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

[Eluvianii he/him]

No real progress on any route because I spent the whole day watching Act IV's Daydreams (plus PPP, mechas, and magical girls).

Spoiler

It was nice to have some of Claire's thoughts. I admit, I didn't really remember the whole extent of her family situation. It's very good to see that's pretty much in the past. Isara sure is a character. Ok, I like tsunderes, but that initial conversation was entirely mean-spirited. If she hadn't decided to apologize that same day, and/or if Sara and Sharon hadn't been with Claire at the time, that conversation might have killed their relationship for good. Be careful people. It's only cute when the other character already knows you don't mean it, and more importantly, when you're not using a dead person you know they already feel guilty about, against them. All's well that ends well but damn, that really could have not.

Man I love Towa so much. Her Daydream got me thinking too, it kind of hits home in some unexpected ways. I also expected it to be bittersweet but of course she chooses the happiest choice even if it triples the difficulty. Never change, Towa. I guess that means her appearance in Crimson Sin is in NGO business? I was a bit worried thinking she left the academy so soon but it seems I didn't need to be. And Isara appearing here fits so well narratively it pretty much confirms the Daydreams are fixed per act. I was kinda wondering about that. That's gotta mean the further I go, the more secrets I get out of them?

Dudley and Machias' is pretty much 100% fanservice and I adored every second. My favorite smuggler lady is here too. That's it. This game is an 11/10, no further consideration needed.

Cedric is cool, I like Cedric. People don't change in a day and he proved that here, but it's nice to see that by the end he was able to become the person he showed us in the Empyreal Fortress. Good thing he got it together too, being talked down to by Gilbert is something I don't wish for anyone. Now, he's in Ouroboros, so redemption is not exactly the road he's choosing here. Still, I hope he finds whatever he's looking for, so when Kurt inevitably hunts him down it becomes the best reunion better. After a good old swordfight to the death of course.

Tita going through every facial expression Falcom has designed in under 10 seconds is funny as hell, and it would make the perfect gif if it wasn't so difficult to notice the changes in low res. Main takeaway here is that Emperor stole the engine, so even his powers are an imitation. Cool. Wonder if we'll be able to recover the thing once he goes demon mode. I also wonder what was the assignment here. Schmidt gave her the engine and her homework was to figure the thing out, no? So she did that in like 10 minutes, does she pass? Eh, I'll wait for part 2, see if they bring it up.

PPP is still really fun. Poms, Patience, and Pain is my new motto. Actually, I should put that under my pfp... Brb.

The mecha game is, I don't know how to describe it. Neither easy nor hard. When you win it feels easy but when you lose it feels hard. Like when you make your first big mistake it all spirals down really quickly, but if you manage to avoid them, it feels like you didn't make that big an effort. It's so weird. But fun.

Also gotta say, forget one step up, the soundtrack gets better each act. Dungeon themes are great, the boss theme for the Corridor is a banger, the more calming/sad/creepy themes are so good. Singa is really stepping up his game here, Sonoda is as good as ever, and it seems we have new composers too? I do wish we got more Unisuga but I guess the dude was pretty much out by this point, which is sad. Though I'm seeing he did a couple themes for Crimson Sin apparently? So all hope is not lost.

[Briar King]

Azure 25% off on Switch! Downloading now.

Maybe I’ll start Zero tomorrow. Should really finish XC3 1st though. I’ve played that to long already with mostly zero progress barring just filling in area maps a bit each day. We shall see.

[aneonfoxtribute]

Nayuta came out! I got the special edition a day early, a few days ago, It's very fun.

[aneonfoxtribute]

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! I AM ECSTATIC TO INTRODUCE TO YOU

TRAILS THROUGH DAYBREAK, RELEASING SUMMER 2024!

[Eluvianii he/him]

I so didn't expect this so soon. Didn't expect a Switch version either. Gotta change companies for the Switch port or it might crash every couple minutes. 

[Briar King]

What is Daybreak? I’m not watching the trailer since I’ve not played anything since CS.

ugh Reveire is finally on sale at 25% off on PS butttt it’s only for the standard game. I was going to grab the big daddy edition that’s $100+ but it’s not included yet on discount.

[aneonfoxtribute]

12 minutes ago, Briar King said:

What is Daybreak? I’m not watching the trailer since I’ve not played anything since CS.

ugh Reveire is finally on sale at 25% off on PS butttt it’s only for the standard game. I was going to grab the big daddy edition that’s $100+ but it’s not included yet on discount.

Daybreak is Kuro. The second most recent game

[Briar King]

Calvard? Any Crossbell/Reviere spoilers in it?

Check WoT thread.

[aneonfoxtribute]

Just now, Briar King said:

Calvard? Any Crossbell/Reviere spoilers in it?

Check WoT thread.

Calvard does have Reverie spoilers, and it has no more Crossbell spoilers than Cold Steel. I think Kuro doesn't have any.spoilers for Reverie? Not that I can recall, just.some vague references. Kuro 2 definitely spoils Reverie though. Kuro 1 also has a plot.point that doesn't technically spoil Reverie but it makes more sense wirh Reverie context

[Briar King]

I ll leave it unwatched.

Will hopefully get to Zero before the end of the year.

[Briar King]

So this sell goes to the 18th. I think I can summon the willpower to hold off since I was talked into Crossbell 1st and I’m a snail so maybe they will have a Xmas/new year sale next to see if they blanket it across all editions. I find it strange it’s not.

 

May have to wait for a Big in Japan sale to hit again. Be nice if I can get that at over 25% off.

[Briar King]

Hmm I just activated my 2 yr old laptops Gamepass code for my daughter and niece to play Minecraft and I was curious so I typed in Trails and 2 tv shows popped up! I can’t watch them though cause I don’t have crunchy roll  that’s wild!

I was certain I had access to crunchy hub through either MAX or Hulu but if I did it’s now off the selection.   
 

Im no closer to starting Zero either.. XC3 just continues to throw quests my way and I’m not not gonna do them. I’m on ch 7. Massive game!

Edited December 8, 2023 by Briar King

[Eluvianii he/him]

More like 1. There was an ova years ago where they tried to summarize an entire game in two episodes. Didn't work out. As for Northern War, well it wasn't well received at all but, idk I liked it. If you eventually get the chance it's worth a try. 

[aneonfoxtribute]

On 12/8/2023 at 10:04 AM, Ookla the Pom said:

More like 1. There was an ova years ago where they tried to summarize an entire game in two episodes. Didn't work out. As for Northern War, well it wasn't well received at all but, idk I liked it. If you eventually get the chance it's worth a try. 

The OVA also started with the second game in the series, and didn't have like three major characters. What a mess

[Briar King]

Reverie ultimate edition up for 30% off! 
 

Glad I had the patience to wait!

[aneonfoxtribute]

Not Trails news, but I've been playing Tokyo Xanadu recently and loving it

[Briar King]

This sell is kinda hidden.. if I hadn’t clicked on the game I wouldn’t have seen it on sale at all. Only ultimate is on discount atm.

Downloading now. 
 

hmm I’m confused i know I saw this thing was 40+gb but now it’s telling me 19 gb. I’m wondering if there is a difference between the PS4/5 versions? I’m going the 5 route it seems instead of putting it on my external.

Edited December 11, 2023 by Briar King

[Eluvianii he/him]

I think ps5 games are supposed to be smaller than ps4 games? Something about a new compression technology, like the data is uncompressed only when it's being used, so the installation itself is compressed. Something like that.

[aneonfoxtribute]

PS5 games in my experience tend to be bigger 

[Briar King]

Gonna be a long time before I get to it but I hope it is a long game. 
 

Also all the extra bits loaded up with the PS4 icon. I may have to do some reloading when the time comes to move to the external. 

[aneonfoxtribute]

We learned the title of the next Trails game, and it's NOT Kuro 3. It's Kai no Kiseki Farewell O Zemuria. What the GOOD GOD DAMN ARE THEY COOKING?!

[Eluvianii he/him]

Only two more arcs. This one has to end with something big, like people seeing the outside world and there's a super big threat outside, or maybe the world outright ends and then there's a surprise last arc to retcon it. Damn I'm excited. 

[Briar King]

Zemuria is massive though. I assumed they would fill in that blank space in the map that was posted when I was making my way through CS.

[aneonfoxtribute]

30 minutes ago, Briar King said:

Zemuria is massive though. I assumed they would fill in that blank space in the map that was posted when I was making my way through CS.

They're going to. We don't know if it means the end of Zemuria or just that they're leaving the continent and going to space or smth, but the latter is more likely 

[Briar King]

I just finished XC3 a few hours ago. I’m free to begin Crossbell 1 but I’ve since finally watched the trailer for Future Redeemed anddd rust do I want to get into that for real…

We shall see…