Board 8 > The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III releases September 24, 2019

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9GL-UcQl2E" data-time="

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(also 27th in Europe and October 3rd in Australia)
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Yes!!!

A bit sooner than I thought it would be but not much more (I thought early October).

Millium's new VA seems like she's getting pretty close to the original with tone, but can't really tell from just one voice clip. Also that was the least enthusiastic "Gabriel arrow" from Alisa's VA ever <_<

Good time to send out a reminder that there's still CE's available

https://store.nisamerica.com/the-legend-of-heroes-trails-of-cold-steel-iii-thors-academy-edition-ps4tm
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Can't watch this until I beat 2 I suppose, huh?
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oh yes no watching allowed

big spoilers for 2 right at the very beginning
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Fuck yes!

I probably have to play through the previous 2 again since my saves are on my ex wives console

How do these games compare to Tales games because they look like Tales games
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skullbone posted...

How do these games compare to Tales games because they look like Tales games

better than most Tales games but an overall slower experience

Trails is much more invested in world building (to a fault sometimes)

Trails combat is turn-based and usually not very good (I love Sky and Cold Steel but combat is not that great, let's be honest)

story-wise Trails in the Sky is close to the top of the genre. The Cold Steel games are not as good but still better than your typical Tales game. Both are obviously anime weeb games.

Cold steel combat is just extremely easy to break. The main tactic basically involves not allowing your enemies to get a turn in. So basically the only difficult fights are enemies who have enough HP to withstand your bullshit or are immune to being delayed. They are extremely few and far between

They also have added difficulty because you play most of the game not having to deal with enemies hitting you back. So when you do have the few fights that this doesn't apply to, you're not remotely prepared to handle them and they typically become attrition fights. Sometimes it's better to just restart the fight and to use your abilities slightly different to get the kill in before this applies.

The most similar combat system I can think of to it is FFX but with positioning mattering (theoretically). I never played Resonance of Fate but from what I saw that battle system may have been similar too

Child of Light had a combat system where you could delay your opponents turn by timing your attacks correctly but maybe not the exact same thing.

Looked up Trails in the Sky and I don't think I have the patience for a 2D RPG anymore. That might sound weird but modern RPGs have ruined me
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Trails in the Sky had the worst RPG gameplay I've ever experienced
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KommunistKoala posted...

Trails in the Sky had the worst RPG gameplay I've ever experienced

if that's the case you're a very lucky man when it comes to your RPG selection or you haven't played many RPGs
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I definitely don't go RPG dumpster diving but that gamplay belongs in the dumpster that's for sure
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It's not world class or anything but it's certainly not actively offensive either
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tits combat is fine
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Trails combat is good

Just do the arts and crafts and you're good
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I quit Sky for a couple reasons, but the mind numbingly boring combat was certainly a factor.

I don't have this issue with Cold Steel, though yeah it's not something that can be compared with Tales. Having only played CS1 and 2 acts into CS2, it's certainly a more grounded and established story, though it does lack some of the absurdist flare of certain Tales plots, which it makes up for (arguably) in...ACTUAL grounded intrigue.

I don't want to mix the message here, though, I love ToCS so far.
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LapisLazuli posted...

it does lack some of the absurdist flare of certain Tales plots

Let me tell you about my phantasmal blaze plan
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i need this
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ToCS2 better than 1? I beat 1 a few years ago and it was okay, some parts pretty good, others pretty... zzz. I also own 2 but haven't dived into it much.
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1 is just very slow. Its 60+ hours of world and character building and 2 to 3 hours of what the fuck just happened. 2 gets the benefit of not having to do the slow world building part.

It's still pretty criminal that after 2 entire games they still don't really explain shit though. It's like BlazBlue where they just toss fancy sayings around like everybody else knows what they mean whilst the player doesn't. If they don't explain shit in 3 I'm going to be pissed

2 is much better than 1
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ShatteredElysium posted...

1 is just very slow. Its 60+ hours of world and character building and 2 to 3 hours of what the fuck just happened. 2 gets the benefit of not having to do the slow world building part.

It's still pretty criminal that after 2 entire games they still don't really explain shit though. It's like BlazBlue where they just toss fancy sayings around like everybody else knows what they mean whilst the player doesn't. If they don't explain shit in 3 I'm going to be pissed

like what
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BlayBloo
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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

I know the window has been Fall this whole time, but I guess I'm used to XSEED where that would translate to like... December 20. I was definitely expecting November or December... not... 3 days into fall oh my goddddddd.
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NFUN posted...

ShatteredElysium posted...

1 is just very slow. Its 60+ hours of world and character building and 2 to 3 hours of what the fuck just happened. 2 gets the benefit of not having to do the slow world building part.

It's still pretty criminal that after 2 entire games they still don't really explain shit though. It's like BlazBlue where they just toss fancy sayings around like everybody else knows what they mean whilst the player doesn't. If they don't explain shit in 3 I'm going to be pissed

like what

It's a fighting game that is plot heavy except everything in the plot is massively convoluted with ridiculous names for everything and everyone's plans. At no point does it actually attempt to explain what these plans to the player but it will constantly mention the names of these plans every chance it gets. And I do mean constantly.

I love BlazBlue but I could easily see why people would be instantly turned off by the over the top characters and not having the faintest idea what the fuck the characters are talking about for large portions of the game. You can basically guarantee that any scene with Hazama in is going to be filled with this so it's a good job he's such a likable villain by being a massive troll otherwise all his scenes would be difficult to get through.

It does eventually explain things but it takes like 2 games to get even a basic jist and 4 games to fully explain. The first game basically tells you nothing and even after 100%ing it you are left scratching your head. You're like well that happens but I still ha e no idea what the motives were of any of the characters or what the repercussions were. Hell, some players might not even realize they are in a time loop by the end of the 1st game.

i don't care about blazblue at all i was asking how they did that in tocs
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I mean it's not as bad as BlazBlue and without posting spoilers it's hard to post specific things but by the end of the second game there's still a shit ton of questions unanswered. Like it doesn't even tell you what the Phantasmal Blaze plan is by the end of the second game despite liberally using the phrase throughout.

It's made clear that certain things were engineered to happen but it doesn't tell you why which after 2 games, it should at least be giving you something

you should play the other games in the series
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Can't be as bad as kingdom hearts, in terms of plot
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Requiring you to play through other games j the series, which don't have an official translation, to understand what is going on is bad storytelling. I mean I loved ToCS 1 and 2 but if it's genuinely a case of needing to play the games not released here to understand the overall that is pretty shitty design. I get a few easter eggs and name drops here and there but your fundamental plot shouldn't require you play games that weren't even available here when it was released

I know theres fan translations now but that wasn't the case at release

trails in the sky was, in fact, released first
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Trails in the sky explains ToCS's plot? Because I was definitely told by this board that I needed no prior knowledge from TitS for Cold Steel so assumed you meant the Crossbell games

Yeah, most of the stuff you'd wonder about is explained in the Crossbell games, not the Sky games. There's still plenty of stuff that hasn't been explained even if you've played all 7 games, though. Personally the lack of focus on witches annoyed me most in Cold Steel, since what they did show us was quite intriguing.
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It gives more context to the Phantasmal Blaze plan but doesn't explain it fully because it's the underlying plot driver for the whole series
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When I did my cold steel playthrough topic I was definitely told there was virtually zero overlap between TitS and ToCS. I was told that there's a few name drops and some character appear in both but that's it.

I did try start TitS on my PSP when travelling but despite the characters being likable, the graphics make it hard to play through. Which is odd to say as it usually doesn't bother me. I've played through stuff like Wild Arms and Grandia on my PSP without issue

I don't think Crossbell explains what Phantasmal Blaze is either though. But Ouroboros is always mysterious like that. I think the best guess is that it's something to do with obtaining Sept-Terrions, and from the name Mirage and Fire based ones.
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Where do I start with this series?
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SwiftyDC posted...

Where do I start with this series?

The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky
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https://store.steampowered.com/app/251150/The_Legend_of_Heroes_Trails_in_the_Sky/
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ShatteredElysium posted...

When I did my cold steel playthrough topic I was definitely told there was virtually zero overlap between TitS and ToCS. I was told that there's a few name drops and some character appear in both but that's it.

No, you were told that you can understand the main plot of Cold Steel 1 and 2, which you can. That doesn't mean you're going to catch all of the nuances of every single plot detail though.

You're literally complaining about not everything being understandable in a massive series that is still ongoing.

Of course everything isn't answered yet, its not over.

NFUN posted...

SwiftyDC posted...

Where do I start with this series?

The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky

Which console would you say is the best to play this series on? Currently playing Ys VIII and its frickin awesome. First game I've played by this developer.
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SwiftyDC posted...

NFUN posted...

SwiftyDC posted...

Where do I start with this series?

The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky

Which console would you say is the best to play this series on? Currently playing Ys VIII and its frickin awesome. First game I've played by this developer.

pc unless you want portability. then vita is also good, but they dont have the most up to date localized scripts for 1 and 2
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tcaz2 posted...

ShatteredElysium posted...

When I did my cold steel playthrough topic I was definitely told there was virtually zero overlap between TitS and ToCS. I was told that there's a few name drops and some character appear in both but that's it.

No, you were told that you can understand the main plot of Cold Steel 1 and 2, which you can. That doesn't mean you're going to catch all of the nuances of every single plot detail though.

You're literally complaining about not everything being understandable in a massive series that is still ongoing.

Of course everything isn't answered yet, its not over.

There's a difference between not being understandable because it's ongoing and not being explained in the slightest when it at least seems to be a pretty critical plot point. I'm ok with some things not being explained but I just don't think it's good storytelling to name drop a plan on a consistent basis throughout an entire game without explaining it even a little bit. And that's why I compared it to BlazBlue which does the same thing.

Yes I'm sure by the end it will be explained before the stories over but by the end of the 2nd game they have given you barely anything to go on.

It doesn't mean I didn't still enjoy the game or I'm not hyped for the future games. I just think it's a pretty big point that people should be aware of if they are starting the series.

SwiftyDC posted...

NFUN posted...

SwiftyDC posted...

Where do I start with this series?

The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky

Which console would you say is the best to play this series on? Currently playing Ys VIII and its frickin awesome. First game I've played by this developer.

just don't go in expecting that kind of gameplay

or fun gameplay
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I'm into turn-based RPGs so this looks right up my alley.
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i mean the first trails in the sky game was very limited in terms of gameplay scope (but still fun to experiment with thanks to a modular quartz system) but if it's the worst battle system someone has played i am going to assume they've played like... 5 RPGs.
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Yeah Trails is more a story/character/worldbuilding focused series. The gameplay--while I do think it's good--is definitely secondary to the experience.
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it's detrimental to the experience because I want to play it based on all the praise for the story but I literally can't stomach that gameplay

even if I speed it up
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