Board 8 > azuarc plays Trails of Cold Steel II (progressive spoilers)

(+) Yeah! (+)

As the motorboats speed us across the lake, Emma breaks down over being derelict in her duties by keeping everything from us, and Rean's like pff we love you Emma, but I'm thinking well yeah you coulda told us...

Then airships from the Noble Alliance appear, requesting to land. Apparently Laura is receiving the guests. These two are cordial, but I have every reason not to trust them.



Apparently even Laura watches out for creepy stalker dudes. And apparently Claire and Rean both know them as not just generals, but infamously renowned martial artists. Of course. Because what kind of proper boss would they be if they weren't built up as being incredibly capable in a fight?

And then they start taunting Laura with "oh dad's not here? That's all we needed to know." Just when I'm expecting that to mean they're gonna jump us, they return to more diplomatic niceties.

With that, we're off to Bareahard to chase after Jusis. Dunno if that's the brightest maneuver right now, but it's what we're doing. But first, an attack from the combat school.

Now this is what I've been waiting to see:



Also, I took this screenshot one battle too late:



This roadside monster was pretty freaking tough. Damn KO monkeys.

And then we walk all the way back to town so we can clear all these enemies again. At least I gained 3 levels before finding the Aqua Shrine. Also, I had forgotten how much I'd missed whacking enemies with Laura's sword for advantage. Her swing looks even more extreme now.


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Into the aqua shrine. Hi, blue chest. Should I do the blue chest? Let's not chicken out and do the blue chest. Emma and Laura? Sure! One S-craft and one Emma nuke later, the board's basically clear and I've finished my first blue chest trial. And now I can link two characters for overdrive. Oh. Welp.

Boss of the aqua shrine wrecks my shit by locking down the party with freeze and nuking across the room. Despite that, I get off two S-crafts and almost win. Two lights equipped later, they still nuked down Laura with some crits (who has the hardest hitting S-craft, natch,) but in the end I'm left standing.

The group now believes Rean is tied to Emperor Reichels after Rean has a vision about a mighty female knight joining the prince from before. Thanks for getting on my level, gang.

Legram area cleared, onto Kreuzen highway. I always get nervous when it says "doing X will advance the story," as if to make me go, "Do I have any outstanding quests still?"

I love how we're being assaulted by cute little birdies. Elliot says "oh what a nice treasure chest" and Laura proceeds to try to cleave it in half. Whoops.

Laura after killing an enemy: "You still have a lot of training to do." Well, no, Laura, they don't, because they're DEAD. But it's nice to see you haven't changed. Haven't heard you say "I still have a long way to go" yet, though. #Hoshi

Emma pulls a creepy Jedi mind trick at the gate where she takes off her glasses and her eyes turn a weird shade of orange-brown and get all big and I tried to grab a screenshot but it didn't say on-screen for more than a moment. But we aren't the droids they're looking for, so that's cool.

Jusis has apparently returned to his father's side, and isn't exactly supportive of his father's plans to attack Ymir. Wait, what? Oh, so looks like we'll be killing at least a couple birds with this trip.

Student working at the first shop I find, but not there now. Ten to one I forget this later when I'm supposed to find them.

Across the street, I can buy a gorgeous gown, and it's not gender locked. I now have Rean wearing a "gown woven from scratch with golden thread." He looks beautiful. Or exactly like he would normally since his character model doesn't change. But the fanart!

Last shop on the street sells pendulums! And the upgraded versions, but I can't afford 50k for an evergreen. I'll just be taking 4 of each of these, though, thank you. Screw you, status effects.

We're deep behind enemy lines, but sure, let's stop to investigate a missing kitten. Also, a statue that's mysteriously bleeding black all over. This noble's house has a new tutor who plays the piano, and I have to wonder if that's Elliot's sis.

Just got Gambling Jack ch. 7 and it seems I missed a couple. Good thing I'm not going for 100%. Also good thing this other vendor right here sells 5 and 6.

I was going to say how I love how the game just lets me wander out onto the highway on the other side of town, but then it becomes part of a quest. More xp for me, I guess.

Oh joy, the Bareahard sewers. My favorite place. First time enemies completely stumped me. First time a boss completely bewildered me on how to proceed. The first chest even gives me a green pendulum, like it's mocking me. I already bought four! I equip them just in case, but no idea if they mattered. Boss that appears basically one-shots Laura. Again. Need to get this girl some defense gear or something if she keeps tanking hits that would take down anyone else in the party. At least this time I revived her before killing the boss so she gets the exp.

And unlike last act 1 part 2, THIS time I checked my quest log to make sure I didn't miss anything -- which is how I ended up in the sewers in the first place -- so maybe we're actually ready to move on for a change. Time to find out if all these "posthaste" messages are from Jusis or someone trying to capture us.

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Into the airport. Predictably, it is Jusis. He and Machias are too much alike. Rean gives him a stern lecture when he prepares to drift apart, and Jusis decides the way to settle this is with a duel? Whatever. Nobles, what can you expect? Oh, and we're being watched. Nice choice of locale, Jusis.

Motorcycle > Horse. Who woulda guessed? Not that I have any idea what "advantage" Rean has when they both sit there and wait to dismount. However, I lose the first duel because I get frozen. Stupid green pendulums. I had a red one equipped earlier!

Okay, so Jusis is coming with us, but, um, can I propose an alternative? Can Jusis stay where he is and be our inside man? I'd rather have him feeding us info than coming along, tbh.

But of course, we get attacked by some goons afterward, because we were long overdue for one of these. And when Laura asks if this "Stahlritter" is related to the Eisenritter, even translating the German for us -- thanks, Laura, but I had that one covered myself -- her response:



Ooh, you sure told us!...or rather, you didn't tell us. I mean...you know what? Never mind.

And the guy sleeping through everything with the flowery mullet is apparently "no. 1," whatever that references. Something about Ouroboros pecking order, I guess. Anyway, we'll find out if he's pulling the Auron thing or if he's just a slacker.

Wait, pff, his name is "McBurn?" Is that what he had printed on his fake ID? Sorry, bud, we're gonna have to hold you here until some cops can take a look at this. Maybe they'll take you on a little ride around town and try to act like they can show you some fun.

Sadly, the duo took me out before I could finish off the chick. It's obvious I was never meant to beat McBurn, but I almost beat Duvalie before he nuked the shit out of us one at a time. And then a familiar voice shows up.



Hello there, purple lightning. The resolution of this scene leaves something to be desired, though. Instead of getting a fight with Instructor Sara, the bad guys bounce and we get a Valimar battle instead. I mean, predictable after the way things have gone so far, but I'd rather see Sara kick this guys ass before she gets reduced to PC power levels.

We win, in a fight that's not remotely hard, and then we run away. Run away why though? I mean I guess technically we aren't against the Noble Alliance, but if Albarea took Rean's sister, then wouldn't taking him be the easy solution here?

Oh, but sweet, at least the bike came with us.

Way too many people in this shot.



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azuarc posted...

Last shop on the street sells pendulums! And the upgraded versions, but I can't afford 50k for an evergreen.

Evergreen, etc. are endgame level accessories. You aren't expected to be able to buy them there but with the infinite money glitch, or extreme grinding you could. There's actually an intermediate tier between the Pendulums and Evergreen/Abyss Shadow/etc. in Red/Green/etc. Emblems that give the same status protection and some stats, just not nearly as much. I know they're not at that stop and I forget if they end up in one or if they're just craftable/occasional treasure chest/quest reward.

azuarc posted...

And the guy sleeping through everything with the flowery mullet is apparently "no. 1," whatever that references.

Each Enforcer has a number (based on Tarot Cards.)

McBurn is Enforcer I. Sharon, when she revealed she was Ouroboros at the end of CS1 (but on leave) is IX. Since the number is based on Tarot Cards it isn't related to power rankings... except McBurn actually is the strongest enforcer so it kinda does for him lol.

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Fun fact: after I posted, I saw an article announcing that McLovin, the doubly fictitious character from Superbad, would have been 40 yesterday.

And I saw the in-between artifacts when I went across town. The department store had them. They just weren't in the artisan district. Seems kinda funny how little time we spent in Bareahard if you ignore the fact that it's behind enemy lines.

I looked at something last night and found out I could have gotten 3 AP and a different cutscene for finishing off Duvalie, so now I'm sad. Also, apparently one of the revive items starts you with 100 CP and I could have used that to spam S-crafts. I only needed like 2k more damage.

I played past where I trailed off for just a couple minutes and got a question asking me who's reunion left the biggest impression. I wasn't sure what deeper implications there were for this choice, so I picked Instructor Sara since, on a literal level, that was an accurate response. I got treated to a scene of Rean and Sara in the bath together, where she flirts and generally embarrasses him. I quit immediately after without saving, so maybe I'll pick another option next time.

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I want to say this game has more hidden AP than Cold Steel 1. However, fortunately you can still get the highest rank if you miss some. I know I missed some of the ones from battles and didn't get the highest rank until the very last optional sidequest. That said, if you're also missing some of the optional quests too, there's a good chance you may miss out on the highest rank anyway.

Edit: also, what's the infinite money glitch?

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Fiop posted...

Edit: also, what's the infinite money glitch?

Cooking. In retrospect it was a mistake to call it a glitch because it's present in every Cold Steel game so Falcom knows what it's doing here, but there's always an early recipe where the result sells for more than the ingredients cost. In Cold Steel 1 it was Elliot cooking Omelets. In Cold Steel 2 it's the Salty Onigiri recipe. Cook with Emma (Elise works as well so this could hypothetically be done in the prologue. Claire too as another earlier option than Emma.) It's tedious and involves a ton of menus to flip between buying/cooking/selling but you can indefinitely profit until you're satisfied with how much mira you have.

As for AP, there's a margin of 14 AP you can miss and still attain maximum rank. Pretty sure azuarc has already missed over that amount lol.

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