So before the steam sale ends I want to promote the giveaway DarthAsthma is doing for Trails in the sky, which you can find here. Basic rules are play the first Trails in the Sky game and post your thoughts on the game, whether that be thoughts as you play and/or finish the game. DarthAsthma will then pick the best and give the second game to that user. In my signature is a link to the steam page of the game, which I really suggest looking at if you are a big fan of RPGs.
That being said, you may want to know why this game may be for you, and the bad thing about the thread is it's mostly me and DarthAsthma talking spoiler stuff so you can't get a clear idea of stuff without being spoiled. That's where this post will be telling you a bit about the game, with no story spoilers. If even one bit of this interests you I suggest buying the game now and playing, both to be part of the competition and the fact that the game is currently 50% off. So with out further ado, here is what you should know about the game with no spoilers (spoilered for length).
! Some people like their games to start running once it hits the ground, but this game does the exact opposite and for a majority of the game has a much slower pace. For some that may be a negative, but especially for this game in the franchise it works to its advantage.
! It's the first game of this particular series of games, so it has a duty to build up the world a little. A lot of it comes more building up the kingdom of Liberl, which is where the games take place, but you do learn some stuff about other countries and learn some history of different things. The basic gist of the game is you are a Bracer, and because of different things you end up travelling the kingdom helping out people. You meet various people of different backgrounds and get a pretty in depth look about how the different areas are run and what role they play in the overall kingdom. You start out in a small town that allows you to get your bearings to the basic stuff, and over time you travel to the bigger cities that play various roles in the Kingdom. First play through you are absorbing everything but subsequent play throughs you really see that it's crafted really well, where by the end of the game you really understand the working of the kingdom and it's place in the overall world.
! Another thing is just how the story plays out works well in this case. You start out small where the things you do seem mundane, but as time goes on you go on from trying to find a missing item to things much bigger, and by the end everything you did really built up to the climax of the story, which once again you understand after playing the game again. As much as I want to elaborate, trying to go any further risks spoiling things, so just know that at the beginning if you think there isn't really much going on know it builds up overtime. Plus if you just play the game without trying to do everything the game has to offer, the game is 40 hours tops so not terribly long
! The main draw for me is the characters in this game. First you have the main character Estelle, who my Avatar is (though isn't chibi in the actual game). Especially with the second game I could go on with how great of a character she is and how for me she is the best written character I have seen in video games. For a lot of games the MC isn't that interesting, or at least compared to the rest of the cast, but here Estelle shines through the game and for many people will be their favorite character in the game. She is a cheerful person with some spunk, and while not the smartest she isn't an idiot either. We can connect to her because she isn't quite as aware about the world around her, but we learn stuff as she does, and she develops slowly over time. The best part is that even with her optimistic personality she can get sad and wonder if she did the right thing and reflect on how she can improve, but it isn't overbearing. For me while the start of the game is slow just having her be the MC let me roll along, because I wanted to see what she would do next.
! As for the other characters, they come from different backgrounds and each have their own history, dreams, and personalities. Some may be a bit harder to like at first, but if you can get past the rough edges you can see there is so much more to them. At first some of them may seem like they are just a walking trope, but like a lot of the game there is much more going on than meets the eye, which you get a lot more of when you get around to the second game. Once again, I would like to elaborate more but trying to will spoil stuff, and even giving off personality hints I feel like spoils some of the fun. I elaborated a little more on Estelle because you get a lot of this stuff early on in the game.
! Just to give an idea of the battle system, it's turned based on a grid field where you can move your character and attack. Characters have different attack ranges and crafts to attack and buff/debuff. You can see a turn order and through different means can change that up, which is necessary since you may want to get that turn to heal a character or land a critical hit. Last is that you have a materia like system, in which you equip these things called orbments to allow your characters to buff stats and use certain artes with certain combinations. You have a lot of customization, but some characters are forced to you certain elements in certain slots, so it does give each character their own uniqueness.
! If you are a big fan of Final Fantasy or even Persona, I suggest giving this game a try. If you end up not being a big fan well you tried it at least. If you are like me you will fall in love, and once you get into the other games you will be in for one hell of a journey.