Board 8 > Trails of Cold Steel 3 Playthrough Topic (Unmarked Spoilers)

(+) Yeah! (+)

Solf reporting in - longtime lurker on this board, through which I discovered the Trails series. Figured I'd do a playthrough topic of the latest game to come out in the West since they seem to be all the rage.

First of all - UNMARKED SPOILERS FOR THE WHOLE SERIES FROM THIS POINT ON. (Up to and including my current chapter in ToCS3.)

I'm about halfway through Chapter 1 (just got to Parm), and have managed to mostly avoid spoilers thus far while I was catching up on the Crossbell arc. Therefore - please avoid spoilers to the extent you can! I look forward to seeing what this game has in store.

A few thoughts about the game thus far:
- Overall impressions are that I'm liking this much more than ToCS 1 & 2. No clear reason why - just a lot of small things, such as toning down the high school tropes a bit (or at least switching perspectives to an instructor role, which is a more nuanced take than standard high school shenanigans), the improved graphics, the returning characters, etc.
- Initial impressions on the party/future party: Ash > Rean > Juna = Musse > Altina = Kurt. Ash is antagonistic and a pain to deal with, but also intriguing as he clearly seems to have a hidden agenda, and is also cleverer than he lets on. Rean is pretty much his same old self, though he has matured a bit which gives slightly more depth. Juna is a straightforward take on a well-known archetype, though I appreciate that she is not as needlessly antagonistic as early Machias (plus, some resentment towards the ones who invaded your homeland is understandable). Musse is a big bag of problems, but I'm curious to see what exactly she's trying to achieve. Altina and Kurt are both boring thus far.
- Love to have Randy back, though it's a bit weird for me because I'm playing this on the tails of Ao, meaning I've literally just left him off.
- Arianrhod is back! Looking forward to seeing what role she plays now that I've seen what she can do in Crossbell.
- Tita/Agate back is nice, though their dynamic has always been a bit uncomfortable. Japan being Japan, I guess. Still fun to see some more familiar faces!
- My big gameplay problem thus far is how constrained I am with orbal slots. I don't actually mind since it's fun to slowly unlock things and it's an interesting obstacle to cope with.
- I made the mistake of doing the forest in St. Arkh before the archaisms - struggled a bit with the spider fight at the end, but prevailed without too much trouble. One big factor hampering me: my obsession with not missing time-limited equipment, which meant I sank all my money into useless trinkets for the exchange shop rather than upgrading my armour. Oops.
- Weirdest thing is Rean's level being downgraded back to 7 (and Altina's to 3!). I totally understand why they did that, since having Rean running round at level 153 while his party is a flimsy level 5 would be ridiculous, but it still creates a situation where a battle-hardened Rean is roughly on par with untested Juna.

Some speculation/things I noted:
- Interesting that Ash was hanging around when Rean & Millium met Lechter at the station. Obvious theory is that he's an intelligence division plant who's there to report on Rean/the Branch Campus to Osborne & co - though I am a bit surprised that Lechter let us see him interacting with Ash.
- Randy seems to have been coerced into joining the Branch school, though I am not sure whether the coercing was done by Osborne's crew or Olivert's (though the game seems to imply it is the former, likely through Rufus). I'm sure he'll be placed in a difficult situation where Lloyd and crew will be in danger from Erebonia - curious to see how he'll play it (and Juna, of course). You can't have two characters from Crossbell and not engineer a situation like this at some point.
- Osborne's comment about Rean being a screw-up - wondering if he actually meant it or if he's playing it up to avoid people thinking Rean is his Achilles' heel. Given Lechter's comment during the scene, I suspect the latter but we'll see.
- Not sure who the snake in the grass will be for this game (there's always one), but I'll be keeping an eye out. There are so many returning characters that they might retroactively reveal one of the old crew as untrustworthy. As for the new ones, I'm not sure what to think about Major Irving.
- The only real thing I've accidentally spoiled myself on is the identity of the mysterious witch who I met in the forest near St. Arkh (I believe her name is Roselia?), which is a shame but hopefully not a key twist.
- Aurelia Le Guin strikes me as altogether a bit sinister, which makes me think she'll likely bail out the party at some point and won't actually betray them. At least we know from her past as a noble that she's probably not in Osborne's pocket, and I doubt she's affiliated with Ouroboros, which removes the two main threats.

Opinions about the series while I'm at it:
- I'm one of those weird people who prefer Sky FC to SC. I loved the world building and character development of the first game more, while I found that SC leaned a bit too hard into anime tropes (with the quirky boss/miniboss squad, people constantly holding back in fights, etc.). Don't get me wrong - I still love the entire Sky series.
- Did not like Cold Steel 1 & 2 remotely as much as Sky. Except for Crow and Jusis to some extent, I found the main party shallow and boring for the most part. The first game is redeemed by the Crow twist (which I absolutely did not see coming!), but Cold Steel 2 in particular was a painful slog at times, and seemed like a blatantly filler game.
- Recently played the Crossbell games with the release of the Geofront patch. Really impressed with Ao in particular, which is hands-down my favourite of the series. Really strong plot, likeable protagonist and side characters, plus Crossbell City is a great locale.
- Towa best girl, but I went with Alisa in the first two Cold Steel games because I felt that's what made the most sense for TOCS1/2 Rean. Not sure where I'll be going for TOCS3 - we'll see how Rean & the others develop.

That's it for now. I might play some more later tonight, though don't expect a ton of progress. I'm taking things slow and interacting with every NPC.

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tag

The Roselia thing doesn't really matter much I don't think.

I definitely liked Cold Steel 3 a lot more than 1 and 2, though Erebonia is still my least favorite arc overall.
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I've heard that Rean's level is calculated like he's two levels lower for EXP purposes, to preserve the sense of experience relative to Class VII.

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Tag.

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- Explored Parm a bit, grabbed a few more items and beat some kid at Vanguard Masters (which is a marked improvement over Blade, and a neat minigame). Not sure when the strategy of 'hide a Ranger and a couple Blyx in the back and keep buffing them' will go obsolete, but I'll sure be milking it until then!
- Made my way to the dojo where I meet Walton who is training with a comically large blade. Did they go to the Laura Arseid School of Oversized Swords?
- ...... two seconds after I write that joke, they mention a vagabond female instructor. Huh. Looks like this IS the Laura Arseid School of Oversized Swords.

- I'm off to Agria Road to go after 3 flying units. Not quite sure what Ouroboros is up to with these things roaming the countryside, but we'll find out soon enough.
- Nab a Blue Pendant along the way - these are really good items for early game, but then again, it's the third game in the series so it makes sense to start buffing the accessories.
- Kurt keeps missing against Sparrows, and anything that flies, really, even when his weapon type is supposed to be effective. Is he prone to miss against fliers?
- I reach the fliers, and have a pretty hard time taking them down with all the stat debuffs they keep spamming. Off to Parm Byroad next!
- Oh, here's Annabelle. It's uncanny how Rean basically bumps into a known character or two at every location, but at the same time, they've got so many characters that Falcom either has to spread them across the world, or else have to bunch 50 of them together in the same room in Heimdallr.
- Meet some Clowns, who promptly go down to 2 S-Crafts (yes, I am an unabashed proponent of spamming S-crafts against bosses. Laura with Domination, a Force Master Quartz and a whole bunch of +Str items carried me through the 2nd game).
- Speaking of Laura, here she is!

- Not clear what Ouroboros is trying to do here. Rean suggests they may be trying to create a diversion, but I'm not convinced. Are they testing their archaisms? If so, it wouldn't make sense to send Shirley & Duvalie to oversee this, as they don't have a clue about technology. Are they just trying to keep people away from whatever they've got cooking behind that gate in Parm Byroad (aka the ol' Scooby Doo gambit)? They'll probably be launching some sort of assault with local jaegers.
- While I'm thinking about it - one thing that I found surprising is how Ouroboros now seems to be common knowledge among the entire class. While Juna may have been friends with a few Crossbell policemen, I don't think they would've blabbed about Ouroboros (especially given how tight-lipped Dudley was in Zero/Ao). Same thing with Kurt & Mueller, though on that front it's a bit more credible.

- After a last patrol through Parm, we go back to camp. Oh crap - Ouroboros is attacking! Did not expect this to happen overnight. Way too many archaisms enter the fray - guess we'll get bailed out at some point.
- Man, I keep struggling against those Zephyr archaisms. The 2nd fight took me upwards of 8 minutes on normal. This is not good! They kept sealing Rean & Juna, and I ended up spending every other turn healing or casting weak Arts. I need to up my game. Clowns went down very fast in comparison, even without S-crafts.
- Fie to the rescue! Neat that she & Shirley seem to have history despite not interacting at all in the Crossbell arc, though it makes total sense given their respective background. Cool little moment there.
- With Fie, Elliott (is he playing his magic staff like a violin??) and Laura's support, we end up prevailing.

- Lechter shows up out of the blue the following morning. Huuuuuh... is anyone going to acknowledge this? OK, Rean does. Lechter & Irving basically imply Olivert sent the former Class VII to bail Rean out - Olivert continuing to make a case for Erebonia MVP.
- The whole Osborne-ordering-the-Ashen-Chevalier might explain why Rean was separated from his crew in the action prologue, though. Did Osborne order Rean to take on Arianrhod?? A bit ludicrous.
- Outside, Kurt throws a hissy fit because I head out into danger with battle-hardened buddies over my students, implying I'm somehow choosing the Arseid style over the Vander style. Kurt sucks.

That's it for tonight! Looking forward to rekindling with the old crew on day 2 (though I fully expect Juna & co. to show up because of course they will).

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Sceptilesolar posted...

I've heard that Rean's level is calculated like he's two levels lower for EXP purposes, to preserve the sense of experience relative to Class VII.

That's neat if that's the case (which, looking at his EXP gain, looks like it is)!

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Now its Rean time

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Vantage Masters the best.

Unfortunately the AI is not that good, but I was still able to have a ton of fun with it anyways. (At least from my perspective? I have a lot of experience with TCG's so I probably picked it up a lot faster than most)
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Solfadore posted...

Vanguard Masters (which is a marked improvement over Blade, and a neat minigame).

Vantage Masters is a ton of fun, yes.

Solfadore posted...

- Fie to the rescue! Neat that she & Shirley seem to have history despite not interacting at all in the Crossbell arc, though it makes total sense given their respective background. Cool little moment there.

Yeah. At one point when Fie talks about her past in either CS1 or 2 (I want to say a CS2 Bonding Event but not positive) she tells a story about how she met Shirley (not named but the description had to be her) while Red Constellation and Zephyr were camped out watching their bosses' final duel.

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Man I hate Towa. I don't get the appeal at all

I liked CS3 but hated the fact they basically reset you back to CS1. The first game in a new arc is meant to be the 'boring' one. Granted it does move at a faster pace. Vantage Master is a great improvement on the card game front but it's still way too easy.

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colliding posted...

Man I hate Towa. I don't get the appeal at all

w0w0w0w0w0w0w

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I prefer Towa in the first 2 games tbh. Also Shirley>Fie and that's not up for debate.

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xp1337 posted...

Vantage Masters is a ton of fun, yes.

Yeah. At one point when Fie talks about her past in either CS1 or 2 (I want to say a CS2 Bonding Event but not positive) she tells a story about how she met Shirley (not named but the description had to be her) while Red Constellation and Zephyr were camped out watching their bosses' final duel.

Totally missed that, but then again, I had no idea who Shirley was at the time, so it just didn't register.

Shirley's not my favourite character tbh - a bit too bloodthirsty/unstable and kind of one-note (though then again, so are most of Cold Steel's characters). Whereas Fie and her 100%+ Eva in the 2nd game (and Delay antics in the 1st game) bailed me out many times.

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pff who needs Fie when you've got Laura '1 shot' Arseid.

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Come back to me when Laura is able to one-shot Act 2 Cryptids. Never managed to do more than 50-60% health, even with the full one-shot setup.

Though let's all agree that no one in the series is remotely as overpowered as Vita in the Reverie Corridor/Epilogue of CS2. She just breaks that dungeon in half.

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and that Elliot is crap and has no reason to even be in the games.

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- Chat a bit with the students before leaving camp for day 2. Fie seems to know Agate - is she a Bracer? Yep, there it is. Makes sense given her dynamic with Sara.
- Seems Fie also has history with Randy, which again makes sense. I like it when seemingly distinct characters happen to have a connection with one another.
- Interestingly, Laura seems to know something about Musse. I'll have to file that for later use, though I'm not sure what the connection could be.
- I'm given a tutorial of sub-master Quartz, which is a nice feature to round up a build. I'll need to acquire a few more MQs before this can really come into its own, though.
- As I leave, I'm treated to a quick Lechter/Ash cutscene... seems Ash is indeed an intelligence division plant. More interestingly, Musse seems to be scheming something. I'm intrigued!

- I head out to St-Arkh. On the way, the party seems dumbfounded as to where Ouroboros is hiding... c'mon guys, there's not that many options. Smart money's on that gate near Parm - you even made a point of noting it was almost brand new.
- While in town, I upgrade my inventory - including a Green Emblem to solve my accuracy problems (since I don't have the slots to spare for Hit quartz).
- I head out to the forest to fight out a wanted monster... who completely walls me by confusing Elliott and then just healing half his HP every other turn. I stop fighting fair the 2nd go around and just spam my S-crafts, which promptly takes care of him.

- Off to the fortress - I bump into another wanted monster along the way (fight goes much better than the other one).
- ...okay, I think we've come to a point where there are too many minor character cameos. Rean can't keep bumping into old classmates every 10 meters! Even Neithardt's there, though at least his presence makes more sense.
- We meet with General Craig, who again starts things off by trying to hug his son. See, I think that's the main thing that bothers me with the Erebonia arc over the others - every character has exactly one quirk, and it seems every scene with them must feature that one quirk at all times. I miss Liberl/Crossbell's more rounded characters. At least the NPCs are better in this one than in CS1/CS2.
- Craig lets on that the Imperial Army won't support Rean & co. in a ploy to let the nobles crumble on their own. Interesting plan, though I'm not sure why the population would side with the side that willingly sits out of battles.
- Party makes a corny speech and Elliott works in a music pun (Elliott sucks). Somehow, that convinces the General to lend his help. I choose to blame nepotism.

- Cut to New Class VII back at camp! Kurt is complaining he got left behind for being immature, while complaining in an immature fashion. Good job, Kurt. The only one who has a point here is Altina, given that she accompanied Rean in his missions up north and is no stranger to a warzone.
- Juna giving a speech about surmounting obstacles... sounds like someone idolizes Lloyd Bannings!
- ...and there we go, they'll be scheming to tag around where Rean is headed. Hands up, anyone who didn't guess this would happen!
- Ah! Musse & Ash are coming in as well. I find them both much more interesting than the rest of the crew, though Juna is alright.

- Back to Rean. He figures out where Ouroboros is hiding (thankfully). Oh, it's Hamel! Of course! I should've realized before when I saw the landslide sign. Cool idea, and it's actually the first thing we'll visit outside of cutscenes/flashbacks.
- I make a pitstop at camp... huh, Musse is still around. What is she scheming? I'm really intrigued.
- I head out to Parm, and randomly bump into an NPC named Orvid. Is he the Gourmet guy from every Trails game? Nice little cameo there (and unobtrusive, unlike former Thors' classmates).
- On my way to Hamel, I spot a cutscene with the strong guy from earlier who defeated the archaisms. He's hanging out with Xeno and Leonidas... is he the not-so-dead Jaeger King?
- Of course the Hamel Road would have a flute as the main instrument! Wonder if that was intentional.
- Man, I keep finding a ton of crappy arts in chests - either really small stat boosts, and/or small-damage one-target arts. At least I feel less bad about the lack of Orbal Slots now!
- Apparently, someone's picking flowers. Is it a returning character from another game? ... no, it's just Shirley & Duvalie. Huh, didn't expect them to be the type.
- Lovely sad remix of Whereabouts of Light in Hamel - I really appreciate that!

- The Shirley/Duvalie boss fight was very painful. I manage to scrape by on my first try, but it was a close call! Not sure what the optimal strategy was for that one (especially if you're supposed to scan all four enemy types, which I most certainly did not do!). I basically Burst right off the bat to break them, then used Laura's order to up my damage by 60%, then spammed S-crafts until everything but Shirley was dead. So far so good, except Shirley S-crafts me back and OHKOs my entire party except Fie (who was left on Stealth the previous turn). What follows is a pitiful dance where I spam Revival Balms only for that character to immediately die off. I eventually prevail, but it was most certainly not my finest hour!
- Juna, Kurt & Altina arrive right after that to bail me out. Juna gives a passionate spiel about this reflecting their class's identity - errr.... do you want Class VII's identity to be "We can't listen to simple instructions"? Not sure that should be the motto of a military academy!
- Ash arrives in a Panzer Soldat. I love the "Little Miss War Crime" nickname for Shirley - good one!
- Rean calls for Valimar when the big Aion arrives. Rather than rushing to his help, Valimar spends a minute chatting with Towa, before recommending that Towa send high school students into a warzone. Divine Knights are not known for their sound advice! For a minute, I thought Towa had the presence of mind to say no and call for reinforcements instead (which is 100% the right move there), but nope, everyone's headed to Ground Zero.
- Aion fight goes much better than Shirley/Duvalie. Pretty straightforward, if a bit long.
- Jaeger King confirmed to be alive! No one ever dies in this series (seriously, outside of flashbacks and that one room of casualties during the Orchis Tower chapter in Ao, I can count the casualties on the fingers of one hand).
- Jaeger King is pretty thorough in removing the Aion from the map. Duvalie/the Sternritter are acting as if that was the plan all along. pressxtodoubt.jpg

- More cutscenes. Apparently Rean & co. share the story of Hamel with the entire Branch Campus?? Hum... Rean, I think you've forever lost the right to ream Altina & Millium over their casually sharing classified info. Agate sharing the story is one thing since he's from Liberl, but you're Erebonian military, dude.
- Rean yelling at Juna/Kurt/Altina for rushing into obvious danger is very welcome! I appreciate that the new Class VII doesn't argue back (though Laura and Elliott due, with a shaky comparison to the end of CS1). Yeah, I'm with Rean on this one.
- Randy admonishes Ash, who serves a flimsy excuse and walks away... and Randy apparently forgets all about it two seconds later. How is he getting away with this? Not that I mind.
- Ash has a connection with Hamel, huh? Interesting - wonder what his full backstory is. Doesn't explain the grudge he seems to have towards Rean.
- Musse being very overtly sinister there.
- Back at camp, we bid adieu to Fie, Laura and Elliot. Fie will look things up on Zephyr. Laura will track down Ouroboros. Elliot... will be on tour (Elliot sucks).

Chapter 1 over! Thoughts/theories forthcoming.

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The biggest questions for me in closing Chapter 1 are: who hired Zephyr, and who exactly is Musse?

For Zephyr, the obvious answer would be Osborne... Funny that he would hire a Jaeger corps when he has an entire army to command, but at the same time, if you need some shady stuff done and you don't want it traced back, it makes sense.

If not him, then I'm at a bit of a loss. Noble faction remnants have other things to spend money on than Ouroboros; this is very much not the Bracers' style; and Calvard is fighting a losing war against Erebonia (and would not mind a bit of internal strife in Erebonia). Whoever it is, they must have very large coffers, since IIRC Red Constellation and Zephyr aren't cheap.

For Musse, I'm drawing a blank. Ouroboros seems to be almost too obvious an answer..... given that Laura seemed to know/realize something about her, I'm wondering if she's connected to Legram in some way. A witch, perhaps? She does fit the profile.

Either way, she obviously came to the branch campus with a plan, having done a lot of research into Rean & the others. Which reminds me - wasn't Rean's appointment at the branch campus a fairly hushed thing? Whereas she came to the campus almost with the expectation/foreknowledge that Rean would be there.

Given that Ash is the obvious Osborne/Lechter plant, maybe Musse is being overtly shady when in fact she's ultimately well-meaning. Is she a Prince Olivert agent? I feel like I'm missing something obvious.

Anyway, decent intro into the game overall, though I slightly prefer the school dynamics over the field trip.

That's it for tonight - I might play some more tomorrow.

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Solfadore posted...

Rean can't keep bumping into old classmates every 10 meters!

Trails of Cold Steel III: Challenge accepted

Solfadore posted...

Lovely sad remix of Whereabouts of Light in Hamel - I really appreciate that!

The theme they're remixing here is actually the Silver Will theme, not the Whereabouts of Light theme. Well, it would probably be more accurate to say they're remixing this song (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCwgaK7dRz8) just called "Hamel" from Sky SC, but that song is itself a slow remix of Silver Will so it's the same thing. Great song regardless though.

Solfadore posted...

So far so good, except Shirley S-crafts me back and OHKOs my entire party except Fie

I think this is an issue with the combat in the game...sort of. Lots of bosses have abilities such that if they get even 1 turn in their enhanced state they can heal a good chunk of their HP and nearly or completely wipe your party. Fortunately there's stupidly many ways for the player to also break the combat system in half so it actually balances out into a system that's pretty fun imo, but it can result in some frustrating events if you get careless. (At least by about the halfway point it's easy to break the game, not really as straightforward this early on)
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Solfadore posted...

Towa best girl,

Welcome to the club

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Solfadore posted...

The only one who has a point here is Altina, given that she accompanied Rean in his missions up north and is no stranger to a warzone.

Heck, she came with him to Crossbell in CS2's Divertisement and fought Lloyd and Rixia. To say nothing of her fights against Old Class VII during the war.

Solfadore posted...

Apparently, someone's picking flowers. Is it a returning character from another game? ... no, it's just Shirley & Duvalie. Huh, didn't expect them to be the type.

Shirley, yeah, but Duvalie mentions offhand after her first fight against Class VII in CS2 that she and Loewe sparred a lot when McBurn gives her shade for losing by questioning, "Didn't you beat Loewe once?" and she says yeah, but he won the other 99 or so times.

Solfadore posted...

- Rean yelling at Juna/Kurt/Altina for rushing into obvious danger is very welcome! I appreciate that the new Class VII doesn't argue back (though Laura and Elliott due, with a shaky comparison to the end of CS1). Yeah, I'm with Rean on this one.

Yeah, I really appreciate Rean just calling them out. Old Class VII isn't wrong that they did some of this BS too but it wasn't nearly on this level.


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Altina being as weak as the others in this one seems a bit dodgy to me after what she's already done.

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I played a bit more tonight, though not overly much in terms of notable developments.

- Some interludes first, starting with Elise/Alfin musing about not being able to 'help her'. Not sure who 'her' is, but guess is on Musse. We move on to Roer/Alisa, who has apparently matured into a competent businesswoman (guessing this will be a trend, with every character excelling in their niche). Nice cameo from Tio.
- I have nothing to say about that Emma scene. Not the most compelling character.
- Chapter 2 title card... Crossbell! Now THAT'S going to be interesting! Didn't think we'd go there this early... but at the same time, I'm pinning Rufus as one of the main opposition/antagonists over the next 2 games, so it'd make sense to give him screentime early.

- Back to Leeves... is that a quick glimpse of Josette Capua I spy there?
- Gender-restricted classes, with ladies in the kitchen and guys at computers... seriously, Japan? This is very unfortunate.
- I snag the latest copy of the Imperial Chronicle, as always. Hahaha, the article about our Sutherland adventures includes the sentence: "Students of a military academy were attacked by someone at their field exercise camp." Attacked by 'someone'? Some top-tier journalism there, Vivi! Why didn't you just ask Altina, she's blabbing classified info to whoever wants to hear.
- Prof Schmidt studying the remains of the Aion... good, I was wondering if they'd remember to pick up the pieces. Apparently, Major Irving pushed back against 'burdening' the Prof with that, though...? Huuuuuh, I hope there's an ulterior motive there, because why wouldn't you put Schmidt on the case?
- A nice scene between Rean and Randy over drinks. These two have a good dynamic going.
- Quick chat with Machias, who has info about where the branch academy is going, but is cut short. Strange that he would know, but he IS connected.

- Free Day. Doing my initial rounds, I bump into Aurelia in the training hall. She... wipes the floor with me lol. A shameful amount of reloads later, I finally get her down to 70% and grab the bonus AP.
- I do a quest for the mayor and... hey, it WAS Josette. Hi there. Please don't join my party, you sucked in Sky.
- Keep was uneventful. The bonding event with Laura in the sub-floor was a bit nastier, I thought!
- Prince Cedric arrives! And we get confirmation that we'll be going to Crossbell! Can't wait. The VIP team tagging along seems to replicate a bit the Zemurian Trade Conference dynamics, huh? Seems like a prime target for Ouroboros.
- Cedric wants to talk? Alright, I'm game. The guy is an important character, so it's a good opportunity to see what he's like.
- ...aaaaaaaaand he starts spouting things like "I want unwavering strength" and "I need to become stronger, much stronger." Red flags! Red flags everywhere! This guy will be a major problem by the 2nd half of the game/inevitable Heimdallr arc.
- He offers Rean to swap to the main campus. Interesting offer and difficult choice - Rean shoots it down and I respect the decision. Haha and Cedric immediately drops the mask and starts trolling everyone. ...he'll end up being Erebonia's Gilbert, won't he?
- Rean debriefs Irving on what happened. Surprisingly, Irving is very reasonable about the whole thing, empathizing with the crap situation Rean found himself in.

- More free time - the bonding events are either Kurt or Elliot. Game, why do you do this to me? Well, the bottom of the pecking order is made clear and I dump Elliot for some fishing with Kurt instead. ...Huh, you know what, that was actually a nice scene! Kurt might be slowly growing on me, help!
- The following day, Cedric shows up again for a Panzer battle! Thankfully, these battles are just as scripted as the one with the Aion, where you can't really lose if you focus fire, heal and impede when you're supposed to.
- Side conversation between Aurelia and Musse - interesting, so Aurelia knows who Musse really is? Makes sense, but for some reason, I thought Musse was here completely incognito! What the hell are they all playing? Either way, I'm more and more convinced that Musse is ultimately firmly on Rean's side. She's too overtly suspicious.
- Big reveal about the Chancellor's children. Immediate alarm bells - I am STRONGLY suspicious of Ash. (And wow, how did I not notice before that he is called 'Ash' to Rean's 'Ashen' Chevalier?) Him being Rean's brother/stepbrother would explain quite a lot, both about his attitude and his affiliation with Lechter & co. ...could HE have been the disappointing son Osborne referred to in his convo with Rufus & co.? I'm speculating way too much based on very little info - let's move on.
- Yet another good Randy/Rean conversation on the train to Crossbell. I'm really starting to dig the dynamic between these two.

The train arrives in Crossbell, Campanella gets to look all sinister for the viewers at home, and I end my play session for the night.

Looking forward to seeing what Crossbell has in store!

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Solfadore posted...

I snag the latest copy of the Imperial Chronicle, as always. Hahaha, the article about our Sutherland adventures includes the sentence: "Students of a military academy were attacked by someone at their field exercise camp." Attacked by 'someone'? Some top-tier journalism there, Vivi! Why didn't you just ask Altina, she's blabbing classified info to whoever wants to hear.

I don't think they'd be allowed to print their identities even if they knew since it's implied that Osborne has a pretty strong grip on the press in Erebonia. (And in fact, to me it would entirely make sense if they did in fact know, though there's no way we as the players will ever figure that out)

I loved the Josette appearances in this game. Not all that important in the grand scheme of things but it was a nice touch imo.
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Solfadore posted...

Attacked by 'someone'? Some top-tier journalism there, Vivi!

i will not let this slander of the best character go

Vivi 100% knows who it was! She was on the Courageous's Bridge Crew! Imperial Government likely forced the Chronicle to omit details like pyre said.

3d crossbell hype

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i don't want to be part of a fanbase that prefers towa to josette

Fair point on Vivi. To be honest, it might be more of a stylistic qualm - "attacked by someone" just sounds wrong.

It makes total sense that she would not be allowed to print an elaborate description of Ouroboros, but then at least something like 'an unidentified/unaffiliated party' would sound better. 'By someone' just sounds like you were too lazy to address the obvious question.

colliding posted...

i don't want to be part of a fanbase that prefers towa to josette

Let's be clear, Towa only truly stands out as compared to other female students from the Erebonia arc, in the sense that she actually seems to have a personality instead of I MUST TRAIN HARDER or 'I have glasses'. Start comparing her to male/female characters from other arcs, and she quickly loses her edge. Estelle and Olivier are still running circles around everyone in the series IMO. As far as Cold Steel alone is concerned, Sara is also more rounded/compelling.

Onwards to 3D Crossbell!

---

Towa is great for her interactions with other characters. Her interactions with her friend group as well as with Rean are all top notch - the scene where Rean breaks down in front of Towa in the CS2 Epilogue is one of the best in the game.

She stumbles when the game tries to lean too much into the "haha she's small and cute" gimmick too strongly. Otherwise she's a very solid character IMO.

---

Agreed.

In the meantime, I've made some progress in the Crossbell field trip.

- Pleasantly surprised by Juna's demeanour here. I was expecting her to sulk and be aggressive the whole trip, and instead she's forcibly cheerful & putting on a brave face. I like it.
- Kurt & Altina low-key sneer down at Crossbell City as soon as they get in - pretty insensitive, guys! I feel for Juna. (Though these are completely in-character for self-absorbed Kurt and asocial/blunt Altina, so no concerns here.)
- We make our way to Orchis Tower. Juna: "Though the tower has tons of empty, unused floors." Heh.
- Rufus is headquartered on the 20th floor, apparently? Makes sense if you're trying to protect yourself from both an attack from the roof and from the ground floor, I guess.
- We meet Rufus, who's his same old self (though interestingly, he hasn't talked to Jusis since CS2). He mentions a 'wanted man' who took care of the Cryptid up north, and I wrongly assume he was referring to Arios. Apparently, Lloyd is wanted, too.
- Awww, Juno really idolizes Lloyd. That's a nice moment there.

- Back in the city! Is that Reinford I spy where the IBC building used to be? Oh, apparently the IBC has downsized and now only occupies a few floors of the building. Interesting - I was wondering what was going to happen with the bank after Ao.
- Meanwhile, Heiyue has basically moved down the street. One of my main takeaways from the Crossbell games is essentially that we never saw or hear Heiyue actually do anything wrong. They tried and failed to buy a building... that's it. And yet they're depicted as this huge underworld threat to peace and security.
- I go into Crossbell News Service, and I still can't go up the 2nd floor. What do you mean, I can't send military officers to terrorize a newsroom? This is an outrage.
- Rean's handling the Crossbell trip very smoothly so far - giving the spotlight to Juna to boost her confidence while softly supporting/encouraging her. I like Rean as an instructor - much better than as a generic high school student.
- Whoa, East Street is looking good in glorious 3D! I go into Neinvalli and promptly get roasted by Ashleigh "There's this one sucker who spends all his free time doing everything anyone asks him to"... ouch.
- Aaaaaaaand I proceed to meticulously spend every penny I have buying useless accessories for trading later. I might have to file for bankruptcy, and resort to selling food to pay for every Mishy accessory (there's gotta be something for collecting them all, right? I hope so).
- I go and visit Juna's family. Her siblings mention 'that one guy from the Empire' she told stories about... huh. Could that be... Rean? I'm not sure, but if it is, that's a completely different dynamic than the one I thought they had.
- I head back to Reinford to meet the chief of the foundation, expecting Roberts. Oh, it's Tio! Figures. I'm not sure I like her voice actress, but otherwise good to see her. Altina's getting benched at the first opportunity.
- Over to the Geofront for a fairly straightforward dungeon. One thing I noticed: no Monster Chests anymore! Shame, I was always looking forward to seeing what reward they would give. I'm not going to complain about the lack of trial chests, though! Eventually, I face a boss and get sorta bailed out by Alisa & Sharon. Huh, apparently Rean/Alisa was canon.

- After a quick interlude at camp, we're off to Ursula Byroad to hunt a Cryptid. I take Sharon with me (benched again, Altina!). Kurt magically guesses she's an Ouroboros Enforcer through some ludicrous reasoning ("Oh, a fighting style I haven't seen before... MUST BE OUROBOROS.").
- Sharon is excellent in combat and brings back all the Delay abuse that Rean is no longer able to do well.
- Ouch! Tough Cryptid fight, though I didn't do myself any favours by bringing exactly zero Freeze-resistant equipment. Early fight goes well, but when it buffs himself, I start having major problems. Hmmm... I'll have to start conserving my S-crafts until later.
- Red Pleroma Grass, huh? Guess that's where the Red Gnosis in Zero came from.
- McBurn is spying on us, and mentions that he'll need to focus on 'the target', who is neither Rean nor Sharon. Has to be one the VIPs.
- Sharon backstory! That was sudden. ...am I the only one who thinks the 'Order of the Moonlight Horse' is a strange name for an assassin order? Unless of course it's a reference to real world history I'm not aware of. Either way, she goes over her childhood, and mentions back then Ouroboros was still in its early years. What? I thought for sure the society was way older, judging by Arianrhod and Campanella's respective age. Apparently not! Interesting. At least this explains why they only started getting active in the last few years.
- Huh she's responsible for Alisa's father's death? Huh. Though I note that the game does some figure-skating around the issue and never actually says she killed him. I wonder what happened there.

- Back at camp again, and we finally find out who the VIP delegation is: Carl Regnitz, Irina Reinford + the two decent Imperials. .....huuuuuuuuh that's actually bad news. I thought we'd have one Osborne crony in there to give the Imperial faction some motivation to protect them (I guess Carl technically is, but he's more of an ally of circumstance than a pawn), but they're all good guys. Do Rufus/Osborne actually have any vested interest in protecting them? We see Claire & Lechter nodding in the distance... ambiguous, but I feel Claire would not probably not go along with complete foul play. Guess we'll have to wait and see.
- Oh hey, Vita is around too. There's a free spot available in my party if you have the time - I sure as hell could use an OP magic user.
- Some mysterious white-haired man is observing the proceedings from the top of the SSS. Hmmmmm... not sure who they are, but my money on a character previously thought to be dead (e.g. Crow), because no one ever dies in that series.

---

Solfadore posted...

mentions back then Ouroboros was still in its early years. What? I thought for sure the society was way older, judging by Arianrhod and Campanella's respective age.

Honestly part of me feels like there might have been something in Trails in the Sky that contradicts this because this has been the reaction of almost everybody I know who's played it to this part of Cold Steel 3.

Obviously just speculating here because I don't have a specific line or anything but it's very weird to me that so many people have had this apparent misconception.
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Solfadore posted...

Kurt magically guesses she's an Ouroboros Enforcer through some ludicrous reasoning ("Oh, a fighting style I haven't seen before... MUST BE OUROBOROS.").

Kurt getting meta and acting like a Trails player and just accusing everyone of being Ouroboros.

pyresword posted...

Honestly part of me feels like there might have been something in Trails in the Sky that contradicts this because this has been the reaction of almost everybody I know who's played it to this part of Cold Steel 3.

Obviously just speculating here because I don't have a specific line or anything but it's very weird to me that so many people have had this apparent misconception.

As someone who very much had the same reaction and considers Sharon just casually dropping that to be one of the bigger bombshells in the series... I think it's just JRPGs training you to assume the secret conspiracy group has been around forever. Especially when they're targeting (and can reverse-engineer) millennia old tech and employ agents who seemingly don't age.

I don't think Sky ever states otherwise about Ouroboros's age or anything. Maybe misleading in a way since they're "rivals" with the Church and we know the Church goes back like 700 years so you might be fooled into thinking "well I guess Ouroboros must too."

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xp1337 posted...

Kurt getting meta and acting like a Trails player and just accusing everyone of being Ouroboros.

I mean you say this as a joke but this is basically what happened to me with Vita in my Cold Steel playthrough.

"Huh? Who's this random nobody who just appeared and disappeared 2 seconds later but for some reason has the honor of getting a named introduction? Welp, must be Ouroboros."

Also random aside: that thing about the Church is not wrong I think, but I want to add that the Gralsritter as an organization predates the Church by I think several hundred years which is definitely one of the most intriguing revelations of the series to me.
---

Totally agree about Vita. I think any seasoned Trails player would have called her out after Weissman in Liberl and the villain from Zero no Kiseki.

My biggest headcannon/tinfoil hat theory for the Trails series is that Ouroboros will end up secretly working for good (or at least a well-meaning goal), while the higher ups in the Church will be revealed to be worse. Basically a typical Trails twist, but series-wide.

But I digress - just finished the first day. HO-LY CRAP what a scene!! Undoubtedly the best Erebonia sequence since Crow shot Osborne back in the first game. I'm genuinely pumped for the first time in a long, long while in this arc.

Let's resume where we left off:

- I head back to Crossbell City en route to East Crossbell Highway, and bump into Shing/Xin along the way, who offers what has got to be the shadiest sidequest in the series. Why the hell are we accepting to pick up a mysterious suitcase for a Calvardian crime syndicate?? Anyway, I still do it for that sweet, sweet AP, and it turns out their letters from Lloyd & co. Errrrr... Rean, aren't you at least going to read/screen them? From your perspective, they're seditious - there might be some actual plans buried in there. Oh well.

- After that, we're off to East Crossbell Highway. I bump again into a mysterious dude in the boat shack, whom I thought was Nielsen from Ao, but apparently is "Professor Lughman." lol if that isn't the most suspicious guy ever. (1) Creepy design; (2) a professor; (3) voice acted; (4) arrives out of literally nowhere, and with a completely nothing job; (5) party seems to trust him completely; (6) he wants a sample of the special MacGuffin grass; (7) he's unusually interested in Altina... come on, how many red flags can you trip up in a single scene? Anyway, I put this guy firmly in "Will betray me later" territory. Obvious guess is Black Workshop-affiliated, but I'm not sure beyond that.
- THANK YOU REAN for refusing to give the Red Pleroma Grass to the obvious bad guy. Well done!
- Cryptid fight! I like that Rean immediately escalates by calling Valimar - good decision-making even if Campanella blocks it. The fight goes alright though once again, I lose the "guess what status effect the boss will inflict" game in spectacular fashion.
- Emma arrives. Okay. Prof's gone when I'm back, though obviously we'll meet again.
- On the way back, we see the Empire's new railguns, to be stationed in Tangram. Huh, Osborne's not playing around. Though I understand why given the cold war of sorts he's got running with Calvard.

- Sweet! We're invited to the party in Orchis Tower! I relish the chance to interact with series-spanning VIPs in Trails game over spending the night with some random Class VIII/IX students. Rufus, though you're clearly evil and I'm sure we'll fight you in the Axis Pillar equivalent of Cold Steel IV, for now, you're cool.
- Okay, that is entirely too much attention given to Speaker MacDowell's absence. It is noteworthy I guess, but the game is making such a big point of it that it's strange. Is he off rebelling with Lloyd in the Mainz area?
- Alfin reacts to seeing Musse in the crowd - ah, so I was right about her being the girl Elise & Alfin were discussing! And looks I was also right on the money with Rufus forcing Randy over to the branch campus. Makes all tons of sense.
- Cool conversation with Carl & Irina. I live for these convos on socioeconomic schemes - Trails has got to be the only JRPG series around where a taxation scheme is given so much attention. This is why I like Trails.
- Hrmmmmmm Irina lets slip that the whole 'inspection team' was basically planned by Rufus. I don't like this - looks like he's putting a bunch of VIPs within his power at once. I expect foul play.
- Okay Trails, every time a new female character introduced, a Greek Chorus always comments on how pretty they look. Can you please stop doing that?
- Random thought - is Prince Cedric on Gnosis? More than a few characters commented on how he went straight from sickly to strong & forceful. Maybe Rufus got some and shipped a few samples to Osborne?
- Rufus chat! I've been looking forward to this - and he opens right away with Rean's parentage. ...Rean no. no Rean what are you doing. why are you wasting this precious scene with pointless flashbacks and dumb questions. Oh well, at least we got some info on Rufus' backstory with Osborne. Rean should've asked Rufus why Osborne dumped him with the Schwarzers - he might've gotten some ammo, or at least an indication of an Achilles' Heel.
- Musse/Elise/Alfin scene - ah, so Musse Egret is an alias? Her real name starts with 'Mildi'... do I know anyone called that? I'll have to pay attention.

- Ouroboros attacks! Rean rushes off alone with Sharon... errrrrrrrr are you sure you can trust her? I'm not confident about this setup - feels all too easy for Sharon to turn coat once Rean is alone with the Enforcers up top.
- Meanwhile, I struggle to beat some crappy archaisms with the B-team. (Holy crap, Musse is terrible in gameplay. At least Ash seems solid.) Altina and Musse get confused and basically murder each other. Ash and Juna hang on long enough to save the day.
- Cut to Rean & Sharon - cool revelation from Campanella about Sharon being responsible for the distraction that led Cassius out of Liberl during Sky FC. I like those small tidbits.
- The B-team arrives, and it looks like it's B-team vs. Campanella and A-team vs. McBurn. Cool setup!
- Dang, the battle theme for this pair of fights is great! Surprisingly easier than I expected too - Campanella gives me ample time to buff, and then I just have to break him using Juna's order (a favourite of mine, for such a low cost!) and pile on the pain. One S-craft from Juna is enough to bring him down to 0. McBurn is a bit iffier, but one buffed S-craft from Rean does the job.

- Great scene here. McBurn starts things off by revealing that the crew is not "The ones we wanted" (plural, huh?). I'm drawing a blank here, since everybody's at the scene, except... Alfin? Carl & Irina? Seems like small potatoes.
- Olivert comes in and basically asks all the questions I had in rapid succession. Based Olivert is based. Learn from him, Rean!
- Ah! So Vita is no longer in Ouroboros? Damn, the plot thickens. And Olivert is on fire, noting the plural in 'the ones' and trying to figure out who else they're looking for,, AND pointing out the question of who hired the Jaeger King as another unresolved mystery. Rufus, don't hide - I see your eyes narrowed at that last question. It was Osborne, wasn't it?
- Juna interjects and starts laying down the law on Ouroboros. I admire the boldness of that girl, monologuing in McBurn's face. This is a good moment for Juna.
- Revelation - Rufus is holding the rest of the SSS + Arios in Mishelam and is not letting them leave. So that's what Birdcage was (Randy & Tio were talking about this earlier)! I can't even blame Rufus for this, this is just shrewd policy.
- Some great reactions & an emotional moment from Juna. Great character development right here - I'm looking forward to seeing how she rebounds from that. I really like that she's yelling at Rean instead of Rufus - she zeroes in on the sympathetic figure towards whom she's so conflicted, rather than the guy she knows she obviously won't ever convince.
- ....and Rufus just silently walks away while all of this is going on. He knows he's the bad guy here, and he has no reason to stay. Well played, sir.

Great moment here. I hope the second day will be as good as the first!

---

Yeah, the end of Crossbell Day 1 is great.

---

Chapter 2 over! I have mixed feelings about Day 2.

But first, the play by play. A bit shorter this time as this segment was gameplay-oriented.

- Back at camp, the new Class VII is left behing to care for Juna. Randy and Machias converse, mentioning "that place" being ready the accommodate Rean & co. Stupidly, my first thought goes to the car from Ao.
- A short while later into Crossbell City, I realize they were (of course) talking about SSS headquarters.
- I go into the Geofront after a few monster quests. Taking the opportunity to say that Machias yelling "You have failed your inspection" during his S-craft is the stupidest catchphrase, and I'm not sure if I love it or loathe it.
- Hmmm, Machias mentions a big bill coming up, possibly side-stepping the Imperial Parliament (which I wasn't sure was even a thing). Wondering if Osborne is planning to abolish the class system.
- Before leaving the city, I bump into Ken and Nana, who reveal that indeed, the Erebonian Juna admired was in fact Rean all along. I dig it.
- Olivier tags along! Yessssss! Emma, meet bench. Bench, meet Emma.
- We bump into Lechter on the way out. Olivier sends a cryptic message to Osborne, though I'm not sure what 'the gun' and 'the rose' are supposed to represent here.

- We're off to Stargazer's Tower! Huh, Osborne had the bell moved into Erebonia? Hmmmmmm he's planning something with it.
- I arrive at the top, and fight a really annoying Knight. He's not exactly hard, but he buffs & heals faster than I can do damage without S-crafts... so I end up spamming S-crafts to take him down immediately. That's pretty lame, but I might have been doing something wrong? Not sure what the optimal combination of moves/Orders/crafts/arts is.
- I arrive at the top, for a completely ridiculous fight against Campanella and McBurn. McBurn one-shots three of my party with Hellhounds on his first turn (3rd on the wheel, 2nd being Campanella), and then proceeds to spam the move every single turn. There's nothing I can do and I hit a Game Over. For the first time in CS3, I end up needing a retry offset because there's no way I can win this currently. The offset goes much, much better and he only uses Hellhounds once very deep into the fight after I've had a chance to buff/offset it with orders.
- My mood is salvaged by the great music - I'll really have to track down that theme, it's super catchy.
- After that, McBurn buffs again for a 2nd round, though he's somehow much weaker? I don't know, Incandescent Hellfire did less damage than Hellhounds and Alisa can tank it just fine with her MQ and heal everyone with Seraphic Ring (whereas for the first fight she just died immediately and did not revive). The difficulty is really all over the place in this game, and I find the system gets increasingly less balanced the further we go into Cold Steel.
- Aion fight is easy as always.

- Done with the fights, time for some dialogue & plot. Campanella mentions "The Professor" won't like the Aion being lost, and I assume they're referring to Novartis even though my translated version of Ao had him as 'Doctor.'
- Vita! Huh, Grianos is gone? Damn. Or did I do that in CS2? I honestly can't remember, it's been too long, though I remember fighting it at one point.
- Masked Man appears! From Rean & Towa's reaction and his name ('Azure Siegfried'), it seems my initial gut Crow prediction was not too far off track. Though I'm wondering if it's actually Crow or a homonculus.
- The Chief of the Gnomes?? Not sure I like this development. I enjoy Trails more when there's not too much magic/mecha and more political intrigue, and this is not the direction I was hoping for. Still, they seem like they might become allies given time.
- Altina recognizes the voice in the sphere, which probably means Black Workshop. I put on my tinfoil hat, go one step further, and ponder if that voice might be Prof Lughman.
- WHAT!? Why/how did Lloyd and co. get freed?? I mean... I guess Alfin going there could have helped a bit, but isn't she a figurehead? Why the hell would Rufus allow this? To be frank, I think this cheapens the punch from yesterday - the SSS should have been freed through my actions, or at least Rean should've been confronted with a difficult decision of SSS vs. Empire. Instead, the whole conflict gets resolved offscreen in a weird way.

Chapter end! As I said, mixed feelings about Day 2, which removes some of the twists I liked the most about Night 1. Big highlight of the chapter (aside from said twists and the party itself) was Juna, who got some really solid development and is now shooting ahead of Rean in my ranking. Ash > Juna/Musse > Rean > Kurt >> Altina.

And to finish things off, one last tinfoil which came to me randomly about Musse - I'm wondering if she might not be Duke Cayenne's daughter. Three pieces of reasoning: one is that Aurelia knows her and what she's all about (which she would given how much she interacted with Cayenne in CS1/CS2); another is that she's clearly a noble, having gone to St. Astraia; the third is that I'm fairly sure we're off to Lamare Province next chapter, which would be the perfect moment for some Musse revelations.

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Solfadore posted...

Taking the opportunity to say that Machias yelling "You have failed your inspection" during his S-craft is the stupidest catchphrase, and I'm not sure if I love it or loathe it.

it is the single greatest thing to happen to machias. i would even mess up my quartz set-ups to enable him to use it as much as possible.

Solfadore posted...

- Vita! Huh, Grianos is gone? Damn. Or did I do that in CS2? I honestly can't remember, it's been too long, though I remember fighting it at one point.

That happens in CS2. When Rufus shows up at the Infernal Castle with his WWE "IT WAS ME! I WAS AN IRONBLOOD ALL ALONG! EVEN MY IMMEDIATE FAMILY WAS FOOLED!" reveal, he charges Vita and kills Grianos.

Rean and Class VII fight Grianos at the last Spirit Shrine you go to but it's not fatal or anything.

Solfadore posted...

- My mood is salvaged by the great music - I'll really have to track down that theme, it's super catchy.

IIRC, the name of that track is "Step Ahead."

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xp1337 posted...

IIRC, the name of that track is "Step Ahead."

That's the one, thanks! Really solid theme.

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As far as gameplay goes, you want to be abusing the Break mechanic as much as possible if you aren't already. I can give some more concrete strategies also but overall I think that's generally good advice.

I think chapter 3 is when I remember starting to get the quartzes that really broke the combat system. Chapter 2 was easily the hardest part for me.

I agree with generally not being a fan of the magic/mecha type stuff in the Trails series.

xp1337 posted...

hen Rufus shows up at the Infernal Castle with his WWE "IT WAS ME! I WAS AN IRONBLOOD ALL ALONG! EVEN MY IMMEDIATE FAMILY WAS FOOLED!" reveal

aw, sunnovabitch!
---

I remember seeing Valimar for the first time at the end of CS1 and really not liking the idea. The mechs kinda grew on me a bit in CS2 but i'm not that into either tbh.

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Bump.

Not a ton progress yesterday. As expected, we're headed to Ordis, and looks like Jusis/Sara (yay!), Gaius (heh) and Millium (boo) might be tagging around. I already know this ends in Juno Naval Fortress - what remains is how we'll get there.

Highlights include:
- Apparently, the Fourth Anguis and the villain from Ao are taking on Arteria? Sounds more interesting that what's going on in Erebonia, tbh!
- Also apparently: Rean, George, Randy and Towa all agree that the Gnomes were the ones who hired Zephyr. Ah? I mean, not that it doesn't make sense, but I don't recall NotCrow admitting to this?
- Got an interesting letter from Rean's adoptive father. Nothing I didn't mostly know, but still cool backstory on Osborne's past.
- I roam the school and bump into Aurelia who's looking for a sparring partner. I don't want to fight her right now, but I actually fistpump when Rean chickens out. YES REAN! BE A COWARD!
- As much as I enjoy Musse and her mysterious endgame, her constant double-entendres about Rean are starting to get really old, really fast. It was fine in small doses, but now that she's in the party, it's jarring.
- Happy that Raquel will be part of the field trip. The town looked cool from the short glimpse I got.

---

Raquel was kind of a disappointment for me.They could've added more stuff there.

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shane15 posted...

Raquel was kind of a disappointment for me.They could've added more stuff there.

That's a shame. I just made it to Ordis last night, and I have to say I really like the area. Favourite city of Cold Steel thus far (I don't count Crossbell City as a Cold Steel city).

I stopped right after a quick detour to Musse's grandparents' place. The game had previously established that her real name starts with 'Mildi' and that 'Musse Egret' is an alias, so I call bull on the whole thing. Wagering these were her maternal grandparents, and given that the old man was an advisor to the former Duke Cayenne, I think my previous theory about her being Duke Cayenne's daughter might end being spot on.

Either way, I hope after the reveal she cools down on the double-entendres. It's one per sentence now and is getting quite a bit annoying. Also she's completely useless in combat, even with an Arts setup. Is it just me who can't build my party properly, or does she indeed suck compared to the others?

Ash continues to be interesting. Not the most complex character, but I've always liked the 'Looks like a jock/brute, but is actually cleverer than the rest of the party' archetype.

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Musse was very good for me, but Arts has a really sharp curve of usefulness as the game progresses. They start out very weak, but once you have access to Bells and Cast 3 (to say nothing of Diabolos Gem) Arts become insane. I don't mind Musse's crafts though, they're limited but they do all they need to.

Ash was the character I used the least of new Class 7, since the area on his crafts is really harsh.

---

Ash had this real great loop with his S-Craft and MQ that regen CP on kills for me. He had my favorite of the New Class VII S-Crafts too so it worked out nicely.

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Yeah Musse is great once you get the gems that help with arts. Her crafts are pretty crappy though. Ash has that one craft that's really good for breaking but other than that i didn't really care much for him.

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Psshhhh who needs Cast quartzes when you've got Divine Song.

But yeah, my impression of Musse is that her crafts and such are kind of bad, but just by virtue of being the strongest arts user she's well-positioned to take advantage of a significant uptick in the power level of arts related quartzes.
---

Played some more yesterday and made some progress into the Lamare field trip. The Jaeger is not the most fascinating one, but I'll wait and see if there's a good payoff.

A few thoughts:
- The random side-book stories are jarringly dark in this game, and I kinda love it. The Immoral Hero stands out for escalating very quickly in amusing ways.
- On the coast, my party of six is woefully outnumbered against 20 purple Jaegers, but Jusis shows up on a horse and they all run away. Can't beat the power of Cutscene Jusis! Also I love how Rean berates his students immediately afterwards for falling into a trap he directed them in and fell in himself.
- Duke Cayenne has no heirs, says Musse, but a random NPC mentions beloved Lord Alfred Cayenne who died 10 years ago before the current imprisoned Cayenne came to power. Musse's parents also died 10 years ago. HMMMMMMMM. TBH it'd be more interesting if she was the current Cayenne's daughter, but I'm ok with this.
- Sara is the first female character in two chapters introduced without other female characters immediately commenting on how pretty she is.
- Went into Rock Patio and came upon Nidhoggr, who were surprised and panicked that the dudes they tricked into showing up in Rock Patio showed up in Rock Patio.
- Nighttime Raquel is indeed much better than daytime Raquel, though I'm not happy about the students sneaking off AGAIN for no good reason. I was 100% behind Irving when he called them out on it afterwards. Guys, c'mon.
- Mandatory Vantage Masters story battle. Hiding with a Ranger in the back like a coward has still not failed me, though I since faced one Witch deck who could 4 damage per turn without retaliation and it was pretty close.
- I enjoyed Claire's backstory. Also I like how dramatic Osborne is in the flashback, saying "You have the gift of enhanced cognition" instead 'You're not dumb.'
- I'm surprised Rean has not developed a reputation for being obsessed with taking showers, given how many he's taken by now in my run.
- Evade tank Kurt is really coming along, gameplay-wise and made the first Bardias fight a cinch. The subsequent Rean vs. Bardias duel was a complete pain, however, as he kept healing back whatever damage I could deal. Finally got him on a lucky Guardbreak turn and 200CP S-crafted him with a Scorpius gem.

Now searching for Millium!

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Solfadore posted...

On the coast, my party of six is woefully outnumbered against 20 purple Jaegers, but Jusis shows up on a horse and they all run away. Can't beat the power of Cutscene Jusis!

If the plot demands a heroic entrance than goddammit he's gonna get his heroic entrance.

- Mandatory Vantage Masters story battle. Hiding with a Ranger in the back like a coward has still not failed me, though I since faced one Witch deck who could 4 damage per turn without retaliation and it was pretty close.

IMO Witch is the strongest once you get access to it. You can stick it in the back just like with Archer, but it also starts you off with a lot more mana and makes maintaining field control much easier. I was using a Thief deck at this point because I thought it was the most fun, but I'm not totally convinced of which was the strongest option between Thief/Knight/Archer.

In general I will say I don't like Zephyr much, even after they get more development in this game. Red Constellation is so much better.
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Rean no. Why do you think dueling Arianrhod is a good idea?

I predictably struggle, though perma-Ogre Rean, a bunch of items and one S-craft carry me to live another day. Not quite as crazy as I thought it would be - though I would like the game to stop throwing random Rean duels when I don't have the opportunity to set up an Evasion tank build.

Anyway, we got another convenient Professor Lughman sighting. Rean & co. don't think to question why he happened to be on the island while stuff was going down with the Stahlritter and Millium. Oh well.

Trails doing the Trails thing of hiding the next book volume really out of the way with Annabelle fishing on the coast while the festival was going down. Lucky I found it! Though nothing was as consistently vicious as Sky FC/SC in that regard.

On the plus side, I got a good convo with Lechter & Ash, as well as a very strange scene with Musse. Interesting character, when she's not hitting on Rean with every other line.

Oh, and you guys were right about Musse - I equipped her with a couple of the good bells (Ocean in particular) and some Speed items, and she's doing way better now.

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