I have a rather odd analogy for you. Trinity is like that game you got for Christmas that you never asked for because who would ask for something like this. It’s the game that your grandma picked up for you because she looked at the box art or saw the title and thought whatever it is that grandma’s think that make them think such random buys is a good idea and so there you go, now you own it. It’s the game you opened on Christmas morning with excitement, seeing the game box shaped present under the tree, hoping it’s that triple A title you had asked for, only to feel the mild disappointment upon seeing that it’s really nothing you had ever heard of. It’s the game that, upon actually playing it…yeah, you don’t actually hate this thing.
It’s not just me that has had this happen to him, right? For me, it was Aero the Acrobat. There I was, weak with anticipation, hoping for Super Metroid or something, when up pops Aero the Acrobat. What the hell is Aero the Acrobat? Some stupid platformer. Stupid game. You’re not what I wanted. Oh, all right, I guess I’ll play it. Hey…this isn’t too bad. What I just described there is pretty much what I went through while playing Trinity. This is in no way a fantastically well put together game. In some ways its down right piss poor. But when thinking about how to talk about a game, one of the first things you have to think about is if you had fun. Well, yeah, I had fun while playing this game. But does that mean you should buy it? Ah, now that is the little thorn sticking into my brain right now.
Ask yourself what an RPG is. A party of a few characters, leveling up, travelling to towns, stabbing monsters. Well, that’s what Trinity is. And that is all that Trinity is. You have a party of three people. You have Areus, the half elf who complains and whines more than Anakin Skywalker in all the prequel movies. You have Dagda, the really big guy whose main characteristic is being really big. Finally, you have Selene, whose main characteristic is not being a guy. And let the fact that I had to look up two out of these three character’s names after playing through the damn game show you how much you’re going to give a crap about them. The only one I really like is Dagda. He at least has a sense of humor in the moments where he gets to talk. Oh, by the way, most of the story…well, what story there is about the stereotypical evil king trying to take over the world…is told through flat, brown text screens.
Speaking of presentation, let’s go through how this game is laid out. You go to a town. How do you get to a town? You click on a spot on the map screen. What do you do when you get to a town? If you answered walking, well, no. You click on places from a menu and then go there. So what happens when you get to places in the town? Oh my, no, it’s not interaction! Again, more menus. And how do you get quests? You go to a menu and pick them, unless an important story quest happens. Then it is given to you. Then you go to your menu, go to where the quest tells you to go, then fighting begins. Like I said before, this is the most bare bones version of an RPG there is. Yes, you go to towns. Yes, you buy upgraded weapons and spells and stuff. But its all done from a menu with little to no interaction. The entire game is like…let’s say you asked someone to make you a sandwich. They then went and put a slice of turkey between two pieces of bread. You can’t really complain as that is indeed a sandwich. But it’s the most bare bones version of a sandwich possible. That is what Trinity is. Turkey between bread. Or an unasked for Christmas present. Wow, really using a lot of analogies here.
In most situations walking around a forest while stabbing, bludgeoning and burning various living things would be seen as abhorrent and possibly psychotic. In Trinity, its the major source of income. Ah, aren't video games grand?
But I did say I had fun, right? So there is good stuff here. The combat, while again pretty bare bones, is kinda fun. You can switch between any of your three characters on the fly, using their various moves. And if you guessed that they are, in order, the average and balanced swordsman, the big and slow bruiser and the light and fast girl, yay! You win a cookie! But hey, it works, let’s not get too critical here. Some of the spells are neat, and in a rare RPG twist, I actually did need the spells. Usually I can grind my way through games of this ilk without barely using the magic system. It’s a little personal challenge of mine. But in Trinity the magic is really needed and quite well used. Various enemies are immune to/weak against certain types of attack so you have to play the Pokemon game of using the right element to kill the right thing. As the game progresses you get more spells which you can level up and make your guys all the more badassed. You can also do things like freezing water and stuff, though those moments are kinda rare. Mostly it’s just throwing fireballs and hacking things up. Unless you get hacked up, which brings up the fatal flaw in the combat system. You get killed, you switch to one of your partners. All you have to do is wait a minute and your other guy comes back to life. As long as you have more than one person in your party you are virtually immortal. Your only penalty is having your maximum health reduced for a while. So I could just wade into a horde of enemies most of the time and act like an asshole without really worrying about my safety. It might be too easy for some, which is bad. But still, the combat works and I had fun.
So do I regret playing Trinity? Well, no, not really. Would I have played it if I hadn’t been given it to review? Oh hell no. No, no, no. But the most important question: do I recommend it for purchase? Ahhh…God, you know, these are the times where I’m really glad we don’t have a numerical scoring system on this site. I don’t know what I’d give it. A five out of ten perhaps, but that’s a death knell for most games as gamers don’t pay attention to anything below a seven. That’s not what I’m saying though. This is in no way worth the full $60, but if you see it cheap, maybe $30 or so, and you want a light JRPG game to play, you could do far worse than this. It is an ultimately average game, but is it really the greatest crime in the world to be average?
