Reviews for the entire Trails series: Cold Steel 1 Review: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-AYI8MRG8kNk.html Cold Steel 2 Review: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-_UJg-LE8WnY.html Cold Steel 3 Review: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-bXsvChiV668.html Cold Steel 4 Review: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-T0zMNMrKczo.html Trails in the Sky FC Review: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-VTrMkEKjvN8.html Trails in the Sky SC Review: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Td97VwG6q5Q.html Trails in the Sky 3rd Review: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-_nVLtjaIvXE.html Trails from Zero review: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-b8HqWgSnBls.html Trails to Azure Review: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-B8-rahJs6Xg.html
I had just started digging into the Tales of series, just finished tales of symphonia and was about 1/4 through tales of vesperia...I bought trails of cold steel on a PSN sale that I couldn't pass up. Played about a hour of cold steel and was hooked lol....but then discovered the saga, and wanted to do it right and play through the beginning....I haven't been back to vesperia since, no bad feelings against that game, but I fouled up a lot and missed a bunch of stuff, so when I go back to yuri and repeade I think I'll restart back to the beginning.
@@ihavenoshameandmustscream421 Kinda strange but I was doing the same thing but out of sure stubbornness. I’m almost done with Vesperia and gonna try to finish that before I keep going into Cold Steel 1! 😅
@@astevens1919 best advice I could give: Might want to play anything you've been trying to get through before starting ANY of the Trails games. I wrote that comment 6 months ago, and before playing cold steel decided to start with the Sky trilogy. Since then I burned through Sky FC Sky SC Sky the 3rd Trails from Zero (waiting for Azure very soon!) And I'm on chapter 7of Cold Steel 1. What I'm trying to say is the trails games will suck you in and make you care. I loved every damn minute with Estelle, Lloyd, Father Kevin (aka Mr. Badass) and Rean. I'd implore you to take up trails in the sky FC first and go from there, but I understand if you can't.
@@ihavenoshameandmustscream421 well my plan is to finish Trails of cold steel 1 and then go to the Trails in the sky series. I heard that you can play 1 and 2 of cold steel without any issues or incoming characters from other series!
It's a game that completely changed my view of the world. I got bullied a lot in the primary and Junior high school and my heart was locked up. I started to hate people and distance myself from others. when Senior high school started I met lots of good friends, classmates and teachers trying to help me and at the same time I played this series, when I began to realise that even though there are darkness in this world, there are still lots of good people. Now I'm 30 and is working overseas meeting new people and challenges everyday. I just want to say big thanks to everyone that has been helping me out and also this fantastic game. Without them I weren't who I am now.
Thanks mate and yes this game, or more accurately, the whole Sky trilogy is THAT good. I believe you will see what I mean after you put heart into it and complete these three titles. Also, welcome to the world of Legend of Heroes, created by Falcom, aka GOD of JRPG ;D
This series is one of, if not the best I have ever played. I look forward to any and all content you make for it. FC is a great game, but SC blows it out of the water!!
I don't find SC that good. It's somewhat classic and the chara dev is cool but not incredible. It's pretty generic overall if we except the fact that there is a big world building for the next games. I'm happy that 3rd exist because Sora need it.
idk how sc can blow it out of the water. i'm in the middle of fc right now and it's amazing. hope when i get to sc i love it as much as everyone else does.
I'm having that thing happen where you buy a new car and then start seeing that make and model everywhere. I'm just getting into Falcom games and all of the sudden every channel and podcast I subscribe to is talking about the mastery of their games, especially the trails series. It's on sale on GOG for 25-50% off (depending on the title) until around the 15th of June, btw for anyone else looking to get into it right now. I'm really looking forward to experiencing these for myself. Great review.
Falcom games kinda sink their teeth into you, to where you have to let others know about them. I juzt got into them in 2019, and just now finished CS3. Having pkayed all of Sky, the Fan translations of Crossbell, amd All available CS
Falcom has made a LOT of games, and I also played a lot of them. Here a few games that are not part of the Trails series but are also great: The Ys series with the best of them (in my opinion) Ys VIII - Lacrimosa of Dana, also Tokyo Xanadu eX+ is a very nice game. There are even some very oldies, but they still fun to play like Zwei - The Ilvard Insurrection.
Liberl arc has the best characters, Crossbell arc has the best story, and Erebonia arc has the best game mechanics. I personally find myself replaying Liberl arc constantly just to marvel at how masterfully Falcom develop their characters in this arc without even a single continuity issue.
@@TheJbrown60 Enforcers were also better fleshed out in Liberl arc. I really liked all of them. Ouroboros really felt like this huge crime syndicate with real motifs. Shame they felt like background noise for the most of the Crossbell arc since they already moved on to Erebonia for their next plan. I liked all of the mafia and jaeger characters except Shirley and Xing. They just don't get enough development and stay as somewhat likable but mostly annoying characters for the most of the time.
@@Istalior yeah i dont like how they trivialize a lot of things they hyped us up for the previous 5 games... It's definitely my least favorite of the 3 arcs
You mentioning that the world building is akin to that of the Suikoden series is more than enough a reason for me to try this series. I really wished for a game like that, a JRPG that treats each game individually, but at the same time connects them through the same world and lore. Since we are probably never seeing a new Suikoden game anymore, I will try to satisfy myself now with this series.
I picked this up on your recommendation. Just finished the first one. Immediately got the second one and am downloading it now. Thank you. It's so great
I got into this series cuz of this game last year. I remember it was August and I was just waiting for the big games to release in September. I decided to try out Trails in the Sky FC since I was steam sharing with my older brother. I'll admit I almost didn't continue, but I'm really glad I did. I really enjoyed to where once the games came out in September after I beat FC, I decided to prioritize this trilogy instead and it was worth it. Currently on Cold Steel 3 now after going through all the other Trails games prior. Hope you enjoy what else is to come after FC and in the rest of the games before Cold Steel 4 releases this year 🙂
I found myself nodding yes to everything you said in the intro of this video. I Could not have done that better myself, and I've done it in person many many times.
Thanks for this, man! InstaSub!!! I'm currently about 20 hrs into Trails in The Sky FC and I'm, as you said, completely hooked! Such a large journey ahead of me lol.
2021 is my year for the trails games. Started on trails of cold street but was convinced to put in the time and start with trails in the sky. Definitely stoked I took the advice!
Its extremely text heavy but adding the full official Japanese voice acting makes it much better. You can then add a huge amount of English voice acting. Both mods just need to be extracted to the game folder to work. The English voice overs are fan made by pretty good voice actors.
The summer of 2020 was one of my most cherished summers ever. Yeah, 2020 was a terrible year and a pandemic was in full swing, but ever since, I've been engrossed in the Trails Series. I still have fond memories of sitting on my front porch on a warm summer's evening with my laptop playing FC and SC. This summer, on my one year anniversary with Trails, I'm still playing on my laptop, but instead of the Liberl Arc, it's Trails to Azure (thank you Geofront!). In one year I've gone through 6 of the series. All that is left is finishing Azure, Cold Steel 2, 3, 4, Hajimari, endless Trails, then finally Kuro whenever it's localized. Best series ever.
Yeah mate. I had a blast smashing through the entire series last year. I can just imagine sitting out front, with a beer in my hand, playing the liberl arc. Great stuff!
@@HellFireRPGs I'm not trying to drag you on and on in a comment, I swear, but have you by chance had a similar experience that Trails offers? Like a series that has 10+ games, each with continuity with the game that came before it (unless said game opens a new arc or closes a arc). I mean, I've been playing JRPGs since FF 2 on SNES. I've played a good plenty of them, not all of course, but I've never gotten myself hooked on a series like Trails. Last year about 95% of my playtime with on Trails more or less, but I'm quite alright with that. I did experience burnout a few times and had to take a break. I still can't believe I've willed myself to plow through what I have.... Kinda worried I'm rushing through for really no good reason... I'm missing the forest for the trees, ya know?
Have you played the Suikoden series? There are five games in that one (and a few spin offs) and all are set in the same world, with characters appearing in multiple games. That's my favourite series of all time and I would highly recommend it. Other than that, I hear Yakuza is a good way to go (I've only played the first). There's 7 games there that follow the story of a single character. Xenosaga is a pretty amazing trilogy of games, too. As for anything as large as the Trails series, I don't think so. Kingdom hearts has a LOAD of games, but I'm not really into that like some people are. FF14 also has loads of expansions (and more on the way) the size of full length games. It's online, and I'm currently playing through that as we speak.
I was going to get Trails of Cold Steel on PS4 but then found out that this was the first chronologically so got this on PC instead. A few hours in and I'm convinced I made the right choice!
I'm gonna point out I completed CS1 2 and 3 and then went and played Sky. Sky Still feels fresh like I didn't see that ending coming and its fun to learn about these characters that appear in CS.
This video helped convince me to play the game. Almost done with 2nd chapter and im still looking forward to the 3rd game as well as the other 2 arks in the series.
The best part of this is that both cold steel I and trails in the sky FC even if they are amazing games on its own, spend a lot of time setting up for their much faster paced secuels, so you what you have seen its just the tip of the iceberg of what these games hace to offer
Started this year with CS1 and at going a similar path that you seem to be going, I really enjoy your reviews as you finish them a week or so after I finish and it’s amazing to reflect back, keep it up! Looking forward to that possible SC review soon
I’m happy to see people slowly getting into trails because it really is not only one of the greatest rpgs I would say one of the greatest games I’ve ever played. I only found out about it through my boyfriend because he begged me to play it even during the time we were just friends and he finally gifted me Sky first chapter during a Steam sale, and now two years later I’m about 25 hours into Cold Steel 4. I can’t stress enough how addicting the story is and how attached you will get to the characters. It is definitely more of an event focused structure because of the overarching political climate of the continent of Zemuria and the ever impending war with Erebonia’s endless desire to expand, but that’s not to say there are no great character moments. Each protagonist especially Estelle and my personal favorite actually being Kevin from Sky the 3rd provide depth and act realistically given their circumstances and personalities. It’s also an amazing feat that Trails hasn’t had any major continuity errors in its 15 years.
In my case it took finishing Cold Steel 3 to make me curious and invested enough to play Trails in the Sky. I know it's an ideal chronological order to play the games, but that's where we're at right now. Enjoying the heck out of Sky (but there are some really slow parts), and I miss Olivier already! 😂 Voice mod really helps out since I prefer VO, even if in Japanese.
"I could not wait to jump into the second Sky title" Oh boy, you can't even begin to imagine how it was for us who played the game early and HAD to wait -a lot- for the second title. PS: And here I am today, still waiting for the fourth Cold Steel title.
@Hell Fire RPG's Wife and I just started and got the Cold Series 1-3 on the PS4 and it is in our top 10 favorite jrpg series. Heard this series is amazing too would love to see you cover it, as we never had the hand helds these were all released on. An since we may never see this on modern console's may have to get the Sky series on PC sadly. Thanks for this review and your thoughts. Please keep them coming.
Yeah I was disappointed that there was no console release. At least handheld wasnt the only option though. Great to hear you guys are playing it, too. Enjoy!
I just finished TinS SC, I thought it was amazing story wise but found the gameplay or the in between progressing the story in the last 3 chapters to be... not really enjoyable. But maybe that's just me. The story and the events that happen are amazing and give you enough context to see some of the events and characters in ToCS differently. About to start 3rd. Here's hoping to see your review of SC soon!
This is me this past month with this game/series. Took me 10 years to even pick up and play the game even though I knew about it when it first came out on the PSP and later owned it digitally on my Vita.
Welcome to trails man. You have like 8 more games to play HAHHAA. Crossbell Zero already has high quality fan patch from Geofront. Crossbell Geofront azure next year most likely. But there’s decent fan patches out already that make it entirely playable
Hell Fire RPGs here’s the Azure patch that Bighead and I did. imgur.com/a/bQOs4kX. There’s some additional add-on downloads in the imgur like Kai style portraits so do read it carefully. From Zero patch just drop by geofront.esterior.net
To me trails series, like Crossbell saga and this are the new genzo Soukoden from Nihon Falcon. Those games have been made for rpg lovers like me and you dude.
Thanks for reminding me the bad menu. haha you are in for a treat. you can basically go through from sky, crossbell (fan-translated), and the cold steel 1-4 in one year. Then you can wait for Hajrimara to come to West.
Freddy Martinez true! And the fact that they’re still releasing one game after another despite not being hits like the Final Fantasy series is just another whole level of dedication. I thought they’d go bankrupt or something.
@@theflyingninja1 I don't personally like to talk to everyone all the time, but I think Trails ingraining that into you certainly helps. Also, it's one of the few series where reading the random dialogue is actually interesting and have almost mini story arcs.
@@theflyingninja1 For those of us who have beaten and 100%'d a ton of RPGs, eventually one might get sick of the lack of challenge that comes with collecting every item in the game and start doing blind playthroughs + avoid grinding so the bosses are a challenge.
I owned this game on the PC and I attempted to play it, but I burnt myself out because I was determined to talk to everyone after each mission, because of the world building, and everyone said something different after completing different objectives. I may one day go back to it, but it's not high up on my list. I'm enjoying seeing your opinion on the game series, though.
i reckon im in the same boat with everyone just now discovering this magnificent series. just about to move on to SC. i feel embarrassed i never heard of this series before. so glad i did though. my favorite parts are when estelle and josette began trash talking each other whenever they happen to meet up, lol. estelle gets so mad, but she's absolutely so adorable. definitely BEST GIRL....kloe just a little behind tho...
Oh, if only I could have heard somebody talking about this series back when it first came over to the west, it would have changed everything about how I gamed back then. I know I would have ran out and got a PSP just for this game. I just want to kick myself in the ass every time I think about it. ... such a shameful blemish on my gaming legacy to have missed out. Guess late is better than never...
I am very much enjoying the game being a fare bit into act 1. I think they lay it on a bit heavy with Estelle being ditzy/cheesy. I’m playing after playing Chrono Trigger for the first time and that I’m enjoying it as much as I am after that incredible game is a testament to its quality I think.
This is one of the best series I've played in a long while. I agree the pacing is slow, especially in the first one, but the story makes up for it, and sets us the second chapter really well. Shame the third was so... strange.
Haha at first I felt the third is weird due to its unique structure. But it slowly grows on me as I visit the 'doors' that further reveal the story of the characters.
Thirds strangeness is from the fact that it wasnt developed as a sequel to SC, but as a prequel to Zero no kiseki. I remember in an interview falcom gave nearly 11 years ago, Kondo stated that when they started planning Zero, the needed to have a way to get OG fans from SC to Zero since a lot of what is going on in Zero wouldn't have made sense without the events of 3rd. So they made 3rd as a way to introduce what was going to happen next as well as tie up some loose ends from the previous 2. Hence why the main character isnt Estelle. And why it isnt called Third Chapter. And I gave a feeling they're doing it again with this years Hajimari no Kiseki.
Zero is the 4th game in the series, the story takes place a few months after the events of Trails in the Sky the 3rd, and carry over a few important plot points from that game, so I'd not recommend starting with it. Rather, start at either Trails in the Sky FC (best entry point) or Cold Steel 1 (second best entry point).
I really don't understand why this or the crossbell arc haven't been ported to ps4 in english yet. I'm gonna have to watch a walkthrough of both of them at this point because CS4 is only a month away from releasing on ps4 I need to know the story beforehand
If you thought CS1 and FC was good... oh boy, you're in for a treat in SC... then 3rd... Dont even get me started on the story of Crossbell. IMO, FC and CS1 were the worst (still 4/5's for me) of the Kiseki series. Enjoy the journey my friend, and may Aidios be with you.
They're very highly regarded, but haven't had an English release so you'll have to make do with the English fan translations. I'll be playing them before I start Cold Steel 3.
Fortunately the PC requirements are extremely low so you can play it on nearly anything from the last decade or so. You don't need anything special, a basic laptop will do.
I startd sky then got up to the half why part and the hole game came back capyrighed so I gave up and went back to could steel cose cold steel 1 2 3 and 4 are not capyrightd
needs work on pacing. Video is too fast, skips over details (tell us about suikoden and how they relate), sentences too long, and tone is very note. good luck