20 years later, the first Trails JRPG is getting a remake because its developer doesn't know where to tell newcomers to start

The Trails series has been going strong for over two decades, but after 13 mainline games and multiple subseries, its developer is remaking the very first entry to give newcomers an ideal starting point.

Trails has split off into three different subseries and originally began as part of the larger Legend of Heroes franchise (which was itself part of the Dragon Slayer series), meaning that jumping into one of the longest-running JRPG stories ever told as a fresh-faced newbie is harder than it should be. The problem is only compounded by the fact that the series isn't fully available on a single platform, and over the years, it's been split up across the PSP, PS3, and Nintendo Switch. 

But developer Nihon Falcom is returning to its roots with Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter, a full remake of the first game that's coming to PC, PS5, and Nintendo Switch next year. In a recent shareholders meeting, reported on by Suzuki Online, Nihon Falcom president Toshihiro Kondo explained that the remake was there to serve newcomers looking for an entry point. 

"When people come up to me and ask, 'I want to get into the series, where should I start?,' I sometimes don’t know what to tell them," Kondo says. In that sense, Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter is a "a message to longtime fans who haven't played in a while or have grown a bit distant from the series" - and Nihon Falcom hopes to "“revitalize the Trails series, which has grown niche in recent years."

Trails has certainly done well for itself, but it's also struggled to attract anyone not already hooked on its almost two-decade-old story, so I'm happy the developer's finally making the entire series more accessible for everyone. The decision even echoes Bandai Namco's efforts to release Tales of remasters far more frequently.

For now, check out the best JRPGs to lose hours to.

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