Take note of the newcomers in the centre of the new key visual. The characters of the C’s Route fulfill a role near the crux of Hajimari no Kiseki as a whole. Falcom got their ideas for this game’s scenario from our younger staff members, with the character C born straight from their proposal. ‘The Hermit’ basically refers to C, acting as the leader of his group.

As you can see, Lapis is a Rosenberg-made doll and becomes a big key in the story. Rosenberg is highly talented, but not to the extent that the dolls he craft should have an actual personality, which is one of the cores of the story. At first glance it may look like the party members of the Hermit’s party don’t fit together, but they do. There will be some wild remarks regarding [Lapis] not being human.

As for Swin, it’s rare for a character from an in-game novel to become a party member. Please pay attention to his relation to Lloyd and Rean. Because he’s a rather special member, pay attention to his fighting style and crafts.

Nadia stands out because of her stuffed toy. She has a lively personality, but can get relentless if necessary. Following the novel, Swin and Nadia are pursued by the Organisation and will make an appearance, forcing them to decide on how to continue.

As a character that would seem involved with someone named C, Scarlet is actually active somewhere else. C’s identity can be considered as unexpected. C is male, indeed.

Lapis has ties to both Joerg and Mariabell. She’s at the heart of the story, and although she’s in the game’s logo, she isn’t directly related to KeA. Lapis wields a cross axe that can be folded to fit in the trunk, which wasn’t part of the original design plans. With both tricky attacks and supportive roles, such as automatic analysis, Falcom is working on finding the right balance for her. If her uninhibited character teams up with Nadia, the two are a force to be reckoned with, story-wise, manipulating Swin.

Among the in-game novels, Three and Nine is rather factual. Swin’s weapon is pretty unique among the 50+ playable characters, best described as ‘crafty’. Nadia is a fun character to watch during battles, thanks to her various battle styles and arsenal. Swin and Nadia are jobless are the start of the game. The organisation they left is a new organisation that hasn’t appeared in-game so far, so we wish to portray it in full in the game. The organisation has ties to Ouroboros, but isn’t a subordinate organisation. It may be an organisation from Calvard. It hasn’t been revealed what the stance of the organisation toward the Septian Church is. Future titles in the series may do so.

The Hermit’s party consists of four young people, making their style different from what we’ve seen thus far. They’re not using a Republic-made fifth-generation RAMDA orbment, but an existing orbment. Falcom wants to introduce a new orbment system in the future.

Round of Seven can’t be used, suggesting a big accident happened, maybe involving Olivier.

Rixia becomes a party member during the story. The episode of Ilya’s return over the past two years will be properly addressed. The response of fans were particularly strong regarding Rixia and Arios. They even received happy letters from fans who feared Arios wouldn’t appear anymore. There may be unexpected developments as to who they side with.

Dieter’s post-presidency will also be addressed.

The Hermit’s story is closely related to post-Sen no Kiseki IV developments. Some Class VII members will be involved in this route.

Estelle and Joshua will get their screentime.

If you’re a good guesser, you may be able to deduce the bandaged person’s identity, but not yet the why and how of the situation.

For some reason, Calvard is gathering weaponry in Nord Highlands. Musse and associates are on the move, but that’s all I can say right now.

The Cross Story System was implemented to both realise the depiction of Crossbell’s Re-independence as well as doing everything to move the series toward its latter half.

Highlight of Lloyd’s Route is get to the particulars of one image in Ao no Kiseki’s ending.

Focus of Rean’s Route will be the hereafter of Class VII members. One of its highlights will be Rean anxiousness over working out his current position.

Highlights of the Hermit’s Route are the characters themselves. The meaning will touch the core of the story.

Party members can be freely changed to some extent in each route.

The setting of the game is basically the current Crossbell and Erebonia. There will be plenty of keywords and hints as to what will follow next.

In the battles an extra gauge, Variant Rage, is added to have all members attack. Auto-battle and high-speed skip allow you to play the game considerably faster. Events at double speed is also implemented from the beginning.

Loading up Sen no Kiseki IV save data changes some of the response of the character Rean picked. Loading up Zero and Ao no Kiseki Kai data grants bonuses at the start of the game.

The game contains PSVR compatible elements, such as communication with your favourite character. Plans to make some mini-games compatible with VR as well.

Release date will be a bit after Ao no Kiseki Kai. The arc after Hajimari no Kiseki is developed in parallel. The next setting will be on the east side of the continent and all main characters will change. Both setting and characters will change so it’ll feel like a different game.

Answers from questions:

KeA’s abilities are limited to the extent she herself can perceive.

When we started Trails in the Sky, we planned to have the Sept-Terrion correspond exactly to the seven elements, but we don’t quite know yet whether that also applies to future developments, so wait for their appearance in future arcs.

Source. Let me know if you spot any errors!