Board 8 > TPLink Plays the Trails Series - Book 3: Fire

(+) Yeah! (+)

ZeldaTPLink posted...

And I'm playing on Hard difficulty. Strongly considering switching to Nightmare next game.

You should. CS2 is even easier than CS1.

Time to go to Garrelia fortress, for the second half of this pretty long field trip

And we meet Claire along the way

The Ironbloods are antagonistds, but I like how Millium is attached to her and Lechter

an interesting thing is how the series plays intelligence agencies. In Liberl, they are the good guys, until they are revealed to be evil. In Crossbell, they are obviously evil, until it's revealed the real antagonist is someone else. But here? Their boss is evil, but one of them is a party member, and the others are fairly affable. Which makes their alignment harder to pin down (and possibly varying from one Ironblood to another)

Also the real villains of the game are clear this time, and they are enemies to the intel div. So for now, the Ironbloods are on our side. How long this will last? Who knows

A high speed train, the Eisengraf, passes through. We see Towa, then Olivier, and then Osborne, who stares at Rean, ominously

of course Erebonia has their own special train with a cool name. Liberal can't be the only one with a special vehicle

I'm sure there will be some sequence later in the series where we have to invade this train and fight hordes of enemies in it. It's inevitable. Hope someone who knows how to suplex trains is in the party by then

The bigger news is Rean having super senses. And Osborne too, apparently.

We meet Group B, and Crow tries to hit on Claire

Sara: "So class, who has been in Zemuria's most powerful military base before?"

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/8/829a525d.jpg

Not pictured: the incredibly adorable face she makes while raising her hand

Actually this scene is confusing, but I'm getting Fie, Elliot and Crow have seen it too

Millium: "It's just trying too hard". Says the girl who walks around showcasing a floating mecha.

Sara says she wants us to understand what a country's army power means. She says it with an anarchical look in her eyes

We are greeted by Instructor Incel (gonna call him that now since his name is hard to spell. Also he doesn't deserve my effort to learn how to spell it)

TIL Erebonia's army food is terrible

Actually Osborne's army serves bad food, while the noble armies serve good one. Allegedly, to keep the formers tougher.

Makes sense. Though In wonder what that does with long term morale. You need a strong effort in patriotism (aka fascism) to keep this working

And Liberl serves good food too. Which didn't stop them from kicking ther empire's ass 12 years ago

Fie points out how the empire is an existential threat to Liberl, and I love that this is being brought up

Machias continues to be a dog of the empire, sadly

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/b/b80e5d7a.jpg

But his newfond ability of introspection seems to be working, at least

Sara gives Rean some lore on Ourobouros, all stuff which we already know

Including the fact half the time, they are just testing tech instead of acting. The reality is that when they actually start to act, it's usually too late to stop them.

I also learn Celine is not with us anymore

And that Emma isn't a person who works well in huge military facilities. She's more about mysterious forests and haunted castles, after all

We run into the guy in charge, and Rean spares me the trouble to describe him

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/0/088759d4.jpg

I love how everyone assumes the party is joining the army once they graduate, but I really have to wonder how many of them will

Theres a containers in the train station nobody knows where it came from. If you see a cat come out of it, get the base on high alert.

So we are going to watch a tank test. This gun be fun

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/1/1e71f4eb.jpg

We meet Elliot'd dad, and Fie is sharp as always

He only has Elliot's hair, which is important because videogame and anime characters are always supposed to have the same hair color as their parents, or at least one parent

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/3/3b00e5f1.jpg

Oh this is funny

how to break expectations

makes sense though. We did hear he used to live a happy life along Elliot and his musician mother. He can't be THAT much of a jerk

An interesting character. Likely an ally in the future, but one that will take character development to reeach that status

This exercise turns out to be an exercise on the Dualshock's rumble features

Sara: "You try to fight those things head on, you don't stand a chance"
That's why you use sept-terrions instead

Rean makes a good point on how being used to war is NOT a good thing

Some perspective: while we spent the afternoon watching tanks destroy each other, the SSS just spent theirs chasing a particularly annoying bard around Crossbell

The kids have a philosophical discussion on why a world where such overwhelming power exists makes the rest pointless

Sure, but Rean points out power only exists to rach a goal someone set it for

Also, things like individual skills and melee combat do matter, because not every conflict is won at a regular battlefield, as our previous RPG parties have shown

We get a scene where some engineers have a debate on Right to Disconnect, and how they are in the process of losing it

Next day, we learn of the situation in Crossbell, and how Erebonia's intel divs has a "trusted ally" there

Aka the Orlandos

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/c/ce4f7dc4.jpg

There's our moral grayness. Everyone's favorite mercenary group is about to commit some horrible murders, and someone in our own party knows about it

Fie has figured it out

We get some background on our soon to be killed second in command villain, Gideon. Who used to be a teacher fighting against fascism

I continue to have a hard time rooting against the ILF, tbh

I wonder how many times Mueller can be mentioned in this arc without actually appearing

We then hear the climax in Crossbell has started.

Also that the terrorists "somehow" hacked the city's defenses. This somehow being a certain enforcer with a very low number

Just as we are discussing that, someone steals some friggin tanks

Those engineers should have just used their right to disconnect, tbh

Sara: "the society may be involved"
When is the society NOT involved

We know from the In Medias Res prologue that the terrorists are going to steal the railway gun. This is obviously a distraction.

Now where does the society profit here, I wonder. I know the Crossbell side of their plan consisted in helping the terrorists invade, in order to give the Crois an excuse to use their sept-terrion and seize power. But that is not necessarily connected to whatever the ILF is doing here in Garrelia. I guess we'll see

Dad Craig has already realized this is a diversion, so the PCs are staying in the base
Too late. The ILF doesn't waste time

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/2/2e947b26.jpg

ngl, S is pretty cute

And finally, we arrive at the In Medias Res scene. Which this time is not at the final boss, but in the second to last chapter

The timing aint bad though. We had almost 6 chapters to develop all the main 9 party members and make them solve their differences. They are a real party now. And they all have s-crafts, too.

Sara joins the party! The average party member quality has just doubled, give or take.

And Major Incel joins the other party. Who cares

So... I closed the game and went to Youtube watch the prologue again, because there was something bothering me. And there, I found it

WHERE ARE CROW AND MILLIUM?

They... did not appear in the original scene

Which means... there are time manipulation shenanigans in play. AGAIN.

Is this KeA's doing, somehow? Or is there a different way to mess with the timeline?

Either way, paying A LOT of attention to those two now

I can't believe these writers have the gall to pull the same play on me again, as if they didn't think I'd notice it. I did, and now I'm excited for what's about to happen

I love how Sara's s-craft is literally a Purple Lightning

We run into an exploding airship, and only survive because Lammy is protecting us. I wonder if the party dies here in the original timeline

But I recall fighting a boss in the prologue, and we haven't done that yet

We fight the boss. Then we fail to stop the railguns from firing...

except the first shot is always blank, and the next one will take a bit more charging

at least that's what Millium tells us. I'm suspicious. Because this is Millium, who knows things, and is not in the original timeline.

Sara's s-craft gives me an achievement for killing 8 enemies in one hit. Sweet.

I miss when chest enemies used to be hard

We reach the railway guns, and Gaius reminds us that, as sympathetic as the ILF's cause may be, they are still employing full scale genocide to achieve it

S appears in front of us. I thought it would be V, since he's more boring. But nope, we are fighting S first

Gideon is confirmed killed. RIP. You were a generic villain, but I liked your tenacity.

Scarlet is a cool name

Sorry Scarlet, but you aren't stopping one if the greatest videogames ever (Azure) from finishing. We will stop you first.

This battle wasn't a cakewalk, but Nosferatu was harder tbh

Yes Scarlet, I'm afraid Gideon died for nothing

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/5/5bb5a0c2.jpg

Or... was it

The twist.

Finally, the leader shows up

Or talks to us, at least

The bad guys we defeated all kill themselves, so no intel today

Chapter 5: "Our defeat will only take us closer to victory!": beaten

Again, I'm only through CS2 so far so I could be incredibly wrong, but I get the impression that Crow and Millium being absent from the In Medias Res segment is due more to Cold Steel paying much less attention to detail than prior sagas than it's due to more time travel shenanigans.

I actually really like Cold Steel's political setup.
You're on the side of the Ironbloods most of the time, because you're working against someone who is a threat to both regular people and Osborne's regime. Also, the Ironbloods all tend to be pretty likeable and nice.

Then on the other hand, the terrorist group you're working together with them against actually has a point and the player knows it, because they already know Osborne is actually a huge dick.

But then on the OTHER hand, when you think about Osborne's broad strokes goals, it actually probably sounds good to most modern people. Breaking down classism and giving more voice to the common people isn't a bad thing, and would go a long way to improving the situation in Erebonia. It's just the person in charge of this revolution is evil and uses all kinds of terrible methods to get to it.

It's quite an interesting setup where you feel like you're both simultaneously doing the right thing in the moment, but also playing into the hands of one side or the other pretty regularly. And this causes you to even doubt if doing the right thing in the moment is possibly not the right thing at all because it could further the agenda of one of the evil chess masters behind the scenes, and you're not even really sure which one at any given time.

Fact check: Osborne's military expeditions on foreign soil have been for the purpose of humanitarian assistance in times of crisis--often at the request of external representatives. As has been continuously reported by the Imperial Chronicle these ventures have been largely approved and celebrated by the people. There is nothing "evil" about this.

pyresword posted...

Fact check: Osborne's military expeditions on foreign soil have been for the purpose of humanitarian assistance in times of crisis--often at the request of external representatives. As has been continuously reported by the Imperial Chronicle these ventures have been largely approved and celebrated by the people. There is nothing "evil" about this.

We've always been at war with Calvard

It's a new month, and Zemurian politics is going to shit. The ILF is scaring everyone, Civil War is right around the corner, and Dieter Crois is starting to move the pieces in Crossbell.

Meanwhile, at Thors

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MUELLER SIGHT! MUELLER SIGHT!

The Council of Relevant NPCs gathers.

Olivier, Jusis's bro, Alisa's mom, Machias's dad, and the Principal, who is clearly the least important person in this room

I don't get used to Olivier's VA. It's not bad, but he used to sound so much goofier in my head

Even though it makes sense in-character for him not to sound goody, since he's playing his other, non-bardic self right now

The talk is about how competent Towa is, mostly

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/9/90a4a327.jpg

Nobles are doing worse at classes, and our resident reformist takes the chance to use it as a political point

If he wasn't siding with Zemuria's resident fascist, I'd be so with him

Heck, I guess I am. It remains to be proven if Regnitz is even a bad person

They conrrectly conclude their grades are worse because only them get to take vacations. I hate it that Olivier's conclusion is that nobody should get vacations, though. Noooooo Olivier, you were the chosen one!

Rufus and Regnitz are arguing, and Olivier manages to break it with some self-deprecating irony

Irina's position in the debate is not caring about the debate. If she has a political position, she ain't showing it

She is much more interested in controlling her daughter and her classmates

Specifically, stopping her heiress from going on adventures

Rufus and Regnitz are about to agree, and Olivier saves the day

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/3/31135f4f.jpg

He basically argues that they shouldn't be protecting Class VII, it's Class VII that is protecting the world

I suppose it makes sense from a persepctive of knowing those are videogame characters, but I can't disagree sending those kids in missions to fight terrorists is still dangerous af. Well, I'll take the missions.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/1/1fcda189.jpg

You know someone is a shitty mom when she belittles her own daughter in front of her peers

They vote, but we don't get to see the votes

And now, time to start planning the school festival.

Crow and Millium have uniforms now

They are more worried about the board meeting, though

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/8/8bc208a6.jpg

Emma who caaaaaaaares, let's go fight monsters!

Olivier's speech did it. The board voted unanimously to send us on another adventure

We talk to the board members. Irina is a jerk but she is sharp

Jusis and Rufus's relationship is kinda weird though

It's interesting how Millium gets politics when she wants to. She just usually doesn't

Mueller greets the kids and they start geeking out about swords. Typical

I like the class getting to know Olivier/Mueller dynamics

So the goal of the next free day is to prep for the festival, basically

Millium has joined the cooking club. Aidios have mercy of us all.

I have an interesting talk with Patrick. He's feeling doubt about the fact his family is probably about to start an insurrection. Love the character growth

A lots of characters are thanking us for stopping what would have been genocide at the Trade Conference

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"I'd like to join your harem"

yeah I knew she was going to thank us for the last chapter, though

little girl almost turned to ashes

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/6/6d8388d4.jpg
...
The absolute player

How the entire school isn't shipping those two already, I don't know. I am shipping them already

Towa feels guilty Rean is carrying most of the bags. Don't worry Towa, if you saw the amount of strength boosting quartz I'm carrying you'd know I'm fine

Towa is insanely embarassed about the stuff her group did last festival and I'm loving it

Chapter 6: "The mystery of Towa's concert": begins!

Reading the newspaper

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/c/c8bc6a72.jpg

Wow ok. In Crossbell, it's a huge historical event that got the entire NPC cast talking for the rest of Azure. In Erebonia, nobody knows because the state press doesn't even let people learn there was such a proposition

Where are Nial and Dorothy when we need them. Or Grace, for that matter.

One of the underrated character arcs in this game is the girl with the weird accent and her boring friend trying to become food stall vendors. Now they are deciding whether to sell crepes or yakisoba. I'm rooting for them.

Bonding time with Sara. Some hinting of a sad backstory, but nothing concrete since this scene is optional

I do a bonding time with Fie about delivering flowers to people, and it's cuteness overload

I'm looking online at the list of fish so I can complete the list, and I realize every fish in the game is catchable in Trista. Nice QoL, since places outside of Trista are not available after you leave them

next quest is a fight against Angie, who turns out to be a hand to hand fighter. it's not that hard but its fun

ofc she is a taito fighter. Conservation of detail demands every hand to hand fighter is taito

Angelica is a pretty good chatracter when she is not being used for lesbian jokes

oh she wanted to fight to test if she could still protect her friends. Sweet

Bonding time with Laura, and it's pretty cute too. We learn she is practicing cooking, and Rean and Laura have a picnic

Next is Emma. I gravitate towards doing bonding events with the people who seem to be hiding things, besides Fie

It's also sweet. Emma really wants to reveal she is a witch but she can't, so she attempts to do a magic trick to get a bit closer to Rean instead. He realizes what is going on and says "don't worry, Millium is more mysterious than you"

Rean is pretty good with people, tbh. I don't like it often because he kind of feels like a Mary Sue, being good at everything, but sometimes he gives out nice moments like this which I dig

Now lets go do this moderately sized dungeon after spending half an hour equipping 6 characters I'm only using in it. The Trails experience.

Well it is the final floor, so I guess it was worth it. We will see

The enemies are tougher than usual, but the boss is pretty easy tbh. Not having extreme physical defense helps

Also only two enemies and close to each other, so I abuse the hell out of AoE s-crafts

The kids complain nothing happened. Uh oh.

On the way out, Celine shows up. The cat disagrees about the nothingness of the plot.

But she just quits. Meh.

I do a hidden quest to help Patrick investigate his butler, which is pretty cute. I keep liking patrick more and more

Turns out he is a fundamentally good person, but who was raised in a culture of social division. But the right life experiences can make a guy like this revert to who he originally was, I suppose

Bonding time with Crow, and it's playing blade with him for... reasons. Whatever, I like blade

TIme to talk to Towa. There is a cute scene where he founds her sleeping and covers her with his jacket, which then turns insivible when she gives the jacket back to him

Towa introduces Rean to the concept of video. I mean, Orbal Video.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/0/07529876.jpg

So the kids made a rock band. Got it.

Angie and Crow being in a rock band makes total sense, tbh

I do think it's interesting how Zemurian rock music skipped all those decades of classical rock and moved right into anime music

So this is it. Class 7 is also forming a band.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/8/8b53dae4.jpg

Oh yes, I can't wait for Machias and Jusis having band conflict.

We watch a flashback of the kids brainstorming their festival attraction, and shutting down Crow's stupid ideas

We get Vita Clotilde singing Joshua's hamonica song on radio. Didnt expect it. She has good taste.

Practical exam is a fight against Sara. I absolutely wipe the floor with her, though. She is powerless to stop a max boost s-craft from Laura, which takes about 2/3 of her HP.

The game wanted me not to get to low hp, which sounded like a harsh requirement. I won without taking damage at all, thanks to turn 1 Adamantine Shield

Sara's feat storywise is impressive, though. Fighting 4 groups in a row.

And shes still up. So its not like we BEAT her, just proved ourselves to her

For once, group B is being sent somewhere shit is actually happening. Not that group A's place isn't interesting either, though

Ordis is the noble faction's HQ, basically

Sara: "You guys are proven badasses at this point, that's why I'm sending you to those tricky places"

Trip day. Elliot and Crow stayed all night working on the rock band. I like how Elliot ended up getting to be the hero of this festival. He deserves it

I love Towa so much.

Nothing else to add, just that is all.

Towa might legit have the best chemistry with Rean out of all of his options.

I think Towa is really boring but I know I'm the minority opinion there.

I think Towa is top 3 option for Rean.

NBIceman posted...

I think Towa is really boring but I know I'm the minority opinion there.

I haven't been particularly impressed by Towa either.

But Rean's harem is very difficult thing to like to begin with, and Towa at least works decently in it, so she gets pushed above I suppose.

Do the other girls all beat Towa as individual characters? Absolutely. But they all get worse when it's their turn to have bonding time with Rean. At least the ones that get shipped with him.

Next, the usual quartz equipping session, and this game needs to end soon because this is getting a bit too complicated. Not just the amount of quartz to equip, but she sheer amount of possibilities from all the rare quartz I have obtained

enemies will have to be play really unfair to overcome the insane amount of hax I'm bringing to the incoming battles, though

apparently we are going to the next field study by airship. A huge airship

A red Arseille, basically

And the one who owns it is...

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/1/125211ff.jpg

Everyone's favorite nuisance

I'm getting used to his VA tbh

And Laura's dad is the captain, cuz why not

Along with Toval

We are really forming a Good Guys' Faction here

Mueller being the only character in this scene without a VA is weird, though. Cheap devs.

The ship's name is The Courageous. Flashy, aren't we

I'm assuming this will be our main base/means of transport later on when we have to travel around the continent to fight ourobouros people

We see the emperor and his family. The emperor seems like both a wuss, and a nice guy tbh

We also see Osborne, who is probably the one person Olivier wanted to show this ship the most to

I know this arc will eventually end with Rean defeating him, but I want Olivier in the party, and if it's not possible, I would at least like Olivier to be watching from some point, going "all according to series long keikaku"

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/e/e772b752.jpg

Lechter provides some exposition

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And Osborne reminds us he is possibly the biggest schemer in Zemuria, give or take

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Yep. That's Olivier's grand entrance into the chess board of Erebonia

The name of the ship is meaningful too, now that I think of it. Because its main rival is The Glorious. So you bring a similarly but more defiantly named ship, the Courageous.

Rean talks to Laura and her father, and there is the usual implication that Rean likes Laura. The same implication the game gives regarding every young woman in the cast. Uuuuuuugh

theres some implication Laura's mom isn't quite in charge of Reinford company at all

We learn Erebonia's bracers basically rely on constant Arios support

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/8/84d73dfb.jpg

I mean you are one already, dude

We skip straight to Reinford's HQ, whose entrance is a long tunnel. Gotta compete with ZCF, I suppose

And they also gotta have escalators

We meet Irina. Who lets us know while she is a good businesswoman, she is not great with people. At least not with people beneath her.
She hands us the sidequests and tells us to GTFO, and doesn't even greet her own daughter

After months of keeping watch, just found CS 2 on steam sale. Bought.

Yes, I like this game enough to want to play the rest.

ZeldaTPLink posted...

theres some implication Laura's mom isn't quite in charge of Reinford company at all

now that would be a twist

I'm pretty sure I've swapped Laura and Alisa half a dozen times already, but I usually catch it before I post.

I dunno Alisa just looks like a Laura to me. I guess the "L" reminds me of Yellow.

Yeah I generally agree the bonding events and that whole system are kinda not great in these games. (Which is a pretty common opinion I think...)

Cold Steel gameplay is very easy to break in general. I actually like the gameplay (moreso in 3 onwards) but it's definitely from the angle of "what broken shit can we do this time" and not any actual challenge

Bonding scenes aren't half bad. The story trying to make me believe Rean is in love with 5 people at once is, in both bonding scenes and outside of them.

I don't know, maybe some people do that, but it feel alien to me.

I guess I don't inherently have a problem with the bonding scenes, but if more of them were good I might be more positive on them. The only ones I ever really remember liking enough to take note of were Fie in CS1 and Emma in one of the later games.

A lot of them are in like "fine" territory, at least.

ZeldaTPLink posted...

After months of keeping watch, just found CS 2 on steam sale. Bought.

Yes, I like this game enough to want to play the rest.

When I was playing Zero/Azure for the first time the entire Cold Steel series was on sale on PSN so I ended up buying all of it (or maybe it was half of them and then the other half a few weeks later, I don't remember for sure) despite being entire giant Trails games away from even thinking about starting them. Ended up okay with it, I didn't like the CS games as much as the Crossbell ones but they're still pretty good.

I didn't like the [____] games as much as the Crossbell ones

I mean to be fair--at least with me--you could put basically anything in the blank space and it's still true >.>

Yeah now that you mention it that does kind of check out for me too

the bonding scenes themselves are fine. the problem is the limitation on seeing all of the scenes in a single playthrough which hides what should be important individual character development from some players, so the scenes themselves get nerfed. the ensemble cast barely gets to breathe in the main story, and in half the times you'd get to see them as individual characters, they're still suffocated. Ultimately, their biggest impact is often as emphasis that Cold Steel is not about the party; it's the Rean show.

Yeah that's the thing. Cold Steel (at least 1) is pretty good!

It just doesn't compare to previous games, but that's a god tier sequence of JRPGs we are talking about.

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"Its name" in what language? North Erebonian?

Is it different from the language we speak in Trista, Crossbell and Liberl?

We are doing a quest for one Prof Schmidt, who is apparently one of Russel's fellow disciples of Epstein

There are 3 of them, and I'm guessing the last one is in Verne

And then we have the 13 Factories which just have better tech than all of them, for no particular reason

there are 3 areas to fight monsters around Roer. One of them has no quests, so I go there first. It seems empty, but most of the area is being kept off-limits by the Provincial Army. Suspicious

This entire chapter is an endless sequence of Unscathed bonuses. Seriously. Fights have never been easier.

The pandora master quartz is absolutely insane

1.5x bonus to all spells is ridiculous. Sure EP cost also raises by 1.5, but give the character a quartz that recharges EP while walking and you have the ultimate mob cleaner

Criminal isn't much behind. The crits are less reliable, but it doesn't cost EP so it's another very consistent mob cleaner

the area that leads to the mine is obviously the main one, with the mine itself being huge. It's a key point in the empire, being managed by House Arnor. I guess whoever controls the mine, controls Erebonia

Music is pretty good too

I enter the mine dungeon, where everything dies on Turn 1. Including the boss. Crow's s-craft deals 30k damage against it

I don't remember things dealing 30k damage on Sky 3rd, where characters were lv 150 at the end of the game

It's not even that there are too many "ways to break the game". Even the basic stuff are autowin buttons. Morale + S-craft isn't rocket science. The difficulty curve is broken at a fundamental level.

Now, the first half of the game was fine. Challenging sometimes, even. But around chapter 5, it just broke.

We finish the quests and return to the city. And then...

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CIVIL WAR

The provincial army brings tanks into the city. The populace is terrified. For good reason.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/e/eb5feb4e.jpg

Somewhere, Sara is shedding a tear. A bracer he has become

The RMP is losing, so Claire arrives. As a member of the Ironbloods, she specializes in the art of winning.

But the nobles' side also has somebody who seems quite adept at winning: Rufus, who arrives and engages in debate with Claire

Rufus verbally owns Claire, then makes the privincial army retreat. Man, the guy is good

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/7/7e3bd436.jpg

This game's shipping is annoying, but I can't complain about a quality tease

Ofc Irina invited us for dinner and didn't show up

Fie: "You'll get fat". lol

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/c/c4c49d7a.jpg

Sharon is also great at teasing

Oh hey I can play blade with Alisa and Fie! Nice

Rean tries to extract information fron Sharon, but she is too professional for that.

We learn something insteresting about Alisa. She doesn't just hate her mom. She also feels bad for her, for being so lonely. Alisa is a good girl.

The scene wants me to think Rean is being sweet to Alisa, but all I see is him randomly rubbing her hair without being given permisssion. The scene is very awkward

The two kids make a deal to make some mess with the status quo. Love it.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/2/279aebcb.jpg

Yeeeeeeah shes right Rean

Claire calls me, offering information. Very convenient timing

I have a real respect for Sharon's VA. The way she manages to be both cute, monotone and scary at the same time is really something

Sharon is skilled, but so is Fie. She manages to noticed Rean leave, and starts following him. But Rean is also good and catches her

You can't hide things from a former jaeger, I suppose

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/8/8e046031.jpg

Fie is joining the party, whether I like it or not. I like it.

She wants to have a night stroll first, though. Jaeger thing.

We meet Claire, who is wearing a pretty dress, just so Fie can tease Rean a bunch

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/5/52fefd4b.jpg

Rean goes straight to the important question

The question matters, alright, but you are new to this investigation business, Rean. If you weren't, you'd know Lloyd tried that a dozen times, to no avail. You have to try harder.

I like how Rean isn't just bending over to the plot and accepting that Osborne's faction are good guys, though

Oh yes, Osborne is using the old Trails trick, never be the most evil guy around. The fact someone like him is able to do that is a testament to his skill, though.

She reveals Duke Cayene is the man behind the men... or the C, so to speak

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/1/109d8ece.jpg

Time to talk about Reinford. And the revelation is that the company is so huge, it's basically a country of its own, with multiple factions in it.

So... what is Claire's endgame here? Why does she reveals this stuff to Class VII? Because I have the feeling she wants them to meddle

The phone rings, and it's Alisa making more little tsundere noises

Meanwhile, villains make their moves

Next day, the kids make fun of and/or criticize Rean for going on a "date" with Claire

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/3/3860e398.jpg

Or this

We get an overview of Reinford's political allegiances. The guys in charge of iron and heavy machinery are pro-Noble. The ons who make weapons are Reformist (obviously). Transportation makes are neutral, and the ones making communcation and orbments are in Irina's hands.

I swear to god nobody knows what tsundere means anymore

The local nun complains the two most powerful people in Roer, Marquis Rogner and Irina, never go to church. Silly sister, religion is meant to keep the masses in check. The powerful don't need it since they are the ones who benefit from that system

One thing I've noticed is how the Septian Church is this all powerful political player in Zemuria... but only through the Grailsritter, and maybe a few other groups we haven't seen yet. The local church members may as well be cardboard figures, with how meaningless and disconnected to the plot they are. Talking to Roer priests, they just have no idea or interest in what is going on.

Day 1: Claire calls us to a bar meeting in the middle of the night to reveal that Reinford's divisions are fighting one another
Day 2: Every other NPC comments on how Reinford's divisions are fighting one another

So much for a secret.

There is a rumor there is a 5th division in the group. Which means there is. What does it research, sept-terrions?

We learn Crow is good with cats too. Is that a trend with silver haired characters, or something?

So the area we weren't allowed to explore yesterday was where rufus's airship was landed. Also because the game decided to save one area for Day 2 exploration, for that matter

We return to town to collect our reward, and there's what seems to be a war siren. Okay

The weapons factory was attacked by robots. That's the ILF

The building is on fire, and apparently Roer lacks a fire department, so we are it

We have to kill a pretty strong robot boss, which has attack and defense off the charts, though not much tactical variability so eventually I wear it down with magic

Claire arrives and kicks us out before we get to defeat the remaining robots, though. Since the factory is full of classified info. I suppose Osborne can't let us see where he's keeping the orbal nukes.

Claire tries to tell the kids off for having taken a risk, but Rean tells her to GTFO because lives were at stake

Turns out terrorists have been hiding in the factory for 3 months. It does add up to the idea that C is playing some grand, complicated master plan, instead of a series of tactics

Suddenly, Claire remembers the provincial army is missing

Nobles: "You have activated our trap card."

The terrorists have attacked the mine. They sure love those two-pronged attacks

The kids don't even stop before deciding to go there too. Screw Claire

We go to the mine, and find Claire arguing with the provincial army guy. The ILF took hostages, and the PA has suddenly gained a worry for human life which prompted them to block the entrance and not let anybody in, so hostages don't get risked. of course

Time for protagonsists to interfere again

Fie just smells the conspiracy

Rean and crew are just using the bracer playbook. As in "I dunno about politcs, but there be civilians in there so we have to interfere"

Angelica and George arrive. Backup!

Towa stayed behind to collect information. Which means she will bring the main reveal of the entire game's plot when we need it the most

Oh cool, so turns out the Noble Faction is stealing iron from Erebonia

Now why does the ILF want to help them hide that, I dunno. I get it they are on the Nobles' side, but feels like a dirty job for such ideologues

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/1/1f6ff1c0.jpg

while we were fighting monsters, Towa was helping with the power of Accounting

And they have stolen enough iron to build 2000 tanks. Just enough for a civil war

The kids believe the Nobles don't have the technology to build tanks, only the Reformists do

Well... what if the 13 Factories help, then?

Angelica: "We attack the mines!"
Hell yeah.

The plan is to ask Irina to help us in. Even talking to Irina is hard, though

The talk with Irina is interesting. Alisa attacks her with the fcts, and Irina simply points out how the situation is extremely volatile and that she as a CEO must be careful not to do things that hurt the company

I don't think the kids care about the company, though

She does make a point: everyone in this setting has a purpose. Everyone is a faction making plans and achieving goals. What is Class VII's goal, anyway? If they can't define that, they are at risk of being played by someone with an actual goal

Alisa answers with a purpose. Though her speech is rather generic. I'm guessing "face things head on" is a purpose? I'm guessing they just wanna fight injustice?

Good set up, but the execution kinda turned into generic anime along the way

She does tell her mother she will make her run the company the right way after she graduates, which is bold. And I'm betting that's exactly what irina wanted her to say

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/d/dc2e0358.jpg

Irina just wanted Alisa to be strong. If the later ends up running their empire differently, so be it. If Alisa is strong, the company is in good hands. Not an opinion I necessarily vibe with, but I respect it
And Alisa gets a new s-craft. Nice

Time to enter the chapter's dungeon. And Angie joins the party!

Nice. I needed an extra tank tbh

Angelica's s-craft is meh. But her victory quote is cool. "Sweet dreams, pussycats" lol

Fie: "Judging by the distance we've traveled, i'd say we are about halfway"
Machias: "How can you tell that?"
Simple, we just entered Underground Tunnel 2, and this isn't the main area so there are likely only 2, so it's halfway done

The claimb a stair, and Angelica sets it up so she can look at Alisa's ass. I'm not sure if I laugh or just shake my head

Angelica: "They are not just terrorists, they are inconsiderate too!". Sounds bad.

Pandora just reached lv 5 and the list of bonus is uh... kind of insane. Nuff said

Uh... Angelica is cool but she is kind of bad isn't she

she's Zin but less bulky. Her stats are good but she doesn't really have a niche
Shes not Josette bad though, she's more like Noel bad. Probably gonna shaft her if the chapter boss ends up being any difficult.

I dont know how Alis's s-craft is flashier than Machias's even though he uses guns and she uses a freaking bow, but it's funny

Machias recently unlocked Schera's time manipulation craft, though. And I'm making great use of it

We meet some injured miners, and Crow decides to stay behind to bring them to safety. Fair, but give me my Gladiator's Belt back, thanks

Angelica: "With any luck, the terrorists won't see us coming"
Sorry, but we can't leave without a boss battle.

We get a call from Towa, and Machias reminds everyone of how much of a nerd he is by calling her "President Herschel"

The RMP got persmission from the freaking emperor to enter the mine. About time.

How does Towa manage to be so cute even in this situation, it's a wonder

We meet Vulcan, who we learn is a former jaeger. Him and Fie bond over that.
Even the ILF guy who looks mean is actually quite chill. Hard to feel completely bad about those guys

We learn of Vulcan's, , Scarlet and Gideon's backstories

Damn, this has to be one of my favorite villains groups yet

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/f/f2a9a63b.jpg

Trails reminds us that it still has the thing. The moral complexity that makes its writing so great.

Well, I'm sorry for complaining about lack of difficulty, game. Vulcan is the real deal. he just wiped my party out with the strongest enemy s-craft since the times of Loewe

in the 2nd attempt, I learn Rean's link ability to block attacks can cockblock s-crafts. cool

I win this time, with some quality strategizing. Namely surrounding him with tanks and spamming good old Resounding Beat, arguably the game's best craft

He then goes full jaeger mode. And C arrives to bail him. Or bail us. Not sure here

C is a man of quotes, ngl

He kicks our asses and I'm expecting the scene to progress, but it doesn't. We have to beat him? Seriously?

2nd loss. Also it's late and I have no idea how to win this. Gonna quit for today. Damn

3rd attempt. I bring some tactics I get from reading guides, but don't apply them that well, the boss starts stacking faints on me and I die. Okay

4th attempt. I'm doing pretty well this time. Then he uses his s-craft and... it doesn't wipe me out. But it crashes the game. Which means I'll have to fight Vulcan AGAIN.

Ok I'm done with this game for the day

It's the 2nd time it crashes in this weekend. This is annoying.

ok I decided to try again in the same day. 5th time was the charm

That the main villain of Cold Steel 1 was finished off by a kid playing a violin is funny. "You have been a wonderful audience", indeed

You know the villain isn't done when he says "most impressive" instead of some variation of "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO"

He escapes with flash grenades. Which is a pretty old trick, but C makes it look stylish

The provincial army going "Protect the terrorists!" as Claire tries to stop C from escaping is infuariating, ngl.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/f/fc90bd3f.jpg

Wow, he's making fun of us

Suddenly, the unexpected happens. A gun fires

Osborne: "keikakus under keikakus"

Ok, this is fishy. Did C just play dead? Or is this the Chancellor's doing?

Angelica shuts the army officer, who then tries to argue, but then the best argument against him shows up

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/b/bab192a1.jpg

Olivier: "Sorry but we own this fucking mine"

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/c/c729bd3e.jpg

Meanwhile, Sharon finds the gun that shot the airship

Sharon and Claire

They mention "that workshop", which I'm assuming it's the 13 Factories

Ohhhh Sharon has a second employer

And she can fight

Her alias is "Severing Chains"

Chapter 6: "Yeah never mind I'm sticking to Hard difficulty for now": beaten

Adamantite Shield (Cold Steel's Earth Shield) is great for surviving S-Crafts here. Also, Angelica has a craft with a pretty high faint chance that can land reasonably well on the bosses there IIRC.

You're also far enough for the Machias "oh what a shame we have infinite turns" game break I believe. Alisa should also have that party-wide Insight craft - and while that won't help you with dodging S-Crafts it's basically +50% evade (and Alisa's craft also comes with CP regen)

I read some of that stuff in guides. Personally used the Angelica thing, too. It still only works 45% and only buys a turn but hey, it helps sometimes.

In the end what won the battle for me was a mix of everything. Using multiple boosts (especially Elliot's and Lloyd's), having multiple healers including one with that space art that revives everyone and keeping that guy with enough EP at all times, Rean with a 100% Impede chance, GBelt Alisa giving people CP, Elliot spamming fire arts, speed buffs/debuffs, Fie evasion tank, attacking mines when they appear, using turns to reposition characters, switching them often... this felt like a final test of skill, really.

Machias was the least used character though, except for one time where I needed to get rid of mines quickly and had no cp for crafts.

By "Lloyd" I mean his less interesting protagonist counterpart, Rean. I was typing in a rush.

I think C was the hardest time I had with a boss in the franchise. Either him or the Azure final boss. Not sure if anything else took me more than three tries.

Narration is saying the terrorists died. Yeaaaaaah I don't buy it. Not in the penultimate chapter, and not that way. Maybe some of them, though

Time for the school festival, though

Angelica was taken away by her dad. Please, like if she will stay more than 2 weeks in that place. She will quit the nobility before she quits being herself

A trip to Ymir also randomly starts and finishes. Because.

The class is LOLing at Jusis and Machias singing together. I can relate

the streets are absolutely packed with NPCs and talking to everyone is gonna take a while. Well, let's get down to it

Crow is taking care of the most important festival preparation: setting up an illegal gambling racket

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/e/ed2f1451.jpg

I like your spirit, Female Student!

TIL the vice-principal is Rixia fanboy. I can relate.

I have complete the game's fishing sidequest

My thumb hurts. That's all I have to say

(rewards were nice, though)

I read the newspaper, and it says they have found C's body. Hmmmm

You aren't convincing me. Nobody who says "most impressive" after losing a fight deis off screen from an explosion

Meanwhile, the Red Constellation just attacked Crossbell, so we are approaching the climax of Azure as well

There's an interesting sequence where we learn Patrick's father thinks he is a failure, while Rean, having met the 4 nobles recently, thought he was the most calm and polite of them

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/0/0bafac27.png

The story that ended with Crow's brutal death at the hand of Class VII's girls started with this sentence

Oh thought he was gonna improvise clothes, but I am just going to the capital to grab the default ones myself. Fine.

I'm supposed to pick up someone to ride the bike with me. I wanna pick Towa since I'm shipping her with Rean at this point, but she's not in the list, so I pick Alisa instead

It's mostly Alisa going on about bikes, and getting teased about the clothes she'll have to wear in the show

A Mysterious Blue Bird of Mystery appears

And a Somewhat Less Mysterious Vita Clotilde

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/d/d13f0791.jpg

She knows how to ship

Rean: "Before you see the outfits, you have to promise not to get mad"

Uh oh

Her riding the bike together with Rean is a cute scene, though

In one shot she is blushing, next one she just has her eyes closed

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/3/3fa0534e.jpg

Yeah thats not bad tbh. It's a rock show, after all

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/b/bedd1577.jpg

Thanks, Millium

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/4/4069992e.jpg

the dudes look sharp, too

Millium tries to make fun of the boys for not having unique clothes. The Crow explains it's only the girls who have to look really great. Welp, I suppose he's got a point.

Emma is having a social anxiety overload

Next day, we get a cute montage of the students practicing while Sara watches in approval

So Sara has some backstory with the school nurse

Guessing she was in the army before becoming a bracer. Probably where she met Claire. And maybe Sharon too.

Back to the reserhal. The kids think they are done, but Crow wants them to prepare a surprise and an encore

I feel bad for them, but he is right. Rock shows have to be exciting

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/2/2ad7e514.jpg

I love Crow. The whole cartoon tune as the screen approaches him is great

At night, Rean turns on the radio, and we learn what Misty's show was

It's her announcing Crossbell declaring independence. Ok.

That's not a show, that's breaking news

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/0/05aecd94.jpg

Cool name. Fitting for a school based game

Someone taker that mic away from Towa before she just drowns the campus in cuteness

festival time. we get a redux of that sequence from Azure where you take random characters to Mishyland. And I suppose it will take hours and hours of youtubing to see all the content if you want to. Which I do not.

So the Ymir thing was actually planned to be another chapter in the game that ended up getting cut for time. They released it later as a Drama CD, and the events of it are canon and get referenced quite a bit in CS2 so I do recommend watching it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1Pnx_97rLI

Doesn't have to be now, though. Doesn't affect the rest of CS1.

There is a similar thing in CS2 (though I think it wasn't cut and instead they just did it as an extra) where it also gets referenced in CS3+4, as well, though obviously not gonna link that yet.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/3/3e715e99.jpg

Every star in the sky is an NPC you can talk to

TIme for festivals. First I go to the horse minigame, and take Fie. Her dialogue does not disappoint. The minigame does, though. Been ages since I last used a horse in this game and I pretty much forgot the controls. I do terribly. meh

Next, the Blade tournament. I bring Laura. it seems like her thing

I defeat her, then have to defeat the Blademaster: Sharon. lol

I win. All that training in train trips has paid off

Time passes, and all dialogue lines have been renewed. Omg

Next, I take Towa to the star garden or whatever it's called. It's a cute scene

Next is whack-a-mishy. I bring Alisa. This isn't very romantic, though. Also that's another minigame I suck at

Next, it's the Eastern attraction, and I invite Elliot. It's mostly about music. Like always.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/3/32a9713f.jpg

The game intro screen keeps getting better

We learn Makarov's sister is as much of a goof as his niece. lol

I have one final ticket, and of course it's the Blade one. I bring Sara. The only character I haven't played Blade against yet

Turns out I don't get to play her at all because she's too much of a noob. Meh.

Though I do get a Round 2 against Sharon.

I love how boss music plays when you play blade with her

She wrecks me this time

Then Sara decides to make this entertaining and challenges Sharon herself

Sharon wins again though. Off-screen

Well, this was weird but fun

As the day ends and the class gathers, Rean hears a voice. "The time has come". Then we see a shot of the clock at the Old Schoolhouse moving and the Mystery Blue Bird watching. Ominous.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/a/a6a81951.jpg

The kids speculate on Crossbell politics. Gaius gets it

It's kind of weird that the most relevant political events happening in this game are the ones from a game I've already played, tbh. For now, at least.

the kids are worried their important family members won't show up because the situation in Crossbell is dire. Well, the thing is Erebonia is a propaganda run state, so they will show up to tell the populace everything is fine

Aaaand the old schoolhouse is officialy haunted

The adults want to cancel the festival. The kids are bummed.

Rean makes a speech about friendship and the importance of not cancelling rock shows, and I'm cringing because it's a fucking rock show. Come on dude, you just fought demons in the other castle a few months ago, you sound really childish rn.

Well, let's go risk our lives investigating a haunted dungeon to make sure the show goes on.

I'm in, but this plot is stupid lol. What is this, Brutal Legend?

We get a sequence where Rean gets to show he is the Chosen One and open the barrier

We go down, and there is what looks like a black hole, calling us in

Rean's chest starts hurting, and then Emma all but reveals she knows stuff

But Rean cuts that subject with another friendship speech. Meh.

This worked better in Zero/Azure because at least people were ready to point out how cringe Lloyd was being, before admitting he had a point. Here they just jump straight to following Rean

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/d/d9c4e3f2.jpg

Final dungeon: begins

I get to pick 7 characters out of the 11 class members. Pretty generous

Rean and Emma are mandatory, though

Fie and Laura are the best tanks, and I don't like Millium or Gaius much. So they first two are in. For mages, I'm taking Elliot and Alisa. Can't have too many. Jusis is fine, but his crafts are kind of meh. Finally, there's a spot for a shooter. Machias is ok, but I love Crow.

After about an hour, I finish equipping all 7 master quartz, 56 regular quartz and 14 acessories. Phew
Not gonna post pictures, but basically, Fie be evading, Rean and Laura be tanking, those 3 plus Crow kill everything, status gets spammed. The 3 mages all have bells, with Elliot and Emma getting Criminal/Pandora for maxomum damage, while Alisa has Angel, and all they have the most powerful spells sepith can buy. All melees have Attack 3, all tanks have Evade 2, all mages get Mind 3, everyone has Action 3 or better. Now let's get this show on the road

Celine is apparently coming along, too

Rean: "I always get this feeling Emma can actually understand Celine"
Big if true

This whole dungeon is an exercise in how many Unschated bonuses I can can collect in a short amount of time. Easiest final dungeon in Trails so far.

You haven't known true fear before you see Emma cast 4 consecutive times. MQ + Bell combos are OP, and Zero Arts on top of it is just delicious.

I finally arrive at the end, where it's time to fight Voice-kun, the final boss of this game... or is it?

(it's not. Having to check the list of quests to avoid missing them means I know there's more stuff after this)

Rean can hear the voices, but the news is that so can Crow

We find ourselves at what looks like a battlefield after a war

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/8/8b7502ab.jpg

Well that looks like a Trails final boss, at least

And there is a choir in the background, which is very final-bossy

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/5/588951e6.jpg

I'll never get over just how cool Fie is

The boss starts to wreck me and I restart so I equip some nightmare immunity items

Round 2: I'm mostly doing well, but suddenly he puts some status on me and my team falls quickly.

Unfortunately I only have immunity for 4 characters so I need to keep those around

Third time is the charm. This boss is basically a hardcore version of Nosferatu. But the thing about those two bosses is that they are more tricky that buff (unlike C). Once you learn their rythm, you learn how to play along it. How to release captured characters, when to kill minions, when you need more defense, and how to rely on your main 4 characters who have nightmare immunity items instead of switching around all the time (the strategy that worked against C)

Apparently we have passed the test, so Rean gains the words "Valimar" on flashy lights. Ok.

We are back, and everyone is happy. Except Sara announces the rock show is still cancelled. Ouch.

Nah, Sara is just trolling us. Have I mentioned I love Sara?

The door suddenly opens again, and a giant mecha is behind. Okay....

I gain a steam achievemt and a Medal of Dawn for reaching the highest AP rank. Thanks, Trails Wiki!
I also get the chapter grade. Since this was the final chapter, I guess now it's the epilogue?

But you gotta learn how to fear Trails epilogues.

Family members are visiting, so the characters who have prominent relatives go see them, and the ones who don't go enjoy the festival by themselves

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/4/4a171b67.jpg

Except... Rean and Emma

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/3/30ae0a81.jpg

Time for answers?

But Rean decides to be a good guy and leave her alone. No! Bad Rean! I wanna learn things!

She promises to reveal everything after the festival. I'm getting some serious Joshua vibes here

As silly as Rean/Class VII's motivations for the final dungeon are - I still love the dungeon and boss themes here so much. Also love the animations and battlefield of Loa Erebonius.

The dungeon is meh, though I love the music. The boss is good stuff, though.

So it seems while we weren't looking, the girl from the literature club started a cult. And they are now trying to recruit that delinquent girl from Machias's neighboorhood

Toval and Micht meeting and talking about the events mentioned in Carnelia is the interaction I didn't know I needed

Micht: "I may have exaggerated the part where I died". No shit.

The two and Sara start talking, and from the context I assume it's about Arios

Machias's dad and Jusis's brother being friendly to each other and embarassing the two kids is another interaction I didn't know I needed

It's interesting that this even works since they are from enemy factions. But I suppose that's how politics works. You can be someone's enemy but not take it personally

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/6/6d727387.jpg

Few characters are as good at giving me mixed feelings than Elliot's dad.

If you feel so bad about having denied him his dream, then... why did you deny it in the first place?

One thing I've noticed while characters talk about Angelica is that this game is more on the nose about her being a lesbian than previous games were. They don't use the word "lesbian", but they actually mention her dating other girls, while previous games would imply their lesbians were into girls but not leave it clear if it was serious or a joke.

Progress, I suppose.

We talk to George and Crow and learn some things about the robot. The key one being that it's not an artifact, but something from the dark/middle ages.

We meet Rean's sister, who is too sweet

I mean it. She's so sweet it feels forced.

Jusis and Machias give me more entertainment, this time as they are both rekt by their relatives at Blade

This is one long cutscene. Entertaining, but long. I thought I was beating this game today.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/f/f7aacccc.jpg

Well Rean would mind, but I can't say I would

And... time for the most hyped concert in the history of gaming

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/2/2f74e21b.jpg

Angelica made it too. Though seeing her in a dress is probably extremely rare. I'm assuming she convinced her family to come too, so she is here as an actual noble.

Actually turns out she came here to see candidates for arranged marriage. Ew. I'm guessing she will just be terrible to all of them.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/0/014202ad.jpg

Angelica: "All according to keikaku"

She then starts sexually assaulting Class 7's girls. Godfanmit, Falcom.

Ok her saying she is done then moving on to hugging Millium and Fie next is funny. Creepy, but funny.

Damn how many hours of videogaming are dedicated to watching characters hype up this concert? I hope it doesn't get offscreened, at least

The sequence is pretty cool. We don't get to hear the songs in full, but there is some good NPC cinematics, which looks a bit goofy, but makes me feel good for the characters.

And then...

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/c/cc65c19a.jpg

How to make an entrance

And then... they sing the song from the ending of Sky SC. I didn't expect it. And it feels awesome

Only Trails knows how deliver that kind of good feeling

definitely worth the hype

We win the class competition, in good protagonist fashion

Next, Elliot gets to be likable by saying how much he enjoyed making music with other people. Man, I really hole he gets to pursue his dream at some point

And an even sweeter scene where Crow gives Rean his coin back

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/6/68deb5c7.jpg

Capitalism, ho.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/3/3f09918d.jpg

Classic

I love how Alfin is just a mini-Olivier

TIme for Rean to ask someone out. I'm thinking of either Alisa or Towa. But the game does THIS to me:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/1/1ab35d39.jpg

godamn friendship points or whatever it's called which I didn't collect enough of

Well Fie is my favorite of the 3 by a mile, but that pair is creepy.

Laura is close to Rean, but being close on swordsman shit isn't exactly romantic is it

Emma has grown on me this chapter. I'm taking her, then

The two do look good together, ngl. Though Alisa must be making voodoo dolls of Emma rn

The two then have a talk about Emma's secrets, without revealing anything since this scene is not necessarily canon

Aaaaaand I just won a steam achivement for over 100h of gameplay. This game refuses to end OMG

Claire is talking to Rean and being nice to him, when her phone rings

Time for a proper climax

The princes and Elise are leaving ASAP. Stuff is serious

(I know what "stuff" is. I played Trails to Azure)

Not just the princes, but everyone important leaves at the same time. Playtime is over.

Vandick arrives, to declare party over, and release the news

That Crossbell has obtained a sept-terrion and proceeded to use it to disintegrate Garrelia Fortress

We get a one week timeskip

School is in session, but Sara is gone. Probably too busy with the main plot now

Millium is also gone. Which makes sense, the empire needs its agents now

Crow too, for reasons.

We get another shot at talking to everyone, and I'm done for the day

rip Towa ending for this game

Towa's is my favorite of the scenes at the after party not just because I <3 Towa but also because it has this line in it. Happens after he headpats her and she is like "hey it's kind of weird to start rubbing my head out of nowhere" and Rean says "Sorry I did it to my sister all the time and it became a bad habit"

https://i.imgur.com/8SZncge.png

towa knows what's up

Sara's drops some background info that you'll eventually get in CS2 Main Story a bit early.

History teacher mentions sept-terrions. He also manages to figure out the events in Liberl and the ones happening right now are related. But he still misses the connection.

Anabelle and the fishman guy becoming friends after learning his brother (Lakelord from Azure) is going to marry her is cool. I love all those fisherman characters.

After some looking around, I find Millium, checking robot-kun. I figure she likes robots, after all
So the chancellor has been watching the old schoolhouse. Probably knowing about the mecha.

Well, half the mission complete. Now we go to Trista, to look for Crow

We fail to find Crow, but then we randomly bump into Patrick, who mentions he went to Heimdarl. Hmmmm

Game is giving me a lot of save points lately huh.

Time to hear Osborne's speech. With reporting from Misty, ofc

Emma knows her. Somehow, I think it's not as Vita Clotilde, though.

I mean, if this was anyone else, I'd think it's just someone with good memory recognizing Vita's voice. But this is Emma, the one who knows things.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/2/237e1c69.jpg

Cool story bro, but do you hsave a sept-terrion too? Cuz you might need it

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/0/02a445a9.jpg

... what

Ok, honesty time. I have known Crow was the ILF leader before I even bought this game, because of spoilers I catch from time to time. I have a policy not to mention spoilers I know in playthroughs though, because people here seem to hate it when I do that. But now I don't feel like pretending I'm surprised.

Though I really am enjoying this plot.

Millium is sharp, though. Damn

Millum then goes on about her mission, and the thing I'm most impressed is that Crow managed to outwit the entirety of the Ironbloods. You know, that organization dedicated to the concept of winning.

We start going on about past events, and figure out Crow is just Zemuria's greatest illusionist

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/4/428169dd.jpg

oh, so he was the one who shot his own ship. And he's a skilled sniper. Cool

Crow fires, and the main villain of Cold Steel is dead. Yay!

Well yeah I know he's not, but I have no idea how he survives this

Good move, Armburst. Heh. I'm guessing Osborne was thinking about it, but he didn't have proof yet. He needs to improve his totalitarian game. A true dictator arrests and tortures first, and proves later

Claire catches him, but it's too late

He's from Jurai. A place that has been annexed by Osborne recently. ofc

Then Misty is announcing what's happen, when suddenly her voice changes and turns more ominous

Ok so Vita is a witch too.

And Blue Bird is her familiar

A noble battleship arrives, and releases a bunch of mechas

I can smell Novartis's work here. The society is on the move

The reformists were always the clear favorites in the incoming civil war, so the nobles got reinforced with giant mechas. Now the war will likely get even bloodier

So the rumored 5th Reinford division existed after all (ofc), and it is siding with the nobles

Crow has a mecha too, and his flies

The mechas are called soldats, and they are being piloted by former Zephyr members

Crossbell has the Red Constelation and the Noble Alliance has Zephyr. You should have a secured a proper jaeger faction yourself, Osborne

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/e/e3e4829a.jpg

To make it even more of a Trails climax, we get an Ourobouros reveal

Proceed with Phantasmal Blaze Plan. Sweet.

Vandick: "Please understand"

Aaaaaand now Trista is under attack too.

Sara just instructed we don't leave the building, so time to leave the building

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/6/62e58066.jpg

"And my axe. And my bow. And my Airgetlam!"

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/f/fac280c7.jpg

Towa embraces chaos

The team I'm bringing is basically the same from the last dungeon, plus Machias, because I aint got the patience to set up orbments again

I've been thinking, Crow is behind the attempt to blow up Orchis Tower... while knowing Towa was in it. That's evil tbh

We move to the teachers next. Watching the school nurse holding a rifle is funny tbh

Every teacher is here, except for the arts teacher and vice-principal jackass. And they are all badasses

We are about to join, but not before Sharon gets her chance to show how cool she is

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/8/8d795899.jpg

Someone needs to introduce her to Scherazard

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/8/8140553b.jpg

Oh boy. And ofc, just like Ourobouros (likely) provided these bots, they also fight against them. In good Ourobouros fashion

Oh hey it's Vulcan!

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/7/71436de0.jpg

They are here to capture the students. Assuming the students even let them, ofc

The first robot attacks us, but fortunately, it's being piloted by Nameless Terrorist #87. A red shirt is a red shirt, even with a mecha. Next!

Next is Scarlet, whose mecha is immune to everything. Well shit

I also learn the game's maximum damage per hit is 49999. Because that's how much she deals to the party

Rean thinks he'll die if he uses his full power, but he's ready for the sacrifice. Cool

But the cat arrives, to reveal she can talk, and that Rean can win the fight another way

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/8/8146f56a.jpg

That's a cool use of the UI

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/0/09ab3856.jpg

On that day... Trails became full anime.

Rean is gonna pilot it. Along with the cat. This is so Gurren Lagann

Knowing unarmed combat means your mecha does too. Useful

The whole fight is just a guessing game. I win when I learn I'm supposed to attack the legs when she is not guarding, and the head when she is

Oh cool so Crow's mecha is a knight too. And I bet he does have a weapon

Emma guided Rean, and Vita guided Crow, it seems. Every knight has a witch. I love the medieval theme going here.

Crow declares he has never been a good guy. So I'm betting the next story arc will involve convincing him all the times they spent together were true. Meh

Did I say next story arc? Should have said "next sentence"

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/4/4a671bd4.jpg

Don't mess with the Bank of Rean

Rean swears to bring Sasuke- I mean Crow back

Man this fight is hard

Really hard. And I don't have much tactical space here since it's one vs one

After 6 or 7 tries, I finally win. It takes more skill than luck, but you have to be almost perfect here. Can't imagine how you can win this on Nightmare

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/8/83d722bc.jpg

........ oh.

Yeah we are screwed

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/8/8494251e.jpg

Oh yeah we had a party and all

So the party will stay behind so Rean can escape, and fight another day. Since he has Valimar, him escaping is the only hope left for the good guys

Trails 6: beaten

This ending song is great. No, really.