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The Kiseki / Trails (of the Sky/Zero/Ao/Sen/Etc) Community Thread: SPOILERTAGS OR DIE

Don't look at the character list on the site for Sen 3 anymore. Spoilers up in there. I got hit by a big one... which I'm not sure if they'll shove that in peoples face early or not.

Waaaarning. Possible spoiler here for Sen 3?

Yeah, masked dude is totally Crow. Kinda sad that I saw that in the character list on the official website.

This is so stupid.
 

PK Gaming

Member
It wasn't - it was a MGS2-style switchup. It wasn't received too well at JP release for this reason, I've heard, although people have long since come around on it.

And suddenly, the fact that they've started leaning on cliched tropes makes perfect sense.
 
3rd Questions regarding the side story 'The Salt Pale'

So okay thats what Kevin used to kill Weissman that is pretty clear but does this game or any of the future games ever get into what the hell the Salt Pale actually was? That event could have straight up been a horror show from the descriptions, would make for interesting material to build on later thats for sure.
 

preta

Member
3rd Questions regarding the side story 'The Salt Pale'

So okay thats what Kevin used to kill Weissman that is pretty clear but does this game or any of the future games ever get into what the hell the Salt Pale actually was? That event could have straight up been a horror show from the descriptions, would make for interesting material to build on later thats for sure.

Not yet.
Spoilers for that door and CS2:
There's actually some foreshadowing in that door that was mistranslated - the line about "stopping or reversing the process" of salinification was intended to refer to reversing the death it causes... i.e. the first acknowledgement of the possibility of resurrection in the series, foreshadowing for CS2, and the reason why the Salt Bolt is used for important targets.
 

PK Gaming

Member
I'm not sure what that has to do with this. To be clear, I'm not talking about Kevin being the protagonist but more the Phantasma stuff.

MGS2 was still well regarded even after the shocking bait and switch, so if Japan was cold on 3rd even though the game is kickass, I dunno...

I dunno man!
 

Asd202

Member
Finally beat the 3rd! What a great game. My question regarding the ending is
Olivier and Scherazard what was that about?
 

Squire

Banned
Not yet.
Spoilers for that door and CS2:
There's actually some foreshadowing in that door that was mistranslated - the line about "stopping or reversing the process" of salinification was intended to refer to reversing the death it causes... i.e. the first acknowledgement of the possibility of resurrection in the series, foreshadowing for CS2, and the reason why the Salt Bolt is used for important targets.

WHAT? Holy shit.

CS2:
Does that mean Crow's rifle used a bullet carved from the salt pale? Though Osborne didn't turn into salt...
 
WHAT? Holy shit.

CS2:
Does that mean Crow's rifle used a bullet carved from the salt pale? Though Osborne didn't turn into salt...

I think they mean
it specifies that the salt pale bullet prevents death from being reversed, thereby implying that there are ways that dying can be reversed, as seen in CS2/3
 
That sub-level 40 reward in Zero is going to really suck. You clearly can't do it while getting all the enemy chests in the last stretch of the game.
I remember reading a Japanese trophy guide for FC Evo (which features a similar trophy) where the author basically said "Unlike in Zero, you should get this one easily". They weren't kidding.
(I like how Zero's rewards were basically the blueprint for trophies in the series)

I might put together general thoughts on Zero in the coming days or wait to have gone through Ao. Much like the 3rd, I really like how it touched on that undercurrent of (whole series spoilers minus Ao)
magic and fiends. CS does this too with witchcraft, mind you. I've commented on this several time but it's interesting how the first "magic" you're introduced to in the series is Orbal technology, which is pretty grounded in its uses, and you assume this means that there's nothing really supernatural, as everything can be explained away by orbments or technology from an ancient civilization.
Except the church uses thaumaturgy, witches have their hexes, monsters that aren't simply badass animals exist, and artefacts display extraordinary powers.
Also, I've come to realize that I've taken for granted "well yeah, septium, so science" explanation for orbal power. But even that is a bit light when you think about it. At best, it means septium focuses and channels local magic, but the explanation still requires magic. I assume that's what the sept terrions do on a much more impressive scale.

Also, that ~Roaring Version~ of Get over the barrier is awesome and plays at an awesome time.

Not yet.
Spoilers for that door and CS2:
There's actually some foreshadowing in that door that was mistranslated - the line about "stopping or reversing the process" of salinification was intended to refer to reversing the death it causes... i.e. the first acknowledgement of the possibility of resurrection in the series, foreshadowing for CS2, and the reason why the Salt Bolt is used for important targets.
That's an interesting take on it, and gives the Salt Pale even more significance.
 
Few things for 3rd up through Chapter 5.
So Richard and Renne are party members is cool. Both of them are crazy OP. I did the second party of Tita's story with Agate and while the reward is cool... I really don't like the direction they are clearly taking with their relationship.

Like SC makes it pretty clear that Agate sees Tita as a replacement for his younger sister and directs the feelings of brotherly love he once had for his sister towards her. It's never implied that it was meant to be anything more then a brother/sister relationship but both Tita's parents and grandfather clearly seem to think hes more interested in her then he lets on which is just weird. IDK if its ever directly stated but Agate seems like hes in his early twenties putting him roughly 10 years older then Tita, hell in 3rd I think its the first time they mention her age (13) and I just find that exceptionally creepy. Not only a brother sister relationship (again) but also one with a girl whose barely hit puberty? Yeah no, creepy. It's compounded by even the rest of the cast clearly thinking that there is more going on between them as well and it just comes off as really odd considering at other times Tita is shown to be completely innocent in any kind of romantic feelings.

I'm hoping I'm just reading to much into it but it just comes across so different then in FC/SC and I do not care for it at all. Falcom really has some odd ideas of what appropriate relationships are. Also I'm starting to get why people hated Elise being in love with Rean so much, if you've played the Sky games it really is done to death by this point and I'm assuming Zero/Ao also likely have a similar relationship with how into that kind of thing Falcom seems to be >.>

Also just found out about the 'patch' of Zero that is done and seems to be playable. It seems far from perfect but I might end up just going ahead and jumping into that if I finish 3rd soon (I think I'm getting towards the end at least, this game is much shorter then the other two imo) as much as I'd love to wait for a PC release that might never happen. Also saw that a really bad and completely unfinished translation of Ao exists but that I'll likely hold off on for the time being as its a really bad machine translation from what I saw and that would be hard to enjoy, I did see a script out there to match up it with which might not be to bad but we'll see what happens we are about to hit multiple releases of games in the next few weeks that I'll be picking up and at some point I really should start Mario+Rabbids Kingdom Battle but we'll see how everything unfolds.

I did get over my slump with 3rd at least, like I said it certainly seems quite a bit shorter then the previous games which makes it a little more tolerable I just wish there was more to really explore and NPC to interact with.
 

preta

Member
Ahhh, okay, that makes perfect sense.

Man.

Yeah, that was what I meant. I think the Japanese is pretty clear about it - enough that I actually sent an email to XSEED's support, because I think this is definitely significant. For reference, the JP of the relevant part is:

"攻撃対象が人間であれば
数秒で身が結晶化して死に至り
いかなる手段を講じてもその蘇生は不可能である。"

I think the end of the second line is what solidifies it.
No pun intended.
 

chaosblade

Unconfirmed Member
Also just found out about the 'patch' of Zero that is done and seems to be playable. It seems far from perfect but I might end up just going ahead and jumping into that if I finish 3rd soon (I think I'm getting towards the end at least, this game is much shorter then the other two imo) as much as I'd love to wait for a PC release that might never happen. Also saw that a really bad and completely unfinished translation of Ao exists but that I'll likely hold off on for the time being as its a really bad machine translation from what I saw and that would be hard to enjoy, I did see a script out there to match up it with which might not be to bad but we'll see what happens we are about to hit multiple releases of games in the next few weeks that I'll be picking up and at some point I really should start Mario+Rabbids Kingdom Battle but we'll see how everything unfolds.

The Zero patch isn't technically complete either. It's fully translated, but it's a leaked early translation that hasn't been fully edited. I've only seen some of the prologue, but it's pretty bad. Decent enough in that it's understandable English, but a lot of the individual lines are really awkwardly written. If it was all we were ever going to get I'd probably settle for it, but knowing that something much better will be available later makes me not want to settle for something that's merely "barely good enough."


The current Ao patch is a machine translation, unless someone did a patch from the spreadsheet, but that one didn't cover all the game text.


Only semi-relevant here, but the site for the new Nayuta fan translation went up. It's at 15% with hopes of being 50% by the end of the year. Looks like they are going with a new title too - Trails to Infinity.
 

jb1234

Member
I did get over my slump with 3rd at least, like I said it certainly seems quite a bit shorter then the previous games which makes it a little more tolerable I just wish there was more to really explore and NPC to interact with.

3rd was actually a little longer than FC for me, doing all the doors (40 hours vs. 35) but I suppose it depends on how much time you spend talking to the NPCs (which I didn't really bother with because I found them boring).
 
I've finished zero using the patch and I can say it's good enough to enjoy the game. It got everything translated including the NPC conversation and while there are a few wrong spellings/grammar here and there, it's not enough to take away the enjoyment from the game.
 
I tried the Zero patch and it was bad enough that I decided to stop part way through the prologue and wait for the edited one. I mean it's understandable, but it's noticeably very rough.
 

Jolkien

Member
I've finished zero using the patch and I can say it's good enough to enjoy the game. It got everything translated including the NPC conversation and while there are a few wrong spellings/grammar here and there, it's not enough to take away the enjoyment from the game.

Yup it works well enough. I'm playing Ao atm with the spreadsheet, now on chapter 4. Can't believe I'm finally gonna be up to date with the series in a few days. (Not counting CS3 of course)
 

Loz246789

Member
I'm currently not bothering with the zero fan translation, but it's not so much due to it being a rough translation at the moment, but more due to the possibility of inconsistent terminology with what xseed may plan to use.

That being said, if they announce a ToCS3 localisation, and Crossbell is nowhere in sight, and it turns out that Crossbell spoilers are a big, obvious part of ToCS3 according to Japanese players (unlike ToCS2 where it largely went over my head. I think.), then I'll probably bite the bullet and play it.
 

Asd202

Member
There are some translations of Zero and Ao? That's good to know even if there lacking.

I'm currently not bothering with the zero fan translation, but it's not so much due to it being a rough translation at the moment, but more due to the possibility of inconsistent terminology with what xseed may plan to use.

That being said, if they announce a ToCS3 localisation, and Crossbell is nowhere in sight, and it turns out that Crossbell spoilers are a big, obvious part of ToCS3 according to Japanese players (unlike ToCS2 where it largely went over my head. I think.), then I'll probably bite the bullet and play it.

I'm thinking the same right now.
 

ResourcefulStar

Neo Member
CS II Epilogue spoilers:
Just entered the old schoolhouse. Feels like I accidentally wandered into Sky the 3rd: there's a space dungeon, and everyone is playable.

Really happy that Osborne managed to get the upper hand over Ouroboros, at least this time. He's far easier to take seriously than the edgelord league, even when he's barely done anything on screen.

It was fun to compare the Crossbell and Erebonian newspapers. The former made no mention of the fact that the railway guns had been hijacked by terrorists, while the latter made it look like everyone in Crossbell was happy with the occupation.
 

Mivey

Member
I'm currently not bothering with the zero fan translation, but it's not so much due to it being a rough translation at the moment, but more due to the possibility of inconsistent terminology with what xseed may plan to use.
Right now the fan translation is in the middle (well 30%) of editing. I'm pretty sure they will not deviate too far from existing nomenclature, this is aimed at western fans who have, presumably, played the Sky and/or Cold Steel games. I mean, of course it won't be quite as good as a proper XSeed translation, with experienced translators working full time, but I feel it is really unfair to judge the thing based on it's current unfinished state.
 

Jolkien

Member
I'm currently not bothering with the zero fan translation, but it's not so much due to it being a rough translation at the moment, but more due to the possibility of inconsistent terminology with what xseed may plan to use.

That being said, if they announce a ToCS3 localisation, and Crossbell is nowhere in sight, and it turns out that Crossbell spoilers are a big, obvious part of ToCS3 according to Japanese players (unlike ToCS2 where it largely went over my head. I think.), then I'll probably bite the bullet and play it.

That's a good way to look at it, I just couldn't go on without knowing the major events in both games so I'm glad im playing through them now. If down the line you decide to go ahead yeah some things have different name (Legion instead of Enforcers which is the direct Japanese translation iirc) and a few other term, that took me like 10-15 secs to understand what they meant.

Ao so far is quite a ride. Can't wait for this work week to finish so I can try and plow through my last two remaining chapters
 

Loz246789

Member
Right now the fan translation is in the middle (well 30%) of editing. I'm pretty sure they will not deviate too far from existing nomenclature, this is aimed at western fans who have, presumably, played the Sky and/or Cold Steel games. I mean, of course it won't be quite as good as a proper XSeed translation, with experienced translators working full time, but I feel it is really unfair to judge the thing based on it's current unfinished state.

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure the fan translation will be excellent when done, and I have a lot of respect for those involved. I'm more talking about the fan translation will name things when appropriate, compared to how xseed will name things if they come up in their translations of future games. Unless they both go for the literal translation, or xseed leans heavily on the fan translation existing, they'll probably be different.

EDIT: Welp, good luck everyone. I trust everyone here, so I'm not going to leave the thread or anything, but time to be extra cautious with spoiler tags!
 

Thud

Member
That's like two weeks before official launch date, I think?

Well, I don't know how exactly I'm going to avoid spoilers.I will probably going to end up getting spoiled anyway. So I might indulge myself at some point.

Rean's mother turns out to be an elephant after all.
 
I watched some minutes into the Zero no Kiseki patched rough translation and think that's it's very serviceable if you just want to know and understand what happens.

However, when I think about the memorable, cherished, and touching moments of the series, the got to that level in so small part because of the stellar localization. I speak to every NPC every time, take tens of dialogue screenshots and rewatch particular scenes over and over again not just because what are said, but how they are said.

I'd rather get spoiled important plot points or have Ouroboros be called Shamalamadingdong than to play Trails without those moments.
 

Thud

Member
I watched some minutes into the Zero no Kiseki patched rough translation and think that's it's very serviceable if you just want to know and understand what happens.

However, when I think about the memorable, cherished, and touching moments of the series, the got to that level in so small part because of the stellar localization. I speak to every NPC every time, take tens of dialogue screenshots and rewatch particular scenes over and over again not just because what are said, but how they are said.

I'd rather get spoiled important plot points or have Ouroboros be called Shamalamadingdong than to play Trails without those moments.

I definitely played them differently than Normal, but didn't care because it hooked me either way.

There will be plently of moments to revisit the games in a better light.
 
3rd Spoilers up through chapter 5 and spoilers for all of Cold Steel 1/2 also possible spoilers for characters in CS3 if you aren't keeping up with character reveals.

Heh that Return to the Empire side story really does setup Cold Steel quite well. Class 7 and everything Olivert has done was his attempts at battling Osborne and hes pretty much lost at every point. Hell even Rean ended up being someone I think Olivert thought of as an ultimate piece (he literally hands him the Courageous) and by the end of CS2 Osborne just takes Rean right out from under him.

For me it given CS3's story more context, this will ultimately be about Olivert trying to stop Osborne and it really coming down to what side Rean ultimately ends up taking, will he just let Osborne do whatever he want or will he resist him and join Olivert. It's really making sense why characters like Agate and Tita are in CS3 as well as it wouldn't be surprising if Olivert invited them to the Empire to give him more people he can really trust in the battle between the two. This also makes me think that is actually really possible Estelle/Joshua or a lot of other Sky characters might end up appearing in CS3 as well.
 

EndcatOmega

Unconfirmed Member
I'm wondering if some of the door stuff changes on easy; it definitely does on hard and nightmare. Just gameplay mechanics though.
 

PK Gaming

Member
I played 3rd on normal and was disappointed in how easy it was. FC and SC felt really good on normal. I was wishing I had bumped up 3rd to hard by the end.

But FC and SC are much easier and less satisfying to play through than 3rd. 3rd actually tried to present a challenge by nerfing the shit out of Delay, giving bosses attacks that damage your entire party and throwing stupidly strong enemies at you.

Major 3rd spoilers
vvv

The Cassius boss fight is the pinnacle of Sky's combat.
 
But FC and SC are much easier and less satisfying to play through than 3rd. 3rd actually tried to present a challenge by nerfing the shit out of Delay, giving bosses attacks that damage your entire party and throwing stupidly strong enemies at you.

Major 3rd spoilers
vvv

The Cassius boss fight is the pinnacle of Sky's combat.

Agree on all of the above, unless you know of FastCraftsMan and make use of him.

I played it on hard and found the challenge to be well balanced. I will definitely play it again in nightmare at some point.
 

Thud

Member
Agree on all of the above, unless you know of FastCraftsMan and make use of him.

I played it on hard and found the challenge to be well balanced. I will definitely play it again in nightmare at some point.

They have their own Muffin Man song in Zemuria at this point.
 
But FC and SC are much easier and less satisfying to play through than 3rd. 3rd actually tried to present a challenge by nerfing the shit out of Delay, giving bosses attacks that damage your entire party and throwing stupidly strong enemies at you.

Major 3rd spoilers
vvv

The Cassius boss fight is the pinnacle of Sky's combat.
onn normal the only time I ever died was against the one challenge door where every enemy has 100% petrification melee attacks. A quick accessory swap and I was done with that. Then there was the final optional fight in the arena door. Lost there once.

3rd just felt really easy compared to FC and SC. There were several points in those two where I had to think a bit more and come up with a new plan. The final boss rush of SC was excellent in its challenge and balance. I never felt like that with any of 3rd.

It could be just that by this point I'm good enough at these games that I was able to trivialize it on that strength alone, but idk. I didnt abuse anything like I did in CS and CS2.

Coupled with the dungeon crawler design it made 3rd the least enjoyable game in the series to play through. Playing on hard might've at least helped with one of those complaints.
 

Bowlie

Banned

Hahahahahah, that's great.


That does not look like a dungeon crawler :p Thought I haven't finished 3rd myself, I'm just picking up on what people here say. Lol at the minigame footage there too.

---

I'm playing 3rd on Hard and it's unnerving and exciting how I am counting every single mira to buy better gear and have to make use of crafts in a way I never needed in FC and SC.
I'm getting a lot of Game Over on first boss attempts, and a clear on my second or third attempts with a better understanding of the fights; it's way more satisfying.

Still, I find physical attacks severely lacking; I haven't found a reason to use the Attack quartz yet. I'm almost always using a mix of recovery, support crafts and arts.
 

PK Gaming

Member
onn normal the only time I ever died was against the one challenge door where every enemy has 100% petrification melee attacks. A quick accessory swap and I was done with that. Then there was the final optional fight in the arena door. Lost there once.

3rd just felt really easy compared to FC and SC. There were several points in those two where I had to think a bit more and come up with a new plan. The final boss rush of SC was excellent in its challenge and balance. I never felt like that with any of 3rd.

It could be just that by this point I'm good enough at these games that I was able to trivialize it on that strength alone, but idk. I didnt abuse anything like I did in CS and CS2.

Coupled with the dungeon crawler design it made 3rd the least enjoyable game in the series to play through. Playing on hard might've at least helped with one of those complaints.

It's definitely that. The more aggressive you are, the easier these game's get and 3rd basically promoted playing that way with how frequent it was with giving the players kickass items. In FC, there isn't a single truly challenging boss, outside of
Loewe
and the Chapter 2 boss. SC's more of the same thing, with the aforementioned enforcer battles being the high point, but even then, that came down to just building your team properly. With 3rd, you were constantly encouraged to prepare and push your characters to the limit. So of course the difficulty might not be satisfactory (and as you've said, Hard might be the way to go), but when it comes to the actual design of the enemy/boss encounters, 3rd far outclasses FC/SC.

.
 

ResourcefulStar

Neo Member
Sky FC on Normal has to be among the easiest turn-based RPGs I've ever played. Enemy damage is quite low across across the board (Final Chapter spoiler:
even when fighting Lorence, the challenge is in being able to damage him fast enough, not in being able to keep up with his own, very manageable damage output
). Many bosses are susceptible to Confuse, and Chaos Brand has a 100% infliction rate. Cold Steel's Delay cheese strategies are nothing compared to this.

Sky FC feels like it was balanced for players new to RPGs or even video games in general. I don't think there's anything wrong with it, though, as the game is the first installment in a story-driven series. It should be accessible.
 
Sky FC on Normal has to be among the easiest turn-based RPGs I've ever played. Enemy damage is quite low across across the board (Final Chapter spoiler:
even when fighting Lorence, the challenge is in being able to damage him fast enough, not in being able to keep up with his own, very manageable damage output
). Many bosses are susceptible to Confuse, and Chaos Brand has a 100% infliction rate. Cold Steel's Delay cheese strategies are nothing compared to this.

Sky FC feels like it was balanced for players new to RPGs or even video games in general. I don't think there's anything wrong with it, though, as the game is the first installment in a story-driven series. It should be accessible.
cold steel 2's incredibly obvious damage cheesing makes it by far the easiest game in the series.
 
Would I miss any story if I played Trails 3rd on easy?

Suggest you play on normal anyway :) This game, more than the other 2 Sky games, is so easily breakable that it's almost a joke to play through lol. It is cool blasting enemies with OP arts though :p Plus, the turbo mode is a God send. It made the game so much more enjoyable for me as I could fast forward through all the slow battle animations.
 
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