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

(+) Yeah! (+)

Not that sold on Tio yet. She is likable but she is not particulary funny or cool.

Right now it's Randy >>>>>> Tio = Elie > Lloyd

This party is definitely more than the sum of the individuals though.

Elie > Randy > Lloyd > Tio

Uncommon opinion I think most people like Randy the best but I'm an Elie simp

And yeah definitely agreed that they mesh very well. Better than the sum of their parts

Elie is fine. If she keeps going like this she could become a Kloe, or better.

My ranking is Randy > Lloyd/Tio > Elie but they're all pretty good.

Also definitely agree on this point

This party is definitely more than the sum of the individuals though.

Tio is my favorite Trails character period

Randy is great tho

Not sure what my ranking was at that point in time. I think I was as just enjoying the ride so far. Randy > Tio > Elie > Lloyd?

That scene where Tio gets all the feels for not only being believed that she hears distant sounds but that it's like no big deal and just a thing they take her word on. So good and one of the first major (minor?) moments that establish Zero/Azure as great games.

catesdb posted...

the main four are just so good

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1vwBlsygoE

Time to do a quest about killing monsters in a house

"Evict-scerate" is my new favorite pun

cleaning the mansion is fairly straightfoward. I just spent some time in the quartz shop and my party is rather op now. I have Aerial, finally

Wald shows up and now the party has to split in two to rescue his ass. The girls stays behind. This game is showing that weird sexism FC had too sometimes

We fight a boss thats rather tricky but beatable. The problem is keeping Wald alive, though at least the idiot adds a lot of damage to the party. I would have preferred to have the girls, though

Apparently the reason the house was empty was the owner waiting for property value to rise. The real villain was gentrification, after all

Filling empty houses with monsters might be a good way to punish NIMBYs, I guess

I go to the fisherman guild and they are celebrating they recruited Estelle.

Foolish children, they have no idea of the forces they have just set in motion.

next is a quest to inspect a train, and Lloyd is with the gender blocking again

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/7/0/AAO9CbAAEyMa.jpg

you tell him, Elie

is it just me or casino games keep getting worse every installment of this franchise? Dealer dialogue also gets dumber each time

like, why did they remove the Double option from blackjack? Also why can't I choose how much I want to bet? Are they afraid players will not understand those games or something?

Blackjack is basically roulette now. Poker is still playable because at least I can choose which cards to trade, but it's unfun because they thought it was a good idea to force the player to manually choose the 5 cards to play every round, something that was automatic in SC.

We go to the next objective, and this time the excuse not to take a bus isn't bracer rivarly like I had predicted, but rather, Tio hears a howl

I visit the cathedral, which has almost nothing interesting, except for a nun that was Lloyd and Elie's teacher at scool, and teases them with some random embarassing facts

this church needs more Kevin

so I open a chest with monsters inside and uh...

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/7/1/AAO9CbAAEyMb.jpg

Are these even beatable?

Like one of them has enough defense to take 1 hp from all my attacks, they have 14k hp all their attacks knock my PCs in one hit, when they dont knock multiple of

I look online and its lv 36. I dont think Ive ever faced anything 20 levels higher than me in this series

yeah those are not beatable

We ignore the monster who kicked our ass and proceed, to face a quest boss, who does not, in fact, kick our ass

Lloyd lacks a really hard hitting move but his 100% seal scfraft is really useful if the enemy is not immune to it

and although having to use scopes/scrafts to learn enemy elemental resistances sucks, it also gives me their status immunities, which in previous games I'd have to look online (which I neved did). And that means I know who will be weak to Lloyd's seal and decide accordingly

we arrive at a mansion inhabited by an elusive doll maker

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/8/7/AAO9CbAAEyUf.jpg

A wild Renne appears!

and for a group of characters who don't know her. Oh, this will be fun.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/8/8/AAO9CbAAEyUg.jpg

it begins

I love her dub. It's dripping with malice

They haven't noticed it, but they didn't tell her they are named SSS, but she knows anyway

Lloyd noticed

That makes him smarter than the entire SC cast, give or take

kind of weird for them to be commenting on how much of a kid Renne is when Tio is like 1 year older

She does look much more childish than Tio, though

the waterfall behind the bridge is pretty beautiful, ngl

Randy has unlocked this game's equivallent of Tita's smoke bomb.

In other words, we have tear gas now. So now all we need are rubber bullets to complete the Protester Supression Kit

And now for another insanely hard chest. this time it's a crew of spiders who spam deathblow. This one at least seems beatable, but I don't have any deathblow immunity items. I suppose I have to come back with full CP to cheese this

we finally meet Wolf-kun

Tio can also talk to wolves

Even the wolf thinks these SSS kids are losers

I just backtracked all the way to Crossbell to deliver the last fish fillet to complete a side quest before it expires, because the only way to obtain that is from a rare fish enemy near the hospital (which is now a blocked area for arbitrary story reasons) and another rare fish enemy in the LAST screen of the current area. Fml

At least I beat the chest with the deathblow spiders on the way back. While farming for fish fillets, I also let my CP bars grow. So the spiders could not resist the wave of Seal/Blind and general AoE cruelty coming at them.

We arrive at the mining town. Music is pretty relaxing

We come to help the citizens investigate, but the mafia arrived first. Those fucking guys again

Criminals. Just in time to test the efficacy of our new tear gas on humans.

Monsters are attacking every town and the mafia shows up to offer protection. Classic.

Lloyd makes a bold promise to solve everything. The guy is confident, I give him that

The cast meets in a room at the inn, to review the case. [Danganronpa song plays]

I demand an Ace Attorney/Trails crossover

I mean it would be the Law and Order of games

I love how each chapter is one long investigation that always arrives at "the big crime syndicate in the city dunnit"

Just start from the mafia next time

The mafia managed to prevent the CGF from acting since they own the CGF's commander, but they don't own the SSS.

Yet.

I predict sooner or later someone is going to start cracking down on the main characters, if they continue to fight mafia activity in Crossbell

We have to fight the wolves next, but theres an optional mine dungeon we can grind in first

Time for the battle. It starts with our new friend, Tear Gas-kun, being used against the wolves
(it's actually a flashbang, but let's pretend)

These wolves have the fakest bark ever

Doggos defeated, now to deal with the mafias

doggos actually healed. We gotta beat them again, plus the maf

The bad guys release 10 more doggos. Randy is worried that he might have to bust "it" out

I love secret weapons that only get revealed way later in the story

So who is gonna save us now? Estelle and Josh? Renne? The CGF? Arios?

Wolf-kun!

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/8/9/AAO9CbAAEyUh.jpg

never change Renne

Well, I guess I was right about both Arios and Renne, sort of

Arios: "If only there was a third party to create an opportunity for them"

You mean the PCs, yes?

We hand the bad guys over to the authorities and learn they'll probably get released because of corruption. Nice

Wolf-kun is named Zeit, and he's out pet now. I think.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/9/1/AAO9CbAAEyUj.jpg

Tio is all in. Anelace would understand.

Chapter 1: "We are cops, danmit. We want to eat donuts, not to hike!" beaten

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/9/3/AAO9CbAAEyUl.jpg

We move to the mafia HQ, where Giant Chin in a Suit is giving the mafia goons a hard time

"we would have gotten away if it weren't for those kids and their wolf!"

Omg the SSS is Mystery Inc!

I'm guessing Lloyd is Velma since he is the one who does the thinking. Tio is Shaggy since she's friends with the dog. Elie is Daphne and Randy is Fred. It checks out.

Don Marconi, the mafia boss, also has a funny voice

next plot is about an auction

Meanwhile, Purple Hair is practicing her dancing

Rixia is such a jrpg name. I think thats a character in some final fantasy?

We get a not very heterosexual scene between the two dancers, where Ilya teases Rixia about her two Trails In The Sky

Ilya and Cecile are besties. Aaaaand we are gonna have to rescue Cecile next chapter, i'm guessing

next is some cocky hacker kid, who is collecting info about random things

We are totally gonna make this hacker boy work for us later, aren't we? It's a classic plot

Chapter 2: "Will Ultros Attack the Show?": begins

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/9/4/AAO9CbAAEyUm.jpg

Randy has figured out how Estelle and Joshua work

We get a flashback of Zeit being a good boy

We have a cool mascot that is loved by the people now. Your move, Estelle and Joshua

So he is a character we can summon in battle. Alright.

I don't know if the series always does a great job of showcasing this but Lloyd is definitely one of the most observant characters characters. I think it's cool because it always reminds you that he is in fact a detective by training and not just some super powered fighter like a lot of the other major characters. (Ok probably being a real detective is nothing like being a fictional detective anyways but let's ignore that)

ZeldaTPLink posted...

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/8/9/AAO9CbAAEyUh.jpg

Tio 100% most cultured character in the series

He gives me the same vibe of the detective characters from Danganronpa. Which were pretty good.

Now all that he needs to do is to stop being such a cop.

ZeldaTPLink posted...

kind of weird for them to be commenting on how much of a kid Renne is when Tio is like 1 year older

tio has a job and in the eyes of capitalism that's all that matters

ZeldaTPLink posted...

Wolf-kun is named Zeit, and he's out pet now. I think.

correction: the sss is now zeit's pet

ZeldaTPLink posted...

He gives me the same vibe of the detective characters from Danganronpa. Which were pretty good.

Now all that he needs to do is to stop being such a cop.

He's not a cop he's a bracer by a different name

_stingers_ posted...

He's not a cop he's a bracer by a different name

I mean personality-wise

I finally unlock all the slots, and now I can upgrade slots. So let's go for another 28 orbment-related costs to pay! Woohoo!

I spend some time upgrading quartz, and my spell list is starting to look good. I was complaining about quartz scarcity earlier but this is starting to come along now

I talk to Arios at the guild. I really like the guy. Lloyd is feeling bad about his skills and he's like "don't compare yourself to me, just keep working hard and you'll get there eventually". He doesn't see the SSS as incompetent. Just novices.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/3/8/3/AAO9CbAAEyfX.jpg

The duo that keeps arguing about business at the restaurant is funny, but this exchange is really something

I read the paper and it says Estelle and Josh have already solved fifty cases

I'm not sure if Trails 1 had fifty sidequests, and the two did that offscreen between chapter 1 and 2 of this game. This is OP.

The paper also mentions us saving the city from the mafia once again, but names us "a division of the police"

Honestly, fuck Grace. This is just mean for no reason. If there was a character ranking of Zero rn she would be competing for last place.

She didnt even appear last chapter, which is different from what Nial would usually do too. This game is making no attempt to have the protagonists be in good terms with the reporters.

The paper does mention Zeit though, which makes sense. Everyone loves Zeit

oh ok apparently the one who wrote about us wasn't even Grace, it was some rando. Grace was in some other country at the time. Ok, I forgive her for now.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/3/8/4/AAO9CbAAEyfY.jpg

I'm tasked with hunting some monsters and uh... what is this? aardvarks that walk on the front legs?

Honestly the best strat rn is to give everyone Evade 2, use Randy's smoke bomb in the first turn and then just watch as the party counter attacks everything. Apply Aerial and aoe crafts to end it faster.

this quest did not need to have 40 of these things to fight. just saying.

Zeit is OP. He either howls and reduces the defense and delays the turns of every enemy, or he just goes and murders everything himself

ah, the classic trails quest where we have to beat up some soldiers to teach them to fight. never gets old

apparently Randy is a fighting master. Dude is probably doing a Kevin and hiding his true strength

We beat them up, but now we gotta fight Noel. Oh this is fun

not too hard, tbh

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/3/8/5/AAO9CbAAEyfZ.jpg
...

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/3/8/6/AAO9CbAAEyfa.jpg

We realized things had gone too far when the chests started to argue with each other

We go back to the guild, where Purple Hair wants to see us

Rixia's voice is too low imo. Not sure if that was done on purpose or if its bad dub

Next quest is to find out whos sending threat letters to hot dancers

I just realized the name of this chapter (Golden Sun Silver Moon) is the name of the play that happens in chapter 2. Just like in FC (Madrigal of the White Magnolia)

We go to the theater, where a sprite is practicing olympic jumping

Because I'm pretty sure thats not human dancing

Lloyd gets hugged by Ilya for being Cecile's little brother. To the horror of Randy

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/3/9/0/AAO9CbAAEyfe.jpg

The case barely started and we already arrived at Revache

However we know from the between chapter scene Yin is not from Revache. Hes from Heiyue

So I guess Revache is the red herring this time. At least for the characters, since the player is more informed.

Ilya slapped Marconi in the face because he touched her

Only Ilya has the right to touch people. Anytime. Whether they want to be touched or not.

The fact the narration kind of acknowledges Lloyd's arbitrary chivarly is toxic and the characters are actively policing it is a nice touch

Like, he starts talking about leaving the girls behind again and Tio stops him mid sentence.

Lloyd himself seems to be starting to get aware it's a bad thing

Elie's interest in the mafia is... interesting. I smell some backstory.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/3/9/1/AAO9CbAAEyff.jpg

mean

we visit Bellguard gate, where we get some interesting lore about Crossbell military

the lore being that Crossbell Military doesn't actually exist. Because of law, likely related to the country's independence accords with its two giant neighbors

what exists is the CGF. Which is not military. On paper. But in practice, they are heavily trained and have tanks and stuff. But the country avoids being too on the face about it, to not make its foreign neighbors worried

which is pretty unfair, because there is no way a little country like Crossbell is going to try to annex land from Erebonia or Calvard. But the later would always use that as an excuse to invade Crossbell themselves, so they have to pretend

we go interrogate the mafia. The idea of interrogating the mafia seems suicidal, but the mafia sub-boss actually wants to talk. Hmmm

the talk doesn't progress much of anything, but Lloyd gains a few points in my book for being the calm and pragmatic dude.

The cast realizes Yin is not with the mafia, but is related to them. I love intelligent party members, makes the plot flow so smoothly

We go visit Mr. Lawyer for information on the mafia. Always helpful, this lawyer

Too helpful. I don't feel like he is the evil type, though. So calling it now: he's gonna die.

next, we go interrogate the Chinese mafia. These kids are bold

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/3/9/2/AAO9CbAAEyfg.jpg

yeah this is the kind of guy who is usually 5 steps ahead of you

he casually reveals he already knows who we are

yeah Lloyd has gone a long way from "we don't talk to civilians, we are cops!" to "we both know you are the culprit but let's pretend we dont so we can talk". I don't recall there being much character development to arrive here, but his current characterization is better than what we got in the prologue

Cao Lee all but reveals he is the one who hired Yin, except he doesn't. This is some 5D chess match those characters are playing rn

ok so which organization is being controlled by Orobouros? Revache, Heilyn, or both? Find out... some chapter

Elie suggests we call HQ since Yin is OP. The thing we should have done last chapter but did not

Oh hey it's Massive Asshole with the Glasses! (aka Dudley)

Dudley is right that this setting's politics is much more complex than the PCs are aware of. However he is still a massive jackass. He demeans their skills then casually snatches the case from them

If this was real life, this would be it, but it isn't. Dudley is making a massive mistake, one Agate made many times back in FC. Believing he can make the plot advance away from the main characters. It won't. The plot will find Lloyd and co., whether side characters like Dudley want it or not

Elie gets emotional for a moment and I just want to know whats the story here

Come on, SSS, start showing your skeletons in the closet already so I can get all those sweet character bonding scenes

We run into Elie's grandfather out of nowhere, who seems to be a nice guy

lol at Lloyd realizing he is the friggin mayor while Randy and Tio are clueless, and the former just having a permanent (...) balloon over his head

cat is out of the bag. this is a funny scene

sprite coreograph looks pretty good

we lose the case but we gain free tickets! Honestly guys, as members of the proletariat, you should just call this a win and walk out

This secretary Ernest is bad news

this seems to be the Elie Chapter, tbh

I love chef Sergei

"Well you guys got the case taken away from you? Just work incognito then"

No "your badge and your gun plz" bullshit. He's all in with letting the protagonists work behind the law

Lloyd resolves to go to some classic shonen protagonist pep talk with Elie

I swear this roof was designed just for emotional character scenes

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/3/9/3/AAO9CbAAEyfh.jpg

Just kiss already

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/3/9/6/AAcM16AAEyfk.jpg

this is better drama than your favorite Netflix show

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/3/9/8/AAO9CbAAEyfm.jpg

YEEEEEEAH down with cops!

Lloyd goes and tells her why she is necessary and not a failure. Kiss alreaaaaaady

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/3/9/9/AAO9CbAAEyfn.jpg

LMAO

Elie then relentlessly teases him. She has more self-awareness with this than Estelle and Josh combined

yep, shes hooked

all that shipping gives Lloyd and Elie a new team craft. Worth it.

Meanwhile... bad guys talk

next, we get Lloyd and Elie making plans while Tio and Randy look at them suspiciously and smell the shipping that just happened

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/4/0/0/AAO9CbAAEyfo.jpg

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/4/0/1/AAO9CbAAEyfp.jpg

lol
this has escalated quickly

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/4/0/2/AAO9CbAAEyfq.jpg

You heard the lady. Balloons like this can lead to Ultraviolence if ignored

Lloyd then makes the classic "there is no way I would ever date her" blunder

this scene. It is pure gold.

Yin himself is hiring us. Told you so. The plot always finds a way to return to the heroes

I'm guessing it's the hacker kid from the intermission who helped send this message

Elie: "My friend's dad works at the bank, we could ask for his help"
Party: "what does he do?"
Elie: "He's the CEO"
Party: [suprised Pikachu face]

yeah ok this is it. This game is quality. Trails has done it again.

Damn NFUN don't interrupt my triple post

(good meme tho)

ZeldaTPLink posted...

we visit Bellguard gate, where we get some interesting lore about Crossbell military

the lore being that Crossbell Military doesn't actually exist. Because of law, likely related to the country's independence accords with its two giant neighbors

what exists is the CGF. Which is not military. On paper. But in practice, they are heavily trained and have tanks and stuff. But the country avoids being too on the face about it, to not make its foreign neighbors worried

Yeah, the CGF is basically based on the Japanese Self Defense Force in concept, I think. (Though Falcom has said Crossbell itself was based on Hong Kong. Liberl was Thailand.)

Thorn posted...

Liberl was Thailand

Crossbell was very obviously Hong Kong/Taiwan but I didn't realize this aspect. Good catch

I don't know Thailand enough to understand why it's similar.

IIRC it was Thailand being the one country in the region to avoid Western colonization as a parallel to Liberl also being a monarchy that managed to remain independent and maneuver around Erebonia and Calvard's imperialism. But I'm also not that informed on it myself so take it with a grain of salt.

Yeah it's because of its status as a buffer country.

It's not culturally based on Thailand (its more French) but politically.

we get another one of those "beat up to train" quests, this time against the gangs. The characters all go on about how difficult it is but I'm just having a good time with those easy fights

I have more money than I need so I went and bought custom orbment covers for the whole party

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/0/4/0/AAO9CbAAEy5Q.jpg

danmit Randy

We have a scene between Elie and the Ernest guy

Ernest knows how to fight with a sword. Red flag red flag red flag. Random npcs don't know how to fight.

Elie asks for a meeting with what may be the richest man in the planet, and he says yes. Danmit Elie.

his in-game sprite sparkles. Thats how you know he's rich

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/0/4/1/AAO9CbAAEy5R.jpg

yet some cocky 15 year old hacked the hell out of it
this is steampunk internet, so time for Tio to explain what "hacking" is supposed to be

I can't tell if this guy is incredibly ideallistic is a very good con man

His speech is so epic even the game's opening plays as he speaks

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/0/4/2/AAO9CbAAEy5S.jpg

Crois's daughter arrives and her hair is... something

She reacts... not very well to the idea that Lloyd/Elie may be a thing.

Lesbians. Lesbians everywhere. That's all I have to say.

We descend in an elevator in an rpg, so I'm halfway expecting monsters to start attacking along the way

the server room having its own music strongly suggests this will be a dungeon at some point

The bank staff cant figure out who hacked them, but Tio then uses "make red word move really fast on a screen" to figure it out

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/0/4/3/AAO9CbAAEy5T.jpg

hacker kid is hiding in the underground area. theres our dungeon

beat the dungeon. busted the hacker

I love that he is basically Tio's rival

Is it just me or this Eptein Foundation only hires children?

dude is a pro hacker and cant go to jail because the internet is new so there are no laws against hacking

Yin is the new Phantom Thief. With custom calling cards and everything

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/0/4/4/AAO9CbAAEy5U.jpg

found the Al Capone Tax Evasion

yep. kid works for us now

theres a quest to recover a wedding ring, and we turn to Zeit for help tracking it. The wolf lets us know he is disappointed for using him for mundane side-quests, but he will help

Randy: "Someone woke up on the wrong side of the doggie bed today"

Yes, legendary white wolf guardians sleep in doggie beds

Zeit is offered ice cream, but replies he doesn't have a sweet fang

I'm in for all the doggo jokes

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/0/4/5/AAO9CbAAEy5V.jpg

Zeit is not the snarky dog we need, but he's the one we deserve

time for a trails staple: mysterious ancient towers

Oh hey it's Noel! And she brought... a freaking tank. I dont even know how the managed to have the tank reach this place

Noel joins the party! Temporarily.

her orbment is shit. physical character all the way

I remove Lloyd (finally!) and make a 3 girls + Randy party

Gal fights with an SMG. Nice.

being able to swap party members without returning to the bracer guild is amazing QoL. We chrono trigger now.

monsters in this place interact with higher elements. This is Trails 3rd again

someone with AoE basic attack and an attack stat worth using. sold.

Noel just wants to investigate this place. Aint no magical medieval tower getting unchecked in her territory

Noel's s-craft is really cool. It's just straight up guns and bombs and massive aoe damage

I love being able to switch party members mid dungeon. I realize enemies are resistant to magic so I pull out Tio and bring back Lloyd

Randy and Elie are my MVPs though. They probably stay unless I feel like it's getting too easy

Lloyd and Elie's combo craft is also awesomne, albeit expensive

ngl this is one pretty dungeon

and now its time to fight Yin. I have a feeling this will either be ridiculously easy or insanely hard

Very hard. though not insanely.

Tio is the mvp for randomly showing up every few turns and casting some version of earth wall

Then the boss reveals we were fighting an ilussion the whole time. Humilliating.

afterwards, we get a cutscene where Lloyd reveals everything (not Yin, Lloyd. That's the detective for ya) and we move to the climax of the chapter, where we have to stop the bad guys' plans. Noel leaves, and HOPEFULL leaves her equipment/quartz with us

time for the play, which, if half as good as the one from FC, is gonna be really good

Lloyd gives an awesome encouraging speech to Rixia and Elie just wants him dead

We dont get to see the full play. I'm not sure if i'm happy or sad, the 1 minute of it we got to see was rather boring

The violence from Kloe's play in FC was more fun

Lloyd and Elie reacting to stuff as they patrol is funny, though

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/0/4/6/AAO9CbAAEy5W.jpg

You had to say it, Lloyd

there is an incident, but apparently it's just Grace being inconvenient

told you Ernest was bad news.

Reporter: "Tells cops about a crime that may be about to be commited"
Cops: "Barge in to stop the crime"
Reporter: "Wait, what are you doing?"

Dudley letting the mayor suffer an assassination attempt right under his entire division's nose serves him right for being an arrogant prick

a cool action scene happens, in which the wolf saves the day in the end

chapters where the wolf saved the heroes' asses in the climax: 2/2
(I'm not counting the prologue as a chapter because I'm biased to the doggy)

Grace FINALLY writes a positive article about us. Bottom of the character rankings averted.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/0/4/7/AAO9CbAAEy5X.jpg

oh boy here we go again

The mayor is a cool guy imo

He convinces Elie to keep going. I mean, at this point the SSS is canonically the most competent division of police, so it's not a bad place to be in

Next is a scene where Yin does some ninja stuff, then reveals she's Rixia all along

Alright. New rule. Next time we meet another mysterious purple-haired girl, kill/arrest on sight. Don't ask questions. Just take her down. She's bad news

Makes sense why she hired us now though, since she apparently enjoys the dancing thing for real so she'd have to leave it to stop the assassination

Chapter 2: "Just fire all the humans from police and hire the wolves": beaten

ZeldaTPLink posted...

Next is a scene where Yin does some ninja stuff, then reveals she's Rixia all along

this one, i did see coming

I saw it coming like...30 seconds before it was revealed..does that count? Probably not

ZeldaTPLink posted...

remove Lloyd (finally!) and make a 3 girls + Randy party

What do you mean finally :( Lloyd is great. He's like if Rean was well written and likeable.

catesdb posted...

this one, i did see coming

I saw it coming but because I played the games out of order :(

Rixia so good. I liked this chapter a lot.

I saw it coming because I had seen a playable character list while looking for weapon locations or something :P

Agree it's the best chapter so far, though. Particularly the Elie stuff. The mafia visits at the start were cool too.

_stingers_ posted...

I saw it coming like...30 seconds before it was revealed..does that count? Probably not

What do you mean finally :( Lloyd is great. He's like if Rean was well written and likeable.

This was more of a joke. I'm at the stage where I'm starting to like Lloyd. I think I have him above Tio now, at least.

i dont fully remember but the first time they used he to refer to yin i was like yeah i doubt that

it was a dope chapter

lloyd second best trails protagonist

I like Lloyd but Rean is also very good, especially in CS3 through Reverie

Yeah Rean is great

Also fun fact canonically Rixia uses Eastern Magic techniques to reduce her boob size while dressed as Yin.

Can't believe falcom would cover such a minor detail, truly masters of world building

Get copped on

Time for the city anniversary festival. We get a fun montage. The highlight is Tio playing Dr. Mario against hacker boy

Now on to watching every named girl in the cast wanting to hang out with Lloyd. At least Randy gets to have fun with some nurses at the casino

Chapter 3: "The same map but with festival decoration now": begins

TIme to perform the most important job a cop has (other than killing members of racial minorities who step out of their place)

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/8/3/3/AAO9CbAAEzk5.jpg

Giving away parking tickets

we get a rare moment of humanity from Grace, where she admits she avoids criticizing the mayor too much because she likes him

I buy a piece of pastry I dont even need because I just like the plot with the baker's rivarlies so I want to help the girl trying to surpass her brother. The quality character writing affecting the gameplay.

we go deliver the results of the park ticket marathon to the transit cops and get this exachange

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/8/3/4/AAO9CbAAEzk6.jpg

don't be this guy

When the supreme commander of your country's army is such an idiot that he decides to leave a fucking tank at the border of your country's biggest enemy and lose the key to the tank so the soldiers have to cover it with a tarp to avoid causing an international incident due to a tank being there

and the tank is also the newest model you would rather not let enemies know that you own

the next mandatory quest is to find a doctor who decided to skip his job to enter a fishing tournament
The all powerful fishing guild must be stopped

the fishing guild is so powerful even monsters avoid the road when they are hosting a fishing tournament near it

Lloyd meets Lloyd from Liberl, who iirc is the guy who originally gave a fishing rod to Estelle in FC and started this entire madness

this Dr. Guenter is either going to be an Orobouros level villain, or someone who will be the key to solving the main plot, I feel

probably the latter. There's "hidden genius" written all over him

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/8/3/5/AAO9CbAAEzk7.jpg

after we beat him in a fishing tournament that kinda feels like a tutorial, and the local nurses adds some... pressure... he goes back to work

next quest. gang members are fighting again. time to go beat them up for the 5th time

however just before we can get at it, Estelle arrives at the scene to deliver ultraviolence herself

oh ok so the gangs are doing an organized fighting tournament, not a brawl. They could have warned the city beforehand, though

they came this close to having Estelle/Josh deliver lv 140 powered hits to their puny lv 10 faces

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/8/3/6/AAO9CbAAEzk8.jpg

Ultraviolence still not averted. I'd listen to her if I were you

Wald tries to fight her. Wazy is smart enough to realize she can destroy them, so he warns Wald not do do it

Wald is an idiot though, so he does it anyway, and gets knocked down like a ragdoll

then Lloyd and co finally step in, before Joshua enters the fight. Which would have been probably been rather bloody

However nobody gives a shit to Lloyd's lv 23 words and they all decide to fight

then Randy reminds everyone why he is the best new Trails character by proposing an alternative. They can race instead of killing each other

youre still gonna get rekt though. Joshua is a freaking ninja

then Estelle manages to break the entire mood by trying to make friends with the guys she just fought with. Classic.

Then Grace shows up with a mic and a camera and this is now a live event

the race is pretty fun, though I suspect Estelle/Josh just hid their real power to make it competitive. Anyway, the PCs win

and as a prize, we get some hints at Randy's character issues. Apparently he has trouble controlling his strength. I'm guessing that's why he left the CGF, not his womanizing traits

He may or may not have a very dark past, too. Based on this series, I'm giving it 90% odds

this scene is rather gay

I'm assuming if there are any Lloyd/Randy shippers (of course there are), they had a field day with it
Lloyd, don't make promises to tell your dark pasts to each other some day. That stuff backfires BADLY in this series

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/8/3/7/AAO9CbAAEzk9.jpg

Tio is reading my mind

Josh apparently knows what kind of power Randy just used. Hmm

I'm here just wondering if the game will make someone mention Renne in passing so that the Sky cast can realize the Zero cast knows where she is, but they will leave us hanging for the time

The Sky cast is looking for some underworld auction. Nial told them about it. How Nial has intel on secret auctions in another country is anyone's guess

Auction time

Half the reason I bought my new Kia!

_stingers_ posted...

Half the reason I bought my new Kia!

XD

ZeldaTPLink posted...

I buy a piece of pastry I dont even need because I just like the plot with the baker's rivarlies so I want to help the girl trying to surpass her brother.

Oscar and Bennett aren't siblings. Bennett is Morges's (the bakery owner) daughter and Oscar is an apprentice he took on to help.

but yes love that side plot going on

this topic is great and is inspiring me to play through zero again when i finish xenoblade 2 since zero and azure are the only ones released in the west i have just played once

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/0/5/7/AAO9CbAAE0Hp.jpg

The mythical guardian wolf eats from a dog bowl

Randy levels up and learns War Cry, which is basically Agate's CP increasing ability. It is rather weak though, but the HP cost is also very low so it could be used to easily hit 100 cp. We'll see if this is easy to use or not

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/0/5/8/AAO9CbAAE0Hq.jpg

The chest has a point. But it misses the fact that I came here mostly for the chests

Do quests for miners. They will give you a metric ton of sepith and say its just leftovers

the early game was pretty scarce on quartz. But now? It's basically endless. I'm trading sepith for money to buy armor faster, which is something I never did before in this series

Lloyd's unintentional fame as a ladies' man is one of the best running gags

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/0/5/9/AAO9CbAAE0Hr.jpg

We do a little quest about catching a guy stalking Ilya and it turns out into a story about class warfare
Ilya hires the kid who was trying to rob her. Rixia mentions she went through a similar thing

Knowing Rixia, she probably set it up on purpose to get hired. or maybe she actually went to assassinate Ilya or something and ended up being hired by her

Also the boy turns out to be actually a girl and the whole thing gets really uncomfortable

next mandatory quest is to interrogate some tourists coming from Calvard to find out who is a counterfeit dealer

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/0/6/0/AAO9CbAAE0Hs.jpg

A wild Kilika appears!

Give up, SSS. If you talk to her for 1 minute she will figure out who you are faster than you learn anything about her

Heck, she likely already knows who you are and has complete files including data on all the four's tragic backstories

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/0/6/1/AAO9CbAAE0Ht.jpg

Narrator: "It wouldn't fly"

Random NPC girl pointing to Kilika: "It's her! Shes suspicious! Arrest her!"

I didnt notice anything suspicious, but Lloyd did, and I'm guessing it's not Kilika, because Lloyd is a smart cookie

The game lets me pick the culprit from a list of 5 people. I pick the wrong guy (the fisherman, because Lloyd kept saying something was "fishy"). Then Kilika shows up to tell I'm wrong and reveal she already figured out who the culprit is

Thanks, Kilika! The meme never dies

oh, I did not notice the connection with the theme park being new. Such a minor detail

I wonder what happens if I pick right, though

This granny is hardcore

She still trips and falls, though. Then Kilika shows up and implies she's the one who set the granny up to trip. Thanks again, Kilika!

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/0/6/2/AAO9CbAAE0Hu.jpg

And she also figured out the politics of the setting already

hacker kid hacked the police database to get Lloy'd's phone number and then call him to brag that he hacked the police. 1337.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/0/6/3/AAO9CbAAE0Hv.jpg

This is the sound of Tio gaining points in the character rankings

Hacker Kid avoided calling Tio directly and instead called Lloyd because he's butthurt that she beat him at Dr. Mario. Or so Tio wants to believe. But considering how much hacker kid is a loser, I'd buy it.

So it's Tio and Jona vs some new hacker named Kitty in a PWNING showdown

But we need a second computer to set that up, and the only available one is conveniently behind another dungeon. Here we go.

But cops have more work to do than PWNING. If they slack on it, minorities might start thinking they have rights. So Lloyd will help Tio beat the dungeon while the other two do usual police work.

I mean, it's the only combo craft we have yet to unlock

Tio admits she hacked the pass code to the dungeon. Lloyd asks her if they can do that. Tio: "Well we're cops so we would have gotten access anyway, I just got it faster"

Tio is learning her trade quite fast

I love believably OP characters. Kilika fits the bill for me

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/3/3/5/AAO9CbAAE0bn.jpg

uh... what do you mean, game?

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/3/3/6/AAO9CbAAE0bo.jpg

Does anyone actually buy this stuff

Tio and Lloyd's combo craft is certainly flashy

ok dungeon beaten, boss killed, we have internet now

now we gotta wait for our evil hacker to take the bait, so time for some character bonding

Tio was friends with Lloyd's brother a long time ago. Surprise.

I was thinking Tio's sensors were tech, and I guess theres some of it, but its mostly her own abilities. she's some sort of psychic

and wow, her life sucked because of it

this may or may not be a reference to autism

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/3/3/7/AAO9CbAAE0bp.jpg

[headpats]

This is now Megaman Battle Network

Tio hax0rz so hard she faints irl

Tio wanting Lloyd to find a promise to make is some weird but interesting setup. I wonder what the payoff will be

Jona hears Lloyd making cheesy speeches and gives the two a hard time

We learned Kitty still trolled us and was expecting it all.

Lmao it's Renne. On top of everything she's also 1337.

As a reward, Jona gives info on the mafia that he hacked. Nice.

We read the intel. The TL;DR is that Giliath Osborne is behind everything

which means Orobouros is likely pulling the strings. Again.

And we get another mention of the secret auction

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/3/3/8/AAO9CbAAE0bq.jpg

Boss arrives and reveals he knew everything

Sergei: "do whatever you want, but this stuff you just found is way above your pay grade imo"

The most chill boss in the planet

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/3/3/9/AAO9CbAAE0br.jpg

Good speech.