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Patrick deserves better
He's stuck being the "make sure these non-combatants are safe" guy once again, and he just wants to be a hero in front of the princess and your sister that he's into.

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How can Rean even compete with this man?
The bone dragon was pretty cool but it wasn't that hard - though the HP Drain was neat, it just was not able to compete with Elliot healing support
They really should have like... done something while the dragon was fighting us. He was smarter about it with the Spider

>>3029967
the only one fucking my sister is me

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They fucked up the Elite 4 order - it's supposed to go Tits > Muscle Man > Nerd > Guy in Cape
Gideon's been fun, but now that the flute is fucked he's not ready to be second last in the boss rush
The Heavy looks cool and is maybe a jaeger cause he knew who Fie was? The Tits has like ... Like damn. Emma and Sara actually can't compete and that's saying a lot.

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I'll agree with the people last thread that the dual fight was pretty bad. He mostly just missed
But it would just take a fuckwhile to actually finish it, 100k hp

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This is a really meme-able pic. The height difference is killer.

Fun chapter, I liked Heimdallr a bunch, and it's for sure a big contrast from Nord last time with all the tight sewer dungeons and alleys. It's also been pretty ambitious with how many different things they're hitting on at once - Even putting the main plot to the side, this chapter hit all 4 of the classmates with their own plot, PLUS all the Royals, PLUS Patrick, PLUS Elise, and it's also been the most Rean heavy chapter yet. And it worked out for most of them.
Fie got a lot of great stuff and with that pulled Laura along even though she's definitely the weaker of the two. Machias also was pretty good, and I like his Dad, who got a really good VA too. Patrick has been great, and really everything involved with the Golem fight was kino. Elise is probably traumatized as fuck though, this is the second life-death situation she's been in in like a week.

So the terrorists are -Pro Royals Pro Commoners / Anti-Noble Anti-Government which is a weird fucking position to be in, but idk they've been fun too, and it's nice to see more than just Gideon this time around. The royals are... okay? Oliver is the best of them, because he's not a shota and he seems to have actual depth to him, and it's been fun seeing him try to shit-talk the Chancellor while not outright telling his siblings that he hates his guts. And speaking of him - sorta dope? Guy's got presence, and I was not expecting Sara to be close with him, which throws another huge wrench into the Class VII politics power struggle.

The only thing that's weird I guess is that the Emperor, who should be in the middle of all this - doesn't really seem to have a position on things? Like sure, he doesn't need to show up personally, but with all this infighting going around and with the attacks in Nord and now here (against his family), you'd think there would be a bigger emphasis on him.

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>>3029963
>>3029993
You're about 2/3 done. Just 2 more studies left, Laura's hometown and Alisa's
You should savescum the bonding events in the next chapter. They give satisfying conclusions for the characters if you've been keeping up with the npc dialogue, like Alisa and Ferris, the chess club, the Wind Orchestra, etc.
>>3029967
Patrick does get his moments to shine just not in the first game. more like....300 hours later lol.
>>3030009
He makes up for it with his boss fight later.

>>3030042
>The only thing that's weird I guess is that the Emperor, who should be in the middle of all this - doesn't really seem to have a position on things?
There are reasons for that but you won't learn about them before CS3, and the full context will be clear only in CS4.

>>3029963
Man I remember when I had hope for this series potential. It was endearing as first. And then came the nothing.

>>3030149
I get that and I'd say you're on the dot with the footnote that the games were good until after Azure.
Trails of Cold Steel was ALMOST great, but they decided to phone it in after the first game. And then they milked the shit out of it, stretching the 2 games max plotline into four and a half games, ruining it and retroactively, the series.
Don't tell me it wasn't a halfway interesting setup in Azure. Could have done a lot with that.

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So we're the horse, and the bell is Crossbell.
One of them's Calvard (the deer?), I'd assume one of them Liberal, but I don't know what the other one would be. Is the plant Nord? Does Nord even fucking matter at this scale?

>>3031157
The deer is Remiferia. The weed is Calvard (cuck tier coat of arms), the bird is Liberl.

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AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH

>>3031163
(I legit don't think I've heard of Remiferia before, I guess it'll be a thing for later on)
Crossbell > Remiferia > Erebonia > Calvard > Liberl
Liberl's could be a lot better if it didn't have those janky ass orange blobs fucking up the middle. Just the Bird on blue would have been a lot nicer

>>3031178
>Liberl's could be a lot better if it didn't have those janky ass orange blobs fucking up the middle. Just the Bird on blue would have been a lot nicer
At least it is not a fucking leaf. Can't wait when Erebonia finally starts operation RAKE.

Stop narrating your every fucking move and just finish this shit game, retard.

Getting Crow to join is chill, I'm okay with that and it means the bonding event I did with him wasn't a waste (Looking forward for Towa). Millium is uhhhhhhhh I guess gonna be here for the rest of the game. They could have given us Claire instead and I know that isn't reasonable but it'd be better. Though Millium is wearing real clothes now
What bugs me is that I really should have made the connection that Sara is with the imperial government earlier based off of her training robots after seeing Millium.

>>3031187
you have a whole board of Elder Scrolls threads to post in anon

>>3031178
Remiferia is Switzerland but with medical industries instead of banking (which is Crossbell's deal), they're irrelevant politically.

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Cute

>>3031272
Fanfiction trash.

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I appreciate the blatant in-game TowaRean shipping

>>3031197
You'll never get through this shit if you have to blogpost about your every move.

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>>3032407
Objectively the thread is proof of the opposite.
You can hide it if you're that triggered

>>3032426
>Instructor Rean
You had one job Xseed

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Concert was okay? The first part of the song was pretty darn simple, but they did at least throw in some more near the end. I've never touched a flute, but I'm sure I could do the piano part with some sheet music, and maybe the violin, but it's been a long time since I've touched one so that'd be dicey.
It felt like the right event to go to though. Even though I've mostly been brushing off Elliot's ones, it was built up for so long and by so many of the NPCs, It'd make Rean be a bit of a douche not to show. The Alisa one was also pretty solid, and while Jusis' was more low-key it was also pretty nice. Definitely the best 3 in the bunch

>>3032426
Your threads show that you play at snail's pace to blogpost about your every moment with the game. If you're doing this with all 5 games, you'll basically be having a general on this board for 18+ months.

>>3032474
So? We have 15 TES generals at the time, that anon can hardly fuck up the board any more.

>>3032474
Based
Year of Rean

>>3032474
>I am mad that on the board for talking about video games, someone is talking about their experience playing a video game. I would much rather prefer:
>Barely on-topic shitpost threads transplanted directly from /tg/
>Daily made low effort rec threads made by and for people who don’t play video games
>”X is Not an RPG”
>Le Jarpig Vs Le Warpig threads
>Waifu spam
>Sawyer Avellone circlejerk
>The dozen other actual general threads that are on the board at all times
You’re insane. MORE threads should be like this one. Go and play a fucking game anon

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>>3032488
The secondaries from the falcum general always get triggered when someone actually plays the games. If you talk about your playthrough there they ignore/report your posts, flood the thread with spam, spoilers, jak edits, indirect replies (like they do on the shitcord) whatever they can to try and drive you out. It's like showing the cross to a vampire, they can't stand it.

>>3032488
>I am mad
kek, no I'm mocking you for being a fucking retard. Play the game. Finish it. Don't blogpost for attention like a little redditfag. You're slowing your progress down to a crawl because you want attention. It's like that one actual reddit faggot and his conspiracy board that he spends lifetimes on instead of playing the games. All for attention, because like you, he's a little bitch ass nigga.

Should I bother doing all the trial chests for characters I don't even use in CS2?
Especially the ones in the shrine which are kind of a pain to backtrack to.

>>3032966
Final boss is 3 phases and you have to make 3 parties.

>>3032984
So it's a Sky 3rd situation? That's annoying, I don't like a lot of the characters in this one. But I guess I'll do it.

>>3033042
You don't have to, it just depends on how comfortable you are taking on 1 boss in the game without overdrive.

>zzzz: the series

>>3029963
What the fuck is that title screen? I've literally never seen it before. Is it Heimdall?

>I'm a big fan of updating title screens, so it's been a pleasure in that regard

CS2 does it the best

>>3031272
This was the kind of fanfic shit that made Kondo stop giving the games to Xseed. Good riddance.


https://www.frontlinejp.net/2021/03/19/falcom-ceo-kondo-talks-ports-and-localisations-zero-no-kiseki-coming-to-the-us/
https://egmnow.com/toshihiro-kondo-talks-nihon-falcom-trails-of-cold-steel-iii/
>The area that I would take issue with, which was very similar to what you mentioned with Nausicaä—I mean, I don’t know what particularly was changed for Nausicaä, but I completely understand that feeling—is that if they’re going to start changing the actual content, they’d better be contacting us first to get our approval and talk through it.

>>3033099
Oh and NISA is so much better for that shit huh? They litterally renamed a character for an STD joke.

>>3033090
Yes, that one shows up in chapter 4.

>>3031273
>>3033099
>Translation tards straight from /fg/
This is a direct improvement. The game is better for it. You have no argument against that.

Jerking your cocks to the “author’s vision” is retard fare, especially for shit like this where it doesn’t impact the story in the slightest. They can’t even fucking speak english.
>>3033110
NISA has been much worse for the franchise, and that’s felt in how much shittier CSIII and IV were in terms of characterization.

>>3033126
say it with me
WATER
ENHANCERS

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>>3033090
Yep. That's from right before the end of the chapter.
Now Crow and Millium are on but it's back to just trees

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It's so goddamn fast
And the freezing
And even Rean doesn't do triple digit damage unless he's buffed
Some of this is my own hubris for thinking Machias and Alisa would be enough support, and not taking Emma or Elliot, but still - damn.
Ice Dragon could beat the shit out of Bone Dragon - it certainly did it to me
This so far takes the new top spot for hardest boss - the Crab in Bareahard had it for a long time, but it's been way surpassed by this one

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Okay somebody on staff picked a favourite NPC and pushed -hard- for her. Like, they give all of them a little spotlight with the sidequests, but that was pretty much a full-on bonding event for the Nun girl, and it sorta fucking worked, she's more alike with Rean than pretty much anyone else and I'd bet that someone made a fanfic for this ship based on this

I mean personally I still like Mint, because her moe aspects appeal to me on a subconscious level, and Beryl too, but for Rean? Shame she's becoming a nun

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I am still looking forwards to Fie's flowers though

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>>3030088
Good advice to save-scum
A lot of the events were really good, especially these last three post-schoolhouse.

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>>3033651
Do you have Laura in the party? Just kill it with Laura.

>>3033651
Unsurtr is unironically one of my favorite bosses.

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>>3033651
Pay attention to what accessory you get in dungeons, you'll always need it for the next boss. that Red Pendulum was your clue.
>>3033750
Fie cute

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>>3033750
her flowers bloomed alright haha

>>3033939
T-This is a mod, right?
Maybe I should romance Fie after all.

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>>3033941
Her tits, the jiggles, and the camo panties are not mods. Dunno about the bra.

>>3033957
Holy based. Was debating between her or Sara in CS2.

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>>3033743
>somebody on staff picked a favourite NPC and pushed -hard- for her.
No, it's true that she's not romancable or playable but she's actually more than just a nun, that's why she gets a bit of extra attention. You'll have to play CS2 in ng+ to find out.

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>>3033962

>>3033939
>>3033957
It sorta ruins her appeal tho. They didn’t need to double every single returning character’s bust size (except Zin, who looks fucking tiny compared to how he should be).
I also wish the hair looked more actually white on her in-game model

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Pretty uneventful as far as the Practical goes. Team fights were nice but pretty simple
>>3033888
I was running Machias, Jusis, and Alisa to try and get their bond points up a bit (+ obligatory Crow/Millium). It seemed like an okay core on paper.
>>3033927
I had it for the second time round, along with socks on as many people as I could. First go at the fight he moved first and froze half the team turn one (including Jusis with recuria), and while I did manage to not die immediately, it was not a recoverable position.
I'm glad I leveled up Wing, because it turned out to be pretty great for this fight - freeze resist + a pretty sizable speed boost were really what was needed.

>>3033939
!

>>3034813
Jusis and Alisa aren't that great a combination unless you've kitted out the later as a dedicated fast offensive mage, at which point 2x noble command works perfectly. Machias and Alisa also only work well once you can do chrono burst + burst drive shenanigans. Machias and Jusis are just not complimentary at all with each other, although together they can support Alisa, Elliot or Emma with spd, ats and EP.

Still, Jusis + Emma + Alisa + Elliot is probably the strongest dedicated mage party within class VII, at least until Rean gets some equips that turn him into a magic god in CSIII and CSIV.

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>>3033888
Laura isn't that broken at that point. Her s-craft is just SS rank(same as Rean) until you get to Legram, and you don't have domination yet. Also that boss has a ton of hp and def and just shrugs off fully buffed s crafts like its nothing.
You're thinking of cs2 Laura where they buffed her s craft's ranks for some reason lol

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My game just softlocked here and i had to altf4 lol

>>3035842
looks like the attack was successful haha

>>3035411
yeah, especially because Millium is required in that dungeon and and already has an SSS S-Craft

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Legram is chill
I really like the aesthetic the whole town has going for it, with the old buildings and the castle and the mist and the fact that literally every person in the town is obsessed with Laura. Music is once again solid too.
Sorta lame that they hand-waived the fight with the students, but the butler was pretty good.

For me it's Towa

>>3037127
Not a word about the radiant blademaster? That's disappointing.

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>>3037175
I mean, I hadn't gotten that far yet. I still had to go kill some very unfortunate sharkodiles.

Not as hype as the last Vampire Rean moment, but still pretty good. The music they give for these fights is fantastic.
He's cool. Tied with Gaius' family as the best parents (Machias' dad is solid but also working for the Big Man). I thought he'd be more buff, like the machine gun terrorist, but like, he does unga-bunga damage so it's fine either way. It's sorta fun seeing that the stilted, very formal manner of talking that Laura has comes from him as well.

>>3037159
She might be getting 9/11-ed soon? Or at least that's what they're implying pretty heavily.

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And it's good that it's finally shaping up to be an Emma chapter after so long give me the s-craft already
Watching the cat run through the trains was fun

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>>3037127
Legram was easily the best field trip in the first game. Nice setting. Good vibes. Sick King Arthur ass castle filled with ghosts and shit. IS ACTUALLY SHORT to not wear out it's welcome.

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The Duke is alright - I like his moustache even though he's pushing the class war for the wrong side - but what's impressive are his Goons.
I mean look at them - that goon's shredded, that was what I was looking for for Victor.

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I hope the butler will one day find his hobo fish heiress

>>3037391
I've been enjoying the chapter because it is a lot more chill after the last one. Looking at just the trip segments, I still think Nord's my favourite so far, but the travel time does hold it back a bit

>>3038240
Well, Annabelle is a side quest that last the whole Cold Steel arc so if you enjoy it, then you should look forward to it.
Then theres Anton, whose quest line starts all the way back from Sky trilogy and ends in Cold Steel. He goes alot, and I can't believe he won in the end.

>>3038250
Technically Annabelle's shit starts in Ao as her fiance is the fishing villain in that.

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I realized recently that whenever CS goes
>you need to be prepared before you enter this dungeon because it will advance the story and end all side activities, do you enter yes/no
That makes it sound like a point of no return but it's actually not. You can enter the dungeon, kill shit, leave and still do all side quests and events. As long as you don't actually kill the big bad at the end you can come and go as you please.
Or am i the only one who thought all this time that those were point of no return warnings?

>>3039077
They are points of no return for sidequests and npc dialog flags, not gameplay.

>>3039077
this anon misses books and hidden quests

>>3039077
Not necessarily true. While that's the case for stuff like the Schoolhouse, for example - once you're in the tunnel after >>3029967 you can't leave until you beat the Bone Dragon and finish the chapter (though they are nice enough to provide a healing station and respawnable monsters to grind if you really needed to)

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Orb 2 - Millium 0
Get shit on
>>3039570
The castle is another place like that, you can't go back to town once you're on the boat

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Yooo that's a lot of Exp
Boss + killing all the minions over again adds up
Wasn't super hard, but a lot of fun. If they gave him any of the other minions instead of the ghost heads - probably would have been a lot more threatening (the cannons that stun + Instant Death for example) though either way, Cross Crusade really gets shit done in this fight

>>3039684
Nice. Once you get those maxed out you pretty much beat the game. Their level 5 bonuses are crazy broken. I already had them before Legram.
You can optimize mq growth by giving them to the lower level characters so they constantly get tons of XP.

Whitcomb VS Fie

agh why did they have to slap on a persona like high school relationship sim to the trails series.

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>>3037187
Ikuzo...
https://youtu.be/Y5sYSa67CCg?t=3972

>>3040079
To increase the level of SOVL even further
Also, to confound guide-fags

>>3039414
>this anon misses books and hidden quests

The exact moment I realized I was content with this was the exact moment I was actually able to make any damn progress in these things. The extra content, books, side quests? They all add absolutely NOTHING of value. They are bloated pointless fluff in a game that's already bloated and pointless.

>>3029963 amazing game, i'm playing trails in the sky rn it's really a blast the world building is so good

>>3040447
>the world building is so good
No. It's not.

>>3032401
>not taking emma for ebin foreshadowing
you fucked up

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>>3040492
You're mistaking this for a different part of the game, this is the test run - you have to take Towa. IIrc you can't even take Towa for the latter one, so that's a giveaway.
>>3040438
>>3040452
The game isn't for you.
That's okay, but if you don't like playing the game, there's no reason you should. The sidequests and the books and the talking to the same npc's every time you can over the course of 4 games is part of the enjoyment - but if you don't get any enjoyment out of that, you honestly just shouldn't have played the series.
I feel like a lot of people here, especially on /v/, and just online in general don't get the idea that specific games aren't made for literally everyone, and that you as a player are gonna fall outside the range for many games. That doesn't make them bad, it just makes them something you don't interact with.
The amount of people who keep playing and obsessing over stuff they don't actually like is astounding to me.

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OwO

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He seems decent. Better than Alisa/Jusis in terms of parents - just too overbearing, which is a lot better than actively hostile.
Sorta crazy that they've got enough military-wise that they're willing to just blow up a dozen working - if not top of the line - tanks like that.
I get that it's more for intimidation purposes with the conference going on right next door and very much not about showing off to a bunch of teenagers, but like ... still. That's a fucking expensive threat

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Sick, we're back at the start
Based off of what one npc engineer said, I assumed they had snuck something in through a crate (a bomb, soldier, robots, etc.) but the tank plan is pretty legit
And I get Sara, which is sick

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Heads up for the op if he's playing blind. Requirements for the characters final events. If you pick a boy, then i highly recommend Crow (cause he's a bro) otherwise pick the girl you want to fuck for a romantic event.

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>>3040705
Semi-blind? I've been looking up where the hidden sidequests are for where I am but that's about it.

I don't know if Crow is gonna happen man, he's the lowest I've got rn. I have no idea how they expect you to get Millium though, at least Crow had more events throughout the game that I could have done
I think I'm pretty well set up for most people though (I've also been doing Towa events so she's probably in a good spot too)
Is there a way to see the exact number? All I've got are the bars, though I assume maxing is always gonna work

>>3040722
iirc the festival tickets give 200 each, and you get 11 of them. It's very doable. you also get link xp for clearing a chapter and a floor in the schoolhouse.

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RIP (though they were pretty clear that it was gonna happen)

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Today we have learned some important things -
1 - Emma's magic reflect craft does not in fact target herself as part of the area of effect
2 - Human bosses with their own S crafts hurt like a bitch

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Why do you even have that on you, that syringe is huge
What the heck Sara

On the one hand - nice that we didn't fire shells on an innocent country. On the other - if this is all according to Keikaku and they expected to fail both here and in Crossbell, what was even the point of this? Just to show that they could?
Frankly, they probably could have gotten a lot more mileage out of just destroying/disabling the Railway guns instead to stick it to Osbourne

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Was it not already independent??? Like sure it was a buffer state but it's not like it's uhhh Jurez (? i don't know if that's the right name but they place we annexed a bit ago) that was actually controlled by the Empire

>>3040755
>Just to show that they could?
Yes, it's political terrorism after all. Make the leaders look incompetent and incapable of protecting their citizens. That's why they gave back the royals too.

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>>3040763
Haven't played it in a while but if my memory is right it was basically co-owned by the 2 countries. Half their parliament was republicans, the other half was imperials and the previous mayor was just a puppet. So kind of like Ireland or a Hong Kong situation. Play the Crossbell games to learn more.

>>3040766
The fortress raid didn't even really work out that way - it got hushed up by the government, which is something that they knew would have happened.
And the conference attack was even worse - they got shut down hard, and even lost a head member's life. If anything it's proving the opposite - that the government can deal with them even when they're not on Erebonian soil.
The attacks in the Capital were a lot better at putting them in the face of the public is all. Instead, the end results of these ones just seem to be giving the government even more of a reason to hunt them down.

>>3040773
>Play the Crossbell games to learn more
Fair enough I guess.

>>3040732
Gideon is based, he's got the heart of a patriot.

>>3040763
They had to send 10% of their revenue to Erebonia and Calvard just for existing, and their defense force was not allowed to have airships or tanks. Their parliament was divided by what benefitted Calvard vs what benefitted Erebonia. Also they were basically a battlefield for international spies.
Like the other anon said play Crossbell games and Sky while you're at it.

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BASED

Y'know I am glad she didn't get 9/11-ed. That would have switched the atmosphere pretty hard

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>>3043151
Smooth

eng or sub?

>>3033939
It's gross, Fie should have stayed flat and short.

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I can't believe it's taken this long for the Mint quest, she's great.

>>3043251
English. And it's bee pretty good

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Fie continues to get the best stuff. Her bonding event here was great, and it's a really good touch that the flowers actually stay on the map
Emma's was good too - it's nice to have her actually open up about stuff (though I guess telling us where she's from is a step they're probably going to keep outside the optional events).
I liked Jusis and Machias' as well, both showing how they've changed since the start. Quieter, but still solid.

Elliot gets shit. 3 seconds of violin music at the end of a pretty empty conversation (literally just saying things he's said 2 chapters ago) does not make a good event. Worst by a landslide, at least Gaius' painting had some sentiment attached to it

>>3044443
Elliot's best conversations are always when they aren't about music, like his conversation with rean in the hot springs in cs2. Unfortunately that means most of his optional events aren't that good unless you are fan of the music in old falcom games...

>>3044468
They do him dirty. The concert was pretty good, but aside from that his events have always been mediocre at best

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>>3044477
I was honestly expecting more out of his dad. The way Elliott went on about him made him sound like a hard ass but the second you meat him the dudes a giant teddy bear and all hugs. Elliott's entire arc can be summed up thusly.

>>3029963
first time I'm noticing Fie's skirt barely covers her asscheeks

I wish I could play the series for the first time again. Especially the first two games, they were so comfy.

>>3045528
Jaeger girls let people look for the tactical advantage

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Compared to the last few bosses, these guys - cool as their animations are - were pretty trash

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I don't think I've mentioned them before, but like .. I like their friendship quite a lot?
One of the best NPC sets, especially as far as the non-student townies go. Considering >>3038240 as well, maybe I just like girls who are into fishing?

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I don't believe for a fucking second anyone picked the other option

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0o0

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>>3049397
Surely there's a mod that lets Towa dress like that all the time
Right? Please?

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If you didn't use the same party as last time you're a weenie

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>>3049391
I picked the other one. Give the poor salarywoman a break. At this rate Towa's going to end up like Esty from Atelier. It's not a pretty picture.

>>3049464
>esty dee
thank you nisa, i'm glad you now have the falcom licence

>>3049397
>>3049400
>WE HAVE TO MAKE EVERYTHING IDOL SHIT!
God I hate this garbage. So much for fantasy universe.

>>3040732
In Azure you actually see him dying, so...

Why is it pronounced Reen? Shouldn't it be pronounced like Jean?

>>3050396
Bean
Mean
Clean
Lean
Jean(s)
Dean
Etc.

Tons of words are like that?

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Nice Hat Get
This feels a bit over the top desu but the airship is pretty cool all the same

>>3050396
But Jean is also pronounced the same way a lot of the time - fir a famous example "Billie Jean"
Unless they're like, explicitly French or something, I would expect "Rean" to be REEN instead of ROHN

>>3050780
On the topic of pronunciation - Cassius
To me that's a 2 syllable word and it bugs me how they're saying it.
Cah-shus not Cass-ee-us. You slur over the I

>>3050396
Because in japanese it's リィン

>>3050396
It's not a french name

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The frogs are tanky, but also really freezable
There was a scary moment when one of them dropped a petrify on 3 people at once, but Elliot fixes problems

Roer's neat but the map's a bit messy. Not sold on it yet desu

I adored Trails in the Sky and I enjoyed Crossbell

Cold Steel was so fucking horrifically awful that I lost all interest in the series and dropped it entirely. I consider it a litmus test series, where anytime someone says they enjoyed Cold Steel I just disregard their opinion on anything from that point.

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>>3050396
>Shouldn't it be pronounced like Jean?
It is though?

>>3051651
Disagree.
First of all, Cold Steel 1 is fine. It's a better game than Zero all in all.
Secondly, there's a big difference between "Enjoyed" and "Thought was Good" that I think is important here. It's stupid to begrudge people for having fun - that's not a qualitative measure of a game.

>>3051774
>Cold Steel 1 is fine. It's a better game than Zero all in all.
what the fuck lmao
cs1 is fucking awful, it makes such a bad first impression on you and it's so boring. cs1 is extremely boring up until the end. the sequels were a bit more interesting but cs1 is so bland that i have no idea how it became the most popular arc.

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A bit of a joke boss, but I still really like the jelly-shrooms in general so I'm pretty content here

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Oh god he's back

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>>3051979
>joke boss
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heAki8JN95M

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Haha who could have seen this coming
Alisa eats alone again

>>3052009
I'm probably not going to watch the 40 minute mini-doc on how the jellyfish are fucking japan's fisheries up, but I still think they look cool

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I was a bit peeved the airship made me skip out on the blade exp, so I'm glad it just got moved forwards a bit
Also - First Level 5 bond!

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Okay the Alisa scene was nice and it went into her character arc that's been going on through the course of the whole game - BUT Fie just blew her away by being incredibly cute

>>3052056
Fie mogs every other girl so hard I love her.

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So on the one hand that does make sense and lines up with what we know about the Nobles and the terrorists (both really hating the Chancellor)
On the other hand - we're being told this at an off-the-books secret by one of the chancellor's closest allies who wants to do a raid in the next couple of days, and it would be very convenient for her if we (notorious snoops already in the act of snooping) weren't fucking up that because one of our classmates is the heiress to the business she wants to search.
They should really be questioning Claire's motivations here more, especially Fie.

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Really tanky - as you'd expect with the tank I guess.
But the fight itself wasn't hard, just long.

I don't think they told us, but I bet this is the factory where they were going to do the raid. Nice job terrorists

>>3053262
After thinking about that (and, y'know, the game just telling me the opposite) - no it probably wasn't. It was a military factory, so it's the wrong one there, 100% diversion to keep the RMP away from the mine while they set up.
This on the other hand looks fun (though it would have been better if they brought Towa instead, but I appreciate her accounting skills)
That's a shitton of iron lmao. If it's not tanks as they're saying, I'm betting that's where some of the giant robots are coming from. Lots of groups tangled up together for this.
What I'm not sure on is what they're trying to hide/get rid of in the mines. V in the cutscene a while back said this was for a play on Osbourne, but he's nowhere near here, so I'm sorta excited to see what's down there. If it's just weapon manufacturing stuff, at this point there's not much need to hide it anymore - they've already been making whatever they're making for years - they'd have a pretty huge stockpile.

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Rip there was a picture for that

>>3053131
Claire is so shit.

Hope you played Zero and Ao because that shit is about to be plot integral in like two hours.

well.... this weekend I'll continue CS2 after putting it off for so long

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>>3053131
They shouldn't, you're metagaming pretty hard. from their perspective Claire is their savior who also leads a democratically elected? legitimate branch of government that wants to uphold the law and protect erebonians, and that's what Claire's been doing the entire game too.
and then on the other hand you have people who fund terrorist acts and she wants to investigate that. It's very reasonable at this stage to trust her.
>but they look like Stasi!
Yes but Rean doesn't know that. He just sees police doing their jobs.
>>3053301
>they'd have a pretty huge stockpile.
Yeah you'll see that in a few hours. Hope you like Code Geass

Just finished trails to azure is it all downhill from here?

>>3054009
why not play the games and make your own opinions instead of listening to autists on a basket-weaving forum?

when does reverie take place?

>>3054412
Reverie takes place after the cold steel series, about half a year after 4 ends
The general timeline is:

Tits FC
Tits SC
Tits 3rd
Zero
Cold Steel 1 (and Azure and Akatsuki)
Cold Steel 2 (and Azure)
(Northern War Anime )
Cold Steel 3
Cold Steel 4
Reverie
Kuro 1
Kuro 2

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Tell em girl
Okay it didn't really end as a win, but at least it wasn't a loss like every other conversation she's had with her mother, so that's y'know character development

>>3053905
Nope, only this one

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They had all the names to choose from
And they went with Miner Dick
Real Classy Roer

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>>3053980
Okay but like ... It's working out for them!
And I don't know about that desu - like %70 of the game's plot has been about the Nobles vs Government problems, and they're very much aware that both sides have been pushing up against each other on purpose by this point. Maybe Rean taking her side is reasonable, but as I said, Fie at least is worldly enough that she should have a bit more perspective. It just seems a bit overly naive to take everything here without at least considering the "why"s

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Y'know what he's sorta cool.
For a terrorist, Vulcan's pretty likable. Which is good, because Machias' "Yeah, all your family deserved it, don't do crimes fuckhead" probably wasn't the smoothest tact for a hostage situation

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Lotta loyalty for a hired gun
Oh fuck it's a two parter

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What a good fucking pair of fights
V was pretty good by himself, though his goons dropped pretty fast (one got petrified), but C here was fantastic, probably the best fight in the game so far.
There's just so much happening in it - you're dropping his mines, keeping everyone buffed, trying your best to delay as much as you can even though C is fast as hell, impeding / reflecting with the magic attacks from the robots, and trying very hard not to get team wiped by his S-Craft
The fact that he's so fast really does a lot - unlike some other fights, status effect - while good, don't dominate the enemy. A faint is great to get, but you still have all the other stuff to deal with, and he gets another turn so quickly, that getting a status effect is a breather, not a win condition.

My guess is S shot the aircraft down and it was a feint? Because obviously you can't have a masked guy and have him die before the mask comes off.
And the PAO is back too.

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Like... sure???
If Towa can figure it out off of their yearly shareholders' reports I'm sure you can get some better proof there. You don't move that much stuff without records of it being moved. But I guess it doesn't matter anyway, the public reputation is pretty tarnished, and that's gonna fire things up more.

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*Swoosh*
Not really surprised to see Sharon take on a mech herself at this point. Like, they weren't exactly hiding that she's got a history
I guess those are chains based on her Call Name? Though it's sorta hard to see (probably the point)

>>3055628
Status effects/delay might not be an instant win against C but by that point you have Adamantine Shield

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soon™
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_dbQGTHaik

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The fuck is this
Why even say it then unless this is some weird flashback tease

>>3056463
heard it was supposed to be an intermission chapter but due to some problems with game filesizes on the vita it was cut. they released it as a drama cd instead, think there's a translation somewhere on the internet if you want to read it
cs2 has something similar but in that case they don't even mention it until cs3

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>>3056476
>Drama CD
Ouch. Sony issues I guess

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Hell Yeah

>>3056511
Fishing will never be as fun as it was in CS1 before the fps fix.

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>>3056463
Drama CD. Is canon and referenced later in sequels.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1Pnx_97rLI
or just read it here:
http://www.trailsofcoldsteel.com/cs2/memoirs1.html

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Cute!
But I guess I'm going to be watching 2 hour long videos now....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfC_FIS4aoc

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I can appreciate the tasteful bellybuttons in the outfits.
And as a thing, that Fie's ribbon is still off-kilter, matching her school one is a really great touch

>>3056576
No need. the canon choice here is Emma. You'll see why.

>>3050373
It is fantasy ESL-kun, Towa’s obviously dressed like a succubus.

>>3056476
>>3056490
http://www.trailsofcoldsteel.com/cs2/memoirs1.html

don't read story 2 its mid-cs2
both of these stories are canon and get referenced in later CS games so you should read them eventually though

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Phrasing
>>3056612
Okay I sorta see that. Crazy that they do so much more with hers than everyone else's fun little moment. I guess Emma-fags are in it for the plot.
So... Bird is a familiar like the Cat, and Vita's a witch like Emma (sisters? Cousins??). I suppose it'd mean more if we knew what the fuck was up with the witches in the first place - I don't even know where Emma's from. They hinted the connection earlier on, so it makes sense at least.
The only other one that really stood out more was the one sentence of "Could it be what I think it is?" from Millium, which is like.. foreboding but also I have no good answer as to what she means.

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Oh
That's what she means lol.
that's not good
but uhh happy fun festival time

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They kept saying that she was doing yakisoba, but this is clearly doner.
It's just a weird fucking translation choice imo

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Terrifying I won the luck draw though

I said it before blade is pretty jank

>>3057490
Emma has probably the worst-paced plot throughout the entire series, since her payoff doesn't really start until late in game 3/throughout game 4. It's a shame since she has really nice scenes with Rean and thematically she's probably the best partner for him.

>>3057689
If these games had any actually writing Emma should probably had been doing all the stuff Cat was doing since CS1.

>>3057689
It's amazing how ignorant all the witches are about important shit in the later half of the series. And Falcom's excuse for this? That there's some mysterious force in Zemuria that can cause people to randomly forget important shit like the Divine Knight system. It's such a copout.

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Yooo Festival Title Screen
Really nice touch

>>3057551
>imperial meat
heh

>>3056476
Should made it into anime like the northern war.

Arc intro games are always so comfy. Although I would include CS3 in there since it's basically CS1 redux but you are the instructor now

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Not at all ominous, nope
And the witch bird isn't helping either.

Re: the festival - it was fun. There was a bit of a "victory lap" feeling seeing all the different rando npcs you meet in the field studies come around. Out of the "character" ones, i think that the tea house convos (at least the ones I did some save scumming for, if I did everything I'd be doing it for hours) were honestly usually better than the star garden ones, though Sara's one for that stood out a lot.
Mini-games were a mixed bag? Blade is blade, so a bit whatever, the horse racing was sorta eh, but I enjoyed Mishy Panic, even though it is clearly built not for a keyboard and mouse setup.

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Oh my god it's literally fucking shining bonds
I can't even

Patrick is so close but so far..

>>3058552
The mouse and keyboard controls in cs1 are bugged. Your movement speed resets to 0 whenever you change directions but that's not supposed to happen. This was fixed in the other games.

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man going back to CS1 is rough lol
>bugged kbm controls (wtf durante)
>u-materials extremely rare and only elites drop them sometimes
>always short on cash without cooking exploit or farming
>can only buy gear for 3 characters and they always give you 6
>literally can't use the pawnshop to craft anything because you need the u-mats for weapons
>weird mqs, Tauros only affects the regular attack command, Pandora gives tier 2 spells and the mirage bonus, juggler gives a ridiculous 90% chance to debuff
>breakable boxes give fuck all and are a waste of time
>counter criticals don't imbalance
>fie doesn't have ranged counter
and then you go back to FC and it's like
>fly enemy is invisible until you get close enough to get instantly attacked in the back
>aerial go brrrrrrrrrr

>>3058492
It's like the series will do a lot of little things that I really like but then it just completely misses the point on the big things which should justify it.

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>>3058725
It's less that, moreso just that a joystick would've worked way better for the minigame
Idk I've gotten used to the controls so they don't really bug me, that was the only time really it stood out
>>3059020
Some of that is a thing, some of it not really? U-material grinding has definitely popped up a couple times, but not for the last couple of chapters (which is where you need them the most due to the price ramp up anyways). All the Garellia fortress enemies drop them, so it an excellent place to get a ton. Walked away with like 50 of them. Even before that though, I've been able to use the pawn shop throughout the game and it hasn't really been that big of an issue. Unless you've been buying a bunch of cat ears or something
Same with money? Usually by the time you've done the first part of the field study you've got enough to give everyone upgraded weapons, and then you can get armor before the end if you really feel the need to kit everyone out completely. And Scepter makes that easier, and then once you get Dragon Vein, you have that on your caster anyways
>breakable boxes give fuck all and are a waste of time
That's just wrong. Sepith mass and U material drops are always great, and they basically mean you never have to buy Tear/Teara balms or status heal items throughout the game
>Master Quartz
Juggler is really good, not gonna complain there. Tauros seemed bad, so it's one of the few that I haven't leveled heavily, the loss in speed just didn't look worth it. I think the idea with Pandora is that since it makes everything cost more, it doesn't give you much in terms of really big spells, because you wouldn't be able to cast them more than twice anyways.

the villains in cold steel are written so fucking terribly, i can't stand them.

>>3060238
I don't think anyone is written well at all frankly. Hell I'm loath to say they're even written at all. It feels like Falcom was just uninterested in taking any direction or commitment with any of the characters.
>Here's your villains. Oh wait they're actually not that bad at all. HAH HAH. You should feel bad for the terrorists because.... reason.

>>3060345
>>Here's your villains. Oh wait they're actually not that bad at all. HAH HAH. You should feel bad for the terrorists because.... reason.
I'm sorry, what you're saying sounds rather ...stupid?
Of course political terrorists are going to be sympathetic when their ideologies are being presented by them - they're necessarily grey characters. And the game goes out of its way to establish that there's a lot fucked up going on in Erebonia from the very start. You fight against them because they go too far in their actions, not because you think Osborne is a swell guy and you disagree with them.
They're a lot better than Ouroboros outside of Weissmann desu

>>3060366
Yes, a bit of moral ambiguity and complexity is nice and everything but the game wants to treat every character, enemy or ally as if they're all your best friend. And it comes of as disingenuous as a result. You can and often should feel pity for the events that lead someone down their spiral of villain but the game doesn't want to commit to them being villainous at all. The game is just toothless in every direction.

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Very cool, digging the music a lot
With the orb there I'm guessing it's a ghost of Emperor Drechels, giving out a trial for ... his inheritance???
Scary at some points, especially after a couple rounds, where after buffing everyone up and getting in a few big damage spells with Emma he killed everyone at once aside from Laura - who isn't the fastest at running around trying to keep everyone alive.
Out of my guys, surprisingly Rean himself was probably the least important. Jusis and Machias (with Mobius and finally letting myself dip into the items) were great for buffs and speed, Laura and Fie did solid damage and delays along with minion control, Emma + Criminal probably did 2/3 of his hp herself, and Alisa with her support crafts. Seraphic Ring and Cross Crusade on the Gold Bell did a bunch too. I pretty much just pulled him in when it was already really low to do his new S-craft to kill it which would have been really stupid if there turned out to be a second phase, but felt thematic.

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And it's good that we're still focusing on what's really important here, because that's the only reason we did any of this

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>>3060425
Oh shit Gundam time finally

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The Book's about him!!! Damn
I'm kicking myself for not making the Micht connection until now

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!

>>3060432
I played CS1 blind and I was so taken aback when mechs entered the scene.

>>3060501
Knowing that they'd show up eventually, they have sorta been leading towards it? There's been mentions of old legends of Giant Knights throughout the game, and I guess the big statue in Nord as well.
And then of course the other mech you fight with Crow back in Chapter 4.
Still, I get where you're coming from there. If I didn't know they'd appear at some point, I probably would have been a bit more shocked.

>>3060485
Sky 3rd mentioned the origin of Carnelia novels.
If this is your 1st trails game, expect the novels to be more than just storytime.
Aside from that, make sure to collect them all since it usually rewards you with a material for creating an ultimate weapon.

>>3060345
for me it's more that the villains never act like they're taking anything seriously, so fighting them is always pointless because you just know after the battle they will hit you with the typical "hmm not bad heh" and teleport away. shirley is by far the worst character in the entire series, it's like she knows she's in a video game. rixia should have killed her in Azure, but as we know already nobody dies in these fucking games

don't even get me started about the "power levels". lloyds group is able to take down the strongest jeager leader on the continent, yet class vii struggles with nobodies..

>>3060734
Honestly that's the part that kills me the most. It's extremely frustrating that we're never allowed to feel a sense of actual growth. By the end of it all you still feel like the same low level grunt you were when you started. It's like Falcom wants everyone else but the main party to actual be cool. I get you're supposed to start small but usually there's a patter to these things where meet your rival, get trounced in the first encounter, tie or put a better fight in the second, and then actually triumph in the last. But right up until the finale anytime it feels like you've shown any growth at all it's "LOL TIME TO STOP HOLDING BACK!"

>>3060501
yeah the mech stuff saved cs1 for me, don't think i would have played cs2 without that twist

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Thank you for saving culture Patrick

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That was uhhhh... Messy
For a game that has been so good with their music throughout the entire run .. what the hell was that man
Like they didn't even try to match the instruments they had them playing to the ones in the music.
What's really embarrassing is that before they had Towa sing - for the 5 seconds of the video they showed us they bothered to put in vocals but they just skimped super hard on the actual live performance.
Fuck just play the opening again, that would have been better

I don't know man, the encore redeemed it a bit, but if they're gonna pretend that we "won" the festival, that's just not true. Second last above the blade cafe is as far as you can push it

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Okay that's just fraud.
I could accept like... 400 max and that's assuming a ton of people who didn't even see the show just decided to vote for us out of nowhere

>>3061531
Well, they got better in Tokyo Xanadu, I guess.

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Ok that was pretty cute
Crow's bit over Elliot's, but honestly a good moment for both of them

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Do not ship the first pair, could maybe be convinced into shipping the other 2 sets, though I think it'd be funnier for Sara to strike out.
I'm obviously going with Fie, because that's where I've been since the start of the game, but I'm sorta cheezed that I fucked up somewhere on Towa. I'm pretty sure I did all her events and she'd be my second pick. She's hard to keep track of because you can't look at her points like everyone else.
And if it was like, for who actually pairs well with Rean instead of my personal preferences, Towa and then the Nun probably had the best chemistry.

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Daddy kink???
I wish they had more of the named NPCs dancing together instead of just the blank ones, it would've been a bit more fun. The only ones I can make out are Alan and Bridget.

>>3061531
To add on this while it's on my mind, I genuinely think the concert in the church for Elliot's bonding event was a lot better done, which is crazy because it's a thing that a lot of people aren't even going to see when they play

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Uhhh fuck
At least they confirmed Neithardt didn't die

That's sorta clever how they turned the fun flames from the bonfires and reframed them into well... war flames

>>3061531
>That was uhhhh... Messy
Don't worry, there will be plenty more waving arms and mouth flapping to random instrumental songs to represent concerts in the games to come.

>>3060422
Take a guess what happens now
This isn't the true final boss
They will do this in the next game too but in the exact opposite way

>>3061598
Haha, people don't die in this series. There's a whole game centered around death being meaningless.

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>>3061670
I don't think Calvard is gonna push into us - if anything they're probably just as spooked by what's going on with Crossbell. If they're invading anything it's going to be Crossbell again.
Honestly it sounds like a decent opportunity for an attempted coup? Osborne goes out on his speech, and immediately gets slammed by the Nobles blaming him for everything that's happening - and boom they try and wrest control over the Government and the Imperial Military, though that might not go over so cleanly. Nobles have been too quiet and could stand to get a spotlight, considering they've been the background force for the whole game. See the results of what Rufus was doing and all the weapons they've been stockpiling from what they got in Roer
Hell, maybe they're responsible for arming Crossbell to stage the whole thing.
Maybe there's some bombs or something too, the terrorists are probably gonna be involved somehow.

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Uhhhh that's not good what they're foreshadowing here

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MILLIUM WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING

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>>3062809
IF YOU KNEW IT WAS HIM ALL ALONG
WHY NOT PREVENT THIS

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Oh No Fie
So the fucking witches are in cahoots with the terrorists and the nobles and the jaegers and Switzerland has a nuke and CROW IS THE FUCKING RINGLEADER

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Yep, it's kino time.

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And my Axe
And now we're getting invaded, which makes a lot of sense

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GODDAMMIT
Every single fucking time
Just let him cook

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POA gets in one more appearance, which is great.
The teachers all get their bits (nice on Beatrix), and Sharon continues to be terrifying, but now in several ways at once

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This one didn't go down that hard
I was tricked for the forced loss after though, I thought it was honestly just going to be a fight where you had to routinely break the Guards, which I think would have been a good fight idea still

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On one hand this is Incredibly satisfying
but the fucking smug cat, whose now with us in the Mecha
This whole bit is great

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Bank of...
Bank of REAN

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Shit, that's only the second time this has happened in the whole game
I don't have the rhythm down for the Mech fights, though at least now i know where to hit
Maybe it'd be nice if they introduced this system sometime BEFORE the Final Boss!!!

>>3062892
its supposed to be a twist bro

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>>3062892
Okay, it's literally just - use the counter move as much as you possibly can and heal when you need it.
That's the Rhythm.

>>3062892
No worries, I fully get the story impact reason here - it's working as intended, especially since they had the other robot and the Shadow Knight as the bosses for the game you played.
I just got my butt kicked is all

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That was really good for a cliffhanger
Damn. And it completely fucks with Rean with having him run away instead of trying to sacrifice him again.
There's so much just dropped on you all at once here. There's literally like 5 different conflicts that they've set up to go for the next game and the C as Crow reveal is still hitting. I guess I should have bought in on the First Letter Initial thing, but I fully spent most of the time thinking it was Rufus playing them for the nobles. Though I guess he's still working with them anyways? Need more info, but that's for a lot of things.
Witches know about the magic knights, so just like Emma was guiding Rean, I guess Vita set up Crow with his. And what that means is after a whole game we might finally get to see what's up with the witches, now that we stole Emma's familiar.

>>3062917
based fiechad

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And a final Menu Screen

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>>3061568
Since you unlocked Alisa here if you carry over this save to CS2 she will get a flashback as if she confessed to you. A mistake by the devs but not a bug.
>>3062892
There are 2 BS mech fights in series, this is the first one. The other one is the training duel against Neithardt in cs2. The rest are fair and beatable blind on the first try. You can use arts and items and restore your mana and everything.
>>3062917
You will love Fie in cs2. Other than having a fuckable tummy she's crazy broken. She can literally solo the game.
>And what that means is after a whole game we might finally get to see what's up with the witches, now that we stole Emma's familiar.
CS2 is mainly about Crow and Rean, the students(this is where talking to everyone starts to pay off) and spanking the nobles for war crimes. The witches and Divine Knights plot is in cs3-4. Also it's Celine that grooms Rean not Emma which is pretty funny. Reminds me of magical girl shows. Except you're playing a boy.
>>3060495
Based, look forward to more Annabelle in the sequels. My favourite NPC.

>>3062917
>And what that means is after a whole game we might finally get to see what's up with the witches, now that we stole Emma's familiar.
Not really til CS3, sadly.

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>OP managed to post his cs1 run for 3 months straight without getting spoiled on Crow
Impressive, very nice. A redemption arc for vrpg.

>>3062920
About to start CS2? Better get a clear save data of CS2 to load for a new set of key items for a scene that you can only get on NG+. Just disable the carryovers so you can play it like a new game. While you're at it, enable max bonding points so you can get all the scenes you want there.

>>3063096
Just youtube the scene and read the Records on the wiki.

>>3063092
It's called playing pretend. CS1 - 4 have been spoiled a bunch of times in here.

>>3062917
CongReantulations Anon

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Haha, i think it's safe to say we got another one boys. Now that OP got REANED I have some advice for the other games
1. Don't forget to use Senpatcher for cs2. The pc version of cs2 has gamebreaking sound bugs as of the latest version. DO NOT PLAY CS2 WITHOUT SENPATCHER.
2. Play cs2 in ng+. Use a guide for Black Records locations. Read all of them. The sequels treat you as if you did this. Otherwise it will be confusing. The downside is that the starting fishing pond will have all the fish except the final one, so just use it sparingly. Or hold back if you will. Haha.
3. Rean has a quite a few 1v1 duels in the sequels that happen after cut scenes or major boss fights. You don't have to build him a specific way but make sure he can always at least cast Shining and Adamantine Shield on himself if you play blind. It'll save you time when you inevitably get stuck in a duel you can't win and you're forced to reload to change his stuff. This was one of my biggest pet peeves in cs. You build Rean into some kind of all-in offensive role and you get your shit kicked in because the rest of the party is taken from you. Annoying.
4. Play all the older games before playing cs3. Especially Crossbell. All those playable characters and npcs from previous games will show up and you simply won't care if you're not invested in any of them.
More importantly, have fun. Valimar is best boy.

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Some post-game thoughts:
For as much shit as Cold Steel seems to get, at least up 'til this first game, it isn't justified.

It does a really good job building itself up - every chapter adds on more layers to the story while also being a pretty tight plot unto itself (except maybe Legram, but that had the Fortress part to lean on too, and I definitely still enjoyed it). Your main characters are at best great, and even those that aren't are still enjoyable. What I mean by that is - any of the issues I have with say Emma aren't because I don't like Emma, in fact it's the opposite - she's not annoying at all, has some good moments, and she's great to use for gameplay. I want MORE, and that's a good thing - cause it's really easy to think of games where there are characters that you want less of, and Cold Steel doesn't have that. The characters that start off like that instead grow on you, which is great to see.
I liked the school / trip structure, and especially what it meant for the NPCs. It gave you both people you could get to know and enjoy seeing them develop back at Thors, while also having new stuff to look forward to seeing what on the trip. And when those groups of people and you saw a student out on a trip or a character in a place where you didn't meet them it was always a hit of joy. I thought the loop was gonna be pretty rigid at first, but in practice it really works well.
And as I've said many times by this point - really really good music. And it's not even the thing where some games lean hard of their boss themes - here it's the whole package. Consistently excellent from stuff as small as the train ride music to the heights of the Not-Final Boss Shadow Knight. They really went out of the ballpark on the soundtrack.

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>>3064097
(cont.)

Mechanically - everything is sound, and there's a lot of fun building characters up and dealing with the big swings in tempo that come with the boss fights. I could see people playing on normal when they're not new to RPGs being put off by that, because I think Hard was a pretty well built experience, but that's honestly on them for being stupid and picking it if they did. The combat is fun - plain and simple. And the constant switching of team members meant that - though you definitely do develop some favourites - you're exposed to what everyone can do and how much different stuff you can pull together into making a team. The Quartz system, and particularly the Master Quartz highlighted that even more, because you could take the same character, switch some rocks around and have them perform drastically different.

I would wholeheartedly recommend the game to anyone who likes JRPGs, especially more narrative ones. It's a fun game to play

>>3063048
>>3063064
Emmafags might just be cursed then wow. Still, they did finally let her out of the cage a bit for the finale chapter

>>3063112
Believe what you want but I've honestly tried pretty well to not spoil myself. I haven't been reading the whole thread, mostly only (You)'s to things I post, and especially not the longer discussions that popped up occasionally. Genuinely was expecting Rufus as C, given the Noble/Terrorist axis and the shady stuff he was doing in Roer.

>>3063096
Yeah? I bought 2 when it was on sale a bit ago once I already started enjoying 1, so I have it. I don't know if I'm gonna do a save, it honestly wasn't an issue here in this game (especially because if there's scenes like the Bike Ride, there seems to be good videos up for them to just go check). I am gonna go and use the bugfix that's been talked about here >>3063532 and in the last thread though.

Whats the latest game in the series?

>>3064127
The latest game is Kuro no Kiseki II, which was released last year, and while there are some work arounds out there it's not in English and won't be for at least a couple years.

The latest English game is a bit more of a complicated question. Technically the last release was Trails to Azure, which was put out in march, but Azure is an older game that just wasn't translated until recently. In the series' order it actually comes before Cold Steel.
So the furthest game in English, even though it's not the most recent release, is Cold Steel IV. Although in a couple more months Trails into Reverie will be ported, and that one comes after Cold Steel but before the Kuro games.

>>3064148
Okay, thank you, it seems you are quite knowledgable on the topic. Of those youve mentioned, which one do have the better-ish gameplay, in your opinion?

>>3064154
You shouldn't play any of the ones I mentioned. The series is very much a story based one, and all of those ones are direct sequels. It'd make no sense to start with them, you'd be completely lost.

As a quick summary of the series, at present it's divided into 4 different arcs, all of which are made up of multiple different games. Each one primarily takes place in a different country in the same world and has their own main characters. In order there is
>Trails in the Sky - Which has 3 games, FC, SC, and 3rd
>Crossbell Duology - Which has 2 games, Zero and Azure
>Trails of Cold Steel - Which has 5 games, I, II, III, IV, and Reverie
>Kuro no Kiseki (no english name for now) - Which has 2 games, I and II

Generally the best places to start are Trails in the Sky FC, which is the first game in the series, or - like OP - Trails of Cold Steel I, which is separate enough from the previous games that it works as an entry point - though there is call-backs and references to the older games.
You could start at Zero, but I'd advise against it - Crossbell depends a bit more heavily on knowing Sky and you would definitely feel like you're missing context

In terms of straight gameplay, my personal favorite is Azure, though Sky 3rd has probably the best combat. Generally as you get further in an arc the combat gets more layers to it.

>>3064097
Cold Steel gets shit mainly because of CS2 and 4.

>>3064221
Honestly 4 is the one that I have a problem with. It is simply too fucking long.
>>3064173
>Sky 3rd has probably the best combat
Kuro 2 has the best combat but everything else is pretty lackluster. Sad to say but it is a filler game.

>>3064263
Yeah these games for some reason got a reputation for being 100 hours long but cs3 and 4 are the only games where i approached that playtime. they really are just too long for their own good and not enough happens to really justify their length. i beat pretty much every other game in 40-50 hours.

>>3064265
Depends on how much NPC talking you do. 100 is still pushing it, but i could definitely see other games in the 70-80’s

>>3064295
I feel that Azure could reach a hundred if you do sweeps all the time and maybe wait for voice lines to finish when reading? But I agree on most games beeing 70-80 until cs3

>>3064097
At this point, I don't think it's possible to get the full context of the complaints if you're starting the series this late. Your first impression is going to be one of how the series ended up, not how it started. Even if you go back and experience some of the earlier games after, say, beating CS2, your first impressions of the series are inevitably going to shape your tastes and expectations for the rest of the series. Granted, I HAVE seen some people who went back and played the older games and then grew to dislike the CS pentology, but those people are few and far between.

>>3064747
I think 4's endgame gets weaker and weaker with every arc you've played. SC's final dungeon is a tour de force of worldbuilding, Ao's endgame is entirel character focused and intimate, meanwhile CS4's is standard JRPG fare.
The reveal as to the villain and their true motives is also underwhelming compared to the final conflicts in say the 3rd or Ao. Hajimari and Kuro 1 are so campy that they get a pass in my mind, despite not delivering the way prior arcs did.

>>3064753
CS4 definitely killed a ton of enthusiasm that older fans had for the series, but it doesn't matter much because those fans have since gotten completely outnumbered by newcomers. Granted, some of them still follow the series, but it's a very casual commitment compared to how fervent the western fandom was about these games circa 2016-2017. It's kind of ironic really. This is probably the best time to get into Trails from a western release standpoint. You can literally binge ten games in a row on a single platform. Unfortunately, the best days of the community are kind of over.

did rufus deserve redemption?

>>3064773
Yep, best written Kiseki character.

>>3064779
Whoa that's not Fran

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Cool, should have it set up right
Rean Game 2 Electric Boogaloo

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It's Blue!
This is a tiny thing, but I'm gonna have fun with small UI changes like this
Also, timeskip?

>>3066439
Hope you enjoy, OP. I'm not big on CS2 but it's got some good stuff in there.

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This sorta hurts to see, ngl. After getting all all the Master Quartz up to 4 and most of them up to 5 it's a hit, though I get why they're not letting me start again with the super strong stuff.
And everything's hexagonal now!

Rean has maybe entered his emo phase, but like a... bit understandable given the last part

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They changed his field attack too! Instead of the one nice hit it's a 2 slash
It's gonna take a white to get used to the different battle music too. The synth at the start is sorta fun

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Okay that's actually huge - Gale is now repositionable instead of locking on to an enemy.
They made his best thing even better

You're being a dick to this cat Rean

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I dunno, that felt doable. They gave you a bunch of healing items, so I feel you could stall it out and get more hits off dodges / building up S-crafts to beat it.

>>3066482
lol I remember thinking the same thing. "Why the hell do I need to be saved? I could solo this thing."
Unfortunately Trails loves to have you be saved, and very rarely do the bosses you need to be saved from feel threatening in combat so it just feels annoying.

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Couple new people in the intro there, but the one that stuck out - what the hell kind of name is that? What the hell kind of design is that either lmao
Like I know my first impression of Elliot was instantly - okay here's the twink. But this goes even harder that way
>>3066487
It's nice to see Toval doing something I guess? He was pretty much a background character for the first game

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Is... is the mom a generic sprite? She really looks like one if she isn't.
Dad's pretty built. He's no V or the Zephyr guy, but like ... solid.

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Pretty much what we expected with everything having gone to shit.
I like Rean's hoodie though, looks nice.

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Look at that book

>>3066512
Several of them are japanese funk album titles too.
>>3066490
>what the hell kind of name is that?
He's irish. Not joking.

>>3033090
>CS2 does it the best
Divertissement's title screen is kino.

>>3053131
my wife

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Looks like Thors was originally meant to be in Heimdallr. There's a tram station and you can see the silhouette of Valflame palace in the background.

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Same concept on the cover art. I guess they wanted to move away from the Crossbell format and just use Trista instead.

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Hey some of these i've never seen lmao

>>3067006
Trista is already like a stone's throw away from Heimdallr.

Also, the Erebonia arc went through a shit ton of drafts. Apparently, an early version of Crow was already written during FC and SC's development.

>>3067159
>Also, the Erebonia arc went through a shit ton of drafts. Apparently, an early version of Crow was already written during FC and SC's development.
I remember hearing that they were planning to go straight to Erebonia after Sky but decided to insert Crossbell games inbetween

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I'm glad she made it out, though it's sad for the butler that he's lost her again (to say nothing of Kenny)

>>3067035
this is exceptionally lewd

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A bit melodramatic and I doubt Rean will listen, but a good moment with Elise.
Every moment where she's not trying to outdo Kirino is a good moment really, but this was solid of her.
And then Alfin comes in...

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Elise is pretty much here to be a support bot, but Toval actually looks like a really good unit, even ignoring the level gap.
Full screen SSS+ S Craft, 100% Seal and Mute crafts, and he has his half-casting time accessory, which is kino. They didn't let him keep Cross Crusade though, which is a bit nonsense given that they just showed off him using it
And Wing and Aries are nice MQ to have between them. For a very thrown together party, it works.

>>3029963
What is the appeal of RPGs set in school?
School sucks.

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Wow, y'all weren't kidding on how quickly they pull out the Drama CD stuff. It's good they had the summary for it available in game


>>3067527
School can be fine, honestly depends on what you make of it imo.

For video games, at least in my take, it can serve a couple benefits.
1 - it's a pretty universal touchstone - if you live in a country where you can afford to play vidya, you've almost certainly gone to school, so even if there's gonna be some cultural differences everyone who plays the game will at least get the basic structure and how stuff works right off the bat.
And coming off that, 2 - it can serve to pretty easily and justifiably set up the structure of a game over time. "What are the characters doing when you're not controlling them?, Why are they here?, What are they gonna be doing the next day?, Why are these people interacting at all with each other?" - the answer to that is they have school, so they're at school. It doesn't work for every game of course, but if you're trying to tell a story or structure a game that's focused around one area over a longer period of time (as opposed to a Final Fantasy, where you're going around the whole world with little regard to how time is passing) it works as a really good set-up for that.
Last thing off the top of my head 3 - Because your characters are in school, it's expected that they don't know everything about the world around them and that they're there to learn. So you as the player can be taught stuff at the same time as the characters, and it feels a lot more organic. It helps bridge that player/character gap without taking you out of things.

>>3067526
Toval's great, I remember loving the guy once I got him in CS2 because he kicked so much ass.
Also now that I think about it it really sucks that you go from having a ton of money at the end of CS1 to... 460 in CS2. Did Rean lose it all to Crow again?

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>>3067550
Cat probably took it. It's either her or Valimar, and what good is money to a giant robot?

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They switched it up! Didn't have defend last time, though they got rid of the big heal

Knight phase 2 went pretty well - so many link attacks off Toval's unbalance craft. He just puts in a lot of work

>playing CS2
Uff, hold on bro.
CS3 will be a good palate cleanser.

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Sorta ballsy to put the "Your hometown is burned down and your parents gunned down" intro after a whole 'nother game
I do love a good Vampire Rean moment, the music coming up right before he transforms is great

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Millium Negra gets shit done

>>3067526
>he has his half-casting time accessory, which is kino.
You can get a weak version of this later but you got to choose this and 2 other accessories at the end of Act 1 I think? Been too long since I've finished the Cold Steel games.
The other accessory is not bad since it a Delay accessory but I prefer Cast speed up, great for setting up Emma later.

>>3067615
Oh please, in retrospect that game is like the least necessary title in the arc.
.

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>>3067636

>>3067548
I feel like school would be a really lame setting:
No weapons at all
No armor
No enchanted \ padded Clothing because school uniforms.
No monsters\beasts
Enemies are limited to School bullies.
Very limited ways to tell intresting stories
Boring as FUCK and stupid IRL

>>3064761
>Unfortunately, the best days of the community are kind of over.
WDYM?

By fandom, are you talking about 4chan? Reddit? Twitter? NISA's discord? Certainly not the Falcom discord.

>>3029963
Game is almost unplayable with the hamfisted disneyfag English voice acting, especially rean