I really don't like the fanservice portions of the game. The game has really strong writing for the most part, but there are times where it goes for the low hanging fruit. I swear, every chapter has at least one person mentioning Emma's rack. Don't even get me started on Millium.
I find it odd that there's not a door opening animation. I get this game was probably made on a lower budget, but I don't get why something that's in a large number of cutscenes doesn't have one versus the animation of
They also cut a lot of corners to get it running on vita, and Falcom's 3D chops werent very good at the time. The animations are noticeably improved in the sequel. Hopefully CS3 seems them greatly improved.
Finished it last night. This is my first Trails game, and overall, I really liked it! I liked the large amount of character customization, the strong world building and writing, and the overall pacing of the game (due to the Turbo mode ha ha). There are a few things I thought were weird / bad:
I really don't like the fanservice portions of the game. The game has really strong writing for the most part, but there are times where it goes for the low hanging fruit. I swear, every chapter has at least one person mentioning Emma's rack. Don't even get me started on Millium.
I thought the final encounter was ass.
I'm not a fan of the mech combat. I really hope the sequel doesn't have much of this!
I find it odd that there's not a door opening animation. I get this game was probably made on a lower budget, but I don't get why something that's in a large number of cutscenes doesn't have one versus the animation of
Rufus
getting in his car in two cutscenes.
If I had to give it a rating, I'd give it something of the ballpark of 8 or 9 out of 10. Really good, but some flaws. Can't wait for the sequel!
Hmm, if they wanted to do door opening animations I'd like them to load straight into the area to keep the same consistent entry time, instead of having to open it with an animation then walk inside.
Finished it last night. This is my first Trails game, and overall, I really liked it! I liked the large amount of character customization, the strong world building and writing, and the overall pacing of the game (due to the Turbo mode ha ha). There are a few things I thought were weird / bad:
I really don't like the fanservice portions of the game. The game has really strong writing for the most part, but there are times where it goes for the low hanging fruit. I swear, every chapter has at least one person mentioning Emma's rack. Don't even get me started on Millium.
I thought the final encounter was ass.
I'm not a fan of the mech combat. I really hope the sequel doesn't have much of this!
I find it odd that there's not a door opening animation. I get this game was probably made on a lower budget, but I don't get why something that's in a large number of cutscenes doesn't have one versus the animation of
Rufus
getting in his car in two cutscenes.
If I had to give it a rating, I'd give it something of the ballpark of 8 or 9 out of 10. Really good, but some flaws. Can't wait for the sequel!
I actually do own the FC when it first came out, though there were some bugs that made me want to wait on playing it and I just never got back to it. Given the recent Turbo patch, I might get right on that, though I don't think I am really up for commitment of 3 long RPG right now. I also kind of want to replay the game on Nightmare...
Hmm, if they wanted to do door opening animations I'd like them to load straight into the area to keep the same consistent entry time, instead of having to open it with an animation then walk inside.
I actually do own the FC when it first came out, though there were some bugs that made me want to wait on playing it and I just never got back to it. Given the recent Turbo patch, I might get right on that, though I don't think I am really up for commitment of 3 long RPG right now. I also kind of want to replay the game on Nightmare...
you can play FC and SC and put off third for a while. Not saying its not still a daunting commitment, but its smaller. FC is only about 40 hours and SC is about 70
you can play FC and SC and put off third for a while. Not saying its not still a daunting commitment, but its smaller. FC is only about 40 hours and SC is about 70
The turbo mode would SIGNIFICANTLY cut time in SC and FC. There is lots of time spent running around the map and getting through battles to climb towers which would get cut massively. The full time on SC would be cut by 10+ hours probably. FC wouldn't be cut as much but it would also be faster.
I enjoy it massively in Cold Steel as well. It has the side effect of making the in-game timer show some funny numbers so the game thinks I've been playing for 40ish hours (I'm in chapter 2, but am not so thorough as to have actually spent 40 hours in game lol). Thankfully the Steam time tracking is not affected by Turbo Mode.
For anyone finishing the game, the Cold Steel 2 website has some reading material with a translation of the Drama CD the first game had in Japan that details
I can't help but notice that Angelica has a beauty mark under her right eye in concept art, but doesn't on her in-game character model. Which is canon?
Also, currently on Chapter 6 and aside from the game annoyingly pushing Alisa as a romance with the grace of an iceskating elephant (something I only pray is adjusted in 2 unless they are willing to commit to a true canon romance), it's more enjoyable than I remembered. There's [All Chapter 6]
Sharon scolding you about ignoring her orders, Fie/Rean taking in the town at night, Alisa's resolve and playable Angelica fuckin' Rogner
I actually do own the FC when it first came out, though there were some bugs that made me want to wait on playing it and I just never got back to it. Given the recent Turbo patch, I might get right on that, though I don't think I am really up for commitment of 3 long RPG right now. I also kind of want to replay the game on Nightmare...
To clarify, I purely meant for cutscenes. I'm not that much of masochist to make the entry times longer.
Just playing FC would be fine, the fact you don't want to commit to more is not really a bad thing. Despite all the "OMG ENDING MUST PLAY SC IMMEDIATELY" stuff, I think it would be better to take a break between the two games anyway. SC feels a lot like FC in both gameplay and structure (for the first half of the game, at least) and most of the game is revisiting locations you already saw in FC. Waiting can make that feel better than playing SC immediately. Even SC's story has a small time skip between the two games, despite the pre-prologue picking up from same cutscene FC ends on.
And 3rd is more loosely connected so it's easier to not feel obligated to jump into that immediately.
I can't help but notice that Angelica has a beauty mark under her right eye in concept art, but doesn't on her in-game character model. Which is canon?
Also, currently on Chapter 6 and aside from the game annoyingly pushing Alisa as a romance with the grace of an iceskating elephant (something I only pray is adjusted in 2 unless they are willing to commit to a true canon romance), it's more enjoyable than I remembered. There's [All Chapter 6]
Sharon scolding you about ignoring her orders, Fie/Rean taking in the town at night, Alisa's resolve and playable Angelica fuckin' Rogner
Just started and finished the prologue and was pleasantly surprised to see those 'active voice' or whatever. Little spoken interactions that reminded me of Tales games, good stuff so far!
I actually do own the FC when it first came out, though there were some bugs that made me want to wait on playing it and I just never got back to it. Given the recent Turbo patch, I might get right on that, though I don't think I am really up for commitment of 3 long RPG right now. I also kind of want to replay the game on Nightmare...
To clarify, I purely meant for cutscenes. I'm not that much of masochist to make the entry times longer.
I can't help but notice that Angelica has a beauty mark under her right eye in concept art, but doesn't on her in-game character model. Which is canon?
Also, currently on Chapter 6 and aside from the game annoyingly pushing Alisa as a romance with the grace of an iceskating elephant (something I only pray is adjusted in 2 unless they are willing to commit to a true canon romance), it's more enjoyable than I remembered. There's [All Chapter 6]
Sharon scolding you about ignoring her orders, Fie/Rean taking in the town at night, Alisa's resolve and playable Angelica fuckin' Rogner
Her and Rean were different and a pair early on in CS 1/2's development. I keep thinking that constant zig-zagging is from going from that to slinkin'.
Some thoughts after finishing it the other night (for context, I've played FC/SC/3rd) - I'll spoiler tag the whole thing to be on the safe side
I thought it was the weakest Trails game I've played so far. The 3D graphics hurt the storytelling in my opinion and Falcom clearly aimed this one at a different audience. I've heard that CS2 is better but I'm cautiously optimistic...
Pros
- The port is fantastic. There a few instances where the text would extend past the box but apart from that it seemed flawless (turbo mode was an absolute lifesaver)
- Character growth was pretty good, although it really sucks that bonding points are limited
- I thought how the intensity of the plot grew was pretty good and somewhat similar to FC
- Not usually a VA fan at all but XSeed did really well here
- A mighty power is on par with a merciless savior
Cons
- The fanservice really undermines the story (at least to me). If I wasn't a Trails fan already I probably would have turned it off after the whole Rean/Alisa prologue garbage. The dirty grandpa trope is terrible and I'm so glad I could turbo mode through everything Angelica had to say
- The battle system was a step down in my opinion. Getting double/triple advantages were trivial, which only made the scripted encounters mildly difficult. Not sure why they changed the quartz system (what is even the purpose of having lines in the orbament then?)
- The ending. The plot point of FC's ending made sense, this one didn't at all, seemed like a cliffhanger for cliffhangers sake. Would have made more sense to at least finish off defending the school without Rean.
- The power of friendship. Rean's big speech about how important the school festival was to them and that's why they needed to go into the old schoolhouse was laughable
- The time/date system - what was the purpose of this when each month played out the exact same? Did they just assume that you need it with a school setting i.e. Persona?
- The build up to the very start of the game (8/31 Guerilla) only to find out that they were blanks? May as well just said it was all a dream
Is there a similar system in Zero/Ao? For some reason I figured the dates of significant events could be included in the story/dialogue (if it was in fact necessary to know the exact date of something).
Some thoughts after finishing it the other night (for context, I've played FC/SC/3rd) - I'll spoiler tag the whole thing to be on the safe side
- The time/date system - what was the purpose of this when each month played out the exact same? Did they just assume that you need it with a school setting i.e. Persona?
- The build up to the very start of the game (8/31 Guerilla) only to find out that they were blanks? May as well just said it was all a dream
On the time date thing, playing Zero recently I feel they were already going toward making how much time passes in the games more clear (it has a similar structure to Cold Steel where each chapter is a few days with a 1 month time skip between them) so having a calendar in Cold Steel feels like the next logic step, I quite like it because for such a long running series having a good idea of how much time passed is pretty cool imo
That isn't even the big thing with the in media res section, but the fact the actually were in the summer uniforms and had Millium with them lol
I also think Cold Steel is the weakest game in the series but I love it still and the sequel even more (CS2 seems to be pretty divisive though, you'll probably either love or hate it lol)
It's not even a "system" in that it's not something the player has any interaction with. The game just happens over a period of time and keeps you in the loop one where that is.
Persona uses days/months to limit the availability of certain actions, with the player working around/within those confines. That's a system.
I can't help but notice that Angelica has a beauty mark under her right eye in concept art, but doesn't on her in-game character model. Which is canon?
Also, currently on Chapter 6 and aside from the game annoyingly pushing Alisa as a romance with the grace of an iceskating elephant (something I only pray is adjusted in 2 unless they are willing to commit to a true canon romance), it's more enjoyable than I remembered. There's [All Chapter 6]
Sharon scolding you about ignoring her orders, Fie/Rean taking in the town at night, Alisa's resolve and playable Angelica fuckin' Rogner
I miss Estelle greatly. I hope Crossbell's protagonist entertains nearly as much. Of course, speaking for my own future tense, as I'm sure others are much more familiar with them already.
Also I appreciate the CS2 spoiler warn, but I won't get to it until CS2 PC which may be a while. lol. Not to concern, I know I'll still complain about it plenty later on in the CS2 PC OT, assuming you're addressing the second paragraph.
Bleh. Thanks for the heads up. It's not that I dislike Alisa per se, I simply don't see how it's difficult to keep the main narrative more neutral on similar matters like other titles that handle options; it comes off more of a poor animated harem otherwise.
Is Cold Steel the first Trails title to localize (Gregorian?) calendar months? Perhaps I'm only noticing it here because every date is focused on in comparison to Sky.
Bleh. Thanks for the heads up. It's not that I dislike Alisa per se, I simply don't see how it's difficult to keep the main narrative more neutral on similar matters like other titles that handle options; it comes off more of a poor animated harem otherwise.
No problem, a desire for neutrality on that kind of thing when presented with options is understandable, even as someone who likes the Alisa pairing. This is comparable to how I felt about Steins;Gate, and why it annoyed me when it suggested that the player's interpretations would be of consequence only to completely disregard any notion of ambiguity in its true ending (which I argue still didn't make sense for a predetermined choice based on what was presented).
Bleh. Thanks for the heads up. It's not that I dislike Alisa per se, I simply don't see how it's difficult to keep the main narrative more neutral on similar matters like other titles that handle options; it comes off more akin to a poor animated harem otherwise.
Not only on the main narrative; even her optional events are decidedly the most romantic of all. Like, [Final Chapter]
her dance event practically stops short of Rean and her professing love one to another, while the others' could still be interpreted as platonic bonding at that point.
It's not even a "system" in that it's not something the player has any interaction with. The game just happens over a period of time and keeps you in the loop one where that is.
Persona uses days/months to limit the availability of certain actions, with the player working around/within those confines. That's a system.
System is ambiguous. In this case I referenced what we call the Gregorian calendar system of keeping track of months and days. Not an interactable system built into the game.
So it's used as a narrative device, not a gameplay device.
About that: in other Trails topics on GAF, posters have suggested that
the differences between the flashforward prologue's version of events and how things play out once the game finally reaches that point have potential plot significance within the series
. I believe someone more familiar with Zero/Ao would have to explain how, though.
About that: in other Trails topics on GAF, posters have suggested that
the differences between the flashforward prologue's version of events and how things play out once the game finally reaches that point have potential plot significance within the series
. I believe someone more familiar with Zero/Ao would have to explain how, though.
Having played Crossbell, it is very possible that it could have significant meaning but Falcom has yet to display it. CS3 is their last chance to do so.
About that: in other Trails topics on GAF, posters have suggested that
the differences between the flashforward prologue's version of events and how things play out once the game finally reaches that point have potential plot significance within the series
. I believe someone more familiar with Zero/Ao would have to explain how, though.
Zero begins with a very similar sequence to CS1 - Lloyd dreams a scene of the main party (the S.S.S.) infiltrating a mysterious dungeon while sleeping on a train, and it's similar right down to there being two fewer party members present than when that point is actually reached later. It's revealed in Ao that that was actually an alternate timeline that was terminated by a certain benevolent force when it ended in the deaths of the S.S.S. - this force undid it by pushing those other two party members (as well as a third non-party member) into getting to know the S.S.S. earlier on so they'd build connections and ultimately come to save them. They ended up being the reason the S.S.S. survived.
About that: in other Trails topics on GAF, posters have suggested that
the differences between the flashforward prologue's version of events and how things play out once the game finally reaches that point have potential plot significance within the series
. I believe someone more familiar with Zero/Ao would have to explain how, though.
System is ambiguous. In this case I referenced what we call the Gregorian calendar system of keeping track of months and days. Not an interactable system built into the game.
So it's used as a narrative device, not a gameplay device.
Yeah, I think this is the weakest Trails games I've played for me as well (I've played the entirety of TitS). A direct comparison is probably only fair if you compare it to FC, which I'm (mostly) going to do.
In general, I think some parts are better in CS while others other are weaker.
The battle system feels like a natural evolution from TitS. You still have your positioning, Arts, Crafts and turn boni and turn manipulation. The weapon type/weakness system is a nice addition as are the Combat Links.
The quartz system changes on the other hand evoke rather mixed feelings from me. I really like Master Quartz', it's another form of progression and getting one to max level really feels worth it.
The other stuff is rather ehhh, though. It feels more streamlined at first glance, but all you're really doing is trading a huge list of usable Arts to a huge list of Quartz. Your party composition will often change, so you're going to be swapping them Quartz a lot, and somehow it's more of a hassle than in TitS the 3rd, which has even more playable characters.
I also found myself not really using many Arts at all throughout the game, and I played on Hard. I really couldn't be arsed to test every new Art so I usually just stuck to what I got from Master Quartz', some healing, some support and some attack Arts, while mostly just using Stat and Status Quartz and using normal attacks and Crafts 90% of the time in battle.
World building is sublime again, pretty much no complaints there. Lots of interesting places to visit and lore to learn. Story progression feels similar to FC, starting slow and steady you get to know the world and its inhabitants and events slowly that slowly escalate and escalate until it culminates into an explosion of awesomeness that blasts your jaw to the ground while you scream internally (and externally) like a little child and then it's over and GIVE ME THAT SECOND GAME NOW.
The biggest weakness, and what ultimately makes it fall below FC is the character writing. Rean isn't bad, but he just can't measure up to Estelle or Kevin and the supporting cast neither. While some of them start off as pretty irritating there is nice character development and growth and I liked all of them by the end of the game.
Ultimately what hampers the game the most is probably the 'choose your own waifu/husbando' elements. I don't really dislike that, but it definitely hampers story possibilities and character writing. It's fine for one-off games like Persona for example, but Trails is such a huge interconnected series that I feel it definitely benefits from pre-established relationships.
I don't know how things are going to be in the next games, but I don't think there are that many options, either:
- Falcom chooses a 'canon pairing', which will make all your choices kinda meaningless
- Falcom writes events for all possible pairings, which will mean things have to be more general and relationship can never really become an important element of the story, also kinda devaluing your choices :/
On the other hand, I think Cold Steel's structure allows for better NPC storylines. Having the school as a hub means you can have many ongoing side-storylines over the course of the entire game instead of only per chapter. I know the students of Thors as good as - if not even better - than the main characters at this point. I know their struggles, their hobbies, their friends, their lives.
Is Cold Steel the first Trails title to localize (Gregorian?) calendar months? Perhaps I'm only noticing it here because every date is focused on in comparison to Sky.
Yeah, I believe it got more focused on dates starting with Zero no Kiseki, which is emphasised with how simultaneous the Crossbell games are with the 2 Cold Steel games.
As for the Gregorian calendar thing, I think months don't have names in Japanese which conveniently lack any historical charge. But if you're to localise months from Japanese to English, you can only hardly work around it aside from going for the Gregorian naming scheme, since unnamed months for Japanese people are as normal and natural for them as the Gregorian names are normal and natural for us Westerners. It basically is unfortunate, yet inevitable.
The Sky trilogy got around it by not naming months explicitly, and instead went for durations to pinpoint any given time (stuff like "See you next month for the Queen's Birthday Celebration" instead of "See you in [specific month]").
Yeah, I believe it got more focused on dates starting with Zero no Kiseki, which is emphasised with how simultaneous the Crossbell games are with the 2 Cold Steel games.
As for the Gregorian calendar thing, I think months don't have names in Japanese which conveniently lack any historical charge. But if you're to localise months from Japanese to English, you can only hardly work around it aside from going for the Gregorian naming scheme, since unnamed months for Japanese people are as normal and natural for them as the Gregorian names are normal and natural for us Westerners. It basically is unfortunate, yet inevitable.
To be fair, the names September, October, November, and December have similar meanings. On top of that, July and August used to be called Quintilis and Sextilis respectively in the times of the Roman Republic.
Yeah, I believe it got more focused on dates starting with Zero no Kiseki, which is emphasised with how simultaneous the Crossbell games are with the 2 Cold Steel games.
As for the Gregorian calendar thing, I think months don't have names in Japanese which conveniently lack any historical charge. But if you're to localise months from Japanese to English, you can only hardly work around it aside from going for the Gregorian naming scheme, since unnamed months for Japanese people are as normal and natural for them as the Gregorian names are normal and natural for us Westerners. It basically is unfortunate, yet inevitable.
The Sky trilogy got around it by not naming months explicitly, and instead went for durations to pinpoint any given time (stuff like "See you next month for the Queen's Birthday Celebration" instead of "See you in [specific month]").
Finished the game clocking 45 hours on Steam. Loved the boost mode and it's an excellent port worked wonderfully on my laptop with Intel GPU! =)
All in all I enjoyed my time with the game. It's very much cut from the same cloth as Trails in the Sky. I'm excited to play the next installment. Whilst the game was long it didn't padded out with pointless tasks like so many other games are. Only a couple optional quests felt like standard "kill x monsters and come back"
Field trips are an excellent way of touring Erebonia. The scale of the imperial empire was interesting to see as well as the plays between provincial and imperial forces.
Also mixing the groups allowed all the party members to have time spent on their development. A rare thing in games that I've seen in the Sky series and this game is that familial interactions are often shown. It enriches the characters and helps the player understand who they are.
The quartz system was simplified and I wouldn't say that is a bad thing but I think all too often all I really looked out for was what bonuses it gave rather than the arts. Also it was a bit annoying that Quartz would be unequipped between field trips but not reequipped.
The animations were a bit basic but I guess this is a Vita game. I don't know if Falcom had much experience in fully 3D games before this.
It was funny how awkward the standing neutral pose for Class VII were. Not sure why they did that haha.
I did like that there were some quests that you just stumble upon, makes the world feel richer when you're not only just ticking things off of your notebook. I quite liked the hide and seek one near the end.
The music was very good. I don't know what it is about trails music but it doesn't stick in my head as melodies but when I hear these tunes I feel it's like sitting in a comfy chair in winter with the heating on and a nice blanket.
Trails in the Sky enhanced my experience of the story considerably and I think that I'm missing out to a degree by not playing Ao and Zero first.
Specifically about Sky
The Chancellor is generally seen as a force for good especially in contrast to the Nobles.
After playing Sky you see how the Chancellor played this game of annexing countries though the funding of insurgency. It makes Crow's motivations (from what I can tell) more understandable.
The threats of invasion from Erebona to Liberl and the memory of the recent war make the Chancellor much more sinister. It's a good contrast to the opinions you see inside Erebonia as well.
Because on one hand you can argue that the Nobles aren't all great and that the benefits of the Railways has spearheaded an economic boom.
The ending
very much came out of nowhere and I don't think the sequel can continue right after that point without some major recap so I'm imagining a time skip with start the next game.
I liked how the time system skipped weeks at a time. After an event the group gets closer which you can see evident in their interactions without labouring it. Also there aren't boring days that you can't skip. I dropped Persona 5 about 85% of the way through because I couldn't be bothered to fill the remaining days with mundane tasks to get to the event day so this is a plus.
It was lovely seeing
Oliver again, the prince of debauchery has certainly matured but is still quite the rascal. haha. Since he's not the crown prince I still have hope that he'll somehow end up together with Schera
Mueller is the same as usual haha.
And Beaublanc! haha, when I saw that guy laughed, the most obvious dodgy individual out there
In terms of Ouroboros
didn't they seem a bit more friendly that Trail in the Sky? Sharon especially =/ Kinda feels at odds where in SC and 3rd they came off very much evil. I think I'm probably in store for a lot more in that regard in the sequel
The 'in media res' intro sequence
was a bit of a let down. It implied the firing of the guns. But in the end it was a blank. The game built up to that moment but
the issue was quickly sidestepped.
Seems like the game is very much setting up a Rean and Alisa canonical pairing but after the whole anime cliche introduction to her my slightly negative impression didn't
change all too much during the game.
However if that's the case it's way better than the Rean and Elise pairing that gets gets brought up often in the game. It comes off as inappropriate because of the apparent age his was adopted but also how his relationship to her is very much a sibling one in contrast to Estelle and Joshua.
Very much excited to get the sequel but no way am I dusting off the PS3 without a turbo mode. Does any save data get transferred over between games? Does it make much of a difference?
I did like the odd references to quests you in that you got in Sky SC.
was a bit of a let down. It implied the firing of the guns. But in the end it was a blank. The game built up to that moment but
the issue was quickly sidestepped.
About that: in other Trails topics on GAF, posters have suggested that
the differences between the flashforward prologue's version of events and how things play out once the game finally reaches that point have potential plot significance within the series
. I believe someone more familiar with Zero/Ao would have to explain how, though.
Having played Crossbell, it is very possible that it could have significant meaning but Falcom has yet to display it. CS3 is their last chance to do so.
Zero begins with a very similar sequence to CS1 - Lloyd dreams a scene of the main party (the S.S.S.) infiltrating a mysterious dungeon while sleeping on a train, and it's similar right down to there being two fewer party members present than when that point is actually reached later. It's revealed in Ao that that was actually an alternate timeline that was terminated by a certain benevolent force when it ended in the deaths of the S.S.S. - this force undid it by pushing those other two party members (as well as a third non-party member) into getting to know the S.S.S. earlier on so they'd build connections and ultimately come to save them. They ended up being the reason the S.S.S. survived.
As others have said, Zero and Ao spoil aspects of the Cold Steel games as these spoil aspects of those.
I wouldn't describe Ouroboros as
more friendly, particularly given how little of them you see in CS I. As for Sharon, she does as she pleases, which they get into later by CS II
.
Again, there remains no canonical pairing, though that is Falcom's favored one at this point.
The CS games are more PS3 games scaled down for Vita, albeit not particularly advanced, with accounting for the latter's limitations having compromised how much they were able to do with CS II during development. CS III doesn't look mind-blowing by PS4 standards, but not having Vita hold them back is nice.
Either way, animations improved in CS II.
Regarding what carries over between games (copy/pasting from a GameFAQs FAQ, as I didn't remember off the top of my head):
Rank bonuses...
A0: Golden Emblem (HP +1000, EP +100, STR/DEF/ATS/ADF +10)
A1: Silver Emblem (HP +500, EP +50)
The A0 bonus is quite useful, particularly if starting on Hard or Nightmare, same for Lv. 80+'s Saintly Force. NPCs whom you've helped out with sidequests will indeed remember you and what you've done for them.
I have no idea how anyone can finish playing a game such as this in less than somewhere around that amount of time without skipping anything (let alone manage in under 50 hours on a first run), but eh.
Was the PC port based solely on the Japanese version and not on the build that was used for the NA localization? There's some differences between versions that I don't know how to explain otherwise. For instance, Chapter 4's final quest on Day 2
Heimdallr
uses quest markers which robs all the challenge from the quest (pretty sure I had to find all the
cards
manually back on PS3). As I understand it those markers existed on PS3 and VITA in Japan, Xseed must have asked to have them removed so it wouldn't be such a cakewalk.
Also this:
I've been told the 2nd one is how it's shown in the Japanese version.
The port is based on the data provided, which was (as it turned out later) not quite what was used to do the very final US console build. This means a few texture modifications had not gone through (many of which we then fixed again, some of which were overlooked), as well as apparently that quest difference.
This was already addressed.
The A0 bonus is quite useful, particularly if starting on Hard or Nightmare, same for Lv. 80+'s Saintly Force. NPCs whom you've helped out with sidequests will indeed remember you and what you've done for them.
I have no idea how anyone can finish playing a game such as this in less than somewhere around that amount of time without skipping anything (let alone manage in under 50 hours on a first run), but eh.
Anyone have tips on how to get up to level 80? I think I finished the game at 65...
Also, I finished it with 45 hrs on the game clock as well (with A0 rank although I didn't talk to all NPCs). For reference my first play times on FC/SC/3rd were 35/50/40 hrs - each to their own I guess?
Anyone have tips on how to get up to level 80? I think I finished the game at 65...
Also, I finished it with 45 hrs on the game clock as well (with A0 rank although I didn't talk to all NPCs). For reference my first play times on FC/SC/3rd were 35/50/40 hrs - each to their own I guess?
I used the Shining Pom DLC on NG+, which XSeed made available for free for a limited time before the PS3/Vita CS II released last year. Not too sure how pricing or availability work for the PC version. I was already in the 70s range after my first time playing, but I also spent a lot of time just messing around fighting for the sake of it, as well as leveling up Master Quartzes.
As for the game clock, I talked to every NPC multiple times in my case (this added significantly to my overall runtime).
The port is based on the data provided, which was (as it turned out later) not quite what was used to do the very final US console build. This means a few texture modifications had not gone through (many of which we then fixed again, some of which were overlooked), as well as apparently that quest difference.
Any chance of these console localization changes making their way back into the PC version?
Oh, and I noticed the OP is a bit barren and has no screenshots of the game, so I found the best ones in my collection to donate for use here, running at 1080p and max settings. Should help push the game a bit more than just a synopsis and character profiles.
I used the Shining Pom DLC on NG+, which XSeed made available for free for a limited time before the PS3/Vita CS II released last year. Not too sure how pricing or availability work for the PC version.
Finished up. I thought I'd regret it, but I'm actually glad I replayed because I was unaware of just how integral Crossbell was to the events proceeding. I took it in passive initially, but I'm going to ensure I'm caught up on Crossbell's arc proper in the coming months after taking in all of the mentions I caught this time.
The port itself was great. I had minor issues (text expanding past text box, some graphical hiccups and the occasional performance dip upon using Turbo right off a conversation), but it made playing the game again much more enjoyable than on PS3.
Here's to Cold Steel 2 PC not taking too long to release as well.
~Half an hour from Prologue to end of Chapter 1 on a New Game+ run doing all the optional quests again and watching the bonding scenes I missed out on during the first time.
I love Turbo Mode.
Took me a while, but just got to Legram. It's pretty amazing being able to run around town and not have the engine slow to a crawl. Smooth as butter. I of course have to run the game at console level because my PC is getting on in years, otherwise I get a fair bit of chug on certain maps (Trista's Park has always been an issue). But most of the time it maintains 60fps so that's nice.
