BassForever
Member
Yeah That's the better choice from quickly trying both, not that the other char is bad but he better compliments the other party members you get as far as I've seen.
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The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC |OT| More Olivier Than Ever
- Thread starter Dandy Crocodile
- Start date
Yeah That's the better choice from quickly trying both, not that the other char is bad but he better compliments the other party members you get as far as I've seen.
ShadowgeistX
Member
rofl I already screwed myself out of the Gambler Jack series. Well, guess it'll have to wait for a second playthrough.
Really? I have all 3 so far and was surprised at how much easier they've been to find than the Carnelia books. Only one I've found easy to miss was the first.
Speaking of easy to miss, I unlocked the
Odyssey of Anton
ShadowgeistX
Member
I uh...completely missed the first one lol. Still used to disregarding items in plain view thinking they're just part of the background like in other RPGs. Completely my fault and the completionist in me is raging hard haha.
Hopefully I can still at least complete the game in regards to BP. Been pretty good with looking out for hidden/short term sidequests.
Evoker1995
Member
What is up with Sony not allowing us to copy newer release PS1 and PSP games from our PS3 to Vita?
It is getting really frustrating. Now to wait longer to play SC. :\
It is getting really frustrating. Now to wait longer to play SC. :\
bishopcruz
Member
I'm kinda curious, how exactly did this end up being 2 disks on PSP? General spoilers through early act 4
I expected a lot more new areas and the like to explore, and well outside of a new dungeon in each chapter it's pretty much the same places I have already been. I heard the disk swap was just after Chapter 3. It just seems kinda odd to me, text isn't THAT big there is, practically no speech, and while there is new music and such, right now I'd expect FC and SC to be the same size roughly.
SC is twice as long, apparently.
I don't know the English monster names, but
IIRC the monsters on the path leading to Haken Gate, Rimera and Hresvelgr both drop it.
BassForever
Member
So how does one kill shiny poms in this game outside of hoping for the 20% death proc?
Just found the place and was about to edit my question, haha. Thanks!
S-Breaks.
BassForever
Member
Pellegri Testament
Member
Aoe S-breaks do less than single target in general and then Olivier is also one of the weakest when it comes to his physical dmg. You also mainly want to wait for a str up or crit turn when it comes to using them against shinies. Also unless you just want to blow everyone's S-break in a single fight, there may be some encounters against them where you just will not be able to kill any because of no good turn buffs.
Danny Dudekisser
I paid good money for this Dynex!
Alright, I need something new to play. Convince me I should embark on Trails. I have both parts and I'm in the mood for an old-school style RPG. Why should I play this instead of one of the myriad ps1 RPGs I have yet to play, or instead of replaying Xenogears or Chrono Cross or something.
How much does the game change if you
Because the writing is very lighthearted and playful. That's my main reason, anyway...
bested Loewe in Grancel Castle in FC?
Because the writing is very lighthearted and playful. That's my main reason, anyway...
Because FC at least felt like the embodiment of the very best of the more light hearted JRPGs of that period and before, and probably is better thought out than any of them were.
Maybe SC comes off as the best of both period, that is lighter fare and darker (read: Xenogears) fare? Even if not though it's still definitely got me engaged, and will last a hell of a long time. Also at least one of these is a fresh experience so it arguably has THAT going for it over replaying a game.
BassForever
Member
Yeah I know I've killed shiny poms in the last game and have now killed them in this one, I was just stunned to see Olivier do zero damage with a 200 s break
What the others said, also if you like it you could join a community of fans that's very active and with tons of new games coming to enjoy and discuss.
BassForever
Member
Finished chapter 1, game has lived up to all my expectations and then some. If anyone is still trying to struggle though hard on a clean run just stop the game was balanced around normal and normal is still fairly challenging.
I have a question, when do chain crafts ever become useful? They always seem to do pitiful damage compared to just using regular crafts.
I have a question, when do chain crafts ever become useful? They always seem to do pitiful damage compared to just using regular crafts.
Once you have a party of characters with high attack damage and land on a +10/+50 strength or critical turn. Tears stuff up!
bishopcruz
Member
Right but length isn't linear to size.
Especially because of the reuse of environments. I hope I get to a new town soon though.
SpaceDrake
Member
You need a party of 3 or especially 4, and everyone hitting it at once. Once four people participate, the AOE range gets a lot wider and the damage, especially with a turn bonus, goes through the roof.
Chain crafts are all about piling everyone in for a damage bonus turn.
Shake Appeal
Member
Hours Left
Member
If you can cast Dark Matter, that's another good way. (If you have the Luck/Fortune Quartz, you should be able to right away with some other early game Quartz.) Two casts of it will kill one, at least in the early chapters. (I'm not sure if their stats change as the game goes on.)
Pair that up with another character that has an attack delay Craft (like Anelace) and the Poms won't even get a chance to run.
SatelliteOfLove
Member
OK, I dont trust *chapter 3 spoiler*
Renne one bit. Im guessing it's a bit obvious its another Ouroboros-slash-Enemy Stand-user.
If you read some of my posts here, it should be pretty obvious that for me, TiTS has been really just a disappointment. I am going to, however, recommend you give the games a try at some point. Just know what you're getting into: it's a very light-hearted adventure JRPG. SC does have an actual plot too, darker than whatever it is that FC had, but still light-hearted and cliche. The pacing is SLOW, it never gets any better and I'd even argue that it's worse in SC.
Play the FC for a couple of days and if you like the characters and their interactions, play the rest, too. If not, drop it. It's not a game about a grand story filled with plot twists (if you're looking for something like XG or CC, turn around), saving the world or anything like that. It's a game about the characters.
Of course I say "at some point" cause the list of PS1 JRPGs you haven't played probably contains some of my favorite games
Funnily enough, at least on PC it looks to me more like a lost Dreamcast RPG. One that stuck stubbornly to Camelot-esque sprites, but Dreamcast nevertheless.
Dafuk? FC has a plot too, what a silly thing to say that it doesn't. If anything, it has one of the best build-ups of any JRPG if you don't mind it starting off a little lighter than some war-ridden Tactics Ogre or it being a slower paced game than some flashy Final Fantasy. The best thing about TitS is that while it is slow, everything is very deliberate and a lot of things have good pay-offs. It's nice seeing some relationship between the main duo & some characters in the prologue build into something meaningful by the end of the game.
Yes, it is slow and yes, enjoying the characters & their interactions is paramount to enjoying it all, but from what I've read of your comments, you really don't GET Trails in the Sky, seems like you just expect some FF like melodrama and anything that is a bit more low-key is not good in your eyes. It's slow. There are cliches though there are also a lot of things that subvert some of those cliches. It is somewhat predictable. None of that really matters because the execution is so good. You might see Story Twist X coming, but it's still entertaining actually seeing the characters go through the twist and how that affects them and how some of those twists end up building the overall storyline. Characters & their relationships actually develop in somewhat realistic manners. The story builds up in a well structured way, starting from smaller incidents and slowly building into the climax of the story. The world has decent depth. The motivations of the villain in at least FC is some of the most believable shit in JRPGs, especially in comparison to most Squaresoft/Square Enix JRPGs (that is not done by Matsuno). Something like FFIX hasn't got shit on Trails in the Sky's villain as far as writing goes, even if it is a more grandiose & faster moving adventure and has production values up the wazoooo.
Trails in the Sky isn't for everyone. It's somewhat understandable if some find the combat boring. Apart from some challenging fights, the dungeons & their designs aren't always the most exciting things ever (how many sewers do we have to go through in FC & SC -_- ). The characters can be a bit anime trope-ish though they often write them out of being total cliches and into something more than their initial trope would imply. The pacing isn't perfect and its slowness isn't for everyone. All in all they are still quality JRPGs and saying stuff like "FC doesn't have an actual plot" is kind of incomprehensible.
That was a sneaky one but the fact that
that room had been locked every time I tried until then
Brawly Likes to Brawl
Member
Okay, buddy. I admit my expectations for FC were completely wrong, but never have I even implied anything like this.
Bad wording on my part, though, I had just woken up. FC is light on plot is all I meant, no need to take it so personally.
Berserker976
Member
Is there a trick to the Chapter 1 sidequest
Also, not far at all into the game, but I already kind of hate Kevin, does he get more interesting as the game goes on?
Sapphirl Tower Photo? I took one from what seemed like dead on and it turned out just "ok"
Also, not far at all into the game, but I already kind of hate Kevin, does he get more interesting as the game goes on?
Yes. Before going to the roof,
Wait for a photography pro to join you.
It feels like Trails is kind of a hard sell to western tastes, actually. It's purely anecdotally, but I know a lot of people who bought FC, generally liked it, but didn't complete it because it was too slow for their liking. Maybe it's just a Steam specific issue, though: Too many games, so that a slow, world-building type of game gets easily replaced by something more exciting.
While typing this post, I looked up SC's number in Steamspy and now I'm sad.
I think it's been said that anything below 15k or so isn't reliable anyway, but... I kinda thought SC would have sold that much at least.chaosblade
Unconfirmed Member
Yeah, they are making that one pretty obvious.
Guessing her "parents" were robot things like those Intelligence guys which would explain why they acted weird. And it would explain some of her comments and actions.
Been getting irked by the writing a little more as the game goes on. As of mid-chapter 3,
what's up with Estelle dropping conversations where intriguing stuff comes up. For example, there's obviously something going on with Olivier and it's been clear since FC, she finally caught a hint of that, questioned it for all of one text box, then immediately changed the subject. That happened with something else too that is slipping my mind at the moment. And none of the other characters feel the need to intervene and ask questions.
It feels like Trails is kind of a hard sell to western tastes, actually. It's purely anecdotally, but I know a lot of people who bought FC, generally liked it, but didn't complete it because it was too slow for their liking. Maybe it's just a Steam specific issue, though: Too many games, so that a slow, world-building type of game gets easily replaced by something more exciting.
While typing this post, I looked up SC's number in Steamspy and now I'm sad.
The game hasn't even been out a week, Steamspy's numbers are probably extremely inaccurate since they haven't had much time to poll accounts since then.
I doubt it has done super well on Steam though, given it launched without a discount, at a higher price than the first game, right as the Halloween sale started. It will probably do well over time though as long as word of mouth is good.
It feels like Trails is kind of a hard sell to western tastes, actually. It's purely anecdotally, but I know a lot of people who bought FC, generally liked it, but didn't complete it because it was too slow for their liking. Maybe it's just a Steam specific issue, though: Too many games, so that a slow, world-building type of game gets easily replaced by something more exciting.
While typing this post, I looked up SC's number in Steamspy and now I'm sad.
If you look at the achievement tracker about one in ten people who bought FC on Steam actually finished it. 2.5% finished FC with max BP. The potential number of buyers to begin with is rather low.
It's not light on plot either. It's a very story & character interaction driven game. It has a "lighter plot" than some Tactics Ogre in that it's not about war, death & destruction from the start, but yeah, "light on plot" does not really apply to TitS. Even then, though it's starts with lighter, more innocent adventure, it does know when to get serious.
I'm pretty sure you specifically referenced FFs and/or Squaresoft/Square Enix JRPGs in some earlier post criticizing TitS, how those are more of what you like than TitS. And Squaresoft games, let alone Square Enix ones, rarely have as good characterization & well thought out build up as TitS does even in FC, and I assume the latter games are even better at that considering how they've been received by fans.
And I'm not taking this personally. Just think that your criticism of these games is a bit weak. There are things to legitimately criticize about in TitS (again, gameplay & level design could be a bit more exciting at times, though stuff like the combat are a fair bit better thought out than your average Squaresoft/Enix JRPG... and some of these side quests/collectibles are total & utter shit from a game design POV), but story & characterization are not the weak aspect of TitS, other than being a bit slow & long-winded at times. They might not be your cup of tea, but yeah, JRPGs with this strong a story & characterization aren't exactly common. Even if the larger story beats can be a bit predictable, the game can still be nicely subtle, grounded & believable at character development and that makes even some of the more predictable stuff still entertaining to go through.
What the heck lol
It's not criticism. When I say I don't like Estelle, I literally mean that, I just don't like her. She's a well written character. When I say I like FF more, I literally mean that I like FF games more, I'm not saying they're necessarily BETTER games than TiTS and neither am I saying anything that's not FF is bad. I don't get where you're getting all this, it's ridiculous.
I'm not saying the story or characters are bad, I'm saying I don't like them. Fuck, why would I even recommend anyone to try the game if I thought they were bad?
Pellegri Testament
Member
While typing this post, I looked up SC's number in Steamspy and now I'm sad.
There's many things to factor into why the numbers may or may not be great, the main one being that the majority of people who bought it on PC, didn't even finish it according to achievement data. People can complain about price and when it released all they want (although right before the big sale probably wasn't for the best), but at the end of the day when you have a big jrpg that basically requires previous knowledge of an already medium length game, you're going to be looking at a much smaller crowd of potential buyers than you would with a standalone game or the first in the series.
I also keep seeing more and more people who are looking at Steamspy numbers and not really understanding that what is shown isn't going to be even close to reflecting actual numbers for at least several days, if not weeks, after launch (the same way it is with every game that gets put on Steam). The same thing can be said with judging sales based on how well the OT for it is going. I mean even DQH and Disgaea 5's OTs aren't doing great and surely those had to have done better than this has. Beyond that, I personally am having more fun actually playing the game rather than posting in here, especially since I don't trust spoilers to stay out of threads like this.
Dragoon En Regalia
Member
Apologies for the spoiler I forgot to blackout in the deleted post; I even realized I'd erred while driving to work, but too late.
Chapter 3's done. It's a building tidal wave of emotions, and probably the most interesting chapter for me yet. Defeating
was a fun two-part battle, especially because
took most of
's hard Craft attacks as if the latter's grudge overpowered her strategy in battle. I knew from
that something related to
was inevitable, but after destroying the
seeing
in pre-battle shape was devastating. This whole time
was doing the
perfectly; I've also noticed the parallels between
and the Bracer Guild, at least on a formal level. Former runs on a corporate model, however, and
.
is chilling, and possible enough that, after everything that's happened, it's really gotten to me.
Re: Trails in the Sky's perception on Steam/GOG, I think both games are very interesting once you do a close reading of how most tropes appear before getting developed way better than usual, such that overall the stories find a balance between subversion (the realm of games like KotOR 2) and conservatism. But you have to get past the Falcom-isms like repetitive (but well-designed) visual assets, mediocre dungeon construction, and tonal oddness like the missables. Learning to tolerate, ignore, or even re-evaluate what you perceive as the negatives in these games lets you focus on the positives. I've gotten so much enjoyment from even the basics of this saga, probably since there's a vein of existentialism that's well-explored. Even plot-lines for the NPCs have thematic richness, like how in Chapter 3
. The little tales aren't there simply for augmenting your plot, they're something you get a little peek into and then have to ignore because of pressing matters. But it's the overall verisimilitude this brings which nothing's given me besides Trails.
If you don't want the above positives, then don't waste your time, look elsewhere. But I will say that it's worth getting the word out to folks interested in playing a Japanese adventure wargame like Trails, which is more literary (almost like Stendhal or Balzac) yet is robust in the areas you'd normally expect from games of its heritage.
Chapter 3's done. It's a building tidal wave of emotions, and probably the most interesting chapter for me yet. Defeating
Kanone Amalthea and her remnants
Julia
Kanone
reading the books in the Calvard embassy
puppets
Orgueille
Pater-Mater
Renne
nosy-daughter act
Ouroboros
lets its members come and go freely, while keeping tabs on them like a crime family
Weissmann mentioning his idea of persuading Estelle into the organization
Re: Trails in the Sky's perception on Steam/GOG, I think both games are very interesting once you do a close reading of how most tropes appear before getting developed way better than usual, such that overall the stories find a balance between subversion (the realm of games like KotOR 2) and conservatism. But you have to get past the Falcom-isms like repetitive (but well-designed) visual assets, mediocre dungeon construction, and tonal oddness like the missables. Learning to tolerate, ignore, or even re-evaluate what you perceive as the negatives in these games lets you focus on the positives. I've gotten so much enjoyment from even the basics of this saga, probably since there's a vein of existentialism that's well-explored. Even plot-lines for the NPCs have thematic richness, like how in Chapter 3
Anton leaves Grancel to avoid going insane by satiating his lust to do anything new in life
If you don't want the above positives, then don't waste your time, look elsewhere. But I will say that it's worth getting the word out to folks interested in playing a Japanese adventure wargame like Trails, which is more literary (almost like Stendhal or Balzac) yet is robust in the areas you'd normally expect from games of its heritage.
Now who is taking this too personally & being defensive. If you didn't notice, I even acknowledged that the characters might not be your cup of tea. That's perfectly fine. But you make claims like FC being "light on plot" and maybe exaggerate a bit on just how light-hearted & cliche an adventure TitS is by the end of the day (I mean, literally the first thing that happens in SC is basically
Estelle having a bit of a mental breakdown & being in total denial over what just happened with Joshua at the end of FC. That's not especially light or cliche.
Basileus777
Member
Being "light on plot" doesn't mean that something is light hearted. That phrase isn't addressing the tone but the amount of plot.
Not that I really agree with that criticism.
Not that I really agree with that criticism.