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[Ascheroth]

Finding combinations/strategies that break the game is half the fun.

I love how Alisa breaks the late game in CS1.

Spoiler

That Craft the gives 4 turns of CP Regen + 50% Evasion is god tier. Give your folks some evasion Quartz + equipment, give Alisa the Auto-CP Regen Accessory and have someone in the team that can cast Shining on Alisa and you have an elusive Craft spamming army.
Bonus: Max Level Angel Master Quartz for Alisa in case some unforeseen instakill enemy S-Crafts make it through for that instant revival with full Health, EP and CP.
Having someone with Adamantine Shield is also helpful as a second line of defense. Since everyone basically evades everything most of the time, it will last quite a while with each cast

 

[Thud]

Two MQ's is madness. You don't need quartz at that point anymore.

Rean going to induct her into his headpatting harem?

No, Agate will have to adapt to its culture. There's also headpatting in the Crossbell games.

 

[MSMrRound]

Two MQ's is madness. You don't need quartz at that point anymore.

Yea, but the second Master Quartz's effect is reduced by some. It wouldn't be two maxed effect MQs going arms in arms

 

[PK Gaming]

I'm not familiar with the English script, but I think that line alone is pretty damning. I don't know, I wish I could see things from your point of view. I don't think it's really about the game selling a relationship as "canon" or not. It's more about suggesting the idea of it in order to cater to a certain audience. I don't think it matters if it's presented in a humorous manner.

Again, if you think the developers are endorsing pedophilia in any way, then that's on you. But considering how wholesome and generally kosher the sky games are (not to mention their penchant for jokes), I feel like this is a pointless concern.

I suppose if/when Sen III features romance scenes between Agate and Tita you'll still be unconvinced of their intentions in the 3rd?

If that happens I'll totally eat crow. I'll apologize for getting bent out of shape and accept the pairing for what it is.

Psyche!

I'm not going to care if it happens. Falcom's clearly changed since they made 3rd, so if it does happen i'm not going to bend to the idea that it was always their intent. I mean, it's not like they got significantly worse on the writing front or anything, but they're willing pander to the otaku who like that sort of thing now, so who can even say for sure?

***

Man, I've been wasting my time with this dumb argument, but I've got some really good things to say about 3rd. That game is amazing on all fronts.

 

[Scrooge McDuck]

Man, I've been wasting my time with this dumb argument, but I've got some really good things to say about 3rd. That game is amazing on all fronts.

You know, to me what stands out the most is how effortlessly they were able to sell that sense of shared history and camaraderie among its huge cast. I mean, obviously it's easier for some than the others because we've been with them for two games already. But even the interaction between Kevin and Ries has been captivating since their very first conversation in front of the Grancel Cathedral.

 

[ShadowSoldier89]

You know, to me what stands out the most is how effortlessly they were able to sell that sense of shared history and camaraderie among its huge cast. I mean, obviously it's easier for some than the others because we've been with them for two games already. But even the interaction between Kevin and Ries has been captivating since their very first conversation in front of the Grancel Cathedral.

Kevin and Ries is the best thing about 3rd. I spent like an hour gushing to my friend last weekend about how much I loved their relationship.

"We're FAMILY Kevin!"

 

[Bowlie]

There's a broken spoiler in the last page and I don't know if it's a joke or not but :/

edit: okay!

 

[ShadowSoldier89]

There's a broken spoiler in the last page and I don't know if it's a joke or not but :/

its broken on purpose, its a running joke

 

[Scrooge McDuck]

There's a broken spoiler in the last page and I don't know if it's a joke or not but :/

The Dorothy thing? That's just a running joke; don't worry.

 

[encephalon]

Again, if you think the developers are endorsing pedophilia in any way, then that's on you. But considering how wholesome and generally kosher the sky games are (not to mention their penchant for jokes), I feel like this is a pointless concern.



If that happens I'll totally eat crow. I'll apologize for getting bent out of shape and accept the pairing for what it is.

Psyche!

I'm not going to care if it happens. Falcom's clearly changed since they made 3rd, so if it does happen i'm not going to bend to the idea that it was always their intent. I mean, it's not like they got significantly worse on the writing front or anything, but they're willing pander to the otaku who like that sort of thing now, so who can even say for sure?

***

Man, I've been wasting my time with this dumb argument, but I've got some really good things to say about 3rd. That game is amazing on all fronts.

I guess some of their writing staff has changed? The main scenario writer appears to have stayed the same. I'm assuming that he would have been involved in at least overseeing Tita and Agate from the beginning.

3rd

Hisayoshi Takeiri

Shinichiro Sakamoto
Yoshihiro Konda
Aichiro Miyata
Shunsei Shikata
Masaya Imura
Masayasu Ogiso

Zero

Hisayoshi Takeiri

Nobuhiro Hioki
Shuuji Nishitani
Yoshihiro Konda
Aichiro Miyata
Masaya Imura
Shunsei Shikata
Yuuta Miyazaki

Sen I

Hisayoshi Takeiri

Aichiro Miyata
Shuuji Nishitani
Yoshihiro Konda
Shunsei Shikata
Yuuta Miyazaki
Atsushi Oosaki

 

[sbs2601]

"worthless sons"

savage

That all but confirms my suspicion that

Spoiler

Osborne and Eugene are bros and are scheming something together

The first two CS games tried waaaaay too hard to make the latter look like a harmless non-factor in the overall story.

 

[ResourcefulStar]

At least in regards to difficulty, from what we know this may or may not be necessary? Enemies are now capable of

Spoiler

using S-breaks if they have S-crafts

for example, so this might be a countermeasure to keep things vaguely balanced.

That's interesting. Are there any other known changes to enemy Crafts? Do they have to build and spend CP like playable characters do? Can you see the CP meter if that's the case?

 

[Loz246789]

That's interesting. Are there any other known changes to enemy Crafts? Do they have to build and spend CP like playable characters do? Can you see the CP meter if that's the case?

This is just going off memory, but I think enemies already have CP at this point? At the very least, I remember a bar filling in the cold steel games whenever a CP bonus happened on an enemy turn.

That being said, outside of S-crafts (Which all would be triggered at either 100 or 200 CP), it's difficult to know how much this affected the game, since it would be very easy for bosses to use exclusive crafts that have absurdly low/zero CP cost, for example. And of course since you rarely see their CP bar, there could be hidden properties for some bosses that increases CP gain. Or, "At X HP, set CP to max", possibly.

...I really want to see how some of the bosses are programmed now.

 

[PK Gaming]

You know, to me what stands out the most is how effortlessly they were able to sell that sense of shared history and camaraderie among its huge cast. I mean, obviously it's easier for some than the others because we've been with them for two games already. But even the interaction between Kevin and Ries has been captivating since their very first conversation in front of the Grancel Cathedral.

You have this ridiculously large roster of characters and yet each and every one of them somehow gets to shine. The doors obviously go a long way in making that happen (more on them later), but even the incidental dialogue is just incredible. I don't even care about battle composition; I'm always pairing up characters that have relationships with each other, and I'm shocked at the amount of dialogue variations they wrote. Also leave it to Sky to be especially awesome with its female characters. Ries is great, but the fact that

Spoiler

she gets to lead the party after Kevin is out of commission is the best fucking thing ever.

Kevin and Ries is the best thing about 3rd. I spent like an hour gushing to my friend last weekend about how much I loved their relationship.

"We're FAMILY Kevin!"

I really, really, really, really, really enjoy those flashbacks. The Kevin/Ries dynamic is top tier, and possibly my favorite dynamic in the series.

I guess some of their writing staff has changed? The main scenario writer appears to have stayed the same. I'm assuming that he would have been involved in at least overseeing Tita and Agate from the beginning.

3rd

Hisayoshi Takeiri

Shinichiro Sakamoto
Yoshihiro Konda
Aichiro Miyata
Shunsei Shikata
Masaya Imura
Masayasu Ogiso

Zero

Hisayoshi Takeiri

Nobuhiro Hioki
Shuuji Nishitani
Yoshihiro Konda
Aichiro Miyata
Masaya Imura
Shunsei Shikata
Yuuta Miyazaki

Sen I

Hisayoshi Takeiri

Aichiro Miyata
Shuuji Nishitani
Yoshihiro Konda
Shunsei Shikata
Yuuta Miyazaki
Atsushi Oosaki

Yeah that was posted a while back, but it doesn't change my point. I'm not criticizing the writing quality in the later games (In fact, I love CS1/CS2), but there's been a clear shift in priorities with the newer entries. There's this newfound desire to pander to otaku because that stuff is popular and it sells(?). Hence why even though Zero/CS have similar writing staffs, they feel tonally different (Falcom is always trying to keep up with the times, after all).

I'm not going to be plussed if Agate ends up with Tita in CS3 because the otaku eat that shit up. Then again, even CS2 backs out of Rean being with Sara on the basis that he's too young, so who knows...?

 

[Jiraiza]

Yeah that was posted a while back, but it doesn't change my point. I'm not criticizing the writing quality in the later games (In fact, I love CS1/CS2), but there's been a clear shift in priorities with the newer entries. There's this newfound desire to pander to otaku because that stuff is popular and it sells(?). Hence why even though Zero/CS have similar writing staffs, they feel tonally different (Falcom is always trying to keep up with the times, after all).

To be fair, they're tonally different due to the setting, if anything. You start off in Crossbell slowly introduced to the festering corruption that exists in the state which gets progressively worse as you rise in the police force. In Erebonia, you happily start high school life with new friends until you get slowly dragged into the political problems that plague Erebonia and its neighbors. I'm sure CS would be closer in feel to Zero/Ao had they just ditched the school setting altogether, though I have no idea what they would replace it with, ¯\_(&#12484_/¯.

 

[hosannainexcelsis]

While the school setting wasn't totally new for the Trails series, since the Jenis Royal Academy was in the very first game, Cold Steel I in particular was obviously chasing after the Persona crowd with the way it was structured and presented.

To be fair, they're tonally different due to the setting, if anything. You start off in Crossbell slowly introduced to the festering corruption that exists in the state which gets progressively worse as you rise in the police force. In Erebonia, you happily start high school life with new friends until you get slowly dragged into the political problems that plague Erebonia and its neighbors. I'm sure CS would be closer in feel to Zero/Ao had they just ditched the school setting altogether, though I have no idea what they would replace it with, ¯\_(&#12484_/¯.

You could have been part of the actual military instead of a military academy.

 

[Taruranto]

Done with Zero CH1, yay.

Spoiler

I knew the chapter was going to end with a last-minute rescue by someone lol. I bet it's the first one in a long line of last-minute rescues.

This chapter felt more like a proper intro than Chapter 0. You pretty much end up visiting all the "important" locations. The pacing felt different than CS/FC, especially because

Spoiler

so many returning faces started to appear already, re-introducing tits character so early really paid off.

It's definitely more in line with Trails "slow" intros/first games now, but it felt quite rich in events.

 

[Erheller]

To be fair, they're tonally different due to the setting, if anything. You start off in Crossbell slowly introduced to the festering corruption that exists in the state which gets progressively worse as you rise in the police force. In Erebonia, you happily start high school life with new friends until you get slowly dragged into the political problems that plague Erebonia and its neighbors. I'm sure CS would be closer in feel to Zero/Ao had they just ditched the school setting altogether, though I have no idea what they would replace it with, ¯\_(&#12484_/¯.

Trails of Mid-level Bureaucrats:

Spoiler

Settle merchant disputes!
Deduce that a noble family is evading taxes!
Travel to the Nord Highlands to source horses for the army!
Help organize festivities in the capital!
Assist a local town in foreclosing an old castle!
Enforce OSHA requirements on a local factory!

 

[ShadowSoldier89]

Calvard games being that new agency would be pretty dope. Bracers > cops > military students > CIA would be a fun progression.

 

[sbs2601]

You could have been part of the actual military instead of a military academy.

I remember reading an interview with Falcom's CEO talking about the Kiseki series a couple of years ago. He said that their original plan was for the Erebonia MC to be part of the military, but they eventually decided against it. I can't find the source anymore unfortunately.

 

[Squire]

To be fair, they're tonally different due to the setting, if anything. You start off in Crossbell slowly introduced to the festering corruption that exists in the state which gets progressively worse as you rise in the police force. In Erebonia, you happily start high school life with new friends until you get slowly dragged into the political problems that plague Erebonia and its neighbors. I'm sure CS would be closer in feel to Zero/Ao had they just ditched the school setting altogether, though I have no idea what they would replace it with, ¯_(&#12484_/¯.

I see it as a shift in priorities rather than tone. It's all Trails, they're just telling the stories as best they can while also trying to make them unique to their setting and premise.

I really don't think a few creative choices people dislike equals out to a dive in writing quality or whatever.

 

[hans_castorp]

Calvard games being that new agency would be pretty dope. Bracers > Ninja Priest Assassin > cops > military students > CIA would be a fun progression.

FTFY

 

[Jiraiza]

I see it as a shift in priorities rather than tone. It's all Trails, they're just telling the stories as best they can while also trying to make them unique to their setting and premise.

I really don't think a few creative choices people dislike equals out to a dive in writing quality or whatever.

I mean, you can't get any worse than a (high) school setting, since that's the go-to setting for anime in general. I mean, a setting worse than your typical school setting would be parallel/another world (isekai) junk, but I'm sure they won't go in that direction with Calvard... right?

 

[Thud]

I mean, you can't get any worse than a (high) school setting, since that's the go-to setting for anime in general. I mean, a setting worse than your typical school setting would be parallel/another world (isekai) junk, but I'm sure they won't go in that direction with Calvard... right?

I'm hoping it to be wild wild west with modern and eastern influences

Maybe with being part of an upcoming jaegar corps.

 

[Squire]

I mean, you can't get any worse than a (high) school setting, since that's the go-to setting for anime in general. I mean, a setting worse than your typical school setting would be parallel/another world (isekai) junk, but I'm sure they won't go in that direction with Calvard... right?

You can do any setting well. 3rd is an awful idea on paper and many games have done a similar idea, with the results being as poor as you'd figure.

And yet, 3rd is great!

I'm hoping it to be wild wild west with modern and eastern influences

Maybe with being part of an upcoming jaegar corps.

For Calvard, I think Gaius would make a lot of sense as an MC. It fits well with what his current trajectory seems to be and a very large portion of the country are immigrants. I have a hunch the MC won't be someone who was born there, either way.

 

[ThatChairMan]

I'm hoping it to be wild wild west with modern and eastern influences

Maybe with being part of an upcoming jaegar corps.

I think a jaegar corp seems likely. Finally take a direct look at that side of things.

 

[Jiraiza]

You can do any setting well. 3rd is an awful idea on paper and many games have done a similar idea, with the results being as poor as you'd figure.

And yet, 3rd is great!

But the 3rd didn't have an awful setting. If you mean the dungeon crawling aspect of the game, that's something else entirely.

 

[Squire]

But the 3rd didn't have an awful setting. If you mean the dungeon crawling aspect of the game, that's something else entirely.

"Alternate dimension where you visit copies of real locations" is most certainly a very hokey setting that the game uses to great effect.

Edit: And honestly, the point stands either way. You can do any setting well if you put the time in. If you dislike something conceptually, that's got more to do with you as an audience member than the author(s) of the work.

 

[ResourcefulStar]

A noir-style private investigator would be my pick for the protagonist of the Calvard arc. Heavily associated with the middle of the 20th century America (which seems like a good fit for the setting) and easily involved in conspiracies.

 

[Psxphile]

A noir-style private investigator would be my pick for the protagonist of the Calvard arc. Heavily associated with the middle of the 20th century America (which seems like a good fit for the setting) and easily involved in conspiracies.

getting Shadow Hearts: From The New World vibes
protag will most certainly be some young upstart

 

[Jiraiza]

"Alternate dimension where you visit copies of real locations" is most certainly a very hokey setting that the game uses to great effect.

Edit: And honestly, the point stands either way. You can do any setting well if you put the time in. If you dislike something conceptually, that's got more to do with you as an audience member than the author(s) of the work.

Sounds fine to me. On the other hand, anime + high school immediately gives you pause because of the potential tropes they could hamfist into the writing, if you're at all familiar with anime.

I'm not saying you can't do any setting well, but a certain stigma exists for certain types of settings, and high school schenanigans happens to be one of them; it's only worse now in 2017 because of the increasing rise in awareness of otaku pandering in the anime medium. Cold Steel did the setting kind of okay, but I won't say it helped it all that much, either. This is relative to its predecessors, obviously. In short, it's probably more of an expectations thing with the high school setting given how overused it is and the tropes writers tend to fall back on.

 

[chaosblade]

A noir-style private investigator would be my pick for the protagonist of the Calvard arc. Heavily associated with the middle of the 20th century America (which seems like a good fit for the setting) and easily involved in conspiracies.

This could be really good, though I'm not sure how different a detective/investigator would be from what they already did with the Crossbell arc.

My expectations are rock bottom - anime school again. I really hope Falcom exceeds them, which shouldn't be difficult at all.

 

[Sinh_Magnus]

I don't think they will repeat the same military academy setting again.

What Will remain 90% sure are the social links mechanichs and the non-canon pairings, along with a party of young heroes.

A noir type setting will be cool, and maybe the setting could be young apprentices in an inteligence agency or another type of goverment branch.

At the end of the day you are going to get quests when you need to kill certain monster in the west road of city X and fulfill request from the general populace, so they need to give a reason for doing that type of work without being a Bracer or a special type of police like the SSS.

 

[Loz246789]

My problem with yet another anime high school setting isn't so much the baggage that comes with it - Cold Steel managed to set itself apart from other anime high schools by having the place be more of a means to an end, a safe haven for young people who were naive about the country they lived in, rather than being a high school to be a high school. It's actually a relatively minor part of the game for somewhere you return to every chapter, all things considered, and the people leave a much greater impression.

But if Falcom starts making Kiseki the series where you go to anime high school a bunch, then inevitably it's going to result in questions such as "why is the high school not that high schooly when it's in every game", and also "why isn't this a better Persona clone" (Terrible question, but it will be asked). It being a flexible part of the setting is part of why it works as well as it does in Cold Steel, and

Spoiler

Rean being an instructor rather than a student

is why Cold Steel 3 will just about get away with it, ish.


...That being said, I *expect* something else for a new sub series, so it should all be good.

 

[SatelliteOfLove]

Sounds fine to me. On the other hand, anime + high school immediately gives you pause because of the potential tropes they could hamfist into the writing, if you're at all familiar with anime.

I'm not saying you can't do any setting well, but a certain stigma exists for certain types of settings, and high school schenanigans happens to be one of them; it's only worse now in 2017 because of the increasing rise in awareness of otaku pandering in the anime medium. Cold Steel did the setting kind of okay, but I won't say it helped it all that much, either. This is relative to its predecessors, obviously. In short, it's probably more of an expectations thing with the high school setting given how overused it is and the tropes writers tend to fall back on.

Yeah, expectations were definately expected ("we're on the Vita people, you know what that means"). Then there's the time crunch they were under and the (unexpected for once) padding. Hell, Kondo was talking in interview how their 2005 demographic's average age was 35 (read: computer players), and their 2015 demographic's average age was 25 (read: console players). Taken together, that's a generational shift, and one that took place in the wake of Persona 3 and 4, and this.

But there's too much wasted time and scenes. We're discussing Gaius being a potential protag but we hardly know the guy. We know facts about him, but we haven't been in his head. He's hardly alone in this reguard with characters melting into the background and not influencing scenes at times, but do make time for Stock Anime Humor Situations For Generic Guarenteed Payoffs decently regularly. Then that's not to mention the Slinkin'. I doubt many saw what I saw of Machias in CS2 like I did cuz they disliked the guy or just found other characters more worthy of those points.

If such a change was brought about due to these expectations, and this is the price, than it was a mistake, and so I will call it one.

That's why I'm optimistic about CS3; due to what we know, we CAN'T have anything else but big important scenes; the only question mark is the dialogue being more on-point (ie: characters speak as if the writer is "in their heads" as it were). Plus, we non-Japanese are now a growing demographic to push back against that "expectation" anyways.

So yeah, it's the results, not the form that was the source of the problems.

 

[Squire]

I think Gaius as a lead makes sense because he's the Class VII member who's head we've seen the least of. There's either stuff there to mine or room to insert it. And either way, being a lead and being a well pre-established character aren't mutually exclusive concepts at all. I mean, 3rd is predicated on

Spoiler

actively subverting your image of Kevin based on how he presents himself in SC.

You can't really inhabit a character until you actually do, you know?

And yeah, Sen 3 is juggling so much there should be no fat on those bones.

 

[PK Gaming]

Re: Cold Steel's setting

CS1 did its setting justice imo, definitely moreso than the Persona games. You actually feel like you're going to school in that game, and it's a wonderful follow up to the Jenis Academy set up; lots of different students with interesting lives, a unique curriculum, club activities, classes, dorm life... it doesn't do the game justice to shortchange as "anime highschool bullshit" when it's so much more than that. Where CS falters is occasionally giving into dubious tropes, but that happens like twice?

Re: Gaius

I don't think the developers like him enough in the lead position. Even if they did, he didn't receive the development to easily shift into lead role like say, Kevin in SC. It'd be nice, but I figure they'll call it with CS3 and move onto the next saga.

To be fair, they're tonally different due to the setting, if anything. You start off in Crossbell slowly introduced to the festering corruption that exists in the state which gets progressively worse as you rise in the police force. In Erebonia, you happily start high school life with new friends until you get slowly dragged into the political problems that plague Erebonia and its neighbors. I'm sure CS would be closer in feel to Zero/Ao had they just ditched the school setting altogether, though I have no idea what they would replace it with, ¯\_(&#12484_/¯.

I guess tone was the wrong choice of words. But Zero is when they shifted from Sky's borderline family friendly vibe, to the occasionally pandering? I'm sure the actual tone of Crossbell is godlike. I got a whiff of it in

Spoiler

CS2

and it made me want to play the Zero games for months.

 

[Squire]

Re: Cold Steel's setting

CS1 did its setting justice imo, definitely moreso than the Persona games. You actually feel like you're going to school in that game, and it's a wonderful follow up to the Jenis Academy set up; lots of different students with interesting lives, a unique curriculum, club activities, classes, dorm life... it doesn't do the game justice to shortchange as "anime highschool bullshit" when it's so much more than that. Where CS falters is occasionally giving into dubious tropes, but that happens like twice?

Re: Gaius

I don't think the developers like him enough in the lead position. Even if they did, he didn't receive the development to easily shift into lead role like say, Kevin in SC. It'd be nice, but I figure they'll call it with CS3 and move onto the next saga.

It could go either way, but my point is more that you don't need to build up a lead character before they actually take the lead. You meet Estelle for the first time in FC and it goes great (and the same apples to Rean imo, but w/e.) I honestly wasn't thinking, "Man, Kevin's gonna be a great lead character in 3rd!" during SC. I was thinking he was a fun guy with a decent hint of mystery to him that may or may not blossom into something. I disagree that there's this great setup for him to take over. He's a great supporting cast member with one scene that really hunts at more, but you learn everything there is to know about him to really make him compelling in the context of 3rd itself. And again, that's totally fine.

The qualities that make a character a good lead need not reveal themselves until the character actually has the job. I'm not even particularly crazy about Gaius either, I'm just saying he's on a path where putting him in that position is something they could logically do. I'm good with however they handle it though. They're 3/4 on MCs for me and that's probably only because I haven't played Zero/Ao.

 

[Tonton]

Whatever they do for Calvard I just hope we can have something similar to Thors when it comes to NPCs

Even if that means more school and field studies!

 

[hosannainexcelsis]

Pretty sure Falcom will come up with a brand-new character to be the protagonist of Calvard games rather than reusing an already introduced character, as they did for Crossbell and Erebonia.

 

[Jiraiza]

I guess tone was the wrong choice of words. But Zero is when they shifted from Sky's borderline family friendly vibe, to the occasionally pandering? I'm sure the actual tone of Crossbell is godlike. I got a whiff of it in

Spoiler

CS2

and it made me want to play the Zero games for months.

Renne's existence in general has me hesitant to call any of these games family friendly. I know I was bagging hard on Lloyd a few pages back, but the pandering is surprisingly very light in Zero so far, uh, aside from Rixia's questionable choice in casual attire. As an example, there's a part where you visit the room of a star (which is a complete mess) that one of your party members is a huge fan of, and instead of being a creepy douche, he instead shows some disappointment in the reality of what his favorite star is truly like. It's a fairly brief line of dialogue, but I thought that was pretty impressive. That said, I don't think you can get any more family friendly than the SSS family (if we just ignore the corrupted shithole that is their state).

Opinion may change since I only just started chapter 4 in Zero.

 

[Shake Appeal]

Pretty sure Falcom will come up with a brand-new character to be the protagonist of Calvard games rather than reusing an already introduced character, as they did for Crossbell and Erebonia.

If only so you can start with low-level combat, yes.

 

[PK Gaming]

It could go either way, but my point is more that you don't need to build up a lead character before they actually take the lead. You meet Estelle for the first time in FC and it goes great (and the same apples to Rean imo, but w/e.) I honestly wasn't thinking, "Man, Kevin's gonna be a great lead character in 3rd!" during SC. I was thinking he was a fun guy with a decent hint of mystery to him that may or may not blossom into something. I disagree that there's this great setup for him to take over. He's a great supporting cast member with one scene that really hunts at more, but you learn everything there is to know about him to really make him compelling in the context of 3rd itself. And again, that's totally fine.

The qualities that make a character a good lead need not reveal themselves until the character actually has the job. I'm not even particularly crazy about Gaius either, I'm just saying he's on a path where putting him in that position is something they could logically do. I'm good with however they handle it though. They're 3/4 on MCs for me and that's probably only because I haven't played Zero/Ao.

I mostly agree with everything you've said. Kevin's character just oozes intrigue, and he's fairly involved with the plot of SC, so his upgrade to protagonist is unexpected, but it makes perfect sense in hindsight? I actually like Gaius a fair amount, but I don't see them ever giving Gaius a full game. There's nothing to peel back, nothing to reveal, nothing that makes him a better lead than his peers. If anything, I could see either of the new CS3 protagonists taking the reins in the potential sequel or a brand new character altogether.

Renne's existence in general has me hesitant to call any of these games family friendly. I know I was bagging hard on Lloyd a few pages back, but the pandering is surprisingly very light in Zero so far, uh, aside from Rixia's questionable choice in casual attire. As an example, there's a part where you visit the room of a star (which is a complete mess) that one of your party members is a huge fan of, and instead of being a creepy douche, he instead shows some disappointment in the reality of what his favorite star is truly like. It's a fairly brief line of dialogue, but I thought that was pretty impressive. That said, I don't think you can get any more family friendly than the SSS family (if we just ignore the corrupted shithole that is their state).

Opinion may change since I only just started chapter 4 in Zero.

Okay, Ouroboros aside, these games are pretty family friendly!

And i'll take your word for it. I can't really talk about Zero without playing it, heh.

 

[preta]

I actually like Gaius a fair amount, but I don't see them ever giving Gaius a full game. There's nothing to peel back, nothing to reveal, nothing that makes him a better lead than his peers.

Actually, with the revelation that (CS3 promo info)

Spoiler

he joined the Gralsritter in the time between CS2 and CS3, the theory that he's actually got a Stigma and will become a Dominion seems more likely than ever.

Of course, there really is no reason to expect that the protagonist of Calvard won't be new.

 

[jb1234]

Finished Chapter 1 of Cold Steel. I'm bored. These characters are boring. I'd expect a slow-starter plot from this series but characters with very little personality is a huge problem. I was stuck with

Spoiler

Rean, Elliot, Alisa and Laura

for the chapter and realized that I didn't really care about any of them. Machias is annoying but I kinda wanted him to show up just to inject some conflict, ANYTHING to break up these characters being overly polite and bland to each other.

 

[Jiraiza]

Zero, Chapter 4, Anton:

Spoiler

He had one job. ONE JOB! And he blew it.

 

[Moonlight]

Actually, with the revelation that (CS3 promo info)

Spoiler

he joined the Gralsritter in the time between CS2 and CS3, the theory that he's actually got a Stigma and will become a Dominion seems more likely than ever.

Of course, there really is no reason to expect that the protagonist of Calvard won't be new.

Pretty confident that they'll be entirely new, given what 3rd set up regarding Calvard.

 

[preta]

Pretty confident that they'll be entirely new, given what 3rd set up regarding Calvard.

Well, yeah, that's what I said. Having the protagonist of an arc not be a new character would feel like a cop-out.

 

[Squire]

I mostly agree with everything you've said. Kevin's character just oozes intrigue, and he's fairly involved with the plot of SC, so his upgrade to protagonist is unexpected, but it makes perfect sense in hindsight? I actually like Gaius a fair amount, but I don't see them ever giving Gaius a full game. There's nothing to peel back, nothing to reveal, nothing that makes him a better lead than his peers. If anything, I could see either of the new CS3 protagonists taking the reins in the potential sequel or a brand new character altogether.

Bingo. They could have you saying the same thing about Gaius later, especially if CS3 really moves the needle for his character. I agree though, they have a lot of options open to them. I don't dislike Gaius, but he wouldn't be my preferred choice.

 

[hans_castorp]

It would be weird with all the set up from The 3rd and Crosbell not to have a new protagonist.

Falcom will find a way to make the Rocksmith's Agency the "totally-not-bracers" Agency, like they did with the SSS or class VII.