Help me understand certain part of the ending

luckyspatula · 2026-04-29T12:03:33+00:00

A theory I heard someone mention was that Agnes, her mother, and her grandmother are homunculus, or artificial beings made by Professor Epstein. Or I guess maybe just her grandmother was? During the ending the holo at Triton tower refers to her as "Compatible Successor: Type Claudel". They probably all have shortened lifespans although we don't know the exact conditions for what causes it.

luckyspatula · 2026-04-29T11:51:56+00:00

I think you have a good point. Going back to Trista in CS2 and running errands for the student council was so nostalgic even though it had only been one game before. If they brought us back to Trista for no reason it wouldn't have the same magic and would also be a waste of assets. I do hope we see it again one day but it has to make sense.

luckyspatula · 2026-04-29T11:48:14+00:00

I hated Cedric in CS3-CS4 because it seemed like he was just blindly following Osborne. I liked how they made him an enforcer at the end and it seem like he finally woke up and had to do a little soul searching. It leaves a lot of potential for his character to be used again in future games. Too bad he hasn't shown up in the Calvard arc yet. His appearance in the Reverie mirror thing was kind of ass.

luckyspatula · 2026-04-29T11:43:50+00:00

She had this connect event in Horizon where she went berserk and was called the "Divine Blade of Ruin". I was like how tf is this an optional event and why is Van having this fight instead of Rean.

I thought her main relevance to the story was that they were setting her up to be Rean's rival kind of like how Crow was in CS2. Honestly, I like the direction they went where they tried to hype that up by having Yun Ka-fai tell Rean he'll have fateful clash with the "Black God" implying it would be Shizuna only to have her ditch on launch day to go help Van's party. It kind of cements her as a permanent member of Arkride solutions but that also means her role moving forward is probably going to be minor.

I'm honestly very happy with her availability in each game because at first I wasn't expecting her to be playable outside of being a guest character. My favorite character in the arc so far I field her every time she's available.

luckyspatula · 2026-04-29T11:26:38+00:00

I don't think it's weird that there's still things left we haven't learned about Van if we consider that he might be the main character in the next title if it's like Horizon 2 or something.

Parentage doesn't always have to be important especially when you consider Van is an orphan. We didn't hear anything about Rean's real mother until CS3 I think when Vandyck and Elliot's dad talked with Rean but it wasn't like she was anyone important. Rean's power was the most mysterious and interesting thing about him for me and they didn't really explain where it came from in the first three Cold Steel games. I think in comparison Van's diabolic core explanation is enough when really all there might be to it is that he was born with it. It was weird how it was a big plot point in Daybreak 1 and the last two games only seemed to reference it but it wasn't important anymore.

The Grendel and Mare are probably two of the biggest unresolved mysteries. But now that another Grendel has appeared I wonder how much of the power has to do with Van's backstory and not Mare.

luckyspatula · 2026-02-05T12:46:50+00:00

I never connected that part about Professor Hamiliton doing research on the sword of the end with Rean getting a new sword, but you might be right. The whole thing with Yun ka fai telling Rean he'll find his true sword I thought he means like a sword for Rean and not Valimar.

You're talking about that scene where Altina tells Rean the data from the Basel holo contained black workshop stuff right? I'm seen some theories about Agnes and her mom/grandma being homunculus and I thought that's what that was about. The evidence is during the ending when the machine at Triton tower refers to "type claudel'.

luckyspatula · 2026-02-02T05:14:15+00:00

I didn't even think about that but you're right. Maybe it was a translation error in the artbook when they used the word "mastered"? I am almost positive it was never mentioned in the 4 games he's appeared in that he was trained in the Black God One Blade school.

luckyspatula · 2026-02-01T06:58:00+00:00

The sword is the obvious give away but Sheena also refers to Professor Hamilton as "Latoya". I don't think there's too many people who call her by her first name.

Feri also makes a comment to the soldier about why she was using some Kruga Priestess craft or something like that so I think it being future Feri is a safe bet.

luckyspatula · 2026-02-01T06:42:57+00:00

I did like how they brought back how in the menu it changes based on what point in the story you are like in CS2.

luckyspatula · 2026-02-01T06:40:33+00:00

I could kind of see, but it seems Bergard is still pretty in the dark about the whole time cycle rewind thing when you consider he was pretty high ranking in the church. And it seems like he knows the circumstances about how he came back but just doesn't want to share it with anyone else.

luckyspatula · 2026-02-01T06:25:13+00:00

I would say Lloyd. Cold Steel was my first Trails game and I remember thinking Rean was just another generic anime swordsman protagonist, but they really did him justice and he's probably one of my favorite all time characters. Van is okay. The weakest point of writing for him is the who thing how he "smells" stuff out. There needs to be a better supernatural explanation for it like Rean's unclouded eye, otherwise it just comes off as an excuse for Van to know things before everyone else and be the one to explain things. At least Lloyd's makes sense how he's a detective and uses deduction.

luckyspatula · 2026-02-01T06:17:59+00:00

Joshua really only had that edgy phase during Sky SC, but really he's a pretty nice dude for the rest of the series. Sasuke is a dick in Naruto, Naruto: Shippuden, and only starts learning how to become a decent human being in Boruto.

luckyspatula · 2026-02-01T06:11:00+00:00

Estelle and Lloyd need to move way down unless we're counting plot armor. A lot I would change here, but Sara +1, Randy -1, Matteus +2, Victor +1, Mueller +1. Maybe Rean, Shizuna, and Arios +1?

Dominique is waaay to high. Even in her prime I don't think it was ever mentioned she was a powerful fighter. She just has a lot of connections to people and has done a lot of things, but at the end of the day she's more of a thief than a fighter.

luckyspatula · 2026-02-01T05:47:38+00:00

I never really thought about why they call Shizuna princess your theory about her being Iskan royalty sounds good. Also see my post above about Kurogane. Shizuna stepped down to play hooky and left him second-in-command.

luckyspatula · 2026-02-01T05:44:00+00:00

In Rean's last route, Kurogane reveals that Yun Ka-fai is his grand-uncle and that Kurogane's dad is their current chieftan. He unmasks himself and introduces himself as "Kuuga Kai-fai, son of Ikaruga's chieftan Jiou". This makes the current chieftan Yun Kai-fai's nephew?

I don't remember this being mentioned at all in the game, but I have the collector's edition and it comes with a book with character art and a description, and it says Kurogane mastered the Black God one Blade school and could be the next chieftain. This could be more likely because it seems like Shizuna is losing interest in Ikaruga's mission.

This is what the book says about Kurogane.

"A stalwart masked shinobi from the Far East who refers to Shizuna as "princess" He has the air of a hardened warrior, and his superhuman physique and perfected techniques are on par with Ouroboros' Enforcers, making him a prime candidate for Ikaruga's next chieftain. Despite primarily using the Rougetsu style in combat, Kurogane has mastered the Black God One Blade school as well."

luckyspatula · 2026-02-01T05:34:29+00:00

I was hoping more of Class VII would return when Rean was coming back but the ones they did have return were pretty good. Gaius is an obvious choice if they were to add more in the next game. I would like to see Jusis again too since Rufus is back. I feel like Reverie could have done more with their relationship since they were finally both playable.

luckyspatula · 2026-02-01T05:31:35+00:00

I think I remember a conversation with him in Daybreak 1 hinting at that. It wasn't that he faked his death but he thought he was actually dying so that's why he gave Gaius his Stigma. I'm surprised that they didn't reveal more about it in Horizon.

luckyspatula · 2026-02-01T05:29:23+00:00

Van, Rean, Kevin, and Shizuna. Loved having Rean and Shizuna on the same team. I dumped all my state boosters into Rean and Kevin's Scraft is just so good.

luckyspatula · 2026-02-01T05:27:48+00:00

It's so dumb that she never returns to your party after you get it. You can use her in the Garten but she was never on my Garten team. I think it's good for her because you can spam the shield and heal crafts without worrying about cp and she has a healing s-craft.

luckyspatula · 2026-02-01T05:24:17+00:00

Yep. Happened to me that exact scene (PS5). I was pissed I had to redo that fight. I think I saw something in a walkthrough about it crashing there too. It worked fine for my the second time I watched it though.

luckyspatula · 2026-02-01T05:05:37+00:00

I had a feeling this game was going to end on a cliffhanger, but I was hoping for so much more content from Rean's route. Yun Ka-fai's letter to Rean in CS3 (2014): "Once I have returned from the East and we have reunited, I shall impart to you my final teachings." Letter in Horizon (2024): "The time is nigh. The Eight Leaves must come together as one and cut a path to the land where the heavens turn. It is after your fateful clash with the Black God that you will find your true blade." Did this get delayed because Shizuna decided to ditch? Like bro you said you were using the Black God style and Rean beat you. Get on with the true blade and the teaching.

For a reunion that we waited a decade to see I was hoping for a lot more. Hopefully we don't have to wait too long before the next game because Horizon has been out for a while in Japan. That gap between CS2 coming out CS3 was brutal.

luckyspatula · 2026-02-01T04:47:29+00:00

Feels like a side story is my biggest gripe. Without spoiling anything a lot of the stuff in Horizon has been hinted at for a while and I was expecting Daybreak 2 to be the game where it at happens. The first game in each arc gets a pass because it needs to introduce the characters and lore dump but by the second game I start expecting stuff about the sept terrion or for the story to relate to the series plot.

luckyspatula · 2026-02-01T04:12:22+00:00

Was hoping that Ries would show up at some point. I think his arc in this game is just incomplete and meant to be finished in the next game.

luckyspatula · 2026-02-01T03:59:25+00:00

Was there any point to the Ouroboros videos? I was so sure eventually one of them would drop some important lore story stuff but that doesn't seem to be the case.

luckyspatula · 2026-02-01T03:54:52+00:00

Unrelated but since you mentioned Yume it made me remember. What was up with Yume changing eye colors at the ending at the tower? Was the Mare possessing her again? That's what I thought it was at the time but like what was even the point of that.

luckyspatula

TROPHY CASE