History VideoGame / LegendOfHeroesTrailsInTheSky

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

** [[spoiler:Renne]]: The Angel of Extermination

* MetalSlime: Shining Poms. The only things that can reliably kill them are certain S-Crafts and spells that have a chance of inflicting instant death. But killing one yields a ''lot'' of sepith.

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 summer 2015), 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.

* AssassinOutclassin: Cassius first met [[spoiler:Joshua]] when he tried to murder him and Cassius kicked his ass.

** [[spoiler:Cassius Bright]]: The Grand Chevalier [[note]]''Kensei'' in Japanese, basically 'Sword Master'[[/note]]

* 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 [[VideoGame/ZeroNoKiseki the next series]] is HUGE. But the others [[spoiler:(Rufina, Ein, and Osborne)]] are mentioned several times during FC and SC.

** [[spoiler:Also, Legion members like Joshua, Renne and Loewe 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 may have one of his shadows), although this is handwaved to some degree by what we see Orbal technology can accomplish and later material provides additional explanations for some examples]]

** The third chapter, meanwhile, works partially because it examines the ''concept'' of this and how we bury ourselves in our perceptions. [[spoiler: It even uses Loewe and Cassius to hammer the point home.]]
* SkyPirates

* SortingAlgorithmOfEvil

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, following in the footsteps of Estelle's father Cassius. 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.[[note]]There's also a rumor that SC has around ''[[UpToEleven twice as much text]]'' as the first game.[[/note]] 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''.

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 not quite as sweeping as those in, say, ''Franchise/MassEffect'', since you can carry save files forward between games, choices you make in FC can affect quests and dialogue in SC. 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).

Just like the case of Falcom's other great RPG series ''Franchise/{{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 ''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, with the translation done by Creator/CarpeFulgur (In August 2015, they announced that the translation is complete, but they're still working on debugging the code). At long last, a release for SC [[http://store.steampowered.com/app/251290/ has been finalized: October 29]]. They have not officially declared that they will bring over the Third, but have stated that if US sales of SC are good enough they might.

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, with the translation done by Creator/CarpeFulgur (In August 2015, they announced that the translation is complete, but they're still working on debugging the code). They have not officially declared that they will bring over the Third, but have stated that if US sales of SC are good enough they might.

* BreakThemByTalking: [[Spoiler: Professor Alba/Weissmann the Faceless]] utterly shatters [[spoiler: Joshua]] at the end of the First Chapter.

* ArmorPiercingQuestion: [[Joshua: How did you know about this place, Colonel?]]

* {{BFS}}: Agate's Heavy Blade, [[BlackKnight Schwarzritter's]] large sword and to a lesser extent Mueller's sword. However, the gigantic blades used by [[spoiler:[[HumongousMecha Stormbringer]]]] put theirs to shame.

* BlackKnight: There's one in Third. Anyone who played the last two games can guess that it's [[spoiler:Loewe]].

* BonusBoss: The four bosses encountered in [[BonusDungeon The Abyss]] in The 3rd; getting the fourth to appear is a bit of a GuideDangIt.

* ClimaxBoss: Loewe in SC and [[spoiler:Cassius and the Black Knight in Third]].

* {{BFS}}: Agate's Heavy Blade.

* BigDamnHeroes: FC's final chapter. The princess is rescued but a little girl has been taken hostage. Ohai, [[spoiler:Schera]], who we haven't seen since 1/4 of the way into the game.

* BonusBoss: Several in The 3rd.

* CharClone: Lorence.
* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler:Loewe's sword]].

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

* EasterEgg: A painting of the Gagharv from the previous Legend of Heroes sub-series appears in The 3rd.
* ElegantGothicLolita: Renne, good lord Renne. [[spoiler:This is notably played for ''creepy'' factor later on.]]

* FishingMinigame: At Valleria Shore in chapter 1.
* FishingForSole: The aforementioned FishingMinigame can give you "Holey Boots" as a catch depending on your dialogue choices.

* GenkiGirl: Estelle, Estelle, and... Estelle. Okay, maybe Tita a little, too, but everyone is eclipsed by the Monolith of Genki that is Estelle.
** Dorothy and Anelace count too
* [[spoiler:[[GiantRobotHandsSaveLives Giant Dragon Scales Save Lives]]: In the end of SC, Estelle and Joshua fall from the Liberl Ark but are saved by Regnart. Whether this trope applies or not really depends on how much weight you put on the fact that he is, well, a [[AWizardDidIt magical dragon]]]]
* GlassCannon: [[IncrediblyLamePun Tita]]. Until she busts out the Orbal Gear at least.
* GuideDangIt: Many examples, such as getting all recipes, netting the A-Rank for Bracer, etc. The last is particularly bad as you only have ''2 BP'' worth of wiggle room. As there are hidden quests and secret BP conditions, it's effectively impossible to get the 380 required for the best Rank without using a guide.

* HumongousMecha: Pater Mater, which is a boss in SC [[spoiler: and an S-Craft for Renne in 3rd]]. Another example is [[spoiler:Reverie, the final boss of FC]] and several other examples show up as well.

* ImplausibleFencingPowers: Loewe and Joshua.

* ItsAllUpstairsFromHere: [[spoiler: Axis Pillar]]

* LetsSplitUpGang: [[spoiler: For the final mission in FC and when you enter the Castle of Illusions(Phantasmagoria) in the 3rd.]] Justified, as there are [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters Loads and Loads of Characters]] and quite a bit to do.

* ManipulativeBastard: [[spoiler:Weissmann]]

* MoreThanMindControl: [[spoiler:Weissmann]] is an absolute ''master'' of this. [[spoiler:It's how he was able to force Joshua to spy on the 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.]]

* TheOmniscientCouncilOfVagueness: The meeting of Ouroboros' leaders seen in The 3rd.

* PointOfNoReturn: Beginning the mission to [[spoiler:rescue Princess Klaudia]] in FC, the core of [[spoiler: The Liberl Ark]] in SC and [[TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon the Castle of Phantasmagoria]] in Third.

* SeriousBusiness: The Fishing Guild.

* StudentCouncilPresident: Jill. [[spoiler:Lechter]] is revealed to be one in charge before Jill, during [[spoiler:his time observing Liberl's situation from Jenis Royal Academy]].

* VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon: ''Several'', across multiple chapters.

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, with the translation done by Creator/CarpeFulgur (In January 2015, they announced that they had received the translated script for SC, but no details on the release date have been made).

* DraggedIntoDrag: Halfway through FC, Estelle and Joshua are tapped to help put on a play for a school festival. The production is a gender-flip of a well-known play about a love triangle competing for the heart of a princess. Joshua plays the princess ([[DudeLooksLikeALady And looks disturbingly good in a dress]]). In the final chapter of FC, upon learning that the plan that the plan to sneak her into [[spoiler:the Queen's quarters]] involves disguising her as a maid, she cheerfully forces Joshua into a maid outfit as well (And again, he looks disturbingly good in it).

* OverratedAndUnderleveled: You can have all kinds of highly ranked Bracers join the party, but their level isn't that much higher than Estelle's. Justified because it's implied that [[IAmNotLeftHanded they're holding back]] so Estelle and Joshua can pull their own weight.

Last but not least, the soundtrack for the series is ''awesome'', especially once you get into Second Chapter and The Third. [[CrowningMusic/{{Ys}} Falcom's JDK Band]] pretty much hit it out of the park again, and some of the songs included with the game have been hailed as among the best game themes ever, through ''vote'', on places like 2channel.

** Also played with, once you get Tita's new S-Craft, the [[KillSat Satellite Cannon]].

* AdamSmithHatesYourGuts: That he does. Even at the end of the game, when you are explicitly saving the entire kingdom from [[ApocalypseHow a shattering cataclysm]] and pretty much everyone has acknowledged this, even major characters will still charge you for items.

* AnachronismStew: Applies somewhat, though as the series takes place only fifty years into the Orbal Revolution the setting is more analogous to the late 19th or early 20th century than modern times. There are automobile analogues, flying ships, guns and even ''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 uses a ''crossbow''. (Okay, Tita [[MoreDakka uses enough gun]] to count for an entire party, but still.)

* 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.]]

* 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. He is considered such a MemeticBadass that the primary villain of FC honestly believed that if Cassius hadn't left the army, his plan [[spoiler:to launch a coup and militarize Liberl to deter their more powerful neighbors from considering invasion]] ''would not have been necessary''. 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]].]]

* DraggedIntoDrag: Halfway through FC, Estelle and Joshua are tapped to help put on a play for a school festival. The production is a gender-flip of a well-known play about a love triangle competing for the heart of a princess. Joshua plays the princess ([[DudeLooksLikeALady And looks disturbingly good in a dress]]).

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 2014), 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.

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, with the translation done by Creator/CarpeFulgur (In January 2015, they announced that they had received the translated script for SC, but no details on the release date have been made beyond 'first half 2015... maybe').

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, with the translation done by Creator/CarpeFulgur.

** 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.]]

* MetalSlime: Shining Poms

* HyperactiveMetabolism: Most of the healing items are food.