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The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel |OT| Class Warfare

Lindsay

Dot Hacked
Done the prologue now! Really really like the battle & victory musics! The bright colors an artstyle in general are nice to. The tease of how ya ma be able ta wipe out baddies without even entering battle with 'em is a good one for grinders like me! Feel its alil strange how close ya gotta be to a person/object to interact with 'em however. Really no breathing room there.
 

Psxphile

Member
Done the prologue now! Really really like the battle & victory musics! The bright colors an artstyle in general are nice to. The tease of how ya ma be able ta wipe out baddies without even entering battle with 'em is a good one for grinders like me! Feel its alil strange how close ya gotta be to a person/object to interact with 'em however. Really no breathing room there.

Erebonia confirmed to be a nation of close-talkers.
 
The DLC accessories are a small (5 or 10 point) boost to a stat and null 1 status effect (except the one that prevents blind which raises acc 50%).

I'll be very surprised if these aren't the standard status null accessories in the game.
 
Dude

So just started! Initial impressions are good and I love the Opening as well as being
dumped into a dungeon right away

Im actually kind of dreading all the school stuff and persona inspired gameplay ( i love persona I just want trails to be trails).

Holy cow the visuals, combat and just everything is so slick and pretty. Playing on Vita and the loads and performance seem perfectly fine. Plays like a dream and damn is it pretty

I dont think I was ready for the leap in fidelity but Im all in. Loving the classic trails combat with all the upgrades. Should be really fun!

The FFX style character swapping and guaranteed counters and some of the other layers seem like overkill to me though. They could have locked some of these abilities to quartz and equipment.

Im happy to just have 3-4 characters in the beginning to ease me in
 
Yeah garunteed counters for missing seems like a really bizarre mechanic. That makes sense in a tactics game where moving -> attacking some from behind is an option.
 
Halfway through the prologue.

Really enjoying the battles this time! Attack animations for Crafts and Arts was good as well, imo. Everything is so smooth and visually pleasing. I love the exp multiplier feature.

Can't speak much about the characters yet, other than Sara is quite cool.

Have to take a break, hopefully I can resume later.

My PSN still hasn't update with the game yet :(
RIP
 
Yeah garunteed counters for missing seems like a really bizarre mechanic. That makes sense in a tactics game where moving -> attacking some from behind is an option.

Like Trails SC really forced you to BUILD characters in a real risk vs reward fashion

This game is giving me vibes of overwhelming player agency without a downside

I realize that these mechanics are going to give way to some tough as balls enemies and the aformentioned damage sponges (yuck)

Counters should have been tied to a quartz or accessory to force you to forgo the ability for something else. Gotta have them tough choices!
 

Shizuka

Member
In case anyone wants to do all subquests in the game, it's easier to follow the guide/roadmap. There are some very, very hidden subquests that you'll never be aware of unless you talk to every NPC every single day/evening phase.
 
In case anyone wants to do all subquests in the game, it's easier to follow the guide/roadmap. There are some very, very hidden subquests that you'll never be aware of unless you talk to every NPC every single day/evening phase.

So already hard to find hidden trails quest system combined with persona day/night schedule system? GG anyone trying to 100% this blind
 
In case anyone wants to do all subquests in the game, it's easier to follow the guide/roadmap. There are some very, very hidden subquests that you'll never be aware of unless you talk to every NPC every single day/evening phase.

Ugh

they took a few too many pages from Persona

Cold Steel 2 drops this madness and goes back to straight JRPG adventure goodness right?
 

Sitrus

Member
Ugh

they took a few too many pages from Persona

Cold Steel 2 drops this madness and goes back to straight JRPG adventure goodness right?

Yup, the first game is more or less an introduction of the characters and the setting. The second game is where the real deal begins.
 

malfcn

Member
Got the LE for my e and she loves the packaging. I noticed the connectors box said it's designed to hold the sequel?
 
Animated talkity face portraits?! That's new and muuuuch better then the usual static ones!

I still think I like these portraits better.

I completely agree. The first thing that stood out to me was how sturdy the box was. I bought the game from Best Buy, and they know how to package and ship LEs, but if I had bought it from Amazon, their crappy bubble mailer shipping wouldn't have damaged the box at all.

Amazingly, my Amazon shipment came in a sturdy mailer this time. I wish they had shown as much consideration when they shipped Project mirai.
 
Just started the game (just got to the prologue) and really liking the battle system from the brief bit you get to play. I have to say though its very encouraging I haven't run into a god damn tutorial during that section, it gave me high level characters and enemies that were fairly weak and just let me figure it out, I'm guessing that there will eventually be a tutorial but by god I loved just throwing you into the combat and having to figure it out yourself. The boss battle was actually interesting as I was trying to figure out elements and resistances and what worked and what didn't and what not and even had Rean die during that fight which surprised me.

I think it was just really refreshing to start up a game doing one of those 'future' segments many games do and not have it be OH HEY HERES HOW TO PRESS THE X BUTTON TO ATTACK for the first god damn half hour of the game, just throwing all of these different things at you and letting you try to figure it out yourself was great and really let you get a grasp of the combat for yourself from the beginning, really just wish more games did that.

Edit: I bought the CE ( I love that it was designed around holding both games) and I was amazed the art book seems to actually have art for both the first and second game, thats a hell of a thing to provide to players who enjoy this game and help build up hype for the second one, which I hope they manage to get out sooner rather then later (and not a dec. release XD)
 
Just started the game (just got to the prologue) and really liking the battle system from the brief bit you get to play. I have to say though its very encouraging I haven't run into a god damn tutorial during that section, it gave me high level characters and enemies that were fairly weak and just let me figure it out, I'm guessing that there will eventually be a tutorial but by god I loved just throwing you into the combat and having to figure it out yourself. The boss battle was actually interesting as I was trying to figure out elements and resistances and what worked and what didn't and what not and even had Rean die during that fight which surprised me.

I think it was just really refreshing to start up a game doing one of those 'future' segments many games do and not have it be OH HEY HERES HOW TO PRESS THE X BUTTON TO ATTACK for the first god damn half hour of the game, just throwing all of these different things at you and letting you try to figure it out yourself was great and really let you get a grasp of the combat for yourself from the beginning, really just wish more games did that.

Yeah as you predicted the tutorial comes later but its pretty quick.

I dont feel overly offended by it at least
 

Neoweee

Member
So I bought this without knowing at all that it was Persona-ish. Pleasantly surprised.

Playing on Hard, through the first free day of Chapter 1. Seems like there's a crapload of gameplay mechanics to take advantage of.

It seems like AoE skills are really, really good? Not only can you kill enemies quick to get a shitload of experience, but you also get bonuses for multi-kills.
 
So I bought this without knowing at all that it was Persona-ish. Pleasantly surprised.

Playing on Hard, through the first free day of Chapter 1. Seems like there's a crapload of gameplay mechanics to take advantage of.

It seems like AoE skills are really, really good? Not only can you kill enemies quick to get a shitload of experience, but you also get bonuses for multi-kills.

Yup just be mindful that strong crafts can now come with AT delays tacked on afterwards.

I imagine this is going to be important in tougher fights
 

Aeana

Member
So I bought this without knowing at all that it was Persona-ish. Pleasantly surprised.

Playing on Hard, through the first free day of Chapter 1. Seems like there's a crapload of gameplay mechanics to take advantage of.

It seems like AoE skills are really, really good? Not only can you kill enemies quick to get a shitload of experience, but you also get bonuses for multi-kills.

AoE crafts are great, but you're also kinda beefy early on in the game, which feels different compared to Trails in the Sky. I mean, Elliot's first craft gives you increased defense and passive HP regen for 3 turns. It's crazy to have that from the start. Once it evens out, you'll have to be a bit more careful.
 

-NeoTB1-

Member
AoE crafts are great, but you're also kinda beefy early on in the game, which feels different compared to Trails in the Sky. I mean, Elliot's first craft gives you increased defense and passive HP regen for 3 turns. It's crazy to have that from the start. Once it evens out, you'll have to be a bit more careful.

I used this during the first boss battle and was amazed at how OP it made the fight. Not that I was ever really worried, but my characters were at full health after every turn. Pretty crazy.
 

JPS Kai

Member
In case anyone wants to do all subquests in the game, it's easier to follow the guide/roadmap. There are some very, very hidden subquests that you'll never be aware of unless you talk to every NPC every single day/evening phase.

Why do you think my playtime is so high? I'm at almost 50 hours now and still upset that I missed one in the first chapter.
 

Sciel

Member
Chapter 4 early side quest spoilers/mini-rant
I just love the boss in the old clubhouse

-Immune to physical attacks
-Spawns in 3s and are far apart from each other (every fkin single time).
-99% of the time they use ranged attacks only/
-All 3 have AoEs that can hit the whole map for 1/4-1/3 of your character's hp.
-Certain attacks have a certain chance to confuse party.
 

carlos

Member
so thanks gamestop, for not calling me when my collectors edition arrived yesterday; going out now to pick it up.
I know I won't be able to play it for long while, but I at least wanted to show some support to Xseed and Falcom.
 

AyanFaust

Banned
Anyone done the school/social link esque part yet? I'm already planning on getting it based on the gameplay, but what should I expect out the writing and character arcs?
 

JPS Kai

Member
so thanks gamestop, for not calling me when my collectors edition arrived yesterday; going out now to pick it up.
I know I won't be able to play it for long while, but I at least wanted to show some support to Xseed and Falcom.

The automated 1-800 number seems to be temporarily out of commission as I didn't get a call for it either.

On an unrelated note, I'm noticing the game really has a fetish for slotting in *Bell quartz when you choose Auto-Equip, even if the character doesn't use that particular element. The game wants to equip three different Bell quartz to Elliot even though he only uses Water (and Earth) elements.
 

Neoweee

Member
Anyone done the school/social link esque part yet? I'm already planning on getting it based on the gameplay, but what should I expect out the writing and character arcs?

I can't say much about the characters, but the technical aspects of it all are an improvement over the Persona games.

1) Fast Travel is actually comprehensive in terms of locations you can snap to.
2) Load times for getting around are much improved.
3) The times to do "S. Links" are less rigid. You just get Bond Points, and certain events use Bond Points to trigger.
4) The gameplay benefits of the S. Links propagate into the battle system faster and more clearly/regularly.
 
Anyone done the school/social link esque part yet? I'm already planning on getting it based on the gameplay, but what should I expect out the writing and character arcs?

Im just now getting to this portion so ill have more thoughts on it once it put some time in.

As of now im not fond of the idea of aping aspects of persona but ill save judgement until im further in
 
My PS3 Lionheart Edition just arrived, and while the packaging is very nice and all, it says it's supposed to come with a pin and there's no pin inside. What's up with that?
 

Aeana

Member
My PS3 Lionheart Edition just arrived, and while the packaging is very nice and all, it says it's supposed to come with a pin and there's no pin inside. What's up with that?

There's the game case, the artbook, and then a little cardboard thing that has the pin inside. If you don't have it, then yours is messed up.
 
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