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

[HoboForEternity]

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

 

[Lyre Mors]

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...

 

[Lyre Mors]

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.

 

[catfood]

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.

Looks like typical jap ass.

 

[Valestein]

Finally starting Trails in Reverie today. The only question is what's the next Trails game after that, whether Crossbell or Daybreak after.

 

[Lyre Mors]

You haven't played the Crossbell games yet? You gotta get on that. Daybreak is fantastic, but I'd definitely play those first. You should really be playing them before Reverie even.

 

[Valestein]

You haven't played the Crossbell games yet? You gotta get on that. Daybreak is fantastic, but I'd definitely play those first. You should really be playing them before Reverie even.

It's case of my being too cheap to have gotten them, even during sale(Reverie is the priciest game I've gotten in a while). I've played the original three Liberl games and CS1-4 thus far.

 

[Valestein]

I gotta say, Noel and her hotpants are really enticing me to play the Crossbell games.

 

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Finally starting Trails in Reverie today. The only question is what's the next Trails game after that, whether Crossbell or Daybreak after.

They're both mediocre story wise and the gameplay isn't very fun, but Kuro has higher fidelity visuals, and you get to visit twice as many locations as Crossbell, so Kuro would be my recommendation.

 

[Rean]

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

Assets good enough for me.

 

[Lyre Mors]

I'm around 60 hours into Daybreak. I don't want to attempt to formulate a comprehensive analysis or anything of the sort at this point. What I will say is this is what the Crossbell duology was to the Sky trilogy in a lot of ways. It captures a lot of what I found refreshing in the Crossbell duology when I departed the Sky games. Great fresh investment in the new setting, unusual profession for the main cast, crucial callbacks to the previous games that don't intrude - but are much appreciated, changes in the battle system, a protagonist who has their wits about them without being garishly optimistic at all times. It of course has the general structure of a Trails game, which honestly, I wish they'd throw a curveball at us at some point and just not do it this way. I get it though. To explore a setting, get to know its denizens, have event related changes in dialogue: this is Trails. Overall, as someone who primarily appreciates this series as a narrative created through world building and character development, I think this game is fantastic.

My major gripe with it is that while I love the new battle system, the game is overall easier than every previous game in the series even on Nightmare. This is a serious problem. Everything about the new system is very satisfying to engage with, from the new orbment system, to how battles actually play out. It's just far too easy overall, especially with prior knowledge of the systems of the series. It's not a deal breaker for me at all, and there have been at least a few very challenging fights on Nightmare. It's just that you'd think at this point, Falcom would have learned to put in a difficulty setting that is truly challenging, particularly to the veterans of the series. Really hope to see a positive change in this in Daybreak II.

Overall though, maybe my favorite game in the series since Zero. I loved my time in Erebonian, but it stretched way too thin. Liberl and Erebonian are my least favorite settings in the series (still love them very much), whereas Crossbell and Calvard are my favorite. They bring a uniqueness to the genre that just hasn't been explored much at all.

 

[Yuber]

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

Assets good enough for me.

Even I have a bigger ass than that, need some meat on her bones ffs