So I played TRAILS IN THE SKY For The First Time...
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- čas přidán 23. 07. 2024
- Brace yourselves for we are about to dive into uncharted waters with the Legends Of Heroes series. Specifically, we're throwing it back to 2004 with Trails In The Sky FC; a niche JRPG with some of the most thoughtful writing you can find in the genre. It has been recommended to me for years to give these games a shake and I can confidently say I get it now.
I played Mega Man Zero for the first time: • So I played MEGA MAN Z...
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#Trails #JRPG #Nintendo
Matt: "I love Agate"
Tita: *loads grenade launcher with malicious intent*
Erika *See her sweet daughter reaction... Look at Agate with Murderous intent*
Me : ... Congrats, in one phrase, you threatened both your own life and an innocent's one...
Edit : Don't let me write in english when I jus woke up....
You mentioned that Trails doesn’t waste a single line of dialogue, and that everything the writers and developers do is extremely deliberate. That’s exactly what I’ve told friends who are interested in this series. I’ve said to multiple people that “trails is a series that demands your full attention in order to get the full experience. It’s the only game series I’ve ever played where every bit of investment on my end was reciprocated in full by the games themselves.” I’m all the way at Cold Steel IV now after playing through all the previous entries, and it still astounds me just how much effort the writers and developers put into every single line of dialogue. Trails imo has the most fleshed out and realized world and characters I have ever seen in a game.
I beat Cold Steel IV a few days ago, and it ended up being my favourite of the series. Utterly incredible both as a game on its own, but also a resolution to the 700+ hours of stories that came before it.
As an example, a character namedrops a banned book of dark magic in one line in Sky the 3rd. This same book comes back in an optional bonding event in Cold Steel 4. You'd assume the first mention was just throwaway world-building, but they REMEMBERED it.
I played nearly every game in the series including up to Kuro No Kiseki yet it doesn't even take me 500 HOURS combined to beat all those games since from SC onwards I played them on Easy mode (Very easy starting with Cold Steel 3) and beat each game easily in under 30 hours EACH.
Well, you get a book called "Kitty-Talk for Dummies" once or twice in the Sky trilogy, yet you can still use it 15+ years later to translate cat dialogues. Most other developers would have just forgotten about its existence.
Yes! It rewards you for being invested and being attention.
It's just insane how the series is still continuing plot threads that started almost 20 years ago.
I'm willing to bet there's stuff that's set up in the first game that won't see its full payoff until the end of the franchise in the final arc.
Reminds me a lot of kingdom hearts in a way with its narrative
@@BobbyTheGamerOfJUSTICE comparing KH to Trails in terms of coherent story is like comparing Einstein to your local high school jock lmao
@@Trails3rdFanboy I meant as an overarching narrative with continuing plot threads. Regardless, KH is coherent lmao. You just gotta pay attention
@@BobbyTheGamerOfJUSTICE KH is the farthest thing from coherent and its only the diehard fanboys that actually say so lmao
Fully played through all the trilogy while also platinumed entire sky series, I can definitely say it's one heck of a journey from Sky -> Crossbell -> Coldsteel. You're in for a ride :)
how on earth did you get through the Sky trilogy on Nightmare?? i was getting roughed up with just normal
@@Andrew-Gomez904 There are guides online for sky in nightmare mode. Its mostly abusing arts and always being up to date with orbs and the tactics positioning is actually important.
For me to get platinum trophy I had to reso the game and go theough all the chests because I missed 2... I was probably half asleep
@@Andrew-Gomez904 isit there a new game plus mode
I love this series. I’ve played the sky trilogy and cold steel 1 and 2. Patiently waiting for the switch port of trails from zero. This series deserves way more recognition than it gets.
The problem is when I play ff7 and ff10 I dont have to play the others. When I play dragon quest 8 and 11 I dont have to play the others. I know it's good for people who have time. I'm looking at it like I dont have time to play a dozen rpgs right now.
@@WM-mu8ep Play whichever you want and can. No rush at all
@@lolcat I know but hes making it sound like you need to play them all type of series
@@WM-mu8ep Because it does expect that you've played them all especially once you hit Cold Steel 3, it essentially will reference the previous seven games and some characters from previous games will come back.
@@WM-mu8ep well just start with first title of sub series like trails in the sky first chapter or trails of cold steel 1. if you like the world building you will play all the series eventually.
I started with Sky when I decided to jump into Trails. Didn't really love it for most of the game, thought it was alright... and then right towards the end, it all just... clicked. I realised that they had used all that time wandering around the world to really build it - and make me seriously care about Estelle and Joshua. I remember my jaw hitting the floor at that ending. That was when I realised that they always put FC on sale for a lot, but SC always gets around 10-20% off at most. They know that generally, if you beat the first game, you're gonna instantly jump into SC.
Of course I did, I IMMEDIATELY bought the sequel, and played every released game in release order. Still can't decide whether I like Sky or Crossbell more.
Thanks for the review! I hope you enjoy the series as much as I did. :)
Same here. That plot twist at the end made me decide to play the rest of the series
Thank you for giving this series the attention it deserves. Trust me when I say the Crossbell Duology is a MUST PLAY upon release as they are up there with the greatest JRPGs of all time.
I agree as someone who has played all of the trails games up to cold steel 4 I have to say the crossbell games are my favorites in the whole saga.
That's what I've heard. Very, very excited to play. Would be diving into the mods if they weren't already dropping this year.
@@retrorebound8887 I played the Geofront translations of Zero and Azure over the past year and they did an incredible job.
I demand a debate
Sky still better than crossbell :v
Close tho
@@edwin7788 no need to debate its just personal preference some folks like sky others like crossbell and others like cold steel thats the beauty of trails games even though they follow the same story all 3 are much different from eachother.
"The story is about a brother and sister" Also shows a shot of said brother and sister kissing.
Might've been better to mention that the brother was adopted and that they all knew this lol
This, but it’s established in the first 5 mins
This is one of the most underrated series for JRPGs. I wasn't a huge fan of the direction the Cold Steel games took the story in, but I had a lot of fun exploring the world and talking to every single NPC. It's just a comfy series.
It can't possibly be underrated when it keeps on getting released on a wider amount of platforms. It's getting more love than even Zelda.
@@MrX-rk9or Zelda sells more copies with a spinoff's remaster than Trails tho
@@MrX-rk9or Its underrated cause is simply not as well known, even if it releases on multiple consoles (and not even that many anyway) it doesnt change the fact that when people think of JRPGs they think of Final Fantasy, Persona, Tales Of, Shin Megami Tensei but not Trails. And Zelda is incomparable to trails where zelda games have shaped entire generations of gamers with OoT and BotW. Trails has always been on the sidelines
@@TheHenkxz because it's never properly advertised in international markets ...
Trails games are quite popular in Japan , south korea or even in mainland China tho .
@@MrX-rk9or its underrated because only this year did I ever heard about it, imagine my surprise when I saw there's like 10 games in the series almost as much as final fantasy
Whenever I see a person looking for new JRPGs on reddit, I recommend them this series. Like me, many people have been doing this I guess. That's the reason we are still getting the official English versions of the game as the sales are on the rise. Hope this series get more recognition like Persona and FF as Falcom deserves it.
This series kind of helped me with my own trauma and recovery back when I played it. I used to suffer a lot from dissociation as a result of CPTSD, and seeing Joshua be loved and accepted made me realise I too can be a part of a team, part of a family, instead of running away and being alone.
Bro I'm glad I came across your comment. I've been recently diagnosed with CPTSD this year and everything is just been hard. So thank u for this, I'll be giving this game a try then 💓 I hope you have a good recovery journey as I will do my best to as well
Yall are gonna make me cry 😢 I hope youre both doing well.
@@808Slush This is so wholesome WTF 😭
After the events of FC, Estelle also had a small episode during the first moments of the second game. I rarely see jrpg dialogue to be so well written like this.
Renne is also a great example of this. She's come such a long way. In the Kuro games she's a main party member now, all grown up too.
I decided to start playing JRPGs because of your channels. Thank you so much for making these videos and all the effort you put into them. We all would be better off if everyone took reviews as serious and made them as thoughtful as you.
Glad to see this series get some attention. I found it in 2020 and powered through 9 of the games in the series I was that hooked.
Also gotta shout out the Vita versions of the Sky games. They are actually remasters and have JP voices acting, updated character portraits to match the later games, a text log, better graphics and they have Turbo Mode.
You do have to apply an English Patch to them but it's a much better experience than the PSP ports. Zero no Kiseki and Ao no Kiseki were remastered for Vita too but no Turbo Mode :( and only Zero has an English Patch.
i played trails in the sky 1 and 2 for the first time pretty recently and they are my favorite rpgs ever. i also played zero and loved it as well, just not quite as much as the sky games.
i played them on a psp emulator and they all have the fast forward feature on there. i'm a bit annoyed that the 3rd sky game is the only one to not have an english translation on psp, but if you had to be missing one game in the series, that would be the one, the other 4 are all more vital to the overall story.
The Trails series was the first series where I actually tried talking to every NPC that I could. The dialog is fantastic and the world building is some of the best I've ever seen. I thought I wouldn't like going around doing that, but it rewards you in the end for doing so.
It's amazing how all the characters in trails can basically be the poster boy/girl for each anime stereotype. We got the badass oldman, the kid with dark past, loli with guns, the well mannered princess amongst other things and yet they're all so well written and loveable.
It really is stereotype done right.
Joshua best princess
It's done right because rather than just being those stereotypes they have way more layers to them then that. And they don't just devolve back to their stereotype later. They develop and they stay developed. Forever.
@@aerrae5608 I can agree with your comment up to Crosbell's end. Starting in CS, I would say the only characters that actually develop personality layers are the 2 least liked, Machias and Jusis. They are the ones that fully overcome their stereotype. Fie being a step below them but still outgrowing her initial trope, and on a side note, bcs she never outgrows her archetype, but actually develops as a person while still being a stereotype is Altina, which is a sublime example on how you can do a cookie cutter character and still develop it and make it great.
For the rest of the CS cast, to me it feels like they start as stereotypes, and as they grow (because they do, don't get me wrong), they grow only more 'set' in their stereotype, prime examples of this are the OG harem girls trio and the MC. Gaius (while being my favorite) and Elliot are like in a limbo and dear Millium is just a living trope.
New class 7 is better in all regards tbh.
@@coyote271280 Steel is the weakest in the series character wise, no surprise why trying to write so many protagonists and their interactions at once.
Hopefully Calvard keeps the main cast small.
I started with cold steel cause it was on sale, and then i found myself binging all available versions. How this was never on my map til recently...i have no idea. Zero and Azure cant come soon enough.
same after I finished cold steel one to three, I got sky to 3 and I played zero and azure before the gaming company took out the free downloads. I still have them lol
Cold Steel is the best starting point imo. Without it, I never would've gotten into Trails. I tried Sky at first but it didn't do it for me so I refunded it.
Thank god I got CS1 on a whim. It was on sale, whereas Persona 4 (the game I was gonna buy) wasn't. So I just figured I'd give the Trails series another try with CS. I got absolutely hooked. Beat 1 and 2 in like a month. I went and bought the entire Trails catalogue on steam before I was even done with CS2. Now I've 100% First Chapter and currently playing SC. I didn't even get into JRPGs til like 3 years ago (been gaming for 20~) so I'm glad that there's an amazing series like Trails that I can binge. And even after I'm done with these, there's still the other half of upcoming games!
I first heard about these games because I saw a movie based on the first game on hulu, and I looked more into the series because I couldn't believe how expansive the universe was now its my favorite game series of all time
@@nateortega2912 same here. I stared in Cold Seel 1-3 then went back to Sky and then got the free downloads with the EVO patches before they were struck down
Same, got the first cold steel 5 hours in i bought the other 3 and binged them
Years later, I'm still recovering from the ptsd I got from the last Star Door on third chapter. Third chapter is pretty underrated but it has the most mature story in all of the Trails I've played so far. I've played all games up to the early part of Cold Steel.
I was so caught off guard by star door 15. Didn't they would go *there*
@@mark-gj4mb Star door 15 was simply uncalled for. Then you get some extra lore and context in the Crossbell Arc and lets just say, "Yo, these people are straight up fucked in the head."
@@msaag5490 I'm so used to JRPG villains and themes being very vanilla and generic, so Star Door 15 and Zero were actually really interesting. It was interesting seeing a JRPG "go there" in terms of organized crime, political corruption, and of course child exploitation and human trafficking. Even the Sky and Cold Steel games never really deal with such serious themes. Plus, we got a good resolution for Renne and I think that method of storytelling with such heavy themes really drove home the impact of Zero's scene with Renne, Estelle, and Joshua
@@mark-gj4mb For all of her accomplishments as a Bracer, her personal growth, yada yada yada, the single greatest thing that Estelle has ever done and will ever do, was saving that little girl, and that was the strongest barrier that was overcome in Zero no Kiseki.
Great piece of storytelling, great character development and I am still emotionally affected every time I remember "Caught you". I love Estelle.
@@coyote271280 yes, I cry at any Renne scene in the 3rd or Zero. Estelle is a great character and I think it's great seeing her when she isn't the protagonist
Trails series will always have a part in my heart. This is the game that changed my whole view about turn-based rpg. One i absolutely loved about the series is how great the game in the world building, every npc have their own storyline. It's not like those rpg out there who treated the npc like a plain doll. the inkeeper, the stall owner, the bystander have their own narative to follow if you willing to talk to them every so often, it makes the game so lively and believable, almost feels like a real existing world if I must say.
I loved the Sky trilogy. I'm currently on the second Crossbell game (Trails to Azure).
I even bought the Crossbell games legitimately on PC and applied the Geofront translations.
I have all 4 Cold Steel games on my shelf waiting for me to play after! :)
I think some modern gamers may struggle with these text heavy games.
If you grew up with 90's / early 2000's RPGs you should feel right at home.
Welcome to the Kiseki Cult. There's no way out, all other JRPGs are forever ruined for you and lastly, you too won't be able to shut up about the games. I hope you enjoy your stay, our new brother. But on a more serious note, this is an ungforgettable journey that you'll love to bits. This series will make you laugh, cry, and feel so many other emotions and having deeply affect you.
My experience with the series is pretty much: on the calmer parts of quests/early game, you re just going on a calm ride getting to know these characters and world or hanging out with characters and npcs you recognize going a bit quicker with each chapter as you go along patiently while getting some lore and fun character development here and there, no need to rush just chill out and go where it's taking you.
Until you get to the chapter where the ride flips upside down, everything is burning and we re now on turbo mode as the game blasts you with stakes,lore, major character development and plot twists all at once and you get really hyped. Finally got caught up recently, was a great ride.
I love the slow-burn and world building, and the chilled out soundtrack in those earlier chapters. And then, suddenly towards the end of each game the story (and everything else) ramps up to 11 hahah. It's great fun.
I'm playing in release order and I'm on the second Crossbell game. So I still have a lot to play.
Man is like reading a Brandon Sanderson novel, 600 pages of slow paced build up, 150 of the infamous 'Sanderlanch' (Sanderson Avalanche) of plot twists, lore, character development, stakes, resolutions, pay off, etc etc etc.
And I discovered trails before reading any of Sanderson's books.
In a way, the trails series prepared me for Sanderson. His Cosmere universe is in the literary world what trails is to gaming.
Give the Mistborn trilogy a try, you wont be dissapointed, even has a good (not 'strong') female lead.
The Sky trilogy are some of my favorite games! I can’t wait for us to finally be able to play the Crossbell games this year
I mean it's on PC homie
@@archafromdmc1913 Crossbell isn't officially out yet tho? Even on PC
@@chelsearamos3617 not officially, but it is out on PC lol. In English and everything, beat those games last year
@@FBBReppCloud yeah but didn't they take those down? I know it was on the geofront website but afaik ever since the announcement it would finally have an official release they took down their copy of the game
@@chelsearamos3617 They took it down, but you can still find it. The official release is somewhere in 2022 and 2023.
The Trails series is like playing an anime. In every arc the first game is very slow because they actually take the time to build their world and characters. In the moment it can be frustrating slow but once that pay off hits you really start to appreciate the world building they did. I've played all the trails games available here in the states and the Sky arc and it's characters are still my favorite. When I finished Sky the Third, even knowing that some of these characters will appear in other arcs, I was so sad because the story would be moving away from them and this wonderful kingdom of Liberl that I grew to love over the 3 games. If you love and appreciate world building and character depth in your games, trust me, no one does it better than Falcom in the Trails series. They really don't get enough credit.
It felt like saying bye to your family and friends bcs you are going to work on another continent. You might still see them every now and then, but is just not the same thing anymore. I know how you felt.
Love all these games. I can’t wait for the new ones to come out.
Always good to see this series get more attention. I point anyone who asks for game recommendations to this series. It’s a classic and that Marvel analogy was a great explanation because it’s an expanded world whose storyline’s intertwine.
Glad to see more people getting into the Trails series. I recently finished all the games last year so I''m still a bit hurt. definitely my favorite video game series out there. Reverie can't come soon enough
I’m dying over this series. I held off playing further than sky hoping there would be an official version for Crossbell. Then geo came out with a patch for zero and I thought well I just wait for Azure to make sure there is a quality version of that one. It finally came, I bought Zero off the foreign website and didn’t put the patch to it and a day or two later the official versions were announced and patches taken off line. I’m so happy for the geo team that they are officially seeing their passion project get major recognition, but man it’s been a long wait to get back into this series when I loved the sky trilogy 😂
I appreciate you for shinning light on this Gem!! No other series has done what this series has done. It baffles me how it's not more popular like FF, star ocean etc.
The Cold Steel games first started coming out during a period of time that was an absolute DESERT for quality Turn-Based RPGs. This series was the first to crack my "Top 10" list, in decades.
Same, I rememer back then I was so sad and disappointed by Tales of Zestiria and Final Fantasy XV. Late night, I bought on impulse the Cold Steel 1 PS3 Collector Edition. I never regretted this purchase. After Cold Steel 1&2, I played the Sky Trilogy and Zero/Azure games. :)
@@Terranigma23 It was the initial Cold Steel 1 release, for me. I think it was 2014. It was rare to see a Turn-Based RPG in 3D, in those days.
@@guruthosamarthruin4459 Cold Steel released in Japan in 2013 and in the US in 2015.
@@BlueGrovyle I may have first seen trailers in 2014.
@@guruthosamarthruin4459 well good for you. I hadn't even heard of Falcom until Dec 2020 when I saw CS1 on Steam with it's shiny "Overwhelmingly Positive" review ratio, but maybe good for me too because that game came into my life at a much needed time last year when I was crumbling under some life pressure. Probably one of my 3 favorite games ever, to be honest. Still love it looking back despite its many flaws, and I've probably watched the game a full 5 or more times over via Twitch streams by now.
I’m 17 hours into trials of the sky fc, using a Jp voice mid pack helps so much. 17 hours and I JUST completed chapter 1. It’s so captivating. Love the characters.
Glad to see you talking about this franchise Matty. Keep up the good work!
I'm so glad more people are discovering trails now but I do have mixed feelings of how popular it can potentially get but for JRPG fans in general it's a must play.
I love the entire series. I've played the entire Trails of the Sky, Crossbell Duology (Trails from Zero to Azure) then the entire Trails of Cold Steel from 1 to 4 all in 2020 to 2021 and I am currently waiting for Hagimari no Kiseki (Trails into reverie) and Kuro no Kiseki.
Congrats! I first got into the franchise when I picked up the first Cold Steel game from a local library a while back. Been a fan of the franchise ever since. Just pre-ordered the English-language port of Trails from Zero last night.
We need Sky on the PS!
I played Trails in the Sky 1 and SC on my PSP; no regrets. It made me appreciate what Falcom did way back then.
1:55 Trails is essentially the MCU of JRPGs.
An apt description for sure.
This is my favorite game of all time. And this is a fantastic review. You've highlighted my favorite parts about this game, and touched on my least favorite parts as well without giving any spoilers.
I feel like as i grow older, i get introduced to Gems like this. Always wondering where the hell i've been these past ten years LOL. So glad I started it though, waiting on Zero and Azure before I move onto Cold Steel 3. ALSO, the soundtrack is amazing in the sky series.
Retro, you did a great job with your analyzes about the series. I am currently researching more about it and will give it a try.
What timing! I picked this up myself recently after hearing about it.
oh boy, the little details of accomplishing something with the Sky arc and it gets carried on with the next game is so lovely. Welcome to game that could pass off as reading a wonderful novel. Even without turbo mode, I had fun patching up files on my PS VITA for the Evo version and allowed me to absorb more of every moment of the game.
One of my favorite series. i’m so glad they’re finally bringing The other three games to the west. Can’t wait to play those. it would be amazing if they could Bring the trails in the sky series to the switch it would be perfect.
I'm loving this unusual spike in Trails content
The graphical artstyle is actually both, character sprites in a 3D world. They perfected this artstyle so well that both just melts together with each other.
Welcome, brother. I'm always glad to hear that another one has joined us. We're definitely not a cult.
I really need to pick this back up. I’m not that far into it, but I love the unique, almost tactics-esque battle system and the characters are great. And I’m not one who usually pays that much attention to music in games, but WOW the music really grabbed me. I haven’t put a whole lot of time into it, but I was already just humming along to the town theme while I was watching your video because I freaking love that song. It’s so instantly memorable.
Just finished the Sky series so now I'm hunting for videos. You are so right about almost everything you say especially the dialogues not being wasted even though it's a lot.
I'm really trying to convince my cousins to get into it but keep telling them that it takes a while and the payoff is worth it.
This is definitely a huge game series that deserves patience to explore the extremely giantic and interconnected story among all the ten episodes -- bravo for making a review on this game and make it reach more audiences. Also a big fan of the sky series, now playing reverie. 😃
I REALLY need to get back into this game, I was always curious about the whole Trails Of series, but the number of games was really intimidating. So I picked up this one and just fell in love with it, the graphics and overall music remind me a lot of Ragnarok Online, so it gave me a little bit of nostalgia haha but the characters and the extent that they go to set up the whole world is really amazing.
Most JRPGS start in a really mundane way, and then things just go crazy in a short time, it's sort of a trope by now. But this game really takes it's time and I just sort of appreciate the slow pace, really helps to build things up when eventually something insane happens
I'd completed trails of cold steel 4 coming from trails in the sky 1, not completing two and playing the entirety of the cold steel series. Watching this video gives me this burst of nostalgia as if I'm meeting old friends reminiscing the old days. I have a special place in my heart for this series.
Excellent video...thank you 🙌🏿
Always love to see Trails get a spotlight! I feel like these games have been getting a little more popular recently, but they're still criminally underrated/unknown. I've played every game in the series including the nonlocalized ones and man, what they're done with the continuity and world building is consistently mind blowing. You have to enjoy reading, but if you do, these games are incredible. I'm very glad Zero and Azure are finally coming west because Azure is one of the best JRPGs ever made imo.
Man the intro music. Filled all my nostalgia. And the long ass waiting for 2nd game
Man, just started the series a couple days ago then found this channel! I'm really digging the first Sky chapter so far. Like you said I've seen a lot of people say how slow this first game is, but I just hit Chapter 2 and am enjoying it. Idk guess I'm just into the small, personal journey they are on lol.
But everyone is also saying their jaws dropped at the ending of this game, so I'm really looking forward to that!
I remember suddenly discovering this game somehow in 2020 during Covid lockdown. Was such a great time playing this being in my dorm room after having lectures. Funny, how I thought was an old JRPG from the 90s.
This review really clicks with me. Hit the nail on the head. Just finished sky after playing cs1 and cs2. Safe to say this series is my life now
welcome to the fandom!
YAY YOU PLAYED TRAILS MY FAVORITE JRPG SERIESS SO EXCITEED
I love how the first game had the issue of giving you only two party members, because there aren't that many characters (who can realistically just forget their lives and follow you).
Then from the 4th game they had to create mechanics to fit 6 people.
Then by the 9th you can have 8 people at times, and even then you don't have even half the people available following you. They really do keep everyone feeling important
One of my wishes before I pass is to play this awesome saga through to its grand finale. I just love this series so much.
Im on the 4th installment myself..enjoy throughoutly my dude
Traila in the sky is one of my all time favorites and its always great to see it get recognition
One of my favourite game of all time, it took me 95 hours(FC+SC), I also completed Zero no kiseki and Ao no kiseki(Crossbell duology), I also played Erebonien Empire Quadriology and excited for the Republic of Calvard series
So Trails is still largely unknown?
Man that's so sad, Trails deserves so, so much more.
Maybe with Trails from Zero coming to console very soon, the tides will start to turn for my beloved series.
Doubtful, I don't think Zero and Azure getting an official release will even sell all too well.
The graphics will be a turn off for most that aren't into the series already.
Most fans have also already played the fantranslations so at most they will toss some money to support falcom.
I could see kuro getting a ton of people into the series if they release it in the next 2-3 years.
@@luminous3558 Dude, you're a bit out of touch! Zero and Azure are getting official releases! And they're working with the people who did the fan translations to get it done! The next game, Reverie, is also coming! Be hype!
@@Mychael612 Uhh yeah I said that the official release wont sell. Most of the community has already played the games so outside of giving falcom money there isnt a big reason to buy them especially at 20€+.
Graphics will keep most of the "I saw the game on steam and bought it" sales down.
The Geofront localizations were the hype releases, people aren't gonna get hyped to just replay the games again when it hasn't been that long.
English release of Hajimari is still well over a year away.
Falcom really needs to get someone to start working on worldwide releases, waiting 3 years on a game while falcom releases 3 more games in that time is just silly.
We will still be waiting on PS4 games when the PS6 releases.
finished zero and azure last year and they are so , so good :) Fantastic game, fantastic series or at least those games i have played. Azure is one of my all time fav games
@@Mychael612 comment?
It's amazing...even the minor dialogue between the NPCs can tell a minor story that can be a miniature distraction to the overall game. For instance, this video showed Armand and Ellie. Throughout the first and second game, you see them occasionally. Armand approaches her in the alley, she's not exactly thrilled to be courted in an ALLEYWAY, but then they take it to the clocktower, then they start dating, they get extremely lovey dovey to the point it actually makes Estelle sick, Armand proposes in Grancel, they have a quest later in Rolent where you find a ring and then it culminates in a wedding in which another girl catches a bouquet and is probably set to marry Rinon the Shopkeeper. ( His interfering Mom drags the girl home the capital and that's another story told.)
And dont forget about the end of this story in Crosbell, then they meet Armand father.
But i more like story of this girl that catch a bouquet.
Trails in the sky is definitely made for people who love a build up. It can be slow at times but the characters and their journey is always a awesomely beautiful and fun time.
I finished the first one for the first time recently on PSP and working on SC now and will get into rest of Trails from there! Very good!
Over the last year I've played through ALL of the Sky games and ALL of the Cold Steel games, and as a fan of JRPGs I'm ashamed I've let these slip my attention for so long. Now I'm full blown fan!
Oh man brother, I can’t wait for you to play and review Zero and Ao. In my opinion it’s the strongest “arc” (before cold steel 3 and 4 pushing the overall narrative forward). Definitely a more mature story, awesome soundtrack, and I just love the main characters.
Seeing new people catch the Trails plague is always fun.
As someone who's finished all games including Hajimari no Kiseki and waiting on Kuro spreadsheet anyone who's watching this make sure you know this isn't really a "series" but one massive narrative that still is only 60% finished at the end of Hajimari no Kiseki
Each game be it Sky FC or Cold Steel 2 should be looked at in the same way if the mass effect series had 10+ games ongoing with Sky FC being mass effect 1 and cold steel 2 being basically mass effect 7 and of course you don't start playing mass effect with 3 the same way you wouldn't start playing trails starting with cold steel 3.
It's all one linear narrative and while perspectives change and the arcs focus on different things all of it is 100% linear and connected and that is the reason people love the series so much, even just playing through the sky arc isn't enough for people to realize the actual charm of the series.
I'd say if you play up to Cold Steel 2 in this order then you should be able to realize why people love it so much and can feel assured you gave the series the best go even if you didn't like it [which is unlikely once you get going].
Sky FC > Sky SC > Sky the 3rd > Zero no Kiseki > Ao no Kiseki > Cold Steel 1 > Cold Steel 2 > Cold Steel 3 > Cold Steel 4 > Hajimari no Kiseki > Kuro no Kiseki [only JP, no spreadsheet yet]
The best thing about the Sky trilogy is that its published in the West by XSeed who were the ones to implement the Turbo mode in the games. A shoutout to them would have been nice. They also added the extra English voice lines in CS1 and CS2. We expected NISA to follow their footsteps for CS3 and CS4 but they never bothered. Its the difference between a company that is doing it for the money and another that is doing for both the money and the community as well.
XSeed didn't add any voice acting initially though. The original PS3 and Vita releases had just as much VA as the original. I think the PS4 versions don't have additional VA either. They only added it with the PC ports.
@@user-sb5fm1gk7l The PS4 ports are the same as the PC ports meaning additional voice acting.
Trails in the sky is apart of a larger connected universe that pays off like the first games are Trails in the Sky FC, Trails in the Sky SC, and Trails in the Sky the 3rd. Then the next arc which is finally this year going to be in English is Trails from Zero, and Trails to Azure. After that the arc that is the most popular is Trails of Cold Steel, Trails of Cold Steel 2, Trails of Cold Steel 3, and the avengers type crossover game which has mostly ever characters from past games called Trails of Cold Steel 4, then in 2023 Trails into Reverie is being in English, which is the game that says good bye to the first half of The Trails Saga. Also Falcom has another series that is popular called Ys which is a action combat game series. Also their soundtracks are godly. To see what I mean listen to Silver Will from Trails in the Sky SC.
Dude trails from zero and azure are on english
@@archafromdmc1913 I mean an official release not the translation on pc from geofront which I know they are also helping Nis with the official one.
@@CLKiryu0331 it's oficial tho?
@@CLKiryu0331 but hey if you wanted to play it on console that's completely fine honestly, I'll just tell you two things 1 the translation is fucking amazing so if you want any reason to pull the trigger that's one and 2 you kinda spoiled yourself on most of the big twists
It's still my favorite bit of trails so far (I'm starting cold steel 3 )
Also things to note. Across 9 games the timeline move only about 6 years
MASTERPIECE OF A SERIES
Yaaaaaas, king. Estelle is Bestelle!
YAAAAAAAAAS
I absolutely love trails games! Sky sc is one of my favorite game of all time. I can't wait for everbody to experince the peak fiction that is zero and azure.
SC was amazing! As of today, I'm currently on chapter 2 of Azure (Geofront translation).
I remember when I first played Sky first chapter and reached the end and I was absolutely devastated by the cliffhanger end
Great review, I almost wish I had a PC to play it!
LFG! This Series deserves WAY MORE recognition !
The way I usually describe the slowness of the beginnings of the Trails series is:
They spend a lot of time letting you get to know the characters, including random NPCs who keep showing up with their own stories, so that when the crap finally hits the fan, it feels like it matters more.
Not really ready to jump into this series but, I did appreciate your overview and opinions. Have a great rest of your week.
I've been a fan of the series since 2016, never realized what I gotten myself into. I started with CS1 on the Vita and got hooked, fast forward to 2020 thats where I played CS2 > Sky Trilogy > Crossbell Duology and CS3 non stop, by early 2021 finishing off the first half of the series with CS4 and a total playtime of 650 hours combined (not including replays of Sky FC, CS 1&2).
With Crossbell Duology and Reverie just around the corner, now I'm currently venturing into the Ys series.
Really enjoyed Trails.. pretty relaxing game to kick back and play, definitely some difficult combat though and trying to figure out the orb system took some time and I'm not sure if I've got it completely figured out yet. Probably took me 50 hours to finish over about 3-4 months a couple years ago. I started SC a few months after and enjoyed until I got stuck at a boss .. havent played for a year but plan on it at some point. Definitely look forward to getting back to it when I have more time. Great video
Man this reminded me of my Skies of Arcadia days on GameCube! You gotta do that one soon!
I love this series and i'm so excited for the Crossbell duology and Hajimari to finally come out in the west
I couldn’t wait for Hajimari and bought it on Amazon. I used the translation spreadsheet and wow, just wow. It’s hands down the best one. What a ride.
Just imported Kuro and can’t wait to use its translation spreadsheet too to play it.
Something I never see anyone talking about in these comments is the tiny detail that is the treasure chests. I interacted with almost every chest a second time for all the quirky dialogue across the Sky games. Was really sad when I started Cold Steel and it wasn't a thing anymore
This is such an amazing game series, especially the original three chapters.
I just started the game a few days ago and I'm in the middle of Ruan, gotta say that game is a slow burn, but so far quite interesting. I'm very intrigued in playing the rest of the games in the series.
I also played it, fell in love with the series. Should've played with the voice mod (ports voices from the vita version) adds so much life and personality to the game
I'm excited to play through this series when I get a steam deck
The dialogue becomes part of the actual game play in cold steel at some point in the series cause it gives the player a sense of commitment towards the finish of the series. It's annoying at first until you realize this then it becomes a must to watch and read all dialogue cause you may miss something important. Played them all and loved them all.
Glad you got your lighting sorted, bro
For the complete Sky Trilogy, there actually are patches to transfer the Voice Acting from the Japanese Evo Versions to western PC versions. So if you don't dislike japanese voices (and don't forget to switch the battle sounds accordingly in settings), it's a great way to enjoy these games and their characters :)
I would love to hear your opinion on the second game once you complete that as well. Im a huge fan of the series and I think that your coverage of the first entry is great. If I ever suggest anyone this game again ill probably link them this video
Yo I'm a bit late on this but seriously thank you for giving this series some love. It's basically the one piece of jrpgs in terms of length and story connectivity and It was a blast to play through them
So as far as play order is concerned, I think the best place to start is Sky, but I think starting from the beginning of any arc is also a good start point. Each 'first' game whether it be Sky FC, Zero, or Cold Steel 1 do a good job at slowly introducing you to the world and can be enjoyed independently from the other games. But the later arcs will have some familiar returning faces for those who do play the games in chronological order.
I think CS1 is a fine starting point, but the later games will start to get confusing if you haven't played the other arcs. I'm working my way through CS3 right now, and even after playing the Liberl and Crossbell games, I STILL feel overwhelmed at times just from the sheer density of lore they drop on you.
@@RJRedtail i'm currently playing CS 3 too (I'm at the beginning of Chapter 4) and yeah, would not reccomend playing CS 3 till at least playing Sky and probably Crossbell too once those games come out in the west.
I agree that starting from CS1 instead of FC is okay, but I do think you should play the Sky trilogy before Zero since one of the subplots completes a character arc from SC and the 3rd.
Finished Trails FC recently and i can only describe the game as comfy
This is one of my favorite games on PSP... Played this years ago and I'm about to refurbish my PSP~
Very very good series. Love the Legend of Heroes games. During the start of the pandemic i saw the cold steel series go on sale and figured i'd give it a try. Wow the story telling is just epic and the combat very refined. I'd Highly recommend giving this series a try. (would recommend start at the start of a series)
Its crazy how it takes all the way until the end of the cold steel arc just to hear and see the general outline of the boss of the shady organization (grandmaster of ouroboros) that's been dogging all the characters throughout.