Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter is finally here…again! If you’re a Falcom fan, you already know what this means and what we’re about to talk about but for those not in the know, the massive Trails RPG series has been slowly coming to America for well over a decade now. It hasn’t always had the mainstream appeal that it currently enjoys however, and wayyyy back in 2011, Trails in the Sky was released on the Sony Playstation Portable. That game is the first game in the Liberl trilogy, leading up to the events in Trails of Cold Steel I-IV and the Crossbell Duology, a total of 7 games and counting (most of which we have reviewed). In Trails in the Sky, we meet Estelle and Joshua Bright, small town bracers (think civilian peacekeepers that hunt monsters). They rapidly become embroiled in events that far outpace their humble beginnings and end up as key players in the larger events that encompass both the neighboring Erebonian Empire and Crossbell.
Whew! If you’re already lost, don’t sweat it. This is the first modern game in the Trails series and thanks to Falcom and publisher Gung Ho Online Entertainment, it’s back, it’s updated for modern players, and it’s still just as awesome as ever! Re-titled as Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter, you start out with the meeting of Estelle and Joshua as kids but rapidly move forward to present day in the game (Let’s not get into the chronology of the series…you can look that up). Both Joshua and Estelle are about to become junior bracers and it’s time for them to cut their teeth on a few assignments. Kill some monsters, find some kittens, you know, regular old everyday stuff. But that’s all just preamble to the main game.
The problem that always happens when reviewing Trails games is that they’re so heavily story-based that talking in any meaningful way about the plot inadvertently gives away key information. Trails The First is kind of a weird outlier there since the plot of the original game is unchanged for this release and full walkthroughs and even decision branches are available online. However, it’s still a great story and ruining the key reveals is an absolute crime so we’re simply not going to do that (Censorship is the theme of the era lately anyway, right?). Suffice it to say that Events take place that force Estelle and Joshua into leaving their hometown and they become embroiled in both national and international politics. It’s an excellent adventure with a ton of interesting characters, some of which you’ll see in other games in the Trails series as all the games are intertwined now and there are…um…something like 18 localized games in the series, though the first 4 are not directly connected.
Anyway, Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter: plot = good. The script is excellent too, and while Estelle is a firebrand in both games, it’s hard to say without comparing the two how similar the script is to the original localization and the dialogue is certainly fun. We did not compare for the purposes of this review, but having played the original release, it’s easy to say with confidence that the main game plot has not changed and the general layouts are extremely similar in towns. Dungeons and overworlds are a bit different however, and that’s the crux of this review – changes from the original game.
Naturally as Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter has jumped to modern 3D and cel-shading, you’d expect some changes in the gameplay. You wouldn’t be wrong either, as the entire game has been re-envisioned to fit in line with the design aesthetic from Trails into Daybreak (review here). In fact, you only have to look at Daybreak to find out how some things work in Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter! High Speed mode is here, dialogue logs are easily accessible, and auto-play for dialogue are all standard options for Falcom games now and all are present. There’s a run mode that combines with High Speed mode too, allowing you to absolutely blaze through overworlds and dungeons. The very best part however is the fast travel system. In any given overworld section, you can fast travel to any place that has been unlocked. That includes distant mines and towns at the edges of the map or just around town from shop to shop, saving yourself the headache of bothering to navigate. Chests, hidden items, pathways, and enemies are visible on your map as soon as you get near them too, and map markers for active quests allow you to simply warp to the nearest activated warp point to save time. There’s a lot less floundering about and backtracking in Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter than there was in the original version of the game for PSP, that’s for sure!
Daybreak’s active/turn-based hybrid combat system is also present here, which means you can just quickly pummel weaker enemies by defeating them in action combat with an attack, a dodge, and a special button rather than wasting time in turn-based menus with every encounter. That’s where the similarities to Daybreak end though, as the gameplay interface in Trails the First has as much in common overall with the Cold Steel series as it does with Daybreak.
Turn-based combat in Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter is a bit more like the early Cold Steel series than anything else, which makes sense if you’re familiar with the chronology of the series. You can choose to encounter enemies on the overworld and in dungeons at the touch of a button or bypass them entirely if you don’t want to be bothered. As soon as you enter battle, turn based combat begins. If you’ve already got the jump on an enemy you get a free attack here and there as well. You still choose from Craft and Orbal arts as well as standard combat (which you shouldn’t ignore because sometimes it’s quite effective). Building up enough CP opens up powerful S-Break attacks for all playable characters as well, and you’re definitely going to need every advantage you can get on some of the boss fights! Fortunately, you can always fight bosses with reduced difficulty if you die, but this version of the game tends to soft-pedal the bosses a bit more than other entries and you really have to have skipped leveling or not be paying attention to get killed most of the time.
Assist attacks are back too, and if you build up enough action points you’ll have the option to perform a Follow-up attack or Chain your attack with another playable character, enhancing the damage done. The turn-based menu system is similar to the Daybreak GUI but it’s got more of a Cold Steel feel to it and you can tell that Falcom took the best parts from each system to make Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter feel like the early entry in the series that it is. The noticeably lack of complexity is almost welcome compared to other entries in the series and makes combat feel more streamlined and fast-paced. Arts clearly specify when enemies are weak to them, making it easy to chain attacks together to overwhelm enemies and simplifying planning too. It’s an elegant system that is very user friendly once you get used to using R1 to bring up submenus for items and such.
Orbments are the traditional circle with interconnected lines, not the linear complexity of the Calvard Republic’s advanced devices in Daybreak. Slotting quartz to create your art selection has never been easier and there is an abundance of quartz as well as tons of sepith available in order to make new quartz. Colored lines indicate tendencies in your Orbal device and the menu system indicates which arts you will gain and lose based on your selections and also details how effective they will be by supplying additional power stats. You can also upgrade not only your weapons but also your quartz at Orbal factories in the various towns of the game, giving much needed boosts to your characters’ abilities.
As long time players know, tinkering around with quartz to minmax gameplay is a hallmark of the Trails series and it’s never been easier than in Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter. Cooking is back as well, and you’re going to want to learn as many recipes as you can (and eat them!) because every recipe you learn and master gives additional bonuses to all characters as well. Cooking isn’t a particularly onerous task and it’s fairly fast, so don’t sweat it, just do it and move on. You won’t regret it!
In addition to the regular missions and overworlds to explore, an integral part of the game is completing missions as a bracer. These are entirely optional sidequests that range from finding a specific mushroom to killing a gigantic monster to running errands around town. Bracers are everyone’s go-to to handle problems they can’t or don’t want to deal with themselves, as well as excellent escorts through monster-infested lands, so you’ve got plenty to do. The benefits are worth the added time investment too, as your bracer rank slowly increases, you gain additional benefits, and the missions all pay you as well, often in both items and mira (the currency of the land). In short, if you see a green icon on your map, don’t skip it!
As you’ve probably noticed by now, Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter also got a slight visual upgrade from the original game. This is now a fully-fleshed modern entry in the Trails series with absolutely stunning visuals, tons of in-engine cut scenes, and fantastic design work. There’s even a little tribute to the original character sprites on the loading screen if you’re paying attention! There’s no question that the game looks amazing and the refined look adds a bit more gravitas to the story in the serious parts and a bit more intensity to the borderline romantic scenes as well! Interestingly enough, Falcom chose to use traditional manga/anime faces for Estelle’s over-the-top reactions to some situations, adding a bit of unexpected hilarity. It’s hard to say whether this was the right choice or not because everything else is so serious and it kind of takes you out of the moment a bit but it’s hard to deny how amusing it is!
The voice acting in Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter is also top notch as we’ve come to expect from the entire series. Estelle’s voice took a bit to get used to but after a while it grows on you and Joshua sounds a bit older than he is but the actors definitely took their roles seriously and the game is all the better for it. Unfortunately, not all lines are voiced and just when you expect a scene to have voiceovers, they’re suddenly not there or only one character is taking, which again pulls you out of the immersion the game manages to maintain the majority of the time. The music is pure beauty of course and the sound effects are excellent as well in the game. Falcom has some of the best soundtracks in the business and the JDK sound team is absolutely legendary so expect an excellent orchestrated soundtrack to accompany the compelling gameplay and a soundscape that blends in seamlessly too.
As for negatives for Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter, there really aren’t any. It’s an awesome game that has a great story and sets up the rest of the Liberl series well, prepping you for the lead in to Trails of Cold Steel (review here) and Trails From Zero (review here). I guess if you don’t have the literally hundreds of hours it takes to see the larger series through to its full conclusion, that’s a negative, and this remake certainly isn’t cheap at $60 but it is a AAA game with a good 40+ hour story and even more gameplay if you’re a completionist. But the game is fun, the characters are memorable, and the story is great (unless you’ve played it before…then it’s still great but completely unchanged)! The translation is solid too, which was definitely a concern with a shift to a new publisher and localization team. Yes, it’s a simpler game than other entries, but sometimes that simplicity is a good thing and the traditional RPG approach definitely doesn’t feel stale here in any way. Honestly, this is a heck of a win for Falcom and Gung Ho and it’s almost guaranteed you’re going to want to play the next two games in the trilogy once they make their way out. This is honestly a must-own game, so don’t hesitate! Now if only they’d consider updating the Gagharv trilogy to fit in with the rest of the series…
This review is based on a digital copy of Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter provided by the publisher. It was played on a PS5 using a 1080p TV and on the Playstation Portal and played equally well on both. Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter is also available for Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 and PC on Steam. An upgrade pack is available for the Switch 2 version of the game.
Nate Van Lindt has been a gamer since the days of yore (aka Commodore 64), and has played a bit of virtually everything out there. He's also an avid comic book collector, both vintage and current, and reads a fair amount of sci-fi and fantasy. On top of that, he watches a fair number of movies and TV shows as well. Oh, and he has a family, a full-time job, and lives somewhere in the urban wilds of Southwestern Ontario, Canada, foraging for old video cables and forgotten game soundtracks.