#Trails of Cold Steel II

[tomatostyle]

Aurelia Le Guin Commission for Client

[they-have-the-same-va]

Kinger from The Amazing Digital Circus shares a voice actor with Rean Schwarzer from the Legend of Heroes series.

Voiced by Sean Chiplock @sonicmega

[xspiderchloe]

The Erebonian’ Trails arc becomes much better if, instead of worrying yourself with the whole “Rean’s harem problem” and whatever ship war may have come from there, you forget about all that jazz and just see Class VII; both og and new, as what they are: The funniest found family ever to exist.

[satoshi-mochida]

Got a copy of The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II I ordered recently.

I forget if I told this story, but last year after finishing Cold Steel 1, I ordered Cold Steel II. It took 3 months for it to ship, and they had accidently send Cold Steel 1, instead. I was able to send it back and get Amazon credit at least, but held off on trying again until a few days ago. It shipped much quicker this time, and was the correct order. XP

[fostersffff]

Finally.

I finally know just what was happening in Crossbell.

[petterwass]

Love Lt General Craig so much, he's such a nutter!

It takes a certain kind of man to go to was as part of a Armoured Division, and not even riding in the hatch of your flag tank, but standing tall on its hull while it fights.

[geodude96]

Alisa told her mother at one point (I think in CSI) that when she graduated, she was going to run the company "the way it should be run." Over the course of the series, we know she was influenced by the selfless examples of people like Towa and especially Rean, not to mention the way Class VII's field studies helped many people. I was just thinking about all that and how it helped lead to things like Alisa showing the others her Orbal Gear and explaining that it also has non-combat applications, such as performing rescues. Though her mother is still her superior in the company, Alisa now has enough influence to use the company's resources to do things like arrange to have those motorcycles delivered to Rean's new Class VII at the branch campus. We know she was bothered by the focus on WMD manufacturing, so I like the signs that show that she's pushing for more focus on construction and less on destruction, more helping and less hurting. She's come a long way from the stubborn yet insecure teenager she was in CSI.

[rehncohro]

[raleydrew]

It's a bit of an inside joke, but if anyone watches my Trails of Cold Steel playthrough on YouTube, you'll know how I react to these particular characters who are clearly fujoshis.

(I can't remember which game it is so I included both playlists)

So me putting "himejoshi" on my profile makes me laugh

[professoricepick]

Metal Flash Roads - Volume II: The Kids Are All Fight

Preface It’s funny, really. I was worried that this title would’ve been too clunky, but it ended up being a hit with one of my editors. Granted, I guess I always try to hold myself to such high standards when naming things… mainly because I’m not really that good at it. Like, occasionally, something perfect will just randomly pop into my head. Otherwise, I have a tendency of relying on online…

[storypraxis]

TLoH TRAILS OF COLD STEEL II Part 24

[azumakaze-blog]

https://youtu.be/5vSxPpj-i_E

[they-have-the-same-va]

Kanami Mashita from Persona 4: Dancing All Night shares a voice actor with Emma Millstein from The Legend of Heroes series.

Voiced by Rena Strober

[thefigureresource]

Alisa Reinford [The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II] 1/7 scale from Ques Q coming December 2024.

[fostersffff]

Seeing rounds of people respond to NISA saying Trails through Daybreak is a great place to jump into the franchise with "NOOO! IT'S BY NO MEANS A GREAT PLACE TO START!!! WHAT ARE YOU SAAAYING!?!?! IT'S THE 11TH GAME IN A SERIES WITH A CONTINUOUS STORY!!!"

Listen: I understood when it was laughing at how Trails of Cold Steel III was advertised by NISA as "a great place to start", but everyone needs fuckin' relax here. If someone who has never played a Trails game sees Trails through Daybreak and thinks "wow, that's cool!", they are statistically unlikely to go "but before I check out this brand new thing I've never seen before, I will play 10 other RPGs first to make sure I have complete context, including a game that is literally older now than the first Dragon Quest was at the time of its original release". And if people keep saying "NO NO THESE GAMES CAN'T BE PLAYED WITHOUT THE FULL CONTEXT TO APPRECIATE EVER MINUTE DETAIL YOU NEED THOSE 10 OTHER RPGS!!!" they're much more likely to go "oh, nevermind then".

Like, as someone who played Cold Steel I and II before circling back to Sky and proceeding straight through from there, there were moments where I surely missed the impact of some characters showing up, or was a little confused about the why or how other things were happening. Not knowing that the weapon that deleted Garrelia Fortress was one of three giant robots didn't make that game unintelligable; if anything, it made the sudden appearance of the Panzer Soldats at the very end even more surprising. Yeah, I had no idea in what context Lloyd and Rixia showed up at the end of Cold Steel II, but the game just tells you "hey here's who these characters are" and I went "well, ok".

It is so much easier to entice people to get into a thing if they try the new hotness, and then go "woah, there's even more stuff in this series I can check out!?"

Or maybe they don't and just go forward from there, and that's fine too. Just don't actively tell people they gotta do like 800 hours of what will feel like homework to them before doing the thing they actually want to do.

[teecupangel]

More angst!

From @zero-saito

This keeps getting better!! Oh man all the auditore lost rank, I don’t think that would stop Ezio tho. Maybe sneak in under another name? He certainly wouldn’t give up on Desmond easily. He’s gonna have to work his ass off to make it up to him. Poor Dessy!!

From @witchofthecoffee

Why am i now interested in inside war between Spanish and Italian brotherhood? xD Knowing it was Desmond must have hurt Ezio like a canon in the stomach. it actually would be interesting to see how much influence Auditores lost because of this situation.

Oh, Ezio would definitely ignore all of the Spanish Brotherhood’s warnings and wouldn’t even tell his family about it. Claudia would be the only one to know that he’s leaving to go to Spain because she sees more than she lets on. Federico would have realized it as well but he’s been too busy trying to support Giovanni and Mario who are trying to keep their ‘ranks’ in the Brotherhood and meeting with the rest of the Italian Brotherhood who are all a bit too hesitant to go against the Spanish Brotherhood considering they brought proof of the Auditores’ close ties with the Medici that goes against the Brotherhood’s supposed impartial stance as well as the fact that the Spanish Brotherhood had more active Assassins that are trained in the field while the Italian Brotherhood only had Bartolomeo and his mercenaries left with the removal of the Auditores (La Volpe and his thieves also have combat experience but they’re more on the side of being distractions and scouting than actual front liners).

Claudia only tells him to be careful and to remind him that Ezio might still think of Desmond as a close friend but considering the actions House Auditore had done to his family, Desmond might not think the same way so he better prepares himself.

So while the beginning of a sorta cold war between the Spanish and Italian Brotherhood is brewing in the background, Ezio finally tracks down Desmond in Madrid and…

To quote @let-it-return-to-the-ashes' reblog:

“And for the first time in years, he sees his friend face up close once again.”

Another Desmond reborn as X, but this one is as Uberto Alberti's kid. Who we don't know anything about but "family" is the reason he betrayed his friend supposedly so I'd be interesting if Desmond could try and avoid it this time around.

According to the transcription of Uberto’s database in ACII:

Now, I found a backdoor into the Templars' database server, I've been combing it for some kind of smoking gun. I found it. Apparently, Uberto's family was evicted by the Medici bank. Uberto's been aching for revenge ever since, and the Templars promised him support. Ezio's father was standing in the way AND Uberto was jealous of his influence over the Florentine government. Two birds with one stone, isn't it? It looks like Uberto used his election to the Signoria as his opportunity to strike.

Apparently, he joined the Templars because the Medici evicted his family.

If he is part of the real House Alberti, there is no mentions of any evictions in wiki nor any mention of an Uberto. The Albertis were allies of the Medici as far as I read.

Returned to Florence, in the 15th century they were first allied to the Medici against the Albizzi. Main members of the period include writer Antonio Alberti, cardinal Alberto di Giovanni Alberti and architect and Renaissance theorist Leon Battista Alberti.

But wiki did say that they “divided into different lines, who owned several houses and towers near the modern Ponte alle Grazie” and “Some of them were admitted in the Venetian nobility late in the century” so maybe Uberto’s family wasn’t one of those few fortunate Albertis to gain nobility.

So, really…

Giovanni died and dragged his two sons with him because of his ties to the Medicis.

And Desmond would point that out.

In this setup, Desmond would probably think of Uberto as a good father as he did stress he did it for his family (although another setup is that Uberto is using the whole “I’m doing it for my family” to hide his greed and thirst for power but that would be a bit boring so we’ll go down the ‘a good man wishing to avenge his family’s misfortunes’ route instead).

So Desmond would want to protect his new family (especially if he has younger siblings). When they get evicted, Desmond understood why Uberto did what he did. Maybe add in the drama of the eviction being all of a sudden or not given any warning before they were evicted during a time when Firenze was having ‘money problems’.

Desmond knew that the Templars would contact Uberto then and tried to stop Uberto from saying yes to the Templars but he’d say that this was their only choice if they wish to protect their family.

(If you really wanna drive in a conundrum, one of Desmond’s siblings or his mother falls ill during this time and the financial support the Templars gave them is what kept them from dying or maybe said mother/sibling was already ill and almost died had it not been for the Templars’ money)

In the end, Desmond tries to leave the Auditores alone but, instead, Ezio found him and started to talk to him. Desmond couldn’t help but form a bond with Ezio anyway, maybe become a close friend who doesn’t really like to be seen with others.

Ezio knows Desmond spend most of his time caring for his ailing sibling/mother, and he remembers Petruccio so he has a soft spot for Desmond.

Anyway…

Uberto still becomes a Templar and Desmond tries to undermine him, first by trying to save the decoded message that Giovanni needed but that failed because Uberto knew that Desmond was trying to stop him so he’s become more ‘suspicious’. He never scolds Desmond though and he understands what his son is doing so he tells Desmond to continue to try and stop him…

“This way… no matter which sides wins, our family will be safe.”

And Desmond realized then and there that Uberto was ready to die if it meant their family would be safe and financially secured.

In the end…

Desmond helped Giovanni, Federico and Petruccio escape by unlocking their cage and telling them that Uberto’s a Templar. Desmond begs Giovanni to not kill Uberto, that he’ll be able to make Uberto understand that they have failed and they’ll leave Firenze, hell, they’ll leave all of Italia, just…

“Please… don’t kill padre.”

Giovanni promises not to kill Uberto if they leave Firenze as soon as possible.

And Desmond is able to persuade Uberto to do just that, telling him that revenge means nothing if it would lead to his death.

.

Now.

The happy ending would be that Desmond and Ezio would see each other and there will be this strain in their friendship because of Uberto’s betrayal that they will slowly get past.

But…

The more angst-filled route would be…

Lorenzo wants all the conspirators of the Pazzi conspiracy to be killed and Uberto was one of them. He orders Giovanni to kill Uberto and Giovanni tried to say no, at first, only to acquiesce once Lorenzo reminded him who he was ‘allies’ with.

Desmond finds an Assassin standing in front of his father’s bleeding corpse and the darkness and his shock made it hard for him to see the Assassin clearly.

All he knows…

… was that the Assassin was wearing Ezio’s robes…

.

.

In this setup, Desmond would be torn between wanting to take vengeance or being the person to cut the noose of revenge that keeps looping and looping around all of them.

His trust in the Auditores would be destroyed and Desmond would want to believe that it wasn’t Ezio, that maybe it was Giovanni or even Federico but a part of him would whisper that it could have been Ezio. Ezio wasn’t there when Desmond begged for his father’s life.

Last time he saw Ezio, he was wearing those robes…

And Desmond can’t…

… will not kill Ezio even if a part of him wished to avenge Uberto’s death.

They had no reason to kill him.

His family had exiled themselves away from Firenze, living as normal farmers of all things.

He…

He needed to know the truth.

And, once he knows it…

That’s when he’ll decide how to end this chain of vengeance.

With blood spilled… or not.