Yeah, that was a Chapter 2 event so I've already encountered it. Oh boy, I wasn't expecting to see that. I expect floofy will get there on her stream tonight so I'm getting my popcorn ready in advance. xD
Oh yeah, unrelated to that but you'd mentioned earlier looking for signs of Rean's Divine Blade title. I still haven't seen it but I couldn't help but notice that in Spirit Unification, his one S-Craft changes to 閃ノ太刀, which was one of the options his friends were proposing and was of course the Japanese title of Cold Steel. So... maybe a hint?
Well, now I've got a sneaking suspicion as to why there are two Rufuses running around. I guess we finally have our answer as to what Heartless Edgar's relevance was!
Loved the whole section with Olivier. It wouldn't be a Trails game without a dramatic escape from imprisonment. That said, Schera still unplayable? For shame, Falcom! Free Schera, dammit!
And then the climax. I have so many questions. Why'd his eye seemingly summon Tyrfing? He apparently is already aware of the robot, since he yelled its name. So, they've managed to replicate the translocation into the cockpit trick that Valimar had? Where'd it even spring from?
Also, if I may put on a wrestling commentator hat for a moment: BAH GAWD, THE GREAT ONE OUTTA NOWHERE! GOOD GOD ALMIGHTY, REAN IS BROKEN IN HALF!
It was quite an entrance, and I do believe I saw it wielding Ordine's double saber at one point. Presumably it has access to all the DK weapons.
Man, if the other two routes are this climactic, this chapter is a hell of a banger.
Also, when Zeit appeared on the Merkabah, I intially thought, when he was just an offscreen voice, that oh God Barkhorn is finally here xD. Honestly, whenever Gaius is present, and there's an offscreen male voice that I don't immediately recognize, I just start yelling Barkhorn.
Well, floofy got to the end of Rean's Chapter 2 route last night and she reacted to everything about as you'd expect. I clipped two of her table-flip moments, though not the moment
And the Gospel scene, though I couldn't get the first shot and her reaction in the time limit.
Her reaction to finding out who C is was pretty good too. She'd guessed based on his fighting style that it was almost certainly Rufus but the moment of the reveal was still great. xD
SpoilerLate Chapter 2 ReanBefore they said it was a Gospel, I even thought to myself, "well that sorta looks familiar!" I was having all sorts of wild thoughts about whether the Society was finally starting to make use of the Aureole, but is there any indication if this is just somehow replicating the effect of the gospels, or is it actually linked to the Auerole? I know the Society has sold their tech like archaisms in the past, so I could see how it made its way into those mooks hands.
The only thing that really stands out about the 'Gospel R' is that the ones that we saw back in FC/SC were sturdy enough that it took either non-orbal technology and a lot of time or a custom-made orbment to damage the things and Class VII didn't have either of those, but the Gospel broke pretty quickly. Possibly Ouroboros installed some sort of self-destruct to go off if the device was even moderately damaged to prevent people from figuring out what makes it tick? Or maybe they just farmed out the job to a contractor that did shoddy work.
But yeah, I'm operating on the assumption that it's a genuine Gospel, just not as powerful as the models we saw in the Sky games.
I'll come back to your other comment/question/whatever later as I'm still early in Rean's route there. Didn't have time to do much more yesterday than some running around the field doing mapping, getting some experience and trying not to be murdered by frogs.
SpoilerChapter 3 Rean endWow, that certainly went places. It was awesome getting to fight "Arios," even if our team was waaaay stacked against him. What I wasn't expecting was he and Rean's duel to get quite so...anime? I mean, don't get me wrong, I love a good over the top throwdown, but I'm just not quite used to that level of action from Kiseki. When'd Rean suddenly get that kinda leg power? Those were quite some jumps! Still, go figure Falcom bamboozled us with trailer chicanery once again - we all thought he'd be fighting the real deal, not an android, or whatever that was. Speaking of which...Well, now I've got a sneaking suspicion as to why there are two Rufuses running around. I guess we finally have our answer as to what Heartless Edgar's relevance was!
Still waiting on my shipment of Hajimari, but I simply can't resist all the spoilers. Oh well, I never minded spoilers anyway, but I'm really glad to see that Hajimari is so highly praised overall.
I didn't expect them to appear in Hajimari though and I certainly didn't expect these things to have such high combat power. As for that Arios replica, I have to wonder, but wasn't there a boss in CS2 that protects Heidel Rogner's office which was basically an archaism with Arios' combat data loaded into it? And when Class VII demolishes the thing, Rean basically says something to the effect, that it might copy the moves but cannot replicate the soul of the martial-art/technique?
SpoilerChapter 3 Rean endWow, that certainly went places. It was awesome getting to fight "Arios," even if our team was waaaay stacked against him. What I wasn't expecting was he and Rean's duel to get quite so...anime? I mean, don't get me wrong, I love a good over the top throwdown, but I'm just not quite used to that level of action from Kiseki. When'd Rean suddenly get that kinda leg power? Those were quite some jumps! Still, go figure Falcom bamboozled us with trailer chicanery once again - we all thought he'd be fighting the real deal, not an android, or whatever that was. Speaking of which...Well, now I've got a sneaking suspicion as to why there are two Rufuses running around. I guess we finally have our answer as to what Heartless Edgar's relevance was!
Still waiting on my shipment of Hajimari, but I simply can't resist all the spoilers. Oh well, I never minded spoilers anyway, but I'm really glad to see that Hajimari is so highly praised overall.
SpoilerHajimari CH2 endI guess my prediction of 'C's identity (Jusis) is a typical case of so near, but still so far. I mean, the letter 'C' really didn't had anything to do with the given name and even the argument of height, white trousers and general swordstyle ended up being relevant. But man, giving Lianne-murdering-Rufus of all people an atonement arc? Miserable Sinners indeed.SpoilerCH3 HajimariWhen we had the discussion about the Dollknight novels and how Heartless Edgar seemed like a logical advancement of the Kiseki-Android development, I made the prediction that Calvard would be the perfect nation to use these kinds of automated human-replicas. (Limited office terms and constant turnover of politicians, lack of intimate bodyguards for head of states like Mueller or Julia)I didn't expect them to appear in Hajimari though and I certainly didn't expect these things to have such high combat power. As for that Arios replica, I have to wonder, but wasn't there a boss in CS2 that protects Heidel Rogner's office which was basically an archaism with Arios' combat data loaded into it? And when Class VII demolishes the thing, Rean basically says something to the effect, that it might copy the moves but cannot replicate the soul of the martial-art/technique?
Well, floofy got to the end of Rean's Chapter 2 route last night and she reacted to everything about as you'd expect. I clipped two of her table-flip moments, though not the moment And the Gospel scene, though I couldn't get the first shot and her reaction in the time limit. Her reaction to finding out who C is was pretty good too. She'd guessed based on his fighting style that it was almost certainly Rufus but the moment of the reveal was still great. xD
Yeah, I caught up with the stream and it was priceless lol
Edit: Well, here's a funny little callback. I wonder if Falcom intentionally designed Lapis to reference that, or it's just a coincidence.
Still haven't hit the end of Rean's Chapter 3 so I'll avoid looking just in case there's something there I haven't reached, but a lot has suddenly happened in short order.
I also miiiiight have gotten a bit sidetracked on Reverie Corridor shenanigans and the various Episodes therein.
- I need to work on my timing at the watermelon game... and I can see replaying that Episode over and over for all the communication event options.
- The Millium one was adorable at the end. I mean, you know something like this had to happen because by this point you've seen Airgetlam in the present but their reunion was so sweet.
- The Wald/Wazy one was fun, then Noel showed up to ruin the dramatic tension of the fight by beating both of them up in one hit and that was hilarious. Scarlet meanwhile is all 'Wait, I'm the former terrorist and somehow I'm the sane one of this trio?!'
- The Astraia episode was a lot of fun, Musse was clearly enjoying herself way too much (apparently she has a stockpile of Erin drugs on call just in case she needs to force someone to crossdress effectively...) and I'm probably going to ruin some future cutscenes by putting Kurt back in that dress. And we got some tidbits on another Zemurian sait, a surprise reappearance of Spiral of Erebos and another Artifact.
- Hey, an Aina cameo! And she got a promotion too. And Bleublanc stole Schera's dress just so he'd have an excuse to congratulate the pair on their wedding, return some imperial jewelry (that he didn't steal, for once) and deliver a letter from Luciola. I may have teared up a little there...
.
SpoilerEpisodes- Beryl breaks the fourth wall in the quiz game to remind us that Campanella hosted it in The 3rd... dammit Falcom!
- I need to work on my timing at the watermelon game... and I can see replaying that Episode over and over for all the communication event options.
- The Millium one was adorable at the end. I mean, you know something like this had to happen because by this point you've seen Airgetlam in the present but their reunion was so sweet.
- The Wald/Wazy one was fun, then Noel showed up to ruin the dramatic tension of the fight by beating both of them up in one hit and that was hilarious. Scarlet meanwhile is all 'Wait, I'm the former terrorist and somehow I'm the sane one of this trio?!'
- The Astraia episode was a lot of fun, Musse was clearly enjoying herself way too much (apparently she has a stockpile of Erin drugs on call just in case she needs to force someone to crossdress effectively...) and I'm probably going to ruin some future cutscenes by putting Kurt back in that dress. And we got some tidbits on another Zemurian sait, a surprise reappearance of Spiral of Erebos and another Artifact.
- Hey, an Aina cameo! And she got a promotion too. And Bleublanc stole Schera's dress just so he'd have an excuse to congratulate the pair on their wedding, return some imperial jewelry (that he didn't steal, for once) and deliver a letter from Luciola. I may have teared up a little there...
What am I saying, Aurelia would be all in.
I never thought anything involving Bleublanc could be possibly be quite so heartwarming. He's come a long way since SC where he was giving off some rather rapey vibes to Kloe.
That reminds me, earlier in the game there was an NPC with the same model as the guy he was impersonating in CS4. Was it supposed to be him, or the actual guy?
SpoilerEpisodesThat reminds me, earlier in the game there was an NPC with the same model as the guy he was impersonating in CS4. Was it supposed to be him, or the actual guy?
I don't believe so.
Also, Noel is a god damn badass. That is all.
So, the Emperor was a robot, too. Honestly after the Arios and McBurn ones, I called that straight away. I'm a little disappointed by that, as I'd have liked to have seen more of the actual guy. But I guess he really is dead! When you look at his design, it becomes a little more obvious that it wasn't gonna be the real deal. I mean his face is so ill-defined, he almost borders on generic NPC. I guess having his hair hidden by the helmet, doesn't help with that either.
Falcom has also achieved the impossible: they've made me warm to Rufus. The scene between him and poor little Lapis was great and I'm becoming Tsun for him. N-not that I like him or anything.
Unrelated to all this; I thought Tiger Charge was impressive for a craft, and then I saw Divine Crusade. Jesus, Falcom stopped holding back.
One thing I'm wondering about: has it been addressed why the Empire and/or Calvard haven't stepped in to slap fake Rufus around? His forces are larger than I initially realized, but they don't seem like they'd be able to hold off a significant force.
A gameplay thing I've been enjoying is enemies making use of Zero Arts and Craft turns. I don't remember that happening much in the past, but having a boss land on a Zero Craft turn is absolutley hilarious. First time I ever saw it coming up in the turn order I just let him take it, so I could see what would happen. I was not disappointed. On a related note: Zero Craft is so broken, god damn. It's not like it's even rare, either.
Disappointed that I missed Floofy’s reaction to C’s identity. My PSU died so I haven’t had access to my desktop all week.
I finished the game yesterday. The gameplay is easily the best and most balanced of the ARCUS system games. It might even be be hardest game since the 3rd. I’m going to avoid commenting too much on the story until after the spreadsheet is finished since I can’t read moon runes.
Man. I have a gut feeling haji might be my fave trails game or close to it, and no I havent hyped myself up to a new trails release so much since SC for obvious reasons. Though I was looking forward to cs3 more than average and I think it delivered.
Im also dying to know if lapis is the doll you get from that optional quest in crossbell. Sure looks like her.
Do they talk about the twin ghost dolls in that other quest?
Oh boy, I finished all of Chapter 3 last night so it's safe to start reading the rest of these comments.
Speaking of the Lloyd and Rufus routes, Erika going all serious with Agate was unexpected and I wonder how long that's gonna last now that she's rescued. Since her immediate reaction to the rescue was 'How dare you bring my precious sweetie into such a dangerous place!' I'm guessing the answer is 'Not long'. Also, I want to punch Novartis in his smug face very much and I was cheering RoboMcBurn on for at least ensuring he didn't get away with all that data. And Noel showing up to save Lloyd was amazing. I know we got that moment in the trailer but seeing it in-context just makes all the difference.
By the time I got the Rufus party split I'd figured out the scene we were freaking out over with Renne's parents must be another murderdoll stunt and wasn't disappointed, but seeing Renne get deadly serious when she told Novartis to never even think about touching her birth family was a surprise. I almost hope Novartis is that stupid, because I can think of few people that would be better suited to putting Ouroboros' mad scientist out of our misery than Renne. And the scene where Lapis and Rufus run into all those other Lapis dolls was creepy. And then it turned to straight heartwarming as Rufus echoed what Lapis had told him at the start of the Chapter when she asked how Rufus knew which of the many dolls was her. Dammit Rufus, stop making me want to like you!
SpoilerChapter 3 Rean endWow, that certainly went places. It was awesome getting to fight "Arios," even if our team was waaaay stacked against him. What I wasn't expecting was he and Rean's duel to get quite so...anime? I mean, don't get me wrong, I love a good over the top throwdown, but I'm just not quite used to that level of action from Kiseki. When'd Rean suddenly get that kinda leg power? Those were quite some jumps! Still, go figure Falcom bamboozled us with trailer chicanery once again - we all thought he'd be fighting the real deal, not an android, or whatever that was. Speaking of which...Well, now I've got a sneaking suspicion as to why there are two Rufuses running around. I guess we finally have our answer as to what Heartless Edgar's relevance was!
Loved the whole section with Olivier. It wouldn't be a Trails game without a dramatic escape from imprisonment. That said, Schera still unplayable? For shame, Falcom! Free Schera, dammit!
And then the climax. I have so many questions. Why'd his eye seemingly summon Tyrfing? He apparently is already aware of the robot, since he yelled its name. So, they've managed to replicate the translocation into the cockpit trick that Valimar had? Where'd it even spring from?
Also, if I may put on a wrestling commentator hat for a moment: BAH GAWD, THE GREAT ONE OUTTA NOWHERE! GOOD GOD ALMIGHTY, REAN IS BROKEN IN HALF!
It was quite an entrance, and I do believe I saw it wielding Ordine's double saber at one point. Presumably it has access to all the DK weapons.
Man, if the other two routes are this climactic, this chapter is a hell of a banger.
Also, when Zeit appeared on the Merkabah, I intially thought, when he was just an offscreen voice, that oh God Barkhorn is finally here xD. Honestly, whenever Gaius is present, and there's an offscreen male voice that I don't immediately recognize, I just start yelling Barkhorn.
I love how all three groups independently worked out that 'Rufus Albarea' is some kind of robot replica thanks to each of them running into one. Makes the whole chain of 'Your final boss is a doombot' thing work out well plot-wise.
Yes, the Olivier escape sequence was glorious. I'm also certain I heard the strains of a song I've heard before in the music but I couldn't quite recognize where it was from off the top of my head.
From what I can tell, Rean didn't think that would work with Tyrfing and right at the start of Chapter 4 we're actually told it shouldn't have been possible, but somehow happened anyways. Right before Rean thinks that if he had 'him' he could do something and he starts to reach out but in a way that makes it clear he doesn't expect anything to come of it. Then his eye goes all Code Geass on us. It looks like whatever power is affecting him summoned the Tyrfing and gave it a power boost.
Also in that sequence right at the end, Rean gets very blatant flashbacks to the Normal Ending and for a second it sounds very much like he is Normal!Rean before coming to his senses and the emotions he says he just felt sound very much the same. He's clearly no more aware of what's going on than we are at this point though.
And oh yes, suddenly Great One out of nowhere. That was one hell of an entrance and the thing utterly wrecked both the Courageous and a Merkabah with basically no effort, while teleporting around like the Aion Type-Alpha used to be able to do. And I did spot the way it seemed to be summoning the various weapons used by the Knights on a rewatch. I wasn't expecting the trailer song to show up that early, hopefully it's not the final boss theme as well because please oh please Falcom, give us a final boss BGM that hasn't played somewhere else in the game before now. CS3/4 both were repeats and so was the original TX. Don't get me wrong, its a really nice song, I just hope whatever the final battle theme is, it's something we haven't heard prior to that fight.
Oh, not only does it seem to be summoning the weapons of the other Knights but with the more complete look we got of the thing there are other elements that more obviously hearken back to specific Knights. The way the wings attach to the back look like it came off of Ordine while the way the wings themselves spread out is very much an Argreion thing.
I also noticed (and this is probably a total coincidence) that its initial pose followed by the arms and wings unfolding is quite similar to how we were introduced to the final form of SC's last boss, the only element missing is the tail. The initial folded-arms pose also kind of reminded me of the Alpha/Original Weltall from Xenogears, in contrast to unarmed Valimar's combat stance which is taken from the 'normal' Weltall from the same game.
Man. I have a gut feeling haji might be my fave trails game or close to it, and no I havent hyped myself up to a new trails release so much since SC for obvious reasons. Though I was looking forward to cs3 more than average and I think it delivered.
Im also dying to know if lapis is the doll you get from that optional quest in crossbell. Sure looks like her.
Do they talk about the twin ghost dolls in that other quest?
I'll need to go back and check the quest again to make sure the design is the same but I'm about 99% sure that we actually see those two dolls in Imelda's shop while Lapis is running around, so they can't be the same. Actually the twin dolls weren't Rosenberg's work so it's probably more a thematic concept that quest was setting up than a bit of direct foreshadowing.
And I have been loving the hell out of Hajimari so far. The fact that I'm days behind on where I probably should be in the plot can be attributed entirely to how addictive the Reverie Corridor is and how many things the game gives you to do in there, including randomly giving you 'missions' you can do for freebies every time you reset the dungeon. And the way the chest reward randomization works and the enormous character pool encourages multiple runs so you can gear up your characters without having to spend all your mira. The fact that they're only going to be adding more stuff to the Corridor in a month's time is equal parts awesome and terrifying.
Oh boy, I know that feeling of burning through time in the Corridor. I've spent I don't know how long bashing my head against some Pomto opponents. I'm pretty sure Tio's cheating and using the Aeon system to do that ultra combo she used on Jona. It's the only explanation.
Quick question about the end of Chapter 3 of Lloyd's route
Oh boy, I know that feeling of burning through time in the Corridor. I've spent I don't know how long bashing my head against some Pomto opponents. I'm pretty sure Tio's cheating and using the Aeon system to do that ultra combo she used on Jona. It's the only explanation.
Quick question about the end of Chapter 3 of Lloyd's route
SpoilerWas Novartis saying he wasn't involved in building the robots? I got the impression he was saying the technology was beyond him. They've got me all paranoid about who you can trust and who might be a robot, that now I'm wondering if the big tweest will be C is actually the fake.
This actually comes up in both Lloyd and C's routes in the end of Chapter 3.
Anyhow, yes, he admits he didn't make these machines to Lloyd's crew (he abducted Erika and Dr. Seiland because he needed help analyzing the data he was getting) and on Rufus' side we get that the Lapis copies are imitations of Joerg's work but not up to the meister's standards.
And that's a wrap for chapter 4.
I certainly wasn't expecting to ever see Ian again. Interesting choice for Elysium to get in contact with. Loved the CPA dungeon music and playable Arios is just...*chef's kiss.* I was a little confused by how the Emperor robot became a monster, but I guess it's just artifact shenanigans?
Oh, I was very happy to see Duvalie address the C shaped elephant in the room and have it out with our resident obahan murderer. Granted, Rufus burned some of the goodwill he'd earned by cheating, but bigger picture and all that, I suppose. In my mind Doobs won the moral victory if nothing else, since he's seemingly tacitly admitting he can't best her in a straight up duel. He won back a few points with me by saying he'd fairly challenge her again after all is said and done, though.
On a more serious note, I rather enjoyed all the mind-fuckery going on with the mirrors in the castle. It was starting to give off quite a creepy vibe, which is something different for the series. Horror game when, Falcom?
So...Zero no Kishi? I'm guessing we bamboozled ourselves here, as it doesn't seem like it's the Great One at all, unless I'm wrong. In fact, when Rean alter said its other name (that I forget), I could swear he said Gilbert Stein and almost lost it. If Elysium was able to simply...make another Knight, that's a lot less interesting than actually the Great One appearing, but oh well.
I was happy to see how faithful the recreation of the Moon Temple was, but thank goodness those little death wail bastards didn't make the cut.
Honestly, at this point, if they weren't shifting engines, I'd be half convinced they were working on a remake of the Crossbell games with how much they've recreated now. We've got damn near everything, even down to the routes between towns. Just no Downtown. Falcom really keep thumbing their noses at it, for some reason lol.
