Trails franchise (Trails In The Sky, Trails Of Cold Steel etc)

Tbh its the same feeling I felt about Lloyd in CS 3 and CS 4 with no context on anything. They hype him up to god tier levels while off screen, is it deserved after playing Zero and Azure? mostly but still.

But this is intentional you are just feeling what Estelle is feeling, all she knows is the bumbling dad who she makes fun of left and right. When they meet again its going to have to be something the two of them deal with.

At least there, we saw Lloyd do things. Even without the context of Zero and Azure, he's still on-camera and we get to see why he's cool.

My primary complaint is that they keep shilling Cassius even tho he hasn't done much on-camera. I think the only thing I'll give him credit for was finding Joshua.

But apparently, he is such a GENIUS MILITARY MIND that him leaving the military was a huge blow according to Morgan and Richard.

Like, okay how did he save the country from the Empire then? That's a mystery that's interesting to me, but I'm so tired of people talking up how cool he is. I didn't even get the impression he's supposed to be a bumbling dad from Estelle's POV. He didn't leave much of an impression in his short screen time.

And knowing the track record of Trails, he's probably going to make his entrance by defeating the boss we beat in a cutscene to establish how OP he is.

I'm willing to bet 500$ on that, if I could actually gamble in Tv Tropes.

Ah well, okay, time to go train for the fight against Lawrence.

Going by the English releases... All you know about Lloyd is the fight with Rean, that is all.

I wonder if Rean is going to get the same hype in Daybreak with people who know him... with that inferiority complex maybe not.

Heh... Will be interesting to see what you think at the end of the game. Cause it actually depends on how much you actually do in game on if he does or not.

Edited by Memers on Mar 28th 2024 at 9:21:47 AM

They explained it as Cassius' MILITARY GENIUS.

Or maybe I forgot the explanation. Either way, I'm pretty sure him leaving the military is a motive for Richard's current actions, given his comments to Dr. Wily.

Also:

Huh, I think the writers didn't invent the Railway military police yet.

Oh Estelle, if only you knew you were talking to the prince of Erebonia.

I still wonder how she and Alfin would get along. The sheer chaos there.

HUH! So Kurt just HAPPENS to have some strange form of amnesia eehhh? Can't remember something from a job three months ago.

COULD IT BE AN OUROBOROS SLEEPER AGENT!? Nah, probably not.

Hey, first Dorothy, and now you're here as well professor Alba?

Oh you plucky comic relief characters, I was just annoyed at but now have a soft spot for. Pretty rewarding to just go to random places before our match.

ALRIGHT! IT"S TIME! I"M GOING TO UNMASK THIS GUY!

He's totally the Crow looking fucker from the play right? Process of elimination.

Damn, what a catchy boss theme.

HE CAN SPLIT HIMSELF INTO MORE PEOPLE, AND SPAM TEARAL!?

Is that even legal? This is going to suck.

Same here Oliver, same here.

Damn it duke Dunan! YOU CAN"T JUST GO ASKING EASTERN PEOPLE THAT.

Oh so it turns out Lorence was actually holding back. "sigh" I can't achieve a solid win here, can I?

So anyway, we get more vague comments about how it's too late for the Bracers to do anything, so Richard might as well invite Estelle and friends to dinner.

Estelle: Do you expect us to talk Richard?

Richard: No, miss Bright. I expect you to dine.

Anyway after we leave the ceremony, Mueller shows up. And takes Oliver away fearing he could cause an international incident at the dinner party.

Which.....yeah fair. But damn I feel bad, he fought with us. He won the right to eat there.

Talk about a fancy castle, perfect place for the final dungeon.

So we're greeted by Liberlian Noel Seeker, Amelthea. Richard's right hand woman, who updates Estelle and friends over how intelligence have yet to find Dr. Wily, and then buzzes off but not before warning the maid not to indulge in too much idle chatter if she knows what's good for her.

Zin is smitten for some reason.

Estelle just has no filter sometimes.

So we're shown to our room and are told VERY SPECIFIC AREAS THAT WE AREN"T ALLOWED TO ENTER. But are otherwise free to wander around and talk to other guests.

Well.... we're in the endgame now folks, first things first, we'd better find a way to talk to the head maid as per Julia's instructions.

Wait, now mayor socialist is here as well?

Right after we reunited with the mayor of Rolent, and Trails Dumbledore?

A party where all the leaders of Liberl are invited to, Richard, this is very bold indeed. You must have one hell of a bargaining chip if you think you can get all the leaders in Liberl to tow the line.

Gotta say, I'm really enjoying the atmosphere here, fancy castle, fine guests, and underlying tension all around the place because Estelle and Joshua are the only ones who know about the coup.

Only thing that's missing is a secret Ouroboros agent in our midst. Secret societies are usually in spy stories.

Besides Laurence who is an unknown Jaeger but has a history with Joshua judging from their comments, I still can't figure out if there are any members of Ouroboros here.

Hmmmmmmmm... I'd like to suspect the headmaster again, but gut feeling tells me no.

Bah, all in due time.

Welp, we managed to get the letter to Hilda, and were told to go back to our room in time for the banquet.

Estelle is def a fish out of water for this situation. It's great. Eventually the duke arrives with his "guest" Richard.

We dine for a bit, as tense as the situation is, and the guests are eventually told that the queen might be recovering soon, however in light of her poor health, she has decided to:

Yep, totally legit, the queen is abdicating in favor of her very competent and wise nephew. The other leaders are incredulous about what an insane idea this is and how they would like confirmation from the queen herself. Not to mention just how in poor taste it is to have a banquet while the queen is supposedly ill.

Duke Shitty Bowlcut has some weak arguments but is promptly supported by Richard who claims that the leaders were specifically brought here to be informed first because it would be best for the leaders of Liberl to prepare for any future issues that may arise. After all, a change in leadership might cause unease among the people, and may negatively affect foreign relation, such as Erebonia, so it's best that the leaders are informed first and not resist the change as to ensure a smooth transition of power to avoid potential disaster.

Damn, Richard is good. Can't poke holes in that logic. Well I would point out Duke Shitty Bowlcut's competency but it's not exactly polite to do that right now since we're his guests but what about princess Klaudia-

Damn him! Somehow pulling the card that Kloe is too young to rule but also not young enough that she can't be married off.

What a sleezebag.

Well with Richard's logic plus the mood of the table in his favor, we can't press to have a meeting with the queen so we'll have to come up with something else.

Time to do some more exploring.

Oh crap, we ran into Richard. Of all people.

So he's gotten quite fond of Estelle and Joshua and learned at some point that they are children of Cassius Bright. So naturally he invites us to to lounge to chat for a bit and dismisses his second in command. Who acts all jealous and glares at Estelle.

The fuck? Does she seriously think a 16 year old girl is plotting to seduce her boss and she's jealous? Is she stupid?

....What the hell was that? Just wow. Richard really is working that Bright shaft.

This isn't even his whole "CASSIUS BRIGHT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSON EVAR!" speech. I had to cut out half of it.

So yeah major info here, Richard firmly believes that without Cassius, Liberl would be part of the Empire. So presumably, all his extreme actions like starting a coup and toying with potential doomsday weapons is because he thinks Liberl is THAT screwed without his military leadership.

I can't wait to kick this guy's ass for making me sit through that speech.

WHAT!? Uhhh game, I was joking about the maid thing. I didn't think it would actually happen.

Wait, if Estelle has to dress up as a maid, does that mean Joshua does too?

Well anyway, so Estelle is REALLY into the idea of dressing like a maid, even admitting she always wanted to put in the uniform ever since she met Mayor Maybelle's maid. I very much appreciate the enthusiasm and I think you'll be very adorable in the outfit but what?

Oh no, she IS adorable. Gah.

....And of course, we doe see Joshua in a maid outfit after he got dragged against his will by Estelle who seemed VERY intent on seeing him in a maid outfit.

Uhhhh Joshua don't take this the wrong way, but you are very pretty. But I think Estelle looks better still.

Welp! Time to see the queen and hopefully rescue Kloe.

So we meet up with the queen, and she too is a former friend of Cassius Bright. Jeez, what are the odds huh?

Anyway she delivers some exposition on the hundred days war, and reiterates it was the genius strategies of Cassius that won the war. Oh so it really was just the whole airship gambits, nothing more? Well I thought Cassius had some dark secret.

But it turns out the reason Cassius left the military was because he blamed himself for not being there when his wife died. He is haunted by the idea that his strategies that lead to the Empire retreating lead to the desperate attempt by Erebonia to retain Rolent which lead to Estelle's mother dying.

So he joined the bracers and decided to spend more time with his daughter. But uhhh, isn't it a plot point that Cassius is so busy working that he barely has time to spend with his daughter? If he wanted to spend time with his daughter to atone for his perceived failure to be at his wife's side, shouldn't he be a stay at home dad and not a Bracer a job that requires you to be actively going around the country and helping people?

Heck, it's a plot point he forged quite a LOT of connections during his career as a Bracer instead of spending more time with his daughter.

...Still a better dad than Arios at least.

So Queen Alicia exposits that one of the major things that lead to Richard's coup was her intent to pass on the throne to Kloe. Duke Dunan felt outraged at the idea of being passed over the throne, and didn't like the idea of Kloe being ruler instead of him.

....Yeah that checks out.

Richard for his part felt Kloe wasn't the right leader for Liberl for his own reasons, and saw Dunan as a convenient puppet and so is playing him like a cheap fiddle thanks to his desire for the throne.

Welp! With all of that out of the way, the queen makes a request to the dynamic duo to save her granddaughter, Kloe, who is being held in the royal villa.

Alright, time to get out of this joint, now let's-

Oh no.

So uhhh yeah, duke spotted "Schera Bright" over here. (I picked Schera just to see the hilarity of Estelle trying to mimic Schera. In hindsight, maybe I should have gone for the other choices.) and now he's flirting with her and then demanding her attention.

Sexist, stupid, and now he's abusing his position of authority to sleep with a maid? This man is just begging to get cancelled. This is why you practice any potential maid fetishes in safe and consensual contexts and environments!

But it turns out he's just kidding and drunk so he's not actually going to force Estelle to sleep with him, but he does attempt to flirt with her one last time before getting back to his room.

Ummmmmm.... please tell me I get to punch this jackass?

And then after we change back into our bracer uniforms, Captain Amelthea shows up! And she's very suspicious of us going to the maid quarters. But luckily Zin shows up and bails us out of here, by acting drunk, claiming he told the two to get him late night foods, and then flirts with her.

Yeah that'll get her to back off. So back at the room, Zin reveals that he knows what's going on, and admits he was asked by Cassius to look out for us.

....Of course. EVERYTHING TIES BACK TO CASSIUS.

Oh yeah, and Colonel Richards and his men are at some kind of underground secret chamber that's protected by archaisms. They talk about how this will lead to a power that will put Liberl on top.

Very curious.

You know at this point, I haven't even seen a hint of that Weisemann fellow or Ouroboros besides Phantom Thief B and Joshua.

I'm starting to wonder if Weisemann doesn't actually exist. But question, have I seen him yet or like Renne, he's actually in the second game? Like, I know Estelle mentioned him to Joachim at the end of Zero in the context of the Liberl incident, so maybe he's just not in this game.

He was certainly around for Estelle a lot more than if he was in the army. Estelle just remembers the trips for the DG Cult level incidents, because she truly did not pay attention to anything that did not interest her till the prologue where Joshua and Schera beat it over her head to write things down in her notebook, but he was certainly home enough to raise Estelle quite well and mentor Schera among a host of other things. He also puts down his Tachi and Eight Leaves techniques for the Quarterstaff seen in the prologue, which he taught Estelle how to use.

And yes he basically pioneered Airship combat. Liberl may not have tanks, cars or anything like that as the entire country is basically all hills and mountains but its got Airships.

Poor Joshua. I suspect this won't be the last time that Estelle forces him into a maid dress.

Ah okay that makes sense. Yeah it’s fair that he was around enough that Estelle picked up his fighting style with the staff.

And the world does have need of his skills.

I’ll never be able to live it down if the games let me see Laura in a mad outfit.

I mean what?

Edited by RedHunter543 on Mar 30th 2024 at 1:06:10 AM

Sadly no, there is a better as DLC for CS 4 (included in Reverie) though.

The Japan only Lawson uniforms for CS 1/2 are along those lines though, you have to use cheat engine to get in the PC version of CS 1 but cant in 2 at all sadly. Also she looks great in the Japan only CS 1 DLC Jenis uniform (same method).

Edited by Memers on Mar 29th 2024 at 10:37:03 AM

Yep, Richard is a man who took the Chuck Norris jokes too seriously and is desperately scrambling to fill the Cassius-shaped hole left behind by his retirement. That's what my spoiler on the previous page was.

Notice how when he fended off the Archaisms in that sealed area and his men praised him, he dismissed their praise. He wasn't just being modest, he sincerely sees himself as unable to fill Cassius's shoes.

Weirdly, that reminds me a bit of Rean’s own inferiority complex.

Albeit, Rean’s issues aren’t because he lives in the shadow of someone else.

They even have a similar fighting style as one of the eight leaves.

Edited by RedHunter543 on Mar 29th 2024 at 8:04:41 PM

Actually... thinking on it almost all Eight Leaves users have some kind of inferiority complex, even Arios.

The only one that doesn't is the only one isnt actually serious about it and might literally be the strongest of them all... or at least the one with the most potential.

Cid?

Analace.

So, the lesson here kids is to just go for the Arseid school of swordsmanship. The two practitioners I've seen who have unique portraits have their shit together and don't suffer inferiority complexes.

"sigh" This is why I paired Rean with Laura, but the guy just can't let himself be happy. I think he'd be way less stressed out training and traveling with Laura and his future father in law than working for his actual dad and doing imperialism.

Ah well, I can't derail the plot of future games by choosing Laura.

....Wait, @ Memers. Does Alfin get any special scenes in the ending if she's the one that Rean romances?