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The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky the 3rd

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The Legend of Heroes:
Trails in the Sky the 3rd
File:Trails in the Sky Third Chapter.png
Japanese PlayStation Portable cover art.
Developer(s)Nihon Falcom
SeriesThe Legend of Heroes - Trails in the Sky
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita
ReleaseMicrosoft Windows
  • KR: September 21, 2007[1]
PlayStation Portable PlayStation 3 PlayStation Vita (Evolution)
Genre(s)Role-playing
Mode(s)Single-player

The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky the 3rd (Japanese: 英雄伝説 空の軌跡 The 3rd, Hepburn: Eiyū Densetsu Sora no Kiseki The 3rd) is a Japanese role-playing video game by Nihon Falcom. It serves as the third entry, and epilogue, to the Trails in the Sky trilogy of video games. The game is part of Falcom's overarching The Legend of Heroes series of video games, and takes place in the same fictional universe as other Trails related titles in the series. XSEED has licensed the game for PC release in 2017. [3]

Gameplay

The game plays similarly to its predecessors, a role-playing video game with turn-based battles, but this time enemies have affinities to the three higher elements of time, space and mirage. Other additions are the turn bonuses of "rush", allowing the player to take two actions at once, "guard", which nullifies any damage, "vanish", which makes a target disappear for a few turns, and "death", which gives the attack the effect of an instant death. Throughout the games' dungeons the player will find doors engraved with symbols of the moon, stars and the sun, which trigger, respectively, long story scenes, short story scenes, and mini-games. Those scenes usually tell the story of past events and sometimes feature battles.

Story

Plot

Six months after the events in Trails in the Sky Second Chapter, Kevin Graham finds himself in the airspace of the Erebonian Empire, right in the middle of a mission for the Septian Church. After a successful completion, he returns to his ship and immediately receives another request, now to investigate an artifact recovered from the bottom of Valeria Lake in the Liberl Kingdom. There, he meets Ries Argent—an old friend—and they both get caught up in an incident that leads them into Phantasma, the Land of Shadows, a place that seems to follow its own otherworldly rules. Thus, they begin their investigation, which leads them to unearth their own past.

Development

Creation and release

The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky was initially planned to be released as one singular game, however, the size and scope of the game grew so much that Falcom had to either pare down the game, or split it up.[4] They chose the latter, and eventually split into two parts: First Chapter and Second Chapter. Later they started development on an epilogue to those games, which became Third Chapter.[4] While the first two entries focused on the more upbeat adventures of Estelle and Joshua, Third Chapter shifts its story-telling into a darker direction.[4]

Third Chapter was released on a number of different platforms. A high definition PlayStation 3 port was released in June 2013.[5] It was also released on PlayStation Plus on January 2014.[6]

Save data from Second Chapter from the PSP and PS3 releases unlock bonus content when present on the console playing Third Chapter.[5] Additionally, Third Chapter saved data is transferrable from the PSP to PS3 release, allowing the player to continue the game on PS3 where they had left off on the PSP copy.[5]

Localization

Xseed Games technically has the rights to release Third Chapter in English.[7] However, the First Chapter, the smallest in the series, was a massive undertaking, consisting of over 1.5 million Japanese characters to be translated,[8] and did not meets Xseed's sales goals.[9] The company stated unfavorable "large undertaking, low payoff" ratio, if continued, would put them out of business.[9] Xseed teamed up with a third party translating company, Carpe Fulgur, to translate Second Chapter, but Third Chapter's release largely hinges on its success.[10] Ken Berry, Vice President of Xseed Games, stated that despite having the right to release Third Chapter, they would be willing to allow others to translate them as well due to them being such large undertakings.[11] After First Chapter's successful launch on Steam, Xseed has shown renewed interest in localization of Third Chapter, contingent to the success of the Second Chapter. Kotaku announced on March 11, 2016 that The Third has been licensed, planned for release in 2017.[12]

In 2011, publisher Aeria Games announced they would release an English version of the iOS version in North America, with added social interactions features. To date, no additional details have been released since the initial announcement.[13] Xseed stated that they have no connection to the potential Aeria Games release.[14]

Reception

Upon release in Japan, the PlayStation Portable version received a score of 30/40 from the video game magazine Famitsu.[15]

References

  1. ^ http://falcomnews.egloos.com/1486026
  2. ^ http://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2015/11/11/video-the-legend-of-heroes-trails-in-the-sky-the-3rd-evolution-announced-for-ps-vita
  3. ^ "Trails in the Sky: The 3rd Is Actually Coming West". Retrieved 11 March 2016.
  4. ^ a b c "Hardcore Gaming 101: Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky". Retrieved 8 September 2014.
  5. ^ a b c "The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky the Third HD Edition Set For June On PS3 - Siliconera". Siliconera. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
  6. ^ "Falcom Will Put The Legend Of Heroes: Trails In The Sky The 3rd On PsPlus In Japan – Siliconera". Siliconera. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
  7. ^ "The Legend Of The Heroes: Trails In The Sky Takes Flight In March – Siliconera". Siliconera. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
  8. ^ Ishaan . February 12, 2011 . 3:02pm (2011-02-12). "The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky Has 1.5 Million Japanese Characters". Siliconera. Retrieved 2013-09-13.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  9. ^ a b Spencer . October 14, 2011 . 6:05pm (2011-10-14). "What's Going On With The Legend Of Heroes: Trails In The Sky Second Chapter?". Siliconera. Retrieved 2013-09-13.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  10. ^ "Xseed Games Bringing Trails in the Sky Second Chapter to Steam, PS Store – EGMNOW". EGMNOW.com. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
  11. ^ "RPGamer > Feature > XSEED Games Fall 2013 Interview – Part 1". Retrieved 8 September 2014.
  12. ^ "XSEED Games — The Legend of Heroes: Trails Series - Localization Blog #1". Tumblr. Retrieved 6 December 2015.
  13. ^ "The Legend Of The Heroes: Trails In The Sky Series Soaring To Smartphones... In English! - Siliconera". Siliconera. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
  14. ^ "RPGFan News – The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky Trilogy Goes Mobile". Retrieved 8 September 2014.
  15. ^ http://www.famitsu.com/cominy/?m=pc&a=page_h_title&title_id=944
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