Last month's release of Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter marked the beginning of the Kiseki remake era for Falcom, bringing beloved heroine Estelle Bright's Liberl-trotting quest to modern platforms with a slick presentation and revamped combat system. The game that started the tightly interconnected series with 13 mainline games and counting is probably overdue for a refresh, and it's a really nice refresh.
We know full well that the sequel to 1st Chapter is deep in development. Falcom Straight Up presented a teaser video to fans after the first match. Trails in the Sky the 3rd, despite being called a specific sub-series, is a spin-off of sorts. Instead of featuring Estelle like the first two games, it follows Kevin Graham. It's more focused, character-driven, and a bit of a black sheep. Make no mistake, 3rd has its fans too. It's a good game. It's just different.
As it happens, we can skip Kevin's big adventure, at least for now, in favor of Lloyd Bannings' Crossbell duology, Trails from Zero and possibly Trails to Azure. maybe. We'll see. That's not just my line. This is the official ambassador of Nihon Falcom CEO.
Even Sega admits that every full-price Persona re-release has been problematic.
or “I guess some people are waiting for Metaphor: Utopia Edition.”
3rd to 0
In a conversation with Dengeki Online (and Automaton noticed), the always chatty Koji Kondo readily acknowledges the narrative significance of Trails in the Sky 3rd and provides no direct evidence that it is the case. habit It's being remade, but it also simultaneously reveals that the staff is currently split on whether or not to remake Trails from Zero ahead of time.
“I'm not sure whether to do The 3rd or From Zero next. Opinions are divided. Some of the members say it's better to remake From Zero before The 3rd.” -Condo Cozy
In some sense I sort of understand that? Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter's sales were praised by Kondo himself, so there's no immediate danger that the remake won't deliver the profits it needs and will fall short of the many installments the developers at Falcom envision. However, it's never good to simply assume that nothing will change, so if you have a specific need to focus on one remake over another, you could argue that the Crossbell duo is “more important.”
But still – as I said, Kondo incisively quotes how Trails in the Sky 3rd affects the ongoing storyline.
“Ren’s story is really important. Kevin’s is too, and the name Crossbell first appears in Part 3. It is also where Osborn, the Iron-Blooded Chancellor of Erebonia, first appears.”
Condo is “[thinks] “We're going to have to remake The 3rd at some point.” But he added, interestingly, “there are a lot of possible ideas about what form it could take.” Could Falcom be toying with the idea of a less straightforward remake, one that would involve added features or major changes to existing content?
One thing's for sure: you shouldn't expect Trails of Cold Steel I and II to be remade anytime soon. (III and IV are in full 3D, so I highly doubt Falcom is really looking at a remake for very long.) ““When we were developing Cold Steel, we were told to do whatever we liked, so we put a lot of different elements into the game. I think it would be a bit of a challenge to remake it.” Okay, now you get it: Rean's inauguration outing is too big for his graphic creations.
