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[Nyoro SF]

Hard for me to talk about CS2 without spoiling it, but I'll try.

Positives
- More exciting moments happen more often (a given, given that the first game set things up)
- More events are actually linked to the overarching story and Erebonia's past
- Way more interesting fights and fight scenarios
- Challenge chests that force you to use specific characters to win their contents, making for some hellishly strategic battles
- More streamlined options everywhere for travel and party switching
- Minigames! One is my favorite sport!
- Continuation of dope soundtrack
- Battle

Spoiler

maid

- Some dungeons have puzzle elements and the dungeons have more interesting elements to getting through them (someday Falcom will design an actual Zelda-style puzzle dungeon without long unskippable animations).
- A real wtf ending battle that will shock you
- Better dialogue moments when it counts (as in, outside of the social links and romance system)

Negatives
- People hyped up the last dungeon as a gamechanger, but... er, it seemed like an extremely typical one and didn't impact any ending elements from what I could see.
- One of the final twists is easy to see coming and the followup to said twist feels kind of forced given the lack of setup
- Sandbagging is even more intense than SC
- If you didn't like the old schoolhouse in CS1, I have bad news. Just think of SC chapter 7 and Ys 7 midgame combined and apply it to CS2. Honestly this is the biggest criticism I personally have with the game that also links into heavily slowing down the main plot. Luckily, working with your main party and organizing their equipment is much easier at these points due to several in-game economic factors
- Battle system is way more broken than before (could be a positive? removing the damage limiter is lol) so if you're the kind of guy that puts a lot of stock into cutscenes that setup bosses and the reactions afterward...
- Class VII is even more dull than in the last game. Most of the main cast might as well be invisible outside of

Spoiler

Emma.

. Like in CS1, the not-Class-VII members are way more interesting and fun. The complaints about Class VII and Rean interacting from CS1 are the same in this one.
- Quests aren't really that improved from the first game (but the monster road fights are WAY better, so it makes up for some of it).
- There's an important story element hidden behind intense backtracking in NG+ only

Neutral
- Because we have no dual audio, you won't be able to hear Fie's Japanese voice actress struggle speaking English words. Absolutely hilarious.
- No high-res racy content suddenly thrown in my face out of nowhere to stoke 10-page debates on Neo GAF dot com

 

[TR_]

Hard for me to talk about CS2 without spoiling it, but I'll try.

Positives
- More exciting moments happen more often (a given, given that the first game set things up)
- More events are actually linked to the overarching story and Erebonia's past
- Way more interesting fights and fight scenarios
- Challenge chests that force you to use specific characters to win their contents, making for some hellishly strategic battles
- More streamlined options everywhere for travel and party switching
- Minigames! One is my favorite sport!
- Continuation of dope soundtrack
- Battle

Spoiler

maid

- Some dungeons have puzzle elements and the dungeons have more interesting elements to getting through them (someday Falcom will design an actual Zelda-style puzzle dungeon without long unskippable animations).
- A real wtf ending battle that will shock you
- Better dialogue moments when it counts (as in, outside of the social links and romance system)

Negatives
- People hyped up the last dungeon as a gamechanger, but... er, it seemed like an extremely typical one and didn't impact any ending elements from what I could see.
- One of the final twists is easy to see coming and the followup to said twist feels kind of forced given the lack of setup
- Sandbagging is even more intense than SC
- If you didn't like the old schoolhouse in CS1, I have bad news. Just think of SC chapter 7 and Ys 7 midgame combined and apply it to CS2. Honestly this is the biggest criticism I personally have with the game that also links into heavily slowing down the main plot. Luckily, working with your main party and organizing their equipment is much easier at these points due to several in-game economic factors
- Battle system is way more broken than before (could be a positive? removing the damage limiter is lol) so if you're the kind of guy that puts a lot of stock into cutscenes that setup bosses and the reactions afterward...
- Class VII is even more dull than in the last game. Most of the main cast might as well be invisible outside of

Spoiler

Emma.

. Like in CS1, the not-Class-VII members are way more interesting and fun. The complaints about Class VII and Rean interacting from CS1 are the same in this one.
- Quests aren't really that improved from the first game (but the monster road fights are WAY better, so it makes up for some of it).
- There's an important story element hidden behind intense backtracking in NG+ only

Neutral
- Because we have no dual audio, you won't be able to hear Fie's Japanese voice actress struggle speaking English words. Absolutely hilarious.
- No high-res racy content suddenly thrown in my face out of nowhere to stoke 10-page debates on Neo GAF dot com

I'm pretty sure no one hyped it as a game changer. The reception was pretty mixed in Japan and China. Most of the main cast gets even less development than the first game.

 

[Basileus777]

I'm pretty sure no one hyped it as a game changer. The reception was pretty mixed in Japan and China. Most of the main cast gets even less development than the first game.

That doesn't really match most of what I've read about CS2 on this forum. There's been plenty of gamechanger talk.

 

[Shouta]

I think one of the differences too with Sora FC is that Sora FC was the first and you didn't know the game structure. You didn't know how good the game or interesting the game was going to get in the final chapter or SC. You didn't know about Oroborous or anything. You were just playing a nice little slow game about Bracers and Estelle and friends and it was a neat little new rpg adventure.

Now do that again in Sen1 and you have 5 prior games worth of build up in story, lore, factions, mysteries, characters sitting like the elephant in the room that as a player you're waiting to get to the point where stuff starts getting addressed. Also you know the Kiseki structure so you're powering through knowing the final Chapter and the sequel game (or two) will be where that stuff is at, add in Sen1 being almost twice the length of Sora FC and lacking the "adventuring" around the world progression and imo less interesting characters and you have all the workings for a game that feels like a slog for much of it.

Which is why I said it's sort of an odd position. Going back to a game that's setting things up is pretty rough when your expectation is high octane events, lol. It does what it sets out to do very well though and it's why I enjoyed it so much. I mean, it's not gonna break mid-tier on my list but it's not bottom for me, heh.

While somewhat true, Cold Steel isn't quite as "starting from point zero" as TitS First Chapter. A long-time fan will recognize certain people & references, understand long-term/bigger scale worldwide developments better and can notice the influence of certain organizations like

Spoiler

Ouroboros

quite early on, all of which people who have never played a Kiseki game before will thoroughly miss. So while it is a bit of a pain in the ass to have the characters start from such positions of being (seemingly) far removed from past events, the world surrounding them does show signs of the fact that they've had five games worth world-building prior to Cold Steel.

In the end, Cold Steel's characters wouldn't even be in the situation they are in if it wasn't for stuff that has happened 3-4 games earlier, so while it's a bit more boring to start with a situation that is a bit reminiscent of TitS FC, seeing how it all fits in the bigger picture later on is pretty cool.

Right. Part of what I like about Sen is that it's a game that while it purposefully resets everything for new players, it still manages to sneak in a lot of stuff about how the other pieces fit in. It's a small thing to new folks, a reference for long time fans. I feel like I'm getting to soak in a lot of stuff about the entire setting because of that. The setting is a huge part of what makes Trails games so appealing.

You shouldn't be too hype for the second game if you're expecting a lot of characters interactions between the cast in the main story except for Rean. Most of the character development for the main cast still replies on the free time mechanic. A lot of the time the main cast just shows up in important scenes and stands there with nothing to say.

Spoiler

Even the cat has more lines than most of the main cast in the main story.

That's not exactly true. They have their parts in the story throughout the game as well. It's not integrated straight into the main story but that doesn't happen in a game like CS2 very often and tbh, it feels forced when you try to do it without careful planning. Honestly, one of my biggest complaints with Sora was how we conveniently got certain bosses in SC to make it feel like some characters had relevance to the story/plot.

 

[DrROBschiz]

Hard for me to talk about CS2 without spoiling it, but I'll try.

Positives
- More exciting moments happen more often (a given, given that the first game set things up)
- More events are actually linked to the overarching story and Erebonia's past
- Way more interesting fights and fight scenarios
- Challenge chests that force you to use specific characters to win their contents, making for some hellishly strategic battles
- More streamlined options everywhere for travel and party switching
- Minigames! One is my favorite sport!
- Continuation of dope soundtrack
- Battle

Spoiler

maid

- Some dungeons have puzzle elements and the dungeons have more interesting elements to getting through them (someday Falcom will design an actual Zelda-style puzzle dungeon without long unskippable animations).
- A real wtf ending battle that will shock you
- Better dialogue moments when it counts (as in, outside of the social links and romance system)

Negatives
- People hyped up the last dungeon as a gamechanger, but... er, it seemed like an extremely typical one and didn't impact any ending elements from what I could see.
- One of the final twists is easy to see coming and the followup to said twist feels kind of forced given the lack of setup
- Sandbagging is even more intense than SC
- If you didn't like the old schoolhouse in CS1, I have bad news. Just think of SC chapter 7 and Ys 7 midgame combined and apply it to CS2. Honestly this is the biggest criticism I personally have with the game that also links into heavily slowing down the main plot. Luckily, working with your main party and organizing their equipment is much easier at these points due to several in-game economic factors
- Battle system is way more broken than before (could be a positive? removing the damage limiter is lol) so if you're the kind of guy that puts a lot of stock into cutscenes that setup bosses and the reactions afterward...
- Class VII is even more dull than in the last game. Most of the main cast might as well be invisible outside of

Spoiler

Emma.

. Like in CS1, the not-Class-VII members are way more interesting and fun. The complaints about Class VII and Rean interacting from CS1 are the same in this one.
- Quests aren't really that improved from the first game (but the monster road fights are WAY better, so it makes up for some of it).
- There's an important story element hidden behind intense backtracking in NG+ only

Neutral
- Because we have no dual audio, you won't be able to hear Fie's Japanese voice actress struggle speaking English words. Absolutely hilarious.
- No high-res racy content suddenly thrown in my face out of nowhere to stoke 10-page debates on Neo GAF dot com

Ouch

Nice list but it looks like itll be another mixed emotions title.

At least we are getting 3rd

 

[TR_]

That doesn't really match most of what I've read about CS2 on this forum. There's been plenty of gamechanger talk.

In terms of what? The length of the dungeons and combat is improved I guess. But the cast doesnt really get much development in the main story since most of their interactions rely on the free time events. Story is okay but I felt there's really no pay off until the last few minutes of the game since

Spoiler

most of the bosses aren't even trying and just don't really care

. The first few hours of the game felt exciting but after a while it starts to get formulaic with its zelda temples and

Spoiler

robot fights

to end chapters.

 

[hosannainexcelsis]

In terms of what? The length of the dungeons and combat is improved I guess. But the cast doesnt really get much development in the main story since most of their interactions rely on the free time events. Story is okay but I felt there's really no pay off until the last few minutes of the game since

Spoiler

most of the bosses aren't even trying and just don't really care

. The first few hours of the game felt exciting but after a while it starts to get formulaic with its zelda temples and

Spoiler

robot fights

to end chapters.

I've definitely seen a lot of talk holding up Sen II as one of the high points of the series. See Aeana's post here or this Twitter post.

 

[TR_]

That's not exactly true. They have their parts in the story throughout the game as well. It's not integrated straight into the main story but that doesn't happen in a game like CS2 very often and tbh, it feels forced when you try to do it without careful planning. Honestly, one of my biggest complaints with Sora was how we conveniently got certain bosses in SC to make it feel like some characters had relevance to the story/plot.

I liked that better in SC, the rivalry makes the boss fights better and have more impacts in scenes. CS2 rivals was more forced and lacked impact to me since they felt more like casual acquaintances than rivals with how they act.

 

[Shouta]

I liked that better in SC, the rivalry makes the boss fights better and have more impacts in scenes. CS2 rivals was more forced and lacked impact to me since they felt more like casual acquaintances than rivals with how they act.

I think it's super lazy without actually working it fully into the story but even then, it can be something that's bad without actually backing it up with the proper development and conflict. I felt like the only person that made any real sense to be there as a rival was obviously

Spoiler

Loewe as his story is intricately tied to Josh and their path goes through Ouroboros as well. But the others for Zane and Schera were really forced to me.

CS2 Rivals aren't really even a thing. They're there and they fight but they're not technically rivals to anyone which is fine by me. I don't think everything has to be personal thing, lol.It actually makes some of the sandbagging make sense in some respects.

To be fair, I didn't like that aspect about Ao that much either in this respect. Some characters I think made total sense, the others were a bit forced.

 

[Nyoro SF]

I liked that better in SC, the rivalry makes the boss fights better and have more impacts in scenes. CS2 rivals was more forced and lacked impact to me since they felt more like casual acquaintances than rivals with how they act.

Indeed. I like how in SC the fights are more personal. There were other fights that weren't personal that balanced it out and the personal part of it usually only affected one character, not your whole party, so it wasn't like an overwhelming presence of us vs. them down on the level. Felt more "realistic" even though I don't like that word lol

I think Falcom realized this and made that chapter where (CS2)

Spoiler

you talk to all the villains on the airship

to make it more personal between you and them. Kind of fell flat though if we go through one by one, and made the scenes between Rean and

Spoiler

S and V

really confusing.

 

[TR_]

I think it's super lazy without actually working it fully into the story but even then, it can be something that's bad without actually backing it up with the proper development and conflict. I felt like the only person that made any real sense to be there as a rival was obviously

Spoiler

Loewe as his story is intricately tied to Josh and their path goes through Ouroboros as well. But the others for Zane and Schera were really forced to me.

CS2 Rivals aren't really even a thing. They're there and they fight but they're not technically rivals to anyone which is fine by me. I don't think everything has to be personal thing, lol.It actually makes some of the sandbagging make sense in some respects.

To be fair, I didn't like that aspect about Ao that much either in this respect. Some characters I think made total sense, the others were a bit forced.

I don't even care about the rivalry that much but the way that they did the last chapter in sen 2 was just painful to see. I just wish the final chapter wasn't just

Spoiler

a hour of dungeon then proceed to boss just to get sandbagged in cutscenes and someone randomly pops up saves you

. They did this 3 times which really annoyed me. This was before they said there's going be a third game, so it felt I wasted 60 hours just to see sandbagging.

 

[DrROBschiz]

I don't even care about the rivalry that much but the way that they did the last chapter in sen 2 was just painful to see. I just wish the final chapter wasn't just

Spoiler

a hour of dungeon then proceed to boss just to get sandbagged in cutscenes and someone randomly pops up saves you

. They did this 3 times which really annoyed me. This was before they said there's going be a third game, so it felt I wasted 60 hours just to see sandbagging.

Ugh

You guys are really setting up for more of the same disappointing story and character beats from CS2

I hope there is enough good to outweigh the bad

 

[TR_]

Indeed. I like how in SC the fights are more personal. There were other fights that weren't personal that balanced it out and the personal part of it usually only affected one character, not your whole party, so it wasn't like an overwhelming presence of us vs. them down on the level. Felt more "realistic" even though I don't like that word lol

I think Falcom realized this and made that chapter where (CS2)

Spoiler

you talk to all the villains on the airship

to make it more personal between you and them. Kind of fell flat though if we go through one by one, and made the scenes between Rean and

Spoiler

S and V

really confusing.

S and V just become even more irrelevant and just gave up on life after

Spoiler

Osborne died lol

. Were they even voiced? That how you can tell how important the characters are in CSII.

 

[Shouta]

I don't even care about the rivalry that much but the way that they did the last chapter in sen 2 was just painful to see. I just wish the final chapter wasn't just

Spoiler

a hour of dungeon then proceed to boss just to get sandbagged in cutscenes and someone randomly pops up saves you

. They did this 3 times which really annoyed me. This was before they said there's going be a third game, so it felt I wasted 60 hours just to see sandbagging.

It ultimately annoys me way less than the SC situation. It's still annoying but I feel like the sandbagging works in a way that boosts other characters up (that big damn heroes moment!) and that it gives you the feeling that the cast is still growing. Sen 2 is still technically closer to FC and Zero than it is SC or Ao in regards to story to me.. So my expectations were curved just a bit. Whether Sen 3 manages to hit the high notes is the biggest question as that's where the real Sen 2 starts, IMO.

Even with that, Sen 2 is still tied with Ao in the series ranking list for me (depending on day) with only Zero above it.

 

[DrROBschiz]

It ultimately annoys me way less than the SC situation. It's still annoying but I feel like the sandbagging works in a way that boosts other characters up (that big damn heroes moment!) and that it gives you the feeling that the cast is still growing. Sen 2 is still technically closer to FC and Zero than it is SC or Ao in regards to story to me.. So my expectations were curved just a bit. Whether Sen 3 manages to hit the high notes is the biggest question as that's where the real Sen 2 starts, IMO.

Even with that, Sen 2 is still tied with Ao in the series ranking list for me (depending on day) with only Zero above it.

Can you go into some more detail (without spoilers if you can)

Cuz the criticisms of Sen 2 seem to be on the story and character development... the very part that felt uneven to me in Sen 1

 

[Shouta]

Can you go into some more detail (without spoilers if you can)

Cuz the criticisms of Sen 2 seem to be on the story and character development... the very part that felt uneven to me in Sen 1

On which part, the first paragraph or the second?

 

[DrROBschiz]

On which part, the first paragraph or the second?

The second

Mostly what makes Sen 2 rank so highly in your mind

I actually like a lot about Sen 1 buts its like a 60/40 love/hate game when compared to Trails 1/2

 

[TR_]

It ultimately annoys me way less than the SC situation. It's still annoying but I feel like the sandbagging works in a way that boosts other characters up (that big damn heroes moment!) and that it gives you the feeling that the cast is still growing. Sen 2 is still technically closer to FC and Zero than it is SC or Ao in regards to story to me.. So my expectations were curved just a bit. Whether Sen 3 manages to hit the high notes is the biggest question as that's where the real Sen 2 starts, IMO.

Even with that, Sen 2 is still tied with Ao in the series ranking list for me (depending on day) with only Zero above it.

I don't feel like the cast will grow that much in just one game hopefully the next game will have all of the Class VII members be more involved in scenes. Most of the cast Class VII in sen 2 really felt like they are just there in the cutscenes because I chose them in my party out of the 10 playable characters. It's like Falcom thought that it way too much work to write multiple unique dialogues for each characters instead they just have the characters standing around not saying much stuff. Even the free time events is not enough to really flesh out the characters compared to having a cutscene in the main story.

 

[DrROBschiz]

I don't feel like the cast will grow that much in just one game hopefully the next game will have all of the Class VII members be more involved in scenes. Most of the cast Class VII in sen 2 really felt like they are just there in the cutscenes because I chose them in my party out of the 10 playable characters. It's like Falcom thought that it way too much work to write multiple unique dialogues for each characters instead they just have the characters standing around not saying much stuff. Even the free time events is not enough to really flesh out the characters compared to having a cutscene in the main story.

I think what was nice about FC/SC is how the characters were broken up and you were always in a small group most of the time

Sen 1 does the same thing with field studies and they tend to offer the best material.... but it gets limited by the damn bonding event system...

 

[TR_]

I think what was nice about FC/SC is how the characters were broken up and you were always in a small group most of the time

Sen 1 does the same thing with field studies and they tend to offer the best material.... but it gets limited by the damn bonding event system...

You should still try it. I felt the game was okay since there're some good moments where you can feel for the characters like

Spoiler

every scene with crow

but it's always ruined by another surprise that say

Spoiler

you didn't really accomplished anything

. I guess it's part of the theme since there's a letter from Oliver in the epilogue where it tells Rean

Spoiler

how the real legend of heroes never gives up

.

 

[Bebpo]

I'm trying to keep expectations going into Sen2/Cold Steel2 in check now that Sen3/Cold Steel3 is announced.

I'm not expecting Sen 2 to be the shit goes crazy shark jumping final chapter of Ao, I'm figuring that's gonna be Sen 3 now that there's a Sen 3. What I'm hoping/expecting is that Sen 2 is like the rest of Ao, where it's exciting, interesting stuff is constantly happening and the game is great. Not gonna be expecting everything to be tied up since Sen 3 exists and I'm ok with that. Hopefully Sen 3 completely finishes the Erebonia chapter though so we can move on to the next country. Also hope the release schedule isn't something like Sen III in 2017 and then new country chapter 1 in 2019 cause 4 years more waiting until the next country is a bit long!

 

[omgfloofy]

- People hyped up the last dungeon as a gamechanger, but... er, it seemed like an extremely typical one and didn't impact any ending elements from what I could see.

CS2 endgame spoilers:

Spoiler

Do you mean the castle or the Dream Corridor? Because if it's the latter, I don't think it's a gamechanger in the concept story-wise, but more what Falcom did gameplay-wise. It's a procedurely generated dungeon in the style of 3rd's dungeons that resets every time you leave the old schoolhouse and come back in. This reset includes all the treasures, as well- and the treasure chests are also randomly 'filled.'

I would love to see Falcom experiment on this more in dungeon crawler type games, because it was a pretty amazing idea.

As for the actual 'gamechanger' that people are talking about... that term is getting thrown around regarding the 'wtf ending' you brought up- if you mean the stuff with Osborne during the ending of the main story, not so much the dungeon. The Ouroboros are no longer the main antagonists as of the end of CS2, since Osborne stole the data of the Phantom Blaze project and took it over for himself- thus the 'game changing' ending that Kondo was promising.

 

[Nyoro SF]

CS2 endgame spoilers:

Spoiler

Do you mean the castle or the Dream Corridor? Because if it's the latter, I don't think it's a gamechanger in the concept story-wise, but more what Falcom did gameplay-wise. It's a procedurely generated dungeon in the style of 3rd's dungeons that resets every time you leave the old schoolhouse and come back in. This reset includes all the treasures, as well- and the treasure chests are also randomly 'filled.'

I would love to see Falcom experiment on this more in dungeon crawler type games, because it was a pretty amazing idea.

As for the actual 'gamechanger' that people are talking about... that term is getting thrown around regarding the 'wtf ending' you brought up- if you mean the stuff with Osborne during the ending of the main story, not so much the dungeon. The Ouroboros are no longer the main antagonists as of the end of CS2, since Osborne stole the data of the Phantom Blaze project and took it over for himself- thus the 'game changing' ending that Kondo was promising.

Ah... I see.
(CS2 spoilers)

Spoiler

This is compounded by the confusion of addressing the end of the game. Cause there's the ending with Osborne revealing himself, then the ending with Rean being revealed as Osborne's agent, then the ending with the Dream Corridor. But when you frame it that way, it makes perfect sense; Osborne declaring war on Ourobouros is definitely a huge game changer.

By the way, the "wtf ending" was Lloyd and Rixia fighting Rean and Altina. That came totally out of left field, wasn't expecting that and people playing it aren't going to be expecting it at all! Haha

Randomly generated dungeons that reset when you come back inside of them are pretty much the exact same as Persona 4 though (and I don't think that's very... difficult, or fascinating). And I don't really have a reason to go back and forth with different characters as far as I could see or for different treasures. The ones I picked up in the chests were usually worse versions of gear I already had previously. I didn't think the concept was very novel or interesting to be honest, especially considering it was merely a boss rush.

That being said, I am very, very, very curious as to what Falcom is going to do with Cold Steel 3 because they can go in a lot of different directions from here.

Also floofy I'd like to say thanks for translating that recent door, because that answered a load of questions regarding the Cold Steel series for me.

 

[Aters]

Ugh

You guys are really setting up for more of the same disappointing story and character beats from CS2

I hope there is enough good to outweigh the bad

It's still an exciting action-packed story, not a well written one unfortunately.

 

[omgfloofy]

Ah... I see.
(CS2 spoilers)

Spoiler

This is compounded by the confusion of addressing the end of the game. Cause there's the ending with Osborne revealing himself, then the ending with Rean being revealed as Osborne's agent, then the ending with the Dream Corridor. But when you frame it that way, it makes perfect sense; Osborne declaring war on Ourobouros is definitely a huge game changer.

(We're still talking CS2 endgame spoilers here!)

Spoiler

It's more than just that, with Osborne also being Rean's real father. Which, with myself and Guan, has also spiraled into Rean's ability and wondering if Osborne has some connection to it, or something similar. (I say 'yes' because there are enough clues to imply such a thing. I think the idea that Osborne is a vampire has been tossed around a couple of times too. Or that Osborne has properly been resurrected, which one of the doors I translated states as an actual possibility.)

Osborne turning on the Ouroboros that way ALSO changes the political atmosphere because I have a personal belief that a certain other organization may find Osborne a more 'palpable' sort of enemy and suddenly become more open against him, because fighting back will be very, very difficult for him on a political level. On top of that, the instability regarding Crossbell and Calvard that's been left behind (since stuff happened with Calvard that you don't really see in CS2) is a huge mess and will leave things kind of a problem there.

Spoiler

By the way, the "wtf ending" was Lloyd and Rixia fighting Rean and Altina. That came totally out of left field, wasn't expecting that and people playing it aren't going to be expecting it at all! Haha

Spoiler

I WASN'T EITHER. I WAS SO DUMBSTRUCK BY THAT. And it makes 100% complete and total sense when leaning back and looking at it, and made me SO SO SO angry to the point that I was /crying buckets/ through that entire damn fight. It suddenly just hit me (like a truck, even) that I may have even been training another antagonist to the games. Especially knowing the stuff that Ao says in its ending. (I'm staying vague for a reason) I was a mess- because of how much I love the Crossbell characters.

Spoiler

Randomly generated dungeons that reset when you come back inside of them are pretty much the exact same as Persona 4 though (and I don't think that's very... difficult, or fascinating). And I don't really have a reason to go back and forth with different characters as far as I could see or for different treasures. The ones I picked up in the chests were usually worse versions of gear I already had previously. I didn't think the concept was very novel or interesting to be honest, especially considering it was merely a boss rush.

Spoiler

It's definitely a first, for the most part, with Falcom. Especially considering how much they were struggling with the game's system in Sen and so forth. It's basically a big 'look at what we can do' sort of thing, and helps prove that they're doing what they can to improve their own work there and in the PS3 framework. They're a much smaller company than Atlus, so comparing what they are capable of doing to what a company with a much larger staff and budget is kind of unfair to Falcom.

I've been rerunning it several times over because I want the character gem accessories, and I didn't have the money when I pulled up that save again for them. So I have to hope and pray that I get either enough sepith or some valuable items. And I seem to have run into the opposite situation... while I get a lot of sad quartz from them, I have actually found two Domination quartz, which gives me three of them. So I have one on Laura, one on Rean, and I've yet to figure out who gets my third one. I also found the arts version of it that I missed in the game itself, which has since been tossed onto Toval.

That being said, I am very, very, very curious as to what Falcom is going to do with Cold Steel 3 because they can go in a lot of different directions from here.

I've had a very difficult time coming up with predictions for that exact reason. Most of my theories about what Sen III/Cold Steel 3 will be are pretty much the equivalent of throwing darts onto a poster. lol

Also floofy I'd like to say thanks for translating that recent door, because that answered a load of questions regarding the Cold Steel series for me.

Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it! I'm sad that I have to drop the last video- especially since it was translated, edited, and the file was complete already. xD; But like I said on twitter, I guess you have to wait until 2017 to learn about Bleublanc. ;D

 

[budpikmin]

I just finished the 6th chapter of SC. This game is incredible. I loved the first one but the second game just keeps on giving

 

[Shouta]

The second

Mostly what makes Sen 2 rank so highly in your mind

I actually like a lot about Sen 1 buts its like a 60/40 love/hate game when compared to Trails 1/2

It does pretty much everything well. It has the best version of the battle system easily and you have a lot of freedom in choosing how you play whether that be go nuts by making characters super powerful or trying to clear the game as low of a level as possible.

The story pretty much never stops because of the way it's setup and it delivers on everything that it built upon in Sen 1. The content there, along with Sen 1, deliver a great look at what Erebonia is and the people that live within it.

I can't really get into it without talking about specifics though, lol

I don't feel like the cast will grow that much in just one game hopefully the next game will have all of the Class VII members be more involved in scenes. Most of the cast Class VII in sen 2 really felt like they are just there in the cutscenes because I chose them in my party out of the 10 playable characters. It's like Falcom thought that it way too much work to write multiple unique dialogues for each characters instead they just have the characters standing around not saying much stuff. Even the free time events is not enough to really flesh out the characters compared to having a cutscene in the main story.

Nah, I think they'll be fine if they're in Sen 3. The lion's share of development for the cast is in Sen 1 with Sen 2 rounding them out and providing some direction and peaks for them within the confines of these games. Remember that Sen 1 and 2 are essentially FC and Zero in regards to this cast. There's a lot of room for them to step it up and they definitely can with the base they have built in these two games just like how the characters in FC and Zero step it up in SC and Ao.

I think what was nice about FC/SC is how the characters were broken up and you were always in a small group most of the time

Sen 1 does the same thing with field studies and they tend to offer the best material.... but it gets limited by the damn bonding event system...

The bonding event system is actually a benefit in many respects because character development isn't constrained by the story then. The opposite is true too, the story isn't constrained by the character development either meaning that you never have to break the flow of the story to hit x or y point for characters. IMO, that's actually one of the strengths of Sen 2. It's not bogged down by having to force events into the flow of the story to build its characters up. What you get is basically non-stop story and events for most of the game.

I tend to look at media and evaluate it based on what is intended by the creators and whether or not it works in that regard rather than how I expect it to be. It's a big reason why I enjoy the Sen games more than most folks. Sen 1 still ranks in the lower half of my rankings but I am much more positive than others.

 

[Bebpo]

Sen no Kiseki 1/Trails of Cold Steel 1

Spoilers below for Zero/Ao/Sora/3rd, everything up until the end of Sen 1

Just finished Sen1

…WTF WAS THAT

Like I’m am soooooooooooooo incredibly pissed right now at Falcom. Man, if I’d played this when it came out and the game just ended like that (I'm not even going to call that an "ending") after 64 hours of nothing happening waiting for the final chapter…wow, yeah I may have dropped the entire series for good. I mean I’m fine with cliffhanger endings like Sora FC, and I expected a cliffhanger because of the whole “Sen 1 & 2 were originally one game”, but I still expected a the game to actually have a final chapter like Sora FC and Zero no Kiseki. I didn't realize, get the message from other players that Sen 1 is essentially a modern day development disaster HD is hard style unfinished game. I had no idea the game was about to end, and then it just cut to credits instead of the next cutscene!

Spoiler

After the slowest build up known on earth, you go through the school dungeon floor 7, and it’s totally not a final dungeon, and that’s totally not a final boss, and it’s totally the midway through final chapter dungeon & boss. Also even in the final school dungeon there’s almost no plot movement! There’s the scene at the end with the swords and then you get the mech and that’s it and its back to school festival!

It’s not until after the school festival when the plot final starts moving and you get that Kiseki final chapter feel that stuff is happening, the payoff is going to be worth the build up, and now there’s gonna be cool stuff happening for 5-10 hours, an awesome lengthy final dungeon, and an epic final boss fight with some sort of smaller arc resolution and then the overall arc still hanging around with lots of questions for the next game.
But instead you get like 60-90 mins of “Kiseki Final Chapter” game, then a TUTORIAL MECH FIGHT and then it just CUTS TO THE CREDITS….wtf!

I haven’t felt this ripped off since Zone of the Enders 1. Even if you’re gonna split a Kiseki game in half, do it midway through development so you can at least write a satisfying conclusion arc considering the slog of a game you’re making players go through to get there.

Spoiler

Man, no final dungeon, no final boss, ends 90 mins into the story just starting…smh. I don’t care what the reasons are for them having to split the game, the execution is just fucked up. This is like Metal Gear Solid V levels of UNFINISHED GAME being sold as a finished product and being totally unsatisfying because of it.

Like why even give the option to build your ultimate weapon when THERE’S ONLY ONE EASY GRUNT ENEMY FIGHT LEFT IN THE GAME. It makes no sense at all!!!

And those are just my thoughts on the ending!

Before that with all the mech stuff, while I enjoy it because hey it’s mechs and it’s Xenogears and yay, I gotta say Kiseki’s story is getting dumber and dumber by the game. It’s entertaining, but at this point it’s entertaining in a way a dumb fun summer movie is. The middle of Ao, with all the political maneuvering around the West Zemuria Trade Conference was SO GOOD, and then the final chapter was like wtf are you doing Kiseki and now we’ve got mech armies and a sentai mecha shounen show dating sim and yeah I give up. This is not the political drama I want, but I’ll keep playing them because it’s still really entertaining, but yeah I feel the series has really jumped the shark and gotten kind of mainstream appeal shallow at this point with the plotting.
Also, I feel like the timeline doesn’t really gel with Ao. By the time Sen1 ends, it’s final chapter Ao. When I was playing final chapter Ao they were talking about all this crazy stuff going down in Erebonia, Oroborous agents, Holy Knights, Civil War, etc… that this stuff had been going on for a bit. But if that stuff has been going on for a month or two in Sen1, it’s all off-screen wtfffffffffff. Playing Ao, I thought we’d get to see all that stuff happening and the plot would be intertwined really well with it. Instead Sen II basically is going to pick up right where Ao leaves off for the most part. Which will be entertaining, just the timing seems like a month off. Like that Sen1 should’ve ended before final chapter Ao stuff.

But yeah, I’m really annoyed. If I had to rate Sen1 on its own, that ending takes it down an entire grade and the game was already average before the non-ending. I don’t think I’ve ever played an rpg that didn’t have a final dungeon -> final boss -> ending. Maybe that makes this next-level and breaking the mold. Or maybe it’s just really lame! >:
I mean normally I’d wait a month or two until I started Sen II because I figure Sen I would’ve given a satisfying conclusion and I could play other stuff to avoid burn out and then get back to Sen II. But since starting Sen II will essentially be like starting episode 10 of a 13 episode series a week after episode 9, I might as well just start Sen II tomorrow.

I figured Sen I would have ended with Class VII taking down the Liberation Army and winning and bringing peace back to Erebonia with a fake “everything is ok ending” until Osborn comes back in Sen II and fucks stuff up. I thought they’d get rid of the liberation army because they are essentially just another coup’ or D:G Group. They’re small pawns for a first FC game and then SC is about the true antagonist behind it all (obviously in Sen series it’s Osborn since they’ve made him out to be the main villain of Erebonia since The Third and reinforced it heavily with Ao). I figured at least Sen I would kill off/get rid of these kind of generic henchmen characters like Vulcan and Scarlet so Sen II wouldn’t have the baggage.

But nope, Sen I/II really is the single FC game of the Erebonia series apparently. So that means the pawns are still gonna be big antagonists for Sen II and it’s gonna take Rean fucking forever to realize that Osborn is the real bad guy and start to deal with him. I mean it was bad enough that Rean took forever to figure out stuff like Emma by purposely being aware of it but “not wanting to intrude and bring it up” for 60+ hours. The worst thing in a plot game like Kiseki is having the audience figure out stuff dozens and dozens of hours before the main characters and waiting for their dumb asses to catch up so the plot can move to things the audience doesn’t already know. Rean’s group is pretty slow to catch on to things. Not looking forward to them taking forever to figure out this stuff in Sen II.

Also boo to those “imperial mythology” books in the library that practically spell out all the upcoming twists in the plot with seirei and mecha knights and stuff. I feel like I should avoid reading those in Sen II.

On the plus/postive side, a review accidently spoiled that Crowe is C and so did the goddamn Falcom single cover "I'll remember you" (with a title like that, sure sounds like he dies in Sen II, but whatever, that's expected like with Loewe) with him on the cover with C's weapon which is the first album that pops up now that Falcom put their whole catalog on spotify, so I knew that already but even knowing that twist didn't take away anything from his arc because I grew to like him as a character and want to see his story. Also the Sharon reveal caught me off guard and made me laugh because I'd totally pegged her as the "bad girl" of the Holy Knights because she reminded me a bit of Reise with an atttitude, did not think she'd been an Oro agent. Also didn't expect Witch lady to be another Pillar. Thought she'd be a new party like Mariabell. Wasn't even sure if Sen II would introduce any more Oroborous pillars since there's still the two from Ao. So Sen II & III with all these characters should be fun.

Anyhow, I’m sure Sen II will be dumb fun since it’s the 2nd half of the FC game and stuff will actually be happening, but now that I see where they left it, I’m way more interested in Sen III than Sen II because Sen III should be the “SC” game and that’s where the really interesting stuff comes into play.

This is pretty much a ramble cause I’m just writing thoughts out as they come to me, but yeah not happy with what Falcom did with Sen I. If this is what happens when they have development problems and get behind schedule then I sure hope they’ve gotten PROFICIENT at 3d by this point and will not have anymore stumbles or 65 hour half-games, because they give me another Sen 1 and I don’t care that I’ve put in 300+ hours into the series already after 6 games, another Sen I and I’m out.

Oh and I want to briefly mention how hilarious the vita version is. I'm playing the versions I got off Japan PS+, which is nice because you get the PS3 and Vita version with cross-play. So 99% of the time I was playing on PS3, but occasionally I'd play in bed on Vita and Falcom just did not give a shit about optimizing the game for vita lol. At the school festival the game runs at like 9fps on Vita. It's pretty funny. Though I feel bad for anyone who had to play it exclusively on Vita. At least saving goes much faster on Vita.

 

[Gu4n]

.

As you have figured out yourself, Cold Steel is an unfinished tale (or game, whatever) and has its final chapter, padded with additional content, in Cold Steel II.

Thinking of the Cold Steel arc in terms of FC and SC only makes it harder on yourself. It's one arc split in three games, no two games as was the case with the previous two arcs.

 

[Bebpo]

As you have figured out yourself, Cold Steel is an unfinished tale (or game, whatever) and has its final chapter, padded with additional content, in Cold Steel II.

Thinking of the Cold Steel arc in terms of FC and SC only makes it harder on yourself. It's one arc split in three games, no two games as was the case with the previous two arcs.

I don't care how they want to split the story, but to make a good game, or even a good rpg, the least they can do is make a game ending. (Sen1 ending spoilers)

Spoiler

honestly I'd have been ok with the story ending where it did if at least there was a big final dungeon leading up to it and a real final boss fight. The school dungeon was not the final dungeon/boss; every chapter had a school dungeon/boss for the first half of the chapter and then another dungeon/boss for the second half of the chapter. There should have been a dungeon/boss fight before the story ended where it did.

Even the .hack games had final dungeons for each 1/4th story game and minor event conclusions. Sen 1 is just not a good rpg because it's not a complete videogame imo.

 

[Gu4n]

I don't care how they want to split the story, but to make a good game, or even a good rpg, the least they can do is make a game ending.

Spoiler

honestly I'd have been ok with the story ending where it did if at least there was a big final dungeon leading up to it and a real final boss fight. The school dungeon was not the final dungeon/boss; every chapter had a school dungeon/boss for the first half of the chapter and then another dungeon/boss for the second half of the chapter. There should have been a dungeon/boss fight before the story ended where it did.

Even the .hack games had final dungeons for each 1/4th story game and minor event conclusions. Sen 1 is just not a good rpg because it's not a complete videogame.

So you first complain that the games are getting too formulaic and in turn predictable, and now the game deviates from the formula, surprises you and you complain that the game didn't end as it should have? Come on.

Cold Steel isn't the finest game in the series, but it's a mighty fine RPG regardless.

 

[DrROBschiz]

The whole thing was all plot and the positioning of characters, the reactions and aftermath was so bizarre and unnatural

Its such an uneven mess of a game with equal parts awesome and disappointment.

Im sure Ill have plenty to love about Sen 2-3 anyways. Still great RPGs as mentioned above but I know on a sheer reactionary and emotional level the script and characters didnt reach me like FC/SC did

The adults Sara/Claire/Sharon seem to be the ones I liked the most. Dont get me started on Rean.... Laura gets a pass.. Fie is pretty good... Jusis is great and never given enough to do. The rest are forgettable and mostly reactionary

 

[Shahed]

The whole thing was all plot and the positioning of characters, the reactions and aftermath was so bizarre and unnatural

Its such an uneven mess of a game with equal parts awesome and disappointment.

Im sure Ill have plenty to love about Sen 2-3 anyways. Still great RPGs as mentioned above but I know on a sheer reactionary and emotional level the script and characters didnt reach me like FC/SC did

The adults Sara/Claire/Sharon seem to be the ones I liked the most. Dont get me started on Rean.... Laura gets a pass.. Fie is pretty good... Jusis is great and never given enough to do. The rest are forgettable and mostly reactionary

Emma's alright and based on the end of Sen 1, she'll probably be a lot more relevant in Sen 2

 

[TR_]

Sen no Kiseki 1/Trails of Cold Steel 1

Spoilers below for Zero/Ao/Sora/3rd, everything up until the end of Sen 1

Spoiler

Before that with all the mech stuff, while I enjoy it because hey it’s mechs and it’s Xenogears and yay, I gotta say Kiseki’s story is getting dumber and dumber by the game. It’s entertaining, but at this point it’s entertaining in a way a dumb fun summer movie is. The middle of Ao, with all the political maneuvering around the West Zemuria Trade Conference was SO GOOD, and then the final chapter was like wtf are you doing Kiseki and now we’ve got mech armies and a sentai mecha shounen show dating sim and yeah I give up. This is not the political drama I want, but I’ll keep playing them because it’s still really entertaining, but yeah I feel the series has really jumped the shark and gotten kind of mainstream appeal shallow at this point with the plotting.

Gundam Spoilers

Spoiler

I hate that mecha stuff too it's so predictable and kills tension in the second game. Everytime the guy is in trouble he's either uses his donte powers or the super power robots and this repeats in a lot of chapters. They keep reusing the same voice clip and animation to summon the robot and by the the end of the game you'll be hearing it in your nightmares. The battles with the robot is pretty dull too since the finishing moves has little variation even the the the super special move in the end just reuses the same animation and the customization you can do to the robot is so limited.

 

[Shouta]

Sen actually answers the big question I had with why we had giant mechs at all in the previous games. I had that question stuck in my head since SC but no one ever questioned the elephant in the room, lol.

 

[Bebpo]

Sen no Kiseki

Ok, slept on it and started Sen II. A little more ok with Sen 1 now that I figured out what it is.

Sen 1 / 2 is not like FC/SC. Sen 1 is not an actual complete game. Sen 1 / 2 are basically discs 1 and discs 2 of a PS1 rpg like Chrono Cross. Unfinished story? Nah, Sen 1 is an unfinished game from a game design perspective. But that's because it's literally half a game. You can basically package Sen 1 & 2 into a single blu-ray package, label them disc 1 and 2 and call them "Sen no Kiseki FC" and no one would bat an eye.

You just have to accept that the main character got brain damaged during the disc transition event and lost 25 levels, all their equipment, master quartz levels and quartz. Although the 25 level thing is pretty odd since normally the next Kiseki game starts at around the same level the last game ended since levels are meaningless and they can have game 1 go lvl.1-80 if they wanted and game to go lvl.81-160 and it doesn't make a difference. So kind of weird dropping down to lvl.40 but at least you don't lose any moves. But then I guess you don't gain any new ones for a while since I was already at lvl.64 and I know 40-64 doesn't give any new crafts/s-crafts. But whatever, that's a small detail.

Dunno how much I'll play of Sen II cause I'm heading to Japan for a few weeks soon and was powering through Sen I to "finish" it and be at a stopping part to pause for a couple of months before starting Sen II. But will play a little just to check it out.

Sen actually answers the big question I had with why we had giant mechs at all in the previous games. I had that question stuck in my head since SC but no one ever questioned the elephant in the room, lol.

I didn't have this question at all. There are mad scientists with overtechnology. Why wouldn't they build giant robots?

 

[StereoVsn]

Wait, so CS2 has WORSE characterization then Part1??? I dislike half the characters in 1 and was hoping that MC, character interaction and story are all improved in Part2.

If so then I am probably going to wait quite a bit before getting it. Cold Steel is a drag (almost done with Ch 6 I think) because Rean is dull, story is kind of meh so far and half the cast is annoying enough that I want to have nothing to do with them (makes bonding point allocations easier I suppose).

This is so surprising since I really love FC and SC story, characters and their interactions. At this point I am much more looking toward TC then CS2 even though I am not a huge fan of Kevin (still better then Rean). Hell, they might as well rename it Tales of Cold Steel and get through adversities with Power of Friendship!

 

[Psxphile]

Wait, so CS2 has WORSE characterization then Part1???

How'd you come to that conclusion from reading a CS1 rant? Did I miss something?

 

[Shizuka]

How'd you come to that conclusion from reading a CS1 rant? Did I miss something?

First post of the page.

 

[StereoVsn]

First post of the page.

Multiple posts actually on this very same page.
Edit: Looking back it's the bonding link crap that screws things up quite a bit (Sen1). They tried to go Persona a bit and failed completely. If they stuck to the format of FC/SC I think it would have been a better game for it. Persona 4 worked really well with Social Links (integrating more into the story would have been better there as well) but here it just doesn't mesh well with the game.

 

[Nyoro SF]

They should've made Rean a second year to start things off and have Towa/Angelika/George/Crow be his main squad in CS1. Even if I didn't like Angelika at all and would definitely miss Laura's destruction train, I would take the trade.

Then you have the 1-year of experience already at Thors and you can springboard Rean's story from that. Would've been dope. Less self-insert nonsense. Would make a ton of scenes a lot more powerful and the school more emotionally significant.

I especially support this because (major CS2 spoiler)

Spoiler

we then get Towa's broken craft faster lol

Of course I do know if they had done this, the game would've sold 1/4 of its copies in Japan due to having a reduced and less colorful cast. Can't always get what you want!

 

[Squall ASF]

It's funny, just a week ago I was going to ask in here if I should just read up everything on TC, Zero and Azure because they are likely never coming here and then boom, TC is coming. So I definitely won't be spoiling TC now but the new question is this:

Should I read up the plot points of Zero and Azure before playing CS2? If Zero and Azure come here, it's not going to be until 2018-2020 range at best and there's no way I'm waiting that long to play CS2, especially since CS3 will hit before or in the same time the Crossbell games would potentially come out. I figure I'd forget a bunch of stuff by the time those two games came out west and the games would flesh out far more than an internet page will so is this the way to go over playing CS2 without any knowledge of the Crossbell games?

 

[Aeana]

Sen no Kiseki

Ok, slept on it and started Sen II. A little more ok with Sen 1 now that I figured out what it is.

Sen 1 / 2 is not like FC/SC. Sen 1 is not an actual complete game. Sen 1 / 2 are basically discs 1 and discs 2 of a PS1 rpg like Chrono Cross. Unfinished story? Nah, Sen 1 is an unfinished game from a game design perspective. But that's because it's literally half a game. You can basically package Sen 1 & 2 into a single blu-ray package, label them disc 1 and 2 and call them "Sen no Kiseki FC" and no one would bat an eye.

You just have to accept that the main character got brain damaged during the disc transition event and lost 25 levels, all their equipment, master quartz levels and quartz. Although the 25 level thing is pretty odd since normally the next Kiseki game starts at around the same level the last game ended since levels are meaningless and they can have game 1 go lvl.1-80 if they wanted and game to go lvl.81-160 and it doesn't make a difference. So kind of weird dropping down to lvl.40 but at least you don't lose any moves. But then I guess you don't gain any new ones for a while since I was already at lvl.64 and I know 40-64 doesn't give any new crafts/s-crafts. But whatever, that's a small detail.

Dunno how much I'll play of Sen II cause I'm heading to Japan for a few weeks soon and was powering through Sen I to "finish" it and be at a stopping part to pause for a couple of months before starting Sen II. But will play a little just to check it out.



I didn't have this question at all. There are mad scientists with overtechnology. Why wouldn't they build giant robots?

I fully share your disappointment with Sen 1, as I discussed with you before you played it, but I do think that your characterization of 2 is a bit off the mark. Hopefully you'll see soon.

 

[Squall ASF]

I fully share your disappointment with Sen 1, as I discussed with you before you played it, but I do think that your characterization of 2 is a bit off the mark. Hopefully you'll see soon.

Aeana, as someone that's played them all, would you mind answering my question in the post above? It's posters such as yourself that's played them all I'm hoping to hear back from.

 

[kpjolee]

It's funny, just a week ago I was going to ask in here if I should just read up everything on TC, Zero and Azure because they are likely never coming here and then boom, TC is coming. So I definitely won't be spoiling TC now but the new question is this:

Should I read up the plot points of Zero and Azure before playing CS2? If Zero and Azure come here, it's not going to be until 2018-2020 range at best and there's no way I'm waiting that long to play CS2, especially since CS3 will hit before or in the same time the Crossbell games would potentially come out. I figure I'd forget a bunch of stuff by the time those two games came out west and the games would flesh out far more than an internet page will so is this the way to go over playing CS2 without any knowledge of the Crossbell games?

Knowing Zero and Azure story definitely makes CS2 more enjoyable. You will definitely understand when you play CS2. I won't say more because of potential spoilers

 

[Squall ASF]

Knowing Zero and Azure story definitely makes CS2 more enjoyable. You will definitely understand when you play CS2. I won't say more because of potential spoilers

Thanks for your input, having played the first two Sky chapters allowed me to understand a number of nods in CS1 which was cool but it wasn't anything that say clarified a plot point, just references. Some of the chatter I've seen in this thread for the Crossbell games made it sound like it'd be more significant, most especially because they take place in a similar time frame. Any recommendations where to read up on them? I'll google it but if anyone had a site they felt did a great job, I'd go with that one.

 

[kpjolee]

Thanks for your input, having played the first two Sky chapters allowed me to understand a number of nods in CS1 which was cool but it wasn't anything that say clarified a plot point, just references. Some of the chatter I've seen in this thread for the Crossbell games made it sound like it'd be more significant, most especially because they take place in a similar time frame. Any recommendations where to read up on them? I'll google it but if anyone had a site they felt did a great job, I'd go with that one.

I can only find this site as having Azure/Ao story translation to some degree. http://eiyuutrans.blogspot.ca/ Only the major events in Azure are directly involved in events with CSII so you can grasp some idea.

 

[Bebpo]

Sen no Kiseki 2

Played about 4 hours of Sen 2. Liking it so far. Is it just me or did the art direction suddenly get way better? The areas are really pretty which is a nice visual jump from kind of the really plain looking locales of Sen 1. It's like they learned how to use after effects

I like that you can skip the animation for counters and team rush. I wish they went the full step and gave you an option in the options menu to just disable all combat animations so you wouldn't have to keep pressing start, but it was already ok speed and now it's faster so that's good. Burst mechanic coming back is welcome. Now all that's missing from Crossbell is Combo Crafts, but those were way too overpowered and broken so I understand why Sen ditched them for the link system which is a lot less useful but still sort of useful. Just lacks the visual flair of combo s-crafts.

Music seems better too.

There's definitely weird stuff about Sen 1 though. Things like getting the ultimate weapon too late to use it, getting some of the final master quartz when you can barely use them. Since nothing carries over, that's all just kind of odd and representative of whatever development problems they had when they split it.

Story-wise, Sen 2 start is

Spoiler

glad they got rid of Elise pretty quick, the little sister romance subplot scenes like the sauna are really uncomfortable to watch. The cast of "boss" villians showing up side by side on the ship at the end of the prologue was lol because it was like a total group of B-grade reject boss characters (I like Blublanc but he's kind of played his course by 3 series in; I liked how he was in Crossbell without actually appearing and just being seen through his notes to the Crossbell team). And Vulcan and Scarlet losing their voice because now they're less important and all the other "boss" characters get voices was pretty funny. It'll be fun to fight them though, so it's all good. Duval is fun and it seems like more of the main story is voiced now which is nice. The story explanations for why you can only use your mech for certain story battles or why you have to stick around each town for a couple of days because LOW BATTERY is pretty silly but whatever,

I like that they opened up some of the field connectors like I'm going from Celdic to Trista now and it makes the world feel a lot more connected which is what I wanted.

I fully share your disappointment with Sen 1, as I discussed with you before you played it, but I do think that your characterization of 2 is a bit off the mark. Hopefully you'll see soon.

Yeah, looking forward to it.

 

[Bebpo]

Sen no Kiseki 2

Man, Sen 2 is so much better in a lot of aspects. Like one complaint I had about Sen 1 was the optional boss fights were stupid easy. There were a billion monster chests but none of them posed any challenge and the wanted monster quests were easy and a 200 CP S-break would kill anything on a critical turn. Otoh, the first wanted monster quest in chapter 1 in Sen II was pretty challenging. Had more HP, regen life, fast turns, high damage. Was fun.

Although that's two bosses so far that have moves that regen a TON of HP on their turn if used and when they use that like 2-3 turns in a row over and over and get 80% of their HP back when they're down to <20% HP...that's kind of screwed up wtf. Not sure how I feel about this yet.

I like that you can fast travel after wanted monster quests back to town. I still wish Sen had real fast travel like Ao. But then Ao was kind of interesting, because there was fast travel available between all the points, basically never walked on fields that entire game outside of for wanted monster quests. I'd just fast travel to the next story/quest location and skip the fields. Made Ao a lot less combat/dungeon-y, but Ao was still crazy long even with all the fast travel so it worked. But yeah I miss it in Sen, running back across a field you've already gone through is always boring even if it only takes 2-4 mins.

Debating whether to use a wiki this time around to find the hidden quests. I think it seriously detrimented my enjoyment of Sen 1 and maybe even took away from Ao a little. There's no way to avoid seeing a) how many chapters total the game is, b) how many quests the current chapter is / aka how long the current chapter is and where you are in relation if you're looking at a list of chapter quests for the hidden quests of the chapter. I find that kind of spoils things and makes them a little more checklist-like because it's like "ok, 6 more quests left for the chapter". Since Sen 2's more of an adventure, I'd just like to enjoy it as an adventure, but I know when I did that in Zero I was kind of pissed that I missed a really interesting hidden quest near the end of the game

Spoiler

At the Doll Factory

.

Does Sen 2 have some really interesting hidden quests that make it worth using a wiki quest list?

 

[Gu4n]

Does Sen 2 have some really interesting hidden quests that make it worth using a wiki quest list?

Yes, if only to make sure you don't miss that one.