The Last To Post Wins!

[DragonFlames]

Okay, first: WHAT?!?

 

Once upon a time I was fallin' in love...

Second: THE F***?!?

 

I will admit, Trails of Cold Steel III got me good there. The last couple of hours were full of surprising reveals and twists. Well done!
Also, I have come to the conclusion that CS3 is basically CS1 if CS1 got to the point quicker. I'm not yet done with the game, but that is my broad analysis of what happened so far.

Here's a nice little nugget for the TitS (acronyms are fun, aren't they?) fans out there:

 

Even I, who never played TitS, cracked a smile upon seeing this picture. It's cute.

---

41 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Hearing good things about Cindered Shadows but also that it's like, 5 hours long. Now look, i value enjoymet more than hours but $25 for 5 hours is a bit too short. The first three waves of the 3H DLC have been very underwhelming and while i'm sure Cindered Shadows is good, i don't know if the price is actually worth it.

I watched the last few minutes of Ghast streaming it (second to last map all the way to the ending). It took him a little over 10 hours to beat it. Gotta admit, I'm at least sold on the characters now. But I still question whether or not its actually worth the price, let alone the entire lackluster Season Pass.

Edited February 13, 2020 by DragonFlames

[Armagon]

22 minutes ago, Shrimperor said:

5 hours only? i kinda doubt that. I am playing through it atm and it seems like it will be more akin to 10 Hours.

 

20 minutes ago, DragonFlames said:

I watched the last few minutes of Ghast streaming it (second to last map all the way to the ending). It took him a little over 10 hours to beat it.

I was reading people's reactions on Twitter and one of them said it only took him 5 and a half hours of game time to beat the game. Maybe he was rushing it. $25 for 10 hours might be better though.

A friend of mine said that Cindered Shadows is more of an "up to you" expansion as opposed to Xenoblade 2's Torna or Monster Hunter World's Iceborne where you absolutely want to get the expansion.

20 minutes ago, DragonFlames said:

Okay, first: WHAT?!?

Spoiler

I wish Musse's longer hair wasn't just a wig. Though I suppose she did cut it to hide her identity.

 

20 minutes ago, DragonFlames said:

Here's a nice little nugget for the TitS (acronyms are fun, aren't they?) fans out there:

  Reveal hidden contents

Even I, who never played TitS, cracked a smile upon seeing this picture. It's cute.

Bright Family best family.

You'd want to play the Sky trilogy+Trails to Zero to get the full story behind that.

(The spoiler below contains nothing, I accidentally clicked it on mobile and removing it on mobile is basically impossible so just ignore it).

Spoiler

 

 

Edited February 13, 2020 by Armagon

[DragonFlames]

1 minute ago, Armagon said:

A friend of mine said that Cindered Shadows is more of an "up to you" expansion as opposed to Xenoblade 2's Torna or Monster Hunter World's Iceborne where you absolutely want to get the expansion.

Yeah, that's the impression I got while watching it. Granted, I didn't see the whole thing, but what I saw seemed okay for what it was.

2 minutes ago, Armagon said:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

I wish Musse's longer hair wasn't just a wig. Though I suppose she did cut it to hide her identity.

 

She'd easily be best girl if she always wore it that way, ngl.

4 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Bright Family best family.

You'd want to play the Sky trilogy+Trails to Zero to get the full story behind that.

The scene this picture appeared in divulged some details about it except the small girl's name.
In general, I do feel like I have a pretty good graps of the goings-on in the other regions that tie into Erebonia's story. CS3 does a good job of catching you up to things if you talk to everyone regularly and pay attention to what is said and how it's said.

[Armagon]

22 minutes ago, DragonFlames said:

The scene this picture appeared in divulged some details about it except the small girl's name.

Oh they didn't say her name? But if you've played CS2, then you've already heard it. Her name is Renne. She'll show up as a playable character in CS4 btw, so you have that to look forward. That game also gives her closure to something that happened in Zero.

Renne's one of the best characters in this series imo.

There's a part of Renne's backstory that isn't mentioned in that scene, likely because Tita doesn't know so if you want to know, I'll write it down here

Spoiler

She was kidnapped by a demon-worshipping cult as a child and was the victim of several inhumane experiments, to the point where she developed split-personality disorder to cope with it. It lasted until she was rescued by Ouroborous because when they raided the cult base because even they were like "what the fuck" and Renne became an Enforcer, though as you can tell by the picture in CS3, she left the organization.

There's more to the backstory (a part I didn't mention is the core of Renne's arc in Zero) and while I know you did say you were fine with people telling you what happened in previous games, I still think you should be left with some things to find out for yourself.

 

Edited February 13, 2020 by Armagon

[Shrimpica]

53 minutes ago, DragonFlames said:

Second: THE F***?!?

Thats why you read Trails ingame books. They always offer hints and are 90% true.

7 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Renne's backstory

Ummm, no, you got it wrong.

Go view Star door 15 and you'll know it's much worse

[Armagon]

Next person who smokes in my vicinity is getting shot.

[Armagon]

Just now, Shrimperor said:

Ummm, no, you got it wrong.

Go view Star door 15 and you'll know it's much worse

Yeah, I know. It's like the most hidden Star Door because the dungeon it's in is optional.

Am I missing something (apart from the thing I purposely ommitted) in what I wrote?

...wait

Spoiler

Wasn't it implied she was sexually abused? Cause I remember something about "clients".

 

[Shrimpica]

13 minutes ago, Armagon said:

wait

Yup

Spoiler

And abuse is putting it very very lightly

 

[Armagon]

9 minutes ago, Shrimperor said:

Yup

  Hide contents

And abuse is putting it very very lightly

 

Spoiler

I think Renne's backstory is like, the most fucked up part in the entire series. I remember being genuinely caught off guard when I first saw Star Door 15.

And the following game has Tio's backstory in which Tio went through the same thing minus the sexual abuse.

 

Edited February 13, 2020 by Armagon

[DragonFlames]

1 hour ago, Armagon said:

Oh they didn't say her name? But if you've played CS2, then you've already heard it. Her name is Renne. She'll show up as a playable character in CS4 btw, so you have that to look forward. That game also gives her closure to something that happened in Zero.

Renne's one of the best characters in this series imo.

Yeah, Bleublanc mentioned that name in CS2 somewhere, I remember. So that's her.

I instantly regret reading the spoiler, though. Holy f***, that's dark.
It makes the words she told Tita before she enrolled at Thor's into a downright tear jerker.

1 hour ago, Shrimperor said:

Thats why you read Trails ingame books. They always offer hints and are 90% true.

I did read the ingame books I got, but it still took me by surprise.
Also

I find it oddly fitting that Arianrhod has the same voice as Rhea.

I now have a theory who that mysterious girl is, too. Spoilers in case I am right:

She's the elder of the Hexen Clan Emma and Vita are from. Why do I think this?

1) Celine mentions that the elder of her clan "doesn't look the part". -> Mystery Girl is a loli, not something you'd associate with being an elder of anything. Sothis?
2) She mentions being very old and if she knew Dreichels personally as the dialogue implies, it would make sense to call her "elder".
3) She was "told" about Rean's special powers. -> This would make her a candidate for Ouroboros' Grandmaster, but the person who told her about it could only have been Emma and/or Celine, because
4) She mentions Emma, Celine, and Vita by name. -> This was the biggest giveaway for me.

On a side note, if this does turn out to be correct, what the hell is it with Japanese games and loli grandmas lately? First Sothis, now this girl.

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

Quote

Even I, who never played TitS, cracked a smile upon seeing this picture. It's cute.

It's because Bestelle is cute.

@Oz O:

[Shrimpica]

1 hour ago, DragonFlames said:

Japanese games and loli grandmas lately

It's a very very very very very old Trope xD.

 

[Shadow Mir]

On 2/11/2020 at 8:23 AM, DragonFlames said:

The best way to do it is to have Rusty and Lisette take out a bulk of the enemies with their stronger moves. Lisette especially; her water magic does wonders against the Fire Ball spamming guys. Have Popo use her Song of Wind when there is a group of enemies coming at you at once, she can usually take them out or at least weaken them enough that the others can kill them. Her normal skills are also quite good here due to their range. Oh, and if you have Nonoka in the party (for the next battle, I think she joins you), definitely make use of her skill that gives her automatic stealth. It's really useful.
Granted, it's been a while since I last played the game, so my memories are a bit fuzzy (if that wasn't obvious from me not recalling who Dorothy is at first), but these are the tips I can give you.

I had dealt with that the other day. Just finished the part where OP mystery girl shows up and forces Hilda to decide to gtfo after the battle.

[Acacia Sgt]

Got the Ultimate Key. I could go around the world again; but I figured I should get the Echo Flute first. Then maybe head to Jipang at last.

Considering the comparison of the game's world from ours, I like to think the Fifer's Spire is located where my hometown is. Although others may see it instead corresponding to South California rather than North Baja California. Ah well!

[Shrimpica]

>Cool Escape Map
>Every enemy has a Crit
>Turn Limit
>Get critted to game over.

Why why why. So many crits <.<

[Acacia Sgt]

Alright, time to finish off the Orochi!

[Shadow Mir]

57 minutes ago, Shrimperor said:

>Cool Escape Map
>Every enemy has a Crit
>Turn Limit
>Get critted to game over.

Why why why. So many crits <.<

So ein mist!

What game are you playing?

[Armagon]

Walking in the Florida heat makes every distance 10x longer than it actually is.

It should be illegal to live in Florida.

[Acacia Sgt]

As always, I found the boss easier now knowing better. In this case, using Dazzle and Acceleratle. I don't think I used them in my previous playthrough. That said, since this time around I turned my Wizard into a Sage, I didn't had Oomph, which I did had before because back then I had the Priest change into a Sage. So now the battles took longer; but were easier.

Although, during the second battle I had to restart like three times when the RNG made the Orochi use it's fiery breath twice in a row for more than one turn straight. That's loosing around 70 HP per turn, when only my Warrior has over 200... yeah. Pft, and it's meant to be the easier of the two battles... no matter. I believe if I had waited until Manoza I could've gotten breath protection equipment. Ah well...

Well, now I'm going around the world using the Ultimate Key.

Edited February 13, 2020 by Acacia Sgt

[♠Soul♠]

6 hours ago, Falcom Knight said:

It's because Bestelle is cute.

@Oz O:

KYOOT KYOOT KYOOT

[♠Soul♠]

Quote

OH LOOK, IT'S ESCHA!!!! ❤️ 🥰

Edited February 13, 2020 by Oz O:

[Acacia Sgt]

Pft, had an enemy group reach Enemy H at Gaia's Navel, because I can only take down one at a time, due to being solo, while the starting group of three always had one calling for back-up.

[Lightcosmo]

Still waiting for new Xenoblade Chronicles Remake information. I'm not even sure what the release date is set to be, but i'm getting pretty excited for it. I've played the original soooo many times. Of course, being a huge Xeno fan it makes having to wait more difficult!

[Interdimensional Observer]

And Roman Domination complete in 308 turns.

A little tweaking got me one the Australian city with Niter. After that I gave up on Canberra and marched north, the Aztecs declared war on me and after eradicating their initial offense, I promptly advanced on them. For the first time, I used Bombers as part of my invasion force. On anything less than Steel walls, they 2-3HKO a city, with awesome range and each city naturally being able to hold a single air unit, Bombers are unbelievably good. I razed a useless Aztec city and conquered three useful ones with three Machine Guns, two Infantries (one was destroyed), and a Great General escorted by an Artillery. I relocated my Bomber to my newly taken city and continued a pattern of razing and conquering cities I needed to possess to get my Bomber in striking distance of my next target. Hopping through Brazil, I took the capital and crossed the sea unopposed to Persia, able to bomb a coastal city of Persia from Brazil, I only needed to take it before Pasargae could be mine, it took 3 turns.

Australia and the weak Nubia declared war on me at this time. Australia declaring war was good, they didn't get their production bonus, which is good since they had already finished two of the Science Victory projects. Steel walls made my Bomber destruction slower, but making two Bombers for my Australia offensive fixed that. Curtin fortunately had no one defending his capital, just a handful of flies pestering the heart of my empire. One Mechanized Infantry and some bombings beforehand seized Canberra.

Well, Curtin did have one defender, a Jet Fighter. Fighting Brazil, Persia, and Australia, I learned Fighters, even the basic Biplane, is very strong, possibly even OHKO deadly for a Jet. AA Guns and Mobile SAMs don't help very much, at least individual ones. Yet, the enemy never set their Fighters to Intercept, so my Bombers were never damaged by them and safely could do their job. Thank goodness Fighters only have 4-6 range.

I stole most of Australia's Spaceports with my three city sweep, ruining any remote hope of winning before I got my Domination. And thus I ended up with a back door directly to Krakow in range of the two Jet Bombers now in my new Aussie holdings, no need to wrestle any other Polish cities after all. Either Jadwiga was still at war with Amanitore or she was preparing to invade from my cities from my south, her capital was defenseless. Shortly before making peace with Persia when it was done sending antiquated Knights and Immortals at me, I invaded China, a frail easy empire of small cities if there ever was one. And in one, two, three, Xi'an was vanquished the same turn I took Krakow. The world became mine, my first victory on King difficulty.

 

Now I'll relax on Civ 6 again and finally try DQXI I think. Still haven't played it though I got it for Xmas.

[Shadow Mir]

On 2/9/2020 at 11:12 PM, Falcom Knight said:

Mangs finished an ironman, and this has been by far the hardest one (FE11 in lunatic) of the ones he has done yet.

He lost everyone except for Marth and Elise, but completed is completed!

It has to be mentioned because it feels like a wonder of the world to me.

 

A classic example of that old term “pyrrhic victory”.