Worth playing, or start with Star Trail?

[boho]

I wanted to play Shadows over Riva, so picked up the entire trilogy in the Lunar New Year sale since I heard Star Trail is very good too, if not better.

From research I've done on Blade of Destiny mechanics, I'm seeing a theme of recommendations to just go straight to Star Trail and I won't miss anything in Blade of Destiny. Schwarze Auge fans - what do you think?

[Tyler Durden]

I say play all 3 in succession. You really get a feel of progression and you can import your characters into each game.

Feel free to use a wallthrough for this one, cause it's a bit ambiguous at times, especially towards the end.

[Clarity]

I think Blade of Destiny is in some ways the best of the trilogy. While it's mechanics are the most dated and need the most getting used to it also has the biggest exploration aspect of the three games. There are so many towns, so many dungeons and just so many roads you can take. But it's also easy to get stuck so using a guide is a good idea. IMO you miss out if you play this one.
But story-wise all three games can do without the other except for the general, overlapping "war against the orcs" plot.

[Tyler Durden]

The third is my favourite, for the great story and absolutely fascinating horror themes throughout, but it is the most restricted and linear. The second is a nice balance between exploration and story, in addition to the portraits actually looking decent, and more QoL features like saving not reducing your experience.

[MN Fats]

Worth it, yeah. Star Trail was very opaque even by comparison to this game.