Ys vs. Trails in the Sky

Ys vs. Trails in the Sky: Alternative Saga
Developer(s)	Nihon Falcom
Publisher(s)	JP: Nihon Falcom WW: Refint/games
Director(s)	Toshihiro Kondo
Producer(s)	Masayuki Kato
Writer(s)	Toshihiro Kondo Yoshihiro Konda Yuuta Miyazaki
Composer(s)	Yukihiro Jindo
Series	Ys Trails
Platform(s)	PlayStation Portable, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows
Release	JP: July 29, 2010 WW: 2025
Genre(s)	Fighting
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

Ys vs. Trails in the Sky: Alternative Saga[a] is a 2010 crossover fighting game by Nihon Falcom. The game involves players choosing a character and participating in up to four-player fights against other characters sourced from Falcom's Ys and Trails role-playing game series. It was released in Japan for the PlayStation Portable in 2010, with an English version scheduled to be released for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Windows in 2025.

Gameplay

Ys vs. Trails in the Sky plays as a crossover fighting game, similar in concept the Super Smash Bros., Dissidia Final Fantasy, and Tales of VS, in which the player chooses characters taken from a series and directs them in a fight against characters from other franchises.[1][2] It takes its roster from two of Nihon Falcom's series, Ys and Trails, and is played from a top-down perspective.[2][3][4]

The game contains a story mode, where a player goes through a series of battles while experiencing story sequences in between.[3] Five separate difficulty settings are available.[5] Additionally, local multiplayer of up to four players is also available via an ad hoc connection.[5] Battles may be played both competitively and cooperatively.

Characters

The game's roster of playable characters consists of characters from the Ys and Trails series.[6][7] From Ys, there is Adol Christin,[8] Dogi,[8] Elk, Mishera, Aisha,[8] Geis,[8] Cruxie, and Chester Stoddart.[9] From Trails, there is Estelle Bright,[6] Joshua Astray,[6] Tita Russell,[8] Agate Crosner,[8] Olivier Lenheim,[8] Kloe Rinz,[10] Renne, Leonhardt, and Lloyd Bannings.[7]

The game also employs a support character system, which entails choosing a character who temporarily assists the player's character by applying a status effect.[10] Some of these characters come from other Falcom games, such as Jurio and Chris from The Legend of Heroes II: Prophecy of the Moonlight Witch, Dela from Brandish, and Gurumins from Gurumin.[1][10]

Development

Ys vs. Trails in the Sky was first announced in an issue of Dengeki PlayStation in November 2009.[4] The game was created due to Nihon Falcom's desire to make use of the PlayStation Portable's wireless ad hoc local multiplayer function, something they had not been able to work into prior JRPG titles.[3] They also felt that both series, Trails and Ys, while JRPGs, both had many themes in them related to battle and conflict that they felt lent to a natural transition to a fighting game.[3] The game's engine was based on the one first used in Ys Seven.[11] The game contains the full Japanese voice acting.[2] Additionally, the game's music was a mix of original compositions and arrangements from the Ys and Trails games by Yukihiro Jindo.

Ys vs. Trails in the Sky was released in Japan on July 29, 2010.[8] In addition to the standard version, a special limited edition was also released, which in addition to the game, contained the game's soundtrack, an album of selected music from Falcom's library, a special booklet of game information, and special card for a promotional Victory Spark trading card game. Website Siliconera had speculated that the game would be likely to get an English localization due to Xseed Games's relationship with Falcom, Falcom's stated intention to focus further on Western markets around 2010, and the fact that the game would be a smaller undertaking to translate than the typical text-heavy JRPG.[12] An English fan translation patch by the group The Geofront was released in October 2021,[13] with an official version scheduled to be released by Refint/games for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Windows in 2025.[14]

Reception and sales

The game debuted eighth on the Media Create Japanese video game charts, selling 30,047 copies in its opening week,[15] and seventh on the Famitsu charts.[16] The game was one of many in the release week that IGN cited as being drivers in PSP hardware as well, with the system itself doubling the sales of its prior week.[17] The game sold well enough to warrant a "The Best" budget re-release in July 2011.[18]

Notes

1. Japanese: イースvs.空の軌跡 オルタナティブ・サーガ, Hepburn: Ys vs. Sora no Kiseki: Alternative Saga

References

1. "Brandish Sorceress Guest Stars In Ys vs. Sora No Kiseki". Siliconera. 15 July 2010. Archived from the original on 22 August 2022. Retrieved 22 August 2022.
2. "First Ys Vs. Sora no Kiseki Screenshots". Siliconera. 12 March 2010. Archived from the original on 22 August 2022. Retrieved 22 August 2022.
3. "The Crossover Action RPG Nobody Asked For: Ys vs Legend of Heroes". Andriasang. Archived from the original on 2012-12-24. Retrieved 2016-06-23.
4. "Falcom Making Ys vs. Legend of the Heroes Fighting Game". Siliconera. 25 November 2009. Archived from the original on 22 August 2022. Retrieved 22 August 2022.
5. "Blurry, But Actual Ys Vs. Sora No Kiseki Gameplay". Siliconera. 25 May 2010. Archived from the original on 22 August 2022. Retrieved 22 August 2022.
6. "The Ys vs. Sora no Kiseki Roster Thus Far". Siliconera. 30 April 2010.
7. "Zero No Kiseki Leads Make Their First Appearance In Ys Vs. Sora No Kiseki". Siliconera. 2 June 2010. Archived from the original on 22 August 2022. Retrieved 22 August 2022.
8. "Falcom Presents This Ys Vs. Sora No Kiseki Trailer". Siliconera. 29 June 2010.
9. "Ys Vs. Sora No Kiseki Trailer Hints At More Characters". Siliconera. 12 May 2010. Archived from the original on 22 August 2022. Retrieved 22 August 2022.
10. "Two More Ys Vs. Sora No Kiseki Characters Revealed". Siliconera. 6 May 2010. Archived from the original on 22 August 2022. Retrieved 22 August 2022.
11. "Falcom Shares Ys vs. Sora no Kiseki Illustrations". Siliconera. 17 December 2009. Archived from the original on 22 August 2022. Retrieved 22 August 2022.
12. "Are Xseed Publishing Falcom's PSP Games?". Siliconera. 21 March 2010. Archived from the original on 22 August 2022. Retrieved 22 August 2022.
13. "Ys Vs. Trails In The Sky: Alternative Saga Geofront English Fan Translation Patch Releasing This Week; Trailer Revealed - Noisy Pixel". Noise Pixel. 14 October 2021. Archived from the original on 17 October 2021. Retrieved 17 October 2021.
14. Romano, Sal. "Ys vs. Trails in the Sky: Alternative Saga coming west in 2025 for PS5, PS4, Switch, and PC". Gematsu. Archived from the original on 20 December 2024. Retrieved 21 December 2024.
15. "Big in Japan July 26-August 1: Sengoku Basara 3, Project Diva 2". GameSpot.
16. "Hatsune Miku Project Diva Tops the Charts". Andriasang. Archived from the original on 2018-04-10. Retrieved 2016-06-24.
17. Gantayat, Anoop (6 August 2010). "PS3, PSP Surge in Japan". IGN. Archived from the original on 5 April 2016. Retrieved 23 June 2016.
18. "Soul Calibur, Tekken, White Knight, Ys and more go budget next month". Andriasang. Archived from the original on 2012-12-25. Retrieved 2016-06-24.

External links

• Official website (in Japanese)