Last week, Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age surprise dropped onto Google Stadia. A huge game, to be sure, and likely to keep JRPG fans happily playing for quite some time. But today's announcement is going to send JRPG fans scurrying for the caffeine, because each of these four games could easily be played for 100+ hours.
NIS America is dropping four epic JRPGs onto Stadia in the coming months, each of which is a full scale epic in its own right. I played the first two games in the Trails of Cold Steel series on PS Vita, and each game clocked in at around 120 hours (though to be fair, I'm tend to poke around). Get those WiFi routers tuned up, because they are about to get a workout.
Here's what is on the docket, along with the official description for each game:
Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of DANA (available April 1, $39.99)
Embark on a classic Ys adventure with the eighth installment in this epic series! When Adol awakens shipwrecked and stranded on a cursed island, he and the other shipwrecked passengers form a village and explore the isle. Amidst this, Adol begins to dream of a mysterious blue-haired maiden.
Ys IX: Monstrum Nox (available Summer 2021, $59.99)
Adol Christin is cursed by a mysterious woman and becomes a Monstrum, a powerful being who can exorcise monsters. To escape from the Prison City of Balduq, he must ally with five other Monstrums, each with their own unique Gifts, and stop the Grimwald Nox, a shadowy dimension on the verge of overflowing into the real world.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III (available April 1, $59.99)
Rean Schwarzer, a military student turned war hero, finds himself at the center of a dark plot that threatens to upheave the foundations of his homeland. To face the oncoming storm, he must prepare a new generation of heroes as an instructor at the newly-formed branch campus and guide them toward an unknown future.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV (available April 9, $59.99)
IT'S WAR! The continent of Zemuria is dragged into conflict as the Erebonian Empire mobilizes the full force of its military. The heroes of Class VII old and new must unite to end the conflict before it consumes the continent.
I'm not gonna sit here and tell you that you gotta play all 500 hours of the above games. But I will say that the Trails of Cold Steel series is ridiculously good, if you are into epic, sweeping anime stories with fleshed-out characters and deep world building. But hey, that's just me.
No word yet on what the Free with Pro games will be for April (beyond Resident Evil), so perhaps one of these bangers will be tucked in there. We should know more later today.
