Whether or not before considering starting this that you know about the hundreds of hours that The Legend of Heroes series spans across at least ten games, start here anyway.

This game is about as JRPG as it can get, but it shouldn't detract from its face value, even though the artstyle and trope-filled characterization gradually sink in all throughout the game's uncommonly extensive playtime. I was blind about what to expect and allowed the mechanics to decide my money's worth. What I began to see was a world beyond expectations.

Your introduction to this bustling universe begins in the tale of two junior mercenaries. The game treats the player as one that understands the basics of turn-based combat and leveling, but as the guidance falls away for the characters, you also begin to unknowningly master the system.

There's magic to mess with that strengthens depending on how you configure it for each unique character. Weapons and armor get stronger with each new town visited, monsters get attacked based on their elemental weaknesses, and ingredients can get cooked into meals.

Looking back at it now, it never really complicates or grows tiresome - it sort of becomes an invisible reflex as the plot takes center stage and finally hooks you. Since the common monsters are pretty easy, grinding for experience is relatively unnecessary. The bosses and surprise battles can really throw you through a loop, but fortunately everything is accomplishable and rewarding with improvising.

Even though I stopped playing for a few months off and on, its mechanics are simple enough to pick up again, and I hardly forgot what was going on in the story either. It leaves that solid of an impression. It lingers and encourages you to keep going.

I'm not normally someone compelled to 100% a game, but I found myself willing to try (and I failed, because even though I tried to take my time and explore the hundreds of areas and talk to the hundreds of NPCs [who each have an agenda and lifestyle of their own!], I still missed several sidequests and extra details that strangely nag me that I didn't use a guide and discover it all -- but it likely would've started to feel like a chore if I did). The habit I forged of reading everything and revisiting whatever I could came from respecting the depth and narrative power put in place and it was gratifying to experience it all.

It's impressive that the game generates its own interpretation of politics, war, and industry for an entirely fictional country. As the characters get wrapped in the conflicts surrounding their nation, interactions and events begin to overlap and expand, and it ends up speaking volumes about how the game is full to the brim with details that are lovingly planned.

While this game is frankly very text-heavy and conversation-driven, and you should be prepared to do some reading, there are literally no unlikeable characters. I can't stress how much the dialogue writing helps characters extend beyond the simple archetypes and makes them welcome additions for the long journey. Even as a score of minor individuals pass in and out of focus in the main story, they present so many different roles of heroism, comedic relief, and mystery that I couldn't be happier in between combat learning more about them.

In its final act, the sequel was practically sold to me with the multiple questions left unsolved. How a game can wrap me up in its underlying narrative makes me forget the fact I was skeptically playing a JRPG in the first place.

Let TLoH: TitS fulfill your wishes or invalidate your biases depending on which side of the fence you sit on regarding the genre, for I can faithfully say you will be pleasantly surprised.

Feel free to check out each of the reviews I make for this series' games as I complete them to get a picture of how they evolve and how my perceptions have changed as well.


Edit 12/26/2022: Tightened-up and overhauled some things to stop sounding like the pretentious college freshman I was.