The Trail in the Sky Chapter 1 Comments – Return to Start

The trails in the first chapter of the Sky ultimately solve the big dilemma for newcomers, considering Falcom's epic industrial fantasy legend. Although the Trails series consists of different arcs set in different parts of the African continent of Zemuria, you can start with what you can, its overall storyline and continuity spans twenty years, better than the first chapter?

The first chapter of Trails in Sky successfully remakes the game and brings it consistency according to the standards of the 2025 Trails Game while retaining its original story. It's not a reimagined reimagination – the Trails title has been well rated for having a lot of text, so it's not like a remake that can benefit from more remote eliminations – but the stick for all the original story rhythms, as well as the revised localization and also closer to the Japanese text in Japanese. There are also some new lines that fill the silence mainly during the exploration process, but are still not a transaction that localizes new scripts from scratch, which is usually why previous Trails games took longer to get to the West.

Like the original first chapter, the first chapter begins with 11-year-old Estelle waiting for her father Cassius to come home only to find him bringing a wounded orphan boy, Joshua, who is also her age. Five years later, he is a member of the family, both following in their father’s footsteps to become bracelets: heroic warriors serve and protect the community by eliminating dangerous monsters and helping gig workers. But besides doing good deeds to improve its bracelets in the Free Kingdom, Estelle and Joshua are trapped in one mystery after another, from political corruption to kidnapping, and eventually falling into a wide range of conspiracies beyond what they imagined.

Although World of Trails has rich and complex world building, Chapter One is in stark contrast to later work exploring more moral grey fields from the perspective of a more childish traditional kind-hearted, but it also suits a story of an age group, which also has the cutest range of romances that gently climb onto you. Experience the story from the serious and energetic perspective of Estelle, as stupid as she can show her compassion, as she understands the world and the way she is, she remains one of the most caring female protagonists, and is closely associated with Joshua, whose bond is one of the most memorable qualities in the game. They are complemented by a pleasant companion who also have different aspects of their character, such as Scherazard, Scherazard, who also likes to indulge in alcohol, and some may be more than who they say, such as the overly gentle bard olivier.

These characters are all implemented with wonderful modern visuals that match modern trail games, including dynamic camera range, so you can actually see the expression of animation on everyone’s face, just like you’re watching anime. The stage work performed during the School Music Festival in the mid-point is a particular highlight, far exceeding the Red Cliff Elves and text boxes with static characters portraits.

Although most of the cast have already appeared in the luminous Sprite-To-3D in later entries in the series, they still have never been as good as the first chapter because of aesthetics in aesthetic decisions. The same care is involved in the rest of the support cast, even the numerous NPCs in each town, many of whom are named, usually from a new line of conversations that talk to them later in the chapter, rather than you talk to them earlier. Sadly, sound performance can be blended in English and Japanese – it is still only partially pronounced. This is understandable for optional side tasks, but it also means that in the story, the sound performance suddenly disappears, or only one character's line is dubbed.

Modern benefits extend to exploration and combat. While the towns are faithfully realized from the original, from the port city of Ruan to the royal capital Grancel, the long and winding roads, sewn roads, sewn roads, compared to the wide linear design and different elevations, improve each other, allowing for more exploration than just traversing the glorious corridor. If you just want to race and complete tasks in the area, the ability to travel quickly or turn on high-speed mode also helps this, and then report to your local Bracer Guild to steadily improve your ranking. Fast travel is still limited to the area you are in during a given chapter, so you won’t be able to quickly travel back to an earlier position, and the accompanying mission will expire as you don’t complete it while the story progresses.

Trails in Sky’s first chapter successfully remakes the game and is consistent with the standards of the 2025 Trails game

Fighting is a big difference at night, as Chapter One takes a hybrid approach introduced in Dawn 2024, where you can switch between real-time action and turn-based commands, which also includes a team-based attack on the 2015 Cold Steel Trail. The action method will naturally reduce grinding, not just unconsciously appalling. The last second dodge charges you instantly for you to perform more powerful attacks – it is still feasible and readable when played in high-speed mode. But what makes the hybrid system work effectively is that you also have incentives to switch to commands such as amazing enemies, which gives you a preemptive advantage. Although action combat is more suitable for a single enemy, in turn mode you can access more effective commands against multiple enemies, such as special attacks with possible circles, arcs, or lines, while some enemies are also more susceptible to basic art.

Sometimes it can make turns-based combat trivial, as it's easy to build CPs for party members who release special attacks, including overused animations using flashy S-Crafts, which spend a full meter and team attacks during a quick battle, then switch to the most powerful attacks as you fill in inventory and the most powerful attacks.

This doesn't mean that the first chapter is cake walking, as you'll still be locked in a traditional battle in special encounters like boss battles, you need to leverage different tactics. Being able to move party members on the battlefield is important to avoid the effect attacks of enemies, and it also allows you to set up your own attacks on enemies or support allies. While you can see turn orders on the side of the screen, it also helps to use the ability to interrupt or delay someone’s turn. As part of its novel, technology from the mysterious Alba energy has made great progress in the work of everything from escalators to airships, and it is also reflected in the magical art you wield. Similar to Final Fantasy 7 Materials, they can be equipped with quartz orbital devices, their colors also represent specific elements or forces, such as blue water and rehabilitation-based art, art red for attack and firefighting, or yellow for earth and defense art; the higher the level of quartz or the same colored quartz you insert, the higher the advanced art you can use.

However, when engaging stories, characters and world building are the strongest aspects of the trail game, it doesn’t care much about finding the right build or strategy. There are many difficult options, and if you fall into a tough boss, you can also choose to lower its strength and try again, so you are unlikely to run into obstacles from the story because of your lack of strength. The party’s management does not care about it, because the party members decide to narrate it. This does mean that if you have your own favorites, you probably won’t invest that much time in their time besides Estelle and Joshua, who are an indivisible duo of the entire duo.

One-on-one as faithful as a remake, has one drawback, which means you've experienced stories before and there's no new game content. Any activities you find, such as cooking recipes (which do include new cooking animations), are any activities in the original game, including moments where you offer a variety of options. While this is still an interesting way to evaluate your judgment as a bracelet, it's better to update it to something more meaningful so that you don't just get rewards for rewarding BP, which is easy to build in quick combat.

If the first chapter is lighter than later iterations, then it is also the beginning of an epic legend by relying on the spirit of the original game. If you've always wanted to experience the wonders of the Trails series but don't know where to start, then there's no excuse, as this faithful remake is the sure way to start that long and winding trail. I hope the remake of the second chapter can be carried out quickly.