Board 8 > Trails in the Sky Playthrough Topic

(+) Yeah! (+)

fuck those fucking worms fucking fuckers

They're only annoying if you don't religiously scan everything since the info description basically tells you what to (not) do imhotbqh. And if you're not doing that in a Trails game what are you doing?

I'm pretty sure the ZFG math should work out. 5 Region Checkpoints, 5 Guild Branches, Grancel Castle, Leiston Fortress, Arseille, Haken Gate, uh... the Calvard Border place in Zeiss whose name I forget gets you to 15. Last one for the party I assume. If it's not that then idk I'd have to re-read the dialogue which I won't be doing lol.

Thorn posted...

They're only annoying if you don't religiously scan everything since the info description basically tells you what to (not) do imhotbqh. And if you're not doing that in a Trails game what are you doing?

I'm pretty sure the ZFG math should work out. 5 Region Checkpoints, 5 Guild Branches, Grancel Castle, Leiston Fortress, Arseille, Haken Gate, uh... the Calvard Border place in Zeiss whose name I forget gets you to 15. Last one for the party I assume. If it's not that then idk I'd have to re-read the dialogue which I won't be doing lol.

I went to the Calvard border (Wolf Fort) just to check. There was nothing about telephones being restored, just them being scared or not being scared of the door being opened. Then again the border has like 4 npcs.

Thankfully SC's final dungeon is much better than FC's!

I don't think I've ever used a Scan mechanic in any RPG and not even Trails is changing that.

pyresword posted...

I don't think I've ever used a Scan mechanic in any RPG and not even Trails is changing that.

wow way to let down Fran :(

My most used item by far in Trails is battle scopes

everyone is unhurt, but the ship is somewhat damaged. They all comment on how Loewe purposedly attacked the ship in a way not to kill everyone. Thanks, Loewe!

The plan is to find some means of transport, because this final dungeon is so huge it has to be explored by car. The party?

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/4/1/4/AAO9CbAAEeem.png

I haven't had so many choices since I played FF6

Other than "slightly-magic oriented balanced MC", and "slightly-melee oriented balanced MC", we also have to pick two, among "melee guy who trades HP for damage", "balanced fighter/caster who can give teammates extra turns", "healing oriented spellcaster", "all purpose spellcaster", "one trick pony mob control everyone uses because it's just fun", "meat shield" and "guy with shit stats but some of the best support crafts in the game so he's alright"

Olivier is criminally underleveled while also being the best character gameplay wise and maybe the best dialogue wise too. He's an easy third

Kloe is also rather undeleveled and I after a whole chapter saving up magic, I wanna abuse it a little
Josh secretely goes somewhere with Kevin to get some sort of... magical buff. Which will probably save everyone when we need the most.

Holy shit

This place's music is so good

I normally type this from my pc but Im now doing from phone because I dont want to minimize the game window and stop the music

I love how newspapers in this game are usually bombastic news. If I were a random citizen, reading papers would make me very anxious. There's always a national crisis going on! And here the crisis are actually real!

Living in videogame worlds is dangerous af

spend another half hour gearing up my party. Most is the usual stuff, the biggest news is Kloe is finally getting Cocytus (infinite AoE freeze) and Olivier is getting Zodiac (attack/def boost to the whole party). So she is more offensive, he is more support (kinda needed since his level is low, at least for now). Estelle is the usual frankenstein, Josh is the usual Dual Strike machine.

this ancient city has internet. I now know what was probably the downfall of the ancient civilization

we find the city's rail system, but stations have to be opened one by one. So it's all just a shortcut. We have to go through the tunnels, which I suspect are the dungeon sections

Olivier and Kloe's physical attacks are dealing zero damage to even normal enemies. The way this game optimizes stats means each character is going to be useless at something. You can make a mixed build, but then they will just be mediocre at everything.

I find an Onyx Gem, actually Action 5. Lowkey the best quartz there can possibly be, given how Action is good in this series

Kloe has finally learned an offensive s-craft. it probably looks cool. It also probably hits like crap, for the reason mentioned above. i'm gonna stick to her universal healing, thanks

Estelle has learned Wheel of Time. Now that one probably hits like a rocket

on hey Kloe's offensive s-craft isn't half bad. It's good for mob control, at least

and Olivier has learned one called Requiem Hearts. this is when we get all the endgame s-crafts, apparently

Houses in the ancient city have chests in them. Why did the houses from the regular cities not have those too? Would have made exploration so much more fun

Estelle's Wheel of Time is very flashy, unecessarily complicated, hits like a nuclear bomb and looks awesome.

We meet Josette. Her two brothers were kidnapped by bad guys. She joins the party!

According to the internet though, she is the worst playable character to ever grace the universe of playable characters. Won't stop me from testing her, though. They said the same about Tita and I managed to find her niche

uh...
Does Josette have no s-craft
WTF
[cheks faq]
OK she does but I have to do an entire part of the final dungeon to unlock it. That's BS

the information from the data crystals we recovery gives us the direct lore on how this civilization
ended, but the crystals take a while to be decoded. meanwhile, other terminals we find around the city give little hints. Crime started going up and nobody undertood why. Population started going down. Etc

ok Josette is literally unplayable

no s-crafts, low attack and ATS. Her "support crafts" are a single target defense reduction (ok against bosses but after the first turn, what else?) and a thing that always causes faint but has low range and is also single target (so no point using on mobs, and anything that matters is immune to faint). Her orbment geometry is somewhat worse than Estelle's, which is already kinda bad in this game compared to FC. She is earth, like Zin, but doesn't have taunt to really tank (and even Zin is having difficult pulling off taunt these days).

You could give her a time gem and make her a earth wall spam machine, but then again anyone else can do that while also having more useful crafts and whatnot (like Kevin).

Also apparently there's a section coming where i'm forced to use her and as soon as she gains her first s-craft, she stops being a mandatory character. That's... evil.

honestly the time gem thing means she is actually playable but like, anyone else is preferrable

we open a door by inputting the name of Kloe's ancestor and tricking the computer into thinking Kloe is her. Having a royal family members with the party has its uses. Gotta bring Olivier when we do the equivallent of this in Cold Steel, I guess

I find a shining pom

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/4/1/5/AAO9CbAAEeen.jpg

So this is the hard limit for how much xp you can get in one battle, huh

Kloe and Agate gain 7 levels each. Nice.

Tunnel 2 done. Not much to add, my party is OP, etc

https://youtube.com/watch?v=sta_Lb5sx64

Kloe's S-Craft uniquely scales off of ATS

I remember Schera, among others, doing no damage with her regular attack for much of the game, playing on Hard. Later Trails games are better about letting everyone be able to do something with their attack, even spell casters.

Yeah, Josette has got to be the worst party member in this game. I thought Tita was the worst in the first game, at least at end game (the only time you can choose party members), but she wasn't nearly as bad as Josette.

ZeldaTPLink posted...

I love how newspapers in this game are usually bombastic news. If I were a random citizen, reading papers would make me very anxious. There's always a national crisis going on! And here the crisis are actually real!

I mean you just described real news outlets too so

tcaz2 posted...

I mean you just described real news outlets too so

I mean yeah but in real life it's usually the news outlets desperately trying to make some bickering between politicians sound like the end of the world.

In Trails, it's usually "mysterious army of doom invaded the country's capital and almost toppled it" or "national disaster that defies the laws of physics strikes region for a day then stop" or "a literal dragon".

ZeldaTPLink posted...

Holy shit

This place's music is so good

Liber Ark music is indeed great.

Josette was done dirty by the devs for sure lmao

Thorn posted...

They're only annoying if you don't religiously scan everything since the info description basically tells you what to (not) do imhotbqh. And if you're not doing that in a Trails game what are you doing?

I'm pretty sure the ZFG math should work out. 5 Region Checkpoints, 5 Guild Branches, Grancel Castle, Leiston Fortress, Arseille, Haken Gate, uh... the Calvard Border place in Zeiss whose name I forget gets you to 15. Last one for the party I assume. If it's not that then idk I'd have to re-read the dialogue which I won't be doing lol.

I'd assume one leftover for each team in case one breaks or there's an unexpected emergent need.

Dragon Dive is cool. I'm really enjoying those endgame s-crafts

Josette is mandatory next dungeon, so I'm building her as the ultimate earth wall bot. Earth wall? I mean gaia shield. She also has clock down and clock up ex, whioch should keep her busy for a while. Even if Josette is crap, the strategy itself is so broken she is going to pull her weight. Problem is she will be a sitting duck against mobs, because I nerfed both her strangth and ATS to pull this build off

she also carries yin-yang because Estelle and Olivier are too busy being masters of all 4 elements to carry more than one water quartz

The strategy is woking fine, albeit it makes battles slower, since I'm playing like a sissy

The Capua brothers kinda have that classic Kirk-Spoc-McCoy dynamic going on. Josette is emotional, Kyle is rational, and Don is the balanced guy who keeps the party together.

thanks. i'm finishing soon

we learn one of orobouros's leaders is an evil scientist. Classic. For a villain group this powerful, guy must be like the most intelligent person in the world, or close

We are attacked by The Cuck. Just so the game doesn't say we are leaving this dungeon without facing a boss.

he brings a new type of robot lion which is strong and all but its just one. While he stays in the back throwing landmines and summoning weak minions. Even Josette is more useful than that

I open the force field to release Josette's brothers but because I do that before opening other force fields, I miss out on a chest containing some boots. This is lame. The game should have warned which gate contained the loot so I could prioritize that over the party member's loved ones

meanwhile, Campanella watches everything on camera like a creep. We will know we are actually winning something when villains stop watching us and saying "everything is fine"

The npcs come up with an excuse for Josette to stay in the party even though her role in the plot is finished

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/9/4/1/AAO9CbAAEfVt.jpg

No she isn't. I mean she is, because I slapped a build on her that makes even a baby a great support. But that doesn't count.

She finally learns an s-craft, just as I'm about to drop her from the party forever. I guess i'll fight a battle or two just to see it, though

[I skipped 3 days between the previous part and the next one and totally forgot to check Josette's s-craft, I only remembered now that I'm compilling the hext to B8. Meh, I'll watch it on youtube later or something]

I have given Strike 2 to Tita. Fun times are coming. Not for the enemies.

Our bard is playing his lute in the dining room. Let's leave him there where he is the happiest. I'm taking Tita and Kevin this time

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/9/4/2/AAO9CbAAEfVu.jpg

play your games in the right order, kids

I like abyss fall, but it's a bad mob spell because the animation is so long

we made it, finally. this is the axis pillar. the final area of Trails in the Sky

Our Big Bad leaves a affable message in one of the city terminals. Inviting us to enter the dungeon and fight some bad guys. Of course, we going there earlier would have ruined his plan, so he send Edgelord and his mecha to take our ship down. Now that everything is set up, he is letting us come. All according to keikaku

there is an evacuation tunnel to the first area, which is locked for now. Just in case the entire place decides to explode. Which is not going to happen, no sir.

I recover all the data crystals, which are basically the epic tale of how humanity defeated a rogue AI. And now the bad guys are trying to revive the rogue AI for their bad goals.

Julia and Muller join the party. This is certainly interesting, but I have heard the first boss of the pillar has extra quotes if you bring other people. Sorry, they will have to wait. I form the Olivier/Kloe duo again

ZeldaTPLink posted...

Julia and Muller join the party. This is certainly interesting, but I have heard the first boss of the pillar has extra quotes if you bring other people. Sorry, they will have to wait. I form the Olivier/Kloe duo again

So Trails in the Sky was originally a PC release in Japan. When it got a PSP port there it added Julia and Meuller as party members there. For the localization, being years later, we got them added into the PC version as well.

And yeah, Axis Pillar is the final dungeon/boss rush mentioned before. Enforcer order is the same as it was in Chapter 7 but with no party requirements outside Estelle and Joshua. At a minimum you want Zin and Schera for Walter and Luciola respectively. Unfortunately lack of quick travel makes changing the party each time for each Enforcer more annoying than it has to be but at least the rail system or whatever it is makes it a little nicer to get to-and-from the Arseille.

time to assault the Final Dungeon. The party is armed with the best quartz sepith and money can buy. Everyone has Action 5. Estelle has both Attack 5 and Mind 5, Olivier/Kloe have Mind 5, Josh has Attack 5. Estelle/Olivier both have Earth Wall, Titanic Roar and Aero Storm. Estelle also has Grand Stream and Cyclone Napalm. Olivier also has Zodiac and Abyss Fall. Kloe has Cocytus and La-Tear All. Kloe has an ATS of 876. Eight hundred fucking seventy five. Olivier has 683. His level is lower than the party's though, so he should have more by the time we get to Bleublanc.

If he thinks he can beat us by summoning some shadow clones and spreading them around, he has another thing coming.

Also Josh is armed with two very pointy blades, Attack 5, Move 3 and Strike 2. He doesn't really need magic when he has those

We are welcomed by some robots before we even enter

Estelle just dealt 7k damage on one attack. Wheel of Time, bootsed by Morale and Zodiac

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/1/2/AAO9CbAAEfoA.jpg

[Cap America I get the reference GIF]

Josh has learned his final skill, Phantom Raid

It's not as cool as Wheel of Time, but it's close

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/1/3/AAO9CbAAEfoB.jpg

Estelle has a point, but the classics are classics for a reason

Josh asks Blueblanc for his reason for being here (since apprarently Enforcers don't have to obey orders if they don't want to). Blueblanc's answer is just crazy. Fitting.

My party just melts the phantom thief. Nuff said.

this is better than FC's final dungeon because it's not a maze. Also because the game has already given almost all the endgame gear in the mini-dungeons that came before, so no need to fight 30 repetitive chest monsters. Also because it's a boss rush, and those are fun
having to go out and in just to see party member specific dialogue is really dumb, tho

next is Zin and Julia. Julia has balanced stats, but her crafts are... kinda lame? She does let me use Lost Mobious for the first time in the game, though

I guess her role is to be an all rounder who doesn't have any fancy tricks but is just reliable. A little stronger than Schera, but lacking the ability order gimmick

and Zin has learned Wrath of Genbu. Just in time to face his arch-nemesis

this time Walter uses his s-craft in the first turn. Learned something, didn't ya

It's so much stronger than Bleublanc's s-craft it's not even a competition

wow, I got rekt

anti-faint acessories for the whole party now. I mean, I should probably have brought these already, but they werent needed the first time I fought Walter

Walter is much harder than Bleu because he focuses on damage, instead of trickery. And he is immune to most attempts to lower his speed or status him. When you block his own status (faint), it becomes doable, but I feel like I got lucky because he attacked the characters who were the most healed while I was charging my healing at the start of the battle

Also Zin's Wrath of Genbu is another competitor for coolest Non-Wheel of Time attack

Walter finally reveals why he killed the old man. It's a cool scene with a lot of twists. And the story leaves it unclear which one of the two was the most tatented, at least according to their master, since they both have different versions of it. Though their final duel shows right now, the strongest fighter is Zin.

Next are Schera, for the story, and Mueller, because I have to use him at least once before the game ends

Yeah, if you don't bring Zin to that fight then afterwards IIRC Walter just goes "nothing personnel kid" and teleports out. Been a while since I Youtubed it.

Mueller isn't much different from other physical fighters (i. e. Agate) but he has the coolest animation for a basic attack

the coin enemy was really op in one battle, but then I realized it is actually very random. Half the time it heals your party! and if there are multiple coin enemies, it averages to not doing damage at all

the party's current setup is called "schera uses grand stream every turn while the other 3 use melee". it's simple but it works

We meet Luciola. Her backstory is... weird. Sounds a little half baked to me. I'm guessing the point is that shes just a psycho but the game doesn't elaborate much. Well lets see what happens after the fight ends

Luciola is tricky. She uses a cloning move similar to Bleu, but what it actually does it switch places with my party members

remember when I said I wanted Estelle to punch Josh? Well, her accidentally using Wheel of Time on him comes close

Luciola reveals the rest of her story. Yes she really is a psychopath. But in a pretty sad way. Damn.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/5/1/5/AAO9CbAAEfuT.jpg

when the villain gets it better than the hero

she... kills herself? but then Schera says its probably just a ruse. Whatever. Someone get those people a therapist

Next section, Tita + Kevin. Same strategy as the last time

one of those horrible coins made my party lose all of its cp. Right I was setting up Kevin to start the next boss with the

and I get to the final room. Gotta use a bunch of CP healing items on Kevin or I'm dead

The little demon is here, and she is ready to butcher us. We redeem her, or die trying. That's not an idiom

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/5/1/6/AAO9CbAAEfuU.jpg

She never fails to make a speech

let me show you a higher power, Renne. One bigger than Peter Mater or orobouros. A power you can barely coomprehend, only accept. It's called Earth Wall Spam.

A mere Oh Shit can't describe my feelings when I took down Renne and her giant robot instantly revived her with 10000 HP

Renne and her gundam are tough, but I win the battle of stall by making sure I have guard on whenever they use their s-crafts.

a cute scene ensures and... she is remdeemed? Maybe. At least sounds like she is not an enemy anymore. Renne absconds with the giant robot, and we are free to climb to the next floor

Honestly, Estelle is just a miracle worker

Luciola also just goes "Well, bye then" and teleports out if you fail to bring Schera to the fight. LOL at least Falcom mostly learned going forward and generally required relevant party members to future such climactic fights. Though there are still some party choices in later games that end up being highly recommended because their dialogue is just way more interesting.

Edit: Oh, right. Next boss fight is the point of no return so bring your preferred endgame team if that matters to you. Like mentioned above I do think certain party choices yield more interesting dialogue but nothing remotely like the other Enforcer fights. Personally my recommended "dialogue" team would likely be Agate and Kevin but everyone gets something this time.

I was definitely bringing Agate, even if he doesn't get an extended cutscene. I feel like he deserves it after being trolled by Loewe so many times.

Last slot I'm between Kevin, Olivier or Kloe. But I'm picking this one based in gameplay.

Does Kevin get better dialogue than others?

ZeldaTPLink posted...

I was definitely bringing Agate, even if he doesn't get an extended cutscene. I feel like he deserves it after being trolled by Loewe so many times.

Last slot I'm between Kevin, Olivier or Kloe. But I'm picking this one based in gameplay.

Does Kevin get better dialogue than others?

I don't know all of the alternative lines but that being said, I'm sure Kevin is the funniest

Sold.

final orbment setup:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/6/1/AAO9CbAAEf59.jpg

Estelle is the main healer, but can also hit hard with her staff, because she has the best single target s-craft. I didnt bother giving her many strong spells, but she does have dark matter, blue ascension, napalm breath and aerial. Honestly, for bosses, dark matter is all you need. She will be mostly healing or casting morale/clock up Ex otherwise

That yin-gang will be replaced by a HP 4 right before the final boss (es)

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/6/2/AAO9CbAAEf5-.jpg

Josh is physical. His gear gives him some dex, maybe not that much, but I think is enough so I'm not adding a dex quartz. He can also heal, and fast at that, but he can't really attack magically. Strike 2 and Ruby Gem will make him hit like a truck.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/6/3/AAO9CbAAEf5_.jpg

Agate's attack is even better than Josh's and so is his dex, though he lacks Dual Strike and the crits from strike. Seal 2 is great but I suspect bosses will be immune to it. Problem is I don't really have other options for Agate unless I wanna give him Ingenuity (which is only useful on casters). Either way, he still hits a lot, and can spam s-crafts. And also heal, cuz why not

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/6/4/AAO9CbAAEf6A.jpg

Kevin is the all purpose magic user. He has lost mobius, abyss fall, aero storm, titanic roar, as well as dark matter and blue ascension for single damage. He has all the good time support options. Most important, zodiac. And even more important, earth wall, which I suspect is what he will be doing more than half the time. He is carrying gladiator's belt because his CP is just more precious, having the best s-craft and the ability to donate CP to other characters at a 2x ratio. That ingenuity will turn into Attack 4 before the final boss, which is not amazing on him but hey, every damage counts

Estelle and Josh are lv 88, Kevin is lv 85, Agate is lv 81, since I haven't used him in the final dungeon left. I expect him to at least catch up with kevin after I fight all the mobs

I normally balance the genders but I have so many equipment options here it's not really necessary. Plus I'm bringing the best girl anyway

there is a healing thing followed by an elevator. I think this is it

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/6/5/AAO9CbAAEf6B.jpg

the decision to bring Agate is already paying off

Loewe was once a boss that we had the possibility of beating, but was designed to be incredibly hard unless the player metagamed for it. Losing to him stays in the player's memory, so they really want to beat him by the time you get to the end of the 2nd game. That's how you hype a boss
instead of a boss song, the cutscene heroic song plays

Loewe multiples. Not like Bleu, who creates fake clones. There are actually 3 of them. besides the 2 lion robots. That means their combined damage per turn is really high

he also has impede, like last game, but phys attackers are better this game and I have Cast 2 on everyone, so it bothers me less

I finish taking down his clones, and he just kills the party with his s-craft. And i'm almost at full hp. Holy shit

Sorry, I need to specify. His 2nd s-craft. Because he has two. Like a fucking player character.

in the second try, he gets a crit on his scraft turn and one-shots the party. Let's try again

Round 3. Loewe didn't win, but it went long enough for me to conclude it's pointless to keep trying without giving the whole party confusion immunity. His silver thorn just works every time, and my healers are the ones without immunity

I'm not used to having to use strategy in this game

round 4. he kills kevin as soon as the fight begins. That totally ruins my flow. Also I just realized I forgot to equip those HP 4/Attack 4 before the battle. Restarting

actually Estelle will get the HP 4, but Kevin will stay with Ingenuity. He doesn't benefit from getting attack boost at all, and he needs all the defense he can get, being the support guy

round 5. After a responsible use of Kevin, liberal healing and timing s-crafts not to give too many turns to the enemy, the battle ends with Agate screaming on top of his lungs and finishing Loewe off. Phew

"CARE FOR A REMATCH?" Never before have those words held so much meaning

time for cutscene action between Josh and Loewe

Honestly, many modern games with top tier graphics can't do the kind of action this game does with sprites. I'm not even joking

Josh wins by having better internet arguing skills than Loewe

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/6/9/AAO9CbAAEf6F.jpg

this is how you know things are about to go to shit

loewe makes individual comments to party members. He teases someone of Kevin's past. Stuff for the next game, I guess

Weissmann shows up, reveals everything so far has been part of his plan and takes control back of Josh, through some back door he left there for that. he is annoyed that we redeemed some orobouros members, but can fix that pretty quickly

we are attacked by more bosses, but then the rest of the party member selection shows up to help, because the lack of them has been ridiculous for a while now

another giant robot attacks us while we are in the elevator, and honestly it's kind of a joke after having battled Loewe. It just serves to boost my CP

the game has the decency to let us save again. I was afraid I'd have to redo the Loewe fight if I got stalled at Weissman, or leave my computer on for multiple days just not to lose the save

aaaaand there is the Aureole aka the mcguffin aka the rogue AI

Weissman is a dick, but he has a point. The real world could end up similar to the future he is describing, with humanity either destroying itself or turning into cattle led by robots. However, being a fictional villain, he's advocating for an even worse alternative to the ones presented

Estelle, once again nails it. She solves the puzzle by saying in the end, the point is other people. Humans are social animals, after all

Estelle has to fight Josh and he gets a 4x attack boost because fuck it thats why

wow, wiessman really as an asshole.

... Josh has been faking it the whole time

holy shit. Kevin! That scene at the start of the arc where he and Josh went to another room!

haven't I said before. Kevin and his church ARE the biggest threat to Orobouros in this setting. Sure, Estelle and co have the power of love and thats great, but Kevin actually has tools to counter the bad guys'

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/7/0/AAO9CbAAEf6G.jpg

the old man reminding us why he is the most dangerous character in this verse

Josh used Weissman's own evilness against him. Delicious

I beat Weissman so easily I regret using all my CP, because there are certainly more rounds after
the professor fuses with the mcguffin and turns into something more final boss looking

Angel Weismann. 69000 HP.

Nice

I use a zeram capsule on kevin as soon as the battle starts. After Loewe, I'm done taking risks
we are interrupted by a cutscene. No! My zeram capsule!

The boss is invincible, but Loewe shows up to help

He reveals Wiessmann was responsible for the war. I love how every person in the room with maybe the exception of Kevin lost someone dear because of it. Now it has gotten personal

Yet, Loewe is the coolest cucumber in the cucumber-verse

He breaks Weissmann's barrier with a sword he gained from the Grandmaster. Now I'm wondering... did the Grandmaster predict Loewe would betray them? Knowing Orobouros, I'm leaning on yes

second round... there goes another zeram capsule

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/7/1/AAO9CbAAEf6H.jpg

when you are not afraid to abuse stat buffs

we beat Weissmann 2, who is still considerably easier than Loewe. The battle ends and he's still taunting us. Godamn

way to make an endless finale, Falcom

and... now he has a dozen wings

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/7/2/AAO9CbAAEf6I.jpg

FREKING HERESY

99999 HP. Ok I THINK that is confirmation this is the final form

this boss's song is amazing

I win. this one was rather tricky, alternating between high attack and high defense forms. Still easier than Loewe, but not a picnic either.

Loewe dies. Weird how taking all those hits didn't kill him, but breaking a barrier did

Russel: "The aureole disappeared? That could be bad. Estelle: "Define "bad" [ground: starts shaking] There are things you don't ask

Josh tries to stay behind in grief, but a good Estelle slap to the face gets him back together

We cut to Weissmann, who is just realizing he was also being played with. Everything continues to be part of Orobouros's plan, but not his

Kevin: "I wasn't even using my full strength all this time"" Seriously? The world almost ended, you know

Is that the third or four time Kevin reveals his real identity? I've lost count.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/7/3/AAO9CbAAEf6J.jpg

DEUS VULT

Holy fuck Kevin is SAVAGE

The Fool shows up, finishes killing the bad guy and absconds with his spear, which... I'm guessing is the aureole?

tfw Kevin managed to make a detour to give Wiessmann a holy execution and still end up ahead of Estelle/Kevin in the escaping group

The game isn't over with the drama though, so we get a scene where Estelle and Josh get separated from the party and make a last kiss before what they think is their impending doom.

My bet is that Renne shows up next with her mecha and bails them out

This scene has been directed by Michael Bay

Well it's not Renne, but Cassius fucking Bright riding the fucking dragon. Cuz why not

Dragon: you have beaten the game, but there are more games coming

"Trails 2: Brought my man back and also saved the world for a bonus": beaten

Now to watch the credits

Now for the epilogue scene. Josh and Estelle visit Karin's grave. And the game is ending right as when the two are now a sappy couple, because I feel many more interactions like this woudl get annoying quickly

The two leaving for a journey is pretty cute, though

And... fin.

Welp, this was a game. Two games, actually. I won't write an extended review but this is a clear 10/10 to me, even if there are flaws here and there. I'll be talking more details in the character rankings, because yes, there will be character rankings.

Afterwards i'll be taking an extended break from Trails, though. Not a 3 day break like last time, because there is no epic cliffhanger this time, and I'm actually really tired of these games now. I feel like I had to push myself to get through the final chapter. They are great, but Steam is saying I clocked 74h hours in Game 1 and 117h in Game 2. I can't imagine anyone beating this series back to back, or Aidios forgive, replaying it. Unless you are a teen or something. So a guy from the discord I'm posting in said it's actually better to play Trails 3 closer to Crossbell than to Sky, and I'm taking advantage of that, suppose.

But again, stay tuned for the character rankings!

I thought I took a long time with these games, but I have 65h on FC and 77h on SC. Maintaining the topic must add a lot.

This was awesome, congrats on finishing and thanks for doing this! I enjoyed following along and look forward to the character rankings =)

catesdb posted...

I thought I took a long time with these games, but I have 65h on FC and 77h on SC. Maintaining the topic must add a lot.

This was awesome, congrats on finishing and thanks for doing this! I enjoyed following along and look forward to the character rankings =)

I think Steam counts the time the game stayed on, even if it's just the menu, so there were probably quite a few hours the game stayed on while I went to eat or whatever.

The in-game clock is giving 57 h and 90 h, respectively.

Ok so deciding on a list of characters to rank is HARD. At first I was only goiung to do playable characters, but there are quite a few other people I want to talk about! But there must be over 1000 characters, so I need to make a cut somewhere. I picked up everyone I think is likable or important enough to talk about. This is where I arrived at:

Estelle
Joshua
Scherazard
Olivier
Agate
Kloe
Zin
Tita
Kevin
Kurt
Anelace
Mueller
Julia
Josette
Kyle
Don
Cassius
Russel
Richard
Amalthea
Aina
Dunan
Gilbert
Weissmann
Loewe
Renne
Luciola
Walter
Bleublanc
Campanella

This makes a nice round 30. Now if you have anyone else you want in this list (i. e. you really need to know my opinion on Grant), feel free to say so and I may add to the list, though I don't guarantee I'll have more than one sentence to say about them. I'll be starting this at least one day from now.

ZeldaTPLink posted...

this boss's song is amazing

The Merciless Savior is a strong contender for best Trails song. Love it so much.

And yeah, the reason Agate/Kevin is my preferred dialogue team for the endgame is pretty apparent after the fact but there are a lot of cool dialogue combos, both with Loewe and Weissmann (more Loewe though IIRC). I think Olivier and Mueller (as in specifically that combo) actually have a slightly modified version of their dialogue with Loewe for instance. Olivier himself would probably be the next one up on my dialogue recs but unfortunately you can only take 4... well 2 really and between Agate's connection to Loewe and the war and Kevin's role in helping Joshua outplay Weissmann along with his final reveal at the end they're the clear winners IMO.

Totally understand why you need a break after playing FC and SC back-to-back even if I'm a little sad because 3rd is my favorite Trails game. It's kind of a bridge between Liberl and Crossbell and while I'm not sure I'd agree it's better played closer to Crossbell than SC I also don't think that's a bad statement either.

votes (and feel free to skip any of these):
Dorothy
Niall
Anton
Ricky
Queen Alicia
Jill from school
Kilika
Sieg
Mogran
Cid

Nial and Dorothy should have been in, dunno how I missed them.

Will think about the rest.

ZeldaTPLink posted...

I can't imagine anyone beating this series back to back, or Aidios forgive, replaying it.

Haha... yeah... imagine doing either and not being a teen... Couldn't be me that marathoned the entire released series after Sky SC when I finished it (which at the time was SC, 3rd, Cold Steel 1, and Cold Steel 2 back to back).

And am currently in the middle of replaying the Cold Steel games...

Anyway, re: the church being the counter to Ouroboros. So interestingly, Kondo, the lead writer/head of Falcom, said in an interview a while back that he specifically wanted the church in the Trails games to be unambiguously a force for good. It might have a few bad apples here and there across the series (including Weissman himself), but for the most part its one of the "Big Goods". The reason is that Kondo was tired of the trope of "the church is secretly evil", basically.

catesdb posted...

votes (and feel free to skip any of these):
Dorothy
Niall
Anton
Ricky
Queen Alicia
Jill from school
Kilika
Sieg
Mogran
Cid

I concur on all these. You didn't have any opinions on Anton and Ricky in the summaries, so I'd actually rather see Hans and Clem, since you noted them pretty well.

Anton and Ricky suck sorry I am a fake Trails fan.

Honestly you might want to wait for after 3rd for a full Sky series ranking, it changes the context for a lot of people and adds some really iconic characters to the cast

Hbthebattle posted...

Honestly you might want to wait for after 3rd for a full Sky series ranking, it changes the context for a lot of people and adds some really iconic characters to the cast

I knew someone would say that but since I'm maybe playing 3rd next year and I have things I wanna say now, I'm doing the rankings then reranking later if necessary.

I did kind of the opposite where I played 1, took a break for almost a year and then played 2 and 3 back to back. I think that playing 3 closer to crossbell is probably the better way to do it though

_stingers_ posted...

I did kind of the opposite where I played 1, took a break for almost a year and then played 2 and 3 back to back. I think that playing 3 closer to crossbell is probably the better way to do it though

This.

I rather like the delayed approach with 3rd. Non-spoilery, but there's a kind of Kingdom Hearts-ish feel to unlocking your party and going through chapters, like if you're a Disney fan you know the places and people when you see them, but they both come in kind of randomly/unexpectedly, and the worlds are filled with strange monsters, and it can be a strange trip. Plus, lots of extras you can unlock the doors of.

There's also an element of passed time, so waiting a while and coming back will get you in a similar headspace as the characters themselves.

Ok I've decided I'll be ranking everyone. Some chars will get very short and not very kind evaluations though.

Estelle
Joshua
Scherazard
Olivier
Agate
Kloe
Zin
Tita
Kevin
Kurt
Anelace
Mueller
Julia
Josette
Kyle
Don
Cassius
Russel
Richard
Amalthea
Aina
Dunan
Gilbert
Weissmann
Loewe
Renne
Luciola
Walter
Bleublanc
Campanella
Dorothy
Nial
Anton
Ricky
Queen Alicia
Jill
Kilika
Sieg
Mogran
Cid
Hams
Clem

#42 Ricky

Isn't he the guy who was with Anton, telling he he should be more responsible or something? Do we even see him after Anton leaves Grancel? Does he even have a story other than being a side character in Anton's? When you are a straight man to a faceless npc, I probably won't have much to say about you.

I guess thanks for giving me a perfect bottom name for this list since it kind of lacked one.

PS: I wrote a version of this post, then deleted it as I realized I had swapped Anton and Ricky, so I looked online to make sure I was right before writing it again. That doesn't bode well for Anton in this ranking.

#41 Clem

I get why the kid exists. It's a tried and tested trope. Unruly kid who has suffered in the past learns about love thanks to the protagonists. Actually now that I think about it, he's like a non-murderous Renne or something.

Unfortunately, while the writing isn't bad, this kid is still very annoying. When he isn't running away, he is yelling or crying, otherwise, he is just forgettable. Renne has a cool scythe. And another 20 reasons for being a great character this kid doesn't have.

#40 Ricky

Well he at least gives us funny scenes. Where he is an idiot. Also the scenes are part of that drinking quest I kind of hate already. Also I'm looking at my list and everyone else has a face portrait and non-skippable dialogue so I'm feeling unfair for not dropping this guy already. At least you beat the annoying kid.

#39 Jill

She is... okay? She gets things done and doesn't get in the way. I think her role is to be a support character for the female protagonists in school, kind of how Hams is for Josh, but Estelle and Kloe are already amazingly supportive of each other so they don't need Jill. All that is left for her is to tease romance and blink with one eye. Actually I ended up bumping her above Ricky, because she has done Aidios's work by forcing the main couple to get on with it, but that's all I gotta give to her.

#38 Russel

This is the lowest position a character this important is going to be at, but that's Russel's problem. The only thing he has going for him is that he is important. The Aureole is also important, and I'm not even ranking it. Russel is walking plot device. He exists to be kidnapped, or to deliver tech to the heroes whenever they start losing too much (but not fast enough for the bad guys to lose too soon, either). What are even his motivations, pains, dreams? I guess he wants to invent things, because he is a scientist. Wow, how elaborate.

Early game there was some semblance of a character in his introduction scene, where he was heavily hinted to have some kind of ADHD or being in the spectrum (not that we need more half-assed fictional depictions of autism, but at least it would have been an attempt on SOMETHING) That could have led to some interesting interactions and/or character development, but the story just forgot about it a soon as Russel started getting involved in the plot, and never looked back. Meh.

#37 Alicia

Another extremely important character! She is the queen! And I wasn't even going to rank her originally, because she doesn't have any characterization either. She is Kloe, but old, and experienced. I'm sure she's had an entire life of self-development, but it's not her story we are watching here. She's at least above Russel because her conversation with Estelle and Josh is a little heartwarming, and I had less time to be annoyed about her one-dimensionality, compared to Russel, who was usually close by.

#36 Aina

Aina... kind of sucks. Her character outside of being a guild clerk is that she has superhuman drinking abilities (a.k.a. undiagnosed alcoholism). She is part of a not extremely funny sidequest involving some people I ranked at the bottom. So why did I even bother, you ask?

Because of that one little scene, after Josh returns, where she comments on how she's always felt like a mother to him, having given his first bracer notebook. That is small, but it's a good piece of worldbuilding. She has watched Estelle and Josh grow up from little kids to bracers! She has been there to listen to her woes and give advice all this time! So it was nice to see her showing how much she cares.

Now that I think about it, the guild clerks are one intriguing part of the setting. They aren't really bracers, right? But they are all extremely competent, and on top of everything. I wonder what it takes to become a guild clerk. Hey, I just changed subjects, which probably indicates this character isn't that great outside that one scene.

#35 Josette

I really, really wanted to like Josette. I didn't want to fall into the commonplace of "Josette sucks in battles, so let's rank her low, haha". She get so much screen time. She is a decent person. She enhances Josh's character arc by keeping him from descending too much into darkness while he is away from Estelle in SC.

But whenever I try to think of actual scenes involving Josette, all that appears in my mind is her completely assymetric rivarly with Estelle. She doesn't stand a chance, but that doesn't make her stop. Ever. So the two bicker and bicker and bicker and that's all it ever happens. It was funny in FC's prologue, but it stopped being funny afterwards. Actually, Josette was just much more interesting then, with her whole pretending to be a noble to steal a jewel. She could have been some kind of femme fatale. Is Josette the game's biggest case of flanderization? Maybe.

#34 Kyle

Man, The Sky Bandits really are more than the sum of their parts, huh. I love the bunch, but you look at them individually and there just isn't much. Kyle is the smart guy of the bunch. He is the who reads Josh and actually makes improvements to his plans. He is the guy who calls Josette out when she is being dumb. He is... what else? I don't know, but I'm not annoyed at him like I am at Josette, so he is ranked higher. Whatever.

I just realized I was meaning to add Mayor Maybelle to the list but I forgot, so pretend all the numbers in the list above are one unity higher, ok?

35- Kyle
36- Josette
37- Aina
38- Queen Alicia
39- Russel
40- Jill
41- Anton
42- Clem
43- Ricky

Unranked:

Agate
Amalthea
Anelace
Bleublanc
Campanella
Cassius
Cid
Don
Dorothy
Dunan
Estelle
Gilbert
Hans
Joshua
Julia
Kevin
Kilika
Kloe
Kurt
Loewe
Luciola
Maybelle
Mogran
Mueller
Nial
Olivier
Renne
Richard
Scherazard
Sieg
Tita
Walter
Weissmann
Zin

You almost forgot Capitalism, Ho!

poor josette

And I ended up misnaming Anton again when I actually ranked him, lol.

Ok just to make it clear. Guy who is in love with Aina, not last place. His friend, last place.

ZeldaTPLink posted...

I wonder what it takes to become a guild clerk.

This actually gets explored in a later Trails game.

#34 Kurt

"By my arts... I will make you restart the game on Normal!"

I saw this quote online once and thought it was hilarious. Kurt's claim to fame is being one of the most unfair bosses in the series in high difficulties.

Don't let the man fool you. He seems interesting because he hangs out with Grant, but he isn't much better. He is generic. I've already forgotten what playing him felt like, even, it was so short. He is the only character who is playable in Sky 2 but not Sky 3, probably because the devs realized no one cares.

Yet, there are so many little hints of a real character there. He likes to read a lot and hone his mind. His crafts are actually "arts" that don't use orbments, which he learned from some foreign cultures. He is canonically the #1 bracer in Liberl, after Cassius returns to the army! What's up with that? But alas, none of that gets developed much. Kurt is a prototype of a good character.

#33 Mueller

Wow I'm dunking on playable characters left and right. Ok, I think people actually care about this one, so give me a minute before you start throwing rocks.

Mueller is Olivier's straight man. That's good and all, but the problem is that he isn't actually around most of the time. The people who really get to be Olivier's straight men are the other playable characters (especially Estelle, who does it amazingly). Mueller shows up every other chapter, complains Olivier is being annoying, threatens to take him away, gets embarassed by one of Olivier's sexual advances, and leaves. Rinse and repeat for two games. It's a repetitive routine that doesn't evolve, particularly because he isn't actually THERE, to interact with Olivier as the story happens and Olivier gets to show his character depth. So Muller is a one note character.

Anything else? Well there is chapter 9, where he most follows Julia around, in a what feels like a very soft ship tease. There's some stuff with his uncle, which isn't being developed this game. There's the awesome fight with Josh, arguably the reason he is above Kurt, but is that even brought up again in the game? It never leads anywehre, and Mueller is just a one dimensional character, even if his dynamic with Olivier is funny enough to make me smile.

#32 Cid

The good military guy. The one who does the right thing even though he will likely face imprisonment or death for it. I'm a sucker for these types of characters. And I love how the game set him up to be one of Richard's goons, then revealed he was good all along.

But to be fair, that's more praise on the plot than the character. Cid is the military's answer to Grant. He is pretty generic, he doesn't have any special abilities, and once the coup plot ends, he fades into the background so hard he might as well be wallpaper. Why, between Cassius, Julia and Mogran, the story doesn't really need Cid. Good job Cid, you made a difference when your country needed you, but to climb up this list, you need more characterization.

#31 Sieg

We finally rank the bird so we can make fun of the people who got ranked below the bird. Such is the dynamic of character rankings, as a certain parrot has once shown.

Not a Falcon is a bird that breaks the laws of common sense, because it can understand human language and make humans underatand the bird language it speaks, with complex sentences. The game does that routine but also makes fun of itself, usually with Agate complaining it doesn't make sense. Well it doesn't, but it's funny.

Sieg is also a flying plot device. He a cell phone, since Liberl doesn't have them, he locates plot hooks ahead of the cast so they know where to go next, etc.

And he gets to be Kloe's weapon in her Chain Crafts, something I've always found hilarious. The bird is better at Melee than Kloe herself!

But he is still just a bird, and I can't keep from ranking him for too long before it gets ridiculous.

#30 Julia

She is a BADASS. That's the thing that defines Julia. Her squad gets taken down, her princess and queen arrested, all hope is lost, and she is disguising as a nun, sending messges through Sieg, plotting a one woman counter-coup. A freaking tank is attacking, and she's raising her sword against it, just like that. Julia is cool, man. And she is loyal. And she gives Cassius a mean 1v1 spar in a cutscene.

But mean, I don't actually care about her that much. I'm a broken record at this point, but it's another one dimensional character, no motivations beside the obvious stuff, etc. She exists because we need good, competent people in the military, and Cassius is too competent, Cid is not cool enough and Mogran is too morally complex to do that all the time.

I feel like I'm probably devlivering unfair rankings to some characters because Trails 3 will improve them. I mean, all Julia needs is one flashback or two showing what made her decide to be cool like that and she could get a lot more endearing. But alas, I'm not ranking people based on Trails 3 for now. Better luck next list, Julia.

#29 Hans

I've already explained Hans role in Jill's write-up. He serves to be Josh's friend during school, since girls are busy hanging out with one another. The friendship is not really shown with a lot of dialogue, but he's always there, hanging out. And when Josh leaves Hans is upset. I'm not sure how much of that is homo ship tease or if it's actual friendship, but the point is, Hans is a bro. He's a good ffiend, who went out of his way to help Josh feel welcome in an environment he's never gotten to experience before.

He's a pretty minor character, tbh. But I appreciate good friends like that.

#28 Luciola

The first Enforcer falls. Luciola is higher than her characterization would normally allow, compared to other characters in this list, because she is really cool, in a villanious way. Especially in chapter 4, where she has one of the best leads up to and introductions in the series. The woman has style, and there's a reason her enforcer introduction shot was the one I screencapped to post here. Her second fight is also pretty interesting, with her really using her illusions effectively, by switching places with the PCs.

But I find her hard to vibe with. I'm still not sure what the game was trying to tell me with her, it kind of kept going back and forth with her motivations. Is she a psychopath? Or just someone whose love wasn't corresponded? Did she really love the ringleader, or not? Why is she helping Orobouros now? Heck, even her suicide is ambiguous. I think Luciola is just meant to be hard to crack, and we'll have to live with that. But that makes me hard to really care that much.

#27 Don

Yes, there's one Sky Bandit I actually like. If Kyle is the Spock and Josette is the McCoy, Don is the Kirk. The balanced one, who really gets people and knows what to say, or when not to say anything. They are all trying to figure Josh out but Don already did. Which is interesting since he looks like the brute one of the team, not the mellow out people's person he is.

Truly a gentle giant. Which makes it tragic, in hindsight, when you remember what Weissmann's brainwashing turned him into, and makes me understand why his siblings were so upset. They have relied and trusted this guy for their entire lives, and suddenly he's some monster.

The names in this list are starting to get good, so I don't have much bad to say. He just doesn't have that much character and screentime, I guess. Those went to Josette, who then used them to insult Estelle 100 times.

27- Don
28- Luciola
29- Hans
30- Julia
31- Sieg
32- Cid
33- Mueller
34- Kurt
35- Kyle
36- Josette
37- Aina
38- Queen Alicia
39- Russel
40- Jill
41- Anton
42- Clem
43- Ricky

Unranked:

Agate
Amalthea
Anelace
Bleublanc
Campanella
Cassius
Dorothy
Dunan
Estelle
Gilbert
Joshua
Kevin
Kilika
Kloe
Loewe
Maybelle
Mogran
Nial
Olivier
Renne
Richard
Scherazard
Tita
Walter
Weissmann
Zin