After the stage event promoting the release of Trails of Cold Steel III in Chinese, as well as the announcement of Trails of Cold Steel IV being released early 2019 in Chinese, Nihon Falcom president Toshihiro Kondo and voice actor Kouki Uchiyama stayed behind for another interview with press. One of the questions asked was whether the Crossbell duology of Trails games will be ported to PS4. [Thanks, Bahamut!]
Here are the highlights:
Media: During the stage event, you mentioned that Trails in the Sky characters will appear in the latest game. What role will they play?
Toshihiro Kondo, president: “Currently, the scale of events in the plot have escalated, and it’s not just the Erebonian Empire’s problem anymore, but rather a global-scale issue that might affect the entire continent. Because the Empire is a powerful militaristic nation, the other smaller countries have allied secretly in order to stop their threat.”
Media: Will Zero no Kiseki and Ao no Kiseki also be released on PlayStation 4?
Kondo: “Although I cannot make any specific promises, we do know that lots of fans love these two games, but do not have the consoles necessary to play them. As a precedent, we have previously released Evolution titles for the games, so the fans can look forward to more news in the future.”
Media: The Trails series has always foreshadowed future plot threads, so how will Trails of Cold Steel IV deal with all the remaining plot threads?
Kondo: “As I’ve mentioned before, Trails of Cold Steel III’s plot threads will see a conclusion in Trails of Cold Steel IV, and Trails in the Sky’s plot threads will also be resolved in Cold Steel IV. The ending of the Erebonia arc does count as solving one of the remaining plot threads from Trails in the Sky. All of the plot threads from all three country story arcs will see conclusion here in Cold Steel IV.
However, the continent of Zemuria will see a new country rise to power, causing new problems. It has been 14 years since the first Trails in the Sky debuted, and I have spent 16 years creating and developing the series. I can finally start to explain many of the elements that have been unclear over the past 16 years.”
Media: So the entire story for the Trails series is decided from the start?
Kondo: “I know approximately where the story should be headed, such as how the Erebonia arc will go, but we’ll find that some ideas just don’t work, so the details are adjusted gradually throughout development. Also, some games which were meant to be one game have to be split into two games due to being too long.”
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV will be released in Japan on September 27, 2018 for the PlayStation 4. The game will also come out in Traditional Chinese in Early 2019.
