In the future she becomes waifu material and along with Tio they kind of bully Jonah in cold steel, maybe Jonah is starting to become a harem protagonist.
that ~2 minute spoof with arianrhod was fantastic. i kinda wish it also existed as its own thing, because we can't make clips longer than 60 seconds lol.
Fun fact that I didn't notice until I beat it and then saw the ending on RU-vid for a second viewing: Guy will hype up whoever Lloyd's bonding partner is, and if it's a girl encourage Lloyd to continue dating her. I was wondering why so much of the conversation focused on how great of a girl Elie is.
Just a hint for anyone that's going through the final boss fight: if you kept up with feeding Koppe, the mater quartz he gives you, katze, has a 100% chance of absorbing all magic damage, and the attack that the 2nd phase of the final boss uses is magic damage. Since he prioritizes canceling arts, if you equip katze to your caster his AI will be locked into attacking a character that'll absorb the damage
His arts cancelling attack doesn't do damage anyways, but it will place mute on you if you aren't immune, and has a line aoe that will hit characters in front of the caster sometimes. If you are taking damage when he is cancelling a cast, its because he has another damaging attack that does do damage and has zero delay, and its used when characters have buffs on them to cancel the buffs out. He can sometimes use this to cancel out buffs (while doing big damage) and immediately do something else, like cancel a cast. So safest is to just make everyone immune to mute, avoid buffs, and keep casting lowish delay arts.
Ohh, I never knew that was possible (PS: I never used Katze so yea figures). In the end, I still remember being super annoyed by the final boss' arts and skills; ESPECIALLY that certain ultimate skill that makes your team disappear into nothing...
One correction about KeA and her role in Zero/Azure. For those who are yet to finish the game, SPOILER ALERT KeA didn't turn time back. She holds dominion over causality. After witnessing SSS' death in Zero, she basically changed reality, she made it so it never ever happened.
@@Azure9577 I think there is few bits of confusion here. KeA is an attempt to recreate the Sept Terrion of Mirage, who effectively can see and control cause and effect. KeA however was empowered with Space and Time, making her more powerful than the original. What it allowed KeA to do was to effectively be able to alter any event at any point in time to, for all intents and purposes, rewrite reality. The original could only influence what was going to happen. KeA could not only do that, but change what had happened in the past.
The barrier references have forever ruined me, now I have to blast "Get Over the Barrier" every time someone says it. Can't wait to see you in Cold Steel, I'm interested to see how you feel about it playing in release order - the Geofront translations weren't out when I was playing for the first time, so I hopped straight from Sky to Cold Steel which is definitely a different experience.
One thing about Elie is that her true value as a strong member of SSS mostly shows when you pick every one of choice wrong. Then she will turns thing back up on track and corrct your mistakes. However most player tend to pick the right choice if they pay attention to the plot, so .....
I think it's just because Crossbell is more popular now. Now that it's been localized and released on everything save for Xbox, it's the second most accessible arc behind Cold Steel. The games coming to the west means Crossbell's fishing net grew a lot, and ended up catching more fish (fans), so you're gonna get more varied opinions including more negtive ones. Also, as I mentioned in the video, I think it might've been overhype. People REALLY talked this one up, so newcomers might go in hoping to get their minds blown, and they most certainly will. But they may not get blown away to the extent they were promised by other fans and then their disappointment in the game overrides any enjoyment they got out of it because they feel like they've been cheated or something. Game was still excellent don't get me wrong. I think the arcs are probably going for different tones if I had to guess. Sky was more homey and character-focused. Crossbell still had strong character development but you could tell their priority was definitely the geo politics and how each nation interacted with each other. I've been told cold steel and Kuro "feel" different from the previous arcs too. Namely CS being noticeably more light hearted and "shounen" and kuro being darker and more serious. So that's where I got the whole tone thing from.
@@weaponsci Yeah, whenever the expectations are heightened to extremes I feel it makes it almost impossible for them to be met. I played the Crossbel arc after all of Sky and Cold Steel 1&2, and while it was an incredible experience, amongst the best in the series, I was exhausted by the end of it. The game certainly has its faults.
You know, the moments that left me shaken were the apparence of red constellation and the subsequent attacks on the mining town and crossbell, I KNEW Jaegers killed people, obviously, they are mecernaries that's what they do, there's plenty of dead people being referenced through out the sky saga as well, one villian even dies on screen, but seing Shirley just, stab and shoot people and seeing them BLEED was a "shit just got real" moment for me, like, trails really likes to avoid on screen deaths but Azure just said "fuck that, kill them cops" and I actually became scared for the side characters, the grenade scene with Fran was down right horrendous, what I'm trying to say is that this game was fucking great and I loved it.
I personally like your comments for elie. Too many people argue about the weak presence of her since she doesn't have a heavy enough background. While, a character is not necessary to have those background. In both zero and Azure, the family feel of the SSS and the heavy political story cannot leave her in any scene, which indeed confirms she is indispensable for the story and SSS. However, I have to confirm that for the future trail series game, they did not do well in writing SSS members.
1:01:00 At the beginning of Zero, only the 4 members from the SSS were going into the final dungeon, Estelle and Joshua weren't there. Remember how the SSS and the Brights met in the game? Estelle and Joshua were trying to stop some monsters from attacking a bus. I think it is implied that Kea summoned those monsters so that the SSS can get along better with the Brights which ultimately led to them surviving the final dungeon.
If I'm not mistaken, it was Colin going missing that was the extra butterfly effect (literally) that caused the divergence. They rescued Colin, Renne learned her parent's side of the story, and the Brights were extra grateful to the SSS for giving them a lead on Renne.
@@weaponsci Yes, but the OG meeting was the weird coincidence of the bus breaking down at the exact moment Estelle and Joshua had a mission nearby. This less antagonistic meeting endears the two groups to one another since the Brights are the first Bracers who treats the SSS with any modicum of respect. Their second meeting in the guild was accompanied with the rest of the bracers being smug about the Brights being the super duper heroes of Liberl.
I started watching your nutshell and review videos around the time I've completed first Sky game which is probably the beginning of this year's May and since then they alwsays been fun. Even funny moments/walkthrough videos are pretty good and in a way help to keep track of what I found out personally about plot. So yeah, thank you for this pretty big review and I'm surely waiting for Cold Steel videos
As a comfort, Ouroboros never made sense to me either, both as an organization and their plans, whatever the hell they are. Yes, I have played and finished all of the English Trails games so far including Cold Steel 4 but every time Ouroboros talks about some grand scheme they're plotting, I just go "WTF are you talking about?!"
There is a lot to theorize on but ouroboros does a ton of stuff that is often just filler to stall and will have minor effects on the plot, pretty much whenever you hear the word experiment. Their actions and plans speak pretty loudly to their overall goal. Sky makes you think they want the sept terrions but Azure clears the picture more as they had no interest in the much stronger fake sept terrion. We know from both Ragnard and Zeit that there are ancient oaths which bind the holy beasts to non interference while the respective sept terrion remains hidden. This leads us to the running fan theory of the grand master being aidios or at least someone related to her from the great collapse era. Ouroboros is taking back the "gifts given too early" either because freeing all 7 does something or because the holy beasts are important for something. Ouroboros is not evil. Their mission is just too important to play nice which causes them to take antagonistic roles in the games. There is also a bunch of stuff related to zemuria itself and the great collapse which casts big shadows of doubt on religion and the church. Putting ouroboros in a type of rebel role against whoever is ruling the current world order.
It is important with Ouroboros to understand that how it operates is very unusual and as are its goals. It is very much not straight forward. I will say it gets clearer but there are still a lot of puzzle peices missing that only really get hinted at in the late Cold Steel games.
@@luminous3558 there are clearly two sets of goals which is what confuses people. The Grandmaster has a goal and it has been consistent. Watch the appearance of every true Septerrion and after humanity makes their choice, retrieve them if necessary (The Zero Septerrion had a mind of it’s own so they need not retrieve it even if they cared for it). The thing is that the Anguis and Enforcers have a bajillion other goals, like the two Anguis who literally want to stop the Steel Septerrion, or Novartis who keeps getting involved in crap the Grandmaster gives zero hoots about.
9:36 This is why I love Elie and think she's as good as the rest of the SSS just in a different way. She's one of those characters that tries to achieve things in a realistic manner even in a world/setting where crazy anime stuff is possible. I'm not sure if there's a proper character architype or trope for this but the best comparison I could provide is Rossiu in Gurren Lagann.
The closest thing I could find is "Only Sane Man" and this was on TvTropes where they have oddly specific categories for just about everything. A few other examples I can think of is maybe Josette in sky the 3rd. The thief turned deliverywoman fighting demons alongside assasins, royalty, church knights, martial artists, and do-gooder mercenaries will always make me chuckle. Possibly Rock Lee, and unlike something like MHA or Black Clover he isn't the main character so the whole "I'm at a huge disadvantage because I don't have powers" actually holds weight. That's all I can think of atm. I'm kinda drawing blanks rn.
@@weaponsci Another example I can think of is Zack in FF VII Crisis Core. He is the most sane person in the game. Everyone around him is nuts and crazy things happen all the time
Don't forget Elie is not a fighter but a politician at her core. Sadly, this is a fantasy game and not a realistic one where she can flex her abilities as a politician. But i can see her shine in later games as a side character with a leadership role. Also, i like her looks the most of all Trails girls. She mature and cute at the same time...hard to balance that.
It's such a shame that Vids like this can't be recommended to those who haven't played because it provides all the reasons why but yet knowing it spoils the experience
43:31 I might be misremembering but I thought that KeA seemingly knowing everything was because she can literally see into and alter the future when she fully awakens her powers, and it's heavily implied that she has some latent form of that even before she fully awakens on top of that and for Super Saiyan KeA, I don't know if you've beaten Xenosaga but that comparison isn't too far off, and not just from her design either
Wonderful video, beautifully said. Crossbells second half really ramped up the crazy during those final chapters. But I really enjoyed this game. And yeah, Cold Steel shows the Erebonian side with lots of things you learn about Ozzy. He sadly loses his cat beard due to no longer being chibi. And you meet a bunch of Dilfs in Cold Steel due to the School setting. And Harem Boi. And new gameplay mechanics. Back to Azure, KeA changing causality did save the SSS and herself in the process. Crossbell also becomes more important again in the second half of Cold Steel. I haven't played that yet, so I don't know how. But the credits of Azure? They are spread throughout 3 more games if you don't count the first half of cold steel. I love Wazy and Rixia and had them in my final party. I find Noel a tad boring. And I felt so bad for Randy during the Finale, because he was just so useless. Status effects and most of his attacks are very useless during almsot all of the Bosses and Rixia is better than him in all accounts. But the final boss is a whole other story, I guess. Especially if you play on hardmode. I played on easy, because I'm bad at videogames. But I also feel the withdrawal symptoms. I want to jump into Cold Steel 3 but also play Crossbell again for the Reverie Bonuses I heard about. This series really is a rabbithole you never get out of. What have we done? I guess the only thing we can from here is to play at our own pace and just have fun. I hope you have fun with whatever you're currently playing.
Another great video, man. I'd love to see you stream Cold Steel! When I first started watching you go through these games, I had just finished FC. So it's been cool playing them alongside the videos, despite me eventually going and beating CS1 anyways because like you said, them Trails withdraws be hurtin' LOL
For the final boss, I found a way to cheese it after many hours. When it charges an attack, don’t impede it. It needs 2 turns to use it. After you don’t impede it, he’ll do literally nothing except use that attack the next round. From there, just keep spamming arts like speed and attacks. The only other thing the boss will do is cancel one of the arts. From here, just keep continuing because the final boss will be stuck trying to cancel arts instead of getting to use the attack it charged up. This works for the entire fight.
Great video man. The thing that makes these games so special is that there are all of these little connections that reward the player for going out of their way to see everything. Like how crazy is it that Reigns is affiliated with Alan Richard? I love stuff like that. The game does a great job at balancing so many different plot points and types of storytelling too. From the political intrigue to evil cults to mechs to gods and time manipulation. It's insane how one game has all of that and still somehow manages to keep things grounded in a way that makes sense. There's no other series like the Trails series.
I recently played Zero and then Azure on the switch and I am still in awe of how great they are. I didn't think I'd ever recapture the magic of what it felt like playing Chrono trigger, FF6-9, legend of Dragoon, luner 1/2 and many others as a kid in the 90s. I've had plenty of great gaming experiences as an adult but these two games drew me in so entirely in a way modern JRPGs don't seem to do anymore. The dialog and characters are so full of charm, the anime tropes that they do implement are either subverted or just done to perfection and most of all the storytelling and pacing are masterful. They completely nailed the escalation of tension, all of zero is like the slow climb of a rollercoaster reaching its zenith right at the end. Azure is a full on free fall, having had so many interactions with all the people of Crossbell it legitimately upsets when the town is in peril I love Crossbell and it's citizens so darn much. I hope someday we get a Guy Bannings prequel or better yet a direct continuation of this story. I tried the Cold Steel games made it all the way to halfway through #4 chasing the magic I felt from zero/azure but they mostly left me feeling frustrated and annoyed. Oh well! I do intend to finish #4 eventually so I can play trails into Reverie, I hope the writing in that game is closer to these than it is Cold Steel.
I've beaten sky trilogy and crossbell duology recently, truly peak fiction and I've been watching yr videos on them for the last couple of days I really enjoyed thanks man I don't remember when was the last time I've watched long youtube vidoes. Keep up the good work I will come back later to yr channel when I finish cold steel ;)
That was quite the review! I agree, the story does get turned up to eleven by chapter 4 and the ride just does not stop! And yeah, that boss fight with Arianrhod and the final boss really made me sweat. I even had to restart a few times fighting the former, you have to use every bit of cheese at your disposal. The latter I miraculously got down in one try, but only because I knew about the arts thing. Still, me during that vanish shenanigan really was that sweaty gamer clip in a nutshell. Speaking of nutshells, hope you're continuing the ' trails in a nutshell' series as well? I really enjoyed its humor! It's like a quality abridged series.
if there is any chance, if ever, that I could have the meme segment about the Arianrhod fight in a nutshell that would be the perfect way to communicate to anyone who doesn't play the series the most accurate representation of that fight! XD.
Amazing work on the video. It was more than worth the wait. About Elie... (SPOILERS!!!!!!!!...I think?) I think my issue with Elie was that she was too mature right from the start, leaving her little room for character development. This kind of thing unfortunately has a tendency to make characters seem boring, at least relative to the other characters. It didn't help that she gets less focus than any of the other main characters (barring maybe Noel, who also could've used a little more time in the spotlight, or at least a rival), so it really did feel like the writers didn't really do much with her outside of her "mom" role, despite her background actually giving her a lot of story potential (barring the political stuff she could've been a bit more involved in, we never really learn how she already knew about Ries and the Gralsritter) And do note that I say this as someone who actually likes Elie. P.S. With Tio, I'm mostly okay with her lack of presence in this game, if only because she had more than enough in Zero. And Dudley was never really a main character, so he's fine. P.P.S. On a different note, I already voiced my issues with the backstories locked to optional events and Ian turning good a little too easily, so I won't go there again. I would, however, like to point out that Ian surviving that attack felt a little weird to me. In any case, I once again look forward to your future Trails content whenever you feel like doing them.
Yeah. Have to agree with that Ian surviving thing. We never see the lasting effects of Arts use outside of battle and, I’m sorry, but three massive energy lances through you would put you in suspended animation. A permanent suspension of animation just from the blood loss.
Regarding the official English versions of Zero/Azure it is true that they are based on the Kai versions however there is a major difference between the PS4 and PC/Switch versions of the official NISA localization: the PS4 version is pretty much just Kai with an English script while the PC/Switch versions are full remasters made by PH3, an Austrian studio founded by the legendary Durante. They were the ones who improved the originally subpar Cold Steel 1 PC port and have worked on porting other Falcom games since then. The PH3 versions of Zero and Azure feature completely remade textures, upscaled sprites and other graphical enhancements all of which make the game look drastically better than the Kai version. They also added quality of life improvements not present in the Kai version. I have no idea what Falcom was thinking when they decided to not release that version on the PS4. With that being said the PC versions are the best ones since not only can you play them at 4K (which helps with aliasing present in some scenes even if you max out the anti-aliasing setting) but you can also use mods to add quests and music from the Evolution releases. AFAIK the reason why official localizations don't feature any content exclusive to the Evolution versions is because of some kind of issue between Kadokawa Games who published them and Falcom, however I wasn't able to figure out what that was. The only reasons that I can see to play the PS4 versions are: 1. You really want those PSN trophies. 2. You want to play Reverie on PS4/5 and want to import your Azure save which AFAIK doesn't work across platforms. Regarding the time limit in the fight against Sigmund you do get bonus DP depending on how much health he has by the end of the fight (including if you defeat him). One trick to make the time limit a lot less of an issue is to set the battle turbo speed to its highest setting and use it for the entire fight along with the cancel button to skip all of the attack animations. This is because the timer runs in real time and is not impacted by turbo or skipping animations. Also a small correction regarding the IBC in chapter 4: you can still access the higher sepith exchange rate as the NPC is relocated to Orchis Tower.
Small correction: Mirage, despite the name, isn't exactly the element of the non-existent, it's more tied to cognition and consciousness. It pops up every time when thaumaturgy affecting the mind is afoot, plus it's the element you consistently find the confusion arts in. Also gives a neat bit of extra significance to the name "Silver Will" I suppose.
I just finished the game, and my main disappointment about Elie was that i wanted a bit more payoff at the end. SPOILERS We got her dealing with Ernest turning out evil in Zero, so when two other people she considered family suddenly turned on her as well (with Mariabell really showing no qualms at all about what she was doing), I expected her to have more to say to them. We got great convos between Wazy and Wald, Rixia and Shirley, Randy and Sigmund... But the when it came to face Bell, it was mostly just Elie saying "Bell..." and looking sad, and then afterwards saying that she stayed true to herself...which fell a bit flat to be when Elie really hadn't done much to learn who Bell really was after learning she'd been deceived for so long. That being said, I absolutely adored the game and can't wait to start Cold Steel!
@@weaponsci It's not universal... but some characters will suffer from the same problem in the future, yeah. I wont say who or how that affects my view of them to avoid influencing your experience but I will say there are some characters that really needed the love and did not get it as a consequence of doubling down on the "exclusive" essential character stuff
@@weaponsci Cold Steel has one advantage as it allows you to see more character's bonding event than just one. Infact, in the new game+ (if you can get a completion save) you can enable something that allows you to do all the character's bonding events (apart from romantic ones). That said, I would prefer if it wasn't something you need to play through once to unlock and the cast is substancially bigger meaning it takes a lot more time to get everyone's bonding events done.
This last boss...its the only boss so far in this entire series that I lowered the difficulty on in order to beat. By the very end you saw 99% of the fight so I didn't feel bad for doing a difficulty drop in the interest of saving time.
Fun fact in the new official patch versions the Achievements for the Bond Ranks ONLY IN AZURE show you how close you are to maxing the bond with said character ON THE ACHIEVEMENT Noel takes the most, Elie takes the second most.
I'm low key surprised that Glenn, right before he died, didn't had a moment where he felt like he "should" of killed the sss and something wasn't right in a deja Vu sense
Small thematicc spoilers: 42:43 A small note of pronunciation/spelling: Demiourgos, not Demigoras. It actually matters as the name is a reference to the Demiurge of Gnosticism of which the whole DG cult is based off of. Its a cocept explored by many JRPGs, most notably Persona 5 and kinda-sorta in the Xeno games, though those are more on Gnosticism as a whole rather than just the Demiurge.
wait, WHAT?! Wazy's origin story was behind optional content? how the hell I was supposed to know that, no wonder I was so confused about his stigma and his past, waiting the game to explain it to me lol
Lol, funny thing is after i finish the game, i realize there is a accessory with vanish immunity which can actually ignores the last vanish attack by the final boss lol.
Er, KeA was created hundreds of years before the game even began. The Alchemists gave her to the Cult five hundred years before and placed her in an sleeping chamber under the Sun Temple where she’d collect information through the Cult’s experiments (yes, the cult is THAT old). She would have remained there too, except of course a certain bad guy sent her to Remiferia and kickstarted the events of Zero.
Well, you can just mod the steam versions, and very easily at that. That choice also lets you decide whether you want _all_ the Evo changes or only some. I, for example, only added voice acting.
(Sorry for my late comment, I had to find the motivation to write it, procrastination is a bitch😓) Yay!!! The king is Back. Great review also, that seemed like a lot of work honestly, good job, you deserve break. - About your opinion on the game, it's honestly really refreshing to see; I'm sure you know already since you're following me and a part of the fandom on Twitter, but since Azure came out, a lot more people started expressing their disappointement toward it, how it wasn't that good and that it was the weakest trails game; so now it's either it's kino or it's mid, no in-between; so you saying it was great even if a bit overhyped was quite the unique take that I greatly appreciate ( Funny how you point out that the pacing is pretty good; because some people are saying now that the pacing goes too fast and doesn't let the character develop; a bit ironic for a series in which the main gimmick is to be a slow burn). - Now, to dissect the points you made in your video. Good idea for the Legend of Heroes segment of the video, I recommend you keep it around for Cold Steel because the cast of these game is massive, you're going to have fun with that XD. - Lloyd (and the SSS)'s relationhip with KeA was pretty great in this game indeed, the SSS wanting to protect KeA at all cost from all threats ends up backfiring on them because they didn't pay attention and didn't listen to the one directly concerned by it: KeA herself. She was troubled numerous times in this game and she didn't want to bring it up with the SSS to protect them or for their own good, which is why she decided to work with the antagonists; though the SSS isn't the only one at fault here, KeA also is to blame because she preferred keeping her secrets for her by fear of being hated instead of trusting her family that they won't abandon her after they know the truth. That's the lesson people: Let your child express themselves, don't be a mother hen by constantly brooding him; and most importantly, if you have a problem, talk to people, don't keep it to yourself, it will only be worse for you in the end😁. - I completely agree with your opinion on Elie; Characters like her tend to always be relegated to mid-tier compared to quirky characters like Estelle or one with a tragic backstory like Joshua or Tio; when they serve another role just as important: the role of the normal person. With Lloyd, she's probably the most normal one of the group and she's always there to support them through their trials and tribulations, like with Tio when she revealed her past in Zero, and here again with Randy in Azure. She's also of course our gateway to understand Crossbell's situation and politics, as she's the one who studied it extensively, has connections in its governement through her grandfather, and also, as one who's family was torn apart by that same system. Though I won't agree that Elie's sole issues in this game was Earnest and the politics; there's also the crois family, a family she's been friend with for years and considered Dieter like an Uncle and Mariabell as her best friend (and the politics also ties her stronger to Dieter and also to Grimwood due to their differing ideas on how Crossbell should obtain true independance). - TIo does indeed don't have much here to say because her personal issues were resolved at the end of Zero with the Cult. but it's not a bad thing per se, not all characters will have the same ammount of relevance in all points of the story, it's not a big deal. - Randy does Indeed have way more to develop here, we managed to see a glimpse of it in Zero, but Azure kicked that door wide open, the Red Constellation coming to Crossbell is literally his past coming back to haunt him, with Shirley, but most of all Sigmund, as personnification of his former life that he tried to reject with all his might coming to Crossbell by hiding his blade rifle with an acquaintance and by vehemently refusing to fire a gun in CGF training and sticking to his stunhalberd; until he tried to cast away his current life and settle things with his former one and dust off his Berserker. And following the group forgiving him for what he did and accepting his past, he can confidently stand up to his past while acknowledging it instead of denying it like before, which is why he can wield his Berserker in battle in the finale alongside his stunhalberd: his past and present forged who he is today and he can walk to the future alongside his comrades. - Noel is a bit of a fun one, because she's the representation of Crossbell, both narratively and in the meta; because since the official translation was released, she's either loved or bland, no in-between just like the game XD, it's a funny coincidence. But yeah, as you said, while Elie is the one most well versed in the politics of the state, Noel is the most patriotic of the party, she loves Crossbell and will do anything to protect it (even turning against us in the finale), as a CGF officer, she's the one who is the most aware of the reality and dangers Crossbell faces every day, being on the border an all (even more so by having lost a father due to these dangers, which will convince her to do what must be done); and her idea of justice and doing what's right really gets challenged toward the end of the game. - Wazy is indeed someone who is quite mysterious and doesn't have much of a presence narratively until the endgame (quite like Olivier in that regard); his main conflict in the game is with Wald, with whom he held quite a relationship with in Zero until he decides to leave it behind in Azure to join the police, to the dismay of the latter; and when he tried to put an end to it, he did so the way he thought was best, which ended up backfiring on him as he created a new threat, forcing him to do things properly this time at the end when he doesn't have his Dominion undercover to worry about and can exert his full potential. I understand the problem with his backstory locked in bonding events and I agree that it's a bit ridiculous; but his backstory isn't all that important for Azure's story compared to Randy or Kevin; Randy's past was heavily hinted at during the main game and can be sufficient on his own since you can fill the gaps yourself, and the final bonding event rewards you by giving you the full story; the comparison you made with Kevin is not really apt because all the deal with Kevin in Sky the 3rd was that the obtention of his Stigma is heavily related to his trauma, which is the entire reason for the existence of Phantasma in this game,and the thing Kevin needs to overcome (Both mentally with the help of Ries, and Physically as the final boss); whereas the Story of Wazy obtaining his stigma was not something hinted at in-game (except at the fortune-telling house I think) and in the end, doesn't really change anything on how we see his character and on how he developped; as he himself said, it's just a story to pass the time, just a bonus, it's cool to know indeed, but not strictly necessary to understand his character(a more accurate comparison would've been if Sky had Bonding Events, and Olivier's final one was him telling his backstory: A cool details to know, but not that relevant to the plot of Sky). - Rixia is awesome, and is loved by everyone in the fandom, even the mid azure fans considers her to be the best character in the game. I will reiterate what I said in the funny moments that if they didn't revealed Yin's identity as Rixia as Zero and instead did in Chapter 3 here, she wouldn't have been as awesome as she is now. Her double facade is what makes her character work, alongside making us aware of things the characters don't, which also add the tension of having her identity revealed and her life ruined (which happened and making her break contact with everyone and her fearing what the Arc-en-Ciel troupe will think of her). Her story with Ilya is quite similar to the one with Estelle and Joshua, while also being different enough to not having the feeling of being rehashed. And like Wazy, I will also say again that her backstory locked in the final bonding event is not that important to understand her character and serves well as a bonus; Rixia's story arc effectively starts when she arrive in Crossbell and meet Ilya, Sully and Arc-en-Ciel, and what we learn in-game about Yin is enough to figure out her past. Her bonding events serve more to learn about her life before Crossbell, how Yin managed to be seen as Immortal, and the relationship with her father (which the latter was only mentionned once just after the battle with Arianrhod, and so just before said bonding event); which was really touching indeed, but again, was not obligatory to her story arc. You remove all the bonding events and i'm sure the story still hold itself pretty well. - Not much to say on Dudley, like you said, he's more the representation of the CPD; in Zero, he's the representation of the part of the police department who want to deliver justice however they can while being bogged down by the Corruption of the state; while in Azure, he's doing the same during Dieter's dictatorship with Sergei by secretly working against this situation. He's not particularly profound and is more of a secondary character made playable than anything else (I still like him though).
- The Lore of Villain is a great Idea as well, and I suggest you also keep it in you pocket because Cold Steel also has plenty of them XD. - Earnest is indeed quite a wrap-up to the DG shit of the last game, not much to say that you didn't already say, NEXT! - You're putting Osborne on the list as well ? I agree that he's quite the villain during his appearance in Chapter 2, but I feel like you included him, you should've placed Rocksmith here as well, both of them served the same role in the story and are quite threatening but for different reason. Anyway, I'm looking forward to see your opinion of the Chancellor when Cold Steel comes around. - Ouroboros as a whole in this game tooked a back seat while cooperating with the actual antagonist of the game, rather than SC where they were the main threat. They're all as elusive as always and Arianrhod traumatized everyone who played the game, and we don't know what the Phantasmal Blaze plan entails; To be continued in Cold Steel. - The Red Constellation in this game serves the role of henchmen, and are (beside Ouroboros) the only group in the game that you know is going to be evil and a threat the moment they are introduced (You even described them as "superior Revache"). What makes them more interesting than the usual henchmen is their personal relation to Randy (and for Rixia in the case of Shirley), as well as the overall mystery revolving around their employer due to them being Jaegers mainly motivated by Mira. I already said it last time, but the deal with Sigmund is that he doesn't want to become the War God, both he and his daughter are ogres, their job is to run around the battlefield and follow the command of the leader, the War God, the one who's commanding the troops and doing the strategies; Baldur (Randy's father) was as strong if not stronger than Sigmund, but that doesn't mean the War God needs to be stronger than the ogres, it's more the strategy capabilities that metters here. The whole problem with Randy (and it's made clear throughout the game) is that he's running away from his past, his responsibilities and his nature, he didn't settle anything when he left the corp, he just straight up deserted; which is why Sigmund wanted to drag him back to become the War God as he's fitted to succeed his father in this role due to passing the test; it's only when he comes to term with it, admit and face his past alongside his allies and prove to his uncle with force his decision and path that he finally backs down and respect it, and that despite his definitive refusal to lead the corp; the way he choose to live his life now, his father won't look at him in shame. - Shirley is quite the character; despite being affiliated with the Red Constellation, her attitude flip-flop like a weather vane and greatly lacks maturity, just like a kid, and that's because she IS one, she does mundane things as well as inhumane things with the same candor as a child and asking what's wrong with it XD. You described it pretty well with the parallel with Rixia and Randy, who realized the horrors of this life, whereas Shirley embraced it, being soaked in this environment since she was young and feeling joy of killing people (Rixia's parallel is greatly pronounced here, as Rixia didn't feel anything in killing, which is what gother out of this darkness; by her own admission, if their situations were reversed, she would've become like her). During the game, Shirley search a rival and find one in Yin/Rixia, with whom she notices immediately that her focus on appearances and disguise hold back her potential, and will jump on the occasion to provoke Rixia into a battle to the death with her by gravely Injuring Ilya and breaking her spine. And in the end, not getting what she wants with Rixia's refusal to her battle to the death and beating her with the power of friendship (literally XD), which is something Shirley can try to learn for once as she (probably) didn't had a single friend outside the corp, and maybe Ouroboros will provide these answers. - Wald, Wald, Wald; here's a villain born as a result of our protagonist's failures. Wald was none too pleased about Wazy joining the police after all their rivalries for 2 years, and while Wazy had a point about the Saber Vipers and Testaments not lasting forever, his resolution was terrible. In a duel between them, Wazy made use of his full force (without stigma) to strike down Wald and settle things with him once and for all; but Wald absolutely did not see it like that and picked up on the fact that Wazy's been holding back on him the whole time, leaving him really dissatisfied and betrayed and his hunger for power fueled by his desire to get revenge at him. Which is when he got contacted by Mariabell and got what he wanted: Power, from inside himself, released with the help of blue pills and becoming a demon, which he doesn't mind as long as it gives him the strength to defeat Wazy; his obsession for power blinded him to the point of destoying the place he once called home and severely injuring his gang, which is why he had to be stopped in its tracks; and that's what Wazy does by releasing his stigma and defeating him despite his demon power, proving that his brute strength is but an illusion and that he has potential if he uses the right methods of training. I know many people don't like him and his singular focus on Wazy during the story, but like you, I liked him, not my favorite of course, but still. - Dieter, or the Richard of the Crossbell games. No seriously when you think about it, Dieter is Richard is he managed to get the hand on the Aureole. A villain that has politicals reason for orchestrating this plot and uses the sept-terrion to create a new world order to stop pointless conflict between nations, especially Crossbell's. Homogenize his vision of Justice and forces everyone to acknowledge it. The ramifications of the decisions he tooked under Crosbell's name are profound and are what led to the ending of this game. - Mariabell, or the Weissmann of this game (ironic, as we already had a Weissmann lite in the last game XD). But yeah, as Dieter took care of the public side of things, his Daughter took charge of the behind the scenes details, notably all the alchemy, ceremony, drug dealer, and KeA. She's someone who's willing to go to the deep end for the sake of her research on Alchemy and finding its Ultimate form: Ars Magna. And like you said, she even took the spot of Weismann at Ouroboros, making her even more Weissmann 2.0. - Arios, the Loewe/Cassius of Crossbell. You stopped calling him one thing to say the other, but he's actually both of them. The protector of Crossbell at any cost, even if it means spitting in the face of Aidios; his reasons for joining this project are extremely personnal due to the numerous accidents (like his wife and Shizuku) and suffering Crossbell endured over the years due to their neighbours, much like the mastermind, and you mention it as well when we get to his domain, he's someone chained by his guilt and every step further he made into this plot is one he can't go back from. - And Grimwood; his main problem is the lateness of the reveal the lack of screenrime he had in the game afterwards; but I don't see how they could've done much more than what we got,while still keeping the "late-minute plot twist Villain" trope of police crime drama, which was clearly the intention with us having to investigate and following an intricate TRAILS (hahaha....) of clues in order to figure it out early; I personnally liked his character even if it was lacking a bit. Anyway back to the character, he has the same motives as Arios, he started this project due to his wife and children dying in an airplane crash (the same one that tooked Lloyd's parents), so extremely personnal, he could've had every reasons to follow the same path as Dieter and go apeshit on the Empire and Republic, but instead chose the path of the ideal world using KeA in order to rewrite reality. I know people don't like him folding too easily, but I feel like people just want characters to stick to their principles to the end even if they're bad and not characters having a change of heart or just had enough and want to end it; but grimwood was shown to hesitate in his plan a few times, notably in Pete's letter; Guy's death also affected him greatly, especially after he considered inviting him into the plan before realizing he would never accept what he and Arios are doing; and Lloyd, Guy's brother, rebuking his excuses is just the straw that broke the camel's back and decided to step down of the project. Again, I know many people would've preferred him sticking to his convictions, But I feel like it wouldn't have made sense for his character.
- Ok, now to the story plot. You kinda brushed aside Chapter 1 of this game, and while I agree that that there's not much payoff here, there's a bunch of setup and cool moments: like getting out own car; or the introduction of Shirley and Sigmund who are both memorable in their own right; Ouroboros being back; and the whole deserted mine incident, with the mystery of the cave-in done by explosives, and the foreshadowing of finding a cryptid in an environnement with the higher elements active, a well as a spot of pleroma grass, way before you find the corremation in Chapter 3 hours later. Don't sleep on Chapter 1, it has good stuffs in it despite its length. - Though I agree the West Zemuria Trade Conference is a BIG part of the game; the peakest of Politics no Kiseki to date, a bit more details on Gnosis with an ACTUAL pharmacologist that isn't related to a cult this time, and the greatest battle of all mankind: Lloyd VS Campanella in Pom Pom Party in a burning room, it was legendary; and all of chapter 2's beforehand serve to setup the events occuring during it . This part really hammers to you the Crossbell's problem and its details, details that were forst brougt up in Sky SC for the signing of the non-agression pact; and I see you understood better the problem on how the situation with Crossbell and the accusation of the major powers toward their defense system is unfair due to them causing these problems in the first place. I don't need to say more, you resumed it pretty well honestly XD. - I don't have much to say on the Intermission either; except maybe the fact that certain conversations with the fortune-teller (or in the castle of mirror as well) have some great foreshadowing for events that happens later in the story, and that in some conversations (notably Ilya and Sully), you get to learn the fortune-teller's past, solidifying the fact that it's luciola (though, someone who didn't play Sky would have no idea why that was necessary XD); Lloyd confronting Rixia's sad smile and Rixia semi-confessing to Lloyd about her past and nature (which made Lloyd suspicious of Rixia, leading to him not being surprised at the reveal); and another plot significant event is the first foreshadowing of one of the biggest plot twist in the game. - Chapter 3 goes down a bit at the beginning, but rises crescendo gradually until the end where it explodes and its on fire, literally XD. There's first the Cryptid Investigation, a follow up of the end of Chapter 1 where we learn that the Dragon or Chimera (Or celestial like you say) was in fact a Cryptid; and that the blue grass near them was the cause of their appearance and the higher elements (something that was also present at the depth of the deserted mine that can notice on a NG+); and learning that the blue grass is in fact the Pleroma Grass, main ingredient of Gnosis, a plot point of Zero that comes back. And then there's the doll studio investigation, where the meister catch up our character on what we already know about Ouroboros's plans, the train derailment case, leading to the discovery of Wald being demonized and getting Gnosis from an unknown source (following up on our discovery of the Pleroma Grass the day prior). Then the Missing bracer case leading into the Marshlands, the source of Pleroma Grass and the reserve Joachim used to mass produce Gnosis; the confrontation with all the members of Ouroboros in Crossbell; and the reveal of Yin being Rixia (I won't go into details again, I talked about it extensively in her character part). And then it goes overdrive with the Red Constellation disappearing an reappearing in the Mainz Mountain Path after taking Mainz Village hostage; Randy deceiving the group and going out to confront them personally, the rest of the team chasing after him; and the first confrontation with Shirley, and afterward with Randy where he completely drop his jovial and playful attitude and laid it out in front of everyone (which the first time, you mistakenly deduced that he killed Lloyd's brother, because he killed "a guy" XD). And then the chapter ends with Crossbell on fire; the game could have ended here if they wanted to go for a cliffhanger honestly. - I like to compare Chapter 4 as a typhoon; the craziness is mostly packed at the start and at the end, and in the middle you have the eye of the typhoon, where you have a calm moment before everything goes back to crazy. I first would like to point out that it wasn't "Half" of the Red Constellation, Randy said at the end of the previous chapter that they were only around twenty in Mainz when they were a hundred of them when they came to Crossbell, to show how much a threat they are with not even a quarter of their workforce; so it would be more accurate to say 20% of the Red Constellation was in Mainz while the other 80% went to attack Crossbell. Shits blowing up everywhere, fights around all corners, and again, powerful power play to blame on Erebonia; a last day of respite with Support request and hospital visits, with Noel oficially leaving after the damage done to the CGF, and Wazy also leaves unofficially (though, you say it like he announced it to the group, but he just took off without telling anyone the day the Independance was proclaimed XD). And then we're back into the fray immediately after with Dieter's decisions and announcements over the week, the newspapers and the music alone are enough to make you feel uneasy about the situation (which makes it more hilarious when you first thought it was good news XD). You resumed the situation with Dieter pretty well; he's not wrong about some things, like the ridiculous freedom the Empire and Republic has over Crossbell (like the situations in Zero regarding Foreigners; the sidequests involvoing the assholes of the Verne Company and their fancy car; and the fact that even if it's Dieter who did all the things in the second half of the game, both major powers could've done the exact same thing as well, there was a reason why this was so convincing) but he deliberately orchestrated all of it in order to manipulate the citizens into going along with his ideals, and it worked. You skipped the part of Lechter and Kilika announcing to the SSS their non-involvment with RC and the sudden invasion announcement XD (which you already mentionned beforehand so it would've been repetitive I guess) .Btw, it's not confirmed, but I suspect that Lechter was in the Don's room in the Revache building because it was a sort of underground bunker, meaning it wouldn't have been affected by the railway guns if they decided to shoot it. And then the Revelations occur, though If I may, the D∴G Cult was not a part of the Crois Family, the latter founded the former and were only pawns for them to exploit; the Crois gave them a homonculus as the core of their worship and they were meant to prepare said core in order for her to become the Vessel of the new sept-terrion (and their fanaticism toward rejecting Aidios and venerate their new god led to them doing many inhumane experiments, which led to their downfall; only Joachim managed to see their god awakened); meanwhile the Crois family settled in the land of Crossbell as bankers in order for their project to be financially feasible, and began preparing for the ritual by building the Tower, Temple and Fort (the latter two were used by the D∴G Cult and the last one was where their "god" was sleeping), as well as the 3 Bells in each locations. Then there was the more recent stuff like the Orbal Network, the Geofront Sectors, the Castle of Mirrors and Orchis Tower, all meant for the ritual as well with the IBC sponsoring them all and overseeing their construction, and when the Core awakened and Orchis Tower completed, everything was ready for the ritual. Yeah, you pretty much correctly resumed the Aions scene just after X), no wonder Mariabell call them the Divine Archaisms, fitting tool for the Divine Child. And it ends with the Noel Betrayal, here's the darkest hour of the game. - Nothing to say either about the Fragment chapter, Except that one other thing happen during it, and it's the demystification of Guy by Garcia, he wasn't the invincible figure Lloyd figured he was, he had his limits; and the parts when you can hear Marconi, Hartman, and Earnest in their Cells.
- And after the longest day of Crossbell, here comes the longest Finale of Trails. We can divide it Into 3 main parts: the first part being the allies gathering; the second being the Liberation of Crossbell City, including stopping the bells; and the last being of course the aftermaths and the final dungeon. Heiyue isn't REALLY an antagonist in the duology honestly, they more often helped us than opposed us ( the only time was during the trade conference when they were hired by the Republican government). They ARE bad, don't get me wrong (they're a criminal organisation of the same level as Revache after all), but they are portrayed as another faction at play with their own agenda; they're helping here because it benefits them in the long run, and they'll always help when it's in rheir interest, and not when it's not. I'm sad you didn't include the iconic "If I win, you're all mine" of Lloyd against Noel because it's peak obliviousness of the words that comes out of his mouth XD. The whole Arianrhod and Unfathomed Force part was glorious; nothing more, nothing less. To clear up something, The aions were moved to city defense BECAUSE the barrier has been shut down, before that, the purple one was patrolling the state for intruders and was the reason why Kevin diverted its attention at the start of the finale and finding the gaps in the Pleroma Grass Net Field, so that can you infiltrate Crossbell without being detected. Shits going on everywhere (the Erebonia Civil War for instance) was already mentionned at the end of the Intermission by the Gralsritters, here, it's more about figuring out the mastermind and the idea that Osborne may have predicted that he would've been shot, which is pretty crazy. Dieter does a whole speech about Justice and Ideals that our heroes throw back in his face, he get betrayed by literally EVERYONE and then he broke. I'm surprised you talked about the part where you can explore the whole region afterwards but not the part where you can explore the City during the infiltration before talking to Lechter and Kilika, especially since there's a lot of side content there as well, including a certain NPC revealing his allegiance. Then the Azure tree, you described the domains and their symbolism pretty well to be honest, I'll add that in Wald's Domain, there's always a way to avoid to face the lightning by destroying rocks on the way, except at one moment: To get the chest containing Wazy's Weapon; Wald always took the easy path by destroying things instead of facing the "lightning" which makes him weaker than Wazy who did face it and got stronger as a result; and in Sigmund's domain, the constant hazards in it can be solved in two ways: Either charge and heal after, or wait and plan out, methods that differencies an Ogre from a War God. You also explain the timeline twist well too, though KeA didn't need to rewrite much to change the SSS's fate, as others already pointed out, the existence of a single butterfly caused an entire domino effect leading to them becoming friends with Estelle, Joshua and Renne, and the latter save them from Joachim, a literal Butterfly Effect; it wasn't quite a massive detour, just the first step of what the sept-terrion can do. Lloyd brought up the fact that the previous sept-terrion erased itself and that they're repeating, and that's the reason why Mariabell and Grimwood are here, so that it doesn't come to that (Grimwood also say he's not gonna force his opinion on KeA and ask people like Speaker MacDowell, Dieter again, and even the SSS on the course to take); ignoring the fact that even if they guide her, it's still her that makes the decisions in the end and the consequences of it. I already talked about Grimwood "giving up" in the character section, but I'll add that he didn't call off the entire plan, just his role in it, and he encouraged KeA to decide what SHE wants to do instead of manipulating her to follow HIS ideal; that doesn't mean the Azure-Zero Project is null and void yet. KeA unconsciously manipulating people to love her is a cool twist and calls into question whether there was any real love to begin with and whether they'll start hating her because of it (I talked about it a bit during the Lloyd section). And the final boss description was greatly resumed honestly XD. The world of Zero as Guy describes it, is a world where each and every possibilities can exist; Guy was put there by KeA because she was planning to change to world toward one where Guy didn't die for the sake of Lloyd, Tio, Cecile and Arios.....yeah it does sound like a hard drive when I say it like that XD. Not much else to say after that, I liked the Idea of the invasion of Crossbell at the end, because it shows that after getting rid of the convenient solution of the Sept-Terrion, Crossbell need to face the harsh reality and the consequences of the actions of its leader, Lloyd and companies were very aware of that when several people told them how it's going to end, but even with that, it's still wrong to rely on KeA to help us and that it's not the right way, they chose KeA over Crossbell's prosperity (whereas Noel did the opposite in chapter 4, choosing to protect Crossbell at the cost of KeA), a noble sentiment that led to its invasion by foreign forces with many more trials ahead, how will they overcome them, find out in Cold Steel XD. - And I believe that's all of it; Sorry again for the lateness of this comment; I do enjoy making these, but it require a great ammount of work, which discourage me to work on it immediately when I don't feel like it; and even after I start, it takes me several days to write it in full. I know I'm busting my balls for little gain in the end, but it always pleases me to know that people read this long-ass pavement that took days to wrote and that they appreciate it. Thanks again for reading it all the way to the end, and now I finally gonna be able to watch the nutshell video that was released XD.
Yes, I know it's almost two weeks later, but I finally managed to read all of it. You summed up everything quite nicely and even clarified a few details I got wrong. Your input's always appreciated my guy. But seriously thay was quite an essay tho lol
For as much love as this game gets I think Zero was better. It had better pacing, antagonists, and character writing. Azure's final dungeon/ending content is undeniably special but I genuinely felt like I could have gone without like half the game, but Zero I found was consistently great.
Yeah, I think Zero and CS3 are better than Azure. I know I'm in the minority, but I think CS3 is the best (localized) Trails game. Too bad they undid a lot of what made CS3 great in the next game.
Zero has better consistency in that it keeps you thoroughly engaged. All the events are logical (aside from wacky anime shenanigans) and are paced very well. Azure has higher highs and lower lows. Some of the character moments are absolutely horrid (Noel should be in jail).
General spoiler comment, edited because I had a funny adhd moment and forgot to finish typing everything I'm so conflicted about this game. Randy and Wazy are two of the best characters in the series full stop, butting heads with my Sky faves Agate and Kevin. I also really like Rixia and I think the rest of the playables are at least solid besides Elie since I feel the game neglects her development in situations she really needed to get focus. Noel is also kind of a letdown but shes cute and my friends like to shitpost about her so I'll let it slide. I legitimately cheered when Kevin and Ries showed up again in the prologue. and ch 1. Chapter 2 of Azure is legitimately a top 3 chapter in the series... but there are so many things I just can't let go that the game either messes up for itself or retroactively messes up for Zero. The filler that permeates so much of the game, I think the pacing is good sometimes but ch 3 is just killer to me, the randy stuff really bails it out but the rest just kinda feels like bloat. the feeling that so many of the villains practically had their names drawn from hats(if you had told me in Zero that Wald, Dieter and Ian were all villains I would have punched you in the face and said "oh yeah, and loewe teleports out of hell to block arios's sword during the finale! Glad we could get that straight." Ch 4 is mostly pretty sick for all its rollercoaster of events, the fragments chapter is awesome and the finale chapter up until the actual final dungeon is a great vibe setter for the mounting resistance you build running around collecting the party. Zeit being playable for a bit was so god damn cool So much absurd stuff happens during the final dungeon that just takes me out of the experience one way or another. I think the treatment of mariabell is by far the most unhinged and drama ruining thing in the entire series, speaking as someone in the process of finishing CS3 at the moment. It all felt pointless and it was absurdly OOC for any of them, let alone the WHOLE PARTY to let her off like that. Also I sorta felt like outside of Tio's involvement they really just cheapened everything with D:G in this game and made all that crap feel pointless. The only villains I don't take much issue with are Sigmund and Dieter, and I guess Arianrhod. Wald is great before he demonizes but his role afterwards is such a mess. Shirley is just a one dimensional character that they try to sympathy pander with her whole "aw man isnt it a shame shes a horrible person with no regard for human life" schtick. Campanella really doesnt do much of anything and pretty much just mustache twirls which I find a step down from how he presents in SC, but I didnt esteem him that high even in Sky. Arios just feels like he has the most contrived, tightrope motivations ever that don't feel geniuine and they needed an excuse for us to fight him because uh barriers or something. If you're familiar with Fire Emblem, its why Camus archetype characters are something I frown upon generally speaking because it almost never makes a lick of sense. Ian's twist is wild and in retrospect there's enough there for me to almost be fine with it but I wish there was more buildup and more nudging and prodding at why he always has his fingers in every pie, even just to point at a red herring detail or to miscontrue his motive so you have to work harder to find him suspicious. Its like both the best and worst trails game at the same time which I dont know how to reconcile. I guess that makes it average, but I both dont feel like thats giving the goated stuff enough credit or detracting enough credit for the nigh game ruining stuff at points either. Ugh, this is why I never give games a point score review if I can help it. SC is still the goat, and I like zero and 3rd more than this game too; I'd put it above fc and cs2. Anyways, long ass comment but I greatly enjoy seeing someone go through the series as me and several of my friends all got into trails over the pandemic and weve been slowly trudging through. looking forward to seeing your cold steel run
Wait .... Kei is all those dead kids .... What the hell. Hmmm for the time reset.... I wonder if that effected cold steel when rean and gang went to the fortress without millium and crow ... P.s yes I can't be arsed correcting my spelling
Frankly for me Azure was a massive disappointment. It had so much promise and by the West Zemuria Trade Conference, I felt like it really could've been the best Trails game, even if the character writing had gotten weaker compared to Sky (Lloyd and Elie are just... incomplete characters and I seriously was starting to lose my shit at how many times they were going to pull the "tee hee gonna sexually harass you but WE'RE BOTH GIRLS" "joke"). But the finale has immensely disappointed me. The villains are all irritating rather than intimidating with the exception of Dieter Crois, and the way he's uncerimoniously shoved off to be replaced with fucking IAN GRIMWOOD of all people, whose entire plan isn't in any significant way different from his own seriously offended me. Trying to tell me that Sigmund Orlando "actually cared for Randy, deep down" downright ruins the best character arc in the entire Crossbell duology. And SO MANY important character arcs are wrapped up so rushedly by the end. Noel's is the only one that kinda worked, though I would've liked her conflicting loyalties to be explored further before that, for example by having the SSS actually talk about their political opinions during the buildup to the independence referendum (I even saw someone suggest we should get to pick what he votes for! Which would've been genius, honestly) and forcing her to confront the idea that just brainless loyalty to Crossbell is a failure towards it - she should be able to decide for herself what she WANTS Crossbell to be and help trace its path to the future rather than just going along with what the higher ups are deciding. But still, her arc was satisfying. Rixia's was WAY too rushed because there was basically nothing between the reveal to the audience that she's Yin and the moment, which is way too late, in which it's revealed to the SSS. It's not TOO bad even then... at least not compared to Lloyd and Elie's utter lack of an arc, or the way they completely ruined Randy's.
That brutal fight at the top of Stargazer Tower against Arianrhod? Getting destroyed by her, preserving through it, and finally knocking of her helmet, only for her to decide it's time to stop messing around, for all her stats to buff, and to make the second half of the battle so much harder? Yeah, it turns out, that entire time, she was going EASY on you. She never uses her ultimate trump card in that fight, the trump card you only find out she has in Cold Steel 3. Even after you win, and she withdraws, if she really wanted to, she could flatten you like a pancake in no time flat with three simple words: "To me, Argreion." It's not enough that Arianrhod is the strongest the society has, she also has a fucking DIVINE KNIGHT. I mean, how OP can one character get? By the way, whenever you get to Cold Steel 1, you're going to find out at the end that the game's title should really be: "Trails of Cold Steel 1: the search for Valimar." Valimar is, without any questions, one of the absolute best trails characters. Oh, and play Cold Steel 2, 3 and 4, and Duvalie will become your favorite character.
