Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter is right around the corner and I decided to dive into the recently released demo for myself and finally check it out. There’s been a lot of speculation and hesitation around its new combat system since the original is a fully turn-based grid format and the remake is a blend of both real-time action and free-movement turn-based systems.
Luckily, based on what I played, I can say the combat system in the remake is not only fantastic, but its hybrid approach also feels like a preview of what the future of the JRPG genre as a whole could look like.
How Combat Works in Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter
Combat in the Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter remake is pretty fantastic. I was on the fence when it was first revealed last year and wasn’t sold on the footage I saw over the last few months, but after trying it for myself I’m absolutely in love.
First and foremost, there are no transition screens or moments where you have to wait for things to load like in most traditionally turn-based JRPGs. In the original Trails in the Sky, or any turn-based JRPG really, you’d sit through a transition loading screen both when entering and exiting a battle. In the old Final Fantasy games and most retro era JRPGs those were triggered via random encounters at any time, and in the original PSP or PC version of Trails in the Sky, those were triggered by colliding with an enemy on the map.
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This time around, you can still see all of the enemies roaming the map but when you approach them, you can just start mashing circle for your basic attacks. Once you charge up enough, you can press triangle for a stronger attack, and then when you see an enemy about to launch an attack, you can press X to dodge. If you dodge at the right time, you can launch into a counter that does a lot more damage and helps stun the enemies.
This action mode is very fast-paced and fluid and is perfect for clearing out smaller enemies without having to pause game pacing, or just to begin your attack. Then, when you want to get more tactical and precise, you can press square to launch into the turn-based mode. If you wait until you’ve stunned an enemy in the action mode, that’s where it gets very powerful as you can immediately begin a combo or follow-up event.
Once you’re in the turn-based mode, combat feels similar to the original Trails in the Sky—with some key differences. For starters, it’s no longer grid-based at all. There is still a turn order on the side of the screen though, so you can see the placement of your party members and enemies and, crucially, affect turn order via some of your abilities. That can have a huge impact on the flow of battle.
Since it’s not grid-based, that means you can freely move around the circular battle zone during your turn. You’ll need to do this not only to set up the area of effect (AOE) for abilities to try and hit as many enemies as possible, but also to put distance between you and your other party members to avoid splash damage or to avoid attention. There’s a lot of tactical depth to the combat and it’s clear why the original is so adored.
What I love most, though, is how the two are blended together. Like I said, there is no loading between the two types of combat or even when a battle concludes, so the two formats feel like extensions of one another, not two different types of combat. You’re encouraged and borderline required to get comfortable in both modes and it feels amazing once you do.
To me, this is the best answer to the conundrum of how to handle combat in JRPGs going forward.
Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter vs. Other Modern JRPGs
The biggest examples of recently released modern JRPGs that do something different with their combat systems I’d say are Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Final Fantasy VII Remake and Rebirth, and Final Fantasy XVI—all four of which are game I’ve played and completed. You could maybe toss in some other examples like Tales of Arise, but that one is really just an iteration on the same combat the series has always had.
The most recent example, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, is an amazing game with a fantastic turn-based combat system that borrows elements from games like Lost Odyssey, Legend of Dragoon, and the Super Mario RPG series by requiring quick-time events and reactionary button presses to do things like dodges and parries. I devoured that game and consider it one of my favorite games of all-time, personally, but I don’t think that combat makes sense as a new genre standard with mass appeal.
On the other side of the spectrum, Final Fantasy XVI is purely action-based combat similar to games like Devil May Cry in a lot of ways. Again, I really loved that game and played it all the way through, but I don’t think a departure that massive should be considered for a new standard. What it gains in flare and bombast, it loses in depth and strategy.
Finally, Final Fantasy VII Remake and Rebirth are probably the closest modern examples I’ve seen of Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter’s combat. On its face, the games are very fast-paced and action-based without load screens before and after combat, but then you can go into a super slow-motion mode to issue commands and switch party members. I really do love this system and hope to see it adapted more, but I think you still lose a lot of depth, strategy, and nuance by making everything entirely real-time. Sometimes, games like Trails in the Sky prove, entirely stopping the action to maneuver around a battlefield and issue commands can just feel really, really satisfying.
I think there are merits to all types of JRPG combat, but if I had to pick a format to see adopted as a new standard, I’d love to see this version in the Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter remake become that measuring stick.
Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter releases for Switch/Switch 2, PlayStation 5, and PC via Steam on September 19, but you can play the demo now and get through the entire prologue, which is up to 7 hours of content for free.
