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

[Val the Moofia Boss]

I'm nervous about Kuro's gameplay.

The devs are effectively designing two different gameplay modes at once: turn based, and action. Falcom has a team of 50 people and they have an annual release deadline. Inevitably, one gameplay mode isn't going to be as fine tuned as the other. So far, Falcom has been focusing on hyping up the action gameplay, so it seems that is what will receive the most attention. I don't really find action games to be that fun, nor have I really liked any of Falcom's action gameplay. So it seems like when it comes out, the choice will be between action gameplay I dislike, or neglected turn based gameplay.

[Eluvianii he/him]

2 hours ago, Val the Moofia Boss said:

I'm nervous about Kuro's gameplay.

The devs are effectively designing two different gameplay modes at once: turn based, and action. Falcom has a team of 50 people and they have an annual release deadline. Inevitably, one gameplay mode isn't going to be as fine tuned as the other. So far, Falcom has been focusing on hyping up the action gameplay, so it seems that is what will receive the most attention. I don't really find action games to be that fun, nor have I really liked any of Falcom's action gameplay. So it seems like when it comes out, the choice will be between action gameplay I dislike, or neglected turn based gameplay.

I think we're safe at least assuming that they'll be well developed. As much as it sounds like twice the work, Falcom has enough history with both types of combat to just take their previous work as a mainframe and the do some fine-tuning to fit this specific game. I'm mostly worried because this time it seems to be a bigger change than usual. So, I guess my fear is less that the turn-based one is underdeveloped and more that it ends up being too tailored to fit the existence of the action one. But I have no doubt it'll be fun regardless. 

[Briar King]

Redoing these opening bits as I realized last night I missed out on 2 xtra AP. Oh well I’m just mainly out of time on power droplets. Not redoing dialogue round turbo mode or not..

CS3 ch 3 stuff

I was so happy last night running into Ferris and I legit can’t wait to run across Vincent and his creepy stalker Margarita. I’m going to lol if they pull the ugly duckling thing with her and she is on fire now. She was literally one of the most creepy ass game characters I’ve run across with those lips. *shiver

Edited April 21, 2021 by Briar King

[Briar King]

Drop drop droplets like it’s hot.

Im on a roll with power. The tiny fraction each pt adds up.

I love these games.

I going to be in SUCH a game slump after I finally finish them. Not looking forward to that day.

[Weltall]

By the time you finish Cold Steel 4, the Geofront patch for Azure will definitely be done so you'll be able to go back to all the previous games if you have an interest in doing them. I suspect those would more than tide you over until Hajimari gets localized (probably) late next year.

[Briar King]

It ll have to be on PS or Switch.

 I’m having the worst luck with this chapter. I’m still on morning of day 1 and I’ve had to go back twice now to redo and this 2nd time really hurts as I had an epic ambien monster quest victory after 20 minute slugfest. I was so proud but the game forced me to press on afterwards and I had a side quest not turned in so I would have lost 5 AP. I haven’t refought the beast yet and likely won’t be able to till Sunday or Monday with the offspring plus my brother and a nephew here for weekend. It hurts.

[Eluvianii he/him]

So I did this side quest where you carry a kid home after he falls asleep at the church. About a week passes, it's field study time and the parents are like "Thank you for bringing our kid home yesterday". Everyone in Trista are robots who are asleep whenever they're off-camera confirmed. 

[Briar King]

What a complete waste of $. I bought hair extensions and Angel sets. Don’t get me started on how bad the hair is. I thought it was going to change the hair not just throw extra hair on top of the old hair. It looks so horrible! Since when do angels have tails?! Omg that thing ruins it completely and it really pisses me off cause those wings and halo are simply divine. Tail just destroys it.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

The pony tail looks good on Kurt, helps make his character design not look bland.

The tuft of hair also looks good on Rean and Ash.

[Eluvianii he/him]

I wanna be Viscount Arseid when I'm older. 

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Any man who can casually swing a 100+ pound greatsword with one arm... I don't know whether or not I should admire or fear him. Perhaps both? Either way, I want to be on whichever side that guy is on *shivers*

[Briar King]

CS3 ch 3 day 1 just isn’t my chapter I swear... today marks the 3rd time I’ve had to go back and redo crap but today wasn’t cause I missed something. I finally set up CS3 on my PS5 and I lost about 2 hrs worth of this mornings PS4 session. Ugh

[NattyBo]

Geofront says Trails to Azure is coming out this month!

[Briar King]

What system is it coming out on?

[Eluvianii he/him]

1 hour ago, Briar King said:

What system is it coming out on?

PC. It's the polished version of a fan-translation for the existing PC release. Maybe the psp one too though I'm not really sure. 

[Briar King]

Boo

[NattyBo]

40 minutes ago, Eluvianii said:

PC. It's the polished version of a fan-translation for the existing PC release. Maybe the psp one too though I'm not really sure. 

It’s the PC version not PSP. Saying polished is a bit of an understatement IMO, these are full localizations with lots of quality of life features like 4K resolution,  fully localized graphics including mini games, turbo options, etc. Really incredible that the team did this for free.

 

 can’t wait. 

Edited May 3, 2021 by NattyBo

[Briar King]

CS3 ch 3 day 1 stuff

woot woot just got a reunion with Angie and Sara! Angie looks different and sooooo much better with her hair grown out and getting out of that black outfit. Sara looks like she is about to bust out of hers... haha I still remember the hint Sara uses Emma’s assets as pillows.

 

Why someone would start this over CS1 I just don’t get. 

[Weltall]

No, what's really odd is when someone decides to start with CS4 for whatever reason...

[Val the Moofia Boss]

2 hours ago, Briar King said:

Why someone would start this over CS1 I just don’t get. 

CS3 is bizzare in that it less of a continuation of CS1+2 and more of a soft reboot that does its own thing. Most of the plot threads in CS1+2 are dropped. The only characters/subplots from CS1+2 who are relevant in CS3 are the Ironbloods and a couple other characters. Old Class VII are pretty much just like Zin from Trails in the Sky FC: they went on prior adventures with a character (Zin adventuring with Cassius in Calvard, in this case old Class VII adventuring with Rean in the year 1204) but that's not important to the current story. I think the only thing you really miss by skipping CS1+2 is the stuff surrounding Osborne and his Ironbloods, as they are major characters in CS3+4 and their backstory and motivations get focus.

EDIT: Then again, I suppose that if someone started with CS3, they might be liable to drop it about 30-40 hours in as it is very slow. Having prior attachment to the characters does make the game more tolerable.

It would be nice if CS1+2 got a Switch port in the West for those Switch players.

Edited May 6, 2021 by Val the Moofia Boss

[Eluvianii he/him]

I love how people freak out at the mention of a "secret society", like, that doesn't mean anything in and of itself, it could be a secret fishermen society for all they know, but everyone assumes it's super dangerous before they even explain what they do. 

[Val the Moofia Boss]

11 hours ago, Eluvianii said:

I love how people freak out at the mention of a "secret society", like, that doesn't mean anything in and of itself, it could be a secret fishermen society for all they know, but everyone assumes it's super dangerous before they even explain what they do. 

 

Spoiler

Yeah it's rather disturbing how the series demonizes anyone who doesn't get in the international hug tub. "The Verne Company didn't come to our international meetup and turned down our offer for an exchange program? They must be hiding something evil! Gotta send an agent to infiltrate them and open them up!"

 

Edited May 7, 2021 by Val the Moofia Boss

[Weltall]

@Val the Moofia Boss Yo, postgame Hajimari stuff, spoil-tag that.

9 hours ago, Eluvianii said:

it could be a secret fishermen society for all they know, but everyone assumes it's super dangerous before they even explain what they do. 

Wait, you mean there isn't a secret society for anglers already? Erebonia even has members with silly titles for themselves. It's a conspiracy, I tell you!

[Eluvianii he/him]

5 hours ago, Weltall said:

Wait, you mean there isn't a secret society for anglers already? Erebonia even has members with silly titles for themselves. It's a conspiracy, I tell you!

So that's why they always recruit the protagonists, it's all a ploy to get strong people in and control Zemuria through the power of fishing. Now everything makes sense. 

[Weltall]

23 minutes ago, Eluvianii said:

So that's why they always recruit the protagonists, it's all a ploy to get strong people in and control Zemuria through the power of fishing.

I guess this means that either Kevin or the collective third protagonist group of Hajimari are going to be the true heroes that stop the conspiracy, since they haven't joined the Cult of Cthulhu fishing guild. We'll have to wait and see on the Kuro cast but I have little reason to doubt that they'll fall victim to this sinister plot.