I'm in the camp (of probably one) that says start at whatever game seems interesting to you, and if you like it go to the beginning of that series. Cause the only thing that I know for a fact in my 30 years of gaming and being around gamers is that it's not a spoiler unless someone tells you it's a spoiler. Think about it this way: If you gain information in lets say CS3 that is pertinent to a plot thread of (... I don't know) Sky SC, but doesn't come with any context, plus would require you to spend at the very least 70 hours of game time to get to that point where said information would be relevant in Sky SC; is your enjoyment really spoiled at that point? Are you even going to remember? Or, what's more likely will you say something to the extent of "Oh, so that's what that one thing was referring to. That's cool." Bottom line: Don't let anyone gatekeep you from this amazing series of JRPGs. Start wherever you want.
I’m of this belief as well, which is why I always put multiple recommendations and reasons why you should consider or not consider a particular approach. The goal is more to inform people rather than discourage. I myself don’t have the time to play through the entire series, and I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to start with CS1 this year!
@@BacklogBattle you are the only TH-camr I've seen that hasn't in my opinion been trying to gate keep when speaking about this series. It's almost like those that say they love this series want it to stay as niche as possible.
This is entirely possible. There’s this long standing belief that if a game sells more, or that it targets a wider demographic, that all of a sudden its a “bad thing.” The reality of the situation is that there’s more of a grey area here: some companies who do succeed CAN lose their way, so to speak, but this conveniently ignores the ones who still retain the core of what they believe in as game developers. This can be applied to anything, from TH-camrs and streamers wanting to be compensated for hard work, to people making anything from emotes and artwork for commission. To the point of gate keeping people from playing games in a specific way, I don’t think people are doing it consciously and maliciously. Rather, it’s a failure to understand that, as we grow older as gamers, we have to be better at budgeting our time the more responsibilities we take on. Just this year, my wife and I got a cat and had to figure out how I’d even have time to play and review all these JRPGs! It’s through personal experience that I found that it’s better to provide the information about a series out there, talk about the pluses and minuses, maybe suggest a few approaches, then leave it to players to decide for themselves. That’s represented in this video and my Yakuza video, and will probably hold true in any similar video I’ll be making in the future.
@@BacklogBattle I also don't think that those who are gatekeeping for lack of a better term are malicious in any way (at least I hope not). It's just one of those things where you need to look at how what you say will be taken by those who read or hear it. You are selling this series and if you start your pitch by demanding that people do hundreds of hours of homework, you lost them already. Again, I don't think people are trying to push people away from the series, they are passionate about it and want people who they are pitching it to, to feel the same passion that they feel in the same way, not realizing that it could be taken as 'you CAN'T play this thing your interested in until you jump through these hoops I've set up.' I have tried on videos other TH-camrs have done to say the same thing I've said here and was shouted out of the comment section by people insisting that the series is in no way enjoyable unless you've sunk hundreds of hours into 5 to 8 giant games which have Bible's worth of dialogue each. Just wish more people would realize that they're pushing potential fans away with that approach. Hell, maybe I'm doing the same thing with my approach and am totally off base
I don’t think your approach is bad at all. At the end of the day, it’s up to the interested party to decide how to start playing these games and all about taking the first step!
I was playing Langrisser (a mobile game) in the spring of 2019 and heard about an upcoming Trails in the Sky collaboration. Did some research and found out that TiTS was a turn-based jrpg, much like Langrisser so I thought why not give it a try and learn a bit more about the characters that are coming to my game. Bought it on GoG, tried playing twice, got bored of it within the first 30 mins and fell asleep both the times. At that juncture I got hooked to FF14 (the online mmo) and moved on from Langrisser, dropping TiTS FC along with it. 8 months later, I went back home to Bangladesh, from the U.S. to spend some time with my wife, who was working there, over the Christmas break. She was working 9-5, I basically had nothing to do sitting at home and waiting for her, didn't have my PC or my consoles with me, so I figured might as well download Langrisser again and see if everyone I knew from back then was still playing. I realized soon afterward that there was a second TiTS collaboration and one of the characters (Leonhardt) was the meta in the multiplayer arena scene. I did some more research at this point on the trails series, but limited it to the first game only, which I dropped 8 months ago. I realized how much the fans on this series adored these games and it really got me curious, because my prior experience (whatever little that I had) with the first game wasn't the very best. After the Christmas break I went back to the U.S. had a few days before I was about to get busy, so I gave TiTS another shot. This time I convinced myself even before I started that great things will come, I just have to be patient...and boy oh boy...what a journey it was. After I was done with FC the only thing that would keep my mind sane was buying SC right then and there, which I did and I never looked back ever since. I finished the Liberl arc in one go. The night I finished TiTS 3rd chapter I bought ToCS to play the next day but I was also curious about the Crosbell games as I desperately wanted to play the game in release order at that point. The next day I did some research and made up my mind about playing the Crossbell Arc first. That was the BEST decision in my gaming life!!! Zero was good, but AO NO KISEKI is one of the best games I have ever played...seriously give Crossbell Arc a shot. After the Crossbell games, continued to play ToCS all the way to the end of ToCS3, all of this in one go, one after the other. The best gaming experience I have ever had. Highly HIGHLY recommend these games. I even offered to buy all the trails games for all my friends irl because I really want people to try them out. Skipping out on this series is a huge miss. Don't let it happen to you. PLAY THEM!!! And thank you for whoever reads my story!
What a great story, and truly one of the reasons why I made my channel to begin with! Personally, I too believe in giving games that I didn’t like before a second chance, particularly because as individuals, our tastes often change and what we used to dislike is something that we might like in the future! It’s why I have a huge backlog! It’s also why in my reviews, I try to give people additional info about a game so they’re better informed, much like how you researched this series! Props to you for giving the series a shot again and I’m glad to have read your story!
@@BacklogBattle I'm a bit late here as well, but the thing about this series, compared to others is that it has one continous story told across all of them, it's not just easter egg stuff. It's like watching Avengers Endgame without having seen any marvel movie prior, or even Infinity War. Now Starting CS1 is not a bad way to start it, I would definitely NEVER recommend starting the second or third game in which ever arc, as it is smack in the middle of a story, not only will you be lost but there will be no rewarding experience for being there with the main cast, nor will you see any real character development. So my advice to anyone getting into this series, pick an arc (Sky, Crossbell, or Cold Steel) and start with the first game of either, don't hop into the sequels, you will regret it. If you like Sky, then start with FC, if you like whatever that's fine as well. I will say though, IF you can definitely start with Sky.
This became a lot easier with the recent announcements that the Crossbell games are being officially localized on all platforms. This makes it a lot easier to recommend just going in release order.
There is another option: You can start with Trails of Cold steel (which might be easier to get into than Trails) and then do a cut after Trails of Cold steel 2 and jump back to Sky and Crossbell. Then at the end play Cold steel 3 and 4. This has the advantage that the more modern Cold steel series could get you hooked to be interested in the world, but you still don't miss too much of the context because the connection to the previous games is much stronger after Cold steel 2.
I did my Start with trails 3. I didnt know the Series and had Not any interest into jrpg's but because i had this game for FREE on Stadia i though. "give it a try you dont even need to download IT"..... It was the fighting System especially the Focus on attack areas and how you can influence when who will have his turn what got my interest first and It were the sweet relationships between Charakter which made me an addicted. But after 30 hours i had to stop playing. I wanted to know the members like Laura alisa machias from the beginning so I starte trails one and also did some Research for other games.... I think my favourite would be tocs 1-2 than Zero and azur and than 3 and 4. But due to announcement of officiak Release of the missing trails games i will finish cold steel 2-4 first and than play the crossbell arc. Im really Happy i found this Series 🥳
Great video, didn't even know there was games in the series before trails of cold steel! It's a series that has always been at the back of my mind saying I should play them. I have trails of cold steel 2 but I'm gonna hold out till I get the first one!
This is a great recommendation. Right now, I'm just starting CS1, which is my first The Legend of Heroes, and I'm really addicted to the lore and world building of this game. I want to invest my time to entire eight game, but I don't know if I have time to afford. I'm a 4th year student now, and I'm gonna have to start finding a job. When it's time to start CS3, If I don't have time to spend the entire series, maybe I'm gonna watch the summary of previous arc (Sky, Crossbell) instead. It's really suck that I know this franchises a little too late. I wish I had known this franchise when I was younger, it's a shame.
I had no idea you had done this video! Thanks, I appreciate it! I had honestly no clue what this series was, and I had no idea what games were even in the series, much less where to start with them. The only time anybody actually mentioned the series to me was when I was working at GameStop a few years back. If I remember right, we were stocking the PSVita games, and when a co-worker grabbed the box to one of the games (I honestly couldn't tell you which one it was), he gave it his seal of approval and told me to play the series. With this, now I know how people feel when they're trying to get into Kingdom Hearts, Yakuza, or Metal Gear, and have no idea where to start lol. I'll have some thinking to do! I really appreciate this video.
Since one of my goals is to help people get into more games, I'm considering making one of these for Final Fantasy and Atelier... not that Final Fantasy needs it! I also have one for Yakuza as well!
@@BacklogBattle Good! Good idea. Valkyrie Aurora had one for Atelier, but since she basically deleted her channel a few months ago, I'm now without a reference point :
The Trails of Cold Steel games MUST come out for the Switch. All of them. I played the first one on the Vita but never finished it. All 4 games on one console would be great reason to go through them all. Fingers crossed that his happens.
I was about to ask you on twitter about this and boom found the video. I think after Ryza2 and a few others from the backlog (hehe) I’ll jump into the trails series with cold steel 1. ^^
as someone who has played through every games that has an english version out in some capacity i will add on some points about each start off point. Starting off from the trails in the sky series is a good idea if you want a more old school difficult experience with some modern conveniences and if you get the PC versions you can even speed up the game to cut down on time spent aimlessly running around, i know it is a slow burning game that people tend to drop easily, but as someone who plays the series specifically for their world building prowess i it made me fall in love with their miniature story lines for characters which ended up continuing on for both it and SC, which made me keep track of every NPC (including animals) in all of their releases after those games. If you plan on started with cold steel i recommend if you really enjoy the story telling of the characters i highly recommend watching a play through of the original games at the very least so you can at least see how the characters grow in those games before playing CS3 i know that there are shorter summaries of the games out there, but i guarantee you will enjoy seeing certain characters even more if you knew how they ended up as they appear in the later games. With either one of these starts i highly recommend trying to not think of it as a typical JRPG where you rush to the end of the story as fast as possible for another generic ending, if you skip all of the NPC dialogues and written stuff in the books/newspapers then you are basically skipping the vast majority of the translated works that was put into these massive games, and in my opinion the meat of what gives falcom it's charm. For the last option in this video i would never recommend the latest game unless it is the fresh start of a new arc potentially, depending on how important it is with the story. No matter which one you choose though i just hope it motivates people into atleast trying out the other games without feeling like you need to speedrun them to get to the latest shiny release. the game will still be there for you, it isn't necessary to cram all the games back to back it will just make you crash and burn quickly just sit back and enjoy them,
Zero and Azure are called the Crossbell duology together, not one game each since Azure is a direct sequel to Zero. Don't forget the drama CDs and side story manga as well :p
Sheesh, I almost forgot about the drama CDs and the side story mangas! And I'm aware of the Crossbell duology - I just wanted to make sure that newcomers knew of the individual title names in the event that they would want to go look for the fan translations themselves.
@@BacklogBattle if the Crossbell arc ever got a western release the would probably have a numbered title to imply they are a duology but they will probably never get a official english release so it will never really matter.
Thanks for the video Backlog! Nice work. I know this thread is roughly 2 months old (dead in internet time..), but I still felt the need to throw my 2 mira in here. As with many others here: start with the game that interests you! I remember, like many, picking up Trails in the Sky FC, before even realizing that there would be an SC, and I probably made it out to the porch in the first 10 minutes of play and just wasn't in it. I know, only 10 minutes but the thought of playing it on psp with this slow burn was too much. Being a massive jrpg fan, I went to others or life moved on. Something. But then, per the suggestion in the video, I picked up Trails of Cold Steel some decade later and it was instant. The quality of the localization, the characters, the similarities to Persona (had just finished P4: Golden) and I was in. When I realized that the first game was just a part of a larger saga, I noticed the moniker 'Legend of Heroes" and it clicked that this must fit somewhere in the catalog of games starting with Trails in the Sky. Long story short, I went back to it and blasted through it once I got to Madrigal of the White Magnolia, hooks deeply embedded in the heart. Realizing that the localization was on par with Trails of Cold Steel, I almost felt mad that I'd set it down (though, admittedly, I was never a big mobile gamer so the PSP just made the hands cramp). In the interest of playing Cold Steel III, i wanted to just rush so I started watching long plays and reading synopses but all that made me do was want to play them more. So, now, I sit here having finished CS1, currently on part 3 of Act II for CS2, Chapter 7 of SC, and chapter 1 of Zero. The spoilers, if you want to call them that, are nothing compared to the enjoyment of seeing these events as the player. There is no such thing as spoilers if you're enjoying the ride. If anything, they're enhancers when you get to see the reasons WHY things are happening in the overarching plot. This is, hands down, the best narrative jrpg of all time. That was way too long but thanks for reading!
You’re absolutely right! At the end of the day, the actual events that transpire - the build up, the actual “spoiler,” and what transpired as a result - are just as important as the actual event itself. It’s why I say that playing with Cold Steel first is just as valid as starting with the Sky games! You are right - at the end of the day, start with what you like! That’s just as valid too!
seriously, starting with cold steel 3 is like watching Infinity War without knowing anything happened before, started with CS4 is also like jump into End Game, don't read a book series from volume 3. is just common sense.
One thing I think should be pointed out: A lot of these conversations make it seem like the Sky and Crossbell games are not good, that going back to play them is "homework" or a chore. But I want to emphasize that for a lot of fans (myself included), our favorite games in the series are from those arcs. Now I understand that the Sky and Crossbell games are sprite based and old looking compared to the Cold Steel games, but in terms of gameplay and story, they are absolutely top notch. If you want to start with Cold Steel, good on you! Go for it. But if you're doing so because you're worried that the older games will be boring, don't be. They are amazing.
Thanks for your comment! The perspective that I approached this with in the video comes from speaking with many players who would always say that they “want to start playing the series,” then immediately follow it up with “it’s intimidating.” I figured the right way to encourage people to get to play the series was to present multiple options of entry and, as you said, just as long as you start it, you’re good! If it somehow came across that I was saying the previous games were boring, I want to clarify that that’s not at all my intention, only that the sooner people get in, the better!
@@BacklogBattle Of course! Sorry if it came off like I was accusing you of downplaying the older games. This video did a great job. A lot of people do come in with the perspective of, "I want to play Cold Steel but I've heard I should play five other games first," which is what I think you were responding to.
As someone who started with Trails of Cold Steel 1 and 2, the most ideal option if you have plans to play the entire series is starting with Trails in the Sky FC and continuing to play the series in release order. Starting with Cold Steel 1 and 2 is fine enough, but beginning your trails journey with Cold Steel 3 is completely ludicrous. The only reason Falcom and Nisa recommend it is because they want to maximize sales of CS3 in the West. There's no point in playing a story based JRPG that's THE EIGHTH GAME in a series. You literally won't understand anything. Playing through just Cold Steel 1 and 2 is serviceable to understand and connect with Cold Steel 3 on a surface level, but unless you play them, you won't enjoy CS3, period.
It's gonna be a difficult pill to swallow for players who want to start with 3 without feeling like they've missed out. I feel like maybe part of that is Falcom's writing as well?
@@BacklogBattle Definitely. They write each Trails game without really catering to anyone who missed out on important information from a previous game. An example of this would be Cold Steel 3 expecting players to know about a NG+ cutscene in CS2 that happens in the epilogue of that game, but only if you meet a bunch of specific requirements and collect a NG+ exclusive book series spread out across the game. Trails is generally not a very newcomer friendly series if you jump in at a random game. This goes double for CS3 and CS4.
@@thepilgrimstar7988 Trails in the Sky (all three games) are readily available on Steam and can run on pretty much any computer made in the last decade. You can still have a good time if you just play Cold Steel, but by CSIV, you'll be missing out on so much context, lore, emotional attachment, and some things will be completely incomprehensible.
@@ravus9935 I know not alot of people thought of the idea or want to do this but you can also download the sky and crossbell games on your phone through an psp emulator. I'm doing this because it saves me more time if i'm playing on the go. I'm currently replaying through the entire series from sky fc in order to fully enjoy CS4
if u start with cold steel 1 u will immediately play 2 because of the cliff hanger and most people have macbooks instead of PC. that said i got halfway through CS3 and used bootcamp to make my mac a PC and now im happily playing cs3 and FC concurrently :)
Backlog Battle im using it for trails in the sky actually, i have all cold steels on ps4. once i finish 3 im gonna go back and catch up before we get cs4. i cannot believe i never heard of this series it is blowing my mind
I’ve been waiting to start this series, and finally in summer 2020 I’m beginning with 1,2,3 on PS4 - already have 4 preordered and will be playing that on PS5...excited to jump in heard a lot of great things about this series!!!
I highly recommend jumping back to the older games after CS2. Playing every game before CS3 means that I jump for joy whenever old characters come back. I'm especially fond of one kid from the Sky games now being all grown up and being one of the new students.
Dude I watched it fully, and gotta say that I do understand, but I became a fan this year and put effort on playing each and every game, rn I'm at Cold Steel 1, and I must say it was worth it, so I do NOT reccomend skipping bc that distort feelings you'd have about the journey, that may even ruin some moments, and even on gameplay regards, Trails series have been including quality of life updates, and if you get used to the latest the older one's will feel just worse, making you don't like them as much as you could. Also well I met the series about 2 years ago by friends on discord talking about it, late 2019 I had given a try but before even finishing the prologue I had lost my save file and restart. January 2020 I started to play the games seriously and to be honest I did not rush them, I have even take breaks between games and chapters bc of my personal life or just the "don't feel so", but really I could talk for years about trails as far as it is good in MANY ways
As my advantage of sometimes tsking other directions than Release Orders. Sometimes it is Amazing to understand people and Things which happened afterwards by looking into the past. Also some or most of Thrillers Show you the paßt before they Show you what happened....
It's incredible..as a HARDCORE fan of the series I saying that everything that has been said here in this video is 100% approved, yet I would like to see a novice in the series playing some cold steel 4 demo / prologue, it would be interesting to see...I hope I can play cold steel 3 on time or at least by the end of the year with the ps4 I want to get, until then I'll be back in time and see where the legend of heroes started.
I’m super happy to have this approval! I really wanted to represent the different sides to this question, and I’m glad you agree that I’ve managed to cover it! Cold Steel 3 review coming soon!
So currently caught up on all the Trails games out in the west atm and I did go through them in story order. Personally I'll say I'm glad I went through all the games in order as not only was it nice to see a continuous story in the right order, I was able to appreciate the future QOL changes as well along the way. With that said, I agree, the players should decide which one they'd want to start with based on their preference. Like sure you might miss out on references and such, but that wouldn't be the end of the world suddenly. Even for Cold Steel 3 I think you can enjoy it on its own if you just played the Cold Steel games. I do agree Cold Steel 3 isn't the best place to start as I feel the story summaries, while they do tell you what happens, def far different from actually experiencing it. And in general with how Cold Steel 3 is the 8th game in the long running franchise as well as the second to last game in the Cold Steel series. But hey I've heard people got into the series cuz of playing Trails of Cold Steel 2 first before playing the rest and possibly other games as well. Have seen one friend who enjoyed the game, but didn't get hooked into it cuz he played the first 2 Trails in the Sky games. While I can't say he would've gotten into the series if he started on Cold Steel instead, I do feel he would've at least enjoyed them more as those games are closer to his taste. If you do choose to start on Cold Steel and have no plans to go to the older games, would still recommend looking for videos of them and such just to at least know about said characters and other events that happen either prior or during Cold Steel. Otherwise, I just hope they enjoy their time with Trails.
Thanks for sharing! I hope others interested in the series will read what you shared and help them take the first step into playing games in this series!
Thanks I kinda knew the answer I was looking for but I needed to have it presented to me in a clear way like you did. I've played a lot of JRPGs but the trails series I kept hearing about. Finally looked into them. I don't mind putting in time but a potential 250 hours before cold steel 1 (a series I may not even like, I've kept in the dark on the plot) doesn't appeal to me. I think I'll start with trails of cold steel unless there are comprehensive videos kinda summarizing each of the past games?
@@BacklogBattle thanks! Looks like a cool channel but I can't seem to find trails in the sky 1 anywhere, maybe I'm blind. I found trails in the sky 2 and 3 videos but not 1 ☹️
Thank you. I love all the TH-camrs (yourself included) that break down and tell the truth. Yes please start with Cold Steel 1 if you haven't played had a chance to play the previous titles. I got started on the PS Vita with Cold Steel 1. Got hooked in the first chapter. I'm hoping to play through all four of Cold Steel on PS 4/PS 5. I have 3 on reserve and have $4 left to pay on it. Picked up 1&2 day one.
I’ve been meaning to make this video since Cold Steel came out on PS4, but I wanted to make sure I got all the facts straight before posting it. This might come a bit too soon leading up to part 3, but I felt it was important to release anyway as I feel that it’s a series that’s a must play for fans of JRPGs!
@@BacklogBattle nah any coverage before 3 hits the West is good. I particularly don't like it when folks say play the most recent is fine. That does not work on a heavily story based series like this.
Definitely realized that when I played Cold Steel 3 as though it was my first time. Granted, my experience would never be truly like “my first time” with the series, but it made me look at certain scenes in a different way. Cold Steel 1 is definitely the way to go imo
I played one of the earlier Legend of Heroes games from the PSP. Then I tried Trails in the sky but wasn't too gripped at first. When CS one was released I found myself greatly enjoying that one. It took a lot of on and off playing but I've beaten CS 1 and 2. Now to do 3 before the 4th comes out.
This is my order, and I was an absolute freshman to Legend of Heroes: CS 1 -> CS 2 -> CS3 -> Trails in the Sky FC and SC -> Zero no Kiseki via Geofront translation. Now Im waiting for the Azure no Kiseki Patch from the Geofront and will dive afterwards again into CS 3 just to finish of with Cold Steel4 and Hajimari no Kiseki.
I started with cold steel 1 just finished 4 and now I will go back to play trails of the sky to gain that context I missed while playing through 4 but I had a lot of fun just playing 1-4.
Did you still enjoy the cold steel series alone? Im thinking of taking the approach of playing 1 and 2, then watching summaries of the older games just because personally Im not a fan of playing older looking games
@@spazr7194 Yep I had a lot of fun playing through just cold steel alone so you can definitely just do that. I missed the odd reference here and there when playing 3 and 4 but for me it did not detract from the experience.
I got started with Cold Steel 1 and 2. My brother bought the game at game stop on a whim, played it and realized how much such a political game would be up my alley and got me to play it to. I fell in love with talking to every character and with Class 7 and their every dynamic. I loved the replayability and discovered something new every time. The mechanic were fun, tthe world building incredible, and once I reached that cliff hanger ending I was hooked. I thankfully had time to go back and watch most of the previous games as let's plays before CS3 came out and honestly I recommend that for everyone getting into series. Start with CS1&2, take a break and go back and watch the Sky games and Crossbell games on TH-cam, then play CS3 and 4. Or even watch the playthroughs as you play the Cold Steel Games.
Thank you for sharing your experience! I've always thought that the barriers of entry in a series is dictated with however much initial involvement someone has on a series and that it only takes that one game for them to get hooked, hence why I highly recommended starting with Cold Steel! I'm so glad to read that you took the plunge and that you're enjoying the series alongside the rest of us!
I started with the Cold Steel series and then tried Trails in the sky which Trails in the sky is really hard I have no idea where to go after going to the Farm.
I have questions. So there are other games in this series that aren't "trails"? Can you tell what they are please? Also. What about this new reverie announcement? (Yes i see this video was made in 2019) Next also. I'm guessing the new kuro no kiseki is going to be the next new arc? What does kuro no kiseki read in english?
One more question. Why do I always hear people only putting crossbell arc and cold steel arc together? Did trails in the sky take place a long long time ago or something??
Great questions! I’m planning to make a short video about this soon as it’s a bit complicated! The gist is that Sky 1 to Reverie are all one continuous story arc, with Kuro being the start of a new starting point! In other words, it’s recommended to play Sky FC, SC, TC, Zero, Azure, all 4 Cold Steel games AND Reverie in that order! Though Kuro is connected. Yes, very complicated 😅
I played some of the earlier games on PSP. Tried trails in the sky but didn't get too far. Then picked up cold steel one, beat it over a year or so of off and on play. Then played 2 but stopped 30 hours into it. Now I'm working on finishing it so I can play 3. I do plan on going back and playing the other 5 games, sometime
This kind of reminds me of the Avengers vs. the wider Marvel universe You're missing context if you just tune in for the Hulk, Hawkeye and Widow and *only* watch the mainline Avengers movies - but there's enough there to grasp the overall plot And, in many ways, going back and watching the other Marvel movies after you've seen the mainline Avengers films *kind of* feels like you're watching a prequel with the context you lacked sliding into place That being said - you're gonna have *no* earthly clue what's going on if you start with Endgame xD
So I think about 2 years ago, I saw the beginning of a let's play of TitS and that got me interested. So I started playing it half a year ago and immediately got hooked. I played FC in 2 weeks and started SC, and when SC got repetitive with all the enforcer introductions, I got somewhat bored so I started playing Cold Steel on the side. And so I finished SC and Sen1 at about the same time, then played Sen2, then Zero and Ao. And, lucky for me, I do have a decent knowledge of japanese so I ended playing the rest as well while I was in Japan, actually. Needless to say, I didn't understand the whole thing, but I got the gist of it, so yeah. I see a lot of people wanting to play the whole cs series without even touching the crossbell arc, and that sucks though, you miss out on so much, even the end of Sen2. I will say, however, that regardless of some people making terrible choices when it comes to the playing order, it makes me really happy that this series gets the recognition it so deserves, much like Ys with the recent success of Ys8.
I've always seen it as a hesitation on the amount of time commitment in part with players. I'm just recently getting into the Atelier games and when I look into the entire series, I'm overwhelmed at how much I feel like I have to play! Part of why I made this video is so that people can just give Kiseki a shot, while allowing them the option to consume the series in however way they wish. My hope is that the characters from Sky and Crossbell really grab the players while playing through Cold Steel so that they'd be convinced to give the games a shot!
I played Trails of Cold Steel 1 before I knew there was a Legend of Heroes series. I loved Trails so much I went and bought all the earlier games I could... And I started to play the first one, but I just didn't really have the time to really play it and have never gotten around to finishing it. Then Trails II came out and I have still never finished that game either... x.x I really want to, but it was so long between 1 and 2 I feel I need to do a new playthrough of 1 before going into 2... And now there is a 3 and I just feel so far behind...
If you do decide to replay through Cold Steel 1, the PC version and the PS4 release does have a major quality of life change: a fast forward button! Should cut down when you’re on horseback in Gaius’ neck of the woods!
You have to think about them all basically being 1 big game split into parts. I never really got the idea of playing the second entry of a story heavy series after not getting through the first. I get not wanting to play Sky or Zero/Ao first as they look dated or are hard to acquire but all of Coldsteel basically looks the same and plays very well. Enjoy the story at your own pace, there is little difference between playing Cs3 now or 1 week before the english release of Cs4, its gonna be a lot tougher to sit there waiting for the new game after having rushed through the others. Its a singleplayer game, take your time.
I _strongly_ suggest starting with Sky. Why? 1. A really robust, official-release-quality fan translation for Zero no Kiseki (Trails from Zero) just came out a couple of days ago, and it's very easy to install. Ao no Kiseki also already had a pretty good translation and it's not that hard to get up and running. 2. Trails in the Sky are GOOD GAMES! There's no reason to worry about how much time it'll take to get through them- you really shouldn't be in a rush. It's all about the journey, not the destination. Play them and enjoy them for what they are! I've just played Trails in the Sky FC myself and I absolutely adore it. 3. The series is _tightly_ interwoven. Sky FC through CS3 take place within just 4 years in-universe, all in the same world with events that interconnect and effect each other. This aspect is one of the series greatest strengths, which you lose for yourself if you decide to skip ahead. They're great games, why skip great games? Even if you DO skip Crossbell (the JP only games), I still think playing the Sky games yourself is more than worth it. Have a good time with them, that's what they're for :)
I take it you played through ALL of the games starting from the First Chapter? Way to gooo! Let's all wait for the CS 4 localization and Hajimari's launch and of course, it's localization as well :>
Pros of starting at Trails in the Sky: You get the story from the start and they're on Steam for a reasonable price, so there's no barrier to entry (unlike say the older SMT games which you can only get on the DS). The major con is the graphics/presentation. Say what you will but a game has to captivate the player and if the old-fashioned graphics are a major turn-off for you, it's honestly better to go with Cold Steel instead. After all, you shouldn't force yourself to go through something that doesn't appeal to you just to eventually get to the part that does. Obviously, in either case, start with the first one in that series.
Couldn't agree more! My wife started playing Cold Steel and didn't want to go back and play the older titles because they looked old. But she's having a blast and looking forward to Cold Steel 4!
Absolutely agree for these people a story recap on youtube will give them a good understanding of the story that came before with the only drawback being less attachment to the previous games characters and even still they will have more attachment then if they just started playing cold steel without the recap at all.
ok i started with could steel 1 am on chaper 3 it is fun i got into it cuse i was looking up tailse of arise videos and could steel 1 kept coming up i did get could steel 2 waiting for 3 and 4 to go on sale so i can buy them on the ps4
Played CS1 and CS2 two months before CS3 was released. Glad I listened to the friend that recommended these games to me. But I don't think I'll have the attention span to go back to older titles.
My wife told me when we picked up CS1 and 2 that she had no patience to go back in time and replay the old games. I suspect that many new fans wouldn't want to. Thankfully, Cold Steel 1's a good start as any!
@@BacklogBattle yeah that would be swell but thats still years away even in the best case scenario but in the meantime the geofront is about to release their fan localization of Zero so thats something to look forward to
Several years ago Istarted with cold steel 1, because in the sky looked too old, but I lost my save file with 45 hours of play time and I hate having to restard RPGs so I decided never to play it again, because I enjoy it but not enough to repeat those 45 hours again, and the trails games are famous for having slow first games, some years past and I started to play the Ys series and some of those games have those same graphics as the in the sky series, and I loved that era of Ys, so I desided to give it a chance to in the sky series and love it, 1 an 2 are some of the best games I have ever played, and yes the ggraphics are old but there are beatuful scenarios on those games, 3 is a very different game but it was good, and now I´m playing zero, and it is an amazing series, so don´t led the graphics from in the sky series to scare you from that series, I can say without any doubt that I enjoyed more the first 45 hours of in the sky those same 45 hours of cold steel 1 Edit: Also now that I´m playing the games in order I obviously want to replay cold steel one
Thanks for sharing! That’s a perfectly good way to get back to a game that you played before! And now, you’ll be more than ready to tackle the blending plot points!
Personally i'd recommend that starting with cold steel 1 and 2 is fine especially if you find it daunting to play through 5 other games before diving in. that said if by the second game you are really enjoying the world building and lore of the games at this point you should whole heartedly consider going back to play Sky series and both Zero and Ao no kiseki BEFORE playing trails of cold steel 3 and 4. While plot points of cold steel 1 and 2 have story spoilers for the previous games in the trails series they aren't extremely invasive in your understanding of the world but Cold Steel 3 and 4 heavily require knowledge of the previous characters and events of those games and will leave you feeling underwhelmed by certain events in 3 and 4 without those other games story contexts If it still too daunting to go back and play 5 games even if you want the full context you should at least watch a story recap for each before starting cold steel 3 and 4
Tried the Demo for TCS 3, it's pretty mind-blowing stuff, but combat is alot of fun & they managed to cram in a lot of world-building & characters, probably going to do a bit more research and read up on stuff before the games, but it's one to watch
@@BacklogBattle thanks, the only thing I can think of is that the cold steel series, 1 & 2 where they on the Playstation Vita? There's been a couple of games from Falcom that have been on it & come to the switch, so I'm just wondering how one might play 1 & 2 if possible
@@BacklogBattle the the only other thing I can think of is what exactly is the main plotline? Seems like it's about a lot of civil war type stuff going from the vibe from the demo, but with monsters? 😅
Michael Thompson Cold Steel 1 and 2 are available on Vita, PS3, PS4, and Steam! It is highly recommended to purchase 1 and 2 on the same platform as 2 reads information from your save from the 1st! Same with 3 and 4, with 4 reading info from your save from part 3!
Quick question is it OK if I just play tales of cold steel 1-4 and just watch Summaries of older games is that a decent way to experience the series I am mainly asking this because all the Cold steel games are on PlayStation and it seems really annoying and tedious to track down all the all the games to play
Saw trails in the sky on steam... and something possessed me to try it... 50 hours later and i rushed to buy SC.... and have never looked back since hahaha i feel im lucky in the way i got into it as i happened to stumble in at the start line
Thats just how good i found the series, ive always been a reader, and a DnDer, so i really appreciate a world with a story behind it and this game series really scratched that itch haha
On a side note, one advantage of playing them in order is that throughout the first two games, you very much under the impression that Erebonia is the "bad guy" which you so often find in most game stories, so when you get to cold steel and get to play as the "bad guy" it becomes a very eye opening experience. The "bad guys" are just people, with their own issues and troubles and stories. Very relevent to the real world too i feel.
To all the new fans out here reading comments, welcome to the exciting world of the Trails series! Please take my advice at heart, starting the series from Cold Steel isn't as half-hearted as it seems, rather it may be a great start on the contrary, BUT starting it from the VERY first game, yes The Trails in the Sky First Chapter is the best course of action :> may you also enjoy these games as much as I did ❤️
Thanks for putting this out there. There is, in my opinion, far too much of the hardcore fanbase's opinion out there. As a big fan of the series I can sympathize with the "play it in order" mentality, but it genuinely HURTS to see so many people actively driving players away from the series without even realizing it, because I want others to love this series as much as I do, and they won't be able to if they never take the chance. Yes, there are occasional times when a player that would have gotten into the series if they had started at the, arguably better written, Sky instead starts at Cold Steel and doesn't quite get into it, but that is only a small subset of cases, and you STILL can't guarantee that that message would have gotten them to play Sky. Instead they may simply have not played Sky OR Cold Steel.
I agree. I just want people to play the games. Doesn't matter where they start. They just need to get in with one game so they can make the decision whether or not it's worth going back and playing through the other games or continuing from that point on!
Great video :) Honestly tho, apart from graphics, if you want to start this series, why would you want to start with Cold Steel. If you know they are all connected and if you do want to get into the series, you might as well start from the oldest game. Even discounting that the older games have better writing in general, its only going to be harder to go back from the "better looking" and more gameplay polished titles to the older ones, not to mention that by the time you finish playing the older titles, you might as well replay CS again as well to actually get all the connections this time around. Sky and Crossbell arcs are fantastic, there is no reason to skip them just to get to the newer games. If the time commitment is the issue, id recommend playing the older games and watching summaries of CS instead. If you know nothing about the series and just want to try out an interesting jrpg, CS I or even III are acceptable starts, but thats hardly the case if you are watching this video... Oh and, I think you oversold how hard it is to get the english patches for Zero and Ao, you literally just type Zero no Kiseki/Ao no Kiseki english patch into google and download from first two or three options. No need for applying the patch or anything, thats already taken care off, its a matter of minutes. That being said, if any of the games look interesting, buy them, any new person supporting the localization of this franchise is welcome and they are worth playing as well.
As an old fart at 40 years old - turning 41 in a few days - I think I can definitely say that I wouldn't be bothered playing the Crossbell games, patched, on a PC when I've played *almost* all of Trails on console - with T3 being the exception, of course. To be clear, I've read and watched plenty about Crossbell to understand what I missed out on. That said, I'm a firm believer in being able to experience games in multiple ways, and funneling people into going through the rigamarole of downloading translation patches, patching executables, playing the games, etc is a quick way to dissuade certain people from even jumping into any series with continuity. To your point about how it might be difficult to go back from Cold Steel due to its graphics, that's just going to be on a case by case basis. I've read many comments here and elsewhere who have said that by taking a chance with Cold Steel, it's actually made them curious about other games in the series, even going so far as to go through picking up and patching the Crossbell games! I guess what I'm trying to say here is that for the series to truly get any traction with the Western audience, gamers will need to find a way to play at least *one* game in the series with the courage to know what they're really going into, which is the whole point of this video and why it's named this way. I've read many emails and comments telling me that this video has helped them get into Cold Steel and, more importantly, Kiseki as a whole. A fandom for a series starts with just one game, much like Yakuza with Yakuza 0 for many people. From there, fandom blossoms into a beautiful thing that makes us passionate about the series to begin with, and that's the kind of organic appreciation that you simply can't force upon people. Speaking of that, I actually saw in one of the Discords I'm in that someone claimed that they were going to buy Trails in the Sky FC to all their friends so they'll play the game. Apart from myself, one other person said that that's a sure fire way for that person *not* to play the game! Again, appreciation and, by proxy, fandom, has to come naturally. It can't be forced, not dictated. All we can do is provide the appropriate knowledge and assurance that the time they'll invest in these games will be worth it! And that's my belief of what I set out to achieve in this video! :)
@@BacklogBattle Again, you are wildly overselling the difficulty of "patching" the fan translated games. Its as easy a process as downloading it from steam for the most part, you just use the Geofront launcher, or patched iso from a website fo Ao no Kiseki, it literally takes a minute to find and get to playing. But of course I get you, as I wrote before, if any of the people watching will buy and try any of the games its still a win. However for people watching these videos, its this is unlikely to be just a random series they just want to try, you dont look up a continuity for a game you know nothing about and justs want to try because it looks cool. Since they are looking up how to get into the series, might as well be honest and say that the best way to get the most ouf of it is to play it in order. Sure its daunting and time consuming, but I work under the impression that if you go to the lengths of looking up which game in the franchise to start with, you woud listen to the advice of the fandom, like I did with Fate series for example. I am certainly biased, because I do believe the older games are better in general but great many people do also, so its certainly not a bad way to start. If people start with CS and it gets them into the series, like I saw many times on facebook and on reddit as well, great, but they will eventually go back to playing those games as well regardless, and then want to replay CS again to get the meaning in full, starting out from the beginin actually saves them time. Anyways, its an opinion thing, I can only recommend what I think is the best way to go, just like you had great success recommending CS I also saw people not enjoying CS because of its anime tropes, school setting, slow storytelling etc, even people who played Sky arc before that. Its hard to predict how people will enjoy what, thats why id rather give them advice like this. If they so choose they can always jump into the newer games into series regardless of our advice. Anyways, thanks for doing your it for the franchise :)
How I got into cold steel I got a switch but I only had one game After putting in about 300 hours into it I started to get bored so I wanted to look for other games The problem was that I didnt have that much money so thats an obvious problem I began to look for free games or ones with demos Cold steel 3 was the one I came across and I abzolutely loved it Too bad I only have 10 dollars on my account tho, I would like to try the first game but my switch is my only platform and the shop only has 3 and 4
I'd recommend starting with Sky FC, but since they are older i understand if you don't want to. So,... If you don't want to play Sky though, i would at least suggest watching the in depth summaries of all the games by a TH-camr named "LadyVirgilia". It takes multiple hours to watch, but it's definitely worth it.
I think your suggestion is good. A lot of people I’ve talked to are just too overwhelmed at how many games there are in the series, and with more coming, I can’t imagine that feeling enticing for newcomers!
I get your point and it's kind of valid, but i have a problem with it. You make playing previous games sound like a chore. As though the only purpouse doing it is to enjoy CS3 or CS4 or whatever. But those games are self-valuable, they don't exist solely for the purpouse of preparing the ground for Cold Steel. I daresay they are far better character-wise than mostly lackluster original CS cast (at least when it comes to the original Class VII). As for gameplay, i didn't find it any less fun than CS one, at least while playing earlier games first. So what i am saying is basically CS3 doesn't have any priority over earlier games, but it does have the disadvantages you mentioned.
I think you misunderstood the video, he wasn't saying the CS1 & 2 are a chore, but rather the opposite. If you want to truly appreciate CS3 then it's advised to play CS1 & 2 first as they so much context and connects you to the character in such a way that it makes CS3 even better. CS1 & 2 are masterpieces on their own and both of them are enjoyable as much as CS3 :)
@@jonbar Yeah, well, the same goes for Trails in the Sky and the Crossbell arc. He's not trying to say that they're bad, but it sure sounds like "the waste of time you don't have before the main dish".
@@ВадимНечунаев-л2о well, as someone that only played cold steel, watched a let's play of the sky trilogy and only read about the crossbell arc on Wikipedia, I'm somewhat agreeing with the statement :) I think the reasoning is that people should not shy away from the Erabonia arc just because they didn't (or can't) play the older games. Sky is somewhat accessible in steam but Zero is only playable in Japanese or through fan translations. But, no one is saying that the older games are bad or something, even when I experienced it only in let's play, Sky the First's twist got me hard.
@@jonbar It's true and i'm pretty sure that Backlog thinks so too (if he did play them though), but he didn't stress it enough. Instead of "you don't have to play them first", he basically says "It's not recommended, unless you REALLY want to'. Funnily enough, that twist didn't hit me. _That character's_ past was shady to begin with, so it seemed like only a logical conclusion and i was even satisfied for the time being and played SC only after a while (a month or so). Plus, the last dungeon was really taxing. I even skipped it with a stealth quartz, and that is, to say, the only part in the whole series that i skipped. Trails in the Sky FC is my favorite game in the series. It was just so nice to spend time with those characters and doing some REAL work instead of saving the world or whatever, that i didn't even care for mostly lacking plot. I didn't need it. And in CS1 after some time i got bored and wanted for some events to finally happen. Most of the characters are just meh, including Rean (really, the worst Trails protagonist and his speeches are annoying), at least in usual circumstances. There are a few characters that i like, but it's just 6 or so and only like two of them are from Class VII. Personal emotional moments are good though.
Thanks for replying! I read all the replies that you shared here and certainly, I could’ve highlighted the strengths of the older games as well. As someone who has experienced them after playing Cold Steel, I know that there’s tremendous value there! That said, my intention, as you stated, is to attempt to lower the barrier of entry to the series. At the time I made this, every single RPG fan I spoke to about the series (as recent as today even) were both intimidated and discouraged at the thought of having to play through the previous games. My personal belief is that even if any one of these people try *any* of these games, even Cold Steel, that they’ll become big enough fans of the series that the prospect of looking back and playing through older titles would feel less like a chore and more like a benefit. I also felt that trying to convince players to start at the beginning, as well as presenting their value, reinforces the intimidating feeling that the series currently exudes to unfamiliar players. That said I value feedback such as these because they only make my future videos better, and I want to thank you for taking the time to explain your point!
DAMN! My party from the trails of cold steel looks so badass in the later games! Maybe I should play it again. You gave me the motivation to follow through with the boring story and characters of trails of cold steel 1. Im on chapter six now anyway so I hope i finish it soon.
Glad to be of help! I love it when I can convince people to go back and retry games that they played before and have different opinions on! Makes me super happy! :D
I was beginnen with Trails of the Sky 1-3. It was a lot of fun. When i played Trails of the cold Steel i first was thinking that "was" the first game after Trailf of the sky 3. Sadly it wasn't and becouse of no officeal translation i wan't play the 2 games in Crowsbell. Bugt thanks to youtube i coulde enjoy at least Joshua, Estelle and Renne part, that i was missing beteween these 2 games. But with some summery i'm in the picture and agree with the summary here. Trails fot the cold steel mention a lot that was seem to going in in the Crowswell games, as well as some small parts in Trails of the Sky. Stil, without Croswell games you missing the part, how Garellia Fortress was attaced for exemple. But without able to play the 2 Crowswell games, when you don't like to go to 3 games + 2 if you get inofficial solutions, i think Cold Steel ist the easiest way. But if you like to make time, at least play Trails of the Sky - i'm stell fealing at this point, thats the beast of the games. It took me some hours to geht used to cold Steel. But hey, eather way, all of the games are fun to far!
Thank you for sharing your experience with the series, and I'm glad that we both agree that the most important thing is for more people to play the series! Here's hoping that people can jump into Hajimari no Kiseki without any prior knowledge in the series!
After Trails of Cold Steel 4 comes out, the entire Liberl (Sky), Crossbell (Ao/Zero), and Erebonia (Cold Steel) arcs come to a close, but the Trails series will still continue! I heard that some unresolved story elements in CS4 will be addressed in the new Trails series.
That's completely false. Falcom has announced three more arcs set in different countries. Cold Steel 4 just marks the end of the main storyline started by the Crossbell and Erebonian arcs. The Trails series as a whole however, is far from over.
we need a remake of the Sky series. I don't even know how to write the two standalone ones since their titles are japanese and you didn't spell it out.
I have played trails of cold steel and I’m due to play 2 but I got trails in the sky on emulator on my tablet and it’s a slow grind plus the combat isn’t as good as cold steel there’s a TH-camr than explains the story of all trails games chapter by chapter so I think I will finish fc and watch the sc and fc games story summaries cause I really don’t have the time.if anyone has their own opinions about this feel free to say something.@backlogbattles
I think it's fine to watch through the previous games so you can get caught up with Cold Steel 1. Time is a commodity that not many have, and there can be times that trying to force yourself to play something you don't enjoy will just wind up making you dislike what you're doing as opposed to enjoying the series. So do that!
I watched a let's play of the sky trilogy, read a summary of zero on wiki and played cold steel 1-3 Overall I enjoyed experiencing the story like this, I would still like to play the sky trilogy and the zero dualogy someday but I don't feel rushed to do so. IMO cold steel 1&2 can be played without the background knowledge but for cold steel 3 it is beneficiary to at least read a summary of the other installments.
Jon Bar when u played 3 did u get most of the references and cameos I really just want to play the cold steel trilogy and the crossbell arc tbh the sky fc cliffhanger was good but the game in general was slow I’m in chapter 3 of sc And I’m really tired so I think I will just watch a walkthrough to save time or lady virgilias summary videos
@@gabrielike1370 watching summaries is good enough to enjoy CS3. As long as you know the big plot points and major characters in the sky and crossbell arcs you will get most if not all cameos in the game. CS3 also does a decent job at trying to give you the context of each character and location. It's completely valid to just play CS3 and read online if something confuses you as you go along :) Don't let the other games stop you
Umm simple.. Cold steel one.. You won't feel the same emotional impact without context.. Seeing these characters from minor and major develop throughou the series.. Trails in the sky isn't required until a certain point in the storyline.. Even minor things like Munk hanging around radio trista.. or minor conversations between other non class 7 characters, show up in later games and the involvement of you seeking these things out an coming to progressional realisation throught each title.. is what makes this series special and curbstompes.. Games of a similar type like Mass effect.. Which is designed to be possible stand alone titles.. Cold Steel isn't that.. Which is what makes Falcom the masters of world building < 3
Well, its not Cold Steel series, but Kiseki series (the legend of heroes even above that) and in regards to Kiseki games I recommend playing them in order if still possible (aside for CS III which you obviously finished already) Trails in the Sky 1-3 are incredible, Trails of Zero and Azure are fantastic, with Azure and Sky 2 being the absolute highligts of the entire series. Im on the side of Cold Steel being the weakest in the series, they are still great games, but I feel a lot more disconnected from the protagonist and some of the cast, not to mention the direction of the story than ever before, however if you started off with Cold Steel, you will likely not have this issue, depending on what you expect and how well you can deal with some bs and cringe. The story goes from Sky 1 all the way to CS IV (and Hajimari yet to be released), you will get far more of the big picture and the little details if you play them in order. If you are unable to get into the older games due to graphics or gameplay, than play what you can and you will see if it will invest you on the rest of the series, but graphics shouldnt be indicator of quality in any way in story heavy rpgs.
I felt it was important that even though this was about Cold Steel that I talked about Sky and Crossbell as well. Some people might want me to have told them to only have one answer, but I also want the opportunity to ensure that people approach the series the way they want to. I also find it important to make sure that people who have played the series can share their own experiences to help others who are still unsure about how to approach it to have alternate perspectives on what to do, so I absolutely thank you for taking the time to post this here :)
I try Cold Steel first don't like it and drop the serie. Now I'm in a community with some kiseki fans so I played Trails in the Sky games and it was pretty cool. Cold Steel I isn't the best game for me so I recommand fan's order
I'm in the camp (of probably one) that says start at whatever game seems interesting to you, and if you like it go to the beginning of that series.
Cause the only thing that I know for a fact in my 30 years of gaming and being around gamers is that it's not a spoiler unless someone tells you it's a spoiler.
Think about it this way: If you gain information in lets say CS3 that is pertinent to a plot thread of (... I don't know) Sky SC, but doesn't come with any context, plus would require you to spend at the very least 70 hours of game time to get to that point where said information would be relevant in Sky SC; is your enjoyment really spoiled at that point?
Are you even going to remember?
Or, what's more likely will you say something to the extent of "Oh, so that's what that one thing was referring to. That's cool."
Bottom line: Don't let anyone gatekeep you from this amazing series of JRPGs. Start wherever you want.
I’m of this belief as well, which is why I always put multiple recommendations and reasons why you should consider or not consider a particular approach. The goal is more to inform people rather than discourage. I myself don’t have the time to play through the entire series, and I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to start with CS1 this year!
@@BacklogBattle you are the only TH-camr I've seen that hasn't in my opinion been trying to gate keep when speaking about this series.
It's almost like those that say they love this series want it to stay as niche as possible.
This is entirely possible. There’s this long standing belief that if a game sells more, or that it targets a wider demographic, that all of a sudden its a “bad thing.” The reality of the situation is that there’s more of a grey area here: some companies who do succeed CAN lose their way, so to speak, but this conveniently ignores the ones who still retain the core of what they believe in as game developers. This can be applied to anything, from TH-camrs and streamers wanting to be compensated for hard work, to people making anything from emotes and artwork for commission.
To the point of gate keeping people from playing games in a specific way, I don’t think people are doing it consciously and maliciously. Rather, it’s a failure to understand that, as we grow older as gamers, we have to be better at budgeting our time the more responsibilities we take on. Just this year, my wife and I got a cat and had to figure out how I’d even have time to play and review all these JRPGs! It’s through personal experience that I found that it’s better to provide the information about a series out there, talk about the pluses and minuses, maybe suggest a few approaches, then leave it to players to decide for themselves. That’s represented in this video and my Yakuza video, and will probably hold true in any similar video I’ll be making in the future.
@@BacklogBattle I also don't think that those who are gatekeeping for lack of a better term are malicious in any way (at least I hope not). It's just one of those things where you need to look at how what you say will be taken by those who read or hear it. You are selling this series and if you start your pitch by demanding that people do hundreds of hours of homework, you lost them already.
Again, I don't think people are trying to push people away from the series, they are passionate about it and want people who they are pitching it to, to feel the same passion that they feel in the same way, not realizing that it could be taken as 'you CAN'T play this thing your interested in until you jump through these hoops I've set up.'
I have tried on videos other TH-camrs have done to say the same thing I've said here and was shouted out of the comment section by people insisting that the series is in no way enjoyable unless you've sunk hundreds of hours into 5 to 8 giant games which have Bible's worth of dialogue each.
Just wish more people would realize that they're pushing potential fans away with that approach.
Hell, maybe I'm doing the same thing with my approach and am totally off base
I don’t think your approach is bad at all. At the end of the day, it’s up to the interested party to decide how to start playing these games and all about taking the first step!
I was playing Langrisser (a mobile game) in the spring of 2019 and heard about an upcoming Trails in the Sky collaboration. Did some research and found out that TiTS was a turn-based jrpg, much like Langrisser so I thought why not give it a try and learn a bit more about the characters that are coming to my game. Bought it on GoG, tried playing twice, got bored of it within the first 30 mins and fell asleep both the times.
At that juncture I got hooked to FF14 (the online mmo) and moved on from Langrisser, dropping TiTS FC along with it. 8 months later, I went back home to Bangladesh, from the U.S. to spend some time with my wife, who was working there, over the Christmas break. She was working 9-5, I basically had nothing to do sitting at home and waiting for her, didn't have my PC or my consoles with me, so I figured might as well download Langrisser again and see if everyone I knew from back then was still playing. I realized soon afterward that there was a second TiTS collaboration and one of the characters (Leonhardt) was the meta in the multiplayer arena scene. I did some more research at this point on the trails series, but limited it to the first game only, which I dropped 8 months ago. I realized how much the fans on this series adored these games and it really got me curious, because my prior experience (whatever little that I had) with the first game wasn't the very best.
After the Christmas break I went back to the U.S. had a few days before I was about to get busy, so I gave TiTS another shot. This time I convinced myself even before I started that great things will come, I just have to be patient...and boy oh boy...what a journey it was. After I was done with FC the only thing that would keep my mind sane was buying SC right then and there, which I did and I never looked back ever since. I finished the Liberl arc in one go.
The night I finished TiTS 3rd chapter I bought ToCS to play the next day but I was also curious about the Crosbell games as I desperately wanted to play the game in release order at that point. The next day I did some research and made up my mind about playing the Crossbell Arc first. That was the BEST decision in my gaming life!!! Zero was good, but AO NO KISEKI is one of the best games I have ever played...seriously give Crossbell Arc a shot.
After the Crossbell games, continued to play ToCS all the way to the end of ToCS3, all of this in one go, one after the other. The best gaming experience I have ever had. Highly HIGHLY recommend these games. I even offered to buy all the trails games for all my friends irl because I really want people to try them out. Skipping out on this series is a huge miss. Don't let it happen to you. PLAY THEM!!!
And thank you for whoever reads my story!
What a great story, and truly one of the reasons why I made my channel to begin with! Personally, I too believe in giving games that I didn’t like before a second chance, particularly because as individuals, our tastes often change and what we used to dislike is something that we might like in the future! It’s why I have a huge backlog! It’s also why in my reviews, I try to give people additional info about a game so they’re better informed, much like how you researched this series! Props to you for giving the series a shot again and I’m glad to have read your story!
Your story was actually pretty Intrestig
@@BacklogBattle I'm a bit late here as well, but the thing about this series, compared to others is that it has one continous story told across all of them, it's not just easter egg stuff. It's like watching Avengers Endgame without having seen any marvel movie prior, or even Infinity War. Now Starting CS1 is not a bad way to start it, I would definitely NEVER recommend starting the second or third game in which ever arc, as it is smack in the middle of a story, not only will you be lost but there will be no rewarding experience for being there with the main cast, nor will you see any real character development. So my advice to anyone getting into this series, pick an arc (Sky, Crossbell, or Cold Steel) and start with the first game of either, don't hop into the sequels, you will regret it. If you like Sky, then start with FC, if you like whatever that's fine as well. I will say though, IF you can definitely start with Sky.
This became a lot easier with the recent announcements that the Crossbell games are being officially localized on all platforms.
This makes it a lot easier to recommend just going in release order.
This video is certainly outdated because of the news, but it ain't too late to start somewhere!
Agree with you all the way. I started cold steel a month ago and I'm also watching full summaries of the older games to get caught up on past events.
100% best way to do it if you dont want to invest the time to play the older games or can't play them.
Wow, I am kind of surprised this channel isn't more popular. This video was immensely helpful and the quality was solid.
Thank you so much for the wonderful compliment! I'm glad it helped!
There is another option: You can start with Trails of Cold steel (which might be easier to get into than Trails) and then do a cut after Trails of Cold steel 2 and jump back to Sky and Crossbell. Then at the end play Cold steel 3 and 4.
This has the advantage that the more modern Cold steel series could get you hooked to be interested in the world, but you still don't miss too much of the context because the connection to the previous games is much stronger after Cold steel 2.
I did my Start with trails 3.
I didnt know the Series and had Not any interest into jrpg's but because i had this game for FREE on Stadia i though. "give it a try you dont even need to download IT".....
It was the fighting System especially the Focus on attack areas and how you can influence when who will have his turn what got my interest first and It were the sweet relationships between Charakter which made me an addicted.
But after 30 hours i had to stop playing. I wanted to know the members like Laura alisa machias from the beginning so I starte trails one and also did some Research for other games....
I think my favourite would be tocs 1-2 than Zero and azur and than 3 and 4.
But due to announcement of officiak Release of the missing trails games i will finish cold steel 2-4 first and than play the crossbell arc.
Im really Happy i found this Series 🥳
Great video, didn't even know there was games in the series before trails of cold steel! It's a series that has always been at the back of my mind saying I should play them. I have trails of cold steel 2 but I'm gonna hold out till I get the first one!
The way Cold Steel weaves it’s story to and from games is incredible, and I think you’re gonna have lots of fun when you start your playthrough!
This is a great recommendation. Right now, I'm just starting CS1, which is my first The Legend of Heroes, and I'm really addicted to the lore and world building of this game. I want to invest my time to entire eight game, but I don't know if I have time to afford. I'm a 4th year student now, and I'm gonna have to start finding a job. When it's time to start CS3, If I don't have time to spend the entire series, maybe I'm gonna watch the summary of previous arc (Sky, Crossbell) instead. It's really suck that I know this franchises a little too late. I wish I had known this franchise when I was younger, it's a shame.
I’m just gonna start with cold steel 1, I ordered a copy for vita last night probably gonna start it after I finish grandia ii
I had no idea you had done this video! Thanks, I appreciate it! I had honestly no clue what this series was, and I had no idea what games were even in the series, much less where to start with them. The only time anybody actually mentioned the series to me was when I was working at GameStop a few years back. If I remember right, we were stocking the PSVita games, and when a co-worker grabbed the box to one of the games (I honestly couldn't tell you which one it was), he gave it his seal of approval and told me to play the series.
With this, now I know how people feel when they're trying to get into Kingdom Hearts, Yakuza, or Metal Gear, and have no idea where to start lol. I'll have some thinking to do! I really appreciate this video.
Since one of my goals is to help people get into more games, I'm considering making one of these for Final Fantasy and Atelier... not that Final Fantasy needs it! I also have one for Yakuza as well!
@@BacklogBattle Good! Good idea. Valkyrie Aurora had one for Atelier, but since she basically deleted her channel a few months ago, I'm now without a reference point :
It’s great to see options presented instead of just railroading an opinion. I’m gonna subscribe for that.
People get into games in different ways. I refuse to prescribe to the idea that there's one "correct" way to experience video games.
The Trails of Cold Steel games MUST come out for the Switch. All of them. I played the first one on the Vita but never finished it. All 4 games on one console would be great reason to go through them all.
Fingers crossed that his happens.
I heard from the grapevine that CS1 and 2 are heading to Switch this year. Whether it’s true or not, we’ll see!
great video and agree wholeheartedly. Started cold steel this year and i think starting from cold steel one is best
I was about to ask you on twitter about this and boom found the video. I think after Ryza2 and a few others from the backlog (hehe) I’ll jump into the trails series with cold steel 1. ^^
Awesome! I think you're gonna enjoy it! And if you do, there's always the older games that you can try as well!
nice seeing a rpg protag grow up through out the series
as someone who has played through every games that has an english version out in some capacity i will add on some points about each start off point. Starting off from the trails in the sky series is a good idea if you want a more old school difficult experience with some modern conveniences and if you get the PC versions you can even speed up the game to cut down on time spent aimlessly running around, i know it is a slow burning game that people tend to drop easily, but as someone who plays the series specifically for their world building prowess i it made me fall in love with their miniature story lines for characters which ended up continuing on for both it and SC, which made me keep track of every NPC (including animals) in all of their releases after those games. If you plan on started with cold steel i recommend if you really enjoy the story telling of the characters i highly recommend watching a play through of the original games at the very least so you can at least see how the characters grow in those games before playing CS3 i know that there are shorter summaries of the games out there, but i guarantee you will enjoy seeing certain characters even more if you knew how they ended up as they appear in the later games. With either one of these starts i highly recommend trying to not think of it as a typical JRPG where you rush to the end of the story as fast as possible for another generic ending, if you skip all of the NPC dialogues and written stuff in the books/newspapers then you are basically skipping the vast majority of the translated works that was put into these massive games, and in my opinion the meat of what gives falcom it's charm. For the last option in this video i would never recommend the latest game unless it is the fresh start of a new arc potentially, depending on how important it is with the story. No matter which one you choose though i just hope it motivates people into atleast trying out the other games without feeling like you need to speedrun them to get to the latest shiny release. the game will still be there for you, it isn't necessary to cram all the games back to back it will just make you crash and burn quickly just sit back and enjoy them,
Zero and Azure are called the Crossbell duology together, not one game each since Azure is a direct sequel to Zero. Don't forget the drama CDs and side story manga as well :p
Sheesh, I almost forgot about the drama CDs and the side story mangas! And I'm aware of the Crossbell duology - I just wanted to make sure that newcomers knew of the individual title names in the event that they would want to go look for the fan translations themselves.
@@BacklogBattle if the Crossbell arc ever got a western release the would probably have a numbered title to imply they are a duology but they will probably never get a official english release so it will never really matter.
Thanks for the video Backlog! Nice work. I know this thread is roughly 2 months old (dead in internet time..), but I still felt the need to throw my 2 mira in here. As with many others here: start with the game that interests you!
I remember, like many, picking up Trails in the Sky FC, before even realizing that there would be an SC, and I probably made it out to the porch in the first 10 minutes of play and just wasn't in it. I know, only 10 minutes but the thought of playing it on psp with this slow burn was too much. Being a massive jrpg fan, I went to others or life moved on. Something. But then, per the suggestion in the video, I picked up Trails of Cold Steel some decade later and it was instant. The quality of the localization, the characters, the similarities to Persona (had just finished P4: Golden) and I was in.
When I realized that the first game was just a part of a larger saga, I noticed the moniker 'Legend of Heroes" and it clicked that this must fit somewhere in the catalog of games starting with Trails in the Sky. Long story short, I went back to it and blasted through it once I got to Madrigal of the White Magnolia, hooks deeply embedded in the heart. Realizing that the localization was on par with Trails of Cold Steel, I almost felt mad that I'd set it down (though, admittedly, I was never a big mobile gamer so the PSP just made the hands cramp). In the interest of playing Cold Steel III, i wanted to just rush so I started watching long plays and reading synopses but all that made me do was want to play them more. So, now, I sit here having finished CS1, currently on part 3 of Act II for CS2, Chapter 7 of SC, and chapter 1 of Zero. The spoilers, if you want to call them that, are nothing compared to the enjoyment of seeing these events as the player. There is no such thing as spoilers if you're enjoying the ride. If anything, they're enhancers when you get to see the reasons WHY things are happening in the overarching plot. This is, hands down, the best narrative jrpg of all time. That was way too long but thanks for reading!
You’re absolutely right! At the end of the day, the actual events that transpire - the build up, the actual “spoiler,” and what transpired as a result - are just as important as the actual event itself. It’s why I say that playing with Cold Steel first is just as valid as starting with the Sky games! You are right - at the end of the day, start with what you like! That’s just as valid too!
seriously, starting with cold steel 3 is like watching Infinity War without knowing anything happened before, started with CS4 is also like jump into End Game, don't read a book series from volume 3. is just common sense.
One thing I think should be pointed out: A lot of these conversations make it seem like the Sky and Crossbell games are not good, that going back to play them is "homework" or a chore. But I want to emphasize that for a lot of fans (myself included), our favorite games in the series are from those arcs. Now I understand that the Sky and Crossbell games are sprite based and old looking compared to the Cold Steel games, but in terms of gameplay and story, they are absolutely top notch.
If you want to start with Cold Steel, good on you! Go for it. But if you're doing so because you're worried that the older games will be boring, don't be. They are amazing.
Thanks for your comment! The perspective that I approached this with in the video comes from speaking with many players who would always say that they “want to start playing the series,” then immediately follow it up with “it’s intimidating.” I figured the right way to encourage people to get to play the series was to present multiple options of entry and, as you said, just as long as you start it, you’re good! If it somehow came across that I was saying the previous games were boring, I want to clarify that that’s not at all my intention, only that the sooner people get in, the better!
@@BacklogBattle Of course! Sorry if it came off like I was accusing you of downplaying the older games. This video did a great job. A lot of people do come in with the perspective of, "I want to play Cold Steel but I've heard I should play five other games first," which is what I think you were responding to.
As someone who started with Trails of Cold Steel 1 and 2, the most ideal option if you have plans to play the entire series is starting with Trails in the Sky FC and continuing to play the series in release order. Starting with Cold Steel 1 and 2 is fine enough, but beginning your trails journey with Cold Steel 3 is completely ludicrous. The only reason Falcom and Nisa recommend it is because they want to maximize sales of CS3 in the West. There's no point in playing a story based JRPG that's THE EIGHTH GAME in a series. You literally won't understand anything. Playing through just Cold Steel 1 and 2 is serviceable to understand and connect with Cold Steel 3 on a surface level, but unless you play them, you won't enjoy CS3, period.
It's gonna be a difficult pill to swallow for players who want to start with 3 without feeling like they've missed out. I feel like maybe part of that is Falcom's writing as well?
@@BacklogBattle Definitely. They write each Trails game without really catering to anyone who missed out on important information from a previous game. An example of this would be Cold Steel 3 expecting players to know about a NG+ cutscene in CS2 that happens in the epilogue of that game, but only if you meet a bunch of specific requirements and collect a NG+ exclusive book series spread out across the game. Trails is generally not a very newcomer friendly series if you jump in at a random game. This goes double for CS3 and CS4.
Trails in the Sky isn’t available for PS4 though right? I’m starting with 1,2,3 before 4 is out soon
@@thepilgrimstar7988 Trails in the Sky (all three games) are readily available on Steam and can run on pretty much any computer made in the last decade. You can still have a good time if you just play Cold Steel, but by CSIV, you'll be missing out on so much context, lore, emotional attachment, and some things will be completely incomprehensible.
@@ravus9935 I know not alot of people thought of the idea or want to do this but you can also download the sky and crossbell games on your phone through an psp emulator. I'm doing this because it saves me more time if i'm playing on the go. I'm currently replaying through the entire series from sky fc in order to fully enjoy CS4
if u start with cold steel 1 u will immediately play 2 because of the cliff hanger and most people have macbooks instead of PC. that said i got halfway through CS3 and used bootcamp to make my mac a PC and now im happily playing cs3 and FC concurrently :)
Nice! I'm very happy you're able to play CS3 that way! As a Mac user myself, Bootcamp is great :D
Backlog Battle im using it for trails in the sky actually, i have all cold steels on ps4. once i finish 3 im gonna go back and catch up before we get cs4. i cannot believe i never heard of this series it is blowing my mind
I’ve been waiting to start this series, and finally in summer 2020 I’m beginning with 1,2,3 on PS4 - already have 4 preordered and will be playing that on PS5...excited to jump in heard a lot of great things about this series!!!
So happy to see you're about to embark on your first Trails playthrough! I hope you do enjoy it! I'd be curious to hear what you think!
I highly recommend jumping back to the older games after CS2. Playing every game before CS3 means that I jump for joy whenever old characters come back. I'm especially fond of one kid from the Sky games now being all grown up and being one of the new students.
Much appreciated. I'll start with Cold Steal, especially since the series is on sale for PS4 right now!
Great place to start! I hope you enjoy the ride!
Dude I watched it fully, and gotta say that I do understand, but I became a fan this year and put effort on playing each and every game, rn I'm at Cold Steel 1, and I must say it was worth it, so I do NOT reccomend skipping bc that distort feelings you'd have about the journey, that may even ruin some moments, and even on gameplay regards, Trails series have been including quality of life updates, and if you get used to the latest the older one's will feel just worse, making you don't like them as much as you could.
Also well I met the series about 2 years ago by friends on discord talking about it, late 2019 I had given a try but before even finishing the prologue I had lost my save file and restart. January 2020 I started to play the games seriously and to be honest I did not rush them, I have even take breaks between games and chapters bc of my personal life or just the "don't feel so", but really I could talk for years about trails as far as it is good in MANY ways
As my advantage of sometimes tsking other directions than Release Orders.
Sometimes it is Amazing to understand people and Things which happened afterwards by looking into the past.
Also some or most of Thrillers Show you the paßt before they Show you what happened....
It's incredible..as a HARDCORE fan of the series I saying that everything that has been said here in this video is 100% approved, yet I would like to see a novice in the series playing some cold steel 4 demo / prologue, it would be interesting to see...I hope I can play cold steel 3 on time or at least by the end of the year with the ps4 I want to get, until then I'll be back in time and see where the legend of heroes started.
I’m super happy to have this approval! I really wanted to represent the different sides to this question, and I’m glad you agree that I’ve managed to cover it! Cold Steel 3 review coming soon!
So currently caught up on all the Trails games out in the west atm and I did go through them in story order. Personally I'll say I'm glad I went through all the games in order as not only was it nice to see a continuous story in the right order, I was able to appreciate the future QOL changes as well along the way. With that said, I agree, the players should decide which one they'd want to start with based on their preference. Like sure you might miss out on references and such, but that wouldn't be the end of the world suddenly. Even for Cold Steel 3 I think you can enjoy it on its own if you just played the Cold Steel games. I do agree Cold Steel 3 isn't the best place to start as I feel the story summaries, while they do tell you what happens, def far different from actually experiencing it. And in general with how Cold Steel 3 is the 8th game in the long running franchise as well as the second to last game in the Cold Steel series. But hey I've heard people got into the series cuz of playing Trails of Cold Steel 2 first before playing the rest and possibly other games as well. Have seen one friend who enjoyed the game, but didn't get hooked into it cuz he played the first 2 Trails in the Sky games. While I can't say he would've gotten into the series if he started on Cold Steel instead, I do feel he would've at least enjoyed them more as those games are closer to his taste. If you do choose to start on Cold Steel and have no plans to go to the older games, would still recommend looking for videos of them and such just to at least know about said characters and other events that happen either prior or during Cold Steel. Otherwise, I just hope they enjoy their time with Trails.
Thanks for sharing! I hope others interested in the series will read what you shared and help them take the first step into playing games in this series!
Thanks I kinda knew the answer I was looking for but I needed to have it presented to me in a clear way like you did. I've played a lot of JRPGs but the trails series I kept hearing about. Finally looked into them. I don't mind putting in time but a potential 250 hours before cold steel 1 (a series I may not even like, I've kept in the dark on the plot) doesn't appeal to me. I think I'll start with trails of cold steel unless there are comprehensive videos kinda summarizing each of the past games?
Yes there are summaries! I highly recommend the ones done by LadyVirgilia!
@@BacklogBattle thanks! Looks like a cool channel but I can't seem to find trails in the sky 1 anywhere, maybe I'm blind. I found trails in the sky 2 and 3 videos but not 1 ☹️
Thank you. I love all the TH-camrs (yourself included) that break down and tell the truth. Yes please start with Cold Steel 1 if you haven't played had a chance to play the previous titles.
I got started on the PS Vita with Cold Steel 1. Got hooked in the first chapter. I'm hoping to play through all four of Cold Steel on PS 4/PS 5. I have 3 on reserve and have $4 left to pay on it. Picked up 1&2 day one.
I’ve been meaning to make this video since Cold Steel came out on PS4, but I wanted to make sure I got all the facts straight before posting it. This might come a bit too soon leading up to part 3, but I felt it was important to release anyway as I feel that it’s a series that’s a must play for fans of JRPGs!
@@BacklogBattle nah any coverage before 3 hits the West is good. I particularly don't like it when folks say play the most recent is fine. That does not work on a heavily story based series like this.
Definitely realized that when I played Cold Steel 3 as though it was my first time. Granted, my experience would never be truly like “my first time” with the series, but it made me look at certain scenes in a different way. Cold Steel 1 is definitely the way to go imo
Just bought steel one collectors edition today thanks good video!!
You’re in for a treat! Let me know what you think when you get further in the game!
@@BacklogBattle your such a nice guy aha you get my sub bro
I played one of the earlier Legend of Heroes games from the PSP. Then I tried Trails in the sky but wasn't too gripped at first. When CS one was released I found myself greatly enjoying that one. It took a lot of on and off playing but I've beaten CS 1 and 2. Now to do 3 before the 4th comes out.
Grats on beating both games! Cold Steel 3's refinements are many, and I think you'll enjoy your time with it!
This is my order, and I was an absolute freshman to Legend of Heroes: CS 1 -> CS 2 -> CS3 -> Trails in the Sky FC and SC -> Zero no Kiseki via Geofront translation. Now Im waiting for the Azure no Kiseki Patch from the Geofront and will dive afterwards again into CS 3 just to finish of with Cold Steel4 and Hajimari no Kiseki.
MrKoellsch I’m dreaming of a Hajimari release later this year, but we’ll see!
honestly not bad the only thing i would have changed is before going into CS3 playing the games that preceded the CS series.
I started with cold steel 1 just finished 4 and now I will go back to play trails of the sky to gain that context I missed while playing through 4 but I had a lot of fun just playing 1-4.
I’m glad you did so! I wish more people would just start playing any game in this series!
@@BacklogBattle agreed it's such a good series to get into
Did you still enjoy the cold steel series alone? Im thinking of taking the approach of playing 1 and 2, then watching summaries of the older games just because personally Im not a fan of playing older looking games
@@spazr7194 Yep I had a lot of fun playing through just cold steel alone so you can definitely just do that. I missed the odd reference here and there when playing 3 and 4 but for me it did not detract from the experience.
I got started with Cold Steel 1 and 2. My brother bought the game at game stop on a whim, played it and realized how much such a political game would be up my alley and got me to play it to. I fell in love with talking to every character and with Class 7 and their every dynamic. I loved the replayability and discovered something new every time. The mechanic were fun, tthe world building incredible, and once I reached that cliff hanger ending I was hooked.
I thankfully had time to go back and watch most of the previous games as let's plays before CS3 came out and honestly I recommend that for everyone getting into series. Start with CS1&2, take a break and go back and watch the Sky games and Crossbell games on TH-cam, then play CS3 and 4. Or even watch the playthroughs as you play the Cold Steel Games.
Thank you for sharing your experience! I've always thought that the barriers of entry in a series is dictated with however much initial involvement someone has on a series and that it only takes that one game for them to get hooked, hence why I highly recommended starting with Cold Steel! I'm so glad to read that you took the plunge and that you're enjoying the series alongside the rest of us!
I started with the Cold Steel series and then tried Trails in the sky which Trails in the sky is really hard I have no idea where to go after going to the Farm.
started with cold steel and i agree with this video 100% cuz cold steel 1-3 sparked my interest in the rest and trails in the sky felt like prequel
You get it! Get ready for Cold Steel 4 this Fall!
I have questions.
So there are other games in this series that aren't "trails"? Can you tell what they are please?
Also. What about this new reverie announcement? (Yes i see this video was made in 2019)
Next also. I'm guessing the new kuro no kiseki is going to be the next new arc? What does kuro no kiseki read in english?
One more question. Why do I always hear people only putting crossbell arc and cold steel arc together? Did trails in the sky take place a long long time ago or something??
Great questions! I’m planning to make a short video about this soon as it’s a bit complicated! The gist is that Sky 1 to Reverie are all one continuous story arc, with Kuro being the start of a new starting point! In other words, it’s recommended to play Sky FC, SC, TC, Zero, Azure, all 4 Cold Steel games AND Reverie in that order! Though Kuro is connected.
Yes, very complicated 😅
I played some of the earlier games on PSP. Tried trails in the sky but didn't get too far. Then picked up cold steel one, beat it over a year or so of off and on play. Then played 2 but stopped 30 hours into it. Now I'm working on finishing it so I can play 3. I do plan on going back and playing the other 5 games, sometime
It’s a great series! Definitely unique in its painstaking attention to detail.
This kind of reminds me of the Avengers vs. the wider Marvel universe
You're missing context if you just tune in for the Hulk, Hawkeye and Widow and *only* watch the mainline Avengers movies - but there's enough there to grasp the overall plot
And, in many ways, going back and watching the other Marvel movies after you've seen the mainline Avengers films *kind of* feels like you're watching a prequel with the context you lacked sliding into place
That being said - you're gonna have *no* earthly clue what's going on if you start with Endgame xD
Thank goodness the Crossbell games will be more accessible in the next two years!
One of the very BEST JRPG series out there, right now only Persona 4/5/SMTV and FFVII Remake are ay the same level. Very overlooked, though.
Very true!
So I think about 2 years ago, I saw the beginning of a let's play of TitS and that got me interested. So I started playing it half a year ago and immediately got hooked. I played FC in 2 weeks and started SC, and when SC got repetitive with all the enforcer introductions, I got somewhat bored so I started playing Cold Steel on the side. And so I finished SC and Sen1 at about the same time, then played Sen2, then Zero and Ao.
And, lucky for me, I do have a decent knowledge of japanese so I ended playing the rest as well while I was in Japan, actually. Needless to say, I didn't understand the whole thing, but I got the gist of it, so yeah. I see a lot of people wanting to play the whole cs series without even touching the crossbell arc, and that sucks though, you miss out on so much, even the end of Sen2.
I will say, however, that regardless of some people making terrible choices when it comes to the playing order, it makes me really happy that this series gets the recognition it so deserves, much like Ys with the recent success of Ys8.
I've always seen it as a hesitation on the amount of time commitment in part with players. I'm just recently getting into the Atelier games and when I look into the entire series, I'm overwhelmed at how much I feel like I have to play! Part of why I made this video is so that people can just give Kiseki a shot, while allowing them the option to consume the series in however way they wish. My hope is that the characters from Sky and Crossbell really grab the players while playing through Cold Steel so that they'd be convinced to give the games a shot!
Do u have a review on the 1st cold steel? I'm planning on diving in this series on ps4
I don't have a review of it, but I can answer any questions you have about it?
I played Trails of Cold Steel 1 before I knew there was a Legend of Heroes series. I loved Trails so much I went and bought all the earlier games I could... And I started to play the first one, but I just didn't really have the time to really play it and have never gotten around to finishing it. Then Trails II came out and I have still never finished that game either... x.x I really want to, but it was so long between 1 and 2 I feel I need to do a new playthrough of 1 before going into 2... And now there is a 3 and I just feel so far behind...
If you do decide to replay through Cold Steel 1, the PC version and the PS4 release does have a major quality of life change: a fast forward button! Should cut down when you’re on horseback in Gaius’ neck of the woods!
You have to think about them all basically being 1 big game split into parts. I never really got the idea of playing the second entry of a story heavy series after not getting through the first.
I get not wanting to play Sky or Zero/Ao first as they look dated or are hard to acquire but all of Coldsteel basically looks the same and plays very well.
Enjoy the story at your own pace, there is little difference between playing Cs3 now or 1 week before the english release of Cs4, its gonna be a lot tougher to sit there waiting for the new game after having rushed through the others.
Its a singleplayer game, take your time.
I _strongly_ suggest starting with Sky. Why?
1. A really robust, official-release-quality fan translation for Zero no Kiseki (Trails from Zero) just came out a couple of days ago, and it's very easy to install. Ao no Kiseki also already had a pretty good translation and it's not that hard to get up and running.
2. Trails in the Sky are GOOD GAMES! There's no reason to worry about how much time it'll take to get through them- you really shouldn't be in a rush. It's all about the journey, not the destination. Play them and enjoy them for what they are! I've just played Trails in the Sky FC myself and I absolutely adore it.
3. The series is _tightly_ interwoven. Sky FC through CS3 take place within just 4 years in-universe, all in the same world with events that interconnect and effect each other. This aspect is one of the series greatest strengths, which you lose for yourself if you decide to skip ahead.
They're great games, why skip great games? Even if you DO skip Crossbell (the JP only games), I still think playing the Sky games yourself is more than worth it.
Have a good time with them, that's what they're for :)
I take it you played through ALL of the games starting from the First Chapter? Way to gooo! Let's all wait for the CS 4 localization and Hajimari's launch and of course, it's localization as well :>
Pros of starting at Trails in the Sky: You get the story from the start and they're on Steam for a reasonable price, so there's no barrier to entry (unlike say the older SMT games which you can only get on the DS). The major con is the graphics/presentation. Say what you will but a game has to captivate the player and if the old-fashioned graphics are a major turn-off for you, it's honestly better to go with Cold Steel instead. After all, you shouldn't force yourself to go through something that doesn't appeal to you just to eventually get to the part that does. Obviously, in either case, start with the first one in that series.
Couldn't agree more! My wife started playing Cold Steel and didn't want to go back and play the older titles because they looked old. But she's having a blast and looking forward to Cold Steel 4!
Absolutely agree for these people a story recap on youtube will give them a good understanding of the story that came before with the only drawback being less attachment to the previous games characters and even still they will have more attachment then if they just started playing cold steel without the recap at all.
ok i started with could steel 1 am on chaper 3 it is fun i got into it cuse i was looking up tailse of arise videos and could steel 1 kept coming up i did get could steel 2 waiting for 3 and 4 to go on sale so i can buy them on the ps4
Played CS1 and CS2 two months before CS3 was released. Glad I listened to the friend that recommended these games to me. But I don't think I'll have the attention span to go back to older titles.
My wife told me when we picked up CS1 and 2 that she had no patience to go back in time and replay the old games. I suspect that many new fans wouldn't want to. Thankfully, Cold Steel 1's a good start as any!
I started with the first two CS games and im now playing the sky trilogy and so far its been great
Happy to hear! I’m hoping the Crossbell PS4 ports come out in the West!
@@BacklogBattle yeah that would be swell but thats still years away even in the best case scenario but in the meantime the geofront is about to release their fan localization of Zero so thats something to look forward to
Several years ago Istarted with cold steel 1, because in the sky looked too old, but I lost my save file with 45 hours of play time and I hate having to restard RPGs so I decided never to play it again, because I enjoy it but not enough to repeat those 45 hours again, and the trails games are famous for having slow first games, some years past and I started to play the Ys series and some of those games have those same graphics as the in the sky series, and I loved that era of Ys, so I desided to give it a chance to in the sky series and love it, 1 an 2 are some of the best games I have ever played, and yes the ggraphics are old but there are beatuful scenarios on those games, 3 is a very different game but it was good, and now I´m playing zero, and it is an amazing series, so don´t led the graphics from in the sky series to scare you from that series, I can say without any doubt that I enjoyed more the first 45 hours of in the sky those same 45 hours of cold steel 1
Edit: Also now that I´m playing the games in order I obviously want to replay cold steel one
Thanks for sharing! That’s a perfectly good way to get back to a game that you played before! And now, you’ll be more than ready to tackle the blending plot points!
happy that they remastered 1 and 2 for ps4 cuz i was literally thinking about buyung a console for 1 and 2
Now all 4 games are on PS4!
Personally i'd recommend that starting with cold steel 1 and 2 is fine especially if you find it daunting to play through 5 other games before diving in. that said if by the second game you are really enjoying the world building and lore of the games at this point you should whole heartedly consider going back to play Sky series and both Zero and Ao no kiseki BEFORE playing trails of cold steel 3 and 4.
While plot points of cold steel 1 and 2 have story spoilers for the previous games in the trails series they aren't extremely invasive in your understanding of the world but Cold Steel 3 and 4 heavily require knowledge of the previous characters and events of those games and will leave you feeling underwhelmed by certain events in 3 and 4 without those other games story contexts
If it still too daunting to go back and play 5 games even if you want the full context you should at least watch a story recap for each before starting cold steel 3 and 4
Tried the Demo for TCS 3, it's pretty mind-blowing stuff, but combat is alot of fun & they managed to cram in a lot of world-building & characters, probably going to do a bit more research and read up on stuff before the games, but it's one to watch
If you have any questions about it, maybe I can help?
@@BacklogBattle thanks, the only thing I can think of is that the cold steel series, 1 & 2 where they on the Playstation Vita? There's been a couple of games from Falcom that have been on it & come to the switch, so I'm just wondering how one might play 1 & 2 if possible
@@BacklogBattle the the only other thing I can think of is what exactly is the main plotline? Seems like it's about a lot of civil war type stuff going from the vibe from the demo, but with monsters? 😅
Michael Thompson Cold Steel 1 and 2 are available on Vita, PS3, PS4, and Steam! It is highly recommended to purchase 1 and 2 on the same platform as 2 reads information from your save from the 1st! Same with 3 and 4, with 4 reading info from your save from part 3!
Michael Thompson that’s pretty much it! Warring political factions with monsters and robots!
Quick question is it OK if I just play tales of cold steel 1-4 and just watch Summaries of older games is that a decent way to experience the series I am mainly asking this because all the Cold steel games are on PlayStation and it seems really annoying and tedious to track down all the all the games to play
I think that’s a great way to do it! I’m not 100% sure but I think LadyVirgilia has some great summaries for the series from second chapter onward!
Get ready to dump at least 500 hours into these games.
600 hours from Sky FC to CS3 though currently plaing CS4
Thanks, Alex!
You’re welcome! 😊
Saw trails in the sky on steam... and something possessed me to try it... 50 hours later and i rushed to buy SC.... and have never looked back since hahaha i feel im lucky in the way i got into it as i happened to stumble in at the start line
Thanks for sharing your experience! That's quite the dedication to the series, starting from FC!
Thats just how good i found the series, ive always been a reader, and a DnDer, so i really appreciate a world with a story behind it and this game series really scratched that itch haha
On a side note, one advantage of playing them in order is that throughout the first two games, you very much under the impression that Erebonia is the "bad guy" which you so often find in most game stories, so when you get to cold steel and get to play as the "bad guy" it becomes a very eye opening experience. The "bad guys" are just people, with their own issues and troubles and stories. Very relevent to the real world too i feel.
To all the new fans out here reading comments, welcome to the exciting world of the Trails series! Please take my advice at heart, starting the series from Cold Steel isn't as half-hearted as it seems, rather it may be a great start on the contrary, BUT starting it from the VERY first game, yes The Trails in the Sky First Chapter is the best course of action :> may you also enjoy these games as much as I did ❤️
I always appreciate these kinds of comments as it shows the very best the Trails community has to offer!
Reminds me of Kurt's advice to use new orbment at beginning of SC.
Kurt: You can still use your current orbment but I don't recommend it.
Thanks for putting this out there. There is, in my opinion, far too much of the hardcore fanbase's opinion out there. As a big fan of the series I can sympathize with the "play it in order" mentality, but it genuinely HURTS to see so many people actively driving players away from the series without even realizing it, because I want others to love this series as much as I do, and they won't be able to if they never take the chance. Yes, there are occasional times when a player that would have gotten into the series if they had started at the, arguably better written, Sky instead starts at Cold Steel and doesn't quite get into it, but that is only a small subset of cases, and you STILL can't guarantee that that message would have gotten them to play Sky. Instead they may simply have not played Sky OR Cold Steel.
I agree. I just want people to play the games. Doesn't matter where they start. They just need to get in with one game so they can make the decision whether or not it's worth going back and playing through the other games or continuing from that point on!
Great video :)
Honestly tho, apart from graphics, if you want to start this series, why would you want to start with Cold Steel. If you know they are all connected and if you do want to get into the series, you might as well start from the oldest game. Even discounting that the older games have better writing in general, its only going to be harder to go back from the "better looking" and more gameplay polished titles to the older ones, not to mention that by the time you finish playing the older titles, you might as well replay CS again as well to actually get all the connections this time around. Sky and Crossbell arcs are fantastic, there is no reason to skip them just to get to the newer games. If the time commitment is the issue, id recommend playing the older games and watching summaries of CS instead.
If you know nothing about the series and just want to try out an interesting jrpg, CS I or even III are acceptable starts, but thats hardly the case if you are watching this video...
Oh and, I think you oversold how hard it is to get the english patches for Zero and Ao, you literally just type Zero no Kiseki/Ao no Kiseki english patch into google and download from first two or three options. No need for applying the patch or anything, thats already taken care off, its a matter of minutes.
That being said, if any of the games look interesting, buy them, any new person supporting the localization of this franchise is welcome and they are worth playing as well.
As an old fart at 40 years old - turning 41 in a few days - I think I can definitely say that I wouldn't be bothered playing the Crossbell games, patched, on a PC when I've played *almost* all of Trails on console - with T3 being the exception, of course. To be clear, I've read and watched plenty about Crossbell to understand what I missed out on. That said, I'm a firm believer in being able to experience games in multiple ways, and funneling people into going through the rigamarole of downloading translation patches, patching executables, playing the games, etc is a quick way to dissuade certain people from even jumping into any series with continuity. To your point about how it might be difficult to go back from Cold Steel due to its graphics, that's just going to be on a case by case basis. I've read many comments here and elsewhere who have said that by taking a chance with Cold Steel, it's actually made them curious about other games in the series, even going so far as to go through picking up and patching the Crossbell games!
I guess what I'm trying to say here is that for the series to truly get any traction with the Western audience, gamers will need to find a way to play at least *one* game in the series with the courage to know what they're really going into, which is the whole point of this video and why it's named this way. I've read many emails and comments telling me that this video has helped them get into Cold Steel and, more importantly, Kiseki as a whole. A fandom for a series starts with just one game, much like Yakuza with Yakuza 0 for many people. From there, fandom blossoms into a beautiful thing that makes us passionate about the series to begin with, and that's the kind of organic appreciation that you simply can't force upon people.
Speaking of that, I actually saw in one of the Discords I'm in that someone claimed that they were going to buy Trails in the Sky FC to all their friends so they'll play the game. Apart from myself, one other person said that that's a sure fire way for that person *not* to play the game! Again, appreciation and, by proxy, fandom, has to come naturally. It can't be forced, not dictated. All we can do is provide the appropriate knowledge and assurance that the time they'll invest in these games will be worth it! And that's my belief of what I set out to achieve in this video! :)
@@BacklogBattle Again, you are wildly overselling the difficulty of "patching" the fan translated games. Its as easy a process as downloading it from steam for the most part, you just use the Geofront launcher, or patched iso from a website fo Ao no Kiseki, it literally takes a minute to find and get to playing.
But of course I get you, as I wrote before, if any of the people watching will buy and try any of the games its still a win.
However for people watching these videos, its this is unlikely to be just a random series they just want to try, you dont look up a continuity for a game you know nothing about and justs want to try because it looks cool.
Since they are looking up how to get into the series, might as well be honest and say that the best way to get the most ouf of it is to play it in order. Sure its daunting and time consuming, but I work under the impression that if you go to the lengths of looking up which game in the franchise to start with, you woud listen to the advice of the fandom, like I did with Fate series for example.
I am certainly biased, because I do believe the older games are better in general but great many people do also, so its certainly not a bad way to start. If people start with CS and it gets them into the series, like I saw many times on facebook and on reddit as well, great, but they will eventually go back to playing those games as well regardless, and then want to replay CS again to get the meaning in full, starting out from the beginin actually saves them time.
Anyways, its an opinion thing, I can only recommend what I think is the best way to go, just like you had great success recommending CS I also saw people not enjoying CS because of its anime tropes, school setting, slow storytelling etc, even people who played Sky arc before that. Its hard to predict how people will enjoy what, thats why id rather give them advice like this. If they so choose they can always jump into the newer games into series regardless of our advice.
Anyways, thanks for doing your it for the franchise :)
@@KaiSaeren You do look up the continuity of a game you otherwise know nothing about if you notice that it has a "3" in its title.
How I got into cold steel
I got a switch but I only had one game
After putting in about 300 hours into it I started to get bored so I wanted to look for other games
The problem was that I didnt have that much money so thats an obvious problem
I began to look for free games or ones with demos
Cold steel 3 was the one I came across and I abzolutely loved it
Too bad I only have 10 dollars on my account tho, I would like to try the first game but my switch is my only platform and the shop only has 3 and 4
I'd recommend starting with Sky FC, but since they are older i understand if you don't want to. So,...
If you don't want to play Sky though, i would at least suggest watching the in depth summaries of all the games by a TH-camr named "LadyVirgilia". It takes multiple hours to watch, but it's definitely worth it.
I think your suggestion is good. A lot of people I’ve talked to are just too overwhelmed at how many games there are in the series, and with more coming, I can’t imagine that feeling enticing for newcomers!
Playing Sky first gives you a much better appreciation for the prince in Cold Steel versus not having played Sky. I played Sky first luckily.
i only got to find out about this series was when i played Tokyo xanadu
I need to finish Tokyo Xanadu...
@@BacklogBattle goodluck !!! i got the bad ending though haha
ren pen I’ll make sure to not get that!
they needa bring those ps4 crossbell ports over asap
They certainly do! Here's hoping an announcement's happening in June!
i'm here after playing the demo for trail of cold steel III on the switch-
Then you've come to the right place! Let me know if there's anything you're curious about with the series!
Backlog Battle tysm !!
I get your point and it's kind of valid, but i have a problem with it.
You make playing previous games sound like a chore. As though the only purpouse doing it is to enjoy CS3 or CS4 or whatever. But those games are self-valuable, they don't exist solely for the purpouse of preparing the ground for Cold Steel. I daresay they are far better character-wise than mostly lackluster original CS cast (at least when it comes to the original Class VII). As for gameplay, i didn't find it any less fun than CS one, at least while playing earlier games first.
So what i am saying is basically CS3 doesn't have any priority over earlier games, but it does have the disadvantages you mentioned.
I think you misunderstood the video, he wasn't saying the CS1 & 2 are a chore, but rather the opposite.
If you want to truly appreciate CS3 then it's advised to play CS1 & 2 first as they so much context and connects you to the character in such a way that it makes CS3 even better.
CS1 & 2 are masterpieces on their own and both of them are enjoyable as much as CS3 :)
@@jonbar Yeah, well, the same goes for Trails in the Sky and the Crossbell arc.
He's not trying to say that they're bad, but it sure sounds like "the waste of time you don't have before the main dish".
@@ВадимНечунаев-л2о well, as someone that only played cold steel, watched a let's play of the sky trilogy and only read about the crossbell arc on Wikipedia, I'm somewhat agreeing with the statement :)
I think the reasoning is that people should not shy away from the Erabonia arc just because they didn't (or can't) play the older games.
Sky is somewhat accessible in steam but Zero is only playable in Japanese or through fan translations.
But, no one is saying that the older games are bad or something, even when I experienced it only in let's play, Sky the First's twist got me hard.
@@jonbar It's true and i'm pretty sure that Backlog thinks so too (if he did play them though), but he didn't stress it enough. Instead of "you don't have to play them first", he basically says "It's not recommended, unless you REALLY want to'.
Funnily enough, that twist didn't hit me. _That character's_ past was shady to begin with, so it seemed like only a logical conclusion and i was even satisfied for the time being and played SC only after a while (a month or so). Plus, the last dungeon was really taxing. I even skipped it with a stealth quartz, and that is, to say, the only part in the whole series that i skipped.
Trails in the Sky FC is my favorite game in the series. It was just so nice to spend time with those characters and doing some REAL work instead of saving the world or whatever, that i didn't even care for mostly lacking plot. I didn't need it.
And in CS1 after some time i got bored and wanted for some events to finally happen. Most of the characters are just meh, including Rean (really, the worst Trails protagonist and his speeches are annoying), at least in usual circumstances. There are a few characters that i like, but it's just 6 or so and only like two of them are from Class VII. Personal emotional moments are good though.
Thanks for replying! I read all the replies that you shared here and certainly, I could’ve highlighted the strengths of the older games as well. As someone who has experienced them after playing Cold Steel, I know that there’s tremendous value there! That said, my intention, as you stated, is to attempt to lower the barrier of entry to the series. At the time I made this, every single RPG fan I spoke to about the series (as recent as today even) were both intimidated and discouraged at the thought of having to play through the previous games. My personal belief is that even if any one of these people try *any* of these games, even Cold Steel, that they’ll become big enough fans of the series that the prospect of looking back and playing through older titles would feel less like a chore and more like a benefit. I also felt that trying to convince players to start at the beginning, as well as presenting their value, reinforces the intimidating feeling that the series currently exudes to unfamiliar players. That said I value feedback such as these because they only make my future videos better, and I want to thank you for taking the time to explain your point!
DAMN! My party from the trails of cold steel looks so badass in the later games! Maybe I should play it again. You gave me the motivation to follow through with the boring story and characters of trails of cold steel 1. Im on chapter six now anyway so I hope i finish it soon.
Glad to be of help! I love it when I can convince people to go back and retry games that they played before and have different opinions on! Makes me super happy! :D
I was beginnen with Trails of the Sky 1-3. It was a lot of fun. When i played Trails of the cold Steel i first was thinking that "was" the first game after Trailf of the sky 3. Sadly it wasn't and becouse of no officeal translation i wan't play the 2 games in Crowsbell. Bugt thanks to youtube i coulde enjoy at least Joshua, Estelle and Renne part, that i was missing beteween these 2 games. But with some summery i'm in the picture and agree with the summary here. Trails fot the cold steel mention a lot that was seem to going in in the Crowswell games, as well as some small parts in Trails of the Sky. Stil, without Croswell games you missing the part, how Garellia Fortress was attaced for exemple. But without able to play the 2 Crowswell games, when you don't like to go to 3 games + 2 if you get inofficial solutions, i think Cold Steel ist the easiest way. But if you like to make time, at least play Trails of the Sky - i'm stell fealing at this point, thats the beast of the games. It took me some hours to geht used to cold Steel. But hey, eather way, all of the games are fun to far!
Thank you for sharing your experience with the series, and I'm glad that we both agree that the most important thing is for more people to play the series! Here's hoping that people can jump into Hajimari no Kiseki without any prior knowledge in the series!
So... after Trails of Cold Steel 4 is out, the series is gone for good? Guess I should try to pick up some of the games then.
After Trails of Cold Steel 4 comes out, the entire Liberl (Sky), Crossbell (Ao/Zero), and Erebonia (Cold Steel) arcs come to a close, but the Trails series will still continue! I heard that some unresolved story elements in CS4 will be addressed in the new Trails series.
That's completely false. Falcom has announced three more arcs set in different countries. Cold Steel 4 just marks the end of the main storyline started by the Crossbell and Erebonian arcs. The Trails series as a whole however, is far from over.
@@ravus9935 yeah I think the saga is about 60 % complete don't quote me on this but it's safe to assume that we still have about 5 to 10 years
we need a remake of the Sky series.
I don't even know how to write the two standalone ones since their titles are japanese and you didn't spell it out.
I actually did! Turn on the captions and you’ll see it! And I’d LOVE it if all the games were on one platform!
I have played trails of cold steel and I’m due to play 2 but I got trails in the sky on emulator on my tablet and it’s a slow grind plus the combat isn’t as good as cold steel there’s a TH-camr than explains the story of all trails games chapter by chapter so I think I will finish fc and watch the sc and fc games story summaries cause I really don’t have the time.if anyone has their own opinions about this feel free to say something.@backlogbattles
I think it's fine to watch through the previous games so you can get caught up with Cold Steel 1. Time is a commodity that not many have, and there can be times that trying to force yourself to play something you don't enjoy will just wind up making you dislike what you're doing as opposed to enjoying the series. So do that!
I watched a let's play of the sky trilogy, read a summary of zero on wiki and played cold steel 1-3
Overall I enjoyed experiencing the story like this, I would still like to play the sky trilogy and the zero dualogy someday but I don't feel rushed to do so.
IMO cold steel 1&2 can be played without the background knowledge but for cold steel 3 it is beneficiary to at least read a summary of the other installments.
Jon Bar when u played 3 did u get most of the references and cameos I really just want to play the cold steel trilogy and the crossbell arc tbh the sky fc cliffhanger was good but the game in general was slow I’m in chapter 3 of sc And I’m really tired so I think I will just watch a walkthrough to save time or lady virgilias summary videos
I really want to do this so I can support falcon by playing cold steel 3 on the switch
@@gabrielike1370 watching summaries is good enough to enjoy CS3.
As long as you know the big plot points and major characters in the sky and crossbell arcs you will get most if not all cameos in the game.
CS3 also does a decent job at trying to give you the context of each character and location.
It's completely valid to just play CS3 and read online if something confuses you as you go along :)
Don't let the other games stop you
Umm simple.. Cold steel one.. You won't feel the same emotional impact without context.. Seeing these characters from minor and major develop throughou the series.. Trails in the sky isn't required until a certain point in the storyline..
Even minor things like Munk hanging around radio trista.. or minor conversations between other non class 7 characters, show up in later games and the involvement of you seeking these things out an coming to progressional realisation throught each title.. is what makes this series special and curbstompes.. Games of a similar type like Mass effect.. Which is designed to be possible stand alone titles..
Cold Steel isn't that.. Which is what makes Falcom the masters of world building < 3
Well, its not Cold Steel series, but Kiseki series (the legend of heroes even above that) and in regards to Kiseki games I recommend playing them in order if still possible (aside for CS III which you obviously finished already) Trails in the Sky 1-3 are incredible, Trails of Zero and Azure are fantastic, with Azure and Sky 2 being the absolute highligts of the entire series. Im on the side of Cold Steel being the weakest in the series, they are still great games, but I feel a lot more disconnected from the protagonist and some of the cast, not to mention the direction of the story than ever before, however if you started off with Cold Steel, you will likely not have this issue, depending on what you expect and how well you can deal with some bs and cringe. The story goes from Sky 1 all the way to CS IV (and Hajimari yet to be released), you will get far more of the big picture and the little details if you play them in order. If you are unable to get into the older games due to graphics or gameplay, than play what you can and you will see if it will invest you on the rest of the series, but graphics shouldnt be indicator of quality in any way in story heavy rpgs.
I felt it was important that even though this was about Cold Steel that I talked about Sky and Crossbell as well. Some people might want me to have told them to only have one answer, but I also want the opportunity to ensure that people approach the series the way they want to. I also find it important to make sure that people who have played the series can share their own experiences to help others who are still unsure about how to approach it to have alternate perspectives on what to do, so I absolutely thank you for taking the time to post this here :)
I try Cold Steel first don't like it and drop the serie.
Now I'm in a community with some kiseki fans so I played Trails in the Sky games and it was pretty cool.
Cold Steel I isn't the best game for me so I recommand fan's order
Thanks for sharing your experience! I hope it helps others get into the games!
Easy. Trials in the sky imo
It’s why it’s the first option in the video 😉
@@BacklogBattle tho i just started zero no kiseki. Like. After this video. Ive heard its pretty damn good
I’ve heard great things too! So sad that it’s not even officially localized!