• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

The Trails series of JRPGs has sold 4.3 million units worldwide, next game will come out september 2020, old games coming out on PS4

KàIRóS

Member

Nihon Falcom published a financial report today regarding The Legend of Heroes: Trails/Kiseki series and made several announcements, the most important one being the release of the next game which will come out by september 2020 in Japan.

The company is also working on bringing older games to the PS4, it's still not clear if these will be remakes or remasters.

They didn't mention which of the older games are coming out on PS4 but the Crossbell arc games (Zero no Kiseki and Ao no Kiseki) were teased to have PS4 versions early this year during the 15 Anniversary of the series, so it's likely to be those games, which coincidentally have never been released in the west yet.

For those not familiar with the series, all of these games take place in the same universe and to be more specific they take place in the same continent (Zemuria) but each arc happens in a different country and events that happen in one game will eventually have relevance in the other games, thus creating a grand story that involves all the games in the series, the series started in 2004 with Trails in the Sky and the last game came out last year Sen no Kiseki IV: The End of Saga

These are all the games in the series:

-Liberl arc-

Q760ELn.jpg
qppoTZQ.jpg
b8Kfucq.jpg


-Crossbell arc-

EwtQNJU.jpg
CX2SqFO.jpg


-Erebonia arc-

XKmRaI4.jpg
Temu6r3.jpg
ja2QyB0.jpg
CDxHuoy.jpg
 
Are we EVER getting the Crossbell games? I would need to import the Japanese copy and get the Patch if not. :(

Is there a breakdown of Sales per Game and Per Region?
 
Last edited:

GreenAlien

Member
That's great news!
Remake would be even better. It's going to look rough otherwise...
Something was said about "remakes" in other news outlets.

Falcom also stated in the document that in the future, “upgrades” of older Kiseki games will release on PS4 as “Kai” versions. This hints that the previously teased PS4 versions of Zero no Kiseki and Ao no Kiseki are coming soon, and are actual remakes.
 
Last edited:

mejin

Member
So, next year japan will play the next game in the series and I'll be playing Cold Steel IV. I'm ok with it.

I hope they bring Trails of Azure to PS4 and of course, bring them to the western market.
 

Shouta

Member
Sept 2020 for next Trails game? I'll be ready I guess. I just hope they improve a bit more and not get stuck in the sane design/writing ruts
 

Greedings

Member
As someone who barely likes JRPGs...is it worth it?

I liked Persona 4, and Pokemon, but that's about it. I really struggle with JRPGs due to the obtuse narrative and tedious game play.
 
I love how characters from TiTS guest star in ToCS. I can't wait to play the Crossbell saga so I can finally have the full picture of the game world.
 
Last edited:

Graciaus

Member
I have and completed the three sky games. Waiting for all 4 cold steel games to come out before I start that arc. It would be nice for the unreleased games to come over.
 
As someone who barely likes JRPGs...is it worth it?

I liked Persona 4, and Pokemon, but that's about it. I really struggle with JRPGs due to the obtuse narrative and tedious game play.
See some videos on YouTube and see if you'll like it l, this is a very different RPG series, every arc's 1st game (also Cold Steel 3rd) is a setup where you'll get to know characters (there are A LOT of them) and lern about the world/political situation of the country the game's arc is taking place in, the 2nd/4th game (again in the case of Cold Steel /Erobonia arc) is the climax of the arc and setting up the next one.
Each game/arc is connected (especially Crossbell/Cold Steel 1&2 since they happen at the same time storywise).
You have 2 start point, Trails in The Sky 1 or Cold Steel 1, stating with CS1 you'll miss some details and lore (this a franshise is very HEAVY on lore) but you'll get through just fine untill CS3 which is the newest game in the timeline.
TL'DR: See some video on YT as stated above Trails/Kiseki isn't a mainstream AAA game series like Final Fantasy or Persona, it's barely an AA, looks even in it's latest game as a late PS2/Early PS3 game, but there's nothing like it in lore and story depth/continuity i the JRPG genre, BUT it’s not for every on, Trails in The Sky looks and feels old even by the standards of 2004, the pace is slow, there are no big moments except in the final act, it's all world building and introduction to Zumeria continentand it's countries/history, secret socities and power players.
So it's all up to you but seeing as you aren't as into the genre, i suggest you don't go leaping in till you found out if its your Cup of tea.
Cheers.
 

Komatsu

Member
Just began playing the fan translated Vita version of the first TITS. It's pretty cool, love that Falcom charm.
Is the fan translation significantly better than the one XSEED put out in 2011?

Or were you referring to Ao/Zero, which never came out here Stateside?
 
Is the fan translation significantly better than the one XSEED put out in 2011?

Or were you referring to Ao/Zero, which never came out here Stateside?

I think it's the actual XSEED translation lol they just repurposed it for the Vita version and translated the new stuff in the game.
 

lachesis

Member
As long time Ys fan, I am very curious of the trail series... but all the games seem to be too far scattered on different platforms. I do have sky 1 and 2 on steam library, so I guess i will just start from there...
 

KàIRóS

Member
As long time Ys fan, I am very curious of the trail series... but all the games seem to be too far scattered on different platforms. I do have sky 1 and 2 on steam library, so I guess i will just start from there...

You can technically play all of them on PC with the exception of Cold Steel 3 and 4 which remain exclusive to PS4 and I say "technically" because playing the Crossbell games this way is obviously piracy but many west fans have done that.

There's also a big chance for CS3 and 4 to come out on PC eventually, according to Falcom's president their sales really go up when they release their games on Steam.
 

FStubbs

Member
Are we EVER getting the Crossbell games? I would need to import the Japanese copy and get the Patch if not. :(

Is there a breakdown of Sales per Game and Per Region?

The irony is if their plan at this point is to be Sony exclusive, by the time they get to porting the Crossbell games no one will want to publish PS4 games anymore because we'll be a good way into the PS5 generation.
 
These sales numbers are actually abysmal, especially the push the series had on the PSP and all those demos.

But it's Falcom so they usually make their games cheap and sell for high. Look at YS.
 

lachesis

Member
You can technically play all of them on PC with the exception of Cold Steel 3 and 4 which remain exclusive to PS4 and I say "technically" because playing the Crossbell games this way is obviously piracy but many west fans have done that.

There's also a big chance for CS3 and 4 to come out on PC eventually, according to Falcom's president their sales really go up when they release their games on Steam.

I didn't realize that CS 1 and 2 are also on PS4 too. :) Actually just found out and am pretty glad. Trail series is one of the series that I want to get in from the beginning - so I may end up starting Sky series on PC, and work on the series on PS4 (and if I really like, I may try fan-translated western one on PSP... ;) Thanks for noting - I hadn't even known its existence)

edit:

Just started to play Trails in the sky FC on Steam this afternoon. Taking baby steps - good old JRPG it seems - and I can also speed up the battle with Steam version. So far, I'm just doing some minor quests - hopefully the story would pick up soon.
 
Last edited:

KàIRóS

Member
edit:

Just started to play Trails in the sky FC on Steam this afternoon. Taking baby steps - good old JRPG it seems - and I can also speed up the battle with Steam version. So far, I'm just doing some minor quests - hopefully the story would pick up soon.


Yeah it will take awhile for the story to kick off, these games usually start very slow and suddenly things will blow out of proportions after certain reveals or after certain villains show up, try to talk to as many NPCs as you can, unlike other RPGs all the NPCs in Trails are used for world building, they will also change dialog from time to time and you can follow up their individual storylines, get acquainted with the many organizations in the world: the bracer guild, the septian church, the jaeger corps, Ouroborous, etc. all of these appear in all Trails games.

But in short take your time getting immersed in the world and if you can't then maybe the Trails series isn't for you, these are very text heavy games, almost novels.
 

JayK47

Member
I really enjoyed Trails of Cold Steel I and II on PS3. What was cool was that Trails of Cold Steel I came in a large box with an art book with a placeholder for Trails of Cold Steel II when it came out. I picked up Trails of Cold Steel III, but have not started it yet. I am definitely looking forward to it since the first two games were really good. I wanted to buy the collectors addition, but it sold out fast and I missed out on it. But even the base pre-order game came with a bunch of goodies like a music CD and small art book.
 

Dunki

Member
I just finished Cold Steel 3 after like 70 hours. But it only took me 70 hours because of the fast forward feature. These slow camera views were killing me so i decided to use the fast forward feature. But it made the game much more enjoyable since the movement is pretty slow that I used it everywhere :p

Otherwise It would have taken me prob 100 hours. But now I am stuck on a huge cliffhanger until Cold Steel 4..... They did the same with Cold Steel 1 and I hated it :p

But the News is great I really enjoy this series.. To bad we never got to play the Crossbell Saga.
 
Top Bottom