sup Estelle
I got into Kiseki back in I think 2021, starting with Trails of Cold Steel 3. I've got everything but the Liberl arc because XSEED still has rights to it, and I only play on Switch for portability reasons. (While I have CS1 and 2 on PS3, the lack of being home enough makes them hard to even start.) I do intend to get through all of them at some point to fully appreciate just how meticulous they are about continuity and the people that populate Zemuria, both as party members and recurring NPCs, over the span of 20+ years.
I fell in love with the battle system instantly, seeing what combinations of quartz I can exploit for stupidly broken effects. I didn't play enough Zero or Azure yet to get a feel for the Enigma but I have so many busted ARCUS setups for characters and in Daybreak, I have virtually turned Feri into a Ctrl+A DEL combo with 100% crit and nearly maxed evasion, even after I failed to get a full inventory of gear the first playthrough... if Falcom didn't nerf counter-attacking from guarantee to I think 25%, with her range, she could solo the game easily. Pester me if you want me to go through and send some of my builds. The Xipha is my favorite orbment system by far because it panders to my minmaxing tendencies and lets me stack a bunch of debuff effects on attacks without line conflict.
The narrative and punches from Trails through Daybreak were ruthless after so many games in the series prime you to expect that nothing super serious should happen to anyone important permanently, and how far they took Almata's willingness to do violence and for what reasons by Ch5 stunned me. I felt more compelled, more frantic to stop this group, than any other villains so far in the series. While I know we have opposing feelings regarding the direction of the series, this bold new direction has me anticipating the future releases far more than I thought I would.
Dying to know and I've discussed this with a few others regarding what could be going on later in the Calvard arc (contains Daybreak 1 Finale spoilers, the rest is theory...) With a name like "Farewell O Zemuria", what do you think is going to happen in the third game? The Society and the D : G Cult have both discussed the "false nature" of this world, and the existence of Divergent Law weapons and artifacts, demons like McBurn, and the calling of Pandemonium plus the really strange effects governing death during its reign, substantiate the notion that there is something else out there, and perhaps Aidios isn't real/what people think. Someone mentioned a rocket in the artwork, possibly hinting that Zemurians might for the first time go into the upper atmosphere to see what's really beyond the clouds. And, I'm wondering if spirit veins connect Zemuria to this other world, since devils and cryptids appear whenever things go awry with them. Regardless, I get the strong feeling that Ouroboros is ultimately correct about something huge, and despite disapproving of the things they do, it's all going to make sense very soon.
I ALSO believe Professor Epstein had knowledge of what was beyond Zemuria and used some of that knowledge to devise the first orbments (the eight Geneses) and what makes them so dangerous, their effects so powerful, and that they possess such rigidity in carrying out a will, is exactly because they are otherworldly technology, and the modern orbments are very "locked down" to at worst be something to battle with in lieu of magic, and at best be energy powering your modern city. He knew what they were capable of, hence the diary, but I'm wondering how he knew the year someone would try to exploit them to bring the end of the world.
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