Last night I reached the point in Zero no Kiseki Evolution where something major was revealed, namely (major Chapter 4 spoiler)
the whereabouts of D.G. and the background of Guy. I feel there's some neat repeat of history going on with Guy/Tio and Lloyd/KeA, but I might be far off the mark. The attack on D.G was also illustrated wonderfully. I loved seeing how Jin Vathek, Arios Maclaine and even Cassius Bright got involved and working together. Also suspicious is the involvement of the right hand of the Iron Blood Chancellor the the two most recent major events.
It also feels as if the game is finally getting some substance. The vast majority of the game is build-up - just like FC, and SC to a lesser extent - but seems to hold back until much longer than FC. Instead of 'find my lost engagement ring', the subquests are similarly becoming more interesting, such as (mid Chapter 4)
meeting Jorge the dollmaker and inquiring him about Renne, and the gravekeeper delivering flowers to Guy, Seya (Arios' wife, not sure what the official romanisation is) and the unreadable tombstone.
I never really complained about Loewe and his bunshin. He's strong, but none of my experiences against him have ever felt like too one sided.
Then comes Yin. WTF, not only does her bunshin creation skill have no/very low AT cooldown, she also has an insta-kill move and all of her bunshin can use it, too.
It made me remember I am at hard mode. LOL. It seems that have adjusted the difficulty a bit. No longer are mobs hitting you for about 50% of your HP or bosses' S-CRAFT taking either 90% or 90000% of your health.
If this game has the same difficulty balance as the Sora games (or at least the 3rd), I'd probably cursing by now with the
Yin
battle.
Some sideway: After
Lloyd
, holy shiiiiit. There's
Anton and Ricks
! Kiseki games' NPC stuff isn't just some thing. It's a damn Love Letter!
There are things I don't like in Kiseki series, but this is the first time I have something I downright hate.
I hate Crossbell, since it's goddamn effing huge. I think Crossbell City alone is probably bigger than Grancell (with seaport open). Then they also give you full access to the entire Crossbell State (City + villages/gates/etc).
As a result, there's too much NPC dialogue to consume.
One thing about the Sora no Kiseki is that it is structured well. In exchange for "getting locked" in an area/city, you get to enjoy the awesome NPC stories. Its only weakness was the regional borders, because not only are they far from the cities, you usually have very little/no business after passing through them. This is something that Zero/Ao no Kiseki mitigated: Bus and Teleportation (aka "The Map").
But at the same time, despite the buses and the magic map, they also gave you more places/NPCs to visit - instead of just two borders, you instead get six on top of the "main city of the chapter" being bigger than Grancel.
Early chapters (prologue and Ch1?) locked you up, but currently at the 4th day of chapter three, I am already exhausted. Every time the day/dialogue changes, I go "I guess it's time to watch some TV/movie." just to refresh myself.
In Sora FC/SC (or even the small sections in the 3rd), I've never really felt that they destroy the pacing too much - even on "hot" moments. Sure, they affect the pacing but not to the extent that I dread the next day/dialogue change to come. In fact, I was excited for their dialogue change. As someone who liked the NPC stories in the previous games, it feels as if I'm being forced to choose between having a better pacing or the NPC stories in Zero no Kiseki.
It makes me wonder if not being restricted to places is a response to (assumed) complaints from player for not being able to "go back", which IMO is not really a good argument. As for the "missables", well... I think most RPG gamers already know how to search a dungeon that going back to them is mostly unnecessary. And the most painful missables are still the books and you can still miss them! (And while writing this, I found out I actually missed Glenn Volume 7 when Sergei gave me Vol. 8.*) Of course, there's also fishing, but they could have done it Sora SC style by "opening all borders in the end game".
I think there are symptoms that even the writers/programmers found this too much: A lot of sightseers in Chapter 3 are not getting "updated" dialogues. There's this little girl who has been complaining (exact same dialogue) on every day of the chapter so far, which is in contrast to the usual NPC care that Falcom gives as well as the the fact that the surrounding "named NPCs" change their dialogues every day.
Imagining that I would have to go through this "hell" again in Ao no Kiseki gives me a headache.
I hope that Sen no Kiseki doesn't do it like this. I've played the first chapter (aka the demo), and I *think* the school + town isn't that big. I sure hope I remember right.
Don't get me wrong, I love the NPCs here, too, but is this exhausting.
*which is partially caused by the very point of this post: Crossbell State is TOO goddamn huge. After ALL that tiring talking around the city, who in their right mind would want to go and have another round of NPC-talking? Dialogue didn't even change IIRC. They even automated the move to Geofront A!
Well, you certainly don't have to worry about Sen. You're returned to the same tiny town over and over again for most of the game, which is one of the reasons why it's my least-favorite Kiseki.
Just finished Zero no Kiseki Evolution myself after a 12 hour sprint. Wonderful final chapter, although it was a bit on the easy side. That did score me the trophy for finishing the game on level 40 or lower, though.
@ATXAlchemy: I understand where you're coming from. It was probably in the same chapter that I gave up on checking every NPC's dialogue for the same reasons. For the very same reason, I missed out on Glenn Vol. 10 and therefore all its end-game benefits. Still, even though it's exhaustive, I find it remarkable how well Falcom has managed to make the NPC's feel alive, even more so than in Sora. There were particular NPC's with interesting stories that I kept track of as the game advanced while many others didn't appeal to me. That's the reason I like to travel to Tangram, to catch a glimpse of Altair City, the closest I/we've been able to get to Calvard so far, and while I was at Tangram, I caught up with the NPCs I was interested in. So in a way, I made my own 'chapterly' routines.
I am in Chapter 3 (Day 4) too. And I agree that it's exhausting. Not sure there is a way they could have done it better. Crossbell is bigger than Grancel of course, but that's because you are focusing on one area for the whole game. And unlike the cities of Sora it's not just adventurer shops/a couple of houses/one landmark. It has all the facilities you would expect from a city. Which is nice. On the downside it takes 3-4 hours just to speak with everybody. And even if some dialogue does not change, you still have to go everywhere and check everything. Again not sure what they could do to make it better. But yeah, I am it an impasse. On the one hand I don't want to lose on all the little stories I've been following, on the other hand I am really tired of running around the city every day. Honestly I am surprised somebody else is still doing it too.
I wish every chapter had it's own town music or something. Considering how much time we spend in the city... I somewhat dislike the town bgm. Chapter 3 has a much more pleasant tune.
Even if Sen has smaller locations it does have longer loading times between screens. We will see if it will be net win in time.
I thought maybe this would be of interest to you guys: the Essential RPGs voting thread is wrapping up tomorrow. Trails in the Sky FC landed 50th place last time, which was a major factor in me buying the Steam version when it came out. However, it seems to have barely any votes this time.
Thought I'd give a signal boost so you all have a chance to support the Trails series!
Just started Zero Evo this past week. Around 5 hours now. Thoughts so far are that the music is SO AWESOME. There's a ton of tracks already and I love them all. Really really strong personality music in this one, big jump from the Sora series (which had good music). First/main city is ridiculously big. I'm not a huge fan of big cities/towns since my gaming style is that I have to fully explore them and talk to every npc before I move the story on and slows down the pacing. Took me like 3 sessions to go through the starting city doing that and the initial sidequests.
Character design is a lot more anime, but I like the designs so far. Voices are pretty good. Like the two gang leaders in the first city. Battle is cool, like that the spells have new animations. So weird feeling so underpowered at the start coming from SC & 3rd! Not sure how I feel about party rush on the turn order bar. Free high damage party attack at random times in the queue order? Seems too beneficial. Can enemies do it back if it lands on an enemy in the queue?
Already like Lloyd. He's a very different character than Estelle/Joshua.
First/main city is ridiculously big. I'm not a huge fan of big cities/towns since my gaming style is that I have to fully explore them and talk to every npc before I move the story on and slows down the pacing. Took me like 3 sessions to go through the starting city doing that and the initial sidequests.
Don't do that. Talk to NPCs which are naturally on your way to your next objective if you want some NPC flavor text but ruining the pacing for yourself just for some random banter is not a good idea and becomes infeasible in Ao when you can freely travel through all of Crossbell.
To me, the best thing about the Crossbell games is Crossbell itself, such an amazing sense of place. The atmosphere, the music, the people, it all just fits together so perfectly. That's something none of the other Kiseki games (or many JRPGs in general) provide.
Title screen music makes me feel all nostalgic for a five year old game lol. Need to replay them at some point.
I finished Zero no Kiseki two weeks ago or so. Evolution, to be exact.
So far, Zero has put me in check of what to expect with the rest of the series. It kinda... failed me on things I was expecting of the series. Which is extra annoying since I loved FC so much that I thought SC and the 3rd would not even come close to it and they did. Then I thought Zero would due to SC/the 3rd and it didn't. :/
Currently playing another game and will do another run of Zero after I finish it, this time with complete guide. I'll post of what I think of Zero no Kiseki after that.
I'm actually thinking of just getting Ao PSP (plan is to play Ao without voices). But my biggest concern is the savefile.
Do PSP saves (on Vita) have lock on them like Vita saves does? Does anyone have a Zero PSP save? I don't mind if its only a single playthrough as long as all sidequests are done unless
the extra dungeon/sidequest at second playthrough also affects things
.
Don't care who you chose either.
Also, I said I'd buy Sora FC Evo day 1... I guess not anymore.
@ATXAlchemy: I understand where you're coming from. It was probably in the same chapter that I gave up on checking every NPC's dialogue for the same reasons.
I'll probably do the same for Ao for the first run. NPC stories in Crossbell have now turn into something that significantly affect the pacing of the main stories.
I thought FC/SC style was really well engineered in terms of making the NPC stories.
And I agree that it's exhausting. Not sure there is a way they could have done it better. Crossbell is bigger than Grancel of course, but that's because you are focusing on one area for the whole game. And unlike the cities of Sora it's not just adventurer shops/a couple of houses/one landmark.
Even if Sen has smaller locations it does have longer loading times between screens. We will see if it will be net win in time.
If you mean "how they could have done it better" in that the city is already established...
1. They could have reduced the number of dialogue changes in the game.
2. They could have also closed off some sections of the city, but I guess that is also a bit limited. They spread everything to almost everywhere (and wanted to make them still available for most of the game).
Otherwise, they could have made the city a bit smaller or "better" structured. Either ways, I don't think things will be changed in Ao.
About Sen no Kiseki (first game) loading times, switching maps is still just an overhead. So unless you keep going back and forth, they probably won't matter much. Not sure if you notice but some bigger maps for Zero Evolution can actually take a while (I think they can go 4~6s).
I've finished the first chapter (or prologue, whichever it is you first meet the
train guys/Ice Maiden
), and I didn't really feel that the town/school or the town with fair to take have significant effect on the pacing.
If you remember conversations in FC/SC, they're not exclusively "adventurer shops".
Just started Zero Evo this past week. Around 5 hours now. Thoughts so far are that the music is SO AWESOME. There's a ton of tracks already and I love them all. Really really strong personality music in this one, big jump from the Sora series (which had good music). First/main city is ridiculously big. I'm not a huge fan of big cities/towns since my gaming style is that I have to fully explore them and talk to every npc before I move the story on and slows down the pacing.
So weird feeling so underpowered at the start coming from SC & 3rd! Not sure how I feel about party rush on the turn order bar. Free high damage party attack at random times in the queue order? Seems too beneficial. Can enemies do it back if it lands on an enemy in the queue?
This is the easiest Kiseki game so far. I finished Hard Mode on first try and it's about as difficult as Normal Mode of the previous games. Only hard time you'll have is at the beginning.
If Party Rush comes at enemy turn, the entire enemy party's next turn will be moved up instantly (0 delay).
Party Rush is a mechanic that is supposed to be the successor of Chain Craft. But IMO, it isn't a good mechanic. I kept using it, and honestly, the battles became more boring as the enemy ends up half dead. Engaging stunned enemies pretty much guarantees 1 Party Rush attack + 7 moves. Many enemies will be dead before they even move.
At least there were times that Chain Craft was a game changer, but Party Rush is more of a 'let's make normal battles way easier' mechanic.
While I haven't grind for levels (aimed for the below 40 achievement), I don't see how it's significantly faster than spamming high end orbal arts near a recovery orbment. PR ain't going to OHKO enemies.
I've recently started Trails in the Sky on PC (I'm in chapter 2 right now). The game looks really great at max (1080p) resolution and is really a pleasure to play. The gameplay is not as slow as I feared it would be, thanks to a great running speed and decently short animation in battle. The only thing I don't like, despite the enemies being visible, is that I get to have more surprise battles the more I have characters in my team since they all follow in line. The monsters, when they appear suddenly and move in full speed, just have to touch one of my partners to surprise me.
About the NPC. Before playing the game, I've heard about the mini stories of the NPC that people have been telling about, and so far they aren't that interesting. I usually talk to everyone the first time through a town then after that I talk mainly to people that are on my path. I don't find their conversations that interesting or funny like other NPC dialogues like in the Lunar games, Grandia, or Persona IS, just to name a few that I remember most recently. I mean most of the time the dialogues that get change in a town is usually around one main idea (like if an event occurs, everybody's gonna talk about it, so it can get kind of repetitive after that) and for those that have some mini sub-plot, well they aren't that memorable or whatever. I remember most of the mini sub plots in the first town and even then, I don't think that I'll ever remember about them when I finish the game. There are like a hundred named NPC in the game and I don't think it's even possible to remember about then if some of them ever travel from town to town later on. There're maybe the NPC with a portrait that are worth to talk every now and then to since they are, you know, important. Also, I think the game would have benefited for a small icon above heads that indicates if we already talked to an NPC and if that NPC has something new to say. So anyway IMO, I don't really recommend talking to everyone all the time when something happens. I wouldn't want people to feel obligated to do so each time there's a city...
Still, so far the story is pretty okay and the characters entertaining. I really hope the plot gets into gear soon. If not, well I guess it doesn't matter since I enjoy the feeling of adventure.
On a side note, I was wondering if I should try the Gagharv trilogy next. Does it take place in the same world as Trails in the sky? Are they storyline compelling and the characters memorable? Is the wold building better/worst than Kiseki? I know there are issues with the localization but you know if the story is worth it, then I wouldn't mind playing them. I also heard there's some kind of History section that you get to fill up when you talk to NPC and that you get to carry over in the sequels. I really like that idea and it's a shame the TitS series didn't inherit it (at least to my knowledge). I think that would have been the perfect incentive to talk to NPCs.
About the NPC. Before playing the game, I've heard about the mini stories of the NPC that people have been telling about, and so far they aren't that interesting. I usually talk to everyone the first time through a town then after that I talk mainly to people that are on my path. I don't find their conversations that interesting or funny like other NPC dialogues like in the Lunar games, Grandia, or Persona IS, just to name a few that I remember most recently. I mean most of the time the dialogues that get change in a town is usually around one main idea (like if an event occurs, everybody's gonna talk about it, so it can get kind of repetitive after that) and for those that have some mini sub-plot, well they aren't that memorable or whatever. I remember most of the mini sub plots in the first town and even then, I don't think that I'll ever remember about them when I finish the game. There are like a hundred named NPC in the game and I don't think it's even possible to remember about then if some of them ever travel from town to town later on. There're maybe the NPC with a portrait that are worth to talk every now and then to since they are, you know, important. Also, I think the game would have benefited for a small icon above heads that indicates if we already talked to an NPC and if that NPC has something new to say. So anyway IMO, I don't really recommend talking to everyone all the time when something happens. I wouldn't want people to feel obligated to do so each time there's a city...
I am not sure what you are expecting, but if you are not interested in slice-of-life stuff, then I doubt they are going to be "worth it" to you.
This is the only game I've played so far that the mob characters are living. And they didn't need some "special" background to be written for. They didn't need to be friends/family/provide special services/quests/etc of the protagonist or anything.
(Spoilered part might be spoilers for Sora FC depending on how you look at it.)
I haven't played Persona IS, and I honestly don't remember Lunar or Grandia NPCs, but Sora no Kiseki FC is the first game that I felt
that I wanted the world (or country in case of Liberl) to be saved. Not because of saving the world of the sake of saving it, or for the sake of the handful of people the main characters are related to, or even because "_____ people are going to die and that's bad/sad". But rather because I love the people in Liberl.
Some dialogues bear more weight exactly due to talking to NPCs.
It is better to recommend for people to talk to the lot of NPCs every time. Because if the player thinks it's not good, they can always stop doing it. On the other hand, if they weren't doing it and found out that they do like it, they'd have already missed some parts of it and you can't really fix that unless you start a new game (which is not enticing).
Crossbell really is only a special case due to how big/exhausting it is that talking to all NPCs noticably impairs the pacing of the game.
I am not sure what you are expecting, but if you are not interested in slice-of-life stuff, then I doubt they are going to be "worth it" to you.
This is the only game I've played so far that the mob characters are living. And they didn't need some "special" background to be written for. They didn't need to be friends/family/provide special services/quests/etc of the protagonist or anything.
(Spoilered part might be spoilers for Sora FC depending on how you look at it.)
I haven't played Persona IS, and I honestly don't remember Lunar or Grandia NPCs, but Sora no Kiseki FC is the first game that I felt
that I wanted the world (or country in case of Liberl) to be saved. Not because of saving the world of the sake of saving it, or for the sake of the handful of people the main characters are related to, or even because "_____ people are going to die and that's bad/sad". But rather because I love the people in Liberl.
Some dialogues bear more weight exactly due to talking to NPCs.
It is better to recommend for people to talk to the lot of NPCs every time. Because if the player thinks it's not good, they can always stop doing it. On the other hand, if they weren't doing it and found out that they do like it, they'd have already missed some parts of it and you can't really fix that unless you start a new game (which is not enticing).
Crossbell really is only a special case due to how big/exhausting it is that talking to all NPCs noticably impairs the pacing of the game.
Well it's just that I'm the sort of guy who always talks to NPC to see more of world building or see the world of the game through a different perspective. It's just to recommend people to talk to every NPCs in every city/villages (with backtracking included) just after a plot point is kinda absurd and too much time-consuming. I would suggest mainly after BIG plot point. Like I'm in chapter 3 right now and I think I did well to talk to most NPC in Ruan before going into Zeiss. Now that was worth it. So it's not that I don't recommend to speak to NPCs AT ALL. I'm just trying to find a middle way.
Oh, forgot to mention that the thing where NPCs pop up out of nowhere as you walk around town is freaking weird. Never seen a top-down rpg like this with pop-in.
Ao no Kiseki Evolution has been nothing short of absolute awesomeness so far and I'm not even at the point where people say it "starts to get good". Lovely cinematic direction during cutscenes, amazing music, (most of) the voice acting is great, charming throwbacks to the Sora trilogy and genuinely interesting quests.
I'm currently in the last day of Chapter 2,
and just wrapped up the fantastic sidequest with Ries (confirming that The 3rd is not 'just a gaiden') and I'm very much looking forward to the West Zemuryan Trade Conference.
Well it's just that I'm the sort of guy who always talks to NPC to see more of world building or see the world of the game through a different perspective. It's just to recommend people to talk to every NPCs in every city/villages (with backtracking included) just after a plot point is kinda absurd and too much time-consuming. I would suggest mainly after BIG plot point. Like I'm in chapter 3 right now and I think I did well to talk to most NPC in Ruan before going into Zeiss. Now that was worth it. So it's not that I don't recommend to speak to NPCs AT ALL. I'm just trying to find a middle way.
The best balance is probably to just point out that the dialogue changes after minor plot points and leave it to the player to decide if they want to chat it up. I personally talked to most of the NPCs after plot points, but I sometimes decided to not bother with going to NPCs in remote locations like the guard stations if I wasn't in the mood or anxious to get the plot moving. It became kind of routine around the middle of the game, but it picked up in the final chapter due to the events that happen in it.
1. The game looks really charming graphically. Her videos of the PC version but it's pretty clear from the graphic style that this was originally a PC-98 game. (Apparently the game was also ported to the PSX too, who knew?)
2. The music is still pretty awesome, especially compared to the less energetic PSP version. Sometimes synth guitars can really work wonders to make you more excited for the fight.
3. The battle system is indeed different from the version the West got on the PSP. It kinda reminds me of the Persona 2 games in that you set what your party members do and they kinda stick with it until you interfere. I'm still not sure if the original PSP version uses a different battle system from what America got, but I imagine with emulation I could answer that fairly quickly unless someone wants to weight in.
4. I was a little surprised to realize that I recognized many of the sound effects from playing Ys 1+2 Chronicles+. In particular, the boomerang weapon that Mile had sounded like Pictimos's scythes. The general sword swipes sounded like Ys 2 enemy attacks as well.
Oh, forgot to mention that the thing where NPCs pop up out of nowhere as you walk around town is freaking weird. Never seen a top-down rpg like this with pop-in.
The best balance is probably to just point out that the dialogue changes after minor plot points and leave it to the player to decide if they want to chat it up.
Recommendations have always been just that: recommendations. He made me jawdrop when he said we should not recommend something that is done very rarely in games. And there's the fact that it is one of Kiseki's trademarks. The only non-Kiseki game I've played from Falcom so far is Ys Celceta, and that doesn't have the same care for NPCs that Kiseki does.
I personally talked to most of the NPCs after plot points, but I sometimes decided to not bother with going to NPCs in remote locations like the guard stations if I wasn't in the mood or anxious to get the plot moving.
Yeah, that works. I have done that a number of times (and costed me books in FC lol). But you'd actually need a more generalized version when it comes to Crossbell (written below). There's essentially no "remote" location in Crossbell. LOL.
If anyone is looking for a suggestion on how to do it, Gu4n already mentioned what is possibly the best middleground: Select which NPCs you're really interested in.
If each NPC story is a side-story book to a main series, the difference between what's he's suggesting and the 'selected NPC' method is that former would be akin to reading only every 10th page of each book, while the latter is reading selected books.
There is nothing wrong with what idalarian's suggesting if anyone just wants to play the game. But we're talking about what exactly made Falcom's NPCs in Kiseki games unique. You won't see why that if you only talk "after every big events".
The best balance is probably to just point out that the dialogue changes after minor plot points and leave it to the player to decide if they want to chat it up. I personally talked to most of the NPCs after plot points, but I sometimes decided to not bother with going to NPCs in remote locations like the guard stations if I wasn't in the mood or anxious to get the plot moving. It became kind of routine around the middle of the game, but it picked up in the final chapter due to the events that happen in it.
1. The game looks really charming graphically. Her videos of the PC version but it's pretty clear from the graphic style that this was originally a PC-98 game. (Apparently the game was also ported to the PSX too, who knew?)
2. The music is still pretty awesome, especially compared to the less energetic PSP version. Sometimes synth guitars can really work wonders to make you more excited for the fight.
Wow the game looks charming on PC-98! And that battle music!! Great find! I'll have to find some more video about this version and also find the original ost...
So again about Trails in the Sky NPCs. Right now I'm in the final dungeon so I've been through all chapters and I'll have to admit that I talked to most NPC in the final chapter, even after minor plot development. One of the reason that motivated me to do so is because there wasn't any backtracking to do to other location since everything happens in that one city. Also, it helps that there are many familiar faces from previous chapters and to be able to get know them more. Though I can't say I liked the pacing of the first half of the last chapter and the lack of side quests.
About the last dungeon,
is it just me or is the dungeon totally awful the way it was designed? I mean, must they really put a freaking battle in every chests containing a unique equipment, even though it is practically the same fights that drag far too long for normal battles? Since I've sped run through it (I've only opened a couple of chests), the final form of the boss totally kicked me in the balls. I can't believe they put a difficulty spike that goes through the roof. It feels kinda cheap.The game was mostly easy most of the time.
Wow the game looks charming on PC-98! And that battle music!! Great find! I'll have to find some more video about this version and also find the original ost...
So again about Trails in the Sky NPCs. Right now I'm in the final dungeon so I've been through all chapters and I'll have to admit that I talked to most NPC in the final chapter, even after minor plot development. One of the reason that motivated me to do so is because there wasn't any backtracking to do to other location since everything happens in that one city. Also, it helps that there are many familiar faces from previous chapters and to be able to get know them more. Though I can't say I liked the pacing of the first half of the last chapter and the lack of side quests.
About the last dungeon,
is it just me or is the dungeon totally awful the way it was designed? I mean, must they really put a freaking battle in every chests containing a unique equipment, even though it is practically the same fights that drag far too long for normal battles? Since I've sped run through it (I've only opened a couple of chests), the final form of the boss totally kicked me in the balls. I can't believe they put a difficulty spike that goes through the roof. It feels kinda cheap.The game was mostly easy most of the time.
This is actually the PC version. The PC-98 version looks a little grittier and has more appropriate, (but still great) music.
Here's more footage I found of the PC version, with more awesome music (and the TitS victory patched in for whatever reason)
Well technically if you REALLY wanted to you could go to the guard stations that lead to Zeiss and Rolent. Even the most obscure NPCs get dialogue changes most of the time.
Finished Zero. All in all a good game, but somewhat disappointing after Sora. Same as first part of Sora, Zero uses most of the game for world-building more or less. And there is nothing wrong with that, in fact that's what I liked about Sora, only... I guess they reuse their own tropes a little too much. Find the missing books, find the ring, follow the clues from Phantom Thief, meet an old guy whose wife hates his hobbies, meet the Fishing Club, get saved by an older bracer... And the list goes on. I don't know, maybe I played it too soon after Sora, or maybe Sora was just my first love and no other Falcom game will ever equal it. I just listened to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NIfWFxFCDg and it felt so nostalgic.
Events picks up a lot by the last chapter but
Yoahim
as the main villain is somewhat underwhelming. His goals are never clearly explained, his actions don't make much sense. He isn't half the man that
colonel Richard
is. It's an okay ending, but Sora had such a neat twist. In Zero we just know that we don't know something. How did
キーア
end up in that trunk? I sure hope that there is a good explanation, because for the whole game it looked like an ass-pull and by the end of the game it still looks like one.
And the NPC... I spoke with everybody for the whole game and it drove me half crazy)) You do find unexpected gems. Like just before the final chapter I went to
the west gate
and learned from
the commanding officer
that
they are getting new supplements from the hospital
. And my mind went: "Oh shit! Shitshitshit!". And sure thing, by the end of the day shit hits the fan. The clues the game can give you are amazing sometimes, but you do have to plow through hours on hours of NPC dialogue to find them. I doubt I have it in me to speak with everybody in Ao again. But damn, I respect Falcom for the effort.
You go across the border for a moment in one of the side-quests. You never get outside the train, but I got this funny feeling that, if I could somehow break the game and go outside, the city of Altair would be there. Its assets are not in the game, we know next to nothing about it, but still it exists. Calvard Republic is a real place and Lloyd can visit it in half an hour even if we can't.
I've only played TiTS:FC, but all I know is that Ao no Kiseki is usually in contention with Sora no Kiseki:SC for the best Kiseki/Trails game, so hopefully Zero should pay off for you.
TiTS:FC is my favorite so far, actually. I understand why most people would prefer SC. But to me the plot of FC is perfect, aside from the fact it's not for everybody, and people without patience would fall asleep before finishing the game. SC villains are so strong in terms of resources they at times look really stupid for letting the heroes win. Even though the writing tries to present them as smart. FC had a villain that would lose even without the protagonists, but he was so competent it almost looked like he could pull it of. On a level you can also get behind what he is doing. SC has a lot of awesome stuff in it, but at a basic level it's good guys fighting bad guys for the One Ring.
Zero tries to do the same build up as FC. It probably is a better game. But there is less wonder the second time and the villain/ending are definitely not as interesting. Not bad really, especially compared to most jrpg. I am sure Ao can build upon that. And I've heard good things about Ao too.
Finished Zero. All in all a good game, but somewhat disappointing after Sora. Same as first part of Sora, Zero uses most of the game for world-building more or less. And there is nothing wrong with that, in fact that's what I liked about Sora, only... I guess they reuse their own tropes a little too much. Find the missing books, find the ring, follow the clues from Phantom Thief, meet an old guy whose wife hates his hobbies, meet the Fishing Club, get saved by an older bracer... And the list goes on. I don't know, maybe I played it too soon after Sora, or maybe Sora was just my first love and no other Falcom game will ever equal it. I just listened to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NIfWFxFCDg and it felt so nostalgic.
Events picks up a lot by the last chapter but
Yoahim
as the main villain is somewhat underwhelming. His goals are never clearly explained, his actions don't make much sense. He isn't half the man that
colonel Richard
is. It's an okay ending, but Sora had such a neat twist. In Zero we just know that we don't know something. How did
キーア
end up in that trunk? I sure hope that there is a good explanation, because for the whole game it looked like an ass-pull and by the end of the game it still looks like one.
And the NPC... I spoke with everybody for the whole game and it drove me half crazy)) You do find unexpected gems. Like just before the final chapter I went to
the west gate
and learned from
the commanding officer
that
they are getting new supplements from the hospital
. And my mind went: "Oh shit! Shitshitshit!". And sure thing, by the end of the day shit hits the fan. The clues the game can give you are amazing sometimes, but you do have to plow through hours on hours of NPC dialogue to find them. I doubt I have it in me to speak with everybody in Ao again. But damn, I respect Falcom for the effort.
You go across the border for a moment in one of the side-quests. You never get outside the train, but I got this funny feeling that, if I could somehow break the game and go outside, the city of Altair would be there. Its assets are not in the game, we know next to nothing about it, but still it exists. Calvard Republic is a real place and Lloyd can visit it in half an hour even if we can't.
Zero has a terribly long build-up due to the complex political situation of Crossbell, which is explored throughout the chapters and its foreshadowing for the end-game events is there albeit less obvious than in Sora. If you were to replay Zero, you can see how the majority of the game works toward that point. Still, I agree with you: after SC and The 3rd, Zero feels relatively underwhelming since it has to work on world-building again. Fortunately, Ao picks up where Zero ended and does a tremendous job on that. I actually just reached the end of Ao's Intermission and Ao makes up - and a whole bit more - for whatever Zero lacked. It also addresses the points you mentioned - even in its Prologue already - and in general feels much more enjoyable than Zero. Still, if Zero (and The 3rd, to some extent) wouldn't have done such a great job on exploring the political structure and complications of Crossbell as it did, I think we would've had a hard time following what the hell is going on in West Zemuria.
I've just finished Tits FC. I really liked the ending. I guess it pays off for the slow pacing of throughout the whole game and also for doing certain side quests with
Alba lol
. I can see why many people are excited about the sequel... In fact, I've just bought a ticket to board the Hype train just now!
Also, after thinking about it, certain plot points in FC reminded me (in a good way) about a certain first book in a series... No sure if anybody here has ever read it. The series is called
Tales of the Otori, and its first book, The Nightingale floor
. Here are some of the similarities:
In fact it's mainly the ending. The ending of both FC and Nightingale Floor ends with the male protagonists leaving the female protagonist and also love interest by putting here to sleep with his gaze, some sort of skill passed down among the members of the Tribe, similar to the Jargaers (don't remember the spelling).
In anticipation of the release of Sora SC this year I've been replaying FC and I've been able to work out the truth of Agate's past.
The moment I saw him leaving Ravennue and the Mayor's concern for his well being, it just made sense. I also noticed the flowers left at the grave that hadn't been there earlier. His troubled youth with the Ravens and his fevered mumbling to Tita (of a name from the tombstone in Ravennue) all but confirmed it.
One moment that hit hard was when
we were traveling to the fortress to rescue Professor Russell and Tita asked about Mischa. Realising the true meaning of him saying that he would be with her now if he was more responsible was heartbreaking. His protective attitude towards Tita made so much more sense
and gave me hope that he may not be as much of a jerk as he tries to make people believe.
The detail of side stories like this that you don't even see until you replay the game are what makes this one of my very favourite games of all time. I can only hope that others in the series manage to get released in English someday.
Not having played beyond FC I don't have any actual confirmation of my suspicions but I feel a certain
locked building in Ravennue
may be important in the next game. I can only hope the scenes that eventually reveal this aren't in part three since I may never be able to play it.
I think Zero is probably the best game in the series. It manages to do what Sora FC does in world building but still retain an engaging and exciting story as a part of that. It also then connects to Ao really well.
The building itself is not really important to the plot per se, at least I don't think it's a big spoiler to say that
it's his house. he is away, so the door is locked. duh.
You do get inside in the second game and plot happens when you do. And everything about Agate's past is in SC. 3rd has some scenes with Tita's mom and dad, but those happen after SC, not the past. You would still want to see them, they are funny as hell)
One of you guys may need to find a way to stop me from spending too much money on Falcom mp3s. They have so many of their albums up for sale, and so many great tracks, AND I have these Philips Fidelio X1s that I bought on Black Friday that need delicious Higher than Youtube quality tracks blaring through them. The fact that Falcom puts up so many of their many (many MANY) albums for digital download is a blessing. Or a curse since I'm sure this sort of thing has made certain people lose out on a lot of cash.
One of you guys may need to find a way to stop me from spending too much money on Falcom mp3s. They have so many of their albums up for sale, and so many great tracks, AND I have these Philips Fidelio X1s that I bought on Black Friday that need delicious Higher than Youtube quality tracks blaring through them. The fact that Falcom puts up so many of their many (many MANY) albums for digital download is a blessing. Or a curse since I'm sure this sort of thing has made certain people lose out on a lot of cash.
I thought he was talking about iTunes. Falcom was spamming about their entire selection (4400+ songs I think) being now available in non-Japan countries.
Are iTunes mp3 downloads not good? Never used them before (never owned an Apple product so was never interested.)
I'm willing to try lossless files, but I know that if its a high enough mp3 quality (320kbps is what's usually said) then its hard to tell a huge difference.
Normally I also try to stick to OSTs of games that I've played before too, which means only TitS FC when it comes to LoH, although since I'm considering at least a couple tracks from LoHIV (Can't stop listening to Out of My Way! and We Mustn't Be Defeated!) I'm clearly a hypocrite on that condition.
Besides, e-onkyo is not letting in non-Japanese users to purchase, although I suppose a VPN or something similar could get you what you want?
So I'm currently studying Japanese and wanted to pickup a game in a genre I like (being jrpg) to aid me and also to constantly surround myself in the language. I was wondering what the language level is for the kiseki games, note that I don't intend to play them at a fast pace and more for studying/slowly working through them while looking up words etc.
On another note, are the Tales series (mainly being Zestiria) easier to understand as that was the alternative I was thinking of besides this. Also, should I pick up SC first (already played and finished FC in English) or is it possible to start with Sen?
So I'm currently studying Japanese and wanted to pickup a game in a genre I like (being jrpg) to aid me and also to constantly surround myself in the language. I was wondering what the language level is for the kiseki games, note that I don't intend to play them at a fast pace and more for studying/slowly working through them while looking up words etc.
On another note, are the Tales series (mainly being Zestiria) easier to understand as that was the alternative I was thinking of besides this. Also, should I pick up SC first (already played and finished FC in English) or is it possible to start with Sen?
I think the Kiseki games might be a bit difficult to understand when you're beginning, because the games are aimed at a teenager/adult audience so it will have a relatively complex sentence structure/kanji and a lot of the terminology will be made up. It might be easier to start with an RPG like Pokemon or Ni No Kuni or Yokai Watch which are aimed at a younger audience. Also I believe Ni No Kuni and Yokai Watch, and most of Level-5's games have optional furigana for kanji which would help a lot early on.
So I'm currently studying Japanese and wanted to pickup a game in a genre I like (being jrpg) to aid me and also to constantly surround myself in the language. I was wondering what the language level is for the kiseki games, note that I don't intend to play them at a fast pace and more for studying/slowly working through them while looking up words etc.
On another note, are the Tales series (mainly being Zestiria) easier to understand as that was the alternative I was thinking of besides this. Also, should I pick up SC first (already played and finished FC in English) or is it possible to start with Sen?
Kiseki would be a bad first choice. There is too much text and it will tire you out quickly. Also Sora on the portable consoles has a hard to read low resolution font. Generally anything for psp would be bad because of that. Actually I think Kiseki series is as high level as jrpg go, to find something even harder to read, you would have to turn to sound novels. So yeah, not beginner material at all.
You would very much want to play something at least partially voiced first.
I don't know about Zestiria. If you can pause the game to read the text everywhere like in Xilia it would be an okay choice. I think Xilia was one of the first jrpg I played in Japanese.
Devil Survivor remakes for 3DS would work very well too, break record came out yesterday)) Fully voiced and you can replay scenes easily.
Arguably you should not rely on furigana as it creates a bad habit, but Zelda, Ni no Kuni and SMT4 have it. I will note that kid games use a lot of hiragana instead of kanji and that makes them actually harder to read/understand.
Arguably you should not rely on furigana as it creates a bad habit, but Zelda, Ni no Kuni and SMT4 have it. I will note that kid games use a lot of furigana instead of kanji and that makes them actually harder to read/understand.
I'm willing to try lossless files, but I know that if its a high enough mp3 quality (320kbps is what's usually said) then its hard to tell a huge difference. [...] Besides, e-onkyo is not letting in non-Japanese users to purchase, although I suppose a VPN or something similar could get you what you want?
I'm not too familiar with the technical details, but both Sens got 'Master' versions of their respective soundtracks which consist of master recordings. While I usually don't hear much difference between lossy and lossless, I really enjoyed these albums' amazing quality. The alternative, Mora, should work. If you don't want to 'spoil' yourself on the soundtrack, you could get just The Decisive Collision for 2 bucks and get blown away by it.
So I'm currently studying Japanese and wanted to pickup a game in a genre I like (being jrpg) to aid me and also to constantly surround myself in the language. I was wondering what the language level is for the kiseki games, note that I don't intend to play them at a fast pace and more for studying/slowly working through them while looking up words etc.
On another note, are the Tales series (mainly being Zestiria) easier to understand as that was the alternative I was thinking of besides this. Also, should I pick up SC first (already played and finished FC in English) or is it possible to start with Sen?
Tales would be a better choice to start than Kiseki because a) it's largely voiced, b) dialogues aren't as exhaustive, c) there's typically one kanji-canon in Tales instead of several in Kiseki, and d) Tales isn't as in-depth in particular fields as Kiseki (The 3rd, for example, mercilessly fires liturgical terms in Japanese at you). The first jRPG I played in Japanese was Tales of Hearts for DS, which was a smooth ride apart from kanji-canon Kunzite. In the end, I'd recommend to start with Tales but it really depends on your current level of Japanese.
I have just bought the Sen no Kieski for Vita, 30 mins in so far and loving everything of it.
Being new to the Kieski series I notice there are lot of back story and references going on, can anyone give me a plot summary of the previous entries or if there is any sites I can be refered to?
