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[BassForever]

Huh. That's interesting about NPCs because I didn't realize that. I honestly think it would help if the visuals were different. I just have trouble dealing with prerendered sprites and my characters' appearances always remaining the same. Takes a bit of the fun out.

I also like what I hear about Cold Steel a lot. What with it's Persona-esque character relations and what not. What's so weird is that when I was younger I was all about slow burns in games. It could be that I'm older and don't have as much time on my hands to delve into the world building. If I'm that close to the end though I might as well finish it.

Yeah, all the npc dialogue constantly updates every chapter as you do missions and carry on the story, those who you did or didn't help in fc will remember you in sc. I hate to use the "trust us and keep playing" card but it really is true with the Trails series. I knew the game was something special during the school play scene and of course the finale made me a believer.

 

[Young Magus]

This is how I feel about every single Evolution arrangement going all the way back to Zero.
I'm dreading hearing how they mess with 3rd's music, since it has my favorite soundtrack in the series.

Damn.....
Now I'm scared and I haven't even played 3rd, just heard the ost.....and watched the prologue....

Spoiler

now Im hyped

;-;

 

[SolVanderlyn]

Evo tracks are a hit or miss for me. I really like some of them - A Light Illuminating the Depths, Unfathomed Force, Azure Arbitrator, Fight with the Assailant, Lurking Shadow in the Darkness, and Geo-Front are all very nice tracks. Not necessarily better than the originals, but I wouldn't call them bad or even worse by any measure.

 

[Famassu]

From what I've heard of the Evo soundtracks, my biggest issue isn't even the arrangements (some are worse than the originals but still not horrible or anything), it's the mixing. Some instruments & melodies that should be emphasized are too often kind of drowned into a sea of sound instead of being in the forefront like they should. Forte fortissimo some of dem melodies, bitchaz.

And then the use of some instruments during certain parts sounds kind of wrong/amateur-ish. Like violins playing almost-staccatos instead of normal, "smoother" flow between notes.

 

[Bebpo]

Ao no Kiseki Evo

ENDING SPOILERS

Spoiler

Ok, not really. But I don't want anyone accidentally reading this. I finished what I thought was going to be the final boss rush dungeon of climbing the Orcus Tower, but it turns out that was just the prelude final dungeon and now I'm heading to the big azure tree real final boss rush dungeon. (It's funny, because halfway through the game I was sort of complaining that unlike SC which had a whole bunch of villians setup for the final boss rush with Weissman and all his Agents, that Zero/Ao duology really had no defined villians outside of Randy's uncle & cousin. And then in the final chapter of Ao it's like the small hero team vs. EVERYONE IN EXISTENCE.)

Anyhow, I wanted to post this before I forgot but when Lector & Kirka called the meeting in the train and said there was a "fixer" behind it, I knew it was the lawyer, why? Because HE WAS THE ONLY CHARACTER WITH A PORTRAIT LEFT

While I guess this complaint is moot now that the series has moved on to 3d, the weird emphasizing of who gets portraits is kind of problematic for some of their twists. I mean halfway through the game I complained how odd it was that at the West Zemuria Meeting, every single representative of a kingdom has a portrait....except the Lemiferia guy. So the head guy of Lemiferia, who even gets a voice and has some lines, doesn't get a portrait, but the lawyer does? Yeah, the odd balancing of who gets a portrait kind of emphasis who is going to be somebody important and beyond just an NPC role in the story.

Also Weissman twist at the end of FC was good because he was just a guy you ran across a couple of times, and was an unexpected character to secretly be the head bad. By the end of Ao, this schtick of likeable NPC being the secret bad reveal is getting old and it's gotten way worse. I mean it's so phoned in that the whole time I was playing Zero after Deeta and Kumohige Lawyer were introduced, I was like "I HOPE THEY DON'T END UP BEING SECRETLY EVIL" because they were great likeable characters. It was nice seeing a GOOD GUY LAWYER in a game for once lol. But then yeah....

Joachim was a little better since he was just a quirky dude you did some quests for and was into fishing. But still, after 3 games the "fun likeable NPC = antagonist" deal is again, getting predictable and getting old. I really hope they drop this and it doesn't become a predictable staple of every entry in the series. I'd like it if sometimes the fun likeable NPC in the story JUST IS A FUN NPC IN THE STORY that you can think "yeah, that was a great npc character".

Ok, rant over. Gonna go finish up the game.

 

[TR_]

Ao no Kiseki Evo

ENDING SPOILERS

Spoiler

Ok, not really. But I don't want anyone accidentally reading this. I finished what I thought was going to be the final boss rush dungeon of climbing the Orcus Tower, but it turns out that was just the prelude final dungeon and now I'm heading to the big azure tree real final boss rush dungeon. (It's funny, because halfway through the game I was sort of complaining that unlike SC which had a whole bunch of villians setup for the final boss rush with Weissman and all his Agents, that Zero/Ao duology really had no defined villians outside of Randy's uncle & cousin. And then in the final chapter of Ao it's like the small hero team vs. EVERYONE IN EXISTENCE.)

Anyhow, I wanted to post this before I forgot but when Lector & Kirka called the meeting in the train and said there was a "fixer" behind it, I knew it was the lawyer, why? Because HE WAS THE ONLY CHARACTER WITH A PORTRAIT LEFT

While I guess this complaint is moot now that the series has moved on to 3d, the weird emphasizing of who gets portraits is kind of problematic for some of their twists. I mean halfway through the game I complained how odd it was that at the West Zemuria Meeting, every single representative of a kingdom has a portrait....except the Lemiferia guy. So the head guy of Lemiferia, who even gets a voice and has some lines, doesn't get a portrait, but the lawyer does? Yeah, the odd balancing of who gets a portrait kind of emphasis who is going to be somebody important and beyond just an NPC role in the story.

Also Weissman twist at the end of FC was good because he was just a guy you ran across a couple of times, and was an unexpected character to secretly be the head bad. By the end of Ao, this schtick of likeable NPC being the secret bad reveal is getting old and it's gotten way worse. I mean it's so phoned in that the whole time I was playing Zero after Tida and Kumohige Lawyer were introduced, I was like "I HOPE THEY DON'T END UP BEING SECRETLY EVIL" because they were great likeable characters. It was nice seeing a GOOD GUY LAWYER in a game for once lol. But then yeah....

Joachim was a little better since he was just a quirky dude you did some quests for and was into fishing. But still, after 3 games the "fun likeable NPC = antagonist" deal is again, getting predictable and getting old. I really hope they drop this and it doesn't become a predictable staple of every entry in the series. I'd like it if sometimes the fun likeable NPC in the story JUST IS A FUN NPC IN THE STORY that you can think "yeah, that was a great npc character".

Ok, rant over. Gonna go finish up the game.

Spoiler

You can actually figure it out before the tower if you did all the hidden quests

 

[Bebpo]

Ao no Kiseki Evo

ENDING

Spoiler

While this might've been my favorite game of the first 5, that was by far the weakest ending of all 5 games. Kind of a generic final dungeon and a lot of the ending stuff was just ok or unsatisfying. It's not that bad, but it's pretty generic jrpg and some real lame points like no major final antagonist and Mariabell just leaving to go join Ouroboros and not taking any responsibility was pretty unsatisfying. Same with Sigmund and Shirley getting away (and Shirley even joining Ouroboros probably as an Agent; c'mon her story is freaking done; stop dragging these antagonists out for more fights later in the series ><). So basically all the antagonists get off scott free to fight the team in another [UPCOMING SEQUEL] game. Definitely lessens the satisfaction. Since a big part of the game was about everyone not doing things out of anger or revenge, and forgiveness, I guess it's supposed to be ok that everyone gets away, but it still feels sucky considering all the shit the bad guys did and how many people got fucked in the crossfire RIP PATEL MATEL ;_;

I guess in a a lot of ways Zero/Ao is like the Empire Strikes Back of the series. Almost all the real antagonists get away, Crossbell gets invaded, and dark times ahead for everyone. And then 2 years in 20 seconds of stills later freed! [yeah, that was weird].

I did like that Lloyd actually convinced Ian to give up; that was kind of a neat twist where the hero tries to convince the antagonist to give up instead of fight. Too bad predictably, Mariabell KOs him right after.

Still have a lot of issues with all of the Erebonia politics spoiling. Like, the game has really dampered my desire to play Sen and I don't know what they were thinking since they obviously knew they were going to do the same timeframe in Erebonia for the next series. Knowing about how there's the war raging and the Nobles seize a chance and shoot Gilias and take control for a while but then ultimately Gilias takes out the Nobles and wins, even if it's just the basic political framework and Sen is the "true behind the scenes story" it now makes it feel like Sen will be a prequel, filling out a story we already know the major beats to. Just seems dumb.

Also the game feels weirdly incomplete, unlike Sora. To the point where it almost feels like it needs a Zero/Ao -> The 3rd type game to wrap up some of Crossbell's stuff. I'm not even talking about the ouroboros stuff or church stuff or world politics which are part of the overarching bigger picture. There's stuff that's just Crossbell/this main cast specific that isn't really covered/wrapped up. I mean you have the background stories that they never really go into like Randy and his friend (I'm ok not going into this since it's obvious something happened and his friend got killed and he left. We don't have to know the whole story, but jrpgs usually are pretty over-explaining on this stuff), you have Wadji comment on his TRAGIC PAST BACKSTORY "with this power [Stigma] I gained so much, and I lost everything, my family, my country, etc...", so I guess they're saving his backstory for another game. Mariabell/Ellie's story not really ending (so I wonder if Ellie will have to show up in another game to fight Mariabell), etc.. etc.. Then there's the weird stuff where in Zero they make a big deal about how Crossbell is this CURSED LAND that neither the church can encroach on, and Ouroboros won't send agents into, which was kind of disappointing in Zero because it basically indicated that neither of the big groups were going to be involved in Crossbell's story. I can make an educated guess that the reason Ouroboros stayed out of Crossbell was that they didn't want to mess with the Alchemists and only showed up in Ao because the Alchemists invited them to work together. Why the church and the Dominion is banned from Crossbell other than the head priest doesn't like them? ....I have no idea. The head priest in Crossbell being a grouchy dick who doesn't like the head of the Church doesn't really seem like it'd be a big enough reason to keep the Church from being involved, especially with the Alchemists/Croiss family behind the scenes.

And then the post-ending stuff about "oh yeah, and then Gilias took over Erebonia and for the next 2 years Crossbell was under their reign" and then a bunch of still photos timeskip of everyone working together as like the REBEL ARMY and then FREEDOM!! which all timeskipped like that is seriously wtf and feels weird. It feels like it's showing basically the equivelent of a Crossbell cast sequel all told entirely in 20 seconds of stills. Just weird.

Honestly, after The 3rd I was super super excited for the world of Zemuria because the politics, the power groups, the character relations all seemed so interesting and so ripe for great exciting stories to come. At the end of Ao, with the state of the world that we see, I'm feeling pretty unsure of the Kiseki overall storyline as a series and Falcom's ability to know what they're doing without it falling into generic jrpg trends. Everything's all doom and gloom and Ouroboros and the Church are building up their power. Just doesn't sound fun. Ouroboros in fact seems a lot less interesting as the newer players are kind of boring compared to the original Weissman and his agents revealed in SC. I thought it was a little disappointing they didn't even introduce any new Agents. I figured you'd get a bunch of new Agents introduced each series and the Pillars were the ones you'd slowly get introduced to. Instead you meet two new Pillars and no new agents.

That being said, there was a ton that I liked about Ao and I'll write that stuff up tomorrow. I think the middle of the game with the West Zemuria Meeting was amazing and the strongest part of Zero/Ao together. The 2nd half has some good stuff, but in the end I think the middle of Ao is stronger than the endgame Ao story-wise.

Lots of neat little tidbits from Wadji's mentioning of the "Place of Origin" to Campenella's "I'm not young like Ren" and throwing the Pillar of Salt as his S-Craft. The one thing I'm looking forward to in Sen is seeing the rest of the Genei Keikaku. Plus meeting a new cast and enjoying their story. But yeah, the spoilers in Ao for Sen, basically have killed all my excitement for the political side of Sen's storyline.

I'm definitely thinking that there's a good chance Campenella and maybe the Master of Ouroboros are pre-the fall of civilization people 1200 years old+. My fan theory coming from Ao's end is that Ouroborus and The Church are each from 1200 years ago and each have a Megami artifact that powers their organization and they've been fighting and shaping and controlling civilization from the shadows for 1200 years and now they're just coming into the limelight for what Sigmund basically referred to as an end of times kind of era. Arianrold definitely seems like she's from the 500 years ago middle ages of the time, so it does seem like some of the Ouroborus and maybe Church people don't exactly have normal lifespans.

Also Wadji was awesome and the best character in Ao by far. His reveal as the 9th Dominion Holy Grail Knight was the best twist in the game and just made him even more interesting. My only concern is that Kevin and Wadji are both really really interesting and likeable characters; two of the best characters in the entire series so far. It kind of sets an extremely high bar for the other Holy Grail Knights to live up to...

...on the other hand, the last minute twist that LLOYD AND TIO DIED in Zero, but Kia changed time...was pretty dumb/silly and probably the worst "twist" in a Kiseki game so far. It felt like random twist inserted to justify some of the antagonists/kia's logic explanations. In fact, I feel like a lot of the logic behind the whole Alchemists/Ian's Plan/Kia's actions was pretty bad when explained. Hell, the reasoning for why Arios and Mariabell took Kia and stuffed her in a box and brought her to the auction and left her to be sold only to be found by Lloyd and crew which ended up ruining their ENTIRE PLAN because of that one decision, well the logic on why they even did that in the first place was pretty weak. Basically I feel like the whole Kia/Alchemist story doesn't really hold up under scrutiny. The political story of Ao is like 100x stronger and more sensible. Even Deeta's plan is alright since you can basically explain it as "Deeta found out he was going to have access to this huge power trump card that he knew nothing about really, but he figured he'd use it in his political schemes after some reassuring from Ian Griswold". That holds up. It's Mariabell's creating the Azure tree, Destiny-controlling, MAKING the "D/kia" GOD, which is just sort of looney.

At least Gai's death backstory was good and well done.

Also, Uppers has the best voice. I dunno how much he talked in the pre-Evo version, but regardless of the music changes, Evo is the best version of Ao because you get more Uppers talking.

Oh yeah, and Falcom needs to stop with the 5-7 hour long final dungeons that go on and on. Their dungeon design sucks and the normal enemies aren't challenging and it's just drags the end out between the boss fights. Would much rather just have straight out boss rush and shorter dungeons in the end. And the final form of the final boss in this one is all kinds of bullshit with his non-queue unblockable vanishing of characters. On my first attempt I had him almost beat when he vanished Tio who was my ALL DEFENSE CRAFT+2 emergency saver, and then he started charging from his ultimate move, so I had Lloyd do Stun Break II to break his charge and he RESISTED IT and it didn't break his charge and then he unleashed his ultimate move and instant wiped the remaining 3 characters. Total fucking bullshit. A) Bosses are not allowed to do things outside of their place on the turn queue and B) The whole game is designed around being able to break an enemy's charge, so it's bs when it doesn't break their charge especially when it's the final attack of the final boss that does instant wipe damage.

Spoiler

You can actually figure it out before the tower if you did all the hidden quests

Spoiler

Hmmmm, I did all the quests, including the hidden ones. Didn't really see anything obvious that pointed out background clues for Ian Grimwold. I mean there were clues that there was another hidden character behind everything, but I didn't see anything that specifically pointed to him.

 

[TR_]

Ao no Kiseki Evo

Spoiler

Hmmmm, I did all the quests, including the hidden ones. Didn't really see anything obvious that pointed out background clues for Ian Grimwold. I mean there were clues that there was another hidden character behind everything, but I didn't see anything that specifically pointed to him.

Spoiler

Right before the tower, you have to check his office one more time and you get a trophy for find the truth,

Edit: Also i think in chapter 1 if you visit the graves theres special dialogue for him and Noels parents

 

[Bebpo]

Ao no Kiseki Evolution

Post-Ending Spoiler-filled Thoughts:

Spoiler

Alright, I made some notes on overall game thoughts before the final dungeon but held off on posting them in case the ending dungeon would change them. Already mentioned some in my ending thoughts, but here's some other general thoughts about Ao:

-It was weird that Tida never showed in Zero considering her The 3rd storyline where she makes the MECHA TIDA to combat Patel Matel and bring back Ren. Her connection to Ren was pretty emphasized as much as Estelle and Joshua so it's really odd she didn't come along with Estelle and Joshua in Zero or show up at any point of Ren's story. I thought it was weird that even her mech never showed up and then I got to the tower and Tio gets it as an S-Craft, which is fine but it's really more of an easter egg. Maybe they figured mecha tida was too overpowered to have in anymore games. She was awesome to play as and summon the mech first turn in The 3rd; one of the gameplay highlights of that game.

-Ao probably could've used more Kevin considering he was in the the OP movie and I got all excited and then he makes a brief cameo in the prologue and says "yep, I'm not going to be in this game" lol and then he has a nice little part in the end battle, but I still wish him & Reese were playable and had a bigger role. But there was probably no way to do Wadji's big twist if Kevin or Reese had been a party member for a chunk of the game like Estelle/Joshua were in Zero, and Wadji's big twist was worth even losing playable Kevin or Reese.

-Going from those, it's interesting that the playable cast was actually smaller in Ao than in Zero. Since in Zero you played as all of these characters at some point + you had playable Joshua & Estelle. Normally you'd expect the sequel game to be bigger in scope, including more playable characters. You can argue it was because the main cast grew to 6 from 4, and that's true. Honestly I don't have a huge problem with it because the game's story really was about the family of 4 + Kea; and gameplay Combo-crafts were such a major part of the game. But gameplay strategy and depth-wise, by losing out on the large playable cast of SC & The 3rd, the whole strategy aspect of deciding which characters to make a team of based on their unique crafts was pretty much lost and out the window.

-Also Dudley joining so late was a huge miss. Not only because you barely get to use him, but mainly because he has like no story relevance after he joins. He has no antagonist story to pair off against, and if you take him that means you lose either Wadji or Reesha which both have story significance. It's just weird. He's not even a fantastic gameplay character or anything. By the time he adds his one good move with 100% death success is basically blocked by all enemies in the final dungeon anyway lol. I mean I like Dudley and I liked his bits in the story in Zero together with Sergei and at the prologue of Ao. I just feel like if he was going to be a playable member in Ao, he should've been playable 20-30 hours earlier and incorporated into the story like the other playable characters. It's also weird bringing him into any cutscene instead of the other characters because he's so much older than the cast and doesn't have anything interesting to say besides like "oh, hmmmm, that's true" and generic non-unique stuff. He really feels like an Umaro type hidden playable character that's just an easter egg and not part of the story. I think maybe they should have made him hidden and optional like that and it'd just be a neat thing that you can gain Dudley. Also, Sergei and Dudley's best scenes by far were the end of Zero. They kicked so much ass in the finale of that game, but were kind of useless in the background in Ao. A little sad since Sergei is awesome.

-What the fuck is up with almost all bosses being immune to every single status effect and debuff? Like, a major part of SC and The 3rd's battle system gameplay-wise and Kiseki battle system-gameplay wise is buffing and debuffing and even status effects. Crafts having buffing/debuffing effects made the battles unique and interesting. It was almost Megaten style where you'd debuff the boss attacks, mess with their speed, drop their defenses, etc...while making your onslaught. Making bosses immune to everything just took away strategy from the gameplay, just like getting rid of the larger roster of playable characters did. I read some reviews of Ao last night after finishing it and I saw someone else talk about this boss immunity stuff too. Just seems like an odd and bad gameplay decision.

-Monsters boxes are a joke. Complete joke. As is most of the gameplay because of combo crafts. They were fun but they were too overpowered. Giant AoE that hits all enemies for huge damage and doesn't even eat up all CP? You basically win every single monster box by combo-craft at the start and maybe an S-craft followup.

-Honestly the more I think about it, the battle system is broken in Ao. You have the huge AoE combo crafts, and then you have the new burst mechanic which is another way to be overpowered and steamroll as it moves all your characters up the queue and you can launch combo crafts, s-crafts, and full screen AoE 240MP spells non-stop without the post-attack queue-detriments. Then you add in the master quartz system and just wtf how broken and insanely OP can you be? I was starting boss fights in the final dungeon with Reesha doing a 1.5x physical damage master quartz field effect and then Llloyd & Ellie with their +50% STR master quartz on would do Star Bright III combo craft and the amount of damage was absolutely insane. Then you follow up with Tio starting a magic burst and Llloyd & Ellie get another Star Bright III in, Reesha an S-Craft in and Tio a bunch of 240MP spells in before launching a 200CP +2 all Defense on all characters and before the boss even has a single move they are down to like 30% health and all your characters are protected from the S Craft they will probably launch on the next turn. I killed Shirley before she could even get an S Craft off and no damaged the fight. Ao's battle system is simply broken even if it's fun and fast.

-Ao's overall story was a nice tale about family. You can say Sora's chapter was about family with Joshua/Estelle/Cassius, but it was a brother-sister romance kind of thing. Here Lloyd, Ellie, Tio, Randy, Kea, Saito and Sergei were a big family and the entire game was about family ties. Everyone stood up for each other and no nakama left behind kind of stuff. They were their for Tio, there for Randy, there for Lloyd, and there for Kea. The characters and their relationships were really well developed and it felt genuine. Randy's story in particular was kind of been there, done that in jrpgs, but it was done extremely well. I really, really liked Randy's character by the end in a completely different way than I had liked him by the end of Zero. Lloyd was a great main character and he kind of reminds me of Luffy from One Piece except with high intelligence. He never backs down and has a heart of gold. Does the right thing and stands by his friends. He's really different from Estelle (although similar in some ways like Estelle won't back down either), but just as great of a lead character. I like how he's smart and he'll make deductions and figure things out instead of having stuff spoonfed to him. The backstory with his brother's death is nicely handled.

-I also like how in the final dungeon, the entire thing was like anti-anger, anti-revenge; instead of being a normal jrpg where they're pissed off at the villians for all the devestation they've caused and the villians all die (in any other jrpg Deeta's mecha would've exploded killing him in it. So respect to Falcom for not killing off Deeta since I liked his character). Wadji's was just that much stronger than Viper guy (forgot his name off the top of my head), but held back out of respect and friendship and finally gave his 100% which satisfied Viper guy because Bro fights aren't about holding back. But there was no anger or rage there. Reesha doesn't fight for revenge even though Shirley crippled Iyllia; she's cool headed and doesn't give in. Randy wins through the power of friendship and Sigmund accepts that and is happy to see Randy's got strength even if it's different than the strength Sigmund and his father had. The team fights Arios respectfully and Arios basically never goes badguy, he's a good dude who got his friend Gai killed and wants to be punished. Even with Ian, Llloyd isn't anger and doesn't want revenge for his brother's death; instead he peacefully and successfully talks Ian out of his plan. Even Ian doesn't really seem like a bad guy outside of the part where he killed Gai. I think the game should've had Ian showing a lot more remorse and shame at Gai's death because I feel like it's really trying to push that Ian's not a bad person; he just thought this Azure tree thing was a good plan and was depressed enough from the loss of his family to put it in motion. But yeah, it was nice to see the finales set themselves apart from a typical rpg but not being anger-fuelled/revenge-fueled at all, even though each character had their reasons to be. But instead the cast played it cool, like real support police and did what was right and lawful. Which is why I'm still irked that the couple of antagonists who were psychopath evil villians Mariabell & Shirley just walked off and joined Ouroboros. At least Sigmund is just doing his merc job. Shirley is psycho.

-Speaking of which, I like how Ao really showed off the strength of a strong mercenary group in the Kiseki world. Sure Sora had mercenaries, but they were nothing compared to the systematic war waged in this. In fact, I'd say the Red Constellation Merc group is the best portrayal of mercenaries in any rpg. I also loved how they humanized the lower ranked people, with them recognizing Randy and having respectfully exchanges and giving sensible commands to their troops like when you fight Galles the sniper in Maintz and after he's caught off-guard by Randy he has a nice exchange and then calls off his troops. If it wasn't for Shirley, I'd actually like these Mercs since everyone else was just doing their job and good at it.

-Heiyuu was cool too. They obviously didn't do as much but Tsao was a good supporting character. I actually liked the head guy's grandson the most out of all of them surprisingly even though he didn't even have a portrait. The sidequest where you take him around is hilarious and then you run into him later on the train inspection sidequest which is great. I wasn't really interested in a Calvard game after Sora chapter (just seemed like a boring country), but now with the politics of a newly formed 100 year old democracy and foreigner/nationalist struggles at home along with characters like Tsao and all the martial arts stuff, Calvard at least seems like it'll have enough to do a good game series.

-On non-portraits. Yeah, the guild members really should have had portraits. I mean there's like 4 of them and they interact throughout Zero/Ao. They deserve portraits.

-Music was great. I loved the Orcus Tower climb. So many cool colors in the middle section and great great music. Looking forward to listening to the original version of the OST a bunch.

-Why did they even bother having a seperate "wait" character section for a whopping 2 characters you don't bring? I mean it just seems silly. Why not bring everyone with you and have all 8 character standing around in the cutscenes. Maybe it was a memory issue. A wait area that doesn't gain levels and stuff would make more sense if you had a big cast and could only take a few with you at a time.

-The new Evo quests were pretty silly. Hey, here's this fanservice character you like (Lector, Shirley, Olivert, Chloe) and you just did a quest with them in the story...now let's do another quest with them for extra fanservice!

-Mechs were pretty cool. Very Xenogears-ish. Especially the big Blue one that Joshua and crew fought off.

Overall I think Zero's a more consistent game from start to finish and is pretty fantastic. Ao reaches higher highs with the build up and happening of the West Zemuria Meeting and the Red Constellation showdown, but it's more inconsistent and doesn't do as good of job pulling all the stories together in as satisfying way as previous games and kind of ends with a bit of a non-ending. Ao's also way more broken gameplay-wise. But it's still got lots and lots of fantastic characters, an exciting story, great music and visuals. I'd give Zero an A, and maybe Ao an A-/B+.

Non-spoiler review of Zero/Ao:

+Great games with lots of interesting characters
+Good story, does a nice job continuing from Sora SC/The 3rd
+Crossbell's a very well developed place
+Excellent music
+Great length
+Super speedy and fun battle system
-...that is too easy and very unbalanced towards the end
-Falcom still needs to learn how to make interesting dungeons
-Pacing is better than Sora, but still moves slow at times
-Less self-contained than Sora chapter

Crossbell is a chapter that's feels very different from Liberal and not just a retread in a new area. Yet it's just as good and in a lot of ways better because it has 3-4 games worth of built up characters/plotlines to go from. Otoh in a few areas it's not as good as the Liberal chapter. Worth a play whenever it's in English

9/10

 

[Gu4n]

Yeah, the guild members really should have had portraits. I mean there's like 4 of them and they interact throughout Zero/Ao. They deserve portraits

And they got what they deserved.

Just not yet at that point in time. This is from the upcoming Akatsuki no Kiseki.

 

[Scrooge McDuck]

And they got what they deserved.



Just not yet at that point in time. This is from the upcoming Akatsuki no Kiseki.

Having just finished Trails in the Sky FC, I feel like they should just give all the bracers that appear portraits just because. It's not like there's a lot of them and some, like Gundolf and Sting, gets referenced sometimes, propped up to be awesome veterans and even have unique sprites. They also go around and really don't do much less compared to

Spoiler

the likes Grant and Anelace apart from the whole Tournament thing.

And speaking of Tournament, I also think one or two of the Raven gangs should have portraits if they're going to join out of nowhere like that. Given their relative relevance to the Ruan storyline, it's weird that they don't have it, anyway. Considering there's a lot of new important characters appearing there, maybe they ran out of the Ruan-portraits quota or something. Like, they just got the portraits up to Clam and "oh my god we couldn't even afford the rest of the orphanage children."

Basically, I think this is a grave and shameful error and they should give everyone portraiiiits.

In any case!

Where does Akatsuki no Kiseki stand within the whole story concept, anyway? Is it included within the "three Chapters left" plan?

 

[Gu4n]

Having just finished Trails in the Sky FC, I feel like they should just give all the bracers that appear portraits just because. It's not like there's a lot of them and some, like Gundolf and Sting, gets referenced sometimes, propped up to be awesome veterans and even have unique sprites. They also go around and really don't do much less compared to

Spoiler

the likes Grant and Anelace apart from the whole Tournament thing.

And speaking of Tournament, I also think one or two of the Raven gangs should have portraits if they're going to join out of nowhere like that. Given their relative relevance to the Ruan storyline, it's weird that they don't have it, anyway. Considering there's a lot of new important characters appearing there, maybe they ran out of the Ruan-portraits quota or something. Like, they just got the portraits up to Clam and "oh my god we couldn't even afford the rest of the orphanage children."

Basically, I think this is a grave and shameful error and they should give everyone portraiiiits.

In any case!

Where does Akatsuki no Kiseki stand within the whole story concept, anyway? Is it included within the "three Chapters left" plan?

Didn't Reis, Din and Rocco have portraits? And yes, I feel sorry for that one orphanage kid that didn't get a portrait.

We're shy on information as to when Akatsuki takes place. It definitely takes place after the first two Trails in the Sky games and most certainly before the Crossbell/Erebonia games. Perhaps it takes place during The 3rd. I don't know -- maybe it's not even canon at all!

 

[TR_]

And they got what they deserved.



Just not yet at that point in time. This is from the upcoming Akatsuki no Kiseki.

I seriously thought the third guy was Lloyd when I first looked at it. Did they change the artist again?

 

[Scrooge McDuck]

Didn't Reis, Din and Rocco have portraits? And yes, I feel sorry for that one orphanage kid that didn't get a portrait.

We're shy on information as to when Akatsuki takes place. It definitely takes place after the first two Trails in the Sky games and most certainly before the Crossbell/Erebonia games. Perhaps it takes place during The 3rd. I don't know -- maybe it's not even canon at all!

Naw, they get unique sprites in that they show hair of varying colors instead of wearing the generic Raven bandanna, but no portraits.

Is it bad that I'm hoping Akatsuki to be completely irrelevant storywise? After Suikoden went bust, this series is pretty much my only hope of actually having a JRPG saga of connected and coherent narrative. Akatsuki being included in that would effectively destroy my change of collecting them all, so to speak.

 

[KuwabaraTheMan]

Naw, they get unique sprites in that they show hair of varying colors instead of wearing the generic Raven bandanna, but no portraits.

They do get portraits in SC. I had forgotten that they didn't have them in the original.

 

[Baliis]

This is how I feel about every single Evolution arrangement going all the way back to Zero.
I'm dreading hearing how they mess with 3rd's music, since it has my favorite soundtrack in the series.

Since I've been wanting to play 3rd but kinda had the same thought about the Evo OSTs, is there a preferred version of 3rd between PC/PSP/ps3? Trying to Google around a bit to find differences didn't really turn up much.

 

[kiriin]

I seriously thought the third guy was Lloyd when I first looked at it. Did they change the artist again?

Pretty sure Katsumi Enami still does character/portrait designs for Falcom.

@Bebpo Glad you were able finish and enjoy the series.

It reminds me of an interview Toshiro Kondo did before talking about the overall series. It seems like they themselves were a bit unsure with Zero's premises. Seeing as how the formula in the two games work so well. Honestly I felt the same way when I played years ago. Grew to love it shortly after though. Thought they did a really good job with designing the entire game around Crossbell City. It was a refreshing change of pace and use of context that made me felt quite fond of both games.

 

[Eusis]

They do get portraits in SC. I had forgotten that they didn't have them in the original.

Yeah, I booted FC back up on Vita and was surprised to not see portraits for them.

 

[Scrooge McDuck]

They do get portraits in SC. I had forgotten that they didn't have them in the original.

Yeah, I booted FC back up on Vita and was surprised to not see portraits for them.

What? Spoiler!

But seriously, that's great. I wonder why they didn't just back-ported those portraits into FC. After all, I seem to remember reading (though not sure) that this version has more portraits compared to the original Japanese PC version to begin with.

 

[Palette Swap]

You know who needs a portrait in Sky? Ridge.
Every time I ran into him I was like "am I supposed to know you ?"

Also, Anton and Orvid would have deserved portraits in TitS.

 

[Dragoon En Regalia]

Pretty sure Katsumi Enami still does character/portrait designs for Falcom.

Very skeptical if you're talking about the Falcom artist I think you're referencing. Here's a very early work bythat person for Falcom Unpublished Music 2007, two years before Falcom commissioned Enami for Ys Seven:

I've seen people erroneously tag new Falcom art as Enami's work even though Enami definitely has a more unique style.

 

[kiriin]

^He's a freelance artist, the same that did the art for Baccano light novel and various work. I said Im pretty sure because one of the interview article Falcom still has him for some of the art since Zero so I assume he was still with them . But I could be wrong tho as most the newer games they used a inhouse artist. Might be wrong about the Akatsuki thing. Falcom had multiple artist during past game development

 

[coredecepts]

You know who needs a portrait in Sky? Ridge.
Every time I ran into him I was like "am I supposed to know you ?"

Also, Anton and Orvid would have deserved portraits in TitS.

Yes, Ridge! There's not a ton to go off, but I really like him. I want to see what other trouble he gets up to. Is he the only non-portrait Bracer who isn't a veteran?

 

[Bebpo]

Ao no Kiseki

Been listening to the OST, good stuff. This track in particular:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPZmonj2TDk&index=15&list=PLzFTGYa_evXgMgsNOinBGPMIjfyIeVrdy

Makes me wish Falcom did a budget modern retro Ys game using Ys1 combat, 8-bit graphics and chiptune soundtrack. Their chiptune music is awesome!

 

[Bebpo]

Ao no Kiseki Evo

End story spoilers:

Spoiler

Was thinking some of the endgame Ao stuff and I remembered that when you go and visit Joshua/Estelle in Mainz and Kevin/Reese in the village right before the final dungeon where both are recovering. They both say "Hey, go on ahead, when I'm all rested I'll be joining you guys in the final dungeon"

Which sort of implies that they were going to show up in the final dungeon, either in playable or in support roles for the ending stuff. But then you never see any of them again after that point.

Just kind of weird...

...like a number of things in the endgame/ending of Ao....

I gotta wonder if Ao was rushed and various stuff had to be cut to get it out in time leading to some of the unfinished weird stuff.

 

[TR_]

Ao no Kiseki Evo

End story spoilers:

Spoiler

Was thinking some of the endgame Ao stuff and I remembered that when you go and visit Joshua/Estelle in Mainz and Kevin/Reese in the village right before the final dungeon where both are recovering. They both say "Hey, go on ahead, when I'm all rested I'll be joining you guys in the final dungeon"

Which sort of implies that they were going to show up in the final dungeon, either in playable or in support roles for the ending stuff. But then you never see any of them again after that point.

Just kind of weird...

...like a number of things in the endgame/ending of Ao....

I gotta wonder if Ao was rushed and various stuff had to be cut to get it out in time leading to some of the unfinished weird stuff.

Spoiler

I don't think the other group actually said that they'll meet you in the final dungeon. But I felt Ao was rushed too since it seems like they needed to make it a "kiseki" game so they jammed in a lot of ouroboros stuff in the last few chapters.

 

[Scrooge McDuck]

Yes, Ridge! There's not a ton to go off, but I really like him. I want to see what other trouble he gets up to. Is he the only non-portrait Bracer who isn't a veteran?

There's also Zeiss's Wong and Ruan's Melvin. All three also sadly have the same exact sprite.

 

[Cruixant]

Spoiler

I don't think the other group actually said that they'll meet you in the final dungeon. But I felt Ao was rushed too since it seems like they needed to make it a "kiseki" game so they jammed in a lot of ouroboros stuff in the last few chapters.

Ao:

Spoiler

I dunno, I thought Ao was fine personally. Rushed to me would be Sen 2, which honestly just felt like an extension of Sen's final chapter. About the Ouroboros, I didn't think too much about it. They were basically the workforce for Mariabell's plan and the games were also much more centered around the international politics this time, so it makes sense they didn't advance the villains' plotline much.

 

[Bebpo]

Ao no Kiseki Endgame Spoilers

Spoiler

I don't think the other group actually said that they'll meet you in the final dungeon. But I felt Ao was rushed too since it seems like they needed to make it a "kiseki" game so they jammed in a lot of ouroboros stuff in the last few chapters.

Spoiler

Literally both groups say "after we get some rest, we'll join up with you guys". I mean maybe story-wise Llloyd and crew just finished the final dungeon too fast and they didn't have time to join up, but it was kind of a weird thing for them to say because it sort of implied they were going to appear for the finale and then they didn't.

I don't really care either way, just thought it was odd and funny.

 

[TR_]

Ao no Kiseki Endgame Spoilers

Spoiler

Literally both groups say "after we get some rest, we'll join up with you guys". I mean maybe story-wise Llloyd and crew just finished the final dungeon too fast and they didn't have time to join up, but it was kind of a weird thing for them to say because it sort of implied they were going to appear for the finale and then they didn't.

I don't really care either way, just thought it was odd and funny.

Spoiler

I always thought it just meant that they'll just meet up with SSS finish what they are planning to do. I don't think the groups explicitly said they would meet up at the tree but I could be wrong since it's been a while.

 

[TR_]

Ao:

Spoiler

I dunno, I thought Ao was fine personally. Rushed to me would be Sen 2, which honestly just felt like an extension of Sen's final chapter. About the Ouroboros, I didn't think too much about it. They were basically the workforce for Mariabell's plan and the games were also much more centered around the international politics this time, so it makes sense they didn't advance the villains' plotline much.

Spoiler

I didn't really think too hard on the ouroboros stuff too since Ao for me was more about Lloyd's inevitable struggle to protect his city and how he finds his determination to do that with the power of friendship. I agree about sen 2 being rushed,since the final chapter just ends suddenly and the game honestly felt more like a formulaic collectathon than any of the previous games.

 

[Gu4n]

Spoiler

Neither Ao nor Sen II were rushed.

Since Sen and Sen II were intended as one game, they awkwardly cut it in unequal halfs with Sen II getting less of the original content, meaning they had more to fill/stretch to justify a release.

 

[The Boat]

Bought Trails in the Sky for Steam the other day, looking forward to playing this to see what all the fuss is about!

 

[KuwabaraTheMan]

Bought Trails in the Sky for Steam the other day, looking forward to playing this to see what all the fuss is about!

I hope you enjoy. You're about to embark on a really ambitious story.

 

[TR_]

Spoiler

Neither Ao nor Sen II were rushed.

Since Sen and Sen II were intended as one game, they awkwardly cut it in unequal halfs with Sen II getting less of the original content, meaning they had more to fill/stretch to justify a release.

Spoiler

I thought sen 2 was ended kinda abruptly in the final chapter and there was too much revealed that never gets explained. That's honestly how I felt back when the game was confirmed for only 2 releases.

 

[Gu4n]

Spoiler

I thought sen 2 was ended kinda abruptly in the final chapter and there was too much revealed that never gets explained. That's honestly how I felt back when the game was confirmed for only 2 releases.

Spoiler

That's because the game that launched as Sen II is essentially the content cut from Sen I, stretched and filled with additional content to have it as a separate game. So while you can argue it lacks content since it sticked to the original plan, it's not rushed (on the contrary, even!).

 

[Cruixant]

Sen 2:

Spoiler

Yeah, it was either that or they had to rework how the second half of the Erebonia arc develops so they could release it in time for the anniversary. I was expecting the civil war to last for the first half in Sen 2 and then the other half would be dealing with Ouroboros/Septerion, so that's why Sen1/2 felt a bit rushed. Given that 2 ended up being like Ao's final chapter extended to a full game, I would have much preferred it for the two to have been released as one single game, but oh well.

 

[MildSoss]

Is there any way to start Trails in the sky FC on easy mode from the start on steam? I'm thinking of picking it up on there and play it for the story since I started with Cold Steel and it's pretty hard going back to the old battle system. lol

 

[Gu4n]

Sen 2:

Spoiler

Yeah, it was either that or they had to rework how the second half of the Erebonia arc develops so they could release it in time for the anniversary. I was expecting the civil war to last for the first half in Sen 2 and then the other half would be dealing with Ouroboros/Septerion, so that's why Sen1/2 felt a bit rushed. Given that 2 ended up being like Ao's final chapter extended to a full game, I would have much preferred it for the two to have been released as one single game, but oh well.

I think they originally intended

Spoiler

to have Sen II end at the same point in time as Ao, meaning after the Finale's ending, and decided to stick with that. This leads me to assume that there will be a timeskip between Sen II and Sen III, where Sen III revolves around, indeed, the Sept-Terrion and (Ao spoiler)

Spoiler

liberation of Crossbell

. The two chapters after Sen II are clearly preparations for Sen III: they didn't make Crossbell just to have a camera fly over it, we'll get to explore it in Sen III (if the game were rushed, this chapter wouldn't be there); and the final chapters, were some things are wrapped up and other things get prepared for the sequel (Sen II NG+ spoiler)

Spoiler

such as the share of workload between the Dominion in Erebonia, the two Sept-Terrion in Erebonia and Rean's next level of awakening.

In a nutshell, Sen III has the potential to go Ao-tier hard.

 

[NoctisCaelum]

Any plan for western release for zero?

 

[Famassu]

Any plan for western release for zero?

Not much more than XSeed saying they'd love to bring the rest of the Kiseki games over, but they can't/won't confirm they are fully committed to Third/Zero/Azure since it would be a huge commitment and they aren't sure yet if they can commit to all of it (since the sales of these games isn't fantastic). Because if they do Third, they pretty much have to do Zero and if they do Zero, they can't just leave it at that and not localize Azure. Or they can, but they'd rather not do Third or Zero unless they are fairly certain they can then localize Zero after Third and Azure after Zero as well.

 

[Bebpo]

Ao no Kiseki Evo

Couple of post-game heavy spoiler-filled thoughts about series mysteries:

Spoiler

You know, after 3rd's "Hell" and Zero's demon-worshiping cult summoning demons and turning into demons at first glance, I really thought Crossbell's chapter was going to get into the mythological "Hell"/demon world of Kiseki.

Yet, Ao kind of drops that entirely. Even the D:G group never made another appearance (was totally expecting them to come back in Ao). Then you find out the D:G group wasn't even worshiping demons. It was just a group that turned away from Eidos because "if god exists, why is there suffering" and so instead worshiping man-made achievements through stuff like alchemy and focused on creating a man-made god, aka Kea. Even the Gnosis was from the azure plants, remnants of the zero treasure & Kea and it was more tied to the illusion/maboroshi element and illusionary/phantom monsters. So basically Ao retcons Zero to make it that Zero had nothing to do with demons/hell.

...yet Zero still had a bunch of demons, and the end bosses all turned into demons due to gnosis (the original zero treasure let them be all knowing, so the idea that the drug derived from remnants of that treasure let's the people "see" more than the visible world; aka see the higher elements makes sense; but still they look like demons). And Ao even has some demon quest monsters that their descriptions say escaped from hell IIRC (also as an aside, there was a lot of interesting mythology stuff tied into the enemy descriptions in Zero/Ao. Always enjoyed reading the blurb about each enemy/boss). So it's kind of weird that there obviously are demons/hell/demon realm/dimension in the Kiseki world (3rd wasn't really proof since it was a world based off Kevin's imagination of hell from being raised by the holy church bible and it could've been made up), but at the same time the Crossbell chapter didn't go into it, when it seemed the obvious chapter to address the demon mythology, especially coming from 3rd. But maybe they'll save that for the church chapter.

Also, after listening to the non-evo OST a few times, Ao is a case where the two osts are pretty much the same imo. For the bulk of the tracks, can't tell much of a difference and some stuff like the main battle theme is WAY better in the Evo version (and since that's a track you hear all the time, that's sort of a big plus), whereas I'd give a slight edge for the boss battle theme to the non-Evo (but Evo boss theme is still great guitar rock). Final boss song is a little better in the original. But yeah, outside of the battle themes the rest basically sound so similar I think any complaints are really nitpicky here. While with Zero I'll listen to the original ost over the evo version, even though they're pretty close too, with Ao I actually prefer the Evo version. I feel Ao's original soundtrack tries to be very full orchestra in most of its tracks and the original instruments feel limited in the original soundtrack. Like a 16-bit rendition of a modern film score. The Evo album just sounds the same but with fuller, better instruments instead of synth and fits the tracks generally better imo.

But then again, I really think these Evo soundtracks are a "whichever version you listened to first" will sound the best because the other version will sound different and you'll notice all the changes.

 

[Bebpo]

Was thinking about how with China opening up game sales and Asia sales becoming more and more almost 1:1 with Japanese sales and helping support Japan/Asia-focused franchises, how Japanese games are going to start trying to appeal more to Asia like how they tried and failed mostly to appeal to the West in order to increase western sales.

Thinking about that, while other developers may go out of their way to include East Asia elements into their games, Falcom is really poised in a great spot after Sen III if they do Calvard. I mean in a few years when the Asia market for Japanese games is even stronger, they can do Calvard as this Wuxia style Kiseki chapter and it won't even be out of character for the franchise. Should also be a pretty fun premise for an rpg.

Idk, just a random thought.

 

[Uchigatana]

I guess this is the most appropriate place to post my thoughts. Anyway, I finished chapter five of Trails of Cold Steel, and I was so curious what happens at the trade conference at Crossbell since they mentioned it so frequently. So, I read the entire spoiler and watched several videos about it. Feel free to put any insight as I try piece the events from two series together.

Ao no Kiseki Chapter 2 and Trails of Cold Steel Chapter 5 spoilers

Spoiler

Reading up the second chapter of Ao no Kiseki, really put things into perspective. I was surprised that the terrorists from the Imperial Liberation Front made a joint collaboration with the terrorists group in Calvard Republic. They must have really hated their country's respective leaders to plan a large scale attack at Orchis Tower. Judging from the events that transpired from Lloyd's perspective, the ILF were the ones responsible with the security breach from the Orbal Net in Crossbell and Garellia Fortress. Also, towards the end of chapter II of Ao no Kiseki, I saw the playthrough where one of the terrorist group got shot down by the Red Constellation. That would mean that Gideon from ToCS was one of the victims involved from the massacre. Is that correct, guys?

Playing Trails of Cold Steel is making me feel curious about the Crossbell games so much. Still, it's such a great series to invest on! >_<

 

[Jolkien]

Trails in the Sky FC and SC completed.

Spoiler

Wow I just finished SC.. what a game. These two together, I think they are my favorite jRPG from here on out. Very nice writing, detailed world, well I guess I don't have to preach to you guys. I adored it. So I figure the bracer rank in-game were just a mechanic and were non canon. I wonder what rank Estelle and Joshua finished at, considering Shera and Agate both got promoted from C to B at the beginning of SC. Do other titles provide an idea ? Just curious

I wish these title were more popular so we could get it all for sure. Such a captivating world. I'll go play Cold Steel next. Wish I could do more to help these games get translated here than just purchasing a copy. Please Xseed, bring us this whole universe.

 

[Scrooge McDuck]

Trails in the Sky FC and SC completed.

Spoiler

Wow I just finished SC.. what a game. These two together, I think they are my favorite jRPG from here on out. Very nice writing, detailed world, well I guess I don't have to preach to you guys. I adored it. So I figure the bracer rank in-game were just a mechanic and were non canon. I wonder what rank Estelle and Joshua finished at, considering Shera and Agate both got promoted from C to B at the beginning of SC. Do other titles provide an idea ? Just curious

I wish these title were more popular so we could get it all for sure. Such a captivating world. I'll go play Cold Steel next. Wish I could do more to help these games get translated here than just purchasing a copy. Please Xseed, bring us this whole universe.

I have no idea what

Spoiler

Estelle's rank canonically should be the exact moment she announced herself in front of Olivert and the Erebonian army, but the Kiseki 10th Anniversary artbook currently lists her and Joshua as B-Rank Bracers.

 

[Eusis]

I have no idea what

Spoiler

Estelle's rank canonically should be the exact moment she announced herself in front of Olivert and the Erebonian army, but the Kiseki 10th Anniversary artbook currently lists her and Joshua as B-Rank Bracers.

I imagine that logically

Spoiler

either she reached C rank and got upgraded to B after Liber Ark, or for whatever reason that couldn't count (TOO top secret?) and so everyone involved stayed at their prior ranks. Or Joshua took the ranks to compensate for not being around earlier but helping at the climax.

 

[Jolkien]

FC and SC completed.

Spoiler

I was thinking do we know in future game who is the Ouroboros Grandmaster or the story is not there yet ? The plot felt so well planned I wonder if the main writer knows the whole path the series is going. The confrontation of Kevin and Weissmann really surprised me (in a good way)

I loved FC and SC so much, can't wait to start Cold Steel (probably in a week or so) I hope the game stayed as or more awesome . And then I'll join all of you non Japanese speaker as slowly waiting for Cold Steel 2 and everything else, Aidios willing to come in NA and EU.

 

[Gu4n]

FC and SC completed.

Spoiler

I was thinking do we know in future game who is the Ouroboros Grandmaster or the story is not there yet ? The plot felt so well planned I wonder if the main writer knows the whole path the series is going. The confrontation of Kevin and Weissmann really surprised me (in a good way)

I loved FC and SC so much, can't wait to start Cold Steel (probably in a week or so) I hope the game stayed as or more awesome . And then I'll join all of you non Japanese speaker as slowly waiting for Cold Steel 2 and everything else, Aidios willing to come in NA and EU.

Regarding your spoiler: no, but

Spoiler

Falcom CEO has indicated that we'll get (a) hint(s) regarding the identity of the Grandmaster in Cold Steel III.

All we know so far is that

Spoiler

the Grandmaster is female

.

 

[Scrooge McDuck]

Argh!

While browsing for some Trails in the Sky images, I came across this image and I got an immediate sinking feeling that it spoils things from other games:

Spoiler

http://i.imgur.com/MSexeV0.jpg

Spoiler

Somebody please tell me it isn't true.

EDIT:
Calming a bit, this is probably a request nobody would be comfortable in replying, sorry. I just needed to vent and has spoiler myself silly about [Cold Steel spoiler]:

Spoiler

the maid called Sharon Kruger

. It is all official-looking, too. Why Falcom, why.

Spoiler

Why would you sneak her into a group shot of Sky Ouroboros

.