Ushi No Tane Forum

Posted: **Nov 11, 2020 7:03 am**

Yazuka 0 came in the mail and Genshin Impact had an update with new characters (that I waaant), but I'm mainly focusing on my Cold Steel IV watch. I'd like to get it done so I have less of a reason to bum around on my computer. I get very easily distracted when I'm not focusing on something creative.

I did start a kinda out-of-nowhere project last week that I'll be working at for some time. With all my pruchases since I got my Switch, I've amassed A LOT of indie games (digitally). I (semi)recently had to upgrade to a bigger micro sd because a game I was playing kept having massive updates and murdering my storage space, but I've since then stopped playing that game. Anyways, playing Hades kinda reignited a flame I hadn't felt since I played certain indies for the first time and I thought 'it would be kinda cool to just have all of my fave indies and then some whenever the heck I want, why don't I do that?'. AND SO, I turned my Switch into an indie machine. Every indie I've bought (minus YIIK, because no) whether I liked it, never played it, or dropped, is now on my Switch. It's a total of 36 after I bought a few very cheap ones I'd waffled on for a bit. I then when through the entire eshop and added every indie game that caught my interest and slapped it onto my wishlist, which just about another 50 games. I plan to periodically buy them as they go on sale OR if I reach a point where I have nothing to play. So it's a backlog of sorts, BUT, it's more of a cushion to fall back on. Indies are usually either very short (3-10 hours) or very long (50-100 hours) so it's a real mixed bag, but they're always easy to pick up or put down. Relatively inexpensive regardless, so this is an investment I plan to keep dipping into for quite some time. Indies are more abundant than ever, so I may as well get my fill! I have no excuse to ever be bored again lol.

Posted: **Nov 11, 2020 10:56 am**

I'm done. After 6 years, I'm done; I've painstakingly played the entire story. As for my thoughts, well...

...

.......

Dang it, Falcom. It's no use.

I'm gonna need a couple of months to think about it. If the normal end (which is honestly the kind of ending I half expected) were all they'd given me, I'd have to hire a squad of assassins to take the entire dev team hostage under threat of either fixing it, or the ominous 'or else'. But if I speak emotionally rather than analytically...Trails of Cold Steel is over, and though 'Trails' will continue, it will leave Erebonia. The cast's lives will continue, but from now on, I will be removed from them. I, the player, no longer get to watch them fight and struggle and have fun. I may get to see them in cameos in later games, but it'll never be the same. Even Hajimari; it'll have a lot of the same crew available here and there, but it'll be about transitioning to something new, and it's just a delay in the inevitable. I've no idea where the world's story is going, yet. Well, okay, I have an idea, but I can't really think it through, yet.

My chest literally hurt when I finished, lol. (The 'literal' meaning of literal, not the figurative meaning of literal! There should be no figurative meaning of literal.) Falcom, the barstuds, went and made it worse with the sentence they put on the final image card.

Well! I know what I have to do now, then! Time to break out the nail clippers and shorten my nails a bit so I can get down to some serious fan-fiction-ing. And no matter what, I'll never forgive Osborne for

Spoiler:

Posted: **Nov 11, 2020 11:40 am**

I wanna touch that spoiler so bad! D:

But Ima' resist. I plan to get my watch-though done sometime this week, so I'll be sure to share my thoughts with you when the time comes, Kiki! I'm on video 5/17, but they're getting easier to partake (one of them was over 3 hours, while the rest of them are just over 1.5 hours). I think I'm gonna have to look up the bro/romances separately, though there's only 3 I really care about (Elliot, Towa, and Alfin). No idea who the YTer these uploads belong is going for, but I have a feeling I'm going to find out real soon. If it's Alisa, I'm gonna roll my eyes so hard.

Posted: **Nov 11, 2020 11:45 am**

It was something that happened in III, Bluie, just one minor thing...a single line that really made me hate Osborne more than ever, and which I don't think he can ever be let off on no matter what happened in IV. But it's a big spoiler if anyone hasn't played III yet, so I figured I'd better tag it.

Alisa is definitely not a contender for my favourite gal for Rean. It was a disappointment that the guys don't actually get special endings in this one...you can't choose them to be your final bonding moment. :/ (I loved Jusis' events in I and II.)

Watching the end of CSIV is probably still going to be reasonably impactful, but I think the exhausting ending would have more impact from actually playing it due to all the freakin' effort you have to put in to get there. Hopefully it doesn't lose too much and it still seems interesting to you!

I'm kind of adrift, now. I don't want to do or touch anything else, lol. Maybe I can force myself to go pluck a few mushrooms in ACNH. Or clean the kitchen again. Woot.

Posted: **Nov 11, 2020 12:16 pm**

Ah, I see. Yeah, what the heck, Osborne? >:/

Thing is that I KNOW that I don't have it in me to play through a long JRPG right now (and maybe not for a long while). Trails isn't the type of game where I can take weeks off and then pick it back up, because I will inevitably forget plot points and get upset at myself for doing so. I don't have the time or attention to just eat JRPGs for breakfast like I used to. I'm picky now and anything that goes beyond 50 hours outstays it's welcome, especially overly story driven games like Trails. I'm not sure why/when I became like this, but I know I've dropped a ton of games this year and shyed away from many titles I would have picked up no problem last year or before that. I even look at the games I plan on getting release day next year, and they're all simulation games (Rune Factory, Story of Seasons, Pokemon Snap), or not-your-run-of-the-mill JPRG experience (NieR, Disgaea, Monster Hunter). To play just straight JRPGs is just not my cup of tea anymore, but I'm still invested in certain series regardless. I wanna see where Trails goes, I want the Crossbell duology to get localized so everyone can get the whole story officially, and I hope it doesn't take Hajimari years to get over here, but I don't know if I'll ever play the series again.

Boo to the guys not having endings. Lame.

Posted: **Nov 11, 2020 12:42 pm**

The guys do have bonding moments and a little scene, but they don't have the option of being Rean's final bonding moment. It does suck. I like to be able to choose friendship over romance, particularly in any game by Falcom, since they do romance so poorly that it never really feels all that natural. I'm tempted to choose Elise next time, so that I can pretend that Rean chose family/platonic feelings over romantic ones. Even though Elise is ridiculously in love with Rean. (Which I have always had a huge beef with.)

Trails has, bar none, the most exhausting games one could ever ask to play, imo. They're intense. I mean, cutscenes that last more than half an hour, stuffed with information and emotional revelations, plus the same littered liberally throughout the entire game via a bit of dialogue dropped in passing, or in the results of what seemed like a simple 'get stuff for the festival' quest. And they're so long and full of info that by the time you get to the end, you can't even remember the first half of the very game you are playing, lol.

Anyone who is temporarily or permanently burned out on epic RPGs would never be able to get through a Trails game. My entire torso is still trying to unclench, and my dumb ol' brain hasn't processed a lot of it, yet. I want to go back and play the entire series (including Sky and Crossbell) from start to finish, but I don't think I could take it, lol. It'd take me months and, if actually accomplished, probably leave me a husk of my former self. I find it both mentally and emotionally exhausting, trying to consume an entire Trails game in 1-2 weeks. But if you take any longer, you'll forget too much and the end won't make sense any more, heh.

Well, I love it. But I'm pooped. I both want to replay III and IV, now, and I don't. I can't take it right now, and November is full anyway, so I won't be thinking of a replay for a while. It can all percolate in there until then.

Posted: **Nov 12, 2020 12:31 pm**

I got to video 10/17 of Cold Steel IV yesterday and defs had to take a break. I feel like the story is about to fully kick into gear, but I've reached a good point to stop for a day or so. Some thoughts so far:

Spoiler:

Also, the recording I'm watching has Alisa as the love interest, bleh. Saw a flashback during a scene of them two kissing, so I guess that carried over from CSIII? I can tell the uploader loves Ash though. They have him in his muscle shirt costume while everyone else is normally dressed AND they choose him for every Knight/Soldat fight lol.

-----

Genshin Impact dropped the new characters and I didn't get the one I want; Diona. She's a small calico cat girl who's an ice bow user, and I would love to have her for cuteness factor, and to have any other ice character than Kaeya. I got three other 4 stars from my pull, but not her... ;w;

What's even worse is that I've now maxed out Fischl's constellation, because I can't seem to stop pulling her. I hate her dumb chuunibyo « Mr.Gourmet's hat », but she's a legit broken af character. I should work on maxing her out, but I would trade her in a heart beat for Diona. *Sad Bluie noises* I need more primo gems...!

------

Started Yazuka 0 last night and I'm gonna try to get it finished before Age of Calamity comes out, but I'm not gonna rush or stress it if I can't. I like it so far, but if I'm being honest, I'd rather be playing Yazuka: Like a Dragon. It's all over Twitter and the launch trailer made me really want to play it. HOWEVER, the Yazuka fandom has informed me I should at least play Yazuka 0 beforehand so I'm familiar with certain characters and the setting and what not. Good thing I already bought it regardless, so ima' do that.

Posted: **Nov 12, 2020 1:59 pm**

Bluie wrote:I got to video 10/17 of Cold Steel IV yesterday and defs had to take a break. I feel like the story is about to fully kick into gear, but I've reached a good point to stop for a day or so. Some thoughts so far:

Spoiler:
- I genuinely laughed at the delivery of Duvalie and Machias' surprise towards human!Celine
- Speaking of, I like that Duvalie became a party member. Not completely out of left field, but a welcome addition
- I don't give « Cow Poopoo » about the curse, I still want to roundhouse kick Cedric. Gosh that kid makes me so upset every time he's on screen
- Osborne too
- What in the heck is with Margarita's random weight loss and then gain back??? If it was supposed to be funny, it wasn't.
- I do like that she and Vincent are an item now though. He finally gave in loooool.
- It's really weird having Crow back. I was so used to him being dead and still didn't think he'd come back in III, but here we are. He just kinda feels out of place in a way?
- Best girl Alfin is back but she's not playable, booooooo. At least she has a final bonding event.

Ha ha, I'd like to reply to some of that, but...so much of what I'd want to say is a spoiler for later stuff. Gonna have to wait until you're totally done!

~

I haven't been playing. Cold Steel roasted my insides, as it always does, and I didn't feel like getting involved with anything else for a bit. Kind of like a break-up? Lol. I keep considering picking Cafe Enchante back up to do the next route, but with the worst common route I've ever gone through, and rather lacklustre romance to boot, and weird stories, the idea is not appealing. I will though. Eventually. I don't hate it, but I definitely don't feel like I wanna give it my stamp of approval. Maybe if later routes are absolutely amazing, but for now I'd rate Cafe Enchante as a pass. Meaning...pass up on it and don't bother. *shrug* (I hope I like a couple of routes better than this!)

Posted: **Nov 12, 2020 3:08 pm**

Sadly I haven't been clearing my backlog as well as I'd like. Really, not finishing TMS messed me up a bit, lol. I didn't finish Dragon Quest Builders 2 nor 13 Sentinels. I've been in a sort of limbo I think. Or I was just really wanting to play Cold Steel.

So far, I'm also trucking through Cold Steel IV. I got through Act 1, and am probably just at the start of Act 2 in my first big "infiltration" mission. I'm taking my time with things. Playing more in large chunks, taking a day or so, and then getting back to it.

Some recent additions to my backlog include: Taisho x Alice volume 2 and Trails in the Sky 3rd. Can't wait to get around to playing those later. I'll probably push to finishing Cold Steel 4 and then take a break with TaiAli.

Posted: **Nov 12, 2020 5:46 pm**

It never fails to amaze me how I can have a very strong feeling/opinion about something, and then quickly encounter someone with the exact opposite opinion. I've now gone through the common route of Cafe Enchante one more time to get Rindo's route, and I must again restate that this is the single most boring common route I have ever played. Going through it more than once is so very, very tedious.

I'm both surprised and dismayed by how boring I find this game to be. The love interests are just not interesting. I hope to find something interesting later...I suspect Misyr's route will be, and I do laugh a bit whenever Il is on the scene, so I'm hoping his will be cute/funny (I'll be getting to it 4th, and Misyr's last.)

I guess this game is just not my thing. I really thought it'd be a cute game, but...I'm not digging it. I'm bored. When the GotY 2020 thread goes up, Cafe Enchante may be my #1 pick this year for 'least favorite or game/s that let you down', because I honestly completely expected to like it and am surprised to find that I don't.

Posted: **Nov 12, 2020 7:48 pm**

So I managed to beat Finding Paradise yesterday before I left the house for the afternoon.

When I got back, I picked up Spiderman Miles Morales and I just beat it. I loved it! The first game is definitely the better of the two because of the story and characters, but Miles Morales has just as interesting story and characters. I think there was just more charm in the first game compared to the second. I hope there's some DLC on the way or a sequel in development because playing as Spiderman is just REALLY good.

Posted: **Nov 13, 2020 5:30 pm**

*Kicks the thread's door in* ALRIGHT, I HAVE OPNIONS ON COLD STEEL IV.

Spoiler:

I looked up Hajimari no Kiseki to see what it's deal is, and it's basically a 'fandisc' of sorts, covering stories that are mentioned in the final slides of Cold Steel IV and a whole new story featuring new characters that will most likely be taking part in whatever the new entry end up being. The missing party members from Azure/Zero seem to be back looking at preview screenshots, so that's nice. Rixia, Noel, and Wazy were no doubt busy, but it felt weird seeing the SSS without them all through CSIV.

I've complied a small list of MIA playable characters though that we may see in the future via cameo or being involved in the next entry all depending:

Spoiler:

I may have forgotten some, but in a series with a bazillion playable characters, I can't keep up with them all. Anyways, gonna go to bed now. I'm FREE to do other things now!

Posted: **Nov 13, 2020 5:51 pm**

Bluie wrote:*Kicks the thread's door in* ALRIGHT, I HAVE OPNIONS ON COLD STEEL IV.

Spoiler:
I just finished it a few seconds ago and I'm both pleased and still processing. Allow me to express myself in bullet points again.
- I REALLY liked Rose's true form. It was super well animated too. IDK, just really liked it for some reason.
- Legit teared up at Arianrhod's death, not sure why, but it hit me rather hard.
- So did Elliot's 'NOOOOOOOOOOO' as Rean flew off into space. MY BOY, YOU MADE HIM CRY, REAN.
- Big ol' twist of the curse being an otherworldly spoop was something I saw coming miles away and I have a feeling it's going to be more a focus in coming entries for two reasons;
1. The Gralsritter have yet to be fully explored nor the church + Toval having connections to them and being heavily involved in true ending is like a big huge hint in neon letters
2. McBurn threw a giant damn fastball at the very end, being a literal freaking demon, meaning he's from a seperate plane, MEANING the Gralsritter are SLACKING on their duties, holy « Puppy Doodoo » looool.
- Still don't like Cedric. Go « Snuggly Bunny » off to Ouroboros and see you in the next entry or whatever *grumble*
- Stay dead, Osborne, you were NEVER kind enough onscreen to be dubbed 'Warm Voice'.
- KISS YOUR SWORD WAIFU, JUSIS, WE ALL KNOW YOU WANT TO
- I have a theory that all the characters that only showed up as stills will be back in the next entry. Kevin and Ries, especially, being the only main characters to not show (further pushing my 'church centric' next entry theory).
- I'm almost relieved to be saying goodbye to everyone, especially when they're all OK and not in any more immediate danger
- It was overall good, if not a little bit too cheesy at moments. I just KNEW all the divine knights were gonna stand in a circle and do something cool before the game ended.

Aaaaa...

Spoiler:

I tooooootally agree on Osborne. That man is enough to make me swear, and then spit, damn it. I hate him! I kind of knew they were going to do this kind of character change on him, though, at the end, because they do it with nearly EVERY 'bad guy'. Falcom just never wants to let bad guys be flat-out bad guys! While I think that is good sometimes, I also think it's better to have some antagonists remain dedicated to goals you find incomprehensible and/or unforgiveable. No matter what spin they wove in, I do not accept it. Osborne dies unforgiven, in my books.

Cedric, well...he was an annoying little snot all along that I just wanted to smack, but I never hated him, so I didn't particularly care when he got turned back from the dark side. Though I wanted to smack him again, knowing that his disappearance caused so much additional trouble for Alfin and Olivert! I love those two. Too bad baby bro is such a little brat of a weakling. I don't hate him, so he can bugger off with my blessing, but I have no respect for him whatsoever. He's gonna have to do something really amazing in the future if I'm ever to think any better of him.

And Rufus! Ruuuufuuuuuuuuus! Dagnabit, his reason for being probably the least redeemable of the entire lot of Ironbloods (not including Osborne) was so amazingly childish, I can't get over it. In a way I guess that's cool, but while also being horribly lame. But hey, he took responsibility for everything and went to jail, so I forgive him. Plus he's so pretty that when he lay unconscious on the ground after you beat him up, they show his hair ruffling softly in the breeze. That's how you know an inveterate, died-in-the-wool bishounen, I tell ya. Their beautiful hair will always float or stream artistically on the breeze, even in situations where a breeze shouldn't be possible.

I wasn't surprised about McBurn...I knew he was from another world. But there were surprises dropped right around that time, with the knowledge that it is impossible to sail away from Zemuria, and that the people living there don't believe that any other world even exists, and that doing so goes against the teachings of the church. That gives me the willies, but it's awfully realistic, to me, so it's cool.

Confession: As of the end of III, I thought the end of IV would see the world splitting open to other worlds or realities, and that Zemuria would be permanently changed. I don't know if I'm relieved or disappointed that it did not. (Though it kind of set things up for maybe getting glimpses or further interactions with other worlds/realities.)

PS: The thread says 'ouch'.

Posted: **Nov 13, 2020 10:30 pm**

I finally finished my 200th RPG/Strategy/Zelda game, which ended up being Tokyo Xanadu Ex+.
So now I can say I actually did my New Year's resolution....er I guess Mid Year resolution since I didn't make it one until about late June or July.
Now that that's out of the way, I can now replay the Trails series to refresh my memory before playing Cold Steel IV in English(I played it Japanese in January).

Posted: **Nov 14, 2020 4:35 am**

Kikki wrote: PS: The thread says 'ouch'.

*gives it a Band-Aid*

On Rufus:

Spoiler:

On McBurn:

Spoiler:

Zais wrote: Now that that's out of the way, I can now replay the Trails series to refresh my memory before playing Cold Steel IV in English(I played it Japanese in January).

Godspeed. Having all the games relatively fresh in your mind will 100% make Cold Steel IV a more exciting experience. I had to stop and google names a few times it's been so long since playing some of the old titles. Hope you enjoy yourself!

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