The Second Chapter

I was a tad late to the party on Nihon Falcom’s The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky. It was graciously localized by the team at Xseed in 2011, but I didn’t play it until this past September. I’d heard a not inconsiderable amount of praise for the game, but those voices never really came to the forefront until the impending release of Trails in the Sky Second Chapter. The project had been considered abandoned by the community due to a lack of communication from Xseed and the massive amount of text the company were tasked with translating. Fortunately, they did get the project done and Second Chapter was released this past October, not long after I’d finished its predecessor. Of course, I’d long since moved on to other games at this point and found myself working through titles like Final Fantasy Type 0 and Disgaea D2--but as soon as I was done there, I picked up where I left off.

I enjoyed the first chapter of the Trails in the Sky story a lot, but I have to admit it would have been incredibly disconcerting to experience that cliffhanger of an ending with no way to be sure a sequel would ever be released. In Japan, all three chapters of Trails in the Sky were released back to back. Xseed, appreciated as their efforts are, took four years to release Second Chapter--and this is a sequel to a game that was originally released in Japan in 2006. The graphics are certainly dated--and honestly, they probably weren’t all that impressive even for the time--but the gameplay, dialogue, and plot more than make up for that.

Second Chapter picks up just exactly where the first game left off. It’s such a seamless transition that I wasn’t surprised at all to learn that the two halves were originally intended to be one game. You’re even able to transfer save data from First Chapter in order to carry on with your characters’ statistics completely intact. Of course, there are some new mechanics introduced, mostly to accommodate the game’s much higher level cap. It is possible to equip higher level orbments--magical relics that boost statistics and unlock powerful spells for your characters. Party members from the first game will learn upgraded versions of their previous skills as well as frequently a few new ones. It is also possible to combine with other party members and unleash Chain Crafts, damaging area skills that affect a larger area based on how many members participate. The battle system is completely identical other than these few new features.

The First Chapter ended with some shocking revelations and much of the Second Chapter focuses on uncovering more information about those secrets and going in depth about the ancient artifact Estelle and her companions came into contact with underneath Grancel castle. She’ll find herself revisiting all of the principal locations from the first game. I was a little disappointed in the lack of new environments for the sequel, but the dialogue and interactions between characters kept me suitably entertained even so. Second Chapter also affords you the opportunity of having more control over your party’s composition, especially for the first 3/4ths of the game. This is a welcome change, particularly since the game boasts an impressive 12 character roster, several of which were not playable in the first game. Of course, a few of these are only available at very late stages of the game.

Second Chapter’s primary weakness is in its lack of variety compared to the first game. Almost no areas in the game are new save for a few dungeons. I was looking forward to venturing onto Erebonian soil or visiting Calvard--but the vast majority of the game takes place in Liberl in the very same towns Estelle and Joshua already visited. Of course, the breadth of character development, quests, and things to do are impressive--but it’s disappointing that they all take place in such familiar locations. It makes a lot of sense when you consider Second Chapter was released as an extension instead of a straight up sequel--but here in the States when the first game was released in English some four years ago, it’s jarring not to see more of an advancement.

Trails in the Sky Second Chapter is essentially just more of the same--but when you’re discussing games as good as these are, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I had a blast learning more about Estelle Bright’s motley band of companions and their various backstories and motivations. Characters that had never clicked with me before became more interesting due to events of the plot and how these characters played a part in it. Trails gives ample time to each of its characters and makes them important--or at least this is true for the vast majority of the game’s running time. Bizarrely, the game throws three new playable characters at you in the final dungeon. They are characters that have been around for awhile, but it’s strange that they weren’t made available prior to 60 hours of game time. It strikes me as poor planning, but I suppose it’s better than not including them at all. And hey, maybe they were being set up for inclusion in the Third Chapter, but it’s probably too early to even think about that receiving the localization it so desperately needs.