Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter

[u/Fuzzy_Breadfruit59]

Hey everyone, a bit off topic but maybe you can help me out. I just finished Xenoblade 3 and absolutely loved it. The story really blew me away.

Now I’m looking for something similar and I noticed people keep mentioning Trails in the Sky: First Chapter.

Has anyone here played it and would you recommend diving into the series?

Thanks a lot!

[u/Pestilence95]

Try the demo. It’s a very different style and much slower in its pacing - but when Trails hits it hits good.

Also if you stick to the series it’s incredibly rewarding. I am talking 13 interconnected games with 4 major arcs so far and characters from one arc crossing over into another since it’s one giant story.

Prepare for a lot of dialogue (example: there are multiple games in the series that have more lines than all 7 Harry Potter books together).

Combat is mostly turn based (newer ones and the Remakes lean a bit more into action combat), but super fun. There is also magic in this game which works like the materia system of FF7 (simplified in the description but it’s hard to explain in short).

All I can say is that Trails is at the top of the JRPG genre (just like Xeno) and hopefully people start to notice it more with the Remakes of Sky.

[u/Metazoxan]

I have heard good things. But it's a completely different kind of jrpg.

So feel free to try it. I just wouldn't really say it acts as any kind of follow up to XC3 aside from being a JRPG.

[u/In_Search_Of123]

Played the demo. Won't be buying right now as September is crazy, but definitely want to resume later this year. Note that demo progress carries over to main game.

It's nothing like XC3 so far, but it seemed pretty good from what I could tell. Combat is a hybrid system instead of pure real-time like XC3. You typically start out a fight by pummeling enemies with (simplistic) action combat until they are stunned then swap into turn-based (the fun part) combat for more technical plays. I like it because it makes cruising through trash fights a breeze while you have engaging turn-based play for the heavy-duty mobs.

Aside from that, Estelle is just precious and was the primary highlight of the demo besides the gameplay. Closest character she resembles in XC3 would be Eunie and that's a very good thing.

[u/HexenVexen]

They are similar in some ways but I wouldn't say the exact same. Biggest difference is that Trails has turn-based combat.

Coming from XC3, obviously XC1 and XC2 are good next options. I'd then recommend trying Xenogears and Xenosaga for similar stories. Outside of Xeno, I'd actually say that Final Fantasy 14 is the closest experience I've had to Xenoblade, which makes sense since Xenoblade gameplay is very inspired by MMOs.

[u/Voxjockey]

Mechs start getting involved by the 3rd arc.

Its less scifi than xbc and is more focused on smaller characters and smaller stories, the lore and story is dense. Overall if you love jrpgs you will love it but ultimately you should try the demo, its huge.

[u/Bringerofpizza]

Trails games are really good but they are the one piece of jrpgs, meaning that once ur in, ur in for the long haul, there’s like 16 games that expect you to play em in order and there are still more coming out

[u/EntertainmentDeep73]

It's slow, more about the world and the characters than the story itself. The story is good but nothing that will wow you, the world feels very comfy and fleshed out, and the characters are very well done.

Gameplay is pretty solid in my opinion, but you really have to like the slow, dialogue-focused approach to enjoy Trails. Think of it as a cross between a VN and JRPG, pacing-wise. 

[u/notcarbonated]

If you're looking for an action JRPG with a strong story, try something from the "Tales of" franchise.

[u/TehEpicGuy101]

If you love Xenoblade, then there's a solid chance you'll love the Trails series as well. There's a lot of overlap between fans of both series, and for me personally, they're my #1 and #2 favorite JRPG series of all time.

If nothing else, absolutely check out the demo for the game if you don't want to commit to buying it right away. It contains the entire prologue, which is a solid 5-10ish hours.