The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky

This is hands down one of the best games I've ever played. The care that went into the story building is phenomenal. The characters are alive and ful of personality, and the chemistry between the characters is very well written. Almost every NPC even feels like a person with a real story of their own outside of the game's plot. I enjoyed the characters and the story so much that I talked with everyone everywhere I could multiple times to get as much of the story as possible--I've only played it once, and it was a 100+ hour affair, most of which was spent uncovering story, rather than just grinding at levelling (though to be fair, I spent a good deal of time fighting too, probably more than I needed). The books inside the game where another nice touch. They have the kind of writing that you don't see in games, written in a literary style, even taught me several words I didn't know. This is truly a game for those who enjoy reading. There could have been less back and forth between locations in order to get all that story--certainly would have cut down on my play time--but all and all, a small price to pay for the enjoyment that I had playing this game. Falcom are truly masters of their craft. I've been a fan of theirs for over 20 years (the Ys series, and the first Legend of Heroes for the Turbo Grafx) and have seen both their design and story-telling craftsmanship continue to improve. Few developers can do this type of character building--by the end of the game you can even see some of the characters mature and grow, though it happens subtly throughout the game, the way it should be. I look forward to the second chapter. So glad to see Falcom's games finally coming to the US again!

I'd give it a 4.5 but since that's not available I'll grant the extra half star. Trails reminds of the great JRPG games of old because of the focus that is given to storytelling and dialogue. This is a game with massive character development that adds depth to an already intriguing story. I was very surprised at the amount (and quality!) of dialogue this game contained between characters. It is exceedingly well done and very well translated. You won't find any "All your base are belong to us" in this game. Trails is a labor of love to be sure. Artists can either spend a day on a painting or months or years and I would surmise that trails falls under the years category given the richness. Aside from that which is most striking, the game plays very well and the battles are enjoyable however also very easy. It's very traditional focused turn based battle with HP/MP/Special attacks but also puts it's own spin on it with the magic system being rather unique. If you're a fan of the genre I believe you'll like this game very much. Perhaps the only complaint I would render would be the repetitiveness of some of the "jobs" you're assigned to complete. After a time it did start to feel more like busywork than something adventurous. Minor beef though. The last chapter of this game is without a doubt the most enjoyable and challenging. It also contains some really well done boss music as well. The song "Silver Will" was really quite epic and I think touches the essence of the fight between the party and one of the main antagonists with the right touch of sadness. I'll be anxiously awaiting the sequel. From what I can discern it should be released in December 2015.

I agree with those good reviews around here - in my opinion this is the full five stars game. In short : large game world with rich lore, long interesting storyline with many surprising moments, good system of turn-based combat, perfect music. Tons and tons of text, while party is communicating with NPCs - which can be classified as good or bad trait of this game - depend on the point of view :) And final boss fight is really epic. It is like turn based version of raid boss from World of Warcraft MMO : multiphase fight, different tactic for each phase is needed, like the interrupts of heals or dangerous abilities, grouping for better area party healing, scattering for minimize area damage from boss, managing adds, using power cooldowns in right time ...... All those things are in this final battle. Without proper tactic boss cannot be defeated. I'm really looking forward to the sequel.

Amazing game! I didn't enjoy a JRPG like this for over 10 years. Ok many of the characters are stereotypical , but this somehow makes the game fun. I like the story, even if there is a lot of text, i enjoyed reading it all and i think it is very well made so that we never get bored. I also find the game beautiful despite its cubic look, and the musics are very nice. Now i'm waiting for episode 2! Please buy this game and tell your friends to do so! The more people buy, the quicker we will get the rest of the series.

This game originally came out on the PSP and was easily the best turn-based RPG the system had. The story is not only good, but a major part of the game. The gameplay is nicely paced, combat has plenty of strategy to it, and grinding is not a requirement to advance. XSeed really did a terrific job in the translation and it far exceeds the quality of the previous Legend of Heroes games that were released by Namco-Bandai. A common complaint about most of the JRPGs that make there way to the west these days is the level of fanservice in them ... thankfully this game is not plagued by that. There are a couple instances, but they're minor and quickly passed. The only complaint about the game is it ends on a cliffhanger, it is intended to be a full trilogy so you will not get the complete story. The Second Chapter (called SC by the community) is in the works, but on the back burner by XSeed due to the shear size of text in the game. SC spans two discs on the PSP which is an extreme rarity. Hopefully the success of the PC release of this game will help spur along the release of the SC so we can all continue the story!