The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky Reviews

Havent even finished it yet, but the world building is the best ive ever seen

A classic tale that is setup for a longer story Very engaging from the jump, Estelle is a great MC to follow along with. Learning more about Liberl was so fun, that you do that for most of the game before the plot kicks in near the end. Nothing is really unpredictable here (outside of maybe [spoiler] Alba [/spoiler] ) but it does it so well. It was a little strange how the last chapter just didnt have many side quests when the whole game was them. Also that penguin fight....... JRPGs should have more floating party members, only around when they are relevant. This is Estelle/Joshua's story, everyone else is supporting. It's also good at slowly introducing mechanics based on the fights you encounter. Also a good balance with money/experience. No random encounters is nice.

The first that started the Trails Series, Trails in the Sky First Chapter is a fantastic feel of the early 2000s RPGs. This RPG has a 2.5D pixel with a controllable camera and a high-speed mode as well, since combat and movement is rather slow if you leave it as is. There is no voice acting except for combat and Victory/Defeat lines. In this game, there are hidden quests and choices to max out Brace Points AKA BP or get Carnelia Novels. They're easy to miss and if you miss one, you have to replay the game to get back to get it. If you want a newer, updated version of this game, they have it in the same name published by Gungo Online set to release September 2025 at the earliest. If you want it with 3D, slightly more VA work, and a more interactive action combat system while retaining turn-based combat, check it out.

Amazing all around! Characters extremely enduring. The story keeps you strung along well with intrigue. The ending... ABSOLUTE CINEMA! The slightly cheesy theme goes a long way because the game/characters believe in it so full-heartedly.

Bought this game on Steam 11 years ago and over the years heard nothing but praise for the series as I let it gather dust, now I finally know what all the fuss is about! Huge recommend.

I played it on-and-off until the very end, and it was an experience I won't forget. this game made me feel like I was truly on an adventure through a vibrant, living country, and it kept my heart warm. the final chapter was so heartbroken that i couldn't help weeping. btw, Falcom's music is legendary. The Whereabouts of Light is an absolute masterpiece that perfectly captures the game's spirit. Finally, it's hard to believe this originally released in 2004! Trails in the sky FC is a masterpiece of storytelling.

although combat can be annoying at times, and the dialogue is often cheesy, this game is an absolute blast with such a charming artstyle and world!

This is the first game out of the Trails in the Sky trilogy, which means it's the one you should start with. It's a wonderful oldschool JRPG that still holds up very well today. The music is really good, and the graphics are excellent. Once you get used to the artstyle you might even find that they managed to make many scenes surprisingly cinematic considering the limitations of having 2D sprites with a fixed perspective moving on a 3D background. The story is rather slow-paced. There's lots of dialogue and worldbuilding and loooots of running around talking to NPCs. It's great. In fact, I would say that the way they gave each NPC a small story that progresses as the main story advances is the game's greatest strength. Every single time the story progresses all the townspeople will progress their own stories as well. That means you will sometimes spend an exhausting amount of time time running though the same place over and over again to see what new thing they have to say. It's very much worth it. The combat, however, is a bit of a mixed bag. I played the game on Hard difficulty, and sometimes it was flat out painful (and not in a good way). When you start the game you'll notice that enemies in the overworld will rush at you to start a battle, and if they hit any of your party from behind they will start the battle with an advantage, which will far too often mean that they'll move before you can do anything and oneshot one of your party members. And if you're unlucky enough to have a NPC accompanying you it's even worse, since them being defeated means it's a game over. Restarting the same battle over and over again hoping for better RNG to avoid an instant game over is not very fun, and the speedup button only makes these situations harder to avoid. Luckily it becomes much less of a problem as you progress through the game. I would especially recommend equipping the upgrade that stops enemies from sprinting straight at you in the overworld as soon as you get it. The battle system itself is fine. Not amazing but not bad either. And if you do find it frustrating there is an option that will slightly lower the difficulty every time you have to retry a battle. I did not use that functionality in this game, but I did turn it on in the sequel and ended up enjoying that game more than I otherwise would because of it. It's something to keep in mind. If you want to you can play this game with just a mouse, or otherwise with a keyboard or controller. It can also run on surprisingly old hardware. Even an old laptop with integrated graphics should run it just fine (it did for me, although I did have to use the DX8 mode instead of DX9). I would highly recommend you check this game out if you're interested, and it's sequels too. Or you could try out the 2025 remake if you'd prefer that.

Personally, I'd play this version of the game over the remake (even though I will be buying the remake). For me, since the original game ends with a massive, unforgivable cliffhanger, if you enjoyed the remake then you'll be compelled to play the second game, which would be an incredible shock having to go back to the original game style. Maybe so disjointing that new players simply won't be able to stomach the downgrade. Since the remake is a "test game" to judge how well its received, remaking the second one isn't guaranteed and would be years out. Not worth waiting years to conclude the story with richer modern play-style at probably double the price of the original second game, IMO. And my personal biggest bias; I'm 62. So I'm at the age where I can't wait years or decades for games. So IMHO, play this version of the first game in the series and let the game engine and play mechanics evolve naturally with each new title in the series. and then go back and play the new remake after you've completed the Sky trilogy. That's what I intend to do if I should live so long.

download SkyInstaller for the best experience with this game. it adds voice acting, you won't regret it at all.