Wait, Ao spoils even one of the big end twists of CS2? Feels like there vast majority of these games is irrelevant to someone who's played every other on the series and you basically had to play it for the bits after the finale? I really need to finish the last two parts before I can decide how I feel about these games, so far they've been enjoyable but ultimately frustratingly unsatisfying.
Thank Aidios I still have the 3rd to look forward to.
No, it's much more complex than that. Cold Steel was fascinating because the series had been teasing Erebonia for five games, and it was great to see Bareahard (which you see in The 3rd's opening) and the Nord Highlands in full splendor. Other than that, I was overcome with a 'I had no idea this was going on beyond the border' sentiment when playing the games. Falcom masterfully directed this series. They really know what they're doing.
Yea the ending felt like the journey was set in stone for Class VII and that things were done eventhough there were still questions I had.
Its funny because I got the same feel from Zero when I played it. If I didn't know about So then I would've been thinking that Zero was conclusive enough to the crossbell saga.
General Cold Steel Question:
Why is people guessin that Gauis could be a domination in the future?
Is anybody playing Akatsuki no Kiseki?
I've just visited their website and... apparently the game is out? This is kind of strange because I am sure I preregistered for a free character back in the past and there has been no mails from them nor any news in the other places. I completely missed the release 0_0
Granted I've been distracted with moving and a new job. And I am still in the middle of Ao. But to miss it so completely...
Is anybody playing Akatsuki no Kiseki?
I've just visited their website and... apparently the game is out? This is kind of strange because I am sure I preregistered for a free character back in the past and there has been no mails from them nor any news in the other places. I completely missed the release 0_0
Granted I've been distracted with moving and a new job. And I am still in the middle of Ao. But to miss it so completely...
Dunno if this is really the appropriate thread, but I recently started Trails of Cold Steel and have some questions.
When (if eventually) does the story picks up? I'm 15 hours in or something, beginning of Chapter 3 I think, and I'm starting to get a bit bored. I appreciated the quick political frictions that happened before that, but the school setting is really draining my will to keep playing. Doesn't help that most of the cast feels so bland. Everyone is so fucking polite and well-meaning, it's ridiculous! There's not an inch of asperity to their personalities.
Will I be able to find/buy clothes for the party or is that exclusive to some ridiculously overpriced DLC? I'm already sick of the stupid sailor fukus.
No, it's much more complex than that. Cold Steel was fascinating because the series had been teasing Erebonia for five games, and it was great to see Bareahard (which you see in The 3rd's opening) and the Nord Highlands in full splendor. Other than that, I was overcome with a 'I had no idea this was going on beyond the border' sentiment when playing the games. Falcom masterfully directed this series. They really know what they're doing.
Even only having played the first 2 Sky games I understand the first part of what you're saying. Seeing the mysterious empire from those games fleshed out into a real living, breathing country was the vast majority of what I liked about these games. The gameplay was also a nice variation of the Sky stuff but when it comes to characters and story it was sorely disappointing for me. I guess at least part off the problem is that I'm 35 and child characters just don't have enough depth for 15 or so of them to carry a story. The only member of class vii that was remotely interesting
is dead.
I spent then entire game wishing I was in the West of Erebonia with the adults.
Having said all that, the place the story is at by the end is much more interesting, even Rean finally interests me a little. Never Gaius though, not even with an extra spear.
Is anybody playing Akatsuki no Kiseki?
I've just visited their website and... apparently the game is out? This is kind of strange because I am sure I preregistered for a free character back in the past and there has been no mails from them nor any news in the other places. I completely missed the release 0_0
Granted I've been distracted with moving and a new job. And I am still in the middle of Ao. But to miss it so completely...
It came out about 3 and a half months ago. It's also been getting updates pretty much every week, it's not possible to finish the main story at the moment.
Dunno if this is really the appropriate thread, but I recently started Trails of Cold Steel and have some questions.
When (if eventually) does the story picks up? I'm 15 hours in or something, beginning of Chapter 3 I think, and I'm starting to get a bit bored. I appreciated the quick political frictions that happened before that, but the school setting is really draining my will to keep playing. Doesn't help that most of the cast feels so bland. Everyone is so fucking polite and well-meaning, it's ridiculous! There's not an inch of asperity to their personalities.
Geez, 15 hours? I'm in chapter 3 too and I have twice that amount. xD
I agree with you that the school setting is a slog. The field trips are fun and interesting and stuff happens, the school shit is uuuurgh. Can't say I agree that everyone is nice and polite though. If anything, there are too many annoying jerk-asses. The only ones I kind of like are Laura and Fie (and now for some reason they're feuding? I can't even remember why, must be related to
Fie being a jaeger, Laura has some secret past too which must involve them maybe
, but it's still tedious). The rest are either boring or insufferable.
Will I be able to find/buy clothes for the party or is that exclusive to some ridiculously overpriced DLC? I'm already sick of the stupid sailor fukus.
I am also playing them for the first time and after Chapter 3
you can put them in SUMMER uniforms =P... and since there are models of all of them in swimsuits I am going to guess that you can buy/unlock those too... don't worry, they all are the modest and formal school type used irl
Chapter 3 was glorious and finished last night with a sense of sadness that I was leaving behind that area... the music alone is just T_T
Won't click the spoiler since I'm still in the middle of Ch3, but yeah I mentioned earlier how gooooood that music was in the Nord Highlands. Just ;__;
You get 4 different outfits throughout the game, 2 of which are reserved for ng+ playthroughs. You have the standard outfit you start off with and one without the jacket later on and then for ng+ you have a
school swimsuit and school festival outfit
, both of which are bought with points that you get at the end of each playthrough.
Playing Trails of Cold Steel on Vita now and loving it. The combat is ace and no random battles is a winner. On hard it's nice and challenging too. I've hit a brick wall on one of the boss fights and guess I need to level up a bit more.
Playing Trails of Cold Steel on Vita now and loving it. The combat is ace and no random battles is a winner. On hard it's nice and challenging too. I've hit a brick wall on one of the boss fights and guess I need to level up a bit more.
Hmmm... I dunno. It's the boss battle at the end of floor 3
of the old school house. There's those three demon things and they shoot this laser beam that pretty much wipes the whole team out. I can barely survive one much less three of them doing it. Even just the regular enemies on the way there were hitting pretty hard so just gonna get a few more levels on before trying again.
Hmmm... I dunno. It's the boss battle at the end of floor 3
of the old school house. There's those three demon things and they shoot this laser beam that pretty much wipes the whole team out. I can barely survive one much less three of them doing it. Even just the regular enemies on the way there were hitting pretty hard so just gonna get a few more levels on before trying again.
Geez, 15 hours? I'm in chapter 3 too and I have twice that amount. xD
I agree with you that the school setting is a slog. The field trips are fun and interesting and stuff happens, the school shit is uuuurgh. Can't say I agree that everyone is nice and polite though. If anything, there are too many annoying jerk-asses. The only ones I kind of like are Laura and Fie (and now for some reason they're feuding? I can't even remember why, must be related to
Fie being a jaeger, Laura has some secret past too which must involve them maybe
, but it's still tedious). The rest are either boring or insufferable.
Got that wrong, my save file actually says 19 hours. I don't know, I guess I'm not spending much time talking to NPCs or something.
For the nice and polite thing, well for example
I've just had a scene where Alisa's maid came to make breakfast, and everyone is like "mmh how wonderful" "yes, I do agree" "I would rank it close to what the chef would prepare back at the mension" blah blah blah. I got the point of the scene : Alisa has a complicated relationship with her mother. I got it half an hour ago, stop assaulting me with a barrage of niceness.
Favourite characters so far are
Fie (doesn't give a shit, actually feels like a real student in that respect), Machias (makes a total ass of himself by wanting to stick it the man. needs to read some Marx though.) and Jusis (amusing prick thanks to Machias). Laura is okay when she's nerding about the way of the sword and the second year students are pretty okay too, thanks to how little you see them I guess. Everyone else is an insufferable perfect, humble and very serious japanese student.
Thanks for the answer about clothes, rhandino and Pellegri Testament. Guess there's no escaping the bare thighs.
Even only having played the first 2 Sky games I understand the first part of what you're saying. Seeing the mysterious empire from those games fleshed out into a real living, breathing country was the vast majority of what I liked about these games. The gameplay was also a nice variation of the Sky stuff but when it comes to characters and story it was sorely disappointing for me. I guess at least part off the problem is that I'm 35 and child characters just don't have enough depth for 15 or so of them to carry a story. The only member of class vii that was remotely interesting
is dead.
I spent then entire game wishing I was in the West of Erebonia with the adults.
Having said all that, the place the story is at by the end is much more interesting, even Rean finally interests me a little. Never Gaius though, not even with an extra spear.
I understand how you feel, and still I have to disagree with you that child character aren't capable of carrying a compelling story.
First of all, the direction that the Erebonia arc would take (i.e. school setting) was foreshadowed in The 3rd and spelled out in Ao. In hindsight, for the path the series has taken, it also makes the most sense to be playing as students of a military academy. If you've watched The 3rd's Star Door 8 (translated version here), you can clearly see that
Olivert is pushing himself away from Osborne's hard politics by taking the soft politics route, which is raising a new generation of students aware of Erebonia's obsolete political practices inspired by Estelle and Joshua or perhaps the Bracer Guild in general.
Secondly, child characters are capable of carrying a story, as Falcom has been demonstrating for 20 years now. It works for the Gagharv games, it worked for Trails in the Sky -- it's just that because they were already on track for a school setting, they had to introduce a larger cast of members class would consist of. Add a highly problematic development cycle to the bunch and you end up with Cold Steel I and II: characterisation unevenly spread throughout both games and one hell of a weird pacing.
What I'm trying to say, I guess, is that we have yet to see Falcom dealing with the Erebonia arc at their best. The road so for has been bumpy, but with all seeds planted throughout these two games, the third game is promising to become one hell of a ride. They're really taking their time. Just like they did for the Crossbell arc, just like they did for Ys VIII. I'm game.
I managed to get one or two S-crafts on them before everyone died. Rean's didn't even scratch it and Laura's did okay but then everyone died. Seriously, my dude's can't survive more than a few turns in there. Hoping a few more levels will improve survivability.
It came out about 3 and a half months ago. It's also been getting updates pretty much every week, it's not possible to finish the main story at the moment.
It is canon and starts to get interesting with the new chapter they recently rolled out. The Kiseki Wikia has an up to date summary of the events so far. And it does play nicely with what was already laid out. The character designs visibly include the 1,5 year timeskip since SC.
I understand how you feel, and still I have to disagree with you that child character aren't capable of carrying a compelling story.
First of all, the direction that the Erebonia arc would take (i.e. school setting) was foreshadowed in The 3rd and spelled out in Ao. In hindsight, for the path the series has taken, it also makes the most sense to be playing as students of a military academy. If you've watched The 3rd's Star Door 8 (translated version here), you can clearly see that
Olivert is pushing himself away from Osborne's hard politics by taking the soft politics route, which is raising a new generation of students aware of Erebonia's obsolete political practices inspired by Estelle and Joshua or perhaps the Bracer Guild in general.
Secondly, child characters are capable of carrying a story, as Falcom has been demonstrating for 20 years now. It works for the Gagharv games, it worked for Trails in the Sky -- it's just that because they were already on track for a school setting, they had to introduce a larger cast of members class would consist of. Add a highly problematic development cycle to the bunch and you end up with Cold Steel I and II: characterisation unevenly spread throughout both games and one hell of a weird pacing.
What I'm trying to say, I guess, is that we have yet to see Falcom dealing with the Erebonia arc at their best. The road so for has been bumpy, but with all seeds planted throughout these two games, the third game is promising to become one hell of a ride. They're really taking their time. Just like they did for the Crossbell arc, just like they did for Ys VIII. I'm game.
I'm not against young protagonists, Estelle and Joshua were 17 I think and had sufficient depth to carry that story. The other members of that cast were generally more diverse in age though so it worked well as a coming of age journey of self discovery. There are only so many times I can play that same story though and with nothing but children all finding themselves it gets really tiresome and I lose the ability to really care about them becoming the person they want to be. Sara was by far the most interesting of the group for me and literally never left the party. Striving to learn her background is all that kept me going fury much if act 2 and I think that's a part of why 2-4 really killed my interest.
Having had some time to digest the finale (though not started the epilogue yet) I'm optimistic for CS3. I'm planning to replay CS2 after sky 3rd is out and I think I'll find it much more enjoyable knowing the outcome of the story so I can appreciate the locations and set pieces as they happen. Probably cut out some of the fetch quests too other than anything needed for the ng+ quest. I look forward to using Toval as much as is possible, though it's still woefully little in my opinion
By the start of the divertissement Rean is infinitely more interesting. Don't know if any of it is addressed in the epilogue but I already want to know his motivations and he feels more mature in the new role he appears to be in. I definitely want to see where his choices will lead him going forward. Couldn't really care less if I ever see the rest of class vii ever again though.
Guess I should get on and finish the thing tomorrow.
Got that wrong, my save file actually says 19 hours. I don't know, I guess I'm not spending much time talking to NPCs or something.
For the nice and polite thing, well for example
I've just had a scene where Alisa's maid came to make breakfast, and everyone is like "mmh how wonderful" "yes, I do agree" "I would rank it close to what the chef would prepare back at the mension" blah blah blah. I got the point of the scene : Alisa has a complicated relationship with her mother. I got it half an hour ago, stop assaulting me with a barrage of niceness.
Favourite characters so far are
Fie (doesn't give a shit, actually feels like a real student in that respect), Machias (makes a total ass of himself by wanting to stick it the man. needs to read some Marx though.) and Jusis (amusing prick thanks to Machias). Laura is okay when she's nerding about the way of the sword and the second year students are pretty okay too, thanks to how little you see them I guess. Everyone else is an insufferable perfect, humble and very serious japanese student.
Fair enough, I think I see what you mean. Can't find anything to really disagree, and yes it makes me laugh how everyone is such a serious student other than Fie. I mean OK it's an "elite", special class, but still. Maybe it's just cultural. You get even more of that in ch3. with how nice the Nord Highland folks are and how everyone's spamming "thank you so much" about every little thing. I actually experienced that in Japan when I went last October, haha. I don't mind the politeness by itself and I think it's great, but at some point the sheer amount of repeated bowing and choruses of arigatou gozaimashita from the restaurant staff when all you do is pay for your ramen and leave is just... wow. xD
But yeah the class stuff is a slog. I try to power through just to get to the next field trip section. I did crack up at the bonding segment with Emma in early ch4 though, when they proofread that yaoi fiction together. That was lol. xD
But yeah the class stuff is a slog. I try to power through just to get to the next field trip section. I did crack up at the bonding segment with Emma in early ch4 though, when they proofread that yaoi fiction together. That was lol. xD
If the bonding events in CS1 were as well done as CS2, and the old schoolhouse was better designed, then the school days wouldve been a lot better. I didnt hate them as I like when games turn the pace down and just let your characters breathe, but they couldve been better
Man, that was insane. Not only do those dudes all do the
laser beam attack which kills multiple people in one/two hits but they have Resounding Wave which puts my dudes to sleep plus heavy fire damage. Eventually figured out to spread my dudes out more so at least it was just one of them dying at a time, and to be more mobile
. Managed to fell one of them and then things eased off a bit Great fight though. Game is great.
I wonder if they are going to do a re-release of Sen for PS4 with everything voiced. They announced evolution for Sora right after I finished it and at the rate I am going through the games I am afraid they will do another re-release right after I get through Sen.
Also I obviously can't judge Sen, but in Xanadu the children characters and school setting were pretty boring, so while, I guess, you can make an original game with a school setting (Persona 5 and your criticism of modern day society, I am looking at you), the setting itself certainly does not lend to it. There are just too many stories set in school, you have to go out of your way to fight the negative drag of cliche.
I wonder if they are going to do a re-release of Sen for PS4 with everything voiced. They announced evolution for Sora right after I finished it and at the rate I am going through the games I am afraid they will do another re-release right after I get through Sen.
Also I obviously can't judge Sen, but in Xanadu the children characters and school setting were pretty boring, so while, I guess, you can make an original game with a school setting (Persona 5 and your criticism of modern day society, I am looking at you), the setting itself certainly does not lend to it. There are just too many stories set in school, you have to go out of your way to fight the negative drag of cliche.
I've stopped playing Akatsuki but I may pick it up again when I have time. It's just the growth systems tied to the game right now are straight up awful and it's a bit of a chore to play as a result. The story and writing is pretty good though despite not having gotten every far. It fills some holes here and there.
I've stopped playing Akatsuki but I may pick it up again when I have time. It's just the growth systems tied to the game right now are straight up awful and it's a bit of a chore to play as a result. The story and writing is pretty good though despite not having gotten every far. It fills some holes here and there.
I never learn this lesson. Had low expectations for CS1 because of the setting, actually rather enjoyed it. Had higher expectations for CS2 because of the set-up from 1, disappointed at every turn despite it being a solid game for the most part.
When the Switch was first officially unveiled, all I thought about was how Switch versions would save me from buying two copies of Falcom games that have cross-play/save. I made extensive use of it with CS1 and CS2. Depending on what happens with Ys VIII, i'll probably be doing it with that too.
I like giving money to these games though, so it's not a huge deal to me, but it's definitely one of the first things I thought of!
Not silly per se, but not particularly realistic either. Since the transition from a pc developer to a console developer, they have been working closely with Sony. Between the amazing install base of the PS4 and Vita in Japan versus the non-existing install base of the Switch makes the Switch an nonviable platform for Falcom right now.
I'm only here to let you guys know that Falcom has never revealed a trailer at a shareholder meeting. I don't expect this one to be any different. We probably won't see Sen III in action until late spring, early summer 2017, if it's a Sept 2017 release.
As a reminder, Sen never got a trailer, and Sen II's trailer came out a little over a month before the launch.
If anything, Falcom will be releasing character art, a screenshot or three, and possibly minimal information on the game. And that's if they're feeling generous. They basically only gave four character designs with the reveal of Sen no Kiseki in 2012, and that's it. They just let people speculate wtf was up with the characters that would end up being Rean, Alisa, Elliot, and Laura. I don't recall any information beyond that starting to come out until Feb or March.
AND as another reminder, it'll be like that this time, too. We'll get the first burst of information now, then we'll wait a couple of months or three before Falcom starts doing anything about what's unveiled at the shareholder meeting. And they will be focusing on Ys VIII PS4 first for their marketing campaign.
People seem to be expecting a TELL ALL EXPOSE about the shareholder meeting, and it's never been anything like that. Falcom could, of course, change their tune suddenly and surprise me- don't get me wrong.
But they're 'creatures of habit' and are very conservative in terms of business decisions and actions. It's because of their slow to change nature that they've been able to survive as long as they have, for as small a company as they are. (And probably kept them out of danger when they had their devastating distributor loss in 2008.)
When they unveiled Tokyo Xanadu in a shareholder meeting, all they did was show the one single image for the game. Sen II had two or three screenshots and a line up image of the cast.
Now, mind you, Falcom might give more information over to Dengeki/Famitsu that same week (I don't know if Dengeki comes out that week?), and that will actually change a lot of how the shareholder meeting is approached on their end, I imagine.
I'm only here to let you guys know that Falcom has never revealed a trailer at a shareholder meeting. I don't expect this one to be any different. We probably won't see Sen III in action until late spring, early summer 2017, if it's a Sept 2017 release.
As a reminder, Sen never got a trailer, and Sen II's trailer came out a little over a month before the launch.
If anything, Falcom will be releasing character art, a screenshot or three, and possibly minimal information on the game. And that's if they're feeling generous. They basically only gave four character designs with the reveal of Sen no Kiseki in 2012, and that's it. They just let people speculate wtf was up with the characters that would end up being Rean, Alisa, Elliot, and Laura. I don't recall any information beyond that starting to come out until Feb or March.
AND as another reminder, it'll be like that this time, too. We'll get the first burst of information now, then we'll wait a couple of months or three before Falcom starts doing anything about what's unveiled at the shareholder meeting. And they will be focusing on Ys VIII PS4 first for their marketing campaign.
Now, mind you, Falcom might give more information over to Dengeki/Famitsu that same week (I don't know if Dengeki comes out that week?), and that will actually change a lot of how the shareholder meeting is approached on their end, I imagine.
The wait is that killer period of waiting for more Kiseki information. Falcom has done this for years, obviously, and they've got a pretty good way of handling it to keep the hype machine going. They will be reluctant to give out information early on, but as the release date draws near, they will start giving out more and more, and even though the release date is getting closer, you get more and more anxious. ;D
Ao no Kiseki was the best lead up- they managed it in a way with 'I can deal with this. This is a little bit of a wait while everything else is happening...' Then they dropped that mind-blowing trailer three weeks out. And it made those last three weeks HORRIBLE. lol
Falcom's a smart company. They seem to do silly things now and then, but they're also aware of the fandom. I know that they watch the stuff I do on Endless History, because they've commented on it before on twitter. As a result, I have no doubt that they're completely aware of the leaks that go out.
I think if the shareholder meeting (which is on a Tuesday- the day before Dengeki and Famitsu release, and the day after leaks go out) is on a Dengeki release week and Falcom gave info over to the magazines for that week? I can see Falcom keeping some info to themselves that won't go out with the leak to be revealed in the meeting itself.
Yeah actually I don't expect a trailer at all, but it WILL still be the first time we officially see any sort of information about Sen III. There should at least be some sort of key visual teaser hinting at the setting or tone.
Yeah actually I don't expect a trailer at all, but it WILL still be the first time we officially see any sort of information about Sen III. There should at least be some sort of key visual teaser hinting at the setting or tone.
Falcom has actually called the Rean image the game's key visual. It's referred to as that for the 2017 desktop calendar, and I have confirmed that it is the same Rean image from Tokyo Xanadu eX+.
People seem to be expecting a TELL ALL EXPOSE about the shareholder meeting, and it's never been anything like that. Falcom could, of course, change their tune suddenly and surprise me- don't get me wrong.
But they're 'creatures of habit' and are very conservative in terms of business decisions and actions. It's because of their slow to change nature that they've been able to survive as long as they have, for as small a company as they are. (And probably kept them out of danger when they had their devastating distributor loss in 2008.)
When they unveiled Tokyo Xanadu in a shareholder meeting, all they did was show the one single image for the game. Sen II had two or three screenshots and a line up image of the cast.
Now, mind you, Falcom might give more information over to Dengeki/Famitsu that same week (I don't know if Dengeki comes out that week?), and that will actually change a lot of how the shareholder meeting is approached on their end, I imagine.
Especially after how long it took them to release ANY live footage for both TX and Ys 8
I'm just looking forward to them actually kicking off the promotional cycle for the game, and being able to follow and speculate with the rest of the fanbase as it appears in famitsu every now and then.
I'm guessing since we've already seen Alisa though, they might release a bit more than that Key Image we saw in Ex+ though. I'll take whatever they're willing to share
I'm guessing since we've already seen Alisa though, they might release a bit more than that Key Image we saw in Ex+ though. I'll take whatever they're willing to share
If anything, Falcom will be releasing character art, a screenshot or three, and possibly minimal information on the game. And that's if they're feeling generous.
The only ones I kind of like are Laura and Fie (and now for some reason they're feuding? I can't even remember why, must be related to
