Tokyo Xanadu
Tokyo Xanadu uses a lot of ideas from Trails of Cold Steel; after all it’s made in the same engine, but takes the setting to modern-day Tokyo. You play as Kou Tokisaka, a bit of a loner who spends his free time in high school working jobs instead of hanging out with friends.
One night after work, Kou tries to save a classmate named Asuka from thugs, and instead ends up getting pulled into a dangerous parallel world called Eclipse. From there he learns the true nature of the other world, and the threat against the real world.
Like many games in this genre, Tokyo Xanadu is split between exploring the school and world, then delving into dungeons to fight enemies. Instead of the turn-based combat of the Trails series, Tokyo Xanadu uses a full-on action system that lets you dynamically switch between characters while in dungeons, putting an emphasis on exploiting the enemy’s weaknesses.
There are some light simulation elements, although nothing as deep as Persona, and just like Trails Tokyo Xanadu has some expertly written characters with very involved arcs throughout the game.
Again, this is a super slow burn of a game, but the investment is more than worth it once you get to the end. Tokyo Xanadu is one of the hidden gems of the JRPG genre, and it’s a school story worth experiencing.
