Lurker > ZeldaTPLink

I think I'm being kind of hyperbolic, but my point is Estelle rises above the usual MC because how well she merges with the plot. So I imagine this is difficult to repeat.

But there are other ways to make a great cast. The "group dynamic" pyre mentioned is also another thing I enjoy, for example.

#1 Estelle

I'm not a writer. I'm not a specialist in writing, either. So don't take this seriously. But I'm someone who consumes a lot of fiction, so I have some opinions. If you ever asked me what are the most important things a writer needs to pay attention to, one of the things I would reply was this:

Nail the protagonist.

The protagonist is the person the audience will see the most, so they will inevitably set the tone of the story. The protagonist's actions will be the plot of the story. Their relationships, the dialogue of the story. Their personality, the comedy and the drama of the story. Therefore, for a story to be great, it needs the protagonist to be great. A bad protagonist with great supporting characters can give a good story, but they will hardly reach the same highs of a story whose protagonist serves it perfectly. Write a perfect protagonist and the world around them will write itself. I think. Again, I'm not a writer.

Trails in the Sky is an optimistic game. It's a game about a kingdom that wants to believe in a happy ending, about an organization (the Bracers) who want to protect the innocent. It has evil factions full of despicable people, but no matter what they do, they can't break the good guys' spirits. It has realistic geopolitics, but it believes in peace. It's a game that believes people can be redeemed for their actions, and that nihilism will be defeated by hope and love. At the core of all that, there is Estelle, who embodies those philosophies. Estelle is the sun that shines over the entire cast, keeps them hoping when there is no hope, shows them the path to redemption, shows them their own good parts when they themselves don't believe in those anymore. She even dismantles Weissmann's philosophy like it's made of wet paper. Of course her surname is Bright. She just shines.

The plot of SC is about redeeming Josh, and Estelle pulls that off with absolute mastery. The scene at the beach is perfect, not just because of the dialogue, but the build up to it. Estelle spent a lot of time doubting herself, but her love, her empathy, her own personal experiences with Josh, led to her understanding what he was feeling, and to be able to say what had to be said to get through him. Later on, she also got through Renne, although not as completely as Josh, but Renne was just a much bigger mountain to climb (and the job is still not over). And her optimism is so contagious she even inspired Josh to do the same thing with Loewe.

She also sets the tone of the story on a micro level. Because while Olivier is making (great) dirty jokes, Estelle is making the bulk of the story and the comedy, making chit chat with the people of Rolent, commeting on the places she visits, getting involved with every quest, making jokes about the silly things she sees. Like I said in the Kloe write-up, this game is all about it's slow, dilligent worldbuilding, and Estelle is the hard worker behind that.

And her arc is just great. Because while he is a shining sun from the start, she initially likes the maturity and the emotional intelligence to really affect the world around her. She is silly and childish, a classic shonen protagonist. It takes the journey, the pains she experiences and the positive influence of other people (mostly Josh), to show her what it really means to be a hero, and a person who improves the lives of others around her. She already wanted to, but she lacked the knowhow, and the restraint to know when it's a bad idea to interfere directly.

But in the meanwhile, we also get one of the funniest characters in this game, someone who consistently makes good quotes, who snarks at others, threatens to hit perverts with her staff, or just says childish things on good comedic timing.

Estelle is so good I fear for the future of this series because I don't know if it's even possible to repeat a character that good in the same series (though hey, we are off to a good start with Kevin). The next few arcs will happen at darker and more morally ambiguous places, including a separatist region and the setting's evil empire, so I imagine they will get edgier protagonists. Can this series work that tone out, too? We will see.

God Tier

1- Estelle
2- Olivier

Very High Tier

3- Renne
4- Agate
5- Joshua
6- Weissmann

High Tier

7- Kloe
8- Kevin
9- Nial
10- Tita
11- Zin
12- Anelace
13- Scherazard

Mid Tier

14- Dorothy
15- Dunan
16- Gilbert
17- Richard
18- Mogran
19- Cassius
20- Campanella
21- Kilika
22- Loewe
23- Amalthea
24- Maybelle

Low Tier

25- Bleublanc
26- Walter
27- Don
28- Luciola
29- Hans
30- Julia
31- Sieg
32- Cid
33- Mueller
34- Kurt

Bottom Tier

35- Kyle
36- Josette
37- Aina
38- Queen Alicia
39- Russel
40- Jill
41- Anton
42- Clem
43- Ricky

Thanks for reading. See you in Trails in the Sky 3rd.

Let's finish this.

#2 Olivier

Olivier is the funniest character in this game by a mile, and the rest of the cast can't even hope to compete.

This alone warrants a top 5 with no other explanation. I like comedy. Olivier is great comedy. I'm satisfied. Honestly, refer to the dozens of times I mentioned a joke by him in this two-game playthrough if you want to know my favorite jokes, because I have lost track. He is a pervert but in a way that just works, he is a bard (I love bards), he is annoying, he makes everyone else his Straight Men, whether they like it nor not.

But Olivier is also way more than meets the eye. And whenever the story needs it, he steps up and becomes a key party member, being good at reading people and saying the right things. He is Kevin, but without Kevin's sense of shame from being a priest. His diplomacy sequence with Kloe is the crowning achievement of that, when he plays two entire countries at the same time, just by saying the right things.

Olivier's character is difficult to analyse, though. When I was playing, I decided I would put him above Estelle if the game gave him a good character arc. The game cheated, though. Because Olivier is that rare example of a character whose arc was already finished before he entered the story. He already had his story with his family members and the chancellor, with whatever events made him decide something had to change. His struggles, his decision to take down his arch-nemesis, and probably the initial phases of his plan, it's all past events. Olivier is a protagonist of a previous story. Now, that character archetype is not necessarily bad. I know one amazing example in Durkon, from Order of the Stick. But Durkon works because there is an extended flashback sequence later in the story that shows what him made the man that he is. I still don't know what made Olivier who he is. I hope we learn it in future games. If we do, and it's truly great, he could end up above Estelle, because Estelle has a 10/10 character arc already shown on-screen. To be fair, it's still early in the series, and there is an entire Erebonia arc coming, so I'm hopeful this isn't the last we get of Olivier. Heck, we could get more in Sky 3rd.

One another note, I still don't get why he went to Liberl. Because while he ended up making a big political move in the end, that was a consequence of Orobouros's actions, which (I don't think) he could possibly predict. We know he went there to meet Cassius, but is it just that? Did Cassius promise to help him with his personal goals? Because I have a feeling he went there just hoping to form relationships with Liberians, thinking that one day, he will need a big alliance to take down his enemy. So rather than just going straight to an authority to ask for help when he needs it, he's playing the long game and making some real friends he can count on.

And during that time, he also got to be himself. The bard. Because I think the Olivier we saw for most of the game is really who he is, when he is not having to be a politician. Although the politician is also who he is, whether he likes it or not. But the bard is his true, childish, innocent self, the one he probably wants to become full time when all of this is done. So in the end, Olivier just went and had a good time. And so did I.

#4 Agate

If Loewe is the edgy anti-villain, Agate is the edgy hot-headed shonen hero. No wonder the two become rivals so easily.

At first, Agate is just a tsundere. He doesn't have time for those naive newbies, he is a serious man with serious worries. Because the plot goes after Estelle/Josh and not him, he is forced to work with them, but resists it at every step. He is the less lenient mentor, compared to Schera and Zin. That makes him annoying, but I think the game managed to make it work, because often Agate was right about the risks, and he gave Josh proper respect for his smartness when the later showed it. Hot-headed heroes tend to be stupid, but Agate is very smart, and that works in his favor.

The game proceeds to use Tita to mellow him out, and after the initial scene where Tita asks stupid and Agate tells him off, he gets poisoned, and she becomes his little sister. Unfortunately, he doesn't get much mandatory screentime again.

In SC, Agate is more willing to recognize Estelle, now that she is a senior. That lets him fall into a more balanced position, where he is still the voice of reason, but the dynamic is more balanced, and now characters take turns at dunking him out for being too serious. So Agate is just fun to have around. He is pretty fun in battle too, screaming in anger before dealing devastating blows to enemies. There is something about the skinny but macho dude with a sword the size of a door that just works.

His character really achieves greatness at the dragon chapter, though. That's when we learn he has always been broken. He made efforts to fix himself, and find a direction, but he never quite got there. The fear of losing people again and the shame for the disaster he wasn't able to prevent are too great. But new bonds form, Tita becomes his little sister, and Agate eventually heals.

Agate is pretty straightforward for a character. He works because he is just written well, being rather likable from the start and then just getting organic development until he becomes a well rounded character. I couldn't ask for more, really.

#3 Renne

Renne is one of the most raw things in this game. And I love what they did with her.

Chapter 3 is one of the best in this game, and it's not just because of the reveal with Renne at the end, but because she engineers the entire thing. From the letters, to the tank, to her own disappearance, it's all part of her Tea Party, which we discover was made just for fun, to add a little flavor to an otherwise boring gospel test. Renne is nothing but intense.

She is also a little girl, in every sense of the way. Like I said before, it's easy to design a kid character and tell the audience they are a genius to justify them acting like an adult. Renne does not act like an adult, ever. She is a genius alright, but her emotional growth is stunted, and she has been twisted into enjoying murder and bloodshed as if they are child's play. Even her theme of dolls and puppets alludes to the way she sees the world, a playground. Her only parental figure is a mecha, and everyone else are things she can break. The end result is one of the scarier characters in the game, like a horror movie villain. Her declarations of how she will gut the party members, her s-craft at the start of the battle (with the little girl voice saying "Ready or not, here I come!"), her emotional swings, it's all off-putting. Renne competes with Weissmann for the scariest villain in this game, because while Wiessmann tries hard to make a great presentation, Renne achieves it just by being who she is.

The character arc is not complete, of course. We just saw the beginning of what will be Renne's conflict phase, to be seen in the next few games. But damn, just what I saw already puts her at 3rd place. Can she beat the top two? Maybe, maybe not.

God Tier

1-
2-

Very High Tier

3- Renne
4- Agate
5- Joshua
6- Weissmann

High Tier

7- Kloe
8- Kevin
9- Nial
10- Tita
11- Zin
12- Anelace
13- Scherazard

Mid Tier

14- Dorothy
15- Dunan
16- Gilbert
17- Richard
18- Mogran
19- Cassius
20- Campanella
21- Kilika
22- Loewe
23- Amalthea
24- Maybelle

Low Tier

25- Bleublanc
26- Walter
27- Don
28- Luciola
29- Hans
30- Julia
31- Sieg
32- Cid
33- Mueller
34- Kurt

Bottom Tier

35- Kyle
36- Josette
37- Aina
38- Queen Alicia
39- Russel
40- Jill
41- Anton
42- Clem
43- Ricky

Unranked:

Estelle
Olivier

#6 Weissmann

I have already posted this gif, but it sums it up so perfectly I'll post it again.

https://media.tenor.com/MN5_Om7EuQ0AAAAC/megamind-presentation.gif

Weissmann is all about the impression.

The entrance this guy makes at the end of FC is all the reason you need to go to the Steam shop and immediately buy SC. No, it's not Josh and his fake kiss (albeit that was great too). It's Professor Alba and his mix of surprise, style and over the top sadism.

From there on, he hangs over the narrative like a dark cloud, and Weissmann feels very aware of it, because he just keeps playing with the heroes for the entire game. From his decision to "break" Estelle to recruit her, to the scene with the Joshbots and the surprise sleeping gas, to his introduction to Estelle while playing a fricking organ. Then him activating the towers, then sending the Enforcers to destroy Grancel just because the heroes had the nerve to repair some telephones. The his little "come get me" message at the entrance of the Axis Pilllar, and finally, the whole ending sequence. Weissman isn't just a great villain, he is enjoying every second of his own villainess.

He wouldn't be a great villain just for being flashy, though. He has another important aspect: being a fucking monster. He just enjoys ruining people's lives, to the point his stated goals don't get pass a second of scrutiny. He is a master manipulator, and an expert hypnotizer. Even if he doesn't appear as a villain for most of FC, his presence is felt all over the game, as every villain has a chilling moment after defeat where they reveal they didn't know what they were doing. In the end, he is only outsmarted because he can't help but torture Josh and Estelle one more time, just for the pleasure of it.

His flaw might as well be his strength. He is too evil for his own good, so Loewe ends up defecting, the other enforcers don't really go the extra mile for him, and the heroes kick his ass. I'm a little disappointed that he was able to fuse with a sept-terrion and still lose in a direct contest of strength though (although Loewe helped with a magic sword). I feel like, after having the upper hand for an entire game, he would take a greater deal of outsmarting to be defeated in the end. But chances are the one pulling many of the strings was never him. It were the Grandmaster and The Fool, while the Faceless was enjoying the benefits of that.

#5 Joshua

If Estelle is the heart of Sky, Joshua is the game's story. Things don't actually happen without him. His leave at the end of FC motivates most of SC.

Josh is a tricky character to assess, because the game, and Josh himself, are usually hiding what he is about. For most of FC, he is something between Estelle's fellow newbie, and another mentor, having a lot of experience himself. That dynamic is pretty good, because while Josh is much smarter and more prudent than her, he really believes in her, so he will usually help her follow through her ideas and hopes, unless it is just suicidal. It gives the duo a healthy dynamic, where they become more than the sum of their parts. Josh and Estelle were perfect for each other from the first scene, she just took a while to realize that.

But the reality comes to call, and Josh decides he can't risk what he loves most, and he must destroy his enemies by himself. The sequence that comes next is pretty fun, with Josh becoming the classic edgy anime anti-hero. It all comes crashing as soon as Estelle comes, though, because she reads him like a book, and we learn Josh was, in fact, just scared, of losing Estelle, but also of himself and what he had become. Josh would show another moment of vulnerability when he convinces Loewe to defect, and we learn he has been bottling a feeling of wanting to have his big bro again for a long time. So it's especially sad when Loewe dies and for a moment, Josh wants to die with him too.

Afterwards, Josh just doubles down on trusting Estelle. Let's redeem Renne? He's all in. Defeat the enforcers? Sure. Beat Loewe? if Estelle believes in me, so do I. The world is saved and now Estelle wants to stay with me while I go on my personal quest? I wouldn't have it any other way. Find someone who admires you the way Josh admires Estelle, and never let go of them.

Joshua makes it hard to see what makes him tick. But Estelle makes that happen, and what we get is a really solid, cool, and fascinating character. He is not my favorite character, but he is absolutely pivotal to making this one of my favorite JRPGs.

#9 Nial

Nial is the least important character in this part of the rankings. That's just a testament to how good he is.

In the middle of FCs massive political conspiracy, the protagonists, finding themselves unsupported by the kingdom and the military, who are under attack by the Intel Division, manage to find help among the press. The dynamic between Estelle/Josh and Nial is just really good. They tell him about their adventures each chapter, so he can write the next Liberl News, and in turns, he reveals the plot hooks they need to slowly crack the bad guys' plans. it works all the way from chapter 1 to the coup at the end of the game. The point is that, whenever Nial is around, you can expect interesting reveals, and good plot developments. The press is another institution that the writers of this game wanted to show in a good light, and he and Dorothy represent that.

Nial himself is also a pretty likable dude. He is snarky, but not too much that he is hard to deal with. Estelle and Josh earn his repsect in the prologue, and from then on, he always has time to sit with them at a bar and trade info, often negotiating for it.

He does take a hit in SC though, because the conflict changes from a political conspiracy to a mkre JRPG-like one, with an evil organization bound to dig some mcguffins. So Nial is now less of a partner in crime, and more of a guest in the Arseille so he can help make the crown look good.

Honestly, Nial is here much more for his role than for his person, but he is an integral part of the tightly written plot that is Trails.

#8 Kevin

I was originally going to say Kevin would be the most unfairly ranked character in this list due to me not having played the game he is the protagonist of. But he got to #8! Man, Kevin is just great! Like, Anelace, this is another character who could be hanging out with the big guys by the time I finish the trilogy.

Kevin is a very supporting character, by nature. You could say he is the quintessential RPG cleric. Even in battle, he is the least offensive character in the group, while having the best support s-craft and a few other strong support crafts. Because he wasn't in FC, Kevin feels like a guest for most of SC, popping in and out fo help move things around. And at the end of SC, he takes the spotlight, helping Josh achieve his great victory over Weissmann, and ultimately killing Weissmann himself. That scene shot Kevin up a few positions, because he is just so badass in it. He has been hiding what he can really do all game, and suddenly, he is some ruthless inquisitor. At the same time, there are hints of him hating himself for being like that, which I'm hyped to see the developmnent of next game.

Kevin also strikes a good balance between a clown and a mature guy. While he tries to be a mild Olivier, his wisdom score is just through the roof (again, cleric). He has a very strong introduction at the start of the game, where he accompanies Estelle as she is having a mental breakdown. And then, for the rest of the game, he is that dependable guy who shows up whenever things are going to shit, being particularly pivotal in chapter 3. And he always seems to have access to artifacts and knowledge necessary to counter Orobouros tools. Otherwise, he can be found in the infirmary, keeping things ready in case someone gets hurt. Kevin doesn't want to be a protagonist, in fact, it's possible he hates it, but he is so great he ends up bing the ace in the hole the good guys need to defeat Weissmann.

#7 Kloe

I think FC may be my favorite of the two games. While SC is a masterpiece, I'm very awed at the insanely subsersive thing the first game set out to do, and how well it executed it. What I mean is how it does not really try to have a big, epic, JRPG story about saving the world, instead being just a story of two kids who travel around the world learning what it means to be a bracer. But because we are not looking at the plot yet, we get to build the world, and the characters. And make the foundations that will make the pay offs worth it.

Kloe plays an integral role in that. Her main chapter in FC is sandwiched between the sky bandit red herring, and the real plot with the Intel Div that starts in Zeiss. She is the girl who shows you around the city, and hangs out with the main characters because she just likes them. She helps them get acquainted with the orphanage kids, and eventually takes them to the school where they can make a play. I am particularly awed at how much I enjoyed that sequence involving the play, considering how much it is absolute filler to the main story. It's just... fun to watch. Kloe herself is not revealed to be a princess yet, which can be a metaphor to how, at this point of the story, we just need good friends, not princesses. Her friendship with Estelle and Josh is one of the most real things in this series. So when it's time to save Kloe and her kingdom, it feels personal. It feels like it matters. Like they say, it's "our Kloe" that we are saving.

And it all works because Kloe herself is just so likable. Kloe is just a good person, someone who is easy to like. That's all there is to it.

She is another character who takes a big hit in SC, though, probably why she is not in the tier above. When it's time to focus on main plots, Kloe is given a personal sidequest that, while good on paper, is solved completely offscreen. She vanishes for one chapter, then returns and announces she is now heir to the queen. And the payoff to that, the negotiation scene, isn't as good for her as it could have been, because it's Olivier who is the MVP of the whole thing. Kloe really needed to have her big moment of decision shown, just like Dunan needed to have his character development, which happened at the same time and was also cut. I wonder if those scenes were originally going to be in the game, and they didn't make to the final product.

God Tier

1-
2-

Very High Tier

3-
4-
5-
6-

High Tier

7- Kloe
8- kevin
9- Nial
10- Tita
11- Zin
12- Anelace
13- Scherazard

Mid Tier

14- Dorothy
15- Dunan
16- Gilbert
17- Richard
18- Mogran
19- Cassius
20- Campanella
21- Kilika
22- Loewe
23- Amalthea
24- Maybelle

Low Tier

25- Bleublanc
26- Walter
27- Don
28- Luciola
29- Hans
30- Julia
31- Sieg
32- Cid
33- Mueller
34- Kurt

Bottom Tier

35- Kyle
36- Josette
37- Aina
38- Queen Alicia
39- Russel
40- Jill
41- Anton
42- Clem
43- Ricky

Unranked:

Agate
Estelle
Joshua
Olivier
Renne
Weissmann

#12 Anelace

"I AM INVINCIBLE! ... Or am I?"

I don't know why that quote is so awesome but it just is. I think it's because while all the other characters are being at least a little serious in their victory poses, Anelace just doesn't care. She is pretty much a joke character, someone who got added to the playable roster because the players liked her in FC and wanted more of her.

But something about her just works. I feel like she is Estelle without the baggage. She is a bit more sassy, a bit more mature, but also a bit sillier. And because she doesn't have the Josh drama, she can be silly all the time, and that helps Estelle be less gloomy in what was going to be a very gloomy prologue. Anelace was the right party member at the right time.

She is also great in the school sidequest. I mean, the whole thing is pretty much Estelle and Anelace taking turns to taunt all the mooks you face at the start of each battle, but I'm so in for that. Honestly if they made a full game with just the two girls as protagonists, I'd pay full AAA price for it. Make it a buddy cop story or something.

Anelace isn't higher because I thought it felt unfair to rank all the 3-dimensional characters in this list lower than what is well, a gag character. But if 3rd gives her more development, the sky is the limit for Anelace. She is invincible, after all. Or is she?

#11 Zin

Zin is hard to rank because often he feels like the most side-character-y member of main playable roster. He is an outsider, who pretty much came to Liberl on Cassius's request (and before, was apparently around because of the tournament), so he is a helper by definition (the same could be said about Olivier, but that one forces himself into the spotlight). His personality fits with that, he is the very chill guy who lets the other characters do as they please, often being even more passive than Schera in his mentoring style. But that kind of behavior paid off, because when we learn Zin has been doing it on purpose all around, secretely supporting the kids, it makes him feel pretty cool.

Zin gets more of a character in SC, with his rivarly with Walter. That one was better written than the Schera/Luciola one, imo, and also much more fun to watch, because it was an actual fighting rivarly! I mean, it's an incredibly cliche kung fu story, but cliches are fine if they are executed well. Zin's role here is the devoted disciple, the one who never stopped believing in his master's teachings even after seeing the master himself killed by the disciple who abandoned them. He kept training, and training, every day, to the point he managed to get stronger than Walter, even though, by his own words, he was less talented. Zin's extreme dillegence also made him an A-rank bracer, and the only of that rank in the story so far, other than Cassius who is S-rank. Zin is canonically the strongest guy around, even if gameplay wise, he has to be nerfed so he can be similar to the others. That was a fun aspect of him.

Overall, Zin is not a guy you remember much, but he is just nice to have around, when he is giving Estelle words of wisdom or when he is just training his stances in some room in the Arseille, because he believes you should never stop practicing the basics. Zin is the kind of guy anyone who wants to become a master at a craft should mirror themselves after, honestly.

#10 Tita

At some point before I started writing this list, it was going to only have the 14 playable characters, so I was going to have a disclaimer making it clear that gameplay did not count in this list's criteria. Because if it did, Tita would be fighting for #1. She is really that fun to play with, seriously. The fact they made a character in an RPG whose basic attack is AoE is nothing short of awesome.

But I'm judging the character, not her combat skills (though I include in the criteria whether their attacks and battle quotes look cool, and Tita also aces that). Tita's issue is that she is exactly what she is advertized as: a 12 year old girl. It's temping for stories to write little kids that behave as anything but, and then explain that away as them being geniuses and stuff. Not Tita. While she is a genius at her craft (and the story is not shy of using that as a plot device over and over), personality wise, she is really just a kid. She is naive, she doesn't have any huge psychological issues (I mean, she is just now hitting puberty), she doesn't really participate in the other characters' sarcastic banter. She is most of the time just smiling and being cute. Now I'm not saying that is bad writing, as it makes sense. And it provides great contrast with Renne, who goes into the opposite direction. But that makes Tita kind of boring, most of the time.

She was going to be much lower for a while. But there was a saving grace, the chapter with the dragon. While that didn't develop Tita's character, it gave her a role in developing Agate's, which she executed perfectly. Chapter 5 is one of the best in the game, and Tita does a lot of the work in that. She is absolutely great at supporting Agate, helping him understand that he is not alone anymore, and being his little sister. And the scene where she tries to block a sword blow from fucking Loewe to protect Agate is nothing short of amazing.

Tita's strangth in supporting other arcs also extends to Estelle, particularly FC. She is a key piece of the building blocks of Estelle and Josh's characters that happen in that game, by giving Estelle a little sister she must feel responsible for. Now that I think about it, on big theme of this game is family. Estelle, Josh, Tita, Agate and Schera are all family to each other, even if none of them are related by blood. And all of that just helps make Trails the good story it is, because it does the hard work to make characters feel like people, and to make the world feel like a world. Tita was not the complex character that really make the meat of a story, but she is the little kid that makes the world feel worth protecting.

#15 Dunan

For the Duke, the same can be said as it was said for the previous guy: HE SUCKS! But there is some extra care given to Dunan's shittiness. Gilbert is used for the plot twist, and then later his terribleness is just driven to the extreme, with no middle ground. Dunan starts terrible, but his terribless is built, fostered, kindled, to obtain the maximum hate from the player, as well as maxmum humor.

His first act in the game is to deprive Estelle and Josh of their big hotel room. It gets personal right away. He then has that sidequest where Estelle is recruited to her... methods... to prevent him from making the guests at Air Letten uncomfortable. It's a a great scene. He then gets sucked into the madness that is the final chapter of FC, as a politcal pawn meant to be used by Richard to rule the country. It's genius. Meanwhile, Dunan gets worse and worse, as sexism gets added to his elitism.

But somewhere along the line, you get used to him, and the monster becomes a clown, particularly after he is deprived of his power in SC and placed on house arrest. He is now making his butler get cookies and comics for him. The demon! And then, finally, he gets some offsceen character development, and becomes a honorable man. I don't know how that happened and I wish I had seen it, but after two games with this idiot, it feels well earned.

Dunan is such a great part of the lore. He is a love to hate character and I loved to hate having him around. So the position in the top 15 is well earned.

#14 Dorothy

One of the two members of the news duo, her job is similar to Lotta Hart in the PW series: produce those magical photos that gets things moving. Dorothy is a genius photographer, and fact balanced by how she is a massive klutz at everything else. It's always a delight seeing how much fun she is having photographing things, and it's always a good time to have to bail her from things she obviously shouldn't be getting near.

Dorothy is not the most three-dimensional character, but honestly, can you not like her? I surely can't.

#13 Scherazard

It's time to rank the 9 protagonists of the duology, as well as the 4 people who are so great they get to hang out with the protagonists.

Schera is the first to fall. My view of her is complicated. I've gone on a rant before about how I think the alcoholism jokes are just toxic. And the other aspect of Schera is her sadism gags, which aren't my cup of tea either. So in terms of humor, Schera just fails, which is a problem since almost every character in a game like this is trying to hit a comedy point, Schera included.

Next is the character development, which is more complicated. Schera's role is to be a big sister, the mature one. At the same time, when she meets Luciola, she descends into a child, who feels weak and emotionally dependent. It's an interesting inversion, but I feel like we could have developed that relationship a bit harder, maybe with some flashbacks. It doesn't help that Luciola herself is inescrutable as she is.

Now, the good sister role? There's where Schera really shines. I was particularly endeared at her chapter 4 scenes with Estelle. Schera is perfectly comfortable being the emotional support to Estelle. And really, Schera is the unspoken hero behind Joshua's redemption. Because while Estelle did the work with Josh, Schera was the one who prep'd Estelle for it, keeping her together as she was faced doubts and traumas.

Schera is also pretty good in FC. She is the balanced mentor. Unlike Agate who just cockblocks the kids over and over, Schera gives them agency, letting them figure out what it means to be a bracer by themselves, but constantly giving advice and helping conduct the investigation to find the missing airship. Schera is the perfect supporting character, she just isn't that good when she has to take the lead, or provide comedy.

I haven't been showing it, but so far I have been using tiers to make it easier to rank the characters.

The bottom tier is probably Kyle and everything below him. From Kurt to Bleublanc is the low tier. Mid tier is up to the 14th place. So we have 2 characters left to rank from it.

Then there is the high tier, which is 13th to 7th. The very high tier is 6th to 3rd. Finally, the top two characters are my god tier.

Good luck guessing.

#20 Campanella

This guy was originally going to be ranked much higher, but I had time to think about the names in the rest of this post and realize they all have reasons to be ranked higher. The Fool is awesome. He is one reason I want to play the rest of the series, because he is such a cool presence when he is around. He is also the most mysterious character in the series, so far. Why does he never grow? WHAT is he? What can he do, besides teleporting? Campanella is such a great set up I can't wait to see the pay off of.

But I need more content to rank him higher. Because right now, he's just that, a set up. A puzzle. Let me know when the puzzle is solved.

#19 Cassius Bright

One of the 4 top swordsmen of the world. One of the 4 top bracers of the world. The greatest military general. The crappiest father (jk).

Cassius is that guy. The character so amazing he becomes a hindrance to storytelling. 9 ouf of 10 times, this guy gets killed to hype the villain up, or just to give the hero a motivation to grow. Instead of that the writers went and did something genius: they deconstructed the concept, by having Cassius's perfection be the primary cause of conflict. Because once the genius retires, he creates a void, and that motivates Richard to make a coup. And at the same time, Cassius's continued presence in Liberl means Orobouros must have a contingency plan against him, and so Joshua's entire character comes into existance as part of a long term plan to bait Cassius out of Liberl when the time comes for Phase 1.of the Gospel Plan.

But Orobouros doesn't make the same effort again in SC, and that gives him some room, just a little, to strike back. Ironically, through Joshua, by having him manipulate Weissman into doing more evil, just like Weissman once had Joshua manipulate Cassius into doing good. I love how the start and end of the duology show opposite plots.

Now whole I'm amazed with the way the story uses Cassius, that makes Cassius himself less interesting, by design. He doesn't really do things. It's Estelle, Josh, Kloe, Olivier who do, he just nudges them in the right direction. He forces himself to be a background character, so the plot doesn't suffer, and because he has to let Liberl, the Bracer Guild, and his children walk with their own legs, or the world is doomed. But that means there just isn't much material to make Cassius more of a mid tier character in my book. Someone had to take the fall for the good of everyone, and Cassius surely did.

#18 Mogran

The drill sergeant. The guy who doesn't have time for this supernatural stuff. The competent but unimaginative general.

Mogran serves an important role in FC, which is a red herring to Richard. Unfortunately his portrayal was so negative compared to Richard's it ended up giving it away! But he is a good guy at heart, once he learns bracers are not some stupid thing kids these days invented. Then he becomes a support in the story, albeit minor because Cassius, Julia, and arguably even Cid get to do more.

In SC, he also gets the sequence with Agate, which really endeared him in my book. He is consumed by the grief of not being able to prevent the unpreventable. That is something Agate shares, and which consumes him even more. Mogran is just a solid character, really. We are entering the point where everyone else is just more solid.

#17 Richard

The main villain of FC tends to be forgotten once you enter SC and its flashy sociopath enforcers. But Richard was a big threat, even if Orobouros was helping. He got really close to taking down a country with pretty much just his brains, and a few loyal guys. He's also got that "affable villain" aura. Where he's never really mad, or gloating. He knows he is a demon, he is doing it for his cause, not for pleasure. It reminds me of a sentence of a webcomic I read (Unsounded), "Only a cause makes a good man do evil". Villains of that type can feel inconsistent, but when they are written well, they are amazing. Richard is great.

His cause is also rather original, as I have explained in the Cassius post. What do you do when a man like Cassius retires, and an empire like Erebonia is still bordering you? The existential threat must have driven him crazy. So Liberl has to prove they can do the impossible without the help of an impossible man, and Richard doesn't think he up for the challenge.

I'm hyped to see more of him in 3rd, now that we know he regrets everything.

#16 Gilbert

He sucks! Gilbert was just a mid villain in SC. He was pathetic but he served to show how cool the real villains were. Well, the writers decided to bring him back, and run the point to the ground. There is nothing to salvage here, he is a sociopath and idiot. Gilbert absolutelym sucks! His quotes, his moves, it all suck! And it's HILARIOUS! This guy is great comedy whenever he is around. The entire cast will line up to dunk on him because he can't even be a threat. His allies will dunk on him. Campanella will. He is so shit he forces Campanella to have a bit of a character just to torture him. That's how you solve the Campanella mystery, keep Gilbert around so the former shows more character.

Gilbert is excused from not having much character, because he is funny. That's all I have to say.

16- Gilbert
17- Richard
18 - Mogran
19 - Cassius
20 - Campanella
21- Kilika
22- Loewe
23- Amalthea
24- Maybelle
25- Bleublanc
26- Walter
27- Don
28- Luciola
29- Hans
30- Julia
31- Sieg
32- Cid
33- Mueller
34- Kurt
35- Kyle
36- Josette
37- Aina
38- Queen Alicia
39- Russel
40- Jill
41- Anton
42- Clem
43- Ricky

Unranked:

Agate
Anelace
Dorothy
Dunan
Estelle
Joshua
Kevin
Kloe
Nial
Olivier
Renne
Scherazard
Tita
Weissmann
Zin

pyresword posted...

Amalthea > any character with a portrait is spicy imo.

...is what I would have said but then I remembered Gilbert, who I see is also yet to appear on the list >.>

Do you people even know comedy.

Characters like that exist because they are funny as hell.

catesdb posted...

Amalthea > Maybelle is spicy imo

The problem with Maybelle is most of what makes her great was in my playthrough topic, not in the game itself. At the end of the day she is just another decent mayor, and the capitalism thing is just a meme.

#22 Loewe

This is one that could end up being controversial, because depending on what community you go to, Loewe is Top 3 material. He is the quintessential edgy anime badass. He has a sword, is called Bladelord, has white spiky hair, is strong as shit, has a badass coat, a tragic backstory that will have teenagers clamoring about how deep he is, etc. Look no further than Itachi from Naruto if you need a comparison, he's that guy.

I like the guy. I don't love the guy though, because I stopped caring about Naruto over a decade ago. Loewe is not that deep. His story boys down to "they killed my girlfriend, yo". Something similar happened to Agate, but his character went places. Josh lost the same person, and his character went even more places. Loewe decided to go full Edgelord, adopted a "peace turns humans into hypocrites" philosophy and joined the nearest maniac he could find, and even stuck with him after finding out he was responsible for Loewe's own tragedy. He then spends the actual game being by the most decent enforcer, occasionally trying to kill Agate (I mean, everyone has that urge from time to time), but otherwise praising Estelle and generally rooting for the good guys. Loewe seems like he is already done with Orobouros when the story starts and is just looking for an excuse to bail, honestly.

I enjoyed having Loewe around, and surely I enjoyed the two insanely difficult fights he gave, one per game. But I was unimpressed, honestly. Fortunately, Orobouros had a way better anti-villain story to give me. More on that later.

#21 Kilika

I'm going to copypaste the write-up because Kilika already wrote it for me 2 days ago, when she correctly predicted I would rank her # 21. Thanks, Kilika. She said she's just doing her job.

Kilika's efficiency is an in-universe meme, and it's a great one. All those clerks are doing a good job, but she's killing it. She is clearly overqualified for this position, perhaps because she was trained to be the wife of the Taito Dojo Master.

Kilika doesn't give a damn, though. It's hard to know if she is actually annoyed at people praising her, or if she is just so efficient she wants to get to business. And she has the cool sequence where she climbs a high level dungeon alone just to tell two boys that they need to grow the fuck up.

Her position in the boys' backtory is kind of weird though, because she feels like a side character in it. She never really becomes close to Zin and neither she and Walter get together again. She just quits and goes be a clerk in a guild. So she feels rather disconnected to the whole thing, despite being the primary reason for Walter's defection. I guess not everyone wants to, or needs, to be in the spotlight, and Kilika very much knows that.

21- Kilika
22- Loewe
23- Amalthea
24- Maybelle
25- Bleublanc
26- Walter
27- Don
28- Luciola
29- Hans
30- Julia
31- Sieg
32- Cid
33- Mueller
34- Kurt
35- Kyle
36- Josette
37- Aina
38- Queen Alicia
39- Russel
40- Jill
41- Anton
42- Clem
43- Ricky

Unranked:

Agate
Anelace
Campanella
Cassius
Dorothy
Dunan
Estelle
Gilbert
Joshua
Kevin
Kloe
Mogran
Nial
Olivier
Renne
Richard
Scherazard
Tita
Weissmann
Zin

#26 Walter

Before Renne sworn to butcher them all, Walter did the same, but we forgot because it's more schocking when it's said by the 12 year old. The Direwolf spares no one, they said. Weirdly, that aspect of his character went into the background, probably to keep the game PG. What we focused on instead was a very cliche kung fu movie story. Was it good? I think so.

Walter's motivation is clearer than Luciola, and so he is easier to empathize with. He is a tragic man, driven by jealously and love. It's highlighted that he was already on the path of evil for a while before his master rejected him, so he is not entirely without fault. But you can feel bad for him nonetheless.

Walter is also pretty damn cool. Orobouros is all great designs, and his s-craft is flashy like him. And whenever he is on, we get some sprite action, which I love. Walter is good times.

And I love how in the end, his downfall was that he mixed other styles instead of training his master's style like Zin did. It's a classic tradition vs modern, but it works well.

But don't emphatize with him that much. He is a jerkass who is probably not joking when he says he kills children.

#25 Bleublanc

Damn, this quest AGAIN?

Bleublanc is that sidequest, which you do 6 times total during two games. Which is pretty fun most of the time, but also aggravating. He's also the weirdest enforcer (except maybe Campanella but that doesn't count). His motivation that he reveals in Sky Pillar is bonkers. He's just goofing around hiding mundane objects most of the time instead of burning orphanages like the villains in this game do. He is a rival to friggin Olivier, though he doesn't quite mangage to out-clown Olivier (nobody can). Bleublanc is guaranteed fun times, if not because the game overdoes his presence a little.

He's also a weird little sex predator, though. I considered ranking him below Walter just for that, but then I remembered Walter kills people, and murder is worse than sexual abuse I suppose. So Blew gets to be 25.

#24 Maybelle

Capitalism, ho! Maybelle deserves to at least be in this list because of the sheer amount of memes she allowed me to write. She owns everything! She can buy anything, and anyone! But really, jokes aside, she is very much a decent person. Her sidequest involving Lila's past proves it, as it's one of the best sidequests in this duology. She is a hard worker, busting her ass to make her city a better place. She also seems to want a regime change in Liberl! If she ran for president, I might vote for her.

How weird is it that this game makes me like all sorts of institutions I usually hate, from capitalism, to military, to religion, and make it feel natural? And the next arc is about cops! That's one of the amazing things about Trails.

#23 Amalthea

Before Gilbert, there was someone who could be called the biggest tryhard in the cast: that was Amalthea, the most loyal member of the intelligence division, to the point they had to bring her former boss out of prison just to convince her to stop being dumb. You fight Amalthea three times in the series, because she just. Doesn't. Give up. And she is pathetic every single time, but she doesn't care. She steals a tank and decides she is going to conquer the kingdom with it, as if blasting walls and killing a few castle staff is going to bring a regime change. It's clear Richard was the brain of the opeartion here.

Amalthea is also fun because of how mean she looks in her portraits. As soon as the story is allowed to show the Intel Div as the villains they are, she is just smirking evily all the time. That's another contrast to Richard, who looks like a saint even as he plots a coup.

We are at that point of the list where most characters are swallow but are just plain likable or fun, and that's the case with Amalthea.

27- Don
28- Luciola
29- Hans
30- Julia
31- Sieg
32- Cid
33- Mueller
34- Kurt
35- Kyle
36- Josette
37- Aina
38- Queen Alicia
39- Russel
40- Jill
41- Anton
42- Clem
43- Ricky

Unranked:

Agate
Amalthea
Anelace
Bleublanc
Campanella
Cassius
Dorothy
Dunan
Estelle
Gilbert
Joshua
Kevin
Kilika
Kloe
Loewe
Maybelle
Mogran
Nial
Olivier
Renne
Richard
Scherazard
Tita
Walter
Weissmann
Zin

#30 Julia

She is a BADASS. That's the thing that defines Julia. Her squad gets taken down, her princess and queen arrested, all hope is lost, and she is disguising as a nun, sending messges through Sieg, plotting a one woman counter-coup. A freaking tank is attacking, and she's raising her sword against it, just like that. Julia is cool, man. And she is loyal. And she gives Cassius a mean 1v1 spar in a cutscene.

But mean, I don't actually care about her that much. I'm a broken record at this point, but it's another one dimensional character, no motivations beside the obvious stuff, etc. She exists because we need good, competent people in the military, and Cassius is too competent, Cid is not cool enough and Mogran is too morally complex to do that all the time.

I feel like I'm probably devlivering unfair rankings to some characters because Trails 3 will improve them. I mean, all Julia needs is one flashback or two showing what made her decide to be cool like that and she could get a lot more endearing. But alas, I'm not ranking people based on Trails 3 for now. Better luck next list, Julia.

#29 Hans

I've already explained Hans role in Jill's write-up. He serves to be Josh's friend during school, since girls are busy hanging out with one another. The friendship is not really shown with a lot of dialogue, but he's always there, hanging out. And when Josh leaves Hans is upset. I'm not sure how much of that is homo ship tease or if it's actual friendship, but the point is, Hans is a bro. He's a good ffiend, who went out of his way to help Josh feel welcome in an environment he's never gotten to experience before.

He's a pretty minor character, tbh. But I appreciate good friends like that.

#28 Luciola

The first Enforcer falls. Luciola is higher than her characterization would normally allow, compared to other characters in this list, because she is really cool, in a villanious way. Especially in chapter 4, where she has one of the best leads up to and introductions in the series. The woman has style, and there's a reason her enforcer introduction shot was the one I screencapped to post here. Her second fight is also pretty interesting, with her really using her illusions effectively, by switching places with the PCs.

But I find her hard to vibe with. I'm still not sure what the game was trying to tell me with her, it kind of kept going back and forth with her motivations. Is she a psychopath? Or just someone whose love wasn't corresponded? Did she really love the ringleader, or not? Why is she helping Orobouros now? Heck, even her suicide is ambiguous. I think Luciola is just meant to be hard to crack, and we'll have to live with that. But that makes me hard to really care that much.

#27 Don

Yes, there's one Sky Bandit I actually like. If Kyle is the Spock and Josette is the McCoy, Don is the Kirk. The balanced one, who really gets people and knows what to say, or when not to say anything. They are all trying to figure Josh out but Don already did. Which is interesting since he looks like the brute one of the team, not the mellow out people's person he is.

Truly a gentle giant. Which makes it tragic, in hindsight, when you remember what Weissmann's brainwashing turned him into, and makes me understand why his siblings were so upset. They have relied and trusted this guy for their entire lives, and suddenly he's some monster.

The names in this list are starting to get good, so I don't have much bad to say. He just doesn't have that much character and screentime, I guess. Those went to Josette, who then used them to insult Estelle 100 times.

#34 Kurt

"By my arts... I will make you restart the game on Normal!"

I saw this quote online once and thought it was hilarious. Kurt's claim to fame is being one of the most unfair bosses in the series in high difficulties.

Don't let the man fool you. He seems interesting because he hangs out with Grant, but he isn't much better. He is generic. I've already forgotten what playing him felt like, even, it was so short. He is the only character who is playable in Sky 2 but not Sky 3, probably because the devs realized no one cares.

Yet, there are so many little hints of a real character there. He likes to read a lot and hone his mind. His crafts are actually "arts" that don't use orbments, which he learned from some foreign cultures. He is canonically the #1 bracer in Liberl, after Cassius returns to the army! What's up with that? But alas, none of that gets developed much. Kurt is a prototype of a good character.

#33 Mueller

Wow I'm dunking on playable characters left and right. Ok, I think people actually care about this one, so give me a minute before you start throwing rocks.

Mueller is Olivier's straight man. That's good and all, but the problem is that he isn't actually around most of the time. The people who really get to be Olivier's straight men are the other playable characters (especially Estelle, who does it amazingly). Mueller shows up every other chapter, complains Olivier is being annoying, threatens to take him away, gets embarassed by one of Olivier's sexual advances, and leaves. Rinse and repeat for two games. It's a repetitive routine that doesn't evolve, particularly because he isn't actually THERE, to interact with Olivier as the story happens and Olivier gets to show his character depth. So Muller is a one note character.

Anything else? Well there is chapter 9, where he most follows Julia around, in a what feels like a very soft ship tease. There's some stuff with his uncle, which isn't being developed this game. There's the awesome fight with Josh, arguably the reason he is above Kurt, but is that even brought up again in the game? It never leads anywehre, and Mueller is just a one dimensional character, even if his dynamic with Olivier is funny enough to make me smile.

#32 Cid

The good military guy. The one who does the right thing even though he will likely face imprisonment or death for it. I'm a sucker for these types of characters. And I love how the game set him up to be one of Richard's goons, then revealed he was good all along.

But to be fair, that's more praise on the plot than the character. Cid is the military's answer to Grant. He is pretty generic, he doesn't have any special abilities, and once the coup plot ends, he fades into the background so hard he might as well be wallpaper. Why, between Cassius, Julia and Mogran, the story doesn't really need Cid. Good job Cid, you made a difference when your country needed you, but to climb up this list, you need more characterization.

#31 Sieg

We finally rank the bird so we can make fun of the people who got ranked below the bird. Such is the dynamic of character rankings, as a certain parrot has once shown.

Not a Falcon is a bird that breaks the laws of common sense, because it can understand human language and make humans underatand the bird language it speaks, with complex sentences. The game does that routine but also makes fun of itself, usually with Agate complaining it doesn't make sense. Well it doesn't, but it's funny.

Sieg is also a flying plot device. He a cell phone, since Liberl doesn't have them, he locates plot hooks ahead of the cast so they know where to go next, etc.

And he gets to be Kloe's weapon in her Chain Crafts, something I've always found hilarious. The bird is better at Melee than Kloe herself!

But he is still just a bird, and I can't keep from ranking him for too long before it gets ridiculous.

And I ended up misnaming Anton again when I actually ranked him, lol.

Ok just to make it clear. Guy who is in love with Aina, not last place. His friend, last place.

I just realized I was meaning to add Mayor Maybelle to the list but I forgot, so pretend all the numbers in the list above are one unity higher, ok?

35- Kyle
36- Josette
37- Aina
38- Queen Alicia
39- Russel
40- Jill
41- Anton
42- Clem
43- Ricky

Unranked:

Agate
Amalthea
Anelace
Bleublanc
Campanella
Cassius
Cid
Don
Dorothy
Dunan
Estelle
Gilbert
Hans
Joshua
Julia
Kevin
Kilika
Kloe
Kurt
Loewe
Luciola
Maybelle
Mogran
Mueller
Nial
Olivier
Renne
Richard
Scherazard
Sieg
Tita
Walter
Weissmann
Zin

#37 Alicia

Another extremely important character! She is the queen! And I wasn't even going to rank her originally, because she doesn't have any characterization either. She is Kloe, but old, and experienced. I'm sure she's had an entire life of self-development, but it's not her story we are watching here. She's at least above Russel because her conversation with Estelle and Josh is a little heartwarming, and I had less time to be annoyed about her one-dimensionality, compared to Russel, who was usually close by.

#36 Aina

Aina... kind of sucks. Her character outside of being a guild clerk is that she has superhuman drinking abilities (a.k.a. undiagnosed alcoholism). She is part of a not extremely funny sidequest involving some people I ranked at the bottom. So why did I even bother, you ask?

Because of that one little scene, after Josh returns, where she comments on how she's always felt like a mother to him, having given his first bracer notebook. That is small, but it's a good piece of worldbuilding. She has watched Estelle and Josh grow up from little kids to bracers! She has been there to listen to her woes and give advice all this time! So it was nice to see her showing how much she cares.

Now that I think about it, the guild clerks are one intriguing part of the setting. They aren't really bracers, right? But they are all extremely competent, and on top of everything. I wonder what it takes to become a guild clerk. Hey, I just changed subjects, which probably indicates this character isn't that great outside that one scene.

#35 Josette

I really, really wanted to like Josette. I didn't want to fall into the commonplace of "Josette sucks in battles, so let's rank her low, haha". She get so much screen time. She is a decent person. She enhances Josh's character arc by keeping him from descending too much into darkness while he is away from Estelle in SC.

But whenever I try to think of actual scenes involving Josette, all that appears in my mind is her completely assymetric rivarly with Estelle. She doesn't stand a chance, but that doesn't make her stop. Ever. So the two bicker and bicker and bicker and that's all it ever happens. It was funny in FC's prologue, but it stopped being funny afterwards. Actually, Josette was just much more interesting then, with her whole pretending to be a noble to steal a jewel. She could have been some kind of femme fatale. Is Josette the game's biggest case of flanderization? Maybe.

#34 Kyle

Man, The Sky Bandits really are more than the sum of their parts, huh. I love the bunch, but you look at them individually and there just isn't much. Kyle is the smart guy of the bunch. He is the who reads Josh and actually makes improvements to his plans. He is the guy who calls Josette out when she is being dumb. He is... what else? I don't know, but I'm not annoyed at him like I am at Josette, so he is ranked higher. Whatever.

#41 Clem

I get why the kid exists. It's a tried and tested trope. Unruly kid who has suffered in the past learns about love thanks to the protagonists. Actually now that I think about it, he's like a non-murderous Renne or something.

Unfortunately, while the writing isn't bad, this kid is still very annoying. When he isn't running away, he is yelling or crying, otherwise, he is just forgettable. Renne has a cool scythe. And another 20 reasons for being a great character this kid doesn't have.

#40 Ricky

Well he at least gives us funny scenes. Where he is an idiot. Also the scenes are part of that drinking quest I kind of hate already. Also I'm looking at my list and everyone else has a face portrait and non-skippable dialogue so I'm feeling unfair for not dropping this guy already. At least you beat the annoying kid.

#39 Jill

She is... okay? She gets things done and doesn't get in the way. I think her role is to be a support character for the female protagonists in school, kind of how Hams is for Josh, but Estelle and Kloe are already amazingly supportive of each other so they don't need Jill. All that is left for her is to tease romance and blink with one eye. Actually I ended up bumping her above Ricky, because she has done Aidios's work by forcing the main couple to get on with it, but that's all I gotta give to her.

#38 Russel

This is the lowest position a character this important is going to be at, but that's Russel's problem. The only thing he has going for him is that he is important. The Aureole is also important, and I'm not even ranking it. Russel is walking plot device. He exists to be kidnapped, or to deliver tech to the heroes whenever they start losing too much (but not fast enough for the bad guys to lose too soon, either). What are even his motivations, pains, dreams? I guess he wants to invent things, because he is a scientist. Wow, how elaborate.

Early game there was some semblance of a character in his introduction scene, where he was heavily hinted to have some kind of ADHD or being in the spectrum (not that we need more half-assed fictional depictions of autism, but at least it would have been an attempt on SOMETHING) That could have led to some interesting interactions and/or character development, but the story just forgot about it a soon as Russel started getting involved in the plot, and never looked back. Meh.

Ok I've decided I'll be ranking everyone. Some chars will get very short and not very kind evaluations though.

Estelle
Joshua
Scherazard
Olivier
Agate
Kloe
Zin
Tita
Kevin
Kurt
Anelace
Mueller
Julia
Josette
Kyle
Don
Cassius
Russel
Richard
Amalthea
Aina
Dunan
Gilbert
Weissmann
Loewe
Renne
Luciola
Walter
Bleublanc
Campanella
Dorothy
Nial
Anton
Ricky
Queen Alicia
Jill
Kilika
Sieg
Mogran
Cid
Hams
Clem

#42 Ricky

Isn't he the guy who was with Anton, telling he he should be more responsible or something? Do we even see him after Anton leaves Grancel? Does he even have a story other than being a side character in Anton's? When you are a straight man to a faceless npc, I probably won't have much to say about you.

I guess thanks for giving me a perfect bottom name for this list since it kind of lacked one.

PS: I wrote a version of this post, then deleted it as I realized I had swapped Anton and Ricky, so I looked online to make sure I was right before writing it again. That doesn't bode well for Anton in this ranking.

Hbthebattle posted...

Honestly you might want to wait for after 3rd for a full Sky series ranking, it changes the context for a lot of people and adds some really iconic characters to the cast

I knew someone would say that but since I'm maybe playing 3rd next year and I have things I wanna say now, I'm doing the rankings then reranking later if necessary.

Nial and Dorothy should have been in, dunno how I missed them.

Will think about the rest.

Ok so deciding on a list of characters to rank is HARD. At first I was only goiung to do playable characters, but there are quite a few other people I want to talk about! But there must be over 1000 characters, so I need to make a cut somewhere. I picked up everyone I think is likable or important enough to talk about. This is where I arrived at:

Estelle
Joshua
Scherazard
Olivier
Agate
Kloe
Zin
Tita
Kevin
Kurt
Anelace
Mueller
Julia
Josette
Kyle
Don
Cassius
Russel
Richard
Amalthea
Aina
Dunan
Gilbert
Weissmann
Loewe
Renne
Luciola
Walter
Bleublanc
Campanella

This makes a nice round 30. Now if you have anyone else you want in this list (i. e. you really need to know my opinion on Grant), feel free to say so and I may add to the list, though I don't guarantee I'll have more than one sentence to say about them. I'll be starting this at least one day from now.

catesdb posted...

I thought I took a long time with these games, but I have 65h on FC and 77h on SC. Maintaining the topic must add a lot.

This was awesome, congrats on finishing and thanks for doing this! I enjoyed following along and look forward to the character rankings =)

I think Steam counts the time the game stayed on, even if it's just the menu, so there were probably quite a few hours the game stayed on while I went to eat or whatever.

The in-game clock is giving 57 h and 90 h, respectively.

Welp, this was a game. Two games, actually. I won't write an extended review but this is a clear 10/10 to me, even if there are flaws here and there. I'll be talking more details in the character rankings, because yes, there will be character rankings.

Afterwards i'll be taking an extended break from Trails, though. Not a 3 day break like last time, because there is no epic cliffhanger this time, and I'm actually really tired of these games now. I feel like I had to push myself to get through the final chapter. They are great, but Steam is saying I clocked 74h hours in Game 1 and 117h in Game 2. I can't imagine anyone beating this series back to back, or Aidios forgive, replaying it. Unless you are a teen or something. So a guy from the discord I'm posting in said it's actually better to play Trails 3 closer to Crossbell than to Sky, and I'm taking advantage of that, suppose.

But again, stay tuned for the character rankings!

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/6/9/AAO9CbAAEf6F.jpg

this is how you know things are about to go to shit

loewe makes individual comments to party members. He teases someone of Kevin's past. Stuff for the next game, I guess

Weissmann shows up, reveals everything so far has been part of his plan and takes control back of Josh, through some back door he left there for that. he is annoyed that we redeemed some orobouros members, but can fix that pretty quickly

we are attacked by more bosses, but then the rest of the party member selection shows up to help, because the lack of them has been ridiculous for a while now

another giant robot attacks us while we are in the elevator, and honestly it's kind of a joke after having battled Loewe. It just serves to boost my CP

the game has the decency to let us save again. I was afraid I'd have to redo the Loewe fight if I got stalled at Weissman, or leave my computer on for multiple days just not to lose the save

aaaaand there is the Aureole aka the mcguffin aka the rogue AI

Weissman is a dick, but he has a point. The real world could end up similar to the future he is describing, with humanity either destroying itself or turning into cattle led by robots. However, being a fictional villain, he's advocating for an even worse alternative to the ones presented

Estelle, once again nails it. She solves the puzzle by saying in the end, the point is other people. Humans are social animals, after all

Estelle has to fight Josh and he gets a 4x attack boost because fuck it thats why

wow, wiessman really as an asshole.

... Josh has been faking it the whole time

holy shit. Kevin! That scene at the start of the arc where he and Josh went to another room!

haven't I said before. Kevin and his church ARE the biggest threat to Orobouros in this setting. Sure, Estelle and co have the power of love and thats great, but Kevin actually has tools to counter the bad guys'

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/7/0/AAO9CbAAEf6G.jpg

the old man reminding us why he is the most dangerous character in this verse

Josh used Weissman's own evilness against him. Delicious

I beat Weissman so easily I regret using all my CP, because there are certainly more rounds after
the professor fuses with the mcguffin and turns into something more final boss looking

Angel Weismann. 69000 HP.

Nice

I use a zeram capsule on kevin as soon as the battle starts. After Loewe, I'm done taking risks
we are interrupted by a cutscene. No! My zeram capsule!

The boss is invincible, but Loewe shows up to help

He reveals Wiessmann was responsible for the war. I love how every person in the room with maybe the exception of Kevin lost someone dear because of it. Now it has gotten personal

Yet, Loewe is the coolest cucumber in the cucumber-verse

He breaks Weissmann's barrier with a sword he gained from the Grandmaster. Now I'm wondering... did the Grandmaster predict Loewe would betray them? Knowing Orobouros, I'm leaning on yes

second round... there goes another zeram capsule

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/7/1/AAO9CbAAEf6H.jpg

when you are not afraid to abuse stat buffs

we beat Weissmann 2, who is still considerably easier than Loewe. The battle ends and he's still taunting us. Godamn

way to make an endless finale, Falcom

and... now he has a dozen wings

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/7/2/AAO9CbAAEf6I.jpg

FREKING HERESY

99999 HP. Ok I THINK that is confirmation this is the final form

this boss's song is amazing

I win. this one was rather tricky, alternating between high attack and high defense forms. Still easier than Loewe, but not a picnic either.

Loewe dies. Weird how taking all those hits didn't kill him, but breaking a barrier did

Russel: "The aureole disappeared? That could be bad. Estelle: "Define "bad" [ground: starts shaking] There are things you don't ask

Josh tries to stay behind in grief, but a good Estelle slap to the face gets him back together

We cut to Weissmann, who is just realizing he was also being played with. Everything continues to be part of Orobouros's plan, but not his

Kevin: "I wasn't even using my full strength all this time"" Seriously? The world almost ended, you know

Is that the third or four time Kevin reveals his real identity? I've lost count.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/7/3/AAO9CbAAEf6J.jpg

DEUS VULT

Holy fuck Kevin is SAVAGE

The Fool shows up, finishes killing the bad guy and absconds with his spear, which... I'm guessing is the aureole?

tfw Kevin managed to make a detour to give Wiessmann a holy execution and still end up ahead of Estelle/Kevin in the escaping group

The game isn't over with the drama though, so we get a scene where Estelle and Josh get separated from the party and make a last kiss before what they think is their impending doom.

My bet is that Renne shows up next with her mecha and bails them out

This scene has been directed by Michael Bay

Well it's not Renne, but Cassius fucking Bright riding the fucking dragon. Cuz why not

Dragon: you have beaten the game, but there are more games coming

"Trails 2: Brought my man back and also saved the world for a bonus": beaten

Now to watch the credits

Now for the epilogue scene. Josh and Estelle visit Karin's grave. And the game is ending right as when the two are now a sappy couple, because I feel many more interactions like this woudl get annoying quickly

The two leaving for a journey is pretty cute, though

And... fin.

final orbment setup:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/6/1/AAO9CbAAEf59.jpg

Estelle is the main healer, but can also hit hard with her staff, because she has the best single target s-craft. I didnt bother giving her many strong spells, but she does have dark matter, blue ascension, napalm breath and aerial. Honestly, for bosses, dark matter is all you need. She will be mostly healing or casting morale/clock up Ex otherwise

That yin-gang will be replaced by a HP 4 right before the final boss (es)

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/6/2/AAO9CbAAEf5-.jpg

Josh is physical. His gear gives him some dex, maybe not that much, but I think is enough so I'm not adding a dex quartz. He can also heal, and fast at that, but he can't really attack magically. Strike 2 and Ruby Gem will make him hit like a truck.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/6/3/AAO9CbAAEf5_.jpg

Agate's attack is even better than Josh's and so is his dex, though he lacks Dual Strike and the crits from strike. Seal 2 is great but I suspect bosses will be immune to it. Problem is I don't really have other options for Agate unless I wanna give him Ingenuity (which is only useful on casters). Either way, he still hits a lot, and can spam s-crafts. And also heal, cuz why not

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/6/4/AAO9CbAAEf6A.jpg

Kevin is the all purpose magic user. He has lost mobius, abyss fall, aero storm, titanic roar, as well as dark matter and blue ascension for single damage. He has all the good time support options. Most important, zodiac. And even more important, earth wall, which I suspect is what he will be doing more than half the time. He is carrying gladiator's belt because his CP is just more precious, having the best s-craft and the ability to donate CP to other characters at a 2x ratio. That ingenuity will turn into Attack 4 before the final boss, which is not amazing on him but hey, every damage counts

Estelle and Josh are lv 88, Kevin is lv 85, Agate is lv 81, since I haven't used him in the final dungeon left. I expect him to at least catch up with kevin after I fight all the mobs

I normally balance the genders but I have so many equipment options here it's not really necessary. Plus I'm bringing the best girl anyway

there is a healing thing followed by an elevator. I think this is it

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/6/5/AAO9CbAAEf6B.jpg

the decision to bring Agate is already paying off

Loewe was once a boss that we had the possibility of beating, but was designed to be incredibly hard unless the player metagamed for it. Losing to him stays in the player's memory, so they really want to beat him by the time you get to the end of the 2nd game. That's how you hype a boss
instead of a boss song, the cutscene heroic song plays

Loewe multiples. Not like Bleu, who creates fake clones. There are actually 3 of them. besides the 2 lion robots. That means their combined damage per turn is really high

he also has impede, like last game, but phys attackers are better this game and I have Cast 2 on everyone, so it bothers me less

I finish taking down his clones, and he just kills the party with his s-craft. And i'm almost at full hp. Holy shit

Sorry, I need to specify. His 2nd s-craft. Because he has two. Like a fucking player character.

in the second try, he gets a crit on his scraft turn and one-shots the party. Let's try again

Round 3. Loewe didn't win, but it went long enough for me to conclude it's pointless to keep trying without giving the whole party confusion immunity. His silver thorn just works every time, and my healers are the ones without immunity

I'm not used to having to use strategy in this game

round 4. he kills kevin as soon as the fight begins. That totally ruins my flow. Also I just realized I forgot to equip those HP 4/Attack 4 before the battle. Restarting

actually Estelle will get the HP 4, but Kevin will stay with Ingenuity. He doesn't benefit from getting attack boost at all, and he needs all the defense he can get, being the support guy

round 5. After a responsible use of Kevin, liberal healing and timing s-crafts not to give too many turns to the enemy, the battle ends with Agate screaming on top of his lungs and finishing Loewe off. Phew

"CARE FOR A REMATCH?" Never before have those words held so much meaning

time for cutscene action between Josh and Loewe

Honestly, many modern games with top tier graphics can't do the kind of action this game does with sprites. I'm not even joking

Josh wins by having better internet arguing skills than Loewe

Sold.

I was definitely bringing Agate, even if he doesn't get an extended cutscene. I feel like he deserves it after being trolled by Loewe so many times.

Last slot I'm between Kevin, Olivier or Kloe. But I'm picking this one based in gameplay.

Does Kevin get better dialogue than others?

Mueller isn't much different from other physical fighters (i. e. Agate) but he has the coolest animation for a basic attack

the coin enemy was really op in one battle, but then I realized it is actually very random. Half the time it heals your party! and if there are multiple coin enemies, it averages to not doing damage at all

the party's current setup is called "schera uses grand stream every turn while the other 3 use melee". it's simple but it works

We meet Luciola. Her backstory is... weird. Sounds a little half baked to me. I'm guessing the point is that shes just a psycho but the game doesn't elaborate much. Well lets see what happens after the fight ends

Luciola is tricky. She uses a cloning move similar to Bleu, but what it actually does it switch places with my party members

remember when I said I wanted Estelle to punch Josh? Well, her accidentally using Wheel of Time on him comes close

Luciola reveals the rest of her story. Yes she really is a psychopath. But in a pretty sad way. Damn.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/5/1/5/AAO9CbAAEfuT.jpg

when the villain gets it better than the hero

she... kills herself? but then Schera says its probably just a ruse. Whatever. Someone get those people a therapist

Next section, Tita + Kevin. Same strategy as the last time

one of those horrible coins made my party lose all of its cp. Right I was setting up Kevin to start the next boss with the

and I get to the final room. Gotta use a bunch of CP healing items on Kevin or I'm dead

The little demon is here, and she is ready to butcher us. We redeem her, or die trying. That's not an idiom

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/5/1/6/AAO9CbAAEfuU.jpg

She never fails to make a speech

let me show you a higher power, Renne. One bigger than Peter Mater or orobouros. A power you can barely coomprehend, only accept. It's called Earth Wall Spam.

A mere Oh Shit can't describe my feelings when I took down Renne and her giant robot instantly revived her with 10000 HP

Renne and her gundam are tough, but I win the battle of stall by making sure I have guard on whenever they use their s-crafts.

a cute scene ensures and... she is remdeemed? Maybe. At least sounds like she is not an enemy anymore. Renne absconds with the giant robot, and we are free to climb to the next floor

Honestly, Estelle is just a miracle worker

time to assault the Final Dungeon. The party is armed with the best quartz sepith and money can buy. Everyone has Action 5. Estelle has both Attack 5 and Mind 5, Olivier/Kloe have Mind 5, Josh has Attack 5. Estelle/Olivier both have Earth Wall, Titanic Roar and Aero Storm. Estelle also has Grand Stream and Cyclone Napalm. Olivier also has Zodiac and Abyss Fall. Kloe has Cocytus and La-Tear All. Kloe has an ATS of 876. Eight hundred fucking seventy five. Olivier has 683. His level is lower than the party's though, so he should have more by the time we get to Bleublanc.

If he thinks he can beat us by summoning some shadow clones and spreading them around, he has another thing coming.

Also Josh is armed with two very pointy blades, Attack 5, Move 3 and Strike 2. He doesn't really need magic when he has those

We are welcomed by some robots before we even enter

Estelle just dealt 7k damage on one attack. Wheel of Time, bootsed by Morale and Zodiac

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/1/2/AAO9CbAAEfoA.jpg

[Cap America I get the reference GIF]

Josh has learned his final skill, Phantom Raid

It's not as cool as Wheel of Time, but it's close

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/1/3/AAO9CbAAEfoB.jpg

Estelle has a point, but the classics are classics for a reason

Josh asks Blueblanc for his reason for being here (since apprarently Enforcers don't have to obey orders if they don't want to). Blueblanc's answer is just crazy. Fitting.

My party just melts the phantom thief. Nuff said.

this is better than FC's final dungeon because it's not a maze. Also because the game has already given almost all the endgame gear in the mini-dungeons that came before, so no need to fight 30 repetitive chest monsters. Also because it's a boss rush, and those are fun
having to go out and in just to see party member specific dialogue is really dumb, tho

next is Zin and Julia. Julia has balanced stats, but her crafts are... kinda lame? She does let me use Lost Mobious for the first time in the game, though

I guess her role is to be an all rounder who doesn't have any fancy tricks but is just reliable. A little stronger than Schera, but lacking the ability order gimmick

and Zin has learned Wrath of Genbu. Just in time to face his arch-nemesis

this time Walter uses his s-craft in the first turn. Learned something, didn't ya

It's so much stronger than Bleublanc's s-craft it's not even a competition

wow, I got rekt

anti-faint acessories for the whole party now. I mean, I should probably have brought these already, but they werent needed the first time I fought Walter

Walter is much harder than Bleu because he focuses on damage, instead of trickery. And he is immune to most attempts to lower his speed or status him. When you block his own status (faint), it becomes doable, but I feel like I got lucky because he attacked the characters who were the most healed while I was charging my healing at the start of the battle

Also Zin's Wrath of Genbu is another competitor for coolest Non-Wheel of Time attack

Walter finally reveals why he killed the old man. It's a cool scene with a lot of twists. And the story leaves it unclear which one of the two was the most tatented, at least according to their master, since they both have different versions of it. Though their final duel shows right now, the strongest fighter is Zin.

Next are Schera, for the story, and Mueller, because I have to use him at least once before the game ends

Dragon Dive is cool. I'm really enjoying those endgame s-crafts

Josette is mandatory next dungeon, so I'm building her as the ultimate earth wall bot. Earth wall? I mean gaia shield. She also has clock down and clock up ex, whioch should keep her busy for a while. Even if Josette is crap, the strategy itself is so broken she is going to pull her weight. Problem is she will be a sitting duck against mobs, because I nerfed both her strangth and ATS to pull this build off

she also carries yin-yang because Estelle and Olivier are too busy being masters of all 4 elements to carry more than one water quartz

The strategy is woking fine, albeit it makes battles slower, since I'm playing like a sissy

The Capua brothers kinda have that classic Kirk-Spoc-McCoy dynamic going on. Josette is emotional, Kyle is rational, and Don is the balanced guy who keeps the party together.

thanks. i'm finishing soon

we learn one of orobouros's leaders is an evil scientist. Classic. For a villain group this powerful, guy must be like the most intelligent person in the world, or close

We are attacked by The Cuck. Just so the game doesn't say we are leaving this dungeon without facing a boss.

he brings a new type of robot lion which is strong and all but its just one. While he stays in the back throwing landmines and summoning weak minions. Even Josette is more useful than that

I open the force field to release Josette's brothers but because I do that before opening other force fields, I miss out on a chest containing some boots. This is lame. The game should have warned which gate contained the loot so I could prioritize that over the party member's loved ones

meanwhile, Campanella watches everything on camera like a creep. We will know we are actually winning something when villains stop watching us and saying "everything is fine"

The npcs come up with an excuse for Josette to stay in the party even though her role in the plot is finished

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/9/4/1/AAO9CbAAEfVt.jpg

No she isn't. I mean she is, because I slapped a build on her that makes even a baby a great support. But that doesn't count.

She finally learns an s-craft, just as I'm about to drop her from the party forever. I guess i'll fight a battle or two just to see it, though

[I skipped 3 days between the previous part and the next one and totally forgot to check Josette's s-craft, I only remembered now that I'm compilling the hext to B8. Meh, I'll watch it on youtube later or something]

I have given Strike 2 to Tita. Fun times are coming. Not for the enemies.

Our bard is playing his lute in the dining room. Let's leave him there where he is the happiest. I'm taking Tita and Kevin this time

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/9/4/2/AAO9CbAAEfVu.jpg

play your games in the right order, kids

I like abyss fall, but it's a bad mob spell because the animation is so long

we made it, finally. this is the axis pillar. the final area of Trails in the Sky

Our Big Bad leaves a affable message in one of the city terminals. Inviting us to enter the dungeon and fight some bad guys. Of course, we going there earlier would have ruined his plan, so he send Edgelord and his mecha to take our ship down. Now that everything is set up, he is letting us come. All according to keikaku

there is an evacuation tunnel to the first area, which is locked for now. Just in case the entire place decides to explode. Which is not going to happen, no sir.

I recover all the data crystals, which are basically the epic tale of how humanity defeated a rogue AI. And now the bad guys are trying to revive the rogue AI for their bad goals.

Julia and Muller join the party. This is certainly interesting, but I have heard the first boss of the pillar has extra quotes if you bring other people. Sorry, they will have to wait. I form the Olivier/Kloe duo again

tcaz2 posted...

I mean you just described real news outlets too so

I mean yeah but in real life it's usually the news outlets desperately trying to make some bickering between politicians sound like the end of the world.

In Trails, it's usually "mysterious army of doom invaded the country's capital and almost toppled it" or "national disaster that defies the laws of physics strikes region for a day then stop" or "a literal dragon".

everyone is unhurt, but the ship is somewhat damaged. They all comment on how Loewe purposedly attacked the ship in a way not to kill everyone. Thanks, Loewe!

The plan is to find some means of transport, because this final dungeon is so huge it has to be explored by car. The party?

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/4/1/4/AAO9CbAAEeem.png

I haven't had so many choices since I played FF6

Other than "slightly-magic oriented balanced MC", and "slightly-melee oriented balanced MC", we also have to pick two, among "melee guy who trades HP for damage", "balanced fighter/caster who can give teammates extra turns", "healing oriented spellcaster", "all purpose spellcaster", "one trick pony mob control everyone uses because it's just fun", "meat shield" and "guy with shit stats but some of the best support crafts in the game so he's alright"

Olivier is criminally underleveled while also being the best character gameplay wise and maybe the best dialogue wise too. He's an easy third

Kloe is also rather undeleveled and I after a whole chapter saving up magic, I wanna abuse it a little
Josh secretely goes somewhere with Kevin to get some sort of... magical buff. Which will probably save everyone when we need the most.

Holy shit

This place's music is so good

I normally type this from my pc but Im now doing from phone because I dont want to minimize the game window and stop the music

I love how newspapers in this game are usually bombastic news. If I were a random citizen, reading papers would make me very anxious. There's always a national crisis going on! And here the crisis are actually real!

Living in videogame worlds is dangerous af

spend another half hour gearing up my party. Most is the usual stuff, the biggest news is Kloe is finally getting Cocytus (infinite AoE freeze) and Olivier is getting Zodiac (attack/def boost to the whole party). So she is more offensive, he is more support (kinda needed since his level is low, at least for now). Estelle is the usual frankenstein, Josh is the usual Dual Strike machine.

this ancient city has internet. I now know what was probably the downfall of the ancient civilization

we find the city's rail system, but stations have to be opened one by one. So it's all just a shortcut. We have to go through the tunnels, which I suspect are the dungeon sections

Olivier and Kloe's physical attacks are dealing zero damage to even normal enemies. The way this game optimizes stats means each character is going to be useless at something. You can make a mixed build, but then they will just be mediocre at everything.

I find an Onyx Gem, actually Action 5. Lowkey the best quartz there can possibly be, given how Action is good in this series

Kloe has finally learned an offensive s-craft. it probably looks cool. It also probably hits like crap, for the reason mentioned above. i'm gonna stick to her universal healing, thanks

Estelle has learned Wheel of Time. Now that one probably hits like a rocket

on hey Kloe's offensive s-craft isn't half bad. It's good for mob control, at least

and Olivier has learned one called Requiem Hearts. this is when we get all the endgame s-crafts, apparently

Houses in the ancient city have chests in them. Why did the houses from the regular cities not have those too? Would have made exploration so much more fun

Estelle's Wheel of Time is very flashy, unecessarily complicated, hits like a nuclear bomb and looks awesome.

We meet Josette. Her two brothers were kidnapped by bad guys. She joins the party!

According to the internet though, she is the worst playable character to ever grace the universe of playable characters. Won't stop me from testing her, though. They said the same about Tita and I managed to find her niche

uh...
Does Josette have no s-craft
WTF
[cheks faq]
OK she does but I have to do an entire part of the final dungeon to unlock it. That's BS

the information from the data crystals we recovery gives us the direct lore on how this civilization
ended, but the crystals take a while to be decoded. meanwhile, other terminals we find around the city give little hints. Crime started going up and nobody undertood why. Population started going down. Etc

ok Josette is literally unplayable

no s-crafts, low attack and ATS. Her "support crafts" are a single target defense reduction (ok against bosses but after the first turn, what else?) and a thing that always causes faint but has low range and is also single target (so no point using on mobs, and anything that matters is immune to faint). Her orbment geometry is somewhat worse than Estelle's, which is already kinda bad in this game compared to FC. She is earth, like Zin, but doesn't have taunt to really tank (and even Zin is having difficult pulling off taunt these days).

You could give her a time gem and make her a earth wall spam machine, but then again anyone else can do that while also having more useful crafts and whatnot (like Kevin).

Also apparently there's a section coming where i'm forced to use her and as soon as she gains her first s-craft, she stops being a mandatory character. That's... evil.

honestly the time gem thing means she is actually playable but like, anyone else is preferrable

we open a door by inputting the name of Kloe's ancestor and tricking the computer into thinking Kloe is her. Having a royal family members with the party has its uses. Gotta bring Olivier when we do the equivallent of this in Cold Steel, I guess

I find a shining pom

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/4/1/5/AAO9CbAAEeen.jpg

So this is the hard limit for how much xp you can get in one battle, huh

Kloe and Agate gain 7 levels each. Nice.

Tunnel 2 done. Not much to add, my party is OP, etc

RoS is hot garbage imo, but if someone enjoys it then hey, I hope you have fun with it.

I'm somewhat tired of the internet's tendency to hate everything, particularly things I like,so I try not to get into people's case for liking things I don't.

Thorn posted...

They're only annoying if you don't religiously scan everything since the info description basically tells you what to (not) do imhotbqh. And if you're not doing that in a Trails game what are you doing?

I'm pretty sure the ZFG math should work out. 5 Region Checkpoints, 5 Guild Branches, Grancel Castle, Leiston Fortress, Arseille, Haken Gate, uh... the Calvard Border place in Zeiss whose name I forget gets you to 15. Last one for the party I assume. If it's not that then idk I'd have to re-read the dialogue which I won't be doing lol.

I went to the Calvard border (Wolf Fort) just to check. There was nothing about telephones being restored, just them being scared or not being scared of the door being opened. Then again the border has like 4 npcs.

Well, Information is usually a rider effect to Heaven's Eye, and I didn't feel like using that with Cloak already on. Heh.

We now have a cutscene where politics is over and everyone is back to being an RPG party. Olivier says funny stuff, the reporters (again) tag along, etc

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/1/0/AAO9CbAAEeKO.jpg

Also there's that

Orobouros is defending their macguffin with airships. Time for some pew pew pew.

We take down some minor airships.

Then we face the Giant Evil Mothership that Summons Anime Cutscenes

we (barely) fly past it as it fires a few warheads at us

I don't know which game we will finally get to take down that thing, but i'm hyped to see it when it happens. it's going to be some battle.

The party hears the opera choirs getting louder, which means we are arriving at the flying city. It summons another anime cutscene so we can see it in its full glory

Russel: "Hmm, that tower looks important. It's probably where the mcguffin is. Let's land there"

Then Edgelord shows up riding a flying gundam, rips one of our ship's engines in half and forces us to make an emergency landing, probably as far as possible from the mcguffin

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/1/1/AAO9CbAAEeKP.jpg

[Ominous song plays in the final chapter screen]

We watch as 4 enforcers spam their s-crafts on a batallion of generic soldiers. It's a carnage
(This is also the first time I see Walter's s-craft, since last time I rekt him so fast he didn't get to use it)

We are told to chase after the enforcers while the army is fighting the mooks. Well, we have some time to catch up while Walter breaks down the castle's front doors with his bare hands.

Plot Twist: the Duke's butler is the former royal guard captain. Which means he's probably worth... 30% of an enforcer

we face what is likely the chapter boss, 3 helicopter drones. It has to be, but it's rather tough (though not even close to those god forsaken worms)

We see the enforcers praising the butler. Mad respects to the old guy. Imagine being this badass and spending 20 years babysitting a spoiled duke

The royal guard tries to protect the queen's chambers, but the enforcers go through them like they are bowling pins. No, seriously.

The bad guys got the queen and the princess. And turns out this entire attack was just a little diversion because the Bid Bad doesn't like the fact that we are doing Telephone Repair Service

Dad to the rescue! Ok, now this is a guy who can probably beat one or more enforcers. Not sure if all 4 of them, though

Oh nvm it's Cid. Yeah we are fucked.

Also Not a Falcon, and Richard. That's a little better, but we are still fucked. I mean, Richard wasn't even the final boss of the last game

The intel division shows up and destroy's Orobouros's ranks. This makes zero sense considering the game's level tiers, but I'll allow it

Wait, where did Dorothy get a camera?

I still think the enforcers would be the favorites here, but they decide not to take unecessary risks and GTFO

We learn Kloe has dediced to become queen. Too bad the entire thing was off-paneled

Apparently our little sidequest at the Academy influenced the decision, though. I'm guessing if we skip it, Kloe just arrives at it in a different way

And... it took just a few days for Errebonia to realize what's going on and attack Liberl. Just a small batallion for now, but I predict more are coming soon. Now that's a crisis to justify the climax of a game, other than the bad guys trying to obtain a mysterious ancient artifact

They also brought steam engines, which they prepared in advance thanks to Orobouros. Ouch

Kloe: "DM, can I roll diplomacy?"
DM: "Sure but you'll need a natural 20"
Kloe: "Deal"

Like in any good war, the Erebonias came up with a bullshit reason to invade. They are "protecting" us, by putting tanks in our cities.

Tha game makes a joke at the anime/RPG tradition of characters cutting their hair when they get character development. Heh

Olivier shows up and reveals he is the prince. That's a cool introduction

Schera: I thought he was just an international spy, not the frigging prince!

Kloe got a 16, maybe 17 roll in diplomacy. Then Olivier came and showed a +20 modifier in realpolitik

Olivier is acting like he's the enemy but he's really just playing his own country

And now Dad arrives. Of course he was onto it. Olivier has been setting this up for two games, give or take

Cassius and Olivier pretending they don't know each other is priceless. Watch and learn, Estelle

Olivier swears to kill the chancellor of Erebonia, who is in league with orobouros. Now that's an oath

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/0/3/AAO9CbAAEeKH.jpg

Angry Estelle is always a treasure

A bunch of people join/rejoin the party, and we are boarding the royal airship to invade the Flying City of Doom, defeat the Wacky Elite Henchman Crew, redeem one or two Tragic Anti-Villains, stop the Big Bad before he activates the Ancient Arficact of World Domination, and save the day.

(I need to spend less time in TV Tropes)

Then the game reminds us this is really just a chess game between Cassius and Weissman, and we are the pieces

Chapter 8: "Better customer service than your usual phone provider": beaten

Tita gains an upgrade to her machine gun, which means the "calling a fucking beam satellite from space" skill is already obsolete. Ok.

I built the party with Estelle as the sole magic attacker, with Time Gem, and Josh/Zin/Tita as physical characters. Let's see if this works out

I have to use night vision goggles to cross Kaldia Tunnel, since lamps no longer exist in this game. It's fun how this little item lasts for the entire game

the Telephine Repair Service arrives at Zeiss. One more place to go

time gem is fun. Getting to cast abyss fall like it's friggin aqua bleed is great. However Estelle doesn't seem to be a great user for it, at least in terms of damage. Though fast healing and fast earth wall are not bad

we go to leiston fortress, where theres a cute cutscene where Josh tries to bring up the fact Estelle is the general's dughter to get in, but she says she doesn't want to get in the way of her father's work during a crisis. The game really wants to hammer the idea Estelle is all grown up now

yeah ok this single spellcaster set isn't that great, at least not with estelle as the spellcaster. I got mauled by a sidequest boss composed of 7 metal snakes who spam earthquakes

I do a rather complicated quest to deliver an engine and gasoline to the local hot springs, in order to bring them back. Some npcs comment on how cute it is that i'm doing that

The prize is a hot springs bath that brings the whole party's CP to 200. I know exactly what to do wit it

(I challenge the 7 earthquake worms again. 5 defeats later, imma go have dinner)

ok I did it. pretty much only because Tita got a crit turn in her Satellite Execution of Doom turn. Plus full CP s-crafts from Estelle, Zin and Josh (twice), plus a Sappire Gem, Time Gem boosted Aero Storm by Estelle. Also Estelle used an item that automatically revived her, while Josh and Tita used emerald medals to abuse elemental weakness. Phew.

I think this is the hardest boss in the game so far. Kurt from the prologue was harder, but I was playing on hard more. i'm playing on normal mode now.

One thing is bugging me. There are 16 ZFGs. The army was given ten, which supposedly cover the 5 regional outposts, Haken Gate, Leiston Fortress, The Auseille and the castle. Meanwhile, the party was given 6, which should cover all 5 guilds. There are two places missing from this math. Is there some suprised related to them down the line or is prof Russel just bad at math?

next sidequest boss is a giant cactus. Final Fantasy 6 makes me reflexively shiver, but in reality this is a cakewalk after the previous boss. I don't even have to lose fights to scout what moves it can use!

telephone repair service arrives at Grancel, but this guild's phone is already repaired, thanks to Kloe. I swap Tita for Schera and give her Grand Stream, the best wind attack in the game.
the fishman guild is actually profitting from the situation, since they use good old fishing rods, instead of whatever orbal technology is used these days

I advance to Bracer Rank B+ (which now makes Estelle higher ranked than Schera and Agate, lol), and gain a pair of shoes. I'm underwhelmed until I realize they boost movement by +10. Effectively letting a character teleport to the other side of the map. Nice.

so I find out (thanks to gamefaqs, because there is ZERO hint in the game) that the next chapter will have a shop that lets me craft tier 5 gems. Additionally, the current chapter has one shop, hidden in a little corner of Grancel, that lets you buy septih for money, for the first time in the series so far, and that it will be unavailable next chapter. So the optimal strategy is to drop all my money at the shop so I can make the most advantage of the tier 5 gems next chapter.

There is no way to figure this out unless you have played the game before or are reading online.

That's some kind of shitty game design, imo.

The mayor of Ruan being the shopkeeper is a nice lore point, though. It always bugged me how the plot let the sky bandits get away with threatening to mass murder hostages because they were mind controlled, but didn't at least look at Dalmore through the same lens. Also kind of interesting that his aide turned out to be the biggest scumbag of the duo in the end)

So I get a pretty ludicrous amount of sepith. The faq recomments an even more absurd one, probably because it assumes the player has been minmaxing for cash or something. But it's probably not necessary

We learned that Duke Asshat has undergone character development and is now a reasonable authority figure. lol

we should ask the royal family what kind of magical potion or spell was used to fix him. There are some enforcers who need that, particularly one pink haired girl.

the telephone repair service arrives at Rolent, and with that, all guild phones are repaired. The queen calls us to return to Grancel and meet her. But first... sidequests!

theres some cute lore about how a couple we helped find a missing rind in a previous sidequest is now getting married. It's filler, but I like how this game is always going the extra mile for worldbuilding

my party only has one character who can use magic but I pretty much melt the scorpion boss west of Rolent. Estelle doesn't need magic when she can instead use Morale to make True Black Fang and Thunder God Kick hit even harder

an airship had to make an emergency landing near a local farm. The farmers were kind enough to give them food while they wait for orbments to start working again. So the soldiers are making up by helping guard the farm. In any other story i'd call that an exaggeration, but based on recent events, thats probably a good idea yeah

Estelle's True Hurricane with the Death quartz is a pretty nasty combo. You just spam it and things start dying

we complete a little sidequest about saving Faceless Non-Playable Bracer from a boss in a mine.

We are going back to Grancel... when the bad guys attack the capital!

NFUN posted...

Time Gem is still a lot higher dps when using strong spells

Noted. I may try it later when dedicated spellcasters return.

NFUN posted...

did Gilbert manage to pull off his Special Move btw?

Yes.

Then Anelace kicked him down but somehow still got a stat debuff.

The current chaper adds some teambuilding complications. Olivier, Kloe and Kevin are gone. That leaves Estelle, Josh and Schera as the only casters, even though they are all designed to be mixed fighters.

The entire country is without orbments. Except us, who are armed with four zero-field generators, which can be equipped as acessories to let us use magic. However, the mission is to deliver those ZFGs at the guilds. Each time I do it, someone will lose access to magic. And Tita loses almost everything she has, since she fights with orbal weapons

so having a bunch of physical characters is not that bad. Needing accessories to use arts is a constraint though, since I have limited acessory slots

So I take a hint from the orbment faq and leave Josh and Agate as dedicated physical attackes, while Estelle and Schera use arts. Schera is going to be a dedicated caster, to make use of my Duende Slippers and Mind 5. I give up on letting her attack and give her a Defense 4 for ground arts. Estelle continues to be a mix of both, with a little more focus on fire magic since Schera can't do that, as well as healing.

Josh, Agate (and Zin/Tita, whenever I use them) will be the "hitting people with pointy objects" crew. They have Move, Hit, Attack, Shield 5, and one of Strike/Seal/Petrify

I kill a quest boss and gain Strike 2, a quartz that makes every attack have 20% crit chance. I give it to Josh. The bad guys should be glad they are safe in a flying city right now

I gain the Time Gem, an item that gfreatly drops a character's attack, defense and ATS, buit greatly increases their casting time. That's one fancy way to make someone a healbot.

I discover that, for the first time in almost two games, I have freedom to go anywhere in the map I want
the bad news is that airships are grounded and the game map is a donut, so going anywhere will take long

We arrive at Ruan and fix the guild's telephone. if someone told me the penultimate chapter of this duology was being a telephone repair service, i'd say they were drunk

Ruan's bridge is permanently rised which means the only way to cross between the two halves of the city is through a ferry. However, the entire town has to share it, which leads to this particular option box:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/3/3/AAO9CbAAEdrV.jpg

I'm sure Estelle wrote it

The school has been attacked. The enemy has cyborg dohs with daggers in their mouths. The level of crisis is maximum

I love the scene where Estelle and Josh discuss whether it's okay for Josh to go scout alone. They are both so mature now

Unfortunately for Josh, the game allows me to control him in this section

that's a - 200 penalty to stealth

well, Josh gets magical dashes whenever I pass any area that is not covered. That's fair

After finishing scouting, Josh briefly considers just soloing the entire jagger squad, but changes his mind. Lame.

Team Non Playable shows up, and this time we are getting to control Anelace. And Kurt. Yay!

Carna lost her normal weapon, buit she has fucking gunpowder rifle as a replacement. I love when the game brings up that kind of stuff

(though announcing that you have a rifle as you are about to storm a school is uh... ironic)

I equip the two new characters, by basically making Anelace the new Agate and Kurt the new Schera. With less Aero Storm and more Abyss Fall, I guess

Kurt has probably never seen so many quartz with "4" in the name in his life. Now he gets to use 6 of them, plus a Cast 2.

The operation begins. First, the obligatory scene with the two front guards complaining of boredom. never gets old

Tita and Carna be like

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/e4/35/4b/e4354ba5b0d6b4d0c8532f10104980c9.gif

Anelace when she wins: "I AM INVINCIBLE! Or am I?"
Kurt when he wins: "We must remain dilligent".
Aka "why one of them is playable again in Trails 3 the the other one isn't"

Estelle and Anelace bing silly while Josh rolls his eyes is a dynamic I didn't know I needed in my life

Estelle and Anelace are mad that the bad guys are in the maidens' dorm. Anelace says they could at least have put ribbons on before entering. Fair.

I have the 4 use a combined chain attack and it's just beautiful to watch. So many hits

I love that Kurt's "arts" are actually crafts. The guy is so skilled he has access to magic without orbments and no one knows how

Gilbert is going to the annals of Biggest Cucks in Gaming. Seriously.

Unfortunately he has a hostage. But then, Not a Falcon shows up from nowhere and lowkey takes half his HP with one hit

Estelle: "Time for ul-tra-vio-lence". Yes.

We are going to a arrest the cuck but then Campanella teleports in, says villanious things, and teleports out with the cuck so he can't reveal anything about Orobouros

The quest is completed, and Anelace and whatshisface leave the party, never to return. Because sadly, we can't have it all.

I'm not sure. I kept desperately shaking my mouse but the arrow never appeared. I assume it's not possible because of how computers work: the cpu can activate the move in miliseconds. The only way this is possible is if the devs actually programmed a clock for this into the battle. But I'm not a specialist on this.

I don't know why the good guys are going through all this trouble. Just have Tita's laser beam sattelite fire at the bad guys on the Aureole from space. That's a possibility, right?

... right?

I'm going to mention that every time now

for the last tower, I pick Tita and Kevin

Tita is the only unused character in this chapter so far, and I left her for the end due to her personal relationship with the boss, atlhough the game doesn't make it mandatory. Kevin is here because he is the only dude who can do magic besides Josh, and both magic-physical and male-female balance are important at this point. The game is giving me exacltly two of each gender-specific item lately

Josh learned True Black Fang. Honestly if I were Orobouros I'd surrender right know just from this new development

True Black Fang deals over 3k damage across the entire field. Insane.

modern devs make maps that look like modern art:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/7/4/6/AAO9CbAAEdVq.png

and thats just one of 3 images in the FAQ

Tita learned a move called Satellite Beam, which apparently calls a satellite to fire a laser from above. I can't even

and it probably still hits less than True Black Fang, which is just Josh running around the field and cutting things with his swords

At the start of the dungeon, Estelle commented how she wishes it would be another straight line. Josh replied a maze with fewer enemies is better than a straight line full of strong ones. Don't worry Estelle, I'm with you here

time to see whether Estelle can redeem Renne. Here is why I think it won't work, at least this time around:
1- It's not the same as Josh. Estelle had years of knowing him like a brother. Plus she had half a game to hear other people talk about him, and understand his motives. By the time she finally met him, she knew exactly what to say.
2- Josh loves Estelle. Her opinion really matters to him. Renne barely knows Estelle.
3- Renne is a kid. She just doesn't have the same level of instrospection as someone in Josh's age.
4- She is still in orobouros. Redeeming her is not just about showing her the light, they also have to break her from what is currently her family

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/7/4/7/AAO9CbAAEdVr.jpg

Priorities

The fight starts and... now I know why the faq told me to bring Kevin

She starts the battle with her s-craft (before I can even choose my moves), kills Estelle in the first turn, then her minions kill Tita. Ok, resetting.

Killing the enemy before they act is a player prerrogative! Bosses shouldn't be allowed to do that!

I try to click Kevin's s-craft before the boss uses hers but it's no good, it's a scripted event. The only solution is giving the whole party anti-deathblow items, letting her attack us and then using Kevin to give the party immunity to the incoming minion rampage

the fact Renne is a kid arguably makes her more horrible than all other enforcers. They all have room for some instrospection and character depth, even Walter. Renne just thinks killing people is fun.

Her little cry when she gets hit also adds to the horror of the whole situation. It constantly reminds the player they are having to fight a 11 year old with military grade weapons

I just saw Tita's Satellite Beam and I have even more questions. What? How? How does this fit with the lore? Like, there was a war 10 years ago that was won because one side had access to airships, and you are telling me this little girl has a killer laser satellite in fucking SPACE?

I can't even

Ok, once the battle start injustice is past, the mobs are contained, and Clock Down/Clock Up Ex are properly applied, the boss goes down pretty quickly. I let Tita have the last hit. It's fitting.

We learn Renne was in child prostitution or something similar before entering Orobouros. And Estelle thinks she can redeem her by talking. Ha ha, no.

She summons her massive bot. Now it's on

The giant robot hits like a flaming truck on rocket boosters. And it's immune to every status known to men. That's all cool, but it's still 4v1. The Renne first was way harder

But... this is in-game only and we actually barely scratched the thing. She only doesn't kill us because the mcguffin finishes mcguffining

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/7/4/8/AAO9CbAAEdVs.jpg

... dude

back in the base, Josh tells Estelle to keep trusting her therapy skills, and prof Russel shows up and starts revealing what the mcguffins really do, until the Big bad decides to hack our ship's monitors just so he can reveal it in person and do an evil gloat. I tell you guys, PRESENTATION!

We see the Final Mcguffin, in all its Mcguffin glory

this scene wouldn't be half as good without the EPIC choir

Chapter 7: "Dungeon Crawling and the Apocalypse. Just a normal JRPG day": beaten

Meanwhile, the sky bandits announce their plan to loot the Final Doomsday Floating Citadel. Reasonable.

Their plan is cut short by what seems to be a country sized EMP, sending their airship into freefall

Chapter 8: "They should have just invented the steam engine when they had the chance": begins

the mission now amounts to the world's most ambitious telephone repair service

Which makes sense. In a world where Cassius Bright exists, having communcation is the heroes' biggest power

Kloe and Kevin have left the party for now. I have never been so deprived of magic users

That sounds dumb. Especially since both Walter and Luciola have some massive unsolved plot points related to their rivals.

And Blueblanc? I thought the character was Olivier but he wasn't an option. He did complain that I didn't bring Kloe, though.