Am I the only one who thinks that Earth Wall is cheesy?

[Play Metaphor]

I played both FC and SC into completion (if you can tell from my profile) and I think I'll start a nightmare run tonight, where Earth Wall is basically mandatory cheese.

Still, the whole "Earth Wall" spam feels very turtle-ish to me to the point of thinking that I should replay the game on hard but without earth wall (a certain special move doesn't count because while it's equal to earth wall, it requires a ton of resources).

[LightOfJudgment]

I don't particularly like abusing Earth Wall either, which is why I'll likely not play Nightmare any time soon.

Chances are I'll do as you describe when I finish my initial playthrough; I do have a Hard mode save that is past the prologue.

[Walke_893]

On hard you'll probably be fine without Earth Wall with a little more planning and not carrying over any bonuses.

On a fresh Nigtmare run, well good luck.

[DDR]

It's so overpowered that in other Trails games they just went ahead and deleted it. In SC they tried to nerf it by massively increasing the EP cost but there are so many ways to reduce the cost and increase max EP anyway.

[Missilepom]

To add to what DDR said, in the post-the 3rd Trails games earth wall is split into what is essentially different variations of "physical wall" and "magical wall" spells. Enjoy the almighty earth wall while you can

[Walke_893]

Funnily enough, Earth Wall is probably the least cheesy thing to do in all of the Trails games. Evasion in later games becomes the new stand in for Earth Wall and then Cold Steel just has too many ways to break the game.

That's also on top of the numerous changes to the battle system and improvements to the Craft system. If anything future games just make Earth Guard/Wall esque skills situational at best.

[DDR]

Some boss attacks in the later games also ignores Guard, making such skills even more situational.

But within Trails in the Sky, Earth Wall is still very abusable and cheesy. I personally refrain from spamming it because it makes the fight less fun.

[Play Metaphor]

Originally posted by Walke_893:

Funnily enough, Earth Wall is probably the least cheesy thing to do in all of the Trails games. Evasion in later games becomes the new stand in for Earth Wall and then Cold Steel just has too many ways to break the game.

That's also on top of the numerous changes to the battle system and improvements to the Craft system. If anything future games just make Earth Guard/Wall esque skills situational at best.

A friend told me a little bit about Cold Steel, and you're right. But I don't think that the Cold Steel techniques makes you drag fights to absurd durations. I think he played on hard and used something called triple cast...? But I speak from a place of ignorance.

God, I want to play Cold steel so bad. How come the 3 Sora games, and even Ao and Zero got PC releases but not Sen No Kiseki? :(

[Walke_893]

Mostly due to Falcom shifting to console to remain relevant as a game company. Even Zero/Ao on PC is iffy being third party ports.

The problem with Cold Steel's combat is that it isn't properly balanced around the new additions to the battle system. The ideas are nice, with many improvements over the Zero/Ao battle system yet at the same time, since the battle system is a new iteration the balance is somewhat lacking. Cold Steel 2 seems to try to fix this problem though has its own problems.

The fights dragging though are more a by-product of the times. Battles have gotten faster as technology has gotten better, thus older games feel slow in comparison. This doesn't bother most people who grew up on older games but at the same time the improved pace of battles are great.

Of course if you want true cheese, then I hear that the EVO games have it beat. I mean Zero Craft, really?

[Play Metaphor]

Zero Craft, you say? Now I'm curious to know more, since we won't get the evo games in the West.

[Walke_893]

I believe others will be better informed since I have yet to play them, however from what I've heard the best way to describe them is simply this: Any Craft or S-Craft or S-Breaks for 0CP on this turn bonus. In other words, free S-Breaks and S-Crafts.

[The Very Hungry Caterpillar]

Doesn't cold steel have an earth wall esque move but it costs like upwards of 250 ep?

I personally liked cold steels combat a lot more because earth wall was not mandatory. It does have other exploitable battle mechanics. Think it was fies scud ripper and reans arc slash with delay quartz and a 2 instant attack art.

[Doppelganger]

What sadden me in a game with such possibilities is that the main (for not saying mandatory) support arts are mostly time arts (Clock up Ex and clock down) and, well...Earth wall.

[Play Metaphor]

Originally posted by Dopp3lg4ng3r Industry:

What sadden me in a game with such possibilities is that the main (for not saying mandatory) support arts are mostly time arts (Clock up Ex and clock down) and, well...Earth wall.

I found myself using Zodiac near the end or whatever its name is, but that's it.

[Iridium]

Originally posted by Dreamϟcape Revert pubs pls!:

Doesn't cold steel have an earth wall esque move but it costs like upwards of 250 ep?

I personally liked cold steels combat a lot more because earth wall was not mandatory. It does have other exploitable battle mechanics. Think it was fies scud ripper and reans arc slash with delay quartz and a 2 instant attack art.

Earth Wall doesn't exist, but there are two similar arts that combine to accomplish a similar end. And there's a Quartz that lets you use both of them, so.

Adamantine Shield blocks one physical attack for all units within a medium area, with an EP cost of 200. It's Earth-based and the closest thing to Earth Wall. Crescent Mirror is the art counterpart, and reflects one art for all living units, with an EP cost of 150, and is Mirage based. This would lead to its own brand of cheese in certain fights, were it not for the fact that there are generally more efficient ways to break the game.

In particular, the Domination quartz is disgustingly broken, and can be combined with a Master Quartz and proper gear to allow Laura and Millium to easily reach the damage cap. Which, as you can imagine, destroys not only every minor enemy but even most bosses. But for minor enemies, you're better off pairing it with Fie and the free/unmissable Force Master Quartz. You can use the rest of her Quartz slots for evasion boosts that allow her to hit 100%, or maybe throw on the aforementioned AS/CM quartz for quick shenanigans.

[Oguzhan]

I prefer Crest honestly. I only use earthwall when I know a really disgusting attack is coming or might come.