I rank the Trails series characters (from Sky until Reverie) (spoilers)

Regnitz Sr. suffers from the series giving up on so much of its own story past a certain point. You'd think there would be some sort of conflict involved once Osborne officially becomes the villain the main characters are up against (as opposed to that guy that you know will become the villain at some point but hasn't gotten around to it yet), given that he's apparently Osborne's top supporter in government, but nope, he is just always on your side and his support of Osborne is largely ignored except to occasionally mention that it exists before resuming the ignoring. He's a major casualty of the fact that the entire political side of Osborne's character (AKA the good part) gets thrown out the window once the curse takes center stage.

Panthera posted...

You'd think there would be some sort of conflict involved once Osborne officially becomes the villain the main characters are up against

This is kind of a general problem with a lot of Osborne-affiliated characters, imo. Feels like the game basically never wants to engage with his supporters in this way which feels like a real wasted opportunity to me.

Worst example of this is Claire, who I'm noticing is probably in my bottom 10 and has not appeared yet.

Edit: OK actually with Claire I guess its more like they did do this but only too late for it to have any real impact

184. Priscilla Reise Arnor
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/b/bccaa3c6.jpg
In real life, most women would be more than a little jealous here.

The Queen of Erebonia is our next to fall. She doesn't get as much screen time as the King, but when she shows up on screen she's a soothing presence. She's nice to everyone and generally behaves as you'd expect a Queen to. It's nice that she shows the same behavior towards Olivier as she does to her own children. I also like her design, she's very pretty and looks regal. She looks a little too similar to the King honestly, but I guess they wanted both parents to have blonde hair since all the kids do and Olivier isn't related to her by blood, so whatever. It works. She is nice and all but never really shows any side of herself that isn't a caring and benevolent Queen, so it gets a bit dull. I doubt she'll have much reason to show up during the Calvard arc, besides maybe a passing glance at some point so she'll remain here forever I expect.

Queen, Empress, tomato tomato

Dang ranking is tough. Mana ranks Stingers' bottom 30

Celine
Carl Regnitz
Machias
Elliot
Teo Schwarzer

Dorothee
Gideon
Kurt
Empress Priscilla
Harold Hayworth

Valimar
Vulcan
Cedric
Gerhart
Helmut

Angelica
Ada
Kairi
Alan
Margarita

Clara
Fritz
Hibelle
General Morgan
Sidney

Irina Reinford
Black Alberich
George
Xin
Franz

I don't know how anyone can have elliot that high

It's weird to think Elliot and Felix from Three Houses are voiced by the same person

At the beginning of Act III in Reverie and I'm ranking Black Alberich lower. THIS is how the Curse should've felt.

It didnt seem that different to me? What do you think is so different with the reverie mind control shit compared to cs4

_stingers_ posted...

It didnt seem that different to me? What do you think is so different with the reverie mind control shit compared to cs4

Actual people you care about are being affected, and the cumulative effect and containment within Crossbell City feels more oppressive than random generic NPCs who aren't drafted away leaving either empty streets or a more sinful Raquel.

Seeing C, N, and S all starting to fall under the effect and the constant messaging of it throughout broadcasts feels so much more pervasive than 'Pleroma Grass senses hostilities nearby! Now is the random time to bloom and do stuff for reasons!'

183. Shizuku MacLaine
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/f/f29dc9e3.jpg
KeA took this as a personal challenge.

Shizuku is a very sweet girl, but I'm afraid that she is just a little dull. She's basically what I assume the cultural ideal of how a young girl should act in Japan is, which is probably why she has such a Japanese sounding name. Well, first name. Actually can we talk about how weird her name is? It's like the most Japanese first name ever and then her last name is like some Irish buddy cop movie ripoff. I don't know how they came up with that one. Anyway...Shizuku. She's overly polite and considerate of others, cheerful, cares endlessly about her fathers wellbeing. If I had to guess, I'd say Japanese audiences enjoy her more for that reason. And it's not like I don't like her, she's just...boring. Yeah.

Her backstory is very sad with her mother dying, going blind, raised by a single dad and all of that. She shows remarkable strength through it all! For whatever reason though it never really endeared me to her, maybe because I felt like I couldn't relate to her really. Oh well. As far as I remember she never came back in future games, so she's likely a character we'll never see again.

182. Ein Selnate
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/8/8dead47e.jpg
Kevin really needs all the advice he can get.

This is a character that's not really a character! Well, she is, but...

So, she is heavily featured in the in-universe novel series Carnelia , which is the book series you collect in Sky1. Unfortunately for that reason, I never read it! I enjoy reading the novels in universe now because I know they act as teasers for characters or concepts that will appear in future games, but I didn't know that as an FC newbie, so I skipped it. I really should go back and read it some day, I'd assume it may have changed Ein's position on the list if I had. I haven't though, so here she lies.

She's the leader of the Gralsritter, who are basically the church military, mixed in with some Indiana Jones. Their main responsibility is in securing artifacts, which are basically various deus ex machina that we see throughout the franchise causing havoc. I have to imagine this collection would make the Church one of the strongest, if not the single strongest military force in Zemuria. To date however, we see them only acting in a limited capacity on what could be called special forces missions, rather than acting as an organized army. The whole church subplot is one of my favorite in Trails, so I really hope they start dialing it up in Daybreak and beyond as the franchise is supposedly coming to an end sooner rather than later.

Anyway, back to Ein. There's not much I have to go off of, given that I haven't read Carnelia, nor have I read the real-life Manga The Ring of Judgment , which is something that I had no idea existed until researching her to make this post. But apparently there was a manga released in Japan detailing some events that occurred between Sky 3rd and Zero, which has Estelle, Joshua, and Toval going on a mission on behalf of Ein to secure an artifact. I was too lazy to read the entire plot summary but I'm sure it's great. Anyway, in the actual games, the only time Ein has any speaking lines is in flashbacks in Sky the 3rd. I have to imagine she will take the forefront at some point in the story, given how important her position is to the events that occur in the series, but for now, we're left waiting. From what little I have been able to gather though, she seems like a cool character. I'm sure she has a lot of potential to move up the list in the future; I'm hopeful that she'll take a more direct role in the story soon.

_stingers_ posted...

I really should go back and read it some day, I'd assume it may have changed Ein's position on the list if I had. I haven't though, so here she lies.

You can get almost all past books in Reverie. Blue Chests is the First Stratus. I don't know if higher levels have them. I think I've collected all the sets doing multiple runs, and haven't unlocked the Second Stratus yet.

Actually you know what I'm deleting that post. The meme was funny but I'm realizing there's Daybreak spoilers in the comments of the thread. I guess here's just the original image sorry if you clicked on the first link.

https://i.redd.it/ezucl8ujwppf1.png

Anyway I like Ein.

181. Principal Vandyck
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/6/630705f2.jpg
Say the line, Bart!

The token old guy. He reminds me a lot of the old captain in Bleach that I can't remember the name of. I think it's a Japanese stereotype or whatever you want to call it, that the old men are also the strongest and best leaders or whatever other admonishment they want to give them. In real life, old people suck. Not actually suck, but I really don't think that they should be in charge of things. Can we please stop electing geriatrics? Experience is invaluable, I agree! But it's a reality that physical and cognitive decline starts around 60 for most people. My grandmother is in her 70s and she's still generally intelligent and capable and gets around on her own, but I can't say I don't notice her recalling things slower than she used to, or repeating things or things like that. It's just nature. We don't need to lie about it, it's okay. Maybe, you know, talking directly to them we can play nice of course, but outside of that. It's like requiring the elderly to retake their driving test after a certain age. It's just practical.

Anyway, Vandyck for me plays a little too much into that whole 'Elderly God' archetype that I'm not a huge fan of. When he's simply acting as the principal of Thors, I think he's a pretty good character. Not anything special, but he's fine. Once he's put in charge of the Erebonian army again and stuff it became more annoying, but y'know, like I said that's just Japan. I get it. I'll rank him above some of the others for having a sense of humor and seeming like a generally good guy when he's on-screen, but low in general because of that other stuff.

pyresword posted...

Actually you know what I'm deleting that post. The meme was funny but I'm realizing there's Daybreak spoilers in the comments of the thread. I guess here's just the original image sorry if you clicked on the first link.

https://i.redd.it/ezucl8ujwppf1.png

Anyway I like Ein.

To me that whole situation just reads like they've got it under control. Which implies they are very advanced and informed and capable, which is why I like the church so much. If that's not true then I'll be sad, but that's why I'm assuming they'll take a more active role soon when the threat starts to really amp up.

Ein has been hyped up for so many games that at this point it almost feels like she's doomed to be underwhelming.

Everyone that knows her puts her in the Arianrhod/Aurelia power level tier and she runs one of the more secretive Church groups. That's a lot of pressure!

All she needs to do is show up, curbstomp, and leave

180. Michel
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/3/3302fc70.jpg
I don't even think that's true Michel. I think you just wanted to let us know that you're a 'confirmed bachelor'.

The token gay guy! He doesn't really influence events in the story much; in general I suppose most guild receptionists are fairly uninvolved in the larger plot but Michel isn't helping their case. He basically exists as one of the mandatory characters that is doubtful of the SSS at first but then respects them after they prove themselves. He's also Arios' hypeman in the early stages of Zero. After Arios makes his heel turn, Michel trusts in the SSS to return him to the light side.

He's a nice enough guy, but all the overly flamboyant gay stuff doesn't really appeal to me. I think Japan does this a lot whenever they add any kind of homosexual to their games, they really want to make sure you know that they're gay so they dial it up to 200%. If they just toned it down a lot he'd move up my list a bit probably. For someone with so much presence though, nothing he did really stood out to me. They can't all be Kilika's I guess.

179. Stark
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/9/93474538.jpg
...why would you say that? That's the first thing that pops into your head?

Stark is not one of the more interesting students. He's portrayed as a smart guy from a merchant family I believe. He's also from Jurai, which is probably his most defining character trait. His plotline is that he feels inferior to Crow, a fellow Jurian. Given what Crow is shown to do vs. what Stark does throughout the series, I think those fears are justified. We can't all be power players though kid, it's okay.

He's a pretty unexciting character overall, but I liked his gambling sidequest he had with Rean in CS3 and how it tied into his backstory, and how they take that and expand on it in CS4, giving him a payoff with Crow. It was enough to make me like him a little bit, even if he's ultimately kind of bland.

I'm reminded again of how weird it is that we never actually went to Jurai at any point

Something something small indie studio

I never read the books. Sometimes I'll read the Liberl News or whatever since maybe it provides context for the upcoming events, but for the most part all the extra text in Trails games is boring.

That being said, having a lot of extraneous text is part of the Trails brand at this point, so if they cut it, like they did in Daybreak, it's noticeable and worthy of criticism. So yeah, basically I'm saying I hate the extra text but they can't get rid of it.

I read all the books and papers

I read the books early on but stopped at some point in CS. They're cool for worldbuilding, but overall, they're just kinda boring. Daybreak doing away with them was the right call.

Oh, I agree they're largely boring. In Sky, at least they're short. But I know this stuff is in the games for a reason so I still read them.

I liked the last story I read in Reverie. I can't remember the other ones vividly enough to know how I feel about them but I think in general they're fine

I never read any of them. Listened to the Rose one because everyone was banging on about it being needed for CS4 and it wasn't. So i skipped 3 & 9 and it ended up actually being important in Reverie. Listening to that one after playing the game made their story so much better.

178. Sieg
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/7/7815a00c.jpg
Who knew you could say so much, with so little.

A literal bird ranks above 34 other characters. Why? I don't know. Sieg's just kind of neat, man. He's pretty smart, for a bird. He seems to understand English. Or Japanese, depending on how you're playing the game. I think that's pretty cool. I think the games should have more non-talking animal mascots. I think Celine would've been much improved as a character if she couldn't talk at all. Let's bring back animals guys.

I hope this mean's Gaius's bird isn't ranked higher than Sieg, because that would be a crime

177. Guy Bannings
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/f/f1f2ce41.jpg
Legends say that Falcom ran out of money at the start of disc 2, and had to describe the rest of the game with text over a black screen.

Guy Bannings is another backstory character, given that he dies before the events of the series. His death, however, is a pivotal moment in the plot. One of Lloyd's driving motivations early on is in solving the crime of the murder of his brother.

By all accounts, he's portrayed as a pretty spectacular Guy (haha). He basically solves the entire plotline of the Crossbell arc by himself, being shot by Grimwood once he learned the truth behind the Crois family's actions. He also was investigating Marconi and Joachim along those same lines, all the while raising his little brother Lloyd by himself. Also also, before being shot by Grimwood, he managed to duel Arios to a draw. He also looks like a gigachad.

To put it simply, they write him to be a little too perfect for my tastes. He's basically just the smartest, strongest guy in the room at all times that can do no wrong, with an outstanding moral character and a heart of gold. Such characterization annoys me deeply. I think if we actually had to deal with Guy alive at any point he might have fallen down my list. But as it stands, I can write some of it off, since it might be a sort of 'unreliable narrator' situation where people don't want to speak ill of the dead. That's my headcanon, at least. Also, at the very least I have to respect someone who raises their brother alone after their parents die. That kind of thing is cool, man.

colliding posted...

I hope this mean's Gaius's bird isn't ranked higher than Sieg, because that would be a crime

You can see in the first post but Zeo isn't ranked. Fuck that bird

176. Friedel
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/7/77f14ce5.jpg
We're not here to listen to you speak, sorry.

Probably one of the " Who ?" NPCs for some people. She only appears in CS1/2, and largely serves to be the champion of the fencing club. Has a small rivalry with Laura over being the strongest swordswoman. She apparently had a thing with Loggins, who is even more of a " Who ?" NPC, so I didn't even rank him. Why did I remember Hibelle though? I don't know how my brain works. It has to be one of the weirder brains on Earth. I wonder if I can pay someone to have my brain studied after death. Anyway, she really ends up ranking this high because she's very pretty. Too bad you weren't a main character instead of a different main character that we have coming up relatively soon...

175. Hugo Kleist
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/5/531c7200.jpg
As a businessman, it would be stupid of me not to flood the inner city with crack cocaine, right?

Mr. Kleist is the son of a highly respected and successful merchant who runs and owns the aptly named organization Kleist and Co. One of the more important student NPCs that we get in these games! The arc of Hugo and of this company during the Cold Steel games is basically in describing how Erebonia discovered Walmart. Through unscrupulous business tactics, combined with aggressively cutting costs in order to gain market share and force other businesses to shut down, they figured out how to Capitalism properly well before anyone on our planet did relative to their society's level of development, so props to them.

Hugo as an individual is somewhat annoying, given that he shares his father's proclivity for using the dark side of the force at times. However, he is shown to have somewhat of a conscience, as one of the reoccuring plotlines throughout the series was in him having to stop his even more evil employee (who's name I cannot remember) from doing even more evil things, such as destroying entire villages in order to raise profits. At least there is a line he won't cross, though I may have to rethink what I said earlier about them figuring out Capitalism, since morals have no place there. Regardless, he's a decent character, but not one that you can really feel all that bad for at the end of the day. I have to imagine he has very few fans compared to his opponent in his rivalry that he has with fellow student-merchant, Becky. More on her later!

Sieg too low, but some great cuts otherwise.

If this was an ermine list sieg would've been #1 free

Hugo is #1 for most punchable

That's definitely Harold

Cedric and Gilbert have the most punchable faces

Only one of those is by design

174. Victor Arseid
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/e/e8630a59.jpg
Hair dye. Don't forget to leave the bleach in-

Laura's dear old dad is our next to fall. As the head of the Arseid family, he is one of the most influential characters in Erebonia through his travels and legacy as one of the strongest warriors in the country. They only control the area surrounding Legram, and are not one of the four great noble houses, but their impact is instead felt through their school of swordsmanship that they created and are the masters of.

Victor himself is kind-of sort-of of a traveling monk type of character, delegating his noble duties to his staff (and his daughter at one point). He teaches his swordsmanship to those who are interested, and offers wisdom to Rean at various points in the series. He isn't interested in picking sides in the civil war, instead teaming up with Olivier in the wild card faction, becoming captain of his airship, the Courageous. He seems like a somewhat down-to-earth guy when you do interact with him, he has a bit of that air of nobility about him, but mainly wants to talk about how Rean can become a better warrior.

That's all fine and why I like him, but why I hate his guts is because of his stupid ass fake death scene that he gets in CS3/4. I hate Trails for doing this so often and his might be the worst of them all, because it goes right from stupid ass fake death scene to stupid ass mask mind control plotline immediately after. They barely even give his corpse time to rest before bringing him back. They do make him lose an arm in the explosion that was supposed to kill him, and that's permanent. That's pretty cool, but they never really show him losing an arm having any impact on him at all. You'd think for someone who's supposed to be this great warrior that this would be a major blow to his effectiveness, but they still make him seem like he's just as powerful as he was before, so what's the point? Shit like that just pisses me off. It's lazy writing and I'm not sure who it appeals to, but they need to stop. If this had happened in CS1 then he'd probably be in my bottom 10, but he had enough of a decent run beforehand to let him rank a little higher.

173. Douglas
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/0/01132f1a.jpg
At least if this whole army business doesn't work out, you have a future as a matchmaker.

The deputy commander of the Crossbell Guardian Force. An all-around good guy. Never really causes trouble for the SSS, helps with training us, has a nice personality. Was responsible for one of the harder sidequests in Azure from what I remember. Seems like he'd be nice to hang out with. Apparently he got Sonya and Sergei together years ago, so good for him. His nickname is Douglas the Demon, which I'd hate if they said it all the time, but they instead use it as a gag to talk about how stupid the nicknames in Trails are, which makes it incredible. He's down here however despite all the things I enjoy because he just doesn't show up enough or have more relevance to be memorable. I pretty much forgot who he was entirely until I started making this list, and I had to move him up a bunch of spots as I remembered more about him. But I can't justify putting him much higher than this. Wish he was more important!

I can say this... I had no idea who that was. And he was only in Azure afaik.

"New Deputy Commander of CGF, went from CGF->Police Academy->CGF, trained Lloyd, sociable but strict, Douglas the Demon with the Douglas Method of training under adverse conditions, taught Randy the Stun Halberd, helped set up Sergei & Sonya before they wed, lets spill that they're MARRIED?!?!, then that they divorced five years ago , Ol' Thunderbolt Douglas, looking to promote Noel soon"

Yeah, I think Douglas was the first one where I had to go, "Wait, who was that again?" before I read the writeup.

So you knew Hibelle? There are dozens of us...

I dunno, the Thors NPCs are pretty memorable to me.

Probably because we get four plus games with them.

I'm going to be honest if we're putting Douglas on you should also put on the Sky bit characters like Grant, Carna, and Maybelle

The problem is I do not remember them that well...I remember Maybelle the most but the other two are drawing blanks in my memory

Recency bias is real :(

Cold Steel at least has a caveat for its characters: profile pages.

About half the student body would be relegated to standard NPC forgettability without profile page entries. But also... seeing who lasts and who gets twisty is kind of a neat surprise from the roster (like Rex, Mint, Becky, and the twins for the former and Celestin, Rosine, Thomas, and Beryl for the latter).