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The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel |OT| Class Warfare

preta

Member
I keep contemplating getting Trails in the Sky, but never get it. There are so many PSP Y's games, but I have no idea which ones to get nor the storage to hold all of them or the money to buy all of them.

Ys. No apostrophe.

The PSP Ys games are Oath in Felghana, I and II Chronicles, Seven, and Ark of Napishtim. Of those, all but Seven are available on Steam and much better there. (And they'll run on a toaster.) Ark of Napishtim PSP is not on PSN, but it's a terrible port anyway.

Seven is similar to Celceta, while Oath in Felghana, Ark of Napishtim, and Origin are a bit different, with one playable character, more emphasis on platforming, mix of 2D and 3D graphics, etc. I and II Chronicles is a compilation/remake of the first two games. They're purely 2D and feature unusual combat in which you attack enemies by simply running into them off-center. It sounds weird, but you get used to it.

I'd recommend them in this order:

Origin (but play I and II first)
Oath in Felghana
I and II
Seven
Ark of Napishtim
 
The animations were improved between CS I and CS II. Other than updates to the UI, there are not only new combat mechanics, but adjustments made to how orbments work as well.

Awesome thanks. Yeah CS1 looks very stiff at times. If I cant get better visuals I'll definitely take better animation.
 
The PSP Ys games are Oath in Felghana, I and II Chronicles, Seven, and Ark of Napishtim. Of those, all but Seven are available on Steam and much better there. (And they'll run on a toaster.) Ark of Napishtim PSP is not on PSN, but it's a terrible port anyway.
But if you pay Felghana on PC you miss out on the charmingly terrible voice acting!

Just want to say, PSP experience is totally fine, and it's neat to have it on the go. It even lets you switch to the retro soundtracks!
 

Cornbread78

Member
OK, you'll asked for it..... WTF am I doing wrong here on the Chapter 5 school house boss? This guys just keeps wrecking my party in no time at all, yet I can easily cut through everything else in the school house....

Rean (lvl 44)
Force:
Holy Breath
Thelas
Action2
Leg Breaker
Invigorate
Detection
Reaper
Attack2

Laura (44)
Brave:
Attack1
Volcanic Rain
Tearal
Dragon Vision
Impede1
Demonic Scythe
Spirit Vision
Fortuna

Elliot (44)
Criminal:
Flame Tongue
Athelas
Voice Breaker
Chrono Drive
Seiryuu
Crescent Mirror
Cross Crusade
Breath

Alisa:
Angel:
Volcanic Rain
Suzaku
Fortuna
Athelas
Attack1
Speed Breaker
Impede1
Earth Pulse

Crow
(43):
Cypher:
Chrono Drive
Analyze
Recuria
Dark Matter
Flood
Heal
Grim Butterfly
Water Bell

Millium
(43)
Aegis:
Yggrasil
Teara
Nightmare
La Crest
Phantom Phobia
Hydro Cannon
Silver Thorn
Attack 2
 

Psxphile

Member
I no longer remember how I took on that boss (think I died a few times against it too), but from looking up strategies online it seems the consensus is to equip anti-Freez status accessories and have Elliot in your party for Resounding Beat. Also, one tactic is to place someone w/ good defense up near the boss to bait him to attack a single target. Maybe cast Insight on him/her to help with dodging attacks (better yet, bring Alisa and have her use her Craft skill that heals and Insights 3 other party members). Also buffing your ADF while also de-buffing the boss's Speed would go a long way towards survival.
 

Shahed

Member
OK, you'll asked for it..... WTF am I doing wrong here on the Chapter 5 school house boss? This guys just keeps wrecking my party in no time at all, yet I can easily cut through everything else in the school house....

Rean (lvl 44)
Force:
Holy Breath
Thelas
Action2
Leg Breaker
Invigorate
Detection
Reaper
Attack2

Laura (44)
Brave:
Attack1
Volcanic Rain
Tearal
Dragon Vision
Impede1
Demonic Scythe
Spirit Vision
Fortuna

Elliot (44)
Criminal:
Flame Tongue
Athelas
Voice Breaker
Chrono Drive
Seiryuu
Crescent Mirror
Cross Crusade
Breath

Alisa:
Angel:
Volcanic Rain
Suzaku
Fortuna
Athelas
Attack1
Speed Breaker
Impede1
Earth Pulse

Crow
(43):
Cypher:
Chrono Drive
Analyze
Recuria
Dark Matter
Flood
Heal
Grim Butterfly
Water Bell

Millium
(43)
Aegis:
Yggrasil
Teara
Nightmare
La Crest
Phantom Phobia
Hydro Cannon
Silver Thorn
Attack 2

Is that the Ice Dragon thing? First of all you want to put Freeze resistant accessories. You might already have some normal ones, but I'd recommend getting 2 Passionate Rouge from Micht Pawn shop. Stops Freeze, Petrify and something else while also putting Str +50. Speaking of accessories you might want to get enough Evergreens for the entire party. You should probably have 1 already, so you'll need to make 3 more. These are expensive though and will probably set you back 120,000 Gold roughly I think. You can use Elliot to buy the ingredients for Simple Omelet and make it. It sells for a profit so just make 99 at a time, sell and repeat. It might sound like a bit of effort, but it's worth it. Those accessories will last you the rest of the game and NG+ as well it you do it, I nevwr stopped using them except when I got the accessory for max Rank at the end of the game. Just listen to a podcast or something while you get the money. It would have been easier to buy them directly from the Shops in Chapter 4, but now you'll have to mess around with exchanges at Micht's. Not really an issue though.

As for quartz it at a glance it looks like you've got too many spell types of quartz on the likes of Rean and Laura. I'm not sure if you can create them now, but try and get as many Breaker type quartz (Leg, Armour, Speed) so you can stack as much Strength as possible whilw allowing for debufs at the same time. Get an Attack 2 (3 if you can afford it, check Micht Shop if George doesn't sell) for Laura as well. Spirit and Speed Breaker's are good for Laura and Rean respectively since they need that type of quartz on them anyway.

As for the fight itself. Use Elliot to constantly maintain Resounding Beat. Don't let it wear off. Make sure you use a Detect on the boss as early as you can for break chance and as long as people have their health topped off just do whatever. Do you have a Gladiator Belt? Put it on Alisa. You can her AoE Craft to restore HP/CP on everyone and also use her as support to buff other people Str, Spd and so on. Insight woukd help but I don't think you've learned that Craft. Maybe if you have a quartz

At that level Rean hasn't learned Flame Impact yet. I played on Normal so never had a problem, but since you're on Hard I'd advise using Laura and
Millium
. Use Laura to knock it's defence down and/or break the boss with Armour Breaker, and the other character uses it's Craft that has 50% Faint and also good chance to break. Again Elliots Detect will improve their chances of breaking. Those two can keep using their Crafts every turn until Faint kicks in since Alisa should be restoring the CP regularly. If you manage to inflict Faint, use regular attacks (or Crafts if you have the CP to spare) for guaranteed Criticals and chain attacks.

This might sound overboard for one fight. But I played on Normal first time and walked through Nightmare second time around. I don't know how difficult I would have found it on Hard on my initial playthrough so there it may be somewhat over preperation. But in the end those accessories will always be useful anyway and similar tactics can be used for a lot if not all tbe bosses in this game to degree.
 

Gu4n

Member
Finished that list of Master Quartz in Cold Steel II.
Cphq5YLW8AAbDYt.jpg
 

zakujanai

Member
Holy shit. Just did the intro again and I realised you don't actually learn whether the guns hit their target or not (CS2/Crossbell speculation)
what if this is reality where the rebels succeed??
I mean we weren't even in the right place when they fired, let alone fighting the right enemy. Rean really seemed like he did something when he screamed "Noooooooo!", what if
he changed time/reality
?

Obviously, probably way off but even the possibility of speculating the reasons for such discrepancies is why I love these games so much.
 

Gu4n

Member
Holy shit. Just did the intro again and I realised you don't actually learn whether the guns hit their target or not (CS2/Crossbell speculation)
what if this is reality where the rebels succeed??
I mean we weren't even in the right place when they fired, let alone fighting the right enemy. Rean really seemed like he did something when he screamed "Noooooooo!", what if
he changed time/reality
?

Obviously, probably way off but even the possibility of speculating the reasons for such discrepancies is why I love these games so much.
You're actually on to something. Since (Cold Steel endgame spoiler)
Crow isn't with Class VII, it means he's with the Imperial Liberation Front and he would've easily been able to defeat or slow down Class VII. The first shot was a blank, and they were mere seconds removed from an actual second shot.
 

zakujanai

Member
You're actually on to something. Since (Cold Steel endgame spoiler)
Crow isn't with Class VII, it means he's with the Imperial Liberation Front and he would've easily been able to defeat or slow down Class VII. The first shot was a blank, and they were mere seconds removed from an actual second shot.

I'm so excited to get playing this again, but it's still a long time until November and this might actually be making the wait worse. The whole discrepancy thing has really reignited my excitement for CS2.

I'm really annoyed at myself for giving up learning Japanese a few years ago, I could know all these juicy Crossbell secrets by now 😱. I even own the Crossbell games on Vita but could only make out a laughably poor amount of what was happening when I tried it.
 

Gu4n

Member
I'm so excited to get playing this again, but it's still a long time until November and this might actually be making the wait worse. The whole discrepancy thing has really reignited my excitement for CS2.

I'm really annoyed at myself for giving up learning Japanese a few years ago, I could know all these juicy Crossbell secrets by now 😱. I even own the Crossbell games on Vita but could only make out a laughably poor amount of what was happening when I tried it.
Don't expect answers on that discrepancy in CS2. Or any game, really.

Though, if you played Zero, even only the first five minutes, you noticed that
that game starts with a similar flashforward.
 

zakujanai

Member
Don't expect answers on that discrepancy in CS2. Or any game, really.

Though, if you played Zero, even only the first five minutes, you noticed that
that game starts with a similar flashforward.

Yeah I noticed that. Is there a similar discrepancy in that then too? Also, after that it then cut to a young man on a train on his to join a new organisation. Really love the parallel games feel they seem to have (from the tiny bit I can compare of course).

(Please don't actually answer this because I will click the spoiler tag 😅) but I rather hope Rean and Lloyd meet up at some point.
 

khaaan

Member
You unlock them as you play. They come with story developments.
Laura's just That Good™

lol, I guess that's not too bad.

It's stopping me from saving my S-Craft's for bosses and finishing them off in one or two turns like in TiTS. It'll probably bother me when I just want to advance the story rather than slog through a boss fight =P

Just remembered I had another question, should I be upgrading my weapons as much as possible? I have enough resources but I've been hesitant because I keep thinking "well, what if I get a new weapon and upgrading that would be better but I just spent all my resources so I'm out of luck."
 

Shahed

Member
lol, I guess that's not too bad.

It's stopping me from saving my S-Craft's for bosses and finishing them off in one or two turns like in TiTS. It'll probably bother me when I just want to advance the story rather than slog through a boss fight =P

Just remembered I had another question, should I be upgrading my weapons as much as possible? I have enough resources but I've been hesitant because I keep thinking "well, what if I get a new weapon and upgrading that would be better but I just spent all my resources so I'm out of luck."

I think Laura and Fie are the only ones that come with S Craft by default. Well them and any guest characters. Everyone else learns as they go along

As for weapon upgrades, always do Rean. The people not with you on current field study get their gear upgraded automatically, but since Rean is always there his will never do so. After that I recommend doing it on your best physical attackers as well, so Laura and Fie. Anyone else it depends if you have the spare money and U Material. If you do go ahead, otherwise save it for the next chapters upgrades

One thing i recommend is to create an extra Luck quartz so you uave at least two. Put it on the people most likely to kill enemies (probably Rean and Laura/Fie). Then whenever you fight an enemy that drops U Material, try and kill that enemy with someone who has Luck equipped. You can find out who drops what by either scanning them using Emma/Elliot's Detect skill, or buying and using an Item on them. There's a trophy for scanning every enemy in the game anyway. I did that throughout the game and always had spare U Material. Money was more the issue
 

omgfloofy

Banned
Oh, so that's where's that from. Huh.

<not so random plug>

If you're interested, I did feature that event on Translation Tuesday a few months ago. It was broken into two parts.

Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFdP7YdNov0

Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZMQkIP5-xE

While I know 3rd is coming out soon and understand if there's a desire to wait on seeing this in-game when you get to it, but I'm giving you the option to see it now, too, since it explains a lot about motivations going on in Cold Steel regarding that character.

</not so random plug>
 

Psxphile

Member
An almost hour-long (optional) cutscene, all in text.

If I didn't know better I'd swear Tetsuya Takahashi was on staff at Falcom in 2007.
 

Pretty much repeating Shahed. Laura is mainly physical so she doesn't need Arts

I notice you still have lower versions of some quartz like you are still using Attack 1, Action 2, Impede 1 and such. I believe in Chapter 5 you have access version 3 by now. Are you low on Sepith? You can also exchange 3 lower ones for better ones for free.

Also are any of the quartz the upgraded Rare versions? Like the Holy Breath Rean has? The rare version gives SPD+3. The upgraded Breakers also have STR+10. You can exchange it at Micht.

You should bring Emma. With Crescent Shell, it will add Magic Reflect to block the ice missiles and 50% DEF.
Millium's Buster Arm
can cause faint to try to delay the boss's turn.
 

Cornbread78

Member
Pretty much repeating Shahed. Laura is mainly physical so she doesn't need Arts

I notice you still have lower versions of some quartz like you are still using Attack 1, Action 2, Impede 1 and such. I believe in Chapter 5 you have access version 3 by now. Are you low on Sepith? You can also exchange 3 lower ones for better ones for free.

Also are any of the quartz the upgraded Rare versions? Like the Holy Breath Rean has? The rare version gives SPD+3. The upgraded Breakers also have STR+10. You can exchange it at Micht.

You should bring Emma. With Crescent Shell, it will add Magic Reflect to block the ice missiles and 50% DEF.
Millium's Buster Arm
can cause faint to try to delay the boss's turn.


I'll try these as well, why not... but I can't back out of the schoolhouse now that I'm in and at thd oss with without losing a few hours of gameplay. I just tried again, but it's pure fuckery. They always gice thd bosses double moves and they never allow you to get a clean delay or inpede in the have time to buff or prepare, which means party members are already dead before they even get a turn. Thus is the first hrpg I've ever had a problem with playing thtough the normal story mode and it's extreme frustrating to not even be given a chance to survgameplay


How do you upgrade quartz anyway? I've created attack 2's and stronger versions of everyobe I can and still have over 2k of each type to make more.


There's no reason for these bosses to be so stupidly lucky and op..


New one..
They gave him three turns in s row this time

Ice missles
Quillen Pulse
Then ice missles again...wtf.
 
I'll try these as well, why not... but I can't back out of the schoolhouse now that I'm in and at thd oss with without losing a few hours of gameplay. I just tried again, but it's pure fuckery. They always gice thd bosses double moves and they never allow you to get a clean delay or inpede in the have time to buff or prepare, which means party members are already dead before they even get a turn. Thus is the first hrpg I've ever had a problem with playing thtough the normal story mode and it's extreme frustrating to not even be given a chance to survgameplay


How do you upgrade quartz anyway? I've created attack 2's and stronger versions of everyobe I can and still have over 2k of each type to make more.


There's no reason for these bosses to be so stupidly lucky and op..


New one..
They gave him three turns in s row this time

Ice missles
Quillen Pulse
Then ice missles again...wtf.

Pretty sure you can leave.

Don't remember many times when boss had multiple consecutive turns but I had a speed setup so I never had an issue. I also went solely on Crafts so Rean keep delaying with no issue.

You exchange for rare quartz at Micht. Most of them need U-Material but things like Attack and such just need multiple copies. But it is cheaper to make them if you have the sepiths.
 

Nyoro SF

Member
Sounds like you got a Speed issue there Corn if enemies are moving ahead of you a lot. Also you can leave the dungeon and come back at any time.

Also are you aware that using a Craft has heavier delay than doing a regular attack? This is exemplified where using an S-Craft essentially makes you lose 2 turns.

I would apply more Speed-based Quartz to your entire party. IIRC Laura has one of the lowest SPD stats in the game, so it's important to make sure she is on at least equal footing with her teammates.

Too bad CS1 isn't on PS4, maybe he could live stream from the playroom for us and we could help from there lol
 

Squire

Banned
<not so random plug>

If you're interested, I did feature that event on Translation Tuesday a few months ago. It was broken into two parts.

Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFdP7YdNov0

Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZMQkIP5-xE

While I know 3rd is coming out soon and understand if there's a desire to wait on seeing this in-game when you get to it, but I'm giving you the option to see it now, too, since it explains a lot about motivations going on in Cold Steel regarding that character.

</not so random plug>

Oh, Endless History? I've seen your site before. I might just watch these actually, since I am curious about those motivations, yeah. Thanks.
 

omgfloofy

Banned
Oh, Endless History? I've seen your site before. I might just watch these actually, since I am curious about those motivations, yeah. Thanks.

Not a problem! If you want to see other translation work I've done- both for Kiseki and for Ys, feel free to check out the Translation Tuesday articles on the site. :D

Enjoy!
 

Yu Narukami

Member
Now that FFXV may release in November I need a tutorial to convert my EU save into an US save since the US version of CS2 may release earlier than November 11th.
 

zakujanai

Member
Cold Steel replay coming along at an incredibly sluggish pace. Upon meeting Towa, Rean makes some comments about her appearance that I believe are what led me to believe she had been moved up a few years (one was about looking "even younger than Fie"). Gu4n had suggested there may be a story-related reason behind this, but it still makes the flirting from Angelica feel a little bit weirder than it needs to.
 

khaaan

Member
I was admiring the alternate cover art and I noticed that Gaius and glasses lady are not on it. Does that mean anything? Or is that just how the art ended up going? I noticed Laura is on both front + back along with Rean and Alisa.
 
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