highly invested. I even played this game again in 2014 when it released on Steam (Turbo mode is fantastic).

Thank you XSEED and thank you Falcom, you've done an admirable job. Like SMRPG, FFVII, Suikoden II, FFX before it, Trails FC joins the ranks of my favorite, "milestone" RPGs. It took all but ten years for me to find another one of these, just as my interest was waning. In 2011, shortly after playing through this game I was able to get my life back on track and finally start a career and become financially stable. I know, I know, this game probably had nothing to do with it, but playing it through that depressing period definitely helped prior to the transition. It renewed my interest in video gaming and JRPGs as well.

And that's my story. What's yours?

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