The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel Out Today on PS3, PS Vita

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The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel Out Today on PS3, PS Vita

Hi guys, this is Brittany, Production Coordinator and Unofficial XSEED/Falcom-Hybrid Super Fan for XSEED Games. After many crazy years figuring out how to best wrangle what we dubbed the “Curse of Kiseki,” The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel launches physically and digitally for PS3 and PS Vita today, complete with cross save support. Hell yeah.

Because this series has grown leaps and bounds over the years, becoming significantly more in depth with each new entry, newcomers to the Trails series might find themselves unsure of where to start. What’s this “Cold Steel? Is it related to Trails in the Sky and Trails in the Sky Second Chapter? Where should I start?

Well, worry not! I’m a licensed professional in Trailsology, and I’m here to not only give you an introductory overview of Trails of Cold Steel, but of the series as a whole.

Trails/”Kiseki” Series 101

Many moons ago, before I started working at XSEED or knew a thing about Trails’ existence, XSEED Games posted a funky, hand-drawn chart about the series’ developer, Nihon Falcom, and their many games over the years. It looked a little something like this:

The Legend of Heroes "Picture of Hell"

Heh.

As you can see, things started with Dragon Slayer, then it spun off into The Legend of Heroes series, which then formed the Trails series within The Legend of Heroes, which has since then also been given its own… inbred spin-offs. Rad as all those games before Trails are, none of them are necessary at all to start Trails. Trails does reference those games on extremely rare occasions, but it’s so insignificant that it’s clear at this point Trails is meant to be its own, 100% standalone beast. In short: ignore everything that’s not listed below.

Without further ado, here’s a basic outline of the main games in the series, ignoring spin-offs:

Arc 1: Liberl Kingdom

Game 1: Sora no Kiseki FC = Trails in the Sky (You can start here if you’re new to the series)
Game 2: Sora no Kiseki SC = Trails in the Sky Second Chapter
Game 3: Sora no Kiseki 3rd = Not in English

The most well-known arc in the West. It took us nearly four years to localize and release game two, Trails in the Sky Second Chapter (“SC”), which finally made its debut in English this past October. It’s worth noting that Trails in the Sky’s first and second chapters conclude the main story English fans started. Sora no Kiseki 3rd has a different main character.

Arc 2: Crossbell State

Game 4: Zero no Kiseki = Not in English (You can start here if you’re new to the series)
Game 5: Ao no Kiseki = Not in English

We’ve written a tiny bit about where this arc takes place on Trails of Cold Steel’s website, but only because arcs 2 and 3 take place at the same time. We’ve also written about why we jumped from arc 1 to arc 3 in English, which you can read here.

Arc 3: Erebonian Empire

Game 6: Sen no Kiseki = Trails of Cold Steel (You can start here if you’re new to the series)
Game 7: Sen no Kiseki II = Trails of Cold Steel II
Game 8: Sen no Kiseki III (Just announced earlier this week in Japan)

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold SteelThe Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel

Hey, look! It’s the arc I’m supposed to be telling you about now!

The Trails series takes place on a single continent called Zemuria, and each arc is generally divided by locations within said continent. To put into perspective how large this series is, as of the seventh game in the series, we still don’t have a full map of Zemuria — forget the entire world.

Each arc has its own story, but there’s also an overarching storyline that Falcom has claimed is a little over halfway finished. Thankfully, due to how this overarching story has been handled so far, newbies can jump into the beginning of any one of these arcs completely blind and then go back to other arcs to learn more about the world of Trails as a whole. About 2.5 in-game years have passed as of the seventh game. It’s unbelievable how much Falcom has managed to pack in such a short time while still giving curious, new fans plenty of openings to get familiar with the series.

If it wasn’t already clear, the series is infamous for being really damn huge. This means literally years of text to translate and localize, thousands of terms to keep track of, and even hundreds upon hundreds of names and relationships to keep track of on top of it all, because each NPC has their own name, backstory, and relationships.

Without even counting the currently Japanese-only titles, the four games in the series launched or confirmed to be coming to the West in English — Trails in the Sky, Trails in the Sky Second Chapter, Trails of Cold Steel, and Trails of Cold Steel II — total up to approximately 7.85 million Japanese characters. And remember, Japanese is a language where you can explain so much in a single character that twitter’s 140 character limit pretty much gives you license to write a novel in a single tweet.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold SteelThe Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel

To reiterate what is written on our gorgeous website, The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel takes place inside one of the countries within Zemuria, the Erebonian Empire. Being a country historically wracked with war, it is now known for its incredible military might, making no shortage of enemies across the continent in years past. And while it has modernized itself in some ways, it is also dreadfully dated in others.

For one, the nobility have always had the upper hand over the common folk, and to keep things that way, they’ve formed the Noble Faction: a united force dedicated to keeping the balance of power within Erebonia as it always was. Opposing them stands the group known as the Reformist Faction: self-proclaimed “men of the people” who strongly believe the country should move with the times and minimize — or even outright eliminate — the political influence of the aristocracy.

Whether they’ll succeed or not remains to be seen: even now, every commoner is brought up to know their place as beneath anyone of nobility.

Players will start with Rean Schwarzer, a 17-year-old student beginning his first year at an esteemed military school known as Thors Military Academy. While the school accepts both nobles and commoners alike for lessons ranging from history to engineering to combat instruction, like everything else in the Empire, these groups have been divided by class.

That changes this year: for the first time in the academy’s history, Rean is one of nine students introduced to a brand new class — Class VII — that places importance on skill over rank. The intent behind this mishmash of nobles, commoners, and even foreigners, is to travel all across Erebonia as a group, overcome mental boundaries set in stone since birth, obtain new perspectives from vastly different lifestyles, and personally see the effects of the political strife that has strained the country to its very core… and maybe do something to fix it.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel

New to the series is the Combat Link system, which allows characters to “pair up” in battle. As each pairing’s link level is increased through experience points or story-intensive, character-driven bonding events, characters will be able to help each other out in various ways during battle.

Not so new — but still awesome — is the magic system, known as the Arcus system for Cold Steel, but it’s seen its fair share of sleek and sexy changes. Get ready to collect and customize characters with dozens of magic attacks, known as “arts,” alongside the many skills unique to each party member, called “crafts.”

As a major, major fan of game lore and detailed politics, this game stole my heart from the get go. As a major fan of things like the Tales of series’ character development, Falcom once again did not disappoint me with Cold Steel. And now that it’s out in the West, I’m going to do what all good nerds do and Platinum it. Again.

In Conclusion

As much as I’ve written here, I’ve never been the lead editor for any of the games in the past. I’ve always been the one to help with lore or talk nonstop about things that have happened. For folks wanting to dive into Cold Steel, know that we’ve started the translation and editing process for Trails of Cold Steel II, so the wait shouldn’t be agonizing. I hope. Trails of Cold Steel II also marks the first time I’ve been granted the position of lead editor for the series, and though I protested for weeks due to feeling more than a little unworthy of working on what became my favorite ongoing series, I accepted after being bribed with free food.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel

This is something of an experiment for us, but I plan on using my position to be as open about our schedule and progress as I possibly can. If this ridiculous blog didn’t make it obvious enough, I love this series so, so very much, and if keeping an open channel with new and old fans is what I can do to keep this series alive in the West, I’m more than happy to talk until my face turns blue.

Barring limitations with that pesky little thing we call an NDA, you’re free to ask me whatever you please about the series. Or hey, maybe you’re a longtime fan who remembered something that one NPC said in that one line in that one game that kinda sorta maybe could possibly be foreshadowing something that likely hasn’t been explained yet and you want to email us in a panic to make sure we didn’t forget that in the English. That’s cool, too — as a fellow fan, I understand.

To me, Trails is and always will be a group effort, and while we at XSEED do localize the final product ourselves at the end of the day, I want you guys to feel like you were part of making that happen in the first place.

As the school motto in Trails of Cold Steel’s Thors Military Academy goes: “Arise, O youth, and become the foundation of the world.”

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100 Comments

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  • Will it be up on PSN after it updates? Checked the marketplace. It’s not there yet.

    I’m super excited.

    • It should be up on PSN once the store updates, yep! And hooray for excitement.

    • I’ve been wanting to play your games ever since I read that “Curse of Kiseki” article on Kotaku. Seems like you guys had a really tough time, and I wanna support you by buying the games. I do wanna start with Trails in the Sky though first, or else I’ll feel like a super poser if I start on Cold Steel lol.

    • Hey JetBlackx,

      Been Playing Legend of Heroes games for some time. Even dabbled in a few of the Dragon Slayer games (namely on TurboCD).

      I don’t think any fan of the series will consider you a poser for starting with Cold Steel. I’ll be happy if you just bought the game and support the franchise. If you love it, then you have Trails in the Sky to look forward to while you wait for Cold Steel 2. I’ve yet to hear anyone not like TitS after playing it aside from two cases.

    • @ JetBlackx

      Agreed with KazeEternal on this one. The Trails community (and by extension, The Legend of Heroes community) is usually just pleased to have new fans on board to discuss the series with. There’s really no such thing as being a poser, haha. Plus, the Trails series is intentionally designed these days to make it easier for newcomers to join in at the start whichever arc they please and then go back and play the others. What’s aaawesome is that the series still has plenty of life in it and there’s still plenty of speculation to be had on future entries, so you can easily “catch up” and be discussing your personal theories for the next plot twist like the best of them.

      As an example, the Trails series has been around in Japan since 2004 or so, and I was only getting into it around late 2011/early 2012. I think we’re getting a feel feel on how to handle the series in the West with each new entry, which is exciting for me as a fan, and I intend to do everything I can to help keep up momentum in the West…specifically for people who are interested in hopping in like you! And for longtime fans, too, haha.

    • I was on the fence about this since it seems like such a big series and worried about translation like the Yakuza games. Didn’t want to fall in love only to have to wait for an unspecified amount of years. Anyways you have sold me on at least giving it a try now, this kind of write up about a game really needs to be more common!

  • Y U No Steam?

    • We only localize the publish the series, not develop it. Trails of Cold Steel was developed for PS3/Vita only, so that’s why we’re delivering it to you guys in beautiful PS3/Vita form.

    • can you ask Falcom to port the game to the PS4 and Steam?

  • Tonight on my PS Vita.

    Thank you for this localization and thank you to still support this great device ! You do a great job !

    • Thanks! And yeah, the Vita is a pretty swanky device (bought waaaay too many games for it this fall. My poor backlog…). Cold Steel II is also going to be PS3/Vita, so we’ll continue supporting it in 2016, too!

  • Does the PS3 version support the Dualshock 4 when wired? Picking up the limited edition!

    • I just checked, like, two seconds ago, and yes! It works just fine. I’d never tried it before myself, so it was kind of cool to test that out and see it worked.

  • Heres’t the thing, though… I need it.

  • Just waiting for the Store to update!

  • My limited edition will arrive soon :)

  • Oh hey it’s Brittany from the RPGamer interview video. Love your passion for the series. Congratz on your promition.

    Planning on picking this game up later today. Been itching for a proper JRPG for a while now.

    • Thanks! It’ll be fun, and hopefully I can live up to everyone’s expectations after Nick and Kris’ swell job on the first Cold Steel. And yeah, this is about as traditional a JRPG as you can get. It’s lovely.

  • Why is XSEED so awesome?

    • Hey, a Yozakura fan! Nice.

      The boss buys us nice coffee and that helps to power us through the day. I believe coffee is the secret to success.

  • THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING US PS3 GAMERS!! The thing I love about Sony’s platforms since back in the PS1 days is how long the platforms thrive even after their current consoles are released, and how 3rd parties have always shown respect for the owners of those consoles. It’s great to see history repeat itself!! Picking this up today!! Don’t forgetabout us loyal holdouts on future releases too!!

  • so i am lost , i have never played any can i just jump into this and it will be 100 % fine or will be playble just confusing . I love rpgs from japan and try to buy every one on the vita it gets here in canada but i i dont have to jump in if its not its own story and other games need to be played first. thank you

    • Also is this going to be PSTV compatible

    • If you want to make Trails of Cold Steel your first game in the series, you absolutely can! You’ll be 100% fine. It does a pretty dang great job of making it easy for newcomers to the series to start there, get familiar with the world, then go back to the other games and enjoy them as well.

    • And we don’t control Vita TV compatibility on our end, but we’re crossing our fingers that it will be.

  • Yo, there’s nothing better than having a big blogentry about a game, that’s supposed to come out mere hours later, where I’m grateful for every second you let me forget that I CANT WAIT to play it^^

    Oh, one question though. Since you are such a big fan surely you can tell me, which version handles load times and framerates better. The PS3 or the VITA version?

    Thanks for all your hard work and confirming localization of the sequel :D

    • I personally think there isn’t a real difference between the two (though I’m not usually picky with that stuff in general), but I’ve been reading around and fans seem to think the PS3 version has sliiiightly faster loading times. Not enough to make a difference in my opinion, but it might help you! And you’re welcome! I hope you’ll stick around for the sequel as well.

    • Thanks! I’ll probably buy both versions anyway (in the long run), but it helps me decide on which platform I’ll play through first. And yeah, I played every game in the series so far so there’s no way in hell I’m gonna stop anytime soon^^ As long as you guys “bring em over” I’m gonna keep buying em :D

  • Thank you for the games! just got my copy from my local GameStop, very nice LE!

    • Thank you!! Hope you have fun flipping through the artbook once you’ve beaten the game. It’s got some lovely art in there that I’m real happy the developers let us use.

  • I LOVE JRPGs, so when I find out THIS will get localized, I was VERY, LIKE TRULY VERY HAPPY about it, in fact I finish ‘Trails in the Sky FC’ and I am playing ‘Trails in the Sky SC’ too, just to get used to this series mechanics and what not…. BUT TODAY WAS ANOTHER STORY… *sigh* I AM REALLY DISSAPOINTED AT XSEED and SONY. I own a PS4 and PSTV, so my choice was PSTV, today I went to my local game store to purchase my copy to support, I even buy a PlayStation Store card to buy DLC and support even more, but guess what?!?! After being confirm(which make me go and pre-order the “Lionheart” Edition… $50) that it was going to be PSTV compatible, THE GAME IS NOT!!! I just put my copy on the PSTV and it says: “This application cannot be used with this system. If this application is supported by the PlayStation TV system, update the application.” I’M VERY DISSAPOINTED IN BOTH SONY AND XSEED, TRULY!!! This should have been a PRIORITY.

    • calm down^^ the game is supposed to get a day-one patch that – among other things – makes it compatible with PS TV :)

    • They already confirmed day 1 patch which will add PSTV compatibility.

    • We’re looking into it ourselves, and though we can’t control that on our end, we’re definitely seeing what our options are a.s.a.p. Agreed that it’s not a great thing to discover on launch day and we hope we can fix it.

    • …Aaaaaand the Day 1 Vita patch to make it Vita TV compatible is up! Phew! Download that and you’re good to go.

  • I’m so sad that I’m sick today. Was really hoping to stream this game tonight. Maybe I still will, but it’ll just be a really croaky stream as I have practically no voice.

    Afterall… it’s Trails. IT’s worth it.

    • Feel better soon! Trails is worth many things, but probably not worth making yourself even more sick over, haha.

    • You make a good case, but I’m inclined to disagree. It’s Trails of COLD Steel, so since it’s Winter playing it will help me feel better *Nods*

  • Poped the game into my PlayStation TV…….. Not Supported…. why?

    • apparently there’s supposed to be a patch later today that makes it compatible.

      Sounds like they just couldn’t get the compatability ready before the cutoff to print the discs.

    • Good to know. I was getting a little ****ed that I’d have to buy the PS3 copy just to enjoy it on my TV. I could only afford one copy today and was hoping to wait till I could afford it. So i bought the Vita version since I spend more time on that system these days and had a PSTV. Also like the DS4 a lot more. Since I’m traveling a lot its nice to hook up to the hotel room TV too.

    • That’s the best part of the Vita TV. It’s cheap enough ($40 at many retailers) that you can buy it, without having to deal with the choice between t.v. and handheld.

  • Never tried this series, but am definitely picking this up. Love your enthusiasm. If I enjoy this game like I think I will, I’ll have to give Trails In the Sky a whirl too. Love the Vita support.

    • Thanks! And yeah, if you like Cold Steel, definitely give the Sky arc a shot. There’s even a character who’s in both the Sky and Cold Steel arcs, and I’m the type who smiles like a dork at that sort of crossover stuff. Adds a sense of depth to the series in a way and I think the little connections like that will make it that much more enjoyable.

  • Hi Brittany. Thanks for the amazing work you guys do at XSEED.

    Two questions:

    1. Which version is your favorite, Vita or PS3?
    2. With ToCS 3 just announced, how are you guys gonna go about the special case for the limited edition of the game? I hope you make a case that can hold all three games eventually. Perhaps with ToCS 2? ;)

    Anyway. I’m getting the Vita limited edition tomorrow.

    Thanks for your great work and keep it up!

    • Thanks for the compliment!

      1.) For the most part, I played it on PS3, though I definitely played a good chunk on Vita as well. I’d say about 50+~ hours on Vita throughout my multiple playthroughs and about 250+~ on PS3. And while the game is definitely long, I wouldn’t say they’re 300 hours long… I just like the game a lot. Haha.

      2.) As much as I’d love to answer this, we don’t know any more about Sen III than the rest of the world. Falcom’s understandably protective of the Trails/Kiseki series, so we never know anything about the next game in the series until it’s actually been officially announced. Trails of Cold Steel’s Lionheart Limited Edition is intended to fit both Trails of Cold Steel I and II, though, and those two games are the only ones we can focus on in the Cold Steel arc. It’ll looks nice, I swear!

      Still, I’d love it if everyone continued to support the series as a whole. Speaking as a fan, I’d kill to keep working on it.

  • Hi Brittany, thanks for a really good reading. I’ve a question. Will the game include japanese voices?

    • We were pretty aggressive when trying to acquire Japanese voices for this title, but unfortunately, we were not successful, so English voices only. I’m quite pleased with the English dubbing myself, but if you’re not into that sort of thing, there’s the option to turn voices off, too.

    • It’s a good english dub BTW .

  • Thank you so much for bringing this over. While I understand (and still a bit disappoint) about the lack of Japanese voice acting or option, I think I would like to thank you for the effort of translating and localizing all the lines in this game. I really didn’t think I’ll see this game, localized, in English, on my Vita.

    I think I’m going to keep spreading the word about how great this game is, until one day, maybe, you guys will have the power to localize another Falcom game (maybe Tokyo Xanadu? Ha … ) and negotiate about the voice acting. I don’t think people mind if they have to pay an extra to get a voice pack DLC as well.

  • Can’t wait to pick this up later today. XSEED is the best!!!

  • Brittany, I just wanted to let you know that your fabulous and passionate blog posts about the Trails Series has made me a day-one purchaser of all Trails games XSEED is publishing! (Feel free to show this to your boss ;).) I’m still making my way through Trails in the Sky FC, but now have SC and Cold Steel (Collector’s Edition, naturally) waiting for me. Thanks so much for sharing your love and helping to bring this series West!

    • I showed it to the boss and he laughed.

      Thanks so much for supporting the Trails series! I hope you’re enjoying FC so far, too (Agaaaaate). Cold Steel’s pacing is quite a bit different compared to FC, but the Trails spirit is definitely there, so I hope you’ll enjoy both arcs. And I hope the series continues to be well supported in the West and that you’ll be sticking around for Cold Steel II’s launch next year as well. :D

  • Playing it rigth now and loving it.
    Thanks for the effort put in its localization.
    It shows the love you have for the series.

    PS: Falcom is love.

  • Thank you for localizing this series. Already played through the Japanese versions but the shiny LE was too hard to resist.
    Looking forward to the 2nd one and 3rd one in the future.

    also does tokyo xanadu localization?

  • Excited to play this! I’ve had the special edition pre-ordered for a few weeks now but for some reason amazon hasn’t sent it out and now says out of stock err hope they sort it out soon. I’m looking forward to playing this.

  • I never heard of this game but i’ve played it at a convention in September it was good now thankfully the U.S Translation is out also thanks for the history .

  • Dang, that was a nice read. I’ve never played this series, but the love you show for it is making me HIGHLY consider picking this game up!

  • Looks like it’s available on PSN now, but no patch of PSTV compatibility yet. >_>

  • Any information about if any costume DLC may be coming out today for this game? I see the various item packs and shining pom bait packs already up on PSN.

    • There are costumes sets, and we’ll start rolling those out in early January once winter break is over, I believe!

  • THANK YOU Brittany for bringing these games over! This entire series is becoming one of my absolute favorites. Hopefully they will let you guys sometime bring over the 3rd, Ao and Zero in the future (or the Evolution enhanced versions would be splendid). XSEED is one of my favorite companies. <3 THANK YOU!!

    • Thanks for supporting the series! And I hope the support stays strong in the West so we can keep localizing the series as well (spoken as a fan).

  • Thank you guys so much for continuing to support the Trails series in the West!

    Like, for real. It’s thanks to you guys that I’ve learned about so many great games.

    Also, I have two questions:

    1. I saw that the game is getting a patch today. What does it fix?

    2. I’ve heard that while the first CS doesn’t require knowledge from Zero/AO, CS II might seem more confusing to people if they haven’t played those two. Is this true? I want to Jump in on CS after I finish SC, but I wanna make sure it all makes sense to play.

    • Thank you!!

      1.) I can’t remember all the patch notes, but the updates should be fairly minor. Things like some text bugs, save data compatibility with Cold Steel II (okay, that one isn’t so minor, but it won’t matter under CSII is out next year), that sort of thing. The full list will be in the patch notes that you’ll see as soon as you get the patch notice. The PS3 one is up, and hopefully we’ll push the Vita one out shortly.

      2.) It won’t be confusing, trust me! I’ve talked about it in my past XSEED blogs, and it’s true that parts of Zero/Ao definitely play a part in the Cold Steel arc because they take place around the same time. What’s nice is that it’s more like you’re playing certain events from the perspective of Erebonian citizens rather than Crossbellan citizens (and you would have gotten their perspective of those same events in Zero/Ao). Basically, the whether you play Zero/Ao first or Cold Steel first, you’re getting information on the same events but from a different side. It was definitely designed so you can play the arcs in either order and not be confused in the least (you can read more in that link under Arc 2: Crossbell State of the PS Blog).

  • The digital of the Vita version seems to be available… PS3 not yet though.

    • Really? I’m swear that I just saw it on my own PS3, so that’s odd! Hopefully it’ll show up on your end as well soon.

    • I’m looking at the web version, and the only one listed is the PSVita. But I won’t be able to play until this evening anyways so no big deal. Just wanna buy it as soon as possible to support the fact that you guys keep persevering on releasing this series. :)

  • I believe this is one of the best blogs I’ve seen on this site, in useful information and passion for the game. You win. I’m buying my first Trails game today. I like how you referenced that series I love, Tales of, and some of the battle elements you highlight sound familiar to me, as a Tales of enthusiast.

    And even more importantly, thank you for supporting the Vita, the best handheld console ever.

    • TALESSSSS YES. Playing through Zestiria now myself. The battle system is very different from Tales of (the Trails series is turn-based though you can still move on the field during your turn…kind of like Eternal Sonata without the timer if you’ve ever played that?) since Tales of is way more action based, but I’d say if you’re interested in story or heavy character development, then Trails is definitely up your alley. And thank you for the compliment! I love the series and hope I can rope in more folks so I have more people to talk about it with, haha. Mission success!

  • Hi, I’m try to buy the PS3 version but it says PS VITA, Am i missing something, I thought this game was on PS3 to ?

    Thanks

    • the PS3 version isn’t available yet, that’s all.

      I hope it is up soon, but not quite yet.

    • It’s definitely physical and digital on PS3 and Vita. I thought I saw it on the store, but perhaps it’s taking some time for the PSN store to update. Thanks for your patience!

  • thank for the great work! I’m gonna buy the game as soon it come to eu psn.

    I wanna ask: is there a chance for the older umd psp games of LOH to be release on psn? I love them so much

    • I think you’re asking about the Gagharv trilogy (The Legend of Heroes III, IV, and V), right? That was actually developed and published by Bandai Namco, so you’d have to ask them. We at XSEED only started doing the series at The Legend of Heroes VI: Trails in the Sky.

  • Thanks, I hope it’s today -soon for the PS3 version, 1st time i turn my PS3 on in many months from PS4 to get this game :)

  • welp.. since it’s not working on the pstv yet i guess ill just get the ps3 version. keep it coming xseed <3 <3 Thanks for localizing this gem <3

    • The Day 1 patch for Vita should make it Vita TV compatible! Give it a try (though thank you for supporting it on PS3!).

  • Aaaaaand it’s up. PS3 version available, purchased, and soon to be downloaded.

  • Just got my Vita limited edition shipped.

    Looking forward to a 100+ journey.

    Hoping the 2nd and 3rd don’t take as long as the PSP ones.

  • Sorry for going off topic, but I was just wondering if you could kindly provide feedback on why IA/VT Colorful never got the chance to be brought to the west. With many other kickstarters being very successful in helping to bring other Japanese games and visual novels to the west, I’m curious as to why the fans weren’t given at least the opportunity to provide support via crowd funding.

  • This series is the main reason I bought the VITA (one sweet little gadget indeed), and tonight I’ll be adding my contribution to the Trails cause.
    Sorry I could not wait to get Cold Steel II and went and bought it in Japanese… :(
    I’ll keep myself welded to your blog to know of the developments in translation/localization. As one of the few locos who went and made a guide from Sky SC from its original Japanese version, I know what a monster this majestic series is (and those Kanjis! Alabada sea Aidios!). Tell you right away: I’m your fan (of your work as leaving, breathing localization machines), you deserve the Amor, Carnalismo, and all the support.
    I rise my Tequila shot of Jose Cuervo (silver), and say: ‘Here is to those who know what an art and a terrifying nightmare is the Trails Series/Zemurian Saga, and love it still’.
    Let the Trails-fiesta continue ’till the end!
    Cold Steel will be a refreshing catch-of-breath while I wait my hands of, eagerly praying to the Goddes in the Sky fot you to be able to bring the Sky 3rd, Zero and Azure games…

    • I raise to you my glass to you in turn, my friend. Always nice to see a fellow Trails/Kiseki nut, and you definitely seem to know what a beast this series is, haha. I hope we’ll keep up to your standards in the future with Cold Steel II, and I’m praying to Aidios right along with you for the series’ future!

    • Had some time to read the reviews you guys got these days.

      Felicitaciones!!!!

      All the years of suffering the Curse of Kiseki have payed of maddly (let’s hope the actual, accountable-next-quarter, pay-off vindicates the suffering).
      Those comments on the Trails Series Facebook page (now a feature in my Favorites) seem to hint at a growing fanbase that looks more like a Flu contagion. And some Flu it is!
      And as for the standards…I know you will surprise me, I’ve been buying XSEED-localized games since Wild Arms 4 and 5 and let me tell you: U ROCK, JDK style!
      I have every bit of confidence that this series will be the mother lode for you guys. Really, it reminds me of Final Fantasy, and look at the Chocobo-riders now!
      Happy new year to you guys and may we all keep being such good fans to a series that rightfully deserves it.
      As you do. You people are an example to finish my Japanese courses, get the JLPT to at least N2 and study-til-I-drop to become a good translator/localizer.
      Might be bitting more than I can chew, but hey: Real good stuff is attained as a war trophy, and by now the XSEED localization staff must look like hardened shock troops.

  • Faxanadu is one of my favourite NES games! Make another one of those!! IN the meantime I’ll have to check this out

    • We don’t make the games, I’m afraid, so you’d have to hit up the developer (but we probably have some in the office who would agree that Faxanadu is a great game).

  • Thank you so much for the work you put into the games Hatsuu. I am getting my copy today so when can we buy Heroes Avatars on PSN?

    • Avatars have been made, not only for Cold Steel, but for Trails in the Sky’s first and second chapters as well! Approvals are rough, though. Once we’ve gone through the proper channels, we’ll hopefully see them up on PSN.

  • I got this but doiubt I’ll play it, I absolutely hated Trails in the Sky chapter 1
    The only reason I got Cold Steel 1 was to support Xseed

    • I had a super hard time getting into Trails FC as well. Tried multiple times on psp. Finally years later purchased it on a steam sale once it was released on PC and now it ranks as one of my all time favorite JRPG”S, up with the likes of Final Fantasy VI, Final Fantasy IX, Suikoden I and II. It can take a little while to get going but once it got its hook into me I could not put it down. Been a huge Trails fan since.

      Huge Thanks to Xseed for bringing over these games. Have been able to experience so many games because of Xseed. Y’s Series, Trails Series, Lunar on the psp, Pandora’s Tower on Wii and Last Story on Wii. Thanks for bringing the games over no one else has been willing to. Love these games and didn’t know what to do after Working Designs went out of business and we stopped getting some of the gems of jrpg’s brought to North America, then out of nowhere Xseed came in and saved the day.

    • Funny story, as I’ve written about this in the past…I hated Trails in the Sky when I started, too. Took me six months to beat the game, and it NEVER takes me that long, because it felt slow. Once things ramped up in the final chapter, however, I fell in love, and then I kept replaying it and found a whole new appreciation in all the details I missed the first time around. Then I just kept learning about the series as a whole, playing more games, and next thing I knew, I was a super fan. Haha.

      Trails of Cold Steel does hit the ground running more than Sky, which takes a more relaxing approach, but it’s also worth noting that the developer tends to take its time laying the groundwork for things to come rather than rush them. The payoff is always, always so satisfying with these games (at least in my opinion!). And the parts you aren’t sure of are always better the second time around, as that’s when you start to realize how much details went into the setting. You might want to give Cold Steel a shot, or even trying finishing Trails in the Sky and see how you feel towards things get near the end.

    • I’m the opposite, I love the series alot more when its slow and relaxed~. I love it when its gets going but the slow relaxed super happy fun times are definitely the best part. The final chapter took me a month or so to beat compared to the 2 or 3 weeks the rest of the game with obsessive NPC dialogue hunting.

  • Love that chart up at the top! Sorcerian was a game I always meant to play. Even bought a copy for the Mega Drive off eBay years ago, but never got past the language barrier.

  • What’s the point of cross-save if the game is not cross-buy? Am I correct in understanding that you’d have to buy the game twice to get any benefit from the feature?

    • That’s pretty common, if I recall! Cross-Save is for anyone who simply wants the convenience of switching between playing on the big screen and playing on the go without losing progress (or if you’re a terrible person like me and likes the big screen but switches to Vita to keep playing while taking a relaxing bath… Protect your Vita, kids!). And yes, you would need a copy of Cold Steel on PS3 and Vita each for this feature.

  • Please tell me Erebonians aren’t in on the whole “Hmhm” craze which Liberal went gaga over… :o

  • i just wanna say that thank you for localizing it really appreciate your commitment in reply, and answer almost fan’s questions. It proves that you really care your gamer.

    Please tell Falcom that their dedicated works will always be respected by fans and JRPG fans. So we hope Cold Steel 3 will get a release date soon. And it would be better if they could release their game on PS4 too.

    • I’m glad it’s coming across! And we’ll pass on the love to Falcom. Speaking purely as a fan of the series and not as an XSEED rep, I can’t wait to hear more on Sen III, too.

  • First I have to congratulate you, Brittany, and XSeed on your astoundingly high level of customer interaction–even if I weren’t a fan of your games, I would have been supporting you, based on that!
    I have pre-ordered my LE VITA version and although I initially intended to play it after some months (and after first playing Trails in the Sky), but now I can’t wait for delivery date!!
    I have just one question though: Would you advise perusing the artbook before playing the game, given that I want to avoid spoilers?
    Thank you very much, and have a lovely day!

    • Haha, well, thank you very much! I try to help how I can, anyway. It just so happens that talking about this series benefits the fans in terms of customers satisfaction and benefits me because I get to talk about Trails. :D

      I would definitely advise keeping away from the artbook for a short while. Play a good chunk of Cold Steel first (say, finish chapter 4) before looking through the first half of the artbook. The second half of the artbook is related to Cold Steel II, so DEFINITELY stay away from that for a time. Luckily, Cold Steel II is in the works, so it hopefully won’t be too long before the wait pays off and you can enjoy the second half of the book.

      We do have page spoilers warnings before the CSI and II sections, so if you happen to take a peek for at least CSI because you can’t resist the temptation, you’ll at least know where to stop before running into CSII stuff!

    • Unfortunately I didn’t see those warnings till too late (though I kinda forgot about the bit I saw, so….I’m safe!), as I tend to flip through artbooks starting from the back….

      Can’t wait to use those DLC costumes in the game though! Going solely by what’s shown in the back of the artbook, I love them all (really, I do!), but I think Emma’s costume is my favorite so far.

  • Thinking about the amount of hard work to bring this game to West, great job guys! Bought the game already and ready for the next one ;)

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