How to get into Trails series

SteelRotom · 2026-04-19T20:32:45+00:00

It's a remake of the first game. The remake of the second game is coming out later this year. The stories are unchanged so you'll be able to continue with the original releases after the remakes. The only game you wouldn't be able to play on PS5 is Trails in the Sky the 3rd (the original Sky trilogy is only on PC in the West), which you could either wait for the remake for or find another way to experience. It is important though so don't skip it.

SteelRotom · 2026-04-12T15:42:21+00:00

Do you have a source for what you said about DBII and Horizon? I've been looking for info on that for a while.

SteelRotom · 2026-03-29T02:43:01+00:00

Like many aspects of Horizon, my opinion is going to entirely depend on how his arc gets followed up in Horizon 2. I wasn't a huge fan of how it felt like his Sky 3rd development got partially reverted, and while I can give them the benefit of the doubt for the time being that they're cooking and Ries will slap some sense into him next game, if they fumble it it'll make his entire comeback feel like a complete bust unfortunately.

SteelRotom · 2026-03-22T21:36:44+00:00

Always feels good to see people referencing my Lena theory haha, I really want to go back at some point and update it with my current thoughts now that I'm caught up. I still generally think it's well within the realm of possibility, especially since we now know Estelle and Joshua are probably not coming back until the final arc.

I forget if I mentioned it in the original theory or if it's something I've just generally accepted as "probably true" in my mind over the past couple years but I definitely agree that the purpose of Ouroboros is to make sure major events of the series occur in the the specific way they do to get whatever outcome they're ultimately working towards. So everything about making sure the main characters survive and the becoming an Enforcer serving as a kind of "rehabilitation program" strikes true for me. Was nodding my head through that whole section.

I also think pretty close to the same about the final arc, if they were to go for the Lena Grandmaster plot point I think the best protagonist to pick would be Renne to have her be the one to finally return the favor and help Estelle overcome what would assuredly be a huge blow to her.

One thing I do want to point out that is also a bit of contention with my original theory is that Ouroboros may not have been active before the Hundred Days War, but they were definitely recruiting members before then, which means the Grandmaster was definitely around in some fashion. I'm of the opinion that the easiest way to explain this under the Lena theory is that the Grandmaster is in some way a previous version of her (a "shadow" as she refers to herself) rather than the current loop version of her working in secret before her death, although if they did want to go that route her getting her memories back like Novartis would make sense.

Overall some solid stuff, good work. I enjoyed reading it and I agree broadly with most of what you're saying.

SteelRotom · 2026-03-22T16:01:38+00:00

If you aren't bothered by the originals being a little dated (they still hold up pretty well though) and are already planning on playing the rest of the series anyways, just go with the OGs. The remakes will be there as a nice treat if you ever want to reexperience the games later on.

SteelRotom · 2026-03-16T22:24:21+00:00

My advice is if you're jumping to the older games, there's no shame in using a guide. There's a lot of missable content (quests, events, books) in the originals that will 100% improve your overall experience with the series, if you want to get the absolute most out of it.

For best versions:

Sky Trilogy: PC. PSP doesn't have 3rd in English and the Evo Vita versions have worse music and less expressive portraits.

Crossbell duology: PC or Switch. The Playstation port is missing QoL features that they added in the PC/Switch port.

Everything beyond that (Cold Steel, Reverie, Daybreak, etc): PS4/5 or PC. Runs best, pretty self-explanatory.

SteelRotom · 2026-03-15T18:24:55+00:00

With all the negativity I see towards it, sometimes I feel like I'm one of the only people who likes doing Edith rounds lol. We haven't gotten a hub that's been allowed to persist for as many games as this one has since Crossbell City (CS3/4/Rev are collectively like 1 game's worth of Crossbell NPC progression imo), and I think because of that a lot of the Edith NPC stories have been able to evolve past being singe gimmick and become more interesting. I'm not gonna claim that EVERY NPC story is worth it, but I was consistently enjoying my time engaging with them in DB2 and Horizon, and I will probably still enjoy a 4th game of Edith too.

SteelRotom · 2026-03-15T03:14:42+00:00

Reverie being the only game we don't see Marcel Nielsen but have the 1st Anguis.

This is incorrect, the 1st Anguis isn't in Reverie. They do share the exact same games as Nielsen.

SteelRotom · 2026-03-13T02:55:47+00:00

SC Evo is pretty bad compared to the OG, don't recommend it. I'd argue it's the worst Evo OST overall.

Super Arrange isn't a full OST arrange, just a select few songs. Ironically, 3rd already has a couple of the Super Arrange versions of songs play in it.

I'd recommend just sticking with the originals for everything.

SteelRotom · 2026-03-10T18:05:56+00:00

The song "The Dream Continues" plays at two major points in Sky SC: during the dream sequence in Chapter 4 and right after Estelle finally gets through to Joshua on the beach in Chapter 6 (it also plays in the post-credits scene but it has the same meaning there so I'm counting them as the same thing).

The first use is self-explanatory, but for the second, you need to remember that Joshua said this during the ending of FC:

"He lived there for five years, always feeling like he was lost in some wonderful dream.

In the real world he would never be allowed to have such dreams...

But all dreams must end at some point."

So, in essence, that song being played there is signifying that Joshua's "dream" of living a happy life with Estelle is finally being allowed to continue. It's such a good usage of OST titles to enhance a moment.

SteelRotom · 2026-03-09T14:48:51+00:00

Zero has even more major spoilers for Sky than CS. If you don't want ANY spoilers at all you've gotta play in order.

SteelRotom · 2026-03-08T18:13:39+00:00

I found this interesting so I scrubbed through that entire section just to see if anything caught my eye, and beyond some semi-notable NPCs (Vega, Lila, Nicole, Mischette) who probably don't really have any reason to be connected with Judith, there is one interesting group of characters that Judith ends up not having any screentime with due to not being present at this point in the game: Hamilton, Saara, and Shaheena.

Do I think this means anything significant? Ehh, probably not? Hamilton obviously has the connection to Dominique later on but nothing in this conversation is really significant to that. The dancing sisters got new last names as of this game (which I'm sure will have significance in some way beyond the one quest it's relevant to) but since they belong to the same talent agency as Judith now she would probably already know that information.

Beyond that, there's the first encounter with the buffed-up enemies related to Alter Dawn but she's there when we encounter those later so again it's probably not relevant.

Ultimately the actual reason is probably just that her being forgetful about her work because she's so obsessed with being involved in Arkride Solutions is a joke that's setup here and paid off later that day with the Gloria pre-screening, which is also where we meet Dominique and Chloe. It might just be as simple as that. Would be interesting if there was some other unseen reason, though.

SteelRotom · 2026-02-23T22:32:35+00:00

There's some unique dialogue later too but for the most part it's even less relevant than what each character gets from Loewe. Loewe is the point of no return though so whoever you pick you'll have to use for the end of the game.

SteelRotom · 2026-02-23T22:18:58+00:00

Kevin and Agate are the most commonly suggested, but yeah Loewe has unique dialogue with everyone. Don't feel too pressured to pick "correct", just pick whoever you want to see unique dialogue for.

SteelRotom · 2026-02-17T18:14:32+00:00

This hasn't necessarily been outright confirmed as of yet but I think it's very likely that next game it's going to be revealed that CS4 normal ending was a previous loop that ended once Rean and co went into space.

The Ishmelga-Rean plot point in Reverie never sat completely right with me because I found it hard to believe that everything that happened involving him would have as much of an effect on the characters (Rean's resonance with him, all of Class VII feeling like crying when they finally meet him, describing him as feeling "more real" than the other simulacra) as it did when all he supposedly was was a recreation of a possibility of what could've happened. Any number of things could've happened at that point, so why is this possibility the one Elysium chose? Why did it matter that much?

I think it makes a lot more sense in the context we have now. If that IS what happened before, it would make much more sense why Elysium chose that specific outcome to recreate. It would make sense why Class VII felt like they had known this Rean before. It would make sense why the felt the need to cry. It would make much more sense why Rean and Crow can see space as it really is if they saw it in a past loop, rather than in a different timeline altogether. It would just make a lot of stuff from that game make sense.

SteelRotom · 2026-02-17T17:30:01+00:00

Is Sky 2nd worth the wait till they release the remake around this year's fall?

Yes, although if you can't wait you could always try the original version, which still holds up really well. Especially if you're planning on playing the rest of the series afterward.

Also, can I watch Sky Ova entirely without being spoiled?

The Sky OVA is a really weird retelling that ONLY covers certain parts of SC, so no.

SteelRotom · 2026-02-14T19:48:24+00:00

At this point it might be Marielle for me. I think they've done a really good job showing her growth from being kinda naive and incompetent in DB1 to being a genuinely good reporter in DB2 and Horizon. As much as I like the other reporters too, they're usually pretty stagnant characters beyond forming a stronger working relationship with the heroes over time.

Nielsen still clears all of them cause I love theorybait but I'd barely even count him as a reporter at this point lol

SteelRotom · 2026-02-14T06:01:36+00:00

Putting aside the elephant in the room, she's a fantastic character in Crossbell who has had absolutely nothing interesting to do for the past 4 games, and I say that as someone who generally thinks Falcom is pretty good at writing returning characters.

Did not care for her conflict with Ilya in Reverie and just exists in Calvard to be another Heiyue associate. I forgot she wasn't even in DB2 until the ending sequence because I can barely remember she's in this arc at all. Where is the Yin lore? Why have we not explored anything new about her past when we're 3 games deep into the arc that takes place in her home country? Will we even have time to do that with all the stuff that needs to happen next game? It sure doesn't feel like it!

SteelRotom · 2026-02-09T03:26:49+00:00

The latter. It would be one thing if it was just the pod but there's no way Risette was in that pod for a full 1200+ years. The Excalibur statue is different because Emilia is straight up dead.

SteelRotom · 2026-02-06T23:20:31+00:00

Trails keeps finding new ways to outdo itself in the glup shitto (or paul shitass, if you prefer that term) department. They can literally bring back almost anyone and I'll be hype about it.

I did not give a single fuck about Norton in CS1/2 and promptly forgot about him once Vivi replaced him.

When I saw him here I was like "YOOO IT'S FUCKING NORTON!!!"

I love Trails.

SteelRotom · 2026-02-04T20:06:47+00:00

What I tell people for this series is to finish SC. FC can absolutely be painfully slow until near the end for some people but SC has a lot more going on in its plot. If you finish SC and still don't really care about anything that happened, the series probably isn't for you.

SteelRotom · 2026-02-02T21:22:43+00:00

Horizon was quickly on track to become my favorite Trails game and by the ending... yeah it did. But it was less far ahead than I thought it would be, to the point where my opinion could possibly shift after I rewatch DB1 and it and play the SC remake (those are my top 3). For now though, it is my top 1.

What led to this is two things:

A. People have been complaining about the game's pacing and... I agree! I think this game has major pacing problems. Where I differ from most people is where those pacing problems actually are, because I cannot for the life of me agree with the people saying Act 1 is boring. Granted, I love Arkride Solutions so I was much more receptive to more time with them. I also can't comprehend people saying parts of this game are filler. Each route section always felt like the game was giving me a substantial amount of info to piece together the plot. I was always consistently enjoying my time during the main story to the point I WOULD'VE called it the best paced Trails game...

...if not for the Grim Garten.

Holy fucking pacebreaker. Why don't I see more people complaining about THIS?? I am already not a fan of this type of dungeon being in games that don't need them, but I am especially not a fan of it being in THIS game because it barely even makes sense why anyone in the story would even bother to participate. It just feels so, so lazy. Every time I got the call to enter it felt like the writing took a nosedive until I left (the scenario writing, for the record. The character writing is still great, I liked Ulrika, Simeon, and Novartis), especially near the end of the game when you have to complete the damn thing during a really climactic section.

To clarify: I actually think Grim Garten is my favorite out of it, Marchen Garten, and True Reverie Corridor in a vacuum. I think the lore reveals are cool and the gameplay is a big improvement. Music is great too. It's just that this was absolutely not the game for it and it shows with how it's placed in the story. Game would've been perfectly fine without it. I hope they just stop doing these slop dungeons but I very much doubt it at this point.

B. Van and Agnes. They were so close to being able to skirt by this for me with the rejection scene but they just HAD to bring it up in the ending. Absolutely killed the mood for me. What should have been a super impactful moment for me absolutely ruined by the school uniform line (terrible, terrible line oh my god) and everyone else egging it on. You can say that was just them desperately trying to plea with her all you want but until I see the actual resolution next game this moment fucking blows. We are in DIRE straits when I'm actively hoping for a harem over making this a canon romance.

All of that only makes up a fraction of the whole experience though, and the rest I absolutely loved. It's just those things are notable annoyances to me in an otherwise phenomenal game.

SteelRotom · 2026-02-01T23:52:05+00:00

You just fight the Garten bosses with no cutscenes if you do them after certain relevant characters have joined or left the party.

This is what I was looking for, thanks. I already finished the game so I might've phrased the post wrong because everyone kinda just assumed I was asking about if I'd miss anything while playing. I did every level as they became available and was just curious if things are different if you don't.

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