Board 8 > The Legend of MZeroes: Trails of Cold Stingers 2

(+) Yeah! (+)

_stingers_ posted...

Oh wow, I never knew this. I'll have to start taking advantage, I always thought you were limited to one no matter what. I don't think it worked like this in the 2D games, because I remember always having to find what status effect quartz was equipped when the new one I wanted gave me an error

Yeah, it's a change from the earlier games. It was one per orbment back there.

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I feel like you could equip one status quartz per line in the Crossbell games. Maybe it was different in Sky.

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I turn the game on and get ready for an exciting session of CS2. I load in and I'm on the eastern highway, ready to begin looking for an answer to this riddle. I immediately run into two wolves and get ready for an exciting fight. Rean and Toval miss about 8 attacks in a row and I get a game over immediately.

Until next time!

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I found it worthwhile to invest in Hit quartz in CS2 for exactly that reason lol.

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I have STOP MISSING in my notes

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wtf at this Xeno and Leonidas fight

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I decided to invest in Accuracy Quartz but it didnt help a ton, my characters still miss quite a lot even with it on. Crafts dont seem to miss as often as regular attacks, though. Anyway, the riddle was pretty easy so I didnt need the mark on my map and tried to ignore it, but either way it wasnt too challenging. I explore maps pretty thoroughly, so I had already found the windmill before I even got the key. Machias is waiting inside, and Rean greets him with a BRO HUG. This is what we need more of in Trails, less harem stuff and more bro stuff. He tells us that Arseid helped Class VII escaped and that they split into three groups. Fie and Elliot are in Celdic with Machias, and went to try and make contact with Elliots dad. While we wait for a call from them, we decide to go back to town. Machias has to disguise himself, so he goes with the impeccable strategy of taking off his glasses. Wow, its like hes a different person!

We talk to Otto, who gives us our first side quests! I knew they were coming eventually. We have a couple classics to start off with, fetching medicinal ingredients and a monster extermination. I was expecting a light bulb change request but alas. The market is out of herbs so we have to go back to the park. The drunk guy got his job back (tbh I have no memory of this individual) and lets us in to collect the Cure Herbs and be on our way. With both quests done and some exploration of the town, I decided to head back to the windmill and wait for Elliot and Fie to call.

Theyre at a bit of a dead end, and Machias suggests we meet up nearby. Rean surprises them by talking on the phone, but I think it would have been better if he just showed up without them knowing. Fie just kind of abandons Elliot and jumps off the cliff, how rude. By the way, her new outfit seems to be a ripoff of Yuffies costume from FF7. I feel like I should call her YufFie (Ill see myself out) Rean and Elliot reunite, and Elliot kind of grabs his hands in a weird but touching way and confirms that its actually Rean about 100 times. Its kind of cute and I really like the song that plays during these scenes. Of course, they have to ruin it with this completely unnecessary scene of Fie jumping on Rean and straddling him for an uncomfortably long time. falcom why

We consider going back to Ymir and using it as a base, but Rean said screw that we got work to do. The way Toval was asking what are you guys going to do next? made me feel like he was going to bail but Im glad he didnt and hope he sticks around. Fie mentions a way to get across the Twin Dragon Bridge and get to Garrelia Fortress to meet up with Elliots dad and the Fourth Armored Division, so that must be what she was checking out earlier. As we make our way over there, I find a treasure chest that Celine somehow knows only Machias and Elliot can open. Honestly they didnt need to explain that in the story, they could have just had the message pop up and I wouldnt have questioned it. Either way its not a big deal.

Around this time I fitted Rean and Fie with as many status ailment inflicting quartz as possible and have officially become what I hate. They say you either die a hero or live to become a status effect inflicting butthole. Anyway, we make it to the bridge and I find it strange that we can just wander around here considering were wanted. Machias didnt even take off his glasses! A guy from Crossbell is trying to get through, and talking to him cut to a different perspective so I feel like that was important, but I couldnt find him after that so who knows. After talking to everyone inside the rest area, a suspicious hooded man who knows who we are approaches and indirectly leads us to an air duct thatll get us down the train tracks. Hes nowhere to be seen on the other side, so the party goes on their way down the tracks, which doesnt seem safe btw. We catch a glimpse of hooded mans hair and hear his voice as he watches us from above but Im not sure who it is.

Into the tunnel we go, and theres someone I definitely recognize. I KNOW THAT MUSTACHE ANYWHERE. If any of you followed my CS1 topic years ago, you know how I feel about that scoundrel. On the other side of the tunnel, more people are watching us from above. This seems very dangerous for our party. Fie notices them but doesnt warn us because? Found a tax evader under a bridge and bought some contacts. Now Machias can be in disguise permanently! After some more exploring, I stumble upon some ruins that Toval says werent here last time he came, so are they old or new? The higher elements are active, and Celine seems to know something but doesnt care if we die so she tells us nothing. Jerk. Is this going to be the equivalent of the Old Schoolhouse from the first game? The similar looking symbol at the end would suggest theres some connection, at least. Before leaving, Rean has a mysterious vision of a village on fire and two people talking. I assume there are more shrines to be found that will fill in the rest of this story. Oh ya +3 AP gimme that blind run max AP

I finally proceed to my objective and find Garrelia Fortress destroyed as it was at the end of Azure. Fie says it looks like ice cream that got scooped out which was kind of a funny comment to make about a serious situation but she has a point! In the distance we can see the barrier around Crossbell, so I guess this is overlapping with the end of Azure. Machias walks into a land mine and is saved by Fie. Of course, the culprits are those two stalkers she didnt warn us about before, Xeno and Leonidas, who are from her same mercenary group. I dont remember these guys (well I remember them in the prologue) but I think Rean mentioned seeing them in Leglam or something. Anyway we have our first ridiculously outmatched boss battle and I say so long to my dreams of max AP on this run because Im not winning this fight! It took me like 5 tries just to survive long enough for the battle to end and allow me to advance. I carefully checked later and it said something like getting one of them to 30% HP to get max AP or something and I wasnt even close to like 75%. Oh well!

Enemy Gundams show up and tell the mercenaries to get out of here, because I dont really know why. Valimar is summoned to deal with them, and at this point I was thinking Valimar battles are boring as heck because he doesnt have many options. Getting the sword and access to EX Arts made them more interesting, so thats a plus! Elliots dad shows up STANDING ON A TANK, I dont know why hes doing that but Im here for it, what a boss. I forgot how his personality changes around Elliot so that was funny to relive. Claire shows up and gets a sweet headshot on the enemy squad leader (I actually remember her!) and forces them to retreat. Back at the base camp, Rean tells Papa Craig that he has to find the rest of Class VII so they can decide what to do next together. Claire is joining the team which is pretty cool! Im enjoying having non-class VII characters along for the ride too. Found a couple classmates (Monica, who is apparently Lauras friend and swimming buddy and Munk, who is apparently emo) and a Gambler Jack II book wandering around camp (2 for 2 so far!). The time has come to return to Ymir, and Claire changed her outfit (tbh I like her military uniform better). Ymir at night is lovely. Valimar needs to charge his mana batteries, and rest is important, so the gang decides to take a day off before setting off for the next area. The calendar flips from December 1st to December 4th, so apparently that last section was 3 days? I seem to recall Celine saying Valimar need about 3 days to charge, so I guess that would make sense, but the calendar didnt move so I thought it was all the same day. I guess it doesnt really matter though.

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Machias is waiting inside, and Rean greets him with a BRO HUG. This is what we need more of in Trails, less harem stuff and more bro stuff.

Oh man my notes here do not match yours

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MZero posted...

A guy from Crossbell is trying to get through, and talking to him cut to a different perspective so I feel like that was important, but I couldnt find him after that so who knows.

wow your dedication to npc hunting is lacking. if you're not prepared to drop everything and backtrack to explore the entire available world for one npc are you even playing a trails game?

To be serious though, that's a hook for a hidden sidequest. I forget the details of the convertsation you hear but I believe it drops enough hints to suggest there's some value in heading back on the highway you entered from. If you do, you'll eventually hit a cutscene trigger again on the road (think it's at the opposite end of the first screen of the highway from the Twin Dragons Bridge) that leads you to him and the quest.

MZero posted...

Of course, the culprits are those two stalkers she didnt warn us about before, Xeno and Leonidas, who are from her same mercenary group. I dont remember these guys (well I remember them in the prologue) but I think Rean mentioned seeing them in Leglam or something.

Yeah. You first see them (without Fie) in Legram on the field study as bodyguards to Duke Cayenne when he makes a surprise visit to Laura's dad to try and recruit him. You next see them when Vita is broadcasting the invasion of Heimdallr to Thors at the end of CS1 which is when Fie first learns they're involved.

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xp1337 posted...

wow your dedication to npc hunting is lacking. if you're not prepared to drop everything and backtrack to explore the entire available world for one npc are you even playing a trails game?

I'm sorry I only explored the bridge area oops. I thought it was something where talking to him there made you run into him again later or something long term like that, but I guess I missed something!

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I liked slapping as many status quartz on Machias as I could since his attacks are AoE.

Picking up from my last update, after a retry I was able to kill those wolves pretty easily. Alright then, I'll just chalk that one up to RNG and continue.

Along the highway, a farmer gave me Gambler Jack vol. 2. Are they really just re-releasing Gambler Jack for this games book instead of writing a new one? That's a huge disappointment. 30 seconds later I realize my folly when I open the book menu and see that it's actually Gambler Jack 2 - a sequel! That's a first for the series. Good shit Falcom, they know just what we crave. Personally, I'd take a sequel to the vampire hunter book over this one. Also, I remember someone talking about Carnelia earlier in this topic, was that the book from Sky 1? That's the only one I never read :( I wasn't enough into the franchise at that point to care. Maybe I should go back and do so.

As Mzero said, the "puzzle" to find Machias is just opening a random treasure chest at the end of the road...alright then. The next destination is clearly pointing to the windmill, so I make my way there.

Before going in, Rean says he has his suspicions on who it is. What a smart guy! To have solved that riddle ahead of time is what I've come to expect of ol' Schwarzer. Yet, he was somehow unable to discern that Emma was a witch...truly mysterious. You open the door to find - surprise - Machias! Celine remarks that she wasn't expecting this, which is not surprising since the brain of a cat can't be expected to perform critical thinking.

Machias has a cool new look with a swaggy blue overcoat and blue turtleneck underneath. He looks the same physically, but his outfit is much more adult so I approve. Him and Rean share a homoerotic moment where they cry and hug each other and talk about how they always kept their promises to each other. My notes say: "Rean's harem is growing in an unexpected direction." During the introductions, Toval reveals his last name for the first time that I recall - Randonneur. I wonder if his family will end up being important? It's a pretty important looking name is all I'm going to say.

Machias goes on to reveal some backstory. After Rean flew away on Valimar, the Courageous came to the rest of the class' rescue. I have to wonder how they all got split up afterwards if they all just could've gotten on board the Courageous, but I guess we'll find out. And find out we do, since apparently the Courageous was unable to actually land, it showed up as a mere diversion and then everyone split up and ran away in the chaos. Kind of weird but okay. I have to imagine that if they wanted to, the Courageous would've easily beat ass and just landed and got everyone on board afterwards, but what do I know. Machias goes on to say he got away with Fie and Elliot. Hopefully we run into Fie first, because I could never see Elliot again and I wouldn't miss a thing.

The other two apparently left to try and rendezvous with Elliot's dad, which seems like a sensible plan in the midst of a civil war. I'm honestly a little surprised that Fie is willing to bring fucking Elliot of all people along on a scouting mission behind enemy lines, doesn't that seem slightly out of character for a Zephyr jaeger? Also, sort-of-side-note, but why exactly again are all of these students wanted by the Noble army so badly? For one, Jusis is one of them, doesn't he have authority to just command them to let them be? I'm still confused as to what crime they are being charged with. Them wanting control over Rean's robot makes perfect sense, but the rest of them aren't exactly complicit in that. Imagine if you were arrested because the kid who sat in front of you in high school was dealing drugs. That's kind of how this reads to me.

Anyway, examining the rest of the windmill, Machias apparently has some high tech equipment here. There's some sort of...radar detector looking thing, as well as an honest to god laptop. Doesn't that seem like a lot of technology for their situation? The internet was just fucking invented in Crossbell, like, a few months ago. And here is Machias, just carrying around a laptop like it's no big deal. That shit is brand new technology! It probably cost the ZCF like 50 million Mira in development costs. And then Machias, of all people, with his AOC tax-the-rich vibes just waving it around like it's no big deal. SMH

Machias joins the party, but I let Rean and Toval stay linked in battle because, honestly, I don't see Machias making the cut. He was definitely on the line in CS1 for people I'd put on my team, so like, used sparingly. But this game seems like it's going to have a much cooler cast so I don't see him being here long term. Also, I come to find out in battles that Overdrive is apparently only tied to the unit that you're linked to when you activate it, it doesn't impact your whole party like in Azure. Interesting change, I kind of like it but we'll see how it plays out later.

You get back to Celdic with Machias in tow, and they decide he needs a disguise as the recently arrested governors son. So what does he do? Takes off his glasses - the classic Clark Kent maneuver. Respect on that one. Went to upgrade his equipment, but all he needed was a new jacket. I did go and buy 2 hit quartz for him and Rean though, per someone's earlier suggestion. Walking around town after that, I find Anton in the inn, who hopes that Ricky is still alive. Me too kid, me too. Also, one of the noble soldiers in town says that he would make a name for himself, if he could just find one of those pesky Class VII kids. I'm going to shoot myself if I don't get a real explanation for why these kids are so wanted soon. Also, I find that one of the shops at the market sells attachments for Mira, which is a great change. Having to waste u-materials to craft them in the last game felt like a huge waste.

You go to meet with the market manager Otto to advance the plot. My first thought is I'm really digging how cinematic the camera angles are here. They have the gang and Otto sitting on opposite couches facing each other, and they have the camera pan low and angled upwards looking at them, rotating around to whoever is speaking. It totally works and adds some drama to the scene, so shoutouts to Falcom on that one. Plot wise, they discuss how the war is going. Elliot's dad is holding the line where he's stationed, but the rest of the Imperial army isn't faring as well. Otto doesn't have too much more info then that though, but he does find a way to reintroduce Bracer missions for us. He gives us two tasks around town to keep us busy - Toval chimes in and says, "Shouldn't a bracer be the one doing these jobs?" Real tongue-in-cheek there, Falcom.

They use this as an excuse to reset your student rank, since Toval is our new judge, jury and executioner. They still call it a student rank however, even though we are ostensibly not tied to any sort of schooling regiment right now, which makes me think that Thors will be making it's reappearance at some point later in the game. But we'll have to see about that, I would definitely prefer if it didn't.

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Going on to tackle the quests given to me, while on the eastern highway to do the monster quest, I stop back by the windmill to see if they'll let me examine Machias radar to see what that's about yet, but Toval pipes up to say that the market manager gve us very important work to do and we shouldn't be dilly-dally-shilly-shallying here. Way to ruin my fun buddy. I go out to find his precious quest monster, which is some sort of giant mole. It goes down without too much trouble, though it does have a move that heals it for 10K which it uses a few times to my displeasure. After beating it, the game lets you fast travel back to Celdic which I love. If there's one thing that trails generally exceeds at, it's quality of life features like that. I never would've made it this far into the series without turbo mode. Also, you get a detection quartz for winning that fight, which slots in perfectly to Toval's sole open slot which is locked to Yellow quartz. Also, I forgot to mention but on that highway you find a Mute quartz, which means my Machias is now equipped with Shield Breaker, Poison, Impede, and Mute which is pretty gnarly for this early on in the game. Shoutouts to whoever it was that told me I could equip multiple status quartz in this game!

After finishing some boring herb quest that was required, I go back to the windmill and I'm finally able to analyze the radar! I'm so excited. It turns out to be some sort of long range communication device. I thought their ARCUS had built in cell phones though, so I'm not sure why they need to lug this thing around. They talk for a bit with Fie and Elliot using it, get excited to hear Rean is back and agree on a meeting place. From afar, they show off Elliot and Fie's redesigns. Elliot looks slightly cooler with a new coat, but not cool enough to save his dignity. And then Fie is now apparently redesigned as a mix between Yuffie (as Mzero mentioned) and Tita (with the off-center steampunk glasses over the head), which is an interesting choice, but fuck it, I can dig it. Fie tells Elliot that he should go ahead without her because she has to investigate something at the fort. I'm sure there is absolutely no way that backfires and we will definitely not have to rescue her later.

On the way to meet up, Machias admits that he hopes Jusis is safe which is adorable. So much character growth! The next area you go to after leaving the windmill, on the way to Elliot is really pretty, even with the outdated graphics. I like the faded, wintergreen grass along the rocky mountain path look. This game has done a really good job so far of making visually appealing environments, between Ymir and this highway, which to be fair are the only two new areas we've been introduced to so far. At the end of the path, you get to 'Point D' and Elliot runs up and holds Rean's hand in both of his excitedly. The homoeroticism is ramping up quickly. Fie shows up right after, so I guess my earlier guess of having to rescue her was wrong. She is portrayed as exceedingly competent, so I guess that's fair. Immediately after seeing Rean however, she jumps off a 20 foot cliff and lands directly on top of him, knocking him to the ground, while she straddles his hips between her legs. Just plain ol' eroticism now, sadly with a 15 year old girl. I don't know how Japan gets away with this shit man. If Alisa caught wind of this situation we would never hear the end of it.

Moving on, the party decides, against all odds that they will make their way to the Garellia fortress ruins. I'm about it. Fuck it. Let's go kids, you've had a year of schooling, we'll fuck this army up you'll be fine. Fie and Elliot join my party and I immediately relegate Elliot to the backlines, hopefully to never see the light of day. He can hang out back there with Millium and talk about how awful they are together. I do equip Elliot with his concert outfit, because his new cooler looking coat does not suit him. He needs to feel his shame when he is with me. Fie gets to keep her default outfit though since it's pretty dope. It looks even cooler while controlling her on the map too. I doubt I'll be taking that one off for the rest of the game.

After exploring for a bit the game introduces a new mechanic, trial chests. You have to win a fight with a specific combination of two characters, and your reward for winning is that they are allowed to use Overlimit together, as well as some link XP. Unfortunately, the trial run for trial chests includes Elliot for some weird reason (they know nobody likes him, right?) so I will literally never get to take advantage of the reward, but I do it anyway since I'm a completionist. This fight actually took me a few tries too, because 1) Elliot is dogshit and 2) The boss keeps fainting Elliot at the start of the fight, which makes things way harder than they should've been. I finally won when I was able to get 2 crit panels close together that I could time my S breaks on, which left the boss with only a bit of HP left for me to work through.

After reaching the Twin Dragons bridge, another banger starts playing. Honestly, Falcom has already improved the quality of their soundtrack in this game a lot, and I'm still at the beginning. Trails music in the past has been largely forgettable, but I've already heard a lot of songs I'd like to listen to again. Hopefully this trend continues! Back in the plot, the party talks about the importance of stealth and caution while amongst the enemy, and then...then game immediately opens to a town area (aka. not a dungeon) where you can just walk around and talk to soldiers. What the fuck? The ludonarrative dissonance is off the charts here. To be honest, that has never been a strong suit of Trails games, but at this point it is just silly. Enough to actually upset me, for sure - but I truck on. There's a small cutscene at the top of the bridge with a merchant that is trying to get by, which ends with the merchant leaving as the guards turn him back. There was no apparent point to that, so I'm assuming that he will show back up later.

Nevermind, my Steam guide I'm checking every so often advises that I should leave the checkpoint and walk back up the highway to find him now. Thank god for guides, because I never would have done that. Hidden quest complete, and I make my way back to the checkpoint. My goal here is to find info on how to get onto the railroad tracks to sneak through the checkpoint, but no dice there. That is, until the world's most suspicious man walks out of a room, and calls out Class VII by name. Oh man, things are heating up! We chase him through an air duct and end up - surprise - on the railroad tracks! Uncanny! Only Elliot is smart enough to say that this mysterious man might have led us to this point on purpose, which is a sad thought. Elliot being the smart one is not a path I want to travel down.

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Afterwards, the gang somehow walks 300 yards, in open air and in full sight of anyone who glanced over, down these railroad tracks without a single soldier seeing them. The mysterious stranger from earlier is shown watching from afar, as he lifts his hood with his head faced away from the camera. To my eye, it looks like the weird ass history teacher from CS1 that was always trying to hang out with Sara, but you couldn't get a great look at the guy so it's hard to say. Helping the gang out like that does seem like something he would do though, so I'm going with him. As you continue to walk down the railroad, you're forced to look up at the checkpoint above you and you can see treasure chests there that you cannot reach, which is torture. But it means that we'll come back here to kick some ass at some point, so I've got that to look forward to.

At the end of the tracks, Toval lets it slip that, while being a bracer is a lot of hard work, it's still better than what he used to do. Is this what is referenced in Carnelia that someone was talking about earlier? I really wish I'd read it now :(. Also, Fie notices that some people appear to be following us, but then says nothing to the gang. God dammit Fie. I'm sure whatever boss battle is awaiting us at the end of this could've been avoided if you just knew how to communicate better. But then she wouldn't be the Fie that we know and love.

If you turn around and go back towards the checkpoint, you meet with a random merchant in the middle of this supposedly abandoned byroad. JRPG classic right there. He sells contact lenses for Machias as an attachment, so you can rock the glasses-less version of him if you want. I prefer it, so I go with it. When you turn back and go the proper way, Rean immediately remarks on how abandoned this road feels, forgetting the human contact he had just made 10 seconds prior. Fie says "..." to this, clearly still thinking about the people she saw following us. God dammit Fie.

While exploring, you find an abandoned building, which Celine basically comes out and tells you is an option dungeon. Bring it on! Inside I find a trial chest for Machias and Fie, which after beating I decide to actually take advantage of and link them together. The rest of the dungeon is pretty straightforward, and has a very similar feel to the schoolhouse dungeons in CS1. The boss at the end did have some strong AOE attacks and gave me some trouble, but was nothing that some 200CP S Crafts couldn't take care of. I'm guessing these buildings will just randomly pop up throughout the game and be the Schoolhouse replacement, which is a little lazy but sure, gotta make do on a limited Falcom budget here. On the way out, Rean gets a flashback to a king who is upset about the casualties to his civilian population due to an ongoing war. It's definitely going to either be Rean's real dad, or the king from 500 years ago. Or knowing Japan, somehow both. We'll see how this plotline goes as the game progresses.

There's another useless trial chest later on, for Elliot and Fie. The reward for beating the actual monster is nice though, a Luminous Ray R, which is a nice upgrade for the Luminous Ray that my Toval had beforehand, so that makes it worth it. Also, this was a much easier trial chest than the first one with Elliot, since there was no 3 turn Faint status cheesing from the boss. Further down the Byroad, there's a monster chest with a Reaper quartz inside, which takes a level 2 slot to equip! Definitely didn't expect to encounter something like that this early in the game. Normally, trails games take forever to start giving upgraded Quartz to you. I unfortunately won't be able to equip it for whatever boss fight is at the end of this, because it does look pretty broken. I do kind of like that they did that though, since it seems like a cool reward for whatever players are willing to invest the sepith into it early, whereas vets like me would never see any reason to. I think that's nice game design.

There is an orbment charging station that I then find at the end of the road, however, that lets you upgrade your slots. So nevermind on that last point. I upgrade one of Toval's slots to level 2 so he can use it to get ready for whatever is coming. Walking into the ruins proper, you get to see firsthand and in 3D the destruction that KeA wrought. Seeing things that I remember from Crossbell in a new perspective here has actually been my favorite part of CS so far, even though I thought I wouldn't like it. I figure that's probably just because nothing has really happened plot-wise in Erebonia throughout CS1 since it was just a setup game, so all I have to live for now is the plot advancement that happened in old games. It's okay, we'll get past that soon. You also see the first mention of the barrier surrounding Crossbell, since Toval notices it in the distance and got some info on it from "a friend", though I'm not sure who that is yet. Rean, ever the pragmatist, decides that they shouldn't worry about whatever bullshit KeA has going on, and to focus on their mission.

The two jaegers that we've seen in the past - I think they were also aboard Rufus' airship? - show up, and Machias almost gets himself killed stepping on one of the mines they laid out. They're wearing some very 60s looking biker jackets, with the stupidest, most out of place looking Zephyr logo emblazoned on it. It seriously looks like something you'd see in a Hollywood movie, and does not at all fit the style of this game. But that's okay, let's move on. One of the jaeger's names is Xeno, which I approve of. I'll kill him last I suppose.

I go to fight and the fight ended when I had them a little over half health, so I check my guide and it says that you need to get someone to 30% health before 40 turns in order to get bonus AP. Alright, time to restart and figure out how I'm going to do that...

10 minutes later I grinded everyone to 200CP and restarted the fight. It did take 2 tries but with some strategic use of Overdrive, as well as everyone's Scrafts being ready to go at the start, I was able to do it without too much trouble. After the fight ends prematurely still, they do say that I show great potential, which I don't remember hearing the first time I did the fight. Afterwards, some reinforcement Soldats from the Noble alliance come, and Rean, surrounded is forced to call upon Valimar to bail him out of this one. When he arrives, one of the stunned noble soldiers looks at it and refers to it as an "Ash-colored knight" which sounds too awkward for me to handle. Who would ever say that? I have to imagine it's something that flows better in Japanese.

The first Valimar fight is really boring and easy, but you get a sword at the end. The second fight afterwards is more interesting, since they introduce Fie into the fight, who is able to cast spells on her turn to empower Valimar or damage enemies, as well as provide healing. With this mechanic it does open up the mech battle system a bit, so thank god they are working on expanding that. I wonder if your teammates will always remain as side characters or if they will start getting mechs of their own and actually partake in the fights. We'll have to see which direction the game wants to go down there.

Afterwards, Elliot's dad shows up riding on top of a tank, with a whole battalion behind him, ready to fuck shit up. My man. From afar, out of nowhere, a sniper shot hits the enemy commander soldat in the head - it's my girl Claire! This is a pretty badass reunion scene. I somehow doubt she will join my team after this, but that would be sick. I need some more Claire in my life.

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They all group up afterwards to discuss the situation. Basically, they won't be able to hold their current location too much longer, and the Noble alliance has a logistical advantage with superior supply chains for their armies. Sounds like a bad position for the Imperials. They work on next moves, and talk about how OP Valimar is. Immediately after that, Rean decides that he will fuck off and find the rest of his classmates instead of help the war effort, which seems a little insensitive given the tone of discussion. If I were a general in an actual civil war I would be pretty pissed at him and make him sit down and help the war effort instead of this, but this is an anime and the power of teenage friendship is more important. Elliot's dad immediately says he has no reservations whatsoever of letting the most powerful weapon his army might possess walk right out the door. I quote, "What you said was perfectly reasonable Rean." RIGHT.

(I swear I wrote that line earlier without knowing this) Claire then, actually does offer to come with us, which is...! On one hand, fuck yeah, that's my girl, let's go. On the other hand, such an important figure surely has better things to do than to walk around with us right now. Though I suppose Valimar is kind of their ace in the hole right now, and Rean is the only one who can pilot it, so perhaps her sticking around to guard him might actually be pretty important. I'm willing to let this one slide. Especially because the sheer fanservice of getting to use her outweighs my better judgement.

After the cutscene ends and I get control, she's not actually on my team yet, despite a popup saying that Rean and Claire can now use overlimit. Bummer, but I assume she will be here soon. Walking around the base, Falcom randomly decided that this was a place that Munk would be. I'm not sure how to feel about that. He is very upset that Abend Time was cancelled after the war...oh, my sweet summer child. The voice actress they got to play her did have a very alluring voice, I have to admit. I wonder how she sounded in Japanese? Also, Monica is here (the chick that Laura was trying to teach how to swim), but she was so forgettable that I had to feel the need to explain who she even was, so who cares. Nothing much else of note here, so I go to advance the plot and Claire walks out, in some casual clothing. Unlike Mzero I dig this look, though I'll take an alt of the dress she was wearing at the bar in CS1 if possible. Fie then says the best line in this game so far, "I feel like I'm surrounded by horny teenagers all of the sudden." Love it.

They all gather around Valimar and teleport back to Ymir, while nobody watching or any party members bat an eye at the situation. Makes sense. Machias seems to recognize where we are, and Rean goes on to reference "the end of their trip" that I have to assume 95% of players know nothing about. Thanks for explaining that earlier, whoever that was. It was fun to read. They go and visit Rean's dad for a bit to give him their best wishes, and that ends the day.

Next time in Cold Steel 2, bonding events! I can't wait.

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_stingers_ posted...

When he arrives, one of the stunned noble soldiers looks at it and refers to it as an "Ash-colored knight" which sounds too awkward for me to handle. Who would ever say that? I have to imagine it's something that flows better in Japanese.

That is a very literal translation of the Japanese lol but it sounds a lot more clunky in English. But also Valimar is called that a lot so it's interesting that it's just coming up now

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Yeah, Ashen Knight always sounded weird to me. Like, I get it's technically correct, but no one would say it in a modern setting (although Trails is arguably a mix of modern and medieval so I guess it works!).

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His title is always 'Valimar, the Ashen Knight' but hearing someone just randomly refer to a giant robot as that 'ash-colored Knight' sounded very silly

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Yeah, that's what I meant. Valimar technically is ash-colored, but no one would actually say that.

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Oh I misunderstood. Yeah I don't remember what the guard called him in that particular scene

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_stingers_ posted...

Trails music in the past has been largely forgettable,

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Bruh there just aren't enough bangers I don't know what to tell you

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the series tried really really hard to get me to like Claire and it never worked. big ole nothing burger as far as I'm concerned.

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Trails music is kind of overrated on here, but forgettable is a little much.

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_stingers_ posted...

Bruh there just aren't enough bangers I don't know what to tell you

You do have a point, if you ignore Sophisticated Fight, Recapture, Silver Will, Ancient Makes, Hollow Light of the Sealed Land, Whereabouts of Light, Whereabouts of Bonds, Whereabouts of Bonds, Silver Will, Golden Wings, Silver Will SAV, Looking Up at the Sky, Looking Up at the Sky Ending, Shrine of Aidios, Fate of the Fairies, Visions, Fateful Confrontation, Unleashed Greatest Treasure, Liber Ark, Aiming for the Future, Axis Pillar, Gravestone Struck by Lightning, The Merciless Savior, Back to Our Friends, Cry for Me, Cry for You, Illusionary Blue Flowers, A Still World, Beard the Lion in its Den, Crimson Stigma, Overdosing Heavenly Bliss, Masquerade of Lies, Castle of Illusions, Cry for your Eternity, Dreamy and Boisterous Holy Land, Till the Night of Glory, Temptation of Wisdom, Scene of a Street Corner, Afternoon in Crossbell, Geofront, Get Over the Barrier, Get Over the Barrier Roaring, Crossing the Iron Bridge, Fated Time, Schwarz Auction, The Will to Protect Until the Very End, Ancient Pulsation, Inevitable Struggle, Demonic Drive, Light Illuminating the Depths, Arrival Existence, Firm Strength, Seize the Truth, Omen of Disaster, Silence in the Komorebi, Trap Lurking in the City, Miss You, Dark Throne, Unfathomed Force, Mystic Core, Tree at the Farthest End, Azure Arbitrator, Exceed, Don't be Defeated by a Friend, Roer, Through the Canyon Road, Skies of a Strange Land, The Sound of Rainfall in the Academy, To Become the Foundation of the World, To Grasp Tomorrow, Decisive Collision, and Class VII

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off the top of my head

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got em

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topic is canceled due to stingers being craterized by that vicious dunking

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colliding posted...

the series tried really really hard to get me to like Claire and it never worked. big ole nothing burger as far as I'm concerned.

I loved Claire from the moment I saw her design so whatever they did worked on me.

And man see you can say all those song titles but I barely recognize a single one from name alone. There's just been very few songs that made me want to listen to them outside of the context of the game

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Out of that list, I could "name that tune" on:

Sophisticated Fight
Whereabouts of Light (even if it's basically just the Castle in the Sky theme)
Silver Will

Everything else might be good, maybe great, but is not super memorable for me.


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_stingers_ posted...

Also, I remember someone talking about Carnelia earlier in this topic, was that the book from Sky 1? That's the only one I never read :( I wasn't enough into the franchise at that point to care. Maybe I should go back and do so.

Yeah, Carnelia was Sky 1. It does get a re-release in Cold Steel somewhere (basically showing up in an old books section of a library) but that might be CS3.

_stingers_ posted...

Also, sort-of-side-note, but why exactly again are all of these students wanted by the Noble army so badly? For one, Jusis is one of them, doesn't he have authority to just command them to let them be? I'm still confused as to what crime they are being charged with. Them wanting control over Rean's robot makes perfect sense, but the rest of them aren't exactly complicit in that. Imagine if you were arrested because the kid who sat in front of you in high school was dealing drugs. That's kind of how this reads to me.

They did sort of engage in armed conflict with them at the end of CS1! But even the battle at Trista aside (or subverting them time and time again in CS1 before things got super real), almost everyone in Class VII would make for a convenient political hostage if nothing else.

_stingers_ posted...

Also, I forgot to mention but on that highway you find a Mute quartz, which means my Machias is now equipped with Shield Breaker, Poison, Impede, and Mute which is pretty gnarly for this early on in the game. Shoutouts to whoever it was that told me I could equip multiple status quartz in this game!

That was me. This would work for both of you, but I guess if you want to take it to absurd levels I should note that [X] Breaker and Status Effect quartz don't conflcit with one another. So while you can only have one Breaker per line and one status quartz per line, you can still put both on one line. So like if you want you can have one one line Shield Breaker and Petrify. Another be Sword Breaker and Faint. A third be Speed Breaker and Freeze. And Impede is its own thing so it can go on any of those lines too. Then later with R and SR quartz you get quartz that has two breaker/status effects on a single quartz and the same rules apply so some characters can basically just throw out every status effect on each attack it's funny.

Also, also, Impede is broken. No, I don't mean how AT Delay is grotesquely overpowered. It is, but I mean it is literally mechanically broken. Some people math'd it out and basically the game rolls one time for each source of delay (Impede Quartz, Craft Effects like Rean's Arc Slash, etc.) but if any of the rolls hit, the entire cumulative delay of all your sources hit. So basically a Rean with Impede 1 using Arc Slash rolls twice against the AT Delay resist and if either roll succeeds you get the full impact of both. ...And while I never took it this far, while I think this is another "one per line" deal... I do very much believe you can do this by putting Impede 1, then Impede 2, etc. all on one character...

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one of the game's most iconic broken builds is stacking as many sources of delay onto Rean as possible and just spamming Arc Slash. It demolishes 95% of the bosses in the game.

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I will keep that in mind if I need a cheese build to win some bullshit fight later lol

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Honestly I have mopped the floor with everything except for Xeno and Lenoidas so far without spamming delay

Also stingers I'm going to have to disagree on the music Trails is full of bangers

NFUN posted...

Ah right, so yeah Ash-colored is a very literal translation of but that also just means gray

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That first trial chest was bullshit how did you mop that @@ maybe you had faint resist.

I actually had no trouble with Xeno, I got one game over YOLOing when I was trying to rush Leonidas to 30% hp but I got it second try. And before I knew I was definitely on pace to win the fight if I didn't have that 40 term limit, I had both guys a little above half and I was chilling. Are you trying to use Elliot or something? That's probably your problem

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Elliots actually good. Healing is important this early and he has the quickest in the game.

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_stingers_ posted...

That first trial chest was bullshit how did you mop that @@ maybe you had faint resist.

I actually had no trouble with Xeno, I got one game over YOLOing when I was trying to rush Leonidas to 30% hp but I got it second try. And before I knew I was definitely on pace to win the fight if I didn't have that 40 term limit, I had both guys a little above half and I was chilling. Are you trying to use Elliot or something? That's probably your problem

The enemies are weak to Sleep, and Elliot's S-Craft has 100% chance of inflicting it (I think it's sleep anyway). He had 200 CP cause I never used him! i didn't even use it right away which would have made it easier. I did have faint resist on Machias, not sure if Elliot did

For Xeno and Leonidas I wasn't using Elliot but I had to sub him in to keep up with healing actually. I straight up game over'd on them like 3 times. I got Leonidas to like 50-60k or something and said fudge it. I probably could have got them down to 30% if I could be bothered to get 200 CP on everyone

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Yeah I doubt I would've been able to do it without that. It only takes 10 minutes!

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I'm just not a fan of those kinds of boss battles (unfortunately Trails has a lot of them) so it's hard for me to get motivated to try and do x amount of damage

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btw how on earth did you get Silver Angler so fast I fish every opportunity I see and I'm still only bronze!

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I think when you do new game plus it makes fishing easier? I remember getting high ranks really fast in CS1 as well. I didn't import anything with the ng+ options related to it though, only max bonding points and the stage costumes so I'm not sure.

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But I haven't seen Kenneth or Annabelle since I got it so I haven't even been able to take advantage :(

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I know in CS1 NG+ every fish (or almost every fish) becomes available in the Trista fishing spots so you could theoretically basically catch everything but the Guardian in Chapter 1 if you wanted.

Probably the same in CS2 with the fishing spot in Ymir I'm guessing but not certain.

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I'm guessing the same thing is happening here then. I'll never get an authentic fishing experience in Erebonia

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While loading the game up to start 12/4, I just want to say that I love the way that they have a new start screen for each new section of the game. Where they have your characters just hanging out wherever you are in the plot. It's a nice touch.

12/4

Name of the game today is bonding events. This is my entire reason for starting my playthrough on a new game+ save file, I hate missing additional cutscenes for no reason. I don't even see why it's in the game, making you choose who to spend time with in a game like this is pointless since the only real benefit is link XP which is trivial to get if you want it. Regardless, I begin my day by stumbling into Fie, who is spending her day making field rations. In my head, field rations are some sort of...inedible crap, but Fie has prepared a lot of fresh vegetables, wine, and meat, which all seems like it will spoil rather quickly? I thought the whole point of rations was to last a long time while traveling. Somebody definitely skipped culnary class in the Zephyr training academy. Regardless, they have a cooking scene, and the final product definitely still looks like inedible crap, so I guess there was something lost in translation.

Rean calls his mother to come help them make some shit that tastes a little better. On one hand, fair enough right, but on the other I doubt your mother is particularly well studied in how to make effective field rations. Regardless, she helps them out and the end product looks...the same, but colored shades of green, yellow, and orange instead of just brown, which is...okay. It reminds me of those jello meals you'd see pictures of in 50's magazines, where they just stuff an entire thanksgiving meal into a blob of gelatin and call it a day. Thank god I wasn't born back then. Regardless, Fie and Rean are happy with the finished product and level up to rank 3, which is great news for me since I see them spending a lot of time together in the battle party.

Afterwards, next person I run into outside is Toval. He's spending the day helping Rean's mother look for her lost wedding ring. From personal experience, my werdding ring never fell off on its own a single time, so perhaps Mrs. Schwarzer was up to some...extramarital business and is covering it up? ...Probably not, seems a little too dark for this game. We can write it into our headcanons though. Regardless, Rean finds it after some time searching in apile of snow, but seems to have come down with a cold after all that time outside. Him and Toval leave to relax in the hot spring together. They have a discussion about finding yourself, and then Toval talks about how he used to be lonely and aimless, but things worked out fine for him. I'm guessing this is more Carnelia stuff. I'll read you one day!

After that ends, I find the nearby shop and head in. Looking through there I learn that Claire's weapon is a handgun, which definitely fits the RMP mold. I also buy her a Puppy Watch, which says it is part of a set. I know there were rewards for completing accessory sets at the end of CS1, so I'll keep my eyes peeled in this game for those again. Speaking of Claire, after leaving the shop I run into her next, who talks about how she spent the night modifying the town's radios, so that they can communicate better with the RMP. Which means she has taken it upon herself to decide the towns allegiance in the war all by herself, tricky girl. She also says she's doing her best to honor the late chancellor's legacy, even though we the players obviously know he's not dead. If you don't see the body, they aren't dead. Shit, even if you do see it they still aren't dead, as Rean's dad has proven. Anime, man.

She then asks Rean for a tour of the surrounding area, to scout for locations that could help or hurt them in the event of an emergency. They head down a mountain path where they get ambushed by some monsters in classic JRPG fashion. It starts an in-game battle sequence, but you don't actually get to control anything. It just shows Claire activate her S craft and one shot everything. It's pretty badass, she shoots like 10 mirrors with a laser that bounces back and forth off of them, which hits the ground and creates a giant explosion. Rean remarks how impressive it was, and she says, and I quote, "Not at all. I'm only estimating the point of impact for the mirror devices based on their positions, reflection speeds, and trajectories." Uh huh.

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Rean, obviously terrified, tries to shrink away and never speak to her again. Or maybe that's just how I interpreted it. Quickly however, we run into two children chatting nearby, talking about making paper cranes. They want to find some special leaves and make cranes so they can pray over them for Rean's dad to get better. That's pretty cute so I'm down to help. Rean agrees and it starts a hidden quest - Leaf it to me. Of course. The leaves reside in Ymir Valley, so we call up the gang temporarily to go investigate. This is the first time Claire is officially in the party, so I relegate Machias and that other thing to the backline so I can try her out with Toval and Fie. She starts off at level 57 while I have everyone else at 54, but even ignoring the level difference her stats seem pretty broken. Highest attack on the team, a decent chunk above Reans, only slightly less ATS than Toval, natural 100% accuracy for some reason, and the highest defense on the team, all while being a ranged attacker. I can get used to this. I loot through Elliot's orbments so I can fill her empty slots and begin my trek.

There's some new enemy here - a frenzied baboon, which is nice. I get to try out Claire's crafts, she has one that boosts strength and defense for the whole team no matter where they are in relation to her, and a Large sized AOE 100% freeze. I definitely see a lot of Claire in my future, those are pretty nuts. Walking further up the path, I finally run into Annabelle! Silver angler rewards are in - I'm able to get a new fishing rod, a new accessory which gives 1000hp/10str/10ats which fits perfectly on Claire, and a level 2 quartz that gives Breath, Holy Breath, and Recuria, +15 AP, which is some insane utility. I'll need to think on who deserves that. Probably Toval would be best, but I've already upgraded one of his slots to level 2, so I'm not sure I want to go all-in on investing on him quite yet.

Not much else of note happens with this one though, I find those leaves and finish the quest. Afterwards, next on my Bonding adventure I run into Machias, who just wants to study with Rean. I kind of thought we all just agreed to give up on school and become some sort of ronin-like figures, wandering the countryside and fucking shit up. I guess we're going back to school though, thanks Machias. They reminisce on student life for awhile, Fie and Elliot show up, they all study for a bit, and...that's it. You can tell the writers phoned this one in, probably thought nobody wants to hang out with Machias, poor guy.

Finally, last and least on the list is Elliot, who is hanging out at the bar. Not exactly where I would've expected him to be, but alright. I can kind of see him becoming a depressed alcoholic 15 years from now after he realizes that love and life have forsaken him, so we'll just call this a head start. Anyway, Elliot is understandably a bit bummed out after leaving his Dad, and has an idea on how to cheer himself up. He takes Rean outside to play the violin for him. How romantic! Elliot remarks that he's glad that he was able to bring the violin with him, which, I'm kind of glad they had the presence of mind to want to explain it, but it probably would've been better if they didn't because there's no rational way you can explain a wanted fugitive lugging that thing around this whole time. Regardless, Elliot begins playing a nice song when his string suddenly snaps halfway through (because he's a failure). I once went and had my ex-wife's violin restrung as a present, and let me tell you, that shit is expensive. Rean and Elliot manage to restring it themselves however, so props to them on that one. Elliot cheers up again and we move on.

Afterwards I'm not sure what to do so I try to leave town, but some random guy walks up and talks about recently opening up a snowboarding path, and gives me a snowboard. One obligatory snowboarding minigame coming right up! I get a perfect my first try and get a proxy puppet. I'm honestly not sure what the point of the timer was, because I don't see any way to slow down or speed up, you just kind of...go. Also, the jump option is way too snappy, you rise and fall like 5 feet in the air in .3 seconds, it's a little weird to get used to. Anyway, they mention that more courses will unlock as the game progresses. With that, realization slowly dawns on me that Ymir will be the hub world this game in lieu of Thors. I do like this place better, but I still wish that there wasn't a hub world at all, like in Trails 1 and 2. Crossbell kind of had to have a hub world by virtue of the design so I'm fine with that, but with a place as big as Erebonia, I wish they would've forgone that structure. Oh well.

Nothing left to do after that, so I return to my room to rest and go up two ranks - get an accessory, Unyielding Heart, and a Luck quartz. After that the day advances with no fanfare.

The next morning the gang decides to head out since apparently, it now only takes Valimar one night to recharge. A bit convenient but whatever, there's nothing left to do here anyway so let's get a move on. The gang decides that someone should remain behind to guard the town, which makes sense to me. I already know who I'm leaving behind, let me tell you.

When saving the game to end for the day, I notice that Claire in the save screen is written as 'Captain Claire', which is just kind of funny. Her name is so much longer than everyone elses, it looks a little out of place.

Next time on CS2, we go to find more party members!

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put some respect on Captain Claire's name

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12/4

Its bonding day, and unlike my esteemed colleague stingers, I didnt load any save data, so I only have two points. While I ponder how to use them, I decide to take a look around town first. First thing I find is a snowboarding mini-game aww yeah. The music is pretty rad here. Theres only one course so far and I got a perfect score on it in a few tries. Im looking forward to some more challenging courses in the future.

There are a couple kids hanging around talking about making origami cranes for Reans dad, which is very sweet of them. Unfortunately, they have no leaves to make them from, so I decide to help them out. Into the Ymir valley we go, where theres one new, stronger enemy but the rest are still weaklings so its pretty easy to mess them up. I used Claire in battle here, and she seems pretty good. Anyway, I give the kids the leaves and they give me a Mishy Doll in return! Nice Crossbell callback that would have went over my head if I didnt go back after CS1, so that was pretty cool.

Decision time has come and of course, my first point was used on Toval, whos my favorite of the non-Rean party members so far. First step is finding Reans moms wedding ring, which she dropped at some point when the mercenaries were roughing her up or something. Should be easy enough for Toval considering how many lost rings quests the Bracers Guild gets, but Rean offers to help. It is his mom, after all. After a long search in the snow, the ring is found and returned to mom. Its pretty cold in Ymir, so its time for some bro time in the bath to warm up. Some good heart to heart conversation ensues, as it does when you bathe together.

For my second point, I decide to hang out with Claire because shes new and interesting. Shes upgrading the radios and stuff to make it easier for Ymir to communicate with the RMP, which I suppose could come in handy if mercenaries attack again. Apparently theres a spot Claire wants to beef up security, and enlists Reans help to guide her down the mountain. Ambush! Claire just rekts them effortlessly, even though shes not that much better than my other party members in battle! Then she says Its simple I just followed by some overly complicated explanation I dont remember and didnt write down. Must not be that simple!

With nothing else to do, I turn in for the night and get a results screen. I got 28 AP and an A rank, so not too shabby.

The next morning its time to hit the road. The gang decides our party is too big I mean, two people should stay behind to protect Ymir! Which is definitely not a convenient excuse to limit my party size. I assume stingers and I will make one different choice and one similar choice here. We decide that one Class VII member and one of our non-Class VII allies should stay in Ymir to hold down the fort. What a shame, I was looking forward to using Claire but Im not leaving my boy Toval behind. I decide to bring Fie and Machias along as well to round out my party. I dont hate Elliot, but hes my least favorite of the three.

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_stingers_ posted...

Speaking of Claire, after leaving the shop I run into her next, who talks about how she spent the night modifying the town's radios, so that they can communicate better with the RMP. Which means she has taken it upon herself to decide the towns allegiance in the war all by herself, tricky girl

Wasn't their allegiance pretty much decided when Nobles sent mercenaries to Ymir and basically murdered Rean's dad

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