holy shit my heart was not prepared for this ending, so good, heartwrenching. and now i understand why the next game starts off with joshua disappearing lol.

overall, what a great game! story, characters, dialogue, gameplay, music... all pretty on point. i didn't go completely out of my way to collect and read everything, but even then it took a while for me to finish the game (didn't help that i wasn't aware of fast forward until the final chapter). the vibe from this game is also somehow... comforting? it was just a really enjoyable game to go through.

finally getting the joshua backstory and boy, oh boy... poor child. i'm tearing up from both of their confessions

joshua's feeling sus about the professor, i'm not surprised, i don't trust his eyes either- oh my god this is a hell of a info dump what the fck is going on

only took 6 months to become full fledged bracers!

1 round against richard and then 3 rounds against giant guardian robot later... we survived the bosses. and cassius finally makes his appeance. also i should not have laughed at richard getting punched by cassius

nicely said estelle

dang it this last dungeon is taking a while, was hoping to speed through the remainder of the game tonight but alas

you belong in a boy band

NUKE THE DUKE

ah a boy and girl squad huh, let's go

should have known that she was the princess all along. also hurray for schera coming back with us

dang we got dumped with a lot of things - dressing up as maids, meeting the queen, learning more about cassius, zin's involvement... anyway time to do a request for the queen and save some hostages

oh my god zin no why are you like this too?

wooo we won the tournament. and poor oliver misses out on the dinner cause he got dragged back into the embassy

aww when have we ever seen joshua laugh out loud like this?

joshua: "once this whole matter is settled, and if dad comes back safely... i'll tell you everything there is to know about my past."
you better keep those words boy. and also keep your words about confessing to joshua too

i've may have spoiled myself a bit with looking up some of the other trails in the sky games... a potential partner for the princess hmm? also what's the identity of the jester... is it the white haired guy we say once ages back...

ah alright, zin and oliver are in our party this time

zin towering everything will always amuse me

gee ok of course the queen is 'ill', sure
NO why is the duke acting proxy of her majesty?!

oliver why are you like this

yay for see returning characters again. schwarz you better not die or anything

ahh chapter 3 done... farewell grandpa, tita and agate- final chapter already?!

of course the royal armed forces are being used by richard too. and ah, dad was colonel and a military hero of course

anyway of course the smart man in a powerful position was sus. also who named the black orbment gospel?

i knew mischa was his sister, but sounds like he only goes back home once a year so rarely sees her. least his family's still around

time for a grandpa rescue misson at the sussy fortress

oh my god how have i only just discovered how to use turbo mode in the game, it's so much faster now

is mischa's agate's sister...? also zin don't leave my party

thank you big eastern man for carrying a most likely poisoned agate

DID YOU HAVE TO SLAP THE POOR KID AGATE?! SHE JUST LOST HER GRANDPA MAN

hi agate, why are you still levels ahead of us again?

hello we encountered mysterious big man.

oh course we have our obligatory hot spring scene, with estelle realising her feelings for joshua, joshua and estelle awkwardly being silent in the same bath, and tita being included as the young bright sibling of the group.

these lil guys playing dead will always amuse me.

sorry buddy i was just curious, didn't mean to give you food poisoning.

tita is a good child, we will protect her.

cassius why did someone try to send you a mysterious black orb that stops orbal power.

finally back on the game again after playing some hades 2 and easy delivery co. this grandpa is too excited. the music for zeiss is a comfy vibe too.

kloe what are you hiding from us, you know people, you have connections... ah we're done with chapter 2 at last

ayo joshua that's dark dude

agate: "don't fool us with that act"
evil guy shoots [redacted] in the leg
why is that funny to me

YOU WERE EVIL THIS WHOLE TIME?! THE AUDACITY OF RICH PEOPLE. ALSO WHAT IS THIS THEME FOR THE MYSTERIOUS BLACK-CLADDED PEOPLE

aww... good news for the orphange- NO WHY WERE THEY ATTACKED AGAIN?!

the heck are you mystery man?

aww the play was delightful. can't wait to see how they've done it in the remake.

hell yeah kickass female knights and one beautiful princess (played by joshua)

a little frustrated that i seem to have a bug with one of the side-quests (candelabrum theft) and i don't think i'll be able to complete it before the main story. hope this doesn't screw with me in the future.

agate mate you can't just take our arson case away like that

ah joshua can you be more open and honest for once?

oh hi agate i see you're gonna beat some sense into these raven guys, have fun

yassss kloe it is time to wield your sword and fight!

oh no, not the orphanage up in flames... thank god everyone survived

jean looks like a nerd but he's cute.

ruan looks nice, port towns are nice.

JOSHUA NO YOU WERE MEANT TO USE YOUR PETRIFY FOR GOOD!

kloe has an eagle she's immediately cool in my book

clem: "i'll sue you for child abuse!"
dang kid chill

hey now be gentle when feeding each other ok?

hello agate i'm guessing you're our next party member in the future

whoa now you two. we knew oli was a little sus, but of course he also wanted to meet mr the divine blade cassius bright...

cassius what have you been up to? really? well at least the kids are gonna work their way to becoming senior bracers. farewell schera and oliver for now. chapter 1 end!

should have known those red eyes on don were sus, he seemed too blood-thirsty

having oliver petrify this boss and being able to one-shot him was not how i expected the fight to go but i'll take it. thank you oliver.

don you don't seem very nice, please don't attack kyle

dang cassius where are you hmm?

that doesn't sound so great oliver but we do have you to thank for finding the hideout

game stop giving me oliver for the party just to remove him again!

aww the scene with joshua questioning why estelle hasn't asked about his past tugged the feels

drunk schera sure is a time

why do i immediately suspect this blonde colonel of being the mole in the army?

gosh the whole bracer crew does not care about oliver and it's hilarious

nice to see you again oliver, even though we're all in jail

that's not nice kyle

some of the monster descriptions are amusing as heck: "a dastardly, ouroke fluff. it has the ability to steal Ep... and your soul..."

damn this chest is just like me

the girls are teasing joshua, poor thing

estelle: "well, we found him... but he's drunk off his ass."
scherazard: "he's just acting like the man he is. men ARE pigs, after all..."
schera gets it

ah oliver... you're gonna be that kinda guy huh. asking to go on a date with schera and joshua, but not estelle lol.

"how about you cut with the crap, general?" "it's because when it comes down to it, you military morons can't do your job!" get his ass scherazard!!

oh no estelle buddy you blew our cover and now the general's mad

i'm hollering

joshua: "it's not lying. we'd just not be telling him everything"
he's not wrong there

DAD IS MISSING! I JUST FINISHED THE PROLOGUE AFTER 2 WEEKS OH GOSH

excuse me josette you did not just call estelle a bimbo, you are getting destroyed you hear me?

I KNEW THE MAYOR'S STONE WAS GONNA BE STOLEN

estelle: i think you should hire some bracers next time you explore some ruins
professor alba: my head says yes but my wallet says no
dang that's rough lol

why does professor alba's eyes look red, idk if i trust this guy

madam please control yourself. joshua's blushing sprite is cute though

i'm sure putting this very precious stone for the queen in the safe will be fine and not be stolen in the future right? right??

joshua: "i'm just cold-hearted and indifferent is all. it's at times like that... i really begin to loathe myself... it's almost as if there's something wrong with me as a person. ha ha... maybe some part of my heart is broken or something..."
estelle: "don't you dare say things like that about yourself! i won't allow you to just disregard everything with a bunch of nonsense! i don't ever want to hear you say you're 'broken' again!" "... i was happy to hear you admit how you felt. your real problem, joshua, is that you always try to keep your feelings locked up inside. you just go around with this nonchalant look and try to fix everything by yourself. that's a little upsetting for someone who's supposed to be your family."
aughhhh my heart. estelle is good. joshua is also good.

estelle: is joshua really that popular?
tio: girl are you blind? akjdhskaj

OG cow and HD cow, both are good.

joshua... what is your backstory my dude.

estelle's smug expression is very strong.

that's one way to call omelette rice i suppose.

estelle: "did you just say the 'F' word?" the dialogue in this game is truly a gem.

"the chest is empty... because of you. nice work, hero."
"by looking inside this chest again, you flunk! ... just kidding" excuse me what is this empty chest dialogue askdjhsa

ahhhh feeling at home with these ys napishtim graphics. and the battle music is so so good.

good start with estelle. also cassius' sprite looks so smug lol.

"[nightmare] it's your funeral. may aidios be with you." wow ok game cool.