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While yesterday Nihon Falcom announced the latest The Legend of Heroes title for Japan, during their investor Q&A it was revealed that the company plans to re-release The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky for modern platforms - though they don't quite know what form such a re-release might take.

Thanks to Twitter user @michsuzu, who was present at Falcom's investor meeting and reported the Q&A session, we know that Falcom's President Toshihiro Kondo responded to a question about the lack of availability for The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky on modern console platforms. It's worth noting that every other Trails title is available for PlayStation 4 or 5 in Japan, and with the exception of the most recent arc the same is true for Nintendo Switch.

The question and answer can be translated as follows:

Q. This is an inquiry about about some of Falcom's back-catalog - the Trails series' original games, the Trails in the Sky trilogy, are currently unplayable on modern console platforms. While you can play them on a PlayStation 3, or a PlayStation Vita, are there any plans to develop a version of the titles for modern console hardware?
A. We're always thinking about ways to make our earlier titles available to more players. As for "Trails in the Sky", we've noticed strong demand for the title both domestically and abroad; as such, we too want to figure out a way to make it available once again for modern platforms. While the Trails series has grown quite long, we consider "Trails in the Sky" to be our own ideal entry point to the series. We want to re-release the game in some form, so we ask our fans to wait a little while longer while we consider our options.

Last year, we reported that Falcom wanted to release Trails in the Sky and Trails through Daybreak on Switch; and indeed, the company has a Switch version of Trails through Daybreak releasing early next year in Japan. While Falcom has not yet announced how they plan to re-release the Trails in the Sky trilogy, it's clear that the company is serious about getting the game into more players hands sometime in the future. Hopefully any further re-release will be able to find its way to the Western market.

Nihon Falcom wants to "eventually" re-release Trails in the Sky for modern platforms | RPG Site

While the company does not yet know what form a re-release might take, they have pledged to do so eventually.

www.rpgsite.net

 

[Shake Your Rump]

Meh. It’s already on PC and playable on anything made in the past 20 years. A re-release on console will likely be missing an English dub as with Azure/Zero, so why bother.

 

[RoboFu]

I played the latest one to see what all the hub-bub is about and it’s nothing.

It kind of reminded me of a 80s cartoon. Made to sell toys / for creepy dudes looking at anime tiddies. It definitely didn’t have a good cohesive story or good gameplay.

 

[Deerock71]

Trails in the Sky.
Trails in the Sky.
Into the clouds we fly.
Right now it's do or die.
Ride up on a snake, or like Krusty step on a rake.
Trails in the Sky.

(You'll never unhear it now)

 

[EverydayBeast]

 

[jshackles]

Meh. It’s already on PC and playable on anything made in the past 20 years. A re-release on console will likely be missing an English dub as with Azure/Zero, so why bother.

It's great having the PC version, but even for a PC release it's incredibly dated.

The games originally ran on DirectX 8 and were upgraded to DirectX9 in 2017. You can mod in the JP dub from the Vita re-release, but it's not included in any game's release - so right now they has zero voice acting. A new console release or remaster could fix these problems, in addition to making them playable on PlayStation 5.

 

[March Climber]

I played the latest one to see what all the hub-bub is about and it’s nothing.

It kind of reminded me of a 80s cartoon. Made to sell toys / for creepy dudes looking at anime tiddies. It definitely didn’t have a good cohesive story or good gameplay.

From your perspective would this mean it is like the Atelier series? Because whenever I see people talk about those games it's usually about the looks of the character models and not much else.

 

[RoboFu]

From your perspective would this mean it is like the Atelier series? Because whenever I see people talk about those games it's usually about the looks of the character models and not much else.

Pretty much, it’s like instead of a cohesive theme. Every character is very different ranges from big boob witch to big boob sniper and a lot of underage girls in between.

But yeah it’s definitely a game made to sell merchandise not much else.

 

[Paltheos]

It's great having the PC version, but even for a PC release it's incredibly dated.

The games originally ran on DirectX 8 and were upgraded to DirectX9 in 2017. You can mod in the JP dub from the Vita re-release, but it's not included in any game's release - so right now they has zero voice acting. A new console release or remaster could fix these problems, in addition to making them playable on PlayStation 5.

Missing voice acting is the only missing must-have imo. The JP dub brings allot to the experience, and it helps that almost all the dialogue is voiced. I've been pretty vocal in the past about my mixed opinions on the new portrait art and arranged music (outright negative on the former for the loss in expressiveness).

I might be underrating how much a modern PC port could help though. Durante's team always put out a top-notch product that pushes the technical boundaries of each game to the limit and now that I think about it I remember one of my friends having a hell of a time getting the game running properly on his PC.

I played the latest one to see what all the hub-bub is about and it’s nothing.

It kind of reminded me of a 80s cartoon. Made to sell toys / for creepy dudes looking at anime tiddies. It definitely didn’t have a good cohesive story or good gameplay.

If you played the latest one, I could see how you could have that impression. The latest one in the states is literally a full game sized epilogue to 9 previous titles that assumes you're all caught up. But I mean that's pretty obvious just from starting the game? What is the 'latest one'? Cold Steel 1? Kuro 1? Reverie?

Quality of writing's taken a big hit the last few games, in particular for the overall scenarios (and the sex appeal's been ratched up too far), but it's not shovelware tier. Just have to disagree on gameplay.

 

[Fbh]

I played the latest one to see what all the hub-bub is about and it’s nothing.

It kind of reminded me of a 80s cartoon. Made to sell toys / for creepy dudes looking at anime tiddies. It definitely didn’t have a good cohesive story or good gameplay.

I played Trails in the Sky some years ago to see what this "best ever" JRPG was all about and I didn't get the appeal.
Played for like 10 hours and it felt like nothing much happened with the plot, combat but fun but nothing special and the visual style is ugly.

I've had some interest in trying other games in the series but the way they are all connected it always feels very inaccessible. It's like "ok even though it looks generic as fuck maybe I'll try Cold Steel" but then people tell me "oh but to fully understand the plot you need to play these other 48 games, specially for part 4 which won't make much sense if you haven't"

 

[Shake Your Rump]

A new console release or remaster could fix these problems, in addition to making them playable on PlayStation 5.

It wasn't "fixed" with Azure or Zero. Hell, if it wasn't for outsourcing the translation to people who has already completed it, we probably wouldn't even have the games in English. I don't expect NIS to suddenly invest in this series.

 

[Shake Your Rump]

maybe I'll try Cold Steel" but then people tell me "oh but to fully understand the plot you need to play these other 48 games, specially for part 4 which won't make much sense if you haven't"

As someone who just got into the series with Cold Steel and playing completely blind, this isn't true at all. I am ~20 hours into the game and nothing has been confusing in the slightest. It's self-contained.

I'm not sure who would start a new series on part 4, though.

 

[Fbh]

As someone who just got into the series with Cold Steel and playing completely blind, this isn't true at all. I am ~20 hours into the game and nothing has been confusing in the slightest. It's self-contained.

From my understanding the first few are.
But eventually one of the sequels assumes you've played one (or more) of the other games.

 

[graywolf323]

It's great having the PC version, but even for a PC release it's incredibly dated.

The games originally ran on DirectX 8 and were upgraded to DirectX9 in 2017. You can mod in the JP dub from the Vita re-release, but it's not included in any game's release - so right now they has zero voice acting. A new console release or remaster could fix these problems, in addition to making them playable on PlayStation 5.

not to mention the Steam Deck, I mean I got into the series finally this year thanks to starting up Sky on my Deck but getting the first two running with the Evo improvements & voice acting was a chore (totally worth it though)

 

[Kagoshima_Luke]

Official Steam Deck support would be nice

 

[cireza]

Well, I wouldn't mind an Xbox version, but it's up to them.

 

[phaedrus]

You know, for an actor Val Kilmer had a pretty good singing voice.

 

[Isa]

This is great that they are considering it, though I'd expect it to take forever and a day to finally come to fruition. Maybe 2026 at the earliest, probably much later haha.
Also there are some serious hot takes in here. Good lord.

I'm in day 1 if it happens. Also, I love the fan service!

 

[Deerock71]

You know, for an actor Val Kilmer had a pretty good singing voice.

Oliver Stone said he was within 80-85% of BEING Jim Morrison for that movie.

 

[Arsic]

Unless it’s a major visual upgrade and quality of life features it isn’t work it.

 

[Gambit2483]

I'd buy it.