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

[Valestein]

I bit the bullet and bought Trails into Reverie. It's the most pricey game I've bought in a while, but dammit, more Rean and Sara compelled me to get it.

 

[Nelka]

IIRC he says in Japanese something like 'are you a boy or a girl?'. A much better translation would be 'I was wondering if I should call you Miss or Mister...'. No one talks like that in real life. There was another game, Super Robot wars 30 IIRC, that had the same problem: character says in japanese to ask if someone is a boy or a girl. English localizer changed it to ask for 'their pronouns' or something like that.

Anyway, total lolcowlizer death and all that. Pirate the game and use the fan pach, never give your money to Nisa.

Edit: Forgot to say, for good or bad Japanese companies are investing billions in AI translation so the localizers days are numbered. Sure AI will be bad for other reasons but at least I will laugh at the lolcowlizers having meltdowns on twitter. I had to change my account because most of them blocked me, all I posted was a picture of a clock and a laugh emoji.

In my fan translation he just asked if he's a boy or girl, because he's very femine looking. But nothing more in that way of stuff.
Even his grandma refers to him as "grandson", not "grandtroon" or something that way, so they will probably skip this line in official translation.

Even his character page says so.

 

[Maxie]

Enough with this fucking retarded femboy fad

 

[Reinhardt]

Enough with this fucking retarded femboy fad

rean?

 

[Rean]

HURR CAN YOU FIND MY SENTIMENTAL ITEM ITS MY GRANDFATHER CONDOM its really preciouss to me!1111. Kill this monster in the sewer save this generic sweetheart girl #53414! God forbid falcom write a woman that happens to be a bitch and not marriage material fantasy for weebs just once. Kill these wolves. Sit through generic cringe dialogue where you can predict thousands of words of it before its on screen because characters are boring archetypes that never break the mold.

Yup the next 3-4 hours of gameplay are pure shit. The padding for trails games is worse then old jrpgs with high encounter rates at times.

I was wondering how true this garbage is, but as usual, there is no padding. Everything progresses EXACTLY as it did in Sky 1, Crossbell 1 and Cold Steel 1.
The game admits it's a reboot in the main menu so it makes perfect sense you need to start from nothing.
You fight small fry beasties. That's fine.
Wanna feel like a God? That happens in Reverie from the get-go since you literally clear a line through every single major archvillain in the series, but I didn't see your ass here singing Reverie's praises. That's cause you're just another disingenuous prick getting off on projectile vomiting negativity.

As for you having a problem with the series having sweet girls... just fucking kill yourself and take Angelica with you, she was written exactly for you.

I only completed 2 trails games its very easy to abandon them especially the sequel titles. I play a lot of jrpg including tons of indie shit doesn't mean I play the games all the way though. Fyi I don't even read my profile messages till the last letter cause im not looking to fuck anyone here.

Your bullshit ain't gonna fly here when you've already proven you're 40 hours in and grabbed the game before the fans even touched it, babe. Go play the nonchalant girlfriend on some other forum.
Keep bending over (you're the redhead).

 

[Rean]

I loathe to let negativity overtake me, but I did not like the portents lurking at the end of the quest Blacking Out Blackmail, because those come from Falcom rather than NISA. Those who know, know.
On a more positive note, I think Van's an awesome MC thus far.

 

[Jinn]

I loathe to let negativity overtake me, but I did not like the portents lurking at the end of the quest Blacking Out Blackmail, because those come from Falcom rather than NISA. Those who know, know.

Spoiler

There's gay people throughout the series. I don't think this was particularly ham-fisted in or whatever. Not a big deal.

 

[Elttharion]

I loathe to let negativity overtake me, but I did not like the portents lurking at the end of the quest Blacking Out Blackmail, because those come from Falcom rather than NISA. Those who know, know.
On a more positive note, I think Van's an awesome MC thus far.

You made me curious and I checked the quest. Is the plot basically a closeted faggot being blackmailed and the MC reaffirms him? If so that reminds me of western games a few years ago, now faggs are everywhere and the devs are pushing more and more stuff like that. I guess Japan is internally going down the same path, lolcowlizers are not required now.

 

[Rean]

lots of spoilers

There's gay people throughout the series. I don't think this was particularly ham-fisted in or whatever. Not a big deal.

They've definitely been around, of that there is no doubt. The most recent obvious one was the Reverie Bracer lobby guy in Crossbell (if I recall correctly?). Peppering the setting with camp and quirky characters here and there is fine, hilarious even at times when it's done for a shock or comedy factor; but I do have a problem when they take front and center focus. Having an entire quest focused around that is hinging on on-the-nose. The implications of it are entirely political, and entirely fourth wall breaking. It would be interesting if it was encountered 30 years ago, now it's just really really done for effect.

Is the plot basically a closeted faggot being blackmailed and the MC reaffirms him?

Yes.

I guess Japan is internally going down the same path, lolcowlizers are not required now.

I have relayed my thoughts on Japan being an eternal savior before (they're not). Japan makes beautiful and wondrous things, but they don't possess any sort of immunity.

This doesn't stop here. There are other issues, or rather signs of issues.
Delving into more meta matters, just an hour of gameplay later, Van was interrogated and grilled at the police station about his underage companion having a gun. Now, this might sound sensible to a third party reader who's never played the series, but the fact is that this a gigantic more-than-retcon. Underage characters have always had weapons in the setting. It has been part of it since the beginning. It is a FACT that has never been focused on, because it shouldn't.
Van's defense of the situation was lackluster (not that this should ever be in question in a game, ever).

My stance is the same as always; I try to err on the side of positivity, without ignoring obvious problems.
Looking for the expert input of fellow veterans Lyre Mors and Val the Moofia Boss and whoever other honest player has thoughts on this matter.

 

[HoboForEternity]

Damn falcom blew their tiny budget on that stripper scene in thalbad. Not complaining though

 

[Jinn]

Spoiler

Delving into more meta matters, just an hour of gameplay later, Van was interrogated and grilled at the police station about his underage companion having a gun. Now, this might sound sensible to a third party reader who's never played the series, but the fact is that this a gigantic more-than-retcon. Underage characters have always had weapons in the setting. It has been part of it since the beginning. It is a FACT that has never been focused on, because it shouldn't.
Van's defense of the situation was lackluster (not that this should ever be in question in a game, ever).

Spoiler

Calvard, and particularly the capital, is not like the settings, nations, nor time periods that have come before. Surely you've taken note of how quickly not only technology is advancing, but also the cultures most influenced by this technology. What has been made particularly apparent in the first few hours of the game is how much more integral the police force is to how this society operates compared our previous settings. Sure, we had SSS and CPD, but in a lot of ways even in Crossbell police officers didn't seem to hold quite as much sway. Bracers and military forces were often times the greatest enforcers of the rules of society in Liberl and Erebonia. Right off the bat here, it's made apparent how much more important the police are in this setting. Therefore, things like child soldiers wielding weapons are not only going to be more frowned upon in day to day life, but it's clear that Jaegers in general are perhaps even more taboo in this city than anywhere before. But beyond even that, often times if there was an underage person wielding weapons in past settings, they were either already identified as exceptional individuals who have earned the right to, OR students of a military academy.

In conclusion, go with the flow a bit more and let this new setting open up to you before you start getting hung up on things and seeing them as retcons. I don't think I'm even being particularly over-positive here or overlooking established rules in Zemuria - it just made intuitive sense that things are more different in this city than any other place we've been before. And remember how quickly society is changing all over the continent. We're seeing comparable societal and technological advances (or declines, if you will) that took 50 years in our world happening here over the course of 6. That is breakneck, whiplash-speed advancement, and something that has always been thematic to the series: how do humans adapt to this, and is it sustainable/healthy despite the good it can serve?

 

[Val the Moofia Boss]

lots of spoilers

There's gay people throughout the series. I don't think this was particularly ham-fisted in or whatever. Not a big deal.

They've definitely been around, of that there is no doubt. The most recent obvious one was the Reverie Bracer lobby guy in Crossbell (if I recall correctly?). Peppering the setting with camp and quirky characters here and there is fine, hilarious even at times when it's done for a shock or comedy factor; but I do have a problem when they take front and center focus. Having an entire quest focused around that is hinging on on-the-nose. The implications of it are entirely political, and entirely fourth wall breaking. It would be interesting if it was encountered 30 years ago, now it's just really really done for effect.

Is the plot basically a closeted faggot being blackmailed and the MC reaffirms him?

Yes.

I guess Japan is internally going down the same path, lolcowlizers are not required now.

I have relayed my thoughts on Japan being an eternal savior before (they're not). Japan makes beautiful and wondrous things, but they don't possess any sort of immunity.

This doesn't stop here. There are other issues, or rather signs of issues.
Delving into more meta matters, just an hour of gameplay later, Van was interrogated and grilled at the police station about his underage companion having a gun. Now, this might sound sensible to a third party reader who's never played the series, but the fact is that this a gigantic more-than-retcon. Underage characters have always had weapons in the setting. It has been part of it since the beginning. It is a FACT that has never been focused on, because it shouldn't.
Van's defense of the situation was lackluster (not that this should ever be in question in a game, ever).

My stance is the same as always; I try to err on the side of positivity, without ignoring obvious problems.
Looking for the expert input of fellow veterans Lyre Mors and Val the Moofia Boss and whoever other honest player has thoughts on this matter.

Spoiler

I covered the same problems when I reviewed Kuro 1 last year. No, there was no serious endorsement of homosexuality prior to Kuro, and yes it is ridiculous that now all of the sudden carrying a weapon around gets you detained when that was never the case for the prior 1,000 hours of games and no one batted an eye about Titan's orbal cannon.

The ultimate fact of the matter is that Falcom is a corporation made of an ever fluctuating roster of writers. We've seen time and time again with other serialized video game series like Suikoden, Warcraft, Mass Effect, Final Fantasy XI, XIV, Genshin Impact, etc, that it doesn't matter what original vision or outline there was, because the original writers leave and then new people take over who do not care about fulfilling the original outline/upholding the vision and start doing what they want to do, start doing their own thing. Kondo admitted as such in his recent Famitsu interview, citing that the original plan was to go from Liberl straight into the Erebonia arc, and that Crossbell both as an arc and as a modern urban city with a completely different aesthetic was not originally envisoned and was instead created by a new hire, and that there was very little thought given to Calvard as opposed to the Empire until Falcom finished the Erebonia arc and decided to make a Calvard arc. In both cases, some people at the company raised concerns about how incongruent Crossbell and Kuro's Calvard were with the original vision but those were handwaved away. They're making stuff up as they go along and don't care about maintaining the integrity of the setting. You have to accept that the devs don't care about the lore and you shouldn't either.

 

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Oh dear

Kai no Kiseki advertising

NTR confirmed in the upcoming Trails game, abandon all hope. Goodness gracious what were they thinking?

 

[Ysaye]

Oh dear

Kai no Kiseki advertising

NTR confirmed in the upcoming Trails game, abandon all hope. Goodness gracious what were they thinking?

Two things:

Spoiler

• I think one could argue that Towa was always never just Rean's girl - she seemed to enjoy the attention from Angelica a little bit too much, and she even switched game worlds to try and get with Kou in TX.
• The shot at the end with Rean and the actress Nina Fenly seems to point to where the real action is at.

 

[Yuber]

It's worse than any CS game.

how it's even possible?

The game was fun enough to finish and I will be getting Kuro 2, but I like the visuals and turn based combat and the character personalities are likeable (or at least, inoffensive), and I like some of the music, but I am not enthralled by the Kuro series like I was with Cold Steel.

I only kinda liked Cold Steel 1, had to force myself through Cold Steel 2 and I quit Cold Steel 3 after 10 hours.
Is this new game exactly the same gameplay and style or does it play different? I mean, endless dialogue, every character has to say one line in a scene, huge amount of exposition. Anime cliche around every corner?

 

[dutchwench]

It's worse than any CS game.

how it's even possible?

The game was fun enough to finish and I will be getting Kuro 2, but I like the visuals and turn based combat and the character personalities are likeable (or at least, inoffensive), and I like some of the music, but I am not enthralled by the Kuro series like I was with Cold Steel.

I only kinda liked Cold Steel 1, had to force myself through Cold Steel 2 and I quit Cold Steel 3 after 10 hours.
Is this new game exactly the same gameplay and style or does it play different? I mean, endless dialogue, every character has to say one line in a scene, huge amount of exposition. Anime cliche around every corner?

That's exactly it sans the gameplay part. One of the game's features that Falcom really paraded in all the pre-release material is the two battle systems thing: if you're just running around a dungeon, you can bust it down real-time style like it's a very bad hack and slash or swap to turn-based which is more similar to Cold Steel. All boss battles take place in forced turn-based.
I guess some people would argue the writing here is not bad enough to lead someone to drop the game 10 hours in but it's not really for people with Kiseki exhaustion.

 

[cruel]

Would other people - outside of Val the Moofia Boss - agree that Daybreak is the worst Trails game, or not? Debating the purchase to be honest, I didn't like Reverie that much, but really liked most of the older games.

 

[Jermu]

I enjoyed it more than any cs game or hajimari

better cast, more balanced combat (even when its still too easy on nightmare), more mature and does not have rean in it

real time combat is whatever its passable I skip pretty much all random encounters in trails game no need because of leveling system (unless mandatory like in sc nightmare)

I would say kuro 1 is my 5th favorite trails game (after sc, 3rd, zero and ao)
kuro 2 on the other hand...

 

[Jinn]

25 hours in and Daybreak is quickly crawling to the top of my Trails list, sharing a similar top tier with the likes of 3rd, Zero, (probably insert Daybreak here for now), Ao, CS II and CS IV for me.

 

[Rean]

The

Spoiler

park quest

hit me with a big wave of nostalgia for some reason. Feels very classic JRPG. Nice location.

Also, I'll respond to previous posts soon.

 

[Rean]

This was a very sad quest. Liked it.

Spoiler

 

[Rean]

 

[Yuber]

Do character models finally have an ass or is it still flat pancakes??

 

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Do character models finally have an ass or is it still flat pancakes??

They've had asses since CS3.

 

[Yuber]

Do character models finally have an ass or is it still flat pancakes??

They've had asses since CS3.

Looks flat as fuk to me. Only image I could find on google though.