Genre: RPG.
Release date: 26-9-2024.
Alright feels like its almost tradition for me to play a falcom game in september every year...
and I kinda feel old when I realize i've been at this for over 10 years.
There's a lot to think about but I tried to go into this game with very little expectations
but honestly it was hard, it seems falcom really pushed this a certain way and tried to get
old fans to come back for it because it promised a lot.
**I feel like I need some permanent disclaimer that this is just a blog where I ramble
about games I play, a place to write some thoughts on the wall. If you don't like it
then close the tab, you can always play it yourself and form your own opinion.**
Pro's
- Rean route and Kevin's route were great.
- Grimgarten is kinda fun actually.
- Storywise it really delivered... and a lot of things makes sense now.
Con's
- Van's route was a slowburn and just boring compared to the rest.
- Maybe not make characters unplayable in grimgarten if they joined up prior.
- Gameplay balance is weird; its either easy or made to make your life miserable.
-
Anyway on to the game itself! it is structured similarly like reverie and there's a new and
improved marchen garten but with a twist if ouroborous decided to mess with it. OK I guess...
its like snake gang improved the original. Whenever I had to go in there for the story(early on)
it wasn't really interesting. Some of the events may've been amusing in there, however it still felt
like it was but an after thought. It seems they can't let go of gacha mechanics so that's there as well.
Grim Garten is just a grind dungeon where you can freely decide who to play as but sadly there's
some exceptions depending where you are during the story. I am grateful to the gacha gods for
gifting me Risette's black dress and some accesorries as well as Rion's bath towel.😅
Combat is pretty much the same as the kuro games except with improvements
so I won't be going into that, newly improved so it doesn't get stale I guess.
at times; to try and make it more movie-like. Falcom sure has improved with this.
Music was pretty good, I loved the OP and I always listened to it when I booted up the game
except for when I took a short break to do whatever like chores. The final dungeon theme
this time was amazing and I loved it, like you just knew this was it!
 |
| I liked how everyone was covering each others eyes in this scene LMAO. |
Things I enjoyed were mostly the little things like character interactions as shown above
and it was great when the main story actually progressed but depending on the route
I found it varied heavily and not every route was as great as the other.
Some parts were a bit of a slog especially early on not much happened.
 |
| Dog aggro is serious business, Van's a real magnet. |
The prologue was kind of exciting but things calmed down quick for a bit in chapter 1, honestly
it was like a reintroduction to everything I still knew & then some. I know my memory is not
great but its not that bad, I struggled to keep playing during those parts. I know all games
have their boring or slow moments but at times it could seem they focus too much on small
matters to stall or kill time till something happens that requires immediate attention
till then you focus on doing random requests so Van doesn't go out of business
which is what most of Van's route felt like which was not great.
 |
| Damn he wastes no time... huh? |
It took me 50-60 hours to finish the game and the reason for that was mostly
because I did side quests so chapter 1 took me like 15 hours, maybe i'm slow but when
I closed the game I saw the completion at 40% in ps5 menu I was shocked because not much
of note had happened really, thankfully it picked up from then on in the different routes.
If I had to rank them it would be Rean > Kevin > Van.
 |
| Hello good sir, this is a no smoking zone. |
I did however stop doing sidequest during ch3, because I felt like it was time to get back
on track with no distractions. Had I skipped sidequest ands just focused on the plot then...
I think I would be done a lot sooner.
TL;DR while I don't think Kai is a bad game, it can be very enjoyable however I think
Van route just spins it wheels for too long while we get big reveals elsewhere till we finally
get the bang for our buck with Van but at that point it is the end which sure was something.
I'll recommend this game to long time trails fans but if you're new to the series
this is not the place to be, there's lots of games you could try first but Kai is not one of them.
More ramblings after the jump but there's some complain'o-jutsu
but I feel like I should get it across that I generally enjoyed the game!
Van's side was really slow and ZZZ it doesn't pick up till ch3, very repetitive
thanks we really needed this, I was facepalming in disbelief when I finished
Van's route in chapter 2 part 1. Rean's route was pretty good, Kevin is a bit okay I guess?
So when I could choose to do them over Van after chapter 1 was over, I was delighted and I
regained a lot of energy and motivation to continue the game! so all in all its not that bad really. |
| Crow confirms he's not a morning person. |
All trails games can be slow at times so I should be used to it but when the stakes are as
high as they are you gotta expect things to shaken up instead of being handed a 10hour tutorial
of introducing things while getting a hint something is up. Honestly I know sometimes
you can't do much but falcom really knows how to stretch it at times.
 |
| Looking for missing cats is more important than the plot. |
---
 |
| No context, don't ask. |
because I got burned out quickly and some early bosses were slogs and spongey.
I didn't even want to initiate command mode on trashmobs but just mowed them down in field mode
which doesn't always work cuz it easy to get caught off guard and get a disadvantage.
You can also upgrade skills but it consumes some crystal, the skill gets better by 1 point...
that's an amazing upgrade so worth it burning a limited currency on but its actually really good
so don't be discouraged by the its just one point strength or so... it helps.
 |
| Didn't really take that many screenshots of the combat so here's Crow being cool. |
Idk why but I don't have the energy to build 7+ characters who sometimes aren't
even around so... then you wasted time for some. Characters like Judith or Ferri
I just slapped some on and called it a day. They were mostly in reserves.
I actually ended up putting lots of good quartz on SOMEONE only for him
to pull a fast one on me. This thankfully didn't happen a lot... never trust a priest.
being level 1 again, its like it didn't matter how high of a lvl they were previous.
Did they all just sell their quartz and such to pay the bills or travel fees? LMAO.
The first 12+hours for me in kai was spend warming up and getting ready for the rest.
The limited selection of quartz in the early hours did help my decision either of putting it on easy.
**With bosses constantly debuffing my ass so I cannot act where is my La Curia?! crafts or
accessories only do so much like there is a plugin for single target curia but an AOE one? NOPE.
Come on we're in the climax of the calvard arc...Gotta admit the quests I am tired of the most are monster extermination quest 9001, Too repetitive.
Anyways that's how I feel about gameplay in trails now so... if I am just gonna be here for the plot
then that shit is going on easy I no longer can be arsed, its really weird because back in
crossbell arc or CS arc i'd just play on normal. I guess I am just getting old or tired.
 |
| Of course it did............... |
 |
| Good thing Towa's there, Rean can't handle that ass. |
Side note: I also don't see the point of LGC allignment anymore, like in kuro1 it made sense
since it would decide which people side with you but ever since then its just been there
for flavor and it doesn't seem to do anything unless I missed something?
---
 |
| Just standing there, being pretty. |
Its interesting to me Renne and Crow seem to be close enough to call eachother
by name during combat... must be his Loewe looks! this made me happy
but I am not sure how close they're really are. Crow calls Rixia as Yin...
maybe he's being respectful? I know he's a flirt but he's seemingly close with almost
every girl almost as if trying to have a harem. 😅 Kevin on the other hand
is just Graham! whom's not having any of it... ok Onionboomer.
I guess I only know this because I actually played as Crow... but its nice there's actual
reaction between the characters it gives a sense of acknowledging each other
and well some of them actually already fought together once upon a time.
My party in Grim Garten were mostly consisting of characters I liked.
At first I was using Crow,Aaron,Altina&Agnes AKA team cool&cute
but the ladies were replaced for Renne and Rixia and Aaron with Kevin since I really
like to play as Kevin on the field, Crow is too risky4me but he likes it risky.
Unfortunately it seems if the story takes some of them away in grimgarten
you can't use them anymore which was really disapponting but atleast most are available
Except Renne and Agnes and I swore I had Kashim at some point but he disappeared too.
They didn't think this through did they? so what was supposed to be a fun optional
grind dungeon turned into oh well can't use them right now gotta see who else fits. >_>
So in the end I settled for Crow, Rean, Yolda and Kevin with Altina/Risette as support.
Oh you get Renne and Shizuna back but at the cost of Yolda...? Like I don't get it and
characters like picnic crew and team rean are always available anyways so what gives?!
Final thoughts?!
 |
| I'll remember you... you remember you. |
the calvard arc was messy and this game... tried to atleast make sense out of things
so I gotta give it credit for that. While some parts were great there is just a very slow buildup
instead that can be mistaken for padding and Van's route suffered the most from this
which in turn made it painful to get through. People who don't like slowburn may dislike it.
However it was nice to see some of the characters again and for the most part I had fun!
Which is what matters right? Its just that I can't believe I spend the majority of ch1
on a tour of reintroducing things?! We don't go to many new areas and just revisit
the old ones; with characters that haven't been there before. Its not untill much later
like around the 40 hour mark that we get a much needed change of scenery.
For Van most of the game was just what we've been doing, there wasn't much of
any character development for the majority of the game but you could tell there's more
to things its just most plot developments didn't happen till end of ch3. Thus it ends up being like
a carrot on a stick since when it finally delivered it was already was the end. But hey! atleast
I got to understand most of the key storybeats by now so it wasn't like it was all for nothing! unfortunately the important story stuff was in Rean&Kevin route...... and Van was a snoozefest.
Since I don't want to come off wrong or like I am nagging the best part of this game was
the little things while uncovering some mysteries of the world.
 |
| Nina keeps winking her way into my heart and it is working. |
(kinda sounds like reset doesn't it?) and Agnes may be the shining star of the game but other than
that not much really. Yolda gets some focus and then there's the fated Rean VS Shizuna encounter
most probably were waiting for but TBH it was kind of disappointing? other than that
other returners were just kinda there. IDK why but this whole game just feels unfinished.
I wish there was an opportunity to explore Crow's background or relationship with Vita as well
but its been crickets on that front, though I think things are fine because
that necklace Crow is wearing seems like something Vita would gift him.
Van is still the same old, it kinda seems like there's things with him but he isn't able
to develop further for some reason I don't get, kinda seems to keep people at a distance
thus isn't able to get things done till its too late, yea seems that way.
Nina was interesting but the GM? better do Grimgarten cuz she's not in the mainstory.....
Emilia was funny at times and cool but during a part of the finale I was like bitch please
you think you can do this alone? ya need backup from some guys we all know&love. >:(
The ending... I don't remember when I cried so much the last time I finished a game
but the ending of this game did a number on me and I was a mess.
Anyway even if most of the time was spend doing the usual I mostly enjoyed the game!
 |
| I broke Aaron.. |
when reveals happened they were good. I have some fond memories playing through it; Kai is
much better than what preceded it. Sadly the way the game ends one would think
this final chapter was supposed to be in the game already but its not.
If you didn't like this game you're valid because even with low expectations the hype
it generated prerelease were not able to all be fulfilled. So yea! Kai has some great reveals
however there's still a lot up in the air... but progress is progress amirite?!
Also its like falcom went:We didn't have a cliffhanger in a while so here's
the mother of all cliffhangers!!! big titty edition.
7.7/10.
The game wasn't that bad, the last chapter was executed pretty well, the only thing
I am personally disappointed by is that Van's route was a sleeper compared to the rest.
Like Wazy would say Aidios amigos! its been a good run but this is where I bid my farewell.
Till next time... but gonna curse you all with a broken Aaron.
6/10/24 Edit: Platform said switch but should be ps4/5 etc.
Keep mispelling Yolda as Yolha but you know who this is, which I have fixed.
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