Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter |OT| The Journey of 1,000 Hours Begins with a Single Game

mèx

Gold Member
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The Trails series is a long-running franchise of role-playing video games developed by Nihon Falcom. It is part of the larger Legend of Heroes series which is now best known for its interconnected subseries known as the Trails saga.

These games are appreciated for their deep storytelling, world-building, complex characters, and strategic turn-based combat systems.

The Trails series is divided into arcs, each focusing on different regions, characters, and storylines, but they are all set in the same shared world.

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Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter is a story driven JRPG with a slow-burn narrative. On one side you will follow Estelle and Joshua in their coming of age story, while on the other you will experience the intrigue and deeper mysteries that act as a catalyst for the future games, including the sequel. Expect a charming and dialogue heavy game, with a mix of slice of life moments and more serious story beats.

And now get ready to dive into this beloved series!

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The mission of Bracers is to protect the safety of civilians and the peace of cities, fighting monsters and criminals alike. Untethered by borders or allegiances, they are greatly admired by many young children who dream of becoming bracers themselves.

One such admirer is Estelle, a girl living near the city of Rolent in the Kingdom of Liberl. Her father is a bracer, and she too, aspires to walk that path.

Estelle trains day and night to become a bracer alongside her adopted brother, Joshua.

One day Estelle's father, Cassius, receives a letter. Upon reading the letter, Cassius announces his departure on urgent business, leaving Estelle and Joshua behind.

The siblings, now junior bracers, take on the job that was originally for their father.

And thus, they take their first steps as true bracers.

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Located in the southwest of the Zemurian Continent, Liberl is a small kingdom of rich natural beauty and royal traditions.

Although it lacks the power of its neighboring countries, its abundant septium, advanced technology, and exemplary diplomacy have allowed Liberl to maintain equal footing in international relations.

Ten years ago, the kingdom suffered great losses at the hands of the powerful Erebonian Empire of the north, but has since maintained a lasting peace under the leadership of Queen Alicia von Auslese II.

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Follow the story of Estelle and Joshua, aspiring bracers who aim to protect the world and its peace.

As they start out as novice bracers, the two travel around the Liberl Kingdom to solve various incidents and gain experience.

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A girl from Liberl Kingdom training to become a bracer in order to protect the safety of civilians and peace of cities. A bright, outgoing, and optimistic girl who never gives up, no matter the situation.

Her sincere nature leads her to trust others easily, and her actions are often impulsive. Trained by her father, a veteran bracer, she possesses considerable combat skills.

For the past five years, she has been striving to become a Senior bracer alongside her adopted younger brother, Joshua.

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A boy taken in by the Bright family five years ago. With jet-black hair and amber eyes, he always appears cool and composed. His hobbies include reading and playing the harmonica.

Highly intelligent and level-headed, he often finds himself supporting the impulsive Estelle, keeping her in check.

His past prior to his adoption remains a mystery. There are times when he seems lost in thought, and has a habit of demeaning himself.

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Scherazard Harvey
A Senior bracer known by the name of "Silver Streak". Possesses a powerful and well-trained physique with an alluring beauty. A former apprentice of Estelle's father, Cassius, and serves as a big sister figure to Estelle and the others.

Olivier Lenheim
A mysterious traveling musician from the great northern nation, the Erebonian Empire. His reason and purpose for visiting the Liberl Kingdom is completely unknown.

Agate Crosner
A young bracer with the strength to wield a massive sword, earning him the nickname "Heavy Blade". Blunt and ill-mannered, he tends to treat the inexperienced Estelle and Joshua harshly.

Kloe Rinz
A kind-hearted girl devoted to helping the orphanage. She's a student at the prestigious Jenis Royal Academy in the Ruan region.

Tita Russel
The granddaughter of the orbment scientist, Professor Russell. Warm and cheerful, she has an earnest, pure-hearted nature that makes her beloved by all. Born into a family of engineers, she has a deep love for machines.

Zin Vathek
A veteran bracer from the Calvard Republic who has mastered the Taito Style, one of the three great eastern martial arts styles.Despite his massive, bear-like build, he has a warm and easygoing personality. He is a reliable, big brother figure.

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Aside from the party members, the Trails series is chock full of named NPCs, many of which are going to return in the sequels. Falcom takes great care in ensuring these characters can grow and mature across multiple games, so pay attention! You can check some of these characters on the official website.

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The game builds on the seamless transition between quick battles (action battle system) and command battles (turn based battle system) introduced in Trails through Daybreak.

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In this game, each character possesses a tactical orbment. By equipping crystal circuits known as quartz, the player can enhance a character's stats and unlock various orbal arts.

There are seven elements of quartz - Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, Time, Space, and Mirage. When you insert quartz into a tactical orbment, the elemental values of all quartz within each engraved orbment line will be summed up separately.

Arts can be used when their elemental value requirements are met. Each art has its own elemental value requirements.

Don't know how to customize your tactical orbment? Use the Auto-Equip feature when stuck! This feature automatically equips quartz based on your preferences, allowing you to choose between Balanced, Physical, and Speed-based builds.

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The Nintendo Switch 2 version can be obtained by buying the upgrade path (1 US/EUR).

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This section will be updated when there are more reviews, only ~5 reviews are out currently.
 
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For simplicity I put Reverie in the Erebonia arc, even if it's an epilogue to both Crossbell and Erebonia (base image source: rpgfan.com)

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Please spoiler tag any major story element. Do not discuss any other game in the series, use the Trails Community Thread for that.





Thanks to jshackles jshackles for the OT title!
 
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Completed the demo yesterday. Loved it ! Always wanted to get into the series but I got kicked out by Trails of Cold Steel 2.
TITS did sound like it would be more to my tastes, but having played the Vita version, the interface was too small for my aging eyesight (even though the visuals were lovely).

This remaster though is way better than anything I anticipated from Falcom. Where is the characteristic jankiness of their games lol ? Quite surprised it looked so good and played so well on my Switch 2 (on TV).

Ordered the collector and waiting to receive the game. I wish SEGA would make a similar quality game with Skies of Arcadia, but well, quite happy Falcom are stepping things up. I find that the quality of the game will bring in more people, me being the first.
 
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This remaster though is way better than anything I anticipated from Falcom. Where is the characteristic jankiness of their games lol ? Quite surprised it looked so good and played so well on my Switch 2 (on TV).
This is no remaster, it's full on remake.
 
Where is the characteristic jankiness of their games lol ? Quite surprised it looked so good and played so well on my Switch 2 (on TV).

When it comes to animations they improved tons starting with Ys IX and Trails through Daybreak. The jump from Ys VII and Trails into Reverie was truly noticeable. They also started to use their new proprietary engine with Trails through Daybreak and Ys X. Even the difference between Daybreak and Beyond the Horizon (the last game that has yet to come out in the West) is noticeable when it comes to animation fluidity and overall direction.
 
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Tried the PSP and PC version of the original, but couldn't stick with it. Got bored out after some hours. Will try this once again.
 
Cannot wait to start at the beginning of the series, but still slogging through Act3 in daybreak 2... so this will go on my backlog
 
I have been wanting to play this series for ages. Glad I waited long enough for a full on remake 😅 Never seen or hear or read anything about the story or characters so it will be all freshhhh.

Will be playing it on Switch 2. Very nice to see a 1 euro upgrade is available.
 
While I'm more pumped for Horizon, I'm feeling a tsunami of emotions started for the remake as well with your OT. That's not good, I'm not that rich to buy multiple Trails games consecutively!

Jokes aside; brilliant OT mèx mèx !


My wallet:

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This looks interesting.

Always was curious to try out this series, but considering the sheer amount of games it has, I always drifted away.
 
This looks interesting.

Always was curious to try out this series, but considering the sheer amount of games it has, I always drifted away.

I convinced my friend to just start with the latest story arc that is the Daybreak games. New main cast, new location, some returning characters from previous story arcs but they are more or less cameos and play no integral role in the story.
 
So, I have to play the main series or it is self contained?

It's in the first section of the OT, but: Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter is the starting point of this series (it's the remake of the first game). No need to play anything before hand. See the second post in the thread for the timeline.

In short: start here.
 
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I have been wanting to play this series for ages. Glad I waited long enough for a full on remake 😅 Never seen or hear or read anything about the story or characters so it will be all freshhhh.

Will be playing it on Switch 2. Very nice to see a 1 euro upgrade is available.
Why is this nice? The PS5 version is 60 the Switch version is 60. It's kind of pathetic to charge 1 dollar more for the switch 2 version. Like why bother?
 
Why is this nice? The PS5 version is 60 the Switch version is 60. It's kind of pathetic to charge 1 dollar more for the switch 2 version. Like why bother?
I think it's something to do with Japanese regulations. Fantasy Life also charged $1. If it was a patch to the original Switch game that'd be free, but it's a completely separate Switch 2 version.

Regardless. $1 is obviously worth the fee to make it 1080p 60fps vs 720p 60fps.
 
I played the original on Steam maybe five years ago. It was pretty good although combat was mostly trivial. The developers knew that and you could fast forward the game speed.
 
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Awesome OT! I opted for a physical Switch copy, and I'll do the $1 Switch 2 upgrade. I have the entire series physically on Switch (including the Japan-exclusive Cold Steel 1 and 2), so that just made the most sense to me. That being said, I was excited to see that the PC version seems to be so well put together. It even supports 21:9 ultrawide, which is unheard of from a Japanese company.

I've put four hours into the demo already on Switch 2. Even though I just finished Trails SC earlier this year, and it's pretty fresh for me, it's hard to put this one down.
 
Was gonna buy this, but isn't available on PSN... guess it was never up for preorder. Don't see that much these days.
 
Awesome OT! I opted for a physical Switch copy, and I'll do the $1 Switch 2 upgrade. I have the entire series physically on Switch (including the Japan-exclusive Cold Steel 1 and 2), so that just made the most sense to me. That being said, I was excited to see that the PC version seems to be so well put together. It even supports 21:9 ultrawide, which is unheard of from a Japanese company.

I've put four hours into the demo already on Switch 2. Even though I just finished Trails SC earlier this year, and it's pretty fresh for me, it's hard to put this one down.
Is this really the Switch 2 version for the demo though? It still seems to boot in Switch 1 mode, and the software says it's Switch software under the software type in the information page.
 
Is this really the Switch 2 version for the demo though? It still seems to boot in Switch 1 mode, and the software says it's Switch software under the software type in the information page.
I should have clarified - I'm playing the demo on a Switch 2, but it's still running in "Switch 1" mode. Kind of a shame we don't get a true demo for the hardware, but honestly the Switch 1 version is fine for me personally. I wouldn't even be mad if the Switch 2 upgrade didn't even exist.
 
Was gonna buy this, but isn't available on PSN... guess it was never up for preorder. Don't see that much these days.
Yeah, it's the same for the Steam version. I saw a recent tweet from Falcom stating that the game will be available for digital purchase on release day, which is this Friday.

全世界同時発売!日本では9月19日(金)16時(日本時間)販売開始!

Worldwide simultaneous release! Sales start in Japan on 19th (Friday) at 16:00 ( time)!
 
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