#sorry i keep using that scene of renn but it's his best look

[benisasoftboi]

Unorganised thoughts on Trails in the Sky: Second Chapter:

Unorganised thoughts on the first game are here

No longer spoiler-free, sorry

So tl;dr I loved this game and I love these characters and this world and I’m so excited to play through the whole rest of the series. What an underrated gem

I liked that everyone’s status portraits were updated, FC’s were a little rough. Except Olivier’s - his original art is miles better, good lord. The updated one is so generic :(

Speaking of updates, here’s some on how I feel about the major characters:

Estelle: Estelle deserves the world. I love her and her development, she’s just so great. What I especially love is that I cannot think of any other JRPG hero I’ve seen who reacts to the villain’s grand monologue like she does. Most of the time it’s like, huge declarations of justice, and how evil will never win, but Estelle’s reaction to Weissmann ranting about the inherent evil of man was just, like, ‘nah, actually that’s stupid, I love my friends and we’re all nice people. You just suck dude’. And that works so well, and it was really refreshing, honestly. I just...  love her. I really love her.

Joshua: This poor traumatised boy who also deserves the world, my god. His backstory was so much darker than I was expecting (if I understood right, there were some implications that sexual assaults occurred in the Hamel massacre!? And that it nearly happened to his sister!? Which made me have to sit back for a moment because I did not think this game was gonna go there and it threw me for a loop). I like how his whole arc is about learning to not define himself by his trauma, I haven’t really seen that in a game before. I also love him.

I think Estelle and Joshua cute together and I support their romance, but if the game could stop reminding me post-get together that they used to be pseudo-siblings that would be great thank you

Agate: I did the Agate route mostly because I prefer using him in combat, and goddamn if I thought I liked him before. I think his arc is one of the best in the game, and I love him, and are you seeing a pattern? His friendship with Tita is also so sweet. I want to be friends with Agate

Schera: Might have had more to say if I’d done her route. I appreciated getting her backstory, and I thought her relationship with Luciola was well done, if not incredibly fascinating. As it stands, I like her just fine, even if I’m not as passionate about her as I am some of the others

Olivier: I still love this guy. I had his twist spoiled, but let’s face, it wasn’t the hardest to guess anyway. His rivalry with Bleublanc was funny, as are most of his interactions with other characters. He’s good comic relief in general, and I love using him in combat - on that note, though, I’m very angry with him for leaving in chapter 8, because he was the character I had invested the most into arts-wise, so I had to go fix up Schera just for that chapter (and then swapped to Zin as we lost ZFGs, for obvious reasons). I will say that he seems to have become a little more... creepy feels like a strong word, but I don’t think he was so forwardly suggestive in FC. It felt to me like he sort of went from Yusuke Kitagawa to Yosuke Hanamura, in a sense. But all the same, I still like him

He should have stayed in his prince look at the end though, it suits him better

Side note, I really love Mueller, and I love his and Olivier’s interactions, and I want more Mueller, why does he have to be a minor character :(

Kloe: So I wasn’t super into Kloe in FC, but I actually really loved her this time around - I thought her arc about deciding whether or not to accept the crown was well done, and the little conversation she and Estelle can have on the stage at the academy is one of my favourite scenes in both games. Also GOOD LORD do I love her outfit change at the end, she’s so pretty I want to cry

Tita: Most of what I like about Tita is her friendship with Agate, and also how smart she is. I’d probably have more to say about her if I ever used her beyond when the plot forces me to (I don’t like using glass cannon characters in games), as the unfortunate nature of SC is that you don’t get much dialogue if you’re benched. But yeah, I still like her as a character

Zin: I don’t dislike Zin, but I still find him kind of dull compared to the others. He’s fine, he’s there, he’s got a backstory with Walter and Kilika and that’s neat. Honestly the main thing I remember about all that is Zin revealing that their master had terminal cancer because I kind of just... didn’t think cancer existed in this universe, I guess. It threw me

Kevin: Firstly, I find it really, really funny that such an important and mysterious character who looks the way he does is named ‘Kevin’. But yeah, I like Kevin, I’m excited to learn more about him in 3rd. I liked his relationship with Estelle (It’s nice to see a guy who’s capable of backing off without being an ass about it. Shame there’s such a low bar). I am, though, honestly very creeped out by the mere concept of the Gralsritters, ngl  

Bleublanc and Campanella were easily my favourite Enforcers. Bleublanc especially gets points for keeping himself relevant for the entire game

Renne is a character who I think I’m probably meant to feel more  sympathy for than I actually do, to be honest. You can’t make me like someone just by making them a cute little girl, Falcom, I’m sorry. Maybe I’ll feel differently after playing 3rd, I know she’s in it

I thought Loewe was well handled and I love that scene where he and Joshua hug at the end

I love the Ravens. I love that they got actual art. They’re amazing. I would play an entire spin-off game about the Ravens

And the Capuas! Can they all team up? Please?

Especially Josette, I came to really like her

A thing I’ve kind of realised about this game and its characters is that it’s a really good example of how tropes and cliches are not inherently bad - everyone in this game is based on some kind of mostly-unsubverted cliche, but they are incredibly well-executed cliches. You can have the most original characters in the world, but if they’re not written well, then what’s the point? I think a lot of writers conflate ‘unique’ and ‘surprising’ and (ugh) ‘subverting expectations’ with ‘good’. This game doesn’t make that mistake, and I appreciate that

Don’t get me wrong, unique and surprising and expectation subverting is also not inherently bad - just that it’s all in the execution

I like that Richard came back! And reformed! To be honest, though, (maybe this is controversial? idk), I thought he was a better antagonist than anyone in Ouroboros. His motivations made a lot more sense than those of most of the Enforcers 

Honestly (excluding Renne and Campanella because those haven’t been fully revealed to me yet) Bleublanc was really the only one with a motivation I liked - I can respect a villain who does crimes just for the sake of being an asshole

Oh yeah, there’s also Anelace and her team - they’re all great. I would like to know more about Grant, he doesn’t get to do much

The side quest in chapter 8 at the academy where we get Kurt and Anelace is one of the best quests in the game

Oh, and that reminds me, Gilbert! I love Gilbert, he’s so lame. Fighting him is hilarious

I was very happy to see minor NPC Clive on the Arseille at the end. It’s what he deserves

I love that this game got me invested in the lives of the random NPCs 

Screw that Abyss Worm bounty hunt, and also that fight with Renne on Ambryl Tower

I don’t know whose idea it was to fill this game, in this setting, with GIANT ROBOTS but it grew on me and I kind of love it now

I’ve decided Ruan is my favourite region, but Rolent is my favourite city

The Liber Ark is such a cool setting, I’m sad we only saw a tiny part of it for one chapter

I knew they weren’t going to kill off Joshua and Estelle, but I still cannot describe the rush of relief I felt when the dragon saved them at the end. I care about these kids, damnit!

There’s that one section in Grancel where everyone’s talking about Crossbell and then it never comes up again - set up the next arc of games a little less subtly, why don’t you?

(And then Cassius being like ‘the adventures will continue! But with other people!”) 

I read all of The Doll Knight and I genuinely enjoyed it

This game has maybe the best end credits I’ve ever seen

...think that’s all my thoughts expunged! Now to play 3rd :D

[onlyonewoman]

Me rambling about Deran and Adrian

One of the things I love the most about Deran’s love life developement with Adrian and his character developement as a whole, is how much more restrained he is when it comes to act out on impulse. I know Smurf and J are the brains of the family and Pope has the cautiousness and, when his illness isn’t controlling him too much, actually the stable part who neither Smurf nor J can manipulate that easily. With Angela there’s another story, but we leave her manipulative ass out for the moment.  Craig might be a dumbass, but he’s not very impulsive and I’m very happy he made Deran realise that being even close to a cop bar was a very bad idea. Thank you, for being a good brother, Craig. (And yes, if you stay off the coke and actually start thinking ahead like you just did with Deran, you might have a chance to become pretty decent dad. Well, if Renn doesn’t decide to take off with the kid, of course.) Deran, I think, has shown that he’s not only starting to think ahead a lot more - we’ve seen that develope ever since he brought the bar and began to carve out a life for himself - but he’s also shown that he’s: - No longer living on the edge as he did in the first two seasons. He’s not goofing around at parties or raising hell just for the sake of it. He’s no longer the guy who makes jackass skateboard jumps off the pier to get an adrenaline rush and keeping up a reputation as a badass.  - Very much aware of how his family works. He trusts Craig, but that’s about it. He knows that THIS brother has his back no matter what, and in this episode he also showed that he’s taking his advices because yeah, Craig isn’t the brightest crayon in the box, but he’s the only one in the family who Deran knows wont hurt Adrian willingly.  - Listening to Adrian. Deran wont hurt kids, I’m somehow pretty sure about that, because that would cross a line that I think both him and Adrian know could be the end of their relationship because, and this is important: that’s not who Deran is and Adrian isn’t ready to protect himself at the cost of Deran crossing that line. They’ve come so fucking far in communication since first season. - No longer trying to deal with things on his own, away from Adrian. Yes, he killed Colby, but it was a big deal for him. He’s not a sociopath and wasn’t in any way comfortable crossing that line. It didn’t come natural to him and, ironically, I think this might be the closest thing he’s come to something that reminds of Smurf’s brutality - only he clearly has a conscience which his mother lacks. - Not seeking a position of power over anyone to just feel in control, as he did in the first two seasons. It clearly became less of that as soon as he got the bar, but I love how he’s using his newfound stability (stable in comparison to being controlled by Smurf and his brothers) to look to the future and not needing someone to control to feel confident. That’s one MAJOR difference from the way he was raised and the development has come, in my opinion, very naturally ever since Adrian rejected him in season 1. I think that loss and the realisation that it was his toxic relationship with Smurf that ruined not just the thing with Adrian, but everything in his life. - Taking emotional responsibility and yes, I know a lot of people are rooting for the original underdog J, but listen: while J is developing towards the toxic Cody webb even when he’s trying not to, Deran has both his head and his heart in place now. J has the brains, but he’s on full survival mode and only thinks about himself. I don’t blame him, but it’s been clear to me that since he left Nicky outside the E.R., because no matter her faults, she was a truly kind person and a good friend who was no more and no less bad as any other teenager in her situation. And J, ever since her dad told him off at the hospital, seems completely fine with ditching any contact with the one person outside the family who actually was nice and supportive towards him as a person. Deran, on the other hand, has gone in the opposite direction and the show has dropped little bits of that developement really well as in: 1. Accepting Adrian not wanting him anymore and staying away after the thing with Dave in season 1. 2. Embracing the fact that while Adrian is his one true love, Deran isn’t gay just for him. (Remember: ”No, not guys! It’s just you!” in season 1?) He’s accepting himself as a gay man, with or without Adrian and that, my friends, is actually a really big step because all too many people denying who they are, find it impossible to see themselves as gay, only accepting that they “do things that gay people do”. 3. Showing that he can be protective without getting possessive. In season one he sent Pope to beat up Dave because he felt so threatened but didn’t dare to do it himself, which was equally evil and cowardly. He didn’t show remorse at first, getting all cocky when Adrian confronted him, but as he’s LISTENING TO CRAIG and Craig actually has some really good relationship advices as well as a completely natural lack of homophobia (he’s one of the best big brother allies ever!) Deran clearly feels remorse and tries to tell Adrian he wants it to be okay. 4. Showing himself all vulnerable to Adrian that night in season 1 after the party - he’s crying ffs! - and when his instinct to lash out comes, he’s restraining it, grunting in frustration and clenching his fists because he KNOWS he’s lost the man he loves (although he’s not capable of knowing that it’s love because he’s so emotionally suppressed) but he also JUST KNOWS that he has no right to demand Adrian to give him something he can’t. I think that’s the first time we see that Deran clearly knows on some level, unconsciously, that trying to force Adrian back to him in any way, would mean he’s becoming Smurf and that’s what he hates about himself. Not the gay, but the Smurf part. 5. Letting himself embrace and explore his sexuality in more healthy ways, experiencing both rejection (Mark Liston) and being the one rejecting someone (Linc). Yes, Linc was “scared away”, but it was pretty clear that the good, hot and sweet nurse wanted to get more serious and Deran didn’t, so he didn’t pretend he was and sure, he didn’t like the guy, but considering how he responded to even the idea of rejection (Dave and Adrian outside the restaurant) and how he let Smurf control him out of fear of being on his own, he’s developed a lot more healthy attitude towards relationships in general: he no longer tries to control his sexuality in ways that hurt himself or others.  6. Slowly taking the steps first towards a life on his own and then towards a life with someone he’s choosing and who’s choosing him. I like how the show presents the domestic life with Adrian as something very natural and I personally think that comes from their time in Belize. They don’t need a getting used to one another being around, because they already know it works. I like the pace of it and how it wasn’t rushed. 7. Letting Deran show Adrian, time and again in lots of ways, that he’s sorry for all the bad things he did. (I don’t remember the actual quote from Adrian but it was something like “You don’t have to keep saying you’re sorry”, which, in case people still wondered if Adrian had forgiven him, shows he really has.) Deran earned his forgiveness by making things - and himself - better. He’s not once shown violent or overly controlling tendencies towards Adrian since they started seeing each other again. No one, and I mean NO ONE of the other characters have shown that kind of self-awareness AND responsibility in a relationship. I also love how the first completely private scene with them in season 1, not only was in Adrian’s home but also at night, as if Deran was afraid to show even ONE neighbor that he was seeing him. He didn’t even use the door, but broke in through a window like the criminal he is/was, because that was literally his idea of getting what he wanted, and how he’s now, three seasons later, not just is all out and open, but is making huge efforts for them to be together and for Adrian to be comfortable (”you need a real bed”), making him breakfast, and then, this season, they’re not only open, but living together as a couple, cuddling in bed in the mornings and how Deran, instead of taking Adrian from behind in the darkness, is fucking in FRONT OF THE BATHROOM MIRROR, snuggling in the morning light, petting and kissing and sorry, guys, but are we really appreciating this developement enough?  The show gave us angry, toxic closet momma boy gay controlling his partner both emotionally and physically and while I hoped for SOME development, never in my wildest dreams could I, not even when Adrian kissed Deran in the office in season 2 episode 11 (”The Leopard”) and I’m just asking: were is the reckognition from especially LGBTQ media? This relationship is not only the best in the show, or one of the best in the LGBT section in years, but it’s also in general a really good fucking love storyline. I feel blessed and whatever happens, I just want them to be safe.