What is 空の軌跡?
“Hailed as one of the largest, longest and most meticulously detailed turn-based JRPG series of all time, this first chapter in the ongoing Trails saga sets the stage for what’s quickly become Ys developer Nihon Falcom’s most popular and best-selling franchise in their entire 30+ year history.”
Basically, it’s an JRPG with a huge amount of story, to the point it is comparable with Visual Novels. The script is approximately 1.1 million characters long (source). While it’s not a book, it is a damned good story, hence this potential club.
We begin with our protagonists learning how to be Bracers, a fictional job that covers most adventuring activities. The pace is rather slow, as the game puts a lot of emphasis on building the world and the characters. Almost every NPC is named and has their own life, which you can follow if you make a point to talk to them after any minor progression in the main plot. Or you can ignore them and their lives will happen anyway. Eventually, all the work put in establishing things early on will pay off.
Schedule
Date | Week | Section | Characters (approx.) |
---|---|---|---|
08/07/24 | Week 1 | Opening | 2800 |
15/07/24 | Week 2 | Tutorial | 4700 |
22/07/24 | Week 3 | Tutorial | 5000 |
29/07/24 | Week 4 | Prologue | 9000 (mostly optional NPCs) |
05/08/24 | Week 5 | Prologue | 5100 |
12/08/24 | Week 6 | Prologue | 5100 |
19/08/24 | Week 7 | Prologue | 4800 |
26/08/24 | Week 8 | Prologue | 5400 |
01/09/24 | Week 9 | Prologue | 6500 |
09/09/24 | Week 10 | Chapter 1 | 5600 |
16/09/24 | Week 11 | Chapter 1 | 5000 |
23/09/24 | Week 12 | Chapter 1 | 5400 |
30/09/24 | Week 13 | Chapter 1 | 6100 |
07/10/24 | Week 14 | Chapter 1 | 7300 |
14/10/24 | Week 15 | Chapter 1 | 5500 |
21/10/24 | Week 16 | Chapter 1 | 4600 |
28/10/24 | Week 17 | Chapter 1 | 5700 |
04/11/24 | Week 18 | Chapter 1 | 4400 |
11/11/24 | Week 19 | Chapter 2 | 7600 |
18/11/24 | Week 20 | Chapter 2 | 8500 |
25/11/24 | Week 21 | Chapter 2 | 8400 |
02/12/24 | Week 22 | Chapter 2 | 7900 |
09/12/24 | Weeks 23&24 | Chapter 2 | 6300 each |
23/12/24 | Week 25 | Chapter 2 | 7700 |
30/12/24 | Week 26 | Chapter 2 | 9500 |
06/01/25 | Week 27 | Chapter 2 | 12k |
13/01/25 | Week 28 | Chapter 3 | 6900 |
20/01/25 | Week 29 | Chapter 3 | 7900 |
27/01/25 | Week 30 | Chapter 3 | 10k |
03/02/25 | Week 31 | Chapter 3 | 6900 |
10/02/25 | Week 32 | Chapter 3 | 8400 |
17/02/25 | Week 33 | Chapter 3 | 8100 |
24/02/25 | Week 34 | Chapter 3 | 6800 |
03/03/25 | Week 35 | Chapter 3 | 5800 |
10/03/25 | Week 36 | Finale | 8200 |
17/03/25 | Week 37 | Finale | 8900 |
Where to purchase
Unfortunately, the only legal, Japanese version of this game I could find is kinda low res.
Digital: DLsite
Physical: Unavailable? The offical Falcom site has dead links.
The Steam version of this game is ONLY available in English. While there are ways around that, they are not legal so I will not be explaining them. At least one of these ways has a bug that will break the game, so be aware of that.
There is also an EVO version of the game. I don’t have a copy of this version and I’m not sure where you can get one. I believe most of the differences are cosmetic, however the important one is that it has voice acting.
update:
A remake for this game has been announced to come out on the switch in 2025!
Vocabulary
I started a Vocab Sheet, it is very empty and the frequency data is very inaccurate due to being incomplete. Yes I was counting every word manually, yes that was a terrible idea.
Week 1 refers to the first cutscene of the game. Based on the many LP videos I’ve watched, this takes about half an hour for people to read aloud in their native language.
Please read the guidelines on the first page before adding any words.
There’s a jpdb deck.
Here’s a helpful site found by @generalteddie that contains the game’s script in both English and Japanese. (It’s not in chronological order and the English is the official localisation not a literal translation)
Trigger Warnings
Here is a doesthedogdie link if you’re looking for anything specific.
Off the top of my head
- Adopted Sibling Incest
- Death / Murder
Please be aware that this is only for this specific game and does not cover triggers appearing in later games.
Interest
- Yes
- Maybe
- No
Feel free to ask if you’ve any questions. I’ve probably forgotten something.