The Legend of Heroes Series - Possibly The Most Underrated JRPG Series

[wtfNeedSignUp]

Forgot to ask, is there any event in Azure that explains Ellie's connection to valkyrie lady? Or is it kept as a mystery to the next games?

Also on retrospect I feel the final villain in the game running away to join Ouroboros pretty bullshit.

 

[ShitLurker]

Daydreams in reverie are the best part of the damn game

Just plowed through a few in a row and totally agree

Some daydream spoilers

Olivier ans Schera I knew where it was going from the start but I found it incredibly endearing how Blueblanc gave them a wedding gift, how he gave Schera some closure by getting in contact with Luciola to write some words, that we got to hear again from Aina, a but of a jab at how Mueller and Julia are probably an item and so on

Beach time with Thors Jesus fuck is it the most blatant fan service out there but can't deny I didn't have a big dumb smile.

Millium looking for her pet Surprising amount of world building hidden on this one, a bit of closure for Alissa, Jusis bein clearly head over heels for Millium at this point and me wondering if Altina and Millum are trapped in their lolly forms forever or they have a hope of proper physical growth. Also makes me wonder if their lifespans aren't limited now? I thought they would have like a decade at most on them without something else being done, but I may just be confusing my fiction

Accidentally jumped over the ending when I thought it would be just credits... Anyways it was pretty good finale overall but I sure glad the series stopped with "this NPC turned out to be a traitor", though sadly it was replaced by too much anime protagonist syndrome. Now I can play Cold Steel 3 that's been waiting on my shelf for a year, hopefully it would be better than previous two games but dear god the character bloat is unreal. Also weird the Trail 2 and Azure spoil each other.
I liked Rixia best, had the most interesting story and development (not to mention being a big chested girl with a huge sword), most of the cast was very static after getting their character progression in the first game. Poor Noel got shoved to the sidelines after being the character least connected to the final level.

Imagine me finishing Azure only to start Cold Steel 1 and notice it's prior to zero and I won't know what the hell happened to azure till I start Cold Steel 3

Still, seeing how Zero/Azure paralleled Cold Steel 1 and 2 is pretty interesting, I did play it on release order but I'm curious how knowing the Erebonia side of things made you notice stuff during Zero and Azure. Rixia is definitely the most compelling, though Wald is also a pretty good arc, Garcia had a great moment and Randy's whole deal was great. I do agree that Noel was just kind of there, but sometimes you just need the character whose motivation isn't anything particularly grand, though her betrayal and reconciliation were honestly crap, I had higher hopes for that. The other one that was kind of lacking was honestly Tio, in Zero she was the MVP but in Azure she was just the Mishi autist for the most part. And well, Ellie does her role fine. I do think the Crossbell duology is my favorite package by a smidgen.

Finished Reverie, now there's a Trails-shaped hole in my heart for a few years as usual, lmao.

Looking forward to reading this post when I do it myself, I'm taking it at a very chill pace, in the middle of chapter 3 and have just done some Reverie stuff

Forgot to ask, is there any event in Azure that explains Ellie's connection to valkyrie lady? Or is it kept as a mystery to the next games?

Also on retrospect I feel the final villain in the game running away to join Ouroboros pretty bullshit.

You will understand the Valkyrei thing later, Cold Steel 3 should make it clear.

And yes, Mariabell escaping to being an Angis is a bit of a copout.

 

[ShitLurker]

Double posting, but some days have passed since my last one.

So, end of chapter 3 plus start of 4 spoilers

Rean route Well fuck me, guess there is a bit of Twilight still dormant on Rean I guess, and seeing how all of this dog and pony show seemed laser focused on getting Rean to do... whatever the fuck he did, I can only assume it's a very bad thing like when he set off the Erebonian reich. Have a ton of questions on what the hell happened there, I swear I heard Duvalie's voice when the Divine Knight came in kicking everyone's ass but who knows. Just went into youtube to see it again and yeah, I'm pretty sure it's Duvalie, but I'm still surprised she would pilot such a beast. Then the little flashback scene going frame by frame seems like it's the bad ending from Cold Steel 4, could be another Causality thing like with Trails Zero and Azure where Lloyd and friends died but Kea fucked with Causality and stopped it from happening... Basically I'm invested, but the next chapter cock teases me by having Rean's transformation be temportal and nobody really knowing much else outside of "shit be wacky". Well, that and we have an 8th Divine Knight which I loved how Emma reacted in a total state of "this shit was over!" in protest to there being one. Also, why the fuck are Erika and doctor Seiland not telling me what they did to make a fucking McBurn?

Also, congrats on Olivier getting Schera pregnant like a couple of days after the honeymoon, either that or they took longer than I expected for them to go into their honeymoon and I really need a callendar or she was preggers before the wedding, which I wouldn't discount knowing the sly bard. I am annoyed that they couldn't be assed to animate Schera fighting, it will be 7 games without being able to control her even if she has been at least partially involved the last 2 games. She was never a party member I particularly used in Trails in the Sky, but still miss her.

Lloyd route HOLY FUCK MCBURN, I guess I'll count my blessings that it didn't involve round 2 with fully unleashed mode and that this time around you can actually cleanse his super fire and having resist fire accessories help. Firs time in the game where I went "yep, this ain't working, lets start spending all of the mira I've been farming for god knows how long and get everybody equipped", needed all 7 members constantly rotating in a very slow paced fight where I had to see him overcharge like 5 times and I think I hit a hard cap because he stopped doing it when I expected him to go for another one, but after 20 minutes of battle, managed to take the fucker down.

That aside, the replicas are... way more independent than I thought, they seem like proper mechanical clones with full memories and anything and very close to the originals in raw power. I really hope Reverie ends with them being unable to be created anymore, they are too much of a chaos factor to be present in future storylines. Aside from that, Novartis is becoming one of my favorite Anguis (probably helps that he's the only one I know about that isn't just an antihero (Vita) dead (Weissman), both (Arienhrod) or a bitch that I don't really care much about (Annabelle). I do find it nice that we just have a cunt be a cunt on the Organization side which seems like it's full of damaged people with good hearts yet are constantly doing the most wretched shit.

Mystery man route I really like Lapis and Rufus dynamic, and how Lapis is still so hyped about how Rufus could find her at the start of the chapter (and the cunt just reveals he has a tracking device on her). I did have a lot of fun with Nadia's OP as fuck order and I do still really like her and Swin, though the scene was a bit too melodramatic. Again going back to the replicas, Emperor really does seem to still have his "convictions", what I don't get is why the emperor Specifically, dude would have been dead for months, and why go to all the trouble to get his Regalia for a fucking clone? I guess it could just be to give more personal stakes to Nadia and Swin, but the Emperor bit leaves me miffed. Aside from that, love how Renne is hanging with all of the misfits and pariahs, they have a nice group dynamic going and I can only imagine how funny it will get if they join up with Joshua (another ex assassin) and ol sunshine Estelle in there, I can already picture Estelle and Lapis bouncing around so well. Renne's chatter with Novartis was also very interesting and kind of wholesome for all the wrong reasons.

I'm also wondering what Ian the lawyer has to do with all of this shit?

Aside from that, already set up Emma as per my personal tradition to be an art slinging machine of death (best waifu, fight me), where just her shitty fireball is almost hitting 30k damage per hit. Still missing the good orbments like Hades, but she's pretty close to stacked. Just need to do the same with my other preferred spellslingers, finish making Rean an evasion tank and making sure I have an arts delay reduction order in tow and can go back to my game ender configuration of hitting some poor asshole with the lowest level spell 5 times in a row before they can even act and rack up like 150k damage in the process.

Looking forward to when new sidestories open up since I already have tabs on two or three events that other characters have alluded too and I'm pretty sure will end up being in one.

To finish off the post dump, some general Ouroboros sperging, I won't reference anything from Cold Steel 3 onward so @wtfNeedSignUp it should be safe to read. Oh, also I remembered that there is some extra dialogue about the valkyrie if you manage to damage her enough, here is a youtube link (might want to make sure yo read no comments and avoid looking at other recommended videos just in case) of somebody beating her with the dialogue that comes after https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnM6IGRuujI in case you are interested and didn't damage her enough or know about this and this should be information you should have at your point in time.

Soooo, Ouroboros with each passing game I'm more and more confused about their deal. In the Sky you just assume that are an organization of big bads composed of very dangerous and broken individuals (Loewe literally just wants to see the world burn when he joins). But then half the original Enforces get a little redemption arc or just kind of peace out and... it's totally fine. Luciolla stops reporting? No problem, let her have a rest, Joshua is leaving the plantation? yeah sure, let him be. Blueblanc wants to fuck off for a few months to annoy people with his puzzles and riddles? yeah sure, let him. Walter is crying like a bitch since he lost to Zin? Let him cool off. So I still have a hard time understanding how an Enforcer is considered a reliable agent when they can be so... volatile and flighty AND it's something expected of them since being an Enforcer does let them do their own thing. None of them seem to be too dedicated tot he cause itself outside of Campanella.

Then we have the Anguis, leaving aside that a good number of them are still a mystery, they seem to be more aligned with the grandmaster's agenda, so at a minimum they seem a bit more dedicated, but even then I still have a hard time processing what their actual deal is and how much they do out of personal interest that happens to align or not. Hell, I question if the grandmaster even bothers putting them on a leash at all. Weisman seemed to be doing whatever the fuck he wanted for the most part but as long as the Gospel was obtained it was all kino.

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

Ouroboros

Considering the finale to Azure, I have a feeling the Church isn't as sunshine and rainbows as we're lead to believe and Ouroboros does an important task of keeping them from annexing the entire world with their hoard of artifacts (especially as both organisations have access to advanced tech that only now other countries finally developed).

 

[ShitLurker]

Considering the finale to Azure, I have a feeling the Church isn't as sunshine and rainbows as we're lead to believe and Ouroboros does an important task of keeping them from annexing the entire world with their hoard of artifacts (especially as both organisations have access to advanced tech that only now other countries finally developed).

One of my wackier theories is that the grandmaster might be Aidios herself, but I desperately want the series to not devolve into killing god with the power of friendship. I also appreciate a setting where the church isn't instantly evil, but to be honest we barely know fuck all about their deal. Arteria is an absolute mystery, we do meet a good number of Glasritter and for the most part they all seem pretty chill dudes though

 

[Jasper2K]

Completed trials in the sky fc and sc. IMO both games spent way too long meandering and at least half of both of those games felt like padding. Almost dropped SC a couple of times particularly on chapter 8 and chapters 1-4. FYI completed all steel games enjoyed them thoroughly, IMO would not recommend new comers start with the sky games.

 

[SSj_Ness (Yiffed)]

Completed trials in the sky fc and sc. IMO both games spent way too long meandering and at least half of both of those games felt like padding. Almost dropped SC a couple of times particularly on chapter 8 and chapters 1-4. FYI completed all steel games enjoyed them thoroughly, IMO would not recommend new comers start with the sky games.

Don't you kinda need to start with them though, because they all seem to weave together? That's the main reason I didn't skip ahead (the first game feels slow and boring so I didn't get far at all).

 

[ShitLurker]

Completed trials in the sky fc and sc. IMO both games spent way too long meandering and at least half of both of those games felt like padding. Almost dropped SC a couple of times particularly on chapter 8 and chapters 1-4. FYI completed all steel games enjoyed them thoroughly, IMO would not recommend new comers start with the sky games.

Kind of surprised you had such a hard time with FC and SC feeling meandering when Cold Steel is similar in spirit (first game is basically just a setup prologue touring the land, second game is when stuff actually happens) though I could also imagine knowing lot of world aspects going into SC would make a lot of the impact of the shit that happens there lose a lot of luster since well, what is a given in CS is a twist in Sky. Hope you'll still give 3rd a go though, gameplay wise it's a very different beast but the vignettes of characters you get are very neat.

Don't you kinda need to start with them though, because they all seem to weave together? That's the main reason I didn't skip ahead (the first game feels slow and boring so I didn't get far at all).

Trails 1 is a VERY slow burn. It's honestly a prologue for much of it's run time. You really need to be in a sort of "comfy" state of mind where you just want to see what wacky adventure that scamp Estelle drags poor Joshua into. At the end and with SC things accelerate pretty hard and third is an epilogue of sorts for the duology (though I've heard trails 1 and 2 were intended to just be a single thing, but things bloated). The Crossbell duology (zero and Azure) is the one I'd say has the best tempo since shit starts happening in Zero and shit keeps happening in Azure. Cold Steel goes back to a more setup then cash on the next game sort of deal.

I love the series to pieces but I won't suddenly start acting like it's for everyone. I don't expect to sell it on FFXIII logic of "it gets good after 40 hours!". The games are all very wordy and a big part of enjoying them is interacting with the NPCs, it's one of the things I've learned to enjoy the most is the little stories and vignettes from all the NPCs no matter how minor. In Sky I didn't know it got this deep but I find I find a ton of the little Crossbell and Erebonian characters memorable thanks to that. If keeping up with the NPCs feels like a chore though, well it's another strike against the game for your enjoyment. Basically, it's more like playing a Visual Novel with proper gameplay than a more standard RPG, hell,when playing Berseria after so much Trails, my first culture shock was how pointless and irrelevant npc dialogue was. Then I got used to it and carried on my path of vengeance (and it was great), but they are a shit ton wordier than most RPGs, definitely and take a lot of time to get to the point sometimes.


On another topic, another round of Shitlurker's adventures into Reverie

Spoilers end of chapter 4 and start of 5

Chapter 4 Lloyd OK, so pretty tame stuff, Randy was getting antsy for very reasonable reasons, Lloyd gave a few friendship speeches here and there, everybody got together, got some surprise help from Dudley and Chief and then a bit more with Ilya. Nothing particularly ground breaking, Biggest "disappointments" were I was hoping for Randy to go ballistic for a bit instead of getting calmed down before the operation, I swear Azure also blueballed me on this when he first gets Berzerker and Shirley fucks it up almost immediately after all the buildup. The other is that Ilya seems proper mind controlled which seems like a waste to me, since I was hoping the big bads were the reason she could actually perform again and well, that shit was going to cost her.

Chapter 4 Rean Michsnieder's tale was truly a tragedy for the ages, a wishy with Mishy indeed... Aside from that retarded tangent that just made me smile. Ze plot thickens, and I'm starting to see a worrying amount of replicas and at an insane rate. Then turns out I called it proper that Rean's whole ordeal was related to how in reality, everything should have been shit at the end of Cold Steel 4 and they fucked through destiny. Pretty clear that big bad Rean is the Rean that died half a year ago, no idea how there is suddenly a 0 Divine Knight. But I am intrigued on this front.

Chapter 4 Mystery man And here is where the real revelations were hidden. So, the plot this time is a group of people in their mid twenties team up to kill the Internet with the power of friendship. OK, I'm in. Also explains how it has the data to shit out perfect clones of things even with aspects that are meaningless and pointless, doesn't explain where it gets the materials for such feats and how a fuck robot replica can generate the absolute flames of hell and extract a Demon sword from an aberrant dimension though. I'm also still wondering why the hell the emperor was one of them though, hell, he never interacted with the Supreme Leader's group outside of the initial takeover cinematic, he was just there. There does seem a suspicious cut off date of 6 months with the replicas which has my almonds roasting. That aside, was nice to see Ian again, a confirmation that Garcia and Dieter were spoilers like I expected and seeing Lapis take it all in was very nice. On the other hand though, though I'm really liking Nadia and Swin, the Emperor redux was honestly pretty lame, as well as just doing a rehash of the end of the novel. Too on the nose, I expect there won't be a legitimate reason for why the Emperor got replicate.

Start and middle of Chapter 5 Well fuck me, everybody finally got together and had a long chat, been waiting ages for this. Basically a lot of getting everybody on the same page, some friendship speeches and so on. Did really like how Rufus seems to be having a bit of an epiphany with all the little misfits he ended up teaming with.

Then operation proceeds and to my surprise they speed up through getting everyone into position and we just go all in, ok, now I see what that warning of "you won't get access to the Reverie for a while" was about. Everybody goes in but I start seeing how much I've been slacking on equipment and orbment setup for a lot of party members (on my defense, we are at around 46, Jesus fuck I don't want to micromanage to that level) though thankfully we were competent enough to not wipe against anything.
Though the rufus and Ilya double feature had me shitting bricks. Nailing Asmodyne with 60k from Randy and a similar number from Emma got me cocky till I lost the first 4 to a badly timed Lost Genesis and then had to scramble with the backup party which had Elliot and like 20 levels under purely for the Order to revive everyone and scramble to get the whole shitshow back on track, but taking it slower, focusing on Ilya till killing her and once things were stable bringing back Randy and Emma to the front worked out.

Story wise, again, very disappointed with the Ilya thread. That it was a "oh no, everybody put their hopes on me to be the bestests and made me weak to mind fuckery!" just doesn't have the same impact as it would have had that her legs were basically half machine at that point and she had paid dearly to dance again and oh how could she go back and so on. Did love how Cao, Garcia and Dieter all had their little moments in the spotlight and would love some expanded scenes with all of them at the end.

Then we go into the gigantic fuck you meeting. First off, nice to meet the President of Calvard, looks like a proper cunt but certainly isn't doing or saying anything that I don't agree on principle. As for the rest, loved the moment when Lapis said "no" to helping, such a tragedy that there isn't a voiced line for Lloyd's "What?" since that could have been golden. Even better when she clarifies that yes, indeed, she is very fucking autistic and please be patient with her. As per usual everybody from everywhere pitches (is fucking Vita even an Anguis at this point?) in and a plan takes form. But oh boy, the Reverie is open again and we can bring in memories this time. And more interesting of all, it's been attempted to be subverted by Elyseum 4096 times already. Reminds me a bit of the Gospel with all the tech wank that goes completely above everybody's head.

Still enjoying it and having fun, but clear that ending is closer than I thought

Like another poster said though, the best stuff is in the Daydreams, my post is already long enough, but went through a batch and even the ones I wasn't expecting much out of had some nice tender moments., though project Tylfling or whatever the fuck it's called con choke on a dick, Jesus it controls like ass

 

[Jasper2K]

Don't you kinda need to start with them though, because they all seem to weave together? That's the main reason I didn't skip ahead (the first game feels slow and boring so I didn't get far at all).

No you don't. Steel is designed as an entry point to the series and for many people like myself it was. Played it on ps3 when it was localized. Reality is asking people to not play the most recent titles and playthrough from Sky is going to turn a lot of people off.

IIRC Kuro is also designed as an entry point too whenever thats localized. With crossbell recently being localized on switch,ps4 and pc I imagine some people will start with those games as well.

That being said 3/4th through sky the third (@ShitLurker) and I like it a lot more than FC and SC. I like kevin more than Estelle and the doors have been nice linking the lore together. So I can appreciate FC and SC more from a story telling standpoint I'd never playthrough them again tho.

 

[ShitLurker]

No you don't. Steel is designed as an entry point to the series and for many people like myself it was. Played it on ps3 when it was localized. Reality is asking people to not play the most recent titles and playthrough from Sky is going to turn a lot of people off.

IIRC Kuro is also designed as an entry point too whenever thats localized. With crossbell recently being localized on switch,ps4 and pc I imagine some people will start with those games as well.

That being said 3/4th through sky the third (@ShitLurker) and I like it a lot more than FC and SC. I like kevin more than Estelle and the doors have been nice linking the lore together. So I can appreciate FC and SC more from a story telling standpoint I'd never playthrough them again tho.

Fair enough. Glad you are enjoying the 3rd and yeah, Kevin was a fantastic protag and a character I really wish popped up more often. Hope you then go into zero and azure, they are the tightest as far as I'm concerned.

I also get what you mean with "entry point games" but you do miss out on a good bunch of the more fanservice moments. I can only imagine when you saw Estelle in Cold Steel your reaction was a straight "who the fuck is she and why should I care". But I've enjoyed my time greatly with the series as a whole, so I'll suggest trails 1 as a starting point always.

And a small update on my adventures with Reverie, no spoilers needed since anybody that has played these games and is authistic will know that the greatest raid boss is when you are prepping for the final dungeon and all the areas with a bajillion npcs are available. It's taken me like 4 hours between talking and kicking the shit out of zumeria shard bossrs, but I only have one more area of npcs to cover and then... 2 daydreams and 2 minigames more before going to the "final dungeon"

Game is chockfull of side content if you enjoy stuff like pom puzzle or vantage cards, jesus fuck. And I still have to hunt for at least 2 more fish for the obligatory final fishing round. I'm mid 70s now in time and I can see spending 10-20 hours more depending if I I can coast on my main lineup or I really need to even out my party (it's more than 40 and I'm sure I've used the same 15 for the most part, I'm fucked if I have to use everyone and they need to be full bling)

 

[Jasper2K]

@ShitLurker Yeah I'm playing the crossbell games next already own them. I am fairly confident I'll enjoy them a lot. It does feel like Sky was kind of shafted when it comes to Steel. I think they should have made some characters more involved in the plot sooner than they did. Saving Reverie for last myself.

Edit: I remember reading that Kondo has completely forgotten about Kevin a couple times. Shame.

 

[ShitLurker]

@ShitLurker Yeah I'm playing the crossbell games next already own them. I am fairly confident I'll enjoy them a lot. It does feel like Sky was kind of shafted when it comes to Steel. I think they should have made some characters more involved in the plot sooner than they did.

Well, I think Sky has it's greatest impact when you honestly don't know dick and it just seems like an incredibly chill RPG with some monster of the day dynamics and hijinks with it's characters. Estelle is still very green and annoying (I love Estelle by the end of it, but at the start, oof), Joshua is kind of mysterious but outside of a few eyebrow raising moments he seems alright, Olivier is funny lute man and Schera is the nice mentor yadda yadda.

Then the ending hits, fade to black and you go "OH SHIT!" which is what happened to me. But if you come into it knowing it's the first part of a very big saga, have any sort of whiff or knowledge about the organization and so on. It would feel meandering as fuck since you would instantly go "yes, it's the organization, yes, I get it, get to the point" but it was the game that was setting up all of that framework for the most part.

I do agree it could have gotten to the point a bit faster and some characters feel just... there for most of the runtime, Zin being by far the most guilty of that (hope the brick wall gets some good moments again in Kuro). Reduce some of the bracer monster of the week aspects, though it might also mean stopping the cut off point for 1 which is honestly a great cliffhanger. Or ideally it should have been a single 60-70 hour game instead of 2 games with one in the mid 40s and the other closer to the 60s (or at least my playtime) which aren't that long compared to other iterations (Jesus fuck, I put 140 hours into CSIV?! and 110 into CS1??!?)

Then there is also the gameplay aspect. Sky is a lot more limited yet harsh than cold steel. Orbments suddenly have negatives as well as the possitives, no orders, no links, enemies aren't as nice to telegraph when their SCraft is coming, you kind of have to feel your way through it, no real indicators on little side stories (I started talking to all NPC obsessively with Trails zero, so I imagine I missed on a tone of little tidbits on Sky 1 and 2 just for that) no fast travel, parties are 4 so no hotswapping, you aren't peppered with equipment and shit ain't cheap, you better get used to cooking. There are a ton of nice things that if you start with one of the modern iterations and go back can be VERY rough.

Saving Reverie for last myself.

You definitely should, there's a lot of Crossbell in there as well so will be more enjoyable if you have gone through zero/azure. Aside from that, it has solid similarities as the 3rd as in it works as an epilogue of sorts and you have a similar dynamic like the doors which is a fantastic way to tell sidestories.

Edit: I remember reading that Kondo has completely forgotten about Kevin a couple times. Shame.

That's just fucking mean ...

I'd say if you pull my arm my fave protag is Estelle but right after it's Kevin. Lloyd is a solid third and the last is Rean (the harem shit killing a lot of support character arcs really sours me to him). Seeing poor Kev get the shaft screenwise is mean and he's the first Dominion we meet... I have 0 ideas about Kuro but would be surprised he was involved in those... Maybe some day an Arteria game can come out and Kevin is heavily involved in that one.

 

[Jasper2K]

Completed Trials in the sky the third. Very enjoyable experience over all. Redeems FC and SC. Overall I'd give the liberal arc an 8/10 I enjoyed Third that much. Started Crossbell on my switch. May be awhile until I get threw the duology because this September November is packed with new games. I would say in hindsight if you start with sky and find it to be slow but not unbearable the series IMO only gets better. Another good starting point is cold steel 1-2 especially if your a fan of persona like games. You may want to stop at three and at least check out the crossbell games.

 

[ShitLurker]

Was intending to write my next post covering everything including post game, but well, postgame is lasting more than I expected. So I'll just go through the end now

Reverie ending spoilers OK, so we do the 4 hours npc rounds, kill everything new that has popped in the map (but forget to fish the fucking king of crabs) and we go up the tower. So we are treated to one of those very hype/cringe cinematics that the series loves to do where everybody and their fucking mother comes over and everything is stilted as fuck and it's just namedrop with title after name drop with title looking at the scene (even Kevin was alluded to existing! yaaay) just waiting and you expect the ghost of Kyiiiiiiv to also come out of fucking nowhere as well as lord feeder. Yet I still managed to get hyped during the whole ordeal. Best/stupidest moment was definitely the old masters countering a fuck you laser beam with the power of anime and witch magic because fuck me, that moment was peak ANIMEEEE.

OK, usual teleport strats into base at this point. We plow through the dungeon quick and proper with some cute little moments between Nadia, Swin, Lapis and Rufus with out small fucking army. We reach mean Rean and oh wait, it's fucking Ishmelga possessed Rean, but wait, it's not really the one from your sad ending on CS4, it's another funky replica... that is a robot.... that has the essence of a fucking manifestation of the Great One and that shits out a curse that makes everyone a warmonger... OK... lets go with it.

We kick his ass, then comes the Zeroth Knight, which again, is the combination of all the divine knights after the reverie, basically the Septerrion of Steel... and this can also be backwards engineered by Elysium... OK. And this brings us to the worst part by far of the endgame, 4 orbal gear fights in a row when it was a system not used in the whole game... so my equipment and orbment setups are irrelevant and I can't even setup my partners. So trudge along through this shit till we finally kick his ass (and a couple of panic moments at possible losses later) we get to kick the shit from the gear one more time with a standard party where Emma and Nadia proceed to nuke it while Lloyd and Swin stab it as much as possible (and everybody else claps I guess).

Stopping on this point, but really like the design of the Zero Knight, really reminds me a lot of Xenogears and would not be surprised at all if it wasn't directly inspired by it. Rean's little heart to heart with negaRean was also nice and lets see if Rean finally learns to stop being a perpetual martyr (and sucking at it since he never dies). Ishmelga still being a thing is pretty fucking dumb I won't deny it and how it became the admin of Elysium I'm still trying to parse through. Elysium in general seems like it was a horrible idea. I imagine the idea was to have an excuse to duke it out with some of the biggest motherfuckers in the series without having to make up reasons for them being there, but still, I don't get how it created IshmelgaRean just to let it be the admin and do this whole thing. Also, Ishmelga as a villian again was lame.

Anyway, we get the cheeky "well fuck you, the death lazor will now be fueled by the people with hilarious results" to which they all bail except for Rufus doing a fantastic little heel turn that was honestly great. Rufus makes a worldwide communication hamming it up to the extreme and manages to concentrate all of the hate in the continent towards him and the central control of the lazooor. Lazor goes zap, crater is made, Rufus is dust, cue everyone screaming, fate to bla... OH WAIT! WE JUST SAW A PREDICTION FROM ELYSIUM AND FUCKING EVERYONE SAW IT, NOT JUST LAPIS!.... OK.

So we now send in Lloyd, Jusis, Lapis, Nadia, Swin and best doggo to get Rufus out of there before he finishes his ham sandwich. Thankfully, no surprise motherfucker boss came out of nowhere (though this team was properly decked to deal with it) and we reach Rufus. And we get the BEST fucking line in the game "You are under arrest for not understanding how much people love you". Lloyd you sappy sonofabitch, you made me smile with that one. Rufus accepts salvation (and I will admit I teared up a bit at that moment), they all bail and now we get happy endings for all.

Credits roll with picture reel with the biggest highlight is Randy getting hitched with Mirielle and everything else is just sweet. A nice little tease of Lapis and friends sticking together with the new engine and now we end...

Grand conclusions. The triple protagonist thing was fun for following what you were interested in, but it was mostly valuable for Rufus. Rean is an extra epilogue to his arc and Lloyd outright was kind of a rethread of Azure, and hell, I'd honestly say it made Lloyd weaker as a main character. The really interesting stuff happened with Rufus in friends. I also know this is the "AND EVERYONE IS HERE" game, but CS4 was already that so it didn't have as much impact. It was cool to see the Crossbell outskirts again, specially Mainz, love the town theme. Elysium is too much as a villian and it's the standard fuckup most anime make which is increasing the stakes too much. I'm glad it's supposedly dead and buried because replicas are not something I want to become a constant part of the plot. I do expect ouroboros to create a few,but please, no replicating powerlevels. Speaking oif Ouroboros, zero advance with that plot outside of the final daydream.

And we are back in the Reverie and I'll go into this shit on next post.

Grand conclusion is I had a great time with it, but I'd say the 3rd was a better package as an epilogue game and did setup for future shit better. Didn't really move the plot that much, but I like a lot of the characters, so just seeing them interact is great, I didn't go into the daydreams but some of the best moments are from those, though I'll go into that in another post. Also, the music was pretty mid, nothing stuck to me and the Reverie levels are too samey, no unique theme or visuals like with the 3rd

Completed Trials in the sky the third. Very enjoyable experience over all. Redeems FC and SC. Overall I'd give the liberal arc an 8/10 I enjoyed Third that much. Started Crossbell on my switch. May be awhile until I get threw the duology because this September November is packed with new games. I would say in hindsight if you start with sky and find it to be slow but not unbearable the series IMO only gets better. Another good starting point is cold steel 1-2 especially if your a fan of persona like games. You may want to stop at three and at least check out the crossbell games.

Glad you enjoyed the third. Kevin is one of the better main characters in general. Hope you enjoy your stay in Crossbell as well, though I suggest you leave Reverie rest for a bit after Azure since well, Reverie has a lot of Crossbell and you may get a glut of it.

 

[IDanceonTrannyGraves]

All right Kiwi bros, I finished playing Tokyo Mirage Sessions, and I'm starting my Trails journey.

I have Cold Steel 1-3 plus the two most recent releases. I still need to find a copy of Trails IV.

Edit - holy fuck, turbo mode is a god send for getting through tedious battles.

 

[Jasper2K]

On chapter 2 of Trials from zero. Great time so far. More enjoyable than sky FC and SC so far

 

[Altina]

Completed trials in the sky fc and sc. IMO both games spent way too long meandering and at least half of both of those games felt like padding. Almost dropped SC a couple of times particularly on chapter 8 and chapters 1-4. FYI completed all steel games enjoyed them thoroughly, IMO would not recommend new comers start with the sky games.

I have to disagree, if you are going to play this series you need to start from Sky to fully enjoy and understand the story, especially with how heavily the sky series is linked to the future games. They have a slow start but are vital to the later stories and worth it so if someone isn't enjoying it then this isn't the game for them. I'd recommend a different series.

 

[ShitLurker]

OK, finally, for realsies, I finished Reverie, which is not the same as completing, but I'm not holding off more on AC6 just to play fucking Vantage Master and Pom puzzles. I've also already fucked a few of the missions anyway so I don't intend to complete those. I do still have left a few battle character interactions and to watch all of the Rean in the beach fanservice scenes and I'll file it as "closed"

Soooooo, Reverie post game OK, so I kind of got lost in the wank here, so Demiurgos got recreated, but it sounded like it wasn't Elyseum this time and I'm unsure what shat out that and giga McBurn and so on. I'm honestly a bit confused on Demiurgos in general, was Ursula the owner of Demiurgos or was Ursula actually Demiurgos seeing how she clearly was fused and tormented. I only understood that it's from the "outside", but that's it. Aside from that, the usual approach from our friendly heroes, a girl is sad? they will kill a fucking tool of god to make her smile and I wouldn't have it any other way. The final battle did make me sweat, the fucking warning said to make 3 even teams and I most definitely did NOT need 3 equal teams. Had Emma and 100% evasion Fie on team 1, who absolutely decimated the opposition, team 2 had Rufus and Lloyd with Vita spamming spells and they did the needful once I chained Sarah's order to never let Urgos get a turn once I managed to break it. Now phase 3.... jesus fuck phase 3, first I made a random as fuck team and that's how I ended up with fucking George being an MVP in there, but the fight was basically Rean and McBurn trying to not die to 4 turns of Demiurgos in a row, Duvalie constantly dying to deathblow and Laura/George whatever I could shove in there wailing at it while not dead/statused. Also, Elliot's order has saved my ass multiple times already, but in this one came extra clutch. Still, victory was had.

Now, daydreams. will do a short comment on each of them

Buried Trails, Beaten Trails, Blazed Trails: Awesome snippet to get to know Swin and Nadia more as well as getting a bit more lore from the Assassin's guild thing with Rixia. Also shows how they both still carry their trauma with Nadia flipping out into kill mode. This one I enjoyed a lot.

A Day in the Lives of the SSS: Cure fun with the SSS, nothing particularly wacky outside of the Mecha Mishy moment, though the payback from that in the main story was the real gold.

St. Astraia’s Violet in Bloom: Wacky adventures purely. Not much else to see, nice for a chuckle but that's it. Was nice to hear the theme from Erebos again.

Home Sweet Turf: Good to see Wald finally clear the air with his old lot. Funny little end with drunk Wazy and Wald getting taken out by Noel.

Down the Rabbit Hole: Interesting lore, neat to see that you can loan combat shells and it works. Millium and Jusis dynamics I also enjoy quite a bit, Alisa felt kind of stapled in there but I guess she did get some closure from convenient hologram.

To Your Blessed Future: Loved this one, aside from confirming that Schera is preggers (though drives me insane nobody reacts or comments on it) was nice to hear from Aina again and I also love LeBlanc, incredibly sweet of him to give such a dazzling wedding present and also give Schera some closure about Luciola. A bit sad that he didn't join the wedding, I mean, Vita was there and she's active Ouroboros and LeBlanc did actively participate on their side as well.

A Maiden’s Melancholy: Claire trying to stop being a mess. Had fun with the girl talk, Claire, Sarah and Sharon bounce so well with each other. Was nice to see more of Claire's family dynamics and well, good to meet Towa's replacement.

The Path Chosen: Mostly about Towa, nice little tale of becoming an adult, though a bit of a copout that Towa goes with "I want to do anything and since I'm power lolly I can do it all"), but I do like the dynamic the four have. Also, good to see that Angie seems to be stepping up in her role as future house head.

Justice a Deux: Just charming, Dudley and Machias are the same fucking character with an age difference and it was fun seeing them bounce on each other. Was also great to have a callback to the cunt granny (one of the more memorable Trails Zero/Azure sidequests) and the asshole that tried to swindle Amorica, I always love these little callbacks. Good fun. And nice pep talk from Dudley to Machias.

The Fallen Prince: Fuck Cedric because I know he'll drop Ourobors pretty quick and will probably drag Shirley with him, I don't see how he is Enforcer material without the power of the curse, but I do like to see the inner workings of things and honestly, that sidekick bot was adorable. Also, I'm kind of mixed on Gilbert, he gives me that team rocket vibe, but it also makes Ouroboros kind of a joke for keeping him around.

Project Orbal Gear Four 1: I'm a sucker for Tita and Agate dynamics. Interesting to see how it connects to Elyseum shitting out artifacts and the Emperor doing his own thing behind the scenes, though I'm honestly still unclear on why replicating Emperor was even necessary. Loved how Erika and Smicht bounce from each other, good to see somebody giving the lip back.

Project Orbal Gear Four 2: Kind of a copout that she just tweaked the Orbal Gear 3 and that was considered good enough, but well, it's still a fantastic achievement that Erika doesn't seem to have recognized yet, so I'll bite. Erika being a gigantic bitch to Agate is a bit of fun yet annoying, I constantly shift on how I see it, but it was amusing to see them team up to test Tita out (even if I easily shit on them, Rean, Joshua and Ash was the one that made me sweat). Nice to see Tita gets to finish her time in the Branch campus.

Wishes of a Witch: There is somebody at Falcom that clearly also understands Emma is best waifu, because this one is so much more detailed than other daydreams and she's the only 1st game waifu that got a daydream fully dedicated to her. So first thing, fantastic to visit Eryn village again, I love that place. I do like all of the witch things in general, so always enjoy peeking into that. Obviously I'm an Emma simp so I enjoyed this one a lot, nice to give her some closure about her mother. Isola did seem to do a bit of a crazy maneuver by not informing anybody else... but I guess it was taking out a Black Alberich then and there or the opportunity would be lost, so I'll bite. Also, Vita, Roselia and Emma bounce so well on each other.

The More Things Change: Lechter... the biggest letdown from Cold Steel... And I liked this, gives us some insight into what Osbourne meant to him, how hollow he sees himself, yet he can't let things go purely for following through on what Osbourne really wanted (the good of Erebonia). Liked how Kloe and... Lucy came back and gave him a much needed pep talk. Would love to see more Kloe in general but I know that's a hard sell due to her position. Also, that Millium maneuver was sweet, it's the other thing I miss, more interactions between the Ironbloods.

Ultimate Wilderness Cooking: This one was fantastic. Freddie is such a likeable nutcase and every time that Whilhelm appears it's surprising gold. Had a ton of fun with this one and how Roselia and Whilhem bounced on each other, also how Machias work buddy was representing the vanilla consumer. And my god, during Margarita's ice cream tasting, Muse that horny little scamp asking Rean how much he could do with that energy, she always manages to get a chuckle from me.

One Lucky Stone and One Unlucky Ship: Another surprisingly fun one. Jingo is such a character and was a nice excuse to see a lot of old faces, was great to see Xeno and Leo again. Best part was tio running in top speed to get that fucking gold Mishy (and the payoff of seeing it in her room in all it's tacky glory). Machias on the other side of the story giving shit to Whilhelm was also good fun. And then the little connection to Tita's Orbal gear experiment was neat.

Unlimited Blade Crafts: This one was surprisingly stressful, went with Estelle and Joshua expecting Cassius on the final round, but to my surprise they got taken out by Viktor and Arios. Aside from that, taking it very slow for the most part I cannot imagine how you manage this in a difficulty higher than normal. Fun little tournament arc outside of that and I always enjoy it when Duvalie is on the screen. I am tired of Rean second guessing himself for the nth time though.

A Look on the Bright Side: Always nice to see more of the Brights. Nice to see Renne and Cassius kind of getting along and loved how Cassius just went all in and said "when are you marrying my daughter, and when I say my daughter I mean your non biological sister! I want nephews dammit!". Looking forward to hearing more from the brights in general in future installments, though it seems Renne is in the thick of things in Kuro.

One Step Forward: Another cute vignette, anything that forwards character relationships I'm all for. Mary and Makarov have been a thing for a long time so happy to see them hitched. Now we just need Wallace to stop being a pussy and just propose to Aurelia already. Also, was neat to see young Aurelia.

Thors’ Open House: I was dreading this one since people seemed to consider it one of the worse ones but I honestly loved it. Liked fucking around in the branch campus again and seeing all of the students. How Ash got completely bullshitted into being a nominee by Muse (and Ash got his vengeance by making her the vicepresident) and all the moments with Tatiana were adorable. New class 7 bounces off each other so much better than the old one (Altina's face when Ash was explaining how everyone but Altina would have been a better pick), now Kurt just needs a personality and the next time they appear as adults will be welcome.

Through Memories Aglow: This one I found really interesting. Seeing all of the events from Osbourne's perspective was something I was really lacking. I still find the curse a copout and it was much better when he was just an asshole with an imperial streak, but this is nice to give some more humanity to a guy that was never allowed to be human till the last minute. You also could notice how he ended up caring for his "pawns". Also spotted the shitty picture with your waifu which is double insulting when you have nice art for all the others.

Look Back to Look Forward: Ouroboros wank. Not really much can be inferred here outside of McBurn still willing to collaborate and sounds like Vita as well. Interested on who will replace Arienrhod and as per usual, what the fuck is the Grandmaster's angle.

Beyond the Reverie: Some snippets about Kuro. So we have an alternative form of the 8 winds with princess waifu and her second in command with funky shuriken. Was OK enough, mostly makes me wonder what Ka Fai is up to and if he's related to the assassins or not. Renne's was the most fun, like how Renne and Tita have grown and it was hillarious when she went full mask off and made Ronald shit himself, I got to see a snipper of "Agnes" which I do know is a character in Kuro but seems to be unrelated to Sunshine Agnes and the new character seems to be the nosy reporter of the arc, will be fun to see her as student council president in the background. Finally, Beauty Blade, I pressume she will be another big player, we see a snippet from a CID guy with glasses which I assume will be another important character, and a lot of talk from a dude I will presume is the main character from Kuro, what I don't know is if the Enforcer she met will be the main character or just some other dude.

Also, the extra gallery has some pretty nice art in there, don't forget to check it out.

Now that I'm done, I definitely will play patched Kuro since I don't want to wait a year for the next one, but I still will let the series rest a few months.

Overall I enjoyed my time with Reverie and certainly got my money's worth (close to 110 hours), wasn't a revolutionary story but it did give me tons of excuses to see all fo the characters bouncing off each other and the new characters were winners. The C arc specially. This series is so dedicated to the brand though that anybody will know they will want to play it or not. It's interesting to see how high the percentage of the achievements is compared to other games, really shows that only the people already invested are playing this. Gameplay is great with a ton of options if you like to micro everything, I just went through normal and plowed through with my OP builds, but someone more invested in this part can fun a ton of enjoyment by bumping up the difficulty. Do not touch as your first game of Trails, that would be absolutely retarded.

All right Kiwi bros, I finished playing Tokyo Mirage Sessions, and I'm starting my Trails journey.

I have Cold Steel 1-3 plus the two most recent releases. I still need to find a copy of Trails IV.

Edit - holy fuck, turbo mode is a god send for getting through tedious battles.

Got to echo what @Altina (best daughter) said. You really should start from Sky if you want the whole experience. If not at least start from trails to Zero. But if you are set with Cold Steel, after 2 consider stopping and going back to either Sky or Zero. either way, welcome aboard and hope you have fun. Ask any random shit in here if you have questions.

On chapter 2 of Trials from zero. Great time so far. More enjoyable than sky FC and SC so far

Nice to see you are enjoying it. Zero has much better rhythm than FC, shit happens a lot faster basically. Also, that Crossbell is smaller than Liberl helps to keep things focused as well and you don't spend as long doing the rounds.

 

[IDanceonTrannyGraves]

@ShitLurker

I own the first Trails on PSP. Then XSeed put out the second game as digital only and didn't even port the 3rd game to consoles.

XSeed can go fuck themselves. I don't buy digital and don't play on PC. If Falcom wants my money, they'll port the games to consoles.

At this point there's absolutely no reason not to, especially on Switch.

I'm happy to start with Cold Steel and not give those cunts at XSeed my money.

 

[ShitLurker]

@ShitLurker

I own the first Trails on PSP. Then XSeed put out the second game as digital only and didn't even port the 3rd game to consoles.

XSeed can go fuck themselves. I don't buy digital and don't play on PC. If Falcom wants my money, they'll port the games to consoles.

At this point there's absolutely no reason not to, especially on Switch.

I'm happy to start with Cold Steel and not give those cunts at XSeed my money.

Fair enough, I still would suggest in that case to start with Trails from Zero since that one is also on Switch I believe. Specially if you basically already have both Zero/Azure and CS 1 to 3. Events from Zero-Azure and from CS1-2 happen kind of in parallel but since the release order is Zero Azure and later the Cold Steel saga, the later will spoil the former much more candidly than in the opposite direction. Also, Zero/Azure uses an older iteration of all the combat system found in CS so chances are you may have a harder time going back once you get used to the CS quality of life stuff.

Also, have a read through a summary of the Sky trilogy then since there will be some random stuff thrown your way that you will be expected to be familiar with.