![]() Estelle is thrust into a situation she simply could not be ready for at this point, all while dealing with deeply personal issues that are all too connected to what is going on. Everything is turned up a notch, as the charming and lower key story of the first game gives way to larger schemes and plots undertaken by drastically more powerful villains who have stepped out from the shadows. This game can only work as effectively as it does because of the work that was done in FC to establish the world and cultivate a connection with it. If Sky FC was about laying the ground work for the series, SC is about building on that foundation to show the heights the series can reach. ![]() I sincerely love this opening and think it is one of the most well crafted sections of the series that sets the tone quickly and effectively. Sky FC did not exactly end happily, and watching Estelle struggle to figure out what is going on and then come to terms with it is an emotional ride that is portrayed wonderfully in the opening segment and then throughout the game. Sky SC has a great opening section where the immediate aftermath of FC is explored in painful detail. Trails in the Sky SC picks up immediately, and I do mean immediately, where FC left off. Prior to playing this series for the first time, I had obviously played sequel games and follow ups before, but never something that works quite like Trails. ![]() Starting now this series is going to get much more complicated to write about while keeping spoilers a minimum but I will certainly endeavor to. I have since gotten over those hang ups though I will have a larger point to make later in this series. Interestingly, while the core of the game remained the same, I found myself not liking some of the narrative and plot points my first time through. I actually started SC twice before finally sticking with it on my third try a year or two after I played First Chapter. In fact I believe it was a story about the long wait on Kotaku that prompted me to try the series to begin with. It was a much less fraught situation for me as I believe Sky SC was already out by the time I played FC. If you are aware of how the first game ended, that is an excruciating 4 year wait for western audiences to see the resolution of the story. However, it did not get a western release until 2015 due to the massive amount of text that had to be translated. Sky SC was released in Japan in 2006 for Windows and 2007 for PSP. After something like a thousand hours with this series I’m happy to say I tout Trails in the Sky SC as one of the best it has to offer. Sky SC was the first sequel in the series and therefore the first game that really revealed what the series as a whole would become. The combination of replays and new games leave me in a constant state of flux regarding my feelings toward each game individually and the series as a whole. The series at its best uses its own unique structure to reach greater heights. Additional context changes how certain story beats land. I routinely find my opinion on the games shifting after playing sequels. The direct sequels always keep the core of the gameplay nearly exactly the same, but there are occasionally larger changes to the structure. Yet at the same time they are lengthy individual experiences in their own right with notable adjustments and changes between games. As I have played all the games it can be difficult to separate the pairs in my mind when they are two halves to the same story. Trails in the Sky SC (Second Chapter) begins this trend right away for the series. Direct sequels make arcs feel like two parts of the same game (in fact they are supposedly developed this way). Many times games end on cliffhangers that are picked up on immediately in the next game. Its overall structure means that the arcs are really sets of games within the overall series. Doubly so when trying to go game by game. The Trails series is an interesting one to try to write about.
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