Board 8 > Trails in the Sky Playthrough Topic

(+) Yeah! (+)

Well I figure I can always try the prologue and restart if it's too bad.

The prologue will be the worst part so keep that in mind.... When your options are limited early on in trails games is almost always the toughest part of them

you can always just use the retry offset feature for the one hard fight

My break only lasted two days because I can't stop thinking about this game.

Let's do it. Trails in the Sky SC

Now on Hard difficulty.

This game also needs the same annoying setup to launch on steam like FC, but this time I know what to do

the first sound that plays, right in the title screen, is part of Josh's harmonica song. Ouch.

Feels are coming. I hope you are prepared.

the ending credits of FC showed Estelle preparing to travel again, but the beginning of SC is right at the end of the previous game. Estelle wakes up, just a few hours after the fact

The fact being that Joshua decided to take matters with his own hands, and leave to kill the big bad, Professor Alba, aka Weissmann, aka The Magician, aka The Faceless, aka Aizen. You can measure a man's threat by the number of "aka"s you can apply to him.

Josh should have known better. Just one game ago, Estelle decided she wasn't going to stay in one place while her dad was amiss. You think she will wait for him? She will find Josh or die trying.

I dont know tarot, but I can get what it means when Schera pulls a "lovers reversed".

Estelle meets Cassius, who tells some lore about Josh and Evil Organization of Doom. Cassius thinks pursuing Josh is a bad idea. Estelle tells Cassius to fudge it and leaves in rage.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/8/0/8/AAO9CbAAEWhI.jpg

Ouch

The title screen is launched and the mood is the lowest it has been since the series started

We cut to an airship, where Estelle meets a dude named Insensitive Jerk. That's what it says in his character box so I'll use it.

it's Kevin, who is not the protagonist of this specific game

he arrives just in time to be in Estelle's location when she breaks down and starts crying. And he wanted to pick up on her. Sorry soldier, not this time.

He's somewhere in that Zin area of the horniness spectrum where hs a bit disgusting but kind of endearing.

Back to Pallet Town

This part of the plot could be called Bargain. Because that's the stage Estelle is at right now.

ok let's see what I still have. I keep my lv 38 from the previous save. But my money, inventory (except the map) and orbment are all gone. At least I have all my crafts, which is neat. Not really a New Game +, but not a complete reset either

Gone are the times of Oracle of Ages/Seasons where you need a code to transfer a save. Steam just detects it and transfers it automatically.

The clerk from the bracer guild asks Kevin to watch over Estelle because she's out of it, while isn't hearing. He replies he's already noticed it. Ouch.

Blue haired kid is still an asshole, and he challenges Estelle to a duel. She has no time for his BS tho, too busy being deluded herself

we get a montage of Estelle searching every room in her house for Josh. This game has no mercy.

Aizen also hypnotized Estelle as she was going to get ice cream. The man doesn't leave any loose ends

Cassius and Schera show up, and the former reveals he's had character development. Even legendary badasses have that sometimes

legendary badasses need to be kept from acting so player character gets to shine (the alternative is to kill Cassius and I suppose it's too soon for that). And this time the excuse is that Cassius is busy helping rebuild the army

Estelle swears to bring her man back, and pro-prologue is over. The anime opening is shown.

Prologue: To Bring Mah Man Back

We move to Some Place That Is Not in the Map, where Estelle is sparring with Anelace, who has now gained the ability to start sentences with something other than "Hey Newbies!". Character growth.

Anelace is a master of the katana, and of the Art of Changing the Position of her Hair Ribbon Without Anyone Noticing. It's an ancient technique, passed down through millenia.

After a sequence of high level sprite coreography, Estelle wins. The drive to bring a man back is too strong for Anelace to compete against.

Estelle and Anelace are in a training arc, so we can not get completely wasted by Lorence next time we meet him. Of course, I expect to still be lv 38, because true strength is only gained by massacring mobs of weird looking bugs and plants in public roads.

Estelle is wearing new clothes this game. She and Anelace have a talk about it.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/8/0/9/AAO9CbAAEWhJ.jpg

Obey the LAW

I gotta admit though, the shoulder guard does make Estelle look like she means business.

ZeldaTPLink posted...

You can measure a man's threat by the number of "aka"s you can apply to him.

Doubly so in Trails because everyone and their grandmother (sometimes literally) has at least one Badass Title.

The save transfer also kept my keyboard control scheme, apparently. Which is a nice touch.

I pick up equipment that is somewhat in line with the ultimate stuff I had at the end of the last game. But only 1000 mira. That's outrageous. I want my 100k prize from the tournament

We talk with Kurt, one of the Non Playable Bracers. He supplies us with a new orbment, now with 7 slots. And a convoluted but creative explanation for why the quartz from FC did not carry over

In a fashion similar to Disgaea, one must let go of their previous powers to be able to reach higher levels later on. I also like how they explain why Lorence could use SC arts

I also gain some items from having achieved bracer rank 1, though not the best one because I didnt max out BP, from what I gather. Meh.

Anelace's craft names sound like something a samurai would make, or at least a samurai wannabe. "Eight-Leaf Blitz". While Estelle's sound like something hastly put together in the middle of a skirmish and the next. "Uh... this spins. So Hurricane!"

The party is now composed of two cute girls with foul mouths and deadly weapons. The wokeness of this game is out of control.

The only thing better than a Estelle is two, I suppose

Anelace's orbment geometry is shit though. If I was her I'd go back to Kurt and demand a better one. Though wind is at least one of the better elements. And the game gives us more time sepith than anything else. It knows what's up.

Ouch, Action is expensive. Yes, the game knows what is up and is making it harder to abuse besides giving a free Action at the start.

The game even has an in-universe explanation for balance changes in spells. Nice.

I spend a while going through the magic list. Arts costs got overhauled. The biggest news is that Earth Wall's cost more than doubled. No matter, that only delays the inevitable.

The new orbment comes with everything unlocked, but the catch is that higher end stuff requires you to "upgrade" your slots first, so there's still something to grind for

seems lke every trails game must start and end in sewers

Anelace says "I AM INVINCIBLE! Or am I?" when battle ends. That's... quirky.

Hard mode is... tricky. I'm not exactly overwhelmed, but monsters clearly hit hard and one of them has huge defense and is only weak to fire, which I only have quartz for one character. I do find a second attack quartz in a chest though. But resources seem hard to conserve. The good news is there is infinite healing in the entrance, but I suspect that will be hard to return to once I go deeper. Estelle is also not getting much xp after hitting lv 39, meaning the game expects this to be the default level of challenge for this section.

ZeldaTPLink posted...

But only 1000 mira. That's outrageous. I want my 100k prize from the tournament

Tired: You don't get to keep it for game balance reasons.
Wired: Joshua took it when he bounced

ZeldaTPLink posted...

The game even has an in-universe explanation for balance changes in spells. Nice.

What was that

When someone normally leaves the party, they leave their stuff with you.
When Joshua leaves the party, he steals everything not nailed down.

What a jerk

Thorn posted...

Tired: You don't get to keep it for game balance reasons.
Wired: Joshua took it when he bounced

Inspired: Clothing shopping spree

_stingers_ posted...

What was that

New orbment makes the way quartz interact with it changes.

This dungeon has water level and bridge puzzles. While those are pretty basic, FC dungeons had no puzzles whatsoever. It managed not to be repetitive because most dungeons were short and there was a lot of fighting chest monsters (though the final dungeon was too long and those were repetitive so it didn't work well). Seems like SC wants to be more like a normal rpg now. This can be hit or miss, though. Puzzles add more variety to dungeons, but they can be very annoying too.

ZeldaTPLink posted...

Anelace says "I AM INVINCIBLE! Or am I?" when battle ends.

the absolute legend

I just checked a map and it looks like I've kind of explored the entire dungeon. I just have to solve the puzzles and kill a chest boss or two. This means the free heal at the entrance is easy to exploit, since the dungeon isn't long. That's exactly what I'm going to do.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/7/0/1/AAO9CbAAEWvF.jpg

After a bloody battle against a chest enemy, I get a decent quartz, and this message. Chests are getting more creative.

and the boss of the dungeon is Kurt himself. Ok.

He is pretty tough, I can get why players despise hard mode prologue. But after having been wrecked by Lorence last game, this feels easier. The main issue is that he both raises his own def and heals, and while magic works, EP ends eventually. I manage to finish him off by having Anelace throw an explosive cookie on him, which we found in the dungeon. She yells she is invincible. She's earned it, tbh.

So Kurt is the top bracer in Liberl after Cassius. And now Cassius left the guild, so Kurt is really the top dog. DIdn't expect him to be that good.

Yet he's only B rank. Zin, who is a monster, is A rank. And Cassius is S. While Schera is just C, though she might be promoted soon. Estelle is G, Anelace is F, cuz they are newbies.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/7/0/2/AAO9CbAAEWvG.jpg

I would take that threat seriously

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/7/0/3/AAO9CbAAEWvH.jpg

Anelace is my spirit animal here

I meet her in her room and she's talking to a teddy bear. Alright.

I unlock an art called Dark Matter, which sounds like the kind of thing Tita wishes existed in FC. An actual space art.

We are attacked by jaegers. The evil bracers. Though the jaeger looks rather generic. I guess only good guys get interesting character designs.

uh... is this guy even beatable. Is this another Lorence situation? He destroyed me and I dont even see how I could win otherwise, with him getting ton use two attacks in a single turn

The game keeps going anyway

the jaegers mugged all our equipment and left us to die in some random forest. nice.

they do leave some healing items in a tent, though

they scatter the equipment around the forest, one per chest. Ok this is too specific. It's Kurt's doing, isn't it? All part of the training.

we recover it, and at the end of it, we meet another jaeger (or is it the same one). This time we have to win. It's rather tough, for unexpected reasons: the map is huge, she keeps moving back and attacking from a distance. But magic has infinite reach, and Anelace does manage to corner her once. I claim the win this round. Her attack seems a bit lower this time too, which helps me not get overwhelmed like the previous jager fight

Anelace is best girl

Crossbells got the best girls by far

In sky it's probably Anelace but she gets overshadowed pretty heavy

I like those little crime scene investigations. The seires could have more of those

They didnt need to do it to figure out where the bad guys are, though. It's in the only not yet explored place in the region map!

I like the music this series uses for military bases

Estelle and Anelace have a great dynamic. They have similar personalities, but that just makes them enhance each other's quirkiness. Anelace says some complicated works and Estelle is there to mock her for it. If this was Josh, she would probably be lectured for not knowing them.

I fight a mob of 4 enemies, which is somehow the hardest battle in the game so far. I have to stop and change my quarts setup to get Fire Bolt Ex, or I just cant outdamage them. Rough

a single surprise attack is game over here

I get an explanation on what key items are. Such deep gameplay!

I save scum to see if the boss will be alone or with mobs, so I can decide if I equip La Tear or Fire Bolt Ex, since both is impossible

gone are the days of White Gehenna spam

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/5/2/5/AAO9CbAAEW79.jpg

Holy shit Anelace.

Yeah scratch that, this guy is the hardest boss in the series so far. By a mile.

He on hard is harder than Lorence on normal, at least

Unlike Lorence, all his stats are gargantuan. He can 3-shot any character, and he is fast enough to attack twice before we can. I looked online and strategy tips range from "spend hours farming ingredients at the start of the game to make damage items" to "use an app that lowers your save's difficulty to normal". That's demoralizing. Internet also says the retry offset feature doesn't work here, though either way I don't want to use it if possible.

But none of those were necessary in the end. The boss is beatable. Took me 3 tries, the first to realize how screwed I was, the second to come up with a strat, the third to improve it. Basically, the secret is he can't outdamage our healing, especially if Anelace uses AT Delay. It's a battle of stalling, carefully healing with Estelle and keeping HP above the 1200 mark. The two reviving acessories I got early help immensely too, especially since one of them gives Estelle a free max dmg Barrage.

Now on Nightmare difficulty? Yeah I can imagine that's going to require hours of pre-dungeon farming. Forget it.

internet also tells me this was the hardest boss in the series except for some guy you meet in the 10th game. In other words... let's finish Trails SC on Hard.

Heh. Knew it was all a set up

and it was frigging Kurt again. Ok I get why you are B rank now

Estelle is frustrated that their argument was sound so she can't even complain

Meanwhile, in some evil looking base, some evil looking green haired kid says evil things.

now that the game has an actual Evil Organization to fight against, we can do one of JRPG/Anime's most classic traditions: the Wacky Elite Henchman Crew. Those 4-6 characters who are the strongest below the boss, get introduced all at the start and slowly go down in sucession as the game progresses.

Lorence (aka Loewe) seems to be their leader/protagonist and Josh, the one who defected

Uh... that Phantom Thief who was stealing stuff for fun last game is Orobouros? That's interesting

Oooh green haired shit is Enforcer #0. He's also the PA to the Biggest Bad of All. That's something

And meanwhile, the sky bandits accidentaly run into Josh (who is wearing a badass scarf to make the point that he is edgy now). Of course.

Actually no, it seems he hired them, or something. Interesting call. They are useful, but expendable.

"Prologue: This Boss Would be Banned on Tournaments" beaten

Meanwhile, Kevin has been hired to deal with the latest McGuffin

Kevin deduces the device is a trail to the real, final McGuffin. Not a physical trail, mind you, but maybe one that runs through the Earth or something. Or maybe...

A trail in the sky (DUN DUN DUN)

Chapter 1: Chasing Edgy Kids begins

I will know only call orobouros Mystery Creepos. Thanks for the nickname, Anelace

The guild npc explains why monsters have become stronger since the last game. I never get tired of those in-universe explanations for RPG cliches

I mean, he doesn't explain it, but he says "the villains dunnit", which is more than almost every game attempts to

Schera and Agate have been tasking with investigating Orobouros. The current "plan" is to just walk randomly until they bump into them. This will be a perfect plan if they add playable characters to the party, tbf

I have to pick Schera or Agate

Now, story wise, I think Estelle would pick Schera. Because Agate is, simply put, an asshole, and Schera is someone she trusts and is used to.

Also, if this was FC, Schera would be an easy pick because she is good and Agate was well, not good. Worse than Tita, even.

But I have heard Agate is a monster in this game. And there is the matter that he was my least used character last game. I wanna have fun with some Agate action. Plus I'm not a huge fan of Schera humor, her alcohol jokes get old fast.

Estelle picks Agate and immediately starts making fun of his fragile masculinity. Perfect.

The biggest loss of the party is Anelace, though. I'll miss her. Quality character.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/5/2/6/AAO9CbAAEW7-.jpg

Uh...

WHAT

Ha. never mind. She's just asking to be rivals. Amazing.

Oh my god they were rivals

Anelace really is the best.

Also good call picking Agate. The choice doesn't really matter beyond which one will be in your party for now, but Agate the right call nonetheless.

Someone on a "general tips for beginners" thread I found (I like to read those) also mentioned Agate gives better plot lines than Schera.

Agate is the better choice early game because youre about to get two spellcasters, and the next physical character is Tita who is uh, kind of bad in this game.

ZeldaTPLink posted...

and the boss of the dungeon is Kurt himself. Ok.

He is pretty tough, I can get why players despise hard mode prologue. But after having been wrecked by Lorence last game, this feels easier.

When you said this the first time, I thought to myself how you were having a much easier time handling the end of the prologue boss fight than I did. Guess I forgot about the other time you fight Kurt in the prologue.

I don't remember my strategy for that fight too well, but I remember one of my ideas was to spend turns running away from him, so he'd waste turns trying to approach me. Not a tactic I've needed often in this series. The problem with the cookie strategy is you lose the opportunity to buy ingredients by the time you reach the prologue boss, so you'd need to do it ahead of time, and maybe even before you get the cookie recipe.

Agate is better because you don't get to play him much in the first game

Agate just better character-wise tbqh. Schera is probably one of my least favorite main party members in the series

I picked Schera when I first played through but I've played through since and picked Agate and definitely agree he is the better choice.

Hbthebattle posted...

Agate is the better choice early game because youre about to get two spellcasters, and the next physical character is Tita who is uh, kind of bad in this game.

this is literally just false. she carries in this game

I picked Schera playing on hard. If I recall, she had trouble doing any damage with her regular attack but did alright with arts.

Fiop posted...

When you said this the first time, I thought to myself how you were having a much easier time handling the end of the prologue boss fight than I did. Guess I forgot about the other time you fight Kurt in the prologue.

I don't remember my strategy for that fight too well, but I remember one of my ideas was to spend turns running away from him, so he'd waste turns trying to approach me. Not a tactic I've needed often in this series. The problem with the cookie strategy is you lose the opportunity to buy ingredients by the time you reach the prologue boss, so you'd need to do it ahead of time, and maybe even before you get the cookie recipe.

People were complaining about a Kurt, and I thought it was the same, but it wasn't.

Also when you spend turns away, he says something like "you think I need range to beat you?" and starts spamming time arts.

Also I just now realized the one you are supposed to lose against at the start is Grant.

And I was thinking it's Agate or something. Nope, freaking Grant.

Grant is hands-down the most generic so-and-so bracer I've come across.

At least Sting has the distinction of completely different sprites from FC to SC.

And if you're wondering who Sting is, well, he's generic tertiary bracer from Bose who kind of looks like Kurt in FC and has purplish hair in SC and literally does nothing of note except confuse me and my spreadsheet.

we enter the ticket lobby at Grancel and watch what seems to be an international incident. Olivier's friend helps defuse it. I wish Olivier was here too, he would try to defuse it with the power of music.

The ambassador guy seems to be the Erebonian equivallent of the Duke from last game. Just a rich idiot.

Oh ok, so Liberl wants to share their super engine to the world as a way to make friends, and Calvard is mad because they are rivals with Erebonia and that might give the later an edge. Ngl they have a point.

Agate is naturally suspicious of both Olivier and Mueller, while Estelle wants to trust them. Well I know Olivier is a good guy, but in-universe I'd side with Agate

I buy Liberl News 2 in the ticket office. The first one was available at the prologue, but I had no money in there. Did the game actually expect me to sell valuable sepith to buy a newspaper?

Agate works well here because Estelle is not a junior anymore, so he respects her. Before, he could pretty much just shut her and Josh up and kick them out if he wanted to. Now he is willing to listen to her. But that means she gets full access to making fun of him or making him feel uncomfortable, which is awesome.

An npc gives me a fishing rod. I feel like I have been recruited for something scarier than even orobouros itself

We arrive at Ruan. Mission 1 is some ghost busting. Estelle is afraid of it. Agate doesn't care. We are ghost busting, period.

monster killing requests now come with hints of what to use against them. Nice

and with that, the game FINALLY breaks open. I was missing just exploring around. Even Grancel was kind of not great for that

Ruan has been taken over by electoral season. I'm sorry for their loss.

I have fallen into gambling

now gambling in this game is a breeze. Nothing compared to the game corner in pokemon. I play poker until I get a full house, then blackjack until I get a 6 card hand, then buy all the available prizes, except for the book because I somehow missed the first volume.

Damn, fishing is hard. I use all my bait and only catch one fish

The Raven gang now has character portraits

The raven gang is tough, so it takes me two tries. Agate's new Wild Rage is good, but very risky, so you gotta make sure there is healing coming next. The main thing is that the ravens have more hp than attack, and if Agate can seal them, it's over. But it's 3 enemies so its tricky.

retry offset probably helped though. I'm turning it off. Don't like the idea of the game just giving me free wins. I'll turn it on later if I hit a roadblock, maybe.

Mega_Mana posted...

And if you're wondering who Sting is, well, he's generic tertiary bracer from Bose

:( rude

ZeldaTPLink posted...

Did the game actually expect me to sell valuable sepith to buy a newspaper?

yes?

Imagine selling sepith.

ZeldaTPLink posted...

Imagine selling sepith.

*tilts head*

*then remembers the Sky games' economies actually have decision-making on what the party can actually afford, often selling excess items to just get a new pair of Stregas, and grinding Sepith for needed orbment upgrades...

...as I shove about 5000 of each color to Lanfei for a great price, buying more Evergreens for my fully outfitted team of overpaid police officers*

I used a hex editor to edit the save's difficulty to normal

I signed up on this to get harder bosses. Harder bosses were given, maybe a bit too much. But my patience ran out when I went to fight some mobs outside Ruan and started dying over and over. I shouldn't need to rely on turn order luck not to be killed in the first turn by random enemies. Mobs should be easy. I can see myself beating Hard is I try hard enough, but I'm more likely to see myself getting bored and dropping the game. And this isn't Celeste, I'm not playing Trails to challenge myself, story is the biggest reason.

Mobs are still a little tricky on normal, so I suspect this game is just harder overall, or at least the earlier chapters

We get to the orphanage, and Estelle loses her composure for a moment, when she remembers coming here with Josh, and nearly cries. Agate is kind enough not to give her crap for it.

We can't visit Kloe because the school is having exams. That's a very serious matter, I wish Kloe luck

Agate has a weird moment when he starts rambling about how women are strong, then he realizes he's revealing his Past, and stops

After a cute scene where we meet Kevin who is giving sundsay school to the orphanage kids, he joins the party! Now we are talking

His orbment is a slightly better version of Josh's with one less restricted time quartz. He comes with some strong free quartz too, which is awesome.

I was getting really underwhelmed about how weak Estelle's Hurricane was lately... then she learns True Hurricane. Now we're talking

"Sasa panda: A remorse-less killer with a taste for man flesh. Don't let its cuteness fool you"

...

I kill it before it attacks (its very weak to arts) and it gives me a fuckton of xp, and a Laundry Pole +. what the hell. does it one shot the entire party if you let it, or something?

Kevin leaves. The best don't stay in the party for long. But he leaves an action quartz on us, which saves me through the trouble of having to buy it for Estelle

ZeldaTPLink posted...

"Sasa panda: A remorse-less killer with a taste for man flesh. Don't let its cuteness fool you"

...

I kill it before it attacks (its very weak to arts) and it gives me a f***ton of xp, and a Laundry Pole +. what the hell. does it one shot the entire party if you let it, or something?

Sasa Pandas are psuedo-Poms. They're difficult to find, they sponge damage more than other enemies in their area, they like to take turns quickly and run away easily, and have a really good drop if you can take them out.

Crossbell note:
As silly as 3rd could get with its drop lists, I much prefer the surprise in a small chance finding a cool new weapon than the generic bucket of bland U-Materials.

we go to the lighthouse, where the guy old man, in Estelle's words, acts like "the most passive aggressive old fart in the universe" to make us do his job for him. Yay for hidden quest! It's a cute little minigame about starting up a lighhouse device. The reward is more fishing bait. I feel like the game is trying to lead me somewhere. To be fair, if fishing continues to give me high amounts of sepith, I'm up to it.

We meet a girl named Renne, and her parents, Renne's Father and Renne's Mother. I wonder which one of them is the plot important character.

People are arguing on a bridge over politics. That's realistic. The politicians themselves try to stop the fight. That is not realistic.

Olivier shows up all of a sudden on a small boat and stops the fight by being extremely awkward.

Estelle acts nice to Olivier (since he helped her take down the final boss of FC). And he doesn't know how to react! It's the first time in ages someone doesn't just try to get rid of him. Amazing.

He reacts by being horny.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/4/4/AAO9CbAAEXNc.jpg

It clearly doesn't work

I just realized Olivier and Agate have never interacted, and Olivier just realized it too. He decides to make up for lost time. To Agate's complete despair. I'm 100% having it

Oh my. The ghost we are investigating is Olivier, isn't it. It wears white and dances annoyingly.

Well Olivier doesn't admit it, so I guess not.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/4/5/AAO9CbAAEXNd.jpg

Agate is not down for Olivier's horniness either

Olivier's 7x line orbment is a thing of beauty. and comes with a free EP 2

he quartz guide at gamefaqs is suggesting me I farm until the whole party has EP 2 and Evade 2. I farmed for a single Evade 2 and it was a pain. Not doing more of that, I resetted the game to normal for a reason. One Aerial is already great.

I do end up getting a second Evade 2 while passing through for quests, though. Things only come when you aren't trying to get them.

Exploring sapphirl tower. I kill a shining pon and Estelle gains 2 levels, Olivier gains 2 and Agate gains 1. I dont recall those guys giving so much xp last game, wtf

I get a cool bonus scene when taking a picture of the altar because Dorothy is with us. She is a pro, so Estelle gives the job to her

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/4/6/AAO9CbAAEXNe.jpg

Not even chests are safe

Another minigame, where Estelle has to teach about bracers to a group of children. I almost nailed it, but some teenage dude makes me fail by asking an exam-like question about what number a specific principle of the bracer code is. I hate those people, even in real life

and another kid asks the size of the queen's ship, which has nothing to do with anything either

Well quests for this region are done, time to go to school. I'm kind of amazed that I managed to do all this optional (and dangerous) stuff while not letting Dorothy die. To be fair, her camera does help a little.

shining poms give 100-130 XP in FC not accounting for level difference shenanigans, so you're not misremembering it

So Olivier has been kind of lame so far. I had to give him both ep 2 and ep cut 1 to be able to use arts 24/7.. Because his non-art moves are just not strong anymore. Hes fallen off a bit since last game. Though I suspect once the monster arts start going online he'll catch up.

Agate is the one I'm impressed with. He kicks asses and takes names. I gave him a full set for melee (attack/action/hit/move/hp/evade/seal) and its working well. And his crafts are great particularly the small aoe one.

And Estelle is the same jack of all trades as always.

We go to jenis Royal Academy. I gotta say, the way the protagonists just enter the school without anyone at the door to ask who they are is weird. I mean, Estelle is well known, but at the very least, I'd keep Olivier off school grounds.

Olivier is sad he missed Josh in a dress. Heh.

Kloe is the usual sweetheart. Ok, you wanna help, join the party for more than half a chapter.

Hans gives me a great scene where he helps develop Josh's character. If I had a ranking of favorite NPCs, that would give Hans a huge boost upwards.

Kloe's orbment is a longer spiral. She doesn't come with much fancy stuff, though I appreciate the HP 2.

I'm gonna bet Olivier will be the one to find the big lead. Just because.

Dorothy is... taking pictures of the cafeteria

And Olivier is just looking for the girls' dorm. I warned.

We get a scene where Kloe confesses to Estelle that she loved Josh. And then it turns into a Josh Roasting Session. Man, I'm getting very hyped for the punch Estelle will throw in Josh's face when they meet again. I wanna see that sprite flying like it's the sandbag from SSB.

so back in the first game there were those two student girls, Felicity and Reina, who seemed to be in some kind of conflict. We see the next chapter of that conflict, when it's revealed Felicity is some kind of Erebonian noble and Reina is has maid, who has sort of controlling her for the family. Interesting plot, I like how it goes for a whole two games.

Estelle sees the ghost and just faints. It is really a ghost, huh. Not just Olivier being creepy.

Estelle decides she is done being scared. She's gonna do it.

She is gonna bust the ghost.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uvck7ItXwdc&ab_channel=RayParker%2CJr.-Topic

Kloe: "Can I join?"
Agate: "Uh... excuse me, princess?"

I know that reference!

Kloe, like Tita and Olivier, is just allowed to go whatever they want at this point, dangerous or otherwise. Ghost busting? Send them in. Orobouros HQ? Bring it. Suicidal mission to destroy the enemy army's weapon of mass destruction before they use it? Whatever.

The ghost leaves notes. Of course.

There's a whole dungeon under the school. Fun.

with things that seem like they came out of Call of Cthulhu

We ditch Dorothy. That's for the best. She almost got killed by Aero Storm from the first enemy.

Estelle and kloe's chain craft is just Estelle teaming with with Not a Falcon. I love how Kloe doesn't even pretend she is the physical power here, it's the bird

Ultimate dirty play: using Agate's wild rage to max out his cp when I know i'm approaching a heal station

We get to the end of the rather long dungeon, where a non-ghost person waits for us

It's the phantom thief

who also happens to be from orobouros

I thought orobouros was supposed to be horrible monsters, not wacky pranksters. Then again, I did say we were going to face the Wacky Elite Henchman Crew. This is the first entry in the group, I suppose.

dude says he wont fight us, and summons a giant robot out of nowhere.

Robot is kind of lame, though. It does use those sacrifical horse thingies to boost his own stats, but I use Clock Down, Not a Falcon and Hard Break. It spends most of the fight failing to do things.

The bad guy uses Cutscene Superpowers to paralyse the whole party. Including Not a Falcon, who desperately tries to save the day. The implication is that He is going to do things to Kloe that will elevate the age ratio of the game. However, he is stopped, because he made one mistake he should never have. He insulted the concept of beauty.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/8/2/1/AAO9CbAAEXf1.jpg

Joking, Olivier just wastes everyone's time. At least he earns the thief's respect. We have an arch-nemesis here.

Then an even more likely hero shows, up, Dorothy. And we learn a camera's flash is a counter against shadow based abilities. Ok...

The bad guy leaves, though.

Well, wasn't this whole chapter completely filler.

(loved it)

Olivier and Kloe are NOT leaving the party at the end of the chapter! Your move, FC.

Kloe is so nerd she can skip the rest of the year's classes to fight evil and still pass because she has grades to spare.

Chapter 1: The 2nd Best Entry in the Ghostbusters Franchise: Beaten.

Yeah in SC, barring any plot reasons for a character to stay behind/be somewhere else etc, party members are permanent!

It's like we're a real RPG now.

Mid chapter scene. The Phantom Thief meets Lorence, and they talk about plans. Suddenly, they realized someone is listening to them. They are about to kill the person but some drunk thugs show up and they decide to just leave. I'm guessing the spy is Josh, but it's Kevin. Sneaky.

Chapter 2: Now With More Party Members: begins.

the poker sidequest is a 10/10 moment. Olivier ftw

He's shipping Estelle and Josh. Yes.

there's an earthquake, and I give it 99% chance it's orobouros' doing

The mission is, ofc, to investigate the quake. We also have to recover the guild sign the Phantom Thief decided to steal, because I guess the dude isn't waiting for half a game to be an antagonist again.

we meet Tita and Russel. Tita is too busy being an useful NPC to join the party now. Meh.

I arrive at the orbal factory and I'm stunned by the number of options for quartz. Pretty much every tier 2 quartz is available. I wonder what do I get now. I can't just replace all my 24 slots with new stuff, ofc. But there are options. From Spiral Flare/Napalm Breath, to La Teara, Earth Lance and Petrify Cloud, and I think I can even try to force a White Gehenna if I build for that. This game is giving me stronger quartz a bit earlier than the last one.

White gehenna my goat

They nerfed its damage and increased the cost, though.

Look at what they did to my boy.

In Trails games, I usually try to spend as little Sepith as possible on quartz, and focus on upgrading slots, and using the quartz they give me, since you find a lot of it. Though at least in Sky, I think there were usually a couple elements I had a bunch of extras of anyway, and action was really important. It's probably better to upgrade more stuff.

On a separate note, whenever a game has stones that are associated with giving you magic, I subconsciously just call those "materia". This despite that I had played 6 Trails games for the first time since my last playthrough of FFVII.

Fiop posted...

In Trails games, I usually try to spend as little Sepith as possible on quartz, and focus on upgrading slots, and using the quartz they give me, since you find a lot of it. Though at least in Sky, I think there were usually a couple elements I had a bunch of extras of anyway, and action was really important. It's probably better to upgrade more stuff.

On a separate note, whenever a game has stones that are associated with giving you magic, I subconsciously just call those "materia". This despite that I had played 6 Trails games for the first time since my last playthrough of FFVII.

Upgrading isn't as good in SC as in FC tho. It just lets you use more tier 4 quartz, which I only have one of (meanwhile I'm sitting on 11 upgraded slots), and raise EP. Now, raising EP is great, but there is only so much EP I need at a given time, and using EP 2 or EP Cut 2 may be more beneficial for the arts anyway.

You always need more EP. You might run out. You won't, but you might. It's super important to make sure that you avoid running out by a larger margin.

Panthera posted...

You always need more EP. You might run out. You won't, but you might. It's super important to make sure that you avoid running out by a larger margin.

I think I prefer to get Spiral Flare and La Teara a chapter earlier, thanks.

Who needs more advanced magic when you can be free to cast the magic you have after you've already won and don't need it anymore...?

ok I've figured out the orbmentz. I took some pics but then I changed half of it so i'll just says what they can do.

Estelle is kind of a mixed attacker/witch, with mostly fire (napalm, spiral flare and forte), but also aerial and dark matter.

Kloe is the main healer, with La Teara, but also has wind and some time hax like clock down. For single target she has blue impact and dark matter.

Olivier is for petrify cloud, earth lance, dark matter and guess what, wind. Aerial is OP, what can I do. He's also the backup healer. And also la crest and petrosphere, which sound useful. Olivier is versatile. Just don't ask him to deal physical damage.

Agate whacks things with a sword. His sword is big. Nuff said. I gave him Action 2 and Attack 2 so he can swing his sword harder and more often.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/3/7/9/AAO9CbAAEYHz.jpg

this game makes good use of fonts

I could just listen to this factory song all day

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/3/8/0/AAO9CbAAEYH0.jpg

I do a sidequest about beating down some soldiers to "train" them. There was another one of these last game. This one is trickier, but not much.

Then I finish the quest and Cid decides to challenge us, and I instantly regret wanting him to be the boss of chapter 3 last game, cuz he kicks. asses

Ok I still beat him, but dude has Grand Stream, which is one of those end game spells. I might have lost if Agate didn't seal his 2nd in command in the first turn

I just lost 4 consecutive times against some carnivore plant boss. it spams aoe sleep. I have no sleep resistance items. godanmit

We are looking for a guy with sunshades. The funniest part is them explaining what sunshades are and Estelle going "wait, don't they make you blind?"
Steampunk settings can be fun

Tita joins the party and Agate goes "wait, our party is big. I think we need to leave someone behind. For... uh... reasons"

Chrono Trigger's End of Time was the greatest excuse for party size limits ever created and it went downhill from there

The game forces me to keep Agate, Estelle and Tita. With Kloe or Olivier as the last

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/3/8/1/AAO9CbAAEYH1.png

Olivier looks fabulous even in the character selection screen

Tita is only level 40. That's low