Ah, the start of the Trails series... of which this is my third game because of Coldsteel I and II.

Unfortunately, because I played two later games than I was supposed to (because I didn't realize that you needed to play the Sky trilogy and Zero/Azure for Coldsteel III and IV), this game doesn't really hold much of a candle because of the gameplay being dated and unbalanced compared to those games. And those games weren't that balanced either! It mostly comes down to old game jank and the further you get along the series, the more this game arguably becomes weaker due to the better gameplay, story and character writing that comes later in. As a result, it's really difficult to recommend the first Sky to anyone because of the old feel. Mind you, I say difficult and not impossible.

The gameplay itself is functional. I've played this on Hard mode because the Normal and Nightmare difficulties range from being too easy to ridiculously hard, based on what a friend of mine stated (with their own review on here). Notably, the early game is quite brutal which isn't exactly what you'd want from a starting experience, even on Hard Mode. However, I definitely found the game more enjoyable the further you go along with new options being opened up to you and when you don't just have two party members in for 70% of the game. The customisation is really fun to mess with for the Quartz and gives you different options to give variety to what Arts your party can cast. Whilst some characters are more built to be around a certain type of element, it still gives quite the flexibility!

If there's one thing I really don't like in the SERIES is the missables, be it a quest or the books you have to collect. This won't be mentioned in the reviews for the other games, but the fact that some of these missables are extremely easy to miss due to the small windows is ridiculous, and unfortunately makes you utilise a guide so you do not end up losing them which is a real shame. I do like the BP system of doing better in a quest than expected, though some of them are not quite obvious in the slightest.

Now, the stuff I stated were more mixed or even negative. So why am I recommending this game to begin with?

For starters, this game in itself is just one whole big prologue. Whilst you can be forgiven for beating Coldsteel I and up until the epilogue portion of Coldsteel II (regardless about a certain character), if you want to understand the story and characters much clearly, you NEED to play through the first Sky, otherwise certain plot threads will be spoiled up and make not much sense to yourself if you played a later game. This sounds quite the tedious grind because of the mixed to negative aspects I mentioned above.

However, the best aspects of this game has to be because of the writing, worldbuilding and characters of this game.

The studio that did the absolutely torturous job of translating this game deserve to take 10 years of a holiday without getting taxed because they did an absolutely tremendous job of bringing life to the characters in the way they speak, the way they interact, even the way the random NPCs and the main characters interact just by speaking with them makes the world feel like each nobody feels like... a little like a somebody that may or may not show up later in the series. Whilst it doesn't mean you need to speak to everybody because that would be tedious, it just goes to show how much love was put into the civilians.

If I can definitely say one thing about the worldbuilding, it's just tremendous. There's so many lore details within the game that a guy like myself really does appreciate. Whilst I really do not like collecting the missable books, the books themselves are really well written in itself and felt like actual novels you'd read on a daily basis. I'm vividly impressed by how much details of the town and cities were elaborated upon. Each of them feel distinct from one another based on their own geographical locations, from just a simple village, to the royal city to Ruan which I declare is the best location because the vibes of the seaside are immaculate.

Now, the characters themselves can be a mixed bag of introductions, generally because for the most part, they get way better fleshed out in SC. After all, this game, as stated before, is the prologue of the series. A couple of them won't be exactly likeable at first and it really depends on you own character preferences in the end. The antagonists in this game are good and serviceable, but not precisely standout quality. For me, I personally really enjoyed the characters in this one, even if I do have a few mixed feelings on some of them.

However, whilst I have a good positive feeling about the characters in general, ALL OF THEM ARE OVERSHADOWED BY THE SHEER BRILLIANCE OF THE BEST RPG PROTAGONIST I HAVE EVER EXPERIENCED. Estelle is definitely the biggest highlight of the whole game alongside Joshua. Whilst I had a hard time dealing with just these two gameplay wise, I had a blast with the optimistic, energetic and snarky attitude of this Shonen Protagonist having a blooming relationship with the calm, rational and deadpan Lancer. This game in itself is worth playing just for experiencing these two explore the entire region to become full-fledged bracers. Whenever Estelle appears in a future game, regardless if she is a D-Tier party member, she will ALWAYS be part of the main team because she makes me giddy. I am the number one supporter of the Estelle nation! (Self-proclaimed by the guy who hasn't finished Azure yet at the time of this review.)

Overall, this game will be a hit or miss depending on how you take this. I'm really forgiving of this game for being the first of the Trails series, though it's you will definitely find that whilst there are amazing elements such as Estelle, the game is really dated by certain aspects not just by the gameplay, but by certain tropes you'd find in anime that you wouldn't really find acceptable. I think you'll find some great elements for later games if you managed to push through to the end of this game, which led me to experience the greatness of SC.

Overall Score: 6.5/10, mixed to positive for me, but Estelle is the best protagonist to ever exist ever.

top game!!! 10/10

Trails in the Sky review:
Prologue:
set up the world, set up its characters, and had a little mystery
1st chapter:
some mystery, more world building, good side quests, and humor
2nd chapter:
more mystery, good side quests, interesting characters and events
3rd chapter:
kindof dull, not bad, but it happened
4th chapter:
first half:
so much talking about nothing
second half:
much better