Reviews Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky

Tifa

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When I play this game, a saying comes to mind, "Don't judge a book by its cover.", and in the case of The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky, it couldn't be more true. There's more than enough charm and difficulty in this title to keep veteran RPG addicts and newcomers alike entertained until the very last second. As one of the sleeper hits this year, it would be an absolute waste if it wasn't in every PSP owner's library.

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Console: Playstation Portable
Developer: Nihon Falcom
Publisher(s): Xseed Games | Ghostlight
Genre:Strategy role-playing game
Release Date: March 29, 2011 (NA) | November 4, 2011 (EU)
ESRB Rating:Teen
Players: 1

At a glance, The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky seems like your generic RPG that we've all seen done a million times before, and that's true to an extent. The protagonists are teens that start out on a basic quest that ends up as the tried and true save the world plot. But what sets The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky apart from other RPGs is without a doubt its charming cast of characters and gripping plot. While it may seem overly basic during the prologue, the plot has more twists and turns than a water slide at an amusement park.


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Estelle, telling off an older woman hitting on Joshua.


This particular tale is set in the Liberl Kingdom a decade after war with the bordering kingdom of Erebonian Empire. The story begins a month before Liberl Kingdom's Queen Alicia's 60th birthday and follows the lives of the young Joshua and Estelle Bright, adopted siblings, as they travel around the land, training to become senior bracers by doing jobs listed at each region's local bracer guild . A bracer is a public servant, similar to a mercenary mixed with a police officer. Soon after passing their entrance exams and becoming junior bracers, Cassius Bright, Estelle's biological father and Joshua's adopted one, has to leave on senior bracer business. After a heartfelt goodbye, the very next day the siblings decide to embark on their quest around the land to become senior bracers themselves. Along the way, they become involved in each town's unique subplot that each tie into the bigger picture, initially discovering their father is missing, that somehow connects to a scheme to take over the kingdom. While this may seem familiar to some, The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky, executes it on an entirely different level, closer to novel quality writing than that of a portable video game. In fact, the story will take even the most experienced of gamers upwards to 50 hours to complete, averaging about 12 hours a chapter, not counting all the additional side quests, which is no small feat.

While the slow buildup is well worth the time investment, some might find this prospect off putting, but rest assured, the delightful characters and gripping plot will command almost anyone's attention. From the flamboyant bard, Oliver, making unwanted sexual advances toward anyone (gender doesn't matter to him!), to the dominatrix, whip wielding gypsy, Schera, there's at least one character here for someone to like. This is aided in the excellent quality of writing, with each line read adding a little more to the building story.

As with any RPG, combat is a big factor, and while the combat in this game may start off slow, it has more than enough subtleties to keep you entertained and ready for more. Gone are the days of worrying about random encounters happening at the most inopportune moment. All enemies are visible on the world map, and running into them triggers the battle screen. There's even a way for the battle to start off in your favor if you manage to catch an enemy from behind. But the same can be said for a crafty enemy that catches your party from behind as well! Once the turned based combat starts, the player and enemies are placed on a grid like battlefield with each unit having a specific distance they can travel before having to wait a turn. Unlike other turn based RPGs where all you have to do is mash the attack button to win, Trails in the Sky turns each battle into a strategic encounter that revolves around clever positioning of your party and dominating the turn wheel at the top left of the screen. All the staple RPG battle commands are preset, attack, spell, (magic), craft (unique character skills), move, and S-Break. (limit break) But what sets Trails in the Sky apart from the rest of the pact is how it cleverly combines them all with the turn wheel. Using magic in battle requires a charge and execution turn, not unlike Final Fantasy X, displayed on the turn wheel. While some actions like attack may charge up quickly, other things like more powerful magic takes longer. To spice things up even further, there are random bonuses that are visiable applied to upcoming turns, so with enough planning, that super powerful attack you were charging could end up getting a critical hit on your enemies, or they can do the same to you! With clever use of the S-Breaks, the player can use them to instantly bump themselves to the top of the turn list, robbing the enemies of their turn bonus, but requiring a long waiting period after. It's up to the player to decide how to best position and utilize their party's skills, because the enemies sure don't pull their punches. The AI is clever enough to target the healer first and either silence or outright kill them if you don't plan your turns accordingly. But it never becomes too much to handle, because after every game over, the game self adjusts its difficulty to make it easier for the player. So if one tactic ended in crushing defeat, there's no drawback to trying again from a different approach.

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Joshua unleashing his devastating S-Break.


Outside of battle, there's always a little exploring that can be done, or side quests to be completed from the local guild's job board. Thankfully, there's enough variety in each job request sidequest to keep it from becoming a chore, ranging from fetch quests, to escorting characters, to defeating powerful optional bosses. Even though the sidequests are all optional, they all tie into the story in some way, either through developing the characters and their relations to each other or fleshing out even minor character and plot details. It's this attention to the little things that really makes Trails in the Sky Shine. Even every treasure chest in the game has its own dialogue if you check them after emptying the contents. There's also the neat orbament system which should be a breeze to understand if you're familiar with Final Fantasy 7's materia system. There are several different types of orbaments, from combat magic types, to stat boosting ones. For each orbament you equip to a party member, they also gain a corresponding elemental magic. For example, if you equip Joshua with an attack boosting Red (fire) orbament, he'll now have access to a fireball spell during combat.

The cute 3D visuals highlight the game's charming locations, ranging from bustling cities filled with people, to mist surrounded valleys crawling with monsters. Each little city has its own homes and individual quirkiness to keep you interested enough to explore the whole place. The tiny characters models might seem a little odd initially, but the beautifully drawn anime portraits and their detailed clothes only serves to strengthen them as characters. The soundtrack may not be winning any awards, but it serves its purpose quite well, giving beautiful harmonica solos during the Joshua and Estelle love scenes and happy-go-lucky Celtic tunes for when you're out and about. Battle effects look and sound great, with S-breaks and advanced spells adding enough flair to keep anyone interested, although the minimal voice acting is a disappointment, since its excellent quality is only present in battles will leave you wanting more.


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The party neaking up on an enemy on the world map.


Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky has many good things going for it, like the strategic and rewarding combat or the cute anime styled visuals. But where this wonderful game truly earns its gold star is the story. I've seen novels with less plot than this game, (Although, by today's standards that may not mean so much.coughtwilightcough) Its touching tale of rescuing the protagonists' dad gradually evolves into a large scale conspiracy to take over the kingdom while focusing on Joshua and Estelle's slowly developing romance is well worth the price of admission and then some.


The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky might not be for everyone, but the sum of its parts makes up for any faults it has with plenty to spare. If you don't own this game, make it your business to get out there and buy it asap, because you're really missing out on a hidden gem. That's why I feel this game deserves nothing less than an 8.5/10

The Good:
  • likable cast of characters
  • amazingly written story, surpassing even Crisis Core
  • fun combat
  • plenty of humor

The Bad:
  • later on in the game there's quite a bit of backtracking
  • the visual presentation may be instantly off putting
  • the combat takes some getting used to

The Ugly:
  • the story is incomplete and the sequels have no release date outside Japan


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