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

[Briar King]

Popping in 

CS3 ch 4 day2 stuff

still in same location but I’m now getting ready to tackle the ending bit…I just have no clue when I ll have the time to complete it. It seems like it’s going to be quite a lengthy bit and the Olympics is still taking 95% of my tv time and I ll be getting son tomorrow for a few days to close out summer time.

I feel kinda bad though with OG7 as they really are so much weaker with all the droplets I put into N7. I neglected them as they were so temporary as far as droplets go and the difference between them is just crazy. Emma ain’t a magic Goddess and Laura ain’t a beast and it just feels so off.

Im definitely starting to feel the itch to hurry and get to CS4 this past month.

[Briar King]

Against my better judgment I tried to push on. Failure lol. The 2nd phase shut me down. I just went back to title screen. Both kids are here till Friday so I’m likely going to do I bit more grinding till they go home.

[Eluvianii]

Darn, Bareahard's bonding events. I was about to cry all the way through. 

[Weltall]

We've got a teaser of the Mini OST for Kuro with the usual accompanying images. There's a postgame Reverie spoiler in one of them:

 

[Briar King]

Popping in

Olympics are over so today I engaged progress and will be moving on when I next start game after the save point break. Man that turned into quite a long glued in place section. Like what 4 weeks? Happy it will be over when I get back on next. Not sure if I will press on tonight or play Spidey for ambien play or wait to do so for tomorrow’s 4pm session.

[Briar King]

Popping in

My goodness this dialogue round is absolutely BRUTAL after all those weeks on hold just running around dungeon fighting.

 I’m not one for trophies but I ll probably try and see the max bond bits. I’m going to be stuck here so long!

[NattyBo]

Still plugging my way through CSIV.

 

Having so many characters to choose from is fun, but also kinda sucks, cause I'm always leaving out someone I want to have in the party.

 

Currently, story wise, I'm at

 

The Pentagruel, after liberating Leeves. So far, still enjoying the game.  Especially like that I finally got to see all of both class VIIs, the SSS, and the Bright crew all together at once.

Edited August 11, 2021 by NattyBo

[Eluvianii]

Alright, quick question. In CS2 how long do I have to fight the cryptids? I'm on Act 2 Part 4 and I'm kind of worried they'll disappear at the beginning of Act 3 or something? 

[Val the Moofia Boss]

4 hours ago, Eluvianii said:

Alright, quick question. In CS2 how long do I have to fight the cryptids? I'm on Act 2 Part 4 and I'm kind of worried they'll disappear at the beginning of Act 3 or something? 

You have until you start the final mission to do them. You will be explicitly told "hey, make sure you do everything you want to do before we go do the final mission" so you're not going to be surprised.

[NattyBo]

Started Act 3 of CSIV last night. A certain boss was a major roadblock for me, but I was pretty sleepy. Hopefully I can manage tonight. I’m not under level AFAIK and I’ve got great gear and equipment, but.,,

boss spoiler:

Crimson Roselia as the Holy Beast in the Luna shrine is no joke. Since I was tired I didn’t mess with changing accessories to prevent status effects and pretty much got delayed into oblivion. 

[Weltall]

We got a stealth update with some 'new' characters for Kuro, which is to say two characters already introduced in previous games and a bit more detail on a Kuro original.

Spoiler

- Phantom Thief Grimcats is Judith's alter ego. Well, they don't say that but we all know it's her thanks to the WebCM. She's mentioned alongside other individuals with a lot of rumors about them (Phantom Thief B and Yin) though Grimcats has a lot of recent and credible reports about her activities. Apparently she targets corrupt politicians and bureaucrats as well as companies and underworld groups that have amassed illicit wealth.

- Kurogane gets formally introduced after already being confirmed some time ago, nothing really new came out though.

- Cao also gets formally announced though he's got some interesting tidbits in his profile. Firstly, we're told he uses the same style that Aaron does, which means that it must be the Heiyue style of choice since all their members in Hajimari/Reverie share a Craft in common. Second, he's taking a novel approach to the conflict with a new mafia group called Armata that's rapidly expanding its influence in the Republic.

 

23 hours ago, NattyBo said:

Started Act 3 of CSIV last night. A certain boss was a major roadblock for me, but I was pretty sleepy. Hopefully I can manage tonight. I’m not under level AFAIK and I’ve got great gear and equipment, but.,,

boss spoiler:

  Reveal hidden contents

Crimson Roselia as the Holy Beast in the Luna shrine is no joke. Since I was tired I didn’t mess with changing accessories to prevent status effects and pretty much got delayed into oblivion. 

 

Man, that battle was a real trip. Especially since Falcom threw an eleventh hour mechanic into the game as part of it. xD

Edited August 13, 2021 by Weltall

[NattyBo]

Oh my god, ALL THE TEARS

 

CSIV act 3 stuff 

 

Rutger and Fie’s last goodbye. Maybe it’s cause I’m a dad, but I’m bawling  

Not quite Mistborn 3/Secret History levels of ugly crying here, but we close 

Edited August 13, 2021 by NattyBo

[Briar King]

Popping in

CS3 ch 4 stuff

phew I’m only just now today spending any of my tickets(got 2 extra from quest!) now that I finally finished the long dialogue round. Man they give some POWERFUL accessories for bond items. Anyway I’m currently back down in underground with quite a party line up…;)

Will likely get back on in AM if I can pull myself away from embarrassing and sad news consumption, otherwise it’s 4PM.

[NattyBo]

Wrapped CSIV true ending last night. I found it to be a satisfying conclusion to that arc.

Wow. I started this journey with Trails in the Sky on my vita back in late January. I guess I’m fully initiated into Kiseki, now. Gonna be a long wait for Reverie and Kuro, but I’ve been waiting for various games my whole life, so I’ll make due.

after I’ve had some time to digest maybe I’ll post a game ranking and a lot of spoilered thoughts. Overall, I’m really glad I got over bouncing off the series because I didn’t understand the ornament system. In terms of just character design and battle systems, the entire series ranks very highly for me among JRPGs.

Edited August 17, 2021 by NattyBo

[NattyBo]

I really don’t know what to play tonight haha. I’ve been chipping away here so long…

[Briar King]

I’m getting tired of having to repeat parts of this game. It’s starting to weigh on me.

[Briar King]

Ugh oh. Game messed in let me be able to fish down here in that great spot. And I got like 80 bait right now….

 

This is going to be a few hours/days possibly but I want to give droplets to others.

[Eluvianii]

I've come to the conclusion that protagonists and important npcs in Trails are lighteyes and everyone else are darkeyes. 

[Weltall]

17 hours ago, Eluvianii said:

I've come to the conclusion that protagonists and important npcs in Trails are lighteyes and everyone else are darkeyes. 

Gaius Kaladin would have something to say about that... because please, tell me I'm not the only person who sees some similarities between those two.

Though now that I think about it, the entire main cast of Kuro would probably be considered lighteyes by color and yeah, most of the main characters of the other arcs probably would too. I can think of a couple that might straddle the line (Estelle, Zin, Lloyd, maybe Anelace, Alisa and Crow depending on the lighting) but most are pretty light in color. And then Reverie gives us a character with heterochromia but both eyes would be considered lighteyes shades. I guess that makes her, like, super-lighteyes or something.

[Eluvianii]

6 hours ago, Weltall said:

Gaius Kaladin would have something to say about that... because please, tell me I'm not the only person who sees some similarities between those two.

Though now that I think about it, the entire main cast of Kuro would probably be considered lighteyes by color and yeah, most of the main characters of the other arcs probably would too. I can think of a couple that might straddle the line (Estelle, Zin, Lloyd, maybe Anelace, Alisa and Crow depending on the lighting) but most are pretty light in color. And then Reverie gives us a character with heterochromia but both eyes would be considered lighteyes shades. I guess that makes her, like, super-lighteyes or something.

The only difference I see between Gaius and Kal is mental health. He even attracted the falcon version of a rhysadium. 

But yeah, I mean, it's not only that the colors are bright, but they're also unusual, like the ones in the books. Amber and purple eyes are commonplace in Zemuria. While on the other hand, if you take the ten or so NPCs that make up the general population, it's all brown eyes. 

[Weltall]

So, we've gotten leaks of the newest scans which have info on the recently revealed bunch of characters from the Web CM.

Spoiler

Five of the six obvious antagonist characters who got showcased now have names and some details. As already mentioned they're part of a new mafia group called Armata, who use fear as their primary tool and have it as their stated goal.

- Melchior is the green-haired man, he's 21 and wields a large knife and (apparently) explosives. He serves as one of three executives within Armata reporting to a superior who is presumably the last guy we see in the CM lineup and who's referred to in these descriptions simply as 'the boss'. Melchior is described as sensible but also fully buys into the boss' mindset of fear and embodies it with his fighting style. Voiced by Shouta Aoi.

- Viola is the crazy-looking lady with the gun we've been seeing for a while now, aged 26. She's another of the executives and adores her superior but does not get along with Melchior who has become the boss' right hand despite being relatively new to the organization. Voiced by Nozomi Yamamoto.

- Alexandre is the big guy who doesn't believe in sleeves, aged 35. He fights with a pair of gauntlets that somewhat resemble Leonidas' weapon. While normally rational he seems to lose control on the battlefield and is described as 'looking for a place to die'. Voiced by Tarusuke Shingaki.

- Arioch the Butcher is the man in armor who wields a giant poleaxe and he's noted to be someone cooperating with Armata rather than being a member per se. Age 26 and noted to have been previously operating in the eastern part of the continent where he has killed opposition politicians and jaegers. As he kills any eyewitnesses, he gained the second nickname 'Invisible Tempest'. Voiced by Tsuyoshi Koyama.

- Olympia the Golden is another cooperator with Armata who fights with an angelic-looking doll. Age 19, appears to see not only other people but herself as 'things' and it's implied that while she's interested in Armata's belief in fear as the driving force of the world, she has some other purpose. Voiced by Azami Seto.

- We get some more descriptions of Grendel's combat and he 's able to act twice in a single turn, the only character able to do so. By building up S-Boost he can unleash his S-Craft. He's mentioned as using the Kunlun Style as the basis for his moves, which seems to be something Van picked up from Barkhorn. Several of his Crafts are described and all of them sound like they can inflict stat downs on the enemy. I expect the livestream tomorrow will give us Grendel battle footage.

There's a Dengeki livestream coming up in about twelve hours that's supposed to have a new video. We're getting dangerously close to full trailer time (the release is a little over a month away) so if that's not the video we're getting (and I suspect not, see above) it'll definitely be coming Soon.

On 8/22/2021 at 7:32 PM, Eluvianii said:

The only difference I see between Gaius and Kal is mental health. He even attracted the falcon version of a rhysadium. 

But yeah, I mean, it's not only that the colors are bright, but they're also unusual, like the ones in the books. Amber and purple eyes are commonplace in Zemuria. While on the other hand, if you take the ten or so NPCs that make up the general population, it's all brown eyes. 

I'm tempted to start working out which Orders the various characters would belong to. xD

[Weltall]

Well, that was a whole bunch of info in the Kuro livestream, along with a surprise trailer to accompany the gameplay footage. There isn't a clean version of it yet but Falcom will probably release it within a day.

Spoiler

- The first part of the presentation discusses all the recent character reveals, with the presenters pulling the same routine with Grimcats as they have been with Bergard. 'You know who they are, we know that you know who they are but we're not saying it'.

- There was a long gameplay segment with Van, Agnes and Feri running around a field map and engaging in both battle types. The transitions are seamless and Command Battle can be fled from as easily as Field Battles.

- Command and Field Battle difficulty can be set independently, the latter only has Easy/Normal/Hard options.

- A lot of little mechanics details can be deduced from looking at descriptions, including the existence of some new status ailments. The quality of life improvement from Reverie with elemental weaknesses got carried over, though the change to the menu means that instead of seeing weaknesses on your Arts list you see it on the enemy infobox.

- They also showed off the Orbment menu which means we saw some more Hollow Core, Arts Driver, Quartz and Shard Skill details for people that like to dig into that stuff. Much like the Crossbell games let you see what Arts a given Quartz would unlock before you set it, Kuro will show off what Shard Skills you'll have based on your elemental point values. Another detail revealed is that some Quartz are restricted to particular Lines.

- The trailer they showed at the end introduces each of the main characters, shows off Van and Agnes meeting at the start of the game, quite a bit of action of both cutscene and gameplay varieties, Almata's 'boss' is definitely the man Elaine fought in her Reverie sequence and we got a big surprise in a quick shot of Rixia, who's playable.

 

Edited August 26, 2021 by Weltall

[Eluvianii]

80 hours into CS2 and the party is breaking a few records in time management. To my understanding there's about 4 hours of free time before the final mission. Well, in that time I've:

• Killed 4 field monsters
• Killed 5 cryptids
• Cooked about 50 dishes or so
• Done a bit of snowboarding 
• Had a touching plot-relevant talk
• Found the two missing fish in my collection, as well as fished the Guardian
• Completed about 12 trial chests

And I still have a bit of optimizing and dialogue hunting to do. What an efficient class. 

 

Edit: As an update, the hidden quest is really funny. 

Spoiler

Rean's reaction when it becomes apparent that the priest has been teleporting around are gold. 

 

Edited August 27, 2021 by Eluvianii

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Someone subtitled the Kuro trailer.

 

 

Also, new character info, this time on the villains. This might be the last new info on Kuro before it releases next month.

Spoiler

https://www.gematsu.com/2021/08/the-legend-of-heroes-kuro-no-kiseki-details-melchior-viola-alexandre-arioch-olympia-and-grendel-battles

 

Quote

In the Grendel state, the battle mode will shift to the "Grendel Battle" state, allowing two actions per turn.

By utilizing Grendel's abilities such as combining normal attacks with melee abilities or magic abilities, or using more boost abilities to increase the number of actions, you can greatly increase your damage output.

■ Party Battles in the Grendel State

As the story develops, there will be times that you will be able to fight in the Grendel state alongside party members. While only Grendel will have a different way of selecting commands, it is possible to challenge battles against strong enemies while benefiting from link attacks and support through use of the tactical orbment Xipha.

There are a few things to break down here.

First, the wording seems to imply that the Grendel transformation will only be able to be activated during certain story battles. So it's like Valimar from the Trails of Cold Steel games? Or will you be able to later unlock the ability to transform into Grendel during any battle (like Valimar in CS2)?

Second, apparently link attacks are back. The link attack was a unique feature of Reinford's ARCUS system. So does that mean that the Verne Company has managed to obtain an ARCUS unit and reverse engineer it's ability? Or does is the link attack system no longer tied to the ARCUS unit in lore (like how in Trails in the Sky the 3rd, people could just do combo attacks together without needing an ARCUS)?

Third, is Grimcats the same kind of being as Grendel? Grimcats sorta has the same design language as Grendel, with the glowing power lines, glowing eyes, glowing claws, long glowing hair, and a similar magical/sentai transformation sequence. Does Judith have a hologram AI too, or can she transform with one?
 

 

New characters

In this screenshot, Melchior is stabbing himself. Falcom wouldn't put an overt death scene in a pre-release screenshot, so I'm guessing he's stabbing himself to power up (maybe the blade is infused with power?).

His face and hair looks sorta similar to Joachim. I wonder if he's a younger brother or a nephew.

 

Trails doesn't move the camera away from the protagonists to show the antagonists chilling out together. I think that Armata might not be the true antagonists of the game. I think this screenshot was taken at an angle to hide the fact that Van (and perhaps other party members) are on the boat to, talking to these Armata folks. I'm guessing they're going to team up to fight against the true antagonists of the game, who haven't been revealed yet.

 

This guy looks like he'd fit right into Warcraft or Monster Hunter.

I'm certain this guy is going to backstab Armata. Not sure if he's going to take over as the big bad, or become an independent actor who throws a wrench into the story.

 

Oh look, yet another boring Rei Ayanami expy! *snore*

Her "doll" is suspiciously similar to an Erebonian combat shell. She even sits on it like a combat shell. However, Erebonian combat shells were made of some sort of unidentifiable high tech material. So either the combat shells are going to be retconned into having been based on this design, or this is a completely different thing.

 

There is one last Armata character (the boss?) but they haven't done a character bio on him yet.

 

Also, lots of very similar character designs in this game. The boss, Arioch, and the MTSC guy all look so similar in face, hairstyle, build, and outfit, I thought all three were the same character.

 

[Weltall]

Welcome to two days ago when that info first came out...