Released by Falcom in the year 2004 on the
PC and later ported to the Playstation Portable, The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky would
be the first chapter of a story so large it had to be split into 3 games during development. Directed by Toshihiro Kondo, who would eventually
become the President of Falcom, the game is the first part of a trilogy of games, that
altogether form the 6th installment in the Legend of Heroes series, which was formed
from the spinoff 6th game, Dragon Slayer: Legend of Heroes, of the Dragon Slayer series,
of which, Dragon Slayer is credited as the game that created the action RPG genre in
1984. For combat, the game utilizes standard turn
based mechanics on an isometric grid, where characters can move, attack, use special attacks
called Crafts, or cast spells called Arts on their turn alongside random bonuses that
can trigger on turns. The Arts system is a deep fusion system of
combining elements for each character in order to unlock access to and synthesize a wider
pool of elemental spells and effects. Each character has their own set of special
attacks and ultimate attacks, though turn initiative is impacted based on turn cooldowns
and status effects. The game features a large world to-scale with
the characters at all times, with an isometric perspective of the 3d models, and monsters
are encountered on the field instead of being random. Additionally, there is also a cooking system
to add more depth to the setup heavy and text heavy nature of the game. For story, the game features the dual protagonists
Estelle and Joshua at all times, and are joined by 6 other party members over the course of
the story, though only 4 are ever fielded in combat at a time. The story only gets larger from here, so let's
cut it down to size with a RECAPitation. Writers: Hisayoshi Takeiri, Toshihiro Kondo,
Hirotaka Sato Composers: Hayato Sonoda, Yukihiro Jindo The game begins in the kingdom of Liberl,
on the continent of Zemuria, where we meet a young girl named Estelle, as her father
Cassius brings home a wounded boy one night. The boy is defiantly angry at Cassisus but
Estelle's imposing nature manages to quell him. Calming down, the boy introduces himself as
Joshua, and as time passes, Cassius has adopted Joshua into the family, as both kids grow
under the tutelage of Cassius. As Estelle and Johsua are now 16 yrs of age,
the day has also come when they finish up their training at the local guild and take
the test into becoming Bracers like Cassius. Their trainer is a woman named Scherazard,
who briefly recaps the history of Liberl, in so much that 10 years ago the kingdom was
invaded by the Erebonian Empire, but Liberl's advanced and prolific orbment technology allow
them to sucessfully defend and maintain their independance. Bracers themselves are recognized investigative
and combat specialists who help their local regions maintain peace and stability through
services from simple odd jobs to monster extermination. Their practical exam involves a simulated
job posting and completion, and sucessfully completed, they earn their appointment as
Junior Bracers. Schera congratulates them, mentioning how
she remembers when Estelle's father Cassisus trained her as a junior bracer years ago,
though Estelle seems aloof to why her father has earned such esteem from renowned bracers
like Schera. At dinner that night, Cassisus receives a
letter that demands he leave for business immediately, and they see him off. He leaves them a few unfinished jobs initially
assigned to him, and so Estelle and Joshua launch their formal careers as junior bracers. In one task of monster extermination, Estelle
learns Joshua is quite popular with the ladies but never dates any of them, while Joshua
notices his instincts leave him more cutthroat than he likes to admit. The next job involves delivering a rare specimen
of septium for the town mayor, and upon completion, they meet a transfer student of a nearby boarding
school named Josette. The package is actually a present for the
Queen on her upcoming 60th birthday, as appreciation for her post-war leadership. The last task involves escorting a couple
of reporters doing a story on one of the strange towers nearby. As it turns out, nearby regions have their
own similar towers, all built long ago when Liberl was founded, yet all strangely abandoned. On the roof, they find a strange ancient device,
as well as an archaeologist named Professor Alba who is studying these ruins, though they
find it awfully suspicious that such an academic made it up this monster-infested tower unscathed. He mentions the Sept-Terrions, a powerful
ancient race lost 1200 years ago, and the legend that a Sept-Terrion named Aureole actually
lays dormant somewhere within Liberl. Upon completion of all three tasks, they barely
have time to celebrate when the mayor comes in, exclaiming he's been robbed of the septium
he was preparing as the Queen's gift. Investigating the crime scene, they're able
to identify Josette as a likely suspect, so Schera joins them for this mission. Finding her hideout in the woods, it turns
out Josette is actually a bandit from the Capua family. Estelle and team fight and supress Josette's
group, succeed in recovering the Septium, and are about to arrest the group, when the
bandit's ariship opens covering fire, allowing the rogues to escape capture for now. Dismayed at the setback, Scherazard personally
commends them on a job well done with the investigation and recovery despite being Bracers-in-training,
and formerly imparts a recommendation from their Rolent Banch as formal junior bracers. It's explained to them that in order to be
promoted to senior bracers, they must travel to every regional office in the kingdom and
earn a recommendation, which is usually in recognition to a noteworthy acheivement. There are four more regions to visit, so the
road will be long. Their excitement for the future is interrupted
as the phone rings, and the group learns the airliner their father was on disappeared midflight
over the Bose region. Estelle has already made up her mind to go
search for her father, so naturally Joshua follows, though with the army investigating
the disappearance, all air traffic is cancelled so they'll have to travel by foot. Schera intends to go as well, so the three
head west to Bose. As they travel they hear repeat warning not
to get too close to the army investigation site, but still make it to the commercial
city safely. They learn more details that General Morgan,
an old war hero that with no love for the bracer guild, is heading the investigation
and is complicating things for bracer operations in the area. As it so happens, the mayor of Bose has requested
the Bracer guild to conduct their own independant investigation, so after registering themselves
to this branch, Estelle, Joshua, and Schera eagerly accept the task. Going to meet General Morgan first, they travel
to the Erebonian/Liberl border fort hiding their identity as bracers, but find they just
missed him. Waiting for his return, they encounter a peculiar,
well-dressed man from Erebonia that somehow instantly knows they're bracers and seems
to be more than a mere traveler. Later, when meeting the General, he explains
the investigation so far leads to the likelihood the missing airliner was hijacked, and in
fact, a group called the Capua Family sent out a letter claiming ownership of the incident
and demanding ransom. The Capua Family are sky bandits mainly operating
in the Bose Region, headed by 3 siblings, one of whom the party already tangled with. Unfortunately, Estelle lets slip that they're
bracers, and an enraged General Morgan runs them out, harshly criticisizing their deceptive
tactics to get information out of him. Schera shoots back, pointing out the uncooperative
nature of the army has led to no results or capture of the sky pirates either. Their fight is broken up by the carefree man
from the bar, who sings them both a song that actually ends up calming down everyone. He introduces himself as Olivier, and follows
the group to Bose, where they report their findings and resume their search for the missing
airliner. Following a lead, they pass by a gruff bracer
named Agate, discover an abandoned mine, and find their missing airliner hidden away in
a quarry. Confronting Kyle of the Capua family, he drops
that he was expecting the army at a later time, and after getting beaten in a fight,
he drops a smokescreen and gets away yet again. Investigating the airliner left behind, they
find the entire thing was cleaned out of cargo and passengers, likely already taken to the
bandit's headquarters. Given that they're sky bandits, it seems strange
they didn't just take the entire ship with them, though they figure it likely means their
true hideout is somewhere unique that can only accomodate their smaller aircraft. At this time, an army patrol team with General
Morgan in tow conveniently comes in right after them, and accuses them of conspiring
with the Sky Bandits, taking them under arrest. In jail, Joshua remembers what Kyle said and
how that likely means there is a mole in the army, and strangely enough, Olivier is also
in jail with them in the adjacent cell. The Mayor of Bose helps them out after informing
the General they are the children of Cassisus bright, for as it turns out, Cassius long
served with the General before he became a bracer and the two were good colleague, though
he still doesn't approve of the bracer guild. The Mayor arranges for Olivier to be released
as well, and in return render aide to the group in the investigation of what is now
a string of robberies in town. They encounter a courteous officer in black
named Colonel Richard, who wishes for the Army and Bracers to work together, and is
currently leading the Royal Intelligence division also conducting their own investigations. Estelle and group follow clues and sightings
until they find themselves tailing both Josette and Kyle into a meeting with a masked soldier
who informs them about the army and queen's movements and actions. Schera gets the idea to sabotage the airship
the bandits came in on though Olivier has an even better plan to stow away and let the
bandits take them to their hideout. Within, the group causes havoc, knocking out
grunts and securing the lost passengers, only to be shocked to see their father isn't among
them. Rather, they learn Cassius disembarked the
ship right before they lifted off so he was never kidnapped to begin with, but it raises
a new question of what is he doing now and where. Meanwhile, the leader of the Capua family,
Don, seems unusually ruthless to the other 2 siblings, insisting they kill the hostages
once they get the ransom money. Estelle and group rush in, and both groups
clash, with the Bracers easily winning. Don shakes his head, and somehow has no knowledge
of his actions since Josette left for Rolent, and his personality change seems genuine. Taking this opportunity, Kyle once again drops
a smoke bomb to escape, but its for naught as Colonel Richard with General Morgan in
tow are ready and waiting to capture them. Despite the glory of arrest stolen from them,
their hard work of finding the base, subduing the gang, and rescuing the hostages is still
recognized as the mayor of Bose is overjoyed at the turn of events and Estelle and Joshua
have earned they newest recommendation. Thier celebration is again cut short as a
letter from Cassius comes in for them, written right before he got off the airliner, explaining
his current mission will take some time, so don't expect him back home until after the
Queen's Birthday. There's also a package addressed to Cassisus
from an unknown sender that they open up hoping for clues, but instead find a strange black
orbment, from someone called 'K' for the purpose of being delivered to Professor 'R'. Olivier notes the Black Orbment may in fact
be an artifact from ancient times, given its unique build, but this one seems made recently. Joshua takes this time to recommend continuing
traveling and earn senior bracership. After all, it beats sitting around waiting
for their father, and travelling may uncover more clues of this Professor R. The next day, the group splits up, as Joshua
and Estelle continue their journey, Schera returns to Rolent, and Olivier continues his
travels to Rolent as well. On the airship back though, Schera overhears
Olivier on a portable phone, and learns he's actually a special operative of the Erebonian
empire, here to actually meet with Cassisus himself. Back with Estelle and Joshua, their next goal
is the Ruan region, and as they hike the seaside route over there, they stop in a small village
and run into a girl from the Royal Academy named Kloe, who's searching for a troublemaking
orphan. Finding him and returning to the orphanage,
it turns out Kloe is also a falconeer and fencer, and after they all enjoy a meal together,
she helps guide them to the port town of Ruan. The next day they register with the local
Bracer branch, and when requesting their first job, there's an alarming call to the branch
requesting an investigation into a fire that burned down the local orphanage they were
just at. Arriving on scene, the Matron and kids are
ok, so they begin their investigation, learning that this was no accident. Agate arrives, doing his own jobs in town,
and decides to take over the case, pulling rank and taking Estelle and Joshua off for
the reason of their personal involvement with the orphanage as well as dragging a civilian
into things. Feeling bad for them, Kloe offers to enlist
them instead for the job at her academy, helping out with the premier play in their school
festival. In preparation, Estelle and Joshua live among
the students in the dorms and even attend classes as guests for a few days. As the starring roles, the trio put on a smash
hit show, though there is a mysterious silver-haired man who stands in attendance. The play also garners a massive donation towards
the rebuilding of the orphanage, but later that evening, someone steals the money so
Estelle and Joshua are on the case to find the culprit. Agate now comes in, sensing something in common
with the arson case, and takes Estelle and Joshua with him as they hunt their shared
culprit together. They follow clues until it leads them to the
seaside lighthouse, taken over by a local gang, but the members all seem hypnotized
and unusually stronger than normal. Climbing up, they learn that the orphanage
was set fire maliciously and funds were stolen for the purpose of forcing the matron and
kids to relocate while the mayor himself repurposes the land for high-value real estate. Strange men in black also reappear as hired
help for the job by the mayor's aide, but Kloe and the party of bracers are able to
best them, though they are forced back when the masked men turn on their employer and
begin taking hostages. Agate gives chase, though the mayor's aide
and the local gang are successfully arrested and the money recovered. The problem now is properly incriminating
the mayor, and at this point, Kloe writes a quick letter to be delivered by her falcon. The bracer branch thinks to involve the Royal
army for this task, but they'll need Estelle and Joshua to buy time with the mayor by pressing
him with questions and exposing dirt on him. They visit the mayor's estate and walk in
on him chatting with Duke Dunan about the plans for renovating the area, as Duke Dunan
has his sights on being the next crown King. They directly out the mayor being the mastermind
of the arson and theft, with the motive of amassing money to pay off a huge debt he already
acumulated with speculative land deals and embezzlements. He lets loose some monsters to silence them
and when that fails, pulls out an powerful artifact to try and freeze them in place. He's about to shoot them himself when the
artifact Estelle was carrying on her for Cassius suddenly lights up and cancels the other artifact's
effects. The mayor flees and the group gives chase,
dodging and deflecting the bullets he sends their way. As his yacht picks up speed, all hope of catching
him seems lost when suddenly a Royal Guard cruiser soard overheads and completely cuts
off all escape. Upon capture, the mayor suddenly blanks out
and cannot remember his crimes, just like with the leader of the sky bandits, though
soon even Colonel Richard of the Royal Army arrives to congratulate them on their efforts,
though he finds its so strange the Royal Guard arrived before they did so quickly. Wrapping up, they return to the guild where
they learn Agate wasn't able to capture the men in black, but is still in pursuit. On the subject of the black orbment in their
possession, the guild suggests going to Zeiss, a city famous for the manufacture of orbments
for a clue, but before they leave, they award Estelle and Joshua their own recommendation
for a high-stakes mission well done. With that, the junior bracers set their sights
on Zeiss next, and bid farewell to their friend Kloe, though she says she'll be in Grancel
for the Queen's Birthday in a month, and hopes to meet up with them there. On the road again, Estelle and Joshua pass
through a limestone cave en route to Zeiss, but pause to save a little girl in trouble
in the caves. She actually holds her own in a fight with
her own orbal guns, and introduces herself as Tita, a young engineer. They escort her back to the industrialized
city and register themselves with the local guild, and are soon handed a referral to see
the factory chief in regards to their strange black orbment. He can't make heads or tails of it, but suggests
the Professor R it was intended for is likely the famous Professor Russell, a legendary
man who greatly advanced orbment technology over the last few decades and basically headed
the Orbal Revolution in Liberl. While he has a workshop in town, the professor's
granddaughter works for this very factory, and it turns out to be Tita herself. Taking them to Professor Russel, he's immediately
intrigued by the item since it lacks any markings or opening, and even its casing is an unidentifiable
metal. During testing, it activates and somehow shuts
down all orbments downtown, adding even more intrigue to its true nature. As he works on it, the group takes Tita for
some down time at a hot springs resort nearby while working a small job, and it comes to
light again for Estelle how much people perceive her and Joshua as a romantic item. On the way back, they hear of a gas leak accident
in the factory, with Professor Russell still inside, so they hurry in, running into Agate
also looking into the matter. It turns out masked men in black are behind
the incident again, this time caught in the middle of kidnapping the Professor and the
Black orbment. They get away in plain sight, disguised as
Royal Guardsmen, and the group loses the trail as well as the professor. Soon after, the Royal Intelligence division
comes in, filing the entire ordeal as terrorism, and starting their own internal investigation. They run into Prefessor Alba again, who reports
he saw some suspicious people dressed as guardsmen in the local ruins he was researching himself,
so the party now has a firm lead. As they climb yet another ancient tower, Agate
also notes these guys are somehow able to train and command monsters in a way he's never
seen before. Confronting the men in black again, they don't
spot the red masked leader among them so they clean up the rest. The tide turns against them, when the assailants
pull out their own airship, and Agate saves Tita who blew their window to get the professor,
and results in the kidnappers getting away again and Agate being poisoned. They run into a large traveler from the east
named Zane, who offers to help move Agate, as it turns out he too is a bracer from the
neighboring republic of Calvard. He's on his way to Grancel but chooses to
accompany them retrieving an antidote herb from within a dangerous monster den. With Agate out of danger, Zane continues on
his trip, and the rest of the group learns the airship the men in black got away in was
caught on film right above a Royal Army installation. Though the matter should be handled delicatly,
they provoke a response by going to the fortress in the picture and asking some questions,
only to find the soldiers in the base acting very shifty. To clinch things, they see the same orbal
shutdown phenomenon affect the base like they saw before, meaning for some reason, the professor
is being held captive here in this royal army fort. When they return to the guild, Agate is back
on his feet and raring to go sneak into the fort and break out the professor, but there's
a major problem. There is an explicit non-intervention clause
between the bracer guild and royal army, in which bracers have no sovereignty in regards
to national figures or military. So, they couldn't arrest a politician or anyone
in the army even if they witness a crime. However, there is one loophole, as the bracers
are an organization of the people for the people, so they may intervene to protect civilians,
and since the professor is a civilian, they may accept a request to rescue just him. The factory chief is more than willing to
support, so Estelle, Joshua, and Agate are deployed on this rescue mission. Thanks to Tita's tech support, they're able
to infiltrate at night, and confirm the men in black are likely special covert ops units
in the military. Sneaking around, they are surprised to find
Colonel Richard is actually the one behind everything, including holding the professor
and stealing the black orbment, which he calls the Gospel. After he leaves the base, the group is quick
to knock out some guards and rescue the professor, but the alarm rings out so escape is now more
of a challange. Major Cid of the base sneaks them away, exposing
that Colonel Richard has the Royal Armed forces under his thumb with the Intelligence Division,
and has even imprisoned the imposing General Morgan. Richard is currently taking advantage of the
weakness in infrastructure of the military as well as common corruption, and now moves
to frame the Imperial Guardsman for treason on false charges. Cid can't do much to help that, but will help
them escape for now, leading them out with a secret passageway. Agate nows moves to hide the professor and
Tita somewhere else safely, as the army knows his face very well, but notsomuch Estelle
and Joshua's. The Professor now reveals the Gospel originally
came from the Intelligence Division, was stolen from them, and they found it again when the
Professor caused the blackout with it earlier, hence the kidnapping. He wants them now to take the Gospel, go the
queen in Grancel, and warn her personally of Colonel Richard's plot. Parting ways, the two groups now head off
on their own, while at the same time, we see a Royal Guardsman escaping with Kloe, and
holding off some men in black while Kloe hurries to Grancel, but, even her escape is cut off
by Colonel Richard himself. Back in town, Estelle and Joshua are preparing
to embark for Grancel, but before that, for the exceptional feat of breaking the Professor
out of a secure military compound, they are awarded their own Recommendation from this
branch. On the road again, they hear about a fighting
tournament, but are about to be detained by the army as all bracers are currently under
suspicion. Fortunately, Professor Alba happens to be
here and covers for them, in return for helping him out earlier. Making it to the capital city of Grancel,
they register with the branch and get right into business, as the branch itself still
has no news on Cassisus's whereabouts, and pressure from Colonel Richard means getting
to the Queen won't be straightforward. Pretending to be tourists, they approach the
castle, and learn that the queen is purportedly ill and the Royal guardsmen have been removed,
and while Duke Dunan is next in line to be king, he's so unreliable that all administration
has been performed by Colonel Richard instead. With no way to get inside for now, they decide
to sit in on fighting tournament, observing that their friend Zane is participating as
well. Duke Dunan announces among the prizes for
the winner will be a invitation to a royal banquet in 3 days in grancel castle, so suddenly
Joshua and Estelle see a way to get the professor's message through. As events play along, the other bracers suggest
Estelle and Joshua join Zane in the team competition for the grand prize, and they agree. Zane allows them along, but when wondering
who can be their 4th slot member, Olivier happens to enter the scene, eager to oblige,
and conveniently wishing to enter the castle as well. That night, Estelle finds herself once more
self-aware of herself and her growing feelings towards Joshua, though she still needs time
to sort her thoughts out. They also investigate a little on their targets,
learning that Colonel Richard used to serve under Cassisus when Cassius used to be a Colonel
in the Army, and the masked man in red is Lorence, a part of the Hunting Corps, or Jaegers,
an elite mercenary group. To himself, Joshua seems familiar with the
Jester divison of the Jaegers that Lawerence is from. That night, they receive a strange letter
to meet at night in the cathedral, and cautiously following it, they find it belongs to Lt.
Julia, the Royal Guardsman who helped stop the corrupt mayor and also has been helping
Kloe. She hands them a letter to also give to the
queen, as herself and the other Royal guards are hiding in the church as the Intelligence
Division hunts them down. As they return back to their room, Joshua
makes a serious promise to Estelle that when this ordeal is over, he'll tell her about
his past before they met, something he has never done all these years. As they make it to the finals, their opponent
is none other than Lorence with his special ops team, though Joshua suspects he's seen
Lorence's swordplay before, and the Bracers are able to edge out a tough victory. Colonel Richard notes the turn of events,
and how Lorence was holding back, but doesn't believe the bracers are capable of impacting
their plan that is already nearing completion. With the invitation in hand, Estelle, Joshua,
and Zane enter the castle and are impressed by the scale of it all. They note the tight security prevalent in
the castle, but seek out the head maid as Julia had advised, who reads Julia's letter
and thinks of a way to have them meet the queen. That night, Colonel Richard makes the announcement
that the queen intends to abdicate the throne to Duke Dunan in a few days, and will make
the formal announcement herself during her birthday celebration, much to the disbelief
of everyone there. The Dean of the Royal Academy points out that
Princess Klaudia also has equal standing to claim the throne, but Colonel Richard claims
the queen deemed her too young to accept the crown. After dinner, the head maid has Estelle and
Joshua dress up as maids in order to sneak them next to the queen, and the two get to
finally meet Queen Alicia face to face. She listens to their message from Professor
Russell, and shares that some time ago there was a strange orbal reaction from deep underground
Grancel that the professor privately investigated, yet Colonel Richard should never have learned
of. She knows their father Cassius personally,
as he was a friend to her late son, and played a pivotal role in the war as well as helping
her with missions from time to time even today. Evidently, he was the officer who planned
the successful counteroffensive against the Erebonians when they were completely surrounded
and outnumbered. Unfortunately, Estelle's mother was a casualty
of the war when she sacrificed herself to save Estelle from a destroyed clock tower
in Rolent during the fighting, which shook Cassius so hard he retired from the military
and instead became a bracer to be closer to home. Bringing things to the present, she asks them
to rescue those who were captured by the Intelligence division, especially Princess Klaudia, whom
she originally backed as the successor to the throne, which is really what started the
coup d'etat plot by Colonel Richard to begin with. Viewing the current and potential leadership
as weak, Colonel Richard would use Duke Dunan as a puppet and instead steer Liberl into
strong militarization and become more of an international presence. Returning to their room, Zane is interested
in helping out, as it turns out he was sent here originally by Cassius and was even asked
to help Estelle and Joshua out should they need it. In fact, Zane is an A-ranked bracer, one of
20 in the world, though Cassius is one of the 4 informal S-Ranks, dubbed the Divine
Blade. Given the escalation of this mission, backup
would be preferred, but with martial law set in blocking almost all travel, they can't
get help from the other branches in time. So, they must instead gather the talents they
have here. Assembling the other bracers from the tournament,
as well as Julia and the hiding guardsmen, they plan a rescue with two teams, a decoy
team and a rescue team, and plan to take the villa with the hostages in it by force. Estelle, Joshua, and Zane are to play the
critical role as the core rescue team and united, the queen's liberation front storm
the castle at night. Cutting past dozens of special ops soldiers,
Estelle and team locate the room where the vip hostages are being held, and are shocked
to find that Princess Klaudia is in fact their friend Kloe. When the guards get desperate and start threatening
hostages, backup comes just in time as Scherazard and Olivier dash in to save them. Hostages rescued, and most of the special
ops on the grounds defeated, and Colonel Richard elsewhere, the window to escape is open, but
Kloe points out the window to save the Queen is open too. She formally requests the bracers there to
help her in this, and produces a old map of the castle with some forgotten routes they
can use to infiltrate. For rescuing the Queen, the plan is for Joshua,
Olivier and Zane to infiltrate the sewers and open the castle gates for the ground forces,
who will lead the standing guard away for Estelle, Schera, and Kloe to fly in on an
airship and break into the queen's room directly. Succeeding on his end, team Joshua get the
gates open, and Lt. Julia wastes no time rushing the breach alongside the local bracers and
royal guards. Dropping in, team Estelle confronts Colonel
Richard's second in command, blow past her, and next confront the would-be cowardly king
Duke Dunan. Once his guards are defeated, he is quick
to give up, but beyond him, Lt Lorence stands between them and the queen. He unveils his face to be the same silver-haired
man who observed their school play in Ruan, and even outnumbered 3 to 1 he is hardly outmatched
as he easily defeats the 3 girls. However, he strangely chooses to not only
surrender the queen back to them, but advises they hurry below if they are to stop Colonel
Richard, as he makes a complete escape. Confused at Richard's intentions, the Queen
focuses all of them when team Joshua now runs in, and that is that Colonel Richard is after
Aureole, the Shining Ring, and one of the powerful Sept-Terrions. At this time, Agate, Tita and Professor Russel
now come in, and together, everyone descends to the forbidden depths below the castle. Given the span of the Zemurian ruins, the
group has a forward team and a standby base team ready, with Estelle and Joshua leading
the advance. Delving in, they fight past ancient machines
and the remnants of Colonel Richard's rebellion until they encounter the Colonel himself. He calmly explains his plan was to wield the
ancient almighty power of the Sept-Terrions, and use it to give Liberl the power it needs
to stand above its neighboring countries. Liberl succeeded in independance so far because
Cassius won the war 10 years ago, and their technological advantage gave them an edge. However, since then, other countries have
advanced their science, and Cassius left the military so Liberl is vulnerable again. He does this for love of the country, but
Estelle challenges that relying on some alien weapon and ruling by fear isn't the way, and
instead the best asset Liberl has is its people willing to band together and protect the country. After all, Cassius was just one man and didnt
win the war by himself. Joshua notes its awfully suspicious that Colonel
Richard conveniently learned of this forbidden tech, the means to reach it, and how to control
the Black orbment, even though no one, even the queen, knew for decades. If anything, this sounds just like the mind
controlling phenomnenon they saw with the Capua Family and the corrupt Mayor, but Colonel
Richard denies any hypnotic brainwashing and attacks them personally. Clashing with the former subordinate of their
war hero father, they succeed in taking him down, but after doing so, the black orbment
activates, and soon the facility around them begins activating a new protocol to unseal
Aureole. A giant security robot comes out to deal with
them, and while they beat its first form, the bracers are beaten down by its upgraded
mode. Colonel Richard realizes his plan is a farce
and now aides the group, trying to buy them time to escape, and is willing to sacrifice
himself to atone for his mistake. However, out of the blue, Cassius himself
dashes in to strike down the robot, giving the group the second wind to destroy it once
and for all. With the dust settled, Colonel Richard explains
his motivations to Cassius, asking why he left the country with no hope, and Cassius
punches some sense into him, explaining he left Because the country had such great unity
and leaders with it, like Richard and General Morgan. He never wanted people to have this delusional
hero worship of him, and instead advises him to not run away like he did, from protecting
the most important things in life. With that, the Intelligence Division's staged
coup d'etat was defeated. After guilty parties are found and arrested,
the army comes in to keep the peace, though in the meanwhile, Estelle and Joshua earn
their final recommendation needed to become promoted to full-fledged Bracers. Awarded their new badges of office by their
own father, the news now comes out that Cassius is also stepping down as a bracer, and resuming
active duty in the army. Due to the internal damage caused by the Intelligence
division, he felt it necessary to come in and quell the chaos and rebuild structure. After all, there are loyal special ops still
on the run, Richard's second in command hasn't been caught, and the real issue is what the
effect of breaking the seal on Aureole will bring in the future. Not to mention, there is still the mystery
of the brainwashings, and the black orbment, which was apparantly delivered to Richard
by Lorence. Estelle describes Lorence's true face to them,
and Joshua seems stricken by surprise. Taking time now to enjoy the festival, Estelle
seems eager to confess her newfound feelings to Joshua, but is terribly clumsy at it. During a break, Professor Alba greets Joshua,
and Joshua directly confronts Alba on the fact that he's always been nearby or investigating
every strange incident of brainwashing or hypnotism since they first met him in the
ruins, and always had the strangest timing with the most dangerous locations to boot. Joshua directly asks if he's really the mastermind
behind this, and suddenly Alba's demeanor changes. He openly admits it and with a snap of his
fingers gives back all of Joshua's memories. In shock at the sudden rush, Joshua is stunned
that Alba has the power to twist minds so easily, and with his restored mind, recognizes
Alba to be one of the seven Snake Apostles, Weismann the Faceless. Weissmann smirks, acknowleding Joshua by his
true name and title of the Black Fang, an Enforcer part of Legion 13. Weismann now explains he took this time to
simply say hello since the first part of his plan, opening the gate and undoing the seal,
went off perfectly. In fact, he informs Joshua he's releasing
him from the spy work he's unknowingly been doing for them for the past 5 years; reporting
Bracer business and movement, and especially the intel on Cassius. Weismann molded Joshua into a human weapon,
and wonders how he'll live his decent live going forward, knowing he's really a monster
inside, and says he's free to rejoin his organization Ouroboros again. As the game ends, night arrives and Estelle
admits to Schera she's fallen for Joshua, which is to the surprise of nobody. She ventures out and spots Joshua thinking
to himself, and as she approaches, he confesses he's ready to tell her what he's been doing
before they met. He reveals he lived a normal life until tragedy
struck that broke his heart and he languished, until one day a man came by who offered to
heal his heart, and instead transformed Joshua's empty heart into that of a murderer. For years he killed every day, becoming more
and more ruthless and skilled, until he was assigned to target Cassius. However, Cassius was too good and easily beat
Joshua, and when other assassin's moved to kill Joshua as a loose end, Cassius rescued
Joshua and decided to show mercy and take him into his home. He admits the rest of the 5 years have been
like a dream to him, and grimly admits all dreams must come to an end. Estelle bursts out that his past might be
hard for her to believe, but their time spent together was real. She loudly confesses her love for him, looks
past his bloody history, and urges him to stay with her. In response, Joshua steps in and kisses Estelle,
slips a sleeping pill into her mouth, and as she gently falls, he claims he can'tt have
her see the truly ugly side of him and what he must now do. Before she falls asleep under the starry sky,
Joshua confesses his love for her since the day they met, and tells her goodbye. The next day, Joshua is already gone, but
Estelle hasn't given up, packing her bags and optimistically moving forward on her new
journey of bringing Joshua home, as this first chapter comes to a close. The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky First
Chapter has enjoyed the success of selling over 500 thousand copies worldwide. This RECAPitation was chosen by Bryan. Thanks a lot for supporting the show as a
patron, I really appreciate it. If you would like to support the show yourself,
please follow the patreon link in the description below. Thanks for Watching and I'll see you on the
next battlefield.
I haven't watched this in full (as I am just working my way through this - my first "Trails" game), however, I did enjoy the Xenogears video and other videos in this series.
Thanks for sharing this!