That's sort of a joke. Basically her fight is one of the "hopeless battles" that don't have to be won. The game basically considers it done if you reach an specific damage treshhold, like with Mcburn. When you reach it her helmet breaks and for the first time in the series you can see her face. AFter that moment you can lose the fight without repercussions (although you can win the battle, just like the Lorence fight from the Sky FC). The helmet breaking is just a visual representation of you actually proving your strenght to her. But of course the joke is that you were actually fighting her helmet and not her. =p
And they make some of the most epic-feeling moments out of all the JRPGs that I've played. I'm not talking about epic cutscenes scenes, I'm talking about how good they are at making you feel pumped to save the day with how they use the dialogue, story, and music. It triggers a "Alright, time to be a hero!" feeling to me. It's so hard to take breaks too since when shit goes down, it REALLY goes down and they hook you into wanting to see what happens next as soon as possible. Kinda makes their cliffhangers all the more painful to deal with when localizations take so long.
I love how despite the song playing for Campanella before you even fight Arianrhod (and Sigmund and Mariabell after), people always associate this song with her.
To this day, I still think the fight in Ao is one of my favorite rpg bosses period. The dread you feel when she could curbstomp you with one attack if you're not careful, the feeling that you're facing the strongest foe up until that point, and finally the relief you feel when you've finally managed to beat her. The Kiseki games have phenomenal foes, but The Steel Maiden might well be the very best.
Omg same, the build up to that fight was phenomenal, hearing of the Steel Maiden across all of the games in name only and her monstrous power that even two of the strongest warriors in Zemuria had a deep respect for her. And after a short but intense fight surviving her onslaught, I cheered so hard when I finally shattered her helmet. I knew i'd be screwed automatically after that, but it was the truest of victories for me.
hard to use arts against her when she literally can access them from literally anywhere on the field and has that annoying ass attack that both cancels arts and inflicts seal
@@whimsicalchronicles8798 This is why on any mode, you have the option to have Lloyd as an 100% evasion tank,raging spin away from your party and you are good to go. With Lloyd tank and a proper quartz setup this fight can be made into a joke ( with good rng and gameplay) Needless to say though, even beatable this is definitely one of the hardest fights in the game no matter the difficulty. Campanella is another story..
Out of all the Trails soundtracks I truly think this song embodies the core philosophy of overcoming adversity. There may be better songs but none will truly fill that "feeling of overcoming turmoil" better than this.
A soundtrack that perfectly encapsulates the boss fight. Its serious opening clarifies the disparity of strength between you and your opponent, the upbeat rhythm motivates you and convinces you that you have a chance. As usual, Falcon's sound guys have outdone themselves.
Then you realize her stats shot through the roof and that your regular attacks and S Crafts are barely tickling her except for Wazy's Akashic Arm and some high level Arts lol. That was hard man. I dunno which I find harder between her and the final boss though. I still found her hard even with an Evasion Tank Lloyd since her Grand Cross can still one shot everybody without Zero Field up.
@@soniablanche5672 I managed to win the fight after retrying a couple of times lol. And yeah, I had a 100% evasion tank Lloyd. I just wasn't aware of the trick to prevent Arianrhod from dashing straight to the backliners yet back then.
@@milesshaw9059 Yeah! That lame boss battle theme against strong enforcers really annoyed me throughout Cold Steel III. Though to be fair, Arianrhod in Ao no Kiseki was much more terrifying and fit the battle theme much more. Can't say why...maybe it's because Lloyds' group seems like the weakest among the main cast of the Trails series so far. Or it's just because in Cold Steel 3 you know that if shit hits the fan, you can pull out some crazy Brave Order combination to turn almost every fight into a joke ^^
@@GReddy-if2pi maybe there is the presence of the principal, which is among the strongest person in the empire, also some of the strongest post class 7 students and their instructor, but then again might be because of the new mechanic hahaha
Too bad Lloyd's setup for CS4 as far I know isn't Brigid (CP) and Sirius (EVA and Insight). I think it was another combo. Could have been a nod from Falcom acknowledging Evasion Tank Lloyd in Ao.
@The Ketsu Try CS2 with those dumb combat practice units. The training that requires evade 5 times. I got 145% evasion but can't evade their tail whip even once. LOL Or try Zero, Trilogy of Sky, I got max evasion 80% with evasion buff (which mean over 100%) but got hit 8/10 times, and each 2 hits KO anyone. By the way, remember to always keep Tio's CP at least 100. (Ao)
When you fight her in Cold Steel 3, it should be an obligation to fight her at the hardest difficulty possible. The entire battle at that point, story wise, revolves around the historic fight that is Arianrhod vs Le Guin. It is in every aspect meant to have been a fight which you know made history. And just as Class 7 learned of Emperor Dreichels and the great war, those two clashing will be remembered just as much in centuries time. It deserves to be that kind of fight that is one of the greatest challenges imaginable and be that historic fight it is meant to be.
Ain’t gonna lie to you. After Azure. The cold steel bosses are easily doable with EVN tank. When she about to do her S crafts just put up all reflection lol. The BP system is broken
it's kinda hard on NM + difficulty mod, as it should be, unlike in the base game. But then, mod makes most boss fights hard enough to actually be enjoyable.
Played all Trails titles so far (playing Kuro right now), I think this one takes it. This is the song that wins it all. When this shit starts playing when you are about to fight her, man, it is impossible to not get goosebumps I swear.
Just finished Trails to azure a couple hours ago and this is easily one of my favorite battle osts ever. Can’t wait to see what’s in store for the Cold Steel games.
you will love it, i play all the series again from trails in the sky until until now in cold steel iv, i'm also starting to save money for hajimari no kiseki + kuro no kiseki
I just finished this battle a couple hours ago, and god it was the longest fight I had in trails (well, with my a-reflex strat that couldn't be a short fight)
Bruh, I was looking through Twitter while this was playing in the background and got a notification that Falcom is following me now. The epicness of that moment, while this was playing, was extraordinary.
In fact, she is voiced by Cherami Leigh in English voice and Aya Hisakawa in Japanese voice. But Cherami's voice is soooo badass, especially her S-Craft quote too.
It just struct me that most tracks in the game plays for the players(even the most epic ones), for this track specifically it definitely plays for arianrhod instead and it really highlights the gap between one another. never been so invested into a fight that has that much of a gap(cannonically)
@@raygaming4306 yeah, she's one of the hardest bosses in Azure, though unlike Cynthia, you only have to drop Arianrhod to 50% HP. Easier said than done, because you will have a bad time without evasion tank Lloyd.
@@buttertoast1146 Hopefully Cold Steel's success overseas will prompt Falcom to release the older games on home consoles. I know people bring up Steam, but I prefer actually having it in my hands and feeling it instead of online shopping.
@@davidtimmer596 yeah, I know alot of Western gamers have picked up the series over quarantine with positive feedback, Im Curren playing SC on steam and it runs at 60 fps it's great
I just got past the part that this plays at and my god that was a difficult fight lol. Really fun though! I had to really pay attention to and manipulate turn order to win. The Crossbell games are really good, I'm not finished Azure yet but I'm near the end and it's been a blast! This is probably the most competent group of main characters I'd imagine in the series, not that Estelle goofiness wasn't great too. But the detectives actually being smart really sells the characters!
It's unfortunate these wasn't played during Arianrhod's rivalry in CS4. I mean, the SAV of Belief is great, but If the 4v1 fight against her played the original song, while the Divine Knight battle played the Evo version of the song, it would probably make this battle one of the most memorable battles in the whole franchise.
This is only music that are amaze me when mixed with original and evo version. I like the original than evo but when you mixed like this is so fcing awesome. Like they complete each other
Falcom really had me fight a helmet in Azure. the moment it broke I'm royally f*cked. (I know she's beatable later, but I think she's retreating after her helmet broke really nice from storytelling perspective)
H-Holy!..damn this gave me goosebumps all over Man I hope the falcom games get the recognition they deserve such great stories,game design and of course soundtracks.. And for you my good Sir/Ma'am You have done a phenomenal job of a mashup!
To be fair, Arianrhod's greatest challenger, Aurelia, ain't half bad looking either. I'm not man enough to handle General/Principal/Countess Aurelia le Guin, but few people are
@@8-bitsarda747 true but i think i arianrhod more cuz u know aurelia seem a bit blank like dont have too much personality other than extremely strong becuz mastered two school style
i don't know what this game is, but THIS THEME GOES SO HARDSGDSHGDSHEGHES (dies) FINALLY, A THEME RECOMMENDED TO ME THAT'S ACTUALLY ONE OF MY FAVORITES NOW :o!
Very true. I also think she was nerfed for plot purposes. She’s a character whose strength is described as end game. But since she was connected to the Erebonia storyline, she had to go I guess. Made me hate Rufus. lol
@@buttertoast1146 I'm pretty much the opposite, started with the sky trilogy and now I'm on trails to azure (although I played cs 1 before the crossbell games) I highly recommend them all.
@@buttertoast1146 there are fan translations. the one for zero is new and really good (here it is geofront.esterior.net/) the one for azure is old and patchy but still serviceable
Yeah that more than anything was kinda the moment where the sense of just about the whole series changed up. All of a sudden your side is not outmatched and being toyed with it became an even fight. Then with the side quest to duel both Aruleia and Victor at once with the result being those two offering only the comment of the party needing only a little further to go, just felt so damn good. All this time and finally we can stand on the same stage as the beasts that have been screwing with the world from the shadows... Then they go and make all efforts to avoid taking a fair fight with the party from then on lol.
@@SolusLupi One of the best things in the Trails series imo. You start as a week young kid and yes, you'll get rekt. Different from every other game where in 1~2 months you go from villager to strongest in the world
Thank you for creating THE BEST EVER version of this AWESOME boss theme! 10/10! :D (This theme is "final boss-quality" boss theme and is VERY fitting for "The Steel Maiden/Arianrhod" as well! :D)
Lianne She lived and died a hero in my eyes, waited 250 years in regret and longing for her Emperor, she would fight the world itself to set his soul free A wise and gentle maiden, with a will of steel
A famous legend during the War of the Lions, Pilot of the Argent Knight, Argreion, 7th Anguis of Ouroboros, Dreichels' lover until her untimely death, mother figure of the Stahlritter, and godmother of Rean Schwarzer.
@@davidtimmer596 I really hoped she could survive and Great Twilight, leaves the fighting and scheming behind and just enjoy life for once. But fucking Rufus has to be a dick about everything.
@@minhvo8009 You do know that if the Great Twilight ends, she would've died anyway, since she's been an immortal for 2 centuries due to her connection with Argreion
@@muppyoktaviawonderchakviii5699 Since some people uses OP Master Quartz, yeah its easy. Personally I try to avoid that. Now wanna a challenge? Search for SoftBrilliant Hard mod, you will not regret.
@@muppyoktaviawonderchakviii5699 Okay, i was playing on Hard with the Mod. Man what a fight. Tried 3 times, and spent like 30 or 40 minutes on the final try. (On the second try I was completely destroyed before even I had turn thanks to Enea Accel Arrow on the Steel Maiden, she can act like 2 or 3 times in a row >.
I just beat Sandlot at the end of chapter III in Sen III and oh boy, what an epic fight that was. That fight coupled with this music was amazing. In my top 3 Kiseki fights for sure :)
The best fight with sandlot is actually in Ao no kiseki. I think it was probably one of the hardest fights in the entire series. The one in sen 3 is easier.
I haven't played Ao and experienced fighting her, but I do understand, both the players' pain from fighting her and also the game's story. Played Cold Steel 3, and it seems the battle is easier because we have a General (Former) in our party? While Ao players have to deal with the mighty helmet lol. Either way, Trails/Kiseki is great series, not to mention its soundtracks also kick ass.
Calling Aurelia a former general isn't doing her justice. She's a fucking badass who mastered both the Arseid and Vander styles of swordsmanship, a badass that turned a school of students into strong military power, a badass who is able to set her own rules wherever she wants, that much a badass that Arianrhod acknowledged her to be stronger than she was in her previous live, and that's saying a lot given that Arianrhod is pretty much the strongest character in the entire series (don't quote me on that, I know there's a lot of characters who true strength we don't know but so far Arianrhod just seems like the most powerful). sorry, I just wanted t say how much of a badass Aurelia Le Guin really is
@@ceettopotat Totally agree! Was minimizing my comment as to avoid spoiling and trying to be neutral between Ao and Sen3 lol. But damn you're right I totally forgot when Aurelia is stronger than Arianrhod was. She may as well defeat that Aion if she chose to. Heck, she even bested her master! Sad only Juno part where we can play as her.
i was surprised that Aurelia + Class VII actually managed to beat Arianrhod + Stahlritters. I knew she was one of the strongest erebonians but never thought she was that powerful. It's satisfying af considering when back in AO, breaking her helmet was the best we could do
Aurelia is a monster, the strongest "normal" human we saw in the series yet, no curse, no magic, just pure skill, strength, and a giant sword, all that while staying graceful all the time The girl is so OP she have to put glass to discrease her vision ^^
My favorite falcom music! (It’s hard because I love so many of them) especially the linkage with fighting an impossible enemy that is so mysterious, powerful and beautiful.
Sorry to spoil it for you, but she has a breakdown in CS3 as she suffers from flashbacks of being pushed into a corner by Lloyd 'spinning top' Bannings and then getting fried from a distance whilst trying and failing to land a hit.
Randomly popping out on my suggestion list I dont know shit what this series are but i can say i fall in love on the first sight with the character and the theme
Trails/Kiseki is one of the best series out there. If you play every game in the right order you'll be saying the same thing, especially when you get to Cold Steel 3, which is the best game ever imo
@@famisepta7308 The Liberl Arc (S.1202 - 1203) Trails in the Sky FC Trails in the Sky SC Trails in the Sky the 3rd The Crossbell arc (S.1204) Trails from Zero Trails to Azure The Erebonia arc (S.1204 - 1206) Trails of Cold Steel Trails of Cold Steel II Trails of Cold Steel III Trails of Cold Steel IV. All of these games are available on PC :D
![Ao no Kiseki OST Unfathomed Force [Original+Evolution] (Extended Ver.)](/img/logo.svg){kind=logo}
