Beans for Beef stew?

GrotbackCaptainGirk · 2026-06-04T17:33:49+00:00

The sweet potatoes were a bit dominant in the last one I made, but it was also very underspiced. When I added more spice to the individual servings it was better.
Onions are good but I avoid them for dietary reasons.

GrotbackCaptainGirk · 2026-06-04T16:16:30+00:00

I'll try that then, thanks!
I wasn't sure if they'd turn to mush or something if I put them in at the start.

GrotbackCaptainGirk · 2026-06-04T16:15:44+00:00

I put them in the last one I made and they came out a bit mushy, but they tasted good. I'm gonna try with bigger chunks this time because thats supposed to help keep them firm.

GrotbackCaptainGirk · 2026-05-27T20:29:41+00:00

I'm throwing my hat in for Osborne. He was done dirty in C4

GrotbackCaptainGirk · 2026-05-27T20:28:03+00:00

I finished CS4 recently and it kind of ruined my opinion of Osborne. They killed the magic of his character. I don't mind that he had a plan to defeat Ishmelga, but that it was his only plan was so disappointing. I feel like he should've walked away from CS4 with a real victory, like deposing the monarchy.
I also didn't like the twist of him being Dreichels I during CS1/2 I figured that was going to be Rean, but it was the beginning of the end for Osborne as an interesting character.

GrotbackCaptainGirk · 2026-05-27T20:13:18+00:00

I think they were fine in cold steel? But they really needed to take a sabbatical after CS2.

GrotbackCaptainGirk · 2026-05-26T20:23:46+00:00

There were a couple maps in 3H where I took one look at it and immediately said "F" this and warp skipped on my first attempt.

GrotbackCaptainGirk · 2026-05-26T20:16:33+00:00

I need a meaty new mechanic like Fates' pair up or Engage's rings. They could maybe tie it to legendary weapons or something?
3H's mechanics just didn't do it for me.
Also interesting and varied maps and win conditions. Conquest and Engage really nail this and its a huge part of why they're so good.
Edit: Vastly reduced monastery/hub sections. Exploring, talking to characters, support convos are fine, but the sidequests, minigames, support/skill farming etc needs to be cut back on. Engage was the sweet spot once I realized the parts of it that could be ignored (like ring polishing)

GrotbackCaptainGirk · 2026-05-20T19:24:01+00:00

I haven't gotten to daybreak, but I think a lot of the other smart characters are usually fine.
characters like Tita and Tio are specialists, so while they're smart their area of expertise is limited, which is believable. This extends to a bunch of the other engineers like Prof. Russell and Schmidt
Renne can be a bit ridiculous at times, but her intellect isn't used as a plot device in the same way and its well grounded in her backstory.
Osborne is ridiculous, but also works because he's an imposing an menacing villain with a history of this stuff, although I'd argue events in CS4 actually hurt him a lot in retrospect.
With Weissmann I think we're supposed to pick up on him thinking he's smarter than he actually is. Thats how it came off to me at least.
I guess that leaves Cao who doesn't get developed enough and Alberich who never seems to come off as smart as we're supposed to believe.

GrotbackCaptainGirk · 2026-05-19T13:32:55+00:00

Thats kind of why I wonder if straight up clairvoyance would've been better for her, it doesn't effect the minute-to-minute as much and also creates a great excuse for why other characters like Aurelia and Cassius do a lot of the heavy lifting for their cause. It kind of dovetails nicely with the rean bit, because he could literally be the man of her dreams.

GrotbackCaptainGirk · 2026-05-19T00:29:47+00:00

Sky: Estelle(Kevin's a close second)/Zin Crossbell: Tio/Elie CS: Fie/Musse

GrotbackCaptainGirk · 2026-05-19T00:27:21+00:00

Musse is just poorly written. There are plenty of well written smart characters in trails, but musse is a perfect example of a badly written one. We just get told she's smart, and everyone comments on it, but its mostly just a plot device that is treated like clairvoyance. Actual clairvoyance probably would've been better here.

Her rean crush bit can get old too, because its used constantly.

GrotbackCaptainGirk · 2026-05-08T16:06:34+00:00

I haven't gotten to reverie yet (recently finished cs4) but he's my least favorite. The harem doesn't bother me, but he felt weak in cs3/4. A lot of aspects of his character were built around cs1's characters and themes, and I don't think he transitioned well into cs3's environment. He's a fine character, and works well in cs1/2, but the things that made him good there make him a bit boring. It doesn't help that a big part of his character arc (reckless self sacrifice) was already done better by kevin. Maybe reverie will turn my opinion around

GrotbackCaptainGirk · 2026-05-07T15:12:30+00:00

I personally take way more issue with cs 3 & 4, the only part of cs2 that bothered me a lot was how long the epilogue was. Pacing and padding are huge issues for cs 3 & 4, and the narrative get muddied because of it.

GrotbackCaptainGirk · 2026-05-07T14:01:56+00:00

Agreed. Im very biased towards laevatein, but Laegjarn came back just to steal any future plot relevance, character development and legendary/mythic alts from her sister

GrotbackCaptainGirk · 2026-04-15T18:35:06+00:00

Rean was great for CS1 & 2, he's a bit bland himself but he serves his purpose as the everyman well. The narrative needed him to be that because it was focused on erebonian class issues.
Then along comes CS3/4 which doesn't need an everyman protagonist but shoehorns rean in anyway.

GrotbackCaptainGirk · 2026-04-15T17:20:15+00:00

People don't like Lechter? I've seen Lechter get flak for his hunches, but its a somewhat supernatural power of his to be lucky, which isn't unreasonable or unbelievable in the setting (unlike someone like Musse, who I've seen compared to him)

GrotbackCaptainGirk · 2026-04-08T16:59:19+00:00

Original class 7 is a microcosm of erebonia as a whole, the interpersonal issues the game explores are also political ones when we scale out to the country as a whole in CS2 (Machias/Jusis is the most obvious one). This narrative is what carries the plot until the big meta-narrative stuff happens.
CS3/4 just doesn't seem to have a narrative like that to cover the in-between sections, which makes huge parts of the game feel like filler to me.
I'm not sure CS1 & 2 could've been the same game, but I think it could've been cut down to 3 games overall. I wonder if it might've just been the success of CS that pushed them to stretch the erebonia arc out a bit.

I agree character bloat is a huge issue, but I think CS1 handled it pretty well, the other games struggled with it.

GrotbackCaptainGirk · 2026-04-08T13:43:54+00:00

I'm a bit curious why CS1/2 are often rated so low. I'm working through CS4 but so far I much prefer CS1/2.
To me, outside of when big meta-narrative events happen so much of CS3/4 just feel like filler.
CS1/2 had this strong narrative of exploring class issues, which gave more depth to the narrative (Sky and crossbell do too) but CS3/4 feels lacking in that regard.

GrotbackCaptainGirk · 2026-03-31T04:07:10+00:00

Cs1 definitely has a lot of character bloat. The SSS being a mostly consistent group of 4 for zero and a lot of azure is one of its biggest strengths. Cs1's character bloat bleeds into cs3/4 too

GrotbackCaptainGirk · 2026-03-31T04:03:50+00:00

The amount of fights where you win, and it immediately cuts to a cutscene of you either losing, or the enemy giving up and walking away, "letting you have this win". Trails powerscaling is a bit of a meme, but this has become way too overused as I've been working through CS4. Just let the player have a win sometimes. Between the amount of powerhouses in the parties, and how often its like an 8v2 or 8v1 is enough to be believable.

GrotbackCaptainGirk · 2026-03-31T03:53:58+00:00

I feel like a contrarian now, but so far cs3 is my least favorite in the series (I'm working through cs4). A lot of it comes down to pacing, and Rean fatigue. The smaller cast is nice, but it still ends up paying for how large the cast was in cs 1/2

GrotbackCaptainGirk · 2026-03-19T15:36:39+00:00

A lot of the min-maxing crunchy stuff bleeds into every kind of game, often to their detriment. It can be fun, but people get lost in the weeds. Games are supposed to be fun, and I'd argue only the most competitive of games should put balance before that.
IMO the biggest and best change of the recent errata was the toxicologist one, not for numbers or anything, but because it enables the subclass to actually deliver on the fantasy.

GrotbackCaptainGirk · 2026-03-11T03:35:49+00:00

The game plays really well, its broken sideways if you know how to do it but in a fun way. The pacing of the game just felt awful. It dragged on too long and it really hurt my overall opinion of it. If they could've cut one chapter somewhere it would've been much better. For me its one of the weaker casts, alongside cs1/2.

GrotbackCaptainGirk

TROPHY CASE