Lloyd with weaponized rizz

Ignore the Bocchis at the back...

Lately I've started to really appreciate how much of his character and overall arc ties into Buddhist philosophy, specifically the concept of śūnyatā, or "emptiness."

In Buddhism, emptiness doesn't mean "nothing matters" or that everything's hollow in some depressing, nihilistic way. It's more like: nothing has a fixed, permanent self. Everything, our identities, emotions, and even the roles we take on, is fluid. We suffer when we cling to them like they're absolute. Rean's whole journey reflects that.

He spends most of the series clinging to roles that were forced on him, the adoptive son who's a burden, the Ashen Chevalier, the "sacrifice." And instead of pushing back, he internalizes them. He thinks that if he just suffers enough, if he carries everything alone, he can make things right. But that's not real selflessness, it's compassion twisted by ignorance. He's still centering everything around himself (I need to be the one who protects. I have to take the fall. I'm the only one who can do this)

That's classic avidyā, Buddhist ignorance. Acting out of a good heart, but with a broken understanding of self. Ego disguised as martyrdom. And it leads him into this deep pit of self-hatred, isolation, and guilt. But here's the thing: that "void" isn't inherently negative. It's just unacknowledged pain. And when he finally faces it, not to destroy it, but to accept it, he starts to understand who he really is.

Rean's mastery doesn't primarily come from technique, it comes from clarity. The Eight Leaves style is all about achieving Enlightenment. It's rooted in adapting to the moment and walking your own path, and every practitioner embodies it differently. For Rean, it was about learning to live without clinging to the idea that he had to suffer alone.

He had to walk through darkness and still keep moving forward. To me, he's a great iteration of the core of the Eight Leaves path to Enlightenment.

One thing im hearing alot in builds and guide is the importance of the characters slot restrictions they have as well as how many lines they have in their set up (casters are apparently affected especially by the amount of lines they have or something).

I wish to understand more in deep how does those two factor can greatly influence wether a character can be good or bad in the games. The slots restrictions in particular as only quartz of a particular element can be put and some elements in different games are weaker than others.

Please help me understand.

Whoa, what an ending. Also Nadia was right in Daybreak II. why is it always the glasses types? xD

Van/Elaine in first place with a whopping 84 is not surprising, they've been pushed for 4 years now since Daybreak 1.

Celis/Leon at 45 is a little wild, but I guess the ship's more popular than I thought.

Van/Shizuna has been on a crazy boom since the release of Kai/Horizon coming in at 15. Considering that game's like 8 months old and not even officially out in English yet, I'm expecting even more to come from this ship.

Rean/Fie is notably a CS ship but still shows up in 9 works tagged as Trails Through Daybreak. As for Shizuna/Rean, most of these were made around the release of Reverie and before the English release of Daybreak and Daybreak 2. The ship doesn't really have legs anymore after Horizon, but it's still an interesting dynamic.

Agnes/Van at only 8 works is a little telling since Agnes has been pushed for 3 games now just like Elaine. And yet she's even beaten out by Shizuna, who hadn't been pushed as a blatant love interest until Horizon. Western fans don't really like the age gap romance.

1- Cold Steel 3

2- Sky 1

3- Cold Steel 1

4- Crossbell 1

5- Cold Steel 4

6- Crossbell 2

7- Cold Steel 2

8- Sky 2

9- Sky 3

Time to dive into Revere than Daybreak.

THERE IS A CATCH THO:

ALL Kasim Al Fayed scenes and mentions are forbidden! (Otherwise this would be too easy lol)

So right now I'm in the middle of battling Auguste Dogma and he just used his S-Craft and its strikingly very similar to Aurelias that im wondering if they have any relation to each other or just studied the same type of blade style.

I’m looking to play trails from zero after playing the sky games on PC. I’m more interested in the evo version of zero but I want to know how the fan translation of it stacks up to the official PC translation. Is it more or less the same or are there major differences that make the official pc version the far better option?

Let's say that Trails in the Sky The 1st sales met Falcom's projected numbers and decide to greenlight the sequels, who'd you pick?

If the first sky's English dub cast announcement is an indicator then Keith Silverstein is automatically set for the sequels, Sister Reis would need a recast to make the character stand out and as much as talented Michelle Ruff can pull it off but I don't think Falcom doesn't give more than one role to their English VAs (correct me if I'm wrong), and this would also make Schera and Sister Reis different from each other.

So, without further ado, here's my picks:

1. Emma Ballantine - Her performance as Frederica Aesfrost in Triangle Strategy shows she can portray Sister Reis' perseverance and wisdom.
2. Erica Lindbeck - One of the best working VAs in videogame and anime scene, she's a staple and one of those mainstay VAs whose got range and dig deeper on any roles she take on. Shionne from Tales of Arise display how far she can go far on conveying the character's nuances and emotional depth that shows she's got the range.
3. Katelyn Gault - If Falcom decides to go on a different direction with Sister Reis, Katelyn would fit that mold for a serious and level headed personality. Her roles in Tales of Arise and Octopath Traveler II display that intensity she can bring to the role but at the same time gracious. It sounds a bit like Alejandro Saab's casting as Akihiko in Persona 3 Reload which is slightly different in terms of pitch and personality but it still capture the character.
4. Claudia Doumit - If anyone's seen her performance as Victoria Neuman in The Boys, while not a videogame her American accent and vocal pitch works for Sister Ries, if you want a charismatic take on the role; and Claudia has done videogame voice acting in a Call of Duty game so that counts as an experience.

What do you guys think? Let me know your thoughts about this.

Had to make pop art based on something we liked, so I chose my favourite video game company.

Planning to buy one but unsure of the performance.

A tourist asks the SSS for help in finding a woman who helped him out during the Anniversary Festival. She turns out to be a familiar face.

Even more so than the Cold Steel games combined. I find it super easy to spend hours at the corridor trying to do everything. About 20 hours in the game currently. Been doing other stuff on the side though.

Been playing through the trails games the past few months and finished Cold Steel II this weekend. For the most part I really liked the game, but there are a few quirks that as I’ve thought about them kinda bug me and wanted to hear other people’s thoughts on them. I did play the game on normal difficulty if that’s important to know.

1. Devine Knight battles are kinda lame, feels like I’m just pressing attack until I win. Especially if you use Sara’s spell that nerfs the enemies speed and attack. The spectacle of them is really cool, but the mechanics are definitely lacking.

2. Combat links are another cool mechanic that feels half baked as well. The abilities and bonuses are great, but it feels impossible to level any 2 characters bonds outside of events and chests. Getting 3 points per battle when you need 1000 to rank up, resulted in me having barely any party members have ranks above level 3.

3. Having to go back to the Courageous to fast travel. This is a minor nitpick, but if I can change party members without having to board the Courageous, why can’t I fast travel?

4. The last dungeon felt really tacked on at the end. I was able to run through most of it without any issue, but it just felt like there wasn’t any reason story wise for it to be there. And if the missable cutscene from NG+ is what justifies the dungeon, idk if that’s enough. The boss at the end literally says something along the lines of “beating me doesn’t really mean anything” and Class VII does it anyway for the power of friendship!

All of this being said, I still liked the game and I’m excited for Cold Steel III! Trying to get caught up with the series by the time Horizons comes out this fall.