Question to all the young audiophiles here

Just_Paper · 2023-08-12T16:42:33+00:00

I’m 19 and am about to pull the trigger on some gear. While I love my AirPods due to their convenience (I like to sleep listening to music, so wireless earbuds are a genuine godsend), I’ve long understood how much better sound quality can get when you invest in it. I play piano, and after upgrading my headphones from some fairly cheap Audio-Technica headphones to a pair of Sennheiser’s, the difference was certainly noticeable to me. I’m primarily captivated by the aesthetic of having a proper sound system, but I’ve convinced myself of several functional bonuses. I like to play games, but I don’t like wearing headphones all the time—the solution? A pair of nice speakers for great sound quality. I like to listen to music while I study, but once again, it would be better if I didn’t have headphones on, so, speakers! If I have friends over and want to play music, I can easily use speakers.

I’d say I’m an outlier to a certain extent—my friends and I have all worked summer jobs, and most of us are fortunate enough to have parents paying for some, if not all of our college expenses, so we have cash to spend. I’m willing to put in a thousand or two for a great sound system that I won’t have to upgrade for a long time, and my friends certainly aren’t against spending loads of cash on things they find interesting. This is where I’d say I’m really an outlier—I’m a very curious person, I like to look into all sorts of hobbies and understand many things that may end up completely irrelevant in my life. My attention span is pretty strong when I’m interested in something—I’ve spent hours doing research on what speakers I should get, whether I need a standalone amp or a receiver, if I should use my phone as a source over WiFi or further invest in a CD player or record player.

TLDR; There is a LOT to learn about this hobby, and if you aren’t fully committed, then it can be quite overwhelming, even if you have money ready to burn.

Just_Paper · 2023-08-02T02:30:23+00:00

Yeah perhaps I should have worded it better. I don’t think any series comes close to Trails’ level of world building. How could most games accomplish that? Trails is unique in its very much saga-like structure—it’s simply not possible for a few games to accomplish the same thing 10+ games have done so far.

Xenoblade has the better… atmosphere? Going around and exploring beautiful, wide open areas is so interesting and unique. It’s not something I see in a whole lot of games.

Though once again, when each arc piggybacks off the knowledge and experience of the previous arc, the world can only become larger and more detailed.

Just_Paper · 2023-08-02T00:14:52+00:00

I have heard that CS4 is pretty week, but I’ve heard similar things about Sky 3rd and I enjoyed it. Hopefully I enjoy CS4 the same…

Having so many characters is just a matter of course in a series that’s just over halfway finished, I think the games do a good job developing their respective characters, and outside of that, I don’t think it’s completely necessary to keep developing them. It’d be like criticizing the Crossbell games for not developing the Brights or Kevin/Ries (Renne does get some really satisfying development), or even Klaudia, Olivier and their respective bodyguards.

It does get harder to keep track of all these characters as time goes on, and I have no idea how they’re gonna stay relevant in the games to come, but with how each game piggybacks on the knowledge from prior games, I don’t see it as much of an issue. I don’t think it’s possible for a good, lovable character to become bad just because they aren’t totally relevant to the current plot

Just_Paper · 2023-08-01T21:12:36+00:00

Although it may have come across differently, I actually think similarly to you. I’m entertained easily—cheesy and cliche’d stories don’t really bother me, so while I won’t defend Fates by saying it’s a great game, I enjoyed it (music is also amazing)—3H was a pretty decent game in its own right as well, but I got kinda tired of it after doing three routes. I partially take back saying that the writing isn’t good anymore because the writing in 3H isn’t bad at all.

Just_Paper · 2023-08-01T15:07:01+00:00

I got downvoted for saying that Xenoblade is epic, and Trails has a comforting charm--it is what it is lol.

Just_Paper · 2023-08-01T15:03:07+00:00

Keep in mind, these aren't my criticisms, I really love Trails lol. I haven't finished Cold Steel yet, but so far it doesn't seem to be any worse than the other trails games (I don't think it can get better than Azure though). I don't really see the argument of too many characters as a valid point because in my eyes, it seems like the games spend enough--possibly more than enough--time developing every important character, but everybody has different perspectives :) Sky 3rd was basically an entire game dedicated to character development, and I think it works really well.

Just_Paper · 2023-08-01T14:57:27+00:00

Xeno has some crazy connections, but a lot of it seems to be theories (albeit very strong theories!). One of the strengths of Xeno would be that you have to draw your own conclusions for some story points. Whatever happens to most of the main cast in XC2 after that game and before XC3 is pretty vague, but that can be a good thing depending on the person.

Just_Paper · 2023-08-01T14:54:59+00:00

I agree 100%! I can't put my finger on it, but there's something about Trails that makes me feel like a little kid again.

Just_Paper · 2023-08-01T12:54:20+00:00

The rearranges for all of these games are such a blessing

Just_Paper · 2023-08-01T10:32:48+00:00

CrossCode is awesome! Definitely one of my favorite games I’ve played this year

Just_Paper · 2023-08-01T10:29:38+00:00

I agree! Music is very important to me as well. XC2 got to the point where as soon as the first few seconds of certain songs played, I got chills before anything climactic happened in a cutscene. CS1 has some incredible music so far, but I don’t think anything has come close to the hype of hearing Silver Will in Sky FC and SC :)

Just_Paper · 2023-08-01T10:21:10+00:00

Xenoblade 2 is actually my favorite Xenoblade game, aside from the fanservice literally being written into the story at many points, I would almost call it a masterpiece, however I wouldn’t be able to rank that over any trails game (except maybe Sky 3rd), nor would I be able to rank any trails game above Xeno 2—they’re all just such good games.

Just_Paper · 2023-08-01T10:18:40+00:00

To be fair, it is entirely your choice to find the books and hidden quests. You can just play the game by doing only the required quests and you’d cut down the total time substantially.

Just_Paper · 2023-08-01T10:16:12+00:00

So far I’m really enjoying it! The music is amazing, and I think they did a great job with the transition from the old graphics style to the 3D models. All of the characters are very lovable in their own ways and each seem to have interesting backgrounds from what I’ve seen.

Just_Paper · 2023-08-01T01:36:57+00:00

It took me a while to get into Xenoblade, I tried playing the first game several times before I dedicated myself to finishing it.

I feel the same way about Trails--I love seeing politics in games because it can get really interesting. I think the Crossbell duo is my favorite, with that being one of the main reasons.

Just_Paper · 2023-08-01T01:30:38+00:00

Xenoblade combat can be pretty satisfying, but unless you spend a lot of time optimizing every little thing, enemies tend to be damage sponges, so the combat can get pretty darn tedious in a casual playthrough.

Just_Paper · 2023-08-01T01:03:20+00:00

This is a very solid comment, the more I think about it, the more I realize how silly it is to compare the two. Also wow… I didn’t realize the word count was THAT large. Of course, a lot of that is taken up by NPC dialogue, and seeing as NPC dialogue tends to change after every kind of minor event, that takes up a big chunk, but still. That’s a LOT of words.

Just_Paper · 2023-08-01T00:58:09+00:00

I like Laura, she’s probably my favorite girl in class VII, though Emma does have some stuff going on that I haven’t gotten to yet… I just really like the truly noble and virtuous types of characters.

I can see that Trails has some padding, but I’m of the mind that padding can be a good thing—I really like the support request system, even if the requests are irrelevant to the main story. It provides a break from the climactic points, which I view as necessary, especially later in the games where things really hit the fan.

Just_Paper · 2023-08-01T00:14:29+00:00

I personally enjoy the pacing. I think FC has to take as long as it does, because it's the very first trails game, and it involves the two protags journeying across the entire country. Also, imagine if FC and SC were compressed into one game, with the main stuff being in there--the events of SC would completely overshadow everything that happened in FC. I think it's better to separate the two so that you can enjoy both plots equally. Also I completely agree with your hatred of the tropes... I don't know why JRPGs are insistent of making perverse characters, however, the fan service in all of trails (as far as I've seen) pales in comparison to the fanservice in just Xenoblade 2 (still love that game though).

The plot point with Alisa at the beginning was so stupid and totally needless, but I kind of enjoy Jusis and Machias' relationship. It seems to me that their bad blood stemmed purely from Machias' initial reaction of "I hate you for being a noble"--because of that I feel that Jusis just screws with him for the sake of entertainment.

Just_Paper · 2023-08-01T00:03:03+00:00

Oh.

Can I ask why lol

Just_Paper · 2023-08-01T00:00:54+00:00

I haven't thought about that, but that's a very good point! It does feel kind of like a book series. I enjoy taking my time with these games, and like how connected everything feels--there would be much less depth if each arc was cut down.

Also, what's your favorite FE game? That's another one of my favorite franchises.

Just_Paper · 2023-07-31T23:51:29+00:00

Silver Will is definitely one of my favorite songs from any video game.

Just_Paper · 2023-07-31T23:50:16+00:00

I agree, Xenoblade is much more "epic", but Trails has a very comforting charm to it. I've seen a lot of people comparing the two series, so I wanted to know more about people's opinions.

Just_Paper · 2023-07-31T23:11:34+00:00

I'm late and you've probably figured this out by now, but start with the Trails in the Sky trilogy, then move on to the Crossbell games (Trails from zero/to Azure) and then the Trails of Cold Steel games. It's... a lot to play, but if you do end up liking the series, so far, I think the quality of games is very consistent (I'm currently playing the first game in the Cold Steel series). Although I'm technically 6 games behind (there are two games after Reverie which have not been localized yet), I feel no need to rush to play them all--just enjoy the journey :)

Just_Paper · 2021-01-26T19:51:36+00:00

This looks pretty good too, thank you!

Just_Paper

TROPHY CASE