The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky

The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky: The First Chapter is a story-focused, turn-based party RPG. It’s as dense as its name suggests, and that density is exactly why I liked it. There’s a remake, though I’m not sure it was necessary. I played the original for the first time recently and, aside from some UI issues (not because the game is old, but because it ignores interface conventions established as early as the PSX era) it has aged well. It contains an enormous amount of dialogue, and I prefer consuming it as text; from what I’ve seen of the remake, its cutscenes would probably tire me, even if they’re well made. It's a story about two 16-year old step-siblings becoming bracers (adventurers) and travelling the realm to learn the trade. It's a high fantasy world, but technologically inclined, so it's kinda like 19-20th century world that discovered magical technology allowing for casting spells and flying ships. This game lives and dies by its worldbuilding and stories. I wouldn’t call the writing exceptional, I’m especially unconvinced by how it handles romantic tension between the leads, who have called the same man “dad” since they were eleven. It’s young-adult fiction, so you have to accept a certain level of idealism and optimism. Ultimately, it’s less about the quality of writing and more about sheer volume. Even the best book won’t give you hundreds of NPCs who feel alive and purposeful the way this game does. There’s no elaborate simulation system behind this, just a design where every story advancement also advances NPC lives, it's both simple and ambitious. You can follow their small personal arcs, see how they connect to major events or side quests, and gradually immerse yourself into the world. Despite its idealism, it isn’t a fairy tale. The setting feels grounded, and the central conflict is surprisingly believable and well justified, even with hints of a larger supernatural influence saved for the sequels. I don’t know whether later entries escalate into “kill god with the power of friendship,” but this installment tells a very human adventure. Outside the narrative, there isn’t much to discuss. Combat is tactical, progression is standard, and customization is familiar genre fare. Normal difficulty strikes a good balance and never becomes dull, which I can’t say for many modern JRPGs, so that's a plus. The one element that stood out was the music: it feels like several stylistic approaches stitched together. The tracks aren’t bad individually, but they don’t always complement the game. The two most common battle themes are jazz-ish and are out of place. The game can also be cruel with side quest timers, you often have a very short window to accept and complete a quest, and I think a lot of value in this game comes from doing bracer jobs. I recommend this game as a simple yet expansive saga: a feel-good young-adult adventure that will make you happy as long as you enjoy immersive worlds and don’t mind the tone.

I somehow never experienced the magic of TITS, despite TITS now being 22 years old. Shame on me. With each passing year, the fanbase for TITS gets bigger and bigger. Nowadays, TITS is massive, and all the better for it! I've barely played with TITS so far, and can already tell you that TITS is amazing. I'm sure that any guy would agree -- after all, who doesn't love coming home after a long day of work, and destressing with a relaxing night of TITS? If you're looking for a nice, juicy, fun, and bouncy time, then TITS would be a solid recommendation. TITS truly does live up to the name.

Took me 12 years of real time from the date of purchase and first playing, and then about 30 or so hours of actual play on one save over the course of one week, to beat this game. A rock-solid game that, if you finish, will bait you unbelievably hard into getting the remaining two chapters. Buyer beware.

Same as Valkyria Chronicles for me — too “anime,” too slow to start, and not the kind of pacing or tone I enjoy. I can see why fans love it, but it just didn’t hold my interest. I quit after about fifteen minutes. Not a bad game at all — just not for me.

Basically, if you have played the first 10 hours, and you don't like this game, dont keep playing it. The game is extremely outdated story and gameplay -wise. I was playing hard difficulty, and it was one of the most miserable experiences in my life. I wasted so much time retrying bosses because I hoped that the ending will repay all the suffering. I almost started crying in the final dungeon ngl. When the dev introduced enemies that have 10 000 hp, cancel all your magic attacks and are immune to phys dmg, it was too much. DONT BELIEVE PPL WHO SAY THAT THERE IS NOT GRIND. THERE IS GRIND IF YOU PLAY HARD OR ABOVE ESPECIALLY AT THE END. If you dont grind, you will come to the final boss with s-crafts dealing zero dmg to them. And s-crafts will be the only thing to dmg them!!!! The ending is just mid-tier anime ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, and it was NOT worth it at all. I have seen endings like this very many times in anime. All events basically foreshadow the ending and worth almost nothing without it. The entire game just constantly introduces new characters, but none of them has any development. Moreover, almost all characters dont matter for the story or ending at all! AND DONT TELL ME THAT SC HAS BETTER STORY I DONT BELIEVE YOU ANYMORE. The characters were somewhat nice and interesting. Were they worth playing this piece of ancient ♥♥♥♥? NOT AT ALL. After finishing this game, I can conclude that ppl who hype this game A)are affected by nostalgia or B)enjoyed this game because estelle and joshua have incestual feelings or C)like that Joshua has a harem of girls, and he is a "cool badass". Trails in the Sky destroyed all my desire to play any story-heavy JRPG for a very long time.

非常非常非常推荐！！！感谢制作汉化补丁的老师们！！！ 很经典很王道的冒险故事！叙述节奏很紧凑！ 群像做得很好每个角色都有魅力点（比如优雅文静的科洛丝，刀子嘴的阿加特，满嘴跑火车的赖皮蛋奥利维尔等等）！而且npc都很鲜活，不是一成不变的，对话会根据主线或支线任务的完成情况不同而变化，增加了不少代入感。 啊啊啊啊啊啊小艾小约两人一起修行的一路所见所闻真的很丰富很精彩，太棒了这种感觉！ 艾斯蒂尔我们可爱的主角，完全乐天派没烦恼到有点‘没头脑’的程度（×）特别棒的小太阳性格，很直率，有话直说，对任何困难都是直面迎头而上，这种一往无前的气势特别帅！虽然有一两个剧情会感觉小艾有点莽或者说神经大条，但是像小约说的，这就是艾斯蒂尔的风格，这就是艾斯蒂尔嘛！随着修行的进行，小艾也一点点成长，真的很棒...... 约修亚，序章的时候卡西乌斯：小艾看我给你捡的礼物（抱着小约），我：天降童养夫剧本（×）在钓鱼那一章小艾还夸了小约是标准的居家型好男人，极好的，我们需要这样的男主（嗯）感觉小约总是有点忧郁，怎么你也要唱那一天的忧郁，忧郁起来（？） 在玩的过程中有时候可以通过角色的大头来看出他有没有什么坏心，可以说是画的很到位了。（没错我一下就看出你浓眉大眼不简单肯定不是个好人（？（不过老的没看出来难道这就是有皱纹的遮挡好处（） 不过因为是二十年前的作品，也有不好的地方（比如小约说鲁克惹小艾讨厌是因为喜欢小艾（） 特别优秀的作品！希望大家都来玩好吗好的！

The legend of heroes: Trails in the sky es uno de los juegos con los que peor lo he pasado. Han sido muchas las veces que he querido dejarlo, sobretodo debido al pésimo ritmo de la historia y a un mundo que no parecía evolucionar. Y, sin embargo, tras habérmelo pasado, me he enamorado de su mundo y tengo la intención de jugarme toda la saga. ¿Qué como he terminado así? Dejadme que os lo explique Cómo gran fan de los JRPG y de los videojuegos con mucho texto y de larga duración (sí, los JRPG), cuando me enteré que existía una saga con un montón de arcos con una comunidad que no paraba de recomendarlo, decidí meterme. En mis primeras horas de juego, lo disfruté un montón. Primero de todo vi el combate: una autentica delicia para los fans de los combates por turnos tácticos. El sistema de orbes es maravilloso, los elementos no son planos: el aire tiene mejores ataques en area y efectos de paralización, el agua tiene ataques en area más pequeños pero grandes habilidades de support, y así con el resto de elementos. A su vez, la enorme variedad de enemigos ayuda a que se sienta fresco. Y, si bien no es la mayor revolución del género y a veces puede cansar, es un combate más que decente que te obligará a pensar todo tipo de combinaciones. (Aclarar que me lo he pasado en difícil, y el juego me ha obligado a exprimir este sistema. Una de las mejores decisiones que he tomado). Por otro lado, el mundo se siente vivo. Es grande, variado, y las misiones secundarias ayudan mucho a sentirte integrado en él. Respecto a estas últimas, al jugarlo en difícil he tenido que hacer casi todas, y su calidad es buena. La mayoría son interesantes y variadas, y las he disfrutado mucho. Un ejemplo interesante es una misión en la que un armero pedía un prototipo de pistola que había perdido. Yo se lo entregué, cumpliendo así su misión, y más tarde me lo encontré y me dijo lo avanzado que iba el proyecto gracias a mí. Sin embargo, como he mencionado al principio, no todo es color de rosas. Si bien es cierto que disfruté las primeras horas del juego, a medida que iba jugando, que las horas iban pasando, sentí que la historia no cogía ningún rumbo y dejaba de ser interesante. Joshua y Stelle, los protagonistas, me ayudaron a seguir jugando un poco más (son personajazos), pero la trama seguía sin avanzar en lo absoluto. Es aquí cuando dejé de jugar. Luego volví, y... a las horas lo dejé. Y así se prolongó durante un tiempo. Hasta que llegué cerca del final del primer capítulo (en mi caso trece horas de juego). Aquí se puede ver el fuerte de la saga: el paso del tiempo. Poco a poco empiezas a conocer a mejores personajes (bardo errante, te quiero) y la trama va tomando forma. Es en este momento cuando, después de alrededor de 8 horas sufriendo, volví a animarme. Jugué y jugué, y me di cuenta que una vez superas ese bache, la historia es increíble. No me emocionaba tanto con la trama ni con el elenco de personajes desde Persona 4. Y para mi, eso es un halago enorme. Y así seguí hasta terminarlo. Y claro, con el final tan espectacular que tiene, ya tengo en la biblioteca la segunda parte. Mi conclusión con este juego es simple: si te gustan los JRPGs, cómpralo. Es un juego increíble, con un combate muy bueno, un mundo vivo y una historia que te atrapará hasta el punto de no poder dejar de jugar. Eso sí, ten en cuenta que el ritmo es lento, y que si eres como yo vas a sufrir. Por cierto, ya por último dos cosas. Primero, que lo he jugado en español gracias a un mod de la comunidad. Si os pasa como a mi que preferís el idioma natal, hay una traducción (y para este 2025 se espera que salga la de la segunda parte). Y, segundo, si os gustan este tipo de combates os recomiendo ponerlo en difícil. Es un combate con mucho que abarcar, y si bien a veces me he frustrado, no ha habido ningún combate imposible (excepto el de Pingüino. Nunca he odiado tanto a un animal). Y la sensación de saber que lo estás haciendo bien en este juego es maravillosa. Mi nota: 8,7. Imprescindible para todo amante de los videojuegos. Estoy deseando jugar el resto de la saga.

Localizers doing what localizers do best, completely butchering dialogue and creating their own fan fiction. It would be better to have an exact translation however awkward that might be than it would be to give these people creative freedom to do as they please. I'd recommend this game if you understand Japanese and are willing to download the voice files and put them in the game, its very simple and you can follow a tutorial on YouTube. Otherwise, you aren't going to experience the original vision for Trails in the Sky, you're going to experience the game in the way that some random nobodies with zero talent decided you should. People who I wouldn't even trust to sit the right way round on a toilet, let alone translate anything in good faith. Here's hoping ai takes these people's jobs so they can get my order wrong at Wendy's instead of subjecting me to their awful fan fiction.