Why You Should Play Trails (It's Pretty Great)

The Trails/Kiseki series is my favorite JRPG series of all time. Due in large part to its overarching narrative and connectivity, the music, the character, and the execution of its turn-based combat system. But for all intents and purposes, the series is actually not that popular in the West, so today, we discuss how great the series is, and why those of you who haven't played it should. Enjoy! #gaming #analysis #kiseki #discussion #trailsintoreverie #kuronokiseki
Thumbnail by: / calliehatsu
Songs used (in order):
Trails of Cold Steel 3 - Step Ahead
Kuro no Kiseki - Cloudy Cloudy
Trails to Azure - The Azure Arbitrator
Trails to Azure - The Tree at the Farthest End
Trails of Cold Steel - Roer the Industrial Metropolis
Trails of Cold Steel 4 - Majestic Roar
Hajimari no Kiseki - Glittering Mirage
Hajimari no Kiseki- Now at the Beginning
Kuro no Kiseki- Beyond the Dawn
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[@myriadbIades]

My advice for how to start Trails: >Start with Sky (the beginning of the series) That is all

[@coyote271280]

You sir, just won the internet. That is the only way to start. Some people do not know this, but the trail games are like those long Fantasy book series that span 14 books (wheel of time, dresden files, etc). Even if the best books are the last 3 of each series, or the 12th one like in Dresden, they are only that good because they are built up from the previous ones. That is trails, you can enjoy any of their games as stand alones, but you would be doing yourself a disservice by not starting from the beginning.

[@Karryu1995]

@@coyote271280 WHEEL OF TIME? IS THAT ESTELLE REFERENCE? /j

[@BlueGrovyle]

@@coyote271280 disagree, not everyone wants to play a 2004 RPG with no fast travel. Idk what to tell you except it's just the fact of the matter, and the people who fall under this umbrella-or, more generally, people who want to play games that are more modern and have better combat and QoL-are not any less "deserving" of playing these games than the hard-core fans. I'm fine with the "purists" and more hard-core fans calling it the "best" way into the series, and it is fine advice, but please, _please_ stop saying it's the only way because it's just not. I started with Cold Steel and I love this series, but I don't know if I would have ever made it to Cold Steel if I'd started with Sky because it never hooked me in the way that Cold Steel did. I just didn't find it to be as enjoyable to play on an hour-to-hour basis. Last comment is, think of it this way: taking the dogmatic "release order is the objective answer" approach will _never_ draw more people to the series, only repel them from it. And if you don't think that's a bad thing, Idk what else to tell you. I didn't reply directly to the OP because starting from the beginning is perfectly acceptable _advice_ , but it is _not_ gospel.

[@jessejonesmartin6400]

agree 999999

[@coyote271280]

@BlueGrovyle sure, go read The Return of the King without reading the previous two books first, surely you will enjoy it, since it is great, but your enjoyment will be diminished. Even if you backtrack afterwards because it was such an amazing experience, it will not be the same. And that was my point, and nothing you said contradicts it. Trails builds upon itself. The story is the main thing and what hooks the most people in the fan base, sure there are plenty that like the game play. But being honest, cold steel is still based off of active time battle and turn based combat, which are present in jrpgs since the 90s. No fast travel is a narrative choice, is not there so you have to be immersed in the characters' world. You might not like it, but it is not there for a reason, it's ok if you started somewhere else, that does not mean it was the best way. I will just give you one example: The first time you met Olivert, he was a Prince of an empire, and was not a shock, nor a gratifying moment for you, you actually had absolutely no idea who he was. The first time I met him, he was an idiot troubadour imprisoned for stealing some wine, and his name was Olivier. I will concede that I care more about story than gameplay and I understand where you are coming from but please, stop telling people to not have an opinion or to share it online, we all can.

[@Etherwinter]

You missed something very, very important. The NPCs. Most of the NPCs in each game have their own story. While they don't have a "schedule" like say, Skyrim, so they don't walk around in real time, they have lots of dialogue and their stories progress as you progress the game. And sometimes you can witness something building over time that may come up in a sidequest later on, and if you talked to those NPCs multiple times before that point, you'd know what's up with them. For example a nearby family has a son studying for exams. His mom is proud of him, but she dislikes his father who's an alcoholic. Over the course of the game, he starts getting worse and worse at his studies/mock exams, while his mother becomes more overbearing. This eventually snowballs into a case where he starts acting out, and you even get a quest for it later on down the line. This makes the game feel more alive to me. The NPCs having actual stories and relationships that progress.

[@LilT2o00]

Trails would be an A tier for NPCs for sure. Top of the line though? Lunar: silver star story complete. Lunar 2: eternal blue. The localization teams had so much fun with shit that wasn't related to the story so they'd spice it up instead of a direct translation made it to where you had to talk to every NPC at least twice because you're missing laughs if you didn't. Like the country town where the bridges were perfectly built and one pompous characters said "I'm surprised these hicks managed to nail anything not related to them" doesn't change the actual story in any way but gives us more funny interactions w/ characters that previously had nothing to add in the original translation

[@GavilanTrakand]

This is hands down my favorite video game series that I can't get anyone to try/stick with longer than Sky FC or Cold Steel 1. It's very sad.

[@danjarnutowski2331]

I just started FC so let's see 👀

[@Jok3ster699]

Finished FC and just reached SC chapter 6

[@jogymogy3691]

Well if it doesn't click it doesn't click. I am glad I found the series. Only the Xenoblade Chronicles series reigns supreme for me.

[@GavilanTrakand]

​@@jogymogy3691 almost done with xenoblade chronicles 3 and am loving it too

[@d33pakkkk]

Maybe because they don't like it that much? Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying trails is bad, I love Falcom. But it's not great, there's a lot of padding in the games and while the characters and music are wonderful, I don't think they're as good as the Persona series. And not a lot of people have the time to play the first arc, let alone the entire series. So it's not bad but just not EPIC like Persona.

[@sikasyan]

I've been rewatching and re-listening to Kuro I ending for three days. Koguchi did his best. Kuro arc is a big step forward. I hope it will be without 24-16 pair =)

[@myriadbIades]

Elaine and Van are the very obvious pairing for Kuro I know Kondo's got us 🙏

[@sikasyan]

@@myriadbIades Please, just not another suspension of the romantic line in the air.... If Lloyd and Elie are at least self-evident, the Rean-Alisa pairing has never really developed into anything coherent...

[@coyote271280]

@@myriadbIades oh god please, please please be right. In favor of this argument, Van seems to be his own person, not a stand in for the audience like Rean, so while I understand that leaving things up in the air for Rean is the right call in terms of fan gratification as we can have our own resolution, in Van's case that is not proper and would hurt the overall story more than help it.

[@Fabio-ql5yf]

⁠@@coyote271280That’s just not true though. Yes, he kind of is a self-insert Protagonist, looking at the Harem etc. but that doesn’t keep him from being his own person. And while I love the Arc and Rean as a protagonist, yes, even to me that whole stuff kind of keeps the Arc from being at its best and it *is* annoying imo (and I too hope Kuro changes things regarding this), but that’s another can of worms. It might be argued *when* he became his own character, most people say it was only at the end of CS2 that he became one, but that doesn’t change the fact that he is one. And saying otherwise is not only an insult to his character itself, but also to his entire character Arc, to everything he went through in 5(!) games, and to everything Osborne, Lianne etc. sacrificed for him. You may not like him, and that’s your right, you’re entitled to your opinion, but saying he’s not his own person is just plain wrong. Hell, his whole route in Reverie is literally about his inner struggle. So please, I urge you to rethink your stance on this.

[@edwardo8404]

bought the first kuro game, got the english translataion somehow, forgot where i got it, but deep diving it in google and youtube is a good start, and the relationship doesnt seems to be the main focus, they just let it flow and nothing really stuck out, same with the second gane altough the translataion i got for kuro2 is really really rough, so half of the time i was just guessing what the mcs and npcs are saying

[@grandruby5343]

4:29 Whatever you may think of Laura, you gotta admit Laura can hit like a fucking truck.

[@myriadbIades]

She definitely can this is true

[@thebuddhasmiles]

Who will win? The shadow of all of Erebonia's Consciousness Or Blue haired tomboy with big ass sword

[@yupzVGM]

THANK YOU JOSHHHHH 😭😭😭😭😭

[@myriadbIades]

AS A GROUP OF INDIVIDUALS WE HAVE NEVER BEEN MORE BACK THAN WE ARE RIGHT NOW

[@NealBxforeMe]

Lloyd Bannings.

[@Kyubeylovessouls]

get over the barrier of touching grass

[@geo1740]

Lloyd Bannings.

[@NazariyArkride]

Damn yes

[@jg6159]

Trails is like the pinnacle of story telling. Lloyd and Zero/Azure is probably my favourite arc but Reverie ties it up quite nicely...but Rufus is my main man lol

[@Healer0079a]

Don't do my boy dirty like that come on.. ;-; Poor pineapple..

[@sharadaarun6222]

OMG I love this video it's literally perfect how you talk about the games perfectly without spoiling them. Thanks!! I have one complaint though, half the time I had to rewind to hear what you were saying because I was too busy gawping at the awesome gameplay and graphics!😅

[@genefactor007]

I, like many new fans, started with Cold Steel. I was instantly hooked on the series and was fortunate enough to come in at an amazing time. Not only did I purchase all four Cold Steel games during a PlayStation sale but the Crossbell arc was soon to be released officially here in the States. As a console gamer I didn't think I'd be able to check out the Sky trilogy but I eventually got a Steam Deck and that changed. The world building of the Trails series is amazing. I have quite some ways to go but I look forward to Daybreak.

[@Psaurus81]

I've been avoiding Kuro content like the plague and all of this footage is really making me struggle with waiting for the official localization. Great video.

[@diegoarmando5489]

The Kuro 1 fan translation is excellent. Almost perfect.

[@Psaurus81]

@@diegoarmando5489 I've heard that and I'm really tempted. I might go ahead and grab it after Starfield.

[@coyote271280]

My humble advice, don't wait, the fan translation is excellent. I was in your shoes until I played hajimari, then I just could not wait, I am even playing Kuro 2 with a chatgpt horrible translation, still makes sense, just have to ruminate stuff a bit longer than usual.

[@acidwizard6528]

@@coyote271280 I did that for Azure and Zero well before the Geofront translation was available and I wish I didn't. Having to piece together rough dialog takes away so much from the characterization and depth of the narrative. Replaying both Zero and Azure after a complete translation was available made them 10 time better IMO than trying to figure out what was going on by looking at a script in choppy Engrish, full of poor grammar, misspellings and statements nobody would ever say in actual English.

[@edwardo8404]

trust me dont, just wait, i felled to the same pit as many people for the fan transalations, its way more concise to wait for the official translation, i remember someguy who finsihes reverie years ago, before the official is out, and his way of perceiving the story and mine were quite different thing like names, titles and location, even the meaning of conversation between characters feels different from the way he describes it and how i describes it, knowing that i still got the fan translation for kuro1and2, and it feels "Suspicous" while the translation is pretty great , i feared something is missing, a small detail just a small wording that feels the same but doesnt really feels the same, dont really know how to describe it but thats my experience on kuro 1 and 2 fan translation

[@stefannelson5785]

I've always liked thinking of the different arcs as exploring different kinds of relationships... Sky is about romantic love and the strength of that bond Crossbell is about family (found or otherwise) Cold Steel is about friendship, which is why the bonds between class VII feel more ephemeral. Every bit as strong, but a little looser as to allow separation And, I haven't played it so I wouldn't know, but Calvard seems maybe like it's about coworkers and the relationships that form between them not sure if the idea falls off in Calvard though xD EDIT: Oh also... Laura had the potential to be a good character, but they kinda.... never did anything with her xD (she went the way of Elie *tears*) - I still think she's the best match on paper with Rean, because Rean and Laura help each other and support each other in Cold Steel 1... whereas Rean has very one-sided relationships with the other girls... it's too bad that they... just never did anything with Laura after that.

[@Fabio-ql5yf]

That’s actually a really beautiful way to look at it, and it definitely makes sense. I disagree that Rean‘s relationship with the other girls are one-sided though. For example Emma and Altina (not romantic though, I mean their general relationship.) Rean supports Emma with her struggle to become a real witch, while Emma supports Rean with his duties as an awakener and dealing with the curse and his powers. Not to mention that the relationship between Witch-Awakener is always a special one. Especially Roselia with Lianne and Dreichels. So Emma and Rean being Witch and Awakener already makes their relationship special and not one sided imo. Same with Altina, they were partners from CS IIs epilogue on, especially during the Crossbell and Northern War, so they always equally supported each other. After that their father/guardian/teacher-daughter/student relationship isn’t really one sided either. They still support each other as partners. Same goes for everyone of his students and I would say for everyone in Class VII in general, because, like you said, the Arc is about friendship, and supporting each other, so I really don’t think his relationships are one sided at all.

[@stefannelson5785]

@@Fabio-ql5yf I was mostly talking Cold Steel 1 there... but I get the confusion :). Yeah, his relationships with the other girls develop a *lot* over the next 3 games after that, unlike his relationship with Laura xD. Rean and Altina's relationship, outside of the weird romance stuff, is one of the highlights of the entire trails series xD

[@Fabio-ql5yf]

@@stefannelson5785 Oh lol, my bad then 😅. I too often hear people talk not so friendly about Rean, or Cold Steel in general, so it just always gets me worked up lol. Like, just yesterday someone said that Rean „isn’t his own person“, in the context that Van is supposed to be his own person, while they said that Rean is a complete self-insert protagonist. I mean, I understand that, to a degree, he’s supposed to be kind of a self-insert protagonist considering the whole Harem stuff, but that most certainly doesn’t keep him from being his own person. And, like I said to that person, to say otherwise is, imo, an insult to his entire character, his character arc, everything he went through in 5 games and to everything Lianne, Osborne etc. sacrificed for him. Not to mention that his entire route in Reverie is about his inner struggle so I really don’t understand why some people can’t see that and still think he’s „not his own character“. What do you think about this? But yeah, aside from this I agree about Rean’s relationship with Altina and wished they kept it completely platonic too and didn’t make her a „romantic“ option but oh well. You can’t have everything I guess lol.

[@Natreg44]

So many things I want to comment here... 1) ... and most important one... Kevin who? 2) The only other game series that gives me Kiseki vibes is Genso Suikoden. The main series is 8 games long (5 RPGs, 2 Visual novels and 1 SRPG). Second game onwards it's clear there is a main plot behind the scenes, and each game happens in a different country of the world, with a different conflict and returning characters. Mostly Trails before Trails. 3) I know they are not directly related, but both the Iselhasa duology and Gagharv trilogy are also as great as the Kiseki series. Iselhasa has a first game that seems very generic, but once you get to the second game you start to understand the nature of that world. Gagharv on the other hand has the games that inspired Kondo. Sky FC is litereally the premise of the Legend of Heroes III game with both protagonist + the Adventure guild from the original Legend of Heroes IV + an improved version of the magic system of Legend of Heroes V + an evolution of the combat in the remake of Legend of Heroes IV as turn based instead of turn with pause. Gagharv is a great trilogy with a continuous story. I really wish the Trails series does link to it at some point. 4) I always thought that Kondo took a lot of influence of City Hunter for Kuro no Kiseki. 4SPG is the same as the XYZ from City Hunter. Even Cat's Eye burglars seem to have influenced Grimmcatz. There was a movie revival on 2019 which feels like the time they could have started developing the first Kuro game. 5) I don't agree that Sky FC combat was that basic. Everything is there, turn order, turn bonus, s-crafts, s-breaks, the 7 elements. It's simple compared to how it has evolved later on, but the fundation is still in that game. 6) Kuro's combat was better than I initially though. What they did in Kuro 2 with it was a good evolution and I'm looking forward for Kuro 3's improvements. Anyway, nice video :D Hopefully more people are going to give the Kiseki series a try, and hopefully they play from Sky FC onwards.

[@alcatraz-nc2814]

I'll try my best not to write a big wall of text but I wont make any promises. TLDR : when you buy a trail games, you are getting an interesting story, a good turn base combat but also an audio masterpiece. I started the trails series with Cold Steel 1 because I was bored and the description looked interesting enough for me to try it to kill time. I was no stranger to turn base JRPG but there was something I found pretty engaging about the game that made me stick. Graphic aside, the story was overall solid (although slow paced and boring at time), the combat was ok and so were the music. But it was the second game, Cold Steel 2 that for me made me fall in love with the series. The overdrive mechanic was something nice (although very long to prepare) and it added a little flavor to the combat system. The story was "similar" to CS1 but when things hits, it hits. This is also the game that pretty much convinced me that Falcom knows how to put some good music at the good time (more on that below). Cold Steel 3 and Cold Steel 4 for me must be put together. CS3 introduces brave order and honestly, even today, I still think I have not mastered the full potential of what shenanigans I can do with these order to cheese the game. It is such a simple concept when you think about it and yet, it fits so well into the game you wonder why it was not in the previous title. CS4 doesn't add anything new to the combat system but outside of some nerf, nothing really changes. The story in both CS3 and CS4 is where the spicy things happens and if you played the previous title you can feel the build up that has been leading up to this point. And the music....what can I say except it's just so good. I havent been mentioning OST names not because I dont know but because someone who pays attention would be able to spoil himself on possible character/event. And finally Reve-sorry, Hajimari no Kiseki...This game makes me sad. Once again, great game with a great story told through 3 different routes. A new addition to the combat system in the form of brave assault (I think it's the name) and great music. Remember when I said that Falcom knows how to makes great music ? Well Rean's route battle theme has a vibe of CS2-CS3 and CS4 combined. You can feel the character progression through the theme. Lloyd's theme is very....Crossbelian but still with the idea of never giving up(which is a recurring thing regarding Crossbell). C's theme is the unique one and honestly pretty fitting considering the mystery behind the character. And despite all of that why do I say the game makes me sad ? Because this is the end of the road as far as the Erebonian arc goes (basically Cold Steel arc) but also Crossbell arc. Ever since Cold Steel 2 I have been just waiting and looking forward to upcoming years because I knew the next game will eventually release and I knew I had something to be excited for. But now, I feel like I lost a part of me in that form of expectation. I will definitely miss Altina, Randy,Crow and many more. Maybe one day Falcom will make a big surprise and we'll get to play a new Cold Steel game set in a future Erebonia with all my favorite cast but as sad as it is to leave them, I am glad I got to enjoy such game and I really wish more people will give it a try and hopefully find as much enjoyment as I had.

[@LilT2o00]

multiple entry points. don't think of it as a wall there are 4 arcs as long as you don't try to enter mid arc, you're fine. the first game of the first arc you play will having you wanting to play them all

[@rogerbabin8175]

While I STRONGLY recommend this franchise...its a series with a boatload of issues in my opinion but it is greater than the sum of its parts. Examples of some of its issues: - Poor balance between story and action. Sometimes you get what feels like 60+ minutes of story+NPC discussions with 15 load screens as you travel across maps and almost no combat. Other times (typically final dungeons but not exclusively) you'll get 4 hours of combat with maybe 10 minutes of story sprinkled in. - Lack of stakes in the storytelling. I can't go into detail for spoiler reasons so hopefully Trails players just know what I mean. - Too much Repetition in story beats. - Playing along side a guide for the entire franchise is basically mandatory...not for the reasons of difficulty but to get the most out of the story I'm revisiting this franchise currently. First time I've revisited and actually played everything back to back to back. The revisit experience has been GREAT. I played some games out of order the first time and with gaps of years between them. I jumped from Sky to Cold Steel. Playing Crossbell arc before Cold Steel ENCHANCES Cold Steel for sure. Its all building to my first ever time playing Reverie which will be in a couple months at this rate. Great franchise. Recommended for sure.

[@ANI-DEEZY]

great editing bro

[@myriadbIades]

MY GUY!!!

[@Matanua]

Starting with Step Ahead, I already know this vid is gonna be a banger

[@hxntaiguy3318]

Hey man thanks for the video, I've got plans to invest into the trails starting next year, the reason was because I saw the trailer for the latest release in the west, and than saw a Google ad about how it would take over 600 hours to fully play through the trail series to be ready for the new game, so it got me curious so I watched some videos on KZbin, and decided to give it a shot since it looks fun, plus I like long connecting series that have a connection to previous games having share story threads like with kingdom hearts, plus the characters design for the trails series looks cool, the only reason I'm waiting until next year's is I want to complete my sword art online game series first before I pick up another multi game series since it's a big investment

[@KisekiGamer1]

It's my favorite series too, in fact, I'm doing a playthrough of the ENTIRE series here. Currently on the final stretch of Zero

[@Yukeena]

Man dude i'm in for a long ride. Started with Liberl arc, just finished Crossbell arc, and now half way into ToCS1. I still have a long way to go but enjoying it very much and already turning into my fav jrpg series.

[@blacknerdtalks7921]

Thank you fir the tranchise breakdown, long time ganer, but onky slightly jeard abiut this franchise. Definitely interested in the katest entry now.

[@Numair621]

WE ARE SO FUCKING BACK

[@myriadbIades]

WE'VE NEVER BEEN MORE BACK THAN WE ARE RIGHT NOW

[@ill_luck]

It’s definitely a series I want to check out once I actually have a means to play most of them

[@stevenlisten]

Can wait for this game

[@KamenGoat]

Got into it about 6 or so months ago. Have completed Sky, Zero, Azure and all of CS. Starting Reverie… it has consumed me..

[@HolyRain89]

I feel that the Oroborus goal is to prepare for invasion from outside of Zumeria, or somewhere along the line. Which we got teased with the up coming title, where they finally going to explore outside of Zumeria Continent.

[@Zachalanche]

@1:00 "you must not wake up the cat who sleeps"

[@LilT2o00]

just beat Reverie today; working on post game tomorrow. First year of the pandemic i burned yakuza (0-6, then 7 when it came out, and ishin this year) 2nd year of pandemic? trails in the sky through cs4, reverie was the first one i got on release (i did fan translations of zero/azure so i didn't want to replay them when i have such a backlog) of 2 franchises i've just been introduced to in the last 2-3 years, these are my top 2 franchises I've ever dealt with, other ones got demoted

[@matthewdodds3168]

No one ever uses suikoden as an example of world building. I’d say it’s the next best series after trails

[@jeremyfusenliu3859]

this is hands down my favorite JRPG series, story, characters and music are really damn good and they also know how to set the mood in each scene. Also most impressive is that almost all the NPC are named and they have so different dialogues with each different scene.

[@reimihara21]

I recently started playing trails in the sky FC. I played trails of cold steel 1-4 then went and played trails from zero and then azure. I decided I need to play trails in the sky to understand the full story and I’m enjoying trails in the sky so far.

[@usurpererenyeagar4587]

i remembet when i was 12 i started trials of cold steel 1 cuase it was on my brothers pc i loved the game even tho i was shit at the gameplay it was 1 that made me remember it and rean is my favourite mc in the games iam currently playing trials 4 after getting free time from college

[@pandaman1331]

Of course the Trails OST kicks ass. It's made by Nihon Falcom, the company that also produces the Ys series. The games where you have epic music from the beginning to the end.

[@Haimi-fv5xj]

I played up to azure. It took me 4 years. It was an incredible experience that I probably will only get by continuing playing the series. I love the games and they mean a lot to me. But there’s something that bothers me. Seriously bothers me. The OST: It‘s got some really good tracks, some clean and memorable ones... the song that got me interested into the series was Silver Will as a matter of fact. There’s songs that move me because they remind me of the game. (Town tracks and night tracks especially). But -and I know this is a bit of a subjective thing- it‘s not consistently good. I feel like there are many filler tracks that don’t complete the ost/serve the purpose of the game and overall sound generic. I have heard people compare the ost to the likes of Nier, Final Fantasy (god bless Nobuo Uematsu), Persona (admittedly haven’t played yet) and other great soundtracks and it just... I disagree by a lot. I wanna know what the general sentiment is, not just the one from people wanting to promote tha games, but from people in the know. I remember my bother with this starting when playing smash with a friend an me telling him how glad I was that they added more tracks from ff so I could show them to him. He sorta dismissed it by telling me that his standard was too high now that he had played the trails games. At that point I found it baffling, because I had played the sky trilogy and -as enamored as I was with it, I would never even have thought of comparing them due to what I perceived was a substantial difference in quality. And I knew he wasn’t comparing, because he had not played any ffs. I know it’s dumb, but it really does bother me. I understand many people have many different needs, and that while the trails ost left me wanting, someone else might only care about the greats and not care about the ost as a whole... but then what do we mean when we say a game‘s ost is amazing? Can it mean so many things that it becomes an empty statement like „tomatoes are good“? Trails truly means the world to me, but does that mean I should be compelled to make shallow comparisons that might not even hold true, in order to show my love and appreciation for it?

[@BeeFizzle]

I cannot believe you would do my boi Kevin like that!!!!

[@thebuddhasmiles]

When people say "NPCs have their own stories in Trails" i immediately think of Kevin

[@andremartinez5307]

I had no idea about the sky series. I played Cold Steel 1 and a large majority of Cold Steel 2. Then I found out about the Sky and Crosbell arc. I played all the Sky games and am on Chapter 4 of Trails from Zero. I have no regrets about going back and playing Sky. Looking forward to Azure.

[@kot_on_the_road]

When I started watching anime, I did so because I was burned out of games... I had enough of gaming and moved into anime instead. Then I tried jrpgs, which I have never played before. And as much as I loved lots of them, be it Tales of, Neptunia, Xenoblade, Persona... Trails was just special to me. I even played some Ys games (epic games btw), but Trails are just unbeatable for me. The concept of many games building up a whole world and its story, it is just too good. I am among the lucky people that started with Sky without any previous knowledge of the series. I know lots of people who played cold steel 1 and then returned to Sky or just ignored it altogether... but man, nothing beats playing all trails game from the release... Sky, then Crossbell, Cold steel, Reverie and Kuro. I was so addicted. I takled with every npc in every game every time their dialogues reset, I explored and did all quests, fishing, everything games had to offer. (No I am not trophy hunter, I could not care less about trophies, I am all about the content of the game itself)... and I think I left around 1100 hours on those games. Currently I still need to play Kuro 2 so I expect at least another 60 hours or more... but yeah, it was the best ride I ever had in gaming ever. Definitely, trails is hard to play in several aspects, be it too time consuming or too much text, but it is worth it. You are part of that world at this point, immersion is huge. Btw. When you mentioned that director of the games is taking inspiration from other media etc., I just recently realized that Rivalries are definitely inspired by Holy Grail War from Fate.

[@d-pooly79]

As a man of culture and intellect, a philanthropist and dreamer, I assert that Sarah Valestein & Estelle Bright are best girls (Sharon in her Ouroboros black leather a VERY close 2nd) Fight me irl if you disagree bruh 😂 No but being serious, what a stunningly fantastic series. I thought FF & Star Ocean were the OG’s of jrpg’ until I stumbled blindly upon a steam sale a decade ago. After purchasing TITSFC, on a shot to nothing, my life changed, I found Christ, met my wife and…….okay so it wasn’t THAT profound, but NOTHING has hit my jrpg addiction and cravings like this series. It has everything I have ever wanted, needed, and things I didn’t know I needed or wanted. The world building is unlike ANY world building I have ever seen in literature, let alone a bloody video game. TLOH series is not a ‘game’ my friends, it is a way of life, a life goal, your best friend, your wifu/husbando (yeah I said it 😂), it is the ONLY guru you ever need. Don’t believe me?, play it, then come back once you’re done and leave your apology and thank you reply right below.

[@drewferguson8324]

Why should you play? Because it’s the best JRPG series of all time. Video over ty for watching.

[@808Slush]

HELL YEAH BROTHER. I literally made a channel just to talk about the sky trilogy. Im still making the first video right now!

[@myriadbIades]

We're so back

[@Kidberserk]

Love the sky and crossbells arc but man i though erobonia was mid with the exception of cold steel 3. How would you rank the arcs?

[@myriadbIades]

With the exception of Calvard right now since I can't play Kuro 2 I guess I would say Crossbell > Sky =< Erebonia? Like Erebonia has it's problems but given that Hajimari exists at all it made everything that happened in Cold Steel in the first place hit so much harder you know

[@Metaretru]

One thing ppl rarely talks is the NPC, each have their own story arc, hell even sometimes their story spans multiple game! That what makes Trails feel special to me

[@spiegel2947]

Whenever I think of a my favorite game Ost my brain always play joshua's harmonica

[@DanteCrowlley]

Am I the only one who always says trials instead of trails?

[@TheRealMaruki]

Ahh yes, Chancellor Gilliath Osborne. The villain that's been built up for 8 games.

[@RobertWWD]

Persona 4 got me into Trails of Cold Steel because of the School setting. I want to know if there’s other JRPGs that have School. I played Monarch unfortunately that’s not what I wanted.

[@DSTkunn]

The trails music gives me arc system fighting game vibes. Lol

[@Eagleknight815]

I literally had a jaw dropping moment when you said, "in my Chancellor, I trust." ..... Currently in CSIII Chapter 3 sooooo lets see what happens 😮

[@djanime2016]

great video! love the trails game so much.

[@osterbuuny3083]

How is it unironically possible to think that Reverie has the best story? I'm baffled.

[@KissShotCris]

It just does

[@jorntumrongwit9056]

NOT THE FUNKY DOOR

[@myriadbIades]

Had to remind the world of the funky door for the content 😔

[@Maverick55Moose]

This was the most based overview. I agreed with so much that you were saying, especially about the characters!

[@amarine1472]

the moment you said your fav ouroboros charas are mcburn, loewe, arianrhod, and ellroy, i knew u're a real one

[@Alpheus_09C]

Me watching this as someone who's playing through kuro:

[@sethhale235]

I want to like this video but what you did to Kevin Graham hurts too deep. (Seriously though, fun video.)

[@DemonicBandaid]

Trails is my favourite game series of all time. Renne Supremacy

[@thebuddhasmiles]

When I got recommended Umineko and was told it's 140+hours I didn't even flinch because Trails of Cold Steel

[@user-si5xe6no5g]

Have you u ever played Ys? It's pretty nice either.

[@codysvlogdays]

Wait the hate towards the name "trails into reverie"? I think it sounds nice

[@calliehatsu]

AZURE ARBITRATOR JOSHHHH

[@myriadbIades]

It saved my LIFE

[@kossemoore3342]

Rn now my major issue with series comes down to the monetary investment. I could emulate the earlier games. But once we get beyond the psp there's just no way I could afford all of the games atm. Looks like a great series though

[@kuvjason7236]

Cold Steel series is the my favorite. Sure, it started off S.L.O.W but it needed to be slow because you're thrown into Zemuria's largest country

[@nyn2k259]

So I tried playing Sky on psp but sigh so I got into Trails of Cold Steel which had a lot of dialogue like a lot but I managed to beat it. Wasn't to into the robot either battles are slow. Started part 2 on Vita but sigh not kicking it for me so I'll try Zero the Cold Steel 3-4 as the years go by. But overall its an amazing game.

[@treezen522]

My favorite series is definitely Kuro no Kiseki. I really like it because the side missions in this series are something that always happen in real life (and I can relate to some of them because I have experienced those myself), and also I prefer Van than other trails of heroes protagonists (Rean, Estelle,or Lloyd), because Van isn't trying to sacrifice himself or to be a hero, he is just a normal human. Also, I prefer his way of life, everything has their own price, you can't expect someone to do your task without giving something in return. I mean, that's basically how most people live

[@soloudandclear]

I completely agree with you. Despite being 12 games, they're all worth. Hopefully we'd get remakes for Liberl Arc someday tho 🤞🏼🤞🏼🤞🏼🤞🏼🤞🏼

[@psychomaniks]

Kevin who? 😂

[@dill_himself]

Trails is such a good series! I just wish cold steel one and 2 would come out on the switch.. And the sky trilogy lol

[@vars9880]

GOOD SHIT JOSH

[@akiotatsuki2621]

Why not just, Legend of Heroes in general?

[@heatherbless6901]

I recently found out about this series and i really want to buy all the games for the ps4 that is because I don't have pc or switch like some people do. Anyways is it ok to start with the cold steel games and then play reverie because i saw these games on ebay where i buy my games(please don't judge me) and they are expensive like cold steel 1 cheapest i could find was like 75 dollars i still have other games I'd like to purchase like the tales of arise 2 that's coming out nov 9th and still need to get Hogwarts legacy at some point but i feel spending like 200 to 300 dollars on 5 trails games that's just too expensive. I've heard such great things about this franchise and wanted to give it a try since i did the same with tales of games I'm on my 4th tales game and i absolutely love it. The characters suck you in and once your invested in characters in a game your in it for the long hall. From what I've seen videos of trails games i only watched the trailers to all the trails games and omg I'm hooked already lol it looks so good the graphics the design it's just breathtaking imo anyways does anyone know if there's some where i could get these amazing games cheaper? I mean I'll spend the money if i have to go the expensive route but if there's another option I'd love to hear it. Question what all trails games are available on ps4 i know cold steel 123 and 4 are along with reverie but are the ones before that on ps4 or no i have a ps3 ps4 and a ps2 so i was just curious. This is a good franchise to dive into with winter coming and I'll be spending most of my time inside so i think this would be perfect. If anyone has any suggestions I'd love to hear them thank you and have wonderful day/night wherever you are.

[@myriadbIades]

To break down this tweet (there's a lot here lol) -Besides the first trilogy (trails in the sky) almost every Trails game is on ps4, including the trilogy prior to Cold Steel in the Crossbell games (Trails from Zero/Trails to Azure). -I don't know what kind of computer you might have but (as long as it's strong enough) you can play the Sky trilogy on pretty much anything one of my friends did their playthrough on a mac computer -Reverie is a game that signals the end of the first half of the series and kinda concludes 9 games worth of buildup and character arcs up to that point so you really can't only play cold steel and then into reverie since the series has characters return in other arcs a lot -If Sky is completely unplayable for you then I would advertise at the very least watching a very detailed playthrough for those games so that you could still know what the story for those games are, but everything else is purchasable for ps4

[@quickpawmaud]

Didnt even mention Dragon Quest in the beginning the most important jrpg series of all time.

[@thebuddhasmiles]

Nigga Higurashi is the most important JRPG of all time and it's not even close LMFAO

[@sharadaarun6222]

Gods that star door 15💀

[@Shazam1998]

Kevin hate? That is not excusable.

[@myriadbIades]

I genuienly believe Kondo forgot about him being a mc until someone at Falcom had to remind him he was in the series at all

[@ZeNex74]

If i start.. 5years later i finish. So off putting

[@Argent_Void]

3:55 HE SAID HE SAID THE WORD

[@blaa6]

1. Cold Steel 4 2. Cold Steel 2 3. Reverie Azure, Zero and Sky 2/3 are close behind.

[@brad8709]

hate this series but good vid buddy ♥

[@COREcasual]

Where to start to get to reverie asap?

[@myriadbIades]

The beginning of the series (Sky)

[@AspeSumma]

Its pretty great. Or at least it used to be before cold steel

[@LilT2o00]

Gonna have to drop a second comment for not accepting father Kevin. ya'll ignoring him as hard as Falcom is. He's still a MC he was 100% the MC of trails 3 Also, not a JRPG franchise (well kinda is now) but in terms of long term story, I'm also nominating Yakuza on that one. That and trails are my top 2 long telling arcs

[@KissShotCris]

ME WHEN AHHHHHH

[@bangalgar]

Door 15 fucked me up

[@maomi1852]

I love this game series

[@jonrosenberg4324]

I know, dear god I know!

[@plebugen9659]

You did my boy green vash the stampede dirty. Kevin best mc

[@vegeta6555]

I loved the series but I think I am burnt out on it now. I didn't even beat trails of reverie.

[@kolz4ever1980]

Sounds like a fake fan instead of someone that "loves the series"

[@MemoriesofRen]

So true

[@frosif7751]

and then there's Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door

[@Mille8492]

Evade counter build the Fie barrier

[@mastermo316]

For the algos

[@tsilvah]

I love this series but I got a little tired at CD4 for all the side quests system that is the same for everygame I think this games would be a lot betetr if the duration was 40/60 hours instead of 80/100

[@thornszk]

Kiss X Sis series?

[@WalkerSunriseChannel]

4:44 #FreeKevinYouCowards

[@andr0zzsenpai]

We get it, you hate the name Reverie lol but why tho

[@coyote271280]

well, I would think is a localization thing, since Hajimari does not, not even closely, means reverie. Trails into beginings would be closer, but then an even better translation would be "Miracles in Beginings or miracles into beginings" Since kiseki literally means "miracle', so yes, Sora no kiseki literally means "miracle in the sky'. Makes you see everything differently or is it just me?

[@SuperSupersoda]

You threw some massive shade @4:45 of the video. Put some respect on the name of Father Kevin Graham, fifth dominion of the Gralslitters and the former Heretic Hunter.

[@Snzn18]

Once Falcom decide to make an arc focused on Gralsritter then Kevin's popularity will definitely rise.

[@rooty]

How can you be a huge fan of a series and not know how to pronounce the title of it? Japanese is the easiest language ever in terms of pronunciation. It's just flat. No emphasis on any particular syllable. I don't understand how people mess it up, or where they've learnt this stress. Do you just guess?

[@oragamijetpack]

Please dont get into this. Anyone who grew up bilingual knows that people who didnt will struggle to pronounce sounds from other languages. Relax urself.

[@rooty]

@@oragamijetpack it's one thing to grow up monolingual, but it's a totally different matter to love Japanese games for years but refuse to learn even the most basic thing about Japanese, to the point you cannot pronounce the titles. It's not asking much, is it? I'd be surprised if you could find someone who loves French cinema, for example, but is somehow so uninterested in learning anything about French that they mispronounce everything.

[@blackdragoncyrus]

The writing got shit at Cold Steel.

[@thebuddhasmiles]

By no means am I defending cold steel but whatever you hated in it existed since Crossbell [Flashback to Agate and Tita] nvm bro

[@lancemoraes853]

The plot game is CHILDSH, but you can play if you dont have any better

[@alumlovescake]

What is not childish to you?

[@lancemoraes853]

@@alumlovescake There are countries at war, there have been coups and revolutions against governments in power, there have been coup attempts, and there are conflicts and wars happening in the world currently. Looking at how things have unfolded in various countries and how the plot of game 2 and 3 unfolds (I'm currently playing the third one, 57 hours into the game on Steam), if you didn't find the plot of Monarchs taking power, children playing a major role and defeating monarchs, and the Chancellor orchestrating it all to be childish, then you definitely don't know anything about the world. You live watching series and playing games and believe you understand the world's problems.

[@lancemoraes853]

@@alumlovescake I understand that the scriptwriters don't need to study wars, trade wars, or hybrid wars to create the game's plot, but unfortunately, because they don't study reality, the game is very, very childish in almost everything or everything. To avoid getting a headache, I read the dialogues very sparingly

[@someguy3263]

​@@lancemoraes853I wasn't expecting realism in the first place after Tita calls down an orbital space laser as her s-craft...

[@lancemoraes853]

@@someguy3263 It's not realism, if you expect realism there are no films, but the game has a childish plot construction

[@Professional_garbage]

My problem with trails is this is not a game this is just a movie 2 hours of boring converstion between anime characters than gameplay and combat for like 15 min

[@kolz4ever1980]

Aka cod scrub trying out a genre you don't belong in...

[@Professional_garbage]

@@kolz4ever1980 nah I'm not shooter palyer I'm big j-RPG fan