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

Nyoro SF

Member
I initially thought he was a little boring as a character but I ended up liking him (in the end of Ao though). Randy and Tio are top tier characters though.

Randy and Tio are really hard to top. They are easily my favorites out of the crew.

I like how when you go to the casino, people recognize Randy and he responds in return cause he's a regular. That's the kind of touch I like with this series.
 
I hope post-Erebonia games go back to smaller intimate groups ala Zero. The fixed party of 4 makes things so much more elegant in terms of team and dynamic building.
 

preta

Member
Ao adds two to the team.

Four.
Wazy, Noel, Rixia, and Dudley. Unless you're not counting Rixia and Dudley because they didn't join the SSS proper.

And even in Zero, you don't have four party members the whole game - just four permanent ones. There are a number of others who join temporarily.
 
I'm not touching that spoiler since I never played Ao, simply referring to the OP of Ao which shows the new joiners to SSS.

To me, it's not so much the fixture anyway, but how the focus of 4 keeps character and team development a lot tighter and more focused.
 

Gu4n

Member
I'm not touching that spoiler since I never played Ao, simply referring to the OP of Ao which shows the new joiners to SSS.

To me, it's not so much the fixture anyway, but how the focus of 4 keeps character and team development a lot tighter and more focused.
It does. And it works since the S.S.S is basically the CSPD's take on the bracer guild.

And Class VII is basically Olivert's take on the bracer guild, but it's core principle - having a wide range of students with widely different backgrounds - wouldn't have worked with a group of four characters. It was a great idea to split the class in groups of four/five to go on seperated field trips.
 

desmax

Member
Oh, I get it.

Erebonia derives from Erebos.
Only realized that after reading the Black Records.

Btw, really liked the cutscene at the end of the records stuff. Kinda cruel leaving those revelations to a second playthrough.
It basically confirms to me that CS III going to be amazing
 
It does. And it works since the S.S.S is basically the CSPD's take on the bracer guild.

And Class VII is basically Olivert's take on the bracer guild, but it's core principle - having a wide range of students with widely different backgrounds - wouldn't have worked with a group of four characters. It was a great idea to split the class in groups of four/five to go on seperated field trips.

Well yeah, a school setting needs at least the amount Class VII started off with to make sense.
 

preta

Member
I have a simple question for all the Kiseki fiends out there.
I noticed that in my playthrough of Zero (in Japanese) that the monsters in Kiseki games are not called "monsters" using any traditional Japanese naming, but are instead given a unique name (魔獣) which essentially means "magic creatures" or "spirit beasts", etc.

I never noticed in my JP playthrough of CS2 because I was too busy combat-stomping everything to care about ingredients and recipes (which I'm paying attention to in Zero).

Does this have... any implications on the overall story or is it just a novelty thing to make your average field monster sound cooler? Monsters in Kiseki are kind of weird, they explode when you kill them either in a puff or a magical blast, they're "attracted to sepith" (they basically have sepith hanging off of them) which is already kind of suspicious due to what we know about how they interact with sepith veins (SC), and now they have a unique name which says that they are spawned from magic directly.

And when I played CS2 I don't even remember if there was a story justification for the cryptids appearing magically out of thin air. In b4 "it's magic I don't have to explain shit dot jay peg"

tl;dr got any fun story stuff about monsters from all this to talk about?



If he's playing on an old CRT monitor I'll give him a +1.

EDIT: +1 denied. But I do play some games windowed for convenience so I understand.

About cryptids (幻獣):
I think they're "leaking in" from another dimension.
Related:
I also believe that "Divergent Laws" refer to that dimension's laws of physics, and weapons like Kernviter and Angbar are so powerful because they're created in that dimension.
 

Gu4n

Member
About cryptids (幻獣):
I think they're "leaking in" from another dimension.
Related:
I also believe that "Divergent Laws" refer to that dimension's laws of physics, and weapons like Kernviter and Angbar are so powerful because they're created in that dimension.
The question is mostly whether they're from the same dimension and if not, how many dimensions there are. And does the Grandmaster also reside in a different dimension, forging the swords herself there. Is McBurn from the same dimension or is he a human that got infected/injected with those dimension's powers?
 

preta

Member
The question is mostly whether they're from the same dimension and if not, how many dimensions there are. And does the Grandmaster also reside in a different dimension, forging the swords herself there. Is McBurn from the same dimension or is he a human that got infected/injected with those dimension's powers?

That's true; they don't necessarily have to be from the same dimension. I think it's pretty obvious by now who the Grandmaster is, unless the twist is going to be that it's not "her".

As for McBurn, he goes out of his way to explicitly state that he's not from Erebonia and that the outcome of the war won't affect him, which is interesting. It could be a red herring, though, you never know.
 

preta

Member
I assume you're referring to the Aidios = Grandmaster theory? What evidence makes that obvious?

Maybe I spoke too strongly.
She's definitely still my #1 candidate, though. The whole "departing outward" thing seems like a pretty huge hint in particular. Plus, if there's one person who is capable of freely using multiple dimensions' laws of physics to create weapons for the Anguis and Enforcers, I'd think it'd be her. Of course, we don't know for sure that that ability is exclusive to her.
 

rockyt

Member
Well I went and bought Trail in the Sky the first one on steam. This thread got me interested in the game. Will see how good it is. Will probably take me a while to complete it.
 
While we're on the subject of out-there theories, has anybody ever discussed about how [Sky SC]
how suspicious Dorothy is? I mean, not once but twice she just happens to be on the right place and time to "unintentionally" take pictures that proves to be critical to Estelle success. She went alone through a whole dungeon full of vicious monsters unscathed (just like Alba, hmm...) and then "accidentally" saved the whole team from Bleublanc. Maybe you could chalk all of this to her simply being an idiot savant comic relief, but then during the nation-wide Orbal Shutdown Phenomenon, her orbal camera remains working! How did she do that? Where did she get that? Something is up.

Also a random question. As the apparent consecutive winner of Grancel Martial Art Tournament and somebody who is alluded to be a warfare savant, has General Morgan earned any nickname at all?
 

Nyoro SF

Member
While we're on the subject of out-there theories, has anybody ever discussed about how [Sky SC]
how suspicious Dorothy is? I mean, not once but twice she just happens to be on the right place and time to "unintentionally" take pictures that proves to be critical to Estelle success. She went alone through a whole dungeon full of vicious monster unscathed (just like Alba, hmm...) and then "accidentally" saved the whole team from Bleublanc. Maybe you could chalk all of this to her simply being an idiot savant comic relief, but then during the nation-wide Orbal Shutdown Phenomenon, her orbal camera remains working! How did she do that? Where did she get that? Something is up.

People have been joking that (Sky SC)
Dorothy is the Grandmaster or just someone very suspicious for a while, for the points you listed. It's a tossup; it could've just been Falcom having fun with a klutzy character, or it could've been something more sinister. No one knows!
 

Psxphile

Member
While we're on the subject of out-there theories, has anybody ever discussed about how [Sky SC]
how suspicious Dorothy is? I mean, not once but twice she just happens to be on the right place and time to "unintentionally" take pictures that proves to be critical to Estelle success. She went alone through a whole dungeon full of vicious monster unscathed (just like Alba, hmm...) and then "accidentally" saved the whole team from Bleublanc. Maybe you could chalk all of this to her simply being an idiot savant comic relief, but then during the nation-wide Orbal Shutdown Phenomenon, her orbal camera remains working! How did she do that? Where did she get that? Something is up.

ZvU0FB0.jpg
oh god

I remember on my last SC playthrough thinking something was off when I noticed
she was using her camera when she shouldn't have been able to.
I thought then that maybe Falcom made a boo-boo, but now...
 

Nyoro SF

Member
Zero no Kiseki Chapter 2

This game just gets more fun and more interesting as I go along. And once again, a stage play makes its presence in the Kiseki series.

It is highly amusing that everyone in Crossbell, including your gruff boss Sergei, is totally cool with having a wolf in the SSS building and walking around. It's hilarious especially considering there are very few animals in Crossbell outside of small cats, but a very large wolf is very normal and popular with kids too.

This whole chapter is based around Arc-en-Ciel and the stage play with the Sun Princess Ilya and the Moon Princess Rixia. Ilya seemed to recognize Lloyd but I was kind of tired and I don't remember what the actual connection was. But the animation during this part, both during the practices and during the actual show, was fantastic. I loved the little touches with the fire ring for Ilya and the water ripples for Rixia. It's kind of interesting how there is a stage play in Crossbell and Liberl but no stage play for Cold Steel outside of that rather uninspiring concert.

Another thing that's enjoyable is how the whole plot of this chapter relied on a solitary threatening letter then just kept escalating from there. I was shocked at the sudden appearance of an assassin in the game, but the moment she pulled out the sword I knew who it was lol. At the very least, it wasn't a major spoiler, as she took off her cloak to reveal herself in the end. I have to say the boss fight against her was very easy, which surprised me. Though she doesn't take kindly to debuffs. Anyway I'm curious about how that very villainous-looking dude with the glasses factors into this game's overall story. Speaking of spoilers, seeing that bell on top of the tower now has me curious. Something tells me this is not the last lookalike bell I will see in this game.

So we meet the head of the IBC and Mariabelle. Sadly because of Cold Steel 2 I already know this character with the eyebags (whose name I cannot pronounce, and I dare not google) is a villain, but I don't remember exactly in what capacity he is one. The long talk about the perils that Crossbell faces hit home though, and of course his "justice" that Lloyd mulls over. On another topic I enjoy how Mariabelle's drills are so big that her portrait isn't big enough to contain them. Honestly I am surprised Falcom didn't widen the portrait specifically for Mariabelle. Anyway I also enjoyed how Randy tried to screw Lloyd over by pretending that he and Noel were in a relationship so Mariabelle got super pissed and lifted Lloyd off the floor while he pleaded for mercy LOL.

The second entry into Geofront had us meet with a teenage NEET and I have to say, given this character's portrait and way of talking, it almost felt like it wasn't like any other Kiseki character up to this point; not saying he's special for being a bratty pro hacker, just his presentation and style suddenly felt like I was reading a Western comic story instead all of a sudden. lol

So I got the temporary new party member Noel Seeker. And I have to say I think I understand her popularity now because this character is insanely strong. She's like Tita if Tita was good. The ability to restrict the opponent's MOV to that degree was insane and really took the final boss down a peg. While bosses tend to be invulnerable to all status effects, usually they're weak to regular stat down so that was invaluable. Range, power, speed, AT Delay; can't ask for much more from a Kiseki character. Fun straightlaced military type.

Let's talk about my favorite part of this chapter; Elie's story. Elie threw away her potential political career to enter the SSS because she simply feels like the political process is sleazy and weighed down and has hurt Crossbell. But since her grandfather was the mayor, turning down a political future is a big deal and Ernest comes to try to bring her back (telling her not to give in to despair). It's a very sincere and adult story and it surprised me to see such a touching scene in an RPG, especially this early on in a Kiseki game; almost like a scene you'd see in SC rather than FC, for instance. And then you have Ellie and Lloyd looking over Crossbell at night and Lloyd encouraging her to remain steadfast (and then the ice breaks when Lloyd realizes his speech could be totally misinterpreted as a confession lol...), with the music playing and the scenery, it really was a fine scene since it was all about how Ellie views Crossbell. Of course it was a huge shock to me that Ernest would try to assassinate the mayor, but the mayor's words afterwards about sternly rebuking Ellie over political trust was very sincere and made the whole storyline fantastic.

Speaking of Ernest, though his assassination attempt and personality shift was a huge shock and a great twist, I almost busted a gut laughing over the fact that he runs so fast he leaves AFTER-IMAGES behind. This combined with his yelling and just charging through hits from Randy almost left me in tears at how ridiculous it looked. I know Falcom was just trying to show me a speed effect but my god... Ernest the Hedgehog, Speedy Politician, is real. Nothin' personnel, voters...

Speaking of comedy... the next day conversation after Lloyd clears up Ellie's depression and uncertainty was pretty hilarious an an example of how I really am looking forward to XSEED adding flavor to the script. (Paraphrase)
Tio: Ellie... you're looking pretty lively today. Did something happen?
Randy: Yeah, way different than yesterday...
Ellie: Oh really?
Tio: I believe I understand the situation. Congratulations, Lloyd and Ellie.
Randy: Wait- ARE YOU FOR REAL?
Ellie: No! It's not like that!
Lloyd: That's right! She means nothing to me!
Ellie: ...I mean nothing to you, huh? *silently rages*
Randy: So how far have you guys gone?
Ellie: GONE? YOU'RE TALKING LIKE THIS IN FRONT OF TIO...
Tio: Gone? What do you mean exactly?
Lloyd and Ellie: N-nothing!
Randy: *says something inappropriate*
Ellie: THIS. STOPS. RIGHT. HERE.

Lloyd: Tio and I will search the area with Zeit. You two remain on standby.
Randy: Alrighty then! What to play today... (walks into casino)
Everyone else: .......

I haven't tried the new Combo Craft system yet cause I had swapped out Ellie for that particular dungeon.
Of course there are more things I noticed, but I'm tired of typing and I have to go to bed. *_*

Really, this game is a lot of fun, just like FC and SC were. Really feels "fresh". I have to say, it is IMMENSELY satisfying to cuff villains in this game. No incredibly improbable escapes for you! See you in court!
 

Psxphile

Member
0f5n1Mj.png


Small update

Trails in the Sky the 3rd continues to be on track for its spring 2017 launch. We will hopefully have a more in-depth breakdown of our current progress later this month or early next month, but for now, have a graphic! (•̀o•́)ง Like Trails in the Sky and Trails in the Sky SC on PC, the 3rd will also be using HD graphics. Yay.
 

chaosblade

Unconfirmed Member
Just hit Chap 7 in SC, how close am I to the end? Felt like it was wrapping up 2 chapters ago, lol.

Really? I felt like the game was finally getting started around chapter 5.

You're most of the way through, but you still have the meatiest chapters ahead of you.
 

Paches

Member
Really? I felt like the game was finally getting started around chapter 5.

You're most of the way through, but you still have the meatiest chapters ahead of you.

SC

I guess it was because of my expectations playing the first game and going right in to SC. I assumed the length would be about the same so around Chapters 5 and 6 I thought that those missions were the climax, such as assaulting the Ourobouros base and then reuniting with Joshua. Those seemed like potential massive climax/ending possibilities to me I guess.
 

Aeana

Member
I wonder how much people are gonna hate the 3rd. After the surprisingly negative reaction to CS2, I'm keeping my expectations in check. (3rd is my favorite game in the series, CS2 is #2)
 

Nyoro SF

Member
I wonder how much people are gonna hate the 3rd. After the surprisingly negative reaction to CS2, I'm keeping my expectations in check. (3rd is my favorite game in the series, CS2 is #2)

Looks like opinions of the 3rd will revolve around how much you like Kevin and are able to properly assess his depth as a character. And if you like the Sky battle system. And if you truly appreciate world-building even if it's compacted and not freeform. And understand that it's a linking game to the rest.

I think it will be just fine.

I'm far more worried about sales. As far as I am concerned, this is it; last ditch effort to financially convince XSEED to keep going and not to get to a state where we have to beg for translations on a charity basis. That would just be too sad.
 

aravuus

Member
I'm sure expectations are much, much lower with the 3rd, too. Really curious to see how I'll end up liking it, considering my relationship with these games (I hate them all from the bottom of my heart).

Hope it does well.
 

Fdkn

Member
I wonder how much people are gonna hate the 3rd. After the surprisingly negative reaction to CS2, I'm keeping my expectations in check. (3rd is my favorite game in the series, CS2 is #2)

Woah is this really happening? I'm still on 'blackout' waiting for the EU release but those friends who imported the game say it is a masterpiece
 
I wonder how much people are gonna hate the 3rd. After the surprisingly negative reaction to CS2, I'm keeping my expectations in check. (3rd is my favorite game in the series, CS2 is #2)

I think there are some vocal people who are frustrated at the slow start of CS2 but most people in the OT seem to really love it. I get the impression a lot of people blazed throug it and adored the game.
 
Yeah, I thought Cold Steel II was great, and most people in the OT at the time did, too.

It seems like it was mostly only in the last week or so that you had some new people coming in and really hating on the game. Prior to that the reaction had been pretty overwhelmingly positive.
 

Psxphile

Member
I mean, one of our regulars went and forever swore off on NeoGAF because of some prevalent attitudes in that thread... but yeah, for the most part it's been pretty civil.
 

Taruranto

Member
I'm sure expectations are much, much lower with the 3rd, too. Really curious to see how I'll end up liking it, considering my relationship with these games (I hate them all from the bottom of my heart).

Hope it does well.

How do you get at the third game in the series if you hate them with passion o_O, FC in particular given the slow nature of the game.
 
I'm still super hype for the 3rd, but more for answers about things from CS and SC than anything to really do with Kevin, as I didnt really care about him. Though I did appreciate
Him just fucking offing Weissman

I came into CS finishing CS1 a few days before CS2 came out and blew through that in 12 days. I aired a few grievances in the OT but for the most part the game is fucking incredible and surpassed uncharted 4 for me for GOTY.

SC is still my favorite trails for now.
 

Shouta

Member
3rd should be pretty well received when it hits if only because folks will get to see the Sky cast again. Even though it's my least liked Kiseki game, it's still a very good game on its own.
 

Aters

Member
3rd should be pretty well received when it hits if only because folks will get to see the Sky cast again. Even though it's my least liked Kiseki game, it's still a very good game on its own.

For people who know what they are getting. They should put "THIS IS A DUNGEON CRAWLER" on the cover of the box.

I wonder how much people are gonna hate the 3rd. After the surprisingly negative reaction to CS2, I'm keeping my expectations in check. (3rd is my favorite game in the series, CS2 is #2)

Series fans I know pretty much reached the consensus that CS2 is the worst. I personally rank it the second most disappointing game I've ever played, just below FE Awakening. Though I have to admit I came in with high expectation. I thought CS2 would be like SC or Ao. Now I just see CS and CS2 as one game stretched into two by backtracking and dungeon crawling, and I feel much better. Still incredibly hyped for CS3.
 
CS2 is my favorite game in the series out of those that have been localized.

For people who know what they are getting. They should put "THIS IS A DUNGEON CRAWLER" on the cover of the box.

Please tell me it's not full of slow teleporters. Not that I expect to be able to play the game without speedhack anyway considering it's a dungeon crawler using The Sky games' glacial combat.
 

Shouta

Member
CS2 is my #3 game of all the Kiseki games released so far. It'd rank higher if there wasn't such a huge disconnect between what they were attempting and what they were actually writing. However, the gameplay gets huge marks and if I was just rating it on that, it'd be #1.
 

Aeana

Member
For people who know what they are getting. They should put "THIS IS A DUNGEON CRAWLER" on the cover of the box.



Series fans I know pretty much reached the consensus that CS2 is the worst. I personally rank it the second most disappointing game I've ever played, just below FE Awakening. Though I have to admit I came in with high expectation. I thought CS2 would be like SC or Ao. Now I just see CS and CS2 as one game stretched into two by backtracking and dungeon crawling, and I feel much better. Still incredibly hyped for CS3.
Before the NA release, everyone I talk to who likes the series loved CS2. You were pretty much the lone dissenter in any of the threads here. At least until Bebpo played it recently.
 

PK Gaming

Member
CS2 is my #1 as well but I've literally only beaten 2 Kiseki games, so lol.

Still plugging away at TiTS. That battle theme is so goddamn catchy, what the hell.
 

Aters

Member
Before the NA release, everyone I talk to who likes the series loved CS2. You were pretty much the lone dissenter in any of the threads here. At least until Bebpo played it recently.

Yeah and I find it interesting. This game is received much better in the west than it did in China, where most of the series fans I know are from. Maybe it has something to do with culture background.
 

duckroll

Member
Damn. I never thought about it that way, but maybe my Chinese DNA is indeed stopping me from enjoying this game as much!

Or maybe it's because now I literally can't play the game since I managed to destroy one of the pin clips on my right speaker while moving in and out beause some electrical rewiring work had to be done. Gotta get that fixed first, RIP!
 
My ranking of the games released in the west is:

1. CS2
2. SC
3. FC
4. CS1

CS2 was basically everything that I had hoped for, so I was really happy with the game overall.
 

aravuus

Member
How do you get at the third game in the series if you hate them with passion o_O, FC in particular given the slow nature of the game.

I actually thought it was a pretty obvious joke, but maybe I should've added a /s there somewhere. I mean, I've posted a lot in every Kiseki ot so far, and while I do have my fair share of problems with them, I wouldn't keep posting if I hated them all.

FC is actually probably my favorite of all the localized games so far. Really liked it.

Well, he's honest about his attention seeking

Gotta give him that at least

Christ
 

PK Gaming

Member
I actually thought it was a pretty obvious joke, but maybe I should've added a /s there somewhere. I mean, I've posted a lot in every Kiseki ot so far, and while I do have my fair share of problems with them, I wouldn't keep posting if I hated them all.

FC is actually probably my favorite of all the localized games so far. Really liked it.

Christ

Uh crap, my bad.

I thought you were being 100% sincere since the way you set up your sentence implies... Actually, nevermind.

I'm genuinely sorry though.
 

Gu4n

Member
Series fans I know pretty much reached the consensus that CS2 is the worst. I personally rank it the second most disappointing game I've ever played, just below FE Awakening. Though I have to admit I came in with high expectation. I thought CS2 would be like SC or Ao. Now I just see CS and CS2 as one game stretched into two by backtracking and dungeon crawling, and I feel much better. Still incredibly hyped for CS3.
Ouch, guess I'll have to drop a reply to let you know I exist and love Cold Steel 2, not quite as much as Ao but definitely more than SC.
 
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