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I see a lot of people saying that Arteria is in Leman. Where is this actually made clear in the games? It would seem weird to publicize Arteria's location but keep Leman a secret if Arteria being located inside Leman is a thing.
Not to throw more fuel on the 'what Trails game should I start with' bonfire but this video came out yesterday that addressed the issue and I thought I'd share it here since I don't seen anyone else doing so. Might be something worth linking to whenever the question comes up in the future:
I like how he uses the phrase 'the Crossbell problem' when referencing the state of the middle series' lack of availability on modern platforms. Kinda echoes how you first hear about Crossbell itself in Second Chapter:
Crossbell's basically a fishbone stuck in two throats at once. All the issues surrounding it just get called the 'Crossbell Problem.'
I see...Boy, no wonder people get worked up about it, then.
I like how he uses the phrase 'the Crossbell problem' when referencing the state of the middle series' lack of availability on modern platforms. Kinda echoes how you first hear about Crossbell itself in Second Chapter:
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I learned that lesson after 2 years of nothing Tales livestreams
It seemed like it was meant to be canon at one point, if still largely irrelevant.
One other game is also mentioned to be non-canon, Trails in the Sky OL (mobile retelling of Sky FC). No surprise there.
Heck, they could even make a game that takes place in multiple, smaller regions.
I know this post is a week old but what's the popular ship with Rean? According to the polls I mean. I didn't know that was a thing and that I would be so curious.
Sen no Kiseki's most popular pairings: 1. Rean & Crow (1015) / 2. Jusis & Millium (379) / 3. Rean & Alisa (350) / 4. Jusis & Machias (334) / 5. Rean & Altina (299).
It looks like Dorothee rig the poles. She got her not so cult readers to vote for the pairing she needed for her future books. She's the real Grandmaster. She's the Meta Grandmaster!
Seriously though, I was expecting like Rean/Laura or Rean/Sara or something. I guess because of how bratty Alisa came off in the first game that I mentally labeled her as a little sister figure to Rean and don't like that pairing. 🤷🏽♂️ The masses has spoken I guess.
Rean/Laura came in 17th and Rean/Sara didn't even make it into the top 30.
After seeing the results I can easily believe that. The whole Naruto and Sasuke thing along with it's fanbase ruined the whole best friend Shonen pairing. No biggie, I'm just amazed Dorothee got her high school Yaoi Novella.
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BL (Boys' Love) or Yaoi, you mean. The combis Dengeki polled don't have to be romantic in nature; Rean/Valimar came in 13rd.
Thank you for the correction and.. Rean/Valimar came in 13th.. 👀 people are weird, especially on the internet.
I don't care about pairings at all. I get curious about them and like to joke about them like with the polls but don't care about it. It's all preferences and opinion based reasons. It leads to the most brain dead conversations.
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The yaoi fanbase has been going strong long before Naruto and the reason why people latched onto to the "Naruto/Sasuke" pairing is that it was such a poorly written friendship that fell ass backwards into prime yaoi fuel. Even Kishimoto admits he completely screwed up in depicting that relationship, and unintentionally made them come across as "crazy."
Rean/Crow is popular because it sort of starts out that way. They have a normal relationship in the first game, but
Cold Steel 2 dives straight into Naruto/Sasuke territory. Almost verbatim, with Rean declaring that he'll "bring Crow back" and Crow (a criminal) angsting about it. It's not remotely a powerhouse pairing in terms of writing, but if you like cheesy shonen rivalries and are into BL, it has its appeal.
Things completely change in Cold Steel 3/4 though. (mild CS3 spoilers)
Maybe it's the games tone, or maybe it's the complete and utter disinterest in trying to push any of Rean's female relationships in a way that isn't cynical waifu bait, but the developers start to seriously develop Rean's relationship with Crow. First they "address" CS2's elephant in the room by having Rean admit to knowing Crow would be imprisoned for his crimes if he were "brought back." There's a lot of push and pull with Rean coping with Crow's death and his relationship with "you know who".
(major CS4 spoilers)
CS4 is where things completely go off the rails though. One of the game's emotional core relationship is between Rean and Crow. Not Rean and Alisa. Or Rean with his family. It's Rean and Crow. There are several key moments that are fundamentally dependant on Rean and Crow's relationship. Hell the ending is dependant on it. Crow is the only male character you can buy a ring for. He has an intimate talk with Rean before the final boss. He is the only character that Rean has a meaningful intimate connection that exists outside of the "romance" blob. But that's just in-game stuff. The marketing is more shameless; they push Rean/Crow merch like crazy. The official steelbook has Estelle/Lloyd/Rean paired respectively paired with Joshua/Elie/Crow. They have matching keychains, a memorial plaque, dakis... they even marketed their dumb VR game with Rean & Crow!
Suffice it to say, the fanbase and falcom realized that the only non-platonic relationship with Rean that was worth a damn was with Crow. They didn't have the guts to pull the trigger, however.
Suffice it to say, the fanbase and falcom realized that the only non-platonic relationship with Rean that was worth a damn was with Crow. They didn't have the guts to pull the trigger, however.
PK Gaming I don't want to directly quote you because of the spoilers and I only played the first two games as of now. If Rean's and Crow's relationship is detailed out in Cold Steel III and IV I'll wait to play those games before labeling their friendship along side of NaruSas.
I learnt about Yaoi because of Naruto/Sasuke shipping psychos that wouldn't stop shitting up old threads of forums I use to frequent. I was trying to joke about it because I like Dorothee character in the first two games. I found her love for the genre cute and couldn't miss my chance at jokes of her influencing the poll results where Rean/Crow came in first place.
I learnt about Yaoi because of Naruto/Sasuke shipping psychos that wouldn't stop shitting up old threads of forums I use to frequent. I was trying to joke about it because I like Dorothee character in the first two games. I found her love for the genre cute and couldn't miss my chance at jokes of her influencing the poll results where Rean/Crow came in first place.
I can't speak too much for CS3 and 4 (although from what I've heard, there's plenty to talk about there), but for CS1 and 2 I think even comparing it to Naruto and Sasuke is doing it a bit of a disservice, regardless of how intentional things are.
There's a lot of the standard yaoi bait stuff for sure. The burger date in CS2 immediately jumps to mind, since it actually could easily just be platonic, it just happens to be a very unusual choice for a backstory dump scene. And a lot of the "Rean obsessing over Crow" is within the standards of the genre, even if it's still gay as hell. And if I'm being generous, the general idea of that one Alfin bonding event where she's jealous of Crow could just be a fun "making fun of it" moment, even if the specifics do get a little too serious for that.
But... I dunno. Typically, yaoi bait flirting has a "Flirt -> FLIRT?!?! -> Oh that guy, what a character" structure, which isn't really followed up on all the time in CS. Sometimes they're just flirting and that's the scene. Also, it's easy to overlook, but the presence of Angelica and Olivier does a lot to validate queer readings of dialogue. Sure they're often used for comedy, but they're also full blown characters in their own right. if a decent queer character is in a text, that means the writer might be woke enough to include more, so it's much easier to believe in that sort of possible intent. Also, half the cast ships Jusis and Machias, who I think are *actually* just friends/rivals, but it further queers the work.
And even if you ignore Crow, Rean himself can be played as a total bi disaster. I'm sure the intent was that you wouldn't do this, but fact of the matter is during the festival in CS1 you can invite the entire male cast on romantic dates and have Rean defend his intent every time. This is very much player created subtext, but it's subtext that's allowed within the scope of the game. The games also generally value male relationships as being equal to female ones in regards to the bonding system? Which isn't always the norm.
This isn't to say that anything about this is remotely canon as of CS2. In fact I think it started as an accident that they were then forced to develop due to CS2's structure. But it's a thing.
But... I dunno. Typically, yaoi bait flirting has a "Flirt -> FLIRT?!?! -> Oh that guy, what a character" structure, which isn't really followed up on all the time in CS. Sometimes they're just flirting and that's the scene. Also, it's easy to overlook, but the presence of Angelica and Olivier does a lot to validate queer readings of dialogue. Sure they're often used for comedy, but they're also full blown characters in their own right. if a decent queer character is in a text, that means the writer might be woke enough to include more, so it's much easier to believe in that sort of possible intent. Also, half the cast ships Jusis and Machias, who I think are *actually* just friends/rivals, but it further queers the work.
And even if you ignore Crow, Rean himself can be played as a total bi disaster. I'm sure the intent was that you wouldn't do this, but fact of the matter is during the festival in CS1 you can invite the entire male cast on romantic dates and have Rean defend his intent every time. This is very much player created subtext, but it's subtext that's allowed within the scope of the game. The games also generally value male relationships as being equal to female ones in regards to the bonding system? Which isn't always the norm.
This isn't to say that anything about this is remotely canon as of CS2. In fact I think it started as an accident that they were then forced to develop due to CS2's structure. But it's a thing.
Still going through my CS1 replay and I had finally accepted Alisa as the "canon" relationship for Rean, but now y'all got me wanting to pick Crow lol. As much as I like the Cold Steel series, I don't enjoy having to plan Rean's love life for him. With intricate, continuous stories like this I really do prefer just having relationships set in stone.
I wonder if they'll ever be brave enough to set the current bonding system aside for future games in the series. I'd like another female mc like Estelle tbh but it's hard to imagine them wanting to risk upsetting certain fans now that they've taken the series down this "choose your own waifu" path.
I miss the simple times with Estelle. She knew what she wanted, went after her man and saved his ass, now the happy couple is free to reappear in the series and advertise their love whenever they want. Will Rean ever be allowed to have such a deep relationship with any of the members of his harem beyond the Cold Steel series? It's hard to imagine that being possible.
I wonder if they'll ever be brave enough to set the current bonding system aside for future games in the series. I'd like another female mc like Estelle tbh but it's hard to imagine them wanting to risk upsetting certain fans now that they've taken the series down this "choose your own waifu" path.
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I enjoy both of having the choice or predetermine. I don't know about waifu's or any of that stuff but I like characters and personalities and how the main character plays off of each character. For me to get drawn into a game I need to like the main character or the avatar needs to be silent and "represent" the player as their avatar. I also am a sucker for a sappy love story like with Squall and Rhinoa or choice based love interested like in Witcher 3 or in Trails of Cold Steel.
I said this earlier in the thread but edited it out, I have this weird thought process that if I'm going to play a character male or female and that persons is about to be dragged through a bunch of shit in the main game I want to at least get him/her laid or awkwardly hug/kiss before they put their lives on the line in a final battle
How likely is it that CS1 will get a nice discount anytime soon (PS4)?
It sounds intriguing but I got burned many times with recent JRPGs and don't want to waste another 40€...
It sounds intriguing but I got burned many times with recent JRPGs and don't want to waste another 40€...
Is this a normal thing for NISA? Fan art contests, jacket contests, hosting Falcom's president locally during Anime Expo (twice).
I don't know the answer but it's pretty cool how they interact with their fan base.
Some motherfuckers better hope Chris Hanson gets to them first.
No lie, I still say if Estelle had debuted 10 years later she' be in danger of just that.
only when they're in desperation mode
got to keep the mothership afloat after all
Seems like pretty standard and cheap advertisement.
Anyway, I've been replaying Cold Steel 1 and I'm suddenly reminded how terrible its final boss is. Who thought designing a battle solely based on RNG was a good idea? It's awful game design.
Apparently the Crossbell arc almost didn't happen as it wasn't planned in the beginning
Yeah, that's been known for awhile. They were originally going to go straight from SC to Cold Steel. Then they decided to do the Crossbell arc and started working on Zero, and then after that realized they needed another game to set it up and made 3rd.
Speaking of Zero/Ao, someone explain evading/agility to me. If your agility says something like "11 (25)", does it mean your actual agility attribute is 11 and your chance to evade any physical attack is 25%? If agility only affects evading and your chance to evade is stated with percentage chance, what's the point of the attribute score? It's kind of confusing to me.
Not getting my hopes up because of such a vague answer, I just want that fan translation to be done. Even if something does happen it'll be several years from now.
At least he's thinking on it.
Worst case scenario: direct ports on some outlier device less than 30% of the gaming population owns... or Stadia.
EDIT: after reviewing those Cold Steel 1 concept sketch sheets again I'm starting to think that may not be the case, and that the sheets that very clearly say 'for PSP (480x272 Resolution)' were just extras they had left over from their PSP development years.
Worst case scenario: direct ports on some outlier device less than 30% of the gaming population owns... or Stadia.
Cold Steel on PSP... man, can you even imagine? Seemed like they were going for full 3D models in battle at least.
EDIT: after reviewing those Cold Steel 1 concept sketch sheets again I'm starting to think that may not be the case, and that the sheets that very clearly say 'for PSP (480x272 Resolution)' were just extras they had left over from their PSP development years.
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I'm curios if the NISA translation will somehow be worse than the leaked fan-translation. If anyone can pull that off, it's NISA.
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Sadly, I am 99% sure they're going to go with Trails to Zero, cause it's safer.
Hey, Kondo said he'd try harder to make sure new Trails games are released in the West, and we've gotten Cold Steel 3 since then and Cold Steel 4 seems likely enough. That said, I'm not going to even think about localized English versions of the Crossbell duology appearing on the PS4 or elsewhere until it's announced for Japan, so those games have a long way to go before we can even hope to see them officially in English.
I'd be incredibly surprised if it's worse than the leaked Zero translation, since that leak's quality is far worse than NISA's first go at translating Ys VIII (or any official localization I've played from 1994 onwards). Granted, the old Zero fan translation team has a much better excuse for their leaked work's low quality than NISA's corresponding work on Ys VIII, since the latter was made by professionals who were paid for their translation.
That's like the definition of an empty statement, Falcom didn't have to "try harder" to release a Trails or Ys game in the west. They just had to not suddenly refuse to license their games out. Multiple parties are interested in localizing their games.
A better example would probably be when they teased the PS4 ports of CS1 and 2, IIRC they mentioned considering it, and it wasn't long after that they made an announcement.
I'm not discounting that it may happen eventually but Kondo says a lot of things and not all of it happens to be true. But well, he did casually reveal Ys 9 was a thing in an interview with an obscure French blog way before its official announcement so who knows.
recent game from a recent well performing series gets next instalment localised, what an achievement