Trails in the Sky SC & the 3rd Review | The Best JRPG Series Keeps Getting Better

The Year of Trails continues with a double review - no dueling this time, because that would be like asking my own darling children to battle to the death. Trails in the Sky SC is where things REALLY get going in the Trails series, and Trails in the Sky the 3rd provides SO much context and backstory for the world while simultaneously getting us prepped for everything that's to come. The Sky arc comes to a powerful conclusion here, and I want to talk about it!
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00:00 Intro
01:48 How We're Going to Do This
03:16 Trails in the Sky SC
06:35 Trails in the Sky the 3rd
10:38 Conclusions
11:30 Outro

[@BlaBlaBla-76]

Wish the Sky games would come to modern consoles already, so everyone can really start this series in the best way possible; from the beginning. Sky trilogy is still the best in the series imho.

[@bilditup1]

Mmm. I’m playing on a Vita with the English patch but this is not even close to being a mainstream option, and lacks polish in some areas (not to detract from the effort they’ve already put in)

[@JustTheGems]

I'm wondering if they've been silent about them because they're planning a full-on remake or something in an engine more like Daybreak's... that might be interesting. But then of course I feel like they'd need to remake Crossbell to get all the games in a similar style.

[@bilditup1]

Mmmm, that would be interesting to see. I haven’t played the later games yet, but their style at least looks solid. I wonder how hard it would be to translate it to that kind of environment. If they did do something like this, I hope they’d keep the voice acting from the Evo versions in at least as option

[@BlaBlaBla-76]

@@JustTheGems not sure I'd like that. The older style of profile pictures showing different moods of the charactrrs is something I really, REALLY miss, the updated graphics games don't have that anymore.😥

[@fancywaffles]

I can see why people would have been disappointed with 3 when it came out, but in hindsight, it sets up so much of what's to come that skipping it is doing yourself a disservice. Plus, I just really like Kevin and Ries. Looking forward to your Azure/Zero reviews!

[@JustTheGems]

For sure! Kevin and Ries are favorites of mine, too, and this was a great way to get to know them and, especially for Kevin, get to see behind that goofy facade a bit.

[@Luis709]

Star Door 15... will hunt me for life

[@JustTheGems]

100%.

[@werecaster]

I just did that the other day........I am now part of the PTSD club.

[@DrGamingPlays]

Glad to see a video give Sky the 3rd some kudos. It really shouldn't be skipped. I am trying to remember now if the third chapter introduced us to the higher elements during battle or was that also in Sky SC.... Sky SC is hands down my favorite single game in the series. While these games are older, no random battles and you can save just about anywhere (and there are games made today with random battles and limited save points... looking at you Octopath Traveler!).

[@JustTheGems]

Yeah, I can't remember either... I THINK it was the 3rd where the higher elements start playing a larger role.

[@timseyer6769]

I have played everything in publishing order and am now playing cold steel 4. So I don't know about reverie or the end of cold steel 4 yet. But as of now the third is my favorite.

[@JustTheGems]

I know the 3rd ends up being the favorite of a lot of people, and I can totally see why!

[@roniboboni1214]

I’ll say it, you’re doing youself a disservice if you don’t play these games in order or if you don’t play Third! You will get so much additional enjoyment of the later games if you play them all in order. And, Brandon, you should defiinitely watch One Piece if you like epic stories that build. I’m slowly making my way through it and it is so good. Netflix’s live action version dropped me down that rabbit hole. Each of the anime episodes is less than 20 minutes long if you skip the opening and credits. Less time than it takes to watch a KZbin video. ::cough cough::

[@JustTheGems]

Haha it's true. I also really liked the live action One Piece... We'll see!

[@sjstronghold9238]

The 3rd is my favorite game of the series, despite being probably the least "trails" of all ten games I played (even Reverie) but the dark tone and introspective story instead of cozy (like CS1/FC) or bombastic (SC/CS4/Az) just really spoke to me.

[@uppernimbus]

Love hearing you gush about your passion for Trails once more! Great video my dude!

[@JustTheGems]

Thank you! Can't stop gushing about these games

[@madkaiser4887]

More Trails content? You know I’ll be there 👌

[@JustTheGems]

Heck yes!

[@hollamonm]

Thank you for making this, I learned what I wanted/needed to know about the 3rd... I'm probably gonna give it a whirl, just so I can get those backstory payoffs and setup for payoffs later on. For me, I finally got to the entry trio, at the same time, felt FC was just gonna do another... let's go with another discount FF plot, but I finally sat down and started playing FC a week or two ago, and am at the beginning Chapter 5 in SC (as in, I saw that cutscene featuring the harmonica and am still on my way to perfect BP, yes, I'm using guides, but that's mostly because, I don't wanna miss quests), working my way to 3rd now... and then allllll my other copies are on PS4/PS5... it'll be nice to be able to sit next to my dog without having to finagle things with my HDMI port or sit at my computer and ignore my dog... I'm thinkin' I'll be done with SC by Thursday or Friday most likely ... only downside is just... I can't play it on the Playstation at all... which fills me with sadness... oh well, at least I get to play some good games... at least I have that. PS- for those curious, I live off of VA full-disability pay, meaning that I have a ton of time, hence why I beat them so quickly in terms of days spent on a game, it's fairly short. However, I'm still at over 50hours in SC, not 100%ing, just max BPing the game... and in FC, I spent another 70hours in... so, obviously I'm not like, skipping out on dialogue or anything. So yeah, um... SC is roughly 50% and TC will be following it within a couple days so I can finish the Sky Arc and move over to Zero and Azure!

[@MJ-oi6ul]

Just finished SC honestly beautiful ending was going to look for a review on what other people thought and surprised to see you JUST posted this yesterday lol Can't even imagine what the 3rd game would be cause it seems they could have moved on to the next series with new characters now but I am glad this is atleast a spoiler free review so I should know whether or not to play it

[@JustTheGems]

DEFINITELY recommend picking up the 3rd. It's pretty vital to getting the full context of the story moving forward.

[@jeffhernandez7594]

A just the gems review of a game I've finished? Sign me up!

[@JustTheGems]

Heck yeah! Got more Trails stuff in the works too.

[@JRPGAntiquity]

That first time you go through Star Door 15....

[@JustTheGems]

Could NOT have seen it coming.

[@bradando8619]

SC I hold up there with the best jrpg’s I’ve played, I still think about it frequently. Trails as a whole really rewards players for their investment I think. 3rd while I didn’t vibe with it straight away, grew to love it over the course of the game. It sets up so much lore wise and expands on past material

[@JustTheGems]

Yeah, absolutely. I can see why some people are turned off initially by the 3rd, but there's so much rich lore in there.

[@MiamiSunrise]

If "skipping the 3rd" was mainly because of its lack of english version at the time, thats understandable as a reason since you didnt have a choice anyway. However, the 3rd has too many important character backstory elements to miss and I think they created a really strange and interesting world with Phantasma. Star Door 15 is one of the most insane setups and deliveries of any story concept in any game I've ever seen. The last star door, in the pit of gehenna, the darkest deepest reaches of hell with Renne, a horribly broken child...you know, when they put these games back out again remastered or remade....I wonder if they will be able to show this sequence again? To me Trails needs to be started from the beginning. There is too much to lose in not doing so and this series has shown me that time and time and time again. Thanks for going over these!

[@JustTheGems]

I totally agree. I will always, ALWAYS encourage people to play it the way the creators intended, because it's SO much richer if you do.

[@themanboycave122]

I’m slowing collecting all of these games. Once I have them all I’m going to try and get into the series.

[@JustTheGems]

I know some of them can be hard to come by! Which ones are you still missing?

[@bilditup1]

Quick work! I’m still in the beginning of SC. Having some doubts about the arc I took, but I guess I could always do both lol

[@JustTheGems]

Absolutely, in terms of macro story stuff I don't think too much is spoiled if you were to simultaneously play a couple arcs at once.

[@bilditup1]

@@JustTheGems by arc all I meant btw was ‘which partner I chose after the Analace training arc’. I didn’t imagine that it would change the overall story but some design choices so far seem to be geared towards the partner I didn’t choose (trying to be cryptic Just In Case [tm])

[@JustTheGems]

@@bilditup1 Ahhh I gotcha. Yeah, I've played through it following all the arcs, and there's some really good character development throughout.

[@jclosed2516]

As a PC gamer, I have played all the "older" games (from Sky SC to 3th and the two Crossbell games) before jumping into the Cold Steel series. It is a shame that some of those early games where not ported to all consoles. I definitely would have liked to see everyone, also console gamers, to enjoy the full game series. A said - As a PC gamer I was lucky, because after FC, SC and 3th, I could play the Crossbell games that where freshly translated by the Geofront team (sadly we lost one important member during the "official" translation later on). I am really happy I could play all games in the order they where made. Anyway - There are indeed some dark themes in the 3th, and especially Stardoor 15 is a hearth-wrenching story, that let you sympathize with a certain character even more in a massively way (by the way - that story gets a follow-up in the Crossbell games, but that's something you have to see for yourself). I hope you can play and review those games too, because they are one of the highlights of the series. I am in the middle of Trails Into Reverie, but will take my time to finish that game, so I can "time" it for the release of Trails Through Daybreak. In the mean time I picked up a very different and more "fluffy" series that are not that strongly connected games-wise, namely the Atelier series. I decided to start with Atelier Rorona and end with the latest Atelier Ryza 3 (yeah - that's a massive 14 games if you include Atelier Marie), and also the two Blue Reflection Games. On the Falcom end I will replay Tokyo Xanadu eX+ (a great game), that is just announced to get a sequel... Thanks a lot for your hard work, and I cannot wait to see what you think about the Crossbell games.

[@JustTheGems]

Thank you! A Crossbell review is coming...!

[@cenbu]

I'm sure it is a great video but as I've only completed FC going to just leave a thumbs up and move onto the next video :)

[@JustTheGems]

Well I appreciate the like and comment, thank you!!

[@Xebusc]

Taking the leap and watching one piece is what made it so much more easier to get into the trails game

[@JustTheGems]

I guess it makes sense that there'd be a One Piece-to-Trails pipeline.

[@johnathanrhoades7751]

I’m over half done with SC!! It’s so good 😊 Looking forward to the Third. I don’t want to rush it, though.

[@JustTheGems]

Yeah, definitely don't rush it, just enjoy the ride!

[@ProfKisuto]

Even as a huge JRPG lover - there's just no way I'd play through an entire series over the course of a couple decades lol

[@JustTheGems]

To each their own! But man, I love Trails so much.

[@illuminatusdeus3051]

Basically, it is Gagharv Trilogy -> Trails trilogy -> The Legend of Heroes: Zero no Kiseki (duology) -> Trails of Cold Steel... I played the first trails and finished it. Then went back to Vermillion (almost going to finish that, only to realize it's meant to be the second (after Moonlight Witch, but well, can't be helped North America PSP releases are weird). Next will complete Song of Ocean (after Vermillion, Daughter of Durga episode), and finally Moonlight Witch, before completing Trails 1st again on PS Vita (I finished the first one on PSP - emulated on Vita). And then there is an actual translated version available of Trails SC and Trails Sky (2nd and third respectively) on PSVita. Thereafter, will also complete translated remastered versions of Legend of Heroes series, also remastered for Vita. Finally, will begin Trails of Cold Steel + 2nd on Vita... and then move on to the 3rd and Fouth Cold Steel games on my PC... basically, journey trajectory is set... the game list is long. At least will complete these games end-to-end to get a good feel of the world they've built. Once I've caught up, just a matter of picking up single games they release without worrying about entering an unknown world with a lot of needed backtracking (like Granblue Fantasy, great game... but goodness, the story is hard to follow as I am not into their mobile game).

[@JustTheGems]

Yeah, there's SO much story to keep in mind. For awhile, I was replaying every past Trails game before the newest came out, but that's... getting to be an impossible task now. 😅

[@illuminatusdeus3051]

@@JustTheGems yeah series is really long... goodness, so many games.

[@daymosaldare1573]

I'm sure there's many others like me: I played Cold Steel on PS3 back when it came out, I thought it was a low budget obscure JRPG with really fun battles but a confusing and relatively boring story. Years later I slowly played sky1-3 and zero/azure and it was like slowly becoming enlightened (for 700 hours) as I absorbed some new religion! Right now I'm playing Cold Steel again on PC, absorbing every line of dialogue.. because I actually understand who everyone is. World of difference. It's a one-of-a-kind game series, nothing else has this depth of world building.

[@JustTheGems]

Yeah, I feel like Cold Steel is a ROUGH place to start the series, because honestly, not a ton of plot HAPPENS in that game. It's all set up, and if you don't have the context of the previous five games, I feel like you'd be pretty confused.

[@chuckhaynes9166]

Great review! The first Trails game was charming with a good plot, a pretty decent game. SC sent the series to the next level. It was SC that turned trails from another "dragon slayer" offshoot to something special. I do think (sorry to be a downer here) SC and the Crossville arc represent the height of the games, there's simply things in it we never see again. We never really get a character like Estelle again, and though I don't have a personal problem with harems and cute girls, I liked the Josette/Estelle type, not really the moe "protect me!" Type or the hyper skill types all over cold steel. That's the reason for me to play them in order. The first 3 games establish a foundation that can get you over the flaws of cold steel, not that I think it's bad, but I think by itself would be average to great rather than exceedingly epic. Crossbell, which continues what was great about the first 3 shows that they could have done better character wise with cold steel. It will never cease to bother me that characters in the first 5 games have deep relationships with each other...while cold steels characters all have deep relationships with you: Rain...and a smattering of dropped potential...all for the dating Sim elements.

[@JustTheGems]

Yeah, I do understand that critique of Cold Steel. I'm replaying them now, and honestly, I feel like there's more character relationship development between the other characters than I remember there being. I like how the tension between Machias and Jusis is fundamentally different than the tension between Fie and Laura, and how they each handle that shows a lot about them as characters. And there are a lot of subtle things that I COMPLETELY missed in my first run through of Cold Steel that only make sense when you've finally played all the way through CS4, which is crazy to me that they were planning that far ahead.

[@chuckhaynes9166]

@JustTheGems honestly, maybe I just need to play it again. I thought of Jusis/Machias as a little flat for me. They are both sons of high officials and the class tension between them seemed a bit contrived...I dont know, all the males honestly seemed weak...I really like Gaius...but its not really a big enough story. Fie/ Laura is a highlight of the first game...before CS completely ghosts her (Laura) I shouldn't complain, I love Persona, and that game always harems you. In 3 for example, I thought a relationship between Akihiko and Mitsuru should be natural...but she or Akihiko need to be available for you (Makoto) but I love that game anyway. I heard Kuro kind of puts the sim dating away, and im looking forward to it.

[@aaronmayfield6581]

I will say thank you for choosing not to do a dueling reviewing format for these two games. I feel like that with all the content I’ve watched of yours (I’ve avoided some due to spoiler warnings but have left a like anyhow) that format definitely took away the chance to let FF16 and FF7R totally shine on their own. This way allows people to enjoy the ride that you put us on. If that makes sense. Thank you keeping these spoiler free. I am grateful for your content regardless and thank you for putting these videos out there. Please keep them coming. 😁👍

[@JustTheGems]

I think in the future, for dueling reviews, I'll probably go with a new game and an older game that's similar to it if I want to do that format. That way it's unlikely that that particular review will be a lot of people's first exposure to the older game, if you know what I mean.

[@brenthill2656]

I’ve actually been dying to get into this series, but I’m shocked they haven’t released the Sky games outside of Steam! I may start with Trails from Zero, since I don’t currently have any hardware that can run Steam 🤨

[@JustTheGems]

Believe me, I'm also confused by the lack of different ways to play Sky... But Crossbell is a perfectly fine place to start the series, so I say go for it!

[@brenthill2656]

I will! I’m actually a fan of long form storytelling! Thanks for the encouragement!

[@kjriwoutube]

​@@JustTheGemsthe Xseed Problem they have the rights to Sky in the west and they don't want to release them on platform other than the PC version they released

[@kjriwoutube]

Out of "spite" of being dumped for NISA

[@RaifSeverence]

I mean the first 2 sky games came over here as PSP titles. And the SC ONLY released on PSP, long after the system was dead, due to them trying to please the many psp players who kept bugging them for it. So the first two are available on something other than PC...just its a long dead platform Edit: also, Xseed only had the rights to the Falcom specific versions of trails in the sky, not the versions done by other companies. So the Original PC versions and Falcoms PSP ports. The PS3 port I'm unsure as to who made that. (Probably Taito) and the Vita Evo versions have rights tangled up with Kadokawa games, CharaAni, and Pyramid, on top of Falcom. Hence why there are only two platforms you can play sky on.

[@nathanknight848]

Great review I have to agree it's all chapters of a larger story. Some chapters are better than others. As for once piece I wouldn't recommend watching it as alot of the dragged out content is just wasting your time maybe read it or watch the anime reboot that's starting soon. Just like trails I think some one piece arcs were better than others. For me games like cold steel 1 really dragged on just like some one piece arcs like punk hazard, skypeia & fisherman Island just way too long. Like the no gameplay involved in parts of third chapter it's important but could of been executed alot better. I enjoyed the sky games alot more than some of the other games in the franchise

[@ferenckis7799]

Alright, I need a comprehensive list, in which specific order does the whole series need to be played including the upcoming titles. Does one go by the chronological order of the releases or a different order based on the game content/development?

[@JustTheGems]

Chronological release order and story order are, thankfully, the same, so here's the story thus far: Trails in the Sky FC Trails in the Sky SC Trails in the Sky the 3rd Trails from Zero Trails to Azure Trails of Cold Steel Trails of Cold Steel 2 Trails of Cold Steel 3 Trails of Cold Steel 4 Trails into Reverie Trails through Daybreak

[@JustTheGems]

Technically, Trails to Azure and Trails of Cold Steel 1 overlap a bit in chronology, but playing Azure first is still ideal.

[@ferenckis7799]

@@JustTheGems Perfect, much appreciated :)

[@TrookieNL]

❤

[@JustTheGems]

[@Chelaxim]

Trails,One Piece or Grey's Anatomy extended universe you can only choose one. Just because you have time for one doesn't make you a hypocrite nobody has time for all of that. For those not in the know Grey's Anatomy has been on the air for 20 seasons and counting long enough that Dr Medidith Grey is no longer on the show,has two spin-offs Private Practice which ran for 6 seasons and Station 19 which is in it's 7th and final season. People born the same year the show premiered are barely old enough to be in med school.

[@JustTheGems]

Every single time I see a commercial for Gray's Anatomy, I feel like I've fallen through a time portal. Like, *I* was basically a kid when that show debuted!

[@SuperSupersoda]

The thing trails does better than anyone is identity. Everyone knows exactly what Trails is, everyone knows what it does and what it does not do, everyone knows who the audience is and is not, and everyone knows what you're going to get in a trails game. In a world where so many products are trying to broaden their audience, no one discussed the pitfalls of that: you broaden your audience at the expense of your identity, and if you lose your identity, your core fan base will leave. I look at 4 other franchises I loved to death at various points in my life: Star Trek, Star Wars, Final Fantasy and, most recently, the Marvel Cinematic Universe. When those franchises were on top, they had an extremely well defined identity, and then, for whatever reason, that identity changed into something else. Whether they were chasing new customers, or chasing new markets, something changed. I am a very fickle person, if the identity is what I want, I will stick with something forever, and I won't care who tells me to stop loving the things I do. However, when that identity changes, I jump ship and fast. There are too many entertainment options in the world today, hell, if everything else falls apart, I prefer to just take the time to write my own stories and create my own worlds, rather than continue to follow a world I don't like anymore. Trails is today what Final Fantasy once was; I don't think there will ever be something like trails ever again. Even amongst entertainment with the strongest sense of identity, trails is at the top of the list.

[@JustTheGems]

Yeah, I always feel a little worried when they talk about how close Trails is to completion (they're definitely past the halfway point now). I don't want it to end, because how do you follow that up? WHO would even be able to follow it up?

[@jclosed2516]

@@JustTheGems Well - I don't think Falcom will disappear very soon. And I am sure there will be another series that will take the place of the Trails series. A few years back I was hoping Tokyo Xanadu would be that series, but there where no follw-up's after that first game. However - A short while ago that a next Xanadu game was in the make with, what I understood, the same general setting as Tokyo Xanadu but in another region (Tokyo itself if I am not wrong). It's intriguing, because Tokyo Xanadu setting is in modern day's Tokyo in stead of some fictional world (well the things happening are of course fictional, but certain locations literally exist it the real world). Maybe a start of a new series?

[@SuperSupersoda]

@@JustTheGems I've had this conversation with David in the comments section of one of his videos (if you follow JRPGs on youtube, there's only 1 "David", y'all know who he is) and he said that he just figured they'd move to somewhere else in Zemuria. I told him about how Zemuria is essentially a flat earth; you travel in any direction and there is a point past which you cannot go. My personal hope? Whenever the series is done, that they leave room to go forward in time to do a new story with a new cast of characters. My personal hope and prayer? Schera has silver hair, Olivert has blonde hair, it makes sense that their son might have Ash Blonde hair. I'd love to see a future series starring Prince Leonhardt Reise Arnor; Schera and Olivert's son, whom they named so that none would ever forget the tragedy of Hamel. His party would absolutely include a Divine Blade named Suzuki MacLaine. I'd also be interested in seeing how Ryu, Anri, Mimi, Meiling, Momo, and Guy (Oscar and Bennet's son) and the officers of the Next Generation of the Special Support Section are doing. Just because a story "ends" doesn't mean the fictional universe it's set in also has to end. Star Trek: The Next Generation ended, but Deep Space Nine, Enterprise and Voyager told more stories in Gene Roddenberry's universe. Whether there will be a future for trails past this story depends on how they end this story. Did you know, as an example, that Star Ocean 4, Star Ocean 5 and Star Ocean 6: the Divine Force, are all prequels? That's because the ending of Star Ocean 3: Till the end of time effectively cut off any pathway for the story to go forward. There is a way to "end" a story, and yet leave things open-ended and subject to continuation. The final scene of Star Trek: the next generation, of Picard and his officers playing cards, was the perfect way to do this.

[@timseyer6769]

Kevin would be the best if Estelle wasn't allready the best.

[@JustTheGems]

I know, there are a lot of characters that are just right at the line of being the best, it's almost kind of unfair to everyone else that Estelle is around.

[@Eagleknight815]

As I tell people, trails is a crock pot RPG. You said it best at the end to give it its time. Once you give it that time, you will come away with an enriched game.

[@JustTheGems]

You get out of it abundantly more than the time you put into it.