The Legend of Heroes Thread - Trails of Cold Steel in the Sky

[Ventidius]

Like, I get wanting to slowly flesh out the locations, and I get why that is a vital aspect of the series, but there just has to be a better way of doing it organically than the extremely tired formulaic chapter structures. It really starts taking you out of the story too, because it feels so mechanical and structured.

This is true. I got a kick from the part where Rean is explained how he now has to do Special Operations missions, which sounds pretty cool, with the immediate qualification that these are pretty much the same as the Field Studies from CS1.

Would be nice if they could mix it up and adapt the side quests in a region more to the situation on the ground, though admittedly it's likely harder to come up with tricky problems for the player to tackle in those instances where there is no overt warfare. That's probably part of the reason why CS2 was so much better in this regard.

 

[Harry Easter]

I finished Trails in the Sky First Chapter yesterday and I want more. I'm now hooked on this series or at least this part of the story.

What I really like:

- The final boss. That's how you do it. It wasn't only damagesponging and the different forms looked like a natural transformation. And I was really nervous, although I just played on normal and had my characters around level 30-50. Nice.

- The world building. They found a good middle way between exposition and self-motivated exporation. Ideas like the newspaper or the museum in Grancel made me want to look into the world myself and it was good information, presented with just enough text.

- Speaking of "enough text:" I don't know how they did it, but the pacing of the scenes is just right. They are long enough to transport the necessary emotion and information, but not too shortso I don't feel it. This is just wonderful.

- Bracers are such a good idea, especially when your main income is mostly by doing sidequests. With this your actual job as an actual mercenary becomes relevant in the story and the game. It also motivates to do the sidequests. Double nice.

- The quality of sidequests is actually quite good too and I love how most of them even highlight parts of the world and the themes.

- The story is also good. I mean, you saw a lot of twists coming, if you ever played any JRPG (or FFVII), but man, there was so much stuff happening in chapter IV, it was amazing. That said, I'm glad it was just a prologue, because me want more Trails :D.

- Estelle and Olivier=best maincharacters in an JRPG ever.

- Agate felt like a lighthearted parody of emo-FF protas. If that was intentional, I appreciate it, because that guy was a pain.

- The combatsystem is good too. Separating spells from special techniques is a good idea and I wonder, if that is now a standard practice in JRPG's or if only Falcom does it.

- I love the outfits of the characters. They look mostly like stuff you would wear in this world and not like fetishoutfits or something for a gala. Small detail, but I appreciate it nonetheless.


What I don't like:

- The actual antagonist seems to be more of an "I'm so evil, muhahaha" - kind of guy, which is a bit disappointing after the fairly ambigious big bad before him.

- A certain character as a superassassin when they were just ... ten. Okay, this is animeland, but besides Tita and supertechniques the game kept it realistic enough, so I was never a fan of this trope. I mean, this wasn't even the job he was supposed to be working in, grml.

- The big thing about Joshua and Estelle falling in love and being siblings and how this is not a point of drama. I mean, okay, they are stepsiblings, but most of the time they seem to forget that most of the time and it reads like something that Falcom just forgot to cut out. I mean, I don't need incestdrama or fake incestdrama, so thank good for that, but why implement that, if it doesn't add anything to your story, which actually seems quite well thoughtout? Or is this just like a cultural thing, when you adopt somebody in your family (meaning the familyCLAN, not the bloodfamily), so they may actually be groomed to be perfect spousematerial for your child (back then in europe, when their only were farmers and artisans, this was done all the time)?


But yeah, this is gonna be one of my new favorites games, if the second part is as good as the first (I consider both of them as one big story and therefore one big game). Now I have to wait, until I got my next payment :D.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

Welcome to the Codex Trails Fan Club.

 

[Harry Easter]

Happy to be here :D.

 

[Harry Easter]

Okay, I bit the bullet and bought SC.

First thought: padre Kevin looks like Vash the Stampede, so therefore I will call him "Pater Vash" from now on. I think Yasuhiro Nightow would approve.

 

[Ysaye]

Okay, I bit the bullet and bought SC.

First thought: padre Kevin looks like Vash the Stampede, so therefore I will call him "Pater Vash" from now on. I think Yasuhiro Nightow would approve.

Yes but Kevin is no pacifist like Vash.....

 

[Harry Easter]

Yes but Kevin is no pacifist like Vash.....

Fair, but the look is still there :D.

 

[cruel]

Finally finished Cold Steel 4. Probably best game in the series. Not everything is perfect, but the pros clearly outshine the cons. The only things I didn't like was closure on some of the characters (not convincing) and difficulty (almost no challenge when playing on hard, outside of maybe 2-3 fights in the whole game). The total amount of retries I did is probably 3 or 4. And this is a very small number for such a big game - it took me almost 150 hours to beat. Longest CS game by far.

And now... I feel empty. Pure despair. There is nothing left. I started playing Cold Steel 1 in May 2020 - and went through all of them, one by one, with the maximum break being 3 days or so. If I count the total hours, it's around 480 hours total. And I don't regret a single hour spent. Other games suck in comparison (Persona 5, looking at you). The game (as a series) joins my top 3 JRPG ever, along with Persona 4 Golden and Xenoblade Chronicles. So much love and care was put into it, it's really amazing.

Random, spoiler-free tips for people who are going to play the game:
- if you really need a challenge, consider Nightmare difficulty
- it's worth it to play it with some sort of guide for hidden quests unfortunately, some of them are really hidden (if you care about max AP). This guide is decent just to give you the list, without spoiling anything (you can look only at current date to check if you missed anything):
https://www.neoseeker.com/the-legend-of-heroes-trails-of-cold-steel-iv/Side_Quest_List
- at the same time, don't sweat it if you lose 3 AP here or there; the game is pretty generous, and you can lose total of 26 AP and still get maximum rank (26 is a lot to loose); I lost like 13 or 15
- don't waste U-Materials at the end of the game; having a lot of them will come handy
- don't watch the opening of the game, for some stupid reason it gives you one of the biggest spoilers
- save in few different places just to be sure (there are some events available only during short period between events, etc.)
- be sure to do all the quests in the final act

Now I will go back to crying and being sad that it's all over.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

Not reading CS4 posts as I’m still on my own playthrough but I’m nearing the end of chapter 1 and things have suddenly stepped up.

If things continue in this vein, it will also be my favourite game in the series.

 

[Lyre Mors]

And now... I feel empty. Pure despair. There is nothing left

You still have five games in the series to play.

 

[cruel]

You still have five games in the series to play.

That's what I'm thinking about. Just need to decide whether to continue my Vita playthrough (Ruan) or start from scratch. I missed a lot of bracer points on Vita due to stupid timed quests (one of the things I really didn't like about the game).

 

[Lyre Mors]

Just need to decide whether to continue my Vita playthrough (Ruan) or start from scratch. I missed a lot of bracer points on Vita due to stupid timed quests (one of the things I really didn't like about the game).

Well, if you're playing on Hard or above, you'll want to do most of the bracer quests just for the mira because equipment upgrades are definitely key. It's really easy to tell when a quest's time limit is going to cut off. There's usually two distinct stages of a chapter, and any "short" quests just need to be done within the first or second half. Just do them first thing when you get them essentially. It's really not that different from Cold Steel, except you don't get the little warning before the first half of the chapter or end of the chapter begins.

If you're playing on Normal, fuck it and get on with getting to the second half of the game, where it gets much better. Though I think you're going to find you appreciate even the slow start of FC now that you're invested in Zemuria. Also, PC versions are always superior.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

In TOCS it is lovely to finish S-class on every chapter (completing every possible sidequest and bonus AP) but it is torturous to try to do that on your first playthrough. My advice is to just enjoy the game on the first playthrough and then use a walkthrough and go for 100% on your second Hard or Nightmare playthrough.

I've got each of the Cold Steel games on PlayStation first, then inclined PC second, so I've used the PlayStation playthrough as my "just for fun" run and gone all out on PC afterwards. I recommend that because you can just enjoy the story instead of worrying about having missed this or that. It makes no difference to the story anyway.

I think I got D rank or something shit like that from the prologue of Cold Steel 4 which nearly made me autism out until I realised I'm going to play this again on PC anyway.

Don't even bother with doing that on TITS as it tries to trick you so often. Enjoy the fuck out of it first time around and then go for max BP on your second playthrough if you really want the achievement. You get fuck all else.

 

[Maxie]

Azure is on its way to heal a normal persons heart after the cold steel fiasco
Where do you even acquire a copy which can run Geofront patch

 

[Jermu]

Azure is on its way to heal a normal persons heart after the cold steel fiasco
Where do you even acquire a copy which can run Geofront patch

https://geofront.esterior.net/2020/...-to-purchase-via-paypal-on-joyolands-website/

It is such a hassle that I would just pirate it and buy another copy of trails game

 

[Deleted member 7219]

I’m in Act 2.

First, I agree with what other posters here said about it being long, I can see that 40 hours in and I think the game has only truly just ‘started’.

The story really does look like it will tie up a lot of plot threads from all the Trails games so far. And they do a good job with the returning characters.

I do think the main focus this time is more on the new Class VII but I’m good with that. I really like them all now, especially Juna and Musse. I ended TOCS 3 hating Ash but they do an excellent job resolving a lot of that bullshit early on. Also, Rean is no longer a whiny bitch like he was in TOCS 2 and 3. He’s a lot more like Lloyd now, full of resolve and drive to get shit done.

 

[cruel]

Juna was the most annoying character for me (similar to Estelle in first Trails). I absolutely hate those 'hothead' personality types.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6013 using Tapatalk

 

[Deleted member 7219]

Juna was the most annoying character for me (similar to Estelle in first Trails). I absolutely hate those 'hothead' personality types.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6013 using Tapatalk

I felt that about her in TOCS 3 but she really steps up in TOCS 4 and lets go of a lot of her bullshit.

 

[Lyre Mors]

Much like Estelle (she's pretty much Estelle 2.0), I've found she'll start to grow on you.

I'm right at the end of CS III and will be finishing it up tonight. I'd say Ash is one of my favorite new characters in the game and I can't wait to find out what his ties to

Spoiler

Hamel, Joshua, Loewe, and Rean are. Not to mention what his curse is.

And again, the game has been long as hell, with me clocking in 102 hours - with liberal use of turbo and animation skip - right before the final boss. But it speaks again to the overall quality of the series that despite my annoyances with the at times questionable pacing, I'm still here and loving 90% of my time with these humongous games. CS III has in many ways been a love letter to the fans who have played all the games since Sky FC, and the payoff has been immense. The last 20 or so hours of the game have been insane, with huge questions of the series being answered and major faction lore being fleshed out. I have a feeling this will continue right on through CS IV and Hajimari.

So much love for this series and so glad I'm caught up to the PC releases now.

 

[NerevarineKing]

Much like Estelle (she's pretty much Estelle 2.0), I've found she'll start to grow on you.

I'm right at the end of CS III and will be finishing it up tonight. I'd say Ash is one of my favorite new characters in the game and I can't wait to find out what his ties to

Spoiler

Hamel, Joshua, Loewe, and Rean are. Not to mention what his curse is.

And again, the game has been long as hell, with me clocking in 102 hours - with liberal use of turbo and animation skip - right before the final boss. But it speaks again to the overall quality of the series that despite my annoyances with the at times questionable pacing, I'm still here and loving 90% of my time with these humongous games. CS III has in many ways been a love letter to the fans who have played all the games since Sky FC, and the payoff has been immense. The last 20 or so hours of the game have been insane, with huge questions of the series being answered and major faction lore being fleshed out. I have a feeling this will continue right on through CS IV and Hajimari.

So much love for this series and so glad I'm caught up to the PC releases now.

Each Trails game on its own isn't amazing, but as a whole they are an unmatched gaming experience. I beat Cold Steel 3 a few months ago and now I'm about 15-20 hours into CS4. Despite the normal pacing problems every Trails game has, I think 3 is way too easy because of how they "balanced" the new Brave Orders system. CS1 and 2 could be cheesed too, but they at least required specific setups. In CS3, a core battle mechanic breaks almost every fight.

 

[Ventidius]

I recently started a Nightmare run of CS3 and the balance actually feels solid enough. It doesn't seem like you can simply abuse stuff like Break + Wind Blade on this difficulty without properly setting up your Breaker and AT Delay builds, respectively. Your dodge tank is also going to need some serious investment in gear and quartz to be a truly broken Sirius beast (though I like that you get the tools to at least make it effective enough early on). In fact, Nightmare in CS3 seems to hit the sweet spot for me in that it is neither tediously bloated nor a cakewalk. The only thing that I thought was annoying was the first Mech fight.

Also, Juna is fine. They play the tsundere thing for a bit longer than they should, but she gets better as the game goes on and, at least to me, she was never too annoying. Not to mention it sort of makes sense she'd act like that, given her situation. I frankly thought Alisa was worse early on in CS1. Overall, I actually liked the new Class VII - and really, most of the main cast of CS3 - quite a bit. CS1 probably had more highlights, but CS3 IMO had less annoying characters. All of that said, from what I've heard it seems like CS4 is going to have the best cast overall, I just wonder how they are going to juggle such a huge ensemble while fleshing out their respective arcs. Then again, the game is probably huge.

 

[Lyre Mors]

I enjoyed my time with Nightmare in CS III quite a bit. The only problem was that half of the major boss fights in the game actually required you to abuse Orders. I really disliked that, because it made some of these encounters feel like puzzles that needed to be completed in a particular order rather than tactical battles. The Order system is great conceptually, but I really hope they ditch this type of puzzle-piece encounter design in CS IV and Hajimari's Nightmare. Besides that, nice balance all around, with the typical chance of getting your as beat in normal encounters if you're not paying attention.

 

[Ventidius]

The Brave Orders definitely have their pros and cons. Can't say it has made the game less enjoyable for me overall (then again, I'm not that deep into Nightmare and I have never have had much of a problem with puzzle-like elements in my RPGs), and I sort of like that Falcom is experimenting around with the systems. However, I'd still say CS2's system with Overdrive was definitely better designed, generally speaking, if on some occasions less fun (using some of the orders from some characters that you get for a limited time can be a blast).

I'm probably not as interested in seeing the Orders system return as much as checking out what they come up with next. As I said, I like that Falcom experiments and it's frankly quite remarkable that, despite that, none of the games feel busted. Very few RPG devs do turn-based as well as these guys.

 

[cruel]

Some of the fights in CS4 have a very interesting 'counter' to the order system, but I won't go into details to spoil it. It seems that Falcom was aware that some of the orders make stuff to easy (one of the remote orders gives you like 80% damage reduction for 10 turns ).

I played first Trails a little bit, 3h or so - doing side quests around Ruan. Unfortunately, the game fails to deliver me the warm and cozy feeling I felt in Cold Steel Almost every aspect is worse, and I remember why I didn't bother to finish it. Probably will still push through, as I remember you guys saying that it only gets better, but still. Combat is worse and less fun, environments are more boring, pacing is atrocious, characters are boring (now that you don't even have Olivier or Shera with you), I don't like Estelle, I much prefer the Master Quartz system, the world is much less immersive in 2D, and I can keep going on. Eh, my fault of not forcing myself to play games in proper order I guess.

 

[Ventidius]

I tried getting into Trails in the Sky years ago - before I even tried CS1 IIRC - and couldn't get into it. I guess owing to same things people usually cite (slow pacing and whatnot). I picked it up again intermittently while I finished CS2 and CS3, making it past Josette (furthest I have gotten into it), but it still hasn't really pulled me in. I decided to do a new Nightmare playthrough of CS3 instead, and I get the feeling I'll end up doing the same with CS1, CS2, and doing a first playthrough of Zero (Crossbell seems far more enticing than Liberl) before I really try to get into it. Either way, since I'm already invested in the franchise, I might well get around doing it at some point.

My experience with Trails in the Sky is pretty much the diametric opposite of how it was with ToCS. The latter hooked me pretty much immediately (it was during the late midgame/endgame that the pacing issues surfaced for me), so I don't really get people complaining about the slow start. The funny thing is, I actually like Estelle. I like her more than I initially liked Rean, since she gives me strong Yunica (best Falcom protagonist) vibes. It's pretty much everything else (areas, combat, the rest of the cast, setting, atmosphere, etc) about the start that I found more engaging in ToCS.