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The Kiseki / Trails (of the Sky/Zero/Ao/Sen/Etc) Community Thread: SPOILERTAGS OR DIE

duckroll

Member
Between S-Crafts, Quartz and Equipment stacking, Overdrive etc..

It reminds me of Kingdom Hearts 2 where they just throw everything and the kitchen sink at you

Im having dumb fun with it but I find myself focusing less and less on it since its been so easy

You're still in Act 1 right? Don't worry, Rean has more shit to pull out of his ass in Act 2. Lol!
 
The bosses in CS2 are still godawful, but I was talking about general encounters where you wouldn't feel the need to spam S-crafts for no reason. They're better balanced than CS1 because when you get to a new area you tend to actually have a couple of battles where it feels like they weigh the options you have well so however you choose approach the battle feels somewhat satisfying. In CS1 the only right answer was using crafts and motivate, because if you were dumb enough to do anything else you're just wasting a turn.
ahh yea, I could agree that field battles in CS2 are better
 

Taruranto

Member
Between S-Crafts, Quartz and Equipment stacking, Overdrive etc..

It reminds me of Kingdom Hearts 2 where they just throw everything and the kitchen sink at you

Im having dumb fun with it but I find myself focusing less and less on it since its been so easy

Oh yeah, CS2 definitely suffers from giving the player waaaay too many advantages compared to the enemies, even Persona One more System has less stuff.
 

Aters

Member
Funny thing is, with the whole arsenal in your disposal, you still have tons of unwinable fights during the end game. You spent the whole game building up your characters, and they still get their ass wiped. I like it in Ao that you can actually win some of the seemingly unwinable fights, and you are rewarded with extra AP.
 
Funny thing is, with the whole arsenal in your disposal, you still have tons of unwinable fights during the end game. You spent the whole game building up your characters, and they still get their ass wiped. I like it in Ao that you can actually win some of the seemingly unwinable fights, and you are rewarded with extra AP.

Well part of the game is built around replays which is a trend i kind of want to go away :p

Not a big deal since I can youtube content i miss out on i guess.
 

Aters

Member
Well part of the game is built around replays which is a trend i kind of want to go away :p

Not a big deal since I can youtube content i miss out on i guess.

By unwinable fights I mean those fights that you take the boss down, he stands up again (in cutscene) saying "Now I'm getting serious" and some NPC jumps in and saves your ass. I admit it's more of complain towards the story.
 

Nyoro SF

Member
Funny thing is, with the whole arsenal in your disposal, you still have tons of unwinable fights during the end game. You spent the whole game building up your characters, and they still get their ass wiped. I like it in Ao that you can actually win some of the seemingly unwinable fights, and you are rewarded with extra AP.

To be honest, this is something that truly disappointed me about Cold Steel series. I can forgive a lot of stuff, but giving me so many unwinnable fights without even giving me a token victory option is very sad. I really enjoy the idea of fighting a really really tough surprise boss but still coming out ahead due to tactics.

Those incredibly tough but still winnable fights are like the developers saying "Let's see if you really know what you are doing with our game". Losing that is terrible.
 
By unwinable fights I mean those fights that you take the boss down, he stands up again (in cutscene) saying "Now I'm getting serious" and some NPC jumps in and saves your ass. I admit it's more of complain towards the story.

awww ok

yeah... thats a trope thats plagued the entire series

they really need to work on committing hard on certain things and maybe allowing better storytelling to come forward
 
To be honest, this is something that truly disappointed me about Cold Steel series. I can forgive a lot of stuff, but giving me so many unwinnable fights without even giving me a token victory option is very sad. I really enjoy the idea of fighting a really really tough surprise boss but still coming out ahead due to tactics.

t's like the developers saying "Let's see if you really know what you are doing with our game". Losing that is terrible.
CS2's
Final dungeon still leaves a sour taste in my mouth. Really hoping CS3 redeems class vii from that bullshit. 3 fucking fights lost in a row only for token friend to save your crew
 

PK Gaming

Member
It's weird. In CS2 they made some smart decisions like making it really hard to delay bosses, lowering status effect procs across the board, lowering physical accuracy (aka forcing you to waste a slot on Hit 2), preventing you from buying OP quartz immediately (like Action 2, Impede, etc) and buffing arts. But then they added Overdrive, made Tauros broken, kept Domination, added Hades, gave you a bunch of broken Rare Quartz/MQ, added Lost arts, gave everyone a bunch of OP skills, added more +delay equipment, etc.

I think they gave up on hard balance at some point and went for fun factor. And I mean, provided you aren't using Domination S-craft spam for every fight, I think it ends up working out. The battle system is pretty fun overall. Uneven, and unbalanced, but definitely fun.

Summoning Valimar ヽ( ´ー`)ノ
 

LeonSPBR

Member
CS2's
Final dungeon still leaves a sour taste in my mouth. Really hoping CS3 redeems class vii from that bullshit. 3 fucking fights lost in a row only for token friend to save your crew

Wait, you saying that Class VII should have won those fight???

Duvalie and Blueblanc are fucking strong, one is an enforce the other is a high ranking Stalhritter, so when they went FULL OUT (Duvalie got pissed by her defeat), they never stood a chance. Same with Zephyr members and McBurn, they are way stronger, experienced than Class VII (you know the class that exists FOR EIGHT MONTHS). The same with Vita, I mean after their fight, she was able to block Vermillion and at the same time empower Crow. So she wasn't weakened at all by Class VII

So expecting that Class VII would beat them is insane, Falcom doesn't do this bullshit that just because you're the hero suddenly after a month fighting monsters you can match people that's on the battlefield for DECADES.

Overall Class VII never stood a chance, the other guys were there to drawn their helpers, so that Vita could get what she wants: Crow vs Rean, Valimar vs Ordine.
 

Aters

Member
Wait, you saying that Class VII should have won those fight???

Duvalie and Blueblanc are fucking strong, one is an enforce the other is a high ranking Stalhritter, so when they went FULL OUT (Duvalie got pissed by her defeat), they never stood a chance. Same with Zephyr members and McBurn, they are way stronger, experienced than Class VII (you know the class that exists FOR EIGHT MONTHS). The same with Vita, I mean after their fight, she was able to block Vermillion and at the same time empower Crow. So she wasn't weakened at all by Class VII

So expecting that they would be beat is insane, Falcom doesn't do this bullshit that just because you're the hero suddenly after a month fighting monsters you can match people that's on the battlefield for DECADES.

Overall Class VII never stood a chance, the other guys were there to drawn their helpers, so that Vita could get what she wants: Crow vs Rean, Valimar vs Ordine.

You need to play Ao. What's more satisfying in a JRPG than beating the boss who schooled you at the beginning in the game?

I'm not saying Class VII should win those fights. I'm just asking for an option.
 

Korigama

Member
Funny thing is, with the whole arsenal in your disposal, you still have tons of unwinable fights during the end game. You spent the whole game building up your characters, and they still get their ass wiped. I like it in Ao that you can actually win some of the seemingly unwinable fights, and you are rewarded with extra AP.
They already did that in CS II, only concentrated in Act 1 and not always for actually winning the battle so much as not wasting too many turns. That said...
By unwinable fights I mean those fights that you take the boss down, he stands up again (in cutscene) saying "Now I'm getting serious" and some NPC jumps in and saves your ass. I admit it's more of complain towards the story.
This was still something that could be argued as having happened too often. Not that it would've been plausible for Class VII to have stood a chance in most of them, though.
 

duckroll

Member
You don't but Falcom clearly does. So if you can't handle that CS3 won't be your thing

I don't think Falcom gives a shit about power levels either. it's all bullshit anyway. What they do care about is dragging on this godforsaken part of Kiseki for as long as they can milk it because it seems the characters are really popular. It's annoying. They're even in Tokyo Xanadu. Who the fuck cares. Jeez.

If Falcom really cared about power levels, it wouldn't be possible for Estelle to become an A-rank Bracer by the end of SC anyway. It's pretty much nonsense and trivializes the entire Bracer guild ranking system in the world.
 

Aters

Member
You don't but Falcom clearly does. So if you can't handle that CS3 won't be your thing

Pss, let's not pretend Falcom hasn't fucked up the canon power level. I mean exactly how strong is Rean, with all the unprecedented super powers in him? Also A wins B in one fight doesn't necessarily suggest A is stronger than B.
 

LeonSPBR

Member
You need to play Ao. What's more satisfying in a JRPG than beating the boss who schooled you at the beginning in the game?

I'm not saying Class VII should win those fights. I'm just asking for an option.

Frankly IMO they handle those battle well. Falcom want to show that Class VII with all of it's achievements still has a long way to go in order to beat the best that the world has, and Falcom showed that Class VII made a lot of powerful allies as well.

It isn't perfect, buy I don't see how they could have handled those fight. Only other option that come to mind is if they didn't fought at all, but that would be really bad.

Pss, let's not pretend Falcom hasn't fucked up the canon power level. I mean exactly how strong is Rean, with all the unprecedented super powers in him? Also A wins B in one fight doesn't necessarily suggest A is stronger than B.

Never said that, but Class VII against of those in the castle... they were outmatched in power, experience and abilities. They never stood a chance.

And on the Rean thing... not even Rean knows how powerful he really is, so obviously we don't as well.... I really hope they explain that power on CS3.
 
You don't but Falcom clearly does. So if you can't handle that CS3 won't be your thing
0mw1I8e.gif


I don't think Falcom gives a shit about power levels either. it's all bullshit anyway. What they do care about is dragging on this godforsaken part of Kiseki for as long as they can milk it because it seems the characters are really popular. It's annoying. They're even in Tokyo Xanadu. Who the fuck cares. Jeez.

If Falcom really cared about power levels, it wouldn't be possible for Estelle to become an A-rank Bracer by the end of SC anyway. It's pretty much nonsense and trivializes the entire Bracer guild ranking system in the world.
I really like these characters, which is why parts fo CS2 piss me off so much. I really hope CS3 gives them the proper sendoff they deserve.

Once you finish CS2 I'll rattle off my complaints. Though people should stop mistaking them for me not liking the game or series.
 

Shouta

Member
It makes sense why they did it for CSII but it also makes sense for players to be annoyed with it. They should have just setup a bunch of villains where they didn't need to pull that trope off. Been a hot minute since I played FC or Zero, but they never put a villain way above the MCs as I recall. So getting the crazy powerful ones in SC and Ao made sense.

On the other hand, that might mean we'll get more Duvalie in CSIII. Hmmmmmmm
 

asagami_

Banned
I don't think Falcom gives a shit about power levels either. it's all bullshit anyway. What they do care about is dragging on this godforsaken part of Kiseki for as long as they can milk it because it seems the characters are really popular. It's annoying. They're even in Tokyo Xanadu. Who the fuck cares. Jeez.

If Falcom really cared about power levels, it wouldn't be possible for Estelle to become an A-rank Bracer by the end of SC anyway. It's pretty much nonsense and trivializes the entire Bracer guild ranking system in the world.

She is not A-rank bracer at the end of SC.
The canon says it's B.
 

LeonSPBR

Member
It makes sense why they did it for CSII but it also makes sense for players to be annoyed with it. They should have just setup a bunch of villains where they didn't need to pull that trope off. Been a hot minute since I played FC or Zero, but they never put a villain way above the MCs as I recall. So getting the crazy powerful ones in SC and Ao made sense.

On the other hand, that might mean we'll get more Duvalie in CSIII. Hmmmmmmm

I agree with you. They wanted us to fight every baddie in order to finish the game, but they should have spaced them better, way better. An example would be the final time you meet Duvalie would be at 2-4 rather than the castle. That first fight didn't make sense to me really... but it meant more Duvalie, and that's always a good thing.
 

khaaan

Member
I hope SC/CS2 are good in the story department because so far I feel like I've played two enjoyable games with a barely there story until the last few hours of a 70 hour romp. I know it's supposed to be a trade off for world and character building but I haven't been that enthralled by it. I'm taking a break from JRPG's though, a single Trails game seems to be enough to give me my fill for quite some time.

I really loved the CS combat and I'm thankful for the animation skip because it helped move along things quickly. I just wish there was a toggle so I could skip everything :(
 
I hope SC/CS2 are good in the story department because so far I feel like I've played two enjoyable games with a barely there story until the last few hours of a 70 hour romp. I know it's supposed to be a trade off for world and character building but I haven't been that enthralled by it. I'm taking a break from JRPG's though, a single Trails game seems to be enough to give me my fill for quite some time.

I really loved the CS combat and I'm thankful for the animation skip because it helped move along things quickly. I just wish there was a toggle so I could skip everything :(

hm ill be interested in your take on both stories because FC got its hooks in me story and character wise right after the first town and the introduction of Olivier

CS1 never really impressed me from a story perspective outside of spaced out moments littered here and there
 
hm ill be interested in your take on both stories because FC got its hooks in me story and character wise right after the first town and the introduction of Olivier

CS1 never really impressed me from a story perspective outside of spaced out moments littered here and there
CS1 hooks for me in the story were the character interactions and mostly Sara, cuz shes amazing. I thought the intro scene was something that had great moments leading up to it and that helped keep things interesting

Like when you hear the stirrings of war, terrorists show up, and the scene in Nord where Alisa tells you how ridiculous the railway guns are. A lot of build up to chapter 5, though the payoff there wasnt amazing.

With 2 I really liked these characters and found the more personal things much more interesting that the overall story, as even once they got that interesting in act 2 they tended to backhand me with some stupid shit. The only problem I had with 2's character interactions were they were much more dependent on Rean since all the good scenes were in bonding events.
 
Rean has to somehow get closer to her so that he can headpat her without getting stabbed. Impossible!
Rean slowly walks towards Duvalie staring longingly into her eyes. Confusion sets in as she stares back at the black haired boy. Undaunted Rean draws closer. Duvalie's confusion is replaced by anger and she pulls back on her blade. Rean enters her personal space and her anger turns to rage and she runs the sword straight through Rean. Rean coughs blood and struggles to reach his hand forward, but with one last gust of energy he drops it once onto the top of her head. Duvalie gasps at the actions of the dying man in front of her as he slowly raises his hand above her head again, but with one last cough his arm falls to his side as opposed upon the maiden's head.
 
Well, even on Hard, it shouldn't feel like a slog. Without knowing your approach to combat in CS though, there's not much I can do to identify the problem, so I'll just advise on what the general mindset should be when approaching it.

Compared to something like FC, there's considerably more emphasis on making use of crafts to damage and eliminate enemies, particularly since CP doesn't take as long to build back up. Just as important is accounting for Combat Links, which weren't a factor with the older games. Basically, you want to go for as many opportunities to unbalance the enemy with regular attacks and crafts as possible, with it being just as important to account for the attack properties of everyone in your party (Slash, Thrust, Pierce, Strike) during battle as it is before it, since the weaknesses of enemies that can be dazed before a fight effect who in your party can do so (by default, you want to go for Triple Advantage every chance that you can, which makes it that much less likely that the enemy will even have the opportunity to act). Usually, you'll want to stock Bravery Points from unbalancing the enemies and going for link attacks, waiting until you find a large mob and spending five points on a Burst being one of the best ways to restore CP for the whole party. Or if you don't have Burst yet, spending points on Rush attacks against sufficiently weakened enemies can have its uses.

Just as important is abusing status effects when possible. Making proper use of immobilizing statuses such as Freeze, Sleep, Nightmare, and Faint can help you see to it that most enemies don't even get turns, with the latter three giving free criticals (something else changed from the older games).

Thanks for the suggestions, but I don't really have the motivation to play more of Cold Steel right now. I'll play 3rd when it comes out, and Zero/Ao if they ever get released in English, but I'm not sure if I'll ever go back to Cold Steel or be on board for any future Kiseki titles.
 

PK Gaming

Member
Wait, Duvalie x Rean?

We are talking about the same Duvalie who's all like "damn the steel maiden's so hot I just wanna smash her"

Rean will headpat the steel maiden instead
 

Erheller

Member
Rean slowly walks towards Duvalie staring longingly into her eyes. Confusion sets in as she stares back at the blue haired boy. Undaunted Rean draws closer. Duvalie's confusion is replaced by anger and she pulls back on her blade. Rean enters her personal space and her anger turns to rage and she runs the sword straight through Rean. Rean coughs blood and struggles to reach his hand forward, but with one last gust of energy he drops it once onto the top of her head. Duvalie gasps at the actions of the dying man in front of her as he slowly raises his hand above her head again, but with one last cough his arm falls to his side as opposed upon the maiden's head.

The game says Rean has black hair though
 

Aters

Member
Wait, Duvalie x Rean?

We are talking about the same Duvalie who's all like "damn the steel maiden's so hot I just wanna smash her"

Rean will headpat the steel maiden instead

No. We just think Duvalie won't fall for the headpat that seems irresistible for the other girls in the game. Can't wait for Duvalie be like "get your dirty paw off my head".
 

Fou-Lu

Member
Finally finished SC, I am really looking forward to learning more about Kevin in the 3rd. I do hope to get started on Cold Steel, but that might be a while away. Getting World of FF tomorrow and have FFXV coming soon too.
 
Finally finished SC, I am really looking forward to learning more about Kevin in the 3rd. I do hope to get started on Cold Steel, but that might be a while away. Getting World of FF tomorrow and have FFXV coming soon too.

Awesome!

Overall thoughts on FC/SC? Im really interesting in seeing how it compares to how you feel going into CS1
 

Fou-Lu

Member
Awesome!

Overall thoughts on FC/SC? Im really interesting in seeing how it compares to how you feel going into CS1

FC and SC were very much a slow burn. It takes time to build up and it likes to give you breathing room after big climaxes. SC definitely surprised me with how close in attitude to FC it felt despite the raise in stakes. I do love how intricate the world they put together in these games is. Stopping to talk to NPCs isn't something I often find myself enjoying in RPGs, but I certainly did here. It's a living setting that feels true. Of course then we get to the main characters, all of whom feel like breathing, evolving people. Most of the party members are just awesome, I especially like Kloe and Olivier. Estelle especially really does feel like a real person, she changes and grows while still staying recognizable, she never says or does anything that doesn't feel like something she would say or do. Which is made more impressive by the fact that you realize that she does say and do things that she wouldn't have earlier in the games because she has grown! Also Estelle and Joshua's relationship was one of the better ones I've seen in a gaming story, very sweet. I loved the ending for SC but it left sooooo many questions unanswered. I truly hope every Kiseki game gets localized eventually.

Music was absolutely phenomenal. Combat was fun enough to keep me going, but not really amazing. I only really have one frustration with the series and that is how easy it is to miss things. The amount of missables is brutal and a pain for someone who likes to get everything like myself.
 

Vamphuntr

Member
I felt the balance was way worse in this one than the first. By the time you reach the end of the game the game wants you to spam S-breaks to win before the enemy even attacks (the bosses of the first act were like this too). If you try to go the "legit" way then you won't have a good time since the basic attack of bosses takes like 1/3 to 1/2 of your HP and their S-Break will kill you anyway or they use status ailment attacks that works 100% of the time unless you knew which item to equip to nullify it beforehand. I remember not spamming S-breaks or using the Laura or Emma nuke in the first one so much.

I really didn't like how they treated what you refer as the "power level" of class VII. The game tries to juggle the facts they are exceptionally talented youth but still children very poorly. They can kill some giant mutated monster summon by a demonic flute in the first game but here in a fight of 7 vs 1 against some character the game tries to find excuse all the time about why they could win or have someone come save their asses. It's not so bad as a story device once in a while but here it's happen over and over. It's annoying, really. It also clashes badly with everyone saying Rean is the most fantabulous person in the world while he's still generic JRPG protagonist #24575b and lose constantly. I also laughed at how they are pretending that the other students of the school are about as strong as class VII EPILOGUE SPOILERS
the game spins you winning against the nobles at the school as barely making it. In a fight you cam win with one attack.

Don't get me started on the dating and harem crap that seems prevalent in Japanese games.

The best part of the story here seems to be what happens behind the scene and what you actually don't get to see like CSII ENDING SPOILERS
What Ourobouros, Vita and Crow were doing. What strings Olivert is pulling behind the scene. What are the Chancellor and Rufus doing while Osborne is pretending to be dead and how he was revived.

I enjoyed the game a lot but overall I felt they are stretching the plot for another game for no good reasons outside of being greedy. There was a satisfaction when I beat TiTS SC that you don't find here unfortunately.
 

Young Magus

Junior Member
Zero no Kiseki Final Chapters

Powered through them all and decided to combine all my thoughts so people don't know how many chapters are in the game total. :^)

All I have to say is, WOW, I did not expect the introduction of that plot element for the last 20% of the game. That might be the most serious and yet awesome this series has gotten, and it's a real credit that I was really afraid of what could happen next to Crossbell.

The soundtrack was top notch as always. Don't think I've played a Kiseki game without a good soundtrack, but this one might be the best at fitting properly into moments and drawing me into the weight of scenes. I mean, just listen to THIS. That's some hair standing on end music right there when realizations suddenly start firing off. The opening theme being remixed for certain songs was touching. The game implementing Eastern music into its motifs was very powerful when you consider the influence of the Republic on Crossbell. Firm Strength is probably my favorite "set" theme in the game.

So yeah, this game needs a [good] localization... badly. I'll drop all my dollars for it XSEED.
Now that I finished the game I watched the Zero EVO opening and the animation was low quality and cut out a lot of the cool character shots, so... yeah. No loss.

Bruh your playthrough post inspired me to pick up Zero EVO
don't have my psp with me AND my kanji is weak so the full voiced is a godsend.
.

Im on Chapter 2 now within 15~20 hours of gameplay thanks to the sidequestin. I can get a good-decent understanding of whats going on and the characterization of everyone. I like the small cast of party members, really feel connection to the group and helps everyone shine so far. Crossbell is a nice area. The OST is ok but I do want a mod for the OG tracks to be put in.

How many chapters do I got left tho¿
 
I don't think Falcom gives a shit about power levels either. it's all bullshit anyway. What they do care about is dragging on this godforsaken part of Kiseki for as long as they can milk it because it seems the characters are really popular. It's annoying. They're even in Tokyo Xanadu. Who the fuck cares. Jeez.

If Falcom really cared about power levels, it wouldn't be possible for Estelle to become an A-rank Bracer by the end of SC anyway. It's pretty much nonsense and trivializes the entire Bracer guild ranking system in the world.

A-rank Estelle is non-canon.
 
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