The Legend of Heroes Trails of Cold Steel III - Game World and Characters. "Eternal Flame" McBurn

there is a large continent called Zemurian. Some major states spread out on its expanses: the Kingdom of Liber, the Kingdom of Crossbelle, the Erend Empire and the country of Calvard. Those of us who are familiar with The Legend of Heroes: Trails In The Sky We have already managed to visit Liberme - or hurry to do it after reading, and familiar with Japanese could already visit Crossbell with Erend. But it is today a ticket to the latter is available to all inhabitants of Europe, which owns the consoles of the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita. Today at PlayStation Network has enrolled The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold SteelThe first large-scale chapter, the continuation of which - Second Chapter - is at the stage of active translation. Of course, the disk editions of the project are also available. And in honor of such an event, especially since the fan of both the series and the genre, I could not leave you without a review of this beautiful novelty.

As already noted in the morning review of Trails in The Sky, most of the franchise games The Legend of Heroes are somehow related. Not always directly, but they divide a single and big world, sometimes referring to the same events, or acquaintance of heroes from different games, with business or random circumstances. It does not have a critical influence on the perception of the plot, so if you are not at all familiar with the series, you can safely begin familiarizing with Trails of Cold Steel. But, nevertheless, I recommend starting it at least with Trails in The Sky. Thanks to this, some references and funny situations from "cold steel" will be understood. I repeat - the perception of the main characters and the storyline without familiarizing the series, in this case, will not distort. Still, we have the first game of own arches within a large franchise. Fairly independent arch.

The Cadets Group from the Military Academy of Torso, headed by the informal leader of the new class VII - Rihin Schwarzer, is in the center of attention Trails of Cold Steel. Contrary to the rules and customs of the Academy, which share training teams on social classes, the special class VII differs from the rest. The students adopted in it were not selected on social attribute, but according to the results of medical examination and their potential to interact with the new combat device - Arcus. Thus, in the same educational group, commoner and golden young people were, because of which confident conflicts began immediately. Is it worth saying that in addition to social differences, the cadets of the VII class have a bunch of different problems, mostly psychological character. Someone is looking for himself, someone principles are put on the gray substance in the brain, someone lacks confidence in tomorrow, someone feels like a brick and so on. We have to come up with all these problems throughout the game, and, of course, to solve them, turning the class VII into a cohesive, friendly and combat team.

In this, the Academy's instructors and numerous non-game characters will help us, almost each of which, according to the tradition, virtual personality in Nihon Falcom. Even the characters of the second plan in this game are quite worked out to have their own characters and even small stories or notes, which gradually settle in the textbooks of the main character. Our notebook in which absolutely all game information is entered, from the Bestiary and recipes to the tasks and content of the books, is our virtual Bible. This is an encyclopedia, which is the player himself. The symbolic thing, honestly, the idea with the filling of the book, because the game overlooking now is a virtual interactive book in which we can all plunge on your head. Here are crazy arrays of the text and to the smallest details of the developed dialogs. Sometimes they even get tired of them, as well as from reading in principle. I want more action, the speedy situation of the situation, but at the same time it is interesting to learn as much more details as possible. In such cases better game Save, the benefit of this can be done anywhere, with the exception of active dialogue and battle, and switch to something else, while having rested from reading and digesting the flow of information.

Same-sex relationship is yours small worldwhich many would prefer not to know.

Gameplane Trails of Cold Steel is RPG from a third party, in the best traditions Persona.. In general, there are not much between these games, but more than it may seem at first glance. For example, in both cases the course of the game is quite linear, and the freedom to the players is issued by portions. As we play for the Cadets of the Military Academy, are connected by a number of rules and necessities. The plot is developing throughout the year, so many days is simply skipped - training routine - and we get control of the heroes in your studies free days allowing to go fishing, take cooking food, preparation of equipment and adjusting the Arcus quartz mechanism. For free days, a practical test follows, after which we are waiting for several days of field practice. This is where the real freedom - every time we explore all the new and new places, we meet new people and fight with new opponents. No one prevents us from farm stones and experience, explore the available location sites, perform side tasks and look for hidden events.

The combat system in Trails of Cold Steel has somewhat evolved compared with previous games. Now our heroes have not just a device with cells for quartz, but also their master quartz standing at the chapter of the scheme. He gradually pumps out and gives the character with additional properties. For example, it can provide a certain percentage of additional energy crystals when hitting the enemy's strike, or save from death about the battle. Effects are many and the higher the level of the master quartz, the stronger they become. Some quartz master provide basic spells. Also, the Arcus seventh class students are provided with unique combat capabilities - they associate two characters, synchronizing them with each other and allowing to act more effectively in battles. We will gradually open new command abilities - with progress in the plot and the growth of the level of the bonds between the heroes.

IS A MUST reports! Plus allow you to see what I missed some task.

But at the heart of its battle, the key is in similar to other projects of the series - these are command step-by-step battles, where the ingrediency of the character and opponents depends on their speed parameter. A curious system of random bonuses has been preserved here. Near the character or monster icons on the left side of the screen, an icon can occur with some kind of effect, on the manner of guaranteed critical damage. And in some places, such as ancient ruins and caves, completely new effects, both positive and negative, may occur. For example, the disappearance or death of the resulting effect. And it is better that it was an opponent, and not Class VII. As before, the turnover of moves can be a bit manipulated with the help of special arts - S-crafts, but in contrast to Trails In The Sky, class VII students are in no hurry to develop these ability. They appear at the heroes with progress in the plot, and not at the expense of raising levels. This is explained by the fact that the relationship between the characters is based on their personal problems and differences (in the worldview. In origin, and so on). Step by step by solving these problems, revealing before his classmates, the heroes reveal the previously dreamed forces - S-crafts.

Another important point in the game combat system is a gallery. Four fighters participate in battle, and two more can be in the active reserve. They get a complete amount of combat experience and ultrasound development glasses with other characters, and can at any time go on the battlefield instead of someone from the associates. To do this, just call the replacement menu and confirm the action. "SWITCH!" - The voice of Kirito is heard in the head, but we are not talking about Sword Art Online ... But the principle is partly the same. During the passage of the lion's part of the plot, the game itself will choose team members - this applies to field practice, since the group of groups is formed by instructors, and not the students themselves. But during the fighting events within the campus, the study of an abandoned school building, the game allows us to choose a partner from the entire class VII.

Together with the student entourage, accompanied by the necessary examination tasks, which ensures the instructor staff of the Military Academy of Torso, in Trails of Cold Steel players are waiting for numerous and diverse side tasks, the flow of which is already provided by other students, in particular by the President of the Student Council, and the inhabitants of the settlements we We will visit during field practice. Additional tasks, including hidden, may require us the most amazing actions. For example, there is a task to verify the quality of the shoes, for which we need to put one of the heroines into special shoes, and wind two thousand steps in the area. Something similar was in Trails in The Sky, and what is curious - the shoes are tested from the same company, Strega. Estelle approves! Other residents may ask to find a lost kitten or several sheeps, make photos of boutiques for an article, help solve love problems, and much more. Side tasks are one of the sweet raisins in this game, which is definitely not worth passing by.

As in previous games of the series, not all side tasks are easy to detect. Most of them enroll as an official request by mail notification, but in each chapter there are one or more tasks that do not show themselves until the player talks to the desired character, or will not pay attention to some detail. Also a hint to the task can fire in some conversation. For example, in one of the chapters, the instructor will call the instructor and asked to go to the teacher, if the guy has free time. His request can be ignored and then we will skip the task to which it will be impossible to return later. Therefore, be sure to keep progress more often using at least ten different slots. When I passed the Japanese version of the game, it was mostly focused on the plot and cost a pair of slots, but in English I have about sixteen saving at a different stage. Just in case…

However, not everything is so scary. If you want a platinum prize in the "cold steel", then you will have anyway to go through the game twice, since there is a prize for passing in the nightmare level of complexity. Particularly self-confident players can immediately begin on this complexity, but I do not recommend this to do even hardened veterans from the JRPG front. Start at normal difficulty, get used to the new combat system, enjoy the perfectly developed history with cool dialogues and very good translation into English, and already start the second passing on the nightmare and clean everything that they missed the first time. And I'm not just so advise that, because I will act for this in this scheme. The path to the local platinum is a very thorny and does not forgive inattention - you need to fulfill all the tasks, get all the possible academic glasses, thus getting up to the maximum rank, fully fill out a list of recipes and besechairs, collect all books in the game, open all the chests for one passage ... You Name IT, We Have It.

Fishing, cards while traveling by train, riding riding - all this greatly revives the game.

Visually Trails of Cold Steel looks normal. On the PlayStation Vita even good. But it can be seen that we have a project that has been for several years. And when you play, an understanding comes, why the game has traveled to our edges for so long. The reason for such a delay is a huge number of text over which a small team worked. But she worked on fame. Technical implementation in the game is rather excellent than the opposite. In the version for PlayStation Vita there are rare samplers of frame frequency, but in general it is played very comfortable. From 75 hours in the game, 60 of them I spent in the portable version, rarely switching to PlayStation 3. By the way, the transition from version to the version here is implemented perfectly. You can run the game on two devices, saved at any time, then unload saving to PSN directly from the game menu. A minute later, on another device, it is enough to download this saving and progress instantly updated. I did not remember whether such a cool implementation of the cross-preservation system was even in some game.

The review is written according to the publisher of the game versions for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita.

3

"Richardson, in fact, demonstrated (and this was confirmed by a small group of people who continued his work for the last half a century) that the war obeys stochastic distribution: in other words, on the one hand, it never happens absolutely random, and on the other hand - her Causes and character are not amenable to uniform systematization. The abstract model exists, but it is impossible to derive a formula that would be applicable and true in each specific case. In other words, the phenomenon of war is independent of the volitional element. It does not matter what it was - and whether a rational decision was taken: the war, like the weather, just happens "

John Branner, "Everyone stand on Zanzibar"

The past year may become one of the most interesting for owners of the Pocket Portable PlayStation Vita system, received in 2016 a lot of excellent projects: ranging from Ray Gigant, God Eater: Rage Burst 2, Odin Sphere Leifthrasir, Grand Kingdom and ending with Criminal Girls 2: Party Favors, Yomawari: Night Alone, World of Final Fantasy. The list complements the whole two games from the popular circles of the The Legend of Heroes series, which connoisseurs of Japanese role-playing games consider almost the best in their niche and often lead as an example when there are disputes on various thematic forums that the genre has been experiencing not Best of your times. We will not deepen in reflections regarding the welfare of Japanese role-playing games, since this topic deserves a separate conversation, - we are much more interested in the second game of the Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel, which appeared on the shelves of European stores in November of this year, pleased not Only PlayStation Vita owners, but also possessing PlayStation 3. This game is notable for completing a large story arch, in which the Erembonian Empire (Erebonian Empire) gradually moved from the war with the neighbors to the bloody civil war, where everyone should choose its side.

Events in the Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II continue the history of the first part and begin with a crushing lesion, which suffered students from the specialized "class VII" of the Military Academy of Torah (Thor's Military Academy). Former disciples - to be more accurate, since from now on, the Erendian Empire burns on fire, torn by the Civil War between the noble and reformists, which was trying to prevent young people from the aforementioned educational institution during the fulfillment of field assignments. Despite the fact that the leadership of the Military Academy tried to create a unique class, in which representatives of nobility and children from ordinary working families who have passed non-standard combat training would have been studying at the same time, this decision helped to reduce the degree of conflict and had an impact on the political and economic situation. But only for a while, since the armed confrontation still found its exit thanks to the third part concerned in the part of the parties, which constantly burned the hostility between fractions. And now the Empire was divided into parts, its lion's share taking noble, who have more means, people, techniques and authorities at their disposal. The first thing they suspended the activities of the Military Academy, dissolving teachers, disciples and administration, and all disagreements with such a decision were detained or announced in the wanted list.

The last time we saw the main character of this mini-series Rina Schwarzer (Rean Shwarzer), he piloted a huge combat robot of Valimar (Valimar) along with Celine's cat (Celine), which unexpectedly for everyone began to talk and give advice. Calling around the robot, Rin won a confident victory over Scarlet (Scarlet), but did not kill her, putting it, as it seemed to him, the fat point in this conflict. However, another aroused divine combat robot intervened in the battle - a azure knight (The Azure Knight), behind the helm of which was discovered by a representative of the Liberal Movement of Crow (CROW). During the decisive battle, Rin could not overcome his enemy, and having received serious damage, was forced to retreat. The remnants of their energy robot sent to the process of movement and went to Eisengard Mountains (Eisengard Mountains) located near the native village of Rina - Yumir (YMIR), leaving combat comrades far behind. Of course, Rin Schwarzer, being the leader and heart of the group, tried to oppose this decision, passionately wanting to return to battle and protect his friends, but Valimar had already started to gain momentum, alive farther and farther from the field of Brani.

After some time, Rin awakens, finding himself in the above-mentioned mountains near Valimar and Celleina, who persecuted Sereshi, he tries to rush into battle, in order to finish the started, but unsuccessfully, because the faithful Valimar had already transferred them to a safe place away from the front line. Realizing the futility of attempts to return and thugs his anger, Rin agrees to talk with Celina and during the conversation learns that since the battle with the azure knight, quite a long time passed. All these months, a combat robot spent on the restoration of forces after severe injury, seeking to heal not only himself, but also his pilot, and the troops and other robots were growing nearby in search of Valimar and who is able to return divine mechanisms to life to end themselves Threat. It is worth noting that the world of The Legend of Heroes: Trails of the Cold Steel resembles an edex of the end of the nineteenth century with a middle of the twentieth: here a peacefully coexist knights, ninja, farmers, primitive industrial and highly developed manufactory produced, there are cars, motorcycles, typography, Falling devices, huge robots, computers, radio and even a certain cell phone analog. That's just it does not work at all at the expense of electricity or steam, and at the expense of magic emanating from the "orbers" - special magic pebbles, which give their owner with special abilities, if, of course, to use them correctly. Class VII was also unique and the fact that each of them was carrying with him "Arkus" - a kind of portable device resembling a powder, into which these pebbles could be inserted. Arkus allowed students to feel the inseparable communication between themselves, to communicate at a high distance and, of course, to use magic, but a little later.

Since living and actively resisting students of class VII are not convenient for a third party and for those who crave bloody war, and such people are enough on both sides of the conflict, they were open on them, including the leader of this small group. Studying mountain ranges on the subject of the road that would help return home, Rina and Selina find the dark knights who organized an ambush. Hearing the call of "awakening", the Valimar flies to the rescue, but the combat robot, like his pilot, is still weak, and therefore, the young brace servers (Toval), Princess Alfina (Alfin) and the younger sister of Rina, who call Alice (ELISE). Braisters if someone has seen or did not know - these are young mercenaries who carry out orders of ordinary citizens for a certain fee, in games mostly they are represented by the series as positive charactersBecause their task is to facilitate life easier and a little more. But we were a little distracted. The Trinity comes exactly at the moment when Rin was ready to go to the forefathers, and therefore the heroes deliver it in a semi-in-room in a village where a different company is already waiting for his father, mother and a large number of other residents of the village, not to be acquainted with the son of Baron. Yes, Rin is far from the easiest person in this world, he and his family belong to the estate, but do not show any desire to fight for the territory with reformists, focusing on the affairs of the urgent, which, of course, is condemned first at all levels.

Unfortunately, the long-awaited family reunion lasted for a long time, since Princess Alphina and Alice abduct during the attack on the villagers. At the same time, there is an attempt on the life of Baron by the forces of the bodies who received an order to shoot on the defeat in any person affecting the resistance. Girls have been stolen from the heroes from the nose representative of the secret organization of Auroboros Alina Orion (Altina Orion) and Vita Clothyt (Vita Clotilde), which for a long time called Misty (Misty) and lived under the side of class VII, pretending to be the most ordinary school radio broadcasting. Not long thinking the main character says goodbye to the mother and other villagers and, uniting with the goods and Celina, goes to seek other students from class VII to get into the mill enemy together with them, find the missing princess, return the sister and punish everyone who was involved in the sister Unleashed conflict.

If you read the string of the game, you are still wondering "Who are all these people and what happens at all?", I recommend that you familiarize yourself with the first part of the series for a better understanding of the general picture or at least read our detailed review on it, which we published in The beginning of last year. The main thing that can push the players in the process of acquaintance with the series, as in the case of the predecessor, is that the story of The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II is very slowly gaining momentum, not even trying to make the necessary intrigue. If after passing the first part worried about the fate and the welfare of class VII students, to which they already had to be attached, then the new game almost instantly makes it clear that everything is in perfect. The authors dropped to the side of a very suitable chance to play with the expectations of the players and tickle the nerve: even if you make a discount on commercials and the cover of the game, on which all the actors are alive, healthy, it was possible to try to prevent this Some plot details. Before the authors beat this with a nontrivial way: for example, Machias Ranetz (Machias Regnitz) - one of the most malicious haters nobility that feeds her even more dislike after his father was planted, it will be necessary to find it, following his plan, which he diagnosedly painted on paper and threw the main characters through the mediator.

The usual worker Gaius Vorzel (Gaius Worzel), in the steppe zones with his family, which earns the bread of agriculture, flatly refuses to go with the main character, until he does not help to smoke the enemy from his native land that threatens the lives to local settlers. And the son of one of the greatest and richest representatives of Knukdom Albarea - Jusis Albarea - will cause the main hero on a duel, which will solve his fate. If the player wins, then Jus will go after Rin and his team, if he loses, the son of one of the representatives of the four greatest houses of the Erendian Empire will continue his father's work. Even if he is responsible in the attack on the village of Rina and attempting on his relatives. In general, it is not difficult to guess, the players are waiting for a protracted gradual reunification of the team, which is not deprived of its charm and span of emotions, but it is impossible not to mention that this process is inhibits the development of history for tens of hours. Yes, this was the same in the previous game, but this step was well due to the plot, because, in the end, Rin and his comrades were students of the Academy, and therefore they again had to return to their duties, so that the calendar system with permanently replacing each A friend of repeating events though affected the dynamics of history, but still perceived normally. There is no explanation to such things in the new game.

Although it is worth paying the Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II, it is really felt as a holistic adventure game, not torn to separate episodes: the seam-connecting seams are not immediately visible immediately and due to the variety of places and situations in which heroes are created. Scope. I think that this is this Nihon Falcom and sought first. Finding each other Rin and his team will be on the expanses of the same Erendian Empire, which means that you will bring again to visit familiar from the first part of the location, as well as many new ones and trace them to change the war. In fact, it changed in the game not so much. For more settlement, they look like that you remember them: familiar monsters diluted with several new species are shred in the district; The cities are waiting for the characters already known to you; Even secrets and bosses will wait where they were located in the first game of this mini-series. But from now on, the territory of the empire is generously occupied by the troops from the other side, and the residents who have suffered from many adversity (especially on farms and in urban villages), began to live even worse. In other settlements, people feel themselves with real hostages, because the native fenats in the blink of an eye turned into a place of accumulation of the reserve troops of the empires, which are ready at any time to advance to the best or begin defense. Why people living in such aspills stopped receiving any income and even lost the opportunity to influence their fate because of the prohibitions for entry or departure. In the rich cities, cleaning is often held, people are in suspense and have difficulty, as they are in full or partial isolation.

As a result, as you already guessed, everyone suffers. People, on their own skins, experiencing difficulties do not know who to blame in this situation: Himself, for what actively followed in inciting hatred; Other factions, because they are easiest to blame in all mortal sins; Or his own government, which left people without income, without the possibility of making their choice and without any prospects for the near future. Only Rin and his team take over the courage to go to the far way to find out the many interesting details: for example, that the troops of the Alliance leads the brother of Jusis - Rufus Albara (Rufus Albarea), which seeks to remove the class VII from the road; that the Kingdom of Liber (Liberl Kingdom), with whom the Erendian Empire has been fighting for many years, managed to unite his hand with reformists, in order to balance the forces in the civil war, and at the same time destroy their enemy from the inside; that the local orbital technological specialist and the lion in the same person Alisa Reinford (Alisa Reinford) familiar with Rin from the Small years, but it was possible to find out it only now; That Rin gradually recalls some events that he experienced not himself, and other people, and perhaps only possible, in his power to change the course of history. And let such events with heroes usually occur completely by chance while traveling between the regions, follow them very interesting.

The main thing is that makes this story unusual by the standards of other JRPG, these are well-prescribed heroes, actually as the main parties to the conflict. Even if you have not played in the first part of the series, Trails of the Cold Steel II will surely try to reveal the characters characteristics, their motivation and the causes of participation in the current conflict. To do this, it is enough not to skip the story scenes and more often contact with the oppitations - to take them with you on the tasks and communicate in the time free from the pickles. As for the parties to the conflict, the game is arranged in such a way that Rena and his team will bring to visit many places and get acquainted with many people, including with the leaders of the factions, and this will take a look at the current situation from different sides. And find out that in this war there is no right and wrong, each side comes as it considers better for his country and its people, even if you have to go to radical measures and put many people in a very inconvenient position. Noble, for example, trying to focus in their hands all the forces, calling the most dangerous people in the whole empire and gathering together all the knights - Valimar and his azure fellow, to solve the conflict not so much blood as he suppring the enemy on the psychological damage. And reformists who see the source of tyranny and threats in the alliance, actively begin to cooperate with other factions, even with those that were previously considered ideological enemies to suppress themselves, take their lives into their hands and distribute the benefits between ordinary people.

At one time, many players more than once and not two criticized the latest projects of the Fire Emblem series for such an element of the role-playing game, as the development of personal relationships between heroes, pouring, ultimately, in strong friendship or marriage with the subsequent birth of children. None of the criticism, of course, did not utter the developers from Intelligent Systems, because this option had to do with the lion's share of beginners, in the eyes of the Early Games of the series, and this, as you understand, and there is a target audience. This is the element of the gameplay, which has long been ass in many role-playing games, causing indignation in some players and pleases with their presence of others. However, Nihon Falcom prefers to avoid this topic, which is usually not typical for the projects of such a scale like The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II, and instead of demonstrating chemistry between characters, often authors are limited to awkward moments with sexual tension. . Do not understand me, such deep and versatile role projects, like the first and second The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel, in which the large continent is not in best times There is a lot of events that are significant for a huge number of people, at first glance they do not need romantics. But since the developers themselves constantly relate to this topic, then why not give the player to independently make a choice: develop relationships with certain members of the group or ignore this option? In this case, one part of the audience would receive what he wanted, and the other calmly concentrated on the general history, without being distracted by such trifles. As you already guessed, the authors do not plan to develop this topic, trying to stop immediately on two chairs, not asking, ultimately, nor Puritans nor virtual dates.

The LEGEND OF HEROES combat system: Trails of Cold Steel II has undergone some changes compared to last part: Not significant, since the authors did not need to change what works well, but tangible. Monsters on locations are still visible to everyone and immediately, each patrols its own block of land, and the player, watching their movements, can be hung and shirt or shoot in the back, thereby receiving an advantage in battle. Some monsters from such surprise and life injustice get the effect of stunning, which gives characters a chance to attack four times in a row out of turn, others are frozen on a very short time, so that the player gets the opportunity to strike three times, and the third one is pointless to try to combine, because on them The effect of stunning does not affect. Everything that the player can make is to distract the creature on itself, and when it turns out, not finding than to eat, instantly crash into it, in order to get the opportunity to attack first. Before the heap, for the intercepted initiative of the player's party receives pleasant bonuses, for example, partial restoration of health or the CP scale and MP, which are read further on the text. This is a pretty simple and understandable system that requires care. In the world of the Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II, there are quite a few monsters that appear in front of a player in the form of flying evil dandelions, rolling stones, luminous areas and other faceless creatures, which is very difficult to visually determine where they are located before, and Where is the ass. In this case, it is necessary to edit the eyes of the area in the upper right corner, where opponents that have fallen in the field of view are noted. Fortunately, the enemy icons are made in the form of arrows, in which there is a very prudent to be a sharp end, meaning the direction of a monster.

It is noteworthy that in such a game, like The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II, a player cuts most of the time to the flap and makes holes in crowds of fantastic bells that have nothing to do with the story told in the game, and not be afraid to death with warriors armed with teeth, while the plot is more dedicated to the civil war between ordinary people. This, it must be confessed, greatly reduces the degree of interest in what is happening, since it seems that you do anything for a long time, just do not bring the story of this state or unleashed conflict at least any significant contribution. On the same topic, as the game is passing, the talking cat Selina is repeatedly joking, which constantly notes such non-stalks and is almost the best character in this work. She sniffs in displeasure when notes the inexplicable borrowings that did not bother to explain the scripts, and illogical plot strokes. For example, you will probably have an inexplicable appearance of old temples in unexpected places, which are a system of constantly changing magic dungeons, which appeared in the first part. But there, such a place was one thing and you regularly appeal to it to pump a party, and from the point of view of the plot, this process was filed as an integral part of learning students of class VII, and here there are several of them, and no one else, no one knows about them. Over time, the persistent feeling will appear that the temples pursue you in each chapter, wherever your party is.

In general, Selina often kicks players, trying to make them do something really important, because the sister of Rina, Princess, and in general, the whole empire is in danger. And instead, the heroes catch fish in ponds and rivers, descend into the dungeons, carry out the instructions of the locals, discuss the seen for a long time, and even stand and decide what to do next. But for the absence of other heroes, which can affect the situation, it can only patiently follow their quirks, kept ruga rhenu and his team for non-statores. And if, passing the first part, you preferred to the instructor and part-time curator of the specialized class VII SARA VALESTIN (Sarah Valestine), which made your day due to caustic comments, ambiguous hints, poured sarcasm and was generally a view, but in this part You will definitely please the voice of the mind named Celina, albeit not in full, since its influence on the group closer to the middle of the game will significantly decrease due to the large number of characters constantly flashing on the screen. The authors added some unpleasant number of heroes to the game, whether some regular student of the Academy or the elder brother of the hear of the throne of the Erember's Empire, and with each game is trying to introduce as close as possible, why Selina or a beloved instructor Sarah simply lacks time to attract Most more attention than a couple of replicas at a time.

But back to the combat system. After a collision with the enemy, you fall on a small arena, where your characters occupy their positions and a step-by-step battle begins. For the course of the player can move its wards closer or away relative to the arrangement of the enemy, attack, use the skills of each student class VII, activate magic, use the expenditure subject or escape. All graduates of the Torah Academy have their own unique abilities, battle and weapon style, but formally, they can be divided into short-term fighters and long battle: Mages and arrows beat from afar and immediately for several purposes, and knights and ninja with swords, katanov and spears, you prefer duels . Obviously, both conditional groups are good against certain opponents: magicians and arrows feel perfectly, attacking air targets, and swords perfectly coped with terrestrial. If you try to change something in this scheme, the fighters will constantly miss, and misses in this game, in fact, as in its predecessors, are punished with a response counterattack. To the great regret, someone from the developers in Nihon Falcom came to mind a remarkable idea to make every second sacaret flying, which makes battles with them long and boring, since most of the detachment cuts the air with their sharp blade and constantly gets damage. Magic and personal skills will help to win hosts. And if only the filled "CP" scale will need first, then the "MP" scale is needed to activate the second, moreover, it is better to examine the strengths and weaknesses of the enemy, as well as to fit the moment to attack.

Such conventions are explained by the fact that, firstly, any magic spell must be pre-read, it may be necessary for some time, so that there is best to activate the magic, thereby getting away from the enemy to get closer to the party and prevent the player's plans. And secondly, many spares are not susceptible to one elements, but it is easy to pass before others. To provide every hero with all elements, will not allow a limited number of cells in arcs, which are up to a heap of very capricious when it comes to the dyeshals of the orbenters, placed next to each other, and therefore have to look for a balance and competently distribute magical abilities among the members of the detachment. If earlier players as the game passed, they had to independently drill holes in Pyross, to insert magic stones there, then there is no need for a sequel in this, instead the game proposes to improve existing cells, giving the player the opportunity to use high-level orburs. And yes, the orbers are replaced by the players of the tree of skills, as these stones give both active magical abilities: open access to fireballs or stone blocks; So passive: for example, they can enhance the health or protection of heroes. The unique skills open as the level of characters rise and almost all of them moved from the last part. True, due to the fact that the heroes in the Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II appear in front of the player not as glastial recruits, but as experienced warriors, they already have some knowledge and skills, in this case the player remains only to improve the improvement What is already available.

However, even if you previously abandoned the heroes of the best weapon, durable jackets, good shoes and other accessories necessary for survival among the crowd of monsters walking through the Erendian Empire, then in the continuation you will have to do the whole process again, looking for useful Objects in chests and shops. And yes, everything that I told before that, more or less familiar to the players, so it's time to talk about completely new things. If you remember, at the end of the last game, when the protagonist was learned to call Valimar, it had at the disposal the so-called "Bravely Points" or "Harot glasses", which were spent during the activation of the "Communication" (Link) between the characters. Communication occurs periodically when someone from the members of the party is attacking, in this case, with whom the connection was established, can join and help his comrade. Communication in the literal sense of the word is developing and after reaching the next level, if the stars fall in the sky, and on the mountain of any cancerous will call the "Lunar Sonatu" after the rain on Thursday, then your heroes will perform a chain of attacks that can significantly appreciate the head of the enemy. Braft glasses were given for each such accomplished chain, and spent on an enhanced blow, which can cause two and more party member. From now on, this feature is available almost from the very beginning of the game: you accumulate points, and then descend them on bosses or mini-bosses, if you look so.

But this is not the only feature that is assigned to the process of interaction between characters. Stone ties allow the heroes to automatically treat each other, restore magic or forces for deadly techniques without spending points of action or mana. Therefore, it is very profitable to carry with you on the pickups of characters who know how to heal and restore forces. Since the list of heroes is rather impressive, besides, he was still replenished with newcomers, sometimes the player will have to choose who to take with him to the task, and whom to leave the house to watch. In the first part, this was determined by the fact that the leadership of the Academy shared the class VII into groups and periodically hook them. Such manipulations were carried out in order to create a sense of competition, because for the assigned tasks, assessments were made, and also to teach hate social layers and some chronic solo understanding and team spirit. In the new part you yourself, as a leader, accept similar solutions. This aspect is both the advantage of a new game, and its most weak part, since the expansion of the authority of the player is definitely great and thanks to this, he has every chance to feel like a head of the squad and strategist. However, the second part of the party is almost always inactive and hits the Baklushi house, instead of working in parallel with the first group, accelerating, thereby, the process of removing the empire from the crisis. It would be really cool to allow players to share the whole team on small detachments and send them to tasks throughout the empire, passing around by their affairs. Make the authors similar step, the sensation of the player in its own importance on the political arena would increase at times, would have the opinion that he really influences something, and no one would lead him to the handle. But, as you understand, none of the authors on such "cardinal" measures did not solve. And, despite the fact that Rin and his team are no longer leaving at the Academy, being a person practical and self-critical, because this is the qualities of this leader, he evaluates its own actions, independently putting marks in a special journal, which are calculated by the number of points for completed tasks . Thus, the player gradually rises along the conventional table of ranks. The meaning and practical benefit of this is not particularly much, but perfectionists can cover themselves on the mustache.

Successfully send particularly dense comrades to the forefans can help the "Overdrive" function, which is a gradually filling scale on the right side of the screen, and when it is filled, the characters will enter the state of "furious" for a while, they will apply one critical attack by another, By activating links. This feature is also very useful when at the end of the next dungeon you will meet some armored miracle of nature, the usual attacks for which is akin to tick. And do not forget about Suprudras, which in the game are called "S-Break", each hero has its own unique reception, during which a beautiful breathtaking animation is shown to us, rightly as in the case of "limit blows" from Final Fantasy. Well, probably, it does not make sense to clarify what damage is caused by such attacks. The main problem is that when using "S-Break" you instantly devastate the CP scale, leaving one or another member of the detachment without the ability to use his skills, which is in principle not critical if the monster has revealed explicit signs of weakness to magic Or he likes to fight in proud loneliness. But when there are a lot of sugare and they fiercely protect the boss, who has no weaknesses before certain elements, but there are vulnerabilities to some status effects, then without skills it is not necessary, because it is often intended to destroy the crowd of small opponents, as well as to apply some effect , kind of blindness, petition, poisoning or paralysis. In addition, the skills can be not only attackers, but also defensive, because the simplest function as a block is not welcomed in Trails of the Cold Steel. Therefore, you have to get out and constantly apply positive effects on your batch, increasing resistance, reinforcing damage and so on.

As a result, all these scales and points when appearing on the horizon, very harsh bosses often force the player to save everything and everything so that the miracle of nature is accumulated on the end of the road. This, of course, is not called tactic, but if you think a pretty and remember the past, then we can say that the games were committed to this from early childhood - to score more lives, bonuses, weapons and cartridges, to lower the whole thing, But how should I pierce any villain. In this regard, the game has retained continuity as in relation to video games in general and to the games of the series in particular. And if you thought that we were already finished with a combat system and innovations, then you are deeply mistaken, because the authors decided to develop the idea with monsters and created chains of collisions that are activated instantly if you are in a fight with sacustoms with each other. In this case, after the victory over one pack of monsters, you will be fought with the second, and then with the third, if they were standing at the time of attack. Some battles are complicated by the presence of modifiers that fall randomly as in board gamesThat is, they are distributed between all participants in the battle and are marked on the strip of the order of moves in the upper left screen by special icons. As with the player's party, and the opponents have the opportunity to knock each other more gems (quartz), which are necessary to improve the arrow cells, if a special icon appeared next to the battle member icon, the main thing is not to sleep. Sometimes the modifier is negative: for example, instant murder, and the one who gets such an icon can deprive the life of the enemy, despite the amount of health of the latter, if, of course, does not miss. Sometimes it can play your hand, and sometimes not. Here, as I said, the accident reigns.

If you played the first part of the Trails of the Cold Steel, then surely remember that Rina and his companions in the interruptions between classes, workouts and rods outside the Academy were at the disposal of the free hours, which the main character was free to spend on communicating with peers and Performing minor tasks. All these little joy of life were purely optional, but carried much more benefit than it may seem at first glance. Performance side missions It allowed to know better to know the surrounding and obtain a number of unique items at their disposal, and communication with classmates increased the connection between Rin and the Commitors. The main problem was that side tasks were well hidden and naturally had to look for them that, ultimately, became a headache for a player who had to break down the entire district, preparing to local citizens, imposing herself and help her help. In this regard, the situation has improved a bit in the sequel, as people will often transmit their wishes and requests through loyal officials, for example, through the Prince of Oliver Lenheim (Olivier Lenheim), familiar players by The Legend of Heroes: Trails In The Sky, or market manager Celdic town (Celdic) named Otto (Otto), but there are still a lot of hidden orders in the game. The developers did not take the opportunity to strengthen the links between the heroes in Sicvel, and therefore they allowed them to freely explore Yuir and other cities between the collendments, to fulfill the requirements of local residents and, of course, spend time with friends. However, we know that the invisible connection can be installed not only between the leader and someone from the group, but also between the various members of the party, and to the village there was no way to quickly establish contact between them.

In order to correct this lack, the authors prudently added a new simple method for increasing the level of relationship among companions. I am now talking about special blue chests, which will occasionally meet as moving through the plot of the game. It is right here to note that there are three types of chests in the game: ordinary wooden, from red marble and blue. The first are not remarkable and most often in themselves consumables, marble chests are protected by a group of specially angry suggestions, which Ryano defend their good, and blue hide from the eyes of mini-bosses. And if, in the case of marble chests, the whole gloomy-watering is rushed into battle, then only two (and in some cases four) selected game of the hero will kill mini-bosses. As a reward for the victory, they will receive any particularly valuable orgement, and at the same time will strengthen the connection between themselves. And this is a very important point, since naturally, that is, during ordinary battles, the connection is developing very slowly, it is possible to naturally arrange a real genocide of local flora and fauna in a particular region, but at the output not get a quarter from the next level necessary for Pumping. In fact, the authors tell us that this aspect, like many others in this game, is optional and is not obligatory, but without it you will be very difficult in further accomplishments. And you have to put up with it.

Any plot chapter in Trails of the Cold Steel II to joy fans japanese games Always ends with the epic battles of giant robots, in which Rin pilots Valimar, and his comrades provide him with support. For example, the health of the robot is restored, reserves of magical abilities replenish or allow to accumulate enough strength to activate the skills. It is noteworthy that the player can independently choose a companion who will help him in battle, and it makes sense, as the partners are very different from each other with spells and skills. Each battle necessarily begins with the call of combat armor, rightly how Sho Fukamachi was done in the animation series "Gaver: bio-shock weapons", then Rin moves to the Cockpit of Valimar, after which the battle itself occurs. As the game is passing around, Valimaru will have to face forces not only with other combat armor, which are probably known after they studied the azure knight, but also with other types of equipment, such as flying ships or even tanks. During such battle, the player has the right to extract certain "parts of the body" of enemy robots, according to which the enemy should attack, for example, he can try to decapitize the enemy combat armor, hit him in the chest, where the pilot cabin is located, or shirt through the limbs. And this is also important, since various types of opponents have different vulnerable points that need to be addressed, and then focus on them all their attention. Over time, Valimar will be allowed to improve, inserting a robot into different parts of the body of up to three special orbers created on the basis of ordinary pebbles intended for ordinary people. It can be an increase in endurance, strength or protection of a robot.

If you caught the first game of the series (and this was no doubt there was a large-scale project capable of tightening players for dozens, if not hundreds of hours, actually, like his sequel), then you remember about mini-games that players have fun between tasks. For example, it was allowed to shut into cards with classmates while traveling along the Empire, accompanied by long trips by train. It was extremely optional, no matter what a binding entertainment, which in the new part replaced snowboarding. From now on, you can brighten free hours in the smir, going down from the mountains on the board, fighting with a customer timer and picking up at high speed flags. For the implementation of certain conditions, the players will reward various useful robusts, such as potions or cabins that give various bonuses. However, despite the fact that trains disappeared from the game, there are no other means of movement, such as horses or a famous motorcycle from the first part. On the technological miracle, they will even be allowed to compete at speeds with Jusis, who at some point will throw Rena challenge. Later, the iron horse will be available as a vehicle at any point on the Empire map, and it will also be possible to repaint it and improve it. For example, for ten thousand conditional units that are called "worlds" here, the carrier can be attached to the motorcycle and put in it one of the members of the party. Lovers for a long time to study the water surface will definitely be delighted, having heard that in Trails of the Cold Steel II there is a mini-game with searching for habitats and fishing, accompanied by QTE, as well as collecting various collectible items: food recipes, newspapers, monsters (they They will be listed in a special book), rare chests and the likes of such things, for the diligent collecting of which players will award food that gives all sorts of effects, details about the fate of various people and, of course, trophies. The game even counts the military academy found by the player, which is not easy to scatter throughout the empire. Some of them, by the way, can and will need to recruit on board a combat flying ship called "Courgeous" or "brave".

Search and salvation of students are a whole piece of classes that can entertain themselves between the main scene tasksAnd players have to return to the old, already studied locations once again, to find all students and persuade them to climb the ship. These comrades dwell even in the most unsightly holes of the empire and, despite the fact that they are wanted and quite themselves can put on the babysitter or kill on the spot, all students of the Academy are worn by their uniform and never take it off. And this means that the warriors who blocked almost every road to each little much a large city in the empire, blind and deaf, if not able to find and catch a handful of kids hacking right under the nose. It is especially surprising that the form for students is mostly green, apparently, the representatives of no more than their white form are not proud and, going beyond the walls of the Academy, chose to immediately hang it into the closet and do not remember it anymore. In general, it is a rather funny occupation, as the authors and here tried to make the process of searches and fees with a variable: some students will go with a group of Rina only if there are the right person in the party, others will agree, having learned that you have already recruited someone from their long-time familiar Thirds will ask for some kind of commission, for example, to find something or defeat someone, the fourth will accept the invitation just like that, because the authors still did not come up with them the lesson better than to stand in some kind of gentleman and look at the wall.

Only the fact that Rin is perfectly remembered by the names of all these disciples, and they are in this game a good hundred, everyone knows the person, when meeting the move, he voicates the lot of details about their activities in the Academy's walls and , I remember perfectly, who communicated with whom in school years, and so on. It looks and sounds a little terrible, if you think about it, and I am ready to swear that none of the leadership of the Academy can boast such knowledge about their wards, while Rin is a real walking card file. As already written above, the search for students of the Academy is an optional occupation, but it adds several points to the final assessment at the end of each story chapter. The Rina group may and will be freely moved along the empire on its flying ship, studying separately taken regions, and, wandering for someone studied locations, they can completely gain on the giant monsters of cryptids (Cryptids), designed to fill the lack of bosses in the game. The battles with these kinds are purely optional, but it is in battle with them players can check all their skills, because the giants have exorbitant long health strips and are capable of several strokes to deal with the best fighters of class VII. At such moments, the assistance of Valimar, which can be called on exactly once for the battle and use all its abilities in order to significantly reduce the health of his opponent.

From a technical point of view, Trails of Cold Steel II have some problems, for the most part relating to the portable version, as the game periodically slows down in large spacious locations. And that I find very strange, selective. What is the reason for this event to say hard, as the filling and scale of large spacious levels is approximately the same, however, the authors and here have come to the problem of creatively: in those places where the game begins to slowly slow down, the plot makes the fint ears and the characters face some An insurmountable force that forces them to leave the zone and go to look for another way. However, it is almost the only drawback of the game, in addition to the strong frame rate drawing during the demonstration on the screen of a large number of special effects. The rest of the PlayStation Vita is pleased with the eye. beautiful graphics, quite diverse palette of colors and large quantity Animations of heroes. Although, of course, local heroes look more wooden and awkward than their colleagues from World of Final Fantasy, but we all understand that Nihon Falcom cannot part with her only and unique engine on which almost all three-dimensional games work , issued from under the pen of this studio, and therefore can be content with what is.

The publishing company NIS America received precious experience during the translation and adaptation of the first part of the series, supplemented by information in the form of back reviews from players and profile press, but for some reason she did not listen to them. We still have at the disposal a partial localization in which the heroes say out loud, they suddenly go to the text in the same conversation. It looks comical, especially when one of the interlocutors, for example, a protagonist, talks to dialog boxes, while his comrades are trying to recoup their roles. However, sometimes it becomes not at all jokes, especially when the same character whispering with someone from the group, it begins to reflect on himself, and in that and in another case the phrase in the dialog box is isolated by brackets, which makes it difficult to make it difficult Understanding the situation. And we can only guess that from the said his interlocutors heard, and what he decided to leave with him. Otherwise, localization remained approximately at the same level as in the case of its predecessor, it is good enough and pleasant for hearing, even if not everyone is voiced in the game.

For those who have already completed the first part of the series, and I essentially recommend this for a comprehensive understanding of the story told, the developers prepared a surprise in the form of progress transfer from the first part in The Legend of Heroes: Trails Of Cold Steel II, in order to emphasize the importance of solutions and actions players earlier. My acquaintance experience with this feature has been no matter, because the European version of the game acquired in PlayStation Store.For some reason, it was not able to find a conservation card from the first part on the memory card, despite the fact that there were those on it, actually the game itself. However, this little problem does not prevent me from telling about how it works. Integrating your progress in the second part, players will receive advanced communication options with already familiar NPCs, encountered during practical occupations in the Academy's walls. Residents of cities and villages will recognize you in person, rejoice at the meeting and more willingly share the details about the situation in the political and social arena than without integration. What really does not significantly change the essence of the case, if you play without this function, but it sounds rather strange, because, unlike these characters, I, and any player who tested the first part and started to go to the second, remember them perfectly. Suggest yourself, there were some months between the events of both games, and not years, actually, as well as between the release of both games of the series in the Western market, and therefore residents of the villages and cities simply could not forget those who were distracted from them a big mischief and decided their personal problems. This, of course, is not a significant problem, and the idea with bad memory and pills for it in the form of integration of the preservation sounds successfully, in any case, in theory, but in practice it does not work as it should.

Outcome: How many not write about the Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II, but still there is a sense of inexpensive: it seems that some kind of important item or a whole event escaped from our vigilant attention, and most likely it is not far from the truth. But it should be so, since this work, and other games of the series, woven out of dozens of different mechanics, gaming features, large and small plot arches, which go in parallel, casually touch each other, intersect, merge together, and in general, are a greater confusing web consisting of a very decent number of colorful and diverse characters, as well as intriguing and exciting events. And in all this meal of dozens or even hundreds of actors and plot branches, players have to deal with, gradually studying the parties to the conflict, the world of Erebony, and how the actions of many people, including the main character, are reflected on the well-being of others. Trails of Cold Steel II absorbed the whole best that was in the first part, and was able to develop ideas laid in it, and some of them were successfully fit in the canvas of the events of the events, but it is impossible not to notice that today without any exaggeration this game It is the largest and most beautiful project from all that Nihon Falcom was made, and one of the best Japanese role-playing games on stationary and portable consoles.

However, despite the fact that the second part of this wonderful mini-series turned out to be very ambitious, it is noticeably inferior to his predecessor. This is visible on a variety of aspects: Starting from a low degree of thoughtful minor tasks, which in this game turned out to be more boring than in the first, and ending with the episodic feeding of a material that has not received any intelligible explanation on the spot. . And constant clashes with monsters, while on the courtyard there is a real civil war, and re-acquaintance with the characters already studied may be slightly disappointing those who waited from the Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II strong start and gradually increasing voltage due to Workshops created by intrigue scenarios. To the great regret, there is nothing like that here and in risen. If, passing the first part, you felt fatigue from the total monotony and lightly tightly closer to the end of the game, then you know that the continuation of the series has not escaped a similar problem, but rather even aggravated it, because this game is a sequel, therefore she cannot give a priori Feelings of novelty characteristic of new projects of the series. And here there may be a very short gap between the releases of two parts of the series in the West. However, if all of the above did not bother you at all, then feel free to throw all things and start your acquaintance with the game. It's worth it.

P.S. At the beginning of our review, we wrote that The Legend of Heroes: Trail Of The Cold Steel II completes the story acre, dedicated to class VII attempts to eliminate people who swing the situation in the Erendian Empire, and combine their people. So it was at the time of writing this review, but a few weeks ago, Nihon Falcom announced the third game of the series, which for some reason bypassing the owners of the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita, despite the presence of a finished engine for these platforms and a user base consisting of fans of such games. Why was it to be inventing the wheel and aim in people who are not familiar with the series, and also to give up the portable version - a big riddle. But we hope for prudence of the management of the studio and fans of the series, who will be able to defend their right to play at the Legend of Heroes: Trail of The Cold Steel III in the subway, buses and trains.

And on this I have everything, thank you all for your attention. Wait for more materials in the very near future.

Xseed "S PC Release of the Original Trails of Cold Steel. Featuring a Wide Array of Configuration Options, A Port Clear Of Major (And Most Minor) Bugs, The Excellent Turbo Mode Feature, And Even Additional Lines of Voiced Dialogue High Bar for Future PC Versions of the Entries In The Series to Match Up to. It's Not surprising That the work Done for Trails of Cold Steel II'S PC Release Is Equally Impressive.

For the Most Part, Trails of Cold Steel II Matches Up to the Level Set by Last Year's Port of the Original game, Which in Itself Is a Great Success. WE CALLED THE PC VERSION OF COLD STEEL THE "BEST WAY TO play The. Game " and the SAME HOLDS TRUE FOR ITS SEQUEL. Xseed Included Additional Lines of Voiced Dialogue Again for This Release, SIIILAR TO THE ORIGINAL GAME, SHOWING A DEGREE OF GOING ABOVE AND BEYOND for the PC Version That Is For The Most Part Unheard of. Unless You Want Official Japanese Voiceover Support, This Is The Definitive Way to Play Cold Steel II (And Chances Are You'll Be Able to Play in Japanese in An Unofficial Capacity At Some Point After Launch As Well).

We Thought That Cold Steel II's Original PS3 Release Was a Second Chapter Of Falcom's Ongoing Series, But The Game Is Definitely Putting on Its Best Face On PC. The Convenient and Comprehensive Configuration Menu From Cold Steel Returns Here:

The Configuration Menu For Trails of Cold Steel II IS Largely The Sam As That of the First Game, And The Bevy of Options Here Is As Impressive AS IT WAS Last Year. Most Options Will Show A Preview Image in Real Time On the Right-Hand Side, So You Know Exactly What Each Toggle Will Adjust In-Game Without Having to Boot in and Out Of the Configurator. You can Select The Game's Resolution, Display Mode, A Number of Shadow Rendering Features, And The Degree of Anti-Aliasing Applied to The Game. You can Even Specify Which Sort of Button Prompts You Want The Game to Display If You're Using A Controller. Even The Amount of AutoSaves And The Mode Feature Are Aless to Be Tweaked. The Only Real Differences Between This and Last Year's Release is the option for using A Specific PCSS Shadowing Filtering Technique, and Complete Controller Remapping Options.

Another Nifty Addition to Cold Steel IS The Ability to Directly Boot Into Your Most Recently Save, Which in My Experience Worked Exactly As Advertised - I Was Able to Continue Playing From Exactly Where I Left Off Every Time I'd Open The Game Without Ever Needing to See The Main Menu. It's Definitely Not Something We Expect or Require But It's a Neat Little Feature All the Same. Even If You Decide to Not Use The Quick Load Functionality, You Can Disable Start Up Videos AS Before and Loading Times Are Very Snappy.

While Not a New Feature, The Turbo Mode Functionality IS Again The Star of the Show Here Here. Both Battles and Cutscenes Can Be Speted Up to Six Times The Original Speed, Which Makes In-Game Backtracking and Long-Winded Cutscenes Go By As Quickly As You Want Them to. The Turbo Feature Doesn't Introduce Any Audio Bugs and All Music and Dialogue Played At Normal Speed, Only With The Movement Hastened. The Link and Burst Mechanics in Battle Will Automatically Slow During Turbo Mode to Allow for the Necessary Player Input, Which Is As Impressive As It Was In The Original Game.

The Music Must Change Tracks BEFORE A CERTAIN EVENT OCCASIONALLY YOU'LL HAVE TO WAITA FOR THE CURRENT TRACK TO FADE OUT BECAUSE THE SCENE COMMENSES, BUT THIS IS A MINOR NITPICK AT MOST. The Game Did Crash for ME ONCE WHILE TURBOING THROUGH A BUNCH OF SCENES, BUT One Crash Over About 40 Hours Played With a Recent Autosave to Catch My Lost Progress and i Didn't Lose A Large Amount of Sleep Over It. Another Small Adjustment Was Getting Used to Turbo Mode Being Set to L3 Instead of the Trigger Which Meant That Engaging The Feature While Simultaneously Directing Your Character On The Field Took a Little Practice, But After a Few Minutes Was Complety Doable.

The Game Also Behaved Reasonably WELL with Other Software on My PC. Whether in FullScreen or Windowed Mode I Was Easily Able to Tab Into and Out of the Game or Switch Over to Other Application Windows And The Game Would Smartly Mute and Pause Itself If It Wasn't The Primary Screen At Any Given Time. I Was Also Able to Use The Full Steam Overlay Features As Well At Obswote Video Recording. The Only Software i Didn't Have Success With Right Away Was Nvidia's Suite Of Capture Tools, Unless Desktop Mode Was Turned On, Which is Far from a Showstopper.

Cold Steel II IS A DIRECT SEQUEL OF THE ORIGINAL GAME, AND PLAYING COLD STEEL IS ESSENTIAL TO UNDERSTAND THE NARRATIVE IN II, SO WE Definitely Recommend Newcomers to the Series Start There - It's Another Great Port on PC. We Have A. video Review Of the game "S Original PS3 Release AS Well As gameplay Footage. of the PC Version At Max Settings. IT "S Mostly Just A Touched Up Version of the Original Release, But It" S Clean and Sharp and Looks Good At 60 Frames Per Second.

Cold Steel II The Latest Game of The Overarching "Kiseki" Series of Games That Been Localized for Western Audiences So The Future from Here On Is a Little Bit Murky. WE KNOW THAT THE FIRST TWO GAMES ARE Getting, But Details Concerning The West Are Sparse At Best. We're Hopeful This Isn't the Last. Time We'll Be Able to Write ABOUT THE SERIES WHO INVEST INTO THE GAMES, ON ANY PLATFORM, WILL BE ABLE TO SEE THE STORY CONTINUED SOMEDAY SOON.

Trails of Cold Steel II will already be released completely soon, the European release is scheduled for November 11, and we have never written about the first frace, correct.

Trails of Cold Steel, published in the past January on PS3 and Vita, is a large-scale RPG, whose events occur in Erebony, the prosperous edge, which is experiencing serious problems. You play for the group of elite students, which travel around the Erebthous cities and villages, fighting with monsters, solving problems and learning the unlucky class struggle, threatening to break the country on the share. Uyma cities for research, an insane number of characters for long conversations and a solid cloud of side quests, allowing a little distracting on the line to the main goal.

In other words, this is a great play, which made even more. Scriptures in Falcom would have to remind you that the compression is a sister of talent. Tens of hours of game time - not the limit.

However, to love Trails of Cold Steel is for what. Scenic work and teaching of the highest class characters, fully relevant to the standards of the Publisher Xseed and their RPG-series Trails of the Sky. This is a nursing game where the conversations with each NPC really cost your pore. The main characters seem at first glance simply by articles such from the anime series - a brazulous president of the class, a closer-nobleman, etc. - But as the plot develops, most of them demonstrate an unexpected depth.

The game is structured quite carefully, so all seven chapters will pass exemplary in the same rhythm. It turned out something average between Suikoden and Persona. In the beginning of each chapter, the main protagonist Rin will go to school, attend cases, take exams and all that. In addition, each chapter will have one or two independent days that Rin can spend, firstly, performing side quests (in the range from Netaland to madly fascinating), and secondly, tie relations with their one-shirts. This will strengthen social connections (Social Links), and what they are concentrating, the stronger the feeling of the elbow in battles with enemies. Free days end up, as a rule, a visit of the old school building, which serves in the Cold Steel at the same time and the test area, and a multipurpose dungeon. I repeat, you will visit this item more than once and not two.

In the second half of each chapter, the Rin Councils are sent to the expedition on the Erembron cities and villages - the real action is actually here. For a pair of exceptions (especially this is touched by the third chapter) are the best parts of the game. Erebthian civilization to explore a pleasure, especially if you played the Trails of the Sky, the events of which occur in the neighboring country of Liber, where they look at Erend, like on the enemy. But, as it turns out, the inhabitants of Erebony are in fact simple people with their own problems, many of which are associated with tensiones between aristocracy and ordinary people.

Exploring the school house and being in expeditions, you will often fight monsters, and the local action movie will be known to everyone who played other games of the Trails series. There is a special panel (as in Grandia), which allows you to manage the in what order the heroes will storm, as well as many different skills and spells. The battles with bosses are likely to seem not easy, but never - dishonest, because at your disposal a lot of strategies, which can be played as well as the Edak, in the end, to find a victorious combination. You can switch between characters - as a rule, you always have access to at least six characters, but you can only use four - and you can also arm your students with the most powerful spells.

Playing Vita, you can encounter a positive drop of frameraite, especially in big cities. This is not such a swelling problem, but maybe lightly act on the nerves. In addition, it can be minimized with support, for example, quick movement.

The game ends unexpectedly and much remains underwent, because if you pass this game, be prepared to take up for Trails of Cold Steel II, which should go to PS3 / VITA in early November.

One way or another, the first Cold Steel is spent on it. Yes, it is slow, but certainly not boring. In the story RPG, a good script can overshadow all other flaws, and the Cold Steel is a clear sample. If you are from the breed of players who speak absolutely with all NPC, do not turn on the dungeons and participate in field political studies, then this game is for you.

Release date: January 29, 2016 Developer: Falcom Genres: RPG Perrons: PS3 / PlayStation Vita in Game Rating: 342 Place Estimuation Editorial:
75 %

Worth cutting? (based on reader estimates) yes

It is not always possible to clearly express their feelings from acquaintance with one or another work of human imagination and labor. Sometimes a couple of hours is enough to be filled with a lot of different feelings and emotions, and sometimes you spend many times for some product and understand that he did not give you anything. Yes, and in general, the result of the dive into one or another world is very unpredictable, it is rare to clearly predict that you will have to taste, but what will remain only a handful of not the most pleasant memories.

And sometimes it happens that the product is very controversial, in other words, he is able to encourage inside you completely controversial sensations, but in general, you will be satisfied. And satisfied with more than.

This is how it is possible to describe - if briefly, but not quite clear, - my acquaintance with the legends about the heroes, namely, the traces of cold steel ...

The game is a representative of many beloved genres of the Japanese role-playing game with step-by-step battles of the Characters party. And I break the intrigue immediately - everything is very good here. With the exception of a pair of moments.

The game comes to choose the choice of the complexity of the battle, the choice of four modes. I missed the first three, for why they are needed, if there is a difficulty of the "nightmare nightmare" difficulty ... it sounds strong, on the persons of the heroes arrive even stronger.

And, I will clarify again, everything is really good here. Almost every fight forces not just to beat the opponent with his legs and hands, but actively use almost all means available to you for survival and, more preferably victory over the enemy. Fights with bosses, often appear for you with a real test, the permission of which can carry truly pleasant sensations from overcome obstacles and obstacles.

But there is, as one very famous joke, one nuance ...

Each opponent has its own characteristics and the degree of resistance to the set presented in the game status influences that you can always see in the description of your chosen enemy. And the problem is that two different opponents with the same specified resistance to some effect completely, diametrically react to your attempts to impose these effects. And this, often leads to a very depreciation, because you try to coordinate your actions, leaning on these references, tolerate the collapse and do not understand why it happened, because you seem to be able to distinguish poisonous and stunning attacks and could not confuse the statuses ...

At some moments, the game resembles some other products of the same Japanese digital industry. Before continuing the thought, I note that the main characters of this game are students of the Military Academy. And that is why it was quite fun to see the elements of the last games of the Persona series, when you demand a correct answer to a given question, which is closely connected with Laura the game itself. There are no knowledge of our own history or literature, so, or remember the information coming from dialogues and other sources, or rely on Mrs. Fortune.

Separately, I want to mention the music that is not to say that some incredible sensations caused some incredible feelings, but some compositions, definitely, nostalgic notes and memories for completely different games. For example, the main melody in the city where your academy is located, personally, I am very similar to the adventures of the small black wizard of Vivi from the ninth part of the last fantasy, when he came to the capital of Alexandria, full of rainbow hopes to see the performance known for the whole world "I want to be your canary " The other melody is a bit, but still, reminds no longer such a long-time guest of the modern game world - Nier Automata. But it is so funny little things.

But now, following my own words about the duality of sensations, it is necessary to note the following, but, before, a small note: the subsequent things that I will talk about is not the most serious nature, in other words, they do not reflect the quality of the game - the quality that, As many people know, very much varies from a person to a person, for everyone has their own taste, is only the result of my sensations. But, however, if you read what I am writing for you (well, for yourself, what kind of sin) and this article is not the first to you from me, then you know what I am here and do what I describe what I describe His own sensations that in no way should not have to arise with you when you meet exactly with the same product of the gaming industry.

Well, let's return to our branches. No, I will not take anything in quotes. And I'm not kidding. In a different way, to perceive the main characters does not always have a desire. I can not say that they are extremely stupid children, but there are two reasons for my reaction and my words. But let's, again, about everything in order.

Cause number times - dialogues. If in a nutshell, then sometimes there is an incredibly strong feeling that you play the game about talking. The characters love to talk very much - and I, as an introvert, which, often, can explain everything quickly and concisely (how fills, however, a person who cannot, well, does not see life, so as not to score the text with huge amounts of certain revolutions ), It is very hard to listen to all. And not always interesting. But this is not the main problem of dialogues. How to say ... The problem is that the heroes are talking. And they do it is not just always when you can, but even when it should be worth it to shut up and doing things.

Without jokes, at some point in time I sincerely wondered why the characters do not walk with folding chairs, a table and a tea set. Dangerous criminal took hostages and rushed to run? We must chat with comrades! Are you surrounded by ruthless monsters and attack you? You must talk about it. It is definitely an impression that unhappy children outside of the screen just plug mouths, and their chatty simply cannot find a way to be implemented. Sometimes it stops all sorts of fractions of decency and at the moments when everyone can save all and everyone, the guys decide - prepared? - They decide to arrange a savory, inimitable in their incredibility and timeliness conversation.

The number two can be considered definitely less significant, but to some extent it is very related to the first, and if you think logically, it is the most that there is no reason to be described by me above. So, I'm talking about the intellect of heroes. And no, I do not mean that the characters here are frank idiots. But at the same time, I do not like when the game considers me an idiot. Yes, and in general, the flameant stupidity is a little pleasant spectacle. In general, I speak now as much about not the most logical and intelligent actions of in-game characters. Sometimes, looking at the screen, you are trying to understand that you are complete that it went wrong and how it came to this. From the illogy of certain events, I was hardly shaking. As a person, to a certain degree related to the creation of stories, I can understand the reasons for such circumstances - stupid actions easier to develop the story and create a dangerous character for the characters that, in general, not bad for playing, in which there is a good, really good combat system . But I'm far from a child who takes everything for a clean coin and you will not take it so much. And if the character, definitely deciding to play fool, begins to create inspected nonsense, I perceive it very, very bad. I would say even hot. Duck is so burning.

Perhaps you, my dear readers, could have the impression that the game is extremely bad, terrible, unbearable ... But this is not quite the case. I will tell you a secret, but I do not write about the games that I did not like. The reason for this is one and very simple - it will be to the offensive short texts in which, by and large, much the same, you can't tell me, because the game that does not bring you pleasure, it is unlikely that you can boast that you played for a long time.

Based on the newly said, we conclude that I liked the game. In it, if you are frank, little opportunities, but a combat system, for a long time my gaming practice in classic Japanese role-playing games, who threw me a challenge, keeps me in this world already far from one or a dozen hours.

Speaking about the shortage of in-game features, I mean the following - the most banal, which is striking, so it is cosmetics. And I am not about the costumes that are here, about suddenness, there is, I'm talking about another, very important for me, the details are weapons. The game presents many game characters, each of them has an individual means for self-defense and attacks. But it does not change. There are a huge set of older and, at the same time, more well-known games, where this detail was given due attention - a lot of parts of the last fantasy, a quest Dragon, the same person - the weapon changed its appearance when you found or bought a new one. Here it is not and it's a shame. This is a trifle, but important personally for me.

There is also very no action with the environment. And no, I do not think that fishing da pair of clique elements of the interior in the library can be considered a sufficient number of actions. I am talking about the greater number of opportunities for the same search for items. Let's remember the eighth part of the Quest Dragon series in this regard - there you could come to someone home and climb into the closet, outstand everything from the barrels, look into the night pot (no, I am invented), launch your playful handles in hanging on Wall of a douse bag. Well, it's not difficult to make it. In other games - just as very old, it was possible to just curse every element of the environment in search of a cherished secret - the same finals, or, say, the legend of the dragoon ...

Perhaps I would remember anything else, but I will not. For, if it was not rushed into my eyes, then this is not such an important element or at least a pleasant combat system enough to close on a lot of eyes. Yes, I think it is.

Summing up, I can say the following - someday I will get to the second part of the cold steel traces. There, I also tell me something, I will ignite and for the same reasons that I described above, but I also think that the pleasure I get from the game will cover all these unpleasant incidents. And even more, I expect that pleasant feelings will be so much that there will be an insurmountable desire to write about them ...

Well, class seven, do you suffer more, how do you like the idea? ..