Lurker > _stingers_

143. Rex
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/7/72f4c379.jpg
You have the most punchable face, dude.

Ranking Rex above Rean is objectively funny. I can probably say that for the next 142 characters after him and it will still be funny, but honestly, it's funniest for him. He's such a terrible character, but sometimes terrible characters can be good. He really punched above his weight. TLDR, He's basically Sidney; he's obsessed with women and his whole gimmick is taking photos of all of the women that he comes across. It's a tough job, but someone's gotta do it, right? I generally enjoyed seeing the candid shots he took so that's probably why he's rated so (relatively) highly. He had some moments where he showed a real person behind the persona, but thats not why he's memorable. It does make him like 5% more respectable though, which counts for something. I like you, Rex. Keep on keeping on.

colliding posted...

10. Limited Bonding Points - Just give us max bonding points from the beginning. If there are four available hangout scenes give us four bonding points.

For every erebonia arc game, I downloaded a new game plus save online before I started playing so I could get max bonding points. I think it made my experience a lot better

I vaguely remember that? Your trails memory is unmatched I think

Note that I'll be on vacation from tomorrow through Sunday so updates are pretty unlikely over that time frame.

It's free yeah

FUCK THE COMBO TRIALS c

I really like Lloyd. Spoiler I guess but we won't see him for a bit. I wonder if I can articulate why I like one and not the other? I'll have to do some soul searching.

They are indeed. Sieg and General Morgan have been ranked. Maybe some others?

I think that's enough negativity, what do I like about Rean? I liked that he did feel more mature by the end of Reverie. It seemed like since there were no more games with him as the protagonist they were finally willing to let him stop being so self-sacrificing and actually use his ogre power without freaking out and what have you. It took 400 hours of gameplay, but he finally actualized his character development! I just wish the writers would have given him a more natural feeling character arc instead of rehashing the same points over and over again. Okay sorry, I'm bitching again. I did like it, I just wish it didn't take so long. I liked that he does feel like a pretty natural martial artist type of character, even if his capabilities feel exaggerated at times. I liked those rare moments where he stepped out from his perfect persona. I generally liked the decision to have him become a teacher in CS3 and 4, it feels in-character and I think the story was a lot better for introducing the new Class VII cast and letting them shine more than the old Class VII. I wish they leaned into that further and Rean took more of a backstage role, and they let Juna or even Kurt really be the primary lead.

I liked his relationship with Alisa, they complimented each other well and the game would have been much stronger if they dove more into that instead of going the harem route. I wish more games stopped taking so much inspiration from Persona. Persona is a great game, but I also want real romances. Crossbell was the beginning of this but Lloyd/Elie still was very obviously written as the main romance, with the others being side notes. I'd say like 70/30 split. In this it feels like Alisa is only like, 25% the main romance, and they really wanted you to feel like the others were important. Of course, the issue is there isn't enough time or budget to actually make those all feel meaningful, nor would it make narrative sense for events to happen with all of them that could all feel realistic in one playthrough. You just have to commit to the damn bit, man. I don't know anything about how Daybreak handles romance but I'm hopeful it's closer to the old games. I would not be surprised to hear otherwise though. Whoops, started bitching again!

Okay, I'm not really sure if I like anything else, to be honest. Like I said, I originally placed him a good bit lower. I moved him up as I looked over the list because I thought well, Rean really isn't that bad, right? I guess he's not but writing this, what I don't like about him just makes me think how much better the game could be if they just like, threw someone with Kevin's personality into CS1 instead. I love Kevin. (Spoiler, he hasn't shown up yet). I just am not the target for someone with Rean's demeanor and that's fine, I know a lot of people love Rean. What I find somewhat odd even to myself is that I think Lloyd is kind of close to Rean in a lot of meaningful ways, but I really love Lloyd, whereas Rean just makes me upset when I think about him. I suppose the differences make all the difference! I'll have much more to say about Lloyd...later.

144. Rean Schwarzer
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/0/09b763cf.jpg
I'm sorry, I really had no choice. You knew this image was coming.

Okay, okay. To be honest, like Gaius or Millium, I had him much lower at first. Over the course of his arc, he did grow on me slightly...but I have never particularly liked Rean. Everything I said about Guy and Towa being too perfect and unrealistically written, I'm going to say the same thing about Rean, to a degree. He feels the most hollow and...I don't know, 'intended-to-be-a-self-insert' of any of the main characters, by a considerable margin. Lloyd has a little bit of that, but he is grounded in a realism that I don't get with Rean. Well, maybe besides Lloyd being one of the strongest warriors on the planet by feats (that does make more sense for Rean), but I blame "lol videogames" for that. A character can be written any way the developers want them to be, whereas in a combat-based video game, you can't really get away with saying the main character isn't a good fighter. It's just the nature of our medium, and being too faithful to which characters are allowed to be good fighters severely limits the different backgrounds your characters can have, which would ultimately just be boring. Anyway, as far as personality goes, I think Rean is far and away the primary offender, for better or worse. I don't know that much about the Calvard protagonist quite yet, but from what little bits I have heard, I think he's closer to Lloyd (or Estelle) than Rean in terms of having a real personality. If that's wrong, don't spoil me too hard, I'll find out sooner or later (probably after I finish Yakuza 0 I'll hop on Daybreak, but it's a slow grind since I'm playing a lot of 2XKO in my gaming time recently).

Anyway, that is my main complaint that I have with Rean. He's too squeaky clean, too perfect, too much of the japanese cultural ideal of "self-sacrificing for the greater good" for my tastes. I think that some people might like that more in a protagonist, but to me it just feels half assed. I'd honestly prefer a silent protagonist like Joker over what we got with Rean. He seems intended to embody these ideals that don't particularly resonate with me as a relatable human being. I prefer a flawed protagonist, with more relatable issues than "I want to help others too much."

I don't like how he seems to be more intelligent than I feel like he reasonably should be. There are multiple instances throughout the games where Rean has the ability to figure out who is behind world changing event X based off of his intuition. One thing that I liked about the Crossbell arc was that Lloyd had a similar capability, but with him being a detective, this felt more natural. He grew up raised by another detective, and he went through police academy training. He had experience building up his skills on the job that we got to witness first hand, and we saw his deductive capabilities grow as the series progressed. For Rean, why is he able to solve mysteries that nobody else on the continent is? Going back to my earlier point around Rean v Lloyd, I like that we can get a detective as a main character and I excuse that he has to be a great fighter. I don't like that we can get a great fighter as a main character but he's inexplicably a great detective. I don't think the unclouded eye superpower he's got really explains that away. I can accept that he can detect nearby enemies based off of their aura or whatever, that's just part of his martial arts prowess. I can even accept that martial arts prowess would somewhat lend itself to analyzing situations better. What I can't accept is that Rean is just more intelligent than everyone else around him when it comes to putting together clues to solve whatever situation is occurring at any given moment. It feels cheap, rather than earned.

I don't like that the majority of his plotline feels like a series of cliches. Yes Rean, you cannot do everything yourself, you should rely on your friends for help (he has to re-learn this every single game). Yes Rean, you do have a dark and mysterious power within you, you should learn how to use that (re-learned most games)! Yes Rean, your father is both powerful and evil and you have to stop him, that must be very hard on you. Yes Rean, every woman alive would love to sleep with you, you don't have to do anything! I don't know just go look at his TV Tropes page sometime, it has like, 500 tropes for him. It's very silly.

I also don't like that Rean is a black hole that his entire party revolves around. The Liberl and Crossbell arcs did a much better job of making the core group seem like an actual group, with a web of connections between them. For Erebonia, it feels more like a hub and spoke design, where everyone exists only as an extension of Rean and do not interact with each other. There are individual examples, like Millium and Jusis, or Machias and Jusis (they liked Jusis), or say Fie and Laura in CS1 only (Did they ever interact past that game?) But how many interactions can you think of between say, Emma and Gaius? Elliot and Fie? I can excuse part of it in that their main group is much larger than the main groups in other games; I do also think they did a better job of this in CS3 and 4 with the student group. They feel much more like a group than the CS1/2 did. But that's the baseline that set my expectations, and it was a source of annoyance for me during that particular arc.

145. Minnith
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/2/265189ae.jpg
He had a truck full of armored cougars, wielding knives in their mouths, just in case this exact situation occurred. Minnith, you are truly destined for great things.

The notorious T.H.E.(...I.F.) falls next. Well, more con-man than thief, but I wanted to make the pun. Or...swindler? I don't know. Thieves steal things directly, con-men steal things in a slightly more legally defensible fashion. I think that's the gist of it. Doesn't matter.

Minnith is one of the few characters to appear in every single arc in Trails, which is a hilarious tidbit for someone that feels pretty unimportant. In Liberl, he's the one who steals the Capua's lands and titles, which then forces them to become pirates (and eventually the Erebonian Fedex). Don Capua does seem the type to not invest in a lawyer before signing a contract, doesn't he? In Crossbell, he attempts to take over Amorica village with his dastardly plot to corner the highly lucrative Crossbellian Honey Industry. This leads to one of the best scenes in the game, where Lloyd pulls a 'Mission Impossible' and fights jaegers on top of a moving train to catch Minnith trying to flee the country. Or maybe a 'Baccano' for my nerds who consume less American media. Point is, I love Lloyd, man. He technically doesn't show up in Erebonia, but he shows up again in Reverie, still in Crossbell, during Machias and Dudley's bromance daydream where he's again trying to corner the highly lucrative Crossbellian Coffee Industry by providing counterfeit goods to local businesses.

I don't know where Minnith gets these ideas man, but he's great. I'm glad they've kept him in a reoccurring bit and am excited to see what shenanigans he gets up to in Calvard. For now though, he places here for being a pretty unimportant side character, and a despicable guy when it comes down to it. He's the type to never give up, even when he's cornered. I mean you gotta respect it a bit for sure, but it'd be nice if you put your talents to a better use. He could have a real future in legitimate trading with all of the gumption he's got!

146. Louise
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/6/6d38e8f9.jpg
If you're a girl in the Trails franchise, you are legally obligated to like Mishy, punishable by death.

Jessica's friend in the tennis club. I didn't plan this, I swear. Maybe it was another subconscious association that had them end up next to each other? Louise is Remeferian, as you can tell from her platinum blonde hair and demure demeanor. Maybe more clumsy than demure, but we'll go with it. She's one of those girls that would have been very fun to tease back in high school. Kind of shy and gets riled up easily. It's very cute. Her main downside is that she's got glasses, that's -1 point. And her bangs are kinda odd. Without those she could be a solid 9/10. I mean, she's got a bow on, man. Shoutouts to bows. They're cute. Plus, platinum blonde hair is my favorite, so she gets more bonus points for that. Well, favorite in terms of like, real life hair colors, I guess. Once you get all anime with the hair colors it's really hard to nail down. It might be blue? Louise and Jessica really were meant for each other, huh...

She ranks high because I like her personality and design, but she just does literally nothing in the plot at any point and has very few scenes overall. You like give her your character notes or something? Or books? I don't know, who cares. But imagine how much better Trails as a game would've been if she was a main character instead of Laura. Well, I don't really like the name Louise, but...any scenes involving her would've been more fun, she's great to look at...oh well. In another life, Louise.

147. Jessica Schleiden
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/2/2620f132.jpg
Censorship? In my Trails? It's more likely than you think.

Laura's little sister! They really redid Laura hardcore with Jessica, I don't know how they got away with it. Looks and personality are both very similar. The main difference is she uses a spear instead of a sword. That's rare enough that you get bonus points from me on that one. She really looks basically the same, but is wearing the basic Thors uniform without any bells and whistles. She ranks higher than her doppelganger because she has a more normal personality and shows up less often. A plus, unfortunately, but hey. This is basically where blank slate Laura would have ranked, because I do dig the design. I do think it's funny that she is one of the very few NPCs that had a playable section. I guess they already had all of Laura's battle system coding done, so a few tweaks made it pretty simple to implement. Not much else to say. Is her last name relevant at all? I don't recall any other Schleidens off the top of my head. It's kind of weird it exists at all, so I'm assuming her dad is some army major or something along those lines.

148. Jona Sacred
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/e/eefe7820.jpg
You and me both, kid.

Jonah Jameson is the first Spiderman character to make an appearance on our list. ...I don't know anyone else named Jona(h) so thats where my brain immediately went. Well, I think we have to start off by talking about his name. Jona Sacred probably wins the 'Best Trails Name' award, that shit goes hard. Imagine how badass your parents have to be to get the last name Sacred? Some shit went down way back in their lineage that we need to learn about. That shit deserves its own spinoff title.

Jona himself on the other hand is probably looked down on by his storied ancestors with the utmost shame. I don't think that he's very popular with anyone other than the exact kinds of nerds that happen to play RPGs like this. If only his ancestors knew who he was really meant to appeal to! With that said, he's less appealing but more, tolerable. As much as I'd like to relate to a shut-in nerd who sits in front of his computer all day and only eats pizza and hot dogs, I can only meet him halfway there. I think I was a lot closer to him in my youth though, so perhaps Jona will grow up one day and surprise us all. Seeing him grow up to become a Trails version of House (MD) would be really funny too, though. I really hope they bring him back in the future because there's lots of fun things they could do with his character. The worst thing would be bringing him back and leaving him completely unchanged, and unfortunately that's probably a real possibility.

As far as plot stuff goes, he shows up whenever any computer-y things need doing in Crossbell, but he honestly doesn't have a real reason to exist when Tio and Renne both exist. Renne is kind of a world warrior though so she's not always available, but Tio generally is. I guess having a male rival for Tio is enough of a reason to exist as any. I wonder how many Jona/Tio shippers there are out there. On second thought, I'm going to stop thinking about that now before I look into it too deeply. Overall what can I say, he's unique and I generally dig his antics, but having the one-note personality and being kind of an ass can't raise him much higher than this.

Hbthebattle posted...

another is introduced in Daybreak so yeah its clearly a thing that can happen

Okay I guess that's just cool and fine on that front then. I'm a sucker for the Xeno classic we will reincarnate and fall in love in every timeline bit but doing it here did not feel earned or really all that meaningful. Osborne could have just been Osborne and it wouldn't have taken away from the plot imo. I guess Arianrod would have had less relevance but even when she did show up for Osborne it just felt kinda off

149. Emperor Dreichels
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/2/23a83c13.jpg
He doesn't get any dialogue, and this is the closest you can get to a picture of his front, most of his art is from the back. I guess he looks like Osborne. Picture Osborne.

The first Emperor of Erebonia. I don't think that's actually true, but for all intents and purposes of the important plot points in the Cold Steel games, they can trace their roots back to him. I feel like that sentence was not properly grammatically correct somehow, but I'm too lazy to figure out how to fix it. Anyway, Dreichels himself, we don't get that many scenes where we actually get to see him. His presence is mainly felt through his reincarnation, Osborne. I'm still not really clear on how the whole reincarnation plotline works. Is there any other character that has some reincarnated form, or just him? I think it's something like Ishmelga influenced the births of Erebonian citizens to take on Dreichels form so that they would rise to power the same way he did and he could use that for his own ends? If I got the gist of that right or wrong then let me know. I guess Ishmelga just gets to do whatever he wants is the point. Yeah, that whole plotline was just weird. This is one of those times that I wish that they did just copy their own homework and re-do the same plot points they had in a past game, with like an artifact going crazy or something. I don't care for all the Ishmelga stuff. Is that a common opinion?

What I did enjoy was the exposition they laid out through the black Records in the first few games. I don't think it ever really went anywhere that crazy, but the mystery it provided early on did keep me engaged and to want to keep playing, so it did it's job effectively. I do wish they had a better payoff. The Black Records really just served to lore dump Dreichels history, which makes you wonder why this is some big secret that must be hidden from the public at all costs. I mean I think they went into the details of the curse which I guess you dont want common citizens to know their nation is cursed at the roots, but maybe they can just hide that tidbit. Is knowing that Dreichels made some friends in Nord that big a deal? That part probably was made public through other means I guess. I don't know what I'm saying anymore, I'll just move on.

Dreichels whole rising through the ranks and divine knight plotline is alright. It probably should've had like a whole chapter or two with like a playable mini section, kind of like they do in Xenoblade 2 for Addam with the Torna expansion. I think that would've added a lot to how we as players relate to these hundreds of years old characters. As it stands though, getting some narration and a graphic backdrop of their exploits in the past is good enough, I guess. Like I was saying in the Beatrix writeup, I dig getting hints at cool backstories for old characters. This situation is a little different, given that they're long dead and all, but you kind of still get that same kind of vibe in a way. Seeing his ascension and heroes journey in all in expedited form was still neat. Overall, I'm a fan.

150. Fiona Craig
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/1/1b1bb631.jpg
...What about that face screams 'sweet', exactly? Your whole family has brain damage.

General Craig's daughter. I think she has a brother, but he doesn't show up much in the games. Maybe they had a plotline written for him and just didn't have time to develop on it? No clue. Anyway, she comes from a family of musicians (outside of her Dad); her instrument was the piano. She mainly just shows up at random and flirts with Neithardt. I think she got kidnapped once. I know she did a concert with her brother once, which was as boring as you'd expect. A pretty standard run-of-the-mill character as they go. She gets bonus points for being pretty and having a generally inoffensive personality. Her main claim to fame is being in an actual adult relationship without it being weird or inappropriate. Props to you for clearing that high bar, Fiona.

151. Patiry
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/0/00da9c94.jpg
Anton would hit on a pile of sludge or a holy Goddess. That is why Anton is the greatest. Anyone who recognizes that is a friend of mine.

Some may call Patiry a 'late addition'. Some may say she 'wasn't supposed to be here'. Some may even go as far as to declare, 'her existence on this list is proof of divine intervention'. However you may feel on this matter, what must be understood by all is that, I did not forget about Patiry. I did forget about Patiry, but when someone said her name in the thread, I immediately thought to myself, "Oh yeah, Patiry. I do remember her". No research required. So really, she should have been on the list to begin with. Why wasn't she? I don't know. I apologize to Patiry fans around the planet for this and hope you can forgive me.

What is there to be said about dear old Patiry. She's not very old, she's rather young, in fact. She's probably Machias exact age, give or take a year or two. I think that her presence annoyed me at first, with her being a bully in Heimdallr. I guess you could call her some kind of 'super-tsundere', but it was so aggressive that I would not call it tsundere, it was just kind of annoying. Her accent did not help me like her any more, either. If I struggle to understand you even in text format we are not off to a good start in our relationship, I'm sorry. However, with all that said, she was clearly a devoted older sister to...whatever his name was, and looked after him and kept him safe. I respect that! Her personality also did grow on me after she left Heimdallr behind and became a sales clerk at the Crossbell department store. Her being more or less forced to mix in some level of politeness and customer service to her general demeanor was a much more entertaining mix compared to her unfiltered state.

I also enjoyed her plotline where she travelled around Erebonia to look for her brother. Reoccurring characters are always fun to see whenever you visit a new area and get a minor update on their adventures. All-in-all, Patiry, you're alright. Not my favorite NPC by any means, but you get a pass.

Apparently warwick is getting shadow dropped playable tomorrow?

https://x.com/Play2XKO/status/1975245846804611329

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyK3lFtz2H8

2xko cinematic. pretty neat

152. Elise Schwarzer
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/b/b99845d0.jpg
She said it first, so it's okay.

Elise is a bit of a weird one. I generally like her personality, but then there's the whole, I want to fuck my brother thing that kind of puts a damper on the whole situation. Estelle and Joshua do have the same scenario, but it feels less weird (still weird but I'm kinda over it at this point) in that case because they did meet much later in life, and Joshua was in a particularly vulnerable state, so anyone showing him any kind of affection turning into a romantic relationship kind of makes sense. For Elise and Rean though, as far as I know Elise has been living with Rean since she was born, right? Maybe like 1 or 2? Young enough that like, every semi-conscious moment of her life, Rean was her brother. It's just weird, man. I can't see any kind of romantic relationship forming in that context. There's like, evolutionary biological blocks in the way for that kind of thing, man. I don't know all the science but I know that shit just don't work like that. But like I said I can like ignore that to some extent, I think she's a fine character if I just put a mental wall around that part of it. (It's optional, it's optional *rocking back and forth in my chair*). I do think they kind of implied Patrick was starting to make a move on her in CS4, so let us pray that works out and she can leave Rean behind.

Moving on...she's one of the many characters (but few named ones) that have received training from my girl Aurier, so good for her. She was kind of fun to use in battle in Reverie, I made her just a speed demon and she would go around poking and prodding and healing constantly, which was pretty useful every now and then. I think that does factor into her being ranked a little higher, because I grew to like her more during Reverie cuz of that. As far as the plot goes, she kind of goes from damsel in distress to someone vaguely doing 'Noble-things' in the background, back to damsel, then ends up being one of many characters on board the Courageous. Nothing too exciting. The main benefit of her presence throughout the Erebonia arc was her relationship with Alfin, since it gave Alfin a good opportunity to act more like a 'normal girl' instead of a stereotypical princess. She was pretty adept at switching between those two roles, which was fun to see. I don't know man, I want to like Elise a lot more but...Falcom just really wants to scare away people with healthy libidos.

153. Sonya Baelz
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/1/161654ab.jpg
Oh dear, did I leave those nuclear launch codes on my desk again? I'm so clumsy, teehee

Sergei's ex-wife and original deputy commander of the Crossbell Guardian Force, later promoted to full commander. She's shown to be an exceedingly competent and put together woman. She does not leave room for error and expects much from the SSS, even if they are not under her jurisdiction. I'd imagine part of that being that they ARE under Sergei's jurisdiction. I don't know if they ever explained why they got divorced? Probably because they are both too invested in their careers to pay each other enough attention if I had to guess, but I don't remember them really coming out and explaining it. They probably did and I just forgot.

Sonya's cool, she's not quite as fun as Douglas was but you definitely have to respect her. Being one of the few people Randy won't mess with says volumes. She definitely had a tough role to live up to, given all of the political turmoil that has plagued Crossbell over the last 7 games. She tried her best to help us without staging an all-out coup against Dieter once he started going crazy. Probably the best action to minimize bloodshed, though she gives the indication she would've gone all out for us if it came to that. All-in-all, seems like a good person and someone you'd want to have in your corner.

I always just said DG in my head

colliding posted...

I think Ennea was a victim of the D therefore G so I would probably rank her a smidgen higher for having some backstory

Add Aurier to the "forgot they existed" list for me. Also please don't show that cursed Rean costume ever again

Blame Google man I would never use that

I have no idea who that is but I agree

https://x.com/CrazyDiamond777/status/1974156302730604783

warwick confirmed :D thanks riot

That's low tier! Here's the current list:

Low Tier
154 Beatrix
155 Wayne
156 Lynn
157 Albert von Bartholomeus
158 Pablo
159 Gustaf
160 Aurier Vander
161 Ennea
162 Ines
163 Millium
164 Duke Cayenne
165 Ilya
166 Eugent Reise Arnor
167 Towa
168 Laura
169 Gaius
170 Rocksmith
171 Leonora
172 McBurn
173 Douglas
174 Victor Arseid
175 Hugo
176 Friedel
177 Guy
178 Sieg
179 Stark
180 Michel
181 Vandyck
182 Ein Selnate
183 Shizuku
184 Priscilla
185 Gerhart Rogner

Bottom Tier
186 Teo Schwarzer
187 Carl Regnitz
188 Franz
189 Xin
190 Ada
191 Fritz
192 Black Alberich
193 Cedric Arnor
194 Kurt (Sky)
195 Sidney
196 Valimar
197 Helmut Albarea
198 Clara
199 Gideon
200 Margarita
201 Machias
202 Alan (Cold Steel)
203 Celine
204 Hibelle
205 Irina
206 Kairi
207 Vulcan
208 General Morgan
209 Dorothee
210 Elliot
211 Harold Hayworth
212 Georg Nome
213 Angelica

Next up is Mid tier, which will get us most of the way to my top 100. Mid tier is characters that I pretty much have good vibes about all the way through, or that may just pique my interest in another way.

154. Beatrix
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/7/7b87e0f7.jpg
They say offense is the best defense, right? ....right???

Our resident physician for the first two Cold Steel games. I have a bit of a soft spot for the kind old lady nurse archetype, so I rather liked her. I also have a bit of a soft spot for when they give you a small glimpse into the backstory of an elderly side character that implies they had their own badass 'Hero's Journey' type of adventures in their youth. They had some throwaway line that she was one of the best snipers in the army in her youth and I just love that so much. She was also apparently one of the top healers in the army, which is not something I realized had their own ranking system, but I guess she just treated more wounded than everyone else? Casting Tear is hard work, after all. It's always funny to me to see that dissonance between like, actual healing being putting on bandages or whatever when in game it's just, cast the heal spell! Whenever those two concepts kind of clash in the cutscenes of a game I always think that's funny. You never see someone casting Tear at St. Ursula's is all I'm saying.

Anyway, as far as Beatrix goes, eventually she settles down and treats the wounded at Thors for a few years. She had a fun relationship with Fie where she let Fie skip class to take a nap in her office or whatever. I guess she has a soft spot for the people that have seen real combat at Thors. It's a shame we never see her again after transferring to the branch campus, but Vivi is much easier on the eyes, so I guess it worked out okay. I'd rank her higher but ultimately she's kind of forgetful after the first two games, unfortunately.

155. Wayne
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/6/69816e60.jpg
Compensating, much?

Most notable for being the brother of the famous Myka from the Kurtina/Myka pairing, Wayne is the resident musclehead of the class. I didn't rank Myka so you can consider this a dual ranking, because she boosted his placement a bit. His gimmick is being obsessed with muscles and wanting to improve his body. There are worse goals in life, but you need to have some other hobbies, man. I guess he's in the swim club, but iirc he's only there so he can show off his muscles more, so...

The weird thing is he isn't some like, hugely roided up looking guy. He's solid but not as huge as some of the other guys in the series. I guess he's still in school, so he's got some time left to reach those heights. His gimmick was kind of funny, generally better than Pablo's at least though without the same highlight of the magazine thing that I loved about Pablo. The kids running away from him in his daydream in Reverie was funny, though. I think he's also the one that originally introduced us to the swimming minigame that you play a couple of times throughout the games. That was pretty fun. He's also one of very few students that is playable, when you have a sidequest where you have to beat Laura and Duvalie with him and Jessica. I guess that means the devs really liked him? Ultimately I'd say he gets this high from being boosted off of his association to Myka, though. She's really hilarious.

156. Lynn
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/1/17ddb06b.jpg
Yeah, god only knows who that could be...

Lynn is one of the Crossbell bracers, alongside Arios, Aeolia, and Scott. Lynn probably gets the least amount of screen time of the bunch if I had to guess, but she makes an impression. Actually I guess that might be Scott, but he's memorable for having a kid during the events of the story. Also for being the most generic design of all time. A plain brown haired guy named Scott is just funny. We've already got plain brown haired Lloyd, kid. There's no room for you.

Back to Lynn...She kind of reminds me of Estelle, in a way. She's punchy with her dialogue, she's got a sporty design, she seems impatient regarding incompetence, and is generally emotional. But not in any kind of negative way. I think if she got more screen time I'd move her higher, but we didn't get a huge opportunity to get to know her. I like her design though! I also like that she speaks her mind when a lot of the characters in Trails can be more polite...it's the traditional Japanese thing I suppose.

She apparently has some backstory with Kilika, so maybe she'll show up some in Crossbell? Probably a bit of a stretch, but I wouldn't mind seeing more Lynn. What else...I vaugely recall the fight with her and Aeolia in Azure to be pretty difficult. I think it took me a few tries. Lynn's pretty cool. We need more badass punching chicks in my Trails franchise.

157. Albert von Bartholomeus
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/f/fa0da6c4.jpg
Prince by day, doctor by night...he is 'The Crowned Physician'! Coming soon to a theater near you.

The ruler of Remeferia is our next to fall. I'm not going to lie, I think I got him mixed up some with Alicia from Liberl a bit when I was making this list due to the whole 'von' thing. I thought he was related to Liberl somehow. I think he should probably be a bit lower, but it's too late to move him down, so he can sit here. He's fine, but he doesn't get a whole lot of screen time. Which unfortunately makes sense, since Remeferia as a whole is not explored very much, to date. I hope they get more screen time in the future, since I always love my winter kingdoms in media. You'd think they'd be more important since their main claim to fame is being the most advanced medically on the continent, but since we've spent so much time recently between Erebonia and Crossbell, all the medical talk has been centered around St. Ursula's. I guess we never need any large scale medical intervention because all of the wars get cancelled before anyone can die! Oh, Trails...

In general though, he tends to pale in comparison to Lucy, the prettier and more frequently used Remeferian representitive. He did get a scene in Azure where he diagnosed someone before the legendary Doctor Seiland could, which was kind of funny / strange. I guess he's a man of many talents! I don't know why a Prince would need professional medical training, but I guess it's to drive the point home that Remeferia is the medicine place. Hopefully they get more screen time in the future.

158. Pablo
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/8/8eb20267.jpg
You'll never guess what he's referring to.

Another student who doesn't get too much screentime, but I think his concept is just hilarious. A scottish redhead who's obsessed with trains is a novel concept in media, for me at least. I'm just glad they didn't make him Irish and give him freckles. That would be the 4kids localization, I guess. Are they still around or am I showing my age? I guess we're all in the same age group on this board anyway. That's why I love you guys. Also, why does every redhead in the trails series have the exact same shade of red hair? It's not the realistic one, either. I guess Elliot and Fiona are closer to 'real red' being more orange, but they suck, so who cares.

Anyway Pablo's funniest moment and one of the funniest moments in the whole series to me is when he bet Crow he could beat him in Vantage Masters putting up an (implied) porn mag as a bet, and then he loses and gives him a train magazine. I really just lost it man, that was too funny. And perfectly in character. They definitely lean a little hard on the whole 'Pablo likes trains' thing, but he shows up sparingly enough that it was always funny to me. He's also a member of the rock and roll club funnily enough, which I didn't think about until just now. I wonder if I associated them together subconsciously? I always just think of him as the train kid.

159. Gustaf
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/d/d90cc8c8.jpg
And dating, in the Trails universe. Also how do they have computers but no child labor laws?

GUSTAF! Just pretend I said that with a Russian accent. I think this guy is pretty cool. Kind of a gentle giant, but he also makes bombs, which is a lot cooler than anything I could do at 17 years old (mainly just waveshine kids). He's most notable for being the drummer in the Thors Rock & Roll band and for being Laura's cooler older brother. Not really but they have the same hair, so...maybe Vander got around. He was travelling all the time and all, Aurier would never know. She would definitely have killed him though, for sure.

He does kind of seem like a childhood Victor though; I know he gets all stuffy and wise and shit like all the 'old' warriors in Trails, but you can tell he's got some personality underneath. I can see it. Not much else to say about Gustaf though, but I like the guy.

9.5

160. Aurier Vander
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/8/8dca48da.jpg
Seeing 'cardplay' used as a noun is just taking me out man, I can't.

Some more fodder for the pile. Aurier doesn't get too much time in the spotlight, but I enjoyed what time she did get. I think that warrior moms are pretty cool. She uses a naginata, which are infinitely cooler than halberds. I don't know if we ever got to see her fight unfortunately, I only recall her training her students. But she's apparently pretty strong. She really just ranks this high because 1) She's very pretty, 2) She has a cool weapon and 3) She has such a cool name. 'Aurier' is like an alternate Aurora, which is also a cool name. If I have a second girl, it's honestly a contender. My first girl isn't born or conceived yet, but we've already decided that she will be named Elly, of course. (I've got one son and his name is Ethan. Unfortunately not gaming related, unless you happen to really like the protagonist of RE7/8).

161 & 162. Ennea and Ines
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/5/5c433907.jpg
Honestly they're together in half of their pictures anyway, so this wasn't very hard to find.

Part of the other half of the Stahlritter. Duvalie really syphoned all the fame out of that group, huh. We love our tsunderes! While the other two don't get nearly as much characterization as their poster child, they have their moments. I enjoyed them appearing in both the Crossbell and Erebonia arcs. For some reason they seemed a lot more intimidating in Crossbell. Maybe just because we knew less about them? I never felt too threatened by their presence in later games. Maybe except for the start of CS3, but that's probably because we were just given a brand new group of protagonists to fight them with and a slightly changed battle system. That brings back the novelty. I don't know who 'Juna' or 'Ash' are man, how are they going to beat them?

I enjoyed their presence in the Magical Alisa side story in Reverie. I don't really have much to say about what differentiates them, but I'm putting Ennea above Ines because I like her design better and bows are cooler than halberds. There's probably more, but to me they just blur together. Nothing sticks out to me immediately, so I'm putting them together.

And I, the player, am vicariously living through him

Leonhart4 posted...

Kurt/Estelle by my arts

You might be the first person to ever try and make that match

I guess I can't offer my opinion yet but I can say it's definitely not Laura!

Thorn posted...

She lowkey has some of the best chemistry with Rean IMO.

Yeah I mean I said that and I agree but thats like +0.5 points for me. Nothing else that she 'does right' really appeals to me a super lot!

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

ok good enough ill buy it

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

someone tell me if blame yourself or god is still here this determines my purchase

Fwiw i listened to all the data mine files and all it really is is Jinxes voice lines, referring to warwick and caitlyn. Nothing from the characters themselves. Also, she had about 15 voice lines for warwick and only like 5 for caitlyn, so maybe ww is a lot further in development? It's hard to guess just off of that but...

I have a buddy who works in the industry that told me he heard akali, lux, kindred, and Warwick was the rest of season 1, but I have no idea who his sources are so no idea if that's actually reputable. Warwick is soft confirmed from the data mine at least but no mention of the other one mentioned in the data mine makes me a bit suspicious.