That's your whole reaction to ep 12? The most painful episode of the entire series? Unless I have the episode number wrong.
I've heard people say something like this about that episode, but I thought it was just funny and not even close to as awkward as awkward humor can get. I think partly is just how its filmed or something? It doesn't have the same vibe as the first seasons which treat some of the ridiculous stuff more seriously.
I don't know if that makes sense it's been a long time.
It was definitely awkward to watch at times, but you see more of Michael's human side here instead of him just being a caricature when this stuff normally happens, so it honestly wasn't too bad.
The last few days I've been considering trying to get a PS5 at launch, which is stupid for multiple reasons, but I can't get the thought out of my head augh
The last few days I've been considering trying to get a PS5 at launch, which is stupid for multiple reasons, but I can't get the thought out of my head augh
I'd be down for it if I could trade my PS4 Pro in for one since there's a bunch of deals where you save money by trading in.
But they don't have PS5s in store on launch day so how am I gonna do the trade for it!? ---
Part 3 was the best part yet, I'd say. Climax back on par with Part 1's and the rest of the part was already the best yet.
I took Jusis and Gaius along. Wish I could have taken Jusis and Alisa but alas. Gaius narrowly won over Emma because I wanted to see if we got some Dominion takes. "Now we know everyone from the branch campus is okay!" w o w New Class VII really threw Tita under the bus there upon confirming Freddy's safety. Lots of cool music in this section, Geofront Theme big improvement over CS3's and while I wasn't quite expecting that Mishelam theme I quickly liked it. Oh dear a new minigame but time for the main event... challenging Mishy in Vantage Masters. Real talk I was half expecting him to turn out to be Juna's dad filling in for a staff shortage.
Climax was where the real fun began though. Altina with the callout on Lechter was good but also lechter you were in the gral and osborne wasn't talking about getting rid of the curse bro. Unless Osborne was just trolling Rean with his motive rant which let's be honest would be 100% in character I think. Juna putting Campanella on blast was A+++ too, both on its own and for actually striking a nerve and getting him to drop some interesting info that he's an apparent exception in the "Enforcers can do whatever they want" rule. Some of Rufus's lines when he popped out with his Divine Knight came off as really flat though, to the point where I started wondering if he was being intentionally sarcastic or something but I think it was just bad direction. Keeping with the themes of "these callouts are great" Jusis's to Rufus was as well.
Then the party really started popping off when Estelle, Joshua, Renne, Lloyd, Elie, and Bleublanc arrived. lmao Estelle and Joshua just trashing Soldats on foot - these guys don't even know they've been beating the crap out of giant mechs from like day one. You know, I actually started harboring a deep suspicion that Aleister was an undercover Bleublanc back in Part 1 because at one point Aleister's dialogue with Count Altheim updates and he goes 200% Bleublanc with "struggling against adversity is the essence of beauty" type stuff and Count Altheim is like "...what the?" Also Rufus can say what he wants, dude totally ran away because Divine Knight or no he was going down against that lineup lmao.
(Technically the Chapter ended here following comments just cover the scenes up until you regain control)
o ya Renne joining the party! lmfao at Renne and KeA ruining Roselia's time to shine and her spending the following scenes sulking about it.
oh no i forgot to report character note/battle/book data before the end of part fight but there were like a billion scenes so we'll just be a bit late on that not like it should matter i think also in my defense the other parts didn't actually end until AFTER the rest day not before like this one though I still had been reporting them before walking into the obvious climax battles.
---
xp1337: Don't you wish there was a spell-checker that told you when you a word out?
I'm kind of surprised R&C keeps getting entries and that Insomniac is still developing them.
I guess it got a feature film release
Well, they went through a rough patch for a few years, but the series is still quality and sells well! They're also very well made and can show off the specs of the console.
Okay, let's get back to Cold Steel IV Act 1 Chapter 2!
When we arrive in Raquel, Ash unveils his disguise, which is honestly more impressive than I expected! Naturally, the people who know him best still recognize him, but they're also the ones who won't sell him out, so it balances out. They tell us that the clientele lately has been more well off than normal. Rumor is that they're merchants or nobles from Ordis. The people here still believe in Ash despite what's been reported about him, which is kinda nice. We run into Machias's partner in Raquel, too, but he's a little too down about his luck to notice us.
On top of that, Maya is here waiting for us, having heard the good word from Sidney. As the game reminds me, Maya's father is from around here, although she hasn't been able to find him since she came back. They suspect he's been recalled into the army since he was an expert sniper at one point. She tells us that Leonora went to Ordis to gather intel. Governor Regnitz was also set up as an interim supervisor, explaining why we saw him there at the beginning of the game. The Third Armored Division is stationed at Juno Fortress, too, led by Kurt's uncle Zechs. With all that in mind, we decide it's a bit too dangerous to venture near Ordis at the moment.
The church seems acutely aware of what's going on, understanding that there's a malevolent force stirring up violence among the people and there isn't much they can do to stop it. After we get done investigating, we decide to check out reports of black Pleroma Grass to the north of us. However, before we can take off, Hugo Kleist stops us. Apparently, someone in Raquel ratted us out. I guess it was probably that guy we chased all over the place in CS3! We find ourselves an unlikely rescuer in Vincent (accompanied by Rex, for some reason), who has stopped being completely useless! Hugo backs down, but before he goes, Fie asks him where Mint and Becky are. He insists he doesn't know either.
Kurt recognizes Vincent as a member of the Florald family, and Juna remembers him as Ferris's brother. Vincent believes all the Thors compatriots are tied together by Rean, although some like Hugo have decided to walk a different path. Kurt wonders what kind of agreement he had made with Hugo, and apparently they brokered a deal not to publicly announce the existence of the Weissland Army. The members of the nobility won't be punished as long as they comply with the draft. The Imperial Government's fear is that the war with Calvard couldn't go forward if there was the question of another civil war lingering in the air.
We visit Ash's old home and reminisce a bit, but then we run into the informant Miguel and one of Ash's old friends. As they threaten us, they get enveloped in a black mist, showing they've been possessed by the Great Twilight.
Ended up getting CS4 a few days ago, and have played a good bit. A few thoughts so far:
Prologue: wow this was great! Reminds me why I like these guys so much. Kinda the highlight of the game so far!
Chapter 1: also cool! Eryn's a good main area, Rose is super cool, and having a smaller party of pretty much just new class 7 is also good. Good character development for Juna (who's cool as an MC) and Ash. Having no Rean around is neat.
Chapter 2: not quite as cool! Some interesting mysteries, but the locations weren't as great, and there wasn't much for memorable NPCs. I'm kinda worried this game is going to be too sprawling for any real NPC development? Climax: this was the real not so good part. Mildine's planning and stuff is cool, but Juna's counter argument is just bad? Like the fundamentals are sound, and obviously Musse would like a better plan, but Juna doesn't even say anything about that. Felt really poorly written. She could've at least been like "join us, and together we'll save Rean without anyone needing to die!" (which is also dumb, but this is Trails so obviously no one's going to die in war). Getting "you're a cute girl who loves cute things! you can't be intelligent" instead was lame. On top of that, it sucks because Musse's Mildine personality is actually likable, while her Musse personality is just a total piece of garbage. Sucks that we couldn't keep the good version of her.
Plus her Mildine design is way better can't believe we didn't even get an alternate hairstyle costume.
Hey @xp1337 or anyone else, are you familiar with the timeline of the Trails games? I'm wondering how long it's been since the annexation of Crossbell as of CS4.
Also wondering where the resistance is since Azure's ending implied there was a big one... ---
I think there was a timeskip of 2 years at the end of CS2 leading into CS3. They talk about how it's been "two years" a lot in the prologue, too, so I'm guessing that's it.
welp I had a CSIV update typed out and then Chrome updated while I had it in sleep mode so whoops, let's try to recreate where I am up to now
Let's see, I completed a sidequest in Raquel where I had to make a fish pie for a cantankerous soldier. We left for the northern part of Lamare. We decide to go toward Alster and the mines, although Fie makes a mental note of Jurai being in the other direction at the fork, since that's Crow's hometown. We run into Gustaf hiding from an Imperial military truck, and then we find a rest area along the way.
In the lodge, we chew the fat over North Ambria being Sara's home and Alster being Olivert's home when we're interrupted by a woman named Lucy, who's from Remiferia. The brunette traveling with her is awfully suspicious of us, but Fie and Ash call her out on her fishy story, too. Edel happens to be running the lodge here, although the game describes her as a green-haired woman for some reason despite being clearly blonde. Turns out Edel's father is a minor viscount in this region. I had kinda forgotten she was a noble even though you have to fight her in CS1! Edel tells us that there's been black Pleroma Grass spotted in the Alster area, and those two women we just met are headed there, too, so we'll run into them again, more than likely. We can also give Edel our superb dishes now.
I guess I'll go ahead and post this so I don't lose everything again!
Hey @xp1337 or anyone else, are you familiar with the timeline of the Trails games? I'm wondering how long it's been since the annexation of Crossbell as of CS4.
Also wondering where the resistance is since Azure's ending implied there was a big one...
https://kiseki.fandom.com/wiki/Timeline_of_Zemurian_history (Note: You could potentially stumble on large spoilers if you blindly look through that page, and this is especially true for others who haven't played many games in the series yet)
The ending of Azure/CS2 is in December of 1204; Cold Steel 4 starts in August of 1206, so a bit over a year and a half.
As for the second question, I don't think it's totally clear. There's a few references to characters helping the resistance but I don't think we ever really get to see it properly in the Cold Steel games. (Though I'm not finished with CS4 yet.) I'm guessing/hoping Hajimari will give us a better look at this. ---
I didn't do guru this year but azuarc can be in my sig anyways.
pyre's link gives you the detailed version but also, as mentioned, carries a really high spoiler risk if you're not careful. A bare-bones version is something like:
Trails in the Sky FC - 1202 Trails in the Sky SC - Late 1202 - Early 1203 Trails in the Sky the 3rd - Late 1203 Zero - January - May 1204 Ao - August - December 1204 CS1 - March - October 1204 CS2 - November 1204 - March 1205. Infernal Castle is December 31. The annexation of Crossbell took place two weeks later in January 1205. CS3 - April - July 1206 CS4 - Starts August 1206
---
xp1337: Don't you wish there was a spell-checker that told you when you a word out?
As we travel the road to Alster, there's a really sneakily hidden treasure chest that I would've missed if I didn't have the quartz equipped that labels treasure chests on the map! When we arrive in Alster, Altina reveals she came here on a covert mission during the civil war to engage some former jaegers who had escaped from Noble Alliance forces, and she worked with Old Class VII for a little while. They find Sandy at the well, and Juna once again waves while facing someone! She's been helping at the tavern her family runs in town.
We meet a blind freelance journalist named Marcel Nielsen who gets his own byline, so I guess he's at least somewhat important! He says he'll be traveling all over Erebonia, so I imagine we'll be running into him quite often! We find the Steinrose Distillery, and now I'm kinda glad I didn't bring Sara along...! One of the employees has a weird note that came from Ordis, and New Class VII assumes it's a message from Musse. It sounds like something she'd do, at any rate. We find a memorial set up to the Lenheim Family resident, which apparently burned down when it was struck by lightning a few months ago. They leave some flowers at the site in Olivert's honor in an understated but kinda touching moment.
In a rare moment of courtesy, we actually knock on the door to Kai and Tilia's house before entering. Fie and Altina remember them from the civil war (did we actually meet them in CS2? I don't recognize them, but they know who Rean is, so either I've forgotten or it happened in the interim between CS2 or CS3, I guess!). Tilia tells us she saw the black Pleroma Grass at Osgiliath Basin, which sounds like a mashup of Giliath Osborne's name, so I'm a little suspicious! It's also called the Forbidden Basin, which doesn't make me feel much better!
He's appeared before in the Crossbell games where he's also mentioned with some frequency. The short version is basically that he's a very famous journalist and has covered most major events in recent history and knows a lot about all of them, including lots of the "behind the scenes" stuff. (I hate how the games use this term but whatever) In an optional quest line in Azure he passes on info to Lloyd about some of the stuff going on in Crossbell, and he...knows a lot of things, to put it lightly.
I really wish the main characters in this would actually do more stuff. It feels like most of the time they're too afraid to help out. Like the scene in the Act 1 Chapter 3 department store where the guy's getting sent to an internment camp and Juna's all like "we can't do anything to help him" it's like aren't you guys supposed to be heroes? If Estelle were there in Juna's place, she would've done whatever was necessary to save someone like that. It'd be real nice to be a little more proactive. 23 hours in and all we've really done is meet up with some other Thors people.
Part of the problem (IMO) is that the stakes are too high. They have this huge war plot that's going to kill millions of people and don't really do anything about it. Personally, I generally enjoy the small stakes stuff in Trails more, and wish we didn't even have to deal with the war. And the game hasn't - everything the main characters have done has been focused on the small scale stuff! I dunno, it all feels a bit strange. ---
this reminds me that Joshua and Estelle's foster sibling relationship would be so much more awkward if it was being portrayed by real actors instead of being a video game
I really wish the main characters in this would actually do more stuff. It feels like most of the time they're too afraid to help out. Like the scene in the Act 1 Chapter 3 department store where the guy's getting sent to an internment camp and Juna's all like "we can't do anything to help him" it's like aren't you guys supposed to be heroes? If Estelle were there in Juna's place, she would've done whatever was necessary to save someone like that. It'd be real nice to be a little more proactive. 23 hours in and all we've really done is meet up with some other Thors people.
Part of the problem (IMO) is that the stakes are too high. They have this huge war plot that's going to kill millions of people and don't really do anything about it. Personally, I generally enjoy the small stakes stuff in Trails more, and wish we didn't even have to deal with the war. And the game hasn't - everything the main characters have done has been focused on the small scale stuff! I dunno, it all feels a bit strange.
In Class VII's defense they're literally wanted fugitives at that point. Confronting the IDF like that just wouldn't be a smart move and I'm not sure even Estelle would try something that brazen in their situation... if she did I think it'd be because being a bracer is literally about helping civilians (ignoring the political situation within Erebonia and Bracers.)
That said you are right that Class VII's approach to the war is... odd seeming. Like the whole plan is 1 Find Rean. 2 ???. 3 Stop War? which really doesn't seem to flow logically. I assume it'll work because they live in a JRPG but really Mildine was the only one who seemed to be offering up a real plan and her plan was "Well, stopping the war is impossible, so might as well try to win it by getting literally everyone else in Zemuria to team-up with Calvard."
---
xp1337: Don't you wish there was a spell-checker that told you when you a word out?
One odd though I had about the curse: they're making the argument that everyone Erebonia conquers is part of Erebonia, so if Erebonia conquers a country/the world, the curse spreads there. So what would happen if another country/countries conquered Erebonia? Would the curse disappear because there's no more Erebonia? ---
The atmosphere of the Osgiliath Basin is pretty great. We find a Trial Chest requiring Ash and Altina, and this one powers up Ash's Brave Order. You can see the black Pleroma Grass from afar off, which is a cool touch. When we reach the bottom of the basin, the landing craft from the Pantagruel is there waiting for us, carrying Musse and Aurelia. Can we just have Aurelia join the party and leave Musse behind? Musse's real name has another Spanish J in it, so maybe it is just a Zemurian thing in general...?
Juna isn't buying Musse's "new introduction" for her "new identity." She explains that Musse was a nickname her parents gave her, but when they died and her uncle became the new Duke Cayenne, she was shipped off to Heimdallr. She says that her keen insight told her that he would one day lead Erebonia to civil war. To her, it only made sense with how he was planning to use the house's assets, along with Erebonia's general direction and leadership under Osborne. She does admit that she didn't foresee the supernatural elements like Ouroboros and the Divine Knights, so there's that, at least!
Aurelia says that when Musse was able to predict every twist and turn of the Northern War, she was convinced that she needed to be the next head of House Cayenne. However, even she admits she's intimidated by her ambition and accuracy. Fie says she can't be clairvoyant, so she wonders what enables her to do this. She says she's able to see how all the pieces interact, and most importantly, the goal of the one who controls the game board. In other words, she's able to flip the chessboard and see things from the other perspective?! What, is she Battler or is she Beatrice?
Regardless, she knows Osborne is the one who controls that board. Olivert was aware of this as well, and so he did everything he could to stop him. However, Musse says that even Olivert didn't grasp the full extent of Osborne's plans, so she started devising plans of her own. Ah, so it was her idea for Aurelia to be the principal of the branch campus. That always did feel like a strange career move. She says she plans to use the Weissland Army to stop Operation Jormungandr.
Kurt wonders how Musse plans to stand against such a massive force. Altina asks if the two women we met at the lodge are part of their plans, too, and Aurelia says it must be fate that New Class VII ran into them. I'm guessing that they're planning on gathering dissenters from North Ambria and Remiferia to join the Weissland Army as well. Fie says that even if she succeeds, it'll be a lot of casualties, and Musse admits she expects hundreds of thousands of deaths, possibly millions in the worst case. Musse says you can't beat the Imperial Army head on at this point, between their sheer numbers, their technology, their alliance with Ouroboros, and the Great Twilight. The longer the war goes on, the more Erebonians will be consumed by the curse.
Musse presented these other nations an ultimatum: They can do nothing and allow themselves to be swallowed up by the Empire, or join her in one final effort to stop the end of the world, no matter the cost. I gotta admit, she's way better as Lady Mildene than she was as Musse. She says she won't reveal her predictions yet, but she's banking on humanity showing their true colors and true strength in the end as the deciding factor. Hey, betting on humanity worked in Mass Effect, so why not!
Juna is still confused as to why Musse joined Class VII in the first place with all of these other machinations in mind. It would've been better for her to stay behind the scenes, and even if she were at the branch campus, she didn't need to be part of Class VII. To Juna, it seems like an unnecessary risk. Musse says her goal was to get close to the chancellor's son, thinking he might have some connection to the curse. Juna ain't buyin' it though, and neither is Kurt. She didn't need to do any of that herself, including meeting with New Class VII right now. Altina says she felt a warmth inside Musse when they were in the Gral, and she couldn't have faked that. She believes her feelings about Class VII are genuine. Ash admits her plan is probably the best shot to stop Osborne, but she wonders if she can live with herself afterwards and bets she wishes there was another way.
Juna says that Musse is still just an ordinary girl beneath her Lady Mildene persona, and there's no way she could be okay with millions of people dying because of her plan. Fie says that Musse couldn't come up with a plan that didn't involve a huge sacrifice, and so she spilled her guts to Class VII in hopes of coming up with a better solution. Musse is about to finally crack, but the main campus interrupts, led by Cedric and Major Irving. Is Michael's voice different? Maybe I just don't remember what he sounded like in CS3. He points a sniper rifle at us, but that isn't all that great for close range combat.
Cedric says the Intelligence Division clued them in that everyone would be here, and now they're here to arrest us. Cedric is incredibly smug as usual, saying they've got a sniper trained on Aurelia, so victory is assured. Musse refuses to back down now that she's found a new potential path and loses the hair extensions in the process. Kurt channels Auron and says this isn't where their story ends. Cedric continues being smug, so now we have to beat him down and put him in his place.
The boss fight is stupid because Shirley insta-KOs two characters immediately with one of her Crafts. Because of that, it was basically impossible to win the fight within 40 turns, although I had gotten everyone except Fritz somehow by that point. Kurt puts Cedric in his place by saying that in order to do his duty, he has to protect Cedric from himself. This prompts Cedric to summon the Vermillion Knight because he's a poor loser. Musse thankfully happens to have a Spiegel on hand for Kurt to use. This fight isn't all that tough, and even Cedric's classmates are starting to question how unhinged he's gotten.
Old Class VII shows up in the nick of time to save the day, and Musse summons the Pantagruel for good measure. Vita had been keeping it cloaked the whole time, it seems. Finally, Cedric backs down and everyone retreats with him. Roselia shows up to remind us about the singularity once again, and now we have five marked. They manage to tempt Musse into rejoining the party, and with that, we're finally done with chapter 2 as we return to Eryn. Oh hey, Rean's got a tattered coat, kinda like Seifer in FFVIII by the end. Nice touch. The blacked out faces with pained expressions remind me of something out of Umineko. Also I wonder what his name is supposed to be in Japanese there.
Anyway, Chapter 2 wasn't quite as good as Chapter 1, but a solid climax once again and we're building to something good, for sure.
CS4 Act 1-2: Yeah, Michael's voice is definitely different. I also appreciate that somehow Shirley comes off as the reasonable one in the main campus crew. From pointing out she thinks the whole ambush is petty af to begin with, to basically going "...Really?" to Cedric flipping out and summoning Testa-Rossa, to just trashing him for actually losing with Testa-Rossa. You know you're pretty far gone when Shirley is the voice of reason in your squad.
And yeah Mildine > Musse for sure. Also lol at the "Rean" "Rean" "Rean" x10 "SCHWARZER!" segment. We were actually spared one of these in CS2 where in the opening Rean's reminiscing on Class VII after waking up the same thing happened but XSEED got clearance to have it replaced with each member getting a unique voice clip from CS1.
---
xp1337: Don't you wish there was a spell-checker that told you when you a word out?
