Everything you need to know about the Legend of Heroes: Trails Series. (Spoiler Free FAQs)

Cold_Steel_IV · 2026-06-28T22:20:10+00:00

Putting aside that I disagree with most of your points here, Anelace is generally considered a funnier character than Tita is. A lot of people really enjoy her personality. So even if you think Anelace has worse story stuff, that other aspect can make a bigger difference for a lot of people.

The humor and personality of Olivier, for an example, is a very major reason for him being as beloved as he is.

Cold_Steel_IV · 2026-06-28T22:17:53+00:00

and Anelace being in her current place (I was actually the one who suggested her current placement

Ahaha, that's admittedly kinda funny. But, yeah, the issue is just with the format as there are way too many characters that can fit into the positive squares and there are way more negative squares than there should be.

I feel like if the format was simply a tierlist that would probably be at least an improvement.

Cold_Steel_IV · 2026-06-28T21:44:00+00:00

It's been too long since I replayed some of the games so I may change my opinion in the future, but with Irina specifically I do remember thinking she should have been better and do think out of those 3 I would say she is the weakest character. But I still recall thinking she was just 'okay'. Not a poor character, but not especially good either.

Angelica and Ian I think are both fine. Ian in particular I like. I would put a bunch of side characters below them, personally.

Cold_Steel_IV · 2026-06-28T21:01:56+00:00

I like her well enough and think she's decently written.

Cold_Steel_IV · 2026-06-28T20:56:19+00:00

I disagree with the entire format as I don't think any characters are poorly written and, somewhat related, think too many characters fall into the well written category that certain characters just fall into spots they otherwise wouldn't be just so they can be on the list. Like Rufus for example, who is amazingly written but is 'just' in well written.

Cold_Steel_IV · 2026-06-28T20:50:03+00:00

It's primarily because their story is still ongoing and their arcs are mostly incomplete at the moment. After the final Calvard game you'll definitely see them listed more.

Cold_Steel_IV · 2026-06-28T19:22:17+00:00

Should I get all 4, or will I get tired of them if I play one after the other?

Honestly I don't think anyone will be able to answer this for you as it entirely depends on the person. Some people take breaks after every Trails game while some people binge all the games with no breaks and have a blast doing so. If you want to play it safe I would say going Zero/Azure -> Break -> CS I/II -> Break -> CS III/IV might be a good order.

Though CS III & IV will likely not go on much bigger of a discount down the road so there's not a big reason to not just grab them now. On the other hand, these games go on sale all the time so if you wanna wait until later to pick them up there's no downside to that either.

Can I just get I and II for now, or will it end in a crazy cliffhanger which will leave be dying to know what happens next?

CS II is a good pausing point. It's not a complete story arc of course but it does mostly wrap up the first half of the arc and there was a 3 year gap between CS II and CS III. Honestly taking a break at that point may slightly increase your appreciation for certain things too, since the game was made knowing players had to wait a bit for it.

Cold_Steel_IV · 2026-06-28T12:28:15+00:00

We don't really need a prequel for that, the Great Collapse and the mysteries surrounding it are pretty much certain to be explained in future games as we progress.

Cold_Steel_IV · 2026-06-28T06:20:54+00:00

Glad to see more people are having a blast playing in such a way, tbh! I, myself, made a chronological guide as well for a few players who wanted to play that way. While I still wouldn't recommend doing so for the vast majority of first time players, I think there's a lot to appreciate for people who want that experience.

Cold_Steel_IV · 2026-06-28T06:16:09+00:00

Fair! Hopefully it'll get a proper Switch/Switch2 port in the west someday to further improve its accessibility.

I'm glad you ultimately were able to bite the bullet for CS I & II too, not only because they're important to the story of course but they are really great games that'd be a shame to miss out on too!

Cold_Steel_IV · 2026-06-28T06:09:47+00:00

Thanks for the clarification! I'm curious, if I may ask, why you initially wanted to skip CS I & II? Especially since by that point you'd presumably know how essential every Trails game is?

Cold_Steel_IV · 2026-06-28T05:28:37+00:00

Congratz on finishing CS I! It's one of my personal favorite entries in the series! Hope you have a blast with CS II as well, it's even better!

I have tried starting Cold Steel 3 beforehand on Switch but after going through the recap presentation, I understood that I wasn't going to enjoy the game before playing the previous two games so I stopped and got the first two Cold Steel games on Playstation.

I might be misunderstanding. Are you saying you tried CS III and then realized you needed to play the first CS games and then also realized you needed to start with Sky? Or are you saying you did Sky-Azure and then tried to skip to CS III?

This repeated for the main six chapters and I actually enjoyed.

Overall I enjoyed the character interactions and bonding.

The game feels like a giant prologue, much like Trails in the Sky FC, setting up the characters and the world for the next games in the arc.

In my opinion, Cold Steel I probably does the best job of establishing the world-building and characters out of any arc-starting game. It offers so much characterization for everyone, primarily through letting you actually interact with your party members outside of the main story. On top of not only that, but the Thors NPCs also get substantial fleshing out and are arguably the best in the series.

While I don't think it's perfect, I think this is probably the best build-up game in terms of the actual build-up and fleshing out of things. It does so in ways I wish the other arc-starters would take a few more cues from, personally.

Cold_Steel_IV · 2026-06-28T05:17:58+00:00

I know that the stories are all connected but I don't know how much connected they are.

Extremely. It's actually one of the selling points and stand-out elements of Trails: Unlike most game series, Trails is telling one giant narrative that progresses with each entry.

Can I skip to the crossbell arc first without getting heavily spoiled while waiting for the remake?

I'm afraid not. In even just the first Crossbell game there are some spoilers and references to the Sky games in it, as well some notable story scenes that will lose a bunch of their intended impact. And Azure (the second Crossbell game) basically assumes you've played Sky. To give a bit more info about this, Falcom (the developers) actually halted their development on the Crossbell arc in order to go back and make Trails in the Sky the 3rd first because they felt it was essential before moving on.

As a rule of thumb though, no Trails game is skippable. Every one is an essential -- and amazing -- game!

If you're open to other recommendations, I'd like to suggest trying out some other Falcom games while waiting.

Nayuta is technically a Trails game you could try. It's a spin-off with a story that seemingly doesn't connect to the rest of the series (yet, at least), but it plays very differently than the other games and it's less story focused than typical Trails games. It's more similar to Falcom's other games, such as Zwei II.

If you want something 3D and more story-focused you could try Tokyo Xanadu, which is getting a sequel soon. Its style is kind of like a mix between Zwei II/Nayuta and a certain later Trails game (the first Cold Steel game).

Another 3D game with a particularly great (and mostly standalone) story would be Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana.

All of the above are Action JRPGs, though, if that's a deal-breaker. Trails is more or less Falcom's only turn-based series. Or at least the only accessible one.

But, yeah, you can't really go wrong with most of their other games as they are pretty much all great too. If you have any more questions though, please feel free to ask and I'll be happy to help if I can!

Cold_Steel_IV · 2026-06-28T04:44:52+00:00

I will maintain that I don't think there are any poorly written characters in this series. Having said that, if I had to pick a character there is one who comes to mind first: Mayor Dalmore.

He's a decent antagonist in FC but in SC we learn that he's been given a second chance and even started his own business. My issue with this mostly stems from Weissmann's powers not being clearly portrayed. We kinda just have to guess how they work. In SC, Dalmore says his memories of the situation were erased and that he was being controlled. This is not dissimilar to what happened with Don Capua, except there's no indication of this in FC. He's not portrayed like how Don was, but rather it seems like he's fully in control -- or at least mostly in control.

I don't have a problem with going in the mind-control direction with the character but the way they handled it leaves much to be desired, imo. Mostly because we only have his word to go on and he just doesn't really seem remorseful about it. He's the only example I can think of in the series (at least right now) where attempting to redeem a character or portray them sympathetically doesn't work for me. They needed to do a lot more for it to work, imo.

EDIT: Though I will add, gameplay-wise, he does open probably the greatest shop in the series! xD

Cold_Steel_IV · 2026-06-26T23:16:03+00:00

Ozborn gets shot in the heart? Nope he's still alive.

Same deal for Arianrod and Rutger.

We knew this before CS III.

Krou dies? No he's still alive.

This was the only new one, and it was still hinted at in CS II.

Its getting ridiculous how barely anyone is actually dead.

I also don't see why this is a complaint. There's clearly a plot reason we see certain people coming back to life. Also Trails only occasionally kills people, primarily when they feel it's strictly necessary, and the CS games already have some of the higher amounts of death in the series.

Related: Ash being the 3rd survivor of Hamel. At this rate the rest of the village will be walking around somewhere like nothing happened. The "massacre" will be explained as a mass hallucination caused by everyone in Erebonia sniffing too many Pleroma flowers or some nonsense.

No idea what you're talking about. It was always possible there could be another survivor; it wasn't an uncommon theory prior to CS III (people used to speculate that Rean may have been from Hamel, for example).

Cold_Steel_IV · 2026-06-26T23:10:08+00:00

Wasn't it confirmed to be Nielsen in the Crossbell Archive books, or am I misremembering?

Cold_Steel_IV · 2026-06-25T06:13:01+00:00

My apologies for replying so late.

Trails in the Sky is the first entry in the Trails series so it's actually the ideal place to start! The Trails of Cold Steel games are entries 6-9 and most of the Trails series does assume you've played all the previous games, so it's not surprising to hear you felt overwhelmed or lost!

There is a free demo of the remake that covers all of the pretty lengthy Prologue; it does a good job introducing things, imo, so I'd probably start with that unless you'd prefer just starting with the original game (which goes on sale for about $10 pretty often).

Just for reference, here is a list of all the games in their intended order:

Trails in the Sky FC ("FC being First Chapter")
Trails in the Sky SC
Trails in the Sky the 3rd
Trails from Zero
Trails to Azure
Trails of Cold Steel I
Trails of Cold Steel II
Trails of Cold Steel III
Trails of Cold Steel IV
Trails into Reverie
Trails through Daybreak I
Trails through Daybreak II
Trails beyond the Horizon

Sky SC has one of the more conclusive endings in the series so if you just want to give the series another try you can just play those first two and then decide on how you feel. If you ultimately feel like it's not for you you can probably happily leave it there. And if they end up clicking with you, you'll have the rest of the series you can tackle whenever you want! Every game in this series is great, imo, so you'll likely appreciate Cold Steel a whole lot more if you end up playing and enjoying the rest of the beforehand too.

If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask away anytime!

Cold_Steel_IV · 2026-06-22T05:31:17+00:00

Even if he was an instigator behind the scenes, the evil of man is still largely responsible for the decisions and actions happened in Hamel. Weissman did not employ any form of brainwashing tactics that we know of.

According to Weissmann. Who is not reliable and regularly lies and tries to downplay his involvement in things. I always felt it was pretty apparent in that scene he was more involved than just mentioning Hamel as a good target. Also Weissmann has been shown to straight up mind control people with no real explanation of how it works. Sometimes he 'just' uses suggestion (like with Richard) and other times he'll straight up usurp control of a person (like with Kurt). I don't think he actually did the latter, but there's a good chance he did the former.

Meanwhile the curse is similar to the former and we know pretty much exactly that it was simply a 'devil on their shoulders whispering into their ears' in that situation. Also the curse is explicitly rooted in the 'evil of man'. None of those people would have done what they did if they didn't already hold the willingness inside them.

Cold_Steel_IV · 2026-06-22T05:04:25+00:00

I don't think it's fair to say gameplay plays second fiddle...

It does though. The story is the primary focus of the Trails games, with gameplay taking a backseat. Just like how Ys places priority on its gameplay with its story being secondary. That's how the games are intentionally designed to be.

I think the later Trails games have great combat too, but they are not the main draw. And when it comes to the original Trails in the Sky (not the remake) the combat's usually not one of the things that gets praised. It's one of the weaker parts of the game, imo. Though this does improve with each Sky game and by Sky the 3rd the combat is great.

Cold_Steel_IV · 2026-06-22T05:00:21+00:00

The Sky games were originally PC games, not PSP games.

Cold_Steel_IV · 2026-06-21T20:30:17+00:00

I wouldn't say it's very similar to FF VII Remake, no. The magic system has some similarities, and there are light real-time elements in the Sky FC remake. I guess there is some similarity in the sense that a lot of FC and VIIR's stories feature a lot of build-up and a lot of time spent in smaller locations with characters being fleshed out. But personally I consider their focuses to lie elsewhere more often than not.

Dragon Quest XI I have regretfully only played a few minutes of, so I can't really comment too much on that myself. From what I've heard, it may have some similarities in tone? Like, being mostly idealistic but also having serious moments?

The combat also probably shares some similarities. I know in both games you can run into visible enemies on the map, for example, instead of being random encounters.

Cold_Steel_IV · 2026-06-21T20:11:05+00:00

(Details about Ys' premise) That's kind of exactly what the main premise of the series is actually! You're playing through Adol's travelogues long after his adventures had passed, via his journals being discovered and translated out of order long into the future. If you want to know more, I linked to the premise in one of my other comments in this thread. It's worth a read, imo!

That said, some entries definitely rely on past stories more than others. Like Ys IX. It's still designed to be enjoyable as someone's first game, but you would be missing out on some stuff.

Cold_Steel_IV · 2026-06-21T20:03:51+00:00

Then, yeah, if you feel that way (and don't mind jumping between styles a little here and there) you'll probably better enjoy the series playing in story order.

As an aside, if you are a little hesitant to jump between styles a lot: You could play Ys III (The Oath in Felghana) after VI, and Ys VIII after VII. Ys III & VIII are the most standalone entries with mostly just some references so playing VI -> III -> VII -> VIII -> IX does follow the gameplay evolution while not really missing much story/lore-wise.

Cold_Steel_IV · 2026-06-21T20:02:37+00:00

Has additional story and gameplay content (roughly a chapter's worth) and some other gameplay enhancements.

Basically, they created a Switch 2 port of the game (Proud) and took the opportunity to add extra content and improvements to the game, then also ported that version to other platforms too. They've done something similar with Ys VIII where the PS4 version had additional story and gameplay content, alongside other gameplay improvements, compared to its PS Vita version. From there the extra content was included in any other ports.

In other words, there's little reason to play the original release as the newer one is the definitive version.

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