A Video Game Series For Your Consideration

Originally posted in Microcosmographia iv, 2015-02-18.

Right now I am 72 hours into Nihon Falcom’s Trails in the Sky Second Chapter, which is part of Trails in the Sky, which is a subseries of Trails, which is a subseries of The Legend of Heroes, which is a subseries of Dragon Slayer, which is one of the first JRPGs. This is an utterly orthodox, very deliberately paced JRPG, and I just love it.

Key features include:

• Estelle Bright. A character it’s truly fun to be for hundreds of hours. A female protagonist in a JRPG! And she’s not even sexualized for straight male players’ gratification! She just is, and she is just great. Not to mention all the other charming types you’ll meet — soft-hearted tough guy, girl genius, badass woman general, crossdresser, queer folks… Everyone is welcome, and everyone is a pleasure to be on an adventure with.
• Benevolent Bureaucracy. The world of Trails is very orderly, and that is portrayed as a good thing. The story involves navigating the interests of the national government, the crown, the military, local government, business, and your own guild. There is quite a bit of paperwork and talking to the person behind the right desk. It is kind of heartwarming to play a fantasy story where success is found not in undermining the evil systems of the world, but putting the just systems of the world to good use.
• Hugs. So many crucial moments in the storyline are illustrated with a cathartic hug between characters who really care about each other, which is like wow, how many modern stories have the heart to do that with a straight face?

The English version of the first game is top-notch. I have an old friend at Xseed who I always knew would make a fantastic localizer for Falcom games, and that is exactly what he became. The loc for the second game has been quite the ordeal, but I trust Carpe Fulgur’s efforts will be well worth the wait. (I’ve been playing in Japanese, but I’ll happily rebuy it just to support excellent English localization work of a legendarily huge game!)