General Trails thread (Trails of Cold Steel 4 (PS4) out now).

[Punished Dayni]

SO, I went and tried that Switch demo for CS3 and it's gotten me intrigued (Even if I just couldn't stop comparing Rean to Byleth for reasons).

Anyone okay with explaining this series and what titles are worth playing and in what order? I took a look at a list of titles and it was more than I thought there was (Hell, there's shit going back to the 80's, I didn't expect that).

[Armagon]

5 hours ago, Dayni said:

Anyone okay with explaining this series and what titles are worth playing and in what order? I took a look at a list of titles and it was more than I thought there was (Hell, there's shit going back to the 80's, I didn't expect that).

So there's a lot of Legend of Heroes games but the ones you want to look at are the Trails games. The Trails games are all one continuity and unlike most JRPG series, you actually do want to play these in order. The chronological order is the same as the release order, so it shouldn't be too hard to follow.

The order is as follows: Trails in the Sky -> Trails in the Sky SC -> Trails in the Sky the 3rd -> Zero no Kiseki (Trails to Zero) -> Ao no Kiseki (Trails of Azure) -> Trails of Cold Steel -> Trails of Cold Steel 2 -> Trails of Cold Steel 3 -> Trails of Cold Steel 4.

Zero/Ao and Cold Steel 1/2 happen at roughly the same time so you can technically play the first two Cold Steel games before playing Zero and Ao. But the recommended play order is still the release order.

All Trails games are on Steam except for Zero and Ao. Those two are Japan-only, so you're going to need a PSP emulator. The PSP versions of those two are pre-patched in English (or you can buy the Japanese PC version of Zero and apply the English patch that came out). Additionally, the entire Cold Steel arc is on PS4 (with the original versions of the first two being on PS3) and Zero and Ao are coming to PS4 as well but whether those two get localized is up in the air for now.

As for the unrelated Legend of Heroes games, I can't really say anything about them as I haven't played but those are not part of Trails; they follow their own continuities (I know one is a trilogy).

Edited April 11, 2020 by Armagon

[Rapier]

31 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Zero/Ao and Cold Steel 1/2 happen at roughly the same time so you can technically play the first two Cold Steel games before playing Zero and Ao. But the recommended play order is still the release order.

Even Cold Steel 1 heavily spoils Ao, so I really recommend to play the Crossbell games first. There you learn (spoilers for both CS1 and Ao, duh):

Spoiler

About the magical barrier that will envelop Crossbell, about Garrelia Fortress being extinguished, about Croix becoming the mayor and being a villain all along, about a certain crisis in Crossbell's bank which involves the Red Constelation (and thus Randy) showing up and attacking (although this isn't that important a spoiler)

Zero and Ao have PC versions  and the fan translation patches work on them. They're the ones I've played (actually I'm still playing Ao so please no more spoilers)

Edited April 11, 2020 by Rapier

[Armagon]

4 minutes ago, Rapier said:

Zero and Ao have PC versions

About Ao's PC version, that one just legally isn't avaliable, which is why the team that did the English patch for Zero's PC version isn't doing one for Ao. That's why i didn't mention Ao's PC version before.

[Anomalocaris]

Zero no Kiseki and Ao no Kiseki are getting PS4 remasters this month, but no word yet on an official localization.

I'm happy for the fan translation but I'm gonna wait and see if we get Kai first.

[Punished Dayni]

On 4/11/2020 at 2:27 PM, Armagon said:

Those two are Japan-only, so you're going to need a PSP emulator.

Or a cracked PSP. Which I do have. I assume there's patches or text options for those two?

Do these 9 games play similarly to CS3? Anything suggest that the Japan only ones do get ported?

[Armagon]

5 minutes ago, Dayni said:

I assume there's patches or text options for those two?

The English translations are pre-patched so you can download those and get right to playing.

5 minutes ago, Dayni said:

Do these 9 games play similarly to CS3? Anything suggest that the Japan only ones do get ported?

For the most part, though there are some key differences.

The Sky trilogy doesn't have the whole "attack on the field to start with the advantage" thing that the Crossbell and Cold Steel games have. On the flip side, the escape chances in Sky are always 100%.

The Sky trilogy also doesn't have counter-attacks that trigger if you dodge an attack while in range.

The Cold Steel games operate on a semi-different magic system than the other games in the series. It's a bit tricky to explain though. 

Sky 3rd is unique in that the whole game is basically one giant dungeon.

[eclipse]

I'm trying to finish CS3.  Currently at the beginning of Chapter 4.

Spoiler

The more I play, the less I like where it's headed.  Mostly because a lot of women seem to be attracted to Rean for reasons that I can't possibly understand.

 

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

There's no need to play on PSP emulator.

Both Crossbell games cost like nothing, even a PSP isn't that expensive (used one costs about as much as a new Switch or PS4 game).

[NSSKG151]

Almost finished with Trails from Zero. Once I'm done with that all I will have to play is Ao no Kiseki and then I will finally be all caught up one the lore and can play Cold Steel 3 when it comes out on Switch in July.

[eclipse]

About to do the final dungeon of CS3.  Already antsy for CS4, since

Spoiler

CS3 doesn't look like it's going to wrap up much of everything.  Plus, I wanna have a proper chat with Schera!

EDIT: CS3 done.  When the hell is CS4 coming?  And. . .

Spoiler

No, really, don't read this until you've beaten the game!

Spoiler

Who thought it was a good idea to write Olivier out of the story?!

 

 

Edited April 30, 2020 by eclipse

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

Is it just me or are the difficulties misleading?

I played the very first real dungeon and I got wrecked really hard by some spiders which outturned me, dealt massively damage (2RKOed at worst) and spammed with status ailments.

I had like nothing against these.

There is a brave order which can throw damage and also inflicting status ailments back, but it's not that I can use it over and over.

I couldn't even beat chest spiders on easy which is already a difficulty below my personal standard in a first run of Trails game in a language I understand.

Is this game really that unbalanced that it relies on brave orders that much in early game?

Edited April 30, 2020 by Falcom Knight

[eclipse]

10 hours ago, Falcom Knight said:

Is it just me or are the difficulties misleading?

I played the very first real dungeon and I got wrecked really hard by some spiders which outturned me, dealt massively damage (2RKOed at worst) and spammed with status ailments.

I had like nothing against these.

There is a brave order which can throw damage and also inflicting status ailments back, but it's not that I can use it over and over.

I couldn't even beat chest spiders on easy which is already a difficulty below my personal standard in a first run of Trails game in a language I understand.

Is this game really that unbalanced that it relies on brave orders that much in early game?

Which game?

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

1 hour ago, eclipse said:

Which game?

Oh sorry, I assumed by mentioning brave orders it was obvious enough I was talking about Cold Steel 3.

[eclipse]

1 minute ago, Falcom Knight said:

Oh sorry, I assumed by mentioning brave orders it was obvious enough I was talking about Cold Steel 3.

Ah, that.  It's always a good idea to state what game it is.  Makes it easier for those who are trying to help~!

Iron Will is absurdly good, especially if your issue is too much damage (keep an eye on the turn counter, and activate this order right before the enemy's turn).  Pay attention to what damage types unbalance, and save your points accordingly (use Altina's Detector to make it easier to unbalance enemies).  Rean's crafts are good for crowd control, and he shouldn't have too many CP issues thanks to his MQ.  Don't be afraid to stop and heal mid-fight.

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

I noticed that iron will was the key to success after all, but the problem explicitly with the fights against the spiders was that they cancelled my turns with their speed down area attack. Yes, I could use the iron will, but the barrier broke so fast because the spiders got turns over turns. Once the barrier Fell, they speeddowned and poisoned me. A poisoned unit without HP quartz could not survive two hits. Delaying helped a little bit, but Rean's craft requires massive 80 CP. In the fights I was out of BP and CP and I could only beat the story battle spiders with much luck. I still  stuck against the last chest spiders. I feel my allies have no resources whilst the enemies are extremely powerful with having several status imflicting attacks.

So my actual problem is not having the speed to get turns and build BP.

 

 

Unrelated to that a Falcom sale is going on for PC right now in which the price of all Liberl and Erebonia games is dropped (25-40%).

Of course other Falcom games like Ys or Zwei are on sale too.

Edited May 1, 2020 by Falcom Knight

[eclipse]

If Poison is the issue, see if you can get that one accessory that nullifies it.  I don't remember if you can get the MQ that nullifies aliments and other stuff just yet (mostly because I don't remember what MQ Kurt started with - kinda want to say that he started with Sirius, which is the wrong one).

There's also the time support spells, which I think I cast a few times during that fight.  It's also a not-bad idea to overlap Orders (so trigger Iron Will if it's set to run out during the opponent's turn).  If you can go back and fight some scrub battles, see if you can build up your BP beforehand, because a full gauge should be more than enough.

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

Oh, thanks thanks!

I managed to finish chapter 1 by lowering difficulty.

It was not managable to beat the bosses in normal without brave orders (I don't get enough BP in fights to make enough use of them).

But still on easy I can't get through.

Current suffering in the optional fight against Le Guin.

[eclipse]

Le Guin - remember that one item you got from the delivery quest?  You're going to need it to fuel Iron Will.  Have it up for the entire fight (refresh it if the count hits 1).  I think she inflicts a couple of nasty status effects, so pay attention to which ones, and kit out Rean accordingly.  Use his 20CP craft to stop her when she's charging up, but otherwise I stuck to straight attacks with the occasional Zero Arts magic (made turn manipulation easier).  Don't use his S-Craft unless you absolutely need to take over a crit, because the ensuing delay sucks.  It's a painful fight, but doable.  Good luck!

For the spiders, blitzed through the game on Normal.  Turns out the answer was Altina's order.  The absolute reflect includes status effects.  It slows the spiders down.  Meanwhile, use Breath/Tear (the latter's 20 sepith, well worth it) to patch up.  Also, Thelas can be used as a straight heal.  I opened up a slot on Kurt/Juna's orbment for those.

[Fabulously Olivier]

Thought I'd rebrand my profile in honor of Trails' most delightful character - the hunter of love.

 

His joining in Trails in the Sky FC really marked the point that I started liking these games.

Edited May 12, 2020 by Fabulously Olivier

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

On 5/4/2020 at 11:44 PM, eclipse said:

Le Guin - remember that one item you got from the delivery quest?  You're going to need it to fuel Iron Will.  Have it up for the entire fight (refresh it if the count hits 1).  I think she inflicts a couple of nasty status effects, so pay attention to which ones, and kit out Rean accordingly.  Use his 20CP craft to stop her when she's charging up, but otherwise I stuck to straight attacks with the occasional Zero Arts magic (made turn manipulation easier).  Don't use his S-Craft unless you absolutely need to take over a crit, because the ensuing delay sucks.  It's a painful fight, but doable.  Good luck!

For the spiders, blitzed through the game on Normal.  Turns out the answer was Altina's order.  The absolute reflect includes status effects.  It slows the spiders down.  Meanwhile, use Breath/Tear (the latter's 20 sepith, well worth it) to patch up.  Also, Thelas can be used as a straight heal.  I opened up a slot on Kurt/Juna's orbment for those.

I aplogize for never thanking you for the tips....... so do I it now!

 

Anyways I'm currently at the end of chapter 3.

I have to be honest, I don't enjoy this game so far for multiple reasons.

First the combat gameplay is absolutely unbalanced. The enemies's stats became improved dramatically compared to other modes. Furthermore they have the annoying ability to heal theirselves and to buff up in the same turn constantly which slows things down. In return the player has the access to the broken brave order commands which have to be used to make progress in the game. It's not possible to win certain fights without using them like mentioned Le Guin fight. The classic combat from the Sky triology and Crossbell duology doesn't exist anymore. These stupidly broken brave order commands destroyed it. To equal things the enemies became massively buffed. Even in second lowest difficulty I die - regardless using brave orders - which didn't happen to me in Zero or Azure and first was played on normal. Cold Steel III feels like having fake difficulty. Though if I complain about gameplay, not everything became worse. The mech fights are much more enjoyable because the time fights are really enjoyable. It also automatcially gives spotlight to people who aren't Rean.

Another issue I have is that the soundtrack is incredibly dull for Falcom standards. There hasn't been one memorable soundtrack in this game for me. Yeah, I admit one of the reason why I play Falcom games is because of their normally phenomenal soundtrack. Unfortunately Cold Steel III doesn't feature any earcatchers yet.

As for the plot chapter 2 was really good, but chapter 3 is boring so far, at least everything before the final day. I've mainly spent 15 hours for reading texts of walls. At least it featured some good character interactions like the one with Sara. On the other hand I still don't get Claire's motive to work for Osborne, even after sharing her fate of her family. Idk how desperate someone must be to work for a guy like him.

[eclipse]

1 minute ago, Falcom Knight said:

I aplogize for never thanking you for the tips....... so do I it now!

 

Anyways I'm currently at the end of chapter 3.

I have to be honest, I don't enjoy this game so far for multiple reasons.

First the combat gameplay is absolutely unbalanced. The enemies's stats became improved dramatically compared to other modes. Furthermore they have the annoying ability to heal theirselves and to buff up in the same turn constantly which slows things down. In return the player has the access to the broken brave order commands which have to be used to make progress in the game. It's not possible to win certain fights without using them like mentioned Le Guin fight. The classic combat from the Sky triology and Crossbell duology doesn't exist anymore. These stupidly broken brave order commands destroyed it. To equal things the enemies became massively buffed. Even in second lowest difficulty I die - regardless using brave orders - which didn't happen to me in Zero or Azure and first was played on normal. Cold Steel III feels like having fake difficulty. Though if I complain about gameplay, not everything became worse. The mech fights are much more enjoyable because the time fights are really enjoyable. It also automatcially gives spotlight to people who aren't Rean.

Another issue I have is that the soundtrack is incredibly dull for Falcom standards. There hasn't been one memorable soundtrack in this game for me. Yeah, I admit one of the reason why I play Falcom games is because of their normally phenomenal soundtrack. Unfortunately Cold Steel III doesn't feature any earcatchers yet.

As for the plot chapter 2 was really good, but chapter 3 is boring so far, at least everything before the final day. I've mainly spent 15 hours for reading texts of walls. At least it featured some good character interactions like the one with Sara. On the other hand I still don't get Claire's motive to work for Osborne, even after sharing her fate of her family. Idk how desperate someone must be to work for a guy like him.

There's some endgame builds that are stupidly cheesy, and ensure that the enemies never get a turn.  During one of the last boss battles, the enemies were more-or-less shut out of having a turn because I got annoyed.

Chapter 3 was my sticking point.  Once I got through there, it was dealing with the first bits of Chapter 4, then things got interesting.

The Bell quartz are good if you have a caster of a particular element.  Check the MQ for probable candidates.

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

Oh yeah, I made a big quartz set up yesterday.

I bought Minotaur on the island for Musse and gave the one (forgot the name) which increase dealing critical damage when using offensive artes. She has pretty much Tio's role by dealing tons of arte damage. 

Also gave all the bells to the appropirate units like ocean bell to Musse, the time bell to Juna for casting chrono drive and the fire bell to Ash for casting la forte and impassion.

[eclipse]

Virgo is pretty ridiculous on its own.   Oberon IMO is a solid quartz, and it allowed me to make some pretty silly accessory choices.  There's some other silly combos, but they're more fun when they're discovered.

[Renne]

If you're not going to like sen 3 combat, you won't like hajimari either. Brave orders are returning along with new mechanics.

Edited May 14, 2020 by Ella