LogFAQs > #962516116

They end up getting around to the fact that Cedric is missing, to which Altina reveals that he was taken to the palace. While anyone with half a brain should be able to tell she's only revealing this because it's some sort of trap to get them to go there, nobody seems to mind. Sara kind of says something like, you've certainly got a lot of information for us, but doesn't call her out directly. Altina also reveals that there's some ritual that they're using him for, and that everyone here is too late to stop it. As soon as she says that, some mysterious chanting picks up in the background and slowly gets louder and louder...

Emma says this is a ritual to summon a demon, Lucifer Lied. Cool name. The emperor says that they must be trying to recreate the events from the War of the Lions, just to make sure that the player doesn't miss that plot thread one final time. We get a scene change to the basement of the castle, where Cedric is tied to a chair, screaming, while some weird magical stuff goes on around him. All the main villains are present and make some remark about one thing or another, but Crow is the only one who apologizes to Cedric, and asks him to bear with it a little longer. Of course Crow would be the villain with a heart of gold, how touching.

It zooms out to a view outside of the castle, as some demonic tentacles start taking it over as the castle grows in size and becomes much more...villainous looking. Not very nuanced. Rufus calls it the Black Castle, and says it's just as the black records described it. How'd he get that shit decoded when we can't man, this is a ripoff! Plus they're scattered all over the country. Now I'm picturing Rufus crossing things out with a Sharpie and tossing them out of his airship at a random point in Erebonia as he finishes each one. He does say this time it was only the Ashen that awoke to fight the Azure, which is different. So I guess there's some more robots out there somewhere waiting to go. There is that big black one beneath the castle they seem eager to use, but I'm guessing he's more of a final boss type deal.

Vita says the noble alliance's victory is all but assured, though I have to wonder if she really thinks that or if she's just talking pretty for Rufus. She leaves and Rufus also wonders to her true motivations, but says that it doesn't matter because he has his own problems to worry about. He tells his crew aboard his airship to begin for combat with the Courageous~

We get back to Class VII, as Altina leaves by busting through a glass window saying she's got better shit to do. I guess now that she told Rean and Co. where to go she's got no purpose left. Claire runs through the door of the villa and says that she'll escort the emperor and empress to safety, and will also help Machias' dad get back to Heimdallr so he can lead evacuation efforts. So selfless! The gang talks about helping evacuate Heimdallr but Rean's like nah, we're going to that castle, because I can tell some shit's going down and we ALL know I'm the main character up in this bitch. Then they all *sigh* like yeah we know Rean, let's go...

The emperor gives us some accessory, the Grand Cordon, but we don't have a chance to check what it does since we're still in cutscene mode. The gang is aboard the Courageous again, preparing to infiltrate Heimdallr airspace. They give Rean shit about being overprotective of his sister now that she's on board. The only time anyone is allowed to insult Rean is about how he is too caring~ what a guy. Man I really hope this game pulls an Azure and says that everyone only loves Rean so much because he is magically bending spacetime to make people like him. That would go a long ways towards explaining everything.

We eventually get to Heimdallr, as Rufus' ship appears and begins to fire on us. Towa orders evasive maneuvers and to descend into town to disembark Class VII. It's kind of hard to take her seriously in this tense situation lol, hopefully she's not captain next game if they keep up with this civil war shit lol. I'm sure she will be though.

They have a scene where the nobles and Makarov/Thomas disembark to fight some magic knights outside of the castle. There's a part where Makarov is smoking and complains because a knight teleports in behind him and makes him put out his cig lol, that was kind of funny. Eventually we make it to the castle as Rean busts down the gate with Valimar, however, as soon as he does a mysterious ~spiritual~ barrier appears in its stead. Nobody can figure out how to get past it, but Rean has an idea to channel the power of the Zemurian Ore into one giant blow in order to break it down. That's just nonsensical enough to work!

It does work for plot reasons and the gang heads inside, as we get a jump cut to the Courageous, still in combat with Rufus. Vivi is doing her scouting thing though and says that Class VII has made it inside the castle, but that the barrier reappeared behind them as they went in preventing them from providing any backup. It's okay, we're not stuck in there in them, they're stuck in there with us, you know? That's just the way I like it.

As soon as you get inside the castle and take in the oppressive architecture, Millium chimes in saying, now THIS is a final dungeon! Nice lol. Valimar is out of commission because he channeled too much power to break down that barrier. I'm sure he'll recharge just in the knick of time for some lame ass final fight with Crow though. Lmao ok Valimar literally says, "By my calculations, I should return to peak condition just in time for the battle against the Azure Awakener." I'll give them credit for playing it straight.

The gang prepares for the boss rush that is going to be coming, which at this point is definitely a Trails tradition. The final dungeon boss rush is the best part, I'm down. They let you pick your party with 7 members again, do I go with Emma, or Millium...I'm kind of becoming a Millium fan so I'll go with her. Fie is cool but she probably won't really add much to the cutscenes. Millium always has some spice. Emma might have something interesting to say lore wise...but nah, fuck it. Millium all the way, right? But hopefully it lets me switch my party easily throughout so I can switch Fie in before I fight Xeno and Leo, but otherwise...nah. I'm sure they will, the games have gotten a lot better about that compared to Sky. I remember missing Zin's cutscene with Walter because I couldn't be assed to put his bitch ass in. Plus I probably would never have been able to beat the fight because I never used him.

There's new equipment here for everyone who wasn't able to get a Zemurian ore weapon, so I shell out some cash to upgrade everyone since money is meaningless at this point. Plus it was funny to see Elliot's armor go up by like, 700 for 4000 gold lol. There's some pots you can break at the front of the room that drop shit which can include U materials, giving you a farming spot if you're dedicated enough to reload a bunch and you want to get everyone's Zemurian ore weapons before the final dungeon. I definitely cannot be bothered to do that for a game this stupidly easy but it's some good game design I suppose.

The way through is pretty boring, in standard trails dungeon design fashion, but it does look nice. Trails really needs to work on their dungeon design though. I guess nobody's perfect. At the end of the first section there is a teleporter that takes you back to the beginning, so it will be easy to match characters for their respective bosses at least. Thank you, Falcom. No more, "Too bad ZIN isn't here to take you on, Walter! *wink wink*" for me!