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[Gu4n]

The North Ambria situation is slightly more complex:

(The 3rd spoilers)

Spoiler

While the Church has acknowledged the new democratic government as s state, the now state encompasses only the two most southern districts (located south of the Greve River). The northern three districts, which were hit by the Salt Pale, were "placed under the church's control. It has been a restricted area ever since." In the original Japanese script, it continues to emphasise that the general public are prohibited from entering the area.

(The 3rd/CS2 spoilers)

Spoiler

The question now is whether Erebonia annexed the North Ambria State or the territory that was original the principality. If it's the latter, Osborne will undoubtedly (and deliberately) have pissed off the Church more than he already had for cheating death.

Here's a map (rough estimation I made a while back based on what we know).

 

[Exclamation-One]

Crossposting from Steam thread: Turbo Mode kinda sucks. Here's how to make it better.

1. Turbo Mode only works while players hold down a button. This can be tiresome and inconvenient for players. Holding down a button is a constant reminder that you're using a 'hack' or 'cheat' of some kind, breaking immersion.

2. Turbo Mode only allows settings in .5 increments.

3. By default, Turbo Mode seems to designed explicitly to 'skip' the slog of battles rather than address the problem in the first place - many find the battles (with their laborious camera panning, long delays in Arts casting, etc.) to be tedious.

-------------

Introducing A Better Turbo Mode - Faster, Stronger, and Better Than Before:

Battle at Normal Speed / Battle at 1.4x Turbo Speed

Inspired by Durante, I'm currently implementing my own version of Turbo Mode via Cheat Engine, with L-Trigger set to Toggle (single press) between 1.4 and 1x, and R-Trigger for 3.5x (hold). It's a godsend.

After some testing, 1.4x really seems to the sweet spot - battles are fast paced, but comprehensible - players can still read text that appears on screen, particularly on smaller devices (i.e. GPD-Win). This solves virtually all problems I have with battle pacing.

-

I propose that that XSEED/Sara implement a 1.4 default option (which players can change of course) - all battles will run at that speed. No need to hold a button. This is Turbo Mode.

Then, the 'turbo' button can be assigned field and battle values, as currently implemented. Want to speed up the game to 3.5x to blitz through easy mob battles? Skip through dialogue? Hold down the button. This is 'Hold Turbo.'

Here is another example (video):
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BynCRa70CUJVM0JLaEhFVl9EblE
Note: SPOILERS for Trails in the Sky SC !

0:00 - Normal - default speed
0:52 - Hold Turbo - 3.5x speed (Hold button)
1:27 - Turbo - 1.4x

-

If I were in charge, here's how I'd do things:

1. Allow players to configure 'Battle Speed' from 1.0 - 2.0 in the configuration menu. This is the speed battles run at without requiring button presses. 1.4 as suggested default.

2. In the same menu, configure 'Turbo Hold' separately for Field and Battle in .5 increments.

In this way, players could have:

Field at 1x (Normal)
Battles at 1.4x (Turbo Mode enabled)
Field at 2x (Turbo Hold)
Battles at 3.5x (Turbo Hold)

---

Thoughts? Suggestions? I really believe this could be a nice selling point for players who've passed on the game because they've found battles too time-consuming.

Major props to Sara, Durante, and all the fine folks at XSEED for all of their hard work on the Trails series. Love you all!

 

[alpha69]

(The 3rd/CS2 spoilers)

Spoiler

The question now is whether Erebonia annexed the North Ambria State or the territory that was original the principality. If it's the latter, Osborne will undoubtedly (and deliberately) have pissed off the Church more than he already had for cheating death.

Here's a map (rough estimation I made a while back based on what we know).

It's probably

Spoiler

either just the state one or both. I'd be utterly baffled it it's just the restricted area part considering how that map looks and I find it hard to believe Osborne can annex the north part alone given it's under the church's control. Not to mention with North Ambria's financial problems, Osborne can easily "talk" them into being part of Erebonia.

 

[Squire]

3rd/CS2

Spoiler

Yikes. Osborne potentially weaponizing the salt pale the way the church is able to sounds like a crisis.

 

[preta]

The North Ambria situation is slightly more complex:

(The 3rd spoilers)

Spoiler

While the Church has acknowledged the new democratic government as s state, the now state encompasses only the two most southern districts (located south of the Greve River). The northern three districts, which were hit by the Salt Pale, were "placed under the church's control. It has been a restricted area ever since." In the original Japanese script, it continues to emphasise that the general public are prohibited from entering the area.

(The 3rd/CS2 spoilers)

Spoiler

The question now is whether Erebonia annexed the North Ambria State or the territory that was original the principality. If it's the latter, Osborne will undoubtedly (and deliberately) have pissed off the Church more than he already had for cheating death.

Here's a map (rough estimation I made a while back based on what we know).

Thanks for clearing that up. I guess I was remembering a bit wrongly. My replay of 3rd is long overdue.

 

[Gu4n]

It's probably

Spoiler

either just the state one or both. I'd be utterly baffled it it's just the restricted area part considering how that map looks and I find it hard to believe Osborne can annex the north part alone given it's under the church's control. Not to mention with North Ambria's financial problems, Osborne can easily "talk" them into being part of Erebonia.

(The 3rd/Sen III spoilers)

Spoiler

Considering his a public figure, I can't really see him annex the part that's publicly known to be off-limits.

(SC/The 3rd spoilers)

Spoiler

At the same time, I wonder what happened that it has been a restricted area for over two decades now. In the case of Hamel, it was clearly to cover-up a mistake made by the Imperial government.

If the restricted area is indeed a cover-up, did they dispatch the Gralsritter to acquire the Salt Pale, or to get it back?

3rd/CS2

Spoiler

Yikes. Osborne potentially weaponizing the salt pale the way the church is able to sounds like a crisis.

Then he's looking in the wrong place. (The 3rd spoiler)

Spoiler

"Since then, it has been kept closely sealed away deep within the High Seat in Arteria."

 

[Ascheroth]

I can't read half of those spoilerbars, but the Trails universe is so good.

 

[Sinh_Magnus]

Crossposting from Steam thread: Turbo Mode kinda sucks. Here's how to make it better.

I have yet to try turbo mode, but the fact that you can't trigger it is of putting for me, since I've grown accustomed to cheat engine. All the options the player can have to make the games more enjoyable should be welcomed.

 

[Mivey]

Thoughts? Suggestions? I really believe this could be a nice selling point for players who've passed on the game because they've found battles too time-consuming.

Major props to Sara, Durante, and all the fine folks at XSEED for all of their hard work on the Trails series. Love you all!

I disagree, pressing a button is the simplest solution, and the least error prone as well. The idea that pressing a button should remind me of using a hack is laughable and especially for exploration it is really useful to have normal speed, and a button to quickly go move from A to B (especially useful with the Cloak quartz). It can even be useful to actually slow down to see what's happening during a boss fight, for example. Even 1.4 can be too fast for that purpose.

If Sara would like to implement an optional "permanent turbo" then it's okay, but I would be against setting it to anything other than "1.0" as default.

(The idea of having it as a trigger is, of course, something else entirely. As long as the option to have it as a non-trigger is preserved, that would make for a good addition. People like different things, and the PC platform is all about options after all. )

 

[Scirm_Layton]

Sora no Kiseki FC PSP

Is the Japanese version with an option to play in English? I am trying to buy this game at a reasonable price for so long, and since my pal is going to Japan, I could ask him to look for it at Super Potato or smth.

 

[preta]

Sora no Kiseki FC PSP

Is the Japanese version with an option to play in English? I am trying to buy this game at a reasonable price for so long, and since my pal is going to Japan, I could ask him to look for it at Super Potato or smth.

Nope. If you don't mind digital, it's only $20 on PSN in English, though.

 

[Kalor]

Sora no Kiseki FC PSP

Is the Japanese version with an option to play in English? I am trying to buy this game at a reasonable price for so long, and since my pal is going to Japan, I could ask him to look for it at Super Potato or smth.

Not natively. Someone might have made a patch but I'm not sure. There is a physical English version of the game if you don't specifically want the Japanese version.

 

[Exclamation-One]

I have yet to try turbo mode, but the fact that you can't trigger it is of putting for me, since I've grown accustomed to cheat engine. All the options the player can have to make the games more enjoyable should be welcomed.

If by trigger, you mean 'toggle', I agree. As it currently stands, it's hold to enable only.

I disagree, pressing a button is the simplest solution, and the least error prone as well. The idea that pressing a button should remind me of using a hack is laughable and especially for exploration it is really useful to have normal speed, and a button to quickly go move from A to B (especially useful with the Cloak quartz). It can even be useful to actually slow down to see what's happening during a boss fight, for example. Even 1.4 can be too fast for that purpose.

If Sara would like to implement an optional "permanent turbo" then it's okay, but I would be against setting it to anything other than "1.0" as default.

(The idea of having it as a trigger is, of course, something else entirely. As long as the option to have it as a non-trigger is preserved, that would make for a good addition. People like different things, and the PC platform is all about options after all. )

I think you misunderstood. I'm suggesting that several options be available to players at once. Right now, we have hold-to-enable only, and with two speeds for field and battle. In your scenario, you'd like to turn Turbo Mode off - which could easily be mapped to L-Trigger:

[Turbo off]
Battle Speed 1x
Field Speed 1x
L-Trigger - (tap) Switch to Turbo Mode
R-Trigger - NOTHING

player presses L-Trigger once

[Turbo on]
Battle Speed 1.4x
Field Speed 1x
L-Trigger - (tap) Turn off Turbo
R-Trigger - Hold for Field Speed 2x, and Battle Speed 4x

Does that make sense? You could even have variable speed depending on how hard the trigger is pulled, per Durante's suggestion.

 

[Ascheroth]

That sounds needlessly complicated. Have a toggle between normal and 1.4x speed (or whatever you set), similar to CheatEngine.
Hold down a button for super fast turbo mode like it's right now, that works whether or not you're playing normal or 1.4x speed.

But yeah, you can already do all that with CheatEngine and the implemented Turbo mode for that use case.

 

[Mivey]

Does that make sense?

I just realized that using the existing Steam Controller Config, you can have a Trigger functionality already. The current PC version is really quite near perfect already, as far as I am concerned.

Look, I get what you are saying, but this seems to me too much work to implement. For such a specific use case, you really should just use Cheat Engine in combination with the default Turbo mode. Your suggestion seems more complex, since it introduces a non-trivial state into the Turbo mode. This is just asking for bugs and glitches.

 

[Bowlie]

Yeah... this is too complicated. I would not need 3 different speeds for the games, and I don't see why .5 increments is an issue (come on, 1.4 is not that different from 1.5).

And this improved turbo doesn't seem to fix the third point you proposed, since it still just speeds up the animations.

 

[Dragon1893]

Crossposting from Steam thread: Turbo Mode kinda sucks. Here's how to make it better.

1. Turbo Mode only works while players hold down a button. This can be tiresome and inconvenient for players. Holding down a button is a constant reminder that you're using a 'hack' or 'cheat' of some kind, breaking immersion.

2. Turbo Mode only allows settings in .5 increments.

3. By default, Turbo Mode seems to designed explicitly to 'skip' the slog of battles rather than address the problem in the first place - many find the battles (with their laborious camera panning, long delays in Arts casting, etc.) to be tedious.

-------------

Introducing A Better Turbo Mode - Faster, Stronger, and Better Than Before:

Battle at Normal Speed / Battle at 1.4x Turbo Speed

Inspired by Durante, I'm currently implementing my own version of Turbo Mode via Cheat Engine, with L-Trigger set to Toggle (single press) between 1.4 and 1x, and R-Trigger for 3.5x (hold). It's a godsend.

After some testing, 1.4x really seems to the sweet spot - battles are fast paced, but comprehensible - players can still read text that appears on screen, particularly on smaller devices (i.e. GPD-Win). This solves virtually all problems I have with battle pacing.

-

I propose that that XSEED/Sara implement a 1.4 default option (which players can change of course) - all battles will run at that speed. No need to hold a button. This is Turbo Mode.

Then, the 'turbo' button can be assigned field and battle values, as currently implemented. Want to speed up the game to 3.5x to blitz through easy mob battles? Skip through dialogue? Hold down the button. This is 'Hold Turbo.'

Here is another example (video):
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BynCRa70CUJVM0JLaEhFVl9EblE
Note: SPOILERS for Trails in the Sky SC !

0:00 - Normal - default speed
0:52 - Hold Turbo - 3.5x speed (Hold button)
1:27 - Turbo - 1.4x

-

If I were in charge, here's how I'd do things:

1. Allow players to configure 'Battle Speed' from 1.0 - 2.0 in the configuration menu. This is the speed battles run at without requiring button presses. 1.4 as suggested default.

2. In the same menu, configure 'Turbo Hold' separately for Field and Battle in .5 increments.

In this way, players could have:

Field at 1x (Normal)
Battles at 1.4x (Turbo Mode enabled)
Field at 2x (Turbo Hold)
Battles at 3.5x (Turbo Hold)

---

Thoughts? Suggestions? I really believe this could be a nice selling point for players who've passed on the game because they've found battles too time-consuming.

Major props to Sara, Durante, and all the fine folks at XSEED for all of their hard work on the Trails series. Love you all!

I've mentioned in this thread (or was it the 3rd OT?) that having to hold down a button isn't the best solution and several people disagreed with me which I honestly don't get. How is that better than a toggle?
As for speed, on cheat engine I ended up settling on 1.6, imo it's the ideal speed.

 

[ShadowSoldier89]

I prefer hold to toggle as I tend to only hit it for short bursts

 

[Exclamation-One]

Yeah... this is too complicated. I would not need 3 different speeds for the games, and I don't see why .5 increments is an issue (come on, 1.4 is not that different from 1.5).

And this improved turbo doesn't seem to fix the third point you proposed, since it still just speeds up the animations.

Watch the video I posted. The first portion (where a bunch of NPCs / enemies duke it out) is painfully slow. At 1.4, it's exciting!

Your suggestion seems more complex, since it introduces a non-trivial state into the Turbo mode. This is just asking for bugs and glitches.

Well, I'm all about simplicity. I actually don't see a need to slow it down to 1.0 as you suggested earlier, but since you brought it up I figured L-Trigger could be used as a toggle. Having R-Trigger activate faster turbo speeds regardless of whether 'normal' turbo is off would work.

I just hate having to toggle 1.4x on and off for each time I enter and exit a battle. I could see it putting off new players as well.

Re: the technical aspects, I'm no programmer. I'd just assumed speeding up the specific 'cycles' the game is running at ala CheatEngine would work quite well. Only in this case, they toggle on/off automatically depending on circumstance.

 

[Jolkien]

Zero no Kiseki: what are the spawn chance of Shining Pom, I'm trying to farm some u-material and they appear to be super rare. they don't get me morew than 1 xp but I could use the sepith as well so I figured it'd be a good way but I've been reload the screen for like 30 minutes.

 

[Ascheroth]

1.4-1.8 is the sweet spot for Sky combat speed.

 

[Bowlie]

Oh, I know it's slow Not arguing that, but I'm saying going at 1.5x isn't noticeably different than going at 1.4x.

In the end, more options is never a bad thing; I'm sure others (maybe people that have never dealt with Cheat Engine) would enjoy that!

 

[PK Gaming]

Before playing 3rd:

Crossbows are unbelievably lame as a weapon.

After 3rd:

Crossbows are the coolest goddamn weapons imaginable.

 

[Exclamation-One]

Oh, I know it's slow Not arguing that, but I'm saying going at 1.5x isn't noticeably different than going at 1.4x.

In the end, more options is never a bad thing; I'm sure others (maybe people that have never dealt with Cheat Engine) would enjoy that!

I noticed 1.5 was just a tad too quick to read some text that appears during battles. Of course, everyone's ability to read text quickly is variable. Some would prefer faster, some slower.

Also, one characters battle cries (two separate audio files) overlapped at 1.5 speed.

 

[Ascheroth]

Before playing 3rd:

Crossbows are unbelievably lame as a weapon.

After 3rd:

Crossbows are the coolest goddamn weapons imaginable.

3rd is so good.
Still internally debating whether it or Near A Tomato will be my GOTY.

 

[Sinh_Magnus]

Zero no Kiseki: what are the spawn chance of Shining Pom, I'm trying to farm some u-material and they appear to be super rare. they don't get me morew than 1 xp but I could use the sepith as well so I figured it'd be a good way but I've been reload the screen for like 30 minutes.

I can't say much about Zero because they were also extremely rare for me. In Ao I did found a easily exploitable spot, though.

Before playing 3rd:

Crossbows are unbelievably lame as a weapon.

After 3rd:

Crossbows are the coolest goddamn weapons imaginable.

I wish they were more JRPGs with crossbow users. Edit: If it counts Ashley from Vagrant Story also uses crossbows but it's up to player's choice.

 

[Jolkien]

I can't say much about Zero because they were also extremely rare for me. In Ao I did found a easily exploitable spot, though.
.

Feel free to tell me so I'll know when I get to that one

 

[Palette Swap]

Regarding this North Ambria speculation, going by the 3rd and CS2 (spoilers for both)

Spoiler

I assumed this was the current North Ambria State, not the territories that got wiped by the Pale.
I don't recall the state's foreign relations being mentioned a lot, but it wouldn't look too sinister for Osborne to say Erebonia are annexing NA because having on your doorstep a rogue state whose economy partly relies on exporting Jaegers must really suck.

 

[Gu4n]

Regarding this North Ambria speculation, going by the 3rd and CS2 (spoilers for both)

Spoiler

I assumed this was the current North Ambria State, not the territories that got wiped by the Pale.
I don't recall the state's foreign relations being mentioned a lot, but it wouldn't look too sinister for Osborne to say Erebonia are annexing NA because having on your doorstep a rogue state whose economy partly relies on exporting Jaegers must really suck.

Yep. (The 3rd/CS2 spoilers)

Spoiler

Crossbell was annexed by a "punitive expedition"
force in response to Crossbell's attack on the Garrelia. Jurai's merger with Erebonia did wonders for its economy, so I imagine North Ambria would be happy to join the empire.

Edit:
Hmm. (The 3rd)

Spoiler

Now I wonder whether the Northern Jaeger are merged with the Imperial Army.

 

[Fou-Lu]

I am oddly nervous to start Cold Steel for the first time. I love Sky so much and I can only hope it lives up to it in some way despite the surprisingly large amount of negativity I have heard over CS.

 

[Ascheroth]

I am oddly nervous to start Cold Steel for the first time. I love Sky so much and I can only hope it lives up to it in some way despite the surprisingly large amount of negativity I have heard over CS.

Eh, Cold Steel is still a very good game.
It's only the main cast that is not as good as the Sky cast, but that is a really high bar.

 

[ShadowSoldier89]

Eh, Cold Steel is still a very good game.
It's only the main cast that is not as good as the Sky cast, but that is a really high bar.

yea overall, but Sara is the best so w/e

 

[Ascheroth]

yea overall, but Sara is the best so w/e

Can't argue against truth.
Cold Steel also has the better NPCs due to its structure.

 

[Thud]

I am oddly nervous to start Cold Steel for the first time. I love Sky so much and I can only hope it lives up to it in some way despite the surprisingly large amount of negativity I have heard over CS.

Negativity might be too strong, I would go with mixed feelings.

The writing is intended for a younger audience, so it's a step back from Sky. Structually it and its sequel are close to a shonen anime.

So sometimes it rubs you in the wrong way and other times you can't help but smile.

 

[Sinh_Magnus]

I am oddly nervous to start Cold Steel for the first time. I love Sky so much and I can only hope it lives up to it in some way despite the surprisingly large amount of negativity I have heard over CS.

I personally enjoyed it more than Sky FC and SC. Yes, there's no doubt that the writing and characters are better in Sky, but I prefer the presentation, themes and faster gameplay of CS. It depends on the person.

I also don't think there's such negativity for Cold Steel, there are just many people that go into them expecting CS to be as good as Sky were for them and found themselves extremely dissappointed in the first chapters of CS and that disappointment carried over for the rest of the game.

Give it an opportunity but keep your expectations in check, and be prepared for more anime troopes than Sky. That's the best I can recommend.

I also found the worldbuilding and NPCs to be much more interesting in CS than in Sky.

 

[PK Gaming]

I am oddly nervous to start Cold Steel for the first time. I love Sky so much and I can only hope it lives up to it in some way despite the surprisingly large amount of negativity I have heard over CS.

You're already setting yourself up for disappointment with that mindset. I played CS before FC, and the one thing that I can definitively say is that you should approach both games differently.

FC/SC is like an awesome roadtrip with a pseudo WRPG vibe. The story builds on itself as you go from one place to the next, but it never really swells until you reach the climax.

CS is school life. You have a routine, frequently cycling between bursts of action and mundane calmness... until it doesn't. The characters are fairly solid; Rean isn't nearly as good as Estelle, but he's definitely got his own appeal (though very obvious pitfalls). The rest of the cast is pretty solid too, and CS does a good job of following up on many of plot points set up in the previous games. Lean into talking to NPCs and such (since it's like 1/3rd of the game's appeal). The writing is good; not Sky good, but fairly acceptable I'd say. The world building is really good, it just stumbles on a couple of plot points. There are moments that are (imo) unacceptably shonen, but they're few and far between. I'd say its highs are among the series best, and the music is undeniably superb.

Just don't go into this game expecting "Trails in the Sky: 3D" and you'll be fine.

 

[Nyoro SF]

I am oddly nervous to start Cold Steel for the first time. I love Sky so much and I can only hope it lives up to it in some way despite the surprisingly large amount of negativity I have heard over CS.

Are you playing on PC? Personally at this point I have no doubt in saying that the PC version tenfold improves the game, and I'm not talking about just graphics, though it does help that AO gives the game more visual depth and a less plastic look.

A lot of the worldbuilding and CS1 character strength is heavily amplified by Turbo and instant save/load times and a tiny hack for infinite bond points. It doesn't solve all the problems, but it makes the game much, much better!

 

[ShadowSoldier89]

Are you playing on PC? Personally at this point I have no doubt in saying that the PC version tenfold improves the game, and I'm not talking about just graphics, though it does help that AO gives the game more visual depth and a less plastic look.

A lot of the worldbuilding and CS1 character strength is heavily amplified by Turbo and instant save/load times and a tiny hack for infinite bond points. It doesn't solve all the problems, but it makes the game much, much better!

I've started my replay on PC and turbo mode while a good thing and well implemented has been surprisingly the least enjoyable change. The other things you mentioned and the added VA have all been great.

First few times you save its like "oh it saved, goddamn"

 

[Jiraiza]

Zero no Kiseki: what are the spawn chance of Shining Pom, I'm trying to farm some u-material and they appear to be super rare. they don't get me morew than 1 xp but I could use the sepith as well so I figured it'd be a good way but I've been reload the screen for like 30 minutes.

For Sepith, you're better off fishing Rainbows at the waterfall fishing spot on the Mains mountain path. The ruins are also a good place to farm U-Material as long you have the fortune quartz equipped, assuming you have access to those places already.

 

[PK Gaming]

You guys wanna here a funny joke?

Kevin's orbment "restrictions."

 

[ResourcefulStar]

You guys wanna here a funny joke?

Kevin's orbment "restrictions."

Please, game, don't make me equip weak quartz like Action and Cast.

Schera probably has the most actually annoying restricted slots. You can put Evade in one, which is inoffensive, but your options for the other one are Shield (which sacrifices her ATS for ADF, but the best ADF is Impede) and Sleep (which will almost never trigger because she has no Sleep inflicting Craft to synergize with it). There's also Impede, but she has a Craft with a 100% Impede chance.

And this is why the Cold Steel system is better.

 

[ShadowSoldier89]

Please, game, don't make me equip weak quartz like Action and Cast.

Schera probably has the most actually annoying restricted slots. You can put Evade in one, which is inoffensive, but your options for the other one are Shield (which sacrifices her ATS for ADF, but the best ADF is Impede) and Sleep (which will almost never trigger because she has no Sleep inflicting Craft to synergize with it). There's also Impede, but she has a Craft with a 100% Impede chance.

And this is why the Cold Steel system is better.

And swiftness and divine eye.

Also I think this is why cold steel is worse. There is no hard decisions in CS

 

[ResourcefulStar]

And swiftness and divine eye.

An option in the 3rd, but not in SC.

 

[preta]

I'll admit that the CS system is much better balanced between the ability to make strong physical and arts-oriented characters than Sky's arts-skewed system, but it's just not as fun to tinker with.

 

[vkrili]

And swiftness and divine eye.

Also I think this is why cold steel is worse. There is no hard decisions in CS

The only decision to be made is to not use Schera.

I just don't see what hard decisions there are to make in the Sky series. Just go ahead and slot your Cast and EP Cut quartz and whoopie you have some arts to fling around. Whereas in CS slotting those two means you'll actually have less room for elemental/support variety.

 

[PK Gaming]

And swiftness and divine eye.

Also I think this is why cold steel is worse. There is no hard decisions in CS

I mean, it's pretty damn easy to come up with builds in FC.

-Everyone wants Action quartz
-Caster's want Cast 2
-Physical Attackers want Attack
-Healers want Mind/HP, etc

And in 3rd, you get access to high level quartz so fast, even characters with heavy restrictions like Schera/Kloe can just roll up with the most OP arts in the game (though I feel like this is a good thing).

What I think what makes the system work are the orbment lines. They help differentiate each of the characters in neat ways. Like in SC, Kevin's near flawless orbment line (among other) things, really helped sell this idea that

Spoiler

he's not just some ordinary priest, but actually this immensely talented arts user keeping a low profile.

. I love how characters like Zin and Agate have shitty orbments; it's perfect for characters focused exclusively on hitting people hard. Meanwhile, the nerds who hang back are obviously going to be good at magic. (Except Tita for some reason?)

And apparently Cold Steel 3 brings back orbment lines, which is awesome.

Spoiler

inb4 Rean has a "Time" restriction + 5 lines.

 

[Sinh_Magnus]

The only decision to be made is to not use Schera.

I thought the craft that lets you advance turns was pretty good.

 

[Ascheroth]

Eh, Cold Steel's system sounds cool in theory - and finding a Rare Quartz is always cool, but the number of unique Quartz' and the frequent party composition changes meant that you were always shuffling your Quartz' around like crazy and it was a hell of a lot more cumbersome than 3rd, while that one had even more party members than CS1.
To the point that I barely bothered anymore after a while until whenever I hit a difficult boss and had to put a little effort into getting past.
I also barely used any Arts throughout the game, especially attack Arts.

I really like Master Quartz' though.

 

[Dragon1893]

I didn't know CS3 is bringing back orbment lines. Thank God.

 

[Psxphile]

potential CS3 spoiler

the hell