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This is definitely a good summary of my feelings towards 2. Feels like I could be confronting the game's villain right now but there's so much miscellaneous stuff holding me back.
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Which did you prefer? Trails of Cold Steel I or II?
- Thread starter Deleted member 17627
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This is definitely a good summary of my feelings towards 2. Feels like I could be confronting the game's villain right now but there's so much miscellaneous stuff holding me back.
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Also reading everyone's comments above regarding Cold Steel IV really makes it sound like my friends saying it took the expanded on both the strengths and flaws of II.
Oh well, still got two full games to get there anyways.
Oh well, still got two full games to get there anyways.
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I felt similarly and it kind of stinks because when it happened in the first, you still had all the sidequests and NPC storylines to keep you interested; unfortunately, this doesn't really have much of that.
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Makes sense given both were supposed to be one game together, but both games got too long. I honestly could've seen both being one game if they cut out the last two field studies of the 1st game (keep the dungeons though) and made this whole "find everyone and solve every town's problems again" first half of the 2nd game much more condensed.
I haven't quite finished CS2 yet, but so far I enjoyed 1 a lot more. I liked the structure of it, even if it was a little repetitive. 2 really just feels like a constant "time advances and stuff happens to show that Rean and co. are getting stronger!" without anything REALLY important happening until the end (I'm in the final dungeon now, I think).
And this is more of a pet peeve, but I haaaaaaaate unwinnable battles in RPGs, and it feels like most of 2 is nothing but that. I get what they're going for story-wise, but it still really bothered me. And I don't find mech-combat to be fun in the least.
And this is more of a pet peeve, but I haaaaaaaate unwinnable battles in RPGs, and it feels like most of 2 is nothing but that. I get what they're going for story-wise, but it still really bothered me. And I don't find mech-combat to be fun in the least.
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Dang, you beat Cold Steel 2 in 50 hours? Did you not do any of the sidequests or something?
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I totally understand you on the bolded part. I definitely appreciate the more gameplay oriented approach, but you really need to have a sense of progression for that that the second game didn't do much to offer.
Part way through 2 right now and at this point I really prefer 1. 2 is good, but I really loved the "vibe" of the first game, although it ticked the Persona boxes for me that automatically make me love a game.
A lot of 2 has felt more like busywork and there was a moment where all of the tension built up in the first game was deflated unceremoniously, even though it was kinda cool in concept. I'm hoping it picks up again.
A lot of 2 has felt more like busywork and there was a moment where all of the tension built up in the first game was deflated unceremoniously, even though it was kinda cool in concept. I'm hoping it picks up again.
For real lol it took me 110 hours to beat Pt. 1 but I did almost everything in it including talking to almost every NPC twice. I don't plan on doing this for pt. 2 though.
Some people play the game with the turbo on pretty much the whole time, I didn't in Cold Steel but I did for Sky 3rd
I think CS 2 took me about 80 hours compared to 105 for CS 1
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I did turbo for Cold Steel 1 and it still took me 95 hours lol.
It's still a great series. It's just that some games have worse pacing and padding issues. Were it not for those problems, I would honestly be loving the second game as much as the first.
In the PC version of Cold Steel I running turbo mode accelerates the clock as well (this could be true for the PS4 version as well but I'm not sure). My time played on Steam is less than my current playtime and I've left the game idling at the main menu for several hours.
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Actually just tested it out with a stopwatch on the PS4 version and nope, the timer in the game does not speed up on turbo mode. So I really did put all those hours into the game lol.
The only way I could see that as being remotely possible would be to leave the game on turbo mode, not talk to anyone other than those necessary for advancing the plot, and do none of the optional quests.
I had a feeling that would be the case 'cause I know the two turbo modes were created independently of each other. It's a shame the PC one does, I'd have liked it to stay accurate.
I'm not a big fan of either but I enjoyed cs1 much more. I think it's mainly because it's mostly a setup game focused on worldbuilding and setting the stage for the main conflict, and it does this pretty well if a bit slow. Shit hits the fan pretty much last minute and then it abruptly ends. CS2 picks up right after that and tries to deliver on all that setup but fails miserably. It suffers from poor pacing and a lot of poor writing whenever things do happen. The civil war plot rides almost entirely on the political setup from the first game as it's tonally all over the place and most events that move it forward are just the worst kind of anime nonsense. So yeah essentially CS1 left me with a lot of benefit of the doubt while CS2 crushed that.
Played on Hard and did everything other than a couple of secret quests and filling out the books. Steam says 50 hours but the in-game timer says 90 hours, but I know the in-game one isn't accurate since it's affected by turbo and I'm sure as heck I didn't spend 15 hours a day playing CS2.
I thought 50 hours were normal lol.
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Definitely agree on the Persona feeling. I didn't think I would like the NPCs because of how uninteresting and one-dimensional they were in Tokyo Xanadu and Ys VIII. But I had to admit, by the end of the game, I love almost every one of them. They really brought Trista to life and it made coming back to town after a field study feel like such a heartwarming event.
That being taken away and instead being replaced by much more dungeons in II was not so great. As much as I have come to like the Kiseki/Trails series, the dungeons really are so boring in that they're just straight lines with a room or two branching out containing a treasure chests. Being much more involved with the people of Trista and the cities the cast went to was much more interesting than chasing after antagonists, then said antagonists immediately running away.
Cold Steel 2 is easily the worst Kiseki game, tho i still have to play CS3/4.
It's not a bad game per se, but most of what was set on the previous game had really disappointing conclusions. Crow deserved better at the very least.
I was pretty hyped for the mecha combat stuff but it's pretty sad that only Rean managed to get one (in the playable party), which served to put him on the obvious harem protagonist status even more.
Even the visual novel elements are kinda disappointing. No matter which character you choose to be the one to receive Rean's affection, the scene with Alisa is the only with an actual fulfilling ending. She's clearly the canon option so why the hell this harem mechanics even exist? The other characters could have a lot more interesting relationships between them without this harem bs.
It's not a bad game per se, but most of what was set on the previous game had really disappointing conclusions. Crow deserved better at the very least.
I was pretty hyped for the mecha combat stuff but it's pretty sad that only Rean managed to get one (in the playable party), which served to put him on the obvious harem protagonist status even more.
Even the visual novel elements are kinda disappointing. No matter which character you choose to be the one to receive Rean's affection, the scene with Alisa is the only with an actual fulfilling ending. She's clearly the canon option so why the hell this harem mechanics even exist? The other characters could have a lot more interesting relationships between them without this harem bs.
The worldbuilding in the first game was magnificent. I was way more invested in Erebonia because of how they fed regions to the player piece by piece.
The pace of this game really allowed for the level of exposition required to invoke those kinds of emotions, and it was really nice. It's this quality that makes Sen 1 my late-gen sleeper JRPG for last generation consoles, not unlike what Ar Tonelico 2 did (fuck NISA tho).
The pace of this game really allowed for the level of exposition required to invoke those kinds of emotions, and it was really nice. It's this quality that makes Sen 1 my late-gen sleeper JRPG for last generation consoles, not unlike what Ar Tonelico 2 did (fuck NISA tho).
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Oh man, when almost all of the NPCs that you met throughout the game's areas showed up at the festival? That was so charming, I loved it.
I could write a book about how poorly they handled Crow. Turning the only Class VII character that wasn't perfect into a Sasuke type was such a boring move. I really expected him to have this interesting backstory, but nope, it really was the same as everyone else who hated Osborne which was "he took over my province," and that was pretty much it.
We didn't even get any further character development for him in 2, just him running away one fight after the next. At the very least they could've kept him alive; it felt like they were trying SO MUCH to make another Leonhardt, but with like, 90% less backstory.
Another reason I didn't like 2 is that it felt like almost nothing had any... weight? Or consequences, I guess is the term I'm looking for. Like, throughout the entire game you're constantly losing most of the time, and yet no one ever dies, nothing of any real significance happens as a result of you losing: Rean's Dad gets injured in an attack and the town is damaged... but then he recovers and the town goes back to normal like nothing happened. You constantly lose against super-powerful foes who just decide to let you go half the time, because... reasons?
It's like everyone in the game treats these big battles and fights as sparring matches. As soon as the fight ends, it turns into "Well, you still fought well, but I had the upper hand in the end! Now, let us all go home and train harder so we can having another sporting match next time, eh?" (okay, I'm exaggerating, but that's the vibe I get a lot of the time).
It's like everyone in the game treats these big battles and fights as sparring matches. As soon as the fight ends, it turns into "Well, you still fought well, but I had the upper hand in the end! Now, let us all go home and train harder so we can having another sporting match next time, eh?" (okay, I'm exaggerating, but that's the vibe I get a lot of the time).
I preferred the first one almost entirely because of the school environment and the pacing of it. That said, the second game grew on me in the second half, even with the insane amount of backtracking once
it becomes sort of an open-world game.
As loose of a successor as you can make but still it was the feeling I got once the character recruitment started and I realized new parts of my base opened up the more characters I recruited.
I think you get all the party members for battles no matter what but it's the other characters that you have to actually look around towns and dungeons for. It makes it even better if you do all the journal entries in CS1 and remember some of those side character's stories. Alan and Bridget were my favorite.
I think CS1 is better than 2, and 3 is better than both. I definitely disagree with people who say 2 is the worst Trails game though. Of the ones released in English (the only ones I've played), I think Sky FC is by far the worst. I found it just so unbearably slow.
As for the harem mechanics in Cold Steel, I think I'd be much more sour on them if I thought that Rean/Alisa made in any way a compelling couple. But tbh, I don't. Towa and Sara both have much more chemistry with Rean. So at least the harem stuff means that I can dodge the semi-forced Rean/Alisa relationship if I have to. That said, it really does mean that the love interests get far less interaction with other side characters than they deserve, and I'm not sure how they're going to handle that in games going forward, unless they just force Rean/Alisa to be canon after CS4 (assuming that's something that's even possible after the events of CS4, I have no idea what happens).
Anyway, my ranking:
3rd > CS3 > Sky SC > CS1 > CS2 > Sky FC
I actually thought that was really good. It would have been easy to make Crow some monster with a disasterous backstory driven to destroy Osbourne. But that's too easy. It's much more believable (and IMO better storytelling) that he's just some kid everyone ignored who went though exactly the same thing everyone else in the annexed countries went through, and was given the tools to do something about it. Crow and the IFL more generally are simply Osbourne reaping what he sows for his normal behaviour. If Crow were somehow special it would really undermine that theme.
As for the harem mechanics in Cold Steel, I think I'd be much more sour on them if I thought that Rean/Alisa made in any way a compelling couple. But tbh, I don't. Towa and Sara both have much more chemistry with Rean. So at least the harem stuff means that I can dodge the semi-forced Rean/Alisa relationship if I have to. That said, it really does mean that the love interests get far less interaction with other side characters than they deserve, and I'm not sure how they're going to handle that in games going forward, unless they just force Rean/Alisa to be canon after CS4 (assuming that's something that's even possible after the events of CS4, I have no idea what happens).
Anyway, my ranking:
3rd > CS3 > Sky SC > CS1 > CS2 > Sky FC
I actually thought that was really good. It would have been easy to make Crow some monster with a disasterous backstory driven to destroy Osbourne. But that's too easy. It's much more believable (and IMO better storytelling) that he's just some kid everyone ignored who went though exactly the same thing everyone else in the annexed countries went through, and was given the tools to do something about it. Crow and the IFL more generally are simply Osbourne reaping what he sows for his normal behaviour. If Crow were somehow special it would really undermine that theme.
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Hahahahahaha, this gets worse with the other two games in the series. I still love how the first two games go, "we'll have a third faction that has people from both ideologies!" And then said faction is pretty much 90% Imperial Army/Commoners, 10% Nobles. Not saying what Osbourne did was great or anything, he's also awful, but the rest of the Imperial Army/Commoners just want peace and equal treatment.
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From what I've seen of 3, it seems like it takes the good parts of both 1 and 2 and puts them together? Heard 4 though pretty much is like 2 in most aspects though haha.
3 has probably the most satisfying arc in the series, plus it has an incredible amount of forward movement in the plot.
No clue how 4 is, but 3 sets it up for incredible success, at least.
While I would agree that Sky FC is entirely too slow, and your assessment that CS3 is better than the first two CS games aligns with what appears to be the consensus, I don't agree regarding Rean/Alisa. Of all of the pairings, they are clearly the most plausible as a couple. Rean and Towa seem like friends at most, Sara being a case of "maybe someday" rather than anything that would be happening right then and there.
The only other pairing I could really picture aside from Rean/Alisa would be Rean/Laura. Quite positive that the former will be the canonical one either way.
From what I've been able to tell within the community thread, most seem to feel that CS4 failed to stick the landing and went back to the worst of CS2's sensibilities.
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Yeah, that figures. It's a shame if that's what happened, because CS3 really does set up CS4 for a great and memorable landing.
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That's what I've been hearing and seeing too. A friend of mine told me that like 15% of the game has actual story/character developments and that the rest is a lot of asking questions and chasing after people, like Cold Steel 2. But also like the second game, he said that the really good parts are REALLY good, so that'll be interesting to see.
Ah. The wait for CS4 is going to kill me. It's taking every bit of my willpower to not watch a Sen IV playthrough on YouTube. I know they're there. Just taunting me.
If it wasn't very much a case of "Rean should definitely go to prison for this", I'd say that Rean and Musse actually have weirdly good chemistry too. But the whole teacher angle, and fact that she's 4 years younger than him, means that it's not really a possible pairing assuming there isn't a long timeskip between 3 and 4. I agree that they'll probably just make Alisa/Rean canon and be done with it though, and I can't really blame them.
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I've played through 1 & 2 back to back on PS4 recently. Now on part 3. I think I like 2 the most out of the first 2 games. I like the semi openness and how there is a lot more momentum from the start. This is def thanks to CS1 doing the heavy lifting with world building and setting up characters you care for. But I had a much better time with CS2 whereas part 1 felt like a slog at points.
CS1 has the superior soundtrack though. And a much better closing act than CS2's epilogue which I hated and put down, read a recap of the ending, and moved on to CS3. I also agree that CS2's civil war felt very low stakes. Hopefully 3 dials it up a bit. But I will say Rean grew on me a lot and appreciate how you really feel the weight of everything he's going through.
CS1 has the superior soundtrack though. And a much better closing act than CS2's epilogue which I hated and put down, read a recap of the ending, and moved on to CS3. I also agree that CS2's civil war felt very low stakes. Hopefully 3 dials it up a bit. But I will say Rean grew on me a lot and appreciate how you really feel the weight of everything he's going through.
I greatly preferred CS2 over CS1. I genuinely didn't enjoy most of CS1, but managed to push through to the end. Glad I did, as CS2 and CS3 were fantastic. So much better pacing and great battle system improvements.
I think CS II is the next game I'll play once I finish my move at the start of next month. Still have to buy and play Sky 3rd and the Crossbell duology. Planning on hopefully playing CS II, Sky the 3rd, and Zero in 2020 and ideally spread far apart over time. Granted, if I play these three games at the rate I've been playing the past couple of years, that might be all I play all year haha.
Really enjoyed CS I until the very end when the pacing came to a crawl (that last dungeon was a huge slog imho), curious to read people's takes in this thread.
Really enjoyed CS I until the very end when the pacing came to a crawl (that last dungeon was a huge slog imho), curious to read people's takes in this thread.
See, posts like these are the only reason I'll even bother trying 2. I just finished the first game today. It's not a bad game, but the slow pacing and constant field tests got grating by the end of the game imo. And I didn't like not seeing half the cast for such long stretches at times. Plus the dialogue felt excessive at times. Hopefully 2 changes that.
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I honestly have forgotten that there's the conflict going on given how so uninvolved Class VII is.
I'd say one of the big problems with CS2 isn't that Class VII is uninvolved, is that's even when there are cut aways from them, there's functionally no evidence that there's a war going on. It's just people sitting around tables saying abstract things like "We're doing well in the Western Front."