The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky

For me, the question in regards to RPGs isn't if it's worth buying, but if it's worth playing. After all, an RPG usually require a huge time investment to see it to its completion. With how dirt cheap this game is on the sales it often goes on, the question should thus really be; it worth to sink the 40-50 hours into it that it takes to finish it?

Yes. I do think so. However... I didn't feel that way when I started to play it at first.

Prior to this the only Legend of Heroes game I'd ever played was The Legend of Heroes: A Tear of Vermillion and I remember loving it and being super invested in the story. (Please make a PC port!) I was literally glued to my PSP back then. I think I probably expected to be pulled in right away in much the same fashion, when I started this game, but it did not happen.

But after starting this game twice, and quitting twice during the prologue because I didn't have the patience to get through the slogfest of its turn based battles and the poor pacing of the start of the game. It also didn't help that I was generally busy with other things in life to be able to set aside ample time for RPGs anymore unless they were really compelling from the start.

But at last, about a decade after getting it, I finally played it in full and it was actually so worth it. And now I am eager to play the next one. I also found if you hold down the sprint button it speeds up everything, which is really good when you deal with the battles. I only found this out 24 hours into the game sadly. (I played with PS4 controller, it was the R2 button for anyone wondering, idk about on keyboard.)

I still say the game is slow to take off, though and I am not actually in favor of it. While, in hindsight after knowing the full plot, I get that it is to set everything up I still say it could have been done a lot better. I think a game should pull you in from the start and in terms of pacing it's just not well done. For sure, it does get so much better and totally pulled me in and kept me invested eventually which made it worth it, but I contest that no game should make you sit through hours of what feels like slog before it starts to feel good. This is a game, we play it for fun, after all.

In terms of cast, 10/10. I genuinely like all the characters, as well, which for me is usually one of the biggest important factors in an RPG. The music as Falcom is known for imo, is amazing, too. This is, barring the slow start, a great JRPG and despite its flaws, I recommend it to anyone who likes the genre. Just be aware that the start is imo pretty boring and poorly paced and the turn based combat is a snorefest even when sped up.

Also, the sidequests expire and the game isn't really clear about when this happens and I absolutely dislike it. There's a ton of achievements you can miss out on due to missing cues such as buying newspaper issues, doing all sidequests etc. Personally I don't really care about achievements but be aware of this when you do. personally I simply did wanna do all sidequests for flavor and lore and it just feels like sh*t to check the board and see quests have expired that you actually wanted to do. So if you care for them, check them in between every main quest/event or use a guide.

After attempting to play through Dragon Age Veilguard, this has been an awesome palette cleanser. I've been debating on taking the dive into the Trails series for a good bit, and this has been a huge breath of fresh air, the characters are fun and entertaining. The writers seem to have a concrete plan going forward, and the Orbment/Battle systems are very fun to mess around with and I'm excited for the rest of this game and the rest of the series.

i cried at the end 100/10

Awesome game! Even though I've never played it makes me very nostalgic for the PSONE era. It has some silly outdated japanese humor but the battle system is very engaging and the characters are worth learning more about as the story progresses. Just a fun game. Looking forward to playing all the sequels.

Thoroughly enjoyed this game. It was nice to play a JRPG where for the majority of the game, you were just 2 kids going around solving local issues that slowly escalated in scope. The strength of the game is definitely the laid back atmosphere, world building, and the characters. The music is also amazing, the default battle theme is so good, you'll be upset when anything else plays. The story does a great job in creating opportunities for the 2 protagonists to grow and learn about world alongside the player. I also really enjoyed reading the in-game books and journals.

Combat is good but I think there's a lot of ways to improve it (which they hopefully did later in the trilogy). It's turn based but the characters can also move around on a flat grid similar to an SRPG. The positional aspect only really comes into play with AOE moves when things are grouped together or in a line but you don't often get to use those moves to the degree you might expect. It woulda been nice to also get bonuses to attack enemies from certain angles similar to SRPGS. The orbment system does its job but "maxing" it out feels a little rushed and the way the bonuses work to give you different elemental skills feels a little over-designed; another element I hope they polished in the sequels. Worst part about the game is there's way too many missable stuff. Hidden items or npc dialogue that leads to an extra quest etc. I ended up playing through using a spoiler-free walkthrough which was a pain and made it take way longer to finish the game.

I'd recommend the game still though for fans of JRPGs. The story wraps up nicely but also sets up the sequel in the last moments with a cliffhanger. Will definitely be checking that out.

Oh and ran flawlessly on the Deck, finished my entire playthrough on it.

the game only seems slow because of the amount of unique dialog you get from talking to villagers after every little story beat

Really compelling slow-burn story. The game takes its time introducing the world to you, and it's a great payoff once the big events start to ramp up. I love how alive the world feels just from talking to NPCs; they're not one- or two-line information dispensers. Looking forward to the next entry.

The world building of Trails game is phenomenal this game has a great story and characters I would suggest anyone wanting to get into trails series to start from this one don't make the same mistake as me of playing Cold Steel series first if you aren't fan of the old style gameplay the remake to this game is coming out next year but play in the right order i.e. Sky trilogy , Zero and Azure then the Cold steel this journey would be a long one but it would be worth it till the end

One of the best jrpg series out there

"The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky" is like sinking into an epic novel that just happens to be a game. The story kicks off with Estelle and Joshua, two kids stepping into the world as junior bracers (kind of like travelling heroes-for-hire), but it quickly turns into something so much more. This isn't your typical 'save the world' adventure—it's about family, friendship, and the kind of character growth that you don’t see coming but feels totally natural.

One thing I love is how alive the world feels. Every NPC has something to say, and what’s cool is that they change as you progress. It’s like being in a place where the people have their own lives and problems, not just standing around waiting for you to talk to them. And the towns and landscapes? They’re bursting with little details that make you want to slow down and take it all in.

The combat is a nice balance of strategy and fun. It uses a turn-based system with a twist: you can customize your abilities with this "orbment" system, letting you mix and match skills to fit your playstyle. It’s easy enough to pick up but deep enough to keep battles from getting stale.

But really, what makes this game unforgettable are the characters. Estelle is not your typical RPG heroine—she’s strong-willed, a bit clumsy, and totally endearing. Joshua is her quieter, more mysterious counterpart, and together they make a duo you can't help but root for. The story takes its time, so by the end, you feel like you've truly gone on a journey with them.

If you’re into JRPGs with a soul—something that’s more than just fighting and leveling up—give Trails in the Sky a shot. It’s a slow burn, but it stays with you long after, like a favorite book you keep coming back to. Highly recommend!"

It sure is a psp jrpg. The combat can be a bit clunky, especially in the end game but the story is really good.

Proper JRPG epic. Feels right at home with the Final Fantasy's, Dragon Quests, Grandia's and other JRPG greats.

Fantastic cast of characters, beautiful art, best in class world building and fun systems. Adored it.

The first chapter in a long and great jrpg series.

Its story is great and builds up towards its next chapter, and the series is consistent in its world building and scale. Its only downside is the somewhat basic/dated mechanics of its combat system, and every chapter after polishes and improves upon that ^^

I honestly can't recommend it enough.

Story starts slow, but boy it picks up. Combat is quite simple, but its pretty fun, a mix of tactical and turn based combat. Very charming world and characters. Can't wait to start SC!

I finally finished this game and I want to say one thing: a complex story and incredibly charismatic characters.
The realization that this is only the beginning of the Liberl Kingdom arc and it takes up less than half of the entire plot breaks my brain
The number of interesting characters is very large (Estelle alone is worth something), and the realization that each character in the story is doing their own thing somewhere in the country makes the game lively
And in general, this is one of the few games where I talk to passers-by or residents of cities and villages, because I want to learn more about the world, learn small stories of important or secondary characters
And the Legend of Heroes series is the best game in this regard at the moment, I definitely recommend playing it.

The beginning is just way way too much of a slog. I'm two hours in and all the events are incredibly inane, combat is uninteresting an time consuming, and the mine cart I need to do like four times just to open a door was the final straw.

You can talk to the empty chests in this game for God's sake. What more could you possibly want?!

I just beat this game, and all I can say is: it's great. The story, the characters, world building are all really well done. The battle mechanics are also pretty great as well. Honestly can't wait to get my hands on the second chapter.

Quick little story about my experience with this game. I had heard the internet rumor buzz about this being a great series, so I decided to check it out. And I fully bounced off the game. The game felt way too bloated and way too dialog heavy. So if that's something you're not into I would suggest maybe not this game.

However, clearly I've come to love this game. I'm on a current streak of playing through some longer games and decided to come back to this series. Man am I glad I did that. This has been an absolute ride. I loved it. Estelle is probably one of my favorite characters in a game.

Fun game, pretty standard game play, appreciate the depth of game play cooking attributes. Dislike the high prices of equipment

I love abusing chaos brand.

Anyway the game is game is great, with great characters and great worldbuilding. If I were to point out some cons, they'd probably be how confusing the orb system can be and how long and slow the prologue is.
Once you get past chapter 1 the game picks up the pace and pulls you in with a really interesting plotline that kept me interested throughout the whole game and wanting for more.
I WILL be playing the other games.

8.5/10

Needs more Agate screentime.

this game is an excellent jrpg. i highly recommend it to those with limited/older computers, and to anyone looking for a fun jrpg experience.

Its hard to describe just how this game made me feel. This game is special. Perhaps a PSP release and a late journey to North America cost this series exposure to the English Speaking world, but frankly this is a special game. Its cozy, the music is comfortable and despite there being a lot at stake i just love roaming around hoping Josh and Estelle smooch. I can see where the fanfare comes from, this is THAT game. If you like ff9 especially, this is that game. the steam punk setting is awesome, the rotating party members keeping josh and estelle company keep the story interesting. I loved the orb system, and the grid turn based combat was enough of a variance to keep combat interesting. the only people i would tell not to play this game are those who don't want to invest in a multi-game story arc, but do that at your own loss, this is a game and franchise that deserves all of the applause.

Great JRPG! Right there with the best, actually. Cheerful characters, fantastic story, Excellent gameplay with Guild missions and lot of optional side quests. This is the first chapter in this long and successful Trails saga. Only thing I found lacking is the amount of achievements. 27 would be decent for some game that lasts for a couple of hours, but as we are speaking about tens of hours at the bare minimum here, it's too few. I'm 6 hours into the game and haven't get a single achievement yet. It's really not rewarding. In this kind of game, there should be at least 270 of them, if not even more.

Please for the love of god play this game (and its two sequels). Literally one of the most refreshing JRPG experiences I've played in a very long time, in large part due to an absolutely fantastic localization. I was incredibly impressed by how good the pacing was across all three games. They never seem to rush the story, but also they generally do not actually waste your time with pointless drudgery. It feels that both the faster-paced parts as well as the slower-paced parts are used very effectively to drive at least one character's characterization forward. Throughout all three games, I really have come to love the country of Liberl and its people. There is a strong sense of place and permanence, both in the locations you visit, but also the characters that you meet.

I will say: even if you find yourself to be the impatient type, consider allowing yourself to become immersed in this story. I think it's absolutely worth your time.

i am glad that i gave this OLD RPG a try. This game is made by DEVS that truly love RPG. A great way to introduce the start of the series. The combat needs a little get used to especially on how to setup to get good spells but is easy once you get the hang of it.

The game slowly introduces to important characters as you journey with the main protaganists and you can see how they grow from newbies to full flleage bracers. The story can be slow as the world is quite detail.
However,, the last fight is insane which i thought that i might not be able to beat.

All in all. I had fun and thanks for such memorable experience.

Nostalgia free opinion- genuinely one of the best in the genre. Yeah combat is a bit of a bore at times, but great characters and the solid story elevate it to way up there.
Two bits of advice:
1) Take your time, do the side quests and chat with the NPCs. Lots of good stuff in there.
2)Get Haze and pop it on one of your characters as soon as you can. You can then pick and choose your random encounters and keep the grind to the minimum

Besides a few minor things I've noticed, this game is so far (30 hours in) extremely good. It actually makes me kind of annoyed because the story, world-building and characters have so much care put into them it makes most RPG games that have come out recently look absolutely awful.

The game features a large amount of combat. It expects you to interact with this side of it very often.
And yet, the combat system is primitive - and ignores basic principles. There is almost nothing that would affect enemy behavior - they (and you, too) can freely move around, ignoring their opponents' presence.
On your turn, you can just walk over to a desired target and hit them.
In addition, the entire game is operated with a mouse. There are no hotkeys to speed up combat - to make an attack, you have to move cursor to the attack button, then back to the enemy. Every single time. And there are a lot of times you have to attack something.
So far - 8 (!) hours into the game - the story isn't particularly good either, and every now and again it goes into extremely juvenile humor. Have you ever wanted to see pixelated boobs zoom into you just because you decided to use a powerful attack? Then, this is a game for you.

story is excellent. Graphics feel a bit dated, but the character portraits are made with so much feeling and detail that it more than makes up for the rest. Combat is a bit simple, but still fun. A good entry to the series. I've heard it only gets better after this one, and I can't wait to find out!

The vibe of this game reminds me of old favourites like Grandia and Star Ocean: the Second Story. The 2 main characters have great personalities! Combat has lots of options, and as an FFX fan-granny I love the column that shows when we and the enemy get turns. I've only just started, but already this is a fun game!

I really enjoyed the story. It starts off slow but is good once it gets going.

I'm not a fan of missable content, so the fact that a lot of things can be missed is a con for me.

The battle system was fun and I didn't feel the need to grind at all. It also made the game a bit more challenging at some points, but thats not necessarily a bad thing.

Definately work picking up.

The Trails series is the gold standard of worldbuilding, and as the first game of the long running series this game is both the best entry point to a liner series (obviously) but it's also dated. If you're looking to try this series, also take a look at Trails of Cold Steel 1 for a more modern introduction to the series. You should return to this if you like Cold Steel 1

It's an RPG from 2004, in the final years of CRT TVs for reference, and you can feel it in the nuances of how the game plays and presents itself. But it was also a very good 2004 RPG. The combat system has remained largely unchanged, and is at it's simplest here. It's fun to play around with the orbment and elemental value system (There's a screenshot of the page) to get the skills you want, without being so difficult to have you stare at the orbment screen for too long. Placing your team formation takes some practice to utilize but lets you experiment with specialized builds. The delay system is my favorite aspect of the combat, letting a "quick and nimble" character actually feel it as they get more turns than your heavy hitters, and that flexibility is powerful. (it also makes speed your most important stat. Later games have worked to balance the other stats)

In case you were confused, there is no voiced dialog. Characters have some quips when performing actions during combat, but all text on screen is not voiced. The English translation is very good. Estelle and her big stick are a joy and everyone else is just as good. They all have distinct and consistent personalities to go along with their motivations.

Your opponents and allies always have coherent and defined reasons for doing what they are, and the series is consistently great at slowly dripping information to you so you can piece together more of what's happening and why as the story continues. A battle of wits is happening, and you don't even know who all the players are, and trying to piece it all together is the most engaging aspect of this series.

slow story progress being first of trilogy.

outdated battle system even with turbo mode
Non existent level balancing that requires a retry offset mode to save this game from being unenjoyable.
The battle encounter still a pretty abysmal experience.

Good game to introduce Falcom's Legend of Heroes story telling game design.
But quest design is outdated, especially the one involving finding stuff that wont be at the location until you trigger search of other places first - simply dumb.

Just watch on youtube maybe? And it's too expensive even on sale. Doesn't matter how much qol is added when compared to modern gaming design pholisophy.

All in all, you are playing a game originally released in 2004. This is a no voiceover all reading kind of experience.

10 hours in, it's very fun very cool thanks Hart for glazing the series so hard I got this game
Playing alongside a guide makes it a bit better of an experience cause I'm kinda stupid and would totally miss a lot of gameplay elements otherwise lol

A solid introduction to the Trails Series. Estelle is still one of my favorite protagonist to date. Her and her wonderful supporting cast do a fantastic job of welcoming you to their world and the story they wish to tell.

one of best jrpg games ever
Pros:
1- great story line .
2-having fun whole the time cant stop playin it.
3-one of the best jrpg mechanism fight. you will never regret.
4- this is old game but have much more than whole new games nowadays.

cons:
nothing ( literally nothing )

( highly recommanded )

a vlassic turn-based rpg, also gateway into a beloved franchise. recommend if you love world building, fun stories and characters.

Liked it so much I bought the sequel the day after. Likeable characters, great music and locations, fun quests and good overall story.

Start is a little slow, but the story, characters and dialogue are top-tier. Strongly recommended for those who love a good adventure and don't mind playing a game from an era when games didn't hold your hand and didn't care about your feelings when it came to convenience.

INSTALL THE SKYINSTALLER AND APPLY THE VOICE MODS FOR THE 3 GAMES TRUST ME
This game was peak from start to finish, gladd I ended up finding about the SkyInstaller with the voice mods as having voice acting during such amazing scenes really helped drive the emotion.
OST is fantastic 10/10
Story was fantastic and the twist at the end with it ending on such a cliffhanger to get you excited for SC 10/10
DO YOURSELF A FAVOR ANDD PLAY THE ORIGINAL BEFORE PLAYING THE REMAKE WHEN THAT RELEASE PLEASEEEEEE

This game is insane.

Combat - Turn-based with a real-time element & formations. (No Random Battles)

Turn-Based: Turn order is shown on a bar to the left. There's no ATB gauge one needs to wait on before acting. Turns have a chance to have a random boon such as +HP / Attack Power / Etc. that's active for characters and monsters.

Real-Time: Each character has an "S-Break" that gradually fills in combat. Once full, it's used to perform a powerful attack at any time on any turn. This attack puts that action at the top of the turn-list letting a player steal turn boons a monster would otherwise have.

Formations: On Hard and Nightmare difficulties, formations become important later. If defeated, one can try again and switch up formations before re-attempting. These will affect the characters' starting location.


Difficulty - The combat systems shine on Normal & Hard. Nightmare is for the masochistic.

Orbments & Quartz are the primary mechanics governing player power outside of levels & gear. These are very unique systems so it's difficult to draw comparisons with. It directly ties into what magic a character can use as well, and there are a lot of combinations to mess with. "Magic Legos that also give stats"

Story - Cozy, doesn't take itself too seriously, mysterious lore serves as a spine, through-lines all made sense and felt organic.

Soundtrack - Banger.

Sidenote: Best JRPG KB&M controls I've played.

Such a great beginning to a great series! So happy to have all three games in one place.

What an ending. How can you not continue after that?! Awesome game, very good story. Combat a bit meh, but it's 2004, so it's whatever for me. 9/10

It took five tries and ten years to actually get past the Prologue. I regret to inform you that it is, in fact, peak

This well-written, heartwarming JRPG combines a great story with charming characters and fascinating lore. Trust me, you must experience this game at least once in your life 🥹

Outstanding JRPG with a compelling story and an excellent soundtrack. Highly recommended and I'm excited to play the rest of the series!

Check out https://store.steampowered.com/curator/41559946 for more recommendations!

Wonderful game with great story, setting and memorable characters. The localization is excellent. Falcom brings something unique to RPGs compared to the likes of Squeenix or Namco.

It does show its age in places, specially in the last dungeon, but overall the experience remains outstanding.

Trails in the Sky 1 (FC) is the first game in my favorite video game series, yet it is also a difficult game to recommend. Games in the Trails (Kiseki) Series are all very long and slow, requiring a lot of reading. Sky 1 is perhaps the slowest in the series as well with some people even describing the first game as a prologue (which they are not wrong). However, what makes the games good is that they are very well written and have the best world-building that I have ever seen in a video game and nothing even comes close.

One spot where the series shines, in addition to the writing, is with the art direction. While the games have never been graphical powerhouses, they have been well crafted and still hold up quite well.

Another plus to the series is its excellent music. The soundtracks are some of my personal favorites and I continue to listen to many of the tracks regularly.

The last point I will discuss is the combat. Trails in the Sky 1 has a fairly mediocre combat system; however, it is not a bad system and it continues to improve throughout the whole series with the latest entries having some of the best turn based combat that I have seen in an RPG. I just wish that they had higher difficulty settings for the newer games.

The series itself is also quite long. There are 13 games so far with more likely to be on the way. The series can also be divided up into chronological(mostly) arcs that continue to build off of each other. The order is: Sky 1-3, Crossbell 1-2 (Zero + Azure), Cold Steel 1-4, Reverie (an epilogue to Crossbell/Cold Steel), Daybreak 1-2 (or 3?).

Overall, Trails in the Sky 1 itself is a good game, but it is mostly just the starting point for a large series.

PS: I highly recommend installing the Evo Voice Mod for the first 5 games in the series which adds a bunch of Japanese Voice Acting to the dialogue and helps to convey the emotions of the characters (there is no English option). It is also highly recommended to play Sky 1-2 (and maybe 3?) on Normal difficulty as the harder difficulties are not properly tuned. The prologue to Sky 2 on Nightmare is one of the hardest spots in the entire series (and not in a good way).

This game changed my personality.

Altered the chemistry of my brain.

It made me who i am today.

Trails in the Sky is the biggest brainrot inducing game that will make you binge other 10+ games one after another. I'm not tired of recommending it specially for people who want to be addicted like me. I just can't stop thinking about Kiseki. I've played ALOT of RPGs, but nothing reached me like Kiseki does.

The real Kiseki is the friends we'll make along the way while playing this game, like the characters we spent so much time investing and loving. Not just the main characters but I can spend HOURS reading random NPC dialogues. Anton is the man. He's my goat fr.

Play Trails, it's fun.

Can't even get past training. Orbments make some sense, but i don't know what it wants me to do. YT and gamefaqs walkthroughs only confused me more.