Eh that was pretty much expected with how Cold Steel 2 ends
And they weren't going to change their plans just because western fans specially with how things were just 2 years ago here
XSEED can't just sit on localizing CS3 while they do Zero and Ao tho so even if we get those 2 it's gonna need to be after it
I'd probably buy CS3 just to support them and try to avoid playing it until I can Zero and Ao
How many copies of trails in the sky do I need to force on my friends to make Crossbell happen in time.
(I'm currently in the process of trying to win over a grand total of one person. She's agreed to start the first game. Eventually.)
I don't mind it but I can see how people could dislike it. If I am to lay criticism on how its conveyed, Class VII's friendship with each other was never really tested, making their sugary tight bond felt overbearing and even a bit fake sometimes.
My most memorable moment in Persona 4 was when they [P4 spoiler]
got into a heated argument on whether to kill a "murderer" or not
It wasn't even that sugary though? They're friends. They went through a lot together. They like each other. Rean gives some lame speeches about it but like....that's who he is. That's his character. It works because they took the time to set that up through good dialogue and moments. It felt endearing.
Their friendship doesn't need to be tested in that way. It's tested through every field study, every bad situation, and eventually through (CS1 ending/2)
being betrayed and forced apart, forced to find their own way before coming back together. They realize that yes, we are stronger together than apart.
That's not even unique to these games too, the whole franchise relies on that theme.
To me it just never felt as saccharine or overblown as some people try to make it out to be. I'm not going to say it's subtle storytelling at its finest but it definitely is more so than most people seem to want to give it credit for.
I don't mind it but I can see how people could dislike it. If I am to lay criticism on how its conveyed, Class VII's friendship with each other was never really tested, making their sugary tight bond felt overbearing and even a bit fake sometimes.
My most memorable moment in Persona 4 was when they [P4 spoiler]
got into a heated argument on whether to kill a "murderer" or not
I brought this up before, but Class VII is just a different kind of group altogether. It's not made up of a bunch of juvenile (but intimate) group of kids who kind of just do whatever they want. Instead, it's comprised of bright military students who respect each other. There would never be a moment where they'd get into an intense argument as a group, because their overall competence and mindset wouldn't allow for that. Regardless, Class VII is more about camaraderie through shared experiences rather than P4's more saccharine best friends forever Scooby Doo vibe. I don't agree with the comparison.
The only thing that ever came across weird to me was Jusis's rejoining in CS2. The rest of the group getting more time as a group in CS2 wouldve been great, but by the end of CS1 they are completely understandably likeminded.
And now I just need CS3 to make up for the fucking
Hi, I heard a few times that originally Cold Steel I and II were supposed to be one game but got split into two because of the Vita's limitation. If anyone knows some more details about it could you explain briefly how was Falcom's original plan? I've tried looking all over on the internet for information but couldn't find much.
Guan or someone else can probably confirm 100%, but as far as I know CS1 and 2 were split the same way Sky FC/SC were split. The game ended up being too big and they eventually have to break up the story into parts. I've not read that the Vita itself was the reason CS1/2 were split.
Vita cartridge memory limits prevented Falcom from including what would have been Chapter 6.5 in CS I (which we got later as a drama CD), and the same kinds of cuts happened in CS II but to a worse degree. This screws with how they've been developing their games at high efficiency and recycling, so moving to PS4 lets them use most of it not all the content they've been wanting to include. And it really helps with performance in general.
Kind of a shame they have done so little since. Just Sen no Kiseki Super Arrange (I'll listen to that after I play the game) and We Love Sora no Kiseki, which I need to check out.
Blame it on the company falling out with Chara-ani (who helped run jdk Band and its concerts until 2014) and the subsequent lack of collaboration with jdk Band arrangers other than Yukihiro Jindo. They're simply cheaping out on their music projects lately, no matter how good the sound team's doing, and so there's no arrange projects in the works unless they're guaranteed to sell (like We Love SnK).
[...] To me it just never felt as saccharine or overblown as some people try to make it out to be. I'm not going to say it's subtle storytelling at its finest but it definitely is more so than most people seem to want to give it credit for.
Note that I don't really mind it; I actually generally like cheesy friendship stuff. So please view this not as a criticism of the game's inherent flaw or anything but rather as me figuring and sounding out my own reservations.
First of all, I think the P4 cast are sold short here. They risk their lives together battling otherworldy creatures on a weekly basis for almost a year. They are very much comrades through shared experience. And it's not like Class VII are hardened individuals who put collective goals over others just because they're in a military school. They are still naive greenhorns and act like ones. Every single one of their decisions are based on personal feelings; it's just that those personal feelings mostly align with each other and were never contested.
Regardless, respecting each other doesn't mean always agreeing with each other, and people could still get into intense disagreement without emotional yelling.
All in all, I think the first Cold Steel is good at what they are going for. [CS1]
There were some frictions in the process of getting to know each other, concluded with variations of "we are comrades", leading to Emma's "we are the best Erebonia has to offer" speech, capped off with lighthearted stage show demonstrating their effort and bonds. I think it's wonderful. (and as a tangent, may I commend the fact that members of Class VII actually have some experience with music and still need months of preparation. Compare that to P4's "do we hit or blow a saxophone?" routine then pulling off the show in just two days. As a violin player I kinda felt insulted)
However, I feel Cold Steel II tried to sell the "camaraderie" angle too much. [CS2]
I was pretty disappointed that after her speech at the end of CS1, Emma felt the need to do that dramatic "I'm resigning from Class VII". Didn't you trust your comrades? Even if you had reservations, you were with Laura and Jusis for a whole month; couldn't you discuss and mostly figure it out during that time? Jusis went through the "I must do this alone" --> "no you don't" song and dance twice. I remember during a serious strategic meeting, there's a tangent where Machias just needed to point out how sorry he was that they needed to save his Governor Father and there were like four people assuring him that it's okay because they're friends.
There are more little things like those that niggled me. It's as if they continuously needed to remind and assure themselves that yes, yes, we are friends. Yes, yes, we care about each other. I guess those are what felt fake at times to me.
Note that I don't really mind it; I actually generally like cheesy friendship stuff. So please view this not as a criticism of the game's inherent flaw or anything but rather as me figuring and sounding out my own reservations.
First of all, I think the P4 cast are sold short here. They risk their lives together battling otherworldy creatures on a weekly basis for almost a year. They are very much comrades through shared experience. And it's not like Class VII are hardened individuals who put collective goals over others just because they're in a military school. They are still naive greenhorns and act like ones. Every single one of their decisions are based on personal feelings; it's just that those personal feelings mostly align with each other and were never contested.
Regardless, respecting each other doesn't mean always agreeing with each other, and people could still get into intense disagreement without emotional yelling.
All in all, I think the first Cold Steel is good at what they are going for. [CS1]
There were some frictions in the process of getting to know each other, concluded with variations of "we are comrades", leading to Emma's "we are the best Erebonia has to offer" speech, capped off with lighthearted stage show demonstrating their effort and bonds. I think it's wonderful. (and as a tangent, may I commend the fact that members of Class VII actually have some experience with music and still need months of preparation. Compare that to P4's "do we hit or blow a saxophone?" routine then pulling off the show in just two days. As a violin player I kinda felt insulted)
However, I feel Cold Steel II tried to sell the "camaraderie" angle too much. [CS2]
I was pretty disappointed that after her speech at the end of CS1, Emma felt the need to do that dramatic "I'm resigning from Class VII". Didn't you trust your comrades? Even if you had reservations, you were with Laura and Jusis for a whole month; couldn't you discuss and mostly figure it out during that time? Jusis went through the "I must do this alone" --> "no you don't" song and dance twice. I remember during a serious strategic meeting, there's a tangent where Machias just needed to point out how sorry he was that they needed to save his Governor Father and there were like four people assuring him that it's okay because they're friends.
There are more little things like those that niggled me. It's as if they continuously needed to remind and assure themselves that yes, yes, we are friends. Yes, yes, we care about each other. I guess those are what felt fake at times to me.
I think more of the point is that you can oversell or undersell something by trying to generalize or over-analyze something. Like your earlier P4 example, for example,
was the most out of place moment of the entire game up to that point, to where it felt like it belonged in another game entirely. So where you saw something awesome, or a great moment, I saw something that was cringeworthy and tonally dissonant (which is also something P5 does not suffer from nearly as much). With regards to character building in P4, most of it takes place outside of the dungeons, not inside, so the battles never feel like an element for them to form bonds or an element of camaraderie, but rather just to introduce new characters. The actual relationship building takes place almost entirely outside of that through both optional and mandatory cutscenes, with only the dungeons near the end having any significance regarding that point you made.
I do think that the whole friendship [CS2 Spoilers]
thing was a little overblown in CS2, to the point where I could accurately see it coming as the reason why things are done, but at the same time if you take their status in the world into consideration, they formed their group around the basis that they all had to agree to execute a plan, so while the consensus stuff can feel forced, at the same time it completely fits the narrative they wrote, and they follow through on that. At the same time, they were working together to end a Civil War as a third faction, so their willingness to save people and work together coming first didn't seem too forced to me considering the gravity of the situation they were in.
Alternatively, the large lack of dissonance between everyone is probably why the stuff with Jusis was the best in terms of their internal conflict, but even then, I personally did not like how they resolved it. I would say I largely liked all of that stuff, but at the same time I wish they turned the dial down a notch or two. I don't hold it against the game though. Honestly, if anything bugged me the most, is that they still wanted to be identified as Class VII even outside of school. Like, pick a different name or name your organization something different; you're outside of school now acting in an independent capacity.
And overall, I would just say that most of the things regarding any of the games weren't things I consider flaws, or something that makes them worse; they're just things that are. I liked all of them enough to put considerable time into each, and even have platinums in them all (though working on CS2 now).
Note that I don't really mind it; I actually generally like cheesy friendship stuff. So please view this not as a criticism of the game's inherent flaw or anything but rather as me figuring and sounding out my own reservations.
First of all, I think the P4 cast are sold short here. They risk their lives together battling otherworldy creatures on a weekly basis for almost a year. They are very much comrades through shared experience. And it's not like Class VII are hardened individuals who put collective goals over others just because they're in a military school. They are still naive greenhorns and act like ones. Every single one of their decisions are based on personal feelings; it's just that those personal feelings mostly align with each other and were never contested.
To be clear, I wasn't trying to discount P4's cast here. My point was that they're just a normal bunch of kids who become incredibly close friends by the end of P4. Class VII operates a bit differently, since they're clearly not the best of friends, but they can always rely on each other when it counts. With that in mind, I don't think their friendship needs to be "tested", especially similar to how P4 did it (in what was honestly, kind of a mediocre scene).
All in all, I think the first Cold Steel is good at what they are going for. [CS1]
There were some frictions in the process of getting to know each other, concluded with variations of "we are comrades", leading to Emma's "we are the best Erebonia has to offer" speech, capped off with lighthearted stage show demonstrating their effort and bonds. I think it's wonderful. (and as a tangent, may I commend the fact that members of Class VII actually have some experience with music and still need months of preparation. Compare that to P4's "do we hit or blow a saxophone?" routine then pulling off the show in just two days. As a violin player I kinda felt insulted)
However, I feel Cold Steel II tried to sell the "camaraderie" angle too much. [CS2]
I was pretty disappointed that after her speech at the end of CS1, Emma felt the need to do that dramatic "I'm resigning from Class VII". Didn't you trust your comrades? Even if you had reservations, you were with Laura and Jusis for a whole month; couldn't you discuss and mostly figure it out during that time? Jusis went through the "I must do this alone" --> "no you don't" song and dance twice. I remember during a serious strategic meeting, there's a tangent where Machias just needed to point out how sorry he was that they needed to save his Governor Father and there were like four people assuring him that it's okay because they're friends.
There are more little things like those that niggled me. It's as if they continuously needed to remind and assure themselves that yes, yes, we are friends. Yes, yes, we care about each other. I guess those are what felt fake at times to me.
To be fair, this is a different point altogether! I don't disagree with any of the concerns you brought up in retrospect. Granted, it was partly the game's fault for letting choose your own party member (so they had to limit non-essential party member involvement), but even SC wrote tons AND TONS of dialogue for Agate/Schera. CS2 could have also really benefited from a perspective shift that showed things from your party member's side, prior to Rean waking up.
It's really a teaser PV more than the full trailer, but Falcom's releasing this in shops further away from release than normal. They didn't show video for Ys VIII until around a month before, so this shows their confidence in the Sen III hype machine. Town footage certainly looks nice, and battles look as I expected. The music's good, but not great, as befitting of Mitsuo Singa arrangement (though the tracks he recently arranged for Ys VIII's PS4 expansion are a great improvement).
Agate's talk with Tita about his sister left me a weepy mess. It's about time they've started to give his character more dimension, even if it hits a little close to home for me.
That twitter account has some decent conversations, but I don't think they did a great job of capturing each character's... essence. Like Machias is pretty ornery, so he'd probably deflect Millium's question, rather than go into a full blown nerd conversation. Plus I straight up dislike how they characterize Rean, lol.
I got the trails trilogy and I finally started, after 10 hours I really like it. I'm sure the story kicks in later but right now this is just the warmest game. I get to know the npcs, the characters just want to do good around their neighborhood while they are junior and everyone knows each other.
Again I'm sure shit will go wrong at some point but I do not mind the slow start. It could just stay fine and id enjoy it for the change of shift.
