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

Hugo is another "oh CS4 why do you hate delivering on your premise?" character. Victor is kind of funny for how they introduced him as the Cassius/Arios style big awesome sword dude of the setting only to pivot to focusing on Aurelia in that role, leaving him as the guy who suffers long term injuries that somehow never hurt him but also stop him from doing anything to feel important. And Douglas is a dude I forgot even existed until I read the write up and recalled he does have a personality. Portraits go a really long way to helping remember people!

Those last two posts show how incredibly shafted Laura gets. Her dad supplanted in the plot almost completely, her entire swimming club never appearing again (aside from Monica in like a photograph), and her entire personality after squaring up with Fie has been swords, what good are swords with mechs existing, and Arianhrod/Sandlot plot simping that Duvalie does better.

I'm just waiting for Ash to go out

There are still a few more playable characters that need to drop before we get to Ash

If you say it's Josette we got a problem pal

Mega_Mana posted...

Those last two posts show how incredibly shafted Laura gets. Her dad supplanted in the plot almost completely, her entire swimming club never appearing again (aside from Monica in like a photograph), and her entire personality after squaring up with Fie has been swords, what good are swords with mechs existing, and Arianhrod/Sandlot plot simping that Duvalie does better.

Even Laura's romance is just swords, swords, swords.

Ash is great and half the new Class VII should drop before him. (I expect two of them to unless stingers is a hater)

New Class VII is better than 90% of old class VII

BK_Sheikah00 posted...

Even Laura's romance is just swords, swords, swords.

It's why it's the best romance

I like swords

Kurt is the worst New class VII member by a lot and even he probably falls at around the halfway point at worst if you stuck him in the middle of an old Class VII ranking

pyresword posted...

Kurt is the worst New class VII member by a lot and even he probably falls at around the halfway point at worst if you stuck him in the middle of an old Class VII ranking

Um, Musse.

My wedding is tomorrow so I'm a bit busy recently. Hopefully I can get some more writeups done Monday

Congrats and good luck!

I'm finally back :D Wedding went good and I'm back at work (which means I have time to not work and do this some more)

172. McBurn
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/3/3f0f7612.jpg
That's why he's the GOAT. Maybe a tad unrealistic but idc Lloyd beat his ass

I don't know how most people feel about this character. To be honest, I'm not even sure how I feel about this character. He really is an enigma. I guess I'll start with what I do like. Whatever type of plotline exists around his backstory is definitely intriguing. He seems to be some sort of inter-dimensional demon? I'm sure he will have to tie into whatever grand finale of a plotline they are building up towards, or at least something close to it. There's no way that he won't be important down the line. I think he's the only being we know of that's from another dimension and has intelligence? I know there are other demons that show up, but they've usually just been mindless monsters for boss fights to the best of my recollection. I don't recall anything quite like McBurn.

That's probably the only nice thing I have to say about him, but to be fair I consider that a pretty big positive. All of that kind of shit is cool and I am excited to see what they do with it in the future. However, everything else...I mean his name is fucking McBurn and he shoots fire. Trails really got lazy with their naming around this time (GEORGE NOME). I'm not sure if we're meant to take it seriously or if it's some joke that they just don't expand on at any point, but in either scenario it's stupid to the point of being annoying. When he was first introduced I wanted to laugh, but they played it straight and seemingly have not strayed from that course to date. I'm hopeful we get some backstory that he was named by a 6 year old child that discovered his almost dead body after he dimension hopped or what have you. That would probably be the only thing that could get him to rise up the rankings at this point.

His appearance is also...odd. Why does he have cotton candy hair? I get we have too many red haired fighting guys already, but...you'd think he'd be the perfect one to get the same treatment. You could make it like yellow going to orange going to red, that would represent fire and be unique. Where does blue come from? Blue hot? But then why pink and not red? It just looks stupid. His glasses look stupid. Everything about him looks stupid. He's also just a pretty boring personality. He wants to fight because he likes fighting. He doesn't offer anything in the way of motivations for why he's doing what we doing for the majority of the series, but as of Reverie he seems like he apparently remembers some things about his own past that clue him into who the Grandmaster really is? That's intriguing and all but no clue what to make of it, yet.

If he shows up in Calvard at all (I would have to assume he does) then hopefully it's time for them to start diving more into that side of the story. If he just shows up and shoots fire around and unleashes 20% of his power or what have you like trails villians normally do then I will continue to be annoyed. How does it even make sense for him to act like that? His only actual characterization is how he's bored and wants a challenge and wants to fight, you'd think someone like that would try to obliterate their enemies to force them to at least try to match up to him, not just meander around and give you excuses to have a fake boss fight. Man, some of the tropes in this series are really starting to get on my nerves. I guess playing so many of them will do that. But from what I have heard of Daybreak they start to get more refreshing again, so I suppose I'll find out soon.

171. Leonora
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/e/e69534db.jpg
..and they were never heard from again.

The resident tomboy. Normally I don't like tomboys, but Leonora's alright. She's got a nice design. Not very tomboy like to be honest, but I guess she has a bit of an RBF. That fits. She's got a cool backstory, she was a pirate and now she is on the swim team. Appropriate! I don't know of any times they really go into pirates during trails, so at least they mention their existence through her. I guess though, really the concept of pirates is a bit strange here when the entire plotline revolves around one continent. You don't have a lot of opportunities for naval issues to reach the forefront. Which does make it odd that Erebonia had the Juno Naval Fortress at all, but I don't know. Maybe they're important sometimes. I think they've alluded to no land masses existing outside of this continent at all though, so I guess ships are just used to circumnavigate that continent and that's it? What an interesting piece of worldbuilding. I have to assume they'll go into more detail about that plot point too, down the line. They probably just made it originally because their story is already so expansive with just this one continent, imagine if they had others to deal with. Who knows...anyway...Leonora. She doesn't really do much, overall, but I liked that she looked out for Altina, unique personality, somewhat pretty design. Just not the biggest fan of her archetype overall, but she's a pretty good representation as far as they go.

_stingers_ posted...

. But from what I have heard of Daybreak they start to get more refreshing again, so I suppose I'll find out soon.

lol, I disagree but I suppose refreshing is in the eye of the refresher?

McBurn is lame. His name is McBurn. And he's an evil interdimensional being but he also gets to be playable in Reverie? I'm just so sick of super strong folk who live to fight etc.

McBurn is also the biggest clue so far that (hypothetical spoilers, nothing confirmed) the big reveal is going to be that Zemuria is a Star Ocean 3 level terrible artificial world or multiverse situation. Or at least that's the vibe I get.

McBurn is a ridiculous character but almost so ridiculous that I kinda like him

I like the weird theory that he's actually Professor Epstein

McBurn is only good when I'm laughing at him. I don't think the writers are in on the joke, though.

colliding posted...

McBurn is also the biggest clue so far that (hypothetical spoilers, nothing confirmed) the big reveal is going to be that Zemuria is a Star Ocean 3 level terrible artificial world or multiverse situation . Or at least that's the vibe I get.

Yeah with all the reverie corridor stuff and how the Aureole acted in SC it did seem very computer-y. I think thats everyones biggest fear at this point. I'm sure theres a way to do that plot and make it cool but I haven't seen it yet.

170. Samuel Rocksmith
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/8/8dc47fbd.jpg
I didn't want to look too hard for a picture for him, so this is all you get.

The former President of Calvard. I had to be very careful researching him since he obviously will have plot points in Daybreak, even if he is no longer President. From when I was googling for pictures he seemed to have a farmer hat on there, so I guess he didn't have to give up his peanut farm.

He showed up in Azure though and appeared to be working closely with the mafia, which seems like a very un-presidential thing to do. From what I gathered from that originally was that he was a Putin-like figure, but after finding out that he got replaced by a new President during Reverie (that seems to be a pretty big badass from the final daydream we got to see him in in Reverie, co-opting the Ouroborous meeting like that) now he just seems like more of a good-old-boy kind of figure. He was onboard for Mille Mirage during CS4, making him one of the good guys. He seemed like a pretty honest guy, and based on that aforementioned daydream in Reverie we know the new President is gonna be more of an Osborne kind of conniving figure, so I'm curious to see what role Rocksmith will take in that arc. For now based off the limited interactions we've had with him he seems like a pretty affable guy though, so hopefully I get to learn more about him when I go to Calvard.

169. Gaius Worzel
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/2/256a4d6a.jpg
Believe it or not, this is the most interesting piece of dialogue he had across 5 games.

Gaius is another character that was probably bottom 5-10 for me during the first game or two, but he's grown on me a little bit throughout the franchise. At first, having to sit through any scene that contained Gaius in it was like forced participation a lecture on different types of soil. I could not imagine a more boring character if I tried. The thing is, I mean you have your Elliot's and Machias' of the world that are offensive in a different way, but they are simultaneously easier to make fun of. Elliot just looks like a dork, and Machias has an abrasive personality that enables you to make fun of him in retaliation. Gaius doesn't have any reason to be as boring as he is. He looks like a guy that should be stealing your lunch money in an 80s movie, not giving you an explanation on local wind speeds. He grew up in the wilderness, he trained by fighting wolves. He's even got a pet fucking hawk. That's badass, man. Or it should be, but despite all of these things he is somehow the single dryest and least interesting person that has ever been given the monkier of 'party member'. He was scientifically engineered in a lab to be the least offensive and sleep inducing combination of personality traits ever assembled in something that appears to be a "human being".

He never really changes personality-wise throughout any of the CS games. Can anyone recall a point that he shows any kind of real emotion? I mean in Reverie there was the threat of railguns destroying the Nordian settlement, killing his entire family and destroying his homeland, and here's the extent of the emotional depth he can muster:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/b/b120ff18.jpg

It's not very inspiring. There are two main reasons he ranks as high as he does. One, I'm a sucker for anything to do with the Church. Injecting Gaius into the church plotline was by far the best thing they could have done for his character. Even if it doesn't make him particularly interesting, it gives him a reason to have more interesting exposition, and it gives a reason for the church to be more involved with events in the game, which I dearly appreciated. Two, I found out he's actually really good in battle. I hadn't used him in any of the main CS games, but I did in Reverie and he actually kicks ass. He's really fast, and he has some of the best crafts in the game. Self str buff, giant giant AOE line move (so he can sit back safely and put out good damage), solid S craft, good orbment line. He was probably my single strongest physical attacker overall. Rean had the highest STR, but Gaius was so much faster that he was putting out damage like no other. I also used Arios a lot for his similar line ability and because Arios could cancel all positive effects on enemies, and then in the final Reverie corridor I used McBurn a lot because he had STR that could rival Rean while having better skills and a good AOE. But yeah, Gaius was consistently putting out numbers in battle, and Reverie was probably the hardest game in the CS franchise while playing on Abyss mode, so having him in my party actually did make me like him more, as sad of a reason as that is. But it's not enough to get him any higher than this.

Also Zeo sucks. Seig clears any day baby.

I wish he said Yakisoba pan

168. Laura Arseid
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/4/4d6f59eb.jpg
The conversation that led to this was about her personal insecurity around living up to what others expect of her. But her first concern was her sword. That sums up Laura.

Now here's one that I'm expecting to get some hate for. I know this character has her share of fans. For me though, I don't really get it. I mean, I guess I get why someone could find her an appealing character, but it doesn't work for me. I suppose we can start with her design. She's a fairly good looking girl with long blue hair. Normally that kind of design would be enough to do it for me off the bat, and it does get her a point or two, but I never really considered Laura as a romantic option thoughout the series. I'm not sure why, maybe it's her deeper voice for a lady or just her personality but I tend to like more outwardly feminine girls, of which Laura certainly is not. I watched all the bonding events and stuff where possible so I got the full experience. I liked that she would actually kiss Rean, since some of the other girls didn't. If she is the one you like, you deserve the kiss with her, so props to her for not being lame about it. I also liked that bonding scene in one of the games where you get trapped in a cave after it starts to rain, because the same thing happened to me on my first date with my ex-wife. Not the cave or training parts, but it started raining and we found somewhere to hide and talk. It was cute and I still associate positive memories with it, so seeing the same thing happen here was fun for me.

Her personality is just kind of off to me. She's not quite a tomboy, like say Leonora, she's just...herself, I suppose. She has some masculine traits of course, but it's not really the totality of her personality; she has some feminine ones too. I think, for what they were going for they did a good job with Laura, but it's not an archetype that appeals to me. She's really a lot like the female version of Kurt. Or I suppose Kurt is the male version of her, since she came first, but whatever. The point being, she's stoic, dedicated to her training, has a serious demeanor, and is proud of her noble upbringing; but not in a haughty way, just in a way that shows her respect of the position and what it entails. Those are all positive character traits, but I admire them more in Kurt than I do in Laura. She does also show her softer or more relatable side from time to time, whether it be her being embarassed over liking Mishy, or how she just can't get technology enough to send a text message properly. Those are moments where I'm more endeared to the character, which is how she ends up where she did and not lower. It's just not enough to raise her very high, IMO.

What I don't like - well for starters, I don't think she's a very entertaining person to be around. Any time Laura is on the screen there's an 80% chance it'll be about swords or training. The way she speaks, even, just feels stilted or clunky. I'm sure it's translated well from Japanese and all but something about her noble-speak just annoys me in a way that it doesn't coming from Jusis. I'm not sure why that is, but maybe it's just because it feels more unrealistic? Something about her just screams 'middle ages', but the environment their in is slightly more modern than that. Well, Trails strange setting and blend of technological eras is enough to merit it's own post, but I'm sure you know what I mean. I'll just leave it with any time she speaks, I just find myself losing interest in what's going on.

I also don't really care for any of her plotlines. She had an arc where she was leading the Arseid house. Boring. She had an arc where she was training (really that's every arc she has, but whatever). Boring! She had an arc where she was instructing others in swordsmanship. Boring. The only thing that did happen that was interesting is when she thought her dad had died, but of course once the writers realized what franchise they were writing for, that quickly got reverted and went back to boring as they instead had him become another mind control puppet that the series is so fond of. Laura got to do the same thing that 50 other characters did and destroy a mask on someones face, woo. Good for you.

Never used her in battle either, as far as physical attackers go there were always better options. I think in CS1 I used her a small amount because she had the highest damaging S craft IIRC, but really that game was so easy it never mattered. And in general for physical attackers you want ones who stay far away and use crafts to do damage safely, but Laura wasn't very good at that, so she just never had a spot in the party.

Laura about 150 places too low

BK_Sheikah00 posted...

I wish he said Yakisoba pan

Does he have the same VA as that 13 sentinels character or something

He's also Archer in F/SN!

I've never been very good at placing voice actors, even when I do recognize them, I can't ever remember what from. I know whoever voices Victor Arseid is famous, but no idea from what.

Jamieson Price is in lots of things!

Not sure what he's most famous for now but he's also Sojiro in Persona 5.

Papa Nier and also Rider in Fate/Zero might be the other biggest ones?

For me personally, it's always Ovan from .hack//G.U.

_stingers_ posted...

Does he have the same VA as that 13 sentinels character or something

Yup

Nah I agree with Gaius, Laura, Machias and Elliot bottom half for original class 7. They are definitely the weakest there. I kinda expect Fie, Jusis and Rean are a lot higher. Guessing of the "original class 7" Emma and Millium are up next.

Laura's probably one of the better Rean romance options (besides him dying alone), but it's true that she's also quite boring. One of the biggest problems in Cold Steel is that it won't let any member of Class VII be as interesting as Rean for some reason. Fie's the only one who comes close and they insist on neutering her the more the series progresses.

Like there's nothing to say about Laura. The cave scene in CS4 is good but it's like the ONLY time she gets to show emotion and vulnerability outside of CS1. Oh yeah, it's cute she likes Mishy I guess.

Speaking of Kurt, KurtxLaura should probably be a thing.

Nah Jusis, Crow and Millium kinda get a fair amount of growth. You mentioned Fie. She definitely has the best starting point of all of them. I think they dropped the ball hard with Machias, Emma and Alisa. Also that Laura, Elliot and Gaius likely did not have to be playable.

Elliot feels like he is there to be 2nd healer so they can split the parties which isn't actually needed. Laura feels like she there to be another noble besides Jusis so Class 7 initially (before Rean outs himself.) doesn't seem like it's all commoners and 1 noble and to fill the slow power character role. They really didn't try with her character. It really is all Way of the Sword and being socially awkward because she spent all her childhood doing the blademaster thing. Gaius feels like they did the bare minimum and then tried to fix it later.

Millium and Crow are the worst members of OC7 IMO.

Laura doesn't get much for development but she's still likable. Characters don't need to change to entertain!

Gaius is just an indigenous stereotype, but at least he canonically gets a girlfriend.

Gaius somehow got less interesting after he joined the Church's secret death squad. Kind of impressive.

I never liked Laura, one of her early bonding events went with the awful 'Oh I just want to be a normal girl like everyone else' bit and I never forgave her for it.

Leonora's probably my favorite of the new non-Class VII students. I enjoy how positive and supportive she is of the swim team, her friendship with Altina and helping her process her emotions and hang-ups was endearing and some of my favorite student friendships across all of Cold Steel, she's got a sick background that lends to some great characters in Ordis (Miranda, who might run my favorite restaurant after Long Lao, and Herman, the blond pirate-turned-security-guard who becomes kind of a cool side character who helps out during a bunch of quests), and an absolutely random but interesting athletic rivalry with Shirley swimming to an island. Leonora's definitely much higher up my list, probably top 100 at a glance.

Nothing really to say about anyone else. McBurn is McBurn, and the hair is awesome. Gaius is Gaius, and I loved your description as 80s movie bully especially with that picture with the glove and red popped collar looking like John Bender from the Breakfast Club. Laura is Laura, and wish she had more scenes like the cave scene. Happy wedding!!!

B. Celine
C+. Sieg
C+. Gaius
C. Machias
C. Laura
C-. Dorothee
C-. Elliot
C-. Carl Regnitz
C-. Kurt Nardin
C-. Victor S. Arseid

My top ten of those who've dropped thus far

Well at least I haven't hit anyone too high ranked then :D Celine being in B is crazy to me though (obviously since shes showed up here already but still) shes just so annoying

167. Towa Herschel
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/e/e4f8609b.jpg
Hello, Unnamed Female Student. I can't imagine I'll have much to say about you 3 years from now.

Here is another one I'm expecting to get hate for. The third upperclassman is our next to leave. I think she has her fair share of fans. I think she's cute (in like an adorable/precious kind of way, not in an attractive way) that probably appeals to people. She's shown to be very competent over the course of the series. I think she's the only upperclassman that isn't a dick to us in one way or another; she's just a very considerate and intelligent young woman. So why the (relatively) low placement?

She's got a bunch of positive personality traits, but to me it feels like none of them really coalesce in a way that feels like a believable person. Like, there's a part of me that feels like deep down she's got to be a sociopath that is putting up this front of being a good person, because I never feel like she shows a crack in her armor, so to speak. I know some type-A, get shit done people sort of like Towa, but all of them have some sort of...stressed aspect to them. They have more outwardly manic personalities. For everything unlikeable about her, I think Irina was a much more realistic example of someone that has that type of work ethic.

Towa's personality is really the exact opposite, in a way that doesn't make sense to me. I feel like that serious side clashes with her other personality traits. She has scenes where she is doubtful over her own capabilities or emotional over her friends dying (or when she thinks they're dying at least, because of course nobody does) that make her feel more grounded, but then you look back the next day and she's organizing a festival for the town or becoming a warship captain or what have you. I just don't buy it, man. Someone with her disposition should not be written to be as competent as she is shown to be, I'm sorry. It feels to me like some amalgamation of desirable traits thrown together into a person rather than a way that someone could actually behave in real life.

I also just don't like her appearance, I feel like she looks too childish, in a way that also clashes with her competence. I mean I'm sure it's not impossible for a small girl with a very high pitched voice to be ultra competent at everything, it just feels weird to me, y'know? When looking for pictures for her I saw some where she looks older, so I'm guessing she's back in Daybreak. Taller Towa seems like it could be a better fit. Maybe I'll like her more there? She also was never very useful in your party when she did join, so I never really used her in battle. I'm not sure if I ever saw her S craft, now that I think about it.

I'll end on some positive things I enjoyed about her. The main one would be that she did feel like a good match for Rean, since they have similar personality types. Well, in real life I also think that having somewhat different personality types is better for a couple, but whatever. I can see them getting along well. I never romanced her because I personally find her offputting but if I were roleplaying as Rean hardcore I think she'd be a good fit. Her brave order was really good in Reverie, so I enjoyed having her on the support section of my team when possible. I think that her joining an NGO is cool, since that's not an area the series has explored very much and it does seem like a good job for her. Since she gets so much screen time and she's not a terrible human being, she goes a decent bit up the list just for that, but ultimately I just don't feel much positivity towards her, so she sits in low tier.

Towa is overrated

Dunno that I'd have her this low but yeah I'm not as high on her as others either

This picture sums up why I love Towa

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/6/6e907d20.jpg

166. Eugent Reise Arnor
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/1/115c1ee2.jpg
AKA, I'm going to fuck off and let you be the fall boy.

The King! For a King, I feel like he doesn't really feel that important in the plot of the game. Was Falcom trying to make a statement about the effectiveness of monarchies compared to organized parliaments? Probably not. I don't want to say he was pointless, but he really does feel like more of a figurehead, since Osborne is shown to basically control everything in Erebonia. I have to wonder what his official duties are? Or does he just offload everything to whoever the Chancellor happens to be and then just lives a life of luxury? That isn't a pretty bad deal, now that I think about it. Until your lack of effective power gets you kidnapped, like it does in CS2. You gotta find a way to keep your hand on the leash, man.

As far as what he does do, he seems to function primarily as a lore dump about ancient Erebonia. He's really more in-line with Roselia than he is with Osborne in terms of plot relevance. He was on board with Osbornes plans, which I guess kind of makes him a villain. He seems like a nice guy though. I think he was just along for the ride at the end of the day. He acts like a rather stereotypical 'good king' whenever you talk to him, all-in-all. I don't have many problems with his personality, but I think the game wasted him a bit. Seeing him do more than lore dump with his given title would have been an improvement, IMO.

BK_Sheikah00 posted...

This picture sums up why I love Towa

She's trying to break Rean's neck? You might be on to something

"Resigned to a terrible fate that he makes no effort to change or resist" is a lame archetype so I didn't like Eugent very much

165. Ilya Platiere
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/a/aab4b7d7.jpg
It would be really, really funny if they played it straight and had some kind of 'Excess estrogen detected in the rivers of Erebonia' news article in Daybreak.

I originally had Ilya a decent bit higher actually. Well, on my 'concept of a list' that I had in my head before I actually made it. She wasn't crazy high, but she definitely wasn't low tier. Then I played Reverie. Man, the phrase "character assassination" is not strong enough here.

I don't know why they felt like they had to make her into a villain for what is virtually no reason. There is no payoff from her plotline. I think they just wanted an excuse to put her into a more revealing outfit? That's basically the only thing they gained from saying 'Hey, let's stick another fucking mind control mask on someone, the people love those, right?' I swear to god if I see a mask in Daybreak I'm just turning the game off. I'm so, so tired. You know who's got a cool mask? Bleublanc. If they say that he's been mind controlled at some point I actually will just quit the franchise on the spot. They would never do that to me though, surely.

Ilya to me was a pretty fun character during the Crossbell arc. I liked that she was kind of a diva, singularly focused on her dancing at the expense of everything else in her life. The sexual harrassment stuff, eh. It was funnier when Mariabell did it. I don't know why they needed two blonde women groping people in Crossbell, that's a bit overkill. But throughout the games she was a decent source of comic relief otherwise. Though when she had her whole coma arc, that obviously killed the mood a bit. I don't want to say it, but seeing people in hospitals is depressing, man. I feel bad for her and all but it did lower how much enjoyment I got out of the character, plain and simple. She spent the next half of the series just sitting in a hospital bed, so not much good came from that that helps her spot here.

But then Reverie just put the final nails in the coffin. They used an industrial strength nail gun. It was probably the straw that broke the camel's back for me too; I was already annoyed with Victor but then the next game they do it to Ilya and it just frustrated me to no end. Everything about the 'Dusken Dancer' plotline was tedious and brought no enjoyment to me. I guess other than seeing Rixia and Elie team up to take her down, but it's not like that hadn't happened before in Azure. Seeing it in 3D was nice! I mean I enjoyed Reverie, but that plotline was a miss.

Ultimately I really wish they had gone a different direction with her character, because Ilya in Zero really is a high tier character for me. They clearly put all their love into Rixia instead. I mean, I don't really blame them, but...well, hopefully Ilya can rest in peace from here on out.

Don't worry, there's no mind control in Daybreak... 1 .

Dusken Dancer absolutely sucks and was probably the worst thing in Reverie.

164. Duke Cayenne
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/f/f85833af.jpg
This picture sums up why I love Duke Cayenne.

My favorite pepper-themed antagonist takes the stage. Assuming you don't consider sweet innocent Musse an antagonist, I guess. According to the wiki, his name is Croire de Cayenne, which is amazing. I don't know why he has a french article in the middle of his name, but that's pretty cool, n'on?

He's the primary antagonist of the first two games. Kind of, since Osborne still exists and is being framed as the big bad (thanks Crow), but Cayenne is the main leader of the Noble faction during the events of the civil war, alongside Rufus, who is of course actually working with Osborne the whole time. Not confusing, really. He's a confident guy, ultimately a pretty stereotypical noble, but shows a bit more awareness and forethought than some of the lazier nobles. He takes his position for granted in some ways, like he thinks that he's better than everyone because he was born a noble, but he does still work hard to expand his power. At the very least, you can't call him lazy, so props to him.

Him bringing Rean onto his ship to try and convince him to join up with them was funny. If he had done even the slightest bit of research into Rean's personality before hatching that plan I think it would've been shelved pretty quickly. That arrogance does fit into his character, though! I enjoyed that part of the game honestly, because just going around casually chatting with all the villains was kind of fun. Ultimately however Cayenne went down as the midboss of the Erebonia arc without too much trouble. Him being taken down then leads to the rise of Musse in a way, so there's that point to consider. You've done your country a great service, friend.

163. Millium Orion
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/0/0d0edc46.jpg
You and Campanella are the only two that can break the fourth wall and get away with it.

This one surprises me a bit. I think I recall around the time I was playing CS1 or 2 that I stated that Millium was my least favorite character in the franchise. She probably grew on me the most of any character in the entire Trails series, if I had to guess. I mean 212 to 163 doesn't seem like a huge placement jump, but I don't know. I ended up kind of liking her.

She's really just refreshing. In a series with so many characters that have the same personality, Millium offers a breath of fresh air with her quirkiness, childishness, and lack of apparent foresight that would presumably befit someone working for their country's highest intelligence service. These are all things that annoyed me at first, but grew on me throughout the series. Ultimately, I think the game would be worse without her presence, which is definitely the opposite of what I would have said at first glance.

The introduction of Altina to the main cast later in the arc probably did some heavy lifting there, since she had a foil to work off of. Also, her dramatic reduction in screen time also probably helped a lot, if we're being honest. Like a shot of espresso, she is definitely best handled in small doses. Her backstory of being a robot designed to become a sword is a bit weird still. Most things to do with the ultimate plotline around the curse and what have you are kind of a miss to me, but the whole robot part is still cool, albeit raising its own questions. These guys just developed cars and barely know what a computer is but they also have human-level artificial intelligence? Is she supposed to have her own soul that gave her consciousness and human-level brainpower? I don't know that they ever explained that really. I mean it's a reoccuring thing with Lapis and KeA and what have you, I assume they are not insinuating they are actually an "AI" like we would think of it (and like they show things like the reverie corridor being), but I don't know what they ARE supposed to be. Maybe I missed it or maybe that's supposed to be a future mystery.

Anyway, her plotline she has with Jusis is pretty cute. I don't consider them a couple (I sure hope they aren't supposed to be, but with this franchise who the fuck knows) but it fits what I said earlier about 'opposites attract' or what have you. They seem to work well together and they help balance each other out a lot. I kind of forget how her bonding events with Rean went, but I vaguely remember some head patting and probably some kind of heavily insinuated "We'll talk about it when you grow up" kind of thing like when a small child asks if you would marry them. I don't know, maybe I blocked it out of my memory on purpose and it was even worse than that. How this franchise deals with their younger characters when it comes to romance is always just...a cultural reminder that Japan and America are very different. Tita and Agate, anyone? It's gross but I try my best to ignore it and look forward.

What else...I definitely never used her in battle in any games. I think she was supposed to be a damage tank, but tanks like that just do not work in this battle system, when evasion tanks are infinitely stronger. I think she just casted adamantine shield for me if I ever had to use her. I don't recall what her crafts were even, but I'm assuming they were not very useful. I do think her S craft was pretty good? But she always had leftover equipment for me, so not like she ever had high enough Str to really be useful. She definitely pales in comparison to her sister on that front. I also don't know if they ever explained where her last name came from, did they? Orion is kind of random.

Ultimately, I feel kind of warmly towards Millium, but not enough to put her much higher since I remember how much I hated her at first. She should be proud of making it this far, I think.