Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter manages to modernise Sky FC without losing its charm

The Trails in the Sky games had a rough time in the move to the west. It took many years for the first game to make its way here, with the next two arriving after a long 6 years. And even now, the only easy way to play all 3 original games in English is on PC.

Because of this, Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter represents not only an opportunity for Falcom to deliver a modern take on the franchise’s beginning, but also have an accessible way for new and existing fans to actually experience it. And, despite some issues I have with the English release, this is an incredibly faithful remake that I’d easily recommend as the new best starting point.

Humble Beginnings

Before an ever-increasing ensemble of heroes, villains, and world ending threats entered the picture, Trails started off with rather humble beginnings. Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter sees Estelle Bright and her adopted brother Joshua becoming Junior Bracers, members of a group that exists essentially to help civilians in their day-to-day lives. From finding lost pets to defeating monsters, the Bracer Guild is there to keep the peace.

Despite just become Bracers, the duo soon find themselves involved with a number of incidents that see them travelling across the kingdom of Liberl. As they help out the Bracer Guild in each region, they learn more about their father — a senior Bracer who seems to be tied up in something big — and the beginnings of unrest in the kingdom.

While modern Trails often has you returning to the same hub area, building up your party over time, the only real constant for most of Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter is Estelle and Joshua. Each chapter has you moving to a new region in Liberl, with other characters coming and going along the way. It’s actually somewhat refreshing coming back to this brisker pace of storytelling, with 1st Chapter “only” lasting around 40 hours. Sure, that’s still quite long, but when you compare it to the latter half of the Cold Steel games it’s almost quaint.

I do think this has its own pros and cons. Despite constantly being on the move Estelle and Joshua are together for the entire journey, learning more about both each other and their responsibilities as Bracers. I’d argue that even though their relationship is somewhat rushed, I still prefer it to how things have been handled post-Sky. You don’t have to make any choices when it comes to romance, which also means the sequel can build upon this without issues.

On the other hand, most of the party are only around for little over a chapter each. You get introductions to each, and I wouldn’t say that any of them are bad, but I almost wish you got to spend more time with them before moving on. And this leads into one aspect of the remake that I’m still surprised by: there’s not actually that much new content.

Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter is an incredibly faithful remake, the main story essentially having nothing new added to it at all. Outside of the English script (more on this later), the only substantial change is the addition of a few extra sidequests. These are mostly just short extras, and it would have been nice if these had given more of a spotlight on the other party members.

Blending Old and New

If the story is faithful to the original, exploration and combat are a mix of different Trails arcs. For the most part, it takes a lot from Trails through Daybreak onwards. You’ve got a mix of simple real-time combat (mostly to take out weaker enemies or get an initial advantage), and turn-based battles that let you move and target attacks in the same turn.

Combat is simple to understand, as you make use of Crafts (skills) to get quick damage or buffs out, while unleashing Arts (magic) to deal elemental damage or more potent effects. S-Crafts, special attacks that use the same resource as regular Crafts, can be used regardless of the turn order to interrupt an enemy or heal the party quickly.

Positioning isn’t as important compared to Daybreak (you don’t need to keep characters close together to activate specific mechanics) though you still have to take into account area of effect moves. Certain Crafts also include bonuses for hitting enemies at the sides or rear, adding some extra strategy to battle.

At its base this is a pretty solid change, though there are more new mechanics stacked on top of this that start to tilt battles a little too far in the player’s favour. You’ve got follow-up attacks (triggered by critical hits or attacking enemies once their stun meter is full), Support Abilities for even more buffs and healing, and Overdrive. Overdrive is an odd one, since it’s a system taken from Trails of Cold Steel 2 but almost feels tacked on here over a integral part of combat.

By the end I was getting back most of the SP I spent on S-Crafts straight away, and even having characters automatically be revived after dying. It almost reminds me of Persona re-releases, where balancing isn’t made with the new systems in mind. What’s here does still work though, and you can get around battles becoming much easier over time by switching to a a harder difficulty setting.

Outside of combat, exploration has seen one main change. For the most part, maps in each region are now connected together seamlessly. You can leave towns without load screens, jumping in and out of battles with no transitions. It’s actually quite cool to exit a town and see characters draw their weapons in real-time, especially when combined with the new visuals. Oddly enough, entering buildings still has a (very short) load screen, an inverse to how the Daybreak games handle this.

Speaking of visuals, the evolution of Falcom’s 3D work across modern Trails games is impressive. We’ve gone from Trails of Cold Steel 1 and 2 with visuals that looked rough even on Vita, to expressive character models and vibrant towns. Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter is naturally not going to match AAA titles in visual fidelity, but if all games in the series looked like this from now on I wouldn’t have any complaints.

The One Caveat

If this was all, then I could call Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter a perfect remake. But when it comes to the western release, it’s hard to end the review without touching upon the localisation. This is the third time mainline Trails games have switched publisher in the west, going from XSEED Games early on, to NIS America, and now GungHo.

While the switch between the first two publishers definitely had its quirks (mostly in regards to the initial launch of Ys VIII over any Trails games), the series has managed to keep fairly consistent across the years. Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter however does not.

Pronunciations, location names, and even terms that appear in later games have been changed in the new script. Some changes initially seen in the demo have now been brought in line with previous localisations, but there’s otherwise still a lot here that doesn’t match up. While it could be fine for a stand-alone title, this does not work when it contradicts 11 other games.

Other than just the localisation, I’d also argue that 1st Chapter features my least favourite English dub for the franchise. Some characters (especially Joshua and Olivier) are great, but others suffer from either a lack of proper direction or just voices that don’t quite match the character.

I’d argue a little of this might be on the localisation itself, outside of the inconsistent terms. For the most parts it’s perfectly fine, far above the PS1 era of JRPG localisations. But it’s often quite dry, lacking some of the flair seen in the original’s XSEED translation. You also have moments where what’s said differs from the text (mostly seen during the last chapter), or lines that don’t quite flow correctly in English — there’s at least one example of this where even the voice actor didn’t quite know how to deliver the line properly.

Overall, I’d say it doesn’t fully detract from 1st Chapter‘s story. But (especially if you want to play with the English dub) it’s a general downgrade in many aspects.

Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter Review – Final Thoughts

Barring my qualms with the localisation, Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter is still going to be the best way for most new players to experience the start of the Trails saga. Its story remains faithful to the original, with gameplay tweaks offering a more modernised experience. I just hope that, even if it doesn’t happen for 1st Chapter post-launch, 2nd Chapter gets a more consistent localisation that doesn’t clash with future games.

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We reviewed Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter on PC using a code provided by the publisher.

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