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Cam0
Joined: 13 Dec 2009
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 Posted: Fri Jul 12, 2024 3:32 am
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| onpufan wrote: | | I'm a western fan and really liked Cold Steel. I haven't played Daybreak yet but everything I've heard about it paints it as being the 'adult' and 'mature' take on the series like Tales of Arise or Final Fantasy 16. The kind of entry where the producers say they watched Game of Thrones and wanted to do something similar in dealing with more mature topics and themes. I know some people didn't like Cold Steel because of all the anime-isms like the school setting/cast, fanservice, anime humor like the harem jokes or Angelica flirting with girls.. Again, I've yet to play Daybreak so I don't know how much of that stuff is present in the Daybreak arc but if it's not then it might appeal to certain people more. |
Daybreak is very much in line with Cold Steel. It's still headpats, harems and girls comparing boob sizes in bath.
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NeverConvex
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Joined: 08 Jun 2013
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Posted: Thu Jul 25, 2024 6:12 am
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| Cam0 wrote: | | Daybreak is very much in line with Cold Steel. It's still headpats, harems and girls comparing boob sizes in bath. |
This is, for me, a bummer. I'd like to see Falcolm go back to Sky-and-Zero-style storytelling.
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Cam0
Joined: 13 Dec 2009
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Posted: Thu Jul 25, 2024 8:58 am
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| NeverConvex wrote: | | This is, for me, a bummer. I'd like to see Falcolm go back to Sky-and-Zero-style storytelling. |
I dunno man. Zero/Azure had the harem, constant boob size remarks with Elie and Rixia, Shirley + Ilya shenanigans and other such stuff. Sky trilogy is really the outlier in the series now. I would say Cold Steel leaned into that stuff more (it basically starts off with an accidental pervert incident), but I dare say the Light Novely-esque writing started off with Zero. Daybreak at least significantly toned down the amount of "hahas" (in the Japanese dub).
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NeverConvex
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Posted: Thu Jul 25, 2024 9:11 am
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| Cam0 wrote: | | I dunno man. Zero/Azure had the harem, constant boob size remarks with Elie and Rixia, Shirley + Ilya shenanigans and other such stuff. Sky trilogy is really the outlier in the series now. I would say Cold Steel leaned into that stuff more (it basically starts off with an accidental pervert incident), but the Light Novely-esque writing started off with Zero. |
Yeah, I was thinking about this a bit after posting; I'm currently re-playing Zero and many of the Rixia-centric scenes do have some of this feeling -- super fan-service-focused, albeit not with any kind of active harem-building component. But, as you said, still more understated and less universal than in CS (and, also, has no "relationship-building" mini-game component to it, which feels strongly packaged with the harem-building fanservice in CS); I find it a lot less prominent in Zero, but it is there. So, in some respects, maybe we've just been trending in this direction for a long while. EDIT: Mmm, thinking further about it, too, I guess in Sky the closest comparison would be some of Scheherazade's scenes?
I'm also thinking of the other parts of the "LN-esque" writing, too; e.g., having a protagonist with every special mythological power imaginable conveniently stuffed into him. Lloyd is framed as an incredible detective whiz-kid, but never comes off as if the world itself has conspired to make him a hero. I think I'd still say he gets elevated by the narrative a bit more than Estelle, but it's the difference between clumsy, earnest kid (Estelle), talented new detective (Lloyd), and outright superhero (Rean). (broad outlines of Sky, Zero, CS protagonists, maybe in ways that could be distantly spoiler-y) The first was my favorite take, but both of the first two just feel a lot more grounded, I guess, and I miss that?
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Cam0
Joined: 13 Dec 2009
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Posted: Thu Jul 25, 2024 1:06 pm
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Now personally I actually like Cold Steel more than the Sky trilogy or the Crossbell arc. Might be because Cold Steel was my first game in the series, but I also really liked how hard it leaned towards building bonds with the companions. Going on school trips together, having reunion parties and stuff, I loved all that shit. Lloyd and Estelle also don't have their own talking piloted robot bro.  I really like a lot of LN anime (I have terrible taste I know) so the LN-esque writing don't bother me, but I definitely see how it might really bother other people.
When I think about it Daybreak isn't similar to Cold Steel just in the kind of tropes and character archetypes it has, but also in the general story and gameplay structure. Another thing I really liked about Cold Steel was how the chapters were structured. You had the actual like mainline story missions/trips and then between that stuff you had like free time at the campus doing bonding events, talking to folk and doing side missions. Daybreak has pretty much the same kind of structure and I like how that paces the story into multiple climactic story events that then wind down into slower sections where you get to chill with your buddies.
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NeverConvex
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Posted: Thu Jul 25, 2024 1:13 pm
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| Cam0 wrote: | Lloyd and Estelle also don't have their own talking piloted robot bro. |
Hey now, I'm sure the Bright family talk to Pater-Mater pretty regularly!
| Cam0 wrote: | | I also really liked how hard it leaned towards building bonds with the companions. Going on school trips together, having reunion parties and stuff, I loved all that shit. |
I like this kind of stuff when it's part of the main narrative and feels naturally wound into it, but don't really enjoy it when it leans into harem-building, or when it creates "replayability" just through seeing what happens if you hang out with a different person next play-through. Generally, though, IMO the low-key everyday hanging out, bonding, errands and so forth stuff is as or more important to the Trails world as the main narrative.
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