The gameplay and graphics in the Sky trilogy just don't do it for me.
I'll settle for Wiki/YouTube combo, regarding TiTS.
-
Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel PS4 |OT| This should also fall under the scope of our field study!
- Thread starter Barrylocke
- Start date
I'll settle for Wiki/YouTube combo, regarding TiTS.
It's the same gameplay now for the most part. Hell the Sky games are more difficult than the Cold Steel games by far.
You're basically trying to skip the best stuff in the series because it's now dated. The charm of those games go well beyond how dated they are.
Like I said earlier it's like trying to skip the original Star Wars trilogy because they're older movies. Yeah you can jump into The Force Awakens and go from there but the stuff you're skipping is way better than what you're currently looking to get into.
Almost universally fans of this series will tell you that the Cold Steel games are inferior to the Trails in the Sky games. In video games it isn't always the case that the more modern stuff is better simply because it's newer and more modern.
If you want to get into this series the most rewarding way is to start at the beginning and play all the games. This is a series based off building upon what came before. The debate of Zero / Ao first or CS / CSII first can be had. As I understand it CSIII and IV are direct sequels to both the CS series and Zero / Ao. If you can't get past the datedness of TiTs how would you play Zero / Ao?
I played Crossbell after Cold Steel and I honestly believe Crossbell spoils way more of Cold Steel than the other way around. CSII does spoil parts of the ending of Crossbell like the world state but I went into Crossbell with a very limited knowledge of how things got to that point. It could be my bias because I knew what to look for though where as when I played Cold Steel I didn't know what Crossbell plot elements I was being exposed to and might have glossed over them.
Last edited:
As a big fan of this series I would say that Cold Steel is better than Sky. The story is maybe a little worse, but it's paced better and the gameplay, presentation, music, game balance, pretty much everything else are all improved.
I'm curious about this too.
Sky and Sky SC can both be played on Vita and PC if you want to go digital. Sky the Third can be played on PC or you can play the fan translation on Vita.
Does this have one protagonist or is it a game with multiple protagonist?
Edit: is the soundtrack good? I'm debating physical vs digital.
Edit: is the soundtrack good? I'm debating physical vs digital.
One MC, but it's a bit of an ensemble cast because of the school setting. You play the whole game from just Rean's perspective though.
Soundtrack is excellent, as with all Falcom games. Their music team is one of the best in the business.
Thanks for the replies!
After playing Final Fantasy Type Zero and Octopath Traveler I'm good on never playing a game with multiple characters again. I can't get into games with multiple protagonist.
I'm going to do some research on the battle system and mull over digital vs physical.
Please don't make Estelle mad. You don't want her mad, do you?
Is a bear Catholic? Does the Pope go in the woods?
About the Sky games - trust me, I didn't like the graphics to begin with either. So I can definitely understand being thrown off by them? It's part of why when I played the first Sky game on pc, it was a *VERY* casual playthrough where I didn't even really realise what I was getting myself into.
What I will say is, that they get a lot of mileage out of how simple the sprites are. And the character portraits are super expressive!
As for the gameplay, there are a lot of things different about it compared to CS, but it's really not *that* different. The fundamentals are the same, there's a lot of crossover with arts and stuff, really the orbment mechanic is the only really big change that you'd have to get actively used to.
... This is the Cold Steel OT, huh. THE MUSIC IS GREAT, I love almost every track on the soundtrack. Might be my favourite trails soundtrack in English? But I dunno, Sky the 3rd's is great too.
What I will say is, that they get a lot of mileage out of how simple the sprites are. And the character portraits are super expressive!
As for the gameplay, there are a lot of things different about it compared to CS, but it's really not *that* different. The fundamentals are the same, there's a lot of crossover with arts and stuff, really the orbment mechanic is the only really big change that you'd have to get actively used to.
... This is the Cold Steel OT, huh. THE MUSIC IS GREAT, I love almost every track on the soundtrack. Might be my favourite trails soundtrack in English? But I dunno, Sky the 3rd's is great too.
I just bought this for PS4 after really enjoying the Sky games on PSP.
One thing you might help me answer though: Are there instances where the game chooses your party for you?
I usually stick with a fixed party in JRPGS, should I try leveling everyone up evenly or am I fine with just sticking to my favorites?
One thing you might help me answer though: Are there instances where the game chooses your party for you?
I usually stick with a fixed party in JRPGS, should I try leveling everyone up evenly or am I fine with just sticking to my favorites?
For this game specifically, keeping characters evenly leveled isn't really an issue. Your party shuffles around a lot, and whenever characters leave, when they return they'll normally be auto-leveled to some minimum based on story progress.
The only character's level that matters long term is Rean's, the protagonist's, since he's almost always in your party and never gets the chance to take advantage of the auto level mechanic.
Totally random but I recently also started playing Horizon Zero Dawn and discovered that Aloy's VA, Ashly Burch, apparently voices Millium... never would've guessed. It's amazing how much better a VA can be when they're not trying to sound like a whiny toddler.
I'm at the very end of the first game on PS3 and stopped playing because I was tired of having that old-ass console plugged in for one game. I hear this has cross-save? That might make it easier to jump in at a...less embarrassing price point.
Also, note to people who thought Sky games were old and boring: play this on hard mode or it'll put you to sleep. The game was clearly balanced for that difficulty and can be pretty exciting when boss battles roll around. Anything lower and you'll just tear through regular fights and it'll feel like a slog. Downside is you might feel the need to cook enough Warm Egg Soup to feed Crossbell for a month.
Also, note to people who thought Sky games were old and boring: play this on hard mode or it'll put you to sleep. The game was clearly balanced for that difficulty and can be pretty exciting when boss battles roll around. Anything lower and you'll just tear through regular fights and it'll feel like a slog. Downside is you might feel the need to cook enough Warm Egg Soup to feed Crossbell for a month.
I played a little bit on PSNOW a while back. Is that save data transferrable? Then again, maybe i should just start it over anyway.. i really enjoyed it but the input lag was a pain
Please don't make Estelle mad. You don't want her mad, do you?
Is a bear Catholic? Does the Pope go in the woods?
...
I decided to go physical because I wanted the soundtrack on a CD and it's one of the best gaming decisions I've made in quite sometime. I listened to the first 9 tracks on the way home and it was so good.
The collectors edition overall is really freaking good. The last physical game I bought was Devil Survivor 2 Record Breaker. I need to keep an eye out for future Japanese collectors editions like this instead of going pure digital every time.
Will start my play through later today. I know nothing of this game and it's story so I'm fresh as fuck. Pretty exciting
I just started Trails in the Sky almost a week ago and I'm hoping to finish FC today. Loving the hell out of it, but I'd have preferred playing it on console. Glad to see Cold Steel is finally coming to PS4.
Looking forward to buy this game once I finish all of Sky.
Looking forward to buy this game once I finish all of Sky.
If you have a PSTV there are translation patches for all three Trails in the Sky EVO versions. Obviously it'd work on a regular Vita too, but you mentioned wanting the console experience.
At this point I've bought all 3 trails games on PC, and honestly while I'd have preferred console, I'm not having that bad of a time playing on PC. The game actually works quite well with mouse alone and I'm enjoying playing the game that way.
Thanks for letting me know though.
oh yall know ill take any chance to post some of my favorite CS themes
Depends on what you mean by full arc. We're getting CS1-3 this year on PS4 (4 is still up in the air, but it's probably gonna happen), but Sky 1-3 and both Crossbell games aren't on PS4 and there's no indication we're getting the latter at all.
Assuming your talking about Cold Steel my understanding is that 2 is coming sometime this summer CS3 is coming later this year and there's a very likely chance that CS4 gets localized as well.
Everything else is a bit of an unknown. Falcom has spoken about wanting to make their older titles available on more platforms and that initiative seems to have started with Ys Memories of Celceta coming to PS4 in May in Japan. Who knows if they'll release the Sky trilogy on PS4. As for Crossbell all NISA have said with regards to crossbell is that it's "part of a longer conversation with Falcom." Personally I'm not holding my breath on crossbell making it over lol.
Unfortunately it gets even worse in CS3, some scenes are voiced way too haphazardly for it's own good.
There are some recaps but i still would recommend playing though them, it will make a big importance on an emotional level. I think it's easiest to describe CS3+4 as a midseason final of the Kiseki arc, a lot of stuff is wrapped up, other things are made relevant again and the direction is set again. While the game does provide some stuff to get your memory refreshed it will always be insufficient compared to experiencing the emotions which the games rely and evoke with a lot.
You could run through TitS FC in 30 hours max using turbo, lower difficulty only focussing on the main story.
Regarding your question about older games; from a modern perspective most people would see the Gagharv trilogy as the blue print of this saga, the current president of Falcom, Toshihiro Kondo, got in contact with Falcom through a fansite of White Witch he made and maintained as a student, he started working at falcom maintaining their sites and stuff, growing through the company at the end spearheading Cagesong of the Ocean and the Windows re-releases of White Witch and A Tear of Vermillion, the latter which they reworked quite a bit to create more continuity across the three games. The bigger project he started after that is Trails in the Sky which we're talking about now, but playing through the games you can tell that these three games influenced Kondo a lot, even to this day. Now regarding the localised re-releases; they definitely are a hard skip, the ports are subpar and the localisation is unintelligible. I do not recommend anyone to get through them unless they are absolutely crazy for Falcom and have sustained everything available (which would take you over two years anyway).
They already are on PS4.
How does that work on the pstv? Do you need to download custom firmware?
Play this, I think you can safely play CS1 without worrying about the crossbell arc, CSII might be a different story.
Also, I love this game. Always wanted to try it and i'm really engaged so far. I love how NPCs dialogue changes along with the story so usually after major event they'll have new stuff to tell. I feel I would be missing out on a lot if I ignored them. Finished Chapter 1 just now, looking forward to see more soon.
Idk if I'll end up playing the trail in the sky games though...and well I don't have access to the crossbell titles so...may look at a summary but that's closer to when CSII comes out and definitely before CSIII.
Exactly. Sky games have a more classic feeling, better characters and IMO a more compelling story.
Cold Steel has a far more interesting setting/world building though, and if you like the school setting and you can stand some modern anime tropes the game is excellent too.
I'm personally really hyped for thee Geofront Zero patch, as I've heard countless times that the Crosbell arc has the best main plot.
No idea, I haven't looked yet. Seems there's a fan translation near completion for one of them...I think, no idea how long it would take though.
The extra English bits for the voice acting is notably not just "extra scenes that were left silent". In the Japanese dub, there are a LOT of scenes where only certain characters will be voiced (the protagonist Rean gets hit especially hard by this) - the English dub fixes 99% of these scenes.
If you're super passionate about Japanese dubs, the option is there, but as far as English dubs go this one is pretty good imo. Especially as the Voice actors get more into it as you progress through the game.
I'm confused I thought TITS and TOCS were only loosely connected story wise? I see posts in this thread making it seem like you have to play TITS first in order to enjoy this game. Is that accurate? Or are people just being ridiculous.
Cold Steel 1&2 are their own story arc and a fine entry point, but 3&4 pull in threads from all the previous Trails arcs.
It's one of the better JRPG English dubs and yeah there are more lines voiced in English than in Japanese.
One protagonist but a big cast of characters.
The OSt is fantastic.
I jumped in at Cold Steel and it was fine. There are a few characters and easter eggs for fans but nothing needed to play and enjoy the games. Cold Steel II has some references in one part to the Zero Kiseki PSP games that haven't come west that briefly confused me but kind of resolve themselves so yes don't worry, you can play Cold Steel I and II just fine as an entry point.
That said, The Sky games are awesome (I went back to play them after loving Cold Steel) and I hear CSIII though has a lot of links to Sky so if you can I recommend playing them anyway if you can.
You know people can have different opinions, right? I couldn't stand Trails in the Sky FC. The music was annoying, the character art was very mediocre, world was very basic-looking, plot pacing was repetitive, ridiculously slow, and extremely boring, etc.
I've only played the demos of Cold Steel 1 and 2 (Japanese, PS3) and while I know CS1 starts off in media res, I can already tell that I would like it 93202390293x more than Trails in the Sky. Everything about it is so much better IMO.
You can start off the series with Cold Steel 1 without much issue, and play Cold Steel 2 after without being too much out of the loop. However it is very highly recommended to play all past arcs (Sky and Crossbell) before going into Cold Steel 3.
As someone new to the series, this is a bit depressing. :(
I just bought CS1 and planning to buy CS2 this summer, but since I don't have a PC, I guess there's no way I can play the Sky series?
For those asking about the PC versions of Zero and Ao.
The current PC patches for Zero and Ao vary in quality. The Zero patch is pretty rough, though more than understandable and still say, MILES ahead of the atrocious PSP translations of LoH 3,4,5 though that isn't saying much. It works, though there is supposed to be a better one coming soon, edited by a group called Geofront. I'm PRETTY picky... and while it annoyed me... once you get into it it'snot too bad. You can get a digital version of Zero relatively easily... or even a decent physical one on Ebay if you so desire.
Ao is kind of the opposite. Getting a legit digital version of the Chinese PC release is a pain in the ass on a bunch of levels, but there is no Japanese physical PC release there... the PSP and Vita ones are easy to get though... but the PC patch is actually pretty good, assuming you get the one called the flame edit. It's not professional, but it's probably on the level of the NISA original Ys VIII release or Tokyo Xanadu. I know that a version of the Ao patches work for the Vita and PSP releases... but I can't really speak to those.
You can get Sky 1 and 2 for the PSP or Vita if you have them. 3rd is it's own beast... though I believe that there is a patch for that version.
The current PC patches for Zero and Ao vary in quality. The Zero patch is pretty rough, though more than understandable and still say, MILES ahead of the atrocious PSP translations of LoH 3,4,5 though that isn't saying much. It works, though there is supposed to be a better one coming soon, edited by a group called Geofront. I'm PRETTY picky... and while it annoyed me... once you get into it it'snot too bad. You can get a digital version of Zero relatively easily... or even a decent physical one on Ebay if you so desire.
Ao is kind of the opposite. Getting a legit digital version of the Chinese PC release is a pain in the ass on a bunch of levels, but there is no Japanese physical PC release there... the PSP and Vita ones are easy to get though... but the PC patch is actually pretty good, assuming you get the one called the flame edit. It's not professional, but it's probably on the level of the NISA original Ys VIII release or Tokyo Xanadu. I know that a version of the Ao patches work for the Vita and PSP releases... but I can't really speak to those.
You can get Sky 1 and 2 for the PSP or Vita if you have them. 3rd is it's own beast... though I believe that there is a patch for that version.
For what it's worth, most of the English fanbase is going to be going into CS3 Crossbell-less, so it's not like everyone else is in a great position either.
There's a few different things worth mentioning to consider:
-Whilst far from ideal, the first two Sky games are on psp. Most of the terms and even some of the character names are outdated, but if you want you want to know some of the story (enough to at least know who the characters are), it's something.
-More realistically, there's probably playthroughs on youtube. This would also allow you to experience the 3rd in some capacity, so that's nice. Probably not as interesting as playing the games though.
-My *actual* recommendation though would be to play CS1 and 2, and worry about this later. Whilst highly unlikely, it's entirely possible that the situation will have changed somehow by the time CS3 is out. Maybe the games will have been ported somewhere/announced to be ported, maybe a recap will become available online, maybe CS3 is still manageable without playing those games, just lacking a lot of emotional context. (I'm not counting on this one from what I've heard, but maybe)
Just start CS1 if that is what interests you more right now. Sky and Crossbell are vital knowledge when starting CS3 however.
Some opinions just are flatout wrong.
That's not horrible but it's nothing special. It's just decent.
And I raise you this and this
Battle themes are very important to me, and in my opinion Sky FC's battle themes are fucking atrocious. There's some decent tracks here and there for sure, but it's largely "meh" and the battle themes suck.