-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
The Kiseki / Trails (of the Sky/Zero/Ao/Sen/Etc) Community Thread: SPOILERTAGS OR DIE
- Thread starter Bebpo
- Start date
3rd can be challenging at the start. Fast crafts man completely breaks the game tho
Yeah, it was definitely harder at first. By the midpoint, it's mostly just the boss fights that give me problems. I do find it interesting how the game emphasizes your crafts far more in this game than in the previous. I've barely used my magic at all (aside from healing and the occasional buff).
3rd has some fairly challenging boss fights on normal but you have many tools to break the battle system in this game. I haven't played 3rd on hard though so I can't comment on that.
Don't have this problem with my DS4 on my end. Do you have DS4Windows installed? It might be a conflict between this program and Steam's DS4 wrapper.
A kind reminder that Ouroboros isn't evil?
3rd is just fine on Normal. It's on par with FC/SC Normal if not a little harder.
I wouldn't go as far. There might be some individuals that are not bad, but that's about it.
Palette Swap
Member
It's always hard to see the Society that way when you've started with TitS FC/SC because
Weissman is your first impression of what an Anguis is, and frankly, he's textbook evil in his disregard for human life in general.
At the very least, they're still assassins and terrorists.
There are likeable characters in there and you could say they're not uniformly evil, like some Jaeger Corps or Ironbloods, but all these are ultimately responsible for a lot of suffering.
That's what sets Bracers apart as a group. They have explicit and practical principles and red lines that make it so that furthering their mission can't be done at any cost.
At the very least, they're still assassins and terrorists.
There are likeable characters in there and you could say they're not uniformly evil, like some Jaeger Corps or Ironbloods, but all these are ultimately responsible for a lot of suffering.
That's what sets Bracers apart as a group. They have explicit and practical principles and red lines that make it so that furthering their mission can't be done at any cost.
I think it's the reverse really. The organization itself clearly isn't "evil" in the common way. It's not set up to do bad things. It is an organization that is outside of society, governments, and authority because they know things beyond what normal people do. The trouble is that since they have no regards for laws and the ends justify the means for them, it attracts a lot of bad people. Power corrupts after all.
I guess we could say that an organization that knowingly allows "bad" people to be members and to do bad things because their contributions still ultimately result in the desired outcome is.... bad. But their core purpose and the plans of the Grandmaster in the long run probably isn't something as boring as just being evil.
CrimsonFist
Member
Even in CS
they don't have much regard for the well being of the citizens and are perfectly happy to aid in instigating a civil war to achieve their goals.
Of course there's also the rule that
every enforcer must have some form of darkness within them too.
Yeah.. some of them may not be evil per say but the method with which they try to get their objectives is certainly not good. Granted the Enforcers and Anguis seems to have significant leeway.
I think most baddies in trails are just as much a victim of an earlier incident.
Laughs.
The series is quite good at making me do 180's with characters.
I'm installing FC again and it will be interesting with all that knowledge in the back of my mind.
Isn't there a crack theory that
Sandlot/Arianhod is Laura's mother
Also,
with Gaius there, I don't think they would have died
Replaying CS has me really appreciating all the little details that add up to twists/reveals. They're very good with the small stuff.
Isn't there a crack theory that? That would explain a lot of things.Sandlot/Arianhod is Laura's mother
Also,with Gaius there, I don't think they would have died
I'd argue that theory wasn't so crackpot to begin with, but it's certainly becoming less so as time goes on haha.
Katsumi is definitely my favorite artist of the series so far, even without having played Zero/Ao. He posts art on Twitter/Pixiv if anyone is curious:
https://twitter.com/enonami/status/896147239164194816
Enami Katsumi didn't even draw all of the character portraits in Ao. Pretty sure the other artist for some of the Ao portraits is the same that handled Sky Evo.
Edit: I do like Katsumi's art the most out of all of them, but thankfully I'm still pretty satisfied with Cold Steel's.
Shake Appeal
Member
End of Trails 3rd:
Holy heck this is a slog. Three subdungeons with the characters I chose not to use, all for the pleasure of reaching a more important dungeon, presumably with boss fights at the end of all of these? I'm playing with Turbo+CheatEngine on and it's still a slog. Who enjoys this? This is why JRPGs ultimately leave me cold.
Aaronrules380
Member
I mean, it's really not that bad as long as you put at least one decently leveled character on each team since the other characters will level up super quickly due to scaling
Shake Appeal
Member
It's not a difficulty thing, because they level up after one or two fights. It's just ... incredibly repetitive.
For the most part I'm holding down A while holding down RT and stopping to heal occasionally.
DXLelouch153
Banned
should start Ao tonight
didnt expect to blaze past Zero NG+(the power of text skip and speed hacked battles)
didnt expect to blaze past Zero NG+(the power of text skip and speed hacked battles)
Isn't there a crack theory that? That would explain a lot of things.Sandlot/Arianhod is Laura's mother
Also,with Gaius there, I don't think they would have died
Woah woah woah I feel like I missed some information,
any details I can read about Sandlot / Arianhod being Laura's mother.
And Gaius is hiding a power of some kind ? I don't recall that ever happening ?
And Gaius is hiding a power of some kind ? I don't recall that ever happening ?
Sara made a post on XSEED's blog regarding the new QoL additions to the Sky series on Steam from the last couple of days.
Morrigan Stark
Arrogant Smirk
Thanks, Normal it is.
I don't think I have DS4Windows installed. Maybe I need to try the Big Picture mode thing... so annoying -_-
For #1: (CS1)
Laura's mother is notably completely absent in both games and never even mentioned. Laura's family and Arianrhod are both from Legram. Arianrhod is obviously still alive somehow after all those hundreds of years, or otherwise resurrected recently. Laura and her father's middle initial is S, possibly (probably) for Sandlot. And if Arianrhod was indeed Laura's mother, it would be all the more reason for her to want to save Class VII at that moment.
For #2: (CS1)
Gaius is capable of sensing the higher elements (through the wind in his case), something that not many people are capable of. When Nosferatu immobilizes the group (just before Arianrhod saves them), Gaius is the only party member not to be bound.
And most importantly, his tutor, who came all the way out to Nord, was none other than the Eighth Dominion, Barkhorn. Dominions seem to have the ability to sense unmanifested Stigmas, so of course if Gaius had one, Barkhorn would have taken a special interest in him.
It's been a commonly held theory for some time that some sort of trauma will awaken a dormant Stigma in Gaius, perhaps his home village getting caught in fighting between Erebonia and Calvard, seeing as it's in a location very vulnerable to that kind of thing.
It's been a commonly held theory for some time that some sort of trauma will awaken a dormant Stigma in Gaius, perhaps his home village getting caught in fighting between Erebonia and Calvard, seeing as it's in a location very vulnerable to that kind of thing.
And everything we've seen from CS3 prerelease info has ended up supporting this theory - he's revealed to have joined the Gralsritter, though his rank is not specified, and reference is made to a nebulous "incident" that occurred sometime between CS2 and 3.
The way we're introduced to Ouroboros has us think that way. Most of the 'antagonism' between Ouroboros and the Church also stems from that.
In SC,
Kevin kills Weissmann because he did what the Church forbade him, not because he was affiliated with Ouroboros
you notice this kind of relief among the Anguis that Weissmann's dead so they don't have to deal with him anymore. The Grandmaster's lines, leader of the bunch, comes across as an inherently good person, doing what she thinks is best
Ouroboros doesn't hesitate to wipe out the real evil
Church and the Bracer Guild has done
the Pope of the Septian Church and the Grandmaster made an agreement not to openly employ Gralsritter and Enforcers in Calvard
while Novartis is a textbook mad scientist, Arianrhod goes out of her way to help the S.S.S in a sidequest.
she saves Class VII from getting killed by Nosferatu.
we see Vita drop her high and mighty attitude immediately as Cayenne screws her over and she does whatever she can to stop him and save Crow/Class VII
Walter and Luciola killed people before becoming an Enforcer, Loewe helped to stop Weissmann,
Joshua and Renne simply quit as Enforcers
Joshua and Renne simply quit as Enforcers
Sharon has put her work as an Enforcer on hold and is as loyal to the Grandmaster as she is to Irina
So no, I'm not convinced that Ouroboros is evil. At all. There might be some rotten apples among them, but they are usually the evil necessary to achieve a greater good. Like in SC,
only Weissmann knew where the Aureole was, so the Grandmaster had no other choice than him to rely on
I played through chapter 7 of 3rd tonight and I'm still thinking about it. It's the darkest I've known this series to go so far, but it's weighed so appropriately in how it's presented and how the characters react to it. It's worthy of the long buildup to it and the way the characters sort of dance around it in terms of both what they do know and what they don't know (or don't realize.)
I've been sold on the dynamic of Kevin and Ries from the beginning. It's not terribly innovative, but it's done well. But the writing in the last stretch of this chapter *really* elevates it.
I've been sold on the dynamic of Kevin and Ries from the beginning. It's not terribly innovative, but it's done well. But the writing in the last stretch of this chapter *really* elevates it.
I'm not sure how last name works in Japan but if the S in Laura's and Victor's name is for Sanglot wouldn't that make them brother and sister ? She certainly appear to have lived long enough that it could be possible but that'd be so weird and how could Victor not know.
As for Gaius
,that's a very good point. I forgot the image suggesting he appear to have joined the Grailsritter sometimes between CS2 and CS3.
You certainly gave me a lot of good point to think over.
The Arseid Family is a a descendant on the Eisenritter's second-in-command, who served under the Lance Maiden. Since Lianne was the only daughter of Count Sandlot, the Sandlot line died with her after the War of the Lions. Viscount Arseid took over the Sandlot's domain and adopted the S. in their name to honour the Sandlot Family -- that's what I think that happened.
As for Gaius, his classmates couldn't get in touch with him for about a year. That sounds like Gralsritter training to me.
CrimsonFist
Member
Not quoting to avoid the Ao spoiler, but (Star Door 15)
In SC Joshua says that they were only wiping out a smaller criminal group to absorb their resources.
If resources was the ONLY reason, they could just take over their businesses and keep them going, Paradise included. You don't get rich by robbing a bank, you get rich by owning one.
hans_castorp
Member
IIRC Rosenberg tells the SSS, that the reason for the raid was (small Ao spoiler?)
that Paradise attracted many influential people, and they got involved with Ouroboros.
Renne being there and being rescued was a lucky coincidence.
Renne being there and being rescued was a lucky coincidence.
DXLelouch153
Banned
Lots of quality of life options added in Ao, like arte animation skipping
Master Quartz and more combo crafts as well.
While Turbo mode already mitigate this in the Sky games, in a future update it will also directly skip battle animations, making stuff even faster, especially for S-Crafts, I'd imagine.
DXLelouch153
Banned
It seems Ao is the advent of alot of the trails mechanics in The Cold Steel games
A lot of best of both worlds. I really like how master quartz and stuff work in this game.
hans_castorp
Member
I like the idea of Master Quartz and its implementation in CS. But I also miss the old Quartz system and having to plan the number of quarts for each character.
Ao has the best of both worlds.
Ao has the best of both worlds.
Also Enigma units look cooler than Arcus
ERIKA IS THE BEST, WHAT THE HELL
Agreed. I didn't expect to meet Tita's mother at all going into the third, but I'm so glad she was included. She's hilarious.
hosannainexcelsis
Member
Kevin has
layers upon layers of deception. You could already see that in SC, but 3rd really takes him apart.
I don't know.
I mean, she's funny and all but I don't have a lot of sympathy for her overprotective behavior. She goes off on Agate and the whole time, I wanted to scream, "Yeah, but he was actually THERE. Where the hell were you?"
Hopefully, the game explores this further because right now, it feels like her and Dan dumped Tita on Albert because it was more convenient for them.
Hopefully, the game explores this further because right now, it feels like her and Dan dumped Tita on Albert because it was more convenient for them.
You're taking all of that so much more seriously than the game itself ever does.
This.
It's a typical "hands off my daughter" type of joke taken to a comedic extreme. The scene prior to that has her insist that people don't call her "professor", and she gushes over Ries's cuteness in a really goofy way. She's a very extra/larger than life character.
jb1234 said:
She expected her dad to properly take care of Tita instead of letting her run off on an adventure, for one. She also couldn't have anticipated the Ouroborus business and explicitly states that by the time she got the news of what went down, it was already over.