make sure to do the rounds every time you advance the story even minutely. don't leave a single word unread so you can boost that playtime to 100+ hours for each game
If you don't like the characters in FC, you probably won't like SC either, so just drop then and there. Stop at the 3rd game and pretend the rest of the series doesn't exist.
Trails FC is a relatively low stakes game that is primarily for world and character building. It only really ramps up in the last chapter or two. It ends really well, and them taking the time to develop everything really works to the series advantage going forward. The characters are enjoyable
Trails SC picks up right where it left off and is hits the ground running. The only downside is that most of this game is just a rehash of locations from the original but it's not that bad and is a better game all around.
Trails the 3rd kind of sucks, but just play this one on the easiest difficulty and melee your way through the entire game for the story. It's mostly fanservice and it's also the shortest game at like 20 hours. But the ending sets up some interesting stuff, and there's a few decent side stories in there as well that fleshes out the supporting cast further.
The story was bad.
It was yet another game where they just reused environments from the first game.
It's way more fanservicey to a silly degree.
Most of the sidestories behind the doors are absolute dogshit (The school one in particular, holy shit).
Overall, you can basically skip this one aside from the end of the game.
>multiple people are calling me moronic, it must a samegay!!!
Dumbass. You aren't discussing anything by just spouting garbage buzzwords like "kino" and "filtered"
We're not discussing anything *with you*, because talking to plebs is like talking to a brick wall. Stick to Xenoslop and Dark Souls 85, this series is clearly not for you.
2 years ago
Anonymous
>still falling back on the "filtered" meme
Please I'd love to see you actually talk about this video game that you've supposedly have played. Please go into why you like it, I'd love to actually see you discuss video games.
>multiple people are calling me moronic, it must a samegay!!!
Dumbass. You aren't discussing anything by just spouting garbage buzzwords like "kino" and "filtered"
it was ok
but the whole premise being set in a different dimension
was kinda "cheap"
wanted more prober Heretic Hunting with Kevin
maybe we will get another game with him
>being set in a different dimension was kinda cheap
It was a prison manifested from Kevin's traumas created to torment him, in case the Gehenna section didn't completely give it away. The others kinda just got dragged along.
A charming and heartfelt story set in a very detailed world. Decent combat and music. Tons of content. Nothing mind-blowing, just a very good all-rounder JRPG with no glaring flaws.
This is one of the absolute worst JRPG series in existence. People claim it has extreme world building and lore, but then notice the bikini DLC and Rean.
trails in the sky wraps up in second chapter. third chapter is an epilogue/prologue for the next arc
i spent a large portion of my playthrough of second chapter wondering how the story was going to raise the stakes further and if i would have to travel around liberal again for a third time
This 10000%, download the JP Voice packs immediately from the EVO Mod. They're super easy to install and they add so much to the game. The entire game is voiceacted, but in the ENG version they only have voices during combat.
You can skip the other Evo mods, like the updated portraits (They look way better, but there's significantly less expressions so the OG Portraits end up being better.) and the updated soundtrack are not needed. Just the voice pack.
This 10000%, download the JP Voice packs immediately from the EVO Mod. They're super easy to install and they add so much to the game. The entire game is voiceacted, but in the ENG version they only have voices during combat.
You can skip the other Evo mods, like the updated portraits (They look way better, but there's significantly less expressions so the OG Portraits end up being better.) and the updated soundtrack are not needed. Just the voice pack.
I didn't pirate it but I actually did this already through an auto-voice patch installer I found
This 10000%, download the JP Voice packs immediately from the EVO Mod. They're super easy to install and they add so much to the game. The entire game is voiceacted, but in the ENG version they only have voices during combat.
You can skip the other Evo mods, like the updated portraits (They look way better, but there's significantly less expressions so the OG Portraits end up being better.) and the updated soundtrack are not needed. Just the voice pack.
Frick I'm 30 hours in and didn't know this existed.
Can I transfer my save file to the modded version of the game?
Check your notebook, it shows what combinations unlocks what kind of magic, they all have to be in the same line for it to count though, characters with lots of lines on their orbment can get more slots for cheaper but won't get access to the higher tier of magics due to the lines being shorter, compared to a character that only has a single or two lines which becomes more and more expensive to unlock, but they'll have more SP and access to powerful magic
Read the instructions in your manual. There's a chart that tells you how many/what orbament types are needed to unlock the different spells. But don't worry about it too much, the game doesnt punish you for not being efficient. You can pretty much just try slotting in different things and your spell list will auto-update with what is added and taken away so you can judge for yourself if you want to do it or not.
Prepare to use a guide for your entire playthrough which really makes these games a lot less enjoyable, but it's a necessity due to the nature of how they're structured. If you don't use a guide, you'll miss about 50% of the story content.
The game expects you to talk to literally everyone and make sure to follow literally every plot thread. While not impossible to do blind I really doubt you are going to remember in chapter 5 that you need to go back to the town in chapter 3 to talk to a guy in the casino that you talked to his sister in the inn in town 5 and that she made him lunch.
Yes there are arbitrary missable quests where you have to randomly go back to previous towns without any indication within game being given to do so. Without playing a guide you will miss a majority of the game.
>you will miss a majority of the game.
for what game though? in FC you get locked out of returning to an old region the second you enter the next. i dont know if i can return towards the end of the game but i would hope so. one last push to tie up loose ends basically
>in FC you get locked out of returning to an old region
Get used to that way. These games never open up like you're expecting. Once stuff is locked out, it's locked out for good as the general story in all these games is very linear.
>Without playing a guide you will miss a majority of the game.
Do you know what the word majority means? If so, do still want to claim you miss a majority of the game but not doing the like 5 missable sidequests in a 60 hour game?
>people always go on about how great these games are, especially the world building >actually nvm you should just skip all the side stuff that fleshes out the world
...?
There is a difference between "by not doing a couple hidden sidequests and speaking with optional NPCs, you miss out on a MAJORITY of the world building and story in the game"
and "You can play through the game and understand 95% of the story by just playing through it without a guide." The worldbuilding and character development of the main characters and (main) supporting cast are done well enough that missing a substory of a fricking baker isn't going to make or break things.
2 years ago
Anonymous
>isn't going to make or break things.
It kind of does when the whole purpose of the series is reoccurring characters that you find in subsequent games. That's why everyone always suggests "oh just import a 100% save" for exactly the reason because you end up missing EVEN more content.
2 years ago
Anonymous
Give me an example of a reoccurring minor npc having any significance to the plot or overall narrative of any of the cast.
1 year ago
Anonymous
Nielsen. And Anton technically matters for Sharon.
Eh, I don't think that's accurate. You miss out on some hidden sidequests, but outside of your bracer rank it really doesn't have that huge of an impact aside from missing out on some side story bits that are essentially not important. You can always just download a 100% save file to transfer into the next game as well.
You absolutely don't have to go around talking to all the NPCs in a town after every single event either. It might flesh things out for you further, but in an already long game, and you get 95% of the story by just playing. Who gives a shit if you don't know who Sally is in some village that you'll meet a second time for half a second in the next game?
im 35 hours and ive entered zeiss now. at the part with the gasoline and engine to be exact. i wasnt very thorough before but i started talking to everyone after every event at some point along the previous chapter.
how long do you recon i have left in FC? i wouldve guessed something like 40 hours but i dont think the game will wrap up in the next five hours. 60 seems to long, that implies im merely at the halfway point and im at the second to last region.
does 50 hours sound good? i dont know
There's still a ways to go. Don't be in such a hurry; the final chapters is when it really gets interesting. Besides Estelle enthusiastically shoving her sandwich into Joshua's mouth.
If you get to Zero and Azure, just use a guide. Its moronic how many missable events there are. Also until Cold Steel 3, talk to every npc several times and do it again after every new story segment.
>Why did saving Joshua only take one scene and a single ship escape?
Because Joshua's about as edgy as a spoon. You're a fricking moron. This is one of the many reasons Trails fans are nothing but degenerate filth who need to be fricking purged. Go frick yourself, you illiterate sack of shit.
speedreader.
Did you miss the whole thing where he's in love with her and the reason he left was so she didn't get in involved with the oroboros situation.
I'm very close to finishing CS3 and I got to the infamous part from the webm where they are fighting outside the final dungeon
It was way worse than in the webms, the cringe was unbearable. At least the theme is a bop https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8T8YX98dvyc
>but what's wrong with that part?
The animations are horrible, there's this big confrontation between Ouroboros & co and Rean's friends and the academy but everyone's using their default attack animations on repeat in the background or just static shooting the guns. It looks like something someone would make in blender for a shitpost.
Damn, guess they ran out of cash or patience and said frick it, also stupid question but can i start from cold steel or i need to play sky first yes or yes?
You can probably start with Cold Steel but I think Sky and the Crossbell games are just outright better so I'd suggest starting with those. I actually think I would have dropped the series if I started with CS1 because I hated the repetitive structure of School shit -> Old schoolhouse -> Class trip -> Repeat.
Got it, will do as you both said, thanks anons
2 years ago
Anonymous
I started with Cold Steel 1 and 2 and then went back to Trail in the Sky and the Crossbell games and had just as much fun so you're alright, the first two cold steel games work almost entirely standalone but 3 and especially 4 tie all the games together.
2 years ago
Anonymous
Well you started with cold i started with kuro no kiseki, so i fricked up way more
You can probably start with Cold Steel but I think Sky and the Crossbell games are just outright better so I'd suggest starting with those. I actually think I would have dropped the series if I started with CS1 because I hated the repetitive structure of School shit -> Old schoolhouse -> Class trip -> Repeat.
>School shit -> Old schoolhouse -> Class trip -> Repeat.
My body was tempered by Persona 3. I was molded by it.
2 years ago
Anonymous
I like the Persona games too but there's just something about CS1 where it didn't do it for me. It might be the fact that the Persona games give you the option of doing things at your own pace. If you get tired of dungeon crawling then you can just leave and go have some fun with the social sim stuff and vice versa.
With the advent of HD2D, I really wish the games kept improving on the art style of Trails in the Sky instead of moving to full 3D with stuff like Cold Steel.
These games still look pretty good while going back to earlier Cold Steel games is rough to say the least.
And I know a lot of people don't like HD2D due to excessive bloom and other FX stuff and I get that. I just love the isometric style in this and wish they kept it around.
>favour of thos shitty 3D models
It doesn't help the fact that the animations were better using the play dough models somehow. Animations in Cold Steel are just bad.
Kuro 1 and 2 are Falcom's best-looking games in decades, and even CS3/4/Hajimari looked pretty good (aside from some janky animations at times).
Sky and Crossbell legitimately look worse than the Gagharv games.
Yeah...there are a lot of moments like this in the CS franchise that are supposed to be pretty heavy and it almost comes across as a parody because the quality of their animations are so stiff.
Honestly, they could have done so much worse. Just look at Pokemon, which went 3D at the same time with infinitely more resources at their disposal. It's impressive how quickly Falcom progressed from CS1+2 graphics to Kuro graphics.
The funny thing is that the localizers at NISA absolutely hate e-girlgays for obvious reasons but they have to market the games that way anyway because e-girlgays pay their bills. They did a queen of Crossbell poll for Zero's release and included Kea in it. She won of course.
FF are mostly separate entries. CT is one game. Trails series is connected and it's all fricking dogshit. I tell people to do literally anything else instead of starting this crap.
I played through Cold Steel 1 and then Trails in the Sky FC and I have to say I'm just way more interested in Estelle than Rean. I like where CS is going but I enjoyed the whole "cute little bracer adventure" a lot more. So will probably continue with SC.
These games really feel like if you don't like the characters then it's hard to continue on. The combat is okay but I'm struggle with the idea that I'll have about 300+ more hours of all of this.
Once you play FC, SC and 3rd you can never go back to Cold Steel, they're so much more compelling less bloated, actual stakes and much, much better written that I sometimes feel like I'm playing a parody of the series with Cold Steel.
Point in that post where I was being ironic, moron.
Well i just used the wikia and probably spoiled myself on a few things. Here's hoping I forget about the Hexen clan and the return of Ouroboros by the time I play cold steel. SIGH.
Both of those, especially the Hexen clan reveal are pretty meh and Ouroboros' return is extremely evident by the first Cold Steel game, there are much worse spoilers so don't worry.
>"Point in that post where I was being ironic, moron"
Its all good man, didn't really think that you were. Just wanted to be clear for others where I stood on FC/SC being considerably better than CS.
Who are you fooling? We already played five whole games of Rean and Crow's homosexual love affair.
1 year ago
Anonymous
You never had friends lad?
1 year ago
Anonymous
There's friendship, and then there's Brokeback Mountain "friendship." Rean is 100% homo.
1 year ago
Anonymous
Rean is mentally ill.
1 year ago
Anonymous
>what you did was unforgivable >but instead of killing yourself you can repay your debt to society by helping us make things better >we need to save Crow >so he can go back to school and graduate
Rean's ideas for how to atone are just extremely and hilariously naive.
1 year ago
Anonymous
The worst thing is that Rean doesn't have anyone around to snap him out of his wienerlust by asking the most basic questions: >Crow just betrayed us all and tried to kill us. How can you still trust him? >What makes you think Thors would allow him anywhere near their campus again? >Why would he even want to go back?
Nope, just a total echo chamber of a game from start to finish where Rean chases after his boyfriend while his moronic classmates say "RIGHT! Yeah! That's our Rean!" Ash and Musse showed up one game too late.
1 year ago
Anonymous
Now post those in Japanese
1 year ago
Anonymous
Had to use DeepL, but...
>決して許される物じゃない。 >What you have done will never be forgiven.
>待っていろ、クロウ。 >Hold on, Crow. >トワ会長たちのためにも、お前の立っている場所に 必ず辿りついてみせる。 >For the sake of Chairman Towa and the others, I will get to where you are standing. >Ⅶ組とヴァリマール…… 士官学院生のみんなと力を合わせて。 >Group VII and Valimar: ...... Join forces with all the cadets. >そして、俺が手に入れた 全ての“力”を尽くして……! >And I got it. With all my "might" ......!
1 year ago
Anonymous
Whether this is true or not it does sound better than Xseed's magical translations
1 year ago
Anonymous
>Whether this is true or not
There's an entire website with all the Japanese and English scripts pre-Kuro. You can see for yourself: https://trailsinthedatabase.com/ >it does sound better than Xseed's magical translations
It's the same shit. Same hypocrisy, same gayness from Rean. There's a reason Rean/Crow are the number one ship among Japanese fans and it's not because of XSEED.
1 year ago
Anonymous
>There's a reason Rean/Crow are the number one ship among Japanese fans
It's foolish to underestimate the power of fujo's
1 year ago
Anonymous
there's literally a character mocking them in Cold Steel
>i honestly miss how good of an MC Rean
lmao
mad that you can't self insert you mean
How can someone self-insert when the character already has a personality and voice? It's not Dragon Quest MC
Van is LITERALLY the best thing to happen with Trails in a decade
Even the fact he's technically McBurn tiers of special snowflake doesn't ruin him
Van is LITERALLY the best thing to happen with Trails
How? he is like a generic NPC. >no strong personality traits >no unique fighting style >too passive and friendly with strangers >no goals >claims to protect his clients yet gets saved by them(wtf)
What's so good about him?
>has a harem >has a blond tsundere that falls on top of him and says KYAAA ecchi baka on his first day of school >has a Katana and is trained by the most skilled swordsman in the world >is the secret son of the evil mastermind >has a mode where he can either be your angle or yuor devil >doesn't want to kill his enemies >has a gay romance with a guy that betrayed him for fujobait >holds back because he can obliterate you if he does it for real >has a mecha and was especifically chosen by it to pilot it and it's one of the strongest ones >participated in a war but never killed anyone >has a little sister complex >his little sister and her friends wanna frick him >he's a charisma vacuum whose only moments of personality are a running gag where he wants to kill the ones who get close to his sister >is probably the nicest guy you'll ever meet and despite being in a position of power in the army he'll still take time to look for your lost kitty and thank you for it
I honestly can't think of a more boring, wet cardboard piece of shit protagonist in a JRPG honestly.
2 years ago
Anonymous
He is like a perfectly crafted market researched anime protag where they had a bingo card of all the shonen MC tropes and they wanted to fill out the entire fricking thing
1 year ago
Anonymous
I could understand that if Falcom was at least somewhat self aware of this
But nobody calls him out on this except for maybe Ash, and the games play it 100% straight like if it was endearing or interesting.
1 year ago
Anonymous
The more i think about this the more i find it funny that Xenoblade 3's Noah is Takahashi taking Rean and fixing all the self insert bullshit despite still leaving him a wuxia protagonist.
1 year ago
Anonymous
Everything I've heard about Noah sounds no different than Rean, besides only clogging up one game instead of five. They even ripped off the Ishmelga-Rean twist from Hajimari.
Xenoslop is and has always been the inferior store-brand version of Kiseki.
1 year ago
Anonymous
Everything I've heard about Noah sounds no different than Rean, besides only clogging up one game instead of five. They even ripped off the Ishmelga-Rean twist from Hajimari.
Xenoslop is and has always been the inferior store-brand version of Kiseki.
The best fix that is possible was done and that was removing the harem. It does nothing but make shitty MCs even worse because it completely takes you out of any sense of immersion when for some unknown reason literally every single character falls in love with the MC.
At least with Noah he's paired with Mio and that's it. They learned from the god awful bullshit that was Xenoblade 2 and Rex.
1 year ago
Anonymous
>The best fix that is possible was done and that was removing the harem.
The harem doesn't even matter in Cold Steel. It's just side content. Rean only wants Crow.
I actually had fun with the CS gameplay in the sense of finding ways to break it as much as possible. Since they keep building on it for over 5 whole games you end up having a lot of options and they don't do a very good job of balancing them. They definitely nerf the broken stuff from the previous games and you still find new ways to break it.
>want to play the newer entries because they seemingly don't look like complete dog shit >have to go through hundreds of hours of PS2 tier JRPGs
What a dilemma...
Who fricking cares about that ? Why would anyone need to complete games to 100%. Genuine autism.
If you love the game, you can always replay it to do the missing content with a guide. But a first playthrough HAS to be blind, else what even is the point.
Well i just used the wikia and probably spoiled myself on a few things. Here's hoping I forget about the Hexen clan and the return of Ouroboros by the time I play cold steel. SIGH.
He was coerced into unlocking the first lock on the Aureole, but his fear of another Erebonian invasion was his alone. Did you not fricking pay attention to the subsequent games?
Wow holy shit relax imbecile, if he was so right then why did he retire and never wanted anything to do with the Liberlian army again? Sure he was right that Erebonia was going to invade but his methods to rise to power were bad, he staged a coup and even he himself regrets it.
Wow holy shit relax imbecile, if he was so right then why did he retire and never wanted anything to do with the Liberlian army again? Sure he was right that Erebonia was going to invade but his methods to rise to power were bad, he staged a coup and even he himself regrets it.
stop getting worked up about a silly catchphrase and lurk moar
Wow holy shit relax imbecile, if he was so right then why did he retire and never wanted anything to do with the Liberlian army again? Sure he was right that Erebonia was going to invade but his methods to rise to power were bad, he staged a coup and even he himself regrets it.
>Sure he was right that Erebonia was going to invade but
I started Trails of Cold Steel and the movement is legit fricking garbage but I can't find anyone mentioning it anywhere
is it meant to feel so clunky or am I fricking something up?
The KBM controls in CS1 are broken. The game thinks you're going to deadzone every time you change directions so the character stops moving for a split second. You'll have to use a gamepad or deal with it. It was fixed in the sequels.
well frick me I guess I I just have to deal with it
good to know it's fixed in the next game
The KBM controls in CS1 are broken. The game thinks you're going to deadzone every time you change directions so the character stops moving for a split second. You'll have to use a gamepad or deal with it. It was fixed in the sequels.
The first thing I thought of during that scene was that part in Our War Game where Infermon attacks Greymon and Kabuterimon in the middle of their evolution scene. Holy fricking kino.
I remember when I was playing CS3.
I was at the city near the sea, in a museum, and I was so curious and excited just reading about the shit in it.
The giant bell and other ancient items, the dark ages or whatever, this old lore fascinated me, I was reading every little thing, so looking forward to how the rest of the series was going to shape up, what revelations they had in store.
What a marvelous world, I thought.
A giant interconnected world of wonderful stories and characters, of boundless potential.
Like playing through a great adventure anime, full of surprises and crafted with love.
Then I played CS4.
>go back to >implying
That's already literally every single Trails thread regardless of what's in the OP, just look ITT. You people are more boring than he is.
>Bleublanc somehow teleports a statue into the Mayor's bedroom >not a bruh moment according to grumps on the internet
That's a bruh moment in it of itself
It was like the end of Chapter 3 and I figured "if the story is just going to be >muh daddy is missing" for another 25 hours I might as well quit. I'll give it a go, I need a low resource game to play on Deck
>Haha >Heehee >Teehee >Rean... >Holding back >[Character name]... no, [character nickname] >So, this is the power of >*pant pant* Wew, that was close... >"You are pretty strong" "No, I still have a long ways to go..." >*character saves the day* "Isn't your timing a bit too good?!" >"Heh, you almost makes me wanna go serious" >*gives their back to a "defeated" monster* "Watch out!" >Character: "..." Other character: "What is it?" Character: "Oh it's nothing... (foreshadowing thoughts)" >"Haha. That's our [character]" >Alisa: "SH-SH-SH-SHARON?!!!" >Rean: *headpats little girl* >Rean: *cringe speech* Character: "Haha. How can you said that with a straight face?" >HEED MY CALL, VAL- "That won't be neccesary" >Character: "Haha. We are like bracers am I right?"
>"Hey, something seems fishy here" >"Van-san! Do you think it could be..." >"Yea, let's tail him"
[Embed]
*follows enemy to sewer/back alley entrance* >"Hehe, looks like we had those suckers fooled" >"But that was a close one. I better call *those* people and let them know the situation..." >"Hold it right there" >"Damn, who sent the spriggan? But he's only with a bunch of kids. Get him boys!" >"Sigh, we could've talked this out..."
[Embed]
*battles ends* >"So who are you working for? It's <A>, right?" >"They put me up to it, I swear! I didn't have a choice" >Hmmm...what should we do with him
*GREY: SEND HIM TO HEIYUE*
*LAW: SEND HIM TO THE POLICE* >"Yeah, we'll let Heiyue deal with him. They've got connections with the police after all." >"No, please! Anybody but them! >Well, we didn't catch the culprit. But we got some clues as to their hideout. Let's move. >Yes! >Aaron: Haha, I'd rather be fricking some pussy right now, but I feel you.
*enters sewer*
[Embed] >Lots of archaisms here. >Yeah.
*reaches final boss room* >"Ahh, there it is, the genesis!" >"It's Almata! Tch, what are they planning this time!" >"Haha, congrats on getting this far. But it's too late"
*orbment starts shining*
[Embed] >"Quick, stop them before it activates! >"Too late, but I'll have some fun with you all. Teehee"
[Embed] >"This is not going well! Mare!" >"Heh, in a bit of a bind huh! Take uh the grender!"
[Embed] >"Van-san! Don't push yourself!" >"Finally...they made it"
*Bracers and police arrive* >"Well, looks like we'll call it a day. See you all, next time! Ahaha!"
[Embed] >"Time to head out" >"But it looks like we gained a new member"
*cuts to Van's face* >"OH FINE! YOU CAN JOIN"
*characters do the cheek scratch animation* >"Looks like it's going to be a bit more lively around here..."
Does the Kuseki series just have a super computer in a basement somewhere that they feed literally every anime trope from the last 20 years into and then they hit "compute" and it takes ~2-3 years to process and then shit out a game?
>unironically comfy >get roped into the first game >just a little adventure about exploring a world and doing some quests >filling out your bracer ranks while hanging out with your brother >in JRPG fashion you finish the game by fighting a god
When will I be able to play a grounded JRPG with a small scoped conflict...
>that gets 1 shot by Cassius.
Oh I guess I was just dreaming about the end boss fight with it having multiple phases and shooting lasers and magic all over the place
Give it to me straight, what is the appeal of this series. No matter how I picture it the attention this series gets on this site looks like nothing more than shameless shilling. And are they seriously 100+ hours each, if they are then why is that?
They're glorified VNs slapped on top of average turn-based combat. The only real special part of it is the fact it's an overarching story over multiple games which you don't really get.
So similar to long running anime like Naruto, you get fans that have been following the series their entire lives and it makes up a lot of their personality. That's how you end up with the rabid obsession with it that you confuse for shilling.
>They're glorified VNs slapped on top of average turn-based combat.
Sounds like most JRPGs...
Nah, he's wording his question like a disingenuous moron so I'm just going to give him a disingenuous answer which is exactly what he's looking for.
Why do you think I'm being disingenuous anon. I don't normally assume the worst of everyone while on this site unlike 99% of others. I just have seen this series posted about a lot on here and /vrpg/ but never got into the gameplay or details, just "Play this game haha" etc.
>Why do you think I'm being disingenuous anon
Maybe because you are asking about people to give their genuine opinion about the game but in the same sentence dismissing their previous discussions as nothing but "shameless shilling"??? Maybe that is why?
Most people recommending this series here and on /vrpg/ never seem to give actual reasons as to why I should play this series. Just unfunny "haha" jokes. So I asked for proper reasons. Simple as.
>ask for proper reasons >after calling every thread shilling
I hope you don't mind me being a little apprehensive to spoon feed you anything based on how you're acting.
They're glorified VNs slapped on top of average turn-based combat. The only real special part of it is the fact it's an overarching story over multiple games which you don't really get.
So similar to long running anime like Naruto, you get fans that have been following the series their entire lives and it makes up a lot of their personality. That's how you end up with the rabid obsession with it that you confuse for shilling.
its a very relaxing jrpg with fun writing and good world building
combat is interesting even if not as complex as it appears
just raw 2000s jrpg
also it appeals directly to my specific autism where i have to talk to every npc after a story beat if they have something new to say, and the game does that (almost to an extremely alarming and annoying level, but this is obviously optional)
I call it doing the rounds, it's literally 70% of the game.
Sky SC took me 120hrs and Cold Steel 1 took me 110
1 year ago
Anonymous
>Sky SC took me 120hrs
homie what
1 year ago
Anonymous
it actually did - no cap
1 year ago
Anonymous
When you go talk to every SINGLE NPC after every single storybeat, it adds up.
And basically every single fricking NPC in Trails has something new to say after every "event" happens, it's crazy.
>shameless shilling
There was already a trails thread up hours before this one full of posters shitting on NISA, then this thread was made and the original got reported. what do you think?
But I tgink Cold Steel and Rean are trash, so what's your argument now ?
1 year ago
Anonymous
Yeah, yeah, that's what they all say.
1 year ago
Anonymous
So you have no argument and your only defense was " you like rean so uhh..." ?
Is that what kurogays are like ? While you keep posting this litteral coldsteel OC character ?
1 year ago
Anonymous
>So you have no argument
I don't argue with plebs, I laugh at them.
>are they seriously 100 hours each
Depends on the game, CS4 is longer but others are closer to 50-60 hours. >why are they so long
Story, tons of dialogue, a near endless amount if you want to get autistic about it. >what's the appeal
Japanese soap opera mainly for men but can appeal to anyone >why does the series get so much attention on Ganker
Niche anime video game series that's not particularly hard to play but can be hard to get into so it's well gatekept. It's the perfect JRPG series for Ganker
>world ending robot >beaten by super Mario with a staff
No I get you but I meant more about how FC takes its time to make you travel and learn about the country instead of the world ending plot being thrown to your godly chosen hero of time's face instantly.
I'm mostly kidding, so yeah. I agree, 90% of FC is literally one of my favorite JRPG experience because I'm a sucker for "just go on an adventure and check some boxes" as it reminds me of a kid going through shit like Pokemon Red or early FF / DQ.
I hate that every game now has to have some insane crazy plot when I'm fine just going on a quest to gather 4 fricking crystals or something.
Loved the first game but got burned out in the second one and dropped it. Someday I'll return to it. Comfy game though, I'm just not into reading to much in gaming right now.
I don't hate the series but I definitely wouldn't say I love it. It has pretty much every flaw you could think of as it pertains to JRPGs but the story is engaging enough where it feels like you're watching one of those shitty TV soap operas.
It's like a car crash (and I mean that in the most endearing way) that you can't look away from.
I love it but there are certainly parts, characters and recurring tropes I hate. Good chunks of CS3 and CS4 made me want to slam by head into the nearest desk. Still CS4 has a great ending that made the slog worthwhile. It's sophisticated sloppy soap opera for the anime generation.
i miss when it was possible to actually have threads about these games
instead every thread is the same shit every time >complaining about rean and cold steel >people calling the series shit and saying it was never good even through they played every game of this series they think is bad >people complaining that the games have anime tropes (like yeah no shit it's a fricking jrpg) >people having the exact same localization arguments they've been having for years
it's so tiresome
i miss the sc/cs1/2/3rd era where people mostly just enjoyed playing the games and posted about their playthroughs. people would complain about some things but there was never this constant complaining and nitpicking that every thread is now.
Well what do you expect? By now the people who have played it are already done with it. You're not going to get a lot of people talking about their first playthroughs in these threads because they're pretty often filled with immense amounts of spoilers.
It's like talking about those threads on /vg/ for shit like Katawa Shoujo. How do they STILL have shit to talk about and necessitate a general?
I'm 30 hours into Sky and I would say you're in for a very comfy time. More of a VN than a game really but a pretty good one, if you like low power scale fantasy adventures you'll love it.
Can't speak for later games though.
This, you have to appreciate the small scale of FC. That is not to say that it lacks stakes, which they make up for it twicefold near the end but the whole concept of Sky is just a small scaled adventure around the comfy countryside with your friends and a good amount of worldbuilding.
>FC, SC
pseudo crpg with grid-based combat and a chapter based story, both games use the same map but SC adds tons of locations and actually opens up >3rd
KINO dungeon crawler
Haven't played the rest but iirc the psp games are kind of the same while the ps3 later games have more butts and mecha
13 games of absolute kino except when you have to replay lloyd's arc in hajimari
>I'm taking the plunge.
Don't. Trust me, it's not worth it in the slightest.
beating enemies with a large staff
I rabu Estelle
make sure to do the rounds every time you advance the story even minutely. don't leave a single word unread so you can boost that playtime to 100+ hours for each game
If you don't like the characters in FC, you probably won't like SC either, so just drop then and there. Stop at the 3rd game and pretend the rest of the series doesn't exist.
Trails FC is a relatively low stakes game that is primarily for world and character building. It only really ramps up in the last chapter or two. It ends really well, and them taking the time to develop everything really works to the series advantage going forward. The characters are enjoyable
Trails SC picks up right where it left off and is hits the ground running. The only downside is that most of this game is just a rehash of locations from the original but it's not that bad and is a better game all around.
Trails the 3rd kind of sucks, but just play this one on the easiest difficulty and melee your way through the entire game for the story. It's mostly fanservice and it's also the shortest game at like 20 hours. But the ending sets up some interesting stuff, and there's a few decent side stories in there as well that fleshes out the supporting cast further.
But the Crossbell Arc is the best in the series?
>Stop at the 3rd game
Imagine getting filtered by the most kino entry in the series.
Bro, let's be real. 3 was awful.
The story was bad.
It was yet another game where they just reused environments from the first game.
It's way more fanservicey to a silly degree.
Most of the sidestories behind the doors are absolute dogshit (The school one in particular, holy shit).
Overall, you can basically skip this one aside from the end of the game.
Unironically filtered. It's the best Sky game
>Bro, let's be real. 3 was awful.
Speak for yourself, pleb.
Samegay, we're trying to discuss the series here, go shit up another thread with your godawful opinions.
>multiple people are calling me moronic, it must a samegay!!!
Dumbass. You aren't discussing anything by just spouting garbage buzzwords like "kino" and "filtered"
We're not discussing anything *with you*, because talking to plebs is like talking to a brick wall. Stick to Xenoslop and Dark Souls 85, this series is clearly not for you.
>still falling back on the "filtered" meme
Please I'd love to see you actually talk about this video game that you've supposedly have played. Please go into why you like it, I'd love to actually see you discuss video games.
have a nice day.
>filtered
>kino
How to easily spot when a game isn't good and the fans blindly follow it as they have no actual arguments as to why it's good
>Arguing with someone saying untrue facts
Why bother
it was ok
but the whole premise
being set in a different dimension
was kinda "cheap"
wanted more prober Heretic Hunting with Kevin
maybe we will get another game with him
>being set in a different dimension was kinda cheap
It was a prison manifested from Kevin's traumas created to torment him, in case the Gehenna section didn't completely give it away. The others kinda just got dragged along.
A charming and heartfelt story set in a very detailed world. Decent combat and music. Tons of content. Nothing mind-blowing, just a very good all-rounder JRPG with no glaring flaws.
>no glaring flaws
Sure, aside from the fact it's got easily one of the worst fanbases on Ganker. Which is saying a lot.
good thing i dont have to interact with the fanbase to play this single player jrpg
Kiseki has one of the best fanbases, actually.
>t. literal pedophile
Why are you signing your own posts before you've even written anything?
This. It amazes me that people here unironically defend the shit that came after, considering how much worse it got by the time of Cold Steel.
This is one of the absolute worst JRPG series in existence. People claim it has extreme world building and lore, but then notice the bikini DLC and Rean.
TL;DR: Sexxoo!
well yeah
it's only the later games who did that
the first ones
not so much
trails in the sky wraps up in second chapter. third chapter is an epilogue/prologue for the next arc
i spent a large portion of my playthrough of second chapter wondering how the story was going to raise the stakes further and if i would have to travel around liberal again for a third time
Get the PC version with voice acting on nyaa
This 10000%, download the JP Voice packs immediately from the EVO Mod. They're super easy to install and they add so much to the game. The entire game is voiceacted, but in the ENG version they only have voices during combat.
You can skip the other Evo mods, like the updated portraits (They look way better, but there's significantly less expressions so the OG Portraits end up being better.) and the updated soundtrack are not needed. Just the voice pack.
Wait it can have voice acting?
Shit, good thing I didn't continue, gonna download that asap
Google Trails EVO Mod.
Thanks bros
https://nyaa.si/user/Ganba
There's a wiki with instructions. Make sure you only mod the voices.
Don't mod the shit portraits from Evo.
>Jap voice mod
This is where you will discover that the translation is literal fanfiction
It's decent bruv. Localisation you have to alter things a bit to suit the local audience better. Only morons want direct translation.
Ignore the troony SJW localizers too who change shit for their agenda in other games. Trails in the Sky games are good translations.
I didn't pirate it but I actually did this already through an auto-voice patch installer I found
What installer?
Could you share please?
Frick I'm 30 hours in and didn't know this existed.
Can I transfer my save file to the modded version of the game?
Ok nvm I got it working
Do I just put random orbment things in or is there a method to the madness?
Check your notebook, it shows what combinations unlocks what kind of magic, they all have to be in the same line for it to count though, characters with lots of lines on their orbment can get more slots for cheaper but won't get access to the higher tier of magics due to the lines being shorter, compared to a character that only has a single or two lines which becomes more and more expensive to unlock, but they'll have more SP and access to powerful magic
Read the instructions in your manual. There's a chart that tells you how many/what orbament types are needed to unlock the different spells. But don't worry about it too much, the game doesnt punish you for not being efficient. You can pretty much just try slotting in different things and your spell list will auto-update with what is added and taken away so you can judge for yourself if you want to do it or not.
Pure, unadulterated kino unlike anything else in gaming.
Play Sky and Crossbell, then stop
Prepare to use a guide for your entire playthrough which really makes these games a lot less enjoyable, but it's a necessity due to the nature of how they're structured. If you don't use a guide, you'll miss about 50% of the story content.
Someone tell me if this is true this is a make or break detail
There's missable quests, books and the ultimate weapon, but the main story isn't locked like that anon is saying
The game expects you to talk to literally everyone and make sure to follow literally every plot thread. While not impossible to do blind I really doubt you are going to remember in chapter 5 that you need to go back to the town in chapter 3 to talk to a guy in the casino that you talked to his sister in the inn in town 5 and that she made him lunch.
Yes there are arbitrary missable quests where you have to randomly go back to previous towns without any indication within game being given to do so. Without playing a guide you will miss a majority of the game.
>you will miss a majority of the game.
for what game though? in FC you get locked out of returning to an old region the second you enter the next. i dont know if i can return towards the end of the game but i would hope so. one last push to tie up loose ends basically
>in FC you get locked out of returning to an old region
Get used to that way. These games never open up like you're expecting. Once stuff is locked out, it's locked out for good as the general story in all these games is very linear.
>Without playing a guide you will miss a majority of the game.
Do you know what the word majority means? If so, do still want to claim you miss a majority of the game but not doing the like 5 missable sidequests in a 60 hour game?
>people always go on about how great these games are, especially the world building
>actually nvm you should just skip all the side stuff that fleshes out the world
...?
There is a difference between "by not doing a couple hidden sidequests and speaking with optional NPCs, you miss out on a MAJORITY of the world building and story in the game"
and "You can play through the game and understand 95% of the story by just playing through it without a guide." The worldbuilding and character development of the main characters and (main) supporting cast are done well enough that missing a substory of a fricking baker isn't going to make or break things.
>isn't going to make or break things.
It kind of does when the whole purpose of the series is reoccurring characters that you find in subsequent games. That's why everyone always suggests "oh just import a 100% save" for exactly the reason because you end up missing EVEN more content.
Give me an example of a reoccurring minor npc having any significance to the plot or overall narrative of any of the cast.
Nielsen. And Anton technically matters for Sharon.
Eh, I don't think that's accurate. You miss out on some hidden sidequests, but outside of your bracer rank it really doesn't have that huge of an impact aside from missing out on some side story bits that are essentially not important. You can always just download a 100% save file to transfer into the next game as well.
You absolutely don't have to go around talking to all the NPCs in a town after every single event either. It might flesh things out for you further, but in an already long game, and you get 95% of the story by just playing. Who gives a shit if you don't know who Sally is in some village that you'll meet a second time for half a second in the next game?
My wife Estelle so cute!
im 35 hours and ive entered zeiss now. at the part with the gasoline and engine to be exact. i wasnt very thorough before but i started talking to everyone after every event at some point along the previous chapter.
how long do you recon i have left in FC? i wouldve guessed something like 40 hours but i dont think the game will wrap up in the next five hours. 60 seems to long, that implies im merely at the halfway point and im at the second to last region.
does 50 hours sound good? i dont know
There's still a ways to go. Don't be in such a hurry; the final chapters is when it really gets interesting. Besides Estelle enthusiastically shoving her sandwich into Joshua's mouth.
If you get to Zero and Azure, just use a guide. Its moronic how many missable events there are. Also until Cold Steel 3, talk to every npc several times and do it again after every new story segment.
>think I just about 100%ed FC
>beat the final boss
>achievement say I missed 3 quests
>there were fricking sidequests in the campus section
Just got to the part with the pillars. Why did saving Joshua only take one scene and a single ship escape?
>Why did saving Joshua only take one scene and a single ship escape?
Because Joshua's about as edgy as a spoon. You're a fricking moron. This is one of the many reasons Trails fans are nothing but degenerate filth who need to be fricking purged. Go frick yourself, you illiterate sack of shit.
Edgy.
But what about all the damn buildup? Why did it all go into nothing?
What exactly did you want? For there to be a huge melodramatic fight? Shut your fricking mouth already and piss off back to DeviantArt you dumb b***h.
speedreader.
Did you miss the whole thing where he's in love with her and the reason he left was so she didn't get in involved with the oroboros situation.
Are you talking about SC?
Yes. I worked so hard for buildup just for estelle to get broken out of a ship and to make up with Joshua in 5 minutes on a beach.
That's the point
The scene was okay, dunno what you were expecting. I thought it was pretty well executed and didn't ruin the buildup for me.
I was expecting more pushback from edgelord there. Maybe a battle or something.
You completely misunderstood his character
He did everything in his power to protect her from himself, he is never going to hurt her willingly
Protect from them self would imply hes spooky and dangerous.
Play to the end
Around 10-15 hours of barely being entertained before you finally quit and regret wasting your time on something so average.
Make sure you drop the serie after the 3rd game
I'm very close to finishing CS3 and I got to the infamous part from the webm where they are fighting outside the final dungeon
It was way worse than in the webms, the cringe was unbearable. At least the theme is a bop https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8T8YX98dvyc
After i'm done with kuro i'll start there as well
it might be a year or more to when i reach there but what's wrong with that part?
>but what's wrong with that part?
The animations are horrible, there's this big confrontation between Ouroboros & co and Rean's friends and the academy but everyone's using their default attack animations on repeat in the background or just static shooting the guns. It looks like something someone would make in blender for a shitpost.
Damn, guess they ran out of cash or patience and said frick it, also stupid question but can i start from cold steel or i need to play sky first yes or yes?
You can start with cold steel but by Cold Steel 3 you're probably gonna wanna go back and play up to Crossbell.
Got it, will do as you both said, thanks anons
I started with Cold Steel 1 and 2 and then went back to Trail in the Sky and the Crossbell games and had just as much fun so you're alright, the first two cold steel games work almost entirely standalone but 3 and especially 4 tie all the games together.
Well you started with cold i started with kuro no kiseki, so i fricked up way more
You can probably start with Cold Steel but I think Sky and the Crossbell games are just outright better so I'd suggest starting with those. I actually think I would have dropped the series if I started with CS1 because I hated the repetitive structure of School shit -> Old schoolhouse -> Class trip -> Repeat.
>School shit -> Old schoolhouse -> Class trip -> Repeat.
My body was tempered by Persona 3. I was molded by it.
I like the Persona games too but there's just something about CS1 where it didn't do it for me. It might be the fact that the Persona games give you the option of doing things at your own pace. If you get tired of dungeon crawling then you can just leave and go have some fun with the social sim stuff and vice versa.
At least they're getting better https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HUeRk4GtDQ
A very cute slow burn coming of age story. Estelle is Bestelle
>Estelle
You mean Schera. Estelle is a brain dead moron.
>He hates Estelle
gay
>Estelle is a brain dead moron
only in the American shit translated version lmao
Well I dont know Japanese, you fricking weeb.
>hating on Estelle
What's her problem?
I need more Kiseki memes for my folder
With the advent of HD2D, I really wish the games kept improving on the art style of Trails in the Sky instead of moving to full 3D with stuff like Cold Steel.
These games still look pretty good while going back to earlier Cold Steel games is rough to say the least.
And I know a lot of people don't like HD2D due to excessive bloom and other FX stuff and I get that. I just love the isometric style in this and wish they kept it around.
The play dough models were pure SOVL and I'm mad they ditched them in favour of thos shitty 3D models
>favour of thos shitty 3D models
It doesn't help the fact that the animations were better using the play dough models somehow. Animations in Cold Steel are just bad.
Blame moron who think 3D GOOD even when they look like unity models that took over a decade to get good
I kind of agree. I loved how Zero/Azure looked and thought it was more charming than the Cold Steel games. I like how Kuro looks though.
that's because kuro looks like it was developed with a budget above 10$
Kuro 1 and 2 are Falcom's best-looking games in decades, and even CS3/4/Hajimari looked pretty good (aside from some janky animations at times).
Sky and Crossbell legitimately look worse than the Gagharv games.
?t=215
Yeah
Falcom's biggest mistake was thinking they could transition into 3D with 10 employees and the budget of a cup of ramen.
Yeah...there are a lot of moments like this in the CS franchise that are supposed to be pretty heavy and it almost comes across as a parody because the quality of their animations are so stiff.
Honestly, they could have done so much worse. Just look at Pokemon, which went 3D at the same time with infinitely more resources at their disposal. It's impressive how quickly Falcom progressed from CS1+2 graphics to Kuro graphics.
What are the implication of Trails of dicky
and NISA promoting the love of Children?
>Doesn't know Renne's backstory
But can you romance KeA in the second game? AFAIK you cant.
No because she's your daughteru
That;s even more a reason to romance her.
The funny thing is that the localizers at NISA absolutely hate e-girlgays for obvious reasons but they have to market the games that way anyway because e-girlgays pay their bills. They did a queen of Crossbell poll for Zero's release and included Kea in it. She won of course.
>Altina
>Millium
>KeA
Does the CS character designer have a fetish for e-girls in hotpants?
Probably the biggest waste of time in JRPGs.
>Probably the biggest waste of time in JRPGs
We're not talking about FF or CT here
FF are mostly separate entries. CT is one game. Trails series is connected and it's all fricking dogshit. I tell people to do literally anything else instead of starting this crap.
I played through Cold Steel 1 and then Trails in the Sky FC and I have to say I'm just way more interested in Estelle than Rean. I like where CS is going but I enjoyed the whole "cute little bracer adventure" a lot more. So will probably continue with SC.
These games really feel like if you don't like the characters then it's hard to continue on. The combat is okay but I'm struggle with the idea that I'll have about 300+ more hours of all of this.
Once you play FC, SC and 3rd you can never go back to Cold Steel, they're so much more compelling less bloated, actual stakes and much, much better written that I sometimes feel like I'm playing a parody of the series with Cold Steel.
This, but unironically.
Point in that post where I was being ironic, moron.
Both of those, especially the Hexen clan reveal are pretty meh and Ouroboros' return is extremely evident by the first Cold Steel game, there are much worse spoilers so don't worry.
>"Point in that post where I was being ironic, moron"
Its all good man, didn't really think that you were. Just wanted to be clear for others where I stood on FC/SC being considerably better than CS.
Oh good. BTW after 3rd which gasme is next in the series? Isnt it the newly released translation for crossbell?
Yeah it's that one, Trails to Zero.
I am playing Kuro now and i honestly miss how good of an MC Rean was couldn't care less about Estelle though
I'm also playing Kuro and I fricking love that I don't have to deal with Rean anymore.
You're dealing with homosexualry and that's much worse
Who are you fooling? We already played five whole games of Rean and Crow's homosexual love affair.
You never had friends lad?
There's friendship, and then there's Brokeback Mountain "friendship." Rean is 100% homo.
Rean is mentally ill.
>what you did was unforgivable
>but instead of killing yourself you can repay your debt to society by helping us make things better
>we need to save Crow
>so he can go back to school and graduate
Rean's ideas for how to atone are just extremely and hilariously naive.
The worst thing is that Rean doesn't have anyone around to snap him out of his wienerlust by asking the most basic questions:
>Crow just betrayed us all and tried to kill us. How can you still trust him?
>What makes you think Thors would allow him anywhere near their campus again?
>Why would he even want to go back?
Nope, just a total echo chamber of a game from start to finish where Rean chases after his boyfriend while his moronic classmates say "RIGHT! Yeah! That's our Rean!" Ash and Musse showed up one game too late.
Now post those in Japanese
Had to use DeepL, but...
>決して許される物じゃない。
>What you have done will never be forgiven.
>待っていろ、クロウ。
>Hold on, Crow.
>トワ会長たちのためにも、お前の立っている場所に 必ず辿りついてみせる。
>For the sake of Chairman Towa and the others, I will get to where you are standing.
>Ⅶ組とヴァリマール…… 士官学院生のみんなと力を合わせて。
>Group VII and Valimar: ...... Join forces with all the cadets.
>そして、俺が手に入れた 全ての“力”を尽くして……!
>And I got it. With all my "might" ......!
Whether this is true or not it does sound better than Xseed's magical translations
>Whether this is true or not
There's an entire website with all the Japanese and English scripts pre-Kuro. You can see for yourself: https://trailsinthedatabase.com/
>it does sound better than Xseed's magical translations
It's the same shit. Same hypocrisy, same gayness from Rean. There's a reason Rean/Crow are the number one ship among Japanese fans and it's not because of XSEED.
>There's a reason Rean/Crow are the number one ship among Japanese fans
It's foolish to underestimate the power of fujo's
there's literally a character mocking them in Cold Steel
But Van is boring
How can someone self-insert when the character already has a personality and voice? It's not Dragon Quest MC
Van is LITERALLY the best thing to happen with Trails
How? he is like a generic NPC.
>no strong personality traits
>no unique fighting style
>too passive and friendly with strangers
>no goals
>claims to protect his clients yet gets saved by them(wtf)
What's so good about him?
What was so good about Rean then?
>How can someone self-insert when the character already has a personality and voice?
Real brother moment
>i honestly miss how good of an MC Rean
lmao
mad that you can't self insert you mean
I can't think of a better example of "painfully bland self insert JRPG MC" than Rean.
persona
Yeah but the entire purpose of the Persona MC is to self-insert. Rean is supposed to be his own character and is supposed to be integral to the story
>has a harem
>has a blond tsundere that falls on top of him and says KYAAA ecchi baka on his first day of school
>has a Katana and is trained by the most skilled swordsman in the world
>is the secret son of the evil mastermind
>has a mode where he can either be your angle or yuor devil
>doesn't want to kill his enemies
>has a gay romance with a guy that betrayed him for fujobait
>holds back because he can obliterate you if he does it for real
>has a mecha and was especifically chosen by it to pilot it and it's one of the strongest ones
>participated in a war but never killed anyone
>has a little sister complex
>his little sister and her friends wanna frick him
>he's a charisma vacuum whose only moments of personality are a running gag where he wants to kill the ones who get close to his sister
>is probably the nicest guy you'll ever meet and despite being in a position of power in the army he'll still take time to look for your lost kitty and thank you for it
I honestly can't think of a more boring, wet cardboard piece of shit protagonist in a JRPG honestly.
He is like a perfectly crafted market researched anime protag where they had a bingo card of all the shonen MC tropes and they wanted to fill out the entire fricking thing
I could understand that if Falcom was at least somewhat self aware of this
But nobody calls him out on this except for maybe Ash, and the games play it 100% straight like if it was endearing or interesting.
The more i think about this the more i find it funny that Xenoblade 3's Noah is Takahashi taking Rean and fixing all the self insert bullshit despite still leaving him a wuxia protagonist.
Everything I've heard about Noah sounds no different than Rean, besides only clogging up one game instead of five. They even ripped off the Ishmelga-Rean twist from Hajimari.
Xenoslop is and has always been the inferior store-brand version of Kiseki.
The best fix that is possible was done and that was removing the harem. It does nothing but make shitty MCs even worse because it completely takes you out of any sense of immersion when for some unknown reason literally every single character falls in love with the MC.
At least with Noah he's paired with Mio and that's it. They learned from the god awful bullshit that was Xenoblade 2 and Rex.
>The best fix that is possible was done and that was removing the harem.
The harem doesn't even matter in Cold Steel. It's just side content. Rean only wants Crow.
>I am playing Kuro now and i honestly miss how good of an MC Rean was
BASED Van never even giving Reancuck a moment to kneel.
Van is LITERALLY the best thing to happen with Trails in a decade
Even the fact he's technically McBurn tiers of special snowflake doesn't ruin him
>much better written
Pardon me for asking this but you did play them in Japanese right? Cause if not, your take on the writing gets discarded
I actually had fun with the CS gameplay in the sense of finding ways to break it as much as possible. Since they keep building on it for over 5 whole games you end up having a lot of options and they don't do a very good job of balancing them. They definitely nerf the broken stuff from the previous games and you still find new ways to break it.
CS gameplay was the only thing keeping me from dropping the series altogether.
>want to play the newer entries because they seemingly don't look like complete dog shit
>have to go through hundreds of hours of PS2 tier JRPGs
What a dilemma...
Holy fricking shit kys guidegays.
Just play the fricking game op, don't listen to these morons.
Have fun missing out like half of the quests which are hidden.
Who fricking cares about that ? Why would anyone need to complete games to 100%. Genuine autism.
If you love the game, you can always replay it to do the missing content with a guide. But a first playthrough HAS to be blind, else what even is the point.
>Trails FC Hidden Quests: 10
>Trails FC Quests in Chapter 1 alone: 13
Yeah, definitely half of the quests in the entire game are hidden, huh?
I HOLD IN MY HAND THE CHALICE OF HEAVEN
Well i just used the wikia and probably spoiled myself on a few things. Here's hoping I forget about the Hexen clan and the return of Ouroboros by the time I play cold steel. SIGH.
Hartmann fricked Renne child pussy and you didn't
You mad?
*Carries you*
>We will never get anohter character as good as Richard
Frick this gay series
THREADLY REMINDER ALAN RICHARD WAS RIGHT.
Not really tho...?
He was being controlled by the brainwashing device.
He was coerced into unlocking the first lock on the Aureole, but his fear of another Erebonian invasion was his alone. Did you not fricking pay attention to the subsequent games?
Wow holy shit relax imbecile, if he was so right then why did he retire and never wanted anything to do with the Liberlian army again? Sure he was right that Erebonia was going to invade but his methods to rise to power were bad, he staged a coup and even he himself regrets it.
Now say it again without crying.
stop getting worked up about a silly catchphrase and lurk moar
What are you on about moron?
>Not really tho...?
>Sure he was right that Erebonia was going to invade but
>bunny suit richard with speed buffs
>nobody else gets to have a turn, ever
Duvalie gets close in Hajimari.
>2 games in the calvard arc
>He still isn't back
Every single Kiseki thread is KeA this, Altina that ffs.
Real men like hags.
hundreds upon hundreds of hours reading text, good luck
The most boring, exposition heavy experience of your fricking life.
I started Trails of Cold Steel and the movement is legit fricking garbage but I can't find anyone mentioning it anywhere
is it meant to feel so clunky or am I fricking something up?
Nope, that's the extent of their efforts.
It do be like that.
well frick me I guess I I just have to deal with it
good to know it's fixed in the next game
The KBM controls in CS1 are broken. The game thinks you're going to deadzone every time you change directions so the character stops moving for a split second. You'll have to use a gamepad or deal with it. It was fixed in the sequels.
is this a pc thing? I played on ps4 and havent had any issues with movement or heard any.
He probably means how stiff the turning is when you run, and how you slightly stick to everything you walk into
Rean moves weird because his knees are fricked up from all the kneeling.
Kuso no Kiseki flopped hard
>that s-craft reversal at the end of Crimson Sin
Yes
More of this
The first thing I thought of during that scene was that part in Our War Game where Infermon attacks Greymon and Kabuterimon in the middle of their evolution scene. Holy fricking kino.
I remember when I was playing CS3.
I was at the city near the sea, in a museum, and I was so curious and excited just reading about the shit in it.
The giant bell and other ancient items, the dark ages or whatever, this old lore fascinated me, I was reading every little thing, so looking forward to how the rest of the series was going to shape up, what revelations they had in store.
What a marvelous world, I thought.
A giant interconnected world of wonderful stories and characters, of boundless potential.
Like playing through a great adventure anime, full of surprises and crafted with love.
Then I played CS4.
Cant wait for official english release of Hajimari. All Trails discussion will go back to Rean again.
>go back to
>implying
That's already literally every single Trails thread regardless of what's in the OP, just look ITT. You people are more boring than he is.
How localized are these games?
Depends on the game but was gonna ask about the same topic but with trails from Zero
All localizations come in varying degrees of garbage nowadays, even Zero is so you just gotta suck it up.
They changed that line for the official release
>Bleublanc somehow teleports a statue into the Mayor's bedroom
>not a bruh moment according to grumps on the internet
That's a bruh moment in it of itself
The Geotrannies are here.
Its fun but I dropped it after the orphanage play. Convince me to at least finish it, if not start part 2.
After that the story actually starts.
It was like the end of Chapter 3 and I figured "if the story is just going to be >muh daddy is missing" for another 25 hours I might as well quit. I'll give it a go, I need a low resource game to play on Deck
Still completely baffled how this isn't a thing yet.
>XSEED
That's why. Kondo's actually considering a remake of Sky now just so it can be on modern systems.
>remake of Sky
>ends up being 3D like Cold Steel
This is going to be some real monkey's paw shit isn't it...
>Kuro production values
>Now includes Loewe's best friend/sparring partner McBurn
It will be better than the original.
Falcom is like 10 years behind in market trends, they'll start making Sky switch ports in 5 years.
>what am I in for
I would say "a game" but that might be false advertising.
I got to this part yesterday and this webm doesn't do it justice, it's even worse.
>Haha
>Heehee
>Teehee
>Rean...
>Holding back
>[Character name]... no, [character nickname]
>So, this is the power of
>*pant pant* Wew, that was close...
>"You are pretty strong" "No, I still have a long ways to go..."
>*character saves the day* "Isn't your timing a bit too good?!"
>"Heh, you almost makes me wanna go serious"
>*gives their back to a "defeated" monster* "Watch out!"
>Character: "..." Other character: "What is it?" Character: "Oh it's nothing... (foreshadowing thoughts)"
>"Haha. That's our [character]"
>Alisa: "SH-SH-SH-SHARON?!!!"
>Rean: *headpats little girl*
>Rean: *cringe speech* Character: "Haha. How can you said that with a straight face?"
>HEED MY CALL, VAL- "That won't be neccesary"
>Character: "Haha. We are like bracers am I right?"
>having to manage 25+ party members and minmax them
>"Hey, something seems fishy here"
>"Van-san! Do you think it could be..."
>"Yea, let's tail him"
[Embed]
*follows enemy to sewer/back alley entrance*
>"Hehe, looks like we had those suckers fooled"
>"But that was a close one. I better call *those* people and let them know the situation..."
>"Hold it right there"
>"Damn, who sent the spriggan? But he's only with a bunch of kids. Get him boys!"
>"Sigh, we could've talked this out..."
[Embed]
*battles ends*
>"So who are you working for? It's <A>, right?"
>"They put me up to it, I swear! I didn't have a choice"
>Hmmm...what should we do with him
*GREY: SEND HIM TO HEIYUE*
*LAW: SEND HIM TO THE POLICE*
>"Yeah, we'll let Heiyue deal with him. They've got connections with the police after all."
>"No, please! Anybody but them!
>Well, we didn't catch the culprit. But we got some clues as to their hideout. Let's move.
>Yes!
>Aaron: Haha, I'd rather be fricking some pussy right now, but I feel you.
*enters sewer*
[Embed]
>Lots of archaisms here.
>Yeah.
*reaches final boss room*
>"Ahh, there it is, the genesis!"
>"It's Almata! Tch, what are they planning this time!"
>"Haha, congrats on getting this far. But it's too late"
*orbment starts shining*
[Embed]
>"Quick, stop them before it activates!
>"Too late, but I'll have some fun with you all. Teehee"
[Embed]
>"This is not going well! Mare!"
>"Heh, in a bit of a bind huh! Take uh the grender!"
[Embed]
>"Van-san! Don't push yourself!"
>"Finally...they made it"
*Bracers and police arrive*
>"Well, looks like we'll call it a day. See you all, next time! Ahaha!"
[Embed]
>"Time to head out"
>"But it looks like we gained a new member"
*cuts to Van's face*
>"OH FINE! YOU CAN JOIN"
*characters do the cheek scratch animation*
>"Looks like it's going to be a bit more lively around here..."
Does the Kuseki series just have a super computer in a basement somewhere that they feed literally every anime trope from the last 20 years into and then they hit "compute" and it takes ~2-3 years to process and then shit out a game?
the first game is unironically comfy
>unironically comfy
>get roped into the first game
>just a little adventure about exploring a world and doing some quests
>filling out your bracer ranks while hanging out with your brother
>in JRPG fashion you finish the game by fighting a god
When will I be able to play a grounded JRPG with a small scoped conflict...
>in JRPG fashion you finish the game by fighting a god
You fight a robot
>by fighting a god
???
FC ends in a fight against a robot that gets 1 shot by Cassius.
>that gets 1 shot by Cassius.
Oh I guess I was just dreaming about the end boss fight with it having multiple phases and shooting lasers and magic all over the place
chest messages
>The chest messages in 3rd last dungeon
I wasn't ready for those feels
Give it to me straight, what is the appeal of this series. No matter how I picture it the attention this series gets on this site looks like nothing more than shameless shilling. And are they seriously 100+ hours each, if they are then why is that?
They're glorified VNs slapped on top of average turn-based combat. The only real special part of it is the fact it's an overarching story over multiple games which you don't really get.
So similar to long running anime like Naruto, you get fans that have been following the series their entire lives and it makes up a lot of their personality. That's how you end up with the rabid obsession with it that you confuse for shilling.
>They're glorified VNs slapped on top of average turn-based combat.
Sounds like most JRPGs...
Why do you think I'm being disingenuous anon. I don't normally assume the worst of everyone while on this site unlike 99% of others. I just have seen this series posted about a lot on here and /vrpg/ but never got into the gameplay or details, just "Play this game haha" etc.
>Why do you think I'm being disingenuous anon
Maybe because you are asking about people to give their genuine opinion about the game but in the same sentence dismissing their previous discussions as nothing but "shameless shilling"??? Maybe that is why?
Most people recommending this series here and on /vrpg/ never seem to give actual reasons as to why I should play this series. Just unfunny "haha" jokes. So I asked for proper reasons. Simple as.
>ask for proper reasons
>after calling every thread shilling
I hope you don't mind me being a little apprehensive to spoon feed you anything based on how you're acting.
>I don't normally assume the worst of everyone while on this site unlike 99% of others
I think you do since you just assumed that 99% of people do
the beautiful girls
obvious samegay
Nah, he's wording his question like a disingenuous moron so I'm just going to give him a disingenuous answer which is exactly what he's looking for.
its a very relaxing jrpg with fun writing and good world building
combat is interesting even if not as complex as it appears
just raw 2000s jrpg
also it appeals directly to my specific autism where i have to talk to every npc after a story beat if they have something new to say, and the game does that (almost to an extremely alarming and annoying level, but this is obviously optional)
I take it you know about Resonance of Fate?
I've heard of it but never played... do go on though
It's literally talk to everyone after an event
It's the only way to get the story too
I call it doing the rounds, it's literally 70% of the game.
Sky SC took me 120hrs and Cold Steel 1 took me 110
>Sky SC took me 120hrs
homie what
it actually did - no cap
When you go talk to every SINGLE NPC after every single storybeat, it adds up.
And basically every single fricking NPC in Trails has something new to say after every "event" happens, it's crazy.
>shameless shilling
There was already a trails thread up hours before this one full of posters shitting on NISA, then this thread was made and the original got reported. what do you think?
some of us actually like Trails
Hah! Next you're going to tell me some of you actually ~play~ video games too. Get out of town!
Meds. Now.
This looks so fricking bad
>I can't see Rean anywhere, so i-it looks bad, okay?!
Cope.
But I tgink Cold Steel and Rean are trash, so what's your argument now ?
Yeah, yeah, that's what they all say.
So you have no argument and your only defense was " you like rean so uhh..." ?
Is that what kurogays are like ? While you keep posting this litteral coldsteel OC character ?
>So you have no argument
I don't argue with plebs, I laugh at them.
Ok good to know you're just moronic. Good talk
>are they seriously 100 hours each
Depends on the game, CS4 is longer but others are closer to 50-60 hours.
>why are they so long
Story, tons of dialogue, a near endless amount if you want to get autistic about it.
>what's the appeal
Japanese soap opera mainly for men but can appeal to anyone
>why does the series get so much attention on Ganker
Niche anime video game series that's not particularly hard to play but can be hard to get into so it's well gatekept. It's the perfect JRPG series for Ganker
this song made me unironically purchase a pan flute
Frick man, just listening to it makes me want to replay Sky all over again.
Why can't we get comfy low stakes adventures like that ?
>low stakes
>game has you fight a world-ending robot that has a move literally called "Genocide"
???
>world ending robot
>beaten by super Mario with a staff
No I get you but I meant more about how FC takes its time to make you travel and learn about the country instead of the world ending plot being thrown to your godly chosen hero of time's face instantly.
I'm mostly kidding, so yeah. I agree, 90% of FC is literally one of my favorite JRPG experience because I'm a sucker for "just go on an adventure and check some boxes" as it reminds me of a kid going through shit like Pokemon Red or early FF / DQ.
I hate that every game now has to have some insane crazy plot when I'm fine just going on a quest to gather 4 fricking crystals or something.
>beaten by super Mario with a staff
Have some frickin' respect for a Divine Blade.
VERY COMFY, but not super unique. Loved the first 2.
Loved the first game but got burned out in the second one and dropped it. Someday I'll return to it. Comfy game though, I'm just not into reading to much in gaming right now.
you'll either love it or hate it
i've never seen a more divisive series
I don't hate the series but I definitely wouldn't say I love it. It has pretty much every flaw you could think of as it pertains to JRPGs but the story is engaging enough where it feels like you're watching one of those shitty TV soap operas.
It's like a car crash (and I mean that in the most endearing way) that you can't look away from.
Just don't expect too much and take it for what it is, it's a long running anime series in video game form
I love it but there are certainly parts, characters and recurring tropes I hate. Good chunks of CS3 and CS4 made me want to slam by head into the nearest desk. Still CS4 has a great ending that made the slog worthwhile. It's sophisticated sloppy soap opera for the anime generation.
i miss when it was possible to actually have threads about these games
instead every thread is the same shit every time
>complaining about rean and cold steel
>people calling the series shit and saying it was never good even through they played every game of this series they think is bad
>people complaining that the games have anime tropes (like yeah no shit it's a fricking jrpg)
>people having the exact same localization arguments they've been having for years
it's so tiresome
i miss the sc/cs1/2/3rd era where people mostly just enjoyed playing the games and posted about their playthroughs. people would complain about some things but there was never this constant complaining and nitpicking that every thread is now.
>Falcom threads are filed with autism
no shit
Well what do you expect? By now the people who have played it are already done with it. You're not going to get a lot of people talking about their first playthroughs in these threads because they're pretty often filled with immense amounts of spoilers.
It's like talking about those threads on /vg/ for shit like Katawa Shoujo. How do they STILL have shit to talk about and necessitate a general?
What’s the best guide for each game?
>get railed by old men as a kid
>decade later
What did Falcom mean by this?
>noooooooooooooo she can't just heckin get over her trauma like that!!!!!! she has to be a victim forever!!!
bros I really really really really like Rean...
No Tita you can't say that! Agate will..!
The Agate x Tita shit was so forced, felt like a joke in CS3.
t. Erika
Hilarious dude.
URRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHZUURRR
Why did they let Josette be playable. Frick this useless shit.
they didn't figure out guest party members until zero and azure
Don't bully her, its not her fault Falcom made her useless in two games in a row
>having to outfit her and tard wrangle her useless ass when she becomes a mandatory party member in 3rd
Frick that.
Trying to remember what I did for her. I think I made her buffer/debuffer.
I'm 30 hours into Sky and I would say you're in for a very comfy time. More of a VN than a game really but a pretty good one, if you like low power scale fantasy adventures you'll love it.
Can't speak for later games though.
This, you have to appreciate the small scale of FC. That is not to say that it lacks stakes, which they make up for it twicefold near the end but the whole concept of Sky is just a small scaled adventure around the comfy countryside with your friends and a good amount of worldbuilding.
>FC, SC
pseudo crpg with grid-based combat and a chapter based story, both games use the same map but SC adds tons of locations and actually opens up
>3rd
KINO dungeon crawler
Haven't played the rest but iirc the psp games are kind of the same while the ps3 later games have more butts and mecha
I can only be grateful I did not know there were skirt delete mods for CS or it would have taken me double the time to play through them