Comment on Demo now available for Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter
Katana314@lemmy.world 1 day ago
I saw a front page about Saudi ownership, multiple game shutdowns, gen AI, etc, and figured I’d post something seeming a bit more positive/interesting.
The Sky duology is very much built such that you shouldn’t even watch trailers for the second if you haven’t finished the first. To put it bluntly, it’s a JRPG with turn-based combat, and everyone I have seen watch its conclusion has been immediately on board for its sequel - but that is a very large qualifier given how many people drop out due to some honestly quite slow, “soft” dialog early on.
I wouldn’t consider myself a Trails nut; I tried the three games in the series following this one, and they felt progressively worse and worse in terms of teenage Japanese anime writing. But, while this part of the saga holds a few of those issues, I do hold these early installments in high memory, and the remake has been very faithful as well as making use of a newer age of visuals (on the plus side, it doesn’t rely on DLSS, but on the minus, the environments are often pretty basic). I’m also guessing a lot of people skipped the first after seeing it was a duology, so now the option of playing both interrupted is on the table. While there is a third game, there’s no confirmation it’ll be remade, and it’s more like a smaller series of enjoyable extras anyway.
Poopfeast420@lemmy.zip 1 day ago
Gotta chime in as a Trails hater, from time to time.
This is one of the worst games I’ve played, mainly because of the terrible story and worst written villains ever. I cannot understand why anyone would like this game. There is only one good game in the series, Trails from Zero, because it has almost nothing to do with the rest of the series (which is ruined in the sequel).
I_Jedi@lemmy.today 1 day ago
Trails from Zero? Renne and the Sky protags showing up isn’t connected to the rest of the series?
Poopfeast420@lemmy.zip 1 day ago
That’s why I said almost. I remember being pretty disappointed at the end, because the ties to the rest of the series got more prominent.
Katana314@lemmy.world 1 day ago
I got a taste of that interconnection when I played Zero and really hated it. Renne’s one big scene felt like it was planned in Sky (or at latest Sky 3) and didn’t get in; it seemed to have nothing to do with the SSS, and I could see it was trying to start other new “character bricks” to throw later into Cold Steel. I never played those games, and generally think it’s a poor way to set them up.
It seems cool to pull Estelle and Joshua into later games for Avengers style teamups, but poor planning to make other games a part of someone’s (even a villain’s) arc.
Katana314@lemmy.world 1 day ago
See, I think there’s plenty to criticize in the game, but I’m always cautious anytime someone strings together adjectives “worst / terrible” without much description/quantitiy behind it. Not to accuse you directly, but it’s the pattern I see when the “anti-woke brigade” wants to attack a game.
I’d definitely say Sky’s main villain is mustache-twirlingly generic, but that’s part of why they have so many supporting villains, like Loewe. I also thought a lot better of the core character development of the heroes, and how a mustache-twirling generic villain compels the best out of them. But I’d say Zero’s villains were just as generic, and comparatively never got the feeling of hero development out of them. It also felt like a few arc patterns were just being reused from Sky.
So for any third parties reading, I guess you’d have to consider whether you care more about good heroes, or good villains.
Poopfeast420@lemmy.zip 1 day ago
The biggest problem with the villains is the typical anime game trope of defeating them in the battle, but losing in the cutscene, constantly. This whole series just loves to blue ball you. You are constantly getting teased, never getting a payoff. Nothing you do matters.
spoiler
Until finally in CS3, the big mystery is revealed, and it’s a wet fart. Just a massive let down. 8 games, 500h of time wasted on that garbage. Jokes on me though, since Falcom got all my money already, and I eventually plan to hate-play the rest of the series, just to see the conclusion of this train wreck. I’m in too deep at this point.