The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II 
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The fan who took the reins at a JRPG powerhouseJun 24, 2021 - EurogamerThere are beloved boutique Japanese studios, and then there's Falcom; a true grandee about to celebrate its 40th anniversary, the company traces its beginnings back to a hobbyist shop selling PCs and Apple IIIs as well as the curious games people were coding for them, before turning to making those games themselves. The studio has stayed purposefully modest ever since, still employing just over 60 people as it continues doing what it does best: making RPGs rich in character and story, with vast arcs that can span multiple games. Fans of Falcom are a dedicated bunch, then - like Toshihiro Kondo, for example, who took over the reins from founder Masayuki Kato in 2007. Since then, there's been a gentle push towards the west that's led to new audiences discovering the likes of Ys, the brilliantly breezy action RPG, and the ongoing Legend of Heroes series and its offshoots - a series that rivals the likes of Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy in longevity. As Falcom's 40th anniversary beckons, we sat down with Mr. Kondo to discover how he went from being a superfan to heading up the company - and how Falcom are endeavouring to find new fans along the way. Read more Hot on the Trails of Falcom, Japan's longest-running RPG developerOct 6, 2019 - EurogamerFounded in 1981, Falcom is the longest-running RPG developer in Japan, even though it's dwarfed by its closest rivals in terms of size, production values, and international recognition. Today, the company remains a modest size of 62 employees, perhaps attributed to its founder Masayuki Kato, who often joked that he didn't want to make it any bigger because he didn't really like people. But when you've been through nearly four decades facing as much turbulence as the Japanese games industry has, there must be a secret to Falcom's longevity. For its president Toshihiro Kondo, it's definitely the company's dedication to story, especially for the Trails series (or Kiseki as it's known in Japan), with Trails of Cold Steel 3 arriving on PS4 this October 22nd. "When we started out, we had the advantage in terms of pixel art," he tells me through his interpreter. "But as time progressed, other companies began putting a lot more manpower into graphics. We realised we'd need well over 100 people solely focused on that. But our founder realised if we can get a writer who knows how to write good stories, and is able to build up their knowledge as a writer, that's something we can make a sales point going forward." This began with 1994 title The Legend of Heroes 2: Prophecy of the Moonlight Witch, which Kondo refers to as the roots of the Trails series. From thereon, it's evident just how much emphasis is placed on story in Falcom's games based on the text. The script size for Trails of Cold Steel 3 is over 1.6 million Japanese characters, the largest of any Trails game released so far - for comparison, The Witcher 3's script contains over 450,000 words, while the entirety of the The Lord of the Rings books (including The Hobbit) add up to over 570,000 words). Read more Trails of Cold Steel II Version 1.4.1 Patch NotesJan 31, 2019 - Community AnnouncementsWe have released a patch that addresses the following issue: Fixed a bug where the following items will disappear in NG+ if you defeat the final boss with them equipped, even if you choose to carry over your inventory to NG+. Traveling Clothes Angelica's Habit Claire's RMP Uniform Elise's Casuals Alfin's Casuals Black Kitty Ears White Kitty Ears Ride-Along Bear Ride-Along Bunny Contact Lenses Thors Armband Towa's Captain Hat 本日修正パッチをリリース致しました。 修正部分は下記になります。 最終ボス戦で下記のアイテムを装備してクリアすると 周回プレイ開始時にアイテム引き継ぎを選択しても 装備していたアイテムが消えてしまうバグを修正致しました。 VII組メンバーの旅装 アンゼリカ・シスター服 クレア・軍服 エリゼの私服 アルフィンの私服 にゃんにゃんセット・黒＆白 ハグハグくまちゃん ハグハグうさちゃん コンタクトレンズ 士官学院腕章 トワの艦長帽Daily Deal - The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II, 30% OffNov 7, 2018 - AnnouncementToday's Deal: Save 30% on The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II!* Look for the deals each day on the front page of Steam. Or follow us on twitter or Facebook for instant notifications wherever you are! *Offer ends November 12 at 10AM Pacific Time Trails of Cold Steel II Version 1.4 Patch NotesNov 5, 2018 - Community AnnouncementsHi everyone! We have released an update for Trails of Cold Steel II, bringing it to version 1.4. This version adds a highly requested new feature, some smaller bug fixes and improvements, and surprise leaderboards. New features: - Added an option for Japanese voice language. - Added 4 Steam leaderboards. Compare your scores against your Steam friends -- and everyone else -- in Total Battle Victories, Triple Advantage Battles, Angler Points and Academic Points. Note: if you already completed the game, you need to start it and load a save for your scores to be uploaded. (This is a Steam-only feature) Graphics Improvements: - Added a high resolution UI font option to the launcher. - Added the ability to natively load modded textures. (Check out BigHead's fantastic high-res UI texture mod) We hope you'll enjoy these improvements. パッチVer. 1.4リリースのお知らせ このパッチで要望の高かった要素、バグの修正、そしてサプライズとしてオンラインランキングボードが追加されます。 新要素 ランチャーから日本語音声が選択できるようになりました。 4種類ののSteamオンラインスコアランキングボードを追加しました。競えるランキングは総戦闘勝利数、奇襲攻撃発生回数、釣りポイント、アカデミックポイントの4つです。 ※既にゲームを一度クリアしている場合は、スコアのアップロードのため、セーブデータを一度読み込む必要があります。また、本機能はSteam版限定です。 グラフィックアップデート 高解像度UIフォントの実装。 Modのテクスチャーを読み込む機能の実装（BigHead氏の高解像度UIテクスチャーModをチェックしてみて下さい） Trails of Cold Steel II Version 1.3.1 Patch NotesMar 25, 2018 - Community AnnouncementsHi everyone! This is just a minor update with the following fixes. Patch Notes for Version 1.3.1 Changed the formula by which the fishing minigame adjusts to framerate. The challenge should now be consistent across all framerates When playing in Japanese, display the correct Japanese name graphics in the camp menu. Version 1.3.1 is available now. Note on Reverting to Previous Versions While we of course aim for each new version to only solve issues and provide improvements over all previous ones, it is always possible for something to break on some particular configuration. Therefore, we keep all versions available as Beta branches in Steam. Should an update lead to issues on your system, you can revert to a previous branch by selecting "Properties" -> "Betas" in the Steam library and choosing a version from the drop down menu. If you can confirm that the new version caused a problem, please report it as a regression.Trails of Cold Steel II Version 1.3.1 Patch NotesMar 25, 2018 - Community AnnouncementsHi everyone! This is just a minor update with the following fixes. Patch Notes for Version 1.3.1 Changed the formula by which the fishing minigame adjusts to framerate. The challenge should now be consistent across all framerates When playing in Japanese, display the correct Japanese name graphics in the camp menu. Version 1.3.1 is available now. Note on Reverting to Previous Versions While we of course aim for each new version to only solve issues and provide improvements over all previous ones, it is always possible for something to break on some particular configuration. Therefore, we keep all versions available as Beta branches in Steam. Should an update lead to issues on your system, you can revert to a previous branch by selecting "Properties" -> "Betas" in the Steam library and choosing a version from the drop down menu. If you can confirm that the new version caused a problem, please report it as a regression.Trails of Cold Steel II Version 1.3 Patch NotesMar 17, 2018 - Community AnnouncementsHi everyone! With the help of the community, we have finally identified the underlying cause for several crash issues that manifested on some systems. 1.3 fixes this underlying problem (a synchronization issue between the rendering and main game threads), which resolves these issues. This patch also officially implements support for loading higher-resolution UI (e.g. modded) textures. As a consequence, you can now use the HD texture pack mod without requiring a special modified executable. Patch Notes for Version 1.3 Fix render thread synchronization issues which could cause several types of crashes on some systems. Implement support for handling higher-resolution UI images. Fix overdrive button prompt icon when playing with keyboard/mouse or xbox controller prompts selected. When playing in Japanese, use the Japanese logo images on the title screen and display Japanese names for all the character and location introduction text graphics. Version 1.3 is available now. Note on Reverting to Previous Versions While we of course aim for each new version to only solve issues and provide improvements over all previous ones, it is always possible for something to break on some particular configuration. Therefore, we keep all versions available as Beta branches in Steam. Should an update lead to issues on your system, you can revert to a previous branch by selecting "Properties" -> "Betas" in the Steam library and choosing a version from the drop down menu. If you can confirm that the new version caused a problem, please report it as a regression.Trails of Cold Steel II Version 1.3 Patch NotesMar 17, 2018 - Community AnnouncementsHi everyone! With the help of the community, we have finally identified the underlying cause for several crash issues that manifested on some systems. 1.3 fixes this underlying problem (a synchronization issue between the rendering and main game threads), which resolves these issues. This patch also officially implements support for loading higher-resolution UI (e.g. modded) textures. As a consequence, you can now use the HD texture pack mod without requiring a special modified executable. Patch Notes for Version 1.3 Fix render thread synchronization issues which could cause several types of crashes on some systems. Implement support for handling higher-resolution UI images. Fix overdrive button prompt icon when playing with keyboard/mouse or xbox controller prompts selected. When playing in Japanese, use the Japanese logo images on the title screen and display Japanese names for all the character and location introduction text graphics. Version 1.3 is available now. Note on Reverting to Previous Versions While we of course aim for each new version to only solve issues and provide improvements over all previous ones, it is always possible for something to break on some particular configuration. Therefore, we keep all versions available as Beta branches in Steam. Should an update lead to issues on your system, you can revert to a previous branch by selecting "Properties" -> "Betas" in the Steam library and choosing a version from the drop down menu. If you can confirm that the new version caused a problem, please report it as a regression.Trails of Cold Steel II Version 1.2 Patch NotesMar 2, 2018 - Community AnnouncementsHi everyone! In our ongoing effort to make Trails of Cold Steel II on PC as bug-free and appealing an experience for everyone as possible, we are publishing version 1.2 today. It includes several correctness fixes that should resolve crash bugs on some software/hardware configurations, a new caching scheme to reduce loading times, and several other improvements. This video highlights the loading time improvements. Complete Patch Notes for Version 1.2 Various optimizations to loading speed and caching. Fix memory allocation ordering issues, eliminating some types of crashes occuring on some sytems. Permanently cache battle UI images to improve battle loading speed and prevent some rendering issues. Correctly apply English localized textures for ARCUS covers when playing the English version. Reduce Z-fighting on support character cut-ins during Divine Knight battles. Fix flickering and shadow issues in Sachsen Iron Mine map. Eliminate visible texture seams at some resolutions on title screen and some shop screen tabs. Fix aspect ratio of cockpit cutins when playing in ultra widescreen. Pillar box shop menus when playing in ultra widescreen. Added 120 FPS and 240 FPS frame limiter options. Added experimental HD font option. Version 1.2 is available now. Experimental Options This update introduces two experimental options that can be enabled by command line options. Note that these are experimental for a reason - we want to provide them to you if you are interested, but they are not fully tested throughout the entire game. -hdfont : This option enables a high definition font. It is natively designed for 4x the resolution of the default font. This will be especially useful in combination with the QHD UI mod. See here for a comparison. -largecache : Increases the size of the cache, which should make the loading time optimizations even more effective in longer sessions and reduce the number of instances of longer cache-clearing load times. Note on Reverting to Previous Versions While we of course aim for each new version to only solve issues and provide improvements over all previous ones, it is always possible for something to break on some particular configuration. Therefore, we keep all versions available as Beta branches in Steam. Should an update lead to issues on your system, you can revert to a previous branch by selecting "Properties" -> "Betas" in the Steam library and choosing a version from the drop down menu. If you can confirm that the new version caused a problem, please report it as a regression.Trails of Cold Steel II Version 1.2 Patch NotesMar 2, 2018 - Community AnnouncementsHi everyone! In our ongoing effort to make Trails of Cold Steel II on PC as bug-free and appealing an experience for everyone as possible, we are publishing version 1.2 today. It includes several correctness fixes that should resolve crash bugs on some software/hardware configurations, a new caching scheme to reduce loading times, and several other improvements. This video highlights the loading time improvements. Complete Patch Notes for Version 1.2 Various optimizations to loading speed and caching. Fix memory allocation ordering issues, eliminating some types of crashes occuring on some sytems. Permanently cache battle UI images to improve battle loading speed and prevent some rendering issues. Correctly apply English localized textures for ARCUS covers when playing the English version. Reduce Z-fighting on support character cut-ins during Divine Knight battles. Fix flickering and shadow issues in Sachsen Iron Mine map. Eliminate visible texture seams at some resolutions on title screen and some shop screen tabs. Fix aspect ratio of cockpit cutins when playing in ultra widescreen. Pillar box shop menus when playing in ultra widescreen. Added 120 FPS and 240 FPS frame limiter options. Added experimental HD font option. Version 1.2 is available now. Experimental Options This update introduces two experimental options that can be enabled by command line options. Note that these are experimental for a reason - we want to provide them to you if you are interested, but they are not fully tested throughout the entire game. -hdfont : This option enables a high definition font. It is natively designed for 4x the resolution of the default font. This will be especially useful in combination with the QHD UI mod. See here for a comparison. -largecache : Increases the size of the cache, which should make the loading time optimizations even more effective in longer sessions and reduce the number of instances of longer cache-clearing load times. Note on Reverting to Previous Versions While we of course aim for each new version to only solve issues and provide improvements over all previous ones, it is always possible for something to break on some particular configuration. Therefore, we keep all versions available as Beta branches in Steam. Should an update lead to issues on your system, you can revert to a previous branch by selecting "Properties" -> "Betas" in the Steam library and choosing a version from the drop down menu. If you can confirm that the new version caused a problem, please report it as a regression.64 bit OS Requirement Update and InformationFeb 23, 2018 - Community AnnouncementsToday, we updated the system requirements for Trails of Cold Steel II to specify explicitly that it requires a 64 bit operating system. (I.e. specifically Windows 7 64 bit, Windows 8 64 bit or Windows 10 64 bit) For most of you this should not make a difference, but if you are affected please read below for how to obtain a full refund. If you are interested, you can also read a more detailed technical explanation for this change. The short description is that, especially in later parts of the game, playing on a 32 bit OS can lead to crashes, graphical issues, and seemingly inexplicable performance problems. I apologize for this oversight in the initially published requirements and our internal testing. Refunds for 32 bit OS users If you are on a 32 bit OS, then regardless of your playtime or purchase date, you can of course obtain a full refund for the game. Please point out this announcement when you request the refund, and it should go through with no problems. Should your refund still be erroneously denied, then contact [email protected] and we will make sure to sort it out. Technical Explanation Trails of Cold Steel 2 is a 32 bit executable - otherwise it wouldn't run at all on 32 bit systems. This generally means that its address space is restricted to 2 GB of memory. Note that this doesn't mean that the game can actually use a full 2 GB of memory - the address space becomes fragmented to some extent, which might prevent some memory allocations from succeeding even if it seems like ample space should be available. During the port development, we decided very early on to favor performance, new features and improvements (i.e. unlimited draw distance) and graphical quality over memory frugality, since basically everyone in our target audience has at least 4 GB of main memory - likely more - and we can make a better game for this vast majority by actually using this memory. To do so, without making the game a 64 bit executable (as that would introduce a lot of issues with library dependencies), we enabled the LAA bit for the game. This tells the OS that the application is capable of dealing with a full 4 GB of address space. As a consequence, we also set the minimum RAM requirement to 4 GB, and the suggested amount to at least 6 GB to also allow for some background processes. What we failed to consider was that this simply does not work on 32 bit versions of Windows - even with LAA, in the default case each program only gets a 2 GB user address space allocation - and although it's only about 2% according to the latest Steam survey, some players are still using a 32 bit OS version. We discovered this issue by investigating a number of unusual crash and issue reports, and could narrow it down thanks to the feedback from various people who were directly affected. Thanks for your patience and help while we determined the root cause of this problem. Given that it was a basic assumption during port development, there is no feasible way to make th...64 bit OS Requirement Update and InformationFeb 23, 2018 - Community AnnouncementsToday, we updated the system requirements for Trails of Cold Steel II to specify explicitly that it requires a 64 bit operating system. (I.e. specifically Windows 7 64 bit, Windows 8 64 bit or Windows 10 64 bit) For most of you this should not make a difference, but if you are affected please read below for how to obtain a full refund. If you are interested, you can also read a more detailed technical explanation for this change. The short description is that, especially in later parts of the game, playing on a 32 bit OS can lead to crashes, graphical issues, and seemingly inexplicable performance problems. I apologize for this oversight in the initially published requirements and our internal testing. Refunds for 32 bit OS users If you are on a 32 bit OS, then regardless of your playtime or purchase date, you can of course obtain a full refund for the game. Please point out this announcement when you request the refund, and it should go through with no problems. Should your refund still be erroneously denied, then contact [email protected] and we will make sure to sort it out. Technical Explanation Trails of Cold Steel 2 is a 32 bit executable - otherwise it wouldn't run at all on 32 bit systems. This generally means that its address space is restricted to 2 GB of memory. Note that this doesn't mean that the game can actually use a full 2 GB of memory - the address space becomes fragmented to some extent, which might prevent some memory allocations from succeeding even if it seems like ample space should be available. During the port development, we decided very early on to favor performance, new features and improvements (i.e. unlimited draw distance) and graphical quality over memory frugality, since basically everyone in our target audience has at least 4 GB of main memory - likely more - and we can make a better game for this vast majority by actually using this memory. To do so, without making the game a 64 bit executable (as that would introduce a lot of issues with library dependencies), we enabled the LAA bit for the game. This tells the OS that the application is capable of dealing with a full 4 GB of address space. As a consequence, we also set the minimum RAM requirement to 4 GB, and the suggested amount to at least 6 GB to also allow for some background processes. What we failed to consider was that this simply does not work on 32 bit versions of Windows - even with LAA, in the default case each program only gets a 2 GB user address space allocation - and although it's only about 2% according to the latest Steam survey, some players are still using a 32 bit OS version. We discovered this issue by investigating a number of unusual crash and issue reports, and could narrow it down thanks to the feedback from various people who were directly affected. Thanks for your patience and help while we determined the root cause of this problem. Given that it was a basic assumption during port development, there is no feasible way to make th...Trails of Cold Steel II Version 1.1 Patch NotesFeb 17, 2018 - Community AnnouncementsHi everyone! I hope you are enjoying Trails of Cold Steel II. As is almost always the case, some issues managed to sneak into the final release, the most significant of which were crashes that can occur with non-default costumes and accessory attachments. The reason for these has been found and fixed in version 1.1, together with several other bug fixes and improvements. Complete Patch Notes for Version 1.1 Fix memory corruption issue when performing specific costume/accessory equip/unequip sequences (either manually or automatically in a cutscene). This fixes a variety of potential crashes. Fix launcher gamepad button rebinding interface to only allow rebindings that are 1 to 1 mappings of buttons to actions, as only these are supported by the game. If you have an existing rebinding which doesn't work, please revert it to the defaults first. Add around 25 additional voiced lines, which were missing in 1.0. Minor performance improvements, particularly when loading and the game is installed on the primary system HDD/SSD. Reduce visual artifacts (Z-fighting) on top windows at the Valflame Palace. Extend running distance of Lloyd and Rixia in cutscene (EV_05_06_01). Remove (defunct) "Cross-save" functionality from the chapter intermission menus. Better synchronization for the "Now loading" renderer, improving stability. Adjust launcher help text to be platform-independent (ie. not to refer to Steam functionality in the GoG release). Change game executable icon to prevent misunderstandings. Version 1.1 is available now. Note on Reverting to Previous Versions While we of course aim for each new version to only solve issues and provide improvements over all previous ones, it is always possible for something to break on some particular configuration. Therefore, we keep all versions available as Beta branches in Steam. Should an update lead to issues on your system, you can revert to a previous branch by selecting "Properties" -> "Betas" in the Steam library and choosing a version from the drop down menu. If you can confirm that the new version caused a problem, please report it as a regression.Trails of Cold Steel II Version 1.1 Patch NotesFeb 17, 2018 - Community AnnouncementsHi everyone! I hope you are enjoying Trails of Cold Steel II. As is almost always the case, some issues managed to sneak into the final release, the most significant of which were crashes that can occur with non-default costumes and accessory attachments. The reason for these has been found and fixed in version 1.1, together with several other bug fixes and improvements. Complete Patch Notes for Version 1.1 Fix memory corruption issue when performing specific costume/accessory equip/unequip sequences (either manually or automatically in a cutscene). This fixes a variety of potential crashes. Fix launcher gamepad button rebinding interface to only allow rebindings that are 1 to 1 mappings of buttons to actions, as only these are supported by the game. If you have an existing rebinding which doesn't work, please revert it to the defaults first. Add around 25 additional voiced lines, which were missing in 1.0. Minor performance improvements, particularly when loading and the game is installed on the primary system HDD/SSD. Reduce visual artifacts (Z-fighting) on top windows at the Valflame Palace. Extend running distance of Lloyd and Rixia in cutscene (EV_05_06_01). Remove (defunct) "Cross-save" functionality from the chapter intermission menus. Better synchronization for the "Now loading" renderer, improving stability. Adjust launcher help text to be platform-independent (ie. not to refer to Steam functionality in the GoG release). Change game executable icon to prevent misunderstandings. Version 1.1 is available now. Note on Reverting to Previous Versions While we of course aim for each new version to only solve issues and provide improvements over all previous ones, it is always possible for something to break on some particular configuration. Therefore, we keep all versions available as Beta branches in Steam. Should an update lead to issues on your system, you can revert to a previous branch by selecting "Properties" -> "Betas" in the Steam library and choosing a version from the drop down menu. If you can confirm that the new version caused a problem, please report it as a regression.
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