Trails In The Sky 1st Chapter Review – A Glorious Return To The Beginning

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Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter solves a common problem for people interested in getting into the long-running Trails series. Though the series has different story arcs set across the continent of Zemuria, and has been releasing games for over twenty years, this first chapter is the perfect place to start to understand the overarching story and connections.

The remake of Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter successfully updates the game to meet modern Trails standards while staying true to the original story. It avoids unnecessary additions – the Trails series is already known for its extensive dialogue – and focuses on faithfully recreating the plot. The localization has also been revised to more closely reflect the Japanese version, and includes some new lines to enhance exploration. This remake didn’t require a completely new script translation, which has been a major factor in delays for previous Trails games to be released in the West.

The story begins with eleven-year-old Estelle eagerly awaiting her father, Cassius, who returns home with an orphaned boy named Joshua, also eleven. Five years later, Joshua is considered family, and both he and Estelle are training to become bracers – heroic protectors who fight monsters and help people in the kingdom of Liberl. As they travel from town to town, completing jobs to earn a higher rank, Estelle and Joshua find themselves caught up in a series of mysteries – from local corruption and kidnappings to a much larger conspiracy that threatens everything they know.

The Trails series is known for its detailed world, but the first game presents it through the eyes of optimistic, classic heroes – a contrast to the more complex moral stories that come later. This approach works perfectly for a coming-of-age tale, especially one with a subtly developing and heartwarming romance. Seeing the world through Estelle’s enthusiastic and spirited perspective is a joy; she’s clumsy and compassionate, and remains one of the best female protagonists in JRPGs. Her relationship with Joshua is particularly memorable. The supporting characters are also well-developed and charming, like the protective and fun-loving Scherazard, and intriguing, such as the flirtatious bard Olivier, who may be hiding secrets.

The characters are beautifully designed with graphics similar to recent Trails games. The game uses a variety of camera angles to clearly show the characters’ expressions, almost like watching an anime. A standout moment is a stage play within the game-it’s much more engaging than the simple character portraits and text boxes used in older games.

While many of the characters have been updated to 3D in newer games, they look their best in 1st Chapter thanks to a beautiful cel-shaded art style. This attention to detail extends to all the supporting characters and even the many townspeople, who often have names and unique dialogue that changes as the story progresses. It’s a little disappointing that, despite including both English and Japanese voice acting, not everything is voiced. While it’s understandable for optional side quests, the main story sometimes lacks voice acting, or only has a few lines spoken by characters.

The game now offers more freedom to explore and engage in battles. While the towns, like Ruan and Grancel, stay true to the original, the roads connecting them have been redesigned. They’re wider, more open, and feature varying heights, encouraging exploration instead of feeling like simple pathways. You can also speed things up with fast travel or a high-speed mode to quickly complete quests and improve your rank at the Bracer Guild. However, fast travel is limited to your current area within the story, and side quests will disappear if you don’t finish them before the plot moves forward.

Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter has been successfully updated, bringing it to the quality level players expect from modern Trails games.

The combat in 1st Chapter is a major improvement, building on the system introduced in Trails Through Daybreak. It blends fast-paced, real-time action with more strategic, turn-based commands, and even includes team attacks from Trails of Cold Steel. This system minimizes repetitive grinding and isn’t just button-mashing; well-timed dodges build up power for stronger attacks, and the game remains easy to follow even when played quickly. Switching between action and turn-based modes is encouraged – stunning an enemy, for example, gives you an advantage in the command system. While action combat excels against single opponents, the turn-based mode lets you use powerful attacks that hit multiple enemies, with options like area-of-effect attacks that cover circles, arcs, or lines. Plus, some enemies are weaker to elemental attacks than physical ones, adding another layer of strategy.

This can sometimes make turn-based battles feel too easy. It’s simple to quickly build up the energy needed for powerful special attacks – like the visually impressive S-Crafts that empty the energy gauge – and team attacks. Then, you can immediately switch to using your strongest moves once you’re ready.

Don’t mistake the game’s accessibility for ease – challenging traditional battles, especially boss fights, still require strategic thinking. Positioning your party members effectively is crucial for dodging enemy attacks and setting up your own. While you can see the order of turns, interrupting or delaying opponents can also give you an edge. The game’s world is built around advanced technology powered by a mysterious energy source called Orbal, and this is reflected in the magical abilities you use. Like the Materia system in Final Fantasy 7, you can equip devices with quartz – different colors represent different elements or powers. For example, blue quartz focuses on water and healing, red on fire and attacks, and yellow on earth and defense. Using higher-level quartz, or multiple quartz of the same color, unlocks more powerful abilities.

Honestly, what I love most about the Trails games is the story, the characters, and how immersive the world is. It’s not really about building the *perfect* team or figuring out complex strategies. They’ve got a bunch of difficulty settings, and if a boss is kicking my butt, I can always retry with them weakened, so I never get stuck because I’m not strong enough. Plus, the game handles party members for you – they come and go with the story. That can be a little annoying if you have characters you really like, because you don’t always get to use them as much as you want. But Estelle and Joshua are always together, so that’s cool!

This remake stays very true to the original, but if you’ve played the story before, you won’t find any new gameplay. Things like cooking recipes – which do have updated animations – and choice-based moments are all from the original game. While it’s still fun to test your skills as a bracer, it would have been nice to see these updated with more significant rewards than just bonus BP, which is easily earned in simple battles.

Okay, so I’ve been playing the remake of the first Trails game, and honestly, it feels really good. It’s a bit more relaxed and easier to get into than the later games, which actually fits perfectly – it *is* the beginning of a huge story, after all. If you’ve been curious about the Trails series but felt intimidated, this is the *perfect* place to start. It’s a really faithful remake and honestly feels like the definitive way to kick off that long journey. Now I’m really hoping they remake the second game soon!

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2025-09-17 22:10