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[Sinh_Magnus]

*double-checks to see if this is the Kiseki or the Ys VIII thread*

So I finished Sen no Kiseki III...

It's not like there is much more to talk about apart from hopeful localisations. People are trying to avoid getting spoiled, after all.

So here's a question: Do you think the game keeps getting better later on, or there are some chapters which their execution were a step above of some others later in the story? Some impressions in the OT seems to go that way.

 

[Gu4n]

It's not like there is much more to talk about apart from hopeful localisations. People are trying to avoid getting spoiled, after all.

So here's a question: Do you think the game keeps getting better later on, or there are some chapters which their execution were a step above of some others later in the story? Some impressions in the OT seems to go that way.

The game is great from the first chapter onward. Every chapter is great. It actually surprised me that the game got this intense so early on, but of course it has a lot of predecessors to build on.

 

[vkrili]

Out of the new cast, who is your favorite?

 

[Holundrian]

Surprisingly Ash. Love his cheekiness.

 

[Gu4n]

Ash is surprisingly great, indeed. I also like Muse and her antics. Juna has Lloyd's spirit but Estelle's mouth, so that's also hilarious at times.

 

[ResourcefulStar]

Did Falcom bring back Crafts with elemental properties or accessories that make physical attacks deal elemental damage? I was surprised to see them gone in Cold Steel. It would make for a cool Master Quartz effect.

 

[Morrigan Stark]

Started Trails 3rd again. Had to deactivate the analog stick camera control because otherwise the camera constantly spins without me doing anything... annoying. I can only turn it clockwise with L1 now. -_-

Something I need to complain about: I found the first door, and I was sucked into it right away (like, I arrived at a crossroads, then cut scene, then battle, then door cut scene without any prompt or anything). And the damn cut scene that followed was at least 30, if not 40 goddamn minutes.

After it was over, the dialogue started skipping, like, there was a lag/freeze between each character's lines. I thought the game was gonna crash. Fortunately it didn't, but uh... game, can you like, not suck me into an incredibly lengthy cut scene without the possibility of saving and then scare me with glitches after that? FFS.

Is there any way, in this game, to skip or fast-forward cut scenes? Because if that does happen, I know I will probably give up on the game for good otherwise.

 

[Tonton]

Holding cancel fast forwards dialogue but you'd be missing the meat of the game

I do sometimes wish you could save in cutscenes in these games like they were VNs

 

[Dragon1893]

Started Trails 3rd again. Had to deactivate the analog stick camera control because otherwise the camera constantly spins without me doing anything... annoying. I can only turn it clockwise with L1 now. -_-

Something I need to complain about: I found the first door, and I was sucked into it right away (like, I arrived at a crossroads, then cut scene, then battle, then door cut scene without any prompt or anything). And the damn cut scene that followed was at least 30, if not 40 goddamn minutes.

After it was over, the dialogue started skipping, like, there was a lag/freeze between each character's lines. I thought the game was gonna crash. Fortunately it didn't, but uh... game, can you like, not suck me into an incredibly lengthy cut scene without the possibility of saving and then scare me with glitches after that? FFS.

Is there any way, in this game, to skip or fast-forward cut scenes? Because if that does happen, I know I will probably give up on the game for good otherwise.

Fortunately this doesn't happen often. I was worried after doing that first door as well but the game doesn't make a habit out of making you go through such a long scene without saving.
The other moon doors are long as well but give you chances to save.

 

[Gu4n]

Did Falcom bring back Crafts with elemental properties or accessories that make physical attacks deal elemental damage? I was surprised to see them gone in Cold Steel. It would make for a cool Master Quartz effect.

Not that I'm aware of, no.

 

[apd_ng]

Not that I'm aware of, no.

Did they remove that in the Evo versions?

I remember playing Sora FC evo, the chests that contained those types of accessories had different items

 

[encephalon]

Falcom is incapable of

Spoiler

writing backstories without dead parents.

Slight exaggeration.

 

[lisaeves]

how's the ost? were there a lot of annoying bombastic orchestral tracks like at the end of CS2? and...d-did they use enforcers super arrange? probably not.

 

[Palette Swap]

Falcom is incapable of

Spoiler

writing backstories without dead parents.

Slight exaggeration.

That’s a recurring theme, in the broadest sense, most of the characters have lineage issues, absent or dead parents they try to live up to, and these are what drive and forge most of them.

how's the ost? were there a lot of annoying bombastic orchestral tracks like at the end of CS2? and...d-did they use enforcers super arrange? probably not.

Watching streams I was pleasantly surprised when I heard 2 returning tracks I like a lot, one of them was a boss track and it was predictable in retrospect.

 

[preta]

There are plenty of good tracks in Sen III - but I'm finding that there are surprisingly few tracks in general for a game that's almost entirely new areas/content and the largest game in the series on top of that. And it also feels like there are some really good tracks that are barely used, and some other tracks that are used too often.

 

[ResourcefulStar]

Not that I'm aware of, no.

Thank you for the reply. Getting rid of the accessories was probably for the best, but I hope we'll see elemental Crafts again in the future. They can help differentiate physical attackers and can be balanced by giving them lower base damage.

 

[Aters]

Falcom is incapable of

Spoiler

writing backstories without dead parents.

Slight exaggeration.

That's Japan in general.

 

[vkrili]

That's fiction in general.

What decently well known fantasy books/movies/games have protagonists whose families haven't suffered?

Both of Rean's adoptive parents are alive and well, as is his sister, so dude has it set!

 

[ResourcefulStar]

That's Japan in general.

Not uncommon in WRPGs either. Baldur's Gate, Jade Empire, and Neverwinter Nights 2 spring to mind immediately. I think some of the backgrounds in Dragon's Age and Mass Effect give the PC dead parents as well.

It's pretty crazy that

Spoiler

both of Rean's fathers, biological and foster, are alive

(CS II).

 

[Mivey]

What decently well known fantasy books/movies/games have protagonists whose families haven't suffered?

Both of Rean's adoptive parents are alive and well, as is his sister, so dude has it set!

Luke Triton and Professor Layton. No real family drama.

Spoiler

There is a "tragic past" to Layton, but it's mentioned in like the last 5 minutes of the last game, and Layton is so much over it that it essentially forgot it.

And even that feels like a silly retcon, since they ran out of ideas for the prequel trilogy

 

[Famassu]

Orphans fit a world that is recovering from a recent major war & is still filled with strife & all kinds of conflicts here & there. It's not weird that parents would have died in attacks on cities/villages, in skirmishes as soldiers/undercover agents or just due to some side effects of war.

And orphans are a major trope in the fantasy genre across the world and, really, all of fiction. Not having had or having lost one's birth parents is a fairly common way of adding drama of some kind into a story (wanting revenge for killed parents, mental health issues for not having had your own parents around past a certain point, drama between step/adoptive parent(s) and the step/adopted child etc.)

 

[Morrigan Stark]

Holding cancel fast forwards dialogue but you'd be missing the meat of the game

If that wasn't clear, I don't want to skip cut scenes the first time around, of course. But, if the game crashes or if I have to reload for some reason, I want a way to fast-forward/skip the dialogue. I knew about holding cancel but that's not nearly fast enough, especially since cut scenes aren't just dialogues, there are animations too, camera panning over scenes, etc.

The thought of having to repeat

Spoiler

Tita

's moon door if the game crashed, like I thought it would due to the buggy, laggy dialogue afterwards, filled me with dread.

Fortunately this doesn't happen often. I was worried after doing that first door as well but the game doesn't make a habit out of making you go through such a long scene without saving.
The other moon doors are long as well but give you chances to save.

OK, that's good to know.

Orphans fit a world that is recovering from a recent major war & is still filled with strife & all kinds of conflicts here & there. It's not weird that parents would have died in attacks on cities/villages, in skirmishes as soldiers/undercover agents or just due to some side effects of war.

And orphans are a major trope in the fantasy genre across the world and, really, all of fiction. Not having had or having lost one's birth parents is a fairly common way of adding drama of some kind into a story (wanting revenge for killed parents, mental health issues for not having had your own parents around past a certain point, drama between step/adoptive parent(s) and the step/adopted child etc.)

It's also convenient/lazy because you don't have to worry about writing interactions with the character's parents and can let your character go off on some lengthy adventure away from home etc.

 

[Palette Swap]

It's also convenient/lazy because you don't have to worry about writing interactions with the character's parents and can let your character go off on some lengthy adventure away from home etc.

“You kids be good, I’ll be right back!”
- Cassius Bright -

 

[Nyoro SF]

VANTAGE. MASTER.

 

[PK Gaming]

Spoiler

For as humorous and meme worthy this gif is, it's actually pretty out of character for SC!Estelle. She doesn't act that way at all ingame.

 

[vkrili]

VANTAGE. MASTER.

Are there any clips of it on youtube or something, I wanna see some spoiler free vantage mastering.

 

[Nyoro SF]

Are there any clips of it on youtube or something, I wanna see some spoiler free vantage mastering.

I am too scared to look at youtube videos lest my Related Videos be corrupted forever.

But it's a fully fledged table card game like MtG and YGO. 1000x better and more interesting than Blade.

 

[vkrili]

I've just had my youtube history cleared out and paused since forever ago. Almost no chance of running into any recommended videos.

 

[c1d]

thereitis.gif

 

[SolVanderlyn]

This is straight up Sturm's theme from Advance Wars.

 

[Gu4n]

I'm getting a lot of questions about cut content from the game. The only thing that might have been cut is the most trivial thing that could have been cut (Chapter 4,

Spoiler

the pool party

). We don't know for certain until data-mining PS4 games becomes a thing.

I can't emphasise enough how rich, how dense this game's story is. And unlike the series' usual build-up toward chapter ends and the end of the game, this game is exciting throughout each chapter. The first chapter alone was an emotional roller coaster, growing this feeling of impending doom in my stomache as the chapter progressed. Also, once you familiarise yourself with the structure, it offers enough variations to keep things surprising every time you go through them.

I'm incredibly satisfied with this game. The combination of finally moving beyond the point in time where the Crossbell arc ended (and Cold Steel I & II repeated), the abundance of world-building, and Erebonia's fascinating history will keep me occupied on the wiki until the next game in the series arrives.

 

[Morrigan Stark]

"Star doors are short stories, let me check this one before going to bed"

Welp. Short my ass.

 

[PantsuJo]

VANTAGE. MASTER.

Do you mean the famous Falcom "VANTAGE MASTER"?

Fucking magnificient card based SRPG, it's totally freeware (thanks Falcom) and it's hard as hell, for what I remember.

Plus, it works great on Windows 7/8.1/10.

Glorious Falcom.

 

[Yu Narukami]

I'm getting a lot of questions about cut content from the game. The only thing that might have been cut is the most trivial thing that could have been cut (Chapter 4,

Spoiler

the pool party

). We don't know for certain until data-mining PS4 games becomes a thing.

I can't emphasise enough how rich, how dense this game's story is. And unlike the series' usual build-up toward chapter ends and the end of the game, this game is exciting throughout each chapter. The first chapter alone was an emotional roller coaster, growing this feeling of impending doom in my stomache as the chapter progressed. Also, once you familiarise yourself with the structure, it offers enough variations to keep things surprising every time you go through them.

I'm incredibly satisfied with this game. The combination of finally moving beyond the point in time where the Crossbell arc ended (and Cold Steel I & II repeated), the abundance of world-building, and Erebonia's fascinating history will keep me occupied on the wiki until the next game in the series arrives.

Some people ITT were criticising the pacing of the game. A problem I had in the first 2 games aswell.

 

[vkrili]

A Kiseki game with people complaining about its pacing, say it ain't so

 

[ResourcefulStar]

thereitis.gif

Hmmm...

1. He's strangely reluctant to admit that XSEED own the domain, painting it as only one possibility, even though it's publicly available information that anyone can check.
2. He says that there's "nothing to announce", which is the standard PR speak for "We're working on it, but you aren't supposed to know it yet".

Maybe they really aren't working on Zero, but there certainly are far less ambiguous ways to state so.

 

[Gu4n]

Some people ITT were criticising the pacing of the game. A problem I had in the first 2 games aswell.

Any specific examples?

 

[Psxphile]

Didin't Hatsuu admit to registering those domains in a blog post for a 'jic' scenario?
fake edit: no it was Tom

And yes, I wouldn't read too much into these domain registrations -- we just wanted to protect ourselves from squatters, as some of you have speculated.

 

[vkrili]

Professor Layton. No real family drama.

Hey man, no CS3 spoilers. I had no idea this guy was a professor.

 

[Mivey]

Hey man, no CS3 spoilers. I had no idea this guy was a professor.

Now that's realism! Academia being paid so bad, they have to work a day job in food services.

Spoiler

 

[ShadowSoldier89]

"Star doors are short stories, let me check this one before going to bed"

Welp. Short my ass.

yea the 3rd is a fucking liar like that...

I really hated the pacing of the doors system, even if the stories themselves tended to be excellent

 

[OrionX]

Cold Steel, Chapter 2: Yesterday, I came across the legendary

Spoiler

Anton and Ricky

!! Once again, I found myself moved by

Spoiler

Anton's passionate quest for self-discovery.

Truly, this is the most important plotline in the Trails universe so it brings me great joy to see it continued in all its glory.

I've also concluded that Machias is the most

Spoiler

tsundere

character I've ever encountered, but I think he's growing on me.

Spoiler

Team Jusis forever though.

 

[Loz246789]

I've also concluded that Machias is the most

Spoiler

tsundere

character I've ever encountered, but I think he's growing on me.

Spoiler

Team Jusis forever though.

It actually took me a second playthrough to appreciate just how

Spoiler

tsundere

Machias is. Like, first playthrough, I was aware of it well enough, but with the context of where his character goes, I was just mentally inserting

Spoiler

B-BAKA

every other line on a second playthrough. Worth it.
And

Spoiler

Jusis

is indeed fantastic, yeah.

 

[ResourcefulStar]

I have another gameplay-related question about CS III to people who have already played it. What's Laura like in this game? In ToCS II, Falcom tried to turn her into a balanced, magic knight sort of character by removing the ATS penalty from Radiant Wings and giving her an ATS-based Craft, Radiant Blade. However, her base ATS remained on the low side, so it didn't work out as well as it could have. Is she in the same awkward position in CS III, or does she undergo a change? If she does, do her magical capabilities get improved, or does she go back to her CS I incarnation? While we're on the subject, do any other returning characters get their intended combat role altered?

 

[supremezerker]

I think the issue is the "grim and revolting". The line sounds like it is part of a short speech to his team. If so, you would want something that is succinct and effective. So just drop the adjectives altogether, or pick something simpler. "sick delusions" sounds more natural.
The line about the Macdowell name is super awkward, but I presume that's the intent, making her look overly formal.
At the same time, the game has probably millions of lines like that, each ideally requiring a lot of thought and multiple passes. Fans, who still have to work a day job, will obviously not get the same results as professionals working on full time.

I appreciate the criticism regarding delusions, by the way. The MacDowell quote was intended to sound formal, so you were right about that!

 

[PK Gaming]

I have another gameplay-related question about CS III to people who have already played it. What's Laura like in this game? In ToCS II, Falcom tried to turn her into a balanced, magic knight sort of character by removing the ATS penalty from Radiant Wings and giving her an ATS-based Craft, Radiant Blade. However, her base ATS remained on the low side, so it didn't work out as well as it could have. Is she in the same awkward position in CS III, or does she undergo a change? If she does, do her magical capabilities get improved, or does she go back to her CS I incarnation? While we're on the subject, do any other returning characters get their intended combat role altered?

Falcom didn't change Laura's role from CS1-->CS2. They removed the ATS penalty from Radiant Wings and her ATS-based craft actually revolves around muting enemies, not doing damage. She was still primarily a physical attacker in CS2, with her stats and crafts being geared towards that role.

From what I've seen she's pretty much the same in CS3, with added buffing utility via Brave Orders,

 

[ResourcefulStar]

Falcom didn't change Laura's role from CS1-->CS2. They removed the ATS penalty from Radiant Wings and her ATS-based craft actually revolves around muting enemies, not doing damage. She was still primarily a physical attacker in CS2, with stats and crafts that revolved around it.

From what I've seen she's pretty much the same in CS3, with added buffing utility via Brave Orders,

Thing is, I don't get the impression that Radiant Blade wasn't meant to be a heavy hitter. Let's compare it to Rean's Flame Dragon.

Radiant Blade
Magic Attack (Set) - Area (M) - Mute (90%)
Unbalance +20%, Class S, 40 CP

Flame Dragon
Attack (Set) - Area (M) - Burn (50%) - Faint (50%)
Unbalance +30%, Class S+, 45 CP

Both hit the same area. Flame Dragon is slightly more damaging and unbalances more consistently. Radiant Blade is slightly cheaper and more reliable at inflicting ailments (Flame Dragon has a base 75% chance of inflicting something). They're very close to each other in terms of power, but only if Laura's ATS is comparable to Rean's STR. If Radiant Blade is supposed to consistently deal less damage than other S-class Crafts then it's overpriced in terms of CP cost. This is what makes me think that Falcom wanted Laura to fill a different combat role in CS II, but didn't get the balance quite right in time.

 

[Morrigan Stark]

yea the 3rd is a fucking liar like that...

I really hated the pacing of the doors system, even if the stories themselves tended to be excellent

Yeah, right now I'm not sure I like this game much. It's just... weird and the pacing is all out of whack. I'm sure the story will get more interesting later on, but man...

I also miss how snappy and fast-paced the combat was in CS1 and 2. I don't know if my PC has a problem or what, but it seems like everything is sluggish. A 1-2 sec pause between each attack/death animation, plus 2 sec loading between a building's floors/rooms (like the stores in fake-

Spoiler

Grancel

), etc. just makes everything go sooooo slooooow. It was probably always like that in FC and SC and I just didn't remember, but yikes.

 

[Kalor]

Yeah, right now I'm not sure I like this game much. It's just... weird and the pacing is all out of whack. I'm sure the story will get more interesting later on, but man...

I also miss how snappy and fast-paced the combat was in CS1 and 2. I don't know if my PC has a problem or what, but it seems like everything is sluggish. A 1-2 sec pause between each attack/death animation, plus 2 sec loading between a building's floors/rooms (like the stores in fake-

Spoiler

Grancel

), etc. just makes everything go sooooo slooooow. It was probably always like that in FC and SC and I just didn't remember, but yikes.

The first two games are like that but it is weird going back. Are you using turbo mode? I found that helped a bunch.

 

[ShadowSoldier89]

Yeah, right now I'm not sure I like this game much. It's just... weird and the pacing is all out of whack. I'm sure the story will get more interesting later on, but man...

I also miss how snappy and fast-paced the combat was in CS1 and 2. I don't know if my PC has a problem or what, but it seems like everything is sluggish. A 1-2 sec pause between each attack/death animation, plus 2 sec loading between a building's floors/rooms (like the stores in fake-

Spoiler

Grancel

), etc. just makes everything go sooooo slooooow. It was probably always like that in FC and SC and I just didn't remember, but yikes.

that delay is definitely inherent to the sky games. I turbo moded through it.

The story gets a lot better once it picks up. However it waits until near the end to really go anywhere. There is some excellent characterization that happens around chapter 4, but its not until chapter 7 that the main story really becomes relevant. And the game is only 8 chapters. However the moments when this story gets good it is extremely good.

The doors can be really good and are definitely important to the overall lore. Many of them last too long, but compared to that first moon door they are easier to get through since most of them will actually give you control at points, allowing you to save and take a break if needed.

Its also not very long, despite 8 chapters completion was around 40 hours, which includes the bonus dungeon and the star door there.