Board 8 > TP Link continues to plays Trails: Copaganda Edition

(+) Yeah! (+)

Previous threads are being archived here (Sky 3rd to be added soon):

http://zyxyzarchive.42web.io/index_zeldatrails.html

The State of Crossbell

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/0/5/AAO9CbAAEw9R.jpg

An independent (I guess?) country located between the massive Erebonian Empire, and the huge Calvard Republic. Disputed by both.

Such a situation means massive political instability, which likely brings a lot of other problems: organized crime, drug trafficking, human trafficking, corruption, gang wars, ancient shady organizations with their Phantasmal Plans and their Blazy Plots... you name it.

So how do we deal with all that depravity? How do we make our beloved Crossbell a safe place, a place children can grow up in?

With government programs to increase employment and proper social welfare policies that allow people to stay afloat and not fall into a life of crime even in times of economic downturn, as well as quality public education so that the youth can have something to look forward to, and a fair and balanced justice system that focuses on reforming criminals and turning them into productive members of society?

Hahaha. Of course not. Did you actually believe all that liberal crap? No, my friend.

We are going to use Cops.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/0/6/AAO9CbAAEw9S.jpg

Yeeeeeeeeeah. Those guys.

I'm sorry.

Ok so, I was originally going to call this playthrough thread Trails: ACAB Edition.

But then I realized since the cops are the main characters, this game probably wants to make me like them.

Heck, if anyone can make me enjoy a piece of copaganda and not feel like it's insulting my intelligence (other than Brooklyn 99, I suppose), it's this series.

Why, it has already made me have good feelings about military, the monarcy, capitalism, mainstream press and organized religion. It can probably do the same with cops.

So let's embark on a 2 game journey to answer the age old question: Are All Cops Bastards? Where we will explore the characters, the humor, the overly complicated customization systems, and where I'll hopefully make every anti-cop joke I can think of.

Now, without further ado, let's play...

Trails from Zero

aka Crossbell Arc: Part 1

aka Trails: Copaganda Edition

But first, let's find out if this is finally the game that opens with the main shortcut in the first try
(well 3rd eventually did, but the first try still required some fancy steam menu stuff)

It is! OMG! It opened in the first try and I didn't have to remember what my version of DirectX is!

Encounter Trigger: Leader Only
I love this game already

But apparently I have to choose between either the mouse or Enter for the confirm button, and the game doesn't allow remapping of that. I hate this game already.

Mouse is out of question unless I want to screw my arm up again, so I'll have to make the whole input work around Enter

Apparently, we start in medias res, which is a new for this series. Our 4 cop protagonists are already in the middle of something serious

There is full voice acting now!
But only in Japanese.

As an anime fan, I don't mind it. But it's weird to change the language characters speak after 3 games

ew, it forces me to use the mouse in the field. Who the hell designed this?

Welp, to get my controller. I was used to the "keyboard on my lap setup" for this series, but this works too. Still better than mouse in a game that's gonna make me click 10 thousand times to read dialogue.

Blue haired girl with cat ears, aka Tio, can detect elements. Dunno how that works

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/0/8/AAO9CbAAEw9U.jpg

fucking cops

I like the mechanic of using attacks in the overworld. I guess that can be used to start battles

Which means I'll always use one of the girls. Gray haired girl (Ellie) has a gun, while blue haired girl (Tio) has a magic wand that shoots electric balls. Yeah.

The two guys (Lloyd and Randy) use melee weapons, which I imagine are inherently inferior in initiating battles with advantage

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/0/9/AAO9CbAAEw9V.jpg

The main cop is this guy. Even if I didn't know he was the MC before playing, the fact he is the one making shounen motivating speeches would give it away

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/1/0/AAO9CbAAEw9W.jpg

I think I'm gonna like this guy

apparently the "in medias res" parts end, which make sense cuz the cast was lv 40 in it and thats about what the cast of FC was when it ended. its just a taste of the final dungeon I suppose

back to the start, Lloyd wakes up in a train

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/1/1/AAO9CbAAEw9X.jpg

yeah thats what capitalism does, old lady. Sorry

Its not a real steampunk setting without a train, tbh

We watch the standard trails opening. Its cute

I keep trying to catch references to previous games but there are none

Prologue: "He was a good kid until he decided to become a cop": begins

There are also cars. They look like the ones from 100 years ago. It's like I'm watching Avatar Korra which all the early 20th century tech but also elemental powers

I arrive at the CPD Station, where I'll start my first day at the force. There is a pink haired girl at the reception, in good anime fashion

Either this receptionist is really incompetent or Lloyd was recruited for CIA because she knows nothing about him or his division

Ok shes just uninformed but its on purpose

We meet the chief, who looks like hes already done with this shit before it even started
time for introductions

Lloyd: [normal Japanese introduction]
Randy: "Hello my name is Randy and I like porn"

we have cell phones now

I was wondering how could there be monsters in a game thats apparently one big city, but apparently there are tunnels infested with them under it

so we gotta go there and kill them, because the combat needs a tutorial

Tio is 14. Because why not

I mean we let Tita fight terrorist organizations when she was 12 so whatever

Tio takes no bullshit. "Yes you idiot I am going to fight with a staff. It shoots electric balls. Now shut up and watch."

Randy is really chill. I was expecting more of a loony given the profile.

we see the other weapons. Lloyd uses tonfas, like a stereotypical cop

Ellie uses these:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/1/2/AAO9CbAAEw9Y.jpg

I love how it looks like some western gun instead of a regular one

and its pink because whatever

And Randy has a halberd that shoots shockwaves. Cool.

the two guys use melee weapons and the girls use distance weapons. The guys have short orbment lines and the girls have long ones. The guys have high attack and the girls, high ATS. and the team formation starts like this by default:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/1/3/AAO9CbAAEw9Z.jpg

the game is not even trying to hide who are the tanks and who are the mages

tag

The game gives me 4 quartz and asks me to match them with the characters. Each character has an empty slot, with restricted elements corresponding to the ones I got. Ah, the illusion of choice!
I mean, Estelle and Josh got more choice in their tutorial.

Lloyd's orbment is identical to Estelle's. Which is the jack of all trades, master of none orbment. I suspect he will be a lot more melee oriented than Estelle was, though, since there are only 4 characters atm and 2 are mages.

Ellie's orbment is identical to Schera's. So mage, with maybe a little melee/support on the side. Will depend on the crafts

Tio gets the same single line orbment as Kloe's, but with 2 blue slots instead of 3. That sounds incredibly OP. But there is a catch. Always a catch with those blue haired girls. They replaced Mind, in the blue list, for Shield. The former being great for mages, and the later being definitely not great
So while Tio will be happy getting an HP quartz, the second blue quartz will be way trickier. None of the options are really satisfying, or they look like they will be available very late. I'm guessing she's still better than Kloe since she can actually have a more varied arts list, even if one of the quartz she's carrying is useless otherwise. So similar to Schera, who had to use stuff like Impede.

Also healing spells seem to have been split between water and wind this time, so it sounds like the two girls will share that job

Finally, Randy is the one with the melee orbment. His is similar to Tita's but with 1 restricted slot instead of 2, so a little better. Probably doesn't matter much, because when someone gets a melee orbment, I just ignore the lines and stick whatever bonuses go well with melee.

They made Mind mirage type now, and they nerfed EP Cut and buffed EP, so it'd really looking like our mages will be carrying silver quartz this time. Overall, the quartz system looks more balanced, but we'll see. Let's go kill some monsters

you can actually read your characters' crafts in the menu now. What is this modernity I can't even
Ellie inherited Kloe's healing scraft. Hmm

We still can't move and attack in the same turn (unless its in a straight line towards the enemy). Im wondering if that will ever change. It's such a dumb mechanic.

Tio has an aoe basic attack, like Tita's. But she is clearly not melee oriented. Thats a bit of a waste. But hey, her weapon is cool

Tio: "I can tank"
Uh not really, your defensive stats are pretty bad

No chest jokes anymore
[uninstalls game]

I'm trying to play on Hard again. This is relevant because I almost just got a game over in a tutorial fight. Everybody died, except Tio. Yeah ok sorry Tio, you can tank.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/7/0/AAO9CbAAEw-S.jpg

Yes. Yes. YEEEEEEEEEEEEEES!

And now its a mission to rescue some kids. Ofc

Having to use Tio's craft just to learn enemy weaknesses instead of getting them for free sucks

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/7/1/AAO9CbAAEw-T.jpg

I'm sorry, chest-kun.

We rescue the kids. They are stunned that we aren't bracers. Yes kid, so am I

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/7/2/AAO9CbAAEw-U.jpg

Run, kid. Run.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/7/3/AAO9CbAAEw-V.jpg

Dad gets it

We are attacked by a boss monster we can't beat. Lloyd immediately does the shonen thing and announces he will sacrifice himself so the others can escape

But we are then rescued by this guy

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/7/4/AAO9CbAAEw-W.jpg

Long hair. Scar on face. Cool attitude. Katana. And a soft but epic tune playing when he shows up. It's THAT kind of character

(basically Loewe from the last arc)

His name is Arios (because characters like this are not named something normal like Bob). The kids love him. I'm guessing he is a bracer

Yep. A-rank bracer. And divine blade. It's that guy. Probably doesn't hold a candle to Cassius (who is a God), but is somewhere close.

We meet the press. The press is kind of a jerk in this place. Well, not everyone can be a Nial

Arios is an alright guy though. He doesn't try to claim he did it all alone.

My guess is that the police, tired of being unfavorably compared to bracers, decided to create a department to do the bracers work. Which is actually helping people. Not the stuff cops are known for. We are that department. That's one convoluted excuse not to just play as bracers, tbh. But hey I suppose it will come with a quests board so I'm not complaining

Why do you need cops to do bracer work anyway? Why, inserting themselves into situations that clearly don't need police and then immediately making them worse is the police's speciality!

We are scolded by the vice comissioner because we stopped to save civilians instead of leaving them to die and focusing on killing things like proper cops

But this vice comissioner lacks a character portrait so I suppose he doesn't have much power here

The guy hates this whole civilian saving division thing. He tries to bribe us with better jobs if we quit. I'm enjoying the fact this game is not even try to show the police as a good institution. Except for the protagonists. So it's B99 all over again. Not 100% copaganda, but not exactly avoiding it either.

We meet two detectives, who are kind of nice but also kinda suck

One of them notices something and I think it is the fact Elie has the same surname as the mayor. Yes I have too. I had read the cast's names before and I noticed it when the old couple in the train mentioned it.

Chief Sergei confirms my theory. We are bracers with badges.

We get to decide if we accept or not. They will obviously all accept, but it's an interesting question. Creating a new department from scracth can be great for one's career, if that's successful. But it's always a risk, and you could be being set up for failure.

Lloyd is mad that he wanted to be a cop like his bro and now he's being told he will have to help civilians instead

Randy is already in. Little desk work, no commute since they are going to live in the office building, and maybe it just works out. The man has simple needs.

We learn Randy was a soldier, but almost got fired for excessive womanizing. Only Olivier can get away with that, I suppose. But he's fine because he now works closer to where the night clubs are. Simple needs.

The building has its own cat. I dunno Lloyd, I'd take the job for that.

Elie doesn't reveal as much, but I'm guessing shes the mayor's daughter or whatever and decided she wants some real life experience so she joined the police. Since this whole thing is more of an adventure for her than anything, she is fine with joining Bracers with Badges too.

Elie says she hopes Lloyd stays. Because of his leadership. Yeaaaaah I'm gonna pretend it's just that.

Tio is not revealing much either, but the implication is that she was sent by the Epstein Foundation to test the internet. Now why do they think the police is the best place to test internet is anyone's guess.

Interesting. I wasn't expecting Lloyd to be the only reluctant hero, since he is obviously a boy scout. But the catch is that he is a boy scout who trained to be a cop, and he's being told he will have to do non cop job instead. The other 3 are more anti-heroic, but they were never cops to begin with so they are fine with this. But Lloyd is not.

I feel like Lloyd could have turned into an asshole if he took a normal cop's career, or at least someone very frustrated because he wanted to imitate his brother and didn't know why. But staying here may actually be what his character arc needs.

Lloyd gets a flashback of his bro's voice and I'm feeling a Simon/Kamina dynamic here

Lloyd of course accepts the job. Otherwise the game would just end.

We learn Lloyd's bro is dead. Typical.

We get a tutorial to using the interwebs. Apparently bracers are starting to use it to. I'd love to see Estelle getting puzzled about that.

Boss: "I will be in my room reading magazines or napping. If you run into problems, don't bother me. Bye"

Tag

Enjoy peak trails :)

In the criminal justice system, barrier-based offenses are considered especially heinous. In Crossbell City, the dedicated detectives who investigate these vicious felonies are members of an elite squad known as the Special Support Section. These are their stories.

ZeldaTPLink posted...

Lloyd gets a flashback of his bro's voice and I'm feeling a Simon/Kamina dynamic here

Guess who voices them both in Japanese :p

tcaz2 posted...

Guess who voices them both in Japanese :p

lmao. There's a reason I got this feeling, then.

tag

ya go my crossbell

ZeldaTPLink posted...

No chest jokes anymore
[uninstalls game]

Yes. Yes. YEEEEEEEEEEEEEES!

I had the exact same reaction

Zero's final dungeon has my favorite chest joke in the series (although to be fair I haven't played Azure yet).

Tag.

Hope you like playing as the not-Bracer of the Crossbell police department who are totally not Bracers I swear. (Ok to be fair the game actually does treat it like a real difference; I just think it's funny how the series keeps coming up with ways to give the main character bracer-like tasks because it is an RPG)

I generally viewed Arios as more comparable to Cassius than to Loewe. Loewe is on his own level of edge. Of course, he does not hold a candle to Cassius but then again almost no one does.

NBIceman posted...

Zero's final dungeon has my favorite chest joke in the series (although to be fair I haven't played Azure yet).

it also has the worst chest text in the series

getting told your 100% chest achievement is locked behind ng+ at the last possible moment is an incredibly low blow

yeah every game in the series from here on out has you being not-bracers who do bracery work for plot reasons

Tio uses an experimental weapon no one else has. So it won't sell in shops, right? Wrong, the guy who invented it will regularly drop new versions of it at local weapon shops so we can buy them.
Amazing.

being able to equip new items automatically from the shop menu? what is this technology?

we got to the bracer guild, whose receptionist is kind of a troll

the perfect receptionist for a game whose protagonists are trying to compete with bracers but arent really bracers

Bracers' opinion on us range from "hey, if police wants to do our work for us, we will take it!" to "we don't trust those kids, they will break things and then we'll have to fix it"

we then visit the most powerful international organization of Zemuria

I mean the fishing guild

we learn the old man who Lloyd befriend in the train is this city's Maybelle. I think this will come up later

Crossbell is a financul hub. How do you know that? The bank is an entire district of its own

what do you mean, I can't just explore the news building? I could in Liberl!

the problem is having a game where literally half the map is the capital city is that it has to come up with excuses to keep some buildings closed from the start

Lloyd didn't want to be in this division. But now that he is, he's gonna take every job, even the ones that scream "bracer only". which includes exterminating monsters

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/3/9/8/AAO9CbAAExB2.jpg

this is my new favorite character dynamic

Keep going Elie, and we'll make and Estelle out of you

I remember praising Tita in my character rankings for being just a kid, with no weird "she is mature because she is a genius" theme. And then there's Renne, who also does the kid thing with some... twists.

And then there is Tio, who does a complete 180 from what Tita did by being mature because she is a genius

I'm not complaining, I like that this series wants to explore all kinds of different characters

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/3/9/9/AAO9CbAAExB3.jpg

I'm guessing this is where the local mob is

We go to the theater, where we meet Purple Haired Girl

Why am I bothering to mention her? Well, she has not only a character portrait, but a big one. Shes important

we complete our first sidequest (finding some missing items) and the guy is like "thanks. I only called the police because I was desperate, but I was surprised you guys even show up".

This police is just extremely incompetent, isn't it. And now they only made a department to actually help people because the fact an NGO is more useful than them is risking making the mayor lose the next election

I've finished checking every building and character available in this city. It took about forever

I finish the extermination request. Two tries. this game's hard mode is no walk in the park, but its considerably easier than that insanity that was SC's hard mode.

boss calls us and says two gangs are about to start fighting in the poor neighborhood, so we gotta stop them. Finally. Real police work.

Did you all grab the tear gas cannisters? The rubber bullets (and the real bullets too?). Then let's go. There are civilians to suppress.

civilians supressed. well, half of them. Then their leaders (Wald and Wazy) show up and make them stop. they both have character portraits, so this is probably not the last of them

I know CPD is pathetic but outright telling cops you intend to engage in a massive gang war in the future is not very smart. if this was real life police those guys would have bullets in their heads by this point

we go talk to Wazy to see if he can tell why the hell the two gangs are fighting. Lloyd gives an absolutely cheesy shonen hero speech.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/4/0/0/AAO9CbAAExB4.jpg

Wazy is so impressed he decides to cooperate

And now to the red vipers. We have a hard time getting in, but Elie is really good at sweet talking

We go in, and Lloyd ends up having to fight Wald in a 1v1. He wipes the floor with me harder than Loewe in FC did. And I get a game over because apparently I have to win. Uh... what?

ok I look online and they say this is winnable, but takes a bit more work than I expected. Then again, I guess it lines up with the tradition of hard prologue bosses. Though the prologue continues, so I'm not sure if this is really the boss.

I buy the best equipment I can, an item that increases my stats (though it only works for 3 turns so it doesn't help much), some orbments so I can self heal and take more hits, and then grind for 200 CP so I can get some starting damage.

and the rest is just turtling and healing and slowly chipping away at Wald's hp

so both gangs were assaulted from behind by someone who used a weapon from the other gang. This is an obvious setup lol

Jerk reporter shows up again. She is a jerk, but offers to pay us a meal so we can share info. I'd take it if I were you guys, playing FC has taught me this is a really solid way to advance the plot.

Everyone knows the real power players in Zemuria are the Fisherman's Guild and the secret cabal of news reporters

The church? Ouroboros? The Erebonian Empire? All small-timers.

I don't have much money in this early game but I'm making sure to buy the Crossbell Times. I love how the paper always integrates with the plot.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/5/1/1/AAUYpeAAExDn.jpg

time to meet Grace, the reporter. And obtain the sweet plot hooks.

Lloyd declines dinner. Stop being a cop, Lloyd

Like dude, if you can't do something as basic as share food and drinks with people, forget about being a detective. Because you will never get good at collecting info if you can't socialize. Not everyone will just bend to shonen hero speeches and challenges to 1v1s

his teammates get it, though

honestly, this is too early to say, but Lloyd is easily the worst of the 4 playable characters. But I'm interested to see his growth

I do agree that drinking alcohol on the job is bad, though. I wish Schera would hear that.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/5/6/7/AAO9CbAAExEf.jpg

yep. this is how you make a good cast. though this is game telling not showing. the showing part is still on its early stages

so the real villains are the mafia. except this is Trails, so of course that won't be the case forever. We are going to peel villain factions, one by one, until we get to the inevitable Orobouros at the center of it all. There is a Phantasmal Blaze Plan to be executed, after all.

Grace just gives info and leaves without asking for anything, at least atm. I'm sure she will appear later to get her share. She is slick, maybe even more than Nial, who often had to beg for info. Which I guess is important when you are dealing with a massive stick in the mud like Lloyd

I do a little quiz at the bracer guild, a hidden quest that I only manage not to miss because I went online to look for help with beating Wald

The chief is a master at making things happen without actually doing anything. I love those kinds of characters

on our way to the lawyer's office, we run into some guy with glasses who is also a massive jerk. these aren't lacking in this game, huh

Lawyer-kun is alright, though

so the mafia is being threatened by another evil organization. conspiracies. conspiracies everywhere
I love how we know it will eventually lead to orobouros, but the path is so complicated it's impossible to know how

The cast goes back to the base and starts a meeting. This is pretty fun. Feels like Phoenix Wright/Danganronpa.

Lloyd just said it's all about the new eastern mafia and oh boy, I think I've figured it out. There are no gang wars. The two gangs and Ravache are teaming up! They need the eastern mafia to think they are fighting, but it's a ploy! Calling it now.

ok close. The mafia wants them to fight, so they get weaker and the remaining ones join it.

The protags stage a classic Case Explanation Scene, where they use the power of Logic to get the two gang leaders to realize they have been played. It works. Crisis averted. They all lived happily after
It's weird for a Trails prologue to be won with the power of rethoric instead of violence, but hey, I'll take it

Wazy quickly takes full control of the situation though, and now we are part of a Gang vs Mafia plot
and theres still one more act. damn, this prologue never ends. But I suppose it will end with violence, after all

The party has to split to chase some mafiosos after we catch them in their own trap. Lloyd must pick someone. I pick Tio.

Prologue boss. Two mafiosos. Wazy joins as a player character, too. Interesting.

Aaaaaaand there it is. Grace shows up to profit from it all.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/5/6/8/AAO9CbAAExEg.jpg

Never mind the mafia. This is the biggest threat anyone could ever make

We return to the base, report to the boss, make more ceesy speeches and some copaganda, and end the day

Prologue: "Surprise Ace Attorney": beaten

I just looked online and apparently this game only has 6 chapters including the prologue, which is a strong suggestion that I need to slow down. This was really addicting though, especially since the game threw an entire city out of content right out of the bat.

My memory is that the prologue is by far the shortest of the chapters.

I am a big Lloyd fan personally but he's definitely not the most popular SSS character overall.

ZeldaTPLink posted...

on our way to the lawyer's office, we run into some guy with glasses who is also a massive jerk. these aren't lacking in this game, huh

I actually don't remember this part or who this is at all. Is this Dudley? (a green haired guy) That's my best guess I suppose.

Don't worry there's plenty of game. I don't remember it being any shorter than FC, though SC is a large boy

pyresword posted...

I actually don't remember this part or who this is at all. Is this Dudley? (a green haired guy) That's my best guess I suppose.

p sure it is

It is indeed Dudley.

And yeah Zero Prologue is pretty short. Wouldn't consider it representative of a typical chapter's length. Unlike FC/SC which ushered you around each of Liberl's regions each chapter for the most part - in Zero you just generally get access to more and more areas as time goes on so your accessible areas grow over the course of the game.

like imagine if in FC they didn't lock the region checkpoints behind you so that when you left Rolent to go to Bose you could still backtrack to Rolent. And when you moved on to Ruan you could go back to Bose and Rolent too. more like that. though not quite as extreme lol.

Yeah the prologue is way shorter than the others.

Weird, it felt to me like the prologue was just as long but I was the one who spent the entire saturday doing nothing but play it.

I suppose it makes sense since it had way less dungeon crawling, compared to FC/SC though. And fewer quests than FC too.

Edit: hmm, so it was 7:40. I beat FC with 57 h, so I guess it wasn't much if you do the math.

ZeldaTPLink posted...

I finish the extermination request. Two tries. this game's hard mode is no walk in the park, but its considerably easier than that insanity that was SC's hard mode.

So, the reason for this btw, is that the original PC versions of Sky only one one difficulty, normal. When they got ported to PSP, they added hard and nightmare difficulty modes. The games weren't balanced around the higher difficulties. 3rd was the first one in the series that was designed with hard and nightmare in mind.

As such, FC and SC (especially SC) are ludicrously hard on non-normal difficulties, while every other game in the series feels much better. If anything, I'd recommend at least hard if not nightmare for every game past Sky as the normal modes tend to be too easy.

Intermission. The bracer guild receptionist is talking to Arios. He says the HQ wants him to promote to S-rank (I think), but he refuses cuz he doesn't think he's as good as Cassius. Huh.

Arios is a perfectionist. If he doesn't do a perfect job, he is not satisfied

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/0/5/9/AAO9CbAAExML.jpg

Hellllllllllll yeah! The cast of this game just got twice better

Imo scrap Lloyd and let me play with those two again, maybe with Elie/Tio/Randy taking turns as the rest of the party

Hearing they talk in Japanese is kind of weird. Although the voices aren't super different

Chapter 1: "Just step aside and let Bestelle do the work": begins

Randy meets his former boss and freaks out. It's a woman. Considering why he was fired in the first place (sexual harassment), I can imagine why
.
She needs detectives to investigate some monster attacks. But since all detectives are busy, the only one left is Lloyd, so he'll have to do. Ouch

Reading the Crossbell Times: "The SSS solved the case, but evidence suggests they were more lucky than skilled".

Wow Grace, that's mean!

Randy: "THE REAL CULPRIT IS YOU!"
Party: "uh what"
Randy: "Come on guys, I'm a cop, I wanted to say that at least once in my life!"
I understand

We go to the bank for a quest, and meet Roberts, aka the jackass who has been dropping Tio's weapons in the item shop instead of giving them directly to her

he doesn't explain why he is doing it. Of course, he's doing it because this is a JRPG so weapons have to be sold in shops even if that doesn't make sense. But it's funny the game is lampshading it

Funny npc plotlines: the father who buys his daughters books about tech to manipulate them into becoming engineers

I just realized the pink haired solider we met at the start of the chapter is sisters with the CPD receptionist. Because theres this npc who says she is a mother of two girls who work in each place. Wonder if this will come up in the main story

we try to take the bus to the next city, buit we miss it. Of course. When has a JRPG character ever been allowed to take a bus to an area they are visiting for the first time?

unless it's Earthbound I guess, but that one is just weird

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/0/6/0/AAO9CbAAExMM.jpg

the hacker girl is proposing we walk. You should all feel ashamed of yourselves

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/0/6/1/AAO9CbAAExMN.jpg

If Estelle was here and she heard this she would hit this guy in the head with her staff. And it would be earned

Team rushes are absolutely broken to the point I'm questioning what the devs were thinking here

I'm getting a lot of them since I'm using Elie to trick advantage battles from a distance

the scenery in this road is rather pretty, ngl. I mean the graphics aren't anything to write home about, but the game makes it work by moving the camera so it focuses on the horizon

and it turns out both girls are actually tired. which I guess makes sense since both Lloyd and Randy have military training, while the girls don't

also this is one long overworld area, tbh

Randy is an outdoors guy, but hes alone. Those kids should try to be bracers some time. Actually, that's kind of what they are doing.

when the characters said it would take an hour and a half to get to the other town I didn't think they meant "in real life"

after what... 8 screens? we finally get to armorica village. The first out of 3 destinations we have to investigate

the party went from lv 5 to lv 11 just in this trip

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/0/6/2/AAO9CbAAExMO.jpg

We go visit the village chef and he's talking to one "kind looking man".

yeah ok this is the villain calling it now

we learn some lore about ancient divine wolves, and I think there was a wolf in the game's opening too? anyway, wolves = important

I have been recruited into fishing. Another trails protagonist has fallen

We get a rather cute scene where Tio hears some howling with her sensors and shes just happy that the other party members don't think shes lying

Mr. "Totally The Bad Guy" gives us a car ride back to Crossbell

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/0/6/3/AAO9CbAAExMP.jpg

is it just me or this car is huge?

A wolf is following us, but we still have to investigate two places before we get to unlock the main plot thread

Well the guy does give us a town map, which unlocks fast travel, so his evils are excused. for now.

Bank guard: "our security is impenetrable"

And that's how you know there will be a bank robbery at some point of this arc

tcaz2 posted...

So, the reason for this btw, is that the original PC versions of Sky only one one difficulty, normal. When they got ported to PSP, they added hard and nightmare difficulty modes. The games weren't balanced around the higher difficulties. 3rd was the first one in the series that was designed with hard and nightmare in mind.

As such, FC and SC (especially SC) are ludicrously hard on non-normal difficulties, while every other game in the series feels much better. If anything, I'd recommend at least hard if not nightmare for every game past Sky as the normal modes tend to be too easy.

I played 3rd on normal and I did think it was a little too easy (although the Leiston Fortress bosses made me sweat quite a bit). Probably should have played on Hard. Meanwhile, SC on Hard was so unfun I had to download a program to hack the file and edit it back to normal. And I did manage to get out of the prologue beforehand. But it was so grindy I just wasn't enjoying it.

Now Zero on hard has been pretty nice. Yes some bosses take multiple tries, and the recent hike to Armorica was tricky since it's hard to revive characters at this point. But I prefer to have a little frustration than none at all.

ZeldaTPLink posted...

I have been recruited into fishing. Another trails protagonist has fallen

you mean ascended

I really want all the Trails protags to come back in whatever the final game is and have a fishing tournament where we choose who is crowned the best fisher.

it's estelle

she beat the founder of the guild

What can't she do!

Ok something is bothering me now.

There was this whole sequence in the prologue where Lloyd didn't want to be in the SSS, cuz he wanted to be a detective like his brother. He spends the night thinking about it. Then next day, he is asked about it and he is just 100% sure about joining the SSS. And the plot moves forward.

My problem is that I'm feeling like Lloyd's character is about wanting to be like his bro (and possibly learning that he has to be someone else in the end, or learning that this path also lets him be like his bro. We'll see). But the game may have botched it, because it gave him a chance to get what he wanted (leave the SSS and become a detective), and he said no. And I don't know why he said no, and I feel like this was an important moment in Lloyd's story that got skipped.

Does the game eventually explain what happened in that night that made Lloyd change his mind? Or is this just it and I'm supposed to accept the game just solved his main character conflict off-screen?

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/1/7/AAUYpeAAExOp.jpg

This is Lloyd after the prologue dw

IIRC, Lloyd's discontent with the SSS assignment at first was that it wasn't how he expected being a cop would be like. But then Ryu and Anri showed up while he was angsting to thank him for saving them and it reminded him that to him the important thing about it was helping people and while extremely unorthodox, the SSS post was still letting him do that so it was worth seeing through.

Plus I think he understood that the vice commissioner trying to shut it down and offering him a detective job was office politics and made it less "pure" or some shit. Like not "earning" it the right way. It's just he was so shell-shocked at the bizarre nature of the SSS that he was still tempted by it because he didn't view the SSS as a valid police organ until Ryu and Anri reminded him of his idealistic view of the police. But that's more of an assumption on my part.

Thorn posted...

IIRC, Lloyd's discontent with the SSS assignment at first was that it wasn't how he expected being a cop would be like. But then Ryu and Anri showed up while he was angsting to thank him for saving them and it reminded him that to him the important thing about it was helping people and while extremely unorthodox, the SSS post was still letting him do that so it was worth seeing through.

Plus I think he understood that the vice commissioner trying to shut it down and offering him a detective job was office politics and made it less "pure" or some shit. Like not "earning" it the right way. It's just he was so shell-shocked at the bizarre nature of the SSS that he was still tempted by it because he didn't view the SSS as a valid police organ until Ryu and Anri reminded him of his idealistic view of the police. But that's more of an assumption on my part.

That's pretty much what I got out of it too.

Ok I'll take it. It just bugs me when things aren't explicit, but this is just prologue stuff so I'll wait for the actual plot to happen.

apparently, Tio can understand cat language

it was already estabilished in FC that cats have a language. theres an in game book that translates it. But Tio is fluent in it

I just learned it because theres a cat who lives in the police building and Tio understands it. It also gives you quartz if you give him fish. But apparently only once per chapter, according to the internet

I of course look online to learn what species of fish makes the cat give me Action quartz

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/0/3/1/AAO9CbAAExbX.jpg

Uh this is not a conversation you wanna have in front of cops

We learn Randy has a nurse fetish. Too much information.

the bus to the next area is also late. Forget it kids, you are not taking busses in a jrpg. Period

this time we didn't just lose the bus though, sounds like this one is being attacked by monsters

I like how chest jokes in this game are related to the items or the locations of the chests. they put extra care in here

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/0/3/2/AAO9CbAAExbY.jpg

imagine being in a bus and having these attack you

I use chrono down and spam Randy's at delay and they basically never attack again while I get infinite turns

if Randy's CP runs out, Elie has a skill that gives him more CP

Then we are attacked by 3 more. the characters think we can't handle them, even though I've just demonstrated the power of infinite turns

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/0/3/3/AAO9CbAAExbZ.jpg

But then... Estelle/Josh to the rescue!

I'm here thinking the two are going to join our party temporarily, but nope, they simply melt the bosses with a single combo-scraft

yes, they have combo s-crafts now. That's a mechanic that doesn't even exist in Trails afaik, but Estelle/Josh can use it

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/0/3/4/AAO9CbAAExba.jpg

In a sea of arrogant jerk supporting characters, a Bestelle is here to balance things out. Please never leave

Talking to them, we learn this game is 3 months after Trails 3rd

After a while, we make it to the hospital

its weird that hospitals always have sad music in videogames

Jingo is the best

I actually think Jingo's shop is a great idea if it wasn't for quartz being so weirdly scarce in this game, at least so far. So I don't have a million lv 1 quartz hanging in my inventory.

I do remember having to grind for quartz in crossbell a lot more than I ever had to in sky

I do miss characters joining and rejoining multiple times per chapter and dropping 5 pieces of quartz every time they do. But maybe we'll have that later.

One thing I did notice is that buying 3 attacks and trading for a seal is cheaper than buying 1 seal, so I guess I'll abuse that.

I do a little quest about finding the home for a lost cat. The highlight is that during the search, we have to go to Elie's house, and she manages to hide inside a fence so the party doesn't learn she's like a billionaire

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/0/5/5/AAO9CbAAExrX.jpg

In case you haven't noticed, Randy is my favorite member of this cast

will he be able to surpass Olivier as the resident pervert clown? We'll see
...
Ok Cecile is awesome

in less than 1 minute, she already shipped Lloyd with Elie, Tio AND Randy

one of the doctors in the hospital is implied to enjoy sneaking out to go fishing. Seems like the Fishing Guild owns the hospital too

we get a funny scene where Randy almost succesfully gets some nurses to go to a party with him but gets cockblocked by their boss

Cecile is taking care of a mysterious little girl who is hospitalized
...
It's Renne isn't it

we also get some hints at Tio's past

this entire game is people taking turns at being nice to Tio

Not Renne. It would be a weird elaborate disguise, I guess

Arios's daughter. Interesting. I didn't take Arios to be the kind of guy who has a child, he just gives so many Loewe vibes. But I guess some guys just stay edgy looking forever

in just one gameplay sit, I watched Lloyd, Elie and Tio avoiding to reveal personal info to each other. You're not helping, guys

We move to the next day, where we learn the CGF is no longer patrolling the area that was attacked by wolves, so the PCs are on their own

coincidently, the guy who ordered the patrols to stuff is friends with a pro-Erebonia politician, and the region no longer being patrolled is close to the Erebonian borders. Not sure if this will come up.

Called it, Noel and Fran are sisters

I was wondering what the game's excuse to make us walk would be the third time around, and is the chief suggesting the reason bracers are so much more skilled than cops is that they like to walk instead of taking busses. Cue Lloyd and co deciding to walk too, I'm betting.

Randy and Tio are the best.

Elie stan she's the GOAT

the main four are just so good

my wife cackled when I told her I had a party member named Randy Orlando