- Just like it's predecessor TitS1, so much shit happens in the final chapter. It was just revelation and revelation. Most of the things that were hinted at through the first 6 chapters of the game have finally come to a head, and finally everything that Emma's been hinting at makes sense.
- I was worried that Emma never got her backstory explore, and while it still hasn't the game has given enough hints to give a good picture. So she's clearly an actual magician or witch with knowledge of the Dark Ages. She has ties to one of the Anguis and she's friends with a talking cat. I wonder how deep her ties to Ouroboros are.
- Speaking of Ouroboros, they've finally reared their head in the final stretch. I honestly didn't expect Clotilde to be an Ouroboros agent, and one of the Anguis too. A double secret identity. She did raise a few eyebrows with some of the things she's mentioned, like to make sure to "tune in tomorrow" so that Rean could listen to the report of Crossbell's declaration of independence. Then you've got that ponce Bleublanc being a ponce. Can't wait to demolish him again. In tying in with the other games in the series, I would've been disappointed if the Liberation Front was the only big bad in the series. It seems like Anguis hiding themselves in plain sight is a common theme.
- Overall I felt Cold Steel was a lot more technologically advanced than in TitS. I know TitS has chartered airships and a machinery research and fabrication facility in Zeiss, but everywhere else was pretty low tech. The depiction of Erebonia was that technology has propagated so thoroughly, which came to me when the characters were discussing orbal cars and how popular they were becoming. It's hardly the same with Liberl and it feels weird thinking they belong in the same universe. Of course, computers are also starting to gain traction and there's even the beginnings of the internet being developed. Anyway, while it was a more technologically advanced depiction of Zemuria, I certainly didn't expect it to go straight into mecha territory, with that Gundam looking thing at the end. Because it only showed up in the last 2 hours the game's haven't really done
too much with it so besides their existence being a mild shock I don't have any strong feelings about it. I thought the Great Knights as spoken about in the Nord Highlands were just giant autonomous golems fashioned in the shape of knights.
- Another thing I totally didn't expect, Crow being C. It felt like the story went through a lot of hoops to contrive this, but the writing was just on the cusp of good enough for this to feel plausible. I knew C was cunning, but Crow didn't really give any indication that he was always playing 12th dimensional chess. I am looking forward as to how Rean and the crew deals with Crow. And I am also looking forward to what Crow does with the academy when Rean got blasted away, because there's no chance Class VII can actually beat the Azure Knight. Anyway, in the moment Crow being C was like an oh shit moment, but looking back the justification is kind of weak. But I am looking forward to his backstory about the Jurai SEZ.
- The reason why I talked so much about the predictable flow of life at Thors was that it gave you the chance to form a deep attachment to all the people living there. I imagine the point of that was so that at the end of CS1 it makes shattering the ordinary life of a student much more effective. When it was announced the Garrelia Fortress was essentially nuked (and the game made you go there so you could actually see how massive it is) prompting a national address by the Chancellor I could actually feel the uncertainty gripping everyone. It was obvious that it would be a declaration of war, and given that this
is a
military academy it could potentially mean students being called into actual combat (as George mentioned). It was like, war fucking sucks dude. All the people that you've come to know and like could potentially be killed in combat.
I highly doubt that would actually happen from a meta-narrative and genre-savvy point of view, but the threat of it alone is saddening. It was like the real world came knocking on this bubble of trope-y anime school antics when I heard Trista was gonna get invaded.
- Heimdallr being occupied by the Noble Faction was crazy. Although the game did feel like it made Osborne look better than the Noble Faction, they were both kind of shit which is why Olivert was looking to establish a third faction. I guess the Four Houses are pretty much bad guys? It doesn't feel like they've been given any good points to counterbalance them, all we hear on field studies was how they throw their weight around fucking people over to try and maintain their power. I worry that in the next game they would be painted as either unrepentant in their actions to make them an easy target for evil to be smote, or that they are given weak narrative justification for said actions. Jusis hates his dad (though he does love his brother, which could be a positive point for the Noble faction). Angelica hates her dad.
- It looked like Chancellor Osborne had a gaping hole where his heart was, not sure how you can survive that.
- I am very interested in Sharon now. I guessed she was an Ouroboros operative when Claire confronted her in the Sachsen Mines aftermath and then she displayed immense combat prowess (heh, maids and butlers with combat training are usually exceptional for one reason or another as far as anime tropes go). But since she has seemingly worked against Ouroboros interests by defending Trista I do wonder what her angle is. If I remember correctly, one of the provisions of being an Enforcer was that they have free will and that the Anguis cannot order them to do anything, only request their help which they can freely turn down. I wonder if Sharon was initially intending to spy on the Reinford family but eventually defected. It seemed that Irina knew that she was an Enforcer when she hired her too. It's so nice that she's officially confirmed as an Enforcer too, and that a Bracer is willing to work with her since their organizations are kind of enemies.
- Following on that, I has a hunch that the Thors instructor were actually super strong. Despite their subdued appearance as teachers throughout the game, I figured they've gotta be actually really strong to have been hired at a military academy. And of course you see them being badasses taking down mecha. Instructor Beatrix is just Ana lol. Kinda figured Makarov would use guns though, seeing him with an orbal staff felt weird. No surprises that Vandyke is a hulking man wielding a halberd effortlessly of course since he was a former general.
- Angelica as a temporary party member was awesome. Even better when I found out she's a Taito Style practitioner. I wonder if the woman she followed around when she ran away from home Zin's female friend that I can't remember the name of right now.
- I really dislike how they tried to force Alisa down your throat as the romantic option. So of course I picked Fie for the bonfire dance >_>. Since I do really like her, I am pretty invested in her story with the former Zephyr members in CS2, assuming it does actually get addressed there. Fie is pretty adorable.
- Perhaps I am misreading this, but Elise has the non-platonic hots for Rean? Falcom sure loves its brother-sister love.
