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The Kiseki / Trails (of the Sky/Zero/Ao/Sen/Etc) Community Thread: SPOILERTAGS OR DIE

G

Gu4n

Member
neoemonk said:
I wonder how long you would have to study Japanese to play the games. After two years of college Spanish I felt reasonably comfortable with the language. I needed a lot more listening practice to interact with people but most of the grammar was there and I could get by with a dictionary. Japanese is a whole other beast though.
Click to expand...
That really depends per person and how much time you're willing/able to dedicate to your studies.

Jonnax said:
So I completed SC and FC.
Would ya'll recommend playing Cold Steel or waiting for Trail in the Sky 3?
I guess I wouldn't want spoilers for the 3rd game.
Click to expand...
At this point, I would recommend to wait. The 3rd introduces a number of plot threads that are relevant in Cold Steel.
 
K

KuwabaraTheMan

Banned
Jonnax said:
So I completed SC and FC.
Would ya'll recommend playing Cold Steel or waiting for Trail in the Sky 3?
I guess I wouldn't want spoilers for the 3rd game.
Click to expand...

At this point, it's close enough that I would say to wait. There are characters introduced in the 3rd who show up in the Cold Steel games, along with (as I understand, since I haven't played the 3rd yet) some plotlines that might mean more to you if you've played the 3rd.

Given that it should be out in the next few months, it would just make sense to wait right now.
 
P

Psxphile

Member
Xseed posted something peculiar (to me):

C4zbmZ1UMAA7BoP.jpg:orig


source

Is this from the game?
 
G

Gu4n

Member
apd_ng said:
Mfw when i see that
fighting mini game title screen ~___~
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That's the one I was referring true. Speaking of which, they did indeed add an extra character to the highest difficulty level in The 3rd Evo, but it's NG+ only and devoid of any context.
 
A

apd_ng

Member
Alright team, so I just started a NG+ Nightmare run of Cold Steel 1,

I carried over all my stats, equips etc; the game seems a bit easy atm, does it ramp up

or am I too overpowered with the older gear?
 
F

Famassu

Member
apd_ng said:
Alright team, so I just started a NG+ Nightmare run of Cold Steel 1,

I carried over all my stats, equips etc; the game seems a bit easy atm, does it ramp up

or am I too overpowered with the older gear?
Click to expand...
It does ramp up buuuut other than a few difficulty spikes/bosses that can easily TPW you if you're not careful, it's still pretty much a cakewalk even if you don't abuse some of the easier cheesing tactics.

Maybe Nightmare could be enjoyably challenging if you take items & quartz but not levels? That way you'll have all kinds of tools available, but you're weak-ish so you'll maybe have to think a bit more of what kind of quartz setup you'll use? Haven't tried that myself so I'm not sure if this is true, I'd just imagine it might be like that.
 
R

Rhapsody

Banned
apd_ng said:
Alright team, so I just started a NG+ Nightmare run of Cold Steel 1,

I carried over all my stats, equips etc; the game seems a bit easy atm, does it ramp up

or am I too overpowered with the older gear?
Click to expand...

Probably too easy. I did a Nightmare run on my first playthrough of Cold Steel. Didn't have any real issues besides 2-3 spots, but they were fine after I prepared a bit more after knowing what I'd have to deal with.
 
M

Marche90

Member
PK Gaming said:
Can we talk about how hard Estelle hits with her 2nd S-craft?

985DFC466B93E7F07225C63C4CC84190E0B12EDD


ALSO LORENCE IS KICKING MY ASS
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Oh, boy, that fight. I had to make a different arrangement to manage to take him down. Tip: Clock Up EX + Clock Down (+ maybe earth wall) are your friends for this fight.

You CAN choose to lose that fight, however, if you feel like you can't get past him, but you will miss on BP.
 
P

PK Gaming

Member
Lorence just used Tearal to heal twice in a row lmao this boss is evil

EDIT: Just got it with the S-craft.

GO ESTELLE!

EDIT 2:

AND SCHERA! AND KLOE!

Literally couldn't have done it without all 3 of them
 
A

apd_ng

Member
Thud said:
Luck is pretty hard to force, but good luck anyway. I found it harder than the last boss.
Click to expand...

As final bosses go in Trail games; the FC boss had me in shambles, hardest by far imo

the final dungeons in FC and SC are total ass tho, even though all of them trails "finale" dungeons are ass, fc & sc are most ass
 
C

chaosblade

Unconfirmed Member
Looks like 3rd will either be late spring or summer according to Brittany's most recent tweets. She said it's still on track for spring but it would be near the very end of it. Given that most of their PC releases have been pushed back at least a little summer wouldn't be too surprising.

Sticking with my June/July/hopefully not August prediction.
 
K

KuwabaraTheMan

Banned
chaosblade said:
Looks like 3rd will either be late spring or summer according to Brittany's most recent tweets. She said it's still on track for spring but it would be near the very end of it. Given that most of their PC releases have been pushed back at least a little summer wouldn't be too surprising.

Sticking with my June/July/hopefully not August prediction.
Click to expand...

So probably targeting late May-mid June right now. Hopefully they can get out on the earlier end of that, but a July release wouldn't be terrible since that's normally a slow period for games.
 
M

Menthuss

Member
omgfloofy said:
In case anyone runs around on reddit, Sean Chiplock- who voiced Rean in Cold Steel- is doing an AMA on r/JRPG.

https://www.reddit.com/r/JRPG/comments/5uuada/hey_jrpg_im_the_voice_of_rean_schwarzer_in_trails/
Click to expand...

Sean on why Rean isn't his favorite character (I don't think this is spoilery but better safe than sorry):

Sean Chiplock said:
It actually isn't! I am incredibly grateful towards XSEED and Valerie Arem (my director) for guiding me through such an expansive game with such care, but at the end of the day Rean was always more of a 'plot developer' who existed to let the other members of Class VII shine through via their personalities. It was really tough to put forth any kind of lasting quirk when you had to pretty much stay as a Calm, Unifying Protagonist throughout the game.
Click to expand...

Sean Chiplock said:
I also wanted to make sure people really felt Rean's relief at reuniting with Alisa in CS II, since even though she's trash-tier waifu I know the game sees her as the canon pairing. So I cradled a bottle of water I was drinking at the session to my chest cavity, pretended it was my fiancee, and lovingly stroked the cap as I reassured it that everything was fine now.
Click to expand...

I pictured Rean saying that and oh god my sides
 
P

PK Gaming

Member
Sean said:
Rean - This is an interesting case; I think I faltered in his story voice in I (because I was still getting used to the character), but did really well on the battle lines/Special Attack chants. Conversely, I was WAY better in Sen II with the cutscene performances, but I didn't like some of my battle lines anymore (such as "Second Form: GALE). However, I think we can universally agree that Azure Flame Slash and Termination Slash Dawn came out just as well as any good Tales of Symphonia spell.
Click to expand...

Holy shit, the honesty.
 
P

PK Gaming

Member
Sean gave perhaps the most thoughtful post regarding dubbing

Sean Chiplock said:
Let's not kid ourselves first and foremost, some English dubs are really not that swell. I've seen them, I've been in them, and I'm pretty positive I've been a contributing factor to at least one of them. The problem is that for many audiences, the performance quality starts and ends with the voice actor themselves. Granted, this is true to an extent; no amount of sound engineering magic can save a terrible performance. But there's numerous people the voice actor also has to play ball with and satisfy:

The parent company, who may already have a specific vision in mind for the character (You wanted seductive swagger? Too bad, we think lecherous pervert is funnier!)
The localization director, who may prefer one style of performance over another (Do they like exaggerated emotions? Do they want Mass Effect-level realism? Do they actually have no idea what they're doing? All 3 types exist!) The casting director, who may want you to not sound like X because they already recorded someone else who sounds close to X, and now that would just make it weird so you have to sound like Y instead.
And many others.

Another core fact many people forget is that just like Western Animation projects done here, many anime projects in Japan are also recorded as "pre-lay" - that is, the voiceover is done FIRST and the animators work around it, rather than the reverse. This means that the original Japanese VO has a lot more freedom in terms of performance and pacing, whereas the company that DUBS it has to stick to the pre-existing lip flaps and timing that the original actors got to set.So already, you're dealing with a difference in situations where the Japanese VA got to play with a line to pretty much their heart's desire, whereas the English VA has to keep within a set of guidelines. Anime is usually the most notorious with this whereas videogames are more relaxed, but there were LOTS of cases in Trails of Cold Steel (such as battle lines) where I had to exactly match the timing of the Japanese VO within a few frames of a second.

Finally, Japanese is a very content-focused language, whereas English is very context-driven. A person using Japanese will make a very careful distinction between using the word "friend" and the word "partner", because their use signifies a very particular meaning to the message as a whole. In contrast, the meaning behind the word "friend" can change significantly for me depending on how the person says it; one small change in tone can take it from genuine appreciation, to scathing sarcasm. Sometimes these differences also affect the actual pacing or emphasis of certain words...which may not be possible when you're trying to stick to a pre-established timestamp.

I can already name one role that I, personally, love with the bottom of my heart...but I heavily dislike how the finished product came out because the combination of Client Wishes, Lip-Sync Limitation, and Word of God demanded a much different performance than what I had in mind. The client was super happy, but I don't know if the fans will be - and at the end of the day, the client is the one who cuts my checks. I do not expect my performances/career to magically turn people to dubs over subs, and I especially am not going to condemn people for preferring one over the other. What I do ask, at the very least, is that you support the companies who make games you enjoy & want to see more of, however you choose to (legally) do it, and consider taking some time to let the people who entertained you know that they were entertained. Very few of us like the popularity contest that studios are employing right now where being Socially Influential makes you more likely to get big parts, but the fact remains that Fan Demand still does have a very real impact; if you like us, they'll like us, and we'll probably get to work more.

I got into this career because I love performing and living through all these different worlds and events, but I also continue to enjoy it because of the incredible fandoms that build up around them and the people who share their passions for things the same way I begin to drool excessively upon hearing the words "WoodCust Style w/ Hub Program Attached".
Click to expand...
 
I

icecreamsnow

Member
I'm impressed how much time and attention Sean Chiplock spent in those answers. Some of those responses area full blog post in itself. If you compare that to the much-trumpeted one that Gabe Newell did (and Gabe said very little in comparison)

I take his point about Rean though, he is a fairly generic MC character, existing as a vehicle fro the plot. I suppose the intention was to have Class VII as a fairly extreme cross-section of Erebonian society, and having Rean act as de facto squad leader and mediator. Which works okay for the first half of CS1, but then kinds of peters out.
 
S

StarSketch

Banned
icecreamsnow said:
I'm impressed how much time and attention Sean Chiplock spent in those answers. Some of those responses area full blog post in itself. If you compare that to the much-trumpeted one that Gabe Newell did (and Gabe said very little in comparison)

I take his point about Rean though, he is a fairly generic MC character, existing as a vehicle fro the plot. I suppose the intention was to have Class VII as a fairly extreme cross-section of Erebonian society, and having Rean act as de facto squad leader and mediator. Which works okay for the first half of CS1, but then kinds of peters out.
Click to expand...

This reminds me of a comment Sara makes about him super early on in CS1 about how he's in a special position class wise
because of his adoption
thus allowing him to connect to both halves of the equation.
 
P

PK Gaming

Member
TiTS's final dungeon is kind of bad.

The actual exploration is fine, but the monster chest fights are beyond obnoxious. It's not even particularly hard once you find the right set up (took a while, heh), but crazy tedious. And the dungeon is littered with them.
 
G

Glitter and Gold

Banned
PK Gaming said:
TiTS's final dungeon is kind of bad.

The actual exploration is fine, but the monster chest fights are beyond obnoxious. It's not even particularly hard once you find the right set up (took a while, heh), but crazy tedious. And the dungeon is littered with them.
Click to expand...

They aren't mandatory but I see what you mean. I liked them actually forcing me to engage the orbment system properly, but I wish there were more than 3-4 variations given how many of them there are
 
S

Scrooge McDuck

Member
PK Gaming said:
TiTS's final dungeon is kind of bad.

The actual exploration is fine, but the monster chest fights are beyond obnoxious. It's not even particularly hard once you find the right set up (took a while, heh), but crazy tedious. And the dungeon is littered with them.
Click to expand...

And those donkey missiles take so much time.

icecreamsnow said:
I'm impressed how much time and attention Sean Chiplock spent in those answers. Some of those responses area full blog post in itself. If you compare that to the much-trumpeted one that Gabe Newell did (and Gabe said very little in comparison)

I take his point about Rean though, he is a fairly generic MC character, existing as a vehicle fro the plot. I suppose the intention was to have Class VII as a fairly extreme cross-section of Erebonian society, and having Rean act as de facto squad leader and mediator. Which works okay for the first half of CS1, but then kinds of peters out.
Click to expand...

I have to say, even though Rean isn't exactly his favorite character and Trails of Cold Steel doesn't seem like the kind of a game he likes to play, I'm really glad he appears to have a firm handle on Rean's character and the game's story as a whole.
 
S

SatelliteOfLove

Member
Scrooge McDuck said:
And those donkey missiles take so much time.



I have to say, even though Rean isn't exactly his favorite character and Trails of Cold Steel doesn't seem like the kind of a game he likes to play, I'm really glad he appears to have a firm handle on Rean's character and the game's story as a whole.
Click to expand...

I loved the animation on those though!
 
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