Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter Review Summary

Exceptional Remake Quality: Players overwhelmingly praise the remake for its significant improvements over the original, including updated graphics, enhanced combat, new content, and user-friendly features. Many consider it one of the best remakes ever made, faithfully preserving the original's essence while making it more enjoyable and accessible.

Stunning Visuals and World Design: The game's graphics, art style, and overall visual presentation are consistently highlighted as mind-blowing and gorgeous. Players appreciate the vibrant, polished visuals, cinematic scenes, and a world that feels alive and carefully crafted, contributing to a highly immersive experience.

Excellent Audio and Localization: The game features great voice acting, with a surprising amount of effort put into its quality and quantity. The soundtrack is fantastic and memorable, and the localization, particularly in Spanish and English, is praised for being natural and accurate.

Engaging Story and Characters: The narrative is lauded for being exceptionally well-written, engaging, and deeply rewarding, with a strong focus on character development. Players quickly grow attached to the charming cast and their interactions, finding the story both funny and touching.

Ideal Entry to Trails Series: Many players consider this remake an ideal starting point for newcomers to the acclaimed Trails series. It effectively introduces players to the cult series, its characters, and its deep lore, making it accessible while maintaining the franchise's high standards.

Poor Localization & Regional Pricing: Players are dissatisfied with the lack of Russian language support and the mediocre quality of German localization. Additionally, the absence of regional pricing for some areas is a significant concern, leading to regret for some purchasers.

Outdated & Unoptimized Graphics: The game's graphical technology is considered significantly behind current industry standards, leading to poor optimization. This results in high hardware strain for moderate performance.

Reduced Voice Acting & Handholding: The remake features less voice acting compared to previous versions and includes more handholding, which detracts from the player experience for some.

Excessive Day-One DLC: The game launched with a substantial amount of DLC, priced nearly as much as the base game itself. This is perceived as an outrage by players, even if much of it is cosmetic.

Confusing Combat & UI: The battle system is described as a confusing mix of command and action elements, and the overall user interface is difficult to understand, hindering player engagement.

Deep, Connected Story Pacing: The game is the first entry in the Trails series, known for its slow, deliberate pacing and extensive, interconnected narrative spanning many games. Players should expect a significant amount of reading and dialogue, as the story and world-building are central to the experience.

Unique Hybrid Combat System: The game features a distinctive battle system that combines real-time 'Quick Battle' for stunning enemies and turn-based 'Command Battle' for strategic attacks. Mastery involves optimizing chain attacks and utilizing crafts and orbal arts effectively.

Quality of Life Improvements Needed: Players suggested several quality-of-life improvements, including integrating arts without screen transitions, adding auto-advance and fast-forward options for messages, and maintaining dash after stopping. These are minor but could enhance user experience.

Demo Progress Carries Over: A demo is available, allowing players to experience the prologue. Progress made in the demo can be seamlessly transferred to the full version of the game, encouraging early engagement.

Extensive NPC Interaction: Players are highly encouraged to engage with numerous NPCs. This suggests that talking to characters is crucial for uncovering lore, side quests, or deeper understanding of the game's world.

Excellent Performance & Optimization: Players consistently praise the game's strong optimization, noting it runs smoothly even on lower-end hardware and is particularly well-suited for the Steam Deck. This indicates a high level of technical polish.

Fast Loading Times: The game features exceptionally fast loading times, to the point where players often don't have enough time to read in-game tips. This significantly improves the flow and pacing of the game.

Useful High-Speed Mode: The inclusion of a high-speed mode is appreciated by players as it helps to reduce the time spent on repetitive movement and battles, enhancing the overall gameplay experience.

Highly Recommended Entry Point: The game is strongly recommended for both newcomers to the series and genre, as well as veterans looking to re-experience the first part. It's considered an ideal starting point for the Trails series and the JRPG genre.

Anticipation for Next Chapter: Players are eagerly awaiting the release of the second chapter of the remake, indicating satisfaction with the current game and a desire to continue the story.

Try the Demo: Players are advised to try the demo to get a feel for the game's aesthetics and gameplay before committing to a purchase.

Worth Full Price for Fans: Some players found paying full price worthwhile, especially if it's a remake of a beloved game.

Desire for more language options: There's a clear demand for additional language localizations, specifically Russian and Spanish. Players are even willing to use fan translations or provide them to developers, highlighting a barrier to accessibility for non-English speakers.

Anticipation for future remakes: Players are eagerly awaiting remakes of subsequent titles in the series, particularly 'Sky the Second' and the 'Crossbell arc', indicating strong interest in the continuation of modernized versions of classic games.

External influence on discovery: Some players discovered the game series through external sources, such as specific video creators. This highlights the role of content creators in game discovery, based on limited feedback.

Appreciation for original game: Many players have fond memories of the original game, often having played it multiple times. They view the first part as a strong foundation for the series, suggesting a high level of nostalgia and satisfaction with the source material.

Interest in female protagonists: One reviewer expressed a desire for more female protagonists in future Falcom titles. This indicates a potential interest in character diversity and representation within the series.