MindBullet

My gut feeling as that both Microsoft and Sony knew for a while that the PS5 couldn't match the price of the new Xbox offerings. Sony has been trying to avoid being on the other end of a "299" moment, and Microsoft has had no reason not to make them sweat over it.

Sony might be able to get it closer now that they know for sure, but I really doubt it'll come anywhere close. I'd love to eat my words, though.

@bowl-of-lentils: I made it to the Dark Dragon Nest. I think when I realized it's basically redoing the Infernal Castle from CS2 I felt I had to put the game down and go do something else for a while.

I've been struggling with ToCS3 for a while now, and honestly I'm not sure when I'm going to get around to finishing it. I think a lot of what bothers me about it are the same issues you're bringing up here.

For example the middle of almost every chapter has you reunite with an old member of Class VII after fighting a boss with the scene playing out the same way almost every time. Monster materializes out of nowhere. The team fights it. They think they’ve won the battle but, “oh no,” the monster is still alive. Then, off screen, one of the members of Class VII says something along the lines of: “Not on my watch!” And they jump down from a high place to save the group. It gets to the point that you can literally time your watch to when certain story beats are going to happen.

This was something I started to notice in Cold Steel 2, and bothered me even then. ToCS3, perhaps because of the size of it's cast, takes that and runs it into the ground so hard it leaves the plot looking like it's been turned into a fine paste. You pretty much KNOW going into a plot point exactly what is going to happen after a boss battle, it plays out exactly how you'd expect, and then it keeps happening. I found it intensely frustrating, and sucked out almost all of the tension and drama from a huge portion of the game.

Another disappointing aspect of the story is the old members of Class VII themselves. I love the new VII members, they are all pretty fun in their own way, but when I first started the game I was the most excited to see what my old classmates had been up to since Cold Steel II... All the old Class VII members feel like they had all their development in the first two games and now they are well established which honestly makes them less interesting to have around. Sure they have new jobs and such but their personalities feel a bit dull since most of them don’t have any more room for growth. ...Characters like Millium and Sara are some of the few expectations since you learn more about their pasts and you get to hang out with them more compared to the other OG classmates (or at least it felt that way to me).

I genuinely would have preferred if CS3 had either focused entirely on the New Class VII, or on Old Class VII. Cramming a section of each chapter with a part where you have to abandon the new characters to relive your glory days with the old characters just felt... Forced. It also doesn't really help build your new characters up if you're constantly leaving them behind to showcase the characters people actually care about.

I also kind of hate what they did to Sara here, but I guess getting her backstory is SOMETHING.

There are also a lot of story moments that feel like retreads of scenes from past games but they don’t work as well as they did in the previous titles.

This also bothered me more as time went on. Honestly, at a certain point I was convinced they were intentionally going for an MGS2 sort of thing. You know, the whole 'recreating the events of the previous game on purpose' thing. It started to feel like characters, locations, and plot points were included simply because hey, they worked in those other games people liked.

The battle system is so much snapper compared to the old games and it was really cool to explore parts of Erobonia that were mentioned in past entries but you never saw in person.

This is true, and I did enjoy fleshing out Erebonia, but... The battle system, while snappier, is legit broken. I can't even tell if it's on purpose since it feels like the encounters are designed to push you into breaking the game. It's kind of satisfying to steam roll everything, but it's all style and no substance.

I'll probably get around to finishing it, if only so I can move on to Cold Steel IV and finish the series, but man... This game has me so bummed.

I guess it sounds... Fine? I suppose that's all it needs to be, really.

The stuff around the way it flubs the actual Japanese stuff in their supposedly Japanese video game is kind of hilarious, though. I didn't realize how accurate having that one white dude come out dressed as a Samurai or w/e to play a bamboo flute at E3 would be to the game's whole aesthetic.

I'm with the crew that the tone throughout is incredibly weird and off-putting, even without the current allegations hovering over Ubisoft. Starting off their Legion stuff with a take on that poem, and then doing a U-turn into "aint this goofy?!" is just... Baffling and ridiculous. I want to be interested in it, but everything they're doing to promote it just feels so tone deaf it's hard to take any of it seriously.

Other than that, I was really looking forward to seeing more Valhalla. As an Assassin's Creed fanboy who loved Origins and Odyssey, my biggest concern after those games was the feeling that the series would continue to stray further from 'stealth action' into that samey Ubisoft 'action' feel. From what I've seen and heard so far, those worries haven't gone away. I'm hoping that what they've shown and what Alex got to play is only a specific chunk and that there is some meatier Assassin's Creed stuff in this Assassin's Creed video game. Also, yeah it was super weird how they pushed their Vikings as simple farmers looking for a home and then turned around and had gameplay of the player burning and pillaging a random village and the like.

I think Vinny said something along the lines of "How do they keep getting this stuff so wrong?", and... Yeah. That's pretty much how I feel.

@xbob42:I think Cold Steel deserves more credit than that, but it mostly comes down to personal preference I suppose. I will agree that it does have it's issues, though. I just recently finished replaying 1 and 2 in preparation for Cold Steel 3 and I came away with some more complicated feelings than I remember having when I originally played them on PS3. I've been thinking about trying to write something about it as a way to organize those thoughts, but I kind of want to get through more of CS3 first.

@sethmode: That is, unfortunately, an issue that plagues the series as a whole. I'll refrain from getting too deep into it, but Trails' handling of what queer characters it has isn't... Super great...

I think Sky FC is kind of a tough sell, and probably the major roadblock people run into when trying to get into the Trails series as a whole. It's a great JRPG, but its definitely showing it's age when it comes to visuals and design. That coupled with its notoriously glacial pacing, the length, and the knowledge that there are two more games on top of it that complete the story being told in FC and set up the most modern looking entries in the series can be a significant hurdle.

If you can appreciate it for what it is without already being hooked on the Trails canon, than it's well worth playing. Otherwise, starting with Cold Steel can give you that extra push you might need.

I'll add to the sentiment that the Trails series (especially the Liberl arc) is some of the most anti-streaming content you can get. But I get it, if you're going to start playing it in lockdown mode, might as well stream it.

I will also say that I know how adamant some fans can be about it, but I think starting with Cold Steel 1 is absolutely a fine way to get into the series. It's probably a little easier to stream if that's the route you want to go, and the more modern design and aesthetics are likely easier for non-Trails fans to get into. Then if that hooks you, go back and muscle through the Sky trilogy at some point.

We've been having to go into work since the beginning since testing airplane engines is still considered 'essential' despite everything. The fun thing is that somehow our workload increased at the start of the month, and that coupled with management getting to work from home has left the lab in a sorry state. It's depressing to have to go into work. Everyone I see looks and feels defeated, and I swear just about every conversation I've had with someone has included some variation of "I feel like we're being sacrificed but what else can we do?" has come up. We've had people leave or refuse to come in due to anxiety attacks, and yet the direction from corporate is basically "wash your hands and try to socially distance".

To make matters worse, one guy got sick a week or so ago and when he tried to get tested he was told he doesn't qualify unless he requires emergency care. So he showed up to work again since our company's special sick leave policies only recognize cases where an employee has tested positive or is actively waiting for a test. Then he mentioned to someone that he still had a fever, and I guess the GM happened to be there and got pissed at him for 'trying to start something', which prompted a bunch of guys to walk out.

It sucks. But hey, they've finally started recommending people wear face masks, so...