History BrokenBase / TrailsSeries

With a LongRunner like the ''VideoGame/TrailsSeries'', its passionate fans will debate on a lot of things.

* Before Creator/NISAmerica 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 ''VideoGame/TrailsSeries''. Some fans wanted the games to be localized before [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel the third Cold Steel game]], as ''Cold Steel III'' has several {{Late Arrival Spoiler}}s to the plot of ''Zero'' and ''Ao''. 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 [[{{Doorstopper}} 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 ''Ao'' localizations would ever be released or if [[NoExportForYou they would be pushed to the side to prioritize localizing the newer games in the franchise]].

* The numerous amounts of BigDamnHeroes 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 really weak due to constantly being OvershadowedByAwesome in the end? This is fairy 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 Boss}}es rather than simple {{Flunky Boss}}es.
* 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 CharacterDevelopment and series continuity in a game that's big on them? This got worse in the second game where detractors claim that aside from Rean, Fie, Jusis, and Emma, everyone else felt DemotedToExtra.
* Building off of 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 FanPreferredCouple 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 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 HumongousMecha or a poorly timed case which resulted in MediumBlending between Fantasy and ScienceFiction?
* 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.

* Then there's the big one: ''which'' Class VII is better? Fans of the Old Class VII claim that New Class VII just bloats the cast and they feel that New Class VII doesn't really bring much to the table in the grand scheme of things, going so far as to claim that New Class VII invokes the RememberTheNewGuy 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 really match the description especially since some end up getting DemotedToExtra.
* The treatment of Ouroboros as of ''IV'' was divisive for a lot of fans mainly due to being OvershadowedByAwesome when pitted against Osborne. [[spoiler:Even when the Grandmaster claims that things are still AllAccordingToPlan, 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 CatharsisFactor as until the climax of ''II'', Ouroboros was this InvincibleVillain 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 Villain}}s. [[spoiler:Now with Osborne dead, it's safe to say that they might be getting back their competence in future instalments.]]

* In Japan, the ending to ''Cold Steel I'' breaks the base some, just because it's ''so'' [[WhamEpisode Whammy]] that a lot of people feel like it's more of a non-ending and too cruel a cliffhanger after that long a game - even ''Sky FC'' at least ends with some kind of player accomplishment, while ''Cold Steel'' [[spoiler:ends with the entire team violently broken up, the Noble Faction on the verge of total victory, Heimdallr in ruins, robots everywhere, and a badly-injured Rean being carted away]].

* ''Cold Steel III's'' ending broke the fanbase even further as [[spoiler:it ends with Osborne getting what he wants easily, Rean is fully broken, Angelica presumed dead- shot by George no less, Millium dies, the Courageous blows up with Toval, Victor, and Olivert inside it, and then the final text says that it is to be continued in ''Cold Steel: The Last Saga''.]] Fans went livid because the Calvard arc is getting shoved again for a confirmed fourth game setting in Erebonia yet again.

* ''Cold Steel IV'' as a whole ends up becoming this even in its own arc. Was it an exciting and epic conclusion for all three arcs and a fitting GrandFinale while starting a new arc or was it a mess of a game with lots of {{Padding}} issues, the character bloating which meant that some are gonna be DemotedToExtra, wasted plot ideas, and [[spoiler:a nonsensical GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere whose motivations are never explored and felt like it was suddenly shoehorned into the series in the last moment?]]
** 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]]The latter group also noted that both XSEED and NIS share the same voice talent agency, and that NIS has took aboard several ex-XSEED staff who worked on Falcom localizations in the past, and rationalized accordingly.[[/note]]

* Then there's the big one: ''which'' Class VII is better? Fans of the Old Class VII claim that New Class VII just bloats the cast and they feel that New Class VII doesn't really bring much to the table in the grand scheme of things, going so far as to claim that New Class VII invokes the RememberTheNewGuy 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 really match the description especially since some end up getting DemotedToExtra.

!!VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsFromZeroAndTrailsIntoAzure