Sorry I’ve been a bit lax on updating this: my frustrations with Crossbell Arc have led to some serious lack of motivation and or apathy towards the games as a whole. As ever, still good games. Would still recommend in that same kind-of way I mentioned before. But any more discussion would, well, take a longer discussion. Which I’m sure I’ll provide in good time. Because I have so many things to complain about. Anyway, without further ado:
Hooray. Yin’s here. I didn’t want to best those goons anyway.
Ah yes. I really need to check the room I already know is empty. They might’ve snuck back in there while I wasn’t looking.
Wait. Did Lloyd just cutscene OHKO a monster? And, like, a high-level one at that? Way to go dude. We may make you an Ace Detective yet.
Props on Lloyd ‘Ace Detective’ Bannings for trying to arrest a man clearly possessed by a demon. Even if he left him a clear avenue of escape via window. Again.
Oh. O~h. Hartmann is even worse than I could’ve possibly imagined. Time to impeach him. With a Death Scorpion to the face.
I’m shocked. If only this sudden but inevitable betrayal could’ve been predicted in any way. It’s not like someone effectively told us it would happen or anything.
“Mariabell Crois… Bell… Crois… Bell…”
*Facepalm*
Did they really?
Randy and Mirielle: “There’s nothing between us.”
Also Randy: *War Cry’s to 200 CP when she gets hurt.*
Oh piss off! You’re gonna pull this crap when you gave me the tools to OHKO the last wave? Literally gave me an instant 200 CP? Screw you game. If you don’t care about the player’s input, then don’t give them control [Footnote 1].
SCREW. YOU. AND YOUR ACCURSED DMPC. I MIGHT’VE THOUGHT ARIOS WAS COOL IF YOU DIDN’T INSIST ON SHOVING HIM DOWN MY THROAT AT EVERY OPPORTUNITY.
I haven’t felt much need to use guest characters through most of the game, but you can bet I’m using ’em this time. Sorry Lloyd, Tio has ATS and Randy is a War Cry / 10. Just go flirt with Elie in the back or something.
Oh look. Even the final boss gets to say screw you, I win. Isn’t that neat?
And, like, I get that he’s bad, but maybe stop trying to prove it by saying he’s worse than Weissmann? “Oh no! He’s even stronger than someone who could warp space itself through the power of a literal divine artifact. Yawn.” It just kinda makes me not care in the slightest when you keep one-upping your stakes like that while the protagonists just feel kinda ‘meh’ compared to the last group. And I don’t mean I don’t like the SSS. I do. But even the game itself tries to tell us they’re weak and need to grow in competence. When compared to the likes of Schera and Agate, to say nothing of Zin or Joshua, it just kind of feels like you’re trying to say the SSS are newbies while at the same time putting them on the level of experienced veterans. So like I said, ‘meh’.
And hey, ho. Not even surprised. I can’t even be angry now because I just don’t care about any fight I participate in. Random encounters are more thrilling than bosses because at least I can make an impact in them.
Alexander ‘Ace Detective’ Dudley: *brings the person the bad guy is looking for to the place said bad guy wants her because she ‘threw a tantrum’*.
Seriously guys? That’s the one place she shouldn’t be! You really need to learn how to say no to kids every once and a while guys.
Meh. It’s over. This game beat me into apathy. Like, I enjoyed playing the game. I liked the story well enough. The two really, really needed to be separate because they did not mesh well [Footnote 2]. Still playing Azure next because I’m committed, but… I don’t know. I think it’s that I expected it to be better than Sky and it wasn’t, so that disappointed me all the more. Maybe Azure will help make up for some of that, but I feel like comparatively, FC did a better job of set-up than this one. That’s a longer discussion though. And similarly, I have some issues with the general implementation of the theme of the story, but that’s also a longer discussion.
Duh… duh-duh-duh…duh… duh-duh… Duh! Duh! On to Azure! Where I’m already in chapter 3 because that’s how uncommitted to this follow along Zero made me feel.
Hello Arios my old friend. Glad to see I can’t do anything again.
“But, like, trust me. He’s so cool, he can take out 10 of the last game’s final boss’ flunkies by himself (mostly). Isn’t that so cool?”
KEVIN!
RIES!
It is nice the prologue was short and lets me get right into things.
Oh. Oh no. Not Poker Gehenna again.
Guys. Really? You fell for ‘look over there’? Even if there is a not-ninja running around town, at least have one person keep their eyes on the guy that already escaped you once. Lloyd ‘Ace Detective’ Bannings is back at it again.
Yeah… No. Not ok with Shirley. Watching that made me uncomfortable.
Oh yes. Thank you game, for throwing me into ‘count the people in one shot’ without any prior notice or example. I definitely was prepared and definitely turned off high speed in time.
Car! Woo! Best game in the Trails series. (This is a lie. Still 3rd).
Enter
You sent
“Hey, can you give us peculiar dishes for use in forensics training?”
Uhh… How bad are those dishes? I thought they were at least edible… usually.
RIES * 2!
Oh no. Campanella.
Huh. Burst is kinda cool.
And related, I get why people might not like Master Quartz, but I think they’re neat. My worry is just that the games might start adding needless complexity as time goes by.
Randy! Woo!
Elie protested and outright said she was being sexually harassed. Stop making jokes about it!
40 stories… You’re telling me Dieter commisioned 40 stories of cloth and or plastic sheeting to cover that tower just for a grand unveiling? Who made it? What are they going to do with it after the fact? These are the important questions.
Ey! Noticia! I was hoping for Dorothy, but you’re cool too.
Seiland? But that isn’t Lucy! I don’t think. It isn’t, is it?
Ok. Honestly, I find the margin of quest acceptance a little infuriating in Azure. This is the third hidden quest I’ve missed because I just had no idea things shifted. Sure, the first two maybe I should’ve realized dialogues changed and it was time for me to check things. Except in this case the same kind of plot shift happened and I haven’t noticed any change in dialogues. But! Also, this one bugs me the most, because 95% of the time there is no reason to check Heiyue’s door. But of course, the one time I decide I can ignore it, I miss out on a quest. Ain’t that jut a peach?
And oh boy. Glad fishing duels are back. I just loved them in 3rd. Definitely the best minigame of the bunch and in no way completely RNG based.
Kilika no! [Footnote 3]
Olivier! Mueller!
I realize half my reactions so far are just shouting character names, but…
Arseille!
Oh… and I guess Kloe too.
Julia!
…
Yes, I like Julia more than Kloe. This won’t suprise anyone who knows me well enough.
R&A Research!
Huh? Who was that with Olivier? Is she a Cold Steel character I’m too early to get?
Ah yes. The Bracers were holding back. Why not? Heaven forbid I achieve any sort of satisfying victory.
And for pity’s sake, why so many deathblows?!
Guys… You fell for ‘hey look over there’ again? After he told you he was going to try and escape from you? Get a grip. There are five of you and it’s Olivier. It’s not like he’s a trained soldier or anything. He’s not even a Bracer. Surely at least one of you can keep up with him.
Huh. So KeA compared Sieg to Zeit. Is that supposed to imply he’s some kind of Divine Beast? Because, like, I always knew he was — oh. Wait. I’m not supposed to know Zeit is a Divine Beast yet, am I? Uh…
You know, I’m glad that Falcom always knows exactly what I want from an RPG. Because when I sit down for a story-driven, turn based RPG, it really does help keep me in the scene when climatic moments are interrupted by a forced puzzle minigame break. Nothing keeps that tension up like half an hour trying to beat a vignette of a genre you don’t like. Wait…
Wow. I even don’t hate the whole ‘Defeated but gets back up’ if it means getting saved by Ries. Love ya, sword-nun.
Also, I feel the need to point this one out.
Randy: “I’d go to Gehenna and back for a cutie like you.”
Ries, who has gone to Gehenna and back for someone: “Sure. Cool. Thanks.”
Dear lord, did we really need that much talking for the West Zemuria Trade Conference? Did it actually tell us anything we didn’t already know? It was like 30 minutes of ‘the Empire and Republic want to annex Crossbell’. Or in other words, the same situation we’ve been in since FC.
Once more, each day we stray closer to Chaotic Sky.
So I feel now I need to put forth what will likely be my final opinion on Crossbell Arc: Zero and Azure would’ve made a great VN [Footnote 2, again]. To expand a bit, since that can be somewhat misleading, the plot of the games are (mostly, there’s a deeper conversation for another time here) interesting. The characters are (Re: Re:) compelling and charming. And by that same token, the gameplay is everything Sky did well, but improved as a sequel. But the two of them don’t mesh well. That gameplay is wasted on a story that doesn’t care for it. Fundamentally, what separates games from other forms of storytelling is player input. And these games Do. Not. Care. about player input. Your presence as a player doesn’t matter. The narrative knows where it’s going and will get there regardless of what you do. And I mean, sure. Most games have a linear story so you as a player ‘don’t matter’. But to put it into perspective, the West Zemuria Trade Conference was a huge, climatic moment of the story. In which you as the player watch the protagonists watch a political debate.
I’ve also had enough time to really establish that I have some fundamental flaws with the games, but that is a longer discussion.
Lloyd ‘Father of the Year’ Bannings: “Well, now that KeA knows how to swim and left for the open lake, I guess I should leave her unattended (Sully doesn’t count) and go anywhere else.”
Also, leave it to Japan to fit a beach episode in a landlocked setting.
*Sigh*. I was not prepared for my sandcastle building knowledge to be tested today. Why?! I’m from the mountains! Do you think I know anything about the nuance of building sandcastles?
Mad respect to Randy for telling his ‘brother from another mother’ (direct quote) the ‘only woman for [his] heart’ is his dead brother’s fiancee. Not exactly good respect, but it’s certainly a respect.
Was… was that Luciola?
Is it not concerning that in a state with magic demon summoning bells, Mishelam has a bell on top of its castle? Like. Guys. I get that it’s a theme park, but maybe be a little concerned at the pattern.
Ah. Those heckin’ gas things were here. Luciola confirmed.
Related, I really should’ve done better than I did in that fight, given it’s the same one I’ve done… Three times? We fight them three times in SC, right? Three times before.
Footnote 1: And if you pause here, you can see the exact moment I stopped caring about the resolution of this game.
Footnote 2: As I’ll say later, I feel like it could’ve been a good game or a good VN, but the two DO NOT MIX in this scenario. Just like nuns and warfare.
Footnote 3: I think it probably says something that I don’t really remember what she did that I felt the need to react so extremely to. I… I think this was during the conversation in the restaurant? Maybe?
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