One of 2023's best-rated JRPGs is nearly here, but you need to play around 658 hours of other games first

gamesradar.com:

The Legend of Heroes: Trails into Reverie launches in just a few days and is already getting rave reviews, but this culmination of beloved cult JRPG series is going to require a whole lot of prior experience for you to get the most out of it.

If you're not familiar with the Trails series, it's a line of RPGs from Japanese developer Nihon Falcom that's been running since 2004. You can basically think of it as a sort of continuation of the sorts of mid-budget JRPGs we used to get in the PS1 and PS2 eras. Trails has never managed - or even tried - to compete with the likes of Final Fantasy for sheer spectacle, but the series has garnered a loyal fanbase thanks to its solid combat systems and fantastic worldbuilding and storytelling.

It seems Trails into Reverie is no exception. Due to launch on July 7 worldwide, it's already garnering strong reviews, to the tune of an 82 aggregate rating on OpenCritic. That makes it one of the best-rated JRPGs of 2023, and seemingly a terrific option for genre fans who've exhausted the likes of Final Fantasy 16 and Octopath Traveler 2.

But if you're new to the series, you probably need to do a little homework first. There have been nine Trails games released before Trails into Reverie, each of which ties into one of three separate story arcs. Reverie is technically the fifth entry in the Erebonia arc, which previously consisted of Trails of Cold Steel 1-4. According to HowLongToBeat, a relaxed playthrough of the four Cold Steel games incorporating some sidequests would take a whopping 358 hours to complete.

But wait - there's more. Trails into Reverie actually serves not just as the fifth entry in the Erebonia arc, but also as a culmination of the Crossbell arc, which itself consists of two