If you get the evo version for Zero and Ao then maybe you'll have an easier time understanding the story if you're better at listening than reading. Most of the main events in those games actually have a good amount of VA.
I thought about it, but I think that I'm doing myself a bit of a disservice by playing very long games with limited understanding, so I'm unlikely to do what I did with Sen 2 again (Though I do credit it with teaching me a lot of new kanji. Haha)
I'll just keep working on my Japanese, bit by bit, and hope that in 3 years or so I won't have to worry about such problems anymore, either from myself learning or from XSEED being superheroes again.
(The Zero battle theme is SO DOPE, it will be hard to resist though)
So, I finally finished the 3rd and it's a great game.
I don't know if I would put it over SC. Some moments drag on, but a few parts of the story hit hard. Very, very hard.
Summary of my opinion regarding the 3rd without spoilers:
- It's a giant dungeon crawler. But, since all characters are high level, it's also probably the best combat-wise of the TitS games.
- The doors are great for expanding the lore of the entire series and they also show a lot about character's past, future actions and interactions between the party. That said, I will probably remember all Moon Doors and a few Star Doorrs that I really liked.
- The main story is cool, even if most of it is predictable. Towards the end, I really liked the interaction between the main characters.
- One thing that bothered me. The last Star door has content cut from the PSP/PS3 release and I ended up seeing it in full on Youtube with an english translation. While on the PS3 version I managed to discover what was happening, the writing on the original really makes the door much more "effective".
Really, I think everyone that played 3rd PSP/PS3 should see this scene in it's complete way.
Thanks to Gu4n for helping me with a few things on the game.
Now, I will return to Zero no Kiseki and should be over soon since I stopped near the last chapter.
- One thing that bothered me. The last Star door has content cut from the PSP/PS3 release and I ended up seeing it in full on Youtube with an english translation. While on the PS3 version I managed to discover what was happening, the writing on the original really makes the door much more "effective".
As far as I know, this was to ensure that the entire Sora no Kiseki trilogy would remain CERO B. That door in particular would probably be enough to kick it over the edge to CERO C.
I remember it made a big stir when Ys Seven was revealed to be CERO C. A LOT of people were really startled over it when that announcement was made. Then in an interview not too long ago, Kondo talked about it... (Ys Seven spoilers)
...and it was the scene when Adol is tortured for questioning that gave it its rating.
So looking at that kind of content, I wouldn't be surprised with the door in question would've kicked the CERO rating up.
Interestingly enough, Falcom hasn't hidden the door at all. It is still published in the scenario book from its complete PC version, for example... whereas the rest of the scenario book uses all the other text changes from the PSP version. The book even identifies where the PSP version begins. All the details are still in the artbooks, too. So the removal isn't a complete redaction of the event.
With the exception of the final dungeon (if I recall correctly anyway?), which is relatively straight forward in the first place, aren't most of the dungeons without maps just revisited dungeons that didn't have maps before?
As far as I know, this was to ensure that the entire Sora no Kiseki trilogy would remain CERO B. That door in particular would probably be enough to kick it over the edge to CERO C.
I remember it made a big stir when Ys Seven was revealed to be CERO C. A LOT of people were really startled over it when that announcement was made. Then in an interview not too long ago, Kondo talked about it... (Ys Seven spoilers)
...and it was the scene when Adol is tortured for questioning that gave it its rating.
So looking at that kind of content, I wouldn't be surprised with the door in question would've kicked the CERO rating up.
Interestingly enough, Falcom hasn't hidden the door at all. It is still published in the scenario book from its complete PC version, for example... whereas the rest of the scenario book uses all the other text changes from the PSP version. The book even identifies where the PSP version begins. All the details are still in the artbooks, too. So the removal isn't a complete redaction of the event.
Mild 3rd spoilers (gameplay, not story):
With the exception of the final dungeon (if I recall correctly anyway?), which is relatively straight forward in the first place, aren't most of the dungeons without maps just revisited dungeons that didn't have maps before?
I just got surprised about the door because I had no idea about it.
I just happened to see a video on YT which had the complete version. Otherwise, I would have never found about it and probably thought I had seen everything.
It would be cool to leave a warning for future players of 3rd to watch the full version once they get to it.
About the dungeons,
almost all of them that didn't had any maps are from FC or SC, but, if I remember correctly, there are some which they include maps. No idea what was their decision if a dungeon should be mapped or not
Definitely. It also demonstrates once again that Falcom doesn't put this books in here for just fun. And it still leaves a lot to speculate for Sen III.
I personally really enjoy them, but never read them in the game themselves. I usually push a transcription to my phone and read it like, well, a book on the go. If you care about the world Kiseki is set in, they're usually a goldmine of information. Without Red Moon Rose, for example, we wouldn't have known that bracers existed for quite some time before the Guild itself got established.
Nice, I really appreciate it. I'm really wary of the wiki and Google since I got spoiled Sen I.
I love how all these books end having ties with the overarching plot
Gambler Jack is up. I do recommend not to casually browse the wiki.
I personally really enjoy them, but never read them in the game themselves. I usually push a transcription to my phone and read it like, well, a book on the go. If you care about the world Kiseki is set in, they're usually a goldmine of information. Without Red Moon Rose, for example, we wouldn't have known that bracers existed for quite some time before the Guild itself got established.
So after finishing Ao Evo, I jumped into Sen 1 not too long after and I've been playing it slowwwwwwly. At the end of chapter 3 now around 25 hours in, and my only comment (I'll save my comments until I finish it) is that before Chapter 3 I dreamed of a Calvard chapter after Sen III that was an open-world rpg like FFXVI.
Now I absolutely do not want Falcom to ever do that. At least not if they don't put in an extreme amount of fast travel. Doing those latter half of chapter 3 quests where you have to ride back and forth and back and forth and back and forth from the village to the gate was the lowest point of Sen so far. Tedious and boring. And could've saved all that tediousness if they just let you fast travel between the village and the gate.
But yeah I like the game so far but it's my least favorite of the first 6 Kiseki games so far.
Also coming from Zero/Ao Evo the almost total lack of voice acting is depressing as hell in Sen. So little of it is voiced. Like maybe 5% of the main required story dialogue. For the first chapter or two I kept forgetting what the MC even sounded like because I only heard him speak every few hours. Also the voice is weirdly cheap selective shit where a voice acted scene by the main cast will have silent dialogue from the NPCs because they don't want to pay voice actors for NPCs...wtf. Also strange stuff like sometimes every will have a voice but the MC will be silent when talking to them, yet other times MC talkes. It's just depressing. I hope Sen II increases the amount of voice acting and I hope by Sen III that the game is near fully voice acted for the main storyline since like EVERY OTHER JRPG can do full voice for the main storyline these days (yes I know Kiseki has more dialogue).
The voice acting thing is so sad that if I knew they were going to release Sen I & II Evo on PS4 in the near future with full voice I'd stop playing immediately and wait. Zero & Ao's full voice for everything required on the main quest gave so many NPCs tons of character and really added a ton to the main cast.
Nice. This is neat. I've never read any of the books in any of the kiseki games because they weren't plot related. Nice to have them all in place. Thanks for the effort.
Brilliant and I'm excited for more trails. Especially 3rd after that ending. Some thoughts about the ending:
I'm looking forward to what remains of the society, Kevins mission and Olivier's challenge. The ending also resolved a lot of things I was thinking about, like Weissman and Hamel. Which again relates to Erebonia's top dog and Olivier.
I really like Ragnard and Cassius' dialogue talking about how things are just beginning, but with new protagonists. I also liked Estelle's goal to surpass Cassius hehe. Well maybe with a staff.
I'll take a long ass break before starting Cold Steel I&II later this year. It has been a rollercoaster ride of feels these past weeks, glad I could be part of it.
Brilliant and I'm excited for more trails. Especially 3rd after that ending. Some thoughts about the ending:
I'm looking forward to what remains of the society, Kevins mission and Olivier's challenge. The ending also resolved a lot of things I was thinking about, like Weissman and Hamel. Which again relates to Erebonia's top dog and Olivier.
I really like Ragnard and Cassius' dialogue talking about how things are just beginning, but with new protagonists. I also liked Estelle's goal to surpass Cassius hehe. Well maybe with a staff.
I'll take a long ass break before starting Cold Steel I&II later this year. It has been a rollercoaster ride of feels these past weeks, glad I could be part of it.
Sen no Kiseki
The voice acting thing is so sad that if I knew they were going to release Sen I & II Evo on PS4 in the near future with full voice I'd stop playing immediately and wait. Zero & Ao's full voice for everything required on the main quest gave so many NPCs tons of character and really added a ton to the main cast.
Just my 2 cents.
Nice. This is neat. I've never read any of the books in any of the kiseki games because they weren't plot related. Nice to have them all in place. Thanks for the effort.
Eh, totally disagree. I mean like Uppers in Ao has the best damn voice in the game. After playing Sen 1 I have a strong feeling that Uppers probably isn't even voiced in Ao PSP
Either way the inconsistency with the voice acting is just stupid. I've never seen another game where in the same cutscene, only certain characters are voiced and others are not. It makes no sense and really takes away. Honestly, I'd rather Sen had zero voice acting at all like Sora if it was going to be like this, because at least it'd be consistent.
I'm really hoping if Sen III is a "next-gen jump" for the series, that not only are the visuals improved, but the audio goes full voice main scenario. Falcom can certainly afford it with how much the series sells these days. Lots of lesser selling jrpg series still can afford full voice.
Eh, totally disagree. I mean like Uppers in Ao has the best damn voice in the game. After playing Sen 1 I have a strong feeling that Uppers probably isn't even voiced in Ao PSP
Hit Chapter 4, and you know, one of my issues with Sen coming from Zero/Ao is that it feels like all the fun and silly was sucked out of the game along with the 2d art. Like Sen is fairly serious straight-forward tone so far, which is a bummer.
Like when
Lector shows up in Zero and he's chilling at the auction in a hawaiian shirt and messing around with the crossbell group, he's his fun silly self that you see in The 3rd flashback with Chloe. Even later on in Ao when Lector is more serious about Ozborn and stuff he's still kind of playful and whimsical. Also has a great voice.
But when he shows up at the end of Chapter 3, there's no fanfare. His face looks ugly/boring/plain compared to his 2d portraits in the other games, he's completely serious and...isn't even voiced! Like this is Lector finally showing up in Sen 25 hours in, Lector is a major franchise character, it should be a cool scene! But it's not, it's dry and boring as dirt.
Same deal with Olivert. Every.single.scene with Olivert in Sora and Ao is fun and enjoyable. Even when he's serious, he does it in an smart and fun tone. But his scenes in Sen so far have been completely devoid of personality and serious and boring. Just like Estelle and Joshua and Ren felt kind of out of character in Zero, Olivert feels out of character in Sen so far. It feels like the game has a different writer than before.
Seeing those two characters made me realize...is anyone fun in Sen1? Ok, Sarah is fun. But she's only in bits here and there. Everyone else seems serious and the stories are serious. It's not super serious like gritty or anything, but it's serious in that it's more "realistic" and less fun and enjoyable. Everything just feels dull compared to the liveliness of Zero/Ao. It's one thing that the graphics took a step back to be more plain, uninteresting by going 3d, but there's no reason the characters and their interactions should have gone that way as well. Every chapter is some serious backstory of a main party student. Eh, bring back the fun.
I didn't think it was way more serious at all. Maybe there's a little bit less of that humor during the field studies (though even then, I don't think there's all that much difference between not-so-important busywork of Sky FC/SC & the busywork of Cold Steel the field studies mostly consist of) and some of the humor is a bit more low-key than the not-so-subtle humor in the Sky duology, but there's still tons of more light-hearted & even downright goofy stuff happening during the school parts. You see lighter sides of certain main characters during bonding events (& outside of those as well) and there are plenty of fun NPCs in the school setting. And then there's of course a certain maid who I think has some pretty fun interactions with the whole group, in and out of school. You've also seen very little of
Olivert
by that point. He'll have a far bigger role in latter chapters and shows his usual lighthearted self a bit more and though he is perhaps a bit more serious on average, I don't see how that is a bad thing when the setting & story explains why he is so. He's not
the goofy, pervy bard
anymore, he's someone of high stature who is trying to get shit done in a more official capacity.
The main cast starts off a bit serious towards each other, but as they get to know each other better, they start to play off each other better and there's more light-hearted wordplay between the characters.
Hit Chapter 4, and you know, one of my issues with Sen coming from Zero/Ao is that it feels like all the fun and silly was sucked out of the game along with the 2d art. Like Sen is fairly serious straight-forward tone so far, which is a bummer.
Like when
Lector shows up in Zero and he's chilling at the auction in a hawaiian shirt and messing around with the crossbell group, he's his fun silly self that you see in The 3rd flashback with Chloe. Even later on in Ao when Lector is more serious about Ozborn and stuff he's still kind of playful and whimsical. Also has a great voice.
But when he shows up at the end of Chapter 3, there's no fanfare. His face looks ugly/boring/plain compared to his 2d portraits in the other games, he's completely serious and...isn't even voiced! Like this is Lector finally showing up in Sen 25 hours in, Lector is a major franchise character, it should be a cool scene! But it's not, it's dry and boring as dirt.
Same deal with Olivert. Every.single.scene with Olivert in Sora and Ao is fun and enjoyable. Even when he's serious, he does it in an smart and fun tone. But his scenes in Sen so far have been completely devoid of personality and serious and boring. Just like Estelle and Joshua and Ren felt kind of out of character in Zero, Olivert feels out of character in Sen so far. It feels like the game has a different writer than before.
Seeing those two characters made me realize...is anyone fun in Sen1? Ok, Sarah is fun. But she's only in bits here and there. Everyone else seems serious and the stories are serious. It's not super serious like gritty or anything, but it's serious in that it's more "realistic" and less fun and enjoyable. Everything just feels dull compared to the liveliness of Zero/Ao. It's one thing that the graphics took a step back to be more plain, uninteresting by going 3d, but there's no reason the characters and their interactions should have gone that way as well. Every chapter is some serious backstory of a main party student. Eh, bring back the fun.
Olivert gets a couple scenes later on and if you talk to him on multiple times at Garrelia fortress you get some good lines.... but yeah... he is completely wasted in Sen
Hit Chapter 4, and you know, one of my issues with Sen coming from Zero/Ao is that it feels like all the fun and silly was sucked out of the game along with the 2d art. Like Sen is fairly serious straight-forward tone so far, which is a bummer.
Like when
Lector shows up in Zero and he's chilling at the auction in a hawaiian shirt and messing around with the crossbell group, he's his fun silly self that you see in The 3rd flashback with Chloe. Even later on in Ao when Lector is more serious about Ozborn and stuff he's still kind of playful and whimsical. Also has a great voice.
But when he shows up at the end of Chapter 3, there's no fanfare. His face looks ugly/boring/plain compared to his 2d portraits in the other games, he's completely serious and...isn't even voiced! Like this is Lector finally showing up in Sen 25 hours in, Lector is a major franchise character, it should be a cool scene! But it's not, it's dry and boring as dirt.
Same deal with Olivert. Every.single.scene with Olivert in Sora and Ao is fun and enjoyable. Even when he's serious, he does it in an smart and fun tone. But his scenes in Sen so far have been completely devoid of personality and serious and boring. Just like Estelle and Joshua and Ren felt kind of out of character in Zero, Olivert feels out of character in Sen so far. It feels like the game has a different writer than before.
Seeing those two characters made me realize...is anyone fun in Sen1? Ok, Sarah is fun. But she's only in bits here and there. Everyone else seems serious and the stories are serious. It's not super serious like gritty or anything, but it's serious in that it's more "realistic" and less fun and enjoyable. Everything just feels dull compared to the liveliness of Zero/Ao. It's one thing that the graphics took a step back to be more plain, uninteresting by going 3d, but there's no reason the characters and their interactions should have gone that way as well. Every chapter is some serious backstory of a main party student. Eh, bring back the fun.
The class is dull and less focused compared to the older cast because there're too many playable characters and they're not together all the time unlike SSS in zero/ao. IMO if you don't like the cast in sen 1 then you're not going to change your mind in the second game. Most of the cast don't really get much screen time since you get to choose between 10 playable characters to show up in the main story so most of their lines are just reactions or staring at things. The game relies on the social link events to develop the characters but I felt they pale in comparison to the heart to heart events and side quests in the older games.
The class is dull and less focused compared to the older cast because there're too many playable characters and they're not together all the time unlike SSS in zero/ao. IMO if you don't like the cast in sen 1 then you're not going to change your mind in the second game. Most of the cast don't really get much screen time since you get to choose between 10 playable characters to show up in the main story so most of their lines are just reactions or staring at things. The game relies on the social link events to develop the characters but I felt they pale in comparison to the heart to heart events and side quests in the older games.
Sen 2 is better game overall since the free time events is a bit better but the stuff that happens in the story is pretty frustrating. Most of the character development is on Rean so if you hated him then you'll be rolling your eyes every time he does something cool and there's a lot of it.
Sen 2 is better game overall since the free time events is a bit better but the stuff that happens in the story is pretty frustrating. Most of the character development is on Rean so if you hated him then you'll be rolling your eyes every time he does something cool and there's a lot of it.
Olivert gets a couple scenes later on and if you talk to him on multiple times at Garrelia fortress you get some good lines.... but yeah... he is completely wasted in Sen
I don't know. He's got a lot of stuff to put on a serious face over in Sen/Sen II. You'll get a couple of moments of shenanigans, but I'd be worried if he's his comical character in it, especially considering how he played things up in the Sky trilogy.
When you see next week's Translation Tuesday, you'll probably have a better understanding of just why he is the way he is in Sen/Sen II.
But when he shows up at the end of Chapter 3, there's no fanfare. His face looks ugly/boring/plain compared to his 2d portraits in the other games, he's completely serious and...isn't even voiced! Like this is Lector finally showing up in Sen 25 hours in, Lector is a major franchise character, it should be a cool scene! But it's not, it's dry and boring as dirt.
Ao spoilers in here, as a warning to everyone else:
In a similar vein to what I said earlier, if you look back to the door in 3rd with Olivier and Mueller, you'll see that there's a different, more serious side of Lechter until he has time away from everything else to spend alone with Kloe. I seem to recall that scene when he meets up with the SSS and all towards the end of Ao, and he's not quirky or funny at all there- because it's a very serious situation, and hell's about to break loose in Crossbell. lol
What TR says is 100% true about CS2, sadly. I couldn't have written it better.
I didn't hate Rean though, I just thought he was about as interesting as a sack of potatoes.
Random off-note, let's just say I'm a sucker for (CS2 character spoiler)
battle maids
and I was well-serviced, at least for a short section.
The class is dull and less focused compared to the older cast because there're too many playable characters and they're not together all the time unlike SSS in zero/ao. IMO if you don't like the cast in sen 1 then you're not going to change your mind in the second game. Most of the cast don't really get much screen time since you get to choose between 10 playable characters to show up in the main story so most of their lines are just reactions or staring at things. The game relies on the social link events to develop the characters but I felt they pale in comparison to the heart to heart events and side quests in the older games.
It's not even the main cast that is really letting me down in Sen/Cold Steel. They're ok so far, not amazingly interesting, but not worse than most jrpg casts these days. It's the supporting cast of characters around the world that just feel really weak coming from Zero/Ao.
Zero/Ao/Sen spoilers -
In Zero/Ao you had a great cast of very interesting characters like Jonah, Garcia, Lector, Dudly, Aerios, Deita, Irya, Noel, Wadji & Mohawk dude whose name I always forget, in Zero you also have Estelle/Joshua & Ren's story going on. And in Ao you have the Red Constellation mercenary group which is very interesting and well developed. And this is on top of a varied main cast + the chief (who I guess Sarah is the equivalent in Sen),
Zero/Ao was such a great group of characters interacting with the main cast, which made it constant fun to play and see these interactions. Especially in the Evo versions where everyone is fully voiced. In Sen, 4 chapters in, the side characters are all very minor, with few minutes of screen time. Almost all the interaction in Sen so far is within the main cast themselves and they just are nowhere near as interesting as those characters I just listed from Zero/Ao.
Also, Shouta had mentioned sometime ago that Sen let you see more of the real day to day life and experience of living in one of these countries. That it gave you a more in-depth view of a country. So far I feel the complete opposite. By jumping around bits and pieces of Erebonia instead of having a world map and ability to walk/drive around, Sen feels like a bite-sized "best of" view of Erebonia, unlike Liberal & Crossbell where I felt I really got to know these places and their inhabitants and culture. It just doesn't feel as much of a cohesive world as Liberal & Crossbell.
I'm fairly concerned too that even if this is just a fluke, the next chapter is probably Calvard and it's an even larger landmass than Erebonia. So I'm worried Calvard is gonna be like this too. I almost feel like for the next chapter they should do a smaller country so we can go back to a full world to explore and then do Calvard when they have the tech capabilities to handle it.
Also, Shouta had mentioned sometime ago that Sen let you see more of the real day to day life and experience of living in one of these countries. That it gave you a more in-depth view of a country. So far I feel the complete opposite. By jumping around bits and pieces of Erebonia instead of having a world map and ability to walk/drive around, Sen feels like a bite-sized "best of" view of Erebonia, unlike Liberal & Crossbell where I felt I really got to know these places and their inhabitants and culture. It just doesn't feel as much of a cohesive world as Liberal & Crossbell.
I'm fairly concerned too that even if this is just a fluke, the next chapter is probably Calvard and it's an even larger landmass than Erebonia. So I'm worried Calvard is gonna be like this too. I almost feel like for the next chapter they should do a smaller country so we can go back to a full world to explore and then do Calvard when they have the tech capabilities to handle it.
You really shouldn't spoiler everything because it's harder to read and figure out what's actually a spoiler, lol.
I disagree. I feel like Sen I does a great job at building up Erebonia and its inhabitants, especially for the size of the country. They define regions of the country through the cities like with the cities themselves, NPCs, town theme (not musically but what it's about). etc. This then ties back into the school and students as you see how the students interact with each other and how where they from influences their personalities and how they go about their business. The fact that the game develops individual story lines for those NPCs over the course of the game because of the passage of time is fantastic.
It's exactly than how Sora does it. You had hub towns with their individual stories and quests that you did. The only major difference is that you don't travel from town to town in Sen I but that's on purpose because of situation in the game. It's not a tech issue at all especially if you consider how they've done their games up until this point.
It is how Sora did it, sorta, I agree on that point. But it still feels less cohesive in Sen. Like Sen is the first game where hitting start doesn't bring up the world map. Just that little bit of not being able to instantly see where you are in relation to the rest of the country at anytime takes away from the world design imo even if there are maps at train stations.
I feel like not seeing the areas between each city takes away from the living connected world that even Sora had.
That being said, being kind of like Sora isn't really a compliment when Zero/Ao did world building and construction better than Sora. Going to Sen from Zero/Ao is like going from Suikoden 3 -> 4 or FFXII -> XIII.
Zero/Ao has a really small setting though and that led to the game doing a lot more events because they didn't need to set up Crossbell very much at all. That's what makes Zero and Ao so exciting, it's a game with a lot of beats going on every chapter. It's like a film every chapter.
The downside is that I feel like the setting doesn't get an identity of its own. Crossbell itself is important and has defining aspects to it but I don't feel like it has its own unique identity aside from being a fairly modern-ish city. It's partially on purpose but I think it's a weakpoint despite loving the games.
Sora does a great job of setting stories for towns then Sen goes further by defining the identities of towns in a lot of ways beyond just dialog. The town layouts, for example, are really important to defining the type of place it is in Erebonia.
I understand that he wants to protect his work, but he just comes off as an overly agressive asshole. At least the quality of the fan translation will probably end up being decent given how proud he is of it.
Just finshed FC a moment ago, and WHOA what a ride and that cliffhanger ending!
Overall though I still rate Cold Steel 1 to be higher for a few reasons, but both are example of Jrpg done right!
Straight on to SC now, heard that its even better than FC, I can't wait!
EDIT
Oh forgot to mention, I have missed a few BP on my FC run but managed to get to rank-1 nevertheless. Should I be bothered to import a max BP file or not?
EDIT
Oh forgot to mention, I have missed a few BP on my FC run but managed to get to rank-1 nevertheless. Should I be bothered to import a max BP file or not?
Sen1 through Chapter 5 end, Zero & Ao entire game spoilers:
Just finished Chapter 5 of Sen1 at the Galeia Fortress/West Zemuria Trade Meeting.
Overall, liking the game more since it picked up at Chapter 4 with the Heimdal stuff (great city, reminded me of Crossbell; game finally got most of the student problems out of the way), Chapter 5 in Legram was good too.
But one of my main issues with Sen 1's plot is coming from Zero/Ao and playing the series in order, the main antagonist storyline is so dumb and pointless because you already know it's just filler and means nothing in the scheme of things.
I mean if you look back, in Sora FC the Coup' wasn't really important in the scheme of things, and if you look at Zero, the Gnosis remnant group was more of a real threat, but still didn't mean much in the overall story of Ao. But the difference is that at least when you were playing those games you didn't know that the antagonist group was a joke and pointless.
But in Sen you already know these guys failed. You know when you're at Galiea base that there's no tension and nothing's going to happen because you as the player already experienced this event from Crossbell's side and the meeting didn't get bombarded by cannon fire. So it just kind of makes all the liberation army stuff boring because it feels like pointless filler. I already know from playing Ao that Osborn is going to get shot, the Nobles will make their move, and then Osborn will strike back and end up ruling the country hence the takeover of Crossbell at the post-game of Ao for 2 years of Crossbell war before Crossbell wins its independence.
I was worried about Ao spoiling all that stuff going into Sen1 and it really seemed like maybe a bad idea for the series to go back in time for Sen1, and yeah it doesn't effect about half the game which is the school story, the main cast story/character development, the city mini-stories, etc...but it does kind of kill the main threat of the game in Sen1 from being even slightly interesting because you know they're just filler to give the game a group of antagonists until you get to Sen2.
Basically at this point, with just 2 chapters left (6 & final), I'm not really interested in the game anymore plot-wise, because I don't expect too much interesting stuff to happen, I'm more interested in just getting it done with and out of the way so I can play Sen 2 where I don't know what's going to happen and there's real antagonists and real stakes.
In a lot of ways, it feels like Falcom made Sen1 in an insulting way to the fanbase that had bought and played all the games to that point in order to try to make more money. Basically it feels like Falcom made Sen1 as a "fresh start" and prioritized new players at the expense of their core fanbase that's been with them the entire time. I'm sure Sen1's plot is far more exciting if you haven't played Ao. Also starting "fresh" again with a new cast who don't know anything about anything in the world (oroborous and stuff) and having them have to slowly learn it all again is a waste of time. I hope they drop this for Calvard and your main cast know about what's going on in the world around them to a degree.
Pretty much hope they never do this again with the series. Each game should move the world timeline forward.
Also it's dumb that Sen/Ao have to spoil each other so much. Not only does Ao spoil the stuff I just mentioned making Sen1 much less interesting in the main plotline, but everyone playing the English version of Sen1 just got totally screwed by having half of the plot points in Ao (including some of the best stuff) completely revealed like the terrorist attack at the Zemuria Meeting & Crossbell announcing its independence. It's just such a lose/lose scenario writing the games like this.
Sooo... I finished Trails of Cold Steel a couple weeks ago and absolutely loved it. Everything about it. But now that it's done, I can't find anything else I want to play. Can't get into Fire Emblem, and SFV and CS GO just aren't satisfying enough. Fortunately, I still have to play Trails in the Sky FC and SC. That should get me out of this funk, right?
More specifically, I want the same the sense of adventure and the crazy dense storyline. What I loved about Cold Steel was that it felt like a PS1-era RPG. Lots of reading, brisk dungeon pacing, and charm. I know TitS has charm, just... curious how it shakes out as far as the rest of it.
Sooo... I finished Trails of Cold Steel a couple weeks ago and absolutely loved it. Everything about it. But now that it's done, I can't find anything else I want to play. Can't get into Fire Emblem, and SFV and CS GO just aren't satisfying enough. Fortunately, I still have to play Trails in the Sky FC and SC. That should get me out of this funk, right?
More specifically, I want the same the sense of adventure and the crazy dense storyline. What I loved about Cold Steel was that it felt like a PS1-era RPG. Lots of reading, brisk dungeon pacing, and charm. I know TitS has charm, just... curious how it shakes out as far as the rest of it.
I imagine to be definitive it'd need at least a soundtrack toggle ala Sora no Kiseki. Naturally, that had to do something else instead to undermine being "definitive."
Let me rephrase if I want to get version of Zero and Ao is it safe to get the Evo versions or would I run into a Trails of Hearts R/FF VI steam/etc scenario?(Where the newer versions arguably do not live up to the original versions)
