Looking for Legend of Heroes play order advice

[EverNight]

I own the Trails in the Sky trilogy + Cold Steel I & II.

I've finished FC and am currently in Chapter 1 of SC. Obviously it will take a little while to finish the rest of the Sky trilogy but after that I'm not sure what to do. I really want to play them in the ideal order if possible.

I know the 2 Crossbell games were the next to be released by Falcom but I don't have access to them and don't expect them to available for purchase in the West anytime too soon :(

But I read a comment once that recomended the following play order:
FC -> SC -> 3rd -> Cold Steel 1 and 2 -> Zero no Kiseki -> Ao no Kiseki - > Cold Steel 3

Is that correct? Is it actually best to play Cold Steel I & II before the Crossbell games even though they were released later? Or should you play Zero no Kiseki & Ao no Kiseki before Cold Steel?

[Oostin]

I agree with the play order, the Crossbell and Erebonia arc take place alongside eachother and Crossbell spoils more of Cold Steel than Cold Steel spoils Crossbell.
If you don't have access to the Crossbell games I would just recommend that you skip them and move onto Cold Steel after you finish the Sky trilogy.


That being said the Geofront team have released a good English patch for the Japanese PC version of the game. You just need to buy the Japanese PC version from DLsite and then use the Geofront launcher to install the patch over it.

[EverNight]

Originally posted by Oostin:

I agree with the play order, the Crossbell and Erebonia arc take place alongside eachother and Crossbell spoils more of Cold Steel than Cold Steel spoils Crossbell.

That's odd given the release order, but good in my case I guess. Would you still recommend playing Cold Steel before Crossbell if you had access to both? I took a quick look at DLsite once but some of the stuff they were selling looked kind of shady and I got nervous and just closed the site. And of course that's just 1 of the 2 games from that arc.

[Hugoos]

If you want to avoid the Crossbell games and Cold Steel I+II cross-spoiling certain events you can use this guide I made. [imgur.com] Which games spoil the other games more is a common discussion and there is not really a consensus within the community reached. In general Cold Steel I+II's spoilers for Zero and Ao are more concrete, but not a lot is told about the details of the actual plot of Zero and Ao. Cold Steel I+II do reveal most major events of Zero and Ao in some way. Ao does not give concrete information about Cold Steel I+II, most of it is foreshadowing for the Cold Steel games. However Ao does give away a couple of the most important (late game) plot twists of Cold Steel I+II, so after beating Ao you will pretty much know the gist of Cold Steel I+II's story without any details. It can be argued this is a good thing as you'll know where the story is headed and Falcom decided to release the games in this order for a reason, but that can also be argued as a negative thing as the Cold Steel plot twists can still be pretty surprising in their own right and Ao doesn't really give them the proper build up they deserve (in my opinion). Many veterans also seemed to dislike Cold Steel I/II more when they played Crossbell first.

That's why I decided to make/adapt an order which tells you when to switch between games such that you spoil the least amount of things from the other games. I think it works pretty well, but you will be switching between multiple story plots which can also be a negative.

DLsite is okay to buy from and is even recommended by the Geofront people to get your legal copy of Zero no Kiseki from.

If you don't want to play the Cold Steel games and Crossbell games at the same time then I would probably recommend release order: Zero -> Ao -> CSI -> CSII -> CSIII->CSIV. Mainly because CSII does act as a true sequel to the Crossbell games with regards to the plot. At the very least Zero can be played before the Cold Steel games as it doesn't spoil anything from them but Cold Steel does spoil a couple of things from Zero.

[Dragon]

Originally posted by EverNight:

But I read a comment once that recomended the following play order:
FC -> SC -> 3rd -> Cold Steel 1 and 2 -> Zero no Kiseki -> Ao no Kiseki - > Cold Steel 3

Is that correct?

No, that's not correct.

The only correct order is the order in which the games were released in Japan, which is the only order in which they were designed to be played.

Anything other than that fubars a lot of stuff.

For example, Crossbell characters show up at the end of CS 2, and players who haven't played Crossbell first have no idea what the heck is going on (there are many posts on the internet about that) and find it weird (since they haven't played Crossbell before that happened).

So that's just one out of many things that get fubared if the games are played in the wrong order (i.e. playing CS 1 and CS 2 before Crossbell).

[Stabbey]

Crossbell and CS 1 and 2 spoil each other. It's too much work for most people to flip back and forth between the games for what little benefit there is.

Plus, playing the Crossbell games in English currently has some hurdles to overcome.

Playing Sky FC, SC, The Third and the first two Cold Steel games is fine before touching the Crossbell games. Most people say though that Cold Steel 3 expects you to have seen all the previous games in the series.

Originally posted by Dragon:

For example, Crossbell characters show up at the end of CS 2, and players who haven't played Crossbell first have no idea what the heck is going on (there are many posts on the internet about that) and find it weird (since they haven't played Crossbell before that happened).

So that's just one out of many things that get fubared if the games are played in the wrong order (i.e. playing CS 1 and CS 2 before Crossbell).

It's not that confusing. There are references you won't get, but it's not game-ruining.

[myhr2]

Crossbell 1 and 2 (Zero and Ao), and Cold Steel 1 and 2 were written so that they refer the other duology. They chronologically take place at the same time, so yes, each one ending does spoil a little the other ones, but it's very well done, it's just some elements here and there, and doesn't spoil all the events that are happening in the other games.

So there is no correct order to play them, they can be swapped. That being said, only Cold Steel 1 and 2 have been officially translated to the west, so it makes sense to play them first.

On a hopeful note, Zero and Ao are being given remasters in Japanese on PS4 this year, with new scenes and details to further integrate Cold Steel events in them, so finally getting them in english is not completely a dream! (I just doubt we'll get english voices, but english text would already be awesome)

But the Sky trilogy and Cold Steel 1 and 2 should already take you a good amount of time to complete (take roughly 100 hours for each game, less for Sky the Third, probably more for the others). By then we may have more news about Zero and Ao, or you can try the fantrads.

[Oguzhan]

Zero and Ao take place aproximately at the same time. That being said I would recommend playing Zero and Ao first since playing CS and then switching to a different country might feel a bit weird.

Do Crossbell first and then Erobonia as the latter has 4 games while Crossbell has 2. Also CS2 spoils Crossbell more, like you see the final dungeon, the situation Crossbell is in in Ao etc....Also a few plot twists in Ao are spoiled.

Not only that but the Crossbell games are a direct sequel to Sky. Some plot threads will be concluded in Zero and we even get a bit of explanation as to what "job" Cassius did for the republic to get his S rank.

[EverNight]

If I manage to get Zero what are the options for Ao?

[butterbattle22]

Originally posted by EverNight:

But I read a comment once that recomended the following play order:
FC -> SC -> 3rd -> Cold Steel 1 and 2 -> Zero no Kiseki -> Ao no Kiseki - > Cold Steel 3

I agree, and I disagree. So kinda like what some other people already said, Cold Steel 1/2 and Crossbell run in parallel, with each giving away a bit of the other. I think playing in the original release order with Crossbell first is at least equally justified.

If I manage to get Zero what are the options for Ao?

For Zero, I recommend the new patch available here https://geofront.esterior.net/
I'm playing through it right now, and its quality is on-par with a middle of the road official localization. The website even provides help on buying and downloading an official Japanese PC version that you will apply the patch to.

For Ao, I've played Ao, but there isn't an ideal version of it yet. There are some decent translations floating on the Internet if you look for it, but not on the same level as the Zero translation above. I downloaded a PSP emulator, PPSSPP, to play this one.

[EverNight]

Originally posted by butterbattle22:

I downloaded a PSP emulator, PPSSPP, to play
this one.

How is the PSP version compared to the PC? Basically the same?

[EverNight]

Originally posted by Hugoos:

If you want to avoid the Crossbell games and Cold Steel I+II cross-spoiling certain events you can use this guide I made. [imgur.com]

Thanks for the guide.

[butterbattle22]

The graphics were kinda crappier on the PSP version.

Also, this isn't a difference between the PSP and PC versions, but this Zero version has all the quality of life stuff we appreciate like autosaving and turbo mode, which aren't necessarily on versions of Ao floating around, if I remember correctly.

[butterbattle22]

Haha, while I can't say that guide is wrong, I find it a tad too OCD for my taste. Personally, I feel like trying to play the two arcs in such a specific order would be annoying enough that it would suck some of the fun out of playing the games. I mean, I don't want to spoil myself, but we're also here to have fun, right?

At least, I guess if you play Cold Steel first, you should stop before the Divertissement chapter in Cold Steel 2.

[EverNight]

OK thanks.