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XSEED Games Previews the Battle Systems and Environments in The Legend of Heroes Trails in the Sky
Ahead of next week’s release of the highly-anticipated RPG epic, The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky – which will ship on March 29th in both a Limited Edition package (MSRP $39.99) and a standard boxed version, with a digital download version also available (MSRP $29.99) – XSEED Games is providing further details on the game’s combat system and environments.
Classic RPG Combat
While The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky is well known for its meticulously detailed world, sprawling landscapes and engaging dialog, that doesn’t mean players can wander the land free from danger. Far from it! Players take the roles of Estelle Bright and Joshua Bright, aspiring members of the Bracer Guild – an organization sworn to uphold peace and protect the wellbeing of all citizens within the kingdom – and as such will often find themselves in harm’s way.
In The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky, classic RPG combat skills such as strength, defense, speed, agility and dexterity, among others, will help to determine a character’s combat ability, along with various weapons and items which can be collected over the course of 50-plus hours of gameplay. What makes the combat of The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky unique, however, is the use of customizable ‘Orbments’ – mechanical artifacts composed of jeweled ‘septium’ circuits meticulously arranged to grant their bearers direct control over various phenomena – everything from healing wounds to spawning elemental cascades, to directly affecting the opposition’s state of mind. Once foes are encountered in the game’s world, combat will take place on a battlefield grid in a turn-based format.
All this only barely scratches the surface of The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky’s deep and involving combat system. Unique character abilities, ultimate deathblow maneuvers, individual turn bonuses and even the ability to rearrange the battle order of combat participants on the fly adds layer upon layer of strategy to this game’s already invigorating encounters. And if it’s all just too much for you, not to worry: quick and nimble players can avoid most enemy scuffles altogether by dodging pursuers on the map, and all battles can be retried as many times as is necessary – and can even be made easier with every retry, at the player’s discretion.
A World of Diverse Landscapes
As Estelle and Joshua’s quest unravels, they will find themselves crossing from one end of the country to the other, becoming entangled in everything from local politics and economics to deep-rooted conspiracies and downright treason along the way. The world of The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky is vast, and from the moment Estelle and Joshua set out from their peaceful hometown of Rolent into the depths of the Liberl Kingdom, they can expect to visit everything from decrepit mineshafts, farming villages and foreboding fog-covered mountain passes to the flea markets of bustling merchant cites, seaside resorts, and ancient towers of unknown origin. As the scope of their adventure becomes clearer, they will even make their way to the Royal Capital in an attempt to prevent a conspiracy that threatens the peace of the entire land.
Fans looking for the ultimate The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky experience can pre-order the Limited Edition which includes a music selections CD with over 30 tracks, a 13-inch by 19.5-inch poster and a Bracer Guild replica metal badge, for MSRP $39.99. A standard boxed version and digital download version will also be available, for MSRP $29.99. The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky is scheduled for release on March 29th, 2011, exclusively on the PSP. Developed by legendary RPG specialists Nihon Falcom, The Legend of Heroes series is also the first of the Trails in the Sky games to be released in North America under the XSEED Games partnership.
For more information, please visit the game’s official website at www.trailsinthesky.com.