Board 8 > SaveEstelle/LeonhartFour in Different Houses: Endgame Edition [SELF]

(+) Yeah! (+)

LeonhartFour posted...

You'd figure the rates would be worse in a wartime economy, but whatever.

not all games can be as revolutionary as tales of the abyss
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Huh, found my first Trial Chest. That was interesting.

Also, whoa, they give you the Gladiator Headband really early this time.
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Oh right, if it interests you, the Trial Chests bring back the chest quotes from Sky. Need to not have the right pair for it to display though.
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Also one of the best improvements so far is them allowing you to quick jump back to where you need to report in once you've completed a Quest.
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Trailer for the KH3 Remind DLC

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_JOiTHX4yU" data-time="

Looks pretty awesome.
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KH3 Remind DLC: Yeah, that looked pretty great! Playable Roxas and Aqua aw yeah. But what really has me is is the Master of Masters just chilling in Keyblade Graveyard talking with Young Xehanort? so much for thinking he got banished to TWEWY2 or something. Xigbar/Luxord looked pretty cool too.

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AoT S3.II Final Pre-Cellar Episode 3: Awww yeah that's what I'm talking about. Great episode. However, Reiner living through all these different clearly super fatal attacks is such BS. God and the flashback makes him even worse, although it was nice to see Annie again. justice for hange. if reiner lives through all this but hange goes out like that i swear. but props to hange for being smart enough to order another attack on reiner anyway, too bad it all went to hell. Not sure how they beat Colossal Titan though given S2 established that heat aura is OP as all hell. Though I think Sasha and the others have a few Thunder Spears left? Looked like they were carrying them anyway.
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Winter? I was expecting something sooner.

Also can't tell if those are part of something standalone or not.
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xp1337 posted...

KH3 Remind DLC: Yeah, that looked pretty great! Playable Roxas and Aqua aw yeah. But what really has me is is the Master of Masters just chilling in Keyblade Graveyard talking with Young Xehanort? so much for thinking he got banished to TWEWY2 or something. Xigbar/Luxord looked pretty cool too.

I'll take more Master of Masters wherever I can get it.
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I found the Terra Shrine, and Celine is basically just, "I won't tell you anything about it, but don't blame me if you get yourselves killed."

all right then
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Made it back to Garrelia Fortress and met Xeno and Leonidas. I feel like the context of the Crossbell game would be helpful here.
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I don't think Xeno and Leonidas are Crossbell characters actually.

Though I do think jaegers in general are discussed a lot more than in Cold Steel or Sky so I could see that helping.
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No, not for the sake of those two guys, but for the circumstances surrounding the destruction of the fortress and that barrier around Crossbell City.

Also, I noticed that the Zephyr logo looks a lot like Vita's bird. I've been wondering if that's just a coincidence.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTCmN8TtkgQ" data-time="

March 3, 2020

Day before my birthday. Nice.
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Attack on Titan Season 3.5 Episode 3 complete

Oh hey, a flashback and an Annie appearance. I guess she technically is still alive even though we haven't seen her since the end of Season 1. I was hoping Armin's gambit would work and we'd actually get some answers, but alas, I guess we have to wait until we get into the basement itself.
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Attack on Titan Season 3-2 Episode 3
If you like Annie, she has a side story in the Lost Girls OVAs that came out a while ago. The events in the OVA take place earlier in the series. I'm not sure if it has a dub, though. I imagine it doesn't.
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Cold Steel III: September 24, 2019

Big last few days for gaming news
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Persona 5 Royal E3 trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9QjlLdYK5I" data-time="

Nothing really new here except now it's dubbed but hey
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Okay, I like that really weak enemies run away from you now, a la Persona. Makes my life a bit easier. CS2's quality of life improvements so far have been on point.
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All right, finished up with Act 1 - Part 1 with 32 AP and a grade of A. I felt like the entire time that I must have missed something, and I guess I did.
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Aw yes Cold Steel 3 hype.

Now to determine if it's worthwhile to replay Cold Steel 1 and 2. (answer: probably not)

Also need to figure out what to do about the Crossbell Arc because I guess it's important or something.
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apparently there's this NG+ quest in CS2 that's important to CS3 or something

I keep seeing this YouTube video pop up on my recommendations about it
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How do the Cold Steel games compare to TiTs?

Ive kinda been interested but I found FC pretty middling and never played SC.
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The Mana Sword posted...

Ive kinda been interested but I found FC pretty middling and never played SC.

Well, SC is a huge jump from FC, in my opinion. I thought FC was fine but nothing special (until the sequel hook at the end anyway). SC is a borderline top 10 game for me.

The gameplay in Cold Steel is largely the same, just in 3-D and in a different setting. It also adds in some Persona-esque elements by having it be set in a school and giving you the ability to "bond" with other characters (although it doesn't go full on S. Link). Some of the battle system improvements kind of remind me of Shadow Hearts Covenant, actually.
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How much would I be missing if I played the ToCS games without TitS?
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Cold Steel has more quality-of-life features and also has slice-of-life/dating sim elements that aren't in TitS, but unless either of those really speak to you I don't see any reason to recommend Cold Steel. I honestly consider Trails in the Sky to be the better game pretty much in every aspect.
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Well, Cold Steel has the distinct advantage of being on a platform I actually own...!
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Well, you'd be missing out on a lot of lore and cross-references. One of the big appeals of the Trails series is the extensive world building.

That being said, Cold Steel isn't a direct sequel to Trails in the Sky. It takes place in a different country on the same continent like a year or two later. There are definitely some things that will confuse you, but I guess it's doable.
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I liked the Cold Steel games a lot more than the three Sky games. Sky has some specific elements that stand out more, but actually playing CS is much more enjoyable.
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LordoftheMorons posted...

Well, Cold Steel has the distinct advantage of being on a platform I actually own...!

Well, all the Trails in the Sky games are on Steam (and some would even say that's the preferred platform).
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I don't have Windows
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My first post was responding to Mana Sword fyi.

LordoftheMorons posted...

How much would I be missing if I played the ToCS games without TitS?

For Cold Steel 1 and Cold Steel 2, not much. I'm told context from the Sky series is more important for Cold Steel 3 and 4, though I haven't played those myself.

Cold Steel 1 and 2 do spoil the Sky games though. Whether or not that matters to you I don't know.
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Darn it why won't Rean just go to Legram since that's where Laura was always almost guaranteed to be

and now I know Emma and Jusis are there too and I want them back
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LeonhartFour posted...

Cold Steel III: September 24, 2019

Big last few days for gaming news

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

That's like... 2+ months earlier than I had expected. Thought I'd get a CS1+2 marathon replay in before it came out but uh, damn, by the time I finish PoE2 I still need to actually play CS2 PS4 and when all that's said and done it's (probably) too close for a replay. It's me though so nothing is off the table, I once played P4 twice in a row back-to-back... though I regretted it like halfway through the second playthrough. >_>

LeonhartFour posted...

All right, finished up with Act 1 - Part 1 with 32 AP and a grade of A. I felt like the entire time that I must have missed something, and I guess I did.

Think I know what happened. Was actually going to mention it earlier but realized I was inadvertendly mentioning that Part 1 was almost over... which probably wasn't something you'd care about, but it got me to back off.

All of the "end bosses" for the Act 1 - Part # chapters have a hidden AP requirement that the game just doesn't tell you. So for Leo/Xeno what you had to do was knock one of them down to 30% HP or lower within 40 turns. If you do, you get the bonus AP message after the fight.

For Part 2 the requirement is to win the fight within 40 turns. I imagine you'll know the fight when you see it.

LeonhartFour posted...

apparently there's this NG+ quest in CS2 that's important to CS3 or something

I keep seeing this YouTube video pop up on my recommendations about it

Yes, there is. Don't worry about it for now, you can watch the video/I'll give you a link after you beat the game. It's definitely important though.

The Mana Sword posted...

How do the Cold Steel games compare to TiTs?

3rd > SC > CS2 > CS1 > FC, IMO.

It depends on what about FC was middling to you. If it was how slow it was, I think you'd find CS1 an improvement there. It's still mostly a game of build-up, but the build-up is... more directly engaging, I guess. Unlike FC where a lot of the early stuff is really simple stuff and the pieces don't really all start fitting together until much later, the stakes and importance of things in CS1 is much more apparent early on.

Battle system/gameplay is mostly the same but Cold Steel has the benefit of QoL enhancements over time.

LordoftheMorons posted...

How much would I be missing if I played the ToCS games without TitS?

Some, but mostly references/connection to past lore like others are mentioning. It's certainly not impenetrable or anything, Falcom intended Cold Steel to be an acceptable entry point for newcomers and I think they succeeded. You won't have the benefit/reaction of "Oh hey, that's [character]! Neat." or "Oh, I've heard about [place/thing], cool to see it now." but it's nothing super critical.

I'm told that begins to change in CS3 but I can't speak to that, and also apparently it applies to unlocalized games too so most of us would be in a similar boat to some extent.
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Yeah my main issue with FC is how plodding it is. It takes forever to get going and the combat is so slow. It was tough to stay engaged.
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Battles in CS are much faster, since you can skip every attack animation and you have access to 4x turbo speed.
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Started watching Erased

Dragon Quest references are certainly one way to get my attention!
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Erased is great
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Apparently, that E3 leaker guy who's been getting everything right says Square is finally going to announce that FFVIII HD remaster port tonight. It will certainly make for a pretty amazing week or so of news for me if true.

In sports news, Tony Parker announced his retirement today, which makes me sad because it really feels like the end of an era (even though I know he didn't even play for the Spurs this year). After Jordan retired, I latched onto the Spurs because I loved David Robinson, and then I grew to love Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, and Tony Parker (among others, of course, but those are the big three). They've easily been the most successful team I've rooted for in the last 20 years (which is weird because most of the teams I root for were awesome in the '90s but most of them have been not great since then).

And that championship they won against the Heat in 2014 after losing the year before is easily one of the most satisfying and cathartic experiences of my sports fandom. I'll never forget that one.
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Oh my word that FFVIIR footage looked so amazing. Square always pulls me back in. Always.

They also basically confirmed that the first "episode" will be Midgar only.
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oh man oh man oh man oh man it's happening

FFVIII HD 2019
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So yeah, I just crushed that boss fight to get the extra AP by launching S-Crafts over and over again, and I got a 2.4 EXP multiplier, so everyone gained two full levels on top of that.

Feels good, man.

And then Bleublanc uses his Shadow Weaving thing. "How could we have expected this to happen?" Why, Alisa, you play Trails SC, of course! But then Sharon shows up, and we get a Joshua & Renne name drop for our troubles.
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Can't wait to Renzokuken in HD
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liHKeemjdbI" data-time="

Now Squall really will be the best looking guy here.
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Act 1 Part 2 complete with 31 AP and another grade of A, which means I still missed something. Oh well.
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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was going to be so sad if the Smash rumors were wrong

Hopefully this will significantly help DQ's American sales so stuff will be reliably localized
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I'm not too excited about either of those Smash reveals.

Breath of the Wild 2 though

Also, I'm on jury duty today and I'm on a lunch break currently.
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All the more reason to play DQ so you can get hyped!
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Yeah, I'll get back to DQXI (and DQ8) at some point, but there's so much good stuff on the horizon.
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hello everyone play seiken densetsu 3 thanks
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I just keep thinking about Tifa. She is perfection
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