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

[aneonfoxtribute]

I think it's because we're trying not to discuss too much to prevent us from spoiling you. 

[Briar King]

Holy....

just finished the castle..

That lance...Celine said it was the Steel Maiden and not Lance Maiden. Idk but it was balling to see!

Also Pandora...at lvl 5...with Cross Crusade did more damage 12K then any S Craft I’ve ever done.. it STUNNED ME. I finished the boss fight with that spell totally not even expecting to do so..THAT WAS LIT!

[aneonfoxtribute]

Another fun fact: That scene at the castle is related to a character that appears in an earlier entry of the series.

[Briar King]

Ok so all these other games y’all are always talking about..is it in the same time period, on same continent? How big is Zemuria? A super continent? Are there others? Any games set in Dark Ages or the time before with the Anisimse?

[aneonfoxtribute]

They're around the same time. Other than CS1/2 and Zero/Azure, none of thrm take place concurrently, but they're never more than a year or two apart from the next game. We don't know anything about the world outside of Zemuria. All games take place in Zemuria, with Sky taking place in Liberl and Crossbell taking place in..... well, Crossbell. Zemuria is pretty big, though we have never seen farther than a tiny part of Calvard, and Erebonia is at the edge of the continent. There is a lot beyond Calvard. None set in the dark ages, FC is the first game in the continuity and its only a few years before CS happens. 

[Eluvianii]

For now all 9 games combined cover around 4 years in Zemuria's history. The most we get about the past are certain stories, similar to flashbacks but not quite, and they're usually from before the Great Collapse.

As for how big Zemuria is, here's a map:

Spoiler

 

Edited June 8, 2020 by Eluvianii

[aneonfoxtribute]

Also you should know, Cold Steel 2 goes deep with references to events in the Crossbell games, and CS3 and 4 are full of characters and references to both Sky and Crossbell. So that's fun.

[Briar King]

Dang that’s ALOT blacked out. 

[Briar King]

1 hour ago, aneonfoxtribute said:

Also you should know, Cold Steel 2 goes deep with references to events in the Crossbell games, and CS3 and 4 are full of characters and references to both Sky and Crossbell. So that's fun.

It’s all gonna go over my head though but I’m having a blast with what I’m doing atleast.

[Briar King]

1 hour ago, aneonfoxtribute said:

They're around the same time. Other than CS1/2 and Zero/Azure, none of thrm take place concurrently, but they're never more than a year or two apart from the next game. We don't know anything about the world outside of Zemuria. All games take place in Zemuria, with Sky taking place in Liberl and Crossbell taking place in..... well, Crossbell. Zemuria is pretty big, though we have never seen farther than a tiny part of Calvard, and Erebonia is at the edge of the continent. There is a lot beyond Calvard. None set in the dark ages, FC is the first game in the continuity and its only a few years before CS happens. 

Ok so what are the titles and what systems where they on? I had looked up some of this stuff before I started but I don’t want to now obviously because of spoiler fears.

I thought I saw that this went back to the old Nintendo days but it’s been 3 months since that tiny peak I did.

[aneonfoxtribute]

The titles are Trails in the Sky FC, SC, and Third, Trails from Zero, and Trails to Azure. The Sky games are all on Steam, the Crossbell games, Zero and Azure, are not localized but there are fan translations for them. Needless to say those are PC. As for it going back to the old Nintendo days, the Trails series in specific does not. The Legend of Heroes games before they were given the Trails moniker are, but the Trails games have never been on a Nintendo console until Cold Steel 3 on Switch. Until the Switch, they were released exclusively on PC and Playstation.

Edited June 9, 2020 by aneonfoxtribute

[Briar King]

Ah I see now. They had Dragon Slayer and another series then this current one on a new world. I thought they were ALL connected in a super decades long project. That makes me feel a lot better..I mean I know I’m missing ALOT going into CS first but I assumed I was missing almost 30 yrs of a super story. Lol
 

hopefully PS5 will give access to the ones I don’t have. PS3 has some Sky but not the full set and I didn’t see that Zero one at all back before I got CS set.

Also hopefully I ll just be finishing 3 when 4 hits PS later this year.

Edited June 9, 2020 by Briar King

[aneonfoxtribute]

Like I said, all the Sky games are on Steam and you have to play the Crossbell games on PC regardless since they are yet to be released in English officially. If you're worried that your PC isn't strong enough, it probably is. I think they're really low intensity due to the artstyle, since it's sprites instead of models. 

[Briar King]

PC kills my aging self so I’ll skip. With the power of cellphones though I suppose I could just watch a run through.

Hmm I may do that in free time for Sky just so I can start to understand y’all somewhat.

[Eluvianii]

It's not the best way to do it but it's valid. The most important part is the story so..

[Briar King]

Dang man the ambien just kicked...right in the midst of the exercise and rust hitting the fan afterwards...and I got to get off for night. I’m full circle now at any rate! Would love to know the reason for um absences..

i was expecting Sara to send Millium and Crow on a errand to full line up. Not the case so it just kinda feels strange..idk

[Briar King]

This fight is impossible 

Didnt like that. Went a few times. Finally just opened up S Crafts and Pan Emma.

Did the trick

Edited June 11, 2020 by Briar King

[Weltall]

So there have been a few Hajimari updates, including new chapters of Three and Nine, they've started doing downloadable wallpapers, the website updated with True Reverie Corridor information (mostly what was in the last reveals but it also includes one new Episode which looks like it's going to be Towa-centric) and there's details on shop-specific preorder goodies.

On 6/8/2020 at 5:52 PM, Briar King said:

Dang that’s ALOT blacked out. 

Yeah, Zemuria is a big place. We have a fairly good idea how they're gonna fill that map out though, based on comments Falcom's CEO has made about the number of planned future arcs and hints within the games themselves of where the story will be going next. And we're pretty much assuming we're never going to see everything personally, so some countries we know about like Ored are probably only going to be bits of background detail.

On 6/8/2020 at 6:41 PM, Briar King said:

Ah I see now. They had Dragon Slayer and another series then this current one on a new world. I thought they were ALL connected in a super decades long project. That makes me feel a lot better..I mean I know I’m missing ALOT going into CS first but I assumed I was missing almost 30 yrs of a super story. Lol
 

hopefully PS5 will give access to the ones I don’t have. PS3 has some Sky but not the full set and I didn’t see that Zero one at all back before I got CS set.

Yeah, Falcom likes making nods to other games but they aren't that crazily connected. The Dragon Slayer franchise is only connected thematically and even then, mostly just by the fact that each game features a sacred sword called the Dragon Slayer that's a focus of the story in some way. The first two Legend of Heroes games were part of this super-franchise (as 'Dragon Slayer: The Legend of Heroes I-II') and take place in one setting but have nothing to do with the other Dragon Slayer games or the later Legend of Heroes ones plotwise. The Gagharv Trilogy were Legend of Heroes III-V, dropped the Dragon Slayer label and take place in their own shared setting. The Kiseki/Trails games started out being numbered with Trails in the Sky being first released as Legend of Heroes VI: Trails in the Sky but they stopped officially numbering the games before the release of the first Crossbell game.

Falcom's also got the long-running Ys franchise which is its own thing and the Xanadu games which started as Dragon Slayer titles have also spun off into their own (equally loose) franchise. All three of their big franchises did actually cross over once in a game called Ys vs. Sora no Kiseki: Alternative Saga, with characters from Kiseki and Ys (plus one from Gagharv) in the Xanadu setting. It was a huge love letter to their fanbase with music taken from all their games, non-story character cameos from all their games and unlockable art from all their games, great fun. It was also very much not canonical to any of the games that went into it.

Regarding access to previous games, Falcom has ported the Crossbell games to PS4 so they should be playable on the PS5 as well. I wouldn't be surprised if the Sky games eventually get a similar port so the entire series can be played on one platform but that's just speculation right now.

On 6/8/2020 at 10:12 PM, Briar King said:

Dang man the ambien just kicked...right in the midst of the exercise and rust hitting the fan afterwards...and I got to get off for night. I’m full circle now at any rate! Would love to know the reason for um absences..

  Reveal hidden contents

i was expecting Sara to send Millium and Crow on a errand to full line up. Not the case so it just kinda feels strange..idk

 

Back to Garrelia I take it? Yeah, welcome to our reactions seven years ago. Wait, has it been that long already? xD

We have some ideas that might explain that in an in-universe context but they involve stuff from games you haven't played yet. The out of universe explanation is that they specifically wanted to hide those characters being there until the player saw them joining Class VII for themselves.

12 hours ago, Briar King said:

This fight is impossible 

Didnt like that. Went a few times. Finally just opened up S Crafts and Pan Emma.

Did the trick

Yeah, in the first two CS games, whenever you hit a wall you can almost always simply break it down with S-Craft spammage... as long as you do enough damage to win the fight, otherwise the cooldown afterwards leaves you vulnerable to a beatdown. Assuming we're thinking of the same fight, another thing to consider is that while most bosses resist status ailments very well, some of them are vulnerable to one or more. They won't last long against bosses but they can make a huge difference.

Edited June 11, 2020 by Weltall

[Briar King]

Oh. I was preparing myself for a tragic

Towa death at the conference but I guess not if she has an Ep in next series

Pan Emma can do more then double the damage a 200CP S Craft I find with a casual magic spell. I really should free up a extra space for another spell and take that Move 2 off that I had to put on early in game when I still had to use her melee 95% of the time or more.

[Briar King]

My goodness that coming back to school skit was longggggggg. 
 

oh joy I get to make my rounds multiple times again.

[Briar King]

Phew! Had to call it for awhile. My 4 pm play started right after the board meeting/classroom discussions.

Ive spent almost 2 hrs going from person to person talking finally getting to my free day and starting all over. I had every intention in getting all the talking out of the way before I began working on quest. Failure.

I still quite a few I need to speak to before I start but for now time out...

[Briar King]

Oh man I love having Criminal Alisa! I haven’t teamed her up with Pan Emma yet but dang that’s gotta be a super team. That 90% critical chance is beastly.

[Briar King]

I want to start CS2 so bad already!

On Ch 6 now about to leave for field study after I make my dialogue rounds. But that won’t be till tomorrow. Dr trip to TX in AM so early ambien night.

Ive got to be getting near the end id think but I am only on lvl 55 or so all round so still far to go if 99 or 100 is max.

[aneonfoxtribute]

I think 100 is max but you're not gonna get there unless you grind. You end the game at a far lower level. And if you want to start CS2 bad now....

[Weltall]

While we haven't had a formal update yet this week, Falcom recently shared images from the Zemurian Heroes calendar that comes with the LE and it contained two very neat surprises. First, a group shot of all the Eight Leaves One Blade practitioners we've met so far, which includes (minor CS4 spoiler)

Spoiler

Anelace, rocking her new look from her cameo at the end of CS4. I've got my fingers crossed that she shows up in Hajimari but if not there, she's definitely gearing up for a role in Calvard.

The other thing 'hidden' in the pictures is a piece showing an unknown red-haired individual standing in a street with a distinct Eastern look to it. The odds are pretty good they're teasing a major character (possibly even the protagonist) of the upcoming Calvard arc. 'Hidden' because Falcom's very careful about this kind of thing so they obviously want us to see it and go nuts speculating, just like when they teased concept art of a certain character during Cold Steel 1's development. Anyhow, hype levels increasing.

15 hours ago, Briar King said:

I want to start CS2 so bad already!

<gets popcorn ready>

Quote

Ive got to be getting near the end id think but I am only on lvl 55 or so all round so still far to go if 99 or 100 is max.

Every Trails game has a level cap that is far in excess of where the player is going to be by the time they finish the game, varying from about ten levels at the low end to fifty or so on the upper end. The Cold Steel games tend towards the latter end of the scale.

Edited June 17, 2020 by Weltall