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[Fhoenix]

SnK Evo's OST seems okay to me. I liked the old non-vocal op, so I will miss it, but otherwise the changes don't seem that drastic. And I have to agree, first chapter had some very good music, but it also had a lot of plain melodies and rearranging those seems like a good move. Haven't played non-evo version of Zero so no idea if original music was better there.

Started Ao and almost got owned by slimes in prologue due to instant death turn bonuses. Had only two characters in the party, got into a chain battle with enemy advantage. On the first turn the enemy got instant death bonus and killed Lloyd. I really should have resurrected, instead I killed the slime. Second battle comes, three slimes with another instant death turn bonus. Thanks Eidos I had a turn to react and resurrect Lloyd so he could be taken out again. Stupid instant death, stupidly spoiling my battle record -_-
On the other hand, battle music is good and animations can be skipped so hurray for Ao.

 

[clay_ghost]

I just started Chapter 5

About the chapters before
:0

How did i not see most of these coming i have no idea.

:0

Spoiler

i always thought that something was wrong but did not think too much about the hints like no alcoholic drinks etc

 

[zadig]

I'm thinking of starting Sen no Kiseki, but I was wondering whether it has any easily missable things/quests that would need a guide? I usually talk to every NPC I can find (sometimes multiple times :\ ), but some games have really obscure/counter-intuitive side quests so I'm hoping this won't be one of them.

 

[Primus]

Couple of bits from XSeed on FB, saying that Trails in the Sky SC has slipped past its "summer" release timeframe and will be closer to Cold Steel's November release. Can't link to the posts directly, but they're in the Legend of Heroes: Trails Series page.

Still looking a couple months out, so by any non-global warming definition "summer" is likely a no-go.

Good point - release date of SC and Cold Steel could be much closer than we had anticipated with SC falling behind (again) and Cold Steel seemingly on track. Something we will need to consider, but can't see any benefit to delaying either title (especially as we're close to being lynched by fan outcry as it is).

 

[Bebpo]

Nayuta

As I get further into this, it's becoming more and more like a solid Ys title with fairly good stages and fun bosses. Nice art and music. I think I'm liking it better than Celceta...(wasn't much of a fan of Celceta, but it was solid)

But I just did this guy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbjc_NtpriU

And I dunno...he was kind of bullshit. Like the guy in the one comment who said he was doing 1 damage, I was doing about 6-7 damage per hit at lvl.14 with what I thought was the strongest weapon available at the time, and was depending on the ice nova magic that powers up your physical attacks to do 30-40 damage-ish per hit. So fight took a while while waiting for magic to recharge. Meanwhile the hold X grab little green bubbles + camera were pretty finnicky and it made the 3rd part kind of a pain. Maybe I needed to go back to the shop right before the boss fight and see if they had any newer/stronger weapons? Lesson learned for the remaining bosses. It's kind of bad where if you don't have the strongest weapon you're fine for the normal enemies but then you get to a boss and are doing 1 damage per hit and they have thousands of HP. Seems like a balancing issue.

 

[Primus]

New Trails in the Sky SC localization blog coming tomorrow.

 

[Gu4n]

I'm thinking of starting Sen no Kiseki, but I was wondering whether it has any easily missable things/quests that would need a guide? I usually talk to every NPC I can find (sometimes multiple times :\ ), but some games have really obscure/counter-intuitive side quests so I'm hoping this won't be one of them.

This is most certainly one of those games. Kiseki titles tend to give insignificant NPCs items that you can only get during small time frames, usually when something major is happening and you really not want to think about completing your book series.

 

[Asd202]

New Trails in the Sky SC localization blog coming tomorrow.

Release date or a delay? My money is on a delay.

 

[Gu4n]

Release date or a delay? My money is on a delay.

Neither. Insight into the hardships and issues they've ran into.

 

[max_505]

New Trails in the Sky SC localization blog coming tomorrow.

Gonna get my pancakes and eggs ready for tomorrow. Dis gonna be a good read.

 

[Primus]

The localization blog is up.

TL;DR - Trails in the Sky SC has become Shiva, Destroyer of XSEED. Also, no release date.

 

[Mauricio_Magus]

The localization blog is up.

TL;DR - Trails in the Sky SC has become Shiva, Destroyer of XSEED. Also, no release date.

well, that was expected.

 

[Tenebrous]

Playing Trails in the Sky at the moment. Just finished Act II, so no spoilers, please...

Spoiler

I was really hoping Joshua & Estelle would remain in a sibling-type platonic relationship, but the more I play, the more the game is (seemingly) pushing towards a romance between the pair of them. Maybe it's just me, but it just feels a tad... Weird. Does every RPG nowadays need a romance? I thought the brother/sister thing was not only more interesting, but more unique to boot.

Please don't tell me if I'm right or wrong, though.

That aside, this is definitely the JRPG I was looking for when trying to rediscover my love for the genre I abandoned over a decade ago. Really enjoying my time with it.

 

[LordGorchnik]

Playing Trails in the Sky at the moment. Just finished Act II, so no spoilers, please...

Spoiler

I was really hoping Joshua & Estelle would remain in a sibling-type platonic relationship, but the more I play, the more the game is (seemingly) pushing towards a romance between the pair of them. Maybe it's just me, but it just feels a tad... Weird. Does every RPG nowadays need a romance? I thought the brother/sister thing was not only more interesting, but more unique to boot.

That aside, this is definitely the JRPG I was looking for when trying to rediscover my love for the genre I abandoned over a decade ago. Really enjoying my time with it.

Since you said no spoilers I will just say this; Trails in the Sky is one of the few jRPGs in the past 10-15 years that does what you are worried about right. Just keep playing, you won't be disappointed. Especially since you just completed Act II. And yes, almost every RPG needs a romance nowadays. Both wRPGs and jRPGs are embracing it.

If you do want spoilers then keep reading:

Spoiler

The relationship does turn into a full-bloom "love me, love you" one although it goes through it's share of roadblocks. However you are going to have to go through Second Chapter to see it all. Again though, it does everything right and doesn't turn into one of those creepy, "But we're not blood-related so its okay" kind of relationships that you have seen if you've watched any harem anime in the past decade. Since you said you just completed act II it starts to ramp up even more. Prepare thyself

 

[Tigerfog]

I'm almost done with Zero no Kiseki (PSP version) and I'm about to buy Ao no Kiseki.
Also, I'm going to Japan for holidays so now's a good time to look for that game.

Is there a reason I should pick Ao no Kiseki on PSP over the Vita version?
Can I switch to the old soundtrack in the Vita version?
Which version has less bugs?
Also, if I prefer a game that's true to the vision of the creators vs a game that has more content... is it worth choosing the PSP version over the VITA version?

 

[Tenebrous]

Since you said no spoilers I will just say this; Trails in the Sky is one of the few jRPGs in the past 10-15 years that does what you are worried about right. Just keep playing, you won't be disappointed. Especially since you just completed Act II. And yes, almost every RPG needs a romance nowadays. Both wRPGs and jRPGs are embracing it.

If you do want spoilers then keep reading:

I just caught the first bit of your spoilered part while quoting your post, haha.

Spoiler

That doesn't surprise me at all, though.

As I've said in this and other threads, I kinda got disillusioned with traditional JRPGs after Squaresoft's PS2 games just destroyed my love for them. I tried (and failed) with SMT & Persona multiple times, while being put off some of the more anime games...

That being said...

Spoiler

I like the romance in Valkyria Chronicles, and I love the romance in Final Fantasy IX. Is TitS of similar quality? I feel both those games did it right, so if this can come close, then cool.

Also,

Spoiler

Where the fuck is Cassius?! Don't tell me, of course, but damn it's doing my head in trying to figure it out, haha. And I want Scherazard back...

 

[SolVanderlyn]

I have to say, the Crossbell games have my favorite character designs/overall aesthetic feel to them. It's so bright and colorful, and I love the more modern feel of Crossbell.

I really hope SC is localized before Sen/Cold Steel, but it's looking somewhat unlikely now...

 

[Varion]

Can I switch to the old soundtrack in the Vita version?

Nope.

Which version has less bugs?

Vita one. Honestly I never ran into most of the bugs that some people did with the PSP version (some of which were really quite serious), but I did run into a couple, including falling through the floor once in the final dungeon and the entire party fusing into one character at one point and acting out an entire cutscene alone. As far as I'm aware the Vita version is basically bug free though.

Also, if I prefer a game that's true to the vision of the creators vs a game that has more content... is it worth choosing the PSP version over the VITA version?

Sure. The added quests and the like generally aren't worth bothering with and just feel like filler. There is one other thing that I feel like the PSP version did better, but it's a huge spoiler so I'm not going to say. When you've finished either version you can ask if you're curious, though.

Honestly, for Ao, I'd probably just go with the Vita version, while I'd say the opposite for Zero because I'm really not fond of the soundtrack arranges. Ao's fared better generally, with a few really standout arranges like Unfathomed Force and the first dungeon theme (which is amazing), and between the lack of bugs, higher resolution and voice acting, the less stellar arranges aren't lacking enough to be worth choosing the PSP one because of. It'd mean you couldn't carry your save over though, which is another thing to consider I guess.

 

[Sitrus]

Nope.

Wrong, It's DLC though so you need a JP PSN to download it for 1000 yen.

 

[LordGorchnik]

I just caught the first bit of your spoilered part while quoting your post, haha.

Spoiler

That doesn't surprise me at all, though.

As I've said in this and other threads, I kinda got disillusioned with traditional JRPGs after Squaresoft's PS2 games just destroyed my love for them. I tried (and failed) with SMT & Persona multiple times, while being put off some of the more anime games...

That being said...

Spoiler

I like the romance in Valkyria Chronicles, and I love the romance in Final Fantasy IX. Is TitS of similar quality? I feel both those games did it right, so if this can come close, then cool.

Also,

Spoiler

Where the fuck is Cassius?! Don't tell me, of course, but damn it's doing my head in trying to figure it out, haha. And I want Scherazard back...

TitS love story is nothing like Square-Enix's romances (FFVIII, IX, X, etc), nor is it like any of the Persona romances/high-school sweetheart foolishness. I wouldn't quite say it's like the love story you have in the spoilered part of your post but it's still good nonetheless.

And to answer your second question.....

Spoiler

being awesome. In Liberl, Cassius finds YOU!

 

[Varion]

Wrong, It's DLC though so you need a JP PSN to download it for 1000 yen.

Is it? As far as I know that's just FC Evo, not Ao (which is what he was asking about). Got the JP PSN store up at the moment and I can't find any DLC for Zero or Ao at all.

 

[Tenebrous]

TitS love story is nothing like Square-Enix's romances (FFVIII, IX, X, etc), nor is it like any of the Persona romances/high-school sweetheart foolishness. I wouldn't quite say it's like the love story you have in the spoilered part of your post but it's still good nonetheless.

And to answer your second question.....

Spoiler

being awesome. In Liberl, Cassius finds YOU!

Finished Trails in the Sky now.

Spoiler

I'm still not sold on the romance. I predicted quite a bit of Joshua's past, but somehow didn't pick up on Prof. Alba... Also found the final few encounters to be disappointing. The three fights took over an hour, but never really posed any sort of threat to my level 33~ party (Estelle/Joshua/Kloe/Olivier). Still, I'm looking forward to seeing how it plays out in the sequel... Unlike Final Fantasy X-2, I actually want to get Joshua back, haha.

None spoiler thoughts? I really enjoyed my time with the game. The combat is classic but fresh, and the well put together story is backed up by a cast I found fun & no doubt memorable. It's pretty much exactly what I was looking for when trying to get back into JRPGs, and I think I'm going to go through it again on NG+... Can you get all the Steam achievements during a NG+ playthrough, or do I have to start all over again? Either way is good.

 

[Dragoon En Regalia]

Finished Trails in the Sky now.

Spoiler

The three fights took over an hour, but never really posed any sort of threat to my level 33~ party (Estelle/Joshua/Kloe/Olivier).

You used arguably the most powerful end-game party available to you, so yeah, even at that level you were going to be well-suited. A character like Tita, for example, would have been more useful if the final battles involved more than a few enemies at once.

As for the romance, I'm sold, but it's going to need a lot of development and tension for it to stay interesting.

 

[Sitrus]

Is it? As far as I know that's just FC Evo, not Ao (which is what he was asking about). Got the JP PSN store up at the moment and I can't find any DLC for Zero or Ao at all.

Ah sorry, thought you were talking about FC! My bad

 

[Tenebrous]

You used arguably the most powerful end-game party available to you, so yeah, even at that level you were going to be well-suited. A character like Tita, for example, would have been more useful if the final battles involved more than a few enemies at once.

As for the romance, I'm sold, but it's going to need a lot of development and tension for it to stay interesting.

I did? I took Kloe for her heals and that worked out well, but Olivier did pretty much nothing except contribute to interrupts whenever possible. I wish I'd taken someone with a bit more "Attack" damage, but hey, it's already done.

Roll on chapter 2.

 

[Gu4n]

I did? I took Kloe for her heals and that worked out well, but Olivier did pretty much nothing except contribute to interrupts whenever possible. I wish I'd taken someone with a bit more "Attack" damage, but hey, it's already done.

Roll on chapter 2.

Olivier has the highest ATS stat of all party members, so if you boost that with some Quartz and work toward some powerful Arts, you would have no need for physical attacks. I used Estelle for interruption and (de)buffing.

 

[Inuhanyou]

I wanna get Trails of Cold Steel when it comes to the US. I have never played any Trails game or anything related to it. Is this fine for understanding the story of Cold steel?

 

[coredecepts]

I wanna get Trails of Cold Steel when it comes to the US. I have never played any Trails game or anything related to it. Is this fine for understanding the story of Cold steel?

According to XSEED and Falcom, any of the initial entries in the Trails "series of series" is a good starting point. This is because the story of each series does not rely on knowledge of the other series, if that makes sense.

Kind of like the various Star Trek series and movies, if you're familiar with that. You can watch The Next Generation without having watched anything else, and you'll be fine, but you will probably pick up on references and worldbuilding if you've seen other Star Trek stuff.

So you can start with Trails of Cold Steel if you want. You'll have a slightly different experience than people who started with Trails in the Sky, but you will be able to understand things just fine.

But consider getting Trails in the Sky if you have the time/inclination. Depending on how much time you have to play, it should be possible to get through Trails in the Sky 1 before SC releases. The first game is really good!

 

[Bebpo]

Nayuta no Kiseki

I love how the main character in this is actually intelligent. It's about the only thing that reminds me of Kiseki (although Kiseki has its share of dumb blind character moments to be fair). At the end of chapter 5:

Spoiler

When the white haired sword guy shows up and the main guy is like "You're Signa, right" that is SO MUCH BETTER than playing a game and the masked bad guy shows up and goes "AHA I AM SIGNA" and the main guy goes "Nooooooo, how can that be!??!". It's just so nice for a character to figure things out before having to have things explained to him.

I'm on Ch.6 now and this is a damn fine game. It definitely is slow and baby-ish for the first few hours, but by about midway it's a real fun action game with good level design, cool challenging bosses (although the vertical ball boss was a joke for some reason), great music and great art design. Even the cutscene direction is good and relieves my fears that once Kiseki went 3d, the cutscenes would lose impact and style. The story's not bad for an arpg either. At this point it's definitely a better action rpg than Ys: Celceta and probably Ys VII imo, they should have just called this Ys VIII and upped the difficulty in the first few chapters, would have been received quite well but I guess the Kiseki name gave it better sales.

Looking forward to finishing it up this weekend.

 

[Inuhanyou]

According to XSEED and Falcom, any of the initial entries in the Trails "series of series" is a good starting point. This is because the story of each series does not rely on knowledge of the other series, if that makes sense.

Kind of like the various Star Trek series and movies, if you're familiar with that. You can watch The Next Generation without having watched anything else, and you'll be fine, but you will probably pick up on references and worldbuilding if you've seen other Star Trek stuff.

So you can start with Trails of Cold Steel if you want. You'll have a slightly different experience than people who started with Trails in the Sky, but you will be able to understand things just fine.

But consider getting Trails in the Sky if you have the time/inclination. Depending on how much time you have to play, it should be possible to get through Trails in the Sky 1 before SC releases. The first game is really good!

Thanks for the information.

 

[Bebpo]

Nayuta no Kiseki

Finished up Nayuta no Kiseki and well, that was a pretty rad game. The music is great and it did a good job getting you pumped for boss fights. Lots of good stages and bosses throughout. After-story stuff is kind of eh, but main game is great and the added content just makes the game pretty content heavy for those who want more.

Definitely my favorite action rpg since PS1/PS2/Ys Oath days. I'd be down for more Falcom games like this and less like Gurumin and stuff. Wonder if Tokyo Xanadu will be a game action rpg.

 

[max_505]

Nayuta no Kiseki

Finished up Nayuta no Kiseki and well, that was a pretty rad game. The music is great and it did a good job getting you pumped for boss fights. Lots of good stages and bosses throughout. After-story stuff is kind of eh, but main game is great and the added content just makes the game pretty content heavy for those who want more.

Definitely my favorite action rpg since PS1/PS2/Ys Oath days. I'd be down for more Falcom games like this and less like Gurumin and stuff. Wonder if Tokyo Xanadu will be a game action rpg.

I've been constantly putting off Nayuta for a couple of months now because the early part was a bit meh, but it looks like it improves as the game goes on. Maybe I'll give it a second chance.

 

[Bebpo]

I've been constantly putting off Nayuta for a couple of months now because the early part was a bit meh, but it looks like it improves as the game goes on. Maybe I'll give it a second chance.

Yeah, the more abilities they add the more interesting the gameplay gets, and as the challenge ramps up (although for some reason the last few bosses are kind of easy, which is weird) it gets really fun. The music and art design keep getting better too.

Once you get the

Spoiler

dash wheel

ability, the game flows really smoothly. My only complaint is that some of the platforming is a bit iffy to judge depth-wise.

 

[Tigerfog]

Nope.

Vita one. Honestly I never ran into most of the bugs that some people did with the PSP version (some of which were really quite serious), but I did run into a couple, including falling through the floor once in the final dungeon and the entire party fusing into one character at one point and acting out an entire cutscene alone. As far as I'm aware the Vita version is basically bug free though.

Sure. The added quests and the like generally aren't worth bothering with and just feel like filler. There is one other thing that I feel like the PSP version did better, but it's a huge spoiler so I'm not going to say. When you've finished either version you can ask if you're curious, though.

Honestly, for Ao, I'd probably just go with the Vita version, while I'd say the opposite for Zero because I'm really not fond of the soundtrack arranges. Ao's fared better generally, with a few really standout arranges like Unfathomed Force and the first dungeon theme (which is amazing), and between the lack of bugs, higher resolution and voice acting, the less stellar arranges aren't lacking enough to be worth choosing the PSP one because of. It'd mean you couldn't carry your save over though, which is another thing to consider I guess.

Thank you very much for the suggestions.
I came back from Japan with a ton of games. I think I pretty much have all the Eiyuu Densetsu games now! Bought them all used though.

-(PSP) Ao no kiseki
-(PSP) Nayuta no kiseki
-(PSP) Ys vs Kiseki - Alternative Saga
-(VITA) Sen no kiseki
-(VITA) Sen no kiseki 2

I know you suggested me to get the VITA version of Ao no kiseki, but some reason, that version was more expensive than a used VITA copy of Sen no Kiseki 2. Even with its bugs, I guess I'll stick to the PSP version of Ao. Also, the PSP games were 500 yen tops, haha.
Also, I got the two Sen games on VITA, despite initally hearing about terrible loading times compared to the PS3 version. Portability is much more important to me.

 

[Rockman Wright]

Yeah, the more abilities they add the more interesting the gameplay gets, and as the challenge ramps up (although for some reason the last few bosses are kind of easy, which is weird) it gets really fun. The music and art design keep getting better too.

Once you get the

Spoiler

dash wheel

ability, the game flows really smoothly. My only complaint is that some of the platforming is a bit iffy to judge depth-wise.

I finished nayuta one week ago, and i fucking loved it! A true YS gameplay, for me it was better than ys seven and celceta (the jump is the main reason, that's why i'm really pumped for YS 8)

 

[Bebpo]

Ao no Kiseki Evolution

I started this last night as a treat to myself, although I don't really have time to play it for a few weeks because I'm finishing up other stuff, and when I saw the opening movie and

Spoiler

Kevin

appeared, I squealed. I don't think I've ever squealed before in my life, but that was the happiest moment I've had with a videogame. Goes to show how well developed the Kiseki cast is that

Spoiler

you get total joy just knowing that a character is going to have some presence in the new game.

 

[Gu4n]

Ao no Kiseki Evolution

I started this last night as a treat to myself, although I don't really have time to play it for a few weeks because I'm finishing up other stuff, and when I saw the opening movie and

Spoiler

Kevin

appeared, I squealed. I don't think I've ever squealed before in my life, but that was the happiest moment I've had with a videogame. Goes to show how well developed the Kiseki cast is that

Spoiler

you get total joy just knowing that a character is going to have some presence in the new game.

I also squealed. Are you playing Ao vanilla or Evo?

Have fun, I'll be following your posts here!

 

[Bebpo]

I also squealed. Are you playing Ao vanilla or Evo?

Have fun, I'll be following your posts here!

Evolution. The full voice adds so much to these games and I'm gonna be sad going to Sen when it's not full voice even if the main cutscenes are voiced. Plus it's way more comfortable to play these games on the Vita than the PSP. Better screen/graphics, fewer hand cramps.

 

[khaaan]

At the final boss of Trails in The Sky. I have to say that when I first started the game I wasn't really feeling it. It started off decent enough but it quickly started feeling like a bit of a drag. This chapter was the one where there was finally some pay-off and helped me appreciate some of the things they were setting up in the early chapters.

I can't beat this boss for the life of me though. I've been cheesing all boss encounters up to this point by getting my CP up to 200 for all characters before the fight. That's usually more than enough to finish the enemy before they even get a chance to respond. I don't think levels are an issue, all my characters are 34-35 so I think it could just be a matter of setting up better orbments. I've slapped Attack 3 and Defense 3 on everyone except the healer because consensus seems to be that Earth Wall is important. I think I've also put Action 3 / Action 2 on everyone as well. If anyone has suggestions I would appreciate it. My team going in is

Spoiler

Estelle, Joshua, Agate, Zane

.

Got Trails of Cold Steel pre-ordered, looking forward to it. For some reason I thought it was coming out this November but when I check now it doesn't say anything. Weird. I bumped TiTs in my backlog up because I thought Cold Steel was coming out soon. I suppose it's no big deal. I watched a few gameplay clips of Cold Steel and the battle system seems to almost identical to TiTs which isn't necessarily a bad thing but I'm not sure if I could jump right into another ~40+ hour adventure featuring the same gameplay mechanics.

A last aside, the OP. I'm not very familiar with this franchise but I know there are many entries. Explicitly naming the ones that have come outside of Japan would be helpful in orienting myself. I had to go through a Wiki or two to get a clearer picture.

 

[Gu4n]

It's been a while since I last beat that boss, but since I'm playing FC Evolution right now and know there's a trophy for beating the game with all characters under level 40, I would say your characters might be a tad underleveled (seeing Chara-Ani considers it a challenge). You could also swap party members around: the way I see it, you have three attackers and one (de)buffer. What I did do myself and have seen a lot of people do is the following party set-up:

Spoiler

Joshua (attacking), Estelle ((de)buffing), Klose (healing) and Olivier (casting)

.

There are indeed many entries in this series (seven as of now), but the one you're playing right now is the only one that has come out in the West so far. Its direct sequel, Trails in the Sky Second Chapter (SC), could get its release date announced any minute after a 4+ year localisation process. Trails of Cold Steel should follow not too long after, but November has been a placeholder date all along. Trails of Cold Steel II, the direct sequel, has been announced for the near future. The other three games -- Trails in the Sky The 3rd, Trails of Zero and Trails of Azure -- will be worked on depending on the current games' sales, XSEED said.

 

[zakujanai]

It's been a while since I last beat that boss, but since I'm playing FC Evolution right now and know there's a trophy for beating the game with all characters under level 40, I would say your characters might be a tad underleveled (seeing Chara-Ani considers it a challenge). You could also swap party members around: the way I see it, you have three attackers and one (de)buffer. What I did do myself and have seen a lot of people do is the following party set-up:

Spoiler

Joshua (attacking), Estelle ((de)buffing), Klose (healing) and Olivier (casting)

.

There are indeed many entries in this series (seven as of now), but the one you're playing right now is the only one that has come out in the West so far. Its direct sequel, Trails in the Sky Second Chapter (SC), could get its release date announced any minute after a 4+ year localisation process. Trails of Cold Steel should follow not too long after, but November has been a placeholder date all along. Trails of Cold Steel II, the direct sequel, has been announced for the near future. The other three games -- Trails in the Sky The 3rd, Trails of Zero and Trails of Azure -- will be worked on depending on the current games' sales, XSEED said.

You get a trophy fur being under level 40? I was about 35 when I last competed it. The trophy should be for being bothered to grind as high as level 40.

 

[Cqef]

You get a trophy fur being under level 40? I was about 35 when I last competed it. The trophy should be for being bothered to grind as high as level 40.

It's actually pretty easy to reach level 40 if you decide to go for a 2nd playthrough while trying to 100% complete the game (think about all those monster chests in the final dungeon, for instance).

 

[Fhoenix]

Yeah, it's pretty easy to reach 40, I think I was at 42-43 after doing everything/heavy sepith grind. Granted I think last dungeon in the first game is not a very nice place to grind, because the enemies are nasty with heavy rocket/aoe spam. Did you open all treasure chest in the final dungeon?
If you position yourself correctly and cast Earth Wall all the time the last boss should not even scratch you. EP Cut 3, Action 3 and Cast 2 are your friends for heavy spell spamming. Use the party members that Gu4n recommends, since that is the best end-game party.

 

[khaaan]

Thanks for the tips guys. I haven't had much of a chance to play but I did a bit of grinding and got everyone up to level 39. I gave everyone the ability cast Earth Wall and by timing it right I could negate or afford to eat most of the damage coming my way. Most of the fight went well, a little slow at the beginning but eventually things were moving. I only hit a wall during the

Spoiler

final phase - is this even a spoiler?

. I want to say I got the health down to below half, possibly even more but by the end there was too much stuff in succession being dished out.

I'll give it another shot tonight with a different approach. Physical attackers feel like they're only making scratches, I'm thinking I might replace them all with casters. Blue Impact was causing the most damage by far, but even my non-casters were seeing better results with arts. Buffer/Debuffer seems like it could help but I've never really dabbled with those moves. Is there anything other than Stone Wall and Clock Up that would be useful? I was still using the same party but I'll check out G4un's recommendation.

Edit: Aw man, you serious??? The rest of your party doesn't gain ANY experience!? Urgh.

Edit Edit: Dat plotbomb at the end. I want my second chapter.

 

[Bebpo]

The 3rd

ENDING/FINAL DOOR SPOILERS

Spoiler

Now that people are playing SC, I was really curious to see what people thought about the end stuff with the green haired guy and the AGENT COUNCIL kind of thing teasing their plotline and the artifacts and then I just realized that isn't shown until the end of 3rd I think SC's ending would have been better with that teaser at the end instead of 3rd.

So it's been a while since I played SC, but I guess it doesn't really have any teasing at the end for future entries? Outside of Kevin being a mysterious guy whose not really explained in SC.

 

[Bebpo]

Ao no Kiseki Evo

So I'm near the end of Chapter 1 after about 8+ hours and like every single game in this series the start is slooooow. While I appreciate and enjoy the world building slow intros to these games, at the same time I think I have the same general problem with this series that I have with slice of life anime tv shows, it's just not engaging when there's no real main story drive pushing the narrative. I enjoy the beginnings, but like B enjoyment level and I can only do a quest or two per session because it's kind of boring, so it takes me a while to get through the early part of the game. Then when the plot does kick in in all these Kiseki games, I can't put the games down and they're absolutely A+ great.

I think I actually like the start of Zero no Kiseki better than Ao no Kiseki because at least you're getting introduced to new characters and exploring a new portion of the world. In Ao no Kiseki I really liked the prologue chapter, but the first chapter is long and really slow. Although the

Spoiler

Puyo Puyo mini-game is pretty quality for a throwaway mini-game.

.

From what I understand of Sen, I'm pretty sure I'm going to be fairly bored and pushing my way slowly through Sen 1, but hopefully Sen 2 will be more ok. I thought the part in Sora FC

Spoiler

at the school

was incredibly boring and the worst part of the game, and the part in Sora The 3rd

Spoiler

at the school

was pretty boring, but at least there the payoff of

Spoiler

Lector introduction and Lector/Chloe development which later played into when they met again near the end of 3rd

was worth it.

Anyhow, like the game, but really hope the plot kicks in by chapter 2 instead of 3+. It also doesn't help that combat-wise

Spoiler

I don't really like this party of Lloyd, Waji, Elie and Noel. I feel like everyone is kind of weak and has boring craft moves outside Lloyd.

 

[Aeana]

Rest assured, Sen 2 is incredible and breaks the Kiseki formula. That's why I love it so much.

 

[Shouta]

Ao goes into full throttle pretty quickly. Lots of stuff happening soon, lol

 

[Nyoro SF]

Rest assured, Sen 2 is incredible and breaks the Kiseki formula. That's why I love it so much.

Oh, a shakeup? Sounds good to me.

 

[Bebpo]

Ao no Kiseki Evo

Finished ch.1 earlier the evening before heading out, the dungeon was good and little tiny bits of story. I'm not sure how I feel about the story setup, I'm sure it'll get good since everyone says Ao is pretty rad, but just coming off the intro

Spoiler

compared to SC which started with missing Joshua, Wiseman and the whole lineups of Agents, Loewe and the kingdom politics, Ao setting up to be about Randy's mercenary family ties + politics + some experiment by green haired agent dude (who I never realized was a girl until I just heard her with voice acting) and then some more DG group stuff just seems a lot less interesting. I think one difference is that FC was a game mainly setting up the first chapter of SC where everything went down, whereas Zero no Kiseki was pretty much a complete story with only a couple of threads left open. So Ao doesn't start in the middle of some major plot, but rather is a whole new story starting fresh again. I'm sure it'll end up being a cool story as Falcom stories have been real good in this series in the latter half, so hopefully the interesting stuff will happen soon. I remember Zero really got good/interesting when you went to the auction and Lector was there and you met Kia and escaped.

Also gameplay system spoilers:

Spoiler

Best part of the end of chapter 1 was introducing the Burst mechanic. Limited time use Instant spell casting is SO.MUCH.FUN and really makes magic much more effective in the series and is a subtle but huge gameplay shakeup. Gonna have a ton of fun with this mechanic in Ao.

Also is it just me or in Zero and Ao are S-Crafts really, really nerfed? The Combo-crafts always seem far better. Like they do more damage, only eat up 100CP instead of all your CP and they don't even seem to have as bad queue recovery. Once I got combo crafts I pretty much never used S-Crafts for the rest of Zero outside when I needed a desperate instant queue. I mean straight from the bat with Ao, if I do an S-Craft on a group of enemies, I usually don't kill them and only do about 75% HP damage, whereas if I do a combo craft it almost always kills all non-boss enemies and they tend to be huge wide circle radius.

Oh, a shakeup? Sounds good to me.

Yeah, looking forward to that.