Current Events > Just picked up Trails of Cold Steel 2 and 3 today

(+) Yeah! (+)

I had never heard of this series before I saw a copy of the first game in GameStop back in February, and I absolutely fell in love and had to get the sequels. I lucked out and found the only copy of the second one on PS3 basically in the state, so I got it, along with part 3 which was discounted 20 bucks for today only.

How do the sequels compare (with no spoilers please). I saw NIS developed the 3rd one, why did the development team change? Who else loves this series?
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The development team didn't change, it's always been Falcom. The publisher was what changed from XSEED to NISA likely for business reasons.

Oh I guess I misread that lol
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Great games to play during a shut-down because they're really long.

Cold Steel 3 took me 115 hours to finish.
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There's 5 games that come before the Trails of Cold Steel part of the series, I've heard mixed things about how necessary playing them is. Personally I put about 25 hours into Trails of Cold Steel and loved it but then discovered the other games so now I'm playing Trails in the Sky. It's pretty good, same combat system as TOCS and has a good story.

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p-m posted...

I've heard mixed things about how necessary playing them is.

The only ones I would consider almost essential are the only ones we didn't get over here - Ao and Zero no Kiseki. Those two games happen synchronously with the events of Cold Steel 1 and 2. In fact, one of the missions in CS1 happens during a hugely relevant part of the plot for Ao and Zero.

Trails in the Sky FC and SC happen a few years prior, and have no real overlap with Cold Steel other than one particular character and some minor context for other characters. The games are so meaty that you would be forgiven for forgetting half of the shit the games tell you. They're exceptional RPGs, and I love them to death.

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You can skate by CS3 without playing the 3 Sky games and the 2 Crossbell games but you'll miss a lot of meaning behind things. They're necessary before you play CS4 though.

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Holy_Cloud105 posted...

You can skate by CS3 without playing the 3 Sky games and the 2 Crossbell games but you'll miss a lot of meaning behind things. They're necessary before you play CS4 though.

I never got the chance to play the Crossbell games but I watched some videos that explained what happens before I started Cold Steel 3.
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a-c-a-b posted...

I never got the chance to play the Crossbell games but I watched some videos that explained what happens before I started Cold Steel 3.

Trails from Zero has a great fan translation out now. You can buy the game legally from DLSite and then use the Geofront patch to play it. Trails to Azure unfortunately needs to be pirated if you wanna play it in English. The sad thing is most everyone says it's either the best game in the series or one of the best among CS3 and CS4.

There are Kai versions of Zero and Azure coming to PS4 in Japan this year that may allow them to officially come to the west though.

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Holy_Cloud105 posted...

Trails from Zero has a great fan translation out now. You can buy the game legally from DLSite and then use the Geofront patch to play it. Trails to Azure unfortunately needs to be pirated if you wanna play it in English. The sad thing is most everyone says it's either the best game in the series or one of the best among CS3 and CS4.

There are Kai versions of Zero and Azure coming to PS4 in Japan this year that may allow them to officially come to the west though.

Unfortunately I don't have a computer anymore.
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a-c-a-b posted...

Unfortunately I don't have a computer anymore.

I was going to ask, are those essentially PC only? I have a Mac and dont do PC games.

Thanks for the info @Alucard188 and @Holy_Cloud105 Ill definitely look into those titles.
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Conception616 posted...

I was going to ask, are those essentially PC only? I have a Mac and dont do PC games.

Thanks for the info Alucard188 and Holy_Cloud105 Ill definitely look into those titles.

The 3 Trails in the Sky games are on Vita and you can play them if you have a modded Vita to get them in English and can't use Steam on your PC. Zero and Azure as well but Zero's insanely good Geofront translation isn't available on Vita yet that I'm aware of.

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I like to compare the series to the MCU. Basically, Cold Steel 3 and 4 are Infinity War and Endgame.

You can play CS 1 and 2 first, but you'll definitely want to play the Sky Trilogy and the Crossbell titles before you get to 3.

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Welcome to Trails, enjoy the ride

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I'm currently replaying Zero with Geofront's translation.

I did play that leaked alpha script from 2017 which was understandable enough. If you're on a Mac you could possibly emulate Sky 1&2 along with Zero and Azure.

The 3rd's official translation never made it to the PSP version, but you might be able to get away with a couple summary videos on youtube.

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