This is the big project I've been working on for awhile. I made this with the intent of getting newcomers into Trails who are interested in Daybreak, but don't want to play the dozen previous games. I hope you enjoy!!! And I'll get part 2 done soon!!!!! And for anyone curious, no, this isn't replacing my In a nutshells of Cold Steel. I'll work on those eventually.
@@dombeach3514 I’ve got a lot of work to do still unfortunately. Im only halfway done with the Cold Steel 1 section. I was hoping to get it done before Daybreak releases but it’s definitely going to be after the fact. Ngl making this first part really burned me out (I worked on it for 2 months straight) so Im currently taking a little break. I’ll try to get it done as fast as possible though!!!
No joke, it's a well researched vid with an entertaining script and eyecatching visuals, but the complete and total mangling of every second word and the fact that it sounds like their voice was recorded by a ham sandwich is what kept me truly engaged.
You're also wrong about Rennes intelligence, it came from being subjected to gnosis and used as a guinea pig while in paradise. Ouroborous didn't give her her super intelligence.
Actually this video is perfect for refreshing our memories. I've forgotten like 90% of all of the lore. Really appreciate the insane effort on your videos
Massive respect for putting in such good time and work to get out something this comprehensive. This video will really help people who need summaries and refreshers for the series and the humor is a great bonus too!
Great video it's nice to see someone who recomends playing the previous games but also understands not everyone can/wants to do that instead of acting toxic towards that side of the trails fans You also did a great job summarizing the information while keeping it detailed Also having a dual destinies character as your mascot is a plus in my book
thanks for the vider. i started Cold Steel series and Reverie and felt somewhat halfhanging to explore Sky and Azure. was looking for something like this to understand the timeline while playing daybreak now
Most of the fan base seems to be extremely toxic towards the people who skipped sky and crossbell which isn't exactly helping people to get into the series I'm also a "cold steel only" because I played cold steel 1&2 before I even knew trails was a bigger series and I've played cold steel 3+4 as they released and I'm currently playing Reverie My experience has still been very good and fun despite me lacking a large amount of knowledge and not being emotionally attached to certain characters Trails fans need to realize that having people enjoy some of the games is better than having them bounce off of them completely due to how toxic they are Nearly stopped playing after CS4 because that game had some closure to it and I was sick of the fan base being toxic towards me so now I just play the games and ignore the fan base lol
@@therenegadegamer7422I was cold steel only but wanted to know more of the story so I recently finished the Crossbell games , I wish the Sky games was on console
Thank God someone does God's work XD. As much as I played the games until Reverie, which I did 100% a few days ago, you end up forgetting some details here and there about the story, it's good to have a video like that to refresh your memory XD, ty my man
I don't like replaying games and I'm into this series for over 5 years now. I was wondering if anyone had made some sort of grand opus of past nine games before we got Trails through daybreak. What I wanted to say is that this effort is greatly appreciated and I'm eagerly waiting for the part 2. Thank you.
Really nice video. I subbed. As diehard fan I studied and refreshed both timeline and some events in detail every other week, but I am really glad that people make these. Maybe they think about certain events in the story and in timeline differently etc, so always nice to hear it and compare.
Tbf, Trails has a habit of making seemingly unimportant and/or missable content be SUPER relevant later on. Case in point, the various novella chapters you can collect in the Cold Steel games? Yeah, super important backstory material there. Especially the 'Three & Nine' chapters you can find in CS IV, which directly relates to events in Trails into Reverie and Trails through Daybreak 2 via Swin and Nadia. Likewise, some foreshadowing for Crossbell games was dropped as early as SKy FC from some random NPC dialogue from ppl talking about it. There's also that optional Keven scene you mentioned too. Hell, future games also drop massive lore bombs about the events and actions of the last game, with Daybreak dropping some pretty huge ones... like how and why orbal energy is actually even a thing. So, yeah, if the devs say that random ass Happiness Stone is gonna be important, then it's gonna be important. Like how it took like, three whole games to learn Renne's story as it really happened and not just what she thinks happened. Though the truth is arguably more tragic.... Man I love this series!
Thank you so much for this video, I felt really good watching it and remembering a lot of details I hadn't thought of. Please do a part 2! Love from Brazil. 💛💚
Thanks for this. It's nice to see it all laid out in a timeline fashion, dots connected. I also skipped some of the side content, so it's nice to see it covered here.
I'll need to watch this video multiple times to properly understand the lore of cold Steel holy shit, it was mind boggling trying to wrap my head around the timeline reading the books
really tremendous work. I can't imagine how long it would take to put such a video together. Thanks for this. It's the perfect refresh before trails through daybreak. Not to nitpick, but i must say it's really funny how you pronounce 80% of the names wrong. At least not how they are pronounced in the games.
As someone who's played all the way up to Crimson Sin, and am about 30 hours into that, I really enjoyed watching this and seeing how all the seeds came together as early as day one. That being said, for heaven's sake bro, the games have voice acting. The pronounciation of these names is done for you!
Great video dude! I was in serious need of a refresher with how slow I play these games. Also the intro bit was really funny, I like the idea Blackquill is allowed to play video games in his prison cell.
was keen on playing trails of daybreak but didnt have time to play previous games ty man this is really a blessing i am 1.10hr mark of this video , will there any part 2 of this or this video is enough to watch before playing trails of daybreak
Props to my G, who in a two hour video was able to masterfully tell this immensely intricate story while at the same time mispronouncing absolutely every name included in it. Just messing with you, man. Great job from a fan! 😂
Minor nitpicks: The reason Demigorgoous ended her own life is that she was the only one of the 7 treasures who could alter causality.(in addition to being the only one with human emotions) I always figured she died not because of the Crois family, but because she could see the future and she found out that eventually,, like all the other treasures, she too would go "haywire", and fearing the difficulties she would bring, she figured out that killing herself was the way that she could prevent the most tragedy for the largest number of people, so she did it. Also, what are artifacts? Remember how the 7 divine treasures granted wishes? What do you suppose people wished for? What all people always wish for: stuff. I always figured artifacts where the things that were wished for and which the sept-terrions granted. That explains both their immense power and why no one can figure out how they work. Video is really good so far, the above two points are matters of opinion, as very little is known about the ancient back-story of trails.
This video is super well made good job! It's been a great refresher ESPECIALLY for the lore which I had forgotten some of. The overall story I of course remember strongly but there are some lore bits that have escaped me. The reminder about how Osborne is an immortal is the main reason for this comment because of course I remember he came back but I had forgotten the reason Can't wait to finish this video and see the next one!
Sorry to butt in, but regarding Thirteen Factories - there are actually 12 of them (can be found in trivia section on kiseki wiki) Other than that - extremely well made video
24:44 So essentially, KeA is a reborn version of their goddess, that they believe to a true deity and not false like Aidios. In summary, a True Goddess Ressurectuon. Get it?... I'll see myself out.
When I first heard dreichels I was like, "yeah voice actors are expensive can't blame them for reusing them, they did that for Toby and Claire's cousin." But oh boy was I wrong, it was 100% intentional
I haven't finished watching yet but wanted to say this is written and presented so well, I thought I'd get bored 5 mins in but here I am an hour into the video. I've played every trails game but needed a refresher in preparation for daybreak but some of your name pronounciations are real bad hahaha
Yeah, I played the games... but... yeah, they're long as hell and I kinda hate having to jump across multiple platforms just to remind myself of the tiniest details.... But, this is a good for a recap because, yeah... this setting is dense af!
Great video, loved the visuals and script. I have a tiny problem though, your pronunciation of certain words is wrong. If you can, try to do your best to reference and practice these pronunciations. Otherwise fantastic video! Subbed!
couple of nitpicks im only 40 mins in and this is a really good video Jaegers are more akin to mercenaries than Bandits as they are often used to fight proxy wars the Northern Jaegers being revered as heroes as the use their money to help the people of North Ambria I could be wrong in this but pretty sure Alan Richard wasn't trained by master Ka-Fai but rather Cassius Bright and is essentially a 2nd gen eight leaves one blade disciple
I think you did a great job with compiling the story, but I think you need to work on a few things. I know nothing of the video editing process, but I had to continually adjust the volume throughout the video due it being either too quiet or too loud every few minutes... wouldn't matter if I owned a detached home, but I don't want to bother the neighbors late at night. Also, if you do a part two to this to cover Cold Steel I'd recommend working on your pronunciation of not just series vocabulary, but words in general (e.g., it sounded like you were saying "ecomony" instead of economy, and I swear you're saying "Elm Selnate" instead of "Ein Selnate" even with her name on screen as you say it--as well as many other different instances--and I mean... it just kind of "kills the vibe"?). It wasn't too terribly off-putting or anything, no, but the long ride of this video certainly would've been smoother if you maybe did a few different audio takes and chose the best one?
Lol, imagine clicking on a video where someone put the effort in to explain lore for 3 hours and all you have to say is degrading shit. What a sad little cunt you are
I just wish the series wouldn’t be afraid to go into darker concepts. They toy with them, but never fully commit to it. The fantasy stuffs cool, but I really wish they’d go in a game of thrones direction instead of “the power of friendship!” Shit they speel every chance they get.
Sky, Nayuta and Crossbell are all you need, Cold Steel is a waste of time beyond maybe the first game (plus who cares about the ending of the first game just assume the best of it and it will work out). Voila, youre now ready for Daybreak
@@BobbyTheGamerOfJUSTICE Well, while it isn't completely confirmed, there is evidence for Cold Steel I and II being planed as just one game and being divided at the last minute… with Cold Steel II originally being half the length it is nowadays. And similar arguments can be made for Cold Steel III and IV. And Sky FC and SC (this one was outright confirmed, by the way). If the ending of a Trails game is a cliffhanger, I refuse to believe the next game wasn't meant to be part of said game, given the precedents.
The series is making less and less sense ever since they put out Daybreak. I mean this just filling in the blanks with random filler characters and throwing them into the game saying that they have some kind of popularity? Just seems more like filling in the blanks to set the story in a certain way. I can understand Agnes since there was a book about her in Cold Steel and Van was mentioned by one of the Ouroboros members when they were talking to the Grandmaster; however, he was never mentioned by name. They called him the Spriggan. Let's start with Judith, there is no mention of her in either Azure or Zero. Seriously? Is there a need for more than one rival? I felt this was another convoluted part of the story. There is no mention of her in Cold Steel II and now she's Rixia Mao's rival? I mean, wouldn't at least Ilya know about her since Ilya and Rixia are great friends? I thought that was Ilya's job being Rixia Mao's rival. Let's not forget that Rixia being back with Cao makes even less sense. Also, do we really need a second Phantom Thief? Isn't that why we have Bleublanc? Next is this Divine Blade named Shizuna who has a very gaudy outfit. Putting that aside, other than from Reverie there is no mention of her unless she is the girl that Rean was talking about with his talk with Cassius at Mishelam which is strange, because when he actually does meet her it's like he just met her and never knew who she was. Also, surely she would know who Rean was, but judging by the writing it didn't come across that way at all. You'd think at least Arios and Cassius would have known about her and there are no mention of the Ikaruga outside the annuals of Reverie. There was no mention of Fie having a sister in the Cold Steel series. We only know that she had a stepfather. No mention of her actual biological parents. I feel like some areas of the story are just being sloppily done. It isn't like Juna who we met in the Crosbell Arc. Kind of draws a void when you have nothing to relate to, get what I mean? It feels like they are just creating characters out of thin air and trying to throw everything together without regard of continuity. Though continuity went out the window after Cold Steel IV. I have other problems with these two, but they are more of opinionated so I'll just keep that to myself. Perhaps you can make sense of this. From what I'm seeing the series isn't very good at connecting the dots.
Strawmaning at it's finest. The best one is Juna being introduced in Azure, with is not true. She was added in the re-release done after Cold Steel 3, not in the original PSP release.
This is the big project I've been working on for awhile. I made this with the intent of getting newcomers into Trails who are interested in Daybreak, but don't want to play the dozen previous games. I hope you enjoy!!! And I'll get part 2 done soon!!!!!
And for anyone curious, no, this isn't replacing my In a nutshells of Cold Steel. I'll work on those eventually.
Thanks for the video ! Any Idea on when part 2 will drop ?
@@dombeach3514 I’ve got a lot of work to do still unfortunately. Im only halfway done with the Cold Steel 1 section. I was hoping to get it done before Daybreak releases but it’s definitely going to be after the fact. Ngl making this first part really burned me out (I worked on it for 2 months straight) so Im currently taking a little break.
I’ll try to get it done as fast as possible though!!!
@@BobbyTheGamerOfJUSTICE Understandable. Thanks again for making those videos ! I'll look foward to the next part when it's rdy.
@@BobbyTheGamerOfJUSTICE Any news for when part 2 is coming?
I can't believe someone finally decided to make a timeline for this series
Him fucking up every term made the vid 10x funnier
No joke, it's a well researched vid with an entertaining script and eyecatching visuals, but the complete and total mangling of every second word and the fact that it sounds like their voice was recorded by a ham sandwich is what kept me truly engaged.
You're also wrong about Rennes intelligence, it came from being subjected to gnosis and used as a guinea pig while in paradise. Ouroborous didn't give her her super intelligence.
Actually this video is perfect for refreshing our memories. I've forgotten like 90% of all of the lore. Really appreciate the insane effort on your videos
Damn, someone actually decided to do it.
Massive respect for putting in such good time and work to get out something this comprehensive. This video will really help people who need summaries and refreshers for the series and the humor is a great bonus too!
Great video it's nice to see someone who recomends playing the previous games but also understands not everyone can/wants to do that instead of acting toxic towards that side of the trails fans
You also did a great job summarizing the information while keeping it detailed
Also having a dual destinies character as your mascot is a plus in my book
excited for part 2 bro this is some goated content
Patiently waiting for part 2! Thanks for the video!!!
thanks for the vider. i started Cold Steel series and Reverie and felt somewhat halfhanging to explore Sky and Azure. was looking for something like this to understand the timeline while playing daybreak now
Most of the fan base seems to be extremely toxic towards the people who skipped sky and crossbell which isn't exactly helping people to get into the series
I'm also a "cold steel only" because I played cold steel 1&2 before I even knew trails was a bigger series and I've played cold steel 3+4 as they released and I'm currently playing Reverie
My experience has still been very good and fun despite me lacking a large amount of knowledge and not being emotionally attached to certain characters
Trails fans need to realize that having people enjoy some of the games is better than having them bounce off of them completely due to how toxic they are
Nearly stopped playing after CS4 because that game had some closure to it and I was sick of the fan base being toxic towards me so now I just play the games and ignore the fan base lol
@@therenegadegamer7422I was cold steel only but wanted to know more of the story so I recently finished the Crossbell games , I wish the Sky games was on console
I just want you to know that you did an awesome job in this video, amazing work
Can't wait for part 2 and the sequel Part 3 after Daybreak releases 😉
Thank God someone does God's work XD. As much as I played the games until Reverie, which I did 100% a few days ago, you end up forgetting some details here and there about the story, it's good to have a video like that to refresh your memory XD, ty my man
Blackquill starting his Trails Journey sounds so wholesome! I can already see Taka and Sieg getting along together!
nicoB bit is funny as hell..
AND I NEED IT!!!!
This is the best recap you tell every details of the story and lores together chronologically , Kudos to you 🔥🔥
I don't like replaying games and I'm into this series for over 5 years now. I was wondering if anyone had made some sort of grand opus of past nine games before we got Trails through daybreak. What I wanted to say is that this effort is greatly appreciated and I'm eagerly waiting for the part 2. Thank you.
It's a great compilation of events, I can't imagine how long it took you to do it. I look forward to the second part amazing work!!
Awesome Work 🌟
Thanks for all your time you put into it. 👍
this video is a masterpiece
Can't wait for part 2. You did a fantastic job. I love this series, and it's always good to get a refresher!
Really nice video. I subbed. As diehard fan I studied and refreshed both timeline and some events in detail every other week, but I am really glad that people make these. Maybe they think about certain events in the story and in timeline differently etc, so always nice to hear it and compare.
Tbf, Trails has a habit of making seemingly unimportant and/or missable content be SUPER relevant later on.
Case in point, the various novella chapters you can collect in the Cold Steel games?
Yeah, super important backstory material there. Especially the 'Three & Nine' chapters you can find in CS IV, which directly relates to events in Trails into Reverie and Trails through Daybreak 2 via Swin and Nadia.
Likewise, some foreshadowing for Crossbell games was dropped as early as SKy FC from some random NPC dialogue from ppl talking about it.
There's also that optional Keven scene you mentioned too.
Hell, future games also drop massive lore bombs about the events and actions of the last game, with Daybreak dropping some pretty huge ones... like how and why orbal energy is actually even a thing.
So, yeah, if the devs say that random ass Happiness Stone is gonna be important, then it's gonna be important. Like how it took like, three whole games to learn Renne's story as it really happened and not just what she thinks happened. Though the truth is arguably more tragic....
Man I love this series!
Thank you so much for this video, I felt really good watching it and remembering a lot of details I hadn't thought of. Please do a part 2! Love from Brazil. 💛💚
A Trails anthology masterclass. Great job. Look forward to the next part.
Thanks for this. It's nice to see it all laid out in a timeline fashion, dots connected. I also skipped some of the side content, so it's nice to see it covered here.
I'll need to watch this video multiple times to properly understand the lore of cold Steel holy shit, it was mind boggling trying to wrap my head around the timeline reading the books
really tremendous work. I can't imagine how long it would take to put such a video together. Thanks for this. It's the perfect refresh before trails through daybreak. Not to nitpick, but i must say it's really funny how you pronounce 80% of the names wrong. At least not how they are pronounced in the games.
this, this is what i need before i join to the Trails through Daybreak game....
Good video, I really well put together summary. Waiting for the next one!
Thank you!
As someone who's played all the way up to Crimson Sin, and am about 30 hours into that, I really enjoyed watching this and seeing how all the seeds came together as early as day one. That being said, for heaven's sake bro, the games have voice acting. The pronounciation of these names is done for you!
this timeline is all over the place
some name butchering besides great recap for the upcoming game, thank you very much! 😁
Great video dude! I was in serious need of a refresher with how slow I play these games. Also the intro bit was really funny, I like the idea Blackquill is allowed to play video games in his prison cell.
Eagerly waiting for part 2.....As i am a fan of this series
was keen on playing trails of daybreak but didnt have time to play previous games ty man this is really a blessing i am 1.10hr mark of this video , will there any part 2 of this or this video is enough to watch before playing trails of daybreak
youre doing yourself a huge disservice jumping straight into daybreak, casually intentionally throwing away hundreds housr of fun from sky to reverie
@@aschryu i understand but i dont have enough time to play man + many newer good games are coming gow ragnarok for e.g
Props to my G, who in a two hour video was able to masterfully tell this immensely intricate story while at the same time mispronouncing absolutely every name included in it. Just messing with you, man. Great job from a fan! 😂
Thank you for all your hard work looking forward to part II
This is so well made! Kudos to you my guy 🎉
Minor nitpicks: The reason Demigorgoous ended her own life is that she was the only one of the 7 treasures who could alter causality.(in addition to being the only one with human emotions) I always figured she died not because of the Crois family, but because she could see the future and she found out that eventually,, like all the other treasures, she too would go "haywire", and fearing the difficulties she would bring, she figured out that killing herself was the way that she could prevent the most tragedy for the largest number of people, so she did it.
Also, what are artifacts? Remember how the 7 divine treasures granted wishes? What do you suppose people wished for? What all people always wish for: stuff. I always figured artifacts where the things that were wished for and which the sept-terrions granted. That explains both their immense power and why no one can figure out how they work.
Video is really good so far, the above two points are matters of opinion, as very little is known about the ancient back-story of trails.
This video is super well made good job!
It's been a great refresher ESPECIALLY for the lore which I had forgotten some of. The overall story I of course remember strongly but there are some lore bits that have escaped me. The reminder about how Osborne is an immortal is the main reason for this comment because of course I remember he came back but I had forgotten the reason
Can't wait to finish this video and see the next one!
Sorry to butt in, but regarding Thirteen Factories - there are actually 12 of them (can be found in trivia section on kiseki wiki)
Other than that - extremely well made video
i love this video and your content so muchhh hoping for the part 2 soon!!
Thanks for making this hilarious video. I just picked up Trails through Daybreak and I just want to pick up the series and go.
Still waiting for the part 2, my good man
24:44 So essentially, KeA is a reborn version of their goddess, that they believe to a true deity and not false like Aidios.
In summary, a True Goddess Ressurectuon.
Get it?... I'll see myself out.
When I first heard dreichels I was like, "yeah voice actors are expensive can't blame them for reusing them, they did that for Toby and Claire's cousin." But oh boy was I wrong, it was 100% intentional
awesome video 🔥💯 still waiting for the legend of heroes lore part 2 tho😂
finished watching and I need the next part NOWWWW
lore video on one of my favourite game series letsa go
I haven't finished watching yet but wanted to say this is written and presented so well, I thought I'd get bored 5 mins in but here I am an hour into the video. I've played every trails game but needed a refresher in preparation for daybreak
but some of your name pronounciations are real bad hahaha
great video!!!
I love trails 😩
THATS MY GOAT!!!
Came for the lore refresher, stayed or the Oreos
Yeah, I played the games... but... yeah, they're long as hell and I kinda hate having to jump across multiple platforms just to remind myself of the tiniest details.... But, this is a good for a recap because, yeah... this setting is dense af!
Great video, loved the visuals and script. I have a tiny problem though, your pronunciation of certain words is wrong. If you can, try to do your best to reference and practice these pronunciations. Otherwise fantastic video! Subbed!
couple of nitpicks im only 40 mins in and this is a really good video
Jaegers are more akin to mercenaries than Bandits as they are often used to fight proxy wars the Northern Jaegers being revered as heroes as the use their money to help the people of North Ambria
I could be wrong in this but pretty sure Alan Richard wasn't trained by master Ka-Fai but rather Cassius Bright and is essentially a 2nd gen eight leaves one blade disciple
18:52 Well you have one of those things at the moment.
I think you did a great job with compiling the story, but I think you need to work on a few things. I know nothing of the video editing process, but I had to continually adjust the volume throughout the video due it being either too quiet or too loud every few minutes... wouldn't matter if I owned a detached home, but I don't want to bother the neighbors late at night. Also, if you do a part two to this to cover Cold Steel I'd recommend working on your pronunciation of not just series vocabulary, but words in general (e.g., it sounded like you were saying "ecomony" instead of economy, and I swear you're saying "Elm Selnate" instead of "Ein Selnate" even with her name on screen as you say it--as well as many other different instances--and I mean... it just kind of "kills the vibe"?). It wasn't too terribly off-putting or anything, no, but the long ride of this video certainly would've been smoother if you maybe did a few different audio takes and chose the best one?
when are you making part 2?
FK IT. THIS VIDEO FINALLY MADE ME GAVE IN. I BOUGHT THE SKY SERIES ON STEAM.
Screw you dude zin is a cool character
I tried to find this particular ost at 7:10 so i can listen by myself but no luck >
Here you go!
ruclips.net/video/iOpFy95bYZo/видео.htmlsi=jLlnkuwdJwjkOIcO
@@BobbyTheGamerOfJUSTICE thank you :)
Leman state not Lemen
0:00 Wait did you just show the ending of....(ehem, spoilers) Xenoblade fans know 😉 I'm jumping to Trails Series ship now.
wheres part 2
Nutshell video please? I mean pretty please
Some of your English is quite shocking.
Lol, imagine clicking on a video where someone put the effort in to explain lore for 3 hours and all you have to say is degrading shit. What a sad little cunt you are
How do you mispronounce so many common english words. It's wild.
@@devynrudd9782 I only just recently found out Oliver is pronounced(Olive-ee-aye) I apologize 😅
Why do you butcher their names, holy, at some point i though this was ai
😂
I just wish the series wouldn’t be afraid to go into darker concepts. They toy with them, but never fully commit to it. The fantasy stuffs cool, but I really wish they’d go in a game of thrones direction instead of “the power of friendship!” Shit they speel every chance they get.
The world setting is so high. Yet d game is about school kid
Sky, Nayuta and Crossbell are all you need, Cold Steel is a waste of time beyond maybe the first game (plus who cares about the ending of the first game just assume the best of it and it will work out). Voila, youre now ready for Daybreak
@@livesinalazywonderland4021 Cold steel is arguably the most important of the arcs so nah. Not to mention it’s my personal favorite
@@BobbyTheGamerOfJUSTICE that’s fair, enjoy!!!
@@BobbyTheGamerOfJUSTICECold Steel is twice as long as it should have been.
@@Javifaa Nah I actually love that it was 4 games. The length was justified
@@BobbyTheGamerOfJUSTICE Well, while it isn't completely confirmed, there is evidence for Cold Steel I and II being planed as just one game and being divided at the last minute… with Cold Steel II originally being half the length it is nowadays.
And similar arguments can be made for Cold Steel III and IV. And Sky FC and SC (this one was outright confirmed, by the way). If the ending of a Trails game is a cliffhanger, I refuse to believe the next game wasn't meant to be part of said game, given the precedents.
The series is making less and less sense ever since they put out Daybreak. I mean this just filling in the blanks with random filler characters and throwing them into the game saying that they have some kind of popularity? Just seems more like filling in the blanks to set the story in a certain way. I can understand Agnes since there was a book about her in Cold Steel and Van was mentioned by one of the Ouroboros members when they were talking to the Grandmaster; however, he was never mentioned by name. They called him the Spriggan.
Let's start with Judith, there is no mention of her in either Azure or Zero. Seriously? Is there a need for more than one rival? I felt this was another convoluted part of the story. There is no mention of her in Cold Steel II and now she's Rixia Mao's rival? I mean, wouldn't at least Ilya know about her since Ilya and Rixia are great friends? I thought that was Ilya's job being Rixia Mao's rival.
Let's not forget that Rixia being back with Cao makes even less sense.
Also, do we really need a second Phantom Thief? Isn't that why we have Bleublanc?
Next is this Divine Blade named Shizuna who has a very gaudy outfit. Putting that aside, other than from Reverie there is no mention of her unless she is the girl that Rean was talking about with his talk with Cassius at Mishelam which is strange, because when he actually does meet her it's like he just met her and never knew who she was. Also, surely she would know who Rean was, but judging by the writing it didn't come across that way at all. You'd think at least Arios and Cassius would have known about her and there are no mention of the Ikaruga outside the annuals of Reverie.
There was no mention of Fie having a sister in the Cold Steel series. We only know that she had a stepfather. No mention of her actual biological parents. I feel like some areas of the story are just being sloppily done.
It isn't like Juna who we met in the Crosbell Arc. Kind of draws a void when you have nothing to relate to, get what I mean? It feels like they are just creating characters out of thin air and trying to throw everything together without regard of continuity. Though continuity went out the window after Cold Steel IV.
I have other problems with these two, but they are more of opinionated so I'll just keep that to myself.
Perhaps you can make sense of this. From what I'm seeing the series isn't very good at connecting the dots.
Strawmaning at it's finest. The best one is Juna being introduced in Azure, with is not true. She was added in the re-release done after Cold Steel 3, not in the original PSP release.