Trials in the Sky Cliffhanger

The Trails series is no stranger to cliffhangers. In fact, you could argue that developer Falcom's a little too keen on them, given how many of its games end on a truly insane note.

But there's always been one particular cliffhanger that's stayed with longtime fans of the franchise.

Obviously I'm going to veer into spoiler territory here, so if you still haven't finished Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter, then consider this your final warning.

So, at the end of the very first Trails game, and its aforementioned remake, players are hit with a mind-bending revelation about main character Joshua and his concerningly dark past.

He ditches his childhood friend and clear love interest Estelle in an especially heartbreaking cutscene, having just been on a life-changing journey together.

It's a crazy twist, and it hits seriously hard considering how well you've come to know the two protagonists over the last 40 hours or so.

Back when the original Trails in the Sky first released, this cliffhanger acted as one hell of an emotional catalyst — it helped cement Trails as a must-play series for many fans.

But how did Falcom actually come up with this incredibly bold approach to storytelling? Well, company CEO Toshihiro Kondo has given us a pretty comical answer.

As part of what seems to be a new interview with western publisher GungHo, Kondo recounts: "The original Trails in the Sky was the first game my generation at Falcom ever created from scratch. So I had no sense of how long a game should be."

He continues: "Then about two years into development, our founder, Kato-san, asked how far along we were, and I told him we were about halfway done. At the time, I didn't really know if that was a good thing or a bad thing."

Clearly not expecting the younger generation's project to take so long — and unwilling to let them spend another two years on finishing it — Kato basically told Kondo and the team to just release what they had. Kondo admits that it was "only half of the planned story".

"We needed to find a natural to cut things off in the middle, and that's how we arrived at the ending of Trails in the Sky."

Kondo then goes on to say that he became "super anxious", because Kato had told the studio that if the first half of their story didn't sell well, they wouldn't get a chance to release the rest.

"So we decided to end it in a way that would make people really curious to see what happens next, which is why it turned out the way it did," Kondo concludes.

In essence, then, that iconic cliffhanger was crafted out of necessity.

Of course, little did Kondo and his team know back then, Trails would still be telling its ongoing story here in 2026 — a whole 22 years after the series' debut. It all turned out alright in the end!

What did you think of Trails in the Sky's ending when you first saw it? Tell me Joshua did nothing wrong in the comments section below.

[source youtube.com]