Their programmer is very dedicated to updating the games even years later though it would be nice to have a changelog too at least with some information on what exactly they're altering.
4 Days ago for the first update in a while for SC, then another five updates in a short amount of time and finally these changes were probably incorporated into that single update to FC
Haven't checked when the Ys series was updated and Little Kings Story is handled separately (By the wrong guys it would seem.) and then Xanadu Next is probably the first game in oh 12 - 14 years or so now to use DirectX 8, they're planning to correct that though and port it to D3D9 eventually.
It's Chinese only so meh and it would probably take XSEED at least till 2025 to translate them both with their limited man power and resources considering how humongous the amount of text in those 2 games is, i doubt they are even interested it's a small wonder we are getting Trails the third considering how shitty the extremely late SC port sold.
At least there are some new fan translations in the works, the last project by some guy from gbatemp was cancelled half way trough or something cause he went insane.
Trails 3rd releasing on May 3rd. Cold Steel 1+2 coming to PC
Steam page for Trails 3rd: http://store.steampowered.com/app/436670/
Cold Steel PC/PS3 comparison video
Leading up to the launch of Trails in the Sky the 3rd, we've been doing a flurry of patches for Trails in the Sky ("FC") and its sequel Second Chapter ("SC").
...
-The character formerly referred to as Zane will henceforth be known as Zin. More information here[xseedgames.tumblr.com].
-Some other localization changes have been made to keep consistency and improve accuracy of a few terms. The prior link covers too!
-Redid the scaling of some system interface items in high-resolution asset mode -- the Camp Menu, Bracer Book, etc. buttons. I think they look a lot smoother now.
-Added high-resolution assets for chapter start and chapter end splash screens.
-Added widescreen assets for chapter start and chapter end splash screens. These might look a bit ugly in 16:10 and ultra-wide right now. Please bear with me while I improve them moving forward. These will only be used when high-resolution assets are enabled, on widescreen resolutions.
-Added high-resolution and widescreen assets for flashbacks. The same notes apply for those, too.
-Added high-resolution assets for the notebook. The current images are just upscaled, but we plan to add better replacements in the future. Apologies for any inconvenience!
-Due to the changes made to accomodate the above high-resolution additions (chapter/flashback/notebook), the game uses a little bit more memory now, but it should also be more stable.
-Made slight adjustments to how pillars are drawn for 4:3 visual images.
-(SC) Fixed a bug where the top buttons in the Camp Menu didn't make a sound, even though they do in FC and 3rd.
Besides that, I'm going to be adding improved FMVs to both games soon, which will result in a rather large download. I apologize in advance, but I think the result will be worth it!
But it's been out for a little while now and they're still doing bi-daily patches for both of them, last one was released only a few hours ago.
(One of the previous updates even replaced the logo video for SC with a higher resolution one.)
I do like their dedication though, although one day I hope they can also throw out D3D8 used in several of the older games for something a bit more future proof although for now it works.
(dgVoodoo2 or something to just wrap it to D3D9 or D3D11 in the case of that software kinda works too I suppose, heh.)
EDIT: And just updated again, does their programmer ever sleep?
EDIT: Actually it looks like it's mostly just been a week since this update rush started, thought it had been longer.
https://steamdb.info/app/251150/history/ https://steamdb.info/app/251290/history/
(A few months break and then a flurry of updates about five months back and then a bit of a pause and then some more updates about one month back and now this.)
(Unfortunately it seems manifest or depot history works less often than not for SteamDB, unsure what governs that but I guess it's simply the backend itself on Valve's end and what info they can pull from it.)
I think i settle for normal this time around i heard this game is even harder then SC while it was ok in FC on Hard i got my ass kicked several times in SC and had to grind Poms for a while to continue, the prologue boss was probably the worst one he was ridiculous hard.
The entire trilogy was just updated again, guessing there's still some improvements they can make to this series even with the first two games getting a overhaul in time for Third's release.
EDIT: Third was just updated again.
EDIT: And the entire trilogy updated again.
Last edited by JBeckman on Thu, 4th May 2017 05:30; edited 1 time in total
If you’ve been following Durante’s blogs, you’ll already know the general idea of what Turbo Mode is. In Trails of Cold Steel, this is a function you can use to speed up the game by customizable factors just by holding down a button, automatically skipping most battle animations as well. You can even configure field speed and battle speed individually. Knowing that fantastic Cold Steel’s PC release might bring a lot of new players into the series, and thus, into the Sky games, I felt that adding this feature to the Sky games would improve the overall consistency of experience and help these players feel right at home.
- DirectX9 Version -
You probably know that DirectX is a graphics API used popularly in Windows games, but at this point, version 8 has gotten pretty old. So old, in fact, that some vendors have stopped supporting it fully – most notably, Nvidia has long since removed full support for it on certain systems, especially laptops utilizing Nvidia Optimus technology. Those are basically laptops with built-in Nvidia graphics cards that also have Intel integrated cards included for less-intensive uses.
...
As great as their code was, it just wasn’t made with DX9 in mind originally. In the past week, I finally overcame these stumbling blocks, though, and am pleased to announce a public beta of the DirectX9 version of the Trails in the Sky games on Steam! If you own the games on Steam, you’ve already got the beta now!
- Other Stuff in the Sky -
Along with these two features, I’ve made some small tweaks to the engine to adjust its performance here and there, and I added the long-missing “Monster Guide Button” that really should have been there all along. My bad on not getting to that one sooner! As time moves along, I’d like to improve these games even more, and hopefully continue to live up to the high bar of quality that people are learning to expect from us. I’d like to make better configuration tools, closer to the one Cold Steel has now, with even more options to help these games shine. For the time being, though, I’m going to keep fixing as many bugs as I can, such as the recently fixed New Game+ bugs in Trails in the Sky the 3rd.
All of this and more will come to those of you playing from GOG and the Humble Store as well. Just let them have a little more time cooking in the oven. I promise it’ll be worth it.
There is a prepatched version available on Nyaa with EVO voices (it doesn't have the evo soundtrack but it's easy to find) there is also a torrent for Ao if you want the full story, it doesn't have a translation with the same quality as Zero but it's pretty serviceable with Flame's edit.
Nice to see the fan translation released, wonder if the remakes would eventually hit PC with some plans and thoughts on licensing and releasing on current platforms although having the fan translation of the classic version of the game(s) available is really good.
Lots of text and probably a ton of technical issues and workarounds.
Should fill in some of the story bits also for the situation with Cold Steel 3 and 4 where the games start expecting players to be able to follow events a bit more from these earlier games from my understanding of it too.
Though considering that's spanning into a decade or so from Trails to Zero to Cold Steel some better summary of events would have been nice but oh well.
Something more to play through when I have the time, a lot of time I suppose for the overall amount of story presented in these games ha ha.
Compared to say Ys where it's basically Adol arrived in a new area killed everything nicked all the good stuff and killed the local god and left doing it all over in whatever new area for the sequels.
(Can not into boat sailing what so ever though so there's the mandatory progression reset gimmick.)
Plus as a sightly older game it should have some less common tropes frequent in current games less harem and school more deity beating with large sticks.
(Which I guess is a trope too but eh it works.)
Wait, Tita, that gatling gun of yours is a gunpowder weapon, isn't it?
Heehee! Yep!
It's part of Grandpa's treasured collection!
From what I recall of Cold Steel orbal guns are weaker but convenient compared to earlier gunpowder based weaponry which while clunkier is far more lethal.
Old man Russel apparently does a lot more than just work on strange orbal gimmicks.
Gramps WTF did you give to your 11 year old granddaughter.
(And here's the lethal little girl trope. ~ )
(Eh it works I guess, there's been worse.)
The Third left and then a refresher on Cold Steel 1 and 2
Headpat...everything!
And with that done time to clear this third one out.
Old series too after reading up on the backstory and history more.
One man.
One Dragon like creature.
ZERO PANTS!
Dragon Slayer for a few games, Xanadu for a while, Legend of Heroes, Trails in the Sky and now Cold Steel
Plus the duo games that well one got fan translated and one I guess is "translated" but could do with proofreading and some editing and that's a lot of text and would take quite some time.
And the upcoming one for this year and then whenever that gets localized.
Anyway, is this series like Final Fantasy where the titles are not related to each other or do I have to start from the beginning to understand the world and story? What would be the best or recommended order of play?
They *were* mostly stand alone with each couple of games having a bit of a arc to them so the two Trails in the Sky games rounded out the Liberl arc of the really gigantic map they have.
Then Third rounds up things and closes a few plot holes.
The two Zero games closes the Crossbell arc and now it gets a bit complicated as at least one of these heavily foreshadows events in Cold Steel.
Cold Steel ran for four whole games each 40+ hours with them also having fairly slow starter episodes especially the very first game as stuff is introduced and explained and it feels like it gets going right near the end only to be a sequel hook.
Second episode here picks up immediately afterwards but otherwise stands on it's own until a part of the epilogue where the Crossbell situation is just more than given a few references.
There's also a New Game+ game spanning secondary mission though it's easy to look that one up.
Third episode now starts dropping in direct references to both the Liberl and Crossbell arcs. (Like a decade or so after these were initially released and I believe ahead of the re-released versions of the Trails in the Sky games.)
And the same goes for the fourth episode but even more so as it tries closing a very large part of this entire chapter and current ongoing arcs overall closing the Erebonia arc.
(I don't think all of these areas have been featured, some of them are just a bit more fleshed out and exist whereas the other map bits are mostly whatever the script will eventually be for that.)
So that all in all is what, 40% of the full story I think, ha ha.
The Legend Of Heroes Trails Of Origins (2020 in Japan, TBA worldwide; PS4)
Lots of text later.
I like the Trails in the Sky games best so far but I hear the Crossbell games are considered even better.
Modern Falcom goes a bit into the whole pandering and tropes and some generic stuff and from what I can tell some of the uniqueness is also a bit lost and the remakes get some redesign changes as well softening characters to fit current popular trends and appearances and what not.
That said I know the games mostly from the XSeed translation which while good takes a lot of liberties with the script so it's not exactly comparable to the original.
And there's a metric ton of text and world building although a lot of it is also optional.
Eh it has it's charms I guess and it's more than just a actor trying to cover for the original art.
And for the games well Cold Steel is where it attempts to really bridge the current games and up until then they were fairly separate though a couple of games made up each arc and mostly follow a form of direct progression and immediate sequel.
Still a ways to go with the current backlog situation though, I could be head patting stuff but for now I have some parts of Breakpoint first and then maybe after that.
Last edited by JBeckman on Tue, 31st Mar 2020 12:37; edited 2 times in total
Zero and ao were brilliant. You could feel a decline in their storytelling, but was still brilliant. Cold steel though? Im glad to still get more trails stuff, but honestly, its so bad they we could have done without it. Falcom has lost their touch.
Last edited by Stormwolf on Tue, 31st Mar 2020 12:34; edited 1 time in total
From hearing the discussion around Cold Steel 3 and 4 yeah that's what it felt like even the earlier games while building up (Over the course of four games!) it still felt a bit off from Sky and I assume also Zero (No Kiseki) and Ao (No Kiseki) falling into the more as of now popular tropes and character development and writing.
Gaming situation overall is a bit of a tough situation from my understanding and the games do need to sell plus Falcom remains a pretty small studio as seen with their more recent games as well even as they move into current-gen hardware and remove restrictions like the handheld platform focus from before.
It's not as bad as some other studios either go into or directly develop for but I assume Trails of Origins will continue current trends but we'll see whenever it gets released and however it gets localized and by which studio. (NISA I suppose is the most immediate candidate again.)
EDIT: Or whatever I would know, fan of RPG's and JRPG's both but it's not like I have the best insight into the development behind the games or anything, ha ha.
Western focus on "AAA" and "GAAS" and a huge but fairly stale or lifeless open world and activities to do and for the East well I guess it's commonly considered Otaku pandering or something like that but sales are still not that great with focus also shifting more on mobile gaming from what I've read at least.
(And a bit split between stationary consoles and handheld ones before that with handhelds in particular having a lot of popularity even without the touch functionality and what got used for heh.)
EDIT: With exceptions of course and some franchises still sell really well and remain popular as ever with the usual big names and even with troubled development it usually works out both WRPG and JRPG wise.
Dungeon delves even saw a bit of a resurgence though these likely also work really well on handheld or mobile so that might be part of it too.
And then collectible and gacha will be what it is.
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