And this is the only downside to having every game Nihon Falcom makes be in the same continent, especially if they don't all make it to the states. Would be nice if there was an official wiki page to use if you were lost or wanted to look something up.
It's not a better game IMO, but Ar Nosurge did something awesome because of the mountain of new information. It had an encyclopedia in game that terms and proper nouns linked to straight from the dialogue, so you could skim the information if you didn't remember everything.
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MongerI got the ham stink.Dallas, TXRegistered Userregular
Trails should absolutely have a codex like any other modern RPG made outside Japan. That's something that I've felt for a while.
MongerI got the ham stink.Dallas, TXRegistered Userregular
edited October 2016
Act 2 done.
-Act 2 ended in kind of an anti-climactic manner. They give you this whole set of popups about how everyone needs to be equipped, and then there's 2 fights. One of the groups only got two actions, and only tried to hit me with one of them. The other one managed to pop off a crescent shell and then Laura immediately obliterated all of them with an s-break so Elliot wouldn't murder himself with crystal flood. I mean, it wasn't meant to be a 'real' fight, but still. At least try a little, Pats. I didn't even get to use Towa. She started casting a spell.
-Liberating Trista was otherwise cool, though.
-Lechter not having shown up since the Nord field study had been bugging me, but they pretty well confirmed that he's a Zero/Azure character. Good to know. Tree's gone. Also good to know.
-Rex, I know it's strange and new and maybe a little scary to be able to take pictures of girls without drilling holes in walls and hiding in bushes, but I really need you to calm down. You're up a creek if you have a heart attack, because we're sure not trusting you in sick bay with Rosine.
-How do you not hide an item in Crow's desk? I thought this was a video game.
-The game didn't force me into a relationship with Alisa! Aidios be praised. She didn't even seem to give me the stink eye after I whisked Laura away to a lonesome, quiet dorm room and presumably fumbled my way to an awkward, terrified first base. Awright. Granted, I haven't talked to either of them on the ship yet.
-Olivert was apparently in a very special mood when he wrote that last batch of requests. The kind of mood that Mueller needs to put a stop to as soon as possible.
Update: No stink eye.
Also, Machias now has two armbands. Probably to compensate for his grades. His second-best grades. Which are not the best grades. Which Emma has. You know, I don't think she even studies that much. It's not like these classes are that hard. You'd have to be some kind of dummy to not fly through them.
Ohmygawd, Battle Nun Angelica and her troupe of lovely battle maidens (because of course I've got her leading Laura, Emma, and Alicia) is everything I ever dreamed of. Honestly, my dream Cold Steel III features Angelica as the protagonist with a squad of Class VII valkyries facing off against Duvalie and her boss. Elliot can come too. They need a mascot/healer.
Want to find me on a gaming service? I'm SwashbucklerXX everywhere.
You know, the whole plot point of Rean's biological parents never really struck me as actually being that important. Would've been nice to see that be just kind of a footnote on his character, but seems like we're winding up for something there. Speculation go!
I've got it as a coinflip between being yet another bastard child/distant relative of the Imperial family based on the shrine/Valimar scenes, or our recently departed chancellor for dramatic purposes (also because they've not been particularly subtle about a connection there). That and it'd make for another nice, awkward layer on the Crow thing.
More idle thoughts/musings:
-I'm pretty amused that Sara's basically just an older version of Fie that emotes more and has a drinking problem. Why do the jaegers get all the good characters?
-Only person in the Noble Alliance I can't quite get a bead on the motives of so far is Rufus. Seems like the few times he's shown up in this so far he's been undermining his own faction, but at the same time he's done so in a way that doesn't make it seem like he's doing so as a power grab. Though I suppose the other members all look saner after the whole "let's burn Celdic to the ground" thing. Cayenne just wants power, and Ouroboros just seems to be using them as pawns for whatever its nebulous plot is.
-Come on, just one battle for Towa? While introducing a new status effect? Nope, that won't be showing up in 3.
-Another mention of the Black Workshop from Jackass. Hrm.
For non-spoiler stuff, any thoughts dealing with the rank 5 arts training other than just spamming Overdrive and just having Emma/Alisa spam Lost Arts/AoEs until everything dies while hoping that all the dozens of enemy actions in between miss?
I'll be honest here, every time they throw out a new system in Cold Steel 2 I keep thinking:
'Man, this is great... you think you guys could've squeezed some of this in the first game?!'
I mean I really like all the new updates to the sequel, but they really needed to be used to spice up the first game. All the updates make me realize how much of an honest-to-god trudge the first game was. And it REALLY does end at a shit point, after a really convoluted last half chapter.
I really do enjoy and appreciate the new content, but the more they improve the game, the harder it'll be to ever head back to the first game. I'm not even through Act 2, and I consider it leaps and bounds better than Cold Steel 1.
Finished CS2! I went back and read the spoilered stuff. Blackjack when was the
Dominion
mentioned? Was it mentioned in the other English language games?
About Thomas specifically? It's from a NG+ sidequest.
The Dominions in general were introduced in Sky SC with Kevin and I assume are given more information in TC where Kevin is one of the mains.
So the Dominion is separate from the Gralsritter? Because Kevin is a Gralsritter, and I understand that Carnelia and Scarlet are from the Dominion.
The Dominion are a special force of the Gralsritter. So, all Dominions are Gralsritter but not all Gralsritter are Dominions.
Scarlet was almost certainly being trained as either a Gralsritter or as a Squire for one of the Dominion, but was not herself a Dominion.
Ah, that helps, thanks!
So it seems like
Gaius was being trained by that traveling priest to be a Gralsritter of some kind, right? Gaius is just as alert as Fie and Rean when it comes to sensing stuff. I feel like there's more to him than what we see in the games.
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MongerI got the ham stink.Dallas, TXRegistered Userregular
Well, I thought I was going to have this finished at a reasonable point in the evening, but then the game didn't stop and then it continued to not stop and further continued to not stop and now it's 7AM and I give up.
Finished CS2! I went back and read the spoilered stuff. Blackjack when was the
Dominion
mentioned? Was it mentioned in the other English language games?
About Thomas specifically? It's from a NG+ sidequest.
The Dominions in general were introduced in Sky SC with Kevin and I assume are given more information in TC where Kevin is one of the mains.
So the Dominion is separate from the Gralsritter? Because Kevin is a Gralsritter, and I understand that Carnelia and Scarlet are from the Dominion.
The Dominion are a special force of the Gralsritter. So, all Dominions are Gralsritter but not all Gralsritter are Dominions.
Scarlet was almost certainly being trained as either a Gralsritter or as a Squire for one of the Dominion, but was not herself a Dominion.
Ah, that helps, thanks!
So it seems like
Gaius was being trained by that traveling priest to be a Gralsritter of some kind, right? Gaius is just as alert as Fie and Rean when it comes to sensing stuff. I feel like there's more to him than what we see in the games.
On one hand
That priest (who was, in fact, the eighth Dominion) was genuinely just holding classes and teaching people -- we see Kevin doing the same thing in SC
on the other hand
There's definitely something going on with Gaius. He is actually more aware than Rean or Fie. He can sense the Higher Elements. Rean can sense them, but he's an Awakener and also mutant or whatever.
Well, I thought I was going to have this finished at a reasonable point in the evening, but then the game didn't stop and then it continued to not stop and further continued to not stop and now it's 7AM and I give up.
Finale, my ass.
Yeah, they maybe should have given that chapter a different name? There's quite a bit more game after that.
Well, I thought I was going to have this finished at a reasonable point in the evening, but then the game didn't stop and then it continued to not stop and further continued to not stop and now it's 7AM and I give up.
Finale, my ass.
Yeah, they maybe should have given that chapter a different name? There's quite a bit more game after that.
There's a bit more game, but not a whole lot more story, which is how they were naming it, I guess.
3DS: 1607-3034-6970
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MongerI got the ham stink.Dallas, TXRegistered Userregular
MongerI got the ham stink.Dallas, TXRegistered Userregular
It is done. I am done with CS2, and thus again with all the Trails currently available in English. And I'm not dead. Well, I'm not any more dead. On the outside. I think.
Lengthy and largely delirious catalogue of thoughts from the finale chapter to the credits:
-The castle boss fights were fun. McBurn was a bit of a problem, since Elliot had been carrying me through that dungeon. I have a rank 5 Aries master quartz and a water bell on him, which lets him chain cast Chrono Burst + Maelstrom for free, and do it faster than the rest of my party can take turns. McBurn's magic resistance nipped that in the bud. Thankfully, I also have Laura with Vermillion, a true gladiator belt, and a level 7 link with Rean, and she wrecks face with s-breaks all day. The Crow/Vita fight fucked me up for a while as they spammed s-crafts, but I still managed through it with a bit of item spam. Seraphic Ring and Elliot's second s-break actually got some use. The forced party swap for the not-final boss was interesting, as well.
-It occurs to me that you could probably do some disgusting things with chrono burst and Sara's default master quartz that refills EP with physical damage. Stacking all three levels of EP cut and a bunch of strength could let you take an unreasonable number of consecutive turns. Didn't try it, though.
-Jesus Christ, guys, there is a war outside, you're currently inside an interdimensional hell-castle, at least 3 battles that we're aware of are happening directly below you, and a prince is strapped to a chair about to be eaten by a demon robot, so stop talking about dreams or whatever the fuck and do literally anything about any of that.
-Kind of expected Crow to die. There really wasn't any other way they could go with the story. And holy shit did they hit the Drama Alarm for that scene. I mean, I liked Crow, too, but that was a bit much. Still, pour one out for my fallen buddy. Uh, terrorist assassin buddy.
-All these references to Ouroboros plans are torture. I need more context from Zero and Azure, and it's not coming any time in the near future.
-Did not see it coming: Rufus is an Ironblood. It explains a lot, though. Like I mentioned way back, I couldn't work out his motivations and it was driving me crazy. I get it now, especially after some of the Crossbell scenes. Jade Rook, huh.
-Also, fuck you Millium for not saying shit about shit until the shit happens two games running. Well, you know what? Guess who didn't really even have a character arc. Did you guess you? Because it's you. So there.
-The part where Rufus cut that stupid bird in half was pretty fucking great, though.
-Saw it coming: Osborne not being dead. The end of CS1 very specifically said that he was rushed off in critical condition, not that he had been killed. At the beginning of CS2, everyone assumes he's dead, but there isn't actually any direct confirmation of it. Then, of course, Claire mentions that there isn't any record of him having been buried at the end of Act 1. Now, I did really like the choice to not make that reveal until after Crow was dead.
-Did not see it coming: Osborne is Rean's dad. I'm pretty curious as to why he left him in that blizzard, where the demon power comes from, and who his biological mother is. Although, knowing this series, she's super dead. I don't know what Trails has against moms.
-The whole Osborne and Rufus deal leaves a bunch of characters with some extremely interesting split loyalties, given that Osborne is not a particularly good dude on the whole.
-Didn't know enough about certain situations to know whether it was coming or not: Erebonia annexes Crossbell. Also, Rean is on the front lines in the conflict with Calvard. I am really curious as to his actual motivations for answering that call. He's been kind of shady about it. Also curious about how the Imperial Family is dealing with it. Olivert, for one, is generally not okay with Osborne's expansionism.
-TOTALLY DID NOT SEE IT COMING: Epilogue chapter in Crossbell. Now, I don't know a whole lot about Zero/Azure (and I'm avoiding looking anything up like my life depends on it), but I do recognize Lloyd as the protagonist of those games. I also recognize Rixia Mao from that one quest for Heinrich, although I had assumed she was a side character in those games. I didn't know she was a party member. The ARCUS unit handwaves are getting pretty comical at this point, too. I imagine CS3 will be rolling them out on a wider scale. I am real fond of this whole sequence, though, for how different it feels from the rest of the game. I assume this is all Zero/Azure music. It's pretty unique in its style compared to Cold Steel's rock or Sky's jazz. These enemy encounters and the dungeon design feel much more like the older games. It's also nice to be in control of a couple of goddamn adults for a change, and they seem like fun characters in general. I found myself almost instantly attached to Lloyd and Rixia in a way that I'm just not attached to most of Class VII. I guess a lot of that is a perspective thing. I'm not that fond of Erebonia on the whole. So this would all be super awesome if I had played those Crossbell games. Which, as I'll remind you, I have not. So I had no idea what was going on in a lot of those conversations. I want to know what the state of the police department is at the end of those games that leads to them working underground to undermine the new Imperial government.
-Seriously, popping a bonus Crossbell chapter in out of nowhere might be my favorite thing in this series since the end of FC.
-That Rean fight was an actual bitch. That one took some retries, and I only got through it because Rixia got extremely lucky with sleep and faint rolls. That was one of the few fights thusfar in all of Cold Steel that pushed me to use every mechanic at my disposal. Really had to pace my overdrives and s-breaks.
-I am now even more convinced than I already was that whoever at Falcom claimed these arcs could be played out of order is on drugs. Cold Steel was already liberally spoiling most of the major plot points from Sky (I even caught a minor TC spoiler), but there is a whole bunch of talk late in this game that requires context from Zero and Azure.
-The Crossbell chapter main menu screen is the best main menu screen.
-Holy shit, Claire is Rean's biological sister, isn't she? "I bet if I had an older sister, she'd be just like you." I knew Claire was acting real weird during that bonding event, but I didn't even consider that was the deal. I wonder if Rieveldt is her actual last name or if Osborne used an instrument brand to hide her real identity.
-You don't know 'heaving' metal, Instructor Mary? You'd probably like it. It's basically modern classical.
-The spin that the Imperial Chronicle put in the annexation of Crossbell when compared to the Crossbell Times is beautiful. I really want to see how aggressive Erebonia actually was around the Garrelia incident from the Crossbell perspective, and if any of it was confused with Crow's group. Didn't seem like it from the timeline, though.
-Did not see it coming: Class VII dissolves. Most of them are straight up dropping out, too. It's just Elliot and Machias that are transferring. A lot of them have urgent enough shit to deal with (especially Jusis), but the justifications are a little weak for Laura, Gaius, and Alisa to not just go ahead and stick it out for another year, even if they're not planning on pursuing military careers.
-Accurate depiction of teenage romance: Laura and I decided that we loved each other, and then apparently silently agreed to never speak of it again. I would assume at some point over the three month time skip we egged each other's houses for no real reason, and Victor was piiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiissed. Hence escaping to Crossbell. Nevermind about motivations, I guess. Rean mystery solved.
-Alright, they hugged a couple times, but I already went and wrote all that and I'm sticking with it.
-But we did do that thing where we didn't break up because we're totally going to keep in touch after school (but we aren't).
-They let me walk up the stairs in the upper class dorms. This is uprecedented. They stopped me at the top, but still. There's map up here now. I can see doors. I can't deal with this.
-Okay, Rean is getting a bit shrewd using Sharon to make Sara clean her room and Rixia Mao to make Heinrich give out a statement for the radio station. Maybe I don't give that guy enough credit.
-I wish Kenneth's brother's friend was voiced, because that guy is certainly... something?
-Patrick, I don't know why you insist on fighting me. I am a literal war hero with demonic blood and an ancient robot won by fighting a shadow beast in another dimension. If all you're going to come at me with is your third-best-in-club-of-four fencing, then you might as well save us both some time and just beat your own face into the academy field.
-Oh, by all means, let's get more flunkies in here. Maybe I can at least stretch my legs this time.
-Oh, you want some too, Principle Vandyke? You're gonna get even more of an ass whooping than the dipshit siblings! Sir!
-WHO ELSE WANTS TO GO!? YOU WANNA GO, THOMAS? YOU WANNA GO, NAUSEATING MARRIED COUPLE? HOW ABOUT YOU, HOMESCHOOL KID? COME AT ME! THE PAIN TRAIN IS COMIN AND IT'S GOT SEATS FOR EVERYONE IN TOWN! TOOT TOOT, MOTHERFUCKERS! TOOT TOOT!
-Officer, I plead the fifth in regards to these alleged heinous acts. Furthermore, my lawyer has advised me that the heaving metal could be held responsible for potentially seducing a hypothetical individual into committing any number of misdeeds, none of which, I should remind you, have been empirically proven to be linked to my person.
-Actual final dungeon! It's randomly generated! This is too many party members! The end of SC had a lot of party members, but this is above and beyond.
-Apparently the Winds of Freedom have temporarily disbanded and grounded the Courageous due to political pressure. That's interesting to hear. That letter from Olivert was on point, too. And surprisingly restrained, come to think of it. Legitimate life advice and not a single reference to anyone's penis. He might eventually end up turning into a functional adult after all.
-The actual ending is... hmmmm. I don't know how to feel about it. We fight a fight for no other reason than to fight a fight, and then we cry a bunch. And then everyone leaves. I guess it's fitting for the situation, but I don't know. They left Rean in a weird situation. Not enough closure to feel satisfying, but also not enough open threads with him to really have anything to chew on. Again, probably just not attached enough to most of the core cast for the ending to hit me like it seems like they wanted it to.
-I like that Machias seemingly moved in with Elliot, considering there really isn't anything at his house except coffee and the crippling absence of any family. I also like that Sara and Toval went with Fie.
To summarize, I would perform any number of illicit and/or deplorable deeds in order to play Zero and Azure right now. Go on, name your price.
I'll go back through the thread and read all the spoiler talk that was ahead of me at a time that isn't now.
Well, that fight with Xeno and Leo sure had some interesting potential implications to it. And man, those two were way harder to deal with than Duvalie and Bleublanc. Those two barely even got time to act, let alone pose a problem.
Finished CS2! I went back and read the spoilered stuff. Blackjack when was the
Dominion
mentioned? Was it mentioned in the other English language games?
About Thomas specifically? It's from a NG+ sidequest.
The Dominions in general were introduced in Sky SC with Kevin and I assume are given more information in TC where Kevin is one of the mains.
So the Dominion is separate from the Gralsritter? Because Kevin is a Gralsritter, and I understand that Carnelia and Scarlet are from the Dominion.
The Dominion are a special force of the Gralsritter. So, all Dominions are Gralsritter but not all Gralsritter are Dominions.
Scarlet was almost certainly being trained as either a Gralsritter or as a Squire for one of the Dominion, but was not herself a Dominion.
Ah, that helps, thanks!
So it seems like
Gaius was being trained by that traveling priest to be a Gralsritter of some kind, right? Gaius is just as alert as Fie and Rean when it comes to sensing stuff. I feel like there's more to him than what we see in the games.
On one hand
That priest (who was, in fact, the eighth Dominion) was genuinely just holding classes and teaching people -- we see Kevin doing the same thing in SC
on the other hand
There's definitely something going on with Gaius. He is actually more aware than Rean or Fie. He can sense the Higher Elements. Rean can sense them, but he's an Awakener and also mutant or whatever.
There has to be more to Gaius, if only because they didn't do a damn thing with his character in either game. Everyone else has some kind of conflict or mystery to them. Gaius sometimes talks about bad winds, and that's about it.
Insofar as Thomas is concerned, sticking that revelation in a NG+ quest is a pretty shitty thing to do. I understand wanting to reward particularly dedicated players, it's a deep enough cut that it's probably not all that interesting to anyone new to the series anyway, and it's not entirely out of nowhere because they do a fair amount of hinting that he's more important than he initially seems, but still. That's a big deal, and it's already a major time investment to play through these games once.
I got the first batch of ore for the sword, and I can continue things by talking to George. Can I head to the other shrines and just get the rest of the ore now, and if I do does that kinda screw with the narrative? Or will it just not let me get the rest until later?
Getting to the end of Act 2, and it's hitting 9.5 on the weird-shit-o-meter.
It's pretty obvious that someone is trying to repeat what happened 250 years ago, except not be stopped this time. There's also clearly a spiritual or magical version of 'history repeating itself' at play, either because it has to happen a certain way to work, or the forces of 'good' figured the easiest way to make another Dreichels is to throw someone with a similar link through the same gauntlet and see what happens. We are in Knights Templar/Illuminati/Freemasons deep shit now, and it's starting to get harder to remember all the organizations.
Also, while I get the idea of 'sow chaos while we work our own goals in the background' being a tried and true tactic, you'd think after a giant crystal tree manifests over a city-state... you know, pillar of salt style, that most not in the know of the big picture would immediately go 'alright, game postponed on account of weird apocalyptic shit'.
Posts
It's not a better game IMO, but Ar Nosurge did something awesome because of the mountain of new information. It had an encyclopedia in game that terms and proper nouns linked to straight from the dialogue, so you could skim the information if you didn't remember everything.
All right, people. It is not a gerbil. It is not a hamster. It is not a guinea pig. It is a death rabbit. Death. Rabbit. Say it with me, now.
-Liberating Trista was otherwise cool, though.
-Lechter not having shown up since the Nord field study had been bugging me, but they pretty well confirmed that he's a Zero/Azure character. Good to know. Tree's gone. Also good to know.
-Rex, I know it's strange and new and maybe a little scary to be able to take pictures of girls without drilling holes in walls and hiding in bushes, but I really need you to calm down. You're up a creek if you have a heart attack, because we're sure not trusting you in sick bay with Rosine.
-How do you not hide an item in Crow's desk? I thought this was a video game.
-The game didn't force me into a relationship with Alisa! Aidios be praised. She didn't even seem to give me the stink eye after I whisked Laura away to a lonesome, quiet dorm room and presumably fumbled my way to an awkward, terrified first base. Awright. Granted, I haven't talked to either of them on the ship yet.
-Olivert was apparently in a very special mood when he wrote that last batch of requests. The kind of mood that Mueller needs to put a stop to as soon as possible.
Update: No stink eye.
Also, Machias now has two armbands. Probably to compensate for his grades. His second-best grades. Which are not the best grades. Which Emma has. You know, I don't think she even studies that much. It's not like these classes are that hard. You'd have to be some kind of dummy to not fly through them.
All right, people. It is not a gerbil. It is not a hamster. It is not a guinea pig. It is a death rabbit. Death. Rabbit. Say it with me, now.
-I'm pretty amused that Sara's basically just an older version of Fie that emotes more and has a drinking problem. Why do the jaegers get all the good characters?
-Only person in the Noble Alliance I can't quite get a bead on the motives of so far is Rufus. Seems like the few times he's shown up in this so far he's been undermining his own faction, but at the same time he's done so in a way that doesn't make it seem like he's doing so as a power grab. Though I suppose the other members all look saner after the whole "let's burn Celdic to the ground" thing. Cayenne just wants power, and Ouroboros just seems to be using them as pawns for whatever its nebulous plot is.
-Come on, just one battle for Towa? While introducing a new status effect? Nope, that won't be showing up in 3.
-Another mention of the Black Workshop from Jackass. Hrm.
For non-spoiler stuff, any thoughts dealing with the rank 5 arts training other than just spamming Overdrive and just having Emma/Alisa spam Lost Arts/AoEs until everything dies while hoping that all the dozens of enemy actions in between miss?
'Man, this is great... you think you guys could've squeezed some of this in the first game?!'
I mean I really like all the new updates to the sequel, but they really needed to be used to spice up the first game. All the updates make me realize how much of an honest-to-god trudge the first game was. And it REALLY does end at a shit point, after a really convoluted last half chapter.
I really do enjoy and appreciate the new content, but the more they improve the game, the harder it'll be to ever head back to the first game. I'm not even through Act 2, and I consider it leaps and bounds better than Cold Steel 1.
*sulk*
The Dominions in general were introduced in Sky SC with Kevin and I assume are given more information in TC where Kevin is one of the mains.
3DS: 1607-3034-6970
Scarlet was almost certainly being trained as either a Gralsritter or as a Squire for one of the Dominion, but was not herself a Dominion.
3DS: 1607-3034-6970
Ah, that helps, thanks!
So it seems like
Finale, my ass.
All right, people. It is not a gerbil. It is not a hamster. It is not a guinea pig. It is a death rabbit. Death. Rabbit. Say it with me, now.
On one hand
on the other hand
3DS: 1607-3034-6970
Yeah, they maybe should have given that chapter a different name? There's quite a bit more game after that.
There's a bit more game, but not a whole lot more story, which is how they were naming it, I guess.
3DS: 1607-3034-6970
It's not a singular narrative past that point, though.
All right, people. It is not a gerbil. It is not a hamster. It is not a guinea pig. It is a death rabbit. Death. Rabbit. Say it with me, now.
Rean:... Dayum!!
Yeah, that's your future canon in-law, Rean. Good luck!
3DS: 1607-3034-6970
Only if he has to share it with your avatar. Rogner's penchant to smack a bitch I think puts him high on that list.
Yeah, but Angie doesn't need a cake. She's got shit handled.
3DS: 1607-3034-6970
Fuckin whatever, man. Manway Method. I am finishing this game at whatever physical cost it may entail.
All right, people. It is not a gerbil. It is not a hamster. It is not a guinea pig. It is a death rabbit. Death. Rabbit. Say it with me, now.
Lengthy and largely delirious catalogue of thoughts from the finale chapter to the credits:
-It occurs to me that you could probably do some disgusting things with chrono burst and Sara's default master quartz that refills EP with physical damage. Stacking all three levels of EP cut and a bunch of strength could let you take an unreasonable number of consecutive turns. Didn't try it, though.
-Jesus Christ, guys, there is a war outside, you're currently inside an interdimensional hell-castle, at least 3 battles that we're aware of are happening directly below you, and a prince is strapped to a chair about to be eaten by a demon robot, so stop talking about dreams or whatever the fuck and do literally anything about any of that.
-Kind of expected Crow to die. There really wasn't any other way they could go with the story. And holy shit did they hit the Drama Alarm for that scene. I mean, I liked Crow, too, but that was a bit much. Still, pour one out for my fallen buddy. Uh, terrorist assassin buddy.
-All these references to Ouroboros plans are torture. I need more context from Zero and Azure, and it's not coming any time in the near future.
-Did not see it coming: Rufus is an Ironblood. It explains a lot, though. Like I mentioned way back, I couldn't work out his motivations and it was driving me crazy. I get it now, especially after some of the Crossbell scenes. Jade Rook, huh.
-Also, fuck you Millium for not saying shit about shit until the shit happens two games running. Well, you know what? Guess who didn't really even have a character arc. Did you guess you? Because it's you. So there.
-The part where Rufus cut that stupid bird in half was pretty fucking great, though.
-Saw it coming: Osborne not being dead. The end of CS1 very specifically said that he was rushed off in critical condition, not that he had been killed. At the beginning of CS2, everyone assumes he's dead, but there isn't actually any direct confirmation of it. Then, of course, Claire mentions that there isn't any record of him having been buried at the end of Act 1. Now, I did really like the choice to not make that reveal until after Crow was dead.
-Did not see it coming: Osborne is Rean's dad. I'm pretty curious as to why he left him in that blizzard, where the demon power comes from, and who his biological mother is. Although, knowing this series, she's super dead. I don't know what Trails has against moms.
-The whole Osborne and Rufus deal leaves a bunch of characters with some extremely interesting split loyalties, given that Osborne is not a particularly good dude on the whole.
-Didn't know enough about certain situations to know whether it was coming or not: Erebonia annexes Crossbell. Also, Rean is on the front lines in the conflict with Calvard. I am really curious as to his actual motivations for answering that call. He's been kind of shady about it. Also curious about how the Imperial Family is dealing with it. Olivert, for one, is generally not okay with Osborne's expansionism.
-TOTALLY DID NOT SEE IT COMING: Epilogue chapter in Crossbell. Now, I don't know a whole lot about Zero/Azure (and I'm avoiding looking anything up like my life depends on it), but I do recognize Lloyd as the protagonist of those games. I also recognize Rixia Mao from that one quest for Heinrich, although I had assumed she was a side character in those games. I didn't know she was a party member. The ARCUS unit handwaves are getting pretty comical at this point, too. I imagine CS3 will be rolling them out on a wider scale. I am real fond of this whole sequence, though, for how different it feels from the rest of the game. I assume this is all Zero/Azure music. It's pretty unique in its style compared to Cold Steel's rock or Sky's jazz. These enemy encounters and the dungeon design feel much more like the older games. It's also nice to be in control of a couple of goddamn adults for a change, and they seem like fun characters in general. I found myself almost instantly attached to Lloyd and Rixia in a way that I'm just not attached to most of Class VII. I guess a lot of that is a perspective thing. I'm not that fond of Erebonia on the whole. So this would all be super awesome if I had played those Crossbell games. Which, as I'll remind you, I have not. So I had no idea what was going on in a lot of those conversations. I want to know what the state of the police department is at the end of those games that leads to them working underground to undermine the new Imperial government.
-Seriously, popping a bonus Crossbell chapter in out of nowhere might be my favorite thing in this series since the end of FC.
-That Rean fight was an actual bitch. That one took some retries, and I only got through it because Rixia got extremely lucky with sleep and faint rolls. That was one of the few fights thusfar in all of Cold Steel that pushed me to use every mechanic at my disposal. Really had to pace my overdrives and s-breaks.
-I am now even more convinced than I already was that whoever at Falcom claimed these arcs could be played out of order is on drugs. Cold Steel was already liberally spoiling most of the major plot points from Sky (I even caught a minor TC spoiler), but there is a whole bunch of talk late in this game that requires context from Zero and Azure.
-The Crossbell chapter main menu screen is the best main menu screen.
-Holy shit, Claire is Rean's biological sister, isn't she? "I bet if I had an older sister, she'd be just like you." I knew Claire was acting real weird during that bonding event, but I didn't even consider that was the deal. I wonder if Rieveldt is her actual last name or if Osborne used an instrument brand to hide her real identity.
-You don't know 'heaving' metal, Instructor Mary? You'd probably like it. It's basically modern classical.
-The spin that the Imperial Chronicle put in the annexation of Crossbell when compared to the Crossbell Times is beautiful. I really want to see how aggressive Erebonia actually was around the Garrelia incident from the Crossbell perspective, and if any of it was confused with Crow's group. Didn't seem like it from the timeline, though.
-Did not see it coming: Class VII dissolves. Most of them are straight up dropping out, too. It's just Elliot and Machias that are transferring. A lot of them have urgent enough shit to deal with (especially Jusis), but the justifications are a little weak for Laura, Gaius, and Alisa to not just go ahead and stick it out for another year, even if they're not planning on pursuing military careers.
-Accurate depiction of teenage romance: Laura and I decided that we loved each other, and then apparently silently agreed to never speak of it again. I would assume at some point over the three month time skip we egged each other's houses for no real reason, and Victor was piiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiissed. Hence escaping to Crossbell. Nevermind about motivations, I guess. Rean mystery solved.
-Alright, they hugged a couple times, but I already went and wrote all that and I'm sticking with it.
-But we did do that thing where we didn't break up because we're totally going to keep in touch after school (but we aren't).
-They let me walk up the stairs in the upper class dorms. This is uprecedented. They stopped me at the top, but still. There's map up here now. I can see doors. I can't deal with this.
-Okay, Rean is getting a bit shrewd using Sharon to make Sara clean her room and Rixia Mao to make Heinrich give out a statement for the radio station. Maybe I don't give that guy enough credit.
-I wish Kenneth's brother's friend was voiced, because that guy is certainly... something?
-Patrick, I don't know why you insist on fighting me. I am a literal war hero with demonic blood and an ancient robot won by fighting a shadow beast in another dimension. If all you're going to come at me with is your third-best-in-club-of-four fencing, then you might as well save us both some time and just beat your own face into the academy field.
-Oh, by all means, let's get more flunkies in here. Maybe I can at least stretch my legs this time.
-Oh, you want some too, Principle Vandyke? You're gonna get even more of an ass whooping than the dipshit siblings! Sir!
-WHO ELSE WANTS TO GO!? YOU WANNA GO, THOMAS? YOU WANNA GO, NAUSEATING MARRIED COUPLE? HOW ABOUT YOU, HOMESCHOOL KID? COME AT ME! THE PAIN TRAIN IS COMIN AND IT'S GOT SEATS FOR EVERYONE IN TOWN! TOOT TOOT, MOTHERFUCKERS! TOOT TOOT!
-Officer, I plead the fifth in regards to these alleged heinous acts. Furthermore, my lawyer has advised me that the heaving metal could be held responsible for potentially seducing a hypothetical individual into committing any number of misdeeds, none of which, I should remind you, have been empirically proven to be linked to my person.
-Actual final dungeon! It's randomly generated! This is too many party members! The end of SC had a lot of party members, but this is above and beyond.
-Apparently the Winds of Freedom have temporarily disbanded and grounded the Courageous due to political pressure. That's interesting to hear. That letter from Olivert was on point, too. And surprisingly restrained, come to think of it. Legitimate life advice and not a single reference to anyone's penis. He might eventually end up turning into a functional adult after all.
-The actual ending is... hmmmm. I don't know how to feel about it. We fight a fight for no other reason than to fight a fight, and then we cry a bunch. And then everyone leaves. I guess it's fitting for the situation, but I don't know. They left Rean in a weird situation. Not enough closure to feel satisfying, but also not enough open threads with him to really have anything to chew on. Again, probably just not attached enough to most of the core cast for the ending to hit me like it seems like they wanted it to.
-I like that Machias seemingly moved in with Elliot, considering there really isn't anything at his house except coffee and the crippling absence of any family. I also like that Sara and Toval went with Fie.
To summarize, I would perform any number of illicit and/or deplorable deeds in order to play Zero and Azure right now. Go on, name your price.
I'll go back through the thread and read all the spoiler talk that was ahead of me at a time that isn't now.
All right, people. It is not a gerbil. It is not a hamster. It is not a guinea pig. It is a death rabbit. Death. Rabbit. Say it with me, now.
Yeah, I'm going there, and I don't care. I'm a horrible person. But... TWINS!!
Pssh... since when did fantasies have to make SENSE?
Insofar as Thomas is concerned, sticking that revelation in a NG+ quest is a pretty shitty thing to do. I understand wanting to reward particularly dedicated players, it's a deep enough cut that it's probably not all that interesting to anyone new to the series anyway, and it's not entirely out of nowhere because they do a fair amount of hinting that he's more important than he initially seems, but still. That's a big deal, and it's already a major time investment to play through these games once.
All right, people. It is not a gerbil. It is not a hamster. It is not a guinea pig. It is a death rabbit. Death. Rabbit. Say it with me, now.
Also, while I get the idea of 'sow chaos while we work our own goals in the background' being a tried and true tactic, you'd think after a giant crystal tree manifests over a city-state... you know, pillar of salt style, that most not in the know of the big picture would immediately go 'alright, game postponed on account of weird apocalyptic shit'.
I accidentally walked into the Falcom offices about 15 minutes ago.
Rean is rocking the customary conflicted protagonist trenchy for the next game. Kinda weird to see him not in red after this long...
And did anyone else notice they're making a live action musical out of the first game? Japan, you so crazy...
3DS: 1607-3034-6970