The future of the "Trails of" series' localization?

[Rapier]

With the miracle that was translating SC and 3rd, are there any plans/mentions on translating/porting the other games, such as the Crossbell arc and Nayuta no Kiseki?

I mean, I finally replayed FC (so I could remember its events and jump off to SC) and I think I'll miss this series a lot by the time I'm done with it (I'll jump to ToCS as soon as I'm done with SC, probably), so...

[Refa]

I doubt Crossbell or Nayuta will get translated any time soon.

You should play 3rd after SC IMO.

[Jedi]

Go to 3rd there's a fan translation that's being worked on for Zero that should be finished in I'd like to say by the end of this year, and in the meantime of waiting for that after 3rd just play the Cold Steel games.

3rd has details that relate to CS, as well as being a really great send off for the Sky cast.

Edited March 13, 2018 by Jedi

[Rapier]

Okay, then. I thought SC pretty much wrapped it and Third was just a bonus, so I wanted to skip right toward Cold Steel, but I guess I'll play Third after I finish SC. Nice to know Zero is being translated, because after Erebonia's I was more interested in Crossbell's arc anyway, from what I read of it.

Also, since the newest Trails of will be Cold Steel 3, I... guess they won't have anything else to work it and then they might give the other games a go? I at least hope so.

 

Thoughts on SC so far, because I'm hooked on it and I need to vent.

Spoiler

I stopped right after Major Vander's first fight (I don't know if there will be another fight, so I'll refer to it as 'first'). Joshua knows how to strategize orb builds better than I could ever dream to

So, after waiting like 5 years until a translation became a thing, I must say this game is different from what I expected. While FC's charm is in its worldbuilding and characters, SC cuts straight to the main story and kinda handwaves its worldbuilding (at least until the part I currently am), which isn't necessarily bad, but the feeling it gives is definitely different. The cities' issues and the environment don't seem as relevant as it was back in the first game, nor do their major characters. I particularly expected there'd be something about the mayoral elections in Ruan tied within their mission, for example, but they are merely handwaved and shown in a few cutscenes about before you go off to fight Bleublanc, which is the actual plot point in chapter 1.

It doesn't help much that Trails in the Sky's story itself isn't stelar, imo - its strong suit was on its writing, worldbuilding and characters, not on its actual story structure. I mean, other than the plot-twist that the goofy escort back then was a major villain all along (hi, Terumi) and the most annoying sidequests' giver being also an Enforcer, Ouroboros and their Enforcers are elements we have seen many times over in games and fiction and they're walking Mr. Expositions at best (at least until the part I stopped playing). I couldn't care about him or the kung-fu guy in a XCOM agent suit as much as I had cared for the events in the cities on FC and their characters (even the villains, like the Capua bandits). The writing is also weaker, imo, even though good from my standards. I expected the remnants of the Intelligence Corps doing something more plot important other than Kanone going full Leeroy Jenkins with a tank at a sudden and wrapping the case just like that after her defeat, for example. It seems to throw things "on your face" more often than in FC.

Still, although the plot takes long until it gets rolling, I started loving it since the end of chapter 2, where the stuff you're doing don't actually seem like individual ocurrences and it finally gives you some view on the overaching plot, even if the Intelligence Corps arc is practically 'dropped' completely and chapter 3 is actually more about Renne than anything else.

tl;dr, me being a tsundere over a game I've got 38 hours in and can't drop.

 

Edited March 13, 2018 by Rapier

[Magical CC]

Crossbell games are tied to Chinese HD version so unless they can work that out, I dont think so.

[eclipse]

18 hours ago, Rapier said:

  Hide contents

I stopped right after Major Vander's first fight (I don't know if there will be another fight, so I'll refer to it as 'first'). Joshua knows how to strategize orb builds better than I could ever dream to

So, after waiting like 5 years until a translation became a thing, I must say this game is different from what I expected. While FC's charm is in its worldbuilding and characters, SC cuts straight to the main story and kinda handwaves its worldbuilding (at least until the part I currently am), which isn't necessarily bad, but the feeling it gives is definitely different. The cities' issues and the environment don't seem as relevant as it was back in the first game, nor do their major characters. I particularly expected there'd be something about the mayoral elections in Ruan tied within their mission, for example, but they are merely handwaved and shown in a few cutscenes about before you go off to fight Bleublanc, which is the actual plot point in chapter 1.

It doesn't help much that Trails in the Sky's story itself isn't stelar, imo - its strong suit was on its writing, worldbuilding and characters, not on its actual story structure. I mean, other than the plot-twist that the goofy escort back then was a major villain all along (hi, Terumi) and the most annoying sidequests' giver being also an Enforcer, Ouroboros and their Enforcers are elements we have seen many times over in games and fiction and they're walking Mr. Expositions at best (at least until the part I stopped playing). I couldn't care about him or the kung-fu guy in a XCOM agent suit as much as I had cared for the events in the cities on FC and their characters (even the villains, like the Capua bandits). The writing is also weaker, imo, even though good from my standards. I expected the remnants of the Intelligence Corps doing something more plot important other than Kanone going full Leeroy Jenkins with a tank at a sudden and wrapping the case just like that after her defeat, for example. It seems to throw things "on your face" more often than in FC.

Still, although the plot takes long until it gets rolling, I started loving it since the end of chapter 2, where the stuff you're doing don't actually seem like individual ocurrences and it finally gives you some view on the overaching plot, even if the Intelligence Corps arc is practically 'dropped' completely and chapter 3 is actually more about Renne than anything else.

tl;dr, me being a tsundere over a game I've got 38 hours in and can't drop.

 

The devs assumed you'd played FC first, so there's no need to repeat a bunch of things.

Spoiler

It's literally the day after Joshua leaves.  Why give a bunch of exposition over places that you've been to recently?

 

[Rapier]

I'm not talking about exposition, though.

Spoiler

I'm refering to immersing the characters' own adventures on the cities they go. On FC, more often than not the cast intervened in issues within the cities, when in SC the focus is on hunting down Ouroboros agents and fighting them. I'm not saying they don't intervene in issues within the cities anymore, but that it feels much less personal.

Ok, I'll use an example: The closest thing we have referencing the elections in Ruan is the hidden sidequest that I completely skipped (and that I had to read about later) and a few cutscenes. Other than that, the city has no relevance whatsoever: It's about hunting down Bleublanc. They might as well have been in a vaccuum, and it'd work the same way because the city and its inhabitants hardly matter. On FC, the issues within Ruan are more entrenched within the characters' goals. There are the issues with the Matron's orphanage being burned down, the mayor being corrupt, and in the end your actions impact the city and other characters' lives for the best.

Does the main cast's actions not affect the cities and other characters' lives? Yes, they do, but they're much less personal and there is much less involvement within the environment they are in. Everything there is just a backstage for more Ouroboros hunting and dealing with their gimmicks.

Note that this isn't bad, far from it - I love this game, but it's a style shift that I found odd when I started playing SC. For me, the Trails series' charm was in how the main cast's goals were intertwined with the places they visited. It reminded me of Earthbound, where each city was unique, had an unique issue and you felt that each individual place mattered and had its own "personality". Now the cities and the people don't feel relevant in any way.

 

[eclipse]

7 minutes ago, Rapier said:

I'm not talking about exposition, though.

  Reveal hidden contents

I'm refering to immersing the characters' own adventures on the cities they go. On FC, more often than not the cast intervened in issues within the cities, when in SC the focus is on hunting down Ouroboros agents and fighting them. I'm not saying they don't intervene in issues within the cities anymore, but that it feels much less personal.

Ok, I'll use an example: The closest thing we have referencing the elections in Ruan is the hidden sidequest that I completely skipped (and that I had to read about later) and a few cutscenes. Other than that, the city has no relevance whatsoever: It's about hunting down Bleublanc. They might as well have been in a vaccuum, and it'd work the same way because the city and its inhabitants hardly matter. On FC, the issues within Ruan are more entrenched within the characters' goals. There are the issues with the Matron's orphanage being burned down, the mayor being corrupt, and in the end your actions impact the city and other characters' lives for the best.

Does the main cast's actions not affect the cities and other characters' lives? Yes, they do, but they're much less personal and there is much less involvement within the environment they are in. Everything there is just a backstage for more Ouroboros hunting and dealing with their gimmicks.

Note that this isn't bad, far from it - I love this game, but it's a style shift that I found odd when I started playing SC. For me, the Trails series' charm was in how the main cast's goals were intertwined with the places they visited. It reminded me of Earthbound, where each city was unique, had an unique issue and you felt that each individual place mattered and had its own "personality". Now the cities and the people don't feel relevant in any way.

 

But that's just it.

Spoiler

Because you've already done a whole bunch of personal things. it's not really necessary to have location-based goals AGAIN.  The point of FC was to introduce the world.  The point of SC will be clearer once you get further into the game.  You can see how your actions affected the various places, to some degree, but that's not your end goal.

 

[Rapier]

On 13/03/2018 at 9:37 PM, eclipse said:

But that's just it.

  Reveal hidden contents

Because you've already done a whole bunch of personal things. it's not really necessary to have location-based goals AGAIN.  The point of FC was to introduce the world.  The point of SC will be clearer once you get further into the game.  You can see how your actions affected the various places, to some degree, but that's not your end goal.

 

Ok, what I said was stupid. I didn't have a whole perception of just how abrangent SC's story was. It'd be impossible to focus on the cities' own problems AND on the main plot, at least not without sacrificing one for the other.

Spoiler

I'm on chapter 7 now, and even by focusing entirely on hunting down Ouroboros and stopping them it still took 7 chapters to get near the end game, and even here I get the feeling there is still more ground to cover. They needed to focus on Ouroboros or else they'd need two more games to wrap it up.

So this is why 3rd focuses on the characters, iirc. They apparently had no space to do everything they wanted on SC (or FC, for that matter. It gave me a Golden Sun + Lost Age/PoR+RD feeling, where the game had to be split because its scope was too big for a single title).

I must say I'm loving this game. It had a very slow beginning, but it got very interesting by chapter 3 onward. I hold Estelle's dream scene and her encounter with Joshua as one of the best scenes that I've seen in video games. It shows how the characters, despite following common tropes and cliches, are very well written and "tridimensional". I feel bad for rushing it, at the same time that I want to rush it because it's so good and I want more.

On an unrelated note, I'm still having issues with the orbment system. I pretty much settle for a Cast + two water orbment + EP + EP Cut + Ingenuinity for the main healer (usually either Estelle or Kloe), Cast + two wind orbs (Evade 3 and some other, mostly) + EP Cut + EP + Mind for the main magic attacker (usually Olivier or Schera), then attack + agility + dex builds for the main attacker (hi, Agate) and a mix of magic/physical for someone who I want to use for buffs and ocasional magic attacks. Its been working, but not as optimally as I wished it did because I can't really plan orbment compositions and refer to the manual at the same time to achieve specific builds (having Level 2 and 3 orbs didn't help me either).

... I have a feeling this will bite me on the ass when I play Third.

[Interdimensional Observer]

Since this is a Trails topic, might if I post some musings/laments I've been wanting to get out of me?

I think I’d be interested in the LoH series from what I hear of it, except I’m bad at finishing games at a reasonable pace (my backlog just grows and grows) and I don’t want to be shackled by 300 hours of JRPGs just to get through the CS tetralogy alone. Adding the original PC (and I don’t have one) trilogy, and then this Japan only Crossbell duology would be what, 500-600 hours? 

Some math on completion time:

Spoiler

So if 9 games (technically 7 given CS I hear was originally supposed to be just two) = 60%, which I think I heard is what the Zemuria series will be at with CS finished, then 100% would be 15 games (or 12 with CS 1&2 and 3&4 counting as one) total. If we assumed 100 hours per game and went with 12 games total, an easy number to work with and it allows for wiggle room if you only took 60-80 hours for some games if there were more. You’d need to play 50 days nonstop to complete the entire planned Zemuria series. 62.5 days if we assumed 15 games 100 hours each, the worse (or best if you enjoyed it) case scenario. Now if we assumed 5 hours a day, which is realistic, then its 300 days to complete the 15 games (of course not all are released yet, which helps), or a game every 20 days. Which actually sounds like a quite reasonable timeframe for a JRPG. Of course, putting in 5 hrs every day for almost a year, those 5 hrs being your only time to play games at all and you don’t choose to ever switch it up, and somehow you have this room for every single day, suggest to me it’d in reality be much longer. Probably over a year, maybe two. But again, we’re talking 15 100 hour games. Could you not play them all and still have an enjoyable experience? I’d say so, but if you’re a completionist who wants to see the series through, that is what you’re looking at.

 

Back to my like-disappointing reality issues, I don’t play games only for story, so no LPing the games or setting the difficulty to the casual setting, and as I have said that the entirety of this is only 60% of what they have planned for this particular world. Extraordinary ambition, but it sounds like it’ll be realized (unlike Mr. Tetsuya Xeno Takahashi who only got out 1 episode of 5(?) for XG and 3 out of 6 (which I overheard might actually only be two, 1&2 originally planned to be just 1) for Xenosaga), which is incredible. I also lack a PS4 for finishing the CS arc presently (this isn't a big issue though, but the time CS4 is translated, a standard PS4 should be available rather cheaply), and I don’t think I want to deal with games with high school or dating sim elements anymore. I used to be okay with it when I was younger, but now, well I think if I played Luminous Arc again, I’d go a little “ugh” at some of the scenes.

Realizing my hopes for ever truly getting into the franchise are hopeless, I’ve allowed myself to read a bunch of spoilers from the CS games, thereby hindering the remaining desire. Still, while the experience won’t be the same knowing some big spoilers, I don’t think I’m absolutely lost, nor has the this killed the desire to play them entirely! Otherwise every player of FEH shouldn’t play any FE they already haven’t. The thing is, even when you know exactly where the roads go, you can still look forward to the journey. X may happen to Y, Z is a traitor manipulating the heroes, A is actually a B. These I may know, but all the banter and minutiae experienced between these things and while these things are happening, they unless you watch videos of the game online, are not spoilable, they are what one who knows too much has to look forward to. Not the surprises, but the unsurprising, that which few generally bother to discuss in detail online. That and the execution of the spoilers.

[Terper :)]

Honestly, I kind of like that a lot of stuff that the player may start to think will be the main plot thread to follow in their respective chapters, well, aren't.

Stuff like the 

Spoiler

mayoral election and pact signing

happen off-screen, and I don't feel that this detracts from the world-building, but rather adds to it. Estelle has a goal she needs to work towards and while she can stop and help people at times, she doesn't feel that she has the time to stick around, and the world doesn't need her to, either. Important events (well, the former isn't really important in the grand scheme of things at all) can happen with or without you. It's the same reason I talk to all the NPCs and try to remember their names. Not every NPC will be important or show up in later scenes/games, but some of them will, and you won't know who at the time. So you might as well try to get invested in everything!

[Rapier]

Yeah, I know. The thing was that, for me, since FC gave me that impression, Trails in the Sky seemed like the type of series that focused on its surroundings and what is happening around the characters, rather than a goal driven JRPG. At first I found it strange that SC lacks location oriented goals and handwaves what is going on, merely mentioning it while the player characters are pursuing their goals.

Again, it's not a bad thing, and I loved SC. It has two particular scenes that are one of my favorites in video game media.

Spoiler

Namely, Estelle's dream with her parents during Luciola's chapter and her encounter with Joshua. The first one felt bittersweet to me, despite (probably) being heartwarming for most people, I guess.

I actually rate it higher than 3rd's ending, which was arguably one of the best moments in the series.

Speaking of Trails series' spoilers, I love how you can't even wishlist its games without reading massive spoilers of the first game in bold. I really hope it didn't spoil much of Trails of Cold Steel's fun that way.

I just recently finished 3rd and now I intend to go for Trails of Cold Steel, which really seems like an interesting game to me as far as the setting is concerned (and I hope I can enjoy its world and characters despite reading that it doesn't stand up to Trails in the Sky in any form in its writing/characters, at least until ToCS2). To be honest, I'd prefer to play Zero no Kiseki and then Ao (since, from what I've read, Ao and ToCS2 happen at the same time, spoiling each other kind of like Seliph and Leif's 'routes'), but this is fine. At least the fan translation for Zero is at 60% and looking good.

Edited April 4, 2018 by Rapier

[Jedi]

On 3/20/2018 at 6:28 PM, Interdimensional Observer said:

Since this is a Trails topic, might if I post some musings/laments I've been wanting to get out of me?

I think I’d be interested in the LoH series from what I hear of it, except I’m bad at finishing games at a reasonable pace (my backlog just grows and grows) and I don’t want to be shackled by 300 hours of JRPGs just to get through the CS tetralogy alone. Adding the original PC (and I don’t have one) trilogy, and then this Japan only Crossbell duology would be what, 500-600 hours? 

Some math on completion time:

  Reveal hidden contents

So if 9 games (technically 7 given CS I hear was originally supposed to be just two) = 60%, which I think I heard is what the Zemuria series will be at with CS finished, then 100% would be 15 games (or 12 with CS 1&2 and 3&4 counting as one) total. If we assumed 100 hours per game and went with 12 games total, an easy number to work with and it allows for wiggle room if you only took 60-80 hours for some games if there were more. You’d need to play 50 days nonstop to complete the entire planned Zemuria series. 62.5 days if we assumed 15 games 100 hours each, the worse (or best if you enjoyed it) case scenario. Now if we assumed 5 hours a day, which is realistic, then its 300 days to complete the 15 games (of course not all are released yet, which helps), or a game every 20 days. Which actually sounds like a quite reasonable timeframe for a JRPG. Of course, putting in 5 hrs every day for almost a year, those 5 hrs being your only time to play games at all and you don’t choose to ever switch it up, and somehow you have this room for every single day, suggest to me it’d in reality be much longer. Probably over a year, maybe two. But again, we’re talking 15 100 hour games. Could you not play them all and still have an enjoyable experience? I’d say so, but if you’re a completionist who wants to see the series through, that is what you’re looking at.

 

Back to my like-disappointing reality issues, I don’t play games only for story, so no LPing the games or setting the difficulty to the casual setting, and as I have said that the entirety of this is only 60% of what they have planned for this particular world. Extraordinary ambition, but it sounds like it’ll be realized (unlike Mr. Tetsuya Xeno Takahashi who only got out 1 episode of 5(?) for XG and 3 out of 6 (which I overheard might actually only be two, 1&2 originally planned to be just 1) for Xenosaga), which is incredible. I also lack a PS4 for finishing the CS arc presently (this isn't a big issue though, but the time CS4 is translated, a standard PS4 should be available rather cheaply), and I don’t think I want to deal with games with high school or dating sim elements anymore. I used to be okay with it when I was younger, but now, well I think if I played Luminous Arc again, I’d go a little “ugh” at some of the scenes.

Realizing my hopes for ever truly getting into the franchise are hopeless, I’ve allowed myself to read a bunch of spoilers from the CS games, thereby hindering the remaining desire. Still, while the experience won’t be the same knowing some big spoilers, I don’t think I’m absolutely lost, nor has the this killed the desire to play them entirely! Otherwise every player of FEH shouldn’t play any FE they already haven’t. The thing is, even when you know exactly where the roads go, you can still look forward to the journey. X may happen to Y, Z is a traitor manipulating the heroes, A is actually a B. These I may know, but all the banter and minutiae experienced between these things and while these things are happening, they unless you watch videos of the game online, are not spoilable, they are what one who knows too much has to look forward to. Not the surprises, but the unsurprising, that which few generally bother to discuss in detail online. That and the execution of the spoilers.

Trails has some of the best JRPG turn based gameplay since that of FFX, probably a bit higher up there too, so you'd get some nice gameplay espcially when you got to the CS games, the dating sim elements aren't like a huge core part of the game either, its more like Danganronpa where you have free time to do stuff with the people you like before the next major story stuff happens. 

[Rapier]

I dunno man, like, why don't you just play the games you feel like playing on your pace and forget how long they'll take? If you focus on what you have to do today, bit by bit, the "task" becomes less gargantuan than it seems. For me, I'd wish I could spend more 500 hours in Trails in the Sky. I'd just do it in my own pace and enjoy it on my own free time.

Also, relevant.

https://twitter.com/MrClemps/status/980429489711788032 https://twitter.com/MrClemps/status/9804294811788032