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The Legend of Heroes Thread - Trails of Cold Steel in the Sky

Deleted member 7219

Guest
My experience with Trails in the Sky 1 was quite similar, I liked it but started to get bored and frustrated when it seemed the story was very formulaic with not much happening. Go to a new town, talk to some overly friendly syrupy people, beat some monsters, get your Bracer letter.

That was until the main plot kicked in half way through. After that I was hooked and I absolutely love the series now after playing all the other Trails games released on PC in the west.
 

Alkarl

Learned
Joined
Oct 9, 2016
Messages
472
Alright, I made it to Chapter 1 in FC finally. I have to say, the game is really starting to grow on me. The combat is getting better, especially now that I have a 3 man crew. I didn't really have any actual complaints about the combat though. I managed to get the Eagle Eye quartz, but I don't really see myself using it anytime soon, it gives no combat bonus nor any spells from what I can tell.

As far as the story, I can't say I'm anymore hooked, but things are definitely getting more interesting. Joshua's snake ass is obviously keeping secrets from me, can't wait to find out what the hell that's about. Until then, though, I'm in a new town, and I've started to enjoy talking to the npcs. Before I left Rolent I even made it a point to go around and tell everyone goodbye, and, surprisingly enough, most people had something unique to say.

Game is charming as hell. I have a feeling I'm really going to appreciate this slow simmer the writers put on the story once things start to really heat up.
 

Naesaki

Novice
Joined
Feb 17, 2018
Messages
54
Eagle Eye is pretty useful in that you can see enemies on the map and also the quartz combination it has can be handy for unlocking certain spell chains early on (consult the magic guide within the game to find all the combinations)
 

Hyperion

Arcane
Joined
Jul 2, 2016
Messages
2,120
Alright, I made it to Chapter 1 in FC finally. I have to say, the game is really starting to grow on me. The combat is getting better, especially now that I have a 3 man crew. I didn't really have any actual complaints about the combat though. I managed to get the Eagle Eye quartz, but I don't really see myself using it anytime soon, it gives no combat bonus nor any spells from what I can tell.

As far as the story, I can't say I'm anymore hooked, but things are definitely getting more interesting. Joshua's snake ass is obviously keeping secrets from me, can't wait to find out what the hell that's about. Until then, though, I'm in a new town, and I've started to enjoy talking to the npcs. Before I left Rolent I even made it a point to go around and tell everyone goodbye, and, surprisingly enough, most people had something unique to say.

Game is charming as hell. I have a feeling I'm really going to appreciate this slow simmer the writers put on the story once things start to really heat up.
Picked up the game twice, dropped it both times. Failed to see what the Codex's hype was about. Just started it again from Chapter 1, and finally saw myself getting invested towards the middle-end of the Chapter. I'm in Chapter 2 and the ball finally got rolling a bit, it's just unfortunate as the combat started to get fun they took away my party members...

But yeah, open up your orbment slots a bit, then fiddle around with the top and bottom row - Eagle Eye gives a pretty nice bonus that can make some decent spells available to you. Have a quite few Support spells on Estelle, whose magic is otherwise mediocre.
 

Naesaki

Novice
Joined
Feb 17, 2018
Messages
54
With the right accessories you can make Estelle a fairly strong jack of all trades with physical and magical but really she is best just focusing on physical and support spells and you instead throw those magic boosting accessories at Olivier and Kloe and watch them blow everything up.
 

Jinn

Arcane
Joined
Nov 8, 2007
Messages
4,930
Here's a random question: did you guys play through the Trails in the Sky series with a controller or with keyboard and mouse? I played through Trails in the Sky FC exclusively with a controller, but I've been using keyboard and mouse a little in SC and kind of like it.
 

Gearmos

Educated
Joined
Jan 24, 2016
Messages
95
Location
Alicante
Here's a random question: did you guys play through the Trails in the Sky series with a controller or with keyboard and mouse? I played through Trails in the Sky FC exclusively with a controller, but I've been using keyboard and mouse a little in SC and kind of like it.

Trails in the Sky and Zero no Kiseki User Interface are designed for PC, so you should play them with m+k. On the other hand, Ao no Kiseki and Cold Steel UIs are designed for console, so a controller is recommended. However, you can play XSEED PC ports with k+m or controller. I've played Sky games on PSP and Cold Steel with k+m on PC and they're perfectly playable.
 

Naesaki

Novice
Joined
Feb 17, 2018
Messages
54
PS3 / PS4 controller all the way for me, much more comfortable when I can sit in a big comfy chair and use the steam link to play.
 

Hyperion

Arcane
Joined
Jul 2, 2016
Messages
2,120
As for TiTS FC, almost everyone seems to have the same experience: it feels like nothing happens at the start and it seems meh but they get hooked later. The story really picks up pace when 'men in black' start appearing more frequently, which is about at he halfway mark (TiTS FC is the shortest game in the series).
This is exactly where I am right now, and the game has me hook, line, and sinker. Even with the JRPG tropes abound.
And the obvious FF7 homage with the school play.:codexisforindividualswithgenderidentityissues:
Estelle is such a qt when she's flustered.:love: Game is a bit disappointing as a combatfag though, apparently I already have the best attack spell in the game in White Gehenna. Are the Cold Steel games better for combatfags, or more of the same? I like the game, but I don't know if I can do 5 games if combat never expands into something a little more complex or challenging.
 
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Somberlain

Arcane
Zionist Agent
Joined
Mar 5, 2012
Messages
6,202
Location
Basement
All the best combat encounters in TiTS FC are in the final chapter. TiTS SC and 3rd are overall better combatfag games and they have more complex encounters throughout the whole game. Cold Steel games have some added combat mechanics, making it more complex, but also more exploitable. TiTS games are more balanced in that way :balance:

I think the combat plays out best on nightmare difficulty since it forces you to change some brute force tactics that work on normal and hard but not on nightmare. Such as keeping your party members in a tiny cluster and spamming Earth Wall + AoE healing.
 

Jinn

Arcane
Joined
Nov 8, 2007
Messages
4,930
Hard can be extremely difficult in even the most basic encounter. Trails in the Sky games are some of the most challenging JRPGs I've played, besides some instances in SMT series.
 

Urthor

Prophet
Patron
Joined
Mar 22, 2015
Messages
1,872
Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire
TITS SC was a remarkably shitty game for combat fags. Most of the bosses were basically giant health walls and you rarely altered your optimal DPS strategy and simply reapplied that for round after round to whittle down a giant health mountain, which is actually the worst form of turn based combat. The additional forms rarely changed the spam heals and damage model.

First and third were mildly better, but they are not Tacticool by any stretch of the imagination.

You definitely need a controller for cold steel, Trails in the Sky either or.
 

Hyperion

Arcane
Joined
Jul 2, 2016
Messages
2,120
Just finished the Martial Arts Tourney and the subsequent story progression
and I'm starting to get some serious endgame vibes. Am I crazy or is this game's plot eerily similar to
Suikoden V? Everything from the political plot to steal the monarchy via marriage, the big combat tournament, even the weapons of choice for characters seem oddly similar. Joshua is / was obviously part of some assassin group just like Lyon and uses the exact weaponry those fuckers used in S5. Estelle is basically the Prince, but more masculine, and Cassius is even more of a Gary Sue than Ferid in terms of how diesel he's supposed to be. It's seemed fairly obvious from Chapter 3 that Kloe is the Princess, and basically everyone is a villain at this point. I just hope they don't fuck it up with some supernatural nonsense to absolve / explain the antagonists.

In terms of combat...are Arts supposed to completely dominate Attacks, and even Crafts in most cases? Seems like 3 magic users and Zin to spam Taunt and Earth Wall is the way to go? Also, having a Shield 3 on each member in the Party adds so much sturdiness I hardly ever heal.
 

Gearmos

Educated
Joined
Jan 24, 2016
Messages
95
Location
Alicante
Nihon Falcom has just announced that Sony interactive is localizing all four PS4 Trails of Cold Steel games in Chinese and Korean. I hope XSEED has anything to say about it during E3.
 

Telemetry

Educated
Patron
Joined
Feb 1, 2014
Messages
49
Location
sweden
Codex USB, 2014 Shadorwun: Hong Kong
I had an urge to play a turn based JRPG and looking around everyone kept recommending the cold steel series.

At first the art didn't convince me, I really dislike the modern animu artstyle that is over-designed for some reason, but I really wanted to play something so I said fuck it and went with it.
And holy fuck am I glad I did. Played CS1 and CS2 both on normal and then nightmare ng+ and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Right now I'm playing TitS and I must say I enjoy the story and combat more, but more on that later.

I will just put some of my thoughts about both games (and some TitS as well) in spoiler.

CS1 and CS2
The biggest problem I have with the story is the harem surrounding Rean, it just doesn't make any sense that every main character is into him, the most egregious being Claire. Sara I can understand a biiit. Anyways Laura made the most sense even though they pushed Alisa like hell.
I really liked the dialogue though, it was translated well and it moved at a steady pace and I never skipped a single line on my first playthroughs, which is not an obvious thing in these melodrama-heavy games.
The voice acting was magnificent, I especially liked Laura and Rufus, spot fucking on, it's like they were born to play those roles. The black sheep though is Towa, holy fuck I can't stand to listen to her anymore, they really went overboard with that squeaking.

Now all this is well and good bar a single problem that really got on my nerves during CS2. The characters are such 'softies' as Scarlet puts it. Everybody apologizes to everybody, like three times per dialogue, it's insane. Just man up and accept a compliment when it's given to you, be aware of your skills and accomplishments, jesus is it that hard. It was cute at the beginning but it got old. I see traces of it in TitS but the characters are much more natural, especially Estelle, she is a bro.

All in all the characters were good and I really felt bad for duke cayenne at the end. You work your whole life for something and then all goes to shit in 5 minutes, and you get arrested to boot. Perfect.

I really liked the chapter after the final boss, with Lloyd. I haven't played those games but even I could feel at least a bit excited because I read about those characters, I can't imagine how someone who played two games with them would react. It is also nice that you can play with Lloyd and the other characters with the mirrors in the endgame. It's real fan service and I'm ashamed to admit I spent more hours than I can count just grinding the corridor with them. Truly great stuff.

Now since this is the codex we gotta talk about combat. In single player games I like it when there is a clearly best strategy and 90% of the fun for me is discovering that strategy. I didn't read much about the games and I didn't use walkthroughs except for a second playthrough to get 100% (I still can't believe how bad I am at finding hidden stuff, holy shit I missed pretty much everything except the huge ass chests) but I discovered pretty early in the game that delay is OP and arc slash basically carried me through both cs1 and cs2, up until the last last boss of cs2 which was immune to at delay (but not immune to Vitas spells, go figure :lol:).
I didn't like that CS1 forced you to change up your team all the time but I guess that is a JRPG staple, I don't know, I don't play that many. CS2 on the other hand was cooler with that. Rean, Laura, Jusius, Alisa. All you ever need.

There is thing I could never understand though. I gave Jusius the black master quartz that gives a speed bonus at start of combat (raven? i believe) AND he had higher unbuffed speed than Rean, but 90% of the time it was Rean that went first at the start of a battle. Did I miss how that works? I'm probably retarded...

All in all it is a fun combat system that doesn't get old fast and even the new additions, links and master quartz, give at least a bit more added depth to the game.

TitS
I thought I would get bored of this quickly because I got used to the system in CS but I was wrong. While in CS you get showered in quartz, here getting an attack 2 as a reward is like, holy shit now I can wreck! It is a really different approach to spells which I also dig and it keeps things interesting coming from CS. It also feels much harder, I die at least twice each new area while before I maybe died twice total.

I just met Tita and the story is ok so far, very childish, especially the Ruan mayor questline (omg the kiiids, they are orphans, everything is black and white, mayor literally hitler, etc.) but I like the characters more, they feel more believable.

Anyway, I'm really glad I found this series and I will probably play all of them in due time.
Thanks codex!

ps. they should make a game with Olivert and Bleublanc as protagonists, I would buy 10 copies to support.
 

Somberlain

Arcane
Zionist Agent
Joined
Mar 5, 2012
Messages
6,202
Location
Basement
CS1 and CS2
The biggest problem I have with the story is the harem surrounding Rean, it just doesn't make any sense that every main character is into him, the most egregious being Claire.

I agree. She should be the one and only :love:
 

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