I’ll have to wait and see, but the grand world shaping meta plot of the Trails series has always been much less interesting to me than the character focused smaller stories. Which is why I generally prefer the first entry in every arc to its sequels. So having a sequel that ignores the meta plot in favor of a character focus seems fine to me. Basically, your bottom three sounds like my top three, so I’ll likely have a more positive take on this one once it finally releases here.
Less overall plot and more character focused. Sounds like the game I wanted actually. Heck, I loved Daybreak quite a bit and it was perfect until the finale chapter. So if most of this is like those early chapters then this will be great.
I’m not worried, i don’t mind them doing things differently from time to time. The game looks beautiful and fun to play, that’s enough for me. Not gonna gripe about the woes of localization, i am nolifing this and the first game as soon as they are released 😅
Honestly Kuro no Kiseki II does have information relevant to the series as a whole..... Oathbreaker is a beast and should not be engaged in combat🤣🤣🤣BTW nice video
Are you going to do a spoiler filled review of this game because I had a hard time understanding your criticisms without the examples from the actual game's plot
From what i heard from people and the current news on Kai it kind of gives me the impression that Kuro 2 is the equivalent of the time period Trails arcs usually skip except we actually get to play it. Sky has Estelle's training in Le Locle The SSS briefly splitting in between Zero and Azure. Rean's year of missions with Altina and the northern war. If they really pulled a full game focusing around fixing loose ends and character development it could help avoid bloat that people usually point at with certain sections of CS4 or 2.
The main question I want the answer to is this - are most of the Edith NPCs still there and do you still get to follow what they're doing? And is the machine translation for NPCs in most of the game at least reasonably comprehensible? Following the NPCs was one of my favorite parts of Kuro 1 (which was surprising, since I never did this much in previous games). I think the smaller number of NPCs combined with the interface making it much easier to keep track of who you've talked to helped a lot.
Looked into the cast for the english localization just now. Can't believe we have a member of Smosh voicing the Van, dude. Seeing some of the members in the voice cast was a jumpscare the likes of which I haven't seen since Jack Black was announced as Bowser for the Mario movie. All the same, I think everyone currently listed is more than capable of doing a good job, so I've got high hopes for Daybreak.
Imho Reverie had the same problem, being a nice closing chapter for the Crossbell and Cold Steel Saga but lacking the significance for the overall Trails story. I'm in the last chapter of Daybreak right now, I like the characters introduced and the gameplay, and I love to see Swin and Nadia in the sequel
Cant wait for Daybreak 2 next year. It might be divisive but not as much as Cold Steel IMHO. CS has tons of issues not to mention the 4 game length (5 if you count Reverie as CS4.5/Crossbell 2.5). One issue I had was the fluff. In Sky, Crossbell Duology and now Daybreak those games do not have the issue I had with any CS game where there was an overabundance of dialogue in a lot of scenes. Also I love Van holy shit he really is different from other protags cuz all of em so far were kinda goody twoshoes but Van is in the middle, very gray. Doing what he believes in while making money amd doing whatever needs to be done. The games so far have put the Bracers on a pedestal where Crossbell had SSS to be like the bracers and Class 7 the same and the bracers are cool but man Daybreak is showing that they have their limits. I do like how they show stuff like Heiyue is needed to keep things in check. Necessary evils. Anyway im hype for Daybreak 2! Thanks for the review man
Still waiting on a full spoiler review of this one. Really interested to hear what you think on some of the decisions they made with the story (both in Kuro 2 as well as the implications on the series), the pacing, new characters etc
Recently I just played Trails in the Sky for the first time, being my first game in the series! Kind of thanks to you to be honest. Already about to start SC soon. I will be looking forward to these games though because of how much better the combat looks...
@@angrymikko So I've just about reached the 1st chapter and it feels like it's starting slow like how FC did. Like I thought the prologue was going somewhere but it was just a set up! How many chapters in do you think it takes to pick up?
@@theozziepotatothe first few chapters are slow because they introduce characters from Ouroboros, chapter 3 introduces the most relevant member, I'll say chapter 5 really picks up but yeah I still enjoyed the first half. I'm in CS4 now so yea, the sequels always have some kind of time skip so they slow down at first (2 months in Sky was it?), the games always close up perfectly so don't worry :)
Spolers obviously, dont read if you dont want them. Finished it yesterday. I enjoyed it. For ost, I had more OST stuck in my head from Kuro 1 than Crimson sin. Gameplay is my favourite in series probably. As for the story, I'm glad they gave us more info on subplots that were established in previous games, good thing they put it in this one, because by the looks of it Kai will have massive plot progression. As for the act 3, the issue you had with it (me too initially) resolves by the end of the act and during the final boss cutscene. The initial "okay, we gonna repeat again and again and again until we make it" turned into "oh, okay, it was badically villain learning what he needs to change in order to achieve his goals". I agree that many will hate it because it will be another case of "oh no it's Curse all over again". Act 3 final boss while lacking any significance to the story drops interesting lore, finale boss was much more impactful for me and that boss battle was really interesting, using both gameplay elements plus main gimmick of the game, was really fun for me. Can't wait for Kai and thank you people who made it possible to play before official release in the West.
Just finished the game last night. I think you have a lot of valid points in this video and while I agree that the overarching story progression was a bit lackluster I personally enjoy the character progression and overall world building as much and they were both top notch in my opinion. The only real disappointment for me was the main villain. Usually you can connect dots throughout side content, exploring and talking to all NPCs etc etc but this one I felt came out of left field and really didn't have an impact on me in the same way I usually feel in the series. Overall I really enjoyed the experience and if anything it makes me incredibly excited for Kai no Kiseki. As you said, the foundation is there now so we can expect some huge stuff happening in the next game. Staying away from spoiler territory will be more important than ever. Phew
I had the exact same thoughts when i finished the game, felt as if it was gonna be very decisive game for the fanbase. Overall i enjoyed it, super excited for the next entry
"Maybe if i saw it for what it was than what i expected it to be" That's exactly what happened to me when i played it on release and was severly disappointed back then. But strangely, i've been replaying it this year and now that i know what to expect, it has grown on me and i'm really enjoying my time with it, i feel i've been very unfair with this game overall, guess my disappointement for the lack of major advancement to the plot prevented me from enjoying the game in it's entirity, i still think the story is on the weak side compared to the 1st one though. I'm still against the "one Kiseki game every year" though, those kind of games needs more time in my opinion and don't need to be rushed, Kai no Kiseki had 2 years of developpement and it seems to hold a lot of promises already, i hope Falcom learned from Kuro no Kiseki 2 overall reception.
Skipping the video for now to avoid spoilers but I’m hoping it ends up being similar case to Sky 3rd for me where I didn’t necessarily appreciate it at first because it deviates from the formula I was familiar with but really grew on me as I played the rest of the series and saw a lot of the events it foreshadowed unfold.
Sky the Third was brilliant, but unlike Crimson Sin, I loved the story in that game. It gave us a meaningful look (and still, the only look) in to one of the more mysterious parts of the series. Plus, Kevin is awesome.
I definitely agree with lot of things you said, personally I felt game was kinda half and half, it had some great moments, but there were also some pretty big down points, overall I still think it is pretty good game, I still rank it fairly high though mostly due to the finale which was pretty damn good, especially the actual final boss fight which I would say is one of if not the best boss fight of the series, it felt super good to play out and the actual end of that fight... What a amazing way to end it I personally am not against the more character driven story, and I don't think it really hurts the series, tho I do think that in a sense Crimson Sin felt more like what you would have in 1st game of Trails ark or in a sense, something like CS3, a 'further setup' sort of deal, we see some events and if you read between lines you actually start seeing some connecting dots to what will come in Kai, I already can see few plot points that will most likely happen when I thought the things through bit more carefully, but it is obviously way way more subtle then what you would expect if you would follow the classic Trails formula Overall I still think game is pretty fun, character stories are honestly amazing and Kuro as a whole has some of my favorite characters of the series now (Plus they actually made a Kloe/Ellie/Alisa archetype of character that I actually genuinely enjoyed, which is shocking to me still since while I don't mind the 3 at all and they have some great moments, they never were anywhere close to my favorites, Agnés tho? Loved her in both games) Can't wait to see it go to west and for people to experience it, it will be great, tho I do have to say I worry how badly the dialogue will be butchered, there always were censorship in the western releases but I think Kuro might be hit by it even more which kinda sucks since it feels like the overal theme of Kuro is far far more mature then any previous arks, and characters are way more... Expressive let's say (*Cough* Aaron and Van in bathhouse together *Cough*) Plus from what little we heard of voice acting in the trailer, I will say for first time in the series I actually prefer the OG voices, might be bias since that is what I played, but just... I dunno, from the trailer, Van is... Okay, not great, but okay Agnés works well enough Feri I don't like AT ALL from what I heard in the trailer (Which sucks cause I really like Feri) Aaron and Risette are okay, tho I think Aaron sounds more full of himself rather then brash and cocky like he is in OG which I think fits way better Quattre is okay and Judith is honestly pretty fitting Elaine tho... Oh god... I hate it... Nothing against the voice actress... But it just does not fit Elaine, the tone and how angry she sounds, cause Elaine even when she is angry is actually calm, so you know Bergard and Kincaid are fine and all, but could be better Shizuna is pretty good fit tho I think Rest you hear in the trailer are mostly okay, some I like, some not so much. I am still deciding if I like or hate voice of certain mint haired boy, can't decide, and obviously everything can change once I hear them more in actual game and they have proper conversations, that was my impression of the voices from the trailer tho, definitely far more of a mixed bag compared to previous arks where I generally prefer the english voices to japanese
love your videos my guy. i started kuro 2 earlier last year but i got hooked on WoW so I didn't get to it. I broke back free from WoW and ordered a new controller, so very excited to play soon.
I just reached act 3 of the game, but my overall consents of the game is I’m enjoying it. I knew what the complaint were of the game and act 3 and jumped in with a different perspective which is filling in loose ends and advancing some sub-plots that might be harder to do later on down the line. The loops to me are experimental. I feel like it’ll show up again in the future I love its character focused parts and I appreciate the experimentation here, but I agree another crimson sin doesn’t need happen at least out of pattern. Time to enter act 3 without trepidation lol
Well im on kuro 1 and loving. People are complaining but I go back to how horrible the entire cold steel arc was written. CS2 was a joke and CS4 was padding all the way up to the rivalries, so as long as its not thst garbage and more in line with zero and azure sign me up. Lets not forget how annoying rean was, how deaths did not matter, nd how in CS1 nothing actuslly happened until the last hour of the game. Kuro 1 so much is happening i can almost see this as a reverse entry. And at least whats developing in kuro 1 is leagues better than the horseshit they spewed in CS2
@@JimC1984 Damn, someone really doesn't like CS. I agree with the points that death doesnt matter. And I also can see how Rean can be annoying to someone. Buit other than that, why you even play the trails series when CS seem to be shit games for you.
@@Milkymanny CS feels like im watching a cheezy naruto or shoeunen arc when playing sky kuro or crossbell i feel like im playing a well written narrative. I could give dozens of examples why if youd like. Im playing CS because I appreciate trails sky zero azure and kuro. I HAVE to deal with CS to get the whole picture. They could have told it MUCH better but decided not too. AYour comments annotates basically that CS is trails which is entirely incorrect. CS is one arc, snd a very bad yet essentisl to have the full picture of the trails series going forward. And that is why kuro being a filler in 2 is fine with me, I put up with the most immature grocery bin characters in CS with no plot momentum for multiple games from them. So kuro 2 sounds great to me the characters are fleahed out and likeable
Interesting. I guess I should thank you for the heads up because I would have thought the same being the second in the arc and follow the establish guidelines as the previous games. Still looking forward to it...just in a different light
Agreed with this video. Kai no Kiseki is going to make or break the Calvard arc. I think Kondo mentioned in an interview that Kuro 2 was hastly made which makes me wonder how much passion they have for Calvard arc as a whole. It was even mentioned they were already planning the next arc and the protagonist along with the setting. Feels like they're rushing to have the Trails series completed at this point.
The thing is, if they're struggling with development already (as Kondo seems to suggest with Crimson Sin), how do they intend to increase their output in the near future as they mentioned in their shareholder report? Makes no sense to me.
@@TheKisekiNut I'm wondering if they didn't plan to release YS X in 2022 but realized it wouldn't pan out so focus shifted to Kuro 2 for being quicker to make but still needed to be rushed.
Spoilers too. Like you i just finished this game and i admit that i was disappointed in the story most of all. I was cringed when i got to the intermission. Time leap was an abused mess and they just shoved boss fights at you for flimsy reasons. Like "we saw you talking to the oathbreaker, so we must beat you up." Like whut?? And i didnt even get what the hell harwood wanted to do. Poison gas, nuke the island, angel of death, his plans and the way it jumped to character backstories were all over the place. Then harwood waves goodbye after ALL that?? Worse is act 3. The corrosion is another stupid plotpoint to give a reason for the established cast to hate the player characters. Like the fixers were in cahoots with A??? ARE THEY SERIOUS? if garden master was gonna invent a lie, they should AT LEAST make it believable. Finally the final chapter. I did like harwood and the twins appearing again but they just showed up for a boss fight. They had no point. And garden master come on!!! A disgruntled spirit from the war that possesed an artifact? They had tons of organizations they could have used as villains. Escariot, Marduk, Gramheart and they used a stupid spirit, the DG cult AGAIN and returned a dead character AGAIN?
I am hype for the daybreak arch. Happy to know first one if great, and what I should expect for the second. And happy we finally are getting in spitting distance of getting in sync to releases.
? You actually call NISA a real localization? Have you heard about how much they have butchered CS 3 and 4 with " femanism" etc. Elaine being called " beautys blade" instead of sword maiden. No please keep them a mountain of distance away, people need to play these games as the CREATOR INTENDED, Not the BS bastardization that NISA is doing
@@JimC1984 sigh…. Yes I would rather a one to one translation and when it’s all replaced by AI I will get that. Till then, it does not bother me as much as clearly it does you…
@@Trace153 it bothers me that the story as its supposed to be is completly bastardized, and IM SURE if yhe creators who wrote said scripts in japan had even an inkling of what these bafoons at NISA do it would bother them alot more than me
@@JimC1984 the story at the high to mid level is still the same. Even from your “extreme” examples it’s just in the weeds low level things that get the hated “woke” inserted into in it. The company hired that company to do it, you think no one reviews the script after the fact… It’s game, you need to take a breath and not get so heated many many worst things out there for all that negative energy if you feel you must release it. I am here to enjoy my hobby not to get all bent out of shape. Back in the day we would never get these games even sent over, we are not the target audience. The creators do many things that make me cringe things around fan service that I don’t enjoy, but again the story as a whole I love. If translators are butchering it be activist me getting up in arms and screaming into the void of the internet would do nothing. Move on, or only play with fan translations and return once AI replaces them your call. But take all you angry and move on to somewhere else.
This is interesting, so I wonder if this is the case like in book series where midway through the writers realized that something was missing for later down the line so had to slow the story pace of this game down to achieve the pay off later on. Curious do we know if this is going to be a trilogy or a quartet? Either way still looking forward to the calvard arc, and can't wait to play it.
Not going to spoil anything. At the end of Kuro 1, something happens, something is revealed and you can swear the game will end right there, on a cliffhanger, like Sky 1 and CS1 and 3. But then, literally out of nowhere, something else happens, and that big reveal is solved, I sh*t you not, 5 minutes later, then the credits start to roll and everyone is happy and back to how things used to be, as if nothing had happened. It so, extremely jarring, that there's no doubt in my mind they rushed to change Kuro's 1 ending after they decided on what Kuro 2 was going to be.
I mean the end does say continued in Kuro No Kiseki FINAL CHAPTER so certainly sounds like a Trilogy. I know in the past it was suggested otherwise so no foul
I think the set up feels more because of the combat if it makes sense, those new additions made it feel complete than the first one, so they made the story feel like it wasn't important overall because of the mechanics, i liked the development on some characters and more importantly Renne and even address a thought i had on other character's name on her behalf. I really liked it at the end but would understand the divise nature it would cause
I honestly had to digest this game afterwards for a couple days when I beat it. Even now I feel like I need to get another playthrough under my belt before my thoughts are fully gathered on it. I enjoyed the story, gameplay and all the character interactions, but I was also dissatisfied with how they just ignored some parts of the overall of this arc. It felt like an epilogue to the first game, just enhanced and elongated to a full-size game. They also had to not include of Bergard for the game, which did cause me some pain. I'm honestly still happy with how it went, as it felt very unique for a Trails game. A black sheep, for sure. And I do NOT want another Crimson Sin. It was, for all purposes, a game for character development and tying up loose ends of the first game. Here is to the long wait for Kai.
I won't be playing this again till it's Western release, too many other games to play and Crimson Sin didn't do enough to make me want to play it again any time soon.
@@TheKisekiNut I do have to agree on that. I'm in no hurry to play through it again either. Looking forward to what recommendations you'll have this year for other games to keep the wait bearable.
Possibly the most frustrating experience I've had in the series was this whole game. I played it shortly after it came out, and I've forgotten most of the details of it except one scene, which feels like the only part that will impact the overall story which makes me hopeful as the next game seems to follow that up exactly, but I totally agree that that game needs to make an impact or this whole arc will feel like a waste, which sucks cause kuro 1 is on my list of the best in the series. Additionally both of the bad guys were major disappointments, the first I couldn't care about, and the second even made my opinion on the first game drop a bit (trying to be as spoiler free as possible here for those who care), and the main mechanic rarely gels with me, and it certainly didn't here. Following the Zero Field stuff, Northern War and this game Trails has been hard to recommend lately as my favorite franchise, even if arguably only one of those is Falcom's fault which keeps me hopeful for the future. Definitely had some good moments and the gameplay and visuals were improvements for sure, but the story is just bad in my opinion and not just in a "for a Trails game" way. Loved to hear your thoughts on it.
I am happy this video released some time after I finishe Crimson Sin. I agree so much with this. I love it for focusing so much on the character because I think Kuro really has a bunch of the best character in the series. Act 3 however made me unironically mad. Act 1 and 2 were alright - they introduced "the thing" in the story which is a plot device I hate in most stories. I didnt like nor hated it. Intermission - FANTASTIC IMO - Act 3 starts using "the thing" not only too much but in a way where it stops making sense in every possible way. Finale brought the game back up
I just feel like Trails writing is getting worse, dont get me wrong i played every game from sky 1 to hajimari, and all the games are at least good, but Azure was the peak, since then nothing else got on the same level i feel. Since cold steel things got weird, i thin kthe tone changed a lot: no one can really die anymore, bad things happen but to no consequence, every bad guy needs a sad backstory to justify they acts etc. When i finished sky 3 and azure i felt connected to the chacracters, i wish i could have more time with then. By the end of Hajimari i was so done with Rean and class 7, feeling glad that i didn't have to deal with then anymore. Right now im waiting for both Like a Dragon 8 and P3 Reloaded, after im done with those games im gonna play kuro 1/2 with the translations, i hope i like then more than cold steel.
I agree with you that the writing suffered from CS1 to Reverie, but Kuro 1 is a return to form in every sense. It's one of the best written games in the series. It's a shame that Kuro 2 turned out the way it did, though the characters at least are still fantastic.
I agree. I didn't find Kuro 1 as successful as them, but when we think about it, we can say that the reason for this is its arc score. Kuro 1 is actually as good as FC and Zero considering.
@@Starkride48 What are you talking about? Kuro 1 is literally the most mixed bag entry in terms of writing. It has some amazing parts, like the end of Chapter 4 and start of Chapter 5, but also some really awful parts like Chapter 3. You have Van being a great protagonist, then characters like Judith who the whole cast never shut up about how much of a dumb wh*re she is, which is a first in the series as no other character was ever threated in such a mean spirited way. You also have so, so many plot reshashes, at points the game feels like Zero 1.5 with how similar the story bits and plot development are. It's not a bad game, but it is the only entry on which you can clearly tell two things 1) Different people wrote each Chapter. The difference in quality and writing is extremely noticeable. 2) They either ran out of ideas or they really, really wanted to rehash Zero for some reason.
Thanks for the video! I'm a little trepidatious about the Calvard arc in general -- I feel like a lot of the things it's been praised for might not necessarily be to my taste or what I want from the series -- but I am still looking forward to it in its own way. You perspective just solidifies that sentiment.
It's still a great game, but maybe expectation on this one needs to be shifted a bit before you go in. I went in completely blind (no trailers, no opinions etc.).
I do think also tho, that while kuro 2 didn't hit as much as the other sequels for over all story, we wont see how much kuro 2 and even 1 is to the over all story till "kuro 3"
TBH act 3 gives me the vibe "hey you guys are forcing us to push out a new game every year and this trash show is all we can do in a year, so give us more time and stop pushing us"
I may be in the minority when i say i play trails primarily for the combat (theres a reason ive replayed reverie 3 times while the sky and crossbell games have been benched since the first playthrough). If Kuro 2 delivers on that front its good enough for me.
One i didn't expect from this game is that the intermission arc for kuro no kiseki 2 is actually better than chapter 3. And honestly, chapter 3 of this game only made frustrated, and i agree that chapter 3 exist only for the story, i mean it doesn't have much impact for the characters
Your concerns with the story and its contribution to the overall Trails plot is so reminiscent of phase four of the MCU. Where do you go after endgame after stakes that high? So yeah, I totally get why even the next story arc in general after Erebonia would be divisive. We spent a decade of peak storytelling and interconnectivity, so naturally this story arc will need to build on that to some extent but still be its own thing. I'll still stick through it though, because I am that intrigued
Just finished this game few hours ago, and this game is definitely the one that made me frustrated so much compared to other games like cold steel series, trails of azure or sky, but that definitely made this game amazing, especially chapter 3
I just beat the game today I will say I prefer this game over CS1/2 and 4 because of the bosses and the character development. I will say the main villain is weak but he still better than CS2 Duke Cayenne. I will also say the main concept happens way too much. I will give it a 7.8.
Currently replaying this again because I OCR'd it on my first run. Using the fan translation now to see if there is anything I missed. Kuro II is a good game, has everything you would expect in a Kiseki game but the story for me was not as strong IMO. This second run may change my mind.
This game shows the evolution of visual part, but the presentation of the story is trash😅(somewhere near ToCS II). There are some interesting development of old characters but the overwhelming repeating design pattern is annoying. 😂
I didn't think anything could get more divisive than Cold Steel 4. That was probably the only game in the series (that I've played) that actively rubbed me the wrong way with the decisions it was making.
@@Nel_AnnetteYeah the C-word was one of the worst deus ex machinas I have ever seen, not to mention the ridiculous fake deaths. Felt like the game caters to kids or something
@@ninototo1 Yes, someone who understands! At least four characters cheated death off the top of my head, so I couldn't take that seriously. Attributing all of Erebonia's tragedies to "the c-word" was lame as heck when we already knew something like Hamel was orchestrated by Weissman. And the villain. All those years of build-up just for them to go "Hey, guys, turns out I was NEVER evil. In fact, I've been actively letting you escape and gain advantages! You're only winning because of me! All the horrible things I've done over nine games? The devil is watching me! The devil made me do it! THE DEVIL MADE ME DO IT!" I want my time back. Cold Steel feels like such a step back compared to Liberl and Crossbell.
@@Nel_Annette Spoilers for CS arc. Yup! I was so hyped for CS and Osborne after the teaser in Sky 3. It promised interesting politics, the class divide, and an epic confrontation between Olivier and Osborne in what basically is Imperial Germany. Sign me up! And CS1 seemed to be leading up to exactly that. Then the arc proceeded to utterly drop the ball with CS2. The writing was so horrendous, I could have done a better job. Like the whole "We gotta stay neutral" but they attack the Noble Alliance the entire game. Or how the Civil War is just a backdrop. The real story is about reuiniting Rean with his bestest terrorist friend (who, I'll have to remind you, wanted to nuke Crossbell Tower with Towa inside). Then it turns out Osborne is still alive! It was all part of his plan! Oh and Crow is still alive after we had an emotional song attributed to him. And no one is evil and nothing matters, it's all fate or..something. Remember how the Emperor told Rean he knew about literally everything in advance and chose not to do anything about it? And everyone still respects the guy! Also I predicted Celine transforming into a cat waifu girl and laughed my ass off when it happened. Olivier "dying" actually made me emotional and I swore I wouldn't forgive Falcom if it was yet another fake death..Guess what happened. I didn't touch CS4 after that. I will probably try Kuro 1 but after being really invested in Trails, I now realize that it's not what I thought it would be. To me it feels like the target demographic shifted from young adults to young teens.
@@ninototo1 I'd say that's about right, yeah. I always described it as an anime series that avoided the usual anime tropes, but in CS fell right into the general anime bullshit. Gundam mechs, every girl is now a big busty waifu you can get it on with and fanservice runs rampant (generic "girls always commenting on the girl with the biggest tits' breasts" jokes), Estelle and Lloyd were just normal people who, though related to well-known people, weren't all that special themselves but worked hard to get where they were. Rean's a VERY special boy, and everyone loves him.) And everyone's so HUMBLE and NICE and FORGIVING to each other, even when they're enemies. In many situations it makes no sense. Cold Steel feels like a generic anime infected the series I love and sucked a lot of the charm out of it. The music in that arc doesn't even touch what Liberl and Crossbell had. Thank god Estelle still feels like herself whenever she shows up. I haven't played Daybreak or Crimson Sin, but at this point I'm just still going out of obligation to see the whole overarching story through. I've had Reverie since July. I played some of it in July, didn't touch it again until September, and now I still haven't touched it since then. I will have to force myself into it eventually.
Finally finished this the other night, I think the best way to put it is that it follows a 132 route if you compare it to sky. Almost like a epilogue to the opener. Still there was soo much character stuff in there to latch onto. Including Quatre who was very limited in the first. It does come through with its bigger lore builds. Definitely a great setup to Kai... though the pressure is on now for it to deliver. Looking forward to a spoiler breakdown ;)
By the way kiseki nut , did you encounter fps issue playing the kuro CLE version ? Personally had issues with theirs when i tried daybreak 1 and refunded it after cutscene botching and fps not being smooth
@@JJ-tq5sk Processor 12th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-12700H 2.30 GHz Installed RAM 32.0 GB System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor Intel(R) Iris(R) Xe Graphics NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050(Laptop) Windows 11 It is a gaming laptop and could play a lot more intensive game fine . Durante was smooth so was wondering how other people felt about the CLE .
Hmmm guess ill wait until Crimson Sin arrive at western shore, but honestly trails story got weaker from time to time, we're not even got the story quality as good as Sky arc and Crossbell arc
Kuro 1 is definitely have worse ost than other trails games, but not to the point where there aro no songs to add. At least Rise of Grendel and What is ahead of you are pretty damn good. You could argue that the first one is too intense for a normal playlist, which I agree too, but the second can fit just anywhere.
I don't think Kuro no Kiseki was really what Falcom had planned. It was created in order to give Ys 10 a little more time to finish development. So my guess here is that Kuro was not supposed to be 3 games. They probably dumped what they had already prepared for the sequel, and added some villain and filler to tie it all. On the other hand, this has given more time for Falcom to develope the Kai no Kiseki game. So, if they have cut a few plot points that get resolved on Kuro 2, and had a little more time to work on it. Kai is probably gonna be a really good game.
There's been talks that Falcom are aiming to increase their output in the future too. If they're already struggling with their current workload, I don't know how they plan to make that happen.
Glad to hear your take on Kuro II. About the only thing I might disagree with is the OST, as I felt like it was more of mixed bag; for me, Kuro (Daybreak) I had greater highs, but Kuro II felt a bit more...consistent, I guess? Other than that, I pretty much agree with every other point you made. While it was still enjoyable, it was definitely on the lower end of my series ranking, made worse by how the writing took a dive at the start of that one chapter before eventually picking back up. Here's hoping that Kai no Kiseki will be an overall improvement.
I generally like the Trails and Ys series for their character writing and worldbuilding, gameplay is just there and the OST's always stick with me. The plot isn't the deciding factor in each game, though it can have detrimental effects depending on other factors. I rank CS4 highly despite the plot being all over the place, but rank CS3 poorly for the same reason. While I could tell this game's plot was going to feel rushed or incomplete due to how quickly it was released after Kuro 1, it sounds like character writing is still the highlight of the series and hopefully I'll have a good experience despite this feeling like the least exciting game in the series.
Not especially fond of a True Reverie Corridor type addition to be honest, because it makes me feel like the quartz/sepith grind is going to be as god awful as it was in Hajimari. I love these games, and Kiseki is my 2nd favorite ongoing series after Ys, but I've always felt like the progression systems are by far the weak point because of just how nasty the grind is to get characters to a power level that I want. Haven't played Kuro 1, so I dunno if there was any relief of this after Hajimari, but this doesn't inspire confidence. Not at all worried about the story/characters/etc. though. Unless for some reason Falcom decides to include DEI/CRT horseshit, I'll trust them implicitly. I don't at all mind a second setup game, because to me at least, that just means more opportunities for significant shit to hit the fan when things do go down. I'm the type though, whose only expectation of a game going in is "this will be fun." Our tastes within the series are different enough that I wouldn't worry personally anyway.
I wont be watching this video because of spoilers but i will say that ive been seeing so much divided opinions about kuro 2 in comment sections from older other videos that are trails related. Im slightly concerned about what it all means when we finally get our hands on kuro 2 over here but despite the overall reception that game has been getting, its a trails game at the end of the day which makes me automatically hyped for it. Cant wait for kuro 1 later in the year!
I know next to nothing about crimson sin but Ive also heard its just a setup game and character driven. Considering how big in scope kai no kiseki seems to be, I'd imagine they plan to cash out on that buildup.
I’m sure I’ll like this game but this definitely isn’t the first time I’ve heard mixed feelings on this game but this is the first time I’ve heard what those negatives are. The reality is that the trails series has gotten almost impossibly long for new players to get into so if it’s going to keep going each game needs to be compelling. The series really can’t afford filler games at this point and I’m not sure their reason for doing so. These aren’t short games they have more than enough opportunities to expand these characters in a regular style trails game, as they have done so many times.
So Kuro No Kiskeki II is one of the weakest links in a very strong chain. It's disappointing, but I am sure it will still be well worth our time. Even a disappointing Trails game is still a very good game.
While I love Kuro 1 so much, Crimson Sin disappointed me. I could touch and feel the lands of Calvard in Kuro 1 and the story progression was so nice, you could feel Calvard little by little. But in Crimson Sin, the story progression was damned at a certain point as you said. For me, the biggest problem in Crimson Sin was... 'him', the guy who came out of nowhere. I was like "Who??" at that moment. He just made the stuff we went through pointless. Almost every aspect of the game was nice. except for the story, really. (Grendel Zolga was really really splendid though)
Man.... i so highly disagree with Kuro 2's "problem" is that it doesn't further the overarching narrative as big as every other sequel game... Spoilers below \/ I'm just so baffled by how people could focus entirely on the plot not moving (I guess?? disagree there as well), and not on how this game is almost entirely character focused. Is that an issue? Having more character focus? Because with how engaging almost every single character in Kuro is, it's little wonder that Kuro 2 would make it even better. I'll agree that "not a lot" is happening, but the setup for Kai is straight up there, which will ultimately lead into probably the most in-world-changing events in the series. I can see the arguments for Act 3, definitely. But it's not as bad as the mind-numbing and tedious things as other sequel games'. In short, to disregard this game for being more about character than plot is incredibly silly to me.
You've pretty much agreed with his take here. It's a character focused game, and doesn't do anything for the actual 'plot' of trails. As in, the needle barely moves on the story surrounding the Sept-Terrions. People don't want to be in their 80s when this series ends just because Falcom want to milk Trails dry.
Yeah, This is about as "skippable" as a Trails game has come in a long time. I was honestly shocked at how little development there was, especially given how heavily they were setting up stuff with the first kuro game.
The game gets too much hate, before i started it i kept reading complaints online about it not advancing the plot much and i disagree. We got the 8 genesis, uncovered who C was that helped us at the end of Kuro 1, witnessed the birth of a new Hiyue family, wrapped up the majority of the loose ends with Almata and the Garden, pretty much figured we're gonna be dealing with the Sept-Terrion of Time moving forward, got new enforcers joining the society, finally learned about Nina's secret and her affiliation with the church and much more, this game definitely wasn't a waste it advanced the plot as much as any other trails game imo.
It gets hate because pretty much every addition you've stated is just added fluff to an already bloated story. More enforcers, big woop. Nina's identity, cool, what more does she do in the game? The 8 Genesis are collected, great it took them a full game to get the last one. Wrapping up the Garden, again that was done in the first game along with Almata, no need to stretch it out more for literally no pay off. Again, this game deserves the backlash because it does 'nothing' for the actual underlying plot of Trails, it just adds meaningless stuff when people want to see actual progression. It's like being stuck in a narrative swamp with no end.
Yes I did, because what is actually done with it? Is Nina's reveal used in any meaningful way? Do I care that there are more enforcers? People need to get it in to their head that adding fluff without actual results is just padding, not development.@@jackjohnson8305
I heavily disagree with that Act 3 abandoned the Character moments, it actually has some of the best character moments in the series because of the weird scenarios. I agree that the Act has some of the lowest points of the story but also some of the highest points, especially with the characters, whether they be from the solutions office or other side characters that didn't get much time previously. The game does make a lot of progression in the overall story, it's just not the same type of progression we're used to in Trails, and that difference is a positive to me as the structure was starting to get boring and repetitive.
It's a real stretch to say it had some of the best character moments - Feri is the only one I remember and even that was sub-par considering what we've seen in the past.
@@Sortyourselfout-cu7en if you actually only remember Feri's moments then I recommend that you go back to the act, a lot of characters get moments that are outright impossible to execute in any other games in the series because of nature of multiple timelines and falcom's weird fear of killing characters. And when I say characters, I don't mean the main party only, even the side characters got moments that showcased how good Kuro's character writing is and that almost everyone is built-up enough to the point that they make you care about them, even if they're not important to the main plot.
@@AbdulrahmanSFR yes, I was soooo invested in Ashen having a hissy fit and Cao coming out of no where to stop her. Brilliant writing, 10/10. Just for the record, I did rewatch those scenes and they're just bad. You're gonna tell me that Kasim was under no control but was more than happy to kill everyone despite that? Or that Risette loses her rational side of thinking that she's had all the time? You can defend this game all you want, but many will see it for what it is. Boring filler that will be forgotten as soon as the next game comes out.
From what I've heard the game seems to have been rushed. I think Falcom is adamant to always have a main game at least once a year (Ys or Trails) but i feel it's starting to show that model can't sustain the scale of the story we expecy from Trails. I just wished they took some more time to polish each game. Give it 2 years between releases at the very least.
The thing is, there's been suggestions that this game was rushed via Kondo himself. But very recently via the shareholder meeting, he said the company is aiming to increase their output from 2-3 titles per year to 4-5. If they're already struggling, then I don't really know how they plan to do that.
I have to disagree im on chapter 3 and the character building is excellent. So much happens in kuro 1, and comparing it to how aweful cold steel 1 and 2 are, i say kuro 1 moves thw plot more than both of those games combined. Especially all of the slice of life school nonesense from cs1. Kuro 2 actively builds on the strengths of kuro 1 slows down and tells its own indepdant story. The writing in kuro 1 AND 2 is still leagues better than the entire cold steel plot and nods me back to falcoms writing quality from sky to azure. I also believe some of its aspects so far will build into the time sept terrian but thats a theory. I really cant see it for anyrhing but a net positive after suffering the cold steel arc
Lmao. Kuro 2 flopped in Japan. The plot doesn't go anywhere it's just a filler game. It flopped so bad Kuro 3 got changed to Farewell o Zemuria. After that it's a new arc. and guess who they bringing back Rean from Cold Steel. Kuro 2 writing is easily the worst in the series.
I am just glad that we share an agreement with how Crimson Sin is one of, if not the weakest of the whole series. 1. How this installment doesn't actually expand enough on the story (You could very well just play through the entire game without understanding any of the dialogue and it wouldn't change your experience even if you understood all of it) 2. THE PLOT DEVICE. It's in my opinion, one of the hardest to use and easiest to screw up of all plot devices. And Falcom stepped on EVERY SINGLE ONE of my pet peeves with regards to this particular one. It devalues the characters, making the cast look inferior to their predecessors (which come on, Van's an adult. Could you not make him look at least as competent as 20-year-old Rean?) Actually, come to think of it, Crimson Sin feels more like a DLC than an actual sequel.
I'll check out kuro1 when it releases but i may be done with this series... i don't like the shift to action gameplay at all, the characters look stiff and uninteresting, i didn't like 7 and 9 in reverie,... i feel the series has lost most of it's charm from up until cold steel 2. Makes me sad but yeah... i realize I'm not part of a demographic that would enjoy those changes :/
I agree. At least CS1 and CS2 felt like the Kiseki games. Starting from CS3, I started to feel as if these games no longer belonged to the Kiseki universe.
My initial reaction when beating this game was that it was the worst Trails game, and that opinion has only solidified over time. Most of the game is good to inoffensive, and I the intermission is one of the most thrilling parts of any game in the series, but Act 3 is so poorly written it feels akin to a 14-year-old's first light novel. Very little of it makes any sense and it's so tediously long. The ending felt anticlimactic to me as well, aside from some cool production in the final boss fight. This game just does so little to advance the narrative and I don't feel like it does enough to be considered a character-driven game either, which some people say it is. The main cast aside from one character ends in pretty much the same spot as Kuro 1. It feels like this game exists because they needed to release something in 2022 but they didn't want to step on the script of Kai, so they put the story in a holding pattern. I'd love to hear your spoiler thoughts too. On the point of Kuro 1's OST, I mostly agree with you that there are a lack of killer tracks, but Cloudy Cloudy, Resonance of Ray, and Beyond the Dawn stand out to me. Resonance of Ray is one of the best final dungeon themes in the series (and that's saying something) and I still can't get enough of Beyond the Dawn, it's so catchy and fun.
Yeah, the end of the review covers the key bit - expectations. I haven't played the Kuro games yet, but it will help that I know what Crimson Sin is before playing it. That will stave off the "Why isn't anything happening yet? When does the plot speed up?" antsy feeling. As is, the idea of a sleepy game where not much happens sounds comfy. I think that Crimson Sin is designed the way it is for a reason - that reason being that the next title takes place in 1210, and is the game where everything changes and the main turning point of the entire series. Crimson Sin's purpose might be to enjoy the status quo for one last game, the final days where things are still normal.
Agreed, we might look back on Crimson Sin as one of the most important games. Alternatively, it could just be forgotten completely and seen as a black sheep. Time will tell.
I like it, but I can understand why people might disliking kuro 2, since most of the game I was wondering why XXX doing what they were doing...and the actual reason disappoints me, since their reasoning didn't convince me enough, the whole plot felt like just needless drama that try to fill up the playing time...but other than that and the drop in music quality, I do enjoy the game, and for some reason, the most memorable part of this game is the cutscenes, especially shizuna vs kasim and the last part about school festival....and yeah, the part you keep dying(unlike most people, I actually have no problem with it, even developing a twisted mind to see how Van and Co. might die/fail next time).
I will start playing tomorrow (with basically same fan translation I guess). This video soldified some of my worries I heard about in the past. I am massive trails fan, played all the games in order (Yes I started with sky first and then continued), and I am not the biggest fan of the concept this one presents. I gotta say Sky FC is among my most favorite trails games but since you mentioned this one was on bottom of your list for different reasons, I guess that is not of a big significance. Anyway wanna ask, how long is the game? Is it usual 60 hours? Thanks
I haven't played reverie yet it's in my backlog and honestly may be there until daybreak is out in the summer. I'm having fun with midnight suns and excited for like a dragon infinite wealth persona 3 reload and final fantasy 7 rebirth but I'm unsure whether to get the deluxe edition or go for the I think way too expensive collectors edition
just finished the game (Ps4 japanese ver) it is fun, got more character and world building development, and yeah the plot is crazy and wacky but I enjoy it
I hope you have plan to make a spoiler discussion video about this. Regardless I'm pretty much agree with you. After the high note in "vacation arc" the act 3 feels so weird. I'm happy falcom is experimenting some new gimmick but yeah their gamble fail this time. On the other hand this game make me feel really excited with Kai no Kiseki
Translation wasn't done till like October, and I had loads of other games I was playing during that time. I had a window around mid December to jump on to Crimson Sin.
Spoiler warning did it's job! Making these 'early looks' at pre-localised Trails titles is always difficult, so I don't blame someone not taking the chance.
Everyone is different, but this is my least favorite game in the series, followed by Reverie. Which, sadly, for me, means 2 of the last 3 games have flopped. It's really making Kai a make or break for me, as far as how much they can/can't hit the things I care about.
between this game and Ys X: Nordics it seems Falcom has really been looking into how to make even better final boss experiences because both Crimson Sin and Nordics final bosses have jumped to my #1 spots of final bosses in their respective series and I'm hoping future titles will follow up on that trend. As for the game itself, I finished it last night and overall I feel like it's a middle of the pack for me. Namely mostly agree with how the third act played out. While I had some gasps and surprises here and there throughout the game, in the 3rd act I felt absolutely none of that. Oh, I could also say that my greatest complaint (didn't check NG+ so idk if I'm wrong) it's that marchen garten teases you by letting you know you can change the soundtrack while playing by unlocking songs from previous games, but then ONLY EVER gives you Reverie and Daybreak songs unless you purchase DLC packs. I hate this, could have still had a few bangers as DLCs but not restricting base game unlockables to only 2 games out of the franchise dangit!
I forgot your reason why you put Sky 1 as part of your bottom three. Usually I tend to look at the games as what it is , not something I expect it just helps me too see what it was trying to offer and how it contributes to the franchise , but you're right with Kuro 2 being divisive . I dunno but I feel like the next Trails game wasn't going to be an introductory part but more of a piece that bridge what happened in Kuro 1 and 2 simply because Kuro 2 didn't do that. Maybe it's intentional
![[#SHORTS CLIP] ใช้ของของตัวเองไปเลยสิคะ l ซานิเบาได้เบา l One Playground](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Ea_mTywx2p4/mqdefault.jpg)
I’ll have to wait and see, but the grand world shaping meta plot of the Trails series has always been much less interesting to me than the character focused smaller stories. Which is why I generally prefer the first entry in every arc to its sequels. So having a sequel that ignores the meta plot in favor of a character focus seems fine to me.
Basically, your bottom three sounds like my top three, so I’ll likely have a more positive take on this one once it finally releases here.
REAL. YES. Good opinion
Like I say, some people will love the game I'm sure of that. Despite my issues, it's still a great game even in my eyes.
Less overall plot and more character focused. Sounds like the game I wanted actually. Heck, I loved Daybreak quite a bit and it was perfect until the finale chapter. So if most of this is like those early chapters then this will be great.
This game regresses the characters intelligence, chapter 3 will cause you to get frustrated with the cast
I’m not worried, i don’t mind them doing things differently from time to time. The game looks beautiful and fun to play, that’s enough for me. Not gonna gripe about the woes of localization, i am nolifing this and the first game as soon as they are released 😅
I'm sure many will enjoy it for what it is, it's still a great game. It's just a bit... different.
I honestly can't wait for Daybreak and it's sequel
I'm 10 hours in and loving every moment so far. I'm enjoying it much more than the other game it was similar too.
Honestly Kuro no Kiseki II does have information relevant to the series as a whole..... Oathbreaker is a beast and should not be engaged in combat🤣🤣🤣BTW nice video
Are you going to do a spoiler filled review of this game because I had a hard time understanding your criticisms without the examples from the actual game's plot
Why bother, there's nothing to talk about.
From what i heard from people and the current news on Kai it kind of gives me the impression that Kuro 2 is the equivalent of the time period Trails arcs usually skip except we actually get to play it.
Sky has Estelle's training in Le Locle
The SSS briefly splitting in between Zero and Azure.
Rean's year of missions with Altina and the northern war.
If they really pulled a full game focusing around fixing loose ends and character development it could help avoid bloat that people usually point at with certain sections of CS4 or 2.
True, we might see that Crimson Sin has a certain purpose further down the line. It's all on Kai (and future games) to show us that.
I loved this game, its definately in my top 3, the hate this game gets is weird
The main question I want the answer to is this - are most of the Edith NPCs still there and do you still get to follow what they're doing? And is the machine translation for NPCs in most of the game at least reasonably comprehensible?
Following the NPCs was one of my favorite parts of Kuro 1 (which was surprising, since I never did this much in previous games). I think the smaller number of NPCs combined with the interface making it much easier to keep track of who you've talked to helped a lot.
I know I'm writing after 2 months but if you still need to know then yes , npcs are translated manually from the beginning to the end.
Im not worried ive loved every game thus far so i feel like i will enjoy it no matter what
Looked into the cast for the english localization just now. Can't believe we have a member of Smosh voicing the Van, dude. Seeing some of the members in the voice cast was a jumpscare the likes of which I haven't seen since Jack Black was announced as Bowser for the Mario movie. All the same, I think everyone currently listed is more than capable of doing a good job, so I've got high hopes for Daybreak.
Imho Reverie had the same problem, being a nice closing chapter for the Crossbell and Cold Steel Saga but lacking the significance for the overall Trails story. I'm in the last chapter of Daybreak right now, I like the characters introduced and the gameplay, and I love to see Swin and Nadia in the sequel
Cant wait for Daybreak 2 next year. It might be divisive but not as much as Cold Steel IMHO. CS has tons of issues not to mention the 4 game length (5 if you count Reverie as CS4.5/Crossbell 2.5). One issue I had was the fluff. In Sky, Crossbell Duology and now Daybreak those games do not have the issue I had with any CS game where there was an overabundance of dialogue in a lot of scenes.
Also I love Van holy shit he really is different from other protags cuz all of em so far were kinda goody twoshoes but Van is in the middle, very gray. Doing what he believes in while making money amd doing whatever needs to be done. The games so far have put the Bracers on a pedestal where Crossbell had SSS to be like the bracers and Class 7 the same and the bracers are cool but man Daybreak is showing that they have their limits. I do like how they show stuff like Heiyue is needed to keep things in check. Necessary evils. Anyway im hype for Daybreak 2! Thanks for the review man
The trails in the Sky trilogy is where the main protagonists you play as are bracers.
Still waiting on a full spoiler review of this one. Really interested to hear what you think on some of the decisions they made with the story (both in Kuro 2 as well as the implications on the series), the pacing, new characters etc
Recently I just played Trails in the Sky for the first time, being my first game in the series! Kind of thanks to you to be honest. Already about to start SC soon. I will be looking forward to these games though because of how much better the combat looks...
Combat is great, I love how they changed it and Crimson Sin just made it better.
SC is one of the best games in the entire series so enjoy it if it’s your first time :)
@@angrymikko So I've just about reached the 1st chapter and it feels like it's starting slow like how FC did. Like I thought the prologue was going somewhere but it was just a set up! How many chapters in do you think it takes to pick up?
@@theozziepotatothe first few chapters are slow because they introduce characters from Ouroboros, chapter 3 introduces the most relevant member, I'll say chapter 5 really picks up but yeah I still enjoyed the first half. I'm in CS4 now so yea, the sequels always have some kind of time skip so they slow down at first (2 months in Sky was it?), the games always close up perfectly so don't worry :)
@@nicogalax i already beat it and fc was better tbh
Spolers obviously, dont read if you dont want them. Finished it yesterday. I enjoyed it. For ost, I had more OST stuck in my head from Kuro 1 than Crimson sin. Gameplay is my favourite in series probably. As for the story, I'm glad they gave us more info on subplots that were established in previous games, good thing they put it in this one, because by the looks of it Kai will have massive plot progression. As for the act 3, the issue you had with it (me too initially) resolves by the end of the act and during the final boss cutscene. The initial "okay, we gonna repeat again and again and again until we make it" turned into "oh, okay, it was badically villain learning what he needs to change in order to achieve his goals". I agree that many will hate it because it will be another case of "oh no it's Curse all over again". Act 3 final boss while lacking any significance to the story drops interesting lore, finale boss was much more impactful for me and that boss battle was really interesting, using both gameplay elements plus main gimmick of the game, was really fun for me. Can't wait for Kai and thank you people who made it possible to play before official release in the West.
Another fellow comrade who knows why Act 3 exists, you are definitely one of us 👏
That Chelsea mug is the real Crimson Sin, but I'll forgive it since the video was good.
Big ups, bro
Being blue, shouldn't it be an 'Azure Sin'?
The real sin is watching us play unfortunately.
Just finished the game last night. I think you have a lot of valid points in this video and while I agree that the overarching story progression was a bit lackluster I personally enjoy the character progression and overall world building as much and they were both top notch in my opinion.
The only real disappointment for me was the main villain. Usually you can connect dots throughout side content, exploring and talking to all NPCs etc etc but this one I felt came out of left field and really didn't have an impact on me in the same way I usually feel in the series.
Overall I really enjoyed the experience and if anything it makes me incredibly excited for Kai no Kiseki. As you said, the foundation is there now so we can expect some huge stuff happening in the next game. Staying away from spoiler territory will be more important than ever. Phew
I had the exact same thoughts when i finished the game, felt as if it was gonna be very decisive game for the fanbase. Overall i enjoyed it, super excited for the next entry
Yeah man, it's still a great game. I just hope Kai is going to be a meaningful follow up.
"Maybe if i saw it for what it was than what i expected it to be"
That's exactly what happened to me when i played it on release and was severly disappointed back then.
But strangely, i've been replaying it this year and now that i know what to expect, it has grown on me and i'm really enjoying my time with it, i feel i've been very unfair with this game overall, guess my disappointement for the lack of major advancement to the plot prevented me from enjoying the game in it's entirity, i still think the story is on the weak side compared to the 1st one though.
I'm still against the "one Kiseki game every year" though, those kind of games needs more time in my opinion and don't need to be rushed, Kai no Kiseki had 2 years of developpement and it seems to hold a lot of promises already, i hope Falcom learned from Kuro no Kiseki 2 overall reception.
Skipping the video for now to avoid spoilers but I’m hoping it ends up being similar case to Sky 3rd for me where I didn’t necessarily appreciate it at first because it deviates from the formula I was familiar with but really grew on me as I played the rest of the series and saw a lot of the events it foreshadowed unfold.
I was also afraid, but watched it and there wasn't really any spoiler I don't think.
Sky the Third was brilliant, but unlike Crimson Sin, I loved the story in that game. It gave us a meaningful look (and still, the only look) in to one of the more mysterious parts of the series. Plus, Kevin is awesome.
I definitely agree with lot of things you said, personally I felt game was kinda half and half, it had some great moments, but there were also some pretty big down points, overall I still think it is pretty good game, I still rank it fairly high though mostly due to the finale which was pretty damn good, especially the actual final boss fight which I would say is one of if not the best boss fight of the series, it felt super good to play out and the actual end of that fight... What a amazing way to end it
I personally am not against the more character driven story, and I don't think it really hurts the series, tho I do think that in a sense Crimson Sin felt more like what you would have in 1st game of Trails ark or in a sense, something like CS3, a 'further setup' sort of deal, we see some events and if you read between lines you actually start seeing some connecting dots to what will come in Kai, I already can see few plot points that will most likely happen when I thought the things through bit more carefully, but it is obviously way way more subtle then what you would expect if you would follow the classic Trails formula
Overall I still think game is pretty fun, character stories are honestly amazing and Kuro as a whole has some of my favorite characters of the series now (Plus they actually made a Kloe/Ellie/Alisa archetype of character that I actually genuinely enjoyed, which is shocking to me still since while I don't mind the 3 at all and they have some great moments, they never were anywhere close to my favorites, Agnés tho? Loved her in both games)
Can't wait to see it go to west and for people to experience it, it will be great, tho I do have to say I worry how badly the dialogue will be butchered, there always were censorship in the western releases but I think Kuro might be hit by it even more which kinda sucks since it feels like the overal theme of Kuro is far far more mature then any previous arks, and characters are way more... Expressive let's say (*Cough* Aaron and Van in bathhouse together *Cough*)
Plus from what little we heard of voice acting in the trailer, I will say for first time in the series I actually prefer the OG voices, might be bias since that is what I played, but just...
I dunno, from the trailer, Van is... Okay, not great, but okay
Agnés works well enough
Feri I don't like AT ALL from what I heard in the trailer (Which sucks cause I really like Feri)
Aaron and Risette are okay, tho I think Aaron sounds more full of himself rather then brash and cocky like he is in OG which I think fits way better
Quattre is okay and Judith is honestly pretty fitting
Elaine tho... Oh god... I hate it... Nothing against the voice actress... But it just does not fit Elaine, the tone and how angry she sounds, cause Elaine even when she is angry is actually calm, so you know
Bergard and Kincaid are fine and all, but could be better
Shizuna is pretty good fit tho I think
Rest you hear in the trailer are mostly okay, some I like, some not so much. I am still deciding if I like or hate voice of certain mint haired boy, can't decide, and obviously everything can change once I hear them more in actual game and they have proper conversations, that was my impression of the voices from the trailer tho, definitely far more of a mixed bag compared to previous arks where I generally prefer the english voices to japanese
Thumbs up if you like turn based combat 👍
love your videos my guy. i started kuro 2 earlier last year but i got hooked on WoW so I didn't get to it. I broke back free from WoW and ordered a new controller, so very excited to play soon.
I just reached act 3 of the game, but my overall consents of the game is I’m enjoying it. I knew what the complaint were of the game and act 3 and jumped in with a different perspective which is filling in loose ends and advancing some sub-plots that might be harder to do later on down the line. The loops to me are experimental. I feel like it’ll show up again in the future I love its character focused parts and I appreciate the experimentation here, but I agree another crimson sin doesn’t need happen at least out of pattern. Time to enter act 3 without trepidation lol
Well im on kuro 1 and loving. People are complaining but I go back to how horrible the entire cold steel arc was written. CS2 was a joke and CS4 was padding all the way up to the rivalries, so as long as its not thst garbage and more in line with zero and azure sign me up.
Lets not forget how annoying rean was, how deaths did not matter, nd how in CS1 nothing actuslly happened until the last hour of the game. Kuro 1 so much is happening i can almost see this as a reverse entry. And at least whats developing in kuro 1 is leagues better than the horseshit they spewed in CS2
@@JimC1984 Damn, someone really doesn't like CS. I agree with the points that death doesnt matter. And I also can see how Rean can be annoying to someone. Buit other than that, why you even play the trails series when CS seem to be shit games for you.
@@MilkymannyI also hate CS and love Sky and Azure. There is a huge difference in quality
@@Milkymanny CS feels like im watching a cheezy naruto or shoeunen arc when playing sky kuro or crossbell i feel like im playing a well written narrative. I could give dozens of examples why if youd like.
Im playing CS because I appreciate trails sky zero azure and kuro. I HAVE to deal with CS to get the whole picture. They could have told it MUCH better but decided not too. AYour comments annotates basically that CS is trails which is entirely incorrect. CS is one arc, snd a very bad yet essentisl to have the full picture of the trails series going forward. And that is why kuro being a filler in 2 is fine with me, I put up with the most immature grocery bin characters in CS with no plot momentum for multiple games from them. So kuro 2 sounds great to me the characters are fleahed out and likeable
I hope your time with Act 3 is better than mine!
Interesting. I guess I should thank you for the heads up because I would have thought the same being the second in the arc and follow the establish guidelines as the previous games. Still looking forward to it...just in a different light
I really enjoyed it overall, got the platinum on playstation and enjoyed playing thru the PC version.
Agreed with this video. Kai no Kiseki is going to make or break the Calvard arc. I think Kondo mentioned in an interview that Kuro 2 was hastly made which makes me wonder how much passion they have for Calvard arc as a whole.
It was even mentioned they were already planning the next arc and the protagonist along with the setting. Feels like they're rushing to have the Trails series completed at this point.
The thing is, if they're struggling with development already (as Kondo seems to suggest with Crimson Sin), how do they intend to increase their output in the near future as they mentioned in their shareholder report? Makes no sense to me.
@@TheKisekiNut I'm wondering if they didn't plan to release YS X in 2022 but realized it wouldn't pan out so focus shifted to Kuro 2 for being quicker to make but still needed to be rushed.
Spoilers too. Like you i just finished this game and i admit that i was disappointed in the story most of all. I was cringed when i got to the intermission. Time leap was an abused mess and they just shoved boss fights at you for flimsy reasons. Like "we saw you talking to the oathbreaker, so we must beat you up." Like whut?? And i didnt even get what the hell harwood wanted to do. Poison gas, nuke the island, angel of death, his plans and the way it jumped to character backstories were all over the place. Then harwood waves goodbye after ALL that?? Worse is act 3. The corrosion is another stupid plotpoint to give a reason for the established cast to hate the player characters. Like the fixers were in cahoots with A??? ARE THEY SERIOUS? if garden master was gonna invent a lie, they should AT LEAST make it believable. Finally the final chapter. I did like harwood and the twins appearing again but they just showed up for a boss fight. They had no point. And garden master come on!!! A disgruntled spirit from the war that possesed an artifact? They had tons of organizations they could have used as villains. Escariot, Marduk, Gramheart and they used a stupid spirit, the DG cult AGAIN and returned a dead character AGAIN?
Would you do a video doing a summary of the new 3rd game
For those of you who have not played kuro 1 and 2. Just play it before you read the reviews
I am hype for the daybreak arch. Happy to know first one if great, and what I should expect for the second. And happy we finally are getting in spitting distance of getting in sync to releases.
? You actually call NISA a real localization? Have you heard about how much they have butchered CS 3 and 4 with " femanism" etc. Elaine being called " beautys blade" instead of sword maiden. No please keep them a mountain of distance away, people need to play these games as the CREATOR INTENDED, Not the BS bastardization that NISA is doing
@@JimC1984 sigh…. Yes I would rather a one to one translation and when it’s all replaced by AI I will get that. Till then, it does not bother me as much as clearly it does you…
@@Trace153 it bothers me that the story as its supposed to be is completly bastardized, and IM SURE if yhe creators who wrote said scripts in japan had even an inkling of what these bafoons at NISA do it would bother them alot more than me
Its the death of creativity and artform. Just like the crunchyroll deacle, if you care about the medium, you should care, these people need to GTFO
@@JimC1984 the story at the high to mid level is still the same. Even from your “extreme” examples it’s just in the weeds low level things that get the hated “woke” inserted into in it. The company hired that company to do it, you think no one reviews the script after the fact… It’s game, you need to take a breath and not get so heated many many worst things out there for all that negative energy if you feel you must release it. I am here to enjoy my hobby not to get all bent out of shape.
Back in the day we would never get these games even sent over, we are not the target audience. The creators do many things that make me cringe things around fan service that I don’t enjoy, but again the story as a whole I love. If translators are butchering it be activist me getting up in arms and screaming into the void of the internet would do nothing.
Move on, or only play with fan translations and return once AI replaces them your call. But take all you angry and move on to somewhere else.
This is interesting, so I wonder if this is the case like in book series where midway through the writers realized that something was missing for later down the line so had to slow the story pace of this game down to achieve the pay off later on. Curious do we know if this is going to be a trilogy or a quartet? Either way still looking forward to the calvard arc, and can't wait to play it.
Not going to spoil anything. At the end of Kuro 1, something happens, something is revealed and you can swear the game will end right there, on a cliffhanger, like Sky 1 and CS1 and 3. But then, literally out of nowhere, something else happens, and that big reveal is solved, I sh*t you not, 5 minutes later, then the credits start to roll and everyone is happy and back to how things used to be, as if nothing had happened. It so, extremely jarring, that there's no doubt in my mind they rushed to change Kuro's 1 ending after they decided on what Kuro 2 was going to be.
I mean the end does say continued in Kuro No Kiseki FINAL CHAPTER so certainly sounds like a Trilogy. I know in the past it was suggested otherwise so no foul
I think the set up feels more because of the combat if it makes sense, those new additions made it feel complete than the first one, so they made the story feel like it wasn't important overall because of the mechanics, i liked the development on some characters and more importantly Renne and even address a thought i had on other character's name on her behalf. I really liked it at the end but would understand the divise nature it would cause
If you have my favorite games at the bottom of your list then I'm definitely going to enjoy Daybreak 2.🤣
I am gonna watch this video after playing the game, but...more divisive than Cold Steel 4 or Trails in the Sky the 3rd? Thats...a statement.
I honestly had to digest this game afterwards for a couple days when I beat it.
Even now I feel like I need to get another playthrough under my belt before my thoughts are fully gathered on it. I enjoyed the story, gameplay and all the character interactions, but I was also dissatisfied with how they just ignored some parts of the overall of this arc. It felt like an epilogue to the first game, just enhanced and elongated to a full-size game. They also had to not include of Bergard for the game, which did cause me some pain.
I'm honestly still happy with how it went, as it felt very unique for a Trails game. A black sheep, for sure. And I do NOT want another Crimson Sin.
It was, for all purposes, a game for character development and tying up loose ends of the first game.
Here is to the long wait for Kai.
I won't be playing this again till it's Western release, too many other games to play and Crimson Sin didn't do enough to make me want to play it again any time soon.
@@TheKisekiNut I do have to agree on that. I'm in no hurry to play through it again either.
Looking forward to what recommendations you'll have this year for other games to keep the wait bearable.
Possibly the most frustrating experience I've had in the series was this whole game. I played it shortly after it came out, and I've forgotten most of the details of it except one scene, which feels like the only part that will impact the overall story which makes me hopeful as the next game seems to follow that up exactly, but I totally agree that that game needs to make an impact or this whole arc will feel like a waste, which sucks cause kuro 1 is on my list of the best in the series. Additionally both of the bad guys were major disappointments, the first I couldn't care about, and the second even made my opinion on the first game drop a bit (trying to be as spoiler free as possible here for those who care), and the main mechanic rarely gels with me, and it certainly didn't here. Following the Zero Field stuff, Northern War and this game Trails has been hard to recommend lately as my favorite franchise, even if arguably only one of those is Falcom's fault which keeps me hopeful for the future. Definitely had some good moments and the gameplay and visuals were improvements for sure, but the story is just bad in my opinion and not just in a "for a Trails game" way. Loved to hear your thoughts on it.
Falcom's biggest scandal was Kato disbanding JDK. It was such a terrible situation that it caused the music quality to seriously decrease...
I am happy this video released some time after I finishe Crimson Sin.
I agree so much with this. I love it for focusing so much on the character because I think Kuro really has a bunch of the best character in the series.
Act 3 however made me unironically mad. Act 1 and 2 were alright - they introduced "the thing" in the story which is a plot device I hate in most stories. I didnt like nor hated it.
Intermission - FANTASTIC IMO -
Act 3 starts using "the thing" not only too much but in a way where it stops making sense in every possible way.
Finale brought the game back up
I havent played but the main thing i hear is it just doesnt hardly progress the plot forward much. But that can still be good
It could be, we might look back on this after a few more releases and realise how important it was. But, the ball is in Kai's court now.
I just feel like Trails writing is getting worse, dont get me wrong i played every game from sky 1 to hajimari, and all the games are at least good, but Azure was the peak, since then nothing else got on the same level i feel. Since cold steel things got weird, i thin kthe tone changed a lot: no one can really die anymore, bad things happen but to no consequence, every bad guy needs a sad backstory to justify they acts etc. When i finished sky 3 and azure i felt connected to the chacracters, i wish i could have more time with then. By the end of Hajimari i was so done with Rean and class 7, feeling glad that i didn't have to deal with then anymore.
Right now im waiting for both Like a Dragon 8 and P3 Reloaded, after im done with those games im gonna play kuro 1/2 with the translations, i hope i like then more than cold steel.
I agree with you that the writing suffered from CS1 to Reverie, but Kuro 1 is a return to form in every sense. It's one of the best written games in the series. It's a shame that Kuro 2 turned out the way it did, though the characters at least are still fantastic.
Agreed. Crossbell games was the best in series. Kuro 1 is good but not good as Sky and Crossbell games.
Kuro 1 is every bit on the level of Sky and Crossbell imo. I agree that Azure is still the best game in the series though.
I agree. I didn't find Kuro 1 as successful as them, but when we think about it, we can say that the reason for this is its arc score. Kuro 1 is actually as good as FC and Zero considering.
@@Starkride48 What are you talking about? Kuro 1 is literally the most mixed bag entry in terms of writing. It has some amazing parts, like the end of Chapter 4 and start of Chapter 5, but also some really awful parts like Chapter 3. You have Van being a great protagonist, then characters like Judith who the whole cast never shut up about how much of a dumb wh*re she is, which is a first in the series as no other character was ever threated in such a mean spirited way. You also have so, so many plot reshashes, at points the game feels like Zero 1.5 with how similar the story bits and plot development are. It's not a bad game, but it is the only entry on which you can clearly tell two things 1) Different people wrote each Chapter. The difference in quality and writing is extremely noticeable. 2) They either ran out of ideas or they really, really wanted to rehash Zero for some reason.
Thanks for the video! I'm a little trepidatious about the Calvard arc in general -- I feel like a lot of the things it's been praised for might not necessarily be to my taste or what I want from the series -- but I am still looking forward to it in its own way. You perspective just solidifies that sentiment.
It's still a great game, but maybe expectation on this one needs to be shifted a bit before you go in. I went in completely blind (no trailers, no opinions etc.).
I do think also tho, that while kuro 2 didn't hit as much as the other sequels for over all story, we wont see how much kuro 2 and even 1 is to the over all story till "kuro 3"
Yeah, it's all on Kai now to see if this set up was worth it.
@@TheKisekiNut i think we will need to buckle our seatbelts by the way kai is looking 👀
TBH act 3 gives me the vibe "hey you guys are forcing us to push out a new game every year and this trash show is all we can do in a year, so give us more time and stop pushing us"
Just like CS2 then lol
And yet they want to increase their output in the coming years from 2-3 releases up to 4-5. I don't know how they plan to do that.
Did they fix bugged hit boxes in non-turn based mode?
I may be in the minority when i say i play trails primarily for the combat (theres a reason ive replayed reverie 3 times while the sky and crossbell games have been benched since the first playthrough). If Kuro 2 delivers on that front its good enough for me.
Anyone know the PS5 release date?
One i didn't expect from this game is that the intermission arc for kuro no kiseki 2 is actually better than chapter 3. And honestly, chapter 3 of this game only made frustrated, and i agree that chapter 3 exist only for the story, i mean it doesn't have much impact for the characters
Your concerns with the story and its contribution to the overall Trails plot is so reminiscent of phase four of the MCU. Where do you go after endgame after stakes that high?
So yeah, I totally get why even the next story arc in general after Erebonia would be divisive. We spent a decade of peak storytelling and interconnectivity, so naturally this story arc will need to build on that to some extent but still be its own thing. I'll still stick through it though, because I am that intrigued
Just finished this game few hours ago, and this game is definitely the one that made me frustrated so much compared to other games like cold steel series, trails of azure or sky, but that definitely made this game amazing, especially chapter 3
I just beat the game today I will say I prefer this game over CS1/2 and 4 because of the bosses and the character development. I will say the main villain is weak but he still better than CS2 Duke Cayenne. I will also say the main concept happens way too much. I will give it a 7.8.
Currently replaying this again because I OCR'd it on my first run. Using the fan translation now to see if there is anything I missed. Kuro II is a good game, has everything you would expect in a Kiseki game but the story for me was not as strong IMO. This second run may change my mind.
I'll save my second run for when the game comes West. Too many new games that I want to get stuck in to this year.
This game shows the evolution of visual part, but the presentation of the story is trash😅(somewhere near ToCS II). There are some interesting development of old characters but the overwhelming repeating design pattern is annoying. 😂
whole game felt like a filler 😂
Best final boss experience imo, I loved when they try to fck around the game's battle mechanics
Just judging from this video, it at least sounds a much better kind of divisive than CSIV. Still looking forward to it!
I didn't think anything could get more divisive than Cold Steel 4. That was probably the only game in the series (that I've played) that actively rubbed me the wrong way with the decisions it was making.
@@Nel_AnnetteYeah the C-word was one of the worst deus ex machinas I have ever seen, not to mention the ridiculous fake deaths. Felt like the game caters to kids or something
@@ninototo1 Yes, someone who understands! At least four characters cheated death off the top of my head, so I couldn't take that seriously. Attributing all of Erebonia's tragedies to "the c-word" was lame as heck when we already knew something like Hamel was orchestrated by Weissman.
And the villain. All those years of build-up just for them to go "Hey, guys, turns out I was NEVER evil. In fact, I've been actively letting you escape and gain advantages! You're only winning because of me! All the horrible things I've done over nine games? The devil is watching me! The devil made me do it! THE DEVIL MADE ME DO IT!"
I want my time back. Cold Steel feels like such a step back compared to Liberl and Crossbell.
@@Nel_Annette Spoilers for CS arc.
Yup! I was so hyped for CS and Osborne after the teaser in Sky 3. It promised interesting politics, the class divide, and an epic confrontation between Olivier and Osborne in what basically is Imperial Germany. Sign me up! And CS1 seemed to be leading up to exactly that.
Then the arc proceeded to utterly drop the ball with CS2. The writing was so horrendous, I could have done a better job.
Like the whole "We gotta stay neutral" but they attack the Noble Alliance the entire game. Or how the Civil War is just a backdrop. The real story is about reuiniting Rean with his bestest terrorist friend (who, I'll have to remind you, wanted to nuke Crossbell Tower with Towa inside).
Then it turns out Osborne is still alive! It was all part of his plan! Oh and Crow is still alive after we had an emotional song attributed to him. And no one is evil and nothing matters, it's all fate or..something.
Remember how the Emperor told Rean he knew about literally everything in advance and chose not to do anything about it? And everyone still respects the guy!
Also I predicted Celine transforming into a cat waifu girl and laughed my ass off when it happened.
Olivier "dying" actually made me emotional and I swore I wouldn't forgive Falcom if it was yet another fake death..Guess what happened. I didn't touch CS4 after that. I will probably try Kuro 1 but after being really invested in Trails, I now realize that it's not what I thought it would be.
To me it feels like the target demographic shifted from young adults to young teens.
@@ninototo1 I'd say that's about right, yeah. I always described it as an anime series that avoided the usual anime tropes, but in CS fell right into the general anime bullshit. Gundam mechs, every girl is now a big busty waifu you can get it on with and fanservice runs rampant (generic "girls always commenting on the girl with the biggest tits' breasts" jokes), Estelle and Lloyd were just normal people who, though related to well-known people, weren't all that special themselves but worked hard to get where they were. Rean's a VERY special boy, and everyone loves him.) And everyone's so HUMBLE and NICE and FORGIVING to each other, even when they're enemies. In many situations it makes no sense.
Cold Steel feels like a generic anime infected the series I love and sucked a lot of the charm out of it. The music in that arc doesn't even touch what Liberl and Crossbell had. Thank god Estelle still feels like herself whenever she shows up. I haven't played Daybreak or Crimson Sin, but at this point I'm just still going out of obligation to see the whole overarching story through.
I've had Reverie since July. I played some of it in July, didn't touch it again until September, and now I still haven't touched it since then. I will have to force myself into it eventually.
Finally finished this the other night, I think the best way to put it is that it follows a 132 route if you compare it to sky. Almost like a epilogue to the opener.
Still there was soo much character stuff in there to latch onto. Including Quatre who was very limited in the first. It does come through with its bigger lore builds. Definitely a great setup to Kai... though the pressure is on now for it to deliver.
Looking forward to a spoiler breakdown ;)
By the way kiseki nut , did you encounter fps issue playing the kuro CLE version ? Personally had issues with theirs when i tried daybreak 1 and refunded it after cutscene botching and fps not being smooth
im currently playing kuro II and have had no major issues. what are your pc specs?
@@JJ-tq5sk
Processor 12th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-12700H 2.30 GHz
Installed RAM 32.0 GB
System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor
Intel(R) Iris(R) Xe Graphics
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050(Laptop)
Windows 11
It is a gaming laptop and could play a lot more intensive game fine . Durante was smooth so was wondering how other people felt about the CLE .
I liked both CS4 and most of all The 3rd, so I'm not really concerned about Kuro 2
granted, I still have to play Reverie and Kuro 1
Hmmm guess ill wait until Crimson Sin arrive at western shore, but honestly trails story got weaker from time to time, we're not even got the story quality as good as Sky arc and Crossbell arc
Agreed!
I'm saving this video for when I complete Kuro II, that is whenever the western release is...
Can some please help me with the English translation mod
Kuro 1 is definitely have worse ost than other trails games, but not to the point where there aro no songs to add. At least Rise of Grendel and What is ahead of you are pretty damn good. You could argue that the first one is too intense for a normal playlist, which I agree too, but the second can fit just anywhere.
I don't think Kuro no Kiseki was really what Falcom had planned.
It was created in order to give Ys 10 a little more time to finish development. So my guess here is that Kuro was not supposed to be 3 games. They probably dumped what they had already prepared for the sequel, and added some villain and filler to tie it all.
On the other hand, this has given more time for Falcom to develope the Kai no Kiseki game. So, if they have cut a few plot points that get resolved on Kuro 2, and had a little more time to work on it. Kai is probably gonna be a really good game.
There's been talks that Falcom are aiming to increase their output in the future too. If they're already struggling with their current workload, I don't know how they plan to make that happen.
Glad to hear your take on Kuro II.
About the only thing I might disagree with is the OST, as I felt like it was more of mixed bag; for me, Kuro (Daybreak) I had greater highs, but Kuro II felt a bit more...consistent, I guess?
Other than that, I pretty much agree with every other point you made. While it was still enjoyable, it was definitely on the lower end of my series ranking, made worse by how the writing took a dive at the start of that one chapter before eventually picking back up.
Here's hoping that Kai no Kiseki will be an overall improvement.
I generally like the Trails and Ys series for their character writing and worldbuilding, gameplay is just there and the OST's always stick with me.
The plot isn't the deciding factor in each game, though it can have detrimental effects depending on other factors. I rank CS4 highly despite the plot being all over the place, but rank CS3 poorly for the same reason.
While I could tell this game's plot was going to feel rushed or incomplete due to how quickly it was released after Kuro 1, it sounds like character writing is still the highlight of the series and hopefully I'll have a good experience despite this feeling like the least exciting game in the series.
Not especially fond of a True Reverie Corridor type addition to be honest, because it makes me feel like the quartz/sepith grind is going to be as god awful as it was in Hajimari. I love these games, and Kiseki is my 2nd favorite ongoing series after Ys, but I've always felt like the progression systems are by far the weak point because of just how nasty the grind is to get characters to a power level that I want. Haven't played Kuro 1, so I dunno if there was any relief of this after Hajimari, but this doesn't inspire confidence.
Not at all worried about the story/characters/etc. though. Unless for some reason Falcom decides to include DEI/CRT horseshit, I'll trust them implicitly. I don't at all mind a second setup game, because to me at least, that just means more opportunities for significant shit to hit the fan when things do go down. I'm the type though, whose only expectation of a game going in is "this will be fun." Our tastes within the series are different enough that I wouldn't worry personally anyway.
It's definitely not as arduous as Reverie, there's a lot less characters in Crimson Sin. It's just a similar style of progression.
I wont be watching this video because of spoilers but i will say that ive been seeing so much divided opinions about kuro 2 in comment sections from older other videos that are trails related. Im slightly concerned about what it all means when we finally get our hands on kuro 2 over here but despite the overall reception that game has been getting, its a trails game at the end of the day which makes me automatically hyped for it. Cant wait for kuro 1 later in the year!
I know next to nothing about crimson sin but Ive also heard its just a setup game and character driven. Considering how big in scope kai no kiseki seems to be, I'd imagine they plan to cash out on that buildup.
I’m sure I’ll like this game but this definitely isn’t the first time I’ve heard mixed feelings on this game but this is the first time I’ve heard what those negatives are. The reality is that the trails series has gotten almost impossibly long for new players to get into so if it’s going to keep going each game needs to be compelling. The series really can’t afford filler games at this point and I’m not sure their reason for doing so. These aren’t short games they have more than enough opportunities to expand these characters in a regular style trails game, as they have done so many times.
So Kuro No Kiskeki II is one of the weakest links in a very strong chain. It's disappointing, but I am sure it will still be well worth our time. Even a disappointing Trails game is still a very good game.
While I love Kuro 1 so much, Crimson Sin disappointed me. I could touch and feel the lands of Calvard in Kuro 1 and the story progression was so nice, you could feel Calvard little by little. But in Crimson Sin, the story progression was damned at a certain point as you said. For me, the biggest problem in Crimson Sin was... 'him', the guy who came out of nowhere. I was like "Who??" at that moment. He just made the stuff we went through pointless. Almost every aspect of the game was nice. except for the story, really. (Grendel Zolga was really really splendid though)
Man.... i so highly disagree with Kuro 2's "problem" is that it doesn't further the overarching narrative as big as every other sequel game... Spoilers below \/
I'm just so baffled by how people could focus entirely on the plot not moving (I guess?? disagree there as well), and not on how this game is almost entirely character focused. Is that an issue? Having more character focus? Because with how engaging almost every single character in Kuro is, it's little wonder that Kuro 2 would make it even better. I'll agree that "not a lot" is happening, but the setup for Kai is straight up there, which will ultimately lead into probably the most in-world-changing events in the series. I can see the arguments for Act 3, definitely. But it's not as bad as the mind-numbing and tedious things as other sequel games'.
In short, to disregard this game for being more about character than plot is incredibly silly to me.
You've pretty much agreed with his take here. It's a character focused game, and doesn't do anything for the actual 'plot' of trails. As in, the needle barely moves on the story surrounding the Sept-Terrions. People don't want to be in their 80s when this series ends just because Falcom want to milk Trails dry.
Well considering how people talk about sky 3rd and that later CS games... the fan reaction would be
interesting. to see
Unfortunately, this game was the most disappointing Falcom game for me, shaking my trust in Falcom in every aspect.
Yeah, This is about as "skippable" as a Trails game has come in a long time. I was honestly shocked at how little development there was, especially given how heavily they were setting up stuff with the first kuro game.
The game gets too much hate, before i started it i kept reading complaints online about it not advancing the plot much and i disagree.
We got the 8 genesis, uncovered who C was that helped us at the end of Kuro 1, witnessed the birth of a new Hiyue family, wrapped up the majority of the loose ends with Almata and the Garden, pretty much figured we're gonna be dealing with the Sept-Terrion of Time moving forward, got new enforcers joining the society, finally learned about Nina's secret and her affiliation with the church and much more, this game definitely wasn't a waste it advanced the plot as much as any other trails game imo.
It gets hate because pretty much every addition you've stated is just added fluff to an already bloated story.
More enforcers, big woop. Nina's identity, cool, what more does she do in the game? The 8 Genesis are collected, great it took them a full game to get the last one. Wrapping up the Garden, again that was done in the first game along with Almata, no need to stretch it out more for literally no pay off.
Again, this game deserves the backlash because it does 'nothing' for the actual underlying plot of Trails, it just adds meaningless stuff when people want to see actual progression. It's like being stuck in a narrative swamp with no end.
@@Sortyourselfout-cu7en Did you just call character development and new added lore useless and meaningless?
Yes I did, because what is actually done with it? Is Nina's reveal used in any meaningful way? Do I care that there are more enforcers? People need to get it in to their head that adding fluff without actual results is just padding, not development.@@jackjohnson8305
I heavily disagree with that Act 3 abandoned the Character moments, it actually has some of the best character moments in the series because of the weird scenarios. I agree that the Act has some of the lowest points of the story but also some of the highest points, especially with the characters, whether they be from the solutions office or other side characters that didn't get much time previously.
The game does make a lot of progression in the overall story, it's just not the same type of progression we're used to in Trails, and that difference is a positive to me as the structure was starting to get boring and repetitive.
It's a real stretch to say it had some of the best character moments - Feri is the only one I remember and even that was sub-par considering what we've seen in the past.
@@Sortyourselfout-cu7en if you actually only remember Feri's moments then I recommend that you go back to the act, a lot of characters get moments that are outright impossible to execute in any other games in the series because of nature of multiple timelines and falcom's weird fear of killing characters.
And when I say characters, I don't mean the main party only, even the side characters got moments that showcased how good Kuro's character writing is and that almost everyone is built-up enough to the point that they make you care about them, even if they're not important to the main plot.
@@AbdulrahmanSFR yes, I was soooo invested in Ashen having a hissy fit and Cao coming out of no where to stop her. Brilliant writing, 10/10.
Just for the record, I did rewatch those scenes and they're just bad. You're gonna tell me that Kasim was under no control but was more than happy to kill everyone despite that? Or that Risette loses her rational side of thinking that she's had all the time?
You can defend this game all you want, but many will see it for what it is. Boring filler that will be forgotten as soon as the next game comes out.
This game shouldn't be called 2 more like 1.2/5, Kai no kiseki feels more like the proper 2 at least to me.
From what I've heard the game seems to have been rushed. I think Falcom is adamant to always have a main game at least once a year (Ys or Trails) but i feel it's starting to show that model can't sustain the scale of the story we expecy from Trails. I just wished they took some more time to polish each game. Give it 2 years between releases at the very least.
The thing is, there's been suggestions that this game was rushed via Kondo himself.
But very recently via the shareholder meeting, he said the company is aiming to increase their output from 2-3 titles per year to 4-5. If they're already struggling, then I don't really know how they plan to do that.
I have to disagree im on chapter 3 and the character building is excellent.
So much happens in kuro 1, and comparing it to how aweful cold steel 1 and 2 are, i say kuro 1 moves thw plot more than both of those games combined. Especially all of the slice of life school nonesense from cs1. Kuro 2 actively builds on the strengths of kuro 1 slows down and tells its own indepdant story. The writing in kuro 1 AND 2 is still leagues better than the entire cold steel plot and nods me back to falcoms writing quality from sky to azure. I also believe some of its aspects so far will build into the time sept terrian but thats a theory.
I really cant see it for anyrhing but a net positive after suffering the cold steel arc
Lmao. Kuro 2 flopped in Japan. The plot doesn't go anywhere it's just a filler game. It flopped so bad Kuro 3 got changed to Farewell o Zemuria. After that it's a new arc. and guess who they bringing back Rean from Cold Steel.
Kuro 2 writing is easily the worst in the series.
I am just glad that we share an agreement with how Crimson Sin is one of, if not the weakest of the whole series.
1. How this installment doesn't actually expand enough on the story (You could very well just play through the entire game without understanding any of the dialogue and it wouldn't change your experience even if you understood all of it)
2. THE PLOT DEVICE. It's in my opinion, one of the hardest to use and easiest to screw up of all plot devices. And Falcom stepped on EVERY SINGLE ONE of my pet peeves with regards to this particular one. It devalues the characters, making the cast look inferior to their predecessors (which come on, Van's an adult. Could you not make him look at least as competent as 20-year-old Rean?)
Actually, come to think of it, Crimson Sin feels more like a DLC than an actual sequel.
I'll check out kuro1 when it releases but i may be done with this series... i don't like the shift to action gameplay at all, the characters look stiff and uninteresting, i didn't like 7 and 9 in reverie,... i feel the series has lost most of it's charm from up until cold steel 2. Makes me sad but yeah... i realize I'm not part of a demographic that would enjoy those changes :/
It's still turn-based.
I agree. At least CS1 and CS2 felt like the Kiseki games. Starting from CS3, I started to feel as if these games no longer belonged to the Kiseki universe.
My initial reaction when beating this game was that it was the worst Trails game, and that opinion has only solidified over time. Most of the game is good to inoffensive, and I the intermission is one of the most thrilling parts of any game in the series, but Act 3 is so poorly written it feels akin to a 14-year-old's first light novel. Very little of it makes any sense and it's so tediously long. The ending felt anticlimactic to me as well, aside from some cool production in the final boss fight. This game just does so little to advance the narrative and I don't feel like it does enough to be considered a character-driven game either, which some people say it is. The main cast aside from one character ends in pretty much the same spot as Kuro 1. It feels like this game exists because they needed to release something in 2022 but they didn't want to step on the script of Kai, so they put the story in a holding pattern. I'd love to hear your spoiler thoughts too.
On the point of Kuro 1's OST, I mostly agree with you that there are a lack of killer tracks, but Cloudy Cloudy, Resonance of Ray, and Beyond the Dawn stand out to me. Resonance of Ray is one of the best final dungeon themes in the series (and that's saying something) and I still can't get enough of Beyond the Dawn, it's so catchy and fun.
Yeah, the end of the review covers the key bit - expectations. I haven't played the Kuro games yet, but it will help that I know what Crimson Sin is before playing it. That will stave off the "Why isn't anything happening yet? When does the plot speed up?" antsy feeling. As is, the idea of a sleepy game where not much happens sounds comfy.
I think that Crimson Sin is designed the way it is for a reason - that reason being that the next title takes place in 1210, and is the game where everything changes and the main turning point of the entire series. Crimson Sin's purpose might be to enjoy the status quo for one last game, the final days where things are still normal.
Agreed, we might look back on Crimson Sin as one of the most important games. Alternatively, it could just be forgotten completely and seen as a black sheep. Time will tell.
Cant wait to see the next entry after Kuro II
I like it, but I can understand why people might disliking kuro 2, since most of the game I was wondering why XXX doing what they were doing...and the actual reason disappoints me, since their reasoning didn't convince me enough, the whole plot felt like just needless drama that try to fill up the playing time...but other than that and the drop in music quality, I do enjoy the game, and for some reason, the most memorable part of this game is the cutscenes, especially shizuna vs kasim and the last part about school festival....and yeah, the part you keep dying(unlike most people, I actually have no problem with it, even developing a twisted mind to see how Van and Co. might die/fail next time).
I will start playing tomorrow (with basically same fan translation I guess). This video soldified some of my worries I heard about in the past. I am massive trails fan, played all the games in order (Yes I started with sky first and then continued), and I am not the biggest fan of the concept this one presents. I gotta say Sky FC is among my most favorite trails games but since you mentioned this one was on bottom of your list for different reasons, I guess that is not of a big significance. Anyway wanna ask, how long is the game? Is it usual 60 hours? Thanks
I finished it in just over 50 hours, but you could easily put way more in to it.
Gameplay wise is very good but story-wise is very meh in my opinion. I still had a great time tho.
I haven't played reverie yet it's in my backlog and honestly may be there until daybreak is out in the summer. I'm having fun with midnight suns and excited for like a dragon infinite wealth persona 3 reload and final fantasy 7 rebirth but I'm unsure whether to get the deluxe edition or go for the I think way too expensive collectors edition
i just dont like the large roster like in cold steel. wish it was much smaller like in crossbell
Yup bad decision again
Agreed!
just finished the game (Ps4 japanese ver) it is fun, got more character and world building development, and yeah the plot is crazy and wacky but I enjoy it
Divisive? I certainly has not seen division of opinion in Japan and other Asian countries where it's localized. It's overwhelmingly negative.
I hope you have plan to make a spoiler discussion video about this.
Regardless I'm pretty much agree with you. After the high note in "vacation arc" the act 3 feels so weird. I'm happy falcom is experimenting some new gimmick but yeah their gamble fail this time. On the other hand this game make me feel really excited with Kai no Kiseki
There won't be. Kuro had plenty of moments to discuss, Crimson Sin had very little of note that I cared about.
Surprised it took you this long to review it lol
Translation wasn't done till like October, and I had loads of other games I was playing during that time. I had a window around mid December to jump on to Crimson Sin.
Thank you for the Spoiler-Warning! I can't watch this video :( - man I'm so hyped for the new Trails-Games!
Spoiler warning did it's job! Making these 'early looks' at pre-localised Trails titles is always difficult, so I don't blame someone not taking the chance.
Everyone is different, but this is my least favorite game in the series, followed by Reverie. Which, sadly, for me, means 2 of the last 3 games have flopped. It's really making Kai a make or break for me, as far as how much they can/can't hit the things I care about.
between this game and Ys X: Nordics it seems Falcom has really been looking into how to make even better final boss experiences because both Crimson Sin and Nordics final bosses have jumped to my #1 spots of final bosses in their respective series and I'm hoping future titles will follow up on that trend.
As for the game itself, I finished it last night and overall I feel like it's a middle of the pack for me. Namely mostly agree with how the third act played out. While I had some gasps and surprises here and there throughout the game, in the 3rd act I felt absolutely none of that.
Oh, I could also say that my greatest complaint (didn't check NG+ so idk if I'm wrong) it's that marchen garten teases you by letting you know you can change the soundtrack while playing by unlocking songs from previous games, but then ONLY EVER gives you Reverie and Daybreak songs unless you purchase DLC packs. I hate this, could have still had a few bangers as DLCs but not restricting base game unlockables to only 2 games out of the franchise dangit!
I forgot your reason why you put Sky 1 as part of your bottom three. Usually I tend to look at the games as what it is , not something I expect it just helps me too see what it was trying to offer and how it contributes to the franchise , but you're right with Kuro 2 being divisive . I dunno but I feel like the next Trails game wasn't going to be an introductory part but more of a piece that bridge what happened in Kuro 1 and 2 simply because Kuro 2 didn't do that. Maybe it's intentional
It might be intentional, I guess Kai will explain all.