So you wanna play a Trails game?

What's so appealing about Trails? Well... before I start I have to let you know Trails(or otherwise known in Japan as Kiseki is a subseries from Nihon Falcom's Legend of Heroes IP. There's more games outside this list, but were mainly focusing on games released from 2004 and onwards. The games predating 2004 are unconnected in a concrete manner to the subseries as far as I know.

What I love about the subseries since starting in 2020 is the relatable main casts going through wonderful development as you progress further within each entry in the series. Consistent Worldbuilding. Each game is largely interconnected. Constantly developing during your travels in not just text and dialogue, but you may see familiar main characters/side and perhaps some antagonists in future installments all with their own agendas. Starting with Trails in the Sky First Chapter all the way to Kuro no Kiseki and beyond. So keep an eye out! NPC's are not spared either. Like Anton. A young man who seeks love, but will he ever receive it!? Is one to keep an eye out on your travels. Along with a certain thief and some annoying but more often than not amusing Gadfly. OST hits all the right marks since its inception. And if you want more bangers, you can listen to another series by Falcom in the Ys series. A satisfying turnbased combat system that doesn't change too much as you advance further in the timeline. Making it easy to navigate without going too complex. If you make it Cold Steel 2. They introduce Mechs... Yess... I'm not joking. MECHA AHH HELL YEAH! Stories can be a hit or miss with varying degrees of nuance. Despite my low rankings of some titles below. I don't consider them a miss at all. Every other quality I mentioned above punches above their weight limit to make me comeback to the series again and again. But when some stories HIT oh boy do they hit HARD. For me the main incentive outside of the story pull is watching our titular main characters and side go through incredible development. From Estelle Bright, Lloyd Bannings, Rean Schwarzer, C and so many others. These protagonists and more develop in ways I don't see often in other JRPG's I've played thus far. Where the consistent worldbuilding complements their overarching development alongside fascinating relationships with friends/acquaintances and antagonists hohoho. I want to say so much more but I want to keep this guide as short as I can without gushing too much.

Games usually can take 40-60 hours to complete. Some outliers and numbers can vary depending on playstyle. No major bugs/glitches/crashes in all the games I've played. PC & PS4. To alleviate concerns all the games feature a turbo mode that can reach 2x - 4x speeds. And so many save slots. Sky Trilogy and Crossbell Duology has pages of saves. So you're not left wanting to save when you need to. Save importing for goodies. So playing within a single platform is a nice bonus. Not required, but a nice touch. One thing I deeply appreciate here that I don't see often in other series is the fact when you die from a boss fight you can retry with their stats weaker. Fantastic QoL I wish more JRPG's had when you're up against a tough boss. Lots of difficulty modes to choose from so you can configure it to your preference and omg I forgot to talk about sidequests. They're fantastic and again complement the worldbuilding. So worth doing imo. In most cases they reveal information you wouldn't otherwise see in the mainplot like Neilsen's Sidequest chain in Azure. And one last thing: PLEASE read the books/newspapers in each installment. Without saying too much. They offer insight, additional worldbuilding and so much more on characters you wouldn't expect. They're a bit long, but a great joy to read. Some of my favorites throughout the series are:

Sky - Carnelia, Kitty-Talk for Dummies, Gambler Jack, Doll Knight, Hundred Days War,
Crossbell - Doctor Glenn, Saint and the White Wold, Mark and the Witch, Sunshine Agnes
Cold Steel - Red Moon Rose, Gambler Jack II, Black Records, Heartless Edgar, Immoral Hero, Coby and the Mysterious Museum, 3 and 9, If you say goodbye, Legendary Chosen One
Reverie - At this point everything from newspapers to books lol

Which do I start with then?

Personally I would say FC and CS1. Zero is in a mixed spot. Which I'll outline below. You mainly want to begin the beginning in release order or if you want to start in the later ones thats fine too. I would caution not starting in the sequels since they spoil and make the overall journey lacking without the context and knowledge of events in the previous games. SC, 3rd, Azure, CS2, CS3, CS4 & Reverie are not great starting points imho.

Starting in FC, CS1, Zero are far better. To set the foundation and reduce less huh? This pays off in spades if you have the Sky trilogy, Crossbell Duology and CS1 + CS2 in your belt before you start CS3 then CS4 then finally Reverie. Since most characters from the preceding games return and more I can say, but I'll refrain.

FC - The slowburn of slowburn of the trails series. Sets the foundation being the start. Estelle Bright and Joshua Bright's journey begins starting as junior bracers. Think of these guys as good guy mercenaries. But not really in it for the money. Bracers are a worldwide guild to help those in need from meaningless tasks to continent impending doom events Don't expect these juniors to save the world. Afterall they're just junior bracers. Leave it to the professionals in S ranks man. Weakest plot, but makes up for it in the music, character development and fascinating world to learn about as you rise through the ranks. Set in the Liberl country. Part of the Sky Trilogy consisting of Second chapter and 3rd.

CS1 - A better slowburn than starting in the Liberl country. This time you are in the Erebonia country. A militarized country with a bigger cast full of interesting personalities. You control Rean Schwarzer with a katana and a mysterious past. Among others like a young Jaeger(think of this as the real mercenaries who take contracts for money) Somewhat arrogant noble classmate along with non-noble classmate(a dynamic worth watching), one hailing from a prestigious sword clan using a large greatsword, and corporate lass getting her feet wet in the school life, Wind dude from the Nord, and more characters I could say. All with colorful personalities, interesting backstories and relationships. Handled together by a young A rank bracer who drinks too much as a teacher.... Yea this Class Seven crew will be one for the history books... An interesting plot that will coincide with the crossbell games(not a spoiler). Music still hits very high notes with some being some of the best in the series here in the Cold Steel Tetralogy. Character development takes a backseat in favor of a larger cast and party members to utilize. But this works in its favor for enriching the worldbuilding alongside sidequests and other NPC's. Cold Steel consists of Cold Steel 1, Cold Steel 2, Cold Steel 3, Cold Steel 4. Upon finishing this arc and Crossbell you can finally start Trails into Reverie.

A Note

Zero - Is the better of the two in terms of not being a slowburn. Set in Crossbell. Smack dab in the middle between Erebonia and Calvard. The free capitalist-like country enjoys a lot of entertainment of Mishy, Arc En Ciel, and being under high pressure between two world super powers. You control Lloyd Bannings and his partners called the Special Support Section(SSS). No this isn't SEES from P3. Somewhat like Bracers, except think of them more as the police branch. Here you still take tasks from the populace, but you're more of a detective with some cases you will have to piece together with clues and what not. Sticks closer with their Liberl counterpart in having a small cast. But the story, music, character development, worldbuilding, and more are off the charts. There's a reason why I place two of them in my top 5 here below lol. And that's why. The hard part about this upon recommending for newcomers. Is that Zero is a sequel to 3rd from the Sky trilogy. So while it is fine to recommend for newcomers to Trails. You miss out on vital scenes, and context from 3rd and the sky trilogy. Making this somewhat a mixed recommendation for me. Its like starting Xenoblade Chronicles 3 without the knowledge of XC1 and XC2 and all the expansions + future connected. While still acceptable. I somewhat grimace all the same, because I want others to get a full experience and not hampered by missing details. Crossbell consists of Zero and Azure. Upon finishing this arc and Cold Steel you can finally start Trails into Reverie.

Additional note: For Zero and CS1. It should be noted crossbell & two games in the Erebonia saga occur roughly around the same time. Without going into spoilers its perfectly fine to play one or the other. My friends started with CS1+CS2 then went back to finish off Crossbell games and vice versa. I started in release order. That's all i'll say without spoilers. This should make you ready before CS3 and the games beyond. With Reverie finally closing the doors on Crossbell and Erebonia arcs respectively. Making way for Kuro and the start of the Calvard(Another country on the continent of Zemuria) arc.

Additional Material: For those wondering what the heck are the acronyms. Drama CD's, Manga and Mods

Legend:
FC = First Chapter
SC = Second Chapter
3rd = 3rd Chapter
Zero = Trails from Zero
Azure = Trails to Azure
CS = Cold Steel
Reverie = Trails into Reverie
Kuro no Kiseki 1+2 are currently not localized in the west.
Nayuta is a spin off and I'm not exactly sure where to place it on the timeline. Haven't played it either. Will update when I do.

Trails Series Drama CD's + Manga's + Anime
-Not required to watch, but hey if you want to get more Trails injected into your veins. Well here ya go. I highly recommend it to fill in spots after a game ends or before starting a new one. Some of these are like slice of life kinds which is awesome to see. Seriously give me animes seasons of Liberl & SSS crew daily life and i'd be set. There is one more piece of media not on here. Trails of Cold Steel – Northern War. A conflict between the Erebonian Empire and the North Ambria State. An anime taking place between CS2 and CS3. Haven't watched it yet, so I'm not sure what to say about it. Whether to watch it after you finish CS2. Or fine to watch before CS3. Hmm...

#'s are the order throughout the timeline with warnings of when to watch/read it.

Sky Trilogy
1 - After 3rd watch/read Trails in the sky - Advanced Chapter
2 - Loewe manga 3 volumes. Recommended after sky trilogy. Especially after seeing 3rd's last moon door.

Crossbell Duology
3 - After middle of ch. 1 of Zero read Ring of Judgement Manga - Imo better to read the manga than reading this summarized events in the wiki. input 'Ring of judgement manga' in a search engine. To see some results.
^ Also worth reading Carnelia books and to keep all this in mind when reading/watching Remote Town of Alster after certain events in CS2. I'll detail this below.
4 - After Zero or you can watch it during your playthrough Tio's Best Partner
^ currently as of 4-4-23. YT link isn't working. Here's a text version
5 - After Zero ending and before Azure Road to the Future
^ - Alternative text version
6 - After Azure ending - Catfish hotpot
7 - After Azure ending - If Cecille got Angry

Cold Steel Tetralogy
8 - After CS1 ending - Returning Home
9 - After CS2 beginning of Act 2 - Remote Town Alster

Ys Vs. Trails in the Sky - Best to play SC at minimum and 3rd w/ 1st moon door. Not sure on Ys. Since I didn't play a lot in the series(Only beat 1,2, 8, 9), but if anyone wants to drop a warning of what Ys games to play before watching this that would be great!

Playlist for most Trails Drama CD's above

A note on -> Mods - This is primarily for PC users. But for those who want a bit more enhancement if you don't like the og visuals. Most games are enhanced. In Japan they're called EVO versions. Mainly remasters. The games you see on steam are just the base game. Meaning Non-Evo versions. I'll leave it up to you if you want to change the visuals. Personally I prefer the EVO visuals than the OG, Although OG has more expressive facial expressions. They add voice acting, add new movies and a new OST. This largely applies from Sky to Crossbell with some other mods for the Cold Steel games. imo playing with these mods especially for the voices adds so much to the immersion and other things I quite like. I should say a warning before watching the EVO movies. Some spoil a lot about the game's plot. So be wary... Instructions with links inside.

TL:DR - Please play Trails to keep the series afloat. This way more Ys/Trails games can keep coming. While it may seem daunting due to how many games there are and what you need to keep track of. It. Is. Worth it. imho. But honestly play at your own pace. By the time you get to the latest entry you can suffer with the rest of us fans eagerly waiting for the next installment. The series shot up to one of my favorite JRPG series ever since and it has stayed there even now. For those Xeno series fans, there's a ton of nods, to the Xeno franchise as well. So hey extra bonus heh. If any links are not working lmk and I'll fix it. Also taking any suggestions as well. Hopefully this helps any newcomer, veteran or casuals like me who want to dive into the series. Before I go I want to say massive thanks if you read everything. I tried making this short. But Trails always has a way making me write/type more than I intended...

Notes within contain Before I play(A website full of tips before starting a playthrough or during) tips and other worthwhile info. Like in CS2 did you know there is an exclusive NG+ scene that reveals massive lore implications/reveal? I sure didn't!

Part of my Rankings + Beginner's Guide Folder - A series of lists where I place my rankings on games I've finished in various genres/series, but also try to input a beginner's guide when I can to keep them interesting beyond a ranked list.