Trails of Cold Steel 2 -
So I've been anticipating this game since I finished the first one in August. Total length was about 100 hours or 2 and 1/2 weeks worth of playing pretty much non-stop when possible. Overall, this game is really good. I found it better than the Cold Steel 1 actually, although part of that may be due to attachment that is built up from the first game. It still has some flaws but again, like the first one, they feel mostly minute and are nitpicking compared to serious issues that would detract away from the experience.
This game actually reminds me a lot of Shadow Hearts: Covenant. Not in the sense that they are telling the same story, but in their strengths and weaknesses as a game. I mentioned during my ending thoughts for Covenant that difficulty was the primary issue. This is actually somewhat of the same problem in Cold Steel 2. That's not to say the game is a total cakewalk. For the record, I was playing on Hard and the early to mid game (Prologue until Act 1 Part 3/Intermission) was actually challenging somewhat! However, once you get past that point, the difficulty just implodes. You get too much broken, and there are multiple ways to snap the game like a twig. To give you an idea, none of the bosses in the final chapter got a single turn on me. The only time I ever took damage was because someone missed and ate a counterattack. Before hand, there are other ways that neutralize fights. Here's a couple more examples. In one boss fight I managed to set back a boss's turn by 359 clockticks - essentially it will never see a turn before dying. In another case, I set up a PC who can cast tier 4/5 magic in only 3 clockticks whereas for any other mage PC it would take 4 clockticks just to cast a tier 1. And just like in Covenant, many of these broken things are given to you without much effort. There's only 1 part of my game plan towards the end that requires any effort and its basically a recipe from speaking to NPCs, which you *should* be doing since its a Trails game and it's kind of staple that you should be speaking to people. The pieces are all there, and if you know how to string it together, watching it in action is glorious. I remember speaking to Andy regarding how it worked and we both kind of agreed that the strategy is very tabletop game-ish but just like in a tabletop game, if the option is there for you string together an engine, there really is no reason not to. Unless you feel like giving mercy I guess, but mercy is for suckers. Sorry, Kato.
Speaking of battles though, Divine Knight battles are zzzz. I don't even mean that they are easy. They are just very awe uninspiring. I'm still amazed that despite all the games that use giant robots, pretty much none of them have any good mech combat systems outside of Front Mission. I mean yes, I can't expect a game to have the same Front Mission engine, but the fact that XENOGEARS is still probably the best game with this form of combat from what I've played says something since that game is almost 20 years old now. The core principal in these battles are that they are rock/paper/scissors, but they come off more to me as Suikoden duels. That is to say the enemy/enemies you are fighting will say/have different poses and that alters which part of theirs is vulnerable. You can then attack a different part to try and unbalance them for more damage or use super moves. However, several of these fights, especially the tougher ones, you much rather just turtle and use the perfect evade and counter ability over straight up attacking. I'm not entirely sure why the Divine Knight battles seem so boring since Suikoden duel battles didn't strike a negative chord with me. My kneejerk though is that these battles are bogged down due to having a secondary PC and that most of these battles just take place because reasons. I remember how most of the duels in Suiko 5 had more emotion behind them such as dealing with an imposter of yourself or having Lyon go up against her superior. In most of these fights except for the last one, it's really seems like it's just "we need to remind people that Rean has a giant mech". As for the secondary PC, it gives you access to things like healing and buffing, which aren't bad things in theory. However, it does greatly decrease the stakes and I suppose the execution of it just isn't that well done. One of the big things in Suiko duels is that you can't heal so every action/guess you make counts and the tells were more obvious. In any case, the Divine Knight battles are very meh. I could make do without them but I don't see it going away due to the plot. I just hope this gets fixed somehow so it's less of a chore to go through.
A returning flaw from the first game is the lack of cutscene skipping. I guess Falcom really doesn't want you to try and speedplay your way through. Gotta read all the text yo. And of course, the typical associated problem of "if you miss this trigger then you're locked out of XYZ" still sucks. Although this time, its a little better. You can reacquire some of these items through the Pawn shop if you're willing to recycle the shop list and the odds don't seem to be as harsh as it was in the first game. Link EXP growth being absolutely abysmal is also somewhat of an issue since it locks out some of the cooler link abilities up the tree and pretty much ensures that unless you are Rean, you basically don't see any links past Link Level 4 lest you have a special relationship to another PC (see: Alisa and Sharon or Towa and Angelica).
Now with all the negative aspects I can think of out of the way, I should go into the positives, which is pretty much everything else. The core battle system is largely the same as the first game with a few tweaks / attempted nerfs to make things more balanced. The difficulty in the first half, is at least there and provides a decent challenge at a couple points. All the PCs as well as guests that they introduce all have their fine points and are pretty well balanced across the board. When you consider that you have 16 PCs in total as a result of that come the Epilogue, that's pretty impressive. You still only visit the Eastern side of Erobonia, but the game does become open world after awhile so the groundwork in the environment and settings previously done all actually pay off. There are also new locations that you were never able to access so it's not a complete rehash of places you've already been to.
The game is clearly divided into 2 parts. The premise of the 1st part is a little less interesting than the 2nd, but both are pretty good. In the first Act, you're going around to reunite with your classmates. The structure of the game is a little more rigid in that your party structure is more forced and you have less control over where to go since the game just sends you off to one place. It's more restrictive, which is why I think the 2nd half of the game is better and well executed at that. In the second part, you're now trying to reunite the rest of the student body under your cause. You have an airship and the game becomes more open, allowing you to re-explore places you've been to (which you could never do in the first game!). Party choice is no longer restricted, and in the Epilogue, it's basically "use whoever you want", which leads to all sorts of fun combinations that you were never able to play around with before. The Epilogue is also the coolest part of the game since that last dungeon very much feels post-game feel with randomly generated floors and randomly generated loot. Except that the loot is all excellent, so its worth going up and down it a couple of times while experimenting with new parties. There is very much a Suikoden feel in the 2nd half but it's done well, so it doesn't feel like a rip and has its own unique spring to it. You're still tasked with certain objectives but you are given a lot of freedom over how to do it, which is very cool. Just in case you are worried, the game does auto-level your unused PCs, so you're never at a big disadvantage for not using someone. That and also Trails scaling.
Interestingly enough, the game also has 2 Gaiden type chapters. One in which you get to learn more about the Villains (for all that I didn't give a shit about half of them but hey) and the second one where you get to play as LLOYD BANNINGS from Trails to Zero. While I personally didn't care about the Villains chapter, you could certainly do worse. I appreciate the effort for all that I have my gripes with half of them (but not all). As for Lloyd's chapter, it's a nice little way to kind of show how the actions from Erobonian influence or have negative effects on other characters within the same world, which is easy to forget. Seeing Lloyd's brief perspective does sink in the fact that what we see through Rean is really only one side of the story. So for all that both of these chapters don't relate to the main cast themselves, I appreciate them being there, certainly from a story telling perspective as well.
Along the same vein, work on the PCs and NPCs are done excellently as in the first game. They all feel fleshed out and developed, have their own motivations and personalities and are easy to like. We also get more insight into some of the characters which we didn't see as much of such as Sara, Millium and Emma, who all really needed it since too much about them was all MYSTARY. Of course, in the end, this is still Rean's story, so we see a lot more of his struggles compared to the others. I'm still continuously impressed on the work surrounding the NPCs. As I noted in Cold Steel 1, Towa is pretty much like my favourite guest character ever sans Luserina. I guess I just like my women with the same traits: cute, compassionate, caring and competent.
The villains though, I'm not exactly sure where to foothold them. Since this is a bit spoilery, I will be using some code/nicknames for them, although it should be obvious if you've played the game. Some of the antagonists are entertaining enough, but others I really find myself having a hard time caring about. The Turks are pretty laidback and strike me the same way as Reno/Rude were good in FF7. Gay Tuxedo Mask is hilarious every time he is on screen and I feel like this is basically OK in the Trails universe. Lesser interesting villains are Snobby Valkyrie and Pyro. They exist, but don't exactly make an impression. The worst ones though are actually the main villain set. Both Witch of the Abyss and Azure Knight inspire nothing but pure apathy from me and I had no qualms feeling that they both got what they deserved at the end. I get the game is trying to show the differences between Azure Knight and Rean, but this ain't no Yuri/Kato comparison. There's not enough done with Azure to really make you feel connected or sorry for him. In the first game, he intentionally seemed hollow to foreshadow events, so he didn't get the same sort of established development that would work for his story in part 2. Also, I will say I throughly enjoyed kicking their ass with my set ups because I am a spiteful individual and got a good laugh after all the bluster the game set it up to be
. So some good, some bad. I don't hold writers too harshly for this since writing a good villain *is* hard. It's why I appreciate the really well done ones when they appear.
The ending of the game does conclude this part of the Erobonia arc instead of Part 1, which left things on a cliffhanger. It's a bit bittersweet in that it does conclude Class VII's tale and the story does come to a somewhat peaceful end, but at the same time, everyone departs on their own separate ways, having all found things that they want to do sans Rean. And for that, it is quite fitting the last scene in the game is them heading out to the train station (remember the symbolism I mentioned in the first game?). We know that there is a part 3 coming, so it will be interesting to see where they go from this point. Obviously, there are some questions still left unanswered and Palpatine isn't exactly a paragon of virtues. It's also obvious from the bonus chapter with Lloyd that Rean is somewhat conflicted with his new role, fame and connection to Palpatine. My guess is that Part 3 might bring back some of the characters from Azure again as Gaiden type chapters or they could potentially be integrated into the main Acts similar to guest characters in CS2. It'll be on my radar for games to watch out for when it comes out. Until then, I do highly recommend this as a play for anyone who's looked at the series. Both Part 1 and Part 2 are probably 9/10s alone, but are a 10/10 when you play them in succession. If you are worried about the difficulty, you could do Nightmare but I imagine it still has the same late game problems. You basically have to ban yourself from using that stuff and actually give enemy turns. Y'know, like those strange folks that didn't stack Intrude through Wild ARMS 4.
EDIT: So, the PCs! It's the same core cast but you lose 1 of the characters in CS1 in replacement for Sara in CS2. Functionally, the PCs have the same strengths as they did in CS1. They did buff some of the characters / nerf others to try and deal with the balance between them and for the *most* part, this is successful I feel. It's not like the cast was terribly imbalanced to begin with, so a lot of it was also tweaking what certain Master Quartzes do. As a general rule, arts/magic are still the go to for your standard good damage source, while S-crafts are where you get the massive damage numbers to come out. Regular crafts are good for random smashing with base physicals basically being something you should never use unless you are chipping or just need to poke something to death. Anyway, Spoilery stuff; you've been warned!
Rean -
Rean continues to be likable main. Has certain moments of doubts, but in general, doesn't wallow in self pity, inspires his allies and towards the end of the game, he's very much the symbol or representation of hope (quite literally too). This should be interesting come CS3 because you can see some of the parallels and troubles that he's likely running into. We've seen some of Osborne's agenda where has acts like Putin and annexes other states into the Erobonian empire. Given Rean's connection to Crow and Crow having explained why he turned traitor, there's no doubt that Rean doesn't agree with Osborne's methods. Yet the end reveal in CS2 shows that he likely feels on some level to be obligated by duty to do what Osborne wishes. Not just because of familial ties but also because him and Valimar's presence are a major boost to the army's morale and it might be what needs to be done to keep everyone in the nation safe. Since CS2 represents only 60% of the Erobonian arc, CS3 should have a lot of pay off with some of this stuff.
My only gripe with Rean isn't so much as it is with him but with the bonding events. You do get a special scene depending on who you choose as your partner in the final bonding event, but some of it feels very uneven. As you might be aware, like the first game, you can bond with certain NPCs (Towa/Alfin), but both Towa and Alfin only get 1 bonus scene as opposed to 2 with your classmates. Also, the emotions expressed are *very* different. As an example, the Alisa final bonding event has them both finally admitting their feelings towards each other. Which is good! But by comparison, the final bonding scene with Towa leads into Rean expressing regret to Towa that he couldn't keep his promise to her and she merely comforts him as they both try to cope with the loss of losing a friend. This is kind of a huge difference. I mean yes, Crow is definitely closer to Towa/Rean than to Alisa, but he was still part of their class as they so emphasize. Maybe I'm just sad that the final bonding event with Towa doesn't involve the two of them confessing to each other. I dunno 
. Maybe in Cold Steel 3.
In battle, Rean is definitely one of the MVPs in the entire cast of 16. Good thing too since he's always forced. As a reminder, his base elements on his ARCUS are 2 time, one fire, so he's set to be more of a Time Augmented Swordsman. Both in CS1 and CS2, AT Delay is existent. However, in CS2 though AT Delay feels much more devastating because it's success is influenced by Speed. Even though enemies may have 80% resistance, a fast character still has like a 50-50 chance to inflict it and it works the same way as before, with the value on your quartz bonuses added to the Delay of whatever attack you are using. Since Rean's Arc Slash/True Arc Slash has the same faster recharge as in CS1, he can literally spam this and lock enemies down forever. About midway through, Raven MQ was permanently slapped on Rean because of the innate Speed Boost and further Delay boosting. At the end, each time Rean inflicted AT Delay, it more or less pushed enemies back by 45 CT or something which is equivalent to 3 turns. Just utterly devastating and stops enemies dead. The main issue he has is that he will run out of CP if you aren't paying attention so he also needs a CP Boosting accessory or a battery to keep this up. Also helps if you have some one who can recharge his buffs to keep the Delay pushback. His Magic stats are meh, but it's not like you need him to be a mage since there are plenty of those to go around if you need it.
DL Wise, Rean wants his CS2 form so bad. He also wants you to give him starting CP since some of his nastier abilities such as Spirit Unification gives him 3 super charged turns. It does cost 100/200 CP though, so if he starts at like 0, there's pretty much no chance for him to get to it normally. His MQ has base CP Regeneration now, but it's sluggish at only like +5 per action. He can also SUMMON BIGGER LAGGY into a fight although I've never used the command. It's probably pretty devastating though since it uses Valimar's stats to determine damage during those turns versus Rean's stats and Valimar's stats are like 3-4x higher. Compared to CS1 where he didn't have these options, and the answer is pretty obvious. Becomes some form of High Heavy/Low Godlike likely if you give him all the tools he needs. Otherwise, mm...Low Heavy I guess?
Alisa -
The canonical heroine. Similar to Rean, the bonding events are really what strike me as being interesting going forward. At the end of the game, she returns to the Reinford company to help her grandfather and mother rebuild it. She's made the promise in CS1 to inherit the family business, which means that if CS3 is several years into the feature, she'll likely still be prominent, although whether or not she will be playable is up in the air. Most of Alisa's development was done in CS1 so there really is not much change in CS2 (outside of the confession), which is focused centrally on Rean anyway. The real question though is how far they are willing to go with the canon thing. As I noted beforehand, some of the bonding events are more intimate than others and since Rean and Alisa confess to each other in their final bonding event, it will be kind of hard to pretend it never happened if they decide to do any sort of carryover. This wasn't the case in CS1 since the final bonding scene there is relatively mild, making the Carryover easy. Not exactly the same case here I feel. They could avoid carryover data but I somehow doubt it; there will likely be a lot of negative fan backlash if they go that route.
In battle, Alisa is a top tier PC. She's still the long range ordinance specialist with good attack stats and magic stat, although in CS2, you're much more likely to turn her into a mage than a physical attacker. She's the best physical battery by far thanks to Heavenly Gift, which provides GT Insight and Impassion (CP Regeneration). This allows a team to stay in the front-lines and be evasively tanky while being able to access their high damaging multiplier moves more consistently. Since since she works best in physical teams, she's best turned into a mage to fire offensive magic as support while the rest of the team goes toe to toe with the threats upfront. Her main weakness is that just like in CS1, she's fragile. However, if you are keeping the rest of your PCs upfront, she shouldn't be targeted that frequently, so the bad defensive stats aren't too crippling.
DL-wise...I dunno. Angel still has the same cheese as it did in CS1, so Alisa is still a massive threat that runs in Heavy with 2PB full auto-life and CP Recharge. But the damage feels higher in CS2 than CS1, so she likely doesn't like that even if her fundamental skill set is essentially the same. Probably prefers CS1 is my guess since her orbments are more unique then and if my suspicion is right, likes the lower damage average to make her more of a threat. Still likely some form of Heavy though.
Elliot -
He does get his dream of going to a Music Academy after the events of CS2, although his words to Rean emphasize that he won't be focused solely on music. Of course, he's more confident in his abilities, but still the same timid kid otherwise. They dig more into his musical background here than in CS1 to I guess re-emphasize that going to a military academy was only because his father pushed him into it. After the events of CS2, he gets the approval from his dad, so it does make a lot of sense as to why he would leave. Elliot feels like one of the least likely to return if they don't intend to bring back all of Class VII come part 3 as a result. He doesn't really have a reason to go back and fight since he has no major connections to any other outstanding questions left at the end, and much of his development is also done by this point. Sure, his dad is in the imperial army, but in the grand political strife that's going on, he's not one of major players.
Elliot is still the defensive oriented mage, with many of his crafts dedicated to healing and defense. Heck, his new S-craft is basically a panic button. Push it after something really scary to full Res/heal the party. But just like in CS1, he has the same issues here. Offense is far better towards the end than Defense, so Elliot gradually fazes out although given his arts score, he can still hang around as a decent caster. He's really good early on though, when you don't quite have the same level as broken and need a healer around for some of the longer engagements.
DL-wise, also probably prefers CS1 due to lower damage curve. Elliot's skillset doesn't really change come CS2. He does get some higher status affliction rates, but they are still iffy. He much rather have his CS1 incarnation so he doesn't have to turtle quite as long if my suspicion is correct. Some form of Middle/Low Middle likely.
Gaius -
Of all the characters that do leave at the end, Gaius is one of the few that sort of raises a question mark. He originally came to the academy to learn more about Erobonia so he can better protect his homeland. It seems to make more sense to me that he should have stayed behind to complete the rest of his education since its not like you can learn *everything* about a country in a year. I guess the game tries to sell you on that his homeland isn't in any real danger anymore so he sees no need to stay in Thors? Even still, that's kind of a weak reasoning. In terms of unresolved things, Gaius does have indirect ties to Wallace, who is a character they introduce late as part of the Imperial army. And since he basically went through the last 2 games being the more static character, I can see him making a return or at least a cameo to wrap up some loose ends there. He's not a bad character, but he does feel the least developed out of them.
In battle, one of the few PCs that got buffed. He's ended up as a tanky frontliner at the end of CS1, losing some of his random smashing potential. In CS2, he regains that PLUS being a great damage dealer from the boost to Wild Rage. It's now +60 CP instead of +40, and the upgraded version is +90 although you lose 20% more HP. Doesn't matter though. When backed up by a physical battery, it means Gaius can spam S-crafts better than anyone. On randoms, he just smashes them with a combination of Turbulence/Gale Storm. The added Unbalance status on Gale Storm does a number to targets because it opens them up much easier to being hit by follow ups where you can mass regain CP if necessary or just getting doubled physical hits in. He's probably in the upper echelons of the tiers now - weaker than say Rean for randoms and Laura on bosses but better than both respectively in the other categories. Because he can spam S-crafts better than anyone, he's probably worth actually keeping *underleveled* to get the bonus on the Revolution quartz while Laura takes the one for being higher leveled. That way you get 2 high damaging S-craft users to blow through boss HP quite quickly.
DL-wise, he's better but not by much I imagine. He has the same evade game, with better evade now (+15% base instead of +9%) and the stronger crafts obviously help him out. Some sort of Middle and runs screaming from mages.
Fie -
We learn more about her too in CS2, which makes sense since Xeno and Leo are two of the new antagonists that they introduce. More importantly, we learn about how Fie interacted with them and how she feels towards them as well as why they left her behind. Just as importantly, we see how they feel about her as well. I wouldn't be surprised to see if the two of them became playable alongside Fie in part 3. She leaves the academy to look for the rest of her old Jaeger corp (which she hears from the two of them that their old boss may not necessarily be dead) and since the stuff regarding the Jaegers isn't exactly wrapped up, well, I imagine she'll be returning in one form or another. I can imagine them doing more with this character too since there's a lot of emphasis on family within the game (between say Rean/Jusis who have major familial conflicts to lesser ones say with Alisa) and its quite clear that while Fie ties herself to Class VII now, she hasn't forgotten about her time in the corp with Zephyr.
In battle, also one of the few characters who received a buff. She has a natural base 30% evade now, which goes right up there with the evade tanking. She gets increasingly better at it too as the game goes on with better accessories, armor and master quartz bonuses. Towards the end of the game, I had her running at 95% Evade and 100% Magic Evade, meaning she was basically invincible unless something was ITE. Granted, if stuff does hit her, she's hurting pretty badly (that HP...), but you leverage stats towards what you're good at. She still has her good speed as well as damage and gains a new tech that makes her invisible, giving her auto-crits for two turns. One of the few characters who can pump out a large damage within a short time as well and is good in higher difficulties for baiting thanks to the evade tanking. Pretty damn good compared to CS1 where she was awful to start.
DL-wise, CS2 form should be superior. 30% base evade means that she can probably get around 45-50%ish without much trouble and the increased status chances and power along with Invisible adds to her offense to make her better. Her MQ also has an added Delay bonus now, so she should be quite strong, although that HP is still a problem. Mm...probably still a Middle though I think. Could swing Heavy I guess if the damage ends up really good, but I doubt it. Does get natural Chrono Burst though! No EP to really fuel it granted, but hey.
Machias -
Like Elliot, he leaves the academy at the end to pursue his dream, where he looks to become a scholar. Just like Elliot, much of Machias' development was done over CS1, and he himself doesn't really have any other connections or ties left to any of major questions left at the end of the game. EXCEPT! His dad is still the governor for the capital city, so it's quite possible he may make a cameo because of that! Remember, there's more regarding the political strife and unrest at the end, so the fact his dad is an official versus Elliot's dad is a little more important. His bantering with Jusis still exists, but its been toned down comparatively (again much of it was resolved in CS1), so he's more likable to start, but there's less room for growth overall.
In battle, took a hit from the nerf bat. Chrono Burst works a little differently, meaning you can't do an infinite turn loop with just him in the front line. Chrono Burst's EP cost also increased to a whopping 400 so it's less feasible to spam it. Burst Drive's CP Cost increased to 50 instead of 35 so it's less abusable. Much of the change hurts Machias compared to other characters it feels like. OR DOES IT? It's clear that there was an intended nerf to stop the infinite turn looping, but it actually really doesn't accomplish this. You can still do it, it just requires a more roundabout way of doing it. And the sad thing is, while it can be easy to fix, I don't see them fixing it even in CS3 unless they outright change the crafts/mechanics. The secret lies in the swapping function of the game. The game is designed such that on swap, your next action has an increased recharge rate. However, because Chrono Burst is instant, you can use it to wipe out any recharge penalty on swapping and gain an extra turn. This then, allows you to Burst Drive, boosting multiple people up the cue. You can then swap out Machias for another character and keep him in the back until the last character's turn in the cue, swap him back in, then do it all over again. Of course, without any help, you won't be sustain this very long due to the high EP and CP costs. But EP Boosting gear as well as EP Reduction Quartz and CP Regeneration items/accessories all exist. Along with the Moebius MQ, which you get for free in Act 1 Part 2 by the way, you can make the item use more efficient by doubling the effect and making it GT. This in turn results in the final series of boss fights in just a little before the Finale basically getting zero turns. You win if you get a turn. Literally. I know the DL makes that comment a lot in matches, but this is a case where the engine actually exists in the game where you literally can't lose if you understand what to do. The moment you get a turn, it's basically over. So where does Machias rank? I have no idea. He's absolutely broken in the late stages of CS2 (for all that Claire can do the same thing, her GT Turn shift move is even more CP intensive and you can't use Guests in the main quest and still need 4 members of Class VII for the bosses in the Epilogue) but early on, he's sort of underwhelming and definitely feels the weakest. So very much like Engine type decks in table top games, he's like a 2/10 PC early and 11/10 PC late due to the way the game works. As noted for CS1, GT Turn Shift is stupid. Quick is stupid. Instant Cast Quick with GT Turn Shift = stupid stupid. Machias is kind of the living proof of it once late game rolls around.
DL-wise, he's a lot better actually. Iron doesn't actually suck this time! It has damage reduction of 50% at Max HP and he starts with HP Regen, so that's probably too much for some Lights to deal with. Similar to Elliot, except Machias' damage is likely worse since his magic attack is bad which just leaves him with regular physicals/techs that have to compete with better PCs in that field (Rean/Laura/Fie/Gaius all say hi). Still probably Middle, but a better one.
Laura -
She leaves at the end of the game to continue her training directly under her father, who's one of the strongest swordsmen in the land. Similar to Gaius, this decision just feels weird. It's not completely out of character since in the Finale, Duvale does want to challenge her and if you bring Laura to the fight, it's clear that Laura feels like she needs way more training to catch up to the Enforcers. However, it's odd because it's not like she can't do that *after* graduating from Thors. Even more weird is that she says several times to Rean that she doesn't feel like learning just about the sword is enough yet that's...pretty much what she ends up doing in the ending? Um...okay. A weird decision, but does set her up as likely a returning character in CS3 along with some of the unresolved stuff with the Enforcers you do meet in the game.
Battle wise, virtually no change. She's still a massive physical cannon who is a bit sluggish but brings the pain like no other. She's the strongest PC by far and it's not unheard of for her to literally OHKO late game bosses from crits and stacking multipliers together. It does require you to conserve and be patient somewhat, but it's very much worth it given the amount of damage you dish out as a result. A bit one-dimensional and Gaius and Fie can both do similar things but have other utility functions. She's just really good at what she does, but that's about it.
Virtually unchanged compared to CS1 in the DLwise. Radiant Wings isn't as strong but the rest of the package is similar and the status infliction rates are improved. Probably around the same Middle/Heavy border chances are.
Emma -
CS2 resolves much of the mystery around Emma, although not all. She is actually a witch which explains her strange magical powers and hides them to avoid drawing attention to herself. Celine, the cat, is actually her familiar (although this is quite obvious) and the role of the witches within the story is to guide the Awakener (a person who pilots a Divine Knight) as well as to observe the state of world and making sure to abide by the rules of their clan. We know that she and Vita are part of the same clan, and that Emma sees Vita more like a sister. Since Vita went into self-imposed exile towards the end, Emma and Celine wish to find more about her whereabouts and the plans unfolding behind the scenes, thus her withdrawing from the academy. It's quite clear that she will be involved with the remaining questions, which will probably explain more about the lore and the Divine Knights themselves.
In battle, virtually the same like Laura. Still the better of your magical cannons and a good one at that. Her HP is bad, but she nukes groups of enemies pretty badly, elemental weaknesses be damned. She does have to compete with Toval in the Epilogue where her casting speed is slower although she tends to hit harder as a trade off. Typically a little sluggish as well since she needs her slots to outfit herself with elemental variety instead of being able to take additional stats. She is good at what she does though.
DL-wise, also somewhat similar. Better crafts, although she doesn't get as much use out of them and her MQ provides natural EP Regen now. Still has Magic Evasion and Reflect to counter spoil other mages if a bit physically fragile. Chances are, is still likely some form of Middle/Heavy.
Jusis -
He will likely still have a big role to play come CS3. His dad is imprisoned at the end of CS2 by his own hands, and since his brother is the viceroy for Crossbell, this leaves Jusis essentially as the ruling Lord over his father's lands. It's quite obvious that Jusis' views are not the same as those of other nobles and thanks to his time with Class VII, there's no reason to anticipate that he will flip over. It does however raise some questions regarding how his rule is going to be not just over his father's lands, but also with the people and other ruling nobles. I suspect that there will be a confrontation with his brother at some point since while you do fight him once in the game where the game cheats and lets Rufus "win". So that's also a loose end that hasn't been wrapped up yet. And since his brother is a prominent figure in the lands that was just annexed...well...
Battle-wise, Noble Command. It's still crazy good since it adds all three offensive buffs (Attack/Magic/Speed), buffs Jusis himself at the same time and is great for offensive momentum. He also has Platinum Shield which blocks a physical attack and can work in place of Adamantium Shield castings, for all that it's not really useful if you're going for full on cheese. His stats are balanced like last time as the magic fencer so you can customize it depending on whether or not you want more of a front line fighter or a back line caster. He is more durable than the other mages, so turning him into a supportive healer isn't a bad choice either. Fades off towards the end of the game or if you don't intend on spamming noble command. You have better mages and better fighters, so Jusis is in a weird position where if you don't like his crafts, he has very little reason to be in the team. Once the Epilogue rolls around, you get a guest PC who has the same offensive buffing that lasts longer, although it doesn't self buff. Said PC also has better magic, so it kind of overtakes Jusis at that point. He's still good for the main game for what its worth.
DL-wise, Mistral also got a big boost. He has healing now as well as a crit chance on casting and innate reduced casting delay. All these things are major boons to Jusis for in a 1v1 setting. Since his durability also doesn't suck nuts, along with his complementary crafts to his skill sets, I suspect he's likely a Heavy. Possibly better too depending on how the opening rounds damage works.
Millium -
Since Osborne isn't exactly dead at the end, Millium gets recalled back to the Intelligence Division. There's a lot more details regarding her history if you're willing to view some of her Bonding events. I only saw a few but it does show us how functionally, she's very much not the same as a human as she doesn't real feel sadness. In the ending though, she does end up shedding some tears, so there's a sign that she's changing. Thanks to unresolved stuff regarding her and Altina, she's very much likely to return, like it or not. I always feels like she's the odd person out in the cast though.
In-game, a more extreme version of Gaius who can tank like nobody's business. And this time, they boosted her offense so she can dish it out. Her actual HP score is fairly low, which is surprising, but the high Def and crafts make up for it. Her Magic stats aren't completely in the gutter, but she's not great. Her main problem outside of the HP is actually being sluggish. Along with Machias, she has one of the lowest base speeds in the game, which can be quite the problem.
DL-wise, man I dunno. Aegis MQ does have some trolling capacity on reflecting damage back to the attacker and Millium herself can regenerate a shield to protect her at low CP costs. So my kneejerk is that she probably wrecks physical fighters badly, although those that have damage control will probably get around her tricks in doubles. She'll probably hate mages just as much as Gaius though. I'll have to review her crafts to see if there's any synergy and how the rest of the Aegis MQ plays out. I suspect she's a similar Middle as Gaius with a similar game plan, but she's not as good as it since reflect damage is worse than evading in-game as you can counter in one case, but can't in the other.
Sara -
Finding out more about Sara in CS2 is actually fairly neat. She doesn't join until the halfway point, but once she is in the party, she does a good job as serving as the older mentor type figure if a bit more light hearted, in comparison to say others in this role (such as Auron). We do find out stuff about her (which I assume wasn't revealed in CS1) such as her being part of a former Jaeger corp, and that she grew up in pretty shoddy circumstances, which explains a lot as to how she's such a good fighter in the plot and why she seems flighty otherwise if not dealing with her students. Overall, she's pretty neat. Her past is definitely checkered, but she hasn't let that stop her from changing her into a Bracer and then an Instructor. As an Instructor she also lets them make their own decisions although she provides some advice based on her own experiences and let's them fly. I think the last game I played where a mentor figure was this good was Xenoblade.
In combat, she's a mixed attacker, emphasizing more on physicals than magic. Her base MQ doesn't have a lot spells and the draining aspect only comes from physicals/crafts. She's still pretty much a self sustaining unit though since her crafts have great area coverage allowing her to hit multiple enemies for the parasitic healing. Her self buff is great if you're not running Jusis, although it is somewhat CP heavy. Works best in boss battles obviously where you want the boosts for the offense. Otherwise, I don't find a compelling reason to use her over the rest of Class VII, funny that. She works in physical parties obviously, but she doesn't have Gaius' quick CP generation, Laura's immense strength or Fie's ability to get guaranteed crits.
DL-wise, if you give starting CP, Lightning Charge is scary. It adds Speed/Strength and Insight, letting her dish it out while evade tanking. She essentially becomes a faster Laura, who trades off some power for some evasion, better magic stats and more speed. A generally winning trade all things considered. Will have to see how damage pans largely IMO since a large part of the Thor MQ is the parasitic healing and of course, if the damage is bad, then the draining is also bad, which would make Sara worse. Probably a Heavy most likely.
GUEST PCs! All Guest PCs are playable for a short duration (about 1 Part in most cases) and are generally really good compared to the regular members of Class VII. To make up for their advantages, the trade off they usually end up making is having fewer crafts and equipment might be fixed...at least until the Epilogue. Usually this trade off is worth it but it varies of course.
Elise -
I think she actually ends up playing more of a role despite having less screentime than in CS1. She gets abducted super early and doesn't come back until the Finale of the game, so that's quite a stretch where she's absent. Obviously, her abduction is big motivating factor for Rean, even if it just comes down to "Damsel in Distress" somewhat. Pretty much the same thing as in CS1 except she just gets introduced and is danger once instead of being captive an entire game. So overall, a giant plot device >_>. Also, why does Japan insist on the trope of having a younger sibling have a crush on the older sibling? I mean yes, they aren't related by blood, but come on.
In battle, she's uh...bad. Low HP, bad damage and her healing craft is very CP intensive. However, in the prologue, you pretty much need her since Toval will be tied up casting offensive arts and Rean will be your only front liner. There's pretty much no reason to use her in the Epilogue as a result since she's essentially the same and has no good offensive stats to leverage.
DL-wise, most likely Light. May make Middle if the damage is okay. Aries MQ means she drains HP/EP on hit with spells, which is good and reduced Water delay helps with the spell casts, but the stats man. I just don't see how she manages if the damage doesn't pan out. At least that's very much how she plays out in-game
Toval -
The guest who sticks around with you the longest and definitely serves as the mentor figure when Sara isn't around. He has several scenes with Rean early and towards the end tries to recruit him into becoming a Bracer. While Rean has rejected the effort at the end of CS2, I suspect that by the end of CS3, he will likely join them. A lot of what Rean does (and his personality at that) is helping others around him, even those who may be strangers, which is pretty much what a Bracer does. And its not like he dislikes that type of thing either. I wouldn't be surprised if Rean cuts all ties to the military/empire in CS3 and ends up becoming independent, taking on the role of the Bracer at the end and Valimar becomes the new symbol instead of the Gauntlet.
In-game, Toval is vitally important since there's portion of the game where he and Rean are the only characters in the party and Rean hasn't gotten any of the gear to make him good yet. His special accessory (which is locked on him) allows him to cast magic twice as fast, making him by far the best caster of the entire cast sans maybe Emma due to not having as much power. He's also decently quick too and a couple of his crafts are very debilitating by having the rates go as high as 90-100%. Durability wise, he's not that bad either with solid enough HP. He's very much a Red Mage type as a result. By the end, he's not as dominating since there's way more good stuff at the end, but you can stack the cast reduction stuff on him for absolutely silliness. Ever seen a Tier 5 magic being cast at 3 CT? Toval can!
DL-wise, Toval is good. He has the Wing MQ, which means he gets all of its bonuses. This includes full Status immunity, 15% base physical evade as well as 50% Magic Evasion. Along with his Fast Casting accessory, he should be able to dish things out relatively quickly. Oh, Wing can heal too, so he can probably keep himself afloat and use some of those powerful status crafts I mentioned before hand. One of them inflicts Seal and another one inflicts Mute, so he can shut down the opposition and lob Wind magic after them until they die. Hates Wind Resistance though, since otherwise he has to use his physical which is much less good than his fast casting. Probably a Heavy of some sort.
Claire -
I have no idea on Claire. She's definitely one of the characters where there are still questions left unanswered and being tied to them seeing as how Osborne is her boss. Her relationship with Rean is interesting to say the least. I can't get a good read on it. Like does she see him as more of a younger sibling, or is there some sort of general attraction? I mean, the game hints that's there's something more, but what it actually is, is a mystery. In any case, it's quite clear she respects Rean and they're very likely to be working together going forward given Rean's stance on staying at the academy and taking occasional requests from the empire. We'll likely see more of her in CS3; maybe even as part of the main cast too.
In game, she's a mixed attacker as well, with more emphasis on magical stats than physical ones. She doesn't have Toval's fast casting, but her physical as well as her crafts are much stronger. In particular, she has one craft, Flawless Command that is MT Turn Shift and also adds Str/Defense Up. It costs a whopping 60 CP so the cost is obviously meant to prevent it from being too powerful. What's funny though is that at the time when she first becomes playable, Machias is too. So if you can a good CP generation loop going, you can start your infinite turn loop here already although it is much less effective since two people will be tied up casting Turn Shift crafts instead of just one. Her other crafts include one that inflicts Freeze at 100% and ID at 60%; both of which are quite strong as a result. She's the most balanced of the Guest PCs you get for the first half of the game. In the Epilogue, there is no real reason to use her over Machias, but she can do the same silliness as him too. Just remember that you need 4 members of Class VII anyway, so taking Claire with you is a little less likely then taking Machias.
DL-wise, gets hosed unless you give her starting CP. Moebius's bonus are all with items, so she gets nothing from her MQ and is basically stuck trying to carry her matches through with her superior crafts. Freezing Rain is super good though due to the high freeze chances and infrequency of it being blocked, but even then, she can also try opting for ID which works as well. Both crafts are relatively high on the cost (40 each; it is is also one of her weaknesses as PC - just eats CP faster than others) so she won't be able to sustain them for that long, but if one does hit, the fight is pretty much over. Probably a Middle is my guess as a result.
Sharon -
Lots of mysteries still surrounding Sharon. Most of it Ouroborus related (freaking Illuminati, man) so maybe it will get sorted out by part 3? One can hope. For now though, she ends the game off returning to serve the Reinford household even though through the events of part 1 and part 2, its quite obvious she has a much bigger role to play than just as a house servant. You do get some history if you do the bonding scenes (and you should; Sharon is awesome) which sheds a little into her background, but its not much sadly.
Gameplay wise, uh...Sharon is ridiculous. High Attack, High Speed, 30% base evade, good magic stats. I mean, yeah, you know she's gonna to be good since she's an enforcer but she pretty much wrecks everyone in terms of the overall package. Her only flaw is that her HP isn't terribly high, but given the evade and her other abilities, it's unlikely for her to take much of a hit if you're doing things correctly. Her two attack crafts have huge range and hit twice. With the Juggler MQ, it procs status effects on every hit, so that's double the chance on crafts for her to hit with something debilitating. She pretty much cleans randoms without needing help from anyone due to her speed. In a pinch, she can also work as a semi battery as her last craft gives her the ability to restore the everyone's HP (sans herself) by 50% and 50 CP. Just absolutely nuts when you get her.
DL-wise, probably the best PC side dueller after Rean/Alisa? Fast speed, with multi-status afflictions on her abilities. Accurate too, so its hard to avoid them and she can get 50% base evade if she so chooses. That coupled with her high speed makes her tough to stop. With starting CP, she can also use Shadow Stitch which busts people speed and basically makes them immobile, allowing her to pick people off with magic if you're down with range games. Heavy, and likely a good one.
Alfin -
I really do hope they do more with Alfin. She works as the figurehead for the royal family while you have the airship and actually gets saved halfway through the game. Although she doesn't really join in on the front-line fighting, her presence does make a lot of sense. She's pretty fun to boot so it's pretty enjoyable watching her interact with other people. At least when she's on-screen anyway.
You get her for a brief stint where she's a pretty bad (no crafts, middling stats), but in the Epilogue, she's much better equipped. A strong mage PC, she's like a more extreme version of Jusis. No Platinum Shield, but her S-craft adds both barriers at the same. Royal Cheer lasts longer than Noble Command and she's a better caster at the cost of worse physical abilities. She's certainly better than Elise, although I'm not sure where to place her. Probably Mid-tier ish? Competing with Emma and Toval as a caster isn't exactly fun when you don't bring too much else to the table.
DL-wise, man. I'm not sure she even has a MQ? That would give her a big disadvantage to start. She did come with some starting quartz on her though, so hey, there's hope! Maybe >_>. I'll need to replay up to point to tell you for sure.
Angelica -
I like the second years (sans Crow since, well, y'know). She's laid back and lives very true to herself, and will call you out on your bullshit if you do something to deserve it. She disobeyed her father in the part 1, and in part 2, she actively leads a rebellion against him, settles the score during the story and also arrests her uncle who is total putz. So yeah, she's great. She graduates at the end of the game and decides to go traveling the world to broaden her horizons - very much in tune with her character. I hope we get to see her again since she rules.
In-game you get to use her for a whole Part and she's quite strong when she's around. She has a unique accessory that can't be removed but the real cool stuff is in her crafts. Remember how Rean has True Arc Slash? Angie has a similar attack in Laser Bullet 2. It has the same range, same AT Delay and costs only 20 CP. 20. Jesus. She can literally spam this thing without issue. However, the main trade off is that Laser Bullet doesn't recover as quickly as True Arc Slash and Angie doesn't have the free time slots that Rean has so she can't utilize a delay strategy as he can. Doesn't mean you can't put them together in the party and watch the fire works of stacking AT Delay on a target. She also has a self buff move and another craft that has 90% chance of inflicting Stun. Stun is devastating since it doesn't wear off, kills your evasion and while it's active, you take critical damage to EVERYTHING. So yeah, she's great while she's around. Not as good as Sharon, but they don't compete until the end of the game anyway, at which point, she's still a decent choice.
DL-wise, Emblem is funny. It can reduce damage up to 99% although I don't know exactly how the damage reduction works. It can make her obnoxiously hard to kill. She's also a case of "protect against or Stun or die" probably given the 90% chance on Zero Impact. Emblem can also cast SHINING, giving her a decent evade game too. Pretty solid all things considered. Probably a High Middle most likely. Might make Heavy depending on how Emblem works and when the extreme reduction kicks in.
Towa -
Okay, I've already gushed about Towa. The best perspective I can give is to draw the comparison to Luserina again. She's compassionate, helping others with their troubles in times of crisis, caring and considerate by looking after everyone in the student body and competent at what she does when she becomes the acting Captain of the airship. Also, she's adorable. This character already made an impression in the first game the first time she's introduced, but she basically keeps me attached because she's constantly doing stuff in-game that's very supportive and selfless, even to people who she may not necessary know well. I would probably genuinely fall in love with someone like this in real life. Would really love to see her return in Part 3 (and maybe do something more with Rean), but I can see her also not returning since at the end of the game, she's also on a tour of the country, but this time to various not-for-profit run facilities such as Hospitals. Didn't I say I love this character?
You get to use her all of ONE battle and its kind of an unimpressive one before the Epilogue. Once you finally do get to use her for more than 1 fight, well it's interesting to say the least. Towa's biggest issue is how fragile she is. She has other issues such as being saddled with 2 Water and 1 Earth slot, which are both sort of underwhelming slots to be stuck with. However, if you mess around with set ups, she's actually quite powerful. Her Magic stat is amongst the highest in the game and she has an unique craft that is excellent for mage type parties. It adds a Debilitator effect on use and increases the elemental damage the enemy takes by 50%, allowing you to use magic way more effectively than before. Her other two crafts includes Energy Rain, which is basically a buffed version of Machias' Energy Shell. It can self target and heals a decent chunk of EP and a line target magic attack that is alright but nothing spectacular. Works best in magic type parties or as the caster of the party herself where she can launch magic for offense and use her crafts for support.
In the DL, she has issues. For starters, she's equipped with the Sceptre MQ which is just atrocious in terms of stats. Most notably, it hurts her speed and HP, 2 things which she wasn't great at to begin with. It's the "grind more" MQ that gives you better rewards for fighting randoms in increasing the Sepith gains and EXP. These two things don't really help. Being Fragile also means she can't make great use of that Debilitator type craft since she often times may not have free turns. Kind of sad, but I'm anticipating more of Low Middle/Light area. Like the other guests, she does come with some starting quartz, so maybe those can help her out, but I sort of doubt it.
PC Tiers (Main Game) - blah blah opinions blah
Top: Rean, Alisa
High: Gaius, Fie, Laura
Middle: Sara, Emma, Jusis
Low: Elliot, Millium
Bottom: Machias (until late game, then Machias > Everyone)
PC Tiers (as at Epilogue)
Top: Machias/Claire (if going for cheese), Rean
High: Sharon, Alisa, Gaius, Fie, Laura
Middle: Emma, Toval, Angelica, Sara, Claire (if no cheese), Towa,
Low: Millium, Jusis, Elliot, Alfin, Machias (if no cheese)
Bottom: Elise
And yes, I am discounting mirrors because ahaha getting 200,000 Mira for one. No.
Whew, took a while to type that all up. If you read all that, you deserve a cookie :3.
