The 40 Hour Prologue - Let's Talk About It: Trails in the Sky FC 

Whoops. Forgot the timestamps. Also, I tried recording the majority of the footage for this game on my laptop since it would be more convenient for me and I'd be able to finish the game faster. I usually do most of my gaming on my desktop but I've had to share it as of late. Trails wasn't very demanding, but the computer couldn't handle that and OBS at the same time, so I couldn't reliably record without running the risk of skipped frames afterward. So that's why the resolution looks really weird (damn you Surface and your weird aspect ratios). if you happen to see any lag during the video it's not you, it's me. I recorded the last fraction of the game on my desktop so it probably looks crispier than the rest of the video. All that being said, I hope these inconveniences don't ruin the experience for you. Enjoy the video. Introduction and setting - 0:00 Things I liked - 3:08 Things I disliked - 11:18 Thoughts on the other main characters (spoiler warning) - 12:37 Story discussion (spoiler warning) - 19:15

The Bracer Guild is if "RPG protagonist" was a profession.

Trails in the Sky, aka "How I gave all my money and my kidneys to Falcom"

"Tita is the most precious thing in this game and should be protected at all costs". Literally. She has absolutely no defense or HP, you don't want ennemies to swing at her too many times.

im japanese i played trail of sky 10 years ago Now im happy that foreign peaple have fun with this game

It's a 40 hour prologue to one the best games in history

The scene where Mueller drags Olivier on the floor before the party at the castle is by far the funniest scene of the game. MY ROYAL CUISINE!

One of the absolute highlights of SC is Richard coming to the rescue in a time of crisis and basically telling everyone "I didn't have faith in the future of Liberl, but with kids like Estelle, Joshua, Kloe, Tita and the rest of you, I realize now, I was dead wrong."

Tita's voice in japanese is the most precious thing in the world. Also it is possible to defeat Lorence if you use the correct equipment. But it's HARD. There's even an achivement for that.

I gotta say, the ending to this game had me floored for WEEKS.

Funny thing is: If you pronounce “Aidios” in spanish it sounds exactly like “Ay, Dios!” Which translates as “Oh, God!”

I like describing this as the Marvel Cinematic Universe of JRPGs. Also, given that orbment upgrades and quartz are expensive, and, presumably, you could just buy those nice quartz and orbment upgrades if you were rich enough, it makes sense that Kloe would have a fully upgraded orbment with full quartz...I mean...Given her background... Also, Olivier is the best attack mage.

I mean in all fairness every first game in a Trails story is just a 40 hour long prologue... *cold steel 1 flashbacks*

I really loved your sense of humour throughout the video. I'm glad you liked sky fc as I myself am a huge fan of the series and falcom in general. I can almost guarantee that you'll love sky sc and every other trails game after that. I'm surprised that with the quality of your video's you don't have more subscribers. Also, that profile picture of a mexican Estelle is beautiful.

My first jrpg. Needless to say, i blazed through the entire series (from sky 1st to cold steel 3) in a year. Patiently waiting for cold steel 4 now. Great video.

This series is my favorite game of all time. When I played first chapter 10 years ago it ended on a cliff hanger. I downloaded the second chapter and play through it all with print out scrip translations line by line hahaha it was an amazing memory. I love the characters and replayed it many times.

I just got done finishing this first trilogy of Trails games and I enjoyed the style of storytelling in these games. One probelm I have with the main Final Fantasy games is that they escalate from fighting lowly goons and random monsters to stoping the end of the world in one game. This usually results in the world building and character development taking a backseat as the story has to rush in order to reach those heights by the end. But since Trails in the Sky uses the First Chapter to establish the setting, the characters and the group dynamics while taking on a reasonable threat, it allows them to explore those aspects more thoroughly in the Second Chapter and 3rd while ramping up the challenges. So by the time the protagonists are facing down an end of world threat they are more than just a character template with a backstory attached. By Falcom taking their time we get to see these characters grow from when we first meet them.

Just found out about this series around a week ago. I was just looking for some older RPG's to get into, but not so old that I'd be playing SNES games. Gotta say, I'm absolutely blown away. Maybe I don't play enough RPG's that're made by companies other than SquareEnix, but the features in this game just blow my mind.

I really love this series. It's been a year since I finished all Sky, Azure and Zero and Cold Steel. Just waiting for Hajimari and Kuro translation

The most interesting and engaging game ever played. Love you with bottom of my heart Nihon Falcom banzai!

Your videos are very comfy; I really like your plot summaries. Very nice to just chill and have a coffee to

One of my favorite games. I enjoyed your review!

Just got into the trails series. Bought all games plus the fan translations for zero and azure. I just finished cold steel 1 cuz I didn’t know I had to play it in order. Starting my sky run tomorrow. I fell in love with this series

Great video man! I finished FC the other night and I absolutely loved it. Great characters, plot twists, etc. Looking forward to starting SC and continuing my journey down the Trails rabbit hole. lol

"Joshua, you of all people know thats not true" I freakin died

This is such a terrific video, that, watching it again, I noticed something else: when Richard wants the Shinning Ring because he figures if Liberl has that, other nations won't mess with them. . . after playing Trails to Azure, Cold Steel 1 and Cold Steel 2 where another one of the 7 (the shinning ring also being 1 of the 7) is used, I gotta say, Richard is probably right. The Shinning Ring probably would be enough to guarantee Liberl's security, so points for Richard's plan being extremely realistic.

So, I know I've already commented on this video, but I just have to say that I saw the ending to Cold Steel 4 the other day, and I was amazed. I figured that would happen eventually early on in Sky FC, and it was set up all the way back in Chapter 1 (the Bose region) of this very game. It was cool to see it paid off nearly 15 years, and 8 games, later. That is world building and story-telling, my friends, to see character arcs grow and change over the course of many stories, and to finally get the payoff in the end that was set up at the very beginning.

Don't even know why I am going to over share in here but here I go: Used to be a hardcore gamer until I got in a very committed relationship that lasted years on end, so I stopped playing games, then my dad died in 2016 (he was my best friend and confidant, he was a great man) and my GF left me bcs she could not see me in depression or some bullshit excuse. After some months of nothingness, I opened a steam account for myself and went for a cheap JRPG, you know, to try to get back into things, and that weekend, Trails in the Sky FC was on sale, got it for like $7, no kidding. The familiar story beats, the easy going story, the slow pace, everything appealed to me, specially the music, I still remember the first time I heard the song going out of Estelle's house, it was like the colors returned to my life for a bit, a wash of joy. The people felt like people in this game, the characters and their dialogue felt real, and the relationship between our protagonists was oh so endearing!, then that ending happened. Ofc I immediately felt the strongest connection I have felt with a character with Estelle. So I bought SC right then and there. Seeing her go through the stages of grief, and how she came at the other side even stronger than before, not only gave me hope, but made me stand up and get on with my life. Needless to say, Trails games are my favorite (even though the cold steel arc was not as good as the previous ones) and Estelle Bright, has a very special place in my heart. Thank you Falcom!

Just want to say that the second lieutenant Lorence can actually be beaten. Right before fighting him, there's a dude outside that sells items. He sells accessories that prevent confusion, silence, and etc. You equip those to have an "easier" time fighting him, which is still in my opinion the hardest fight in the game. I think beating him gives you some additional guild points for that chapter.

The charizard part had me rolling, partly because that’s how my internal dialogue read her name. Great review, I too just finished the game and wanted a recap and you delivered. The only part I disagree was the music, I felt like a lot of the tracks were memorable but the night time ambient track is by far the best and one I will add to my playlist. Thanks !

Happy to have a new member in the club :)) I would suggest taking your time and trying for a perfect playthrough of each game. There are many, many details that are easily missed and since you are a hardcore fan already (yeah you are, you just don't know it yet), you will want those.

Dude the intro when you said cold steel looked cool in steam is how I got into the legend of heroes. I was just aimlessly scrolling through steam till I saw rean's s craft and I was sold and I fell in the rabbit hole

fight with "lorence" is winnable even on nightmare, abuse kaempfer like a champ. and be prepared its gonna take awhile 🤣

21:43 "Not the brightest Quartz on the Orbal circuit". Lmao

ahhhh this was an amazing review, i really enjoyed it!!

I think the reason why alba has faceless in his name is because people who try to remember who he is doesn't remember what he looks like, like he doesn't have a face maybe? Which can be seen at the start of SC when estelle tries to remember who she bumped into before going back to Joshua with icecream

The worst part of every video covering a person's foray into the Trails series is hearing the OST in the back and being absolutely assailed by nostalgia.

You can win the Lorence fight and it's required for %100

This is a series I wanted to get into ever since they announced Cold Steel 3 would be a culmination of 7 games, 2 of which he never got in the west. Fast forward a while, I found out that there was a translation of Trails to zero done and Ao (Now Azure) was being worked on. I decided to bite the bullet and just finished the prologue to In the Sky FC. It's a slow burn for sure and I figured how the prologue would end early on but I plan to see this through. I just want to experience the story so I can get to Cold Steel because I played a demo and it looks and sounds fantastic. I can't wait to be able to get there.

Lorence fight is not scripted. You can beat him and if you do, you get an achievement for it as well. You need to have top quality gears, correct quartz combinations and a balanced team. It will be a long fight but yes you can win.

Just started FC last week and I've been really enjoying it, I'm about halfway through chapter 4 so I'm looking forwards to the finale. I've already got SC and third as well as the first two Cold Steel games ready for when I get there (I know, playing it in the release order is the best way, but cold steel and Trails from Zero technically take place at the same time, or so I've heard). I'm gonna have to do what I can to drip feed myself while we wait for the official translation of Trails From Zero this fall... Ah well, I've got the Y's series to tide me over and university to provide a consistent distraction, so I'm sure it will be fine.

One thing I like about the trails game is that most of your status effects work on most enemies including most bosses. It's deeply frustrating to me that in Square Enix games they'll give you status effects and then they are almost never usable to the point that it's not even worth bothering.

olivier is a good character, i loved every moment he was there.

Nice video, you surely deserve more subscribers. Kaempfer or Kämpfer is German and means fighter. Sieg itself means victory. There are many German words and names throughout the series, it's one of those strange Japanese things...

I just finished this game. It took me 61h40m. So it's more of a 60h prologue. I played with the evo voice mod, so that may have played a big part in my playtime. There's a ridiculous amount of voice acting, almost everything is voice acted with the mod. I'll start the sequel tomorrow, I have a feeling this is going to become one of my favorite stories in gaming, up there with Yakuza and FF XIV.

Bracers = Adventurers guild. also having an issue with a queen in charge in the middle ages... **queen Elizabeth I intensifies** xD

I keep meaning to get back to the Trails series, it's just daunting due to the number of long games. I played FC on PSP back when it was first released in the US, but didn't even hear about 2 and 3 getting released until after Cold Steel came out. Doesn't help that I wasn't super impressed with FC anyway. Kinda like you said, it was fine but not the earth-shattering experience I'd been told it was. I remember being kinda pissed off at one event at the end, and frankly don't remember a single thing that happened during the rest of the game. Will have to replay it... one of these days.

It’s so nice having a series that isn’t just “god bad” every 3 seconds.

Ty

ayy nice review I played this first when it was only on PSP back in 2012 so I had to wait more than 3 excruciating years to play the sequel. Even to this day after playing most of the games currently available in English, I still consider FC my favorite even if objectively speaking it's probably not the best, but it just has special vibes the others don't have or fail to replicate (Zero no Kiseki/Trails from Zero comes extremely close to it though, this one is close 2nd in my book). I've finished the game 7 times since, but it feels so much like home and comforting to play that it's hard to put down. It's a shame that I can't seem to get excited as much for the new Cold Steel games as much as I used to for the Sky trilogy though. I get that every new game is built upon the previous one, but it strays further and further from what made me like FC, and I don't like where Falcom is leading the series.

chaos brand is indeed busted

Bracers are basically Interpol

"You will want to pick up the next game while you're at it" Yea, thats the entire series. The entire series. I was on steam one day and saw Cold Steel 3 demo, and thought "what the hell i'll give it a try". Immediately after I bought Cold Steel 1, then 2, then 3, and then I was like 4's not out yet??? Immediately bought all the sky games and zero and azure. I'm still waiting for the 4th game. (To be clear, the 4th game is out on playstation, but I don't have a playstation so... i'm waiting on PC.)

I. LOVED. This game. I just finished it. I have SC installed and am starting it tomorrow… I didn’t love the pacing leading up to the last fight(s), it definitely got a bit sloggy, but overall just adored my time with it.

Olivier is the strongest offensive spellcaster in the game. In other words your final dungeon loadout was ass

Fantastic review, we almost share the same opinions on the game :) also how come u didn't notice the S break mechanic during your first playthrough that was so funny to hear 😹

This game took me 77 hours to beat lol, and i played on turbo mode mostly. One thing I want to mention is that the Loewe fight is very doable. It wrecked me the first time, but I reloaded my save and went in with the proper items. Beat it on that try.

I saw this title before starting to plays Trails Sky, so I figured it was 40hrs so I figured I could fit it into my very strictly planned out game time. Then I blew past 40hrs, and I kept thinking "well it must be ending soon" I finally beat it today over 130hrs. What the heck?

"You are hardly qualified to feel pity for me. You, who know the name of Hamel.

The “adiós” joke really got me

knowing Olivier the story about the wine is probably legit.

Oilvier best character! Let’s goooooo!!

Good review

The Major Difference between Bracers and Police is discussed in the Zero no Kiseki. ***Spoiler Alert*** The Lack of Police in Liberl is explained with the strong presence of the army to keep Erebonia at bay. Because of the high capabilities of army officers, there is little need for regular officers, however they still exist (albeit, off screen). The Bracer Guilds scattered throughout Zemuria holds high regard with their citizen, being extremely reliable when they need their assistance, something that also keeps the government linked officers at bay and impede they growth as a institution. Adding to that, as seen in Zero no Kiseki, even a state that holds its own between Calvard and the Erebonia (empire), choose to trust more in the Bracer Guilds, rather than the police itself. Also, what hinders the police capabilities, is the corruption of the parliament members that keeps the Police authority in check, so they cannot perform their duties accordingly. Since The Bracers guild is a non government institution, they are not impaired by this blocker, however, in the story, this can cause some obstacle to them. Notes: (In order to compete against the Bracers Guild, the Crossbell state creates a special division in order to try and solve this problem, but they still demonstrate some problems to deal with high government corruption which mines their action). Notes 2: So, even with the Bracers being able to make arrests, their major concerns is with the citizen's well being rather than to throw themselves to stop operations that does not put the citizens at immediate dangers, so they are not really interested in corruption in the government and/or petty thievery etc.

currently playing this game. Im at the final dungeon ready to finish it so I can move to the 2nd game then 3rd. Then just gottta wait for the 2 crossbell games. Then Ill finally be ready to go past Cold Steel 4 update: Just finished Trails in the Sky

25:20 Actually you can beat him, and you get some different dialogue and some other stuff for doing so! My advice is to just spam him with arts and equip your party with anti confuse and anti faint stuff.

Pro tip: always ALWAYS have Kloe in your party in SC not for the obvious reason of being the dedicated healer but also her naturally high ATS which makes her arts hit like a semi truck and especially when you get the shoes halfway through the game that buffs her arts by a full 100 points.

Entertaining discussion. Funny. Liked and subbed.

....the "Lorence" fight......I spent so long restarting to finally beat that bugger! Only to find out I missed at some point in the game 2 bloody BP.......

I’m at the end of chapter 1, and 17 hours in. I’ve used the boost feature for pretty much all game play that isn’t story, but I’m loving the game so much.

Soo i just finished playing this game and i now know that you have to actually place the quartz in combinations to compound them? Jesus i love this game but it clear fails to explain to you A LOT xD

Lorence: Don't worry. You're supposed to lose my fight Estelle: Yeah, everyone says that BEFORE they get hit with the big stick... Actual helpful tip: Equip immune to silence & confuse/faint. Refresh Earth Wall as much as you can. He heals for ~1k while you can attack with 1.5k of Arts with equalized Speed. Take him down to half health then use Kaempfer before 200 cp S-Breaking with Estelle and Scherazard. 1 dead pretty boy served.

I've played this whole game without using Chaos Brand once lol. I'll try to change my ways in SC

So gotta say for anyone who is now thinking about picking up the sky arc and potentially the rest of the series. Do not play Sky FC and SC on anything above normal. Those games were not made with higher difficulties in mind and all the difficulties do is raise stats by 20% for hard and 40% for nightmare on all enemies. This can be an issue because of how DEF works as a stat where you can easily do 50 dmg when on normal you would do 200. But most importantly its speed that is the issue coupled with stuff hitting hard af, bosses taking 2 turns for every 1 turn you take is nasty. There are also some quest bosses who scale horribly with difficulty. Clearing those games on a new save on high difficulty involves knowing the combat system in and out and grinding for the right stuff early on. Difficulty in trials evens out after a while but early sections tend to be hell on high difficulty. You might not even leave the tutorial of SC on hard or nightmare depending on how the AI is feeling. Also FC is old as balls and the story drags compared to the rest of the series so the faster you can get through before losing interest the better. You pretty much play this game to get to know the characters and world which set up for the conflict in SC. Both FC and SC were originally one game and got cut in two during production which leaves FC hanging quite a bit. Tip for FC: Use arts and don't bother with characters crafts who weren't specifically made to be physical gods. Estelle kinda sucks in combat and is best off as a buffer/healer for those with better crafts and better orbment lines. The combat feels very bad with how underpowered crafts are but its fixed as soon as the next game.

Lorence was the one superboss I actually vowed to defeat no matter how many times I lose. Funnily enough I beat him on my 3rd try thanks to clock up ex and earth guard. He was a different beast in sc though as I needed everyone at 200 cp before I barely managed to beat him with only joshua left standing ( Kevin's s craft is a lifesaver).

actually the fight with lorence is possible to win with the right strategy.

16:20 Someone has played R&C, I see.

The first game starts off very rough. I dropped it before I finished the prologue and only got back after clearing Cold Steel 1. It was still a rough go until the final chapter when it started resembling the intrigue and world building of Cold Steel. The characters are for sure better, especially Estelle and Joshua who showed more personality in the prologue than Rean ever will. I'm so excited to keep going, and hope I'm done TC before Trails from Zero comes out.

Trails is one of the very few JRPGs that have actually good churches/religions. It absolutely is refreshing No such thing as an atheist in a foxhole Agate gets a lot of development in SC

the job description of a bracer, to my observation, is just 'video game protagonist'

So the Bracers are like Witchers!

I loved FC even though it's kind of a slow burn as far as plot goes. The characters are just written so well that I didn't even care.

You talk about scripted fights but with Trails if you can attack you can win. Normally it gives more points, a different scene and/or a extra item.

been playing these games just started the second one yesterday, but I've also played cold steel 1-4 first and let just say knowing to much but help me have alot of fun but also hinders the story abit, that said I still had a good time

We get to be cops.

Kaempfer or if nowadays properly written Kämpfer means "Fighter" and the ae is pronounced like the 'ea' from 'head'

Actually if you beat Lorence you get a fun achievement. It's hard even with prep but it's possible to do it 1st try

29:09 wait, the robot's name is Reverie? **looks at the next game after CS 4, Trails into to Reverie** hmmm...

"If you feel like you like the characters stick it out" I immediately hated the girl.

oh man, you didn't play with the modded voices? sucks for you. you would love olivier even more.

40min vid for the 40 hr prologue

Schera-ne is my fav character in Trails though I identify more with Tita I guess.

YET NONE of the games even took me 40+ hours to be in fact the one on this video took me barely 15 to 20 hours.

You're definitely not supposed to lose the fight with Lorence. It's tough but it's an achievement and I was able to do it on the third go. The key is to use Kloe's art that lowers his strength to where he can't hit much of anything.

I hate some of your opinions, but ya, Great breakdown/review for me.

I would say bracers are more akin to an adventurers guild based on high integrity.

Btw, that Boss is not scripted, you gain BP If you defeat him lol

2:15 "found"... Right lets ignore that he beat the shit out of him😂

I played on psp and his name is Zane not zin. Weird

did you just say you played through the whole game without using S breaks xD?