Game:

The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky Second Chapter (2006)

Duration: 3:57:15

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Originally recorded: September 8, 2022
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I feel like the universe is mocking me. I get a second chance to redeem myself and beat Trails SC this week... and yet, I still managed to screw that up. It's always demoralizing when something like this happens, but somehow this feels way worse than usual. Maybe it's because I'm doing this solo this time around, so no one is actually deriving any direct enjoyment from my difficulties. It could also be the fact that I've literally hit a wall in a turn-based JRPG... which feels like it should literally be impossible. Either way, I'm feeling pretty low after this recording.

The rematches with the other Enforcers went about as well as you'd expect. Walter's fight was pretty straight-forward. Luciola's minions caused me more trouble than she did, despite the fact that she had that annoying new illusion attack... which is effectively a worse version of Bleublanc's with the added benefit of dealing damage to a party member if you choose wrong. Renne, on the other hand, had me reversing my usual strategy. When it comes to fighting the Enforcers, I'd usually focus on the Enforcer themselves, simply because they spawn additional minions if you take those out first. In this case, from a mechanical context, Renne herself was the minion -- Pater-Mater just straight up revives her if she goes down first.

So it was all smooth-sailing for the most part... until I hit the next boss. Holy crap, Loewe feels like an insurmountable wall of a boss. He's got two S-Crafts that deal massive damage, he's flanked by two powerful minions and he even generates two clones of himself with half his standard health. When it comes to most of the difficult fights I've encountered in the Trails series thus far -- and indeed, the entire turn-based JRPG genre -- usually, there's been some kind of trick. Some way to make things easier. Not with Loewe. Not even grinding out extra levels seems to help. The entire fight appears to be strictly based on whether or not the RNG gods smile down upon you.

I actually tried looking for some strategies after the recording was done and what I found... wasn't encouraging. Some people said leveling up was the solution, while others said that even reaching Level 99 (the game's maximum) still meant the fight would be difficult. The only recurring piece of advice I could ever really find was "don't take damage". In other words, constantly use Kevin's S-Craft and Earth Wall to protect your party and pray that they get you through Loewe's strongest attacks without fail. Because otherwise, you are toast. On the plus side, Loewe is apparently the hardest boss in the game by far, so everything after him should be a cakewalk by comparison.

But man, am I pissed at this whole situation. I'm so close to finishing the game. I'm actually probably going to end up breaking a long-standing rule and try again the following night -- despite the fact that I'm concerned about doing something this long-form on a worknight. Sure, it's a gamble. And I could just spend the whole night either spinning my wheels again for another four hours or finally finish the game at some God forsaken hour that would make working the weekends even more miserable than usual. But I just don't want to go down like a punk on this one.

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