I finally rolled credits on The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky. "Wow" is all I can say. I have been playing this game almost daily for the past few months and really enjoyed my time with it, but I wasn't ready for the final chapter.
Note: I played on the Steam Deck, where it’s “unsupported,” but runs flawlessly.
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The story begins in media res with our protagonists Estelle and Joshua training to become bracers, a type of pan-national adventurer-detective. The game’s tutorial, which introduces its various mechanics, serves as their final test at which point they graduate to become junior bracers. This framing is really fun and provides background on our characters—they’re adopted siblings, both students; Joshua is moody with a mysterious past, Estelle is hotheaded and naive, but she’s a veritable prodigy with the staff. It also clears the slate for the story to come.
That story is a great change of pace from traditional JRPGs; these are young kids who set out to become full-fledged bracers—not to save the world. Even as the story progresses and they are organically drawn into larger conflicts (by virtue of their role as bracers), it remains grounded in the experience of these two individuals and our knowledge is almost always limited to what Estelle knows.
The dialogue is also phenomenal. Apparently the series is well known for it's sheer volume of text and that's definitely true. Every NPC has something to say and they constantly react to the plot as it progresses, often moving locations as you do. For example, a woman that you rescue from a bandit hideout will appear in another town talking about how grateful she is. They gossip about events taking place, speak about their hopes and dreams for the future, complain about their spouses, and discuss the latest story in the Liberl News (an in-game newspaper written by the chain-smoking reporter Nial Burns, who is constantly chasing the latest scoop). I’ve never played an RPG where the world feels so alive - it’s really special! The English translation is top notch as well and always feels natural. Estelle's script has some very funny moments too.
Visually, I love the detailed PSP-era sprites, which were given an high definition facelift and new lighting/ shadows with the PC release. It's a timeless style and I actually prefer sprite-based visuals and the limited isometric view compared to full 3D graphics from this time period. The sprites are surprisingly expressive too. A particular scene sticks in my mind of Tita, who views Estelle as an older sister, rushing across the screen to hug here - one sprite dashing to and wrapping it’s small arms around the other, the two almost melding together. It was an astonishing level of detail that really helped build out the personalities of these characters.
I really enjoyed the combat too. This is my first experience with the Trails gameplay and the combination of arts (spells) and crafts (abilities) really clicked with me. It's a relatively easy game on Normal difficulty, but I found myself mixing and matching arts and crafts (no pun intended) depending on enemy weaknesses and positioning. Turn order becomes especially important on some of the harder boss fights, especially the Lorence fight, which I had to attempt several times for the achievement.
Speaking of achievements, I followed several guides to 100% the game during my first play-through. This was the first time I've done this and it honestly felt great, like I truly mastered the game (minus the fact that I played on Normal difficult) and saw everything there was to see. I don't think using a guide diminished my experience at all, in fact, I was less frustrated because I didn't have to backtrack as much.
Overall, I loved my first foray into the Kiseki series and will definitely return for The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC!
Note: I played on the Steam Deck, where it’s “unsupported,” but runs flawlessly.
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The story begins in media res with our protagonists Estelle and Joshua training to become bracers, a type of pan-national adventurer-detective. The game’s tutorial, which introduces its various mechanics, serves as their final test at which point they graduate to become junior bracers. This framing is really fun and provides background on our characters—they’re adopted siblings, both students; Joshua is moody with a mysterious past, Estelle is hotheaded and naive, but she’s a veritable prodigy with the staff. It also clears the slate for the story to come.
That story is a great change of pace from traditional JRPGs; these are young kids who set out to become full-fledged bracers—not to save the world. Even as the story progresses and they are organically drawn into larger conflicts (by virtue of their role as bracers), it remains grounded in the experience of these two individuals and our knowledge is almost always limited to what Estelle knows.
The dialogue is also phenomenal. Apparently the series is well known for it's sheer volume of text and that's definitely true. Every NPC has something to say and they constantly react to the plot as it progresses, often moving locations as you do. For example, a woman that you rescue from a bandit hideout will appear in another town talking about how grateful she is. They gossip about events taking place, speak about their hopes and dreams for the future, complain about their spouses, and discuss the latest story in the Liberl News (an in-game newspaper written by the chain-smoking reporter Nial Burns, who is constantly chasing the latest scoop). I’ve never played an RPG where the world feels so alive - it’s really special! The English translation is top notch as well and always feels natural. Estelle's script has some very funny moments too.
Visually, I love the detailed PSP-era sprites, which were given an high definition facelift and new lighting/ shadows with the PC release. It's a timeless style and I actually prefer sprite-based visuals and the limited isometric view compared to full 3D graphics from this time period. The sprites are surprisingly expressive too. A particular scene sticks in my mind of Tita, who views Estelle as an older sister, rushing across the screen to hug here - one sprite dashing to and wrapping it’s small arms around the other, the two almost melding together. It was an astonishing level of detail that really helped build out the personalities of these characters.
I really enjoyed the combat too. This is my first experience with the Trails gameplay and the combination of arts (spells) and crafts (abilities) really clicked with me. It's a relatively easy game on Normal difficulty, but I found myself mixing and matching arts and crafts (no pun intended) depending on enemy weaknesses and positioning. Turn order becomes especially important on some of the harder boss fights, especially the Lorence fight, which I had to attempt several times for the achievement.
Speaking of achievements, I followed several guides to 100% the game during my first play-through. This was the first time I've done this and it honestly felt great, like I truly mastered the game (minus the fact that I played on Normal difficult) and saw everything there was to see. I don't think using a guide diminished my experience at all, in fact, I was less frustrated because I didn't have to backtrack as much.
Overall, I loved my first foray into the Kiseki series and will definitely return for The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC!