The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky Second Chapter

The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky Second Chapter
Cover art
Developer(s)	Nihon Falcom
Publisher(s)	JP: Nihon Falcom SK: Nihon Falcom NA: Xseed Games
Artist(s)	HACCAN Yuu Shiina
Composer(s)	Falcom Sound Team jdk (Hayato Sonoda, Takahiro Unisuga, Ryo Takeshita)
Series	The Legend of Heroes - Trails in the Sky
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita
Release date(s)	Microsoft Windows JP: March 9, 2006[1] WW: October 29, 2015 PlayStation Portable JP: September 27, 2007 NA: October 29, 2015[2] EU: November 10, 2015 PlayStation 3 JP: April 25, 2013 PlayStation Vita (Evolution) JP: December 10, 2015
Genre(s)	Role-playing
Mode(s)	Single-player

The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky Second Chapter, known as Eiyū Densetsu VI Sora no Kiseki SC (英雄伝説VI 空の軌跡 SC) in Japan, is the second of three games in the Trails in the Sky sub-series of the The Legend of Heroes series of role-playing video games. Initially released in 2006 for Microsoft Windows and 2007 for the PlayStation Portable in Japan, the game has taken substantially longer to release in English regions due to the massive quantity of text to translate in both Second Chapter and its predecessor, First Chapter. Initially scheduled for a 2014 North American release, its size, among other complications, led to its delay into 2015. The English version was finally released on October 29, 2015, on the PlayStation Network for the PlayStation Portable and PlayStation Vita, Steam, and GOG.com. Japanese-only high-definition versions were also released, including a HD port to the PlayStation 3 in 2013, and a HD remake for the Vita in 2015.

Gameplay

The game plays similarly to its predecessor; a role-playing video game with turn based battles.

Story

The game's story is a direct sequel to the first chapter of The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky, with the story picking up directly after the first entry's ending.^[3]

Localization

In 2010, Xseed Games confirmed that they acquired the rights to all three games in the Trails in the Sky trilogy.^[4] However, the first game proved to be a massive undertaking, having over 1.5 million Japanese characters to be translated,^[5] and did not meet Xseed's sales goals.^[6] The unfavorable "large undertaking, low payoff" ratio, if continued, would put them out of business.^[6] Technical issues also complicated release; the game's massive size, resulting in a two disc release, caused issues for putting it on PlayStation Network for digital download, and the decline of PlayStation Portable's presence in North America made it difficult to set up a multiple disc physical release, a rare occurrence for the system.^[7] Xseed stated that while they weren't cancelling the English release of Second Chapter, they couldn't keep it as a main focus either, and needed to work on other games to maintain financial stability.^[6] While Falcom eventually announced that the technical issues regarding putting the game on PSN had been solved in October 2012, little other news on the game's localization arose in 2012 or the first half of 2013.^[8]

On September 6, 2013, Xseed reconfirmed their intentions to release the game in English in North America.^[9] With the issues with the digital version solved, and the company's success with releasing Ys games on Steam, Xseed announced that it would be released digitally for the PC and PlayStation Portable,^[10] and will be made playable on the PlayStation Vita, which is backwards compatible with many PSP games.^[11] Xseed received help with the game's translation through another company, Carpe Fulgur, which had previously localized PC games Recettear and Chantelise.^[12]

In December 2013, XSeed announced they were aiming for "mid-2014" for the game's English release.^[13] However, by June, the company revised their goal to "by the end of 2014".^[14] In December 2014, Carpe Fulgur head Andrew Dice announced that progress in translating the game was slowed by his struggle with depression and suicide.^[15] Dice handed over his work for Xseed employees to finish up, resulting in delaying the game into 2015.^[16]

The script was edited by XSEED's Jessica Chavez. She noted that the English script came up to 716,401 words, which is roughly the size of 10 novels, longer than the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy (455,125 words) and War and Peace (587,287 words).^[17]

The game was released as a downloadable title on Steam, PSN, and GOG on October 29, 2015.

Reception

RPGFan gave the imported Japanese version an 82% score, praising the gameplay, writing, and characters, but criticizing the dated presentation and cliché main plot compared to Crisis Core, Final Fantasy Tactics, and Xenosaga, concluding, "Those willing to see beyond the somewhat outdated presentation and cliché main storyline will find a slightly old school, yet incredibly charming RPG with solid mechanics, likeable characters and a well written story."^[22] RPGFan later gave the English version an 88% score, praising the gameplay, story, writing, characters, and soundtrack, concluding, "Robustly realized and populated by an endless stream of compelling characters, Trails in the Sky approaches the pinnacle of traditional JRPG design."^[23]

Gamer.nl stated that the "story is epic, the localisation makes characters into persons and everything combined makes this game a must have for JRPG lovers and gamers that appreciate a good story."^[19] RPGamer said "Falcom's writers do a superb job of giving the many characters distinct personalities" and appreciated "the full scope of this series, which takes time to develop pieces of its world in detail", concluding that the "two Trails in the Sky games show how rewarding the series can be".^[21] PlayStation Universe said it is a "superb second chapter with a fantastic storyline, great characters and compelling combat system."^[20]

References

External links

• Official website