History VideoGame / LegendOfHeroesTrailsInTheSky

*** There's a WhiteHairedPrettyBoy [[TheRival Rival]] who actively prevents the party for ever advancing their adventures in the second half of the game. [[spoiler:Said rivals are actually someone close to the main character]]. Not only that, near the end of the game, they engage an [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome awesome duel]] with one of the main characters.

''Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky'', often called ''Sora no Kiseki'' or ''Legend of Heroes VI'', is a {{JRPG}} released by NihonFalcom in the mid-2000s, first on the PC and then on the PSP. It is an entry into Falcom's line of "traditional" turn-based story-heavy [=JRPGs=] (as opposed to the action [=RPGs=] of the ''VideoGame/{{Ys}}'' series), and it is without question the single most successful game-cum-franchise Falcom has released since the original ''Ys'' duology, despite taking so long to leave Japan.

Just like the case of Falcom's other great RPG series ''VideoGame/{{Ys}}'', the games have suffered greatly from NoExportForYou, which is the primary reason why the series is massively popular in Japan, right up there with the TalesSeries and ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' (having sold [[http://www.siliconera.com/2011/02/09/falcoms-trails-in-the-sky-series-soars-past-one-million-units-sold/ over a million copies between the three chapters of the game]], [[VideoGame/ZeroNoKiseki two proper sequels]] released in 2010 and 2011, both of which also sold like bonkers, [[http://www.siliconera.com/2010/11/20/sora-no-kiseki-anime-maybe-coming-in-2011/ an anime adaptation]] which came out in late 2011 and with [[http://www.falcom.com/info/eventroom/kiseki_festa/kiseki_festa.html fan events still being held]] six years after FC's release), but practically unheard of outside of it.

The first chapter was localized and released in March 2011 for the {{PSP}} courtesy of XSEEDGames (who worked on NihonFalcom's VideoGame/{{Ys}} series previously). Due to the ''huge'' script, expect large gaps between games, but hey, [[SublimeRhyme Slow Export For You]] is better than NoExportForYou.[[note]]Quoth XSEED localizer and resident Falcom fanboy Tom "Wyrdwad" Lipschultz on the {{GameFAQs}} board for the first game: "SC will definitely *not* be released this year [2011]. That's not even physically possible, given the amount of text it has and the amount of manpower and money WE have. (:"[[/note]] At long last, XSEED announced that in 2014, Trails in the Sky SC would be released on PSN and Steam, this time localized by Creator/CarpeFulgur.

* EasterEgg: There are several paintings within the game that show Falcom's other installments such as VideoGame/{{Ys}}.

* IntercontinuityCrossover: Alternative Saga crosses Sora no Kiseki with VideoGame/{{Ys}} using the engine from Ys Seven and includes support characters from Gurumin, Zwei, Brandish, Legend of Heroes III and VideoGame/ZeroNoKiseki.

** One can't really help but suspect that Anelace's outfit was intentionally designed to resemble [[VideoGame/{{Ys}} Adol's]] "classic" armor.

* SpritePolygonMix: One of Japan's most famous recent examples. While not extremely sophisticated by modern standards (though FC wasn't too bad for 2004), it's still the best-looking game out of the group that uses the ''[[VideoGame/{{Ys}} Ark of Naphistim]]'' engine.

* WalkingTheEarth: The game is very "VideoGame/{{Ys}}-scale" about this. While you will, naturally, do some wandering about (Estelle and Joshua are "Bracers", or adventurers who openly wander about doin' good (with organized [=HQs=] in multiple towns even)), the game is confined to the Liberl Kingdom in terms of scope. This is partially because the crisis is local, and partially out of realism since wandering the planet, even with a conveyance, would take months.

The first chapter was localized and released in March 2011 for the {{PSP}} courtesy of XSEEDGames (who worked on NihonFalcom's VideoGame/{{Ys}} series previously). Due to the ''huge'' script, expect large gaps between games, but hey, [[SublimeRhyme Slow Export For You]] is better than NoExportForYou.[[note]]Quoth XSEED localizer and resident Falcom fanboy Tom "Wyrdwad" Lipschultz on the {{GameFAQs}} board for the first game: "SC will definitely *not* be released this year [2011]. That's not even physically possible, given the amount of text it has and the amount of manpower and money WE have. (:"[[/note]] At long last, XSEED announced that in 2014, Trails in the Sky SC would be released on PSN and Steam.

The first chapter was localized and released in March 2011 for the {{PSP}} courtesy of XSEEDGames (who worked on NihonFalcom's VideoGame/{{Ys}} series previously). Due to the ''huge'' script, expect large gaps between games, but hey, [[SublimeRhyme Slow Export For You]] is better than NoExportForYou.[[note]]Quoth XSEED localizer and resident Falcom fanboy Tom "Wyrdwad" Lipschultz on the {{GameFAQs}} board for the first game: "SC will definitely *not* be released this year [2011]. That's not even physically possible, given the amount of text it has and the amount of manpower and money WE have. (:"[[/note]] At long last, XSEED [[AndTheFandomRejoiced announced that in 2014, Trails in the Sky SC would be released on PSN and Steam.]]

The first chapter was localized and released in March 2011 for the {{PSP}} courtesy of XSEEDGames (who worked on NihonFalcom's VideoGame/{{Ys}} series previously). Due to the ''huge'' script, expect large gaps between games, but hey, [[SublimeRhyme Slow Export For You]] is better than NoExportForYou.[[note]]Quoth XSEED localizer and resident Falcom fanboy Tom "Wyrdwad" Lipschultz on the {{GameFAQs}} board for the first game: "SC will definitely *not* be released this year [2011]. That's not even physically possible, given the amount of text it has and the amount of manpower and money WE have. (:"[[/note]]

The aforementioned sequel is ''{{Zero no Kiseki}}'', which follows a new set of protagonists a few years after the events of ''Trails''. ''That'' title was followed up by ''Ao no Kiseki'', which continues the ''Zero'' story in the same way ''Trails SC'' continued the ''Trails FC'' story.

* IntercontinuityCrossover: Alternative Saga crosses Sora no Kiseki with VideoGame/{{Ys}} using the engine from Ys Seven and includes support characters from Gurumin, Zwei, Brandish, Legend of Heroes III and Zero no Kiseki.

Just like the case of Falcom's other great RPG series ''VideoGame/{{Ys}}'', the games have suffered greatly from NoExportForYou, which is the primary reason why the series is massively popular in Japan, right up there with the TalesSeries and ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' (having sold [[http://www.siliconera.com/2011/02/09/falcoms-trails-in-the-sky-series-soars-past-one-million-units-sold/ over a million copies between the three chapters of the game]], [[ZeroNoKiseki two proper sequels]] released in 2010 and 2011, both of which also sold like bonkers, [[http://www.siliconera.com/2010/11/20/sora-no-kiseki-anime-maybe-coming-in-2011/ an anime adaptation]] which came out in late 2011 and with [[http://www.falcom.com/info/eventroom/kiseki_festa/kiseki_festa.html fan events still being held]] six years after FC's release), but practically unheard of outside of it.

* LastEpisodeNewCharacter: just about every new characters in The Third. But Ries and [[spoiler:Lechter]] stand out from the rest, especially since there's no hint whatsoever about their existences and their roles in [[ZeroNoKiseki the next series]] is HUGE. But the others [[spoiler:(Rufina, Ein, and Osborne)]] are mentioned several times during FC and SC.

* TheManBehindTheMan: [[spoiler:Weissmann]] behind almost everything in FC and SC. In a wider meta-series sense, [[spoiler:The Master of Ouroboros is probably behind nearly ''everything'' going on in the series, with the exceptions of Third and ''ZeroNoKiseki'']].

** (''ZeroNoKiseki''/SC spoilers):[[spoiler:Renne may also have had violet eyes since that's what her father actually has, but we've never gotten any confirmation as to what her eye color was before her eyes were changed to gold. Interestingly, the "puppet" of her dad in SC was given golden eyes instead of purple, presumably to ensure they actually "looked" related.]]

The first chapter was localized and released in March 2011 for the {{PSP}} courtesy of XSEEDGames (who worked on NihonFalcom's VideoGame/{{Ys}} series previously). Due to the ''huge'' script, expect large gaps between games, but hey, [[SublimeRhyme Slow Export For You]] is better than NoExportForYou.[[hottip:*:Quoth XSEED localizer and resident Falcom fanboy Tom "Wyrdwad" Lipschultz on the {{GameFAQs}} board for the first game: "SC will definitely *not* be released this year [2011]. That's not even physically possible, given the amount of text it has and the amount of manpower and money WE have. (:"]]

** The games do apply this principle to a few things. For example, if we're being remotely realistic, even briefly pulling the trigger on any of her weapons should result in Tita being knocked flat on her butt from the recoil, if not ''injured'' outright[[hottip:*:since there's no way in hell she weighs more than 90 pounds (''in armor'', mind you) while her weapons spew out easily 100+lb of recoil; never mind that a lot of her weapons would weigh almost as much as ''she'' does]]. [[MST3KMantra Tita looks awesome using them, though, so nobody cares a whit.]]

** "Enforcer Fifteen - The Angel of Extermination[[hottip:*:[[SpellMyNameWithAnS /Slaughter/Annihilation/etc]] - [[spoiler: Renne]]." [[FlatWhat What.]] ''[[OhCrap What.]]''

* AmazonChaser: The Ravens find Kloe's sudden transformation to ActionGirl to be "so hot".

** [[spoiler:Walter and Blueblanc actually survived the collision of Liberl Ark, as revealed in Star Door #14.]]
** [[spoiler:Lucciola actually survived too, as revealed in Ao. The fortune teller in Michelam? It's her.]]

* {{Foreshadowing}}: ''Goddamned '''EVERYWHERE'''''. The game absolutely loves to tease upcoming reveals and plot points; sometimes this is blatant, sometimes you'll barely notice them 'till later and you play through the game again. This is so prevalent that the director has gone on record as saying that there are things in the upcoming ''Ao no Kiseki'' that were foreshadowed '''''back in FC'''''.

* LateArrivalSpoiler: With FC being a good seven years old as of this edit and SC being five, avoiding these has become fairly difficult as Falcom now assumes most interested people in Japan already know about all the major spoilers and revelations... and uses them in promotional material and whatnot, making them kind of hard to avoid if you're outside of Japan and following the news at all! (Places like TheOtherWiki casually ruining the plot of all three games also doesn't help.) The biggest offender is probably [[spoiler:Renne and her actual [[CardCarryingVillain affiliation]], [[AxCrazy motivations]] and [[ChaoticEvil alignment]]. One of the most prominent extant pieces of art for her (from Third) in various Western sources show her clearly rocking her SinisterScythe, which will tip off anyone even remotely GenreSavvy that she's more than she appears to be. Natch for ''Alternative Saga'', which shows off the above ''and'' Pater Mater, and the AnimatedAdaptation will be terrible about this as well (the aforementioned stuff is being used in ''promotional images''). Never mind, uh, [[TakeThatMe all the spoilers on this very page]].]]

A side effect of the game's bifurcated nature is that this is one of the few [=JRPGs=] in which choice ''matters''. While the choices are (generally) not quite as sweeping as those in, say, ''MassEffect'', since you can carry save files forward between chapters, choices you make in one chapter can affect quests and dialogue in a following chapter and affect how quickly you rise through the ranks of the Bracers Guild. The games are also a bit more open-ended than most [=JRPGs=], with ''lots'' of Bracer sidequests available alongside the main storyline (and, in fact, neglecting these can leave you a bit weak for the showdowns which await you at the end of the second chapter).

** [[spoiler:Also, Ouroboros Enforcers like Joshua, Renne and Loewe fairly routinely engage in physical acts that are blatantly impossible (for example, Loewe ''leaping off the top of Castle Grancel'' without injury), although this is handwaved to some degree by the fact that many of them have been modified bodily.]]

* DeadLittleSister:
** Agate's backstory. This is also the reason why he shows his soft side to Tita.
** [[spoiler: Joshua]] lost his older sister during the destruction of his village, which led to his and Loewe's joining the Ouroborus. [[spoiler: And then he remembers that ''he'' is responsible for her death (at least he thinks he is), and, well, that's when things go completely off the rails...]]

** "Enforcer Fifteen - The Angel of Extermination[[hottip:*:[[SpellMyNameWithAnS /Slaughter/Annihilation/etc]]]] - [[spoiler: Renne]]." [[FlatWhat What.]] ''[[OhCrap What.]]''

* EyesOfGold: Joshua. And Renne. [[spoiler:We learn in [[ZeroNoKiseki Zero]] that this Means Something with Renne, causing ''no end'' of speculation about Joshua's family and early history.]]

* FieryRedhead: Agate. Estelle may count too, though it's kinda hard to tell if she's a brunette or redhead.

* TheDogWasTheMastermind: You guys remember [[spoiler: Professor Alba]]? He's that guy you keep bumping everywhere for ComicRelief conversations. '''[[OhCrap HE IS THE BAD GUY]].'''

* TruthInTelevision: Joshua accurately describes the conditions of what happens to the citizens of a country that focuses on its military might. The notion of high taxes, weapon development, military conscription and others contrasted to a peaceful government focused on peace through diplomacy and trading felt like a TakeThat against a lot of Western countries, particularly the United States.

* FieryRedhead: Agate.

** The main story arc (in FC and SC) actually [[IncrediblyLamePun slides along the scale]] as it goes on. It starts off pretty light and idealistic, but then gets more and more cynical and dark until we're at almost ''{{Berserk}}'' levels of [MagnificentBastard bastardity]] and cynicism, to the point that even [[GenkiGirl Estelle]] begins to crack under the strain. [[spoiler: Ultimately it swings back toward the idealist side of things in the grand finale, though. The title can be heard as "[[MeaningfulName Miracle in the Sky]]" in Japanese for a reason, after all.]]

* TheDogWasTheMastermind: You guys remember [[spoiler: Professor Alba]]? He's that guy you keep bumping everywhere for ComicRelief conversations, '''[[OhCrap HE IS THE BAD GUY]].'''

* TheDogWasTheMastermind: You guys remember [[spoiler: Professor Alba]]? He's that guy you keep bumping everywhere for ComicRelief conversations, '''[[spoiler: [[OhCrap HE IS THE BAD GUY]].]]'''
* TheSouthpaw: Remember kids, every swordsman that is left-handed is a MasterSwordsman, just ask Loewe.

* InstantSedation: [[spoiler: Joshua's]] first kiss to [[spoiler: Estelle]] is laced with sedative to keep her from following him.

* BewareTheNiceOnes: Joshua may look a bit girly, but he's [[spoiler: called "The Black Fang"]] because he is ''that'' dangerous. He's usually a pretty chill, nice dude, but if you threaten to harm Estelle? Aidios ''help'' you. [[spoiler:The mayor of Ruan learns this the hard way in FC, which even freaks ''Estelle'' out a little.]]

* BottleFairy: Scherazard. Aina combines this with BigEater
** Aina too. Not only that, she's a bottomless hole.

* BreakoutCharacter: Kevin becomes the main character of The Third; it might be said that the reason why it's called The Third and not Third Chapter was because Estelle and Joshua aren't really the main characters anymore.

* CorruptChurch: ''Averted with special mention'', especially in comparison to [[{{JRPG}} the wider meta-genre]]. One of the most believable aspects of the setting is that the Septian Church is, by and large, a benevolent organization and doesn't really meddle with politics or massive plots at all in FC or SC. Its clergymen clearly believe what they preach, are peaceful, benevolent presences in their towns (they even teach school for most people), and they even act as obvious allies to our heroes in FC [[spoiler:when the Grancel Cathedral gives knowing shelter to Julia while she's a fugitive from Col. Richard's coup]]. Nearly all the characters are faithful to a greater or lesser degree, as well, with invocations to Eidos/Aidios relatively common in places you'd expect a real life person to invoke God. There's ultimately nothing sinister about the church in FC or SC.
** Third makes it a ''little'' more complicated, although in that case we're dealing more with the Church as a ''continent-wide'' organization and Kevin's place in it, with the general message being: "in an organization as large as this, and based on beliefs as fundamental as this, you are always going to have disagreements about how best to defend those beliefs".

* DeadLittleSister: Agate's backstory. This is also the reason why he shows his soft side to Tita.

* DisneyDeath: [[spoiler:Walter and Blueblanc actually survived the collision of Liberl Ark, as revealed in Star Door #14.]]

* DysfunctionJunction: The game does manage to avoid treading into {{Wangst}} territory, but good ''grief'', the party has some issues. When all is said and done, let's see: [[spoiler: we have ''two'' nigh-superpowered TykeBomb assassins, one of whom constantly wrestles with the happiness he experienced with the Brights versus what he's done and is capable of doing and the other of whom is [[AxCrazy coming unglued]] under the constant pressure, even in her ''own mind'', to kill; an imperial prince who is utterly disgusted with his family and, by extension, himself; another, local princess who absolutely wants nothing to do with the responsibility thrust upon her; a woman who wants nothing more [[BottleFairy than to bury her past in alcohol]]; a man who is driven [[TheAtoner by the loss of his entire family]] and the guilt he feels over being unable to prevent it; a priest who has problems with his faith and serious doubts about his place in the world; a girl with a massive [[IJustWantToBeBadass wannabe-hero complex]]; and an aristrocrat-turned-sky-pirate who has rather serious entitlement issues]]. Estelle is lucky Tita and Zane are around in all three games, or she'd find she's the OnlySaneMan among this cast of nutters.

* {{Expy}}: Dr. Russel is often described as "[[VideoGame/MegaMan Dr. Wily]] gone good".

* FantasyGunControl: Mostly averted, actually. The technology base of this setting is rather high, and you'll encounter quite a few firearms-wielding {{mooks}}, not to mention some bosses who pack heat of various kinds.
** We say "mostly", though, because while firearms are reasonably common in this setting.... as noted above, out of a grand total of sixteen people who can join the player party, only ''three'' of them actually use guns. This can get a little silly when the party charges down gun-armed mooks with swords, daggers, a crossbow and a staff ''and wins''. [[spoiler:Granted, your ranks can include some of the most dangerous assassins on the ''planet'', but still.]]

* {{Foreshadowing}}: ''Goddamned '''EVERYWHERE'''''. The game absolutely loves to tease upcoming reveals and plot points; sometimes this is blatant, sometimes you'll barely notice them 'till later and you play through the game again.
** This is so prevalent that the director has gone on record as saying that there are things in the upcoming ''Ao no Kiseki'' that were foreshadowed '''''back in FC'''''.

* HandsomeLech: OLIVIER. Jesus Humphrey Bogart Christ, Olivier Lenheim. He makes [[FinalFantasyVI Edgar Figaro]] look restrained. [[spoiler:Most of it is a combination of an act and a desperate desire to escape his previous life. ([[ChivalrousPervert Only most of it, though.]])]]

* HeroOfAnotherStory: A lot of the other bracers, particularly Team Kurt (Kurt, Carna, Grant and Anelace) come across this way. [[spoiler:Kurt and Anelace join the party for a bit in SC, and Anelace is a somewhat more permanent fixture for Third.]] Cassius ''definitely'' comes across this way. [[spoiler:Hell, half of Weissmann's plot in FC is to create a whole other crisis for Cassius to be the hero of so that he doesn't jam up the gears in Liberl.]]

* HikaruMidorikawa: Because Lowe wasn't awesome enough already. And what do you know, [[TakehitoKoyasu Takehito]] [[RelationshipVoiceActor Koyasu]] is in the game too...

* InterfaceSpoiler: Josette, Anelace and Kurt are all voiced when you face them in combat in FC, despite their compatriots ''not'' being voiced and despite them not joining the party proper. [[spoiler:Three guesses as to what happens in SC, and the first two don't count.]]

* {{Lolicon}}: Some players accuse Agate of being this, thanks to all that ShipTease he gets with Tita.
** [[EveryoneCanSeeIt The rest of the cast agrees.]]

* MeaningfulName: Loewe's real name is "Leonhardt" which means "The determination of the lion", hence why he is called "Loewe" which means, of course, "lion" in German.
** Also present in the ''title'', at least in the original Japanese. You see, the kanji used for "Sora no Kiseki" fairly clearly state "[[[SpellMyNameWithAnS Tracks/Wagon Trail/Path/etc.]]] of/in the Sky", but "Kiseki", as a spoken word, has another meaning: "miracle". The title can therefore be heard as "Miracle in the Sky" in addition to the written meaning. [[spoiler:This gets ''extremely'' meaningful, ''both ways'', during the second chapter.]]
*** This gets especially crazy (awesome) with the vocal theme song to SC, "Silver Will, Golden Wings": ''every single time'' the word "kiseki" is said in that song, it can mean either "trail/path" or "miracle" and the song will still make perfect sense.

* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: [[spoiler:Olivier and Kloe]]. Their real names are [[spoiler:Olivert Reise Arnor and Klaudia von Auslese]], respectively.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: [[spoiler:You defeat the Ring Guardian at the end of FC. This eventually allows the villains access to the Aureole.]]
** More to the point, [[spoiler:Weissmann's whole plan revolves largely around manipulating Estelle and company into doing this a ''lot''. He is quite good at it, too.]]

** An English release for the PSP version of SC seems to have been all but scrapped (a casualty of the Vita's release), with XSEED now turning their efforts towards attempting to get the PC version released on Steam, instead.

* OneGameForThePriceOfTwo: Accusations of this went flying around during SC's development (and we can most likely expect them to show up among American reviewers and new fans, too). In Japan this died down once people saw how mind-blowingly ''huge'' SC was and how it simply ''couldn't'' have been included in the original release. Remember, two [=UMDs=] for the PSP version, and it really makes use of that second UMD.
** Third, meanwhile, sparked [[MissionPackSequel rather different accusations]].

* PaperThinDisguise: Anyone who played first two games can figure out that [[BlackKnight the black]] [[TheDragon knight]] in Third is [[spoiler:Loewe, kind of back from dead]].

* PurpleEyes: Surprisingly rather common. Olivier, Kloe ([[spoiler:and her grandmother]]), Anelace and Loewe all have various shades of them, and aside from Loewe there's nothing particularly supernatural about any of them, and Loewe's "supernatural" abilities have nothing to do with his eyes.

* RedOniBlueOni: Estelle (red) and Joshua (blue).
** Or Estelle and Kloe, respectively.

* RuleOfCool: The games do apply this principle to a few things. For example, if we're being remotely realistic, even briefly pulling the trigger on any of her weapons should result in Tita being knocked flat on her butt from the recoil, if not ''injured'' outright[[hottip:*:since there's no way in hell she weighs more than 90 pounds (''in armor'', mind you) while her weapons spew out easily 100+lb of recoil; never mind that a lot of her weapons would weigh almost as much as ''she'' does]]. [[MST3KMantra Tita looks awesome using them, though, so nobody cares a whit.]]

* ShoutOut: One can't really help but suspect that Anelace's outfit was intentionally designed to resemble [[VideoGame/{{Ys}} Adol's]] "classic" armor.

* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: The main story arc (in FC and SC) actually [[IncrediblyLamePun slides along the scale]] as it goes on. It starts off pretty light and idealistic, but then gets more and more cynical and dark until we're at almost '''''{{Berserk}}''''' levels of [MagnificentBastard bastardity]] and cynicism, to the point that even [[GenkiGirl Estelle]] begins to crack under the strain. [[spoiler: Ultimately it swings back toward the idealist side of things in the grand finale, though. The title can be heard as "[[MeaningfulName Miracle in the Sky]]" in Japanese for a reason, after all.]]

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: While officially spelled Patel Matel, given that [[spoiler: Renne repeatedly states that it's the only father or mother she needs]] it should probably be translated as Pater Mater, Latin for 'Father and Mother'.
** The game tends to feature a lot of R/L sounds, which of course cause contortions when trying to transcribe certain names. Liberl/Riber/Libel/Ribel, anyone?
*** Or how about Ries/Lise/Liese/Riese/etc etc etc? XSEED hasn't even ''announced'' what they're doing about her name yet.
** Hell, even the ''title'' causes a few problems. If you want to be ''really'' strict about it, the kanji for "Kiseki" most literally means "tracks made by a wagon", referring the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contrail contrail-like cirrus clouds]] featured in parts of the game. Even the hardest-core literalist fans agree that "Wagon Tracks of the Sky" is a bit... prosaic, though. Also, the "no" can be rendered as "of" or "in", and both could make sense. Some people prefer "Tracks in the Sky", some people prefer "Path of the Sky", others "Trail/s in the Sky". XSEEDGames went with "Trails" (and was also kicking around "Road to the Sky" as an idea for a bit).
*** The title also causes a bit of anguish over the fact that it's virtually impossible to get the proper [[MeaningfulName double meaning]] of the title into English. [[spoiler:Which is even worse since it's kind of profound later on in the game.]]

*** Renne can throw newcomers off, too; that's a silent "e" at the end of her name, guys. The katakana for her name is literally "re-n", spoken as a single syllable. They most likely avoided calling her "Ren" straight out since, well, [[TheRenAndStimpyShow that would be a little problematic, even in Japan]]. A few fans still call her "Ren", though, just for the sake of clarity.
*** "Olivier" also has it kind of bad... since his "masculine" name is phonetically spelled "Olivie" in katakana. (The soft r at the end is "implied" in transcription at times.)
*** Is it "Loewe" or "Löwe"? Even Falcom sources disagree at times. Both work, though (they're the same word in German). "Leo" is also quite close to the given katakana, and would probably be a bit clearer to English speakers. XSEED chose to go with "Loewe".
*** "Scherazard" dings this a bit too. Falcom is usually consistent in spelling her name in English, but some fans prefer "Sherazade" or some varation therein, since it also matches the katakana and [[Literature/ArabianNights makes the obvious reference]] a little clearer to English speakers.
** The English version released by XSEED makes a few minor name alterations as well for pronunciation purposes - namely, Klose to ''Kloe'', Zin to ''Zane'', Keel to ''Kyle'', Doln to ''Don'', Kurz to ''Kurt'' and Rolance to ''Lorence''.
** Relatedly, in the original Japanese, the Goddess of the Septian Church was named "Eidos". [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eidos_Interactive For fairly obvious reasons]], this was a problem in English, and so the name was changed to Aidios. Also counts as a BilingualBonus, since in Spanish, Aidios, pronounced phonetically, sounds like the Spanish exclamation ''¡Ay Dios!'' (Translated as ''Oh God!'')

* TranslationConvention: Maybe. It's really unclear exactly ''what'' the hell the characters are supposed to be speaking; the setting is obviously western european, and the lettering that appears in-game is the Roman-derived modern alphabet. Furthermore, a number of terms appear in kanji - like "orbment" and all related terms or the various ranks in Ouroboros - but then include furigana in katakana above the kanji, indicating what "foreign" word the characters are speaking while retaining meaning for Japanese readers.The original script is full of turns of phrase and whatnot that'd ''only'' make sense in Japanese, though, and Kevin is rocking a pretty specific Japanese dialect. Text in-universe is sometimes in English, like the Bright family photo album seen at the end of FC, sometimes not (but never Japanese). Basically, the characters probably aren't speaking Japanese, but the original script sure ''acts'' like it's their first language and what they'd be speaking "for real" isn't clear.
** Confusing things even further are names: in Liberl a number of place names (Zeiss, Bose, Ruan, arguably Grancel) and some noble names (like Klaudia '''von Auslese''' and her entire family, even pronounced in katakana with a proper, sharp Z-like S) are obviously Germanic, but most other personal names (Estelle Bright, Jill, the Russel family name, Foreman Murdock, Nial/Neal Burns, Dorothy Hyatt, etc. etc.) are all consistently and obviously Anglic in origin and pronunciation. Erebonian names (like Olivier ''Lenheim'', Mueller Vander, [[spoiler:Loewe, and Karin]]) are somewhat more consistently Germanic but still have anomalies such as [[spoiler:Joshua Astray]]. So is Liberl bilingual? Has "Erebonian" seeped into the vernacular of Liberlian? Do the two share a linguistic history? The usually detailed Trails setting is dead silent on the matter. (This is in spite of having a dictionary ''[[AwesomeButImpractical for cat-speech]]''.)

* AllPowerfulBystander: Cassius Bright, he's the strongest Bracer in Liberl, an ex-MasterSwordsman, a resident MaryTzu, he managed to [[spoiler:[[CurbStompBattle Curb Stomp]] the final boss of FC]], the earth trembles when he spins his rod, second strongest character in the trilogy after Loewe according to [[WordOfGod the author]], in fact he's so broken the {{Big Bad}}'s plan is to set up a disaster in a different ''country'' so Cassius wouldn't disturb his plan.
** Interestingly, though, [[spoiler:he doesn't see ''himself'' this way; as far as he's concerned, he's a gigantic fuckup who deserves to live [[TheAtoner the life of an outcast because of what he failed to do]]... namely, [[TheLostLenore save his wife]].]]

* HugeGuyTinyGirl: Agate and Tita have a dynamic like this, especially since Agate is pretty much the second most physically-imposing party member in the game, behind Zane.