Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter – The “remake/remaster/reboot” trend of Japanese game makers still shows no signs of cooling down.

So, Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter What is a “remake” like? Will it just be a basic remaster, or will it bring some value to old players and satisfy new players? Readers, please join MarkGame to find out through the following review.

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The beginning of a legend

Basically, this is a true “remake”, the plot of Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter Exactly the same as the old version, every beat of the story, context, and even dialogue are still “exactly copied from the original”.

The story begins in the Kingdom of Liberl, a small country located in the southwest of the Zemuria continent, with a small family including the mischievous girl Estelle Bright, the gentle father Cassius Bright and the boy Joshua Bright, someone Cassius brought home and cared for like his own son.

After that, Cassius must set out to investigate the neighboring kingdom of Erebonia to prevent a major war from happening, and the player will follow the two Bracers Estelle and Joshua – two newly “born” Bracers – to explore the kingdom of Liberl, complete the tasks of the Bracer Guild, as well as discover the secrets and truths of the kingdom of Liberl.

Back when the writer played The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky On an old PSP, I feel like the game takes… too much time to build the world. Not to mention, the speed of building the story line of this version is somewhat… more leisurely.

The plot had almost no notable progress for many hours, when our two boys had to constantly go and solve errands in each city, from destroying monsters loitering on the streets to… picking up some wildflowers.

However, after experiencing most of the games in the series Trailsexperienced a chronicle spanning several years on the continent of Zemuria, returning to Trails in the sky 1st Chapter The writer feels deeply appreciated and absorbed in the efforts of building the kingdom of Liberl, the continent of Zemuria and laying the foundation for a story line… the second longest in JRPG history.

Not really Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter “Foresighted” to the point of laying the “foundation” for even newly released games like Trails of Reveriebut it's really about recognizing the team's talent Nihon Falcom when they built a Liberl that was not only alive, but actually… functional.

You see, normally cities and NPCs in JRPGs are relatively fixed. You come to this city, there's a character standing there selling goods, that character walks back and forth within 5 steps, and when you talk, they will repeat a certain sentence or two.

But in Trails in the Sky 1st Chaptereach NPC will tell their own story (the game even has a feature… notifying which NPC has new lines). In the process of completing the Bracer Guild's quest chains, the dialogue and actions of related NPCs will also change, even NPCs are not only bound to one city, but they can also move between cities according to their own story, which we can only grasp through interaction.

NPCs even have the ability to… express opinions, and may go against the ideals of the main characters (namely… cursing at the Bracer Guild), but they will change their opinion if you perform a related task, such as saving their daughter by hunting for a rare material.

Thanks to this flexible NPC system, the Liberl kingdom becomes extremely lively and soulful, and the writer really feels like he or she is integrated into the world, instead of mechanically following a pre-existing script.

Perhaps, this depends on the mindset of the writer in particular and the reader in general: if you want to “rush” through the plot, see important events, and fight bad guys as quickly as possible, then this will not be a reasonable choice.

Thanks to this flexible NPC system, the kingdom of Liberl becomes extremely lively and soulful, and the writer really feels like he or she is integrated into the world, instead of mechanically following a pre-existing script.

But if you really want to immerse yourself in a JRPG world, feel truly “alive” in it, sharing the beats with the world, then come to the kingdom of Liberl, follow the journey of Estelle and Joshua, you will definitely not be disappointed.

In fact, the main story line of Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter It's not bad, with unexpected events constantly happening, making our couple miserable to deal with. However, it should be noted that the story line will be interrupted relatively suddenly due to the fact that a basic game cannot contain all of this story line, so you will have to wait quite a long time to know the ending (spoiler, it's worth the wait).

Impressive character development!

Another important part that creates the appeal of Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter, It is a cast of characters with depth, developed very naturally and evenly.

Our two main characters, Estelle and Joshua, are like two sides of the same coin. Estelle is quick-tempered, quick-tempered, short-tempered, often acting first and thinking later, but she has a kind and warm heart, always thinking of others, like a bright sun.

What about Joshua? The guy is calm, “cool”, extremely rational and always answers the “silly” questions that Estelle brings. On the outside, Joshua seems cold, but he has a fatal weakness: Estelle. No matter what request Estelle had or what problem she had that was difficult to solve, Joshua was always there to assist. It seemed that he was the moon, existing opposite but always accompanying Estelle, no matter where she went.

Accompanying them are great friends: the beautiful soul girl Scherazard Harvey, this hot guy Agate Crosner, the “flower boy” Olivier Lenheim, the mysterious girl Kloe Rinz and finally Tita Russell. Each person has their own story, their own style, but the common point is that they are all developed evenly, without being “styled”, making players completely empathize with their thoughts and moods.

Thanks to that, players will feel excited and comfortable when “traveling” with a group of friends through the turbulent land of Liberl, listening to new stories, learning about the character's inner thoughts, and discovering the surrounding mysteries.

Another plus point is that the voice acting of the characters brings a whole new layer of experience. Before then The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky There is absolutely no voice acting, so many players may feel a bit… dry when having to read too many lines of dialogue.

Another important part that creates the appeal of Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter, It is a cast of characters with depth, developed very naturally and evenly

Now with new technology and graphics, players can not only hear Estelle's cute voice, but also witness the characters changing expressions and gestures as well, truly taking the gameplay experience to the next level.

A blend of classic and modern

Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter uses the “hybrid” mechanism of Trails Through Daybreakcombines real-time action and turn-based combat. Readers here should not misunderstand that the game “loses quality”, because the core of the game is still turn-based combat like the original, the action combat part is just an addition for the player… to help prevent boredom when fighting with layers and layers of monsters in the outside world.

Indeed, the action section has almost nothing: you have an attack button, a dodge button and an ultimate button, no combos or spells or skill selection at all. However, the highlight here is that players can switch between “action” mode and “turn-based” mode with just one button, and the game immediately switches modes extremely smoothly, without needing a loading screen or anything.

In particular, if you switch modes when the enemy is “stunned”, you will have an advantage in “turn-based” mode, and can easily kill the enemy with skills only available in turn-based mode. The combination of these two modes prevents gamers from getting bored in moving between regions, as well as “leveling up”.

Of course, if you hope to be able to turn Trails wall Ys Unfortunately, the bosses and battles in the scenario all force players to fight in turns from beginning to end. Rest assured that the game still retains the essence of the old version along with the upgrades and additions of the new versions.

Unlike the old version where the characters will have to move on predetermined boxes, Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter Use the movement mechanism that has been upgraded from the original version Cold Steel, along with additional new mechanisms such as Overdrive, Chain Attack and Aura, bringing a fresh feeling to a game that is almost 20 years old.

In short, when playing Trails in the Sky 1st Chapterreaders will still experience the turn-based combat system that is both classic and adds the quintessence of the series. Trails has been accumulated over two decades, along with action combat mechanics while traveling through the world to reduce boredom.

Pretty!

If you have read the writer's reviews of Nihon Falcom's games, there is one point that the writer “very often criticizes”: the graphics are not excellent, if not frankly too old and not compatible with the system!

But for Trails in the Sky 1st Chapterthe writer really has to praise Nihon Falcom's improved graphics, and this is probably the game Trails The most beautiful that the writer has ever had the opportunity to experience.

Instead of stiff movement patterns, clear characters Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter Extremely smooth polished. Art and Craft skills are beautifully described, and Link Combos between characters are carefully and meticulously made.

No longer with faint textures, the Liberl kingdom is now shaded with vibrant tones, adding to the vibrancy of the world.

for Trails in the Sky 1st Chapterthe writer really has to praise Nihon Falcom's improved graphics, and this is probably the game Trails The most beautiful that the writer has ever had the opportunity to experience

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Some minor issues

The first problem that the writer mentioned above is the plot Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter just… 50% of the original plot, and you will be “hanging out” at a very dramatic part.

Although the ending of the game can be considered epic and satisfying, being truncated when everything is at its climax, the engine is operating at full capacity, especially when you have had to spend dozens, even hundreds of hours building the world to get to the main story line, can make us disappointed.

The second problem is that this is an almost perfect “remake”, which means… almost nothing is added. If readers expect a remake to add a bunch of new features or “break” the plot, like Final Fantasy VII Rebirththen readers will be a little disappointed.

Finally, the game contains a lot of text and information to remember. Be it sepith, quartz, orbment, etc., the material is scattered everywhere, and not all lines are dubbed. Anyway, this is a standard JRPG game, so readers need to prepare mentally in advance… they will have to read a lot.

plot Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter just… 50% of the original plot, and you will be stuck in a very dramatic part.