crunchbuttsteak

As a huge fan of the series and of most of Falcom's games in general, I have to say that Trails of Cold Steel is one of the most disappointing games I've played in recent memory. It's not a terrible game; in fact, I'd put it just above average. It still has the garnish that made the series great, such as an intense attention to detail in worldbuilding and fleshed-out NPCs with their own lives and stories that advance alongside the main plot, but it drops the ball in crucial ways. I'll start with the most glaring and obvious flaw: the technical details. The most noticable thing about the game right off the bat is the loading time. I spent most of my time playing the Vita version where it was more noticable, but it's still a major issue on PS3. Load times were occasionally quite short (three seconds or so), but most of the time, I would be waiting a good five to ten seconds for a load screen, which really starts to add up when you get one every time you enter a new screen or start a battle/cutscene. On top of this, the 3D models and animations are simply awful looking and a poor replacement for the 2D portraits and well-animated 3D rendered sprites of previous games. To start, the gameplay is simply a step down from every other game in the series after Trails in the Sky FC. In short, it's pathetically easy. Even on hard mode, fights end with almost no effort whatsoever. I normally wouldn't be one to knock a game for being too easy, especially a turn-based RPG, but when combat starts to feel like nothing more than a boring chore, it gets in the way of enjoying the game. While you could break previous games in the series with the right setups and party compositions, it did take some effort. It takes almost none to break Sen over your knee. I can count the number of battles on one hand where a boss got more than three turns before dying, and several of those were because I waited to fulfill a special condition on the battle. Perhaps it's different on nightmare mode, but I have my doubts. As it stands, even on hard mode, the gameplay in Cold Steel was less enjoyable than Trails in the Sky SC in spite of the many technical improvements made since then, to say nothing of comparisons to the rest of the series. Arguably one of the best aspects of this series are its strong, detailed characters, and Cold Steel simply drops the ball on that front completely. I won't go too in-depth to avoid spoilers, but in short, several of the characters are so poorly written that I actually put the game down and avoided playing it for a while after seeing their "development" in action. This might be forgivable if the rest of the cast were as well-executed as previous games in the series, but that's not the case here. Rean feels like a typical dime-a-dozen light novel protagonist, even having a poorly explained supernatural power (which remains poorly explained even in the sequel). Gaius and Elliot are completely irrelevant characters who serve no role in the story whatsoever aside from guiding the party around their hometowns (and coincidentally, Gaius' hometown is host to the most boring chapter in the series, and Elliot passes the guide role on to Machias quite quickly in his chapter), to the point where you question why they're even in the game. Machias and Jusis are both good enough characters, and though Machias is a bit too exaggerated I found their antics to be the most redeeming parts of the early game. Laura has no character beyond her obsession with her swordsmanship. Emma could have been interesting, but they don't answer any questions about her throughout almost all of the first game, so she simply remains the class president type throughout. Alisa is a grating, obnoxious character who is completely unlikable for no reason other than having some overinflated mommy issues. Fie's personality clashes so much with her backstory that I went from finding her cute and somewhat endearing to seeing her as everything wrong with the lazy character writing in the game. I'm astounded that the same company who wrote Renne, Randy, and various other similar characters produced a character as poor as Fie. In spite of all that, the supporting cast, especially the NPCs, are all quite excellent. Sara is exactly what I'd expect from a Trails character. Crow is very endearing while still breaking free of his archetype. I found myself playing just to advance the story of the various NPCs as well. The plot wasn't botched nearly as much as the characters, but it still feels like it's mostly filler. Each chapter drags on a lot longer than it really needs to and Chapter 1 feels like it was completely irrelevant in the long run. Nothing much is accomplished throughout the game and the only time something is is during the ending, when the game suddenly stops with a "to be continued." Overall, Trails of Cold Steel is an average game and a disappointment to fans of the series. If you're a fan of the previous games, prepare for disappointment.

As a huge fan of the series and of most of Falcom's games in general, I have to say that Trails of Cold Steel is one of the most disappointing games I've played in recent memory. It's not a terrible game; in fact, I'd put it just above average. It still has the garnish that made the series great, such as an intense attention to detail in worldbuilding and fleshed-out NPCs with their own lives and stories that advance alongside the main plot, but it drops the ball in crucial ways. I'll start with the most glaring and obvious flaw: the technical details. The most noticable thing about the game right off the bat is the loading time. I spent most of my time playing the Vita version where it was more noticable, but it's still a major issue on PS3. Load times were occasionally quite short (three seconds or so), but most of the time, I would be waiting a good five to ten seconds for a load screen, which really starts to add up when you get one every time you enter a new screen or start a battle/cutscene. On top of this, the 3D models and animations are simply awful looking and a poor replacement for the 2D portraits and well-animated 3D rendered sprites of previous games. To start, the gameplay is simply a step down from every other game in the series after Trails in the Sky FC. In short, it's pathetically easy. Even on hard mode, fights end with almost no effort whatsoever. I normally wouldn't be one to knock a game for being too easy, especially a turn-based RPG, but when combat starts to feel like nothing more than a boring chore, it gets in the way of enjoying the game. While you could break previous games in the series with the right setups and party compositions, it did take some effort. It takes almost none to break Sen over your knee. I can count the number of battles on one hand where a boss got more than three turns before dying, and several of those were because I waited to fulfill a special condition on the battle. Perhaps it's different on nightmare mode, but I have my doubts. As it stands, even on hard mode, the gameplay in Cold Steel was less enjoyable than Trails in the Sky SC in spite of the many technical improvements made since then, to say nothing of comparisons to the rest of the series. Arguably one of the best aspects of this series are its strong, detailed characters, and Cold Steel simply drops the ball on that front completely. I won't go too in-depth to avoid spoilers, but in short, several of the characters are so poorly written that I actually put the game down and avoided playing it for a while after seeing their "development" in action. This might be forgivable if the rest of the cast were as well-executed as previous games in the series, but that's not the case here. Rean feels like a typical dime-a-dozen light novel protagonist, even having a poorly explained supernatural power (which remains poorly explained even in the sequel). Gaius and Elliot are completely irrelevant characters who serve no role in the story whatsoever aside from guiding the party around their hometowns (and coincidentally, Gaius' hometown is host to the most boring chapter in the series, and Elliot passes the guide role on to Machias quite quickly in his chapter), to the point where you question why they're even in the game. Machias and Jusis are both good enough characters, and though Machias is a bit too exaggerated I found their antics to be the most redeeming parts of the early game. Laura has no character beyond her obsession with her swordsmanship. Emma could have been interesting, but they don't answer any questions about her throughout almost all of the first game, so she simply remains the class president type throughout. Alisa is a grating, obnoxious character who is completely unlikable for no reason other than having some overinflated mommy issues. Fie's personality clashes so much with her backstory that I went from finding her cute and somewhat endearing to seeing her as everything wrong with the lazy character writing in the game. I'm astounded that the same company who wrote Renne, Randy, and various other similar characters produced a character as poor as Fie. In spite of all that, the supporting cast, especially the NPCs, are all quite excellent. Sara is exactly what I'd expect from a Trails character. Crow is very endearing while still breaking free of his archetype. I found myself playing just to advance the story of the various NPCs as well. The plot wasn't botched nearly as much as the characters, but it still feels like it's mostly filler. Each chapter drags on a lot longer than it really needs to and Chapter 1 feels like it was completely irrelevant in the long run. Nothing much is accomplished throughout the game and the only time something is is during the ending, when the game suddenly stops with a "to be continued." Overall, Trails of Cold Steel is an average game and a disappointment to fans of the series. If you're a fan of the previous games, prepare for disappointment.

Ys Origin is a prequel to a long-running series of PC RPGs (Ancient Ys Vanished was released for the PC-88 in 1987 after branching from Falcom's other series, Dragon Slayer). However, if you haven't played Ys I and II, you'll still be able to enjoy Origin. Origin makes an excellent starting point in the series because, like the preceding Ys title (The Oath in Felghana, a remake of Ys III), it has unparallelled difficulty scaling. Unlike many action games/RPGs that simply buff enemy health and damage on higher difficulties, Ys Origin gives bosses extra attacks, makes enemies more aggressive, changes the mechanics on certain attacks to make them more difficult to dodge, and truly challenges the player. On Normal and lower, most bosses are only slightly challenging to an experienced player and have simplified patterns and attacks. For example, a boss that shoots a rapid-fire stream of magic missles at you on Normal will fire 3 sepearate streams on Hard, and on Nightmare, 5. Projectiles also may move faster and track you more accurately, and other attacks may have added AOE effects or leave the boss less open. These changes make is so that even inexperienced players can stand a chance on lower difficulties, and masters of action games will still have a grueling challenge awaiting them on the higher difficulty settings. You'll spend the majority of your time dungeon crawling and fighting bosses. While the dungeons can be challenging and most bosses will take dozens of attempts on the highest difficulty, it never gets tedious because you can simply re-try from the last checkpoint (which usually aren't too far apart) and during boss fights, you can simply start the fight over from the beginning without having to walk back to the encounter or watch an intro cutscene. While some might find he lack of punishment as a detraction, it's really a saving grace - you'll spend A LOT of time retrying boss fights on the hardest difficulty, as even the slightest mistake can turn the tides against you irrevocably. The boss fights demand perfection and mastery of the mechanics and skills, quick thinking, and careful planning without throwing unfair challenges at you like unavoidable attacks. However, it also demands that you carefully explore each area thoroughly for upgrades, equipment, and items that wil help you. Missing a single weapon upgrade can make some fights nigh-unwinnable, but thankfully it's pretty obvious when you've missed one. There are 3 seperate playable characters in the story mode and while the story is nothing special and the characters are rather shallow, it's not much of a focus. However, the fact that the story isn't a focus doesn't mean it isn't there - there's just enough plot to keep you motivated to continue and while most characters are simplistic, they're still likable enough to grow attached to. The music is arguably the best part of the game and while Origin's soundtrack suffers a bit overall compared to the rest of the series, it's still one of the best in the industry. The boss themes are fitting, keeping you on your toes, getting your blood pumping, and hyping you up for the encounter. In addition, the true final boss' theme (a remix of a theme from Ys II) is a brilliantly crafted and passionate piece that will simultaneously get you motivated and fill you with despair. Even if you don't like the game, it's at least worth giving the soundtrack a listen. Overall Ys Origin is a fantastic experience and a must-play for fans of fast-paced and grueling action games, or anyone who enjoys a fun, thrilling ride with fantastic music and absurdly polished gameplay.

Ys: The Oath in Felghana is one of the best action games ever made, period. If you don't like RPGs, you may have trouble with it. If you aren't the type who goes through and periodically talks to NPCs to gather information, you might find yourself missing out on important quests and items like ones that let you tell whether the floor will fall out on you or not (hint hint). Thankfully though, these are usually fairly obvious and only a braindead moron could go through the game while missing something that major. The difficulty is otherwise perfect - on lower settings, it will challenge casual players but not unfairly, and on the highest setting it's one of the most difficult games available. Every attack that a boss has is avoidable, though, it's VERY tough to avoid everything on higher difficulties. Some bosses will seem overwhelming at first and it's tough to get through a boss fight without dying on your first try, but the game lets you continue from the very beginning of the fight if you die during a boss battle. However, in the dungeon sections you go back to the last save point you've touched (regardless of whether you saved your game or not) when you die. This is the part that might frustrate a lot of players, as it's annoying to lose so much progress in the game, especially since you have no way to heal besides power-ups that enemies rarely drop on death, or with a late-game item that can only heal you outside of combat. However, the combat is a blast, even on lower difficulties. Boss fights are incredibly varied and each one requires a different approach, and has multiple ways for you to achieve victory depending on how aggressive you are. The soundtrack is one of the best in the industry. Every track is unique, ranging between aggressive guitar riffs, fast-paced violin rock, high-energy orchestral tunes and sad piano refrains and it's almost worth playing the game for the music alone. The game is a particular breath of fresh air, especially for those looking for an old-school style, challenging arcadey action experience. The only gripe I can lodge about the game is that it's a bit short - between 15 and 25 hours on a first playthrough, but there's a time attack mode and speedrun features that add a bit of longevity for players looking to challenge themselves further.