The Legend of Heroes Thread - Trails of Cold Steel in the Sky

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Narratively the school setting had great potential to get you to bond with a couple dozen NPCs. I don't remember any NPCs in Sky or Crossbell, but I definitely remember Alan, Bridgette, Hugo, Mint, Vincent, Rex, and so on. Big wasted opportunity is that they set up these connections between Rean and all of these people, and then they didn't really play a big role of a role as they could have in CS3 and CS4 when Rean really needed help. Instead it's just the big characters who did everything. There was also an opportunity here for some of these NPCs to turn against you and side with the antagonists and make the war more bitter, but Falcom didn't do it. CS3 has Hugo becoming a corrupt businessman and then CS4 walks it back.

 

[Lyre Mors]

While I hate to retread old ground here, it still surprises me the reaction some people have to where the story and world-building went in CS III and IV. There is absolutely nothing there that's counter to what has gradually become established throughout the entire series lore-wise.

CS II and IV remain my favorites of the tetralogy in gameplay, structure, and narritive - and IV is one of my top 3 of the series. I have a feeling it's soon to be kicked down by Reverie though.

 

[Rean]

While I hate to retread old ground here, it still surprises me the reaction some people have to where the story and world-building went in CS III and IV. There is absolutely nothing there that's counter to what has gradually become established throughout the entire series lore-wise.

CS II and IV remain my favorites of the tetralogy, and IV is one of my top 3 of the series. I have a feeling it's soon to be kicked down by Reverie though

I'm not referring to the universe lore (which has indeed been kept consistent and growing). I'm more talking about Rean's development and final character struggles and catharsis.

 

[Rean]

Narratively the school setting had great potential to get you to bond with a couple dozen NPCs. I don't remember any NPCs in Sky or Crossbell, but I definitely remember Alan, Bridgette, Hugo, Mint, Vincent, Rex, and so on. Big wasted opportunity is that they set up these connections between Rean and all of these people, and then they didn't really play a big role of a role as they could have in CS3 and CS4 when Rean really needed help. Instead it's just the big characters who did everything. There was also an opportunity here for some of these NPCs to turn against you and side with the antagonists and make the war more bitter, but Falcom didn't do it. CS3 has Hugo becoming a corrupt businessman and then CS4 walks it back.

They basically made too many interesting characters and didn't have the time to expand on all of them. The biggest disappointment for me thus far has been Beryl, they set her up to be some kind of semi-deity and then basically downgraded her to some amusement park attraction.

 

[Maxie]

rean is totally not a fucking dumbass by the seventh game pinky swear

 

[cruel]

We can create a poll - who is the bigger dumbass: Rean or Maxie. I'm not sure you would be happy with the results though.

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[Reinhardt]

maxie will win. rean is too bland to win any poll.

 

[Val the Moofia Boss]

His time has come.

 

[Jermu]

maxie will win. rean is too bland to win any poll.

Kevin not in top20, fucking japs

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[Maxie]

maxie will win. rean is too bland to win any poll.

Kevin not in top20, fucking japs

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adolf crispy above estelle, of course. japs are the worst

 

[Reinhardt]

maxie will win. rean is too bland to win any poll.

Kevin not in top20, fucking japs

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[HoboForEternity]

Olivier not high enough

 

[Rean]

 

[Reinhardt]

fuck, cold steel faces are so generic. even from this list...

 

[Ysaye]

Ignoring the rankings internal to the Top 20 and just looking at the Top 20, surprised how the following made it:
Gun dude from Ys 8, Lilia (I mean wot!?!?!), Alisa,(I mean probably also Lloyd, Emma and Feana too are stretches for Top 20).....

Where is Kevin, Arrianhrod, McBurn, Cassius, Asuka Hiiragi from Tokyo Xanadu, Alwen Du Moonbria, Ash from Dinosaur Resurrection and Dela Delon from Brandish (Okay Delon is a bit of a stretch)???? Why Lilia over Shiori from Tokyo Xanadu who is the same sort of character but with actual story that is much more interesting and poignant? Also not a great endorsement of new boy Van....

 

[Tse Tse Fly]

fuck, cold steel faces are so generic. even from this list...

To me the problem with Cold Steel's art style is that the faces look too similar. Their facial expressions (like smiles) look the same. If you swap two characters' hair you won't be able to tell the difference.

I mean, some character portraits from the Crossbell games did come out rather crappy (Joshua and Estelle being among the worst offenders), but at least their faces were more distinctive and recognisable.

 

[Maxie]

cole steel suffers from fucko dimension artstyle heavily owing to its high school setting - obviously since they're in a not-jap high school everyone's wearing dumbass uniforms but because it's still a video game they modify their dumbass uniforms removing the notion of, uh, *uniformity*
at the same time faces arr rook same
so you end up with these disheveled bots instead of a player party

 

[La vie sexuelle]

maxie will win. rean is too bland to win any poll.

Kevin not in top20, fucking japs

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Where is my my girl Scherazard Harvey?

Edit: Don't be gay, Maxie.

 

[Sarathiour]

Autism standing strong at the eight place.

 

[Tse Tse Fly]

Where's colonel Alan Richard tho

 

[Jermu]

 

[Lyre Mors]

~11 hours to go, baby! Just a sleep and good breakfast away. Happy Reverie to you all.

Also don't know how the hell anyone can stand playing these games with the English voice acting. Cringe as all hell.

 

[Jermu]

~11 hours to go, baby! Just a sleep and good breakfast away. Happy Reverie to you all.

Also don't know how the hell anyone can stand playing these games. Cringe as all hell.

yes

 

[newtmonkey]

Dragon Slayer: The Legend of Heroes (PC Engine)
Has anyone played this relic? I'm going through it now, and it seems to be a neverending grind. Early in the game, a character literally tells you something like, "We're too weak, we need to be level 8 to continue"... and the game actually prevents you from entering the next area until you reach level 8.

It stops that retardation after the first chapter, thankfully, but the game seems to suffer from Early Ys Syndrome. You're either at the right level and are unstoppable, or you are not and bosses are literally impossible (1-2 damage per attack vs 700 HP). It's okay in the early Ys games, since they are action RPGs, but it feels really out of place in a turn-based RPG.

I'm at Chapter 4 now, and the grind has yet to end. The game even has level scaling; random encounters just get more difficult (up to a point) as you level up (even in the same area).

Having said that, there are a lot of cool things about this game. The game throws a ton of spells at you right from the start, and you can choose which spells each character has. There are also a lot of buffing/debuffing spells (too bad the grindy nature of the game renders them mostly useless; once you're capable of defeating the boss, your melee attacks will do more damage than your most powerful spells). The dungeons are quite cool, somewhat mazey but with fun little gimmicks, and plenty of worthwhile treasures worth seeking out. Early into the game you get an item that shows you a bird's eye view of your surroundings (even in towns and dungeons), which is a great idea for such a linear game. The story is actually pretty decent and written okay for what it is. It's got a great CD soundtrack, and even an option to play the chiptune version of the soundtrack (still sounds great) to reduce loading time.

 

[Reinhardt]

don't care. where is estelle?