The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel - Class Warfare

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Let's Play! > The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel - Class Warfare

«‹›27 »

Level 1 Thief: Dec 17, 2007; I'm busy, and I'm having fun.

34. Sticker Star

Rean hangs out with three of his favorite classmates.

# ? Sep 30, 2019 06:10

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? Apr 28, 2024 11:16

Stabbey_the_Clown: Sep 21, 2002; Are... are you quite sure you really want to say that?; Taco Defender

- The issue with focusing on defense in Cold Steel is that the combat is focused so much on denying enemies the opportunitues to have turns in the first place, because they hit surprisingly hard when they do get turns.
- Mirage was Emma's starter MQ.
- Get used to the new 2-zone Old Schoolhouse dungeons. They're staying.
- I think you missed the cat on the rooftop. There was a yellow dot on the roof minimap. It's easy to miss.
- I don't think this game uses the word gazongas. It does use boobs though.
- The more you watch the opening credits
- I'm pretty sure that the next field study does not have any "part of a Set" things to collect. (Still has Red Moon Rose, though.)
- Jaeger corps are not illegal in Erebonia. You are absolutely right that there have been plenty of opportunities for Laura to have bad experiences with Jaeger corps which were unrelated to Fie's Jaeger corps. Too bad the writers didn't think of any.
- Just a clarification so you don't tear your hair out in the practical exam: The bonus condition only applies to your team.

# ? Sep 30, 2019 17:04

Erpy: Jan 30, 2015; (insert title here)

Both Gaius and Fie hit twice per normal attack, both of which can generate sepith when used together with the Scepter MQ, though eventually you'll probably want to switch to another quartz. His default one is actually pretty good. Since Fie has that one, she'll also be extremely hard to kill until the insight status wears off and the Shining spell is a good use of her EP since it doesn't depend on someone having good Ats stats.

Gladiator Headband is actually kind of overkill on someone whose Master Quartz gives him free CP for every enemy he kills.

# ? Sep 30, 2019 19:51

Veryslightlymad: Jun 3, 2007; I fight with
my brain
and with an
underlying
hatred of the
Erebonian
Noble Faction

Gladiator is best on ~~someone like Alisa~~ Alisa.
But probably on someone who you'll want to use their abilities in crunch time.

quote:

I don't think this game uses the word gazongas. It does use boobs though.

Also "Dem Titties", which I find nuts on a translated game.

EDIT

And you're right, Fie is the best party member. I'm eagerly anticipating your reaction to next video.

Veryslightlymad fucked around with this message at 03:25 on Oct 1, 2019

# ? Oct 1, 2019 03:02

Stabbey_the_Clown: Sep 21, 2002; Are... are you quite sure you really want to say that?; Taco Defender

Veryslightlymad posted:

Gladiator is best on ~~someone like Alisa~~ Alisa.
But probably on someone who you'll want to use their abilities in crunch time.

The Gladiator Belt, though, not the Headband, which is what he just got. ~~The Headband is good on those who use a lot of physical attacks anyway, and using Alisa for physical attacks is non-optimal.~~ Well yes, it should work on art attacks as well, but not buffs or healing, and Alisa tends to do quite a bit of that.

Veryslightlymad posted:

And you're right, Fie is the best party member. I'm eagerly anticipating your reaction to next video.

Maybe in terms of amusing personality, but in terms of combat usefulness, I find that she's too weak and fragile on difficulties above Normal. But maybe I'm not using her right.

Stabbey_the_Clown fucked around with this message at 03:33 on Oct 1, 2019

# ? Oct 1, 2019 03:25

Veryslightlymad: Jun 3, 2007; I fight with
my brain
and with an
underlying
hatred of the
Erebonian
Noble Faction

Stabbey_the_Clown posted:

Maybe in terms of amusing personality, but in terms of combat usefulness, I find that she's too weak and fragile on difficulties above Normal. But maybe I'm not using her right.

I meant personality wise. I think Fie tends to have both better lines and more depth than almost anyone in Class VII.
In combat, again, no one's really bad, but yeah, sadly, she's probably toward the lower end of things, unless you make her a dodge-tank. She's quite a bit better in CS2, but here, she's generally outshined. Actual game power in CS1 is oddly the opposite of "plot" power.

Scud Ripper is really good, though. Force on Fie is pretty great for this reason alone.

# ? Oct 1, 2019 03:39

BearDrivingTruck: Oct 15, 2011; You see the most shocking sights sometimes

Good candidates for the Gladiator Belt also include any character with low speed, since it allows them to build up CP while they wait for their turn. Conversely, the headband is good for faster characters who get lots of turns to attack with.

# ? Oct 1, 2019 03:56

Level 1 Thief: Dec 17, 2007; I'm busy, and I'm having fun.

F3. Ch.3 Bonding Event Wrap-Up

Despite fitting the naming scheme, Horsis will not be joining our party.

# ? Oct 3, 2019 10:42

Veryslightlymad: Jun 3, 2007; I fight with
my brain
and with an
underlying
hatred of the
Erebonian
Noble Faction

- Elliot... sure likes music... The irony of his character is that he's one note. Two whole games, and every single bonding event.

- Characters ripping on Rean's propensity for heartfelt speeches is second only to the various students absolutely laying waste to Instructor Sara.

# ? Oct 3, 2019 15:59

Erpy: Jan 30, 2015; (insert title here)

Laura merely comes across as sheltered because of her insane focus on the martial arts she grew up with. She relates everything and everyone to the martial arts school her family represents (much less so than Rean) and the knightly traditions that are part of it. As a result, her character starts out very much like her combat role; extremely good in exactly one thing and kind of oblivious on everything else.

Erpy fucked around with this message at 16:36 on Oct 3, 2019

# ? Oct 3, 2019 16:25

Veryslightlymad: Jun 3, 2007; I fight with
my brain
and with an
underlying
hatred of the
Erebonian
Noble Faction

Erpy posted:

Laura merely comes across as sheltered because of her insane focus on the martial arts she grew up with. She relates everything and everyone to the martial arts school her family represents (much less so than Rean) and the knightly traditions that are part of it. As a result, her character starts out very much like her combat role; extremely good in exactly one thing and kind of oblivious on everything else.

She is also backwoods as hell.

# ? Oct 3, 2019 17:15

Stabbey_the_Clown: Sep 21, 2002; Are... are you quite sure you really want to say that?; Taco Defender

- The girls in this game do tend to be more interesting than the guys. This even extends to their utility in battle, too. I think that's probably a little intentional because of "waifu wars" bullshit.
- You could have reloaded after using only two of the study points - it's not like you were going to keep any of those bonding points anyway.
- Ahhhh... only NOW do I understand how the Alisa/Laura study session helps answer that exam question on art. The key word here on the exam is "colored", which means it can't be dessin, which is monochrome. It probably also rules the even rougher and more basic "croquis". Tracing is just plain wrong.
- It's not that Laura is sheltered from people, it's that her hometown is small and has its own traditions. It's not as cosmopolitan as Celdic, which has the major train line running through it, the branch to Bareahard, and goods coming in from various places.
- If you did the bonding event with Laura, the Mishy plush shows up in her room. Not sure if it also shows up there if you didn't do the event. Something to possibly check later.
- Yeah, Emma or Alisa would be a good person for Laura to ask that sort of thing, it's a case of Rean Has To Do Everything. Comes with being a protagonist.
- The Big Chess Game is Chapter 5, and it's a somewhat interesting bonding event for Machias.

Veryslightlymad posted:

- Elliot... sure likes music... The irony of his character is that he's one note. Two whole games, and every single bonding event.

Good lord, yes. Elliot's bonding events are the worst. I'll go ahead and say that his Chapter 5 one in CS 1 is probably the only one worth viewing on a limited-points run. Elliot's Chapter 6 one is literally redundant to stuff which is mandatory in the main story and completely skippable.

Emma is a lot more interesting than Elliot, and she doesn't get much development in this game at all. Heck, all of Elliot's other Wind Orchestra companions have more to their personality/skillset than he does.

# ? Oct 3, 2019 18:26

Cyouni: Sep 30, 2014; without love it cannot be seen

Stabbey_the_Clown posted:

Maybe in terms of amusing personality, but in terms of combat usefulness, I find that she's too weak and fragile on difficulties above Normal. But maybe I'm not using her right.

This is a bit late since I'm only catching up on videos now, but at least on Hard she's still totally viable, even without resorting to any of the more cheese-related tactics out there (the only thing I ever had to do was resort to Mobius/Chrono Burst/Burst Drive cheese on the final boss, and have a very targeted team for a certain Schoolhouse boss). Even a medium bit of evasion does wonders for her survivability, and I primarily used her as a debuffer and AoE damager. She'll never have the pure single-target damage of any of the more focused members, but armed with some of the higher tier Wind and Time quartz, she can easily keep enemies so heavily debuffed that it's hard for them to pose much of a threat.

# ? Oct 4, 2019 11:08

Stabbey_the_Clown: Sep 21, 2002; Are... are you quite sure you really want to say that?; Taco Defender

Cyouni posted:

This is a bit late since I'm only catching up on videos now, but at least on Hard she's still totally viable, even without resorting to any of the more cheese-related tactics out there (the only thing I ever had to do was resort to Mobius/Chrono Burst/Burst Drive cheese on the final boss, and have a very targeted team for a certain Schoolhouse boss). Even a medium bit of evasion does wonders for her survivability, and I primarily used her as a debuffer and AoE damager. She'll never have the pure single-target damage of any of the more focused members, but armed with some of the higher tier Wind and Time quartz, she can easily keep enemies so heavily debuffed that it's hard for them to pose much of a threat.

I was playing on Hard. I didn't level or use Mobeius, and I also dislike using cheese tactics or delay spam, I don't like when fights are too easy, it's incredibly boring. Since it was my playthrough, I largely kept the default quartz on people until they hit level 5, except that I put Criminal on Elliot and maybe found something else for Jusis. I did give her all the evasion stuff I could, but it didn't help enough. I just didn't like Fie's combination of "hits weakly" and "is fragile" compared to almost any other option.

# ? Oct 4, 2019 15:17

Level 1 Thief: Dec 17, 2007; I'm busy, and I'm having fun.

35. Dignity & Refinement

Please select your party.

...not that one.

# ? Oct 8, 2019 20:49

BearDrivingTruck: Oct 15, 2011; You see the most shocking sights sometimes

I still can�t believe they worked in this absolutely perfect blend of story and game mechanics just to show how much of a snob Patrick is.

# ? Oct 8, 2019 21:34

Erpy: Jan 30, 2015; (insert title here)

The line where Rean gets fed up with Sara's poo poo for the umpteenth time and calls her an evil stepteacher wasn't voiced in the original, Brittany simply liked that part so she had the VA's record it for the PC version. I initially pictured Rean to sound snarky and deadpan there, but Sean Chiplock's mock-offended tone works well here too.

Saint-Arkh was already a destination. It was where Alisa, Laura, Elliot and Gaius went during the second field study while Rean was busy sponsoring make-up sessions for Jusis and Machias.

I believe it's not Sara who determines the field study locations, but the board of directors, meaning Jusis' brother among others.

Mint would have scored a lot better than Fie if she hadn't gotten a 0 out of 10 on the one exam she should have aced.

I'm pretty sure that the points difference is such that no matter how sucky Rean's performance was, his class will always beat out Class I.

That line about Sara marrying her foot to Heinrich's face is another line Brittany liked so much she had people record this scene just to have it in audio.

To be fair, it's not Elliot's fault that your battle tactic involved continuously tanking those Aerial spells instead of sending someone over there to impede their arts.

Now that you have the Ingenuity quartz, you can have two people in your party whose EP regenerate on the field. Pretty useful for a team that includes both Emma and Alisa.

# ? Oct 8, 2019 22:42

Stabbey_the_Clown: Sep 21, 2002; Are... are you quite sure you really want to say that?; Taco Defender

- Yeah, it's an oversight. Rean isn't supposed to know that the cat is called Celine at this point. There was a similar thing in Trails in the Sky SC where a character in a cutscene is given their name, and later they're given the name they were previously known by with a "?" at the end or something. Also an oversight.
- "I keep forgetting Rean isn't a woods orphan." "I think he might have been a woods orphan at one point." :allears:

- That's the maximum score you can get on the midterms.
- Yeah, Fie didn't get any sort of traditional education, probably not even Sunday School.
- It's "fun" how this battle forces Elliot the caster into your party and then says "no bonus if anyone on your team casts arts".
- On Nightmare, you really can't afford to be tanking all those Aerials to the face like that.
- If you Move, you usually get your next turn faster and could have possibly gotten a chance to impede the back guys with some of those turns.

Erpy posted:

Now that you have the Ingenuity quartz, you can have two people in your party whose EP regenerate on the field. Pretty useful for a team that includes both Emma and Alisa.

Ingenuity is in particular well-suited for Alisa because of the two locked fire slots on her orbment. Fire tends to be oriented more for physical characters in both stat bonuses and effect types, and there are only so many good fire arts at this point in the game.

# ? Oct 8, 2019 23:36

Veryslightlymad: Jun 3, 2007; I fight with
my brain
and with an
underlying
hatred of the
Erebonian
Noble Faction

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is so notably not a musical, there was an entire episode of the Simpsons about how absurd it'd be as a musical.

# ? Oct 8, 2019 23:38

Rabbi Raccoon: Mar 31, 2009; I stabbed you dude!

Veryslightlymad posted:

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is so notably not a musical, there was an entire episode of the Simpsons about how absurd it'd be as a musical.

That was A Streetcar Named Desire. I'm the biggest Tennessee Williams nerd in all the land.

# ? Oct 8, 2019 23:47

Veryslightlymad: Jun 3, 2007; I fight with
my brain
and with an
underlying
hatred of the
Erebonian
Noble Faction

Rabbi Raccoon posted:

That was A Streetcar Named Desire. I'm the biggest Tennessee Williams nerd in all the land.

Son of a bitch, you're right.

# ? Oct 9, 2019 01:21

Cyouni: Sep 30, 2014; without love it cannot be seen

The thing that I recall is mentioned in Trails in the Sky regarding orbal firearms is that they're not actually loaded with bullets. They use the orbal energy of the quartz they're equipped with to generate and fire bullets, thereby never running out of ammo, but I believe it also lowers the pure damage potential. Traditional firearms generally went out of fashion because of how resource-inefficient they were in comparison.

*Double Cracker* "Was that the best you had?" - And this is why stat buffs are so powerful. The 50% Def buff, if maintained, helps people survive a lot more damage than they otherwise might. I think it probably does around 800-1000 damage for each of the two hits without the Def buff, which can turn it into a pretty significant threat. You can see how much the damage starts amping back up as the Resounding Beat falls off (mainly to Elliott).

# ? Oct 9, 2019 08:04

Erpy: Jan 30, 2015; (insert title here)

Cyouni posted:

The thing that I recall is mentioned in Trails in the Sky regarding orbal firearms is that they're not actually loaded with bullets. They use the orbal energy of the quartz they're equipped with to generate and fire bullets, thereby never running out of ammo, but I believe it also lowers the pure damage potential. Traditional firearms generally went out of fashion because of how resource-inefficient they were in comparison.

What I recall is that they actually do use bullets (until later in the series they start experimenting with "art guns" that manufacture "magical" bullets), but rather than detonate gun powder inside the bullets, it's the weapon itself that generates the explosion. This would mean that theoretically you can reuse the projectiles you shoot as often as you like and they're easier to carry a lot of since the projectiles don't need room to contain caches of explosive substance. The ballistics in the Sky games definitely seem like ordinary bullets and orbal technology isn't at the point where they can use orbal energy to manifest metal projectiles that weren't there before.

You're right about them having slightly less stopping power than gun-powder based guns.

# ? Oct 9, 2019 09:58

Stabbey_the_Clown: Sep 21, 2002; Are... are you quite sure you really want to say that?; Taco Defender

I just checked an LP where someone is deliberately doing a failure run, and Rean's lowest possible score is 52nd place with 718 points. This lowers Class VII's average from 878 to 857, but some shenanigans are going on here: When Rean is in 52nd, his 7th place finish is instead taken by an anonymous Class I member with a score of "***" which should be between 924 and 936 given its position... but Class I's average score remains at 843.

# ? Oct 13, 2019 23:20

Level 1 Thief: Dec 17, 2007; I'm busy, and I'm having fun.

Stabbey_the_Clown posted:

- On Nightmare, you really can't afford to be tanking all those Aerials to the face like that.

One of many reasons I guarantee if we were playing on Nightmare, this LP would be totally unwatchable.

Stabbey_the_Clown posted:

I just checked an LP where someone is deliberately doing a failure run, and Rean's lowest possible score is 52nd place with 718 points. This lowers Class VII's average from 878 to 857, but some shenanigans are going on here: When Rean is in 52nd, his 7th place finish is instead taken by an anonymous Class I member with a score of "***" which should be between 924 and 936 given its position... but Class I's average score remains at 843.

We can probably just assume Margarita got one of the boys in that universe to eat the cookies and it tanked his score.

So recordings got delayed due to illness -- we should be starting up again ~~tonight~~ soon, but it'll still be a couple days at least to get everything done. In the meantime, here's something I didn't originally intend to post: the journal! It's a bit dry at first glance, but poking through it I found enough funny stuff that I think is worth it. It is hands down the worst-edited section of the game I've seen so far -- I fixed some errors here and there but didn't go nuts with stylistic stuff. Special shout-out to this bit of word salad:

And some light reading music to set the mood, of course.

Level 1 Thief fucked around with this message at 04:44 on Oct 15, 2019

# ? Oct 15, 2019 02:07

Level 1 Thief: Dec 17, 2007; I'm busy, and I'm having fun.

Rean's Journal: Prologue

Thors Military Academy

quote:

3/31 (Wed) Entrance Ceremony

Today I arrived in Trista, a little town on the outskirts of Heimdallr.

While I was admiring the lino flowers blossoming all over town, a girl walked right into me! She was wearing the same color uniform as I was, too, so I wondered if we were in the same class.

Thors Military Academy is in the north part of the town. Not wanting to be late for the entrance ceremony, I decided to hurry over there.

I crossed paths with a tall boy at the nearby Septian Church. He was busy praying when I arrived, but he seemed new to the academy, too. Don't think he was Erebonian, though...

I saw a female student who was accompanied by an elderly man who appeared to be a butler. Judging by how gracefully she conducted herself, she had to be from some famous noble family.

I spotted a strange girl sleeping on a bench in the park. She seemed like another Thors student...and kind of reminded me of a cat, for some reason.

I finally reached Thors Military Academy, the famed military academy established by the great Emperor Dreichels.

Just as I reached the gate, another student arrived in an orbal limousine. Looks like Thors has a number of major nobles among its students.

Walking through the gate, I was greeted by two second-year students. I'm not sure how they knew my name, though...

After handing them the items I applied to bring into the academy, it was time for the entrance ceremony. My time at this academy begins today--I'll need to be ready for whatever academy life throws at me.

During his speech, Principal Vandyck passed on the words of Emperor Dreichels: 'Arise, O youth, and become the foundation of the world.' The true meaning of those words is something we'll have to put a lot of thought into during our two years at the academy.

I ended up talking to Elliot, the red-haired boy sitting next to me. He wore a red uniform, just like me, and just unlike all of the other students...I knew something had to be up there.

Soon, the ceremony came to an end, and a female instructor called out to us. Apparently, there was going to be a 'special orienteering exercise' for us students in red uniforms... I had no idea what I was in for.

Old Schoolhouse Exploration

quote:

3/31 (Wed) Special Orienteering

We were led into an old schoolhouse behind the main building of the academy.

As it turned out, we students in red uniforms were part of Class VII, a new class established this year which contains students from different social classes. The woman who led us into the old schoolhouse then introduced herself as our homeroom teacher, Instructor Sara Valestein.

The first to raise an objection to this arrangement was a glasses-wearing boy named Machias, but he was immediately chided by Jusis Albarea, a son of one of the Four Great Houses.

Ignoring all this hubbub, Instructor Sara told us that she'd arranged for all of us to take a 'special orienteering exercise.' A moment later, the floor opened up beneath us, causing us to fall into an underground area below the building.

Fortunately, no one seemed to be hurt--although I did end up taking a slap to the face because I landed in an...unfortunate position beneath one of the girls.

Instructor Sara then called us on the ARCUS battle orbments Thors sent us before we arrived. She asked us to collect our weapons from the pedestals surrounding the room and set the quartz with them into our ARCUS units. ...Not that we had much of a choice.

I obtained a master quartz from on top of one of the pedestals. Apparently, setting this into my ARCUS allows me to use certain types of magic called 'arts.'

With everyone's preparations complete, our special orienteering exercise began. We were tasked with getting through the underground dungeon and returning to the surface.

People set off one by one--first Machias, then Jusis, and then the girls. ...That blond-haired girl was REALLY not happy with me.

The only ones left--Elliot, the exchange student Gaius, and me--agreed to work together. They have really cool weapons, too; I like them already!

We then proceeded through the door to properly begin our exploration. We definitely needed to get used to fighting alongside each other, though.

Just as we thought we were used to fighting the monsters in the area, one of them caught us off guard. Luckily for us, Machias appeared at the last second and saved us from danger.

We took the chance to formally introduce ourselves to one another and were reminded that Machias has a chip on his shoulder when it comes to the nobility.

...Either way, Machias agreed to come with us, so we four started working together, expecting that we'd catch up with the girls any minute.

Once we caught up with them, they told us that they were doing just fine on their own.

We were introduced to Emma, who scored highest on the entrance exam and came from a remote region of the Empire. She uses an orbal staff just like Elliot, too.

The blond-haired girl's named Alisa and she hails from the city of Roer. ...And, as I figured, she's still annoyed with me for what happened earlier. She definitely doesn't want to talk to me, so I hope I can find some way to apologize...

The girl with the large sword is the daughter of Viscount Arseid, also known as the Radiant Blademaster. He's also the strongest swordsman in the Empire, so if his daughter takes after him at all, we're lucky to have her.

The girls went one way and we went another--keeping an eye out for Jusis and the silver-haired girl as we looked for the exit.

We were able to confirm that the silver-haired girl, whose name is Fie, was safe. I've got a feeling we never had any reason to worry to begin with.

She told us that we were over halfway through, so we kept moving.

We found Jusis in the middle of a battle. He's a skilled swordsman who uses the traditional court fencing style favored by the nobility.

It seems that Machias is the son of Governor Carl Regnitz, who takes care of the capital, Heimdallr. Unfortunately, we learned this while Jusis was mocking him for it ...These two really aren't going to get along, are they?

I held back Machias before he tried to punch Jusis, and he walked off on his own, saying he wanted to cool his head.

Jusis was more than willing to admit that he was partially at fault for what happened. He may be the son of a prominent noble, but he doesn't think he's Aidios' gift to mankind...which is kind of a pleasant surprise.

After reflecting on the class issues that Erebonia faces, we finally got moving again, now with Jusis in tow.

We finally reached the end of the dungeon and found a path leading up to the surface, but a stone gargoyle stood between us and freedom. The only way out was straight through it.

We were able to defeat it by working together... or so we thought. The gargoyle quickly rebuilt itself and came at us again, not weakened in the slightest. Fortunately, it was then that our classmates came to our aid.

Unleashing a barrage of powerful attacks on the gargoyle, we finally saw our chance for victory. At that moment, our bodies were surrounded in a pale light, allowing us to act together almost as if we were one. Finally, the gargoyle fell.

After defeating it, Instructor Sara arrived nonchalantly, and told us we had just experienced the ARCUS' key innovation: combat links. She explained that combat links have the potential to completely change how wars are fought, and that our high aptitude for them was one of the reasons we were picked for Class VII.

After this lengthy explanation of all of this, she asked us all once more whether we wanted to be a part of Class VII, knowing the sort of challenges we'd have in store. ...I knew my answer.

All nine of us declared our intent to join the class, one after another. Everyone's motivations differed, but from that moment on, we were united as members of Class VII.

# ? Oct 15, 2019 02:07

Level 1 Thief: Dec 17, 2007; I'm busy, and I'm having fun.

Rean's Journal: Chapter 1

Academy Life - April

quote:

4/17 (Sat) After School

Today I was asked a question in Instructor Thomas' class. Luckily, I was able to give him the right answer. It looked like Alisa was trying to help me out, though...

During our final homeroom of the day, Instructor Sara gave us a schedule rundown. She told us about our free days, which students can spend however they see fit, and warned us about our 'practical exam' coming up Wednesday, April 21st. After that, she says, she'll tell us about one more unique part of our curriculum. ...I'll have to make this free day tomorrow count.

After that, Instructor Sara asked me to go collect something from the Student Council in the Student Union building next to the main building.

I was investigating the locked old schoolhouse door, when I was overcome by a strange sensation. ...I think, anyway. Maybe I was just imagining it.

In front of the Student Union building, I ran into a laid-back second year. He said that he would show me a trick, but he ended up taking my 50 mira.

I wonder if all of the second years are that weird. Hopefully I don't turn weird after a year here... Well, anyway, it was off to the Student Union building after that.

Inside the Student Council room was one of the second-year students that I met on the day of the welcoming ceremony. It turns out she's the Student Council president! Her name's Towa, and she assured me that despite her small size, she really is a second year.

She gave me our class' student notebooks and asked me to hand them out to everyone.

...Of course, that wasn't all I was asked to do. Instructor Sara set me up, and now I have to use tomorrow's free day to help the Student Council by fulfilling various requests from other students and people from Trista. Gee, thanks, Instructor.

Instructor Sara claims that she's having me help the Student Council as a learning experience of sorts. Maybe it'll teach me something, too.

Apparently, the requests I need to fulfill will be delivered straight to my mailbox. I'll have to check and see if they're there tomorrow morning.

But before I went to bed, I decided to deliver the student notebooks.

I delivered Jusis' student notebook to him. (repeat seven times, you get the idea)

I've delivered all of the student notebooks now. I should go back to my room and get some sleep.
4/18 (Sun) Free Day

An envelope full of requests to fulfill arrived in the mail. I figured I should at least do the ones for the principal and the Engineering Club.

All of my classmates had already left, but I figured we could chat if I ran into them.

Once I'd finished the Engineering Club's request, I got ready and set off for the old schoolhouse.

We'd finished investigating the old schoolhouse, but unanswered questions still remain. I want to get to the bottom of things, so it wouldn't hurt to explore every so often, especially now that I have the key.

I parted ways with Elliot and Gaius, who had agreed to help me out. With the sun setting, I decided to head back to the dormitory myself.

After finishing some sword practice, I decided to listen to listen to Abend Time on the radio I received from George. I think I'll keep tuning in!
4/21 (Wed) Practical Exam

We had our very first practical exam on the academy field. Elliot, Gaius and I were asked to team up and fight a strange object that Instructor Sara called a 'combat shell.'

By making good use of our combat links and fighting as one, we earned a good score.

After that, we were given an explanation on another part of our class' curriculum, which the instructor referred to as 'field studies.' Looks like we'll be split into two groups, A and B, each of which will be sent to a different region of the Empire. There, each group will be given a number of tasks to complete.

Here's the plan for this month:

Group A: Rean, Alisa, Laura, Elliot
(Study location: Celdic, the Market Town)

Group B: Emma, Machias, Jusis, Fie, Gaius
(Study Location: Parm, the Spinning Town)

...Sounds tough, but we'll just have to work hard and hope for the best.

We'll be departing to our respective destinations by train this weekend. We'll have to make sure we're ready whatever we're being pitted against.

Our First Field Study

quote:

4/24 (Sat) Field Study at Celdic - Day 1

This morning, I was finally able to reconcile with Alisa before setting off for our field study.

With that off my shoulders, it was time for us to leave. We got ready and headed for the station.

We arrived at the station just as Group B were leaving for Parm. I was a little nervous about how Machias and Jusis will be together, but I had bigger things to be concerned about.

We bought our tickets to Celdic from the counter.

We purchased our tickets and boarded a train bound for Crossbell. It seemed like the station staff had been forewarned about our field study.

It took us about an hour to reach our destination. To pass the time, Alisa told us all about Celdic and its market.

Just as we were wondering what Instructor Sara had planned for us there, she appeared out of nowhere. While she claimed she'd come to answer our group's questions, she fell asleep the moment she sat down in her seat... She's a special one.

When we finally reached Celdic, Instructor Sara guided us to the inn where we'd be staying.

There, we found that we would all be staying in one room, regardless of gender. Alisa didn't take too kindly to this, but after Laura admonished her, she reluctantly accepted the arrangement.

Afterwards, we received an envelope containing information on the tasks we would be completing from the inn's owner--all of which were menial to say the least, just helping people with one thing or another.

We decided to go and ask the instructor, who was on the first floor of the inn, about them.

It seems as though the aim of these field studies is somewhat related to the assistance I gave the Student Council on my last free day... We can't be sure what exactly Instructor Sara is planning, but we decided to get started on our tasks regardless. This should be a good chance to learn more about Celdic, at the very least.

Two of the tasks are mandatory, but it's up to us whether we want to complete the others.

We stepped into the famous Celdic Grand Market and thought it wouldn't hurt to do a bit of shopping while we're working through our assignments.

We ran into the Kreuzen Provincial Army while they were patrolling the town. They warned us not to cause any trouble.

We exterminated a monster on the East Highway. Man, these combat links come in handy.

Outside the Lunaria Nature Park, we encountered a couple of park rangers. Apparently, the area is off limits right now.

We completed the mandatory request from the orbal factory!

We've finished all of the mandatory tasks and headed back to the inn to talk to Instructor Sara.

On our way back to the inn, we heard a commotion coming from the Grand Market. We made a detour over there before we went back to the inn.

We found two merchants arguing with each other. Supposedly, they'd both been assigned the same spot in the market.

Fortunately, the market manager arrived, and with his help, we were able to calm them down before anyone got hurt. They were told to take turns using the spot for the time being.

The market manager invited us to his house and revealed that he was the one who chose the tasks for our field study. Apparently, he's an old friend of Principal Vandyck's.

It seems the quarrel earlier may have come about as a result of a tax dispute between Jusis' family and the merchants of Celdic. The provincial army, which serves Duke Albarea, refuses to help the people of Celdic until the dispute's resolved.

None of us were happy to hear that, but with all the work we have planned for tomorrow, all we could do was go back to the inn and gets some rest.

We walked out of the market manager's house and right into Instructor Sara. She said she was off to sort things out over with Group B. Leaving the next steps of our field study completely to us, she departed for the station.

Deciding it would be best to have dinner early and start working on our report, we made a beeline for the inn.

We had a great chat over a dinner of freshly grown local produce. Just as we were on our way back to our rooms, however, Laura called out to me. She figured out that I'm a practitioner of the Eight Leaves One Blade school, but she expected me to be stronger than I actually am. ...I feel as though I've let her down.

Theft at the Grand Market

quote:

4/25 (Sun) Field Study at Celdic - Day 2

We received our field study tasks for the day from the inn's owner. We were assigned fewer of them than yesterday, which was kind of odd.

I apologized to Laura for what happened last night. It looked like Alisa and Elliot were worried about us, too.

Just as we were about to launch into our field study tasks, a girl working at the inn arrived in a panic. There had been a theft at the Grand Market, so we needed to see what was going on.

We heard the argument before we could see it. Worse yet, it was so fierce that even market manager was powerless to stop it.

Once we got closer, we realized that the fighting merchants were the same ones from yesterday. They were the victims of the theft we had heard about, each one having their goods taken and their stalls destroyed. Each one insisted that the other was the culprit, denying any other possibilities.

A platoon from the provincial army came to calm the situation, but they did so heavy-handedly, showing no interest in investigating the theft.

Afterwards, the market was able to open for business for the day...but there was no way we could let such an obvious injustice stand. So we suggested that we investigate the theft ourselves as part of our field study.

Once we secured Otto's permission to do so, we started investigating. We had until 9PM, when the last train left, to complete our task. We started by gethering information in the most obvious place possible: the Grand Market.

Once we'd spoken to both the victims, we couldn't believe that either of them could have been responsible for what happened.

The provincial army's behavior this morning seemed awfully suspicious, though. Thinking they might provide us with answers, we took off in the direction of their guardhouse.

At the guardhouse, we were able to speak to the commanding officer and essentially confirmed that the tax dispute was the reason that they refused to get involved in matters at the Grand Market.

Not only that, Elliot's quick-wittedness allowed us to extract some key information from him. How could the provincial army know what goods the merchants intended to sell if they refused to get involved? We knew then that the provincial army had a hand in this crime, hoping to get the market manager to withdraw his petition against the tax increase.

But having a hand in it doesn't mean the provincial army committed the crime themselves. We needed to find out who did. We continued our search by asking around on the main drag.

We spoke to a young girl on the main street who mentioned seeing an unfamiliar man in town lately. She said he's usually lying around drunk near the west exit... It doesn't sound like a great lead in retrospect, but we followed up on it.

We spoke to Johnson by the west exit. He used to be a ranger at the Lunaria Nature Park, far down the highway. Recently, however, his job was taken from him by the Kreuzen province without warning, and a group of young men took over.

He also said that he saw those young men hurrying out of town carrying wooden boxes last night.

Lunaria Nature Park seemed like the perfect place to hide stolen goods--we decided to make our preparations and check it out.

When we arrived at Lunaria Nature Park, we found what looked like some of the stolen goods lying outside. We'd found our culprits.

After using one of my Eight Leaves skills to break the lock, we entered to bring the criminals to justice.

Inside the Nature Park, we found a mountain of stolen goods and a group of bandits disguised as park rangers. We were able to work together and defeat them in battle.

Just as we were pressing them on who hired them, Elliot claimed to hear the sound of a flute--moments later, a large monster appeared to attack us.

We managed to fend it off, but just as we did, the provincial army appeared.

It quickly became obvious that the bandits and the provincial army were working together--and the provincial army attempted to arrest us for a completely ridiculous crime that we didn't commit.

Before they could, however, a group of soldiers in gray uniforms appeared, led by a young female officer. The Railway Military Police had saved us. Thanks to Captain Claire's intervention, the provincial army was forced to back down, and the bandits were arrested.

All of the stolen goods were returned to their rightful owners, and the incident was brought to a successful conclusion. Surprisingly, Captain Claire knew a lot about us and our class...and she seemed to be acquainted with Instructor Sara, too.

The time soon came for us to leave Celdic behind and return to Trista. We'd finally figured out what we were going on these field studies to do: visit places that we otherwise wouldn't, build up experience and learn to think and act on our own. We couldn't shake the feeling that we were being trained like bracers, though.

I also took the opportunity to tell everyone something that I'd been keeping from them--that I'm the adopted son of Baron Schwarzer, and therefore technically a noble. Considering we'll be together for the next two years, I'll have to make sure I tell the members of Group B, too.

Old Schoolhouse Mystery

quote:

I have reason to believe that strange phenomena have been occurring in the old schoolhouse of late. As such, I would like to request that one or more combat-ready students look into this and report back to me.

For more details, come see me in my office on the first floor of the main building.
�� --Principal Vandyck

Principal Vandyck entrusted me with the key to the old schoolhouse. It seems as though strange things are afoot in there, so I'm going to need to check it out.

I made my way to the staircase room and something is definitely weird here.

The structure of the building appears to have changed completely... I should explore everywhere I can.

I defeated a powerful foe in what seemed to be the deepest area of the ruins. Now's a good time to head back out.

I reported the results of my investigation to Principal Vandyck!

Orbal Delivery

quote:

I've just finished repairing a bunch of orbal tech here at the Engineering Club, but I need someone to deliver everything.

Stop by the engineering building (left of the Student Union building) and I'll tell you more.
�� --George, Year 2, Class III

George game me three items to deliver:

An orbal scale, to be delivered to Nicholas, head of the Cooking Club. I'll find him in the home ec room on the second floor of the main building

An antique orbal lamp, which is bound for Micht at the pawn shop.

An orbal wristwatch belonging to Michael, the director of Radio Trista.
I delivered the orbal scale to Nicholas. (again, you get the idea)

Checked in with George. Request complete!

A Noteworthy Loss

quote:

I kind of dropped my student notebook, and now I can't find it anywhere. Would anyone be willing to help me look?

I'll be looking for it on the first floor of the Student Union building, and I'd really appreciate it if someone gave me a hand.
�� --Colette, Year 1, Class IV

Colette filled me in on what happened and we agreed to split up and search. I'll be checking the main building and focusing on corridors and rest areas. She has an inkling that it's on the second floor, but we'll see.

I found Colette's student notebook on the second floor of the main building. I better take it back to her.

Colette's notebook is back in her hands!

Story of Seasoning

quote:

Fred at Kirshe's told me that he's fresh out of the passion leaves he uses as seasoning and he needs them a.s.a.p.

Nicholas is the head of the Cooking Club, maybe he has some to spare...
Nicholas thinks there might be some in the cafeteria. It's worth a shot.

Once I'd explained the situation, Ramsay was happy to give me some passion leaves. I need to get these to Fred!

I gave Fred the seasoning he needed!

East Celdic Highway Monster

quote:

A dangerous monster has appeared near the highway and is making it very difficult for us to harvest our crops. Could someone please help us?

Monster: Scary Dinosaur
Location: A plateau near the East Celdic Highway.

My house is alongside the East Celdic Highway, so please stop by if you can.
�� --Syro
We asked Syro to tell us everything he knew about the monster. It sounds even more dangerous than the name suggests, so we have to make sure that we're ready to face it.

Monster defeated! It wasn't really THAT scary...

We told Syro the details of our battle, completing his request!

Any Bright Ideas?

quote:

I need someone to replace a malfunctioning orbment light in a road lamp for me. For more details, see me at Oddvin's Arms & Orbal Factory.
�� --Samus
Samus gave us an orbment light.

We need to use it to replace a road lamp near the windmill in front of the Lunaria Nature Park. We can find the park at the end of the West Celdic Highway.

We're going to need to open a maintenance panel before we can replace it, though. The code to unlock it is 466515.

As soon as we arrived at the road lamp, monsters began to show up. Luckily, the otehrs agreed to cover me while I replaced the light.

I typed in the code without any problems and replaced the light in a blink. We should go tell Samus.

We told Samus that the light was installed and shining bright!

For the Common Cold

quote:

I've run out of some of the ingredients I need to make a particular medicine. I would very much appreciate it if someone could procure more for me.

Please speak with me in the church for further details.
�� --Father Zirbel
Father Zirbel told us about the two ingredients he needs to make his cold medicine, and they are:

Bear Claw
Flint at the Grand Market has these.

Imperial Carrots
Paul has these in the farmhouse on the West Celdic Highway.
Obtained Bear Claw from Flint.

Obtained Imperial Carrots from Paul.

Now that we have both ingredients, we should go give them to Father Zirbel.

We handed the ingredients over to Father Zirbel. Cold medicine for all!

A Day as a Merchant

quote:

At Lymon's suggestion, we agreed to look after his stall at the Grand Market during the evening sale.

We'll have to decide for ourselves how to discount everything... Hopefully we manage to do a good job.
I looked after the stall and did a decent job as a merchant, apparently.

West Celdic Highway Monster

quote:

A large, ferocious monster has been sighted on the West Celdic Highway. We'd all be happier if someone took it out.

Monster: Zwordar
Location: Stone bridge leading to Heimdallr on the West Celdic Highway.
�� --Market Manager Otto
Zwordar? More like... Wait, its name was seriously 'Zwordar'? Anyway, it's gone now, we should go tell Otto.

We told Otto that we eliminated Zwordar. ...Sorry, I'm still not over that name.

Lost Wallet

quote:

Yesterday, I found a wallet on the floor in front of my stall. Would someone be willing to find its owner for me?

See me at my ceramics stall and I'll tell you more.
�� --Lizzie
Lizzie entrusted us with the wallet she found. It might be a good idea to start our search at the station.

We asked at the station and learned that the wallet's owner had called them. She apparently headed to the Weathercock, so we should do the same.

Margot told us that Annabelle, the wallet's owner, had just left. She apparently said she was going to check the rest area of the Grand Market next.

After asking around the rest area, we learned Annabelle had left for the church.

We finally returned Annabelle's wallet and told Lizzie what had happened.

Level 1 Thief fucked around with this message at 02:12 on Oct 15, 2019

# ? Oct 15, 2019 02:08

Level 1 Thief: Dec 17, 2007; I'm busy, and I'm having fun.

Rean's Journal: Chapter 2

Academy Life - May

quote:

5/22 (Sat) After School

I was asked a very technical question during Instructor Neithardt's military science class, but I managed to answer it correctly. I'll have to make sure I stay on top of my studies.

While we were learning about computers, Patrick, a son of Marquis Hyarms, came over to speak to us. Luckily, Jusis saved us from an uncomfortable situation.

In our homeroom, we were told that we'd have midterm exams next month. I'm going to need to do a lot of studying to make sure I'm ready for those.

The whole noble thing has made things awkward between Machias and me. After he left, Emma tried to encourage me... She's probably right. I'll just have to try to be honest with him.

I puttered around the academy for a while before going back to my dorm.

Emma's waiting for Fie to show up in the library. If I see Fie around, I should let her know.

I found Fie napping outside the old schoolhouse. Before she went off to meet Emma, she mentioned that the inside of the building has changed a lot.

Crow stopped me on my way through the main gate. He asked me to tell him how he did that trick with my 50 mira last month, and I'd almost worked it out, but not quite.

While we were talking, Angelica, daughter of Marquis Rogner, head of one of the Four Great Houses, showed up. You'd never guess that she came from nobility by talking to her, though. She's very easy to get along with.

She rode off into the distance on something called an 'orbal bike.' ...I hope I'm as cool as she is next year.

It turns out those two are good friends with George and Towa. The second years here are all real characters in their own way...

I decided to walk around the dormitory for a while before going to sleep.
5/23 (Sun) Free Day

I awoke to find an envelope containing a variety of requests for me to fulfill, just like last month.

Since I still had the key to the old schoolhouse, I felt obligated to explore it once I was done with the other requests.

We finished our investigation of the old schoolhouse and told the principal about the elevator.

He told us that the principals of the academy had been tasked with preserving the building until the 'Promised Day' arrives--though what exactly that means is a mystery. Maybe it has something to do with St. Sandlot? ...Either way, it looks like these investigations will be a regular thing. I'll be sure to bring all my friends with me.

By the time we were finished talking to the principal, evening had arrived and I headed back to the dormitory.

I encountered a cat with beautiful black fur in Trista. I got a little carried away fussing over it, though, and it scratched the back of my hand.

We brought everything we'd learned while investigating the old schoolhouse and during our field study to the battle and got good marks for our performance.

Afterwards, the remaining five, including Machias and Jusis, challenged the combat shell. Their battle was less than stellar. Instructor Sara was quick to criticize their performance, which made the problem children even madder.

Moving on, we were told where we will be going for this month's field study. The groups and their destinations this month are as follows:

Group A: Rean, Emma, Machias, Jusis, Fie
(Study Location: Bareahard, the Verdant City)

Group B: Alisa, Laura, Elliot, Gaius
(Study Location: Saint-Arkh, the Old Capital)

Unsurprisingly, Machias and Jusis immediately began complaining at the instructor and demanding the groups be changed. She agreed on the condition that the two of them could beat her in battle.

She drew her weapons, and told me to fight alongside them. Despite her clearly holding back against us, she took us down like she was swatting flies.

The Verdant City

quote:

5/29 (Sat) Field Study at Bareahard - Day 1

The first thing I did today was meet everyone downstairs as soon as I could.

When I did, I found Jusis and Machias standing apart from one another. Soon after, Fie and Emma came down to join us. We decided it wouldn't hurt to be early for the train and headed off.

When we arrived at the station, we found the members of Group B waiting for their train. They departed shortly after they arrived, but not before Gaius had a talk with me about dealing with Machias and Jusis.

We bought our tickets and waited for the next train to Bareahard.

No sooner had we settled in our seats than Machias and Jusis started fighting. ...I wasn't going to stand idly by as they dragged down my field study grade, though. Fortunately, they don't want to fail, either. They agreed to a temporary truce, and while they weren't able to put aside their differences, they agreed to cooperate until our field study was over.

Jusis told us all about the city of Bareahard, a city that developed with the nobility at its center... I had a feeling we were going to need to tread lightly.

We finally reached Bareahard, only to be greeted by none other than Jusis' older brother, Rufus. This showed us a side of Jusis we'd never seen before, much to our great surprise.

He gave us a ride to our hotel in his limousine. I was surprised to discover that Rufus has gone hunting with my father and is even acquainted with Machias' father, the governor of Heimdallr.

After we arrived at our hotel, Rufus left to take an airship to Heimdallr. I guess he's not called the 'ace of the Noble Faction' for nothing.

While there were still signs of discontent between Machias and Jusis, we were able to unpack and get started on the field study tasks Rufus gave us largely without incident.

Rufus had prepared a wide variety of tasks for us, including requests from nobles and artisans alike. We decided to save exterminating the monster on the canyon path for last.

We completed the jeweler's request, even if it left us feeling more than a little conflicted.

Once we felt we were done with everything else, we walked out onto the Aurochs Canyon Path. We needed to exterminate the monster there, then go right to Aurochs Fort to report to the soldiers.

We exterminated the monster on the canyon path, but Machias and Jusis failed to form a proper combat link with one another.

They immediately started arguing over who was responsible, which caused us all to let our guards down. That was all the opportunity the monster we thought we'd defeated needed to lunge towards them. I managed to get between the monster and Machias and Jusis, but I was hurt in the process.

Fie defeated the monster, and Emma performed first aid on me, so I was just fine. Machias and Jusis seemed to feel responsible for what happened, though.

I agreed to take it easy for a while to recover. We did have to hurry to Aurochs Fort, though, since we wanted to be back in Bareahard before it got dark.

As we walked, I checked up on my wound, which had already mostly healed. Whatever Emma did, it worked wonders.

We couldn't help but notice that Fie seems surprisingly used to battle for someone her age--just what kind of environment did she grow up in, anyway? We didn't really have time to ponder that, but I'm still curious.

We arrived at Aurochs Fort, one of the Kreuzen Provincial Army's bases to report the monster's extermination.

We saw a freight train going past near the fort. It seemed to be carrying a number of Reinford's latest main battle tanks, called Achtzehns. Jusis' reaction to them was somewhat curious, though...

We were finally able to give our report on the monster's extermination. Unsurprisingly, the provincial army was quick to recognize Jusis and treated him with the utmost respect.

One of the soldiers said that the main battle tanks we saw earlier belong to the provincial army and that the fort itself underwent some significant construction last month.

After hearing that, it was time to head back to town.

Machias pressed Jusis on the provincial army's armaments, saying that they were excessive. Jusis responded that they were simply a result of the factional conflict. It seems it's getting even more serious than we thought.

Night was quickly approaching, so we decided to double-time it back to Bareahard.

Our journey back wasn't quite as simple as we'd hoped, of course. We heard the wail of sirens coming from the fort and saw a mysterious silver object flying away. What's more, it looked like it had a child riding on top of it.

Several soldiers gave chase, telling us that there had been an intruder in Aurochs Fort. Given how quickly it was flying, though, I'm not surprised they couldn't catch it.

At this point, my injury from earlier had completely healed. Emma's grandmother's medicine had really done the trick. Just like that, I was properly combat-ready again.

We finally reached Bareahard as the sun went down and decided to go back to the hotel.

In front of the hotel, we encountered a nobleman in a high-class limousine who turned out to be Jusis' father, Duke Albarea. He didn't stop for long, however, barely saying a word to Jusis before he departed.

Afterwards, we went to a restaurant in town for dinner, but Jusis seemed much quieter than usual.

We finished all of our tasks, but we all agreed that we could have done better--at the rate we were going, earning a lower grade than Group B was all but inevitable. We need to turn things around tomorrow.

Reflecting on what we'd seen of the predicament Erebonia was in and growing gloomier by the minute, we were surprised by the sudden appearance of Baron Bleublanc, who we met earlier that day. He spoke to us for a while before leaving, but there's just something mysterious about that guy.

That night, Jusis and I were having trouble sleeping, so we started talking to one another. He revealed that he was born to a different mother than Rufus, making them half-brothers. Those two get along, though, unlike Jusis and his father.

After telling me all this, Jusis pointed out the arrogance of some of my actions, echoing some of my master's criticisms... I guess I've got a lot of growing up to do.

Seems that's true for both of us, though. After talking for a while, we decided to call it a night. We wanted to be awake and alert for a while.
5/30 (Sun) Field Study at Bareahard - Day 2

We received our day's field study tasks from the hotel manager, which Rufus had kindly prepared in advance for us.

As we were about to get to work, Machias proposed to Jusis that they try to form a successful combat link. He must've overheard our conversation last night.

Just as we'd gotten our hopes up that day two of our field study was off to a good start, a butler under the employ of Duke Albarea appeared and claimed he'd been sent to pick Jusis up.

Jusis initially seemed hesitant, but was eventually convinced, so we agreed to work through the morning's tasks without him.

We exterminated a monster on the north highway and I was finally able to make up with Machias.

When it was about time for Jusis to come back to us, we went back to Bareahard to meet him.

As we returned to the city, we were stopped by provincial army soldiers--and, much to our surprise, Machias was arrested.

He was charged with trespassing into Aurochs Fort. The provincial army ignored all of our evidence and testimonies to the contrary, and took him away.

Rescuing Machias

quote:

5/30 (Sun) Field Study at Bareahard - Day 2 (PM)

We went to the provincial army guardhouse to please Machias' innocence, but they had no interest in listening to us. Worse yet, they also gave us a message from the duke's household saying that Jusis would be unable to rejoin us on our field study.

On returning to the hotel, we found provincial army soldiers investigating it, so we couldn't return to our rooms. We decided to regroup and consider our next move at an inn on the Artisans' Street.

It seemed most likely that Machias was captured because he's the son of Governor Regnitz, an influential figure in the Reformist Faction. We were afraid they were going to use him for blackmail...or worse.

Still, with Jusis stuck at home and Rufus in Heimdallr, we felt alone and a little scared.

We figured that our chances of rescuing him would decrease dramatically if he was moved from the provincial army guardhouse, so we vowed to sneak in there and rescue him.

Just as we were wondering how to go about our lofty claim, we met a bracer named Toval. He works at a guildhouse in Legram to the south but often comes to Bareahard on business.

After asking at the bar, we learned about a network of waterways under the city--and that we could use them to reach the guardhouse.

Once we learned there was an entrance to the waterways somewhere between the Noble District and the street in front of the station, we got straight to looking.

But of course, it was locked. Didn't seem like a good idea to cut it open with my sword, either...

Fortunately, Emma came to the rescue, picking the lock with a hairpin. She claimed to have learned how from a mystery novel she read once... She's pretty amazing, honestly.

Once we got the entrance unlocked, we headed in.

For an underground waterway, this was surprisingly clean and well kept. Well, aside from all the monsters. We readied our weapons and headed west towards the provincial army guardhouse.

As we worked our way through the underground waterway, we ran into Jusis. He seemed to have worked out what was going on and resolved to save Machias in what must be one of the most dramatic acts of teenage rebellion of all time.

We welcomed Jusis back into the fold and set off together to rescue Machias.

The route to the guardhouse was blocked by a sturdy-looking door. To be honest, I thought it was going to put an end to our rescue attempt...

...but just as we were wondering what to do, Fie used a portable explosive to destroy the door. We couldn't believe our eyes.

Fie explained that before enrolling at the academy, she'd been a jaeger--a title given only to the strongest mercenaries. Doesn't change the way we think about her, though. She's still our friend.

With the door out of the way, we kept going.

We eventually reached the underground prison where Machias was being held and successfully rescued him. Unfortunately, the provincial army realized that we were there, and we were forced to fight them. But we won.

We thought that if we hurried, nobody would be able to catch up to us, and we'd get back safely.

That confidence lasted until we heard roaring coming from the direction of the underground prison. Still, we kept running and hoping.

Before we could reach the exit, we were surrounded by military monsters. We had no choice but to fight them.

We were able to defeat the monsters, but our battle gave the soldiers time to catch up to us.

When the soldiers came to arrest us, Jusis sharply rebuked them. The look on Machias' face when Jusis stood up for him was priceless.

The provincial army seemed determined to follow through on their threat, but from out of nowhere, Rufus appeared. He talked down the provincial army, forcing them to withdraw.

Even more surprising was the fact that Instructor Sara was with him, but as it turns out, Rufus is actually a member of the academy's board of directors, so the two teamed up to rescue us. None of us saw that coming.

After a night of much-needed rest, we boarded the train for Trista and left Bareahard behind.

On the train, Instructor Sara filled us in on a bunch of useful information, including the fact that Group B was also caught up in the conflict between the two factions during their field study, and the fact that both factions were quietly expanding their military capabilities. It makes me wonder what this means for us as military academy students...

'Sometime, somehow, what you experience as part of Class VII will be an invaluable treasure to you.' Instructor Sara's words were quite unlike her, and more than a little cringeworthy, but it was clear that she genuinely meant them, which made the moment...weirdly moving, in a way.

We'll just have to hold on to each other and see what the future has in store.

Old Schoolhouse Mystery II

quote:

I would like to ask Class VII to continue their investigation of the old schoolhouse from where they left off last month.

I hope you will be able to shed further light onto the secrets within those walls.

You may begin when you see fit, but make sure that you are completely prepared.
--Principal Vandyck
As soon as we entered the stairway room, we realized that the building's structure had changed yet again. Let's take a look at that pedestal thing.

We defeated a powerful enemy in the deepest area of the second floor. That's probably about it for us for the day.

We successfully completed our investigation of the old schoolhouse.

Substitute Tutor

quote:

Something urgent has just come up, so I really need someone to take care of tutoring the kid I usually teach.

I'll be waiting in the lower class dorms, so please come see me as soon as you can.
--Klein, Year 2, Class V
Klein teaches a boy named Emile who lives in a house near the river south of the Lower Class Dormitory.

They were going to go over orbal science. As soon as I've brushed up, I should go talk to his mother, Melinda. It probably wouldn't hurt to go over the history of the Reinford Company, either.

That's one tutored kid! I don't think I made any huge mistakes, and he seemed pretty happy with me as a substitute.

Book Delivery

quote:

A number of books have just arrived for Thors faculty and I would like assistance in delivering them. Inquire at Keynes' Bookstore.
--Keynes
Keynes says he lost the order slip telling him who to deliver each book to. In other words, he wants me to guess which faculty member each book belongs to based on their title alone.

Delivered 'The Empire's Hottest Spots' to Instructor Sara.

Delivered 'Behind the War of the Lions' to Instructor Thomas.

Delivered 'Analyzing Macroeconomics' to Vice Principal Heinrich.

Delivered 'Modern Art: The Complete Works' to Instructor Mary.

Delivered 'Topical Science' to Instructor Makarov.

Finally delivered all five books.

Reported back to Keynes. I'm done!

A Rose by Any Other Name

quote:

I agreed to pick up some flowers for Linde at Jane's, the flower shop.
Linde caught me on my way out the gate and asked me to buy a grand rose, too.

I picked up all the flowers Linde asked for from the florist. I should deliver them as soon as I can.

It turns out the girl asking for the grand rose wasn't Linde after all. It was her (evil?) twin Vivi...

At least I managed to deliver the flowers Linde really did ask for.

Aurochs Canyon Monster

quote:

A violent monster has been seen roving the Aurochs Canyon Path, and the Kreuzen Provincial Army would like it eliminated.

Monster: Fate Spinner
Location: Atop a cliff partway along the Aurochs Canyon Path.

Once the monster has been exterminated, please report to the soldiers at Aurochs Fort.
We spun that monster right around! Let's head to Aurochs Fort to let them know.

We reported the monster's defeat to the provincial army, fulfilling their request.

Put a Ring on it

quote:

I'd like someone to help me find a particular semi-precious stone. For more details, talk to me at Turner's Jewelers.
--Bruc
We agreed to find a Dryad's Tear for Bengt's wedding ring.

According to a really shady-looking baron who happened to be in the jewelers' at the time, we can get it from a tree on the North Kreuzen Highway.

We found a Dryad's Tear. Let's hurry it back to the jewelers'.

Bengt's Dryad's Tear ended up inside a count's stomach...

That wasn't quite the ending we hoped for, but we did what we said we'd do...

Addicted to Bath Salts

quote:

The Voltaire family even bathes in style, using nothing but the most fabulous bath salts...which we're unfortunately running low on. Will someone procure them for us?

If this strikes your fancy, find me on the terrace outside the Sorciere restaurant.
--Hasan Voltaire
We should be able to find the bath salts deep into the Aurochs Canyon Path. Might as well take care of the monster while we're there, too.

We've got the bath salts. All we need to do now is deliver them to Hasan when we're back in town.

Bath salts delivered. Another happy customer!

North Kreuzen Highway Monster

quote:

We have received word that a dangerous monster roams the North Kreuzen Highway. This is bad news for our hotel, so may I ask someone to please take care of it?

Monster: Venus Mantrap
Location: The stone bridge leading towards Celdic on the North Kreuzen Highway
--Richelieu, G.M. of Hotel Esmeralda
We took care of the Venus Mantrap! I'm sure Richelieu will be thrilled.

We assured Richelieu that the highway is safe for travel once again.

The Bite of Nostalgia

quote:

I'd like to request someone's help in gathering a number of ingredients I need to make a particularly nostalgic dish.

For more details, come find me at Sorciere, a restaurant in the central plaza.
--Hammond.
We need to gather these ingredients:

Globby Fat x5
We can get that from monsters.

Healing Herb
We can get this from Sister Tatiana.

Sister Tatiana gave us a Healing Herb.

Once we'd given Hammond the ingredients he treated us to a soup dish originally made by Jusis' mother.

It's a shame Jusis wasn't with us, but we completed Hammond's request.

The Lost Traveler

quote:

We ran into a lost traveler named Anton at Aurochs Fort and agreed to escort him back to Bareahard.

He's a little...strange, but that's not reason not to get him there safely.
We safely escorted Anton to Bareahard!

Level 1 Thief fucked around with this message at 02:13 on Oct 15, 2019

# ? Oct 15, 2019 02:09

Stabbey_the_Clown: Sep 21, 2002; Are... are you quite sure you really want to say that?; Taco Defender

Typing all that in is sure a lot of dedication.

# ? Oct 16, 2019 01:57

Level 1 Thief: Dec 17, 2007; I'm busy, and I'm having fun.

It was a lot longer than I expected, but otherwise it wasn't really too bad. I was also watching a stream of Ride to Hell on the other monitor, which was a much worse use of my time probably.

# ? Oct 16, 2019 07:28

Level 1 Thief: Dec 17, 2007; I'm busy, and I'm having fun.

So I get the feeling most everyone here is going to be a bit distracted for some strange reason, but how about a video anyway?

36. The Departing Storm

Things are looking a bit touchy for Team B, but don't worry -- Machias is well-known for his thoughtful, understanding mediation skills. They're gonna ace this.

# ? Oct 23, 2019 09:15

Stabbey_the_Clown: Sep 21, 2002; Are... are you quite sure you really want to say that?; Taco Defender

Not me, I'm not going to be distracted with CS 3. Largely because I don't have a PS 3 4, but partly because I have some concerns about CS 3 based on things I've heard.

- Chapter 3 is indeed about the time when you should have accumulated enough Sepith to unlock most characters slots.
- Giving Alisa all the single-target spells should help her EP last longer. Additionally, single-target spells should be faster-casting, which synergizes well with her high speed.
- Chapter 3 is pretty long, the midterms really contribute to that. It's not the most dense chapter though.
- "Team International Incident" :allears:

- Every second (third?) time you give the cat milk, it'll give you a Zeram Powder. If you've found the cat all possible times in Trista each chapter, the reward lines up with the morning of the field study departure.
- Agreed that it was surprising to learn Alisa ran away from home like that. But I suppose to be fair, she did say in her argument with Sharon that she bets her mother didn't notice she'd left until she was already gone (which is so "duh" that it sounds like the translation maybe should have been something like "a week after I was already gone").
- You'll hear most of the rest of Gaius's story.
- You get bonus link XP each time you play Blade with party members, not one time only all game.

Stabbey_the_Clown fucked around with this message at 14:23 on Oct 24, 2019

# ? Oct 23, 2019 23:04

Erpy: Jan 30, 2015; (insert title here)

Same here. I still have a not-trash localization of Zero to play and since I don't have a PS4, I've just beein doing my best dodging spoilerorama by de-recommending any CS3-related video that shows up on my feed until YouTube stops throwing them at me.

There's a saying that goes "the only people who fantasize about screwing their siblings are people who don't have siblings". Japan has a lot of single-child households. :P The imoutocons are apparently a large enough audience for Japanese media to pander to them, but Falcom's attempts in this arc aren't as well-executed as they were in Sky. Elise's Rean's adopted sibling, btw. The difference between her and Rean and Estelle and Joshua is that the former two have been part of the same household for almost their entire life. That's why it's more uncomfortable than Josh slash Estelle.

# ? Oct 24, 2019 13:13

Stabbey_the_Clown: Sep 21, 2002; Are... are you quite sure you really want to say that?; Taco Defender

Erpy posted:

Same here. I still have a not-trash localization of Zero to play and since I don't have a PS4, I've just beein doing my best dodging spoilerorama by de-recommending any CS3-related video that shows up on my feed until YouTube stops throwing them at me.

There's a saying that goes "the only people who fantasize about screwing their siblings are people who don't have siblings". Japan has a lot of single-child households. :P The imoutocons are apparently a large enough audience for Japanese media to pander to them, but Falcom's attempts in this arc aren't as well-executed as they were in Sky. Elise's Rean's adopted sibling, btw. The difference between her and Rean and Estelle and Joshua is that the former two have been part of the same household for almost their entire life. That's why it's more uncomfortable than Josh slash Estelle.

Literally the first scene of Trails in the Sky FC is 11-year-old Estelle and Joshua meeting and the dialogue makes it clear that Estelle understands that Joshua is not related to her (she even asks if her Daddy cheated on Mommy). Additionally, that game takes its time and slowly shows Estelle re-examining her own feelings after some new friends her own age point out how what her feelings look like from their perspective. Elise... gets none of that.
But discussing Elise is best saved... for later. :sigh:

Stabbey_the_Clown fucked around with this message at 15:38 on Oct 24, 2019

# ? Oct 24, 2019 14:23

Level 1 Thief: Dec 17, 2007; I'm busy, and I'm having fun.

Hey, just a quick update, the next one's not going up until Sunday or Monday at the earliest. Please look forward to Alisa Gets Mad About Her Mom the Third. Sorry the schedule's been so crap!

# ? Nov 5, 2019 21:27

Admiral H. Curtiss: May 11, 2010; I think there are a bunch of people who can create trailing images. I know some who could do this as if they were just going out for a stroll.

Not that I really mind and I appreciate every episode even at a very slow schedule, but... how long are you expecting this LP to take? Especially if you want to do more than just CS1...

# ? Nov 11, 2019 00:51

Stabbey_the_Clown: Sep 21, 2002; Are... are you quite sure you really want to say that?; Taco Defender

Admiral H. Curtiss posted:

Not that I really mind and I appreciate every episode even at a very slow schedule, but... how long are you expecting this LP to take? Especially if you want to do more than just CS1...

Well, on the bright side, the PC versions of CS 3 and 4 should be out by the time he finishes CS 2.

# ? Nov 11, 2019 03:49

Level 1 Thief: Dec 17, 2007; I'm busy, and I'm having fun.

37. Everybody Loves Gaius

The field study begins! After a long train ride that's about 80% Alisa complaining about her mother and/or Sharon, the team settles in and eats about double their body weight in food.

Admiral H. Curtiss posted:

Not that I really mind and I appreciate every episode even at a very slow schedule, but... how long are you expecting this LP to take? Especially if you want to do more than just CS1...

Well, uh, my original goal was end of this year for CS1. That's ... clearly not happening. I'm thinking of shooting for "before Cyberpunk" on this one if I can get poo poo together (I really am trying, the last delay wasn't entirely my fault and I plan to push hard to not miss any updates for at least the rest of this chapter). CS2-4 are in We'll See territory right now. If it helps, we're nearly ten hours past our previous longest LP.

But thank you! I hope you like future episodes too!

# ? Nov 13, 2019 09:20

Stabbey_the_Clown: Sep 21, 2002; Are... are you quite sure you really want to say that?; Taco Defender

Happy 1-year thread anniversary!

- The saga of Annabelle, the runaway Noble continues through CS 2 as well.
- I'm not sure that Class VII has breakfast on the mornings they leave on the field studies. If they did have breakfast, eating again on the half-hour ride from Trista to Heimdallr doesn't seem to make sense. If they don't have breakfast (or at least didn't on this trip), needing two meals between waking up and sunset isn't that unusual.

- Aida? What's that a reference to? All I can think of is Ada Wong from Resident Evil, but that's probably not it.
- "I have work that can't wait, unlike my daughter." - You pretty much nailed it perfectly.
- Yes, Irina does live in Roer, Alisa's surprise wasn't that it was possible for her mom to appear, the surprise is that Irina actually took the 15-20 minutes out of her schedule to meet Class VII at the station.
- They don't know their families are on the board because they didn't really research the members of the board, and the family members in question didn't tell their children.
- LOL. There's a twitter account which imagines the sort of text messages Class VII might send to each other. I won't link it because some things are spoilers for CS 1.
- "How dare she show interest in my life?" - that's the attitude Jusis has to Alisa's reaction - from his perspective anything is an improvement over Duke Albarea. But if you think about that scene, did Irina show interest in Alisa's life? Not really. She said "Hello Alisa", then changed the subject. Not a "How are you", or "what's the academy like" in sight. Alisa wasn't in Bareahard to see the Duke, so she doesn't know that some people have it even worse than she does.
- Yeah the game is vague about what the timeline for leaving home/enrolling is. I think there might have been some translation oddities as well. "I bet you didn't even know I left home until I'd already left" doesn't make sense, it sounds like it should have probably been something like "until a week after I'd already left".
- It's okay if you don't really get why Alisa is reacting this way right now. She keeps things bottled up most of the time and doesn't really talk about it. Neither Class VII nor the player is supposed to really understand at this point.

- There's probably an assistant conductor in case the first one needs to step away. It's a long trip.
- The design should be similar, it's also an Imperial military base.
- I'm sure that Group A was picked largely for their experience with horse riding.
- The unusual music really helps the place keep its unique atmosphere. I can't believe you hate it.

- Gaius does well with the Milk Porrige, but not is not the best.
- Prioritize weapons for Rean, Gaius, Jusis, Emma, and Alisa in that order. Alisa and Emma are your casters, so they should be mostly using arts anyway. The damage upgrade from a new weapon is more important than keeping the speed from an obsolete weapon.

Stabbey_the_Clown fucked around with this message at 23:27 on Nov 13, 2019

# ? Nov 13, 2019 17:11

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? Apr 28, 2024 11:16

Erpy: Jan 30, 2015; (insert title here)

Stabbey_the_Clown posted:

- I'm sure that Group A was picked largely for their experience with horse riding.

Learning horse riding is kind of par the course for the nobility, which is why Rean and Jusis can do it and Alisa's a commoner with a noble's upbringing, so that covers her. If the group was completely picked around horse-riding ability, they would have swapped out Emma and picked the remaining noble from Class VII to replace her. (Laura confirms in CS2 that she can ride a horse too) But they didn't because Sara's a dick who likes to make classmates who are having trouble with each other first spend a field trip being miserable and getting a low grade before bringing in the class therapist to fix things up.

Stabbey_the_Clown posted:

- The unusual music really helps the place keep its unique atmosphere. I can't believe you hate it.

I don't think they said they hated the music, they just took note of the bird cry sound that was frequently audible in the highlands. I don't think it's part of the actual music track, btw.

# ? Nov 13, 2019 19:36

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Let's Play! > The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel - Class Warfare

«‹›27 »