Trails in the Sky

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Mongrel
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Re: Trails in the Sky

Postby Mongrel » Wed Jul 30, 2014 9:12 pm

Brentai wrote:I always wanted to do an open-world/RPG type game where most of your objectives are time sensitive and you can't possibly do everything, this making the story's outcome dependant on how you prioritize. Reactions like this are why I'm convinced that that's a terrible idea.

Star Control 2 is pretty close to this.

You can do it all with a guide but it's damn tight. Without a guide you will 100% blow some shit by missing the window. I mean, there are whole civilizations that can get wiped out before you even realize they exist.
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Blossom
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Re: Trails in the Sky

Postby Blossom » Wed Jul 30, 2014 9:14 pm

Thad wrote:I think it's fine if you make it clear and overt that that's a core part of the gameplay. (Dead Rising is a good example.)

As opposed to just putting a bunch of quests in that don't really have a good reason for being time-sensitive except just to fuck with you.


Except for all the 100% runs of the Dead Risings.
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Re: Trails in the Sky

Postby pacobird » Wed Jul 30, 2014 9:35 pm

Thad wrote:I think it's fine if you make it clear and overt that that's a core part of the gameplay. (Dead Rising is a good example.)

As opposed to just putting a bunch of quests in that don't really have a good reason for being time-sensitive except just to pineapple with you.


I get what you're saying but only in video games would you see a bounty board available to an entire organization full of competent, focused fighters way more experienced than you and assume somebody else WON'T beat you to it if you don't pay attention.
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sei
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Re: Trails in the Sky

Postby sei » Wed Jul 30, 2014 10:19 pm

Brentai wrote:I always wanted to do an open-world/RPG type game where most of your objectives are time sensitive and you can't possibly do everything, this making the story's outcome dependant on how you prioritize. Reactions like this are why I'm convinced that that's a terrible idea.


People would just determine an optimal path for seeing the best endings or w/e and players would just be slave to a slightly different meta game, though no more free.

Your best bet would be some degree of randomization of which content is available on a given playthrough... But, by that point, you're making yourself responsible for putting out more content, driving up budget and/or compromising quality.
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Kayma
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Re: Trails in the Sky

Postby Kayma » Wed Jul 30, 2014 11:48 pm

So, do you get anything for 100%ing this game? Or is it just to satisfy that urge?

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pacobird
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Re: Trails in the Sky

Postby pacobird » Thu Jul 31, 2014 12:08 am

You get an accessory you can port to Second Chapter that raises item drop rates, but you can get that accessory at about the halfway mark of SC anyway (long before anything "worth" farming drops) and they don't stack.
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Re: Trails in the Sky

Postby Mothra » Thu Jul 31, 2014 7:18 am

I thought this was a thread about chemtrails until now

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Thad
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Re: Trails in the Sky

Postby Thad » Thu Jul 31, 2014 11:16 am

TA wrote:
Thad wrote:I think it's fine if you make it clear and overt that that's a core part of the gameplay. (Dead Rising is a good example.)

As opposed to just putting a bunch of quests in that don't really have a good reason for being time-sensitive except just to fuck with you.


Except for all the 100% runs of the Dead Risings.


Fair. It's not actually impossible.

But (1) it's pretty much a certainty that when you start the game the first time you're going to see a shitload of "So-and-so just died" notifications and accept that as part of the gameplay experience and (2) the game is designed around a limited timeframe that encourages replays.

So even though yes it's technically possible to 100%, it does a pretty good job of establishing upfront that you're probably not going to do that and shouldn't worry too much about it.

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Re: Trails in the Sky

Postby Disposable Ninja » Sat Aug 02, 2014 5:29 pm

So I've kind of been tearing through the game. 35 hours so far, and I just started "The Final Chapter".

You can really tell that this game is only part one of a planned out trilogy. The game really pushes the mysterious origins of Joshua and how mysterious he is, and I can pretty much already tell that the only answers we're going to get about him will be some sequel hooks at the very end.
For the White Witch!

Metal Slime
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Re: Trails in the Sky

Postby Metal Slime » Sun Aug 03, 2014 5:25 pm

Lots of missable sidequests!


Hello, I see this is your first Falcom game.

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Thad
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Re: Trails in the Sky

Postby Thad » Tue Dec 08, 2015 1:20 am

God damn, this game was ported by people who do not understand that a computer can be connected to a 1080p television.

I'm going to have to lower my resolution just to read the fucking text. Or resign myself to only playing it in my office, on a monitor two feet in front of my face.

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Re: Trails in the Sky

Postby Thad » Thu Dec 17, 2015 4:46 pm

Thad wrote:I'm going to have to lower my resolution just to read the fucking text.


Nope! Because lowering the resolution does not increase the text size!

Thad wrote:Or resign myself to only playing it in my office, on a monitor two feet in front of my face.


It's looking more like this. (Or my laptop, as the game turns out to run fine under WINE once settings are properly tweaked.)

Unless somebody's created a mod to make this damn thing playable on a damn TV.

(And yes I've enabled the hi-res fonts. These make the dialogue text readable without squinting. They do not make the menu text readable without squinting.)

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Thad
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Re: Trails in the Sky

Postby Thad » Sun Dec 20, 2015 9:57 pm

Things that piss me off about JRPG's:

1. I am running around a town chasing a fucking cat.

2. While the cat is running away, it goes through a door. This happens multiple times, and nobody comments on it.

CATS CAN'T OPEN DOORS, JAPAN.

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Re: Trails in the Sky

Postby MarsDragon » Mon Dec 21, 2015 1:32 am


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Thad
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Re: Trails in the Sky

Postby Thad » Mon Dec 21, 2015 2:03 am

You know, if they animated the cat jumping up, I would be okay with that. Or animated a guy walking through the door and the cat following him before he closed it. Or just had the door open, and then when you walk in there's a guy standing next to it who says a cat followed him in.

But that's not what happens. The cat just walks up to the door and then fades, and then is inside the building. Because I guess we're ignoring that "when you walk up to a door you fade and the background fades and then you appear somewhere else" is supposed to be a narrative abstraction and not a literal depiction of how doors operate in the game world.

I kinda wanna see a game that just says "fuck it" and treats all those abstractions like they're literally true. Like when you walk into a door you're teleported to some other space, which is usually shaped roughly like the building but is larger on the inside. And when you exit a town you become a giant who is as large as the town you just exited. And when you get into a fight your limbs shoot out, like that guy in He-Man whose power was that his arms and legs could extend, so that you turn from a squat little chibi-man into a guy with a tiny head and long arms and legs.

And literacy is an automatic biological function that happens as you age instead of something you need to be taught, and when three people have to go somewhere together they all just merge into one body so they can all share one diving mask.

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