The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky

...way too long and extremely frustrating ending. After spending so many hours with the protagonists, solving all kinds of mysteries and revealing more and more of the conspiracy we find ourselves face to face with... more hours of pointless and boring grind in an never-ending underground dungeon were all we do is collect orbs and lvl up in order to face the final boss. Fine, whatever, is not like I wish for more story, more character development, more of what already got used with through the entire game. No, I'll just grind myself for couple of hours without any of that, at least the final boss will be worth it, right? RIGHT!? Oh boy. I'll not gonna spoil the "fun", but let's just say the words "hell" and "go to" will pop up in your head at least once, if not each time you foolishly believe is over and then get a complete party wipe just so you can... restart the entire thing, and I mean the ENTIRE THING! Yes, the memories of the ending made me question if I'll ever play another game in the series. It absolutely ruined the entire adventure, the fun, the story, the game itself. Did I mentioned how HARD is the ending? No? Well, you see, the huge underground dungeon is there for a reason. To GRIND, and you will have to grind and grind because, if you dared to actually play the game as a game not as a grindfest then your level is way to low for the final boss battle(s). That was a conscient design choices. The developers knew that many players will reach the ending underleveled and, instead of lowering the boss fight difficulty, decided is more "fun" to add 3-5 entire Diablo levels for you to grind for a while (2-3 hours) and lvl up. Except for this extremely annoying decision I have nothing but praise for this game. And even with this miserable ending I can say, PLAY IT, it's worth it. Just don't rush it, and make sure you lvl up your orbs (area heal, area stonewall) or you'll gonna have a bad time.

Took me roughly 75 hours to complete, finishing about 90% of sidequests, etc. So in terms of value for dollar, it is a winner. This is a game for people who are into world building, conversation, and overall "feel". There is a ton, a TON of dialogue in this game. Every character, npc, and shopkeeper will have a long, involved dialogue to go through. Most of it is largely "fluff" and not really related to the main game, other than adding "flavor" to the world. If you enjoy reading, exploring, and generally soaking up a game, you should enjoy this. I'm not an anime fan, but the graphics are pretty, and fit the game well. Character and monster designs seem pretty cool. Fun animations. The soundtrack is fantastic , on par with any classic FF score. You will hum the music in the shower without realizing it. I personally found the combat to actually be the most fun part of this game. A lot of people claim it is repetitive, but I enjoyed gaining new powers and finding the best orbment combinations and unlocking the higher tier spells. You can avoid battles you don't want to fight, and there is no grinding involved whatsoever, unless you want to. I will say the game is maybe a tad easy on the normal setting, I don't believe I died once, though the final dungeon has some good challenges. As for the bad...this game takes a while to get going. It is probably 2 or 3 hours into the game before it really starts in a proper way. There is a ton of exposition, tutorial, and endless conversation in the early portion of the game. Also, once you get to the higher levels and learn which skills and techniques are best, you can find yourself using the same strategies over and over again (at least till the final dungeon, where new tactics are needed.) Finally, this is the first part in a trilogy of games. So after you finish this, you will immediately want to get Trails chapter 2 and see what happens. To say this ends on a cliffhanger is an understatement. I love it, and I can't wait to finish the next game!

People often praise this game and it’s sequels for the meticulously crafted world they are set in, as well as an engrossing, character-driven story. I found the story to be very dynamic, but ultimately dull. Worse still is that the dialogue between characters is mostly vacuous. It is on the level of what I imagine is found in cheap, weekly manga. As far as the world-building, the creators have certainly fleshed out the details and politics, but it all fell flat because of the uninspired art and graphics. Again, things are very detailed, with carefully placed objects in building interiors for example. But it all looks generic. All of the art in the game is bland. Character portraits are low-grade stereotypical anime. City aesthetics are usually not memorable. Finally, combat is sub-standard. It is not tactically challenging, and the higher difficulty settings only bloat enemy hp and make things a slog. Also the orbment system is not deep in the least bit. The stat adjustments are very minor and I was halfway through the game before I bothered learning about unlocking more powerful magic spells. Maybe I’m unfairly comparing this game to the classic JRPGs of the 90s, but chances are that you can play a better game in the same vein unless you’ve really exhausted your options.

Buy it is all i can say!

Also the gameplay is good, but is that really what matters here? Jokes aside, whoever translated this needs a raise, the writing is so well done.