Okay, now that football season is over, Sunday afternoons are now Cold Steel IV Act 3 time!
It's weird seeing the random typos in the script that you didn't used to see before the last couple games! I'm reading the Imperial Chronicle and there's a random "n" right at the end of a page. Wandering through the Courageous some more, Mint and Schmidt together always produces hilarious results.
Now to head down to the surface and check out what's new. Gwyn and Irina are hanging out with Marquis Hyarms and Marquis Ballad. Beryl is standing at the memorial stone at the Hamel ruins, noting that the entrance to the Draco Sanctuary is no longer there. I find Kairi and Fritz farther down along the road to Hamel collecting Zemurian Moss. Then we have to save them from a Magic Knight that appeared because of the black Pleroma Grass. Then we find Sidney and Ada on the Parm Byroad surrounded by monsters. They were collecting the Bear's Claw. After beating the monsters. the sidequest is complete.
When we try to enter Eryn Village, the magical barrier is blocking access, even though we should have permission to pass through. We call over Emma, and she communicates with someone from the inside, saying the spirit veins are out of control, especially with Roselia gone. We can still enter through the teleportation stones, at least. When I try to enter on foot, it activates an urgent quest. Turns out the Ouroboros jaegers are occupying the area around the teleportation stones. Everyone is confused as to why Ouroboros is doing this when they've got more important things to focus on right now. Randy points out that while Ouroboros may seem like a well-oiled machine, but they give their guys way too much leeway to do their own thing. Tita says this reminds her of when Gilbert occupied Jenis Royal Academy during the Orbal Shutdown Phenomenon.
Everyone is divided up amongst multiple teams to help carry out the mission to free Eryn. As we're spying to collect some intel, we overhear the jaegers say one of the Anguis wants to test out some of his new devices. Emma opens a path for Rean to enter the barrier with Olivert, Agate, Randy, Tita, and Tio. This transports us to Saint-Gral. Olivert isn't actively participating, but he has Brave Orders we can use. We find devices that are jamming the barrier, and Tita says it reminds her of the ones her grandpa made to shut out the effects of the Aureole, the Zero Field Generators, although this device does the exact opposite in that it restricts the use of orbal energy. Tio and Randy think they know who's behind this, so I'm guessing it's some dude we meet in Azure since I didn't recognize the profile picture they showed of him. It's that Professor Novartis I've heard mentioned a few times in this game.
Inside the village proper is Gilbert, but he's unable to do much of anything because the resident witches have erected barriers all over the place. We switch over to the New Class VII (and Sara) team at one of the teleportation stones, and a Hannibal appears. Over at the stone where Old Class VII (and Duvalie is), another Zauber Soldat appears, but Crow can't summon Ordine because telepathic communication has been blocked. Then we switch back to Rean and company infiltrating Eryn Village.
Unfortunately, the rest will have to wait for later.
Oh yeah, I finished Ready Player Two. The first ten chapters are pretty slow, but once the story really kicks into gear, it was hard to put it down. The ending wasn't what I expected. It felt like they were building to something entirely different.
I am going to take you through my line of reasoning as I tried to figure out this category. I don't even understand this category. How many games does this even apply to? Most games in the series have been on multiple consoles at this point. So, what, you're mostly picking between the games in the series no one likes, Final Fantasy VII Remake, and Final Fantasy IV DS? Could I even pick Advent Children since it's been on Blu-Ray and DVD? Wait, it was technically released on the PSP! I'm going with it because this is my favorite version of OWA and it deserves some representation.
Okay, with that out of the way, let's do a President's Day Edition of Cold Steel IV Act 3!
We're infiltrating Eryn Village with Rean. After disabling another device and seeing a bunch of jaegers standing in front of Rose's Atelier waiting for me, I decide to see if the game will let me fish and it does! After beating down the jaegers, we switch to New Class VII (and Sara) to find the Northern Jaegers have come to help us since their contract with Erebonia is up now. Then we see Nidhoggr has come to the aid of Old Class VII (and Duvalie). They're both here to repay the favors we did for them.
Eryn Village is safe for now, but we still have one more device to disable. Also, I finally fully opened every slot for every character in my party, aw yeah! We finally manage to corner Gilbert. He tells us that Professor Novartis wanted to test out his Null Field Generator. Rean gives Gilbert the chance to retreat, but he opts to attack us with his archaism instead. And then he summons an unmanned tank on top of that. Wow, Tita makes a Kanone reference! Didn't expect to see that. And with that last device in place, Rean can't summon Valimar. But despite the hype, I'm able to break them with back to back Bursts and take them out before they can even get a turn. Although Gilbert ejects and we have to beat him again. I do get to see his S-Craft in action before he gets KO'd, at least!
Once again, Rean gives Gilbert the chance to retreat, but he's not quite ready to surrender just yet. Unfortunately for him, Emma, Vita, and Roselia manage to break through the barrier and completely wreck what's left of the tank. Then Campanella shows up to punish Gilbert for stepping out of line. He wanted Gilbert to keep tabs on the village, but he never told him to invade it. Then they make a vow to never invade the village again, and Vita says you can actually trust Ouroboros to keep such a vow. I get a new bonding point and a new scene with Elise becomes available. This doesn't really help me! Well, the fact that it's Elise might help, at least, since I'm less likely to want to pick her, assuming I still get another bonding point from the wanted monster.
So I guess we're starting with the backstory of all the Marley Titans and how they came to be (except for Zeke since he's already the Beast Titan). I'm wondering if "Reiner" is just a legacy title for the Armored Titan since I'm guessing that Falco kid becomes the next Armored. It was also curious that they said Marley no longer has control of the Colossal or the Female Titan, but this obviously can't be concurrent with Season 3, so I guess I'll see what they do with that. They also talked about a failed operation to reclaim the Founding Titan 9 years before that. How long before the events of Season 1 is this supposed to take place? It can't be TOO long since you've only got 13 years with Titan powers and Zeke is already the Beast Titan. Also, I wonder if the other Titan (well, other than the Quadriped since we saw that one too) we saw here is the one that Ymir eventually becomes. It looks pretty similar.
Or I guess this could be a flash forward and this is the future. Which would mean 9 years ago was when they first broke through the walls, so this would be, what, four years from the end of season 3? That would make sense if Zeke and Reiner were coming up on the end of their times as Titans. Then I guess that would mean the dude shown here ate Ymir and took her powers. I suppose it's implied that Ymir dies after the end of season 2. Hmm...That would make more sense. I think the fact that this is all World War I technology makes me think this is a flashback! I'm not sure what to think, but I swear, if Reiner goes out like this after how much bull they had to pull to say he didn't die in season 3, I'll be a little upset...!
Now let's get back to a snowbound edition of Cold Steel IV Act 3!
Oh hey, I just reported the last request and now I'm at the second highest rank for the game! Should be able to get to the highest rank by the end. Oh wow, this new Master Quartz I got is pretty good, up to 45% more physical damage when you're at high HP levels and 18% HP recovered for each enemy killed as a secondary. Wandering around some more, we get a nice reunion between Alfin and Priscilla at the Cayenne Mansion in Ordis. They've arranged for Priscilla to be able to meet up with the Emperor before his surgery, so that's good. I also come across another sidequest while I'm in Ordis. Apparently, Leonora and Shirley are about to throw down until Rean intervenes and suggests a swimming competition instead. It's weird how utterly unimportant Shirley has been in this game, but the swimming mini-game is fun.
I find the wanted monster and it proves to be tougher than usual. Now I've got 7 bonding points to use! Next we head to Alster to take care of Toval's request. There's been a monster lurking near the village lately, damaging equipment and injuring people. They've tried to hire people to get rid of it, but no one has been able to yet, so the mayor suggested everyone should temporarily relocate to Aragon. We gather intel around town to learn more about the situation. By the end of it, Rean and company are convinced someone's controlling this monster and the mayor is behind it somehow. Turns out he's conspiring with that Wads dude from Kleist's business to establish a logistics network, but he's also gotten his hands on some Ouroboros archaisms. Rean managed to call in Herman to help stop the plan, and it was cool seeing him use his motorcycle to run the bus off the road. After beating an archaism, we learn Rean also called in Estelle, Joshua, and Toval. Finally, Hugo arrives with Becky, but all that happens is that Wads essentially gets fired and not much else. Regardless, this finally wakes up Hugo to what he's been doing and realizing he's been going about it all wrong, so all's well that ends well, I guess!
but all that happens is that Wads essentially gets fired and not much else
I kinda laughed that Wads's crimes are listed out like "Attempted murder, theft, terrorism, conspiracy... you're being put on administrative leave, sir." like uh... pretty sure you need to call the cops, the army, the bracers, maybe the church, and like interpol for this.
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xp1337: Don't you wish there was a spell-checker that told you when you a word out?
Wow, a lot to unpack in this episode. Goku indirectly telling kids not to drink beer, Vegeta showing that aliens flip the bird, too, Namekian Dragon Balls grant three wishes, a big Krillin/Gohan/Vegeta team up, and the Ginyu Force with a Power Rangers intro that leaves Frieza speechless.
Oh, so I guess we'll finally see the ninth Titan. Also, I wonder if we'll meet whoever was born with the Attack Titan's powers because they had to transfer to someone after Grisha became the Founding Titan, right?
AoT: I thought they kinda stacked, so that once Grisha ate Historia's sister he had Attack + Founding. Not sure what that would mean if Eren died if that's the case though. Would they split back up or are there only effectively 8 Titan Shifters now?
Best OP + ED in the series imhotbqh. I might entertain the first OP against this one but ED no contest.
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xp1337: Don't you wish there was a spell-checker that told you when you a word out?
Oh, so I guess we'll finally see the ninth Titan. Also, I wonder if we'll meet whoever was born with the Attack Titan's powers because they had to transfer to someone after Grisha became the Founding Titan, right?
also this season's OP and ED are a trip
This is covered in Season 3. Eren is both the Attack Titan and the Founding Titan. Hange makes fun of Eren when Eren says "Attack Titan" out loud and says it is the name of Eren's Titan. It is possible to have more than one at once. ---
My bracket looked like random picks compared to his. Congrats to azuarc for winning the GotD 2020 Guru Contest!
so what, could they theoretically have one person eat all the other intelligent Titans and recreate Ymir? I feel like they never really discussed what happened there!
so what, could they theoretically have one person eat all the other intelligent Titans and recreate Ymir? I feel like they never really discussed what happened there!
Attack on Titan spoilers (up to Season 3) I'm not sure if it was ever brought up when happens if one person collects them all. People largely only seem really interested in the Founding Titan as the one that rules them all. The other Titans are just kinda nice to have if you need to beat something up. ---
My bracket looked like random picks compared to his. Congrats to azuarc for winning the GotD 2020 Guru Contest!
Anyway, let's do one more Cold Steel IV Act 3 session!
Now it's time to use those bond points! Well, I already screwed up the profile entries last time, so let's not worry about that anymore. Let's just start with the ones I know I want to do. The obvious first choice is Emma. She wants to test our a magical charm that she learned from her mother. Once again, we see Rean and Emma in their astral (read: naked) forms. Apparently, the charm causes their consciousnesses to merge for a bit. It seems to do the trick for Rean, and Emma says it was originally a lullaby that her mom modified. Emma lets slip that it's something her mom wanted to use on her father, so it's basically a love spell or something. This scene ends rather abruptly with Emma just being embarrassed. All right then.
Let's do Altina next. She's using her ARCUS to talk to George. Apparently, the Black Workshop is completely abandoned, and Alberich took all of his important research data with him. Even though it likely won't result in finding anything conclusive, Altina still wants to go investigate. Naturally, they won't let the two of them go alone, so Crow, Duvalie, Sara, Randy, Towa, and Angelica, as well as Valimar and Ordine, just in case. Rean and Altina investigate the homunculi labs, of course. They eventually find the tanks where she and Millium were grown. She thinks about how much she's changed emotionally since she's met Rean, but she still doesn't totally understand it all.
I decide to roll with Ash next. He got a call from his old gang buddy Brad from Raquel, asking to meet up. Ash decides it's time to put the past to bed so he can move on toward the future. Turns out Miguel the information has been blackmailing Brad. Ash blames his actions for the reason the curse has taken such deep root in Raquel. They confront Miguel and find out he's some sort of war profiteer now. Ash asks him point blank if he's the one who got him out of Hamel. After a little prodding, Miguel admits to it, but he says that the imperial army found out about it and bribed him into giving up Ash, so he pawned him off to the woman who would raise him in Raquel. Ash realizes that decision has been eating away at him ever since, and he tells him how he and his mom wanted to thank the guy who brought them together because he considers Raquel his home now, not Hamel. That being said, Miguel and Brad are still criminals, so Ash turns them over to the authorities. Felt like I had to wait a long time between Ash's bond events to see how it played out, but this was really good.
We got nearly a foot of snow here yesterday, which is by far the most I've seen in the 5+ years I've been living here. I know it's not a lot compared to places farther north, but it's just crazy to see for me.
We're not even delivering mail today. I'm going to put up the mail I do have in hopes the roads will be better tomorrow, but apparently like a dozen mail carriers called in saying they couldn't make it to work today.
This is another weird category because I don't think I'd say there's a game in the series I hate, but I also haven't played some of the more infamously bad ones, like FFII. I don't hate FFIV, but it's definitely near the bottom of my rankings and I haven't posted a song from it, so I figured I'd throw it a bone here.
Easy one for me: Apocalypsis Noctis from FFXV. Bad game with a not great soundtrack compared to most FFs, but Apocalypsis Noctis/Aquarius are good stuff! ---
Okay, we've got four more bond points to spend. Next up is Fie. She has a keepsake box of cigars and a lighter from Rutger. They put a makeshift grave marker for him just south of Hamel. For some reason, Rean decides to make this the time he smokes his first cigar, and it goes about like you'd expect. At that moment, Xeno, Leo, Sara, and Randy show up to pay their respects, along with Shirley and Gareth. After everyone leaves, Fie has an emotional moment, and this maxes out my bond with her.
Let's go with Alisa now. She's curious about the Reinford Group's 5th Development Division. Since it was the Black Workshop who was behind it, she wants to know when all this took place and who was in charge of it. We decide to head to Roer along with Sharon. After doing some research, we learn the 5th Division was just a front, and it was using people from all the other divisions to do its dirty work. After all this, Alisa says that what's happened lately has helped solidify her determinations, especially Sharon returning and being able to reconcile with her mom a bit. Then Rean takes her hand and talks about having hope for their relationship. Why is Alisa the only one Rean will actually be forward with?
Time to see what Juna has in store for us. She wants to play some practice tennis matches with Jessica and Louise to keep herself in shape. Afterwards, she challenges Rean to a match. Upon winning, she confesses her feelings to him and then runs away. And...that's really it. Not much to see here! Oh, I guess I got her tennis outfit as an alternate costume, too.
Now I've got one bond point and three options between Elise, Crow, and Duvalie. I think I'll start with Crow. He has some errands to run with Ordine, so Rean joins along with Valimar. We stop at the cathedral in Saint-Arkh, where he gives some of Gideon's possessions to his grandmother, who's praying for his forgiveness. He gives Vulcan's dog tag to one of his old followers. Then George helps him to get in contact with Scarlet. Somehow Jusis had her released into the protective custody of the Gralsritter. Oh right, she was a squire before she joined the ILF. She mentions Father Wazy and "that bald knight," whom I'm assuming is Abbas. Crow just wanted to make sure he had all his loose ends tied up while he still had a chance. Okay, this was a really good scene, and I got a profile entry to boot. It'll take something great from one of the other two to top this.
Let's look at Elise next. She's repaired Rean's old white coat for the most part, but there's one finishing touch left. We pay a visit to Eryn, where one of the witches gave her special thread to sew the jacket back together, and now they're going to infuse it with magic. I do really like his white jacket, although it's a weird contrast with his white hair now. Elise confesses her love to Rean and he thinks it's a joke, which is the appropriate response. Bah, this is unfortunate because I dig the white coat and they even give you his original hair color, too. I don't know that I'd use it though.
Finally, let's see what Duvalie has to offer. She left her Stahlritter armor in the care of the shopkeeper in Ordis, and he polished and buffed out the scratches on it. Even so, she still doesn't feel ready to face Arianrhod. Rean tries to cheer her up with some gelato. I'm kinda surprised we don't get her armor as an alternate costume. Oh well, I think we're sticking with Crow's bond event out of these three, although I feel bad I've skipped out on Duvalie twice now.
With that, we're finally ready to head to Crossbell. We can see the pillar of light from afar, but apparently we were detected on radar and some sort of barrier is shot at the pillar of light. Big surprise, it's coming from Orchis Tower in Crossbell. Looks like Rufus is trying to keep us out of there. Lloyd calls in and tells us to meet him at the old SSS building. The entire SSS is waiting for us, along with KeA, Jona, Sully, and Grace. Looks like Rufus kept his word about taking them off the wanted list. We decide to infiltrate Orchis Tower via the Geofront, but we need a distraction to lure the guards away. They ask Sully to put on an Arc en Ciel show, with the help of Estelle and Schera. Heiyue volunteers to help, too, and they inform us that McBurn and Laura's dad are waiting for us at Orchis Tower.
While we have a bunch of people staying behind to help with the Arc en Ciel performance, we have to decide who's helping with the infiltration. Laura, Kurt, Machias, and Sharon are required members, although we can look around Crossbell for a bit first. We learn from Imelda that the Rosenberg Doll Studio (one of the Thirteen Factories, according to Sharon) has been shut down. We get a heartwarming scene where Renne shows herself to Colin and his mom. This one definitely hit home more after playing Zero. We also get to see one final baking competition between Oscar and Bennet, and Bennet finally comes out on top!
FF Music: Let's see... how about... Final Fantasy IX - Assault of the Silver Dragons
CS4: Yeah, that's a pretty high-tier round of bond events. Ash, Crow, Altina, and Fie all have great ones. Duvalie's is nice. Juna is the only real stinker there IMO. That said, for Rean's costume, the moment I got his Torn Coat from Fragments that was what I had him wear for the rest of the game. Best outfit tbqh. The Renne scene in Crossbell is indeed really, really good and definitely helps to have played Zero first.
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xp1337: Don't you wish there was a spell-checker that told you when you a word out?
Utawarerumono MoT: Kuon just rejoined. The whole scene/sequence where she arrived in her Princess garb and was trying to break Anju's will and how Haku helped her push past that was amazing. Definitely the high point of the series so far, I think. LOL at the fight almost turning into a WWE match with Karalau throwing her sword into the arena for Anju. I was expecting that we would face Kuon/Tuskur as enemies at some point before her inevitable rejoining but perhaps this is for the best. A bit surprised no one caught Kuon slipping towards the end of the fight when she was rattled by her realization that "Oshtor" was Haku because she absolutely exposed her identity with some of her comments and speech pattern there. Though to be fair Haku was severely injured so maybe he wasn't on top of his game. Still, I feel like Ougi would have caught that but maybe he did and is sitting on it like the troll he is.
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xp1337: Don't you wish there was a spell-checker that told you when you a word out?
There we go. This is the moment we've been waiting for. Also, this would explain why Grisha had to steal the Founding Titan before Reiner and company invaded.
crossing my fingers that the blonde soldier is Annie
I mean, I used to believe that we'd get Winds of Winter if nothing else too... years ago...
Yes, it's definitely likely because it appears to be finished in large part, at least roughly, which I'm sure we'd see in current state even if he gave up.
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Guinness Book of World Records is the name of the diary that belongs to azuarc, the winner of the Game of the Decade II guru contest.
Perhaps an odd choice for me because I'm honestly not a huge fan of the song itself. It's mostly background noise, but it's such a constant refrain throughout FFVIII that it's ingrained into my brain and instantly takes me back to playing the game. Plus, it really nails that whole "school days" feel for me, and that's something that feels more and more nostalgic the older I get...!
