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Episode 12: Trails in the Sky SC
43 Plays1 year ago
After the cliffhanger of FC, Poly and Kj dive into Trails in the Sky SC. Come hear if their opinions about the games have changed or if they're all in on the Trails series now!
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Transcript
Introduction to Trails in the Sky SC
00:00:00
Speaker
All right, so welcome everybody to the next episode of Turn Based Tangents. I am KJ. I am Polly. And we're gonna be talking about Trails in the Sky second chapter today.
Recap of Trails in the Sky FC
00:00:12
Speaker
So if you looked at the, if you looked at and listened to the previous episode, you did get to hear our thoughts on Trails in the Sky FC. This is a direct continuation of
00:00:26
Speaker
Um, first chapter. So we probably won't dive in too much into like gameplay mechanics and stuff like that.
Availability on Platforms
00:00:33
Speaker
Maybe like small touch ups just because there wasn't much of a change, but yeah, we did want to, we did want to just bring that up and we're going to dive in. So.
00:00:43
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. So, so welcome in everybody. Uh, yeah. So, uh, if you caught our last episode, uh, it was actually, we did it live on YouTube. Um, uh, or if you're listening on Spotify or Amazon or wherever you're listening to, uh, we do have an episode of, uh, the first chapter that we've already
Physical Copies and Otaku-san Print
00:01:02
Speaker
got it up. But, uh, if, uh, KJ want to show off your physical, I don't have physical. Yeah. So we got, we do have the physical copy. Here it is.
00:01:14
Speaker
Yeah. So he has a physical copy of the, uh, I believe the Japanese versions, but I mean, I don't think this was released in the U S physically. It might've, it might've been released on the Vita, I think, but I, I'm not sure if that was like a legit thing that I saw or not. I don't think it was, but I could be wrong.
Character Significance in the Print
00:01:37
Speaker
I'm more than happy to be stand to be incorrect.
00:01:41
Speaker
Yeah. And the only thing I have is actually at Otaku-san that I went to, was that last, no, the weekend before that, I got this really awesome print. I should actually find out who the artist is. Cause like, it would be nice to like tag them, but I got this really awesome print that literally like showcase second chapter. Like it's literally referencing second chapter, which I think is kind of fantastic. Um, but, uh, decision with the characters they put on there.
Game Length and Chapter Split
00:02:09
Speaker
I think they did it for a reason. Yeah. Yeah. I think they did too. And I'll kind of like talk about that when we get to more of the finale chapter of what we're talking about for second chapter. Cause I think they did it deliberately too. And I think it was like a plot reason sort of scenario, but it was definitely plot reasons. Yeah.
00:02:28
Speaker
Um, but yeah, so it's a really beautiful print. Shout outs to that artist. Uh, I'll have to get their, um, uh, credentials and everything, but like, like literally the only trails artists that are talking. So very happy I have that. So that's like my only physical thing because I played on steam. Uh, KJ did too, but he also got the physical copies of the Japanese version so that he could have like physical copies of it. So a little bit jealous about that, but yeah. Uh, and one thing to highlight from that case that KJ showed is that.
00:02:58
Speaker
This is really rare, but it was a 2 disc PSP game. So this game is long.
Continuation from First Chapter
00:03:05
Speaker
It has a lot in it. I can't think of another 2 disc PSP game for a...
00:03:16
Speaker
for the PSP. I don't think I can think of one either. All my all my RPG games and stuff like that are one disc. So pretty rare to ever have two discs. And now it makes sense why they split this game up between first chapter and second chapter. They really just didn't have the didn't have the room to do that all in one go.
00:03:41
Speaker
Um, yeah, I would say so it was really interesting because it did pick up pretty close to where it left off. I think there was a little bit of, uh, no, there wasn't any really time skip. I guess there was a time skip based on between the, the, the start of the adventure. Like we still got the story, but then like the game starts off.
00:04:05
Speaker
And there was some time that had passed because Estelle is with. Oh, it was like a few weeks. Yeah, or something. Yeah, they were like training for a few weeks. Like the game picks up the next morning, I
Game Mechanics: Training and Bracers
00:04:18
Speaker
think it is. But then they were like training for a few weeks and. Yeah.
00:04:24
Speaker
kind of getting ready and it was really interesting because it starts you off in a place where you're like unsure of what exactly is happening. It ends up really just being like a big training session, which is pretty cool.
Expanded Gameplay and Quartz Grid
00:04:41
Speaker
Cause you start to get a little bit more exposure to like some of the more experienced bracers and stuff like that. And I thought that was, I thought that was really cool.
00:04:49
Speaker
I thought the inclusion of the other bracers was pretty awesome. Yeah. And it's because we got like very briefly touched upon them in first chapter, but you didn't really get to like it, like there wasn't super interactive. So you start off in the prologue getting to interact with them. So you get more, like you get more character development on them. So you care a little bit more about them.
00:05:16
Speaker
Which I think is really cool and yeah, so it like it flash forwards like it it's like Oh, it's the next morning, but then it does skip a little bit within its own prologue and that's like the few weeks or whatever because Estelle ends up going to this like trading camp kind of scenario with other bracers and so the time skips that she's been trading there for a few weeks and stuff like that so like I think the
00:05:41
Speaker
Like I think they did that really well because they kind of showed you that little like the little bit of the end of first chapter connects almost pretty well seamlessly to the very start of the little bit of second chapter, which. Which I think it was a perfect spot to separate them because it definitely does feel like it was meant to be one whole big game. Especially way the mechanics go through it like.
Integration of New Mechanics
00:06:13
Speaker
like how they're the same, but then they add like a few little extra things as you go throughout this one and you're like, oh. Yeah. I think the biggest thing that they added mechanics wise was they just expanded everything, right? So they expanded sort of the different course that you can get and sort of the level of magic that you can, you can have. Um, so like rather than, I think it was either, I can't remember if it was three or four in SC, but you could have like level four, I think it was level three, right?
00:06:40
Speaker
You could have like HP, HP level three. Now you can basically have up to level five, but you don't actually unlock level five basically until the last chapter. So yeah, exactly. I think that they did a pretty good job of basically saying, OK, we're going to give you a bit more, but it's also going to be later game and you're kind of going to go
Estelle's Growth and Character Development
00:07:01
Speaker
from there. But I think the fact that they sort of.
00:07:05
Speaker
for the lack of better words, I'm gonna call it like their quartz grid. For the lack of better words, they basically updated all of their quartz grids to allow you to basically be able to do more, right? Like they added like the level system and stuff like that. Like that was, I thought that was really cool.
00:07:24
Speaker
Yeah, and they explained it well in the game how they could do that. And it was actually very believable too. So they explained that they've done a lot of research more into it and that the ones you were using before were like an inferior product. So they give you a new one that they've made and enhanced. And it's like, you know what? This logically would actually happen.
00:07:47
Speaker
So while they do take away all your equipment, all your items, everything that you got from the first game, even if you load in your file of the first game, there's a few things that transfer over, but not a whole lot. While they do kind of reset you a little bit that way, they keep your level higher up.
Character Development Choices: Agate vs. Shera
00:08:06
Speaker
Uh, but they also have this mechanic of being like, Oh yeah, we've already figured out new technology for this. And like, as, as everybody knows, you're like, you buy your phone and like six months later, there's another phone coming out. So like it, I mean, it's kind of very realistic in that sense that like it connected the reason why you could upgrade your, your slots and stuff like that now and why you could get like fancier courts because they're learning and they're expanding. So I thought that was a really cool way to, you
00:08:35
Speaker
introduce extra, like, bonuses to the mechanics without making it, like, boring, right? So you have to make it up. It's awesome. I like that. Like, if you're gonna if you're gonna have a I think that is the right way to do a continuation.
Impact of Gender-specific Equipment
00:08:53
Speaker
Like, if you're going to have a part two to your game, and it's going to be a direct sequel, make the different things that are happening, like better
00:09:04
Speaker
but give some kind of make it story relevant, which they did. Exactly. Exactly. And that's what they did. And it flowed really well that way. Like, again, they didn't really change a whole lot of the battle system because it worked. It was very well done in the first one. Like it was like the way they did it. They knew they didn't need to improve that necessarily, but giving like little tiny bits of
00:09:29
Speaker
like advancement, even with your courts of like having better spells and stuff like that later on too, allowed for you to like customize a little bit more and actually spend your courts a little bit more.
Estelle's Quest for Joshua
00:09:40
Speaker
And like, you know, kinda like as you're going on through this, you're, you're slowly upgrading things and stuff like that. Like you were in the first game. So it still gave you that mechanical, uh, aspect of like improving things, but like without it being like super like changing everything and everything, how it worked.
00:10:00
Speaker
which was, uh, which was really, really nice. So, so yeah, so your prologue basically starts. So like the way first chapter ends with the whole like Joshua will take it off kind of thing. It's really like Estelle Estelle is just such a strong person that she like takes like, like a few days to kind of like, Oh, not even a few days. I think it was like a few hours to realize and go, Oh, and then go,
00:10:31
Speaker
I'm going after him. Like the mentality, like I'm going to keep going with the whole Bracer thing. I'm going to approve. I'm going to run into it. I know I'm going to find him. She has this like kind of goal and I, you know what, that's really admirable to me. Is that like, she had a little bit of like, this is really sad. This is really heartbreaking, but I'm, I'm going to pick myself up a goat except for that every
00:10:55
Speaker
This is really upset me. Like every chapter in this game until like chapter six, it's just like they constantly remind you that he's gone. And then she gets really sad. And I'm like, stop
Joshua's Growth and Estelle's Understanding
00:11:08
Speaker
game. Stop bringing up every freaking time you get. And it's just like these like emotional times or whatever, but
00:11:17
Speaker
It's kinda believable in the sense of like she keeps running into people and me like meeting people she's already met before and like she's running into people as she's going through again and seeing familiar faces of course they're all gonna be like. Where's Joshua.
00:11:32
Speaker
Mm hmm. Right? Because they were all together. So it's not like her dad who's already kind of like always gone. So like people are like, OK, we know we know you're going to exist without your dad. That's that's just kind of how this works. But like but with Joshua, he was always there. So while it was super believable, it was just like, can you stop like stabbing my poor girl's heart? Like every freaking like it's tough for me. Right. Because I think
00:12:03
Speaker
I don't necessarily agree with all of her actions. I don't. And that's really the hard part for me is like, and I mentioned this, excuse me, I mentioned this a bit in the last podcast, but like, I think there was some level of like awareness to realize, hey, he needs some kind of space to kind of
00:12:24
Speaker
recoup all of it himself before he can then kind of
Effects of Gender-based Equipment
00:12:28
Speaker
share and be in a group dynamic where it helps him. Like he needed to work on himself a little bit first, at least in some different ways. And she did too. She needed to exist without him.
00:12:41
Speaker
I think that was such a... I was really mad at the end of first chapter, and like Estelle, I was like, I'm going to grab him by his new fancy scarf and drag him back. I was the same mentality as she was.
00:12:55
Speaker
But then as I started progressing through this and started with the prologue and like thing, I realized how much growth Estelle is getting on her own. She's now on her own having to do her own thing. And while she still has like the support of the bracers, it's not quite the same. It's like going from having somebody who always watched your back and you were kind of dynamic duo to not having that person anymore.
00:13:19
Speaker
and trying to function and do things and move forward on your own without that constant person I think is a really interesting plot mechanic and I think it really had her grow more as a person throughout this chapter than always kind of leaning on Joshua whenever she kind of got into a pickle at the last chapter. Which is really interesting.
00:13:45
Speaker
just because, like, so the way I'm not going to lie, I'm a little foggy on the specifics of each chapter up until probably like chapter three, I think it is. So one and two blend in for me. But I do kind of blend in. So it's not it's not on you.
Consistent Game Mechanics
00:14:01
Speaker
I know the early chapter, like in chapter one, you have the decision of choosing Agate or choosing Shera. Right. Yes. And I think
00:14:11
Speaker
The, I don't want to say canon, but it's the only word that's coming to mind. The sort of canon decision for that necessary growth feels like it should be Agate. Because he's not going to baby her in the way that Cheryl would. And so like, it almost feels as though, again, like Polly said, she needs that growth. And so having Agate be sort of like the one B to her one A,
00:14:42
Speaker
ends up kind of making it so that she gets that growth because even though they're on the same side and everything, like Agate is definitely much less like he's not going to baby her and he's not going to. No, he's going to expect her to hold it, hold her own. That's kind of how he is. Yep.
00:15:00
Speaker
Right. And like, I like that because I think we both picked Agate. But part of my brain and choosing Agate is not only just because I love Agate with a big sword. I was like, I think he's a really cool character. He was one of my favorite characters in the first chapter. But is that Shara, I think, canically, they wanted you to pick Shara. It was almost like they were pushing Shara a little bit more at you, especially because there's more development between Estelle and Shara in this game.
00:15:28
Speaker
But my problem was exactly that is that I just went from like my character, depending a lot on Joshua to losing Joshua. And now I'm like, no, she's got to stand on her own. She's got a, she has to stand on her own and share is just kind of gonna coddle her a little bit more and protect her a little bit more.
00:15:45
Speaker
and not let her kind of come out of her shell a little bit more. It definitely felt like the game wanted me to pick her, but I was like, no, I'm going to pick Agate because I think his standoffish nature would work really well with the style because she has to problem solve a little bit more herself. And then she also has to kind of like, okay, I got to hold my own. Like I can't, like I can't rely anymore. And I think that's, I think I liked that angle more. Um,
00:16:13
Speaker
Uh, in the, uh, in the chat, there's also a lot of gender set. Yeah. They did that in this one, which I thought was a little bit strange. So like, as opposed to the first chapter and second chapter, they have a lot of gender equipment. Where it's like based on gender, whether you can wear it or not. And I think it was really also important to have picked agate as well, because there was a lot of like.
00:16:40
Speaker
male equipment that you got in female.
Challenges with Gender-specific Equipment
00:16:42
Speaker
And if you had two females, like your character would not have been able to wear that armor piece for quite a long time before they start opening up where you got more characters and stuff like that. Um, because it's like that dynamic duo for the first few chapters. And then you're kind of getting a third or fourth, you're getting like a third or fourth thrown in there, but it's always like the dynamic kind of duo that you picked, right? Yeah.
00:17:07
Speaker
Kind of like the Joshua and Estelle sort of scenario where they were always together and then you would pick your other two characters, more or less. So it worked out to our advantage, mine and KJ's, because we had Agate instead of Shara. So a lot of the men only equipment, I mean, we could put it on him, the female only equipment we could put on Estelle.
00:17:28
Speaker
Um, and it balanced it out a little bit better that way because yeah, that is a mechanic. I wanted to touch base with this one that I saw more in this chapter than the last chapter. And that was gender specific equipment happens a lot more in this game. I don't even, I don't even remember if I got anything in the last game that was gender specific. I don't think there was anything in SC or an FC that was gender specific.
00:17:53
Speaker
Yeah so it's something that they changed in this one I think I think one because they were I don't know if they were just trying to get you to use different characters more or two they were just trying to make it more restricted on what the characters could equip.
00:18:08
Speaker
But I definitely noticed it at least in second chapter. If it was a first chapter, I hardly noticed it because of the way it worked because you always had Estelle and Joshua. It was already, already gender split. Right. So then with this game, I think I would have really struggled in the first couple of chapters in terms of like equipment and putting that on. Not that I think I would have struggled with the game, but I struggled with using the equipment and stuff if I would have had Cher as opposed to Estelle because you find a lot of this gender specific equipment really early
Balancing Plot and Character Development
00:18:38
Speaker
on.
00:18:38
Speaker
in second chapter. So I think that was also even like a gameplay choice that could end up the deciding factor of who you pick. Not only that, I thought it was better plot development for Estelle to kind of be on her own, but also just because of the gender-specific stuff, right? That it was kind of like, okay, this is pushing this a little bit more to be broad.
00:19:07
Speaker
But also share is a kind of an uncomfortable character. So like not having I mean, she to be perfectly fair, I was not. OK, so I'm just going to admit it. I was not a fan of Olivier last chapter, and I was not a fan of Shera because she was kind of like Olivier, but drinks more and whips and that she's fitting a group in this game.
00:19:30
Speaker
Yeah, she has a trope and I get it. Whatever. But like that's not generally my cup of tea of a character. So but in this chapter, she definitely had more growth. And she has massive. She has massive growth in this one that she kind of she kind of pulled up a little bit more for me in terms of my like feelings towards her. The irony of everything, Olivier didn't move.
00:19:58
Speaker
What's because so many characters have massive character growth and then there's him. It's the way that they structured the game, though, right? So the way that they structured the game, like each chapter in the beginning. So what you find out at the end of Sky FC is about like Ouroboros and all of these different things. And it's like, OK, so you know that at one point Joshua was a part of this and you know that the
00:20:28
Speaker
you know that the professor is sort of pulling strings, right? Or at least in some regard, he's pulling strings. But you don't really know anything else. And this game kind of introduces you
Investigating the Phantom Thief
00:20:47
Speaker
to different members of the organization
00:20:53
Speaker
but does it in a way that the members that they introduce just so happen to have ties to some of your party members. So it's kind of like you get this at first. And the first one that you get is incredibly frustrating. I hate this character with a passion, but basically Persona 5 ripped this game off of this character and honestly,
00:21:23
Speaker
I guess persona five did it better because people like that character. This character is not good. Oh yeah. He's annoying as hell. Like the Phantom. You get out of this whole thing is the freaking fan of the, I think it starts with the earthquakes.
00:21:41
Speaker
Yeah. No, no, no, no, not the earthquakes. It's the phantom image. Oh, yes. Sorry. The phantom image. So basically for the first, like, I don't know, a quarter of this game, you're kind of playing solve the mystery.
00:21:58
Speaker
So it's like a solve the mystery kind of thing and you're going through the plot line and the very first mystery that you kind of get is that people are seeing this phantom image of this like person in white kind of floating around the city and they're like what the heck's going on? So you're like as bracers are tasked to investigate it and so Estelle is kind of like
00:22:18
Speaker
okay but i wanna go find joshua but she's like okay but like i gotta figure this out first so it's really admirable that she's like she wants she she knows she wants to do this thing but at the same time she realizes as a bracer her duty is to the people and at first the foremost is this weird thing going on she's gotta investigate it
00:22:36
Speaker
And so you start off investigating that.
Riddle Fetch Quests Frustration
00:22:40
Speaker
And yeah, the first the first like reveal of this game is that that white phantom like drifting off or whatever duplicate stuff ends up being this phantom thief guy. What was his name? Blue, blue block? Yeah, block. He's the worst. He's literally the worst. He's literally Olivier, but with a mask.
00:23:05
Speaker
Like, and I was like, really gave this is the first one that you throw in my face. This is the first, like, kind of like, tie and you know who the overall bad guy is. But these are kind of like the sub bad guys, right? So like, this is the first one they throw at you.
00:23:25
Speaker
in terms of like um to kind of be setting that sort of stage up where with these with these like pseudo like the the lower down on the totem pole kind of thing bad guys and like oh my goodness his whole speech and the way he talks is so much like Olivier that Olivier Olivier looks at him and goes you're my rival now because like
00:23:51
Speaker
It's it's pain. They're like, yeah, it's pain. So this is how you start. And you're like. OK, so you start with that, but the mystery of what's going on and what they're doing intrigues you from the start, I find, because like he's testing out some sort of like power or whatever. And then like, you know, you kind of like mingle with that and then he disappears again and you're just like.
00:24:18
Speaker
Okay, but what's their end game with this, right? You're thinking like, why are they testing this power? And you're already curious. Okay. What's going on on the next one? And so for the first few chapters, they have these like mysteries that you're figuring out and you're sort of getting the bits and pieces of everything. And I like that because it keeps you just enough. But of course they had to bring the Olivier clone in as the first one.
Ouroboros Members Introduction
00:24:41
Speaker
And I was like, you really could have gone with like any of the other ones.
00:24:45
Speaker
I think they did it that way intentionally because he's the least of the like, he's the least tie into the plot line of things. Well, uh, I disagree. Well, I mean, like I find he's more, okay. How do I explain it? It's more like he, he's in the plot line of the overall thing. Yes.
00:25:08
Speaker
But his direct ties with certain characters and stuff like that that you thought he makes the ties with them on the spot, at least that we know of. And what he's testing is like kind of like the lower end of what you're testing. Like he's testing being able to duplicate his image from a distance. So it's like in the grand scheme of things that doesn't seem super
00:25:31
Speaker
bad guy like you're like okay but like what is that so i think i like i think because he's the phantom thief and it was like the phantom projection thing and it was like the easiest kind of like introduction into what they're doing um i think that's why they threw him first and then i feel like each one after that it starts having more of a connection to your party members
00:25:58
Speaker
where that's more of like a like, yeah, you got Olivier being like, hey, you're like me. We're rivals now. And you're like, OK, shut up. I don't care. But like even just the next one that you you go against, the next one that you do, I think it's the raging land. And I think it has to do. I think that has to do with the earth. That's the earthquakes. Yeah. The earthquake one, I believe, is the next one that you do. You deal with is Walter.
00:26:27
Speaker
Well, yep, I will say the reason why I think they did the Phantom Thief one first is because they wanted to give you side quests where you're finding his random shit that he's doing. OK, that too. I you're right. He does have like fetch quests of that. I later on like running around. I hate fetch quests and like that was just all of his quests are just riddle.
00:26:57
Speaker
Are there literally riddle fetch quests? That's all they are. That riddle fetch quest with no point at the end. That's the first question. His dude is like, he's just a really bad version of Olivier mixed with the Riddler. That's literally what he is.
00:27:14
Speaker
That's literally what he is. He's the Riddler and Olivier mixed together and it's awful.
Zinn's Backstory and Martial Arts
00:27:19
Speaker
I hate it. Yeah. And it's like his side quests, I kept doing them because I knew he was a central character, right? He was going to be like a bad guy. I knew that. So I was like, maybe I would get more plot stuff. And honestly, I didn't feel like I got a whole lot out of that by the end.
00:27:39
Speaker
There's some bits and pieces where you got to learn a little bit of him, which I thought was very interesting because you don't find out if you don't do those. Exactly. So like you don't get a lot of, you don't get the bits and pieces of his background unless you do his riddle fetch quests. Yep. So like you do get him, but because I didn't like him as a character anyway, I was so disinterested.
00:28:06
Speaker
See, for me, it's tough because I am very much intrigued by the backstory of Ouroboros, like as a whole. So I was like, OK, any member of this, I want to know more. So that exactly that was definitely something that was really interesting. I think that can kind of springboard into some of the more interesting members that we've been introduced to. So like Polly said, Walter, who after we fight and almost get our asses whooped,
00:28:33
Speaker
We find out that he's like basically old training partners and like part of the same like school that Zinn was a part of. Yes, like part of the same teachings. And I thought that was pretty I think the way that they sort of introduced all of all of that was really interesting because they also kind of played on the like
00:29:01
Speaker
love triangle aspect a little bit too, sort of. It was kind of hard to navigate exactly what they were trying to go on with that. There's some going on with all of them. Yeah, Kalika was the other one who is one of the... You meet her in the first game. She's one of the guild masters in one of the towns.
Layered Storytelling
00:29:24
Speaker
Yeah. And her father was the...
00:29:29
Speaker
her father was the leader of like the school, of like the martial arts school that they basically all trained under. So that was really interesting to kind of see that and then go through and kind of see what they wanted to kind of do with that. And the conversations that were had between the three of them, honestly, is really interesting.
00:29:55
Speaker
Yeah. And you get more like story on Zinn because you don't know a whole lot. Even in the first game, you don't get a whole lot of character development on Zinn. You know, he's from a different country or whatever. And he comes in, he's kind of just there. He's a bit of this like really positive kind of guy and like, you don't get a whole lot on him. But with this introduction of this Ouroboros member, um, uh, Walter, you get, you get teased.
00:30:22
Speaker
There's this whole thing. And you get told that him, Kalika and Walter all trained under her father. And then something happened between Walter and her father and he ends up, he ends up dying or whatever, the father and stuff like that. And then you kinda like, you're kind of left with like, wait, wait, wait, why is nobody explaining this kind of thing? But it's because they're giving you a bit because they're going to tell you more.
00:30:50
Speaker
as you go through the story, right? So they keep giving you bits and pieces of their Ouroboros members. They keep giving you bits and pieces of the what the heck's going on. And you find yourself cutting between like Joshua kind of running around and doing his own thing. And then you're cut between like the Ouroboros members, you're cut between like the head guy, the professor guy or whatever, Wiseman or whatever.
00:31:19
Speaker
And then like, you're kind of being thrown, like you're given bits of pieces in so many directions on each chapter.
Introduction of Kevin and Skepticism
00:31:25
Speaker
And so I kind of liked that because it's like, even if you didn't have a particular interest on a character, there was enough going on that you could be like, okay, I mean, that character's there, but I'm really interested in this. Right. So like it kept your interest, no matter who your favorite character was in your party, in the, in the party from the first game.
00:31:45
Speaker
And you're also getting introduced to a new character that's kind of popping in and out from like, I believe the prologue actually is when you see them end of the prologue. I think I think the end of the prologue or start of the first chapter, you start to get introduced to a new character that you weren't introduced to in the first chapter. You're definitely talking about my boy.
00:32:09
Speaker
Yeah, I'm talking about your boy Kevin, who I affectionately nicknamed Chia Pet. Because he has no affection there. There's nothing good about being a Chia Pet. Nothing. There is nothing good about being a Chia Pet, Polly. There's nothing good about being a Chia Pet. Very much grass head. Like his hair looks like grass. But he's wearing he's going to be like Kevin goes to get a haircut and he's really mowing the lawn.
00:32:41
Speaker
That's what Polly is saying. Polly just called him Grasshead. That's where we're at. So this is how I start as I'm introduced to Grasshead. And I call him Chia Pet.
Mad Tea Party and Wren's Reveal
00:32:54
Speaker
And literally, I have a group chat with KJ, Pisto Dark, Trails fans, who've played these games before. And I literally called him a Chia Pet. And the hands were ready to be thrown
00:33:08
Speaker
in that first little bit so it was kind of funny but like so he's got like these white kind of priestly robes and he introduced himself as as father Kevin as as a priest kind of idea and I was like okay and then he immediately hits on Estelle wow like just before she starts crying that's one low point in the game and it's yeah so luckily for anybody listening that is the one part where I was just like
00:33:35
Speaker
Oh, don't tell me this is going to be Olivier 2.0. I was already like, but like afterwards, that was afterwards he adjusts and stuff like that. And I actually really think that his popping up here and there is really interesting because he always seems to like kind of just tap everybody a little bit in the right direction. His timing is so good.
00:34:03
Speaker
His timing is great, but because his timing was so great, I suspected him all the way up until I think it was like chapter seven, where I kept thinking I was gonna get blindsided like the professor in the first game.
00:34:19
Speaker
I kept thinking I was gonna be like blindsided again but the difference between the professor and Kevin for me going through it was Kevin was a lot more how shall I put this invested in you succeeding where the professor was just kind of like I'm here don't suspect me and like wandered away and he was like okay
00:34:44
Speaker
So you often forgot about him anyway, because he was like, you know, whatever, you don't care. And that was the thing. I was like, when are they going to put him? When is he going to be a a dedicated party member? Because that was my that was one of my biggest things I felt like, because so he I think fights with you like officially in chapter three during all of the like tea party stuff. So that's kind of like after the Walter stuff, you go in and you find this girl
00:35:12
Speaker
Wren, who seems like everything is like she it's it's weird. She seems like she's like normal and then doesn't.
Ren's Transformation and Estelle's Empathy
00:35:24
Speaker
And then it's all it's a mess. And then you find out that she's a member of Ouroboros like they just kind of spring that on you. And she's like is really you're really just in her game. And Kevin ends up joining you for that chapter. Also, yes.
00:35:42
Speaker
Maroku is way worse than Kevin. Like way. To be fair, yes, Maroku. Maroku is like halfway between a Kevin and Olivier. Maroku is still better than Olivier, but he's not. Kevin is definitely better. If our scale is zero to Olivier,
00:36:03
Speaker
Moroku's like an eight, and Kevin's like a four. Maybe a three. Yeah. And like, so you have the Ranging Land, which is like talking about earthquakes, and you're trying to solve this mystery of these earthquakes. You deal with Walter, you deal with this and stuff. And then the next chapter, you get a little bit more of Kevin again. So like, Kevin's kind of there at the prologue, and I think he might pop in one of the other chapters, but very briefly. But he kind of really comes into play in the third chapter.
00:36:31
Speaker
Which is called the mad tea party and you keep getting a looted that the tea parties being run by this guy in pink called cap and cap and Bella
00:36:44
Speaker
Yeah, you keep thinking he's the one who's kind of like doing this tea party thing. You see Joshua's investigating it, you see the military's investigating it, like all these different things. And you're like, okay, and he's the one who keeps actually popping up. So you're like, okay, so I'm going to get more detail about him.
00:37:04
Speaker
So you're going through and then you find this like you run into this tiny child who is on vacation with her parents or whatever and then suddenly her parents are gone and disappeared and so like you're like what the hell this child's like 12 and so you're like trying to so during this chapter you're both trying to figure out what like this tea party thing is but you're also trying to figure out where this child's parents are
00:37:27
Speaker
And you're like investigating with the, and the guild, like the, the Bracer guild is trying to figure things out. And she's, but all the while she doesn't seem to care. She doesn't seem to care. And she keeps pulling pranks on you. And I will, I will.
00:37:44
Speaker
I will quote that I hated that chapter because she kept doing these stupid quests, like these stupid like tricks on you. And then you had to go find her. And I was like, I'm going to smack this tiny child. Like I'm just, I'm going to say it. I hated running around for her. I hated like dealing with her as a character. I'm going to make you mad, I think, with my next statement. Ren is like one of my favorite characters in this series.
00:38:14
Speaker
Oh, she grows on me. But this chapter ticked me off. This chapter ticked me off because she was more or less like trolling you. Oh, yeah. And like you knew she was and you're like, oh, I'm just all this child. Why? And all the while, you don't suspect until the end where she pops up as she's the Ouroboros member. And I was like, this makes sense why she didn't want me to progress because she's literally
00:38:44
Speaker
You're literally pawns in her game.
Shara's Past and Character Growth
00:38:46
Speaker
So I was so angry at this tiny child until finally that got revealed and I was like, Oh crap. Okay. And she's like pulls out this massive scythe and you're like, okay. And she's like, I'm going to cut you like a fish. And I was like, okay. You just went from like tiny helpless child to going to like birds.
00:39:11
Speaker
And I'm like, oh, okay. And that her like mother and father, like she like basically sliced them in front of you until you realize it still realizes they're dolls. They're not even like real people.
00:39:25
Speaker
And like, that's when I was just like, okay, now I'm interested in this character because like that whole beginning, I was like, I was taking care of this child. This child kept running away. I like kept having to do these like different like quest line things of like, and then trying to find this child again and like, she would never stay put. And I was just frustrated and stuff like that. And then when it was revealed by the end of the chapter, I was like, cause I kept thinking was this going to be this cap and Bella cap and Ella kind of guy.
00:39:53
Speaker
And he had like the yellowy hair and the pink outfit. But no, it ended up being her. And I was like.
00:40:02
Speaker
Okay. And I liked her character design. I thought her character design was really cool. It's very contrasty to the rest of your party. She's got like kind of pinky purple hair, but then she has this blight black and white, like almost like Lolita dress kind of thing that she's wearing. And then she pulls out this giant size and I was like, okay. And the way she shifts from like, she's just trying to have fun as a kid, but she's also like a mass murderer who's killed many, many people. You're just kind of like,
00:40:30
Speaker
Okay. And then Estelle is suddenly invested in like, I want to help this kid. I want to help this kid out of it because she starts to see what Joshua must've went through when he was a kid in the Ouroboros. So she starts to see that a little bit and I think deep down she gets attached to Ren because it's like she wants to save Ren because she never got an opportunity to save Joshua back then.
00:40:55
Speaker
So I think part of it is that contrast a little bit, but also part of it, she can sense that there's something deep down, that there's just something really messed up with her and she wants to get to the core of that. So you get revealed that and you're just like,
00:41:12
Speaker
Okay. So it's like you start off with this Phantom thief and you're like, okay, I don't care. And then you go to the next one. You're like, Oh, Walter, he's got a connection to sin. This is kind of interesting. And then you go to the tea party chapter and it's like, Oh, this tiny child is a mass murderer. Okay. And so this is like your boat, like your, your four chapter or your three chapters in plus the prologue. So four total. And you're like, okay.
00:41:39
Speaker
And then the next one, the Miss Stevens target, they introduce the next character. Who has ties to Shara? Yeah, they were like in a basically like a circus together. They were basically in the circus together. Yeah. And it's really interesting because.
00:42:03
Speaker
There's basically just like a small falling out, it seemed like. And it seems so small and trivial until later on, where it's like. OK, this was small and trivial, but you just went from zero to 180. Yeah. And honestly, it's it's really interesting because you start to see this is where I think that's really where you start to see Shara's growth, because it kind of you kind of get some of her backstory and it puts her whole like
00:42:33
Speaker
It puts a lot of what she's doing into perspective. Right. And honestly, it puts not that it's justified, but it puts like her alcoholism into perspective as well. Like she had a very tough past. Right. And so very tough. You start to see that and you start to see, oh, like this is this is somebody who as a child really never had
00:42:58
Speaker
a support system or anything, and then sort of turn to that on top of becoming a bracer to kind of get more on the straight and narrow and turn her life around.
Character-centric Storytelling
00:43:11
Speaker
So yes, that was that was something I was like, oh, wow, this is I would say out of all of the characters from FC, Shera probably had the most character growth
00:43:26
Speaker
that was like on the surface appearing.
00:43:30
Speaker
Yeah, because you don't really know. She's the senior bracer in the first chapter, and she doesn't really talk a whole lot about anything to do with her. She's more like trying to help you and like Joshua out. And she's just trying to kind of like guide you a little bit. And then she's kind of grabbing Olivier by the ear because she knows there's something up with him. And like, so she's kind of like, you don't get a whole lot about her. And then she's also like hitting on Joshua a lot who's like, minor kid.
00:43:58
Speaker
At least like 16 or something and then like she has like this move called say to swim So you're like looking at her going like okay your trope and I've have no real depth of you yet I know you there's a little bit of a hit where she like Trained under your father and she knows your father really well and he looked after her for a little bit and stuff like that and
00:44:17
Speaker
So like, you get bits and pieces out of first chapter, but you don't get anything of like this magnitude. When you get to chapter four, the Miss Demon's Target, you get a you're you get her whole backstory, which suddenly all of these actions and the way she acts is put into perspective.
00:44:36
Speaker
because suddenly you know why she's kind of a little bit loosey with the drinking. You know why, like she was at a circus. She was in like, she had like this mentorship scenario and then she was kind of left high and dry pretty well. And that like the head of the circus like mysteriously disappeared and like all those other things like that's hard. And she's also like a young kid at the time too. And she had the like steel to survive and like
00:45:05
Speaker
So she did a lot of bad things to kind of like be able to survive in that kind of world. And then suddenly this is all up. And then your dad Cassius and your mom at the time, because I think the mom was still around. For Estelle, her parents like kind of like took
00:45:22
Speaker
share it in like kind of let her on the path taught her how to be a bracer. She finally had meaning in her life and she realized like that's what she's going to do. She's going to help other people and stuff like that especially other people going through what she went through. So suddenly it all kind of put into perspective her as a character and she definitely shot up for me as uh up there for a character and like that she just always like had the best interest of herself
00:45:48
Speaker
Like she always had Estelle's best interest at heart because she kind of ended up being like a big sister to Estelle because of circumstances. And it also double made me glad that I didn't choose her as the
Kurt's Mind Manipulation
00:46:01
Speaker
one to tag around with Estelle in the beginning because I felt like Estelle got more growth being less in Shara's shadow as well, right?
00:46:11
Speaker
Yeah, it gave you a lot more depth of her and you get to find her circus buddy again. And her circus buddy kind of just leaves off that like, Oh yeah, the mentor didn't disappear. I killed them. And you're just like, excuse me. And then she disappears. Yep. And she's like, poof God. And you're like, you get all this plot development of share how she reveals it all. But then it's just like,
00:46:35
Speaker
Okay. But I need more. Where's the, like, where's the edit? She disappears and like they they're done testing their whole like missing. Um, and she's gone or whatever it is. Like, okay.
00:46:49
Speaker
with the Frigg. So you're introduced to these different Ouroboros members at this point. The only one you're not really, like you see him kind of popping in and out, Capobella, but you don't really, he don't get really like a super interaction with him. And then you're also getting during this time, you're getting Love kind of popping in and out a little bit.
00:47:13
Speaker
who is more connected to, who seems to have some sort of connection with Joshua. And so you're getting Joshua's bits and pieces over here, and you're getting all of this bits and pieces. So things are starting to kind of move where they're starting to feel like they're coming together a little bit more.
00:47:35
Speaker
until we get to, like, I feel like chapter five. This is the chapter I don't I don't remember much of chapter five. I'm like, I'm sorry. I'm like trying to Google around to see if I can find what's happened because I don't remember the chapters by names. Like I remember just like pieces of them. And I remember chapter six and seven. Yeah, because chapter five is kind of the boring one for a while, right? OK.
00:48:04
Speaker
So, so chapter five is where I think you're getting more like Joshua stuff. Like Joshua and the pirates that you actually get to use Joshua. I think so. Yeah. Where he's with the, the sky pirates pirates. Okay.
00:48:23
Speaker
I think. Yeah. So my, the funny thing is, is my head is now fuzzy on chapter five too. I'm looking at this list and I was like, okay, I remember all the way up to chapter five, that which, that which one must protect I think is.
00:48:40
Speaker
I know. Oh, you know what happens there? That is when they find out about. So that's when Kevin comes back into the picture and that's when they find Kurt and they find out that like.
00:48:58
Speaker
That's when the senior bracer team is going to the Ouroboros lair and everybody but Kurt gets captured and they get him back. And Kevin wipes the seal on his mind. And then that's the chapter I'm pretty sure that you go there because- Yes, okay. So there was a lot happening in this chapter for plot writing.
00:49:21
Speaker
Yes, okay. That's why cuz there's just so much that happens that I was like, holy shit Yeah, so you get like so you get you you get her the Kurt. He's had like his mind like messed with which is kind of what Wiseman had been saying that he had been doing to Joshua in the end of the first chapter Did it to a couple of people? Like you get it to Kurt too
00:49:41
Speaker
Yeah, he did it to Kurt before too, in first chapter. So you know, and he does it again to Kurt. So like Kurt and the other other team of bracers, like the Kana, Kanya, whatever, Annelace, them, they all go like, if Tracey where the Ouroboros is like making stuff, it's like the factory.
00:50:03
Speaker
And then he's the only one who comes back and he's had his mind messed with again. So then all of a sudden Kevin shows up again and he's got this device where he can like unlock his memories and give it back to him.
Estelle's Capture and Rescue
00:50:15
Speaker
And you're just like looking at Kevin and you're just like Kevin.
00:50:28
Speaker
So, but he's like, he's eagerly trying to help you. So like at that point I stopped kind of like super sussing him because I'm like, at this point you just keep showing your hand that you're helping not hindering.
00:50:42
Speaker
which is like, okay, I like which was different than what first chapter was, especially with the professor and stuff. So I was like, Okay, I think we're okay. So he helps Kurt Kurt remembers, it tells you where the factory is. And so you go and infiltrate the factory and all the so Kevin ends up being a part of your party, he has to be a part of your party, because he's the only one who can help their minds.
00:51:05
Speaker
So you have to pick two other people. I think I picked Agate and Chloe. I don't know if Chloe's allowed to be picked at this one. I generally pick Agate and Chloe for everything. So like if Chloe wasn't allowed to be picked, it was probably Tita. But anyway, so you go through that, you're investigating that and then shit happens. And this is chapter five ends up being like,
00:51:34
Speaker
wild, because you're finding all the your bracer friends be that have just been mind controlled. So you have to fight them, which is like, oh my god, and then you uncover their minds again, and you're kind of revealing things. And then at the end, you like get through everything and Ouroboros shows up again. And like,
00:51:56
Speaker
You fight and then you end up being like, everybody ends up being put with the whole mind they put out cold and they literally kidnap Estelle. And that leads into chapter six. And that leads into chapter six. So you end chapter five with your main character being kidnapped and you're just like,
00:52:19
Speaker
What? So I and then you're like running around as Kevin leading the party to like at the end of chapter five, you're Kevin controlling Kevin and you're running to save Estelle and then they like fly off. And then all I caught thinking is like, am I just going to be main character list for like a chapter? What's wrong with you? Follow your main character to Ouroboros.
Joshua and Estelle Reunite
00:52:43
Speaker
How would you have felt if they were just like, yo, Kevin's the main character from here on out?
00:52:53
Speaker
I think I would have been a little sad. Not gonna lie. But at that point, he was already starting to grow on me. So I liked his moves. I liked his S break move. Oh, his S break is broken. Yeah. His S break is fucking broken. Everyone was invulnerable for a turn. That's like super broken. And if it's max, it's two turns.
00:53:12
Speaker
Which is just wild. It means you can't get hurt for two turns. Having two free turns is nuts. It's like having control of Rinoa's Invincible Moon with her dog. Yeah. And being able to do it.
00:53:25
Speaker
pretty well whenever you want when you build up that gauge back. So it's wild. So he had such a broken S break that I'm just like, I'm just going to leave this on forever. I never turned it on. I never took... Because he gets another one and I think it's a damage dealing one, but I left him on the one where he just made you invulnerable. I thought that was way more useful. There's no reason not to.
00:53:47
Speaker
Yeah. So, so then you'd start off like chapter six where Estella is kidnapped by Ouroboros. And at first they're like very loosely trying to get to recruit her, but it's more or less that it's revealed that she, they're trying to like, like keep her out of the way. And you're just like, okay. And sort of, it is most of them trying to leverage her to get Joshua back to.
00:54:13
Speaker
Exactly. So they're trying to bait Joshua and they're trying to also get him back. And so Estelle being Estelle, she tries to break out on her own and gets into a situation where she's probably going to be toast. And one of the guards walks up and defends her and it ends up being like he pulls off his helmet and it's a big Joshua. And you're like,
00:54:35
Speaker
Joshua. So you're kind of like, okay, so you have to fight this fight or whatever, and you're kind of waiting for what the heck's going to go on between the two of them. And oh, before that, so before you meet up with Joshua, Love comes into your room and just dumps a bunch of Joshua lore on your lap.
00:54:57
Speaker
Mm-hmm. He dumps on it like so love comes in and tells you his connection to Joshua as well as Joshua's past entirely so now Estella sitting with this information that she finally knows Joshua's past and in her brain, it's like it clicks with her of being like He really did need to do this kind of on his on her own you like you could see it and her like like you can like It only the way she talks to him after
00:55:28
Speaker
So like, so you get this big thing and Lova just kind of like dumps this at you.
Joshua's Emotional Growth
00:55:32
Speaker
Um, also, uh, Lova is my husband. Um, I keep saying, I don't know. I keep saying the beginning that I could, I could fix. So he's fine. He's a great guy. He's a silver. You cannot fix crazy.
00:55:49
Speaker
He's a fucking lunatic. You can't fix him. So cool. Anyway, so he finally gives that like big lore and I think and that kind of leaves and then Estelle's like, OK, I'm breaking out of this. I'm not going to join our borders. I can't do it. Even though if it meant seeing Joshua again, she's like, I can't do this. What you're doing is wrong. And so she turns them down, tries to break out and then Joshua comes and saves her. And they kind of have a bit of this moment or whatever, but then they're trying to like basically break out of this very good place.
00:56:19
Speaker
And yeah, so you get a lot of the story of who Love is, how he's connected and everything. And then after that sequence, Joshua kind of rescues Estelle. You also get Joshua's side of things. So you get a side of things of what he was told, how he went through it, his sort of side of it all, and how he felt.
00:56:47
Speaker
And I think deep down like she realizes just how much he had to do that on his own. But then he was also talking about like they're standing on a beach together and he's just like, but now I definitely have to go for good and we need to say goodbye. And this is over kind of thing. And it sounds like, okay, no, no, no, no, no. You've had your time. You've processed it. You've realized.
00:57:12
Speaker
Add it's very clear that we are stronger together and we're doing the same thing we're doing this together and he's like.
00:57:19
Speaker
But, but misery. And she's like, no, no, no, no, no, no. You figured your stuff out. I figured my stuff out. Now we do this together. And she's like being very adamant that no, they are stronger together. They got to do this together. He still has a heart. It might've been broken. It might've been fractured. He's still him kind of thing. And like, so he ends up having this like big breakdown and like crying and realizing, Oh my God, you're right. You know,
00:57:45
Speaker
And I don't think he would have realized all of that if he hadn't had all that growth throughout the chapters.
Sibling-like Dynamic Critique
00:57:51
Speaker
And with Estelle having the growth and hearing his class and being like, you know what? I get it.
00:57:59
Speaker
Like she was so understanding, she heard him out, but that was very much like, no, like I'm here for you. We're going to work this out. You're not, you're not a fracture. Like they, you're still in there. There's still Joshua, like kind of thing, right? And pulls them out and suddenly his eyes go from like blank expression to having the little white dots in them again. I don't know if you noticed this.
00:58:27
Speaker
But his character art throughout the whole game. It's been too long. I can't say. I can't honestly say like it's been like three months. Yeah. No, that's fair. So all of his portrait art in his like every time he talked, his eyes didn't have the little white glowy thing in it. And it was supposed to be that he was like operating soulless. He had no emotions. Blah, blah, blah. It's a it was a robot.
00:58:50
Speaker
He's acting like a robot. Yeah, I feel so bad for making him a robot face in the first chapter. That was so good.
00:58:58
Speaker
Yeah, I'm so sad that that was the robot voice. But anyway, it was hilarious because I had no idea. And so, yeah, so so that is a very anime trope, that that's how they make it look like you have no soul or you're like you're broken or whatever. Right. And so the little white glistening thing goes back when he finally lets himself feel the pain of losing his sister, lets himself feel like all the misery he's gone through, the pain of taking his like that first life or whatever, and then still having his sister have to protect him.
00:59:27
Speaker
and like dying in the process and like Lovey disappearing and then like him going with Lovey and all that sort of stuff and like all these things that he's done and like he just kind of breaks down of everything and he's crying but this the life is back in his eyes and you could see it at his portrait work so like and then Estelle brings up like hey our first kiss you kind of poisoned and drugged me?
00:59:57
Speaker
redo that and he was just like okay so they redo that and then from there on they're they're inseparable again and i think that's just really it's still a weird dynamic it's still a weird dynamic and i will say like it's weird it's weird
01:00:14
Speaker
I still find it really weird and I know a lot of our community kind of goes against me on this one.
Preparation for Final Confrontations
01:00:21
Speaker
But because they keep using the sister vocabulary between the two of them and like him calling Cassie is still his dad and like stuff like that just made it really awkward that I wish in first chapter around the midpoint when she starts to figure out she has feelings for him, they drop that
01:00:44
Speaker
or that whole thing? I wouldn't necessarily say the him calling Cassius dad thing really bothered me because like hypothetically speaking, if they got married, like that would make sense, right?
01:00:58
Speaker
However, the thing that can that thing that really bothers me is the brother sister dynamic that they got going on. That's the that is the part that is really weird to me because they still they still end up keeping that sort of this dynamic through the entire game, basically.
01:01:21
Speaker
They do act like siblings of the first game and they keep it going even after they've admitted her feelings for each other. And she helps pull him out of his final bit of misery where he was going to cast her out and never see her again because he was probably going to go and like, like die trying to stop the organization kind of thing. So like she stops him from that one final thing because that time it was definitely going to be a mistake.
01:01:47
Speaker
and pull him back a little bit. But yeah, they still keep the same sibling sort of dynamic. So I think that's why the Cassius, him keep calling him dad kind of bugged me because the dynamic was still the same. But they're supposed to be like, loving each other. Yeah, I just I get it's an anime thing. And I get it. But like, I don't
01:02:13
Speaker
Anyway, so after they kind of get back and reunited, chapter seven starts out slow. Um, and I think it's because it's that little bit of intermediate before shit's going to hit the fan and you're going to go through the end sequence of things. So chapter seven, it's either chapter seven or chapter eight. I think it's chapter seven.
01:02:38
Speaker
Chapter seven is the one with the towers. You're going around to the towers stopping like trying to stop them from like doing whatever they're doing at the towers. So that one I think was kind of like chapter eight was the one where you did a lot of backtracking. Oh, yes. OK, it's chapter eight then. So chapter seven, I think it was OK, because you're right. You're going around all the towers and you're fighting.
01:02:59
Speaker
all you're fighting the or you're or you're facing off against the or you're seeing the ouroboros members again and you're getting more story with them you're getting more story with the walter and the zen dynamic you're getting more story because they force you to put zen in your party for walter they force you to put sharon the party for um luciola they force you to put um
01:03:24
Speaker
No, they don't not with the not with blue block blue block. You could have picked anybody but Yeah, so they they forced you because they knew you were gonna have a dynamic between them So you got more you got more story about them and you found out that like Walter killed Kalika's dad in like a dual kind of thing where they faced off against each other and it's because the dad sensed all this darkness of Walter's heart and was trying to like
01:03:49
Speaker
change his perspective and then ended up losing that fight, dying or whatever. So you get that kind of depth. And then you get with Luciola. I didn't. OK, so I didn't like this reason and it made me actually not like the character and that she ended up killing the leader because he was going to disband and she didn't want to leave. So she ends up like pushing him off a cliff. Because but that ends up leaving anyway. That's a I mean,
01:04:19
Speaker
And I'm just kind of like, you are just an awful person and Sharon kind of calls her out being like, that's the reason you killed like that. Like we thought he disappeared, but you literally killed him and that's the reason. Yeah, that was, I was, it almost felt like it was just like, what? Anyway, and then you got a little forced, honestly, it did feel a little bit forest and it felt less.
Chapter Eight's Slow Pace
01:04:46
Speaker
I don't know, pull me in. After all the character development we had of Shara, it didn't really give me a whole lot.
01:04:54
Speaker
So like Luciola was just kind of there. So she wasn't really a character I really particularly cared about at that point. And then Ren, you get to see Red again and Estelle is trying to reach out to Red and Ren's just kind of like, no, this is what I am. And so you get more of that. And that's, you're kind of going around dealing with all those towers and stuff like that. And then suddenly they activate something where all your courts can no longer work. And then that's how chapter eight starts. That sucked.
01:05:25
Speaker
It definitely sucked. You couldn't use your arts abilities. So you couldn't use any of your magic or anything. And you also had to do a lot of backtracking because none of the mechanical stuff worked. So you had to run everywhere. There's actually there is like a path that I guess.
01:05:44
Speaker
You're supposed to go from city to city that makes it fluid. I don't know exactly what it was. I don't think I took that path. Yeah, because I think you're supposed to end in their hometown, I think.
01:05:57
Speaker
OK, so yeah, I think you're supposed to start. In like this in the in terms of where you were in the first chapter, the first game, it's like you're supposed to start in the second area and then go all the way all the way through. But no, I agree. It was painful. One of the things that was nice was that you did at least have the devices that they were using to turn the phones back on. So like
01:06:24
Speaker
Yeah, you could equip those until you got to the area that you needed to be at. Then you had to have to give them all up as you go along. So you had to keep picking on who's mad. And luckily, because I had Joshua and Agate, they're more of my physical damage dealers. I took them off them right away.
01:06:42
Speaker
Um, but you didn't have Chloe at this point because she was off doing her own thing. So you didn't have Chloe for pretty well this whole chapter, which she's my main healer. So I had, uh, Estelle Joshua, Agate and Tita. And I made the mistake of keeping Tita's on and taking Estelle's off and having a really hard time against one of the side bosses. Cause chapter eight is also like, there's a lot of side quests you could do in between. I did none of the side questions.
01:07:10
Speaker
By the time I got to chapter eight, I realized like. I wasn't getting the bonus into going into three, so I was like, I'm not doing the side quests in chapter eight. And that's fair because like I did a few of them to level up a little bit because I realized some of my characters were a little low level. Oh, that's right. Yeah, you were a little underleveled.
01:07:28
Speaker
I was a little underleveled, so I took the advantage of leveling up Tita a little bit. I even switched to Shara to level her up a little bit. Funny enough, I'd never have leveled up Olivier. I ended the game with Olivier at level 54.
01:07:44
Speaker
My party was like 95 when I beat the game, but, uh, but yeah, so I took a little bit of time to level them up and doing the monsters also gave me some more money. Cause I really needed the money. So I did a lot of like the side monsters and stuff like that at each report. And I did some of the side quests there. I didn't do them all. Uh, but I did a few of them to level up a few characters and to get some extra money, but oh my goodness.
01:08:10
Speaker
Chapter eight was so slow after everything being so from like chapter one after you do the blue block stuff and you start going to the chapter two for like chapter two to seven is like It's all super fast It's super like go go go plot this plot that this character that character and your goal go go and then they try to slow it down in chapter eight but rather than slowing it down they came to a complete like halt and
01:08:38
Speaker
And there's a good few hours of gameplay where it's just. Halt.
Final Chapter and Optional Characters
01:08:45
Speaker
And definitely painful. It was very painful. And then halfway through chapter eight, they had the attack on the Capitol and then it picks up again and then it does not slow down again until you over. So it's like they had a lull, which I get because you just went through like a lot of shit and you got a lot of story or whatever to get it. But the problem is.
01:09:09
Speaker
is it was a little too long. So it was like, it was brutal to get through it. And I remember messaging KJ being like, Oh my goodness. Like I'm struggling to push through chapter eight right now. And then it picked up and I was fine. And then I got Chloe back and I was happy because I took my healer out of the entire chapter eight. And I'm like, how did you feel about chapter nine or the final chapter? So the final chapter,
01:09:39
Speaker
story wise was very like go go go like yeah it kind of like it was really flowing really well the final dungeon where you're like they reveal basically the castle in the sky the trails of the sky they feel it reveal that and then on that castle you can use magic again so it's like
01:09:59
Speaker
Okay. So like I'm back to not having this weird thing. Uh, they let you upgrade your slots. So I think it was either chapter seven or eight where they allowed you to start upgrading your slots to level three. Um, and using level three magic, which is pretty cool. Oh no, it was three. You're right. It was three. Yeah. Yeah. So they gave you, so really early on, I think it was like chapter one, they gave you the ability to update upgrade to level two. Yep.
01:10:29
Speaker
And then I think it was either chapter seven or six, seven or eight somewhere around there where they allowed you to upgrade to level three. And then the final chapter, chapter nine, you started getting level three gems. Yeah. That you could equip at everything, which I thought was really, really cool. But it was really, really fast paced. And then suddenly they started allowing you to use every character.
01:10:55
Speaker
but then additional characters that you would be teased that were part of your party or very briefly that you fought against where suddenly you could use, but you're at chapter nine. You already have a structure and a system with characters. And then suddenly they're like, here use Josette from the bandits. It's like, okay, I've never even gotten to control this character. I knew that was going to make you mad.
01:11:22
Speaker
I knew you were going to be like, why the fuck do I get this character? Well, the maddening thing is it's like they not only like here's the character that you've never been able to use ever like you've never been able to control her. She was always like AI controlled. So finally you get this character, but they make you put her in your party for the next little tiny sequence of Chapter 9. Mm hmm.
01:11:46
Speaker
It's like an hour or not even, it's like a half an hour of like a sequence where you're trying to rescue her brothers and you're stuck with her in your party. After having like finally control over having anybody in your party, you are forced again to have a character in there you've never used. And who doesn't even have an S craft like system? Doesn't happen. Well, that's because you're going through to get her S craft.
01:12:13
Speaker
You are, but it's just like, I was like, so you, you go through that segment, you rescue your brothers. Then she gets her S craft system because it's involves her brothers being on the Bobcat coming and blowing everything up, which was actually kind of fun. Um, but at that point I was like, okay, get her out of my party. Like I, like, I don't have to use her anymore. Good. I'm going to go back to Agatha and Chloe. Thank you.
01:12:40
Speaker
Like yeet that hurt person out. But then the game doesn't stop there. They're like, Oh, but we've teased these other characters. We're going to slide these guys in your party for life. Now these characters are actually optional. Yes. These are optional, which is the way I wish Josette would have been.
01:12:58
Speaker
Yeah, that was required because it was part of the story. But the other two characters, like you said, they basically say, oh, we're at a point where we should go back and talk to them. And if you go back and talk to them, you're able to add them to the party.
01:13:11
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And the game, but if you don't go back and talk to them, you miss that opportunity to go and to use them. So the game basically says, Oh, go back and cock to Julia Mueller about what's going on. And if you don't actually go back and do that, you don't get them as optional party members. It is something that you can mess. Whereas Josette,
01:13:33
Speaker
Because she's part of the story, she automatically gets to be a part of your people that you can select. But at that point, I'm like, I've never used this character in nine freaking chapters of this game. I'm not putting her in my party. But then that optional. And at first, I was like, I was just going to continue on with the story. But I was like, no, I'm actually going to go back and talk to them because I wonder what they'll say. Maybe they'll give me some items. I also thought they were going to give me items.
01:13:58
Speaker
Yeah, I thought they were going to give me three gem slot things and I was like, oh, this is going to be great. They're going to give me some cool like weapon. Julia is going to pull out this like weapon for Chloe and Mueller is going to like pull out this weapon for for it or something like that. Like these would have pulled out a weapon for some shit. And I was like, yes, let's go because that's my big party. But no, they like offer to be a part of your party and you get to use Julia and you get to use Mueller.
01:14:27
Speaker
So I used them for a little bit just to grind a little bit of the quartz that I needed to level a few more level threes up because they very much were like, this is going to be the point of no return. They were very obvious about that, which is very handy for a game like this.
Final Boss Rush
01:14:44
Speaker
So I used them for a little bit. I grinded a little bit and then I yeeted them out of the party because I had a system. I had a system. I don't blame you. I did the same thing. But like, I was like, yeah.
01:14:56
Speaker
and we progress on. So that part, I didn't mind because they were optional. It's also something that you could miss. I think Dark mentioned that he didn't get a chance to use them. He mentioned to me that he missed it as well, yeah. Yeah, so it is a very missable thing. And I almost missed it, too, because I was like, hmm. And then I'm going to go back because I thought I was going to get items. I didn't realize I was getting characters, so that was kind of cool.
01:15:27
Speaker
But yeah, I'm going to let you kick off how you felt the whole ending boss fight sequence. Yeah. So I actually enjoyed it because it's effectively a boss rush, which you knew it was coming. Like it was a boss rush of all of the Ouroboros members that you've met outside of Campanella because Campanella doesn't seem to fight. And.
01:15:49
Speaker
I thought it was really cool. I think it was also really interesting. I didn't know about this until after the fact. But if you bring certain party members into the fights, there's like certain cut scenes and stuff that you get and they interact. It's very obvious the way that they interact with the party when you don't bring those party members. Like, for instance, Walter was very disappointed that Zinn was not in my party. And I was like, oh, that's pretty funny. Like, that's actually really cool the way that they did that.
01:16:19
Speaker
They made it very obvious you should have had sit in your party for his fight and share for Lucio Lea. Yep. Then after all of that, you go into the hardest fight in the game, which is the fight with the white haired devil. And that is.
01:16:41
Speaker
miserable because he honestly that fight was really hard and the grand scheme of things I think it was pretty tough I didn't expect I was not ready for it so I got destroyed and funny enough that fight is optional so the way it works is if you lose specifically that fight you can
01:17:05
Speaker
just skip on to the next part of the story. They give you an option to just continue. And I saw that and I was like, fuck that. I'm going to kick his ass. And the second time I beat him. Get that option because I didn't lose. I didn't know that was the option. So it's funny because I think Dark did that a little before me and I DM'd him and I was like,
01:17:26
Speaker
Yo, did you do this? And he was like, oh yeah, I lost the first one too and I saw that and I was like, fuck that. But yeah, then, then you go into the real final boss fight.
01:17:42
Speaker
And there were a lot of cool different, um, actually, I don't know. Wait, wait, wait, you're skipping over the main part. Okay. I'm going to talk about this. The main part. Yeah. Where you beat up LoVe. Okay. So if you win, it gets LoVe. Um, him and Joshua end up in like a one-on-one duel. Polly's just giving away the ending.
01:18:02
Speaker
But like, okay, okay. But like, there's so much plot with Lรถwe there. And like, he's just like, oh. It's like a cut scene. Let's be real. You're just, you're just way too attached to this character. It's like a cut scene. I did love Lรถwe's cut scene. There was a cut scene after you beat that fight. And I really, really enjoyed the like, the dynamic. You're right. I shouldn't spoil it just a case for people. But like, I really liked the dynamic or whatever of like, Lรถwe and Joshua.
01:18:31
Speaker
And like, it was just, oh, it was just, it's, it's unnecessary. Like, like you gotta, you gotta see that cut scene for yourself. Like it was very like kind of heartwarming for me, but anyway, yes, continue then. And then after that problem happens, you go. Cause I was going to also leave out the stuff that happens before the final boss.
01:18:54
Speaker
because I think that there's a lot of important stuff there, but I think we should leave out some of the details, let people that haven't played that are still watching enjoy that if they do decide to play. Yeah, I think that's a good idea.
01:19:08
Speaker
But yeah, there are some, especially because this episode is very story heavy. We did go into a lot more depth of the story than we usually do for these things. Yeah, definitely. And so then you get to the final boss fight. And what I've learned about Trails games is that they love their tiered boss fights. When you are getting into a Trails boss fight, expect at least three forms, maybe more.
01:19:37
Speaker
It has been consistent. That is a consistent thing that there is multiple forms. To be perfectly honest, at JRPGs, I expect multiple forms at this point. I don't always. It really depends on the game. For me, it really depends on the game. So, yeah.
01:20:02
Speaker
ran into the most bullshit mechanic in the game, which is a status called Vanish, which in Trails in the Sky SC you can not get rid of. So the final form of the final boss has an attack that isn't blatantly obvious
01:20:19
Speaker
that vanishes your characters. And when they vanish your characters, they're just gone. They're gone for good. Poof. They're gone. And it's miserable. It is awful. And so he actually so Polly and I had the same party going in. He actually vanished.
01:20:37
Speaker
Joshua, and then Agate. So I basically had my support bot, Estelle, and my healer, Chloe, trying to do damage, and it was miserable. And I still got him down to like a thousand damage, and then he killed me. Or actually, I think he vanished everybody. Oh, he did end up vanishing everybody? Yeah, okay. Or he vanished three of them, and then the fourth one he killed.
01:21:03
Speaker
Yes. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Cause I think he, I think he will not vanish all four. Um, but I, but I, I don't know. I, I, I died before that. My, my system was so good too. Cause again, in sky one and two and sky one and two.
01:21:21
Speaker
you can basically just grant immunity. So Estelle literally would just sit in the back and be like, everybody's immune to everything. And then- So
Battle Strategy Challenges
01:21:35
Speaker
nice. I had Chloe healing and then Agate and Joshua just did a bunch of damage. And if I needed to do AOE damage, I could do AOE damage. If I needed to do just regular damage, I could do regular damage. It was fine. But that fight, that fight pissed me off.
01:21:51
Speaker
Same. And so, so KJ had the same, like we both had the same thing happen to each other, which is wild. So we had the same team and I got to that portion of the fight and I was really late and I had to stream the next day. So this was like a Monday night.
01:22:09
Speaker
And I had to stream like the Tuesday. And so Tuesday morning too. And so I was like, okay, I could get through this. I could watch the half an hour probably of cutscenes and beat the game and be done with it. Like I was on the final form. I was really pumped. I was like, okay. I didn't notice when he vanished Estelle. I didn't notice she wasn't on the field until I was like, wait.
01:22:32
Speaker
Where'd she go? Because I had her in the back too doing that earth wall move where she made everybody immune. And I had Agate and Joshua doing the main attacks, and then I had Chloe keeping everybody alive. And suddenly she just disappeared. I was like, what the hell? And I didn't see the mechanic on what he was doing that made her disappear.
01:22:53
Speaker
I didn't like fully process it. I didn't, I missed it. I saw what happened, but I didn't realize what move it was. That was my problem. Yeah. I didn't realize there was like this thing on the, like, I didn't see the like circle in the grant. I didn't see anything of the move. Like I just didn't see it. So I was like, okay.
01:23:13
Speaker
Okay, she's gone. Okay, that's okay. I still have my healer. I have my two damage dealers. I mean, it sucks, but it's not the end of the world. Cause she wasn't coming back and I kept expecting her to come back. I was like looking for a way to like bring her back and there's nothing. And I was like, okay, so I'm just doomed. I'm just down to three characters. And then I had like Josh would agate like beating him down, beating him down, beating him down. And then he did that. I saw that he was,
01:23:42
Speaker
targeting Chloe, but I thought it was like a regular attack. So I was like, okay, that's fine. I'll just keep bashing him or whatever. He can't do an, like he could do, he couldn't do a one hit kill on any of my characters, but they were too high level. So I was like, okay, they have enough health. And she was full health. I was like, okay, she'll just heal next turn. And then suddenly she disappeared. And I was like, wait, is this what happened to Estelle? So I lost my support character and I lost my healer.
01:24:12
Speaker
Oh, that's a rough spot. That might be. I only had my damage dealers left and I was like, well, Josh was a healer now. See, I had. OK. I had healing on everybody, but Agate. So I was able like if that had ever happened, if I was in that situation, I think I would have been fine. The fact that I couldn't really deal damage sucked.
01:24:39
Speaker
Yeah, I think not dealing damage would have been really brutal because the boss is really strong against magic attacks. And technically only Chloe has the strength of a magic attack that was doing damage, but she was also the main healer. So it's like, you never wanted to use up her healing to do magic damage. You wanted her healing all the time. So I was just like, uh, so when I was down to Agate and Joshua, Joshua could still heal and he was fast. So I was like, okay, this is saved.
01:25:07
Speaker
saveable and I got him down to like maybe like 10,000 HP and he did it again to agate and I didn't I didn't realize the mechanics and I'm not gonna reveal how you dodge this bit of kinetic because I think it'd be more funny to watch people go through it. I don't want to reveal it. Because I mean I want like people to experience it's no fun when you like reveal that sort of thing, right?
01:25:33
Speaker
And I'm glad nobody told me because it's like, even though it's really bad at it. So I, I get disappeared too. So I just had Joshua. And so Joshua had to heal every turn because the boss would attack and do at least a little bit more than half my health.
01:25:53
Speaker
so that I'd have to heal and then the boss would attack. And we kind of kept going back and forth and back and forth until Joshua built up his S break attack, his like CPU big attack. And I was like, okay, and this is really bad. I should have waited till it was at 200% because if I would have waited till he's 200%, I would have won because it would have done enough damage to wipe him off.
01:26:19
Speaker
But I was too eager to use it and beat this boss because he was so close to death. He had like, he was so close. He had like, maybe I think by that point, just under 10,000 HP left. He was so close. I was like, I can feel it. And I got Joshua to do his big attack and it dropped him down to like 578 HP.
01:26:43
Speaker
And then he got two attacks in a row and killed me because like I said, he did damage a little bit more than half my health. And he got that twice in a row. What have we learned?
Patience in Gaming
01:26:58
Speaker
Patience? Patience is a virtue. I was so bad because I was trying so hard to beat the game so I could come on stream the next morning and say I beat it. And then when I realized I would have to restart that because that fight's long because the boss has so much HP. So the fight is a long grind.
01:27:17
Speaker
I could restart at that form, but it was still a long grind. And I was looking at maybe midnight, 12, 31 AM by the time beating it. And I was like, I'm going to be exhausted for stream. I'm not doing that. I'm just going to beat it Tuesday night after stream.
01:27:35
Speaker
Um, so we, so I, I was so mad. I went to bed very grumpy because I was this close, this close. And I was mad because it meant I had to restart the gauntlet again. I had to do the other forms again. I couldn't just retry at that form because I had left it too late in the evening or it took me too long in the evening. I didn't leave it too late. I had been playing, uh, pretty well all day, but I just,
01:28:01
Speaker
I was too late in the evening for that. So I had to restart at the whole gauntlet thing again of like the, or sorry, the whole different forms. And then, uh, and then I realized, I realized the mechanic of the end boss and, uh, definitely, I definitely beat him. I didn't even struggle.
01:28:20
Speaker
Didn't even struggle. Yeah, the second time I faced him, I didn't struggle either. As long as that's it's weird. These bosses have a lot of forms, but like if you're paying attention and can like see what they're doing, you generally and you have good rock math, you generally can kind of just reason your way out of the situation.
Reflecting on Boss Fight Mechanics
01:28:45
Speaker
That's been my experience with these games so far.
01:28:48
Speaker
Yeah, and honestly, while the mechanic of the end boss or whatever is like BS and like I got nuked by it.
01:28:58
Speaker
It honestly, like, I get it. They had to do something. They had to do something a little over eating because the game was it was fairly like as long as you were well leveled and you kind of sort of fumbled through rock math. You did it. You're fine. You're going to get through the game. The the exception being the love a fight was actually harder. I actually found the love a fight harder than the boss. When I realized the mechanics.
01:29:27
Speaker
when I realized the mechanics of the end boss that I was like, okay. And the funny thing is, is I beat Lovey first try. I didn't get a game over with him, but man did I get close many times and it was a struggle. Like that man took no mercy on me. Cause he's crazy. You know, he's had some things happen. He's not crazy. He's crazy. He's not crazy, crazy.
01:29:53
Speaker
Um, yeah. And then, um, yeah. So then we saw the ending of the game. Uh, again, I'm going to be very vague for those who want to watch it.
Vague Ending Discussion
01:30:03
Speaker
And by some cool shit, I mean, Kevin's a bad-ass. Oh yeah. We'll talk a little bit about that. And then we'll, we'll just kind of be very vague of the thing. Yeah. So you beat the game and my whole time, like when I beat it, I was like, what the heck about this cap and Bella? We kept getting cap and Ella pop it up.
01:30:23
Speaker
What the heck? Like there was nothing of him. I was like, I kept expecting him to like, just come in at the thing and no. I mean, he says he's zero, the fool. So I figured that I realized because it was revealed that he was literally just there not to interfere with anything. He was literally there to like. He's like the embodiment of a note taking emo.
Character Interest and Plot Intrigue
01:30:47
Speaker
He really is he's like or a sippy He's the he's the sippy won't be like why is what's like? Oh, I'm gonna like rule the world and he's just like sippy
01:31:00
Speaker
It's like, sure, wise, but sure. So like, he's literally that. And then you get more asked, you get more lore on Kevin. And now I'm just like, I want to know more about Kevin, because it reveals a little bit more of him, who he is. And I very much doubted what he said at the beginning of the game. And now I was glad because the end of the game proved what I doubted at the beginning of the game. I'm just gonna keep sipping. And
01:31:30
Speaker
Everybody, everybody that knows everybody that's in the in the know is sipping right now, Polly. I'm sorry that you're not sipping. I know because I haven't played Sky three, but, yeah, so I. We're actually chugging the drink. We're not even sipping it. We're chugging the drink.
01:31:53
Speaker
Yeah, and so you got these pieces about Kevin. I was like, I want to know more about Kevin. That's great. And it kind of like it's so so the second chapter, whatever kind of wraps up, but it's it doesn't wrap up at the same time. There's a lot of loose ends that have not been covered. There's a lot of things still waiting to be figured out.
Continuing the Series
01:32:14
Speaker
And you kind of go into the end of the game where it's just like, there's still more here. And my questions about particular characters have not been answered yet. What questions for what characters? I'm curious.
01:32:30
Speaker
So for one thing, I want to know the leader of Ouroboros. What the heck that person is? Where is he? This grandmaster they spoke of that you never see? Cap and Nella, I want to know more about him too, because he was just there to be an observer. But
01:32:54
Speaker
There's got to be more to him. And then with Kevin, I want to know more about Kevin and like, like you get, you get some lore dubbed on you with Kevin at the end of that game. Absolutely. Which made him away. Okay. Like six games and figure out what the hell's going on with everybody. Yeah.
01:33:21
Speaker
So yeah, so like those are the things. And then like, I'm wondering if we'll ever run into Ren again. Honestly, I think that was pretty well all the big portions. And like, ultimately, what was the end game of this? Because like, Caponella was like, at the end, he was just like, oh, I was just here to observe. Whatever happens, happens. I'm not supposed to interfere. I was just supposed to like take notes.
01:33:48
Speaker
game of this though like well like when were you trying to like anyway so there's just a lot he was observing what was happening that's all yeah but there's just a lot that's like like they reawakened the city and that the city went down again and like it's just like what was like where they were like wondering how the fusion would go and everything I don't know there's just so many things were just like
01:34:14
Speaker
So, and actually, I was so happy because I ended up beating a second chapter, I believe, that Tuesday night. I ended stream, had supper, and then I beat it because I was beating this now. And left me off just being like, I kind of want to play three.
01:34:35
Speaker
I don't want to play three, but I had already started Suikoden. I literally had day one of Suikoden that same day. And I was like, I want to play three. So, yeah, we're going to have to play three sooner rather than later. But this series definitely does a good job of being like, and now you have to play the next one. Oh, yeah, no. I mean.
Trails Series Intrigue
01:34:57
Speaker
Your your the questions that you're asking. Are questions I have.
01:35:05
Speaker
And I'm two games ahead, not all of them, but some of them. Okay. Okay. So it's kind of like you're in it for the long haul. So yeah, you might get, you, what I'll say is you might get pieces of answers that you're looking for, but like, I'm not the overall thing. Okay. Yeah. I'm still asking some of those questions. Fair enough.
01:35:29
Speaker
She said we Sky Third isn't, I've already finished that game. Yeah, he's already finished it. I might actually make Sky Third a stream game myself. Makes sense. Especially because like KJ also said that he wanted to see me go through three, but also just as a refresher or something like that. The emotional damage is going to be strong with this one. I can't wait. It's going to be so good.
01:35:57
Speaker
It's you're already ruining my life with Suiko to do it. Now you want to ruin my life with Sky three. That's OK. Just break the late game. Sky three is going to have Polly screaming probably through a megaphone.
01:36:11
Speaker
And this is why you OK, this is why you want to actually see the stream because like cat blocks. Moonie isn't enough for you. Nope. Because you've had cat blocks in your DMS for like this entire duration of this game. It's not enough for you. You need to see the actual physical screaming. All right. It's going to be so good. But yeah, what were your what were your kind of closing thoughts? What did you think of the game?
Consistency in Game Mechanics
01:36:38
Speaker
Uh, I thought it was really well done. Honestly, it was, I liked that they didn't try to change too much from the first game. They just kind of kept a lot of the mechanics the same. So you could kind of go into the second game, especially because the plot line flowed so quickly in the second game. And you got majority of the plot line in the second game, as opposed to the first, I'm glad they didn't hold you back with a bunch of new mechanics.
01:37:01
Speaker
same and tried to change things and try to like change stuff that worked really well. So you already figured out the mechanics and the world building and stuff for the first game. Now you could just jump into the second one and go head first into that plot and not worry about mechanics or things like that for the most part. I still figured out rock map halfway through second chapter.
01:37:23
Speaker
But I was able to get through it up until then suddenly it dawned on me, but I could have probably still started to figure it out. I just wouldn't have had certain spells, so it would have been a little bit trickier, I think. I think you would have struggled a little bit more endgame had you not. Yes, I would have struggled more endgame, I
Streaming for Immersion
01:37:43
Speaker
think.
01:37:43
Speaker
not understanding the manual portion of the game. But yeah, overall, I definitely was more into this game than the first one. I think partly is because of how I played it. I was playing it like four to five to six hours at a time. I would say between three to five hours at a time. Sometimes I would stream it. I did throw it as an occasional stream game too to help myself get through it. And my streams were like six, seven hours.
01:38:13
Speaker
eight hours long. So again, you know, four to six hour
01:38:19
Speaker
Play sessions at a time and so like I feel like I was way more drawn into it I was also like like there's a lot of character development. So I would really honestly give this a pretty high ranking I think the gameplay mechanics are great I think the music is great the little bit of voice acting is a tease I wish there was a little bit more but I understand I don't even remember there being voice acting because like it it's
01:38:43
Speaker
It's such a minor thing, but for me, because I knew the voice
Game's Aesthetic and Enjoyment
01:38:47
Speaker
actors, it was a little bit more engaging for me after battle. But the music was really good. Sound effects were really good. Art style was great. Mechanics was great. When I finally figured out rock math, I felt so powerful because I was like, I can have everything together. It's wild what reading the manual and like... Which I normally don't do. Reading the manual. Especially for first playthroughs because I'm worried it's going to spoil me.
01:39:11
Speaker
But it's an in-game manual. It's not going to show you. No, I know. And that's where I should have known the difference. If I would have been more like.
01:39:22
Speaker
my brain would have been more like, okay, this is like the digital version. They're not going to do that to you on the digital version, but I kept like avoiding it. Just be like, no, I'm not going to read it. Cause I don't want like spoilies, you know? And I'm like, this is just like when a physical manual, it's way like, cause the physical manual, they're trying to pull you into the game more because a lot of the times people
01:39:44
Speaker
like going to like a rental store or something like that would look at that manual and like read it and see if they were even interested in getting the game or whatever. So it's like, I get why manuals, like the physical copies were, I will say the, the manual for sky to the physical manual talks about,
01:40:08
Speaker
talks about a lot, talks about Ouroboros. It talks about the black ornament. It talks about all the plays a lot, all the playable characters, all of the Ouroboros members that you meet. Well, a shit ton. All right. Not like the first 12 pages. Yeah. OK, so like that's where my mentality went. But I should have known the digital one probably wouldn't have had any of that. However, I will say all of that would have meant nothing because it's all in Japanese.
01:40:39
Speaker
That's fair. Yeah. Other than some of the names, everything else is in Japanese. No, I agree
Game's Dependency on Sequel
01:40:48
Speaker
with you. I think it was a very good game. I think.
01:40:53
Speaker
my problem with it is mostly in that it's not a standalone game so it's hard to like yeah this one's really hard to rank i think i think i can rank first chapter and second chapter together but i don't know if i could have them either one of them standalone because first chapter you're missing a lot of the plot
01:41:16
Speaker
a character development. Like you get it at the very end, but it's more world building and mechanical stuff. I think first chapter stands alone better than second chapter does because first chapter you. You do complete the story and then it's just that second or the last 15 minutes of cutscenes open up a bigger world.
01:41:40
Speaker
OK, I think it could be a standalone game. I would say I think the second chapter is way more interesting. I guess it's agreed. Agreed. But I think like first chapter, you could realistically you could play first chapter. And if you don't care about the rest of like, if you don't care about that cutscene with Joshua,
01:42:03
Speaker
You could just be like, all right, cool. I got my I got my plays out of it. Like we finished. Yeah, you could leave off the main plot thread that they give you is for the most part solved. But then in second chapter, it's like it picks up from first chapter and there is still a ton of open questions at that point.
01:42:29
Speaker
Yeah. And I think it becomes really hard in second chapter to then rank it on its own because it relied a lot on first chapter to set the stage.
Character Development Strength
01:42:42
Speaker
as well, because it's like, it's hard because like, I don't know how to rank this one because it's like, I enjoyed, I definitely enjoyed this one more than the first one. But again, I think it was also largely how I played. And because a lot of the story happens in the second one as opposed to the first one, but it's hard to rank like on its own.
01:43:11
Speaker
like but it is a sequel it is a very direct sequel and it has to build off of the second one but it's kind of like the difference between golden sun one and two so golden sun one you could very realistically like okay i actually find trails of the sky first chapter less likely for you just to end and walk away than golden sun one and i think the problem is is because we got a lot more character development of the characters of golden sun one that
01:43:39
Speaker
And Golda said, too, it's like a whole new party going on that you're dynamically with. So it's like it's very easy to, whereas it's Trails of the Sky second chapter, a lot of the character development is in second chapter as opposed to the first chapter. You get a few, like, for example, Shara. Like, I would have left off hating Shara if I never played the second game because I didn't get any story with her. Yeah, I think it feels
01:44:10
Speaker
with, so I think Golden Sun 1 and 2 are a very good comparison with these games, but I think I agree that like Trails in the Sky, first and second chapter, you kind of have to, you need those games. Like, how do I say this? Yeah, you're not meant to, you're not meant to play them out of order. No, I agree with that. But like, it's hard to
01:44:41
Speaker
For me personally, it's hard to judge a game when it's dependent on another game. Because part of it is that takes away from, if it's dependent on another game, that takes away from the story. Because it's not a standalone. So I look at something like Golden Sun 1 and Golden Sun 2, yes. And the grand scheme of things Golden Sun 1 and Golden Sun 2 are,
01:45:08
Speaker
You do need the info from Golden Sun 1 to play Golden Sun 2, however, Golden Sun 1, you could, like, you could stop, and I feel the same way about Trails in the Sky 1, is that either of them, you could stop at one, and you'll have some questions, but like, they're not really necessarily, they're like a couple of big picture questions.
Comparison with Golden Sun
01:45:40
Speaker
I think I disagree that you could stop at first chapter. I think because of the way they end first chapter off, not even with the Joshua, like Joshua stuff aside, is that you, at the end of first chapter one, you find a big robot, but like everything's like left kind of still in the air of being like, and then you just got, you get revealed about the professor like pulling all the strings and stuff and that there's a bigger thing and whatever.
01:46:05
Speaker
Oh, I guess it's well with Golden Sun 1 you kind of had that too. Yeah, I think you I think it's tough. It's so tough because I was like that they're like really pushing on in the first game. They end. It's the second game like it's the start of it's the.
01:46:25
Speaker
The because again, you don't really know they sprinkle the Ouroboros thing in there at the very end. That's true. Yeah. Oh, shit. I see what you're saying. You're right. It comes down to like. I think I can rate this game if you've played the first one and you play the two of them like together, but you can also very realistically for Golden someone and Trails of the Sky first chapter just end at the first one and be done with it. You could.
01:46:51
Speaker
Realistically nobody's gonna do that, but nobody's gonna do that No because you're gonna be too invested on like wanting to know about the characters and stuff and I don't think there's enough character development in one that makes you like
01:47:03
Speaker
I know who these people are and walk away like I feel like most people Like if not all people are gonna do that and be like I want to know who these characters are I want to know more I want to know like what's going on like why did Josh would do this thing and yada yada yada So it's like I feel like you get a lot more of that and like golden said too it's the same thing with me like I beat one and I was like I
01:47:28
Speaker
It leaves off on a cliffhanger. Like, I want to know more. I want to go through it more. And then when I start off too, I was finding it a little rough to start to, unlike Trails of the Sky second chapter, where I feel like it was a perfect fluidity from like the first to the second game. Golden said too, it's like a big like, you're now a different party. And that it's pretty slow to start picking up with that different party.
01:47:56
Speaker
So I feel like there was more of a drag there for me of Golden Sun 2 as opposed to Trails of the Sky second chapter. So while I loved Golden Sun 1 a lot, I feel like there was like quite a dip into 2 and then it starts to get good and then it picks up about halfway through the second game, which is not a good dip to have when you have things like kind of flow back to back where second chapter, the only dip I felt was in chapter 8.
Seamless Plot Transition
01:48:25
Speaker
And it was for like an hour or a couple hours. It was like for half halfway through that chapter. I think it started off a little like.
01:48:34
Speaker
Even though I found it interesting, it was a little bit of a drag to do all of the like. Oh, I guess technically, yeah, the prologue and the chapter one with the Phantom guy. Yeah, and that also. But honestly, no, I agree. I think I think Sky to like Sky FC is better than Sky FC, in my opinion. But again, I can't help but say you need these games for each other. Yes, kind of rough, in my opinion.
01:49:03
Speaker
Um, I do, I will say sky three is probably the most standalone of all of them. So like, if somebody, if somebody were to play sky three first, I would say that's a bad idea because you don't have the context of what happens in one and two, but there would be, they do a good job of explaining the past stuff as well. So that would be my only, my only thing.
01:49:33
Speaker
Okay. Yeah. So I think, I think maybe like putting first chapter and second chapter together, I, I do think it's a solid like eight and a half, nine out of 10 game. If you're playing both of them together, I don't like, obviously you can't play this game. I feel like you strongly can't really do this game without the first one.
01:49:54
Speaker
There's too much world building and there's too much setup in the first one that you really can't go into the second one without probably the first one. Where for you, you could feel like you could kind of do that in three, but you'd still be missing context, but you could still kind of do it. Where first chapter and second chapter flow so closely into each other, even with the mechanics, I think it becomes really difficult to separate them. So I think them as a package,
01:50:22
Speaker
would be around that rating, but I don't know if I could rate this game on its own, per se, because it's like, it can't stand on its own.
01:50:32
Speaker
No, I agree. I totally agree.
Game Rating Debate
01:50:35
Speaker
So it's like, like, I, I like to give ratings on games, like if they could stand on their own and then say what golden sun one and two, my rating of them are combined of that. Have you played both of them? Um, especially for the second one, like the first one I can rate the second one. I can't really do it unless you've played the first one.
01:50:55
Speaker
And I do think this is like, I do think, uh, second chapter is like a little bit of it, like it's a little get go from the first one. So like it definitely, so like I was around like an eight ish for, for first chapter, I would say this is more like an 8.5 and nine kind of thing playing second chapter because it's an improvement. It's kind of like octopat traveler one and two, where I found octopat traveler two, it proved on all the things that I liked if octopat traveler one, um,
01:51:25
Speaker
It's a similar kind of concept. So, yeah, I would say now my ranking of both of them together would be like an eight and a half, nine out of 10. And then but I very much preference you have to play both of them. Yeah, I'd agree. I agree with everything you said. That was that was where I was sitting as well. OK, they're good games. They are very good games. I think they're very interesting characters, very interesting, like behind the scenes sort of puppetry going on that you want to know more of.
01:51:53
Speaker
I guess game-wise, I'm now almost halfway through the series. And like, I mean, I know time-wise I'm not, but yeah, it's definitely worth it. Definitely worth a play. If you enjoy world building, you enjoy RPGs that might give you a little bit more of a slow burn and then kind of
Unique Elements and Strong Protagonist
01:52:14
Speaker
really start to pick up and just be packed with action and packed with
01:52:19
Speaker
like everything, every kind of drama you can think of, then that's, this is definitely a good series for you. Yeah. And honestly, I would say if you're looking for a JRPG, that's unique too, because the battle system or like the, like the whole like, uh, rock court system is unique. It is unique to the game. I've not seen anything like that. I've not
01:52:41
Speaker
seen anything like that in a game before. The art style, I mean, it's similar to some things, but not quite. It's very kind of unique. Music is great. I feel like if you're looking for a JRPG experience, that isn't just the typical Final Fantasy. I think this is a great series to dive into, especially these two games together, because it just opens up that there's just so many different ways to do
01:53:07
Speaker
the JRPG experience. And I feel like while there's good JRPG games out there, or RPG games out there, they don't always add anything super, super new to the whole like pot of RPGs that there is. And so like, while they're good games, I'm like, okay, you know, that was fun. But like, it's not like bringing in these super new,
01:53:28
Speaker
I feel like Trails in the Sky brought something really, really new. Also, just having the very rarity of having a very strong woman protagonist that can stand on her own. And at first, in the first chapter, you're kind of like, well, she does, but she kind of has Joshua. But then in the second chapter, you realize she doesn't have Joshua anywhere. She really does have to stand on her own. And you can see that she can.
01:53:54
Speaker
And I think that's really important because a lot of the times with the women protagonist or like the co-protagonist sort of thing that they have at JRPGs is the woman is very dependent on the male character a lot. And so that trope happens a lot in anime, that trope happens a lot in video games. So it's really nice and refreshing to have a main character that's a woman character, a female character, and that she's like, she could stand on her own, she can like handle things on her own. And while she needs people to kind of help her head, she doesn't like necessarily like
01:54:24
Speaker
Need them to carry her through anything. She's she's strong. She's very like Spirited kind of character and it was just also kind of nice to see a big character kind of like me So that's also an extra bonus that's more personal to me But it's just it's nice because you don't get that a whole lot in RPGs, right? Especially like older ones Right. I would consider Trails in the Sky still retro in my opinion 2004 I think
01:54:54
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I'd give you that retro ish. Um, but like you didn't get it a whole lot and that wasn't a annex or title or whatever.
01:55:08
Speaker
Like a, like a big, big, big. We could talk about that for hours. Let's not even go there. Yeah. It's not going there, but like, so yeah. So like I, I think this is a great game to try. If you're looking for an RPG experience, it's different. Um, I also think this is great. If you're looking for like a main character who's kind of different and then it's just like the mechanics are great and everything. Like I, I highly recommend.
01:55:28
Speaker
people who like RPGs to definitely try this. At least try these two games back to get back and then see how you feel from there. Because it seems like Trails of the Sky series, Zero and Azure all kind of have the similar mechanic and art style-ish. I mean, they might change it. I think I heard that Sky 3.
01:55:51
Speaker
trages it, but like the the art kind of looks similar and stuff like that. And then Cold Seal changes things and looks different for their four games. And then Reverie looks different, it looks like. So it looks like those are like, it's more so that it's like. It's Sky one, two and three, because those are done by Exceed. And then. You have the Crossbell games, which are done by NIS.
01:56:20
Speaker
So those are different. Then Cold Steel 1 and 2 are done by Exceed. And they're on the PS3 instead of the PS4. So those are different. And then you have
01:56:34
Speaker
uh, cold sail three and four, which are done by NIS and those, and, and reverie. So all of the, all three of those are different. So it's really like the localization and who's, who's sort of publishing it and everything. Oh, so it's more, it's more based on if it's XC or NIS publishing it more, separating it than anything else. Okay. Okay. That makes sense.
01:56:55
Speaker
It's just that they they did the crossbell duology later on. Like they brought it. They translated it later on. So really exceed. That's why it's like randomly you have the two games that exceed that exceed didn't do in between the ones that they did because those were those were done much later. Oh, OK. So it's a good time to be a Trails fan right now because things are being put in better order. Yep.
01:57:22
Speaker
especially with the release of Azure a few years ago. Yeah. It was a few years earlier this year. Oh no. Earlier this year. Yeah. So like bringing that over gave you the complete of the cross spell sort of thing that happens before cold steel. So it's actually really good to be into the trail series now. Yeah.
01:57:42
Speaker
Cause you have the option of going back to those and like, even with sky one, two and three, I mean, sky bring brought over here. Thanks to steam. I mean, that was long after the first two games came out, wasn't it? I'm, I think so. Yeah. Well, the first one came out in the U S on the PSP. It was the second and third that didn't.
01:58:06
Speaker
Oh, okay. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So second and third. Okay. That would have been a bit of brutal to be a trails, like trails of the sky. And I've been like, I can't play the second or third one. Yep. That would have been so brutal back then. So like, it is a really good time to be a trails fan now and to start now and trails of the sky is really easily accessible. Now it's on steam. That's where we both played it. Um, they're fair. They go on sale all the time. Uh, but they're fair. Like they're, they're fairly, it's
01:58:35
Speaker
Oh, they might be on sale right now. Yeah. And they're fairly inexpensive anyway. They're not that expensive to get a hold of them and grab all three and see what you think. But definitely worth a play for those JRPG fans who are looking for something different and just a very intriguing game. Yeah. So I think we can wrap up at least
01:58:58
Speaker
this portion and then we can start talking about like, what's next? So yeah, I think, well, I'll