Trails of Cold Steel II…. where to start.. Well I think the game is just Bad. Literally it’s beyond saving me, but since Trails fans won’t probably like that, let’s start with the development of Cold Steel II and why the game was beyond saving from the beginning.
We are back in back 2013 and Cold Steel I was in development, stuff wasn’t going well, Falcom struggling with working on PS3 and PS vita hardware at the same time, Cold Steel clearly wouldn’t be finish for September, so what they can do? Well they can completely remove the final chapter of it and transform it as a whole game later. So Cold Steel 1 release, the game have many problems on launch etc, but non-relevant for the review. Then you arrive at the moment that would be the climax pre final chapter like in Ao and the… the game end here ? So this is where Cold Steel II start, a final chapter in Ao no Kiseki scale transformed into a whole game, what could have go wrong…. Everything.
Between the game trying to feel for stuff that clearly need more character developments before, whole character development lock behind bonding events, stuff that was cut from CS1 because of the same reasons as cold steel becoming relevant to the story and just confuse people who didn’t read the material outside of the games, strange love interest stuff that shouldn’t happen in a series with a supposed one canon (Ao have the same problem, I’m not Crossbell is perfect mode dw) a broken battle system clearly not intended to have characters at this level at the end etc.
Even without talking about the systems and development, I think too the main story have so many flaws everywhere, like it’s literally impossible feel anything about the noble alliance because of how much they were showed as cartoon villains, why I should care for that dude death ? Because they gave us a backstory about Osborne being bad guy toward him like 2-3 hours before ? nah this won’t make me feel anything toward him or anyone else in the noble alliance. Timeline being completely broken and don’t make any sense at some points because of the calendar system and the game happening at the same moment as Ao, like Duvalie going constantly between Erebonia and Crossbell like this ??? Oh yeah about the villains, the game turn way too much around a structured repeated system that all the villains are always in mode “I’m holding back lol” because apparently each act part in act 1 needed a “ouroboros” members at the end with the same schema. I think too the game should have end at the finale and the divertissement probably being the intro of CS3 and plan more some stuff to have avoid shit like black record in NG+ or the whole last section with an ass dungeon with the most useless boss in the whole series.
I could probably keep going on I guess, but I already expect that review to be memed on by some big cold steel defenders and probably use it as a reason to on Crossbell because a of Crossbell fan attacked some cold steel game, don’t worry I won’t review CS4, I’m not using my energy for that game lol.
We are back in back 2013 and Cold Steel I was in development, stuff wasn’t going well, Falcom struggling with working on PS3 and PS vita hardware at the same time, Cold Steel clearly wouldn’t be finish for September, so what they can do? Well they can completely remove the final chapter of it and transform it as a whole game later. So Cold Steel 1 release, the game have many problems on launch etc, but non-relevant for the review. Then you arrive at the moment that would be the climax pre final chapter like in Ao and the… the game end here ? So this is where Cold Steel II start, a final chapter in Ao no Kiseki scale transformed into a whole game, what could have go wrong…. Everything.
Between the game trying to feel for stuff that clearly need more character developments before, whole character development lock behind bonding events, stuff that was cut from CS1 because of the same reasons as cold steel becoming relevant to the story and just confuse people who didn’t read the material outside of the games, strange love interest stuff that shouldn’t happen in a series with a supposed one canon (Ao have the same problem, I’m not Crossbell is perfect mode dw) a broken battle system clearly not intended to have characters at this level at the end etc.
Even without talking about the systems and development, I think too the main story have so many flaws everywhere, like it’s literally impossible feel anything about the noble alliance because of how much they were showed as cartoon villains, why I should care for that dude death ? Because they gave us a backstory about Osborne being bad guy toward him like 2-3 hours before ? nah this won’t make me feel anything toward him or anyone else in the noble alliance. Timeline being completely broken and don’t make any sense at some points because of the calendar system and the game happening at the same moment as Ao, like Duvalie going constantly between Erebonia and Crossbell like this ??? Oh yeah about the villains, the game turn way too much around a structured repeated system that all the villains are always in mode “I’m holding back lol” because apparently each act part in act 1 needed a “ouroboros” members at the end with the same schema. I think too the game should have end at the finale and the divertissement probably being the intro of CS3 and plan more some stuff to have avoid shit like black record in NG+ or the whole last section with an ass dungeon with the most useless boss in the whole series.
I could probably keep going on I guess, but I already expect that review to be memed on by some big cold steel defenders and probably use it as a reason to on Crossbell because a of Crossbell fan attacked some cold steel game, don’t worry I won’t review CS4, I’m not using my energy for that game lol.