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[Cornbread78]

OK, that pissed me off a little bit. Still in the 2nd Field Study day and just entered the

Spoiler

underground waterway

first normal battle and my party of 3 is destroyed yet the boss I just fought with 4 members was pretty easy.... like WTF?

 

[Squire]

You don't have to, but there's some insanely good stuff you can make from cooking. And when you combine it with the Master Quartz that gives items an aoe range (so throwing one item will affect everyone close to you), it's pretty much needed to have an easier time with the later bosses in nightmare difficulty.

I'd say that you really don't need to always have your equipment up to par, since your teammates equipment will continually update with the newer stuff after a field study. I'd honestly just recommend getting a weapon for everyone and trying to keep just Rean's stuff up to par if you're on normal.



The Laura/Fie

Spoiler

drama I thought was pretty well done. Machias/Jusis are a lot more confrontational and blunt with how they speak, so them verbally insulting each other any chance they got was reflective of their personalities, while that kind of confrontation wouldn't make sense for Laura/Fie. They both genuinely want to get along and understand how much of a burdern Machias/Jusis were when they were arguing and didn't want to cause trouble, but still couldn't get over their feelings, so the conversation dipping into a bunch of "..." made a ton of sense.

Fair points. Still, I think there's a balance they could've struck

Spoiler

between toning down the blunt arguing of Jusis/Machias and giving you some actual hints as to what was actually happening with Laura/Fie.

No big deal though. It was compelling all the same. I thought it was great, myself. Just recalled posts here saying it was a strange (or rather "forced") element of the story. I don't agree, but I could see why one might think that.

Thanks for the cooking tips! I'm playing on normal, if that matters.

 

[skLaFarebear]

Fair points. Still, I think there's a balance they could've struck

Spoiler

between toning down the blunt arguing of Jusis/Machias and giving you some actual hints as to what was actually happening with Laura/Fie.

No big deal though. It was compelling all the same. I thought it was great, myself. Just recalled posts here saying it was a strange (or rather "forced") element of the story. I don't agree, but I could see why one might think that.

Thanks for the cooking tips! I'm playing on normal, if that matters.

If you're on normal then you're fine. No need to interact with the cooking mechanics if you don't want to. The game gets more difficult towards the latter part of it, but certainly nothing that's unmanagable without cooking.

 

[Xeteh]

Oh thank fuck. Didn't screw up and miss a chest, finally got the Platinum.

 

[Gu4n]

Oh thank fuck. Didn't screw up and miss a chest, finally got the Platinum.

Congratulations! Cold Steel II makes use of the same system and trophy set, so you should be able to get that one in just two playthoughs!

 

[Xeteh]

Congratulations! Cold Steel II makes use of the same system and trophy set, so you should be able to get that one in just two playthoughs!

Thanks. It was me being worried about spoilers by looking at trophies so I neglected to know that I needed to talk to the Principal for a choice of a Master Quartz at the end of the game. Then during my second playthrough I forgot "open all chests in one run" was a thing so in

Spoiler

Lohengrin Castle

(Chapter 5) where a trap chest had a master quartz I was like I got that last run, I don't need the Zeram Powder or whatever it was and it was the only chest I didn't open.

Derp.

I was looking at what carried over to CS2 and I saw that level 80 for Rean was needed for the maximum bonus for that... it took all of the final dungeon to get me from 70.5 to 71 without skipping fights, that grind is not happening.

 

[Saphirax]

Thanks. It was me being worried about spoilers by looking at trophies so I neglected to know that I needed to talk to the Principal for a choice of a Master Quartz at the end of the game. Then during my second playthrough I forgot "open all chests in one run" was a thing so in

Spoiler

Lohengrin Castle

(Chapter 5) where a trap chest had a master quartz I was like I got that last run, I don't need the Zeram Powder or whatever it was and it was the only chest I didn't open.

Derp.

I was looking at what carried over to CS2 and I saw that level 80 for Rean was needed for the maximum bonus for that... it took all of the final dungeon to get me from 70.5 to 71 without skipping fights, that grind is not happening.

I did the same thing on my first playthrough. I forgot to open the chest with the master quartz in LC (turns out there was also another chest in the castle that I forgot), and the only reason I figured it out was because I noticed the master quartz being on sale in the store. Reloaded, got both chests and luckily didn't miss any other chests. Waiting for the trophy to pop after opening the last treasure chest was...quite something .

 

[Xeteh]

I did the same thing on my first playthrough. I forgot to open the chest with the master quartz in LC (turns out there was also another chest in the castle that I forgot), and the only reason I figured it out was because I noticed the master quartz being on sale in the store. Reloaded, got both chests and luckily didn't miss any other chests. Waiting for the trophy to pop after opening the last treasure chest was...quite something .

Yep, I was practically wincing at the screen when I popped open the final chest. The relief when the trophy popped was real.

 

[Gu4n]

Then during my second playthrough I forgot "open all chests in one run" was a thing so in

Spoiler

Lohengrin Castle

(Chapter 5) where a trap chest had a master quartz I was like I got that last run, I don't need the Zeram Powder or whatever it was and it was the only chest I didn't open.

Ironically, a chest in that same area is the one I forgot during my first playthrough of CS2 (I never bothered with NG+ in CS1).

 

[Eylos]

Thanks. It was me being worried about spoilers by looking at trophies so I neglected to know that I needed to talk to the Principal for a choice of a Master Quartz at the end of the game. Then during my second playthrough I forgot "open all chests in one run" was a thing so in

Spoiler

Lohengrin Castle

(Chapter 5) where a trap chest had a master quartz I was like I got that last run, I don't need the Zeram Powder or whatever it was and it was the only chest I didn't open.

Derp.

I was looking at what carried over to CS2 and I saw that level 80 for Rean was needed for the maximum bonus for that... it took all of the final dungeon to get me from 70.5 to 71 without skipping fights, that grind is not happening.

you can use the free shinning pom dlc for 3 easy lvl ups

 

[Psxphile]

you can use the free shinning pom dlc for 3 easy lvl ups

And on a third playthrough (if you haven't used up your previous poms), you'll have 9 free lures stored up. 9 guaranteed levels.

 

[nintendoman58]

On Chapter 6, and I just got an idea on who C might be and I'm freaking out over it right now and hoping I'm wrong.

 

[Thoraxes]

Final chapter of my 3rd playthrough because I'm a special person who doesn't read trophies and has to do a whole other playthrough to finish things that could have been done last time.

If I missed a chest I will riot.

I'm saving my 4th playthrough for the weeks before Cold Steel 2... and I got the platinum on my second playthrough

The chests were by far the hardest part. There was a good guide to use though.

Edit: oh, congrats!

 

[Cornbread78]

Uuggh, why is every boss in this game such a jump in difficulty? It's seriously starting to get annoying. No really really fucking annoying when you can tear through an entire floor of enemies withoit healing, they you get to the boss and you torn to shreds, even with 3 S moves charged and ready to go... It's ruining my fun of this game.

 

[Nyoro SF]

Uuggh, why is every boss in this game such a jump in difficulty? It's seriously starting to get annoying. No really really fucking annoying when you can tear through an entire floor of enemies withoit healing, they you get to the boss and you torn to shreds, even with 3 S moves charged and ready to go... It's ruining my fun of this game.

Are you playing on Normal?

I am interested in watching a stream of you playing to see what's happening. Or maybe you can upload a youtube video of you getting blasted by a boss.

 

[preta]

Gu4n or anyone else who's already played CS2 - is there anything I would need to do in my first playthrough to be able to plat on my second, or anything else I need to worry about with regard to doing NG+? I don't think I have it in me to replay CS1, at least not now, but I know I'll be playing CS2 twice for the added NG+ content. (

Spoiler

You don't even fight the true final boss on the first playthrough, right?

)

 

[Glitter and Gold]

And on a third playthrough (if you haven't used up your previous poms), you'll have 9 free lures stored up. 9 guaranteed levels.

Is that how it works? I thought the DLC was if you don't use em you lose em.

So yeah you can get 9 levels from three playthroughs, but I think you have to use each 3 in the playthrough you get it.

 

[aravuus]

(

Spoiler

You don't even fight the true final boss on the first playthrough, right?

)

Oh geez, I hope this isn't true. I don't have the time to play a game like CS2 twice through.

 

[Basileus777]

Oh geez, I hope this isn't true. I don't have the time to play a game like CS2 twice through.

Yeah, that's "grab a clear save" territory.

 

[preta]

Yeah, that's "grab a clear save" territory.

Have you played it? I was under the impression you had to do a second full playthrough and get a full set of books that only appear in NG+.

 

[Basileus777]

Have you played it? I was under the impression you had to do a second full playthrough and get a full set of books that only appear in NG+.

I haven't. I was speaking in hypotheticals.

 

[Psxphile]

Is that how it works? I thought the DLC was if you don't use em you lose em.

So yeah you can get 9 levels from three playthroughs, but I think you have to use each 3 in the playthrough you get it.

I didn't use any of my lures until my 2nd (of 3) run. Once you've downloaded the DLC you have to activate it in-game to receive the lures, and from there they are just regular items sitting in your inventory. If you carry over items for NG+ you'll keep the lures you didn't use and the DLC package(s) will "refresh", allowing you to get another set of 3 per package.

 

[Gu4n]

Gu4n or anyone else who's already played CS2 - is there anything I would need to do in my first playthrough to be able to plat on my second, or anything else I need to worry about with regard to doing NG+? I don't think I have it in me to replay CS1, at least not now, but I know I'll be playing CS2 twice for the added NG+ content. (

Spoiler

You don't even fight the true final boss on the first playthrough, right?

)

Like I said in my previous post, Cold Steel II follows largely the same trophy set as the first game: get highest rank, see all bonding events, obtain all <>, et cetera. The amount of monster data you need to collect is doubled and the character notes generally tripled. I wrote a guide that helps you with collecting these and formulates the criteria of accessing bonding events.

Having that said, you do need to go through the game twice for the platinum. Like in Cold Steel, you can't do all bonding events in a single playthrough. In addition, there's a NG+ exclusive quest you need to complete in order to get a trophy and to get even more hyped for Cold Steel III. Finally, NG+ adds a super-strong (but optional) boss that upon defeat also earns you a trophy.

My first playthrough took me ~90 hours, the second one (to unlock the platinum) ~50 hours.

 

[Glitter and Gold]

I didn't use any of my lures until my 2nd (of 3) run. Once you've downloaded the DLC you have to activate it in-game to receive the lures, and from there they are just regular items sitting in your inventory. If you carry over items for NG+ you'll keep the lures you didn't use and the DLC package(s) will "refresh", allowing you to get another set of 3 per package.

oh interesting. I figured they got repackaged like costumes

 

[Cornbread78]

Are you playing on Normal?

I am interested in watching a stream of you playing to see what's happening. Or maybe you can upload a youtube video of you getting blasted by a boss.

It's those stupid

Spoiler

attack dogs

at the end of the second field study. My characters are right around lvl 20 or so, and I buff straight away and I can widdle down the health of one of them, but then they start using that double attack and kill a character, then they use it again, then status effects, it's a non stop onslought... uuggh


I'm playing on Vita, so I'm not sure how to capture/stream it.

 

[Chaos17]

OK, that pissed me off a little bit. Still in the 2nd Field Study day and just entered the

Spoiler

underground waterway

first normal battle and my party of 3 is destroyed yet the boss I just fought with 4 members was pretty easy.... like WTF?

Blame scaled difficulty, imo.

 

[Dragon1893]

I'm still in chapter 3 so I'm wondering when I can change costumes? Or are they all dlc?

 

[Shahed]

Is that how it works? I thought the DLC was if you don't use em you lose em.

So yeah you can get 9 levels from three playthroughs, but I think you have to use each 3 in the playthrough you get it.

Once you 'use' the DLC you get said items Items will carry over into NG+ where the DC will be available to use once more and in turn get another set of items. However if you fail to use the DLC then those items are lost for that playthrough.

On my 3rd playthrough I used 9 of them to hit Lv 80. Never grinded.

EDIT: Oh I see that's already been covered

It's those stupid

Spoiler

attack dogs

at the end of the second field study. My characters are right around lvl 20 or so, and I buff straight away and I can widdle down the health of one of them, but then they start using that double attack and kill a character, then they use it again, then status effects, it's a non stop onslought... uuggh


I'm playing on Vita, so I'm not sure how to capture/stream it.

The

Spoiler

2 of them after you rescue Machias

right? I don't think I had any issues that fight, but then again I can't recall what level i was at. Did you buy upgraded weapons? Not necessarily for everyone since that can be hard with limited resources. I generally only upgraded Rean, Laura and Fie throughout the game unless I had spare U-material.

What's your quartz setup like? Are you using Rean to delay one them as much as possible while you focus one down? Do you use S Breaks straightaway or wait to line them up with the bonus Attack or Crit turns to not only do more damage but also prevent the enemies from gewtting the buff turn? This also applies to turns where enemies heal. If you don't have S breaks ready you can always use some random magic to mess around with the turn order. Healing magic usually happens near instantly and offensive/buff ones have a bigger delay

 

[Korigama]

I'm still in chapter 3 so I'm wondering when I can change costumes? Or are they all dlc?

First costume change is provided automatically at the beginning of chapter 4 (finally just got there myself yesterday).

 

[Cornbread78]

Blame scaled difficulty, imo.

Yeah, even playing on Hard, these battles should't be so frustrating and cheap. I mean a double attack and stun? Then heal bonuses you can't change... ugghh

 

[Gu4n]

NISA confirmed that Trails of Cold Steel II launches in Europe on November 11th.

 

[Saphirax]

NISA confirmed that Trails of Cold Steel II launches in Europe on November 11th.

This made me laugh. Getting the European date before the NA one, I mean .

 

[Stuart444]

NISA confirmed that Trails of Cold Steel II launches in Europe on November 11th.

Yay

 

[Cornbread78]

The

Spoiler

2 of them after you rescue Machias

right? I don't think I had any issues that fight, but then again I can't recall what level i was at. Did you buy upgraded weapons? Not necessarily for everyone since that can be hard with limited resources. I generally only upgraded Rean, Laura and Fie throughout the game unless I had spare U-material.

What's your quartz setup like? Are you using Rean to delay one them as much as possible while you focus one down? Do you use S Breaks straightaway or wait to line them up with the bonus Attack or Crit turns to not only do more damage but also prevent the enemies from gewtting the buff turn? This also applies to turns where enemies heal. If you don't have S breaks ready you can always use some random magic to mess around with the turn order. Healing magic usually happens near instantly and offensive/buff ones have a bigger delay

Yeah, I'm not having much luck and I've tried 100 different thing at this point. It just always seams they get lucky with their timing and their attacks turn from just doing damage to killing members. I made the mistake of saving "after" the rescue and had already left the hub, so my only recourse at this point is to try to power-level somehow, but that's not working very well either at the moment...

 

[Gu4n]

This made me laugh. Getting the European date before the NA one, I mean .

The same happened with the first Cold Steel game: NISA revealed their release date on November 30th and XSEED theirs on December 3rd.

 

[Eylos]

This made me laugh. Getting the European date before the NA one, I mean .

+1

Do you have the news link Gu4n?

 

[Stuart444]

The same happened with the first Cold Steel game: NISA revealed their release date on November 30th and XSEED theirs on December 3rd.

Do you have a link to the confirmation? All I can find is a vid from CLD Distribution.

 

[Shahed]

Yeah, I'm not having much luck and I've tried 100 different thing at this point. It just always seams they get lucky with their timing and their attacks turn from just doing damage to killing members. I made the mistake of saving "after" the rescue and had already left the hub, so my only recourse at this point is to try to power-level somehow, but that's not working very well either at the moment...

Are you aware that that if a character has 100 CP to do an S Break they can do it even if it's not their turn? Say it's your turn on a character and then next turn is the enemies and also happens to be a Critical bonus. While executing your current turn and the animation and all that is happening, you can trigger the S Break of whomever has at least 100 CP. They'll get the next turn which happens to be Critical and the enemy will get the turn after. Doesn't matter who's turn it is before the bonus turn, as long as you execute the S Break during the animation of the turn prior to the bonus, that character will come next and take the bonus away from the next character/enemy that would have gotten it.

Unless I know the fight is pretty easy, I pretty much never use an S Break during a character's turn. Always trigger it outside of their action on either a bonus to turn to do more damage, or prevent enemies from healing or taking advantage of their own bonuses. If you've got plenty of CP across the entire party and there's no bonus turn in sight, then you still wouldn't use an S Break on a characters turn. Just do a regular attack/Craft and then Trigger the S Break to get two turns in a row

 

[Eylos]

The first CS released in NA 1 month and 1 week earlier than EU, if that happens again it would mean 04/10 release date, but that is very unlikely because of FFXV

 

[Gu4n]

+1

Do you have the news link Gu4n?

Do you have a link to the confirmation? All I can find is a vid from CLD Distribution.

CLD, the distributor of NISA games in the Benelux, mailed me their updated release schedule for 2016 and Cold Steel II was added in there. I'm afraid you'll have to wait for a press release before websites actually pick up the release date.

 

[Saphirax]

The same happened with the first Cold Steel game: NISA revealed their release date on November 30th and XSEED theirs on December 3rd.

Huh...I don't remember that at all. Weird. And all the news I can find about the EU release date were posted in the middle of December.

 

[Stuart444]

CLD, the distributor of NISA games in the Benelux, mailed me their updated release schedule for 2016 and Cold Steel II was added in there. I'm afraid you'll have to wait for a press release before websites actually pick up the release date.

in which case, I'll post this here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgcOHSIm8Fc

Date de sortie
Release Date : 11-11-16

 

[Gu4n]

Huh...I don't remember that at all. Weird. And all the news I can find about the EU release date were posted in the middle of December.

Exactly. Websites waited for the press release mid-December, but the release date had been known since November.

 

[Saphirax]

Exactly. Websites waited for the press release mid-December, but the release date had been known since November.

Makes sense.

Since I'm importing anyway, hoping the NA release is as early as possible .

 

[Yu Narukami]

CLD, the distributor of NISA games in the Benelux, mailed me their updated release schedule for 2016 and Cold Steel II was added in there. I'm afraid you'll have to wait for a press release before websites actually pick up the release date.

Do you live in the Benelux? I do.

 

[Jolkien]

I got an e-mail from Amazon on Cold Steel 2

We wanted to let you know there's a delay with one or more items in the order you placed on June 14, 2016

"Xseed The Legend of Heroes Trails of Cold Steel 2 PlayStation Vita"
Estimated ship date: September 01, 2016


Now when I go to amazon.ca I see the release date being September 6th.

 

[Dragon1893]

First costume change is provided automatically at the beginning of chapter 4 (finally just got there myself yesterday).

I see, thanks.

 

[nan0]

Yeah, I'm not having much luck and I've tried 100 different thing at this point. It just always seams they get lucky with their timing and their attacks turn from just doing damage to killing members. I made the mistake of saving "after" the rescue and had already left the hub, so my only recourse at this point is to try to power-level somehow, but that's not working very well either at the moment...

There's a way to cheese the fight:

Spoiler

Send Jusis to the farer away dog. Position Rean behind the other dog so he basically has both of them before him. Now use his Arc Slash to delay both of the dogs and have Jusis use Rapid Thrust to delay the other one. This way you have a decent chance that they only get one or two turns in the entire battle.
Focus with the other two characters on one boss and have Machias use Break Shot to lower their defense. If you have Impassion cast it on Rean and Jusis.

 

[Gu4n]

Do you live in the Benelux? I do.

Slightly off-topic, but yes, so do I. I'm a contributing editor at Gamer.nl, making sure Japan and its games are getting the coverage they deserve.

 

[pbayne]

Welp a long night to finish it up. I felt it at work today but worth it. Last chapters was insane. Didn't 100% it or anything but still clocked 75 hours. Surprised myself by actually finishing a good few of the sidequests like cooking and fishing and getting the second highest rank.

Spoiler

-Yo we Gundam now? The last fight was pure awesome. I await the mecha sequel.

-The big twist with Crow was very reminiscent of TiTs and its fairly easy to see coming given some of the interactions towards the end of the game. The Misty one there are only a few vague hints that i remember, like Emma smelling her perfume. The biggest shock for me was that Osborne is dead(presumably anyway, part of me doesn't trust it especially with how non-plussed Milliem reacted.)

-Favourite NPCs-Makarov, Rosine, Mint, Friedal...too many to count really. The festival was a real treat in those terms. i think the reason i didn't enjoy the first trails game as much as i could have is that i didn't stop to talk to NPCs as much but man it makes a huge difference in my enjoyment to actually follow their little story's and it makes the overall world feel much richer.

-Probably my only gripe with the game is Rean is very tropey "here's a standard anime light novel protagonist". I wouldn't mind him so much if he was just a nice guy but its the he's a nice guy+ultra anime destiny to be the best at everything is thrust upon that gets a bit wearisome. And his sister can get lumped into that too.
Only other main character i didn't think much of was Eliot. Not bad or anything but he was just kind of there.

-Best events-Anything with Emma and Dorthee in the Yaoi club was hysterical. Lol i looked up what happen if you pick a guy for the dance as well and its magic.

So overall good game, a lot of plot threads left hanging for the sequel that i want to see where it goes from here.