The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky

While not perfect, Trails in the Sky is a massive story with incredible characters with writing to match. It is traditional and resembles classic game design but in a good way. Be sure not to pass this up.

I'm really struggling with this game and his f*** up difficulty. It's already tiring of having games that let's you choose "Normal" difficulties that are piece of cake and "Hard" difficulties that makes the game unbearable hard. Maybe it's not a game to focus on the combat but, why adding a difficulty selection, then? I got bored of the game in both difficulties and left it after a while. Otherwise, the plot is rather empty, at least for the first 20 hours that I have played. Characters are likeable and less generic than in other JRPGs. If you really like them and can stand the slow-paced narrative and the huge amount of unsubstancial or depressing combats (depending on your difficulty setting) that occur during the playthrough, you'll surely buy the SC because the game has its charm.

I'm some ~5 hours in and finding the game really boring. There is no arch or story as of yet, the protagonists are new Guild recruits just running around completing quests to earn higher rank. And even those are just mediocre RPG fair - rescue kids lost in a tower, exterminate monsters on a farm, deliver a package from a mine (which invariably gets swarmed with monsters). There's hints of something looming on horizon and character past, but nothing to drive the story forward. The writing/dialogue also falls into the overly long and cutesy JRPG fare, so I see myself quickly skipping through chunks of it. Shame, since the Orb/Quarts character customization and battle mechanics seem to have potential later on. Although right now the battles are tedious, fighting similar generic monsters that are just tad too difficult (having to use rest stops or healing items after nearly every battle). Lastly, the game is buggy - sometimes the item descriptions will not show up, and the game launches with no audio at random times until you restart. I will give it a bit more time (I am completing the last guild quest now so hopefully SOMETHING happens after), but so far not too impressed.

I loved it, it was an outstanding jrpg. It's a love or hate game since it's plot heavy. It's a slow burner but passing hours it gets better and better. Estelle and Joshua are two of the best characters ever written. Music was amazing by the end and catchy before. Turbo mode makes the gameplay a pleasure to play. Game has depth. The ending is a treat and probably will make you jump on second chapter asap. The plot is still going, if you like this you can also play the other two skies and the trails of cold steel games.

This game is definitely in my top 3 favorite jrpgs of all time. It is almost tied with FFIX, which I thought would be impossible. The thing that makes it better than FFIX is the continuation saga. I love the combat system and a way to steal bonuses from your enemies if timed correctly. The characters are deep, and the story is great. I usually have a bad habit of dropping games after about 20 hours of game play, but i played this for nearly 50, and I still wanted more. I can't wait until the second chapter come out. All of the characters are likeable, and the story is funny, entertaining, and can be sad at times. There is a lot of narrative and story to it, so when I wasn't playing, it was like watching a great anime, getting sucked into the story. For the game play, I love how you can easily avoid enemies if you want, or the fact that you can get a preemptive strike on them charging them from behind. The orbment system is easy to follow and understand, and there are so many different combinations you can use to gain different spells. Doing some of the missions can be a bit of a pain, but they weren't horrible. I wish there was a little more challenge in the towers- they were just straightforward. I wish there was a way for transportation other that walking. I understood the lesson of walking, but it was real hard to get to a town you were previously in. There is really no looking back. I wish there was a bit more freedom, like in the FF games, to travel in an airship and visit all of the towns again if you wish. Maybe the second chapter will have that. The time will really fly by if you play it.