Board 8 > SaveEstelle/LeonhartFour in Different Houses: Best Smile Edition [SELF]

(+) Yeah! (+)

Part 1?
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Part 3. The last episode aired on Toonami was Polnareff getting swallowed by DARKNESS.
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Posting from new phone whoa
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Ah.

I've still only seen part 1 and 2. I didn't think those were hit or miss, but I hear part 3 is a lot more episodic and slow.
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Yeah, Parts 1 and 2 were more even, I think. Part 3 has had some really great episodes and then some episodes which... should not have existed.
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This fortress seems a little convoluted, which is a change because Xillia has been very straightforward up to this point. So many locked doors, which is my worst nightmare in a dungeon because I want to come back and unlock all the doors once I find the key. Let's just hope I don't need five different keys.
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okay Jude just freaked me out

I decided to look up what in the world I was missing in this fortress because I've been everywhere multiple times and can't figure out how to get to the next area

after I finished looking it up and picked up the controller again Jude blurts out "It's always good to have a plan!"

dude can you see me through the screen
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In Xillia news, we eventually find our way through the fortress, only to find that Milla has already made a jailbreak and is in the middle of getting wrecked by King Nachtigal, who has double scars across his face. Dude must be a Squall/Seifer fanboy! We also learn that Rowen is some super famous tactician named Ilbert and nicknamed the Conductor (I noticed that he sometimes looked like he was conducting an orchestra with his sword during victory poses, which I thought was weird at the time, but I guess it makes sense!). As Nachitgal and his Ramirez-esque right hand man leave, Milla manages to squeeze through the door right before it closes. Rowen helps break the barriers and stuff so we can chase after her, but by the time we get there, Nachtigal is escaping and Milla is lying on the ground looking like she's been burned all over in a fire. I guess I gotta replay it as Milla to get the full story here!

Anyway, even once Milla regains consciousness, she can no longer walk. Even so, she's determined to keep going on her mission because she just can't quit, no matter what. That's a good way to move your way up my list! Jude tries to convince her to quit unsuccessfully, but after some time to think, he realizes that he still wants to help her, so he suggests they go visit his hometown, where his dad is a very famous doctor who has helped people walk again after they've injured their legs.

Alvin decides he's had enough and finds other employment. He says that suicide missions aren't good for business as a mercenary, and he doesn't believe in anything strongly enough to be willing to die for it yet. I guess he's going to be filling the Drachma role of the guy who joins and leaves the party a bunch! When we arrive in Jude's hometown of Lerond, a girl in a wheelchair goes careening off the pier and skips across the water a few times while he looks on with a bemused expression on his face. Apparently, this girl's name is Leia, who clearly has a thing for Jude, who also clearly feels nothing romantic for her. One of the townspeople even comments upon seeing Milla that Leia can't compete with that. Poor girl.

Anyway, Jude's dad is angry with him for promising Milla that he could heal her legs despite how difficult and excruciating the procedure is. Jude insists on going through with it anyway, but they need a spirit fossil (who knew spirits could leave fossils behind), so Leia joins the party and we're off to the mines.
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whoa my new phone lets me have picture in picture with YouTube so I can actually do other stuff and still have the video playing

best phone ever
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oh wow I finally got a trophy in Xillia

they really make you work for it in this game huh
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so apparently all that I've done so far in Xillia was just chapter 1

I forgot that Tales games tend to be very long
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Man, a lot of these demons in SMT are really disturbing

They let Mara through to the Persona series, but other than that they really filtered most of the worst stuff out!
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It's only 4 chapters long iirc
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well I found an area where the enemies were at a much higher level than me in Xillia and I braved it and gained a bunch of levels really easily

the good news is that even when party members aren't even active in your party at the time they still get the EXP so I'll probably be good in the main game for a while
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now that I finally have all six party members together at the same time I think I'll go back over all the towns and look for new sidequests and stuff

thank goodness for Xillia's quick travel feature
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Okay, let me try to recap all the Xillia action from yesterday. They turn mining into a rapid button press mini-game, which is fine because I'm good at tapping buttons quickly. Eventually, we find this big creature with a spirit fossil attached to its head. We manage to chip a piece off during the fight, and Milla drags herself over to it and attaches it to the device on her leg, so she's back in our active party. Beating the boss marks the end of Chapter 1.

We have a 3-week time skip while Milla undergoes rehabilitation, but Jude's dad tells him he doesn't truly understand who she is or why she can't stop moving forward. Naturally, Jude doesn't care and insists on going with her anyway. As we take a walk around town, Rowen and Elize show up for a visit. Milla convinces Rowen to rejoin the party, although they don't want to take Elize along because of the danger. At that moment out of nowhere, Alvin shows up (along with Jude's dad) and offers to come along because his new job didn't pan out. He also promises to take care of Elize, so now she's coming, too. He definitely seems to have some ulterior motive with her. Anyway, we find Leia stowing away on the ship, so our party is complete!

Rowen says we can't get through Fort Gandala right now because they've got these giant golems roaming all over the place, so our best option is to get to Fennmont on foot, which means going through this dangerous swamp. However, since the spirit climes change like the seasons of the year (boy am I glad they don't overdo the terminology like Abyss did), the swamp is calm right now, so if we go quickly, we can make it.

Which means it's the perfect time to do some sidequests! We go right back to Leronde, where Leia gets lectured by her mom for leaving without saying anything, and then everyone gets lectured for trying to stand up for her. There's also a cutscene between Alvin and Jude's dad, who seem to know each other. Alvin mentions something about Exodus (not to be confused with X-Death) in relation to Jude, but the whole conversation is pretty cryptic, naturally.
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User SaveEstelle messaged me earlier very excited about some new Trails of Cold Steel 4 news he heard

he also talked about how bad the Steam sales for the Trails in the Sky games are since that info was recently leaked which made us both sad

we decided that Trails needs to be attached to a more popular series like Persona was at first

Final Fantasy Presents: Trails in the Sky
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I heard the same Cold Steel 4 news (probably) and am super excited.
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I would play Trails if theyd release them for PS4 or Mac...!
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The Cold Steel games are coming to PS4 I believe.

Trails in the Sky is a much better set of games (as are Zero/Ao, so I'm told), but the Cold Steel games that have made it to the West are still pretty good.
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LeonhartFour posted...

User SaveEstelle messaged me earlier very excited about some new Trails of Cold Steel 4 news he heard

man what is user saveestelle doing getting into Cold Steel 4 info when he has even played Sky 3?

on that note tell user SaveEstelle to return here and play Trails 3. and then cold steel 1 and 2. so he can join the club of commiseration over crossbell and cold steel 3.

LeonhartFour posted...

he also talked about how bad the Steam sales for the Trails in the Sky games are since that info was recently leaked which made us both sad

yeah that wasn't great news

not altogether surprising but man you see the drop off after FC and it's like "yikes"

LeonhartFour posted...

we decided that Trails needs to be attached to a more popular series like Persona was at first

Final Fantasy Presents: Trails in the Sky

might be better to unattach it from legend of heroes first. although trails may have overtaken its reputation for the comically poor translation it had pre-Trails.

pyresword posted...

I heard the same Cold Steel 4 news (probably) and am super excited.

I can't really get too excited for Cold Steel 4 news when we have radio silence on Cold Steel 3 still. =(

but yeah it was cool

pyresword posted...

The Cold Steel games are coming to PS4 I believe.

I mean, they did in Japan but I don't know if they will here. Maybe, I guess. But I feel like that requires XSEED to get Cold Steel 3 which in a just world they would but again ~radio silence~

god this all makes me sad

although topical i had a dream last night that i saw a Cold Steel 4 trailer that somehow showed that it was canonically linked to .hack//G.U.

i wish i remembered more of the trailer because i recall in the dream thinking it was the most hype thing ever.
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xp1337 posted...

tell user SaveEstelle to return here

LOL
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that may have been the most soul crushing answer you could have given
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I mean I'll tell him but that's probably the answer he'll give
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I'm not convinced "SaveEstelle" was ever a real person to begin with
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Is cold steel 3 localization not a sure thing? I thought it was inevitable, but now that's seeming maybe not true? I especially want it on PC for turbo mode, which is a huge boon for Trails games.
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I don't think the chances of a CS3 localization have changed. Most predictions were that even if CS3 was picked up immediately by XSEED we still wouldn't have an announcement now, since they tend to wait to announce things until late in the process now.

Crossbell though...uh...yeah. I wouldn't get your hopes up.
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User SaveEstelle's official response:

"User SaveEstelle simply doesn't mind looking at a few preview pics for Cold Steel 4 is all, xp!
It's not like I'll be playing it until 2024 anyway, and not because I'm slow LOL"

note that he didn't even deign to acknowledge the other part of your post LOL
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Mac Arrowny posted...

Is cold steel 3 localization not a sure thing? I thought it was inevitable, but now that's seeming maybe not true? I especially want it on PC for turbo mode, which is a huge boon for Trails games.

CS3 will almost definitely be localized at some point.

But since there's no word it remains in the air who actually gets it. Given that we know NISA got Ys VIII when XSEED wanted it I don't think it can be taken as a given that XSEED gets CS3.

tbqh, if XSEED has CS3 I'd be totally cool if they said "Yo, we gots it, be cool everyone. Too early in the process to even begin to tell you when we'll be close to done." They've earned the credibility with the series to do that.

really assuming someone picked it up i just want them to say they have it and put this whole thing to rest. if it's nisa though i also want a release window to cushion the blow a bit. Aksys I could go either way on. It'd suck if XSEED didn't get it though.

pyresword posted...

Crossbell though...uh...yeah. I wouldn't get your hopes up.

i am in despair

LeonhartFour posted...

note that he didn't even deign to acknowledge the other part of your post LOL

wow

user saveestelle has turned SAVAGE in his absence

such cruelty

LeonhartFour posted...

User SaveEstelle simply doesn't mind looking at a few preview pics for Cold Steel 4 is all, xp!

Tell him that's a dangerous game. I checked some preview stuff yesterday and got more CS3 spoilers and I have already been pretty extensively spoiled on CS3 already! I didn't think something that big was left to get me!

LeonhartFour posted...

It's not like I'll be playing it until 2024 anyway, and not because I'm slow LOL

wow

man maybe i won't either
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Oh yeah can confirm following along with Cold Steel 4 sceenshots and whatnot has already spoiled me a lot on on Cold Steel 3 lmao.
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"Oh I don't recognize what's going on in this picture"

*searches Kiseki Wiki for clarification using keywords from text*

"oh..."
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There was also that brief period where someone on TVTropes decided that there were too many spoilers on the Cold Steel character pages and just got rid of all spoiler tags.

It's since changed to CS1 and 2 have no tags but CS3 is back under tag. Only I discovered they weren't thorough about putting them back when I ran into more!
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man you guys are gluttons for punishment

I bailed out the first time I even saw a hint of Cold Steel spoilers
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More like I am that desperate for Trails material to consume I can't help but be drawn to it like a moth to flame.

it feels bad
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I purposely looked up spoilers for CS3 as soon as they became available and I don't regret anything!

I'm one of the rare crazy people who don't care about spoilers, though.
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I mean if you don't care about spoilers go for it

I enjoy being surprised when I play games though so that desire overrides any desire to know stuff before I play it
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I'd probably be able to control it better if we had some kind of release window or announcement. I didn't really have this problem during the wait for CS2, for example, and we knew both that it was coming and when it was coming when CS1 came out. Same deal for 3rd... and even SC during the agonizing wait.

But as is, it just feels like any future releases are far off in the future and part of me despairs at it all and just wants to experience it in some way. And for Crossbell just pure despair. >_>
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Eh, if I really wanted to experience it that badly, I'd just watch an LP, which is what I did for AAI2 after we learned it wasn't coming over here (and the fan translation took forever) and what I've been doing for both of the DGS games (although they're taking forever on the second game. It's been out for a year now and they haven't even finished translating the second case yet).

seriously dowolf help a brother out
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Eh, I've never really been into LPs. I don't claim any of this makes sense or is consistent. It's just how I feel. =(
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xp1337 posted...

More like I am that desperate for Trails material to consume I can't help but be drawn to it like a moth to flame.

it feels bad

This except it feels good.

I am also someone who doesn't care much about spoilers generally speaking. There are exceptions which is why I do "try" and avoid them, but I'm fine with doing stuff like this because even if I do end up accidentally spoiling myself on something it usually doesn't hurt my experience much.

There's even one case where I'm convinced I enjoyed the game more having been spoiled on a certain plot point, which is Persona 4. (I spoiled myself on the identity of the culprit)
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Knowing that in P4 would've been less fun for me because I still remember how I felt when the game made me choose and I realized it couldn't have been anything else
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Persona 4 spoils

I don't think I would have gotten that. I spoiled myself about 2 or 3 months into the game, but I'd already been pretty suspicious of him for some reason or other anyways, so I doubt it would have been shock. Having it confirmed for sure caused all his conversations to take on this completely different and sinister tone though which was quite entertaining.
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well that's what replays are for

I don't want the benefit of hindsight on my first playthrough
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I figured out the culprit in P4 immediately. I think before the first murder happened <_<

xp1337 posted...

But as is, it just feels like any future releases are far off in the future and part of me despairs at it all and just wants to experience it in some way. And for Crossbell just pure despair. >_>

Both Crossbell games got fantranslations, so that's something.
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Yeah I agree with that. It was an accident and I don't actually intentionally spoil myself on stuff. This was just a case where it happened to work out in my favor. (And I never actually replayed Persona 4, surprisingly.)
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I actually fake-spoiled myself on P4 when I saw a bunch of videos with titles like "Kanji's Death" "Rise's Death" etc. on Youtube. Definitely would've preferred not to have done that, even if they were fake!
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well I'm not actively trying to figure stuff out as I play because I like being surprised

although sometimes they make things blatantly obvious like they're doing with Alvin in Xillia (although I'm sure there are still some twists I haven't put together yet)
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I figured out P4 really early because JYB too big a VA to have a nothing role like Adachi would have been otherwise.
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I mean he's the protagonist too

that's weird logic considering Yuri Lowenthall did something similar in P3 when he voiced the protagonist and voiced a couple of other minor characters too
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LeonhartFour posted...

I mean he's the protagonist too

that's weird logic considering Yuri Lowenthall did something similar in P3 when he voiced the protagonist and voiced a couple of other minor characters too

P3: I kinda feel like that's helping my case. Pharos and Ryoji are key characters and Ryoji is sorta the final boss. Also them sharing VAs ends up being justified by the plot in a way that wasn't going to happen with Adachi unless P4 wanted to get really dumb.
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