*Kevin sneezes Kevin: Whoops, that sneeze shattered all my orbments, broke all my weapons, deleted all my crafts, and returned me to level 1! What are the odds?? Me: ...
Nico, just prepare yourself for an entire series of "I got stuck in the middle of a super long cutscene and can't save my game to end the video." I love it.
There are only 5 moon doors though, and #1 is a two-parter, so five more of these massive cut-scenes total. The Star Doors are much more reasonable at between 15 - 20 minutes each on average.
@@SuperSupersoda Actually, the one Nico was just forced to endure was the only Moon Door section that was a) this long and b) had no moment where you could access the menu and save. All other moon doors are either shorter or allow you to save at certain points. Or both.
Heads up about the doors: Always examine them even if you don't intend to enter them. That way they are added to the fast travel menu, and you can return later on if/when you are up to doing them. Anyways, thanks for finishing the door. I definitely agree that it is ridiculous that they don't allow you to save during that one. Thankfully, there aren't very many Moon Doors in the game. And if I recall correctly, you CAN save during some of the other Moon Doors. But... yeah, there are times where the game locks you into ridiculously long cutscenes out of nowhere. x_x
This flashback with Tita just reminds me again that I really appreciate the way Trails handles tackling some topics. The first two games covering certain societal views surrounding gender with how the rest of the continent might view Liberl for being ruled by women, and a whole lot of stuff with Estelle's character being a strong female lead in a way that feels completely real and natural without any of the messaging around it ever crossing the line into seeming hamfisted or preachy. And now in the 3rd game we get the Russel family talking about the Oppenheimer like dilemma trying to balance the desire to advance their world's science and technology but giving weight to the knowledge that no matter the altruistic ideals of the people pushing technology forward, you also have to be prepared to shoulder the burden of knowing that people WILL use that technology to do harm as well and wanting to shield Tita from that burden. That is all to say what we all already know. Trails writing is fucking fantastic and one of it's absolutely strongest points. (Also yeah, pay attention to the symbols on the door going forward, The long ones are the moon doors, other doors have other marks and aren't as hefty, would have been nice for the game to give a brief warning before the first one, but well, now ya know)
The first moon door is special as it's the only door you enter twice for different scenes. The game never tells you this though and you might be very lost how to see the other half of the scene. You'll need to find a specific character to reopen the door. Don't forget!
@@tuvillo Yeah I know that, but I think it's a safe assumption that most players think it'll make them go through the whole scene again if they interact with the door, so you'd never think to do so. And, as already mentioned, it doesn't tell you to do it elsewhere. I know that I've looked it up the two times I played because I reach the last moon door and wonder where part 2 is.
Hey Nico, super excited for this! I’m currently going through the Trails series for the first time myself (still a few games to go, but getting there) and it’s cool to sort of be able to retrace my steps with playthroughs like this through your lens. This game in particular immediately became my favourite of the three up til this point after I finished and is right up there as one of the best in the series, so I really hope you enjoy. You’ve already noted how unique and bold it is and you seem to enjoy that, so if you buy into the way it tells its story and Kevin and Ries as characters (along with some other stylistic stuff I won’t mention this early) then I think it could really hit home for you. Here’s hoping!
Estelle: "..." Joshua: "Is something wrong Estelle?" Estelle: "I feel like I'm missing something... something important." Nico: "KEVIN DO SOMETHING FOR THE NOW BACK TO! ESTELLE ISN'T HERE!" Kevin: "WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?!"
Estelle: "Alright, whatever happens. Just don't tell Erika that Agate slapped her daughter that one time. Just pretend it never happened, okay?" Erika: "Don't tell me what?" Agate: **l o u d s w e a t i n g**
@@Nebularban I mean, that's the current situation already. So no difference there. Also, Estelle isn't in a position to criticize after slapping the shit out of Luke in FC's prologue. Or Renne at the end of SC.
@@Erpy80 While she wants to use the Orbal Gear to kill Agate, thats not technically its purpose. Im saying she'd built something specifically designed with Agate killing in mind
NIcob: *Pushes Gilbert off into space* I best try again. Hopefully I don't get a gambling addiction. Fate/Grand Order Players: Hey Nicob: W-What..? FGO Players: First time?
Something important about doors: when the game say "short stories" usually mean about 20-40 minutes. But when its say "lengthy" its could mean TWO HOURS. So watch out for the moon doors so you dont end making a 3 hours video.
The first moon door is really funny, not because of it's content, but as a introduction. The moon doors are very long, and it is no exception. However as the first one you see, it's very funny to be forced into a shit ton of cutscenes as your introduction to doors. Makes one wonder why they didn't pick a star door instead.
My theory is that Falcom team loves storytelling so much that they barely registered their games started with 2x 45 min of unavoidable cutscenes. Or they thought players would enjoy it, which was right in m'y case.
That monster that suddenly two-shot Ries was called the Aeris Pot and it's a hidden monster that occasionally accompanies enemies within the Jade Corridor. It's fast, hits hard, is hard to hit with physicals and frequently runs away from battles, but drops a crapload of sepith if you can defeat it. (enough to even make it worth farming in later chapters) It's essentially a shining pom if that shining pom were to fight back. And yes, shining poms are present in this game, but only appear in the evenly numbered chapters. And like in SC, they appear as part of other monster encounters. By the way, you didn't really comment on it, but did you see the seven tenets in Kevin's Gralsritter notebook? Most of them are simply variants of "be good choir boys and girls and serve the Goddess faithfully", but the last one reads "heretics must be eliminated". Yes, your current protagonist is cheerfully running around with a notebook that instructs him to murder the infidels.
Ries: What in Aidois’ name is this mechanism? Kevin: I think it’s something the Ancients called Gacha. You open this gem and you get a special character or item. Ries: Looks like this doesn’t cost any Mira, so let’s give it a try! *SSR Tita Appears* Tita: Where am I and how did I get here? Kevin: Nice! We got a SSR character on our first try! Let’s try again! *B Rank Anton* Anton: Where am I? Kevin: Damn it. It’s a miss. Anton: Aww, does no one want to use me? ZZZ Anton: First time?
Well it's just good business to ensure that the first pull is a super rare. But don't worry you can mulch those Anton's into a resource to guarantee that you get what you want.
Solar Seal is completely OP though. Putting Auto-CP recovery items on Kevin makes 90% of this game's bosses trivial, even against the hardest bosses in Nightmare. Granted you could put Gladiator's belt on him later, getting it this early or using both at the same time makes his S-Crafts spammable.
Moon doors really need the warning, eh? "Upon proceeding, several cutscenes will play in sequence. It is recommended that you set aside sufficient time to view these scenes in their entirety."
Some Door info to keep episode lengths managable: -As the game stated doors are technically optional so you can hold off on doing them until you got the time. -You can check the door numbers by visiting the door but not entering, numbers can be seen though the teleport menu. -Moon Doors are about 1 hour long like tita part1, exceptions Moon Door 2 and 3 being 90min to 120min. -Star Doors vary from 15min to 30min with the exceptions Star Door 3, 6 and 8 those are 40min to 60min.
Here's some tips and info for you: The sepith and Seals you found near the start are SC's carryover bonus. The Seals are for B and A-Rank, respectively. A less obvious bonus is Tita's Cannon Impulse F. It is actually the only Craft or S-Craft in the series that can only be obtained via acquiring it in a different game altogether. And it is stronger than Satellite Beam, for anyone wondering. New mechanics and info such as the new Turn Bonuses and Doors are found in you Gralsritter Notebook. Might be worth reading up on them as you go. While the first Door was forced on you, which was definitely a choice given it's length, you can do the rest whenever you want as long as you meet their condition or conditions. They are NOT missable in any way, so there is no penalty for not doing them immediately. This should hopefully make it easier to pace your episodes depending on what's most convenient. As for Door lengths, Moon Doors take at least an hour, likely more, sometimes significantly more. You didn't even see all of what the Door you saw today had yet, so you could probably make full episodes out of some of them. Star Doors are shorter, but they run the gamut in length. They can take anywhere between roughly 2 and 45 minutes, with no indication of how long before doing them. Sun Doors are not very consistent with length, being largely determined by your luck and/or skill.
Don’t worry, they start to learn their lesson and will start putting save points in the middle of their impossibly long cutscenes in the future. But also seeing Nico going ballistic at being locked into an hour long cutscene AGAIN made me laugh so incredibly hard I’m sorry
Here, you are introduced to the door system. *Generally* speaking, Moon Doors are the longest, the most time consuming one taking upwards of 2 hours to complete. Star doors on the other hand aren't as long, they vary between 30 minutes to 50ish minutes, with a few exceptions here and there. There aren't that many moon doors, but there's a lot of star doors. You don't have to do them right as soon as you get them, but you do get some bonus items and quartz from them, besides the lore, so preferably don't wait too long to do them either. Once you "talk" with the door you can teleport to them straight away, regardless if you have entered it or not. So you can just talk with the door, unlock it for teleportation, not enter it and come back to it later.
Bro I don't know about you but even for a game this amazing, I don't have the time for a 4 hour video when tomorrow there's gonna be another one that's about an hour
I'm the same way, I thought that he usually puts out 1 1/2 to 2 hour videos so I didn't understand why it was such a big deal. Plus I love the longer videos, I usually wish they were longer.
Kevin holding the cube: "Wait all my stuff broke and I'm back to being a jobber!" Kratos, Samus, Sora, Estelle, and a handful of other RPG characters: "First time?" Kiryu: *Laughing in the distance* "Skill Issue"
It's funny and bit cruel that first door is one of the longer ones. But it does teach that the unique structure of the game can make balancing episode lengths a bit tricky.
34:15 And it was at that moment we met the progenitor of the Mr. Chest line, Mr. Tree. Somewhere far away Agate awakens to Smug Estelle leaning over him: ‘I told you Mr. Chest was real, you can’t escape his power.’ Even in the void Kevin can hear his screams of anguish.
Nico learns about the doors and accidentally gets locked into another 2 hour episode. EDIT: Yes, Albert is Erika's father. Her calling him by the first name is just a scruffy, lack of respect thing-like you guessed. Also if you pay attention to details, you'll notice that Tita's last name means that Dan took on the Russell surname. Not sure if you know about it, but it's not an uncommon thing in Japan for the husband to be "adopted" in, when the female's family is very prominent. This is due to a male "heir" being strongly desired to carry on the family business and/or name, if there are no male children. So the same thing will likely happen to Tita's husband, unless she has a little brother down the road.
@@Weltallgaia See, this is how you write a subtle spoiler comment that makes no sense without context. Bravo to you, I wish more people learned how to do that... Also GODDAMNIT you just *had* to remind me, did you?
I feel like the moon doors really meander a bit. Especially in trails into reverie, but a lot of those star doors are great. Either interesting, compelling, or horrifying.
1:25:03 Tita becoming thirteen now shows that The 3rd takes place in Septian Calendar year 1203 (FC starts in 1202). Also, Erika is the biological daughter of Albert Russell. Their passion to inventions is hilariously similar it makes Murdock sick to his stomach, literally. 😂
Stonemonument: ..... *Cube destroys all your quartz* Stonemonument: COME ON UP QUARTZ FOR SALE! Kevin: Did it just create a problem to sell us the solution -_- ? Ries: Should have smashed it!
The accessories and sepith you found are your transfer bonus from SC, if you didn´t reach A Rank you wouldn´t have gotten the Solar Seal. The doors are the meat of the game and also the "sidecontent", it´s all optional, but actually not really because you absolutely need to do it all. They are the reason why this is a favourite for a lot of us, the stories within them are very intriguing.
In defense of Tita's parents: Would YOU feel comfortable with hearing that your teenage child has been close with an adult man and often entered his home? And unfortunately i dont think Tita has fully realized her parents' misconception about Agate, otherwise she could clear up the misunderstanding. So I fully understand their concern even if we the players know better. So at the very least they don't have issue with Agate specifically, they are just parents rightfully worried about their child spending time alone with an adult stranger (stranger to them at least) not knowing the full story
A large part of this is Erica, in order for the misconception to be cleared up, the party that is misconceiving has to be willing to listen to the explanation. Erica is clearly not willing to do that.
I mean, uh, by looking at comments and info... eventually the parents have to be worried about how Tita looks at Agate rather than the other way around in a few years...
@@lionofash7700 It's unfortunate but a lot of people go through a "crush on older people" phase. And while it's cute for some people it's downright uncomfortable for others. Especially when they knew you when you were 12 and they're in their mid 20s. It's like, girl what are you thinking that man's twice your age and sees you as a sister.
Her parents have absolutely no excuse. They abondend her for years in favor of their work. But once trouble starts they blame everyone but themselves. She is their responsibility and they failed.
The moment I saw the video length I knew you opened the moon door halfway through LOL. Honestly I’m waiting for these videos to become 20-30 mins just out of the pure FEAR of an extended cutscene!
Yeah, Moon Doors are definitely going to need their own episodes from now on. Also, that first Moon Door is the only one that's divided into two parts. So you're going to have to come back to it once you fulfilled the requirements for unlocking part 2.
And now we've arrived at the defining feature of Sky 3rd in general: The doors. I can assure you, as someone who played 9 games of this series, these doors are super, super important as they pretty much provide setups for certain story arcs, character arcs, or even lore dumps of the world of Zemuria. There are a total of 25 doors in this game and it is highly recommended that you go through all of them, even though they are optional. Aside from the Sun doors, the rest of them contain pure cutscenes. What you just went into is a moon door and as the description says, they are quite lengthy, like almost an hour long. Thankfully there are only 5 of these. Make sure you are mentally ready for nothing but dialogue for an hour when going through these doors. Star doors, on the other hand, typically last no longer than 30 minutes. Nevertheless, I wouldn't recommend you tackling multiple doors at a time.
You know Nico's enjoying himself when we have consecutive 2hour+ videos with no breaks between games in the series. That or the game is holding his attention hostage. Could be both.
These games are holding all of us hostage at this point. No really. The moment you get to Sky FCs ending or just invested in the game at all, you literally become Falcoms hostage. Or at least, your wallet becomes a hostage. My poor wallet.
So interesting piece of trivia with regards to how 'zzz' became synonymous with sleeping. Of course as most people know it's an example of onomatopoeia to convey the idea of sleep. However the reason why it was chosen supposedly was because it resembles the sound of snoring as well as because it resembles the shape of a saw cutting through wood. Essentially linking it to the old saying of 'sawing logs'.
Oh absolutely, The Answer has moments of being this but doesn’t get to really go all out. It always feels like they want Persona to be connected proper but just result in barely trying it.
I rly like the little bit of story we get in the Answer but the root issue is that they pad a 5-10 hour game into 30 hours with dungeons. And that's understandably way too thin for most ppl
Nico: "Its all right Tita. You may not be a top tier party member but your still adorable." Nico obviously hasn't read the Trails in the Sky 3rd Party member tier list.
Kevin´s bizarre adventure looks very interesting and mysterious. ^_^ Yes, Tita´s memory fragment is very long and that is only part 1... I wonder how long will part 2 be and I am interested in the part where Agate comes to visit Tita and how her mother react to him then. I am curious if the others will come back like Tita, too and what their memory fragments will be. ^^
Now for one of my favorite mechanics in this game: the doors They’re absolutely fantastic and expand on so much… I’m sure many others have done this type of comparison, but yeah, this game is basically the Answer from P3 done right
@stilldamaged3945 I think the limited dungeon aspect has never been my favorite and I'm honestly looking forward to this lets plays cause I've forgotten a ton of it, but I absolutely loved the lore dump doors
I just looked this up. Erika's Japansese VA is Satsuki Yukino. She has voiced characters such as Yoruichi from Bleach, Kagome from Inuyasha, Rose from FMA, and more specifically for this post, Shion and Mion Sonozaki from Higurashi. The reason I'm bringing this up because in the voiced version of this scene, Erika gives a borderline psychotic laugh when they mention Agate coming over. And it just so happens that Shion and Mion are known for giving that exact same type of laugh. TLDR: Erika is being voiced by someone who is known for voicing characters who have gone insane at some point. I like to think that was a deliberate choice.
Yep, Nico got Moon doored. I had a feeling with how far he got previous episode. 😂 We've all been there lol. The good news is, from now on you at least choose when you want to do the doors after finding them. They really should've started it off with a star door...
It's particularly weird how they use this door to show off the door system. It makes you think trials are the norm too when there's like only 1 or 2 others that do that. Then it's much longer than most (not all though) AND it's the only two parter moon door that you can come back to later. Very odd choice lol
Funny enough, Tita’s actually pretty strong in this game. Not quite top tier, but knocking on the door of it. Vital Cannon is still one of the best healing crafts, and overall she’s significantly less glass and significantly more cannon now. You might be pleasantly surprised by how effective she is if you decide to develop her. Also, I like how Tita not having much to contribute when you bring her to the Renne fight at the Axis Pillar gets turned into her freezing up under pressure and gets used to give her some character development.
In terms of the dungeon crawling aspect, you’ve already been reading enemy descriptions so make sure to keep that up when it comes to the bosses. You should be able to gain your victory when it comes to certain bosses descriptions.
For all her shenanigans, Erika does have a point about the consequences of the things they create... which is in sharp contrast to a different scientist we meet much later... Her one sided hatred of Agate is really insufferable though...
Why did i feel like Prof. Russell got to channel his inner Heihachi as soon as his daughter shows up, isn't it? GET READY FOR THE NEXT BATTLE! Erika Russell VS Prof. Albert Russell ROUND 1, FIGHT!
The use of "zzz" to represent sleeping in fiction, particularly in comics and cartoons, originates from its association with the sound of snoring. This onomatopoeic representation became a convenient shorthand for illustrators to depict sleep. The earliest known use of "zzz" in this context dates back to the early 20th century. In the comic strip "The Katzenjammer Kids," an August 2, 1903, illustration shows a character sleeping with "zzz" above his head to indicate snoring. The choice of the letter "z" likely stems from its resemblance to the buzzing or droning sound associated with snoring. While actual snoring sounds can vary, the "zzz" representation provided a simple and universally recognizable symbol for sleep in visual media. This convention became widespread in comics and cartoons, solidifying "zzz" as a standard indicator of sleep. It's worth noting that different cultures have their own onomatopoeic representations of snoring. For example, in French, snoring might be represented as "rrroooo," while in Japanese, it could be "guu guu." Despite these variations, "zzz" has become the predominant symbol for sleep in many parts of the world, especially in English-speaking countries.
Holding B would fast forward the dialog. It helps when need to create a save file. and redo the doors later. Moon door: long story Star door: shorter story, not actually short, can be a slide show.
Nico: Oh hey, a chance to see what Tita was up to before she was warped here! I'd like to know what happens! And thus curled one more finger from the Monkey's Paw...
- Kevin Seriously though, Ries. How in Aidios' name are you able to eat an entire bakery's worth of carbs and not gain a single curim? - Ries I suppose I just have a stronger metabolism than most people. - Kevin (sigh) I pity the poor fool who has to pay for your meal on your first date... - Ries I'm sorry, would you repeat that? I don't believe I heard you correctly. - Kevin I said I'm surrounded by freaks of nature! You with your bottomless stomach! Ein and the rest of the Gralsritter! The Brights with their insane combat prowess! Scherazard and her insane alcohol tolerance! Kloe with her ability to talk to a friggin' bird! The whole Russell family! Zin and Agate with their sheer strength! That weird-ass bard, Olivier or Olivert, whatever in Gehenna his name is! Not to mention all those psychos in Ouroboros, especially that Renne girl! Just once in my life, I'd like to get to know someone without some insane quirk! - Ries I'm afraid that kind of life is reserved for the most insignificant of background NPCs only, Kevin. And since you've got onion green hair, I'm not holding my breath waiting for that to happen to you. - Kevin (long, exhasperated groan) Aidios, give me strength...
When I first went through the Moon Door I too was begging for the endless cutscene hell to end. By the time it was over I convinced myself that the ending point would be Tita and Renne duking it out in a mecha battle.
I find it funny the game just tosses you into (half) a Moon Door with no context and no point at which you can stop and save as the introduction to these, Moon Doors are meant to be the long ones, they probably should have picked a Star Door for this purpose, but also, it's incredibly funny they did this. Every other Moon Door, including the second half of this one, has points where you can walk around and save, which makes it even funnier to me they picked this to be the tutorial introduction.
This went far more smoothly the next time they tried it. However, Sky the 3rd is a game that came out in 2007, so it's got a lot of that old RPG jank. To remind you how long ago 2007 was, the first Iron Man movie that kicked off the MCU came out in 2008, and this game came out when Barack Obama was still a relatively unknown senator from Illinois.
While very different, i love this game. And once this is done, it will be time for the BEST duology of the series. Trails from Zero and Trails To Azure.
Watching Nico flip through the pages that list the Quartz available in the game, one specific Quartz on page 6 jumps out: Nothingness. The amount of sepith values in gives you makes it a starter deck for arts casters by itself.
Unfortunately, you get it really late into the game. Like really, really late. The real treasure on those pages was the Divine Gem, which gives you a good deal of all four primary elemental points and although you need Haze or Yin Yang to nullify its Scent effect, it gives you a massive number of arts and is a key element in the arsenal of any caster you take with you.
I love Nico beginning to say that he'd rather another character other than Tita for combat before immediately saying how adorable Tita's new portrait is xD Also I was not expecting to hear, in Tita's voice, someone call Reis a fetish 💀 I love it when you move back talking in Kevin's voice, like Kevin realizing Tita does more damage than him. It's so funny and I love it.
i've been binging through the series too, your videos and the games themselves, i finished the whole series (available in english) in just over a year, absolutely bonkers, happy to be done but also happy Daybreak 2 is just a month away also: welcome to the Friend Gacha Realm featuring hour long cutscene doors
You wanna hear something neat about this game? Did you notice that there was no tutorial for this game, unlike SC where it offered a refresher if you wanted it? That's because since this is the third game, the developer assumes you already know how the game works. It's so nice to respect the players' intelligence like that.
The Doors are definitely very 'video gamey' and aren't super well integrated into the main plot (the characters ostensibly see them, but they don't... really have an affect on anything narratively in the main plot). However, despite that, I feel like they are one of the games better strengths because of just how damn *good* they are. Basically they exist purely to give you bits of the characters outside of the confines of having to be around the protagonist (Estelle or Kevin) and do things like provide closure to previous character arcs, setting up future series plot points, or expanding on pieces of lore that would be hard to fit in otherwise. Does it sometimes come off as a cheap trick where they couldn't figure out how to put it in the series naturally and needed it to get in there somehow, so they just shoved them in a Star Door and called it a day? Yeah, sometimes. But I think its okay to use some narrative cheats like this in a story as complexly setup foundationally as Trails every once in awhile. And even then, if the writing can back it up, getting little anecdotal side stories that further flesh out things can be a treat. Basically if you love 3rd or not entirely comes down to how you feel about HAVING to have immersion at all times in a game. If you are able to deal with how 'gamey' 3rd feels, you will likely love it. If the structure annoys you, you probably won't. Oh and that isn't to say anything about the main plot of 3rd, because it absolutely does have one, and IMO its a really good one too. I think regardless of how people feel about the structure, most people will agree 3rds main plot and focus on Kevin is great, with how it expands on some things that have been present but in the background for 2 games like the Church and Artifacts.
I don't think Erika is that unreasonable a mother. Okay, well, no, she is. She is very unreasonable. But parts of her aren't unreasonable. It's completely valid that she doesn't want her 13-year-old daughter to be involved in the development of a weapon and thus be ethically complicit in an untold amount of death. But I also think her anger with her father (and yes, they are father\daughter by blood) over letting Tita fight is valid, too. From our point of view, it's a JRPG. Child soldiers and the like are just part of the trope space. We accept that and suspend disbelief. But in actuality, it is beyond irresponsible to let a preteen-- even one armed with a gatling gun-- to wander the countryside fighting monsters and mercenaries and ancient machines. And no, I don't think "abandoning" Tita to her grandfather's care is enough to void Erika's right to be upset. Part of this is the game's fault for trying to have its cake and eat it too. They play the "underage party member" trope pretty straight with Tita and then turn around ago go "Nope actually that was bad."
What Kevin and Ries didnt know, was that it was Estelle hiding in the water, behind the Stone Merchant, and the tree. She has been promoted from just a chest puppeteer to an omnipotent being beyond our comprehension! A "Ventriloquist"... (please help, Estelle is forcing me to speak these lines because my stregas are newer 😢) *Gets U-L-T-R-A-V-I-O-L-E-N-C-E-D*
In the japanese voice cast Tita's mom is done by the same voice actress who did Mion in Higurashi, which is just the most fitting possible voice they could have chosen
The gimmick of the Moon Guardian fight is that they will heal you while they are above 50% HP. So, similar to the Abyss Worms, the best strategy (despite using Tita) is to attack them one at a time.
Which is really tough for Tita to do since both her Smoke Cannon craft and regular attacks hit an AOE. Their MOV-decreasing Madness move still counts as physical though, meaning it can miss if you blind the critters. Which is generally considered a good idea once they stop healing you and start hurting you.
The bonus for the save file from SC was the 200 sepith for each type and the Lunar and Solar Seals, the sepith is automatic if you transfer, Lunar is for reaching at least B Rank and Solar is A Rank exclusive.
Tita's solution to her problem with Renne is so hilarious. Renne is my friend, but I couldn't say anything to her like Estelle did. Renne has a big robot, so I ALSO need a big robot otherwise how will we have a proper conversation!
It's less about Tita being worried about not having anything to talk to Renne about and more about Tita wanting to make an effort to try and connect with Renne in some way and that includes experiencing a little bit of the world that Renne is part of in order to emphatize and understand her better. It's my personal headcanon that Tita was part of the group when Estelle and Joshua faced Renne inside the Axis Pillar on the Liber Ark and that she was present when Estelle hugged Renne and was briefly able to get through Renne's emotional defenses. Tita saw this and wanted to do something similar, but knew she lacked the emotional maturity to make a speech the same way that Estelle did, so she started thinking of other ways to do this that played to her own personal strengths. That and the Orbal Gear project was a way to help Tita keep Renne in her thoughts. It's not the most intuitive thought process in the world, but it does make sense from the perspective of a slightly isolated child genius wanting to befriend another isolated child genius. Personally, I thought it was a rather sweet moment for Tita.
Plus, what the heck else is she gonna do? I'm sure if you gave Tita the choice between 'leave on her own and find Renne and help her' and 'work on a big robot in hopes of maybe finding some common ground with her' she'd pick the former, despite how much she loves engineering. But she knows she's a kid and can't just do that. What CAN she do? What she's good at, and in a way that might let her help her in the future. It actually makes pretty good sense from Tita's perspective. Yeah, it has low chance of ACTUALLY being useful, but it's the best she can do at the time.
1:44:22 I like how erika explains its a tool to hurt people with tita even though she allows tita TO HAVE A FREAKING GATLING GUN AND A SATELLITE BEAM TO DESTROY ANYTHING LIVING AND NONLIVING AROUND HER.
I really hope Tita's parents can come around to Agate quickly. (Though I don't have much hope about Erika doing so.) Erika's murderous intentions are already getting old.
Ries’ templar sword is giving me flashbacks of the Sword of the Creator from FE3H. Whip it good~ Also she’s voiced by Michelle Ruff (Schera), since I haven’t seen that mentioned in other comments.
There's a surprising number of people who hate Erika despite "I didn't expect my father to let my 12-year old fight an international criminal syndicate while I was away on a business trip" seeming like a pretty reasonable response to me.
Erika's objections to people letting Tita and her giant gattling gun fight live battles against monsters and villains aren't really the reason people dislike her. It's the rest of her antics that tend to get people's goat.
The Moon Doors are extremely long. There are other types of doors which can be shorter. This one door is also the only one which has 2 parts, you can come back later with another character. IIRC, the shortest moon door is shorter than the longest star door
About the button from Julia’s uniform - this is sort of a tradition in Japan. When they graduate from school, boys can grant a button from their uniforms to their crush. It’s close to love confession, or might even be a gift for a person who respected them. It’s the second button (that is close to the heart) that matters. It means that Erika really respects Julia.
So welcome to your first introduction to the high elements, this is a recurring element in games going forward where certain areas have space, mirage, and time in play. In addition, there are new bonus effects that appear in battle with particularly powerful effects whenever the high elements are in play. I recommend looking in your notebook to see what each effect does so you don't get caught off guard
*Kevin sneezes
Kevin: Whoops, that sneeze shattered all my orbments, broke all my weapons, deleted all my crafts, and returned me to level 1! What are the odds??
Me: ...
Moon Door: Want to do long cutscene with me?
Joshua is innocently whistling somewhere
Aidios: just as planned.
Samus knows that feel
Nico please dear god read this: DO NOT sell any unique quartz. I did this thinking I needed the money more and it screwed me over big time later
Nico, just prepare yourself for an entire series of "I got stuck in the middle of a super long cutscene and can't save my game to end the video." I love it.
There are only 5 moon doors though, and #1 is a two-parter, so five more of these massive cut-scenes total. The Star Doors are much more reasonable at between 15 - 20 minutes each on average.
@@SuperSupersoda Haha. I can remember three star doors that lasted for an hour. Granted I played with Japansese VA.
@@SuperSupersoda it's not even that bad. I think most of them either a lot shorter or let you save in the middle of them
@@SuperSupersoda Actually, the one Nico was just forced to endure was the only Moon Door section that was a) this long and b) had no moment where you could access the menu and save. All other moon doors are either shorter or allow you to save at certain points. Or both.
@@Erpy80 wow he got REALLY unlucky then
Heads up about the doors: Always examine them even if you don't intend to enter them. That way they are added to the fast travel menu, and you can return later on if/when you are up to doing them.
Anyways, thanks for finishing the door. I definitely agree that it is ridiculous that they don't allow you to save during that one. Thankfully, there aren't very many Moon Doors in the game. And if I recall correctly, you CAN save during some of the other Moon Doors. But... yeah, there are times where the game locks you into ridiculously long cutscenes out of nowhere. x_x
very good tip
This flashback with Tita just reminds me again that I really appreciate the way Trails handles tackling some topics. The first two games covering certain societal views surrounding gender with how the rest of the continent might view Liberl for being ruled by women, and a whole lot of stuff with Estelle's character being a strong female lead in a way that feels completely real and natural without any of the messaging around it ever crossing the line into seeming hamfisted or preachy.
And now in the 3rd game we get the Russel family talking about the Oppenheimer like dilemma trying to balance the desire to advance their world's science and technology but giving weight to the knowledge that no matter the altruistic ideals of the people pushing technology forward, you also have to be prepared to shoulder the burden of knowing that people WILL use that technology to do harm as well and wanting to shield Tita from that burden.
That is all to say what we all already know. Trails writing is fucking fantastic and one of it's absolutely strongest points.
(Also yeah, pay attention to the symbols on the door going forward, The long ones are the moon doors, other doors have other marks and aren't as hefty, would have been nice for the game to give a brief warning before the first one, but well, now ya know)
The first moon door is special as it's the only door you enter twice for different scenes. The game never tells you this though and you might be very lost how to see the other half of the scene. You'll need to find a specific character to reopen the door. Don't forget!
I can probably guess who that is. XD
Omg this is how I find out 😭
You can talk to the door again and it’ll give you the hint for phase 2 as if it was a normal door
@@tuvillo Yeah I know that, but I think it's a safe assumption that most players think it'll make them go through the whole scene again if they interact with the door, so you'd never think to do so. And, as already mentioned, it doesn't tell you to do it elsewhere. I know that I've looked it up the two times I played because I reach the last moon door and wonder where part 2 is.
Hey Nico, super excited for this! I’m currently going through the Trails series for the first time myself (still a few games to go, but getting there) and it’s cool to sort of be able to retrace my steps with playthroughs like this through your lens. This game in particular immediately became my favourite of the three up til this point after I finished and is right up there as one of the best in the series, so I really hope you enjoy. You’ve already noted how unique and bold it is and you seem to enjoy that, so if you buy into the way it tells its story and Kevin and Ries as characters (along with some other stylistic stuff I won’t mention this early) then I think it could really hit home for you. Here’s hoping!
Estelle: "..."
Joshua: "Is something wrong Estelle?"
Estelle: "I feel like I'm missing something... something important."
Nico: "KEVIN DO SOMETHING FOR THE NOW BACK TO! ESTELLE ISN'T HERE!"
Kevin: "WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?!"
Nico: Fire a Salt Pale arrow on Weissmann again.
@@MilliumOriononon Kevin: I only had the one!
Estelle: "Alright, whatever happens. Just don't tell Erika that Agate slapped her daughter that one time. Just pretend it never happened, okay?"
Erika: "Don't tell me what?"
Agate: **l o u d s w e a t i n g**
Dude Erika would devote her life into making an Agate killing machine if she ever found out
@@Nebularban I mean, that's the current situation already. So no difference there.
Also, Estelle isn't in a position to criticize after slapping the shit out of Luke in FC's prologue. Or Renne at the end of SC.
@@Erpy80 While she wants to use the Orbal Gear to kill Agate, thats not technically its purpose.
Im saying she'd built something specifically designed with Agate killing in mind
Nico rolling Trails Gacha: Come on give me Zin he has a 70% drop rate!
Results: Gilbert.
Nico:..........
poor Nico, i feel his pain
Isn't Gilbert SSS+++ Ultra Omega God Tier Rarity? He is a GOD! Lucky Nico 😒
NIcob: *Pushes Gilbert off into space* I best try again. Hopefully I don't get a gambling addiction.
Fate/Grand Order Players: Hey
Nicob: W-What..?
FGO Players: First time?
Seeing the video length, I’m guessing he got moon doored 😂
Nico: Oh boy, episode 1 ended up way too long. Hopefully the next part will be a reasonable length.
Moon Door 1: Target in sight...
Kloe's door says hi
kloe's doors are both the best. They're long and entertaining in equal mesure.
@@riofernando9414 Kloe's door is longer but also has several parts you can open the menu and save.
Something important about doors: when the game say "short stories" usually mean about 20-40 minutes.
But when its say "lengthy" its could mean TWO HOURS. So watch out for the moon doors so you dont end making a 3 hours video.
won't say no to a 3 hours trails video though.
@@BloodKitten_ Nico's voice probably wouldnt want that. Literally 3 hours of straight reading in different voices
Yeah, it's looking like the Moon Doors should definitely be reserved for their own episodes. Goddamn.
@@elgronequequeriabailar I’m pretty sure you can save at multiple points during the 2 hour ones thankfully
@@Nebularban If he ever has to make a 3 hour Trails video let's hope it's in a game with voice acting so his voice gets a break
The first moon door is really funny, not because of it's content, but as a introduction. The moon doors are very long, and it is no exception. However as the first one you see, it's very funny to be forced into a shit ton of cutscenes as your introduction to doors.
Makes one wonder why they didn't pick a star door instead.
My theory is that Falcom team loves storytelling so much that they barely registered their games started with 2x 45 min of unavoidable cutscenes. Or they thought players would enjoy it, which was right in m'y case.
My theory is that they put the longest one, with no save points in-between, first so that all the later ones seem less arduous by comparison.
@@SuperSupersoda Haven’t finished the game yet, but I’d say the first couple doors are hands down the longest ones.
That monster that suddenly two-shot Ries was called the Aeris Pot and it's a hidden monster that occasionally accompanies enemies within the Jade Corridor. It's fast, hits hard, is hard to hit with physicals and frequently runs away from battles, but drops a crapload of sepith if you can defeat it. (enough to even make it worth farming in later chapters) It's essentially a shining pom if that shining pom were to fight back.
And yes, shining poms are present in this game, but only appear in the evenly numbered chapters. And like in SC, they appear as part of other monster encounters.
By the way, you didn't really comment on it, but did you see the seven tenets in Kevin's Gralsritter notebook? Most of them are simply variants of "be good choir boys and girls and serve the Goddess faithfully", but the last one reads "heretics must be eliminated". Yes, your current protagonist is cheerfully running around with a notebook that instructs him to murder the infidels.
Ries: What in Aidois’ name is this mechanism?
Kevin: I think it’s something the Ancients called Gacha. You open this gem and you get a special character or item.
Ries: Looks like this doesn’t cost any Mira, so let’s give it a try!
*SSR Tita Appears*
Tita: Where am I and how did I get here?
Kevin: Nice! We got a SSR character on our first try! Let’s try again!
*B Rank Anton*
Anton: Where am I?
Kevin: Damn it. It’s a miss.
Anton: Aww, does no one want to use me?
ZZZ Anton: First time?
Well it's just good business to ensure that the first pull is a super rare. But don't worry you can mulch those Anton's into a resource to guarantee that you get what you want.
Watch Nico pull a random KOS-MOS now!
The 2 seals and 200 Sepith ARE your reward from getting A rank in SC. That's it. That's your reward.
Solar Seal is completely OP though. Putting Auto-CP recovery items on Kevin makes 90% of this game's bosses trivial, even against the hardest bosses in Nightmare. Granted you could put Gladiator's belt on him later, getting it this early or using both at the same time makes his S-Crafts spammable.
its one of the best clear rewards in the series. what are you talking about??
Moon doors really need the warning, eh? "Upon proceeding, several cutscenes will play in sequence. It is recommended that you set aside sufficient time to view these scenes in their entirety."
Oh god I thought of exactly the same thing!
Some Door info to keep episode lengths managable:
-As the game stated doors are technically optional so you can hold off on doing them until you got the time.
-You can check the door numbers by visiting the door but not entering, numbers can be seen though the teleport menu.
-Moon Doors are about 1 hour long like tita part1, exceptions Moon Door 2 and 3 being 90min to 120min.
-Star Doors vary from 15min to 30min with the exceptions Star Door 3, 6 and 8 those are 40min to 60min.
Here's some tips and info for you:
The sepith and Seals you found near the start are SC's carryover bonus. The Seals are for B and A-Rank, respectively. A less obvious bonus is Tita's Cannon Impulse F. It is actually the only Craft or S-Craft in the series that can only be obtained via acquiring it in a different game altogether. And it is stronger than Satellite Beam, for anyone wondering.
New mechanics and info such as the new Turn Bonuses and Doors are found in you Gralsritter Notebook. Might be worth reading up on them as you go.
While the first Door was forced on you, which was definitely a choice given it's length, you can do the rest whenever you want as long as you meet their condition or conditions. They are NOT missable in any way, so there is no penalty for not doing them immediately. This should hopefully make it easier to pace your episodes depending on what's most convenient.
As for Door lengths, Moon Doors take at least an hour, likely more, sometimes significantly more. You didn't even see all of what the Door you saw today had yet, so you could probably make full episodes out of some of them. Star Doors are shorter, but they run the gamut in length. They can take anywhere between roughly 2 and 45 minutes, with no indication of how long before doing them. Sun Doors are not very consistent with length, being largely determined by your luck and/or skill.
Also you can quick travel to the doors once you interact with them, making it easier to save them for later
"Sun Doors are not very consistent with length, being largely determined by your luck and/or skill."
*Cries in fishing*
That Moon Door being an hour long made Nico feel even more terror than Agate being locked alone in a room with Erika.
Don’t worry, they start to learn their lesson and will start putting save points in the middle of their impossibly long cutscenes in the future.
But also seeing Nico going ballistic at being locked into an hour long cutscene AGAIN made me laugh so incredibly hard I’m sorry
Here, you are introduced to the door system. *Generally* speaking, Moon Doors are the longest, the most time consuming one taking upwards of 2 hours to complete. Star doors on the other hand aren't as long, they vary between 30 minutes to 50ish minutes, with a few exceptions here and there.
There aren't that many moon doors, but there's a lot of star doors. You don't have to do them right as soon as you get them, but you do get some bonus items and quartz from them, besides the lore, so preferably don't wait too long to do them either. Once you "talk" with the door you can teleport to them straight away, regardless if you have entered it or not. So you can just talk with the door, unlock it for teleportation, not enter it and come back to it later.
Yeah there is one star door that really shoulda been a moon door
You say "bonus items and quartz", but some of the doors give you that good sh*t, and none of the rewards are lacking in the worth-it department imo
@@scotsoulgem and there is another star door that... really should be a blackhole door...
@@jorntumrongwit9056 Stop it! 😭 I don't want to remember... 😢
@@jorntumrongwit9056 shut up, we can talk about it in the final quarter of the lets play. we dont need to think about this for the next 2 months.
That might've been the funniest "And now back to" section in any of your series Nico. I really mean it
Nico: *freaking out over having 2 hour long episodes at the beginning*
Me: *wishes they were 4 hours*
😃
Bro I don't know about you but even for a game this amazing, I don't have the time for a 4 hour video when tomorrow there's gonna be another one that's about an hour
@BlueCrimson10 I listen at work, so I have that kind of time lol
I'm the same way, I thought that he usually puts out 1 1/2 to 2 hour videos so I didn't understand why it was such a big deal. Plus I love the longer videos, I usually wish they were longer.
Kevin holding the cube: "Wait all my stuff broke and I'm back to being a jobber!"
Kratos, Samus, Sora, Estelle, and a handful of other RPG characters: "First time?"
Kiryu: *Laughing in the distance* "Skill Issue"
Kevin: "And what did it get you?"
Kiryu: "...Depression."
It's funny and bit cruel that first door is one of the longer ones. But it does teach that the unique structure of the game can make balancing episode lengths a bit tricky.
34:15 And it was at that moment we met the progenitor of the Mr. Chest line, Mr. Tree. Somewhere far away Agate awakens to Smug Estelle leaning over him: ‘I told you Mr. Chest was real, you can’t escape his power.’ Even in the void Kevin can hear his screams of anguish.
Kevin: Rapidly approaching being a badass!
Ries: I would disagree.
Nico learns about the doors and accidentally gets locked into another 2 hour episode.
EDIT: Yes, Albert is Erika's father. Her calling him by the first name is just a scruffy, lack of respect thing-like you guessed. Also if you pay attention to details, you'll notice that Tita's last name means that Dan took on the Russell surname. Not sure if you know about it, but it's not an uncommon thing in Japan for the husband to be "adopted" in, when the female's family is very prominent. This is due to a male "heir" being strongly desired to carry on the family business and/or name, if there are no male children. So the same thing will likely happen to Tita's husband, unless she has a little brother down the road.
See some stars, maybe find paradise. Never know what you might discover.
@@Weltallgaia I don't like how you said that.
@@Weltallgaia See, this is how you write a subtle spoiler comment that makes no sense without context.
Bravo to you, I wish more people learned how to do that...
Also GODDAMNIT you just *had* to remind me, did you?
I feel like the moon doors really meander a bit. Especially in trails into reverie, but a lot of those star doors are great. Either interesting, compelling, or horrifying.
@@Weltallgaia Are you telling me these doors exist in future games?
1:25:03 Tita becoming thirteen now shows that The 3rd takes place in Septian Calendar year 1203 (FC starts in 1202).
Also, Erika is the biological daughter of Albert Russell. Their passion to inventions is hilariously similar it makes Murdock sick to his stomach, literally. 😂
Stonemonument: .....
*Cube destroys all your quartz*
Stonemonument: COME ON UP QUARTZ FOR SALE!
Kevin: Did it just create a problem to sell us the solution -_- ?
Ries: Should have smashed it!
Me: a two hour video? Nico must be having a lot of fun with this
These cutscenes: well, you see...
Nico: when will the cutscenes end!?
I like how Kevin's and Ries' portrait looks like they just got off plane on airport :D
First Hulkenberg, now Ries; if girls in RPGs aren't bad at cooking food, they'll most likely eat A LOT food.
Yet another paralel between nico's LPs
The accessories and sepith you found are your transfer bonus from SC, if you didn´t reach A Rank you wouldn´t have gotten the Solar Seal.
The doors are the meat of the game and also the "sidecontent", it´s all optional, but actually not really because you absolutely need to do it all.
They are the reason why this is a favourite for a lot of us, the stories within them are very intriguing.
We went from Joshua stealing our orbments to our orbments getting obliterated!
Ornaments: *explode*
Nico: No No Noooo (phoenix wright sound) OBJECTION
Erika is in fact the daughter of professor Russell and she calls him Albert just to be disrespectful towards him
Massive "fuck you dad" energy
Nico : "You know, the only other series for which I've played 3 games back to back was Kingdom Hearts"
Me : "Aight, bet. Let's make it 4."
You've fallen victim to one of the classic blunders - going through a Moon Door an hour into the video!
In defense of Tita's parents: Would YOU feel comfortable with hearing that your teenage child has been close with an adult man and often entered his home? And unfortunately i dont think Tita has fully realized her parents' misconception about Agate, otherwise she could clear up the misunderstanding. So I fully understand their concern even if we the players know better.
So at the very least they don't have issue with Agate specifically, they are just parents rightfully worried about their child spending time alone with an adult stranger (stranger to them at least) not knowing the full story
A large part of this is Erica, in order for the misconception to be cleared up, the party that is misconceiving has to be willing to listen to the explanation. Erica is clearly not willing to do that.
I mean, uh, by looking at comments and info... eventually the parents have to be worried about how Tita looks at Agate rather than the other way around in a few years...
@@lionofash7700 It's unfortunate but a lot of people go through a "crush on older people" phase. And while it's cute for some people it's downright uncomfortable for others. Especially when they knew you when you were 12 and they're in their mid 20s. It's like, girl what are you thinking that man's twice your age and sees you as a sister.
@@UchaNekome Isn't Tita just so *_cute and funny?_* 😭
Her parents have absolutely no excuse. They abondend her for years in favor of their work. But once trouble starts they blame everyone but themselves. She is their responsibility and they failed.
The moment I saw the video length I knew you opened the moon door halfway through LOL. Honestly I’m waiting for these videos to become 20-30 mins just out of the pure FEAR of an extended cutscene!
Yeah, Moon Doors are definitely going to need their own episodes from now on. Also, that first Moon Door is the only one that's divided into two parts. So you're going to have to come back to it once you fulfilled the requirements for unlocking part 2.
"He then noticed all the quartz in it were shattered."
*NicoB screams skyward, spiraling into the darkness.*
And now we've arrived at the defining feature of Sky 3rd in general: The doors. I can assure you, as someone who played 9 games of this series, these doors are super, super important as they pretty much provide setups for certain story arcs, character arcs, or even lore dumps of the world of Zemuria. There are a total of 25 doors in this game and it is highly recommended that you go through all of them, even though they are optional. Aside from the Sun doors, the rest of them contain pure cutscenes.
What you just went into is a moon door and as the description says, they are quite lengthy, like almost an hour long. Thankfully there are only 5 of these. Make sure you are mentally ready for nothing but dialogue for an hour when going through these doors. Star doors, on the other hand, typically last no longer than 30 minutes. Nevertheless, I wouldn't recommend you tackling multiple doors at a time.
Well, I can think of at least 2 star doors where you do actually have some control and battles. No I think it's one star and one moon
You know Nico's enjoying himself when we have consecutive 2hour+ videos with no breaks between games in the series.
That or the game is holding his attention hostage.
Could be both.
These games are holding all of us hostage at this point. No really. The moment you get to Sky FCs ending or just invested in the game at all, you literally become Falcoms hostage. Or at least, your wallet becomes a hostage. My poor wallet.
This time was a hostage situation. 😆😆😆
Ries: Shall we destroy it?
Kevin: I get first hit!
And then they were trapped in phantasma forever, forced to make kids of their own...
So interesting piece of trivia with regards to how 'zzz' became synonymous with sleeping. Of course as most people know it's an example of onomatopoeia to convey the idea of sleep. However the reason why it was chosen supposedly was because it resembles the sound of snoring as well as because it resembles the shape of a saw cutting through wood. Essentially linking it to the old saying of 'sawing logs'.
I like to describe the gameplay structure of this game as "Persona 3 The Answer done right.".
yeah they are very similar but this one does the whole thing in the right way and the Answer kinda fumble
Oh absolutely, The Answer has moments of being this but doesn’t get to really go all out. It always feels like they want Persona to be connected proper but just result in barely trying it.
And ironically 3rd has quite a few Answers to a lot of things!
There are even a focus on doors!
I rly like the little bit of story we get in the Answer but the root issue is that they pad a 5-10 hour game into 30 hours with dungeons. And that's understandably way too thin for most ppl
End of moon door 1: “Get in the Robot Tita, or else Agate will have to suffer again.”
Ok yes, placing the tutorial AFTER the door was a mistake. And if it was't a mistake, it was just plain evil.
Can’t wait for Nico’s slow descent into madness with every subsequent moon door
1:43:20 I half expected to see an edit of Erika sawing Albert in half with the table saw here
Would love to see that but i think thats enough edits for sai to stomach for today
Nico: "Its all right Tita. You may not be a top tier party member but your still adorable."
Nico obviously hasn't read the Trails in the Sky 3rd Party member tier list.
Kevin´s bizarre adventure looks very interesting and mysterious. ^_^
Yes, Tita´s memory fragment is very long and that is only part 1... I wonder how long will part 2 be and I am interested in the part where Agate comes to visit Tita and how her mother react to him then.
I am curious if the others will come back like Tita, too and what their memory fragments will be. ^^
Now for one of my favorite mechanics in this game: the doors
They’re absolutely fantastic and expand on so much… I’m sure many others have done this type of comparison, but yeah, this game is basically the Answer from P3 done right
Yeah it's the Doors that really make the third. Take it from the weakest story in the series to one of the (arguably) best
@@dirtybirdperson4020 I would honestly not call it the weakest story if you were to exclude the doors from the equation.
@stilldamaged3945 I think the limited dungeon aspect has never been my favorite and I'm honestly looking forward to this lets plays cause I've forgotten a ton of it, but I absolutely loved the lore dump doors
I just looked this up. Erika's Japansese VA is Satsuki Yukino. She has voiced characters such as Yoruichi from Bleach, Kagome from Inuyasha, Rose from FMA, and more specifically for this post, Shion and Mion Sonozaki from Higurashi.
The reason I'm bringing this up because in the voiced version of this scene, Erika gives a borderline psychotic laugh when they mention Agate coming over.
And it just so happens that Shion and Mion are known for giving that exact same type of laugh.
TLDR: Erika is being voiced by someone who is known for voicing characters who have gone insane at some point. I like to think that was a deliberate choice.
Yep, Nico got Moon doored. I had a feeling with how far he got previous episode. 😂 We've all been there lol. The good news is, from now on you at least choose when you want to do the doors after finding them. They really should've started it off with a star door...
It's particularly weird how they use this door to show off the door system. It makes you think trials are the norm too when there's like only 1 or 2 others that do that. Then it's much longer than most (not all though) AND it's the only two parter moon door that you can come back to later.
Very odd choice lol
@@tcaz And I love Tita but it's a weird choice for the only mandatory door in the game
Funny enough, Tita’s actually pretty strong in this game. Not quite top tier, but knocking on the door of it. Vital Cannon is still one of the best healing crafts, and overall she’s significantly less glass and significantly more cannon now. You might be pleasantly surprised by how effective she is if you decide to develop her.
Also, I like how Tita not having much to contribute when you bring her to the Renne fight at the Axis Pillar gets turned into her freezing up under pressure and gets used to give her some character development.
I enjoy seeing tita's parents interact with agate, it'll be fun
In terms of the dungeon crawling aspect, you’ve already been reading enemy descriptions so make sure to keep that up when it comes to the bosses. You should be able to gain your victory when it comes to certain bosses descriptions.
For all her shenanigans, Erika does have a point about the consequences of the things they create...
which is in sharp contrast to a different scientist we meet much later...
Her one sided hatred of Agate is really insufferable though...
The Solar Seal, Lunar Seal, and the 200 All Sepith with it is the reward you get for reaching high Bracer Ranks in SC!
Ah yes, the ORBAL GEAR, finally we have a weapon to surpass Metal Gear.
Why did i feel like Prof. Russell got to channel his inner Heihachi as soon as his daughter shows up, isn't it?
GET READY FOR THE NEXT BATTLE!
Erika Russell VS Prof. Albert Russell
ROUND 1, FIGHT!
The OST for this game is absolute peak and probably my favorite out of all the games. It's just so unique.
Overdosing Heavenly Bliss my beloved
The use of "zzz" to represent sleeping in fiction, particularly in comics and cartoons, originates from its association with the sound of snoring. This onomatopoeic representation became a convenient shorthand for illustrators to depict sleep.
The earliest known use of "zzz" in this context dates back to the early 20th century. In the comic strip "The Katzenjammer Kids," an August 2, 1903, illustration shows a character sleeping with "zzz" above his head to indicate snoring.
The choice of the letter "z" likely stems from its resemblance to the buzzing or droning sound associated with snoring. While actual snoring sounds can vary, the "zzz" representation provided a simple and universally recognizable symbol for sleep in visual media. This convention became widespread in comics and cartoons, solidifying "zzz" as a standard indicator of sleep.
It's worth noting that different cultures have their own onomatopoeic representations of snoring. For example, in French, snoring might be represented as "rrroooo," while in Japanese, it could be "guu guu." Despite these variations, "zzz" has become the predominant symbol for sleep in many parts of the world, especially in English-speaking countries.
Holding B would fast forward the dialog. It helps when need to create a save file. and redo the doors later.
Moon door: long story
Star door: shorter story, not actually short, can be a slide show.
Nico: Oh hey, a chance to see what Tita was up to before she was warped here! I'd like to know what happens!
And thus curled one more finger from the Monkey's Paw...
- Kevin
Seriously though, Ries. How in Aidios' name are you able to eat an entire bakery's worth of carbs and not gain a single curim?
- Ries
I suppose I just have a stronger metabolism than most people.
- Kevin
(sigh) I pity the poor fool who has to pay for your meal on your first date...
- Ries
I'm sorry, would you repeat that? I don't believe I heard you correctly.
- Kevin
I said I'm surrounded by freaks of nature! You with your bottomless stomach! Ein and the rest of the Gralsritter! The Brights with their insane combat prowess! Scherazard and her insane alcohol tolerance! Kloe with her ability to talk to a friggin' bird! The whole Russell family! Zin and Agate with their sheer strength! That weird-ass bard, Olivier or Olivert, whatever in Gehenna his name is! Not to mention all those psychos in Ouroboros, especially that Renne girl! Just once in my life, I'd like to get to know someone without some insane quirk!
- Ries
I'm afraid that kind of life is reserved for the most insignificant of background NPCs only, Kevin. And since you've got onion green hair, I'm not holding my breath waiting for that to happen to you.
- Kevin
(long, exhasperated groan) Aidios, give me strength...
When I first went through the Moon Door I too was begging for the endless cutscene hell to end. By the time it was over I convinced myself that the ending point would be Tita and Renne duking it out in a mecha battle.
I find it funny the game just tosses you into (half) a Moon Door with no context and no point at which you can stop and save as the introduction to these, Moon Doors are meant to be the long ones, they probably should have picked a Star Door for this purpose, but also, it's incredibly funny they did this.
Every other Moon Door, including the second half of this one, has points where you can walk around and save, which makes it even funnier to me they picked this to be the tutorial introduction.
This went far more smoothly the next time they tried it. However, Sky the 3rd is a game that came out in 2007, so it's got a lot of that old RPG jank. To remind you how long ago 2007 was, the first Iron Man movie that kicked off the MCU came out in 2008, and this game came out when Barack Obama was still a relatively unknown senator from Illinois.
While very different, i love this game. And once this is done, it will be time for the BEST duology of the series. Trails from Zero and Trails To Azure.
You should check out the last part of the fragment door, in japanese, the Erika part is hilarious
Watching Nico flip through the pages that list the Quartz available in the game, one specific Quartz on page 6 jumps out: Nothingness. The amount of sepith values in gives you makes it a starter deck for arts casters by itself.
Unfortunately, you get it really late into the game. Like really, really late. The real treasure on those pages was the Divine Gem, which gives you a good deal of all four primary elemental points and although you need Haze or Yin Yang to nullify its Scent effect, it gives you a massive number of arts and is a key element in the arsenal of any caster you take with you.
I love Nico beginning to say that he'd rather another character other than Tita for combat before immediately saying how adorable Tita's new portrait is xD Also I was not expecting to hear, in Tita's voice, someone call Reis a fetish 💀 I love it when you move back talking in Kevin's voice, like Kevin realizing Tita does more damage than him. It's so funny and I love it.
i've been binging through the series too, your videos and the games themselves, i finished the whole series (available in english) in just over a year, absolutely bonkers, happy to be done but also happy Daybreak 2 is just a month away
also: welcome to the Friend Gacha Realm featuring hour long cutscene doors
Nico "sure hope I don't get stuck in a massive cutscene."
Game: "hold my beer"
And it was this day that Tita witnessed the start of Project Metal...err Orbal Gear!
You wanna hear something neat about this game? Did you notice that there was no tutorial for this game, unlike SC where it offered a refresher if you wanted it? That's because since this is the third game, the developer assumes you already know how the game works. It's so nice to respect the players' intelligence like that.
The Doors are definitely very 'video gamey' and aren't super well integrated into the main plot (the characters ostensibly see them, but they don't... really have an affect on anything narratively in the main plot). However, despite that, I feel like they are one of the games better strengths because of just how damn *good* they are. Basically they exist purely to give you bits of the characters outside of the confines of having to be around the protagonist (Estelle or Kevin) and do things like provide closure to previous character arcs, setting up future series plot points, or expanding on pieces of lore that would be hard to fit in otherwise.
Does it sometimes come off as a cheap trick where they couldn't figure out how to put it in the series naturally and needed it to get in there somehow, so they just shoved them in a Star Door and called it a day? Yeah, sometimes. But I think its okay to use some narrative cheats like this in a story as complexly setup foundationally as Trails every once in awhile. And even then, if the writing can back it up, getting little anecdotal side stories that further flesh out things can be a treat.
Basically if you love 3rd or not entirely comes down to how you feel about HAVING to have immersion at all times in a game. If you are able to deal with how 'gamey' 3rd feels, you will likely love it. If the structure annoys you, you probably won't. Oh and that isn't to say anything about the main plot of 3rd, because it absolutely does have one, and IMO its a really good one too. I think regardless of how people feel about the structure, most people will agree 3rds main plot and focus on Kevin is great, with how it expands on some things that have been present but in the background for 2 games like the Church and Artifacts.
"Tita might not be a top tier party member" we'll see what Nico thinks by the end of the game.
I don't think Erika is that unreasonable a mother. Okay, well, no, she is. She is very unreasonable. But parts of her aren't unreasonable. It's completely valid that she doesn't want her 13-year-old daughter to be involved in the development of a weapon and thus be ethically complicit in an untold amount of death. But I also think her anger with her father (and yes, they are father\daughter by blood) over letting Tita fight is valid, too.
From our point of view, it's a JRPG. Child soldiers and the like are just part of the trope space. We accept that and suspend disbelief. But in actuality, it is beyond irresponsible to let a preteen-- even one armed with a gatling gun-- to wander the countryside fighting monsters and mercenaries and ancient machines. And no, I don't think "abandoning" Tita to her grandfather's care is enough to void Erika's right to be upset.
Part of this is the game's fault for trying to have its cake and eat it too. They play the "underage party member" trope pretty straight with Tita and then turn around ago go "Nope actually that was bad."
What Kevin and Ries didnt know, was that it was Estelle hiding in the water, behind the Stone Merchant, and the tree. She has been promoted from just a chest puppeteer to an omnipotent being beyond our comprehension! A "Ventriloquist"...
(please help, Estelle is forcing me to speak these lines because my stregas are newer 😢) *Gets U-L-T-R-A-V-I-O-L-E-N-C-E-D*
In the japanese voice cast Tita's mom is done by the same voice actress who did Mion in Higurashi, which is just the most fitting possible voice they could have chosen
The gimmick of the Moon Guardian fight is that they will heal you while they are above 50% HP. So, similar to the Abyss Worms, the best strategy (despite using Tita) is to attack them one at a time.
Which is really tough for Tita to do since both her Smoke Cannon craft and regular attacks hit an AOE. Their MOV-decreasing Madness move still counts as physical though, meaning it can miss if you blind the critters. Which is generally considered a good idea once they stop healing you and start hurting you.
18:24 and the monkeys paw curled
I can't wait to see the reaction of THAT star door
Damn, Kevin's gacha luck is quite good!
The bonus for the save file from SC was the 200 sepith for each type and the Lunar and Solar Seals, the sepith is automatic if you transfer, Lunar is for reaching at least B Rank and Solar is A Rank exclusive.
I also think how much Sepith you get also depend on that progress.
Tita's solution to her problem with Renne is so hilarious. Renne is my friend, but I couldn't say anything to her like Estelle did. Renne has a big robot, so I ALSO need a big robot otherwise how will we have a proper conversation!
Such a kid way of working things out. It’s funny that her mother is so childish that she totally goes with it too.
It's less about Tita being worried about not having anything to talk to Renne about and more about Tita wanting to make an effort to try and connect with Renne in some way and that includes experiencing a little bit of the world that Renne is part of in order to emphatize and understand her better. It's my personal headcanon that Tita was part of the group when Estelle and Joshua faced Renne inside the Axis Pillar on the Liber Ark and that she was present when Estelle hugged Renne and was briefly able to get through Renne's emotional defenses. Tita saw this and wanted to do something similar, but knew she lacked the emotional maturity to make a speech the same way that Estelle did, so she started thinking of other ways to do this that played to her own personal strengths. That and the Orbal Gear project was a way to help Tita keep Renne in her thoughts.
It's not the most intuitive thought process in the world, but it does make sense from the perspective of a slightly isolated child genius wanting to befriend another isolated child genius. Personally, I thought it was a rather sweet moment for Tita.
Plus, what the heck else is she gonna do? I'm sure if you gave Tita the choice between 'leave on her own and find Renne and help her' and 'work on a big robot in hopes of maybe finding some common ground with her' she'd pick the former, despite how much she loves engineering. But she knows she's a kid and can't just do that. What CAN she do? What she's good at, and in a way that might let her help her in the future.
It actually makes pretty good sense from Tita's perspective. Yeah, it has low chance of ACTUALLY being useful, but it's the best she can do at the time.
1:44:22 I like how erika explains its a tool to hurt people with tita even though she allows tita TO HAVE A FREAKING GATLING GUN AND A SATELLITE BEAM TO DESTROY ANYTHING LIVING AND NONLIVING AROUND HER.
I really hope Tita's parents can come around to Agate quickly. (Though I don't have much hope about Erika doing so.) Erika's murderous intentions are already getting old.
Ries’ templar sword is giving me flashbacks of the Sword of the Creator from FE3H. Whip it good~
Also she’s voiced by Michelle Ruff (Schera), since I haven’t seen that mentioned in other comments.
I feel like this is the game where Falcom really started to settle on how the turn-based combat would work going into the future.
There's a surprising number of people who hate Erika despite "I didn't expect my father to let my 12-year old fight an international criminal syndicate while I was away on a business trip" seeming like a pretty reasonable response to me.
Erika's objections to people letting Tita and her giant gattling gun fight live battles against monsters and villains aren't really the reason people dislike her. It's the rest of her antics that tend to get people's goat.
The Moon Doors are extremely long. There are other types of doors which can be shorter. This one door is also the only one which has 2 parts, you can come back later with another character.
IIRC, the shortest moon door is shorter than the longest star door
Ooh star 15 gonna be a good one
1:18:26 after watching the FC remake trailer now I just imagine them performing wrestling maneuvers in the middle of the street
About the button from Julia’s uniform - this is sort of a tradition in Japan. When they graduate from school, boys can grant a button from their uniforms to their crush. It’s close to love confession, or might even be a gift for a person who respected them. It’s the second button (that is close to the heart) that matters. It means that Erika really respects Julia.
So welcome to your first introduction to the high elements, this is a recurring element in games going forward where certain areas have space, mirage, and time in play. In addition, there are new bonus effects that appear in battle with particularly powerful effects whenever the high elements are in play. I recommend looking in your notebook to see what each effect does so you don't get caught off guard
Shhh we don't want him knowing about those effects