Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter

me esta gustando mucho.

Me encanto!

As someone who loves slow-burns and still holds love for cheesy anime tropes, this game felt like it was made just for me. The story of Trails in Sky 1 is pretty simple, and it very much has the progression you would expect, but to be honest, I like that part, as sometimes I want a nice, plain burger, nothing outrageous, and this is quite possibly the Burger King. The simpleness isn't to its detriment, though, as I was thoroughly engaged with the setting and plot, as you're given plenty of time to learn, with just about every NPC having *something* to say after just about every story beat. The amount of flavor text you can just walk past without noticing is insane, and helps make the world feel like it's actually moving along with your journey. The character writing is pretty good, with the cast feeling fun and alive, with your party constantly swapping members as they come and go. However, this party swapping can hurt pretty bad when it comes to the gameplay. I'd say the cast feels like a bunch of anime archetypes I've seen before, but really, I don't care, as the presentation is enjoyable, and the original script is from 2004, so I can't really rag on an old game for being tropey when it was fresh back then. About the gameplay: It's solid- in fact, I'd say I really like the battle system, as it felt very similar to Final Fantasy X, which also had a very enjoyable battle system. Manipulating the turn order and stealing buffs was a blast, and it may have broke the difficulty a bit, but I don't think it hurt my enjoyment at all. Quick combat (ARPG overworld combat) is fine, not very interesting, but it is helpful for getting rid of trash mobs and stunning big enemies pre-emptively. My major gripe about the combat is that for many good chunks of the story, you'll only have the two protagonists as your party, with the other members coming and going for story reasons. I love Estelle and Joshua as characters, but combat got really boring when I only had two characters to play with (also the banter could feel a bit dry without other personalities to bounce off of). I've heard the second chapter has more playable characters, and if so, my prayers have been answered- but not in this game, as I have to take into account this is *also* a fully-fledged full-price game, even if it's just a half (maybe third) of a full story. The soundtrack is great, of course, but I feel like there are way too few tracks, making it a bit irritating when you hear the same songs over and over. This can be alleviated by switching the soundtrack between "standard", "arranged", and "original" in the menu. While they are the same tracks, the different composition styles can help make things feel fresh once the tedium becomes a bit much. I Played with Japanese voices for the most part, but from the times I've swapped back and forth, I enjoyed both, particularly Olivier, who's voice acting is glorious in both languages (Matt Mercer and Takehito Koyasu did phenomenal jobs), and I always enjoy listening to Johnny Yong Bosch. The graphics are solid, and feel exactly how I'd picture a playable anime. Nothing more beyond that, really. Combat animations are good, character expressions are great as well. Overall, I enjoyed my time, and am very much looking forward to future entries. I recommend this to anyone who just wants a solid, comfortable slow-burn experience.