Lurker > ZeldaTPLink

So Olivier has been kind of lame so far. I had to give him both ep 2 and ep cut 1 to be able to use arts 24/7.. Because his non-art moves are just not strong anymore. Hes fallen off a bit since last game. Though I suspect once the monster arts start going online he'll catch up.

Agate is the one I'm impressed with. He kicks asses and takes names. I gave him a full set for melee (attack/action/hit/move/hp/evade/seal) and its working well. And his crafts are great particularly the small aoe one.

And Estelle is the same jack of all trades as always.

We go to jenis Royal Academy. I gotta say, the way the protagonists just enter the school without anyone at the door to ask who they are is weird. I mean, Estelle is well known, but at the very least, I'd keep Olivier off school grounds.

Olivier is sad he missed Josh in a dress. Heh.

Kloe is the usual sweetheart. Ok, you wanna help, join the party for more than half a chapter.

Hans gives me a great scene where he helps develop Josh's character. If I had a ranking of favorite NPCs, that would give Hans a huge boost upwards.

Kloe's orbment is a longer spiral. She doesn't come with much fancy stuff, though I appreciate the HP 2.

I'm gonna bet Olivier will be the one to find the big lead. Just because.

Dorothy is... taking pictures of the cafeteria

And Olivier is just looking for the girls' dorm. I warned.

We get a scene where Kloe confesses to Estelle that she loved Josh. And then it turns into a Josh Roasting Session. Man, I'm getting very hyped for the punch Estelle will throw in Josh's face when they meet again. I wanna see that sprite flying like it's the sandbag from SSB.

so back in the first game there were those two student girls, Felicity and Reina, who seemed to be in some kind of conflict. We see the next chapter of that conflict, when it's revealed Felicity is some kind of Erebonian noble and Reina is has maid, who has sort of controlling her for the family. Interesting plot, I like how it goes for a whole two games.

Estelle sees the ghost and just faints. It is really a ghost, huh. Not just Olivier being creepy.

Estelle decides she is done being scared. She's gonna do it.

She is gonna bust the ghost.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uvck7ItXwdc&ab_channel=RayParker%2CJr.-Topic

Kloe: "Can I join?"
Agate: "Uh... excuse me, princess?"

I know that reference!

Kloe, like Tita and Olivier, is just allowed to go whatever they want at this point, dangerous or otherwise. Ghost busting? Send them in. Orobouros HQ? Bring it. Suicidal mission to destroy the enemy army's weapon of mass destruction before they use it? Whatever.

The ghost leaves notes. Of course.

There's a whole dungeon under the school. Fun.

with things that seem like they came out of Call of Cthulhu

We ditch Dorothy. That's for the best. She almost got killed by Aero Storm from the first enemy.

Estelle and kloe's chain craft is just Estelle teaming with with Not a Falcon. I love how Kloe doesn't even pretend she is the physical power here, it's the bird

Ultimate dirty play: using Agate's wild rage to max out his cp when I know i'm approaching a heal station

We get to the end of the rather long dungeon, where a non-ghost person waits for us

It's the phantom thief

who also happens to be from orobouros

I thought orobouros was supposed to be horrible monsters, not wacky pranksters. Then again, I did say we were going to face the Wacky Elite Henchman Crew. This is the first entry in the group, I suppose.

dude says he wont fight us, and summons a giant robot out of nowhere.

Robot is kind of lame, though. It does use those sacrifical horse thingies to boost his own stats, but I use Clock Down, Not a Falcon and Hard Break. It spends most of the fight failing to do things.

The bad guy uses Cutscene Superpowers to paralyse the whole party. Including Not a Falcon, who desperately tries to save the day. The implication is that He is going to do things to Kloe that will elevate the age ratio of the game. However, he is stopped, because he made one mistake he should never have. He insulted the concept of beauty.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/8/2/1/AAO9CbAAEXf1.jpg

Joking, Olivier just wastes everyone's time. At least he earns the thief's respect. We have an arch-nemesis here.

Then an even more likely hero shows, up, Dorothy. And we learn a camera's flash is a counter against shadow based abilities. Ok...

The bad guy leaves, though.

Well, wasn't this whole chapter completely filler.

(loved it)

Olivier and Kloe are NOT leaving the party at the end of the chapter! Your move, FC.

Kloe is so nerd she can skip the rest of the year's classes to fight evil and still pass because she has grades to spare.

Chapter 1: The 2nd Best Entry in the Ghostbusters Franchise: Beaten.

we go to the lighthouse, where the guy old man, in Estelle's words, acts like "the most passive aggressive old fart in the universe" to make us do his job for him. Yay for hidden quest! It's a cute little minigame about starting up a lighhouse device. The reward is more fishing bait. I feel like the game is trying to lead me somewhere. To be fair, if fishing continues to give me high amounts of sepith, I'm up to it.

We meet a girl named Renne, and her parents, Renne's Father and Renne's Mother. I wonder which one of them is the plot important character.

People are arguing on a bridge over politics. That's realistic. The politicians themselves try to stop the fight. That is not realistic.

Olivier shows up all of a sudden on a small boat and stops the fight by being extremely awkward.

Estelle acts nice to Olivier (since he helped her take down the final boss of FC). And he doesn't know how to react! It's the first time in ages someone doesn't just try to get rid of him. Amazing.

He reacts by being horny.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/4/4/AAO9CbAAEXNc.jpg

It clearly doesn't work

I just realized Olivier and Agate have never interacted, and Olivier just realized it too. He decides to make up for lost time. To Agate's complete despair. I'm 100% having it

Oh my. The ghost we are investigating is Olivier, isn't it. It wears white and dances annoyingly.

Well Olivier doesn't admit it, so I guess not.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/4/5/AAO9CbAAEXNd.jpg

Agate is not down for Olivier's horniness either

Olivier's 7x line orbment is a thing of beauty. and comes with a free EP 2

he quartz guide at gamefaqs is suggesting me I farm until the whole party has EP 2 and Evade 2. I farmed for a single Evade 2 and it was a pain. Not doing more of that, I resetted the game to normal for a reason. One Aerial is already great.

I do end up getting a second Evade 2 while passing through for quests, though. Things only come when you aren't trying to get them.

Exploring sapphirl tower. I kill a shining pon and Estelle gains 2 levels, Olivier gains 2 and Agate gains 1. I dont recall those guys giving so much xp last game, wtf

I get a cool bonus scene when taking a picture of the altar because Dorothy is with us. She is a pro, so Estelle gives the job to her

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/4/6/AAO9CbAAEXNe.jpg

Not even chests are safe

Another minigame, where Estelle has to teach about bracers to a group of children. I almost nailed it, but some teenage dude makes me fail by asking an exam-like question about what number a specific principle of the bracer code is. I hate those people, even in real life

and another kid asks the size of the queen's ship, which has nothing to do with anything either

Well quests for this region are done, time to go to school. I'm kind of amazed that I managed to do all this optional (and dangerous) stuff while not letting Dorothy die. To be fair, her camera does help a little.

I used a hex editor to edit the save's difficulty to normal

I signed up on this to get harder bosses. Harder bosses were given, maybe a bit too much. But my patience ran out when I went to fight some mobs outside Ruan and started dying over and over. I shouldn't need to rely on turn order luck not to be killed in the first turn by random enemies. Mobs should be easy. I can see myself beating Hard is I try hard enough, but I'm more likely to see myself getting bored and dropping the game. And this isn't Celeste, I'm not playing Trails to challenge myself, story is the biggest reason.

Mobs are still a little tricky on normal, so I suspect this game is just harder overall, or at least the earlier chapters

We get to the orphanage, and Estelle loses her composure for a moment, when she remembers coming here with Josh, and nearly cries. Agate is kind enough not to give her crap for it.

We can't visit Kloe because the school is having exams. That's a very serious matter, I wish Kloe luck

Agate has a weird moment when he starts rambling about how women are strong, then he realizes he's revealing his Past, and stops

After a cute scene where we meet Kevin who is giving sundsay school to the orphanage kids, he joins the party! Now we are talking

His orbment is a slightly better version of Josh's with one less restricted time quartz. He comes with some strong free quartz too, which is awesome.

I was getting really underwhelmed about how weak Estelle's Hurricane was lately... then she learns True Hurricane. Now we're talking

"Sasa panda: A remorse-less killer with a taste for man flesh. Don't let its cuteness fool you"

...

I kill it before it attacks (its very weak to arts) and it gives me a fuckton of xp, and a Laundry Pole +. what the hell. does it one shot the entire party if you let it, or something?

Kevin leaves. The best don't stay in the party for long. But he leaves an action quartz on us, which saves me through the trouble of having to buy it for Estelle

Imagine selling sepith.

we enter the ticket lobby at Grancel and watch what seems to be an international incident. Olivier's friend helps defuse it. I wish Olivier was here too, he would try to defuse it with the power of music.

The ambassador guy seems to be the Erebonian equivallent of the Duke from last game. Just a rich idiot.

Oh ok, so Liberl wants to share their super engine to the world as a way to make friends, and Calvard is mad because they are rivals with Erebonia and that might give the later an edge. Ngl they have a point.

Agate is naturally suspicious of both Olivier and Mueller, while Estelle wants to trust them. Well I know Olivier is a good guy, but in-universe I'd side with Agate

I buy Liberl News 2 in the ticket office. The first one was available at the prologue, but I had no money in there. Did the game actually expect me to sell valuable sepith to buy a newspaper?

Agate works well here because Estelle is not a junior anymore, so he respects her. Before, he could pretty much just shut her and Josh up and kick them out if he wanted to. Now he is willing to listen to her. But that means she gets full access to making fun of him or making him feel uncomfortable, which is awesome.

An npc gives me a fishing rod. I feel like I have been recruited for something scarier than even orobouros itself

We arrive at Ruan. Mission 1 is some ghost busting. Estelle is afraid of it. Agate doesn't care. We are ghost busting, period.

monster killing requests now come with hints of what to use against them. Nice

and with that, the game FINALLY breaks open. I was missing just exploring around. Even Grancel was kind of not great for that

Ruan has been taken over by electoral season. I'm sorry for their loss.

I have fallen into gambling

now gambling in this game is a breeze. Nothing compared to the game corner in pokemon. I play poker until I get a full house, then blackjack until I get a 6 card hand, then buy all the available prizes, except for the book because I somehow missed the first volume.

Damn, fishing is hard. I use all my bait and only catch one fish

The Raven gang now has character portraits

The raven gang is tough, so it takes me two tries. Agate's new Wild Rage is good, but very risky, so you gotta make sure there is healing coming next. The main thing is that the ravens have more hp than attack, and if Agate can seal them, it's over. But it's 3 enemies so its tricky.

retry offset probably helped though. I'm turning it off. Don't like the idea of the game just giving me free wins. I'll turn it on later if I hit a roadblock, maybe.

Also I just now realized the one you are supposed to lose against at the start is Grant.

And I was thinking it's Agate or something. Nope, freaking Grant.

Fiop posted...

When you said this the first time, I thought to myself how you were having a much easier time handling the end of the prologue boss fight than I did. Guess I forgot about the other time you fight Kurt in the prologue.

I don't remember my strategy for that fight too well, but I remember one of my ideas was to spend turns running away from him, so he'd waste turns trying to approach me. Not a tactic I've needed often in this series. The problem with the cookie strategy is you lose the opportunity to buy ingredients by the time you reach the prologue boss, so you'd need to do it ahead of time, and maybe even before you get the cookie recipe.

People were complaining about a Kurt, and I thought it was the same, but it wasn't.

Also when you spend turns away, he says something like "you think I need range to beat you?" and starts spamming time arts.

Someone on a "general tips for beginners" thread I found (I like to read those) also mentioned Agate gives better plot lines than Schera.

I like those little crime scene investigations. The seires could have more of those

They didnt need to do it to figure out where the bad guys are, though. It's in the only not yet explored place in the region map!

I like the music this series uses for military bases

Estelle and Anelace have a great dynamic. They have similar personalities, but that just makes them enhance each other's quirkiness. Anelace says some complicated works and Estelle is there to mock her for it. If this was Josh, she would probably be lectured for not knowing them.

I fight a mob of 4 enemies, which is somehow the hardest battle in the game so far. I have to stop and change my quarts setup to get Fire Bolt Ex, or I just cant outdamage them. Rough

a single surprise attack is game over here

I get an explanation on what key items are. Such deep gameplay!

I save scum to see if the boss will be alone or with mobs, so I can decide if I equip La Tear or Fire Bolt Ex, since both is impossible

gone are the days of White Gehenna spam

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/5/2/5/AAO9CbAAEW79.jpg

Holy shit Anelace.

Yeah scratch that, this guy is the hardest boss in the series so far. By a mile.

He on hard is harder than Lorence on normal, at least

Unlike Lorence, all his stats are gargantuan. He can 3-shot any character, and he is fast enough to attack twice before we can. I looked online and strategy tips range from "spend hours farming ingredients at the start of the game to make damage items" to "use an app that lowers your save's difficulty to normal". That's demoralizing. Internet also says the retry offset feature doesn't work here, though either way I don't want to use it if possible.

But none of those were necessary in the end. The boss is beatable. Took me 3 tries, the first to realize how screwed I was, the second to come up with a strat, the third to improve it. Basically, the secret is he can't outdamage our healing, especially if Anelace uses AT Delay. It's a battle of stalling, carefully healing with Estelle and keeping HP above the 1200 mark. The two reviving acessories I got early help immensely too, especially since one of them gives Estelle a free max dmg Barrage.

Now on Nightmare difficulty? Yeah I can imagine that's going to require hours of pre-dungeon farming. Forget it.

internet also tells me this was the hardest boss in the series except for some guy you meet in the 10th game. In other words... let's finish Trails SC on Hard.

Heh. Knew it was all a set up

and it was frigging Kurt again. Ok I get why you are B rank now

Estelle is frustrated that their argument was sound so she can't even complain

Meanwhile, in some evil looking base, some evil looking green haired kid says evil things.

now that the game has an actual Evil Organization to fight against, we can do one of JRPG/Anime's most classic traditions: the Wacky Elite Henchman Crew. Those 4-6 characters who are the strongest below the boss, get introduced all at the start and slowly go down in sucession as the game progresses.

Lorence (aka Loewe) seems to be their leader/protagonist and Josh, the one who defected

Uh... that Phantom Thief who was stealing stuff for fun last game is Orobouros? That's interesting

Oooh green haired shit is Enforcer #0. He's also the PA to the Biggest Bad of All. That's something

And meanwhile, the sky bandits accidentaly run into Josh (who is wearing a badass scarf to make the point that he is edgy now). Of course.

Actually no, it seems he hired them, or something. Interesting call. They are useful, but expendable.

"Prologue: This Boss Would be Banned on Tournaments" beaten

Meanwhile, Kevin has been hired to deal with the latest McGuffin

Kevin deduces the device is a trail to the real, final McGuffin. Not a physical trail, mind you, but maybe one that runs through the Earth or something. Or maybe...

A trail in the sky (DUN DUN DUN)

Chapter 1: Chasing Edgy Kids begins

I will know only call orobouros Mystery Creepos. Thanks for the nickname, Anelace

The guild npc explains why monsters have become stronger since the last game. I never get tired of those in-universe explanations for RPG cliches

I mean, he doesn't explain it, but he says "the villains dunnit", which is more than almost every game attempts to

Schera and Agate have been tasking with investigating Orobouros. The current "plan" is to just walk randomly until they bump into them. This will be a perfect plan if they add playable characters to the party, tbf

I have to pick Schera or Agate

Now, story wise, I think Estelle would pick Schera. Because Agate is, simply put, an asshole, and Schera is someone she trusts and is used to.

Also, if this was FC, Schera would be an easy pick because she is good and Agate was well, not good. Worse than Tita, even.

But I have heard Agate is a monster in this game. And there is the matter that he was my least used character last game. I wanna have fun with some Agate action. Plus I'm not a huge fan of Schera humor, her alcohol jokes get old fast.

Estelle picks Agate and immediately starts making fun of his fragile masculinity. Perfect.

The biggest loss of the party is Anelace, though. I'll miss her. Quality character.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/5/2/6/AAO9CbAAEW7-.jpg

Uh...

WHAT

Ha. never mind. She's just asking to be rivals. Amazing.

I just checked a map and it looks like I've kind of explored the entire dungeon. I just have to solve the puzzles and kill a chest boss or two. This means the free heal at the entrance is easy to exploit, since the dungeon isn't long. That's exactly what I'm going to do.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/7/0/1/AAO9CbAAEWvF.jpg

After a bloody battle against a chest enemy, I get a decent quartz, and this message. Chests are getting more creative.

and the boss of the dungeon is Kurt himself. Ok.

He is pretty tough, I can get why players despise hard mode prologue. But after having been wrecked by Lorence last game, this feels easier. The main issue is that he both raises his own def and heals, and while magic works, EP ends eventually. I manage to finish him off by having Anelace throw an explosive cookie on him, which we found in the dungeon. She yells she is invincible. She's earned it, tbh.

So Kurt is the top bracer in Liberl after Cassius. And now Cassius left the guild, so Kurt is really the top dog. DIdn't expect him to be that good.

Yet he's only B rank. Zin, who is a monster, is A rank. And Cassius is S. While Schera is just C, though she might be promoted soon. Estelle is G, Anelace is F, cuz they are newbies.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/7/0/2/AAO9CbAAEWvG.jpg

I would take that threat seriously

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/7/0/3/AAO9CbAAEWvH.jpg

Anelace is my spirit animal here

I meet her in her room and she's talking to a teddy bear. Alright.

I unlock an art called Dark Matter, which sounds like the kind of thing Tita wishes existed in FC. An actual space art.

We are attacked by jaegers. The evil bracers. Though the jaeger looks rather generic. I guess only good guys get interesting character designs.

uh... is this guy even beatable. Is this another Lorence situation? He destroyed me and I dont even see how I could win otherwise, with him getting ton use two attacks in a single turn

The game keeps going anyway

the jaegers mugged all our equipment and left us to die in some random forest. nice.

they do leave some healing items in a tent, though

they scatter the equipment around the forest, one per chest. Ok this is too specific. It's Kurt's doing, isn't it? All part of the training.

we recover it, and at the end of it, we meet another jaeger (or is it the same one). This time we have to win. It's rather tough, for unexpected reasons: the map is huge, she keeps moving back and attacking from a distance. But magic has infinite reach, and Anelace does manage to corner her once. I claim the win this round. Her attack seems a bit lower this time too, which helps me not get overwhelmed like the previous jager fight

This dungeon has water level and bridge puzzles. While those are pretty basic, FC dungeons had no puzzles whatsoever. It managed not to be repetitive because most dungeons were short and there was a lot of fighting chest monsters (though the final dungeon was too long and those were repetitive so it didn't work well). Seems like SC wants to be more like a normal rpg now. This can be hit or miss, though. Puzzles add more variety to dungeons, but they can be very annoying too.

_stingers_ posted...

What was that

New orbment makes the way quartz interact with it changes.

The save transfer also kept my keyboard control scheme, apparently. Which is a nice touch.

I pick up equipment that is somewhat in line with the ultimate stuff I had at the end of the last game. But only 1000 mira. That's outrageous. I want my 100k prize from the tournament

We talk with Kurt, one of the Non Playable Bracers. He supplies us with a new orbment, now with 7 slots. And a convoluted but creative explanation for why the quartz from FC did not carry over

In a fashion similar to Disgaea, one must let go of their previous powers to be able to reach higher levels later on. I also like how they explain why Lorence could use SC arts

I also gain some items from having achieved bracer rank 1, though not the best one because I didnt max out BP, from what I gather. Meh.

Anelace's craft names sound like something a samurai would make, or at least a samurai wannabe. "Eight-Leaf Blitz". While Estelle's sound like something hastly put together in the middle of a skirmish and the next. "Uh... this spins. So Hurricane!"

The party is now composed of two cute girls with foul mouths and deadly weapons. The wokeness of this game is out of control.

The only thing better than a Estelle is two, I suppose

Anelace's orbment geometry is shit though. If I was her I'd go back to Kurt and demand a better one. Though wind is at least one of the better elements. And the game gives us more time sepith than anything else. It knows what's up.

Ouch, Action is expensive. Yes, the game knows what is up and is making it harder to abuse besides giving a free Action at the start.

The game even has an in-universe explanation for balance changes in spells. Nice.

I spend a while going through the magic list. Arts costs got overhauled. The biggest news is that Earth Wall's cost more than doubled. No matter, that only delays the inevitable.

The new orbment comes with everything unlocked, but the catch is that higher end stuff requires you to "upgrade" your slots first, so there's still something to grind for

seems lke every trails game must start and end in sewers

Anelace says "I AM INVINCIBLE! Or am I?" when battle ends. That's... quirky.

Hard mode is... tricky. I'm not exactly overwhelmed, but monsters clearly hit hard and one of them has huge defense and is only weak to fire, which I only have quartz for one character. I do find a second attack quartz in a chest though. But resources seem hard to conserve. The good news is there is infinite healing in the entrance, but I suspect that will be hard to return to once I go deeper. Estelle is also not getting much xp after hitting lv 39, meaning the game expects this to be the default level of challenge for this section.

My break only lasted two days because I can't stop thinking about this game.

Let's do it. Trails in the Sky SC

Now on Hard difficulty.

This game also needs the same annoying setup to launch on steam like FC, but this time I know what to do

the first sound that plays, right in the title screen, is part of Josh's harmonica song. Ouch.

Feels are coming. I hope you are prepared.

the ending credits of FC showed Estelle preparing to travel again, but the beginning of SC is right at the end of the previous game. Estelle wakes up, just a few hours after the fact

The fact being that Joshua decided to take matters with his own hands, and leave to kill the big bad, Professor Alba, aka Weissmann, aka The Magician, aka The Faceless, aka Aizen. You can measure a man's threat by the number of "aka"s you can apply to him.

Josh should have known better. Just one game ago, Estelle decided she wasn't going to stay in one place while her dad was amiss. You think she will wait for him? She will find Josh or die trying.

I dont know tarot, but I can get what it means when Schera pulls a "lovers reversed".

Estelle meets Cassius, who tells some lore about Josh and Evil Organization of Doom. Cassius thinks pursuing Josh is a bad idea. Estelle tells Cassius to fudge it and leaves in rage.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/8/0/8/AAO9CbAAEWhI.jpg

Ouch

The title screen is launched and the mood is the lowest it has been since the series started

We cut to an airship, where Estelle meets a dude named Insensitive Jerk. That's what it says in his character box so I'll use it.

it's Kevin, who is not the protagonist of this specific game

he arrives just in time to be in Estelle's location when she breaks down and starts crying. And he wanted to pick up on her. Sorry soldier, not this time.

He's somewhere in that Zin area of the horniness spectrum where hs a bit disgusting but kind of endearing.

Back to Pallet Town

This part of the plot could be called Bargain. Because that's the stage Estelle is at right now.

ok let's see what I still have. I keep my lv 38 from the previous save. But my money, inventory (except the map) and orbment are all gone. At least I have all my crafts, which is neat. Not really a New Game +, but not a complete reset either

Gone are the times of Oracle of Ages/Seasons where you need a code to transfer a save. Steam just detects it and transfers it automatically.

The clerk from the bracer guild asks Kevin to watch over Estelle because she's out of it, while isn't hearing. He replies he's already noticed it. Ouch.

Blue haired kid is still an asshole, and he challenges Estelle to a duel. She has no time for his BS tho, too busy being deluded herself

we get a montage of Estelle searching every room in her house for Josh. This game has no mercy.

Aizen also hypnotized Estelle as she was going to get ice cream. The man doesn't leave any loose ends

Cassius and Schera show up, and the former reveals he's had character development. Even legendary badasses have that sometimes

legendary badasses need to be kept from acting so player character gets to shine (the alternative is to kill Cassius and I suppose it's too soon for that). And this time the excuse is that Cassius is busy helping rebuild the army

Estelle swears to bring her man back, and pro-prologue is over. The anime opening is shown.

Prologue: To Bring Mah Man Back

We move to Some Place That Is Not in the Map, where Estelle is sparring with Anelace, who has now gained the ability to start sentences with something other than "Hey Newbies!". Character growth.

Anelace is a master of the katana, and of the Art of Changing the Position of her Hair Ribbon Without Anyone Noticing. It's an ancient technique, passed down through millenia.

After a sequence of high level sprite coreography, Estelle wins. The drive to bring a man back is too strong for Anelace to compete against.

Estelle and Anelace are in a training arc, so we can not get completely wasted by Lorence next time we meet him. Of course, I expect to still be lv 38, because true strength is only gained by massacring mobs of weird looking bugs and plants in public roads.

Estelle is wearing new clothes this game. She and Anelace have a talk about it.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/8/0/9/AAO9CbAAEWhJ.jpg

Obey the LAW

I gotta admit though, the shoulder guard does make Estelle look like she means business.

You guys are being awfully accusatory over an argument about which games are found on which platforms, which is something that changes often and is usually hard to keep track of.

Well I figure I can always try the prologue and restart if it's too bad.

So... I've been wondering whether I should play SC on hard. Since FC was rather easy (I only ever died against Josette in the prologue, and Lorence... who doesn't count).

Then I searched online and found a steam discussion where people implied Hard is incredibly brutal, and that SC's prologue is apparently the hardest section in all of the Trails series, and is almost impossible to beat on anything but Normal. So uh... I'm wondering if that's an overreaction.

Watch a show called The Law According to Lidia Poet. It's on Netflix.

It's AA, but in 19th century Italy, with a female lawyer, based on a RL story. So basically, Great Ace Attorney with 10x more sexism (though I haven't played that one myself).

Main character won the first case by pulling some amazing bluffs. Good stuff.

Shigure from History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi imo.

And she doubles as having the most badass mouse as a pet.

After finishing this game I'm still feeling daunted at the prospect of playing 12+ games but at the same time, I get it.

Cuz Im a One Piece fan and thats a franchise whose length really works in its favor.

No, I wont play all 12 consecutively. But if this quality keeps up I'll get there eventually.

So now the plan is to stop for a few days, play SC, then MAYBE play 3rd, then stop indefinitely until I get the itch to return.

_stingers_ posted...

Are you gonna do SC updates here too?

Sure

SC bought.

One thing I like about Alba's plan is how it subverts another trope, which is villains not expecting good guys to overcome things through love.

In most stories you would get the bad guy trying to convince Josh to kill the good guys and get surprised when he refuses.

Here Alba places Josh where he can be found by Cassius, expecting Cassius to want to redeem Josh, and expecting him to pull it off. They are savvy enough to know love can conquer evil, and they use that to fulfill their plan. It escapes the classic Voldermort/Sauron/Palpatine pattern of getting defeated by basic expressions of love and goodness.

The game knows you are expecting plot twists so it plays that against you. One military has to be bad. So it baits Mogran and Cid. A mayor has to be bad, so it gives you 4 of them. And so on.

The thing with Alba is that he is a classic rpg/anime character type. The goofy field researcher who helps the characters learn what the magic temples/artifacts do.

So you see that guy and you don't think much as he falls quickly into a box. Yes those towers will be important at some point and this guy will be here to help figure them out. Standard course.

And it doesn't help that Lorence exists, so you don't imagine there has to be another evil operative going around brainwashing people. It's obviously Lorence. Except it's not.

Heck, even the intelligence division helps make the decoy. I knew the bad guys were a group called Orobouros, so when I saw the guys in black I thought it was them. No, they were just soldiers with a brainwashed leader. Orobouros barely shows itself in the whole game. Even Richard is just a glorified key they use to break a seal.

Even with partial spoiling, most of the plot evaded me, because it has that many layers.

Now i'm bummed that I missed the second prof Alba escort mssion in Bose. Bet that was full of hints. Maybe I'll watch a LP of it.

I was feeling smart that I saw Richard coming a mile a way, but Alba caught me completely off guard. Touche.

The 3 parts come together. Mode: ANIHILATION. Phase 3 begins

This boss song is much more tense. Now I think this is it

it has AoE Impede

I repeat. AoE Impede. This is not a drill.

I actually prefer when it uses AoE Impede, because the other move is called Death Rage and it one shots a character of its choice

ok it finally feels like a final boss

The name of the game is Earth Wall

I deal enough damage to jam the impede attack. Nice

The lack of action economy really hurts this boss. It can summon another enemy, but I can kill it easily. And then it's 4v1 and I just have to prepare against the next attack it uses (by using earth guard on whoever got attacked last turn). Still harder than the last 2 bosses, because at least I'm having to be more creative than "spam strong stuff and heal"

Its final move is one called Anihilation. I don't know what it does, because I had earth wall on the whole party. it looked pretty cool though!

Another arm jammed, so I'm assuming it will just spam Anihilation now. Unless it can come up with a version that goes through Earth Wall, I'm not worried

actually seems like the one that got jammed was anihilation, not death rage. Doesn't matter.

The last attack in the game is a Barrage by Estelle. Fitting

So Lavos is not Aureole, it is the guardian created to kill whoever tries to take Aureole

There was going to be a Phase 4, but Richard has a change of heart and decides to hold it down so we can escape

Then Dad shows up out of nowehre and cuts its arm down. And now Phase 4 starts! What the hell is going on with this ending

Phase 4 is just a glorified cutscene though, because the thing has 5k hp left and every character gets their cp maxed out

Cassius low key let us get the finishing move just for the sake of it. Then he goes and says Estelle and Josh get a passing grade. Show off

Estelle is having none of it, though. Zero. Zilch

The other 4 playable characters show up and inform us they were dealing with a horde of mobs off-screen. Well, sounds like it was a good call to leave Tita with them.

Dad punches Richard in the face and explains why he sucks. He is right, a country can't depend on a single man forever, especially if that man isn't immortal. Richard should have stepped up. Well, he kind of did, but stepped up his own strength and skills, I mean

Estelle and Josh have been promoted to senior bracers

Cassius decides to join the army again, because someone needs to clean that mess. I assume he'll be back home after it's done, though

predictably, it's revealed Lorence is the one behind everything. of course, his character level is just higher

I buy the latest newspaper, and Nial wrote a very epic summary of the game's climax

Bose's mayor continues to talk about the matter of royal acendancy. I predict shes going to end monarchy and become the first president of Liberl before this series ends

Estelle and Josh have a failed shipping moment, then she leaves for ice cream.

And then just like that, professor Alba shows up and reveals he is the Big Bad. I DID NOT see this coming

He also snaps his fingers and makes Josh remember his past, because turns out he had forgotten parts of it. And Josh used to be Enforcer 13th

lots of new names get spoken

They also reveal everything that has happened so far was part of the plan. Obviously.

Wow, they used Josh as a drone to spy for them for the last 5 years. Even him getting adopted was part of the plan. That's Aizen tier of manipulation.

Josh is so shocked he has a brand new shocked character portrait. two portraits

tbf the fact they had to go this far just to make Cassius go away for a while is a testament to how dangerous the man is

"You are free now. Free to live with the fact that you betrayed your own family. Hope you enjoy it". Devious

I already knew this game ended with Josh leaving to hunt the bad guys alone, because I read a synopsis of the next game... but the actual scene is much more intense than I expected. We see Josh's past (except the bit about how his heart broke, whats up with that), and there is a very sad scene where Estelle hopelessly confesses to him as a last attempt to keep him there, and he fakes a kiss to sedate her. And then the credits roll, and we get a montage of Estelle packing up to go look for him. Good stuff. THAT'S how you end a videogame

And there's even a trailer to SC

Well, game beaten. I'm pretty tired of it and need a break, but with a cliffhanger that good, it won't be a long one tbh. Maybe a few days.

10/10 game, imo.

We arrive at a large altar that just screams "Doomsday Device"

If there was someone left to be rescued, this would be the place where they were going to be sacrificed by the villain

Richard: "I knew you would show up". Geez, that's some lack of confidence in your subordinates.

His point is not exactly wrong, tbh. Liberl only won the last war because they had airships, and Erebonia is certainly gonna make them. (also lol at Calvard being strong because they have a lot of people, they are basically China). Problem is that this is an RPG and ancient Earth altering powers in RPGs ALWAYS backfire badly. Plus the whole misogynistic coup thing being bad and stuff

Estelle makes a speech about the power of friendship

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/7/7/9/AAO9CbAAEWBb.jpg

Heh. Richard also got memory wiped. And he is aware of it, but doesn't care. Josh figures it out pretty amazingly. Not sure if the memory wipe included a brainwash or not, though. Perhaps it included early on but then Richard just accepted his newfond fascist power after he broke free of it? This reminds me of the broken Empire trilogy, except the protagonist is more self aware than Richard is

The boss has two robots, which are a stronger version of those chest impede bots. Annoying. But this time, I spam Clock up Ex

there is a cool sequence where Richard uses his s-craft, which makes a ton of blood flow from Estelle and knock her out, but then immediately after, Kloe uses her s-craft, and bring Estelle and everyone else back to full HP. with defensive buffs for evewryone since she had 200 cp. Overkill

Impede is fine but not enough when it only stops 1 out of every 3 white gehennas I fire

the fact this is going rather easily and that the music has played in other battles before suggests this is just Phase 1

Kloe keeps getting the epic moments. Richard decides to use his s-craft on her next, which leaves her at 100 HP, she revides with a Blue Impact and takes him down. And the fight levels her up so she just recovers everything

Richard pulls an Ozymandias. Why, do you think I would have allowed you to get here if there was a chance you could stop my plan? The device already activated

The gospel removes the seal, which releases the Aureole

... Lavos, is that you?

Kind of gives the same vibe

Exclusive battle song now. I think this is it

Final Boss Phase 2

Reverie? Isn't that the name of the 10th game?

Lavos is down. He's kind of neat, with the right and left bits being immune to physical attacks and magic, respectively. But it's still too little against this lv 38 party. Will there be a Phase 3?

to be found out after I have lunch

Estelle: Why won't it just DROP already? The 4th wall is no match to our protagonist.

final team picked. I'm going with Olivier and Kloe. the previous two can rest cuz I want to vary, and Agate and Zin aren't that good

(well Zin is good if the enemy is not immune to taunt, but I can't just rely on that)

since this is the last part, I'll post the quartz setup

Estelle, Josh, Kloe and Olivier, respectively:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/7/1/2/AAO9CbAAEWAY.jpg

Everyone has White Gehenna except Estelle. Though she has Aero Storm, which is the next best thing. She also has Spiral Flare, for damage variety, Blue Impact, for single target, and is also a healer. Attack 3 also makes her physical attacks stronk.

Actually they are all healers except Josh. You can never have too many of them, and it means everyone gets Blue Impact.

Josh and Olivier both have the full time set, including Anti-Sept All and Clock Up Ex, cuz why not. Kloe also has Clock Up Ex.

Olivier has the most variety, with time, wind and water attacks, as well as Chaos Brand and Earth Wall, and the healing. He can do whatever I want, except fire I guess. Kloe is a nerfed version of Olivier, though a nerfed version of a great thing is still great, and she has Not a Falcon who is OP. Actually she has Thearal, which can be useful if just a single character is dying.

Josh is just using time attacks and dealing a shitton of damage, and really, that's all Attack 3 is there for. Though Flare Arrow is a decent option for single target.

And now I realize nobody has haze or cloak so I'm gonna be swarmed by random encounters, but whatever, Kloe and Olivier need some xp. And well I can just equip Cloak if I have to backtrack

we face a new type of chest boss, M-Series Doom. They aren't super tanky but they cast the strongest spells in the game (first time I see Volcanic Rave) and have a self-destruct with large AoE. I beat them by just hitting faster but next time I'm using anti-sept all

there's also an even bigger robot with a single target machine gun attack. Not much to say, but it makes a nasty combo with self destructing one. I still prefer those guys over the Impede rocket bot, though. Impede is very OP when in the hands of enemies

so I'm using a map and I'm not even ashamed. This dungeon is annoying to navigate. This reminds me of old gaming times where I just used walkthroughs for everything, before I got more confident about my own gaming abilities

like, my first go at Ocarina's Water Temple was fully walthroughed, I even printed the guide with images, cuz the temple's fame scared me. Then the 2nd time I went blind and actually got stuck a few times, which I should have had the first time.

This 2nd half of the dungeon is rather easier, since I've gained so many levels, not to mention all the ultimate equipment from those chests. At the start, I was spamming s-crafts on the chest monsters just to stay alive, now I'm using them to farm CP for the final boss

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/7/1/3/AAO9CbAAEWAZ.jpg

It's Final Boss time.

Yes, the music is good. It was in my head for hours after it. I now forgot it because I just went to an RPG game so my brain is overloaded with other stuff, but it might stay for days once I play the 2nd half.

From what I gather, there are chests with a weapon for every character, plus four sets of armor and four sets of boots. That makes 16, and they are all guarded by bosses. There are only two types of bosses (the one that summons minions and the one that spams impede rockets), so you are facing each boss 8 times. The one with the rockets is giga annoying, so enjoy fighting it over and over (not).

alright, we have a castle to raid

using two parties of 6 is neat but having to split my quartz in 6 is not. I'm missing some good ones I left with the boys' team

we actually move back to the boys' team before the girls get to watch. They are in. Time to go open the door.

Guard: "Intruders?" Josh: "Yep" [beats them up]

oh nice plan! (I guess I didnt pay much attention to the dialogue when they planned it). the boys open the door from the inside so the npcs can make a frontal attack. In despair, the bad guys send everything to the entrance. But then the girls show up in an airship and attack the roof. Now we just have to beat the boss and it's checkmate.

the second-in-command folds like paper. she's got some strong attacks but schera has AoE AT Up now, and thats awesome

Wow, the Duke is basically walking far-right troll post. KIll it with fire.

Schera to the butler: "Don't worry, we didn't actually hurt the duke". Nope, we just used Napalm Breath and White Gehenna on him. That pile of coal on the floor is what used to be him.

I love how the guys' team gets an easy little dungeon while the girls get... a boss rush.

Oh, so silver hair dude was Lorence all along. And he took his mask off. I assume that boosts him at least 10 levels

Loerence... murders my entire party and pisses on their graves

his attack, defense and HP are manageable. What is insane is what he can do. His casting time and turn speed are immense, like a hardcore version of Josh. He casts so fast it's hard for me to use Impede, and when I manage to do it, he just casts again. He self heals, uses status, has a number of arts that aren't even in the spell list, has an s-craft, is immune to every status and has Impede himself, with an AI that knows how to cast it when I'm trying to use Earth Wall or something. It's like I'm fighting a player character.

and then he apparently remembers he's supposed to be a boss from the sequel game, not this one, so he says some cryptic stuff and leaves. wtf

the quartz guide was implying there was an optional boss I could fight for max BP. But it also said i was supposed to drop all the quartz from the boys party in order to minmax for it. Which I didn't. So I'm not going to keep trying over and over to figure this guy out. He's earned his win, I'll kick his ass next game.

however, the villain of this game (not of the series, that guy left) is still in the Final Dungeon, seeking the Doomsday Device, which he can combine with the McGuffin. That has to be stopped

Prof Russel appears to open a locked elevator which is the perfect excuse to bring Agate and Tita back to the party. Now all playable characters are together.

The final dungeon has an interesting scheme. It's basically Skies of Arcadia, where party freedom only comes at the end of the game and only for the secondary characters, but the dungeon itself is divided in sections so you can mix and match teams for each one. The excuse to keep 4 characters behind is dumb, though. But meh

I'll start with Tita, who I just like to use, and Schera, who I haven't been able to use in a while, besides the recent scene

the normal battle song has been replaced by a dramatic tune

I beat a very tough chest enemy. three robots who have a decently powerful AoE attack and an impede attack, with very high defense. They can't really stop you from using all magic, but it makes the fights delay and the my HP eventually end. I win but have to dump all my s-crafts on them. And they also have minions who can heal

ok I'm getting the hang of those guys. The key is to use broken stuff to kill/blind the minions in the start and focus fire on them so they stop healing. Spread your characters around so enemy aoe doesn't do much damage (which made hard because the game doesn't let me control my movement and attack in the same turn). Then S-craft one of the big robots to reduce their numbers, and then slowly wear the remaining ones down with magic but watching the AT list so they cant impede you. Phew

Josh's Black fang is absolutely insane. It has been carrying the team

the 2nd type of chest boss is much easier. yes it calls for backup of minions almost endlessly, but no immunity to blind and no impede means I actually have my abilities at disposal here

ok I'm starting to get how Schera's heaven kiss works. it doesn't just increase the party's speed. It actually swaps the turn order so all party members besides herself attack next, producing extra turns out of nothing. That's OP

Boss fight! It's Alamlthea!. I kind of already beat her, though? This game does know how to prolong its endings

oh she has drones now

ngl this was easier than the chest bosses I've been fighting

I FINALLY make it to a forward base where I can switch characters. And looking at an online map, there's only one of those. This is kind of lame, I'm reducing my praise of the character swap system. That means at least 2 characters are never going to participate, unless you backtrack.

Also not a huge fan of this dungeon, it's too long and the chest battles are starting to weak me down, since they are both repetitive and tricky. I think I'll wait to finish it tomorrow

the characters elect Estelle their leader. Because the's the MC, ofc

we are treated to some cutscenes with hyper-realistic sprite warfare. I mean, as realistic as sprites fighting can be. Which is none, but still very fun to watch. I'd say that is one of the untold strengths of this game

The plan works great, because as much as the intelligence division may be intelligent, they are still npcs. Also breaking into 4 teams with 2 decoy ones is rather smart.

climatic fights where the overworld song just keeps playing after the fight starts are fun

Every time I pick a wrong room in the royal villa I'm abushed by enemies when I leave. But they are fun to give and give a crapton of xp. i'm not complaining

the spy enemies arent super tough stat wise but their attacks have an insta death chance. which is SUPER annoying

gotta use my s-crafts when I get them or I'll lose my cp

though saving s-crafts just a bit means I dont get destroyed by the two guys with halberds guarding Kloe's room. Only almost destroyed. AoE faint is mean.

we get to the moment of the shocking revelation. That Kloe is the princess. After the last 30 or so hints.

it does catch Estelle completely off-guard, though

The comment on how they would have gone there sooner if they knew it was "their" Kloe is cute, though. I love those guys

Their friendship with Kloe is cheesy but the writing does make it feel real

Schera out of nowhere

and the leech

Not a Falcon returns, because Kloe is not Kloe without the broken bird attack

TIme for Round 2 of the climax. We split into two parties of 3, one to infiltrate from the sewers and one to make the frontal attack. The two teams are fairly balanced, tbh. Not having Agate on either helps.

special ops are now patrolling the streets with rifles in hand. Shit has gotten heavy

I read the news and most of it is stuff related to the plot, but the last two pages are speculation on a dragon sight. Something for the next game?

I get hit by a deathblow from a random monster in the sewers. I then load to the previous save and buy 30 reviving balms from the nearest store. Enough is enough

I told ya the way to sneak into the castle was through the waterway. This stuff has been the same since the old zeldas!

Cloak: No Encounters
OP

meanwhile, the girl's team will attack friom the front

I get a steam achievement for unlocking all orbment slots, though to be fair most of them unlocked themselves. Either way, both Kloe and Schera come with some expensive quartz included, which is nice

Zin is a womanizer but in a way that feel less... icky, I guess? He just likes to flirt and is unapologetic about it, but isn't a pervert

the castle is immense, for videogame standards

Mission: find the maid named Hilda and deliver her the letter.

the duke fired most of the people who do governmental work because reasons. so things are just not being done now. I'm astounded by the level of realism here. It's not unlike the state my country was in not long ago.

We find Hilda and she is sharp, and also has a plan to get around the bad guys

Estelle's way of praising the food while roasting the duke is amazing, especially because he doesn't get it

the Duke is a semi nice person when in a party. He isn't really the bad guy, just the idiot being used as a puppet by the bad guys

or... he's just happy because they are letting him become king now

Bose's mayor tries to implement democracy, but it fails. Coming from her, it would be corporate democracy, though, so not sure if it's worth it

"You may not agree with this but there may be riots or outside invasions, so your jobs as politicians is to keep stability despite fascism taking over". Classic

We have a chat with the villain before the final battle. It probably screwed up our plan in some way

And... Josh is dressing like a girl again

The Japanese. They can't help it. They just can't.

He's dragged kicking and screaming to the dressing room

there is a problem with this disguise. Kloe is going to recognize it in 2 seconds. She's had first hand experience with crossdressing Josh

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/3/9/1/AAO9CbAAEVcH.jpg

Josh: "just make it stop plz"

the plan works. for now

Estelle keeps asking every npc if they knew her dad. She should get at this point that the dude is basically Batman. Everyone knows him.

so the entire plot of the game is caused by sexism? really? stop being realistic, Tits

so if we save the princess, the bad guys lose their hostage and the queen can take over again. Got it

if this coup thing works, my prediction is that the Duke is going to be assassinated by his butler in less than a year. I feel bad for the guy

They should tell everything to Zin already. He keeps covering for them even though he doesn't know anything. Dude is just awesome.

Zin can make his blood flow to make his head redder on purpose. That seems OP

And it turns out Cassius was the one who sent Zin here. The plot unfolds once more. Everyone knows more stuff than those protagonists, it seems.

now that I think of it, it's funny that Estelle and Josh were acting all shady by Zin and Olivier even though the later two both knew where Cassius were and the former did not

Meanwhile, the Bad Guy enters the Final Dungeon. The clock is ticking. Will the good guys catch up to him before he activates the Doomsday Device?

We gotta save the princess first, though

I reach Junior Bracer 1st class. Nice.

So Cassius's trip was a decoy. They engineering a whole international incident just to keep the resident badass away.

The mission is to recruit Non-Playable Bracers (probably so they can wipe out some mobs while we fight the bosses), the royal guards (so they can watch the entrance, I guess) and the reporter (so he can give us another character profile that doesn't reveal much because it's not the most dramatic moment for that).

In other words, it's just us and Earth Wall vs the world.

Olivier will also find a way to join. Somehow. I just know he will.

Kurt, one of the B-list bracers, also had memory loss. The interesting thing is that it didn't affect his personality, unlike that apparently happened with Don. Not sure if this is a brainwashing or not, anymore

we find the four bracers, but the other 2 people have already left, probably to try to do the thing we are already doing. Well, it could help produce some deus ex machina saves

The battle plan is convoluted. We barely have enough people. But of course, more show up. It's Julia!

Naturally, the plan involves letting the playable characters do the more important role while everyone else distracts the mobs

Leonhart4 posted...

Fitting post for someone with Twilight Princess in their username

Well I'm defend the Spinner, Ball and Chain and Double Clawshot to death.

(not the Dominion Rod though, that one can burn)

foolm0r0n posted...

Slippery rocks are actually genius game design. If you don't like them, you probably didn't even get off the plateau.

They are great when you first go to Zora's Domain, because of how they turn the place into a gauntlet.

But terrible when you are just exploring a random place.

Should have been an area specific thing.

If they make it so rocks aren't as slippery in the rain it's a 10/10 game for me.

That said I'm likely not getting this at launch because I feel it hasn't been long enough since I beat BotW. But I'm definitelly getting it at some point.

Round 2 at the sewers. This one has tougher enemies and beter items to find. It also has an unlockable path to the previous section. That makes the map huge though, almost impossible to navigate without using an online map. And the map shows there's a third area to open! But I also get to eliminate two boss monsters which is great because that's the only semblance of quests in this chapter so far

Now everyone is lv 31, except Zin, who is still 33

The game crashes while I'm saving after finishing this long dungeon and I nearly fall into despair, but it manages to save the game before crashing. Phew

Time to destroy Lorence and win the tournament

Estelle and Josh are going to stroll around the coliseum before the match and I think that's a terrible idea

One of non-playable bracers reveals he was also briefly brainwashed at some point. Well he doesn't know, but I do because it's the same thing thats happened to other characters

the mayors have been invited to the dinner party. It is now 200% more evil

Lorence and his team are a tough fight. But excuse me, do you have a minute to hear about our Lord and Savior, Earth Wall?

I use clock up ex on Zin and have him spam earth wall, then I just focus s-crafts on the minions to destroy Lorence's action economy, so even if he's worth about 3 members of my team, I still have 4

Ngl I was half expecting Lorence to just beat us in a cutscene. Since he's the villain and all

And... it's revealed he was holding back. Ofc

we get a scene with the villains bragging about their evil plan Standard stuff

Erebonian military dude arrives and is furious at Olivier. Josh: "Olivier, did you deliberately hide your participation from the embassy?" Olivier: "Of course not, I simply didn't tell them!"

Olivier's invitation to the dinner party is revoked. And his membership in my party, I guess

well the game didn't return his items, so I think not

She seems fine, but in FC they clearly gave her some barebones characterization.

The endgame is approaching so I'm bingeing it harder. Will probably take a small break once FC ends

Small, because this story is great and I want to see the end of it.

Alright, i've built the tournament winning setup. Redundancy is the keyword here. Only Estelle can cast Aero Storm, but Olivier gets Aerial too. Both Estelle and Olivier have La Teara for healing. Josh has the entire time art list, but Olivier has White Gehenna too. Both Estelle and Josh get Spiral Flare. Everyone has Action 2 (Josh has Action 3). Both Josh and Estelle have Attack 3, though they each have one defensive quartz (HP2 and Evade 2). Both Estelle and Olivier have Mind 3 for maximum magic damage. I made both the quartz shop and the equipment shop a richer (everyone has the best weapon and armor available). And Zin? He has Earth Wall, and a setup build for maximum tankiness (Defense 3, HP 2, Shield 2). He spams "You Yella" while the other 3 murder everything on sight.

the first opponents for the tournament match are more goons from Ruan (the least weak ones). They come to provoke us before the match. It fails because Estelle decides to be nice to them and that ruins their mood.

our waiting room has two teams we are not going to fight now, including "Non-Playable Bracers" and two groups of generic soldiers. Meaning there are two groups of non-generic opponents in the other room, waiting to beat the soldiers down

I love how they keep calling it the "no holds-barred tournament" over and over. For emphasis.

Non-Playable Bracers slaughter yet another group of generic soldiers

watching civilians wipe the floor with military in public is satisfying, ngl

Next is Playable Bracers and a Bard vs Ruan Bandits. I win, but one of them lands an insta kill attack on Zin before going down, which wastes 200 CP. Danmit.

Next is the Capua family, as a twist. This gun be gud.

Because the Duke is basically a child who probably pulled some straws to make it happen. Likely in exchange of some actual state powers given to Richard

And the last mystery opponent is Lorence from the intelligence team. If Agate breaks into the arena just to fight him I wont be surprised

What is the good in having an army if individual spies are just physically stronger? Just give whatever training you are giving to the spies to the army too then.

Josh keeps getting flashbacks whenever that guy shows up

we are ambushed by reporter dude, who wants an interview. Not after we saved the country 4 times, but after we decided to join a fighting tournament and reach the semifinals.

Estelle demands food for it, though.

We exchange info. The way this game uses the press is pretty cool.

The guys we just beat give us a key to the sewers, which conveniently has monsters slightly stronger than the ones we fought yesterday. Time for more grinding

the sewers are rather small and boring and I'm moving back to the tournament. Gained a level, at least

the sky bandits softly blackmail us. thats the price for not staging a prison break earlier. Either way, we aint fighting them now

we are fighting Non-Playable Bracers, which means the Sky Bandits are gonna be used to show how strong Lorence is

Kyle, the bandit, is surprisingly chill.

not making the same mistake twice (saving CP) The next opponents are going to eat s-crafts for breakfast

Zin Taunt is absolutely OP. Everyone just keeps hitting him for 0 damage.

so is Josh's AT Delay

and the rest is just spamming whatever strong AoE art I have and watching HP bars shrink

in classic anime tournament arc fashion, the bad guys make it to the finals against the protagonists

The Press returns with more info, though the info is kind of whatever.

One of the reporters' names is Noticia, which means News in Portuguese/Spanish

and another sewer key. Yay for more grinding!

while we were fighting, the military has managed to estabilish a night curfew and assign people to patrol the local newspaper so reporters don't get too brave. Fascism works fast in this universe

Anelace continues to call us newbies after we mopped the floor with her npc ass. She should at least wait until she becomes a playable character (I know shes playable in SC)

We get a mysterious letter asking us to go to the cathedral and Josh tries to convince Estelle to let him go check it out alone. Unfortunately for him, Estelle rolls a Nat 20 in Insight.

Ah, a videogame guard stealthing minigame. Classic. I hate those.

the game removes some guards whenever I fail though, which is an interesting, if humilliating, anti-frustration measure. I'd wager I also lose some EP for that

It's Julia Schwarz, asking us to do the thing we were already going to do. She does give us a letter that might open some doors, though

And we have another cute character moment, where Josh vows to reveal his past once the Plot ends, while Estelle vows to reveal she just wants to fuck him. I don't think that's gonna work, particularly because the Plot is not ending anytime soon.

And off to another wierdly placed sewer dungeon crawl

the military held the ship we were going to take, so we are really just taking the land road. That's two whole minutes less to save the queen.

military arrives. GTFO

Estelle wants to ask Josh out. This is cute.

there will be a fighting tournament. perfect timing

the bad guys are smart. they order to arrest any bracer who tries to enter the capital. But professor Alba shows up from nowhere and vouches for us

downside is that we now have an escort who cant fight

the royal villa off limits. which is a problem cuz that's where we were going to

welcome to Grancel. where people get to enjoy the GDP produced by the other 4 major areas

The music is the same as the school's

Ok I'm mistaken, the royal villa isn't where the royalty lives, they just go there. The castle at Grancel is where they live. I wonder why the army is bothering to block the villa, though.

we find the fisherman's guild, led by Mr. Fisher, which seems more like a secret society of fishermen who rule over all bodies of water than just a mere guild

we arrive at the guild, where a bunch of seemingly important characters are leaving for the tournament.

we report to the guild on whats going on and leave to go to the castle.

there are no quests. Outrageous!

we obviously can't enter the castle. Silly kids, the way to sneak into a castle is by jumping on the moat, swimming to the corner of the area and entering a small hole that leds into the royal gardens, where about 6 guards are running in circles. Then you get past them and meet the princess.

Duke Idiot is running the country since the Queen is sick. And since he is well, an idiot, Colonel Richard is the one actually in charge. Of Course.

We enter the coliseum, to watch some fights, because all obvious plot progression avenues are closed.

The ongoing match is Bracers with Unique Sprites and Animated Faces vs Generic Soldier Squad

It's a massacre.

I'm particularly awed by the Bracers' ability to move backwards to a more favorable position and then attack in the same turn. That's a skill my party has yet to gain access to.

Next is a team of 4 generic lowlifes from Ruan vs... Zin. Just Zin. He's so cool he came without a team.

I feel sorry for the generic lowlifes.

Zin gets 4 turns for each turn those guys get. Doesn't make sense, but it's not like he needs it either, his stats are completely busted compared to theirs. Then he uses a kamehameha, which he definitely couldn't do when he was a party member. I'm calling management.

so the winner of the tournament gets to visit the palace. thats our plot hook. We need to convince Zin to let us join his "team" since applications for the tournament are closed.

Josh prefers the simpler plan of sending non-protagonists, though. Josh, that has zero chance of working.

we go meet the non-protagonists, and before we can say anything, they suggest my plan.

... they know.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/7/2/9/AAO9CbAAEUi5.jpg

Estelle is HYPED, though. And that's a lot of birds.

still no quests and I'm definitely rioting. Are you telling me I'm gonna be stuck on Bracer Rank 2 for the rest of the game? Lame.

We go into the bar looking for Zin, and the music stops. A piano is playing

HE

is back

whether you like it or not.

he does play a mean piano, tbf

and once again, he attaches himself to the party like a leech

He teases Estelle x Josh and she hits him so hard he won't wake up

the guard at Calvard's embassy entrance is super chill. It's nice to have a neighbor you weren't at war with in recent history

npc dialogue has been pretty boring since the chapter started because all everyone talks about is the main plot. Which they know less about than the protagonists. So it is a bunch of "I can't believe the royal guard is bad!". Which is repetitive.

I'm exploring the overworld to look for Zin. There are some huge crocodile enemies that have 1400 hp, can kill a character in one hit and call for backup. I think I'm a little overwhelmed

they give a ton of xp though, which means the game acknolwedges I'm underleved. I think i'll grind here for a while

Joshua learns a skill named "Evil Eye". Those crocodiles have messed with the wrong kids

Evil Eye is very good.

I just gained like 2 levels in 15 minutes. Too much Haze leads to being underleved, I suppose

Zin comes to rescue us from a mob. He is lv 33 and we are lv 26. lmao

Zin accepts the team up. But we are short one person for a 4-man party. Estelle says it loudly: "Is there not anyone who can join us?"

Bad idea, Estelle. Because that's the cue for the piano to start playing.

Zin can tell Olivier uses guns just by observing the way his eyes move. Wow.

On the next day, the party meets up. Zin suggests we grind. I aint gonna try to argue with the man. when the guy 7 levels above yours says grind, you grind.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/7/3/0/AAO9CbAAEUi6.jpg

I think thats the most sepith i'll ever get from a single fight in this game

done grinding. got just 2 more levels, but xp gain is starting to get pitiful. Also found Defense 3 and Shield 3 in chests which is nice

Zin's training routine must have been completely insane if he actually got to lv 33 here

I'd guess he meditated very intensely under a waterfall, but the only waterfall in this kingdom is on the other side of the map

Now to figure out where to put 24 quartz.

I said before I felt like we were about to get a major win against the bad guys because they wouldn't see us coming. Well, they didn't, but they were already leaving when we arrived. Final tally: We rescued the prof and retrivied the super computer, but bad guys have already used those to figure out how to use the McGuffin, aka the Gospel, in their incoming Doomsday Plan. Everything is about to collide at Grancel, and the Josh and Estelle have been given a mission to warn the queen before it's too late.

meanwhile, Agate and Tita are on the run, after dropping all their armor and orbments, which would probably help them surviving

between chapter scene: Princess Leia, I mean, Kloe, escapes the Empire, I mean the Intel Div. Her trust royal guardwoman, Julia, does a You Shall not Pass and stays behind to fight the enemy. But it is moot, as Richard catches up with her with an airship

meanwhile, we cut to the man. The legend. The bard among bards. Olivier himself.

A man from the empire meets him, and after much annoyance, reveals what is probably Cassius was in the empire this whole time, investigating attacks on the erebonian guild branches, by someone named jaegers. This keeps getting more convoluted.

The man asks Olivier to go back to the empire since shit is about to go down, but Olivier is having none of it. Why, you don't make a mess without inviting him!

Final Chapter: "Cassius aint here so that ponytail girl will have to do it" begins

We receive the region's gym badge, and airship tickets to Grancel. The protagonists like walking but that would take TWO WHOLE MINUTES of gameplay, and that's if they use haze. The kingdom is at stake, so there is no time to waste. We will go there by flying. Once we do some groceries and armor shopping and talk to every npc in the city to see dialogue changes, of course.

I advance to bracer rank 2 and gain an acessory that grants immunity to all status except KOs. I give it to Estelle, along with another acessory that grants immunity to instant kills. no status will get in the way of my spellcasting

I finish the librarian quest. Using a faq to figure out the last (rather difficult) two riddles. At the end of it, a letter says the riddles were created to pass on a powerful quartz to a person who proved their intelligence. Err...

Whatever, I take Impede 3 and give it to Estelle so she unlocks Aero Storm. I don't need intelligence, I have Estelle.

Guild woman hands me a map of the most secure military base in the country. Estelle asks how the hell she has it. She says "the guild knows things. It's better if you don't know"

She also says "it's absolutely crucial we don't ruin relations with the army. RIGHT, AGATE" Agate: "sure but if I meet the bad guys they are screwed, I've been chasing them for so long they'll be offended if I don't kick their asses". lol

Agate opposes bringing Tita. I tend to agree with him. This is insane. She's 12. However she is the only one who can use the miracle device that lets us enter the otherwise impenetrable base. This is massive child abuse, though.

we learn some royal guardsmen in the capital have been arrested. Coincidentally, the black mask guys who have been the game's antagonists disguised themselves as royal guardsmen. However, they seem to be using the military's intelligence base. The politics in this game has gotten complicated and hard to crack, which is great. I'm at a loss of who is evil here.

yep, Mischa is his sister. Though she doesn't seem to be dead, unless he's lying

I feel like we are about to strike a win against those black masks, because there's no way they have a escape plan against a "bracers invade the pentagon" situation

Like, an airship ready to take off from carnelia tower? that's realistic, anyone can go to carnelia tower. But not the place we are about to invade

the scene of the 4 trying to fit a cargo box is hilarious

Major Cid is a Cat Person. That puts him at least on the Neutral alignment scale. If he were a dog person I'd be more sure about trusting him, though.

(evil people are the ones who don't like animals)

using a cat as a decoy is a clever touch, though

Richard is with the prof. I knew it! He dunnit!

Cid is also bad. I guess it wasn't a double subversion, everyone in this building is evil.

so the royal guards have been set up, and the intelligence are the bad guys. the plot unfolds

Cid stays alone with the prof, which is a terrible position to be in when protagonists are coming and your boss, who is stronger than you, leaves. That means you have been assigned to the position of chapter boss, to be defeated next scene.

I just realized the person Agate fought when he was chasing the bad guys in the woods, Lorence, is a guy. Their hair thingies made me think it was a girl.

So we recover the supercomputer, but the bad guys have left with the mcguffin. Because, like all mcguffins, it must be used to power up the Doomsday Device during the final battle

the alarm fires and a billion soldiers are chasing us. I wonder if they can see us through the haze quartz, though. Now that I think of it, the Haze quartz might be the most powerful intelligence asset in the world of Trails. It has Stone Mask levels of effectiveness

wow I was only joking but haze actually works. None of the soldiers see us. Lmao. Though the front door is locked so we still have to find an alternative exist.

suddenly, a ! mark appears over one of them and he sees us. "Half works", I guess. Wonder what triggered it

Tita's smoke cannon can solo the country's army. I'm not joking

With all doors locked, we find one to the prison, where the bosses of the previous chapters are all locked in. What a coincidence

I was thinking we were going to do a prison break out but the main characters are too lawful for that. Lame.

Cid is actually secretely on our side. So both my predictions turned out to be right. Cool.

Mogran is also a good guy, despite being a dickhead. I figured that out when the game started comparing him unforavorably to Richard. That's where you place a twist

it turns out continuing to be a military state once war is over tends to lead to corruption, and coup attempts. This game is realistic

Cid is ready to face prison to do the right thing. Good character

he shows us a secret door to an aqueduct, where I assume the chapter boss awaits

Agate, TIta and the prof have been compromised, so they will go into hiding. Meanwhile Estelle and Josh will move on with the game's plot

that said I'm not sure I agree Tita is that compromised and the writing is kind of forcing it. I'm pretty sure Estelle and Josh ran into the intelligence division guys more often that she did

No chapter boss, apparently. Unless you count those two door guards. I don't

Chapter 3: McGuffins and Whodunnits beaten

there is a quest in Zeiss about recovering a book from the hot springs and bringing it back to the factory archives. The reward, accodring to gamefaqs, is Impede 3, a very useful quartz. However, once you complete the story events at the hot spring, the librarian who is supposed to receive the book is traumatized and decides to take a break from her job, only returning near the end of the chapter. That means the only way to complete this quest and get Impede 3 early is to go to the hot spring, pick up the book, go back to Zeiss, complete the quest then go to the hot spring again to continue the story. There are also other book quests that are unlocked then, which you also must complete before going to the hot spring.

Although this game has fun quests, their availability is obnoxious as fuck.

to save Agate, we need a special moss that only grows in the back of a deadly cave. Typical.
Zin, the two meter tall monk, joins the party! 4 party members at last, been a long time since I've had that.

no seriously, his in-game sprite is like twice as tall ad the other party members. it's hilarious

Google says he's 1.98m tall, so I was close

Zin sports a metric ton of HP, a metric ton of Defense, and an incredibly shitty orbment. Like, that's even worse than Agate and Tita. It comes with a free Action 2, though, which is awesome because those are expensive

my orbment setup is the same as last time, so I won't post it.

Estelle keeps her water/wind spellcaster setup, now with Mind 3 and Cast 2 in place of Mind 2 and HP 2. A little more squishy, but casts faster and hits harder.

Josh gets a time + fire set with spiral flare and white gehenna, and attack 3 boosting his physicals. deathblow is also very useful, since he one hit kills enemies 20% of the time.

Tita keeps the same set as before, with earth wall and chaos brand, because she is not that useful for arts. Her EP Cut 2 is downgraded to 1 so I can give the better one to Zin, whose max EP is lower. She also carries Haze so Joshua can use Scent, giving him fire AoE. Earth Lance is also an option for Tita.

Zin gets:

Defense 2 - HP 2/EP Cut 2 - Action 2 - Shield 2 - Poison

This is a wall. He can take hits, and I've noticed he has taunt too, a move I've been ignoring all game that may be finally worth using. He also uses earth wall, which is a little redundant but you know what, too much earth wall isn't bad. His AoE is stone impact, the worst in the game, but I feel like I won't need it. Poison is not great, but I want Tita to have Petrify since she hits more enemies.

Everyone has Action 2, of course.

Zin's crafts lets him increase his own stats, heal himself or other party members, taunt enemies to attack him or confuse enemies to make them attack each other. There's "support" written all over. I'm not complaining

I read the book I was ranting about earlier and it's an interesting piece about woodpecker ecology. Those devs really liked writing random stuff

Josh learns a new scraft, Black Fang, which is basically ridiculous.

nothing screams overkill more than Tita blinding 7 enemies in the first turn. Yes, she is niche, but that niche is "chest enemies no longer exist"

Tita obtains a new gun, G Impact, which increases her attack, but more important, are of effect.

I don't know what "You yella?" is supposed to mean or why enemies get so pissed when Zin says it, but it works.

this cave is a maze.

we find the Healing Herb of Plot, and I brace myself for the inevitable boss. it comes.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/3/4/AAO9CbAAEULi.jpg

Estelle has the same reaction as mine

Zin's s-craft is cool. Not very strong, but cool.

this penguin was the tankiest enemy in the game so far. massive defensive stats and could self heal at will. Also immune to all status I tried to use. I almost lose because I just couldn't outdamage him, until I said screw it and just had all 4 character spam arts. I barely made it

We give the medicine to Agate and wait for him to heal. then we get a sequence where, in his fever, he mistakes Tita for some Mischa. Who is clearly some female love interest or a sister who died when he was young and drove him to a path of edginess and badassery.

Zin leaves in an airship. he has the decency to leave his quartz with us, though

Photographer girl shows up with a photo of a military facility she took for funzies, and the characters all notice there is an airship flying over it. They make it sounds like it's super hard to see, which is not at all. Those people need to play some Phoenix Wright some time.

the ship is from the bad guys, which means I'm back to suspecting Colonel Richard.

we arrive at Leiston Fortress, where no one is guarding the door. Because the plot wants us to go in, I suppose. Convenient.

the guy in charge is a dude named Major Cid, who is a kind of serious, no fun allowed dude. I trust him more than Colonel Richard.

the door to the fortress doesn't work, which suggests the McGuffin is there. Shenanigans are afoot!

we are invading the country's most tight military base, by sneaking into cargo of an airship and using a device that blocks the military's bioscanners, which the professor has just conveniently happened to invent.

also Agate returns to the party, replacing Zin.

I dunno about SC, but in FC the rule seems to be if a character leaves for a long period, they drop everything, if they only leave for a dungeon or two, they keep they stuff.

Though Olivier in chapter 1 did drop everything even though he wasn't out for long. But Tita and Agate in chapter 3 don't seem to behave like that.

for a moment of horror I look at my number of silver sepith and see a 999. Is it a hard limit? but then after the next battle it goes above 1000. false alarm

Agate has two s-crafts. one single target and one AoE. Very nice

we are ready to go rescue the prof. here's the line up

Estelle: Evade 2 - HP 2/Mind 2/ EP Cut 2 - Action 2/Impede 2 Nothing new here.

Josh: Action 2 - EP 2/Attack 2/Deathblow 1/Eagle Eye - HP 2. Not much different from before. A little worse, in fact, because Scent is harder to pull off without Tita carrying Haze too, so no Clock Up Ex. I could optimize more, but not without making Agate a donkey for Haze and EE, and I feel bad for him. Though I do get Chaos Brand on both characters. And Deathblow is neat.

Agate: Attack 2 - Evade 2/EP Cut 2 - Hit 3 - Action 2/Seal. Agate's orbment is ass, so besides a decent fire AoE, everything exists to make him better at wacking things with a sword. Evade 2 makes him a little less squishy.

Agate is the stereotypical anime tough guy, but you can't say it's badly done. I love watching him yell in rage as he raises his own CP then makes unrealistic sword attacks

the above setup gets radically changed as soon as I find Mind 3 in a chest and I'm not going to bother posting again

I finish off the bad guys on top of the tower. they are very tough, arguably as tough as their protags, but they lack that tactical oomph that would make them non-npcs. Also s-crafts. Those are kind of a big deal.

We almost rescue the prof but Tita shows up out of nowhere and spoils a perfect plan from Agate by trying to shoot down the bag guys' ship, and gets him to take a bullet for her a bonus. Oh, he's gonna be so mad

He slaps her in the face. The man just slapped Tita in the face. The prosecution recommends the death penalty.

He's right tho. The problem isn't Tita trying to help. It's her forcing Agate to stop what he's doing to save her. She went up being a liability instead of an asset.

he ends up giving her a motivational speech. Agate best tsundere.

And now Agate is dying from poison that was in the bullet he took for Tita. That girl is going to have PTSD

Fortunately the last party member, Mr. Huge Monk Dude, is here, and he'll help carry Agate to the city

The doctor doesn't know how to cure the poison. So we are going to the church. That's where the real science is.

also thank you, Quartz FAQ, but telling me when to unequip those rare quartz from Agate so he doesn't make them inacessible by being in a coma

Tbf the anime genre is huge and has a large number of subgenres with very distinct audiences, so I don't think it is practical to try to appease to all of them at once. You'd end up with a contest where people just vote for the one entry they know and skip the rest.

For example, I don't think most anime fans care about mecha or magical girl genres.

Donkey Kong 64.

We have this thing called expansion pack that increases the available memory so let's break the guiness record for most collectables in a single game. We don't have that many ideas though, so let's just design levels that look more like theme parks than actual worlds and repeat each minigame 7 times.

The fact that guiness record stays unbroken almost 30 years later suggests it wasn't a great idea.

while Tita fixes a water pump, Josh and Estelle leave the village to go rescue yet another helpless npc who decided to commit suicide by walking in monster infested place

at least this game is realistic in the sense that it makes clear anyone without superpowers should never leave npc towns (and that in such a world, you'd need said powerful people to escort travellers). But the irony is that those people keep doing anyway

and ofc the girl in question is Ms. Plucky Photographer

Josh and Estelle kill one of the monsters in the cutscene which is lame because I'm not getting and exp or sepith from it

nvm, the actual battle had an extra 2, to a total of 6. Where is Tita when you need her.

Estelle nearly kills the girl after saving her. Final villain material right here

Tita: "Estelle, I have something I want to ask you. Are you and Joshua married?"

Estelle.EXE has crashed and will restart.

this ship is good stuff. Most videogames shy away from doing real romance with playable characters, maybe because they know romance is hard to do well. At most, they just tease and tease and tease. Here there is tease, but it's the kind of tease that is clearly leading to a conclusion, in-story.

I recently read a review for the TV show Andor, praising it for how much it does the hard, dirty, character work. How it builds and builds for a long time before delivering its pay-offs. This game is exactly that. Barely nothing has happened so far, but we are building. The romance, and all other character things. Not many people have patience for this kind of story, but I think the secret is to make the building itself entertaining. And with characters like Estelle, it certainly is.

it also leads to a scene where Joshua accidentally sees Estelle in a hot spring, because the Japanese. Can't. Help. Themselves.

old lady is sharp: "why are you so mad? this unisex poll is made for family members to relax together". I see what you did there.

Estelle and Josh adopt Tita as their sister. This is cute.

the hot spring gives everyone max CP. ok, where do I find a shining pom

The lab OBVIOUSLY got attacked while we were in the hot springs. That's such a basic plot

and Agate is here again, to get mad that the protagonists got there before he did. lol get fucked

and the prof was kidnapped. ofc

military woman asks the bracers to stop investigating and Agate shuts her down mid sentence. Imagine asking Agate not do something

The irony is that the last time someone did that in-game, it was Agate, asking the protags not to investigate the orphanage fire

they kick Tita out of the party because things have gotten dangerous. Well excuse me, weren't they before?

Agate: "TODAY, people". lol. Agate is half the time an asshat and half the time the guy who says exactly what the audience is thinking

So much for having 4 party members, though.

I mean it's not like I choose who to use, I just gotta make the most of who I have.