Trails in the Sky: 1st Chapter is right around the corner, and while Nihon Falcom's lavish remake of the long-running Kiseki series' earliest entry has all the audiovisual bells and whistles one can ask for, there's something rather off about its new English localization. XSEED infused Trails in the Sky's heroine, Estelle Bright, with such hilarious zest when that team translated this game nearly 15 years ago, but alas, the new script just doesn't have that shine.
Which isn't to say it's a bad script, but as fans experience Trails in the Sky: 1st Chapter's free demo in preparation for the game's September release, it's becoming crystal clear that neither Estelle's familiarly fiery side nor many of the franchise's established English naming conventions are to be found.
When Mikhail Madnani, a buddy of mine over at the excellent RPG Site, showed me a certain very early line of dialogue, my fears proved well-founded that the witty mark which XSEED's translation left on Trails in the Sky was nowhere to be found. Again, that doesn't mean this new localization won't grow on me, but for those of us who treasure that team's efforts, it's a bummer.
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