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

Gu4n

Member
The only thing mentioned about Laura is
well, raised by a single father.

I assume that means she has no maternal figure growing up.
Exactly. My thoughts? (Legram chapter spoilers)
The blond figure that shows up after the Nosferatu fight to save Laura -- and the rest -- is what used to be her mother. And yes, I know that, no need to point it out to me.
 
Is Tauros worth equipping on someone? Like Laura or Rean?

I put in on Rean

Probably makes sense to put it on someone who is really fast that you plan on having attack alot (The bonus doesnt apply to crafts as far as i know)

Laura's base speed is already on the low side so I decided to stack more power into the single attacks she uses
 
I put in on Rean

Probably makes sense to put it on someone who is really fast that you plan on having attack alot (The bonus doesnt apply to crafts as far as i know)

Laura's base speed is already on the low side so I decided to stack more power into the single attacks she uses
Yeah, it only applies to regular attacks. No Crafts or arts.
 

Varion

Member
Yeah, I found Tauros useless to be honest. You're mostly using crafts anyway. Better to have a bonus that applies to them.
 
UGGHHHH

Anime characters are so unsatisfying sometimes

For once I would love Rean to stop being such a little bitch about fucking everything

Cant believe how much I miss Estelle right now
 

Gu4n

Member
All these Crossbell references have me wondering what the hell is going on over there. Did Zero/Ao have as much reference to Erebonia?

Also, FC and SC are hardly mentioned in Cold Steel. There's a couple incidents and characters that get talked about that you'll understand more fully if you've played those games (mostly SC) but the game does a good job at explaining everything for newcomers.
You finished Cold Steel, right? If so, read on.
The tension between Crossbell and Erebonia (and Calvard, for that matter) has always been there. With the events transpiring at the end of Cold Steel, the focus shifts drastically from international affairs to domestic affairs, as you might understand. For that reason, Crossbell isn't much of a focus in Cold Steel II. Unlike the outward focused Erebonia, always looking for opportunities to expand, Crossbell is more concerned with itself and its freedom, and thus declares its independence during Cold Steel's Chapter 6. Of course, before and after that Crossbell has its own share of affairs, much like Erebonia will have in Cold Steel II.

Without resorting to spoilers, does that make some sort of sense?

Dangerous black bar, do not click if unsure
What made it so obvious to you? Because it wasn't if you would've come from Ao.

This thread of black bars remind me of the (Trails in the Sky SC endgame spoiler)
data crystals
.
 
I haven't come across many, and Tauros gives a chance to crit with crafts anyway if I'm thinking of the right one.

Tauros is great and I think the bonus applies to Link and Rush attacks?

Not sure. But so far its perfect for Rean since battles are so easy I just use normal attacks and build up to S crafts anyways lol
 

Yu Narukami

Member
I'm not 100% convinced this is a game for me and wanted to know something. Is it true that in order to start sidequests you have to talk to every NPC during every phase because you don't know in advance who gives them?
 
I'm not 100% convinced this is a game for me and wanted to know something. Is it true that in order to start sidequests you have to talk to every NPC during every phase because you don't know in advance who gives them?

Naw... At most there is only 1-2 hidden quests per chapter and they arent usually that hard to come across.... Though yeah.. You might have to talk to every npc in between segments i guess?
 
I'm not 100% convinced this is a game for me and wanted to know something. Is it true that in order to start sidequests you have to talk to every NPC during every phase because you don't know in advance who gives them?

No?

Optional sidequests are clearly defined and objectives are marked on the map.

There are however a number of hidden sidequests, but those aren't needed to progress the story.
 

Gu4n

Member
I'm not 100% convinced this is a game for me and wanted to know something. Is it true that in order to start sidequests you have to talk to every NPC during every phase because you don't know in advance who gives them?
Yes and no. Most of the quests are being handed to you as either required or optional tasks, and in addition to those there are a couple of hidden sidequests that you, indeed, have to find through those means. For example, during the first few chapters, you get three quests in your mailbox of which two are required, one is optional. After finishing the required ones and sunset hits, there is a fourth, hidden quest somewhere.
 
I'm not 100% convinced this is a game for me and wanted to know something. Is it true that in order to start sidequests you have to talk to every NPC during every phase because you don't know in advance who gives them?

If you're a 100% perfectionist who wants every quest solved, then yes. Every chapter has 1-2 hidden sidequest that triggers by talking to a random NPC, sometimes they're somewhat obvious, sometimes they aren't at all.

However, everything else, be it optional sidequest or story quest? Said quest handhold you so much that it puts a pointer to any location you need to go, even if said quest ask you to "find" someone with minor clues.
 
I'm not 100% convinced this is a game for me and wanted to know something. Is it true that in order to start sidequests you have to talk to every NPC during every phase because you don't know in advance who gives them?

No. It only applies to Hidden quests which...you wouldn't know of unless you talked to someone because they're hidden.

There are some indicators to find out if there is a hidden quest though, like why certain NPCs are where they are at certain times/events. Or you could always talk to everyone! :D

Do talk to everyone though! It's a riiiiiiiich world
 
Also, talking to everyone is so good in this game because everyone has an ongoing sidestory. You'd miss out on so much if you didn't at least do it sometimes.
 
Yeah it's pretty insane. Sometimes they'll cross paths in your main story (in the form of sidequests) but for most parts all the secondary and tertiary NPCs go about their own life story.
 

bomblord1

Banned
Honestly I just talk to everyone just to see what they're up to.

I remember going through a 2 or 3 day cycle finding Collette (random lower class NPC) one day she was about to run out of money, the next day she was pacing the halls complaining she had no food and no money to buy food but she was going to hold out because she got her allowance tomorrow, and then finally found her at her mailbox she turned around and literally sparkled looked my guy in the eye and said "Got my allowance time to go on a shopping spree". Oh Collette will you ever learn?

I also find myself interested in the goings on of the pink haired twins a lot.
 
<3 Hugo and Becky

One of my minor disappointments with the NPC interactions was Linde's
diminished role as a friend to Gauis after her twin sister popped up, and monopolised 99% of Linde's character dynamic from henceforth

I kinda shipped them. >_>

Also, Kenneth is the awesome.
When Annabelle popped up at the end of the game and they starting fishing together... O:
 
Yeah it's pretty insane. Sometimes they'll cross paths in your main story (in the form of sidequests) but for most parts all the secondary and tertiary NPCs go about their own life story.

Honestly I just talk to everyone just to see what they're up to.

I remember going through a 2 or 3 day cycle finding Collette (random lower class NPC) one day she was about to run out of money, the next day she was pacing the halls complaining she had no food and no money to buy food but she was going to hold out because she got her allowance tomorrow, and then finally found her at her mailbox she turned around and literally sparkled looked my guy in the eye and said "Got my allowance time to go on a shopping spree". Oh Collette will you ever learn?

I also find myself interested in the goings on of the pink haired twins a lot.

Yeah exactly. I already care about so many of the NPCs. Mint's chaotic endeavours, Vivi's pranks, Becky (of course). I genuinely look forward to talking to all of them. Not to mention the sidestories of your party members.
 

Gu4n

Member
And these antics are going on outside school as well. Since you only get to visit the locations of field trips once in Cold Steel, all their story arcs continue in Cold Steel II. How do, for example, Celdic's Grand Market salesmen Heinz and Marco fare after what happened during Cold Steel's first chapter? And of course, there are Anton and Ricky who have been gracing the games in this series since they popped up in Liberl during FC and have ever since been travelling the continent.
 
Yeah exactly. I already care about so many of the NPCs. Mint's chaotic endeavours, Vivi's pranks, Becky (of course). I genuinely look forward to talking to all of them. Not to mention the sidestories of your party members.

That your own party member's side-stories are limited by bonding points is such an annoyance. -_-
 
Now in chapter 5. Minor gameplay spoiler
didn't realize that super attacks leveled up, so was taken by surprised when Laura's morphed into Radiant Waltz. Awesome though!

Also, possibly minor story spoiler re Emma
this better be the chapter where we finally learn something about her past -- starting to strain credulity that no one ever asks her where she's from or anything like that. Also, I want her super attack!

Although it's been a while since I played Trails in the Sky, it's nice to keep seeing some references to those characters and events here. Really helps establish the greater continuity in the world.
 

aravuus

Member
Thankfully on replays that's not an issue since you can have max bp. You can also s/l to see all events only sticking with ones that give character info/link levels you need.

I don't really have the time to replay the game, though. Really wish the saves weren't tied to accounts so I could just start on NG+ right away.

Fucking trophies.
 
I don't really have the time to replay the game, though. Really wish the saves weren't tied to accounts so I could just start on NG+ right away.

Fucking trophies.

Same. Doubt ill be able to see all the different content without resorting to other peoples youtube lets plays

We really need a trails fanatic to upload clips of all the special scenes in the trails games...
 
Yeah exactly. I already care about so many of the NPCs. Mint's chaotic endeavours, Vivi's pranks, Becky (of course). I genuinely look forward to talking to all of them. Not to mention the sidestories of your party members.

Yeah, they're all great. I love Vincent and Sariffa's scenes a lot. The whole fencing club story has been really interesting, too. Not to mention all of the citizens of Trista.
 

epmode

Member
Also, talking to everyone is so good in this game because everyone has an ongoing sidestory. You'd miss out on so much if you didn't at least do it sometimes.

I did this in FC and SC and I'm continuing here. It really adds to the playtime but I think it's worth it. The little sidestories are great.
 

JPS Kai

Member
No. It only applies to Hidden quests which...you wouldn't know of unless you talked to someone because they're hidden.

There are some indicators to find out if there is a hidden quest though, like why certain NPCs are where they are at certain times/events. Or you could always talk to everyone! :D

Do talk to everyone though! It's a riiiiiiiich world

Guess who didn't realize you could go into the kitchen at the student council building and missed a quest in chapter 1. Every other chapter has been S rank. :c
 

Nyoro SF

Member
Guess who didn't realize you could go into the kitchen at the student council building and missed a quest in chapter 1. Every other chapter has been S rank. :c

After listening to people describe the quest system I decided to go with a spoiler-free guide for my playthrough in this run.

Unlike the Sky series where you can run Estelle around at lightning speed and in and out of buildings with zero load times searching for items and talking to people, this game is way more clunky and slow in comparison. It becomes tedious staring at black screens after a while and you don't want to aggravate yourself looking for hidden stuff.

For instance, I really, really hate how brushing up against objects and walls forces you out of running into walking. That is complete, 100% bullshit. That, and you have to get kind of uncomfortably close to people to talk to them, or to pick up items; bad QOL design choices.

UGGHHHH

Anime characters are so unsatisfying sometimes

For once I would love Rean to stop being such a little bitch about fucking everything

Cant believe how much I miss Estelle right now

I have been laughing at this post for the past five minutes
 

Bladenic

Member
Alisa seems the worst member of Class 7 to me in battle. She's not completely awful or useless but I just feel like everyone else has generally better crafts or stat layout. It's between her and Machias I would say.
 
UGGHHHH

Anime characters are so unsatisfying sometimes

For once I would love Rean to stop being such a little bitch about fucking everything

Cant believe how much I miss Estelle right now
Yeah annoyed at that as well. In a strange way it kinda kills my desire to play the game now. But already at the end so gonna finish it either way. Hopefully it's not that bad in cs2..who am I kidding prob the same.
 

omgfloofy

Banned
Alisa seems the worst member of Class 7 to me in battle. She's not completely awful or useless but I just feel like everyone else has generally better crafts or stat layout. It's between her and Machias I would say.

A crazy way to break Machias is stack stuff that can do status effects on him. Especially things like blind and stone and so forth. Since his regular attack is an AOE there are always chances of him dropping status effects on enemies. It gets kind of insane as things go on, too.

He's a decent arts user, also. He's not *the best*, but he'll at least manage to do decent damage in that kind of role. He's not going to be a high offense in physical attacks or arts use, but he's definitely a support character, good at managing things.
 

epmode

Member
I really miss Estelle too. One of my all time favorite JRPG leads, if not my outright favorite. Rean's pretty dull in comparison.
 

Neoweee

Member
A crazy way to break Machias is stack stuff that can do status effects on him. Especially things like blind and stone and so forth. Since his regular attack is an AOE there are always chances of him dropping status effects on enemies. It gets kind of insane as things go on, too.

He's a decent arts user, also. He's not *the best*, but he'll at least manage to do decent damage in that kind of role. He's not going to be a high offense in physical attacks or arts use, but he's definitely a support character, good at managing things.

That's what I've been doing on Hard. Seems to work pretty well.
 
Alisa seems the worst member of Class 7 to me in battle. She's not completely awful or useless but I just feel like everyone else has generally better crafts or stat layout. It's between her and Machias I would say.

I don't like using Alisa, but she does have her uses as a CP battery.

Pretty much at every opportunity should I need a CP boost, I cast her healing craft or the insight one that gives 20 CP regen.
 

epmode

Member
Y'know, everyone talks about how easy this game is but I've been having a great time with Hard difficulty. Money's tight enough to make upgrades a big decision and even regular enemies are hitting hard. I'm early in Chapter 3 and I've already had several close boss battles. I suppose it'll get easier later.
 

Gu4n

Member
I really miss Estelle too. One of my all time favorite JRPG leads, if not my outright favorite. Rean's pretty dull in comparison.
Isn't it kind of unfair to judge Rean after you just met him after having spend 150+ hours with Estelle? *wink*
 

Jiraiza

Member
Isn't it kind of unfair to judge Rean after you just met him after having spend 150+ hours with Estelle? *wink*

Nah, I spent 200 hours with Rean. I agree with his sentiment.

...Man, where did the time go? This OCD game does wonders.
 

epmode

Member
Isn't it kind of unfair to judge Rean after you just met him after having spend 150+ hours with Estelle? *wink*

A little! But I loved Estelle from minute one.

Which reminds me: Cold Steel also suffers from the lack of animated portraits. I suppose they could also make up for it with more face textures and better animation.

I sound pretty down on the game. I really like it otherwise!
 
After listening to people describe the quest system I decided to go with a spoiler-free guide for my playthrough in this run.

Unlike the Sky series where you can run Estelle around at lightning speed and in and out of buildings with zero load times searching for items and talking to people, this game is way more clunky and slow in comparison. It becomes tedious staring at black screens after a while and you don't want to aggravate yourself looking for hidden stuff.

For instance, I really, really hate how brushing up against objects and walls forces you out of running into walking. That is complete, 100% bullshit. That, and you have to get kind of uncomfortably close to people to talk to them, or to pick up items; bad QOL design choices.

Are Vita load times that bad, because I haven't found myself staring at many load screens on the PS3.
 

Nyoro SF

Member
Nearly all protagonists are pretty dull if you're comparing them to Estelle.

Estelle_smug.jpg

Are Vita load times that bad, because I haven't found myself staring at many load screens on the PS3.

I play on PS3 myself, but it's just little stuff like, enter building, 3-4 second load screen, go up stairs, 3-4 second load screen, enter battle, 3-4 second load screen, exit battle, 3-4 second load screen. It adds up and is annoying, but it can't be helped I suppose, because I have been extremely spoiled by a very streamlined PC TiTS experience.
 
After listening to people describe the quest system I decided to go with a spoiler-free guide for my playthrough in this run.

Unlike the Sky series where you can run Estelle around at lightning speed and in and out of buildings with zero load times searching for items and talking to people, this game is way more clunky and slow in comparison. It becomes tedious staring at black screens after a while and you don't want to aggravate yourself looking for hidden stuff.

For instance, I really, really hate how brushing up against objects and walls forces you out of running into walking. That is complete, 100% bullshit. That, and you have to get kind of uncomfortably close to people to talk to them, or to pick up items; bad QOL design choices.

The fast travel menu makes this a lot more bearable for me. I guess I never noticed the walking from brushing into objects.
 
I really miss Estelle too. One of my all time favorite JRPG leads, if not my outright favorite. Rean's pretty dull in comparison.

He is literaly the worst

Could they have possibly made him less engaging?

He gets a very few select moments here and there where throws a line that resembles some form of character

Otherwise hes just this overly polite, golden heart, do gooder piece of shit. I get that main characters are typically meant to be a blank canvas for the player except in this case they dont let the player mold the character

So instead im stuck with this asshole that just keeps giving me NOTHING. Its infuriating how unsatisfying nearly every interaction he has with other characters is.

They treat him like this amazing person but it feels so fake and unearned.

What a missed opportunity for a student of the 8 leaves or whatever its called
 

aravuus

Member
I have to admit, people wanting Estelle back makes me even more excited about CS. While she was certainly well-written, I found her character simply annoying from beginning to end, so it's nice to hear the new protagonists aren't like her lol

Otherwise hes just this overly polite, golden heart, do gooder piece of shit.

Although this sounds like Rean could be even worse lmao. Unless interestingly subverted (like make them do stupid choices and pay the consequences), the super pure goody two shoes characters are always utter shit in JRPGs.

We'll see whenever the fucking game decides to arrive. Jesus christ what's taking so long?!
 
I have to admit, people wanting Estelle back makes me even more excited about CS. While she was certainly well-written, I found her character simply annoying from beginning to end, so it's nice to hear the new protagonists aren't like her lol

I cant wrap my head around this

Estelle was annoying for the first few hours and then easily changed my opinion of her and only got better as the story went on

She wasnt afraid to bounce off every character in believable ways and it was satisfying how many great dialogue moments she would create.

Rean is dull as a bag of rocks by comparison. They should have just made Olivier the main character lol
 

aravuus

Member
I cant wrap my head around this

Estelle was annoying for the first few hours and then easily changed my opinion of her and only got better as the story went on

She wasnt afraid to bounce off every character in believable ways and it was satisfying how many great dialogue moments she would create.

Rean is dull as a bag of rocks by comparison. They should have just made Olivier the main character lol

There's nothing to wrap your head around, it's just a matter of opinions. Surely you've met people in real life you didn't like, but some, possibly many, other people did? There, mystery solved.

It's weird how Estelle gets raised on this pedestal all the time and the fact that some people simply don't like her is apparently mind-boggling.
 
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