The Radical Child

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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.

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Score Breakdown
The Good	The Bad
Solid battle system with plenty variety. Great control with turbo mode. Excellent narrative with good twists. Superb audiovisual presentation. Plenty lasting appeal.	Much music taken from first game. Some minor graphical issues. Most players will want to move on to next game.
The Bottom Line
A superb sequel building on its predecessor.
Platform	Steam
Game Mechanics	9.5/10
Control	9.5/10
Story	9.5/10
Localization	9.5/10
Aurals	9.5/10
Visuals	9.0/10
Lasting Appeal	9.5/10
Difficulty	Adjustable
Playtime	24-72 Hours
Overall: 9.5/10

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A knight's apprentice, a wizard, and a claw-man walk into a tower...

Nihon Falcom is a relatively small-staffed developer of RPG series such as The Legend of Heroes and Ys, with many entries, particularly in the latter pantheon, not seeing the light of day in North America. However, after the turn of the millennium, their games would release outside Japan thanks to the efforts of localization teams such as XSEED. Among the titles they localized was Ys Origin, the franchise's sole prequel thus far, for the PC, with DotEmu over a decade later handling ports to the PlayStation 4 and Vita, the former which this review covers.

When starting a new game, the player has an initial choice of one or two playable characters: Yunica Tovah, a melee weapon user, and Hugo Fact, a magician who attacks with lasers from his staff and family's Eyes of Fact. When finishing their storylines, the player unlocks a tertiary character codenamed The Claw, with all protagonists having a unique action playstyle, keeping the game from becoming too repetitive. Falcom doesn't disappoint with Origin's gameplay; except for the constant need to collect enemy drops like SP players can use to purchase "Blessings" that enhance each character and the inability to pause during boss battles, the mechanics serve the prequel well.

While Ys Origin lacks in-game maps, the game is linear enough to their being unnecessary, and should the player become lost, they can use the Lila Shell to communicate with characters at the tower's base to get hints on how to proceed (while this feature is absent in The Claw's side of the story, it's no issue). While the game has fixed save points, the player can use an item to teleport instantly to them to record their progress, and spacing is fair. There are issues such as the slow in-game clock, the mentioned lack of pausing in boss fights, and the possibility of forgetting to equip certain items necessary for advancement (when the game could have easily implemented them automatically), but otherwise, interaction is well-polished.

The prequel perhaps has the best story of the franchise, taking place seven centuries before the events of the first numbered entry, the three characters with reasonable development and backstory, with a few occasional twists, particularly towards the end of The Claw's narrative. However, mainline series protagonist Adol Christin's potential ancestry receives no mention. The translation is well-polished, although some Japanese, particularly alongside the Darm Tower segment names, remains, and a minor oddity of a female character receiving the title "Sir" occurs. Regardless, the narrative is very much a reason to play the game.

The Falcom sound team, as always, excelled with the music, among the most iconic tracks being "Tower of the Shadow of Death," which comes from the original Ys, proving as haunting and foreboding as always. The sound effects fit the various actions of the characters and enemies also. Despite some cutscenes without music, the aurals are one of the game's highlights.

The visuals are probably the weakest aspect of Ys Origin, yet bear many positives and look nice on the PlayStation 4, despite the game's original release in the first decade of the new millennium. The art direction is superb, with the anime character portraits looking nice and showing varying emotions, as do their respective well-designed sprites at many points, with the models having fluid animation. The water and illumination effects are also stunning, with the scenery appearing realistic and containing appropriate hues. One could describe the graphical style as 2.5-dimensional with its fusion of 2-D and 3-D elements. However, some texturing can appear blurry and pixilated when seen close, mostly during cutscenes, the FMVs are dated and choppy, different equipment does not affect character appearances, and there are occasional reskinned enemies. Regardless, the graphics have plenty of polish despite their flaws.

Finally, finishing all three characters' storylines can take under twenty-four hours (the in-game clock being a bit slow), with each's playtime depending upon how well the player grasps the layout of the Tower of Darm. Significant lasting appeal exists as well, given the different difficulty settings, and after finishing all three characters' storylines on Easy, I only reached a fourth of the game's PlayStation 4 Trophies. Subsequent completions of each protagonist's quests earn the player more starting SP per playthrough, alongside various other unlockables such as an arena mode.

Overall, Ys Origin is an enjoyable prequel to its respective series, being among the best, if not the best, entries of the Ys family, and shines with regards to its gameplay, control, storyline, aurals, visuals, and lasting appeal. There are a few negatives regarding certain aspects, such as control and the graphics, although the good mercifully dwarves them. DotEmu very well adapted the game for the PlayStation, and Origin consequentially serves as an excellent diving board into the series and a worthwhile experience for those that have yet to play it. Sadly, however, there haven’t been any more prequels despite plentiful territory for Nihon Falcom to explore given the game’s setting seven centuries before the main games, but one can only hope.

The reviewer played a digital copy on his PlayStation 4.

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Score Breakdown
The Good	The Bad
Superb gameplay mechanics with plenty variety. Excellent story from three characters' perspectives. Great soundtrack. Visuals look nice even today. Plenty lasting appeal.	No pausing against bosses. Graphics appear dated at times. So far the only Ys prequel.
The Bottom Line
One of the best entries of the Ys series and Nihon Falcom games.
Platform	PlayStation 4
Game Mechanics	9.0/10
Control	8.5/10
Story	9.5/10
Localization	9.0/10
Aurals	9.5/10
Visuals	8.0/10
Lasting Appeal	10/10
Difficulty	Adjustable
Playtime	Less than 24 Hours
Overall: 9.5/10

Dad has been a real pain in the ass and doesn't seem to think about anything other than my eating habits, and doesn't think before he speaks, but rather jumps to conclusions and can't shut his fat mouth and accept what I'm doing rather than being anal whenever I do something unexpected. On the other hand, he had given me some more coupons for Dunkin' / Baskin Robbins, and this morning I bought a dozen and got a dozen donuts free, although they had only six-donut boxes, one of which I gave to my church and took the others home. I also lunched for free at Raising Cane's with a gift card I got from work, and bought twenty dollars' worth of Girl Scout cookies outside the local Walgreens.

I had two more rounds of rehab this week, and there's a decent chance I'll be discharged completely from physical therapy since I really feel my right shoulder is getting much better, and I've been doing supplementary exercises like swinging my right arm around during the downtime at work and at home. I've secretly been drinking alcoholic beverages, max one per day at night, to help with my pain, and the best I've had so far was a bottle of strawberry daiquiri. I had bought a can of flavored hard seltzer but didn't care much for it as much.

Not a peep from the Java Training and Placement program, and I've casually been applying to various IT remote jobs in hopes I can advance my career and accumulate more money so I can take over the house where I live unless I happen to predecease my parents, which I hope sure as hell doesn't happen, although there have been cases of perfectly-healthy people dropping dead before reaching old age. At my current job, I worked half days Wednesday and Saturday.

I beat Persona 5 Royal, Pokémon Violet, and NieR: Automata, so expect reviews of those soon, and I had a generally good impression of all games. I've started Ys Origin, which I was able to download free to my PlayStation 4 since I had previously bought and played it on my Vita. I had also played it on Steam, but its respective version is genuinely incompatible with the Steam Deck. I also got back into Torchlight, better played with the Steam Deck system itself since I need to use one of its trackpads to mouse over the gameplay screen to do various things.