Just to check, this takes place BEFORE Cold Steel right?

[Boneduster]

Thanks in advance

[etch]

Zero and Azure overlap with Cold Steel 1 and 2. Certain events mentioned in Cold Steel 1 and 2, are shown in full in Zero or Azure and vice versa. In terms of the universe timeline to put things into perspective, Zero takes place in the in-universe year of early 1204 to mid 1204. Cold Steel 1 starts in early 1204, a few months after Zero starts, and ends around late 1204. Azure starts right after Zero and ends at the very end of the year 1204. Cold Steel 2 starts right after Cold Steel 1 ends and then ends early 1205. The Divertissement chapter from Cold Steel 2 takes place a few months after Azure and Cold Steel 2. Also, while they overlap, there is some information that is not fully explained in Cold Steel, because they kind of expected people to have already played Crossbell first, so if you have played Cold Steel, playing Crossbell may clear up or give further context for some events. Plus some reveals and twists play on the expectations of having played Crossbell.

[jmporkbob]

Zero/Azure take place alongside Cold Steel 1/2. Cold Steel 1 roughly starts at about the midpoint of Zero. And in terms of time it continues until close to the end of Azure, with Cold Steel 2 taking place almost entirely in Azure's finale.

[Yürei]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D9l7kX7UYAIBbMd?format=jpg&name=medium

This is probably pretty accurate on when everything takes place.

[Yekkusu]

Originally posted by etch:

Also, while they overlap, there is some information that is not fully explained in Cold Steel, because they kind of expected people to have already played Crossbell first, so if you have played Cold Steel, playing Crossbell may clear up or give further context for some events. Plus some reveals and twists play on the expectations of having played Crossbell.

And to think that XSEED told us that Falcom told them that Cold Steel could be played without knowledge of Zero and Azure. At this point I have no idea who's lying to who there. I still think the Zero and Azure should have been localized first, or at least, together with Cold Steel I and II, this way at least we could play Zero first, Cold Steel I after, then Azure and ColdSteel II. And I still think it would have some issues by doing it BUT at least, we would have the full picture from the start, not ten years later.

[etch]

Originally posted by Yekkusu:

Originally posted by etch:

Also, while they overlap, there is some information that is not fully explained in Cold Steel, because they kind of expected people to have already played Crossbell first, so if you have played Cold Steel, playing Crossbell may clear up or give further context for some events. Plus some reveals and twists play on the expectations of having played Crossbell.

And to think that XSEED told us that Falcom told them that Cold Steel could be played without knowledge of Zero and Azure. At this point I have no idea who's lying to who there. I still think the Zero and Azure should have been localized first, or at least, together with Cold Steel I and II, this way at least we could play Zero first, Cold Steel I after, then Azure and ColdSteel II. And I still think it would have some issues by doing it BUT at least, we would have the full picture from the start, not ten years later.

I truly believe Falcom told them to say it as NISA had to spin the same thing for Cold Steel III and IV despite the Crossbell connection being even greater there, so Falcom likely told them to do the same thing. I think localizing Cold Steel was the right call at the time since there was no viable way to they could localize Crossbell unless Falcom ported the games to a different console which they didn't do until 2020.

[Black Frost]

According to the Kiseki Wiki,
Trails from Zero starts: January-May S.1204.
Trails to Azure starts: August-December S.1204.
Trails of Cold Steel 1 starts: March-October S.1204
Trails of Cold Steel 2 starts: November S.1204-March S.1205

[Akira]

Originally posted by Yekkusu:

Originally posted by etch:

Also, while they overlap, there is some information that is not fully explained in Cold Steel, because they kind of expected people to have already played Crossbell first, so if you have played Cold Steel, playing Crossbell may clear up or give further context for some events. Plus some reveals and twists play on the expectations of having played Crossbell.

And to think that XSEED told us that Falcom told them that Cold Steel could be played without knowledge of Zero and Azure. At this point I have no idea who's lying to who there. I still think the Zero and Azure should have been localized first, or at least, together with Cold Steel I and II, this way at least we could play Zero first, Cold Steel I after, then Azure and ColdSteel II. And I still think it would have some issues by doing it BUT at least, we would have the full picture from the start, not ten years later.

I suppose it's true in the sense that you can play any of the Trails games and enjoy their stories in isolation. Your experience is just sub-optimal like in any interconnected media because you're missing context and references.

[chris100185]

While from a story perspective it's obviously best to start from the beginning. "You need to play 4 games (or 6 in the case of CS3) before you can start this one" isn't really a great way to build a fanbase. I think CS1 and 3 do well enough as starting points and getting people the information they need to get going.

[Jeffer'son Airship]

Originally posted by etch:

I truly believe Falcom told them to say it as NISA had to spin the same thing for Cold Steel III and IV despite the Crossbell connection being even greater there, so Falcom likely told them to do the same thing. I think localizing Cold Steel was the right call at the time since there was no viable way to they could localize Crossbell unless Falcom ported the games to a different console which they didn't do until 2020.

Falcom tried to spin Cold Steel 3 as a perfect starting point for the series when it's pretty nonsensical to anyone who has AT LEAST played CS 1 and 2.

[Taliefer]

I played Cold steel 1 to 4 without having played the crossbell arc, and dont feel I missed out on much. Cold steel is my favorite JRPG series of all time, so they did something right~

the games do enough to imply "stuff went down" with these other characters, and that was enough for me. I am looking forward to playing crossbell, but you absolutely dont need to play them to play and enjoy cold steel.

[Jeffer'son Airship]

It's more that CS3 completely spoils a lot of the previous games.

[Dragon]

These Crossbell games are definitely best played before the Cold Steel games, as the Cold Steel games:

a) spoil the crap out of all the Crossbell games' major plot points, and that starts happening right with Cold Steel 1 and just gets worse and worse as the games go on (hence players who go back and play the Crossbell games later will have most of that experience ruined by way of Cold Steel having already wrecked all the intended surprises and plot twists and character revelations, etc.)

b) the Cold Steel games constantly discuss things which happened in the Crossbell games and with the Crossbell characters, which someone who hasn't played the Crossbell games first will have no clue what they are talking about

c) Cold Steel 2 - 4 present a direct a continuation of many of the plot lines from the Crossbell games, of which someone who didn't play the Crossbell games first will also have no clue what is going on in any of those many scenes, and also won't feel the intended emotional impact of them either, given they they are missing the required context (i.e. experience of playing the Crossbell games) for the intended emotional impact to actually occur

[poperboy]

Cold Steel games were always intended to be played after Crossbell regardless how they chose to translate them.

Crossbell arc should definitely be played before Cold Steel due to how much Cold Steel spoils Zero and Azure (whereas Crossbell barely mentions what happens in the Empire [Cold Steel])

[HarbingerOfDestruction「俺様」]

Originally posted by Taliefer:

I played Cold steel 1 to 4 without having played the crossbell arc, and dont feel I missed out on much. Cold steel is my favorite JRPG series of all time, so they did something right~

the games do enough to imply "stuff went down" with these other characters, and that was enough for me. I am looking forward to playing crossbell, but you absolutely dont need to play them to play and enjoy cold steel.

Well, I played Cold Steel 1-3 before any of the older games, then waiting for the release of Cold Steel 4 I've played the entirety of the previous games and the accumulated experience ended up being with Cold Steel 4 being at least 3 times more enjoyable, having all the context from the previous games and encountering the same characters from the previous games into CS4 was quite an experience unlike another.

[Wyrtt]

Originally posted by Taliefer:

I played Cold steel 1 to 4 without having played the crossbell arc, and dont feel I missed out on much. Cold steel is my favorite JRPG series of all time, so they did something right~

the games do enough to imply "stuff went down" with these other characters, and that was enough for me. I am looking forward to playing crossbell, but you absolutely dont need to play them to play and enjoy cold steel.

Rofl, no. the MERE PROLOGUE manages to spoil what happens with Crosbell in Azure. CS one is already pushes to far and CS2 is even worse.
the ONLY reason you can can CS soft entry point is because there are no Estelle or any other major chacters unlike Crosbell.