I've never been a big JRPG person except for Persona, but I fell head over heels for The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel port that came to PC back in 2017. I can't even remember the exact circumstances that led me to put 50 hours into a game I'd never heard of before, but its characters, combat, and academic structure really resonated with me.
Since then I've come to the conclusion that everyone is secretly a JRPG fan—it's just about finding the right one at the right time in your life. Over the subsequent years I played all four of the Trails of Cold Steel PC ports as they were released, but it always rankled with me that if I wanted to go back to the start of the series (five games earlier) and experience the story from the beginning, I'd have to play a 21-year-old game.
There is a 2014 PC port of the original Trails in the Sky, but I'd be losing out on all the combat features added over the years, a whole heap of QoL, and would have to deal with the perspective shift from full 3D to that classic chibi-sprite isometric look that older JRPGs favour. Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter has now been remade, thank the gods, and having spent a week playing the whole thing I can say: it's really good.
Now this is the bit where I explain what makes the Trails series appealing enough that I spent all of last week completing every quest, when I was supposed to be taking a break after mainlining Silksong. Trails is all about the very big and the very small; about cozy little lives colliding with grand political struggles. In Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter, you play as Estelle and Joshua Bright, newly recruited Bracers eager to earn their stripes by helping out the citizens of Liberl (pronounced Liberal for some reason).
While you don't play as members of the Bracer Guild in every Trails game, the spirit of these grassroots odd-jobbers and folk heroes permeates the series, as you find yourself doing anything from rescuing a lost cat, to overthrowing corrupt government institutions. Despite no political affiliations, Bracers serve the people and this invariably brings them into contact with the sinister machinations taking place across the rival countries of Erebonia, Liberl, and Calvard.
Letting you start in real-time combat and switch into turn-based is an excellent mechanic
It's what makes Trails feel so tonally unique; both cozy yet dark. At one moment it's a heartwarming game about helping small townsfolk, and the next, you're uncovering some grand evil plot to dominate mankind—the very big and the very small, as mentioned. Trails' three-country structure also makes it an incredibly satisfying slow-burn, as it spends multiple games in each, establishing characters and perspectives for each of the series' major events. It's genuinely one of the longest and most interconnected JRPG series out there.
What makes the Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter remake so special, though, is just that: it's a remake. It's become all too common for publishers to trot out a simple aspect ratio shift or minimal changes before slapping the "remake" badge on a classic game. Here, however, you've got a remake that transforms the original Trails in the Sky into full 3D third-person, essentially the equivalent of a modern Trails game, with all of the series' QoL and combat mechanics included.
Letting you start in real-time combat and switch into turn-based is an excellent mechanic, allowing you to burn through weak enemies without having enter a turn-based battle everytime. You also don't have to worry about getting pulled into a battle by simply touching an enemy—they actually have to hit you a few times in order to put you at a disadvantage. As someone who hates evading enemies I don't want to fight in JRPGs, this system, in-particular, is a revolutionary addition.
Watching a side-by-side of the original versus the remake is the best way to see how significant all of these changes are, but despite all that, it still manages to retain the same series spirit. It's a great story and the relationship between the two main characters, Joshua and Estelle, is equal parts hilarious and heartwarming, and had me in stitches at times. Estelle, in-particular, fast became one of my favorite characters when she inexplicably dropkicked someone in the first five minutes.
It's also got a strong, chaptered structure and a variety of other characters who'll join your party throughout, but even then it's not too big a time commitment as JRPGs go. I did literally every sidequest in the game, plus explored and levelled quite heavily (to the point I accidentally trivialised the last boss), and it came out at 40 hours for me. I'd definitely recommend doing some of the sidequests if you want the full experience, but you could complete it in 25-30 for sure.
Plus, since Falcom has confirmed that the second chapter is also getting a remake, we might very well see all of the arcs before Cold Steel getting adapted, so there'll be plenty more to play in time.
If I've piqued your interest, you can try a demo of Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter on Steam (or buy the full thing).
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