Board 8 > Trails in the Sky Playthrough Topic

(+) Yeah! (+)

You're getting to the good parts now

Oh hell yes

ZeldaTPLink posted...

thunder god kick is ridiculous

IIRC, it's bugged in SC and as a result does ludicrous damage. Or maybe it got patched but also maybe not based on your reaction.

Chapter 6 is good times.

I don't remember if it's much better than Agate's AoE attack, I need to test.

Cassius knowing the dragon was the moment that character jumped the shark for me

Panthera posted...

Cassius knowing the dragon was the moment that character jumped the shark for me

that character being the dragon of course

estelle meets the Big Bad, who is playing an opera in an organ when she enters the room. The guy knows what the most important thing for a villain to have is

https://media.tenor.com/_pwqKF9a3uMAAAAC/megamind-presentation.gif

that, along with being ridiculously good at misdirection, are Orobouros' trademarks

The professor says he will answer all of Estelle's questions then proceeds not to reveal anything actually useful. Though he gloats about how he made Josh into an assassin, which prompts Estelle to attack him. Alas, the entire Wacky Elite Henchman Crew is in the room, ready to protect their master.

He resorts to some classic emotional manipulation to get Estelle to join, but I think he'll need more than that. Estelle is too heroic to start commiting mass murder just to meet her boyfriend. Either Weissmann has an extra trick he'll playing to use, or he's grossly misunderstanding Estelle's character. Which is a common trait for villains who are too evil

Loewe actually gets her. I gotta say, other than maybe Renne he's the least evil of the bad guys so far

He reveals Josh's backstory. Which I had mostly guessed. But the politics involved were even more evil than I had imagined

Estelle does the classic hero thing and swears she will pull Josh out of the darkness anyway

But then Loewe says he intends to kill Josh personally, and I have even more questions

Time for the classic escape montage. There are dumb guards and everything.

Estelle makes it extra cool, though.

She vows to bring her man back, alive, against all odds. She should scream that lower though, that's not wise in the middle of a sneaky escape

Estelle getting mad at force fields is hilarious

I am surrounded my jaggers, who are led by a very minor antagonist from the last game. Estelle has trouble remembering him, and he's insulted

well hes acting like he leads them, cuz apparently even the jaggers think hes a nuisance

Unfortunately this is 1v5 and I'm absolutely rekt. Gonna guess this is one of those optional win fights that are only winnable if you are an rpg savant, and if you have prepared in advance, neither of which I have. Moving along

Josh to the rescue

I gotta say, this is one very specific way for the two to finally meet again that i wasn't expecting

So Loewe says he saw Josh coming. Fine. But then Josh activates some device and catches Loewe off guard. Let it be registered the first time in a game an a half ANYONE has caught Orobouros off-guard. Of course, it was Joshua, the sneaky former enforcer, and who spent a lot of time just planning this whole thing

Josh gained 3 levels between the previous scene and this one so he's still way ahead of Estelle. No matter, her rightful fury will still hurt when it connects to his face

oh how I missed those broken dual strikes

We meet Campanella. I guess even when you fool part of Orobouros, you can't fool all of them

like a good enforcer, he sends a random boss un us instead of fighting himself

this entire sequence is so ridiculously awkward it has to be done on purpose. Estelle is just dying to talk to Josh but she can't because they have to escape from a mothership first

We start being pursued, but the sky bandits show up. I gotta say, I've grown to love that trio over all this time

The action scene ends, and I'm ready to see Estelle punch/slap Josh. She doesn't, but she punches his mind. No, seriously. She psychoanalyses him so hard, so completely, it makes him cry for the first time in 10 years. She should just drop this bracer business and go be a therapist.

Also the scene is pretty sweet

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/7/6/AAO9CbAAEcvE.jpg

Estelle's typing gives her 4x advantage against edginess

Josh's plan to destroy the glorious sounds solid but I can imagine 10 different ways it would have failed. Those guys are just too freaking resourceful.

They start kissing. It gets interrupted. Danmit

and as it turns out, Estelle was only kidnapped to distract Josh, which was pulled off by setting up that empty base for us to invade. Those guys don't miss a beat. Ever.

Josh explains why their enemy is incredible, but he promises he'll never leave again. Daw

Chapter 6: "None of this mess would have happened if child therapy services existed in this setting": beaten

Meanwhile, bad guys make speeches and mcguffins are activated

Chapter 7: "Now that character stuff is done, time to advance the actual plot": begins

Next scene, people apologize to each other and stuff. Also, Kevin goes to Josh's ear and tells him if he drops Estelle again he's making a move on her next. I'm not sure how much of a credible threat that is, but it's a threat indeed.

Cassius gives the slap we have all been waiting for. Close to what I expected.

This scene is a challenge on how many exclamation points can fit the screen at the same time

That's one... random moment for Olivier to leave the party. Surely it won't be part of a future plot point

And he leaves right as we are about to fight his rival. Yeah, he's totally returning next scene

ZeldaTPLink posted...

Also the scene is pretty sweet

i loved that scene

I always felt like the reunion was a bit unearned; like joshua essentially goes back to "normal" too quickly

but also tears for joshette shippers. there are dozens of us. DOZENS!

https://imgur.com/a/x9qiHP8

yeah that scene played to estelles characterization to a T. It was pretty perfect

colliding posted...

I always felt like the reunion was a bit unearned; like joshua essentially goes back to "normal" too quickly

You could maybe say that. But I think I get what happened to Josh here. It's not like he needed to have his traumas and psychological issues erased (they are still there). He just needed to be convinced of a point or two (that he is actually afraid and that it's fine to be protected by Estelle instead of protecting her). And it worked because Estelle has such a huge emotional sway over him, by being so close to him, she is a person whose opinion he can't help but listen to. And because she does understand him really well, too. The two are just that connected, it's been said before they often guess what the other is thinking. I think if the roles were reversed, Josh would also convince her pretty easily too. She has shown many times in FC she really values his opinion.

after an obscenely long time fiddling with gear and orbments, during which I'm sure the bad guys were able to conquer the world already, we descend into Esmelas Tower. After having climbed each tower twice, either for sidequests, unrelated plots or just looting, it's weird to finally interact with the towers for whatever they are meant for. Which... I'm not sure what it is yet

However this isn't the normal towers, it's the Altered Space versions of them. A sign an RPG has gotten serious when the dungeons start getting psychodelic

this dungeon's song is very cryptic

I just realized I brought Schera, the wind magic specialist, into a dungeon where everything resists wind. I somehow failed to take that into consideration when building the party
I switch Attack 3 for Defense 4 on Schera. She is now a pure spellcaster, with focus on earth, this dungeon's weakness. Gotta love flexible magic systems

we find some computer pillar things, which gives us data but most of the letters are corrupted. I assume I have to find the pillars in all 4 towers to read the full message. It better be good

decision: so I spend my hard eared CP to kill a shining pom, or do I save it for the boss?

I spent Agate's hard earned CP (he can get more by hurting himself) and saved the rest

Estelle got 2 levels, Agate got 3, Schera got 4. Worth it.

we get to the roof, where Bleublanc awaits us

Can I finally beat an enforcer? pretty please?

Hes mad that we didnt bring Kloe. We could have had, and then I guess he would say pervert stuff to her instead. I think I made the better choice

Apparently there is reason Bleublanc would normally oppose the evil plan, but he's helping it because he's curious to see if the people if Liberl can fight back. Interesting.

Blueblanc beaten. This was a cool fight. it wasn't difficult, but I had to use a lot of different tactics to prevent it from getting difficult. Titanic Roar to beat his clones, buffs, dbuffs, s-craft spam

I kinda wonder what was the point to build a rivarly with Olivier if the later wasn't even going to be mentioned, let alone join the battle

He's not dead or captured though, so I assume there will be a rematch. Good. Those enforcers were hyped too much for all of them to go out in a single chapter that's not even the last one. Next time we'll make sure Olivier is there to beat him up

Next is Carnelia Tower, where Zin's old kung fu partner awaits. Kilika will also get involved somehow. In any case, Zin is a mandatory party member now. I pick Kloe for the 4th to balance the magic, and also cuz Schera gained like 10 levels last dungeon so I need to even things out

We unlock level 3 slots. There is no quartz for them yet in shops though, we have to find it "in the wild". I'm still not even done purchasing all lv 2 slots, I guess I'll just give lv 3 ones to characters as they need them

Kloe gets the first one, because gamefaqs tells me there's a Mind 5 in the next dungeon

I climb Carnelia tower. Not much to add, it's the same as last tower. This time enemies are weak to water and immune to fire, so Kloe has a field day. I also give Zin an item that makes his attacks all water based. The tower gets steamrolled.

I find the Mind 5, which increases Kloe's ATS even further. But it doesn't unlock any new spells, because the final water spell, Cocytus, requires 25 water, 12 wind and 4 space. That would force me to tailor Kloe's entire build just to be able to cast this spell, and right now it's better to have some Action and Cast instead, so she can cast other stuff faster. Maybe later, once I get an Evade 5, which gives me that 12 wind with a single quartz

I face the 2nd enforcer boss, Walter. Who is kind of a joke. He and his summons are very physical, but my party is just stronger overall and since he doesn't use any kind of magical bullshit like Bleublanc, I just pin him down and kill him in like 3 turns.

however, like with the dragon, beating him gameplay wise does not mean beating him story wise
ZIn and Walter engage in kung fu sprite battle. This is better action than a lot of shonen manga.

Kilika shows up, stops the fight, and hints at a prevous relationship with Walter. Meanwhile, Estelle and the others are like popcorn.gif.

The mcguffin is done mcguffining though, so Walter leaves for now

meanwhile, Non-Playable Bracers save some orphans from a pack of cyborg cougars with daggers in their mouths. That's an actual sentence.

next is Sapphirl Tower, where the boss is related to Schera, so she is coming. I pick Kevin too. The dungeon is weak to fire, so everyone gets attack quartz. This is one physical party that can also spam fire arts.

the interior of the tower is beautiful. The red from the previous tower didn't fit with the themne, but the blue in this one does

this dungeon is a straight line, with more focus on combat than exploration.

Awesome

Luciola's s-craft is impressive, but you know what else is impressive?{

Kevin's defensive s-craft

(now jokes aside, I havent been very ovewhelmed by Kevin this game. He doesn't hit very hard, either with physical or arts attacks. His scraft is strong but is well, an scraft, so its expensive. His ability to spent 65 cp to give 120 cp to the party is borderline OP, though. But hey, the timing to block Luciola just happened to be perfect here. Good job, Kevin [pats head])

I'm gonna go and assume every person who has ever played this game used Schera's s-craft to deal the last blow on Luciola. It's too satisfying

and... I have to reset because half my party has accessories that make their attacks fire elemental, and luciola's summons are immune to fire. Facepalm

won the 2nd time, now with non-counterproductive equipment

Unlike Walter, Luciola doesn't mind revealing her motivation to her old friend. However, the truth really shocks Schera. For all she was acting cool, it turns out Schera just didn't have a grasp of how evil their enemies could be. While Zin seems to be the wiser one.

Have those characters considered maybe trying to destroy the doomsday device during the fight? because this whole "we beat the bad guy, but their still completed their plan AND escaped alive" is getting old. Is Orobouros ever going to take a loss?

Estelle: We will bring Renne to the light! Eh... Josh, you don't think I'm being naive right?
Josh: nah you are basically OP at this combat therapy thing. Go get her, girl

Grail Sphere OP. Best S-Craft in the game.

I like Walter's S-Craft too but sounds like you may have beat him before he could use it lol.

Thorn posted...

Grail Sphere OP. Best S-Craft in the game.

I like Walter's S-Craft too but sounds like you may have beat him before he could use it lol.

Yeah I saw the other two's s-crafts, but not Walter.

He just went down so fast since he didn't use status or other bullshit. And the wolves' attack is so puny. And I entered the battle with 3 characters on max CP. So it was kinda overkill.

theres basically a semi-required character for every boss rush fight here...if you dont bring the person that relates to the ouroboros member in the plot you miss out on cool dialogue

_stingers_ posted...

theres basically a semi-required character for every boss rush fight here...if you dont bring the person that relates to the ouroboros member in the plot you miss out on cool dialogue

You mean in this chapter? The game already required me to bring Zin and Schera. Who is required for Renne?

I stayed quiet there but yes, Chapter 7 has Zin and Schera required for the Walter/Luciola towers and fights so that isn't an issue for you. I believe Renne's tower has no pre-reqs. Tita might have some extra dialogue but it's not much I think. Mostly because the game basically considers Estelle that party member.

And Blueblanc? I thought the character was Olivier but he wasn't an option. He did complain that I didn't bring Kloe, though.

Yeah, Kloe - for Chapter 7, at least.

But what I've been dancing around here is that stingers is thinking of later in the game when the game will not force party members on you (barring Estelle and Joshua).

That sounds dumb. Especially since both Walter and Luciola have some massive unsolved plot points related to their rivals.

Yeah it is dumb and you don't get the unresolved plotlines, well, resolved if you don't bring them.
Luckily after Sky they realized its dumb and just pretty much always make it mandatory to bring party members with connections to bosses when you fight them.

Thorn posted...

Yeah, Kloe - for Chapter 7, at least.

But what I've been dancing around here is that stingers is thinking of later in the game when the game will not force party members on you (barring Estelle and Joshua) for any of the fights.

Oh...my bad. Yes he's right. It's been too long I forgot. Sorry for the spoilers but it's better to go in knowing anyway tbh

With Trails, I consciously pick the party members based on whose dialogue I want to see for this section! Keeping levels equal is secondary with the rubber-band EXP.

for the last tower, I pick Tita and Kevin

Tita is the only unused character in this chapter so far, and I left her for the end due to her personal relationship with the boss, atlhough the game doesn't make it mandatory. Kevin is here because he is the only dude who can do magic besides Josh, and both magic-physical and male-female balance are important at this point. The game is giving me exacltly two of each gender-specific item lately

Josh learned True Black Fang. Honestly if I were Orobouros I'd surrender right know just from this new development

True Black Fang deals over 3k damage across the entire field. Insane.

modern devs make maps that look like modern art:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/7/4/6/AAO9CbAAEdVq.png

and thats just one of 3 images in the FAQ

Tita learned a move called Satellite Beam, which apparently calls a satellite to fire a laser from above. I can't even

and it probably still hits less than True Black Fang, which is just Josh running around the field and cutting things with his swords

At the start of the dungeon, Estelle commented how she wishes it would be another straight line. Josh replied a maze with fewer enemies is better than a straight line full of strong ones. Don't worry Estelle, I'm with you here

time to see whether Estelle can redeem Renne. Here is why I think it won't work, at least this time around:
1- It's not the same as Josh. Estelle had years of knowing him like a brother. Plus she had half a game to hear other people talk about him, and understand his motives. By the time she finally met him, she knew exactly what to say.
2- Josh loves Estelle. Her opinion really matters to him. Renne barely knows Estelle.
3- Renne is a kid. She just doesn't have the same level of instrospection as someone in Josh's age.
4- She is still in orobouros. Redeeming her is not just about showing her the light, they also have to break her from what is currently her family

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/7/4/7/AAO9CbAAEdVr.jpg

Priorities

The fight starts and... now I know why the faq told me to bring Kevin

She starts the battle with her s-craft (before I can even choose my moves), kills Estelle in the first turn, then her minions kill Tita. Ok, resetting.

Killing the enemy before they act is a player prerrogative! Bosses shouldn't be allowed to do that!

I try to click Kevin's s-craft before the boss uses hers but it's no good, it's a scripted event. The only solution is giving the whole party anti-deathblow items, letting her attack us and then using Kevin to give the party immunity to the incoming minion rampage

the fact Renne is a kid arguably makes her more horrible than all other enforcers. They all have room for some instrospection and character depth, even Walter. Renne just thinks killing people is fun.

Her little cry when she gets hit also adds to the horror of the whole situation. It constantly reminds the player they are having to fight a 11 year old with military grade weapons

I just saw Tita's Satellite Beam and I have even more questions. What? How? How does this fit with the lore? Like, there was a war 10 years ago that was won because one side had access to airships, and you are telling me this little girl has a killer laser satellite in fucking SPACE?

I can't even

Ok, once the battle start injustice is past, the mobs are contained, and Clock Down/Clock Up Ex are properly applied, the boss goes down pretty quickly. I let Tita have the last hit. It's fitting.

We learn Renne was in child prostitution or something similar before entering Orobouros. And Estelle thinks she can redeem her by talking. Ha ha, no.

She summons her massive bot. Now it's on

The giant robot hits like a flaming truck on rocket boosters. And it's immune to every status known to men. That's all cool, but it's still 4v1. The Renne first was way harder

But... this is in-game only and we actually barely scratched the thing. She only doesn't kill us because the mcguffin finishes mcguffining

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/7/4/8/AAO9CbAAEdVs.jpg

... dude

back in the base, Josh tells Estelle to keep trusting her therapy skills, and prof Russel shows up and starts revealing what the mcguffins really do, until the Big bad decides to hack our ship's monitors just so he can reveal it in person and do an evil gloat. I tell you guys, PRESENTATION!

We see the Final Mcguffin, in all its Mcguffin glory

this scene wouldn't be half as good without the EPIC choir

Chapter 7: "Dungeon Crawling and the Apocalypse. Just a normal JRPG day": beaten

Meanwhile, the sky bandits announce their plan to loot the Final Doomsday Floating Citadel. Reasonable.

Their plan is cut short by what seems to be a country sized EMP, sending their airship into freefall

Chapter 8: "They should have just invented the steam engine when they had the chance": begins

the mission now amounts to the world's most ambitious telephone repair service

Which makes sense. In a world where Cassius Bright exists, having communcation is the heroes' biggest power

Kloe and Kevin have left the party for now. I have never been so deprived of magic users

I don't know why the good guys are going through all this trouble. Just have Tita's laser beam sattelite fire at the bad guys on the Aureole from space. That's a possibility, right?

... right?

I'm going to mention that every time now

ZeldaTPLink posted...

I just saw Tita's Satellite Beam and I have even more questions. What? How? How does this fit with the lore? Like, there was a war 10 years ago that was won because one side had access to airships, and you are telling me this little girl has a killer laser satellite in fucking SPACE?

we're 12 games in and i think this is still the most inexplicable thing in the series from a lore standpoint lmfao

I could have sworn it was possible to fire off Grail Sphere before Renne demonstrates she's the smartest Enforcer by just immediately opening with her S-Craft but I believe you're the second person who has stated they couldn't so I must have imagined it.

I'm not sure. I kept desperately shaking my mouse but the arrow never appeared. I assume it's not possible because of how computers work: the cpu can activate the move in miliseconds. The only way this is possible is if the devs actually programmed a clock for this into the battle. But I'm not a specialist on this.

Thorn posted...

we're 12 games in and i think this is still the most inexplicable thing in the series from a lore standpoint lmfao

I could have sworn it was possible to fire off Grail Sphere before Renne demonstrates she's the smartest Enforcer by just immediately opening with her S-Craft but I believe you're the second person who has stated they couldn't so I must have imagined it.

You definitely can't, and you can't cut to first with an S-Break in any game up through at least CS3, so you extremely imagined it

ya well

=(

orbital space lasers are cool. they dont need plot justification. they just need to be cool

ZeldaTPLink posted...

The fight starts and... now I know why the faq told me to bring Kevin

She starts the battle with her s-craft (before I can even choose my moves), kills Estelle in the first turn, then her minions kill Tita. Ok, resetting.

Ready or not... HERE I COME

GOT YOU

The game wasn't too difficult overall playing on Normal, but I definitely remember this fight with Renne being annoying. Mainly because it's just a "do you have the right status gear equipped" check, but still.

I ended up rewatching some of these scenes mainly because I was confusing it with a scene from the endgame boss fights, but I forgot how much of a champion Estelle is by endgame SC/3rd. Such a great character.

Thorn posted...

we're 12 games in and i think this is still the most inexplicable thing in the series from a lore standpoint lmfao

Well there is also (boss fight from a later game in the series) Campanella's S-Craft, but you know what you're still probably right.

pyresword posted...

The game wasn't too difficult overall playing on Normal, but I definitely remember this fight with Renne being annoying. Mainly because it's just a "do you have the right status gear equipped" check, but still.

I ended up rewatching some of these scenes mainly because I was confusing it with a scene from the endgame boss fights, but I forgot how much of a champion Estelle is by endgame SC/3rd. Such a great character.

Well there is also (boss fight from a later game in the series) Campanella's S-Craft, but you know what you're still probably right.

Are you talking about the salt pale? Cuz they go into it a bit in Sky 3. But if it's something else no idea, I have only played up to CS2 and have been taking an extended break

The current chaper adds some teambuilding complications. Olivier, Kloe and Kevin are gone. That leaves Estelle, Josh and Schera as the only casters, even though they are all designed to be mixed fighters.

The entire country is without orbments. Except us, who are armed with four zero-field generators, which can be equipped as acessories to let us use magic. However, the mission is to deliver those ZFGs at the guilds. Each time I do it, someone will lose access to magic. And Tita loses almost everything she has, since she fights with orbal weapons

so having a bunch of physical characters is not that bad. Needing accessories to use arts is a constraint though, since I have limited acessory slots

So I take a hint from the orbment faq and leave Josh and Agate as dedicated physical attackes, while Estelle and Schera use arts. Schera is going to be a dedicated caster, to make use of my Duende Slippers and Mind 5. I give up on letting her attack and give her a Defense 4 for ground arts. Estelle continues to be a mix of both, with a little more focus on fire magic since Schera can't do that, as well as healing.

Josh, Agate (and Zin/Tita, whenever I use them) will be the "hitting people with pointy objects" crew. They have Move, Hit, Attack, Shield 5, and one of Strike/Seal/Petrify

I kill a quest boss and gain Strike 2, a quartz that makes every attack have 20% crit chance. I give it to Josh. The bad guys should be glad they are safe in a flying city right now

I gain the Time Gem, an item that gfreatly drops a character's attack, defense and ATS, buit greatly increases their casting time. That's one fancy way to make someone a healbot.

I discover that, for the first time in almost two games, I have freedom to go anywhere in the map I want
the bad news is that airships are grounded and the game map is a donut, so going anywhere will take long

We arrive at Ruan and fix the guild's telephone. if someone told me the penultimate chapter of this duology was being a telephone repair service, i'd say they were drunk

Ruan's bridge is permanently rised which means the only way to cross between the two halves of the city is through a ferry. However, the entire town has to share it, which leads to this particular option box:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/3/3/AAO9CbAAEdrV.jpg

I'm sure Estelle wrote it

The school has been attacked. The enemy has cyborg dohs with daggers in their mouths. The level of crisis is maximum

I love the scene where Estelle and Josh discuss whether it's okay for Josh to go scout alone. They are both so mature now

Unfortunately for Josh, the game allows me to control him in this section

that's a - 200 penalty to stealth

well, Josh gets magical dashes whenever I pass any area that is not covered. That's fair

After finishing scouting, Josh briefly considers just soloing the entire jagger squad, but changes his mind. Lame.

Team Non Playable shows up, and this time we are getting to control Anelace. And Kurt. Yay!

Carna lost her normal weapon, buit she has fucking gunpowder rifle as a replacement. I love when the game brings up that kind of stuff

(though announcing that you have a rifle as you are about to storm a school is uh... ironic)

I equip the two new characters, by basically making Anelace the new Agate and Kurt the new Schera. With less Aero Storm and more Abyss Fall, I guess

Kurt has probably never seen so many quartz with "4" in the name in his life. Now he gets to use 6 of them, plus a Cast 2.

The operation begins. First, the obligatory scene with the two front guards complaining of boredom. never gets old

Tita and Carna be like

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/e4/35/4b/e4354ba5b0d6b4d0c8532f10104980c9.gif

Anelace when she wins: "I AM INVINCIBLE! Or am I?"
Kurt when he wins: "We must remain dilligent".
Aka "why one of them is playable again in Trails 3 the the other one isn't"

Estelle and Anelace bing silly while Josh rolls his eyes is a dynamic I didn't know I needed in my life

Estelle and Anelace are mad that the bad guys are in the maidens' dorm. Anelace says they could at least have put ribbons on before entering. Fair.

I have the 4 use a combined chain attack and it's just beautiful to watch. So many hits

I love that Kurt's "arts" are actually crafts. The guy is so skilled he has access to magic without orbments and no one knows how

Gilbert is going to the annals of Biggest Cucks in Gaming. Seriously.

Unfortunately he has a hostage. But then, Not a Falcon shows up from nowhere and lowkey takes half his HP with one hit

Estelle: "Time for ul-tra-vio-lence". Yes.

We are going to a arrest the cuck but then Campanella teleports in, says villanious things, and teleports out with the cuck so he can't reveal anything about Orobouros

The quest is completed, and Anelace and whatshisface leave the party, never to return. Because sadly, we can't have it all.

I genuinely forgot Kurt is playable ever.

ZeldaTPLink posted...

I gain the Time Gem, an item that gfreatly drops a character's attack, defense and ATS, buit greatly increases their casting time. That's one fancy way to make someone a healbot.

Time Gem is still a lot higher dps when using strong spells

did Gilbert manage to pull off his Special Move btw?

tcaz2 posted...

I genuinely forgot Kurt is playable ever.

by my arts...

NFUN posted...

did Gilbert manage to pull off his Special Move btw?

Yes.

Then Anelace kicked him down but somehow still got a stat debuff.

NFUN posted...

Time Gem is still a lot higher dps when using strong spells

Noted. I may try it later when dedicated spellcasters return.

Tita gains an upgrade to her machine gun, which means the "calling a fucking beam satellite from space" skill is already obsolete. Ok.

I built the party with Estelle as the sole magic attacker, with Time Gem, and Josh/Zin/Tita as physical characters. Let's see if this works out

I have to use night vision goggles to cross Kaldia Tunnel, since lamps no longer exist in this game. It's fun how this little item lasts for the entire game

the Telephine Repair Service arrives at Zeiss. One more place to go

time gem is fun. Getting to cast abyss fall like it's friggin aqua bleed is great. However Estelle doesn't seem to be a great user for it, at least in terms of damage. Though fast healing and fast earth wall are not bad

we go to leiston fortress, where theres a cute cutscene where Josh tries to bring up the fact Estelle is the general's dughter to get in, but she says she doesn't want to get in the way of her father's work during a crisis. The game really wants to hammer the idea Estelle is all grown up now

yeah ok this single spellcaster set isn't that great, at least not with estelle as the spellcaster. I got mauled by a sidequest boss composed of 7 metal snakes who spam earthquakes

I do a rather complicated quest to deliver an engine and gasoline to the local hot springs, in order to bring them back. Some npcs comment on how cute it is that i'm doing that

The prize is a hot springs bath that brings the whole party's CP to 200. I know exactly what to do wit it

(I challenge the 7 earthquake worms again. 5 defeats later, imma go have dinner)

ok I did it. pretty much only because Tita got a crit turn in her Satellite Execution of Doom turn. Plus full CP s-crafts from Estelle, Zin and Josh (twice), plus a Sappire Gem, Time Gem boosted Aero Storm by Estelle. Also Estelle used an item that automatically revived her, while Josh and Tita used emerald medals to abuse elemental weakness. Phew.

I think this is the hardest boss in the game so far. Kurt from the prologue was harder, but I was playing on hard more. i'm playing on normal mode now.

One thing is bugging me. There are 16 ZFGs. The army was given ten, which supposedly cover the 5 regional outposts, Haken Gate, Leiston Fortress, The Auseille and the castle. Meanwhile, the party was given 6, which should cover all 5 guilds. There are two places missing from this math. Is there some suprised related to them down the line or is prof Russel just bad at math?

next sidequest boss is a giant cactus. Final Fantasy 6 makes me reflexively shiver, but in reality this is a cakewalk after the previous boss. I don't even have to lose fights to scout what moves it can use!

telephone repair service arrives at Grancel, but this guild's phone is already repaired, thanks to Kloe. I swap Tita for Schera and give her Grand Stream, the best wind attack in the game.
the fishman guild is actually profitting from the situation, since they use good old fishing rods, instead of whatever orbal technology is used these days

I advance to Bracer Rank B+ (which now makes Estelle higher ranked than Schera and Agate, lol), and gain a pair of shoes. I'm underwhelmed until I realize they boost movement by +10. Effectively letting a character teleport to the other side of the map. Nice.

so I find out (thanks to gamefaqs, because there is ZERO hint in the game) that the next chapter will have a shop that lets me craft tier 5 gems. Additionally, the current chapter has one shop, hidden in a little corner of Grancel, that lets you buy septih for money, for the first time in the series so far, and that it will be unavailable next chapter. So the optimal strategy is to drop all my money at the shop so I can make the most advantage of the tier 5 gems next chapter.

There is no way to figure this out unless you have played the game before or are reading online.

That's some kind of shitty game design, imo.

The mayor of Ruan being the shopkeeper is a nice lore point, though. It always bugged me how the plot let the sky bandits get away with threatening to mass murder hostages because they were mind controlled, but didn't at least look at Dalmore through the same lens. Also kind of interesting that his aide turned out to be the biggest scumbag of the duo in the end)

So I get a pretty ludicrous amount of sepith. The faq recomments an even more absurd one, probably because it assumes the player has been minmaxing for cash or something. But it's probably not necessary

We learned that Duke Asshat has undergone character development and is now a reasonable authority figure. lol

we should ask the royal family what kind of magical potion or spell was used to fix him. There are some enforcers who need that, particularly one pink haired girl.

the telephone repair service arrives at Rolent, and with that, all guild phones are repaired. The queen calls us to return to Grancel and meet her. But first... sidequests!

theres some cute lore about how a couple we helped find a missing rind in a previous sidequest is now getting married. It's filler, but I like how this game is always going the extra mile for worldbuilding

my party only has one character who can use magic but I pretty much melt the scorpion boss west of Rolent. Estelle doesn't need magic when she can instead use Morale to make True Black Fang and Thunder God Kick hit even harder

an airship had to make an emergency landing near a local farm. The farmers were kind enough to give them food while they wait for orbments to start working again. So the soldiers are making up by helping guard the farm. In any other story i'd call that an exaggeration, but based on recent events, thats probably a good idea yeah

Estelle's True Hurricane with the Death quartz is a pretty nasty combo. You just spam it and things start dying

we complete a little sidequest about saving Faceless Non-Playable Bracer from a boss in a mine.

We are going back to Grancel... when the bad guys attack the capital!

We watch as 4 enforcers spam their s-crafts on a batallion of generic soldiers. It's a carnage
(This is also the first time I see Walter's s-craft, since last time I rekt him so fast he didn't get to use it)

We are told to chase after the enforcers while the army is fighting the mooks. Well, we have some time to catch up while Walter breaks down the castle's front doors with his bare hands.

Plot Twist: the Duke's butler is the former royal guard captain. Which means he's probably worth... 30% of an enforcer

we face what is likely the chapter boss, 3 helicopter drones. It has to be, but it's rather tough (though not even close to those god forsaken worms)

We see the enforcers praising the butler. Mad respects to the old guy. Imagine being this badass and spending 20 years babysitting a spoiled duke

The royal guard tries to protect the queen's chambers, but the enforcers go through them like they are bowling pins. No, seriously.

The bad guys got the queen and the princess. And turns out this entire attack was just a little diversion because the Bid Bad doesn't like the fact that we are doing Telephone Repair Service

Dad to the rescue! Ok, now this is a guy who can probably beat one or more enforcers. Not sure if all 4 of them, though

Oh nvm it's Cid. Yeah we are fucked.

Also Not a Falcon, and Richard. That's a little better, but we are still fucked. I mean, Richard wasn't even the final boss of the last game

The intel division shows up and destroy's Orobouros's ranks. This makes zero sense considering the game's level tiers, but I'll allow it

Wait, where did Dorothy get a camera?

I still think the enforcers would be the favorites here, but they decide not to take unecessary risks and GTFO

We learn Kloe has dediced to become queen. Too bad the entire thing was off-paneled

Apparently our little sidequest at the Academy influenced the decision, though. I'm guessing if we skip it, Kloe just arrives at it in a different way

And... it took just a few days for Errebonia to realize what's going on and attack Liberl. Just a small batallion for now, but I predict more are coming soon. Now that's a crisis to justify the climax of a game, other than the bad guys trying to obtain a mysterious ancient artifact

They also brought steam engines, which they prepared in advance thanks to Orobouros. Ouch

Kloe: "DM, can I roll diplomacy?"
DM: "Sure but you'll need a natural 20"
Kloe: "Deal"

Like in any good war, the Erebonias came up with a bullshit reason to invade. They are "protecting" us, by putting tanks in our cities.

Tha game makes a joke at the anime/RPG tradition of characters cutting their hair when they get character development. Heh

Olivier shows up and reveals he is the prince. That's a cool introduction

Schera: I thought he was just an international spy, not the frigging prince!

Kloe got a 16, maybe 17 roll in diplomacy. Then Olivier came and showed a +20 modifier in realpolitik

Olivier is acting like he's the enemy but he's really just playing his own country

And now Dad arrives. Of course he was onto it. Olivier has been setting this up for two games, give or take

Cassius and Olivier pretending they don't know each other is priceless. Watch and learn, Estelle

Olivier swears to kill the chancellor of Erebonia, who is in league with orobouros. Now that's an oath

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/0/3/AAO9CbAAEeKH.jpg

Angry Estelle is always a treasure

A bunch of people join/rejoin the party, and we are boarding the royal airship to invade the Flying City of Doom, defeat the Wacky Elite Henchman Crew, redeem one or two Tragic Anti-Villains, stop the Big Bad before he activates the Ancient Arficact of World Domination, and save the day.

(I need to spend less time in TV Tropes)

Then the game reminds us this is really just a chess game between Cassius and Weissman, and we are the pieces

Chapter 8: "Better customer service than your usual phone provider": beaten

We now have a cutscene where politics is over and everyone is back to being an RPG party. Olivier says funny stuff, the reporters (again) tag along, etc

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/1/0/AAO9CbAAEeKO.jpg

Also there's that

Orobouros is defending their macguffin with airships. Time for some pew pew pew.

We take down some minor airships.

Then we face the Giant Evil Mothership that Summons Anime Cutscenes

we (barely) fly past it as it fires a few warheads at us

I don't know which game we will finally get to take down that thing, but i'm hyped to see it when it happens. it's going to be some battle.

The party hears the opera choirs getting louder, which means we are arriving at the flying city. It summons another anime cutscene so we can see it in its full glory

Russel: "Hmm, that tower looks important. It's probably where the mcguffin is. Let's land there"

Then Edgelord shows up riding a flying gundam, rips one of our ship's engines in half and forces us to make an emergency landing, probably as far as possible from the mcguffin

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/1/1/AAO9CbAAEeKP.jpg

[Ominous song plays in the final chapter screen]

ZeldaTPLink posted...

(I challenge the 7 earthquake worms again. 5 defeats later, imma go have dinner)

ok I did it. pretty much only because Tita got a crit turn in her Satellite Execution of Doom turn. Plus full CP s-crafts from Estelle, Zin and Josh (twice), plus a Sappire Gem, Time Gem boosted Aero Storm by Estelle. Also Estelle used an item that automatically revived her, while Josh and Tita used emerald medals to abuse elemental weakness. Phew.

I think this is the hardest boss in the game so far. Kurt from the prologue was harder, but I was playing on hard more. i'm playing on normal mode now.

hey remember when Walter summoned a bunch of abyss worms and they were total pushovers? they've come so far!

they're actually shockingly easy to cheese with delay, but when you don't know how to handle them, they're definitely a rough fight, especially if you don't go directly to Zeiss and take care of them before losing access to arts

Ah, good ole' Abyss Worms killing everyone mercilessly who unequips the information quartz or just doesn't read it...

(You were suppose to single target them btw, they only use earthquakes in retaliation to getting hit. Using AoE = you get massacred. Hitting one at a time = you only take one earthquake per round)

About the earthquake spamming worms:

I can't actually remember the fight in SC specifically well, but those are a mainstay of the Trails series and at least in the other games I remember the way it works is that they only start spamming earthquake after they've been hit by an attack. So unless you can AoE them down very quickly such that it doesn't matter, it's often better to just try and beat them with single-target attacks

Edit: ninja'd

Well, Information is usually a rider effect to Heaven's Eye, and I didn't feel like using that with Cloak already on. Heh.

That Abyss Worm fight is a hell of an upgrade over their boss fight equivalent, they're a lot stronger and bulkier relative to your power level on this go and there's more of them. I think I spent a good twenty minutes in that fight, got through it first try but it was a huge slog of spamming clock down on everything and chipping away one worm at a time.