A Shadow of what could have been
This renaissance of old school RPG’s is an interesting one, usually they have some sort of hook that helps to differentiate them from the whole host of other RPGs out there. With a glance people can tell if a game is going to be Final Fantasy or Persona, the latest RPG from FuRyu; Trinity Trigger is meant to appeal to fans of SquareEnix’s Legend of Mana series. Trinity Trigger starts with a cool premise, in the world of Trinitia the Gods use humans to fight on their behalf. The God of Chaos and the God of Order wage a battle for control of the planet, and each side chooses an avatar of sorts to seek out the other’s avatar and fight to the death to decide a winner.
What a setup like that I had high hopes for Trinity Trigger, in the game players are introduced to Cyan who is just a normal kid living in a small town. He finds out that he was been marked by the Gods of Chaos and must become the Warrior of Chaos. Soon after he sets out with this friend Elise to see what this all means for him. Even with the stakes this high and everything going on, the narrative in Trinity Trigger never feels as compelling as it should.
MSRP: $49.99
Platforms: Switch (reviewed), PlayStation, PC
Price I’d Pay: $19.99
Not helping matters is the combat, in Trinity Trigger players don’t use traditional weapons. Instead, they use sentient creatures known as ‘triggers’ that transform into weapons. This isn’t the issue, the issue is that when in combat all three characters are on the field at once and must be switched between, and then players will have to choose the appropriate weapon/ability to maximize damage. When fighting the run of the mill baddies this is just tedious but when fighting the bosses and having to combine dodging their attacks AND shuffling folks it just becomes a tad overwhelming.
I wish that the problems stopped there but unfortunately, they don’t. Instead of using a dedicated waypoint system like every other game, Trinity Trigger decides to go with a weird mix of visual clues and waypoints. Players will be forced to talk to NPCs, read signs and pay attention to their surroundings, and then once you find the location a waypoint will appear. If it sounds like the absolute MOST; it’s because it is, I get trying to help people really get into the game, but this was just too much. And it doesn’t help matters that most of the side stories just feel tedious in nature.
Yet another area that makes this game feel off is the uneven graphics, yes, I was playing the Switch port of the game, so I was expecting a downgrade but while some areas really shined there were others that just had muddy textures and choppy animations in combat. All the graphics just feel dated, which in a game that is trying to evoke times past I can see it but there is no ‘wow’ factor here. Most, if not all the characters models are lacking in a lot of details that would’ve helped them shine.
Trinity Trigger has some really good ideas that sadly never get fleshed out. The story is quite unique and really could have been something if handled with a bit more care. What begins as a Legend of Mana-esque journey, soon delves into a mess of broken combat, poor directions for the player, and lackluster graphics. Which is really a shame, because with some more time in the oven Trinity Trigger might’ve been able to help differentiate itself from the sea of other RPGs out right now.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
