It’s not that it really matters all that much if a writer has the grand scope of their story planned in advance before they start creating. What really matters is the final product. If I as a reader, as a viewer, as a player, can’t tell that this story was written “by the seat of the author’s pants,” as it were, then who cares? Still, there’s something really magical about seeing a story planned and executed from the beginning with such precision. And sometimes it’s only possible to see that planning and execution by returning to the beginning with future context in mind.
Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter brilliantly concludes the story set up in Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter, while at the same time laying the groundwork for an epic story the likes of which the video game industry has never seen. It’s masterful storytelling on every level. Characters we love, or love to hate; a world that feels as rich and lived in as the best JRPG worlds always do; and a plot that trucks along at a steady pace, amping up the stakes slowly, until we’re the proverbial frog in the pot of boiling water and suddenly there are world-ending events transpiring around us. Every aspect of the storytelling sings. But beyond that, it does something that most creators just aren’t able to do, and it does so with an industry’s worth of odds stacked against it: It manages to tell a complex story with a solid plan from the beginning, and it brilliantly lays out its path here. Like I said, this can only be appreciated in retrospect; those of you playing these games and this series for the first time with the Sky remakes aren’t going to realize this for some time yet. But sitting here at the end of the series, revisiting this world and these characters that I adore, I’ve somehow gotten more than I could have ever expected from a remake of a beloved game.
The Rich Story of Trails Starts Here
After the events of Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter, Estelle Bright finds herself all alone. After a brief bout with depression and denial, she decides to fight back, and thus begins one of the greatest JRPG stories ever told. Though really, it’s more accurate to say thus begins the second half of one of the greatest JRPG stories ever told, because Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter does not pretend it is anything but that. Starting your Trails journey with 2nd Chapter is the equivalent of sticking your finger somewhere in the middle of Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, opening the book to that spot, and diving in from there. You’re going to be confused, the characters will all know one another and reference people and places and events you know nothing about, and your experience will be lesser. Not to say that it would be impossible to enjoy the story and gameplay in 2nd Chapter without playing 1st. You could. But I think you’d agree you would be robbing yourself of a fundamental part of the experience.
Being burdened with the responsibility of executing on the brilliant set up of Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter is this game’s challenge, and it meets it so brilliantly, I’m frankly shocked. Like, I knew the story already, right? I’ve been a Trails fan since the earliest days, I played the original PSP version on my Vita TV. But the presentation of the story here makes it feel brand new. It’s told across eight chapters, plus an intro and finale, so ten parts in total, and each part manages to feel like a compelling story in its own right while coalescing with the rest into a beautiful whole. Honestly, there’s only one point where the story dips, Chapter 7, and then only because the main gameplay elements involve running through four nearly identical dungeons. That’s not to say the storyline developments aren’t interesting there, because they definitely are. It’s just maybe the one spot where I felt the pace sag a bit. The pacing overall of 2nd Chapter is quite a bit better than 1st, despite being a longer story, simply because the vast majority of introductions are already out of the way. We know the world, the country, each town and city. The only new major party member we need to learn about is Kevin Graham, and admittedly Kevin is one of the best characters in the entire Trails series, so learning about him is a joy, but beyond that it’s really just the villains that we need to get to know. And the villains really make this story extra special.
We were briefly introduced to the Society of Ouroboros in 1st Chapter, but only obliquely and without much context. Here, Ouroboros takes center stage. Georg Weissman is the ringleader, though it’s made clear he’s not actually in charge. That role goes to someone known as The Grandmaster, a person we don’t actually meet or learn much about at all, except that they have predicted a great deal of the events that have transpired. Of greater interest in the immediate story, though, are the Enforcers. These are lower-ranking but still incredibly powerful members of the Society that are tasked with taking on various jobs at Weissman’s behest. And most interestingly of all, they each have some connection with our party. Some of those connections are newly formed, some come with a lot of historical baggage, but regardless, by tying the villains so closely to the heroes, the story is able to generate an enormous amount of tension that it then gets to pay off down the road. By the time you reach the conclusion of 2nd Chapter, each villain and their affiliated characters will have had a satisfying story told about them, all in the midst of the greater story unfolding around them.
Estelle is still the star of the show, though, and when it comes to character development, she’s still the focal point of the writers’ interest. Not to say that the other characters don’t develop. We see a lot of growth from people like Agate and Tita, Kloe, Zin, Schera, and we even see some new sides of constant comic relief Olivier. But the lion’s share of development definitely belongs to Estelle. Her hunt for Joshua takes up a good chunk of the game, and seeing her come to terms with what he’s done and what he’s doing, along with working up the resolve to bring him back, is one of the greatest character transformations in JRPGs. She genuinely grows.
The characters, I want to add, are all brilliantly portrayed by their actors, and the localization is top notch as well. I will say that, compared to the original version’s localization, this one is different. The original localization definitely went a bit more stylized, while this one plays it a lot safer. Here, we get repeated lines like Estelle’s now (painfully) trademarked “WHAAAAAT?” delivered frequently, whereas the original localization came up with other appropriate responses for Estelle in place of that repeated line. It comes down to a difference in the Japanese language versus the English language. There are things like context and subtext that Japanese players will be able to read into a line like that, and those things aren’t present in the English version. So I would say that “WHAAAAAT” is not an optimal translation, even if it’s not “technically” incorrect. But those issues are minor, and by and large the localization is of high quality.
If you’re a story fiend, I’m sure fans have told you that you need to get into the Trails series. That’s more true than ever. If you have any doubt that a duology like this can pull off storytelling of high caliber, please understand that those doubts are unnecessary. Even if you have issues with future entries in the Trails series, and I do have some myself despite being a super fan, I’m comfortable saying that Trails in the Sky doesn’t suffer from those issues. The duology together is as close to perfect in the story department as I think you’re likely to find, depending on your preference for these kinds of stories. It’s big, it’s long, it asks a lot of you in terms of patience and attention. But if you’re looking for an epic story in one of the coolest worlds in fiction, these are the games for you. And 2nd Chapter is the near-perfect conclusion to that story.
Hybrid Combat Is the Way Forward, and Companies Need to Steal It
The Trails series has always had cutting-edge combat in the turn-based arena. From the very beginning, its unique blend of position-based special attacks and its push-and-pull mechanic rewarding CP (craft points) based on engaging in combat which in turn allows the use of more powerful special moves, these were A-plus elements of a compelling battle system. The system was refined over the years, all the way to Trails through Daybreak, which rewrote the rules in a pretty significant way, but without losing any of what came before. Combat still involved all those key elements, though updated with many more modern conveniences, but developer Falcom incorporated a full action-based combat system outside of its classic turn-based system. This allowed players to attack and weaken enemies prior to engaging in turn-based battles, or to simply attack and kill enemies in action combat without stopping for a turn-by-turn fight. Since then, this system has been iterated on, and it’s in Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter that we see the most fully realized version of it yet.
Engaging with the trash mobs that populate the roads between towns and within the dungeons in action combat feels better than ever. The actual mechanics of the combat are still relatively simple, especially compared to dedicated action RPGs like Falcom’s own Ys series, but they’re definitely rich enough to be enjoyable. Dodging around enemy attacks with perfect precision creates this cool-but-brief slow motion effect that’s super stylish, and unleashing on a wide group of enemies with a craft attack is incredibly satisfying. If I had one criticism of the action combat in previous Trails titles, it would be that enemies are a bit damage-spongy. The idea of using action combat to “speed up” the trash mob battles would sometimes be undermined by their stoutness, leading to super long fights. This was Falcom’s way of encouraging players to fully engage with the combat system by stunning enemies in action combat to give yourself an advantage in turn-based. But in Sky 2nd, and I can’t back this up with data, but it definitely felt like enemies were a bit better balanced overall. Some enemies definitely still have a lot of HP, but if you want to engage primarily in action outside of boss battles, you can do that.
I don’t, though, because the turn-based combat is somehow even more satisfying than the action. As I mentioned, stunning an enemy by continually attacking them and then jumping into turn-based combat will give you an advantage. In the Sky games, that means starting out with a team-up attack on the stunned enemy. As you progress and put together your team, you’ll eventually be able to do team-up attacks with everyone in your party all at once, which shows off flashy attack animations and deals a ton of damage. Outside of those special moves, your orbments – essentially devices that let you cast magic – can be customized so that each character’s spell loadout can be significantly different. The actual customization process is somewhat complex, though the remake has taken some great steps to clarify it compared to the original. Magic effects are spectacular in this game, one-upping even the previous entry in showiness. Some of this is due to the more powerful spells you’re able to access. You start out feeling strong in this game. By the end, if you play it right, you can feel like a god.
Obliterating regular enemies with these combat systems just feels so darn good. I’m basically in love with it. That’s why I think other companies need to steal it. Metaphor Re Fantazio from Atlus already sort of did, though the action combat there feels a bit more like a half-measure than a full-on adoption of the style. Giving players the choice between combat styles, and letting them mix and match them on an ad hoc basis, is such a player friendly option, and it really elevates the recent Trails games to their own level.
The game has variable difficulty options, and I played primarily on Normal. I can’t speak to anything harder than that, so your mileage may vary, but I know from both first- and second-hand experience that Hard and Nightmare difficulties in Trails games tend to be very challenging, so if you’re in the mood for that sort of gameplay, this game offers it.
Outside of combat, your engagement with the game is pretty standard JRPG stuff: Explore towns, talk to NPCs, take on side quests. The side quests always deserve a special mention in a Trails review, because out of all JRPG series, they tend to do the best job of incorporating character development and worldbuilding into the quests themselves. As a Bracer, Estelle and her friends’ literal job is to take on odd jobs for people, from as simple as finding a lost cat all the way up to engaging in international diplomacy. The main quest is driven by these sorts of tasks, but there are plenty of extra quests to take on that fill out the world and even give us more insight into the team. You can definitely fly through the game without doing them, but you’re robbing yourself of a richer experience for a quicker one. Take your time and finish out every side quest before progressing, it’s worth it.
All the Rest Is Gold
The music is classic Falcom. It’s classic Trails, too, and literally. The entire Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter soundtrack has been redone, and of course you can choose from previous versions of the soundtrack in the options menu if you prefer. I always struggle with what to say about a Trails soundtrack. The sound team at Falcom is made up of a bunch of brilliant musicians, and they make consistently excellent work that very much has a “house style” sound to it. You can always tell a Falcom piece even listening blindly. But beyond that, I’m not sure how else to sell it. Very good, very hummable, very fitting tunes.
Graphically, this is a beautiful game. It leans into the anime aesthetic, but with a softer tone than previous Trails subseries. The character designs are and were always top notch, the environments are gorgeous if occasionally a little samey (we’re playing a game that takes place largely within a single small kingdom, so it makes sense), and the user interface enjoys the benefits of decades of refinement since the original version of this game.
As I sit here, nearing the end of this review, I’m genuinely trying to think of a piece of biting criticism. I’m coming up with nothing. Well, wait: I think the main battle track is a bit lesser than the battle track in Sky 1st Chapter. Does that count as a criticism? Maybe, except the track is still great, just not as great. I have and will always criticize the games I love when I feel it’s warranted, but here? This is as close to perfection as a game can get. This entire duology (hopefully soon to be trilogy) is basically perfect. And I hope Falcom has learned a lot from the development of these games as they look to the future of the series. There’s something extra special about the early parts of the Trails series, and I think they could easily recapture that spirit as they move forward if they hold onto the lessons from this game.