It was already hard to take Geldoblame seriously with that getup. It was even harder to take everything seriously after learning that He Bo etc was literally just the first two letters of general body parts. Then the moobs appeared.
But I guess that was only a side story anyways. As long as it doesn't take the cowards way out and redeem before the end.
What Does God Need With a Magnus? Let's Play Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean [VLP]
Part 30: Mintaka Imperial Fortress
This video is an...intermission of sorts. Before we move on with Part 2 of the game proper, we need to re-establish a few things, most notably our new protagonist.
This video is an...intermission of sorts. Before we move on with Part 2 of the game proper, we need to re-establish a few things, most notably our new protagonist.
I mean, that was also the case back when the Empire was the big threat of the day too. Remember how they were like "Nah, we got a big magical shield, we're just gonna throw a big party instead"?
Part 31: Interdimensional Cracks (Part 1)
Anyway, it's time to get the gang back together. Melodia was courteous enough to put everyone in these nice, easy-to-locate individual prisons, so we might as well take her up on the offer.
You could say that keeping everyone secured in their own individual cells in different locations has its own benefits and drawbacks, really. It makes it harder for an internal escape, and in the event of a single escape you don't have as much risk of everybody getting free. On the other hand, you have to split your resources, so an outside rescue attempt becomes more feasible, as we've seen.
Part 32: Interdimensional Cracks (Part 2)
It's part 2 of this riveting saga as Xelha bounces from island to island. These are technically different boss fights and don't you forget it.
It's part 2 of this riveting saga as Xelha bounces from island to island. These are technically different boss fights and don't you forget it.
Part 33: Interdimensional Cracks (Part 3)
We've got the gang back together, so it's time to formulate a new plan to tackle Melodia and Kalas. Said new plan is...well, it isn't very new.
We've got the gang back together, so it's time to formulate a new plan to tackle Melodia and Kalas. Said new plan is...well, it isn't very new.
Part 34: The Ice Cliffs of Gomeisa
We're off to Wazn to investigate this mysterious Ice Queen. Surely, *this* is the time that chasing a wild legend of the past will turn out to work in our favor, right?
We're off to Wazn to investigate this mysterious Ice Queen. Surely, *this* is the time that chasing a wild legend of the past will turn out to work in our favor, right?
...you know what, I think I can get behind the whole "This magical ruler of a lost kingdom may be able to help" plot point getting turned aside not by some weird vow to not interfere in the workings of the world, but by the myths being a bit overblown and it turning out we had said ruler in our party the entire time.
I do wonder if her ability to cast all elements of magic is particularly unique at all, considering we haven't really seen or fought any other mages besides The Great Mizuti, and we all know The Great Mizuti is able to wield all of them just because they're so great and mighty.
I do wonder if her ability to cast all elements of magic is particularly unique at all, considering we haven't really seen or fought any other mages besides The Great Mizuti, and we all know The Great Mizuti is able to wield all of them just because they're so great and mighty.
Part 35: Cursa, the Snowy City
Cursa is an extremely pretty town with an absolutely incredible boss. The best designed encounter you'll ever see.
Cursa is an extremely pretty town with an absolutely incredible boss. The best designed encounter you'll ever see.
Just go to Jukkasjärvi and you can see what it feels like to sleep on ice!
https://www.icehotel.com
(If you have a stupid amount of money lying around that is.)
https://www.icehotel.com
(If you have a stupid amount of money lying around that is.)
Part 36: Kaffaljidhma, Castle of Ice
You might think that now that we have the Ocean Mirror, we're ready to go fight Kalas and Melodia, but oh no my friend, you foolishly skipped over the most important part of this whole sequence. See, just because we're the rightful queen of Wazn and we have a world-ending artifact on our hands doesn't mean we can just waltz out of here on our big new dragon. No, you're going to have to earn that dragon, in the dumbest way possible.
You might think that now that we have the Ocean Mirror, we're ready to go fight Kalas and Melodia, but oh no my friend, you foolishly skipped over the most important part of this whole sequence. See, just because we're the rightful queen of Wazn and we have a world-ending artifact on our hands doesn't mean we can just waltz out of here on our big new dragon. No, you're going to have to earn that dragon, in the dumbest way possible.
Oh no what did they do to Trails of Cold Steel IV? Haven't quite caught up on the Cold Steel games because I decided to wait for the Crossbell fan translations from Geofront (which was probably not the best move in retrospect but I'm too committed now) but I've heard the localizations have been... not the best?
The localization isn't actually *that* big of a problem in my opinion, it has a bunch of classic NISA issues of broken textboxes and incorrect UI text as well as a small handful of legit term errors, but it reads pretty well and the VO is still good (though the recasting of Laura and Osborne really hurts me). I would assume -- or hope, at least -- most of this will be fixed with a patch.
But the game itself? CS1 already struggled to make its cast of around ten main characters remain relevant, imagine what CS4 does with quadruple of that. Pile on top of that a Rean harem that is worse than ever and some really dumb plot turns and you end up with mess that sometimes works surprisingly well but more often than not buckles under the weight of its 8 game legacy.
But the game itself? CS1 already struggled to make its cast of around ten main characters remain relevant, imagine what CS4 does with quadruple of that. Pile on top of that a Rean harem that is worse than ever and some really dumb plot turns and you end up with mess that sometimes works surprisingly well but more often than not buckles under the weight of its 8 game legacy.
I'm only ~25 hours in (fairly early on in Act 2) so I can't speak to the back half of the game but so far it's displaying all those classic Falcom-isms, including "what the fuck is pacing, anyway", "more characters = better, right?", "okay so we're gonna do a plot twist here, anyone got anything? literally anything". If we hit "okay I know we just had a nice, poignant and thematically appropriate ending but what if we included 10 more hours of gameplay and another ending that doesn't make any sense but it's happier which automatically makes it better" then we'll have Falcom Bingo.
E: And to be clear when the game stays small, it's really good! The opening chunk of the game where you don't have Rean and are getting by with just new Class VII is fantastic, Juna especially. But she was already the best character in 3 so that's not saying anything new.
E: And to be clear when the game stays small, it's really good! The opening chunk of the game where you don't have Rean and are getting by with just new Class VII is fantastic, Juna especially. But she was already the best character in 3 so that's not saying anything new.
Since SA has now reached the Kalas reveal, a quick fun fact - you can actually immediately see that the Che End Magnus is missing immediately after the encounter with Melodia.
Prior to leaving Anuenue, we have the End Magnus safely in our possession.
After the encounter in Parnasse (this was taken in Detourne), it's missing.
Prior to leaving Anuenue, we have the End Magnus safely in our possession.
After the encounter in Parnasse (this was taken in Detourne), it's missing.
Part 37: Mintaka Imperial Fortress Redux
Armed with our dragon and the Ocean Mirror, it's time to take the fight back to Kalas and Melodia...sort of. Once we save the townsfolk from the inconvenience of walking 40 feet outside of town, anyway.
Armed with our dragon and the Ocean Mirror, it's time to take the fight back to Kalas and Melodia...sort of. Once we save the townsfolk from the inconvenience of walking 40 feet outside of town, anyway.
Part 38: The Sanctum of Malpercio
Strap in, because this one's a big boy. Finally, we've accomplished our main objective: Stealing the Emperor's bath water.
Strap in, because this one's a big boy. Finally, we've accomplished our main objective: Stealing the Emperor's bath water.
Melodia: "I'm doing this because Malpercio wants to be reborn."
Me: "Okay, but why would you want to let him be reborn?"
Melodia: "Ages ago, humanity destroyed him-"
Me: "Nnnnnnnnno, I'm pretty sure they said he tried to swallow the ocean and drowned."
Melodia: "..."
Me: "Also that didn't answer my question. At all. Why do you care about doing any of this?!"
Me: "Okay, but why would you want to let him be reborn?"
Melodia: "Ages ago, humanity destroyed him-"
Me: "Nnnnnnnnno, I'm pretty sure they said he tried to swallow the ocean and drowned."
Melodia: "..."
Me: "Also that didn't answer my question. At all. Why do you care about doing any of this?!"
Part 39: A Moment of Respite
So we got Kalas back, at the cost of our mirror. Now what? Well, we do have one more lead to work with, although getting there is...a little suspect, let's say.
So we got Kalas back, at the cost of our mirror. Now what? Well, we do have one more lead to work with, although getting there is...a little suspect, let's say.
Kalas was a secret child of destiny, Xelha was a secret queen, Savyna was a secret war criminal, Lyude is basically a fascist collaborator, Great Mizuti is from secret civilization, Gibari is... good with oars?
It is kind of amazing how consistently bad everyone is at planning anything unless they're doing something evil.
It is kind of amazing how consistently bad everyone is at planning anything unless they're doing something evil.
Gibari is a secret-but-not-very-secret former knight, which is pretty damn easy to forget since that was all the way back when we first stormed the castle to save King Ladekahn.
Part 40: The Labyrinth of Duhr
The labyrinth is a lot less intimidating than it seems, aside from the starting area, there's only a couple splits and they all dead end very quickly. There isn't even a boss!
The labyrinth is a lot less intimidating than it seems, aside from the starting area, there's only a couple splits and they all dead end very quickly. There isn't even a boss!