Board 8 > SaveEstelle & LeonhartFour in New Houses: Kamehameha Edition [SELF]

(+) Yeah! (+)

<3

Right back at you!

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I appreciate you a bunch xp! I try not to spend too much time in the politics topic these days (which maybe would benefit you too right now!) but youre one of the few people in there who I think adds anything of real value, and it really helps make those things more readable.

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xp you are awesome deal with it

:P
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xp you're a good dude and this topic wouldn't be the same without you. You're definitely one of my favorite B8 friends. It was probably your enthusiasm about Trails that got me to try it in the first place. If you ever need to talk privately or anything like that, I'm here for you.

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You're a great guy, xp. I always look forward to reading your posts any time I come across them.
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Thanks everyone. <3

While I was prompted to make that post because often when I started getting really down I have a tendency to eventually try and make myself look at people and things in my life I'm grateful for - like I said I really probably ought to have said all that long ago anyway and not only say it because I had gotten deeply introspective.

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I think we all struggle to express our appreciation for those around us.

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Dragon Ball Z Episode 2 complete!

Huh, this was a really informative episode. I'd obviously heard the term "Saiyan" before because it's almost impossible to follow anime to any extent and not at least hear it said, but I didn't know anything about them. There are only four Saiyans left in the universe including Goku and this Raditz dude, huh. I'm assuming Vegeta (apparently named after their home planet for some reason?) is one of them, but I dunno who the fourth would be at this point.

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love a good info dump

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(Trails from Zero)

LeonhartFour posted...

And I didn't expect Rixia to wind up being Yin, but looking at all the clues and hints in hindsight, it makes sense, especially when she talked about Ilya moving her off of her fated path or whatever. Plus, she was the one who brought the threat to the SSS in the first place.

I don't think they give much context but I'm pretty sure they actually tell you this in the Crossbell segment of Cold Steel II. At least I know one of the characters calls her Yin in that. I'm pretty sure they also either state or imply that she's an assassin, though I'm not 100% sure on that.

Anyway Chapter 2 definitely one of my favorite parts of Trails from Zero. Rixia and Arc-en-ciel in general is so good imo.

xp1337 posted...

things

Hey thanks to you also xp. I'm not in quite in the same position, but I do feel like b8 in general is one of the only places I have where I can be open about my interests, hobbies, etc, so I'm definitely grateful that. I've always appreciated your posts here and in the politics topic in particular so thanks for that. This might be insignificant compared to everything else going on but you've also introducing me to some pretty good vgm on that side of b8 so that's definitely something I appreciate, at least.
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Trails from Zero (and CS2 Divertissment): Yeah, I don't think I caught on to the mayor's aide either. IIRC I found him a bit suspect but not that suspect. As for Rixia, I forget if Yin is namedropped in CS2 but her crafts against Yin's are a complete giveaway.... but that would rely on remembering that kind of detail from CS2.

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Cold Steel IV: Started what I guess I'll call Chapter 1 Part 2. The game didn't call it that but it feels like that. I stopped when I arrived at Milsante.

Yeah, I definitely feel like Falcom upped the difficulty from CS3. A lot of it is the tons of nerfs across the board on Delay, Break Duration, Brave Orders, Master Quartz effects but battles definitely feel a lot tougher now. Also I got curious and checked out the cryptid that appeared in the Eerie Woods and man this sure isn't CS2 where you could just roll up to a Level 100 cryptid like 40 levels below that and cheese it. I got blown up. Oh well. Ash and his Unbound Rage craft the MVPs still.

Also we have an AMAZING VOICE CLIP alert. Might even top "YOU'VE FAILED YOUR INSPECTION"

Fie's fishing quote omfg. I almost died laughing. I had kinda decided to give Leon's fishing contest idea a spin but I don't know if I can resist not having Fie fish at every. possible. opportunity. now.

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oh man voice clip hype

time to get rolling

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Generally I feel CS4 has been harder than CS3 but also I feel that as of Act 2 I've pretty well broken this game as well--at least on normal. At least here I feel like I've found one particular broken strategy as opposed to CS3 which felt like anything I did could break the game apart by the halfway point, I guess? I was able to take out a cryptid (not the one in Eerie Woods--a different one) while 20-25 levels under them with a bit of difficulty, though I've further optimized the strategy since that point which probably would have made it go more smoothly.
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Oh I mentioned this in Discord also but I had a boss fight where the bonus AP requirements were "survive to the end", and I was able to win the battle by reducing both bosses' HP from ~80% to 0 without them getting a turn. I don't know if the game wasn't expecting me to win this fight or if it was a typo/error or what, but I thought it was funny.
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I have no doubt that later in the game you can amass enough tools to get some broken stuff going, but early on it's tougher sledding I think.

In CS3 you had Juna and Kurt's Brave Orders being super cheap and super OP and they basically self-refunded and then some. They're still good of course, but the increased cost (especially on Kurt's) make them a lot harder to spam. Enemies recover from break way faster and the amount of delay on crafts took a hard nerf as well. Gone are the days where you break an enemy and the battle is over because the delay penalty they ate from being broken means they'll just never act again because you'll have so many actions with opportunities to tack on even more delay that their turn will never arrive. At least for now.

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Now back to your regularly scheduled Cold Steel IV Act 1!

More Parm. We finally run into Pablo, who tells us that Tatiana is headed for the Liberlian border to meet someone, which probably means we're going to visit Hamel again. Pablo wants us to teach him how to play Vantage Masters, but yet conveniently we've lost all our good cards. What a shame. Pablo tells us that some more black Pleroma Grass was spotted nearby, and when we get there, we find some new ruins that weren't there before. The party points out that this Draco Shrine is similar to the ruins they found on Bryonia Island. The boss fight here is a huge pain because everything he does can cause petrification, and I don't have a lot of options for healing it at the moment, but I thankfully had a petrification proof item on Juna and I eventually prevailed. Afterwards, we get a weird flashback to who I think is Black Alberich talking to the Jaeger King, Leo, and Xenonidas about a proposed deal. Turns out only New Class VII saw it and Randy didn't.

Next we get on the main track to head toward the Liberl border. They tease us with the ability to take the bus like they do in the Crossbell games, but with quick travel everywhere and not just inside cities, there's really no need for a bus here anyway.

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So in Cold Steel 2 Divertissment when Lloyd calls Rixia by a different name, that's a spoiler?

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It's apparently a spoiler for Trails From Zero, yes! Although I didn't remember that, so whatever. It's early on in the game and I wouldn't call it a game-breaking spoiler either way.

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BK_Sheikah00 posted...

So in Cold Steel 2 Divertissment when Lloyd calls Rixia by a different name, that's a spoiler?

Not as major of one as it might seem but yes. The narrative reveals it to the player relatively early on before any of the main characters themselves figure it out.
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Ok then fuck it. After SC I'm starting CS3. It's fine to learn things through Rean.

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Don't forget Trails the 3rd!

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Huh. For some reason in my mind 1-2 were two halves of the same story and 3rd was its own new thing. Basically I'm assuming the whole business with Weissman and Loewe ends in 2.

I don't why I had that idea, but if SC is a big Cliffhanger that will be a problem.

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SC is not a cliffhanger like FC was, no. Trails the 3rd is mostly cleaning up loose ends and setting up the next arc, but it does have some important content.

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And we're back to Cold Steel IV Act 1!

Unfortunately, the road to Hamel is blocked off, so no going that way this time. We find another Trial Chest, this time for Altina/Juna. After winning the battle, Altina's Brave Order gets upgraded. When we arrive at Titus Gate, everyone marvels at its massive size. We get a message from Rex asking us to take pictures for him, so we'll be doing that in this game, too. Apparently, the 1st Armored Division plans to hold field exercises in the neutral zone between Erebonia and Liberl, which is basically a flex move on Erebonia's part because it could be seen as a declaration of war, but they don't think Liberl would actually do anything about it.

We run into Anton at the border, mumbling about "Sh...n" under his breath. Sounds awfully suspicious if you ask me...! Apparently he left Ricky behind to come back to Erebonia, which sounds awfully suspicious if you ask me...! Anton gets detained by the border patrol and almost drags us along with him, but Margarita is there to save the day, which I certainly did not expect! Apparently, she was the friend that Tatiana came to meet, and she said that she had run into a friend from her club along the way, which makes everyone wonder if she meant Ash. They wonder if he might have been trying to get to Hamel, so they decide to investigate.

When we get back to the gate blocking the way to Hamel, it's already open, meaning someone has already passed through ahead of us, and there are two sets of footprints. Also, the pendulum reacts as we pass through the gate, meaning we must be closing in on the singularity. On the path, we find a bunch of black Pleroma Grass, but we can't deal with it right now since Ash takes priority.

As we advance further in, we fight Tatiana standing in front of a Panzer Soldat facing down some monsters. She calls out for Ash, but we'll have to do! After the battle, she says she thought she saw him on the bus ride over to the gate, and they assume the Panzer Soldat was how he got here. We get to an open field with a ton of Pleroma Grass, and Juna senses that the singularity core is close.

Unfortunately, I have to stop right before I hit the climax!

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The Office Season 5 complete!

Not sure if we can squeeze in four more seasons in two months!

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I feel like you've been going at multiple seasons per month pace

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LeonhartFour posted...

Dragon Ball Z Episode 2 complete!

Huh, this was a really informative episode. I'd obviously heard the term "Saiyan" before because it's almost impossible to follow anime to any extent and not at least hear it said, but I didn't know anything about them. There are only four Saiyans left in the universe including Goku and this Raditz dude, huh. I'm assuming Vegeta (apparently named after their home planet for some reason?) is one of them, but I dunno who the fourth would be at this point.

aw yeah I love that moment of understanding some big pop culture reference, especially if you encounter it often.

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pjbasis posted...

I feel like you've been going at multiple seasons per month pace

Well, we've basically got to squeeze in 100 more episodes in about two months. If we watch two per day, we should be able to do it.

Speaking of which, The Office Season 6 Episode 1 complete!

Oh hey, it's the parkour episode.

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what happens in two months

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The Mana Sword posted...

what happens in two months

The Office comes off of Netflix

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CS4:

LeonhartFour posted...

Pablo wants us to teach him how to play Vantage Masters, but yet conveniently we've lost all our good cards. What a shame.

No, see, this actually checks out. It was Rean who had all the good cards. Juna, Kurt, and Altina were relatively early VM opponents so they actually didn't have great cards!

LeonhartFour posted...

We run into Anton at the border, mumbling about "Sh...n" under his breath. Sounds awfully suspicious if you ask me...! Apparently he left Ricky behind to come back to Erebonia, which sounds awfully suspicious if you ask me...!

Mounting evidence that Anton is the Fourth Anguis. Sharon's old comrade from her assassin order and the Thousand Oathbreaker (that oath being leaving Ricky behind obv.) All recruited by Grandmaster Ricky ofc.

LeonhartFour posted...

As we advance further in, we fight Tatiana standing in front of a Panzer Soldat

Wow, I didn't see the renegade prompt there interested to see how that changes the story. >_>

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'whoops'

in my version of the game Juna uses her takedown on every branch campus character she meets

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The Office Season 6 Episode 2 complete!

Michael can probably do more damage when you keep him in the dark, like the last two episodes have demonstrated.

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F/GO: Oh yay, Free 4* Servant ticket incoming. But oh no that means tough decisions.

Think I'm leaning Munenori. I think a good ST Saber is my roster's biggest weakness. I have NP1 Bedivere who I love but NP1 and story-locked and NP5 Caesar (and the other Friend Point Sabers.)

Archers I think I'm good on. Fujino, EMIYA, Atalante, Summer Jeanne, David, Eurayle, Robin Hood I have too many Archers really lol.

Lancer I have Karna for AoE and then Cu, Cu Prototype, Li Shuwen, Taiga.

Rider I'm basically covered by welfare with Rider Ishtar and Sakamoto (and Ushiwakamaru)

Casters I'm good on too. Waver, Anastasia, Sheba, a billion others.

AoE Assassin might be the other glaring hole but I know Gray is coming in a few months and she was kinda my answer to that. Shiki and Wu Zeitan can cover ST generally.

Good on Berserkers too between Lancelot, Summer Jeanne Alter, and Atalante Alter. I know Hercules is good and has a great Bond CE but yeah.

Getting Hessian Lobo a while back probably shores me up on the Extra Class front as well by giving me an Avenger.

So in terms of gameplay/roster need I think it's something like: Munenori (or some other ST Saber), Nitocris, Parvati, or Hercules and I think Munenori has a pretty solid lead. I mean I could ignore that and just pick someone I just like but I like those 4 just fine as well so it's not like I'm picking someone I don't like just for gameplay purposes.

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Munenori's a good choice especially since he's story-locked, so you can't get him in regular rolls.
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Yeah, that's kind of where my thoughts were going.

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Now let's finish up the first part of Cold Steel IV Act 1!

Time to enter Hamel proper. Unsurprisingly, there's black Pleroma Grass everywhere here, too. Sure enough, Ash is actually here, beating himself up for coming back to Hamel even after he managed to escape. Unfortunately, he doesn't seem to be that happy to see us, although it seems more like he's self-deprecating and angry with himself for letting himself be used to start the war between Erebonia and Calvard. I'm still not convinced he's actually the one who shot the emperor though!

Regardless of whether he actually did it or not, Juna doesn't care. She blames the curse for it, but that's not good enough for Ash. I'll give him credit for actually taking the blame here and not passing the buck. He blames himself for being too weak and letting himself become a pawn in a game he never wanted to play. He hates the fact that his life was decided for him against his will because of that prophecy. He even goes so far as to say he wasn't even in an actor in the play, but only a mere puppet. Ash thinks his part in all this is done, but Juna isn't having it. She's really embodying the spirit of Rean early on in this game more than anyone else. She even seems to be mimicking some of his gestures.

Ash still isn't convinced that he belongs with them, but Altina promises to support both him and Rean and to ease the burdens they carry. It's weird when other characters are like, "Hey, you think you've got it bad? Rean has it worse," but Randy does it here. And I guess in this case, he's not wrong, at least! Kurt finishes it up by saying that tragedies can't be undone, but Ash survived for a reason and it wasn't to be a triggerman for some shooting. The curse might have driven him to do that one thing, but everything else in his life was Ash's own doing.

Ash finally gets the point and stops moping. Randy says he isn't the type to let himself get beaten down and not get right back up swinging, and that's something Ash can get on board with. Unfortunately, we all get interrupted by jaegers, including a dude with a really annoying voice. And as soon as Randy said they were a jaeger corps enhanced by Ouroboros, I immediately knew it was Gilbert. Let's see if he's still a pushover! Turns out he's so useless we don't even need to fight a battle to KO him (BLOORF)!

Okay, we do have to fight him after all. Oh hey, Gilbert talks about being in Phantasma, nice. "Can't we all just get along?" the greatest S-Craft in Trails history. After beating up on Gilbert for a while, Zephyr decides to interrupt the fun. They're not here to back up Gilbert but to investigate the black Pleroma Grass. However, Rutger says the time isn't right yet, but since there's so much here, it's a potential candidate. Randy calls their bluff and says they're after Ash, too, just for different reasons. Rutger concedes and admits he's here to recruit Ash into Zephyr. Randy says they like to recruit guys with their backs against the wall and nowhere else to turn. Luckily for Ash, he does have somewhere else to turn now that he has New Class VII again.

Zephyr decides to take Ash by force instead. This is a pretty fun fight since it's neat to see them use follow-ups and even one Rush attack. We had 35 turns to finish the fight for bonus AP, and I finished it in 31 aw yeah. Of course, Rutger calls his secret weapon, the Divine Knight Zector, so now we get our first mech battle. It's pretty straightforward and Rutger seems to come out on top, but we get a moral victory for being able to damage his knight's weapon.

Gilbert decides this is the time to take advantage of our weakness and catches everyone off guard (they should all be kicked out of Thors just for this imhotbqh), but thankfully, Fie, Elliot, and Sara are there to bail us out. Rutger is proud that his little girl's all grown up, and that's good enough for him, it seems, so he pulls back.

oh heck yeah it's the emotional/heartwarming scene music from CS3, I love this song

Anyway, everyone suddenly remembers they're supposed to be investigating the singularity and Rose shows up to chastise us for forgetting, but doesn't this mean she could've been doing this all herself? Oh wait, it's just a spirit projection. Elliot informs us that they found a singularity at Lunaria Nature Park in Kreuzen in a similar spot with a lot of black Pleroma Grass growing, too. Afterwards, we decide to return to Eryn Village, but Pablo, Kairi, and Tatiana say they have to stay in the "real world" and investigate, so Randy offers to stay with them to watch over them since his job helping New Class VII get back on their feet is done.

When we get back, Juna waves at someone while walking toward them instead of away from them, which is an amazing development in this game.

Whew, that section was really great. Honestly, I think this really cemented New Class VII > Old Class VII for me. They're just so great together (and way better off without Musse, so don't be in any rush to find her, guys). Their chemistry is top notch. Plus, the fact that it's a much smaller group means they can always be together instead of constantly having to be split in half at best like the Old Class VII had to do.

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Started up the Switch version of Xenoblade, having played the original like seven years ago

Was trading with NPCs a thing in the WIi version? I don't remember that

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Yes, that was a thing.
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F/GO Correction: I am dumb. While my AoE Assassin gap is real for some reason I had it in my head Nitocris was an Assassin because I mixed her up with her Summer Version.

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CS4: Yeah, the climax of Chapter 1 Part 1 (as I have labelled it) is really great. New Class VII definitely has an excellent dynamic together and it shines through at its best there. And yes, that "S-Craft" was incredible.

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Well, I think based on the save file, the game terms it Act 1 Chapter 1.

And I feel like some Xenoblade sidequests would be extremely tedious (or at least more tedious than they already are) if you couldn't trade with NPCs.

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Oh maybe it does, I haven't paid that much attention to what the save file says. >_>

no title card it doesn't count

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Well, I had the save file open when I was reading that post because I hadn't turned the game off yet and it said Chapter 1 - End. Otherwise, I wouldn't have noticed myself probably!

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I'm about halfway through the first Wheel of Time book, where the party is separated and splits into three groups. I gotta say, I'm coming around on Perrin. He'd been kind of a nothing character up to that point, but traveling with Elias (the Wolfbrother dude) has helped him to develop.

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Dragon Ball Z Episode 3 complete!

Whoa, Goku and Piccolo team up! Also, so much talk of power levels and we're still nowhere close to being over 9000 yet.

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The Office Season 6 Episode 3 complete!

And that's why I'd never want to be the boss of an office like this.

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The Office Season 6 Episode 4 complete!

Oh my word, my wife nearly died when Andy did the splits at the end.

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The Office Season 6 Episode 5 complete!

We thought about going to Niagara Falls for our honeymoon, actually. Still would like to go someday.

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Its a nice place to visit for a day or two! Longer than that and you kinda run out of things to do.

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Okay, let's start Cold Steel IV Act 1 Chapter 2!

We get a rest day in Eryn. There's a roundtable discussion about the state of Erebonia as the Great Twilight spreads and war draws nearer. Ash says he did get a chance to talk to Musse when he was on the Pantagruel, but she basically only filled him in on what he missed while he was unconscious. He also wonders if him escaping was part of her plan, too. Roselia says that the Cayenne family has always been known for their strength as mediators, and Musse is proving to be no exception. Juna is convinced they'll be able to get Musse to rejoin them eventually, but hey, no rush.

Roselia informs us that the next singularity is in Lamare. Fie says that she, Sara, and Elliot plan to start gathering intel again, but one of them can join New Class VII as backup if they so choose. Do I actually get to choose which one it is? I sure hope so because I definitely want Sara! As an aside, I do think Old Class VII's strength is in being supporting characters who show up in the right situation at the right time. At the very least, it sounds like we're going to do some more training in the labyrinth before we take off.

Oh hey, I'm controlling Kurt for the Free Day. I feel like he was never the character you control in Cold Steel III, but maybe I'm misremembering that. Around town, Juna is helping out at the inn, and Altina is just unwinding from their expedition. Fie is fishing and Sara is drinking, of course. And somehow Jingo is here....? Well, whatever. I'll allow it! Kurt and Ash have a conversation about fashion, which is probably the last thing I expected!

When we enter the woods, Roselia is there, too, letting us know that black Pleroma Grass started blooming there as well and a cryptid has appeared. She says that it's beyond our ability to handle at the moment, but it's confined to its current location, so it poses no harm right now. Also, the second level of the labyrinth is available now, but it's optional, which surprises me! I figured they'd be mandatory like every other game with a gradually expanding dungeon! We'll tackle it tomorrow though.

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