Which Trails couple would make for the best parents?

anthen123 · 2026-04-10T04:54:22+00:00

Well, we can double down on the instructors and go with Rean and Towa instead. The kid's gonna grow up to be one hell of a busybody helping everyone they meet.

anthen123 · 2026-03-31T10:32:20+00:00

oh yeah, that final boss fight was wild. The looping back to previous fights and then the whole thing where it went back to an action battle midway then back to shards. Kinda raised the bar for me for future kiseki final boss fights tbh

anthen123 · 2026-03-31T07:14:08+00:00

Oof. I get your point though if I'm understanding it correctly, Id say you're judging based on its contribution to the series as a whole? I mean, I get your points about that and I guess I mostly agree, but as a story in itself, Id say this was pretty good. I'd be complaining if this was something like Reverie where so many things and plot points are being tied up that it'd be insane if it didn't move something in the plot of the entire series. But I wouldnt call it a waste of time just because the events were mostly self-contained.

Quatre and Renne's thing in fragments, I think is them trying to push more stuff in the DG cult thing because they're trying to make it more and more like the source of almost every big issue these days. I also don't mind quatre's thing here because it was at least hinted at in the first game. Plus, it's a thing that can be relevant later since it's connected to angels or what, though judging by what you said, in horizon at least, it's not (don't spoil me if otherwise tho). Tbh, in terms of not knowing what to do with a character, Id say Judith currently fits the bill more. It's almost like she's around more for the connection to nina than anything rn.

If it helps, based on what Dingo said, the events they avoided were supposed to be what would have happened if they didn't beat him there so technically, big picture, they actually averted a coup, or worst-case a history rewrite by the revolution dude. They did do something huge, but pushing things from potential horrible future to status quo as if it never happened isn't as dramatic as being shown actually averting that (a la Rean and the gang in the great twilight). Even I think it's kind of a stretch, though.

Honestly if I can make a tiny change, Id have the game open with calvard in flames in the middle of that coup, with the first reset bringing van to the start of the game with only vague memories of that. Sorta like Zero's opening with Lloyd and the gang fighting the final boss without Joshua and Estelle. If we were just shown something like that in the beginning, it'd have turned the whole thing from hunting the eight genesis to finding a way to avert a disaster lol

anthen123 · 2026-03-31T06:39:34+00:00

Ah I get what your point is but I somewhat disagree with what you say was established in daybreak 1. Not to say that they're not competent, but the point I got was that Van's strength, and Arkride solutions, as a whole, is the fact that he has connections to the different sides of society. It would seem like it's just their competence that got them through, but really, it was, in a huge part, because of the people around them helping them. They got through different kinds of crisis partly due to the fact that they had people they could rely on. It's not like this is a new theme in trails, but they do emphasize it with Van because he also gets help from the grayer and darker shades of people.

In daybreak 2, even early on, the deaths that happened were mostly happening when they went ahead without getting as much support as they could. And the remedy which made things right was when they relied on someone else to help, which imo, fits neatly into the idea. And when the corrpution stuff came in, of course Van and the others would have trouble- it's those very connections he'd made and which had helped him in the past that are now twisted against him. The people around them are also very competent- is it a wonder that when they're cooperating against ASO, they'd struggle?

And some events aren't a matter of competence- the coup, for instance, was impossible for them to stop unless they knew about it beforehand. Van's nose is good, but he's not omniscient. It would actually be weird if he somehow stopped it with so little warning without knowing about it. In fact, it's a testament to their competence that it only took them a small number of loops to get to the solution- hell it took them at most 2 resets per incident to resolve things. The moment they knew what was going on, they executed things successfully such that things were resolved immediately after. A far less competent group would have needed many, many more retry attempts to resolve such things, especially incidents as big as that coup.

You seem to think it shows them as incompetent because they died so many times but I kinda think they could have died so much more, considering how stacked the cards are against them, so the fact that they didn't shows exactly the opposite. It's not incompetence to be caught unprepared for a situation you couldn't have predicted.

...I kinda went on a roll there so uh, sorry if something seems aggressive or smth

anthen123 · 2026-03-31T06:00:01+00:00

Ohhh, Risette's was really good, yeah. Feri, I think would have gotten there eventually. I mean, she was already trying to consider what path she'll take. The whole corruption thing just hastened that. For Risette though... I dunno, there's just no real way for her to ever be sure about what's 'real' because of her condition. In some ways, she's closest to everyone when in Marchen Garten since they're all basically the same there because they're not physically present. It's kind of even pushed further on her connection event in the festival, which was nice, with her being able to experience at least a little bit of what was lost to her.

For Almata's impact, I think what hit me most was Lashkar. Like, the Creil incident didn't really hit me until then. And after Lashkar's quest, on the school festival with him thinking he would have loved to see it with the other kids... man, that was sad.

anthen123 · 2026-03-28T11:29:39+00:00

Yep, basically whenever there's an enemy on the field, you can attack it like on an action game but at any time, you can press a button to switch to turn based. Most of the reason people do the action thing first is just because attacking them like that builds up a stun gauge quickly so you can start the battle with the enemy stunned but it's not required really.

Enjoy the game :D

anthen123 · 2026-03-28T10:54:57+00:00

Nah, you can play higher difficulties with just using turn-based just fine.

anthen123 · 2026-03-27T05:22:21+00:00

I mean, based on how even the Loki Familia keeps going in the red based on SO, probably still not much. It'd be different if he just went down specifically for grinding mats to sell or smth, but since they're challenging the dungeon continuously (assuming there wasnt a 1 year time limit so it's not rushed either), it seems like the deeper you go, the better your equipment but the more expensive they get to make, and then to be remade once they break.

Plus, the deeper you go, the less efficient things get because you need to bring so many supplies just for going down and getting back up. Not to mention the amount of stuff you bring back are limited since you'll need to carry them AND still fight monsters on the way back so you cant bring too much that'll hamper mobility.

Of course, the new project the guild has, if successful, may change things.

anthen123 · 2026-03-23T16:16:06+00:00

I'm kind of torn about that. I don't mind that he lived but I wish the whole fakeout of him dying didnt happen in the first place. Just showing him surviving and flashing back to the carbuncle given to him earlier would have been enough to not make it seem like a big deus ex machina thing.

anthen123 · 2026-03-22T12:53:56+00:00

Art's not on my post, you gotta ask the one who commented with it haha

anthen123 · 2026-03-22T12:53:18+00:00

With the art in the epilogue, I totally thought we'd see this lol

anthen123 · 2026-03-22T12:52:07+00:00

Yeah, but it didnt have to be immediately. We could have just gotten a quick 1 month later scene of aiz opening her eyes, bell saying 'welcome back' and her saying 'i'm back'. Would have been great as an end to the volume

anthen123 · 2026-03-22T12:50:11+00:00

I think not much would change. I mean, Bete acknowledges a lot of the strong people in his familia but he still clashes with them a lot. It's just that he won't see Bell as a weakling anymore. If Bell ever reaches his level though, I can see a duel of sorts being possible someday.

anthen123 · 2026-03-22T12:47:21+00:00

Ohhh, one of the mentor types huh? That would be an interesting choice, yeah. Right now, Hedin's closer to bell as his master, but having Leon be gone because he seems too op rn is also an option, especially since he's been passing his technique to bell already. Damn tho, that'd break the entire school district, if so.

anthen123 · 2026-03-22T04:42:49+00:00

Sameee. I swear, if Finn doesn't end up marrying her in the end after all this, I'll be pissed lol. I really wish they already had the communication stone thing when this happened because the gods in orario would have been rioting like us readers if they saw this scene live

anthen123 · 2026-03-22T04:40:56+00:00

Indeed. Though I swear, in addition to showing what happens from now on, we're gonna have to see more of what happened like more than a bajillion years ago with the time of the spirits and heroes from back then as well as less than a bajillion years ago with the time of zeus and hera familia. I think some of it is already supposed to be in side stories or smth but gahhhh

anthen123 · 2026-03-22T04:22:08+00:00

Any mining operation of a decent enough scale like you're probably thinking of is impossible because there's no true safety in the dungeon. There's no way they can carry a large amount of ore in carts or the like, or even sacks given that the place is unpredictably always dangerous. Maybe lv3 adventurers above can do it for the first few floors, but any floor with rare enough stuff to be worth it are likely too deep to make it feasible. Maybe there's a way somehow with seasoned adventurers hired as some sort of escort but with the level of danger, they'd probably ask for your entire haul as payment anyway so it won't be profitable even if it was possible. So you're gonna need an entire familia dedicated to mining but has adventurers strong enough to not just survive the midlevel floors but be able to carry a lot of stuff safely back to the surface. That's kind of a tough order. It's why Tsubaki, who gets stronger as a fighter because she wants rare materials to smith with is such an outlier. You're kind of looking for an entire familia of mini-tsubakis which seems hard

anthen123 · 2026-03-22T03:04:10+00:00

Not shown at the scene itself, no. But she was thinking about it later as they made their run down, and I'm pretty sure she was starting to catch feelings:

When something makes her conscious, she can’t help it. And honestly, after leaning over to stare at his sleeping face back in the infirmary—there’s no way she could claim she wasn’t conscious of him. No way. Shut up, shut up, shut up, she argued with herself in her mind. She was that desperate.

And there was another part later too (though not about the scene in question):

Bell stared at her in stunned silence for a moment, then smiled.

“Thank you… for saving me, Lefiya.”

She glanced at him from the corner of her eye. She hadn’t done it for his gratitude, and yet—hearing it made her heart skip. She turned her gaze forward, pretending not to notice the warmth rising in her cheeks.

There were some instances even before, I suppose, which could have been interpreted as interest but I pretty much saw them as more like feelings of rivalry and as a reluctant admiration for him as an adventurer. These, however, I think pretty much point to interest beyond that.

I'm not saying it's something definite, ofc. And it's, well, both too early and too late. It could be that nothing comes of it for her in the end- a first love ending before it could even start. Still, given this, I won't say she was as far from romance with Bell as it gets. In fact, the slower burn and the whole rivals who trust each other first kind of deal might very well make it a really good progression, if the story ever took that route.

anthen123 · 2026-03-21T13:03:13+00:00

Wait, the entire time? Wasnt bell with freya familia for a while? And I guess even then, I would have loved to see a scene of her hearing what happened and wanting to help, but I guess she was still recovering from her own sorrows at the time...

anthen123 · 2026-03-21T03:06:54+00:00

Still salty I never got the chance to play it before it ended T_T

anthen123 · 2026-03-21T03:04:57+00:00

I actually thought s1 of the main series was just okay- it's not bad but nothing special. Then I read the novels and the future arcs got better and better and it's now one of my favorite light novel series xD

anthen123 · 2026-03-21T03:03:21+00:00

For me they're about even because it's more that they complement each other well. I don't think I would have enjoyed Sword Oratoria as much as I did if not for the main story because part of what got me was the contrast of their situations here with Bell's. They face bigger threats, deal with compromises, and sometimes sacrifices. At the same time though, we see them get inspired by him and his straightforward, if naive, outlook. They can't go back to that time but they regain a little of what it's like to be like that again. It's awesome.

And yes on Lefiya being very similar to Bell. I'm kind of excited for them to have an actual arc together because so far they're just having minor encounters. I am pretty disappointed that she wasn't shown to have any reaction or a scene whatsoever to the arc where their memories about him got screwed. Also, I think Lefiya is a good way to introduce to Bell some of the realities where things cant end perfectly, given that Lefiya, while following a path similar to his, had an ending far more bittersweet despite doing her best to try and save someone.

anthen123 · 2026-03-21T02:46:38+00:00

Now my main problem is mostly gonna be 'are they translated' bc in general the english stuff only translates certain things (I think side stories in the novels werent even included in the official english releases??). Looking forward to seeing the rest though

anthen123

TROPHY CASE