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

[Valestein]

Aside from the time issue oasis mentioned, my OCD compels me to strive for 100% completion.

 

[Somberlain]

Just finished Trails of Cold Steel and liked it very much. Trails in the Sky FC was good, SC was better and this was even better. I liked pretty much all the new gameplay changes and additions except the simplified quartz system with no more elemental values determining what spells you get. Sure, the master quartzes were cool but I don't see why the two systems couldn't have worked together.

The only thing I didn't like at all was the ending, which was like a huge middle finger to the player. Sure, the sequel will probably pick up right where CS1 ended and explain everything but this was still very unsatisfying and confusing. TiTS FC did this a lot better; it had both climax and closure, it explained how and why everything happened and after that it set up the premise for SC's plot and ended in a cliffhanger. CS feels like it has no closure at all (well, there was kind of a mini-closure just before the end but it only wrapped up some stuff), the game just pulls the plug in middle of the climax and leaves the player wondering what the hell just happened. This would work in a weekly TV-series but not in a 60 hour game where the sequel is still a year away

 

[Siveon]

Holy shit SC is fucking hard on well... Hard. The first boss hits like a truck and takes everything like we were tossing pillows. FC was already difficult by most JRPG standards but this? I can only imagine Nightmare being the biggest form of masochism.

 

[Celerity]

Nightmare is fuck you, I deal more damage than you can heal, 2 hit kill your characters and get 2 consecutive attacks if you're hasted, hope you have TAS and make me buff my defense 15 times in a row or you cannot mathematically win.

 

[Somberlain]

Also, this track is awesome.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

Finished the First Chapter.

The story, characters (with one exception), writing, atmosphere and music were all excellent.

The level of detail in the game was quite astonishing. I ran around speaking to everyone I could, doing every sidequest I could find, for at least the first two cities and I still ended up missing things. Towards the end of the game I didn't bother speaking to as many people - the main story got really, really interesting and I just wanted to press on with that. In the end it took me about 50 hours, I finished as Bracer Rank 1 but missed some unmarked quests and one of the towers.

I agree that the incestual romance was weird and at times really dragged the game down. What annoyed me the most was how the other characters really encouraged Estelle and Joshua on. People just wouldn't do that. Maybe incest is a normal thing in Liberl.

Spoiler

The one exception to the good characters was Agate, a stereotypical moody JRPG dickhead with a penchant for slapping upset little girls in the face, yet we're supposed to like him because he has a big sword and a 'cool' haircut.

 

[Siveon]

I gotta hear more opinions on SC's higher difficulties. I don't see any reason not to play on normal if I have to deal with the first two bosses giving me the middle finger.

And yeah, not too keen on the legal incest, but I'd chalk it up to being a Japan thing(?). Agate was also an asshole but he hardly appears at all so it's alright.

 

[Somberlain]

I gotta hear more opinions on SC's higher difficulties. I don't see any reason not to play on normal if I have to deal with the first two bosses giving me the middle finger.

I played it on normal but I'd guess that hard difficulty gets easier after a while when you have more characters and tools to work with. I was under the impression that higher difficulties just increase enemy stats by x percent so it would make sense that the beginning is particularly difficult.

 

[Celerity]

It seems like the higher difficulties are only balanced for NG+, except then you take 0 damage and OHKO everything anyways so what's the point? It's a classic story fuck does not understand mechanics, designs mechanics poorly game.

 

[TigerKnee]

The battle system is already pointlessly slow enough that I don't see what adding a stat multiplier on enemies would add to the game

 

[Siveon]

Personally I never found it slow, I've played slower, but I feel like the numbers are just off with this one. Hard was a lot more doable in FC. I'll start with normal again, I'm sure I'll still find all the materia-crap still fun.

 

[SCO]

The most fun in that game is combat being actually dangerous. Stay on hard and when you manage to end the tutorial you'll get nice sense of satisfaction until the retardo characterization happens. hint: you need recipes and you need to avoid combat for the key treasures and you need to retreat to rest. Most jrpgs have pathetic combat difficulty and when one is hard people immediately complain, ofc.

 

[Siveon]

There is such a thing as good difficulty and bullshit difficulty though. You can have some kind of in-between. FC was more doable due to the lack of bosses in the beginning as well as being more open. I do see what you're getting at, but at the same time, they could've handled it a bit better than just plain 'ol stat boosting. That's such an artificial way of increasing difficulty (as if we all didn't already know that).

Ah well, I'll try the boss again, see how that goes. I hate re-doing stuff.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

Playing Second Chapter now. Trails of Cold Steel looks interesting (if a little ugly), I hope it comes to PC. My PS3 is in the attic and has been replaced by a PS4.

 

[Valestein]

I must say that my biggest gripe with these LOH games is the lack of being able to skip cutscenes(can only speed through text). It's pretty annoying in this NG+ of Cold Steel that I'm doing now..

 

[Deleted member 7219]

Also, this track is awesome.

From the last fight of First Chapter, right? I think the only thing that kept me going through that fight was the music.

Edit: Never mind, noticed it is from Cold Steel, which I haven't played yet.

 

[Somberlain]

Cold Steel has better music than Trails in the Sky games but those too have some pretty awesome tracks.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

Cold Steel has better music than Trails in the Sky games but those too have some pretty awesome tracks.

That's the one.

 

[Valestein]

My fave track is the arranged version of "Dining Bar F", which sounds like the kind of tune you want to bang a girl to the sound of.

 

[Somberlain]

My fave track is the arranged version of "Dining Bar F", which sounds like the kind of tune you want to bang a girl to the sound of.

Now that you mention it, kinda sounds like some cheesy porn music

The bestestest track for me is this. It has a few notes of diminished scale arpeggios so it earns an automatic Yngwie Malmsteen seal of approval.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

I'm ten hours into Second Chapter now.

The story and pacing for the prologue and chapter 1 are much improved over FC. It literally begins where FC left off, and there isn't the need to set up the gameworld again. The game assumes you played FC, which is gratifying.

I am enjoying revisiting old places and catching up with familiar characters, though. And they really do a good job making the main quests feel different from each other. There's some really good missable side quests this time around, too.

Overall, it is much more like a western RPG in temperament. There's barely any cutesy factor or weirdness, except for how everyone wants to watch Estelle and Joshua fuck.

I'm watching some YouTube videos of Cold Steel. Did the Crossbell Arc ever make it to PC in Japan? Would be nice to play those after they release the Third Chapter, maybe by then they'll also have made all the Cold Steel games.

 

[Valestein]

I'm ten hours into Second Chapter now.

The story and pacing for the prologue and chapter 1 are much improved over FC. It literally begins where FC left off, and there isn't the need to set up the gameworld again. The game assumes you played FC, which is gratifying.

I am enjoying revisiting old places and catching up with familiar characters, though. And they really do a good job making the main quests feel different from each other. There's some really good missable side quests this time around, too.

Overall, it is much more like a western RPG in temperament. There's barely any cutesy factor or weirdness, except for how everyone wants to watch Estelle and Joshua fuck.

I'm watching some YouTube videos of Cold Steel. Did the Crossbell Arc ever make it to PC in Japan? Would be nice to play those after they release the Third Chapter, maybe by then they'll also have made all the Cold Steel games.

If I remember right, the first one made it to PC in Japan and the second was only Chinese ported to PC.

Back on the subject of music, my fave dungeon theme in Cold Steel is the one for the Castle in Legram(Laura's hometown)

 

[Deleted member 7219]

I'm ten hours into Second Chapter now.

The story and pacing for the prologue and chapter 1 are much improved over FC. It literally begins where FC left off, and there isn't the need to set up the gameworld again. The game assumes you played FC, which is gratifying.

I am enjoying revisiting old places and catching up with familiar characters, though. And they really do a good job making the main quests feel different from each other. There's some really good missable side quests this time around, too.

Overall, it is much more like a western RPG in temperament. There's barely any cutesy factor or weirdness, except for how everyone wants to watch Estelle and Joshua fuck.

I'm watching some YouTube videos of Cold Steel. Did the Crossbell Arc ever make it to PC in Japan? Would be nice to play those after they release the Third Chapter, maybe by then they'll also have made all the Cold Steel games.

If I remember right, the first one made it to PC in Japan and the second was only Chinese ported to PC.

Back on the subject of music, my fave dungeon theme in Cold Steel is the one for the Castle in Legram(Laura's hometown)

Chances are good, then. XSEED said they are happy to translate more, I guess it just depends on whether Falcom are ready to support it on their side. Sales of FC and SC were good enough to merit TC, maybe they'll wait to see how that one sells before making a decision for Crossbell.

I'm only just getting into this franchise and I already want to play them all. I've always wanted to play a mixture of west and east in an RPG.

 

[Valestein]

Chances are good, then. XSEED said they are happy to translate more, I guess it just depends on whether Falcom are ready to support it on their side. Sales of FC and SC were good enough to merit TC, maybe they'll wait to see how that one sells before making a decision for Crossbell.

I'm only just getting into this franchise and I already want to play them all. I've always wanted to play a mixture of west and east in an RPG.

There's going to be a Cold Steel 3, and given that we're getting the second game, it's likely we'll be getting that one as well.

 

[HoboForEternity]

cold steel music is good, but i kinda miss the jazzy, oh-so-chill battle theme from trails in the sky