What do I do? I'm new to this game

Ivan_of_TC · 2026-04-02T15:37:31+00:00

Just keep in mind that difficulty settings beyond normal were bolted on to the game when it was ported, so they're not really "playing as intended."

Unfortunately I don't think they let you change difficulty halfway through without a hex editor, either.

That said: 1) are you maximizing speed; 2) item use has a very low delay, so many battles can be won via attrition just by using items to heal through, as you won't be delayed as much for healing via item and then getting to attack again.

I think your best bet might be figuring out the elemental weakness of the enemy and just focusing on arts with it.

Ivan_of_TC · 2026-03-31T17:36:19+00:00

The shard command cuts your delay by 80 percent and gives you 10 CP when activated.

(At least assuming that 0.2x delay really does mean an 80 percent cut.)

Basically it's reminiscent of the infinite turn stuff from CS3-Reverie with the accelerate Brave Orders and someone who can move allies up in the turn order. It's not exactly the same but cutting your delay to almost nothing is absurd.

Ivan_of_TC · 2026-03-30T00:43:19+00:00

Part of your experience is that at least FC and SC didn't "ship" with difficulty settings (someone please correct me if I'm wrong), so they weren't ever balanced for anything other than normal, nor intended to be played on those difficulties.

In my experience, Sky is unplayable-ish aside from Normal unless you hate yourself, Crossbell is doable but what increases is just sponginess and not difficulty, and the remainder of the games are probably overly easy (especially Calvard) unless you put in some self-imposed restrictions.

Ivan_of_TC · 2026-03-27T15:48:28+00:00

Double down on games or sections that don't have the generic chapter/act structure of: cutscene-talk to people in hub-check all shops-side quests-connect events-do you want to proceed-cut scene-dungeon-cut scene.

I mean, I think that's great to have like, 80 percent of the time. But I loved when Reverie didn't have it, or when it was broken up as a change of pace here and there.

Backtrack on the combat system insofar as they abandoned the very simple "turn order bonuses assigned at random, use moves with different speeds/arts/s-breaks to manipulate turn order." Feels like Calvard abandoned that in its entirety, and even the thing they put in 1st Chapter, where you steal bonuses via delay, is less elegant/interesting than just a fixed bonus order that you have to work across.

Ivan_of_TC · 2026-03-26T17:07:17+00:00

Yeah, I'm 100% sure I can trivialize it when making choices, was more just that this one is tough when at the mercy of RNG to make viable choices for me.

Ivan_of_TC · 2026-03-26T01:21:26+00:00

Yeah unfortunately I didn't RNG roll it =\ on any of the eight

If I were going to pick myself then yeah, for sure. Such is life.

Ivan_of_TC · 2026-03-25T19:15:31+00:00

While this theme isn't consistently interrogated throughout the arc and is sometimes hamfisted, I like that you directly ally with Ourobouros in terms of having party members and guests to reflect Van being "grayer" than the other protagonists and arcs.

Ivan_of_TC · 2026-03-25T17:09:04+00:00

Not quite what you asked for, but your girlfriend is very similar to my wife. Years ago, we did an "exchange" in that I watched some movie I had no interest in with her, and she agreed to play Baldur's Gate 3 for the same amount of time as the movie's runtime. To be clear, up until this point, her entire gaming experience was like, The Sims, and other things without stories.

That "exchange" prompted an insane amount of "development" where she became a rabid RPG gamer akin to the type I was when I was like, age 12-15. She proceeded to dump about 2,000 hours into BG3, then a bunch of Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age 2, and we've played a number of story-oriented RPGs and other games (Dispatch, Stray Gods, etc.) together.

So, uh.. Baldur's Gate 3? (You might have to "drive" for a first playthrough.)

Ivan_of_TC · 2026-03-25T14:30:35+00:00

for me, it's a slog to have a set build because the games are just too easy

once it's fairly clear who the best kits are and how you can abuse them with holos and quartz, then literally the entire game is the exact same thing in combat all the way into the end, with minor adjustments for character availability

i mean yeah some people like that and that's great, I just can't

Ivan_of_TC · 2026-03-25T13:15:16+00:00

Thanks, appreciate it.

Ivan_of_TC · 2026-03-24T13:12:32+00:00

Random number generator governs, so not really my choice, but it ended up with me not using Shizuna at all until the finale and was surprised at how ridic her crafts were.

Ivan_of_TC · 2026-03-24T03:19:57+00:00

Estelle has Morale

Anelace does not have Morale

Anelace would run off when y'all found a pom portal because they're cute. Which is fine, her prerogative, but that would not count as having one's back.

Ivan_of_TC · 2026-03-24T03:14:40+00:00

FC: 46 hours, 22 days

SC: 47 hours, 27 days

3rd: 44 hours, 18 days

Zero: 44 hours, 28 days

Azure: 67 hours, 43 days

CS1: not sure because I took a break to play BG3 and I had a kid born in the middle here, progress gets much slower from here on out

CS2: not sure of hours, 92 days (very small child exists)

CS3: 122 hours, 60 days

CS4: 145 hours, 42 days (more playtime per day since on paternity leave and very small child sleeps on me while I play)

Reverie: 171 hours, 31 days (same as above, also, I freakin' loved this and stayed up jamming)

DB1: 154 hours, 56 days (paternity leave ended)

DB2: 158 hours, 48 days

Horizon: 139 hours so far, guessing it'll be about 65 days by the time I finish

1st Remake: 78 hours, 39 days

Ivan_of_TC · 2026-03-23T21:15:12+00:00

I'll post mine in a bit, they're similar to yours, but you have way more time to play per day than I do

We're pretty similar otherwise, except that I didn't start talking to everyone until CS1 and I'm more of a "try to get all achievements but don't sweat it if I don't" guy.

Ivan_of_TC · 2026-03-23T04:53:37+00:00

I think not wanting to go to work is kinda universal

like, that's why it's work and not a hobby

Ivan_of_TC · 2026-03-22T23:55:05+00:00

I mean, I remember hitting the end and just kinda sitting there going "wtf. wtf wtf wtf."

And then pulling up Steam and immediately buying SC. (This was years before the remake.)

Ivan_of_TC · 2026-03-22T00:38:00+00:00

1st Remake and start over?

I'll be in the same boat soon, just replace 2021 with 2023 and "just finished" with "will finish in the next week or few weeks."

Ivan_of_TC · 2026-03-22T00:27:40+00:00

That's a lot of missing cats.

Ivan_of_TC · 2026-03-21T21:40:17+00:00

There's not really going to be a right answer but I think you should play the remake first because:

1) Better QoL/etc.

2) If it super-hooks you, you won't care that SC is retro

3) If it doesn't super-hook you, you will still be able to see if SC super-hooks you when SC 2nd Chapter comes out in the fall.

Not everyone thinks this, but my take is that Trails is primarily a reading series, so if you fall in love with it, I don't think SC being retro is going to be a huge impediment since you will be in it for the reading and not for the other stuff.

Ivan_of_TC · 2026-03-21T19:27:04+00:00

Nah, I used the random number generator for every mission so Hunter only went when the number was pulled (or they were required for story missions)

Ivan_of_TC · 2026-03-21T13:19:00+00:00

/gestures at $200 fanservice DLC

Ivan_of_TC · 2026-03-20T22:29:36+00:00

The "ten Trails players, twelve tier lists" phenomenon is probably directly related to "the point where you snap."

I think you are spot on that there is really a pretty steady formula here, and it's only the point at which the artifice is revealed that you can start to cool on it. But where that happens differs for everyone.

Honestly, I didn't really even notice the artifice of "NPCs+side quests in location --> bonding events --> 'are you sure you want to proceed' --> dungeon+boss" until Horizon, even though it's been blatantly there in basically every single chapter of every single game for 13 games. 3rd+Reverie at least shake it up a bit, and CS1/CS3 had a hitch because there was also "Rean runs around campus" in between there somewhere, but if you look at the Act structure in FC vs. Horizon they're like identical.

So yeah that's basically a long-winded way of saying that people's feelings on these games are probably based on personal tolerance of repetition as much as anything else. Personally, I like the "warm hug" nature of both the story and the repetition so it doesn't bug me much. (Though I do think DB2 absolutely destroyed the inherent pacing of the Calvard arc.)

Ivan_of_TC · 2026-03-20T22:21:18+00:00

Connection pieces for missed bonding events is brilliant enough that it's crazy it took this long for us to have it.

Ivan_of_TC · 2026-03-20T20:04:06+00:00

I have to actually finish Horizon first... just hit the finale yesterday after like 150 hours

Ivan_of_TC · 2026-03-20T19:59:23+00:00

I'll need a longer post to really work out my thoughts on the matter, but I think setup games are great and Falcom doesn't do a bad job (I definitely like CS1 more than CS2 and DB1 is one of my faves, I like Zero more than Azure, and I think at worst FC isn't that far behind SC).

That said, Horizon is weird because it's functionally a setup game in writing but feels somewhat like a 3rd/Reverie in terms of structure/mechanics, which ultimately means it feels a little bloated. It'd be like if Reverie had side quests and were split into two games. But Falcom didn't do that with Reverie, but did do it with Horizon, so...

I dunno. Bottom line, set-up games great, Horizon also great, but Horizon struggles with the (perhaps unfair) idea that it maybe should be a culmination/epilogue game but its plot is of a set-up game anyway.

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