So do saves carry over between the games? And a few other questions

[Rabbit]

Pretty much title, I'm currently on my way to Ruan city and am enjoying my time. I hear SC is basically just the second half of the game so does that mean my saves carry straight over with all my stats? If not, what does carry over? Also please don't spoil anything since I'm only on the first part of a 9 game series lol.

As for other questions:

- From what I hear 3rd is more a dungeon crawler which follows a different cast and fills in blanks while setting up future games. So do saves carry over to that too, and if so what do they do?
- I really enjoyed the difficulty level of the first few hours while playing on normal, if I chose to play the future games on hard would I find a similar level of difficulty or are they much harder/easier in general?
- Mechanically, do things change up throughout the trails trilogy or do things stay the exact same? And do they all feature the same maps?

[Stabbey]

Saves carry over specific statuses, but not your equipment from the first game. If your level is between, I think 30 and 40, (or 35 and 45, I forget which), your level carries over. ... I think it's between 35 and 45.

The quests you completed in the first game are recorded and so people you helped will remember you in the second game.

You will get some bonus items soon after the start of the second game based on the bracer rank you got in the first game.

FC and SC didn't originally have higher difficulties, and so they were not given as rigorous a testing as Normal was, so they can be difficult or tedious on higher difficulties. This is especially bad in SC's prologue. Battles in SC on Normal are already harder than they were in FC, I would recommend continuing on Normal.

There are some new mechanics as the trilogy progresses, but not many. SC introduces "Chain Crafts" which basically allow you to add additional party members to an attack for an increasing cost of their CP. The orbment setup in SC is enhanced as well.

The Third introduces new, special turn bonuses, but I won't go into that because of spoiler reasons.

SC features largely the same maps for the first half of the game, but each chapter adds a new dungeon or area. There are lots of new maps in the game.

The Third's structure is different, but it has mostly new maps.

[Rabbit]

Originally posted by Stabbey:

Saves carry over specific statuses, but not your equipment from the first game. If your level is between, I think 30 and 40, (or 35 and 45, I forget which), your level carries over. ... I think it's between 35 and 45.

The quests you completed in the first game are recorded and so people you helped will remember you in the second game.

You will get some bonus items soon after the start of the second game based on the bracer rank you got in the first game.

FC and SC didn't originally have higher difficulties, and so they were not given as rigorous a testing as Normal was, so they can be difficult or tedious on higher difficulties. This is especially bad in SC's prologue. Battles in SC on Normal are already harder than they were in FC, I would recommend continuing on Normal.

There are some new mechanics as the trilogy progresses, but not many. SC introduces "Chain Crafts" which basically allow you to add additional party members to an attack for an increasing cost of their CP. The orbment setup in SC is enhanced as well.

The Third introduces new, special turn bonuses, but I won't go into that because of spoiler reasons.

SC features largely the same maps for the first half of the game, but each chapter adds a new dungeon or area. There are lots of new maps in the game.

The Third's structure is different, but it has mostly new maps.

sounds awesome, thanks

[Berahlen]

If you get max bracer rank in FC and SC, the clear file gets you a few free supplies near the start of SC and 3rd. Useful and ahead of the early curve, but nothing irreplaceable later, and only critical on the highest difficulty.

Other than that, all the clear file moves across is Estelle's level (which barely matters because XP scaling), and some flavor text from NPCs you did sidequests for.

[Dragon]

To answer your questions, Chad:

- Save carry-over data between games is mostly useless fluff that doesn't matter at all in any way. And that goes for all Trails/LOH games.

- Sky SC forces you to re-collect all your gear anew.

- The 3rd doesn't exactly 'follow a different cast' as you said. It does have different main characters than the previous games, meaning the main characters of 3rd are not Joshua and Estelle like they are in part 1 and 2. But other than that, it follows the same cast. And Joshua and Estelle are still part of that cast.

- Sky SC is harder than FC. Other than that, the games are mostly the same in terms of difficulty until you get to Cold Steel games, which are overly-easy, and much easier than any of the Sky or Crossbell games.

- Yes, things change mechanically, but not always for the better. All of the post-Crossbell games completely ruined the previously-excellent Arts/orbment system, and replaced it with a new system that is total trash.

But the things they did improve mechanically in post-Crossbell games are:

a) giving you better maps to navigate the areas you are in.

b) the cooperative attacks where your party members help each other are much better done in the later games.

- Each game tends to heavily recycle the maps of the previous game instead of making new maps, although they have a tiny number of new maps. So Sky SC will be the same maps as Sky FC is for the vast majority of the gameplay time.

Sky the 3rd is the closest thing to a game that doesn't recycle old maps so much. But the games after Sky the 3rd go back to the old map-recycling pattern.

[Stabbey]

The Arts/Orbment system in the Cold Steel games is notably different than that of the Sky games, yes, but that does not automatically make it "total trash".

One of the post-Sky* mechanical improvements is that status-inflicting quartz are now one per line instead of one per orbment. In the Sky games, having multiple lines on an orbment was unequivocally bad. In the Cold Steel games, multiple lines now have a benefit.

* (I don't know if this change happened in the Crossbell games or if it was introduced in the Cold Steel games.)

[RapidFirE]

The quartz system in CS is indeed total trash compared to the system in Crossbell/Sky. It's much easier to work with, but your characters are much less versatile overall and arts users are especially gimped except in CS3 where it's easy to abuse the Brave Order system.

[Stabbey]

It's true that arts users aren't as versatile, and that they're weak in the first couple of chapters, but I run arts-users just fine in Cold Steel. No, it is not "break the game over your knee and fall asleep" easy, but I have no interest in making the combat even less challenging.

[RapidFirE]

The problem is that instead of balancing arts and crafts users as in 3rd, melee is stupid powerful in CS to the point where it's broken. It's not that arts users aren't viable, but the system favors melee so much that you can pretty much kill everything before even getting a few casts off, even some bosses! Being able to stack different ranks of the same quartz and stacking status effect quartz is crazy OP. The only time I felt a caster was a strong as melee in CS (without brave order abuse) was Vita in CS2.

[Koby]

Originally posted by RapidFirE:

The quartz system in CS is indeed total trash compared to the system in Crossbell/Sky. It's much easier to work with, but your characters are much less versatile overall and arts users are especially gimped except in CS3 where it's easy to abuse the Brave Order system.

Disagree all around.

Firstly Arts users will FAR out damage physical attackers in Cold Steel 3.

Secondly the Quartz system in Cold Steel imo allows for versatility in it's own way as Stabbey mentioned.

I actually prefer the Cold Steel Quartz system. Something doesn't have to be complicated to still have versatility and depth.

[Berahlen]

We're WAY off topic at this point lol.

[Rabbit]

Originally posted by Berahlen:

We're WAY off topic at this point lol.

Please continue. I have popcorn.

[Googalabon]

Only 43% of people who own this game have passed the prologue.

[Stabbey]

Originally posted by RapidFirE:

The problem is that instead of balancing arts and crafts users as in 3rd, melee is stupid powerful in CS to the point where it's broken. It's not that arts users aren't viable, but the system favors melee so much that you can pretty much kill everything before even getting a few casts off, even some bosses!

This is why I like using Alisa as a caster, because her high speed stat makes her the fastest mage in the cast. Plus late game a certain setup can give a free +50% ATS boost.