So NISA patched CS3 today and changed the Zephyr Master Quartz to Pazuzu. I'm assuming it was Zephyr in JP? I have to wonder what on earth prompted the change after all this time.
I haven't a clue, since it was Zephyr in Japanese and it makes perfect sense as Fie's MQ. I have no idea why they'd change that one since it doesn't conflict with anything. Then again, I'm also not sure why they changed Kagutsuchi to Brigid back on CS3's release when the games are otherwise fine with keeping Japanese names in.
Because I'm not sure where else to post this, here's a little crack-pot theory that is about 70 percent fun and 30 percent serious. Totally not inspired by Yotaka's theory about Epstein's identity btw....
(Still looking for a catchy title, because this just came to me in a flash of inspiration.)
What if the Zero Artisan, Ein Selnate's favorite chewtoy and all-around friendly neighbourhood bracer Toval Randoneur is a reincarnation of Claude Epstein?
We know the guy is canonically good with arts to the degree that allies, enemies and witches alike comment on it. While the Cold Steel gameplay expresses this through his unique accessory, we know from the Ring of Judgement (ROJ) manga that his high speed casting is a result of his unique talent in orbment adjustment and tinkering. In fact, Toval's introductory panel in chapter 00 of ROJ shows him waking up all groggy due to tinkering with his old orbment model all night. Let's for a moment consider the implications of this. Toval Pre Zero no Kiseki is probably somewhere around a B-Rank senior bracer whose entire combat prowess depends on arts. But different than his fellow bracers, instead of treating his orbment like smartphones by jumping to an advanced model each time the Epstein foundation throws out something new and shiny, he instead customizes his old model to such a degree that he remains competitive at such a high level of combat. Now beside the obvious question of why the Epstein Foundation hadn't recruited the guy (a question I'll cover later), this is a level of tactical orbment engineering that is very remarkable due to two reasons: first is the fact that while there are no shortages of engineers in Kiseki, we haven't yet met one (excluding perhaps Kuro), who is specialized in tactical orbment development. And while the various engineers in the orbment shops where players get quartz or open up slots have a certain level of knowledge on the matter, the services they render appear to be streamlined. Any improvement to orbment performance is through synthesizing better quartz or opening up slots, but none of them appear to be able to improve performance on the nuts and bolts level of a combat orbment, something Toval seems to be capable of. This leads to the second point, namely that tactical orbments are proprietary technology of the Epstein Foundation. Even the ARCUS was a joint Reinford-Epstein collaboration and let's not forget the political/legal stink that was raised in Renne's post-game Hajimari episode, when Verne decided to develop their Xipha model without Epstein, almost leading to a legal suite involving intellectual property. So considering how combat orbments are Serious Business in Zemuria, how come a lone, no-name, washed up hack of a bracer goes around customizing such closely guarded technology to his own whims and needs?
But that's not were things stop. Cold Steel 3 gives us another glimpse of Toval's unique talent, namely when the player is informed about the ARCUS II 'Round of Seven' app that was set up by Olivert to allow OG Class VII to stay in touch with video call function and no distance limit included. Now how did this 'Round of Seven' came into being exactly? Toval used Olivert's artifact, the Sonorous Seashell, as a repeater and constructed the app around it. I mean, let this sink in for a moment. A no-name washed up hack of a bracer just comes around and adjusts an artifact to work in tandem with the communications function of the most cutting-edge combat orbment model in Erebonia. The functionality of combat orbments, as established above, are jealously guarded and artifact functionality, as established by Kiseki lore, are impossible by current Zemurian science to analyze and understand. So how exactly did Toby do this?
Luckily, Rean mentions in Cold Steel 3 that Professor Epstein was able to comprehend artifacts and we also know that the man is the inventor of the first tactical orbment. After Cold Steel 4, we know that reincarnation is a thing in Zemuria, so once we accept that Toval is secretly Epstein reborn, things start to make sense.
One of Toval's endearing traits is how he appears to be something of an everyman guy who just so happens to rub shoulders with the movers and shakers of Kiseki. Olivert, Victor, his short stint in the fake saltpale with Aurelia and Vita added to the mix. And in the middle of that, this unassuming, seemingly average guy stranded among monsters and titans in human form. But his most significant connection, as all long-time fans know, is the one with Ein Selnate, First Dominion of the Gralsritter. Now here's the rub: why would someone in Ein's position bother? I mean, considering the little we know of the woman's personality and her stressful job, she can certainly use a chewtoy. But we also know that the leader of the Gralsritter never does something without a deeper purpose. The Carnelia novel tells us that Toval was an artifact smuggler, but no matter how much truth there is to be found in those books, they never tell the whole story. And while it's to be expected that a Gralsritter runs into an artifact smuggler in her line of work, perhaps the reason Ein kept an eye on Toby after the events of the novel was because she sensed something off about him. Artifact smuggling, if we think about it, is highly risky not just due to the illegality or interference by third parties, but because their blackbox nature make it impossible to determine whether the goods being smuggled are still functional, leading to dangerous, sometimes even lethal consequences when inadvertently triggered. The Gralsritter can deal with artifacts somewhat safely, because they collect preliminary intelligence on their function through their knowledge of scriptures, an option not open to an orphan like Toby. So maybe the reason he survived in his job as long as he did was due to an innate understanding of artifacts that allowed him to avoid the pitfalls, either by choosing the jobs with artifacts he knew to be dead or by instinctually avoiding the triggers of an alive artifact. And this also leads us to the last point of why Toval hasn't been recruited by the Epstein Foundation. If he is indeed the reincarnation of Epstein, then Ein has every reason to run interference on scouting attempts. The current speed of technological progress is already a nightmare to manage and putting a man with Epstein's innate genius into a position where he can leverage his talent to the fullest would be like pouring gasoline on an already overheated engine. [/spoiler]
Technically there's a crack theory thread http://www.falcomromancia.com/community/main-forum/kiseki-crack-theories-whole-series-spoilers/#post-749
This is a really interesting theory though, Wuolong 🙂
Oops, totally forgot about that one. Well, if it's possible for the admin I'd have no problems seeing this post moved to the appropriate thread. And thanks for the kudo, sinjitsu_itiro.
SpoilerKuro EndgameWas there any new lore on the 77 Devils? For a while the wiki had Van's demon listed on there, but it's since been removed, so I'm wondering if it was put there in error.
In addition he specifically talks about the five devils being added 'when the world was rewritten'. This doesn't get explained but it sounds like there was a KeA-tier reality warping that caused these devils to exist (or at least manifest) when they didn't before. Given the timing, it's a reasonable but unproven assumption that it has something to do with Calvard's Sept-Terrion and the local cause and/or consequence of the Great Collapse.
In addition he specifically talks about the five devils being added 'when the world was rewritten'. This doesn't get explained
Hah, I see Van has inherited Rean's rather infuriating habit of not asking follow up questions to really "wait, what?!" statements. Although this is a (former) member of the Dominion, so I suppose it's reasonable to assume he wouldn't spill any more.
Given that the world was re-written, it's interesting that the church would have records of events from a different timeline when there were fewer Devils, though.
SpoilerHah, I see Van has inherited Rean's rather infuriating habit of not asking follow up questions to really "wait, what?!" statements. Although this is a (former) member of the Dominion, so I suppose it's reasonable to assume he wouldn't spill any more.
Given that the world was re-written, it's interesting that the church would have records of events from a different timeline when there were fewer Devils, though.
On the survival of records from before some kind of history rewriting, Barkhorn says they were kept in one of the Primal Grounds and those are designed to completely isolate the Artifacts within them from the outside world so it's not unreasonable to expect that it works both ways and things contained within them are resistant to changes from the outside as well. That's just my guess though, it's not explicitly stated.
Welp, my 12 year old computer finally bought the farm. The mobo itself seems to have died for some reason.
Anyway, I've been replaying CS3, and while in Ordis, one of the NPCs you talk to mentions there are lots of unmapped islands scattered nearby, and one time he found himself on one with lots of human remain skeletons and large lizards? I think it was large lizards, I forget. He said it creeped the heck out of him and he took off asap.
I don't recall going to any spooky island in CS3 or 4. Do you in Hajimari or Kuro? I have a feeling the answer is no, but it seems like a really weird bit of dialogue to put into an unnamed npc unless they planed on adding it to the game at some point. But given it's in Erebonian territory, I imagine that if it doesn't show up in Hajimari, it never will.
I don't know if the answer spoils anything but I don't really consider non-portrait town npc chat to really be spoiler material =P
Welp, my 12 year old computer finally bought the farm. The mobo itself seems to have died for some reason.
RIP, your computer. Hopefully you had a recent backup?
Anyway, I've been replaying CS3, and while in Ordis, one of the NPCs you talk to mentions there are lots of unmapped islands scattered nearby, and one time he found himself on one with lots of human remain skeletons and large lizards? I think it was large lizards, I forget. He said it creeped the heck out of him and he took off asap.
I don't recall going to any spooky island in CS3 or 4. Do you in Hajimari or Kuro?
Nope, and he specifically mentions that it was in the ocean west of Erebonia so there's no way we're seeing it in the future unless for some odd reason we go back there and that's what they pick to add as new content instead of any other location in the Empire that we know about but haven't visited, like Grenville or Aragon etc. I imagine it was just put in as a little narrative spice rather than setting up a specific plot point for the future. There is an archipelago that could become important in the rest of the Calvard arc (since it's mentioned and also named in Kuro) but it's also entirely possible that's just random worldbuilding too.
Oh, and he just mentioned 'beasts' so it could mean any number of types of dangerous animals that were on the island. We know that sea travel was the main method of trade prior to the development of airships (and that piracy used to be a serious threat) so it's likely that more than one island out there in the ocean has a lot of human remains from shipwreck or a failed settlement or an encounter with dangerous beasts. Actually, there's an island that shows up in Kuro that's got dangerous animals but it's also a tourist attraction for nearby Langport when the beasties aren't running around.
Welp, my 12 year old computer finally bought the farm. The mobo itself seems to have died for some reason.
RIP, your computer. Hopefully you had a recent backup?
Anyway, I've been replaying CS3, and while in Ordis, one of the NPCs you talk to mentions there are lots of unmapped islands scattered nearby, and one time he found himself on one with lots of human remain skeletons and large lizards? I think it was large lizards, I forget. He said it creeped the heck out of him and he took off asap.
I don't recall going to any spooky island in CS3 or 4. Do you in Hajimari or Kuro?
Nope, and he specifically mentions that it was in the ocean west of Erebonia so there's no way we're seeing it in the future unless for some odd reason we go back there and that's what they pick to add as new content instead of any other location in the Empire that we know about but haven't visited, like Grenville or Aragon etc. I imagine it was just put in as a little narrative spice rather than setting up a specific plot point for the future. There is an archipelago that could become important in the rest of the Calvard arc (since it's mentioned and also named in Kuro) but it's also entirely possible that's just random worldbuilding too.
Oh, and he just mentioned 'beasts' so it could mean any number of types of dangerous animals that were on the island. We know that sea travel was the main method of trade prior to the development of airships (and that piracy used to be a serious threat) so it's likely that more than one island out there in the ocean has a lot of human remains from shipwreck or a failed settlement or an encounter with dangerous beasts. Actually, there's an island that shows up in Kuro that's got dangerous animals but it's also a tourist attraction for nearby Langport when the beasties aren't running around.
I suspect my computer related info may not be of any interest, so I'll wall it off to skip if people like.
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As for my computer replacement, kinda not really. The one I'm using now is supplied by one of my jobs, which is to say it's meant mostly for very basic work related stuff using salesforce, office365, etc. It says it has 4 jigga-bites of ram but whenever I control-alt-delte, my memory says 100% used when it only counts 1 jigga-bite so I dunno.
I'm currently in the process of building my next pc. I got the case (fractal torrent), a WD 770sn 1TB for my system drive, a corsair rn850x for my psu, and I'm still working on the rest. I'm thinking of going intel 12600 cuz I also think I should bite the bullet and go with the currently overpriced ddr5 ram because if I end up with my pc for 10-12 years again, I should prob make it ddr5 instead of 4 at this point lol. I can't remember, because I'm researching too many things, but while I know that ati cpus can use ddr5 ram too, IIRC it wasn't 100% effective with it, or something. I honestly forget. There was SOME kind of relationship between them. That and I suspect the 'e' cores in the new 12xxx series, may get utilized more in the future over time, and not having them at all may hurt me down the line.
Not sure what mobo I want yet, intel 12x series mobos are crap for their price, especially with ddr5, I'm hoping something will go on a big sale soon. As for my gpu, I'm getting that last and deciding then since their prices are currently falling rather fast, so I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. I should get a monitor after that too. It'll be pretty silly having a super spiffy new computer with this thing at 1080p and 120hz. Hard to find one there too. I don't need more than 120hz, and I'm not looking for 4k. But I DO want high quality HDR, unfortunately so many monitor manufacturers just completely fail to mention if they have HDR, or how good it is. The only good one I can find is the Samsung Odyssey G7, but that's hella pricey, I was hoping for something half that price. I don't need 244hz, 120 is fine, but I do want at least 1440p
I anticipate I'll have the complete set (minus monitor) in a month or two. In the meantime I have 3 diff Falcom games to replay on my ps4 so I should be good =P
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Thanks for the answer.
Kinda sad if we never get to see it. After replaying sky back when I did, I'm always keeping my eye out for any random npc chatter that might mean more later on down the line.
Actually I had a major spoiler of all of CS question, will edit it in after I confirm I know how to spoilertag correctly still.
Spoilers for the entirety of cold steel:
I probably should have asked this when I finished CS4 to begin with. But for whatever reason I didn't. But I'm wondering where I'm misunderstanding the whole plot of the phantasmal blaze plan.
My understanding was the idea of the phantasmal blaze plan is that by having the divine knights duke it out to the last one standing, it'll become 'the great one', and basically be restored as the septerrion of steel, which is the fusion of the septerrion of fire and earth. I get this in the context of CS4. I don't get this in the context of the phantasmal blaze plan in CS1 and 2. I could sorta get it if Oroborus was under the impression that Rean and Crow were the only 2 divine knights alive, and that the others were already defeated, and that after they battled, the big divine knight war would be over and the victor would become the 'great one'. But.. uhh, the steel maiden? I mean I get she was keeping that a secret from the stahlritter, but I imagine the head pushes of oroborus knew. Plus I imagine Ariahnrod probably knew that Osborne was Ishmelga. Did they think that just by making a big stage for rean and crow it would just magically invalidate Arianrhod and Osborne?
I just don't get what they were trying to accomplish in cs1 and 2.
Spoilers for the entirety of cold steel:
SpoilerI probably should have asked this when I finished CS4 to begin with. But for whatever reason I didn't. But I'm wondering where I'm misunderstanding the whole plot of the phantasmal blaze plan.
My understanding was the idea of the phantasmal blaze plan is that by having the divine knights duke it out to the last one standing, it'll become 'the great one', and basically be restored as the septerrion of steel, which is the fusion of the septerrion of fire and earth. I get this in the context of CS4. I don't get this in the context of the phantasmal blaze plan in CS1 and 2. I could sorta get it if Oroborus was under the impression that Rean and Crow were the only 2 divine knights alive, and that the others were already defeated, and that after they battled, the big divine knight war would be over and the victor would become the 'great one'. But.. uhh, the steel maiden? I mean I get she was keeping that a secret from the stahlritter, but I imagine the head pushes of oroborus knew. Plus I imagine Ariahnrod probably knew that Osborne was Ishmelga. Did they think that just by making a big stage for rean and crow it would just magically invalidate Arianrhod and Osborne?
I just don't get what they were trying to accomplish in cs1 and 2.
This is one of those things that's explained somewhat more outside the games than inside it but the main details do come up in CS4.
In the end the experiment failed and while the two Knights reacted to one another, Valimar didn't end up absorbing Ordine. The Aion experiments in CS3 were another attempt to see if a fake Rivalry could be made to work and those failed too, which is the point where all the Anguis but Vita decided that the only option was to work with Osborne.
We don't know what the next step of Vita's plan would have been if it had worked out as she was hoping but we can assume that it would have eventually required the absorption of the remaining Knights (and the deaths of any immortal Awakeners) but it would have been under more controlled circumstances. Kondo mentioned in a post-CS4 interview that if Vita's plan had worked, she could have theoretically recreated some percentage of the Great One's power (but less than the whole thing) without getting the whole world drawn into the chaos.
Spoilers for the entirety of cold steel:
SpoilerI probably should have asked this when I finished CS4 to begin with. But for whatever reason I didn't. But I'm wondering where I'm misunderstanding the whole plot of the phantasmal blaze plan.
My understanding was the idea of the phantasmal blaze plan is that by having the divine knights duke it out to the last one standing, it'll become 'the great one', and basically be restored as the septerrion of steel, which is the fusion of the septerrion of fire and earth. I get this in the context of CS4. I don't get this in the context of the phantasmal blaze plan in CS1 and 2. I could sorta get it if Oroborus was under the impression that Rean and Crow were the only 2 divine knights alive, and that the others were already defeated, and that after they battled, the big divine knight war would be over and the victor would become the 'great one'. But.. uhh, the steel maiden? I mean I get she was keeping that a secret from the stahlritter, but I imagine the head pushes of oroborus knew. Plus I imagine Ariahnrod probably knew that Osborne was Ishmelga. Did they think that just by making a big stage for rean and crow it would just magically invalidate Arianrhod and Osborne?
I just don't get what they were trying to accomplish in cs1 and 2.
This is one of those things that's explained somewhat more outside the games than inside it but the main details do come up in CS4.
SpoilerCold Steel seriesVita's goal was to try and see whether a Rivalry could be held without having to unleash the Great Twilight on the world, because she knew how destructive that would be. Mostly this comes up right before the first Rivalry kicks off, with Emma and Celine doing most of the speculating and Crow and Duvalie confirming it. Vita mentions it later as well. Since the conditions for a Rivalry are broadly 'Warfare + appropriate battlefield + Divine Knights fighting' she was hoping that she could use the civil war to test her idea. The Infernal Castle was an appropriate setting and from her perspective Valimar and Ordine were the perfect test subjects because their respective Awakeners had reason enough to fight to kick off a Rivalry but could also be counted on to not try to kill one another and since at that point neither was an immortal, a successful absorption of one Knight's power wouldn't be fatal to the other Awakener.In the end the experiment failed and while the two Knights reacted to one another, Valimar didn't end up absorbing Ordine. The Aion experiments in CS3 were another attempt to see if a fake Rivalry could be made to work and those failed too, which is the point where all the Anguis but Vita decided that the only option was to work with Osborne.
We don't know what the next step of Vita's plan would have been if it had worked out as she was hoping but we can assume that it would have eventually required the absorption of the remaining Knights (and the deaths of any immortal Awakeners) but it would have been under more controlled circumstances. Kondo mentioned in a post-CS4 interview that if Vita's plan had worked, she could have theoretically recreated some percentage of the Great One's power (but less than the whole thing) without getting the whole world drawn into the chaos.
I see, I vaguely recall some of that in cs4 but guess I forgot most of that. Thanks =)
I'd like to make a "source request".
I remember hearing a couple times that Falcom typically doesn't begin licensing out their games until after they release in Japan. I know they usually don't hand out their scripts until then, but I can't find a source for that also applying to licensing
Someone was recently wondering if Zero and Azure's PS4 ports were licensed prior to their Japanese release due to the scripts already being written, so I'm wondering if there are any sources out there regarding the topic which could allow us to draw some potential conclusions. Speculatory as it might be.
I also remember hearing once that the Trails series had been in the planning stages as early as 1999 while Cagesong of the Ocean was being finished? I don't know if this is true, but I heard there were early images or pictures dating back that far of FC-related stuff. Does anyone know if this is true?
I also remember once hearing that in the early planning of the Trails series, that both Liberl and Erebonia were planned as one game each? And I might be mixing things up, but I vaguely remember reading somewhere that they were considering having the first game be in the Empire before deciding to go with Liberl first? I know they were originally planning to go to Erebonia after Liberl before deciding on doing 3rd/Crossbell first, but I don't think I'm mixing it up with that.
Unfortunately, these were things I once heard/read years ago (and I don't even remember from where), so I dunno how much of this might even be true. But I just figured it couldn't hurt to ask! Thank you for any help you can give.
