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Is Trails/Kiseki the Longest and Largest On-Going Story Ever In Gaming?

Darkmakaimura

Can You Imagine What SureAI Is Going To Do With Garfield?
With the new Kuro no Kiseki game announced, the series will currently be at eleven games.

Despite many JRPGs, the Trails/Kiseki series is an on-going story. The sequels all continue the story and all take place in the same world/universe.

That being said, I cannot think even of another western made video game series in terms of scope. Approximately 15 years of Trails games all with an interconnected story and world.

This is not Elder Scrolls, where each game, despite taking place in the same world, has a different story for each game.

Rean no Kiseki Rean no Kiseki GET ITT!!!!
 
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Wl6Hpax.jpg


We MiyazakiHatesKojima MiyazakiHatesKojima now.
 

Paltheos

Member
Ys, also by Nihon Falcom, actually comes closest. 10 games (Ys 1-9 + Origins), almost exclusively following the adventures of Adol the Red and his best friend Dogi the Wall Crusher. Ys doesn't come close to providing the same scope and depth of information on its NPCs though. They're not very interconnected games either. Reappearances of secondary characters are rare - Off the top of my head I can think of only the tough princess from Ys 4 who makes a glorified cameo in Ys 8 and that girl who simps after Adol in Ys 6 who he'd met in Ys 5 - And the stories are light on plot. Yeah, Adol often finds himself dealing with artifacts from the ancient Eldeen age, but there's not much to it. Really the most significant running plot point is Adol being marked as a person of interest by the Romun Empire for being responsible for 50% of all maritime accidents for being near the center of cataclysmic events near-everywhere he goes.


Well-spoken. Praise be to best girl, Laura. 🔆
 

Darkmakaimura

Can You Imagine What SureAI Is Going To Do With Garfield?
Ys, also by Nihon Falcom, actually comes closest. 10 games (Ys 1-9 + Origins), almost exclusively following the adventures of Adol the Red and his best friend Dogi the Wall Crusher. Ys doesn't come close to providing the same scope and depth of information on its NPCs though. They're not very interconnected games either. Reappearances of secondary characters are rare - Off the top of my head I can think of only the tough princess from Ys 4 who makes a glorified cameo in Ys 8 and that girl who simps after Adol in Ys 6 who he'd met in Ys 5 - And the stories are light on plot. Yeah, Adol often finds himself dealing with artifacts from the ancient Eldeen age, but there's not much to it. Really the most significant running plot point is Adol being marked as a person of interest by the Romun Empire for being responsible for 50% of all maritime accidents for being near the center of cataclysmic events near-everywhere he goes.



Well-spoken. Praise be to best girl, Laura. 🔆
Yeah maybe Ys comes the closest but it's nowhere near the complexity of Trails. Plus I don't think Ys has an ongoing story.

I'm just really amazed though.

What an incredible series and Falcom is just all around incredible.
 

Guilty_AI

Member
I present you the Touhou universe:

28 games, 17 of the main series and 9 spin-offs, the first one having been released on 1997. The series has its own story and universe, with still the same main character ever since the first title (though newer games get new playable characters)
Theres also an army of fan games based on this universe
 
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Darkmakaimura

Can You Imagine What SureAI Is Going To Do With Garfield?
World of Warcraft?
Pfft. Nah.

It's an MMO and I don't think it has a big ongoing story, or at least not in the sense something like Trails has which will have a definitive end.

I have a feeling when the Trails series concludes, they might actually do an NMO.
 

AmuroChan

Member
This is why the world building is so good in this series. It's a world that players have invested thousands of hours into across multiple games for almost two decades.
 

Hexa

Member
The Rance series has been going on longer. It has 10 mainline entries, two expansion packs essentially for the fourth game, and 1 spin off. It's a JRPG series with the same protagonist across all entries with a lot of reoccurring characters and long running plot threads. It has been going since 1989. It came out around the time the Berlin wall fell and even has some references to that event that were kept in the remake for the second one. The theme music is also based on the East German national anthem which is still being used across all entries.


 
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S

SLoWMoTIoN

Unconfirmed Member
Ys

inb4 "nooooo his adventures are different each time so HAHAHA man wins!"

NO
 

Guilty_AI

Member
The Rance series has been going on longer. It has 10 mainline entries, two expansion packs essentially for the fourth game, and 1 spin off. It's a JRPG series with the same protagonist across all entries with a lot of reoccurring characters and long running plot threads. It has been going since 1989. It came out around the time the Berlin wall fell and even has some references to that event that were kept in the remake for the second one. The theme music is also based on the East German national anthem which is still being used across all entries.



"that one", eh?
 

Hudo

Member
The problem is that with Trails of Cold Steel, the series took a strong nose dive with regards to writing. I don't know what happened at Falcom but the 3D games are all of significantly worse writing and pacing than the 2D trails games.
And this coupled with the huge amount of characters made me drop the series after spending several hours with Trails of Cold Steel III (which I did not complete, obviously).

I hope they'll get back on track with Kuro No Kiseki.... but I rather wish that they lay "Trails" to rest and start something new for The Legend of Heroes.
 

Darkmakaimura

Can You Imagine What SureAI Is Going To Do With Garfield?
The problem is that with Trails of Cold Steel, the series took a strong nose dive with regards to writing. I don't know what happened at Falcom but the 3D games are all of significantly worse writing and pacing than the 2D trails games.
And this coupled with the huge amount of characters made me drop the series after spending several hours with Trails of Cold Steel III (which I did not complete, obviously).

I hope they'll get back on track with Kuro No Kiseki.... but I rather wish that they lay "Trails" to rest and start something new for The Legend of Heroes.
I think Kondo mentioned that after they wrap up the main, they want to do new stories but in the same world. He mentioned something along the lines of at least another 20 years or so in the Zemuria-verse.

There's also Tokyo Xanadu. The game exceeded expectations in sales and they mentioned doing a sequel but there hasn't been any news of one.
 

Hudo

Member
I think Kondo mentioned that after they wrap up the main, they want to do new stories but in the same world. He mentioned something along the lines of at least another 20 years or so in the Zemuria-verse.

There's also Tokyo Xanadu. The game exceeded expectations in sales and they mentioned doing a sequel but there hasn't been any news of one.
Well, I can understand Kondo's thinking with trying to stick with the Trails series. It makes money for them and allows them to expand... from a business point of view, absolutely the right move.
 

Darkmakaimura

Can You Imagine What SureAI Is Going To Do With Garfield?
Well, I can understand Kondo's thinking with trying to stick with the Trails series. It makes money for them and allows them to expand... from a business point of view, absolutely the right move.
I love the world so I'm very okay with it.

I have a feeling they'll do a Kiseki MMO at some point, maybe.
 

GeorgPrime

Banned
With the new Kuro no Kiseki game announced, the series will currently be at eleven games.

Despite many JRPGs, the Trails/Kiseki series is an on-going story. The sequels all continue the story and all take place in the same world/universe.

That being said, I cannot think even of another western made video game series in terms of scope. Approximately 15 years of Trails games all with an interconnected story and world.

This is not Elder Scrolls, where each game, despite taking place in the same world, has a different story for each game.

Rean no Kiseki Rean no Kiseki GET ITT!!!!

You have to hope that Kuro no Kiseki is successful. Otherwise its the last Kiseki game they said
 
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Darkmakaimura

Can You Imagine What SureAI Is Going To Do With Garfield?
You have to hope that Kuro no Kiseki is successful. Otherwise its the last Kiseki game they said
What!?

Why would they say something like that? Did previous games under sell or not meet expectations?

Seriously if that's true and they end it abruptly after all this time, I'm seriously going to be sick and depressed. I've already had enough bad news as it is.
 
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ULTROS!

People seem to like me because I am polite and I am rarely late. I like to eat ice cream and I really enjoy a nice pair of slacks.
Kingdom Hearts has around 12 now and they’re all interconnected:

1, 2, CoM, BbS, 358/2 Days, Re:coded, DDD (or 3D), 2.8, Chi Back Cover (or Chi or Union Chi), 3, Dark Road, Melody of Memory
 

gtrwll

Member
The problem is that with Trails of Cold Steel, the series took a strong nose dive with regards to writing. I don't know what happened at Falcom but the 3D games are all of significantly worse writing and pacing than the 2D trails games.
I haven’t played the Crosbell duology yet and only CS1 & 2, but I disagree at least on some level. While Sky SC has been the best of the bunch when it comes to writing (the foundation was laid in FC or course), I liked the writing and pacing in Cold Steel arc more so far.

Especially FC took ages to get interesting and the structure was a bit too repetitive (on the other hand, so was CS1 too). And I enjoyed the cast of CS more, although I’ve heard that the amount of characters gets out of hand in the later games.

Oh well, they’re all good games in the end.
 

GeorgPrime

Banned
What!?

Why would they say something like that? Did previous games under sell or not meet expectations?

Seriously if that's true and they end it abruptly after all this time, I'm seriously going to be sick and depressed. I've already had enough bad news as it is.

Here:




How Many Games The Kuro no Kiseki Arc / Calvard Arc Will be?​

Kondo needless to say didn’t directly answer. He explained The Legend of Heroes: Kuro no Kiseki will have a proper conclusion in itself. But they won’t be able to make more Kuro no Kiseki games if the first one doesn’t sell.

Seems like they just meant the Kuro nobKiseki arc
 
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gtrwll

Member
How would one get Into the tails games now? Best starting place?
Either release order or Cold Steel 1 - Cold Steel 2 - Sky trilogy - Zero & Ao - continue from CS3. I went with the latter route, and CS1 is probably a bit easier to approach than Sky FC.
 

Mister Wolf

Gold Member
I will be really disappointed if NIS America doesn't release the english version of Trails Of The Beginning next year.
 

Life

Member
Super Mario. He's been saving Peach's ass since 1981 and she just can't stay put.
 
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Kingdom Hearts has around 12 now and they’re all interconnected:

1, 2, CoM, BbS, 358/2 Days, Re:coded, DDD (or 3D), 2.8, Chi Back Cover (or Chi or Union Chi), 3, Dark Road, Melody of Memory
They're connected in the sense that they're part of the same series. I refuse to believe that anyone actually understands the "story" in those games, including the writers themselves. If you asked Tetsuya Nomura to explain how those games tell a cohesive story he'd just kick you in the balls and run away laughing.
 

SCB3

Member
They're connected in the sense that they're part of the same series. I refuse to believe that anyone actually understands the "story" in those games, including the writers themselves. If you asked Tetsuya Nomura to explain how those games tell a cohesive story he'd just kick you in the balls and run away laughing.

I have watched a 122 part Youtube series that explained everything until 3, and I still don't understand what the fuck is going on most of the time
 

killatopak

Gold Member
Metal Gear is also somewhat long

Between the Solid games, MG and the spin offs including Peacewalker, Acid and Survive.
 

Daymos

Member
Yes, it's so long that I plan out my playthroughs in terms of years and reviving a 6 month old thread is like seconds gone past.
 
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