Why You SHOULD Play the Trails Games in Order

Thinking of getting into Trails/Kiseki? Don't know where to start? Well consider the following!
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As always big thanks to Patrons and also Guan and Ribose of the Kiseki Wiki for helping make this possible.
kiseki.fandom....
The Legend of Heroes is a series of role-playing video games developed by Nihon Falcom Corporation. First starting as a part of the Dragon Slayer series in the late 1980s, the series evolved into its own decade-spanning, interconnected series spanning fourteen entries, encompassing multiple meta series within it as well. The most recent entry, The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV, released in Japan on September 27, 2018
The first entry of the series was released in 1989 as Dragon Slayer: The Legend of Heroes, and was part of Nihon Falcom's Dragon Slayer line of games. It was released for various computer platforms, as well as consoles such as the Mega Drive, Super Famicom, and the PC Engine. The PC Engine version would be the only version to be released in English, and the only Legend of Heroes title released in North America until 2005. Meanwhile, in Japan, the series continued with Dragon Slayer: The Legend of Heroes II, released in 1992 for a similar selection of platforms.
Subsequent games in the series dropped "Dragon Slayer" from the title. The Legend of Heroes III, The Legend of Heroes IV, and The Legend of Heroes V comprised the "Gagharv trilogy", a set of connected games taking place in the same world.
After the conclusion of the Gagharv trilogy, a new story began with a new trilogy, the Trails in the Sky subseries. The three titles in it, First Chapter, Second Chapter and The 3rd collectively made up the sixth entry in the series.
Falcom switched to a duology for the seventh entry, consisting of The Legend of Heroes VII: Zero no Kiseki in 2010, and The Legend of Heroes VII: Ao no Kiseki in 2011. After that, the company moved on to the Trails of Cold Steel subseries, releasing the first title in 2013, the second in 2014, the third in 2017, and fourth and final title in 2018.
#TheLegendOfHeroes #Trails #Kiseki

[@MaskedGuyCh]

RIP Scott. I will always remember your passion for this series and the work you've done for the Crossbell games.

[@xXunknownXx0000]

It's sad that he won't be able to experience all the of the zem saga 😔

[@duffystrings9680]

Wait he's dead?

[@MaskedGuyCh]

@@duffystrings9680 Yes, it was confirmed by those who know him.

[@stefancelmare7100]

​@@xXunknownXx0000Well, we all may not be able to experience this story to the end. Sometimes I feel like Nihon Falcom will push this story for as long as it is possible. But if the author died than it's sad because he did really nice content, his video was high quality and his point of view was profound and objective. RIP Scott.

[@user-lx4zx4yd2e]

Man, thats messed up, this exact video was what pushed me to try trails as a whole R.I.P

[@whydoistillusethissite8626]

Rest in Peace Scott. Thank you for your years of hardwork towards this series that you were so passionate about. It's no exaggeration to say that without the work of you and your team at the Geofront, we may never have gotten the Crossbell games in the west.

[@Choops6969]

^^^^

[@luklopskywalk]

He died??

[@whydoistillusethissite8626]

@@luklopskywalk yeah, about a month ago

[@johananj.j8003]

@@whydoistillusethissite8626 Wow 😳, how old was he?

[@gamer-san8923]

You guys meant this KZbinr?

[@BigBoss0412]

Scott got me interested in Trails and this series changed my life. Rest in peace.

[@ataridc]

For the better or worse

[@heyjeySigma]

huh? what happened to this uploader Scott? care to let me know? first vid i see of him..

[@grant9068]

He passed away from an illness @@heyjeySigma

[@vm_duc]

I had no idea how much of a rabbit hole I jumped into when I first play Trails in the Sky FC. I was just looking for RPGs for my potato 8 years old laptop, and then a few months later I find myself nearly brought to tears by SC. Trails is the best.

[@romano-britishmedli7407]

I'm kind of in the same boat right now regarding FC. Bought it 1 year ago or so, before that it sitting 9 months on my Steam wishlist (discovered it merely by chance), just thought: "Hey, it looks like a fun JRPG! There shouldn't be anything wrong with trying this out." (me being a FF-fan since childhood), having played FC for 40 hours as of today; and just now realizing what gold mine I struck by sheer luck and in what rabbit hole I got myself into. Damn it this series is good!

[@Rhovanion85]

Don't forget to play the fan translation of Trails from Zero before you play trails of cold steel. You can buy the game on dlsite.co.jp and patch it with the patch on geofront.esterior.net (unfortunately no translation yet for Trails to Azure, which follows Trails from Zero). Both games (zero and azure) are also in 3D with sprites like the Sky games and were released only in Japan unfortunately. But they are crucial because many characters of all previous games will reappear as you progress through cold steel, which will give you the same feeling as when certain famous old characters return in later star wars movies. THE SAME FEELING MAN!!!!

[@louradean9293]

@@romano-britishmedli7407 dont forget the whole plot line with renne, if SC made you cry zero no kiseki will make swim in those tears

[@Eagleknight815]

Just saw this video for the first time. Didn't know Scott but this was a well made video. You can tell he had a love for this series which I'm understanding as I went along the Trails series. Just wished he could see what we are getting this year with Azure and Reverie.

[@StraightcheD]

Thanks, I'm a new convert. Never played any of it, saw this vid and got it on steam sale. A few days later I can't put it down and I'm hooked. Usually I don't get into these old stuff, but there's something special about it. I think it's to do with the dialog being well written and efficient - no redundant text, goes straight to the point, yet very engaging and descriptive. Flows really well and I got sucked in. It's usually a chore to read but not this one. Magic.

[@Terron29]

Rest In Peace buddy. Thanks for all the great content. :(

[@FireBorn790]

Got into this series back in January after finally playing and finishing Persona 5 Royal and getting back onto a jRPG kick and looking for something to fill that gap in my gaming time. Picked up Trails of Cold Steel but ran into this channel before I actually started playing it. Following this advice, Cold Steel has been sitting unplayed in my Steam Library while I worked my way through the Sky trilogy and have just started Zero a few days ago (and with Azure having released on Steam yesterday, I am very pleased to have the entire series up to Cold Steel 4 to look forward to before Reverie releases in July). I absolutely do not regret following this advice and starting with the Sky trilogy, which have very much become probably the greatest series of games I have played in a very long time, perhaps even ever. From the comments it seems that I won't be able to have my thanks for this recommendation and your content viewed, which is sad, and even sadder that you weren't able to see the Crossbell Problem finally resolved in an official, legal way. But still... thank you so much for your passion for this amazing series of games, of which I have enjoyed and gotten emotionally invested in every one of my now close to 300 hours of play time across 3 full games and and the prologue and part of one chapter of a 4th. If these games continue to deliver the way the Sky trilogy did, and that Zero has so far (even if I can't bring myself to look at Estelle and Joshua's Zero portrait art without a bit of a 'Wait, THAT'S what you look like now?' moment) I think it's fair to say this is likely to remain, as it stands now, my favourite video game franchise of all time. Rest in peace man, and thank you for making this content when you did for those of us coming late to the wild ride that is the Trails series and the ongoing story of the Zemurian Continent.

[@TheKisekiNut]

For many people, it's very intimidating to get in to a series such as this. However, I feel anyone who values story and world-building in any element must play these games. It's a very exciting time at the moment for Kiseki fans, especially with the potential announcement of a new series coming up, and we have to try and get as many people invested in this series as we can. Nihon Falcom deserve it.

[@ultraness]

Yeah, in a comment to this video I wrote, I mentioned that the amount of time it takes to play all seven games that are available in English is crazy. For me, I spent over 400 hours playing the Sky trilogy, the Crossbell duology, and the first two Cold Steel games. That amount of time is equivalent to watching 20 seasons of an hour-per-episode TV series. That's longer than the combined length of every Simpsons episode that has aired, and that show has over 600 episodes. Going through every Trails game so far is a lot to ask from players. Thankfully, I'd say it's worth it, but it's hard to know that going into the series.

[@Next-xm2dh]

I got sense that The Trails In the Sky FC and Zero no kiseki where much longer than they should have been

[@imdjdragon]

@@ultraness 11

[@UToobUsername01]

It doesn't help that the games look like something from two console generations ago. LOL I wish they made an anime of the unreleased stuff focusing on all the things that went down for people who can't play them. (videogames like this with buy-eyed CG puppets with shit animation are not as emotional as film and animation no matter how bad fans want to believe it :P. ) Monster Hunter makes me cry everytime a monster dies and I skin it. Can this game top monster hunter? Doubt it..

[@thejonbrownshow8470]

@@ultraness exactly, I'm just starting the sky trilogy alongside the cold steel series, and I'm just like "God damn" xD, I started from cs 1 and in late 2 while starting 3 on my switch (my ADHD and patience are being tested from this series, but I think overall I appreciate this series far more than even persona, so I'll keep on sticking with it like machias with class vll lol). I feel bad for the series overall, it's truly got alot more qaulity than modern day triple AAA titles, but to tell people to start from the sky games(maybe crossbell fan translations if you're a sadist with your time lol), it really feels like a slap to the face to most of the modern gaming audience (let alone anti video game and even anti anime people being most of the people on my life) to try to convince them to fully take this series head one from the beginning instead of jumping into atleast cs3 and 4 which look far more badass lol(I'm fine with it as long as the world is more engaging than skyrim, which I feel meh about as I got older but I digress lol)

[@manbearpigsereal]

Don't feel like you're playing the games just to understand Cold Steel either. Play them to enjoy them, worry about Cold Steel when you get to it.

[@hahmann]

Yeah, sadly tons of people play Trails in reverse and get turned off by the graphics of the older games.

[@HeiwaJiyu]

That's actually what happened to me. I honestly had no interest in Sky nor Zero and I just wanted to play them for Cold Steel. In the end I just watched hours of Summary for Sky and Zero and it actually worked for me. Of course I don't that emotional connection with Characters from the previous games, but that is okay for me as long as I understand what's going on.

[@Tchud]

@Michael Lochlann Same here. Loved FF6 and CT back in the 90's and jumped into CS1 and 2 a few years ago. Since I did not know about the Sky series, I got confused about their deep references and lore, so I quit before finishing CS2. Fast forward to 2021 and I dug CS3 out and played it out of curiosity. Realized they went through the Crossbell arc and introduced a bunch of new players. When I found out there were also Sky characters involved, I downloaded the Steam trilogy and was blown away. Now I would have to do that, (found the English versions of Crossbell Trails from Zero and In Azure) and back into CS series. I can now say I'm a Trails fanatic. To anyone turned off by the old school graphics of the Sky series, don't. The games and story is excellent.

[@--ART3MIS--]

Estelle is one of my favorite JRPG characters EVER!

[@christianb6086]

I know she’s amazing

[@Next-xm2dh]

I feel you, she's not my favorite in the series ( that spot is reserved for Olivier ), but she is one my favorite protagonists in Rpgs in general

[@drakewhalen666]

It's a bit frustrating to me that my only option to play the arc in full involves playing on a PC. It's not that I cannot do that, but it's the kind of game I want to play on 3DS or Switch. Even if I considered PSP or Vita as an option, the lack of a translation for game 3 on those platforms is off putting.

[@cacklegag3284]

I love both Estelle, Tita and Anelace!

[@cacklegag3284]

I'll also add Campanela UwU

[@BygoneSerenity]

Rest In Peace scott

[@creekandseminole]

Coming back to this video here in June 2021 we are now getting the entire Crossbell arc in English released in America with the Geo front translations. simply incredible

[@siddharthvishnoi1489]

Can i play crossbell duology after cold steel 1 and 2.Because i dont want to wait one year

[@creekandseminole]

@@siddharthvishnoi1489 the Crossbell arc takes place before the Cold Steel arc

[@Animaniaig]

@@creekandseminole they actually take place at the same time.

[@luminous3558]

@@siddharthvishnoi1489 You can just play them with the geofront fan patch and buy them later when they release. Geofront took down the patch from their site but it shouldn't be hard to find copies on the internet. I highly doubt that NisA is gonna improve the games, they are far more likely to just change some stuff so they can say they did something.

[@AICW]

One of my friends started with Cold Steel III as his first Trails game... yes, his FIRST TRAILS GAME. He gave up after getting halfway through Chapter 2 and stopped playing. He said there was clearly a reference happening every 15 minutes that he wasn't getting and he clearly needed to have started from the beginning.

[@ThanhTriet600]

To be fair, CSIII in particular makes a lot of references that the characters know everything about but the audience doesn't (until it's explained later.) Several things made me wonder if I'd missed another drama CD or something. You're just kept in the dark about important plot details until your party decides to recap them after you fight some random monsters on the highway.

[@jimmysmomschannel]

My first trails game was CS4. Literally only played because it was on stadia pro and I was bored. Turned out to be my second favorite game on stadia. I then proceeded to open CS3 but never actually played it.

[@TheFeezy777]

​​@@jimmysmomschannel if you haven't played CS1 and 2 first then you're going to get confused and bored. Even more so if you haven't played the Crossbell arc. Zero & Azure

[@gachafiedstreams]

rest in peace bro, i hope someone saves your vids, it'll be a sad day when i search and cant find them.

[@LadyVirgilia]

I'm so grateful to those in the Falcom subreddit who convinced me to play these games in order, including the Crossbell duology. I realize I'm also beyond blessed to have started this series late enough that I had all 7 games (localized and fan translation) at my disposal. Though it's exactly as you said, it's totally possible to start with Cold Steel, it's just that you don't get completely invested without going back! Great job with this video and all your other Trails content! I really appreciate really knowledgable long time fans like you!

[@evewhoo]

Unless you're like me... I played Cold Steel and CS2 and became completely invested. I started doing nightmare 100% runs after those two, then started the Sky trilogy, and became even more than 100% invested XD I'll be honest, I wasn't interested in playing turn based jrpgs with older graphics because they take a lot of patience and investment. I have the patience, but I don't usually dive into those games nowadays without a reason. Cold Steel became my reason to play Sky. I wasn't judging that Sky would be bad, just that I was hesitant to start something like that because I was worried it'd be grindy (and it was a bit at first on hard. At least for me). So I think I probably needed Cold Steel as an introduction.

[@LadyVirgilia]

@@evewhoo That's great and I'm glad to hear it! Though I'll always recommend starting from the beginning, I have nothing against wanting to jump in with Cold Steel. I'm more of a, "if the game gets your foot in the door, start there." Though that's a different story with the second game of each arc haha. It's really cool to see how many more people are interested in the Trails series now that Cold Steel I and II are on PS4! Kudos to you and hope you're playing/have played Crossbell as well :)

[@darknesswave100]

My first experience was with CS1 and then after I played 2 on ps3 I found out that there were some other games in the series. Which unlike other JRPGS I've played it's all one ginormous story which I adore. Luckily for me there are people on KZbin that have been nice enough to put their playthroughs of the sky games up so I could watch them since I don't have a PC. Otherwise when people from the sky and crossbell games start showing up in cs3 (end of cs2 also) I then I won't be completely lost lol. I was hooked on cs1 from the minute I started. Oddly enough it was a single guy running a Facebook page that mentioned cold steel and it being one of his favorite series that got me to buy CS1. The rest as they say is history

[@AshTSparkle]

I have yet to finish trails in the sky 1. Still in the first 1/3 of the story I believe. Watching this, I really want to get around finishing it. I am really bummed about Crossbell though. Is there a pc version of it? Even if it's in Japanese, or I gotta play it with an emulator?

[@LadyVirgilia]

@@AshTSparkle Absolutely there are fan translations for Zero and Ao! Is there a way for me to DM you links? (twitter, reddit, email, etc.)? I'd prefer not to outright post it here.

[@rodney1234ize]

It's great to see that this series has come such a long way. I still remember playing the first trails in the sky game on my psp, and it ending on such a massive cliffhanger. During that time it was still very uncertain whether Xseed will localize the second chapter, I remember being so hyped when they did localize it and put it on steam, I immediately bought the game and it was hands down one of the best experiences I had playing a game. Fast forward to present and now we have 6 officially localized games.It has been such a great experience to be able to play these games. As a long time fan I am very happy to see the series getting so much love.

[@arpanpatel9918]

Love the quality and editing, I really hope cold steel 3 is hugely successful, this series needs more recognition. Much better than any other mainstream JRPGs imo

[@Darknecros7]

I hope ToCS 3 is highly successful as well. I’m so hooked to the story of the whole Trails series that I would very much like ToCS 4 to be localized as well. I hope ToCS 3 is successful enough that it would entice lots of people to go back and play the older ones as well, if they haven’t already to get those ones recognized as well. I know it has me. I started with ToCS 1 on PS4 and played ToCS 2 as soon as the PS4 version came out. Now I’ve gone back and am playing Trails in the Sky 1 now as I will definitely get more out of the series lore and story by playing them in order (will be unable to do the Crossbell games though) then playing ToCS 1 and 2 again after I finish the 3 Trails in the Sky games. That will be a perfect way to pass the time till ToCS 3 comes out:)

[@darknesswave100]

Yeah same. I was admittedly ignorant that there were more games in the series but before September I plan to watch playthroughs of all of the sky games so I can at least have that to go with. It really is an amazing series

[@megamike15]

due to it's slow pace and focus on world buliding i think trials is gonna stay niche in terms of jrpgs. alot of people find them slow and boring because they have a different focus. theser are not your typical jrpgs where you go around the world. they focus on one region of the world and the stories that happen there.

[@SuiteLifeofDioBrando]

Hopefully

[@VoidBL]

@@megamike15 depends some games are so good you don't even want to finish them. Persona 5 starts out pretty slow and is pretty slow in general if you really want to squeeze every little piece of content out of it and a lot of people liked it. I really hope it is successful. I already preordered the deluxe edition even though i won't be playing it for a couple months maybe a year.

[@lalalalisa41]

Keep spreading that Trails love, dude! Hard to believe that I only started this series just last year and now at this point, I'm all caught up. I didn't even start in the right order as well. Started with CS1 and then only halfway through CS2 did I go back to the previous games before continuing with CS2. Best decision I've ever made honestly, because Trails by far is my favorite JRPG series I've ever played.

[@user-kc2fu8iw3v]

same. after catching up and replaying cold steel it was a new experience too, with all these references that i missed when first playing it.

[@shineinouzen7412]

What! Lalisa T is here. My previous name was “Keep It Zen” I remember seeing you on all the ATLA reaction videos.

[@lalalalisa41]

@@shineinouzen7412 ooooh wow I vaguely remember that name lol it's been so long 😂 You a Trails fan too though?

[@shineinouzen7412]

@@lalalalisa41 Haha yeah ever since the Blind Wave avatar days in 2016. I just started Sky FC as my first Trails game this year, beat it in a couple months. I just started SC 2 weeks ago and I'm currently halfway through. I'm definitely a fan.

[@lalalalisa41]

@@shineinouzen7412 Ah the good ole days huh 😬 That's also great to hear! Definitely my top favorite when it comes to jrpgs. It's also so unlike other jrpgs as well, like FF. Each entry isn't standalone and actually has a continuous overarching story, which when you think about it is a bit unique lol. I hope you enjoy your time with each game 👌

[@joeykickassery]

Saw the trailer for the remake and had to come here to pay my respects to the person that lead me down that path, thanks Scott. RIP

[@throwmeaname]

Just finished CS1 and 2. This game has a way of keeping you attached. I was overwhelmed with emotions at some parts of the game that I haven’t felt in others.

[@aharonpresentations2128]

yep, like at the end of cs 1 and many parts of 2, i felt very emotional.

[@mazinrobox2546]

Rest in peace. I remember sending this video to everyone asking about where to start. Amazing job for the community with Zero and Azure as well, thank you so much.

[@ichigoanimeandnightcore2105]

I'm gonna admit - I discovered Trials when I got it for free after a Tekken tournament in my town. I finished it, and I effin loved it. I'm gonna buy the rest and finish them all.

[@thejonbrownshow8470]

A jrpg , especially one as lengthy as any trails game is, is a weird prize for a fighting game tournament lol

[@Walamonga1313]

Which game did you win?

[@TarksGauntlet]

Seen so many people try starting at sky 1 and the pace kills it so much they drop the series forever. On those grounds I almost always tell people to start at the series that looks most attractive to them. Once they learn the grandeur from what ever game hooks them they may go back to the earlier games just as you did. I always feel people SHOULD start with whatever series grabs them, as the risk of them starting anywhere else may just cause the audience to not grow as fast.

[@AlexKensington]

My friends say Trails isn't as good as Fire Emblem or Final Fantasy, I asked them why and they said it looks like sh**. This made me angry as someone who has played these games with 5+ playthroughs on each one. If you are wanting to get into Trails, don't worry about graphics (The only deciding factor for 'some' people). The games have amazing stories and gameplay. I agree with KillScottKill, starting from Trails in the Sky would be the most enjoyable.

[@greg20067]

you are not alone as turn based rpgs go trails is the best because of story and combat

[@360Blader]

Enforcer XV it’s funny because Final Fantasy has not made a GREAT FF main title since FF10. (imo) and that was 18 years ago and Fire Emblem games have had DS and 3DS graphics since Radiant Dawn on the Wii sooooo. Lol

[@darknesswave100]

@@360Blader yeah same. FF10 was the last great one they came out with. Everything past that has been.....well to put it nicely hot steamy garbage lol

[@lalalalisa41]

Good thing I was one to never really worry about graphics lol

[@Next-xm2dh]

Go find better friends

[@ashertwu3025]

I really appreciate Falcom’s storytelling. Two years ago, I was in Gamestop and randomly picked up Trails of Cold Steel I for the PS3, thinking that it could be a fun JRPG. I highly underestimated the game, and completely fell in love with the series. I instantly bought Trails of Cold Steel II as soon as I finished the first game. I’ve always wanted to play the other arcs in the series but, like you said, accessibility has been a problem. I don’t have a PSP or PSvita. Hearing your opinion about playing Trails in the Sky first really makes me want to download Steam just to buy the game. I already really love the series for its characters and world building, but I’m sure I’ll appreciate the lore to a much greater extent after playing the Liberl and Crossbell arcs. In regards to the argument over graphics, I personally really like the art of Trails of Cold Steel and think that it is one of the best 3D modeling I have seen in a JRPG. Thank you for making this video. I really hope this series gets more attention, even if most of the attention is directed at the third game. The Legend of Heroes is honestly one of the best franchise that I have come across in not only my gaming experience, but in my life in general.

[@VVayVVard]

I personally bought a PSTV just for the sake of playing the Sky / Crossbell games. It's a relatively cheap option and gives access to the Evolution versions. The patches for the crossbell games are currently somewhat shaky though

[@frankynovianto7841]

Same to me , I thought it will be a fun JRPG until the i see the slow but steady worldbuilding ,the characters,with some references to older game and thought..this game was something else After CSI , i play the sky trilogy and it changed the whole thing From what I thought will be fun to one of story masterpiece Then cs ii , zero , ao , csiii and there was another level of greatness All characters was great and well-written ,although may be some of the noble irritated me in terms of story ,worldbuilding , and characters , this was actually a close match to One Piece I bet if this was manga or anime , this will be more popular

[@SwashBuccaneer]

Same here. I heard the series was awesome so I picked up Cold Steel 1 and finished it and then Christmas Eve that year my wife found Cold Steel 2 collector's edition at a gamestop and picked it up early that morning for me. Then I found Sky on Steam but still hasn't played them yet lol

[@yurionedge2199]

"No one is holding a gun to your head" 4:49:

[@1000tlt]

Underrated comment 😂

[@EVERYWHERE_MAN]

How to play the legend of hero in order 1. Trails in the sky first chapter 2. Trails in the sky second chapter 3. Trails in the sky third chapter(Takes half year of the original story) 4. Trails of Zero 5. Trails of Azure& Trails of coldsteel( Both events happen at the same time it doesn’t matter which you play first) 6. Trails of COLDSTEEL 2 7. Trails of COLDSTEEL 3(3 years after the original game) 8. Trails of COLDSTEEL 4

[@KamosSoul]

Thanks, that's what I wanted to know

[@joshfisher2531]

Are they all on ps4

[@chariothe9013]

And there is still some people out there expecting something wrong from series, and hate reading, so they get overwhelmed by all the factions and lore then decided the shut their brain ignore all the lines and information about its’ world , and say that it’s a bad game kzbin.info/www/bejne/paDIiHtsqMSZl6s Meanwhile we are here appreciated the feeling of immersion by the series that refuse to reboot its world in every released title.

[@death-by-ego]

Trails has great world building? Huh. Ive never heard that before. Joking. Its funny. Like "survival horror" brings to mind resident evil, every time i hear "world building" in the context of video games, my mind rushes to Trails.

[@xyoyoman831]

Yoooo "great" is an understatement. The trails series' world building is LEGENDARY

[@08Blame]

@@xyoyoman831 god: here is the universe . Falcom: old my beer

[@OHOHOHCOME]

The first chapter of Trails in the Sky already foreshadowed the rest of the series.

[@kana22693]

@@OHOHOHCOME Yep, they obviously didn't have every character planned out from the start but they had the broad strokes of the story planned out since Sky.

[@whatthe9256]

The whole game from trails in the sky to cold steel is literally still world building. It speaks volumes on how large thr whole legend of heroes is considering we are still half way until the endgame

[@doidowitzki3938]

Me too, I only wanted to play a JRPG, and ToCS 1 was the first game I tried. Then I found out how many games there were for this storyline/universe/whatever it's called and I was dumbfounded. I do want to play all of them but I doubt I can...

[@jonathanhunter7670]

This is the video that got me into the series back in 2021 I only now found out that Scott had passed away since than I think you'll be living through all of us every time we play the series and enjoy all the emotions it has to offer thank you

[@ddropthebass2171]

My circumstances around The Legend of Heroes series is very similar to yours. I too was looking for a good jrpg to play on my Vita and saw a trailer for CS1 a week before it released in the west and decided that was the one. I had no other knowledge of the games, but once I played CS1, I was instantly hooked. I couldn’t believe the amount of detail that went into the lore and the story. I thought it was a self contained story so once I reached the very last part of the game, my mind was blown by the events that unfolded. I realized there was a lot more to this series than I could have imagined. I immediately sought more info about the series and saw that I could play Trails in The Sky FC and SC so I downloaded them instantly. I love all of the games I’ve played so far, and am really excited for CS3. I just need to play Trails in the Sky 3C, and somehow find a way to play the Crossbell arc. From what I understand, the events that take place in CS3 and CS4 are heavily dependent on details that happened in the Crossbell games. Basically The Legend of Heroes is my favorite jrpg series out today, which is saying something because I also really do love Persona and Final Fantasy despite how those two are more mainstream jrpg’s now.

[@Lmfaocj]

Okay, I've been called out. When I came to this video I just wanted someone to say "YEP It's okay to start at coldsteel" and instead I got called out. I thought to myself "Might as well watch a video" right before it was said that doing that wouldn't give the same experience. So now here I am after getting almost through chapter one of [Trails in the sky] and I'm thankful that I was told to start there. The game aged pretty well despite the impression the graphics initially give. The port for PC was done super amazingly I think it's one of the best PC ports of a JRPG I've played. Just writing this message to thank you for not selling out and making the video you know you could've easily made with less effort.

[@tamodolo]

I'm playing in release order. Just finished Trails from Zero. Renne Arc just finished and I just cryed haha! They say Trails to Azure is the most convoluted and best story telling of all. I already have the game and am starting it very soon

[@TheExileFox]

It's unfortunate that the translations are in the wrong order. I've played Trails in the sky 1-3 and Cold Steel 1. I'm currently playing CS2.

[@tamodolo]

@@TheExileFox It's the Dragon Quest problem. As Falcom today, Enix didn't give atention to the world wide market and so, FF is the franchise known as the best RPG... Falcom is correcting that and I really hope that they begin to release games world wide at the same time. Waiting 2+ years for a Falcom game is really bad...

[@mushroomlena]

Okay you’ve convinced me! Great video I was on the fence but now I’m interested in what this series has to offer.

[@gordunk]

I watched this video before starting my quarantine binge of all of Trails. Just made it through all of the Sky trilogy, now in Chapter 1 of Zero. Great way to spend my time during social distancing!

[@tjepting1]

Just getting into the Trails series... Thanks for the uploads man. Helping people even after you pass... True legend.

[@fegoracedia6080]

For lore wise,I really love the books as collectible items. At first when you read them you'd just consider them as flavor text but a few games later they come out into the story you wouldnt even expect

[@xrenzo1991]

Convincing someone to start from Sky is nearly as impossible as convincing someone to start watching One Piece just by your word. I played Cold Steel 1/2 and could finally see all the appeal of the series and its world building. That made me want to know more about the lore. After that, I grasped the basics of Liberl and Crossbell arcs. When I noticed that CS 3/4 would have a ton of references, I went back and played Zero and Ao. And it felt great. Just how it's awesome to get references while playing, it's awesome understanding them when going back.

[@nogisonoko5409]

Yeah, i do think it was an impossible task for me to even thought of playing Sky or any other arc than Cold Steel. In Cold Steel, you can easily get hooked by the characters and gameplay itself. Not gonna lie, CS story is quite decent.

[@unleashed2724]

I started with Cold Steel as well. I got into the series thanks to Tokyo Xanadu, as it had a lot of references to the Trails series, as well as Ys.

[@Kiefy6886]

I had no idea Tokyo Xanadu is connected to the Trails series

[@DarkPhoenix89]

Same. My first Falcom game was Xanadu.

[@nadzmillazim3362]

Yes Tokyo Xanadu is best

[@snooowy1634]

@@Kiefy6886 it's not connected, it just has cameos of the trails characters

[@ShinHakumen]

@@snooowy1634 There's a theory that the Outside (where McBurn is originally from) is actually connected to the TXverse. More specifically, it may just be an alternate name for the Eclipse.

[@PreciseEdge]

RIP Scott. Found this video when I was deciding on what game to start the trails series and played the games in release order from Sky FC to Cold Steel IV. Now I'm a big fan of the series and looking forward to all of the future trails games.

[@weileetou6884]

I started my Trails of series from Sen no Kiseki on PS3 first. Then my brother told me to play Sora no Kiseki 1 and 2. So am I. The games are super great for me! (I didn’t knew they ARE series before I play Sen no Kiseki.) I have to say, each of the series has their own attraction, including systems, music, actions etc. Still, old games like Sora no Kiseki series ARE still interesting to play!

[@InTheMindOfDavid]

As someone who only recently decided to jump into the Trails series, and started with Zero, I can definitely say new player MUST play the Sky Trilogy first. I came to that realization about halfway through Zero due to some plot stuff that is directly linked to the Sky trilogy. So I stopped play Zero and decided to start at the best place to start something. The beginning. I’m now on Azure, and let me tell you. There’s a shit ton of stuff that happens in the Crossbell arc that is directly influenced and are consequences of events that happened in Sky, ESPECIALLY when it comes to three specific characters and their character arcs and development, that had I not played the Sky trilogy would have just fell flat and meant nothing to me whatsoever. Having gone back to finish the Sky trilogy before completely Zero, it’s a 1000x better. If you’re new to the series or want to get into them, don’t dance around with what order you should play them in. You already know what the answer is but you wanna circumvent playing the games(which doesn’t make sense like if you’re gonna start playing a series why the hell would you want to play the least amount of games in the series.)You know, I know, and everybody knows that you should play them in order. Period.

[@designed2k]

2:33 Hands down my favorite JRPG music track of all time. This song made you feel how powerful Loewe was, and how important of a fight it was.

[@JohnyScissors]

I wasn't afraid of missing stuff and just said screw it and started Cold Steel. The world building is excellent but personally what's kept me around is the characters

[@OtakuOne]

I started in the Liberl arc (since i saw it in a pirating website, and i just wanted to play a jrpg to pass time) , and honestly I loved it and started to buy the games, it may start slow, but as you keep playing and playing from Liberl to Erebonia, you'll keep gripping at the sheets and wanting for more, the lore is amazingly developed throughout the games, as you advance, you'll keep finding answers you seek, especially the Erebonia arc and Crossbell arc, honestly, if you play the Sky series first, you'll much likely go "Oooh, I get it!" everytime and every recurring character that appears has a reason, I honestly love the world of Trails, very developed in terms of story, and it's simply not something to pass time. As a certain someone said, Trails is always moving forward, relentlessly.

[@shineinouzen7412]

Currently hallway through Trails In The Sky SC. The amount of care and thought put into these beginning games is unreal. Each NPC has something different to say, they all have their own mini-stories. The Main Characters dialogues change depending on what order you do quests. There’s an in game newspaper, books, and many other lore-expanding texts. The world building and character development is immaculate. I’ve been so impressed and I cannot wait for the Crossbell localization. Too bad I’m going to have to wait a while. At this rate I will probably finish Trails in the sky 3rd chapter within weeks.

[@Limskjordan]

I think that playing from the first game is such a massive time investment that the time required is itself the main obstacle. The series is probably too long for its own good at this point.

[@rabidhellhound9714]

That's exactly why I haven't jumped into it yet. I don't care about graphics or whatever. I still play old school RPG's (I'm older than Mario, just to give a hint). But it seems more fun to play one offs like FFVI again, even though it takes 40-60 hours, than to jump into something entirely new knowing that I'll have to play at least 2 more games just to finish out a story. And then there's another story. And another. I'm interested in this series and will likely try it come Christmas, but DAMN is it too big and too intermixed (from everything I've read) to be "entry easy" for players that didn't jump aborad a decade ago. I love story and connectivity. But there comes a point where the writers need to move on with the plot and setting and give the same world but different eras that reference each other without being so dependent upon you playing the early games to get THIS ONE'S plot and characters.

[@rain____1221]

@@rabidhellhound9714 Honestly i dont have the problem with connected stories and worlds, the only obstacle for me to get into trails is that each game is like 60 hour. I know JRPGS are that long but 3 or 4 games would have been fine but there are just tooo many.

[@rabidhellhound9714]

@@rain____1221 That's my point. Playing through the Skies and Cold Steel series involves 7 games at 60 hours per game. The timelines overlap as well, so it's not like you can play them as separate stories in the same world like SquareEnix did with Final Fantasy XII, Tactics, etc and world of Ivalice. You're onboard for that 420 hour experience or you're not. And at 2 hours a night, that comes down to 210 days or 7 MONTHS dedicated to just these games. That's... tedious. And hard to not get burnt out playing. Especially since it takes a LLLOOONNNGGG time for the games to start making meaningful and impactful plot points between all that character fluff. The director needs to learn how to better handle the two TOGETHER instead of keeping them separate. Final Fantasy IX is a master class in this and never felt stale waiting for something to happen between the characters or with the plot. Ok... Treno during the card game tournament was lame. But still.

[@rain____1221]

@@rabidhellhound9714 Agreed. But ill make a bold decision and start series from the starting . Wish me luck .

[@rabidhellhound9714]

@@rain____1221 I honestly hope you have fun. By all accounts, these are supposed to be very good games.

[@louieverrtorreon684]

I stumbled upon this video back in 2020 during on my first playthrough of Cold Steel I and had no idea with any of its previous titles and made me appreciate that I went back and play both Liberl and Crossbell games before playing Cold Steel 4. RIP Scott and thanks for introducing me into this wonderful series.

[@rex9912]

This is genuinely the best advice, glad I can across this before skipping all the earlier games

[@smgofdvld]

Rip Scott I loved your videos like most others this is the video that really pushed me just a couple years ago

[@r0gamer94]

I played them in order. I tried to get my friend into the series, he never got into sky. He saw cold steel 1 and 2 on ps4. he played one, got hooked now he finished CS two and bought S 1 2 3 on pc. the modern touches of cold steel got him invested. s i say whatever it takes

[@PGM991]

I'm playing cold steel 4 now and..... my GOD! this game is EPIC!!! main characters from ALL trail series are come together in SUPER EPIC BATTLE!! starting with cold steel arc is fine, it's like watching Star Wars episode 4-6 first and 1-3 later. knowing character 'now' and going back to learn how they come to be IS fun in itself. after I'm finished cold steel 4, I'm gonna play trail in sky next.

[@EdgyEmoLoliconBoy]

The Crossbell Duology dude.... its just

[@LeoSiegfried]

Ao Chapter 4 =D

[@Next-xm2dh]

More people need to know about my boy Randy

[@EdgyEmoLoliconBoy]

@@Next-xm2dh and how Lloyd got Daddyzoned

[@LeoSiegfried]

@@Next-xm2dh Wonder whats gonna happen when he meets Fie

[@cacklegag3284]

Finished it and loved it, but damn is Campanella a boy or a girl, I got the hots for that character

[@Dragonk116]

The tails series is one of the only series, besides yakuza that all the dialogue and story points (INCLUDING side content) always seems to follow up to the next games... Hence why you should play the trails game in release order, because its all just one continuous storyline.

[@silverknight876]

I’ll be honest, I’m playing out of order as well(starting with Trails of Cold Steel) purely because I saw one video and got interested in it. To me characters make games more than stories do so I’m not that concerned not knowing anything about the prior series, it won’t lessen my enjoyment of the current set. That being said I appreciate videos like this that can give some in-depth looks as to WHY you should at least check out the games that came out before cold steel, which I’ll probably sporadically watch videos of when I have time to supplement my play though. Thanks a bunch for this

[@nogisonoko5409]

It was the same for me. As long as the story and lore references are not in the way of the game or too important to be left out, i will probably brush it off and say "okay i guess they have some kind of history". I come to Cold Steel for gameplay action and characters, story is just a bonus.

[@jeforcex4118]

I started my "Legend of Heroes" journey from the "Trails of Cold Steel" arc too and that was also how I realized the amount of backstory and lore which I was missing out. This is fantastic advice and I would say the same to all other JRPG fans around the world who have not started playing any Legend of Heroes game to start with the "Trails in the Sky" arc first.

[@mOnocularJohn]

I started with Dragon Slayer: The Legend of Heroes in 1992.. although that's a different sub-series.

[@BLACKDISC]

Rest in Peace and thank you for getting me into this series, Scott. 🧡

[@clorurodesodioinseguro6304]

I hope that both Zero and Ao get an official localization in the future in PC (even if that is a pretty "utopic" idea) Nice vídeo, keep it up

[@AlexKensington]

I think it might after Geofront's Eng Translation Project that started back a few years ago. They are getting close to the 90% mark.

[@Darknecros7]

I’ve started with ToCS 1 and have played a good amount of ToCS 2 (both PS4 releases). Since I found out this was a larger universe (yes I was dumb) I’m now playing through Trails in the Sky 1 and will work my way all the way through all 3 games (Good thing I have a Steam Link so I can play the PC versions on my TV). My only skipping point will be the Crossbell games unfortunately because even with that fan translation being worked on I can’t find a copy of the games to import to even apply the patch (sold out on PlayAsia) and I don’t want to spend an astronomical amount for a used, unless there’s some sort of JP equivalent of steam which sells them digitally. I can only hope that after geofront’s translation, that they will pull an “innocent sin” like Atlus did with Persona 2: “innocent sin” and officially localize and release it (it would have to be on PC, or they could port the PC version to PS4) I really don’t want to have to rely on KZbin or wiki dive to get the story from those 2 games:(

[@Darknecros7]

I will say though that even though I started with ToCS 1, and am now playing the Trails in the Sky games, there have been VERY few games (can count them on 1 hand) that has such an EPIC story to it that hooks me like the Trails series does, and not to mention the character development.

[@ifrit1937]

I'm actually playing a fan translation of Zero right now (just started the final chapter of the game, will likely get back into it within an hour or so). For the most part it's been decent (it's based off the Vita version and was updated around May 2018 so i don't think it is the worse translation from a few years ago), besides a handful of grammar/spelling issues it's actually been a decent translation (hell better than some of Namco's and definitely better than Aksys butchering of Tokyo Xanadu), basically it's obvious an actual editor went through it at least 2x (another two or three runs and the translation could be near perfect and possibly even on part with even Xseed's)...the same guys also did Ao before Zero and apparently it's supposed to be even better than Zero's (it may even be Geofront's...not really sure because that's not the name used by the website i went to download it). The one I used is the 6 option if you use these keyword in google: trails to zero english patch, not only does it give Zero but a link to an English patch of Ao as well (from what i saw of the first few minutes of Ao, ran it after downloading it to make sure it actually worked on my computer and the translation wasn't google translated quality which at least from the prologue chapter it doesn't seem to be...definitely could use more work and it at least let's me play the game before CS3 comes out...if the game releases in the west officially one day i'll buy the copies but i just want to play the games before CS 3 and 4 comes out since apparently some parts will have direct callbacks to the Crossbell games).

[@Next-xm2dh]

I just finished Zero no kiseki Today

[@haroldsoliman5174]

And now we’re moving to the second half of Trails Series. To Calvard Empire!❤️

[@babytezla8407]

This is just the best franchise I've ever seen, some events on the games make me go all hype like none other

[@tubadude07]

I've heard so many great things with this series, it'd be nice if they ported the Sky Trilogy at least to PS4

[@user-kc2fu8iw3v]

maybe they will port them from ps3 to 4 too now that the crossbell ps4 ports are finished and got a proper modern system release to allow a future western release. but if all else fails, the pc versions are good enough to run on a potato, so any pc from the last 10 years should run all 3 no problem. and then i hear the author's considering remaking the series in 3d like cold steel games, which would probably go to ps4/5.

[@Cowheart5]

I found out about Trails of Cold Steel through the PS4 and I'm almost done with the second game. After that I'll give Sky a go. Although I don't know what Sky is like yet, I think Cold Steel was a good starting point since you learn a lot about the world playing the role of a Thors student. The similarities with Persona and the PS4 graphics also helped a bit in deciding to buy the game, whereas I probably wouldn't have been that excited to try a game from 2004 without knowing how good Cold Steel is first.

[@sam7559]

The best game to start with is the one you have access to and you feel will appeal to you the most. You're a fan of modern persona and want to get into the series, start with cold steel 1 or 3 depending if you want your MC to be a student or a teacher. Whatever gets you started in being invested in the series the will make you want to play the other games. If you don't start with the very first one are you going to get all the call backs, no but sometimes playing an earlier game and learning history of a character you met in a future game is cool too.

[@haohansuke21]

Nice video once again Scott. Glad to see you making content of the Trails Series and making new friends along the way is what we wanted to do. Thanks again for making this video.

[@Shadiss]

I literally have never heard of the series and am kind of shocked I haven’t. The majority of games I play are jrpgs yet this series has slipped entirely under my radar.

[@NoOne-hx9ir]

Sleeper Classic

[@LoponStormbased]

I only just found out about this game series after paying for a month of PS Now and looking through what JRPGs they had. It only has Cold Steel 1 and 2, and they're the versions with less voice acting (which I didn't realize till the Bike Scene in 1 when I looked up the other cutscenes and saw they had voice acting), and only now that I'm about done with 2 did I get the feeling the game was referencing other games I haven't played with it talking about Liberl and Crossbell. Totally gonna go back and play the other games before going onto CS3. I agree with the sentiment of being shocked I've never heard of this series before. It's been an absolute treat!

[@stephengiann1717]

Rest in peace ❤

[@quillion0877]

Not going to lie I was literally, LITERALLY, going to buy Cold Steel after debating with myself if I would like to start from the beginning or not, but your experience reflected mine in such an accurate way, I'll start from Trails in the Sky instead.

[@ihavenoshameandmustscream421]

I'll NEVER, EVER, regret playing the Trails Series from beginning to end. I don't think I'm the only one either when I say this: In my history of gaming, from 1988 to present day, never have I felt such jubilation and gratification from playing this series. If there ever was a magnum opus, it was Trails. Thank you Falcom , please keep this series alive as long as possible... And please don't forget about your fanboys and fangirls in the West!

[@8secondsofsexy]

Started with CS 1, just finished CS 3 yesterday and now I can't wait for CS 4 next month!. Where have this game been in my life.

[@TheInfinityMaster1]

Personally, I *started with Trails of Cold Steel I & II,* then I *went back to playing the Trails in the Sky trilogy* and to me, that was a better order than playing them based on release order. Why? It is because the *Trails of Cold Steel story, characters, music and graphics is what made me love this franchise* in the first place and while I do not regret going back to playing the Trails in the Sky trilogy to better understand how it all started, if I had started with Trails in the Sky trilogy first, I might've *fell off* the series before even trying out the Trails of Cold Steel part of the franchise (not that Trails in the Sky trilogy were bad games, just not as charming/appealing as Trails of Cold Steel), so yeah *I would suggest going for Trails of Cold Steel first, then Trails in the Sky.*

[@jangiurg5295]

Started dabbling with jrpgs. Persona 5, Vesperia, Berseria, Ni no Kuni. Havent tried super traditional yet, but bought Trails of Sky on steam based on this video, so wish me luck :)

[@otgrey3927]

Trails of Cold Steel is also my first Trails game. I beat it fairly recently and even though I enjoyed it immensely, I realised that there were things that I'd missed out on because I'd played out of order and I'm kinda "regretting" playing it. I say "kinda" because I got heavily invested in the story. That cliffhanger ending is justification enough for me to get Cold Steel #2 (whenever there's a sale), the characters are motivation enough for me to attempt to play this series in order. I'm currently watching a let's play of Trails of Zero and...damn, I'm loving the characters. This is a great series. Thanks for this video, while I knew the Crossbell Arc took place at approximately the same time as Cold Steel#1 I didn't know the entire Trails Arc was about four/five years. That's good to know.

[@VVayVVard]

Cold Steel is actually the most optimized entry point in the series, since it was _specifically_ designed that way. In fact, the second Crossbell game has around twice as many major spoilers for CS1 than the other way around, and CS1 on the other hand provides great build-up for said game. Only the final chapter of CS2 starts to feature some real major spoilers for Ao, and ToCS 3&4 continue this trend.

[@adamaC02]

Just completed the prologue in first chapter....the hooks have sunk in

[@nightfire285]

Completely new to Trails games, cold steel was a game I tried on a whim and I actually thought the first game was slow at the start, the world is just so interesting with awesome characters, finished them all. But now I got to play the sky series.

[@chelsearamos3617]

I was just looking for games to play on my laptop, saw that Trails in the Sky was rated quite high, and so decided to get the trilogy. I NEVER expected to be as invested as I am right now, holy shit. I teared up after the finishing the first game. Now I'm in the second game and I'm often screaming my head off to just how good EVERYTHING is-the story, the characters, the world-building, the suspense-god this series is personally a masterpiece that I feel so thankful to have come across.

[@l.asriel9005]

Trails in the Sky the 1st and Trails of Cold Steel do the same basic job of introducing what the real stakes will be, so yeah I do understand your point of them not being good to advertize the series. I started with Cold Steel like you, loved it and its sequel so much I went back to Trails in the Sky and the Crossbell games. This retroactive way to experience the games can be unoptimal, but funnily, it can make some games even better, like Trails in the Sky, the 3rd, with its doors. Looking forward to your Trails of Cold Steel 3 painful voicing experience 😏 if you do one.

[@GalahadJN]

To me it's simple: Trails is a product of looking at the best parts of JRPGs and taking them all. It's weird when onlookers say that "oh you think it's great because it's the only game you've played." No. It's great because the fans have played a multitude of JRPGs and this is the only thing that serves as a culimnation for every JRPG that we have played. There's a reason why fans cannot shut up about it for decades now: there is literally nothing like it and we have the experience to back that up. Most fans that I know are heavy JRPG players that have multiple titles under them and the one thing that I notice is that Trails is either their favorite game or is within their top 3.

[@GrimReaperKazuya]

there is nothing but truth in this wall of text.

[@YhelloWish]

Thanks to YS 8 now I'm in Nihon Falcom hole now, wanna try Trail games but don't know which title I should start, I'll research to play in publish order :)

[@Dahras1]

Gotta say, I really appreciate this video because around the time I first saw it I was pulled in by the marketing around Cold Steel 4 and was wondering which game to start out with. While I was hesitant at first, I decided to go all in and start with First Chapter on the recommendation of this video. And boy, that was such a great decision. Currently I'm around halfway through the 3rd, and even of I never play the full series, the Liberl arc is just classic in its own right. And my hype to play Zero and Azure is through the roof too. Hopefully I can control myself and play slowly enough that yall's amazing work on Azure at Geofront is done by the time I get there. Cheers, and thanks for all the work you've put in on the Kiseki series!

[@ultraness]

I technically started with the first Trails in the Sky, but I lost interest after about two hours. The first game in the series that I finished was Trails of Cold Steel, and I don't regret it. For me, the issue with starting with the first Sky wasn't the graphics but the initial story of the series, which, quite frankly, bored me for the first 30 hours (I don't usually drop an RPG after two hours, either) and its dull combat. I ended up going back to Trails in the Sky after Cold Steel (if Cold Steel 2 had been released then, I probably would've gone straight to that game), and I've basically played the games in the order they've been translated into English (so I went CS1, Sky 1, Sky 2, CS2, Sky 3, Zero, Azure). I consider myself a Trails diehard, but I wouldn't say my enjoyment of the games has been negatively affected by playing them so out of order, and I have no qualms telling people to start with Cold Steel 1, if they really want to. The game is great as an introduction, and if these people are anything like me, they'll realize that the other games are worth playing, too. Starting with Cold Steel 3 seems incredibly problematic to me, but I honestly just want a lot of people to buy the game so that the next one is guaranteed to get localized. Anyway, I'm not surprised that so many people do not want to start from the beginning. They see Cold Steel 3 and are interested in checking it out, and some of them do not want to hear that they need to play 250+ hours worth of earlier games before checking out this new game. I think that level of commitment is too intimidating for some gamers, and it's a problem the Trails series will always have so long as its strength is its interconnected world building, which means it'll likely never go away. This problem is quite unique to the Trails franchise, but I don't think it gets stressed enough how much of a dilemma this required commitment is, since it's generally only diehard Trails fans who've gone through every game in the series (the way I feel, the more Trails the better! I imagine many other fans feel the same). However, asking 250+ hours from players (and I think that number will go well above 400+ after all four Cold Steel games are included) is absolutely insane, if you think about it. There are hardly any other media that require so much time from prospective fans. Watching all the Star Wars movies before Episode IX would take under 30 hours. Watching every episode of Breaking Bad or the Sopranos takes less than 100 hours. I recently watched every episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel (that's 254 episodes from twelve seasons worth of full-length, forty-five minute episodes), and even that took me a lot less time than playing through all the English Trails games, and there are still two Cold Steel games I haven't been able to play yet. So, I understand why some newcomers are afraid or anxious, and I just want them to get into this series, even if they do something inadvisable like starting with Cold Steel, so long as they go back and play the rest.

[@mayaha200]

Fully agree with you.

[@erylaria398]

It's not that it's intimidating, it's more that I have a job and a social life and other hobbies and I mae plenty of time for gaming but like... not THAT much time. Even if I play every day after work for 4 hours, it'll still take me weeks to finish just one game. Meanwhile there are also many other games coming out and in my backlog. Plus, the first sky game doesn't have controller support on steam, and I hate playing on the small psp display for long periods of time. And I had the same experience with that game as the original commenter: I was just bored with rhee intial story. I love jrpgs, I'm used to slow starts but playing as kids and doing all those small-scale quests for such a long time just didn't grab me like cold steel did.

[@flariz4824]

Eh I have 500+ hours on some singular games, not that intimidating. What matters the most at the end of the day is that you play at your own pace and enjoy the ride. There is no need to rush!

[@artaizen1613]

this series need a remake and final mix director's cut . lol, jokes aside, if they can at least repackage and port it to more console/pc maybe it can attract newcomers.

[@rook1196]

Unless 16-bit JPRGs are you favorite thing, Cold steel is where you want to start. It has much better gameplay. Plus while CS doesn't move exactly fast, Sky is slooooow. If you get into CS and you will because its awesome, the previous games make a good prequel if you want to dive further in.

[@roscoechannel]

Just started The Trails in The Sky FC evo a couple days ago. I've prepared all the games up until Cold Steel 2. Hope I can finish them all. Anyway, great video for a newbie like me.

[@RedXIII365]

After playing the demo for trails of cold steel 3, I went and bought all 3 of trails of cold steel. Just finished the first one.

[@localdeadweight492]

Take it easy or you'll get burnt out by the time you finish Trails in the sky SC. Granted all games are excellent but long.

[@watch-box]

As an older gamer I used to really enjoy the Shining force series of games on the Sega consoles in the 80'2 and 90's. After seeing an advert for the upcoming Trails of cold steel IV, and getting sentimental for JRPG's I looked at where to start the series. Trails in the sky FC is bringing back so many happy memories - when games were full of substance instead of flashy graphics and little else. So happy I decided to give this style of game a second chance - my computer is used for little else atm!

[@lordhades9759]

Personally I started with Cold steel back when it first released on the PS Vita, and continued with them as they released. I did play Sky on pc while waiting for Cold steel 4 to be brought to the west on ps4 and i did enjoy it. But In my opinion Cold steel is the better of the two series and a good place to start :)

[@icarusthorn9739]

good news to people looking at this now: the Zero and Azure games are being officially translated and are coming out in 2022/2023

[@TrulySilentLie]

As someone who started with Cold Steel, and finally after years of putting it off, finished it together with its sequel last year, I'm waiting for a rerelease on a Sony console for Sky to give the series a second chance. The pacing just killed it for me, in both games

[@Mattchu.the.Pikachu]

Level grinds is what kills me not the pacing espically on hard and nightmare difficulty.

[@OperatorError0919]

@@Mattchu.the.Pikachu If you're have to grind for levels in a Trails game, than I think you might be doing something wrong. These games are designed almost from the ground up to make grinding mostly unnecessary.

[@Mattchu.the.Pikachu]

@@OperatorError0919 you do when you're playing nightmare difficulty on a first playthrough.

[@talex3844]

@@Mattchu.the.Pikachu to be fair I'm playing Trails in the Sky for the first time right now and that's why I chose hard. The game is pretty easy but not completely mind numbing with little to no grinding, which is perfect for an immersive RPG experience. It's a single player game, you're not beholden to playing the hardest difficulty if it makes the experience less fun.

[@dvornikovalexei]

@@Mattchu.the.Pikachu Strange. Trails in the Sky requires minimum to no grinding

[@kazukishinomiya9424]

I was browsing for an JRPG that can run on my potato laptop, and CS was just it. So I boot up CS I and play from there, after the first chapter I'm so invested on it that after that one I realise that EVERY NPC HAS THEIR OWN STORY. After that I immediately fell in love with this franchise, and proceeds to talk to EVERY SINGLE NPC. It's amazing, this game is cool, idk why no one talk about it more. Holy hell this game consumes me.

[@royaldragon1175]

As a persona fan this is the one of the best jrpgs

[@Jo-go8uj]

Thank god there's another persona fan here. I need another JRPG to waste my life away on, would you say this is worth it?

[@royaldragon1175]

@@Jo-go8uj late reply but 100% yes

[@alderonsabbet7217]

I REALLY wish they would put the 3 sky games on the switch. It would make playing them a lot easier.

[@pite9]

I would argue for starting with Cold Steel, and with that I mean the first 2 games only. I haven't played the Crossbell series yet, so heavy disclaimer that my opinion here might change after having played Crossbell, but if we ignore Crossbell, I really don't think it matters if you start with Cold Steel or Sky. I started with Cold Steel, and I actually think it's a good thing that I went into it blind, because you're playing as a bunch of students who really don't have much experience of the world. So if you go into it having played Sky first, putting yourself into the shoes of the characters will be harder, because you will know minor details that they don't know. Most of the things you will know will be fairly inconsequential, but there's one situation in particular in CS1 where a Sky player will be able to predict some turn of events.

[@blakedefriend4075]

I'm glad you can play all of these games on PC. I have all the sky series and just finished the first Steel game. Planning on starting the Crossbell ark.

[@The-Annibo]

25 hours into trails in the sky FC and ill be honest i love the game so far. I love the characters so far and find it amazing how basically all of them can be so damn likable. Seriously this is the first in a while that ive been so drawn into a game , i love it. The turn based strategic combat also is a plus for me cause i love these types of games like Fire emblem. Amazing story and i cant wait to play the other ones , im already getting sad at the thought of catching up to these masterpieces lol.

[@communitypoopsock79]

gave trails a chance at the start of the year and it is now my favorite series

[@keeysOST]

The one central plot part sort of reminds me of the Xeno series. I don't think it's as connected as Trails but every iteration feels like a part of a much bigger part of a story and that's why it became my favorite series. If this does something like that than I'm all in. However my problems are mainly with money and time. But I look forward to trying this series eventually.

[@amaurycourtois1387]

I totally agree with you, and have the same playing order. I started with TOCS1, and saying that starting with TOCS3 is ok is wrong imo. Why? Because if you didn't go through TOCS 1 an 2 your attachment to every character of the game is nonexistent and the emotions TOCS3 is meant to bring to you are not here. You just discovered some random people that have bonds with your heroe but no more... So i think that if you want to play TOCS or the sky series just start in release order. But playing only the TOCS or the sky is ok. Do both if you like the lore (well that means you will do both anyway :p ). By the way one final point that is not clearly said here but you could have guessed with the video : The serie have amazing OST.

[@Ruinred]

I want to thank you for introducing me to these games. They are an amazing game series. I started about a month ago and am current on trails in the sky second chapter.

[@bethanyjohnson8001]

Trails in the Sky SC is my personal favorite. I just connected to Joshua and Estelle's story in a way I don't often do with video games.

[@daisukeakihito9832]

So I was an idiot and played the Erebonia arc first, gotten to the third game in the series got to Crossbell and when I noticed the amount of references everywhere, even without having played the previous game, I stopped and gone back, 2 months, about 400 hours and 5 games later I returned with knowledge, when I loaded back into cold steel, I kid you not, I broke down into tears as I was walking through the faithful recreation of Crossbell that was at that point my home more than Erebonia ever was. And I'm a 28-year-old man! I don't know what it is that Falcom does to their games, if it's the consistency of everything, the attention to every detail the seamless continuity, or all of those combined, but this series is really like no other out there.