By now, Trails fans know all too well that it can take a long time for the latest entries Falcom's RPG series to come West. Publishing partner NIS America appears to be trying its best to bring the games over as quickly as it can, but colossal scripts mean that the localisation process is particularly gruelling.
As such, there's currently a significant delay in localising the most recent Trails titles. We're getting Trails from Zero in September, and then three other Trails games are scheduled for 2023. The problem, though, is that Falcom is pumping these projects out at an unprecedented pace. The latest saga in the series, starting with Kuro no Kiseki, is now in full flow. The second game in this new arc, Kuro no Kiseki II: Crimson Sin, will hit Japan later this year. It's fair to say that the West is well behind at this point, and some fans have even started to wonder whether Kuro no Kiseki is in contention for a Western release to begin with.
But all hope is not lost. Recently, we were lucky enough to bag an interview with company president Toshihiro Kondo, and the good news is that Falcom does have plans to bring Kuro no Kiseki to the West. Eventually.
Here's what Kondo-san told us: "Of course we intend to have [Kuro no Kiseki] come out in the West. There might be a time gap between it and the Japanese release, but please wait for more information once everything is decided."
So yeah, it sounds like we don't have to worry about the Kuro games actually coming overseas — it's just a question of when. Seeing as 2023 is already packed, we would assume that 2024 will be the target year. One day, we might catch up. One day...
We'll be publishing our full interview with Kondo-san in the near future.
Comments 21
Ideally once NIS America finish with that big bonanza of FOUR Trails games, that it means more time and energy can be focused on Kuro 1 and 2
Just gotta be patient and support the Western releases as they come. That's all we can do really.
Keep up the good work NISA! We believe in you!
The biggest problem is that by the time the West do get these games they can already feel dated which is such a shame. I'm very ignorant to why we don't get the releases at the same time but I hope that it can be sorted so one day we all get releases at the same time or a small gap at least.
I'm gonna be in my 40s when these games come out. Depressing thought, but I'm OK with it!
This series is in dire need of a graphical overhaul like Tales did
Japan is still getting a game a year but that game seems to be more and more likely to be trails. I wonder why the balance has shifted away from Ys and the other stuff?
@Jayslow nothing wrong with being in your 40's.
I've still to play through Cold Steel 2-4, but too many games and other hobbies vying for my free time. Be nice to get through them all in my lifetime but you never know. I might get hit by a bus or something!
@MightyDemon82 sure, nothing wrong with 40's, but he's just graduating highschool now.
Looking forward to this interview, love almost everything from Falcom.
@Athrum It already did. Cold Steel looks far, far better than the Crossbell games.
That's great news!
@nessisonett Yes they certainly made effective use of the additional power the Vita offered them over the PSP.
@nessisonett Well....yeah...but the new ones still look like Cold Steel.
@Valgore At least they did the cold steel series. The franchise would've honestly flopped if trails from zero released after 3rd which was like 2017
@Korgon I like your positive attitude. Patience is a virtue.
I wonder why the devs can't start localizing the game as the story is being written. Do they need to wait for pre-order numbers or something similar before devoting time and money for a western version? I don't know how big a colossal script would be.
@jorel262
That's a good question. I'm not very knowledgeable on the process of localization but I have heard it can be a difficult process to translate during development. I remember one of the devs from RGG studios said translating during development was quite difficult for the team to do with Lost Judgment and Sega is big enough to have their own internal localization team whereas Falcom has to partner up with a publisher, NISAmerica in this case, to get their games localized.
It also doesn't help that Trails has an enormous amount of dialog compared to most games. I put up a link to a interesting video that went into the trials and tribulations of getting Trails in the Sky SC localized if your interested.
https://youtu.be/k6oLRis7QXo
Of course we're getting them. That was never a problem really besides crossbell being a major if back then. The problem is the snail pace they come out at that makes you want to just move on from this series altogether.
On top of the fact geofront already translated the crossbell games. There's almost no excuse for how long those are taking, and why it took this long until geofront finished the translations is just beyond stupid and too coincidental.
@Athrum Agreed...sadly I don't see it happening anytime soon. For some reason certain companies are slower at upgrading character models than others.
Another series in dire need of an overhaul looks wise is the Hyperdimension Neptunia franchise.
Nice to see they want to bring them over. But yeah. They either need a new publisher in the west, or have two different teams bring them over. NISA is taking on way to many games at a time, so the releases take ages cause they are spreading themselves to thin, and often the localization isn't even great either (Geofront is good though).
@Korgon Thanks for responding and for the link. I'll check it out.
I figured we'd get the Kuro games but the wait will definitely be long haha. I need to start the series eventually.
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