The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC

The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC[lower-alpha 1] is a role-playing video game developed by Nihon Falcom. The game is a part of the Trails series, itself a part of the larger The Legend of Heroes franchise, and serves as a direct sequel to The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky. Initially released in Japan in 2006 for Microsoft Windows and 2007 for the PlayStation Portable, the game did not see an English release on Windows until 2015, due to the large amount of text needed to be translated. Japanese-only high-definition versions were also released, including a HD port to the PlayStation 3 in 2013, and a HD remake for the Vita in 2015.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC
PAL PSP box art
Developer(s)Nihon Falcom
Publisher(s)
Director(s)Toshihiro Kondo
Producer(s)Masayuki Kato
Programmer(s)
  • Hideyuki Yamashita
  • Noriyuki Chiyoda
Artist(s)
  • Haccan
  • Yuu Shiina
Writer(s)
  • Hisayoshi Takeiri
  • Shinichiro Sakamoto
  • Yoshihiro Konda
Composer(s)
  • Hayato Sonoda
  • Takahiro Unisuga
  • Ryo Takeshita
  • Yukihiro Jindo
Series
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita
Release
Genre(s)Role-playing
Mode(s)Single-player

Gameplay

The game plays similarly to its predecessor; a role-playing video game with turn based battles. However, several new features were added. Most notably being the addition of chain crafts, attacks in which up to four members of the party may attack enemies in a simultaneous attack.

Story

The game's story is a direct sequel to the first chapter of The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky, with the story picking up directly after the first entry's ending.[3] Just like the previous game, it is set in the nation of Liberl.

Synopsis

In the aftermath of the previous game's ending, Joshua has disappeared and Estelle is eager to bring him back home. After completing some training by the Bracer Guild to prepare for her new adventure, Estelle is ready to set out. While Cassius resumes military duties in light of recent events, Estelle reunites with all of her other allies from the previous game, as well as a new one, Septian Church knight Kevin Graham, to resolve a series of incidents all over Liberl caused by experiments run by the Enforcers of Ouroboros - an organization which Joshua himself was a former Enforcer of. The Enforcers prove to be devastatingly powerful and their experiments disrupt and endanger Liberlian lives, but thanks to the group's efforts, casualties are prevented. The Enforcers, some of whom have connections to various members of Estelle's group, are being led by the organization's Third Anguis, Georg Weissmann, who used the alias of "Professor Alba" in the previous game. Weissmann is seeking to use their experiments to help unearth an ancient treasure sleeping in the country: the Aureole, the Sept-Terrion of Space (the Sept-Terrions are a group of seven treasures in the series with enormous power, given to the series' world by its goddess). During this time, Joshua, with the help of the sky bandits, runs a vendetta against his former organization to thwart their plans, doing so without Estelle to avoid endangering her.

Estelle is eventually kidnapped by the organization and taken prisoner on their flagship, the Glorious. During this time, Estelle is told the truth of Joshua's past by lead Enforcer Loewe (who used the alias of "Lorence Belgar" in the previous game). Loewe and Joshua lived a peaceful childhood in the Erebonian town of Hamel. 10 years ago, Hamel was massacred by its own government, which framed Liberl for the attack in an ultimately unsuccessful plot to annex it by force (this led to the Hundred Days war during which Estelle's mother died). Loewe and Joshua were the sole survivors of the massacre, and the then-six-year-old Joshua was traumatized due to the death of his sister (also Loewe's lover), and being forced to take the life of a soldier. Afterwards, Weissmann mended Joshua's catatonic state in exchange for him and Loewe becoming Enforcers in his organization. Joshua later left the organization once he was adopted by Cassius, but Loewe remained, and is the most powerful Enforcer active in Liberl.

Estelle is almost able to escape the ship, but ends up cornered by the society's forces. Joshua arrives to save Estelle and escape the ship with her, and the two reconcile and reunite. They then team up with all of their allies in a final effort to end Ouroboros's schemes. Ultimately, they are unable to prevent Ouroboros from reactivating the Aureole, causing an enormous floating city - the Liber Ark, the historical predecessor to Liberl - to appear from another dimension. The appearance of the city causes a nation-wide stoppage of orbal devices (leaving Liberl without power) by drawing all the power to the city. As this Orbal Shutdown Phenomenon extends to the southern reaches of Liberl's neighbor, Erebonia, Erebonian forces nearly invade Liberl. However, thanks to the intervention of Olivier Lenheim - whose true identity is Olivert Reise Arnor, the Crown Prince of Erebonia - the Liberl group is given time to resolve the crisis before the Erebonians intervene. Despite him keeping his identity a secret all this time, Olivert remains an ally to and part of Estelle's group.

The group lands on the floating city and battles all of the Enforcers. Joshua finally manages to defeat Loewe and break his loyalty to the organization. However, Weissmann subdues Loewe and takes control of Joshua by using a Stigma he had long ago implanted in the traumatized boy. The Stigma is a powerful technique from the Septian Church that can raise the physical limits of its subject. Weissmann, a former bishop, was excommunicated from the church years ago after he was proven to be artificially creating Stigmas for nefarious purposes, something strongly condemned by the church. Weissmann orders the mind-controlled Joshua to kill Estelle, knowing this would break his spirit; however, earlier, Joshua predicted that this is specifically what Weissmann would try to force him to do, and due to hypnotic suggestion by Kevin - requested by Joshua on Cassius' suggestion - the order causes Joshua's Stigma to break, freeing him from Weissmann's control.

Realizing his plan is falling apart, a desperate and now unhinged Weissmann fuses with the Aureole and overpowers the party. Loewe intervenes, and during this time, it is revealed that Weissmann was responsible for inciting the tragedy of Hamel. Loewe then gives his life to save the party, to Joshua's sadness. As the group mourns Loewe after defeating Weissmann, the city begins to fall out of the sky since only residual power from the Aureole remains, forcing them to evacuate. Shortly afterwards, Weissmann, who managed to survive Loewe's counterattack, is murdered by Kevin, who in reality was dispatched to Liberl to assassinate Weissmann in retaliation for his betrayal of the church and theft of its techniques. In the aftermath of this, Campanella, an Enforcer who was merely acting as an observer for the plan, retrieves the Aureole from Weissmann's remains and disappears. The rest of the party is able to escape the collapsing city, but Estelle and Joshua appear trapped.

They are able to escape thanks to the sudden appearance of Cassius. In the game's epilogue, Joshua and Estelle share a moment near the grave of Joshua's sister, where Loewe himself has now been buried, and the spirit of Joshua's sister looks on in happiness.

Localization

In 2010, Xseed Games confirmed that they acquired the English localization rights to all three games in the Trails in the Sky trilogy.[4] However, the first game proved to be a massive undertaking, having over 1.5 million Japanese characters to be translated,[5] and did not meet Xseed's sales goals.[6] The unfavorable "large undertaking, low payoff" ratio, if continued, would put them out of business.[6] Technical issues also complicated release; the game's massive size necessitated a two disc release, which in turn caused issues releasing the game on PlayStation Network for digital download, and the decline of PlayStation Portable's presence in North America made it difficult to proceed with a multiple disc physical release (a rare occurrence for the system).[7] Xseed stated that while they weren't cancelling the English release of Second Chapter, they couldn't keep it as a main focus either, and needed to work on other games to maintain financial stability.[6] While Falcom eventually announced that the technical issues regarding putting the game on PSN had been solved in October 2012, little other news on the game's localization arose in 2012 or the first half of 2013.[8]

On September 6, 2013, Xseed reconfirmed their intentions to release the game in English in North America.[9] With the issues with the digital version solved, and the company's success with releasing Ys games on Steam, Xseed announced that it would be released digitally for the PC and PlayStation Portable,[10] and will be made playable on the PlayStation Vita, which is backwards compatible with many PSP games.[11] Xseed received help with the game's translation through another company, Carpe Fulgur, which had previously localized PC games Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale and Chantelise – A Tale of Two Sisters.[12]

In December 2013, XSeed announced they were aiming for "mid-2014" for the game's English release.[13] However, by June, the company revised their goal to "by the end of 2014".[14] In December 2014, Carpe Fulgur head Andrew Dice announced that progress in translating the game was slowed by struggles his personal life.[15] Dice handed over his work for Xseed employees to finish up, delaying the game into 2015.[16]

The script was edited by Xseed's Jessica Chavez. She noted that the English script came up to 716,401 words, which is roughly the size of 10 novels, longer than the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy (455,125 words) and War and Peace (587,287 words).[17]

The game was released as a downloadable title on Steam, PSN, and GOG on October 29, 2015.

Reception
Reception
Aggregate score
AggregatorScore
MetacriticPC: 80/100[18]
PSP: 76/100[19]
Review scores
PublicationScore
RPGamer4/5[20]
Gamer.nl9/10[21]
PlayStation Universe8.5/10[22]
RPGFanPC: 88%
PSP: 82%

RPGFan gave the imported Japanese version an 82% score, praising the gameplay, writing, and characters, but criticizing the dated presentation and cliché main plot compared to Crisis Core, Final Fantasy Tactics, and Xenosaga, concluding, "Those willing to see beyond the somewhat outdated presentation and cliché main storyline will find a slightly old school, yet incredibly charming RPG with solid mechanics, likeable characters and a well written story."[23] RPGFan later gave the English version an 88% score, praising the gameplay, story, writing, characters, and soundtrack, concluding, "Robustly realized and populated by an endless stream of compelling characters, Trails in the Sky approaches the pinnacle of traditional JRPG design."[24]

Gamer.nl stated that the "story is epic, the localisation makes characters into persons and everything combined makes this game a must have for JRPG lovers and gamers that appreciate a good story."[21] RPGamer said "Falcom's writers do a superb job of giving the many characters distinct personalities" and appreciated "the full scope of this series, which takes time to develop pieces of its world in detail", concluding that the "two Trails in the Sky games show how rewarding the series can be".[20] PlayStation Universe said it is a "superb second chapter with a fantastic storyline, great characters and compelling combat system."[22]

Notes
  1. The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC (英雄伝説 空の軌跡 SC, Eiyū Densetsu Sora no Kiseki SC)

References
  1. "空の軌跡のセットパッケージ毎の違いについて-ふぁるコミュ". Retrieved 8 September 2014.
  2. "Crunchyroll - "Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky" Heads to PC in English Next Week". Crunchyroll. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
  3. "The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC, sequel to Gold Award-winning RPG, announced for PS Vita | The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC news | PlayStation Vita". Pocket Gamer. Retrieved 2013-09-07.
  4. Spencer . December 6, 2010 . 12:50pm (2010-12-06). "The Legend Of The Heroes: Trails In The Sky Takes Flight In March". Siliconera. Retrieved 2013-09-13.
  5. Ishaan . February 12, 2011 . 3:02pm (2011-02-12). "The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky Has 1.5 Million Japanese Characters". Siliconera. Retrieved 2013-09-13.
  6. Spencer . October 14, 2011 . 6:05pm (2011-10-14). "What's Going On With The Legend Of Heroes: Trails In The Sky Second Chapter?". Siliconera. Retrieved 2013-09-13.
  7. Spencer . July 7, 2011 . 6:02pm (2011-07-07). "Xseed Interview Part 1 – How To Exceed In Today's Marketplace". Siliconera. Retrieved 2013-09-13.
  8. Spencer . October 26, 2012 . 2:10am (2012-10-26). "The Legend Of The Heroes: Trails In The Sky SC Coming To PSN In Japan On November 8". Siliconera. Retrieved 2013-09-13.
  9. Ishaan . September 6, 2013 . 7:37am. "Xseed To Publish The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC On PC And PSP". Siliconera.com. Retrieved 2013-09-07.
  10. "Xseed Games Bringing Trails in the Sky Second Chapter to Steam, PS Store". EGMNOW. Retrieved 2013-09-13.
  11. Wrek, John (2011-04-18). "The Legend Of Heroes: Trails In The Sky's Second Chapter Coming Soon - The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC - PC". www.GameInformer.com. Retrieved 2013-09-07.
  12. "The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky Second Chapter coming to PSP and Steam in 2014". Gematsu. Retrieved 2013-09-07.
  13. "Expect The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC In Mid 2014 Says Xseed - Siliconera". Siliconera. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
  14. "The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC pushed to late 2014 - Polygon". Polygon. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
  15. "Depression Led to Trails in the Sky SC Delay, Developer Explains Why". 26 December 2014.
  16. "Addressing Something Important – Der Dräkblög".
  17. Schreier, Jason. "The Curse of Kiseki: How One Of Japan's Biggest RPGs Barely Made It To America".
  18. "The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC for PC Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2020-04-24.
  19. "The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC for PSP Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2020-04-24.
  20. "RPGamer > Review > The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky ~ The Second Chapter ~".
  21. "Gamer.nl - Nieuws, reviews en meer".
  22. "The Legend of Heroes: Trails In the Sky: SC - PS Vita Review".
  23. "The Legend of Heroes Sora no Kiseki SC". RPGfan.com. 2008-03-26. Retrieved 2013-09-07.
  24. "RPGFan Review - The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC".
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