After I played cold steel 1, I got cold steel 2 and then the trails in the Sky series(GOG). Have cold steel 1&2 on PS3 and PS4. Cold steel 3 on PS4 and have preordered cold steel 4.(ps4). Hope to see the crossbell arc released in the west
I would have never played these games if they were action. That's crazy that my favourite games changed it right before it released. Would have never got to enjoy them
LOVE this series. I already have CS1&2 in my PS3 AND PC Currently I'm playing cold steel 4 despite it's in Japan version welp, after the god damn cliff hanger ending of Cold steel 3, there's no way I can wait another 3 years of eng version. and if they came out in eng version, I'm still gonna buy it again anyway 100%
I got the Games, just need time to sit down and play them. Once i saw the Footage in this Video, makes me want to play them even more now. Loved the ones on PSP and wish they would release the Trails in the Sky Series in English besides the first one.
Do you mean release them on PSP? That's never going to happen. You probably already knew this, but all three Trails in the Sky games are available on PC (I suggest GoG).
@@Pyangryong There's rumor that the Crossbell duology will be ported to PS4 and translated, but not Sky. Also, Vita will never happen either. Too late for that.
Some good musical choices here. But I'm so glad I picked up Cold Steel 1 from the bargain bin at Game stop. I'm playing 3 right. Hopefully we'll see 4 stateside
Thanks for the video. I just found the series myself thanks to your channel and am amazed that it’s not better known by the general RPG population. Love the combat and world building. Hopefully the recent news about the older games getting released in Asian markets paves then way for English releases for all the games. As a Nintendo fan, I hope all the games are able to be localized to the Switch.
Always heard it was a great series...then i played 1 and just feel in love with it , and then i played 2 which cemented the duology as my favorite rpgs of all time, cant wait to play 3!
@@jamesgomez9151 yeah i own it, its more about finding time to play it haha, i cant play an hour or 2 of these type of games...i need to binge it, so christmas holidays it is!
WARNING FOR CASUAL PLAYERS THAT LOVE THE SERIES... Never play cold steel 2 on hard mode... The final fight is so f*******g unfair... It raises the difficulty bar by 10, at least, because the boss almost always has massive hits with a 100% status alteration rate. What's worse is that he can alter so many status types that there aren't enough accessories to protect your team from them, and his fighting speed also rises, arbitrarily, every now and then during the fight. This is a f*******g disaster for those that wanted to finish the game with a reasonable challenge that didn't feel unfair, and let you preserve the momentum of the story. And it doesn't matter what level you're at... Your but will be whipped out many times during the fight... dam! I ultimately had to let the boss kill me approximately 10 times per confrontation (you have 5 confrontations in a row during this fight), so that the game would reduce the difficulty so that I could win.... And the problem is that the game doesn't remember that you had a hard time with the first confrontation, so you have to be suicidal during the 5 rounds... 5 f*****g times! Man this ruined the f******g game for me, at least its ending, which is an important part, as you can imagine... and you can't change the f****g dificulty before the fight! Hard mode in Cold Steel 2 is manageble up till the final boss... you can beat it with ease, except for some challenging fights now and then, but nothing felt unfair... you may get killed, but if you analyised the fight you could prevail with a good strategy... Until the final 5 rounds boss fight appears at the very end... Ok, I ranted enough... But what angers me the most is that the game is fantastic and I hope I had played it on normal difficulty from the begining... I wonder why didn't Falcon showed me this difficulty spike with early bosses in the game. I they had, I would have changed to normal difficulty and replayed the first 2-3 hours... But in the final fight, when you've played 70 hrs, approximately, that's not a funny option... as you can imagine... PS: I experienced this lovely boss last night, so it's a fresh experience for me...
there is also the fact that the PC is the only platform where you can play every other game in the series officially (evo versions of ao and zero have a PC release which you can import)
One of my favorite RPGs of all time and one of the few titles I can go back to again and again! In fact, Trails of Cold Steel was the only JRPG I replayed on the PS3/PS Vita era. Because, during that generation in my opinion, there wasn't that many memorable JRPG titles. It was cluttered with Idea Factory/Compile Heart garbage, with very few diamonds in the rough.
I started with trails in the sky FC and thought it was okay but didnt want to continue and was thinking about watching the trails in the sky movie to wrap up the story but I heard bad things about it. I eventually decided to just play SC and I am very glad I did! It's still my favorite in the trails series and even made my time with FC seem worth it. After that I played all of the trails games and im currently in the middle of cold steel 3.
same with me, FC feels a bit slow and I ditched it after a couple hours, a year later I tried Cold Steel 1 and 2 and then loved and finally finished the Trails in the Skies trilogy and just finished the Crossbell games too. I guess it is an acquired taste.
aight bear with my stupid rant a bit... i started with tocs 3 then 4... then i was like... where's the rest of it? oh crap on another console! dammit... do i need to buy another... aight, ill get the vita one. ... wait... why'd they make a series then release it in different consolses? dafuq? i mean you guys probably heard of the megaman x series right, also released on different platforms? but later made a collection. the megaman x collection. from mmx1-mmx8 on ps2 they also did that for the dot hack series. so my question: are they gonna do the trails of cold steel series in a collection?
Just started playing the first game in the series. So far so good. The interactions between the characters is really interesting thus it is very dialogue heavy.
If Alisa had been the main character, Rean would have probably been like Joshua, a secondary main character. He's way too important to the story to not have been included initially. If you haven't played atleast a big chunk of the first game, stop reading this now since it contains some minor spoilers. A lot of ppl criticize Rean, but I think he's an amazing character. They say he's bland and boring, and in a sense that's correct. But that's not because of lazy writing, or that they wanted to make him into a blank slate. That is his actual intended personality. He is supposed to be excessively modest, serious and well mannered. Those personality traits explains his larger actions and motivations a lot. Estelle and Rean have a similar kind of extreme idealism, although Estelle is a lot more justice oriented, while Rean wants to minimize conflict and have more compassion towards those who do harm. But Rean is the opposite of Estelle in most ways. He's not pushy or a go-getter. He doesn't like being the center of attention and he strives to be self-reliant, in order to not be a burden to others. He changes a lot, gradually after being encouraged by the others and building confidence. The reason why Sara picked him out and gave him additional responsibilities that the others in the class didn't get is because she sensed that he had the most room to grow. He was the low achiever in the class. On the entrance exams, he was probably the only one in class 7 who couldn't cite a clear picture of what he wanted to do in life after the academy, well other than Fie, but Sara knew Fie from before, and Fie atleast understood herself and her strength very well and was very grounded. All of these aspects of Rean get touched upon in the first game, and expanded upon a lot in the 2nd game. Falcom was very subtle with the writing of Rean, but if you really examine the key scenes, you will get it. Rean's relationship and interactions with his sister in particular is key to understanding him as a character. I was always fascinated by that scene on the rooftop of the school fairly early into the game, and I managed to piece together everything and make sense of it throughout the first game. Note that Elise, his sister understands Rean better than anyone, better than himself in fact. I think Elise is also heavily misunderstood. Her behaviour around Rean goes way beyond a simple crush. The main reason why she's acting weird is because she loves him as a sister and wants him to allow himself to be as amazing as she know he can be. She is frustrated by his self defeating and seclusive tendencies.
Rean is a disliked main character because he is literally a walking plot device. There are very few moments in the entire series where Rean actually acts like a real person.
@@kuvjason7236 I don't know who's behind storyboard on astral chain, but platinum is not exactly known for their story writing. Nier/Drakengard are written and directed by Yoko Taro.
@@kuvjason7236 This occurs in a lot of Jrpgs. I enjoyed the Cold Steel series for what it is was. Rean just wasn't a good or interesting character, hell, most the chanters from the first class are awful.
@@BobSmith-mp8ld Just because you can't see it doesn't mean there is nothing there. Characters doesn't have to be kooky and outrageous to be interesting. His subtle writing is what makes him realistic. Seeing Rean grow and his sense of desperation and obligation in the 2nd game is what sold the series to me. It's especially powerful when you see someone who is normally calm, collected and dull, show such raw displays of emotions and gestures of compassion. I probably wouldn't have liked the first two games if it weren't for Rean. He carried both games, and that was probably Falcom's intent. Rean is the nice guy loner underachiever who learns to accept himself and realizes that strength comes with responsibility. CS 1-2 is all about the start of Rean's hero's journey, where Elise is his Muse and nr 1 fan who inspires and guides him. She represents his sense of obligation. It wasn't until she got into danger that he started to face himself. He was just going along quietly before that, trying to do the right thing, but he wasn't really trying his best and he wasn't true to himself. Both Sara and Laura were able to figure this out early on. Alfin filled in that supporting role later in Elise's stead, and she was able to do that because of having listened intently to Elise's conversations about him. At first she thought Elise was exaggerating, which is why she would tease them, but as she got to know Rean more, she started seeing that Rean was just like Elise had described him, and she changed her behavior after that.
@@pite9 Rean is boring and flat in CS1 and CS2. His personalty just isn't realistic at all. He gets better in CS3, but is still pretty bad. Rean's problem is that he is in a game which he is surrounded by characters much more interesting than himself. This happened because the writers wrote rean as a blank slate for other characters to bounce their dialogue off of. Rean doesn't have a personality or any goals, he is 100% a plot device. This is not opinion, but straight up fact, and is confirmed as such in CS4.
Right now, The Trails franchise is my favorite RPG series, and it seems they really improved on CS3 (with a few exceptions, like lowering the difficulty a lot except on certain bosses). I hope CS4 comes to America quickly.
And to think I found this series by pure chance walking into a gamestop on the day it released. I had played and finish the first trails in the sky and loved the story and battle system. When I saw the legend of heroes name I googled it. I don't remember what I initially went to gamestop but I'm glad it lead me to this series
As an adult now who doesn't have time to read when I watch anime. I prefer the dubs to subs. I get the subs uncensor everything but it's just to hard to find time. Also furthermore blood+ my favorite anime of all time has one hell of a dub same with inuyasha
I don't know if this game supposed to be Action RPG. But I want this to still Turn based. If you want Action, just play Ys series. It's more superior than Trails if this become Action. But that's just me.
Falcom's CEO has reaffirmed through interviews that the Trails series will always remain Turn-Based and focus on story. That really put my mind at ease. Also, when a company does that, it makes me open my mind to playing their action games. I actually went out and bought some Ys games, but haven't played them yet.
I had this games on vita and ps3 but never played them, I am doing it now on ps4. I am at the end of chapter 2 (around 16 hours in) and quite frankly I don't get the enthusiasm everyone has when it comes to cold steel... I hope things get better further down the plot, for now it is all extremely average I have to say (if not boring and predictable). At least tell me the cat has a few surprises in store.
Federico Pinci I haven’t played them either but I’ve heard the first game is a very slow burn and that the wait is worthwhile as you play. I hope to get into these eventually.
Just wait a bit longer. Chapter 3 will serve you some beautiful landscapes as well as an appetizer for what's going to come. From chapter 4 onwards the story is just great.
Slow developpement, but right in the beginnings you should see the sign of what is brewing in the empire, you should start to feel more tense as you advance. By chapter 4 it explode, so watch it coming...
These games don't jump straight to "epic". They slowly build up to it over a long period of time, while you get to know all about the world and the people around you. By the time it gets to "epic", you know everyone so well that the events are MUCH more meaningful.
XD seeing this video becaus ehe recommended it (andI still didn't follow). And just aboit that number 1 spot... almost sound like the story with Tales of Zesteria showing the promomotion qith a female protagonist and then switching it around xD
For the original gameplay that you said and you want to try it out cause your curiousity they didnt drop it out they still used it in Tokyo Xanadu. The game is running the same engine even menus of TOCS. Its even feels like a TOCS game.
You made my night, man. Trails is the spiritual successor of the Final Fantasy series as my top favorite JRPG franchise. I've been playing it since Sky FC and finding out all this facts about the Erebonian arc was so fun. And inspiring. All those writers... They are GODS. Period. We have this master pieces thanks to them, and I don't care one bit how long the games are. I can't get enough of them, though last time I played the whole series back to back (even the Crossbell games) it took me 7 months straight. But they were worth it! And now you got me thinking: how would this game have been with Alisa as MC? No. I can't imagine. Rean did such a marvelous job. He stands shoulder to shoulder with Estelle, Kevin and Lloyd as MC, and he WILL stand shoulder to shoulder with them within the game as characters... I can't wait for that moment. Even if said moment may takes place until CS 4 (haven't got my copy of CS 3 yet, sniff). Salute, fellow Trails fans. May you enjoy your time in the Erebonian Empire, and happy gamin'.
It took me a month or two to get into the first game after I bought it later last year, and I'm glad I did. Trails of Cold Steel has turned into one of my all-time favorite series. Started replaying #1 so I can set up a relationship with Towa throughout the series (she's my favorite lady).
i know the 8, 7, 4, 3 ,and 6 at least. wait, they cut ymir in the first game, well, maybe for the better since they are already huge enough xD, somewhat knew about the 2. still surprising.
I'm a little disappointed that the intro video doesn't start right away when you turn on Cold Steel 3. I used to watch it on 1 and 2 but on 3 you have to sit on the start screen for several seconds for it to start and I barely ever watch it.
Interesting facts indeed. I'm barely surprised hearing they had to cut out some parts knowing how close it was to fit both games on the discs. I also read somewhere that most of the localization team left Xseed. Don't know why though. I'm not exactly sad or angry they changed the localization company but I really loved how Xseed sold the first game. The Lionheart Box looks great and I really like the character book it included.
1) Realtime combat with AI companions would be good if it wasn't overlapping with what they did in later Ys games. Even Tokyo Xanadu combat reminds a lot of Ys but there are some stuff to make it different at least, i guess they didn't find something like that for Cold Steel. In the end i like like this because with realtime you often lose some tactical depth and they still do something a bit different from the typical turn-based logics. 2) i didn't know about PhyreEngine for Falcom games, i guess it's the all time favourite of medium/small sized japanese game devs for previous generation :P I don't know what nowadays Sony is providing because they don't work on PhyreEngine anymore. Maybe all will go with commercial engines like in the past, we already some using Unreal for their newest games like Bandai-Namco. 3) Never understood why paying for recording audio from voice actors and NOT having rights to use them in all ports or possible remakes. I guess they strongly protect these artists in Japan and full rights is considered another level of money to give to them. Still we are seeing more dual audio from recent games, i guess it's also being smarter and plan a contract with voice actors that don't require another discussion for worldwide distribution (they pay a bit more at the start, problem solved).
Alisa being a former main character would explain things imo. This might not be a popular opinion, but she seemed like the most boring / bland character in all of class 7. A (semi) last-minute overhaul might just explain that... And hopefully I'm not starting any waifu wars with this observation. ;)
A Trails of Cold Steel like action role play game, have you tried Tokyo Xanadu? That game plays like the initial combat system for Trails of Cold Steel, main character controllable only, AI controlled party members that can be swapped, action rpg. That said, I am bummed that Legend of Heroes Trails of Cold Steel 3 and 4 got dropped from Vita. I can’t afford PS4, so I can’t continue on from LoHToCS 1 and 2. I want a Vita port of 3 and 4. Alisa as the main?! Were they out of their freaking minds? Glad Rean was the main character. Also, any of the other girls are better suited for Rean than her. My choice is Laura, followed by Emma, Instructor Sara, Fie, and finally Captain Claire, with the princess as a honorable mention.
PS4s always go on sale this time of year so you can probably get one for a good deal, especially since the PS5 might come out next year. Rean is a very boring protagonist personality wise but yeah hes definitely better than Alisa.
@@whitewolf3051 ah, gotcha. I didnt mean to assume your financial situation. Switch is amazing though and since ys viii went to switch there might be hope for the trails games.
I LOVE Trails!! Started with CS1, then CS2, and now I'm playing through CS3. I have Sky 1 coming in the mail from Amazon. I was very surprised by the Alisa MC theory.
@@jeremylemam9035 Nice! I actually have TX but I have yet to play it fully. I played the very beginning and met a certain Instructor who I was happy to see and formed a couple of theories about lol. Also, JUST GOT THAT SKY COPY!!
Man, the Trails series looks awesome! I have Sky 1 and 2 and Cold Steel 1 on my Steam backlog but I am still waiting for days to be 30 hours long to have time to play them! These mechs do have a Xeno vibe to them, which makes me want to play them even more.
Startet Sen IV today because of that Sen III end. Damn. Kiseki is the greatest franchise as a series, however not one of the games is in my top 5 on it's own (Except Sora FC, maybe). The context of the other games makes each one amazing
Exactly. If you ask me which one if my favorite, I'll say none of them because honestly their individual stories aren't all that great. But if you combine them all together and take into account the world build and lore, that alone make this series one of the best.
I dont want to retype what I already said about FC in a comment I made but just know that I understand exactly what you mean. It's worth it to continue though.
These games don't jump straight to "epic". They slowly build up to it over a long period of time, while you get to know all about the world and the people around you. By the time it gets to "epic", you know everyone so well that the events are MUCH more meaningful.
Yeah. REAL slow burn. But at about the 40 hour mark it gets good. The final quater will have you hooked. Just try to appreciate the character and world building. All of it is important later on. Even characters that seem inconsequential.
"Alise was supposed to be the main protagonist" Holy shit thank God it didn't happen: I don't hate Alisa but she reminds me so much of Estelle. And I f----ing hate estelle. GOD how I hate estelle, she made me quit the game right on the last chapter. I had enough of her Mary Sue bullshit in the end. Rean is somewhat of a mary sue too but at least he gets trashed and he legitimately has struggles throughout the game! plus his parents aren't as important as Estelles, which i keep getting reminded during all the goddamn game how good he is and how he's chuck norris.
Well, Alisa is no Estelle, personality-wise, so I guess I'm happy they went for Rean. But I did personally like Estelle much more than Rean as a protagonist.
@@unleashed2724 Game is good, translation is... fine but not XSEED level for sure. They just gender swapped Cecil into male for example. Keep in mind this was not some random NPC you see on streets, she was important side character from Crossbell. They could complete previous games, check wiki or even put character name in google to check that but it would require effort.
Sacredus oh right, I completely forgot about that. I do hope they fix that for CS4, whenever that comes around. Considering where they will be going in the game. It’s purely speculation as I’ve seen one of the soundtracks for CS4.
NIS hired the same team who work on the previous entries to work on CS3. Xseed have been doing some weird internal stuff recently. I don't how much of a future the trails series have with them if Nis didn't didn't take once the project...as far as localization goes.
Thank you. I completed ToCS I and am currently wrapping up ToCS II (both on PS4). I have invested an absurd amount of time into each title. The creative team clearly intended for the player to nurture a romantic bond between Rean and Alisa. Nope! I was just as determined to make Rean and Gaius a couple. (If you checked the link status in my games, the link level between Rean and Gaius would be at seven, while Rean's link level with everyone else languished around three or four.) Gaius was a dreamboat...if he would just stop talking about the wind. Sheesh!
Hmmm... for the girls Laura > Fie > Emma > Millium > Alisa. For the guys Rean > Elliot > Gaius > Machias > Jusis. Sara is about as good as Fie, but we don't get to play with her full time for a while. The guest characters are all worth playing with, with Toval being my least favorite. I would still take Alisa over Machias or Jusis. Those guys just DESERVE each other!
4 is already out, unless you mean in the west in which case where did you hear that?? I'm under the impression that 4 hasnt even been announced to be released in the west yet.
