I was wondering if the smoke was 'curse gas' like seen at the end of CS3, but I figured that would have been resolved by the end of CS4, and when the camera pans out, you see what looks like wrecked cars smoking soo. I thought it was smoke.
I mean, we thought it was over at the end of CS4 but between that miasma, Rean's left eye acting kinda like Ash's, the fact that Schwarzreaner exists and is sporting that 'Ishmelga Face', Rean's trippy whatever-it-is where he sees Class VII reacting to his Normal Ending fate and that machine at the end that is totally not the Great One's 'true' power... xD
Something interesting I'd completely forgotten, is that Hajimari is apparently taking place in parallel with the next game. At least, according to Kondo from an interview last year that guan mentioned. Given that they seemed to be working on both Hajimari and that in tandem, I'm hoping that they handle it a bit better than CS did (I'm thinking specifically of the Garrelia attack not being referenced at all in Ao). Hopefully they don't come up with a scenario in Calvard no Kiseki that would have obviously been mentioned here, because of how loud and noticeable it was!
News of the attack on Garrelia during the Trade Conference was deliberately suppressed (as Rean's narration immediately after the fact notes) so there's no reason that people in Crossbell should have known about it.
That said, since they're doing work in parallel and seem to be teasing a next-arc character in the LE goodies, I'd feel pretty comfortable predicting that whatever evens are important/prominent between Hajimari and the next game will get appropriate cross-references. Assuming no timeline hax at least...
I get why the average citizen wasn't aware; my issue was moreso with the CGF at Bellguard gate who would have to have seen the guns deploy and then heard the very audible bang of the guns firing the blanks. I suppose you could argue that they were told to shut up about it by their higher-ups, but it still doesn't sit too right with me. I guess I would have preferred if they'd stopped the ILF before they'd actually managed to deploy the guns and just forego the big fakeout in the prologue.
Tbh, it has never crossed my mind until now that the CGF ought to have seen the first Railway Gun deployment considering those two grunts placed at the top of Bellguard who are always on the lookout.
In fact depending on when they were deployed during the Trade Conference (namely in case they were deployed before the second half of the talks), it should have been vital for the Crossbell side to know about it and use that knowledge to their advantage.
The second half of the conference talks was all about Osborne and Rocksmith cornering the Crossbell side and forcing concessions by asserting that their internal security is insufficient and that it took Erebonia (with Red Constellation) and Calvard (with Heiyue) to successfully suppress the terrorists.
Now imagine the way the talks could have gone if Mayor Crois or Speaker McDowell interjected then and there and said something along the lines of:
"You talk about internal security? We just heard from Bellguard that those cannons have been deployed. Considering those terrorists just now and the make-up of those cannons, namely that their only use is to shoot at Crossbell, you sure your most secure fortress hasn't just been hijacked?"
I mean, one of the problems I always had with Cold Steel 1 was that I found it hard to see an overall strategy to all the measures the ILF took over the game. And Garrelia has always been a sore point, especially because when Class VII disabled the cannons, Scarlet said something along the line of 'just as planned/predicted by C". I mean, if that fake-out shot was supposed to ruin Osborne's strategy during the trade negotiations and potentially embarrass the Erebonian government, that would suddenly make it a very brilliant move...
if it weren't for the fact that as JumpyJunpei said this has never been referenced by the Crossbell side.
Yeah, okay, I'll give you that one. It's not explained very well what the ILF was hoping to accomplish, unless you go with the idea that they wanted the cannon attack to fail (like they wanted to appear to have died in their next operation) to lull Osborne into dropping his guard and making a public appearance in a situation where Crow could anticipate and get into position to snipe him. If Gideon somehow succeeds in his part of the plan, all well and good, if not then they wait until the next opportunity.
Got some more updates to the website, with a new wallpaper focusing on New Class VII. Also the Scramble Raid mechanic now has its own entry and some more details. The Wedge of Nothingness apparently is a region blocking you from further exploration and a raid chest needs to be cleared in order to open things up. That your party selection is randomized among your standby members is emphasized but you'll be able to tweak setups before starting, as implied by the earlier screenshots.
They also added character pages for the last round of reveals. I hadn't realized before that Scarlet seems to have switched from her temple sword to a bowgun. Hopefully that's a situational thing because I'd love to play with a character using a temple sword again after The 3rd. Also, there's a shot of Fie and Garcia together.
Huh, this week's update came a day early... and it's Old Class VII-centric.
- Alisa's working towards Crossbell independence with Sharon helping her and she seems to be getting along well with Elie. It sounds like her connection to the Gnomes is going to get some attention so we might get an explanation for that odd comment Kondo made a while back about her heritage.
- Elliot's continuing to tour and also teaching at St. Astraia. Perhaps with some of the crack speculation I've seen around, this will be the game where he unveils his newest composition: The Undersea Melody. xD He's also mentioned in association with an ancient ruin connected to 'a certain person'.
- Laura continues to improve her swordsmanship and is suggested to be helping Rean now that he's lost some of the power he used to be able to draw on. Also she's becoming friendly with Tio and apparently a convert to the Church of Mishy.
- Jusis is continuing his interrupted CS3 work of coordinating with other nobles to find a new path for Erebonia.
- Machias' blurb just talks about what we've already seen with his and Dudley's Episode.
- Elise is receiving training from Orie to improve her swordsmanship.
- Alfin is continuing her outrach to keep things under control in Erebonia while worrying about what's happened to Cedric, and remains her mischievous self.
- One new Episode is confirmed and another we could guess at is made explicit. The latter first, Juna, Musse and someone who is totally not Kurt-in-a-dress are helping investigate a mysterious coma afflicting St. Astraia. The second you can pretty much tell the important stuff about from its name: The Happiness Stone and the Ship of Misfortune. Jingo and her adorable puppy fierce guard dog discover a strange stone that turns the fortunes of her store around. And somehow, Shirley is involved.
- Likewise the article confirms the quiz game we already saw in the trailer (and it's named identically to The 3rd's game with 'Beryl Version' added) so it's probably safe to assume there's gonna be some entertainment value there. Similarly the watermelon-splitting thing we saw is also a minigame and there's another Mishlam-related one mentioned as well involving a banana boat (ie water-sledding).
There will probably be more to find once high-quality scans come out.
One new Episode is confirmed and another we could guess at is made explicit. The latter first, Juna, Musse and someone who is totally not Kurt-in-a-dress are helping investigate a mysterious coma afflicting St. Astraia. The second you can pretty much tell the important stuff about from its name: The Happiness Stone and the Ship of Misfortune. Jingo and her
adorable puppyfierce guard dog discover a strange stone that turns the fortunes of her store around. And somehow, Shirley is involved.
I recall an interview Floofy had with Kondo where she brought it up and he seemed to have almost forgotten all about the happiness stone. Floof confirmed for being responsible for its inclusion in this game?!
It's actually been in all three arcs but your idea is funner so let's go with that. xD
oh, somehow I missed the 2nd last update. Scramble mechanic makes you have randomized party members? niice! That dungeon in CS 3 that suddenly makes you use the entire cast was a blast.. Yeah sure, the effing hour or two of setup took some time, but I enjoyed the dungeon for doing so, and lament that it didn't have more dungeons like that after I had done the prep work for 3 viable parties. Randomized parties for stuff sounds like fun to me in a similar matter without having to do QUITE as much prep work all in one go kind of deal.
Weird how scarlett changes her choice of weapon. I also wouldn't mind seeing other church weapons. I dunno, but I got the impression that they had more than just 2 to begin with, but we see the same 2 all the time it seems (well, unless they just use their fists).
I got spoiled a bit finding out that Saron's loyalty seems to have ended with Alisa instead of Oroborus now, but that's ok, I kinda asked that earlier anyway like a year ago or something.
Laura and the church of Mishy... ugh. That is one thing I hate about JRPGs that Trails suffers from too. They always have to have some kind of weird mascot character that is decidedly not very cute looking that people in-universe make out to be the cutest coolest thing ever or whatever. I really hate it. Then when they DO make something pretty cute, they don't play up how cute it is (flying cats/dragons in Lunar? THOSE were cute!) These mascot things almost always include the most annoying minigames or sidequests too IMO. Ones that seem to assume the player MUST think they are the cutest/funnest thing ever IRL too. Is it just me? Am I going nuts?!
I don't particularly care about Elise still but it would be kind of nice to see her return to Alfin like a personal guard like Mueller was for Olivier since she decides to go zord-train mode. I mean I guess with the way Alfin always teases her, and that Orie is doing the training, this is just too obvious a trajectory. It's just one I think I'd like.
Of course Happiness stone is biggest news. Too vague though, looking forward to the result!
I could be pulling this completely out of my butt, but I could swear I read somewhere that Mishy was intentionally designed to look like a crappy mascot, but he ended being a hit with the fans and thus stuck around.
So, with Hajimari being a last hurrah of sorts for Crossbell and Erebonia, what SAV songs that've never been used before are you hoping for? Personally wishing for Formidable Enemy (hopefully in the Lloyd/Garcia fight!) and Don't be Defeated by a Friend! That hasn't been used, right? Also, the Old School House
I was going to ask what a SAV is but then I clicked a link and was like 'ohh'. To be honest I generally like most normal versions of songs more than their super arrange versions. Or sometimes I like ones that are a mix of 2 versions like this one: (inevitable struggle normal + zanmai)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1olmqeTV82M&list=WL&index=7&t=0s
I mean the SAV songs are good but I generally prefer the normal ones and may prefer a new song rather than reusing one like that. Though I like the SAV song blue... something... the SAV version of the final boss in Cold steel 1
