Trails of Cold Steel (and the Kiseki series in general)

[Val the Moofia Boss]

17 minutes ago, Eluvianii said:

So, currently my knowledge stops before the end of CS1 Chapter 6. Would it be too bad an idea to watch the trailer?

Lurker here but this gave me a heartattack. Goodness no! Don't EVER, EVER look anything up about future Trails games! Spoilers in trailers! Spoilers on box art! Spoilers in Steam store descriptions! Spoilers in Youtube thumbnails!

[Eluvianii he/him]

5 minutes ago, Val the Moofia Boss said:

Lurker here but this gave me a heartattack. Goodness no! Don't EVER, EVER look anything up about future Trails games! Spoilers in trailers! Spoilers on box art! Spoilers in Steam store descriptions! Spoilers in Youtube thumbnails!

Yeah, I figured, but since the two mini previews we got before were pretty mild, I was hoping that just maybe this one would fall into that category too.

 

Edit: Oh gosh, I'm just noticing. Welcome to the shard!

Edited June 25, 2020 by Eluvianii

[Weltall]

25 minutes ago, Eluvianii said:

So, currently my knowledge stops before the end of CS1 Chapter 6. Would it be too bad an idea to watch the trailer?

Ummmm, yes and no at the same time? So much stuff happens between where your knowledge ends and the game picks up that you'd kind of spoil yourself for things whenever you play the later games, but from where you are some of them wouldn't look like spoilers, if that makes sense.

There are a couple of things that are also outright spoilers even without context, including some for the parts of CS1 you haven't seen yet. Add in a few more if you could read the Japanese (or just recognize a particular word from anywhere else you might have encountered it) since some very early text in the trailer gives away something that happens near the end of CS4. And depending on how much you know of the later Crossbell arc events, there's some pretty hefty spoilers for there too.

EDIT: @Val the Moofia Boss Welcome to the Shard! And this thread. xD

Edited June 25, 2020 by Weltall

[Eluvianii he/him]

4 minutes ago, Weltall said:

Ummmm, yes and no at the same time? So much stuff happens between where your knowledge ends and the game picks up that you'd kind of spoil yourself for things whenever you play the later games, but from where you are  some of them wouldn't look like spoilers, if that makes sense.

There are a couple of things that are also outright spoilers even without context, including some for the parts of CS1 you haven't seen yet. Add in a few more if you could read the Japanese (or just recognize a particular word from anywhere else you might have encountered it) since some very early text in the trailer gives away something that happens near the end of CS4. And depending on how much you know of the later Crossbell arc events, there's some pretty hefty spoilers for there too.

EDIT: @Val the Moofia Boss Welcome to the Shard! And this thread. xD

Hmmmm so then I gather it's not as bad, but I still would ruin some surprises. sigh Guess I'll wait for now. Goddess, I hate being stuck.

[Zurvanight he/him]

1 hour ago, Val the Moofia Boss said:

Lurker here but this gave me a heartattack. Goodness no! Don't EVER, EVER look anything up about future Trails games! Spoilers in trailers! Spoilers on box art! Spoilers in Steam store descriptions! Spoilers in Youtube thumbnails!

Welcome to the Shard! I see you're a fellow FFXIV player too.

And yes Kiseki trailers spoil a ton. And even Hajimari's box art is a huge spoiler.

[Briar King]

Yep I’m not clicking on any tags or watching any trailers or looking at any YouTube guides. The gamefaqs on someone here posted is all I’m looking at.

[aneonfoxtribute]

3 hours ago, Eluvianii said:

So, currently my knowledge stops before the end of CS1 Chapter 6. Would it be too bad an idea to watch the trailer?

From what I hear yes. It apparently has big CS4 spoilers

[Weltall]

So Falcom's own upload of the trailer dropped late yesterday and with the higher resolution there's a few more things that could be spotted (or made more obvious). Spoil-tagged again because this involves some CS4 ending stuff (and the ending of the Crossbell games by reference).

Spoiler

- That's not Merkabah 09 like I thought in the group shot, it's 03. That means that there are potentially two new Dominion in Hajimari, which would ultimately bring us up to seven (not including Gaius as a replacement for Barkhorn) out of a potential twelve. My guess is that at least one of those is going to be someone we already know, and while I'm not positive they'd want to bring this out so soon there are so many inconsistencies in Gaius' story that I'm positive he's not really the Eighth Dominion. I've suspected since CS3 that Gaius is temporarily 'borrowing' Barkhorn's seat while he operates under the radar, a la how Kevin's accession was kept secret for years. Stuff that came out in CS4 regarding the Outside and Barkhorn being the Dominion most familiar with it only makes me more certain of this. So yeah, this could be where Falcom reveals that he's actually another number and Barkhorn is still alive.

It's also possible there are more Merkabah not seen in that shot (and there's still one of the five whose number can't be seen) but the fact that the Church has sent at least five Dominion to deal with the current situation is very troubling indeed. They only sent two Merkabahs to handle Azure Demiourgos, the Sept-Terrion of uberhax reality warping (and two different ones were directly involved in stopping the apocalyptic Great Twilight) so what's prompting them to send more than twice as many can't be good at all.

- Related to the above, my money is firmly on the mysterious mecha seen briefly at the end being the Great One at its full power. What we saw at the end of CS4 was a (deliberately) weakened and incomplete version so we've never seen its true state with all the power of the two Sept-Terrion that constitute it at its disposal. There are also some very interesting visual similarities between its appearance and the humanoid shape of Loa Erebonius and Loa Luciferia, the former of which was one of the first images Falcom teased back when CS1 was in development. And we know those things are 'shadows' of the Great One.

- While it's hard to be positive since the angle is what it is, it looks like McBurn is missing his right arm in one of those montage shots. Considering how Class VII was only able to mildly inconvenience him with Valimar, how he's pretty much the most powerful entity we've seen that isn't a Sept-Terrion or maybe a Holy Beast and the whole 'Is an entity from the Outside' thing, I don't even want to know what it is that we're facing that could hurt him like that. Things are definitely Not Good in Zemuria right now...

 

Edited June 26, 2020 by Weltall

[Briar King]

Oh goody! Ch 6..

last night I got Angelica in party! Woot and she is a “monk” “fist fighter”! These classes are among my favorite in RPG’s as they are usually one of the most death dealing members of the casts. Unfortunately I was so blitzed last night I was only able to get one fight in before turning off. Can’t wait to get back on for 4 pm session in a bit over an hour.

[Weltall]

Enjoy getting to use Angelica, she's a very good party member while you've got her. Fun factoid: her fighting style is one that's been a part of the series since the beginning. If you think Angie's fun and like monk-type characters in RPGs you'll love the series' first Taito practitioner Zin. xD

<starts getting popcorn ready for... Reasons>

Edited June 26, 2020 by Weltall

[Briar King]

And I have Domination quartz on her to so that 1st hit is like booooooooommmmm.

but maybe tag that part. The other person playing is also on ch 6.

[Zurvanight he/him]

Thought I'd mention it but there are a ton of Falcom games on sale right now during Steam's Summer Sale 

[Briar King]

I’m beyond pissed off after last night. Ch 6

so it was late and the ambien was kicking in but I wasn’t expecting to have to slug it out in two boss battles.. V was already a slug fest at only lvl 61 depleting my CP and then they throw me straight to Kylo Ren with empty gauge. I was so tanked after that almost 30 min V fight I told my son there is no way I ll be able to do this part, so I mostly just let him spank me while being super pissed off knowing that I will have to do this all over again tomorrow(today) *sigh

it was brutal

[Briar King]

Dang yeah I am indeed madder then I realized. It’s 4pm game time and I only had the game on for like 10 minutes before turning off. No mood. Gonna try to get two lvls higher before I start back to engage that story point.

[aneonfoxtribute]

I thought the C fight was an unbeatable fight. You can't beat him I don't think.

[Weltall]

In Chapter 4 it's unbeatable (it'll time out after a few turns no matter what you do) but the later fight is required.

@Briar King If you want a tip that can help a lot with the fights

Spoiler

C is vulnerable to Faint. Angelica's Zero Impact has a 90% chance to inflict Faint. Even with the resistance that C does have, that means she'll inflict it 45% of the time.

 

Edited June 28, 2020 by Weltall

[aneonfoxtribute]

I really hate how CS took away your ability to beat normally unwinnable fights. Like, in Sky and Crossbell, you can beat characters like Lorence and Arianrhod who you're meant to lose against if you know what you're doing and you get a ton of experience for it and often unique dialogue, but starting in CS, all unwinnable fights just can't be beat no matter how hard you try and it sucks. CS gameplay regresses in a lot of ways compared to Sky and Crossbell

[Briar King]

I’m a just lvl up tonight and try again for tomorrow’s 4pm session. It was pretty bad though today if I only could stomach 10 minutes before turning off. Ugh I gotta go through all that dang dialogue again.. most brutal slugfest of the game so far. May finally actually take the weaken enemy option if Kylo Ren beats me again next time just to press forward.

[Eluvianii he/him]

3 hours ago, aneonfoxtribute said:

I really hate how CS took away your ability to beat normally unwinnable fights. Like, in Sky and Crossbell, you can beat characters like Lorence and Arianrhod who you're meant to lose against if you know what you're doing and you get a ton of experience for it and often unique dialogue, but starting in CS, all unwinnable fights just can't be beat no matter how hard you try and it sucks. CS gameplay regresses in a lot of ways compared to Sky and Crossbell

Wait, really? That's, disappointing to say the least.

[Briar King]

How dirty will I feel if I actually have to take the weaken enemy Route?

[aneonfoxtribute]

1 hour ago, Eluvianii said:

Wait, really? That's, disappointing to say the least.

Yeah, it was so cool and one of my favorite things that the past games did. That and running away from battles 100% of the time no questions asked were absolutely brilliant decisions and the best things I've ever seen in a JRPG. Then CS came along and ruined both of them. Now instead of running from all battles if I was weak and needed to heal or just didn't feel like fighting at the time, I had to try and spam through encounters I ran into and had to use an item to get rid of it. Instead of challenging myself on hard boss fights that I'm not supposed to win (and giving up after the seventh attempt unless your name is Arianrhod), I just had to let myself die because even if I got them down low enough they would just remain at 1 HP and use an instant kill S-Craft immediately. I don't even know why they changed those. They didn't hurt anything

[Weltall]

22 minutes ago, aneonfoxtribute said:

Now instead of running from all battles if I was weak and needed to heal or just didn't feel like fighting at the time, I had to try and spam through encounters I ran into and had to use an item to get rid of it.

Technically this got started in the Crossbell games, not Cold Steel. And speaking of running, I wish they'd bring back the idea from The 3rd (which probably got it from Final Fantasy V originally) of rewarding you for either running away a lot or for never running; those two quartz were so much fun and I'm sure they could find something equally nice to give us in a future game.

1 hour ago, Briar King said:

How dirty will I feel if I actually have to take the weaken enemy Route?

Eh, unless you really care about the challenge of it I imagine you'll be able to live with yourself. Though I'd suggest that if you're having trouble in general you should take a careful look at the mechanics and how you can manipulate them, because there's a lot of things you can do with these games that you won't be told about and have to experiment with in terms of Orbment and gear setups, particular Arts/Crafts being really useful in certain circumstances etc. Once you get a feel for the tricks you can play, it'll help a lot with every game in the series.

Edited June 29, 2020 by Weltall

[aneonfoxtribute]

Wait was the running away not being guaranteed in Crossbell? I thought it was just CS?

Also I think I might have actually lowered the difficulty for the C fight. 

[Briar King]

Kinda scared I burned myself out temporarily. I haven’t had any desire to play since that incident for my 4 pm time. Only played just a few minutes each day since and also not really playing at night as I wait on the ambien to do its thing. 

[NattyBo]

Im not reading any previous posts for fear of spoilers, but just started Trails in the Sky on Vita. I have Trails SC, and trails of cold steel 1/2, and 3 on switch. Long trip ahead!