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[Moonlight]

Alisa with that haircut tells me Falcom was aiming to establish twin-tails as a signature for leading ladies in Kiseki, lol.

Sort of gives me hope Falcom isn't ready to shy away from having another female protagonist, too. Not too much hope, of course, but it's nice to imagine them discussing it over Calvard.

Though thinking on it, glad they went in the direction they did for the most part. Visually, anyways. They're a little too... stylized? It's actually amazing how much a couple revisions to Rean's original design did to soften up a design that initially gives some serious edgelord vibes.

 

[Bladelord Loewe]

Silly, you've already played them in FC/SC. Time for new characters like

Spoiler

Really-Good-At-Arts-Guy

and

Spoiler

Olivert's-Sister-From-Another-Mother

.

I mean if they are going to dangle

Spoiler

Claire

in front of us like she's going to be part of the main cast and then take her away, I don't see why not let us play as them, even temporarily.

Hey, did you also forget that

Spoiler

Mueller

was only playable for basically the final battles of the game? I would personally rather use them in battle to win (or lose in this case, then have to retreat) than have to be rescued for the 8th time. Wouldn't you agree?

Oh well, always hope for CS3!

 

[Moonlight]

no what really needed to happen as a surprise guest party member was

Spoiler

sky pirate josette

 

[Psxphile]

Hm, new page. Don't mind me, just rehosting and reposting localized The 3rd pics for absolutely no raisin:

*heavy breathing*

 

[Bladelord Loewe]

We finally get to meet Tita's MILF of a mother! Oh I can't wait for the extremely awkward Agate hijinx.

 

[Moonlight]

It's sort of dawning on me that this will be a Trails in the Sky with Estelle just being another party member. I associate her too deeply with the cast of characters.

 

[Nightengale]

Less than one week till more CS3 news.

HYPE!

 

[Nyoro SF]

Alisa with a sword and Rean with a gun... yep, she was definitely supposed to be the main protagonist. They probably changed protagonists when they realized how profitable a male protagonist was. After all, you can't run the waifu game without a guy for otaku's to self insert into.

Honestly don't know how I feel about it. I like Rean, but Alisa... Having her and him paired up in a Joshua/Estelle dynamic definitely would have be interesting.

Hmm...

I think it would have been a waste if they just retreaded Estelle and Joshua again. At least I would be disappointed if they did that.

Judging by the prototype expressions, looks like Alisa has pretty much the same personality type but Rean definitely looks cooler. Makes sense, you can't give a guy with a pistol or dual pistols a lame personality, it's just not possible.

Plus it would be kind of weird if (CS1 spoilers)

Spoiler

Alisa went all Oni on us

, but then again, maybe it would be awesome, it's pretty rare to see that sort of ability given to a girl instead of a guy in games.

Then again if you look at CS1 and reverse their roles it actually makes a lot more sense given how much more Alisa's family and friends are involved in the main story. It's almost more of her story than it is Rean's at times. I think in the end I would've preferred if Alisa was the main character, not gonna deny that. Not that it would "fix" the game or anything, I just think it would've been more interesting for me.

Alisa with that haircut tells me Falcom was aiming to establish twin-tails as a signature for leading ladies in Kiseki, lol.

Sort of gives me hope Falcom isn't ready to shy away from having another female protagonist, too. Not too much hope, of course, but it's nice to imagine them discussing it over Calvard.

Though thinking on it, glad they went in the direction they did for the most part. Visually, anyways. They're a little too... stylized? It's actually amazing how much a couple revisions to Rean's original design did to soften up a design that initially gives some serious edgelord vibes.

I guess I'm in the minority of preferring the stylish gunslinging edgelord Rean who can't help but fall for the princess-like Alisa wearing that awesome looking shoulder...decoration. Alisa's twintails in the release version are seriously bad looking compared to classic twintail designs though, they're barely twintails! I do not approve of this nerf! Make twintails great again...

 

[Psxphile]

Proto-Rean was probably

Spoiler

proto-Crow

too, with a similar personality and background. Should probably expect

Spoiler

a betrayal

from that guy eventually.

Alisa dodged a bullet.

 

[Scrooge McDuck]

Proto-Rean was probably

Spoiler

proto-Crow

too, with a similar personality and background. Should probably expect

Spoiler

a betrayal

from that guy eventually.

Alisa dodged a bullet.

That sounds kinda interesting, actually.

[Sky SC and Cold Steel II Spoiler]

Spoiler

You grow complacent and expect that he'd go the way Joshua did, then bam he dies IMA WAKARE NO TOKI

 

[Nightengale]

Proto-Rean was probably

Spoiler

proto-Crow

too, with a similar personality and background. Should probably expect

Spoiler

a betrayal

from that guy eventually.

Alisa dodged a bullet.

Hmm...

Might explain a lot about why they didn't follow through with this concept sinc it sounds too similar to FC and SC.

 

[preta]

Proto-Rean was probably

Spoiler

proto-Crow

too, with a similar personality and background. Should probably expect

Spoiler

a betrayal

from that guy eventually.

Alisa dodged a bullet.

Actually,

Spoiler

__Crow__

's character and arc were already planned by the time of SC's development. The original plan was to start the Erebonia arc after SC, but Falcom realized they needed to build it up more, so they decided to do the Crossbell arc first. Then they realized they needed to lead into that by doing 3rd.

 

[Bladelord Loewe]

It's sort of dawning on me that this will be a Trails in the Sky with Estelle just being another party member. I associate her too deeply with the cast of characters.

With the way SC ended,

Spoiler

Kevin Graham to me stood out a lot. All along we thought was just this fun loving, caring, helpful goofball of a character, is actually a relentless elite of the Gralsritters. That line he mentioned about Joshua being lucky he is able to get away from it all really stuck with me. Personally I can't wait to finally be able to play as him, learn about his past and get to explore more of who he really is, along with the pretty nun.

 

[Nyoro SF]

Proto-Rean was probably

Spoiler

proto-Crow

too, with a similar personality and background. Should probably expect

Spoiler

a betrayal

from that guy eventually.

Alisa dodged a bullet.

Yo... spoiled rich girl Alisa teaming up with playboy gambling Rean? Sign me up Kondo.

 

[Psxphile]

Actually,

Spoiler

__Crow__

's character and arc were already planned by the time of SC's development. The original plan was to start the Erebonia arc after SC, but Falcom realized they needed to build it up more, so they decided to do the Crossbell arc first. Then they realized they needed to lead into that by doing 3rd.

And would have been introduced via proto-Rean, gotcha.

 

[PK Gaming]

Ehhh proto-Rean's old design is too tryhard cool-guy for my liking

The gun is definitely stylish though

 

[Gu4n]

It's sort of dawning on me that this will be a Trails in the Sky with Estelle just being another party member. I associate her too deeply with the cast of characters.

I think I know what you mean. Moving from SC to The 3rd invoked feelings of 'M-my Estelle', and then moving on to Zero triggered 'M-my precious cast of Liberl characters', followed by 'Who is Class VII, where are my precious Crossbell characters'.

 

[PK Gaming]

Beta Rean looks so unreliable here, especially when contrasted with current Rean. He seems like a Lechter type character.

Meanwhile Beta Alisa is looking fire with that orbal sword.

Looks like they had early designs for Machias, Jusis, Laura and Claire too.

Kinda rough, but i'm surprised they were in the picture from the beginning.

 

[Gu4n]

While data mining, I found that Beta Alisa is actually still in the game files indicated as character 999.

On the topic of Cold Steel's development, I recently digged through its development/debug files (which are still in the game) to learn more about the game's development. It was a mighty interesting trip. Findings have been added to the the Kiseki Wiki in case anyone's interested.

 

[Psxphile]

Alisa's design seems to suggest a more noble upbringing than her current one. I wonder if she too would have been a commoner in sheep's clothing.

EDIT: well, I guess that's technically true even now

 

[Dragon1893]

It's sort of dawning on me that this will be a Trails in the Sky with Estelle just being another party member. I associate her too deeply with the cast of characters.

At least we're getting another game with her and the rest of the cast.
I can't wait.

 

[duckroll]

Wow, they totally salvaged Laura's design by changing her terrible hair, but Alisa got fucking ~destroyed~ from her prototype design. Twintail noble lead character with orbal sword >>>>>>>>>>> whatever garbage children friend party member we got.

 

[Morrigan Stark]

Wow, they totally salvaged Laura's design by changing her terrible hair, but Alisa got fucking ~destroyed~ from her prototype design. Twintail noble lead character with orbal sword >>>>>>>>>>> whatever garbage children friend party member we got.

Alisa sucks now, but that pigtail look is awful.

 

[Holundrian]

I'm not sure if I'm glad they changed the uniforms or sad.

On one hand I kinda like the matador touch on the other hand it just doesn't scream school uniform to me.

 

[ShadowSoldier89]

Almost seems like Alisa was originally meant to be the MC of Sen.

Katana, twintails, and the extra uniform flair. Definitely seems to have been the case.

Wow, they totally salvaged Laura's design by changing her terrible hair

huh, I like that look just as much as what we got. It has a real dignified air to it

 

[Shahed]

Maybe if Alisa was the main character of Cold Steel I'd actually like her more and the games wouldn't be plagued with all this harem nonsense

 

[SolVanderlyn]

Looks like they had early designs for Machias, Jusis, Laura and Claire too.

Gotta love that color theme. If you didn't know Sara was the Purple Lightning, here's massive flashes of purple lightning in all of her attacks to remind you. And Claire is the Icy Maiden, so have a ton of light blue!

 

[preta]

Looks like they had early designs for Machias, Jusis, Laura and Claire too.

Kinda rough, but i'm surprised they were in the picture from the beginning.

Those are their CS2 designs. Those pictures are from a few months before the Japanese release of CS2.

 

[Nightengale]

Those are their CS2 designs. Those pictures are from a few months before the Japanese release of CS2.

Scroll down.

 

[Korigama]

Wow, all of these prototype details are really interesting stuff. Though I was curious as to what Laura would look like with her hair down, I do find it difficult to picture her without the ponytail. Sword-wielding Alisa with the bigger pigtails and the epaulette, with Rean being a gunner probably more akin to Crow, could've been fun, even more so if their roles were switched and she were the lead instead, being the one to have

Spoiler

Ogre power and Valimar

included (I say this as someone who already liked Alisa, and Rean to a lesser extent).

 

[preta]

Scroll down.

Hmm, that picture didn't load for me before for whatever reason.

 

[Maiar_m]

Seeing Easy Allies' Ben Moore play Trails of Cold Steel reminded me I had Trails in the Sky on my vita and hadn't finished it. Cold Steel sort of looks better combat-wise (but it might just be my memory playing tricks on me). Should I complete Trails in the Sky 1 & 2 though? Does it matter?

 

[Korigama]

Seeing Easy Allies' Ben Moore play Trails of Cold Steel reminded me I had Trails in the Sky on my vita and hadn't finished it. Cold Steel sort of looks better combat-wise (but it might just be my memory playing tricks on me). Should I complete Trails in the Sky 1 & 2 though? Does it matter?

Cold Steel is much better in respect to combat, especially CS II. That said, yes, you should still finish Trails in the Sky FC and SC.

 

[preta]

Seeing Easy Allies' Ben Moore play Trails of Cold Steel reminded me I had Trails in the Sky on my vita and hadn't finished it. Cold Steel sort of looks better combat-wise (but it might just be my memory playing tricks on me). Should I complete Trails in the Sky 1 & 2 though? Does it matter?

Yes, Cold Steel has better combat (but worse auxiliary systems), and yes, you should finish Sky FC and SC before playing it if possible.

 

[Maiar_m]

Cold Steel is much better in respect to combat, especially CS II. That said, yes, you should still finish Trails in the Sky FC and SC.

Yes, Cold Steel has better combat (but worse auxiliary systems), and yes, you should finish Sky FC and SC before playing it if possible.

Alright, I'll push through, thanks!

 

[Glitter and Gold]

Laura looks way older than she should in prototype. lol

I like final version Alisa over Beta. Beta version looks too similar to Estelle to me. And I always really liked the contrast between her red eyes and blonde hair.

Most interesting thing about Beta Rean is that he's using an orbal handgun considering how important Hachiyou ended up being to his character and story in the final version.

(Also interesting that they ended up

Spoiler

giving Claire that weapon

in CS considering the implications of their relationship)

 

[Nyoro SF]

Laura looks way older than she should in prototype. lol

I like final version Alisa over Beta. Beta version looks too similar to Estelle to me. And I always really liked the contrast between her red eyes and blonde hair.

Most interesting thing about Beta Rean is that he's using an orbal handgun considering how important Hachiyou ended up being to his character and story in the final version

Hm... I can't agree, beta Alisa and Estelle don't look anything alike. From hair to face to fashion.

While Eight Leaves is a big part of Rean's character, it has almost no impact on the overall story. So it's something that's easy to swap in and out as a characteristic. Maybe they wanted to incorporate that swordsmanship in the game somehow but couldn't make it work with Alisa's character type so they decided to do some rearranging.

 

[Morrigan Stark]

Cold Steel does have improved combat mechanics, but the balance is so out of whack that I don't know if I enjoyed the combat more than in TitS. The lack of challenge was a real problem. Maybe my fault for picking Normal (as per advice in this thread ), but Normal mode in TitS still had some decent challenges at least.

 

[Glitter and Gold]

Just noticed the Rean and Alisa have holsters for their weapons on their character models. I think that's a pretty cool detail I wish the characters had in the final game.

I guess it'd be hard for some characters though where they made no sense. lol

Hm... I can't agree, beta Alisa and Estelle don't look anything alike. From hair to face to fashion.

She just looks like more of a tomboy to me based on those poses and expressions. and the series already has it's twin tailed tomboy.

 

[SatelliteOfLove]

Those unis look WAAAAAAY better than what we got. Epaulettes give off a more militaristic vibe too.

I wonder if some of their dna ended up in chloe and whatshisface from akatsuki.

And yeah, twintails went from the sign of the childish and meek to the hairdos of assbeating heroes after so much Alicia and Estelle. Antagonists should be quaking in their boots seeing hair on both sides of some girls head rounding the corner of their base lol.

 

[Psxphile]

Laura's existence probably erased the need to have a noble tomboy sword-wielder as the main lead. Though it would have been interesting to see them clash, beta Laura has the look of someone who's a bit more prideful about being a noblewoman than her final iteration. Basically female Jusis. I guess that's why she was changed to be a little more down-to-earth and approachable in design and mannerisms.

 

[godisntheradio]

Cold Steel 2 placed 4th in Redbull's top 10 mobilie games 2016 link

that's something i guess

 

[Thoraxes]

Random SC side-quest question:

Spoiler

Did anyone ever check in CS or CS2 for that girl from Jenis that had the arranged marriage meeting with the Erebonian noble?

I never thought to look for her in CS or CS2, but maybe she was in there.

 

[SolVanderlyn]

Proto-Rean was probably

Spoiler

proto-Crow

too, with a similar personality and background. Should probably expect

Spoiler

a betrayal

from that guy eventually.

Alisa dodged a bullet.

Spoiler

The extreme desire to get Crow back actually makes more sense if it's a rewrite from this initial concept.

Rean and Crow's friendship wasn't sold to me until AFTER his betrayal, when it's constantly being shoved in your face.

 

[KuwabaraTheMan]

Random SC side-quest question:

Spoiler

Did anyone ever check in CS or CS2 for that girl from Jenis that had the arranged marriage meeting with the Erebonian noble?

I never thought to look for her in CS or CS2, but maybe she was in there.

Spoiler

Nope, Felicity is not present in either CS or CS2 at all.

 

[Psxphile]

Random SC side-quest question:

Spoiler

Did anyone ever check in CS or CS2 for that girl from Jenis that had the arranged marriage meeting with the Erebonian noble?

I never thought to look for her in CS or CS2, but maybe she was in there.

You mean Felicity (and her handmaiden Reina)? I'm sure I would have noticed if she was present or talked about in any of the NPC dialogues I've read through (read: a lot). Very few people ever bring up Liberl let alone Jenis Academy.

I *do* know Armand and Elie (the Rolent couple) pop up in Zero.

 

[Nyoro SF]

Spoiler

The extreme desire to get Crow back actually makes more sense if it's a rewrite from this initial concept.

Rean and Crow's friendship wasn't sold to me until AFTER his betrayal, when it's constantly being shoved in your face.

(MAJOR SKY AND STEEL SPOILERS)

Spoiler

Thinking about it now, Crow doesn't feel remorseful for his bad actions nor is he trying to make up for past sins/mistakes/manipulations... so Steel and Sky don't really have the same story, even though it's a similar concept of trying to rescue a friend. In the end Joshua and Crow are pretty different from one another.

If Rean was just Crow originally then I think I would've liked that. Crow is too behind the scenes in CS1, and it makes his reveal at the end not nearly as impactful, and makes the pursuit of him in CS2 really confusing at points. Maybe they thought that a betrayal from within Class VII directly would be too cliche (though they relied on this by randomly throwing Crow into Class VII with you despite adulations of how special it was to be selected for Class VII) and having a well-meaning girl rescuing a truant bad guy from himself would be too much of a harkening back to Sky.

In the end I guess it was tough to make a lot of these choices. Writing a story is hard. Maybe there shouldn't have been a betrayal and rescue attempt plot in the first place. Oh well.

 

[BlueDogAnchorite]

she gets better imo
also youll learn to love Ms CP Battery

I found her relationship with her mother to be potentially interesting, but otherwise agreed. Also I found her to be the least useful party member. She sucks, probably my least favourite member of class VII after [chapter 5 spoilers]

Spoiler

Millium

.

Honestly she becomes a lot better during the cold steel games. That said it took all of Cold Steel II for me to come around on how cool she actually is when she totally gets away from the tropes.

Alisa CSII characterization spoiler(nothing about her story more like a trait she showcases)

Spoiler

What made me come around to her in CSII are all the scenes where she's basically letting her inner mechanic out. I hope that stuff goes somewhere with her. I'd like to see her become an amazing engineer.

Believe in Miss CP Battery.

She has her moments in the later chapters, especially chapter 6.

Will keep an open mind.

 

[Thoraxes]

Spoiler

Nope, Felicity is not present in either CS or CS2 at all.

You mean Felicity (and her handmaiden Reina)? I'm sure I would have noticed if she was present or talked about in any of the NPC dialogues I've read through (read: a lot). Very few people ever bring up Liberl let alone Jenis Academy.

I *do* know Armand and Elie (the Rolent couple) pop up in Zero.

Ah, thanks for the info both of you! It was just a random thought that hit me, so I appreciate you guys taking the time to answer.

 

[SatelliteOfLove]

On further thought, this explains why Alisa is pushed so much despite slinking. CS2 ending spoilers

Spoiler

Although, does puts us back to the "are they destined to reunite and actually become an item or was it off the table with trend-chasing?" question. Sigh.

Spoiler

The extreme desire to get Crow back actually makes more sense if it's a rewrite from this initial concept.

Rean and Crow's friendship wasn't sold to me until AFTER his betrayal, when it's constantly being shoved in your face.

It does make that CS2 ending spoilers

Spoiler

joke about him dressing up as Crow in CS3 funny in retrospect heh.