All right let's get CS4 Act 1 started. I'll divide this up between stuff that happened up to Leon's last update and then the bit past that I went.
oh my god guys you dropped all the quartz. all my beautiful quartz and equipment. i had 17 abyss shadows! give them back! Brave Orders got nerfed hard. Oh well. R2 Field Attacks automatically starting the battle is cool. Weirdly I think that only occurred with like two enemy types in the Gral of Erebos in CS3 unless it was some weird level difference thing that triggered it. I remember it being jarring when it happened during my replay. Also nice that Altina can just whack everything but big enemy types with her normal field attack to stun them regardless of positioning. Roselia's S-Craft was pretty cool. I also loved the whole colorless deal that happened at the start and end of the labyrinth. Could have done without that hot springs nonsense with Roselia though.
~~~After entering Saint-Arkh up to on the South Highway heading towards the Old Field Exercise Camp (haven't entered it yet)~~~
NPCs in Saint Arkh were interesting. I was pleasantly surprised to see the team react and hold their own conversations among themselves discussing the NPC chatter and its implications. It's also kinda funny seeing New Class VII run into people like Fiona but neither side knows who they are. Really Altina should probably know but I'll let it pass for now. Also really neat to see some of these Active Time Events where Class VII reminisces on the field exercises like remembering where they found the cat for that quest. Wouldn't have put Kairi down as first Thors student we find but one Juna suppression technique for his breaking and entering later and so it is. I had figured Pablo was somewhere in the area based on the NPC talk in Instructor Mary's family's house but apparently so is Tatiana but they're in Parm. Tried to head to Dreknor Fortress but Neithardt and Alan parked a tank and Panzer Soldat like 50 yards from the city limits so we nope'd out. Okay out on the south highway and darn the fishing minigame is a bit harder now. I think this was the first time I have ever failed it. Partly because I was asleep at the wheel because it's always been super easy but also it's just harder yo.
~~~Responding to Leon's comments~~~
LeonhartFour posted...
When we arrive back in the "real world," we're near Saint-Arkh, and New Class VII talk about how their first field exercises were here a mere four months ago. Wow, is that all the time that CS3 covered? Felt like a lot more! By the way, does anyone else rotate through all the party members when fishing and almost make it a "competition" to see which character sets the most records for biggest fish?
Yeah, CS3 started in April and ended in July. As for fishing... not quite... While I do let everyone have a few turns, CS3 was mainly a fishing battle between Rean and Altina for me. Rean would do all the fishing at Leeves (because only he can) and times when New Class VII wasn't around while Altina would usually fish on field exercises and they would battle it out that way.
Music has been great so far, yeah. Really like the battle theme and some of the field/highway themes so far. Eryn drawing from Mourning Refrain (CS3's Ending Theme) is really cool too. The boss theme for Roselia did the same but was obviously faster/more intense than Eryn.
---
xp1337: Don't you wish there was a spell-checker that told you when you a word out?