Trails of Cold Steel (and the Kiseki series in general)

[Weltall]

On 3/27/2020 at 5:24 PM, Zurvanite said:

3rd game repeats the first games formula, and I'm guessing (since I have not played it) 4 repeats 2's formula. 

You guess correctly.  CS4 has been the most 'open' we've had yet.

[Zurvanight]

 

https://www.gematsu.com/2020/04/the-legend-of-heroes-trails-of-cold-steel-iv-coming-west-for-ps4-this-fall-switch-and-pc-in-2021

 

COLD STEEL IV ANNOUNCED FOR THE WEST!!!

[Weltall]

I love how the April Fools joke is that it isn't a joke. Also, well-timed since today is Olivier's in-universe birthday.

NISA's site has the game up for preorder and the extra merchandise looks nice. They also announced the Switch/PC ports at the same time, though they won't be out until next year.

Edited April 1, 2020 by Weltall

[Eluvianii]

Storms! I have to hurry. I got a part-time job specifically for this but with the quarantine I'm stuck with nothing.

Any chance we'll get Hajimari by 2022 then?

[Zurvanight]

13 hours ago, Eluvianii said:

Storms! I have to hurry. I got a part-time job specifically for this but with the quarantine I'm stuck with nothing.

Any chance we'll get Hajimari by 2022 then?

Dunno, I do hope we get Ys IX before then. That game looks soooo good, and Ys VIII was amazing. 

 

 

Edited April 2, 2020 by Zurvanite

[Weltall]

I am almost certain we'll get Monstrum Nox in English next year and having played it I can confirm that it doesn't just look so good, it is so good.

[Eluvianii]

I've been thinking. As of this spring break (hard to notice it's already here, given the circumstances, but it is) it's 3 years since I'm a fan of this series.

I've finished half of the games, witnessed the announcement of three more, the release of two, the localization of one, I've made up three weird Ookla names based on it, but for some strange reason, I keep feeling as if Kiseki was something new for me. As far as my mind's concerned, I started FC just a few months ago.

Like, it's not that those three years in general felt short. A lot of stuff has happened and I've felt it. It's specifically my time as a Kiseki fan what feels short.

*sigh* Don't mind me, just sharing a really weird feeling.

 

Edit: Also, I just found out about the possibility of a Liberl 3d remake. Like, can you imagine the ending of chapter 7 in SC with the current engine? It might mean a delay in actual new games but I hope it happens.

Edited April 8, 2020 by Eluvianii
Exciting stuff

[Weltall]

Meanwhile, I don't even want to think about how long I've been a Falcom fan, i makes me feel old.

On remakes, t might be selfish of me but I'd rather see Falcom tackle the Gagharv Trilogy if they're gonna do Legend of Heroes remakes, over redoing the Sky games. Those are so good and it would be amazing to get them in 3d, with the kind of depth that the series has grown into over time. Though the kind of work that would be needed to bring so many towns up to Kiseki-level writing is pretty mind-boggling. Just the first game in the trilogy has almost as many distinct towns/cities as the entire Kiseki series combined.

Oh, and Falcom recently updated Hajimari's website and they're doing something really cool; since the Three and Nine novels from CS4 are playing such a major role in the game, they're releasing the entire thing on the website so people can refresh their memory on it without having to pull up their CS4 saves, in the same ten volume format as in the game. And as an added bonus each 'Volume' has a cover illustration and internal artwork. So far we've gotten the first volume and the covers for the remaining nine, which means a sneak peek at some of the character designs, especially for the character we were expecting the 'Hermit' to be prior to the reveal nixing that idea.

[Eluvianii]

I keep postponing the Gagharv trilogy, it's like every time I find an interesting jrpg, I'm already playing another five. I think I'll make space for it after Xenoblade.

The thing about the in-world books is so cool! I've been thinking for a while about how interesting it would be to make a game series complemented by books, where the books are actually necessary to understand everything (and not only optional side-stories that never get close to the main plot as it usually is), and Kiseki might not be exactly that but we're getting close.

[Weltall]

Legend of Heroes in general is pretty darned close. In Gagharv you have bunch of books that foreshadow major characters in the later-produced games (or sometimes the same game), that explain backstory or do both, plus one that's been grounds for more crazy theorycrafting than the rest put together. Then there's Kiseki where the very first novel series (Carnelia) introduces two future important characters and a third minor one and it builds from there.

[Eluvianii]

Ah yes, I'm glad I took the time to read Carnelia during SC. In The 3rd I was so freaking blown away. And there was the one about the puppets too which I think wasn't as important but still foreshadows the Rosenberg Studio in Crossbell.

 

Wait, rereading that. Three characters? I need to revisit Carnelia because I only remember one.

[Weltall]

2 hours ago, Eluvianii said:

Ah yes, I'm glad I took the time to read Carnelia during SC. In The 3rd I was so freaking blown away. And there was the one about the puppets too which I think wasn't as important but still foreshadows the Rosenberg Studio in Crossbell.

The Doll Knight is actually possibly the most significant of them all, because it's the one that originated in the Gagharv Trilogy, meaning that the connections go both ways. Like I said, those books have probably been responsible for more crazy theorycrafting than the rest in Gagharv put together.

I think the only full novel series we've seen so far that doesn't have immediately obvious importance is Heartless Edgar from CS3 and we're probably a ways away from figuring it out because it's set in Leman which we're unlikely to see again for some time. All the others though, we either know what they're setting up or in the case of the Gambler Jack stories we can make a very educated guess.

Quote

Wait, rereading that. Three characters? I need to revisit Carnelia because I only remember one.

If you just want the answer (though rereading Carnelia is rewarding in and of itself):

Spoiler

Ein is obvious because they didn't even change the name and she's the first to appear onscreen, Toby is based on Toval who first appeared in the Ring of Judgment manga and first appears in-game in Cold Steel 1 and Micht is... Micht, also from CS1. And turns out to be the guy who wrote the novel in-universe, to Ein's delight and Toval's constant irritation.

 

[Briar King]

I believe I’m really close to being able to start CS. Xenoblade 2 is coming to an end I think soon.

[Briar King]

Fired up CS. Very much reminds me of FF Type O in just this short time. Maybe even Persona 5.

Anyway what is up with starting at such a high lvl? My people are in 40’s and 50’s... guess a wipeout is probably coming after intro.

graphics look much better than they did on sale ad.. That is just strange.

why can’t this girl target herself with a heal spell?! I like the combat.

what is up with the weapon swinging? Any benefits to hitting enemies before activating battle?

k I’m now 5 months before...I hate when this crap is pulled in movies. Ugh

im not fond of the discovery that the clock/sequences appear to play out even if I have hit the PS button to back out. This means I will miss stuff if I take calls etc and give me a totally inaccurate playtime in the end. It is by far a huge turnoff for me.

i like Sara Valstein. I will turn her into FF8’s Quistis if I can. I like the white uniforms. Green is fugly! 

Edited April 16, 2020 by Briar King

[Eluvianii]

3 hours ago, Briar King said:

Fired up CS. Very much reminds me of FF Type O in just this short time. Maybe even Persona 5.

Great! Hope you like it. At least eventually more than you appear to be liking it at the moment. There's a big payoff for sticking around storywise.

You probably were using a healing craft which I think can't be targeted on self since Ao no Kiseki. Crafts consume the green bar. The blue bar is your EP(MP) those are the actual spells and those can be targeted on self.

I think there were three kind of advantages to swinging the weapon in CS depending on how well you pull it off. On single advantage you get to move first I think, and on max advantage you move first, you gain some CP and the enemies receive some free damage. Can't remember what happened in half advantage. Or if there was (it's been a while and I couldn't finish the game)

Just a theory but I think they started using flashforwards at the beginning of their games to give a taste of the combat. Usually these games start slow and you have to wait 30-60 minutes just to fight your first sewer rat. This way players get to see how combat is closer to the end of the game right off the bat and keep them interested.

And sorry, I didn't understand that last point.

Edited April 16, 2020 by Eluvianii

[Briar King]

The Quistis thing? She is character in FF8 that is your instructor that just winds up as a permanent party member. I like her so I was hoping she will go forward when I catch up time wise to intro.

Im paused inside class 7 dormitory where people are getting introduced to each other among their outrage of mixing noble and commoners.

and I really dislike needing to put my PS in rest mode on breaks to stop clock/progress. I’m not sure why this stuff plays out when you go to the  home screen menu. None of my other games do this.

[Eluvianii]

1 hour ago, Briar King said:

and I really dislike needing to put my PS in rest mode on breaks to stop clock/progress. I’m not sure why this stuff plays out when you go to the  home screen menu. None of my other games do this.

Oh, so you meant the clock in the menu. That's what I was confused about, I made the comment before you added Quistis to the list.

I didn't know that happened in the ps4 versions. It probably wouldn't bother me since I'm already used to leave the game open while I get up and do other stuff, so my playtimes have always been slightly inaccurate to begin with.

People seem to like Sara a lot. I like her but I've seen her archetype way too much and she's not among the best of those imo. Then again, there's still a lot of character to discover in the remaining three games so who knows.

[Briar King]

Yeah the clock keeps running which is really going to piss me off as I get a since of pride out of my play times. I always pause clock when I get up or pick my phone up etc so I have very little idle clock time on my RPGs so when I see my times I know it’s mostly time I spent actually progressing through a game, but it’s not only the clock that stays running...the sequences appear to be also. I had to pause after intro bit and I was on a characters cast sequence and when I came back with my cup of coffee after bringing game back up it was flowing and not picking up right where I paused it on Rean(?).

So I’m going to have to be extremely careful in future I don’t miss anything.

Edited April 17, 2020 by Briar King

[Eluvianii]

1 hour ago, Briar King said:

 but it’s not only the clock that stays running...the sequences appear to be also. I had to pause after intro bit and I was on a characters cast sequence and when I came back with my cup of coffee after bringing game back up it was flowing and not picking up right where I paused it on Rean(?).

Wait, so you mean conversations and stuff? That's... weird. I don't remember there being even an option for that to happen. Aside from certain dialogues that happen too quick and stuff like that. every single line should depend on you pressing the button as far as I'm aware.

[Briar King]

Yes convos are X required to advance. It’s the rolling sequence bits that continue to keep playing out along with the rolling clock.

This is extremely frustrating and seems like a major bug. 
 

sad to think that might become game breaking to me already on day 1 but if I can’t figure out what the issue with it is to stop it somehow I don’t want to be playing a game that miss bits of ya know. And I pause very frequently. Don’t want to be repeating stuff to see things that continue on while I’m on Home Screen..

grr and the game immediately hooked me to...

Edited April 17, 2020 by Briar King

[Eluvianii]

23 minutes ago, Briar King said:

Yes convos are X required to advance. It’s the rolling sequence bits that continue to keep playing out along with the rolling clock.

This is extremely frustrating and seems like a major bug. 
 

sad to think that might become game breaking to me already on day 1 but if I can’t figure out what the issue with it is to stop it somehow I don’t want to be playing a game that miss bits of ya know. And I pause very frequently. Don’t want to be repeating stuff to see things that continue on while I’m on Home Screen..

grr and the game immediately hooked me to...

Just to be sure, you don't mean the random conversations that happen on dungeons and on the field, right? Because those do play for themselves and you can miss them if you enter a battle or something. But those get recorded somewhere on the menu. Actually, take this with a grain of salt but I think every conversation gets recorded on the menu. The one where you see quests, books and all that? There should be a tab in there for conversations, you could check that.

[Briar King]

Actually just now unlocked that part with the active voice thing down in 1st dungeon. This won’t help with any rolling visuals that continue on but atleast it’s something. I still think it’s a bug.

Battle reminds me of Grandia with a touch of Skies of Arcadia. I’m enjoying it.

[Eluvianii]

2 hours ago, Briar King said:

Battle reminds me of Grandia with a touch of Skies of Arcadia. I’m enjoying it.

It gets more fun when you get enough quartz for you to need to administer them. Though I have to say it was even better with the previous version of the system. It was up to the player to think things just a little and complete the game with that bare minimum, or spend hours planning the best orbment settings possible and have a party made out of demigods.

[Weltall]

11 hours ago, Briar King said:

Anyway what is up with starting at such a high lvl? My people are in 40’s and 50’s... guess a wipeout is probably coming after intro.

It's a flash-forward to events that happen later in the game, with a large chunk of what comes next being a 'how we got here' sort of thing. It's designed to give you a taste of what you can look forward to in terms of your Arts and Crafts and to give you a sense of urgency for what's coming next. For those who have played the previous games it's also extremely sneaky foreshadowing because it takes place simultaneously with events that happen in the immediately prior game (set in neighboring Crossbell) and also calls forward to events that will happen later in that same game.

@Eluvianii Amusingly, the first time they did this (Trails from Zero) they didn't even give you a chance to fight, you just saw a sequence from waaaaay later in the game and got to run around a bit but it ended before any actual fighting could happen. Though I guess you could also call the start of Trails in the Sky The 3rd a similar deal, except without any flash-forward stuff. There you got endgame-level Quartz to play with for the Prologue and then the game took them away from you to make you work for your victory. I have a feeling that Hajimari is going to have a similar feel, since like The 3rd it's shaping up to be the series equivalent of a D&D epic-level campaign.

[Briar King]

Gotta say the sheer amount of “grr, umm, hmm, ugh’s” in snooty teen tones is very grating to my almost 40 yr old ears.

So was this game a PS3 or PSP one? I’m really reminded of the physical mech of FF Type O which was PSP to PS4 with its very bare bones and repeating dungeons. The characters themselves look really good though. 
 

I have a 4 person party now. Machis came crawling backwards. I like his gun range.

man it is kinda depressing with no flavor to the background in this bare bone dull dungeon. Keep in mind I’ve come off Death Stranding and Xenoblade 2 which is both full of eye candy..

and this god(?) Aidios... sigh

bye bye lol

Edited April 17, 2020 by Briar King