40 Hours Played] Clear Review of Frew's New "Seitokami: Trinity Trigger"! A royal road RPG with a royal road story and speedy battles!

On September 15, 2022, the PS5/PS4/Switch title "Seitokami: Trinity Trigger" ("Trinity Trigger") was released by Flue. Nobuteru Yuki of "Trials of Mana" fame created the world visuals for this title, and Yura Kubota of "Octopath Traveler" fame wrote the scenario. The participation of staff members who have created masterpieces of RPGs was much talked about at the time of the game's release.

In this article, we will review "Trinity Trigger" (Switch version) after playing it to the end. The game has been played for about 40 hours. I have already completed all 51 sub-quests that can be challenged in the game.

The concept of "Trinity Trigger" is conveyed even before you play the game.

The concept behind "Trinity Trigger" is a "90's style RPG. This style is evident not only in the game's content, but also in its exterior, with the packaged version of the game including an instruction manual, a rarity today.

Regardless of the game hardware supported by the game, almost no instruction manuals are included with packaged versions of recent games. I understand that there are various reasons for this, such as saving development costs and substituting digitalization, but as someone who has played more than a few old games, I feel a bit sad that there is only the software in the package. For this reason, I am glad to see a work like "Trinity Trigger" that makes use of the strengths of the package.

The package is very well put together in terms of both appearance and content, with a book-like appearance, notes in red next to the written information to give it a handmade feel, and a section on applied techniques that can be used in battles. The manual also mentions the towns and fields to be visited later in the story, but it seems to avoid explicit mention of them and only hints at them, so it seems safe to play this game while reading the manual. I will write more about it later, but the battle system in this work is simple, and just reading the accompanying manual will be quite informative.

A story about the adventures of a young man chosen by the gods

The setting of this work is a world called Trinitia. In this land where the gods, divided into "Order" and "Chaos," have fought each other many times, the main character Cyan is chosen as a "Warrior of Chaos" to represent the gods in their wars. As the Warrior of Chaos, Cyan is destined to fight against the Warrior of Order, and he must fight against his own harsh destiny in cooperation with the friends he meets along the way.

Shean lives with her sister Filne in the town of Woodroos. She is a "Bringer" who searches for treasures in the "Holy Tower" near the town, and works every day as a young man of unknown specific age. He gets along well with Filne, who takes care of the household chores, and he is very brave and capable, perhaps because he has a strong sense of protecting the house. He is a true hero.

The Holy Tower is a weapon used by the gods. The Holy Tower, which has been pierced, influences the surrounding environment, which is also the reason why Woodroos is rich in nature. The interior of the tower is also a dungeon.

With Cyan at the center, two companions join the party in this work. One is Eris. The second, Xanthis, is a priest in the service of the god of order. By nature, he is a holy man, but he is also a great drinker and has a dynamic side that does not care about details. Like Eris, he is supposed to be an enemy of Cyan, but for one reason or another, he becomes his friend. The party is well-balanced, with Cyan as the hero, Eris as the serious one, and Xanthis as the dependable but lax adult, each with their own unique characteristics.

The adventures take them to various holy towers around the country. Each tower has its own unique gimmick, so every time you visit a tower, you will feel something new.

When I first started this game, I felt a little lonely with a party of three. However, now that I have completed the story, I think the opposite is true. Because there were only three of us, I was able to delve deeply into Xian, Eris, and Xanthis, and as a result, it was easy to become emotionally involved in the story. In addition, each character has a "trigger" who lends his or her strength in the battles of this work, so the party is actually six players. Thanks to this, the dialogue and events along the way are lively.

Cyan's personality is somewhat subdued, perhaps in an effort to make it easier for the player to become emotionally involved in the story. Although Eris and Xanthis are more prominent in the story, Cyan, who is trying to carve out his own destiny, is kept at the center of the story from beginning to end, and he is not made to feel like an outcast. As the story reaches the midpoint of the game, we learn more about Cyan's circumstances and past, and we are impressed by his determination to fight on without giving up.

On the other hand, in the sub-quests, we also get a glimpse of sub-characters such as Violet and Nowar, who appear later in the story, as well as Cyanne and her friends. The story was organized into a main scenario that traces the main plot, and sub-quests that allow you to delve deeper into the world as side trips, allowing you to enjoy both the main and sub-quests at a good pace.

Battles are fought by determining the compatibility of weapons.

Battles in this title are action-based, with the player controlling one of Sian, Eris, or Xanthis. Combo combos can be performed by simply pressing the A button (Switch version), and the "weapon gauge" rises when an attack is made, and when full, a special move is unleashed. The actions required for battle are all simple, so by the time you have cleared the first dungeon, you will have mastered them well enough to use them.

The basic combo is a three-strike attack. Each move is set to "Trigger Attack.

Although you can perform a combo attack by simply pressing the A button, it is dangerous to hit the button repeatedly. The "Synchro Gauge" is required to attack, and if the gauge is empty, the amount of damage inflicted is greatly reduced. The Synchro Gauge is the key to winning or losing a battle.

The Synchro Gauge recovers over time, but it can also be replaced by "Just Evade," which allows the player to avoid enemy attacks just in time. Just Evade is superior in that it can recover instantly, but the timing is difficult, so it takes some getting used to. If you are not good at actions, it is recommended to use the "Vigor Potion," an item that increases the recovery speed of the Synchro Gauge, or to use the time lapse method.

In addition, since each enemy has its own weapon affinity, using only one weapon is not an efficient way to inflict damage. Therefore, it is important to use all eight types of weapons in the game, including one-handed swords, bows, spears, and axes, as appropriate. At first, the number of weapons available is small, but it will gradually increase as the triggers are powered up at the ruins inside the Holy Tower. The one-handed sword has a shorter reach but attacks faster, the spear moves slower but has a longer reach, and the bow is capable of long-range attacks.

In boss battles, the "armor gauge" must first be removed before the main body can be damaged. The amount of damage to the armor gauge is also affected by the affinity of the weapon, making it even more important to look for weak points!

Although it is difficult to consider the compatibility with the enemy and effective spacing in real time, it is possible to determine if the weapon you are currently using is effective or not by the color of the damage figure. Red is advantageous, white is normal, blue is disadvantageous, and so on. Even if you forget about the compatibility of each enemy, you can still manage by forcefully trying every single weapon.

Weapons can be set as shortcuts to the up, down, left, and right keys of the crosshairs. This is very convenient because you don't have to open the screen every time!

There are many interesting aspects to the battles in this title, such as the speedy battles that focus on evasion, the combos that can be formed with a series of hits, and the simple system of hitting the enemy's weak points. Items are the main means of recovery in this game, and are a necessity when stamina is depleted or a player is affected by an abnormality.

The use of items during battle can be registered as a shortcut. The amount and target of HP recovery items are the same, so stronger items such as "high potions" and "high elixirs" can be used instead. On the other hand, the effects of the abnormalities are different, so it is necessary to switch between different items according to their effects. In other words, there is not enough space for shortcuts. There is a "panacea" that can restore all abnormalities, but it is six times more expensive than other items, and the maximum number of items that can be used is only 10, so it is difficult to use it casually.

Whenever the player moves to the item screen to react to an abnormality, the flow of the game comes to a halt, and the tempo of the battle, which has a sense of speed, is lost.

Discovery is the key to field exploration

The most important theme of "Trinity Trigger" is "discovery. In this title, there are three types of "discovery": "discovery" to find weak points of enemies in battle, "discovery" to find hidden paths by trees and walls of different colors , and"discovery" to find items and locations based on stories heard from townspeople. We have already written about discovery in battle, where you switch weapons and fight. Here, we will discuss the other two types of discoveries.

The city and fields of Trinitia are littered with treasure chests, and searching for them is one of the most exciting parts of the game. The total number of treasure chests is always indicated in each area, and it serves as a guide when exploring your current location. This advance indication of the number of treasure chests makes it easier to collect them and avoid missing them, while at the same time avoiding wasting time looking for chests that don't exist.

Some treasure chests are placed at the end of a corridor, while others are deep in the woods or behind a wall. Trees and walls are obstacles, so of course you cannot go straight ahead. What is important here is to "discover" what is hidden in the field. A tree leading to a treasure chest may be a different color than the others, or a wall may have a crack in it. They are like hidden passages, but if you look carefully, you can easily identify them, so there is no need to get lost.

There are also treasure chests that can be obtained with certain weapons.

In addition to identifying them by looking at the environment, you can also get the locations of treasure chests from city dwellers. This is the last "discovery" following the exploitation of the enemy's weak points and the search for discomfort in the field. However, rather than directly telling you the location of the treasure chest, it is more like giving you a faint scent of where the treasure chest or something else might be. Unlike the "Find the Mistake" game, in which the user is supposed to find something wrong with a tree or a wall, this game is more like a quiz. However, as far as I was able to confirm, the treasure chests that people told me about were usually located in the city. The locations of treasure chests in the field and in the city are differentiated, and it is nice to not have to travel too far to find them.

As I have written so far, there are three discoveries in "Trinity Trigger. Just as importantly, these are also the foundation of the game, so to speak. Battles to exploit weaknesses, finding pathways through different environments, and gathering information from the inhabitants are all common in today's RPGs. However, one of the themes of this work, "90's style," was a time when the "norm" in today's RPGs was being established and was on the verge of maturity. While it would be subtle to make a big deal of these elements in a modern RPG, "Trinity Trigger" aims to be a good old-fashioned RPG, so I felt that these three discoveries fit in rather well.

A wealth of challenging elements available after clearing the main story

After clearing the main story, new sub-quests are unlocked. These are deeply related to both the battles and the storyline, so if you want to continue the game, you should definitely try them out. In terms of battles, you will be able to go to the higher levels of the Holy Tower, and your weapons will be enhanced from "Awakening" to "Shinjyoku". Only weapons that the character is good at (using a weapon he is good at increases the damage he can inflict) are eligible for the enhancement, so in Cyan's case there are four, while Eris and Xanthis have three each. The enemies that appear in the sub-quests in the latter half of the game are strong across the board, so it is advisable to equip each of them with their specialty weapons that are in the true state.

Of the five towers in the city of Sandheim, the "Tower of the Nameless Finger," the"Tower of the Long Finger," and the "Tower of the Seasonal Finger," which can be accessed through subquests after clearing the game, are suitable for earning money. Enemies in the Tower of the Innocent Finger give you more TP, which is used to learn trigger skills, while enemies in the Tower of the Long Finger give you more experience, and enemies in the Tower of the Seasoned Finger have a higher item drop rate. Thanks to this, leveling up and training triggers went well from start to finish, and I even managed to defeat the boss of the last sub-quest.

In terms of the storyline, new information about order and chaos, the worldview of this work, and their respective gods is available. In order to tackle the final sub-quest, we first need to examine stone monuments in various fields, where we can learn about important settings that are related to the main story. I can't go into too much detail because it would be a spoiler, but if you want to get a full picture of the world of "Trinity Trigger," you should play the subquests all the way to the end.

While you can enjoy the old-fashioned, classic RPGs based on the themes of "90's style" and "discovery," the game also includes modern elements such as fast-paced battles and dungeons for those who want to earn more money. This work can be recommended for both those who like old RPGs and those who have recently started playing RPGs.

(Text: Natsuyoshi Natsuyoshi)

• Work Information
• Seitokami: Trinity Trigger
• Genre: Action RPG
• Compatibility: PS5/PS4/Switch
• Player: 1 to 3 players
• CERO: B (for ages 12 and up)
• Release date: September 15, 2022
• Price: 8,580 yen (tax included)
• Manufacturer：FURYU Corporation.

© FURYU Corporation.