Please kill some heroes in this part!!

[quang.billy.79]

The problem with the Trails series comes down to 1 thing storywise: They refuse to kill off characters. MANY MANY characters that should be dead are not, many characters that should never be back are magically resurrected, and unfortunately, the ones that are actually killed were expected anyways. The refusal to kill off key characters made their writing and story messy, and they had to write around the fact that so and so is still alive. This idea of keeping everyone alive made sure the story could not be as clean and concise as it should be. Essentially writing themselves into a corner. This might be the first time I wished more fan-favorite characters actually died.

I completed CS 4 and it really did some weird stuff. Just the biggest thing to me is that the game really tries hard to make sure you understand there is no danger, no real consequences, and everything will be completely ok don't worry about it.

Like at one point in the middle or so there is a big tense moment. The heroes are on the backfoot things aren't looking good. They might have to make sacrifices! Shock! Gasp! Then dramatic cavalry moment? Oooh awesome. Oh, the villains don't care. They still want to throw down and kill everyone. Oh, but then their boss calls them off before they can do anything. Well, everything there was pointless. The villain attack, the big hero moment, the risk. No one was ever in danger, there are no consequences of the event.

In CS4 your heroes don't accomplish anything. You just are used by the villains every step of the way. Oh also if your characters actually knew what was going on they would probably agree with the villains. Oh also their probably are no villains now.

Hope they do something new in this part.

[Minneyar]

You'll enjoy this series more if you accept that it's just the Saturday Morning Cartoon of epic JRPGs. No good guys will ever die; anybody who seems like they died either faked it or will be resurrected. The big bad guy of each major arc will probably die at the end, but due to their own hubris or a third party rather than the main character killing them. An unimportant NPC might die along the way when it's time to illustrate how things are getting serious, and some characters will have dead people in their backstories. That's it.

You'll enjoy it more if you accept that it's all a lot fluffier than you want it to be and it's not going to change.

[pho5enix]

That's one thing I never got about this series. They won't kill off any major characters a la Saturday morning cartoons like Minneyar stated, yet they had a full on arc about child trafficking and experimentation (D:G Cult) with Renne's story being especially dark. They had the Red Constellation pull a full-on terrorist attack and, while we didn't outright see a bunch of civilians being slaughtered, the text made sure we knew a lot of civilians were slaughtered.

But killing off a few main characters is apparently a step too far.

[Minneyar]

Originally posted by pho5enix:

Renne's story being especially dark.

It's also worth keeping in mind that in Japan, Star Door 15 has been censored in every version of the game since the original release. Falcom even asked XSEED to censor it in the English PC release, and XSEED refused. Falcom has definitely decided that was too dark for the tone they want the series to have.

[TLK777]

Originally posted by Uz:

Originally posted by pho5enix:

That's one thing I never got about this series. They won't kill off any major characters a la Saturday morning cartoons like Minneyar stated, yet they had a full on arc about child trafficking and experimentation (D:G Cult) with Renne's story being especially dark. They had the Red Constellation pull a full-on terrorist attack and, while we didn't outright see a bunch of civilians being slaughtered, the text made sure we knew a lot of civilians were slaughtered.

But killing off a few main characters is apparently a step too far.

have you played any of the games or what? Also OP as well

Name one playable character that is permanently dead

[pho5enix]

Originally posted by Uz:

Originally posted by pho5enix:

That's one thing I never got about this series. They won't kill off any major characters a la Saturday morning cartoons like Minneyar stated, yet they had a full on arc about child trafficking and experimentation (D:G Cult) with Renne's story being especially dark. They had the Red Constellation pull a full-on terrorist attack and, while we didn't outright see a bunch of civilians being slaughtered, the text made sure we knew a lot of civilians were slaughtered.

But killing off a few main characters is apparently a step too far.

have you played any of the games or what? Also OP as well

Obviously I have considering I was able to give several examples of how the series went darker than killing main characters, yet refuses to kill main characters. I've played every game from Sky FC through CS4 (and I've played Zero, Azure, and CS 1-4 twice).

Have YOU played any of the games? Because if you have, you should be well acquainted with the levels of ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ they'll go to in order to avoid killing main characters, especially in Cold Steel 3 and 4. Every shocking "death" in 3 is turned around as a "surprise, they were actually alive the whole time!" in 4. At least Crow coming back had some plot justification, along with a time frame....at least until he didn't because "hey, we found a way to save him even though we spent the whole game saying it was inevitable, just like the other people who were in the same situation, except they were villains so of course they were stuck with their fate". Millium sacrifices herself at the end of 3, it's impactful, it's emotional......and then she's brought back at the end of 4.

I'm all for the occasional "we found a way to save the doomed character" plot point, but those two games reached levels of absurdity. Sure, some villains do die throughout the series, but that's not what's being discussed here. We're specifically discussing the "heroes", the main playable characters as TLK777 stated.

Originally posted by Minneyar:

Originally posted by pho5enix:

Renne's story being especially dark.

It's also worth keeping in mind that in Japan, Star Door 15 has been censored in every version of the game since the original release. Falcom even asked XSEED to censor it in the English PC release, and XSEED refused. Falcom has definitely decided that was too dark for the tone they want the series to have.

I mean, I can get not wanting to go that dark again, and even regretting going that dark. I think the D:G Cult incidents were dark enough with "they were kidnapping children and performing deadly experiments on them" without needing to put Renne through several additional levels of hell.

I still think the series could kill off some characters without necessarily getting dark, though. Without any main character deaths, it kind of takes a lot of suspense from the story, because there's no reason to be concerned if particular characters will make it through an encounter.

I still love this series, especially for its lore and world building. I just wish they'd be more willing to part with some characters. It would also help manage the cast size a bit.

[NotAfan]

While I think this is not really the biggest problem of the series narrative-wise, I do believe it's valid criticism. It doesn't need to turn into game of thrones, but actually experiencing some consequences here and there would do wonders to raise the stakes.

I realize it's meant to be a lighter series, but one or two dramatic deaths here and there wouldn't necessarily turn it dark and gritty in my opinion, it would just be interesting and, truth be told, actually following on the fact that the series features some dark elements that are always told and alluded to, but never shown.
Like, I guess the first few times we get fake deaths are okay, but when it becomes so predictable over such a long series, one wonders what's even the point of attempting to convince its audience someone died or that X situation is dire, since we all know it's not.

Just my 2 cents though.

[dmsephiroth]

Originally posted by Minneyar:

Originally posted by pho5enix:

Renne's story being especially dark.

It's also worth keeping in mind that in Japan, Star Door 15 has been censored in every version of the game since the original release. Falcom even asked XSEED to censor it in the English PC release, and XSEED refused. Falcom has definitely decided that was too dark for the tone they want the series to have.

Well for people who love more +dark+theme games, you should be looking for Kuro 1.

Kuro 1 is (in my opinion) the darkest game so far (have not played part 2 yet).
One of the new villains is even crazier than Campanella and i rly loved Campanella ^^

[L0KisT3r]

Oh man, I really want Rean to be captured by The Great One (in CS 4) and then he starts killing his friends.

[RTSsence]

Originally posted by dmsephiroth:

Originally posted by Minneyar:

It's also worth keeping in mind that in Japan, Star Door 15 has been censored in every version of the game since the original release. Falcom even asked XSEED to censor it in the English PC release, and XSEED refused. Falcom has definitely decided that was too dark for the tone they want the series to have.

Well for people who love more +dark+theme games, you should be looking for Kuro 1.

Kuro 1 is (in my opinion) the darkest game so far (have not played part 2 yet).
One of the new villains is even crazier than Campanella and i rly loved Campanella ^^

Based on some of the reactions I've seen towards the sequel, you might hate Kuro 2. You'll have to find out for yourself why, tho

[dmsephiroth]

Originally posted by RTSsence:

Originally posted by dmsephiroth:

Well for people who love more +dark+theme games, you should be looking for Kuro 1.

Kuro 1 is (in my opinion) the darkest game so far (have not played part 2 yet).
One of the new villains is even crazier than Campanella and i rly loved Campanella ^^

Based on some of the reactions I've seen towards the sequel, you might hate Kuro 2. You'll have to find out for yourself why, tho

I alrdy read some comments that they think Kuro 2 is the weakest trails game since cold steel 1 or so.
Will see it and if its not good, i have hopes for Kuro 3 ;)

[xandos3]

for all that Trails is probably my favourite series of games, I have to agree here. The game could use a few more "named character" deaths to really make you feel the stakes.

a few characters DO die eventually... but they're very few, and they're mostly villains. Sympathetic villains too, usually.

I think there's been... I can think of 8 named characters that died AT ALL thus far, actually, from sky fc to cs 4. and they were all villains, except for a minor friendly NPC

[Ghaleon]

I like dark stories with death, but variety is good and I see no issue enjoying an idyllic series too on occasion.
That said I find it funny how everyone's like 'I want moar death!' with these games, and then they're like I HATE RUFUS GRRR.. Because, like.. you know.

[Aerugo]

I think we haven't seen any mayor character death yet because it's still too soon. There are still at least 3 or 4 arcs (which might translate to at least 12 games) before we get to see who the real villain is in the entire saga and we're probably going to see more interactions between old and new characters. I think before we get to the final arc, we're going to see some main characters die just so we can feel that no one is safe. But right now? nope. too soon.

[Ceriss]

Death is a trope too and if used poorly can seem cheap. It would seem a basic idea for example to allow Crow to die, much like our master swordskman from Liberl.

What does Crow's death do for him and Rean? And what does Crow living do for Rean and him?

Not every JRPG can be Persona 3 or FF7. Nor should they be.

[Ceriss]

Originally posted by L0KisT3r:

Oh man, I really want Rean to be captured by The Great One (in CS 4) and then he starts killing his friends.

That's edgy and all but what does it do for Trails plot? Trails has established a strong theme of people working together to conquer all odds. They're being consistent.