Board 8 > azuarc plays LoH: Trails of Cold Steel (progressive spoilers)

(+) Yeah! (+)

The Mishy plushie is definitely the better choice for Laura, no matter what she thinks. She doesn't need any help CRUSHING WALLS after all

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I will gladly let her crush my walls.

On the note of Laura, I left out the part where there's apparently some kind of tiff between her and Fie. The samurai apparently takes offense to the ninja's background.

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Decided to run the schoolhouse. Was laughably easy. The boss might have been challenging, if not for what I learned during my ordeal with the dogs. Instead, it was almost trivial. Laura takes a crack at Fie without mentioning her when we're done, and I can't imagine that's really in-character for her. She must really hate the Jaegers. Did they kill her dog when she was little or something?

Outside, some dude wants me to hunt down his prized stickers, which turn out to all be pictures of Misty from the radio. I was thinking that was going to be Sara, and maybe it still is, but the chick looks different enough that it's unlikely. I also stop at the library in passing, where Emma offers to go over some test answers with me. Try as he might to study her lessons, Rean ends up studying something else instead, becoming quite enamored with Emma's boobs. "Your bond with Emma has increased!"

Sara returns as Rean gets to the dorm, and they both meet the new maid together. There's definitely something fishy about Sharon, not the least of which is that her voice sounds strangely robotic now. Also, letter from sis, whose name is strikingly close to Alisa's. There's something strange about Rean's past with Elise. He's also been a bad boy who hasn't written home in two months.

Crossbell has a place called Arc en Ciel. I wonder if they both have a Nosurge? Arc and Ciel, that is.

Midterm score time. Apparently there's 99 students in year 1, but only a handful of their names are being shown to me. Vivi tanked. Fie was lowest in our class, unsurprisingly. Elliot was in the 21-40 range. Nobody else's names show up before that. I get 15th, ahead of Laura and Gaius, but Emma and Machias literally tie for first. Unsurprisingly, class 7 kicked ass and took names. Class I will remember this.

Sara has a not-so-flattering opinion of the VP, too, who apparently told her she needs to hurry up and get married. I'm surprised she didn't already marry her foot to his face like she promised. And speaking of misogyny, I'm not allowed to bring Laura into a fight with Class I now. Just for kicks, I try to replace her with Fie, and that doesn't fly, either. And then he has a problem with Jusis, too. Man, this guy...so why am I allowed to choose this party again? Either way, they made the mistake of not banning the real MVP of this fight -- Gaius. He just kept unleashing beam attack after beam attack, while Elliott's buff kept everyone alive. And nobody's enjoying this more than Machias, lol.

And then holy shit that smackdown Gaius gives Patrick when he gets all uppity afterwards. With calm, measured dignity, Gaius just dismantles Noble Twit's little ego bubble. (It was a big ego bubble, but not any more.)

This month's field study: Alisa, Gaius, Jusis, Emma. Technically, Gaius is the only one I haven't had a field study with, and I'll note that Laura and Fie are auspiciously placed together in group B. Whatever spat the two of them are having is only going to come back even bigger and have to be sorted out upon their return. But Laura's reasonable and Fie's usually indifferent to everything, so it couldn't be as bad as Jusis x Machias, right?

And somehow, we'll be staying at Gaius's house for this one, and he already knows it. Huh.

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I wasn't planning on writing another update tonight (or even being awake this late,) but the little bit of extra story mandated a few remarks.

We leave Trista as a big group, before splitting ways at the first layover. Group B is bound for some friction. We ride another couple hours to Roer, where Sharon (who I want to call Rachel for some reason) shows up, having beaten us there. Apparently using the company jet to fly a maid to outrace the chairman's daughter is a good use of company resources. We meet Alisa.mom and she's pretty much what I'd expect from a high end CEO. But she sure has Alisa's number, and when Alisa complains about it, Jusis kinda throws it back at her for having a mom who shows up and seems to care.

One final train ride to the end of the line and we reach Skyrim, home of the Nords. It was at this point I realized a few things.

1) I haven't really been thinking very heavily about the premise of these field studies, but when I was in 7th grade, my parents paid for a traveling summer camp where I got onto a charter bus with a bunch of other kids and we toured all over the area, ranging up to Toronto and down to North Carolina. I didnt' fully appreciate it at the time, or how expensive it must have been for my parents, but I look back on it from time to time. I'm not someone who normally appreciates travel all that much, but I'm realizing now how much that parallels what the kids are doing, except they're doing it on a wayy higher level, and it's making me appreciate the sort of adventure and wonder Class VII must be experiencing.

2) Speaking of wonder, Skyrim--er, I mean, the Nord Highlands is awesome looking. The cynical part of me wanted to say oh look, we reached chapter 11 of FF13. But the rest of me saw this opportunity to suddenly ride a horse around this wide open plain as liberating, and I think this may have been my favorite moment in the game so far in spite of what the story has to offer. Both this and the first point are complemented by arriving in Yurtville, where Gaius's parents welcome us despite -- I would imagine -- not having a great deal of wealth to their name and having given up their eldest son. The sudden culture shift is really refreshing, though, and doesn't at all feel tokenized like it easily could have.

I also really liked the music riding out in the highlands. I'll experience it some more tomorrow.

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The highlands seem cool at first and then by the end you hate them for being too big.

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I didn't mind CS1 Chapter 3 at all. But I also really enjoyed the party of chapter 3. Lot of characters start doing their intended functions. Quartz options start getting decent. Also there always seems to be somewhere your going. That being said. Pretty sure it's one of the longer chapters overall.

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shane15 posted...

The highlands seem cool at first and then by the end you hate them for being too big.

azuarc should have Turbo Mode and Quick Travel and won't be stuck in PS3/Vita hell though so that should help.

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Laura and Dogi would make an awesome team

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https://youtube.com/watch?v=WMAFY92VEbI

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Oh boy...okay, just played all of chapter 3.

Highlands, phase 1: Nothing much interesting. Three quests. Riding around the countryside. Gaining 4 levels making a circuit around the southern map.

Highlands, phase 2: Nothing much interesting. Three quests. Riding around the countryside. Gaining 4 levels making a circuit around the northern map. Two offshoot areas we can't do anything in yet.

But then the fun begins. First, Yurtville's truck breaks down and Alisa analyzes it but can't fix it. We get an old hermit who happens to be her grandfather. Revelations about the Reinford Group abound. Then we get back to town, spend the night, and think we're about to get ready to return home after one final task, but noOOoo, somebody decides they want to instigate a war.

10:30, we arrive at Fort Zender. The general gives us until 12 to produce an answer to how their lookout tower and the Republic's army base have both been attacked. We inquire at the tower, do some fancy math, and determine the origin of the mortar attacks -- Alisa recognizes both the shells, as well as the launchers once we find them. (Emma does her I'm-totally-not-a-magician act again.) Then we give chase to the white machine thing with the blue-haired girl who reminds me way too much of Tiny Tina and catch up to her at some ruins, where she lets us beat on her to prove our strength. (!?) Eventually, she capitulates and tells us she was also investigating -- please help. Rean's way too trusting, but she agrees to ride on his horse rather than her magic flying ancient.

12:00, we reach the village, call the general, get a time extension. I ride out into the northern highlands, and decide to take time out of our deadline to go kill a nasty monster instead. And make no mistake, this bastard is nasty, but he really likes to give chase to one group member, so I just kinda cheese the fight. (Is it cheesing if that's how the designers meant for you to do it?) Was still way harder than I intended, considering I blew Tiny Tina's CP testing her S-craft right before that.

After reporting that in, we go to the ruins, Emma once again knows more than an intelligent scholar ought to, and Lammy breaks down the door for us. Weird effects drain Emma's CP right before a boss fight. Then we encounter Gideon, who needs to go back to signing record contracts for Sex Bob-omb. We interrupt his master plan, fight off his jaeger henchman -- Fie would be embarrassed -- then stand stupidly idle while he summons a giant spider. The pre-fight was harder than the spider.

Gideon gets away with a grappling hook. Tiny Tina is the "white rabbit," whatever that means. Everything else is a big fat question mark. But we report back to the general to try to stop the war, and it looks like our side understands, but the opposition less so -- until Hannibal Lecter shows up. Captain Lecter is Tiny's boss, as well as one of the top dogs in the intelligence division, and he...I have no idea what he does, actually, but crisis averted. Yay.

One final scene apart from the group, further revealing how we're just pawns being moved on the board. Gideon talks to red-mask Darth Vader again, who flies in on a black airship. Apparently even with their plans foiled, they're prepared to move forward. Sara watches them fly off, thanks her lucky stars things didn't go worse, then calls Sharon out of the weeds. The two have a little chat, and then return to the village together to give Alisa a heart attack.

Chapter 3 complere. 64 AP, rating A. Other than missing a question during the special lesson, and one during the investigation because it was oblique and I got ahead of the writing, I'm not aware of missing anything.

I'm going to make an observation now that these chapters seem to have one thing in common with Seiken Densetsu 3. One of the interesting components of that game is that you can choose from six characters, which leads to three main plots. For each of those plots, there's a "good guy" character and a "bad guy" character, in the sense that each of these people hails from a faction where one is oppressing the other. The "bad guy" characters aren't bad -- they're opposed to their leaders -- but it's clear that the story revolves around those two. And I'm seeing something similar evolve over chapter 2 and 3. Chapter 2 was clearly about Jusis and Machias. 3 was about Gaius and Alisa. Chapter 1 wasn't really about anybody, but I'm predicting we're going to see something similar in 4 and 5. (I'm just assuming there's 5 chapters. I do know there's two months until the conference, though.)

Anyway, I glossed over stuff I could have talked about in greater length, but anyone reading this topic's probably played the game, and I doubt anyone really needs to know about how I saved five sheep or escorted a photographer, so unless you wanted to hear my impressions of the deets on Rean and Alisa's starlight chat, I think this should basically cover everything.

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Keep that Tiny Tina nickname in mind...

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Vignette in Heimdallr: Evil music plays. Captain Claire talks to -- I presume -- the Iron Chancellor, who mentions someone named Rocksmith. I didn't know they had invented orbal guitars video games already. The Icy Maiden leaves and in walks Machias's old man. Looks like him, too.

Fade to black and two blonde dudes in red coats are talking. One of them has Gaius's voice, but isn't Gaius. Wait, this is Olivert? Wasn't he the flowery bard dude in FC? This guy is nothing like him...the younger kid's sister pops out, and I'm pretty sure this is the girl we saw at the train station. She has someone in mind to dance with her, and I'm wondering how she plans on getting Rean out of Thors for the occasion.

Jump to St. Astraia and Rean's sister. Her hair and dress makes her look one part nun and one part maid. Something in his letter to her makes her upset, though she doesn't narrate what that would be.

And suddenly its 16 days later and we're back in Trista. Nobody's wearing their red jackets any more because gosh, it's just too darn hot now. In fact, everyone's in bathing suits for swim lessons. Honestly did not expect to see everyone -- including Sara -- at the pool. And lucky me, I get to race her in the pool with a really bad timing minigame. Takes me four tries to get first because I literally miss the first two hits entirely every attempt before that.

Laura and Fie go at it in the pool, and I start to understand their rift -- Fie holds herself back, and Laura is all about maximizing her potential. For once she goads Fie into pushing herself, they nearly tie, and Fie still insists on not giving 100%. Laura is annoyed.

Around campus, Laura is annoyed and takes it out on her swimming student. Sara's at the schoolhouse, concluding that once again nothing has changed from last month, but still warning me we'll be going in. And I overheard Emma talking to someone around a corner and then catch her with just the black cat. She manages to talk her way out of the situation because Rean's a dumb-dumb, but before he caught her in the act, she said something about a mysterious "he" exhibiting some kind of potential.

On the way back to the dorms, Neithardt congratulates Rean on his work in the Nord Highlands, and personally I'm wondering why a military officer is coloring his eyelids with gold if nobody else in this game is wearing make-up. Lips are the same color, and he has some impressive eyelashes, too. Wonder if he's into Mascara as well. He's definitely annoyed that we didn't follow the chain of command, though, and laments Sara's teachings.

Speak of the devil, she shows up. And then the history teacher walks in and tries to invite us all out to drinks, and for once, Rean gets the upper-hand on Sara.

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NFUN posted...

Keep that Tiny Tina nickname in mind...

Yeah, well, I know Ashly Burch's voice when I hear it...

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I kept playing a little last night. I know I had a paragraph written that I didn't post, but I can't recall what was in it. Something with Laura. I did the quests leading up to the schoolhouse, so it was probably about that. One was to stop a budding paparazzo (who took some pretty nice pictures, to be fair,) one was to get Bridget and Alan together at last, and I really have no idea what the third one was. Free time events included helping Instructor Sara kill random monsters (which didn't get me any xp, wtf!) and proofreading a lewd book with Emma.

In the schoolhouse, every enemy is easily stunned and triple-advantaged until the boss, which is a repeat of the cherub gate fight from a while ago, except it's absurdly hard going in with no preparation. They don't cluster, they use AE attacks, and they confuse your party, which effectively means all they have to do is sit back and nuke you to death. I died, picked retry, and literally got killed on the second attempt before I could take a single action. (Well, I think Rean got to move once.) I picked retry and weaken, and it was absolutely not at all easier. Why doesn't this game give you the option to regroup and change your equipment before you retry?

Oh, look, nobody had any accessories equipped unless they were part of my chapter 3 group. Time to bust out those green pendulums I invested such good money in.

And the boss goes down easy this time. Still immune to physical, but it's funny how you can work around that when you're not getting nuked to death AND actually getting your own attack rounds. We clear the boss, go back to the elevator, and discover a mysterious red door that gives Rean chest pains. (Emma will remember this.)

Oh, now I remember. Laura's apparently the Ultimate Tennis Champ now, because her new favorite phrase is "I still have a ways to go." Everything regarding her temper with Fie, her swordsmanship, it's "I still have a ways to go." I should start a drinking game at this point.

Then Elise (not Alisa) shows up and pulls Rean aside and they have a brother-sister moment where she yells, "I hate you, I hate you!" and runs off. Rean was just trying to be logical. What a dumbass. To be fair, while Rean kind of ducked his noble heritage, I didn't think he would literally duck out on it. And I certainly didn't think he would be so determined to do so in order to not be a burden to his family after them putting up with his sorry ass for twelve years.

...And the rest of the class was just standing there, listening in the whole time. That's just great. I love how they order Rean to go after her, and he isn't even like, "WTF, GUYS! Why are you listening in on my private conversation?" Somehow, even Laura and Fie, the two people not present for all this, are getting on my case, too. But no, apparently she went into the old schoolhouse, because of course she did. Unlocked and lured in by the cat. That little punk. I even gave her milk earlier on the roof.

We rush down the elevator and...oh, geezus, WTF is this. Rean apparently has unlocked some latent superpower and gone all super saiyan on the creature attacking his sister. White hair, red eyes, low dead voice. It's easy enough to fight the thing, but then at half health, Rean reins himself back in and becomes normal again. Something about not losing himself and something about "that winter day." Maybe a reference to how he was found by his parents, or maybe something else entirely. I'm sure we'll know soon enough.

Crow helps me finish the fight, which is cool. The fight's a gimme, but it still feels epic. I like Crow's S-craft, though. I think it's interesting they have all the animations and voice lines for these temporary party members. Everyone runs in after, and it's report time after a few choice lines. The scene ends with Emma gasping and glaring angrily at Celine, up in the rafters.

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Fast forward, rewind, fast forward, rewind. Everyone greets Elise to the dorms for a night, and then part ways soon after. Rean treats her like a little sister, and everyone dwells on this later and how Rean "doesn't get it," although I must be dense, because unless they're implying that he's handling her like a kid, I have no idea what they're referring to.

The practical is me and a member of my choice vs Laura and Fie. They're laughably easy despite having a little bit of extra HP. I overwhelm Fie before they get more than one attack off, and then take down Laura with an S-craft to fulfill the objective. To that effect, I get my report card, but I miss points for A Brush With Destiny because I didn't know who I was supposed to turn it into and stupidly thought maybe this is just a quest that resolves later. (The clue was that the person was male and wasn't supposed to be on campus today, and that could have only meant the principal or the military instructor, I thought.) 28 AP, 182 total, for rank B1.

Field study, conveniently, is to Heimdallr. Groups are the same as last time, except I've been flipped to the Laura-Fie contingent. Everyone is aware, and thinks Sara's being a little too blatant.

Okay, so at what point am I going to be able to buy non-basic orbs? Because I feel like there aren't enough good ones to go around now that I actually can open up all the lines....oh, that's what the pawn shop's actually for, isn't it. Place has seemed like a waste of time until now. Still, I don't really want to go back and forth between there and gathering all the garbage he wants in order to trade up. Give me a menu where I can just buy it. Otherwise, I'm doing without, because F that.

And I think I'll save the rest for tomorrow. Maybe someone will convince me to actually play asinine crafting games before I board the train.

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Olivier was the bard in FC. Olivert is the archduke or high prince or whatever of Erebonia

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azuarc posted...

Oh, look, nobody had any accessories equipped unless they were part of my chapter 3 group. Time to bust out those green pendulums I invested such good money in.

When a Field Study starts everyone not on your team has their accessories and any quartz ranked rare or higher automatically de-equipped. It's on you to re-equip them once you get them back. On the plus side, that group gets free equipment upgrades that are roughly on par with what you would have bought in a shop had they been on the field study with you.

azuarc posted...

Rean treats her like a little sister, and everyone dwells on this later and how Rean "doesn't get it," although I must be dense, because unless they're implying that he's handling her like a kid, I have no idea what they're referring to.

they're saying rean doesn't realize his sister is totally crushing on him

i am serious

azuarc posted...

To that effect, I get my report card, but I miss points for A Brush With Destiny because I didn't know who I was supposed to turn it into and stupidly thought maybe this is just a quest that resolves later. (The clue was that the person was male and wasn't supposed to be on campus today, and that could have only meant the principal or the military instructor, I thought.)

The principal. At that point in the quest if you try to enter his office it'll complete.

azuarc posted...

Okay, so at what point am I going to be able to buy non-basic orbs? Because I feel like there aren't enough good ones to go around now that I actually can open up all the lines....oh, that's what the pawn shop's actually for, isn't it. Place has seemed like a waste of time until now. Still, I don't really want to go back and forth between there and gathering all the garbage he wants in order to trade up. Give me a menu where I can just buy it. Otherwise, I'm doing without, because F that.

And I think I'll save the rest for tomorrow. Maybe someone will convince me to actually play asinine crafting games before I board the train.

Eh, it's not that bad but if you find it a pain then =/. Quick travel between the Engineering Shop and the Pawn Shop helps. Otherwise you can generally expect to get a single copy of most rare/super rare quartz across the game. The other function the Pawn Shop has is his "shop" will carry items that you missed in areas you can't return to, albeit generally at a high price. It stocks randomly though and IIRC refreshes upon exit/entering his store.

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xp1337 posted...

When a Field Study starts everyone not on your team has their accessories and any quartz ranked rare or higher automatically de-equipped. It's on you to re-equip them once you get them back.

Oh, I get that when it comes to quartz. But they come with a weapon and armor, so the thought of also checking the equipment screen generally sails right over my head. Plus, some of the people I brought with me had only been in my party for like 20 minutes.

xp1337 posted...

Eh, it's not that bad but if you find it a pain then =/. Quick travel between the Engineering Shop and the Pawn Shop helps.

Yeah, but, like, am I supposed to go to the pawn shop, take notes on what everything requires, go to the engineer shop, consider what I can afford, then go to my quartz menu and start planning on what I need, then go back to purchasing from engineering and then back to the pawn shop? If I wanted to plan my equipment optimally, I can't imagine how much back-and-forthing I'd have to do. I understand completely if the developers want to have these mechanics in place, but please don't make me have to run back and forth between physical locations and navigate an assortment of menu systems to get it done.

xp1337 posted...

they're saying rean doesn't realize his sister is totally crushing on him

i am serious

Gllch, really? Estelle and Joshua is fine, but they had to have two kids who legit grew up together in a family unit? I don't care if he's adopted. If she sees him as family, and knew him since they were 3 or 4, then that's incest.

Y'know, Alisa's starting to look pretty awesome right about now...Alisa with the A's, not Elise with the E's.

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To summarize a discussion I had about Elise earlier today (each quote is somebody unique):

"the only time cold steel REALLY made me pissed at their characterization was with elise because they fucked up any character she had for fucking fanservice"
"disagree. she had no character to begin with. I cannot recall any feelings I had towards her during CS1 other than dislike and disgust"
"Elise sux"
"i wouldnt care whatever her deal was if she at least just had any reason to be in the games"
"she really doesn't have any reason to be in the games"

...

"did I miss shitting on elise"

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Travel to Heimdallr, meet Machias.dad, and go to Eliot's house. His sister seems like she'd be a catch. Oh, and Eliot's dad is one of the foremost generals in the army. Of course. Why wouldn't he be. Seems like everyone in the class is someone special, either literally or in terms of their connections, and Eliot was the one normal kid. Now even that's gone.

So, a high noble, the top swordsman's daughter, the governor's son, a mercenary, the top CEO's daughter, the favored son of a foreign land, a girl who covertly has magic powers, and now a general's son. Compared to that, Rean's background actually does seem bland...ignoring whatever's going on with his chest, or however much controversy his dad adopting him caused. I have every confidence that we'll find out that Ymir and Rean's place in it is actually the most bizarro extreme of the bunch, though. Just please don't go Jerry Lee Lewis on us.

Eliot really doesn't want us going in his room for some reason. I'm also noticing there's no mention of Mom anywhere and his sister is clearly running the household. Did I mess a clue about this somewhere, or is she just not on the scene?

Fie continues to obliquely reference her time in the Jaeger Corps. I can't tell if that's to annoy Laura or simply to provide flavor. Apparently they were somehow connected to a major fire in Heimdallr two years ago.

We're staying at a bracer guild. Bracers are basically no more in the empire, but clearly there's something going on under the surface since we seem to keep coming into contact with them. Plus, that's almost assuredly Sara's background. (There couldn't possibly be another clandestine military/intelligence organization that she's a part of, right?) Our four tasks, upon first read, seem like they should all be optional tasks, but 3 are required. Okay, whatever. Not like I wasn't going to do them anyway.

Wandering Heimdallr, I take a request about a broken record -- which is not someone's attempt to remain in Guinness. No, we have to track down some vinyl. That sends us to the main street, where we also help the newspaper. Then I hit a district with Der Himmel hotel, run by a dude literally named Noble. He's not home, so I browse the nearby jewelry shop, and I just know this tiara's going to be stolen. The guard mentioned Phantom B. I wonder if he's related to a certain rhythm thief.

Ost Distict is full of cats. I get a remark after talking to three, but I find a fourth. I feel like there's a fifth hiding somewhere, but the first four were on the minimap. We meet the other group in the main plaza and agree to meet lunch, but I doubt we'll be hungry because there's gelato here. Oh wait, we're here for a request, so when the lady asks us what flavor we want, we politely decl--

Fie: "Lemon."

Okay then. And when we settle the request, she gives us four vanilla gelato for our reward...and one lemon.

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A couple days off because new Hearthstone expansion and I've got RL stuff, but if I don't continue now, I'll drop this and never come back.

We go exploring the sewers under a hotel. Laura and Fie are having girl problems. We get to the end, fight a giant Plankton -- which is really no challenge at all -- and at the end Laura and Fie both claim they're the problem child of the group and want to withdraw, and Rean's all like lolnope. They really do look to him as their commanding officer, considering the way they talk to him. Also, Laura's "still got a ways to go." Is that a direct translation of some common Japanese phrase or something?

Anyway, I won't be able to use Rean for a while now. Guess I'm stuck with Monkey Ass for a while. Whatever. As long as I can use Laura on the field to stun enemies, I'll just get triple advantage constantly anyway. And as I crawl through a secret passage where I can supposedly hear music, all the background music to the game cuts out entirely. I get battle music, and then the victory theme continues while I'm in the field. A couple quick fights later and we're at the end of the tunnel. Rest point, we go outside, and...we escape the gazebo. I cast Magic Missiles. It burns.

But nary a boss fight to be found.

Instead, I interrupt some dude's private moment with his girlfriend, and he gives me a book to leave him alone. And then we meet Eliot's old musician friends. He seems nostalgic. Back at his house, we get to see in his room, and it's filled with instruments. And a bed. But mostly instruments. (Does he wear sheet music for clothing?) He confides in us about how his dad made him attend military school even though his sister got to go to the music academy, and then Laura decides that's inspired her to challenge Fie to a duel....um, sure. Absolutely. Totally makes sense. Connection there is clear as day.

And just before the duel begins, Laura activates The Power of Friendship. What I suspect is a really sweetly written dialogue in Japanese comes across as a bit stilted and forced, which I'm kinda disappointed in. Like, I can see the writing is promising something good, but the delivery's just not there. Still, apparently Laura's Pouring of the Heart crits Fie. For the first time we actually see emotions behind the veneer. Her VA has also been more emotive as late. But Laura's terms are that if she wins, she gets to know about Fie's past. Fie never sets a condition for if she wins.

And oh shit, they're activating auras. People have auras? Other than Instructor Sara? Kameeeeeeeeehaaaaaaaa......meeeeee.....haaaaa.... (next time on Trails of Cold Steel) ...meeee.... and then they both unleash their S-craft on each other, and Rean's like "No! Stop!"

Rean calls it a draw, but Fie's like nope, I lost. Totally not telegraphing that she wants to tell Laura about her past, and this gives her an out, or anything. She grew up in a mercenary corps, fought her first battle at ten, and experienced true teamwork and camaraderie with Zephyr, up until her father figure died and the group fell apart. And then the girls decide, y'know what? Let's go kick Rean's and Machias's asses.

Wait, I'm controlling them? I mean, I guess that makes more sense, but it's gonna be weird fighting against Rean. And despite casting haste on myself, for some reason they're getting way more attacks than me. I feel cheap S-crafting my way out of the battle, but it worked. Barely. Oh, and someone called the cops on us. Groovy.

Hit rank A7. I'm sure A6 is possible at this point, maybe A5.

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azuarc posted...

Apparently they were somehow connected to a major fire in Heimdallr two years ago.

finish trails in the sky :(

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That Rean/Machias battle can go so many different ways depending on what they do.

I've gotten Petrified right off the bat, they also have their S-Crafts and can just end your day with them. Or you can just sweep them. It's a weird fight. Don't feel bad cheesing it. >_>

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One of the new quests is just called, "Oh no, nono!" I can tell that one will be enlightening.

And one of the others is literally making Laura wear a pair of women's shoes and walk around in them. I'd call this fan service, maybe?, but it's not like there's anything visual about this. It's an...interesting way to do a side quest, I guess, but also maybe bordering on creepy foot fetish territory....actually, wait, she does have a different model of boots, doesn't she. Of course, she does.

Went to every other district first to look around. No indication of a step counter. I wonder if it's actually counting or if I'll just get told to go back after a certain point. Either way, I'm controlling Laura on the field just in case it matters. (I'm sure it doesn't, but w/e.) And oh, "Nono" is the name of the cat. I guess that makes the quest title a little less silly.

Machias gives two alley kids a lecture on maturity, and I'm realizing how much the summer outfits without the jackets make everyone look like they're a bunch of office workers. I half expect Machias to unbutton his sleeves to complete the look of bedraggled intellectual forced into menial labor. He can certainly pass for older than high school, even if he also looks like his father's son.

Apparently Fie can't make a link with Laura, but she's perfectly good at connecting with stray cats. Or maybe it's just Mr. Tiddles. Either way, I got to talk to all the cats in Ost District again, who have their own little cat society. My reward is...a "kitty strap." So I've got a foot fetish and we're doing furries now, too.

And at the docks is a dude named Pron. Yeah. G'night, everybody.

---

azuarc posted...

No indication of a step counter. I wonder if it's actually counting or if I'll just get told to go back after a certain point.

There is. Should be in your key items somewhere I think (should have been mentioned in the quest start scene). Forget if the characters chime in if you hit the count of their own accord though.

---

I completed the quest. And no, there was no indication. I unlocked the door for the harbor quest, and before going in, I ran back to be certain I wasn't going to lose the step counter quest. Without feeling like I'd gone anywhere near 2000 steps, the guy decided I'd gone quite a distance and was happy. Maybe it was measuring in arge? =p

---

Inside the waterways, I am first reminded of the opening dungeon in Eternal Sonata. Fortunately this one was easier to navigate. Also, Elliott randomly gets his S-craft here, because sure, why not? After finishing one battle, I could swear Laura taunted the enemies by saying, "You've still got a long way to go." I thought the line was something about training...or maybe I've just got "still got a ways to go" on the brain.

I pass through a big open chamber that totally looks like a boss arena, except this game doesn't need boss arenas, and there's a brick on the wall like the secret passage we passed in the dungeon under the hotel. Also, really simple water puzzles. "There must be a way to lower it" and ten feet away, there's a switch. Thanks, game. I know I get annoyed when I can't figure something out because it's obtuse, but this is the opposite of that. Also, Fie is waaayyy more talkative in group than befits her character, considering it's meaningless statements like "well, let's go find it then."

Just found a new master quartz that scales regular attacks. It seems really good right now, considering this entire section is a triple advantage fiesta where I can just mash the A button and hold down turbo to finish most fights. I'm betting that skill is less good on boss fights, where I actually care. Especially since the delay after attacking is increased. Yuck.

Croc boss didn't stand a chance. And we get to walk out. Do you think this means something will happen on the way back? It's almost like that room I saw before will...yup. I should have known it would come out in that weird door in Ost District. Heart to heart with Machias follows, where we find out that his irrational hatred of nobles is at least grounded in something. And boom, S-craft. Just handin' these things out like candy now.

And, as expected, the jewelry shop has been burgled. But the robbers left a message for us, huh. We're going all Die Hard 3 on this. Except Mr. Blueblanc gets away. Hurray for recurring villains. Though I wonder what took place during our previous run-ins with him. I know there was vague mention of a couple incidents, but I don't recall them clearly any more.

Called to St. Astraia by our lovely instructor. Elise meets us at the gate, and gets annoyed at all the catcalling and pointing-and-staring the other girls are doing. Then we enter im Rosengarten and meet Alfin. I can already tell I'm going to be annoyed by this arc. How long until she asks Rean to the dance?

Olivert arrives, sees us to a fancy chamber where he waxes about the objectives of class 7, and everyone's so impressed with his motives, even though they sound perfectly ordinary to me. We need the youths of today to experience the world and know the blah blah blah yeah whatever. Save it for the commencement speech. Will he at least tell us why it's Class VII and not VI?

Sara as bracer confirmed. Olivert drops that info and the scene just ends abruptly into a save screen.

---

Oh, here's our dance invite scene. I love the line where she goes, or have you already set your heart on someone else, and Elise gets a moment of shock, then Alisa gets an exclamation point, and then Laura stares across the table angrily. I don't think that means Laura's into Rean, but she definitely doesn't like where this scene is going.

And now we're working on a counter-terrorism plot. Right after the Die Hard 3 quest. Should've just put those two together. I'm really good at children's puzzles!

The game gives me an option to investigate a noise at night or go back to sleep. I choose go back to sleep, just to see what will happen, and the game's like, okay then. And my report card pops up. Wow, that's not subtle.

Gideon: "As long as I have this flute, not even the Railway Military Police have a chance of stopping us." Elliott!! Get your instruments!! Only the power of music can save us now! G's supporters look like character models we've seen all over the city, though, so that's lovely.

I search every area of the city, get the impression people are doing shady things, and set out to explore the underground passages. I finish the waterfront one and get ordered to report to Mater Park. What a coincidence, just where I was going! So I go to the hotel, run through the underground, pop up outside for a nice 2 AP reward...and then I have to leave and come back because the story only advances if I arrive via tram. *facepalm*

And then nothing happens. What a tease.

More sweeps of the city, and hey, Angelica's here with her bike. Ooh, ooh, are we going to get to ride the motorcycle? Tell me we get to chase the bad guys in the motorcycle. Wait, did Angelica really just invite Fie and Laura to a threesome?

And there's Gideon's move. We chase him through the underground, and geezus, folks, can you not just stop him from using the stupid flute? I mean, yeah, he's got hostages, but the other two guys stopped to administer an anaesthetic....Oh good, Rean's actually got it after we kill the giant fucking bone dragon. And I was beginning to doubt my decision to blow my S-crafts just to end the fight faster when another battle follows, but it was pretty clearly scripted, so hey, s'all good.

Comrade G's got help. We knew about Darth Vader, but the other three have only shown up in the intro. Now we have more recurring villains. But hey, everyone got out alive, so what better way to extend the plot? Oh, and thank you, Jusis and Sara, for mocking their theatrics. Osborne's kinda creepy, though. Does Comrade C stand for Chancellor? The Green Goblin's last name is Osborn. . .

Chapter 4 complete. 75 AP. Rank A6.


---

azuarc posted...

The game gives me an option to investigate a noise at night or go back to sleep. I choose go back to sleep, just to see what will happen, and the game's like, okay then.

If you chose to investigate it would give you an extra scene with Sara that's only available if you took her previous bond events.

azuarc posted...

So I go to the hotel, run through the underground, pop up outside for a nice 2 AP reward...and then I have to leave and come back because the story only advances if I arrive via tram. *facepalm*

Well, exposing that security hole in Mater Park so the guards could cover it was a hidden bonus condition as part of the whole investigation. Pretty sure the game explicitly tells you the story will advance when you take the tram to the Park.

---

Comrade C being Osborne is my favorite theory

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xp1337 posted...

Pretty sure the game explicitly tells you the story will advance when you take the tram to the Park.

It does, but the tram is the normal mode of transportation in the city. If one isn't being ultra-literal, it's easy to interpret that as "get to Mater Park."

And I reloaded to see the scene. It took me like 5 minutes solid of mashing the A button and holding the turbo button because of the extensive wall of cutscenes to reach that point. I was like, well, I just saved. No big deal. And then I got to sit through like three really like dialogue sequences. I find it funny the game lets you skip the Sara scene. The writers obviously decided, "okay, this is the time we can stop being mysterious with this character and dump their whole backstory on you." The only one in the group I feel we haven't really been treated to now is Emma, and I have every confidence that will be tied to the next schoolhouse soiree. I wouldn't say we really know everything there is to know about Sara, but at least there aren't big gaping holes in her history.

Speaking of character backstories, I'm kinda disappointed we never see Elliott do anything musical in this chapter. The writing worked so hard to set that up, and then never paid it off. Whether he was going to have to quickly stand in for a musician who got sick, or he would have a musical counter-duel with Gideon, or simply have more dialogue with his sister and/or his father. The whole "I was required to go to a military academy" thing has to be a sore spot even for someone who pretends on the surface to be easy-going while he's no doubt internalizing.

And while I'm playing hookie from my day, here's my ranking of "how much do I like having this person in my party?"

1. Laura - Owing nothing to best girl status, Laura is great. She hits hard, she teams up well on attacks, and her presence in story-based dialogue usually actually contributes. Most importantly, though, her field attack stuns enemies, making nearly every encounter a triple advantage. That alone makes her top the list.

2. Elliot - Two words: Resounding Beat. Elliot is the best support member almost exclusively for that reason.

3. Gaius - Has basically the same battle contributions as Laura, and a pleasant disposition.

4. Emma - For when Elliot isn't available. Alisa and Machias also have heal techniques, but Serene Blessing is the best of the rest. Plus, the orbal staff is a better all-purpose weapon.

5. Fie - Her attacks aren't strong, but she's quick, and she comes with Chrono Drive. Her writing in chapter 4 wasn't always great, but typically when she says something in the conversation, it's related to her unique experiences.

6. Alisa - This marks the start of "I actively avoid this character when I can." I don't really like Alisa. Her character is often rash and judgemental, and her battle contributions are very limited. Her healing shot and the fact that she can be pleasant are all that keep her here.

7. Machias - Chapter four's revelations helped make him a little more rounded, and showed that he can be civil whenever someone's not pushing his buttons. I don't love him in combat, but he can provide support.

8. Jusis - I'm not being incredibly fair to the guy, since he's only been a part of one of my four chapters, and the game hasn't otherwise thrust him upon me much. He's got good insight and a perspective that the other characters often lack. But he doesn't bring much to the table during combat, and I have to admit I just don't like looking at him, between his eyes and his perpetually dour expression.

---

Hmm your party rankings mostly make sense outside of Jusis being at the bottom. Guessing you didn't use him in Chapter 3 if you said he was only around one chapter.

Guess I'll comment on the battle stuff. Since characters are all personal opinion.

Basically since you already got it. Jusis's main move is Noble Command. It's a full party Str, ATS ,Spd buff for 25%. Cast it twice and it stacks and refreshes the buff duration. He does get an Impede, and has mixed damage crafts. Beyond that he also for some reason has like the highest overall stats in the game. Not really sure why since he's supposed to be an all arounder? But he's like 3rd highest speed, 4th highest ats and like 5th highest str with everything else being average-ish.

Laura and Gaius doing pretty much the same thing is accurate sadly.

Alisa is like Jusis. Another High stated Support. Has impede, heals, burn is nice when it happens, her crafts for chapter 1 and 3 are a bit lackluster. She's definitely pigeon holed early into casting to do damage.

Machias has his defense down shot and Petrifaction shot is surprisingly good. Unlike the other supports he isn't blessed with super high speed and ats tho. Energy Shell is pretty cool in the sense it restores HP and EP.

Resounding Beat is definitely a great character.

---

I wasn't aware noble command also gave speed. I will have to give that another look. I can't say I cared back when I was forced to use him because it wasn't until I hit the dogs that I even considered stopping to buff my characters for any fights. Just regen and attack, attack, attack. And yeah, I guess I did have Jusis for two chapters. I completely forgot he was with me for the highlands. I would look these things up to be sure, but I know better than to dare go within a hundred feet of a wiki.

Since we're talking about characters and abilities, I have a question about quartzes. Is there any significance to what is placed on each line? Like, in FC, I know there were synergies, and my neglecting of that made my playthrough harder than it could have otherwise been. Not that I need more power from my characters. Just making sure I'm not missing something really silly.

---

Lines don't matter in this one. No idea why they even have them tbh.

---

Actually, there is small significance. Not much, but some.

The longer a character's line, the more EP the later slots in it give. So longer lines are still good for casters.

Multiple status ailment-inflicting quartz can be equipped, but only one per line. More lines is then theoretically more effective for physical characters.

---

Noble Command is arguably the best support buff in the game. Alisa's heal/CP battery and her AoE Insight are the other top contenders IMO. (Discounting the busted Machias strat with Accel Burst)

Also what Sceptile said about quartz/lines. With someone like Machias you can pile a bunch of different status ailment quartz on each one of his lines, combo it up with his AoE crafts which also inflict ailments and have a debuff party. Not that you would ever really want to use Emma like this, but by contrast, with a single line she could only have one such quartz equipped so you can't stack them in this manner.

---

New chapter, new...classmate? I mean, there's 10 desks. Laura doesn't really need to hide back in the corner, but...wait, Crow? He's a second year! Interesting...and he's here for summer school remediation.

Machias: "That's an even more pathetic reason than I was bracing myself for."

And then Millium comes in. That was the person I was expecting. I mean, I did get to control both of these people briefly, and considered adding them into the rankings up above, but they'd really just be honorable mentions. At least free time events with Crow start to feel a little more meaningful now, though. Does that mean Towa will be joining us some day, too? And the instructor?

And then I get a question in class that, well, it's a good thing I took German in high school. The name Eisenritter stood out to me earlier. The new seating chart is all girls in the front, all boys in the back. (And Crow gets a row to himself in the corner so he can sleep.) Why is the game treating this like the same day when they very clearly said three days later?

Game is stepping up its recital plans. Elliot is now first chair violin. Performance is tomorrow. Also, I got a medal of valor!

The librarian gives us an ominous remark about terrorists..."I can't imagine there's anything here in Trista worth attacking." Hmm...

Wait, why is the game asking me to form a 3-member party after leaving Towa's office? And after finally catching up with her, I still don't know the answer to that question. What would have happened if I had brought Jusis with me, though? Anyway, I'm roped into bringing Crow and Shorty with me to the schoolhouse rock, and everyone else is nervous about tomorrow. Machias is playing for the life of the chess club. Elliot's got his recital. Fie is...picking out shoes. Everyone's around except Emma, because she's on the ground floor talking to Celine. Now the cat is in our dorm, too. We're running out of school floors, so I imagine we'll have to learn the truth of the schoolhouse soon, but hearing Celine meow is making me realize I haven't seen my cats in hours, so I think this is time for a pause.

---

My last 2 weeks time no longer matches my total played time.

Oh, Millium and Crow are now on the train in the title screen, which basically fills the whole scene. If they're stuffing anyone else into this picture, there's going to be some overlapping.

At first, I thought I was going to have to pick free time events carefully because I swear everyone has one today, but apparently I get 4 instead of the usual 2 this time. So first stop: Elliot. The performance was nothing amazing on production quality, but the audience liked it and Elliot was happy I was there. Then I spend an hour helping Emma look for her cat. Alisa beats Ferris in yet another of Ferris's competitions to finally win at something, and she storms off into the city outskirts where she gets surrounded by wolves. Suddenly Rean and Alisa are there, weapons in hand, ready to kick ass and take names. And after collecting five meaningless fish, I get to do some swimming with a girl in the swim club who has yet to finish one lap until today.

Motorcycle time, and then I get to look into the occult. Seven perfectly reasonable explanations...until Beryl implies they aren't the real mysteries. And with that, Sara wants me. Apparently she's pissed off that the boys got special swimming instruction, and she expects me to dish. Uhhh... (Is it bad that I misread "Swimming Lessons Mkii" as "Swimming Lessons Milk?")

Schoolhouse time, but oh, I'm taking reserve members so I still get to pick three people besides M and C. I had already decided in my head Emma was coming for this trip due to whatever's going on with her and Celine. I end up sidelining both Millium and Crow in favor of my other members. And oh boy, that boss. Talk about a "easy if you know what's coming and frustratingly impossible if you don't." Unfortunately, I only have two freeze-immune charms. I kill him by summoning a tree inside of him. Nothing particularly interesting happens afterward.

The nurse gives me a medal of compassion. And then Instructor Mary gives me a medal of friendship. I spend my lone bonding point attending Machias's chess match. It all comes down to the final, with Machias vs...someone who walks in the door. I was expecting Patrick. Instead, it's Jusis! And it's some Searching for Bobby Fischer crap, too. A bunch of rash moves at the beginning, losing some pieces, and then still somehow coming back.

No hidden quests that I can see, so I go back to the dorm, and Sharon needs me to shop for a couple ingredients. On the way back, I dump into Misty? Damn, I was convinced with her pink hair on the stickers it was going to turn out to be Sara. Oh, but Rean's on top of things and identifies her. Huh, wouldn't have guessed that one. I mean, sure, it was mentioned she rides in from Heimdallr, but Vita Clotilde was unexpected. She does some kind of weird inspection thing where she says Rean is "you" mysteriously before running off to the station. More lurking Rean chosen one garbage? However, as soon as I'm back, Emma gives Rean crap for smelling like lavender, and then secretly wonders if someone unnamed could have been the one Rean met.

The trade conference is just a week off, which means we apparently won't get another field trip before the ominous prologue catches up with the timeline. Cut to a scene in the nature park, where Gideon meets two peers and implies he may need to sacrifice himself now that his flute is busted. They're convinced that there's a tyrant attempting to stop a dystopia...waiting for the plot twist where they're actually the good guys. lol

"Emma's team will be Team President. Machias's team will be Team Vice President. Rean's team will be...Team Whatever." Gonna fight that one when I come back.

---

Oh, thank god. My air conditioning is fixed. That's almost as important as victory for Team Whatever! (These staged battles were strangely easy.)

Laura: "We fell just short of victory. You all fought admirably."....uh, no. Not quite. You got two attacks off on Rean. I mean, sheesh, it wasn't like I used any S-crafts or anything. I honestly thought the girls would put up more of a fight. Typically in team-based challenges, the girls kick the boys' asses in just about everything.

So we're getting a field study and then heading to the site of the prologue. Okay, good, because I'm still 6 levels below the beginning of the game. That does help account for how things came about the way they were. Will we find out more about Rean's trance mode before then or just see it unleashed against the railway guns when the time comes? (Also, Elliot's dad is clearly in charge of the installation, even if he won't say so.)

And yaggh, I have Ashly Burch yelling at me from on top of my chest to get me out of bed because she's so excited for the train. Oh, and why are you so excited to see Laura's hometown, Rean?

...did anyone else notice Celine running through the turnstile while we were talking to Lechter? (In Bareahard) Okay, yep, there she scoots again. At least we'll find out more about this cat finally, since we didn't catch a whiff of her deal at the schoolhouse.

Okay, Legram's pretty cool looking. Definitely a tourist trap. Man, all these people here basically worship Laura. I mean, sheesh, I like her, too, but what's the deal? And at the bracer guild, they're comparing the "radiant blademaster" to Cassius Bright. At least there's a name I finally recognize. We get a quest to fight a highway monster and a quest to replace highway lights. Guess they didn't feel like digging deep for this chapter, huh.

First field quest is nothing exciting, but man, did I mention how much I love having Laura in group. Run up to enemy, whack it with her sword for triple advantage. Start the battle, mash the A button. Rean gets a team attack, Laura finishes it. Laura gets a team attack, Rean hits it, and Laura finishes it. Other party members attack. Rean attacks. Laura finishes it. lol. In other news, poms are freaking evasive. My group is still actually taking damage from counterattacks, even with accuracy items equipped. (Do those even help?)

But yuck, that monster hunt was rough. Two members permanently dazed and getting hacked at, one person healing, and only one able to effectively deal damage. I'm not a big fan of this "fight the monster once, learn what immunity you need to equip, and then come back and fight him a second time and clean his clock" pattern that seems to be cropping up in the game. Status effects in this game are so completely absolute, especially when you have a boss that chains their use. I mean, yeah, I beat this guy in one, but I can't say it was a fun fight. Maybe if I was looking for challenge fights or whatever, but the game doesn't let you go back and retry fights the right way -- if you want to change equipment, you have to load a save. So using the argument of boss fights as puzzles doesn't really hold water, and it really doesn't fit the general flow of the game anyway. (I also don't love how when someone gets K.O.'ed , their CP gets fully drained, so getting them back up still makes them mostly useless.)



Right. I see where Laura gets it from now. (Has attaching images to forum posts always been that simple? I thought I had to go the imgur route until I saw nfun's kiseki evo thread.) Kinda disappointed I didn't actually get to fight this battle, though. The game even asked me if I was prepared, so I backed out and checked my orbments and everything....oh. Shit. This wasn't what I was banking on. But despite sealing my two best attackers, Klaus wasn't anywhere as difficult as I expected.

Why is Laura getting an upgrade to her S-craft before Emma even gets one?

Hi, Laura's dad! However, two observations...why do Laura's eyes look terrified while he's...petting her in his version of a hug? (I guess I answered my own question.) And does anyone in this game have a mother? No mention of Mrs. Arseid anywhere. Elliot's is dead. Machias's is dead. Jusis's never appears. Fie's an orphan. We still know nothing about Emma. Rean's is presumably okay, and we've met Alisa's and Gaius's. But sheesh. Most people have a dad, but does Erebonia have a serious issue with female mortality?



Man, Lord Arseid dunks on Rean's swordsmanship right after Klaus did. And we put up with the same remarks from Laura back in chapter 1. Thing is, Arseid hasn't even seen Rean fight yet! Either he's got good intelligence, or he's just tag-teaming with Klaus. Oh geez, and you too, Jusis? (Emma also has her private thoughts.)

Wait, what? Rean's going to duel this guy? Alone? After Klaus was more than any one of us would be able to handle? Oh geez, here comes the music. All right, let's finally see what this is about. But I'm...hitting him for zero? Even with a full S-craft. And speaking of S-crafts, I was winning the rematch until he nuked me with his.

Emma and Celine have a "jurisdiction?" I can't tell if Emma's last line implies that Laura is in on whatever they're doing or not. Probably not.

Rean's explanation afterward is a total non-explanation that the group all seems to accept.

We walk over to Laura's house to get some "white seed" that I'm pretty sure is just salt, and then get with the pretzel-making. Everyone says how good they are, but I dunno. As a Philadelphia area resident, I feel duty-bound to try them myself.

Time for highway monster 2 next. I wonder which status effect this one will use...

---

Legram best Erebonian city/town. It's not the most exciting chapter overall but I do really like the atmosphere/feel of the place. The music is nice also.
---

The more I watch Emma in battle, the more I wonder if she thinks she's swinging a hockey stick.

Hey, Lammy and I will take care of this log! *Laura chops it with her sword*

Wow, this monster hunt was a pansy compared to the last one.

Rean and Laura reach link level 5 on precisely my 500th combat, and I earn 2 achievements at once. That puts me up to 11 out of 51...I'm not sure if Rush 2 really did anything special, but Emma's link with Jusis is now letting her heal him passively on damage, so that's cool.

A nefarious noble shows up in Legram, swiftly and unexpectedly from across the empire, with a slew of guards, and his name conveniently starts with the letter C. Wait, and Rufus was here, too? Hmm...

Ugh, that moment when you advance the story without turning in a sidequest. Game threw me off with the side tasks. I'm like, sure, I turned in the fish. I'm good to go...but no, I had to hand a girl a flower. Crap. And my last save was 80 minutes ago. Guess I'm not going back for that. I know it's dumb on me, but the game ought to turn in the quests you've completed when the person you need to talk to is like 10 feet away. Apparently just far enough that the marker didn't appear on the minimap.

Lohengrin has a really long walk up. And at last, maybe we'll find out about Emma. If nothing else, she's got her S-craft now.

Laura has no difficulty stunning an animated sword.

This place feels like a more stock JRPG dungeon. Keys to unlock other paths. Area design that seems capricious and more suited to the gameplay than realism.

Level 49 get! I'll at least be on par with the prologue now.

Oh hey, I just got a kitty quartz.

I sure like being attacked by robotic xenomorph cannons.

And this boss is another "equip the immunities" battle. Except really I should have both confuse and...something I've never seen before that isn't sleep but makes my people keel over and nap. And also, except, it's still stupidly unfair. So lessee, this boss:

1) Steals one of my party members, leeches their health every turn until they die (or maybe they get released if I'm very fortunate,) and the affected party member can't be healed.
2) Chain summons enemies onto the battlefield to replace the ones I kill, at a clip that says to me I'm supposed to just ignore them, except their damage output is too high to ignore.
3) Hits with AE attacks, which makes it completely unsafe to keep my party in a group to actually apply buffs to.

Yeah, I can deal with 2 out of 3, but all of these things in tandem is ridiculous. Oh, and let's not forget the confuse and nightmare skills. I've got confuse nixed, but I still have people taking a knee.

Okay, new plan. Let's try S-crafting him to death...and holy crap, it worked. Geez oh man. How the hell are you really supposed to fight that boss? Like, when I got stuck on the dogs, all it took was realizing that hey, buffs matter. Here, I can't imagine what they were expecting you to do.

And then we're saved by a ghost lady. Maybe. What actually happened is decidedly unclear, between Gaius not being down on the ground like everyone else, Rean tempted to unleash his power, the lance maiden maybe appearing or maybe not, and a black cat silhouette watching us from the darkness.

For once, I wish I could actually access the pawn shop. I know what's coming next, and I'd like to do an overhaul of my orbs. Looks like we're right off to Fort Garrelia, though.

---

Omigod. That fake out.

So the build-up to the railway gun crisis makes complete sense in terms of "how did we get here?" I'm half-skimming the events that are being repeated, but the details are expanded on considerably and the battles are much tougher since I actually know what buttons do what. I'm also getting to use Instructor Sara. But the boss battle that was fairly trivial in the prologue was actually fairly challenging here. It probably didn't have to be, but I definitely struggled, perhaps in large part to underestimating it.

But the battle ends, everything is exactly as it was in the prologue (except for Millium being here,) with Rean shouting as the guns are about to fire, and I'm thinking, oh, he's gonna unleash his uberpowers. Nope, they fire. And for a second, I'm thinking, holy shit. They actually did it. The writers. That takes some balls. But hey, it'll make the rest of the story that much more exciting, right? (Just how much more story is there?)

AND NOTHING HAPPENED.

Everyone blinks, wonders what's going on, and Millium says, "well, maybe the first shot is a blank just to prevent accidents."

Jesus. Such a simple explanation. Total cop-out, maybe, but damn if the writers didn't know exactly what they were doing the whole time.

From a writing perspective, I am decidedly not a fan of flash-forwards. It gives the consumer a window into things they shouldn't know. It makes it harder to be invested, sometimes, when you know what's coming. But that foreknowledge can also pay dividends. Throughout the whole game, I've been paying attention any time someone talks about the trade conference or how far away it is, chronologically. Mentions of the railway gun are of special significance. With the approach, we have the benefit of gravity, of the stakes, of who and why this assault on a civilian installation is taking place. And the awareness that we've been leading up to this moment for 6 months of in-game time and 50 hours of real time, barreling toward this awful moment like a freight train flying off the rails, and you're wondering how the hell are we going to avoid this calamity...or what are we going to do in response afterwards...

And nothing happened. It was one giant fucking jump scare all along.

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Unleashing a burst on a crowd of normal enemies during a treasure chest attack has got to be one of the most satisfying things to do in this game. Open the chest, see 10 enemies, use Gale Singer to hit 5 of them and trigger a team attack. Hey, let's get the whole gang in, and bam, most of the battlefield falls down.

There's an achievement for unleashing something like 50 bursts, so either the game isn't close to over, or you get to keep using burst in new game+ or something, because if I just recently got to 500 battles, 50 bursts is a long way off. (So is having a rank 5 link with more than 1 party member.) As much as I hate to use achievements as my justification for why the game can't be ending with this sequence, I think it just supports the argument I would have made anyway. Typically when I see the flash-forward method used, it doesn't cut all the way to the end. Often, it's only about the halfway point. I suspect we're closer to the end than to the midpoint, considering the schoolhouse has 5 floors done and 1 to go, plus Emma and Rean have some character resolutions left to come, but it's all pointing in the direction of at least having a chapter 6. Though regardless of how this railway gun incident resolves itself, the Imperial Liberation Front is going to have to somehow raise the stakes after this. And short of attacking our team directly at Trista, I'm not sure how they would plan to do that.

Anyway, back to the action, I'm rotating my characters to try to restore CP to everyone before the inevitable boss clash with presumably the eyepatch chick. (I think we have her side? I dunno.) It's occuring to me that these groups aren't very balanced, as I have all the attackers in my team and Group B has all the support characters except Emma. Neithardt's going to be quite the stud with all those buffs and heals to back him up.

Wait, for the real boss fight, I have to fight two of these robots with S? Well, shit. I guess I did say the first fight could have gone better, and it looks like she's vulnerable to crowd control.

I've loved Instructor Sara's voice actor, but the lines for when she participates in battle are great. She just sounds so eager to be part of the battle. Turns out, though, my MVP for the fight is my low man on the totempole earlier. Jusis absolutely hard carried this fight, between keeping everyone buffed, and then keeping S frozen for most of the fight. She unleashed her S-craft, and rather than interrupting it with a break, I just took it and then swapped in my reserve crew. With the robots already dead, she went down pretty easily.

Wait, the bad guys are getting away? Seriously? And C predicted all this to happen? If so, what does all this accomplish? It's disruptive, sure, but so what?

61 AP for chapter 5, 290 total.


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azuarc posted...

Geez oh man. How the hell are you really supposed to fight that boss? Like, when I got stuck on the dogs, all it took was realizing that hey, buffs matter. Here, I can't imagine what they were expecting you to do.

I was specifically thinking of this boss when I said those Green Pendulums you bought in Chapter 2 would be useful later on. It blocks Sleep/Nightmare/Confuse/Faint which basically takes status ailments off the board in that fight.

also the answer to all problems in this game is "Arc Slash" the GOAT craft.

Chapter 5 Boss is another of the tougher bosses. (So is Chapter 6 so brace yourself.)

I'll help you out and note that either in Chapter 5 or forthcoming in Chapter 6 will be an art/quartz called Adamantite Shield. It nullifies a single physical attack, up to and including S-Crafts, against a character. It's busted if you can keep it applied to the party (and the art is AoE). Try to get at least one copy for your caster/support. Crescent Moon is the magic version of the skill (and also reflects the attack rather than just null it) but is less useful on the whole because there's less scary magic attacks flying about in tough fights.

azuarc posted...

but damn if the writers didn't know exactly what they were doing the whole time.

they did because Zero and Ao no Kiseki both came before this game, take place in Crossbell, and happen concurrently with Cold Steel 1 and 2. You literally attend the Trade Conference there (and thus see the attack that Mueller radios in to Neithardt about right before Garrelia is attacked) and the place doesn't get shelled so a Crossbell vet would know something is up there with the prologue.

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As someone who didn't play Zero and Ao, and for whom Crossbell is just some abstract name that I don't understand the politics of, it turned out to be very effective. I was cynical of the start when it happened, especially with the double prologue the game opens with, but as someone who does a little writing and critiquing myself, I'm able to respect what it accomplished.

I already have adamantine shield. I hadn't actually used it, assuming it worked like Millium's craft, which is handy but self-only. I should have read it more carefully.

And yes, I absolutely equipped the green pendulums, as well as an evergreen that I picked up somewhere. I threw the weaker confuse protection on my back-up members. Arc slash was not going to solve this boss fight, though. Nothing bunches up, and I couldn't get buffs on Rean to improve his speed and strength. I did slash a bunch, but there was just too much going on in too many directions to rely on that. Against S, yes, Arc Slash was useful for hitting the two machines with while I mostly CC'ed S herself. That fight wasn't anywhere near as challenging, though. I won on the first try as opposed to on the fourth, post-equipment change, with a desperation hail mary strategy.

I played out the very beginning of chapter 6, but not far enough for anything truly significant to happen, unless either the board of directors meeting or the discussion over the class project is low-key important.

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Chapter 6 begins, with the monumental crisis of whatever shall Class VII do for the festival? Considering some of the really dumb other ideas I've heard classes have done, I feel like anything 7 does can't be too horrible. (A cafe where they all dress as cats, huh.) With all their unique experiences and their field studies, I feel like they could easily just have some kind of skit or role-play where each person represents their own corner of the empire. But hey, I guess that's why I'm not in the class. Towa sounds like she's going to introduce Rean to some rock music.

Free time: 4 moments to choose from out of 8 available. The closest to me is Laura, who I'm usually apt to pick, but I do have her bond to level 5 already. Hmm, how much of a min-max achievement hunter am I? Not too much, considering all the crap I've missed already. (I don't plan on replaying the whole game for those.) I'm apparently also on the edge of Emma's, and she's the other person in the dorms.

• Rean finds a children's chess book for Machias, who is forced to admit he's grown in his attitude toward nobles now that he's gotten to know some of them.
• I (don't) share a drink with Sara over her fallen friend.
• Celine gets another dish of milk, which has to be all kinds of rotten since I've apparently been just carrying those around with me for months now.
• Apparently there are golden salmon in the pond by the garden, and all I needed was a rod that could reel them in. Who knew?
• Fie's flowers have grown, and I help dish them out.
• Angelica admits that she doesn't "spend all of her time looking for beautiful maidens to deflower," and she wants to spar. Apparently she fights with her fists, and it's cool for me to attack her with a sword. You know it's an RPG when...oh, but this is bad. I decided I was going to stock up on new supplies at the engineering shack and literally unequipped all my orbs. I wasn't expecting a fight. >< And like a dumbass, I hit return to title screen, and I haven't saved since i started, because why would I? That only cost me 20 minutes.
• Jusis is helping the riding club prepare, and needs me to test out a tame horse.
• I, uh, I don't think I'm going to be able to do this cooking quest. I don't have an exceptional dessert, and the only one recipe in my inventory that I can distinctly deem a dessert is one Rean isn't capable of cooking well.
• Angie rematch: I have my quartz probably outfitted this time, but I still need to burn a few items to defeat her. Arc Slash only goes so far when you run out of CP.

And with all that done, I guess I'm ready to head into the schoolhouse...and re-equip orbments to everyone. Tomorrow.

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azuarc posted...

I, uh, I don't think I'm going to be able to do this cooking quest. I don't have an exceptional dessert, and the only one recipe in my inventory that I can distinctly deem a dessert is one Rean isn't capable of cooking well.

You can enter the Old Schoolhouse and assemble your party and have one of them cook it, then return to Mint. Time doesn't advance until you beat the floor boss in the Old Schoolhouse so the quest is active until then.

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You have autosaves...

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Apparently she needed more than just a dessert. I dunno what's missing, because in my mind I have a soup and a main dish already in my inventory. /abandon

I completely redid everyone's orbs, and now Laura hits her first attacks for over nine thousand! (No, really.) Good thing, too, because the trash mobs have that much health. The yard fodder has definitely stepped up its game from before.

I've finally figured out that Rean saying "this seems like a good spot" means there's a fishing bubble. I had dismissed it as being as useful as "Nuhhh, is that a treasure chest?" I get one new fish and then four gray crabs. I also did a couple circuits around the opening area trying to figure out how to lower the barrier to a treasure chest before realizing I'm an idiot and hacking my way through.

This Impenetrable Shield thing seems pretty good. Emma reminds me with a straight face that "that's a beautiful looking treasure chest," and it's time to prepare for the boss. Time to spin the wheel and see what comes out. I have green pendulums and evergreens equipped already, so maybe I'll head this one off at the pass....wait, was that supposed to be hard? The two Elvavaria combined got off one attack. Laura stunned one for a turn, Rean arc slashed the other, Jusis gave us haste, and I let off a burst on the first chance, and the stunned one got in a single attack before I finished it off. Talk about anticlimactic. I switched to basic attacks at the end and still had another 4 attacks in a row coming, two of which would be crits.

Celine says hi, but nothing comes of it. Patrick needs help with his butler. Alisa teaches me how to lacrosse. It reads more as flirting. And Crow's sitting in the classroom, thinking about nostalgic stuff. Kinda wish I had done his event now. In the computer lab, Towa's here already waiting, but Rean doesn't want to wake her, so he lays his jacket across her back. Sorry Alisa, I guess this boy's taken. Or maybe not, considering Towa is skeeved out that Rean just sits in the room and watches her sleep, and then gets all apologetic about it. Then she shows the world's first music video. Rean's excited, but I'm kinda wondering if that's really the direction Class VII's group project thingy should go. Unless we get an in-game concert like the one in Sacred II, anyway. No Blind Guardian, no deal.

The class's discussion over their display follows. The other classes are doing a play, a Blade demo, and something called Mishy Panic, but nothing involving music. (Aside from the operetta, at least.) Laura suggests a martial arts demonstration. Crow thinks we should have the equivalent of female mud wrestling in the pool. And then Rean tosses the word video into the conversation like everyone knows what that is. Now, sitting with the thumb drive on his desk, Rean's looking pretty smug.

Misty: "But as far as music goes, I'm a sucker for the classics. I still sing along to the Whereabouts of Light." And just as she segues into talking about new genres, Rean spaces out. GG, dude.

The practical exam is against Sara herself. She gets to half, says, "Not bad, but time for the kid gloves to come off." Then Elliot's spell lands and she falls asleep. She gets off two basic attacks total. Very disappointing fight. With that kind of display, Rean could have soloed her. Definite fan service shots to follow, sweeping across Sara's body from toe to head, lying on the ground.

Curses, no Laura on the next expedition. And no Millium, either. Does that mean I'm going to have to actually fight the trash mobs in chapter 6?

Air ship go brrr.

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Misty displaying her patrician-level taste.
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