Trails of Cold Steel (and the Kiseki series in general)

[Eluvianii]

17 minutes ago, Briar King said:

Popping in 

CS4 Fragments stuff

  Reveal hidden contents

ugh another long stretch I’m in the middle of! I so wish they gave me another save option after Rean fight and massive dialogue skit before the Osborne/Lianna fight! I see on guide that 10 AP are on the line and I have to get them both to 50% at the same time. Ugh idk if I have the energy to do this today. PS5 is on rest mode for now till I can commit but severe weather is incoming so I ll have to turn it off before the lightning comes. This means I may have to completely redo Rean battle and dialogue tomorrow after weather passes. That won’t be cool.

 

Spoiler

10 AP are on the line but I think this game has a pretty wide margin of error for getting to A0. You can miss 26 I think. 

 

[Briar King]

What the hell?! I think I hit some bug.. it’s a large field and 2 of my peeps got stuck in a corner unable to move back out. Even switched a character and that new one was stuck in place to. No potions or magic unstuck me.

Im kinda furious right now. It’s late and now I’m having to retry the fight..

 

GRRRRRRRAHHHHHHHH!!!!!

I have to start all over…tomorrow. I was sooooo close to the double. Sooooooo closeeeeee. I saved new spot but I don’t like leaving those 5 pts behind being within another hit or 2 of the double ko.

Gonna be a slog and a half redoing this segment..ouch

Edited March 22, 2022 by Briar King

[aneonfoxtribute]

Yeah that sounds like a glitch alright. Something similar happened with me, though not that bad

[Briar King]

Popping in

Got it! Almost lost it right at the end again. Had massive amounts of reviving and Curia balms so everyone could get the exp. It was almost a no go on that but I managed. Watching the long dialogue skit after again, saving then I’m done for the day. Progress tomorrow.

[Eluvianii]

Act 3 Chapter 3

Spoiler

This! It took 125 hours but this is what I've been waiting for. All three teams cooperating together in a single operation. Going around Crossbell just seeing each member of the massive team doing their bit was one of the most amazing sequences of the series so far.

And Renne talking with her mother! She didn't say anything but her mother clearly knows. Crap, now that we're here I'm scared they'll wrap up her arc sometime soon and she'll stop showing up. Got until Kuro at the very least.

Also, this chapter has been really heavy on optional story bits. Npc dialogue was already where most of the current worldbuilding is. It's where you can see how the war preparations are actually affecting people. But here there were some really good side quests that fall into the hidden category. And they feel so vital. I swear, anyone who plays this game focusing in the main story will leave disappointed. Finally got some closure for Hugo and I can't believe Gilbert got his own theme this time. It was a really good battle.

Vantage Masters either gets easier between difficult opponents, or I finally broke my deck. These last few games have all lasted 5 rounds or less. Buffing archers ad infinitum is clearly the way to go with this game. Nothing beats a Shadow with 9 attack.

So this is this game's version of Mystic Core. The wait was worth it it seems. This game is such a tease, this was the very first area you visit but there's just no comparison between then and now. Looking forward to everything now. The dungeon, the battle against Victor, against Arianrhod. Whatever's left of the game after. I think I'll go into binge mode for the next few days/couple weeks. The ending already feels close.

 

[Briar King]

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

 

GOT ON EARLY IN EXCITEMENT TO SEE AN UPDATE AND NOW THAT IT DID MY PS5 HAS NO VIDEO SIGNAL!!!!!!!

Im so pissed off!!!!

[Briar King]

Man Vantage Masters is hard in this game! 
 

CS4 Act 2 stuff

Rose is wiping the floor with me. Have used Bard and Witch both. I can’t keep my own cards on the deck with her Witch attack.

[Eluvianii]

Yeah, she's one of the two hardest matches I've played so far. I think most of my defeats came from her. 

[Briar King]

Popping in

Finally got her! That was insane..

[Eluvianii]

CS4 Eventide:

Spoiler

Did the whole thing in one sitting, which is to say I was playing from 6pm to 1am. 

I'm a simple man, I see two characters being cute together, and I ship it. Romance is usually one of my favorite things in any story, I'm a shipper at heart. And I have never, ever, in any book, show, or game, seen so much fanservice that feels like it was storming tailored for me, all at once. 

Mary and Makarov, Olivier and Schera, Estelle and Joshua, Ada and Sidney, Sharon and Anton, Wallace and Aurelia apparently, Ash and Tatiana, Annabelle and Kenneth, Neithardt and Fiona, Agate and Tita (wasn't sold on that one before but sometimes, only sometimes, Agate does look interested and it's really cute), apparently Jusis and Millium too (tragically), Vincent and Margarita, unexpectedly Angelica and George. Now that I try to list them it becomes even more obvious, there was a LOT of this. I can't stop grinning, I feel like Dorothee right now. 

And in my case it all came to a climax with Rean and Towa. The scene was so good. It almost made me blush to see Rean taking the initiative for once. 

Now, regarding everything else, I already knew about Rean's status as a Divine Blade, but witnessing the scene was so good. It felt exciting. Seeing Cassius wield a sword made it all feel like this was a once in a lifetime thing, a really big deal. Now I want to meet all 8 of these people. And I want Anelace to be one of them. 

Speaking of Cassius, he's frustratingly good at Vantage Masters, but managed to beat him. The same can be said about Renne in Pom. Took an extremely lucky combo to beat her (she attacked, got my poms all the way to the ceiling, and the thing started combo-ing on its own until it was on ground level once more. So now I had full cp with my screen empty and she had none).

Managed to see all final bonding events, which was great. Well, saying that I "managed" is giving myself too much credit. Gifts are broken. 

My favorite attraction was the drink stall, it was so interesting to see what each character could come up with. Also had to laugh out loud at Gaius'. Nord-tea-ni? Seriously? 

So storming excited for the finale. I won't get my hopes up, but it would be nice if I got to play the battle at each Pale. Even if I don't though, I have three Rivalries left, lots of bosses, fishing (have to go for that Divine Angler title now), cooking, Vantage Mastering, Pomming, a couple weddings to attend and I just can't wait. 

 

Edited March 26, 2022 by Eluvianii

[Briar King]

Popping in

CS4 Act 2 stuff

I take it Merkabah is going to be my Courageous..

I just took Laura apart with Witch on 1st attempt.

Rean is a naughty boy. He finally appeared to crack with Musse and told her he would start taking her seriously. I get such a kick out of her.

[aneonfoxtribute]

In response to Eluvianni, 

Spoiler

"And I want Anelace to be one of them."

Anelace is not a Divine Blade. I don't even think she's one of the people he "chose" like Cassius and Rean, he trained her due to being her grandfather more than anything else. Though that part I don't remember entirely

 

[Eluvianii]

8 hours ago, aneonfoxtribute said:

In response to Eluvianni, 

  Hide contents

"And I want Anelace to be one of them."

Anelace is not a Divine Blade. I don't even think she's one of the people he "chose" like Cassius and Rean, he trained her due to being her grandfather more than anything else. Though that part I don't remember entirely

 

Spoiler

More than "I want it to be revealed that Anelace is a Divine Blade" it was a "I want her to become one". I do remember hearing that her circumstances were special, but it was just a small hope of mine. 

The last time we saw her it was in a story about her renewing her determination in the path of the sword. So it would be nice to see how she's doing regardless. 

 

[Briar King]

Woot woot!

Fishing for those yummy droplets! I going to spend so many hours at this location.

Am happy.

[Eluvianii]

Fishing is great but it becomes ever so slightly more boring once you have all the upgrades. Of course, that's good for farming. 

On my side I got into a little reading extravaganza right before the end. 

I swear, Zemurian kid stories are dark. The Life of Tomatonio and A Coco Panda's Tale are innocent enough but one is about a tomato trying to choose how he dies and the other involves the protagonists literally risking losing their sanity just by being hurt. Like, wow. As for The Immoral Hero, I can't even tell if that one is supposed to be for kids or not. 

The Legendary Chosen One a bit of the same. Clearly for kids, good message, but the content gets surprisingly real. 

If You Say Goodbye was a great tearjerker for how short it is. 

Heartless Edgar was great. Short and sweet, got me tearing up at the end. Good mystery too. 

Red Moon Rose. I did the word count, 30k words. A novel is a minimum of 40k. We almost got a full length novel in the game, I think that's amazing. The book itself was great, it left me wondering where the creative freedom ends and where the true story starts. 

Then there's Three and Nine. Easily my favorite book in any of the games so far. This one was painful to read, it gets troublesome to go on when your vision is blurred by your tears. Action scenes were great. If half of what happens in this book is true, I'm so in love with these two characters that the new protagonists are already close to being my favorite and I haven't even met them. Also gave me second thoughts about my "Ouroboros aren't truly villains" stance. 

[aneonfoxtribute]

53 minutes ago, Eluvianii said:

If half of what happens in this book is true, I'm so in love with these two characters that the new protagonists are already close to being my favorite and I haven't even met them

Oh don't worry, ALL of what happens in that book is true. And yeah, 3 and 9 became S tier immediately. All of the C team in Reverie was S tier immediately

[Briar King]

Popping in.
 

Got an hour or 2 of fishing in and I’m still on the dock and will be for the rest of today’s session and probably for a good portion of tomorrows to.

I just got to decide if N7 like I went with in CS3 gets them or if I will share with everyone this time around.

Man I love fishing in these 2! Rewarding and addictive.

[Eluvianii]

2 hours ago, aneonfoxtribute said:

Oh don't worry, ALL of what happens in that book is true. And yeah, 3 and 9 became S tier immediately. All of the C team in Reverie was S tier immediately

Good to know. Every little thing I learn about Hajimari makes me more excited. Between this and the fact that it's apparently Crossbell 3 (from what I've heard), I'm almost anticipating the best game in the series. 

[Eluvianii]

It's almost 5am (almost 4 technically but, what do you call it? Daylight savings? That thing just happened) and I'm fresh out from what I'm pretty sure was the longest gaming session of my life. 

"It will probably be over in the next hour" I said, maybe 9 times in a row before giving up and accepting my fate. This started at 1pm, so it's been about, 15 hours? They weren't consecutive, I took a couple breaks, but still. I should feel ashamed but I don't regret a thing. 

So I finished this first half of the series just like I started it. With the sun about to rise, proppeled only by sleep deprivation and my complete lack of self control. 

So, on topic, if that wasn't the coolest final boss in the history of ever, I don't know what it was. 

CS4 Finale/Ending:

Spoiler

My first gripe with the game came with my own unjustified expectations. For whatever reason I thought Estelle and Lloyd were also protagonists in this game and they would each advance the story by turns (essentially, I though this was like Hajimari). 

I was proven wrong quite early in the game, but the finale gave me all the fanservice I needed while it lasted. 

Seriously, 6 final dungeons? And Estelle's and Lloyd's just happened to be twice as long as the rest. This game storming knew what I wanted. 

I had read a lot of bad comments on the music of the game. Wherever you go they say CS1 and 2 were better in that regard, so I was worried. I swear, this is the last time I pay any mind to comments like those, this last stretch was a joy for my ears. 

I also heard some complaints that they dropped the ball even from 3, saying the final dungeon theme didn't measure up. I kind of agree, but it's not that this game's final dungeon thee was bad, it was amazing. It's just that Spiral of Erebos set the bar way too high. It's on opus magnus territory for Unisuga imo, along with Azure Arbitrator. 

I was a little disappointed with this game's theme doubling as final boss theme though. But it was perfectly fitting. 

On that note, I was already plenty happy with the original Enforcers motif in this game's theme, but then McBurn came and... One of the best battles of the game. 

I love how what was once deemed a hole in the worldbuilding, which is "What is outside of Zemuria?" (which was understandable. With the level of detail the series has, it would be unrealistic to try and manage several continents) was now used in favor of the plot. That's so storming clever. 

(also, do you ever feel stories you like take away your ideas? I've been playing with the "You phisically can't get out of your homeland because of your deity" plot, and then this game goes and drops the bomb. With 9 games of buildup no less. Now I will feel like I'm copying them. sigh) 

So, excited to see what becomes of McBurn. 

Then there's Osborne's redemption (we got a lot of those, huh?). You know, I don't mind in the slightest. I think it's kind of cool that such a terrifying villain, who seemed like evil incarnate the first few times I saw him, was actually just playing the role for the sake of the world. It's the ultimate self-sacrifice. This guy will be extremely hard to top, but I have faith in the Grandmaster. 

And that's another thing. Just as I was running out of mysteries to solve, they drop the bomb about multiverses, and the third phase of the Orpheus plan, and "Ouroboros is a social experiment", and this isn't even this arc's "The 3rd" yet. They're really laying the groundwork for the second half. 

What else. The Ironblods. I really love how their last moments on screen was all about setting up their redemption arcs. Cedric's version of it came out of the left field but hey, I can dig it. It also feels like he deems himself irredeemable and just wants to stone without getting in the way of his friends and family. We'll see about that. I have high hopes for this guy.

I loved his battle too. They managed to, in a single cutscene, turn what would have been a battle full of spite and uncertainty into an honorable duel of mutual respect. It was amazing. 

Gilliath and Rean having some father-son banter was cute, for as little as it lasted.

Oh, a bit from before the operation. I'm eagerly awaiting that dinner Renne promised to her father. 

You know, even knowing there were two endings, I really thought Osborne was the final boss. And I was quite happy with it, it was a really good battle, even if it got a little too long due to my poor party managing skills. But the true final battle? That exceeded any and all expectations I may have had about it. All three protagonists, now finally cooperating against a single foe to save the world. It's everything I ever wanted from this game and more. 

That epilogue was intriguing and I'm expecting more details in Hajimari. My hype for that game grows by the minute. I might just start saving up for it right now, so I can be absutely sure I'll play it on day one (or as soon as Amazon can deliver it). 

The wedding scene was so heartwarming, even if it was only slides. The cameos were a really nice touch. Actually, also during the start of the war. There may not have been enough resources to make models for everybody (and the plot would have become white bloated if they did include them), but for that scene they really didn't forget anyone. It was quite the moment. 

Do I have more thoughts on the game? Probably, but I should probably give my brain some time to process it. I might post again at some point talking about something big and obvious that I can't remember right now because 15-hour sessions are bad for my short term memory. 

I don't even feel like sleeping but I probably should. Idk. Anyway, storming good game and amazing conclusion for this first half of the series. It will be a long year and a half till Hajimari but I guess a Sky rerun is due. 

Sorry for the wall of text in case you read it all, I hope I don't end regretting anything I said here. And good night... errr... good morning. 

 

Edited April 3, 2022 by Eluvianii

[aneonfoxtribute]

Did you do the after credits scene?

[Eluvianii]

The bit with 

Spoiler

Rean preparing for work in his room? Yeah. Was there some easy to miss detail there? 

 

[aneonfoxtribute]

3 minutes ago, Eluvianii said:

The bit with 

  Hide contents

Rean preparing for work in his room? Yeah. Was there some easy to miss detail there? 

 

Hahahahahahahaha. No. No that's not what I mean. I knew you didn't get it because you didn't mention it. Go back and do it again. For some reason, you have to go back through that ending scene a third time to get the TRUE post-credits scene. You'll understand. 

[Eluvianii]

I see. So do I just choose the first option again? Same method as getting the true ending? 

[aneonfoxtribute]

Yeah, same method. I don't remember if you have to beat the final boss again, it's been a while

[Eluvianii]

Noted. Even if I have to fight it again, it could be fun. Might try a different combination.