Falcom shares first screenshots of the next Trails game, teases PS4 ports of previous titles

Falcom president Toshihiro Kondo revealed two screenshots and new information on the latest entry in the Trails series of The Legend of Heroes games during the “Trails Series 15th Anniversary Commemoration & New Title Start (?) Special Broadcast.”

Here are the images and details:

—The previously shown images of Rixia Mao, a young man from the Nord Highlands, and Scarlet were shown again in direct-feed.

—The full map of the Zemuria continent.

—The backs of two characters related to the future of the series are shown on the cover of the latest issue of Dengeki PlayStation. It is speculated that the girl is a character from one of the in-game novels due to the large stuffed animal she is holding.

—The first screenshot of the latest game in the Trails series.

—The second screenshot of the latest game in the Trails series.

• The project began with the development of a new game engine. The graphics are also being enhanced.
• It may be difficult to see in screenshots, given the fact that they are printed on paper, but the characters and background scenery are quite upgraded from The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV ~The End of Saga~.
• The situations and characters shown in the screenshots are meant to be hints regarding the next title.
• This new title is meant as a followup or spin-off-style game. Since the Crossbell characters have appeared, many people might think, “What about that person?” So it is a game that will show things like, “What did that person do at that time? What were they doing after?”

Kondo also answered the question of whether previous entries in the Trails series would come to PlayStation 4, or if there were any plans to develop more Evolution titles (enhanced re-releases of older titles).

“We too, dislike the fact that options to play our past works disappear with time,” Kondo said. “I like to believe our games are timeless, but consoles change over time. Due to that, we want to leave an option to play them in some way. The Trails series, especially, will continue on still, so it will be nice to be able to look back on past titles. Right now, we want to prepare something that can be played on PlayStation 4, so we’re working on something behind the scenes.”

Kondo continued, “If we’re talking about a simple port, it wouldn’t be very hard at all, but if the graphics rendering method changes, then it becomes fairly difficult.”

Finally, he said, “I want to promise to deliver something in some form.”

Thanks, Games Talk (2).