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

duckroll

Member
The more interesting part is Famitsu's review says CS3 is 75 hours long, and 100+ hours for completionists. Sounds like CS1 all over again.
 

Kalor

Member
Aka CS4 incoming? Wouldn't be surprised to be honest.

There was a recent interview where Kondo said this was the end of the Sen arc. He also said that he gave the team permission to split it if necessary but it seems that wasn't needed.
 
A big reason Kondo likely gave that permission was the possibility of a Vita version, but then they decided to scrap that and fill the PS4 game with as much content as possible (rather than cut).
 

PK Gaming

Member
On the one hand, I'm glad they seem to be pushing Kurt x Juna. On another, I'm conflicted on them still having to resort to tropey encounters/accidents like this. Hopefully he doesn't get slapped after the fall, at least. Then it'll be somewhat refreshing.

Edit: I like Kurt's line there. Funny.

What's he say?
 

Thud

Member
The Nord Highlands are pretty like to appear, I think, because
the statue
remains a loose thread after the first two games.

I'm sure it's there just for the story, however exploring it again not so sure.

In a few weeks someone will quote me that I was wrong and tell me that I'm an idiot for even thinking it!
 

Squire

Banned
People are too hard on Domination and Hades, IMO. They only lead to broken cheese when you stack them with other damage multipliers (Vermillion, Orochi, Tauros, Calamity, Chevalier, Pandora, Murakumo, critical hits), and unlike those, they only apply to a single attack per fight, after which they just sit in your orbment and waste space. Compare to Vermillion, which offers the same multiplier for as long as the bearer is at full health. Since you can equip two Master Quartz now, simply removing Domination and Hades won't change anything. Damage multipliers have to lowered across the board to accommodate for the fact that munchkins will stack them.

People are too hard on gear they can ignore entirely, honestly. A lot of people aren't even going to get their hands on this stuff, let alone equip it or know how to synergize it to break the game to oblivion. Why take it out? The game loses an aspect of its appeal for no reason. It's dumb.
 

Nyoro SF

Member
People are too hard on gear they can ignore entirely, honestly. A lot of people aren't even going to get their hands on this stuff, let alone equip it or know how to synergize it to break the game to oblivion. Why take it out? The game loses an aspect of its appeal for no reason. It's dumb.

I think you are vastly underestimating how easy it is to obtain and use said gear. Said quartz are extremely simple to understand, even for RPG beginners. Stacking STR stats is a very common tactic in all sorts of games; one of the first things people try do in Souls games, for example. It's on the developer to make sure such a simple strategy doesn't get out of hand.

It would not surprise me at all if the double damage and crit limit break quartz and MQ have been removed in CS3 in lieu of the new Break system where damage will increase once you Break an enemy. So rather than just slapping on a quartz that lets you auto-win battles, you will have to work the enemy down some to get that temporary damage bonus that you want.

I assumed CS3 would take place in Western Erebonia only.

One of the first promo shots of the game had team members in Crossbell. :)

I'm not counting anything out for CS3 and where it could go location-wise!
 

Tonton

Member
I don't think we've seen any trace of east Erebonia so far?
Wasn't there a shot you thought was Trista?
Also technically Crossbell is Eastern Erebonia now I'd think ;D

Would be rather disappointing if you can't go through all of Erebonia at some point imo
 

Moonlight

Banned
Just wanna point out that in the Famitsu scans, there's a fair amount of screenshots of the battles where Rean's portrait doesn't appear to be anywhere on the turn queue, only the rest of the new Class VII. Which is... very interesting.
 

Fou-Lu

Member
I just finished Cold Steel for the first time. Somehow despite knowing Trails games always have great endings, I am still surprised at how damn good they are each time! I was not at all expecting
the assassination (if he doesn't survive somehow, which I kind of expect) or mecha battles (please tell me we get more of those).
I wasn't sure about Rean as a main character at first but he really grew on me, and he now holds the award for my favourite line in the series
"But I hope you know what you just signed up for, because the Bank of Rean has the highest interest rate on the continent!"
I like CS more than FC and possibly as much or more than SC, but the 3rd is still my reigning champ.

It's going to be a huge pain waiting for CSII to make it to steam.
 

jman2050

Member
Just wanna point out that in the Famitsu scans, there's a fair amount of screenshots of the battles where Rean's portrait doesn't appear to be anywhere on the turn queue, only the rest of the new Class VII. Which is... very interesting.

I'm assuming CS3 is the same as the other CS games where you can switch anyone out of your party, Rean included, for party members in the support slots, so I wouldn't read too much into that.
 

PK Gaming

Member
Just wanna point out that in the Famitsu scans, there's a fair amount of screenshots of the battles where Rean's portrait doesn't appear to be anywhere on the turn queue, only the rest of the new Class VII. Which is... very interesting.

The protagonist split is sure to be interesting. One of CS's biggest criticisms was the heavy focus on Rean, and it seems like they're directly addressing that. I really can't wait to see how it all plays out. Though imagine if its a MGS2 situation and Juna ends up taking over entirely.

I just finished Cold Steel for the first time. Somehow despite knowing Trails games always have great endings, I am still surprised at how damn good they are each time! I was not at all expecting
the assassination (if he doesn't survive somehow, which I kind of expect) or mecha battles (please tell me we get more of those).
I wasn't sure about Rean as a main character at first but he really grew on me, and he now holds the award for my favourite line in the series
"But I hope you know what you just signed up for, because the Bank of Rean has the highest interest rate on the continent!"
I like CS more than FC and possibly as much or more than SC, but the 3rd is still my reigning champ.

It's going to be a huge pain waiting for CSII to make it to steam.

Congrats, i'm glad you enjoyed it, yes you'll get more, and yes that line is unquestionably the best in the franchise.
 

Moonlight

Banned
I'm assuming CS3 is the same as the other CS games where you can switch anyone out of your party, Rean included, for party members in the support slots, so I wouldn't read too much into that.
The thing about that, though, is that they should still feature the support slot characters above the active party on the bottom right of the HUD. Rean is totally absent from there in all but two screenshots.
 
I just finished Cold Steel for the first time. Somehow despite knowing Trails games always have great endings, I am still surprised at how damn good they are each time! I was not at all expecting
the assassination (if he doesn't survive somehow, which I kind of expect) or mecha battles (please tell me we get more of those).
I wasn't sure about Rean as a main character at first but he really grew on me, and he now holds the award for my favourite line in the series
"But I hope you know what you just signed up for, because the Bank of Rean has the highest interest rate on the continent!"
I like CS more than FC and possibly as much or more than SC, but the 3rd is still my reigning champ.

It's going to be a huge pain waiting for CSII to make it to steam.

Glad you liked it!

Spoilers for the ending of Cold Steel!
Cold Steel's 'ending' is by far the most interesting out of any of the games we've gotten in English IMO. After defeating the 'final' boss (Loa Erebonia) all of a sudden you have a mech, then GF gets wiped off the map, it looks like its setting up the sequel to be a war with crossbell but NOPE all the shit thats been building the whole fucking game that didn't seem to be THAT immediate of a threat comes back with a vengence. C is revealed as Crow, Vita is revealed to be with Oroborous and an Anguis, then enter the fucking Noble Alliance with their own mechs and they literally start a civil war and take over heimdallr... Oh and Crow kills Osborne.

Then they find out the Noble Alliance is preparing to attack Trista and the Instructors go off to defend the town and walking around the school you can see just how serious everything is. Students like Vivi who have always been playful is scared shitless, Carla who never once paid attention to anything other then her art stares out an open window as the army approaches. Even fucking Patrick gets prepared to stand and defend Thors along with many of the other students who have come to find the school as a home away from home that they want to protect. The citizens of Trista gather in the schools auditorium confused and feeling absolutely bleak.

Rean and Class 7 makes a decision to stand and fight with the teachers which then further reveals more twists with Sharon revealing shes a freaking Enforcer but fights with the Teachers to protect the town on one side while Rean and company protect the other but they can't fight against the stronger mechs and then Valimar awakens and Rean gets his own freaking mech and you get to fight out these final battles with Rean ultimately being able to confront and fight Crow and delivering a hell of a badass line. Despite winning the first bout Crow reveals hes got a lot of things up his sleeve and Valimar and Rean are forced to retreat, against Rean's will the last image he sees is the rest of Class 7 attacking Crow's mech in order to let him escape with the thought going through Rean's head that they don't stand a chance and could all die to protect him when what he wanted was to protect them instead.

This ending is fucking amazing for so many reasons but a prominent one is how it builds emotion within the player. The music and narration about Garella Fortress being wiped off the map is so on point and it presents how dire a situation Rean and everyone else are now in. Trista and Thors are filled with so many confused people who have no idea whats about to happen but everyone fearing the worst and assuming they are going to war with Crossbell which in turn means war with the Republic. Everyone around the school feels a true sense of dread at the impending announcement only for the rug to be pulled out from under them and us as the player once again. Being able to talk to everyone and see how each character reacts to the crazy situation is what makes this ending so damn strong because no one person has the same reaction which is the same for the players of the game. I remember truly feeling like shit had hit the fan and I couldn't believe that after EVERYTHING in this game, all the build up, all the foreshadowing that it all actually came to ahead at the very end of the game in a crazy powerful way.

I love Cold Steel and its the ending more then anything that makes the game stand out for me. The Trails series has some great endings, the shocking ending of FC, the heartwarming one of SC, the tear jerker of 3rd but none of them make you as the player go through so many emotions and I didn't even talk about the School Festival stuff either!

Also yes more Divine Knight Battles in CS2 and they are vastly improved over the first game.
 
Just wanna point out that in the Famitsu scans, there's a fair amount of screenshots of the battles where Rean's portrait doesn't appear to be anywhere on the turn queue, only the rest of the new Class VII. Which is... very interesting.
Yar, it's been confirmed that Rean would not always be with his students and would go off to do things on his own during missions.

Which makes sense, really. Sara also mostly leaves Class VII on their own in the first game.
 

ResourcefulStar

Neo Member
Another curious thing in the Famitsu scans: you can see concept art of most major characters at the bottom of pages 136-138, and they seem to be grouped by faction affiliation. Different groups have differently colored backgrounds: Thors personnel has a blue background, while Class VII alumni have a white one, for example.
Sharon and Vita aren't among other Ouroboros members, who have a purple background. Sharon's concept art has a green background and is placed among miscellaneous good guys (bracers, Elise, George, Angelica, Victor). Vita's on a dark grey background, shared by not Crow, Roselia, and Rutger.
 
Another curious thing in the Famitsu scans: you can see concept art of most major characters at the bottom of pages 136-138, and they seem to be grouped by faction affiliation. Different groups have differently colored backgrounds: Thors personnel has a blue background, while Class VII alumni have a white one, for example.
Sharon and Vita aren't among other Ouroboros members, who have a purple background. Sharon's concept art has a green background and is placed among miscellaneous good guys (bracers, Elise, George, Angelica, Victor). Vita's on a dark grey background, shared by not Crow, Roselia, and Rutger.

It's the same grouping as in the official website. Basically Thors Academy, Old Class VII, Allies, Erebonian Empire,
Ouroboros and "Infiltrators"
 
Man the previews have got me HYPE for this game. It's a shame we might not see this for another 2 years :( At least we have Gu4n's Zero translation to look forward to next year.
 

Gu4n

Member
Wasn't there a shot you thought was Trista?
Before I found out that Radio Trista has moved/expanded into Leeves. ;)

There was a recent interview where Kondo said this was the end of the Sen arc. He also said that he gave the team permission to split it if necessary but it seems that wasn't needed.
Is this actually confirmed? In the actual interview I read 'See for yourself [whether it really ends]. (laughs)'.
 

sandpiper

Member
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OWqAp8889Y

Sen 3 gameplay on right now on this livestream.

Edit: over. Damn, I love that complete lack of any loading at all for battle transitions. Game looks incredible. Music was awesome too.

https://youtu.be/FaebtOsFqTc

Video.

Edit 2:

DKPvUDAVYAEiX2t.jpg

Interesting how SEn 3 has english control mapping.

Then again, floofy's interview TL had this:

* There will be an initiative for multiple releases, not only domestically, but for North America, Europe, and Asia, and Falcom will be participating in the development for various platforms, and smartphone titles to provide a more proactive stance with their contents.

* We recognized that in order to turn this game towards overseas sales

It could be that XSEED is already working with Falcom on CS3. Who knows?
 

ResourcefulStar

Neo Member
Could someone who knows Japanese clarify what the Latin letters seen in Craft descriptions denote?

syWZGJR.jpg


I assume that one of them signifies the move's relative damage dealing ability, but what about the other one? Damage to the Break gauge?
 

Kalor

Member
Ys VIII's localisation would almost certainly have been worked on prior to the Japanese PS4 release.

Ys VIII might be a special case since the Vita version was already out. We might find out from their financial reports at some point like with Ys.

Is this actually confirmed? In the actual interview I read 'See for yourself [whether it really ends]. (laughs)'.

I feel like I read it somewhere but I can't find it again. The most I can find is that line then also the fact that he mentions that it's probably time to tell Calvards story in the interview you translated.
 

preta

Member
Could someone who knows Japanese clarify what the Latin letters seen in Craft descriptions denote?

syWZGJR.jpg


I assume that one of them signifies the move's relative damage dealing ability, but what about the other one? Damage to the Break gauge?

Correct. Left is power, right is break.
 

Bowlie

Banned
I stopped playing 3rd for ~2 weeks thanks to
___Kloe___
's Moon Door. It was so so long (1h30m here) that it completely stopped the momentum the main story had going for it to me.

Now that I've finished other games, I got back to it and I'm on ch. 4. Finally, mira isn't an issue anymore (though I'm still hurting on time sepith)!
I also found some accessories that made the characters beasts in battle.

I'm still collecting the two chest stories, but the other chests weren't kidding when they said they were out of ideas; I may have found 10 variations of that same sentence.
Spoiler because the chest stories seem a cool thing to discover by yourself??
 

daliner

Neo Member
The protagonist split is sure to be nteresting. One of CS's biggest criticisms was the heavy focus on Rean, and it seems like they're directly addressing that. I really can't wait to see how it all plays out.
Is there actually going to be a protagonist split? The screenshots without Rean from the Famitsu magazine look like they come from the prologue assault on Juno. While in the Game Maniax interview, Kondo says Rean is the protagonist and the story focuses on him, that point is reiterated by one of the Famitsu reviewers as well.
 

PK Gaming

Member
Is there actually going to be a protagonist split? The screenshots without Rean from the Famitsu magazine look like they come from the prologue assault on Juno. While in the Game Maniax interview, Kondo says Rean is the protagonist and the story focuses on him, that point is reiterated by one of the Famitsu reviewers as well.

Maybe not a full-on protagonist, but something akin to SC would be possible. The point is, CS1/CS2 rarely shifted its perspective from Rean, so the fact that CS3 is willing to do so (and include sections where Rean isn't present) is promising.
 

Thud

Member
Maybe not a full-on protagonist, but something akin to SC would be possible. The point is, CS1/CS2 rarely shifted its perspective from Rean, so the fact that CS3 is willing to do so (and include sections where Rean isn't present) is promising.

Based on the imagery I expected CS2 to do this.

Like part Rean and another part Crow
 
CS1 at least (cant recall too much in CS2) has quick cutaway scenes to show characters in other areas. Thats about the extent that SC had.

Not really expecting much more than that in CS3. Though I'd be cool with it if it meant large parts of the game as Sara.
 

PK Gaming

Member
CS1 at least (cant recall too much in CS2) has quick cutaway scenes to show characters in other areas. Thats about the extent that SC had.

Not really expecting much more than that in CS3. Though I'd be cool with it if it meant large parts of the game as Sara.

CS2 had arguably the best perspective switch in the franchise.

Divertissement
 
Based on the imagery I expected CS2 to do this.

Like part Rean and another part Crow
I feel like that's actually in the cards early in the production. [CS2]
We get access to fully playable Crow, Vita, and Altina, after all. They even has victory quotes and everything.
 

ResourcefulStar

Neo Member
Correct. Left is power, right is break.
Thank you. I haven't seen any Crafts that strongly favor one over the other yet, but I assume that there are going to be some. Not much point in separating the values otherwise.
I feel like that's actually in the cards early in the production. [CS2]
We get access to fully playable Crow, Vita, and Altina, after all. They even has victory quotes and everything.
I'll gush and giggle like a schoolgirl if the promotional CS III screenshot of
Vita and Thomas
turns out to be from a sequence where you control them.
 

Jiraiza

Member
Just a week to go, I am so ready for Sen 3. =o

I can't believe I'm going to play 6 Trails games back-to-back. I got all the Evolution Vita games on 5/31 and started Sky FC on the same day. Fast forward and I'll be done with Ao tomorrow... a little over 3 and a half months to finish 5 games. How am I not sick of this franchise yet?
 
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