Alicesoft is one of the major dev studios in this exact space, but their games range from having some non-con to outright featuring it. Not for everyone.

Stardew Valley’s success had more to do with smart marketing than anything. The game has the exact same formula as Story of Seasons and Rune Factory, which are very corporate-run series, just not at AAA scale. The difference was Eric Barone cultivating word-of-mouth marketing via influencers and online communities to reintroduce the genre to the Western market (along with lucking into capitalizing on what was then a more nascent pixel art indie gaming trend).

Undertale’s a good example, though (I’ll still note this particular example is a huge spoiler). I did the thing and it was a very fresh idea, and one of the best hooks I’ve seen in a video game. Thing is though, I doubt even 10% took that route to see it. That’s something the game has in common with Baldur’s Gate 3, which is full of those low-percentage moments. AAA devs don’t like investing a lot of resources into things most people aren’t going to see.

I think this is the fourth I’ve seen now? Would make for an interesting article.

I could be way off, but I feel like all this is an overreaction for something like Silksong. The last time we saw a dodge like this was Elden Ring and I don’t think it’s going to be anything like that. Maybe it is in the indie space, I don’t know.

This article drives me nuts every time I see it. 3,000 words inventing a problem for a series that boils down to a very simple concept:

• Trails is a video game series with a continuous narrative
• That continuity is the reason to play the series

The place to start with this series is the first game in the story–the first Sky game–just like you’d start with the first episode of Game of Thrones or the first book of Wheel of Time. None of the games are “skippable” any more than a season of GoT or a book of WoT is. There are many moments in Trails that may not seem relevant in the moment that set up plot lines for later (sometimes much, much later). The whole “Crossbell spoils Cold Steel” bit isn’t a thing, either. Stories sometimes have parallel narratives, and sometimes writers give you information in a non-linear way. This is intentional.

And yes, you can start with a later game, but if you do, you’re playing an experience that isn’t fully intended for you. And here’s where I’ll be honest: without that full experience, some of these games are very average JRPGs. What sets these games apart from the pack is how they connect to each other, from the stories to the lore to the setting to the characters. Why not meet Trails on its own selling point? There are hundreds of JRPGs with great stand-alone experiences if that’s what you want today.

Honkai: Star Rail. I love turn-based RPGs, and it continues to have the best turn-based combat I’ve ever played. The main story also has my favorite fiction trope (a shake-up of a pantheon) and it’s got amazing music, so it just hits a lot of really good spots for me.

Having played a chunk of the demo with Japanese audio, this hasn’t been a literal translation situation. It’s a standard JRPG localization, closer to NISA’s work with the series than XSEED’s that was on the loose side.