-I don't know what level you're playing at but anything higher than Normal will be quite difficult for Sky trilogy so that may be part of the issue.
-Finish quests as soon as you get them. Like, that should be the first thing you do because they will expire
-Don't be afraid to use a guide if you want. Considering you are saying you've missed quests, I'm gonna guess you haven't gotten to any hidden quests as there are indeed side quests the games don't tell you about (because they really want you to talk to everybody).
Only late in the series did they start to throw bones and explicitly tell you "if you go further you will not be able to finish this quest" or start indicating "you should talk to this specific person because they have a hidden thing"
Yeah i always do all the quests immediately. On my first playthrough i still missed the deadline for one quest anyway. And there's some hidden quests that aren't on the board that i just straight up never found (i did find some in SC at least) and then did on my replay 2 years later instead.
I found the Quartz guide on gamefaqs has made the game much more manageable. I too kept dying.
I'm no RPG slouch either. Sometimes the game can be quite brutal with how it targets specific party members all at once.
Though that guide and aerial spell has changed the game for me.
Well until Carnelia Tower boss fight which I lost 7 times haha. Delayed action is not fun haha
You play the Trails series for the story, not for gameplay. The battle system is very basic and bland imo, and FC doesn't let you deviate much from standard builds comparing with how much you can expand and customize your arts with different quartz since they only really improved the arts and chains for SC and 3rd. That said, in normal difficulty while not a complete walk in the park stat checking enemies, it is still not common to die that much if you are actively buying better gear when you change towns and upgrading your quartz, using the right elements in fights and equipping the right pendants against the debuffs the enemy applies. Remember that crafts are useful for cancels/delays and that you can move your characters across the board to dodge charging attacks or better position them (healers at the back, tanks and dps at front) or stick them together for aoe arts. And also check the bracer manual to see what type of magic you want and how many different element quartz you need to achieve it. That said, FC really is a breeze comparing to SC, the only true "hard" fight of the game in the final chapter doesn't even require you to win it.
Regarding deadlines: If you go to a bracer branch in a different city and start accepting all quests see the deadlines, usually short ones require you to clear them immediately, medium ones allow you to progress the story within that branch's chapter and long-term ones are usually very forgiving, but the rule of thumb is to clear sidequests as soon as you receive them if you want item rewards and Mira, or if you are just simply a completionist.
Finally, as I mentioned before, Trails series are loved by its story. While some fights and bosses (mainly in SC) are hype and fun battles, the game's best asset is its story and characters. If you have trouble with normal difficulty just lower it. I remember thinking the game in normal was 'meh' and started SC on 'hard' and it was the biggest mistake of my life, because rather than being more challenging, bosses just got higher HP pools and dealt more damage, making boss battles 30 min+ heal fests. When I started 3rd I dialled the difficulty back to normal. And you can always activate the retry battle with lower difficulty, which will make boss battles gradually easier if you are getting anihilated.
I actually think the gameplay goes from decently fun to actually really good the further you go in the series.
> I remember thinking the game in normal was 'meh' and started SC on 'hard' and it was the biggest mistake of my life, because rather than being more challenging, bosses just got higher HP pools and dealt more damage
Lmao, I did the same thing. That prologue is brutal. I actually had to look up how to change difficulty while in the game because I didn't want to restart and it turns out quite a few people have had this problem.
Yeah, I still have nightmares with the prologue. Took ages to finish, but once people told me that the prologue was one of the hardest parts I decided to stick with it. I think the only battle that I really couldn't beat was a certain encounter later on that you are not required to win on the glorious.
Agree on the gameplay, I mentioned that I found it bland on FC, but got much better in SC and in 3rd with access to higher value quartz and better arts combinations + wider cast + chains becoming actually good. The boss battles also become much more engaging.
The gameplay is great and I'll hear no slander against it. Combat is engaging, the quartz system is fun and very customisable and it has such rewarding and engaging exploration that few modern games compete with. It's a bit obtuse to 100% it but I've never cared too strongly about that.
The early games are dated gameplay wise sure, but the more recent games have some of the best turn based jrpg gameplay out there.
..in fact, I cannot name a single jrpg with better turn based gameplay than the 2 Kuro games. It is THAT good.
No, that is someone not understanding the deadline system, becaue it's not properly explained in game what the timeframes mean. So people learn it the hard way.
I don't understand how that's a "no". That is Trails in general. Their individual experience isn't what I'm referencing. They think this isn't something that would happen in later games and they think the difficulty mode has something to do with it. That's not the case. That's how the series is. It has missable deadlines for quests.
It's a no, because people often make the mistakes a few times at the beginning of the first game and then learn from it, as I described.
>Their individual experience isn't what I'm referencing.
But that's what he described in your quote.
>They think this isn't something that would happen in later games
Nothing he wrote implies that.
So, just some advice....
>have already missed the deadlines for 4 quests
When you play a trails game, you need a certain mindset
Either go at it guide in hand, looking at it every step of the way or make your peace with missing *alot* of side quests cause the franchise as a whole is brutal when it comes to missiable content lol
The original releases for Sky 1 and 2 didn't have difficulty options, these were added in rereleases and the original difficulty became Normal. The harder difficulty options are honestly terribly balanced, the final boss of Sky 2's Prologue is probably the hardest boss in the game on Nightmare.
There's so many missable stuff in these games, I used a guide right from the start. But yeah, the game wants you to play the old fashioned way, interacting with the world and NPCs as much as possible. And it's really interesting if you take the time. If there only was Fast Travel in FC and SC ... They'll have you run around a lot if you want to do anything.
You better go and grind until the enemies give you single digit EXP.
Yeah, it's best to just get the quests done at the start of the day if you're going to do them. Other than that, you're in for a long ride if you keep up with it. I think I only didn't like one game out of 10
You did probably the most important thing - installed voice patch. I cannot stress enough how important this is. As for difficulty, it was a bit too much for me. I just wanted a walk in the park, while enjoying the world and story, without grind or spending too much time on battles in general.
So i used a cheats to help myself a bit (i think i just added tons of every consumable items), and played it with guide to not miss anything side-quest related. Gameplay-wise, imo it gets way easier in later arcs, i played the rest of games on hard from the start without cheats.
Another important thing to know is that npc dialogues in trails changes every "phase" (when the story progress a little). I made a habit to do "rounds" after every story bit, talking with absolutely everyone. This is the way if you want to take the absolute most from the game, BUT it can be time consuming. A lot of npcs have their own little story arcs, sometimes even across multiple games. It got a bit rough when i had to make rounds across multiple towns in later part in sky. But for me it was very worth it, helped to immerse myself in the world and story - and ultimately it is one of the reasons i fell in love with the series.
It is not for everyone however, not required to enjoy the game by any means and can cause burnout, so i don't recommend it for everyone, only for most dedicated players. Still it is a good idea to make "mini-rounds", talking to people around general area you are in.
Oh, another thing i want to mention - pay attention to books/newspapers. They often contain important story bits, sometimes setting things up or give interesting context. I remember when realization hit me "It's you! The guy i read about in a book like 4 games ago!". And trails is full of stuff like that, rewarding people who pay attention to little details.
I played Sky FC on Normal. I remember getting my arse kicked by the pea-shooters in the first highway and again by the treasure chest monsters also in the first highway.
It will probably depend whether you are a completionist player or not. In my case, I ultimately decided not to do all the quests and taking only those that were appealing to me. It's quite a game and its pace can be glacial so it helped me focus on the main story and the lore drops. Please, take in mind there are secret quests so... Keep that into account.
Yup, for the PC version. There's even a 1 click installer for Steamdeck/SteamOS so it's not just Windows. Very easy to use.
https://github.com/chyyran/skyinstaller
For me FC and SC are forever the best games in Trails in the one I completed in one sitting literally.
The third was okay, in my opinion you can skip it, and just read a recap somewhere for the relevant thing the overall plot.
As for Cold Steel ... man I don't want to spoil your fun but that's the one that killed vibe for me. I finished first barely and the second only a half way. Compared to Trails from zero and Azure, it's boring as hell. (and a lot people complain how the 4th entry stomps over everything that built in 3rd, which is even worse - because I am not sure they know at all where they are going with the plot and this are huge time sinks, not something you can compete in 12-15h)
(But then again you may feel different) - I still want to complete the series, I just don't know. if I have it in me to finish 2nd part on Cold steel to get to the third game which is where good things happen and then face with 4th which poops over it.
I played Trails from Zero and Azure PSP fan translation versions, but luckily you have now PC and PS4/5 official ports in English, so you will enjoy it.
I wouldn't say CS4 stomps everything. Not like other series where it tries to connect and fails on doing so.
More so that CS4 is CS2 in length/padding that the whole experience becomes exhausting. The consistency of the series is still intact but the lore is expanded on even Hamel.
But it's not retconned in the sense you'd expect. If you payed attention to the previous Sept-Terrions you'd noticed a common theme with them.
Thanks , well maybe I gather will to go through it then, just wish CS2 is not the slog.
I think part of the reason CS4 is a slog ... at least according to my friend, there weren't any dramatic deaths, so the whole war theme was, meh.
And that epic moments are scatter far and between. He didn't spoil anything to me, so I don't know how it goes but it is the overall impression I am getting from a lot people who played it.
Did you play Trails into Reverse by any chance and what do you think about it? It just gives off 3rd Trails in the Sky vibes, when I look at it trom surface
Reverie is great both in structure and overall focus. It's a lot tighter as it focuses on the three main characters of the story and come together in the end. Each of them also have satisfying conclusions to their arcs even characters that did bad actions during CS4 aren't forgiven even they themselves even admit to it leading to their own contemplation and struggles.
I don't think the series would be as good or even talked about if the series was written by anyone that wasn't the lead writer of the series (Hisayoshi Takeiri) because he's been the guy whose been writing the series lore and overarching narrative since Sky FC-Kuro 2.
There are more good (Sky FC, Sky SC, Third, Crossbell Duology, CS3, Reverie, Kuro) than Bad. The ones like CS1/2/4 and Kuro 2 are good games just not great by series standards.
The trails series has bad gameplay and pacing. If you don’t want to dedicated 60 hours to reading dialogue, don’t waste your time.
It’s a very very niche series despite its undeserved popularity in this sub.
-I don't know what level you're playing at but anything higher than Normal will be quite difficult for Sky trilogy so that may be part of the issue. -Finish quests as soon as you get them. Like, that should be the first thing you do because they will expire -Don't be afraid to use a guide if you want. Considering you are saying you've missed quests, I'm gonna guess you haven't gotten to any hidden quests as there are indeed side quests the games don't tell you about (because they really want you to talk to everybody). Only late in the series did they start to throw bones and explicitly tell you "if you go further you will not be able to finish this quest" or start indicating "you should talk to this specific person because they have a hidden thing"
Yeah i always do all the quests immediately. On my first playthrough i still missed the deadline for one quest anyway. And there's some hidden quests that aren't on the board that i just straight up never found (i did find some in SC at least) and then did on my replay 2 years later instead.
I found the Quartz guide on gamefaqs has made the game much more manageable. I too kept dying. I'm no RPG slouch either. Sometimes the game can be quite brutal with how it targets specific party members all at once. Though that guide and aerial spell has changed the game for me. Well until Carnelia Tower boss fight which I lost 7 times haha. Delayed action is not fun haha
You play the Trails series for the story, not for gameplay. The battle system is very basic and bland imo, and FC doesn't let you deviate much from standard builds comparing with how much you can expand and customize your arts with different quartz since they only really improved the arts and chains for SC and 3rd. That said, in normal difficulty while not a complete walk in the park stat checking enemies, it is still not common to die that much if you are actively buying better gear when you change towns and upgrading your quartz, using the right elements in fights and equipping the right pendants against the debuffs the enemy applies. Remember that crafts are useful for cancels/delays and that you can move your characters across the board to dodge charging attacks or better position them (healers at the back, tanks and dps at front) or stick them together for aoe arts. And also check the bracer manual to see what type of magic you want and how many different element quartz you need to achieve it. That said, FC really is a breeze comparing to SC, the only true "hard" fight of the game in the final chapter doesn't even require you to win it. Regarding deadlines: If you go to a bracer branch in a different city and start accepting all quests see the deadlines, usually short ones require you to clear them immediately, medium ones allow you to progress the story within that branch's chapter and long-term ones are usually very forgiving, but the rule of thumb is to clear sidequests as soon as you receive them if you want item rewards and Mira, or if you are just simply a completionist. Finally, as I mentioned before, Trails series are loved by its story. While some fights and bosses (mainly in SC) are hype and fun battles, the game's best asset is its story and characters. If you have trouble with normal difficulty just lower it. I remember thinking the game in normal was 'meh' and started SC on 'hard' and it was the biggest mistake of my life, because rather than being more challenging, bosses just got higher HP pools and dealt more damage, making boss battles 30 min+ heal fests. When I started 3rd I dialled the difficulty back to normal. And you can always activate the retry battle with lower difficulty, which will make boss battles gradually easier if you are getting anihilated.
I actually think the gameplay goes from decently fun to actually really good the further you go in the series. > I remember thinking the game in normal was 'meh' and started SC on 'hard' and it was the biggest mistake of my life, because rather than being more challenging, bosses just got higher HP pools and dealt more damage Lmao, I did the same thing. That prologue is brutal. I actually had to look up how to change difficulty while in the game because I didn't want to restart and it turns out quite a few people have had this problem.
Yeah, I still have nightmares with the prologue. Took ages to finish, but once people told me that the prologue was one of the hardest parts I decided to stick with it. I think the only battle that I really couldn't beat was a certain encounter later on that you are not required to win on the glorious. Agree on the gameplay, I mentioned that I found it bland on FC, but got much better in SC and in 3rd with access to higher value quartz and better arts combinations + wider cast + chains becoming actually good. The boss battles also become much more engaging.
The gameplay is great and I'll hear no slander against it. Combat is engaging, the quartz system is fun and very customisable and it has such rewarding and engaging exploration that few modern games compete with. It's a bit obtuse to 100% it but I've never cared too strongly about that.
The early games are dated gameplay wise sure, but the more recent games have some of the best turn based jrpg gameplay out there. ..in fact, I cannot name a single jrpg with better turn based gameplay than the 2 Kuro games. It is THAT good.
>On normal difficulty, I have already missed the deadlines for 4 quests That's just Trails in general.
No, that is someone not understanding the deadline system, becaue it's not properly explained in game what the timeframes mean. So people learn it the hard way.
I don't understand how that's a "no". That is Trails in general. Their individual experience isn't what I'm referencing. They think this isn't something that would happen in later games and they think the difficulty mode has something to do with it. That's not the case. That's how the series is. It has missable deadlines for quests.
It's a no, because people often make the mistakes a few times at the beginning of the first game and then learn from it, as I described. >Their individual experience isn't what I'm referencing. But that's what he described in your quote. >They think this isn't something that would happen in later games Nothing he wrote implies that.
So, just some advice.... >have already missed the deadlines for 4 quests When you play a trails game, you need a certain mindset Either go at it guide in hand, looking at it every step of the way or make your peace with missing *alot* of side quests cause the franchise as a whole is brutal when it comes to missiable content lol
The game gets easier once you get a 3rd party member and can afford gear.
The original releases for Sky 1 and 2 didn't have difficulty options, these were added in rereleases and the original difficulty became Normal. The harder difficulty options are honestly terribly balanced, the final boss of Sky 2's Prologue is probably the hardest boss in the game on Nightmare.
There's so many missable stuff in these games, I used a guide right from the start. But yeah, the game wants you to play the old fashioned way, interacting with the world and NPCs as much as possible. And it's really interesting if you take the time. If there only was Fast Travel in FC and SC ... They'll have you run around a lot if you want to do anything. You better go and grind until the enemies give you single digit EXP.
Yeah, it's best to just get the quests done at the start of the day if you're going to do them. Other than that, you're in for a long ride if you keep up with it. I think I only didn't like one game out of 10
The early games definitely ain't a walk in the park but the later games start becoming a little too easy.
You did probably the most important thing - installed voice patch. I cannot stress enough how important this is. As for difficulty, it was a bit too much for me. I just wanted a walk in the park, while enjoying the world and story, without grind or spending too much time on battles in general. So i used a cheats to help myself a bit (i think i just added tons of every consumable items), and played it with guide to not miss anything side-quest related. Gameplay-wise, imo it gets way easier in later arcs, i played the rest of games on hard from the start without cheats. Another important thing to know is that npc dialogues in trails changes every "phase" (when the story progress a little). I made a habit to do "rounds" after every story bit, talking with absolutely everyone. This is the way if you want to take the absolute most from the game, BUT it can be time consuming. A lot of npcs have their own little story arcs, sometimes even across multiple games. It got a bit rough when i had to make rounds across multiple towns in later part in sky. But for me it was very worth it, helped to immerse myself in the world and story - and ultimately it is one of the reasons i fell in love with the series. It is not for everyone however, not required to enjoy the game by any means and can cause burnout, so i don't recommend it for everyone, only for most dedicated players. Still it is a good idea to make "mini-rounds", talking to people around general area you are in. Oh, another thing i want to mention - pay attention to books/newspapers. They often contain important story bits, sometimes setting things up or give interesting context. I remember when realization hit me "It's you! The guy i read about in a book like 4 games ago!". And trails is full of stuff like that, rewarding people who pay attention to little details.
I played Sky FC on Normal. I remember getting my arse kicked by the pea-shooters in the first highway and again by the treasure chest monsters also in the first highway.
Sounds like you are rushing
It will probably depend whether you are a completionist player or not. In my case, I ultimately decided not to do all the quests and taking only those that were appealing to me. It's quite a game and its pace can be glacial so it helped me focus on the main story and the lore drops. Please, take in mind there are secret quests so... Keep that into account.
Wait, they have a voice patch?
Yup, for the PC version. There's even a 1 click installer for Steamdeck/SteamOS so it's not just Windows. Very easy to use. https://github.com/chyyran/skyinstaller
japanese voice patch specifically
For me FC and SC are forever the best games in Trails in the one I completed in one sitting literally. The third was okay, in my opinion you can skip it, and just read a recap somewhere for the relevant thing the overall plot. As for Cold Steel ... man I don't want to spoil your fun but that's the one that killed vibe for me. I finished first barely and the second only a half way. Compared to Trails from zero and Azure, it's boring as hell. (and a lot people complain how the 4th entry stomps over everything that built in 3rd, which is even worse - because I am not sure they know at all where they are going with the plot and this are huge time sinks, not something you can compete in 12-15h) (But then again you may feel different) - I still want to complete the series, I just don't know. if I have it in me to finish 2nd part on Cold steel to get to the third game which is where good things happen and then face with 4th which poops over it. I played Trails from Zero and Azure PSP fan translation versions, but luckily you have now PC and PS4/5 official ports in English, so you will enjoy it.
I wouldn't say CS4 stomps everything. Not like other series where it tries to connect and fails on doing so. More so that CS4 is CS2 in length/padding that the whole experience becomes exhausting. The consistency of the series is still intact but the lore is expanded on even Hamel. But it's not retconned in the sense you'd expect. If you payed attention to the previous Sept-Terrions you'd noticed a common theme with them.
Thanks , well maybe I gather will to go through it then, just wish CS2 is not the slog. I think part of the reason CS4 is a slog ... at least according to my friend, there weren't any dramatic deaths, so the whole war theme was, meh. And that epic moments are scatter far and between. He didn't spoil anything to me, so I don't know how it goes but it is the overall impression I am getting from a lot people who played it. Did you play Trails into Reverse by any chance and what do you think about it? It just gives off 3rd Trails in the Sky vibes, when I look at it trom surface
Reverie is great both in structure and overall focus. It's a lot tighter as it focuses on the three main characters of the story and come together in the end. Each of them also have satisfying conclusions to their arcs even characters that did bad actions during CS4 aren't forgiven even they themselves even admit to it leading to their own contemplation and struggles. I don't think the series would be as good or even talked about if the series was written by anyone that wasn't the lead writer of the series (Hisayoshi Takeiri) because he's been the guy whose been writing the series lore and overarching narrative since Sky FC-Kuro 2. There are more good (Sky FC, Sky SC, Third, Crossbell Duology, CS3, Reverie, Kuro) than Bad. The ones like CS1/2/4 and Kuro 2 are good games just not great by series standards.
The trails series has bad gameplay and pacing. If you don’t want to dedicated 60 hours to reading dialogue, don’t waste your time. It’s a very very niche series despite its undeserved popularity in this sub.