Jeremy Gallen's Game Reviews

Organization XX

While the first installment of Japanese developer Nihon Falcom’s The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky trilogy originally release in Japan in 2004, it would not see foreign release until the turn of the decade, due to the time necessary for North American video game publisher Xseed Games to localize the massive script. Direct sequel The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC took just about as long to localize due to its own massive script, releasing in English in 2015, and providing an experience on par with its predecessor, which can be good or bad depending upon how well you liked the inaugural entry.

SC continues the first game’s plot, chapter based as well, with protagonist Estelle’s adoptive brother Joshua having disappeared, a new enemy arising in the form of the organization Ouroboros and its numbered Enforcers. The sequel tells its plot nicely, and akin to its precursor sports superb worldbuilding, with most characters having good backstory, Estelle getting her share and Joshua even more, along with a few twists, surprises, and plenty politicking and military engagements, although there is occasional deus ex machina. The translation doesn’t detract at all, despite some minor stylistic choices on part of the localizers.

The second game largely retains its predecessor’s mechanics, with an initial choice of difficulty alongside the ability to import clear data from the first game so that players can carry over character stats. Enemies are visible on fields between towns and in dungeons, with some orbment crystals able to cause the player’s visible party to pass through them or more greatly call their attention. In-battle gameplay, except for the ability to chain CP-consuming Crafts, mostly remains unchanged, alongside the tactics-style grid battlefield and movement on part of both the player’s characters and the enemy. The same issues from the first game return such as the inability to defend and reduce damage and the wildly varying cast times of EP-consuming Arts, but battles remain enjoyable.

Kevin executing a deadly prank on Agate.

Control does as well, with the ability to save mostly anywhere, except in battle, returning, alongside the turbo mode that can make the gameplay without and within battle go by much more quickly, the easy menus, the clear direction, unproblematic shopping, maps for most area, and the like, with the only real issue, at least when playing on the Steam Deck, being the need to play portably given one minor glitch involving the inability to use the controller for one menu option late-game. Otherwise, SC interfaces very well with players.

Aside from reusing much of its predecessor’s music, SC’s soundtrack largely shines, with many new tracks thrown into the mix, and the voices existing solely in battle fit the characters; if players find them annoying, they can mercifully turn them off.

The visuals are also largely the same, not a bad thing, especially with a Steam update somewhat smoothing out the texturing, although there are points where they remain blurry and pixilated, alongside reskinned enemies and the chibi character sprites. However, there are plenty positives such as the stellar-looking cel-shaded FMVs, the battle effects, the pretty environments, the cool three-dimensional effects, and so forth, that still make the game look nice even today.

The detail of things such as trailing dust when running is amazing.

The sequel, finally, is about as long as its predecessor, especially if players utilize its turbo mode, although acquiring every achievement and completing every sidequest can really prolong playtime, as can the replay mode. While most players will want to move on to the third and final game in the trilogy, having different characters in your party at certain times can account for dialogue variations, and thus there can exist minor differences in the narrative.

In the end, The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC is a solid continuation of its predecessor, given its solid tactical battle system, tight control, excellent narrative with a superb localization effort, an enjoyable soundtrack, and nice visuals. I’ll admit that when I first played the first game and its sequel a few years afterward in the past decade, I didn’t fully appreciate them despite enjoying them, although experiencing them together within a year or so helped me like them more, and my discovery midway through playing the inaugural entry of the turbo mode helped. Those who liked the original game will likely enjoy the second chapter, and I very much look forward to experiencing the third and final entry for the first time.

This review is based on a playthrough of a digital copy downloaded to the player's Steam Deck with a combination of data from the first game and clear data from a past playthrough, with the game confirmed to work despite the indicator of Incompatability.