It was to help Yotaka with testing the forums. He asked me to post something. So I referenced something hilarious that Sean Chiplock recorded for my test. https://soundcloud.com/anime_sonicmega/does-valimar-is-gay
So I've seen it mentioned that Ys IX made use of motion capture for cutscenes, but since I've not really tried checking out too much of the game until it comes over, I'm wondering how it impacted the quality of the animation and whether to be excited for a potentially similar increase in quality for Hajimari. The teaser certainly seemed like there was an improvement, but they're all such short scenes it's kinda hard to gauge.
Also, is the girl in the logo supposed to be the GM? They look a little different to me. I'm getting almost KeA vibes from her (specifically Ao's cover), although I doubt it would be.
The key visual for the game is the Grandmaster, the girl in the logo is Lapis.
So now that Hajimari is all but confirming different timelines with the possibility of Schwarzreaner being a thing, what if now is FINALLY the time for those openings in CS1&3 to serve a greater purpose than merely spoiler prevention. I could totally picture a scene where whatever or whoever the power is that brought Punished Rean to the main timeline, gives a few examples of other potential world lines and suddenly boom, we have a use for those weird discrepancies. I suppose in that scenario it doesn't really change much, but it'd be kinda neat for it to have all been in service of something, even if it's just a "hey, remember that?"
So now we know Machias and Dudley will be teaming up...maaaaan, I wish combi-crafts were still a thing! Justice-senpai and Justice-kun bringing law and order to the mean streets of Crossbell.
In the criminal Justice system the people are represented by two separate, yet equally important groups. The police who investigate crime and the Government Accountability Inspectorate who shotgun the offenders. These are their stories.
@jumpyjunpei Brilliant! And yes, seeing those two working together made me very happy. Now we just need for the True Reverie Corridor to somehow summon Gawaine from El Phildin so he can join them and show them the true meaning of the Justice Hammer.
And oh boy, did that update pack a lot of stuff into a couple pages. Aside from the return of Dudley, Mireille got a promotion, Erika returns and Agate is so so dead, Cao finally shows up in combat after about a decade of teasing, Renne's got a plot thread of her own (two really, there's no way they're dropping the setup she had with her birth family when she's gonna be in Crossbell anyways) and we got a lot of details on the True Reverie Corridor. We can see Claire and Lechter are playable at least in there (with Millium) and so's Vita, there are items called Reverie Fragments that can be gathered and then spent to unlock powerups for your party and we've gotten confirmation that the 'Episode' stories and at least some minigames are going to function like they did in Phantasma, with Sealing Stones from The 3rd returning and being used to unlock them. And aside from Double Justice, we've got Episodes for the Hexen trio and the Jenis trio. Oh dear, I can't wait to see Lechter getting an earful... xD
The True Reverie Corridor also seems to be layed out (the base area, anyway) the same way as the Hermit's Garden. It'll be interesting to see if there's a reason for that, or if it's just meant to acknowledge how this is a new 3rd. Very excited to see what else these episodes will cover (so nice to see Class VII members getting to do stuff without Rean) and it's also cool to note that they'll be adding additional ones for free post-release.
Is there any mention of what the context for the Corridor is? Like how you can keep popping back there with everyone while still progressing the story and having everyone needing to be outside of it for whatever's going down in the "real" world.
Oh my Aidios, inject this into my veins. I'm uncertain how I'm going to feel about CS IV, but seeing all these characters and the possible interactions that could happen is getting me real hyped for when this gets released here in the coming years. I give these games a lot of flack lately with some of their decisions, but this game might make up for everything and then some.
Give it a lot of flak? maybe I'm the same way. Sometimes I wonder if people think I'm being hyper-critical about certain things but it's like perfection minus my gripes. I don't gripe because they are big enough to complain about, it's just that they stick out like a sore thumb with perfection in the back-ground you know? Something like that anyway.
Part of me wonders if my gripes are even errors or faults, or if they are bait and switch teases that are misleading and leading to something even better somehow. ack.
Falcom's website got an update with the new material and the next chapter from Three and Nine. And speaking of which, a promo video was released on the Dengeki livestream and one of the things we see in it is 'The Emperor' in the same regalia described in the novel, the set of Artifacts linked to Calvard's former royal line. Hmmmm...
Also in evidence: A whole lot of quick combat cutins, a fight between Matteus, Rean and Kurt, an action shot of Not!Valimar and Noel making a very dramatic entrance. Also confirmation that the returning cast isn't going to be locked into their CS4 Craft list, because Elie can be seen using Divine Crusade, which she didn't have there.
Is there any mention of what the context for the Corridor is? Like how you can keep popping back there with everyone while still progressing the story and having everyone needing to be outside of it for whatever's going down in the "real" world.
Not really. There's a comment that when it can be accessed differs slightly depending on the route, which suggests something going on in the 'real world' that affects the Corridor but we don't have a context for it yet. I wouldn't be surprised if they wait for the game to release before we're allowed to find that out.
Part of me wonders if my gripes are even errors or faults, or if they are bait and switch teases that are misleading and leading to something even better somehow. ack.
Eh, I could see some of the decisions made in Cold Steel being turned around in that way via Hajimari. They've already basically thrown multiple timelines in our face with Schwarzreaner, so secondary branches based on the bonding event choices wouldn't be completely out there, but they'd have to come up with a single 'this is what happened, period' outcome moving forward. Otherwise the limitations the current system places on the writing for the majority of Cold Steel's female characters aren't going away.
Am I crazy, or was that Garcia mother effin' Rossi about tear it up in the trailer? Good grief, this game has it all! Also, I want to see him give Rean some guff, and meet up with Fie. I forget; had he already left, by the time she joined Zephyr?
I'm really curious who the heck the primary antagonist is going to be for this. The Emperor seems like a potential candidate, though I wonder what would bring him into conflict with the other two routes' characters. I can't imagine it'll be anything Ouroboros related, since they should've moved on from the Empire by now.
Give it a lot of flak? maybe I'm the same way. Sometimes I wonder if people think I'm being hyper-critical about certain things but it's like perfection minus my gripes. I don't gripe because they are big enough to complain about, it's just that they stick out like a sore thumb with perfection in the back-ground you know? Something like that anyway.
Part of me wonders if my gripes are even errors or faults, or if they are bait and switch teases that are misleading and leading to something even better somehow. ack.
The Cold Steel games are overall pretty solid, and even my least favorite (Cold Steel II) at the end of the day is still a good game. That said, there are a number of writing decisions they make that still aggravate me from small to large. The biggest problem still to this day is how the arc took 4 whole games to go through, which combined is over 200 hours long. I loved the Sky games, they resonated with me and even though SC is the one that I have some problems with, all the good helps me look past the little bit shaky stuff here and there. However, if that exact same story took 4 games to tell the story of FC and SC I would've started checking out and problems would've become more abundant and apparent. Cold Steel is so bloated yet feels underdeveloped in some aspects. You get great moments but getting there can take time.
End of the day, I criticize Cold Steel because I expect so much better from what we've gotten previously. Of course, there is a number of things that are more personal taste that Cold Steel doesn't appeal to me as much as previous, but even then I feel it's okay to point that out. Hajimari seems to be going more in that direction since all these various characters will have a chance to go back to those great character interactions that I loved in the previous games that seemed to not be nearly as strong to me in Cold Steel. This is definitely a game even having not played it is the one game I will say people need to have played all the previous games to appreciate it.
Am I crazy, or was that Garcia mother effin' Rossi about tear it up in the trailer? Good grief, this game has it all! Also, I want to see him give Rean some guff, and meet up with Fie. I forget; had he already left, by the time she joined Zephyr?
I'm really curious who the heck the primary antagonist is going to be for this. The Emperor seems like a potential candidate, though I wonder what would bring him into conflict with the other two routes' characters. I can't imagine it'll be anything Ouroboros related, since they should've moved on from the Empire by now.
Yes, it was! We don't know exactly when Garcia left Zephyr and joined Revache (he collaborated with them for a time before formally leaving the one to join the other) but we know that he was still with Zephyr when Fie was discovered. We don't know if he was still there when Fie started actively fighting. At the very least he'd recognize her as 'the boss' adopted daughter' but whether he'd know her as Sylphid or she'd remember him isn't clear. I don't recall any time where Fie mentions him, the way that she indirectly mentions knowing Shirley in CS2.
Given the appearance of the Emperor now and Schwarzreaner before, I wouldn't be surprised if there's a separate antagonist for each route before we have a big confrontation that crosses over with everyone, possibly making use of the True Reverie Corridor. Like you said, I can't see what interest the Emperor has with the other routes (it sounds like he's gunning for Nadia and Swin specifically) and we don't know enough about the Crossbell route yet to say who's pulling the strings there or why. Well, aside from the fact that it involves Rufus' old subordinates and, y'know, Rufis is a dick. But he's in prison at the time so he can't be doing anything himself and I don't think even he's spiteful enough to arrange for additional chaos in Crossbell just for the hell of it. The fact that a Dominion gets involved (even if he'd have personal reasons to take an interest) suggests it's something serious.
Speaking of the Emperor, saw your question in Ask Us, gotta go back and reread the story for the details on that one but now I'm really interested too. xD
The True Reverie Corridor also seems to be layed out (the base area, anyway) the same way as the Hermit's Garden. It'll be interesting to see if there's a reason for that, or if it's just meant to acknowledge how this is a new 3rd.
Belatedly on this point, it seems like it's completely intentional. One of the Reverie Fragment upgrades (which you can see much better in the high quality screenshots) reads 'Strengthen special battles in the Primal Garden'. The name in Japanese is 始まりの円庭, which looks like a cross between the Primal Grounds (始まりの地) and the Hermit's Garden (隠者の庭園) name-wise.
Oh yeah, might as well mention the other upgrades that we've seen. You can expand the maximum number of Brave Points and Assault Gauge charges, increase the number of Support characters available in the Corridor (this seems to connect to the new Valiant mechanic), unlock Pomtto, increase the number of substitutions in Scramble Raid (not that we know what that means yet) and 'Unlock the Pedestal of Release', which sounds like a section of the Corridor. The name's a bit unclear (解きの台座) so don't be surprised if my translation's ultimately off there.
Actually now that I think on it, I'm preeetty sure Fie does mention a bear-like guy in Zephyr and who else but the killing bear himself would fit that description!
I also can't wait to see the Sky characters' reaction to being in Phantasma 2.0 lol
Also also, I really hope one of the Episodes is Olivier's wedding. Sort of like how the 3rd had that party at the castle as that felt like the epilogue to SC we never got. There's an awful lot of people there, though, so maybe it's wishful thinking.
Yes, Fie mentions a bear-like guy in Zephyr, so another character interaction that has me hyped up. About the trailer, the girl in a box and the way Lapis wakes up reminds me of the SSS's 'first' meeting with KeA. And the Craft that the new 'C' uses at the very end has him launching a sword-rain right into some kind of magical (or arts) gate. Reminds me of Crow's S-Crafts starting with CS3 when he shoots a barrage into some magical gates to spatially transport his bullets to another angle to hit his opponents.
Whatever... probably just a coincidence, or Kondo throwing out red herrings.
And Rixia's shot surprised me. The way her pupils dilated made her look like she was freaking out. But considering who she is, I have to wonder what could make someone like her react like this.
