The Kiseki Gameplay is an orthodox mix between a regular, turn based RPG and a small scale strategy RPG. As a regular based RPG, you control the protagonist characters as default before gathering your party. Then following through the game's story, move wherever available, talking to NPCs (some activate quests), and encountering enemies to battle and level up.
One of the games' uniqueness is the traditional Action Time Battle system on the left hand side of the screen. Following Trails of the Sky, the Kiseki games has progressed in development and popularity inherting the basics shown below.
Battle Menu[]
The new Battle Menu interface in the "upcoming" Akatsuki no Kiseki
The Battle Menu interface in Trails of Cold Steel
- Move (移動) - Every battle takes place in a grid-based battlefield where you can move your units around.
- Attack (攻撃) - Attacking the opponent. REMEMBER: There are 3 kinds of attack within this menu: the regular attacks, Orbal Arts, and Crafts (S-Crafts / S-Break)
- Items (道具) - Using items in this turn to recover.
- Arts (アーツ) - Attacking the enemy with magic that takes a while as the characters chant. Consumes EP and restored with items and AT bonus.
- Crafts (クラフト) - The character's special attacks for either attacking, support or healing. Consumes CP and restored by items, AT bonus and receiving damage.
- Retreat (撤退) - Escaping the battle. It doesn't work out 100% at start, but sometimes at a lower percentage every battle (except bosses). Keep doing it repeatedly till you manage to escape.
Combat Mechanics[]
- AT Bonus - Next to the turn bar on the left, there are icons showing the type of bonus that whichever character takes that turn will receivevarious effects – sometimes an increase in attack strength, critical hit, or an increase in HP/EP or CP.
- Status Effect - Conditions affect a character's attributes or actions either positively or negatively. Some status ailments can be side effects from attacks, arts or crafts. They can affect either one or multiple characters.[1]
- S-Craft - When a character has more than 100 CP, they can use a special move known as an S-Craft. These can be used at any time in the battle, even when it isn’t that character’s turn (and in this instance it’s referred to as an S-Break), and either do a significant amount of damage, or have one or more useful effects. However, when used they consume all of that character’s CP – if the character has the maximum 200 CP then the attack will either do extra damage or have an additional effect.
Quest System[]
Throughout the game, there are a number of quests each earning a point, and when you earn a certain number of points, your rank increases. For each rank you advance, the organizations where the protagonist + friends are associated (eg. Estelle and Joshua in the Bracer Guilds) will give money and an unique item reward.
Quests generally come in 2 varieties:
- Those listed on the notice board in the town’s Guild, or other base of operations.
- Others are secret and are only revealed by talking to people and offering to help them.
As a result, doing visible quests pinned on the notice board won’t be enough. You have to listen to the story well, talk to all NPCs if necessary to achieve maximum amount of points. Doing so, you’ll get a reward when transferring your save to the second game.
The Choice System[]
During both the main story and while doing quests, you'll be given a fair amount of choices, as a testing of judgment abilities. Choosing the right answer will be rewarded bonus BP at the end of the quest - so it's worth thinking about the choices as they come up (especially to obtain the special items for the highest ranks). Only by making the right choice, the latter gets you the BP.[2]