Board 8 > SaveEstelle/LeonhartFour in Different Houses: Featuring Doggo Edition [SELF]

(+) Yeah! (+)

LeonhartFour posted...

so do we know if anyone in the NFL is good this year

national fraud league

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Ao no Kiseki Prologue and Chapter 1 watched

aww yeah now we're cooking. Kevin and Ries bringing the Gralsritter drama that was hinted in Zero back into the spotlight (also the worst covert ops ever like lmao ries's cover is already blown. even elie knows.) Actually the whole thing is made odder by the future events I know but I guess I'll find out as we go. Not to mention Red Constellation crashing the party. And now we got Campanella all but officially kicking off Phantasmal Blaze - Crossbell Edition. Also Novartis for another Anguis sighting.

And looks like we're about to get to the West Zemuria Trade Conference so it'll be fun to watch that from the Crossbell side. Also making it easier to exactly pinpoint where we are on the Cold Steel timeline. Ao Chapter 1 seems to be roughly around CS1 Chapter 4. Zero's Final Chapter is referenced in an early CS1 Imperial Chronicle, I want to say Chapter 1 or 2.
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Replayed 999 (this time on PS4) and I'm now replaying VLR

I still think 999's the weakest one in the trilogy after reading it again.

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Yeah, I've always thought 999 was the weakest one. The cast isn't as good as the other two.
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I actually really didn't like the Ao prologue for whatever reason. It feels strange and unnecessary in a way that's very off-putting to me. Might be my least favorite Trails chapter overall. Seeing Kevin and Ries was great but that's about it. Chapter 1 is pretty solid though. Had some of my favorite NPC moments (<3 the Bond family) and the ending is also pretty cool. Also Campanella has been slowly but surely climbing his way through my Trails character rankings and he's one of the reasons I'm most excited about CS3 and CS4 to be honest.

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Re: Zero Escape

999 has always been my favorite, even though I wouldn't say it's by much. In ZTD I didn't really like the cast much comparatively. VLR I probably like the cast more, but 999's plot is more solid I think, and also the scenario being more grounded helps a lot for me.
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I despise Campanella, so he holds back some of the Trails games for me.
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pyresword posted...

Might be my least favorite Trails chapter overall.

whoa now

Think that might be like CS1 Prologue or Chapter 1 for me.
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Only Ferdinand left to recruit now.

Also, I got three Bads in a row during Instruction, which is crazy because I rarely get Bads at all.
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Yeah, that is kinda crazy. I got like three Bads my entire playthrough lol.

As for Ferdinand. His B-Support is locked behind the timeskip so to recruit him you'll need to work a bit on the stats he wants. Specifically, with a C-Support you'll need 8 Dex and a C in Heavy Armor. (Maybe try at D+ it "shouldn't" work but who knows.)
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Well to be fair "least favorite Trails chapter" still means I rate it a solid 6/10 or something. It's just one of the only times I can remember thinking "why are they bothering to show me this?" in the series.
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Yeah, I've been trying to build up Heavy Armor so I can recruit him. Unfortunately, the game won't let me use Renown to gain levels on that one, for whatever the reason.
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xp1337 posted...

As for Ferdinand. His B-Support is locked behind the timeskip so to recruit him you'll need to work a bit on the stats he wants. Specifically, with a C-Support you'll need 8 Dex and a C in Heavy Armor. (Maybe try at D+ it "shouldn't" work but who knows.)

You can reach C+ rank with Ferdinand. There's no C+ support but it still reduces the recruitment requirements. At C+ Support Rank, Byleth only needs D+ Armor and 6 Dex to recruit Ferdinand.

LeonhartFour posted...

Yeah, I've been trying to build up Heavy Armor so I can recruit him. Unfortunately, the game won't let me use Renown to gain levels on that one, for whatever the reason.

You can only use Renown to unlock weapon levels you have achieved in a previous game.
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Oh yeah, that makes sense, I guess. That's too bad.
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Team Rocket Elite posted...

You can reach C+ rank with Ferdinand. There's no C+ support but it still reduces the recruitment requirements. At C+ Support Rank, Byleth only needs D+ Armor and 6 Dex to recruit Ferdinand.

Ah, right, right. I actually included that parenthetical just in case there was a C+ support because I couldn't remember off the top of my head.
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The Titans benched Marcus Mariota in favor of older Marcus Mariota (a.k.a. Ryan Tannehill)
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i am sorry
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honestly the sooner the Titans realize Mariota isn't the guy the better off we'll be

we don't want to be stuck in the cycle the Dolphins were in for the last, what, 7 years, when they couldn't figure out if Tannehill was good enough to be the guy
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I have elected to make Marianne my Dancer for this playthrough.
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immersion gone
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well she and Claude had by far the most Charm of anyone else other than Byleth and I didn't want to pick Dorothea again

plus picking Marianne has a "She's All That" feel to it
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I have no idea if it is possible to lose in the White Heron Cup. The game seems to imply that it is.
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The game seems to suggest you need a Charm score of at least 13 to win, and considering you get an instant +5 Charm from the free dance lesson, it theoretically seems possible to win with anyone.

Marianne is still the leader in the clubhouse for my romance for the Golden Deer route (since I want to pick characters from my main route, which will make Black Eagles the really tough one, so I suppose it's good it has two routes).
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I think I read somewhere it's a straight charm check against the other House competitors (which is of course influenced if you poach all their students). No idea if that's accurate or not though.
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Also aaaaaaaa (35 minutes from) less than a week until Cold Steel III. Review embargo lifted today as well and while I haven't really looked at many of them in-depth it sounds good so far.

Still watching Ao Chapter 2. Trade Conference started for realz. We're on the day of the CS1 cold open.

Mueller sidequest was incredible. He needs that to be his main outfit. Cold Steel failed in this regard.
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Marianne is a pretty legit Dancer option. Give her a Levin Sword and she can dodge and do damage on Enemy Phase.
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And now I have every party member at my disposal.
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I'm not a Sylvain fan by any means, but the Support convos between him and Lorenz consist of the two of them busting each other's balls over their inability to pick up women and it's pretty fantastic.
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Wow, Leonie, not a great time to rip Byleth yet again for not being a good enough son.
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I made a very important poll that everyone should partake in because it could save my relationship with my girlfriend.
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I regret to inform you that you are incorrect about this issue
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Hey guys. Remember when Squall made a cameo in Charlie's Angels? Good times.
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BK_Sheikah00 posted...

Hey guys. Remember when Squall made a cameo in Charlie's Angels? Good times.

I do remember two kids button mashing while playing FFVIII as if it were a two player fighting game.
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Leonhart4 posted...

Wow, Leonie, not a great time to rip Byleth yet again for not being a good enough son.

not the best timed support lockout, no
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I assumed the support was locked out because it would deal with Jeralt's death in some way. I don't understand the reason for locking that one out behind that event because all it does is make Leonie look awful.
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I don't remember the exact wording of the support (beyond it clearly being NOT THE RIGHT TIME) but I think I tried to rationalize it as Leonie in grief and lashing out at Byleth over it.

but yes it was not well done. should not have been time-gated that way and if it absolutely had to needed to be rewritten to not be... that.
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The timing is especially strange when you see what Leonie is like when you directly talk to her at the monastery.
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I'm closing in on the timeskip. I've heard Golden Deer is the longest route in the game, so I wonder if I can finish it off before CS3 drops next week.
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Story-wise it's the same length as BL (22 Chapters with two back-to-back). Technically it also has fewer Paralogues to complete since the only character unique to the route is Claude, though that's almost certainly counteracted by recruiting everyone.
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There's a part of me that almost doesn't want to recruit anyone from other Houses for my future Black Eagles run just to create more tension post-timeskip.
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Ao no Kiseki Chapter 2 + Intermission watched

lmao osborne "crossbell ain't **** and neither are you guys" this guy Trade Conference was fun with plenty of "that escalated quickly" towards the end. Intermission was okay but could have done without the first half and should have just started at the theme park. Ending of that was interesting.

Started a bit of Chapter 3 too (basically Day 1 of it) oh ya celestial globe sighting. Found it kinda interesting that it felt like the 1st Anguis was "running" things though I imagine it's just that he, Novartis, and Arianrhod are all on the3 same page on whatever they're doing since they should all be equal I think. Also Pleroma flowers huh. Ries continues to be the worst spy lol
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Chapter 2 of Ao really good imo. The ending felt a bit anticlimactic to me having already played Cold Steel, but I loved all the politics and such leading up to it. Also Olivier lol

Idk if you want to read this in case it indirectly spoils something about Ao or CS3, this but some time between the release of CS3 and CS4 I was reading some fan theories, and there's some interesting speculation about the identity of Anguis #1. The actual theory: Basically a large portion of the fanbase thinks that it's Nielsen. Personally I don't really subscribe to the theory. There's certainly enough justification that it could be him, but something about it doesn't sit well with me. He doesn't give off the right vibe and I don't get much sense of mystery from him either. Figured it might be worth mentioning though. I have no idea whether or not CS4 changed anything as I kind of stopped reading fan speculation once that game came out
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LeonhartFour posted...

There's a part of me that almost doesn't want to recruit anyone from other Houses for my future Black Eagles run just to create more tension post-timeskip.

If you want max drama, you recruit one or two from each house and that's it.
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I only recruited three when I did BE and felt like there was basically no drama.
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About that Anguis speculation (Spoilers through Early Ao): Based on what I've seen so far I'd say probably not but I can't rule it out? The only red flag he's raised was when he does that interview with the SSS and at the end just casually throws out "so what if KeA is 500 years old" out of nowhere and when the team is like "how the f-" he just goes "oh just some crazy idea i had cya later." wtf kind of idea possibly gets you there!
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Timeskip reached

Current Golden Deer rankings: Claude > Lorenz > Marianne > Raphael > Hilda > Lysithea > Ignatz > Leonie
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I should really play the last two Black Eagle chapters...

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So many Support conversations
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5-2 finally down.

Very much a middle case, I think the end of it made up for most of it being a slog. I love the effect at the end with it zooming into Apollo's head as you put together the last pieces of decisive evidence.

Did it really need two days though? The investigation phase was more boring than usual.

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Not a fan of 5-2. Low tier case for me.

I know Leon disagrees!

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I think DD's investigations in general are hurt by the lack of free investigations. It's one of the major shortcomings of the game.

5-2 is a really good case though. Blackquill is the best prosecutor the series has had in quite some time, and Apollo is the perfect opponent to show off what makes him so good.
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GIF of doggo climbing the stairs incoming
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