The Trails series has been running for decades, and over the course of 13 meaty JRPGs newcomers are now looking at an investment of around 1,000 hours to see the full story. Toshihiro Kondo, Trails producer and president of developer Nihon Falcom, believes players can start pretty much wherever they want, which I guess is technically true if, say, you're also willing to start One Piece when the series is 1,155 episodes deep.
Where to start with Trails is "one of the top five questions I get asked when I go on overseas business trips," Kondo said in an official interview with publisher GungHo. "I think it's fine to just start with whichever title catches your interest," he said before immediately adding something more reasonable.
"That said, each game focuses on a different region," Kondo explained. "The protagonist also changes, causing the content of the game to change drastically. So it's probably best to start with the first title in a given arc."
A core part of the appeal of the Trails series is the intricacy of its lore and world-building, which grows deeper with each successive entry. While the individual arcs do mark reasonable jumping-on points for curious newcomers, it's often the very time investment in learning about this world that makes the series so beloved by its adherents. And admirably, while many other long-running game franchises grow obsessed with reboots to invite new players in and simultaneously alienate existing fans, Trails has committed to telling the same story for years – a story that is now nearing its conclusion.
Still, Kondo has a vested interest in making sure new players keep coming to the Trails series. A years-old comment that you can just start with Trails of Cold Steel 3, specifically, is now a running joke with fans, but again, it's technically true. I somehow became a Metal Gear fan by playing the subversive sequel Metal Gear Solid 2, then the prequel Snake Eater, before ever touching the original game, so you can learn to love a series in pretty much any order you want. I still wouldn't recommend it, though.
This time, however, Kondo has a much more reasonable take for newcomers. We've prepared Trails in the Sky from the very beginning," he said, referring to the acclaimed 2025 remake of the 2004 game that kicked off the series in the first place, "so we hope you can pick up the series from 1st Chapter."
These are the best JRPGs you can play today.
