Fan’s Corner – Trails in the Sky

Hi everyone.  The big news from last week was the announcement of release dates for Persona 2: Innocent Sin and Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky, both of which can now be pre-ordered along with our awesome Trails of Innocence Combo Pack, featuring the Collector’s Editions plus the bonus items for both games for £69.98, a saving of an incredible £10 off the full retail price.

However, amidst all the excitement our Agarest: Generations of War Zero fans have not been forgotten and I am delighted to be able to tell you that the first of the Agarest: Generations of War Zero DLC is now available on PSN, all of it for free!  I expect to have news on the paid DLC soon.

We’re also going to be trying something new in today’s blog: our first ever Fan’s Corner. Recently one of our followers on Twitter, Shulvarse AKA Paul Shulver, sent in his thoughts on Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky.  Paul has kindly given us permission to publish his piece in today’s blog.  So, without further ado, I’ll hand you over to Paul:

“Up until about five months ago I'd never heard of Trails in the Sky, however, I noticed it one day while browsing through Gamestop's Coming Soon section.  The game had been given relatively good reviews by the critics and is about to get another one by me.  It seemed unlikely that it would get a release across the pond so the plan was to initially import it, but now with Ghostlight picking it up, we won't have to.

The story centres on Joshua and Estelle, who are the adopted brother and sister of an old war hero named Cassius.  In an effort to follow in their father’s footsteps, Joshua and Estelle both join a guild of mercenaries known as “Bracers”.  Sworn to protect the people of the world, Bracers take on requests which range from simple delivery errands to exterminating prowling monsters. 

The game relies heavily on these optional missions to pad out the main quest, giving you between 8-12 optional requests per town to complete.  The incentive to do so is two fold, in that you are often rewarded with unique items, money and “Bracer Points” to further your notoriety and rank as a Bracer.  I'd wager that the main quest alone is a good 40 hours worth, I finished up on 76 and didn't feel for a second that any of it was time wasted or that it dragged on too long.

The story itself starts off relatively slowly and snowballs into a climax you'll never expect.  With this being the first instalment of the series, don't expect a resolution in the ending.  You'll have a number of “self contained” story lines tied up but the overall plot doesn't end with this game, instead setting you up for what can only be an insane ride of a sequel.  In places the game will have you laughing out loud at some of the facial expressions that accompany the lines of dialogue although don't think for a moment that this game is a light hearted affair as the main quest gets quite dark towards the end.

Battle mechanics should be no surprise to RPG aficionados.  Along the left hand side of the screen there is a Final Fantasy X style turn order indicator which allows you to strategically order your commands to which you absolutely must take notice of.  If you take your eye off the ball in Trails of the Sky the game can quite easily become overwhelmingly difficult.

Each character has their own unique “S-Break” which occurs when they accumulate over 100 “CP”.  “S-Breaks” allow the player to jump into the middle of the action when it's not their turn and unleash their chosen character specific move, which will usually deal damage to the enemy or provide healing and or buffs to the party.  The “CP” gauge can be rolled over to 200 for additional damage and or buffs as well.  Waiting for the right time to use these “S-Breaks” can be crucial to the outcome of long battle so definitely use them wisely.  It's also worth going into battle with your “CP” gauges fully charged to give you the initial edge against some of the tougher enemies and bosses.

Other battle commands include:

Attack (Attack with equipped character specific weapon)

Move (Move the unit within its range designated by the MOV stat)

Arts (Magic)

Craft (Character specific skills)

Run (Escape from battle)

Magical skills are assigned to different characters through the use of “Quartz” which resembles a similar colour and equip system as Materia did in Final Fantasy VII.  Each town has an “Orbment Factory” in which you can synthesize new “Quartz” from “Sepith” dropped by monsters.  Have another read of that last sentence because it'll make a little bit more sense than when you have it over-explained in the game's intro tutorial.  Depending on who you have in your team, some of the characters will naturally be aligned to an element and will only be able to equip certain “Quartz” in certain slots.  Think of it as equipping and combining multiple elements to create new magics and abilities, different combinations will yield different benefits and gives you the ability to customise your 4 characters battle roles.

With that said I hope I've managed to whet your appetite enough to make you want to pick up a copy.  This game is definitely worth a look and definitely one of the best RPGs of the year.  If you're following Ghostlight then chances are you like their portfolio anyway and Trails in the Sky does nothing but strengthen it.”

Thanks to Paul for the excellent little review there (and for doing most of my work for me :)).  The posters for Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky have just shown up here and they’re looking amazing, so you should definitely go and pre-order it here if you haven’t already done so:).

See you next week.

Ross