Current Events > Finally playing Kuro no Kiseki

(+) Yeah! (+)

I am using the english patch and am close to being done with chapter 2. Unfortunately most of the NPC dialogue is not translated.

My thoughts so far? At its core the battle system hasn't really changed. The biggest thing that has changed is there is no longer a grid in-battle, and learning arts works completely differently. It's a lot more balanced. You also can't spam S-Crafts like they're candy anymore, so fights aren't quite as easy as they were in previous games.

The cast seems really promising so far. Unlike Cold Steel and the Crossbell games, you work your way up and gather all the party members gradually, which in my opinion is MUCH better. It's pretty much exactly like how Sky did it.

It is also darker than any other game in the series and I'm not even on chapter 3 yet. Two named characters have died, and there have been two bloodbaths in chapter 2 alone.

bumpy

This is a new arc set in Calvard right?

Looking forward to the english release.

a-c-a-b posted...

This is a new arc set in Calvard right?

Looking forward to the english release.

Yes. New cast of characters and everything.

Super_Slash posted...

Yes. New cast of characters and everything.

Right on. I just played Trails from Zero for the first time. I loved it and am really looking forward to the second game.

a-c-a-b posted...

Right on. I just played Trails from Zero for the first time. I loved it and am really looking forward to the second game.

Is Zero the only one you've played?

Super_Slash posted...

Is Zero the only one you've played?

Nah.

I've played the first two Sky games and all 4 Cold Steel games.

Was spamming s crafts even a viable strategy? Usually it pushes your turn way down after using an s craft, so you want to save them for finishing blows.

On easier difficulties or abusing certain mechanics. High level Sophia MQ gives items an AoE effect so you could have the other 3 use their S-craft, then use 1 zeram capsule to give everyone CP and have them all S-craft again.
Chrono burst, Machias/Juna accelerate craft or one of the accelerate brave orders so you get even more in a row or just to negate the delay.
I love the series, but there are so many ways to abuse the systems.

ziggawatts posted...

On easier difficulties or abusing certain mechanics. High level Sophia MQ gives items an AoE effect so you could have the other 3 use their S-craft, then use 1 zeram capsule to give everyone CP and have them all S-craft again.
Chrono burst, Machias/Juna accelerate craft or one of the accelerate brave orders so you get even more in a row or just to negate the delay.
I love the series, but there are so many ways to abuse the systems.

My go to is usually sleeping at an inn or resting at a hot spring to get a quick 200 CP before a boss battle then just unleashing S Craft fury. This fills up your brave orders to max as well.

There are ways around the massive delay, which you already mentioned. In Kuro you cannot use an S Craft with just CP; you need a minimum of 2 boosts as well. Probably even more for the later ones.

Super_Slash posted...

I am using the english patch and am close to being done with chapter 2. Unfortunately most of the NPC dialogue is not translated.

My thoughts so far? At its core the battle system hasn't really changed. The biggest thing that has changed is there is no longer a grid in-battle, and learning arts works completely differently. It's a lot more balanced. You also can't spam S-Crafts like they're candy anymore, so fights aren't quite as easy as they were in previous games.

The cast seems really promising so far. Unlike Cold Steel and the Crossbell games, you work your way up and gather all the party members gradually, which in my opinion is MUCH better. It's pretty much exactly like how Sky did it.

It is also darker than any other game in the series and I'm not even on chapter 3 yet. Two named characters have died, and there have been two bloodbaths in chapter 2 alone.

Luckily the sequel completely fixes the combat and makes it more similar to CS4 / Hajimari (although doesn't fix the series wide problem that end-game arts are significantly better than melee builds). The map combat is also slightly better, although still feels kind of pointless. You still can't spam S-crafts but it doesn't really matter given how ridiculously powerful you can make arts users. E.g. at the end of the game my casters were doing 50k per turn, had 0 EP cost per spell and could usually cast 2 S-tier spells in a row if I used a boost.

That's insane lol. I do not mind though, I actually enjoy nuking everything into oblivion. I completely wrecked McBurn at the end of CS4 by combining stat boosts with brave orders and Musse's absolutely crazy ATS.

The melee combat is just an extension of what has been there since...Zero I think. Where you can kill weak enemies on the map. I think it's fine.

I'm interested in when other Falcom games look as nice and flashy as Kuro no Kiseki.

does it still look like a ps2 game

HolierThanMao posted...

does it still look like a ps2 game

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/8/4/0/AADqOLAAD2yY.jpg
You tell me.

Van's S craft being called Vandalize Raid will never not be funny to me.

I havent finished cold steel 3 yet but I did love trails in the sky and crossbell. So far cold steel has been a disappointment for me, mostly due to the larger character roster and characters dont get nearly as much development now as characters did in prior games. Trails in the sky started off as just Estelle and Joshuas journey and then had some guests, and then in sky 2 it was still primarily Joshua and Estelle and they had a ton of character development. Crossbell had a larger roster up front but did not introduce very many characters, it was pretty much the SSS all the way through and by the end I was as attached to them as I was to Estelle and Joshua. In cold steel, the characters seem way more gimmicky, they dont get as much screen time, their character arcs are a lot shorter and boring. Theres too god damn many of them so none of them get enough time for character development. I did not care at all for most of them (looking at you, Elliot, Gaius, machius, jusius, Laura, and a lot of the side characters). I thought cold steel 3 would be a return to the style of the earlier trails games, with a smaller roster of just the new class 7, and to be fair it has been an improvement, but the roster is still far bigger than the original games and theres also the problem where only half each chapter involves the new class 7 and then the other half is just a reunion with older characters. Also i do not like rean at all compared to the other protagonists. I dont think these problems are going to be fixed in cold steel 4 so Im bummed out over that.

Do hajimari and Kuro fix this? I know hajimari has the 3 routes with rean, Lloyd and the new MC but I hope that it is a bit more focused than cold steel is.

Kloe_Rinz posted...

I havent finished cold steel 3 yet but I did love trails in the sky and crossbell. So far cold steel has been a disappointment for me, mostly due to the larger character roster and characters dont get nearly as much development now as characters did in prior games. Trails in the sky started off as just Estelle and Joshuas journey and then had some guests, and then in sky 2 it was still primarily Joshua and Estelle and they had a ton of character development. Crossbell had a larger roster up front but did not introduce very many characters, it was pretty much the SSS all the way through and by the end I was as attached to them as I was to Estelle and Joshua. In cold steel, the characters seem way more gimmicky, they dont get as much screen time, their character arcs are a lot shorter and boring. Theres too god damn many of them so none of them get enough time for character development. I did not care at all for most of them (looking at you, Elliot, Gaius, machius, jusius, Laura, and a lot of the side characters). I thought cold steel 3 would be a return to the style of the earlier trails games, with a smaller roster of just the new class 7, and to be fair it has been an improvement, but the roster is still far bigger than the original games and theres also the problem where only half each chapter involves the new class 7 and then the other half is just a reunion with older characters. Also i do not like rean at all compared to the other protagonists. I dont think these problems are going to be fixed in cold steel 4 so Im bummed out over that.

Do hajimari and Kuro fix this? I know hajimari has the 3 routes with rean, Lloyd and the new MC but I hope that it is a bit more focused than cold steel is.

Most of the OG Class 7 grows a lot by CS3 (especially Machias and Jusis; the differences between them in CS1 to CS3 is massive, especially Jusis). Elliot and Laura don't get much. Gaius is more important than he appears, but to my knowledge Falcom has not yet done anything with that development unless he appears in Kuro.

In Hajimari it's kind of more of the same but the focus isn't on one huge cast. It's not a game about character development as much as it is conclusions to the first three arcs (primarily Crossbell and Erebonia though), and a conclusion to Rean's story. If you don't like Rean by CS3 you probably aren't GOING to though.

Kuro seems to fix most of these issues. As I said, it's back to the way Sky did it where characters join you gradually as the game progresses. I have no clue if any of the guest characters are permanent or not until Kuro 2 though (there's one character who has joined as a guest so far).