The Legend of Heroes: Kuro no Kiseki announced

Falcom has announced The Legend of Heroes: Kuro no Kiseki (Trails of Black), the latest chapter in the Trails (Kiseki) series. It will launch in 2021 in Japan. Platform(s) were not announced.

Weekly Famitsu has a five-page interview with Falcom president Toshihiro Kondo, who shares the following additional tidbits:

• The game is set in the Republic of Calvard (the east side of the continent) in the year S.1208.
• The title is derived from the Japanese word for “Daybreak” (Reimei). This is reflected in the colors associated with the protagonist.
• The story is focused on characters who can be described as somewhat in the gray zone of society (a detective, a negotiator, a bounty hunter, etc.)
• Kondo said it would have been nice if The Legend of Heroes: Hajimari no Kiseki was titled Shiro no Kiseki (Trails of White) instead to compliment Kuro no Kiseki.
• The game engine is brand-new.
• Character modelling has evolved. There is a significantly different feel when the character is in motion.
• Calvard is a cultural sphere in the vein of Eastern Europe with an influx of people from the Middle East. It feels like a mixture of Europe and Asia.
• It is somewhat small compared to Erebonia. The scale of the map is equivalent to that of the Cold Steel series. It is still in development, but Kondo believes it will be very close in terms of size.
• You could say the additional episode “Hajimari no Saki e” in Hajimari no Kiseki acts as a prologue to Kuro no Kiseki.
• 90 percent of the characters in Kuro no Kiseki are new. If you did not know any better, you might look at the game screen and not realize it is a Trails game. The remaining 10 percent of the cast will be characters that are highly anticipated by fans.
• Three characters have been revealed so far: a Kirito-looking character, a dual-wielding redhead character with a Middle Eastearn appearance, and a character that looks like Alisa minus the attitude and with the chest of Ryza. Kondo would not say which one is the protagonist. (Though it is obvious if you recall the earlier note about the protagonist’s associated colors.)
• Fans would be disappointed if the Society was not depicted. Kondo also was unable to comment on the Oaths. But each will be depicted properly.
• The game will have a proper ending.
• If a game does not sell well, there will not be a sequel, and the Trails series is no exception.
• The amount of content in the game is about the equal to a single Trails of Cold Steel title.
• The Trails of Cold Steel games had a large number of allies, but Kuro no Kiseki will not have as many due to the protagonist’s line of work.
• Instead, there will be more enemies.
• There will not be 50 playable characters.
• There is a screenshot of a battle scene.
• Movement and battles are seamless.
• While action elements have been added, Falcom is not considering anything that requires any sort of input skills.
• Commands are input in real-time instead of pausing.
• You will also have the option to switch to command-style battles.
• Arts and Crafts remain as they were, but ARCUS is replaced by Xipha.
• There are no Combat Links or Brave Orders. But there is a new system in place that is said to be quite amazing.
• There is a “Topic System” that has to do with conversations with NPCs.
• “Alignment Flame” is a system in which, depending on your playstyle, your character’s alignment as “Lawful,” “Gray,” and “Chaotic” will change, influencing your status as well as the story. But there will not be any situation where an event does not occur due to your specific alignment.
• There is an alternative to bond events.
• As for platforms, Kondo says he would like to release it on PlayStation 4 as well as other platforms where there is demand. He said, “Since there are the usual technical challenges, we will consider starting where there’s the most demand.”
• Nihon Falcom as a whole is making preparations to support PlayStation 5.

Thanks, Ryokutya2089 (2).