I enjoyed
@BassForever ‘s Trails ranking post so I’m going to give it a try. I’ll throw in the anime for good measure:
12 - Trails in the Sky Complete - I did get a kick out of seeing the Sky characters animated, but this weird fast paced remix of content isn’t terribly satisfying though it’s kind of neat it does its own thing too. I think it was best enjoyed when we got it here when the future was uncertain if we’d ever get the Crossbell games. There is an unexpected call back in Reverie to otherwise not canon events so that’s neat.
11 - Trails Of Cold Steel Northern War - this is a bit of a dud ultimately, but I’m giving it the edge since it does let us see North Ambria, I kind of like the MC (kind of), and there’s a really cool story beat with the captain character in particular on top of some fun stuff with Rean and Lechter. Also there’s a fun twist on the greater franchise name The Legend of Heroes that I kind of dig. But above all else though, it gave us a guy with the title THE AURORA PHENOMENON which is 10/10 amazing lol.
10 - Trails in the Sky The 3rd - Kevin’s wild ride is a great time, but being entirely stuck in a dungeon does drag it down a lot. There’s some cool playable characters here like Renne and Richard which is great and I do dig the Daydream-like Doors which sets up some big plot threads for the rest of the series.
9 - Trails of Cold Steel - This is a good game, but it has perhaps the most relaxed pacing of the series for better and for worse. I definitely want to revisit this game one day as it was one of the first Trails games I played and I wasn’t fully in the groove yet with how I approach and tackle these games. The best part is definitely the introduction of voice acting which really brings the characters to life.
8 - Trails of Cold Steel IV - This was the prior big conclusion of the series so far (the end of saga in Japan) and uh hmm. The first 40 hours or so are some of the most uneven Trails as it doesn’t play to the series strengths, but once you get Rean back we are back on for what is a fairly great another 100(!) hours of adventure. CSIV also fixed my biggest issue with Cold Steel III by bringing back a respectable difficulty. I think my big knock though is I just don’t care about the CURSE of Erebonia haha.
7 - Trails of Cold Steel II - I remember really digging this game at the time, but I also don’t really remember it too well either? Also I was fairly bummed at the time you get to play as Lloyd and I knew I was just missing out on a big moment having not played the Crossbell games. I think this one I sort of knock with CSIV as well as being a little too long.
6 - Trails From Zero - I like this one a lot! Like Sky FC and Azure, I’ve played this one twice so I’ve really gotten to appreciate how this one works front to back. My favorite part is definitely getting to know Crossbell and the SSS and how it starts carefully plotting all of the seeds future adventures are built on. My favorite part however is perhaps how this is largely one of the most standalone Trails adventures where the game doesn’t end on a cliffhanger. This game does drive me a bit crazy with missable content though as checking in with the entire country can get a bit tiresome haha.
5 - Trails of Cold Steel III - Ooh now we’re in the super great stuff! Cold Steel III is one of my favorites in the series. I love how each Act has some big payoffs for each part of the series with Act 1 revolving around Sky, Act 2 Crossbell, Act 3 the new characters, and Act 4 the big finale. Some really cool characters begin assembling in this one that really highlights the promise of this all being one big ongoing epic. My big knock is the difficulty is significantly lower than the rest of the series which is a bummer when you realize that in a 100 hour run time, but obviously that can be fixed by bumping up to Hard for replays.
4 - Trails To Azure - Azure to me has some of the highest highs and a few of the lowest lows, but in general it’s a really awesome adventure with a great cast. The game plays for keeps in a way some of the other games don’t which is so cool. I especially dig the big assault on Crossbell chapter that ends with the town on fire, buildings leveled, and some of my favorite characters injured. It’s also the last of the sprites games and is sort of the last time the battle system is a little more grounded even if Burst/Overdrive (whatever it is called) is pretty gnarly. The ending with Crossbell occupied is pretty wild and darn I would have loved to experience it in proper release order.
3 - Trails Into Reverie - I know it’s a bit wild placing this so high right now and maybe it’ll slide down later, but wow I really dug Reverie. I really enjoyed the split campaign structure, the more thoughtful character writng across the board, and the awesome True Reverie Corridor split between the dungeons, Daydreams, and minigames. I had mixed feelings on Cold Steel IV being the end for Western Zemuria, but Reverie nailed it.
2 Trails in the Sky SC - this game is all payoff for Sky FC and it is absolutely wonderful. Estelle is my favorite main character of the series and seeing her transform into a leader everyone can depend on is fantastic. I enjoyed having new adventures in a world I was already familiar with and seeing new sides of characters I loved. Seeing new parts of Zemuria and Liberl also really widens and deepens the Trails world in such a satisfying way and the grand finale of the adventure is appropriately fantastic. The tougher challenge throughout the game makes the combat system sing. If the series ended with this game, I’d certainly would have still walked away fully satifised and remembered and talked about what those two games alone accomplished passionately for years.
1 - Trails in the Sky - the most humble Trails adventure is still my absolute favorite. Estelle and Joshua’s first trip around Liberl is wonderful as they really dig in and explore each town and meet new characters and friends along the way. I’ll still remember just when it hit me how much I was resonating with this game and how much I was coming to care about its characters and world and was just impressed all the more as I kept going and the danger and adventure kept escalating. Having to wait years on that final unexpected and emotional cliffhanger was just brutal. Trails in the Sky isn’t just my favorite Trails game, it’s one of my absolute favorite games of all time.
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