Not as good as Yorknew, but it grew on me after a while. The Mad Bomber was kind of a lame villain, though!
I also started reading the manga (though I'm bummed that it's not included in Viz's monthly subscription, which only costs two bucks and which I already have for MHA...!)
Greed Island was my favorite arc in the original HxH (which ended with Greed Island). I liked the fantasy-ish setting a lot.
Not sure reading the manga is a great idea when it's in the middle of an arc and hasn't gotten a new chapter in over two years despite being a weekly series, but that's up to you! ---
Greed Island was my favorite arc in the original HxH (which ended with Greed Island). I liked the fantasy-ish setting a lot.
Not sure reading the manga is a great idea when it's in the middle of an arc and hasn't gotten a new chapter in over two years despite being a weekly series, but that's up to you!
Hmm yeah, thats true!
The only ongoing series I havent effectively dropped is One Piece, for which I typically ignore it for like a year or two and then binge to catch up.
Still wandering around Bryonia Island. We reach an old rope ladder, and apparently Fie and Rean are too worried about the fact that the rope is fraying for us to try to climb the ten feet down toward the old lodge. Come on, guys, seriously? That's what we're resorting to now? We find a mechanism for a monument that's already been activated, but it doesn't do anything here. I guess that's from CS3? Anyway, we find a Trial Chest for Laura and Fie, which is no problem for their Brave Orders and powers up Fie's as a result. We keep getting barred from fully exploring the island, which is lame.
Eventually we trigger a cutscene where all of Class VII doesn't think it can handle a few dragons, so Rean suggests unleashing his power as a Sacrifice. He thinks he can control it as long as they're around to keep him in check. It might negatively affect his body, but he'll still have full control of his mind. Apparently, this is something Rean will only be allowed to use when all of Class VII is together. How it works in battle is that Rean's crafts are improved for three turns but then he basically goes into a berserk state. There's a 30% chance of returning to normal each turn, but it can be undone with an item or art that removes all ailments. It's neat being able to access Rean's higher level crafts, but the 100 CP cost is kinda lame without some sort of CP raising accessory. I do have a few of them though, so I guess I can switch one of those over to him.
We're finally able to get to the lodge, and we get some cool banter about the field exercises from CS1 and visiting here in CS3 after meeting "Professor Lughman" with Millium being held captive. Eventually we reach the Sol Shrine, and they remind me that this shrine appeared because we activated those landmarks I found earlier combined with the power of Emma's pendant. It looks different inside than it did last time. Gaius says the spirit veins have been activated, likely because of these Rivalries. There isn't much to the place, and I can see on the map that there are two people at the end.
Naturally, it's Crow and Duvalie. He offers to launch straight into telling us everything he knows about the Rivalries. Juna has a great meta line when she's surprised that there's no warm-up monologue beforehand. Rean says he can feel a tension, not just inside of him but in the world itself. Simply put, the Rivalries are a struggle for power. They're deathmatches between Divine Knights, which is pretty much what I figured. Emma says she saw the parallels with what Vita was attempting in CS2. Celine says that the experiments Ouroboros conducted with the three Aions in CS3 was their attempt to see if the Rivalries could be artificially reproduced.
Crow says that Vita's been searching for ages for a way to keep the curse of the Great One in check. The previous clashes between Divine Knights have been exhibitions preparing the way for the real thing. Orbal technology brought humanity to the point where they could conceivably destroy the world with its weaponry, and that was apparently a condition to trigger the Rivalry of the Seven. It's not the cause of the world's end, but rather it's a result of it. Gaius says the world is like a crucible with the Great Twilight as the kindling and war as the bellows that stoke the flame. As the Divine Knights fight to the death, they melt into each other in these flames until the seven become one once again.
Crow decides there's no time like the present. Since the war hasn't officially started yet, they might be able to derail the Gnomes' plans by getting a head start on them. Once the Empire begins its attack on the Republic, Rean would have no choice but to engage in the Rivalries because of his role as the Sacrifice. Crow says he'd either go berserk or his memories would get sealed away, effectively transforming him into a mindless puppet. As such, Rean sees Crow's point and accepts his challenge to give himself a chance to succeed or fail on his own merit.
Duvalie says that the stage has to be properly set first, so I have to pick three allies to help. Crow says the circumstances are not perfect, but it's close enough for what they need to do. I decide to roll with Altina, Juna, and Kurt. This song is a banger, by the way. I focus on getting rid of Duvalie first since she has less HP, and Crow's Eye of Balor sucks balls since it has a chance of insta-KO. This fight wouldn't have been too bad without the constant need to revive party members! Either way, we eventually prevail and get a good bit of experience for it.
Now it's time for a Divine Knight battle, and we actually get to hear Ordine's voice, which is cool. I can't remember if we ever heard it before this, but still! Before the battle starts, Rean asks if the Rivalries is a battle between Divine Knights, what does that mean for the Awakeners? Rean doesn't know what'll happen to him since he's also a Sacrifice, but Crow is only alive because of the curse. In classic Crow fashion, he artfully sidesteps the question, but he says he's already dead anyway, so it wouldn't bother him if Rean put him out of his misery. In classic Rean fashion, he takes the time to reassure Crow that he'll always be his friend, rival, and member of Class VII before the fight starts. I bring along Sara as my partner for this one for the speed and strength boosts. I dunno what it is about Divine Knight battles, but they're just fun. I guess it's the atmosphere and the stakes attached.
After the fight, Ordine's essence gets absorbed into Valimar, and that means it's the end for Crow again, even though he technically wasn't wounded as badly as he was in CS2. Each Rivalry will bring us closer to the root of the curse. Crow apologizes for making Class VII go through this a second time, but at least he can live on through Rean this time. As a last request, he asks them to knock some sense into Angelica, but they refuse to give up on him. Rean won't let Crow take the easy way out and uses Valimar to reverse the flow of the mana back into Ordine because he won't be responsible for his death. Then they have a bromantic hug and even Millium tells Crow that they aren't quitters. I'm not sure what all this means for the Rivalries if the Divine Knights don't absorb each other, but whatever, Trails doesn't kill people off that easily!
Suddenly we skip ahead to Rean waking up in the lodge, and he's apparently been passed out for about six hours. Crow's in the bed next to his, and Kurt asks Emma what the heck happened there. She can only guess, but she thinks Valimar turned Ordine into a servant of sorts. It's not what the Dark Dragon did to those Calvardians in CS3, but it's more of a spiritual link, like what Emma has with Celine or Altina has with Claiomh Solais. It's basically a lord/retainer situation, and it extends to the Awakeners as well.
Even Crow is ready to, well, eat crow and accede to Rean's request to rejoin Class VII. To the victor go the spoils and all that. He's living on borrowed time as it is anyway with the Great Twilight. This hasn't changed his fate. It's only postponed it for a bit. Rean says that as long as Crow is still here, he won't give up on him. Just having him back with Class VII is good enough for now. Then Laura raises the obvious question of what Duvalie plans to do now, but she won't say anything other than she plans on going her own way. They call her out on the fact that she really has no one to turn to right now, and Crow invites her to join him. Laura says this doesn't have to be permanent, and Musse tempts her by saying Arianrhod will be involved in the Rivalries as well, so this is her chance to learn more about what she's up to. Duvalie reluctantly decides to join temporarily but makes sure we understand that we are not friends.
It's actually an arrangement of the big boss theme from Cold Steel 1, which is a pretty neat callback. Especially fitting here, too, since it mainly played for fights with the ILF.
LotM: Man, you're really burning through HxH there! Greed Island was pretty cool imo. Not as good as Yorknew but probably better than everything else before it. Next arc is my favorite... well, the second half of it is, at any rate.
~~~
Leon: LeonhartFour posted...
Eventually we trigger a cutscene where all of Class VII doesn't think it can handle a few dragons, so Rean suggests unleashing his power as a Sacrifice.
Rean: I'm sorry everyone, but now that it has come to this, our only hope to survive is for me to unleash the power that is bringing about the world's end. It may consume me once more and perhaps I won't be able to return this time, but- Class VII: ...Really? Because it looks to us that this is just some more flying dinosaurs that we've been fighting as we make our way to the shrine. Just instead of two of them... it's three. Probably can clear them in one S-Craft. Maybe two. Rean: Don't take this from me.
LeonhartFour posted...
Now it's time for a Divine Knight battle, and we actually get to hear Ordine's voice, which is cool. I can't remember if we ever heard it before this, but still!
I feel like he might have spoken like a single line in CS2, but not positive.
LeonhartFour posted...
They call her out on the fact that she really has no one to turn to right now,
Class VII (think it was Fie but doesn't matter): ...How do you even plan to get off this island? Duvalie: ... ... ... .................
lmao duvalie the best
Also, FWIW, if you're going back to read my comments on act sections, I don't consider this the end of 2-1 so while my 2-1 write-up would be safe up to the point where you're at, I keep going past here and don't break it off until you get the AP Report Card thing.
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xp1337: Don't you wish there was a spell-checker that told you when you a word out?
LotM: Man, you're really burning through HxH there! Greed Island was pretty cool imo. Not as good as Yorknew but probably better than everything else before it. Next arc is my favorite... well, the second half of it is, at any rate.
Yeah, I've basically just been watching anime/reading manga for the past few days!
I think my arc ranking so far is Yorknew > Exam > Greed Island > Heavens Arena > Zoldyck (though I can't remember Zoldyck or the first half of HA very well).
Huh, they finally decided to translate the rest of the Full Metal Panic books into English. Might have to go back and read them if we don't get a season 5 soon!
Okay, let's get back to Cold Steel IV Act 2 since the local games on here are Bears/Texans and Vikings/Bucs!
We're touring western Erebonia today, it seems! We successfully evaded the Imperial air force's detection, and then it's a flashback to the previous night. Sara asks what we want to do next, and they decide they want to find their other allies, like Towa, Alfin, and Elise. The problem is that we don't know where any of them are, and they've apparently made no attempt to contact us! Rean says they have some tough decisions to make, like whether to draw out the Rivalries for as long as possible or just try to get them done as quickly as possible. Rean says he wants to stop being used as a pawn and strive to protect those closest to him with his own strength and his own decisions. But what if that's what Osborne wants you to do...! He says he outright rejects all that Operations Jormungandr and Mille Mirage stand for, so I guess he's not interested in helping the Weissland Army either!
Oh hey, Crow and Duvalie are each sporting a new set of duds. Gotta be honest, it's a little unsettling seeing Duvalie without her armor on! It seems we're limited to western Erebonia in our travels for the time being because security is on the rise, so Jusis, Alisa, and Sara plan to use their connections to get us some more intel. And hey, it's time to use the terminals to get sidequests, as expected! Machias suggests we slim down to a smaller party, Altina says she's been assigned the job of being Rean's chaperone, so she's coming along whether he likes it or not! They said six, maybe seven at most, so I was hoping to get to bring along an extra person, but nope, it's six. Maybe I should just randomize my party for the heck of it and roll with what I get. Or at least randomize it until I get a rollout I'm content with, so I mix it up a few times and eventually land on Rean/Altina/Sara/Fie/Crow/Duvalie. Yeah, that works.
Oh hey, I can report sidequests with the ARCUS now. That's nice. And now we get our bonding points, with the special caveat that there are new Special Memory scenes for female characters, and they're marked with a heart. I guess I should prioritize these then? Man, I've only got three bonding points for a cast this large? Well, turns out I only have four options and one of them is Musse, so I guess that makes things easy! ...Unless it adds a page to Musse's profile, so I might have to save scum here and figure out the optimal route. At the very least, Fie has a heart and the game definitely wants me to do that one to break me into the concept.
Apparently, Rosine is in the charge of the ship when Gaius is away, which makes sense. I can also talk to her when I want to leave or reorganize the party. Alisa is exchanging orbmails with Elie. Gaius and Machias are sharing a drink in the break room. Ash is fresh out of the shower. I decide to spend a bonding point with Fie, and she invites me to train with her, but she wants to do it on the ground, not in the airship, so they can have plenty of room. As such, we make a journey to the forest in Eryn. Fie reveals her intentions now. She wants Rean to unleash his Ogre form so she can see how long she can hold it back. After all, if he plans to keep on using it, they need to figure out a contingency plan in case he goes berserk. In this fight, I'm controlling Fie, which is cool. All I really have to do is hold out for a few turns after he goes berserk, so I just use Concealing Wind to keep him at bay once he activates his ogre form.
Afterwards, Fie is confident she can hold Rean back now if he loses control again. He tells her not to do anything crazy, and she reminds him that Millium was her friend, too, which is a nice moment. She doesn't want to fall behind anyone...especially in a romantic race for Rean's heart, am I right? Don't worry, I'd choose you in a heartbeat over Alisa, Fie. Emma...would be a bit tougher of a call. Laura's still the best though, sorry. I didn't expect Fie to outright confess her feelings here though, and she even lampshades it afterwards! Rean is even having a hard time patting her head now, and Fie calls him out on it. No, Fie, he isn't a ladies' man. He's just a JRPG protagonist. Oh hey, that leveled her up a full star, nice.
Oh, one of the bonding options is Duvalie. I thought that was Elliot looking at the map! I swear they have the same hairstyle now! Oh hey, the guy in the weapons shop talks about how the Special Support Section rode in a Merkabah during the Azure Tree incident. Something to look forward to! Actually, let's tackle Musse's first in case it isn't important, so I can just reload my save afterwards! Musse is working with a small orbal pistol made by the Thirteen Factories, which I guess is totally separate from the Black Workshop. Rean picks it up and is immediately hit by its unusual center of gravity. Musse receives a call and leaves the room before I can use my point, so I guess I have to follow her now!
Rean decides to eavesdrop on the conversation and recognizes Aurelia's voice on the phone. Vita is also there. They're discussing some sort of problem, and they offer to handle it for her. However, she opts to play mental chess until she can figure out the right move. Naturally, Vita knew Rean was there the whole time, so we're busted. After getting off the phone, Musse nearly faints. I guess she's mentally exhausted or she's playing the damsel in distress for Rean's attention! He still has his concerns about that orbal pistol, but he opts to trust Musse for now. Aw yeah, no new entry in the notebook, so reload! Still, it was interesting, so I'm glad I watched it.
Celine is sleeping on the barstool after eating one of Coppe's favorites. I can now play Pom Pom Party against Juna and I beat her on the second try, aw yeah. Kurt and Jusis are taking a tea break together. Sara talks to Elliot about the Wind Orchestra. Laura and Emma talk about their former club members as well. Duvalie offers to train us while she's here, and we spend the bonding point in Parm. We get a cool sparring session with some rocking music as Rean learns to handle her speed. Then they spend some time talking about Loewe's skills, and Duvalie reveals she was born into a minor noble family, but they were all killed in a bandit attack. Nice to get a little backstory here.
Altina is in the reference room, trying to pull her weight as a member of the Intelligence Division. She brings up some images of Ymir. She says it's avoided any major disturbances since it was designated as a non-intervention zone, but it's still under tight surveillance. She can also confirm Rean's parents are safe. He asks if there's any way we might get caught looking into this data, but Altina says that the Merkabah's encryption technology is quite advanced. She says she hasn't been able to track down Elise yet, but she's working on it.
Finally, we talk to Crow. The game goes over how to fight with Crow now, and he apparently operates in the same way Juna does. Oh heck yeah, Crow can fish, too. I'm glad I'm bringing him along now! He's also mourning the death of Blade as a popular card game. You and me both, bro. And darn it, Crow had a bond event that I wasn't aware of because he was a required event first, bah. Time to reload, I guess! I'm keeping the Altina bond scene, so we'll just see if the Crow one is important. Otherwise, I'll probably redo the Duvalie one to get the bond boost since she's clearly only temporary. Oh, Rean is just teaching Crow how to play Vantage Masters. Oh good, I don't actually have to play. This was a fun one though, with Crow feigning ignorance and Rean feigning ignorance about Crow feigning ignorance.
You get a bonus bond point later on in every chapter, btw.
LeonhartFour posted...
Oh hey, I can report sidequests with the ARCUS now. That's nice. And now we get our bonding points, with the special caveat that there are new Special Memory scenes for female characters, and they're marked with a heart. I guess I should prioritize these then?
Personally, I'd say you should prioritize not doing them, since the romance bond scenes are generally worse than the non-romance ones. Plus if you skip them, the later bonds with that character have the crappy romance parts cut out! ---
You get a bonus bond point later on in every chapter, btw.
Personally, I'd say you should prioritize not doing them, since the romance bond scenes are generally worse than the non-romance ones. Plus if you skip them, the later bonds with that character have the crappy romance parts cut out!
Unfortunately there are some character notes stuck behind those damn heart bond scenes and boy are they a tad cringey to sit through. Something to keep in mind if you're going for completion.
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Bart, with $10,000, we'd be millionaires! We could buy all kinds of useful things like...love! ~Homer J. Simpson
Musse is working with a small orbal pistol made by the Thirteen Factories, which I guess is totally separate from the Black Workshop.
As far as I know, the "Thirteen Factories" is a term for the engineering/tech groups working for Ouroboros, of which the Black Workshop was one of them until they defected to Osborne. Whether there are literally 13 groups (or were, I guess, at its founding/before the Black Workshop left if they weren't replaced already.) So even with the Gnomes gone they still have other workshops/factories under their employ. It's headed up/overseen by the Sixth Anguis, Professor Novartis who Joshua namedrops all the way back in SC if you take him to the right place on the Glorious.
Mac Arrowny posted...
It's the same as her CS3 outfit!
CS2, I thought, but yeah, it's not the first time we see it.
Bond Events: As a general rule of thumb, in Act 2 you will ultimately end up with enough bonding points to see everyone's event but one person if you pick up the extra bonding point from the monster quest. Looks like we made the same exact decision in terms of Bond Events to do in 2-1 though with basically the same exact logic! Fie, Altina, Musse, and Duvalie had cool events yeah. Crow's was kinda a letdown in comparison but still nice to see Rean finally getting one up on him in their gamesmanship. As for the heart events, I kind of disagree with Mac a bit as much as I spent a great deal of time lamenting them in my own write-ups but that's because I disagree that as a rule they're worse than the non-heart ones, just that a fair number of them feel like it's jarringly tacked on to what was otherwise a good event and you can't sever them (unless you miss the first heart event in which case the second one will just become a normal one and excise the romance part as mentioned). You don't really see this too much with Fie's event there because I felt that one managed to work that part in about as naturally as it could have but you will. If you're interested in final bond event criteria... Technically, you can see the final bond event for anyone so long as you can get them to 5 stars. It's kinda like CS3 in that you can see more than one (as is usual you get a number of tickets to spend time with people when the time comes.) Technically speaking you could throw 3 tickets at one person there so as long as you get some to 3.5 stars you can see their event. Romance is different though, you can only romance one person (you get a final bond-esque scene regardless of romance) but your only options here are if you get them to 5 stars and saw both their heart events, though I think the game told you that already upfront. If you miss either heart event for someone they can't be a romance option.
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xp1337: Don't you wish there was a spell-checker that told you when you a word out?
Okay, I just needed to stop and comment here that the split for the Kingsguard teams makes absolutely no sense. Putting Gon and Killua on one team instead of pairing them up with the real pro hunters seems like a recipe for disaster unless you're counting on plot armor to bail you out!
Also there's definitely time for this to change, but I am currently not at all a fan of knock-off Cell
Oh and a question: there was like half an episode on Gyro's past, and then he never came up again. Is he actually relevant?
Gon and Killua would never agree to anything else. In the manga it was pretty explicit that Gyro was only introduced to tease a future part of the story that hasn't happened yet, though he does have minor relevance before then.
I think I'm going to have to scale back my CS4 updates at this point just so I can get through this game! It takes up so much extra time and my gaming time is limited as it is, both with married life and work being so busy with the Christmas rush.
