Gotta be doing something wrong

[Zloth]

I've been playing on hard and doing fine so far. The second field trip started kinda rough but I adjusted. Then it took a character away. Then another. When I went underground to try and get them, I was facing pretty large groups that were two-shotting every character. I managed to get the first character back simply by running away from everything.

I've barely got any cash. I've only been selling old weapons and the masses. Should I be selling more? Maybe all the items dropping from barrels and such? I've been spending most of my cash on weapons. Or maybe this is one of those JRPGs where I'm expected to grind through areas multiple times?

[Kurosu]

No trails of cold steel are not a grindy game. In fact the game punished it. When you are overleveled you get less exp. When you are underleveled you get more exp in order to catch up. ( by the way a certain steam user will claim otherwise, please ignore him). If you want to grind anyway, you can , but its not essential outside of nightmare.

Its just a bit rough at the begging because people need to get accustomed to the combat. Make sure to use proper character setups. For example Rean should not bother with arts at all ( his main use are crafts or an evasion tank). FIe is the best evasion tank in the game , etc.

Since you are struggling with money I will give you a famous trick that however requires Elliot. Buy the ingedients for the omelete recipe. Then use elliot to craft 99 of them ( less if you cant afford 99 mats) because he can make the "unique" version of it. Sell those omeletes for profit. Buy mats and repeat.

Its not fun but it is effective until you get on your feet. The downside is that you need Elliot for this and you dont have him at the second field trip. However you can use him if you bring him at the old schoolhouse quests + he is available in the third field trip so you can do it then If you wish.

I can go over bigger details regarding character setups /strategies or even specific bosses if you want ,but you will always need to adjust anyways since as you have probably already figured out, at every field trip you have the characters the game gives you .( that is no longer an issue on the sequels by the way).

Again let me repeat : grinding is NOT necessary in Cold Steel series.

[Zloth]

OK, got it working now. Did a little optimizing as mentioned, did a little cheesing by just running away from some jelly guarding a chest (which makes them vanish!?) which had a nice defensive crystal, then fought my way back to the rest station then "farmed" some flying cats - if you can call three times farming. That got my level even with the enemies and everything is back to normal again.

Also, there was a monster-filled chest on the level which helped out xp a lot. I had three characters with max CP so the battle was a push-over. Good thing I had them, because the game wasn't letting me go back outside to build CP back up again!

Rein was one level short and the rest of the characters were two levels short going in. Maybe because I'm not finding the hidden quests?

Anyway, thanks for the assist!

[Kurosu]

Originally posted by Zloth:

OK, got it working now. Did a little optimizing as mentioned, did a little cheesing by just running away from some jelly guarding a chest (which makes them vanish!?) which had a nice defensive crystal, then fought my way back to the rest station then "farmed" some flying cats - if you can call three times farming. That got my level even with the enemies and everything is back to normal again.

Also, there was a monster-filled chest on the level which helped out xp a lot. I had three characters with max CP so the battle was a push-over. Good thing I had them, because the game wasn't letting me go back outside to build CP back up again!

Rein was one level short and the rest of the characters were two levels short going in. Maybe because I'm not finding the hidden quests?

Anyway, thanks for the assist!

The quests dont give exp, only combat does. Although I do recommend doing the hidden ones ( easily missable without a guide to be fair) for the Academy points.

Carefull the upcoming Chapter 2 boss is a hard one. Let me know if you want some tips.
(always have max CP if possible before boss fights, either for normal crafts or S crafts)

[Whatever-man]

You can try attacking a enemy by his back, so you start the fights with advantage

"Or maybe this is one of those JRPGs where I'm expected to grind through areas multiple times? "

CS is pretty much anti-grind due to the way you win XP. but i would still recommend fighting monster in your way to gain sepiths.

[Stabbey]

The chapter 2 boss is annoying, but it is a little easier to defeat if you take advantage of combat links and how certain enemies are more easy to unbalance with certain types of attacks.

[Koby]

Between utilizing the ability to delay enemies into oblivion so they never get a turn, or building Evade tanks with practically 100% Evade with Insight spammed on them... you can practically trivialize the majority of fights throughout the game. It then becomes no surprise to learn that the toughest bosses are those that are immune to Delay.

[Zloth]

What, the big doggies? They didn't cause much of a problem. After my initial buffs, I moved everyone off to the side, which brought them closer together. That let bigger spells/S-crafts hit them both. The Venus Mantrap caused me a lot more problems. I wiped out its little kids instantly but its breath weapon was doing awful things to me - plus that first student that got taken away had most of my healing crystals. Arg!

Oh, and the incident with the last chapter's ending taught me that the devs are willing to throw a big boss at you immediately after little ones. I knew better than to waste CP on those two guards. This time.

I probably do need to look over a guide. Trying to talk to EVERYONE gets too tedious.

[Kurosu]

Originally posted by Zloth:

What, the big doggies? They didn't cause much of a problem. After my initial buffs, I moved everyone off to the side, which brought them closer together. That let bigger spells/S-crafts hit them both. The Venus Mantrap caused me a lot more problems. I wiped out its little kids instantly but its breath weapon was doing awful things to me - plus that first student that got taken away had most of my healing crystals. Arg!

Oh, and the incident with the last chapter's ending taught me that the devs are willing to throw a big boss at you immediately after little ones. I knew better than to waste CP on those two guards. This time.

I probably do need to look over a guide. Trying to talk to EVERYONE gets too tedious.

If you want to use a guide I highly recommend the one at neoseeker.

The author goes into great detail regarding journal entries, maximum AP and combat strategies . Trust me you will not be dissapointed . He also has a guide for the rest of the Cold Steel games.

[Zloth]

Thanks!