[KefkaTaran]

er, chapter 1. i was counting the prologue.

That still seems crazy fast to me. The prologue took me around 12 hours, but I was probably overly thorough.

[Hobbun]

Is your PSP a 3000? Mine has the same issue and I've been considering getting it fixed too. I thought I could live with it, but my friend just got a 3000 recently and his doesn't have that issue at all. (Though it does have a dead pixel and a slight discoloration spot.) Are you sending yours to Sony? Nope. :/

I actually had canceled my repair ticket. Even though the bleeding covers on all four edges of the screen, the thickness of it is very thin. And I really only see it with screens that have a dark background. Most game screens I don't even see it.

I am just afraid SONY will send me back another unit that might have another issue with it. My unit works very well with the exception of the minor screen bleeding.

[Gunloc]

I actually had canceled my repair ticket. Even though the bleeding covers on all four edges of the screen, the thickness of it is very thin. And I really only see it with screens that have a dark background. Most game screens I don't even see it. I am just afraid SONY will send me back another unit that might have another issue with it. My unit works very well with the exception of the minor screen bleeding.

Yeah, that's my worry too. But the bleeding around the edge of my screen is about half an inch thick and I'm finding that to be a distraction. (Though I am admittedly OCD about flaws with my consoles.)

Did they quote you a price for your repair?

[Yuterald]

I have nearly 9 hours logged and I just finished the prologue this afternoon. The story is definitely picking up and the characters are becoming more interesting. I wasn't really feeling the two main characters at first though. Estelle's character type is not my most preferred in RPGs. Too much of a goofy tomboyish guild girl for me. And paired with the mysterious yet still confident swordsman, Joshua, they are as typical as you can get. Not that it's a bad thing or anything, because the writing is good and a lot of fun, it's just not what I like to see in RPGs.

I do like the obsession with Joshua's black hair though. It gives me an Ys-ish vibe and reminds me of Adol, the 'foreign red-hair swordsman', which is cool. The best thing about this game for me so far is the structure/combat. I LOVE how the Bracer Guide explains every stat, mechanic, sub system, and spell/art you can learn. Battles are fair, balance seems on point, and the leveling mechanics with the orbs is interesting. The quest/guild setup is really great too. Lots of variety, humor, and great rewards for doing side stuff. I also really like the battle track in this game, I always blast my volume (playing on my TV) when I am fighting a lot.

To be honest, the only thing that is really bothering me so far is the boss track. Why is it so fucking goofy sounding!? The battle track is really chill and jazzy, but the boss track sounds like some circus ring, jokester fest. Please tell me the boss tracks change later, lol!

[Gunloc]

To be honest, the only thing that is really bothering me so far is the boss track. Why is it so f**king goofy sounding!? The battle track is really chill and jazzy, but the boss track sounds like some circus ring, jokester fest. Please tell me the boss tracks change later, lol!

I'm pretty sure some of the later stage bosses in the game have different boss tracks. But I think the standard boss theme will be prevalent through the game.

This game, out of all the Kiseki games, has the most lighthearted soundtrack to match the initial mood of the game. As the story starts to ramp up in the series, so does the music. The later games in the series have a much more intense soundtrack.

[Yuterald]

I'm pretty sure some of the later stage bosses in the game have different boss tracks. But I think the standard boss theme will be prevalent through the game. This game, out of all the Kiseki games, has the most lighthearted soundtrack to match the initial mood of the game. As the story starts to ramp up in the series, so does the music. The later games in the series have a much more intense soundtrack.

Okay, nice to hear! At what point does the initial lighthearted mood taper off in this game? I am in Chapter 1 about to go meet the general guy who hates Bracers and it's still wavering in between Grandia & Lunar atmosphere territory.

[Gunloc]

Okay, nice to hear! At what point does the initial lighthearted mood taper off in this game? I am in Chapter 1 about to go meet the general guy who hates Bracers and it's still wavering in between Grandia & Lunar atmosphere territory.

I can't say for sure, but it's a slow build in the first game. I actually don't have my copy yet. ;_;

I just happen to know about the series from all the research I did prior to the game's announcement. Which in hindsight I wish I didn't, as I inadvertently spoiled a bunch of story stuff for myself. :(

I know they really take the time to carefully give you some important parts of foreshadowing and to get you invested in the characters and world before kicking things up. But Aeana & Varion would be more knowledgeable about the specifics.

Also, for anyone wondering about the Premium Edition of the game, here's an unboxing video of it from Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pj9n9tSLDbI

[Ricker]

Still trying to find a copy around here,i`ll wait one more week otherwise i`ll go the PSN way...

[Aveyn Knight]

Okay, nice to hear! At what point does the initial lighthearted mood taper off in this game? I am in Chapter 1 about to go meet the general guy who hates Bracers and it's still wavering in between Grandia & Lunar atmosphere territory.

I'd say...

By Chapter 3 or maybe towards the end of Chapter 2.

[vall03]

still waiting for my copy... :(

[hosannainexcelsis]

Went ahead and started this last night. First I read through the manual, where I realized for the first time just how carefully and deeply realized this world is. Then I played until the beginning of the prologue. So far, I love it! There's fun characters and a fun battle system. The tutorial was well integrated into the story. And the extremely tiny hints towards an overarching plot already have me intrigued as to how things will play out. I look forward to getting deeper into it.

[Gunloc]

Well, my copy is in my city now. Hopefully tomorrow!

[Gunloc]

So, the excellent Hardcore Gaming 101 article about the Trails in the Sky trilogy has been scrubbed (mostly) free of spoilers. It still reveals all the playable characters throughout the trilogy (though now the bios are mostly very general info) and it still contains one semi-large plot point, so read at your own risk.

The plot point is mentioned in the individual game paragraphs right after the character bios, so it may be a good to skip those and jump to the main bulk of the article below them.

But there is a bunch of great screen shots and a nice overview of the series, so it's worth checking out if you're interested in the series and want some more info.

Here's the link:
http://www.**********************/loh/loh6.htm

[Hobbun]

Yeah, that's my worry too. But the bleeding around the edge of my screen is about half an inch thick and I'm finding that to be a distraction. (Though I am admittedly OCD about flaws with my consoles.) Did they quote you a price for your repair?

I admit, I'm a bit OCD as well, especially if the unit is new, like mine (I bought it in Dec). But again, I looked at it in that the bleeding was very minor (at least from my perspective) and felt I could live with it. Everything else works great, the face buttons 'click' perfectly, shoulder buttons are fine, no dead pixels and not even a minor scratch on the screen. I'm not even having any issues with the known 'scan-line problem' with the 3000, at least not one I see. So I'm just hesitant in sending it in and then getting a different unit.

But in answer to your other question, since I bought it in Dec., it is still under warranty and would not have costed me anything.

As for the game itself, played more of it and about 6 hours in now. Still trying to get a hang of how the orbatal magic system works, but I'll get it down.

The only issue I've had difficulty-wise with the game so far is the treasure chest on the Milch Rd. (west of Rolent). You open the chest and run into 7 flying creatures and a plant, and they hit HARD. As of level 6, was not able to defeat them, but made lvl. 7 now, so I'll see if I can do so now.

[KefkaTaran]

The only issue I've had difficulty-wise with the game so far is the treasure chest on the Milch Rd. (west of Rolent). You open the chest and run into 7 flying creatures and a plant, and they hit HARD. As of level 6, was not able to defeat them, but made lvl. 7 now, so I'll see if I can do so now.

I had to grind a bit for this exact same part. In the middle of Chapter 1 now, approaching 20 hours into the game, and haven't had much difficulty trouble aside from that. A couple of tough boss battles, but nothing I couldn't handle.

[Syraxith]

Just completed missing airship quest and now en route to Ruan. I don't what it is about TiTS; I've completely turned by back on jrpgs but I can't stop playing.

[Hobbun]

I had to grind a bit for this exact same part.

Just curious, what level were you when you had gotten past this part?

[Gunloc]

Got my copy! :)

Going to start right now.

[B.K.]

I finished the Prologue last night. It's a decent game so far. The only complaints I really have are that the battle system is pretty slow and the enemies in the field are really hard to see. The enemy sprites are so small and are colored so that they blend into the area backgrounds too much.

[Gunloc]

I finished the Prologue last night. It's a decent game so far. The only complaints I really have are that the battle system is pretty slow and the enemies in the field are really hard to see. The enemy sprites are so small and are colored so that they blend into the area backgrounds too much.

I think they want them to blend in.

I believe that later in the game you can get quartz that let you detect enemies better.

[Yuterald]

I think they want them to blend in. I believe that later in the game you can get quartz that let you detect enemies better.

Yes, I just got this during Chapter 1 and it's a god send. I believe it's a reward from a Bracer rank upgrade. Enemies appear as red dots on the map and it also tracks their movements. Really, really fucking helpful!

[ukas]

I'd say... By Chapter 3 or maybe towards the end of Chapter 2.

How many chapters are there?

[Callibretto]

I just met Olivier and he's hilarious. my favorite character so far.

[Aveyn Knight]

How many chapters are there?

There's five, although I've been told the final chapter is about as long as two chapters. It's been a while since I last played, but that sounds about right.

[bishopcruz]

Still no reviews out on this thing other than RPGFan and Playstation Lifestyle? Xseed had this problem with Ys 7 as well but they need to get this game out early to media for review purposes. Especially one as large as this one. None of the major outlets have even talked about this game at all it seems.

As for me, just beat Chapter 1. Story is still in the slow burn phase. It's interesting in that it feels like a mix of WRPG and JRPG in certain ways.

[cress2000]

Thanks for packing my LE in a bubble mailer, Amazon.

[Zwei]

Thanks for packing my LE in a bubble mailer, Amazon.

That's why you order your LE's with other shit. Preferably a strategy guide, and Amazon will pack it in a corrugated box, I believe.

[TheFLYINGManga_Ka]

Still no reviews out on this thing other than RPGFan and Playstation Lifestyle? Xseed had this problem with Ys 7 as well but they need to get this game out early to media for review purposes. Especially one as large as this one. None of the major outlets have even talked about this game at all it seems. As for me, just beat Chapter 1. Story is still in the slow burn phase. It's interesting in that it feels like a mix of WRPG and JRPG in certain ways.

Don't know if anyone posted this yet, but IGN has their review up. Good review and score! They seem to love it!

IGN: 8.0

http://psp.ign.com/articles/115/1159327p1.html

[KAL2006]

Don't know if anyone posted this yet, but IGN has their review up. Good review and score! They seem to love it! IGN: 8.0 http://psp.ign.com/articles/115/1159327p1.html

OK this may be the next game I play, a decent story in a JRPG is really important to me and it seems this games has one. I know this is off topic but how is Radiant Historia, I am deciding if I should play this or Radiant Historia first.

EDIT: Falcom fucked up calling this game Legend of Heroes, I wasn't gong to even look into this game due to hearing how horrible the othe rones were on PSP, luckily I did, but Falcom is losing out on sales due tothe name, if they just called it Trails in the Sky, more people who have checked it out.

[Gunloc]

Don't know if anyone posted this yet, but IGN has their review up. Good review and score! They seem to love it! IGN: 8.0 http://psp.ign.com/articles/115/1159327p1.html

It's a pretty good review by IGN standards, but check this gem out:

Fighting is admittedly the main point of the game, but there are plenty of other things to do so you won't get burned out on brawling.

X_X

EDIT: Falcom f**ked up calling this game Legend of Heroes, I wasn't gong to even look into this game due to hearing how horrible the other ones were on PSP, luckily I did, but Falcom is losing out on sales due to the name, if they just called it Trails in the Sky, more people who have checked it out.

Falcom isn't really at fault for the PSP versions of the previous games, that was all Namco. They are the ones that ported them and changed the gameplay, plus Namco USA is responsible for the awful translations they received.

I believe XSEED toyed with the idea of dropping the name, but the moniker doesn't have the stigma in Japan that it does here, and I think they're hoping that this game will give people a true taste of what the series is like when handled responsibly.

[Nekobo]

Picked up the LE edition today at GameStop. They didn't stock the regular edition, so I didn't have a choice. Oh well, more money for XSeed! Been hankering for an old school RPG with optimistic characters and a grand sense of adventure, so I hope TiTS doesn't let me down.

[Dark Schala]

OK this may be the next game I play, a decent story in a JRPG is really important to me and it seems this games has one. I know this is off topic but how is Radiant Historia, I am deciding if I should play this or Radiant Historia first.

Radiant Historia's pretty damn good. I linked my impressions, so I hope that's okay (just don't highlight the spoilers). The story is pretty fantastic, but I liked the battle system the best out of everything in the game.

As for this game, from what I've been playing, Trails in the Sky (man I have to get used to typing and saying this in English) is really damn good too. I'm not too far in yet since I've been pretty busy lately, but the battle system is really good. It seems to have a decent character-driven narrative. The localization is pretty good, so the dialogue seems to flow well. Honestly, the only thing that kinda bugs me a bit is the chosen font.

I'd say play both if you have the resources to do so. But picking one is really up to you. They're both great.

That IGN review said "fighting is the main point of the game"? Heh.

[TheFLYINGManga_Ka]

OK this may be the next game I play, a decent story in a JRPG is really important to me and it seems this games has one. I know this is off topic but how is Radiant Historia, I am deciding if I should play this or Radiant Historia first.

I say pick up both!

Radiant Historia is surprisingly good and probably the best original DS JRPG that's not based on a existing series.

The story and writing is the opposite of Trails in the Sky because it's darker and more mature. The music is fantastic and the battle system is a really deep turn-based system that adds a lot of strategy to it. It's also fast-paced so it doesn't feel like it drags.

It's made by ex-Persona developers so you can tell that the game has that high quality about it.

[bishopcruz]

Grr... missed one issue of Liberl News near the end of Chapter 1. I had gotten it previously, but then my PSP ran out of juice and instead of hitting sleep mode, it just shut off. So when I went back to my previous save I forgot to grab it again. Do you get anything for collecting all of the issues of the newspaper like you do for the Carneria books? I'd hate to have to replay the end of chapter 1 again.

[Reluctant-Hero]

My premium edition was waiting for me on my desk when I came into work this morning. Looking forward to diving into the game tonight!

[mjc]

At the very least I would try to find a copy of Radiant Historia that you can hang onto. Copies are very rare already, although I don't know if Atlus is already planning a reprint.

[ukas]

Radiant Historia's pretty damn good. I linked my impressions, so I hope that's okay (just don't highlight the spoilers). The story is pretty fantastic, but I liked the battle system the best out of everything in the game. As for this game, from what I've been playing, Trails in the Sky (man I have to get used to typing and saying this in English) is really damn good too. I'm not too far in yet since I've been pretty busy lately, but the battle system is really good. It seems to have a decent character-driven narrative. The localization is pretty good, so the dialogue seems to flow well. Honestly, the only thing that kinda bugs me a bit is the chosen font. I'd say play both if you have the resources to do so. But picking one is really up to you. They're both great. That IGN review said "fighting is the main point of the game"? Heh.

Just call it TITS instead.

[GrumpyAlien]

I am really digging the positive reviews this has been getting from the press. I hope it sells well and the rest of the installments in the series follow soon after.

I haven't actually started playing this yet, although I have had it since last Thurs. I wanted to put some time into the other PSP LOH trilogy from Bandai because I got them dirt cheap. After five hours put into LOH II: The Moonlight Witch...I am done with them. Probably one of the most boring RPGs I have ever played in my life (although the music was pretty good at times). Yuck. Anyway, hope to at least start TITS this week to wash the taste of those games away. Hearing how detailed the world setting is, makes me very excited.

[Varion]

Grr... missed one issue of Liberl News near the end of Chapter 1. I had gotten it previously, but then my PSP ran out of juice and instead of hitting sleep mode, it just shut off. So when I went back to my previous save I forgot to grab it again. Do you get anything for collecting all of the issues of the newspaper like you do for the Carneria books? I'd hate to have to replay the end of chapter 1 again.

Absolutely nothing, proceed without fear.

Also, finished the game earlier. Woo! 57 hours playtime, max BP, max Carnelia books, all the newspapers.

[bishopcruz]

Absolutely nothing, proceed without fear. Also, finished the game earlier. Woo! 57 hours playtime, max BP, max Carnelia books, all the newspapers.

Cool, thanks. Loving the game so far. Wondering where the story is going to go, it's quite episodic which is cool.

Random note, just how small is Liberl? Everyone talks about walking from one province to the other in about a half a day. Place must be tiny.

[Gunloc]

So, I'm about four hours in, and I'm enjoying it immensely. The richness and detail of the world and it's inhabitants is really shining through.

Everyone who likes RPGs should check this game out.

[Gunloc]

Another positive review.

GamePro - 4/5
Note: The review contains a mild spoiler.

[jackdoe]

This is an extremely fun game and I enjoy the nice little mini stories surrounding background characters. Developing orbments is a pain in the ass though as building up red sepith is taking quite a while in Chapter 1.

[cosmicblizzard]

Bah, totally forgot about this. Don't really want to play it until I figure out why Remotejoy won't work. Too afraid to hold my PSP because it's a piece of shit and freezes if I move my hands slightly.

[rainking187]

Got my CE from Amazon, also in a bubble mailer. What the fuck Amazon? It's damaged, so it's going back.

EDIT: And Amazon is sending me a replacement copy with one day shipping. This is why I keep shopping there. Hopefully this one is packaged correctly.

[Volcynika]

I'm conflicted, because apparently two sidequests I got expired. But my earlier save is 2 hours earlier. Blah! Damnable completionist tendencies.

[Yuterald]

I'm conflicted, because apparently two sidequests I got expired. But my earlier save is 2 hours earlier. Blah! Damnable completionist tendencies.

I believe there is a new game+ feature in this game and more difficulties after completion. I wouldn't get hung up on missing stuff on your first playthough as the game surprisingly seems like it is built around multiple playthroughs despite its already lengthy nature. Apparently, after the game is completed you can inherit certain things into a new game+, almost like the feature used in the PSP version of Oath in Felghana. I think it's also very similar to the Tales grade point system where you can pick and choose what to carry over .

So, I have about 17 hours on this game and I just finished Chapter 1. I am definitely addicted to this game. If I am not playing Steel Diver (my only other current obsession) I'm playing this. The story is getting more interesting by the city, lol! I really like the structure of this game. You go to each city in the kingdom and take care of whats important to the story, meet new characters, take on quests related to that region, reach a climax point in the plot, get a new clue, and move on. Bose was definitely more interesting than Rolent and I expect even better things to happen and more interesting people to meet in the next town!

If there is one thing I am still disappointed with is the soundtrack. This is the usual Falcom sound team, right? I really, really dislike the boss music. It just sucks. For how many times I've listened to it already it's slowly becoming one of my least favorite boss tracks in any RPG, ever! There are a bunch of tracks so far that I really do enjoy, however. A lot of the 'trail' areas that connect to the major 'dungeons' play a specific track that I really enjoy. The tower music is great and there is a track that plays during serious moments in the game, like when you are locked up in jail by the royal army for being at the scene of the Capua family crime scene in the abandoned mine, which is surprisingly my favorite track so far. They do reuse a lot of music though. Other than each town having it's own theme it seems like every dungeon/field/mine shares the same track from before.

Everyone keeps hyping the music up at the later parts of the game so we'll see. You people better not be lying, lol! =)

[Soakedjunk]

After reading some of the impressions and positive reviews I'm strongly considering picking this up. It looks pretty awesome.

[Soakedjunk]

please delete this post - I accidentally double posted.

[M_Night]

Finally ordered it from VGP. I should complete Yakuza 4 tomorrow so its time to devote my life to this.