Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter

Trails in the sky is a decent turn based RPG the game kept me captivated for over 70 hours so I'd say its good. This was my first "Trails game" I went in completely blind to the series and I bought it on a whim seeing the "best game ever made" steam reviews The highlight of the game for me was the combat dungeon crawling through the world fighting to the next chest. The story was alright there were some parts that made me smile but I never really had a moment that REALLY invoked emotion, alot of parts feel "anime like" if that's a feeling, this may be a pro or a con depending on the person. One plot point kept me playing but I wont spoil in this review, If a story is passable enough to play for 70 hours I'd say its good. A lot of the story felt "eh" or "predictable", With the exception of the last chapter. Character development exists with relationships between characters progressing but dont expect to be blown away or be shocked. One thing that was refreshing in this game was Estelle and Joshua are just people exploring the world, they dont feel like the "main character" with the "fate of the world" on them, this was cool and your first quest is a classic rpg moment. Unfortunately I had some issues with the game, Performance wise its mostly good and can hold 60 on a steam deck but randomly the fps would tank to 15 even on my main pc and I would have to restart for it to go back to normal, this was probably a bug. The voice acting is passable but Estelle felt kinda "eh", i just felt like her voice didn't fit her character at times, I played in English. Voice acting has a big issue too only about 20% of the game is voice acted(no side quests), when only some main story content is (felt like 40%), while the steam page says "full english voice acting" I was disappointed in this, I could excuse only the main story being acted but so much isn't I genuinely thought my game was bugged for a good while. The promos also mention "seamless action to turn based combat" unfortunately that is not the case and mini boss or boss fights skips the action combat section of the game entirely, while the turn based combat is good you are locked to turn based for 70% of the game with it being made for anything story or side quest related. You can't really customize or progress your action combat kit too the skills used are random and you get 1 new ability 60% into the game, action combat felt tacked on imo. Dont get me wrong the turn based combat feels great I just felt mislead. Even with my gripes Trails is a good game, the entire first chapter (15 hours of gameplay i think) is free to try, Please give it a shot and see for yourself. Is this the "Best game ever made" like the steam reviews say? IMO no but its a good game nonetheless.

TLDR: I had a very good time with Trails 1st. Absolutely recommended if it's a genre that appeals to you. This is a fun game. I enjoyed it pretty much all the way through. his was my first Trails experience and I am now interested in playing more. 46hrs including all the side quests (minus the couple I missed near the start because me dummy). My steam hours are less because I moved a save file I had started prior onto this Steam account. If I had to give a rating it'd be in the 8.something range, which is high praise from me. Simple and entertaining story that is lighthearted, yet reveals some extra depth near the end. I enjoyed most of the characters, especially Olivier. Bro was hilarious. Some may complain that there are too many anime tropes at play and like maybe? idk I thought it was all fine. Estelle was a bit of a doofus but I found her more cute and charming than annoying. Kind of like Chen Qianyu in Arknights: Endfield. I played with English voices and thought it all sounded good except for Tita, who did get a bit annoying. I didn't hate her or anything, just didn't like her as much as the rest of the cast. From what I've heard this first game is basically one big prologue for the series and I gotta say it was a great first impression. Very interested in seeing how the the develops when the 2nd remake releases. I kind of want to go off any play more of the games, but I feel like it'd make the most sense if I wait and play all the remakes first. I appreciated that quick-battles were an option for variety. I rarely fully fought things in quick-battles all the way through, but the option to choose how much health to whittle down before going into command-battle added a lot. The "skill-shot" style of abilities was very engaging. It did feel a little dumbed down though that weaknesses, resistances, and stats on enemies are outright told to you rather than requiring experimentation or at least in-game research to learn. Also liked that I could darksouls run past mobs if I wanted. Oh and the lack of grinding was nice. Build variety seemed quite good at the start and while there are plenty of options, it feels like the game pushes you to overlap a lot. Ex: everybody needed HP to be slotted in or at the very least an HP boosting item or else you risk an enemy rage loop taking characters out in one sequence. You are basically allowed to go any direction with most characters though aside from filling out the basic neceseties. I think Estelle was meant to be a frontline brawler but I ended up having her as like a support mage pseudo-tank for most of the game. I don't know how to put it into words but there was a certain charm I felt while playing this game. It was nice. I was happy. Performance was solid. Visuals were about what I'd expect for this kind of game, nothing crazy but no complaints either. Much better in these regards than on Switch, I don't think the Switch version does the game justice. Built in speed-up mode was nice too. I toggled it on and off quite a bit. Minor Gripes: There are quite a few parts, especially in the latter half, where character voicing comes and goes within the same dialog sequence. I get that there were budget constraints, but it felt jarring nonetheless. Didn't get enough time with some chars both in terms of writing nor getting to know their kits. That's a good problem though, it means there was enough there that was good to the point that I cared in the first place to want more. Music decent but can be repetitive at times. Some tracks go a bit elevator music mode.

Absolute cinema.. It's peak and easy 10/10. I'm overwhelmed by emotions and can't wait for the continuation

7/10 - Solid turn-based JRPG Pros - Nice-looking art style if a bit generic - Incredibly optimized; runs really well on GameHub & GameHub Lite - Likeable characters - Enjoyable combat, especially for the 2/3rds of the game - special attacks are flashy & fun to trigger Cons - Level-design is basic - mostly corridors with some branching paths - Combat can be a bit repetitive by the last 3rd of the game

バグやクラッシュも一切なく、戦闘面でもストレスフリーで良質なストーリーが楽しめた。 総合的に見ても神ゲー。 面白かったので2ndも買います。

Great game all around