Getting into the Trails Series - Everything you Need to Know 

Just started Trails in the Sky as my first game and it’s absolutely fantastic! Great work on this summary!

No cap, as someone who played all of Falcom's Trails games from Liberl -> Crosbell -> Erobonia and currently in Calvard arc without missing a single detail like npc dialogues which is full of life, I can say this is one of the best JRPGs Ive ever played. I especially love the fact that it's written like how a manga or novel plot is.

Here's the short version, if even ten minutes is too much time: start with either Sky FC or Cold Steel 1. Those are the two best starting points; start with Sky FC if you want to play these games in the order they were intended and you don't have a problem with the retro graphics of the Sky games. Start with Cold Steel 1 if you're okay missing a detail here or there, and you want a modern graphical experience. Trails generally does a good job of re-introducing each character in each arc, so characters from a previous arc do get context when they re-appear, but within a given arc, the game mostly assumes you know who a person is from a previous game. I started with Sky FC, and the difference between starting there versus starting with Cold Steel 1 is that when Blueblanc pops up very early on in Cold Steel 1, people who haven't played the previous games will ask "who is that?" people who have react with "oh no, not this asshole again." However, since this is the first time Blueblanc is interacting with the protagonists of Class 7, the game fills in background details for you. The Bracer Guild of Liberl and the SSS of Crossbell know him by sight, but because Class 7 does not, the player finds out who is along with Class 7. I will admit, the dramatic irony was not lost of me: the very first time I saw him in that jewelry store in Barehard, I jumped up from my seat and said "that's Phantom Thief B!", it was fun knowing all the backstory while the actual characters in the game had no idea what they were getting into.

"When you go back, and you will because you are hooked..." That was a neat little way to sell us on this series :)

I concur. For me, the Trails series is the best there is in the RPG genre; I used to be a Final Fantasy guy, but since I discovered Nihon Falcom, I learned how shallow Final Fantasy is. This is a special treasure franchise that every RPG lover must play.

Well done! You summarize most of the things that make Kiseki amazing in a relatively short video.

I absolutely love your use of the maps~

Amazing video. Love this series. Can’t wait for more localizations.

Started Sky FC on January 1st of this year and played in order. Started Cold steel 3 yesterday. Safe to say I got hooked

Never have I seen such compact summarization of the whole arc in a short 9 minutes video, if there's one improvement you could do in this video is a bit minor like at 8:05 you should also add Cold steel 1 or Cold Steel 2 footage between the transition because the jump of graphics between the Cold Steel 1 and 2 into 3 and 4 are totally different so newcomers would get the idea of how the game developed over time, Other than that it's totally good summarization for newcomers of the series :)

Thank you very much for this 🙂

Dude! Great video! Got to love the Trails games and any game from Falcom! I'm hoping to do some more Falcom related videos on my channel! Subbed!

no jokes guys use the turbo button there is no shame in complete the game in a more efficient (fastest) way, if our lives are busy and we barely have time is the best option and I would hate the idea that someone didn't get into the series because they are time consuming. btw amazing video i just get into the trails games this year and right now i can't remember the last time I enjoy a game this much.

I'm currently playing thru each game, recently finished liberl arc, and just moved onto zero. I started cold steel awhile back but wasn't feeling it much storywise. Sky definitely put me into the world setting more, especially the end of 1 and then sc. At that point I got hooked. I was too used to not reading dialogue but thats where this game reminded me reading is a part of the fun.

日本じゃあまり人気じゃないけどこうやって海外でどんどん有名になって言って欲しい。まとめてくれてありがとう！

I kinda disagrees about the one that start which ever arc you want. Caz more than not, the game will spoils the major part of the event from the previous arc. Like Zero/Ao will spoils SC event, and in Ao, you will definitely not understands some part of the story unless you go through sky 3rd. and the much worst option is Kuro, since kuro basically spoiling every Arcs major story every chapter. and spoiling every character background story caz for some reason, Van the protag of Kuro somehow either knows or connected to certain someone from the previous arcs. The 2nd part is you will miss out the growth of character on how characters from previous arc do, and how they have become on a newer game. This is especially true and crucial about Renne, since she appears on every arc and how has she grown and become who she is now from Sky to Kuro. Though, if you meant to that totally ignore the previous arc and just continue on with only future release games, then I guess it is fine, since the game does enough to explain the backstory of the previous arc.

I was really sad at first when Hajimari was originally announced for 2023. Didn't realize I was getting burnt out until it took me a year to beat CS4, so I'm glad they took their time 😅

Currently playing g CS 3. Started with CS 1. CS 1 goes over the previous titles perfectly. For me I would start with CS 1 of time or money is an issue than move forward. Enjoy

Good explanation. short and to the point. As a clarification Falcom never dropped the numbering in the Legend of Heroes. Trails in the Sky 1-3 are collectively known as Legend of Heroes VI Trails from Zero/Azure are known as Legend of Heroes VII Trails of Cold Steel 1-4 and Reverie are known as Legend of Heroes VIII And, so far, Kuro 1 and 2 are known as Legend of Heroes IX. This numbering appears usually at the end of an arc, saying something like "continued on Legend of Heroes ", or even in trailers. Sky also had the numbering in the original Japanese opening as well. It also appears in the PC executables as well ed8_1/2/3/4/5.exe (for Cold Steel for instance). This is also not something new from Falcom, Legend of Heroes I & II are both Dragon Slayer VI, and Kaze no Densetsu Xanadu I & II are both Dragon Slayer VIII. Falcom is weird like that :)

Trails of cutscene 😂

Best series of all time !! Before I think trails of cold steel was a good start. But now wit zero an azure remake zero is best spot to start ?

Start on the first game, the stories are connected...

That voice has strong "M'lady" vibes.

I Wana get into the series but i don't have a PC or PSP to start with trials in the sky... I wish they all came to Nintendo switch or PS4 /5

whats the song at 7:27?

I like that you highlighted that it's not absolutely necessary to start at the very beginning and that all the info is filled in for you, and that you can start at any arc, sure there are rewards for starting at Sky, but it's not absolutely necessary. As for me, i just don't have the time to play all these long RPG's back to back, time constraints, general life stuff and other games in my catalogue prevents from doing that.

I love these games, but I can only take them in short bursts. They just have so much going on. Every npc has something interesting to say, playing for many hours at once is too much.

Well, I'm in the middle of Crossbell and played Trails in the Sky 1-3 so far, yet the information in this video contains information (video & speech) that one should consider not hearing since all these small details add to the world building once you play it yourself. So in a sense, after 2 minutes, I'm out.

Well I played Kuro 1 and 2 even its turned based battles are NOT the same as the OTHER games combined for it.

1000000% disagreement that it's ok to just jump in at any point and you won't be missing anything critical by playing the games out of order.