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

[SerratedBiz]

So for a newcomer to the Tales series without 180 hours to pour into a single game... Is CS1 a good place to start?

 

[Kaivokz]

So for a newcomer to the Tales series without 180 hours to pour into a single game... Is CS1 a good place to start?

If you don’t want to invest 100-200 hours, I wouldn’t start any of the modern trails games. Maybe ao and zero, but I don’t know much about those. Tales games, on the other hand, are not as long.

 

[Garbage]

It's a big deal in 3 but won't be explained until 4.

Which is fine because it (CS3) is supposedly a really good game with a large but detailed world, better, smaller party balance, lots of reveals and character (re)-introductions etc....just with supposedly it has a CS1 style ending on steroids. Most of the Kiseki crack sleuths guessed what the deal with Rean was before four came out anyway.

Let's face it; there is always going to be unresolved stuff at the end of a Kiseki game!- there is a high likelihood we will still be wondering who Anton and Ricky REALLY are even after the Calvard series finishes.

To a degree it is not what it is but how it is delivered that's important.

Mysteries that are pretty central and unusual to a character revealed in the first game, I expect them to be somewhat explained in the second. The series is happy with showering Rean with weird ogre abilities but you won't find out what on earth it is for three and a bit games.
I honestly don't enjoy being blue balled so much.

 

[Jinn]

So for a newcomer to the Tales series without 180 hours to pour into a single game... Is CS1 a good place to start?

If you don’t want to invest 100-200 hours, I wouldn’t start any of the modern trails games. Maybe ao and zero, but I don’t know much about those. Tales games, on the other hand, are not as long.

One of the reasons you're going to be playing the Trails series in general is for the overarching world building and character development. This is a series with these two things specifically kept in mind and intricately developed over the course of 9 games (so far). That being said, all the Trails in the Sky games are under 100 hours. I ended up finishing both FC and SC at around 80 hours each. What I'm getting at is that if you want the full effect of the series, you'd better be ready to put a lot of hours into it. From what I know, a lot of the excellent moments in the CS series will be completely lost on you without the prior connection to the world and characters from previous games.

 

[Urthor]

i am holding out for geofront, not only for translation quality, but QoL life like hi res UI, proper resolution scaling for PC version and turbo mode.

I talked to the Geofront people in discord, apparently it's on schedule for this year so yeah patient gamers especially since they are patching shit.

So for a newcomer to the Tales series without 180 hours to pour into a single game... Is CS1 a good place to start?

This is trails not tails get out

I wouldn't say they are 180 hour games but they are definitely full sized games, 60+. Trails in the Sky is the start, you do not skip Trails in the Sky 1 & 2, and it's definitely not small but gargantuan.

 

[Endemic]

Crow's dialogue makes for good photoshop material:

 

[Starwars]

So I have Trails in the Sky in my library and a while ago I decided to try it very briefly. People seem to be praising it a lot all over. But I was really put off by how... well, ANIME the relationships seemed to be between the main character, the chick and the father. Yes, ohohoh, the girl is very uncute my word yes. She gets so angry at everything, ahahaha, what a tomboy.

I only tried it for a few hours but the opening was so stereotypically japanese and anime that I just couldn't deal. Does the game break away from this? Obviously I understand that there's a huge following so there's something going on in these games that are interesting but do I have to suffer these kinds of interactions and characters throughout the whole thing or does it go into other interesting areas instead?
I didn't realize how allergic I'd become to that kind of stuff.

 

[Max Damage]

My last save is in Act 2 (Ruan), it doesn't break away from the format so far. The game is ok but pretty glacial in its pacing. If you're looking for any development anytime soon, it's not going to happen. I kinda dropped the game at this point because your party is back to 2 characters again, and progress has slowed to halt. I didn't mind the repetitive format in Prologue and Act 1 much, but by this point I expect the pace to speed up, and it does the exact opposite. Last thing I remember is I came to bracer's guild and they tell you to go sightseeing around the town while the guy I need to talk to comes back. And this after a long time of fuck all happening. I pretty much ran across the whole city and then closed the game because I'm still told to go sightseeing, and by this point my interest is at 0 because gameplay isn't that good, and the ok writing can't salvage story that takes eternity to unfold.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

My last save is in Act 2 (Ruan), it doesn't break away from the format so far. The game is ok but pretty glacial in its pacing. If you're looking for any development anytime soon, it's not going to happen. I kinda dropped the game at this point because your party is back to 2 characters again, and progress has slowed to halt. I didn't mind the repetitive format in Prologue and Act 1 much, but by this point I expect the pace to speed up, and it does the exact opposite. Last thing I remember is I came to bracer's guild and they tell you to go sightseeing around the town while the guy I need to talk to comes back. And this after a long time of fuck all happening. I pretty much ran across the whole city and then closed the game because I'm still told to go sightseeing, and by this point my interest is at 0 because gameplay isn't that good, and the ok writing can't salvage story that takes eternity to unfold.

Ruan is one of the most interesting acts of TITS 1...

 

[Swigen]

Trails in the Sky really blows until the very end. The payoff is you end up with really well developed characters that have much more compelling stuff happen to them throughout the series. It’s like reading a Stephen King novel in that most of the book is character development and the horror doesn’t come ‘til much later but when it does you know so much about the characters that you actually give a fuck what happens to them.

 

[Endemic]

I see Sean Chiplock had some fun "editing" one of the CS2 bonding events: https://a.tumblr.com/tumblr_p9qatgUiJT1ud6jr7o1.mp3

 

[Somberlain]

Once you've played through the whole saga you realize that the whole waifu harem is just a smokescreen and Cold Steel is actually about

Spoiler

the bromance between Rean and Crow

 

[mushaden]

My last save is in Act 2 (Ruan), it doesn't break away from the format so far. The game is ok but pretty glacial in its pacing. If you're looking for any development anytime soon, it's not going to happen. I kinda dropped the game at this point because your party is back to 2 characters again, and progress has slowed to halt. I didn't mind the repetitive format in Prologue and Act 1 much, but by this point I expect the pace to speed up, and it does the exact opposite. Last thing I remember is I came to bracer's guild and they tell you to go sightseeing around the town while the guy I need to talk to comes back. And this after a long time of fuck all happening. I pretty much ran across the whole city and then closed the game because I'm still told to go sightseeing, and by this point my interest is at 0 because gameplay isn't that good, and the ok writing can't salvage story that takes eternity to unfold.

Ruan is one of the most interesting acts of TITS 1...

Ruan is one of the most interesting acts in TITS 1. But it also heavily involves acting in a school play, so, Max Damage, you can take from that what you will. I will say that you're right, the 4-5 times the game does make you "click on everything for a while, then come back and you can advance," it is really annoying. But if you got to Ruan maybe you should bear with it.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

My last save is in Act 2 (Ruan), it doesn't break away from the format so far. The game is ok but pretty glacial in its pacing. If you're looking for any development anytime soon, it's not going to happen. I kinda dropped the game at this point because your party is back to 2 characters again, and progress has slowed to halt. I didn't mind the repetitive format in Prologue and Act 1 much, but by this point I expect the pace to speed up, and it does the exact opposite. Last thing I remember is I came to bracer's guild and they tell you to go sightseeing around the town while the guy I need to talk to comes back. And this after a long time of fuck all happening. I pretty much ran across the whole city and then closed the game because I'm still told to go sightseeing, and by this point my interest is at 0 because gameplay isn't that good, and the ok writing can't salvage story that takes eternity to unfold.

Ruan is one of the most interesting acts of TITS 1...

Ruan is one of the most interesting acts in TITS 1. But it also heavily involves acting in a school play, so, Max Damage, you can take from that what you will. I will say that you're right, the 4-5 times the game does make you "click on everything for a while, then come back and you can advance," it is really annoying. But if you got to Ruan maybe you should bear with it.

The scenes with the mayor are pretty damn great. I think it was at that point I was really sold on Trails, and everything afterwards was a slope of incline for me.

 

[Max Damage]

I'll keep that in mind, thanks. I've already moved on to playing Mana Khemia, will give my TitS save another try after I'm done with it.

 

[Kaivokz]

Decided to fight the cryptid Volyglyph on nightmare when I first encountered him (my party was at level 75). Whew, he was pretty tough. Managed to beat him on the fifth attempt. Enjoyable difficulty, though I imagine as I unlock more stuff the game will be easier to break.

 

[Endemic]

https://gematsu.com/2019/06/trails-...title-start-special-broadcast-set-for-june-29

15th anniversary Trails retrospective and information on the next game coming up in a few days.

 

[Endemic]

New map:

Seems there'll be two more arcs for the Trails series, one in Calvard and one in Leman. An interim title following on from Cold Steel 4 will likely come before the latter arc.

 

[Valestein]

Nice to see a map showing North Ambria. I think we get to visit it in CS3 or 4?

 

[Ysaye]

Nice to see a map showing North Ambria. I think we get to visit it in CS3 or 4?

Don't think so - maybe it will be the location for an intermission game with Sara as the protagonist? Or maybe not....

 

[Valestein]

Nice to see a map showing North Ambria. I think we get to visit it in CS3 or 4?

Don't think so - maybe it will be the location for an intermission game with Sara as the protagonist? Or maybe not....

That would be a dream come true.

 

[Kaivokz]

Why is Rean such a pussy? Just have a beer with Sara FFS you’re involved in a war and could die before you turn 20.

 

[Somberlain]

Nice to see a map showing North Ambria. I think we get to visit it in CS3 or 4?

Don't think so - maybe it will be the location for an intermission game with Sara as the protagonist? Or maybe not....

That would be a dream come true.

Spoiler

You don't visit North Ambria in CS3 or CS4. It's involved in some important background story, however.

 

[CyberModuled]

Why is Rean such a pussy? Just have a beer with Sara FFS you’re involved in a war and could die before you turn 20.

Borderline harem character directive demands that the protagonist be a wimp when it comes to interaction with female characters in any way.

 

[Ysaye]

Why is Rean such a pussy? Just have a beer with Sara FFS you’re involved in a war and could die before you turn 20.

Cold Steel 3 fixes Rean in this regard and a few others.