Trinity Trigger

Trinity Trigger is a graphically bland but thoroughly enjoyable blend of action, exploration and RPG elements – the only thing holding it back is a story that doesn’t seem interested enough in the potential of its own fascinating worldbuilding.

Trinity Trigger fills a very specific niche: It’s there for people that either grew up with the likes of Secret of Mana, or who have come to appreciate them. The game wears its heart on its sleeve and risks being seen as the wrong kind of quaint by sticking to such a classical approach. Thankfully, the soul and love for the genre are so obvious that I imagine most people will be enchanted by this.

JRPG fans can rest easy knowing that Trinity Trigger will meet their lofty expectations; this is a nostalgia trip worth taking. While not perfect, with beautiful art and music and a combat system that will feel both fresh and familiar, it is a strong contender for one of the best JRPGs of 2023 so far. The plot isn't anything to write home about and it's a tad on the easy side, but it remains engaging, especially for Mana series enthusiasts. Hopefully its proximity to the launch of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom doesn't see Trinity Trigger overshadowed before it gets a chance to shine.

Trinity Trigger provides the essentials for a fulfilling JRPG experience. While the conclusion feels a bit rushed, with quests and character interactions losing their staying power, the adventure still manages to grab you. The area design and methods of progression add a significant amount of thought to making this title an addictive one. In all honesty, Trinity Trigger really does feel like a spiritual successor to Secret of Mana, meaning fans of that classic should give this modern outing a shot.

Despite the involvement of outstanding artists, the star of Trinity Trigger does not shine as much as one would expect. As engaging as it is, the plot faithfully follows the topoi of the playful genre to which it belongs without ever proposing even vaguely original developments, while from a graphic point of view it seems to have in your hands a production intended for the now defunct Nintendo 3DS. Net of an almost non-existent challenge rate, the frenetic real-time combat system is the most successful aspect of the action RPG, which if played in local multiplayer together with two friends shows much of its great unexpressed potential. Maybe it won't end up in the annals of the JRPG, but overall Trinity Trigger remains a more than decent title. Our advice is to recover it on Nintendo Switch during the discount period.

It's a game that panders greatly towards nostalgia, but to be perfectly honest - it kinda works. The game manages to be fun, simple and engaging, even though it has some faults that prevent it from being a great game.

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.

Definitely a game worth picking up if you'rea fan of dungeon crawlers and anime-esque mana story telling. The mechanics to fighting are fairly simple, easy to understand fight mechanics, stat building, and story progression. Graphics fit the world fairly well, the music feels nostalgic for JRPGs like this game. Definitely a one and done kind of game, replay value might not be for everyone. The story is priceless and definitely sticks to anime trope. I'm glad the localizers didn't butcher the story and kept the translation close to the actual game

Trinity Trigger is a game that had fantastic potential that was sadly not realised, corners feel like they were cut too short here and there while AI is absolutely terrible which can result in combat being infuriating because the AI controlled characters are just outright incompetent. The story is a pretty bog standard RPG affair with nothing particularly noteworthy about it being neither good nor bad so it wouldn't be cruel to call the story generic and the crafting system is both basic and expensive if you want all of your characters to even be moderately decent. The biggest misstep for Trinity Trigger is that it's asking a premium price for something that just isn't very premium and certainly enough downsides to call it a good indie effort but nothing more. Play it once and you'll be done with it, there's no reason to be coming back to this one. You'll regret your purchase if you spend more than about £15 on this title, physical or digital, particularly as there is a sizeable amount of story content that is paid DLC, something you should never, ever, do with an RPG let alone one that is as threadbare as this.

Trinity trigger es un sucesor espiritual de secret of mana con todas las de la ley, en lo bueno, y en lo malo... La jugabilidad es similar a los antiguos juegos de la saga mana, solo que con muchas más armas y sin magias. Diría que la historia original es mejor que la de los antiguos mana, sin ser algo demencial. El juego en pocas palabras cumple con lo que promete, con un gameplay adictivo. Ahora, el problema es que también trae lo malo de la saga mana, especialmente unas IAs que son bastante malas. Tenemos tres personajes cuyo control podemos ir intercambiando en cualquier momento en este Action RPG, siendo los otros dos controlados por IA. El problema que esta IA es bastante horrible, y si un boss decide ir a por uno de ellos, seguramente acabara muerto en muy poco tiempo, dejando solo al personaje que controlas (u obligandote a gastar grandes cantidades de items). Este problema desaparece si juegas en cooperativo, cosa que creo que aumentaría la puntuación de este juego a un 8o más fácilmente. Y esto no es poca broma, ya que debido a esta estupida IA, los bosses se convierten en esponjas de daño que te llevaran 9 veces más tiempo de vencer que si jugarais tres personas juntas (debido a que estos tienen un escudo que se regenera que tienes que romper cada vez para poder dañarlos). Cabe decir que, cuando estas en niveles altos, la IA parece mejorar, lo cual mitiga este problema (excepto si vas a por los super bosses). Otro problema es la molestia del sistema de armas. Cada arma puede llevar 3 gemas de ataque y 3 de defensa, lo cual es primordial ya que estas son la única forma de mejorar (nuestro nivel solo nos da más HP). Conseguir o fabricar gemas buenas es un proceso costoso, así que tener 6 de cada para cada uno de los 3 personajes es factible, pero no para cada una de las 8 armas que estos tienen. Y cambiar las gemas de un arma a otra es engorroso, muy engorroso, y algo que haremos muy a menudo debido a que diferentes enemigos y bosses son débiles a diferentes armas. Hubiera sido mejor engarzar 6 gemas para todas las armas y si cambiamos a otra y queremos reconfigurar, simplemente cambiar la gema en cuestión, que tener que cambair manualmente 6 gemas para 3 personajes cada vez. Aún así, un juego recomendable para los amantes de la saga mana, o muy recomendable para aquellos que tengan con quien jugar en cooperativo.

Trinity Trigger takes place in the aptly named Trinitia and focuses around 3 main characters, Cyan, Elise, and Zantis, along with their magical animal weapon companions, called Triggers. So, there you go you see where the title comes from now. Overall the story was enjoyable, but if you have played fantasy RPGs in the past, you are going to recognize and probably be able to predict a lot of the themes, twists, and story beats this game has. It is not a bad story by any means, I actually quite enjoyed it and was engaged until the very end, I just don’t think it did a whole lot to set it apart other than one scene very early on that did make me think this game was going to go a different directly than it did. I will say though, even in moments when the story isn’t hitting, it is supplemented with great voice acting from the cast. The lines felt real, and it genuinely sounded like the voice actors were having a good time. Most of the dialogue from the story is delivered in scenes with mostly static 2D artwork for the characters, which I thought looked pretty nice, but every now and then there are the in game cutscenes using the 3D character models, which I think looked not as nice. The biggest story moments even got these really nice anime cutscenes that I wanted more of. I alluded to it there a second ago, but I do want to emphasize that the main gameplay 3D visuals were some of the weakest parts of the game for me. The character models look kinda muddy and awkward. This extends to the monsters and world itself. There is charm in the design to the creatures and characters, but the visuals themselves left a lot to be desired. The environments you explore are varied, hitting your standard snowy areas, deserts, and forests, but also get into some more unique and expressive locales in the back half of the game. However, despite the areas having some differing monsters and visuals, they all started to feel pretty samey in design and layout. This extends to the dungeons you will be exploring as well. Later dungeons will add in a few new mechanics here and there, but for the most part if you have seen one you have seen them all. Towns also feel pretty similar, mainly acting as a checkpoint for fast travel and a place to restock on items while getting some story and pick up side quests. I did like the music in the game. I would say some of it starts to just kinda fade into the background, which isn’t always a bad thing, but there were a few tracks I genuinely really liked and made a point to sit around and listen to. I will say I was often disappointed in the music or lack of music during boss fights. Often times the music would be hard to hear over the rest of the sounds going on in the fight and I cant say I ever really felt that adrenaline rush that big loud boss themes have the potential for creating. The gameplay of Trinity Trigger is simple but fun. The moment to moment combat follows the tried and true 3 hit combo attacks with a dodge roll to avoid taking damage, its familiar but feels fun all the same. You can customize your moveset with different attacks and even switch between weapon types that you will unlock as the story progresses. The weapon types offer slow and weighty feeling high damage attacks, quick and easy combos, and ranged options as well. These different weapons can be used to break certain rocks blocking your path which are really just there to prevent you from going too far in one direction before you are supposed to. This role is also take up by your standard doorway blocking npc which could at times make me feel like the game was a little too linear. I get not wanted to let me into areas before I am ready but I would rather be scared off by a tough enemy than a generic soldier telling me don’t go here yet. Your weapons can be slotted with a wide array of manatite, which essentially act as skills or stat boosts to build your character with. These manatite can be found off enemies or chests, purchased, and crafted. It is a good idea to try and spread these across different weapons types and switch to what is needed for each encounter, but for a majority of the game I just picked the weapon I liked best and was able to get through almost anything that wasn’t a boss without too much trouble. Speaking of bosses there are a lot. Often focusing on you using a recently acquired weapon type and rolling out of their big red attack windows the bosses were not particularly impressive. Once you got the flow of a boss there were really just damage sponges that took a little too long to get rid of. Following a pattern here, they were pretty diverse in visual design, but most felt like the same kinda idea gameplay wise. No spoilers, but I will commend the last boss for at least feeling like a step up from what you experiences for the rest of the game. Design and difficulty of this boss pushed me to give it my all in a way most previous bosses didn’t. The bosses do have a neat mechanic ---

Nice idea with beautiful character art and homage to retro action RPGs. Unfortunately falls flat with a few factors such endless fetch quests as only optional game game play. Poor map function with inefficient labeling and direction. Still some bugs with a crash during a simple kill X amount of monster quest forcing a restart due to gates not going down. Unfortunately not too much variation but interesting gem system to help with customization. Very good potential but brought down by some flaws.