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


Armagon
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2 hours ago, Armagon said:

Agreed. Olivier is a great highlight throughout the whole Sky trilogy, as well as the series as a whole.

Here's a tip that will help you greatly in FC (and i think the rest of the trilogy but i'm not sure if it got nerfed in SC. Pretty sure it did though): Confusion is the most broken thing in the game. I believe it's the Chaos Art that causes it (use Mirage Quartz). Once you have that, just spam it on enemies and watch as they have no choice but to attack their own enemies. It even works on most bosses, including the important ones. 

Another tip, i recommend on mainly upgrading Estelle and Josuha's equipment. Since you've completed chapter one (and know some other things), you'll have noticed that the party rotates. Estelle and Josuha are always there but the other two members will swap out each chapter. So whoever joins you in each chapter, you don't want to spend too much money on them since, if i remember correctly, they'll remove their stuff when they leave. 

Third tip, this is rather obvious but regularly do quests. Trading Septium for Mira is bad and in my experience, i've run out of money really quickly because i skipped a lot of the quests in FC. Don't repeat the mistake i made.

I was already aware of the rotating party thing. I intend to upgrade everyone as much as I can anyway, for some delicious Steam achievements, but I'm putting more focus on Estelle and Josh for now.

And I do quests as soon as they appear on the board, but I've had two of them expire in stupidly-short times (the one for finding the missing cat, and the monster extermination behind the village you're not even supposed to go to yet). I'm not worried about getting 100% complete quests until New Game +, anyway.

1 hour ago, Ashen Jedi said:

Actually in FC all you actually need is to get the spell Aerial and proceed to destroy the entire game.

Aerial is indeed stupidly good. Joshua's got it right now and I'm going to put some orbments on him to shorten his casting time once I get the chance.

On an unrelated note, the wide-screen glitch makes this already-funny line even funnier. Don't turn around or you'll witness Olivier's true form.

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18 minutes ago, Anomalocaris said:

And I do quests as soon as they appear on the board, but I've had two of them expire in stupidly-short times (the one for finding the missing cat, and the monster extermination behind the village you're not even supposed to go to yet).

Ah yeah, gotta watch out for that. Due to it's structure, FC is probably the worst game in the series when it comes to the time limit on quests. At the very least, i don't remember any quests with stupidly short time limits in SC (and 3rd doesn't have any sidequests). I wasn't seriously doing sidequests until Zero and Cold Steel I (though Cold Steel I didn't give you money for it, which was dumb) so it's possible that those games and onwards do have dumb time limits on their sidequests and i just didn't notice.

23 minutes ago, Anomalocaris said:

On an unrelated note, the wide-screen glitch makes this already-funny line even funnier. Don't turn around or you'll witness Olivier's true form.

Oh no, Olivier, what did they do to you?

That's actually my first time seeing that glitch. It wasn't in the PSP version, which is what i played because back then i had a toaster for a PC with a measly 32 GB of storage and i was afraid the PC versions of the Sky trilogy would take up too much space (though i did play the PC version of 3rd because that's the only option for us Westerners). 

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4 hours ago, Anomalocaris said:

I just cleared Chapter 1 of First Chapter. Olivier is indeed the best character thus far. Perhaps even one of the best video game characters of all time.

As you can guess by my introductory post in this thread I already know some stuff that happens later on, but nevertheless I'm having fun.

Olivier is. . .well, you'll just have to find out~!

But he's one of my favorites for a reason.

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I have the distinct feeling I was supposed to at least take two steps forward on the main path and recruit Tita before doing the Limestone Cavern.

Those six-Penguin teams guarding the treasure chests were brutal fights with just Estelle and Josh.

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20 minutes ago, Anomalocaris said:

I have the distinct feeling I was supposed to at least take two steps forward on the main path and recruit Tita before doing the Limestone Cavern.

Those six-Penguin teams guarding the treasure chests were brutal fights with just Estelle and Josh.

I thought you couldn't enter the Limestone Cavern until a certain point.

Was this before you reached Ziess?

Also, if you think those penguins are tough, then you're gonna have a bad time with the boss there. The King Penguin is probably the worst boss in the game (though the final boss isn't too far behind in terms of how tedious it is) so i suggest you really prep for that.

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2 minutes ago, Armagon said:

I thought you couldn't enter the Limestone Cavern until a certain point.

Was this before you reached Ziess?

Also, if you think those penguins are tough, then you're gonna have a bad time with the boss there. The King Penguin is probably the worst boss in the game (though the final boss isn't too far behind in terms of how tedious it is) so i suggest you really prep for that.

Well, the game let me in before I reached Zeiss and before I even met Tita. I even got a new cannon for her before I met her.

Individually the penguins were fine, but fighting all six varieties at the same time from the two monster chests were tough battles. I was probably underlevelled and underequipped since I'm evidently not supposed to explore that area before I reach Zeiss.

I still claimed both chests though.

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12 hours ago, Anomalocaris said:

Well, the game let me in before I reached Zeiss and before I even met Tita. I even got a new cannon for her before I met her.

Individually the penguins were fine, but fighting all six varieties at the same time from the two monster chests were tough battles. I was probably underlevelled and underequipped since I'm evidently not supposed to explore that area before I reach Zeiss.

I still claimed both chests though.

Ah well at least you only benefited from it. I'm just surprised since Trails games are really linear and don't really let you go to places you aren't supposed to go to yet.

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2 hours ago, Armagon said:

Ah well at least you only benefited from it. I'm just surprised since Trails games are really linear and don't really let you go to places you aren't supposed to go to yet.

Probably would have been better to go there with a full party so they could reap the exp, but it's not like that's a finite resource.

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Three Xeno games and five Hyperdimension Neptunia games later, i finally got around to finishing Trails of Azure. Pretty great game, an overall improvement from Zero. Of course, a lot of what i liked in Zero is here and i say that about a lot of Trails games but especially in the case of Azure, talking about most of what i liked from the game would be repeating myself so i'll try avoiding that. It's a Trails game so of course the story, music, characters and gameplay are gonna be good. The villains are also a massive improvement over the villains in Zero and even though more light is shed on the Cult, that didn't stop the high priest from being arguably the worst villain in the series.

Spoiler

Instead, we get the Crois family as the villains and i found them a lot better. Dieter kinda felt like a worse version of Richard but only by a little bit, i still think he was a decent villain. Maribelle was a little too evil sorceress for my tastes (must be her outfit) but it's not like i found her motivations to be idiotic. Ian Grimwood, while i have problems with the story literally dropping the revelation that he was working for the bad guys all along (remember, i said the same thing about Joachim in Zero, also i think i'm just gonna stop trusting important NPCs in this series from now on, first Grimwood turns out to be a bad guy and then (CS3 spoiler) also turns out to be a bad guy), also had understandable motivations. Good intentions but the wrong methods. Who doesn't want a world free from strife?

The gameplay's mostly the same. I think Crossbell doesn't like Arts because in both games, Arts were just not that good. In other games, Arts were great but i barely got use out of them here. They nerfed Elie's heal bullet Craft and that was upsetting but i get why.

I do think this game suffers some pacing issues. In my Cold Steel II review, i mentioned how i felt that the main conflict ended too quickly. Here, it's the opposite. The story was kinda slow until the near end of Ch.3 and then the final chapter ended up being too long.

Spoiler

I think it would've been better to have 6 chapters instead of five. Chapter 5 (the original final chapter) would go on as normal up until the point the Azure Tree appears. At that point is when it transitions to Ch.6.

 

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Actually, Arts are absolutely broken in Azure, the Bells also allows them to be spammed to do massive damage and Wazy casting does more damage than even stuff in Cold Steel 3 can get to damage wise with the right setups.

Dark Matter and almost every wind spell are insanely powerful as well.

In fact I know several people who have issues with how powerful spells are and how much crafts got nerfed besides a few of them.

Azure also severely weakened Randy to the point where he’s easily the worst character of the entire party instead of the best.

Edited by Ashen Jedi
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I finished FC a few days ago. Reverie wasn't too tough, but it did schedule Annihilation for a crit turn when I had no way to delay it, which sucked. Did survive and kill it though.

Then Professor Alba showed up to cure Joshua of his amnesia. What a nice guy.

He's pretty good at curing in general.

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Man, i just have this void right now. I've played every Trails game that's been translated in English (one way or another) and now i gotta wait an unknown period of time for hopefully Cold Steel 3 and 4 to be localized. Any chances of those being ported to PC btw? I'd rather not have to buy a PS4.

3 hours ago, Anomalocaris said:

Reverie wasn't too tough, but it did schedule Annihilation for a crit turn when I had no way to delay it, which sucked. Did survive and kill it though.

I remember Reverie giving me a decent amount of trouble but in retrospect, it's probably one of the less tedious final bosses in the series. The final bosses of both SC and both Crossbell games gave me more trouble (and then Cold Steel in general had some pretty tedious boss fights, too tanky for my tastes).

Anway congrats. This is just the beginning. Be sure to transfer your completed save to SC when you get the game. You get a few bonuses depending on what you've done.

3 hours ago, Anomalocaris said:

Then Professor Alba showed up to cure Joshua of his amnesia. What a nice guy.

He's pretty good at curing in general.

Eyy, i get it.

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17 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Man, i just have this void right now. I've played every Trails game that's been translated in English (one way or another) and now i gotta wait an unknown period of time for hopefully Cold Steel 3 and 4 to be localized. Any chances of those being ported to PC btw? I'd rather not have to buy a PS4.

Not sure considering 3 & 4 were made with PS engine if I recall. It could happen, but you might be better off doing what I did and get the games and use the current online translation pages.

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17 minutes ago, Ashen Jedi said:

Not sure considering 3 & 4 were made with PS engine if I recall. It could happen, but you might be better off doing what I did and get the games and use the current online translation pages.

Yeah, i'm considering that as like a last resort because playing a game with a translated page is like sitting in the front row of a movie theater: it's hell. If i can avoid it, i will but if i have no choice, i'll just deal with it and use a translation page.

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4 hours ago, Armagon said:

Anway congrats. This is just the beginning. Be sure to transfer your completed save to SC when you get the game. You get a few bonuses depending on what you've done.

I intend to do NG+ at some point and get max Bracer points before starting SC.

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Good overview of the series without any major spoilers 

Also commenting on the fact that not only Calvard but Leman state is potentially where the 4th arc will go (stated by Falcom President themselves)

 

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So I bought Trails in the Sky just now. Probably at the worst time considering I've got a lot of stuff going on at work, outside of it, and Smash is on its way, but I felt like a good, meaty RPG and people on this site seem to love it. 

This isn't the first game in the series, right? Is there anything I need to keep in mind or read up on before starting? 

Aaand the game isn't starting. Nothing happens when I click on the game.

Edited by Thane
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54 minutes ago, Thane said:

So I bought Trails in the Sky just now. Probably at the worst time considering I've got a lot of stuff going on at work, outside of it, and Smash is on its way, but I felt like a good, meaty RPG and people on this site seem to love it. 

This isn't the first game in the series, right? Is there anything I need to keep in mind or read up on before starting? 

Aaand the game isn't starting. Nothing happens when I click on the game.

Sky FC is the first game in the current 9 game running plotline of Trails/Kiseki. 

Never had the problem you're having though.

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2 minutes ago, Jedi said:

Sky FC is the first game in the current 9 game running plotline of Trails/Kiseki. 

Never had the problem you're having though.

Sky FC, huh? So where does "The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky" fit into this nine game series?

I could launch it from the configuration menu. Apparently it seems to be a somewhat common problem but with an easy answer.

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3 hours ago, Thane said:

Sky FC, huh? So where does "The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky" fit into this nine game series?

Chronologically, it's the first game in the timeline (FC stands for First Chapter whereas the next game is called Trails in the Sky SC, with SC standing for Second Chapter). The Trails timeline is pretty straightforward, just follow the release order of the games. Zero, Azure, Cold Steel 1 and 2 take place at around so there, you technically could play them in whatever order you want (provided you stick to the arcs, so don't do Zero -> Cold Steel 2 for example) but from what i've seen, it's recommended to play Zero and Azure first and then the Cold Steel games.

On a side note, Trails of Zero and Trails of Azure never released outside Japan. You'll have to download a PSP emulator and download the fan-translated versions of those two games. Trails of Cold Steel 3 and 4 also haven't been localized yet but with the recent announcement that the PS4 ehanced ports of Cold Steel 1 and 2 being localized, there's hope for Cold Steel 3 and 4. 

 

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1 hour ago, Armagon said:

Chronologically, it's the first game in the timeline (FC stands for First Chapter whereas the next game is called Trails in the Sky SC, with SC standing for Second Chapter). The Trails timeline is pretty straightforward, just follow the release order of the games. Zero, Azure, Cold Steel 1 and 2 take place at around so there, you technically could play them in whatever order you want (provided you stick to the arcs, so don't do Zero -> Cold Steel 2 for example) but from what i've seen, it's recommended to play Zero and Azure first and then the Cold Steel games.

On a side note, Trails of Zero and Trails of Azure never released outside Japan. You'll have to download a PSP emulator and download the fan-translated versions of those two games. Trails of Cold Steel 3 and 4 also haven't been localized yet but with the recent announcement that the PS4 ehanced ports of Cold Steel 1 and 2 being localized, there's hope for Cold Steel 3 and 4. 

 

There are translation sheets now for both CS3 and 4 (4’s just completed yesterday) now too. Thankfully. For those of us who don’t know Japanese.

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On ‎12‎/‎5‎/‎2018 at 12:41 PM, Thane said:

So I bought Trails in the Sky just now. Probably at the worst time considering I've got a lot of stuff going on at work, outside of it, and Smash is on its way, but I felt like a good, meaty RPG and people on this site seem to love it. 

This isn't the first game in the series, right? Is there anything I need to keep in mind or read up on before starting? 

Aaand the game isn't starting. Nothing happens when I click on the game.

You are playing it off of Steam right? If so, you might have to go to configuration tools and mess around in the display section so the resolutions and whatnot better match what your computer can handle. I also know that at least for my computer trying to launch the game from shortcuts on my desktop causes the game to not launch and I have to manually launch it from my Steam's library and I have to play the DIrect8x version or else I get plagued by blue trees or the textures all turn dark while in towns.

Edit: Never mind, it seems like you found a solution.

Edited by NSSKG151
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15 hours ago, NSSKG151 said:

Edit: Never mind, it seems like you found a solution.

Indeed, but thanks anyway, brother! I'm having fun with the game, though I did buy it while busy and right before Ultimate. Oh well, I do like a good RPG.

So far it's very simple but told well. The amount of dialogue in this game is pretty incredible, and the combat system seems nice even f those bloody mutant ladybugs can be a pest. Just got to the second city now in search of daddy dearest. He made the horrible mistake of being a loving father over 40 in an anime game.

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