Falcom Reveals New Details on Next Kiseki Games, Hints at PS4 Ports of Evolution Versions of Older Entries

Iyane Agossah June 29, 2019 10:12 AM EST

The "Evolution" PS Vita versions of past Trails games might get new ports; upcoming games use a powered-up engine and will look much better than Trails of Cold Steel 4.

Falcom and Dengeki Online held on June 29 the “Kiseki Series 15th Anniversary & New Title Reveal(?) Special Stream”.



The stream included Nihon Falcom President Toshihiro Kondo, Towa Herschel’s seiyuu Ai Nonaka, and multiple journalists working at Dengeki. The stream was mostly Toshihiro Kondo looking back on the series and revealing development stories, which we will detail in another article.

In particular, when asked if the “Evolution” PS Vita versions of the Trails in the Sky trilogy, Zero no Kiseki, and Ao no Kiseki, could come to PS4, Kondo mentioned they’re currently “planning different things” so we should look forward to future announcements.

He also mentioned it’s a bit hard because of the difference of graphics between PS Vita and PS4, but “promised” to make the older games easily playable in some way. Kondo also mentioned how the staff at Falcom themselves are unhappy that past games are becoming harder to play. Even more so because the Kiseki series is story heavy, so console accessibility is important for fans who are only getting into it now, and considering the series isn’t ending anytime soon.

Editor’s note: Please keep in mind the following includes spoilers for all of the Trails/Kiseki series.

With that aside, at the end of the stream, Kondo also shared new details on the upcoming games.

Here’s a recap of what was already revealed in March during the Dengeki Game Festival 2019. The Kiseki series has currently two games in development. One is a spinoff-like game for the Trails of Cold Steel saga and will release sooner, and the other one will be the continuation of the Kiseki series and will release later. It’ll be the start of a new saga which will take place in the east of the Zemuria continent. Four characters appearing in either or both of these two games were revealed so far: Rixia, “someone from Nord Highlands who looks a lot like a younger Gaius”, Scarlet, and Wald (not pictured).

The full map of the Zemuria continent, where the Kiseki/Trails series takes place, was also revealed for the first time, both on stream and in this month’s issue of Dengeki PlayStation 677. All games until now only showed the western portion of the continent zoomed in. Basically, in 15 years of the Kiseki series, we’ve only seen the western portion of the continent, and now we’ll start seeing more of the eastern portion. Trails of Cold Steel 4 also mentioned the eastern part is “currently collapsing” so we’ll see what’s happening there.

The part that’s already revealed, in white, is the Holy Nation of Alteria. the headquarters of the Septian Church. Kondo mentioned how the Septian Church is one of the only organizations who know the secrets of the world of the Kiseki series, and how it’s definitely a fishy organization considering everything they revealed so far. Kondo mentioned how Crowe’s episode in Trails of Cold Steel 4 has Scarlet saying she will return to the Septian Church. The new illustration with Scarlet wearing a sister outfit hints that we’ll learn more about the Septian Church in the next games. Much earlier on during the stream, when speaking on Trails of Cold Steel 4, Kondo also stated how the Trails of Cold Steel saga finally explained the secrets of the Erebonian empire, so now the series will start explaining the secrets of the whole world.

Next, they spoke about how the cover illustration for this month’s Dengeki PlayStation (issue 677) has two mysterious characters at the top, facing backward. It’s a boy, and a twintails girls carrying a large plushie. It’s the first time these two characters were ever shown. Kondo joked on how “I’ll get killed by the others if I explain who they are”.

The only thing Kondo can say for now is that’s “it’s a duo of characters who will be related to developments happening sometime later in the Kiseki series”. He also noticed many fans have different theories towards them, but he wouldn’t affirm or deny anything. The Dengeki reporter, in particular, mentioned how “they look like the two characters described in the novel “3 and 9″”. Kondo only answered, “I don’t know”.

(Editor’s note: “3 and 9” is a novel you can read in Trails of Cold Steel 4, and the most popular fan theory is that those two are Swin and Nadia, the two characters of this novel. Nadia is described as a girl holding a huge plushie.)

Kondo also mentioned how the person in charge of the illustration didn’t follow his instructions and actually wasn’t supposed to include these two characters. They did it as a prank. In the end, they left them there.

Continuing on, Kondo revealed two screenshots from either of the two games currently in development.

Here’s what Kondo said: The red-haired character is a certain someone you should recognize since she wears similar clothes. Meanwhile, the location shown in the other photo is somewhere we already saw in past games, but during a different time of the year.

(We can clearly recognize Noel Seeker in the first screenshot, and the second screenshot is Rean and Elise.)

Lastly, Kondo mentioned how we obviously can’t tell with these screenshots, but they’re currently reworking the graphics engine, so the next games will be much more beautiful than Trails of Cold Steel 4.

Another article covering the rest of the stream, with everything Kondo revealed regarding the past Kiseki games, is coming soon. Update: You can find the summary here.

The latest game in the Kiseki/Trails series is The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel 4 -The End of Saga-, which released in September 2018 in Japan. In the west, Trails of Cold Steel 3 on PS4 will launch on September 24, 2019, in North America and on September 27, 2019, in Europe.