After the Trails in the Sky: First Chapter (FC) did a great job at setting up the characters and world, Trails in the Sky: Second Chapter (SC) was a decent follow-up that resolved most of the open plot threads. I even went as far to describe the two games as a “duology”, since they’re basically two halves of one big tale – which begs the question what story is even left for a third game to tell. The answer Trails in the Sky the 3rd came up with is to essentially function as a “30h epilogue”, mostly concerned with telling various side stories instead of continuing the main story through huge, world-shaping events. A rather unusual choice, considering stories told in trilogies usually culminate at the end, not the middle – but since Trails in the Sky SC didn’t exactly end on a cliffhanger, that decision might not be too surprising after all.

One of the biggest differences between Trails in the Sky the 3rd and the previous two games in the trilogy can be encountered almost immediately after starting the prologue - Gralsritter Kevin Graham and his squire/childhood friend Squire Ries Argent are superseding Estelle and Joshua Bright as the protagonists. The story starts off with Kevin encountering a certain artifact, which results in him and various other characters being transported into the world of Phantasma – a big dungeon consisting of multiple “planes”, which make up the rest of the entire game.

The main gameplay loop of Trails in the Sky the 3rd can be described as going through one “plane” (or dungeon floor, if you will), fighting a boss at the end, unlocking new playable characters for your party and experiencing more of Kevin/Ries backstory – rinse and repeat. While exploring the eight planes (most of which are just reused locations from the previous games), you might encounter one of 25 “Memory Doors”, which can be opened after fulfilling conditions like carrying a certain item or having a specific character in your party. Depending on the type of door you open, you’ll either get access to a longer (“moon”) or shorter (“star”) side-story, sometimes even including a minigame (“sun”) like a pop-quiz. While the game itself calls them short-stories however, these optional tales aren’t to be taken lightly: I estimate that at least a third of my 30h playthrough was spent reading/playing through side-stories, maybe even half.

Speaking of playing, rather unsurprisingly, Trails in the Sky the 3rd hasn’t changed at all in terms of gameplay – the turn- and grid-based fighting system from Trails in the Sky SC returns with only two small additions: New battle buffs (e.g. double attack) and the option to set a “support character“, which in turn grants new bonusses during battles (e.g. more XP gained). The biggest change here would be the number of playable characters, which went up to an astonishing 16 possible party members – however, this change unfortunately turns out to be a double-edged sword in practice. It’s certainly nice to have a lot of options to choose from as long as you’re travelling with only the standard four-character party. However, as the final dungeon in the game actually requires you to use ALL sixteen characters, they all needed to be levelled, equipped with proper gear and have their combat orbments customised as well. This can be quite a pacing killer, even if you prepared accordingly – with such a large number of characters, even the simple act of giving them the right Quartz can take a lot of time already, even more so if we’re taking acquiring the right Quartz or items through farming/crafting into consideration as well.

Anyway, since Trails games are known for their story and not their gameplay in the first place, let’s move on and talk about the plot of the last game in the Sky trilogy. Generally speaking, Trails in the Sky the 3rd is a game that’s about expanding on different aspects of the world and characters, without really advancing the overall Zemuria storyline. In order to pull this off, the story is structured as follows: First, there’s Phantasma, the magical world Kevin and other characters end up in thanks to a certain artifact. This set-up allows various characters from the previous two Trails in the Sky games to meet up again, even though they might’ve even left Liberl half a year after the events of Trails in the Sky SC. Second, as the “Memory Doors” inside Phantasma are merely a narrative device to tell various side-stories that take place all over Zemuria without being bound to a linear main plot, place or time. Thanks to these two “tricks”, the developers are able to expand on many different aspects of Zemuria without breaking the overall storyline.

However, if you compare the main and side stories of Trails in the Sky the 3rd to the previous games, it could almost be described as “story filler” since the overall Zemuria storyline is merely expanded upon instead of being progressed by a significant margin. Again, Trails in the Sky the 3rd does give characters more depth – especially Kevin as the new protagonist -, sets a few things up and provides interesting lore titbits here and there (e.g. the origin of Kevin’s salt arrow, clues regarding identity of Bleubanc, what Campanella has been up to, the relationship between Olivier and the Iron Chancellor). But it’s a game that’s all about continuous worldbuilding and character development by looking at different aspects of Zemuria, instead of being the next big chapter in the history of Liberl. As such, your enjoyment of Trails in the Sky the 3rd will vary depending on your expectations going into the game: Do you want the main story to continue in a significant way or are fine with a 30h epilogue that takes it’s time to expand the overall lore?

Some players even go as far as suggesting to skip Trails in the Sky the 3rd in its entirety, which is a sentiment I can’t say I don’t sympathize with at least a little – especially if you play the three Trails in the Sky games back to back and hope for an impressive finale. But even if Trails in the Sky the 3rd might not be the thrilling ride one might expect, if you want to continue with the Trails franchise (or just meet Estelle and co. again), the way this game expands upon the lore and characters shouldn’t be dismissed that easily. It’s definitely not the most exciting title of the trilogy if you want a high-stakes story since you’ll get fanservice instead and the varying quality of the side-stories doesn’t help either - but if you generally liked what came before, Trails in the Sky the 3rd won’t disappoint either. Don’t forget that there’s a (fan-translated) drama CD that takes places between Trails in the Sky the 3rd and Trails from Zero as well!

That said, if you’re only interested in playing through the Trails in the Sky subseries and don’t want to engage with the Trails games beyond that, I think that stopping after Trails in the Sky SC would be the better choice here. Trails in the Sky the 3rd feels more like a game set between major events to me, showing glimpses at what the characters are up to now, while Trails in the Sky SC – despite some open plot points – has a clear ending and doesn’t feel as much like a “the story continues…” game. If you're fine with "open epilogues" however, the additional character depth is worth it.

Mannnn what the f*ck was stardoor 15 I was not ready for this at all. I am in tears.

Thirsty Kev's Dungeon Crawl is good.