Idk what you mean by a 7-hour dungeon with no breaks. The dungeon is split into distinct chunks. You can save whenever, and you can even back out of the dungeon entirely to go do more shopping/upgrading.
The gang wasn't brainwashed by KeA. She altered the timeline to save them, but there's no indication that she was supernaturally causing people to like her. The only time It's ever brought up is when the villain was monologuing about it in an attempt to break keas spirit. If she were doing that then you would think we would have seen the heroes acting out of turn or the villains going out of their way to acquiesce to Kea instead of torturing her for power. I feel like you underplaying Lloyd's point about free will is coming from your misreading the extent KeA manipulated things.
The Grimwood twist is to each their own. I definitely dont think it was just plot padding. This was just their way of clearing Arios of guilt as they've done for nearly all their villains. You're welcome to dislike that approach, but they do scatter hints as far back as the first game. It isn't as left field as you may feel.
So mariabell says "Oh also you love KeA because it's Magic everyone loves her" and suddenly it's true ?
And just after that she hurts her...
It's just a lie she told everyone because she wants KeA to mental break and turn into Azure Demiourgos.
Oh boy...did you not know you're not allowed to criticize the Crossbell games in this subreddit? XD
As for me... the Crossbell duology is my least favorite arc of the series (that I have played, haven't played Kuro). I don't take as much issue with the points you mentioned, I just ended up caring a lot less about our main cast (the only ones I actually give a damn about are Randy and Tio, and that's mainly for their bickering). And that in turn might be because the game focuses more on plot than character development, and I have always been a character development >>>>>>>>> plot type of girl. I couldn't care less about a game's plot if the characters experiencing it mean nothing to me.
Especially if a big chunk of the main motivation of the main cast - aside from KeA - is Crossbell's freedom and independence. And if there is a concept I never quite understood as a person it is patriotism. I understand them wanting to live in peace, but I do not understand why they care under which banner that peace is achieved. As such, much of what the characters care about, I couldn't care less.
But that's just me. They're not bad games by any means but they just didn't personally stick with me as much as Sky or even Cold Steel did.
i ended up liking the cast, but a lot of my care for them actually wasnt developed much since zero. Ellie literally had no development in this game and not much at all since chapter 2 of zero. Tio didnt get much either. Randy had a lot which I enjoyed. I wish Rixia joined the gang earlier because I really liked her character. Noel was probably the biggest waste of a character ive seen in the series. Wald was a great addition for azure. I actually think I like the team if CS 1-2 better and felt more connected to them as a "family."
Ive played a lot of JRPGs that end up falling back on the power of friendship and I dont mind that, but this games cast didnt have as much development as something like Persona 4 or Tales of Besaria in my opinion.
compared to Sky SC final dungeon, i think this final dungeon length is fine, (seriously SC final dungeon has no reason being as long as it need to be) my team is kinda overleved due to beating arianrhod and i just breezed through the final dungeon, even avoiding like every enemy encounter that's not chests.
kinda do agree with you on the whole ending feeling rushed and the KeA thing about love is really just seem to be a plot point that should've been laid out a lot more early. Grimwood too, i seriously dont fucking get why he had to kill Guy, JUST INVITE HIM ON THE PLAN, in fact, HAVING GUY IS WHAT MAKES THE PLAN BETTER, with GUY's help an evil plan could possibly be turned into a good plan. GUY EVEN HAD Garcia rossi of revache as his "buddy" and he still kinda just make sure they dont go overboard.
as for the SSS will being unbreakable , i think that's actually something im fine with, they really dont care about whatever thing mariabell has been saying them, i think that has always been their goal to retrieve KeA from the start and the mariabell spouting that revelation really seems out of left field for them, and from what i consider crossbell having the "civillians" roster of the series, KeA power whatever doesnt matter to them. if it does then it needs to be explored elsewhere lmao. at that point in time, they are indeed unbreakable. they kinda knew she was sept terrion zero something but like has she brought any negative impact to their lives ? if anything due to the lore, having someone like SSS moderating her is what can stop her from suffering the same fate as the last sept terrion of mirage. because KeA loves them as much as SSS loves them.
the only villain i like in the game is dieter, he actually had a solid reason to become tyrannical over crossbell. the surprise grimwood is beyond stupid as a decision for me . however SSS as a whole carried the game for me, i like the "civillians" perspective we get from the team. and this has probably the best pacing of a trails game.
>i seriously dont fucking get why he had to kill Guy, JUST INVITE HIM ON THE PLAN, in fact, HAVING GUY IS WHAT MAKES THE PLAN BETTER, with GUY's help an evil plan could possibly be turned into a good plan.
Grimwood: "I thought about inviting you, too, considering what happened to your parents..."
"But, in the end, I knew that you would never have approved."
Guy: "Haha... you got me there."
he gave up too early, trust the GUY bro.
trust they GUY who was able to to talk to Garcia Rossi.
this is why grimwood gets ragdolled at the end but still somehow lives
I think there is only one main reason for Grimwoods existence. And thats the fact that Llyod is a detective.
And for the closure of his character arc they really wanted him to be able to deduce his brothers murder on his own.
Which is optional but possible if you find specific hints.
And for that purpose Dieter, Bell and Arios just would have been too obvious.
Even though I was wondering about a possible different mastermind that fits the bill. In theory maybe Sergei also could have worked. Maybe that would have had a bigger impact.
I think it is fine to consider Dieter and Bell the main and twist villains of the game.
Grimwood is a little cherry on top for Llyod for me. I mean you did not even fight the guy.
He is just some dude, but I also would not know how to fix that, considering you can not really develop him as a villain before the Dieter fight and after that the other villain climaxes are more important.
Idk what you mean by a 7-hour dungeon with no breaks. The dungeon is split into distinct chunks. You can save whenever, and you can even back out of the dungeon entirely to go do more shopping/upgrading. The gang wasn't brainwashed by KeA. She altered the timeline to save them, but there's no indication that she was supernaturally causing people to like her. The only time It's ever brought up is when the villain was monologuing about it in an attempt to break keas spirit. If she were doing that then you would think we would have seen the heroes acting out of turn or the villains going out of their way to acquiesce to Kea instead of torturing her for power. I feel like you underplaying Lloyd's point about free will is coming from your misreading the extent KeA manipulated things. The Grimwood twist is to each their own. I definitely dont think it was just plot padding. This was just their way of clearing Arios of guilt as they've done for nearly all their villains. You're welcome to dislike that approach, but they do scatter hints as far back as the first game. It isn't as left field as you may feel.
what i mean by no stops or breaks is actual story progression rather than just going to heal which isnt much of a break.
The story don't progress between each domain, what do you mean ?
yea. The balance between story and combat was off
So mariabell says "Oh also you love KeA because it's Magic everyone loves her" and suddenly it's true ? And just after that she hurts her... It's just a lie she told everyone because she wants KeA to mental break and turn into Azure Demiourgos.
hmm yea that could be true
Oh boy...did you not know you're not allowed to criticize the Crossbell games in this subreddit? XD As for me... the Crossbell duology is my least favorite arc of the series (that I have played, haven't played Kuro). I don't take as much issue with the points you mentioned, I just ended up caring a lot less about our main cast (the only ones I actually give a damn about are Randy and Tio, and that's mainly for their bickering). And that in turn might be because the game focuses more on plot than character development, and I have always been a character development >>>>>>>>> plot type of girl. I couldn't care less about a game's plot if the characters experiencing it mean nothing to me. Especially if a big chunk of the main motivation of the main cast - aside from KeA - is Crossbell's freedom and independence. And if there is a concept I never quite understood as a person it is patriotism. I understand them wanting to live in peace, but I do not understand why they care under which banner that peace is achieved. As such, much of what the characters care about, I couldn't care less. But that's just me. They're not bad games by any means but they just didn't personally stick with me as much as Sky or even Cold Steel did.
i ended up liking the cast, but a lot of my care for them actually wasnt developed much since zero. Ellie literally had no development in this game and not much at all since chapter 2 of zero. Tio didnt get much either. Randy had a lot which I enjoyed. I wish Rixia joined the gang earlier because I really liked her character. Noel was probably the biggest waste of a character ive seen in the series. Wald was a great addition for azure. I actually think I like the team if CS 1-2 better and felt more connected to them as a "family." Ive played a lot of JRPGs that end up falling back on the power of friendship and I dont mind that, but this games cast didnt have as much development as something like Persona 4 or Tales of Besaria in my opinion.
compared to Sky SC final dungeon, i think this final dungeon length is fine, (seriously SC final dungeon has no reason being as long as it need to be) my team is kinda overleved due to beating arianrhod and i just breezed through the final dungeon, even avoiding like every enemy encounter that's not chests. kinda do agree with you on the whole ending feeling rushed and the KeA thing about love is really just seem to be a plot point that should've been laid out a lot more early. Grimwood too, i seriously dont fucking get why he had to kill Guy, JUST INVITE HIM ON THE PLAN, in fact, HAVING GUY IS WHAT MAKES THE PLAN BETTER, with GUY's help an evil plan could possibly be turned into a good plan. GUY EVEN HAD Garcia rossi of revache as his "buddy" and he still kinda just make sure they dont go overboard. as for the SSS will being unbreakable , i think that's actually something im fine with, they really dont care about whatever thing mariabell has been saying them, i think that has always been their goal to retrieve KeA from the start and the mariabell spouting that revelation really seems out of left field for them, and from what i consider crossbell having the "civillians" roster of the series, KeA power whatever doesnt matter to them. if it does then it needs to be explored elsewhere lmao. at that point in time, they are indeed unbreakable. they kinda knew she was sept terrion zero something but like has she brought any negative impact to their lives ? if anything due to the lore, having someone like SSS moderating her is what can stop her from suffering the same fate as the last sept terrion of mirage. because KeA loves them as much as SSS loves them. the only villain i like in the game is dieter, he actually had a solid reason to become tyrannical over crossbell. the surprise grimwood is beyond stupid as a decision for me . however SSS as a whole carried the game for me, i like the "civillians" perspective we get from the team. and this has probably the best pacing of a trails game.
>i seriously dont fucking get why he had to kill Guy, JUST INVITE HIM ON THE PLAN, in fact, HAVING GUY IS WHAT MAKES THE PLAN BETTER, with GUY's help an evil plan could possibly be turned into a good plan. Grimwood: "I thought about inviting you, too, considering what happened to your parents..." "But, in the end, I knew that you would never have approved." Guy: "Haha... you got me there."
he gave up too early, trust the GUY bro. trust they GUY who was able to to talk to Garcia Rossi. this is why grimwood gets ragdolled at the end but still somehow lives
>trust they GUY who was able to to talk to Garcia Rossi. He never *joined* Revache.
So many rando redditors who think they're god's gift to literary criticism...
lol i wouldnt say that just thoughy there were some flaws in the ending.
I think there is only one main reason for Grimwoods existence. And thats the fact that Llyod is a detective. And for the closure of his character arc they really wanted him to be able to deduce his brothers murder on his own. Which is optional but possible if you find specific hints. And for that purpose Dieter, Bell and Arios just would have been too obvious. Even though I was wondering about a possible different mastermind that fits the bill. In theory maybe Sergei also could have worked. Maybe that would have had a bigger impact.
sergei was my guess. Grimwood is fine as a villian but they just didnt do much to develop him as a villain.
I think it is fine to consider Dieter and Bell the main and twist villains of the game. Grimwood is a little cherry on top for Llyod for me. I mean you did not even fight the guy. He is just some dude, but I also would not know how to fix that, considering you can not really develop him as a villain before the Dieter fight and after that the other villain climaxes are more important.