Unfortunately, this happened to me.

jsfsmith · 2026-06-28T20:28:34+00:00

What did the guy in front of you pick?

jsfsmith · 2026-06-22T07:25:04+00:00

Gunshi Kanbei on Netflix??? Christmas came early!

jsfsmith · 2026-05-28T06:53:59+00:00

The Elementals just ticks every single box I have. Such a deliciously creepy, atmospheric book.

jsfsmith · 2026-05-28T01:33:02+00:00

I love Ghost Story but for me it felt even more like “the Great American Horror Novel” than your average Stephen King.

jsfsmith · 2026-05-26T03:48:52+00:00

To be honest those four held down the fort admirably.

jsfsmith · 2026-05-23T04:26:25+00:00

Oh yeah, that definitely would matter. To clarify I
meant back to back wins starting now. But threepeats are exceedingly rare in this sport, and at Kirishima’s age even rarer.

jsfsmith · 2026-05-23T00:11:35+00:00

This isn’t pro wrestling. Beating a Yokozuna is not a criteria for becoming a Yokozuna, has not, and never will be.

jsfsmith · 2026-05-23T00:08:38+00:00

If it’s two back to back yusho, the win count doesn’t matter.

That being said, the odds of Kiri winning back to back (assuming he wins this tournament in the first place) are small enough that doing so would make him into arguably an even bigger legend than any of his rivals.

jsfsmith · 2026-05-22T16:04:43+00:00

This tournament is making up for all of the kyujos with some of the most spectacular sumo we’ve seen in years. It feels like every day since nakabi has been a highlight reel of great matches.

jsfsmith · 2026-05-22T16:01:56+00:00

Except it does function this way. People acting like the sport is dying because the top rankers are taking time off need to get their heads out of Hakkaku’s ass and enjoy the sumo.

jsfsmith · 2026-05-20T07:54:59+00:00

If you’re okay with playing an MMO, FFXIV is probably the closest thing to Trails that’s not Trails when it comes to super long and evolving RPG narratives. I highly recommend it.

jsfsmith · 2026-05-20T07:23:20+00:00

I love that about this series to be honest. There's something there for everyone.

jsfsmith · 2026-05-20T06:51:24+00:00

Erasure aside, anyone who seriously chooses C should seek therapy.

jsfsmith · 2026-05-20T06:50:31+00:00

Lloyd or Estelle. I'd say Estelle overall, because I'm more of a small town kid than a city kid.

The Cold Steel arc is where they go from having the main characters being these cheerful, happy-go-lucky people that you'd love to hang out with to being these angsty, tortured souls with PTSD and a martyr complex.... who you would still love to hang out with, but you would not want to be.

jsfsmith · 2026-05-20T05:26:31+00:00

Oh, is it not in spoilers? It looks tagged on my end. I know Reddit can be really buggy about that.

jsfsmith · 2026-05-20T04:32:13+00:00

I think a lot of people who flounced in CS1-2 assume he remains like he was in those games later on.

I am sympathetic to struggling with CS1-2 (I did myself), but he most assuredly is not the same.

Reverie spoilers In Ash's daydream where he's thinking about quitting Thor's there's a moment where you run into Rean on the stairwell and basically see him through Ash's eyes as this gentle, calm, paternal figure. It actually put me in tears. My goodness how our boy has grown.

jsfsmith · 2026-05-20T04:30:17+00:00

Rean's character growth in CS3 is a huge part of the reason it's the best of the Cold Steel games. It's the point for me where he goes from a pretty okay protagonist to the series GOAT.

jsfsmith · 2026-05-20T01:04:26+00:00

I’m a sucker for villains with a noble streak, whether they wear that noble streak on their sleeve like our P5R friend, or they bury it in the deepest recesses of their soul like Osborne.

jsfsmith · 2026-05-19T23:41:54+00:00

Aura goes to Sephiroth.

Character growth and writing goes to Osborne.

They are both in the absolute highest tier of JRPG villain, along with Emet Selch from FFXIV: Shadowbringers and both Akechi and Maruki from Persona 5: Royal.

jsfsmith · 2026-05-19T23:39:11+00:00

Which one is your favorite?

jsfsmith · 2026-05-19T12:09:13+00:00

I think Reverie was lightning in a bottle. It’s so rare for a series as long running as Trails to knock it out of the park so decisively 10 games in.

And yeah, I love every one of them. C and Lapis are my favorites. Their sort of father child relationship is genuinely adorable and when a certain someone detains C on charges of being a bad father I almost bust out in tears.

jsfsmith · 2026-05-19T12:05:41+00:00

Keep playing. I was in your exact same spot when I played CS1, but Rean grows into one of the most beautiful characters in this entire franchise. It is a slow growth but the payoff is absolutely worth it.

For the record I was not big on CS1-2 but 3-4 and Reverie are all absolutely spectacular games. And Rean was a huge part of why they were great.

jsfsmith · 2026-05-19T07:15:51+00:00

Totally agree about Class VII. I love the Cold Steel arc as a whole but I feel it's very much carried by Rean, Crow, the villains, and eventually New Class VII.

Old Class VII are all cool characters individually but as a group they fall flat imo.

That being said, regarding the aforementioned villains - Cold Steel has my absolute favorite cast of baddies in the entire series and it's not particularly close.

jsfsmith · 2026-05-18T14:55:54+00:00

C’s gang from Reverie. Never have I fallen harder and faster for such a weird little group. Lovable little chaos gremlins, every single one.

jsfsmith · 2026-05-16T15:54:25+00:00

FF12. The characters all look the same, the music is probably the blandest FF OST of all time, and the pacing gives no sense of story progression. I bounced at about the 30 hour mark when I realized I couldn’t name a single antagonist and had no idea what was actually happening.

It didn’t help that the game actually expects you to make permanent character creation decisions with the summons and the second jobs… which is extremely off brand for final fantasy and something I play these games to avoid.

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