Title	Trinity Trigger
Developer	FuRyu Corporation
Publisher	XSEED Games
Release Date	April 25th, 2023
Genre	Action RPG
Platform	Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, PC
Age Rating	ESRB – E10+ for Everyone 10+
Official Website

Before we begin I have to get something out of the way. I love action RPGs. Games from series such as Ys, Tales of, and Star Ocean tend to grab my interest, and I usually have a blast playing them. That mix of fast-paced combat, an interesting setting, and a memorable cast of characters come together to make something that’s just fun to experience. Now enters Trinity Trigger, a brand new game unconnected to any established franchise. It has a fantastical setting, interesting character designs, that fast combat I look forward to, and different weapon styles to try. Trinity Trigger, at a glance, seems like a title I would love. But, was it able to join my list of loved titles in the genre, or did it become just another face in the crowd?

Trinity Trigger takes place in the land of Trinitia. Many centuries ago, the God of Chaos faction waged war against the God of Order faction. The war ended with no victor, and a treaty was made to prevent further fighting between the gods. However, the fighting actually continued with the use of proxies known as the Warrior of Order and the Warrior of Chaos. Whoever would win between these two warriors would decide which side is the victor. Fast forward to the present time, and a new Warrior of Chaos has been chosen, a young Scavenger from Woodroost named Cyan. After returning home from the local Arma (god weapons that fell to Trinitia), Cyan is visited by a young woman, Elise. Elise warns Cyan of assassins coming after him, those who wish to kill the Warrior of Chaos. She also wishes for Cyan to find and talk to the current Warrior of Order, hoping to bring a peaceful end to this centuries long conflict. Thus, Cyan leaves his hometown of Woodroost in hopes of finding a way to change his destiny.

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The main story was ok. A boy (Cyan) leaves his hometown to save the world while meeting new allies along the way. That’s the gist of the story, nothing too crazy. There were probably three big revelations that came out of this. The first one involving Cyan you can see coming a mile away. The second one involves one of the villains and was more of an “oh, okay” moment. The third revelation comes near the end and was actually pretty surprising, but it also made me question “why?” I felt there was no need for it. The general flow of the story was to visit a new location, power up your Trigger at the local Arma, solve some situation at that location, and then leave. It was simple and easy to understand, which is not necessarily a bad thing. I wish certain things brought up during the story got more explanation. Who are the other Nine Lights of Solius? Who are the other members of Stahl’s Guardians? Who was Cyan and Firn’s mother? The father was brought up but she got no mention. What really happened in the God War of the past? There were some interesting things in this story that were never really expanded upon.

While I had some gripes with the main story, I did like the main cast and some of the supporting characters. Cyan is just a good guy with a good head on his shoulders, I can’t say anything bad about him. Elise keeps the party on the straight and narrow, or at least tries to. She also has this adorable fear of ghosts, it just ups her charm. Zantis is the life of the party and one hell of a fighter too. If there’s a bar, Zantis will be there drinking. The trio’s Triggers (their summoned familiars) are great too. Flamme, Cyan’s Trigger, is a loveable companion despite his amnesia, and he always has Cyan’s back. Oise, Elise’s Trigger, is the brains of the three Triggers, and she’s quick to lecture Flamme on things he should know about. Rai is as energetic as Zantis, and he has no problem making fun of Zantis when the situation calls for it. 

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When it comes to the supporting cast, I definitely have to bring up Lime. Lime is a loveable Manafacturer for the Verte Workshop and an acquaintance of Elise. She is super energetic and helps the party by crafting Manatite for them. I was a bit disappointed that she became an afterthought soon after meeting her. She appears again for some sidequests, but didn’t have much impact on the main story. I would have loved to see more of her. There is also the knowledgeable Know-It-All who you can find in each town. This old gentleman provides information on the local Arma in each new area you visit. He gives a rundown on what the Arma is, how it affected the local environment, and how it affected the town. This was very helpful in building the world of Trinity Trigger, and I highly recommend seeking him out whenever you visit a new town. You’re also treated to a beautiful illustration of the Arma whenever you talk to him, another incentive to go talk to him. Speaking of towns, I like how each town has their own specific culture and climate. It helped each location feel unique, and no town felt the same as the other. I do wish the townspeople’s dialogue changed as the story progressed, especially in the capital of Stahl. Some big events occur there and the townspeople just continue saying the same thing they said when you first met them, which is pretty jarring. There is also an unwinnable boss fight that you can actually end by getting the boss to half health. I was disappointed there was no alternative dialogue when finishing the boss this way, as the dialogue was the same as if you got completely thrashed.

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Trinity Trigger’s gameplay is simple and straightforward. You can perform a Trigger attack with the X button, which is basically your normal weapon attack. Repeated Trigger attacks will deplete your Synchro Gauge. If the Synchro Gauge is completely drained, your attack decreases significantly. You can regain your Synchro by not attacking or perfectly dodging an enemy’s attack. The square button activates your selected weapon’s Weapon Aura. This gives you a temporary buff. For example, the Fist Aura temporarily stops the Synchro Gauge from depleting, so you can wail on enemies with reckless abandon. The triangle button activates your Trigger Strike, which is your weapon’s special attack. It’s good for causing massive damage to multiple enemies, or to a boss once their Armor gauge is broken. Once you have all three members of your party, you can activate the Trinity Impact. Holding down the X button will activate this very powerful AOE attack that can clear an area of enemies almost instantly and also cause a hurting to bosses. This was a godsend in some of the later areas of the game. The L1 button opens up your item menu and the R1 button opens up your Trigger menu. From the Trigger menu you can change your weapon form and also change your weapon’s normal attacks. You can also set up to four weapon changes to shortcuts, one to each directional button. This helps keep the combat going without having to pause gameplay when opening the Trigger menu. 

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Different enemies are weak to certain weapons, so it’s important to switch as the situation demands. There are eight different weapons your Trigger can change into: Sword, Bow, Lance, Axe, Fist, Magi Revolver, Dual Swords, and Staff. I, personally, liked the Fist the best for its fast paced attacks that could overwhelm foes. The L2 button lets you switch between characters. Each character specializes in certain weapon types, so switching between them can help take advantage of this. If a character specializes with a certain weapon, they get a damage boost. For example, Cyan would get a damage boost when using a sword, Elise would get one while using a bow, and Zantis would get one while using an axe. You can power up each weapon by equipping Manatite or leveling up attacks at a Shrine. Shrines act as save points and fast travel locations. You can level up attacks by utilizing TP, which you get by defeating enemies. If you travel through each map while defeating all enemies, you can gather a good amount of TP.

I liked Trinity Trigger’s combat. It was simple, but not simple enough that you could just wail on enemies with a single weapon and hope to win. You really needed to switch your weapon based on the enemy, and you had to be smart when using your items too, lest you run out of them when you most needed them. I found mob enemies tended to be more difficult than actual boss fights, at least the early bosses. Early bosses had easy to dodge attacks and were simple to beat down. Regular enemies, however, could swarm you if you’re not careful. And certain enemies, like Trap Chests, can really cause you problems. The most difficult enemy I faced wasn’t a monster, but a human boss. This was because they could change their weapon resistance on the fly, and they hit like a truck. I used so many items facing them. My biggest problem with the combat was the party AI. They usually helped, but there are times where they’d have brain farts and just run straight into enemy attacks without dodging. This was especially prevalent in the final boss fight where they kept running into stationary AOE attacks. Please, just run around the damage zones. There were also weird instances where we were traveling in a dungeon and we’d have a fight near a staircase. If you don’t go fully into the room, your party will dodge an attack into the staircase, forcing you back into the floor below. When you go back up, you will have to restart the fight with the enemy. It was frustrating, but you can get around it. I feel the party AI can be circumvented with the multiplayer option, but I unfortunately was not able to test it. Overall, the combat was pretty satisfying.

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