The Legend of Heroes Series - Possibly The Most Underrated JRPG Series

Apparently NISA has censored the beach scenes in Reverie by removing the underage girls.
 
Thanks. Avoiding spoilers like the plague (waiting patiently for Reverie), have you also played Kuro 2? I've heard it's a pretty weak meandering entry, but would want to hear some more opinions. Also, is there a harem in Kuro? After Cold Steel and noticing how many characters got the shaft due to harem dynamics compared to how much better the Sky and Crossbell characters could develop I just want the main character to have a specific love interest and leave it at that.

Finally, the combat system changes from turn based to one of those weird hybrids? Is it similar to anything out there? Like FF7Remake or a Tales game?
Now the farms are back on clear net, I can finally respond to this.

I haven't played kuro 2 yet. The English patch for it is completely MTL and the screenshots I've seen of it look pretty rough. But, going off the first game the harem shit is there, but I'd say it's only about as annoying as it was in Zero and Azure, if not less so. If you didn't mind it there, you won't mind it in Kuro.
 
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Apparently NISA has censored the beach scenes in Reverie by removing the underage girls.
Seems like it's a PS5 thing and there's nothing weird on the PC version.
Now the farms are back on clear net, I can finally respond to this.

I haven't played kuro 2 yet. The English patch for it is completely MTL and the screenshots I've seen of it look pretty rough. But, going off the first game the harem shit is there, but I'd say it's only about as annoying as it was in Zero and Azure, if not less so. If you didn't mind it there, you won't mind it in Kuro.
I can live with the Lloyd level of harem, he doesn't realistically kill any character development outside of maybe slowing down Rixia.

And how does the combat system in Kuro feel in general?
 
Seems like it's a PS5 thing and there's nothing weird on the PC version.

I can live with the Lloyd level of harem, he doesn't realistically kill any character development outside of maybe slowing down Rixia.

And how does the combat system in Kuro feel in general?
Good. Real good. Keeps what it needs to to make it FEEL like it's still trails. But, gets rid of a lot of the bloat that's been building up over the years and replaces it with a lot of cooler mechanics like positional effects on crafts.
 
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Good. Real good. Keeps what it needs to to make it FEEL like it's still trails. But, gets rid of a lot of the bloat that's been building up over the years and replaces it with a lot of cooler mechanics like positional effects on crafts.
Sounds great. Now i just hope I don't have to wait more than a year to sink my teeth into it.
 
Sounds great. Now i just hope I don't have to wait more than a year to sink my teeth into it.
I'm hoping we get something similar to what we got with Azure where they just buy the fan patch that already existed and to a quality control pass on it. But, the one that's out there doesn't translate NPC dialogue. So, I'm thinking 8-10 months until Kuro is the best case scenario. OR MAYBE NIS AMERICA WILL JUST FUCK US ALL AND GO ALL IN ON TRANSLATING YS 10!
 
Reverie is out soon! Also, like with CS1 and 2 they added additional expanded voice overs to the dub!
 
Reverie is out soon! Also, like with CS1 and 2 they added additional expanded voice overs to the dub!
2 days baby! Hype as fuck for this shit. Been waiting for a long time since I plowed through most of the legend of heroes games a few years ago.
 
Really nice to finally have some fight choreography instead of having every cutscene anti-climactically end with someone's recycled craft animation.
 
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Really nice to finally have some fight choreography instead of having every cutscene anti-climactically end with someone's recycled craft animation.
True, though still pretty tame, my understanding is they go a lot harder in Kuro.

Some initial impressions

Played the Lloyd route till the Geofront monster hunt popped in and swapped into Rean until I was locked out. Wholesome, that's the word that I mostly think of when playing these games, it certainly still has that. Getting to remember half the systems the games had which were second nature in CSIV but after so long I'm really noticing why Kuro changed things up to refocus them.

Sory as per usual, I'm intrigued, what the hell is up with the magic knights again? Why are the higher elements still present? What the hell happened to best boy Olivie and only respectable gypsy Schera? Finally getting to meet the head of the Vanders was also nice, fuck me has he been teased for a long time.

Going through all of Crossbell and doing the talking rounds was quite the trip, didn't expect to see Sharon and Alisa so early, or Estelle and Joshua just chilling, seeing Renne's old family was also nice (and specially to hear they are seeing each other more). The little narratives like the two dumbfuck merchants in East Street that still kind of suck at it, the fishermen guild still doing their own thing, seeing Shisuku again after so long and so on.


In summary, I'm having a fantastic time with it as of now. Really looking forward to sinking my teeth deeper. Also, should probably finish reading 3 & 9 since if it's in the story summary, it's probably important...
 
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Finished Lloyd route until it locked, just started Rean route 1 and it's so comfy being back in that world. I had replayed Zero and Azure in prevision of this, and it really was the right call because it had been years and I would have probably felt more disconnected with the Crossbell cast had I not. I'm really having a lot of fun, I know there's going to be some tropes that annoy me and make me feel uncomfortable (I presume Angelica is going to be in the game, anyway...) but it really speaks to the quality of these games that I'm happily going to go through 80+ hours of yet another one of these despite those moments really not working for me.

Hope everyone has fun with it!
 
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jfc I forgot how long this game is. Was hoping to start Reverie immediately when it dropped but I just started the CS4 finale chapter. It just keeps fucking going.
Yeah, I thought of replaying Zero and Azure myself (specially azure, I psp emulated that and it was a step down from Zero which I did the Geofront approach) but the scale made me reconsider, these games are very fucking long, specially if you do the talking rounds. I am a bit sad that there are events where I think "wait, that happened?" like Oscar the baker getting injured in the war, I was drawing an absolute total blank on when that happened since it's been so long since I finished CS4 and everything behind it. Still, game does solid work at giving me a few nods to remember stuff by. I do wonder how much bringing old saves changes bits since I've already seen references to specific sidequest stuff for Rean, which makes since since I imported everything from that, but also from Crossbell, which I didn't have proper saves the game could use.

EDIT: Spoilers for end of Chapter Lloyd 1

Well, that lovable scamp Rufus is at it again! I would have appreciated more than "well they just did it" about how they were capable of storming the place without a single whiff of anything outside of Arios having a hunch... Aside from that, I love Crossbell but I swear to god it's the most cursed patch of land of all of Zemuria, Jesus fucking Christ it cannot catch a break.

As for the fight itself vs Rufus, completely caught me off guard with the 1 hit KO and then I mistimed my setup on the second try, third one I did it all perfectly and managed to break him before he did his sure hit kill, but the motherfucker played the "screw the rules, I have pretty hair" play and I was undone, but it's still a win in my mind faggot.

I did like our rogues gallery being a few old faces, good to see Dieter and specially Garcia back into the fold, love those fuckers. Surprised at Ilya being a part of the occupation force, though assuming she is aware, I wouldn't be surprised her "miraculous recovery" is owned to rufus and friends and well, she has her motives at being angry at the world as well and considering a "final solution" to stop it from happening again. No idea about the dork with the helmet outside of looking incredibly dorky.

Plot thickens and all that, I do wonder if this is Rufus going full AWOL or of there is some shit related to Osborne underneath it all and if any other Ironbloods are involved. Also, somebody has to have let him out and it reeks of Ouroboros seeing how Novartis is jacking around again. Also, was only a quick moment, but seemed like one of the proper knights was there, no idea if it's Valimar or one of the others


EDIT 2: Spoilers for end of Chapter ??? 1

Whelp, good thing I read the first couple of chapters of 3 & 9 so I at least have a basic idea on the two newcomers. As for C, please, let it not be Crow for once, Jesus fuck. I'm hoping it's Lechter since it does have his style in there and he's a sword user. Also, god knows Lechter was a giant letdown on ToCS 3 and 4, so letting him shine is more than warranted.
 
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>hit 112 hours on the in-game timer
>just got to the final dungeon


2023-07-10 20.12.37 lparchive.org 2173d8b922cb.jpg


please Aidios make it stop why didn't I do this a month ago
 
I've played cold steel 1-4 excellent games. Plan on playing through the whole series sky-reverie after im done with ff16. Happy Reverie is getting great reviews for how niche the series still is.
 
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I've played cold steel 1-4 excellent games. Plan on playing through the whole series sky-reverie after im done with ff16. Happy Reverie is getting great reviews for how niche the series still is.
Well, if anybody is playing Reverie, it's because they've likely played the ones before it, because by god, going in raw into this game would be pure and utter confusion. If they have stuck as long as they have like me, I expect them to be pretty fanboyish about it and Reverie certainly hasn't done anything to annoy me yet. Basically, one of these games would need to be incredibly tepid to not at least get positive reviews from it's cultivated player base. Also helps that it's been on PC for like a year in Japanese, so if it ever had any technical issues on release, those got ironed out ages ago, so the other usual cause of mass outrage (shit port) was not going to be a thing.

Aside from that, hope you enjoy your time with Sky once you go into it, though knowing a lot of lore coming from Cold Steel will kill some impact, it should give you some neat stuff to play detective with. Do expect to lose out on a lot of quality of life stuff though and much simpler mechanics (though I consider this a bonus, with all the stuff that has been tacked on top each game, there are a ton of mechanics to combat now).
 
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Well, if anybody is playing Reverie, it's because they've likely played the ones before it, because by god, going in raw into this game would be pure and utter confusion. If they have stuck as long as they have like me, I expect them to be pretty fanboyish about it and Reverie certainly hasn't done anything to annoy me yet. Basically, one of these games would need to be incredibly tepid to not at least get positive reviews from it's cultivated player base. Also helps that it's been on PC for like a year in Japanese, so if it ever had any technical issues on release, those got ironed out ages ago, so the other usual cause of mass outrage (shit port) was not going to be a thing.

Aside from that, hope you enjoy your time with Sky once you go into it, though knowing a lot of lore coming from Cold Steel will kill some impact, it should give you some neat stuff to play detective with. Do expect to lose out on a lot of quality of life stuff though and much simpler mechanics (though I consider this a bonus, with all the stuff that has been tacked on top each game, there are a ton of mechanics to combat now).

I think Nisa has done a fairly good job with legend of heros from my experience without Nisa it's unlikely the crossbell games would have been localized officially . Yeah I know sky games are mid 2000's games so I don't expect modern QOL lol. I'm excited own all three of them and the crossbell games none of which I have played yet.
 
I think Nisa has done a fairly good job with legend of heros from my experience without Nisa it's unlikely the crossbell games would have been localized officially . Yeah I know sky games are mid 2000's games so I don't expect modern QOL lol. I'm excited own all three of them and the crossbell games none of which I have played yet.
They all do have speed up which is a godsend in these games, so that should be more than enough. Do share your ventures as you go through them.
 
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273 hours between two playthroughs. Good Lord. Granted, they were both 100% and I saw all NPC dialog both times and I rarely use speed ups, but still. Happy I did it though. I enjoyed the game more the second time around. There are still some things that irritated me about the writing, but overall bretty good.

The Legend of Heroes_ Trails of Cold Steel IV_20230711151854.jpg
 
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