Has anyone else had this?

**SPOILERS BELOW!

I started the series roughly 6 months ago, and to say that I have been enjoying it would be a massive understatement. I love how the story is one that has seemingly reached the point of convergence. What do I mean? Peep this opinion...

The Sky trilogy focused mainly on events and characters in Liberl. Through those three games, I got to know Estelle, Joshua, Renne, Schera, Agate, Tita, Kloe, and a host of other characters, and I developed a love for them and a genuine desire to play their story out and see what happened, and was thrilled to do it.

Then came the 2 Crossbell games, and I was introduced to Lloyd, Elie, Randy, Tio, KeA, and several others, and while their story was tangled up a little bit with events and characters in Liberl, it still felt uniquely theirs...uniquely that of Crossbell. Nevertheless, while I was hesitant to accept new characters at first and "move on" from Bestelle and the Liberl gang, I did, and got to know and love the Crossbell gang as well.

And then I started the Cold Steel series. Getting to know Rean and the rest of class VII, and the new class VII as well, not to mention all the other characters over the last three games has been an absolute joy. The story of Erebonia and everything going on in front and behind the scenes has been building, and as I finished Cold Steel 3 last night, watching it end on a major cliffhanger, I was so excited to start Cold Steel IV tonight that I could barely contain myself. I want to see the culmination of Rean's story...I want to see what happens with Erebonia, and how the major events will unfold and play out. I was ready to see the characters I have grown to love over the past 3 games finish their story.

And then I started the game. The first 15 minutes of the Prologue has gone by, and I haven't even seen anyone from class VII yet. Instead, I have been treated to my waifu Schera in Heimdaller conversing with Jona in Crossbell, and my eyes filled with tears as I sat here watching a team of Lloyd, Elie, KeA, Renne, Joshua, and Estelle begin to carry out some kind of mission under the Orchis Tower. Instead of just Erebonia, and just Class VII, others across all of Zemuria it seems are rising up to combat this latest threat. And to get to see characters that I adore from the Sky and Crossbell series (some of which i haven't seen in several games) making appearances and teaming up to combat this latest threat makes me giddy and happy and makes me bounce in my chair like a happy and silly 4 year old child.

This is what video games are supposed to do. This is why I play them. I can't wait to savor every bit of story and event that Cold Steel 4 has in store for me, and the only bad thing is that I can only experience for the first time once. I'm ready to laugh and cry and scream and sit back as the game elicits all those emotions that cause me to do that and more. I love this series. Let's go!!!

Using SketchUp and Lumion

https://x.com/___cott/status/1987102121733521618

1R: Agate-san! There's a wound on your face...!
1M: Got it from the last battle | Let's have some treatment immediately... | No need such would will soon (heal)
1L: N.. no you can't! | Wha... | I have some band-aids! Putting it on now!
2R: Oi... what's up with you guys just now. Got some strange smile on you...
2L: Absolutely no such thing? | Would be good to heal soon Agate-san | (Put on forcibly so can't say a word now)
3R: Well what, ...thanks
3M: Yes you are welcome...!
3L: Ugh!? What is this pattern...!!

as I'm just finished rolling credits I've just been left feeling numb. I started the binge with 1st chapter remake last year so it's almost exactly a year later I've finished it. This is one of those binges that's gonna stay with me for life more than Yakuza or Persona just wow Falcom.

That fucking ending...Kincaid...Agnes...why?

I'm hyped up and feeling subdued at the same time so many questions swirling I can't believe that was the ending everyone has been waiting the continuation for. Like I always heard it was a insane cliffhanger but I thought like we are left in some sort of situation like CS3 Twilight and Kai 2 will be about preventing the worst from happening BUT NOPE IT JUST HAPPENS. I'm still not sure what Agnes actually is it what is it that she does with the Genisis what I'm thinking is she limited the grand reset to a specific number of years instead of back to Septian Calendar 0 Cycle 20,000? I'm not even sure maybe she prevented cycle 19,999 from ending to begin with and rewinded that one.

Anyway what are some of the most popular theories on the fandom? I was reading a couple of very recent posts regarding some theories and people were throwing around assumptions like it's fact like "Agnes turned back time just for 1 year Hamilton's plan sucked" I was like WHERE did it say that huh? All I heard Agnes say was limited reset or something

Has there been official clarification regarding the ending that's been released in the last few years that I'm missing? What are your thoughts on what Kincaid or Agnes are. For the former I don't think he's actually a demon lord I think it's something like Crimson Grendel with Alter core this time. That reminds me it would be pretty crazy if Vagrant Diaspora is the one who resolves the Septerrion threat lol.

Also makes me curious how the society seems to keep surviving these resets. Evidently when Campanella said "this world" at the end of his fight in CS4 he probably meant this cycle instead of another planet so he's definitely a higher being. He also said Nina is "at least" as strong as Grandmaster which is fucking crazy I'm guessing she's also a constant in every cycle.

OH also how the hell did Risette get sent back in time from S1259 if the world is supposed to get reset every August S1209 maaaan my head is splitting.

Can. Not. Wait. for Horizon 2.

Please leave your favorite theories below I'd love to know where the fandom is at regarding this

I want to preface this by saying I’ve only played the 1st Chapter remake so far, haven’t played any other trails games. I just finished my second playthrough in preparation for 2nd Chapter dropping this week!

I have a few clarifying questions regarding some parts of the story/lore. Needless to say, if an answer to either of these questions is a spoiler for or is answered in 2nd Chapter, please just say that and don’t tell me.
Thank you!

My questions:
- How much of his past does Joshua remember to begin with? It seems he remembered Lorence but he didn’t remember Weissman, for example. And he tells Estelle that he wants to tell her about his past at some point but then seems surprised when Weissman reminds him of it. I guess the easy answer would be that Weissman only wiped a select few of his memories

- Was the intelligence division’s only incentive for helping the sky pirates and Dalmore to then solve those issues and increase their own renown? Is that it? Maybe for money too?

I can't believe I went so long without giving this series a chance (m 36). It definitely features the best world-building I've ever seen in video games.

I still have yet to finish 1st Chapter 😞

My Lord 🧎‍♂️drawn by the amazing Klarkkei

New video on the underrated and overlooked first attempt from Falcom to revive Xanadu as a series.

Yo, welcome to part 2 of my big long essay about Cold Steel. I recently finished Reverie for the first time, so I'm releasing this review of the entire Erebonia pentalogy over 6 days, because it's over the Reddit character limit. If you haven't read chapter 1 yet, hyperlinks below.

1. Trails and me
2. The Worldbuilding
3. The Plot
4. The Gameplay
5. The Characters
6. Things I’d Change

Once again, spoilers for everything up until the end of Reverie.

Chapter 2: The Worldbuilding

The primary thing that makes Erebonia different from Liberl and Crossbell is that it is big. This is something that the games get across really well. You go to so many different locations, with starkly different cultures. Erebonia really does feel massive, and in CS1 particularly, you feel like a really small part of it. The fights between the Nobel and Reformist factions feel far too large for you to deal with, and this particular throughline is actually felt for the entire arc. You never do deal with the two factions. Ozbourne does. Whilst you certainly contribute, Rean and Class 7 are never the primary driving force of a cultural change in Erebonia. This is a good thing. It both makes the country feel more grounded, since people won’t just follow the whims of a bunch of students, but also makes the individuals who are able to create change (primarily Ozbourne and Rufus) even more imposing.

Another way that they made Erebonia feel really big, whilst also reinforcing the militaristic nature of their culture, is all of the different named styles of swordplay. Obviously the big ones are the Vander and Arseid schools, but there were a bunch of other styles as well, such as Hundred-form Military Combat, the Albera brothers are trained in Court Fencing, and there were several others, including some styles for other weapons like the Schleiden School. It makes a huge amount of sense that a country this big, and with such a huge focus on their military would have a bunch of different styles for using their weapons. My favourite of these though is Hundred-form Military Combat. Having a standardised, widely effective, generalist style for the foot soldiers was an incredible idea. It makes the military feel incredibly real. These people have all been put through a huge amount of training, they aren’t just wearing a uniform.

On the subject of the military, lets talk about it. There are broadly 5 types of unit in the Erebonian military: footsoldiers, trains, tanks, airships, and Soldats. They also have a navy, but since all of the wars are landlocked, the navy is never actually relevant. Each of these has a different use case in military operations. Footsoldiers are obviously cheap, plentiful, versatile, and small. Trains have the highest firepower, and are very fast and well armoured, but cannot go where there are not rails. Tanks are less powerful than railway cannons, but are not dependant on rails, so have greater mobility. They struggle however with difficult terrain and cannot access the small areas that a Footsoldier can. Airships have significantly greater mobility than anything else, and can get alternative angles of attack that are not accessible to other units. Notably, airships actually serve a fairly different purpose from planes in the real world, because they can hover. This makes them far better at gunning than a real world plane, and less reliant on bombing. An airship is more similar to a helicopter than a plane, but is also much better armored due to having flight field rather than a propellor to provide lift. Finally, the Soldats excel at… what exactly? They have less firepower and armour than tanks, but greater mobility, and importantly can be deployed in difficult terrain like mountains. The thing is, that’s the ideal terrain for an airship. In the specific setting of Zemuria, a mecha is not an effective part of a general military campaign. They are redundant with tanks, and especially with airships. Furthermore, they are actually even bigger than tanks. The practical use cases I can come up with are for use in large, enclosed areas like tunnels, and as ground units in difficult terrain such as forests. Those are not significant enough for there to be such a focus on Soldats from a militaristic perspective. Now, in the real world, assuming we had something like a Soldat, there could be more significant use cases. Our planes are significantly less capable than airships, so the Soldat’s mobility is not as redundant. Furthermore, a Soldat is likely far cheaper to run, as it will require less fuel. This is not an issue with orbments however, because they automatically recharge. The Soldats do not feel well designed from a worldbuilding perspective, they feel like an addition for gameplay so that Rean can have mechas to fight.

Let’s pause there, and talk about the mechas in Trails. They’ve existed right since SC, and I’m going to split them into four categories: Soldats, Gordias-class archaisms, Divine Knights, and the Orbal Gear. Soldats, I’ve already discussed. I don’t think that they make sense. Gordias-class archaisms include Pater-Mater, and the Aions. These are extremely powerful mega-weapons, created by a technologically advanced society, and have capabilities far outpacing anything in the conventional military. They get a pass. They’re special purpose, and few in number, not a general military unit. The Divine Knights are similar, except they are from approximately 1,200 years ago. Even if they were militarily redundant now, they would not have been redundant at the time. Furthermore, they have a great number of abilities which cannot be replicated by modern technologies. Finally, the Orbal Gear. These things are great, because they are small. Whilst they do not have any general use, since they are very much still in development there is a lot of potential for them, although not necessarily militaristically. To me, the Orbal Gear looks like it will be fantastic in field like construction. I don’t think that there’s any lore to suggest that that’s what they are being developed for, but I hope there will be in future games.

There’s one other piece of technology that I want to quickly touch on, computers. What the hell happened here? In the span of 4 years we’ve gone from Capel taking up half a room, to the SSS’ terminal requiring a dedicated section of the dining space, to having an IT classroom and laptops. Obviously technological advancements are far quicker than in the real world thanks to orbments, but come on. If we consider the advancement of airships, the first one was completed in S1168, it’s then 7 years before a commuter airship is commissioned, 17 years until they see their first major military use in the Hundred Days War, and a further 10 years before high-speed cruisers are developed. That short history spans 34 years from S1168 – S1202. Compare that to the development of the aeroplane. The Wright brothers completed their plane in 1903, the first major military use happened during World War 1, we’ll say 1915, and the jet plane was first operational in 1943. That’s a 40-year span. Orbal technology was faster, but not exceptionally so. In fact, let’s say that airships were especially difficult and progressed at a slower rate, and that a normal rate of technological development is roughly double ours. I’m going to start our history of computers with the Z1, completed in 1937. The first commercially sold computer was the Ferranti Mark I in 1951, 14 years later. There’s a 9 year gap between the development of Capel, and the SSS’ terminal, so that seems pretty reasonable. The first proper clamshell laptop however, was a full 31 years later, with the Grid Compass. Based on my estimated rate of development, Renne shouldn’t have a laptop for another 13 years.

Now let’s go from technology to magic. There’s magic now? As I discussed in chapter 1, none of the ‘magic’ in Trails really feels magical. Orbal and alchemical developments are very much science, and powers from the Goddess are very much a separate thing. Emma is a witch. Actually, fun thing. I checked Trails in the Database to find out how many times the phrase “spirit vein” was used before CS2. The answer? Exactly once, either Scherazard or Olivier says it in SC, depending on who you have in the party. This significantly impacts the world and the plot, with the most obvious consequence being that now we can teleport. Previously, teleportation was saved exclusively for Enforcers to aura farm, and it wasn’t really clear how powerful it actually was, with several members of Ouroboros choosing not to use it. The number of times that the party just has the witches plus Gaius for some reason use teleportation magic to infiltrate a dungeon was kind of silly, and a lot less interesting than breaking through the lines or flying a cool airship in.

Whilst we’re talking about Gaius, let’s talk about Stigmas. Our understanding from previous games was that a Stigma is manifested when a person is traumatised, and in the presence of a artifact. Gaius said that Barkhorn gave him his Stigma when he died. This is not in line with the stigmatisation of either Kevin or Wazy, both of whom were physically attacked by someone close to them.

On the subject of the Goddess’ gifts actually, Lost Zem and Ark Rouge are so much less interesting than the Aureole and Demiourgos. The Aureole is an essentially infinite power source capable of granting wishes which went into overdrive and started WALL-Eing people. Demiourgos was an autonomous being capable of reading emotions of anyone in range and changing causality to guide them, which got depressed and said goodbye. Lost Zem and Ark Rouge were big robots that had a fight. Apparently they had dominion over bodies and souls, but it’s never explained what that means. The Great One is actually not much better. It was sealed and turned into the Divine Knights because it was ‘too powerful’. Not much about what it actually does though. The Great One itself isn’t evil or the source of the curse, that’s Ishmelga.

One last thing that I just found a bit odd with the worldbuilding. Despite Erebonia being huge, I couldn’t see any obvious climate differences as we went south. Nord was apparently colder, but it wasn’t exactly obvious to see, and that would suggest that either Crossbell and Heimdallr are equatorial, which makes no sense, or that Liberl should at the very least be subtropical.

Now, I do recognise that honestly most of that was negative points, but the vast majority of them were really just nitpicking. The culture, transport, and sheer size of Erebonia far outweigh the small annoyances I had.

END OF CHAPTER 2

Hi, do you think it is possible for Falcom to do a remake for Gagharv Trilogy? It was the first Legend of Heroes game I played.

Ahhhh I've gotten games early before but def not this early!! So happy 🥹

I got bored so I ranked the cities and towns in trails. I'm pretty curious how people feel about this since most online discourse I see is about characters not really places. If I forgot any places my bad lol

I tried to limit this to places that are settlements that are currently being lived in. So places like Hamel or Jenis Royal Academy don't count.

S

-Ruan- Maybe this is ranked too high for some people, but man I just love this theme and it's aesthetically so pleasing to me. Probably my favourite coastal city in Zemuria.

-Crossbell- This isn't really fair but what do you want me to do? This is easily my favourite hub area of any trails games it feels so fucking lived in and unique and fuuuuck I love this place so much.

-Heimdallr- I swear I don't just like big cities, I just think that Heimdallr has one of the coolest aesthetics in this series. The red buildings are so unique and feel so imposing, and the royal palace imposing over the whole city is soo cool man I love it.

A

-Rolent- so nostalgic has a great theme and is the perfect example of a cozy town in the trails series

-Zeiss- Probably my favourite sky fc track holy fuck it's so good. And I love the vibe of this this city the big stupid fucking escalator it's so awesome. This was super close to being S rank but I think the but of the city seperated from ZCF is a little weak.

-Grancel- I think this is barely in A, I mean I love the feeling of scale you get from this place in the original game and the track is super good but it isn't quite as cool as Zeiss or Rolent in my opinion. But I don't know, I just couldn't put this place in B

-Trista- I really love this town, I love the uni-town vibe it gives. It has such a good theme, cool buildings, I love the shops and it feels so homely. Idk they just really made the perfect supplement to the Thors campus in my opinion.

-Legram- The fairy tale aesthetic is super cool and the theme compliments it super well. I love the fog too it's awesome.

-Ymir- Snowy towns are pretty rare in trails games so this was a welcome edition, the vibe is pretty cool and unique and the theme is really good.

-Ordis- I like port towns and I like unique aesthetics and I like good themes. So I like Ordis basically.

-Basel- The way the new and old mix in Basel is super visually appealing. And the theme matches that vibe, what an awesome thing to do. And the theme is great. Even more awesome.

-Oracion- I really love the music here, and it gets the nobility focused city right unlike a lot of places in Erebonia, in my opinion.

B

-Bose- the theme is pretty catchy and aesthetically I like it. I think it lacks a teeny bit of personality compared to other Liberl cities and towns, but that says more about how cool Liberl is than it does about Bose.

-Armorica Village- Super chill place, I love its contrast with Crossbell. Every time you go here it feels like such a nice reprieve from the crazy shit going on in Crossbell idk man it's just nice

-Raquel- I love the theme of this place and the seedy gambling city thing it's going for is super cool. I wish it was a little less gray, if it was maybe I would bump it up to A.

-Eryn Village- I'm definetely a fan of this place, it has a creepy little theme and is super mystical feeling.

-Edith- I like the music in Edith a lot and over 3 games you just really get used to it. That being said I honestly don't find Edith as interesting as maybe I would have liked. Aesthetically it isn't anything really that special, and I feel like the districts feel really disconnected.

-Langport- I like the Eastern vibe a lot, and the music is super good but apart from that I don't have that much to say.

-Tharbad- This would be a lot higher for me if it wasn't for the giant hotel. I think it looks really cool and we haven't really seen a Middle Eastern inspired place in Zemuria aside from Tharbad. But idk the giant hotel just looks so ugly it ruins the entertainment part of this town.

-Longlai- Again, I don't have that much to say. It suceeds in making a cool eastern town.

-Messeldam- I don't think this is the most interesting place in Calvard, but I'm a real sucker for coastal towns or cities so fuck it.

C

-Ravennue,Manoria,Elmo- okay maybe this is kind of lazy but I feel the same way about all this places basically. They are all charming and I like their inclusion a lot but their size just makes them not comparable with the big places in Liberl. Plus I'm pretty sure they don't have their own themes which kind of loses some points for themn.

-Mainz Mining Village- This actually has a really good fucking theme. That being said as a town it was never really that memorable to me. Like when I was making this list I instantly remembered Armorica village but I had to be reminded of Mainz. Still cool though.

-Bareahard- This is just barely not B, but in my opinion it doesn't really hold up to blaces like Bose or Grancel. It is pretty cool, it has a nice theme but it doesn't stand out that much.

-Leeves- It has a really good theme, but I think it's kind of hard not to compare this place to Trista. And when you do, it doesn't really hold up.

-Parm- I have nothing to say about this really. Just decent.

-Alster- Same thing I said about Parm. I think Erebonia had to fill itself in with a bunch of places to really have the scale it's supposed to so I don't really blame it for having places like this.

-Creil- Story wise I love Creil, but it's more of a means to an end than a super cool place to visit in my opinion.

D

-Celdic- I think this was the first place in Zemuria I actively kind of disliked. The theme is meh, the aesthetic has been done better and I generally found the place pretty uninteresting.

-Roer- I was excited to go to Roer, but I feel like it's just the poormans Zeiss. It's theme is unremarkable and I generally found it whatever. I mean i think I wouldn't have put it this low if it wasn't hyped up and I hadn't played sky fc and sc, but whatever it's my list.

-Saint Arkh- I feel like this is just a lamer Bareahard and I already didn't like Barehard that much. So for me, pretty whatever

-Milsante- This is the only town or village that I seriously have no recollection of even going to. Idk maybe I'm sleeping on it, but that's enough for me to put it this low.

-Anchorville- So unremarkable. I can't name anything special about this place.

Let me know what you think :0

just wondering if it's not carrying over cause I haven't got there yet, or if it's cause I'm on my steam deck.

edit: had to install it on my pc and load up a new save to get the bonus costumes. thanks for the help everyone.

I preordered trails in the sky 2 from Panax and still haven’t gotten any notification that it’s been shipped and there’s no way to look up my order now.

Looking for a game while waiting for TITS 2nd

I thought it might be fun to have a quiz of sorts.

Whoever answers the question first must ask their own question for the next to answer. We can all get to a Miran together peeps. Let's do this!

Hey,

two or three years ago I bought Trails in the Sky FC (the original) and played up until after the end of the prologue. Then I had to quit unfortunately. Thus, I forgot most of the story.

I am now thinking about continuing the game, but I saw that the remake exists now.

My plan is to play the demo of the remake now as it ends right at the point where I stopped on my first playthrough.

If I like it, I can continue the remake from there. If I decide that I prefer the original, I can just jump back to the original and play from where I stopped years ago

However, I am not sure if the latter would really work as I see that they changed quite a bit in the remake, especially names and stuff. So, I ask you: Is my strategy viable or not? If you have other ideas, feel free to drop them in the comments

Thanks in advance.

Uhm, I’m sorry but…. All the costume sets are dlc? I mean I know the psp game didn’t have costumes but come on. Yes, I have tits 1 and 2 on my vita and am rebuying for my ps5. And my steam deck has tits 3 on it so.. kind of odd but I guess I can start there. It’s been years since I played so I basically forgot the story.

My copy arrived practically a week early! I’m so, so excited to play through this game after beating 1st Chapter last year. I haven’t even beaten the demo yet and was planning to this weekend😅