coredecepts
Member
FC's ending is rather spectacular. Endings, I guess.
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
The Kiseki / Trails (of the Sky/Zero/Ao/Sen/Etc) Community Thread: SPOILERTAGS OR DIE
- Thread starter Bebpo
- Start date
I've only played the PC version of FC as far as the originals go but I pretty much agree with this sentiment. Whether or not you like the art style is probably the biggest subjective point about whether or not the new portraits work for you. I also feel like it's never emphasized that fewer expressions does not mean they didn't put in enough expressions. Personally, for a story-focused game, what's there along with the full voice acting + new CGs for many of the important scenes made FC way more immersive compared to the PC version for me.
Here are just a few of the CGs I happened to take screenshots of during my FC/SC playthrough as an example (full FC/SC spoilers) http://imgur.com/a/dI8Ik
I can understand if you hate the new art style but frankly they did as good or better of a job at conveying the scene thanks to the voice acting as a voice-less version with additional expressions would for me.
I used a Wii U Pro Controller with the mayflash adapter for my playthroughs of FC and SC.
And since the controller works with PS3, well, I used it for Cold Steel as well, heh. I had zero issues.
encephalon
Member
Some of the faces in the originals are fine, but some characters, I feel look much, much better.
Jin
vs.
Kevin
Cut ins
Estelle's portraits were great for the original games (except for the CG intro in FC, where she looks pretty bad), but I've always been bothered by the other characters. Other artists have done a much better job of realizing them (Estelle and Joshua both look best in Zero/Ao no Kiseki).
Jin
vs.
Kevin
Cut ins
Estelle's portraits were great for the original games (except for the CG intro in FC, where she looks pretty bad), but I've always been bothered by the other characters. Other artists have done a much better job of realizing them (Estelle and Joshua both look best in Zero/Ao no Kiseki).
chaosblade
Unconfirmed Member
Kevin probably would have been my go-to example of Evo portraits being worse. It's all subjective though I guess.
hosannainexcelsis
Member
The original character art for FC/SC isn't amazing, but the Evo art there certainly isn't either. It's very middling stuff.
encephalon
Member
To clarify, I think the old stuff is poor ~ okay to new stuff is okay ~ "good."
If only they were able to keep the Zero artist ...
If only they were able to keep the Zero artist ...
Definitely Rean. Others include Emma, Fie, Jusis and Sara.
Ironically, Kevin's is a slightly modified version of his Ao portrait.
You only want the very best and will patiently wait for Spring 2017, and might import The 3rd Evo for the inevitable second playthrough to enjoy the voice acting.I wanna pickup the 3rd evo for the VO and Im horrible at waiting (first playthrough), talk me out of it Gu4n ｡ﾟ(ﾟ´Д｀ﾟﾟ｡
It's only 45m - an hour. At least until the last boss. The longest parts after that is the boss + ending.
I'd say push through it if you got to the last dungeon personally. Not to mention, like you said ^ the ending of FC will get most people to start SC ASAP. I know I started it up about 10 minutes after finishing FC
.Awesome! More Sara is always a good thing.
I'm also VERY interested in what goes on with Jusis considering
his position as son of one of the noble faction people.
Also on the EVO discussions, while in Japan, I got Zero and Ao Evo (I got a CE of Zero which had everything but the figure. So yeah I got a cool Vita case just for it
).I heard Zero/Ao EVO were alright and the voice acting will help me understand it a little more than the non-voiced versions would. Of course I won't get XSEEDs awesome localization but it's good to keep them just incase we don't get them.
Of course if XSEED confirms them (or at least Zero) after the 3rd is out, I'll wait but it's good to have them as a back up incase
Yu Narukami
Member
I haven't played CS2 yet but would like to see a video of
.
Can someone post a link please if it doesn't spoil the story?
optional bosses
Can someone post a link please if it doesn't spoil the story?
There is one in NG+. Here's a video, it doesn't spoil anything: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BGpd6flYTE
Young Magus
Junior Member
Ok,
but I wouldn't be importing it tho
Besides I realized that Cold Steel 2 is 2~ weeks away so I'll wait till that for my trails fix
Not to mention, like you said ^ the ending of FC will get most people to start SC ASAP. I know I started it up about 10 minutes after finishing FC
You can never know how much I envy you for this. That was a long 4 years waiting for SC (especially given the seemingly unlikely probability of it everygetting finished).
Ya, after finishing it, I realize exactly how lucky I (and others who didn't play it until SC was out) am.
In other news, I am just about done Chapter 7 of SC at 62 hours.
On a related note: 6 poms + 2 death scream spammers = delicious exp! <3
KuwabaraTheMan
Banned
Everyone should be required to wait four years after finishing FC before starting SC, so that they can properly appreciate it.
SolVanderlyn
Thanos acquires the fully powered Infinity Gauntlet in The Avengers: Infinity War, but loses when all the superheroes team up together to stop him.
CS2 soon. So many spoiler tags, finally clickable.
I watched a video of the Evo (which is to say, voiced) version of 3rd's Star Door 14... I really was not expecting
to sound like that. I expected a somewhat deeper voice. Is this the same voice as in the Ao drama CD? I was never able to find a way to listen to that.
the Grandmaster
No, it's a different voice actress. The First and Second Anguis also have different voice actors than before, making The 3rd's casting kind of arbitrary.
Morrigan Stark
Arrogant Smirk
This is probably a very dumb question, but due to all the spoiler tagging I have been mostly skimming posts talking about it...
What are "Evo" games exactly? >_>
What are "Evo" games exactly? >_>
KuwabaraTheMan
Banned
They're new versions of the older games released on Vita by another company (licensed from Falcom). They feature full voice acting, but are fairly controversial/disliked by a lot of fans due to replacing the soundtracks with remixed versions that don't sound anywhere near as good, as well as featuring new character art that doesn't have as much personality as the originals.
Exentryk
Member
Started the first Trails game last night on my Windows 10 PC. The game kept crashing after 3 secs in to New Game. Spent hours trying to figure out what the problem was. Then just after I had emailed GOG for a refund, I ticked a setting called "Hardware Vertex Shader" and the game was not crashing anymore. Not a 100% if that was the thing that fixed it, because I also had compatibility mode (Win XP SP3) active for the game. So, will be starting it proper tonight. Everything seems to be running fine on 4K DSR to 1080p.
I mainly just sat on the title screen last night listening to the wonderful music. Just looking at the opening couple of minutes, I get the feeling that this will be a great emotional experience. Let's see.
I mainly just sat on the title screen last night listening to the wonderful music. Just looking at the opening couple of minutes, I get the feeling that this will be a great emotional experience. Let's see.
It will be a good experience.
Just make sure when you get to the final chapter of FC that you have SC downloaded and ready to go
chaosblade
Unconfirmed Member
That setting is a real bugger. Even when it isn't crashing the game it can cause texture issues, stutter, or other wonkiness.
Changing the mipmap setting can also help with stutter if you have issues with it (apparently that's common).
Exentryk
Member
It will be a good experience.
Just make sure when you get to the final chapter of FC that you have SC downloaded and ready to go
Thanks. I'll remember those things.
Just be aware that FC starts on a very saturday cartoony note, a slowish-paced at that. Stuff mostly isn't all that serious and the "bad" things that happen seem somewhat non-consequential and take time to happen while you follow the protagonists' first steps into the world of TitS. A pretty good saturday cartoon with some darker undertones, but a saturday cartoon still. It takes a couple of chapters past the prologue until things start escalating, though bits & pieces before that of course hint at stuff going on in the background that is bigger than Estelle & Joshua's initial Grand Journey to Bracerhood.
Exentryk
Member
I don't mind slow starts and a relaxed non-serious atmosphere. In fact, I prefer it.
Looking forward to the world of TitS.
This series will be right up your alley, then.
There's also the jp battle voice mod floating around somewhere to enhance the jrpg-ness, if you prefer.
Dragon1893
Member
On the other hand they didn't experience the feeling of that localization announcement. There were tears.
ghostlight_ross
Ghostlight
The announcement of SC came on my birthday
Was one of the nicest presents I've had.Dragon1893
Member
The announcement of SC came on my birthday
Nice!
Exentryk
Member
Started the game, and the music has been excellent so far. I got up to the last fight in the training test, and died like 10 times. I did start on Nightmare, but usually, even the hardest difficulties aren't that bad in JRPGs. But this one had me scrambling trying to figure out what else I could do to win, lol. I mean, there isn't much that can be done at that point with no weapon options, barely any quartz options, etc.
Eventually looked at the starting battle positions under tactics, and set my players far back. This allowed them time to cast off arts and kill some enemies. So, finally managed to beat that fight. Phew!
This game doesn't kid around with its difficulty. Guess it would be that much more satisfying to complete the game now.
Thanks. I usually stick with English voices.
Eventually looked at the starting battle positions under tactics, and set my players far back. This allowed them time to cast off arts and kill some enemies. So, finally managed to beat that fight. Phew!
This game doesn't kid around with its difficulty. Guess it would be that much more satisfying to complete the game now.
Thanks. I usually stick with English voices.
chaosblade
Unconfirmed Member
Nightmare isn't really balanced for first time players, in either game. Its going to expect you to know the ins and outs of each battle and not miss anything. Difficulties didn't even exist in the original PC version, they were additions to the PSP versions (and back ported to XSEEDs PC version).
That said, FC is a really easy game on normal. SC has some decently difficult battles but most of it is pretty easy too. The jump to hard and is pretty big though.
That said, FC is a really easy game on normal. SC has some decently difficult battles but most of it is pretty easy too. The jump to hard and is pretty big though.
Exentryk
Member
Thanks for the info. I'll stick with it for a few days and see how I go.
coredecepts
Member
Yeah, the difficulty in FC and SC is a little on the easy side on Normal, then not balanced for the tougher difficulties. The first real boss in SC is the hardest boss fight in the game, right? Even on normal, it was oddly difficult.
Look at Normal as being the expected difficulty. As this post says, there's no balancing for the other difficulties... this is because the difficulty modes were added as a PSP bonus when Falcom first ported the games to console.
However, if you look at the trilogy as a whole in terms of scale, I think things become a bit more evident.... This is usually how I put it to people:
FC is your chance to really learn the system.
SC is when you have to master the system.
3rd is when you have to learn how to break the system.
coredecepts
Member
Looking forward to the system-breaking shenanigans in 3rd. I kind of felt like I'd broken parts of it by the end of SC, but yeah, yeah Kevin, let's do this.
A heads up, both for you and for everyone else. 3rd absolutely expects you to know what you're doing once you go into the game. You won't even get a tutorial this time around. It doesn't play fair and it will be utterly mean to you.
I do have a love of pointing out this gif from my nightmare playthrough! (Don't worry. No boss shown in it!) (Worst part is, this attack is just as bad on Normal, IIRC.)
http://i.imgur.com/F9RdAJJ.gif
EDIT: Fixed with the correct gif.
http://i.imgur.com/F9RdAJJ.gif
EDIT: Fixed with the correct gif.
bbkkristian
Member
oh man, I can't wait.
To add, I've been playing through the game on Nightmare without a carry-over or NG+. This has been one of the hardest, yet somehow most satisfying, things I've ever done in a video game. Satisfying because holy crap do I feel awesome when I beat a fight in it. (And until this attempt on it, something I thought was impossible due to the game's prologue.)
This run has turned battles into almost 2-3 hours of stress and frustration and predicted ragequits, but when you succeed against a fight in it on this difficulty, it's the best feeling in the world.
HOWEVER. I do not recommend playing the game on Nightmare for a first run. At all. The game is already unforgiving on Normal. Nightmare is calling on a lot of RNG shenanigans and just praying that bosses don't pull stupid stunts in the game. (Hell, regular encounters can (and will) one-shot the whole party on Nightmare if you're not careful.)
A lot of what I've been relying on with my Nightmare run is what I know of the game already. I prep parties and equipment based on that information more than anything else I have with it. I know people will want to dive into the game, wanting a challenge, but I sincerely hope people will give it a short on normal (or at least hard if they are determined to do a difficulty) first, before trying it on Nightmare.
It was discovered that there are different enemy modifiers for Nightmare between FC and SC. 3rd's modifiers are based on the enemy, rather than a flat modifier across the game.
This run has turned battles into almost 2-3 hours of stress and frustration and predicted ragequits, but when you succeed against a fight in it on this difficulty, it's the best feeling in the world.
HOWEVER. I do not recommend playing the game on Nightmare for a first run. At all. The game is already unforgiving on Normal. Nightmare is calling on a lot of RNG shenanigans and just praying that bosses don't pull stupid stunts in the game. (Hell, regular encounters can (and will) one-shot the whole party on Nightmare if you're not careful.)
A lot of what I've been relying on with my Nightmare run is what I know of the game already. I prep parties and equipment based on that information more than anything else I have with it. I know people will want to dive into the game, wanting a challenge, but I sincerely hope people will give it a short on normal (or at least hard if they are determined to do a difficulty) first, before trying it on Nightmare.
It was discovered that there are different enemy modifiers for Nightmare between FC and SC. 3rd's modifiers are based on the enemy, rather than a flat modifier across the game.
Yep! I intend to have something posted regarding the details about it later. As well as an article on how to get an account setup. (I've yet to set up an account for that reason. lol)
My hope is someone will record and translate whatever interesting story bits the game has, like how fans do for the Kingdom Hearts [chi] browser game. Though, being a Kiseki, that's probably going to be a huge undertaking even if the story is updated in pieces over time.
Seems Xseed "updated" the ToCSII box art to reflect best character's contributions.
Seems Xseed "updated" the ToCSII box art to reflect best character's contributions.
Hmm, I actually found TITS SC to be fairly tough, especially the first few bosses when you only had Estelle and Shera (maybe I would have been better off with Agate?). As well as some of the later bosses in the
- they LOVED to dump status effects on you, they had a ton of HP, and you also had a lot of other enemies to contend with. And I played on Normal too!
Aureole