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

Shizuka

Member
WOW, I thought they would give me time to finish the side quests, or at least give me a warning that it's a point of no return like in the earlier main mission, but I guess the training wheels are off...

When the game doesn't tell you, it's almost always clear enough that you can't go back if you make a particular action.
 
Got this for Christmas (why don't more games come out in December? Can never hold off on getting anything I'm excited about if it launches in fall). Only put about an hour in, but definitely liking it. Broad strokes so far, but the game clearly takes characterization seriously, going out of the way to flesh out the big starting cast already in the first dungeon.

Find it sort of amusing that you get stuck with commoner sausage fest right out of the gate.
 

zbertz

Neo Member
ICYMI.. in Chapter 1 & want some fairly easy mira accumulation?

1) Get Simple Omelet recipe from Nicholas via second step of required quest "Orbal Delivery." Making these requires 1x Fresh Egg (can buy for 40/ea) and 1x Coarse Rock Salt (can buy for 20/ea)

2) Cook these with Elliot. Go to recipe book with him in your party, select Simple Omelet, and when prompted for who will do the cooking, select Rean & Elliot. You'll get primarily Warm Egg Soup (sells for 80/ea) and a few Soft & Fluffy Omelet (sells for 70/ea)

3) Rinse & repeat. Find a merchant that sells the mats (not uncommon) and start buying/selling in stacks of 99 max. I'm not quite to Chapter 2 yet so idk if this is unavailable after C1.

Cheers,
--z
 

Xeteh

Member
I think my favorite thing over Trails in the Sky FC/SC isn't any of the combat changes (though they're pretty rad)... its the fact that dungeons have maps. Its the best thing ever.
 
The game has quick jump, I keep forgetting to use it because I love being in this world and talking to everyone along the way :X

Edit: is there really no penalty for switching links every turn?
 

Shizuka

Member
Oh, found a typo during Chapter 5. I don't know if XSEED is interested or keeping track though, this is after their patch.
 

Lindsay

Dot Hacked
dqiv.jpg

Ahhh flashbacks to Dragon Quest IV dialects @_@;

otoh heeeey this is like the second PS3 game I gots which has screen grab tech implimented! Cools.

I'm gonna guess this Old Schoolhouse is gonna be a recurring dungeon huh?
 
dqiv.jpg

Ahhh flashbacks to Dragon Quest IV dialects @_@;

otoh heeeey this is like the second PS3 game I gots which has screen grab tech implimented! Cools.

I'm gonna guess this Old Schoolhouse is gonna be a recurring dungeon huh?
It is. It only gets deeper.
Oh, the ps3 version can take screenshots. That's kinda cool.
 
I really like a link system that doesn't smother everything else like smog, and this is one of those. Also, Laura is still vivisecting fools and now at an even more stupid level of pain.

It is. It only gets deeper.
Oh, the ps3 version can take screenshots. That's kinda cool.

I wish I had remembered that, Sara "Plastered To Bastard" Valestein is very quote-worthy and snark-inspiring.
 

Xeteh

Member
The further I get (I'm in chapter 3) the more I feel confident that I'm on par with my guess about what Class VII is.
 

Dio

Banned
Finishing up my stuff to do in Heimdallr. Just finished Chapter 4.

I absolutely love that "C" made his little passionate speech about THE FLAMES OF SILENT ANGER and then later on in a scene right after that Oliviert says "the theatrics of a middle school play" and Sara comments on how he must have really wanted to say that speech in front of other people.
 
Finished chapter 1

I only just got introduced to Claire and I already think she's cool

I also have more difficulty fighting mobs with tough dudes in them. I've wiped so many times so far and I'm 12 hours in on hard and this is just to field encounters (and twice to the treasure chest surprises... Oh boy). I guess I'm an idiot. The few bosses I've faced so far have been a piece of cake for me though.
 

Watch Da Birdie

I buy cakes for myself on my birthday it's not weird lots of people do it I bet
Interested in trying this out, but I gotta ask, anything overtly---uh, "weird" in this game given the school anime setting? Nothing sticks out looking it over but it doesn't go for too many cheap jokes and fanservice, does it?
 

Dio

Banned
Interested in trying this out, but I gotta ask, anything overtly---uh, "weird" in this game given the school anime setting? Nothing sticks out looking it over but it doesn't go for too many cheap jokes and fanservice, does it?

I'm quite a ways in (Chapter 5) and the most I've ever seen is a scene where the cast is in swimsuits and jumping into a pool. There's really not that much in the way of fanservice or the jokes you mention at all. The game's too busy with political intrigue, interpersonal relationships and character development, and world building to bother with that kind of content as filler.
 

Watch Da Birdie

I buy cakes for myself on my birthday it's not weird lots of people do it I bet
That's good, not to sound like a total prude but to be honest that can really influence my opinion of a game---I've still yet to get Bravely Default because that box-art is too embarrassing for me to buy lol.

One last concern I have is how does EXP work in this game? I get really anxious when you have a lot of characters and like to keep them fairly balanced, does the game have any leaked EXP or ways for characters you don't use often to catch up, or is it like Persona where basically once you chose your main Party the others were pretty much fucked?

Finally, is there a good, concise and straight-to-the-point summary for Tails of Sky before jumping into this as a sequel?
 

Dio

Banned
That's good, not to sound like a total prude but to be honest that can really influence my opinion of a game---I've still yet to get Bravely Default because that box-art is too embarrassing for me to buy lol.

One last concern I have is how does EXP work in this game? I get really anxious when you have a lot of characters and like to keep them fairly balanced, does the game have any leaked EXP or ways for characters you don't use often to catch up, or is it like Persona where basically once you chose your main Party the others were pretty much fucked?

Okay, so here's the thing - even if you bring more than four people with you (you can keep party members in reserve and switch them in mid-combat) everyone gets the same amount of experience whether they were actively in the fight or not. That being said, that doesn't mean everyone is the exact same level all the time. The most gap you'll get is maybe a 1-2 level difference, ever, as far as I've gotten.

As for characters you didn't bring with you at all, at least as far as I am, the game brings them up to the proper level anyway because the story will take you lots of places where you couldn't have brought them even if you wanted to. I've been assigned a pre-determined group of people several times.
 

CrazyDude

Member
That's good, not to sound like a total prude but to be honest that can really influence my opinion of a game---I've still yet to get Bravely Default because that box-art is too embarrassing for me to buy lol.

One last concern I have is how does EXP work in this game? I get really anxious when you have a lot of characters and like to keep them fairly balanced, does the game have any leaked EXP or ways for characters you don't use often to catch up, or is it like Persona where basically once you chose your main Party the others were pretty much fucked?

Lower level characters get more exp then higher level characters. So you face a level 60 monster with a team of level 59 party members and one 40 level character. The 40 level character will get 9999 exp and everyone else gets like 40 exp.
 
One last concern I have is how does EXP work in this game? I get really anxious when you have a lot of characters and like to keep them fairly balanced, does the game have any leaked EXP or ways for characters you don't use often to catch up, or is it like Persona where basically once you chose your main Party the others were pretty much fucked?

Finally, is there a good, concise and straight-to-the-point summary for Tails of Sky before jumping into this as a sequel?

XP is leaked over at a 1:1 rate for any members not in your party, the only time you'll really have members that are behind is if you have any that keep dying and don't get revived before the end of a major fight.

As far as TiTS goes, I really would not worry about a summary for it when jumping into this. For the most part you can play this as a standalone game in the series and only miss some references or a few bigger plot details from other games in the series that we haven't gotten yet as you get into CS 2. Only small things from TiTS get referenced in this, not nearly enough to worry about a summary and skipping out on them.
 
Finally, is there a good, concise and straight-to-the-point summary for Tails of Sky before jumping into this as a sequel?

I'm not sure- the games are very long and detailed, so it's probably not easy to summarize them very well. I don't know how much of Trails in the Sky CS spoils, but it might just be better to jump in to CS without any knowledge of the original games. CS takes place in a completely different country than those games, and considering it's supposed to be a great entry point for newcomers, there might not be much need to read up on the originals (this also leaves you open to enjoy them later down the line if you like CS).
 

Watch Da Birdie

I buy cakes for myself on my birthday it's not weird lots of people do it I bet
Awesome, so the game sort of encourages you to switch around every once in awhile? Neat.

I honestly had no clue this series existed till an hour ago and now I want it so bad. So gonna get this tommorow.
 

Busaiku

Member
So how big is the school sim aspect?
I was hoping it's play a bigger role, but then we skipped like a month and missed all of hijinx.
Is it only during free days or whatever? Or does it expand beyond that?
 

Shouta

Member
So how big is the school sim aspect?
I was hoping it's play a bigger role, but then we skipped like a month and missed all of hijinx.
Is it only during free days or whatever? Or does it expand beyond that?

It's not the main focus of the game like in the case of Persona. It's more of a backdrop for the story and acts as a breather between story sections.
 

Dio

Banned
I have listened to every Falcom Sound Team jdk soundtrack even if I didn't play the game, but Cold Steel really highlights some of the tracks I 'missed.' There are some really outstanding tracks in here. I think this soundtrack eclipses FC's easily.
 

Aeana

Member
So how big is the school sim aspect?
I was hoping it's play a bigger role, but then we skipped like a month and missed all of hijinx.
Is it only during free days or whatever? Or does it expand beyond that?

Fortunately (for me!) it is not as present as in a game like Persona, especially in the back half of the game. But if it was one of the selling points for you, you may be disappointed. That said, you still get your
SCHOOL FESTIVAL
arc which is apparently popular amongst people who like school stuff in games, so you have that to look forward to if that's your thing.
 

Xenoflare

Member
I have listened to every Falcom Sound Team jdk soundtrack even if I didn't play the game, but Cold Steel really highlights some of the tracks I 'missed.' There are some really outstanding tracks in here. I think this soundtrack eclipses FC's easily.

FC's soundtrack is on the "old school" side of things, it wasn't until 3rd that the OST got punchy.
 

max_505

Member
dqiv.jpg

Ahhh flashbacks to Dragon Quest IV dialects @_@;

otoh heeeey this is like the second PS3 game I gots which has screen grab tech implimented! Cools.

I'm gonna guess this Old Schoolhouse is gonna be a recurring dungeon huh?


Didn't know that. I went screenshot-crazy in FC and SC because the dialogue was just sooo~ good. Looks like I'll be doing that for CS, too.


I really like a link system that doesn't smother everything else like smog, and this is one of those. Also, Laura is still vivisecting fools and now at an even more stupid level of pain.



I wish I had remembered that, Sara "Plastered To Bastard" Valestein is very quote-worthy and snark-inspiring.

I LOLd when I read that in the game. The nickname suits her.
 

pixxxelz

Member
God damn it I think my vita just died! :( and just when I was getting to the good part too..

Anyways since I don't know how long is going to be before I get to play this game again I might as well ask this: do the decisions you make affect the story or characters in any way? Like near the beginning of the game when machias and jusis are about to fight and you pretty much have to choose what side you're on.
 
Damn, you guys weren't kidding that the connection from all the Trails game would show up in some form! Even the most minor NPC from Trails in the Sky: Second Chapter makes an appearance in Cold Steel.
Anton and Ricky of all people shows up as one of the hidden sidequests in chapter 2.
Seriously? I was surprised because I actually remembered them because did I that achievement back in Trails in the Sky: SC . Also, in the same chapter, did anyone else had a hard time fighting against
the two dogs at the end of Chapter 2 on hard?
It got to a point where I spammed on S-Crafts to deal damage because they hit really hard.
 
When the game doesn't tell you, it's almost always clear enough that you can't go back if you make a particular action.

Regarding the second day of the first field trip, they kinda lock me into the main quest first so I thought they just wanted me to clear that. No biggie, I manage to do with one of the side quest that was on the way so I didn't totally screw it.
 
Am I correct in thinking this is how the stats work?

I understand STR/DEF is obviously for physical attack and defense, am I right in assuming ATS/ADF is for magical attack and defense?

Then SPD should be the one that determine turn speed?

Dex is accuracy, AGL is dodge, MOV is how far the character can move, but what is RNG?
 
Am I correct in thinking this is how the stats work?

I understand STR/DEF is obviously for physical attack and defense, am I right in assuming ATS/ADF is for magical attack and defense?

Then SPD should be the one that determine turn speed?

Dex is accuracy, AGL is dodge, MOV is how far the character can move, but what is RNG?
RNG is range, and you're right about the rest.
 

Xenoflare

Member
The more I play this game I more I think of Ragnorok Odyssey.

Um it's like the games use the same graphics engine or something
 

bomblord1

Banned
Hey, I got a kind of random request for anyone with the Vita version. Could you post a screenshot? I'm curious how it looks in game in comparison to the PS3 version.
 
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