Trails franchise (Trails In The Sky, Trails Of Cold Steel etc)

It might be another interim arc before Calvard.

They did mention that Lenam State might be a possibility. They might want to do something smaller-scale after a big four-game saga.

I've started playing Trails in the Sky SC, but I've encountered a persistent crashing issue, and I was wondering if anyone else had seen anything similar.

At the start of the game, right after beating Kurt where the game fades to black as Estelle and Analace head to bed, I get a little audio stutter and then the game crashes.

I've been looking up solutions for the past 3 hours or so, but haven't seen anyone with my exact issue. Generally I just see random crashes or crashing while alt tabbing as the errors.

The common fixes I've found so far haven't worked. I've tried Windowed Mode, changing the Fonts to Low Res, and both Dx 8 and Dx 9 to no result. Also updating my drivers.

It's probably a long shot, but if anyone here had the same issue advice on what they did would be super helpful.

EDIT: Wow, turns out the first thing I should have done fixed it.

Validated the files on Steam and it turned out a major file was corrupted and had to be reinstalled. I'd say I wasted 3 hours, but at least I learned what I should do first next time :P

EDIT 2:

Chapter 1 is done!

This game has a slightly different feel to FC in the way the plot beats feel.

Just in how the game feels like locked to one area, even if it still is, because of visiting Ruan for the second time.

As always, I'm unsure precisely how much of the information name dropped in the end of chapter sequences are setup for a later chapter and how much is for a different game.

I might need a notepad to take down notes on the various members of Ouroborus

I'm not sure if the game would have forced me with Agate, but I picked him because I thought it would be better for Estelle's development. Working with a senior bracer who's not her old mentor.

EDIT 3: I think I hate that merchant escort quest in Chapter 6 the most. There is no way to get the extra BP without Haze.

Tita has my Haze Quartz, so that's an hour of redoing stuff just because I unknowingly sent her away with it :/

EDIT 4: Whew, I think today was my most productive Trails day in a string of days just like it.

Started at the beginning of Chapter 6 and ended off at the start of the Finale.

I am glad to have Kloe back since she's by far my strongest party member with her super strong water Arts.

It was a pain, but I actually enjoyed the Gilbert fight. Ended up beating it with a combination of food items for damage + Faint and getting lucky with enemy movements. The Emergency Puppet from the start of the game was also essential to let me Barrage a stray enemy and then use it again to finish the fight.

Helmsmen Lux is also the unsung MVP of this portion of the game.

Man literally saved everyone's lives with his top tier flying.

Edited by 32ndfreeze on Jan 4th 2019 at 1:43:07 AM

Finished Trails in the Sky SC! Some spoilers below if you haven't played.

Whew, that was a fast and wild ride. 7 days is a pretty fast pace which I think is a testament to the gripping story.

I really really enjoyed the last chapter.

First of all, I'm a massive fan of Kloe's heir to the throne clothes. So I was super happy she had them permanently in the Final Chapter.

I also very much enjoy the atmosphere and design of the final area. Not just aesthetically, but I really like searching out all the equipment for your characters as you go.

The added characters was a bit overwhelming though. I heard something about 3rd being shorter different stories? So maybe the fact I got a bunch of new party members is related to that?

I just ended up using Kloe and Schera for the end. Kloe because she's my favorite party member and Schera because her +AT Whip is so so useful when everyone is at +50% speed.

I did miss Zin's dialogue with Direwolf, and I hadn't saved in a while. So I checked a Youtube play-though of the fight before moving on. I wish they'd give you a chance to swap party members going into his and Luci's fights. That and having members at the base of the tower instead of back at the ship.

The data crystals were fantastic. I'd been waiting for them for the last two chapters. I love that sort of stuff in games.

The Gospel creation tripped me up a bit. Seeing Weissman and Astray made me think there might be a connection between the Professor and Liber Ark. Like him being the one member of the team who got discovered by the Aureole. But I guess that choice was just meant to be from Estelle's POV.

The other thing that made me think they were connected was the enhancement beds in both the Society's ship and the Aureole. I wonder where the Society got the information on the Gospels plus the enhancement technology. Maybe 3rd will go into it.

Another detail I loved was how the the Axis Pillar was half full of defense technology, and half of inter-dimensional parasites. That's just a really cool bit of world-building.

Same with how several monsters and humans use totally different magic systems. I presume the reason the Orbal system is so widespread is either because of one of the Sept-Terrions was involved, or just because its very user friendly, since anyone can use it.

Speaking of, I'm presuming the Sept-Terrions are a very big thing in the franchise, and with only 9 games I high doubt all have been revealed yet. I'll be interested to learn about any others. Since I doubt they're all sealed as totally as the Aureole. It's be really interesting and a plot twist I could see happening if at least one is hidden in plain sight.

One last thing I want to say I appreciate. The existence of Turbo Mode. My save file had 67 hours on it when I finished the game, but only 53 on Steam.

Saving 14 hours of battle animations and walking is just fantastic, and I wish more games would copy this feature.

Edited by 32ndfreeze on Jan 5th 2019 at 12:18:18 AM

Not all the Treasures of Aidios have been found yet, but as of now we definitely know several more. Also a lot more about the inner workings of Ouroboros.

Just got my final Steam achievement for Trails FC, along with max Bracer Points, and am ready to move on to Second Chapter.

Anything I should know going in? How easy is it to transfer my clear data from FC to SC on Steam?

Edited by Anomalocaris20 on Jan 9th 2019 at 6:29:05 AM

As long as you have a post-final boss data, it should ask you if you want to transfer automatically once you choose a new game.

Edited by LordVatek on Jan 9th 2019 at 6:54:35 AM

Yeah, my understanding is that, on Steam, FC doesn't even need to be installed for it to work, since it will simply fetch FC's save data from the cloud for you.

Don't ever, ever play on Hard without a new game plus. The middle of the game evens out, but the early and end of the game are brutal.

Started Trails in the Sky 3rd today. I'm only a few hours in so far.

So I guess the gameplay of this is simpler than the previous two games, since so far I've only had freedom in the crystal labyrinth and not while in flashbacks. In terms of quests and time sensitive events.

I don't mind that really, it works for what this game seems to be doing so far.

I'm already at 4 party members, with Julia having just joined, so I guess I'll probably be rapidly accruing a large party for the different doors. A quick google on missables before I started told me that as long as I don't sell off one off items/quartz I won't miss any doors, which is nice.

I'll admit, I don't enjoy having too large a party. It bugged me a lot at the end of SC when the party size ballooned out. But knowing I'll need certain members for doors is a comfort. Prevents me from never using certain members (Like Zin in SC).

I shouldn't be surprised, but I enjoyed the writing quality in Tita's first door. And don't think I didn't notice her plan to win over Renne is literally episode 10 of Lyrical Nanoha.

Also the tidbits of Grail Knight lore is super interesting. I'm assuming there have been loads of disasters in the past due to artifacts, which is why the Church has such widespread treaties. I can sympathize with Erika though, since there does seem to be some information the church is hiding. I wonder if that has something to do with her goal as an engineer?

Edited by 32ndfreeze on Jan 11th 2019 at 10:30:08 PM

I just fought Cid in Second Chapter.

Is there a single living soul in Liberl whom Cassius DIDN'T mentor? Estelle's gonna meet Aidios Herself one day and the goddess is going to immediately reminisce over her days training under Cassius Bright.

Well, there's Cassius' master...

Also I love her outfit from SC onward.

Just got to Chapter 5 in Ao and HOLY SHIT!

Don't know what else to say really. Might be one of the biggest Wham Episodes in the franchise.

Also has shades of Brexit and the Trump administration. Talk about prescient.

I only just cleared the second chapter of Second Chapter myself.

Walter the Direwolf is a sharp dresser.

The second half of Ao in general has some of my favorite moments in the series.

Finally!

Edited by LordVatek on Jan 17th 2019 at 9:21:09 AM

...Fuck. Better finish Ao stat.

hold on why is NIS America publishing

Apparently they're the new go to for Falcom titles. XSEED lost the people who were really passionate about the series recently though, so I'm not sure what difference it really makes. I'm glad Sean Chiplock is back either way.

Here's the press release by the way.

The bolded part is really interesting.

So...will there be a Steam release?

Probably eventually. The Steam releases of the first two Cold Steel games didn't come out until two years after they had been released on PS3.

What I'm wondering is if, since NISA is doing it this time, we'll see a Switch release.

Edited by LordVatek on Jan 17th 2019 at 9:44:08 AM

Well there is already a typo in their twitter hashtag...

https://twitter.com/nisamerica/status/1085899542262894593?s=21

.... #Trials Of Cold Steel III.... nope nope NOPE.

Maybe Xseed will get the pc release and fix the MASSIVE amount of typos and mistranslations that will be incoming.

Edited by Memers on Jan 17th 2019 at 6:53:01 AM

They fixed the hashtag.

Which is ironically what happened with Ys VIII.

Great, NIS will ruin Cold Steel III just like they did with Ys VIII.

Also according to someone who spoke with NISA, localizations of the Crossbell games are on the table and in discussions with Falcom.

Edited by LordVatek on Jan 17th 2019 at 11:29:21 AM