We've said it once and we'll say it again: NIS America has been doing an admirable job of bringing Falcom's Trails games to the West — but boy does it sting when you realise just how far ahead the series is in its native Japan. In an age where most Japanese publishers and developers are going out of their way to ensure global release dates, Falcom still hasn't been able to expand its operations to that extent, and so fans remain at the mercy of lengthy localisation times.
Case in point: the next, next, next title in the Trails series — known as Kai no Kiseki: Farewell, O Zemuria in Japan — just got a 26th September release date on PS5 and PS4. Meanwhile, here in the West, we're still waiting on the previous two games.
Thankfully, the first of those two titles, Trails through Daybreak, is set to launch very soon, on the 5th July. We'd assume that its sequel, Kuro no Kiseki 2: Crimson Sin (it doesn't have a localised name yet), will be targeting a 2025 release in the West. For context, Daybreak first launched in Japan all the way back in 2021. Crimson Sin followed it up in 2022.
So, the wait goes on, but at least we live in a world where these games are finally being acknowledged and brought overseas to begin with. Are you eagerly awaiting Trails through Daybreak? What are your hopes for future Trails titles? Book a trip to Calvard in the comments section below.
[source ryokutya2089.com, via gematsu.com]
Comments 26
Uh, does that mean this one is the end of the narrative on this continent? I guess I’m a bit behind since I’m on Cold Steel 4 but to be fair, there aren’t many places they’ve not been to by now.
Daybreak will be a "stop everything else" kind of game for me. Super excited for that release in July.
I've also gotten pretty good at just simply ignoring wherever Japan is at in the series so the fact that we are a bit behind over here in the West doesn't bother me too much.
Just gotta be patient. That's all we can do!
Could be worse. At least we are getting them with only a couple of years delay now. 😂
I’m halfway through Cold Steel 2, amazing series.
Technically America is the East. Since Japan is west of there.
This next, next, next Trails game is the 13th title of the series. Let that sink in. I'd love a Trails in the Sky Trilogy remaster since they're the only 3 of the 13 not available on recent consoles, but that seems to have been cancelled by Falcom.
@Angelus3K Just a fair warning: There's a nasty glitch on PS5 when you enter a certain cutscene later on in the game.. It causes the game to crash, no matter what, but it can be bypassed by skipping the entire scene. I would say where, but it's a spoiler.. Just know that it's right before you go back to your ''home'', so to say!
I don't mind the wait as long the games eventually comes. After Reverie, all I ask is a decent localization and that it comes bug-free on release.
I still haven't tried any yet. But I want to.
Even with the fairly rudimentary graphics, I have no idea how Falcom is pumping these gigantic RPGs out so quickly.
Still need to beat Trails in the Sky SC. I'm never catching up lol.
Like the first commenter, nessionett, I’m on Cold Steel IV.
These games were the absolute PERFECT ones to play during the pandemic: Each game requires bucketfuls of hours to get through, and it helps immensely to keep playing ‘em once you’ve started so that all the details and nuances of the storyline stay fresh in your mind.
The only reason I stopped playing Cold Steel IV? The company I worked for laid me off for nearly a year during pandemic times. And then they brought me back for two months to print Xmas cards…and then laid me off for good when Xmas card season ended. It’s an amazing thing, ya know?! The fancy wedding invitation market totally went kaput, because, crazily enough (😋), brides and grooms didn’t want a bazillion people all gathered closely together at a wedding reception in the middle of a pandemic. Brides and grooms either postponed their event indefinitely or they got married at more intimate venues and had much smaller wedding receptions, which led to smaller orders. Unfortunately, unemployment pay in the US only lasts so long before it runs out, and the bills? They still need to be paid, pandemic or no pandemic. So, when I got a new job = less time = stopped on IV. 😕
At some point I’ll get going again on the series. Cold Steel IV is still installed…it’s waiting to be played! And, so, long story short, I’m ok with the new games taking a while (a year…or two…or three) to be ported to the US as I’m not ready for ‘em anyway.
I'm on the last chapter of Cold Steel 3 and I'm feeling burnt out again, it can be a bit of a slog in certain areas of the game and sometimes I wish the School segments would get scrapped so I can get more of the story in as there's way too much story development and side stuff on (in my opinion) non important characters.
I may get CS3 done and then just move onto Daybreak and take that risk of missing some references i won't understand.
@UltimateOtaku91
Yeah, that's like skipping Mass Effect 2 and going straight to 3. You can't do that with Cold Steel - There's absolutely essential information that you just don't get if you skip it. It features some of the best bosses, dialogues and OST's of the entire franchise; especially if you played the previous games. But hey, far from me trying to pursuade you to play it, if it's burning you out...
The game between 4 and Daybreak - Trails into Reverie - CAN be skipped, as it's more of a ''what if'' type of game.. There is some dialogue that links to Daybreak but it's not essential - unlike the dialogues and finality of CS4
@Maubari Maybe you're right, I may stick it out and get number 4 done then. So Reverie is 100% skippable and it's events won't have any bearing on Daybreak story wise?
I really need to get started on this series 🤦♂️
@Ralizah I'm in the same boat as you! I own all of them currently but I am only on Trails in the Sky SC too!
@JohntheRaptor No matter whether east or west you will get there with such logic.
East and West pertains to the 2D world map as it was created. Which was with Europe in the center. The Americas are to the west and the East indies are to the well... east. That includes Japan.
Discoveries era. An interesting historical time. 😉
@nessisonett no there is at least 2 more games to the saga than something new
@Recover20 Admittedly, the only reason I'm still on TitS is because the first one was so boring I spent years steadfastly avoiding the sequel. I'm enjoying SC more, though. It's incredibly silly, but stuff is actually happening now.
Third one is apparently more of a dungeon-crawler, so we'll see how that goes.
@Ralizah See I absolutely loved the first game but as the second game was more of the same it's taken me a lot longer to get through it.
@Maubari I got hit by that bug and lost 4 hours of progress like a moron because I don’t save enough. Evil, sheer evil.
@Ralizah I really enjoyed Sky 3rd but most people seem to hate it. I played it on the Vita though which suits the much more dungeon crawling short form nature of it.
How recommended is this series on a scale on 1-10?
@nessisonett please don't look at any article like this until you have your fight with Mcburn, don't even think of looming at stuff like this unless you want huge spoilers
@ACey The Cold Steel games haven’t been great anyway, think 3 was probably my favourite so far. Just can’t take anyone named McBurn seriously. Pure idiocy, might as well call him Paddy O’Fireman. The games lost the vibe with the move to 3D, hope this newer series can recapture the magic of the pre-Cold Steel games.
@nessisonett my favourite are the sky trilogy tied with Cold Steel 1 and 2 (even with its glaring flaws)
Cold Steel 3 was great because mew class 7 was a much more developed than OG
But Cold Steel 4 is absolutely terrible, one of the worse narratives I have ever played and Reverie isn't much better
I'm still very excited for Daybreak though
@UltimateOtaku91
Yeah, definitely. You'll miss a few character interactions - as well as the conclusion to the Crossbell - but you can just look that up on Youtube.
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