• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Sen No Kiseki III |Import OT| Teacher by day, Military Officer by night

PK Gaming

Member
Only one I'm surpised about...
Musse is Platonic after constantly trying to seduce Rean? Thats just kinda funny honestly.

Well yeah, I mean Rean's not going to date a student. That would be crazy unethical... Plus I doubt he'd fall for someone he just met.

Plus, she's not really into him.
 

Korigama

Member
Only one I'm surpised about...
Musse is Platonic after constantly trying to seduce Rean? Thats just kinda funny honestly.
Wasn't really surprising to me.
My impression is that she was just messing with him from the very beginning. And yeah, was willing to give Rean a bit more credit than that
.
 

Shouta

Member
Oh yeah, that graveyard scene too. =o

Anyway, I'm starting Chapter 2 for folks that want to watch.
 
Last edited:

Jiraiza

Member
I love how some of the NPCs you frequently interacted with in the Crossbell games were given unique models. They all look so good. Then again, I guess a few of them did show up in the calendars.

San San:
YeidfMm.jpg

Wendy:

Oscar:

Bennet (still trying to one-up Oscar, I see):

And many others.

Chapter 2:

This is GOTY just for the Randy and Tio reunion alone. Not only does Tio make an appearance, we get to see Tio and Randy almost hug and Randy give Tio the headpat. Outrageous! They were definitely close in the Zero and Ao, but we never really got to see them get intimate with each other to this extent because Lloyd was always around. Mind you, I mean this strictly in a family context. Cute! I totally wanted to see Randy and Tio hug, though. She just had to to tease him about Mireille instead. I'll have to settle for the high-five and headpat.So close, though.

IWcRpsIl.jpg


05rcVkbl.jpg


God, I love Randy and Tio. Truly the shining duo of the Zero and Ao games.

On another note, Altina has won me over so hard. Her "go, go" is insanely cute when you get on the bike. Just listen to her! https://streamable.com/crrks

God bless this game.
 

redcrayon

Member
Does graduating school mean developing a taste for wearing long coats in Erebonia, or is it just signifying an upgrade in badassery or something :D
 
A few thoughts on Chapter 1

I just got to the point where Shirley makes her appearance and the society brings in its robots to attack the Thors Bunkou train (was there a name?). I had really been enjoying the game up until now, but I'm starting to have doubts about whether or not it can accomplish whatever it sets out to do - and I'm happy there's a Sen IV. The scene plays out in an absolutely glacial pace, that is somehow more awkward than Sen II. When Shirley and Fie finally exchange blows on the train, there's the one exchange that's shown in the trailer and that's it. There's no fight, they just parry each other's move, Shirley jumps back and sort of awkwardly floats across the battle field and back up to her original position and it's over. What? Someone needs to tell Falcom that flashes of light don't make scenes exciting, characters moving around scenes that are actually choreographed are.

We've reached a point where Falcom doesn't appear to be capable of producing the dramatic scenes we saw in Zero or Ao. Just watch the trailer to Ao if you want to see what a scene with Shirley on the battlefield meant for that game. Characters could jump around, exchange blows, and although they could be a little rough around the edges, combat/exciting scenes more competently executed what they set out to do. The jump to 3D was a bit awkward, but even Sen II seems to be a step above this.

Hopefully it's a one time thing and the rest of the game is more compelling. But if not, then there's a problem. I'm not sure if it's lack of manpower, time, or experience, but something needs to change if they are going to ever be able to live up to what they've accomplished in the past. I'd like to see the 幻炎計画 done justice (I'm assuming we don't really get to see it until Sen IV).

Edit: Should I be finding black book information to report by now? I've been talking to NPCs, even those unmarked, but ...
 

Jiraiza

Member
A few thoughts on Chapter 1

Edit: Should I be finding black book information to report by now? I've been talking to NPCs, even those unmarked, but ...

If there's one thing Falcom really needs to improve on, it's the scripting and animation work for the cutscenes or big events. After 7 games, they still have trouble trying to make the action look good; it's passable, but when you have the good music on top of everything, you sort of want more oomph during these high tension moments, you know? Fight scenes in general need to be improved badly to build on the hype that the chapters build up towards. I mean, "talk, go into battle, suddenly standing face to face to talk again after the battle" really looks awful, all things considered. One day they'll get it, one day.

As for the black records, I did come across one in chapter 1, don't remember where, though.
 
Wow, wtf is this 手配魔獣? It gets a special skill that it can basically employ wherever you are on the field that grants instant death. Okay, so I go buy anti instant death accessories, come back, and it does 3500 damage anyways, so it doesn't matter. Oh, maybe I'm supposed to quickly kill it in the beginning of the fight? No, it can use it in the beginning if it so randomly chooses to do so.

If there's one thing Falcom really needs to improve on, it's the scripting and animation work for the cutscenes or big events. After 7 games, they still have trouble trying to make the action look good; it's passable, but when you have the good music on top of everything, you sort of want more oomph during these high tension moments, you know? Fight scenes in general need to be improved badly to build on the hype that the chapters build up towards. I mean, "talk, go into battle, suddenly standing face to face to talk again after the battle" really looks awful, all things considered. One day they'll get it, one day.

As for the black records, I did come across one in chapter 1, don't remember where, though.

I think up to Sen II it was "passable," but what I saw was not. I think Zero and Ao did a good job and Sen II was decent. Sure there were awkward pauses and limitations, but somehow they're doing less when they should be able to do more. A have a hunch the game is going to feel like it needed a few more months in the oven. Maybe a few people tasked solely with working on such scenes.
 

Holundrian

Unconfirmed Member
If there's one thing Falcom really needs to improve on, it's the scripting and animation work for the cutscenes or big events. After 7 games, they still have trouble trying to make the action look good; it's passable, but when you have the good music on top of everything, you sort of want more oomph during these high tension moments, you know? Fight scenes in general need to be improved badly to build on the hype that the chapters build up towards. I mean, "talk, go into battle, suddenly standing face to face to talk again after the battle" really looks awful, all things considered. One day they'll get it, one day.

As for the black records, I did come across one in chapter 1, don't remember where, though.

Not to defend it or anything but I'm not sure improve is the right word. Feels like invest is more appropriate. There's def a degree of skill that matters but generally I'd say animation in games especially top tier like it was in DQ11 is more a matter of money/man hours. Tools can alleviate some of that but still for these long rpgs that might just not be money they have for the sales they make along having just more consistent VA.
 
On a more positive note, this is probably one of the best executions of "anime" style in a 3D game. Even minor characters often look great.
 

Bebpo

Banned
Just finished the first chapter after 22 hours (I've been talking to every npc in after every change and playing the card mini-games).

That was easily the best first chapter Falcom's ever done in a Kiseki game. Goddamn that was great. So far the game is exactly what I wanted out of what should be the first chapter of the final mid-series ending arc. Really excited for the rest of Sen 3 and of course Sen 4. That chapter made me feel that the plot is in good hands and Falcom is gonna pull everything together from the 7 games to date into the most epic finale ever in 3+4.
 
The scene with Yuunaたち on the
train after being left behind is great.
There are a lot of great decisions made with this game. The instructor Rean set up works really well, especially the small group of students he has. Along with the more militaristic set up for the Thors branch school, it gives the game a surprisingly "fresh" feel to it. I don't just feel like I'm retreading Sen no Kiseki I & II.
_Muse__
is suspicious as fuck.
 

Jiraiza

Member
On a more positive note, this is probably one of the best executions of "anime" style in a 3D game. Even minor characters often look great.

Yeah, for sure. At this point, I think they should just ditch animation studios in general and focus on making the in-game engine look even better.
 

Shouta

Member
I'm partway through Chapter 2 now and man, I'm pretty excited to see what's going to happen. I have an idea of where it will go but there are so many things that could happen, I just don't know, lol.
 
Scripted cinematic cutscenes are definitely areas where Falcom still falters, even if they've made drastic improvements since the Sen 1's first castle boss.
 

Jiraiza

Member
Wow, chapter 2 is absolutely fabulous. The way it ended was just so good. This was definitely the chapter for the Crossbell fans, but it was given the Cold Steel flavor to make it even better. Though I gotta say, if you haven't played Ao, this game is going to spoil one of the biggest plot points (though fortunately not the twist). CS3 is by no means friendly at all to newcomers. Long wall of text with no TL;DR incoming.

Chapter 2 thoughts:
Characters:
Let's start with Rean. I don't want to sound like I'm beating the dead horse any further, but putting him in a position where he can teach others, given all the things that happened in the previous two games, does wonders for his image as the MC. It's hard to explain, but there's this maturity to him as an adult that really helps you relate as he tries to guide his pupils into doing the right thing, while personally trying to make peace with his own problems. Juna, Kurt, and Altina serve to help Rean mature in a different direction unlike the last two games, while the old class VII members serve to help Rean overcome the personal problems currently plaguing him. I like this duality because it helps to emphasize that Rean isn't some super all-powerful teacher that can solve everyone's problems, or even his own. It's nice to see Rean go about teaching in his own way, compared to say Sara, which adds a lot of complexity, and humor, to his character. He's also gained quite the skill in deflection when it comes to people trying to tease him about his popularity among the girls. I actually don't mind this junk this time around because Rean plays it very straight, especially with students, with whom he immediately tells them to just stop (though it's mostly Musse in this case); it's hilarious since it shows how much of a hard-ass teacher he is when compared to Sara. The happenings in the past two games really add weight to his words as teacher. This works a lot better compared to the things he'd say as a student because we're hearing things coming from a man who went through hell and back. Another thing about his position as a teacher is that he really gives this nice feeling of support for the students, and in the story in general, so this is very nice. You can tell he really acts like a teacher when going out on missions.

I'm also loving how they're handling the chapter exclusive reunions with part of the old class VII members. The game gives you this amazing feeling of nostalgia as you see these kids from the past two games grow up into adults with their own lives and careers they're working towards. The best part is when Rean starts cooperating with them to fulfill the government's orders, because they start discussing the issue at like actual adults instead of leaving one character to do all the talking.The interactions between the old class VII and the new make the character chemistry even better. It's just so fun to see all these characters bounce off of each other. Still, Falcom isn't pulling any punches with who they clearly think is the main girl for Rean, that being Alisa. That steamy reunion hug tells no lie; it was even more intimate than Laura's. Another improvement to Rean is him taking all these harem antic situations in stride without freaking out over them, or just plain deflecting them as I mentioned above. It works very well here since he's a grown man with a teaching license.

For the new class VII, namely Juna, Kurt, and Altina, they have a very unique and fun relationship. I'm very appreciative of the fact that while these three are reliant on Rean to show them the right path as their instructor, the three of them have this relationship where they help each other get back on their feet without Rean's involvement. There's Kurt who came to the second division of Thors due to his uncertainty about his future because of the Vander family being dismissed of their role as the royal family's protector, Juna who has to come to terms with the reality of what happened to Crossbell which conflicts with her admiration of the SSS and the person who saved back before Crossbell was annexed by Erebonia, and Altina who slowly begins to grasp the meaning of having emotions in the same way Millium did. I'm a real sucker when it comes to emotionless little girls starting to understand what real emotions are, and Altina fits that bill perfectly. I'm finding the problems they're dealing with to be pretty engaging since that's a gateway for Rean to get involved as their instructor. It looks like they're pushing Juna and Kurt, so I'm all for these two; they're pretty cute together. Ash and Musse look like they'll be interesting additions. Not too much on them, though we did learn a bit more about Musse this chapter.

Unfortunately, there wasn't much of the SSS except for Randy and Tio, but I'd say those two were enough to give newcomers and veterans a taste of the Crossbell they may or may not have experienced. In particular, Randy acts a bro for Rean in the same way he did with Lloyd in Zero/Ao. Too bad you don't get use him in this chapter due to story reasons, but I love that he hasn't changed at all including his obvious denial of how he really feels about Mireille, which Tio clearly likes to tease him about. It's great that his role as part of the SSS in protecting Crossbell was extended into the Cold Steel environment. All the Jaeger involvement in this game really has me excited again for what his role will be along the way aside from being the ultimate drinking bro. Speaking of Tio, I'm insanely happy she comes back older with the same adorable voice she had in the Zero/Ao games. Falcom pretty much granted my wish of showing Tio and Randy being intimate with each other as members of the SSS family, and I loved every bit of it. She also had a great role with helping the main cast resolving the incident in Crossbell because the SSS were pretty much out of commission due to the government suppressing them. In any case, I really loved Tio's involvement in this chapter, and hope she'll show up again. For now, Randy is probably going to be the focus here going forward from the SSS side of things, and I'm down for that, too.

Tita and Olivier. I love Tita so much. She's so grown up now but she's still as adorable as she was in the Sky games. The Alisa and Tita connection was a nice surprise, though not totally unexpected given their grandpas knowing each other. Both with blond hair to boot, a nice combination, I'd say. While Tita isn't involved to the extent she was in the Sky games (as of now), I'm loving her support role as the primary engineer for the class. The teasing with her and Agate never gets old, either. Olivier and Tita's reunion was fun as expected. I was totally expecting him to hit harder on Tita now that she's growing up to be a fine lady. He's as great as ever, and we even get to see him don his bard outfit again. You definitely need to talk with the NPCs to have fun with his dialogue. If you talk with Ashe, you get to hear about Olivier's plans in the future, which is to spend his days away in a rural town with Schera. An amusing part to that was the rest of old Class VII wondering if it was okay to hear all that.

Aurelia is turning out to be a really nice mother-like figure. She's pretty fun to watch, and kind of reminds me of Sara in a way except more intimidating. Definitely was under a different impression given her appearance in CS2.

The Crossbell NPCs also deserve a small mention. Wendy, San San, Kate, Ashley, Oscar, Bennet, and all the other NPCs in Crossbell have been wonderfully realized in 3D. I'm definitely rooting for the Oscar x Bennet pairing; one day Oscar will notice her feelings. Seeing Azel and Kouki graduate from their respective delinquent groups was pretty cool to see. Also love seeing all the Crossbell children; it's great that they're all still as adorable as ever.

Bonding Events:
Bonding events are way better in this game. They feel less self-insert-y than before and actually make sense. The one-on-one events with his students, I think, work well here because of his position as a teacher. It's a lot more believable than some busybody student roaming the school campus to see who he could win brownie points with. For the bonding events with the old class VII members, they're definitely winning me over here. I love that these events aren't experienced in isolation from the rest of the world. For chapter 2, the only members you can spend time with so far are Laura, Millium (afternoon) and Elliot (evening). All three events were great, especially Millium's because it involved them tailing Claire because she was under the misunderstanding that she had found a boyfriend. Laura had Schmidt involved, while Elliot had Mint (as expected because of their past connection in the choir club). Great stuff all around.

Story:
Man, not sure where to start on this. So much happened in this chapter, too. To start with, the frequent perspective shifts between Rean and Juna/Kurt/Altina are really great. Compared to the previous games, CS3 is doing a better job of balancing Rean as the MC and the characters around him. It helps that he isn't always involved in every single conversation anymore. And even when he is, he usually doesn't say much this time around, unless it directly involves him. This works well because of his position as a teacher, so him watching over how things fold with his students is a very believable characteristic. He shines here, but also when he's working with his fellow class VII members. You really get the "damn, they're actual working adults right now" vibe from them.

Randy and Rean's bonding time was great. Loved that they exchanged drinks and even broke down the barrier they had put up between each other due to their positions in the past. Randy holding onto his position as best bro, I see. Even better when Machias and Rean agrees to get a drink when they have the chance. Cedrick's really different now. What the hell happened to him after the Infernal Castle incident? This particular scene was where Rean was pretty cool as instructor along with Randy. Some intruders come in and they immediately start questioning who they were. We did get to have a fight with 3 controllable gundams this time though, so that was cool.

This was the Crossbell chapter, so of course, it was a pretty big one for Juna, including Randy and Tio. You definitely won't be able to appreciate this city as much if you hadn't played the Zero and Ao games. Seeing it realized in actual 3D is glorious and they definitely got all the details down, with some changes here and there. Plenty of Juna development here, and you get to meet her family. You also learn that Rean saved her life and her siblings back during Crossbell's annexation. I'm surprised Rean didn't recognize her at the beginning, but understandable given the things he had to deal with at the time. Of course, one of the big revelations in this chapter was how the Erebonian government had the SSS and anyone related to them entrapped on MWL. Rufus is one cold bastard, and certainly not what I was expecting after seeing what he was like in the first two games. Not to mention he's the very first Ironblood. Jusis has a lot of work to do with his crazy older brother, because he doesn't seem very right in the head given the little flashback segment of his entire meeting with Osborne. I also can't believe he just walked out of the entire scene when Juna was screaming at Rean. Cold-blooded, man. But this explains why Randy or Tio can't do much because they're under constant surveillance. I loved how old Class VII took on the job to resolve the problem in Crossbell in place of the SSS. They're finally intersecting the main characters of the games with each other and this was awesome. Let's not forget about the cool Randy and Rean brofist.

We also get to learn about Sharon's past and what happened to Alisa's father. Pretty dark stuff. The red plemora is definitely interesting since the blue plemora was a big issue in the Ao games. We might end up learning more about the red genosis which briefly came up in Zero and Ao. And the Epstein Foundation is really coming up with some crazy technology. What the hell is up with that Tio hologram? I would love to have a digital Tio wherever I go! Loved the bard Olivier making his return. He accompanies you to the Tower of Stargaze, which was a dungeon you frequently went to in the Crossbell games. Gotta say, it was weird traversing through it in 3D. Big stuff happened here. Seeing Juna get back on her feet with Kurt and Altina's support was great to see. At most, Rean gave her some words to think on, and that was very cool of him; he's honestly a pretty good teacher. Fighting Mcburn and Campenella was pretty tough, though mostly the former. Old class VII are definitely getting some shonen-tier power-ups right now. Aeon Type Beta had to be the most annoying mecha boss so far. He does that flying attack like 3-4 times in a row and you can't attack him. Love the music here though. Gets you hyped up. My only problem with this scene is how awkward it looked when Kurt and Altina came in to attack the enforcers. They seriously need to work on that.

After that big fight, we have the appearance of notCrow (and his Divine Knight) along with Vita. Really curious who are the masterminds behind the third "faction" that came into play. Alisa and Altina seem to recognize the voice from that floating ball, so definitely looking forward to the reveal in the future. It's nice to see all the old class members recognize notCrow and his weapons, though. I'm glad they're trying not to dwell on it too much, which is a nice touch to their growth as full-fledged adults.

The biggest surprise, though, had to be the end of the chapter with Lloyd, KeA, and Arios making it out of the MWL "birdcage". That was a cool as hell scene. Especially the brofist between Lloyd and Rean. Absolutely loved this part because it finally feels like there's a connection between Rean and the past MCs in this entire franchise. Of course, he hasn't met Estelle, Joshua, or Kevin yet, but I'm sure they'll meet eventually. And then the cycle will be complete. Gotta say, Lloyd looks handsome as hell now; must be because of he got rid of that turtle neck of his. We don't get to see Elie, Noel, Dudley, or Sergei, which was unfortunate.

Some cute things to note, KeA goes by KeA Bannings now. I get the feeling Tio is starting to imitate some of Randy's catchphrases now, that's super cute. Linde and Becky making their appearance was pretty fun. Fast Crafts Man employee Rains still seems to be working at the newspaper agency.

That was longer than I was expecting and I don't even think I addressed everything in the chapter (particularly the politics), but whatever. Great "bro" chapter in any case. I don't think the happenings in this chapter were as crazy in chapter 1, but I felt it was more focused on the nostalgia and roping in the Crossbell side of the story into the Erebonia arc. It still turned out great though since we get to see what happened to the previous MCs during all this. Overall, I'm overwhelming optimistic for this game so far. Only issues really are the clunky, awkward cutscenes as usual and lack of voice for almost everything. And before I end this...

Chapter 3 beginning thoughts:
Holy crap, this has to be one of the best scenes so far. A scene just between Jusis and Millium? Fan-fucking-tastic. I'm actually insanely happy that they might be taking these two in the direction I was expecting based on how these two had so much in common, story-wise (of course, chemistry-wise as well). They're totally pushing these two, aren't they? Romantic or platonic, whatever, because they're cute as hell together. Jusis in particular just stuck out like another MC from him showing concern for Millium as a artificially-created human to telling her not to worry about her position in the intelligence agency and instead to act as a member of class VII instead. This line in particular, 造られし存在・・・だからどうしたという話だな。, is one amazing Jusis-like line. I think it's pretty clear Jusis, like Rean, has some concerns about the factory they were created in, since this also directly concerns his brother, Rufus. Bravo Falcom, I think you've officially won me over here because this is exactly what I wanted to see with class VII. This pairing just made too much sense if you took notice in CS1 and CS2, and I'm glad, or at least I hope, they're going to delve into it even further. Jusis truly is the (second to Randy) best boy. Good job on Millium for finally getting that hug she always wanted from him. Fantastic music for the bonding moment, too.

Phew, this game is bad for my heart.
 

PK Gaming

Member
Phew, this game is bad for my heart.

Dude, that post was bad for my heart.

Let's start with Rean. I don't want to sound like I'm beating the dead horse any further, but putting him in a position where he can teach others, given all the things that happened in the previous two games, does wonders for his image as the MC. It's hard to explain, but there's this maturity to him as an adult that really helps you relate as he tries to guide his pupils into doing the right thing, while personally trying to make peace with his own problems. Juna, Kurt, and Altina serve to help Rean mature in a different direction unlike the last two games, while the old class VII members serve to help Rean overcome the personal problems currently plaguing him. I like this duality because it helps to emphasize that Rean isn't some super all-powerful teacher that can solve everyone's problems, or even his own. It's nice to see Rean go about teaching in his own way, compared to say Sara, which adds a lot of complexity, and humor, to his character. He's also gained quite the skill in deflection when it comes to people trying to tease him about his popularity among the girls. I actually don't mind this junk this time around because Rean plays it very straight, especially with students, with whom he immediately tells them to just stop (though it's mostly Musse in this case); it's hilarious since it shows how much of a hard-ass teacher he is when compared to Sara. The happenings in the past two games really add weight to his words as teacher. This works a lot better compared to the things he'd say as a student because we're hearing things coming from a man who went through hell and back. Another thing about his position as a teacher is that he really gives this nice feeling of support for the students, and in the story in general, so this is very nice. You can tell he really acts like a teacher when going out on missions.

I was going to make a similar post about Rean as a teacher, but you pretty much beat me to the punch. There's no other way to describe it; he's a genuinely great character in Sen III. Everything, from his general characterization, to his role in the story and how he's used in sidequests is really well done. It's like you said; helping people feels a lot better, because it's framed with Rean being a teacher, instead of a goody-goody. Reaching out to struggling students as an adult is something you don't actually get to experience in gaming, and it's just so refreshing. Some of the problems students in this game are genuinely emotional too, like that one kid who's struggling
to reconcile the fact that he used to be a top student in his home town, but inside Thors, he's a below average student.
And yeah, his character is just way more adult in the best way. Rean goes out drinking, has to balance two jobs, and is generally more willing to not mince words instead of being hopelessly kind and humble.
A moment that stands out for me, is how he quickly accepts challenging Aurelia into a duel instead of being forced into it. No "i'll get creamed" or "I'm useless in a fight." He admits to wanting to fight her too, and it's just such a large departure from how he was in the previous games.
The fact that the game switches focus away from him helps him out quite a bit, since he feels less like the center of the universe.

I also like how the game brilliantly skips you playing through the annexation of North Ambria, and instead has Rean recount it; this serves the duel purpose of separating his character from the player, making him less of a self insert. Having him woefully explain how shitty work got for him was legitimately sad. Like for a second, the player wasn't playing as Rean, but rather, listening to him recount a sad story like any other character NPC, and it lands.

I agree with you on bond points. There's less of them in Sen III, but the increase in focus made them waaaaaaaaaaaay better.

Don't have much else to add other than agreement. This game rules, lol.
 
Phew, this game is bad for my heart.

Great read, thanks for taking your time to write such big post.

All this positives impressions make me curious about how people that hated or were disappointed with Cold Steel 1/2 would react to Cold Steel 3 in the case they are thinking of giving it a chance. It really feels Falcom nailed it once again. I'm a defensor of Lloyd but everything I've seen of Rean in Sen 3 so far (up to chapter 3) make me put him over Lloyd already, and I can't barely read japanese.

Knowing that Xseed worked with the script to improve Rean in the west, I wonder what kind of achievement they can pull of with Cold Steel 3.
 

Strings

Member
If there's one thing Falcom really needs to improve on, it's the scripting and animation work for the cutscenes or big events. After 7 games, they still have trouble trying to make the action look good; it's passable, but when you have the good music on top of everything, you sort of want more oomph during these high tension moments, you know? Fight scenes in general need to be improved badly to build on the hype that the chapters build up towards. I mean, "talk, go into battle, suddenly standing face to face to talk again after the battle" really looks awful, all things considered. One day they'll get it, one day.

As for the black records, I did come across one in chapter 1, don't remember where, though.

That kind of stuff takes a ludicrous amount of work though. Something like the original Xenoblade Chronicles, which had some really impressive choreography and animation during cutscenes, credited like ~20 folks for event animation alone (where Falcom is apparently 49 employees total?).

I'm really curious how they plan to expand in the future. I think Kondo mentioned they've been relying an increasing amount on outsourcing this gen.
 

Jiraiza

Member
Chapter 3 Free Day Sidequest:
Haha, was not expecting Rean to be helping out Tita choose presents to send to Estelle, Joshua, and Renne. Interestingly enough, Rean seems to be aware of who they are. I love how Tita still refers to them as her older brother and sister. So adorable. So Tita is 16, Renne is 15, and Joshua/Estelle are 20. Time sure goes by.

More on bonding events later.
 
So it looks like certain areas of crossbell are off limits huh...

Too bad, because it looks like they originally intended to include them.

Edit: Maybe I'm reading too much into the currently available areas on my map.
 

Balfour

Member
There's gonna be a Sen IV?

Spoiler? Yes. Game was split because it was too long for some people. Rumors saying some localuzation teams saying the original plans were too much to release the game in a reasonable time or some shit.
 

Stuart444

Member
How many chapters are there anyway?

Just got to Chapter 2, everything that happened at the end of Chapter 1.
Getting to see Hamel and the grave was something...

I don't mind playing this without playing Zero/Ao (I just consider it this way: We have about as much knowledge as a good few members of the Erebonian cast) but I hope we do get Zero/Ao in the west since there is a lot more Zero/Ao stuff I'm guessing, ie
Shirley (sp?) - Guessing the stuff between Randy and her is explored in the Crossbell games?
 

Balfour

Member
How many chapters are there anyway?

Just got to Chapter 2, everything that happened at the end of Chapter 1.
Getting to see Hamel and the grave was something...

I don't mind playing this without playing Zero/Ao (I just consider it this way: We have about as much knowledge as a good few members of the Erebonian cast) but I hope we do get Zero/Ao in the west since there is a lot more Zero/Ao stuff I'm guessing, ie
Shirley (sp?) - Guessing the stuff between Randy and her is explored in the Crossbell games?

No one seems to be concerned about localizing Zero/Ao for some reason. they both already have PC versions, so if they were to be brought over, it would probably be those. It's probably because XSEED had been busy with TiTS1-3, and then jumped right into Sen no Kiseki. And to be honest, this is the first game when topics from Zero/Ao actually come up and matter. Though I think they talk and explain enough about it for the scenes at hand, but the context really isn't there if you haven't played them

As for chapters, there are

5 Chapters not counting the prologue. though the 5th chapter isn't very long
 

Stuart444

Member
Ty for the info ^

I do love how
many of the school mates from CS1/2 are getting voices in this.
Makes me wonder what their voices will be in English. It may not be much but it adds to the game hearing them voiced <3
 
Are all of y’all able to read Japanese or are there some English subbed YouTube videos out there or something that translate the story?
 

Balfour

Member
Are all of y’all able to read Japanese or are there some English subbed YouTube videos out there or something that translate the story?

I don't understand Japanese. But I can pretty much understand what's going on by the scenes. I did look at summary translations afterwards though
 

Nyoro SF

Member
The prologue of CS3 almost has me in stitches. It basically runs through all the cliches people complained about in CS1 and CS2. Falcom totally knows what they're doing and I think they've taken the crown for intentional fanbase trolling.

Outside of that though, I'm loving the upgraded graphics and animations. Everything Kurt does in battle looks great. Juna shaking with anger was hilarious. Character proportions look way better so Altina's and Aurelia's heights are better pronounced.

Are all of y'all able to read Japanese or are there some English subbed YouTube videos out there or something that translate the story?

I have intermediate grasp of Japanese, good enough to play a game like this. During complicated plot moments I have to pull out my phone though.
 

Thoraxes

Member
The prologue of CS3 almost has me in stitches. It basically runs through all the cliches people complained about in CS1 and CS2. Falcom totally knows what they're doing and I think they've taken the crown for intentional fanbase trolling.

Outside of that though, I'm loving the upgraded graphics and animations. Everything Kurt does in battle looks great. Juna shaking with anger was hilarious. Character proportions look way better so Altina's and Aurelia's heights are better pronounced.
The throwback to some Ao character introductions was really funny too. Like a "Ohhhhhhh, I remember this!"
 

Jiraiza

Member
Chapter 3 Bonding Events:

Juna: Rean plays a tennis doubles match with Zessica, Luise, and Juna. The focus here was trying to get Juna to express her gratitude to Rean for saving her and her sibling's life back awhile ago by pairing the two in a team. Unfortunately, that didn't turn out too well and she got stuck with the tsundere label. An entertaining thing revealed about Rean here is it turns out he spent some time in the background dipping his hands in a lot of different activities just so he can strike a conversation and relate depending on the student. What a hardworker. I can't help but be reminded of GTO Onizuka here.

Altina: So I think this was one of the most emotional ones so far. All the students are assigned an art assignment, which is to draw anything on a canvas, and the only one who has yet to get a passing grade is Altina because her pieces, while very good as far as technique is concerned, lack passion. This goes back to how Altina's still struggling to understand what emotions are but slowly, and they really did a good job showing how vulnerable she is emotionally (ironically). The best part is Rean giving her advice using his knowledge he gained from hanging out with Gaius back in the days, and then asking her what she wants to draw, and she points directly at him. She does a drawing with Rean as the model, and the piece ends up with her drawing him with a peaceful smile. Let's just say this tore my heart to a billion pieces. Needless to say, Aurelia gives her a passing grade at the end of the scene. Absolutely lovely event.

Musse: Rean gives her guidance on her shooting form. He's surprisingly touchy in these cases though it's amusing that he became aware of it and stopped immediately. Turns out Musse is an ace-shooter of the sort when Rean takes his leave. I'm not entirely sold on Musse yet since she seems to be just "Rean, Rean, Rean" and is pretty annoying, to be honest. There's obviously something going on with her, but she's the only character who never shuts up about trying to hit on him.

Ash: Ash is just unintentionally funny most of the time because of the stark contrast between him being a rough, delinquent guy and him being a member of the literature club. He seems pretty smart, too, since he helped out the light music club with finishing their song. Entertaining event, to say the least.

Fie: This was pretty cute. She stops by to visit the broker shop with Jingo and Rean shows her around the school afterwards. You finish by checking out the garden area, which brings up some nostalgia since Fie used to be in the gardening club with Vivi and Edel. They talk a little about Fie's bracer work and how she's working on the Eastern side of the country dealing with the increase in Jaeger activity, which leads the conversation to about her foster father. Amusing to see Rean be aware of his headpatting habits; my hand moved on its own!

Towa: You work as an Assistant Director with Munk at the Leeves Radio Station to help Towa as she agrees to take part in the radio program about introducing working women to the country. Claire was the first one to be interviewed. Munk asks Towa a few questions about her experience as the commander of the Courageous, and she expresses her gratitude for all the students who contributed to the fight, especially class VII. Needless to say, this was a fun one, too.

Machias: This was a cool bro scene. You visit Heimdallr to get a cup of coffee with Machias and discuss some of the findings he ended up with after his audit at Crossbell. This was a pretty big (plot-related?) reveal here about Hugo. It looks like Kleist & Co. seem to be dealing in some shady stuff as of late, and were even involved with building the birdcage meant to cage in the SSS in chapter 2. So unlike the rest of the Thors alumni, he seems to have taken a completely different past from the rest of them, and might be a potential enemy in the near future. He even shows up during their conversation and reinforces that he's been directly involved in a lot of the dealings lately. It explains why Becky's been working hard to build her own network of commerce to fight against his company, sadly enough. He seemed like such a great guy in the first two games, so it really makes you curious what happened. Anyway, very cool event.

Alisa. There's a lot of hate for Alisa, but her events are the most vanilla so far, and I'm perfectly fine with this. Similarly to Laura, you visit the Einhell Small-Fortress with Alisa and Sharon and run through a level with an older setting. Afterwards, Sharon takes her leave so Rean can have alone time with Alisa as he guides her around the school. They end up at the rooftop and Alisa shows some weakness and talks about how she's starting to feel her mother is starting to get even more and more distant since she's been getting involved a lot of high-visibility projects (such as the development of the new mobile railway cannons) and so forth. Rean puts his arm around her shoulder and pulls her closer to give her some encouragement. They have a nice moment with Sharon smiling in the shadows. Falcom isn't pulling any stops with trying to show that Alisa's the main girl here. Either way, this was a nice event.

So the bonding events have been pretty good so far and as someone who absolutely loathes the bonding system of the past 4 games (Zero, Ao, CS1 and CS2), that means a lot. The one-on-one Rean therapy sessions have been pretty much reduced by a whole lot (Rean does technically still do his therapy talk but the event leads up to it through a number of other characters and/or preliminary events), which improved the scenes so much more. I think one complaint I have now, as least for the students, is that you don't see much of the other teachers, particularly Towa and Randy, involved in these bonding events. There was Aurelia though, so that was great. At most, you'll probably see their involvement in small dialogue chatter which you'll have to seek them out to check. Of course, the student dilemma quests do a good job of involving other teachers when need be, such as
Sidney's issue with him being a pleb compared to everyone else; in this case, Randy and Maya got involved.
Machias definitely turned out to be the most interesting and even plot-related one which was a huge surprise.

I think it's also great that Rean doesn't feel like a prude LN MC anymore. He doesn't hesitate with the skinship, and handles his interactions with the other characters in a nice, adult-like manner. Though I think he should be more aware of his skinship habits because he honestly kind of comes off as a man-slut, considering he has no actual cannon commitment to any girl. This extends mostly to the old class VII girls, with
Alisa being the most intimate so far. Arguably, him grabbing Laura's hand in the pool might be just as intimate. Fie got the headpat. I mean, look at Jusis, he's arguably the closest to Millium but he's not hesitant to avoid the Millium skinship when need be. She has to work for it, haha.
Otherwise, I'm enjoying his teacher role in most of the events and even better when he references his past experiences with old class VII to give advice to his students.

Altina is shaping up to be an incredible character as well. She's rapidly climbing up the ranks of amazing loli characters upwards to Tio, Tita, and Renne (though let's be honest here, all the little girl characters have been fantastic so far including Millium). I was kind of neutral on her in CS2, and her outfit was pretty lame, but she's so, so much better in CS3. It helps that her character arc is the kind of arc that I'm very, very fond of. It's also insanely cute seeing her do high fives with Kurt and Juna after a fight.

And to wrap this up, an entertaining comic strip with Ash:
 

Balfour

Member
Who has the most ridiculous S-Craft animation?

I'm talking Emma's, Millium or Elliot's tier.

Gaius' S-craft is pretty rediculous. Too bad you only get it for the final dungeon

I don't think many were that crazy other than his
 

Jiraiza

Member
Great read again, you must be really enjoying it to write about bonding events after reading your past comments in previous games.

Also, were did you get that comic strip? That one is pretty funny.

It's probably on pixiv or twitter somewhere.

Bonding events are okay so far, though after having finished the first field day of chapter 3, I do have some complaints now.
Can't say I'm very fond of Rean getting two cheek kisses from two women in the same night. What exactly is Falcom trying to do here, anyway? To show that Rean is in fact a huge manslut? And what's with all the older women spilling their guts about their backstory to him? It was Sharon in chapter 2, and now Sara and Claire in chapter 3. It's like Falcom can't write a conversation between the male MC and a female character without romantic undertones most of the time (Sharon excluded). MC (harem) privilege hasn't been completely phased out, I see. A little disappointing to say the least, since they're building up something cool with instructor Rean, and wish they wouldn't drag it down by including these wish fulfillment scenarios.

A little worried about things going forward now (particularly any alone time between Rean and a female), but I guess we'll see.
 
Top Bottom