Falcom is a studio that has made countless incredible RPGs, from the Ys series to Gurumin to Xanadu to Popful Mail to Zwei, but their biggest and arguably most well-known work is the Trails series. With over a dozen Trails games released so far, each around 50-100 hours in length, picking a favorite entry is a big undertaking for a lot of people. But not for me. My favorite arc in Trails has always been the Trails In The Sky games, they're what introduced me to Falcom to begin with, and they're some of the most emotionally invested I've been in any RPG ever.
The story of the Trails In The Sky games is quite a lot to sum up in a single blog post, so I'll try to boil down the things I love about it.
The main plot is primarily about Estelle and Joshua, who travel around the kingdom of Liberl in the hopes of becoming Bracers. Trails is the definition of a slow burn series, with the first game in the trilogy, FC, being primarily focused on thoughtfully building up the world of Liberl and introducing the player to the characters that inhabit it. The world-building in these games is nothing short of marvelous, it's intricate and detailed, and you get a real sense of the inner workings of each of the locations you visit. But even more important is the character-building. FC has a fairly slice of life feel to it, with you getting to spend a lot of time getting to know characters like Estelle, Joshua, Schera, Olivier, and Kloe. And these are great characters, all super rich and likable, though Estelle is far and away the highlight. Her determined personality, biting wit, and deep character development makes Estelle my favorite RPG protagonist, if not my favorite gaming protagonist of all time. Many RPGs just have the plot enter full throttle within the first few hours, but Trails In The Sky gives you an entire game to grow attached to the party before shit really hits the fan in FC's crushing cliffhanger. It's the kind of longform story-telling that I love about TV shows, and as a result, I think FC is my favorite game of the trilogy. It has a uniquely comforting vibe to it that not many other games in the genre could really replicate.
That being said, Trails SC is still pretty stellar. For many people, SC is the peak of the trilogy, if not one of the high points of the entire series and it's not hard to see why. This is the game where everything that FC set up gets paid off, and in spectacular fashion too. Estelle is fun in FC, but SC is where she really gets put through the wringer and matures as a character. I'm really trying hard not to spoil too much here, but SC has one especially cathartic scene between Estelle and Joshua that serves as the perfect summation of what makes this series' writing so good. SC also introduces Renne, another one of my favorite characters for being one of the best examples of just how deep and complex Trails' cast can be. On the gameplay front, SC also takes a pretty huge bump in difficulty compared to the previous game and I think that really aids the story-telling. FC is all fun and games, a light-hearted romp through this complex world. But SC pits you against much tougher enemies right from the start, immediately illustrating how much higher the stakes are.
And then there's Trails 3rd, easily the strangest game in the series. For all intents and purposes, FC is the end of the Trails In The Sky story, and 3rd feels like more of an experimental epilogue. It takes on a unique dungeon crawler progression system that it uses to flesh out the cast of Sky, particularly Kevin and Renne, and offer them all catharsis for issues left unresolved. I kinda like the dungeon crawler stuff, even if it doesn't top the feeling of exploring this massive world, it's surprisingly addictive in its own way. And despite how strange and disconnected it is, I just can't bring myself to separate Trails 3rd from the other two games in the trilogy. It feels like a testament to how much Falcom loves these characters they've crafted, and offers some of the most ambitious and gutsy story-telling and gameplay design in the entire series. 3rd has some incredibly funny and memorable bits of levity (Estelle fishing!), but it also dives into some truly haunting, sickening, and horrifying material (Star Door 15, if you know you know). At its peak, 3rd has some of the most emotionally-resonant moments in the trilogy so even if it's probably the weakest one, 3rd absolutely deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as its predecessors.
I don't have as much to say about the gameplay, the Trails games have always felt like story-first experiences to me. That being said, they're still really fun. The battle system is a bit of a middle-ground between turn-based and strategy, battles are quick but there's an element of planning around the placement of the characters and their turn order which helps them remain engaging. And like all the best RPG battle systems, there's even a small element of customization in the Orbments where you can equip each character with special attacks based on their elemental affinities. But even better than the battle system are the sidequests. Trails In The Sky has the best sidequests I've ever seen in an RPG, they check all the boxes. From a story standpoint, they flesh out the game's many NPCs further, introduced a myriad of smaller side arcs of their own that are just as much of a joy to follow as the main story. And from a gameplay standpoint, almost all of them manage to offer a unique gameplay experience that further fleshes out both the world navigation and the battle system. And 3rd's sidequest system is even better, in my opinion. Trying to unlock and discover the various Memory Doors hidden around the world is a ton of fun, and each door offers unique changes of pace ranging from minigames to battle challenges to character backstories.
As for the presentation, it's tricky to describe. Falcom's games around the 2000s had this distinct style to them where the characters are these prerendered chibi 3D models, and the environments are these fully 3D isometric dioramas with realistic textures. It's very much a low-budget look, but it just comes together so well, it just screams "mid 2000s PC game" but in a good way. The steampunk world design for Liberl is also a highlight, I particularly like the intricate clocks that litter FC's UI. And then there's the music, which is so good it singlehandedly got me into the series. Seriously, I heard Sophisticated Fight in a YouTube video once and I thought it was so good that I needed to know where it came from. Falcom Sound Team has put out a lot of incredible soundtracks, but the Trails trilogy was their peak in my opinion. FC has a whimsically jazzy and nostalgic feel to it thanks to the work of Wataru Ishibashi in one of his last gigs at Falcom before stepping away, SC's more intense rock-heavy tone sounds more like classic Falcom and marks the introduction of my favorite FST composer Takahiro Unisuga, and 3rd boasts a uniquely ethereal synth-heavy soundtrack buoyed by newcomer Ryo Takeshita, who didn't spend long in Falcom but really made the most of his time there. With three games, picking out all the highlights is practically impossible, but I will single out Silver Will, Sophisticated Fight, Hollow Light Of The Sealed Land, Looking Up At The Sky, Fateful Confrontation, Overdosing Heavenly Bliss, and Dreamy And Boisterous Holy Land as my favorite tracks in the trilogy.
I'm not someone who often has the patience for massive RPGs, I still haven't beaten a single Xenoblade despite how much I like that series. So the fact that I was invested enough to sit through not just one but three massive RPGs is just a testament to how gripping and well-written Trails is. The impressive world-building, sense of scope, lovable and fleshed-out characters, detailed sidequests, and thoughtful dialogue make for one of the most well-realized worlds and casts in the entire medium. But you can say that about any Trails arc, so why is Sky my favorite? Honestly, I think it's just the vibes. Even in spite of its darkest moments, Trails In The Sky has such a comforting and welcoming atmosphere to it, carried by its wonderful visuals and phenomenal score. I love games that feel like they're taking me on a grand adventure, and the Trails In The Sky trilogy is one hell of a magical adventure.
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