History VideoGame / LegendOfHeroesTrailsInTheSky

The game is, in a word, gigantic. It was so large, in fact, that Falcom couldn't practically release it as one game; "Sora no Kiseki FC" (short for "First Chapter") was released in mid-2004, with the Second Chapter following nearly ''two years'' later (it was so large as to require two [=UMDs=] when released on the PSP in 2007). This, naturally, led to [[OneGameForThePriceOfTwo some complaining]] during SC's development, which was generally silenced when SC was released to nigh-rabid reviews. A year afterward, "Sora no Kiseki The Third" was released; it ended up being a bit of a MissionPackSequel (since the main plot of the game wraps up nicely in SC), but it still develops a few of the other party members and deals with some of the dangling side-plot hooks nicely, and so is generally respected. It also sets up plot elements that have become important in every subsequent game. The series was so popular as to inspire an IntercontinuityCrossover fighting game with ''Ys'', in the style of ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom''.

** Olivier is a guns-and-devices using, blond-pony-tailed, blue-eyed [[HandsomeLech ladies man]] [[spoiler:who happens to be royalty and uses the lechery partially as a coping mechanism]]. This draws a number of comparisons to [[FinalFantasyVI a certain King of Figaro]].

* WrenchWench: Tita, naturally, [[UnfortunateImplications though with rather less emphasis on the "wench"]]

* CynicismCatalyst: [[spoiler: Joshua lost his older sister during the destruction of his village, which led to his and Loewe's joining Ouroborus.

* 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]].]]

** Loewe[[spoiler:Despite the fact that he died in SC, Falcom (sort of) brought him back in The Third. Then you have Vantage Master Portable where he and Renne become playable main characters instead of other party members. It's even worse in Alternative Saga in which he appears without any explanation despite being dead, though that turned out to be non-canonical. Loewe also got his own sidestory manga.]]

* LetsSplitUpGang: [[spoiler: For the final mission in FC.]] Justified, as there are [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters Loads and Loads of Characters]] and quite a bit to do.

''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 ''Franchise/{{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. It is the first entry in the [[VideoGame/KisekiSeries overarching Kiseki series.]]

The story details the adventures of Estelle Bright and her adopted brother, Joshua. They set out to be a pair of "Bracers", wandering adventurer-types who do good around the kingdom of Liberl, much like Estelle's father Cassius was in his prime. Soon after their adventure begins, however, they begin to get pulled into a series of events that could change the face of Liberl, not to mention answer certain questions about Joshua's past... even if they are answers Joshua might not want to hear.

The game is, in a word, gigantic. It was so large, in fact, that Falcom couldn't practically release it as one game; "Sora no Kiseki FC" (short for "First Chapter") was released in mid-2004, with the Second Chapter following nearly ''two years'' later (it was so large as to require two [=UMDs=] when released on the PSP in 2007). This, naturally, led to [[OneGameForThePriceOfTwo some complaining]] during SC's development, which was generally silenced when SC was released to nigh-rabid reviews. A year afterward, "Sora no Kiseki The Third" was released; it ended up being a bit of a MissionPackSequel (since the main plot of the game wraps up nicely in SC), but it still develops a few of the other party members and deals with some of the dangling side-plot hooks nicely, and so is generally respected. The series was so popular as to inspire an IntercontinuityCrossover fighting game with ''Ys'', in the style of ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom''.

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, ''Franchise/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).

The first chapter was localized and released in March 2011 for the {{PSP}} courtesy of XSEEDGames (who worked on NihonFalcom's ''Franchise/{{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.

* AnachronismStew: Applies somewhat, especially to the party members. This is a fairly modern setting which has automobile analogues, flying ships, guns and even includes ''laptops'' (well, briefcase-tops, Tita has one), but out of sixteen playable characters between the three chapters, only ''three'' use guns, with most of the other characters preferring melee weapons and the only other ranged user wielding a ''crossbow''. (Okay, Tita [[MoreDakka uses enough gun]] to count for an entire party, but still.) The clothes (especially uniforms) are way, way more 19th century than modern, to boot.
* AncientConspiracy: [[spoiler:''Third'', in particular, implies that Ouroboros has been around for a ''long'' time. It's also got a lot of Illuminati-esque trappings, with the small number of high-powered operatives, fingers in every pie, and the organization's full name is even, going purely by kanji, "The Society of the Tail-eating/Endless Serpent". It's often called The Society for short in SC.]]

* BattleButler / CoolOldGuy: [[spoiler:Butler Philips who used to be the captain of the Kingdom's royal guard.]]

* {{BFS}}: Agate's sword.

* BigScrewedUpFamily: The imperial royal family is implied to be one. [[spoiler: If Olivier is a good representative, man, they ''have'' to be kind of messed up.]]

** Loewe.[[spoiler: Despite the fact that he officially died in SC, Falcom brought him back in The Third. Then you have Vantage Master Portable where he and Renne become playable main characters instead of the other party members of Sora. It's even worse in Alternative Saga in which he appears without any explanation despite being dead. Vantage Master Portable takes place before SC, but Alternative Saga takes place after The Third. And just recently Falcom announced a prequel comic adaption with Loewe as the main character...]]
* BreakTheCutie: [[spoiler:Joshua, Renne, Kevin]], and Loewe's pasts are riddled with this, although [[spoiler: the first three eventually recover due to the PowerOfLove]].
* BreakingTheFourthWall: In The Third's sub quest to open the Star Door, one of the Star Door shows us the meeting of Ouroboros leaders meeting and their conversation regarding the events in Liberl and revealing that this is all just the beginning. After the meeting, Campanella laughs, before saying...

* BrotherSisterIncest: Something that jams up the gears of some people who play the game. Estelle and Joshua aren't even [[NotBloodSiblings remotely related by blood]], and they first met as not-quite-teens, so they weren't so young that [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imprinting_%28psychology%29#Westermarck_effect the Westermarck effect]] would kick in to prevent them falling for each other... but at the same time, they basically lived together as siblings for years and Cassius even formally adopted Joshua after the events at the start of the game, when he came to live with the Brights, so he ''has'' the last name Bright himself. Some fans just try not to think too hard about that.
** Of course, this all serves as a bit of a [[TheStinger stinger]] later on [[spoiler:when Joshua openly abandons the Bright name once he considers himself no longer worthy of being called by that name, and takes the name Joshua Astray]].
** The really hilarious part to all this is that [[EveryoneCanSeeIt a ton of incidental characters in the Rolent area]] [[LampshadeHanging are surprised this isn't happening]] at the start of FC; meanwhile, Estelle and Joshua are ''both'' oblivious and wonder what the hell everyone is going on about. [[spoiler:This doesn't really become an issue until Joshua tosses away the Bright name and leaves to take his revenge, forcing Estelle to examine how she feels about him.]]

* ChekhovsGunman: Almost too many to list; [[spoiler:Alba]] in FC is a great example, but nearly half the main cast has a secret identity... which is part of the reason so much of this page is spoiler-tagged.
* {{Chessmaster}}: Cassius Bright and Weissmann. Kevin has his share of manipulation as well.

* ChurchMilitant: Kevin and Ries are from this.
* CIAEvilFBIGood: A FantasyCounterpartCulture example: the Bracer Guild is designed to solve mysteries and apprehend bad guys, while in FC the Intelligence Division is involved in paramilitary activities, coup plots, and in general pulling strings from behind the scenes.

* CynicismCatalyst: [[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...]]
* DeathRay: Pater Mater has one.
* DespairEventHorizon: [[spoiler:Joshua crosses it once he remembers that he blames ''himself'' for the death of his sister and that he's been a pawn of Ouroboros all this time. A large part of the second chapter is devoted to Estelle pulling him back from this.]]

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

* TheDragon: The Black Knight, AKA [[spoiler:Loewe back from the dead]], serves this role to the king of Phantasma in the third installment.

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

* EnfanteTerrible: [[spoiler:Renne]].

* [[GiantRobotHandsSaveLives Giant Dragon Scales Save Lives]]: [[spoiler: In the end of SC, Estelle and Joshua fall from the Liberl Ark but are saved by Legnard. This might work nicely if Legnard didn't have fur ''harder than steel scales''.]]

* HandsomeLech: OLIVIER. Jesus Humphrey Bogart Christ, Olivier Lenheim. He makes [[VideoGame/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.]])]]

* HumongousMecha: Pater Mater, which is a boss in SC [[spoiler: and an S-Craft for Renne in 3rd]]. Tita's Orbal Gear is somewhat less humongous but otherwise qualifies.

** When Renne joins you as an NPC, you will probably notice that she somehow has a whooping 10202 HP (compared to the 3-4k that your party members are likely having at the moment). [[spoiler: It all makes sense at the end of the chapter.]]
*** Though strangely enough, [[spoiler: Professor Alba/Weissman]] has a normal amount of HP for an NPC in FC.

* KansaiRegionalAccent: Kevin speaks like this. This gets a little odd considering that the setting of the games is ''profoundly'' Western European.
* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler:Loewe]].

* MissionPackSequel: The third chapter caught some flack on release over perceptions that it was, basically, this, since the plot had nicely wrapped up in the previous game. The final judgment was, essentially, that it may not have been strictly necessary or really innovative, but it was still worth picking up.

* MoreThanMindControl: [[spoiler:Weissmann]] is an absolute ''master'' of this; it's largely how he maintains control over [[spoiler:his part of]] Ouroboros. [[spoiler:It's how he was able to force Joshua to spy on the Guild of Bracers, it's a large part of the reason Joshua feels so guilty over what happened to Karen, and it's one of the main impetuses for Joshua leaving the Brights at the end of FC, as the idea that Weissmann might ''still'' have such control over him and might force him to betray or even kill Estelle fills him with absolute, blinding terror.]]

* MythologyGag
** The story of FC and SC is a '''huge''' MythologyGag to LegendOfHeroesIV.
*** The final test to become Junior Bracer and Adventurer both involved getting things from sewer.
*** Before Cassius went away in the prologue, he entrusted Estelle with Black Orbment. Sage Lemuras (who is pretty much Avin's father figure) entrusted Avin with Sacred Treasure Kabessa before he passed away. [[spoiler:Both are ChekhovsGun]].
*** The GuestStarPartyMember in Chapter 1 are a senior Bracer/Adventurer (Martie and Scherazard) and [[spoiler:RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething (Muse/Mildine and Olivier/Olivert)]].
*** The GuestStarPartyMember in the first part of Chapter 2 (for {{AToV}}) or whole Chapter 2 (for FC) are another senior Bracer/Adventurer (Douglas and Agate) and a girl who develops a crush on one of the main duo (Archem and Kloe). When they were party members, the party must dealt with corrupt leader of the region who threatened the well-being of the girl's precious things (Meefas and Mercia Orphanage).
*** The [[TokenMiniMoe token loli/shota]] (Tita and Rael) befriend a fellow loli/shota [[spoiler:with DarkAndTroubledPast (Renne and Rouca)]]. The pairs also happen to be "mage and engineer" combination.
*** There's a [[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.
*** both Avin's and Estelle's LoveInterest are ScarfOfAsskicking wearing, black-haired [[spoiler:TroubledButCute assassins with sibling issues and DoomedHometown in their backstory.]]
*** [[spoiler:Weissmann asks Estelle to join Ouroboros with promise that she, Joshua, Loewe, and Renne can live happily together. This is similar to when Bellias-controlled silver-haired Mile asks Avin to join Octum's Apostles so he, Mile, and Eimelle can live happily together. Of course Avin and Estelle reject it.]]
*** [[spoiler:Loewe sacrificed himself to weaken Weissmann by using Kernviter to invoke TakingYouWithMe after he knew that Weissmann was responsible for the Hamell tragedy. Madram sacrificed himself to kill Borgeid by using Dominique's Ring to invoke TakingYouWithMe after he knew that Borgeid was responsible for the Kanaphia tragedy.]]
** The 3rd also invoked a little MythologyGag to LegendOfHeroesIV: [[spoiler:Loewe is BackFromTheDead thanks to Lord of Phantasma and serves as her [[TheDragon Dragon]], and after the party defeats him, he disappears after a TearJerker exchange with Joshua, Estelle, and Renne (if one brings the latter two in the party, that is). Mile is BackFromTheDead thanks to Lord Bellias and serves as his Dragon, and after the party defeats Octum, Mile disappears after a TearJerker exchange with Avin. The difference is that Mile isn't meant to die yet.]]
*** again from The 3rd: [[spoiler:Kevin goes to Gehenna in order to save Ries, much like when Avin jumped to Hades in order to save Mile.]]
*** might be intentional since The 3rd was released shortly after PSP version of LegendOfHeroesV, but the whole point of the game is similar to LegendOfHeroesV's Tuning Forks Special Scenario. You get party members from clearing a dungeon or moving to the next chapter, can team up with the entire playables of the previous two games along with OriginalGeneration, involves a boss rush, and a massive amount of grinding is required to reach OneHundredPercentCompletion.
** Orbment system is an expanded version of Resonance Stones system from LegendOfHeroesV.
** Josette's S-Craft Wildcat is named after LegendOfHeroesIII's Wildcat Bandits. It doesn't help that [[spoiler:Capua family and Wildcat Bandits are actually good people.]]
** You can find the complete Doll Knight books set in SC. [[spoiler:Renne even referenced it when she was saved by the party, commenting that she's like Princess Tia who was saved by Pedro's Blue Knight]]. The books were originally from LegendOfHeroesV. There are some {{WMG}} concerning its existence in Zemuria.
* 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.]]
* ObfuscatingStupidity: [[spoiler:Professor Alba, Olivier and Kevin]]. [[spoiler:Lechter arguably counts too.]]

* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: During [[spoiler: Legions invasion towards the Grancell Castle, Philippe moves forward and reveals himself to be once a fearsome general of the BadassArmy to defends the castle, they took his weapons and about to engage on their epic showdown...and then the scene shift back to our heroes...]]
* TheOmniscientCouncilOfVagueness: Ouroborus's headquarters
* [[OminousFloatingCastle Ominous Floating City]]: [[spoiler:The Liberl Ark]].

* 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 the dead]].
* PlotInducedStupidity: A villain side rare example. Considering who [[ManipulativeBastard Weissmann]] [[TheChessmaster is]], you would thought that he would take account to the fact that [[spoiler: Loewe's sword are made of the same material as his wand.]]
* PhantomThief: Blblanc. In fact, it's his title in Ouroboros.
* ThePlan: [[spoiler:Weissmann's scheme]] in FC and SC.

* RedBaron: Some high-ranking bracers and all the top agents for Ouroboros and the church have titles like this.

** Luciola: The Charming Bell
** Blblanc: The Phantom Thief
** [[spoiler:Joshua]]: The Black Fang

** [[spoiler:Kevin]]: The Heresy Inquisitor, [[spoiler: which he chooses to change at the end of the 3rd chapter]].
** [[spoiler:Cassius Bright]]: The Sword Saint

** [[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, though considering the clues present, it more than likely was one of his shadows), although this is handwaved to some degree by the fact that many of them have been modified bodily.]]

* ShadowArchetype: There are two really prominent examples, both of which are somewhat spoilery.
** First is [[spoiler:Joshua and Renne. Joshua even acknowledges this openly; to him, Renne represents everything he ''could'' have been had he not lost to Cassius and met the Brights. This is largely what fuels his ardent desire to help her; her behavior is so radically different from his own, but he could have been just like her - even fighting at her side! - had his life turned out even a little differently.]]
** The second is [[spoiler:Estelle and her own father, Cassius. This one isn't obvious at first, but by the end of SC it's become clear that the two are in some ways mirror reflections of one another - they both have the same job, the same skills, and even end up facing similar dilemmas and quests, but Cassius was willing to mortgage his ideals and morality in order to accomplish his goals. This makes him quite a bit different from Estelle, who is determined to save ''everyone'' she can, regardless of the cost to herself.]]

* 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.
** A couple characters run into this, too, especially compared to their "given" spelling. "Anelace" is arguably the worst; her name is usually consistently spelled that way, but sometimes it's given as "Analace" or "Analece". Given this, you'd think the last part of her name would sound like, well, a "lace gown", right? No, the actual katakana given for the name actually end up sounding like "Aneras", with a chopped off, short "s", which doesn't match ''any'' given spelling. Most fans just throw their hands up at the situation and go with one of the given spellings, despite new fans technically getting the pronunciation wrong consistently; XSEED left it with the "Anelace" spelling as well.
** 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".
** A bit of debate also springs up around the title for the agents of Ouroboros. The title is given in kanji as 執行者, ''shikkousha'', which strictly speaking is a term variously applied to "those who perform, execute or serve business" (and also [[JudgeJuryAndExecutioner actual executioners]]) and also has Buddhist connotations for righteousness and the pursuit of enlightenment. ''However'', the kanji are always accompanied by furigana, in katakana, indicating that the word the characters are saying is "Legion", which is meant to be the actual, in-universe term spoken by characters. The problem, of course, [[{{Engrish}} is that "legion" is a term for a unit of soldiers and not an individual person]], and doesn't really carry the concept of the kanji forward regardless. While a majority of western fans currently stick with the indicated title from Falcom, some do use other terms to try and convey the kanji better - Enforcer, Legionnaire, Executioner and the like have all cropped up over the years.
*** During the scene at the end of FC wherein [[spoiler:Joshua and Weissmann confront one another]], the XSEED translation uses ''both'' "Enforcer" and "Legion".
*** Relatedly, the [[RedBaron Ouroboros codename]] for Enforcer Fifteen runs into a problem as well. For all the other Enforcers, the "intended" English version of their codenames is given in secondary sources, particularly promo websites - "Sword Emperor" for 剣帝 (''kentei''), "Phantom Thief" for 怪盗紳士 (''kaitou shinshi'') and so on. With Fifteen, however, all we have is the kanji - 殲滅天使, ''senmetsu tenshi''. The "angel" part is obvious, but there have been some debates over the best way to render "senmetsu" (which, most literally, means "total destruction/slaughter/annihilation/etc; ApocalypseHow in a can, basically). "Angel of Extermination" is one of the more common translations, though some fans feel this is a little awkward; others go with "Annihilation Angel" or "Angel of Slaughter". XSEED has not yet announced an official translation for the term.
* 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 ''Ys: Ark of Naphistim'' engine.

* TakenForGranite: Kind of. [[spoiler:Weissmann turns into a statue of salt by Kevin. After the party left the Liberl Ark, Campanella took the Aureole from him and [[KarmicDeath proceeded to break Weissmann's now-petrified body into pieces]].]]

* WhamEpisode: The end of the First Chapter. [[spoiler: Joshua is the Black Fang of Ouroboros. He blames himself for the death of his sister, he's been an unwitting mole in the Guild of Bracers since the ''opening text boxes'' of the game and is/was a pawn of Weissmann. He leaves Estelle behind so that he can... settle things. At the very end, Estelle sets off after him.]] This one left people ''spinning'' when the game was first released, and marked the point at which the main narrative started to get a ''lot'' [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism darker]].
* WhamLine: "Allow me to clear away your ''confusion''. *fingersnap*" Congratuations, Joshua, [[spoiler:you now remember your place and history as one of the Enforcers of Ouroboros.]]
** "Enforcer Fifteen - The Angel of Extermination[[note]][[SpellMyNameWithAnS /Slaughter/Annihilation/etc]][[/note]] - [[spoiler: Renne]]." [[FlatWhat What.]] ''[[OhCrap What.]]''

-->'''Joshua''': This soul that has [[spoiler:been saved by sister, mended by professor, released by father, and right now is together beside Estelle's...The heart of a Bracer and the skill of the Black Fang...Together with all of it, I challenge the Sword Emperor!!]]

-->'''Loewe''': Karin is an exception! That kind of human isn't created easily! That's why--[[spoiler:I have to test humans! Whether they can make up for sins named weakness and deceit! And whether they are truly worthy for Karin's sacrifice!]]
-->'''Joshua''': Then--I'll prove it! I who has lived by [[spoiler:sacrificing sister, I who am weak and a liar...by meeting Estelle have finally found my path! This path that has led me to where Loewe is! Humans--are not just a weak creature as long they are together with humans!]]

** In the English version, during the ending walkabout sequence in Grancel, one NPC is taking a picture of his daughter and says "Okay, say [[EarthBound "fuzzy pickles"!]]"

* 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".

* CiaEvilFbiGood: A FantasyCounterpartCulture example: the Bracer Guild is designed to solve mysteries and apprehend bad guys, while in FC the Intelligence Division is involved in paramilitary activities, coup plots, and in general pulling strings from behind the scenes.

* StripperIffic: ''Scherazard''

* 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 [[HardDrinkingPartyGirl 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 aristocrat-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.

** Loewe,[[spoiler: despite the fact that he officially died in SC, Falcom brought him back in The Third and made his involvement in the game the last moment that Joshua had as a main character in it. Then you have Vantage Master Portable where he and Renne become playable main characters instead of the other party members in the game. It's even worse in Alternative Saga in which he appears without any explanation despite being dead. Vantage Master Portable takes place before SC, but Alternative Saga takes place after The Third. And then just recently Falcom announced a prequel comic adaption with Loewe as the main character...]]

* BreakingTheFourthWall: In The Third's sub quest to open the Star Door, one of the Star Door shows us the meeting of Ouroboros leaders meeting and their conversation regarding the events in Liberl and revealing that this is all just the beginning. After the meeting, Campanella laughs finding this would be interesting, then...
--> '''Campanella''': By the way...i know I'm not the one to talk, but...*looks into the screen* I don't know who but can you please stop peeping?

* CutenessProximity: Analace

** [[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, though considering the clues presernt, it more than likely was one of his shadows), although this is handwaved to some degree by the fact that many of them have been modified bodily.]]

* TakenForGranite: Kind of. [[spoiler:Weissmann turns into a statue of salt by Kevin. After the party left the Liberl Ark, Campanella took the Aureole from him and [[KarmicDeath then proceed to break Weissmann's now-petrified body into pieces]].]]

''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 ''Franchise/{{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. It is the first entry in the [[VideoGame/KisekiSeries overarching Kiseki series]]

The aforementioned sequel is ''VideoGame/ZeroNoKiseki'', 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.

** Loewe,[[spoiler: despite the fact that this guy has officially died in SC ending, Falcom seems to really loves this guy to the point they decide to bring him back in The Third and makes his involvement in the game as the last moment that Joshua had as the main character in The Third. Then you have Vantage Master Portable where he and Renne becomes a playable main character instead of the other party members in the game, even worse in Alternative Saga, he just gets in there without any explanation despite he is already dead, at least Vantage Master Portable takes place before SC but Alternative Saga obviously takes place after The Third making it impossible for him to be there in the first place but Falcom think it's not a reason enough to not to include him in the game. And then just recently Falcom announced that they're making a prequel comic adaption with him as the main character...]]

--> '''Canpanella''': By the way...i know I'm not the one to talk, but...*looks into the screen* I don't know who but can you please stop peeping?
* BrotherSisterIncest: Something that jams up the gears of some people who play the game. Estelle and Joshua aren't even [[NotBloodSiblings remotely related by blood]] [[spoiler:and Joshua may not even be exactly ''human'' anymore]], and they first met as not-quite-teens, so they weren't so young that [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imprinting_%28psychology%29#Westermarck_effect the Westermarck effect]] would kick in to prevent them falling for each other... but at the same time, they basically lived together as siblings for years and Cassius even formally adopted Joshua after the events at the start of the game, when he came to live with the Brights, so he ''has'' the last name Bright himself. Some fans just try not to think too hard about that.

* 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 [[HardDrinkingPartyGirl 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.

* GlassCannon: [[IncrediblyLamePun Tita]]. Until she busts out the orbal gear at least.

* RandomlyDrops: A ton of equipments in 3rd. Most of them aren't really the best equipments (in fact, all of them have multiple "levels", so you might find a weapon, then the same weapon except with more attack and a "+1" as an affix later), but there sure are a lot of them. Really painful for those who wants a copy of every item.

* TakenForGranite: Kind of. [[spoiler:Weissmann turns into a statue of salt by Kevin. After the party left the Liberl Ark, Campanella took the Aurerole from him and [[KarmicDeath then proceed to break Weissmann's now-petrified body into pieces]].]]

-->'''Loewe''': Karin is an exception! That kind of human is not easy to be made! That's why--[[spoiler:I have to test humans! Whether they can make up for sins named weakness and deceit! And whether they are truly worthy for Karin's sacrifice!]]

* AllInARow: How the party appears on the travel map.
* AllThereInTheManual: If the in-game universe wasn't complete enough, there are multiple drama-cds, comics and game guides which expand on the universe further. Recently released was a whopping 800-page Scenario Book for the second chapter.

* AnticlimaxBoss: Loewe used to be this, but after Falcom released a patch to upgrade him, he's sometimes considered to be harder than even the ''last boss''.

* BonusBoss

--> '''Canpanella''': By the way...i know i'm not the one to talk, but...*looks into the screen* i don't know who but can you please stop peeping?

* ChurchMilitant: Kevin and Lise are from this.

* DoingItForTheArt: How else do you explain XSEEDGames's willingness to localize a trilogy of games with such ginormous amounts of text, which no other localizer showed signs of having plans to work on?

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

* GuideDangIt: Many examples, such as getting all recipes, netting the s-rank for Bracer, etc.

* ItsAllUpstairsFromHere

* LimitBreak: S-Crafts.

* MacGuffin: The Black Orbment in FC, the Aureole in SC and the cube in Third.
* {{Magitek}}: A cornerstone of the setting; "orbments" allow for all kinds of technological feats, from airships to cannons to computers to combat magic effects for our heroes, and are basically mechanical devices powered by AppliedPhlebotinum.

* NoExportForYou: This is being fixed at last courtesy of XSEEDGames, although it still took ''nearly seven years'' for the first chapter to make the jump across the sea, and for a long time fans had resigned themselves to never seeing a release. (The fate of the PC version remains a question-mark.) The delay is mostly attributed to Falcom's past rocky relations with other localizers/publishers in America and the sheer, staggering ''size'' of the scripts for each game. The second chapter had to ship on ''two'' [=UMDs=] for the PSP release, after all.

* PortmanteauSeriesNickname: With the English version, the game's initials are "[=TiTS=]". Whether this is a bad thing or not is best left to the viewer.
* PromotedFanboy: XSEEDGames once proclaimed that the game translators are fans of the trilogy.

* StandardStatusEffects

* 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]]''.)

* VisualInitiativeQueue

''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 ''Franchise/{{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.

* BigEater

The game is, in a word, gigantic. It was so large, in fact, that Falcom couldn't practically release it as one game; "Sora no Kiseki FC" (short for "First Chapter") was released in mid-2004, with the Second Chapter following nearly ''two years'' later (it was so large as to require two [=UMDs=] when released on the PSP in 2007). This, naturally, led to [[OneGameForThePriceOfTwo some complaining]] during SC's development, which was generally silenced when SC was released to nigh-rabid reviews. A year afterward, "Sora no Kiseki The Third" was released; it ended up being a bit of a MissionPackSequel (since the main plot of the game wraps up nicely in SC), but it still develops a few of the other party members and deals with some of the dangling side-plot hooks nicely, and so is generally respected. The series was so popular as to inspire an IntercontinuityCrossover fighting game with ''Ys'', in the style of ''MarvelVsCapcom''.

* UnderestimatingBadassery: In the final chapter in FC, when Estelle, Scherazard and Kloe [[spoiler:rescue the Queen during the coup d'état]], they encounter Liutenant Lorence. Estelle, who defeated his team during the tournament, confidently states that even though he is strong, there is no way he can take the three of them all by himself. [[TheWorfEffect Estelle]]...[[ILetYouWin you]] [[IAmNotLeftHanded are]] [[CurbStompBattle so]] [[AlmightyJanitor very]], [[HopelessBossFight very]] [[HeadsIWinTailsYouLose wrong]]...

Do note, this page has a ''lot'' of marked spoilers; this is because talking about most of the tropes related to the game requires talking about the revelations the game makes later in its narrative (particularly in the second chapter, which America sadly won't see until at least 2012), and some of these are [[WhamEpisode legitimately amazing]] and shouldn't be casually ruined. '''Highlight spoilers at your own risk''', and beware of spoilers on other sites, to boot.