If you love me, buy Trails in the Sky

I’ll have a full review in a couple of weeks after I’ve played more, but in the meantime, here’s a suggestion – if you own a PSP and like RPGs, buy Trails in the Sky. Localizing this game was a huge undertaking for XSeed Games – the amount of text in this game is staggering – and a big risk given the dwindling market for PSP games in the US. Based on the couple of hours I’ve played so far, they’ve done a fantastic job with the translation – lots of great banter between characters and amusing non-essential dialogue – and they deserve to be rewarded. Translation quality seems accurate to me (I’ve played a few hours of the Chinese PC version – yes, I can read Chinese). More importantly (for me), the game is the first in a series with direct sequels and I’d really like to see the rest of the series brought over here. The story and characters have a definite Lunar feel to them (Lunar 1 & 2, not the later ones where the series turned to garbage) and the gameplay is traditional turn-based with a dash of Strategy/RPG. Character customization is a mix of unique character skills and a materia-esque magic system. Good stuff.

Oh and if like me, you were worried about the transition to the PSP (the game was originally a PC title), don’t be. On the PSN version that I have, the game loads very quickly, the visuals are pretty much identical to the original version, and the controls are great.

The game is available on the PSN for $30 and on UMD for $30 (Standard Edition) or $40 (Special Edition).

6 Responses

  1. I would totally get this if there were any indication that the sequels would get localized as well. Don’t want to jump in and then get left on a cliffhanger 🙁

  2. Don’t confuse Trails in the Sky with the older Legend of Heroes games. Trails in the Sky is drastically better than the older Legend of Heroes games – different gameplay systems, better port to the PSP (handled directly by Falcom), and a vastly better localization (done by XSeed Games, whereas the earlier ones were poorly translated by Namco).

  3. Curse my habit of collecting limited edition versions, or I’d be already playing this. It should arrive tomorrow or Friday, just in time for a big weekend binge on it :).

  4. I was wondering about Trails in the Sky. It sounded good (Falcom RPG), and I’ve even run numbers on the other two PSP Legend of Heroes games, but the combat looked so slow-paced that I was dreading actually PLAYING it.

    But hearing you give it good marks is certainly encouraging.

  5. UGH! I might would, just on your insistence, but I still have the XSEED Ys games I picked up earlier this year to play through, once I can tear away from portable “triple-A”s PKMN Black and DISSIDIA 012 (especially the former, what with my friend’s insistence for me to catch up).

    I definitely like the swag in the special edition. I love “prop” things, and a badge would be a cool thing to march around with.

    …for, like, 1.5 people to pick up on. Or for a few others to hear about the game first-time! 😀

    Uuurrrgh… If only I didn’t feel like I need to cut back.

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