Okay, let's get back to Cold Steel IV Act 2 since the local games on here are Bears/Texans and Vikings/Bucs!
We're touring western Erebonia today, it seems! We successfully evaded the Imperial air force's detection, and then it's a flashback to the previous night. Sara asks what we want to do next, and they decide they want to find their other allies, like Towa, Alfin, and Elise. The problem is that we don't know where any of them are, and they've apparently made no attempt to contact us! Rean says they have some tough decisions to make, like whether to draw out the Rivalries for as long as possible or just try to get them done as quickly as possible. Rean says he wants to stop being used as a pawn and strive to protect those closest to him with his own strength and his own decisions. But what if that's what Osborne wants you to do...! He says he outright rejects all that Operations Jormungandr and Mille Mirage stand for, so I guess he's not interested in helping the Weissland Army either!
Oh hey, Crow and Duvalie are each sporting a new set of duds. Gotta be honest, it's a little unsettling seeing Duvalie without her armor on! It seems we're limited to western Erebonia in our travels for the time being because security is on the rise, so Jusis, Alisa, and Sara plan to use their connections to get us some more intel. And hey, it's time to use the terminals to get sidequests, as expected! Machias suggests we slim down to a smaller party, Altina says she's been assigned the job of being Rean's chaperone, so she's coming along whether he likes it or not! They said six, maybe seven at most, so I was hoping to get to bring along an extra person, but nope, it's six. Maybe I should just randomize my party for the heck of it and roll with what I get. Or at least randomize it until I get a rollout I'm content with, so I mix it up a few times and eventually land on Rean/Altina/Sara/Fie/Crow/Duvalie. Yeah, that works.
Oh hey, I can report sidequests with the ARCUS now. That's nice. And now we get our bonding points, with the special caveat that there are new Special Memory scenes for female characters, and they're marked with a heart. I guess I should prioritize these then? Man, I've only got three bonding points for a cast this large? Well, turns out I only have four options and one of them is Musse, so I guess that makes things easy! ...Unless it adds a page to Musse's profile, so I might have to save scum here and figure out the optimal route. At the very least, Fie has a heart and the game definitely wants me to do that one to break me into the concept.
Apparently, Rosine is in the charge of the ship when Gaius is away, which makes sense. I can also talk to her when I want to leave or reorganize the party. Alisa is exchanging orbmails with Elie. Gaius and Machias are sharing a drink in the break room. Ash is fresh out of the shower. I decide to spend a bonding point with Fie, and she invites me to train with her, but she wants to do it on the ground, not in the airship, so they can have plenty of room. As such, we make a journey to the forest in Eryn. Fie reveals her intentions now. She wants Rean to unleash his Ogre form so she can see how long she can hold it back. After all, if he plans to keep on using it, they need to figure out a contingency plan in case he goes berserk. In this fight, I'm controlling Fie, which is cool. All I really have to do is hold out for a few turns after he goes berserk, so I just use Concealing Wind to keep him at bay once he activates his ogre form.
Afterwards, Fie is confident she can hold Rean back now if he loses control again. He tells her not to do anything crazy, and she reminds him that Millium was her friend, too, which is a nice moment. She doesn't want to fall behind anyone...especially in a romantic race for Rean's heart, am I right? Don't worry, I'd choose you in a heartbeat over Alisa, Fie. Emma...would be a bit tougher of a call. Laura's still the best though, sorry. I didn't expect Fie to outright confess her feelings here though, and she even lampshades it afterwards! Rean is even having a hard time patting her head now, and Fie calls him out on it. No, Fie, he isn't a ladies' man. He's just a JRPG protagonist. Oh hey, that leveled her up a full star, nice.
Oh, one of the bonding options is Duvalie. I thought that was Elliot looking at the map! I swear they have the same hairstyle now! Oh hey, the guy in the weapons shop talks about how the Special Support Section rode in a Merkabah during the Azure Tree incident. Something to look forward to! Actually, let's tackle Musse's first in case it isn't important, so I can just reload my save afterwards! Musse is working with a small orbal pistol made by the Thirteen Factories, which I guess is totally separate from the Black Workshop. Rean picks it up and is immediately hit by its unusual center of gravity. Musse receives a call and leaves the room before I can use my point, so I guess I have to follow her now!
Rean decides to eavesdrop on the conversation and recognizes Aurelia's voice on the phone. Vita is also there. They're discussing some sort of problem, and they offer to handle it for her. However, she opts to play mental chess until she can figure out the right move. Naturally, Vita knew Rean was there the whole time, so we're busted. After getting off the phone, Musse nearly faints. I guess she's mentally exhausted or she's playing the damsel in distress for Rean's attention! He still has his concerns about that orbal pistol, but he opts to trust Musse for now. Aw yeah, no new entry in the notebook, so reload! Still, it was interesting, so I'm glad I watched it.
Celine is sleeping on the barstool after eating one of Coppe's favorites. I can now play Pom Pom Party against Juna and I beat her on the second try, aw yeah. Kurt and Jusis are taking a tea break together. Sara talks to Elliot about the Wind Orchestra. Laura and Emma talk about their former club members as well. Duvalie offers to train us while she's here, and we spend the bonding point in Parm. We get a cool sparring session with some rocking music as Rean learns to handle her speed. Then they spend some time talking about Loewe's skills, and Duvalie reveals she was born into a minor noble family, but they were all killed in a bandit attack. Nice to get a little backstory here.
Altina is in the reference room, trying to pull her weight as a member of the Intelligence Division. She brings up some images of Ymir. She says it's avoided any major disturbances since it was designated as a non-intervention zone, but it's still under tight surveillance. She can also confirm Rean's parents are safe. He asks if there's any way we might get caught looking into this data, but Altina says that the Merkabah's encryption technology is quite advanced. She says she hasn't been able to track down Elise yet, but she's working on it.
Finally, we talk to Crow. The game goes over how to fight with Crow now, and he apparently operates in the same way Juna does. Oh heck yeah, Crow can fish, too. I'm glad I'm bringing him along now! He's also mourning the death of Blade as a popular card game. You and me both, bro. And darn it, Crow had a bond event that I wasn't aware of because he was a required event first, bah. Time to reload, I guess! I'm keeping the Altina bond scene, so we'll just see if the Crow one is important. Otherwise, I'll probably redo the Duvalie one to get the bond boost since she's clearly only temporary. Oh, Rean is just teaching Crow how to play Vantage Masters. Oh good, I don't actually have to play. This was a fun one though, with Crow feigning ignorance and Rean feigning ignorance about Crow feigning ignorance.
