Kiseki/Trails Community |OT| Familiar faces~, Zemurian places—SPOILER TAGS OR DIE!

[Mivey]

So, finished the Intermission of Trails to Azure, and .. it's ok?
The beach stuff was certainly incredibly juvenile and having literally every single female NPC paraded to the player in a swimsuit is .. something alright. However, it also at least goes away quickly enough, and maybe it's due to the way Geofront has written it, but it felt far less offensive then it could have been otherwise.
The other parts in Mishelam Wonderland were fine, if a bit bland.

Overall, I think this intermission was completely unnecessary and it really takes some energy off the pacing of the game. You go from the great finale of Chapter 2, to SSS having a vacation during a critical moment in the states history, and after they essentially failed to stop a terrorist strike without the help of hired thugs from Erebonia and Calvard. I liked how Zero handled this way better, the intermission there felt like it actually fit the rest of the game better.

Still, really looking forward to the second half of this, now that the silly harem shenanigans are no longer looming over it.

 

[Deleted member 17627]

Kind of glad to see more people liking CSIV in this thread and more folks critiquing CSIII as well.

Still love CSIII, but it felt like it was more focused on connected Erebonia to the rest of the Trails world than it did about having an actual narrative. Seriously, I feel like the story never progressed in that game until the very, VERY end. Game was still super fun though and the end of each chapter were so well done in terms of excitememt and chaeaxter development.

As for CSIV, glad people are actually appreciating how much character development happened in that game for much of the cast, and how the plot was actually pretty action packed and well paced (outside of the usual exposition blurbs), with the final act being the most engaged I'vve ever been with a video game. Still agree that "THE CURSE" is one of the dumbest things ever though.

 

[jaekeem]

So, finished the Intermission of Trails to Azure, and .. it's ok?
The beach stuff was certainly incredibly juvenile and having literally every single female NPC paraded to the player in a swimsuit is .. something alright. However, it also at least goes away quickly enough, and maybe it's due to the way Geofront has written it, but it felt far less offensive then it could have been otherwise.
The other parts in Mishelam Wonderland were fine, if a bit bland.

Overall, I think this intermission was completely unnecessary and it really takes some energy off the pacing of the game. You go from the great finale of Chapter 2, to SSS having a vacation during a critical moment in the states history, and after they essentially failed to stop a terrorist strike without the help of hired thugs from Erebonia and Calvard. I liked how Zero handled this way better, the intermission there felt like it actually fit the rest of the game better.

Still, really looking forward to the second half of this, now that the silly harem shenanigans are no longer looming over it.

Click to shrink...

I think intermission is a nice break in the context of Ao as a whole

you will see.. but the latter half of Ao is a ride that keeps going and going and going

 

[Shan]

Spoiler: CS3 Ch. 2

It hasn't been that long since I played Zero and Ao, like maybe a few months for Zero and like a month for Ao but i'm still raring to enter Crossbell.

I'm taking a pause though but MAN, i'm excited.

 

[Look! The Pie!]

Currently halfway through Zero and absolutely loving it (almost as much as Sky SC, which is probably my favourite in the series up to now), but like an idiot I didn't download the Azure patch before it was wiped.

So, while I appreciate people are sick of this type of question, I can't seem to get a definitive answer: will I spoil too much of Azure/get too confused by finishing Zero, playing CS1+2, then going back to Azure once the official release lands?

 

[jaekeem]

Currently halfway through Zero and absolutely loving it (almost as much as Sky SC, which is probably my favourite in the series up to now), but like an idiot I didn't download the Azure patch before it was wiped.

So, while I appreciate people are sick of this type of question, I can't seem to get a definitive answer: will I spoil too much of Azure/get too confused by finishing Zero, playing CS1+2, then going back to Azure once the official release lands?

Click to shrink...

i dm u

 

[Shining Star]

Currently halfway through Zero and absolutely loving it (almost as much as Sky SC, which is probably my favourite in the series up to now), but like an idiot I didn't download the Azure patch before it was wiped.

So, while I appreciate people are sick of this type of question, I can't seem to get a definitive answer: will I spoil too much of Azure/get too confused by finishing Zero, playing CS1+2, then going back to Azure once the official release lands?

Click to shrink...

If anything you should play CS 1+2 before Azure because Azure spoils them and not the other way around. Though I'm sure you can still get the Azure patch if you want.

 

[Lord Arcadio]

Finished CS3 ch 2. That was a long chapter lol.

Spoiler

Really loved going through Crossbell. It's a very faithful recreation even if it's only half the city, Ursula Road, East Crossbell Highway, and Stargazer Tower. Having played Azure recently, I remember all these random NPCs.

But this chapter has solidified a problem I'm having with CS3. There's too many returning characters from previous games. In a series known for worldbuilding, this makes the world feel very small.

Outside of the branch campus students (which have 2 returning characters), how many new major characters are there as of the end of chapter 2? Major Michael, Azure Siegfriend, and....? There' the Jaegar King, but he was referenced multiple times in previous games. This is just the first time we see him. There's....Reiner, Machias' co-worker. That's not a major character though.

As of the start of chapter 3, the entire branch campus staff are returning characters except Michael and the cafeteria girl. Even minor roles were given to returning characters! Did Celestin, Mint, Linde, and Becky all have to come to the new campus? We already have Rosine and Munk in town.

Rean keeps bumping into people he went to school with everywhere he goes!

That said, I actually like the new students better than the ones from CS1/CS2. Some of them look like they should be main characters lol. So far, I've made sure to talk to all of them every time the story advances.

 

[rrost]

If Trails gets a rep in smash who do you want it to be, My choice is olivert.

 

[Shan]

If Trails gets a rep in smash who do you want it to be, My choice is olivert.

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Estelle

 

[Encephalon]

I can't believe the orbal terminal in Zero has a screen that says "Windows XP Professional."

 

[Darkmaigle]

QQ on cold steel 3.

Pretty deep into chapter 1 and I just don't use magic. Is that normal? Am I missing some OP strats?

 

[Erpy]

I can't believe the orbal terminal in Zero has a screen that says "Windows XP Professional."

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Shhh! You want to get sued? It's Bindows. Not Windows. (yeah, they fullitzer-ed that one)

 

[Mivey]

I can't believe the orbal terminal in Zero has a screen that says "Windows XP Professional."

Click to shrink...

Kinda disappointed in that one. Would have thought Tio would put some obscure Binux distro on there.

 

[Encephalon]

Konda disappointed in that one. Would have thought Tio would put some obscure Binux distro on there.

Click to shrink...

They appear to have copy pasted info from their work PC. It also says it has service pack 2 installed.

 

[Shan]

Spoiler: CS3 Chapter 2

Maaaaaaaaaan, it's not like it's been YEARS I've played Zero and Ao it's been like...a few months at most for Zero and "day 1" for Azure on Geofront but shiiiiiit, I won't lie I loved exploring Crossbell city and see it rendered in CS3 visuals...of course I'm not done yet. I stopped at the part where the Pentagruel stay afloat right next to orchis tower so i'm not done but man...I grinned all the way through to see the NPCs I recognized...see what changed since Ao and so on, I love it. Damn I love this serie...

I loved having Tio along for the ride for a bit <3

 

[Encephalon]

I think I'll get Kuro if Hajimari doesn't drive me crazy, but I really hope they graduate from the "What was all of this for? Why, it was to TEST you, that's why!" writing.

Major Spoiler
Also, don't make a huge deal about a tragic character death, then bring them back the next game again.

 

[Taruranto]

Spoiler: CS4 endgame

What's up with the Sacred Beast of Earth suddenly returning and the Earthen Prison stuff? Either I missed something or this stuff seems out of the writer's ass.

 

[Tibarn]

Finally finished CS IV, overall it felt to me like a better but even more bloated CS II, the story this time has some conclusion but the game feels too long and often boring.

Summarizing my thoughs:

The good:
-More QoL than ever, knowing where there are NPC dialogue changes and optional events is a great change
-Some of the events with the reunited cast (from the entire series) are great
-Music is better than in CS III and overall good
-Optional content and sidequestes are mostly great, the best in the Kiseki series so far
-Localization has been improved greatly over CS III (after the recent patch I mean), there is far less rigid lines and less overall typos or clearly wrongly translated lines, talking to all NPCs is far more enjoyable in this game

The not so good:
-Combat gets tiring, the changes from III makes it more balanced but the Cold Steel system has been used for too many games and CS IV doesn't really make it more fun
-Story is mixed, there are some important events, new lore and some emotional sequences, but the entire Act II is awful and the constant "fighting against the good guys that are testing us or doing something bad because brainwash/curse/lack of conviction..." is really ridiculous
-Ouroboros still makes little sense even if they explain some new details in this game
-Character bloat makes everything tiring, from the need to equip dozens of characters to the cutscenes needlessly stretched to acommodate everyone's line, and even so, during the main story most of them have little to none relevance

I still think that the formula of CS I and CS III is far superior than what CS II or CS IV do, mostly because Falcom knows how to create good lore and intriguing situations but struggles to write conflicts that feel real (characters never die, most enemies are not really enemies, the games feel really formulaic). This is the reason Ao is often considered the best 2nd chapter of the series, as it creates a feeling of tension and danger that the Civil War or the Great Twilight don't come close to (the Orbal Shutdown incident was nice too). Knowing that Reverie won't come in 2 years or so makes me kind of relieved, by then I'll be eager to play another game with the CS combat and graphics.

 

[Deleted member 18400]

Finished CS3 ch 2. That was a long chapter lol.

Spoiler

Really loved going through Crossbell. It's a very faithful recreation even if it's only half the city, Ursula Road, East Crossbell Highway, and Stargazer Tower. Having played Azure recently, I remember all these random NPCs.

But this chapter has solidified a problem I'm having with CS3. There's too many returning characters from previous games. In a series known for worldbuilding, this makes the world feel very small.

Outside of the branch campus students (which have 2 returning characters), how many new major characters are there as of the end of chapter 2? Major Michael, Azure Siegfriend, and....? There' the Jaegar King, but he was referenced multiple times in previous games. This is just the first time we see him. There's....Reiner, Machias' co-worker. That's not a major character though.

As of the start of chapter 3, the entire branch campus staff are returning characters except Michael and the cafeteria girl. Even minor roles were given to returning characters! Did Celestin, Mint, Linde, and Becky all have to come to the new campus? We already have Rosine and Munk in town.

Rean keeps bumping into people he went to school with everywhere he goes!

That said, I actually like the new students better than the ones from CS1/CS2. Some of them look like they should be main characters lol. So far, I've made sure to talk to all of them every time the story advances.

Click to shrink...

To be fair, the opposite could be argued. The series already has so many character, that adding even more could be seen as inflating an already pretty massive cast of characters.

 

[Taruranto]

Finally finished CS IV, overall it felt to me like a better but even more bloated CS II, the story this time has some conclusion but the game feels too long and often boring.

Summarizing my thoughs:

The good:
-More QoL than ever, knowing where there are NPC dialogue changes and optional events is a great change
-Some of the events with the reunited cast (from the entire series) are great
-Music is better than in CS III and overall good
-Optional content and sidequestes are mostly great, the best in the Kiseki series so far
-Localization has been improved greatly over CS III (after the recent patch I mean), there is far less rigid lines and less overall typos or clearly wrongly translated lines, talking to all NPCs is far more enjoyable in this game

The not so good:
-Combat gets tiring, the changes from III makes it more balanced but the Cold Steel system has been used for too many games and CS IV doesn't really make it more fun
-Story is mixed, there are some important events, new lore and some emotional sequences, but the entire Act II is awful and the constant "fighting against the good guys that are testing us or doing something bad because brainwash/curse/lack of conviction..." is really ridiculous
-Ouroboros still makes little sense even if they explain some new details in this game
-Character bloat makes everything tiring, from the need to equip dozens of characters to the cutscenes needlessly stretched to acommodate everyone's line, and even so, during the main story most of them have little to none relevance

I still think that the formula of CS I and CS III is far superior than what CS II or CS IV do, mostly because Falcom knows how to create good lore and intriguing situations but struggles to write conflicts that feel real (characters never die, most enemies are not really enemies, the games feel really formulaic). This is the reason Ao is often considered the best 2nd chapter of the series, as it creates a feeling of tension and danger that the Civil War or the Great Twilight don't come close to (the Orbal Shutdown incident was nice too). Knowing that Reverie won't come in 2 years or so makes me kind of relieved, by then I'll be eager to play another game with the CS combat and graphics.

Click to shrink...

CS4's combat is nice in theory because how much you can costumize stuff (And I'd say for like 2 chapters, it is fun), but everything is so brainded and combined with the absolute lack of resource management everything becomes toothless and some characters could straight up solo most bosses.

I don't remember having this problem with CS2 on other hand, that still managed to be fun until the very end.

 

[Lord Arcadio]

To be fair, the opposite could be argued. The series already has so many character, that adding even more could be seen as inflating an already pretty massive cast of characters.

Click to shrink...

It's only a massive cast of characters because they decided to keep every major character (and even a ton of minor characters) from every game potentially relevant forever. It would have been fine if most of the characters were only in a couple of games and then retired from the story. Was it really necessary for Tita to show up again?

On some level, I'm enjoying seeing everyone again. But when it comes to immersion, it's really weird that Rean keeps bumping into characters from previous games.

 

[ShadowSoldier89]

CS1 was the best balanced of the CS games, but they are all just incredibly easy to break.

CS3 though was just brutally unfun if you didnt break it. Every single goddamn enemy, including some random encounters, having STR+(L), ATS+(L), DEF+(L), ADF+(L) and heal 50% HP that it could use multiple times was so maddeningly unfun that you feel obligated to break the game.

CS4 at least alleviated that by switching those moves out for the "Enhanced" moves that were way more manageable.

 

[PhillyPaw]

Now that I'm done school til late August I'm going HARD in learning Japanese, because I'll be dammed if I wait til 2025 for kuro.

I won't have Kanji down by Sept but I can at least get started on katakana and hiragana to help some. Will still use Google translate unless a spreadsheet is made by kitsune and the team :(

 

[Tibarn]

I don't remember having this problem with CS2 on other hand, that still managed to be fun until the very end.

Click to shrink...

CS4 at least alleviated that by switching those moves out for the "Enhanced" moves that were way more manageable.

Click to shrink...

CS II's combat had some twists and balance changes from CS I, which is the same CS IV does compared to CS III, the problem is that the basis of the combat (follow up attacks, brave points...) is the same since CS I and IMO it gets boring after 4 really long games. Add to that the character bloat, most of the characters have a low amount of crafts because they simply added too many playable characters, also spamming crafts is too easy as there's a lot of ways to obtain free CP.

CS III added orders and break damage, and while it's true that breaking an enemy and never letting them act again was kind of mandatory for some bosses and a repetitive mechanic, it still felt fresh for a few hours. CS IV on normal is REALLY easy, I have barely managed my characters' equipment and only changed their quartz like 3 times, and while it's true that the Enhanced mode and the balance to orders and break make the combat "better", it's not more fun, and adding to this the insane amount of meaningless text and content the game has, it made me want to skip as much random encounters as possible and only fight bosses. I never really felt invested on min-maxing or knowing the details of the combat as I just wanted to see the saga end.

TBH CS IV is the first Kiseki game that made me feel fatigued, even the last dungeon and the epic last cutscenes lost their impact to me as I struggled through act II and part of act III and was ready to see the damn thing ended.

 

[ShadowSoldier89]

CS II's combat had some twists and balance changes from CS I, which is the same CS IV does compared to CS III, the problem is that the basis of the combat (follow up attacks, brave points...) is the same since CS I and IMO it gets boring after 4 really long games. Add to that the character bloat, most of the characters have a low amount of crafts because they simply added too many playable characters, also spamming crafts is too easy as there's a lot of ways to obtain free CP.

CS III added orders and break damage, and while it's true that breaking an enemy and never letting them act again was kind of mandatory for some bosses and a repetitive mechanic, it still felt fresh for a few hours. CS IV on normal is REALLY easy, I have barely managed my characters' equipment and only changed their quartz like 3 times, and while it's true that the Enhanced mode and the balance to orders and break make the combat "better", it's not more fun, and adding to this the insane amount of meaningless text and content the game has, it made me want to skip as much random encounters as possible and only fight bosses. I never really felt invested on min-maxing or knowing the details of the combat as I just wanted to see the saga end.

TBH CS IV is the first Kiseki game that made me feel fatigued, even the last dungeon and the epic last cutscenes lost their impact to me as I struggled through act II and part of act III and was ready to see the damn thing ended.

Click to shrink...

CS3 didnt have any other redeeming qualities, so its combat issues stood out even more for me

 

[PK Gaming]

CS1 has a pretty good difficulty curve if you don't abuse delay spam (which is reasonable). "C" is the best designed boss in the Cold Steel series

CS2 is similar but the devs went "LET'S GET NUTTY" with Overdrive and Spirit Unification, but those options made the game way more fun despite the obvious imbalance. Easily the funnest Kiseki game in terms of sheer gameplay

CS3 has the most challenging difficulty curve, but once you break the game abusing the break system enemies can't do jack shit. I like how some bosses force you to use Brave Orders but playing the game optimally really causes you to break it unintentionally

CS4 fixed some of the obvious issues with the Break system, but the game kinda collapses under the sheer girth of overpowered characters. And for whatever reason I don't find the battles that engaging, not sure why. The characters are still very fun to use, however

CS1 > CS4 > CS3 = CS2 in terms overall balance, take it or leave it

 

[Darkmaigle]

Ok finished chapter 1 of CS3. Man I really like this game! My only thing so far is the bosses towards the end of the chapter we're giving me a lot of issues, if I didn't have everyone's CP charged and BP to pull off a couple orders I would get wiped. Is there something I'm missing here?

 

[lucancel]

I Falcom knows how to create good lore and intriguing situations but struggles to write conflicts that feel real (characters never die, most enemies are not really enemies, the games feel really formulaic). This is the reason Ao is often considered the best 2nd chapter of the series, as it creates a feeling of tension and danger that the Civil War or the Great Twilight don't come close to (the Orbal Shutdown incident was nice too).

Click to shrink...

I think you nailed It. Cold steel took a really wrong turn and villains Lost their credibility

 

[blackw0lf48]

One of the issues the trails series has is that because there are characters that are/were in Ouroborous that we know are actually pretty decent people (and this goes all the way back to sky) than they can't have it be some evil organization as that wouldn't be consistent with some characters you meet. Hence the "there are no real true enemies". Or if there are enemies it's usually people doing things separate from or counter to Ouroborous.

 

[Quinton]

I'm going to be replaying Trails FC and SC before moving on to all the new games. I played them on PSP back in 2016. I'm not a PC gamer but I grabbed the trilogy on Steam anyway because that's where 3 is.

Is there, like, an ideal gamepad for these games? Maybe a dumb question. But again, I don't really know much about PC gaming. I want to be comfortable. I remember how long SC is!

 

[Solarc]

I'm going to be replaying Trails FC and SC before moving on to all the new games. I played them on PSP back in 2016. I'm not a PC gamer but I grabbed the trilogy on Steam anyway because that's where 3 is.

Is there, like, an ideal gamepad for these games? Maybe a dumb question. But again, I don't really know much about PC gaming. I want to be comfortable. I remember how long SC is!

Click to shrink...

The ideal way to play the Sky trilogy is mouse imo, ever since I switched to it I've never gone back, you don't even need the keyboard, you can just play one-handed.

Now games after that, yeah, I definitely prefer a controller, I have an XBOX One Controller I use with Bluetooth and Logitech F710 with a dongle as a backup.

 

[ShadowSoldier89]

I'm going to be replaying Trails FC and SC before moving on to all the new games. I played them on PSP back in 2016. I'm not a PC gamer but I grabbed the trilogy on Steam anyway because that's where 3 is.

Is there, like, an ideal gamepad for these games? Maybe a dumb question. But again, I don't really know much about PC gaming. I want to be comfortable. I remember how long SC is!

Click to shrink...

whats ur favorite controller? use that one

 

[Chaosblade]

With Camp being tied to Cancel, I never found a genuinely comfortable control scheme for the Sky trilogy with a controller. That one thing made it at least a little awkward, but it wasn't too bad. I think my control scheme was something like (Xbox controls)

A - Ok/Talk
B - Cancel/Camp
X - Notebook
Y - Recipes
L/R bumpers - rotate
R - Turbo
L - Monster Guide

 

[Quinton]

The ideal way to play the Sky trilogy is mouse imo, ever since I switched to it I've never gone back, you don't even need the keyboard, you can just play one-handed.

Click to shrink...

Oh, really? Cool. Somehow wasn't expecting that.

whats ur favorite controller? use that one

Click to shrink...

With Camp being tied to Cancel, I never found a genuinely comfortable control scheme for the Sky trilogy with a controller. That one thing made it at least a little awkward, but it wasn't too bad. I think my control scheme was something like (Xbox controls)

A - Ok/Talk
B - Cancel/Camp
X - Notebook
Y - Recipes
L/R bumpers - rotate
R - Turbo
L - Monster Guide

Click to shrink...

Thanks! This is all helpful.

 

[Quinton]

Oh, derp. I forgot the game was originally for PC. No wonder it's great with mouse and keyboard. LOL.

 

[Solarc]

Oh, derp. I forgot the game was originally for PC. No wonder it's great with mouse and keyboard. LOL.

Click to shrink...

Yep, though I did forget to factor in turbo (prob because it was added while I was already on The 3rd and used to not having it) which would require using a keyboard, sadly.

 

[Mauricio_Magus]

I just finished Ao no Kiseki, I finally understand why people hold it in such high regard, that was incredible.

Now I can finally start the... Cold Steel games, but I'll probably wait a bit since all I did during the last month was play Zero and Azure.

 

[Darkmaigle]

Ok I gave everyone break 2 and and the cp regen stuff. Game just got ten times easier lol.

 

[Deleted member 56266]

So I didn't play the Geofront translated Crossbell arc duology since I still had to finish up the sky trilogy and like to take breaks between the games to avoid burnout. It's cool to see they will be officially localized relatively soon though, quite a surprise. I had a question though what exactly are we expecting the difference to be in the text between the official versions of the games and the ones previously available to download by Geofront? Was it not a very good translation or something because it was just a fan effort and now it will be of higher quality or more accurate?

 

[DarkplaceGarth]

Hey Trails community!

Been looking for a new turn based jrpg to start playing on ps4 and the Trails series seems to be the last left for me to try. Was checking the PS store discounts this week and was sad to see that some smart a-hole had the idea to put all the Cold Steel series on sale except for 1. I know how deeply connected these games/series are to one another, but $20 for CS 2 is a good deal and I know 3 and 4 are on switch where I would probably finish the series if I get hooked. This is all a roundabout way of asking (even though I think I already know the answer) is it possible to skip CS 1 and jump in at 2? $20 is an easy "give the series a try" price point, but $40 for CS 1 is more of a rough barrier for a series I have long been hesitant on trying out. I am honestly less concerned about missing out on character/emotional attachment as I imagine I will grow to the like the characters over the 3 other massive rpgs, but will reading/watching a quick summary of 1 be enough for me to jump into the series at CS 2?

 

[Chaosblade]

So I didn't play the Geofront translated Crossbell arc duology since I still had to finish up the sky trilogy and like to take breaks between the games to avoid burnout. It's cool to see they will be officially localized relatively soon though, quite a surprise. I had a question though what exactly are we expecting the difference to be in the text between the official versions of the games and the ones previously available to download by Geofront? Was it not a very good translation or something because it was just a fan effort and now it will be of higher quality or more accurate?

Click to shrink...

Geofront's localization (edit: of Zero, I haven't played Geofront Azure) was arguably already higher quality than NISA's work on CS3 and CS4. They cited examples of researching multiple out-of-game resources to confirm even the smallest of details. I imagine NISA will just review the text to make sure it's all consistent with their releases (something Geofront largely already did), and that there's nothing in there that will cause problems with ratings or whatnot. To be honest, I expect very, very, very minimal changes if they really are using Geofront's script as a base.

And I'm not sure I agree with that use of "soon," lol. Zero isn't coming out for a year a half.

 

[Chaosblade]

Hey Trails community!

Been looking for a new turn based jrpg to start playing on ps4 and the Trails series seems to be the last left for me to try. Was checking the PS store discounts this week and was sad to see that some smart a-hole had the idea to put all the Cold Steel series on sale except for 1. I know how deeply connected these games/series are to one another, but $20 for CS 2 is a good deal and I know 3 and 4 are on switch where I would probably finish the series if I get hooked. This is all a roundabout way of asking (even though I think I already know the answer) is it possible to skip CS 1 and jump in at 2? $20 is an easy "give the series a try" price point, but $40 for CS 1 is more of a rough barrier for a series I have long been hesitant on trying out. I am honestly less concerned about missing out on character/emotional attachment as I imagine I will grow to the like the characters over the 3 other massive rpgs, but will reading/watching a quick summary of 1 be enough for me to jump into the series at CS 2?

Click to shrink...

No no no no no.

Cold Steel 2 is literally "Cold Steel 1 part 2." It picks up directly after the events of CS1's climax.

Even skipping straight to Cold Steel 3 would be better than starting with Cold Steel 2. Far from ideal, but still better than skipping the relevant "build up game." (Even starting with CS1 isn't ideal, release order starting with Sky is the absolute best way to experience the games)

 

[OniluapL]

Hey Trails community!

Been looking for a new turn based jrpg to start playing on ps4 and the Trails series seems to be the last left for me to try. Was checking the PS store discounts this week and was sad to see that some smart a-hole had the idea to put all the Cold Steel series on sale except for 1. I know how deeply connected these games/series are to one another, but $20 for CS 2 is a good deal and I know 3 and 4 are on switch where I would probably finish the series if I get hooked. This is all a roundabout way of asking (even though I think I already know the answer) is it possible to skip CS 1 and jump in at 2? $20 is an easy "give the series a try" price point, but $40 for CS 1 is more of a rough barrier for a series I have long been hesitant on trying out. I am honestly less concerned about missing out on character/emotional attachment as I imagine I will grow to the like the characters over the 3 other massive rpgs, but will reading/watching a quick summary of 1 be enough for me to jump into the series at CS 2?

Click to shrink...

Look: I am more willing than others here to say that people can start in various places, that they don't need to play everything in order, that it's fine... but NO, it's really not worth it to start with CS2. As opposed to some other games in the series, it picks up in the literal middle of the story, summaries won't really help here. It's kinda like starting in episode 5 of a 8-episode plot driven tv show.

 

[DarkplaceGarth]

Look: I am more willing than others here to say that people can start in various places, that they don't need to play everything in order, that it's fine... but NO, it's really not worth it to start with CS2. As opposed to some other games in the series, it picks up in the literal middle of the story, summaries won't really help here. It's kinda like starting in episode 5 of a 8-episode plot driven tv show.

Click to shrink...

Haha this is what I figured. Just found out CS 1 and 2 are on PS Now, so will probably give them and the service a shot at the same time!

 

[sabertoothzombie]

-Story is mixed, there are some important events, new lore and some emotional sequences, but the entire Act II is awful and the constant "fighting against the good guys that are testing us or doing something bad because brainwash/curse/lack of conviction..." is really ridiculous
-Ouroboros still makes little sense even if they explain some new details in this game

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I'm currently going through CS IV (on Act 3) and these points stick out to me as so annoying. It really takes me out of it at times (that or any scene where someone is far off looking over the heroes going "just as I expected")

 

[PK Gaming]

Our community thread is getting pretty big huh

 

[Darkmaigle]

Hey Trails community!

Been looking for a new turn based jrpg to start playing on ps4 and the Trails series seems to be the last left for me to try. Was checking the PS store discounts this week and was sad to see that some smart a-hole had the idea to put all the Cold Steel series on sale except for 1. I know how deeply connected these games/series are to one another, but $20 for CS 2 is a good deal and I know 3 and 4 are on switch where I would probably finish the series if I get hooked. This is all a roundabout way of asking (even though I think I already know the answer) is it possible to skip CS 1 and jump in at 2? $20 is an easy "give the series a try" price point, but $40 for CS 1 is more of a rough barrier for a series I have long been hesitant on trying out. I am honestly less concerned about missing out on character/emotional attachment as I imagine I will grow to the like the characters over the 3 other massive rpgs, but will reading/watching a quick summary of 1 be enough for me to jump into the series at CS 2?

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Hello there! I just jumped straight to 3 - playing now. Three has a very lengthy series of recaps for 1 and 2 and I don't feel totally lost

 

[Shan]

Our community thread is getting pretty big huh

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It's really nice to see.

 

[Deleted member 56266]

Geofront's localization (edit: of Zero, I haven't played Geofront Azure) was arguably already higher quality than NISA's work on CS3 and CS4. They cited examples of researching multiple out-of-game resources to confirm even the smallest of details. I imagine NISA will just review the text to make sure it's all consistent with their releases (something Geofront largely already did), and that there's nothing in there that will cause problems with ratings or whatnot. To be honest, I expect very, very, very minimal changes if they really are using Geofront's script as a base.

And I'm not sure I agree with that use of "soon," lol. Zero isn't coming out for a year a half.

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Fair enough with the last point but as to the first one if it will be largely the same why will it take 1.5-2 years?