![]() Each biome through which the party treks is defined by some interesting twist of nature. Three Rings attempts to break up the routine in Trinity Trigger with environmental diversity. There are some diversions along the way, including an extended stay in Trinitia's capital city, but for the most part Trinity Trigger settles into a familiar, unexciting routine. Thus, the game takes on a predictable loop of overworld, town, dungeon. ![]() The Armas are as big as buildings, and so function as dungeons. The basic flow of the game is as follows: Cyan, Elise, and Zantis, along with their Triggers - elemental spirits who transform into weapon forms - travel through the monster-infested wilderness to reach a settlement, visit the nearby Arma to power up their Triggers, depart, and then repeat the process. Three Rings touches again and again on these themes throughout Cyan's adventure, which takes him and his party across all of Trinitia. Order isn't just stability at its worst, it's tyranny and stagnation. Chaos isn't just bedlam at its best, it's freedom and improvisation. Rather than pigeonholing these concepts into categories of good and evil, Three Rings explains that absolute order and absolute chaos can both be detrimental, and that both should exist in moderation. ![]() The premise of Trinitia, a former battleground of the gods littered with their gigantic weapons, is fascinating, as is the game's nuanced take on chaos and order. Where the game does make a splash, though, is in its mythology. It's helped along by some charismatic protagonists, but it lacks the emotional depth and pathos required to stand out. The story in general in Trinity Trigger is only okay. Accompanied by companions Elise and Zantis, Cyan embarks on a quest to defy his appointed fate, and perhaps save Trinitia in the process. ![]() The hero of the story is the young scavenger Cyan, burdened with the mantle of Warrior of Chaos. Legend tells of an ongoing proxy war fought by these gods, who once in a generation appoint two champions - one of Chaos and one of Order - to battle to the death to determine which side will dominate the world. Left behind by the gods eons ago, these weapons, or Armas as they're called, are powerful, sacred sites to the people of Trinitia, many of whom still pray to the ancient deities of Chaos and Order. Trinity Trigger takes place in the land of Trinitia, a medieval land filled with towns, mountains, deserts, forests, and, unusually, mammoth weapons embedded in the earth. Thanks to its focus on cooperative real-time combat and a soundtrack scored by Hiroki Kikuta, it successfully channels the spirit of the 1993 SNES game while telling its own story set in a brand new world. One of the legendary titles from that generation was Secret of Mana, the DNA of which is alive and well in this year's Trinity Trigger from studio Three Rings. That decade was a wonderland for RPG enthusiasts thanks to classics like Chrono Trigger, Suikoden, and Final Fantasy VII - not to mention a crucible of experimentation that established role-playing mechanics, systems, and tropes that endure to this day. It shouldn't come as a surprise that many modern role-playing game developers keep looking backward to the 1990s for inspiration.
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