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[jshackles]

After years and years of GAF telling me this is the greatest JRPG ever made... well I finally decided to start digging in.

I'm playing the PC (GOG) release. I finished the prologue chapter (about 4.5 hours, damn) but I'm already hooked. The game has a nice story and good systems in place. Combat is a bit clunky but nothing terrible - and certainly excusable for a game that's coming up on it's 18th anniversary.

I'm finding the game to be refreshingly difficult. There is almost no hand-holding. The game doesn't spam you with curative items. Battles don't give you gold automatically, you have to work for it (either by selling the crystals enemies drop or by completing jobs at the guild). Side quests can be missed because there are no map markers, no glowing arrows above people's heads, and no indication of anything - you have to search out and explore on your own to find all the stuff. Weapons and armor are incredibly expensive but also incredibly useful - unlike most JRPGs, you probably won't make enough gold to buy everything for all of your characters.

There are a ton of games in the series. I'm guessing I'll be busy with these for a while to come...

 

[mobilesworking]

Bit of sore one for me. While undoubtedly charming (and that soundtrack!), I found the pace to be g-l-a-c-i-a-l. IIRC, I set the game aside around hour 20-25 and never picked it back up. A shame, especialy since I splurged on the sequel beforehand, paying full price for a game I've not so much as booted up.

 

[jshackles]

Game does move pretty slowly, but I kinda like that personally. I'm getting old maybe, but there's some comfort in knowing that learning all of these new game mechanics and systems will be useful for at least the next 60+ hours, if not 200+ hours just in this trilogy.

A few weeks ago I finished Tales of Arise, which was also a slog but I also enjoyed it. I think I'm up for this.

 

[jshackles]

Followed the guide on the PCGamingWiki to add the voice acting from the Evolution game. Holy cow, this game is FAR more enjoyable now. Almost feels like an entirely different game!

 

[Mister Wolf]

Welcome to the fanbase.

 

[Mister Wolf]

Its good you started late. By the time you make it through all three Trails In The Sky games. Trails of Zero should have released for PC. We will get Zero's sequel Trails Of Azure in 2023. Then you got the already released Trails Of Cold Steel games after that. Lot of catching up to do sir.

 

[jshackles]

Its good you started late. By the time you make it through all three Trails In The Sky games. Trails of Zero should have released for PC. We will get Zero's sequel Trails Of Azure in 2023. Then you got the already released Trails Of Cold Steel games after that. Lot of catching up to do sir.

I know! But I'm really looking forward to it.

Is that the suggested play order then? Trails in the Sky, then Trails of Zero, Trails of Azure, then Trails of Cold Steel games?

 

[Mister Wolf]

I know! But I'm really looking forward to it.

Is that the suggested play order then? Trails in the Sky, then Trails of Zero, Trails of Azure, then Trails of Cold Steel games?

Yes. Thats the order they were originally released in Japan. The events of Coldsteel 1 & 2 and Zero/Azure chronologically take place around the same time. Just in different locations.

 

[SantaC]

Loved the cold steel series because it is modern and has QoL fixes.

 

[Daymos]

The story takes a long time to tell but the ending of the first game is amazing and then the story's conclusion in the second game was everything I had hoped for.

Im planning on playing the 3rd game this year and then trails from zero this fall.

 

[Quasicat]

Played the first two titles years ago on PSP and got frustrated that 3 was never localized (except for PC). The problem is, I no longer have a PC to play it. The first two were amazing though! I need to check out some of the others.

 

[jshackles]

UPDATE: Took about 12 hours, finished the first chapter.

The ending of the first chapter - it felt like it could have been the ending of a (shorter) game all by itself. Everything wrapped up nicely, with a few loose threads here and there almost like they were teasing a sequel. Then bam: "End of Chapter 1". Loving this game so far, can't wait to see how everything plays out. Also can't wait to unlock a lot of the stronger spells / abilities. For a while I was wrecking house with Schera and Olivier, and it just felt so good. More of that, please.

 

[jshackles]

I finally finished this game last month (forgot to update this thread) and it was an overall amazing experience! Very very compelling story and fun combat. Lots and lots of optional side quests and areas. Game was really fun to explore. Finished with about 50-something hours on the game clock.

I'm starting in on the second game now after taking a few weeks off after finishing the first game. Feels like seeing old friends again. What a lovely game / series.

 

[theclaw135]

Played the first two titles years ago on PSP and got frustrated that 3 was never localized (except for PC). The problem is, I no longer have a PC to play it. The first two were amazing though! I need to check out some of the others.

It's just that the PSP versions are direct ports. In the good and bad sense of the word. They're complete experiences, with some nitpicks like the menus being rather cluttered for the small screen.

 

[SlimeGooGoo]

.

 

[AmuroChan]

Welcome to the Trails gang. Trails is the best JRPG series that most people don't know about.

 

[nocsi]

Just happened to start playing this game as well this past month. Finished FC a couple weeks ago and rushed through to finish SC last night. OP is right to add in the voice acting mod to play the games. It helps immensely even if you don’t fully listen to each dialogue. The game is otherwise fairly quiet even though it has an amazing soundtrack. The missables are incredible and can make or break someone. I’m not one for wanting to use a guide while playing but you really do need a guide since the missable windows can be very short. Like you really miss out of incredible lore if you don’t stand in a random nook and read hidden books on a shelf. The game are fairly hollow without taking the time to read the shit ton of text content they scattered everywhere.

It’s different than something like Suikoden where they kinda show you the world rather than expecting you to constantly go around talking to everyone like you’re playing an extreme extraverted character. Like I don’t want to go into the back of the kitchen of a restaurant to talk to a chef. But apparently the NPC actually has something noteworthy to talk about. Anyways I have TC next, then a break. Then I’ll do the crossbell and I already have ToCS 1-4 ready on steam w/ HD texture mods.

 

[Captain Toad]

After years and years of GAF telling me this is the greatest JRPG ever made...

GAF said that? I played this. I barely remember it, but I remember it being decent, but dragged on and was pretty tedious at times.

I never once considered it worthy in the best JRPG of all-time category.

 

[PhaseJump]

I played the hell out of it on PSP, now it's installed on my Steam Deck. The only thing keeping it out of verification are the slow, bugged videos.

 

[Fbh]

I gave it a try some years ago but it wasn't for me.

Just felt very slow and the story didn't grab me at all, felt like nothing much happened and the girl was annoying. People kept telling me the plot gets much better later on but personally I have a limit for how long I'm willing to wait for things to "get good"

 

[Mister Wolf]

I finally finished this game last month (forgot to update this thread) and it was an overall amazing experience! Very very compelling story and fun combat. Lots and lots of optional side quests and areas. Game was really fun to explore. Finished with about 50-something hours on the game clock.

I'm starting in on the second game now after taking a few weeks off after finishing the first game. Feels like seeing old friends again. What a lovely game / series.

Trails and Xenoblade are constantly battling for my top JRPG franchise.

 

[jshackles]

I gave it a try some years ago but it wasn't for me.

Just felt very slow and the story didn't grab me at all, felt like nothing much happened and the girl was annoying. People kept telling me the plot gets much better later on but personally I have a limit for how long I'm willing to wait for things to "get good"

Understandable, the game is most definitely a "slow burn". Even when the plot picks up, the game itself stays pretty laid back and rarely pushes any real urgency to the player.

It's kind of like drinking a nice cup of hot tea on a cold day... when a lot of action games these days feel like you're chugging a cheap beer before going down a water slide.