With a Long Runner like the Trails Series, its passionate fans will debate on many things.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero and Trails to Azure
- Before NIS America announced official localizations in 2021, the order in which the Crossbell games should be localized was a huge point of debate among the fandom of the Trails Series. Some fans wanted the games to be localized before the third Cold Steel game, as Cold Steel III has several Late Arrival Spoilers to the plot of Zero and Azure. Others wanted the Erebonia arc to be finished before starting on the Crossbell arc, as they figured given how much time needs to be invested in translating the scripts of these games, and how niche the franchise is in the west, there was fear that it wouldn't make back the money invested. Once an English release for Cold Steel III was announced in early 2019, the debate died down, though until the official announcement happened, there was still worry among the fandom if the Zero and Azure localizations would ever be released or if they would be pushed to the side to prioritize localizing the newer games in the franchise.
- The Kai remasters (which formed the basis for the official localizations) adding cameos of Juna, her family, and Towa from the Cold Steel arc sparked much debate when they were first revealed. Supporters feel it makes sense given that later games established they were present in Crossbell at the time, and believe they're inoffensive as they amount to nothing more than a few optional lines and have no impact on the story or even sidequests. Opponents are angry at what they perceive as an Orwellian Retcon on Falcom's part, given these characters didn't exist at the time the Crossbell games were written, and feel the additions draw further attention to the Cold Steel arc's divisive use of Remember the New Guy?
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel I-IV
- The numerous amounts of Big Damn Heroes moments in II. Is it justifiable that the villains Class VII face are way out of their league and thus needs saving, or is it just a terrible narrative making Class VII look weak due to constantly being Overshadowed by Awesome in the end? This is fairly egregious due to how the Sky party was at least able to force the bosses to retreat, though it can be argued that Class VII is facing worse odds due to fighting Dual Bosses rather than simple Flunky Bosses.
- The bonding system can be this for the fans. Was it an interesting mechanic to find out more about the lives of the other Class VII members (and some other playable characters) and finally date them, or did it hurt their Character Development and series continuity in a game that's big on them? This got worse in the second game where detractors claimed that aside from Rean, Fie, Jusis, and Emma, everyone else felt Demoted to Extra.
- Building off of the bonding system's example: Cold Steel IV officially added Juna, Altina, and Musse to Rean's harem. On the one hand, some who liked the new girls and their relationship dynamics with Rean were happy with the development. Others, however, were less than pleased, as not only did this up the count of Rean's possible suitors (already a touchy subject from the first 2 games) from 8 to 11, but it can involve Rean possibly making the unethical decision to consider a future relationship with one of his students, which the detractors claim is very uncharacteristic of him (even if the age gap is fairly small). The base is especially broken for Juna (due to her being part of a Fan-Preferred Couple with Kurt) and Altina (due to most people considering her to be too young for Rean, as well as preferring a more familial relationship between the two). It wouldn't have been as bad... had it not been for the game's decision to make the Class VII girls' bonding events all unambiguously romantic.
- The song in 2nd PV
of III was thought to be the opening song of the game as the norm for the previous games but when the game came out, the opening is completely different. This made quite an argument among the fans wondering which song fits the game more and is the better of the two. Not to mention it made the fans wonder if the song in the 2nd PV isn't the opening theme, then what was the actual role of this particular music track? Although it turns out that it was the ending theme of the game which definitely fits as everything really went south very quickly. - The introduction of the Divine Knight battles from the end of Cold Steel onwards. A long-awaited way of allowing the protagonists to even the odds against enemy Humongous Mecha or a poorly timed case that resulted in Medium Blending between Fantasy and Science Fiction?
- Some fans disagree with how Class VII is stated to be "neutral" in the civil war since their skirmishes with the Noble Alliance break neutrality. They argue that "independent" would be a more appropriate term because the class doesn't follow the chain of command from either faction. On the other side of the argument, some fans argue that Class VII is aiming to be neutral in a similar way to the Bracers by focusing on helping civilians and students rather than directly aiming to win the war for the Imperial Army.
- Finally in Cold Steel IV, it's revealed that the whole Curse of Erebonia is Ishmelga. Did it invoke Rousseau Was Right properly? Considering the fact that one of the running themes of the series is how there's no such thing as a "single source of all evil" and the choice of being evil is derived from one's own choices rather than outside forces, this did not sit well with some fans as now pretty much every villain established at the end of Cold Steel III spontaneously has this convenient scapegoat to pin all their evil actions they caused throughout the series on it, making it look like a cheap cop-out for the characters who would have been villains without Ishmelga's influence given their personal motivations anyway. On the other hand, this also explains how some characters spontaneously underwent Took a Level in Jerkass and/or Face–Heel Turn for seemingly no reason, and the game is very clear in pointing out that Ishmelga would not have succeeded if it wasn't for the weaknesses of humanity that left them open to manipulation.
- The fact that Cold Steel III and IV would be localized by NIS America instead of XSEED has created a fractured base. There are fans who are unhappy with NIS taking over for several reasons, some justified (mostly their tendency to churn out translation train wrecks and porting disasters, although voice talent changes and even censorship has been cited) and want XSEED to be involved instead. Another group instead are just happy that it's at least getting a localization at all.note
- (Old) Class VII's becoming stronger as of III. Was the leap in power reasonable or overdone? This issue became a hot topic as of their performance in the Final Dungeon of III as the Boss Rush line-ups are comprised of individuals in question who once required your entire party to stop on an individual basis while now can be fought to a stalemate in groups by just three members plot-wise.
- Then there's the big one: which Class VII is better? Fans of the Old Class VII claim that New Class VII bloats the cast, feeling that New Class VII doesn't bring much to the table in the grand scheme of things, going so far as to claim that New Class VII invokes the Remember the New Guy? trope for all the members except Altina, and only because she's already been in the cast in Cold Steel II. Meanwhile, fans of the New Class VII claim that Old Class VII doesn't feel like they're a tight group due to not hanging out with each other all that much. They also claim that for all the hype about Old Class VII's friendship and bonds, what's shown on screen doesn't match the description especially since some end up getting Demoted to Extra.
- The treatment of Ouroboros as of IV was divisive for many fans mainly due to being Overshadowed by Awesome when pitted against Osborne. Even when the Grandmaster claims that things are still All According to Plan, many felt that it was a botched attempt at saving face than proving how cunning and powerful they are. On the other hand, this can be considered Catharsis Factor as until the climax of II, Ouroboros was this Invincible Villain for 5 games in a row, with them having the most to gain by the end of each plot. Being outwitted for the remainder of the Erebonia arc shows that for all their power, it's possible to beat them and prevents them from looking like Invincible Villains. Now with Osborne dead, it's safe to say that they might be getting back their competence in future installments.
