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

Those higher element turn icons can be the worst.

Most of the time if I see a single Deathblow or Vanish icon on an enemy I instantly use Randy's AOE S craft to end the battle. Or whoever has a AOE and is also equipped with a Gladiator Headband or Belt.

Edited by 32ndfreeze on Mar 1st 2019 at 1:29:26 AM

Deathblow's aren't so bad because I have Holy Chain's equipped on everyone at all times. But Vanish is the worst.

So I'm at something of an impasse. I just beat Maribell and got to the final boss, but after spending close to an hour fighting Maribell, I can't bring myself to go straight into what's sure to be an incredibly difficult and long boss fight with multiple phases. And yet if I don't do it right now, I'd have to fight Maribell again because they didn't let me save the game inbetween. I really don't want to do this, but I have might to look up the ending on Youtube if I can't bring myself to finish it.

I don't know what difficulty you're on but I just cheesed it on easy mode after I got frustrated with the final boss.

Was able to work up enough muster to try fighting the final boss.

Key word being 'try'.

This is one of the stupidist things I've ever seen.

So that's Ao. After several years and seven games, I'm finally caught up with Kiseki. And I don't regret a moment of it. Now to just wait for Cold Steel III.

So my thoughts on the Crossbell Duology. Gameplay wise it's good as ever. While it doesn't have the same refinements as Cold Steel (and why would it?), it nonetheless improves the formula from the Sky Games and is still fun and engaging. I just wish it wouldn't have enemies blocking so many status effects in the late game, but that's about it.

Story-wise I enjoyed it, though I'm not sure it's the best of the best like some say it is. The highlight is when Dieter turns Crossbell into a dictatorship and all hell breaks loose, but it takes a while to get there. Not that it's a problem with the pacing, because in that department it beats Sky hands down. But after going through Cold Steel II where it tossed you straight into the thick of it from the get-go, it's a bit of a letdown. (Then again, Zero and Ao came first, but still.)

That said, the biggest issue is Lloyd. For the record, I actually like Lloyd. In terms of his personality, he's probably a better character than Rean. The problem is that he doesn't have much of an arc. This wouldn't be so noticeable if the Sky and Cold Steel protagonists were the same way, but they aren't. Estelle has to learn to stand on her own two feet and not rely on Joshua so much. Kevin has to face his past and start trusting in others in order to forgive himself and move forward. And Rean has to start living for himself and have some damn self-confidence.

Lloyd doesn't have anything of the sort. The obvious route would have been to play up the dead brother plot a lot more than they did and tie his character development into that, but I guess that would've been too cliche. That's not to say Lloyd doesn't have any growth at all, but it's a lot more subtle than Estelle or Rean, mostly having him become a more capable police officer and striving for the truth. Surprisingly, Randy got the lion's share of the development here compared to Lloyd. Again, I still like Lloyd. But he could have benefited immensely from having a clearly defined arc.

Aside from that, Tio felt underutilised after Zero while Noel felt underutilised for nearly the whole duology, and Dudley was a glorified supporting character. But in spite of that, it's not enough to outweigh the pros, and there are a LOT of pros. And the message at the end is surprisingly understated and mature. Of the three arcs so far, it's probably on par with Cold Steel I&II if only because it has a far greater sense of closure. But I think Sky might still take the cake.

Edited by kkhohoho on Mar 5th 2019 at 8:01:39 AM

I am like, 80-90% certain that Dudley was only playable because they needed someone to default to Time arts.

Come to think of it Arios has them too.

You know, if it wasn't for the fact Estelle and Joshua appear in Crossbell, if you played it first that'd be a hint to Joshua's secret in FC.

Man, it's been a while. With the announcement of CSIII for a NA release, I was gonna start replaying the series from the start.

So, what's the overall consensus with how the Erebonia arc ended? Did we finally found out who's the Grandmaster? What the hell is Osborne's end goal? Did Rean finally pork Sara?

C'mon, give me all the juicy details!

BTW, I had forgotten how hideous the third game's OP was:

Not that the fourth has much better animation, but the better direction and more frequent cuts makes it actually fun to watch.

Edited by HailMuffins on Mar 7th 2019 at 7:26:05 AM

To put it concisely: No idea on consensus because the majority who actually played the game speak a different language, Grandmaster is a blue-haired woman we've never seen, and Osborne wanted to get rid of the asshole eldritch being who's been annoying everyone for decades.

Edited by LordVatek on Mar 7th 2019 at 1:43:11 PM

New info.

I just hope this doesn't result in a lack of quality control. If they really are splitting the team up, then that might result in a general lack of polish or consistency all around. But maybe I'm reading too much into it.

Calvard confirmed!

I'm curious about the filler (for lack of a better term) games.

I'm guessing they'll be tackling places like Leman State and Remiferia.

Edited by LordVatek on Mar 11th 2019 at 3:45:13 PM

That's assuming we don't get something like Trails the 3rd was to the Sky Trilogy.

Cold Steel 5 starring Duvalie on her quest to get back at everybody who made fun of her.

Edited by Anomalocaris20 on Mar 11th 2019 at 3:59:26 PM

Dude, such a game would be bigger than the entire seriea thus far!

From what I've heard on the Falcom reddit, it seems more like side material rather than a full side campaign game. Interviews around the time of CS 3 mention they'd like to do some epilogue material.

I'd like to know more about Remiferia though. I know a lot are wanting Leman, but I'm not really sure what could be done there given how peaceful it is.

Okay this is completely off-subject but I started up Cold Steel II to check something but uh...

Has Tio always been the game icon?◊

Edited by LordVatek on Mar 11th 2019 at 5:36:34 AM

You're right, it should be KeA in the penguin costume.

Liberl was peaceful after the war with Erebonia, and look how that turned out.

Leman is close to where Arteria is, right? I'm wondering if that might be Grand Finale tier stuff.

Okay that one is new for me, the hell's Arteria? Is it one of the countries East of Calvard?

Speaking of which, Calvard is greatly based on the US (if with a East Asia aesthetic) and it has been mentioned that it suffers from a severe immigrant problem.

Likely accidental at the time it was first conceptualized, obviously, but I wonder how Falcom will deal with the pretty obvious Real Life Subtext.

Edited by HailMuffins on Mar 11th 2019 at 8:20:02 AM

The Holy City of the Septian Church.

Wait, I thought that was Remiferia?