The GWJ JRPG Club - Q3 2020 - The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II

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Welcome to the GWJ JRPG Club's pick for the third quarter of the Year of Hell 2020: The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II!

Here is an estimation of how long it takes to beat it (courtesy of HowLongToBeat.com, of course):
IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/p2AuT64.png)

If you do not own the game and want to jump in, it is available for the following platforms:

  • Playstation 3
  • Playstation 4
  • Playstation Vita/Playstation TV
  • PC via Steam/GoG

The game is currently on sale on Steam for 30% off (valid until July 9th, I believe).

Spoilers:
If you are referring to specific story elements, please mark them as spoilers, as not everyone will be at the same point of the story you are. Before the spoiler, if possible, please give a clue as to where you are in the game, so people can better determine if they should click the spoiler button or not.

No need to mark anything from the first game as a spoiler.

If you have not played the first game, or if, like me, you need a refresher, you can access a summary from Trails of Cold Steel II's main menu.

Stealing some info from LastSurprise's post below:

LastSurprise wrote:

A couple notes from the other thread:

Cold Steel 1 Carry-Forward Bonuses

Cold Steel 2 (Relatively) Spoiler-Free Guide to Missables. This will help you find all optional quests, as well as making sure you can get all copies of the books, etc. in the game.

Courtesy of Malkroth (from below in the thread), here's an overview of the various factions at play. Contains heavy spoilers for the first game, obviously.

Spoiler:

• Noble Alliance - Lead by the Four Noble Houses (Albarea, Cayenne, Rogner, and Hyarms). Seek to keep the power within Erebonia concentrated with the noble houses, they despise commoners and are staunch anti-reformists. They have basically strong-armed all the nobles underneath them into supporting them or silence with Count Arseid being an exception. Duke Cayenne is the leader of the Alliance.

• Provincial Army - Local military for each province in Erebonia. They are paid for by the taxes from the province and the assets of the Noble House that governs each province. They are basically the personal militaries of the Four Noble Houses.

• Imperial Liberation Front (IFL) - Lead by Crow. Citizens of Erebonia (both noble and common) that are unhappy with Chancellor Osborne and the militaristic expansion of Erebonian over their neighboring nations. All of the leaders (Crow, Scarlet, Vulcan, and Gideon) had their lives destroyed by Osborne's expansion and hold deep personal grudges against him.

• Reformist Party - Lead by Chancellor Osborne (deceased) and Governor Regnitz. They seek to reduce/eliminate the disparity between the nobles and common classes. They are also imperialistic and responsible for Erebonian conquest of neighboring nations (Jurai, aka Jurai Economic Zone (JEZ)).

• Railway Military Police - Claire in their leader. Military force concerned with the railways that provide transportation across Erebonia. Considered an elite military force with better funding and equipment than the Provincial or Imperial armies, but with limited jurisdiction.

• Intelligence Division - Leader by Lechter Arundel. Elite organization that works under Chancellor Osborne, the primary member Class VII interacts with is Millium, who acts as a spy for them.

• Imperial Army - The portion of the Erebonian army that is controlled by the government (ostensibly the emperor, but he has given control over to Osborne). They are broken up into several divisions, with the most prominent being the 3rd and 4th Armored Divisions. Craig the Red (Elliot's dad) is in command of the 4th Armored Division and the general from Zander Gate leads the 3rd Armored Division on the border of Nord. Instructor Neithardt is a member of the Imperial Armor (I forget which division exactly, he was at the gate to Crossbell when it was destroyed).

• Ouroboros - Mysterious faction that is basically an Illuminati type organization. Known members including Blueblanc, Vita Clotilde (Misty), and Sharon Krueger. Very little is known about this organization, although the members you encounter do state that as long their personal goals do not conflict with Ouroboros' larger plans, they are free to do whatever they want. They have influence throughout the entire world and have played a part in starting conflicts everywhere (instigators in the war between Erebonia and Liberl, fueled the events that started Trails in the Sky First Chapter's conflict).

• Prince Olivert and the Courageous - Bastard eldest son of the Imperial Family, he is seeking a path forward for Erebonia outside of both the Reformists and Noble factions. Count Arseid (Laura's father) is the captain of the Courageous.

• Thors Military Academy - An independent military school founded by Emperor Dreichels 250 years ago after the end of the War of the Lions. It is an institution meant to train the future leaders of Erebonia. Classes are divided into noble and commoners. Currently under IFL control. Decisions regarding the school are made by council composed of Rufus Albarea, Irina Reinford, Governor Regnitz, and Prince Olivert, though Olivert is more a figurehead without any real power in the council.

• Class VII - a strange new class with mixed noble and commoner heritage. Each of them was selected to participate in the class because of their natural affinity for the Arcus unit, a new type of battle orbment.

• Class VII (pilot group) - The year prior to the official start of Class VII, the idea and curriculum was tested with a group of four year one (now year two) students: Towa Herschel, Crow Armbrust, Angelica Rogner (daughter of Marquis Rogner), and George Nome. Towa and George were at Thors during the final battle, Angelica had been forced to return home by her father due to her actions in the Saschen Iron Mine, and Crow is the leader of the ILF. George is an orbal genius and Towa is hardworking and compassionate. They are all fast friends of each other and the new Class VII.

• Bracer Guild - Basically non-existent in Erebonia thanks to Chancellor Osborne. The one known remaining branch is in Legram and headed by Toval. The Bracer Guild is an organization of citizens dedicated to protecting and helping the ordinary citizenry. They normally have free reign to operate, but are forbidden from engaging in political matters to maintain their neutrality and independence. Sara is an ex-Bracer.

• Reinford Corporation - Massive industrial and technological corporation led by Irina Reinford (Alisa' mother). She split the organization into four divisions and gave them self-governance to make the massive corporation more nimble. The Noble Alliance took advantage of the situation and took over the first division which they started funneling money and resources into to produce their Soldat units based on the Divine Knight design.

Count me in! Just watched the story summary on the second game before I start

Yay, time to lose another 110 hours of my life on my first playthrough of this game! I am interested to see where the story goes after the ending of the first one.

Darkhaund wrote:

Count me in! Just watched the story summary on the second game before I start

Do you mean on the first one?

I phrased that totally wrong

I just watched and read the summary of the 1st game that comes with the second game right before the start.

I will add this to the OP:

There is no need to mark anything from the first game as spoilers. Anybody playing this should have played the first game and/or watched/read a summary of Cold Steel 1.

Is Cold Steel 1 the one where Dumbledore dies?

garion333 wrote:

Is Cold Steel 1 the one where Dumbledore dies?

No, it's the one where Sean Bean's head get cut off.

I thought it was the one where Gilderoy Lockhart gave Dark Arts at Thors military school.. mhhhhh

All in!

Officialy just started" I will try my best to alternate this with Ys VIII, since i WAS enjoying that one as well

I'm in! Though I'm away from home now and won't start this for a couple days, yet.

A couple notes from the other thread:

Cold Steel 1 Carry-Forward Bonuses

Cold Steel 2 (Relatively) Spoiler-Free Guide to Missables. This will help you find all optional quests, as well as making sure you can get all copies of the books, etc. in the game. Those collectibles were necessary to obtain end-game weapons in Cold Steel 1; I don't know if they're necessary here.

Just on the beginning area. I admit I set it on "easy" since Im practically new to the series and for now I just want to enjoy the story. I barely played the 1st game and I forgot all about the quarz and arts and the sepith etc. The summary of the 1st game that comes with this did help.

I'm in! I actually played about 10 hours or so already, so I've just started Act 1 Chapter 2 I think.

Normal difficulty, only one boss has put up much of a fight so far.

It is fantastic. It picks up speed after you get your

Spoiler:

homies/Class 7

.

I will see you people when part 3 is in the game club.

I have updated the OP to include the links provided by LastSurprise regarding missables and carry-on bonuses, and I have also added a mention of the first game's summary in the game's main menu.

I have my PlayStation TV set up and ready to go! But I'm also playing other things at the moment, so progress will be slow at first for me.

Off to a very slow start. Took just about 3 hours until I got a party and had a chance to play with the combat system again.

Yep, it's a Trails Of game.

Yeah, Falcom being Trails Falcom...

garion333 wrote:

Yeah, Falcom being Trails Falcom...

Is that good or bad?

I’m in! The game’s installed, the clear file’s imported, and I have started.

Two things struck me right away: man, this opening movie is very anime (just like the original). And, Rean is so, so earnest (just like the original).

Darkhaund wrote:
garion333 wrote:

Yeah, Falcom being Trails Falcom...

Is that good or bad?

Depends what you're looking for. Trails games are notoriously slow burns.

All I meant is it's a Trails game, so it's got some long lead ins at the beginning. They pretty much all do.

Well thanks for the clarification.... So far so good.. lol

And this game does not fool around.. siblings rubbing backs in hot springs lol!!! Jesus!

So, I haven’t gotten there yet, but ... you’re probably talking about Rean and his sister. I’m not sure if the game made it clear yet but Rean’s adopted. And his sister definitely has the hots for him.

And even more oddly, to my eye, there appears to be no taboo about step-siblings in this game’s culture. Other characters encourage her, and in a deleted scene from the first game, it’s clear that at least Rean’s mom approves, at least. Rean’s dad might disapprove, but in overprotective dad grounds—not incest grounds.

Crazy stuff hehehe. but well interesting.

Anyay.. quick question about Links.. I currently have Elise and Rean linked but I notice I can switch the link with Toval during fights. In fact I can link Rean (or any character for that matter) with Rean. Is this the way to go? Or should i just leave Rean linked to one character ?

LastSurprise wrote:

So, I haven’t gotten there yet, but ... you’re probably talking about Rean and his sister. I’m not sure if the game made it clear yet but Rean’s adopted. And his sister definitely has the hots for him.

And even more oddly, to my eye, there appears to be no taboo about step-siblings in this game’s culture. Other characters encourage her, and in a deleted scene from the first game, it’s clear that at least Rean’s mom approves, at least. Rean’s dad might disapprove, but in overprotective dad grounds—not incest grounds.

Rean being adopted is a plot element of the original, so shouldn't be any sort of reveal in the second game. I assume you mean the second game hasn't explicitly mentioned (or reminded!) that he's adopted yet.

It's def a weird thing for Falcom to keep putting in their games (see also: Trails in the Sky), but considering incest is legal in Japan... It's a trope I hope not to see them repeat.

Yeah... it is a cultural thing.. i ma not into that sortta thing...

Darkhaund wrote:

Crazy stuff hehehe. but well interesting.

Anyay.. quick question about Links.. I currently have Elise and Rean linked but I notice I can switch the link with Toval during fights. In fact I can link Rean (or any character for that matter) with Rean. Is this the way to go? Or should i just leave Rean linked to one character ?

It doesn't really matter, at least early in the game. As you level up link with a character you get access to more powerful link abilities, but the amount of link xp you get from early battles is really small. What I tend to do is stay linked to a character until I hit a level up, then switch to someone else for a while.

Later in the game you might need a certain link level to access special events with a character, but that's much later on and you'll have plenty of time to decide who you like in the meantime.

As for the brother-sister thing, yeah, I keep hoping they will just quietly drop it but they keep bringing it back up... That and the random comments on the girls' appearance. At least the girls usually give them a serve back, though.

garion333 wrote:
LastSurprise wrote:

So, I haven’t gotten there yet, but ... you’re probably talking about Rean and his sister. I’m not sure if the game made it clear yet but Rean’s adopted. And his sister definitely has the hots for him.

And even more oddly, to my eye, there appears to be no taboo about step-siblings in this game’s culture. Other characters encourage her, and in a deleted scene from the first game, it’s clear that at least Rean’s mom approves, at least. Rean’s dad might disapprove, but in overprotective dad grounds—not incest grounds.

Rean being adopted is a plot element of the original, so shouldn't be any sort of reveal in the second game. I assume you mean the second game hasn't explicitly mentioned (or reminded!) that he's adopted yet.

It's def a weird thing for Falcom to keep putting in their games (see also: Trails in the Sky), but considering incest is legal in Japan... It's a trope I hope not to see them repeat.

Correct. And I knew Darkhaund didn't play the first game, so he probably didn't know that plot point from the first.

Hmm. Didn't know that about Japanese culture. Legal or no, it still seems weird to me how many people not only seem to condone it, but that several women in the game (Alfin, and now some random lady in Ymir (?!)) keep commenting on how Rean's oblivious to Elyse's attraction.

Thanks for clarifying that, it's been so long since I finished the first game that I totally forgot about it was weirding me out. Brother/sister/crush?! It's a bit clearer now.

But it does make me feel weird about that hotspring scene. Cultural differences and all, it's still strange to me.

Also... i keep getting mixed up about Arts and Crafts.... and then the S-Craft that can be used very once in a while.

I guess things will fall into place as I keep progressing.

Mechanical spoilers for about midway into chapter 1 Act 1 (relating to links):

Spoiler:

You eventually get the ability to have your characters go into "Overdrive" with their linked partner. This lets them take 3 turns in a row (2 for initiator, 1 for link) with instant cast Arts and guaranteed crits, and restores hp and ep (or whatever the magic points are called). Overdrive *only* works with Rean until you open the special blue chests scattered around the world that will unlock Overdrive between the rest of Class 7. As soon as a character is recruited, Rean gets Overdrive with them due to his deep bonds from the first game.

I also wish Japanese developers/anime creators in general would stop doing the adopted brother/sister love thing. I get it is not taboo in their culture since there is no blood relation, but it is really weird for western sensibilities. All I know is my Rean was going strong with Laura in the first game and I plan to follow that as much as possible in this one.

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