Support NeoGAF

[SpaceDrake]

Speaking of sales: Trails in the Sky FC for PSP, the game we got, just passed 200,000 copies sold as well.

http://www.siliconera.com/2011/08/1...-heroes-trails-in-the-sky-moves-200000-units/

That's five years after its debut in Japan, and this doesn't count any sales of the PC version. That's... an absurdly long tail for a game in Japan, in all honesty. I'm having trouble thinking of a game that's kept sales that consistently strong that wasn't from a core console manufacturer. Ace Attorney, maybe?

 

[vall03]

wow! Its a bit sad though that it took so long for the game to get localized...

 

[DonMigs85]

I just beat the game recently and I really hope SC gets here ASAP.
Is it true the 3rd game isn't all that necessary, though?

 

[ULTROS!]

I just beat the game recently and I really hope SC gets here ASAP.
Is it true the 3rd game isn't all that necessary, though?

From what I heard, the 3rd is like an extended story. Not really necessary from what I heard.

 

[Varion]

I just beat the game recently and I really hope SC gets here ASAP.
Is it true the 3rd game isn't all that necessary, though?

Nope it isn't true. 3rd's a bit different in its structure to the rest of the series, but it's very much necessary to the overall story. They announced it as a bridging point between Sora and Zero, and it shows. Plenty of plot teases and important information in there for the future direction of the plot. Don't think I've seen anyone who's played it and would honestly call it 'not that necessary'. If anything the structure of the game left them free to throw extra foreshadowing in there.

What it is though is not quite as closely tied to the previous games as SC is. Basically if XSEED were to not localise SC then people would be tearing their hair out and throwing heavy objects at their office, but if they were to not localise 3rd and beyond then the series would have at least had *something* of an ending. For the overall story though 3rd's essential.

 

[Petrie]

I'm hopeful someone can help me, as I bought this game on GAFs recommendation and was really enjoying it:

I had a file in Chapter 2 of this game, after the

Spoiler

orphanage had burned down and I had dealt with rescuing the little boy from the warehouse, hadn't gotten to the part where I was on my way to Jenis Royal Academy to help with the play.

I somehow lost my file, and if I can't get one right around this point I'll likely abandon this game which would be a shame. I'd greatly appreciate if anyone has, or could point me to a save in this area. Thank you.

 

[Varion]

I'm hopeful someone can help me, as I bought this game on GAFs recommendation and was really enjoying it:

I had a file in Chapter 2 of this game, after the

Spoiler

orphanage had burned down and I had dealt with rescuing the little boy from the warehouse, hadn't gotten to the part where I was on my way to Jenis Royal Academy to help with the play.

I somehow lost my file, and if I can't get one right around this point I'll likely abandon this game which would be a shame. I'd greatly appreciate if anyone has, or could point me to a save in this area. Thank you.

Ouch.

Closest save I seem to have is

Spoiler

just before you go into the Academy to help out. Finished all the subquests in town, was just about to enter and start all the story events there.

If that's good enough for you then here's that save. Next earliest save is like 5 hours earlier unfortunately.

 

[dr3upmushroom]

1. It never gets too difficult, though there some tough battles here and there. Watch out for monster chests.

2. The handbook has all the spells.

3. There's a good variety. Considering that you spend much of the game on foot, you'll be running all over the place. You have to revisit places a lot, but that's due to story and rarely feels like busy work IMO.

I'm surprised that you find the story and the dialogue to be a weak aspect of the game, as it's the strongest aspect of the experience by far IMO. You're still early on so it'll be really shifting gears later, but I think you may be surprised. And if you love exploring towns, this game should really please you, as every NPC says something different after practically every event.

Thanks!

The story seems like it may pick up pace, but the dialogue is pretty bad so far. There's been multiple times where a line was cheesy enough to make me wonder how it got into the final game. Stuff like "Yeah, I'm not like (the tarot card chick, forget her name), she's always asking for another drink... or ten!"

I'm sort of disappointed it doesn't get hard, I just fought my first chest battle and it was pretty fun. Glad to hear that those are recurring at least.

 

[hosannainexcelsis]

The story seems like it may pick up pace, but the dialogue is pretty bad so far. There's been multiple times where a line was cheesy enough to make me wonder how it got into the final game. Stuff like "Yeah, I'm not like (the tarot card chick, forget her name), she's always asking for another drink... or ten!"

I found the dialogue - I should say the localization - pretty good. It goes a long way towards building each character's unique personality. I don't see anything wrong with the line you quote, by the way.

 

[Petrie]

Ouch.

Closest save I seem to have is

Spoiler

just before you go into the Academy to help out. Finished all the subquests in town, was just about to enter and start all the story events there.

If that's good enough for you then here's that save. Next earliest save is like 5 hours earlier unfortunately.

Thanks very much. It's much better than my save which is still in Chapter 1. Thanks to the ability to just restart battles you lose and the PSP standby feature, I just forget to save.

This makes me miss save points, because without something reminding me I forget to do so.

*edit*

Thank you so much. Your save is literally EXACTLY where I left off, even if you've got 10 hours more than I did (thanks to missing a number of sidequests) and a bit higher in level, but seriously, I am so very grateful. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

I found the dialogue - I should say the localization - pretty good. It goes a long way towards building each character's unique personality. I don't see anything wrong with the line you quote, by the way.

The dialogue is charming, even the "mistakes" like "could care less" being used seem in character.

 

[krYlon]

There's been multiple times where a line was cheesy enough to make me wonder how it got into the final game. Stuff like "Yeah, I'm not like (the tarot card chick, forget her name), she's always asking for another drink... or ten!"

I'm usually one who can't stand the standard of writing in videogames, but I think the dialogue in Trails in the Sky is brilliant.

Interested to know what videogames you know of where the dialogue is of high quality?

 

[dr3upmushroom]

I found the dialogue - I should say the localization - pretty good. It goes a long way towards building each character's unique personality. I don't see anything wrong with the line you quote, by the way.

It's just really cliched, and most people don't talk like that. You could always make the case that "Someone somewhere does!" But the way the characters talk just feels, really really written. I can't really imagine someone genuinely speaking these lines out loud without them sounding like an ass. Everything is too explanatory, the writers seem to have no capacity for nuance. And I agree that the characters have unique personalities, but when those personalities are just standard archetypes, I don't really care.

I'm usually one who can't stand the standard of writing in videogames, but I think the dialogue in Trails in the Sky is brilliant.

Interested to know what videogames you know of where the dialogue is of high quality?

Honestly I can't think of a single JRPG with dialogue I would call high-quality. I don't play very many though, so I'm not saying there aren't some out there, I've just never played them.

Western studios tend to have far, far better writers in my opinion. Rockstar games tend to have a memorable character or two apiece, and Bully is a game I would call the dialogue for "brilliant."

I'm kind of curious how much reading you do outside of games if that's why you would describe the dialogue in Tails.

 

[krYlon]

I'm kind of curious how much reading you do outside of games if that's why you would describe the dialogue in Tails.

A lot. And I mean a LOT.
Literature is my biggest passion.

We'll have to agree to disagree on this one, because I find the dialogue in Rockstar games terrible, and cliched...

The best writing I've come across in video games would be Planescape: Torment and Grim Fandango

 

[creid]

Speaking of sales: Trails in the Sky FC for PSP, the game we got, just passed 200,000 copies sold as well.

http://www.siliconera.com/2011/08/1...-heroes-trails-in-the-sky-moves-200000-units/

That's five years after its debut in Japan, and this doesn't count any sales of the PC version. That's... an absurdly long tail for a game in Japan, in all honesty. I'm having trouble thinking of a game that's kept sales that consistently strong that wasn't from a core console manufacturer. Ace Attorney, maybe?

Not to downplay the "long tail", but it did get 2 budget-priced re-releases last year, from what I can gather.

 

[Melhisedek]

I'm in the last dungeon and monster chests are kicking my butt. Can I finish the game without them? I understand they contain better gear, but Fights take ao much time it makes me wanna skip them.
Using Joshua, Estelle, Kloe ans Olivier and everyone is at about lvl 32-33.

 

[hosannainexcelsis]

I'm in the last dungeon and monster chests are kicking my butt. Can I finish the game without them? I understand they contain better gear, but Fights take ao much time it makes me wanna skip them.
Using Joshua, Estelle, Kloe ans Olivier and everyone is at about lvl 32-33.

Careful strategy and use of crafts can cut down on the battle time, but none of the monster chests are necessary to beat the final boss.

 

[SpaceDrake]

Careful strategy and use of crafts can cut down on the battle time, but none of the monster chests are necessary to beat the final boss.

That said, if you can't beat the chests in the last dungeon, you are likely going to find the final set of fights to be a... challenge.

 

[Melhisedek]

I can beat them, but it takes so much time. Those big guys take ages to kill

 

[chaosblade]

I actually liked those battles because if you kept letting them spawn those smaller things you would get a ton of experience. At least for a while, since you eventually stop getting much experience out of those. They gave me a lot of trouble at first, but by the time I was at the end of the dungeon those battles were a joke.

 

[Indrew]

Just beat the game today. I'm so glad I picked it up.

Looks like I missed one single point of BP near the beginning though... can I start a new game+ and make the right choice to get credit for max BP? Or do I need to playthrough the entire game mistake free?

 

[chaosblade]

I don't think you can carry BP over to NG+, so you would have to play through it again.

 

[Grinchy]

"Yeah, I'm not like (the tarot card chick, forget her name), she's always asking for another drink... or ten!"

lol I loved the part about how she always gets too drunk and takes her clothes off. The sexual tension between her and little joshua is pretty funny and weird. The sexual tension between Estelle and her adopted brother is weird and funny too.

 

[Indrew]

I don't think you can carry BP over to NG+, so you would have to play through it again.

Thought so, thanks. Another playthrough (maybe nightmare!) will be in order closer to the 2nd chapter being released.

 

[Melhisedek]

I actually liked those battles because if you kept letting them spawn those smaller things you would get a ton of experience. At least for a while, since you eventually stop getting much experience out of those. They gave me a lot of trouble at first, but by the time I was at the end of the dungeon those battles were a joke.

Well I'm at the 3rd floor right now, think I'm near the end now and like you said, with each level battles become more and more manageable. Damn don't want it to end

 

[Spwn]

Didn't see this posted. Here's the Trails in the Sky Collector's Edition Europe is getting from Ghostlight.

The CD will be in jewel case instead of a slipcase according to Ghostlight's Ross. Looking forward to this.

Link to the Ghostlight blog post

 

[wrowa]

Hm. I'm not going to double dip then. I wasn't a fan of the game's soundtrack and am not interested in the art cards. I'll cross my fingers that the sales are going to be good, though, maybe that helps the chances of SC's release.

 

[Melhisedek]

Finished it last night with some 48 hours on the counter. Damn what a game. It is ironic that the best RPG I've played in last few years is 5 year old. No next gen, no fancy graphics no 7.1... just a simple well executed story.

About foreshadowings can anyone give me a rundown (I might have missed some playing late at night)

Spoiler

Only ones I could see are connected to Joshua that he is kinda shadowy person but I dismissed them as I saw him a harmless boy back when Cassius found him. But nothing on professor tbh

 

[krYlon]

Finished it last night with some 48 hours on the counter. Damn what a game. It is ironic that the best RPG I've played in last few years is 5 year old. No next gen, no fancy graphics no 7.1... just a simple well executed story.

About foreshadowings can anyone give me a rundown (I might have missed some playing late at night)

Spoiler

Only ones I could see are connected to Joshua that he is kinda shadowy person but I dismissed them as I saw him a harmless boy back when Cassius found him. But nothing on professor tbh

I think if you do a second play-through you'll see a lot of foreshadowing. You'll only realise when you play the game again.

 

[chaosblade]

Finished it last night with some 48 hours on the counter. Damn what a game. It is ironic that the best RPG I've played in last few years is 5 year old. No next gen, no fancy graphics no 7.1... just a simple well executed story.

About foreshadowings can anyone give me a rundown (I might have missed some playing late at night)

Spoiler

Only ones I could see are connected to Joshua that he is kinda shadowy person but I dismissed them as I saw him a harmless boy back when Cassius found him. But nothing on professor tbh

Some simple ones I remember off the top of my head:

Spoiler

Joshua disappears at times, there was at least once when you were at the cabin and he was reading.

He is also very aware of his surroundings, and always seems to have an answer in a deus ex machina sort of way. This irked me throughout the entire game, but it made sense once the truth about him was revealed.

When Kloe's bird (forgot the name) flies in the window and Joshua freaks out for a minute, it's because he thinks somebody after him from the group.

And I'd go as far as saying his animations and skills in battle seemed a lot more practiced and precise than Estelle, despite the fact they were both supposedly novices in combat.

 

[Spwn]

I'll just leave this here because I'm just too shy to start a new thread because of it:

Trails In the Sky 2nd and 3rd chapter coming to NA(????)

 

[Go_Ly_Dow]

I'll just leave this here because I'm just too shy to start a new thread because of it:

Trails In the Sky 2nd and 3rd chapter coming to NA(????)

Fuuuuuuu...can't remember if these placeholders existed back when I pre-ordered TitS.

 

[Spwn]

Fuuuuuuu...can't remember if these placeholders existed back when I pre-ordered TitS.

Hasn't been more than a few days since I last checked the site for Trails in the Sky and they weren't there then.

 

[Famassu]

Actually, they've been there ever since Trails in the Sky FC was announced...

 

[SpaceDrake]

Spoiler

And I'd go as far as saying his animations and skills in battle seemed a lot more practiced and precise than Estelle, despite the fact they were both supposedly novices in combat.

Spoiler

It's more the fact that a lot of his abilities, especially as you get further in the game, seem borderline superhuman; you'll notice nobody else manages to Flash Step in combat or damage and scare the enemy just by looking at them. And then his second S-Craft is just impossibly superior to everyone else's and again involves him moving inhumanly fast.

His abilities, as you keep going forward, are blatantly superhuman. The game is actually a bit meta in making you think "oh it's just a Video Game Thing" but then you realize, no, his abilities really ARE superhuman compared to everyone else's.

 

[DonMigs85]

Spoiler

It's more the fact that a lot of his abilities, especially as you get further in the game, seem borderline superhuman; you'll notice nobody else manages to Flash Step in combat or damage and scare the enemy just by looking at them. And then his second S-Craft is just impossibly superior to everyone else's and again involves him moving inhumanly fast.

His abilities, as you keep going forward, are blatantly superhuman. The game is actually a bit meta in making you think "oh it's just a Video Game Thing" but then you realize, no, his abilities really ARE superhuman compared to everyone else's.

In that case, is

Spoiler

Cassius even MORE superhuman?

 

[Coxy]

Fuuuuuuu...can't remember if these placeholders existed back when I pre-ordered TitS.

they did yes, they were definitely there months ago, I remember quite specificly

 

[Gunsmithx]

Finally got around to finishing the game... loved the ending and the whole game, I really really hope that SC and Third are released here but I wish we had some info on their status.

I know some of you have played beyond FC, I heard that the story basically ends with SC and that Third is a side story? or does the plot run through all 3 games?

 

[chaosblade]

Finally got around to finishing the game... loved the ending and the whole game, I really really hope that SC and Third are released here but I wish we had some info on their status.

I know some of you have played beyond FC, I heard that the story basically ends with SC and that Third is a side story? or does the plot run through all 3 games?

Haven't played SC or Third, but yes, SC continues literally right where FC left off. Third isn't as directly connected, but it's still important to the story, especially if XSEED decides it's worthwhile to continue the series over here.

And as far as status on SC/Third, they are still confirmed to be coming, and SC is presumably in the works now. Pretty sure Tom/wyrdwad has kind of given that away before, they just don't have anything to show yet (especially since Falcom is busy with other work right now). Plus it's kind of common sense, since the game will probably take a year or more to translate and edit (FC took 9 months IIRC).

I think the only reason people are really concerned is because of a misunderstanding during an interview. XSEED isn't sure how they will handle the release of SC because they can't put it on PSN and UMDs are going to be a tough sell next year when it should come out - Vita will already be released and retailers are not going to want to carry UMDs anymore. They are supposedly considering working with Falcom for the PC versions (on top of the PSP version of course) but they don't know if they can work it out and haven't said anything definitive, it's just something they are looking into.

That's my understanding of the situation.

 

[SpaceDrake]

In that case, is

Spoiler

Cassius even MORE superhuman?

Spoiler

Cassius never actually flash-steps or anything like that, though; he's just really, really skilled and focused from decades of practice. Some of Joshua's moves involve doing things that literally should not be possible.

 

[Darkmakaimura]

I just finished the Prologue and have gone into Chapter 1. I love it so far, with one exception. I have a hard time seeing the monsters on the screen and I keep running into them, a lot of times they surprise my party. Maybe it's the fact it is zoomed back so much or the monsters are tough to see on the terrain or a little of both.

 

[hosannainexcelsis]

I just finished the Prologue and have gone into Chapter 1. I love it so far, with one exception. I have a hard time seeing the monsters on the screen and I keep running into them, a lot of times they surprise my party. Maybe it's the fact it is zoomed back so much or the monsters are tough to see on the terrain or a little of both.

It's a deliberate design decision to make the enemies hard to see, especially when they're far away and faded. There's an orbment which allows you to see them clearly, plus indicate nearby enemies on the mini-map.

 

[Gunsmithx]

On the note of SC, while it's not anything from Xseed or Falcom, Siliconera is reporting that Type-0 is getting a PSN release along side the physical copy so that does hold out hope for SC at some point. Since thats the only other 2 umd game as least it shows that it can be done.

http://www.siliconera.com/2011/09/1...be-getting-a-playstation-network-release-too/

 

[chaosblade]

I'm guessing it has to do with how the disc swapping works. Type-0 only has one disc swap, while SC's world is basically split between the two discs so you are switching a lot. Would be great if they got it to work somehow kind of like PS1 games, but that's part of the emulator and not the OS. Guess we'll see if they can work something out.

 

[Dresden]

I guess Amazon is the best option for the game? Looks like the price hasn't dipped anywhere.

 

[SpaceDrake]

I guess Amazon is the best option for the game? Looks like the price hasn't dipped anywhere.

Yep, Amazon if you want physical, PSN if you want digital.

 

[Darkmakaimura]

In the middle of/towards the end of Chapter 3. Loving this game very much, as I had expected. I still can't help but think

Spoiler

Agate is such a jerk but maybe it's because he reminds me of a few people I met.

I really hope XSEED manages to get SC released for North America, even if it's for the Vita.

 

[SpaceDrake]

That's another reason to hope for an SC release: a number of characters, like Agate and Schera, get a lot more character development in SC than they do in FC. Agate in particular is just a really flat "I am a grumpy person" character in FC the entire time, while in SC he gets a lot of subtle and not-so-subtle development.

 

[hosannainexcelsis]

An update (kinda) on the status of Trails in the Sky SC:

"All I can really do is assure you guys that progress is… slow, but existent. There’s still a mountain of work left to do, though, and we’re still on pretty shaky ground with this title," Tom Lipschultz, Localization Specialist, explained. "The first game hasn’t exactly turned out to be a top-seller for us so far (despite overwhelmingly positive feedback from fans), which means we really can’t justify prioritizing the second (especially given its insane length). But we’re not giving up! We still plan to move forward, slowly but surely, until the project either gets done or becomes completely and totally unfeasible – whichever comes first. If series fans want to hurry us along, they’ll need to convince more people to buy the first game so we can have more funding to hire more people to work on the second, and have bigger numbers to convince our investors that Trails 2 is worthy of being prioritized."

"As it stands, it’s still too early to give anything even remotely resembling a viable release date – and we certainly can’t just focus all our attention on it until it’s done (as so many fans keep suggesting!) or we’d end up going out of business long before anything came of it. We need all these other releases of ours to survive, ‘cause it’s a jungle out there (disorder and confusion everywhere!)."

Every new comment on this matter makes SC sound less and less likely to come out in English.

 

[Aeana]

I can't believe they keep leading fans on like this. It is despicable.
It is best you guys just start trying to accept that you won't get to play SC. It'll be easier that way.

 

[hosannainexcelsis]

I can't believe they keep leading fans on like this. It is despicable.
It is best you guys just start trying to accept that you won't get to play SC. It'll be easier that way.

I can't accept that!

That's why I'm learning Japanese.