This game VS Trails of Cold Steel

[bunga]

which prevails?

[LrdDimwit]

I really like all 4 games in English, but Trails in the Sky (FC + SC) easily beats out Cold Steel (1+2). But FC by itself ... I put the game down twice before I finally beat it. Now, beating it, and playing SC, turned me into a rabid fanboy. But it has got a bit of a slow start.

Sky's story is straight up better. It has better characters. Cold Steel's characters are significantly worse, but not bad. FC+SC is a complete story whereas Cold Steel needs the third game still (which isn't even out in Japan yet). Both series have great plots that happen to have some issues; Cold Steel has more issues. Its pacing is worse, it's the first time in the series not to feature returning characters from Sky, and the story is not structured as well, and has more plot holes in it.

If you're trying to decide which one to get into first, do Trails in the Sky. The gameplay in Sky is significantly less advanced than in Steel (the game is like a decade older, after all). The story in the overall Trails series forms one large continuing story, so starting at the beginning makes a lot of sense anyway.

[Ghaleon]

Honestly I think they are pretty evenly matched. cold steel wins in the music department imo.

People like Sky's cast more, and I can see where they're coming from, but Cold steel has some awsome NPCs that sky can't replicate. Both the important ones like Alfin, and the minor ones like townspeople. It's just sooo much more fun to talk to npcs when they have a unique 3d model as well as a unique name. you can more easily recognize them and their backstory on a first and second playthru. while in sc, I really can't remember most of the townspeople.

People also hate on the school setting of CS, and frankly I thought I'd hate it more than everyone else because I HATE school settings.. I mean to the point where it's a major turnoff for me in the persona series and whatnot, which doesn't seem to bother anyone else. But the school setting in this game doesn't really affect the gameplay or the cast's development, and instead what it does is make it EVEN EASIER for you to familiarize yourself with the npcs (classmates), and their individual stories, which are far more developed than Sky's npcs.

Then of course, the gameplay in CS is better, because.. well.. just duh.

Sky's main cast though are probably some of the best I've ever played in an rpg, cold steel's aren't bad but peopel do have a point where elliot is 'music musc music', gaius is 'wind wind wind', laura is 'training training, training'.... Then rean's kind of 'I was so blind but now I see!' every chapter. REally rean, you said the same damn thing a whole game ago, and several times in between. jeeze. I mean the main cast aren't completely 1 dimensional but they do seem to have a lot of copy paste how would they react to this situation moments there.

I also like how Estelle in Sky starts out humble, and grows in a real believable fashion to be a national hero pretty much. You don't get that sense of pride for Rean, he kinda has special gifts which he doesn't earn and gets special advantages and.. his whole heroism thing just doesn't feel as genuinely earned as Estelle's