Yeah, I don't think CS I was that hard outside of a few problem bosses, but CS II and III were both harder than the entirety of Crossbell in my opinion. Although there is one fight in particular in Azure that is kind of a nightmare lol, don't worry about it though. I don't think weakening the enemies is anything to be ashamed of. I understand the feeling cause I've refrained from using that option so far myself, but at the end of the day they're long games with their main draw being their story so it's nice that option is there for the sake of progress.

I did end up switching to Normal in CS III btw, and even then there was a certain fight that completely through me for a loop, Zoro-Agruga, for a lot of reasons, but mainly since you had to set up and use three different teams. Made the mech fight against him afterwards all the more satisfying though.

Also, yeah I love how Juna tied Crossbell and Erebonia. Idk where she is in Azure, I didn't end up seeing her. Musse is quite amusing lol. Also, I love Altina's character development, her bonding scenes were too adorable lol.



The ending was insane. I don't think I've experienced an "everything goes wrong" ending quite like that. Everyone seeing The Courageous blow up and fall into pieces was so unexpected and powerful since it was the symbol of hope for Erebonia. Even had most of the antagonists going "wait wtf" lol. And then what happened Millium actually made me cry. That was one of the saddest sequences in a game I've experienced. Altina confused, Elliot crying, Rean and Jusis screaming, what a performance from the voice actors. Jusis's reaction was extra heartbreaking given Jusis and Millium's dynamic and development . Then tearing apart the holy beast with transformed Rean and Valimar and the other divine knights ganging up on Rean was the perfect way to end the game. You were right, what an evil cliffhanger lol. Can't wait to play Cold Steel IV after I finish the other game I'm playing right now.

One last note, the OST was peak as expected. Erosion of Madness, the Hamel remix, Lift Off, Doomsday Trance, etc. So many good tracks. Also, probably not surprising I'm going to mention this, but using the super arrange version of The Decisive Collision was so awesome. What better way to introduce it than fighting Arianrhod and Demon McBurn at the same time. They synced the intro of it perfectly with the cutscene too, so hype omg lol.

I've been a little slow with Cold Steel III myself given that I've have some time off right now and it's the only thing I'm playing, and I'm still in Chapter 2 lol. Part of the problem I think is that I chose hard mode because I seems that the general consensus was that the game was too easy...but I keep getting walled so I might lower it to Normal for the sake of progress lol.

Anyways, yeah I really like Altina. I like Kurt and Juna as well, but Altina has been my favorite new class VII member so far. I love her interactions with everyone, and I'm excited to see where her character goes.

I love Fie as well. Her new fit is indeed really good, Trails is really good at designs. I love her new S-Craft as well, it's so awesome lol. It was also cool seeing that she became a bracer as well. Also, I had no clue Randy would be an instructor in this game lol. That was a neat surprise. I like the dynamic between him and Rean and I'm interested to see what they do with him given everything going on.

It's alright lol.

The section with Lloyd and Rixia was indeed a really nice treat. The Geofront returning as well as fighting Rean and Altina at the end of it was really cool. About Rixia, they do more with her in the second half of Azure thankfully so look forward to that. Still though, I'm surprised they didn't give her as much attention overall as well, which is too bad, because I think she's awesome too lol. She's one of my favorite characters.

Yeah, we'll have to talk more after I play CS III. Have fun with the rest of Azure!

Hey, sorry for the late response. I didn't see it for a while, and then I thought I might as well finish the game before replying to give my full thoughts lol.

It was a great game! I totally agree about the new unique outfits for everyone. The designs are all so good and have way more personality than school uniforms.

The OST was incredible as expected from Falcom. You were right, it just keeps getting better lol. I love that some of the tracks were basically spiritual successors to past Trails tracks such as Law of the Battlefield paralleling Ferocious Beasts from Azure, Severe Blow to Fateful Confrontation from Sky SC, and more. Then of course there's Blue Destination, Remaining Glow, I'll remember you, etc., that use the same leitmotif from The Decisive Collision which are amazing. They are so emotional, and they use it at the perfect moments, easily some of my favorite tracks of all time.

The story was great, and the climax of the final chapter was insane. Fighting the final boss with Crow and Rean together in the third phase was awesome. Nothing could prepare me for the events afterwards though lol. A couple of the world events I essentially knew were coming because of Azure, but some of the plot twists such as Rufus being an Ironblood, and Osborne being Rean's father I never saw coming. The scene of Rean running up, grabbing Osborne, and yelling at him may be my favorite moment in the series now which is saying a lot. One revelation after another and then they hit you with the I'll remember you MV to top off the chapter which was incredible. I pretty much sat on the chapter complete screen for minutes just processing everything that happened lol.

Anyways, it was a great experience! I'll probably start Cold Steel III around the end of the month. Excited to see where the arc in Erebonia goes.

It was a great game, I really enjoyed it! I did go into it expecting that I probably wouldn't like the school theme, but I think they did a good job at not spending too much time on it as well as breaking it up with the old schoolhouse exploration. I do like the main cast quite a lot already, but I'm interested in learning more about some of them in the future. I loved watching them grow as a group, and the ending got me seriously emotional lol. The finale was insane, especially the climactic battle. The Decisive Collision is such an incredible track that was perfect for that fight. The OST in general was extremely good. I'll be taking a short break to ensure I don't get burnt out, but I'll definitely be starting Cold Steel II soon!

Yeah! I think a lot of people including myself was expecting Xenobalde 3 to be like what Future Redeemed is but the fact we got 2 amazing games out of it is a win win

Enjoy Future Redeemed one of the highlights of 2023 for me

Yeah, I do remember seeing a character in Chapter 2 that I'm aware is from Cold Steel. I didn't know they added them in later versions though, that's interesting. The series is definitely lucky to have its vision realized, I love the worldbuilding and long-running arcs, and I haven't really played anything quite like Trails before in that regard. We're also really lucky that everything is/will be localized.

Haha, yeah I'm pretty far in. I normally just play one game at a time and have had a good amount of time recently, so I've been playing a lot. I was happy to see Noel join the SSS as well, I really like her character. Azure has been incredible. If you're enjoying it so far, you're going to love what is to come!

Yeah, play order for the Ys series is definitely nothing to stress over. There was definitely stuff in Zero that made me think "this probably is really random to the people who haven't played the Sky trilogy" especially the stuff regarding Renne. Hopefully it didn't detract too much from the main story. I think they did a good job for the most part with tying in stuff from the Sky trilogy, but of course that's from the perspective of playing in chronological order lol. There's definitely a lot of lines in Azure referencing things that happened in the Sky trilogy, but most of it seems to be one-liners that are just a neat reference or humorous if you know what they're referring to.

I've heard about that article, it would be great if they got ported to Switch. Hopefully you will be able to play the Sky games some day!

Yeah, I decided to take a break since Trails from Zero was more conclusive than I thought it would be and I didn't want to get burned out on the combat, but I'm very excited to play Azure and I plan on starting it relatively soon! I saw your note about Azure being harder than Zero so far. That's nice to know because I did Zero on Hard mode cause some people said it was too easy. However, the early game had me worried about that decision, so I think I will go with normal mode on Azure lol.

I definitely recommend the Ys series if you're interested and like action RPGs. It's true that Steam is their best availability, however unlike Trails, almost every game is self-contained. Most games have minor callbacks to Adol's previous adventures on the timeline (Ys IX has a lot), but none of the games require each other except Ys 2 being a direct sequel to Ys 1.

Digital Emelas's "What is Ys" is a great site and resource for people wanting to enter the series. It might make it seem a little more complicated than it really is, but it contains great information. My only warning is Ys IX has some performance issues on Switch, but in the end, it didn't affect me too much and it may be true for other platforms as well lol.

Anyways, if you're interested in the series, I wouldn't worry too much about just playing the ones available on the platforms you like to play on. Ys games have some great gameplay and OSTs with some of the same composers as the Trails OSTs.