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Celceta's a solid game but playing it right after 8 made it feel a little lacking. Its got a strange pace to it where the first 2 dungeons are big and sort of zelda-styled but for the rest of the game the dungeons are much smaller or at least more straightforward and they just don't feel as involved as the early game. Same with the overworld, the first half of the forest feels a lot bigger and there's a lot of like hidden caves and things you can stumble across but once you cross the river the layout just feels a lot simpler outside of the cursed forest. I guess YS 8 kinda had a similar problem with most of the dungeons being frontloaded and the second half of the island not being as sprawling but I felt it handled it better than Celceta. E: Also a bunch of the boss fights in Celceta have extended moments where they're totally invincible where you just have to wait them out and it's super lame!!
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Sep 9, 2020 06:08
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Erpy posted:The end gets referenced in CS2 though. Yeah, I just started CS2 and it's very weird how a bunch of characters start referencing a trip to Ymir where vaguely important stuff happened and I don't understand anything about what they're talking about. Speaking of the game, the prologue was pretty lame but i'm surprised that after only a few hours of separation I was very happy to get a dumb chess riddle and know that I was about to meet some of my old pals again. I wasn't super into the party when I started CS1 but they must've really grew on me because I was definitely feeling their absence.
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Sep 20, 2020 00:15
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My playthrough of the Ys games was on pause since I decided to jump into a couple of Trails games instead but I just finished Oath in Felghana and I can see why it's spoken of so highly. I don't think it tops Ys 8 for me if only because I prefer that style of game but it was really good. I was enjoying it from the beginning but it has a pretty incredible back half. Everything after the mountain was great and after I wasn't feeling the first couple bosses it was cool that most of the later ones were super fun. A lot of my free time over the last month or so has been occupied by Trails and Ys games and its been a good time. I'm pretty disappointed I hadn't touched a Falcom game before a couple of months ago because i'm really enjoying working through their catalogue.
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Sep 21, 2020 09:02
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I was thinking i'd finish with Origin because it's the other game i've seen people call the best one.
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Sep 21, 2020 09:12
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Last Celebration posted:It’s just imho of course, but if you’re new to Falcom playing Origins alongside Ys 1/2 makes for a pretty cool experience since you see all the little boss Origin has to the OG story. I ended up playing FC alongside CSI and that was probably a worse idea so I think I'll give this a shot after I play 6 and 7.
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Sep 21, 2020 22:31
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As someone who has only played CS1 and like the first 5 hours of CS2 Machias is pretty alright. Yeah he doesn't really have a whole lot going on and he's obviously the worst in the early chapters but after that point he's pretty solid. He's mostly just there to constantly get owned for being a loser but most of those jokes land and he gets a couple of good scenes to show he's come a long way. I dunno most of Class VII is pretty cool I think. Emma's cat is cooler than she is and Elliot's kinda just there but I like the rest.
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Sep 25, 2020 22:42
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Just finished Chapter 1 of CS2 and man, it's kinda super obnoxious that Rean's big character realisation that leads him to being able to control his berserker mode is him learning a lesson that he's already learned at least 5 times by now. Once literally an hour ago. Like, i'd seen a lot of discussion about how Rean's terrible or whatever and after spending over a game with him that all seems pretty hugely exaggerated but this was still pretty bad.
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Oct 5, 2020 12:22
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Yeah, i'm glad his meandering route to realising people care about him just as much as he cares about them resulted in a powerful super move.
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Oct 5, 2020 12:41
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Endorph posted:Tbf someone with selfesteem issues having difficulty realizing people care about them is pretty true to life. Like having the same realization six times in a row before it sticks sure describes depression I suppose, but since this was the time it finally clicked you'd expect the scene to be a bit more powerful. Like, Alfin explaining Elise cares about him is fine and all but it doesn't feel as meaningful as various members of Class VII explaining how much they care or Elise explaining that herself (which had happened already a couple of times). The moment just fell flat.
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Oct 5, 2020 13:23
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I've played too many games to get annoyed by the power of friendship. Even if Rean's speeches could use some brevity they usually don't deserve worse than an occasional eye-roll. And I was very happy to meet all my friends again after the prologue so I dunno he's probably right.
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Oct 5, 2020 13:44
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Just finished chapter 1 of SC and I don't know if it's just the absence of Josh or that the returning party members so far are all my favourites but this game has a pretty strong start I think. I liked FC but I feel the writing's really stepped up. Most of the returning cast have all already had some pretty strong scenes and the new party members they've introduced all seem rad as well. The other trails games i've played start fairly slow but once the prologue was done SC got right into gear, hope it can keep this up.
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Oct 13, 2020 10:36
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Man it's lucky this game allows for instant resets because it's not great to fight a penguin 3 times in a row and each time it goes first and does a big aoe attack that instantly kills the escort character and ends the fight.
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Oct 15, 2020 10:49
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I didn't realise people weren't into Trails gameplay it definitely feels like it's hitting a certain niche? I'm not a fan of everything but as far as turn-based battle systems go I think Trails has a really fun one and I think it has a fairly well developed world (moreso Erebonia than Liberl I suppose) and it's fun to get more into it by talking to all the npcs and like reading the in-universe novels (even if they're all pretty bad). I've only finished a couple of the games and am a decent way through a couple more but CS1 is probably my favourite so far and a lot of that is because of spending so much time in Erebonia with all those class studies and in probably spending like at least dozens of hours in Trista over the course of the game. There's definitely some big issues with it (NPCs that give books, recipes and additional quests and such should absolutely be marked and it's real terrible they're not) and there is pretty big pacing issues though i think a lot of the pacing problems are due to narrative rather than gameplay loop. SC and CSII have the exact same problem where the first few chapters (and like 30 hours) are kinda just the same thing repeating but in different locations and with different characters. To an extent I enjoy being introduced to a fun new villain and having them accomplish their dastardly plan and escape but it begins to feel a bit rote when it happens for the 3rd time and even though some pretty fun stuff and cool developments happen in all these chapters it almost feels like the protagonists aren't really accomplishing much of anything.
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Oct 24, 2020 09:18
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Tae posted:Sky's game play turned me off from actually playing it myself, in part because it refuses to give you a full party for the longest time with constant forced rotations. The forced rotations are way cool though! Agree about the frequent 2 person parties and quartz system though.
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Oct 24, 2020 09:49
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Clarste posted:For what it's worth I cannot imagine any kind of explanation of Ouroboros' plans that would satisfying. It's sort of clear by now that they exist entirely to be mysterious villains and any kind of understandable motivation is a distant afterthought. Kinda already feels that way halfway into SC. But I don't think that's a huge issue? There's a certain kind of charisma that comes with being mysterious and eccentric and incomprehensible and most of the members seem pretty fun so far. Don't know if the series keeps it up but as long as the Enforcers and all stay fairly good I think i'll probably be cool with the society.
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Oct 24, 2020 12:18
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Terper posted:Hey now, we got to hear what Walter and Luciola were fighting for... I think Walter just enjoys violence and testing his kung fu skills.
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Oct 24, 2020 20:53
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I think they already might. Most Ouroboros members i've encountered have mentioned duelling other members, they totally have a fight club going on.
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Oct 24, 2020 21:32
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I dunno, Josh seems into it.
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Oct 25, 2020 05:00
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Man, Millium's 2nd S-Craft in CS2 is absurdly over the top. She's the best.  Just got through the return to Roer and honestly the game could have used a chapter like this earlier. Getting the kids back together was alright but it felt like largely setup and since getting the courageous nothing has really happened. But this chapter was great, Angelica's jokes can get tired but when she gets focus she's super rad (And I love how the game pretty much tells you to make her party leader because she's the real star here), there's a kung-fu mech fight, and we actually deal with one of the named antagonists. Hope this is a sign the game's finally getting into gear.
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Oct 25, 2020 09:45
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ImpAtom posted:Holy gently caress I went back to get the Romance trophies for ToCSIV and some of them are loving *rotten* Why would you do this to yourself.
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Oct 26, 2020 00:18
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After dealing with it being the emotional core of the story in Sky at least in CS it's only there for freaks who seek it out I guess. E: Or freaks who want all the trophies.
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Oct 26, 2020 01:37
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Ah, getting the Elliot treatment. Truly nothing is more tragic. Hope that's not really the case though. Halfway through CS2 and she's one of the better of the Class VII cast.
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Oct 26, 2020 04:45
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ImpAtom posted:Honestly I think she ends better than Elliot but Elliot has more to do than some. The real loser of VI is Machias, likely please he has the least overall family drama and no magic powers. Shame. He's cool.
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Oct 26, 2020 05:02
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Why is there a new Bleublanc quest for every chapter in SC?? The first time it's fun and quirky, the second and third times its just real annoying but now for the fourth chapter in a row it just feels like a complete waste of time. I guess this is what people were talking about when they mentioned Sky's pacing as being bad. It didn't bother me much in FC but man these sidequests really slow down the game.
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Nov 1, 2020 11:03
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But there's a ranking system, I gotta do them! Though yeah, i'll probably start skipping some. I did all the sidequests for CS1 and FC and that wasn't too annoying so I was kinda expecting that to continue but i'm definitely burning out with SC.
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Nov 1, 2020 11:46
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I’m playing the Sky and Cold Steel games simultaneously and the first two Cold Steel games have much improved gameplay imo. Turbo is definitely a major factor but in general I think fights are a lot faster, you get stronger arts much earlier, cp recovers more easily, the map shows you where all the npcs are and where to go for quests, you get passive ep recovery pretty early and you don’t need to go to the tavern to swap out party members. A lot of it is just quality of life improvements from being later titles but your characters also feel stronger and fights are faster which are pretty big deals.
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Nov 3, 2020 21:21
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I'm not sure what CS1 does that FC didn't do first. Having finished both games like a month ago I kinda got the feeling that the first game of every Trails arc ends with a giant robot fight and the reveal that a supernatural secret organisation with powerful magic abilities was actually behind everything all along.
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Nov 3, 2020 23:38
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Idkbutlike2 posted:The combat high school routine. That alone is gonna put some people off. That's true. But I was only talking in relation to the ending of both games, because they feel sorta similar. Though now I realise I somehow didn't actually specify that in my post. So, oops.
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Nov 4, 2020 00:31
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Endorph posted:people just see a school and go 'grr anime.' realistically the situation in cs1 isnt any real different from sky 1, but, grr anime. same with stuff like mechs, superpowered modes, etc. all that stuff was already in sky 1 it was just presented very slightly differently so peoples brains accepted it, whereas cs1 presents those same tropes more bluntly and, grr, anime. To be fair they were alright with the game until the ending so it probably wasn't high school that turned them off it.
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Nov 4, 2020 01:04
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I mean Olivert is the chairman of the school. What would you expect?
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Nov 4, 2020 04:44
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I think it says a lot about Erebonia that of the two big political forces in the nation the least awful are the military expansionists.
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Nov 4, 2020 06:58
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Rean is way better than Josh. Like, there's no contest. He seems pretty improved in SC so far though, perhaps just because he's only been in 2 scenes and he's not been around Estelle. Speaking of SC, chapter 5 basically responded to my complaints about the game. There was only 3 side quests, the quest bosses were actually incorporated into the main story and it feels the party actually accomplished something pretty major. Hope the game keeps up the momentum because after a strong start it was starting to lose me.
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Nov 8, 2020 11:42
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I don't know if this is like a CS3 and 4 thing but most of the way into CS2 and it doesn't seem like Rean's really so overwhelmingly popular and everything? Like, yeah everyone likes him but not to an absurd degree, he just seems to be on good terms with most characters.
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Nov 8, 2020 13:26
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Actually Jusis gets the hot spring scene with him
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Nov 9, 2020 08:01
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Snooze Cruise posted:jusis truly shoulda been the default love interest for rean It only makes sense. Shame for Machias though.
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Nov 9, 2020 08:34
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I agree that Crow should also have been an option. Anyway, I guess I’ve somehow avoided most of the ‘Rean Harem’ stuff in CS1/2 but it seems to mostly be a thing in bonding events and bonding events are rather poorly implemented so I don’t think it’s much of a surprise it doesn’t exactly land even for the demographic it’s aiming for. Though on the flipside since bonding events feel like they’re sort of disconnected from the story it barely feels like much of a character trait.
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Nov 9, 2020 09:03
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Man it's almost like they were trying to make the airship escape in SC as awful as possible. It starts off well enough. Estelle finally gets to meet Weissman and she has some solid conversations with Renne and Loewe and her breaking out of her room was a really strong scene, but as soon as Josh shows up it completely falls apart. I can't believe he returns to the party by having to save Estelle. The game's reiterated over and over that her main motivation and driving force was to find Josh and drag him back home if she has to but instead he's the one that saves her and immediately takes charge, calling the shots and shutting down her ideas for escape. Loewe doesn't even acknowledge her when he shows up to stop them and Josh gets to be the cool hero guy that one shots every enemy and is specifically designed to take out the boss and the treasure monsters while Estelle barely does anything. I thought the CS2 version of this was pretty lame but this outright sucked!! It's a shame because the first half of chapter 6 was actually pretty good. Kevin officially joins the party and he's rad and the laboratory is a fun dungeon. Too much backtracking but it's generous with heals and there's a lot of fun bosses at a point where it's finally starting to feel like your party's reaching their potential. It also barely has any sidequests and it gets straight into the action, but dang what a downer of an ending.
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Nov 12, 2020 11:59
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Joshua's been in two scenes in this game while Estelle's the main character who has been the focus for like 50 hours of video game. Her arc shouldn't be subservient to his. Surely Josh can have development that doesn't involve having to save Estelle from total mooks and take away all her agency from what started as a cool escape sequence. I know Josh cares more about Estelle than "the mission" and it's almost sweet but the rescue does more to hurt Estelle than it does to help him. Like, when they've finally escaped and are talking things out on the beach that's almost a decent scene but the rescue hurts that as well. Because Estelle talking about how he doesn't need to protect her like this and this time they'll have each others backs loses a lot of impact when 30 mins ago he had to save her from loving Gilbert.
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Nov 12, 2020 23:21
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Hwurmp posted:his original plan was to destroy the ship, killing everyone on board including himself Even if we look at it that way then I don't think it's a great look that Estelle saves Josh's life by getting kidnapped and then defeated by Gilbert. It's not like she even tries to stop his airship explosion plan, she doesn't even know about it until they're off the airship and safe on the beach. MythosDragon posted:Ignore the Great Gilbert for a second and look at the other mooks who arnt all that much weaker than Estelle swarming towards her as the justification for the scene. Estelle starts the escape by defeating 2 of these guys in one blow each.
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Nov 12, 2020 23:59
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I'm glad he learns to be open with his emotions.
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Nov 13, 2020 00:04
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