alent hymn

Oh wow, that last ask takes me back! It made me remember that one reason I decided to make a gaming blog in the first place is because there were some gaming blogs that really left an impression on me - The Twin Gaming Critics in particular, partly because it may have been the first that I stumbled upon. I love reading impressions like the one posted there or here on alenthymn because they’re so shaped by individual experiences and the games that you have played; it allows you to make connections, introduce others to new things and allow you to appreciate the respective games from a different perspective - in a way that big reviews usually fail to do -, usually from a very specific angle, technical, narrative or otherwise.

To illustrate: I found the blog mentioned above because I was googling about the different ways alternate costumes are implemented in JRPGs during the 5th and 6th console generations (PSX and PS2 specifically), desperate for more JRPGs that would allow me to change clothes... And found this, and fell in love. (COSTUME DLCS AND SKINS WEREN’T ALWAYS A THING, IMAGINE THAT!! I still adore the way Star Ocean: Till the End of Time and Wild Arms 5 handled costumes, it’s very different from costume DLCs or costume sidequests, and ultimately feels very rewarding. ... I should write about that. ... I also wish alternate costumes weren’t primarily a DLC thing in this era.) I may also never have tried out Wild Arms 5 if it weren’t for that post.

I don’t write or talk about purely technical aspects (game design) much but I love reading posts on them anyway, such as Tying things together mechanically or Teaching the player the Megaman and Kirby way by @guilelessmonk​, especially if articles such as Blue Magic: The Weird Magic or  Old Favorites: Chrono Trigger's Dual Tech System show potential for characterization and fleshing out group dynamics via gameplay mechanics. I’m absolutely smitten by examining storytelling via gameplay mechanics though (Mechanics as Motif in Final Fantasy VII just slays me), and it’s also what I try to write about (in scattered posts on alenthymn so far).

Favourite NPCs: Book Nerds Trails of Cold Steel: NPC Blogging

Aside from the named campus NPCs whose character notes are listed in your notebook, there are some other NPCs at the school: the janitor, the cafeteria staff and the student shop clerk - but also other “filler” students. Those students aren’t always around and also don’t have a name or a continuous story, but they do add life to the campus setting and have some identity of their own. There’s the guy who’s often found studying on the upper level of the library, or the student council helpers who may be the same students you meet when you drop by the commoners’ dormitory from time to time (there’s a girl who always talks about Towa, the student council president).

The first NPC in this photoset is one such student, and she can only be encountered in that particular corner of the library. Every time I enter the library, I look forward to seeing her, but she’s not always there. (That’s lovely in itself though; the library is used by a wide variety of people, and they come and go. Well, except for instructor Thomas, who is alwayyyyyys there, almost.) I happen to think that she’s the prettiest girl on the campus AND SHE DOESN’T EVEN HAVE A NAME!!! (Then again, I’m really fond of the nobles’ uniform.)

That NPC is totally me.

Favourite NPC Relationships: Mint & Makarov (& Mary) Trails of Cold Steel: NPC Blogging

No story spoilers here.

Mint and Makarov’s relationship is my favourite NPC relationship in the entire game; it’s very entertaining and endearing, and I also like that they both have a a lot of personality of their own outside of the duo that they form. (The same cannot be said about all other duos.)

I don’t have any early game screencaps for these two either, but I think it’s on your first day of school that Makarov tells you his niece has entered the academy, and that he’s not looking forward to taking her under his wing because it’s embarrassing and troublesome. (True enough, Mint spends the entire day getting lost while looking for the staff room.)

What you need to know about Makarov is that he’s veryyyy laid-back. And by laid-back, I mean I run into him in the courtyard or on the roof and ask him what he’s doing there, and the answer is slacking off. Or I talk to him on a rainy day before midterms and this is what he says:

Makarov: Don't put too much work into the exams if you don't feel like it. As long as you don't give the vice principal another excuse to scream at me, I don't care how well you do.

He’s often in the staff room though, so I’m sure he does his work properly, just as he watches over Mint properly even though he tells you all the time what a bother it is. (Because really, Mint messes up all the time, and Makarov already went through all of that with Vanilla, Mint’s mother.) At some point, Mint messes up at her Orbal Science exam by getting all the answers correct, but writing them down in the wrong fields, so she has to take on supplemental duties for a while, which means sweeping the courtyard. And Makarov is tasked to watch over her, which he does, unenthusiastically, but it’s always so sweet when you see them together anyway!

Whereas Makarov is grumbling about having to watch over Mint, Mint is pretty sure that she’s the one keeping an eye on him. Makarov doesn’t like expending more energy than necessary, so he’ll only do the minimum in his personal life. Worried about his eating habits, there’s an optional quest with Mint cooking something for her beloved uncle, and it’s so sweeeeeeeeeet. You just know these two love and appreciate each other.

Mint also tries to hook up Makarov with another instructor, Mary, late into the game, probably so that Mary would watch over Makarov for her. And Mary is basically the audience because she totally knows what's going on, but plays along, and sincerely admires the relationship that Makarov and Mint have due to how open they can be around each other (see last screencap). Mary is a high noble, too, but being a good teacher to the academy’s students means much more to her than anything (she’s very supportive and friendly to everyone).

Favourite NPCs: Mint Trails of Cold Steel: NPC Blogging

No story spoilers here.

I have no idea why I have so few screencaps of Mint and that makes me a bit sad, as she's probably tied with Kenneth for my favourite campus NPCs. (Also, she has the cutest hair on the campus.) As with Kenneth, I’m always wondering what Mint is up to next because Mint is pretty much what your usual heroines in shoujo manga or magical girl stories are like: kind, caring, energetic, overeager - and terribly, terribly clumsy, causing disasters wherever they go. AND SHE’S JUST SUPER ADORABLE because she just keeps doing whatever, without letting any of the panic she summons in other people bother her.

She has inherited that trait from her mother Vanilla, it seems; as the screencap above demonstrates, Vanilla is equally disaster-prone, and both of them have a terrible sense of direction and are completely oblivious to their own clumsiness. (You meet Vanilla very late into the game on one of your field studies. One time I walked into her house and there was stuff all over the floor and her husband was sweeping the floor in resignation.)

Favourite NPCs: Clara Trails of Cold Steel: NPC Blogging

No story spoilers here.

Enter Clara, the one and only. While every other club captain more or less cares about the prosperity of their clubs, Clara doesn’t really give a damn. It’s a bummer I didn’t take a lot of screencaps in the early game when I was still getting acquainted with everything, because Clara was already hilarious in the early game. New club members that need introducing? Fend for yourself, I’m busy. First years needing help and advice with their art? Don’t bother me, I’m too busy with my own art. “Wing it!” Even her back is constantly turned to the rest of the room. I have no idea what Gaius and Linde talk about while creating things lmao, since I doubt Clara is all that talkative.

I have no idea why Clara is a club captain in the first place because she will NOT let anyone talk to her or disturb her when she’s into her art, which is all the time. (I assume she’s either the only one left from the previous year or that she was given the position due to skill and dedication alone - and it’s true, Clara is Thors Academy’s one true artist.)

Clara is unperturbed by anything around her, including the change of seasons, as she’s one of the few students not to change uniforms:

Clara: The last time I wore mine, I was in the middle of an art project, so it ended up completely filthy. Finding and washing it at this point seems like an annoyance, so I'll just stay in my winter uniform for now.

She’s very similar to Kenneth in many regards, if you haven’t noticed, and also always stays behind at the club room until the late hours. (That screencap of her pulling an all-nighter on a free day and then falling asleep the next day is my favourite precisely because she’s always working non-stop. REMEMBER TO REST, EVERYONE.) And like him, she just keeps working on her sculpture even during the school festival, never mind all the visitors who have come to look at the art club’s displays. Of course, all the people end up watching her work instead.

Favourite NPC Relationships: Theresia & Emily Trails of Cold Steel: NPC Blogging

No story spoilers here.

This is one of my favourite duos in the game, and it’s one of those f/f campus couples like Haruka/Michiru in Sailor Moon and Ecliche/Judith in Ciel: The Last Autumn Story. The parallels are there: Just like the two couples I’ve mentioned, these two are older role models for the two girls they’ve taken under their wing.

There’s a book in the library about sports in Erebonia that you can add to your notes. Lacrosse is among the sports that have rapidly gained in popularity throughout Erebonia, and at Thors Academy, it’s exclusive to girls. (The book mentions tennis and lacrosse are divided by gender, but I don’t know whether that means lacross is reserved for girls and women outside of Thors.) Of your party members, Alisa joins the lacrosse club, and she finds herself at odds with Ferris, a first year noble who considers Alisa her rival.

Emily and Theresia lead the club together, but it’s usually just Emily on the field when you drop by in the morning as Theresia skips morning practice due to her low blood pressure. Aside from that, the two of them are usually found together, often talking about the strained relationship between Ferris and Alisa and comparing it to their own relationship back when they were both first years. That parallel is what defines the lacrosse club as you see it in this game, as these two watch the two newcomers and cheer them on from the sidelines, wondering whether they’ll also manage to become close friends like their predecessors. After all, what defines Theresia and Emily as NPCs is their friendship, and the pride that they take in having overcome their differences.

When you visit the noble’s city Bareahard on your second field trip, there are two men glued to their seats on the upper floor of a renowned restaurant. One of them is Theresia’s father, Baron Caroline, and he confides in his friend Baron Wodan that he’s worried about the company Theresia might be keeping at the academy, while admitting that he believes she isn’t so fond of him. (Theresia is a noble, whereas Emily is a commoner.)

It’s shown that the two girls are aware of Theresia’s father’s disapproval, but that disapproval never even reaches the point of being relevant in your conversations with the two of them - it’s clear that they wouldn’t let anything get to their friendship.

Those last few touching screencaps above at the end of October are at the end of the game, when danger might be approaching and many unnamed nobles have fled the academy.

Here’s the two of them enjoying the festival attractions together:

Favourite NPCs: Edel Trails of Cold Steel: NPC Blogging

No story spoilers here.

There are several club captains at Thors Academy who are immensely devoted to whatever it is that they do, who never stop talking about their passion and who are almost always at the location of their club activities, seemingly not having any social life or any other interests: Clara (art club), Kenneth (fishing club) and Lambert (riding club) are examples of that, but so is Edel. What sets Edel apart from those three extreme examples is this: Clara and Kenneth single-mindedly pursue their interests at the cost of everything else. Clara doesn’t take care of her club members properly and also doesn’t seem to sleep properly. Kenneth breaks curfews and doesn’t seem to care about his health much either as long as he gets to fish. Lambert... Lambert just seems off into his own world, really, but I don’t see Paula and Jusis complain about the riding club, so I guess it’s all good.

Edel, however, is a sanctuary. She’s almost always next to the school’s courtyard, looking after the flower and vegetable beds, and like the club captains mentioned above, she does so regardless of weather and regardless what else is going on (at least she carries an umbrella, right?). She’s a noble, but she’s there in her strawhat and in the soil all the time. When most nobles return to their estates during summer vacation, she stays at the academy because she can’t bring herself to leave her flowers behind. When there’s a commotion at the end of the game and it’s dangerous to walk around, she’s there for her flowers.

What defines Edel for me is not just her care for the flowers though: It’s how she cares about humans and flowers equally, and her gentle words usually apply to both. She is devoted to her flowers, but not to the point of forgetting all else, as she still finds the time for the people around her. When Fie, one of your party members who usually takes naps all around the campus, joins the gardening club, I thought it was an odd combination. But it turns out that growing flowers and taking Edel’s words of comfort are a big part of Fie’s growth, and it’s touching how Edel is always looking out for Fie. This starts as early as at the beginning of the game, where Edel sees Fie nap in the courtyard and worries whether she might catch a cold.

There’s an NPC in town who is very similar to Edel: Jane, the flower seller. Both of them say a lot of philosophical things about flowers and people. You don’t see them together very often though even though they’re clearly good friends, and I think that’s because Edel spends so much time at the flower beds. I love catching them together though! <3

Favourite NPCs: Klein Trails of Cold Steel: NPC Blogging

No story spoilers here.

Here’s another post about emotional payoff if you do all the optional quests and talk to all the NPCs regularly. Klein is a really amazing, hardworking, kind and sincere person (boyfriend material tbh), and he gets along with anyone.

I don’t have any screencaps of him at the school’s swimming pool in the capacity of the club’s captain, but he’s aware of how each of the club members are doing and encourages them in what they do. One moment that I remember regarding the swimming club is how all its members celebrate when Monica, the one who has just started swimming, finally reaches the goal she has set for herself. It’s heart-warming.

Klein tutors Emile, and I guess he gets along splendidly with children because he has two much younger siblings. He’s a family person through and through, and there’s one optional quest where you’re asked to be Emile’s substitute tutor because Klein rushes home out of worry for his mother. (He’s deeply devoted to her because she raised all three children alone after his father passed away.)

If you didn’t do the optional quest, you’d never know, and you’d never have these feels when seeing his family members come all the way to Trista just to attend the school festival and to see him. (To be honest, I have no idea how optional dialogues and scenes change if you didn’t do specific quests since I did them all, so who knows whether they’d show up in the first place.)

Favourite NPC Relationships: Emile & Klein Trails of Cold Steel: NPC Blogging

Spoiler Alert: READ THIS WARNING BEFORE CLICKING ON SCREENCAPS. No spoilers for the main story, but Emile is an NPC who goes through a lot of growth and who resolves two separate ongoing NPC stories. Don’t read past the read more as I write about the last four screencaps there.

There are plenty of NPC relationships I love in this game, but this might be the one that touched me the most due to how much Klein helped Emile grow, with Klein being a really great person overall. I cried only once while playing this game, and it was over these two - again, completely optional to the story.

Klein is the swimming club captain and a second year, and since he likes teaching people, he is also Emile’s private tutor. (You also get to tutor Emile at some point when Klein is occupied with urgent business.) Emile... studies all the time, whether Klein is there or not; he’s usually at his desk. You almost never see him interact with family members. At the beginning of the story, you also learn that he has ditched his friends (the other three Trista children who are his age) and doesn’t attend Sunday School anymore because he considers it a waste of time.

If you’ve read my post about Annie, you’ll already know how Annie and Emile’s parents are constantly arguing. At some point, this gets so bad that it keeps him from studying, as he puts it. So he turns to the ever-reliable Klein for help, and UGH. KLEIN. YOU’RE SUCH A NICE PERSON. ;_;

Favourite NPC Relationships: Kurt & Annie Trails of Cold Steel: NPC Blogging

No story spoilers here.

In Kurt’s post, I said that there are only two actual homes not connected to shops or other services in Trista (well, homes that you can visit). Kurt lives in one house, Annie in the other. Whereas Kurt’s family is always at max happiness, Annie’s family members don’t really interact with each other (something I briefly mentioned in the Annie & Kenneth post). My first memory of Annie is actually her standing on a chair on the second floor of her house, looking out of her window while her brother is too busy to play with her. I don’t remember what she was looking at though - Trista’s flowering trees? Kenneth fishing (though I guess that’d be the wrong side of the house)? The other three Trista children who are older than her?

Her parents don’t get along because her father thinks that just because he earns the money, he can be as rude as he wants at home, not caring about his family, not helping out, not appreciating anything his wife does. He tells you as much when you talk to him, so it’s not just his wife being demanding. Of course, she gets increasingly frustrated with that attitude, not just for her own, but for her children’s sake, and eventually reaches a point where she just stops doing any kind of chores and leaves all family members to fend for themselves. (I am pretty sure I remember another couple from Trails in the Sky FC where one part was neglecting the relationship or the chores.)

It’s then that I first noticed Annie befriending Kurt (maybe they weren’t friends before, maybe I missed it), the only other child of her age. And they’re so cute together. ;_; Kurt’s an only child, so he doesn’t have anyone to play with either. And just. the two of them. talking about their parents and worrying about Annie’s parents always arguing. ;_; MY HEART.

How her parents make up will be covered in a different post, but once they have and you attend the school festival, you’ll see Hanna (Kurt’s mother) and Melissa (Annie’s mother) becoming acquainted with each other, too, all thanks to their children being friends. Before that, you always see Annie visiting Kurt (more precisely, chatting in front of his house), not the other way around - yet during this encounter, Hanna thanks Melissa for allowing Kurt to stay over so often. I think it says a lot about how Annie’s family life has improved, as the environment before that was anything but inviting (negligent mother, arguing parents, a brother who needs quiet to study).

Favourite NPC Relationships: Kurt, Harison & Hanna Trails of Cold Steel: NPC Blogging

No story spoilers here.

In Trista, there are only two actual homes that you visit aside from the dormitories and the shops that have an upper floor; I assume most NPCs sleep in the same building where they work, aside from those who commute to Trista on a daily basis. One of those two homes is Kurt’s.

Kurt comes from a very loving family. Hanna always cooks Harison’s favourite dishes when he comes home! Hanna knits Harison something as a present! Every morning, you see Hanna and Harison in front of the house as she gives him a kiss before he leaves for work in another town! Every afternoon, Kurt goes to the station to walk his father home (they live very close to the station)! The running joke about this family is that Hanna and Harison are often so lovey-dovey and have their own routines that they tend to forget they’re doing it in public (namely in front of you whenever you walk by). Hanna always notices you staring when she smooches Harison in the morning and gets really flustered. (The screencaps above aren’t even the most extreme examples.)

And of course this family would go see the school festival together, gosh. When you stop by the school’s cooking club room at noon during the festival, you can see Kurt standing all alone in the hallway.

Kurt: (Shhh! Mom and Dad are being all lovey-dovey in there! Keep quiet! We don't wanna bug them!)

And you think that’s weird because the cooking club is offering cooking lessons during the festival, so why would those two be alone in the room?? And so you walk in. And nope, they are not alone. But yes, they are flirting all the way through that cooking session. This is what other visiting NPCs have to say about that:

Favourite NPCs: Annabelle Trails of Cold Steel: NPC Blogging

Spoiler Alert: READ THIS WARNING BEFORE CLICKING ON SCREENCAPS. No spoilers for the main story, but this is a travelling NPC who is connected to Butler Carrigan, an NPC on a mission, so you might want to see for yourself where his quest leads him and how Annabelle’s story concludes. (I can’t do anything about visual spoilers just by looking at the screencaps though, sorry. T_T Well, except tagging the posts with #tocs spoilers.) Don’t read past the read more as I write about the last four screencaps there.

I mentioned in my Carrigan post that I started taking screencaps of him because I was wondering whether Annabelle was anyone relevant to the main story and because I had no idea who she was. But this is one of the few instances where Trails of Cold Steel shines, and a major reason why I’m looking forward to replaying the game in the future. In my post about interactive storytelling via NPCs in Trails games, I said that all the NPCs are overwhelming at first because you can’t imagine becoming familiar with all of them and remembering their names and faces. I also said that’s nothing to worry about because it’ll come naturally with time.

You actually meet Annabelle as early as in chapter 1, before Carrigan even, I think (assuming that you first meet him in chapter 2). During your first field study, there’s an optional quest towards the end that has you track down the owner of a lost wallet. That owner is Annabelle, but I didn’t memorize her face or name because I thought she was only around for one quest. As you can see in the screenshots above, I met her again in chapter 3 when I was changing trains on my way to the next field study location.

Later on, there’s another optional quest in chapter 5, where an innkeeper asks you to catch a golden fish. The day before, I had actually spoken with the innkeeper, who mentioned briefly that some lady is staying in one of the rooms. Anyway, when you arrive at the spot by the river, there’s already someone there, and the party recognizes Annabelle from their earlier encounter in chapter 1! (It makes me wonder how the dialogue would change had you not finished the optional quest...) You learn that she has run out of money and is now fishing as a hobby and to get dinner on her plate.