Almost finished it. Saw the amazing view... ............. Starting with THIS GAME is a GAMER RIGHTS VIOLATION!! (Do not play before you AT LEAST beat the Cold steel arc!)
Zero is paradoxal, there is a huge conclusion to several characters' arcs from the sky games, but it is also the most self contained story that doesn't need its prequels for context or its sequels for payoffs.
My thoughts exactly. I would add that battle system evolved pretty much from sky, which is by any means outdated and slow. So if not for huge character arcs overlapping, It could be considered the cesond best entrance point. Still, this "if" is just too hge to be ignored. Personally, I played zero/azure out of order, after sky and all 4 steel, and these two are my fav in general sense. I still hold FC dear to my heart in a special way, but I just can't deny that outside of that, I LOVE zero and azure in almost every way possible and I'm not sure if it would be this way if not for Sky context.
If you are willing to start with Sky and play through the entire series from the beginning, then start with Sky. If you are not willing to do that then go ahead and pick up Daybreak. You will enjoy it. Falcom and fans need it to sell well. You can go back and play Sky when they rerelease if you want to.
Having played series with an overarching story and sequential story telling in the past (Suikoden, Shadow heart, the Ogre series, Mass Effect) i started with Sky FC because i know the magic happens when you start from the beginning, no matter how late you are to the party. It’s like being disciplined for even better pay offs.
I started at Sky and release order is really just the best experience. The future games kinda expect you to know certain things for better understanding and such. You don't HAVE TO, but you get the most of it if you do. That's it. Really doesn't get more complicated.
I actually disagree. Imo, the "second best play order" he recommended is optimal, because that play order has a more natural progression, both in terms of plot, as well as the scale of things. If you've already played the 5 previous games, it's way more difficult to enjoy CS1/2, since you don't share the characters' overly naive perspective, (which saves a lot of stuff from redundance and enhances emotional impact) since they're just powerless students that really don't know anything, but also because Crossbell majorly spoils CS1/2, but not the other way around. The former also matters because it's just a little anticlimactic to go from the grand scale of SC and Azure, where you fight immensely powerful foes, to something way smaller in CS 1/2, where a full party is doomed to lose to a single enforcer, as well as because older characters are practically irrelevant in CS1/2, so it doesn't feel like you're getting anywhere new in the whole overarching plot. Another reason is, Sky FC just starts out really boring imo. Even though I like it way more than CS1 now in retrospect, I honestly doubt I wouldn't have just dropped the game 20 hours in and never played another trails game, which would have been a major shame, considering I love the series so much.
@@osterbuuny3083 A lot of people give Sky flak for starting off "boring", but I enjoyed that a lot. It sets up the world and the characters, and I feel like that's very important. It's a slow burn that allows the players to get attached to the world and the characters properly and have a nice little romp of an adventure while things are being set up behind the scenes before it all comes rushing to the front line in a very natural way with the later half, the ending, and then SC. Even 3rd answers a ton of stuff from the first two and also does a great job establishing stuff that will be important in Crossbell. From there, you get to see Crossbell and get attached to those characters. It's also a slow burn, but with added things that have a great impact if you know from before. That carries onwards to Cold Steel too, and you already hear of Erebonia by then, so you're naturally drawn into it despite hearing about some events in Crossbell. You then get to see what actually goes down and even continue into the future games. And then Reverie does a good job at answering a lot of stuff and sets up for the future. And then Kuro/Daybreak repeats the whole "hey, remember these things, here's more" thing. The series just keeps doing it and carries things forward in a very natural way. The series keeps mentioning various places around the world and you eventually get to see them, so going in order has a much more satisfying feeling of "Ohh, I heard of this place. So this is what it's like." and the obvious plot threads that linger from arc to arc. That's why I feel that release order is the best experience. Games are all on Steam, so you can easily do it without a high end PC too. Plus, you also get to see how the series evolved mechanically, and that feels great rather than having to get used to Sky's battle system after playing Reverie for example. I completely understand the CS starting point or even Zero starting point views, but I still feel this way simply because of how the games are structured.
@@FieryAnubis, nothing of what you said is particularly exclusive to that playorder, though, except maybe that CS1/2 doesn't mention Liberl very much. Other than that, those effects persist in the exact same way in the playorder that I think is best. And regarding Sky being a "slow burn", that is something that's only enjoyable when you know there will be a worthwile payoff imo. If Sky FC was my first Trails game, I wouldn't have wanted to sit through that without even knowing whether it's going to get good at some point. However, it becomes enjoyable if you're already attached to the series because you've played CS1/2 already. I think whether you play Sky or Cold Steel 1/2 first really doesn't make much of a difference, considering both of them are pretty self-contained stories (excluding some of the doors in Sky 3rd), so why not start at the point that is initially less boring for most people? In addition, I really think you should play the Crossbell duology after Cold Steel 1/2 for the reasons I mentioned, and my suggested play order already takes care of that. Playing in release order spoils CS2, takes out its tension from certain parts and erodes its emotional impact in key scenes like when it's revealed that Osborne is still alive, which there was absolutely no reason to even divulge during Azure's epilogue. It's so stupid and I imagine it's actually a major reason they didn't want to localize the Crossbell games until very recently. In any case, I don't even care too much whether you start with Sky or CS1, but definitely CS1/2 before Crossbell, imo. And obviously all prior games before CS3.
@@osterbuuny3083 I couldn't agree more!!!! There's a certain magic starting with CS. For me, CS1 and 2 made me extremely interested in Crossbell. The little tidbits you get regarding the goings on there was so well executed. From the news reports to what went down at the fortress, the entire time you are thinking, "What the heck is going on over there?" So by the time I played Zero I was so invested.
@@osterbuuny3083 My god, we see things exactly the same way. Yes, I couldn't agree more! Man I can talk Trails with you for hours! Haha! But yes, I do see where you are coming from. I believe, for me, playing the series the way I did greatly increased my desire to 'visit' other regions of the continent so to see first hand a lot of the events that was only hinted about before. For example, in CS1 and 2 you get so many bits of info regarding everything happening in Crossbell. The whole time I wondered what was happening, what lead to it, how did it get resolved? By the time I played Azure I was like, 'Oh! So that's what went down!' Playing CS2 first just made the impact stronger I think. Also the Crossbell and Cold Steel games makes me look forward to Daybreak due to Calvert being mentioned so much. Hell, that country is even spoken about in the Sky games. I'm very much looking forward to my 'visit' in Daybreak.
Finally, some Let's Play love 😎 For context, I watched Let's Plays up to CS4 because I had nothing other than my phone. The freedom there is great, I could just skip battles and annoying quests. Yeah sure, that is part of the game, but it's not part that we all need to experience 😂 (especially for people who don't have much time). The play order also isn't as challenging to overcome there, each game has plenty of playthroughs I was someone with way too much time back then, I've watched so many Let's Plays and a couple streamers that I feel like I understand the story, lore, and playable characters very well. That being said though, I feel that part of the reason I love Reverie so much is that I actually played it after so long of not being able to. I have a really slow style of playing, but I don't have the patience to watch people play like me haha. Being able to talk to the NPCs and just stand in the nature was amazing for me That being said though, there were things I did miss out on. Specifically, the gameplay haha. Reverie gave me so many characters to choose from, but watching people play and "summarize" character roles (e.g. "Laura you do so much damage" or "I love Burning Heart spam") wasn't enough for me, I actually felt kind of lost when trying to figure out how characters worked just because I had no experience (and also not good at strategizing/team building) Still a super great avenue of play, highly recommend! Also 6:25 "Trails in the Sky FC" *shows off Kevin gameplay*
@@pandrions LMAO there is an auto mode in later games but it's not that helpful, there are too many complex mechanics and I don't think it can work as well as we can haha (for reference, pandrions is my friend who just beat Sky SC)
Heh. NISA setting the fans off with a claim that "this is a good place to start" comes from them previously trying to sell *Cold Steel III* as a good place to start, mainly (if not entirely) because while that's the game where they took over the series, they didn't have the rights to Cold Steel I and II, let alone the Sky trilogy, and didn't want fans buying another company's games. Daybreak actually *is* a good place to start--better than Cold Steel, I'd say--simply because Reverie acted as a conclusion for so much of what came before, so there's a much more blank slate. One thing that I think doesn't get talked about enough is the importance of the Orbal Revolution to the overall storyline. (Put simply: Thanks to a major technological breakthrough, the setting has gone through most of the Industrial Revolution--centuries worth of development--over the space of a few decades. And then, over the course of the games, pretty much the entire 20th Century, up to and including _cell phones and the Internet,_ happens in the space of *four years.* ) Almost everything, from the game-by-game evolution of the battle system to the social upheaval that has upset basically every society on the continent, can be directly tied to the Revolution, and you lose a lot of that if you don't start with Sky.
I normally don't subscribe to the "at the start" mentality, but I started with the Cold Steel Quadrology. When I got to the divertissement chapter, I legit HATED it. Imagine starting with Cold Steel 1, going through 2 and have CS 2 be your intro to Crossbell (lol) where you're forced to play as two characters you're not familiar with, who feel boring (out of context) and no attachment to, and forced to fight this main character I got attached to. Especially after everything you went through in the events of CS 2. So unfortunately, I'm stuck with "from the beginning" solely because in the Trails series, to quote "Shatter" by Code Orange: "The Little Details Matter."
For me, i started with Cold Steel because i saw someone on Twitch play it. Played through the entire 4 games and then decided to go back to older games to see what happened previously, and i still got engaged with them.
In short play sky trilogy or get a vita . I’m only in chapter 1 and I’m having a blast Estelle and Joshua are cool characters heck by the end of the prologue things were really getting started 😅 I have all the games except reverie and daybreak idk if I should buy them just because idk when I’ll play through all of them but eh🧐 I got time
I initially bounced off Sky FC, so I get the people that say it's hard to get into (crazy, right?) but man when it clicked that second time, I was in jrpg heaven. Take your time man, these games aren't going anywhere and there's at least one or two full arcs left after Kai. Plenty of time to catch up xD
3:50 tetralogy I guess ? :D 4:50 I don't know if ME and Witcher are good examples because Witcher is based on books so expanding on an already well established and constructed lore is way easier. And ME had its own sets of issues with 3rd opus and scenario butchering. But tbh I can't think about other examples Trails is deffo in a league of its own imho. 12:40 For some very weird and unknown reason CS III was the only game of the Trails series to have gotten an official French localization and when fans called it the dumbest idea ever, they still tried to argue "no but it's a perfect entry point for newcomers". Like... Why... ? Anyways, as anyone with half a braincell would have guessed it flopped terribly and no other attempt at localizing was made. Luckily we got some fan patches ongoing. My own answer to the whole question is : if you care about world building, lore and characters, then Sky FC. If you don't then anything goes, but maybe you're not the audience for this series.
Ah yes, the "Where to start Trails" video... Well, I've already spoken about this a couple of times over my many comments, so in an effort not to go over the same things over and over again, here's a cliffnotes version of my thoughts on the matter. First off, lets get the obvious out of the way -> Release order is king! Some people twist themselves into a pretzel over this point because, for some reason, they don't want to play the Sky games and are trying to find a way out, but the reality of the situation is undeniable (90% of all "gatekeeper" accusions are just excuses for this, imo). There's just no ifs and buts that if you want to get as much of the series as possible, starting with the basics is a requirement. Release order also allows you to see how Falcom reiterates and advance the Trails formula, both in a gameplay and story sense, over the years, which is a very unique feeling of continuity and evolution you won't find in many other game series due to how rare extremely long projects like Trails tend to be. Next up -> I'd also say it's pretty undeniable that Cold Steel 1 is the 2nd best starting point in the series. It's much like FC in that it introduces things at a slow and steady pace while laying the groundwork for future events (The amount of FC call-backs in CS1 is a lot larger than a lot of people seem to realize). It also start off appropriately small scaled before the scopes expands, so it's easy to ease players into the world, from it's broad strokes to it's more complex issues. The problem with this, though, is that I'd say this description is only really applicable to CS1 and starting with it becomes immediately less recommendable as soon as CS2 starts. I'd still recommend people finnish CS2 after 1 just so they aren't left on a cliffhanger, but I'd be lying if I said there aren't a lot of things in CS2 that make it not as suitable when it comes to being a good 2nd game in the series. With all this being said, I'd still admit the merits of these two entry points are pretty well established by this point. That leaves us with the games that I'd say are actually more controversial as entry points -> Zero, Daybreak 1 & CS3 to a lesser extent. CS3 is the easest to dismiss of the three. The only reason people even consider it an introductory game is because it's structured similarly to CS1 and that NISA & Falcom wanted it to sell. Beyond that, it's pretty obvious past the few beginning hours of the game that the game is much more of an expansion and continuation of the 1st two Cold Steel games than an entry points, and that's ignoring all the returning characters and plot points from previous games. Zero is maybe the 3rd best entry point in the series, but it's honestly a bit hard to say because it's very lop-sided as an introductory game. On one hand, it's one of the most self-contained games in the series and it introduces things in a slow and steady manner. On another, some of it's most emotional moments and most interesting moments require knowledge of the previous arc in order for them to be fully appreciated. Also, Azure is basically the CS4 before CS4 happened. The idea of playing it as a 2nd game without having the context of the Sky games reads even worse in my mind than CS2. Now, in what will probably be by most controversial take on the issue, I completely disagree with the idea that Daybreak is a good entry point. In fact, if you disregard CS3, I'd say it's the worst entry point when it comes to being an introductory game of an arc. Some of the major issues I have are: → I just don’t find the main plot self-contained at all. This game constantly brings up plot points and characters from previous games (with some of these points being basically incomprehensible or simply baffling without context). Half the game feels like it comes out of nowhere if you don’t know certain things. I’ve joked about the whole thing with Van saying “Oh yeah. That thing totally happened” and Agnes going “???” enough by this point, but it bears repeating. I just don’t see how people can claim this is good entry point when this happens constantly (both in main story, side-quests and even NPC dialogue). I know I’m a bit more zealous about playing things in order than most, but I genuinely couldn’t play a game like Daybreak as my first. → Another point I don’t see brought up much is that Daybreak 1 has a weird format/pacing (depending on what you want to call it) and no other game in the series feels quite like it. Maybe it’s just a product of how many references there are or how decided to explain things, but Daybreak feels both like an introductory game and a follow up game at the same time and that really impacts how much information (both trivial and extremely lore relevant) the game throws at you, especially someone who’s completely new to all aspects of the world. The only other intro games that throw so much deep lore at you are Zero and CS3 and even then, I wouldn’t say either of them is really comparable still. CS3 because CS3 isn’t really an intro game outside of having a similar format and Zero because while it has a similar format to Daybreak, it happens at a much earlier point in the series and is much more contained to a permanent location and a small cast of characters than Daybreak could ever hope to be. And that’s all I wanted to say. I hope I didn’t sound to rambly / angry… I just get annoyed by some arguments people use with this topic (Particularly, people saying that “I started with Cold Steel, so it’s totally fine to start with Daybreak” as if these 2 entry points are in any way comparable in how they do things. It’s legit like comparing apples and oranges).
I started with cold steel because of tokyo xanadu (my first ever falcom game), so i just went along with the story all the way to Kuro 2, then played backwards. Im catching up with the lore, starting the Sky trilogy soon. My experience havent suffered at all playing them out of order. The only disappointment is how little of Magical Alisa there is, TX lied to me jk jk
Really?? I just assumed you were doing replays of them. You played all the way to Kuro 2 from Cold Steel 1? Wow. That sounds crazy to me xD Did you know the order of events and just chose to keep going with what you were already invested in? Magical Alisa really needed her own proper spinoff, what we got in Reverie was nowhere near enough! That should've been the anime Falcom created instead of Northern War 😤 But seriously, I'm extremely curious to hear what you think of the various events of Sky once you get through them. Although I'm sure you probably know most of them by now 😅
@@Cyrus_Bright well, at present I feel like a historian discovering the history of Zemuria, so it's a different experience from those who played the games in order. It's still a unique and positive way to play the game with that kind of outlook. I kind of pieced the order of events together like a detective while playing the games out of order, didn't bother me. I am my own conspiracy theory meme guy! I am beyond stoked to finally catch up with everything, prepping for Kai!! Let's gooooo!!!
@@erihitsuki yeah I can absolutely see how that'd be exciting, I wish we could do the same for Ancient Zemuria *hint hint* Falcom take the hint! XD Watching the relationship between Estelle and Joshua slowly grow over time is still one of the most satisfying character arcs in the series to me (especially once you get to SC... damn...) but there's so many other aspects too, like learning why Agate is the way he is, seeing Tita all smol, Kloe's dilemma, AND GILBERT, THE ONE TRUE LEGENDARY HERO'S ORIGIN STORY 🔥😎🔥 plus a lot of other stuff so there's plenty to look forward to 👀
@@Cyrus_Bright yo! Imagine a Trails of Origins or something, that would be super dope! Can't wait to meet Agate and the rest of the Sky crew, I look forward to Kloe the most, she really intrigued me in Crossbell.
@@erihitsuki Estelle is such a whirlwind of sunshine and unstoppable protag energy that Kloe can kinda get overshadowed a bit, but her journey is equally as good imo. The Sky crew as a whole aren't as super tight knit as others groups, but individually they're still some of the best written characters in the series to me. Probably a lot of bias since I started at FC but what can you do? XD
The first thing I thought of when I saw the title of this video was "oh no, not another teen movie." wtf is wrong with me? xD Shoutout to Magic Echo - Luke for having the definitive "Where to Start the Trails Series" video. If you know, you know. ;) I know this is an overly complicated discussion, but if someone asks me where to start, I will recommend Sky FC. If they want to fight against that, I really don't care. Start with Cold Steel 4 for all I care! :P Great video, Cyrus! Hopefully this can help the wayward travelers trying to get into the Trails series.
Honestly, I'd say start at Sky OR Daybreak. Sky, because Crossbell, and Erebonia reference stuff, and even have Estelle, Joshua and other characters play mid to major roles in the story. Don't even get me started on Reverie, since that one you really really need to play ALL games up till it since it throws so much at you in general. Daybreak though PERSONALLY I think you can start with then go back to Sky and the others because like Reverie says "Where one trail ends, another begins" and IIRC Daybreak says "A new trail starts here". So basically yes you get the most for playing all of them like someone like me whos played Trails since PSP Sky, BUUUUUUUUT. I can see that being daunting for newcomers especially with the CS games and Reverie being as long as they are. Daybreak would be a good place to start if you really want to just play the newer games first and play older ones when you have the time.
I came across this series through cold steel started the first chapter not knowing it was a continuation of three prior games. When i did i immediately went back to sky fc and at the start i was ready to drop it and go back to cold steel. But i kept with it and the twist happened that i am NOT gonna spoil here. From then on i was hooked started SC then i fell off it. Guess it's time to pick it up back up again and stick with it.
The only issue for me was choise between playing CS 2 or crossbell. So I've decided do this: 1) played Cold Steel 1 until the moment, that happened in Crosbell games too (you know what I'm talking about) 2)then whole Crossbell arc 3) and after that, returning to Cold Steel 1 and playing in order. Yeah, there is no big difference, but cs2 has some spoilers to crossbell, so, i think that was good idea to mix them
That's definitely an interesting way to play them! However I've always found the "Crossbell spoils CS2" argument kinda weird. The Crossbell games were created long before Cold Steel. It's literally impossible to spoil a game that doesn't exist yet xD does knowing the info from the end of Azure diminish the impact of those scenes? To some people maybe, but it just served to interest me even more as to what went down. Especially after the ending of CS1. Cold Steel and Cold Steel 2 definitely spoil events from the Crossbell games, since they came after. So playing Zero and Azure before returning to CS1 (and eventually CS2) was definitely a great move. Helps keep everything as impactful as possible.
The biggest problem that the Trails series has with getting more popular are the loud gatekeepers of the fanbase. I don't think that I've ever seen a fanbase of anything try harder to push potential new people away from the thing they say they love harder than Trails fans. There are a ton of great Trails fans who just want to share the thing they love, but man those gate keepers are loud and will shout down anyone who doesnt think like them. If I had found the fanbase before I found and decided to buy based solely off the art style Cold Steel for the Vita I never wouldve got into this series because the gatekeepers are violent with how they try to keep this series away from others. Its really sad.
I know this fandom has a bad rap, which is why I tried to word things in a reasonable way while still maintaining my personal belief on the matter. I'll always tell every potential fan that starting at Sky and going through the series in release order is just the best way to experience them, but if they want to start somewhere else for any reason, that's their choice to make. I totally understand where the gatekeepers are coming from, but I do wish they'd ease up a bit sometimes. On the other hand, you get called a gatekeeper for simply saying that Sky *is* the beginning of the series (which it is, it's silly to suggest otherwise) but some people are so quick to throw out accusations and label others there really is no situation in which we win. Even if we tell them "play anywhere, I don't care" you still get name-called because they start at a random place and don't understand anything (I literally saw this with Reverie) so half the time it's not even the fandom's fault, it's just people being unreasonable.
@@Cyrus_Bright Not to sound harsh, but the people who are calling you a gatekeeper for THAT are exactly the kind of people who need to be kept out, because they make every fandom they infiltrate toxic! I'm all for spreading the love of the things we like, but sometimes a bit of gatekeeping is necessary to filter out the people who want to change it. Many cool things have gone to shit because they became "too mainstream", like Star Wars, Star Trek, Marvel, DC, Indiana Jones, D&D, Triple A Gaming, even Anime to some degree(it only lives for now, because the Japanese are stubborn like mules and fight tooth and nails against changes).
Yes, when we tell newcomer's to start from Sky we does that so that they get the "perfect experience" because how you said this is a one large story what Falcom has build over decades of work! So we want to do it justice and help people out, sadly many people see it as gatekeeping what doesn't even make sense, is not like we are trying to convince people not to play them that would be gatekeeping like get out of my franchise, no we actually want new people to join and we also want to help them do the right call, thanks for the video! I appreciate it! ❤
It’s the videogame equivalent to the MCU. But in terms of these, I say just start at any beginning of an arc. I started with Cold Steel 1 (got both 1 and 2 physically last Christmas) and am in the second to last chapter of Cold Steel 1. I have no way to play the Sky arc so I started there. But I was advised to play Azure and Zero before Cold Steel 3 and 4. Which I will do. I may not be playing totally chronologically, but I think my trajectory is fine. And I’ll play the Sky arc if it’s ever remastered for consoles.
Out of those I have access to, this is my playing trajectory in order. I have: Cold Steel 1 (I’m on Chapter 6) Cold Steel 2 Earmarked for Christmas: Zero Azure Cold Steel 3 (remastered) Cold Steel 4 (remastered) Will get eventually too: Nayuta Reverie Daybreak Daybreak 2 Kai no Kiseki (or whatever it’s localised to) And I’ll play the Sky arc if it’s ever remastered/remade for consoles. But if I’m in the middle of an arc, they’ll have to wait until after.
It seems fine from what I've seen, but I know it doesn't have a turbo mode like the console or PC versions. But I played Sky FC and SC on the Vita which also didn't have turbo and was fine, so it depends on your tolerance level to normal battles and walking around the cities.
@@Cyrus_Bright I've been playing games without turbo for years, so I'm totally fine without! Haha. It's just hard for me to play long JRPGs on anything other than handhelds atm.
Adol recommends you start with the PC-88 manual, since it contains very important backstory on who he is as a person 👀 but for real Ys is a lot easier to recommend since they aren't nearly as connected as Trails games xD plus they're waaaaay shorter, so more friendly to people with limited free time.
I learned of the series through some random falcom news video and I got all 3 Sky games ready to go on my PC and I am glad I did. I later played a fan patch of Zero and Ao by navigating random foreign websites while having no idea what I'm even doing. I am currently replaying Zero and Ao and it is great. I also played the first 2 Cold Steel games already. Playing in release might be daunting to more casual players but it really is the best experience and telling someone to start at Sky is also not really gatekeeping. We are just telling them to basically read the first part of the Novel, because of it being one big story with multiple different arcs and viewpoints. You can start at CS 1 and Daybreak 1 but then you have to go back in order to fully understand what is going on. Cs 2 is a good example with the Crossbell chapter in the epilogue, because a new player has no idea what a Crossbell is or who Lloyd and Rixia are. They will just get grumpy, because they have no stake in their battle. Which is why release order is just really the best. You could also end up like me being 5 games behind and still buying everything in the series to play later. I am just that invested. I still need to know who the Grandmaster is! I also buy everything else falcom too. Most casual players will not end up like me, but they could. Because Trails is just that good and Sky is very fun to play. But that is just me. Starting form Sky is the best experience and I will stick to it. The story is just so much better if you know what happened from day one. It is just hard to get more casual players into the fandom. But Trails is niche for a reason. Estelle is great btw. I love her. I can not wait to see her again. She is just that great.
Daybreak is the perfect jumping on point for people like myself who were initially turned off by the retro style of Sky. I started this series with the Cold Steel games. They made me fall in love with the characters and world so much that I was willing to go back and stomach Sky. But as everyone knows, Cold Steel is rife with spoilers, so from a lore perspective it's not a "good" spot to start. Daybreak doesn't have this issue, however. It's very much a contained story. And although familiar faces of the past return, nothing is spoiled about them and their stories, or the world and its overarching lore, that would ruin your experience if you go back to see them proper. The most you get is that a certain beloved character has trauma, but they do it in a way that would leave you wondering what happened to them rather than throwing it in your face. That being said, even though I started with Cold Steel, I don't regret it. Nor do I feel like my experience was ruined. It gave me the chance to appreciate this series. Because if I had started with the absolute slog-fest that is Sky 1, I really don't know if I would have cared to continue.
I disagree. Starting with the first game in any of the arc's is fine. I personally believe that getting to know characters in said arc then wanting to find out how they got there is a great way to get people to play the earlier game. For example people could fall in love with Renne in Daybreak then want to find out where she came from and will go back to play the Liberl arc. Having this push to see what happens can keep people playing even with how poor the gameplay is in the first arc. We always talk about the story when it comes to where to start, but games are more then just the story and characters. The game play of the first two arc's are not near that of the newer games. I think we as a fan base need to get over this were 'we' think the best place to start is as that is our personal opinion. What we need to do is ask were would be a good starting game for 'this' person to start. Do they love reading and/or love older RPG's. Then Liberl is a great place for them to start. Are they a younger gamer that wants a better overall 'game' and not just the story and characters. Then Daybreak or Cold Steel will be better. Basicly there is not just one place to start, where someone should start is where they feel the most at home.
I do agree with your Outro, I just think the people that push FC is the only way to play pushes people away from the games. It did for me, until I said fuck it and started with Cold steel 1 a few years back. Personnally I don't feel I missed out on anything starting with CS and then going back to play Liberl and Crossbell. If anything they just made me want to play CS again to see want I didn't full get at the time.
Oh I started cold steel 1 and 2 ps vita I didn't know how to play. I wanted more I went to back sky FC and then play The sky SC on the ps vita since was on psp first. Then had watch let play Sky the 3rd. Then play cold steel one and two again on ps4 to get refresh then cold steel 3 and 4 then went back cross bell games and having knowledge for other games. I am glad play Trails of Reverie since I play switch and PS4 twice same cold steel 3 and steel 4. I will always love this series with my heart.
A very tiny part of me wanted to wait until they finished the series and then play them all in reverse chronological order of release, just as an experiment. Of course I didn't and just started on Sky. Currently on Azure Ch4
I'd be very interested to see that kind of experiment play out tbh, I would never ever want someone to experience the games that way but hey... if someone wants to offer up their time for science... I won't say no 👀
Cyrus I thoroughly enjoyed your video. So here's my experience with the series: I was introduced to the Trails series through Cold Steel. The PlayStation Store had a sale going on which had CS1, CS2, and CS3 up for grabs at a steal. I picked up CS1 and after 20 mins I was completely hooked and purchased CS2 and 3. Days later CS4 went up for sale and I got that one as well. By the time I finished CS2 (and did my due diligence to learn as much about the series as I could) I went back to play Zero which had just released on the PS4 and Switch. While playing Zero and being introduced to a couple of Liberl's heroes, that need to play the Sky series hit. I honestly never thought I'd get the chance to play the Sky arc due to being a console gamer. However the Steam Deck was all the rage and was the perfect opportunity for me to play the series from the beginning so the purchase was made. Upon finishing Zero I doubled back and played Sky FC and SC. Once I completed those I went on to finish Azure. Now I'm playing CS3 and loving every single minute. Sorry for the super long message but I simply love talking Trails and sharing my personal experience with it. It is, easily, my favorite series of all time. It's so, so good. Oh and before I go, another bit of advice for any newcomer... pace yourself! Play one of the games then take a break. Play something else then return to it. Burnout can happen so pacing is important especially since each title is so darn long.
I was hesitant to start with the Sky trilogy but I am sure glad I did, still my favorite characters in the entire series (yet to play daybreak). Cold Steel almost ruined this franchise for me so I cant imagine starting with those games.
I loved sky. I personally never found that its graphics discouraged me from get it spun up. I'd agree that Zero and azure are reserved for the people tgat bought in, but trails of Cold Steel 1 became one of those Rpgs I took so personal, my Brain says they were my real friends, until cold steel 3 Got me back to reality. But as any Trails fan should know the beginning of an arc ( minus crossbell) is always the best part of Trails. The most important part of a good story is... Once upon a time... 😆 Estelle awoke to the tune of a hamonica comming from outside her window.
Same! I was never turned away from the graphics either. Maybe since I was a 90's kid? Probably more of a generational thing than a preference thing, but could also be both. How you felt with CS1 is how I felt at the end of Sky 3rd, lol. The emotions this series makes you feel sometimes is wild. Hearing that old vst harmonica fills me with such nostalgia xD
Start wherever you want as most of them have a pretty good recap but realistically start at any odd numbered game (except Trails the 3rd) and you'll be absolutely fine.
To understand the whole series, it true that the best way is to follow order from the beginning (Sky trilogy )since many lore, plots, and terminology will fly over the head of viewers. Like starting Harry Potter with book 5. However, in the spirit of welcome new comers, I suggested that they can start with Zero and Blue (my biased opinion) since they do go over some events previously happened and viewer won’t missed much of the story line since it is the second Arc. Now, a bold idea that I have for those that want to quickly catch-up with the main plot and don’t mind missing details of the whole series is to play from the beginning but skip Sky3, CS1-2,. This will eliminate 1/3 of the story, cut it short but you would still understand the plot. An even more extreme is to cut out Sky trio, and CS1-2, thus reduced the load in half but still allowed for understanding of the main plot. (Basically all the trails games available on switch)
Great to hear your take on where to start! I finished Cold Steel 1&2 before I knew how much continuation there was, and then went back from FC to Reverie. While it was cool to get surprised on the events of CS1 since the Zero duology does spoil stuff, I don't think it outweighs all the cool moments, callbacks and lore that you get from playing the series from FC. Definitely will need to do a Nightmare rerun of CS1-2 after I finish Daybreak and Nayuta this year to get a refresher.
Okay, but hear me out. What if i play FC. And trails zero. At the same time. And maybe even cold steel. How bad of an idea is that. (am currently on I wanna say chapter.... 2 of FC) and zero is currently on sale on switch
Ha, that would definitely be an interesting perspective! It's funny because Zero has the most isolated story (next to Cold Steel 1 and Daybreak) but the inclusion, and more importantly resolution, of a character arc from Sky makes it so hard to recommend because so much context is lost 😅 If the games on sale go ahead and jump on it, but since you're already knee deep in Sky I definitely recommend to just keep going. You'll appreciate a lot more that way 😉👍
pretty good video i was one of those that feel that sky games didnt age well in a gameplay standpoint the story being good even though my biggest problem with the first game being how the game feels like it takes way too much time for me to get into it so i want those remakes so i can enjoy the games more but other then that i respect how well you put stuff into words alot better then what i can do when recommending where to start
This might be a weird take, but the REAL entry point is playing any Ys game particularly Ys 8. Its the best primer into Falcom as a whole which i think is a more pallateable way to get what the vibes of a Falcom game are before jumping into the mamoth Trails series.
Ys 8 is praised as one of the best ones, so it's a possible entry point in a sense true. It's also the longest one in terms of story, I believe. I'm an Ys noob so forgive me if I'm not super knowledgeable xD
I played the old man's order which is pretty much release order (played FC and SC on PSP) except I played Cold Steel 1 and 2 before playing the Crossbell saga. This order works pretty much just as well as playing Crossbell first, except that you have to wait more to see the resolution of some stuff from Sky (and CS2 epilogue doesn't hit as hard). At least I knew Lloyd before Cold Steel because of his actual main game: Ys vs Sora no Kiseki!
I went to a local game store and bought the PS5 trails of cold steel 3 and 4. Is it fine if I just play those games? Never heard of the series before but the box art looked cool.
I personally wouldn't recommend it, Cold Steel 3 is where all the previous games start to converge and so much would be lost on you if you started at 3. 4 directly ties up all kinds of things from the first 3 Cold Steel games too. If you wanted to start with the Cold Steel arc since you already own 3 and 4, then Cold Steel 1 is where you would honestly have to start. Even among arcs the games are all connected, that's one of the biggest draws of this series. I'm assuming based on your comment that you only own a PS5? I'm not sure if the first two Cold Steel games are available there, but if it's backwards compatible with PS4 then it shouldn't be too big of an issue.
It's not a matter of how to start the games but how to continue I'm currently in Cold steel 1 and my potato pc is struggling I expect to play CS 2 but maybe I will need a change of gear for the upcoming chapters
damn I feel that, I had an old laptop back in high school that could barely run Skyrim. I know it's not ideal but let's plays are everywhere on YT. You could also probably find a base PS4 for pretty cheap if you look hard enough at either a secondhand gaming store or one of those phone apps where people post things they want to get rid of.
The truth is that the best starting point in order to prepare for the upcoming Kai no Kiseki is from the original Dragon Slayer game. Everyone should experience the entire series up to it's latest japanese release so far: "Dragon Slayer VI: The Legend of Heroes IX - Trails thorugh Daybreak II Crimson Sin" ... Anyway, jokes aside, I agree. The best place is really the Sky games. However, I think that the next best point of start is actually Zero. The plot is self-contained in that one, and even though it has that plot thread conclusion from Sky, that's spoiled on all the other starting point games at some point or another. Best starting points in order for me are: Sky FC ---> Zero ---> Cold Steel 1 --> Daybreak ---> Nayuta ---> Tokyo Xanadu ---> Any Ys games. If you start at any of this points you'll probably check the previous games or the sequels at some point. Falcom is that good with their games.
Ack I should've made a "Don't start Trails, just play Ys instead" joke, lol interesting that you think Zero is the better choice instead of CS1, ultimately that's the hope though is that regardless of what people start with it interests them enough to see the journey through to the end
Just do what a trails mega fan like me did. Buy 5 of them, start cold steel 1, get bored and stop playing at chapter 4, vow to continue the series soon.
I read that first part as a "Mega Man fan" and was very confused xD I unfortunately can't relate, once I got hooked, I binged 5 whole games and wanted more 😅
Falcon know that people are stuck having the issue of where to start first. Not everyone has a pc and older playstation hardware. These older tittles need to be put on modern platforms. In the west Xseed hold the rights for so many older Falcom games
I really do hope Falcom & Nisa can work something out with Xseed, or just directly work with them again for a Sky port/remake/remaster/whatever. I'd rather have these games in peoples hands asap than wait for Nisa to potentially retranslate the entire Sky trilogy again.
CS 1&2 are great entry points for newcomers; this games don't spoil anything relevant from previous archs, and beign more accesible than the Sky series, I think you could discover the Trails series through them without fearing major spoilers. Crossbel definetely isn't a good entry point, given that at the end of Zero the Sky main protagonists have a major closure that you shouldn't spoil for yourself. As Cyrius says, the ideal entry point would be Sky 1, the problem is that you have to play it on Steam, which could be bothersome for those of us that enjoy to play on a couch while looking at a big screen... unless you use a laptop, a no cord controller, and an HDMI cable at hand. Regarding Trails Through Daybreak, I still can't say if it's a good entry ooing, cause I've only played the Demo, which was great, bit I still don't know how spoiler free this game is for newcomers. So, for closing, CS1 is a great entry point, and you could go on to CS2 too, but from that point forward, you should stop and go back to Trails in The Sky FC... and don't worry about the games beign kinda old, because they're amazing! In my top tier games of all time, Sky SC sits at the tio of the pyramid, above games like The Witcher 3, Persona 5, Ys 8 Lacrimosa of Dana (another Falcom masterpiece), and the rest of the Trails series... The Trails in the Sky games are incredible RPGs... I jist wish they had ports for modern consoles. Ok, best regards for all the comunity, and for Nihon Falcom team. PS: Nijon Falcom needs to supervice closely the work of their wokalizers at NIS, cause their english dubs are trash and don't align with the original concept of the game's characters.
I personally don't like cold steel as an entry point since it spoils most of Azure. The newspapers and NPCs talk about a lot and you can even see the final dungeon of Azure in CS2. Yes that scene at the end of Zero is less impactful without playing sky, however it really doesn't spoil much and seeing it may make someone want to go back and see what led up to it. So I would say that Zero is the second best starting point.
@@hanzou1238 It's true that by reading newspapers and talking to some NPCs in CS2 you get to know about some of the things going on in Azure, but given that most of it comes to you as text, you end up feeling curious about the situation at Crossbell, without trully knowing what's going on there... and the scene where you can see Azure's final dungeon from afar in CS2 is amazingly effective in making players want to play the Crossbel Arch in order to learn, first hand, what was all that disturbance about. On the other hand, Zero's spoiler for the main protagonists of the Sky series is something you live firsthand with them, and you get to know the characters personally, interact with them, play as them, etc. This spoiler is much more personal for gamers, contrary to what happens in CS2, where you only read and heard about Crossbel's situation. IMO, the spoiler in Zero is so huge for the main protagonists of the Sky games, that it simply turns this game into a no go zone for gamers that haven't played the Liberl Arch and trully want to experience the Trails Series in all its greatness.
It took me twice to really get into trails. When I first played trails in the sky I was sick and got bored and put it down for a couple years. I came back to give it a shot and yes it was a tad bit slow at the start but ramped up and I started seeing all these characters grow and much more. I've played them all now and it really was a joy to play them in order because you don't only get what the game is offering you. You get characters from the past games and honestly it's amazing how they've managed to keep all these stories intertwined. The series is just great in many ways and while you could start out on a newer game you would miss out everything that has built this giant of a pillar that is the trails series.
It's why I try to be as transparent as possible when recommending the series to people, because man when you really start to see just what Falcom has done with even the smallest of details... it's crazy.
I'm glad you enjoyed it! It sucks because I could've easily added another 20 minutes to this video talking about stuff but I didn't xD there's just so much to discuss when it comes to this topic for some reason 😅
Hey unrelated question but I've played all games in order over the past 8 months and I've just caught up finishing reverie last week. I'm super hyped for daybreak and as someone who has played the fan translation of daybreak would you say that it diminished your enjoyment of the game? I'm thinking of playing the fan translation for kuro 2 after daybreak.
Unless you played it early on when they were still ironing out the translations, I don't see why you would feel it diminished your enjoyment. But both games are 100% done now so no worry of that. Honestly the only thing that hampered my enjoyment was needing to use those god-awful Clouded Leopard ports with their piss-poor optimization. But even so I still loved the games like any other.
@@saintfayde4438 oh okay thanks for the information, will the port problems be different for official release? My pc is really good so don't think performance will be that horrible
@@somponz The global ports aren't handled by Clouded Leopard. That's why they always run near-flawless for us, since NiSA is actually good at their job. I have a high-end PC as well, but those CL ports are rife with frame drops and stutters, that's just how bad they did with them.
Ha! Yeah, Trails and Tales tend to get mixed up a lot xD I could never get very far in Symphonia for some reason before dropping it. But Xillia, Graces, and Abyss I loved.
@Cyrus_Bright For real though I did Sky > SC > 3rd > CS > CS2 > Zero > Azure > CS3 > CS4 > Reverie, because I was waiting on the official Azure release, and it really works, honestly. In fact, I think it's kinda better than release order. Here's why: CS2 "spoilers" for Azure really amount to little more than "oh man, some shit's going down over there in Crossbell". Yes, there's a giant magic tree, and yes that badass hot girl with the huge... sword joins the party eventually, but like, you have played jrpgs before, right? It's actually just enough to pique your interest to get into another arc with another new set of characters. The questions CS2 leaves you with can easily have a player more eager to dive into Zero than Sky 3rd ever could. CS is the longest of the three arcs by far and playing all four (five, if you count Reverie) back to back can have its own special fatigue. Getting back to sprites and the old combat for another two games is a good visual and mechanical refresher. Erebonia is only tangentially related to the plot of Sky, while it's crucial to both Crossbell and CS. Seeing Erebonia as "us" first by playing CS and then "them" later in the Crossbell games gives the player a better chance to feel the mixed emotions behind a lot of the plot beats and helps Erebonia not feel so much like cartoonish evil overlords. Having a real-world time gap while the player goes through Crossbell helps the in-game time gap between CS2 and CS3 feel more real, and the reunions in CS3 feel better as a result. Not to diminish what some consider the peak of the franchise, but, intentionally or not, Zero and Azure function as a perfect interlude for Cold Steel. In conclusion, the first three games need to be first, and the last three games need to be last. But the middle four games, the only ones that CAN be switched, SHOULD be switched, which is a blessing, not a curse.
FC is not avalaible in pstore in europe since at least 5 or 7 years ago , there is only SC , but for how long is contract for sell it ? 10 year ? that mean surely in 2025 pstore will remove the game for servers
there's always emulation if/when the store delist or shut down. Could you not just make an American account and purchase the games that way? I know you can do that on the Switch but I'm unsure of other platforms.
@@Cyrus_Bright don't worry i have gog version on my tablett , windows 8 and it's work perfectly , this game can run on pc potatoes even without graphic card even atom cpu pc's , is still overkill for him ,, this game was realease on year 2004 for these cpu era but was so no nneed of powerfull that , even as pc from 2004 who can't run crisis 1 can run this game without any problem , 1 ghz cpu with 256 mb ram GC can run it ( i checked trails of zero with this setup and it's worked fine )
Here's the thing, Cold Steel 2 and Azure spoil each other. It doesn't really matter if you play the first Erebonian Arc or the Crossbell Arc first. You will get spoiled for the other! Can't really be avoided, since the times they take place overlap heavily. I started with Cold Steel, but I knew there were games before it, so I read every book in the library to learn more about the world and talked to every NPC and all the little things they mentioned about Liberl and Crossbell made me interested in playing these games, which I did after Cold Steel 2.
You can't spoil something that hasn't been released (unless specific circumstances that didn't happen in the trails series development), so the order DOES matter.
@@Javifaa This answer contains spoilers for Cold Steel 1+2 and Azure! Read at own risk! The end of Azure reveals that a certain character isn't dead and how the civil war in Erebonia ends, which is a major spoiler for Cold Steel 2. Another thing you'll already know when you played Crossbell first is that the trade conference won't get blown up by the Railway guns, which takes a lot of tension out of Cold Steel 1. Also that there is going to be a civil war, which you would have no idea of until the very end of CS1 if you played CS 1+2 before Crossbell. From the other side, Cold Steel spoils that members of the ILF will storm the trade conference and get killed by the Red Constellation. Cold Steel 2 spoils the whole Azure Tree incident. So yeah, those story arcs spoil each other!
@@Javifaa Of course it is! You wouldn't know that a civil war is about to break out, if you go into Cold Steel blind. You wouldn't know any of the things I listed. You experience the entire game differently, if you know already what's going to happen. I played Cold Steel 1+2 first, then went back to Sky and when I got to Crossbell, I was like, "When is this going to happen? And when is that going to happen?" Yes, I played the later game first, but if I had played Crossbell first, I would've had the same altered experience for the first two Cold Steel games! So you can't say it's not a spoiler, because it totally is!
@@skyknight0408 Sorry to have a definition of spoiler that takes into consideration the release order of the media? Like, if Azure and the first 2 Cold Steel Games were released at the same time (or close enough to have had shared development time), I would agree with you. But that's not what happened.
I personally still think that playing cs1 and 2 before zero and azure is a better play order. This is mostly becouse zero and azure kinda ruin the ending of cs1 and 2.this cis because they spoil entirely how things are going to turn out. And that spoiling is way worse than cs1 and 2 do for crossbell.
I'd say Crossbell spoils more of CS than the opposite, but I think Crossbell doesn't affect the experience of CS as much, if that makes sense. Because the games (even if one of the spoilers is quite unhinged) are written accounting for the Crossbell spoilers. And there are bigger spoilers that Crossbell doesn't spoil (like the plot twist right before the first credits in CS2)
@@Dede-en4sk yeah sure one plotwist wasn't spoiled. But how could they if it has to do with the main character of cold steel the crossbell characters don't even know he exists yet. But playing crossbell first will ruin the clifhanger of coldsteel 1 becouse you know it's not actually true. And as a result the reveal at the end of cs2 is similarly ruined becouse you know it was gone happen anyway.
Spoilers don't work that way. If a game was released earlier than other, that's what's being spoiled when skipping it to play the later game first. I seriously can't understand why that stupid argument of "crossbell and early cold steel spoil each other" is still around.
@@Javifaa because it's literally true. If v you play crossbell first you knew how the civil war is going to end and also that Osborne isn't dead. Messing they the clifhanger of coldsteel 1 is les effective, and the reveal of him being alive in cs2 is even more ruined. If you oldy cs1 first you know how the trade conference is going to unfold. Meaning that theycspoil each other.
People who are going to start with Kai will just be that one SpongeBob quote where Patrick says "Who are you people!?" 😂 But yeah for the most part, any arc starter is fine
When I was younger I used to be insistent on starting games, stories or whatever from the very begining to "fully appreciate" the work and was also super sensistive to spoilers. But as I've gotten older I find it more difficult to start anything new, period, be it a hobby, skill, game etc. So whatever sparks interests in you, spoilers be damned, you have to strike when the irons hot or else it is highly likely you will never start at all. Not that I recommend it but if someone whats to start at Reverie because it looks interesting to them, fuck it, if thats what gets you in, good. Even if it might "ruin" the intended experience, that would be bettter than never starting Trails at all.
I get what you're saying and agree with the core concept. But starting at Reverie is a big no from me, if I have any sway in someone's play decisions xD if you have access to Reverie then you have access to at least Zero, CS1, or Daybreak which would be infinitely better choices. If someone really told me that if I said they couldn't start at Reverie they'd never play any other game in the series, I'll gladly escort them off the premises myself XD
@@Cyrus_Bright Yea that's fair, it's an extreme and unlikely example with Reverie. But in a hypothetical future where a new Trails game gets a trailer in a Nintendo Direct or a Sony presentation and that's what gets people interested in the series by playing the "new thing". That to me is better alternative than not trying it at all. A reasonable example would be Daybreak, which is getting it's official English release soon and I would rather encourage people to play that IF it interests them, rather than forcing them to play Sky FC BEFORE they can play what interested them in the first place.
Ok l do have the ones that l was able to get and did finish Cold Steel one and two and ready to start three but l download Trails into Reverie so where do that take place at in the order?
![The Remaining Sept-Terrions [Trails/Kiseki Theory]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/XIAeyZQbAY8/mqdefault.jpg)
Short answer: Trails in the Sky FC.
Long answer: Trails in the Sky FC.
That's why they will be remade for modern time
2004 isn't modern? It feels like it was only a few weeks ago
And the best start is....
NAYUTA NO KISEKI BABYYYY
honestly based
Almost finished it. Saw the amazing view...
.............
Starting with THIS GAME is a GAMER RIGHTS VIOLATION!!
(Do not play before you AT LEAST beat the Cold steel arc!)
"Play at your own pace."
"Don't let the fomo get to you."
Thanks, I needed to hear that. Lol
Glad to have been of service 😎
Zero is paradoxal, there is a huge conclusion to several characters' arcs from the sky games, but it is also the most self contained story that doesn't need its prequels for context or its sequels for payoffs.
My thoughts exactly. I would add that battle system evolved pretty much from sky, which is by any means outdated and slow. So if not for huge character arcs overlapping, It could be considered the cesond best entrance point. Still, this "if" is just too hge to be ignored. Personally, I played zero/azure out of order, after sky and all 4 steel, and these two are my fav in general sense. I still hold FC dear to my heart in a special way, but I just can't deny that outside of that, I LOVE zero and azure in almost every way possible and I'm not sure if it would be this way if not for Sky context.
If you are willing to start with Sky and play through the entire series from the beginning, then start with Sky. If you are not willing to do that then go ahead and pick up Daybreak. You will enjoy it. Falcom and fans need it to sell well. You can go back and play Sky when they rerelease if you want to.
Having played series with an overarching story and sequential story telling in the past (Suikoden, Shadow heart, the Ogre series, Mass Effect) i started with Sky FC because i know the magic happens when you start from the beginning, no matter how late you are to the party. It’s like being disciplined for even better pay offs.
Shadow Hearts is an amazing series that you dont hear much about
I started at Sky and release order is really just the best experience. The future games kinda expect you to know certain things for better understanding and such. You don't HAVE TO, but you get the most of it if you do. That's it. Really doesn't get more complicated.
I actually disagree. Imo, the "second best play order" he recommended is optimal, because that play order has a more natural progression, both in terms of plot, as well as the scale of things. If you've already played the 5 previous games, it's way more difficult to enjoy CS1/2, since you don't share the characters' overly naive perspective, (which saves a lot of stuff from redundance and enhances emotional impact) since they're just powerless students that really don't know anything, but also because Crossbell majorly spoils CS1/2, but not the other way around.
The former also matters because it's just a little anticlimactic to go from the grand scale of SC and Azure, where you fight immensely powerful foes, to something way smaller in CS 1/2, where a full party is doomed to lose to a single enforcer, as well as because older characters are practically irrelevant in CS1/2, so it doesn't feel like you're getting anywhere new in the whole overarching plot.
Another reason is, Sky FC just starts out really boring imo. Even though I like it way more than CS1 now in retrospect, I honestly doubt I wouldn't have just dropped the game 20 hours in and never played another trails game, which would have been a major shame, considering I love the series so much.
@@osterbuuny3083 A lot of people give Sky flak for starting off "boring", but I enjoyed that a lot. It sets up the world and the characters, and I feel like that's very important. It's a slow burn that allows the players to get attached to the world and the characters properly and have a nice little romp of an adventure while things are being set up behind the scenes before it all comes rushing to the front line in a very natural way with the later half, the ending, and then SC. Even 3rd answers a ton of stuff from the first two and also does a great job establishing stuff that will be important in Crossbell. From there, you get to see Crossbell and get attached to those characters. It's also a slow burn, but with added things that have a great impact if you know from before. That carries onwards to Cold Steel too, and you already hear of Erebonia by then, so you're naturally drawn into it despite hearing about some events in Crossbell. You then get to see what actually goes down and even continue into the future games. And then Reverie does a good job at answering a lot of stuff and sets up for the future. And then Kuro/Daybreak repeats the whole "hey, remember these things, here's more" thing. The series just keeps doing it and carries things forward in a very natural way. The series keeps mentioning various places around the world and you eventually get to see them, so going in order has a much more satisfying feeling of "Ohh, I heard of this place. So this is what it's like." and the obvious plot threads that linger from arc to arc.
That's why I feel that release order is the best experience. Games are all on Steam, so you can easily do it without a high end PC too. Plus, you also get to see how the series evolved mechanically, and that feels great rather than having to get used to Sky's battle system after playing Reverie for example.
I completely understand the CS starting point or even Zero starting point views, but I still feel this way simply because of how the games are structured.
@@FieryAnubis, nothing of what you said is particularly exclusive to that playorder, though, except maybe that CS1/2 doesn't mention Liberl very much. Other than that, those effects persist in the exact same way in the playorder that I think is best. And regarding Sky being a "slow burn", that is something that's only enjoyable when you know there will be a worthwile payoff imo. If Sky FC was my first Trails game, I wouldn't have wanted to sit through that without even knowing whether it's going to get good at some point. However, it becomes enjoyable if you're already attached to the series because you've played CS1/2 already.
I think whether you play Sky or Cold Steel 1/2 first really doesn't make much of a difference, considering both of them are pretty self-contained stories (excluding some of the doors in Sky 3rd), so why not start at the point that is initially less boring for most people? In addition, I really think you should play the Crossbell duology after Cold Steel 1/2 for the reasons I mentioned, and my suggested play order already takes care of that. Playing in release order spoils CS2, takes out its tension from certain parts and erodes its emotional impact in key scenes like when it's revealed that Osborne is still alive, which there was absolutely no reason to even divulge during Azure's epilogue. It's so stupid and I imagine it's actually a major reason they didn't want to localize the Crossbell games until very recently.
In any case, I don't even care too much whether you start with Sky or CS1, but definitely CS1/2 before Crossbell, imo. And obviously all prior games before CS3.
@@osterbuuny3083 I couldn't agree more!!!! There's a certain magic starting with CS. For me, CS1 and 2 made me extremely interested in Crossbell. The little tidbits you get regarding the goings on there was so well executed. From the news reports to what went down at the fortress, the entire time you are thinking, "What the heck is going on over there?" So by the time I played Zero I was so invested.
@@osterbuuny3083 My god, we see things exactly the same way. Yes, I couldn't agree more! Man I can talk Trails with you for hours! Haha! But yes, I do see where you are coming from. I believe, for me, playing the series the way I did greatly increased my desire to 'visit' other regions of the continent so to see first hand a lot of the events that was only hinted about before. For example, in CS1 and 2 you get so many bits of info regarding everything happening in Crossbell. The whole time I wondered what was happening, what lead to it, how did it get resolved? By the time I played Azure I was like, 'Oh! So that's what went down!' Playing CS2 first just made the impact stronger I think. Also the Crossbell and Cold Steel games makes me look forward to Daybreak due to Calvert being mentioned so much. Hell, that country is even spoken about in the Sky games. I'm very much looking forward to my 'visit' in Daybreak.
Finally, some Let's Play love 😎
For context, I watched Let's Plays up to CS4 because I had nothing other than my phone. The freedom there is great, I could just skip battles and annoying quests. Yeah sure, that is part of the game, but it's not part that we all need to experience 😂 (especially for people who don't have much time). The play order also isn't as challenging to overcome there, each game has plenty of playthroughs
I was someone with way too much time back then, I've watched so many Let's Plays and a couple streamers that I feel like I understand the story, lore, and playable characters very well. That being said though, I feel that part of the reason I love Reverie so much is that I actually played it after so long of not being able to. I have a really slow style of playing, but I don't have the patience to watch people play like me haha. Being able to talk to the NPCs and just stand in the nature was amazing for me
That being said though, there were things I did miss out on. Specifically, the gameplay haha. Reverie gave me so many characters to choose from, but watching people play and "summarize" character roles (e.g. "Laura you do so much damage" or "I love Burning Heart spam") wasn't enough for me, I actually felt kind of lost when trying to figure out how characters worked just because I had no experience (and also not good at strategizing/team building)
Still a super great avenue of play, highly recommend!
Also 6:25 "Trails in the Sky FC" *shows off Kevin gameplay*
It make wonder what happen if there auto play like in star rail is going to be in trails games so i can walk away from the annoying boss fight
@@pandrions LMAO there is an auto mode in later games but it's not that helpful, there are too many complex mechanics and I don't think it can work as well as we can haha
(for reference, pandrions is my friend who just beat Sky SC)
Heh. NISA setting the fans off with a claim that "this is a good place to start" comes from them previously trying to sell *Cold Steel III* as a good place to start, mainly (if not entirely) because while that's the game where they took over the series, they didn't have the rights to Cold Steel I and II, let alone the Sky trilogy, and didn't want fans buying another company's games. Daybreak actually *is* a good place to start--better than Cold Steel, I'd say--simply because Reverie acted as a conclusion for so much of what came before, so there's a much more blank slate.
One thing that I think doesn't get talked about enough is the importance of the Orbal Revolution to the overall storyline. (Put simply: Thanks to a major technological breakthrough, the setting has gone through most of the Industrial Revolution--centuries worth of development--over the space of a few decades. And then, over the course of the games, pretty much the entire 20th Century, up to and including _cell phones and the Internet,_ happens in the space of *four years.* ) Almost everything, from the game-by-game evolution of the battle system to the social upheaval that has upset basically every society on the continent, can be directly tied to the Revolution, and you lose a lot of that if you don't start with Sky.
I normally don't subscribe to the "at the start" mentality, but I started with the Cold Steel Quadrology. When I got to the divertissement chapter, I legit HATED it. Imagine starting with Cold Steel 1, going through 2 and have CS 2 be your intro to Crossbell (lol) where you're forced to play as two characters you're not familiar with, who feel boring (out of context) and no attachment to, and forced to fight this main character I got attached to. Especially after everything you went through in the events of CS 2.
So unfortunately, I'm stuck with "from the beginning" solely because in the Trails series, to quote "Shatter" by Code Orange:
"The Little Details Matter."
Oh no, not another one 😭😭😭
Trails in the Sky FC.
I had to, lol, things were getting a bit too crazy xD
For me, i started with Cold Steel because i saw someone on Twitch play it.
Played through the entire 4 games and then decided to go back to older games to see what happened previously, and i still got engaged with them.
lol i did exactly the same
In short play sky trilogy or get a vita . I’m only in chapter 1 and I’m having a blast Estelle and Joshua are cool characters heck by the end of the prologue things were really getting started 😅 I have all the games except reverie and daybreak idk if I should buy them just because idk when I’ll play through all of them but eh🧐 I got time
I initially bounced off Sky FC, so I get the people that say it's hard to get into (crazy, right?) but man when it clicked that second time, I was in jrpg heaven. Take your time man, these games aren't going anywhere and there's at least one or two full arcs left after Kai. Plenty of time to catch up xD
3:50 tetralogy I guess ? :D
4:50 I don't know if ME and Witcher are good examples because Witcher is based on books so expanding on an already well established and constructed lore is way easier. And ME had its own sets of issues with 3rd opus and scenario butchering. But tbh I can't think about other examples Trails is deffo in a league of its own imho.
12:40 For some very weird and unknown reason CS III was the only game of the Trails series to have gotten an official French localization and when fans called it the dumbest idea ever, they still tried to argue "no but it's a perfect entry point for newcomers". Like... Why... ?
Anyways, as anyone with half a braincell would have guessed it flopped terribly and no other attempt at localizing was made. Luckily we got some fan patches ongoing.
My own answer to the whole question is : if you care about world building, lore and characters, then Sky FC. If you don't then anything goes, but maybe you're not the audience for this series.
Ah yes, the "Where to start Trails" video... Well, I've already spoken about this a couple of times over my many comments, so in an effort not to go over the same things over and over again, here's a cliffnotes version of my thoughts on the matter.
First off, lets get the obvious out of the way -> Release order is king! Some people twist themselves into a pretzel over this point because, for some reason, they don't want to play the Sky games and are trying to find a way out, but the reality of the situation is undeniable (90% of all "gatekeeper" accusions are just excuses for this, imo). There's just no ifs and buts that if you want to get as much of the series as possible, starting with the basics is a requirement.
Release order also allows you to see how Falcom reiterates and advance the Trails formula, both in a gameplay and story sense, over the years, which is a very unique feeling of continuity and evolution you won't find in many other game series due to how rare extremely long projects like Trails tend to be.
Next up -> I'd also say it's pretty undeniable that Cold Steel 1 is the 2nd best starting point in the series. It's much like FC in that it introduces things at a slow and steady pace while laying the groundwork for future events (The amount of FC call-backs in CS1 is a lot larger than a lot of people seem to realize). It also start off appropriately small scaled before the scopes expands, so it's easy to ease players into the world, from it's broad strokes to it's more complex issues.
The problem with this, though, is that I'd say this description is only really applicable to CS1 and starting with it becomes immediately less recommendable as soon as CS2 starts. I'd still recommend people finnish CS2 after 1 just so they aren't left on a cliffhanger, but I'd be lying if I said there aren't a lot of things in CS2 that make it not as suitable when it comes to being a good 2nd game in the series.
With all this being said, I'd still admit the merits of these two entry points are pretty well established by this point. That leaves us with the games that I'd say are actually more controversial as entry points -> Zero, Daybreak 1 & CS3 to a lesser extent.
CS3 is the easest to dismiss of the three. The only reason people even consider it an introductory game is because it's structured similarly to CS1 and that NISA & Falcom wanted it to sell. Beyond that, it's pretty obvious past the few beginning hours of the game that the game is much more of an expansion and continuation of the 1st two Cold Steel games than an entry points, and that's ignoring all the returning characters and plot points from previous games.
Zero is maybe the 3rd best entry point in the series, but it's honestly a bit hard to say because it's very lop-sided as an introductory game. On one hand, it's one of the most self-contained games in the series and it introduces things in a slow and steady manner. On another, some of it's most emotional moments and most interesting moments require knowledge of the previous arc in order for them to be fully appreciated.
Also, Azure is basically the CS4 before CS4 happened. The idea of playing it as a 2nd game without having the context of the Sky games reads even worse in my mind than CS2.
Now, in what will probably be by most controversial take on the issue, I completely disagree with the idea that Daybreak is a good entry point. In fact, if you disregard CS3, I'd say it's the worst entry point when it comes to being an introductory game of an arc. Some of the major issues I have are:
→ I just don’t find the main plot self-contained at all. This game constantly brings up plot points and characters from previous games (with some of these points being basically incomprehensible or simply baffling without context).
Half the game feels like it comes out of nowhere if you don’t know certain things. I’ve joked about the whole thing with Van saying “Oh yeah. That thing totally happened” and Agnes going “???” enough by this point, but it bears repeating. I just don’t see how people can claim this is good entry point when this happens constantly (both in main story, side-quests and even NPC dialogue). I know I’m a bit more zealous about playing things in order than most, but I genuinely couldn’t play a game like Daybreak as my first.
→ Another point I don’t see brought up much is that Daybreak 1 has a weird format/pacing (depending on what you want to call it) and no other game in the series feels quite like it.
Maybe it’s just a product of how many references there are or how decided to explain things, but Daybreak feels both like an introductory game and a follow up game at the same time and that really impacts how much information (both trivial and extremely lore relevant) the game throws at you, especially someone who’s completely new to all aspects of the world.
The only other intro games that throw so much deep lore at you are Zero and CS3 and even then, I wouldn’t say either of them is really comparable still. CS3 because CS3 isn’t really an intro game outside of having a similar format and Zero because while it has a similar format to Daybreak, it happens at a much earlier point in the series and is much more contained to a permanent location and a small cast of characters than Daybreak could ever hope to be.
And that’s all I wanted to say. I hope I didn’t sound to rambly / angry…
I just get annoyed by some arguments people use with this topic (Particularly, people saying that “I started with Cold Steel, so it’s totally fine to start with Daybreak” as if these 2 entry points are in any way comparable in how they do things. It’s legit like comparing apples and oranges).
I started with cold steel because of tokyo xanadu (my first ever falcom game), so i just went along with the story all the way to Kuro 2, then played backwards. Im catching up with the lore, starting the Sky trilogy soon. My experience havent suffered at all playing them out of order. The only disappointment is how little of Magical Alisa there is, TX lied to me jk jk
Really?? I just assumed you were doing replays of them. You played all the way to Kuro 2 from Cold Steel 1? Wow. That sounds crazy to me xD Did you know the order of events and just chose to keep going with what you were already invested in?
Magical Alisa really needed her own proper spinoff, what we got in Reverie was nowhere near enough! That should've been the anime Falcom created instead of Northern War 😤
But seriously, I'm extremely curious to hear what you think of the various events of Sky once you get through them. Although I'm sure you probably know most of them by now 😅
@@Cyrus_Bright well, at present I feel like a historian discovering the history of Zemuria, so it's a different experience from those who played the games in order. It's still a unique and positive way to play the game with that kind of outlook. I kind of pieced the order of events together like a detective while playing the games out of order, didn't bother me. I am my own conspiracy theory meme guy!
I am beyond stoked to finally catch up with everything, prepping for Kai!! Let's gooooo!!!
@@erihitsuki yeah I can absolutely see how that'd be exciting, I wish we could do the same for Ancient Zemuria *hint hint* Falcom take the hint! XD
Watching the relationship between Estelle and Joshua slowly grow over time is still one of the most satisfying character arcs in the series to me (especially once you get to SC... damn...) but there's so many other aspects too, like learning why Agate is the way he is, seeing Tita all smol, Kloe's dilemma, AND GILBERT, THE ONE TRUE LEGENDARY HERO'S ORIGIN STORY 🔥😎🔥
plus a lot of other stuff so there's plenty to look forward to 👀
@@Cyrus_Bright yo! Imagine a Trails of Origins or something, that would be super dope!
Can't wait to meet Agate and the rest of the Sky crew, I look forward to Kloe the most, she really intrigued me in Crossbell.
@@erihitsuki Estelle is such a whirlwind of sunshine and unstoppable protag energy that Kloe can kinda get overshadowed a bit, but her journey is equally as good imo. The Sky crew as a whole aren't as super tight knit as others groups, but individually they're still some of the best written characters in the series to me. Probably a lot of bias since I started at FC but what can you do? XD
The first thing I thought of when I saw the title of this video was "oh no, not another teen movie." wtf is wrong with me? xD
Shoutout to Magic Echo - Luke for having the definitive "Where to Start the Trails Series" video. If you know, you know. ;)
I know this is an overly complicated discussion, but if someone asks me where to start, I will recommend Sky FC. If they want to fight against that, I really don't care. Start with Cold Steel 4 for all I care! :P
Great video, Cyrus! Hopefully this can help the wayward travelers trying to get into the Trails series.
Honestly, I'd say start at Sky OR Daybreak. Sky, because Crossbell, and Erebonia reference stuff, and even have Estelle, Joshua and other characters play mid to major roles in the story. Don't even get me started on Reverie, since that one you really really need to play ALL games up till it since it throws so much at you in general.
Daybreak though PERSONALLY I think you can start with then go back to Sky and the others because like Reverie says "Where one trail ends, another begins" and IIRC Daybreak says "A new trail starts here". So basically yes you get the most for playing all of them like someone like me whos played Trails since PSP Sky, BUUUUUUUUT. I can see that being daunting for newcomers especially with the CS games and Reverie being as long as they are. Daybreak would be a good place to start if you really want to just play the newer games first and play older ones when you have the time.
I came across this series through cold steel started the first chapter not knowing it was a continuation of three prior games. When i did i immediately went back to sky fc and at the start i was ready to drop it and go back to cold steel. But i kept with it and the twist happened that i am NOT gonna spoil here. From then on i was hooked started SC then i fell off it. Guess it's time to pick it up back up again and stick with it.
The only issue for me was choise between playing CS 2 or crossbell. So I've decided do this:
1) played Cold Steel 1 until the moment, that happened in Crosbell games too (you know what I'm talking about)
2)then whole Crossbell arc
3) and after that, returning to Cold Steel 1 and playing in order.
Yeah, there is no big difference, but cs2 has some spoilers to crossbell, so, i think that was good idea to mix them
That's definitely an interesting way to play them! However I've always found the "Crossbell spoils CS2" argument kinda weird. The Crossbell games were created long before Cold Steel. It's literally impossible to spoil a game that doesn't exist yet xD does knowing the info from the end of Azure diminish the impact of those scenes? To some people maybe, but it just served to interest me even more as to what went down. Especially after the ending of CS1. Cold Steel and Cold Steel 2 definitely spoil events from the Crossbell games, since they came after. So playing Zero and Azure before returning to CS1 (and eventually CS2) was definitely a great move. Helps keep everything as impactful as possible.
I have ever Single game in my px, yat my 2nd trails will by daybreak 😂
Hey at least you own them, lol 😂 what was your first Trails game? 👀
@@Cyrus_Bright
Sky 1, 54 H
Only felt burnout like 4~6h before final dungeon.
I started at zero then played it for a bit then went back to first chapter
The biggest problem that the Trails series has with getting more popular are the loud gatekeepers of the fanbase.
I don't think that I've ever seen a fanbase of anything try harder to push potential new people away from the thing they say they love harder than Trails fans.
There are a ton of great Trails fans who just want to share the thing they love, but man those gate keepers are loud and will shout down anyone who doesnt think like them.
If I had found the fanbase before I found and decided to buy based solely off the art style Cold Steel for the Vita I never wouldve got into this series because the gatekeepers are violent with how they try to keep this series away from others.
Its really sad.
I know this fandom has a bad rap, which is why I tried to word things in a reasonable way while still maintaining my personal belief on the matter. I'll always tell every potential fan that starting at Sky and going through the series in release order is just the best way to experience them, but if they want to start somewhere else for any reason, that's their choice to make. I totally understand where the gatekeepers are coming from, but I do wish they'd ease up a bit sometimes. On the other hand, you get called a gatekeeper for simply saying that Sky *is* the beginning of the series (which it is, it's silly to suggest otherwise) but some people are so quick to throw out accusations and label others there really is no situation in which we win. Even if we tell them "play anywhere, I don't care" you still get name-called because they start at a random place and don't understand anything (I literally saw this with Reverie) so half the time it's not even the fandom's fault, it's just people being unreasonable.
@@Cyrus_Bright Not to sound harsh, but the people who are calling you a gatekeeper for THAT are exactly the kind of people who need to be kept out, because they make every fandom they infiltrate toxic! I'm all for spreading the love of the things we like, but sometimes a bit of gatekeeping is necessary to filter out the people who want to change it. Many cool things have gone to shit because they became "too mainstream", like Star Wars, Star Trek, Marvel, DC, Indiana Jones, D&D, Triple A Gaming, even Anime to some degree(it only lives for now, because the Japanese are stubborn like mules and fight tooth and nails against changes).
Trails in the sky the first
Yes, when we tell newcomer's to start from Sky we does that so that they get the "perfect experience" because how you said this is a one large story what Falcom has build over decades of work! So we want to do it justice and help people out, sadly many people see it as gatekeeping what doesn't even make sense, is not like we are trying to convince people not to play them that would be gatekeeping like get out of my franchise, no we actually want new people to join and we also want to help them do the right call, thanks for the video! I appreciate it! ❤
Gotta say, i love the skits at the start of these videos
Same, I do as well!
Gotta Start with Sky because Estelle is a gem and I love her so much
It’s the videogame equivalent to the MCU. But in terms of these, I say just start at any beginning of an arc. I started with Cold Steel 1 (got both 1 and 2 physically last Christmas) and am in the second to last chapter of Cold Steel 1. I have no way to play the Sky arc so I started there. But I was advised to play Azure and Zero before Cold Steel 3 and 4. Which I will do. I may not be playing totally chronologically, but I think my trajectory is fine. And I’ll play the Sky arc if it’s ever remastered for consoles.
Out of those I have access to, this is my playing trajectory in order.
I have:
Cold Steel 1 (I’m on Chapter 6)
Cold Steel 2
Earmarked for Christmas:
Zero
Azure
Cold Steel 3 (remastered)
Cold Steel 4 (remastered)
Will get eventually too:
Nayuta
Reverie
Daybreak
Daybreak 2
Kai no Kiseki (or whatever it’s localised to)
And I’ll play the Sky arc if it’s ever remastered/remade for consoles. But if I’m in the middle of an arc, they’ll have to wait until after.
How is Cold Steel 1 on the Vita? I play a lot on handheld and was thinking of getting it on Vita.
It seems fine from what I've seen, but I know it doesn't have a turbo mode like the console or PC versions. But I played Sky FC and SC on the Vita which also didn't have turbo and was fine, so it depends on your tolerance level to normal battles and walking around the cities.
@@Cyrus_Bright I've been playing games without turbo for years, so I'm totally fine without! Haha. It's just hard for me to play long JRPGs on anything other than handhelds atm.
and the best way to start with Trails......is by playing the Ys games recommended by your buddy Adol
Adol recommends you start with the PC-88 manual, since it contains very important backstory on who he is as a person 👀 but for real Ys is a lot easier to recommend since they aren't nearly as connected as Trails games xD plus they're waaaaay shorter, so more friendly to people with limited free time.
I learned of the series through some random falcom news video and I got all 3 Sky games ready to go on my PC and I am glad I did. I later played a fan patch of Zero and Ao by navigating random foreign websites while having no idea what I'm even doing. I am currently replaying Zero and Ao and it is great. I also played the first 2 Cold Steel games already. Playing in release might be daunting to more casual players but it really is the best experience and telling someone to start at Sky is also not really gatekeeping. We are just telling them to basically read the first part of the Novel, because of it being one big story with multiple different arcs and viewpoints. You can start at CS 1 and Daybreak 1 but then you have to go back in order to fully understand what is going on. Cs 2 is a good example with the Crossbell chapter in the epilogue, because a new player has no idea what a Crossbell is or who Lloyd and Rixia are. They will just get grumpy, because they have no stake in their battle. Which is why release order is just really the best. You could also end up like me being 5 games behind and still buying everything in the series to play later. I am just that invested. I still need to know who the Grandmaster is! I also buy everything else falcom too. Most casual players will not end up like me, but they could. Because Trails is just that good and Sky is very fun to play. But that is just me. Starting form Sky is the best experience and I will stick to it. The story is just so much better if you know what happened from day one. It is just hard to get more casual players into the fandom. But Trails is niche for a reason. Estelle is great btw. I love her. I can not wait to see her again. She is just that great.
Daybreak is the perfect jumping on point for people like myself who were initially turned off by the retro style of Sky. I started this series with the Cold Steel games. They made me fall in love with the characters and world so much that I was willing to go back and stomach Sky. But as everyone knows, Cold Steel is rife with spoilers, so from a lore perspective it's not a "good" spot to start. Daybreak doesn't have this issue, however. It's very much a contained story. And although familiar faces of the past return, nothing is spoiled about them and their stories, or the world and its overarching lore, that would ruin your experience if you go back to see them proper. The most you get is that a certain beloved character has trauma, but they do it in a way that would leave you wondering what happened to them rather than throwing it in your face. That being said, even though I started with Cold Steel, I don't regret it. Nor do I feel like my experience was ruined. It gave me the chance to appreciate this series. Because if I had started with the absolute slog-fest that is Sky 1, I really don't know if I would have cared to continue.
Ys vs Sora no Kiseki
jk jk
Should I start with the northern war gacha game?
if you want to question your existence, yes xD
I disagree. Starting with the first game in any of the arc's is fine. I personally believe that getting to know characters in said arc then wanting to find out how they got there is a great way to get people to play the earlier game. For example people could fall in love with Renne in Daybreak then want to find out where she came from and will go back to play the Liberl arc. Having this push to see what happens can keep people playing even with how poor the gameplay is in the first arc.
We always talk about the story when it comes to where to start, but games are more then just the story and characters. The game play of the first two arc's are not near that of the newer games. I think we as a fan base need to get over this were 'we' think the best place to start is as that is our personal opinion. What we need to do is ask were would be a good starting game for 'this' person to start. Do they love reading and/or love older RPG's. Then Liberl is a great place for them to start. Are they a younger gamer that wants a better overall 'game' and not just the story and characters. Then Daybreak or Cold Steel will be better.
Basicly there is not just one place to start, where someone should start is where they feel the most at home.
I do agree with your Outro, I just think the people that push FC is the only way to play pushes people away from the games. It did for me, until I said fuck it and started with Cold steel 1 a few years back. Personnally I don't feel I missed out on anything starting with CS and then going back to play Liberl and Crossbell. If anything they just made me want to play CS again to see want I didn't full get at the time.
@@MacPhal1 That's how I started too when I first got into the series back in 2019
Oh I started cold steel 1 and 2 ps vita I didn't know how to play. I wanted more I went to back sky FC and then play The sky SC on the ps vita since was on psp first. Then had watch let play Sky the 3rd. Then play cold steel one and two again on ps4 to get refresh then cold steel 3 and 4 then went back cross bell games and having knowledge for other games. I am glad play Trails of Reverie since I play switch and PS4 twice same cold steel 3 and steel 4. I will always love this series with my heart.
A very tiny part of me wanted to wait until they finished the series and then play them all in reverse chronological order of release, just as an experiment.
Of course I didn't and just started on Sky. Currently on Azure Ch4
I'd be very interested to see that kind of experiment play out tbh, I would never ever want someone to experience the games that way but hey... if someone wants to offer up their time for science... I won't say no 👀
Cyrus I thoroughly enjoyed your video. So here's my experience with the series: I was introduced to the Trails series through Cold Steel. The PlayStation Store had a sale going on which had CS1, CS2, and CS3 up for grabs at a steal. I picked up CS1 and after 20 mins I was completely hooked and purchased CS2 and 3. Days later CS4 went up for sale and I got that one as well. By the time I finished CS2 (and did my due diligence to learn as much about the series as I could) I went back to play Zero which had just released on the PS4 and Switch. While playing Zero and being introduced to a couple of Liberl's heroes, that need to play the Sky series hit. I honestly never thought I'd get the chance to play the Sky arc due to being a console gamer. However the Steam Deck was all the rage and was the perfect opportunity for me to play the series from the beginning so the purchase was made. Upon finishing Zero I doubled back and played Sky FC and SC. Once I completed those I went on to finish Azure. Now I'm playing CS3 and loving every single minute.
Sorry for the super long message but I simply love talking Trails and sharing my personal experience with it. It is, easily, my favorite series of all time. It's so, so good. Oh and before I go, another bit of advice for any newcomer... pace yourself! Play one of the games then take a break. Play something else then return to it. Burnout can happen so pacing is important especially since each title is so darn long.
as someone who played through all 10 games in the last 9 months I can say definitively. That...
I really did not like cold steel 4.
You have to start at Kai no Kiseki.......... 👀
ooh boy, I can't WAIT for that discussion to crop up, lmao
@@Cyrus_Bright lmaooooo
Oh darn I got hiccups from laughing about the Magnum Dong Monster joke.
I was hesitant to start with the Sky trilogy but I am sure glad I did, still my favorite characters in the entire series (yet to play daybreak). Cold Steel almost ruined this franchise for me so I cant imagine starting with those games.
I still gonna recommend daybreak i find it a decent start for new comers
it does rely on loads of previous knowledge, especially the reveals at the end regarding the truth of the world, but it's still better than Zero imo
Gonna start with trails through day break because it's the first of those games that really grabbed my attention.
good luck, hope you have fun! Did you try out the demo? 👀
I loved sky. I personally never found that its graphics discouraged me from get it spun up. I'd agree that Zero and azure are reserved for the people tgat bought in, but trails of Cold Steel 1 became one of those Rpgs I took so personal, my Brain says they were my real friends, until cold steel 3 Got me back to reality. But as any Trails fan should know the beginning of an arc ( minus crossbell) is always the best part of Trails. The most important part of a good story is... Once upon a time... 😆 Estelle awoke to the tune of a hamonica comming from outside her window.
Same! I was never turned away from the graphics either. Maybe since I was a 90's kid? Probably more of a generational thing than a preference thing, but could also be both. How you felt with CS1 is how I felt at the end of Sky 3rd, lol. The emotions this series makes you feel sometimes is wild. Hearing that old vst harmonica fills me with such nostalgia xD
Start wherever you want as most of them have a pretty good recap but realistically start at any odd numbered game (except Trails the 3rd) and you'll be absolutely fine.
To understand the whole series, it true that the best way is to follow order from the beginning (Sky trilogy )since many lore, plots, and terminology will fly over the head of viewers. Like starting Harry Potter with book 5. However, in the spirit of welcome new comers, I suggested that they can start with Zero and Blue (my biased opinion) since they do go over some events previously happened and viewer won’t missed much of the story line since it is the second Arc. Now, a bold idea that I have for those that want to quickly catch-up with the main plot and don’t mind missing details of the whole series is to play from the beginning but skip Sky3, CS1-2,. This will eliminate 1/3 of the story, cut it short but you would still understand the plot. An even more extreme is to cut out Sky trio, and CS1-2, thus reduced the load in half but still allowed for understanding of the main plot. (Basically all the trails games available on switch)
this is one of the best kiseki guides on yt I've seen. appreciated the positivity. good job
Glad it could be of some use! Thanks ^^
Great to hear your take on where to start! I finished Cold Steel 1&2 before I knew how much continuation there was, and then went back from FC to Reverie. While it was cool to get surprised on the events of CS1 since the Zero duology does spoil stuff, I don't think it outweighs all the cool moments, callbacks and lore that you get from playing the series from FC. Definitely will need to do a Nightmare rerun of CS1-2 after I finish Daybreak and Nayuta this year to get a refresher.
Just start with the first 3 Trails in the Sky games, people!!! The payoff is worth it!!!
Okay, but hear me out.
What if i play FC. And trails zero. At the same time. And maybe even cold steel. How bad of an idea is that. (am currently on I wanna say chapter.... 2 of FC) and zero is currently on sale on switch
Ha, that would definitely be an interesting perspective! It's funny because Zero has the most isolated story (next to Cold Steel 1 and Daybreak) but the inclusion, and more importantly resolution, of a character arc from Sky makes it so hard to recommend because so much context is lost 😅
If the games on sale go ahead and jump on it, but since you're already knee deep in Sky I definitely recommend to just keep going. You'll appreciate a lot more that way 😉👍
pretty good video i was one of those that feel that sky games didnt age well in a gameplay standpoint the story being good even though my biggest problem with the first game being how the game feels like it takes way too much time for me to get into it so i want those remakes so i can enjoy the games more but other then that i respect how well you put stuff into words alot better then what i can do when recommending where to start
This might be a weird take, but the REAL entry point is playing any Ys game particularly Ys 8. Its the best primer into Falcom as a whole which i think is a more pallateable way to get what the vibes of a Falcom game are before jumping into the mamoth Trails series.
Ys 8 is praised as one of the best ones, so it's a possible entry point in a sense true. It's also the longest one in terms of story, I believe. I'm an Ys noob so forgive me if I'm not super knowledgeable xD
started with cold steel 1 myself then 2 3 and before 4 launched i played all sky games then 4
I played the old man's order which is pretty much release order (played FC and SC on PSP) except I played Cold Steel 1 and 2 before playing the Crossbell saga.
This order works pretty much just as well as playing Crossbell first, except that you have to wait more to see the resolution of some stuff from Sky (and CS2 epilogue doesn't hit as hard). At least I knew Lloyd before Cold Steel because of his actual main game: Ys vs Sora no Kiseki!
I hope to one day see Lloyd's origin story in a Ys vs Sora no Kiseki Remaster 🔥😂
I went to a local game store and bought the PS5 trails of cold steel 3 and 4. Is it fine if I just play those games? Never heard of the series before but the box art looked cool.
I personally wouldn't recommend it, Cold Steel 3 is where all the previous games start to converge and so much would be lost on you if you started at 3. 4 directly ties up all kinds of things from the first 3 Cold Steel games too. If you wanted to start with the Cold Steel arc since you already own 3 and 4, then Cold Steel 1 is where you would honestly have to start. Even among arcs the games are all connected, that's one of the biggest draws of this series.
I'm assuming based on your comment that you only own a PS5? I'm not sure if the first two Cold Steel games are available there, but if it's backwards compatible with PS4 then it shouldn't be too big of an issue.
Sky 3rd is english patched on vita aa well as the evo sky games so I suggest starting the sky trilogy on vita.
oh really? I tend to forget you can do stuff like that with handhelds. Do they need to be connected to a PC or can they simply be done natively?
I'm on Sky SC, but this video has me tempted to play Daybreak on release. What an unexpected outcome.
Haha, stranger things have happened 🤣 whatever you decide to do, I hope you enjoy your time ^^
It's not a matter of how to start the games but how to continue
I'm currently in Cold steel 1 and my potato pc is struggling I expect to play CS 2 but maybe I will need a change of gear for the upcoming chapters
damn I feel that, I had an old laptop back in high school that could barely run Skyrim. I know it's not ideal but let's plays are everywhere on YT. You could also probably find a base PS4 for pretty cheap if you look hard enough at either a secondhand gaming store or one of those phone apps where people post things they want to get rid of.
The truth is that the best starting point in order to prepare for the upcoming Kai no Kiseki is from the original Dragon Slayer game. Everyone should experience the entire series up to it's latest japanese release so far:
"Dragon Slayer VI: The Legend of Heroes IX - Trails thorugh Daybreak II Crimson Sin"
...
Anyway, jokes aside, I agree. The best place is really the Sky games. However, I think that the next best point of start is actually Zero. The plot is self-contained in that one, and even though it has that plot thread conclusion from Sky, that's spoiled on all the other starting point games at some point or another.
Best starting points in order for me are: Sky FC ---> Zero ---> Cold Steel 1 --> Daybreak ---> Nayuta ---> Tokyo Xanadu ---> Any Ys games.
If you start at any of this points you'll probably check the previous games or the sequels at some point. Falcom is that good with their games.
Ack I should've made a "Don't start Trails, just play Ys instead" joke, lol
interesting that you think Zero is the better choice instead of CS1, ultimately that's the hope though is that regardless of what people start with it interests them enough to see the journey through to the end
Just do what a trails mega fan like me did.
Buy 5 of them, start cold steel 1, get bored and stop playing at chapter 4, vow to continue the series soon.
I read that first part as a "Mega Man fan" and was very confused xD I unfortunately can't relate, once I got hooked, I binged 5 whole games and wanted more 😅
Falcon know that people are stuck having the issue of where to start first. Not everyone has a pc and older playstation hardware. These older tittles need to be put on modern platforms. In the west Xseed hold the rights for so many older Falcom games
I really do hope Falcom & Nisa can work something out with Xseed, or just directly work with them again for a Sky port/remake/remaster/whatever. I'd rather have these games in peoples hands asap than wait for Nisa to potentially retranslate the entire Sky trilogy again.
I started with Sky, and have no regrets.
CS 1&2 are great entry points for newcomers; this games don't spoil anything relevant from previous archs, and beign more accesible than the Sky series, I think you could discover the Trails series through them without fearing major spoilers.
Crossbel definetely isn't a good entry point, given that at the end of Zero the Sky main protagonists have a major closure that you shouldn't spoil for yourself.
As Cyrius says, the ideal entry point would be Sky 1, the problem is that you have to play it on Steam, which could be bothersome for those of us that enjoy to play on a couch while looking at a big screen... unless you use a laptop, a no cord controller, and an HDMI cable at hand.
Regarding Trails Through Daybreak, I still can't say if it's a good entry ooing, cause I've only played the Demo, which was great, bit I still don't know how spoiler free this game is for newcomers.
So, for closing, CS1 is a great entry point, and you could go on to CS2 too, but from that point forward, you should stop and go back to Trails in The Sky FC... and don't worry about the games beign kinda old, because they're amazing! In my top tier games of all time, Sky SC sits at the tio of the pyramid, above games like The Witcher 3, Persona 5, Ys 8 Lacrimosa of Dana (another Falcom masterpiece), and the rest of the Trails series... The Trails in the Sky games are incredible RPGs... I jist wish they had ports for modern consoles.
Ok, best regards for all the comunity, and for Nihon Falcom team.
PS: Nijon Falcom needs to supervice closely the work of their wokalizers at NIS, cause their english dubs are trash and don't align with the original concept of the game's characters.
I personally don't like cold steel as an entry point since it spoils most of Azure. The newspapers and NPCs talk about a lot and you can even see the final dungeon of Azure in CS2. Yes that scene at the end of Zero is less impactful without playing sky, however it really doesn't spoil much and seeing it may make someone want to go back and see what led up to it. So I would say that Zero is the second best starting point.
@@hanzou1238 It's true that by reading newspapers and talking to some NPCs in CS2 you get to know about some of the things going on in Azure, but given that most of it comes to you as text, you end up feeling curious about the situation at Crossbell, without trully knowing what's going on there... and the scene where you can see Azure's final dungeon from afar in CS2 is amazingly effective in making players want to play the Crossbel Arch in order to learn, first hand, what was all that disturbance about.
On the other hand, Zero's spoiler for the main protagonists of the Sky series is something you live firsthand with them, and you get to know the characters personally, interact with them, play as them, etc. This spoiler is much more personal for gamers, contrary to what happens in CS2, where you only read and heard about Crossbel's situation.
IMO, the spoiler in Zero is so huge for the main protagonists of the Sky games, that it simply turns this game into a no go zone for gamers that haven't played the Liberl Arch and trully want to experience the Trails Series in all its greatness.
It took me twice to really get into trails. When I first played trails in the sky I was sick and got bored and put it down for a couple years. I came back to give it a shot and yes it was a tad bit slow at the start but ramped up and I started seeing all these characters grow and much more. I've played them all now and it really was a joy to play them in order because you don't only get what the game is offering you. You get characters from the past games and honestly it's amazing how they've managed to keep all these stories intertwined. The series is just great in many ways and while you could start out on a newer game you would miss out everything that has built this giant of a pillar that is the trails series.
It's why I try to be as transparent as possible when recommending the series to people, because man when you really start to see just what Falcom has done with even the smallest of details... it's crazy.
What I'm doing in my streamy let's play is Zero, CS1, Then swapping off between Azure and CS2.
I've been seeing this play order pop up a bit more recently, it seems kinda interesting (since Azure and CS2 both "spoil" each other)
@@Cyrus_Bright That's what I was thinking
Fantastic video! The way you express yourself is top notch!
I'm glad you enjoyed it! It sucks because I could've easily added another 20 minutes to this video talking about stuff but I didn't xD there's just so much to discuss when it comes to this topic for some reason 😅
Hey unrelated question but I've played all games in order over the past 8 months and I've just caught up finishing reverie last week. I'm super hyped for daybreak and as someone who has played the fan translation of daybreak would you say that it diminished your enjoyment of the game? I'm thinking of playing the fan translation for kuro 2 after daybreak.
Unless you played it early on when they were still ironing out the translations, I don't see why you would feel it diminished your enjoyment. But both games are 100% done now so no worry of that. Honestly the only thing that hampered my enjoyment was needing to use those god-awful Clouded Leopard ports with their piss-poor optimization. But even so I still loved the games like any other.
@@saintfayde4438 oh okay thanks for the information, will the port problems be different for official release? My pc is really good so don't think performance will be that horrible
@@somponz The global ports aren't handled by Clouded Leopard. That's why they always run near-flawless for us, since NiSA is actually good at their job.
I have a high-end PC as well, but those CL ports are rife with frame drops and stutters, that's just how bad they did with them.
I will provide a hot take and say that the best entry point into Trails is Tokyo Xanadu.
I can't comment on TX since I've yet to play it, but I do know that's where Magical Alisa originates from! I need to play it one of these days 😅
@@Cyrus_Bright imagine Cold Steel 1 in modern Japan, with Ys combat.
I got confused and started with Tales of Symphonia
Ha! Yeah, Trails and Tales tend to get mixed up a lot xD
I could never get very far in Symphonia for some reason before dropping it. But Xillia, Graces, and Abyss I loved.
@Cyrus_Bright For real though I did Sky > SC > 3rd > CS > CS2 > Zero > Azure > CS3 > CS4 > Reverie, because I was waiting on the official Azure release, and it really works, honestly. In fact, I think it's kinda better than release order. Here's why:
CS2 "spoilers" for Azure really amount to little more than "oh man, some shit's going down over there in Crossbell". Yes, there's a giant magic tree, and yes that badass hot girl with the huge... sword joins the party eventually, but like, you have played jrpgs before, right? It's actually just enough to pique your interest to get into another arc with another new set of characters. The questions CS2 leaves you with can easily have a player more eager to dive into Zero than Sky 3rd ever could.
CS is the longest of the three arcs by far and playing all four (five, if you count Reverie) back to back can have its own special fatigue.
Getting back to sprites and the old combat for another two games is a good visual and mechanical refresher.
Erebonia is only tangentially related to the plot of Sky, while it's crucial to both Crossbell and CS. Seeing Erebonia as "us" first by playing CS and then "them" later in the Crossbell games gives the player a better chance to feel the mixed emotions behind a lot of the plot beats and helps Erebonia not feel so much like cartoonish evil overlords.
Having a real-world time gap while the player goes through Crossbell helps the in-game time gap between CS2 and CS3 feel more real, and the reunions in CS3 feel better as a result.
Not to diminish what some consider the peak of the franchise, but, intentionally or not, Zero and Azure function as a perfect interlude for Cold Steel.
In conclusion, the first three games need to be first, and the last three games need to be last. But the middle four games, the only ones that CAN be switched, SHOULD be switched, which is a blessing, not a curse.
FC is not avalaible in pstore in europe since at least 5 or 7 years ago , there is only SC , but for how long is contract for sell it ? 10 year ? that mean surely in 2025 pstore will remove the game for servers
there's always emulation if/when the store delist or shut down. Could you not just make an American account and purchase the games that way? I know you can do that on the Switch but I'm unsure of other platforms.
@@Cyrus_Bright on psvita u can't if u do another account u have to reset ur psvita , only 1 account at time
@@Cyrus_Bright don't worry i have gog version on my tablett , windows 8 and it's work perfectly , this game can run on pc potatoes even without graphic card even atom cpu pc's , is still overkill for him ,, this game was realease on year 2004 for these cpu era but was so no nneed of powerfull that , even as pc from 2004 who can't run crisis 1 can run this game without any problem , 1 ghz cpu with 256 mb ram GC can run it ( i checked trails of zero with this setup and it's worked fine )
@@Cyrus_Bright psvita is limit to one account per console , u need to reset all for put US acount, is not handy
finally someone says it out loud and well
I feel what I said was common sense, but glad you enjoyed the video ^^
Ty
Started with Zero and was hooked
Awesome! Love the vibes of Zero, Crossbell is my fav city in all of fiction.
Great video
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it ^^
No need to watch. Just start with Trails in the Sky.
you'd think it'd be that simple but for some reason it's not xD
@@Cyrus_Bright Don't see why. Start by the first game. No discussion needed
6:08 unfortunate
at least it looked cool 😔
Here's the thing, Cold Steel 2 and Azure spoil each other. It doesn't really matter if you play the first Erebonian Arc or the Crossbell Arc first. You will get spoiled for the other! Can't really be avoided, since the times they take place overlap heavily. I started with Cold Steel, but I knew there were games before it, so I read every book in the library to learn more about the world and talked to every NPC and all the little things they mentioned about Liberl and Crossbell made me interested in playing these games, which I did after Cold Steel 2.
You can't spoil something that hasn't been released (unless specific circumstances that didn't happen in the trails series development), so the order DOES matter.
@@Javifaa
This answer contains spoilers for Cold Steel 1+2 and Azure! Read at own risk!
The end of Azure reveals that a certain character isn't dead and how the civil war in Erebonia ends, which is a major spoiler for Cold Steel 2. Another thing you'll already know when you played Crossbell first is that the trade conference won't get blown up by the Railway guns, which takes a lot of tension out of Cold Steel 1. Also that there is going to be a civil war, which you would have no idea of until the very end of CS1 if you played CS 1+2 before Crossbell.
From the other side, Cold Steel spoils that members of the ILF will storm the trade conference and get killed by the Red Constellation. Cold Steel 2 spoils the whole Azure Tree incident.
So yeah, those story arcs spoil each other!
@@skyknight0408 the ending of an earlier game revealing something from a later game is not a spoiler.
@@Javifaa Of course it is! You wouldn't know that a civil war is about to break out, if you go into Cold Steel blind. You wouldn't know any of the things I listed. You experience the entire game differently, if you know already what's going to happen. I played Cold Steel 1+2 first, then went back to Sky and when I got to Crossbell, I was like, "When is this going to happen? And when is that going to happen?" Yes, I played the later game first, but if I had played Crossbell first, I would've had the same altered experience for the first two Cold Steel games! So you can't say it's not a spoiler, because it totally is!
@@skyknight0408 Sorry to have a definition of spoiler that takes into consideration the release order of the media? Like, if Azure and the first 2 Cold Steel Games were released at the same time (or close enough to have had shared development time), I would agree with you. But that's not what happened.
I personally still think that playing cs1 and 2 before zero and azure is a better play order. This is mostly becouse zero and azure kinda ruin the ending of cs1 and 2.this cis because they spoil entirely how things are going to turn out. And that spoiling is way worse than cs1 and 2 do for crossbell.
I'd say Crossbell spoils more of CS than the opposite, but I think Crossbell doesn't affect the experience of CS as much, if that makes sense. Because the games (even if one of the spoilers is quite unhinged) are written accounting for the Crossbell spoilers. And there are bigger spoilers that Crossbell doesn't spoil (like the plot twist right before the first credits in CS2)
@@Dede-en4sk yeah sure one plotwist wasn't spoiled. But how could they if it has to do with the main character of cold steel the crossbell characters don't even know he exists yet. But playing crossbell first will ruin the clifhanger of coldsteel 1 becouse you know it's not actually true. And as a result the reveal at the end of cs2 is similarly ruined becouse you know it was gone happen anyway.
Spoilers don't work that way. If a game was released earlier than other, that's what's being spoiled when skipping it to play the later game first.
I seriously can't understand why that stupid argument of "crossbell and early cold steel spoil each other" is still around.
@@Javifaa because it's literally true. If v you play crossbell first you knew how the civil war is going to end and also that Osborne isn't dead. Messing they the clifhanger of coldsteel 1 is les effective, and the reveal of him being alive in cs2 is even more ruined. If you oldy cs1 first you know how the trade conference is going to unfold. Meaning that theycspoil each other.
As long as you don't start halfway through an arc (looking at you, CS3 beginners), you'll be fine.
People who are going to start with Kai will just be that one SpongeBob quote where Patrick says "Who are you people!?" 😂
But yeah for the most part, any arc starter is fine
@@Cyrus_Bright fr
When I was younger I used to be insistent on starting games, stories or whatever from the very begining to "fully appreciate" the work and was also super sensistive to spoilers. But as I've gotten older I find it more difficult to start anything new, period, be it a hobby, skill, game etc. So whatever sparks interests in you, spoilers be damned, you have to strike when the irons hot or else it is highly likely you will never start at all. Not that I recommend it but if someone whats to start at Reverie because it looks interesting to them, fuck it, if thats what gets you in, good. Even if it might "ruin" the intended experience, that would be bettter than never starting Trails at all.
I get what you're saying and agree with the core concept. But starting at Reverie is a big no from me, if I have any sway in someone's play decisions xD if you have access to Reverie then you have access to at least Zero, CS1, or Daybreak which would be infinitely better choices. If someone really told me that if I said they couldn't start at Reverie they'd never play any other game in the series, I'll gladly escort them off the premises myself XD
@@Cyrus_Bright Yea that's fair, it's an extreme and unlikely example with Reverie. But in a hypothetical future where a new Trails game gets a trailer in a Nintendo Direct or a Sony presentation and that's what gets people interested in the series by playing the "new thing". That to me is better alternative than not trying it at all.
A reasonable example would be Daybreak, which is getting it's official English release soon and I would rather encourage people to play that IF it interests them, rather than forcing them to play Sky FC BEFORE they can play what interested them in the first place.
Ok l do have the ones that l was able to get and did finish Cold Steel one and two and ready to start three but l download Trails into Reverie so where do that take place at in the order?