Do these games develop the Salt Pale story? Or which games do?

[Dragon]

I was playing Trails in the Sky the 3rd and it has a really creepy mini-story about the Salt Pale. But it's very clear that that the Salt Pale story needs much more development that it hasn't been given in Trails in the Sky.

So when does the Salt Pale story get that development? Is it in CS? Or other games? Or is it not coming until a future game?

[Oguzhan]

They are slowly exploring the salt pale. The developement starts with Weissman's death I believe since he was the victim of the stake. In 3rd they have that door with the salt pale incident report which also shows that Weissman was actually orphaned because of the incident which is why he says "they let you use this just to kill me". He says it not just because it is a dangerous thing but also because of his past. Kinda shows the darker side of the church which I really like. Nothing is too black and white.

Like I said though we do get more developement from that story but it is usually a side thing. Both Crossbell games and the CS games have some sort of world building for it. I don't know if we will ever focus on it but we are getting more and more knowledge on it.

This is something trails does a lot. They build the story elements in earlier games. Like for example in one of the later doors you will hear about Red Constellation and that is all I am saying. A better example is Osborne who they started building up in FC.

Remember this is the series that has NPCs with stories that are still going on and I am not just talking about Anton.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

So far, the ending of SC and a door in the 3rd are the only times where the Salt Pale itself is the center of attention.

The Trails of Cold Steel saga addresses the impact the Salt Pale had on North Ambria and its people.

[Cold_Reverie]

(Spoiler for which game) Cold Steel IV gives a bunch of new info on the Salt Pale.

[Dragon]

Thanks for the info.

I think they should make a horror game about the Salt Pale. That would be really cool.

[EdgarAllenSwole]

Seems like the kind of thing they'd include in the Arteria game if that ever happens. I'd definitely be interested in learning more about the Dominions.

[Dragon]

Yes, but they could also mess it up. I.e. if they made a game full of towns where you go around and talk to people whining about the Salt Pale incident. That's boring & uninteresting.

Rather than do that, they need to have the Salt Pale strike again at the same time as the game is taking place.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Originally posted by Dragon:

Yes, but they could also mess it up. I.e. if they made a game full of towns where you go around and talk to people whining about the Salt Pale incident. That's boring & uninteresting.

Rather than do that, they need to have the Salt Pale strike again at the same time as the game is taking place.

I don't think a Salt Pale would randomly spawn again. Personal speculation, spoilers for SC, Ao, and CS2 given that each Sept-Terrion so far has been demonstrated to spawn a massive object that creates a disturbance of some sort in the surrounding region (Liber Ark being a giant floating city that sucks up Orbal Energy, the Azure Tree being a giant tree spreading grass, and the Infernal Castle being a giant castle wiping people's memories), I'm going to guess that the Salt Pale is a giant stack of salt that was spawned by the Sept-Terrion of water or earth that salinated everything it touched. The parallels continue when you think about how giant objects spawned by Sept-Terrions tend to also vanish quickly, which the Salt Pale also did. I'm guessing that someone accidentally stumbled upon the sept-terrion and it spawned the Salt Pale, before the Sept-Terrion was suppressed. The Gralsritter or Ouroboros has it, since the former deal with artifacts and the latter seem to be trying to collect Sept-Terrions.

Besides, a game set in North Ambria could be interesting. We know from the star door in 3rd and from the Cold Steel games that after the Salt Pale struck, the country was in ruins. A significant portion of its population fled the country, the government officials being the among the first to flee, and many more perished due to the salt. All trade essentially stopped and the economy and government collapsed. We can infer that in such a scenario, the survivors would fight each other over resources until the new government was established. The country was so weak that the people formed the Northern Jaegers to go out and risk their lives as mercenaries to raise money to rebuild their homeland. The Northern Jaegers are probably North Ambria's de facto military.

A game set in North Ambria would explore the harsh reality of living in a desolate land, where almost everyone either knows a loved one who died or grew up as orphans. The young would grow up hearing tales of the goold 'ole days that they could only dream of. People send their young out of the cities to collect and harvest what little resources that remain. With such a weak government, there'd be a fear of rogue organizations or bandits hiding out in the wastes who could attack towns or travelers. Could be a quite sad story to be honest.

[EdgarAllenSwole]

I mean, SC featured an endless parade of townspeople griping about the Aureole and that wasn't boring. If anything, it showed how deeply the disaster affected people's lives. The Salt Pale story has even more dramatic potential when you consider how it paints jaegars as victims of circumstance rather than just remorseless killers.