Should I play prior Legend of Heroes games first?

[Ashram]

Heyya, I've been eyeballing this game for a bit, but have held off on pulling the trigger. I only got about 1\3rd of the way through Trails in the Sky. It was slow to start, but began really getting great, however, I had to stop playing it and never got back around.

Long story short, should I go back and play Trails in the Sky before this one, for continuities sake?

Thanks!

[Stabbey]

If you were enjoying it, definitely go back and give it another go. It IS great.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

I would recommend you play the series you WANT to play first. Don't force yourself through the first entry just because it's the first if you're not enjoying it.

Cold Steel is very much a jumping on point, and while you will miss a few references to earlier games, it's ultimately remains an excellent way to get into the franchise. I started with CS1 when it came out on PC in August and immesnely enjoyed it, then went back and played through the 'Sky games. If I had started with Sky first, I would have almost certainly had dropped the series before everything began coming together. After I finished the 'Sky games, I replayed CS1 and enjoyed it even more.

CS1 thankfully doesn't spoil the 'Sky games, besides the identity of a playable character, so you won't feel like you missed out if you start with CS1 first and then rewind the 'Sky.

[Oguzhan]

if you start with trails then come to cold steel , you will be like "oh my god they are making all these references , oh look he is probably talking about estelle and joshua, oh look they said Cassius".

If you start with cold steel and go back to sky then , ohhh wait isnt that..... or SO thats whats happened OR wait isnt that the legendary guy they were talking about.


Soooo up to you, which reaction would you like. Mine was the first one and lemme tell ya it was great.

[Cold_Reverie]

Apologies for the long post.

The Trails Saga is an ongoing 8+ game series that tells an overarching story that spans all of these games. All these games take place on the same continent and take place within the same time frame of a few years of each other, so there is definitely a continuity.

That being said, the games are divided into "arcs" where they star mostly different main casts and are set in mostly different nations. The first game or games in an "arc" are relatively stand-alone in that they do not rely too much on knowledge of past games as they are mostly there to introduce the new main cast and country.

Trails of Cold Steel is the 6th game in the Trails Saga, however, due to it being the first game in a new arc, you can still play this and understand the story of this game just fine.

It's ideal to play through the Sky Trilogy first, but you can still play this one even if you haven't. This game mostly just has minor references to the past games. Although it does spoil one important character reveal in Trails in the Sky Second Chapter.

And while this game's story does not rely on knowlegde from past games, later games in this series do. Cold Steel II will be even less friendly about references and spoilers, as there are much more of them n that game. And Cold Steel III will expect you to have played all the games in the Trails Saga up to that point.

That being said, you can play this game and then play through the Sky Trilogy to pass the time waiting for Cold Steel II's PC port, which is on track to be released just next year.

I think it depends on how much you remember from Trails in the Sky First Chapter. If you never played FC and started with Cold Steel you wouldn't feel spoiled on anything, although you would know there was stuff you were missing out on. But depending on how much you remember from your FC playthrough, you may feel spoiled on the character reveal which is casually shown in the beginning of this game.

Personally, I'd recommend finishing at least the first 2 Sky games before playing this entry, since you said you were starting to enjoy the First Chapter and to avoid spoilers, but that's just me. You can still play this entry and enjoy is just fine without having to play the Sky trilogy first.

Basically: Trails in the Sky First Chapter -> Sky Second Chapter -> Sky the 3rd -> Trails of Cold Steel I -> Cold Steel II is the most ideal play order for the games we have available to us, but: Cold Steel I -> Sky Trilogy -> Cold Steel II works just fine, too.

Originally posted by oguz.gungor96:

if you start with trails then come to cold steel

A little nitpick, but both the Sky and Cold Steel Arcs are 'Trails'. Just to prevent confusion, the 'Cold Steel' games are just as much 'Trails' as the 'Sky' games are. It's not like the Sky games are Trails and the Cold Steel games are something else. They are all part of the same ongoing saga.

[Luke]

Yes it is best to play or watch a walkthrough of the sky trilogy and Crossbell games especially if you want to understand and fully enjoy CS3.

[Ashram]

Cool cool, appreciate it. Good lookin' out!

[Skaldir]

A bit late, but yes sky first (even though the 3rd main story is meh) then CS. It is just too bad the crossbell arc isn't available, would have liked to play it before.

[Luke]

Originally posted by Ashram:

Cool cool, appreciate it. Good lookin' out!

Originally posted by Skaldir:

A bit late, but yes sky first (even though the 3rd main story is meh) then CS. It is just too bad the crossbell arc isn't available, would have liked to play it before.

You can watch the crossbell games in english Zero no kiseki Crossbell game 1 english beta translation walkthrough and Ao no kiseki Crossbell game 2 in english dub walkthrough.

Zero:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLP0i0GYXElpxBSPNV2urZK7WXR6eXKtR8

Ao:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvEaex9xn7t5XVJ1J5GbyPP2jMm7Z3iuz

Best to play the sky trilogy before crossbell as Crossbell hgappens after sky and you will enjoy crossbell more if you do so from my experience.

[Ellipsis]

You don't have to, no. But you should, because they're great games, and you'll understand a good number of subtle references to previous games once starting Cold Steel.

Originally posted by Skaldir:

A bit late, but yes sky first (even though the 3rd main story is meh) then CS. It is just too bad the crossbell arc isn't available, would have liked to play it before.

I have faith that Crossbell isn't TOO far off. At the very least, the fan translations should be here in less than, say, four years.