Why you should play Trails in the Sky (Spoiler Free Review)

[@AltercateTV]

I just finished this game a few days ago, and I wanted to share my thoughts and maybe help someone out there who’s on the fence about whether to dive into this trilogy. Trails in the Sky isn’t for everyone, but it’s honestly the best story I’ve played this year (and that includes Xenoblade 3)! Thanks for watching, and thanks for supporting me! 😍 PS. I’m still working on my Final Fantasy VI retrospective, but after doing the Xenoblade 2 critique I’ve been feeling kind of exhausted, so it’s nice to put out some easy-to-make videos now and then.

[@MrLindenluke]

Happy to see you jump into the series. I disagree a bit on ur point about the music; while less epic and varied than the Cold Steel subseries, I found the music here to be really charming and memorable. Love ur points about the storyline and worldbuilding though-few series can match this one on that front.

[@AltercateTV]

I see your point about the music and I think if it hadn’t been so limited and reused so often I would have been perfectly happy with the soundtrack! The final dungeon theme is amazing and I’ve actually been listening to it now after finishing the game. Definitely super hype about continuing my Trails journey! :)

[@luki1234567890123]

Great review. I need a full 1 hour spoiler analysis next

[@AltercateTV]

Haha, I think I’ll wait until I’m done with the Sky trilogy and then do a critique on all three games.

[@link6705]

Graphic is not that bad, in fact it is very good for its time. Music is excellent, I even had a nostalgia when you put a sample for a few seconds. All Nihon Falcom games have excellent music, they even have a music band at studio and earn a lot of money selling music from their games. Gameplay and battle mechanics are entertaining, I used normal speed in battles because I really liked to follow battle actions. Story in Trails games are top notch, it is a story which spans on 12 games. I spent 100 hours in average on each game, about 300 hours on entire trilogy. I recommend these games to everyone, and mandatory to play them in order.

[@Dhyfis]

I just started Trails Across the Sky before this video game out because I started the Trails of Cold Steel series before realizing these were part of it and going back. I'm super satisfied with these games and love just how alive everything is.

[@AltercateTV]

Something I thought about a lot while I was playing the game was how every time the heroes interact with someone, even if it's just a gate guard or a person who delivers a message, they always treat them as if they were an important person. You don't often see that in games!

[@lufasumafalu5069]

why this excellent game have better graphic compared to modern octopath traveller

[@SilortheBlade]

I played this a number of years ago on the Vita, and I described it as the most JTPG-Y game I had ever played. I enjoyed it, but so much of the story and characters didn't land for me. Still I got the second game, but I lost my Vita about a third of the way through, and even though I replaced it, at the time I couldn't be bothered to restart the game. With the series coming to PC I have been thinking about playing it again. If I didn't have probably 2 dozen games still to finish on steam I might have picked it up already.

[@AltercateTV]

Maybe one day! :)

[@michaelfrasca1480]

Please make more content on this series. I found it through Spotify recommending me a Trails of Cold Steel soundtrack that piqued my interest. I went and bought Trails of Cold Steel 1 but quickly realized there had been significant world building in the series before and I went back and started with Trails in the Sky. I’m nearing the end of Chapter 3 and am already looking forward to the rest of the series. I’m not too in tune with JRPGs but from what I have been able to deduce this series seems to be passed over by others in favor of Final Fantasy and/or Dragon Quest (and it maybe rightfully so) but I find this series to be well worth anyone’s time playing. I’ve never been one to care much about graphics but I do take much interest in a game’s soundtrack. While I can understand what you are saying about the tracks and for many, the soundfont may seem dated. However, it was these original soundtracks that brought me into this series in the first place. Excellent video and I look forward to whatever you make next (The Legend of Heroes based or not)

[@AltercateTV]

Thanks for the comment! To clarify, while I found Trails in the Sky FC’s soundtrack somewhat mediocre outside of some standout tracks, I think the soundtracks of SC and 3rd are absolutely stellar! The quality increases so much throughout the series, and it’s definitely on par with anything the genre has to offer. I do want to make more content on the series as I agree it deserves more recognition. Sky SC is one of my all time favorite games at this point. That said, it may take a while before I feel ready to tackle the series in terms of retrospectives/critiques. :)

[@michaelfrasca1480]

@@AltercateTV Please take all the time you need. I’m sure I speak for others too but I would much rather you be able to spend as much time as you want producing your video than rushing to appease people. Thank you again for this video

[@HybridAngelZero]

I've been wanting to play through this one for quite a while. It's already in my Steam library, I just want to clear my proverbial gaming plate so I can dedicate my full attention to really soak everything in

[@AltercateTV]

Definitely recommend this one wholeheartedly! I hope you enjoy it. What are you playing right now?

[@HybridAngelZero]

@@AltercateTV At the moment I'm working on Pokemon Scarlet, Star Ocean The Divine Force and Sonic Frontiers, and wrapping up side quests in Xenoblade 3. I tend to bounce between games a lot xD

[@AltercateTV]

Wow! I don’t think I could do that, I usually have to focus on one game at a time to get anywhere…

[@HybridAngelZero]

@@AltercateTV Being able to bounce around keeps me from getting listless or burning out on a single game. I definitely wouldn't recommend it to everyone, but for me it helps keep the pallette clean

[@miscellaneousmanta3288]

U deserve many more subs And I hope u grow The passion and effort into ur videos are very clear

[@AltercateTV]

Thank you so much for your kind words! That means a lot to me to hear :)

[@lawrencevaliquette]

I love how detailed and fair you are in your reviews. Great job!

[@AltercateTV]

Thank you! That’s very nice to hear :)

[@JetDusk2]

Thank you for good review, my stupid fucking friend is trying to get me into this series and he said the old games were dogshit and not worth his time, but, after seeing this video, I am convinced that I should ignore him and dissasociate from him postwith. I will be BUYING the FULL SKY SERIES Tommorrow (Or when I get $$$$). Thank you sir. Also your video actually told me everything I needed in the first minute so thank you, keep it up :).

[@TylerLouden]

Hello, I am he. The man of which he speaks. The friend. The fiend. I may be ugly, stinky, and fucking stupid but I think that my words are right, maybe even righter than most people who are right. So right that it has spun around and become left. You can start at the beginning of any arc in the Trails series, and at MOST you would need only a minor 8 to 10 hour in depth recap. Anyone else who believes otherwise is a mushroom and I refuse to associate with them. They are gatekeepers charging tickets to ride this marvelous ride of a series, and the tickets are paid in hours of playtime. I don't like hours, or even the concept of time because someday I will die, and death is dumb. But you know what isn't dumb? Trails of Cold Steel 1-4 *Mic drop* 🎤 By the way your review is great and deserves way more views! Straight to the point, without any spoilers! Cheers mate.

[@AltercateTV]

lol you guys are hilarious. Thanks for the praise! And for the record, I agree you can start wherever you want, but the Sky trilogy is amazing, so I’d hate for people to miss out because they think it’s not worth their time!

[@Javifaa]

​​@@TylerLoudenCall me a gatekeeper, but I genuinely think the only starting point with absolutely no drawbacks is Sky FC, anything else is a compromise due to stupid reasons like not liking to play old games or not having a PC. Starting anywhere else is like starting a long running novel series (like Malazan or the first law series) midway through. It can be done, but no one arguing in good faith would recommend that. Why should a game series whose narrative works with the same rules be different?

[@jrpgaddict7726]

Ty

[@agamer2000]

Nice vid m8

[@AltercateTV]

Thanks :)

[@daysofhalcyon]

It’s always great to see someone else get indoctrinated into the trails “cult” -Almost a way to to re-experience a first time playthrough vicariously.

[@AltercateTV]

Totally get that! I recently finished the Sky trilogy and I'm absolutely in love now. I'm 12 hours into Trails from Zero and planning to play the games until they stop making them :)

[@celestialsylveon6453]

The graphics are very charming and I've actually met people who have preferred it t the more modern graphics of the later entries, same with the music, but that's likely not the norm yeah. I feel the music very much still holds up, I don't even see it having aged much. I'm glad you mentioned how optimizing your orbment is addicting, I still haven't talked with someone else who really enjoyed that aspect. It's like Djinn in Golden Sun!

[@AltercateTV]

Since I made this video, I've played SC and I'm almost done with 3rd, and I honestly feel a bit bad about what I said about the music. I still stand by my opinion that the overall soundtrack to First Chapter isn't quite there yet, but I didn't realize how CLOSE to mastery it was. Looking back now, I can see that the foundation was there even in the first game. :)

[@celestialsylveon6453]

@@AltercateTV Yeah a lot of this series is building foundation for later entries, they plan _so much_ ahead of time. I'm glad you're really enjoying the series!!! Finishing 3rd will be a treat, have fun with it, and don't forget chest messages exist and there's some good ones you don't want to miss!

[@AltercateTV]

@@celestialsylveon6453 Thanks! I feel like 3rd really picked up in terms of the quality of the chest messages :)

[@williamishee9533]

Great job, as usual! Not sure if I’ll try it, but always love your attention to detail and passion!

[@AltercateTV]

Thanks! Nice to see your name again, hope everything is going well for you :)

[@murkywaters5502]

Cool video, my man!

[@AltercateTV]

Thanks! :D

[@suhudude]

"The most satisfying love story i've seen in a long time" that solds it

[@AltercateTV]

And it gets even better in the second game :)

[@suhudude]

i just finished FC and i can safely say that the ending is one helluva marketing move to sell SC

[@johnathanrhoades7751]

I like the music and gameplay and really don’t think those have aged that poorly? (This said as someone who finished FC for the first time last month and am half way through SC) Particularly not if you have the fast-forward options on steam. But there is a lack of variety in tracks, that is true. Also, don’t take the dialogue/translation criticism too seriously. It’s one of the most natural and conversational translations I have ever seen in a JRPG.

[@_Sayba_]

I am somewhat tech savy so I went through the trouble of jailbreaking my PS Vita and installing the voice overs for this game. Btw I played the evolution versions and I can say Nightmare mode might be the hardest thing I have ever had to do.

[@AltercateTV]

I can imagine! I thought it was pretty tough even on normal mode, at least until I got Earth Wall 😂

[@Easelgames]

Since it wasn't mentioned it's important to note that the voice acting in the vita and pc patched version are only in japanese. Key difference there, as it's not like other trails games later where it is english.

[@AltercateTV]

Good point! I got a bit confused while researching because I think I stumbled upon some sort of fan dub project and initially confused it with an official English translation…

[@Easelgames]

@@AltercateTV yeah these games have no english dubs of any kind beyond battle voices. Darn shame, but this is the reason they'll never port them to modern platforms. (they've said as much they don't think it's worth dubbing this many lines for it) Sad but understandable.

[@BaraAlArfaj]

When you say its graphics aged poorly I feel attacked. I prefer its graphics to the newer installments by a large degree. And its music is great as well I believe. It is a timeless masterpiece I believe.

[@CaptainAmerica2k7]

You could get the enemies show up on the map if you have an Eagle Eye quartz equipped. And not really a good soundtrack? Are you deaf? This game has one of the best: Silver Will.

[@BurnoutsAndBourbon]

Are there mods for this?

[@AltercateTV]

To be honest I don’t know, I haven’t looked into it!

[@celestialsylveon6453]

There are some graphics and video file mods from the PS Vita version, as well as music mods and a full on voice acting mod from that version (which is _really_ good too, adds a lot of character)