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[aravuus]

I can't shake off the Persona vibes, the game's giving me a MASSIVE urge to start a new P4G playthrough.

I don't think playing two insanely long JRPGs concurrently would be very wise, though. It'll have to wait till I finish CS.

e: chapter 3's field study part seems really boring after

Spoiler

a nice, idyllic village and a noble city.

Might have to rush through it as quickly as possible.

 

[Ramzastrife]

Got a bit sloppy in my second playthrough, forgot to finish one sidequest in Chapter 5

Spoiler

the one where you have to gather some ingredients for the offering. I gathered the ingredients (well, one ingredient, the rest I already had), took them to the nun, but I didn't remember to take offerings to the statues on the pier after that so a red X greeted me in the summary screen once I finished the castle. D:

Oh well, I should still be ok for an A0 rank run, right? It has some leeway?

Also, seems like I really need to not let bosses have a turn on this run at this point or at least make better efforts to protect my characters. A certain final boss of Chapter 5 killed 3 of my 4 characters (all with full health, I'm fairly certain) with a single hit, this includes Laura with over 10,000hp. I only won because Rean had accumulated enough CP for a second S-craft and that was enough to KO the boss.

You can miss up to 10 AP and still get AO.

 

[max_505]

I love how Instructor Sara's room is filled with booze... with some even on the floor. Falcom seems to have a thing for alcoholic teachers (not that I'm complaining).

 

[Saphirax]

Finished my first playthrough earlier today. Man, what a ride. CS2 seems so far away, and with the way people have been praising it...it'll be a long wait.

Ending spoilers -

Spoiler

Crow being C was quite surprising to say the least. Which it shouldn't have been considering everything that had happened. For some reason I was going by the character models when trying to figure out C's identity. Crow never crossed my mind because he appeared to be shorter than C. So I assumed it'd be someone like Rufus.

It's too early in the year, but CS is definitely worthy of being a goty contender for me. It started out slowly and the game bombarded me with so many terms that I had to do a double take a few times, but boy did it develop nicely. By the time I was done, the characters grew on me. Even Machias.

The only thing I'm not looking forward to doing again is all the backtracking in

Spoiler

Nord Highlands.

Those areas are so vast they made running around back and forth extremely tiresome.

Festival spoilers

Spoiler

Forever bitter I didn't get to dance with Jusis. That would've been amazing.

 

[Augemitbutter]

game froze my ps3 on the very last boss. fight is so random too. gg and fml.

 

[Jiraiza]

(final chapter spoilers again)

Spoiler

Knowing now that Crow also got that power, I guess that's why Crow got silver hair and red eyes just like Rean when he uses his power? Seems like he can control it without problems then.

Nah, he's just legit good. Rean's a special snowflake in comparison.

 

[aravuus]

I get why the area is like this, but man, traversing the

Spoiler

Nord Highlands

is dull as fuck. And, well, everything about this part is kinda boring, don't really care about any of these characters or their culture or anything.

And of course this field study has probably the most side quests so far lol. Definitely the low point of the game so far.

I suppose it's nice that Gaius gets some screen time too, though, even if he is one of the less interesting people in class VII.

 

[psynergylover]

Chp 6 pics

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

LOL at the 1st pic

and for the last 2 Rean be like:

 

[Nyoro SF]

Finished my first playthrough earlier today. Man, what a ride. CS2 seems so far away, and with the way people have been praising it...it'll be a long wait.

Ending spoilers -

Spoiler

Crow being C was quite surprising to say the least. Which it shouldn't have been considering everything that had happened. For some reason I was going by the character models when trying to figure out C's identity. Crow never crossed my mind because he appeared to be shorter than C. So I assumed it'd be someone like Rufus.

It's too early in the year, but CS is definitely worth of being a goty contender for me. It started out slowly and the game bombarded me with so many terms that I had to do a double take a few times, but boy did it develop nicely. By the time I was done, the characters grew on me. Even Machias.

The only thing I'm not looking forward to doing again is all the backtracking in

Spoiler

Nord Highlands.

Those areas are so vast they made running around back and forth extremely tiresome.

Festival spoilers

Spoiler

Forever bitter I didn't get to dance with Jusis. That would've been amazing.

Sadly,

Spoiler

there's no funny dance with Jusis. You just sit down and have a decidedly un-Jusis-like conversation.

 

[Saphirax]

Sadly,

Spoiler

there's no funny dance with Jusis. You just sit down and have a decidedly un-Jusis-like conversation.

Oh, yeah - that's what I meant. Managed to get trophies for 6 characters and chose his for the ending.

Spoiler

Want to choose him again for my second playthrough - he's just that awesome. And I loved his little talk just before the end.

I'm kind of curious now (ending character spoilers)

Spoiler

For those who chose Crow - does he say anything at the end?

 

[wrowa]

I finally finished the game and now I dare to open this thread. Wohoo!

I can't shake off the Persona vibes, the game's giving me a MASSIVE urge to start a new P4G playthrough.

I don't think playing two insanely long JRPGs concurrently would be very wise, though. It'll have to wait till I finish CS.

I'm actually a bit surprised the game gets compared to Persona 4 so often. The school setting and the bonding events sure feel Persona-ish, but in the end I always felt that the field studies make for the bulk of the game. And those just feel like classic JRPG to me.

e: chapter 3's field study part seems really boring after

Spoiler

a nice, idyllic village and a noble city.

Might have to rush through it as quickly as possible.

Yeah.

Spoiler

That was by far my least favorite chapter of the game, mostly because the Nord Highlands are a pain to ride through. I just can't stomach huge fields of nothing anymore.

 

[OniBarubary]

Chapter 4 Spoilers

Spoiler

Olivert is the Chairman of the Board of Thors.

FUCKING WHAT

 

[wrowa]

Chapter 4 Spoilers

Spoiler

Olivert is the Chairman of the Board of Thors.

FUCKING WHAT

Spoiler

Wasn't he already shown at the end of the prologue's class trial, standing next to Sara in the Old Schoolbuilding? Or was that Rufus?

 

[Nyoro SF]

Chapter 4 Spoilers

Spoiler

Olivert is the Chairman of the Board of Thors.

FUCKING WHAT

*sparkles*

Spoiler

Wasn't he already shown at the end of the prologue's class trial, standing next to Sara in the Old Schoolbuilding? Or was that Rufus?

Correct.

 

[Nightengale]

Spoiler

Wasn't he already shown at the end of the prologue's class trial, standing next to Sara in the Old Schoolbuilding? Or was that Rufus?

That was principal Vandyck.

Spoiler

The person Olivert was standing next to

 

[aravuus]

I'm actually a bit surprised the game gets compared to Persona 4 so often. The school setting and the bonding events sure feel Persona-ish, but in the end I always felt that the field studies make for the bulk of the game. And those just feel like classic JRPG to me.

After the initial impressions I wouldn't actually compare it to Persona, it's just that... I'm still getting these Persona vibes. The graphics, art style, a lot of the NPC-related humor etc remind me of Persona.

Yeah.

Spoiler

That was by far my least favorite chapter of the game, mostly because the Nord Highlands are a pain to ride through. I just can't stomach huge fields of nothing anymore.

After Tales of Zesteria, I'm definitely forever done with huge fields of worthless nothingness, even if they make sense from a story/lore/world building perspective

 

[Basileus777]

After Tales of Zesteria, I'm definitely forever done with huge fields of worthless nothingness, even if they make sense from a story/lore/world building perspective

Thankfully there's no more of that in this game after chapter 4.

 

[aravuus]

A fucking

Spoiler

conflict between two nations is almost breaking out

and, what's that? "I'd say this falls under the scope of field study." Lol.

What's next? Erebonia's version of Hitler rises to power, and someone needs to stop him? Falls under the scope of field study. Erebonia gets literally destroyed and the people need a new leadership to govern it? Falls under the scope of field study.

Satan, the Ruler of Darkness and Demons, Prince of Lies, The Wicked One and the Accuser rises from the depths, determined to turn the world into literal living hell? I'd say stopping him falls under the scope of field study.

(not that I'm complaining, seems like the plot is finally starting to get a bit more exciting!)

Thankfully there's no more of that in this game after chapter 4.

That's good to hear!

 

[bomblord1]

A fucking

Spoiler

conflict between two nations is almost breaking out

and, what's that? "I'd say this falls under the scope of field study." Lol.

What's next? Erebonia's version of Hitler rises to power, and someone needs to stop him? Falls under the scope of field study. Erebonia gets literally destroyed and the people need a new leadership to govern it? Falls under the scope of field study.

Satan, the Ruler of Darkness and Demons, Prince of Lies, The Wicked One and the Accuser rises from the depths, determined to turn the world into literal living hell? I'd say stopping him falls under the scope of field study.

(not that I'm complaining, seems like the plot is finally starting to get a bit more exciting!)



That's good to hear!

Trails of Cold Steel II |OT| This also falls under the scope of your field study

 

[aravuus]

(chp3 maybe spoilers) Looks like

Spoiler

Alisa's father

has a pretty fucking weird name (Bespectacled Man! Who names their child like that?!) AND

Spoiler

he's working with the jaeger dropouts

!

WHAT A TWIST




Nah, I'm obviously joking, but hey, he's got the same hair and all that business so why not? I know he 'died', but did he.. DIE die???? Cue X-files music. Seriously though, I would actually be okay with him being

Spoiler

Alisa's not-so-dead-father IF he's become an irredeemable asshole and doesn't get a bullshit "oh geez you've brought me back to the light with your whiny ass bs protagonists I'm good again let's all forgive and forget" scene after I beat him. Hate those. Haaaaate.

e: Oh, looks like his name is G. Theory destroyed. Sounds like his parents are even more mentally unstable than I feared, though.

 

[SolVanderlyn]

People really didn't like

Spoiler

Nord Highlands

? That was a highlight of the game, IMO. Especially

Spoiler

the glimpse of Calvard and Calvard's relatively heavy involvement in that segment of the game

.

 

[aravuus]

People really didn't like

Spoiler

Nord Highlands

? That was a highlight of the game, IMO. Especially

Spoiler

the glimpse of Calvard and Calvard's relatively heavy involvement in that segment of the game

.

Hell NAW

Everything about this chapter has been boring as heck

 

[Sera O]

That feeling when I am in the final chapter of what I thought was a perfect playthrough and then suddenly realize I missed talking to a couple of students for their character notes on June 15. Just pure, sinking horror. Oh god, no...

Also, if anyone else is stuck with

Spoiler

Roer

'shots fired' quest on a ng+ on Vita - it's bugged. I chose Machias the second time through and the quest just wasn't updating. In desperation I started using Fie with her test weapon from previous game. That worked out eventually.

For ng+, the fast-forward function is better than nothing. But I sure wish there was a more efficient way to skip. Holding O for minutes at a time for nothing but slow panning establishing shots over and over and still hitting every loading screen in between is nowhere near as fast as I want it to be. Especially when it comes to the

Spoiler

festival concert

, just please let me skip all of that shit.

 

[Nyoro SF]

People really didn't like

Spoiler

Nord Highlands

? That was a highlight of the game, IMO. Especially

Spoiler

the glimpse of Calvard and Calvard's relatively heavy involvement in that segment of the game

.

I think I would have enjoyed it if Falcom hadn't designed it so cruelly in terms of quests and pacing back and forth.

 

[Saphirax]

That feeling when I am in the final chapter of what I thought was a perfect playthrough and then suddenly realize I missed talking to a couple of students for their character notes on June 15. Just pure, sinking horror. Oh god, no...

Also, if anyone else is stuck with

Spoiler

Roer

'shots fired' quest on a ng+ on Vita - it's bugged. I chose Machias the second time through and the quest just wasn't updating. In desperation I started using Fie with her test weapon from previous game. That worked out eventually.

For ng+, the fast-forward function is better than nothing. But I sure wish there was a more efficient way to skip. Holding O for minutes at a time for nothing but slow panning establishing shots over and over and still hitting every loading screen in between is nowhere near as fast as I want it to be. Especially when it comes to the

Spoiler

festival concert

, just please let me skip all of that shit.

Are you certain Machias was actually killing the monsters? It wasn't NG+, but I did choose Machias initially and the quest worked fine.

 

[skLaFarebear]

People really didn't like

Spoiler

Nord Highlands

? That was a highlight of the game, IMO. Especially

Spoiler

the glimpse of Calvard and Calvard's relatively heavy involvement in that segment of the game

.

The music was incredible and

Spoiler

any kind of Calvard glimpses are good,

but i wouldn't call it a highlight. Especially when all the chapters after it are just so much better.

 

[Sera O]

Are you certain Machias was actually killing the monsters? It wasn't NG+, but I did choose Machias initially and the quest worked fine.

Yep, he was definitely the one landing the killing shot to all of the owls - always a normal attack, too, since I didn't know if crafts counted. He killed at least 25 before I decided to try with Fie landing the final blows (this is supposed to be my full AP run and I did not want to go back to a way earlier save).

When I equipped Fie with the test weapon she got in the previous playthrough, after her tenth kill, Machias says his little line about how he's killed enough of them for the quest.

I think the game is getting confused because I had two test weapons in my inventory. I'm not sure if getting rid of the previous weapon would resolve the issue, or if it would just make it impossible to complete the quest.

 

[Thoraxes]

People really didn't like

Spoiler

Nord Highlands

? That was a highlight of the game, IMO. Especially

Spoiler

the glimpse of Calvard and Calvard's relatively heavy involvement in that segment of the game

.

I enjoyed it, and thanks to the

Spoiler

horses

it was probably the shortest time I spent on a field study, and that was with S ranking it.

 

[Saphirax]

Yep, he was definitely the one landing the killing shot to all of the owls - always a normal attack, too, since I didn't know if crafts counted. He killed at least 25 before I decided to try with Fie landing the final blows (this is supposed to be my full AP run and I did not want to go back to a way earlier save).

When I equipped Fie with the test weapon she got in the previous playthrough, after her tenth kill, Machias says his little line about how he's killed enough of them for the quest.

I think the game is getting confused because I had two test weapons in my inventory. I'm not sure if getting rid of the previous weapon would resolve the issue, or if it would just make it impossible to complete the quest.

That's a very odd bug. Should probably let XSEED know.

 

[hohoXD123]

What are people's thoughts on starting CS now vs holding off until closer to CS2 release date? With the ending in FC, being able to go straight into SC was definitely for the best, is that the same for CS?

 

[Basileus777]

What are people's thoughts on starting CS now vs holding off until closer to CS2 release date? With the ending in FC, being able to go straight into SC was definitely for the best, is that the same for CS?

The wait shouldn't be that long and playing super long games like these back-to-back isn't something I'd want to do, but it's a similar situation as FC->SC.

 

[BassForever]

I liked chapter 3 at first but it quickly got old going back and forth over the same long stretches of area. Loved the characters and interactions and plot that happens there just actually playing it is zzz

 

[skLaFarebear]

What are people's thoughts on starting CS now vs holding off until closer to CS2 release date? With the ending in FC, being able to go straight into SC was definitely for the best, is that the same for CS?

The cliffhanger from CS to CS2 is arguably worse than the one from FC to SC. If you thought going right from FC to SC was for the best, I'd hold off till we're about a month or so away from CS2.

 

[StereoVsn]

The cliffhanger from CS to CS2 is arguably worse than the one from FC to SC. If you thought going right from FC to SC was for the best, I'd hold off till we're about a month or so away from CS2.

Instead play CS now and then replay P3 (choose your version), P4G and the 3DS game back to back!

 

[blackw0lf]

I get why the area is like this, but man, traversing the

Spoiler

Nord Highlands

is dull as fuck. And, well, everything about this part is kinda boring, don't really care about any of these characters or their culture or anything.

And of course this field study has probably the most side quests so far lol. Definitely the low point of the game so far.

I suppose it's nice that Gaius gets some screen time too, though, even if he is one of the less interesting people in class VII.

That was one of those times where I really wish that Falcom had the art design talent and resources of Monolith Soft. It's obviously supposed to be breathtakingly beautiful, but they didn't have the budget or possibly artistic talent to do something like Gaur Plains.

If they had it would have been far more enjoyable. Heck Gaur Plains has tons of backtracking and long treks of just running through wilderness, but you didn't care because it was so drop dead gorgeous.

 

[YianGaruga]

I finally beat the game.. 90 hours

Going through.. whatever it was.. while To Grasp Tomorrow was playing was an amazing experience. And everything afterwards was just.. ???? what

I need CS2 now.

The game isn't perfect, but overall I don't think there's a lot really worth criticizing as it does so much so well. I'll judge/rate CSI + CSII as one package after I played both.

 

[skLaFarebear]

Instead play CS now and then replay P3 (choose your version), P4G and the 3DS game back to back!

I'm not a big persona guy, but SFV, Digimon, and Fire Emblem should help the wait.

 

[Hikami]

edit: woops.. wrong thread
first time that's happened to me, weird.

 

[FlyinJ]

People that played through on normal-

Did you find that the difficulty ramps up in the later chapters, or is it a cakewalk all they way through like it is in the first few?

 

[YianGaruga]

People that played through on normal-

Did you find that the difficulty ramps up in the later chapters, or is it a cakewalk all they way through like it is in the first few?

Normal battles are never tough, but I think that's a good thing. The bosses in the last 2 chapters certainly did put up a good fight and I felt the difficulty was just right. I avoided using broken quartz setups though, as that makes everything a joke.

 

[Droplet]

People that played through on normal-

Did you find that the difficulty ramps up in the later chapters, or is it a cakewalk all they way through like it is in the first few?

There are a few bosses that are difficult, and I found like...one or two mobs in the final chapter that had a decent-ish difficulty? The less you know about what you're doing with quartz the better.

 

[Nyoro SF]

People that played through on normal-

Did you find that the difficulty ramps up in the later chapters, or is it a cakewalk all they way through like it is in the first few?

Only fights I can recall on Normal that bit back a little

(whole game spoilers)

Spoiler

Chapter 5 Old Schoolhouse boss - caught me off guard by freezing two of my teammates as he got moderately close. Managed to pull out and barely survive (WOO GAIUS) but afterwards it was easy with a 2 and 2 split setup
Chapter 5 Castle boss - Complete 100% bullshit nightmare setup (not sure if I can call it difficult, just dumb), after dying once, reloaded and switched two characters with anti-Nightmare items and mopped him up despite him really liking the taste of Jusis's soul or something. Guess being an asshole pays off dividends in the afterlife
Chapter 5 Scarlet fight - Was doing just fine until she did an S-Craft that wiped out 3 characters and left 1 on the brink of life. Well too bad for her because Zeram Powders lol

That was it really. Everything else was pretty easily mitigated sadly. Even the Chapter 6

Spoiler

Ashen spirit boss.

who can't damage you as fast as you can heal yourself.

What's sad is that

Spoiler

Seraphic Ring

is totally broken in terms of defense, though I didn't realize it until chapter 6; didn't read the description close enough. With that quartz, there probably isn't a single challenging fight in the game outside of unreactable status effects

 

[Augemitbutter]

finished the game. it was alright-good. gameplay is faster and more fun compared to fc/sc. better, faster battle system with link attacks, nice spell effects, good looking supers. dungeon length was fairly well done. they're not overly lenghtly for no reason anymore.

the school setting was boring. this is like valkyria chronicles 2 reloaded. felt like i was controlling a bunch of students that played war and adventure in their free time, only worse. i can't believe they managed to fill their mega script with pointless school yard chatter. this is a main entry, not some side chapter at jenis academy. i would trash this game endlessly if they didn't tune the gameplay like they did. there is so much dialogue in these games. i didn't know buying a train ticket could be such a tedious experience. that's not how you fill your quota, better try to keep things interesting.

OST is good falcom quality. i don't have favorite yet. maybe i'll know when the next game turns up. there is no fairy track here!

crow is best bro and patrick is the secret main character.


before i forget

Spoiler

this game should have been about rean, crow, george and angelica. they know how to have fun.

 

[YianGaruga]

I liked the school setting, it had some awesome characters.
It's not like the dialogue in FC/SC is more important or profound most of the time

 

[BassForever]

People that played through on normal-

Did you find that the difficulty ramps up in the later chapters, or is it a cakewalk all they way through like it is in the first few?

I didn't realize how op a certain defensive spell was and struggled with the "real final boss" but other then that normal is fairly easy with bosses challenging you but never feeling impossible with good strategy.

 

[KuwabaraTheMan]

People that played through on normal-

Did you find that the difficulty ramps up in the later chapters, or is it a cakewalk all they way through like it is in the first few?

There's a few tough boss fights, but the game never really gets too challenging. At worst you just have to reload your save and change your accessories to block certain status effects.

 

[skLaFarebear]

People that played through on normal-

Did you find that the difficulty ramps up in the later chapters, or is it a cakewalk all they way through like it is in the first few?

It definitely gets more challenging, but nothing I would call "hard." The first 3-4 chapters are easy and after that It's pretty normal and slightly difficult towards the end.

there is so much dialogue in these games. i didn't know buying a train ticket could be such a tedious experience. that's not how you fill your quota, better try to keep things interesting.

If you hate lots of dialogue being spent on downtime talk and always want things to be more "interesting", this franchise might not be for you.

 

[zakujanai]

My limited edition copy came but I've no time to play until the official release day anyway unfortunately. Shane there are 77 pages of black bars already but hopefully people will still be discussing the game when I finally get stuck into it.

 

[StereoVsn]

I didn't realize how op a certain defensive spell was and struggled with the "real final boss" but other then that normal is fairly easy with bosses challenging you but never feeling impossible with good strategy.

What's the OP spell? Just for scientific research...

 

[aravuus]

I liked the school setting, it had some awesome characters.
It's not like the dialogue in FC/SC is more important or profound most of the time

I don't think dialogue is particularly noteworthy in these games, anyway. Don't get me wrong, it's definitely solid for the most part and it has some pretty high highs, but it has its fair share of awkward, clumsy and unnatural feeling moments, lines and conversations too.