43| The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky (First Chapter & Second Chapter)

Released: March 29th, 2011

Definitive Version: PC; Also on: PSP, PSN for PSP and Vita

As stated a few entries ago, the success of Final Fantasy VII opened up the floodgates of JRPGs to be released in western territories. In just a couple years virtually every noteworthy JRPG series received a Western release for their main entries. Even extremely niche and Japanese titles such as the Shin Megami Tensei series began to see frequent releases. There was just one hold out series...well really company in general. Unfortunately, that company was Falcom. One of the oldest, if not the oldest, Japanese game studios that primarily produces role playing games, their RPG origins date back all the way to the early '80s, and had their first breakout hit with 1984's "Dragon Slayer." That's how old this development studio is, that when they started the name for a game called "Dragon Slayer" wasn't even trademarked yet. Anyway, the studio began to make a name for itself, with successful titles such as Xanadu and Popful Mail. But their most well known series by far was the Ys series. Despite it releasing on the ill-fated Turbo-Grafx CD, the game gained a lot of buzz for its cutting edge CD features such as cutscenes and an arranged soundtrack.

Unfortunately for Falcom, being limited by their platform of choice was always huge hurdle. While Final Fantasy VII opened up the floodgates for Japanese developers to release their games in the west, that was particularly only for consoles and handhelds. Falcom was first and foremost a PC developer. While Squaresoft, Enix, Atlus, and Namco focused on the Playstation consoles and Nintendo handhelds, Falcom stuck with Windows PCs. This made many diehard JRPG fans frustrated, as they saw Falcom as the "white whale" of Japanese role playing game developers. They made many quality games, but they weren't released. There were occasional tidbits such as the terrible Ys VI port, which is also one of the worst games in the series, for the Playstation 2, but it wasn't enough. What's more is that during that time Falcom apparently really ramped up their ambition with their other well known franchise, The Legend of Heroes series, as the latest entry, Trails in the Sky, was highly praised. Unfortunately, PC gaming was declining in the west, and Japanese games in general on the PC was unheard of. Due to this, games like Trails in the Sky, Xanadu Next, and Ys: Origin never were released in the west despite being some of the best games in their genre. Well Xanadu Next did receive an NGage port...but that was for the NGage...

Luckily, during the 2000s many small western publishers like XSeed, Ignition Entertainment, and Aksys began releasing lesser known Japanese titles. Seeing that Falcom began to focus on PSP releases for their games, XSeed took initiative and contracted Falcom to release some of their games, specifically all three Trails in the Sky games. JRPG fans everywhere rejoiced. Things looked optimistic at first, as the first game was coming along nicely. Then something rather unfortunate happened. It turned out that the first chapter in the series didn't sell well. On top of that, the sequel required the first game to be completed, as it literally continues the story the following morning after the events of the first game. So XSeed was put in a situation where they promised to release the next game in the series, which requires people to play the first game, which sold badly. What could be worse than that? That the games had a crazy amount of text to translate, with the second chapter in the series being by far the most text heavy and ambitious.

XSeed didn't just choose to localize any game, they chose to localize the most ambitious game a publisher could choose. Seeing that the PSP was declining, like any reasonable company, XSeed decided to abandon the project. Fortunately, the company decided to release the PC version on a whim. Trails in the Sky: First Chapter was very successful on the PC, even selling significantly more than its PSP counterpart. Due to this, Falcom decided to begin localization on the second chapter of the game series. This resulted in a nightmare of a development process that was so bad that it led to a near suicide. The workload was unbearable for almost everyone involved. Despite this, the fanbase would not stop bitching about XSeed being lazy as shit for not releasing the rest of the following games. In a miracle, the game actually released on both PC and PSN for Playstation Vita and even PSP owners. Unfortunately it wasn't the best selling game out there, but XSeed never said the sales were bad per say.

While the story of the localization of these games is fascinating, what of the actual games themselves? After all, Magic Knight Rayearth for the Sega Saturn had a very infamous localization story as well, but most say that the story behind the game was more interesting than the game itself, which many said was fairly dull in comparison. Trails in the Sky doesn't fit this bill, as it is a very quality title that was well worth the time and effort XSeed put into it. It is easily one of the best JRPGs western shores have received in quite some time.

To spare confusion, Trails in the Sky is really one game split up in two. There is the first game titled "The Legend of Heroes - Trails in the Sky: First Chapter" and the second game titled "The Legend of Heroes - Trails in the Sky: Second Chapter." While the games were technically released separately, the first game's story doesn't conclude at the end and continues on in the second game. On top of that the character's choices and experience transfers over to the second game. In fact, going from the first chapter to the second chapter is no different than switching from disc one to disc two in a large console RPG. Due to this, I will be reviewing the game as a whole, as a combination of playing the first chapter and the second chapter.

Trails in the Sky is the quintessential JRPG. It features a group of teenagers who venture out and explore the world as they meet a cast of colorful characters. Eventually they stumble on an evil plot and decide to save the world. Throughout the game, the player picks up a variety of party members that can be used in battle. In addition to the main quest, there are a variety of side quests one can pick up at the local guild. The game uses a turn based battle system, but it also uses a grid on the battle map that the characters can move around in. It also has various minigames, particularly fishing. In other words, it is the definition of a typical JRPG. It doesn't even try to do anything unique or noteworthy.

What makes the game so praised, is not due to its innovation, but more so how well it executes its story, design, and mechanics. Sure, the game is filled with tropes, however they are done very well. Part of this is due to the setting. The world Trails in the Sky takes place in is unique enough to differentiate itself from the medieval settings these types of games typically have, but is tame enough to be relatable to the player. It isn't world that is as imaginative as say Final Fantasy VII or as immersive as say Persona 4, but it gets the job done. The world is an interesting mix of knights and dragons, steampunk industrialization, and magic and the supernatural. It manages to throw a bone to appease most types of fantasy nerds and ends up succeeding.

But the real formula to the game's success is the writing. I say this with no hesitation that The Legend of Heroes - Trails in the Sky has the best writing I've encountered in a game. Each character from as important as the main protagonists to as small as a maid NPC cleaning a house is filled with personality. Playing the game, one can see part of the reason the English release took so long. XSeed didn't half ass the localization process, that went all out. It seems that each line of text tells a character's story and reveals their personality. This does wonders for the main cast as each character feels wildly unique and memorable. The game features an assemble of playable characters and each of them have as much depth and personality to them as the most memorable character in your average renowned RPG. Meanwhile, the brightest stars of the bunch lead to some very hilarious lines to which I found myself literally laughing out a loud toward their quirks. Again, this just isn't limited to the main characters, every line in the game has a significant amount of thought put into it. Even when talking with two or three line NPCs, they almost always say something important that reveals something about themselves and the general community.Things such as "their parents are out paying respects to those that fell during the war" or "my brother is in a gang and is causing trouble", or something similar.

Presentation wise the game does great. The graphics initially may seem a bit dated, but seeing them in 1080p on a PC really makes them shine. The pre-rendered 2D sprites add a lot of character to the game, and mesh very well with the fully 3D backgrounds. Personally I wouldn't have the graphics any other way. On top of that the game features some of the best music gaming has to offer. Falcom is one of the very few gaming studios that still has an in-house music team, and it really shows. There is no voice acting in the game, but personally I prefer it this way. Playing the title is much like reading a book in many ways, and I feel that the characters are much more alive when I imagine their voice and tone in my head than actually hearing it myself.

The battle system is a bit dated by today's standards, but still gets the job done. The system features the usual attack, skill, magic, and item choices. Though, unlike most of the game, it does have some unique features. Most notably is that it has a system that displays the order of which character will attack next, this includes both the party and the enemies. Occasionally some stat bonuses will be given out during specific turns, such as critical attacks and healing. This adds a layer of strategy to the game, as some party members will be better doing weaker and longer attacks in order to bump the stat advantage off of the enemies turn and into one of the party members. It is actually very innovative and can make for some real tense moments. On top of that, each character has a super move they can unlock if they achieve a certain amount of "CP" (craft point). When a certain amount of CP is achieved the player can select the party member's super move and perform it at any time. Ideally these moves are best saved for when a critical attack bonus appears to be able to dish out the maximum amount of damage possible.

Trails in the Sky is a great game, unfortunately it has one severe flaw that prevents it from being amongst the top of the top. That flaw is the pacing. The purpose of the game's pacing is for it to be very slow and gradual so that the player feels that they are in an adventure. This makes the settings and locations stand out more, as well as clearing areas all the more rewarding. When you journey from being a simple student in training to saving the world from ancient evil, you actually feel that getting to that point is justified due to all the shit you had to go through. When combining the two chapters the game is very long. By the time the credits roll comfortably over one hundred hours would have passed. Now during many of these hours are some of the best moments in gaming I've ever had. Some incredible plot twists, engaging battles, and whimsical characters. On the other hand, there are certain parts in the game, especially in the second chapter, that just drag on and on. In fact, I'd say that they were very tedious. By the time you have undergone the story for sixty hours, the formula of walking in a town, discovering a problem, doing various side quests to level up, and then tackling on the main quest, gets pretty damn old. Luckily the latter third of the game abandons this formula, which results in gaming bliss, but that doesn't stop some points of the game, particularly the midpoint, from being very boring.

It just isn't the progression, even exciting moments such as the boss battles can be a chore. Some bosses take way longer to beat than they should. One boss battle I clocked at close to twenty five minutes before my party stood victorious. Then again, this may be Persona 4: Golden syndrome, as when I commented on my party's level during these boss fights people were impressed that I managed to get so far being so underleveled. That said, this gives no excuse for the general pacing as most of the time is eaten up by walking around and exploring rather than fighting enemies. The game certainly has its highs and lows, but luckily it isn't quite as extreme as something like say Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura.

XSeed managed to strike a tomb of treasures when they struck the deal with Falcom, as they now have many titles under their belt that have achieved five figure sales. Unfortunately, the tomb turned out to be haunted as well as the effort to release some of the titles were plagued with difficulties. With the latest Trails games released/being released in the west, and XSeed even localizing the third and final game in the Trails in the Sky story, though its more of an additional chapter than a continuation of the story, all seems well with the series. I do find it a bit ironic though, as the company couldn't release its games in the west due to being so focused on the PC market in Japan while JRPGs dominated handhelds in the west, and now that Falcom has transitioned to handhelds, the western market is beginning to favor their JRPGs more on PC than on handhelds. This largely due to a huge resurgence of PC gaming in North America and Western Europe. It's quite amusing and sad, but hopefully Falcom takes cue from other developers and start releasing their games on as many platforms as possible. Trails in the Sky was the white whale series for localizers, and one was crazy enough to go after it. The journey to catch the series was perilous, but in the end was well worth it.