History VideoGame / TrailsSeries

* [[/index]]''Akatsuki no Kiseki''[[note]]Localized as ''Trails at Sunrise'' in a ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsIntoReverie Trails Into Reverie]]'' minigame[[/note]] (2016; Japan only browser-based {{gacha game|s}}); Originally for PC, later ported to the PS Vita and [=PS4=]. PS versions [[DefunctOnlineVideoGames shut down]] in 2022.

[[caption-width-right:350:The protagonists of the series, so far. From left to right: [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsFromZeroAndTrailsToAzure Lloyd Bannings]], [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsInTheSky Kevin Graham, Estelle Bright]], [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfNayutaBoundlessTrails Nayuta Herschel]], and [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel Rean Schwarzer]]. Not pictured: [[Anime/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteelNorthernWar Lavian Winslet]], [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsIntoReverie <C>]], and [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesKuroNoKiseki Van Arkride]].]]

* AllInARow: How the party appears on the map in the first five games, before the shift to 3D in ''Cold Steel I''. It wouldn't return for five more games until ''Kuro''.

* AProtagonistShallLeadThem: These are the protagonists of their respective arcs: [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsInTheSky Estelle Bright]] in the Liberl arc, [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsFromZeroAndTrailsToAzure Lloyd Bannings]] in the Crossbell arc, and [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel Rean Schwarzer]] in the Erebonia arc. ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsIntoReverie Reverie]]'' later adds the masked individual 《Ｃ》, [[spoiler:who is the leader of the New Imperial Liberation Front. It is later revealed that C is actually '''Rufus Alberea'''!]] He is then followed by [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesKuroNoKiseki Van Arkride]] in the Calvard arc.

** ''Kuro'' has 8 main party members that stay permanently except for some parts of the story, with 5 playable guest members and 4 non-controllable guest members that join the party at certain points.

* ArcNumber: Seven. The Septian Church, seven types of Septium (and Arts), seven official Bracer Ranks, seven Sept-Terrion, seven Anguis of Ouroboros, seven planes of Phantasma, Class VII, seven floors of the Old Schoolhouse, seven Divine Knights... ''Kuro'' has the eight Genesis artifacts, but only ''seven'' are recovered by the end of the game.

** '''Kuro no Kiseki:''' The mafia organization Armata, lead by Gerard Dantès, [[spoiler:with their atrocities and kill count overshadowing all the other Big Bads so far, all to implant the ultimate Fear into the hearts of mankind.]]

* AttackDrone: The Alpha and Beta Drones Reverie can summon sort of work like this and the Forecep L and R units can separate and act like big drones (in fact, they're first seen operating independently). The Tactical Pod line of enemies also function like this on a personal level, starting with the prototypes [[spoiler:used by Weissmann]] which then reappear in ''Cold Steel''. Early designs of Tio [[WhatCouldHaveBeen were going to feature these as well]] as detachable parts of her armor. In the end, they were removed, though her [[MiniMecha Eidolon Gear]] does incorporate a pair. In ''Kuro'', Quatre has a drone named FIO that can assist him in battles.

** ''Kuro'' keeps the bloodless S-Crafts, but the game itself is [[BloodierAndGorier anything]] [[DarkerAndEdgier but]].

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesKuroNoKiseki'' features the Arkride Solutions Office in the Calvard Republic, a Spriggan agency that serves as an [[UnscrupulousHero unscrupulous]] counterpart to the Bracer Guild and law enforcement. The first game follows Van Arkride as his Spriggan practice evolves from a solo venture to one involving a dedicated cast of characters that are introduced throughout the game. [[spoiler:''Kuro II'' features some minor changes in the cast lineup, with Bergard being PutOnABus and Swin and Nadia joining the Arkride Solutions Office.]]

** "Chain Crafts" in ''SC'' and ''the 3rd'', "Combo Crafts" in ''Zero'' and ''Azure'', the "Tactical Link System" in the ''Cold Steel'' series and ''Reverie'', "S.C.L.M Chains" in ''Kuro'', and "EX Chains" in ''Kuro II'' are all examples, although Links and S.C.L.Ms are more about one character hitting the enemy and another character performing a follow-up attack if a certain condition is met.[[labelnote:Example]]For Links, if the enemy is inflicted with a CriticalHit or is weak from a certain weapon type.[[/labelnote]]

** Van's Grendel mode, since it really drains him when the transformation wears off, particularly during the early to middle parts of ''Kuro''. Truly becomes this [[spoiler:when Van forces Mare to turn him into Grendel one last time against Demon God Gerard.]]

** Phased out entirely in ''Kuro'', instead opting for the players being able to get enemy information just by fighting them a certain amount of times in the field.

** '''Kuro no Kiseki:''' [[spoiler:Demon God Gerard, a Gerard that artificially imitated [=McBurn=]'s Demon Lord form, serves as the normal final boss. And in an interesting twist for the series, Van himself, or rather his devil half Vagrants-Zaion that desires to merge with Van and become the more dominant personality, becomes the TrueFinalBoss.]]

** The main cast of ''Kuro'' includes 4 guys and 4 women.

* LazyBackup: The Crossbell games onwards introduced support party members, allowing you to have six or seven party members in total. However, the number of members you can use at a time is still four. If your active party is defeated, it's game over. ''Cold Steel III'' onwards avoids this by having your support members jump in after the active party is defeated. Note that party members need to be alive when defeating an enemy for experience points to avoid leeching, at least until ''Kuro''.

** '''Kuro no Kiseki:''' Genesis Tower, [[spoiler:a tower with the ability to stop time created by the Seventh Octo-Genesis.]]

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesKuroNoKiseki'' (2021 in Japan, TBA worldwide); [=PS4=], [=PS5=], and PC

** obtaining every volume of collectable novels is how you obtain the InfinityPlusOneSword in all the games but ''the 3rd''.

* AdventureGuild: The Bracer Guild. The lore goes on to explain that they're a non-governmental organization that's allowed to operate among the nations who agree to host them. They do follow regulations, though: while they have legal authority to perform arrests, they are not allowed to arrest politicians, and they are not allowed to break any laws of the nation they're in while carrying out contracts. Because that they operate outside of the authority of the government, they're seen in a poor light by the military, as well as more influential figures.

* ''Sora no Kiseki: Kizuna'' [[note]]tentatively translated as Trails in the Sky: Fetter[[/note]] (Android and [=iOS=], parts of Asia only[[note]]launched in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and Japan[[/note]]). Spinoff game by third party company [=UserJoy=]. Despite the name, it is set during the Crossbell Arc and features Lloyd and Elie as the protagonists. The story is basically an alternate interpretation of what happened in the Azure Tree during the Final Chapter of ''Trails to Azure'', as such it is not considered canon. Far-East and South-East Asia servers [[DefunctOnlineVideoGames shut down]] on 31st October 2018 due to Userjoy wanting to focus on porting ''Akatsuki'' to mobile, but it is thought that the Japan servers are still up.[[index]]

** In ''Zero'' and ''Ao/Azure'', every achievement earns points that can be used to unlock carryover bonuses in [[NewGamePlus New Game+]], as well as gallery modes, etc.

* AcidTripDimension: [[spoiler:Intersects with AlienGeometries with the "Another Dimension" versions of the Tetracyclic Towers in ''SC'', most of [[EldritchLocation Phantasma]] in ''the 3rd'', the eponymous Azure Tree in ''Ao/Azure'', and the Realm of the Great Shadow in ''Cold Steel I''.]]

* AdventureGuild: The Bracer Guild. The lore goes on to explain that they're a non-governmental organization that's allowed to operate among the nations who agree to host them. They do follow regulations, though: while they have legal authority to perform arrests, they are not allowed to arrest politicians, and they are not allowed to break any laws of the nation they're in while carrying out contracts. Due to the fact that they operate outside of the authority of the government, they're seen in a poor light by the military, as well as more influential figures.

* AlienGeometries: [[spoiler:Intersects with AcidTripDimension with the "Another Dimension" versions of the Tetracyclic Towers in ''SC'', most of [[EldritchLocation Phantasma]] in ''the 3rd'', the eponymous Azure Tree in ''Ao/Azure'', and the Realm of the Great Shadow in ''Cold Steel I''.]]
* AliensNeverInventedTheWheel: Roughly 50 years prior to the events of the series, there was a history-defining technological breakthrough dubbed the "Orbal Revolution" brought up by Professor C. Epstein. Epstein managed to develop technology capable of employing a mysterious energy known as "orbal energy" to power mass-produced mechanical devices called "orbments". These contraptions could be used for just about everything: lighting, heating, communications, weaponry and transportation, just to name a few. As such, mankind never developed anything that could not be powered by orbments. This flaw was eventually exploited when an enemy created a weapon capable of disabling orbments, stopping everything on their tracks. Interestingly, it was then revealed that an old inventor had in his possession a prototype diesel engine that he thought could put to use during this crisis, thus demonstrating that there was some kind of progression paralleling real world developments before orbal technology rendered it obsolete.

*** Speaking of dying, every battle will immediately start you back at the beginning if your party is wiped. While this can be a problem if the beginning state of the battle has you in an unwinnable situation, odds are there's a recent auto-save that won't push you back too far. The exceptions are [[HeadsIWinTailsYouLose specific boss battles]], where winning under specific conditions awards bonus Points and dialogue, but losing will immediately drop you back in the succeeding cutscene. This marks the rare instance in a ''Trails'' game where you'll need to physically reset to try again.

** Relatively more recently is the [[spoiler:Salt Pale Incident]] which caused the near-total collapse of [[spoiler:North Ambria]], which still hasn't recovered and probably never fully will.

** In the ''Crossbell'' arc, the total party limit is increased to six, with four being in the active party and two being in support slots. These members occasionally assist albeit with Support Crafts and you cannot switch with them during combat, with them being completely controlled by AI. However, in the climax of ''Ao/Azure'', you have access to 8 members in total, meaning that you have to leave two party members behind. Looks like having that large box for the experience gauge backfired, didn't it?
*** ''Zero'' has 4 permanent party members; Lloyd, Elie, Tio, and Randy. Other characters are only available during small portions of the game, but all of them are eventually playable again in ''Ao/Azure'', except for two characters.
*** ''Ao/Azure'' has a total of 8 endgame party members. You begin with four people; Lloyd, Elie, Noel, and Wazy. Tio returns in Chapter 2 and Randy in Chapter 3, bringing the total to six. In the finale, the 2 final characters rejoin; Dudley and Rixia.

* AutoRevive: The Puppet line of accessories, as well as the 'Angel' Master Quartz in ''Cold Steel'', permit the character to revive after death with a percentage of HP, EP and CP restored. The accessories are single-use, the Master Quartz has a per-battle limit. This is also a power of ''Ao/Azure'''s final boss; its first form will revive if you haven't killed all its support units.

* {{Bowdlerise}}: It's noted that from ''Cold Steel I'' onwards, Crafts and especially S-Crafts in the remakes of older games along with newer installments will replace blood spilling with either sword flashes or explosions. Case in point when comparing Richard's Afterglow Smasher between ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsEcPyymhck&t=9m42s FC]]'' and ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4ubJCuky60&t=42m06s FC Evolution]]'', along with Randy's Berserker in ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4slYCdZc2RQ&t=3m22s Ao/Azure]]'' and ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTo26kUlQfU&t=26m06s Cold Steel IV]]''.

* FishingMinigame: In every game since ''Sky - Second Chapter'', with locations scattered around the country you're currently inhabiting, multiple rods and types of bait (which usually needs to be farmed) and up to twenty different types of fish to catch. Some fish can themselves be used as bait to reel in even bigger fish, all can be sold for a reward and all fish give you items when caught. Finding the right location/bait combo is an easy way to accumulate lots of U-Material or all the Sepith you could ever want, along with some one of a kind items. Oh, and fishing is SeriousBusiness as each country has a Fishing Guild, with ''Ao/Azure'''s story involving a competition between Crossbell's Guild and members of the neighboring Erebonia's Imperial Fishing Guild.

** The core cast of ''Zero'' is one (with just 2 guys and 2 girls) and the full (permanent) playable cast of ''Ao/Azure'' is also balanced (two additional guys and two additional girls).

* GottaCatchEmAll: Monster Encyclopedia entries, fish, recipes, you name it. From ''Zero'' onwards, you get Records and/or PSN Trophies for doing this as well as unlocking nice items. Actually managing this is the source of a lot of GuideDangIt since many requirements are extremely time-limited.
** Even before that, obtaining every volume of collectable novels is how you obtain the InfinityPlusOneSword in all the games but ''the 3rd''.

** Erebonia has its own example of this in the War of the Lions, which was fought 250 years ago and had an even greater impact which is still felt in the present. [[spoiler:Just ask Arianrhod. There's also the civil war that ''was'' this trope in ''Ao/Azure'' but is shown ''onscreen'' in ''Cold Steel II'', with it getting started during the conclusion to ''Cold Steel I''.]] Finally in ''Cold Steel III'', there's also the Northern Campaign where [[spoiler:Erebonia annexes North Ambria, led by Aurelia Le Guin and Rean inside Valimar participates in said war.]] No, players don't get to see those events, aside from flashbacks.

* HighSpeedMissileDodge: The Arseille does this when going up against the Glorious in ''SC'', using its far greater maneuverability to great advantage. In ''Ao/Azure'', [[HumongousMecha Aion Type-Beta]] and [[spoiler:Kevin's Merkabah]] trade off doing this [[HomingLaser with lasers]].

* LeftHanging: Pretty much every game wraps up its main plot but leaves you with more unanswered questions than you had going in. In some cases you get cliffhangers where you only ''think'' the main plot has been resolved, until the last twenty minutes. ''Sky the 3rd'' is pretty much 'Left Hanging: The Game' since one of its primary reasons for existing was to set up plot threads for future story arcs.

* LongDeadBadass: The series has a couple of people near-universally held as standards of badass-dom who are dead by the time the games begin. In Crossbell, everyone agrees that Guy Bannings was awesome. He's been dead for three years by the time ''Zero'' begins. In Erebonia, Lianne Sandlot is the epitome of badass and she's been dead for 250 years, [[spoiler:Though not actually, as she is Arianrhod.]] On the more spoiler-y side is [[spoiler:Rufina Argent, hailed by [[ThePaladin Ein]] as the ideal Knight.]] [[spoiler:Baldur Orlando and the 'Jaeger King' were also the two strongest Jaegers in western Zemuria and known for being badasses. Both have died at each other's hands by the time ''Zero'' begins though we don't ''learn'' that until ''Ao/Azure''.]]

* MechaMooks: Ouroboros-made Archaisms are pretty much entirely automated and range from small scouting machines to HumongousMecha capable of fighting off small armies. They also create machines they sell or otherwise provide to various factions. Revache gets their hands on several sentinel-type units, as do several terrorist groups.

* NGOSuperpower: [[spoiler:Ouroboros, full stop. The upper leadership of the organization consists of only eight individuals with a maximum of 22 top agents below that. They have military technology that puts the best that everyone else can offer to shame and they have their fingers in every pie. If something strange is happening in any country, flip a coin. If it comes up heads, it's probably Ouroboros. Tails, it's probably someone being manipulated by Ouroboros.]]
** [[spoiler:To illustrate, Ouroboros has the world's largest airship (the Glorious, which can launch smaller craft which can launch still-smaller craft) as a mobile base of operations, they have HumongousMecha which can overpower conventional ''armies'' (Aion Type-Alpha alone flattened Garrelia Fortress, which was believed to be practically unassailable by conventional means) and they are making the largest country in western Zemuria dance to their strings because they're backing Osborne ''and'' the faction opposing him.]]

** The [[HumongousMecha Aion machines]] are made of a super-strong alloy that makes them more or less impervious to harm from conventional means. On top of this, they also spend most of ''Azure'' [[spoiler:empowered by Azure Demiourgos]] which allows them to operate at peak efficiency even in prolonged combat against opponents capable of employing distinctly ''unconventional'' means.
*** ''/Azure'', [[spoiler:Azure Demiourgos itself, by virtue of being a godlike fusion of the original Sept-Terrion with power over Time and Space added as well.]]

* OldMaster: Yun Ka-Fai. He is literally Anelace's grandfather and he's the man who ''invented'' the school of swordsmanship used by most of the series [[MasterSwordsman badass swordsmen]].

* ResignationsNotAccepted: [[InvertedTrope Inverted]], more or less with the secret society Ouroboros and its Enforcers. Thanks to the extraordinary amount of freedom granted them, they can go off and do their own thing for apparently as long as they want and still nominally be considered a member of the group without having to perform any duties. They can even fight other Enforcers and still be welcomed back with open arms. In the ''Cold Steel'' games, [[spoiler:Sharon Kreuger is welcomed back at the end of ''Cold Steel III'', despite having spent years serving the Reinford family.]]

** That said, they do have a few shades of gray, largely because they are a continent-spanning hierarchy with room for differences of opinion on how best to defend the faith and because they know things that most people do not. The general consensus is that most of the gray comes from higher authorities in the Church putting the long term ahead of the moment. The fact that [[spoiler:Kevin, Ries and Wazy]] willingly work for the Church despite being privy to some of its more secretive elements is a pretty good indication that the organization as a whole is good.
*** And even still, it has to be admitted that the Church higher-ups taking a "greyer", long-term view is understandable in the face of [[spoiler:the willingness of their usual opponents to routinely engage in the sorts of depravity and horror that would leave most good-hearted people as shell-shocked catatonics - and ''has'' for a while, in the cases of a couple playable characters.]]

* StoppedNumberingSequels: Falcom designated the ''Sky'' trilogy as Legend of Heroes VI (at the time ''FC'' came out, nobody outside Falcom knew they were planning to turn it into such a huge series) but they stopped numbering the games starting with ''Zero'', which was originally announced as 'Legend of Heroes VII' but the numbering was dropped when the title was revealed and they haven't looked back since then. As of 2014, the ''Trails'' games outnumber the pre-''Trails'' games. It's pretty much outgrown the need for numbers at this point. At least until ''Reverie'' showed in the [[spoiler:Grandmaster-Gramhardt episode where it says "To be continued in ''The Legend Of Heroes IX''." So while the games no longer show it, the developers clearly count it as such.]]
** It's still definitely numbered internally. The PC executables are a clear sign of this, ''Trails in The Sky FC'' has the ID of ''[=ED6=]''[[note]]''ED'' meaning ''Eiyū Densetsu'' - the Japanese name for ''The Legend of Heroes''[[/note]] with the sequels being tagged as ''[=ED6_2=]'' and ''[=ED6_3=]'' respectively, and ''Trails of Cold Steel'' has the ID of ''[=ED8=]'' with sequels ''[=ED8_2=]'', ''[=ED8_3=]'' and ''[=ED8_4=]''. See what they did there?[[note]]Of course, this means the Crossbell Arc is ''[=ED7=]''. However, it also means that ''Reverie'' is part of the ''Erebonia Arc'' if ''Kuro'' is to be counted as ''[=ED9=]'', making said arc the biggest in the series to date.[[/note]]

* WalkingSpoiler: Because this series has a continuous narrative and characters tend to remain relevant after their individual arcs, it's pretty much impossible to talk about later games without certain massive character spoilers. It's also pretty difficult to look at character profiles for certain individuals without realizing that Something Is Up owing to all the spoilers.

* WorldBuilding: Pretty much any review of a game in the series will mention the world-building, which is very well known for. The series is a really big world where every character from the main characters all the way down to [=NPCs=] that players can interact have an ongoing story that's happening while the plot is moving forward. From every arc there's hundreds of hours of plot content plus side quests that help build up the lore of the franchise. And they're all interconnected as well.

* YouCantThwartStageOne: In general, Ouroboros's plans are thoroughly laid out so that there's no way to keep them from accomplishing their bare minimum objectives even if a few Enforcers are beaten in boss battles. The only reason why the Enforcers even bother entertaining the party's challenges is because they have [[ItsPersonal personal reasons]] for fighting the party, they need to stall for time, [[BloodKnight they're bored]], or some combination of the previous reasons. [[spoiler:Although Osborne managed to thwart ''stage two'' or at least change it a bit for Ouroboros.]]
* YourDoorWasOpen: A common [=RPG=] trope in full effect here. All of the games in this franchise are full of apartments and private homes. Your characters can pretty much just walk freely into any of them and chat up the residents, none of whom seem even the slightest bit bothered or surprised by the sudden presence of these people in their homes.

* ''VideoGame/TokyoXanadu'': Despite being a spinoff of a sibling franchise called ''Xanadu'', this game deserves an honorable mention in how frequent ''Trails'' lore are given {{Shout Out}}s in it. It even recycled character designs from past ''Trails'' games, reused music from other ''Trails'' games, and even reused game code from the first two ''Cold Steel'' installments (namely, Blade, Mishy Panic, the swimming minigame, and the ''Cold Steel II'' version of the fishing minigame are available here, alongside the snowboarding minigame from ''Cold Steel II'' being revamped into a ''skateboarding'' minigame). Also notable in that one particular element in this game is revisited in ''Trails Into Reverie''. It received an UpdatedRerelease called ''Tokyo Xanadu [=eX+=]''.

* ActionDad: Cassius Bright in the ''Sky'' arc, and Teo Schwarzer to a much lesser extent in the ''Cold Steel'' arc. [[spoiler:Also applies to Giliath Osborne in ''Cold Steel IV'' as an "evil" example of this trope.]]

* AdvertisedExtra: [[spoiler:In ''Reverie'', The Grandmaster is the main focus of the cover of the game. Trailers even show that she's weaving three different lights (supposedly representing the three protagonists of the game, [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel Rean]], [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsFromZeroAndTrailsToAzure Lloyd]], and [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsIntoReverie Rufus]]), and combining the three lights into one with her hand. In-game however, she only shows up ''once'', in a special episode foreshadowing the future Calvard arc, talking with both [=McBurn=] and the newly elected president of Calvard. Also those three lights? Turns out they represent the prequels for what is to come in the Calvard arc.]]

* AmbiguouslyEvil: One of the biggest mysteries of the series so far is finding out whose side [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel Lechter Arundel]] is on. In public, he's the secretary of the Blood and Iron Chancellor, [[EvilChancellor Giliath Osborne]]. However, he also has connections to Osborne's biggest rival, [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsInTheSky Prince Olivert Reise Arnor, as well as Princess Klaudia.]] Also, he has been shown working together in Crossbell with an known Calvardian agent. [[spoiler:And then there's the mystery as to whether he is actually a member of Ouroboros, as he talks just like the 4th Anguis.]] His true allegiance is finally revealed in ''Cold Steel III'', and it lies [[spoiler:with Osborne to atone for the sins his father had caused, due to his father being responsible for the Tragedy of Hamel.]] And then ''Cold Steel IV'' reveals [[spoiler:that he wanted to kill Osborne out of revenge for his father's death, as Osborne is the one who had him executed. However, the death of [[MoralityPet Millium]] broke him emotionally and made him decide to see Osborne's plans through to the end, thinking that he's come too far now and that Millium's sacrifice will have been for nothing otherwise.]]

* ContractualBossImmunity: Final bosses in the series are inevitably immune to Instant Death (as are most but not all bosses generally) and the nastier status effects like Petrify and Faint. However, you can frequently encounter other bosses vulnerable to non-OHKO effects such as Delay, which in one case, turns the penultimate boss fight of a game into a CurbStompBattle; [[spoiler:(Garcia in ''Zero'')]], others can allow you to do things like confuse all enemies into killing each other; [[spoiler:(Kanone in ''FC'')]], or perpetually inflict Paralysis; [[spoiler:(Scarlet in ''Cold Steel'').]] Also, many bosses are vulnerable to at least some stat-downs.

** Also, by the time of ''Ao/Azure'', the Special Support Section and the First Division of the CSPD and the local branch of the Bracers Guild are all on these terms with each other. Before, it was a three-way case of JurisdictionFriction.

* KeepItForeign: The series loves to sprinkle in names, terms, and concepts from European languages, especially German. The Gralsritter in particular are almost invariably referred to as such. The number of times they're called "Grail Knights" can be counted on one hand.

* LeyLine: Septium in the ground naturally releases energy which flows between concentrations of the crystal, the so-called 'Septium Veins'. These first become important in ''SC'' because one of the Gospels is able to manipulate these pulses to cause earthquakes, provided that it's stuck at an appropriate intersection of existing lines. It also becomes important in the Crossbell arc [[spoiler:as the pulses are the medium through which 'will' was transferred between Gnosis test subjects and Demiourgos]] and the greatest intersection of these lines is the location of the final dungeon of ''Azure'',the Azure Tree. In ''Cold Steel II'' they come up again [[spoiler:as the 'Spirit Path', a method of teleporting ''through'' the pulses to specific locations. Also, the game reveals that [[{{Unobtanium}} Zemurian Ore]] is the condensed energy of the Septium Pulses, crystallized.]]

* LongDeadBadass: The series has a couple of people near-universally held as standards of badass-dom who are dead by the time the games begin. In Crossbell, everyone agrees that Guy Bannings was awesome. He's been dead for three years by the time ''Zero'' begins. In Erebonia, Lianne Sandlot is the epitome of badass and she's been dead for 250 years, [[spoiler:Though not actually, as she is Arianrhod.]] On the more spoiler-y side is [[spoiler:Rufina Argent, hailed by [[ThePaladin Ein]] as the ideal Knight.]] Also, [[spoiler:Baldur Orlando and the 'Jaeger King' were the two strongest Jaegers in western Zemuria and known for being badasses. Both have died at each other's hands by the time ''Zero'' begins though we don't ''learn'' that until ''Ao/Azure''.]]

* NarrativeFiligree: Falcom absolutely adores this trope. While there are recycled NPC designs for more generic individuals, almost everyone has a name and everyone has evolving dialogue and their own little story going on in the background. Sometimes these become important to the main plot [[spoiler:such as Grancel's Bishop in ''SC'', if you talk to him at just the right time]] and other times they play a part in a later sidequest but mostly, they're just there for fun and world-building. Also, Falcom really loves foreshadowing many games in advance.

*** Also from ''Ao/Azure'', [[spoiler:Azure Demiourgos itself, by virtue of being a godlike fusion of the original Sept-Terrion with power over Time and Space added as well.]]

* OptionalCharacterScene: The games has dialogue variations for all possible party combinations, which can sometimes involve fairly major changes. On occasion, having one or more specific characters will trigger extra scenes beyond this. For example, near the end of ''Sky - SC'' if you bring particular characters to the fights against the Enforcers, you will see additional scenes. Also, ''Sky - The 3rd'' has a lot of these and ''Azure'' does something similar, also having some scenes that trigger [[GuideDangIt later in the game]] if you bring the right person to the right place beforehand. ''Cold Steel'' has a major addition to the trip to Heimdallr to pick up the costumes for the concert if you're on New Game Plus and if [[spoiler:Emma]] is the selected partner, to say nothing of the entire Bond Event system where you can pick who to spend time with on your days off, always resulting in unique scenes.

* RealMenLoveJesus: Zemuria is quite religious and most characters will mention their goddess Aidios at one point or another. This includes notable badasses like Cassius Bright and Victor S. Arseid. Also [[spoiler:every single member of the [[ChurchMilitant Gralsritter]]]] who are badass by definition.

* SmokeOut: The Smoke Ball item appears from ''Zero'' onwards (when running became a percentage thing, not guaranteed) and allows your party to instantly escape from non-plot battles. Also employed by certain characters as distractions.

* TimeyWimeyBall: [=KeA=] rewriting history in ''Zero''. Also, according to ''Kizuna'', [[spoiler:the appearance of the Azure Tree causes this to happen.]]

** Also, when using [[spoiler:Mode-S, the Merkabah class of airship have the [[PowerCopying Stigma Cannon]]]].

* [[/index]]''Akatsuki no Kiseki'' (2016; Japan only browser-based {{gacha game|s}}); Originally for PC, later ported to the PS Vita and [=PS4=]. PS versions [[DefunctOnlineVideoGames shut down]] in 2022.

* AdamSmithHatesYourGuts:
** Actually averted (though this is equally illogical at times) with items costing the same amount regardless of where you buy them or when in the game you do so. A Tear Balm purchased in Grancel in ''FC'' will cost exactly as much as one you bought in Rolent at the start of the game. Most of the time, the items you buy aren't manufactured locally and the ones that ''are'' are only sold in that location so there isn't much reason for the prices to be different. Why the unique items tend to go up in value with every new location on the other hand... although it at least some cases it makes perfect sense. If you're selling restored 1200+ year old relics incorporating LostTechnology, you'd probably charge more than for the gear your local blacksmith could make too.
** It also averts KarlMarxHatesYourGuts; in ''Zero'', for example, while you can't buy Honey Syrup in Armorica for cheap and sell it for a profit in Mainz (which you'd think would be logical since it's made in the former and the latter is a remote area that has to import everything and a sidequest actually makes a point of how profitable the stuff is when exported) you ''can'' derive a profit from your labor with certain cooking recipes that sell for more than the cost of the ingredients needed to make the items. You can also derive a profit from selling the fish you catch.
* AdjectiveNounFred: It's common for cities in Liberl and Erebonia to be referred to in this fashion, such as 'Seaport City of Ruan' or 'Trading Town of Celdic'. Some places get multiple adjectives, such as 'Heimdallr, the Vermillion Imperial Capital'.
* AdultsAreUseless: Averted. It's true that the playable cast tends to be on the younger side (because they tend to be newcomers to their respective professions) but older characters are as effective or more, they just don't get as much time in the spotlight. Good examples include [[LivingLegend Cassius]] and Morgan in the ''Sky'' arc, [[TheAce Arios, Sergei, and Dudley]] in the ''Crossbell'' arc, and [[BadassTeacher the entire Thors faculty]] in the ''Cold Steel'' arc, along with every named officer in the military in any game.
** And even then, in the Liberl campaign, in ''SC'' and ''the 3rd'' more than ''half'' of the people who join your party are adults - the "teens and kids" are actually a minority of the playable cast. Even ''FC'' is "merely" an even split between the kids (Estelle/Joshua/Kloe/Tita[[note]]and even ''then'' the first two are arguably also adults as they are fully trained, if inexperienced, professionals starting out in their careers[[/note]]) and adults (Scherazard/Olivier/Agate/Zin). It's only the Crossbell and Erebonia arcs that began to skew the cast younger - and ''even then'', most of the "teens" in Crossbell, at least, are still at least of the age of majority and every party member is ostensibly a working professional. Yes, even Tio, to the initial surprise of the rest of the cast.
** And then we have the original [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel Class VII]] that starts their adventure as teens in ''Cold Steel I'', but by ''Cold Steel III'', almost all of them are adults and ''way more'' competent in their fields thanks to their experience. Rean, Alisa, Laura, Machias, Emma, Jusis, and Gaius are all 20 years old (the age of majority in Japan) in ''III'' (though Rean is 19 at chapter 1 of ''III'' and becomes 20 by chapter 2). Meanwhile, Elliot and Fie are getting there, being 19 and 18 respectively. Millium is the youngest of the group, with her being 15. [[spoiler:Also, Crow is an adult as well, with him being 22 by ''Cold Steel III'' and ''IV''.]]
** In ''Kuro'', four of the eight playable main party members are under 20: Aaron (19[[labelnote:Although]] He turns 20 the chapter after he's introduced[[/labelnote]]), Agnes (16), Quatre (15) and Feri (13). All the other members, including the guest party members, are past 20 with Van, the protagonist himself, being the second oldest character of the main eight at 24 years old.
** This aversion is also somewhat deconstructed alongside the KidHero trope. Since most of the villains are very competent adults, the younger heroes are almost always outmatched by them in terms of combat and planning.

* AllSwordsAreTheSame: Your weapons don't change appearance as you equip new ones, but since most characters have unique equipment, there isn't any crossover between Agate's large blades and Kloe's rapiers. ''Cold Steel I'' averts this and distinguishes between Elliot and Emma's Orbal Staves, providing some unique and some shared ones.

* AnEconomyIsYou: Generally averted, where every establishment you visit, from stores to street vendors, is a legitimate business that deals with customers besides you on a regular basis. There are many [[AdventureGuild Bracers]] besides you who need to make use of the weapon shops, after all. Some sidequests have you testing new products before they go on the mass-market. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] when a shopkeeper in ''Zero'' explains that after he got a shipment of orbal staves from Tio's boss, he's stuck with them, and figures she'd better buy his stock.
-->'''Gironde''': Don't worry, though. I don't intend to sell these orbal staves to anyone but you, miss. Y'know, isn't selling them to me, only to sell to you sort of strange? I mean, I feel like there're better ways to go about that.

* CantDropTheHero: Averted; While the protagonists will always be an available option among a frequently rotating cast, unless they're explicitly stated to be required for an upcoming battle/segment there's nothing stopping you from swapping the protagonists such as Estelle or Rean out of the actual party if you have more than the ArbitraryHeadcountLimit.

* ConservationOfCompetence:
** Very neatly averted with Ouroboros. Aside from [[spoiler:one moment of Weissmann carrying the IdiotBall]] and chronic ButtMonkey [[spoiler:Gilbert]], everyone we see is consistently and extremely competent, which is one of the reasons they're able to be a convincing threat across the entire series.
** This is also what cements [[spoiler:Giliath Osborne]]'s status as a MagnificentBastard, as [[spoiler:he completely blindsides ''Ouroboros'' despite their record of extreme competence.]]

* FantasyCounterpartCulture: A few of these. The most obvious is Leman, which is Zemurian Switzerland. The country is the origin of the famously neutral Bracers Guild and the birthplace of the Orbal Revolution.

* FirstEpisodeTwist: Because of the nature of the series, this is to be expected.
** It's pretty much impossible to talk about any game after ''FC'' without revealing [[spoiler:the existence of Ouroboros or the fact that 'Professor Alba' and Joshua have ties to the organization. 'Professor Alba', actually Georg Weissmann, is the Third Anguis, while Joshua is an amnesiac former assassin and Enforcer No. XIII.]]
** It's pretty much impossible to talk about any game after ''SC'' without mentioning [[spoiler:that Renne is also a member of Ouroboros, that the Liber Ark exists and that Kevin, Olivier and Campanella are all far more important than the people they initially present themselves as being.]]
** It's also impossible to talk about any game after ''Ao/Azure'' without mentioning [[spoiler:the existence of the D∴G Cult and Gnosis]] from ''Zero''... and ''Ao/Azure'' itself is a FirstEpisodeTwist for ''Cold Steel'', making a large chunk of the plot (though not the specific details) a massive ForegoneConclusion that makes it hard to talk about the game with people not familiar with the earlier entries without spoiling things.
** Then it's pretty much impossible to talk about any game after ''Cold Steel I'' without mentioning [[spoiler:Crow is <C>, the ILF are agents of the Noble Faction, Sharon is a member of Ouroboros, and Vita and Misty are the same person and ''also'' a member of Ouroboros.]]
** It's impossible to talk about any game after ''Cold Steel II'' without mentioning [[spoiler: that the Reformist Faction wins and Osborne takes over Crossbell (though this was already spoiled by ''Ao/Azure''), Osborne is not dead ''and'' has declared war against Ouroboros, Osborne is Rean's father, Crow is dead, Ouroboros ''loses'' for the first time, Emma is a witch, Rufus is TheMole for Osborne and is the Governor-General of Crossbell, Altina and Millium were obtained by Osborne from the Thirteen Factories, and Lloyd and Rean had a duel at the Geofront (alongside Rixia and Altina).]]
** Then you can't even talk about any game after ''Cold Steel III'' without finding out...well, [[WhamEpisode pretty much everything]]. Most notably, [[spoiler: Ash is the third survivor of Hamel and shot the Emperor, Alisa's dad is Black Alberich, Millium sacrificed herself and turned into a sword, Rean killed the (corrupted) Holy Beast of Earth with said sword and lost control of his powers, said act unleashed the curse onto Erebonia, Azure Siegfried was Crow all along, and Rutger, Arianrhod, and ''Osborne'' are all Awakeners.]]

** Averted in [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsFromZeroAndTrailsToAzure Crossbell State]] with the conflict between Erebonia and Calvard, which is treated more as an EvilVersusEvil conflict. Both countries are treated as expansionist, wanting to absorb Crossbell into their borders so they can take their resources and tax revenue for their own desires, with little regard for the citizens of Crossbell. Despite this, the main villains of the games [[spoiler:aren't from Erebonia or Calvard, but are citizens of Crossbell who have gotten fed up with being caught in the tug-of-war between the two countries.]]

* HealthDamageAsymmetry: Averted in most of the games, where bosses are capable of dishing out bigger numbers than the party while still having a mountain of HP. On higher difficulties, it's possible for bosses to deal more damage with their ''normal'' attacks than players can deal with their [[LimitBreak S-Crafts]].

* HeroesPreferSwords: Averted by the protagonists of the first five games, it's not until Rean in the sixth game that we get a protagonist who really uses a sword. Played with in the case of Anelace, who ''wants'' to be a hero and uses a sword, but she's a supporting character, not one of the protagonists.

* ImprobableAccessoryEffect: The series tries to avert this as much as possible. Some accessories just make sense (a lighter to keep you warm prevents Freeze and aromatic herbs prevent you from falling asleep) but in a number of cases, the explanation is rooted in the presence of MagicFromTechnology. The Grail Locket (prevents all status ailments) in particular is explained as being based on a piece of LostTechnology. There are also completely straight examples, such as the Lionheart Medals in ''Cold Steel''.

* IrrelevantSidequest: Averted. In the first two arcs, the main characters are part of organizations whose members are being paid specifically to help citizens with their troubles as well as assisting the government.
** In ''FC'', the original purpose of Estelle and Joshua journeying around Liberl was to help out at each of the Bracers Guild branches to show they have what it takes to be full members; they fell into the 'Save the Kingdom' job more or less by accident. In ''SC'', the saving takes priority but that's no excuse to neglect the other aspects of the job.
** As police officers trying to assist the poor public image of the CSPD, the fact that you spend a lot of time in ''Zero'' and ''Ao/Azure'' helping people out also makes perfect sense.
** In ''Cold Steel'', as you're students at a military academy performing a combination of assisting with Student Council duties (helping students and others at Thors and in Trista) and jobs assigned to you as part of your Field Exams. [[spoiler:This is because Olivert is trying to make Class VII a shining example for Erebonians, so having Nobles and Commoners working together on jobs ranging from eliminating dangerous monsters to helping a store owner find a replacement record is all part of the process.]]
** Meanwhile, ''Kuro'' has the protagonist be a Spriggan, someone that can work with ''anyone'' regarding their requests as long as they have the money for it, and they all go from plain to questionable. Due to its nature, people putting up requests usually make it secretive, making sure it has a "4spg" mark as an indicator.

* KidHero: Deconstructed, especially since this is a universe that mostly averts AdultsAreUseless. No matter how much talent the younger heroes have, they don't fare well against the more experienced adult villains that even adult heroes have trouble with. As a result, each new cast of young heroes doesn't make a huge difference in stopping [[AncientConspiracy Ouroboros's]] plans and can only find small personal victories at best.

* LazyBackup: The Crossbell games onwards introduced support party members, allowing you to have six or seven party members in total. However, the number of members you can use at a time is still four. If your active party is defeated, it's game over. ''Cold Steel III'' onwards averts this by having your support members jump in after the active party is defeated. Note that party members need to be alive when defeating an enemy for experience points to avoid leeching, at least until ''Kuro''.

** Played straight with the map of Liberl, because that country is located at the far western end of the Zemurian Continent and Falcom has been keeping the details of the rest of the world outside its immediate surroundings hidden. Major locations are known to exist much farther north and east and no doubt we'll eventually get maps that avert this entirely.

* LeyLine: Septium in the ground naturally releases energy which flows between concentrations of the crystal, the so-called 'Septium Veins'. These first become important in ''SC'' because one of the Gospels is able to manipulate these pulses to cause earthquakes, provided that it's stuck at an appropriate intersection of existing lines. It also becomes important in the Crossbell arc [[spoiler:as the pulses are the medium through which 'will' was transferred between Gnosis test subjects and Demiourgos]] and the greatest intersection of these lines is the location of the final dungeon of ''Ao/Azure'',the Azure Tree. In ''Cold Steel II'' they come up again [[spoiler:as the 'Spirit Path', a method of teleporting ''through'' the pulses to specific locations. Also, the game reveals that [[{{Unobtanium}} Zemurian Ore]] is the condensed energy of the Septium Pulses, crystallized.]]

** Averted with extreme prejudice in the ''Cold Steel'' series as it progressed. Main source of damage are now from the melee characters due to the implementation of the [[CombinationAttack Combat Link]] system which exponentially increased overall melee damage dealt. The introduction of the BreakMeter as of ''III'' turned this up to eleven which reduced the main plan of attack to [[AttackAttackAttack "Let's hit the enemy as many times as possible."]] Also, the dodge-tanks in question now deal so much damage that with enough patience, they can ''effectively take on multiple bosses at once.''

* NominalImportance: Averted. Only a tiny handful of [=NPCs=] ''don't'' have names. Pretty much everyone else though? Names, running background story and the very real possibility that they'll be involved in a sidequest at some point. The corollaries do hold true though for the most part: If they have a portrait, they're more important to the plot than if they don't (exception: three-fourths of Kurt's team lacked portraits in the original release of ''FC'' but they still turned out important) and non-battle voice acting is limited to ''really'' important characters, with the exception of [[UpdatedRerelease ''Zero no Kiseki Evolution'' and ''Ao no Kiseki Evolution'']], which give everyone involved in the main plot a voice.

* NunsAreMikos: Played straight, averted and downplayed. Your average Sister averts this, acting pretty much like you would expect a real-world nun to act. [[spoiler:The ones who ''don't'' do this (and thus play the trope straight) are members of the [[ChurchMilitant Gralsritter]] who swear an entirely different set of vows.]] An example of this trope downplayed comes from Rosine, a student at Thors who helps out at the local Church in her spare time, habit included, but doesn't act strictly like a real nun would be expected to. [[spoiler:Then in ''Cold Steel II'', Rosine also plays this trope since she's revealed to be a squire working for Thomas, one of the Gralsritter's Dominion.]]
* OffscreenInertia: Totally averted; advance the plot a little bit and the NPC who was talking to their neighbor about what to buy for dinner will be found in the store buying groceries, the NPC getting beaten in a sparring match will be taking a break and the girl standing in the rain will be inside warming up. Everyone is moving around as long as you are.

* OnlyShopInTown: Averted in that each city tends to contain separate locations to buy weapons and armor, Quartz and Orbment modifications and a smattering of smaller shops, stalls and bars for healing items, cooking and miscellaneous goods. Particularly small locations like Ravennue play this straight but when you're a community of only a dozen or so, there's not much point in diversifying. Bose completely averts this with its massive Bose Market and Crossbell City has several areas of town which each contain multiple stores. Heimdallr in the Erebonia arc has multiple shopping ''districts'', each containing multiple stores to visit.

* PlayerExclusiveMechanic: While enemies operate under essentially the same rules you do (cheap abilities like Sigmund's Ogre Cry notwithstanding) there is one thing the computer should be able to do but never will, even when it's controlling ''your'' characters during the friendly sparring matches in ''Cold Steel'': S-Breaking. This is a mercy since having to worry about whether your enemy has the CP to simply steal a turn and get a bonus like Critical or Death with no warning would make some battles next to impossible.
** This mechanic however is averted in ''Cold Steel III'' where some bosses ''will'' jump their Turn Order if they want to use their S-Breaks unless the enemies are inflicted with the "Break status".
** In ''Cold Steel III'', Brave Order is a party-exclusive mechanic that allows your characters to buff your party for several turns with effects such as heavily increasing Break Damage or greatly reducing your delay between turns. In ''Cold Steel IV'', however, you encounter certain select bosses which can use "Anti-Orders," which both debuff your party and prevent you from using your own Orders until they wear off.

** ''FC'' and ''Zero'' both have Prologues that make up a decent chunk of the game, especially in ''FC'''s case as it makes up the entirety of your time spent in Rolent and consists of about 10-20% of the game. In both cases, done intentionally to set up the characters and the world. Other games have somewhat shorter prologues but still tend to throw in a dungeon or two to explore, several boss fights and lots of juicy character development. The only game to avert this is ''the 3rd''.

* TakeYourTime: A trope that is sometimes played straight but frequently averted. Since your characters are ''supposed'' to be doing the sidequests, it's usually not surprising that the game allows you to do them during the main quest. There is a certain element of time-taking at work when, for example, you're supposed to be investigating a recent incident but can spend hours fishing or helping random townspeople with their problems before getting around to the investigation. Generally [[AcceptableBreaksFromReality handwavable]] and whenever the plot gets really serious, this tends to be averted entirely as you stop being able to do ''any'' sidequests until you take care of whatever seriously important event is happening.

* TheBattleDidntCount:
** In post-battle cutscenes, most of the human bosses will show little visible fatigue (and possibly pull a VillainExitStageLeft) or [[JustToyingWithThem reveal that they had yet to reveal their true power]].
** There are a few instances where this trope works in favor of the protagonists, such as when Estelle is instantly defeated in a scripted fight with [[spoiler:a brainwashed Joshua]] only to fight [[spoiler:Weissmann]] afterwards, or the times when Rean manages to pilot Valimar immediately after {{Hopeless Boss Fight}}s.
* TheCatfish: From ''SC'' onwards, there has been a fishing minigame which inevitably includes at least one legendary fish, the catching of which proves that your character is a true fisherman. Usually, catching this fish can only be done after catching every other kind of fish in the game and requires [[GuideDangIt lots of trial and error or a guide]] to find in the first place. ''SC'' and ''Cold Steel I and II'' have one each, ''Zero'' has two lesser ones and a main one and ''Azure'' has '''five''', the first four needing to be caught before you can attempt the fifth. Catching them tends to reward you with a one of a kind item.
* TheFaceless: In ''Ao/Azure'', those Anguis whose identities hadn't been revealed yet were represented in artwork as cloaked figures.
* TheFamine: What happens in the nation of [[GrimUpNorth North Ambria]], which was hit by the [[ApocalypseHow Salt Pale]], a giant pillar of salt that turned anything it came into contact with to salt: it bled into the soil and spread throughout North Ambria, killing a third of its population and, while the Salt Pale eventually stopped and ran out of power, the soil was damaged beyond repair through salinization, making it difficult to grow anything, and making living conditions for the survivors terrible.
* TheGhost: Yun Ka-Fai, who has been mentioned since ''the 3rd'' and has been a teacher and mentor to a number of characters. As of the end of ''Cold Steel'', he still has never been seen. Perhaps to [[LampshadeHanging remind us of this]], that game revealed that he is known in-universe as the Sword Hermit.
* TheLegendOfChekhov: Any of the short story books found by players in the game are all based on real events that had happened before and these characters are all alive. Confirmed characters who have shown up are: [[spoiler: Toval (Toby), Ein, and Micht (from Carnelia), Roselia (from Red Moon Rose), Swin, Nadia and the Emperor (from Three & Nine).]]
* TheLegendOfX: Any title in ''The Legend of Heroes'' series.
* TheMainCharactersDoEverything: Averted. While the main characters resolve incidents that should be far beyond their position's capabilities, they still need the help of more powerful organizations and individuals, especially when it comes to dealing with Ouroboros. [[spoiler:This is actually deconstructed in the very first game, where Alan Richard treats Cassius Bright as a hero who near-singlehandedly won the Hundred Days War, causing him to become desperate for forbidden power when his idol retires from the military.]]
* TheVoice: All the Anguis and the Grandmaster in ''the 3rd'', who are visually represented by pillars and light but the only thing we have to distinguish them is their voices and speech patterns. Since then, several have been revealed to the player while others remain mysterious.

* WelcomeToCorneria: Averted with extreme prejudice. It doesn't matter where the player is in the game; everytime they talk to the same NPC after an event has passed, there will always be a new dialogue.

* AppropriatedTitle: ''{{Creator/Falcom}}'s'' ''VideoGame/DragonSlayer'' series went through it thee or four times. The second game in the series was called ''Dragon Slayer II: Xanadu''. Then, ''Xanadu'' became a title for its own series, but "Dragon Slayer" series continued. Then, two series merged again, in a game titled ''Dragon Slayer VIII: The Legend of Xanadu'', while its sequel, ''The Legend of Xanadu II'', finally dropped the ''Dragon Slayer'' title for good.
** The third time cames from ''Dragon Slayer VI'', that had the subtitle ''The Legend of Heroes''. The sequel, ''Dragon Slayer: The Legend of Heroes II'', StoppedNumberingSequels, and the ''VideoGame/GagharvTrilogy'' stopped using "Dragon Slayer" altogether. The ''Trails Series'' still uses ''The Legend of Heroes'' title, but ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfNayutaBoundlessTrails'' dropped it, if only for one game.
* AProtagonistShallLeadThem: These are the protagonists of their respective arcs: [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsInTheSky Estelle Bright]] in the Liberl arc, [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsFromZeroAndTrailsToAzure Lloyd Bannings]] in the Crossbell arc, and [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel Rean Schwarzer]] in the Erebonia arc. ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsIntoReverie Reverie]]'' later adds the masked individual 《Ｃ》, [[spoiler:who is the leader of the New Imperial Liberation Front. It is later revealed that C is actually '''RUFUS ALBAREA'''!]] He is then followed by [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesKuroNoKiseki Van Arkride]] in the Calvard arc.
* ArbitraryHeadcountLimit: Oh Aidios, you can be disaster incarnate but the protagonists think only four active members are enough for the FinalBoss while the others can go sit in the corner and PassThePopcorn. As listed:

* ArchaeologicalArmsRace: Ancient Zemurian technology is more advanced than that of the present day so acquiring some is a priority for most major powers. [[spoiler:The conspirators in ''FC'' want Aureole as a SwordOfDamocles, the conspirators in Crossbell want Demiourgos to reclaim the power their ancestors once had, and the end of ''Cold Steel I'' suggests one of these is going to happen regarding the mysterious Divine Knights.]]

* BackgroundMusicOverride: The series loves doing this, mostly in endgame areas.

* CatsAreMagic: Well, not exactly but the Sunshine Agnes books in ''Ao/Azure'' feature one who definitely is. [[spoiler:And which foreshadowed [[{{Familiar}} Celine]] in the very next game.]]

* ChangingOfTheGuard: It's practically franchise tradition for this to happen after every arc, or sometimes even within arcs. To elaborate:

* ChekhovsArmoury: Absolutely ''everywhere''.

* {{Cliffhanger}}: While every game ends on some form of a SequelHook, some games, particularly those early in an arc, end on a blatantly suspenseful note that practically begs you to buy the next title:

* CombinationAttack: "Chain Crafts" in ''SC'' and ''the 3rd'', "Combo Crafts" in ''Zero'' and ''Azure'', the "Tactical Link System" in the ''Cold Steel'' series and ''Reverie'', "S.C.L.M Chains" in ''Kuro'', and "EX Chains" in ''Kuro II'' are all examples, although Links and S.C.L.Ms are more about one character hitting the enemy and another character performing a follow-up attack if a certain condition is met.[[labelnote:Example]]For Links, if the enemy is inflicted with a CriticalHit or is weak from a certain weapon type.[[/labelnote]]

* CoolAirship: There's one for everyone. Liberl has the Arseille, Ouroboros has the Glorious, the Capua family has the Bobcat, [[spoiler: the twelve Dominions of the Septian Church each have a Merkabah]], the [[PrivateMilitaryContractors Red Constellation]] has the Beowulf, Erebonia has the Courageous [[spoiler:and later, the Courageous II when the Courageous I gets blown up at the end of ''Cold Steel III'',]] and [[spoiler:the Noble Alliance separately has the Pantagruel.]]
** Also applies to smaller craft. The Intelligence Division, Ouroboros and the Liberl Royal Army all have cool gunships and Erebonia and Calvard's largest corporations make their own models as well.

* DangerousForbiddenTechnique: Not really ''forbidden'' but functionally, using [[spoiler:a Stigma]] works out this way as it is incredibly taxing on the body and the more the user tries to do, the worse it is. Death is presented as a very real consequence of overusing the power and even less serious uses have been seen to leave a person in a faint.
** Also applies to [[spoiler:Rean's power, as death was seen as a probable consequence of overusing it during an emergency. And that's before considering what it [[DrunkOnTheDarkSide could do to the personality]]...]]
** Also applies to Van's Grendel mode, since it really drains him when the transformation wears off, particularly during the early to middle parts of ''Kuro''. Truly becomes this [[spoiler:when Van forces Mare to turn him into Grendel one last time against Demon God Gerard.]]

* DieChairDie: Starting with ''Ao/Azure'', various breakable objects appear on the map. Destroy them and they'll randomly drop Sepith, healing or cooking items and sometimes U-Materials.

* EldritchLocation: Any 'spiritual' area (where the three higher elements of Space, Time, and Mirage are active) is one of these. In these regions, things like ghosts, monsters unexplainable by science and distortions of time can all be found and these areas are explicitly treated as supernatural, whereas most other 'magical' things in the setting are [[MinovskyPhysics otherwise explainable scientifically.]]
** Just to make things creepier, anywhere that [[spoiler:the Pleroma Flowers bloom]] will ''become'' one of these.

* EnemyScan: Recommended most of the time as doing so not just reveals the enemy's background information, but its status effect and (sometimes) elemental resistances, along with the Unbalance rating from ''Cold Steel'' onward. You also need to do this for HundredPercentCompletion, and around late-game from the Crossbell arc onward, a sufficiently completed monster guide can earn you powerful rewards that usually cannot be obtained anywhere else in the game.

* EnemySummoner: A lot of enemies throughout the series have an ability to summon additional enemies to fight you. Sometimes this involves the enemy itself splitting into two identical copies (including lost HP) but usually it involves summoning a fresh enemy of an entirely different type from the summoner.

* FalseFlagOperation: At the very end of ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsInTheSky Trails in the Sky FC]]'', after the battle with Lieutenant Lorence, he alludes to something we don't find out until the next game, when [[spoiler:Lorence, aka Loewe, one of the survivors of Hamel, tells Estelle what happened that day...]]

* FantasticFightingStyle: The series has several of these. Zin follows the Taito (Great Authority) style which is noted to emphasize fighting without taking life. [[spoiler:His fellow pupils were Walter and Kilika (who was also the daughter of their master).]] There's also the Eight Leaves One Blade style of swordsmanship used by many of the series' [[MasterSwordsman best sword-users]] or [[RetiredBadass ex-sword masters]]. It is known to be divided into eight Forms and as of ''Cold Steel IV'', all eight forms have been fully shown. Proving that [[OldMaster Yun Ka-Fai]] is CrazyPrepared, the Eight Leaves One Blade style of swordsmanship has an unarmed form, ''Weaponless''[[note]]''Mute'' in Japanese, lit. Empty Hands[[/note]].

** So in short, Falcom ''loves'' this trope.

* HarmfulToMinors: Part of the backstory of quite a few characters, chief among them [[spoiler:Joshua, Renne, Tio, Fie, and Van.]]

* HeWhoMustNotBeSeen: Comes in all three varieties.

** Also, these books aren't just fluff, they're frequently foreshadowing. See [[spoiler:Carnelia and Toby, or as fans are more likely to know them, [[ThePaladin First Dominion]] Ein Selnate and Toval Randonneur]] This gets a deliberate nod later on when [[spoiler:one of the things you can buy in ''Cold Steel'' is a paperback collection of Carnelia. This would be the first game where Toval and Micht appear directly.]]

* KarmaHoudini: As this series has a continuous narrative where plots are expected to be resolved over the long term, this applies to quite a few characters.
** On the other hand there are some notable aversions with characters who have learned just what a bitch karma can be. Namely [[spoiler:Georg Weissmann, Joachim Guenter, and Gerard Dantes]] whose well-deserved karmic payback was sweet. In the shorter-term there was [[spoiler:Gideon, who gets LaserGuidedKarma within mere months of earning it.]]

** ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel Trails of Cold Steel IV]]'' has New Class VII doing this to [[spoiler:Rean Schwarzer]] to snap him out of his SuperPoweredEvilSide to give one of his allies a chance to free him from its influence.

* AwesomeMcCoolName: [KingOfBeasts Leonhardt]] (but call him Loewe)'s awesome name is commented on by the characters.

* CantDropTheHero: Averted; Unless they're explicitly stated to be required for an upcoming battle/segment there's nothing stopping you from swapping the protagonists such as Estelle or Rean out of the actual party.

* CantDropTheHero: This sticks throughout all the games, only occasionally changing protagonists at certain chapters. In gameplay however, aside from moments where they are explicitly stated to be required the player is free to switch out the protagonist for other party members.
** Estelle for ''FC'' and ''SC''.
** Kevin for ''the 3rd''.
** Lloyd for both ''Zero'' and ''Ao/Azure''.
** Rean for ''Cold Steel''.
** Lloyd, Rean, and 《Ｃ》 for ''Reverie''.
** Van for ''Kuro''.

** '''Kuro no Kiseki:''' [[spoiler:Demon God Gerard, a Gerard that artificially imitated [=McBurn=]'s Demon Lord form, serves as the normal final boss. And in an interesting twist for the series, Van himself, or rather his devil half Vagranz-Zaion that desires to merge with Van and become the more dominant personality, becomes the TrueFinalBoss.]]

* ''VideoGame/TokyoXanadu'': Despite being a spinoff of a sibling franchise called ''VideoGame/{{Xanadu}}'', this game deserves an honorable mention in how frequent ''Trails'' lore are given {{Shout Out}}s in it. It even recycled character designs from past ''Trails'' games, reused music from other ''Trails'' games, and even reused game code from the first two ''Cold Steel'' installments (namely, Blade, Mishy Panic, the swimming minigame, and the ''Cold Steel II'' version of the fishing minigame are available here, alongside the snowboarding minigame from ''Cold Steel II'' being revamped into a ''skateboarding'' minigame). Also notable in that one particular element in this game is revisited in ''Trails Into Reverie''. It received an UpdatedRerelease called ''Tokyo Xanadu [=eX+=]''.

* BagOfSpilling: All the gear, quartz, recipes and healing items you painstakingly earned? They will always disappear in the ImmediateSequel. Even Crafts and S-Crafts aren't safe from being wiped from older characters' libraries whenever they return in later arcs. This was even lampshaded in ''SC'', in which the newer model of the battle orbment has an extra slot while also having no backwards compatibility for all the quartz you earned in ''FC'', rendering them useless.

* CantDropTheHero: This sticks throughout all the games, only occasionally changing protagonists at certain chapters.

* PhysicalMysticalTechnological: Each of the three categories are covered by at least one arc's protagonist, despite the fact that all of these characters are front-line fighters. [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsInTheSky Estelle]] and [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsFromZeroandTrailsToAzure Lloyd]] are Physical, as both are {{Badass Normal}}s, using a bo staff and a pair of tonfas respectively. [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel Rean]] is the Mystical, as he combines his [[SupernaturalMartialArts Eight Leaves One Blade]] sword style with a SuperMode [[spoiler:using the curse of Ishmelga which he contains in his body]]. [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesKuroNoKiseki Van]] is the Technological, as he's a HenshinHero who fuses with his AI Mare to turn into Grendel, and when not transformed uses a hi-tech weapon called Stun-Calibur that can be charged with electricity, along with his fists.

** ''Hoshi no Kiseki''[=/=]''Akatsuki no Kiseki M'' Android and [=iOS=], later also Nintendo Switch port of ''Akatsuki no Kiseki'' done by third party company [=UserJoy=], 2019 in Japan and Taiwan, 2022 in Far-East and South-East Asia. Switch version shut down in 2022.

** ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsIntoReverie Reverie]]'' features a rotating cast of characters, with [[spoiler:Rean and Lloyd returning as lead characters in their own scenarios. However, the true protagonist of the game overall is Rufus Albarea, as his ZeroApprovalGambit forms the central plot of the title.]]

* EveryoneHasStandards: No matter where the characters stand on the [[ShadesOfConflict morality scale]], ''everyone'' who knows the truth agrees that [[spoiler: The Tragedy of Hamel]] was one of the [[ThisIsUnforgivable vilest acts]] to have ever taken place in the entire setting. [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone Including the instigators.]]

* EveryoneHasStandards: No matter where the characters stand on the [[ShadesOfConflict morality scale]], ''everyone'' who knows the truth agrees that [[spoiler: The Tragedy of Hamel]] was one of the vilest acts to have taken place in the entire setting. [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone Including the instigators.]]

* ''The Legend of Heroes: Kuro no Kiseki II -CRIMSON [=SiN=]-'' (2022 in Japan, TBA worldwide); [=PS4=] and [=PS5=]

* IrrelevantSidequest: Averted. In the first two arcs, the main characters are part of organizations whose members are being paid specifically to help citizens with their troubles as well as assisting the government. In ''FC'', the original purpose of Estelle and Joshua journeying around Liberl was to help out at each of the Bracers Guild branches to show they have what it takes to be full members; they fell into the 'Save the Kingdom' job more or less by accident. In ''SC'', the saving takes priority but that's no excuse to neglect the other aspects of the job. As police officers trying to assist the poor public image of the CSPD, the fact that you spend a lot of time in ''Zero'' and ''Ao/Azure'' helping people out also makes perfect sense. In ''Cold Steel'', as you're students at a military academy performing a combination of assisting with Student Council duties (helping students and others at Thors and in Trista) and jobs assigned to you as part of your Field Exams. [[spoiler:This is because Olivert is trying to make Class VII a shining example for Erebonians, so having Nobles and Commoners working together on jobs ranging from eliminating dangerous monsters to helping a store owner find a replacement record is all part of the process.]] Meanwhile, ''Kuro'' has the protagonist be a Spriggan, someone that can work with ''anyone'' regarding their requests as long as they have the money for it, and they all go from plain to questionable. Due to its nature, people putting up requests usually make it secretive, making sure it has a "4spg" mark as an indicator.

* BadassBaritone: Chancellor Giliath Osborne has a very deep and commanding voice provided by both Creator/JojiNakata in the Japanese version and Peter Beckman in the English version. ''Cold Steel IV'' shows off his badassery and players start crapping their pants and realize that he has enough power to end the series if he really wanted to.

* DubPronunciationChange: The games feature quite a few French and German loan words. While the Japanese versions make an attempt to pronounce these somewhat correctly, the English dub is often not even close to either the Japanese or actual real-life pronunciation of these terms. The most egregious are Loewe and Arc & Ciel.