Game:

The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky the 3rd (2007)

Category:

Vlog

Duration: 3:24:09

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Originally recorded: October 27, 2022
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Turns out this game is a lot shorter than I was expecting. When Chapter 6 ramped up its length significantly compared to the game's other chapters, I was expecting the rest of the game to follow suit. I also operated under the incorrect assumption that this game had the same exact breakdown as SC: a prologue, followed by eight chapters, then a finale. Turns out in Sky the 3rd, the eighth chapter *is* the finale -- even the game itself refers to it both ways.

I was expecting Chapter 7 to be a breather after how long the previous section was, but I guess I was expecting it to be entirely story-driven, rather than containing a massive revelation followed by a short dungeon. That being said, travelling through Gehenna was pretty interesting: the setting had an interesting aesthetic to it, the new monsters were a decent challenge (especially with just two party members at my disposal) and the fact that the cutesy chest messages seem to have been fully exhausted truly made it feel like Hell.

While I was still holding out hope that Loewe being the Schwarzritter meant that the Lord of Phantasma was going to be the ghost of Weissman -- given both his and Phantasma's connections to the Aureole -- I guess making them the ghost of Rufina herself was a more narratively-satisfying decision. Honestly, I was torn over guessing between the two... and for some reason, the fact that Kevin said that Loewe's presence was the last clue he needed, I thought the Weissman theory was the one that was going to win out. But Falcom was far too clever for me: they decided to let me have my cake and eat it too. Making Weissman's ghost the chapter boss in Gehenna was a more-than-satisfying consolation prize. Honestly, I think the reason I was rooting for him was because I just wanted to see him one last time. Future Trails games are going to have trouble living up to his reputation when it comes to arc villains. But if Falcom was willing to bring him back from the dead for one last ride, I suppose I should be confident that they aren't remotely concerned about matching that precedent.

I know I made a big deal after the last "filler" stream that I wouldn't be doing another one for Sky the 3rd, but the fact that there wasn't nearly as much game left as I thought... while I still have so many doors left to complete, means that I have to renege on that proclamation. I decided to use the end of this recording to travel to the depths of the Abyss and find the final Star Door. I did manage to fight three of the special bosses in this extra dungeon, but considering that it seems like you have to fight all three of them in a single go to unlock the fourth and final one, I don't think I'll be going for that achievement. My plans for next time involve finishing up the side content and, if I have time, using the Abyss to level up the rest of my characters to Level 130 in preparation for the final dungeon. I actually got a head start on that last night while searching for Star Door #15, so it shouldn't take me too long.

Having said that, since this is going to be a "three-session week", I'm not exactly torn up on using my last stream of the week to wrap up the side content. Having said that, this is definitely going to be the final expanded week of recordings I do, both for this game and this year. What makes me feel really pensive is that it may actually be the last time I do three sessions for BtLO! ever. I'm not sure what the future holds for this little experiment after the Trails in the Sky trilogy, but it seems likely to me that no other game that gets nominated for it will have quite the hold on me to drive me to dedicate so much time to finishing them. I don't know why, but that realization gives me feelings of melancholy -- and I'm not sure how much of them are because Back the Log Off is coming to a (likely temporary) end and how much is due to finally saying goodbye to Liberal, once and for all. I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

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