I'm not big into graphics and it's not the reason I play these games, but I have to say: Falcom's new engine made the game look beautiful in general, like cities, characters, closed areas, but these textures in outdoor areas just look hideous😑. Good video as always!
I'm not a big graphics person either, but I loved touring the city of Edith and the various other locations. Maybe it's because I'm a Yakuza fan and being a "virtual tourist" is kinda hardwired into my brain at this point. Lol. I also enjoyed watching the npc's do their little animations or run around town, that poor guy on top of the stairs on the overpass in Station Street xD I will admit I don't really pay attention to the outdoor textures since I'm usually too busy trying to avoid/fight enemies or looking at the minimap. But those kinds of textures have never been that great in the Trails games tbf. Thanks for the compliment! Appreciate you stopping by ^^
One thing that I like is that people actually carry their weapons as part of their character model now, so we don't get nonsensical cases like Laura pulling a sword as long as she is tall out of thin air. I've been looking forwards to the action/turn based hybrid combat gameplay for a while now. I feel like, even though Trails has had pseudo action based combat since Zero when the backstrike/advantage was introduced, it's really gone underutilized especially since it would have been a great way for dealing with lower level enemies if it weren't so clunky to use for that purpose. It's definitely going to make things much more free flowing and fast paced, especially when it comes to grinding. Another combat related thing I'm looking forwards to is the ability to freely move and then cast an art or use a craft in the turn based mode. That's a game changer right there! The new engine looks really good too! The animations are so much more expressive than they were in Cold Steel. But I just started Reverie yesterday and you can tell even in that game that they were probably doing a lot of animation and game engine testing for the Kuro ark. Not sure how I'll feel about the new Arts system until I can play with it myself, but then I still miss ye-olden days of Sky when I could load up a character like Kloe with all of the arts (all of them!), and I still, currently, think that Azure had the best version of the Orbment system so far. 11:04 Misaka Mikoto, is that you? Lol, I kid. Anyway, thanks for the showcase. Now I definitely can't wait to play, hopefully I can finish Reverie before it releases so I can jump in day one.
Yeah the weapon thing is really cool. No more secret pocket dimensions, lol The gameplay definitely feels as smooth as I looks. Jumping from one fight to the next is so fluid sometimes you forget you're playing a turn based game xD Moving freely around the map in battles is huge, opens up a lot of different options in fights which is nice The facial expressions are incredible, we got a taste of it in Reverie but they really amped it up for Daybreak. Will be curious to see how else they improve things going forward. It feels fairly limiting at first, but once you get more of a variety of Drivers it's a pot of fun to just swap them out on the fly. It's like mini presets that you can slightly customize to fit any situation. In order to swap out the custom arts you do need to visit an orbal shop (or one of the fancy save terminals which are kinda everywhere) Good luck! 👍
I think you meant to say "it looks like a game that will get snubbed at the GOTY awards ceremony" xD poor Reverie... The wait will be well worth it, this game is a blast. Ha, especially coming from Van that must be funnier xD obviously it's not the real dialogue options, just wanted to be funni :p
@@Cyrus_Bright don't worry, i think I'll like reverie a lot if it's anything like sky the 3rd and if it's not i still think I'll enjoy it, i only heard good things about it also the game awards are a sham
Reverie is so much like Sky the 3rd it hurts, and I adored it because of it xD yeah, I realized that a long time ago, still fun to dunk on them though occasionally
It's hard to dance around certain things sometimes, but I try. Since I know there's lots of people who are curious or on the fence and something like this could possibly sway them into the "excited" camp of the fandom. I feel this can only serve to potentially help others decide if the game is for them or not ^^
@@Cyrus_Bright true but there are also fans who are gonna play the game guaranteed so they might avoid any video related to new trails like me most of times lol
thank you for this video and thank you for being passionate about the series! i'm very excited for the RPGlimitbreak showcase on the 5th so i hope they announce a release date then
I'll definitely need to spend some time playing it when it comes out, because they seem to be going such a different direction with changing or excluding so many things that were mainstays since Sky that I'm a biiiit skeptical. I'm sure I'll love it once I get into it, and the game looks fun, but yeah.
it's one thing to look at footage of someone else playing, but I'm sure once you get your hands on it and take your time with the new features it'll all come together. It feels like a natural progression given the technological advancements in universe.
Yeah, I absolutely love this new battle system. It DOES have some changes that took me some getting used to (the ATB bar and the new rules surrounding it, for example - this is going to throw a lot of longtime fans for a loop), but I'd argue that every change was made for good reason. Especially the movement system. I don't know why it took them so long to make the change, but I'm glad they finally did. XD
My endgame build ending up being "infinite delay go brrr" so I had a bit of trouble with the final boss but I managed to beat it xD Seriously, after finishing Reverie I thought "there's no way they can make me love a battle system this much again." and I was proven oh so very wrong, lol.
@@Cyrus_Bright I haven't actually beaten this game yet (I only just got to Chapter 3, actually), so I dunno what my endgame build will look like just yet. >.> As for Reverie, I had the same exact thoughts as you. I actually finished it last month. By the time I beat it, I was wondering if I'd feel like Daybreak's battle system was a step backward. I decided I couldn't wait for the official release to find out, downloaded the Steam version, applied the fan patch, and I ended up loving Daybreak's battle system too. For different reasons, of course. I'm looking forward to seeing further improvements in Kuro 2 when I finally get to it.
Falcom really deserves apreciation in regards to what they do to the trails franchise gameplay over those 20 years, sky already had a good battle system, but falcom always tried to make it even better than it already was, always trying to add more depth and complexity to the system. In my opinion, they kind of overdid in CS3, mechanics became more complex and interesting but they also broke the game, if you stopped to read just for a while you could probably set up a perfect strategy with the orders and the break system, those two things were way too op. So seeing that they threw away mechanics that were being used for years in daybreak game made me apreciate them, still need to play the game to see if i like it or not, but it does deserves a compliment
Just finnished Kuro 2 months ago and Kuro II (Crimson Sin) a few weeks ago and I can definitely say ya'll are in for a ride especially for Kai no Kiseki (excited to play this soon).
I'm in Act 1 of Kuro 2 right now and it's very enjoyable so far, haven't had the chance to really play recently but hopefully I can change that soon. Very interested to get to the "bad" portions of the game. Daybreak was phenomenal though, almost no major complaints from me. Can't wait to read discussions and thoughts once the game comes out next month.
@@Cyrus_Bright Well, let's just say that a lot of things made sense after kuro II cleared some questions about the overall plot of Kuro and most particularly some details from Reverie which played a big part in Crimson Sin's overall plot (which serves as the build up for Kai)
Yeah they Cooked alright and there’s nothing wrong with an upcoming Atlus game using a similar combat system to this Much appreciated keeping it non Spoiler ofc.
I wonder if this'll start a trend with jrpgs and more will opt for a hybrid system? That could be really neat. I know even Infinite wealth does that too with some kind of mechanic. I try my best to not spoil things, although I did just now realize I let something slip. It's very minor and probably not a big deal for most people but it's still a spoiler regardless. Oops 😅
Completely agree here. They did a fenomenal work in the gameplay department. Kuro 1 still has a few things that need some polish, like the lack of options during action combat, the s-craft insane spamming you can do in this game or the turn order box. All of those were fixed on Kuro 2 though, and I can't wait to see what they have changed on Kai. I must admit that at first I didn't like this combat system compared to Reverie, however as the game progressed and I understood it better it really grew on me. By Kuro 2 I consider it the best iteration of both combat and orbment systems so far. My only complain, which is more noticeable on Kuro 2 is that action combat damage scaling should be bigger against trash mobs. Similar to how you could obliterate them on previous games if you had a high enough level. Also, how turn rewards work is quite different from previous titles and I expect that would be one of the things that a lot of people would point out on release. By the way, I hope you were luckier than me and knew how to bring out the Shard Skill list soon. I didn't discover it until veeery late (even though it's clearly marked on the menu), and I just mixed things to see what I got... Regarding the battle dialogue, they do have iterations, though, without specific animations. What I really liked here is the sheer amount of dialogue during battle. Characters speak continuously during battle and what they say even changes for plot reasons at some points. Most noticeable is how Aaron addresses Feri through the game. Same thing for others as well. It's quite nice. Cold Steel also did that, but only during the ending battle scene (Crow and Machias change their dialogue if you had certain interactions with them) And now... you should do a part 2 of this video on how Falcom did perfect the perfected formula of Trails combat on Kuro 2 :D and hopefully, there are no 2 videos without a 3rd one comeing as well for Kai (let's hope this one does perfect the perfected perfection of the Trails Combat :D)
I think they kept the action combat fairly basic as to not copy Ys too much. Turn based is still very much the focus. But yeah it's incredibly addicting once you get in the groove. Can't wait to play Kuro 2, I think it's my most anticipated game of this year and it didn't even come out this year xD If they do bring mech fights back in Kai I wonder if they'll be full on action like the minigame in Reverie... hmm. I never noticed it taking too long to neutralize enemies, although maybe I just shut my brain of during the moments of grinding for sepith xD I actually accidentally stumbled upon the shard skill list early on, but yeah I was just kinda throwing random things together at first as well 😅 I'm sure it'll be more obvious with the battle dialogue in English than it was for me in Japanese. If they had subtitles for the fights then yeah I'd have noticed, lol. Pfft a part 2, we'll see what happens 😉
The game looks really good. RIP character victory interactions and long flashy awesome S-crafts. I'll miss you. You so fun and cool. Oh, you let Feri die. I see you chose violence lol I can see myself mostly using turn based, not because I prefer it but because I think you can do more in it. Aw man! I didn't think the alignment system would be that big of a change at the end there. Aw crud, there goes my anxiety. I wanted to go with how I usually go with these games the first time around and just go with the flow without a guide but if there's lore heavy stuff with Chaos only and makes it seem like that one has the meatier story bits than I don't know what to do. Hmm, maybe hopefully I can max all of them in one run or in NG+ so I can see everything if I so choose. I'm happy to hear that Feri is broken but what I wasn't expecting was what Feri's profession is. I thought it might be something new or something else. I...uhh think I got spoiled even if a tiny little bit...unless it's something the official site/artbook/NISA's twitter will say in the future when I see it than it's okay.😅
Some of the end game arts are still long and flashy, I forgot to mention it but the basic arts don't have a "skip" option like in the CS games. Just the higher tier ones since they do actually take a decent amount of time to fire off (which is nice) I didn't mean to let Feri die xD at least we got to hear a snippet of the critical music? :p I don't actually think you can get all the points possible to see everything the first time through anyway. Luckily on NG+ you can literally skip everything and the major fights are over in a few seconds. I think it took me 45 minutes to get back to that spot? Of course most of that time was spent speeding through the side quests. It's not as bad as CS2. I still haven't seen all the routes myself either, so I'm only speaking from my personal experience plus what I've read online. But yeah, Chaos was fairly intriguing. Every character is viable, especially with the right set up. You can even swap out Hollow Cores between the party. Mare is the only one that's exclusive to Van. Oh... that may have been a slip up on my end, I don't remember if it's been specified yet officially but it's not hidden. She even said "oorah!" at one point, although that's something easily missable. Either way, apologies for spoiling something, even if it's minor. Bleh. It didn't even occur to me until right now 😢
@@Cyrus_Bright Oh cool. That's nice to hear about the arts and well I guess I'll forgive you for that since we got to hear that critical music. Heh, well since I never really skip any scene or NPC dialogue I'll just have to deal with the greatness that is this game a few times to see everything then which I have no problems with. I'll make sure to see everything somehow even if it takes me 2 or 3 playthroughs to see them. x3 I'm super casual and just go with my gut or what the characters have set up already but just go stronger than whatever they have equipped from the start. Well, I just assumed before I knew anything that she was one cause looking at her she gives me Fie vibes but I didn't want think that 100%. It's cool though. I'm sure the website and stuff will say that anyway lol Now it makes me interested to see Feri and Fie interact if they ever do. It's interesting that Mare is just for Van. I wonder why but that also makes me wonder if there are others like Mare that are for other specific characters. Well, I gotta play these Daybreak games to find out for myself. ^_^
I already played it long ago with English patch on PC, best Trails game since Azure. It's also the longest Trails game longer than CSIV and the most dialogue heavy in a while.
Very excited to hear the english casts performance, especially Van since I think a lot of people will really enjoy his character as a breath of fresh air.
I mean probably one of the better games with Siri from a gameplay perspective tanks actually have a lot of value in this game is tanking is really good I know when I played through it the main character was like an unkillable tank even on nightmare it's nice to see tanks get some love
Yeah that's why I said he's like Lloyd/Rean. Van can aggro the enemies, has a lot of hp, high defense, and if built properly can dish out the damage at the same time. He was a lot of fun to play and it's funny how one simple aggro move can change so much xD
Just got through trails of could steel 1 as my first legend of heroes game and I’m hooked already started the second one and already bought 3 and 4 in a sale and come to find out I also have reverie and daybreak is coming out next month omg looks like I got a few hundred hours of story to go through yet I’m loving it all 😂
Haha, you're in luck because there's tons of good stuff to look forward to. Enjoy the wild ride! If you're this hooked after Cold Steel 1 I think you'll continue to be impressed 😉 Yeah the gameplay and graphical upgrades are nuts when you compare them side by side. Just as a friendly FYI, I highly recommend stopping after you finish Cold Steel 2 and go back and play the Sky trilogy. It's the foundation of the entire series. The jump in graphical difference might be jarring at first but its still the same core feeling as Cold Steel in terms of storytelling and characters/world building. If you don't have a PC tho you can just watch a LP or look up story summaries on YT. It's not a perfect solution but at least you'd be able to spot connections and various lore bits that get brought up all the time. I'll leave a play order list for ya that will be easy to follow after CS2: Sky FC Sky SC Sky the 3rd Zero Azure Cold Steel 3 Cold Steel 4 Reverie Daybreak Daybreak 2 Kai no Kiseki If you ever have any questions feel free to leave em here, I'll do my best to answer them asap 👌
It's the most balanced and probably most thought out combat, whether it's "the best" depends, there are pros and cons compared to Cold Steels system. What makes this game my favorite though, is the story and characters. Easily the most well thought out and carefully crafted.
It's definitely a contender for personal favorite, best is definitely subjective but I do think some of the changes feel like a natural progression in terms of the technology advancing so there would be more nuance to combat. Some of the things removed (like post battle convos, victory screen, etc) does suck from a longtime fans perspective but I think they wanted the combat to feel as smooth and seamless as possible.
The combat looks really good. You can see how much Falcom has improved their animations and camera work. Everything looks way more dynamic. I do miss the character cut-ins for the S-crafts. Man, you are making me want to play my JP copy. Jokes aside, I want to play at least a chapter to practice my Japanese, and try a bit of the game before the Western release. I did the same with Reverie back in the day. I finished Act 1 for Rean/Lloyd and played a little bit of C's Act 1.
The combat is a lot of fun, especially once you start firing off arts and crafts left and right, lol. Being able to reposition makes things slightly more tactical too. It's crazy how one small change like being able to move around before attacking completely elevates the gameplay. Hey that sounds like a great idea, nothing wrong with getting some practice in while using one of your favorite series as a testing ground of sorts. Seems like quite the... barrier to overcome 😎 I'll see myself out...
@@Cyrus_Bright 😂😂😂 It is quite the ... barrier, indeed. I can understand most of it, but I do have to use my dictionary for some words or phrases. The good thing is that I found it super interesting discovering new words that way.
I already have this game pre ordered, simply because it's trails. Although the battle system does look pretty intimidating to me. I will never remember which button is which! I just hope i can get through the game somehow. And i will totally pick the chaos route. Always. It has the coolest new character that you can even play as at some points. I am excited for Daybreak. But I still need to catch up on the other games though. And the train station is demonstrating again this week. Wuhuu, more holidays down the drain. I should not have used those 2 days over Carneval. Although one of them was also a demo day. This sucks. I guess i can use the day to play Ys or something. I wish i had other ways to get to work. Why are they doing this so often this year? I will completely run out of holidays before spring if they keep this up! Meeehhh! Anyway, Daybreak looks cool. I hope i can play it someday.
Chaos route is awesome, hope you enjoy it 👌 Thankfully the buttons can still be remapped so if you struggle with the base layout you can always swap em to something else. I'm just too lazy to do it since I'm accustomed to the default xD I could use a holiday, unfortunately won't be getting one for awhile. Didn't even get my birthday off, lmao. You'll get to play it eventually, there's still time before it comes out. It's not like it'll go anywhere either :p
it's crazy how much faster the combat is compared to Reverie, I still love the older gameplay systems, but Kuro definitely came out swinging and quickly became my favorite.
my favorite is the old school sky and crossbell style but I understand that it can feel dated by today standards. I really like the improvements in Kuro 1 and 2 tho. Coldsteel system was overdue for a change. It's still too easy imo even at nightmare...
Mine too, but I really grew to love the Arcus system and thought they perfected it in Reverie. The change was definitely needed and it's funny to see other games starting to follow suit after Daybreak (Re:Fantazio for instance, which also looks really good) I wouldn't mind if this more hybrid style of gameplay became the standard for more jrpg's in the future. I played on hard towards the end and yeah, especially with arts being able to cause delay. That felt insanely busted in combination with certain characters and skills. But it was still fun.
Okay I'm not going to lie, when I saw the title, I thought NISA had dropped a new trailer and you were reacting to it. I do hope we get that release date soonish!
Haha, I guess that is what I mostly do around here so I don't blame you 😂 Same! A release date with a new trailer will be hype, and of course I'll be reacting to that one too :p
This going wonderful gameplay. I will miss not being steal opponent critical and action looks alright. I will always love turn based. Yes i will also miss victory screening and s craft cut in which so sad. Well i am still looking forward to this game. I will miss few things from cold steel arc but overall i hope bring back s-crafts cut in for future of calvard Arc.
I feel they were removed so the game could be as smooth as possible when transitioning out of battles. At least you get little cut ins when the characters do link attacks. That's also the thing I like about the game, yeah the action combat is there but it's not the main focus. It's main use is to stun an enemy, then activate turn based mode to get an advantage in combat. It's like back attacks from the previous games but with a few extra steps.
good video, eased my nerves of the going action orientated. Turn based will always be for me, im so burned out on recent obsession of dodge,parry & block. especially perfect parrys being almost mandatory to complete the games.
I'm glad this video helped you feel better about the combat moving forward, even in the sequel (which I'm currently playing) they improved the action portion but the turn based is still the centerpiece. If Trails ever goes full on action that's the day jrpgs die imo xD thankfully I don't ever see that happening. I feel you on that last statement though, action gameplay just has the widest appeal to modern gamers I guess.
I actually haven't started it yet xD I had a few more videos I wanted to release before I did, plus I kinda want to record a pre Kuro 2 thoughts video on what I hope to see, what my expectations are, stuff like that. So... I'm not sure when I'll actually get to start it lol
That third treasure chest you opened, did someone in the party say "just another day for the free stuff?" or did I desperately want to hear Lecter Arundel from Trails into Reverie? Edit: I rewatched the sequence a few times, does Lecter's quote pop up as part of the game, or did you add that in yourself?
1) Is it easy to abuse exchange like in Cold Steel and get Evergreens in early chapters? 2) I've heard from a few mutuals that the Kuro games had numerous retcons, is it true, and how heavy are the retcons?
1. I don't usually abuse the systems in place so I don't know for sure, so I'll just say it's possible. 2. Yeah there's some retcon stuff but for the most part it either makes sense within the story or its so minor of a change it doesn't really matter. To me at least.
I played the import game don't KNOW what Falcom was thinking it takes like 3 PLAYTHROUGHS Minimum in order to do EVERYTHING the game has ie theirs a Over Powered Accessory in game that requires to make ALL 8 BEST weapons off the game hence the 3 playthroughs to DO so and 2 playthroughs to Max out the LGC system to lv 5 before converting it to Kuro 2.
Hey at least it's not as bad as the CS2 NG+ debacle where they hid actual super important lore details behind a second playthough. Getting to that spot a second time actually didn't take very long at all since you can just skip cutscenes and basically one shot all the main story bosses. But I do agree it is still slightly annoying having to do everything three times just to get everything. But 95% of the game can be enjoyed with just one playthrough so that's good.
It's insanely easy to break - and per Trails tradition, they'll use the second game to balance their system. Except Kuro 2 didn't really balance their system well at all.
Interesting, well I'll get to see for myself soon. Usually they do a decent job at balancing, but that's also the fun of these games is breaking them in half with the insane builds and OP mechanics they offer.
Is the english patch for the jp version on steam still available on a website or something to download? Im planning on the pc version at some point when i can, once i have a desktop.
@Cyrus_Bright sweet, I guess I can get that clouded leopard version on Steam when I can. So hype for the english release by nisa either way, and kai no kiseki.
(2:48) Is that REALLY what is supposed to be the TRADITIONAL TURNBASED COMBAT????? it's COMPLETELY different to what it is supposed to be. So the turn based combat of Cold steel has been completely abandoned after all? it's just a mix of Ys combat and Hyperdimention Neptunia.
don't know what you're looking at, but it is indeed turn based, you take turns attacking, there's a turn order bar up top, it takes a turn to cast an art... 🤷♂
@@Cyrus_Bright that combat looks pretty similar to the combat of Shining Resonance Refrain. It is a completely different combat system altogether. It nothing like the traditional turn based combat system of Cold steel at all. Its just not the direction I was expecting the game to go is all. And you're the first person to actually properly say that this is indeed the "new take" on the "traditional turn based combat".
it's the same turn-based gameplay from the original Sky games, just with added movement during gameplay that doesn't take a turn to reposition. Maybe I wasn't clear or I just worded things poorly (happens a lot, I'm not great at speaking) I definitely meant a new take on the traditional turn based gameplay of the series, not in the general sense of the word as in games from the past (like FF or Chrono Trigger) sorry for any confusion!
@@Cyrus_Brightjust finished it. I was absolutely shocked at the amount of references they put in this game. Some very unexpected games were referenced. As well as a few unexpected cameo appearances too.
I think it'll be very enjoyable for most people, it actually adds an extra layer of strategy especially now that certain crafts have positioning bonuses. Such a simple change makes even the standard fights feel more fluid.
I'm struggling like I really want to play, and don't want to wait another 4 months for the official translation. Is there only one eng patch fan translation currently out?
Yeah there's just the one, which you can access only by downloading it from the Falcom thread on 4chan so uh... make sure to wear protective gear if you decide you want to play it early xD
I’ve tried to get into Trails of Cold Steel in the past but the anime school setting like Persona just doesn’t click with me. Can I jump into the series with Daybreak.
You technically can, you'd miss out on so many plot threads and character development as a result. This series is unique in that every single game is connected, and not just from a plot/character perspective. But from a lore and worldbuilding aspect as well. Even npc's have their own stories that grow and change with each game and small things like newspapers and books hold important info in them that gets incorporated into the story sometimes a few arcs later. It's all so beautifully woven together and there's really nothing else out there to compare it to. I get not vibing with the school setting of Cold Steel 1, but I think if you started with the Sky games and worked your way up from there you'd learn to appreciate what it means from a story perspective. Unless you don't have a way to play them. Zero isn't really a great starting point because it relies so much on Sky, but you could try starting there since you play the role of detectives/police officers. To loop back to your original question though, yes you can start with Daybreak. It's mostly self contained (for now) with some returning characters and lore stuff whose importance will go over your head, but you can still enjoy like 90% of what the game offers as a total newbie to the series.
You made me break my 100% spoilerfree policy again. I hate you. Nah but joke aside I'm still not very sold at all about the action part of the combat gameplay. It doesn't seem bad or anything. But I don't like action gameplay and I think it's scary when my turn-based games start getting action style stuff because it's the path towards the dark side of full action gameplay (look at what they did to my Final Fantasy boi). But the turn based section looks really cool. And I like what they did with the orbment system too. Getting rid of the old way of obtaining arts but keeping the line system as it in Cold Steel made literally no sense imho. So I'm happy to see soemthing fresher. Also happy about no more break system. I didn't like it at all. And I also like the fact that you can build Van however you want as well as the alignment system (I put these 2 together as it serves the main goal of making the main character more unique depending on playthroughs). If there is different way to solve certain side quests that's really a big plus. As much as I like previous MC of the series (no , not you Rean (ok that was mean sorry)) the good ol' goody two-shoes stuff was starting to be a bit bothersome. Whenever I take a random personnality test based on D&D alignment system I always end up being true neutral (and closer from chaotic than lawful) so yeah I'm curious about that.
Maybe next time I'll just go full spoilers with no warning just to spite you 😈 lol thankfully the action part of the gameplay is fairly minimal. It's main use is to stun enemies before jumping into turn based mode. Think of the field attacks from previous games where you'd smack an enemy on their butt to get the advantage. It's the same concept just with a few extra steps. Thankfully this is Falcom, and they already have plenty of action focused games so I don't think we'll have to worry about them doing away with Trails core gameplay system. The stun system is definitely more balanced and harder to exploit so it's a good change. Van is great because he's naturally a tank but if you want to make him more of a tank/dps hybrid you can. He hits stupidly hard with the right build, lol. Not as hard as Laura, but still impressive :p Well I don't want to raise your expectations too high, the alignment stuff is mostly dialogue based with the only story influence being the section towards the end I mentioned. Which is really cool though. I still need to go back and play a few of the other routes myself. That section is longer than some of the finales in previous games, lol. Van at his core is definitely more of a neutral character so I think you'll vastly appreciate what he brings to the table.
Ha! Yeah it felt a little weird going back to Reverie after playing Daybreak and getting used to the button configurations. I was like: "Was the combat always this slow?" lol I missed being able to run around the enemies during battle too
@@Cyrus_Bright I tried to keep the pace up with consistently switching brave orders. Honestly I just can't wait to play Kai, really want to see how the older characters will work with Kuro's battle system.
@@erihitsuki that's going to be so much fun, ugh. I hope Estelle and Joshua come back at least. I wanna smack enemies with a big stick in the new engine xD
The game looks fantastic. Did you play with the hack and slash combat for regular enemies while only switching to turn based for the bosses? That seems like the ideal way to do it. I love that Tio gif with her at Mishelam. Man, I'm going to miss the victory quotes too.
Action gameplay is actually only available for field enemies, all the story bosses automatically start in turn based mode. They probably felt it would've been a bit too awkward for the boss fights would be my guess. Maybe in the future. I love that Tio gif too xD all hail Mishy!! 🤩 Actually I was just corrected. There is dialogue in the fights between the party members but it's just implemented in a way that's more seamless.
@@Cyrus_Bright I found myself playing kuro no kiseki 1, over 4 time beginning to end why because I love the story, battle, graphics, characters (definitely the characters everyone was awesome) music, backgrounds, ect. Also I made the game abit more interesting was mod the music's to play various final fantasy music mostly battle swaps from ff7-ff9.
@@hamasakikenji4554 Koguchi really proved himself in Kuro, his compositions really added a lot of depth to Edith and the other locations across Calvard. I think Van will really resonate with Western fans, he's very cool. I like to compare him to Gintoki from Gintama and Spike from Cowboy Bebop. Replacing the music sounds like a fun time. I know someone who did that with the final boss of Ys 1 xD
all i care about daybreak is the localization quality when it came out , after reverie localization mess i lost my trust in NISA but maybe i will give daybreak a try althought i already play kuro via fan patch.
4:16 yeah it sucked when it wasn't in tales of arise too. I wish that instead of completely removing them there was an option to have them play each time or turn them off
I recently read the characters do still speak to each other, it just takes place during the battles instead. So while not entirely the same I feel they went in this direction to keep up with the fluidity of the new gameplay system.
After I finished cold steel 4 I lost interest in the series, I didn't even bother to play reverie, but this game seems to make all the right changes to get me back on board.
@@Cyrus_Bright maybe one day I'll give it a shot, I currently have a PlayStation copy laying around just incase I ever get in the mood. But this year's been stacked with RPG's I can barley keep up
@@TWONSSHOW I feel that, lol. There's so many games just from this year alone I haven't gotten to yet. I'm still chugging through Unicorn Overlord. It's been close to 2 months xD
@@Cyrus_Bright after finally beating FF7REBIRTH recently I'm finally putting my main attention towards unicorn Overlord now, it's fantastic. Metaphor is gonna be the perfect end for the year.
@@Cyrus_Bright oh, so that's what's up. Do you think I should play with the unofficial patch too or wait for the English release. I just finished reverie a few hours ago, and I wanna know if I should wait or start playing right away
@@Alpheus_09C you could use the fan TL if you really want to, the translation is pretty good with only a few rough spots. However if you prefer playing in English, then you'd have to wait for the official version. The fan TL also only works with the CLE version on Steam. So keep that in mind.
Brave Orders were a lot of fun, I wonder if they'll add a similar mechanic in the later games. But I feel if the brave orders were included as-is the battle system wouldn't have felt as unique. Plus I think they wanted to make the battles feel as quick and snappy as possible so maybe having Brave Order cut-ins would've slowed it down too much? Not sure. Maybe it was just for balancing reasons.
I'd say it's basically the same thing, just packaged a bit differently with some added mobility on top of it. I don't really view the action gameplay as the main course, but it is nice when you just want to quickly grind some sepith and it does save some time compared to initiating a regular battle. They refine it more in Daybreak 2, it feels much smoother and based on what little I've seen of Kai it seems even better there. But as for this game, it's more a means to an end, while being a slight upgrade to the field attacks of the past games.
@@Cyrus_Bright the thing is it takes much longer to get advantage in turn based combat. Instead of 1 second back attack, you attack and dodge like a monkey for a few seconds with a chance to stun with your super skill. If you won't then repeat. I don't like that so I just deploy shards immediately.
I'll give you the graphics part, but gameplay? Eh... some enemies have way too much health and that final dungeon was a nightmare 😥 If you prefer straight action then yeah Tales or even Ys would be more your thing but Trails has always been turn based. The action section is more a setup for the actual fights if that makes sense. Also it's really impressive what what Falcom has done with the animations and the way the models themselves look. Especially on their small budget. If they had Tales level of money? Holy... I bet they'd look and play even better.
I understand your point of view and I respect it and tbh I might give it a try but Tales of Arise, Final Fantasy 16, Granblue Fantasy relink etc those are my kind of games.
I'm not big into graphics and it's not the reason I play these games, but I have to say: Falcom's new engine made the game look beautiful in general, like cities, characters, closed areas, but these textures in outdoor areas just look hideous😑. Good video as always!
I'm not a big graphics person either, but I loved touring the city of Edith and the various other locations. Maybe it's because I'm a Yakuza fan and being a "virtual tourist" is kinda hardwired into my brain at this point. Lol. I also enjoyed watching the npc's do their little animations or run around town, that poor guy on top of the stairs on the overpass in Station Street xD I will admit I don't really pay attention to the outdoor textures since I'm usually too busy trying to avoid/fight enemies or looking at the minimap. But those kinds of textures have never been that great in the Trails games tbf.
Thanks for the compliment! Appreciate you stopping by ^^
One thing that I like is that people actually carry their weapons as part of their character model now, so we don't get nonsensical cases like Laura pulling a sword as long as she is tall out of thin air.
I've been looking forwards to the action/turn based hybrid combat gameplay for a while now. I feel like, even though Trails has had pseudo action based combat since Zero when the backstrike/advantage was introduced, it's really gone underutilized especially since it would have been a great way for dealing with lower level enemies if it weren't so clunky to use for that purpose. It's definitely going to make things much more free flowing and fast paced, especially when it comes to grinding.
Another combat related thing I'm looking forwards to is the ability to freely move and then cast an art or use a craft in the turn based mode. That's a game changer right there!
The new engine looks really good too! The animations are so much more expressive than they were in Cold Steel. But I just started Reverie yesterday and you can tell even in that game that they were probably doing a lot of animation and game engine testing for the Kuro ark.
Not sure how I'll feel about the new Arts system until I can play with it myself, but then I still miss ye-olden days of Sky when I could load up a character like Kloe with all of the arts (all of them!), and I still, currently, think that Azure had the best version of the Orbment system so far.
11:04 Misaka Mikoto, is that you? Lol, I kid.
Anyway, thanks for the showcase. Now I definitely can't wait to play, hopefully I can finish Reverie before it releases so I can jump in day one.
Yeah the weapon thing is really cool. No more secret pocket dimensions, lol
The gameplay definitely feels as smooth as I looks. Jumping from one fight to the next is so fluid sometimes you forget you're playing a turn based game xD
Moving freely around the map in battles is huge, opens up a lot of different options in fights which is nice
The facial expressions are incredible, we got a taste of it in Reverie but they really amped it up for Daybreak. Will be curious to see how else they improve things going forward.
It feels fairly limiting at first, but once you get more of a variety of Drivers it's a pot of fun to just swap them out on the fly. It's like mini presets that you can slightly customize to fit any situation. In order to swap out the custom arts you do need to visit an orbal shop (or one of the fancy save terminals which are kinda everywhere)
Good luck! 👍
you know what this game looks like
it looks like my GOTY
waiting for summer couldn't feel any slower
also the "osborne was pretty based" bit killed me
I think you meant to say "it looks like a game that will get snubbed at the GOTY awards ceremony" xD poor Reverie... The wait will be well worth it, this game is a blast.
Ha, especially coming from Van that must be funnier xD obviously it's not the real dialogue options, just wanted to be funni :p
@@Cyrus_Bright don't worry, i think I'll like reverie a lot if it's anything like sky the 3rd and if it's not i still think I'll enjoy it, i only heard good things about it
also the game awards are a sham
Reverie is so much like Sky the 3rd it hurts, and I adored it because of it xD
yeah, I realized that a long time ago, still fun to dunk on them though occasionally
glad that you actually try to keep it as spoiler free as possible nice
It's hard to dance around certain things sometimes, but I try. Since I know there's lots of people who are curious or on the fence and something like this could possibly sway them into the "excited" camp of the fandom. I feel this can only serve to potentially help others decide if the game is for them or not ^^
@@Cyrus_Bright true but there are also fans who are gonna play the game guaranteed so they might avoid any video related to new trails like me most of times lol
that used to be me, if there was a game I was excited for I'd avoid any trailers or pre-release stuff like the plague lol
Very nice idea, thank you! I have some friends who will really appreciate this
this was on the backburner for a while xD Glad you got some use out of it! Appreciate ya sharing it with your friends too!
thank you for this video and thank you for being passionate about the series! i'm very excited for the RPGlimitbreak showcase on the 5th so i hope they announce a release date then
A release date would be awesome! Also thank you! Appreciate the nice comment :)
I'll definitely need to spend some time playing it when it comes out, because they seem to be going such a different direction with changing or excluding so many things that were mainstays since Sky that I'm a biiiit skeptical. I'm sure I'll love it once I get into it, and the game looks fun, but yeah.
it's one thing to look at footage of someone else playing, but I'm sure once you get your hands on it and take your time with the new features it'll all come together. It feels like a natural progression given the technological advancements in universe.
I played it on PS4 a few years ago. Combat took some getting used to, but it really grew on me over time.
Looking forward to this. This series never gets old to me.
As someone who binged the entire series and who wants to jump back into Sky and play through it all over again... I'm inclined to agree xD
@Cyrus_Bright it's an addictive game fam. It's like coke without the extra crap. 🤣
Yeah, I absolutely love this new battle system. It DOES have some changes that took me some getting used to (the ATB bar and the new rules surrounding it, for example - this is going to throw a lot of longtime fans for a loop), but I'd argue that every change was made for good reason. Especially the movement system. I don't know why it took them so long to make the change, but I'm glad they finally did. XD
My endgame build ending up being "infinite delay go brrr" so I had a bit of trouble with the final boss but I managed to beat it xD Seriously, after finishing Reverie I thought "there's no way they can make me love a battle system this much again." and I was proven oh so very wrong, lol.
@@Cyrus_Bright I haven't actually beaten this game yet (I only just got to Chapter 3, actually), so I dunno what my endgame build will look like just yet. >.>
As for Reverie, I had the same exact thoughts as you. I actually finished it last month. By the time I beat it, I was wondering if I'd feel like Daybreak's battle system was a step backward. I decided I couldn't wait for the official release to find out, downloaded the Steam version, applied the fan patch, and I ended up loving Daybreak's battle system too. For different reasons, of course.
I'm looking forward to seeing further improvements in Kuro 2 when I finally get to it.
Falcom really deserves apreciation in regards to what they do to the trails franchise gameplay over those 20 years, sky already had a good battle system, but falcom always tried to make it even better than it already was, always trying to add more depth and complexity to the system. In my opinion, they kind of overdid in CS3, mechanics became more complex and interesting but they also broke the game, if you stopped to read just for a while you could probably set up a perfect strategy with the orders and the break system, those two things were way too op. So seeing that they threw away mechanics that were being used for years in daybreak game made me apreciate them, still need to play the game to see if i like it or not, but it does deserves a compliment
Just finnished Kuro 2 months ago and Kuro II (Crimson Sin) a few weeks ago and I can definitely say ya'll are in for a ride especially for Kai no Kiseki (excited to play this soon).
I'm in Act 1 of Kuro 2 right now and it's very enjoyable so far, haven't had the chance to really play recently but hopefully I can change that soon. Very interested to get to the "bad" portions of the game. Daybreak was phenomenal though, almost no major complaints from me. Can't wait to read discussions and thoughts once the game comes out next month.
@@Cyrus_Bright Well, let's just say that a lot of things made sense after kuro II cleared some questions about the overall plot of Kuro and most particularly some details from Reverie which played a big part in Crimson Sin's overall plot (which serves as the build up for Kai)
Yeah they Cooked alright and there’s nothing wrong with an upcoming Atlus game using a similar combat system to this
Much appreciated keeping it non Spoiler ofc.
I wonder if this'll start a trend with jrpgs and more will opt for a hybrid system? That could be really neat. I know even Infinite wealth does that too with some kind of mechanic. I try my best to not spoil things, although I did just now realize I let something slip. It's very minor and probably not a big deal for most people but it's still a spoiler regardless. Oops 😅
Completely agree here.
They did a fenomenal work in the gameplay department. Kuro 1 still has a few things that need some polish, like the lack of options during action combat, the s-craft insane spamming you can do in this game or the turn order box. All of those were fixed on Kuro 2 though, and I can't wait to see what they have changed on Kai.
I must admit that at first I didn't like this combat system compared to Reverie, however as the game progressed and I understood it better it really grew on me. By Kuro 2 I consider it the best iteration of both combat and orbment systems so far.
My only complain, which is more noticeable on Kuro 2 is that action combat damage scaling should be bigger against trash mobs. Similar to how you could obliterate them on previous games if you had a high enough level.
Also, how turn rewards work is quite different from previous titles and I expect that would be one of the things that a lot of people would point out on release.
By the way, I hope you were luckier than me and knew how to bring out the Shard Skill list soon. I didn't discover it until veeery late (even though it's clearly marked on the menu), and I just mixed things to see what I got...
Regarding the battle dialogue, they do have iterations, though, without specific animations. What I really liked here is the sheer amount of dialogue during battle. Characters speak continuously during battle and what they say even changes for plot reasons at some points. Most noticeable is how Aaron addresses Feri through the game. Same thing for others as well. It's quite nice. Cold Steel also did that, but only during the ending battle scene (Crow and Machias change their dialogue if you had certain interactions with them)
And now... you should do a part 2 of this video on how Falcom did perfect the perfected formula of Trails combat on Kuro 2 :D and hopefully, there are no 2 videos without a 3rd one comeing as well for Kai (let's hope this one does perfect the perfected perfection of the Trails Combat :D)
I think they kept the action combat fairly basic as to not copy Ys too much. Turn based is still very much the focus. But yeah it's incredibly addicting once you get in the groove.
Can't wait to play Kuro 2, I think it's my most anticipated game of this year and it didn't even come out this year xD
If they do bring mech fights back in Kai I wonder if they'll be full on action like the minigame in Reverie... hmm.
I never noticed it taking too long to neutralize enemies, although maybe I just shut my brain of during the moments of grinding for sepith xD
I actually accidentally stumbled upon the shard skill list early on, but yeah I was just kinda throwing random things together at first as well 😅
I'm sure it'll be more obvious with the battle dialogue in English than it was for me in Japanese. If they had subtitles for the fights then yeah I'd have noticed, lol.
Pfft a part 2, we'll see what happens 😉
The game looks really good. RIP character victory interactions and long flashy awesome S-crafts. I'll miss you. You so fun and cool. Oh, you let Feri die. I see you chose violence lol I can see myself mostly using turn based, not because I prefer it but because I think you can do more in it. Aw man! I didn't think the alignment system would be that big of a change at the end there.
Aw crud, there goes my anxiety. I wanted to go with how I usually go with these games the first time around and just go with the flow without a guide but if there's lore heavy stuff with Chaos only and makes it seem like that one has the meatier story bits than I don't know what to do. Hmm, maybe hopefully I can max all of them in one run or in NG+ so I can see everything if I so choose.
I'm happy to hear that Feri is broken but what I wasn't expecting was what Feri's profession is. I thought it might be something new or something else. I...uhh think I got spoiled even if a tiny little bit...unless it's something the official site/artbook/NISA's twitter will say in the future when I see it than it's okay.😅
Some of the end game arts are still long and flashy, I forgot to mention it but the basic arts don't have a "skip" option like in the CS games. Just the higher tier ones since they do actually take a decent amount of time to fire off (which is nice) I didn't mean to let Feri die xD at least we got to hear a snippet of the critical music? :p
I don't actually think you can get all the points possible to see everything the first time through anyway. Luckily on NG+ you can literally skip everything and the major fights are over in a few seconds. I think it took me 45 minutes to get back to that spot? Of course most of that time was spent speeding through the side quests. It's not as bad as CS2. I still haven't seen all the routes myself either, so I'm only speaking from my personal experience plus what I've read online. But yeah, Chaos was fairly intriguing.
Every character is viable, especially with the right set up. You can even swap out Hollow Cores between the party. Mare is the only one that's exclusive to Van. Oh... that may have been a slip up on my end, I don't remember if it's been specified yet officially but it's not hidden. She even said "oorah!" at one point, although that's something easily missable. Either way, apologies for spoiling something, even if it's minor. Bleh. It didn't even occur to me until right now 😢
@@Cyrus_Bright Oh cool. That's nice to hear about the arts and well I guess I'll forgive you for that since we got to hear that critical music.
Heh, well since I never really skip any scene or NPC dialogue I'll just have to deal with the greatness that is this game a few times to see everything then which I have no problems with. I'll make sure to see everything somehow even if it takes me 2 or 3 playthroughs to see them. x3
I'm super casual and just go with my gut or what the characters have set up already but just go stronger than whatever they have equipped from the start. Well, I just assumed before I knew anything that she was one cause looking at her she gives me Fie vibes but I didn't want think that 100%. It's cool though. I'm sure the website and stuff will say that anyway lol Now it makes me interested to see Feri and Fie interact if they ever do.
It's interesting that Mare is just for Van. I wonder why but that also makes me wonder if there are others like Mare that are for other specific characters. Well, I gotta play these Daybreak games to find out for myself. ^_^
I already played it long ago with English patch on PC, best Trails game since Azure. It's also the longest Trails game longer than CSIV and the most dialogue heavy in a while.
Very excited to hear the english casts performance, especially Van since I think a lot of people will really enjoy his character as a breath of fresh air.
@@Cyrus_Bright Who is doing his voice?
I mean probably one of the better games with Siri from a gameplay perspective tanks actually have a lot of value in this game is tanking is really good I know when I played through it the main character was like an unkillable tank even on nightmare it's nice to see tanks get some love
Yeah that's why I said he's like Lloyd/Rean. Van can aggro the enemies, has a lot of hp, high defense, and if built properly can dish out the damage at the same time. He was a lot of fun to play and it's funny how one simple aggro move can change so much xD
@@Cyrus_Bright coin move go burr
Just got through trails of could steel 1 as my first legend of heroes game and I’m hooked already started the second one and already bought 3 and 4 in a sale and come to find out I also have reverie and daybreak is coming out next month omg looks like I got a few hundred hours of story to go through yet I’m loving it all 😂
Oh and dude this game looks so good compared to cold steel 1 and 2 lol
Haha, you're in luck because there's tons of good stuff to look forward to. Enjoy the wild ride! If you're this hooked after Cold Steel 1 I think you'll continue to be impressed 😉
Yeah the gameplay and graphical upgrades are nuts when you compare them side by side.
Just as a friendly FYI, I highly recommend stopping after you finish Cold Steel 2 and go back and play the Sky trilogy. It's the foundation of the entire series. The jump in graphical difference might be jarring at first but its still the same core feeling as Cold Steel in terms of storytelling and characters/world building. If you don't have a PC tho you can just watch a LP or look up story summaries on YT. It's not a perfect solution but at least you'd be able to spot connections and various lore bits that get brought up all the time.
I'll leave a play order list for ya that will be easy to follow after CS2:
Sky FC
Sky SC
Sky the 3rd
Zero
Azure
Cold Steel 3
Cold Steel 4
Reverie
Daybreak
Daybreak 2
Kai no Kiseki
If you ever have any questions feel free to leave em here, I'll do my best to answer them asap 👌
It's the most balanced and probably most thought out combat, whether it's "the best" depends, there are pros and cons compared to Cold Steels system.
What makes this game my favorite though, is the story and characters. Easily the most well thought out and carefully crafted.
It's definitely a contender for personal favorite, best is definitely subjective but I do think some of the changes feel like a natural progression in terms of the technology advancing so there would be more nuance to combat. Some of the things removed (like post battle convos, victory screen, etc) does suck from a longtime fans perspective but I think they wanted the combat to feel as smooth and seamless as possible.
The combat looks really good. You can see how much Falcom has improved their animations and camera work. Everything looks way more dynamic. I do miss the character cut-ins for the S-crafts.
Man, you are making me want to play my JP copy. Jokes aside, I want to play at least a chapter to practice my Japanese, and try a bit of the game before the Western release. I did the same with Reverie back in the day. I finished Act 1 for Rean/Lloyd and played a little bit of C's Act 1.
The combat is a lot of fun, especially once you start firing off arts and crafts left and right, lol. Being able to reposition makes things slightly more tactical too. It's crazy how one small change like being able to move around before attacking completely elevates the gameplay.
Hey that sounds like a great idea, nothing wrong with getting some practice in while using one of your favorite series as a testing ground of sorts. Seems like quite the... barrier to overcome 😎
I'll see myself out...
@@Cyrus_Bright 😂😂😂
It is quite the ... barrier, indeed. I can understand most of it, but I do have to use my dictionary for some words or phrases. The good thing is that I found it super interesting discovering new words that way.
I already have this game pre ordered, simply because it's trails. Although the battle system does look pretty intimidating to me. I will never remember which button is which! I just hope i can get through the game somehow. And i will totally pick the chaos route. Always. It has the coolest new character that you can even play as at some points. I am excited for Daybreak. But I still need to catch up on the other games though. And the train station is demonstrating again this week. Wuhuu, more holidays down the drain. I should not have used those 2 days over Carneval. Although one of them was also a demo day. This sucks. I guess i can use the day to play Ys or something. I wish i had other ways to get to work. Why are they doing this so often this year? I will completely run out of holidays before spring if they keep this up! Meeehhh! Anyway, Daybreak looks cool. I hope i can play it someday.
Chaos route is awesome, hope you enjoy it 👌
Thankfully the buttons can still be remapped so if you struggle with the base layout you can always swap em to something else. I'm just too lazy to do it since I'm accustomed to the default xD
I could use a holiday, unfortunately won't be getting one for awhile. Didn't even get my birthday off, lmao. You'll get to play it eventually, there's still time before it comes out. It's not like it'll go anywhere either :p
After kuro I've returned to hajimari to check some build on Laura, realization how better kuro is got me seriously
it's crazy how much faster the combat is compared to Reverie, I still love the older gameplay systems, but Kuro definitely came out swinging and quickly became my favorite.
my favorite is the old school sky and crossbell style but I understand that it can feel dated by today standards. I really like the improvements in Kuro 1 and 2 tho. Coldsteel system was overdue for a change. It's still too easy imo even at nightmare...
Mine too, but I really grew to love the Arcus system and thought they perfected it in Reverie. The change was definitely needed and it's funny to see other games starting to follow suit after Daybreak (Re:Fantazio for instance, which also looks really good) I wouldn't mind if this more hybrid style of gameplay became the standard for more jrpg's in the future. I played on hard towards the end and yeah, especially with arts being able to cause delay. That felt insanely busted in combination with certain characters and skills. But it was still fun.
Okay I'm not going to lie, when I saw the title, I thought NISA had dropped a new trailer and you were reacting to it.
I do hope we get that release date soonish!
If you are on PC, you can already download and buy it. (It's in japanese, but there is a fan patch out on the internet
@@RaifSeverence I own a Mac and don't play on PC so that's not really an option for me.
It's fine though, I can wait for the official English release.
Haha, I guess that is what I mostly do around here so I don't blame you 😂
Same! A release date with a new trailer will be hype, and of course I'll be reacting to that one too :p
This going wonderful gameplay. I will miss not being steal opponent critical and action looks alright. I will always love turn based. Yes i will also miss victory screening and s craft cut in which so sad. Well i am still looking forward to this game. I will miss few things from cold steel arc but overall i hope bring back s-crafts cut in for future of calvard Arc.
I feel they were removed so the game could be as smooth as possible when transitioning out of battles. At least you get little cut ins when the characters do link attacks. That's also the thing I like about the game, yeah the action combat is there but it's not the main focus. It's main use is to stun an enemy, then activate turn based mode to get an advantage in combat. It's like back attacks from the previous games but with a few extra steps.
good video, eased my nerves of the going action orientated. Turn based will always be for me, im so burned out on recent obsession of dodge,parry & block. especially perfect parrys being almost mandatory to complete the games.
I'm glad this video helped you feel better about the combat moving forward, even in the sequel (which I'm currently playing) they improved the action portion but the turn based is still the centerpiece. If Trails ever goes full on action that's the day jrpgs die imo xD thankfully I don't ever see that happening. I feel you on that last statement though, action gameplay just has the widest appeal to modern gamers I guess.
Have you started Kuro 2 yet?
If you have, how are you feeling about the game?
I actually haven't started it yet xD I had a few more videos I wanted to release before I did, plus I kinda want to record a pre Kuro 2 thoughts video on what I hope to see, what my expectations are, stuff like that. So... I'm not sure when I'll actually get to start it lol
That third treasure chest you opened, did someone in the party say "just another day for the free stuff?" or did I desperately want to hear Lecter Arundel from Trails into Reverie? Edit: I rewatched the sequence a few times, does Lecter's quote pop up as part of the game, or did you add that in yourself?
Lol that was me, I added that in xD just my poor attempt at making these videos a bit more interesting to watch/listen to 😅
1) Is it easy to abuse exchange like in Cold Steel and get Evergreens in early chapters?
2) I've heard from a few mutuals that the Kuro games had numerous retcons, is it true, and how heavy are the retcons?
1. I don't usually abuse the systems in place so I don't know for sure, so I'll just say it's possible.
2. Yeah there's some retcon stuff but for the most part it either makes sense within the story or its so minor of a change it doesn't really matter. To me at least.
I played the import game don't KNOW what Falcom was thinking it takes like 3 PLAYTHROUGHS Minimum in order to do EVERYTHING the game has ie theirs a Over Powered Accessory in game that requires to make ALL 8 BEST weapons off the game hence the 3 playthroughs to DO so and 2 playthroughs to Max out the LGC system to lv 5 before converting it to Kuro 2.
Hey at least it's not as bad as the CS2 NG+ debacle where they hid actual super important lore details behind a second playthough. Getting to that spot a second time actually didn't take very long at all since you can just skip cutscenes and basically one shot all the main story bosses. But I do agree it is still slightly annoying having to do everything three times just to get everything. But 95% of the game can be enjoyed with just one playthrough so that's good.
It's insanely easy to break - and per Trails tradition, they'll use the second game to balance their system. Except Kuro 2 didn't really balance their system well at all.
Interesting, well I'll get to see for myself soon. Usually they do a decent job at balancing, but that's also the fun of these games is breaking them in half with the insane builds and OP mechanics they offer.
It looks pretty good!
Indeed it does 😎
Is the english patch for the jp version on steam still available on a website or something to download? Im planning on the pc version at some point when i can, once i have a desktop.
there's google drive links floating around still but I believe it's archived on 4chan as well
@Cyrus_Bright sweet, I guess I can get that clouded leopard version on Steam when I can. So hype for the english release by nisa either way, and kai no kiseki.
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(2:48) Is that REALLY what is supposed to be the TRADITIONAL TURNBASED COMBAT????? it's COMPLETELY different to what it is supposed to be. So the turn based combat of Cold steel has been completely abandoned after all? it's just a mix of Ys combat and Hyperdimention Neptunia.
don't know what you're looking at, but it is indeed turn based, you take turns attacking, there's a turn order bar up top, it takes a turn to cast an art... 🤷♂
@@Cyrus_Bright that combat looks pretty similar to the combat of Shining Resonance Refrain. It is a completely different combat system altogether. It nothing like the traditional turn based combat system of Cold steel at all. Its just not the direction I was expecting the game to go is all. And you're the first person to actually properly say that this is indeed the "new take" on the "traditional turn based combat".
it's the same turn-based gameplay from the original Sky games, just with added movement during gameplay that doesn't take a turn to reposition. Maybe I wasn't clear or I just worded things poorly (happens a lot, I'm not great at speaking) I definitely meant a new take on the traditional turn based gameplay of the series, not in the general sense of the word as in games from the past (like FF or Chrono Trigger)
sorry for any confusion!
@@Cyrus_Brightjust finished it. I was absolutely shocked at the amount of references they put in this game. Some very unexpected games were referenced. As well as a few unexpected cameo appearances too.
@@KnucklestheEcidna Hey that's great! Thanks for coming back and sharing your thoughts with me ^^
Nooo my absolute delay crow art spam memes morgan+magius all gone 😂
the no victory quotes thing goes along with there being no victory screen, and is just a way to shave out clutter to make the game feel snappier imo.
True, the gameplay loop feels smooth as butter once you really get going. I loved it.
how is it good that they removed the cost of movement ? I liked that about Trails. Just takes decisions away.
I think it'll be very enjoyable for most people, it actually adds an extra layer of strategy especially now that certain crafts have positioning bonuses. Such a simple change makes even the standard fights feel more fluid.
I'm struggling like I really want to play, and don't want to wait another 4 months for the official translation. Is there only one eng patch fan translation currently out?
Yeah there's just the one, which you can access only by downloading it from the Falcom thread on 4chan so uh... make sure to wear protective gear if you decide you want to play it early xD
I’ve tried to get into Trails of Cold Steel in the past but the anime school setting like Persona just doesn’t click with me. Can I jump into the series with Daybreak.
You technically can, you'd miss out on so many plot threads and character development as a result. This series is unique in that every single game is connected, and not just from a plot/character perspective. But from a lore and worldbuilding aspect as well. Even npc's have their own stories that grow and change with each game and small things like newspapers and books hold important info in them that gets incorporated into the story sometimes a few arcs later. It's all so beautifully woven together and there's really nothing else out there to compare it to. I get not vibing with the school setting of Cold Steel 1, but I think if you started with the Sky games and worked your way up from there you'd learn to appreciate what it means from a story perspective. Unless you don't have a way to play them. Zero isn't really a great starting point because it relies so much on Sky, but you could try starting there since you play the role of detectives/police officers. To loop back to your original question though, yes you can start with Daybreak. It's mostly self contained (for now) with some returning characters and lore stuff whose importance will go over your head, but you can still enjoy like 90% of what the game offers as a total newbie to the series.
You made me break my 100% spoilerfree policy again. I hate you.
Nah but joke aside I'm still not very sold at all about the action part of the combat gameplay. It doesn't seem bad or anything. But I don't like action gameplay and I think it's scary when my turn-based games start getting action style stuff because it's the path towards the dark side of full action gameplay (look at what they did to my Final Fantasy boi).
But the turn based section looks really cool. And I like what they did with the orbment system too. Getting rid of the old way of obtaining arts but keeping the line system as it in Cold Steel made literally no sense imho. So I'm happy to see soemthing fresher.
Also happy about no more break system. I didn't like it at all.
And I also like the fact that you can build Van however you want as well as the alignment system (I put these 2 together as it serves the main goal of making the main character more unique depending on playthroughs). If there is different way to solve certain side quests that's really a big plus. As much as I like previous MC of the series (no , not you Rean (ok that was mean sorry)) the good ol' goody two-shoes stuff was starting to be a bit bothersome.
Whenever I take a random personnality test based on D&D alignment system I always end up being true neutral (and closer from chaotic than lawful) so yeah I'm curious about that.
Maybe next time I'll just go full spoilers with no warning just to spite you 😈 lol
thankfully the action part of the gameplay is fairly minimal. It's main use is to stun enemies before jumping into turn based mode. Think of the field attacks from previous games where you'd smack an enemy on their butt to get the advantage. It's the same concept just with a few extra steps. Thankfully this is Falcom, and they already have plenty of action focused games so I don't think we'll have to worry about them doing away with Trails core gameplay system. The stun system is definitely more balanced and harder to exploit so it's a good change.
Van is great because he's naturally a tank but if you want to make him more of a tank/dps hybrid you can. He hits stupidly hard with the right build, lol. Not as hard as Laura, but still impressive :p
Well I don't want to raise your expectations too high, the alignment stuff is mostly dialogue based with the only story influence being the section towards the end I mentioned. Which is really cool though. I still need to go back and play a few of the other routes myself. That section is longer than some of the finales in previous games, lol. Van at his core is definitely more of a neutral character so I think you'll vastly appreciate what he brings to the table.
I am replaying CS3 on PS5, it felt so wrong attacking without boosting
Ha! Yeah it felt a little weird going back to Reverie after playing Daybreak and getting used to the button configurations. I was like: "Was the combat always this slow?" lol I missed being able to run around the enemies during battle too
@@Cyrus_Bright I tried to keep the pace up with consistently switching brave orders.
Honestly I just can't wait to play Kai, really want to see how the older characters will work with Kuro's battle system.
@@erihitsuki that's going to be so much fun, ugh. I hope Estelle and Joshua come back at least. I wanna smack enemies with a big stick in the new engine xD
@@Cyrus_Bright yeah, it'll be fun to play as Joshua, zipping around the map!
@@erihitsuki Joshua and Fie on the same team, literal speed hacks lol. Will the game even be able to keep up? XD
The game looks fantastic. Did you play with the hack and slash combat for regular enemies while only switching to turn based for the bosses? That seems like the ideal way to do it.
I love that Tio gif with her at Mishelam.
Man, I'm going to miss the victory quotes too.
Action gameplay is actually only available for field enemies, all the story bosses automatically start in turn based mode. They probably felt it would've been a bit too awkward for the boss fights would be my guess. Maybe in the future.
I love that Tio gif too xD all hail Mishy!! 🤩
Actually I was just corrected. There is dialogue in the fights between the party members but it's just implemented in a way that's more seamless.
This is the battle system ff7r should use for both the new and old school jrpg fans.
For real, if they had a hybrid system I think that could serve to satisfy fans of both sides
@@Cyrus_Bright I found myself playing kuro no kiseki 1, over 4 time beginning to end why because I love the story, battle, graphics, characters (definitely the characters everyone was awesome) music, backgrounds, ect. Also I made the game abit more interesting was mod the music's to play various final fantasy music mostly battle swaps from ff7-ff9.
@@hamasakikenji4554 Koguchi really proved himself in Kuro, his compositions really added a lot of depth to Edith and the other locations across Calvard. I think Van will really resonate with Western fans, he's very cool. I like to compare him to Gintoki from Gintama and Spike from Cowboy Bebop.
Replacing the music sounds like a fun time. I know someone who did that with the final boss of Ys 1 xD
I can't what to play the game this summer then it comes out here in the usa
I can't wait to play it all over again xD
all i care about daybreak is the localization quality when it came out , after reverie localization mess i lost my trust in NISA but maybe i will give daybreak a try althought i already play kuro via fan patch.
4:16 yeah it sucked when it wasn't in tales of arise too. I wish that instead of completely removing them there was an option to have them play each time or turn them off
I recently read the characters do still speak to each other, it just takes place during the battles instead. So while not entirely the same I feel they went in this direction to keep up with the fluidity of the new gameplay system.
After I finished cold steel 4 I lost interest in the series, I didn't even bother to play reverie, but this game seems to make all the right changes to get me back on board.
you should play Reverie, it does a lot of things right imo as well as setting up all kinds of stuff for Daybreak ^^
@@Cyrus_Bright maybe one day I'll give it a shot, I currently have a PlayStation copy laying around just incase I ever get in the mood. But this year's been stacked with RPG's I can barley keep up
@@TWONSSHOW I feel that, lol. There's so many games just from this year alone I haven't gotten to yet. I'm still chugging through Unicorn Overlord. It's been close to 2 months xD
@@Cyrus_Bright after finally beating FF7REBIRTH recently I'm finally putting my main attention towards unicorn Overlord now, it's fantastic. Metaphor is gonna be the perfect end for the year.
How do you have the game in english
It's the unofficial fan translation, so some names and descriptions might be different in the NISA version
@@Cyrus_Bright oh, so that's what's up. Do you think I should play with the unofficial patch too or wait for the English release. I just finished reverie a few hours ago, and I wanna know if I should wait or start playing right away
@@Alpheus_09C you could use the fan TL if you really want to, the translation is pretty good with only a few rough spots. However if you prefer playing in English, then you'd have to wait for the official version.
The fan TL also only works with the CLE version on Steam. So keep that in mind.
He can get a pair of new hands for cheap... but a new sword is too expensive.
All of Van's money goes to his truck tbf, lmao
Played it back when the fan translation released and I have to say that the lack of brave orders made me not enjoy the battle system as much.
Brave Orders were a lot of fun, I wonder if they'll add a similar mechanic in the later games. But I feel if the brave orders were included as-is the battle system wouldn't have felt as unique. Plus I think they wanted to make the battles feel as quick and snappy as possible so maybe having Brave Order cut-ins would've slowed it down too much? Not sure. Maybe it was just for balancing reasons.
English? how?
I have an uncle who works for Nisa 😎
Okay it's actually the fan translation 😅 so some names might be slightly different in the official version
Everything in this game is great besides that action combat part. It's a downgrade in comparision to CS.
I'd say it's basically the same thing, just packaged a bit differently with some added mobility on top of it. I don't really view the action gameplay as the main course, but it is nice when you just want to quickly grind some sepith and it does save some time compared to initiating a regular battle. They refine it more in Daybreak 2, it feels much smoother and based on what little I've seen of Kai it seems even better there. But as for this game, it's more a means to an end, while being a slight upgrade to the field attacks of the past games.
@@Cyrus_Bright the thing is it takes much longer to get advantage in turn based combat. Instead of 1 second back attack, you attack and dodge like a monkey for a few seconds with a chance to stun with your super skill. If you won't then repeat. I don't like that so I just deploy shards immediately.
Can’t be any worse than the cold steel series..
Hopefully this is a return to form after those four games
I think the fans who were disappointed with the CS arc will be pleasantly surprised with what Daybreak has to offer 😉
Tales of Arise has better gameplay in my opinion and better graphics
I'll give you the graphics part, but gameplay? Eh... some enemies have way too much health and that final dungeon was a nightmare 😥
If you prefer straight action then yeah Tales or even Ys would be more your thing but Trails has always been turn based. The action section is more a setup for the actual fights if that makes sense.
Also it's really impressive what what Falcom has done with the animations and the way the models themselves look. Especially on their small budget. If they had Tales level of money? Holy... I bet they'd look and play even better.
I understand your point of view and I respect it and tbh I might give it a try but Tales of Arise, Final Fantasy 16, Granblue Fantasy relink etc those are my kind of games.