Looking to play Trails of Cold Steel

[Hikari.EXE]

I was looking at the repo earlier today and saw that some of the "Trails of" games where added to the Vita section, I was always interested in playing the games but never gave them much chance since they are quite pricey for the whole collection on steam, and my computer is far from a decent gaming PC, its mostly for work. But since I have a modded Vita I tought about downloading the first two games to get a taste and see what all the hype is about, and I know that the trails games are more than just Cold Steel which is why I'm asking the Falcom scholars their opinion on it. Should I just play Cold Steel? Or also play the other Trails games that came before Cold Steel?

 

[ZeromusVX4]

Technically you can start with cold steel just fine, the first 2 don't really need much context from the sky series, only some small references here and there, from 3 onwards I'd say it's good to have played the sky trilogy as well as the two crossbell games, they're pretty good and some of the finest jrpgs out there

 

[tenkaistar]

A lot of people start there and it works out. The series is one long continuity that takes place in different countries, so eventually you’ll want to play from the beginning. You don’t know if you’ll like it yet so just give it a shot with whatever seems interesting!

 

[nachito]

I think it's best to start with Trails in the Sky. Starting with Cold Steel it's fine but make sure to play crossbell games before Cold Steel III.

 

[Cu-Neo]

I would recommend starting with Trails in the sky FC the worldbuilding is awesome in that franchise and there's a lot of references in the next games. And also you have to play the Crossbell games to understand some things in Cold Steel 3. So yeah it's a big franchise

 

[MrFabulous]

As the others have said it really is best to start with Trails in the Sky FC, there are a lot of little threads that pay off big in Cold Steel 1 and actually meeting important characters is much more interesting than reading an in-game lore book about them. People used to say 'play it until the play' (an in-game performance) to know whether you should proceed, FC is pretty slow when it starts and after the play you'll either be intrigued or know that FC/SC aren't going to be your thing.

Playing all of the games in release order is ideal but *technically* you could probably skip Trails in the Sky 3 (as much as I love the game it doesn't have a huge amount of payoff until later). Crossbell is absolutely essential stuff though, like nachito and Cu-Neo said - but it feels very different from the other games in the series so it stays fresh.

 

[Hikari.EXE]

Wow, lots of responses! Thanks everyone for chiming in, will play Trails in the Sky FC then, since it is on the repo, it would also help to have a little guide of play order to see what I'm missing.

 

[MrFabulous]

it would also help to have a little guide of play order to see what I'm missing.

I got you homie.

This only goes up to CSIV but that's a lot of game right there and it's pretty easy to see where releases fall in order after CSIII.

EDIT: There's a remake of FC coming for the switch coming next year, you could consider waiting but you would miss out on the old school vibes of the PSP games and playing Zero or Azure will probably feel really old if you don't have that perspective.

 

[Hikari.EXE]

I got you homie.

Thank you! I see that the repo has the og trilogy patched and ready with two of the Cold Steel ones avaiable, the only ones missing are the Crossbell ones. Altough I guess like the graph said, the games spoil each other since they happen at the same time, so no loss for now (?)

 

[What's His Face]

As I am currently playing through the series for the first time, I HIGHLY recommend playing the games in release order. Yes, this includes The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails. Once you finish this particular game, you'll understand where the rest of the series is going...especially when a very specific lore nuke is dropped in Trails Through Daybreak.

 

[therabidfrog]

I was going to play the entire Cold Steel series, but I tapped out at the beginning of chapter 4 on the first one. A part of it is that I was on a JRPG kick and played a few in a row so I probably should have taken a little break first, but I'll warn you the first three acts are an absolute slog. Most people seem to say it gets better from chapter 4 on, but it's been three weeks and I can't bring myself to pick it back up. That constituted about 40 hours with light grinding.

Those first three chapters are basically the same 3 story beats repeated over and over with very little variation beyond the environment. I get that its intent is to be a slow burn where you get used to school life and get to know the characters, but the characters aren't terribly interesting IMO (more like modestly entertaining than engaging), and it's three semesters that have less variation than one day of school in real life.

 

[Leon]

As the others have said, you can start from cold steel but you will miss some references if you do, however i feel i must point out a few things.
Sky 1-3 have save carry over, as does zero and azure, for cold steel this also applies however the vita version does NOT carry over properly to 3 and 4, so your better off playing cs 1-4 on your system of choice even if you gotta go "yohoho" for them.
I don't know if the zero and azure evolution versions for the vita have been posted yet in the repo, but those are fine to play on vita if you want a couple for vita, the pc version is still my preference due to texture mods for the series, but hey to each his own.

Also a warning about the trails series, while none of the games are bad, FC is well known for suffering "first game syndrome", meaning it's going to probably be the hardest game to get into, though again it's not a bad game, but VERY text heavy (think sc is famous for having a bigger script than war and peace), generally, each game has a weaker start, it's best to look at a saga of the series as 1 LOONG game.

Saying this as a fanboy of falcom, just be aware.

 

[Hikari.EXE]

Thank you @Leon ! Didnt know that the save files for Cold Steel transfered from 1 - 4, since the Vita versions only have 1 and 2. I have been planning to buy a Steam Deck next year so when that happens I'm gonna get the quadrology for it, but for the time being I'll enjoy myself to some Trails in the Sky, thank you very much.

 

[Hikari.EXE]

Update: Holy shit I didn't know Daybreak was getting a sequel this year! The first one came out in 2021, and I'm sure there where other Trails games being made in between... How do they make these games so fast?

 

[jankusanagi]

[...] the only ones missing are the Crossbell ones.

Both games for the Crossbell arc are in the repo (fan-translated).

 

[Leon]

Update: Holy shit I didn't know Daybreak was getting a sequel this year! The first one came out in 2021, and I'm sure there where other Trails games being made in between... How do they make these games so fast?

They don't, trails in the sky came out in 2004, doing the numbers there have been 13 games in 20 years, the story designer for the series has supposedly written up the skeleton of the entire saga's story all the way back in 2002 from what i hear.

 

[ObscureJigglypuff]

if you finally go for to the entire saga, have fun because it's a looooong road...

 

[Hikari.EXE]

the story designer for the series has supposedly written up the skeleton of the entire saga's story all the way back in 2002 from what i hear.

That's hardcore.

if you finally go for to the entire saga, have fun because it's a looooong road...

Yeah I heard that... I did download the Sky trilogy on the Vita, will play them and if I like them, I'll have to play the other games then.

 

[Leon]

That's hardcore.

Yeah I heard that... I did download the Sky trilogy on the Vita, will play them and if I like them, I'll have to play the other games then.

Just remember what i said about FC and imo (though i'm probably in the minority) zero, first games in the sagas tend to be the weakest in the saga.