I like Ys. Would I like Trails in the Sky?

[Chuplayer]

So, I like Ys because it's an action RPG and not turn-based. However, Trails in the Sky is tempting me solely because it's from Falcom. However, if it's too heavy on the turn-based gameplay, I won't like it. From what I've seen on Youtube, it's exactly like that. Can somebody prove me wrong and sell me on this game?

Also, I hate grinding. It's the only Achilles Heel of the Ys series for me, and the thing that saves it for me is that I only spend about an hour in each Ys game grinding. I can live with that. What is grinding like in Trails in the Sky?

[Chuplayer]

That actually sounds like quite good news on the combat system. You're making me lean towards reserving it when I pick up Ys I&II next week.

I'm not familiar with the series, but I had heard that it's very story-heavy. I didn't know it was so story-heavy that the story came first. That actually sounds quite interesting to me. I'm not sure I'll like it, but I don't think I've played something like it before, either.

[Incog Neato]

Story-heavy, eh?

Is it like like Ultima VII: The Black Gate with a billion dialogue choices and novella-sized answers from NPCs? If so, I'm not sure I can take it as I no longer have the patience to sit through games like that.

(Also, too lazy to look at the TitS threads and Google for information about this game since I'm still not overly hyped about it.)

[yotaka]

Don't forget the actual novella.

[narugami]

Feb 19, 2011 13:32:28 GMT -5 Wyrdwad said:

As for grinding... it's actually not necessary at all in Trails. I literally rushed through the game to play it for QA, *skipping* most of the battles (since combat isn't random, you CAN avoid everything but boss battles most of the time), and while some of the bosses in the final dungeon gave me a lot of trouble, that was it -- and like with Oath in Felghana on PSP, Trails has a togglable option called "Retry Offset" that basically tells the game to significantly lower the difficulty of any battle every time you retry it. I had to retry the final battle 3 times, lowering the difficulty each time, before I beat it... but I DID beat it, despite being WOEFULLY underlevelled. So it's definitely possible to play through the game with absolutely no grinding whatsoever.

-Tom

I actually did need to do some grinding at the beginning of this game (as well as in the beginning of SC, which was humiliating). Some of the bugs in the very first mission killed me in one hit before I gained some levels. But towards the end, yeah, I got impatient and avoided a lot of enemies. For some fights, it's easier to shuffle your spells or characters around and find something useful than to grind enough to overpower the boss.

The game does take a lot of patience - each chapter ends with an awesome mission, but you'll spend a lot of time on Bracer Quests and getting to know the area first. The sequels have a better balance than FC (one of the reasons I like Zero so much is because the optional missions are so much more varied) but as a whole, the series is one of the most rewarding game experiences I've ever had.

Falcom really packed a lot in this game. I managed to find a subevent that wasn't in any guide by visiting one of the optional dungeons at the right time XD;

[narugami]

It exists, but I hate using that option! XD;