Figured it would make sense to restart this topic from the XSEED boards, especially now that we just got our first teaser trailer. Quick summary of the known facts:
- It's set during the events of Cold Steel 4's ending sequence and features three separate story routes: The Hero, the Liberator and the Hermit.
- The Hero route focuses on Rean and Class VII, the Liberator route focuses on the SSS and Crossbell regaining its independence. The Hermit route is unknown right now.
- The game is expected to feature the largest cast yet and there will be 'Episode' scenes focusing on particular characters or events, likely similar to the Doors from The 3rd. These Episodes will constitute 20-30% of the game.
- Minigames have been confirmed, including a 3d shooting game based on the Magical Alisa spinoff.
- The game is billed as the 'Beginning of the Ending'
- The release date is currently 'Summer 2020'.
And with that out of the way, the new teaser and some reactions:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oxoi98egE0
- Seeing Arios in 3d is going to be really cool. He also appears to be fighting in the same location we've previously seen McBurn and which was mentioned to be a location Falcom can't talk about because it would be a spoiler of some sort. He's also fighting one of the Seventy-Seven Devils.
- More shots of Juna piloting a Zaubersoldat and from one of them it seems like she'll pull double duty as both a member of New Class VII and one of the SSS.
- According to Kondo, the white-haired girl with heterochromia isn't someone who's been foreshadowed previously. The teaser shows some interesting things about her, namely that she's got doll joints in her legs and she seems to have an Evil-Spirit-in-a-Box and carries an anchor-sword-thingy. Given Kondo's prior comment, she's probably not a Rosenberg doll though we can't completely rule it out and we already know from Ao that those things can be weird.
- There's another new minigame confirmed where Rean is seen piloting a customized Panzersoldat.
- Credit to Gu4n, Nadia/Nine's teddy bear has a Latin quote from Seneca reading "Drunkenness is nothing but voluntary madness".
- The Magical Alisa minigame features more than one playable character as the teaser shows Magical Darkness (aka Magical Altina) who seems to have a different attack method than Alisa. It also shows that Fie's special ability (Ninjutsu - Cicada Art) grants temporary Stealth. Emma has an ability called Crescent Heal and on that topic, previous screenshots revealed that Laura and Duvalie have named abilities (Secret Rite - Radiant Strike and Prism Shield respectively) with a couple other characters being seen but we don't know what they bring to the table yet.
- We already knew from Three and Nine that Suin/Swin's two swords could be combined into one but this is our first good look at it. It seems like it's got some sort of Orbal device included as well.
- Celine now has an S-Craft.
- The last shot reinforces the theory spawned from the last round of screenshots, that somehow both the Normal and True Endings of CS4 happened and the black-clad figure is Rean, likely merged with Ishmelga. If he's wearing the mask from 4's OP movie, all will be right with the world. Given his long hair and resemblance to a certain character from The 3rd, I am declaring that until Falcom tells us otherwise, he is officially to be known as Schwarzreaner.
SpoilerSen 4What position was Crossbell in by the end of 4? I was under the impression the Empire had pulled out, so the liberator angle is a little confusing.
The exact timing is fuzzy since a lot happens between the end of the gameplay and the final scene and we're not sure when in that span of time the liberation actually happens aside from 'before the credits begin playing'. Hajimari presumably takes place (or at least begins) some time within that same span of six months.
SpoilerSen4 and Hajimari stuffSo, if we go by Sen 4's normal ending, the Schwarzreaner should be Ishmelga using him as a meat puppet, right? I seem to recall Rean being amazed that Osborne was able to hold off Ishmelga for as long as he did. You have to figure there's no way this doesn't end tragically for that version of Rean, since I don't see a scenario where we have two Reans running around Zemuria. I mean, how would the women of Erebonia cope with two of them, and not only that, a tortured, dark and brooding version of him?! There aren't enough fainting couches in the Empire.
Now in less seriousness, think of the possibilities: A Rean who can satisfy two women at once! Just pray that Dorothee never learns about this because she'd probably kickstart an entirely literary genre centered around tortured, brooding Rean and his many affairs with Erebonia's eligible young men.
So we haven't gotten an update to Falcom's website yet (and hence no really high quality pictures or a title for the final Route) but we did just get some new info and there's going to be a Dengeki Live interview with Kondo tomorrow so there will be more updates coming soon. Anyhow, new stuff we've learned:
- The full names of our assassin duo are Nadia Rain and Swin Abel, voiced by Iwami Manaka and Kajiwara Gakuto respectively.
- The masked figure is identified as C. Yes, like Crow but they're noted to be different enough that it may not be the same person... and probably isn't. They also seem to be right-handed from the shot of them holding a sword. They don't have a VA listed.
- The doll is Lapis Rosenberg which means that we might finally get some answers as to what was going on in that one quest in Ao. And after I went back to Zero/Ao and Sen IV footage trying and failing to match the case she was carrying in the trailer to any known Rosenberg designs, it winds up happening anyways. xD
- Contrary to past indications, it seems like we can choose to switch between the Routes but we have to complete all three within a given Chapter before the story can advance.
- There will be a 'True Reverie Corridor' where all available characters can be used. This may include characters not playable during the main story. I think I just heard floofy's head explode from all the way over here. xD
- Olivier and Schera may appear in connection with the 'Round of Seven' from the last two Sen games, though I'm not sure how much mystery there is there given that they established it was made using the former's Artifact.
- Adding to the list of teased potential party members is Jingo. She's come a long way from 'that shopkeeper's kid' in Zero.
There was also mention of this new C bringing about a new or reborn Liberation Front, right? Gotta wonder, with Osborne gone, who they're even liberating it from.
As to his identity, and considering the original 3 ILF members naming conventions, it's clearly CARL REGNITZ! Driven mad by his son constantly shotgunning his door down and declaring failed inspections, Carl finally snapped. Screencap this post!
A crazy theory about C that has as much holes as Swiss Cheese.
And the way Ishmelga co-exists inside Schwarzreaner? Because Normal-End Rean fell into the same trap as dear old dad. "Join me on the Dark Side and all of you will live."
And Jingo is best shop-girl. If she becomes playable, one of her Crafts will have her summon Cerberus to go all cute puppy on the enemies, while it pelts them with a customized rocked launcher.
Those are good C theories. One other I've seen that's got some possible weight is
@wuolong77 I think the 'So obvious it's a double-bluff' idea is, well, a red herring. But it could fit the facts in exactly the way you describe.
Guan's current idea and I admit it's got some good merits is that C is Cody, the Hercules operative. He would have reasons to want to interfere within Erebonia, he's unusually prominent (I'd be surprised if his sister Kaela wasn't a major character in the Calvard arc) and one of the screenshots shows C with the RAMDA stealth effect so there might be some link to Calvard.
Cody's design seemed a tad too "generic NPC" to get him promoted to protagonist (or whatever role he'll have), but it does make a lot of sense!
Marcel Nielsen was also just a generic NPC in Sky 3rd until he got his unique look and a complete hair color change in the Zero Arc. Besides, wearing that outfit might be Cody's way of making himself look more intimidating. But however we look at it the possibilities are overwhelming. Probably just the way Kondo likes it.
But what are you saying? Nielsen is totally unremarkable and in no way being set up for some huge reveal in the future... *stares hard at his Sen IV appearance*
In fact, I'm so confident that Nielsen is being set up for something big *cough*First Anguis*cough* that if it turns out he's been a huge red herring this entire time, I will order a pack of BeanBoozled beans and eat all of them at once and stream the suffering.
And once he reveals his true identity his walking stick will turn out to be a cane-sword and he will decimate his opponents with expert Baritsu moves.
I GET IT!
Oh, and Falcom's site just updated so we got a whole bunch of new details on the final route:
- The Hermit route is officially named The Miserable Sinners
- The update on the Cross Story System has some illustrations showing how characters from different routes might juuuust miss interacting, with a shot of the same location in Heimdallr with Rean and the Hermit crew, at different parts of what's presumably the same day.
- C is mentioned as initially investigating the actions of the Crossbell garrison forces that were put in place by Rufus and they 'use graceful sword movements to dominate the battlefield'. And they're doing something funky in that screenshot but it's not any of the typical Orbal Arts effects or Hexen magic.
- The material on Nadia and Swin is stuff that's been mentioned before for the most part. They're still on the run from the mysterious organization they used to work for (separately, it's not something we've seen prior) and they've been hired by C on the understanding that the job won't require them to kill people. The two were entrusted with mysterious case by someone they encountered while fleeing the organization....
- The update also confirmed that Nadia's last name is meant to be spelled Rayne. Nadia's way of speaking reminds me a bit of Millium talking about her and Altina. Going by the localizations, she'd be calling herself Nanny and him Swinny, or something like that. Sounds more like he's having to play nanny to her though. xD
- Lapis has some form of amnesia and knows what she is but doesn't remember other things. She joins C in order to recover her memory and identity. I'm getting very strong Ys IX vibes here, which warns me that Falcom is probably going to pull the rug out from under our feet at some point.
- Swin askes C what they're doing with combat orbments that 'only those guys' are supposed to have. Which pretty much confirms that they are the RAMDA and Swin and Nadia have sufficient connection to Calvard (or at least an awareness of recent events in Erebonia) to know about them.
- It's mentioned that '3 and 9' was written anonymously and this has added to its appeal. The idea that it was published as a sort of wanted poster for its two protagonists has been circulated in-universe.
EDIT: Guan translated a summary of the Dengeki interview which has additional information.
The interview throws quite a wrench into some theories. I actually wanted to treat my Crow theory as a joke and this being called the Hermit Route was one of the reasons I didn't take it seriously (Also the left hand-right hand issue), but Miserable Sinners... actually fits.
To compensate I wanted to throw out another joke theory about Claire being C (consider the irony), but if this masked figure really is male, that one won't work either.
Lapis being a key in the story reminds me of something I've been speculating about for a while.
In all Kiseki arcs until now, the artificial recreation of the human form (and sometimes more) has been shown one way or the other. Be it the mechanical dolls from the "Tea Party" in SC, the Doll Knight novel that foreshadowed it, our beloved homunculus from Zero and Cold Steel that aren't just recreations of the body, but also of mind and soul. Then there's the Heartless Edgar novel from CS3 that depicts a sentient roboter and now we get a self-aware Rosenberg Doll.
Then we have the upcoming Calvard Arc, the land of deception and lies - except that deception and lies have played a prominent role beginning with the Prologue of FC. So I asked myself not what kind of lies the Calvard Arc would tackle, but how the lies in the Calvard Arc could surpass the deluge of backstabbing, skeletons in the political closet, media propaganda and intrigues already shown in nine games.
What about dolls/robots that are indistinguishable from humans, seeded into key positions of the Republic with puppeteers pulling the strings? Or like in Heartless Edgar, the replacement bot is so advanced that it can autonomously pretend to be someone else, with nobody being the wiser, perhaps not even the bot itself?
Basically Zemurian Blade Runner or the Snatcher adventure game Kondo style. A democratic government would be very vulnerable towards this kind of infiltration compared to the Liberlian and Erebonian monarchies. The Royals are almost all shown to have extremely capable bodyguards who also grew up with them. This gives them a double layer of protection against impersonating robots. Not only would it be difficult to do the body-swap in the first place, maintaining the charade would be impossible given Mueller's or Julia's familiarity with their wards. But what about parliamentary members, who only serve until the next election, a government with a regular turnover of decision-makers?
And the interview also mentions a particular picture in Ao no Kiseki.
