The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky

I played this on PSP, design wise it is the best jRPG I have ever played, they nailed it by getting rid of all the annoyances of this genre, like for example you can avoid encounters. but best feature is when your party dies (and it will die) you are offered to repeat the battle right away and if you do the enemies are a bit weaker, if you die again enemies are even more weaker etc. You know what that means - NO GRINDING NECESSARY!

I purchased Trails In The Sky on the premise that it appeared to be quite an old school RPG in terms of how it looked, and felt. I remember games such as Secret of Mana and Chrono Trigger, and always admired their simpe but epic feel back in the day, and wondered if this may have been just like those games only on a much larger scale, recapturing that sense of adventure and fun from the 16 bit era. Be warned - this is story driven to a point I personally found it to be unplayable. Even a simple quest has so much dialogue and exposition that, in many hours of play I can't have played more than twenty minutes of the actual game. Locations feel bland and samey, and you can't really do anything - building interiors all have a certain theme and feel to them which never varies, and there is no clicking on something and getting a little dialogue or description just for fun. The game, in all honesty, feels hollow, a half hearted nostalgic shell designed purely to contain the endless dialogue. Everything about Trails in the Sky feels like an attempt to recreate the heyday of it's genre, even down the the music you will hear upon leaving your house for the fist time, but it just falls very flat in my opinion. If you enjoy conversation after conversation after conversation and feel the gameplay is secondary, you will probably enjoy this. For me, it felt very boring. It attempts to be sweeping and dramatic, but it lacks any real heart. I've given this three stars as I can see the appeal for some people, and had there been half the dialogue and more to the environments this would have been a great game. Just not for me.

I didn't really buy this game expecting to like it, but I really did. It's simple, but in it's simplicity it allows more complex characters and interactions...at least I believe so. Gameplay-wise, it is not a difficult game and learning the combat is actually quite fun to me. I like all the different crystal formations you can use and the different skills they create. The story is a lot more than it seems. It's very deep and very intricate. I also enjoy all the subquests and side things you can do in this game. They all add to the immersion of the entire purpose of the story. I definitly think if you enjoy really good and classic JRPGs then this game and the two in the Trails in the Sky set are a must play.

It's a long JRPG where the same optional NPC sometimes has three different dialogues over the course of the same chapter, often with actual replies from the party. The gameplay doesn't get in the way of the story and is paced sufficiently well as not to feel like a deliberate attempt to overextend the game -something many others in the genre do.

For those who are looking to get into these games for the first time, check out my guide here: https://therpgspotlight.wordpress.com/2020/01/06/a-primer-on-the-legend-of-heroes-trails-series-and-why-you-should-play-them/ Trails in the Sky starts out slow paced, but its world building is sublime, and the game serves as the foundation for one of gaming's most ambitious franchises. Estelle and Joshua are really likable characters, and the game does a great job developing them over time. If I had to highlight one issue, though, it's that the gameplay can feel a bit clunky and archaic since it's the very first game in the series. Early game progression can feel somewhat slow as a result. Thankfully, Trails in the Sky SC and onwards pretty much fixed this issue.