I can’t claim to have played them all, but out of those I played, there has yet to be a Falcom game I dislike. From excellent gameplay mechanics to likeable characters and heartfelt stories, there’s always some aspect of a Falcom game I enjoy. This hasn’t changed with my playthrough of Ys vs. Trails in the Sky: Alternative Saga, a crossover “fighting game” featuring Falcom heavyweights from the Ys series and the beginning portion of The Legend of Heroes: Trails series. Ys vs. Trails in the Sky: Alternative Saga is very much a nostalgic time capsule of the PSP era, but for Falcom fans who like those particular Ys and LoH: Trails titles, there’s enjoyment in its numerous modes of play.
To begin, I don’t exactly consider Ys vs. Trails in the Sky: Alternative Saga a fighting game in the truest sense of the genre. It takes several cues from the action RPG mechanics of games like the PSP Dissidia: Final Fantasy titles. In fact, LoH: Trails fans might be disappointed to learn that the gameplay derives more from Ys SEVEN than the traditional turn-based combat they’re accustomed to. You select a character and combat either CPU-controlled characters or other players, all while chaining together basic attacks and guarding, along with jumping and dashing until you gain enough SP to unleash a special skill. Eventually, you fill a unique gauge that allows you to unleash a devastating extra move on your opponent. This pattern repeats until someone emerges victorious.
Going along with the action RPG-based mechanics, you earn experience points to level up and eventually strengthen your player character’s stats. You also accrue a separate currency called Mona Points following battles, allowing you to visit a shop that lets you upgrade your character’s armor and weapon, purchase and/or strengthen new special attack skills to assign and quickly access during fights, or buy accessories to help bolster stats or grant special bonuses. Mona’s Shop also offers select wallpapers, battle map stages, and music for perusal in other modes, too.
Aside from equipping armor, accessories, and skills to a given character, you can also select a support character to summon during battle with a quick button combo. These support characters give helpful boons during fights. For instance, Ries from The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky the 3rd allows you to collect SP faster for a time in order to use special moves. Combat is fast and fluid and very reminiscent of Ys PSP games, so it’s definitely fun even if it might take those accustomed to LoH’s traditional turn-based combat some time to get used to it. Still, the LoH characters translate just as well to the action RPG combat as their Ys counterparts.
It’s time to go in-depth about the game’s Story Mode, as that is (no doubt) where many an RPGFan would want to spend some time when playing, and where the action RPG elements arguably work best. Ys vs. Trails in the Sky: Alternative Saga fits somewhat neatly into the “canon” of Ys and The Legend of Heroes: Trails, and even manages to tie both series to an older LoH story arc. The crossover is set sometime after the events of Ys SEVEN and after The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky the 3rd. It also serves as an epilogue of sorts to Ys: The Oath in Felghana, given the inclusion of Chester to the Ys cast, while also being something of a prequel to The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero, given Lloyd’s inclusion. A surprise appearance by an important character from The Legend of Heroes: Gagharv Trilogy also ties the story to even earlier Falcom RPGs, making this seem like a Falcom Cinematic Universe of sorts.
While you ultimately unlock Dogi, Chester, Aisha, Elk, Cruxie, and Mishera from the Ys series and Joshua, Olivier, Agate, Renne, Loewe, and Lloyd from The Legend of Heroes: Trails, you only have access to five characters in Story Mode. This includes red-haired, ill-fated adventurer Adol and sharp-tongued mercenary Geis from the Ys series. The two of them join Trails’ Estelle, Kloe, and Tita. Selecting one of these five characters starts their individual story route where they encounter a mysterious talking monster named Lappy (a pikkard or pom depending on your chosen character’s series affiliation) after waking up in a strange realm called Xanadu, where they and other summoned warriors from various worlds are set to fight the dreaded Dragon King Galsis who has terrorized the realm since time immemorial. Together with Lappy, they go on a quest to bring the other warriors back to the proper side so they can defeat Galsis once and for all.
It isn’t the most original or creative plot. Still, I like seeing the various characters interacting with one another and how Story Mode references their differing character dynamics and personal motivations, such as Geis’ lingering thoughts on his brother or Tita wanting to prove herself as a friend to Renne, or how Dogi reacts to seeing Chester again. Truthfully, that’s really all you can expect from such a crossover tale. I especially love Adol and Tita’s routes: Adol’s because you actually get dialogue choices for him, which fits for the PSP-era Ys games, and Tita’s because she plays so strategically differently from the other four Story Mode characters. The mentions of Xanadu and the Dragonslayer are nice Falcom deep cuts, and I especially love how important Michel’s role in the Story Mode turns out, given that I adore The Legend of Heroes: Gagharv Trilogy despite horrible localizations on the PSP.
You see more RPG elements in Story Mode, as you battle not only other human characters but also “boss” monsters, the largest (of course) being Galsis. Once you beat Story Mode with a character, you have the option of going back and playing through their route again, adjusting enemy levels. Beyond Story Mode, you can fight through a series of computer-controlled opponents in Arcade Mode, face online players in Network Mode, and try your hand at Free Mode, where you and up to three other players can fight together. There’s also a ton of wallpapers, music, and movies to see from various Falcom titles. There is also a range of support characters from across Falcom’s storied line-up, the most recent addition of which is Elie from The Legend of Heroes: Trails’ Crossbell Duology.
Visually, it’s evident that Ys vs. Trails in the Sky: Alternative Saga has remastered and updated graphics compared to its original PSP release, yet there’s still a dated quality to the visuals, given the original title’s age. The story scenes are simplistic, PSP visual novel level-caliber, with no lip or facial/body language movement. However, the art is lovely regardless, and I enjoy the character portraits for both the main cast and support characters. The battle stages are well-designed, with unique little touches like hidden items. Sound-wise, you can’t really complain about the music’s quality as it retreads truly memorable and standout tracks from Falcom’s musical history. I also loved hearing the English voice acting, with special mention going to Steve Blum‘s performance as Galsis. You can just tell he enjoyed hamming it up as the evil dragon overlord. The localization had a few typographical errors here and there, but it was generally spot-on and fitting.
Ys vs. Trails in the Sky: Alternative Saga is a nostalgic fanservice game for Falcom’s PSP era. I happen to love both Ys and The Legend of Heroes: Trails, so indulging in this missing localized title was a true delight. It might only appeal to diehard Falcom fans or those who enjoy earlier Ys and Trails games, but if you fall into those categories, it’s undoubtedly entertaining. When all else fails, I’d bet on the little girl with the orbal cannon any day of the week!
