[Trails of Cold Steel 2 playthrough thread]

Less than an hour in and we have our first head pat and 2 girls crying on Rean :<

#spoilers #TrailsofColdSteel2 #ToCS2

A fault on my part was going for the standard physical EU version over the deluxe physical US version, because a lot of references/bonding enents won't be carried over :/ if I knew the 1st game was going to be that great I would have shelled out the extra P800 or $15.

Oh well, I'll save that money for the correct region of CS4

That Machias reunion... I can't believe I felt something. He was one of my least played and last choice for bonding point use, but the way the reunion was performed got to me. ;___;

As reuinions go...
Machias: tearful embrace
Elliot: tender clasp of hands
Fie: landing from a cliff dive
Gaius: handshake
Alisa: embrace of relief
Millium: joyful embrace
Emma: tears of relief (bonus hand holding later)
Laura: sigh of relief

Jusis: town chase, horse race, fight, helped up from getting his but kicked

Hmmmm, I love all the attention on Jusis but damn did Laura get the short end on this one. I wonder if it would have changed if I used a CS1 save from the same region as my CS2 save.

While I love the interactions between Rean and the main antagonists on the airship, I wish it played with more variety rather than going from bedroom to bedroom.

Perhaps one is on deck, another in the kitchen, playing piano, or doing maintinance on their weapons.

Also, there was hardly any spiteful anymosity between Rean and the villain ship. More of temporary resignation and caution. There were even moments of bros being bros (Crow), meet the parents (Xeno & Leo), and awkward exasperation (Duvalie,Blueblanc).

Game: *casually throws the ability to summon a giant robot to the player outside of cutscene fights*

Me: Ah, Cold Steel you shouldn't have... really. I'm starting to miss the more grounded fights of Sky, but if the devs want to mix up ways to fight as an OPTION that's cool too.

Please let there be more Niethardt x Fiona Craig scenes, I'm looking forward to seeing their friendship/relationship develop.

Cool how they also mirror Elliot's parent's relationship with the musician x military man theme :)

Sharon=maid ex machina

I wonder how many more instances in the series she'll be appearing in to save (or make things infinitely more convenient for) Class VII...

Starting to get bothered by how bonding points are gatekeeping character moments :/

Fingers crosses I am not missing anything to plot heavy.

Cool to know that if Class VII were to have a sock based skating party, Jusis' mansion would be the best place to do it in >;3

Tetracyclic Tower and dungeon fans are in for a treat, everyone else uhhhh....

At least these have more variety than some Tales of titles' dungeons and FF13 at least?

Of couse I went with All-bro-ea, this guy seems to have the most going on... I really wish everyone else wasn't gated by the limited bonding points or a 2nd playthrough :I

Seeing everyone with the Thors armband made me feel nostalgic... was it really just 2 (in game) months when everything in Erebonia went haywire?!

Please don't tell me ToCS2 is going to cram a 7 strata (×3 floors each with a mini boss at the end) dungeon now D:

Four-ish strata, fine.

Damn McBurn was tough, especially with the 2 meat shields he brought along.

Thankful for Daddy Arseid... and overdrive+s-craft abuse.

I don't see the point of Lost element special quartz.Their skills are god-like but eat up all EP, making them a drain on resources during long battles.
->

->And with crafts & skills that revive your party from KO with full heals (Remedy Oratorium,Seraphic Ring) or 4S damage (Altair cannon) using easy to find resources for recharge, makes lost element quartz a waste of orbment slots.

L-loyd!??!?!?!

Phew.

If the AI for Rean was using the last set of orbments I had equipped, I'd be dead by my own hand...

As much as I love these side quests... I just can't stand the fishing mini game D:<

Guess completion will be for another playthrough then.

OMG, tweeted too soon.

I caught those damn fish!

Reverie Corridor... h-how many floors does this thing have!?

Done and done.

Total Playtime (normal): 61 hrs & 35mins

While characters were not as fleshed out as CS1, as that happened in the previous game or relegated to bonding events, the plot driven movement of the story proved engaging throughout.

New characters proved either superfluous (Lloyd segment, while satisfying for fans to see him in the new engine, was a dungeon slog) or one note (Aurelia, was just a point to look back on for future games). #spoilers

The main oppossing force, Noble Alliance & Duke Cayenne, was undermined and swept away too quickly without much backstory to him aside from the "this is my evil plan" speech.

But at least Ouroboros kept things quirky?

As much as I like Falcom's dungeons, they have a meditative quality in their repitition, the Reverie Corridor & its boss felt like padding. Sure the emotional scene afterwards was ok but the characters' motivations throughout the story was barely building up to it.

Gameplay was alright and mostly the same, though the Overdrive system was bordering on abusable. Since you can do multiple S-crafts in a row while recharching CP.

Shoutout to Sean Chiplock's performance, what emotional range! I was looking forward to more of him but apparently 3 won't have as much voiced dialouge.

These are my initial thoughts after playing and I might come back to this thread if think of anything else.

Anyway, thank you Falcom, Xseed, Marvelous and everyone involved with this series. I'm looking forward to seeing what unfolds on the ver exapnding stage of Zemuria :D

#TrailsofColdSteelII #spoilers