You are not wrong. The Trails series does have its flaws, and it's understandable why many can be put off by them. I would like to add to the list with the later games doing the trope of "the lesbian that sexually harasses other women" way too many times. Also, the step-sister thing seems to be one of the main writer's kinks but is done fairly well in the Sky games but abhorrently in the Cold Steel games.

But while the game does some subjects that age like milk, we do have the finest of wines in Olivier Lenheim himself. Weirdly he went from the "haha, he gay" to somehow one of the best-written characters in the series. And by some miracle, he feels like a very modern character compared to the other cast members.

Of course, the passage of time will change how we view older media. That's just how it goes. In my case, I don't defend the series for its flaws, but I do still love it for the many things it does really well. For example, the storytelling on a micro- and macro level brings the setting together like no other game series I've played.

Ahh yes, we have a woke tourist who's consuming japanese media for the first time.

I didn't even notice all those guys hitting on her.

Also, she's what... 16? Did you notice that, in that world, you can become what amounts to something like a federal agent at 16? And, for that matter, even without much oversight or handholding. Maybe their world just doesn't do everything like we do.

Regardless of that, while it's certainly not a great game, it has aged rather well, IMHO.

The humor is standard for a modern JRPG. Comedic tropes aren't real life. You'll survive.

I find it funny his avatar name is toughnails, when he sounds anything but. ^^

Bore off

Messaggio originale di InsideOut:

I find it funny his avatar name is toughnails, when he sounds anything but. ^^

He should change it to snowflake

I found it refreshing after after all this modern walking on eggshells tbh, I found the dialogues etc written pretty good, but right away noticed a tone of playfulness that would not be appreciated by gen z.

The game is well made, it is well written, everything makes sense in the world that was built. There is nothing off or weird unless your force your point of view of someone who lived in a differente society. But alas, you're just a troll. Cry about it.

I am transgender. This game is hella woke.

They literally don't give two ♥♥♥♥♥ about anyone's sexuality beyond commenting on their constant lewdness.. Estelle makes numerous comments about being jealous of women spending time with women.

"Men are pigs, after all." - Scherazard

You have a dominatrix type that emasculates the guys around her condemning how ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ gross they are constantly. The later chapters in the game touch massively on gender prejudice among other things and discusses on the warlike violent nature of masculinity.

Granted I've still yet to finish the first one, just got to the last dungeon, but this game is hella woke and pro feminist and all about fighting for the greater good. They distinctly mention the differences between Bracers and other mercenaries who thoughtlessly engage in nation state warfare instead of benefiting their local communities to protect the weak.

You have gangs that ultimately aren't evil, but just a bunch of wayward youths with ♥♥♥♥ guidance who when given a chance manage to improve and overcome their prejudices.

Honestly practically every JRPG is woke and about being a socialist as you go about helping the least of these and caring for all around. If only we can get the real world to consider the experience of helping others to be a personal level up.

There are much worse games and tropes that people justify sexualization of prepubescent characters. "Oh she's a 1000 year old goddesss so that makes jerking off to this drawing of a 10 year old okay." no weirdo, you're creepy AF and it's even worse that you justify it.

I can't really defend some of the stuff you have pointed out. But some I can. For example, Estelle being weirded out by Olivier. One of the themes of this game is exploring the world and going out of you comfort zone. Estelle is a country bumpkin and Rolent is as backwater a place as they can get. So there are a lot of moments in the game where Estelle is shocked by the simplest of things (she is shocked upon seeing some moving stairs for example). Olivier's personality is being one of them. But as we can see later in the game, Olivier's homosexuality (well more like bisexuality) is not the reason she is weirded out by Olivier. It's more his...perverted nature. And even then, they become close friends as the game and series continues on. And I want to make sure, Olivier may be a pervert (a harmless good natured one who is willing to help out people), that is not his entire character. It starts as early as this game, you can see he is brewing something serious and grand.

People hitting on underage characters, this is obviously disturbing. But we need to remember that this is a fictional world. We can't expect everything to be politically correct. Even in real life, we have many cases where people do this sort of stuff. Is it disgusting? Yes. Should we report them if need be? Yeah. But it also exists. That being said, I sure as ♥♥♥♥ won't defend what becomes of Agate and Tita's relationship, I wish Falcom would stop doing that. Sadly, they won't because future games get worse with this. This is a general Japan problem. They like to use these sorts of relationships in their fiction. Like, Agate and Tita's relationship was fine at first since it felt more like they were becoming close like siblings. Tita having an innocent childhood crush is not really offensive either, she could grow out of it but as soon as the characters start to tease them about it...ehhh. Trust me though, this ♥♥♥♥ gets worse in future games, particularly with character designs.

Estelle and Joshua's relationship is not a problem imo. Mainly because it is not done for the sake of horny. It is not presented like how trashy anime does it. The game slowly builds it up and commits to it.

Finally, I think we should also appreciate its more progressive points. Estelle Bright is a very well written strong female character. She is constantly learning new stuff and improving on herself. Olivier is a very well written bisexual character. He is not just the pervert of the group. There are also a lot of strong women in the game in important positions. Schera is considered to be a fearsome Bracer, Anna and especially Kilika are extremely capable in their own fields (Kilika is also a master martial artist), Julia is literally the head of the Royal Guard, and the Queen is an extremely respectable leader. SPEAKING of the queen, one of the reasons our villains start their plans in this game is because the Queen elects her GRANDDAUGHTER to be the next inheritor and not her NEPHEW. Because to her, gender does not matter but rather the characteristics. Everyone also agrees that the granddaughter is better suited for the job (I am not spoiling the name just in case). But our bad guy thinks this could be seen as a weakness in the patriarchal world. Oh WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT, very progressive social commentary.

In all honesty, this game, especially considering its time of release, is more progressive than a lot of the stuff we have today.

I truly understand where you are coming from with your points. We all have stuff we can accept and stuff we can't. Heck, I personally cannot stomach some of the stuff the future games do, particularly the Cold Steel games. But not everything is for everyone.

Messaggio originale di Oguzhan:

I can't really defend some of the stuff you have pointed out. But some I can. For example, Estelle being weirded out by Olivier. One of the themes of this game is exploring the world and going out of you comfort zone. Estelle is a country bumpkin and Rolent is as backwater a place as they can get. So there are a lot of moments in the game where Estelle is shocked by the simplest of things (she is shocked upon seeing some moving stairs for example). Olivier's personality is being one of them. But as we can see later in the game, Olivier's homosexuality (well more like bisexuality) is not the reason she is weirded out by Olivier. It's more his...perverted nature. And even then, they become close friends as the game and series continues on. And I want to make sure, Olivier may be a pervert (a harmless good natured one who is willing to help out people), that is not his entire character. It starts as early as this game, you can see he is brewing something serious and grand.

People hitting on underage characters, this is obviously disturbing. But we need to remember that this is a fictional world. We can't expect everything to be politically correct. Even in real life, we have many cases where people do this sort of stuff. Is it disgusting? Yes. Should we report them if need be? Yeah. But it also exists. That being said, I sure as ♥♥♥♥ won't defend what becomes of Agate and Tita's relationship, I wish Falcom would stop doing that. Sadly, they won't because future games get worse with this. This is a general Japan problem. They like to use these sorts of relationships in their fiction. Like, Agate and Tita's relationship was fine at first since it felt more like they were becoming close like siblings. Tita having an innocent childhood crush is not really offensive either, she could grow out of it but as soon as the characters start to tease them about it...ehhh. Trust me though, this ♥♥♥♥ gets worse in future games, particularly with character designs.

Estelle and Joshua's relationship is not a problem imo. Mainly because it is not done for the sake of horny. It is not presented like how trashy anime does it. The game slowly builds it up and commits to it.

Finally, I think we should also appreciate its more progressive points. Estelle Bright is a very well written strong female character. She is constantly learning new stuff and improving on herself. Olivier is a very well written bisexual character. He is not just the pervert of the group. There are also a lot of strong women in the game in important positions. Schera is considered to be a fearsome Bracer, Anna and especially Kilika are extremely capable in their own fields (Kilika is also a master martial artist), Julia is literally the head of the Royal Guard, and the Queen is an extremely respectable leader. SPEAKING of the queen, one of the reasons our villains start their plans in this game is because the Queen elects her GRANDDAUGHTER to be the next inheritor and not her NEPHEW. Because to her, gender does not matter but rather the characteristics. Everyone also agrees that the granddaughter is better suited for the job (I am not spoiling the name just in case). But our bad guy thinks this could be seen as a weakness in the patriarchal world. Oh WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT, very progressive social commentary.

In all honesty, this game, especially considering its time of release, is more progressive than a lot of the stuff we have today.

I truly understand where you are coming from with your points. We all have stuff we can accept and stuff we can't. Heck, I personally cannot stomach some of the stuff the future games do, particularly the Cold Steel games. But not everything is for everyone.

Seriously. The plot of the game is literally "toxic masculinity kills the good in this world."

Messaggio originale di jadey:

Seriously. The plot of the game is literally "toxic masculinity kills the good in this world."

You are honestly trying really hard to make the game sound "woke" or "progressive". None of the examples you and Oguzhan provided would be considered woke in this genre.

Men being evil, and women being kind and innocent is a very common trope:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FemalesAreMoreInnocent
And of course people would rather side with the good guys ( Kloe and Alicia) rather than the bad guys ( Richard and Dunan ). There is no moral ambiguity here. I will make the same choice every time no matter what my political belief is.

And Estelle isn't a "bossgirl". She is a tomboy who still maintains her femininity, and will talk about boys and cute things with other girls. In fact, the term "tomboy" is considered offensive by woke people.

Messaggio originale di Oguzhan:

But not everything is for everyone.

This is the correct answer. There is no need to jump through hoops just to appease OP.

Messaggio originale di Mr.Mostache:

And Estelle isn't a "bossgirl". She is a tomboy who still maintains her femininity, and will talk about boys and cute things with other girls. In fact, the term "tomboy" is considered offensive by woke people.

In fact, Estelle and Joshua are quite ordinary characters as JRPGs go. Japanese games generally prefer slightly younger characters, possibly so they can add "coming of age" aspects. And the occasional "passing the torch" to the new generation.

Messaggio originale di Mr.Mostache:

Men being evil, and women being kind and innocent is a very common trope:

But you still get games with female "big bads". Although possibly not quite as many -- I don't keep counts.