Topic: Nihon Falcom games on NS2

@rallydefault, I started the series playing cold steel 3 as that story is mostly self contained, also the crossbell games, trails from zero/azure are self contained, meaning you can jump into either of those games without having to play through others/catch up on prior story info.

As these games are all available on switch, I would recommend playing the crossbell games, and Daybreak 1 or cold steel 3.

Also cold steel 3 has a libary on the home menu that players can recap on the stories of cold steel 1 and 2

Also Falcom have said they might remake trails from zero or sky 3rd chapter.

@rallydefault The games are meant to be played sequentially and stuff with 3rd (which is currently PC exclusive) does pop up in subsequent Trails games.

Falcom isn't sure if they want to remake the third game or jump straight to the Crossbell games first. I'd say, if you have a PC, play 3rd next, whether it's a remake or the original. If you don't game on PC, and they don't announce a remake of 3rd soon, then just play Trails from Zero next, whether it's a remake or the original.

The order is:
Trails in the Sky FC & SC
Trails in the Sky the 3rd
Trails from Zero
Trails to Azure
Trails of Cold Steel 1 - 4
Trails Into Reverie
Trails Through Daybreak I & II
Trails Beyond the Horizon

@xenobladexfan @Ralizah
Very helpful, thank you! I fell in love with the first chapter remake.

@rallydefault always good to see more people getting into this series, in my opinion it is the 3rd best jrpg series on nintendo hardware after xeno and fire emblem

My own take, Trails is the best JRPG series period. . . but I admit that's from the perspective of playing them on PC. If I were limited by releases actually available on Switch, it'd probably take a hit.

Oh, and while its not directly relevant- there's a game called Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails. Despite having the word "Trails" in the title, its not part of the Trails series. Completely different world, characters, history, metaphysics, and general tone. Its a good game worth playing, don't mistake me, but its not part of the series.

@metaphysician out of all the Trails games I have played on switch, I have enjoyed every single entry,
Outside of this series, Xeno is the most consistent, with each game being excellent.

My only frustration with Trails, is the lack of cold steel 1 and 2, english port for the switch.

Oh, its not Trails related, but it is Falcom, so. . . Tokyo Xanadu. I actually highly recommend it for anybody who likes the idea of "Falcom Does Action RPG Persona". And also especially to anyone who likes the idea of Persona ( contemporary urban fantasy starring Japanese high schoolers ), but for whatever reason finds they don't like the actuality of the Persona series. Tokyo Xanadu, IMO, takes that rough foundational premise and executes it with much better writing. Its still ultimately built out of anime stock archetypes, but its much more fleshed out a world and less narcissistically focused on a single main character.

@metaphysician I played that game in 2024 and it has literally the same gameplay as persona, dungeon crawling, romance and student life.

It actually got me into the persona series, as soon as I played p3 reload on switch 2, the gameplay felt familiar and I became a fan of persona, in other words, tokyo xanudu is a great introduction to the world of persona.

@metaphysician, I looked into this, and it actually looks interesting to play, perhaps a few years down the line if I have a spare slot in my gaming schedule. Though I do want to check if the English localization is censored in any way first.

Trails beyond the horizon is finally here on switch 2 and I definitely recommend the game, as someone who has played Trails on switch for years, I have to say the switch 2 version of horizon is the best performance and graphics I have ever seen from a falcom game.

@xenobladexfan
Ya? Better than Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter even?

I just bought it (I own all Falcom games on Switch 1/2) but I'm not playing it yet cause I'm going in order and am like 10 games away from this one lol.

Started with Cold Steel 3 on Switch, loved it so much I went back and played Cold Steel on Steamdeck, at least half of it anyways, then read the story synopsis in Cold Steel 3 menu for the events of 1 and 2.

Started Trails From Zero but didn't get too far. Now I'm 7 hours or so into Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter. So ya, I won't be playing for a good while. But I will fire it up and check out performance later, at least.

Im definitely really hoping that Daybreak 1 and 2 end up with native switch-2 versions especially if they are on par with the horizon port since from the sounds of it if horizon is an indicator of future falcom games then it has me excited for their future output.

(also obligatory Mention of Zero and azure in order to will potential compatibility fixes into existence)

Yo!

I downloaded the JP version of Trails of Cold Steel for Switch along with the English patch and English dub patch, and uncapped framerate with overclocking to hit stable 60 fps. It's insanely awesome having this on Switch in English finally!

@JaxonH yeah the game is running at 120 fps on variable mode and 60fps docked, the game has two modes for performance and you can see the fps seriously drops from 120 to 30 when playing it on quality Mode, so I recommend playing horizon's exploration modes and story moments on variable but the slower text heavy moments on quality mode

For example the lighting and shadows in the city that Van Arkride lives in looks amazing on 120fps, this is the closest switch 2 players can get to the amazing pc ports that Peter Durante produces.

Also I would pay for those cold steel games if they were on switch, i don't understand why they haven't been ported yet, persona 4 uses simular graphics and sega got that game running flawlessly on switch.

@Mgalens I agree, as someone who really enjoyed both daybreak games on switch, I'm really hoping nis america could do a bundle pack of both games for switch 2, maybe even include all the dlc,

Horizon is among the finest trails games I have played so far, it is packed with fan favourite characters such as Rean, Kevin, Rufus and Crow,
I love the chemistry between rean and crow and also van arkride as they are all guys in their mid 20s, this series is excellent for older players because most of the characters are now adults, so they are so relatable.

@xenobladexfan
I now got BOTH Trails of Cold Steel and Trails of Cold Steel II on my (custom) Switch Lite OLED in English with English dub from the PS version! And both had an .ini patch to override framerate cap so minor overclocking could lock 60!

Was not easy. Had to get the exact JP-version update for the EN patch to function correctly. But in the end it was worth it. FINALLY these games aren't the 2 oddballs out I couldn't play on Switch.

I'm happy happy

@xenobladexfan
And ya, I played the Prologue of Trails Beyond the Horizon yesterday and was extremely impressed with performance. It's butter.

And though not a AAA graphical showpiece, I can still tell it's their nicest work yet from a visual fidelity standpoint. Models were more detailed- coats had detailed textures on them, for example. It's a pretty game.

@JaxonH yeah the game is amazing i started a reddit thread that i will include images of my time in the game.

@xenobladexfan
Combat is definitely a bit more complex than Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter.

Now that I have all Trails games on Switch, including Cold Steel 1 and 2, I'm gonna do Sky 1st Chapter, Zero, Azure, Cold Steel 1-4, Reverie, Daybreak 1-2, Horizon, and whenever they release Sky 2nd and 3rd chapters I'll squeeze those in.

@JaxonH falcom are in my opinion the best third party developer for switch platforms, I'm only missing 4 trails games in my collection:
Cold steel 1&2 and trails sky 2nd&3rd chapters,

I love Atlus's Persona series too, I have all three persona games on my switch 2:
Persona 3 reload, p4 and p5royal,

My wishlist for switch 2 is:
P4 revival, Metaphor refantazio, cold steel 1&2 and trails sky 3rd chapter.