Through The Ashes Of Empire

I should have probably written this much earlier, but I always managed to find some excuses not to. After the previous game kindly left us stranded on a cliff, the latest entry in the Kiseki series, Sen no Kiseki II doesn't mess around for very long and runs everyone off the edge like an out-of-control truck.

As Sen no Kiseki hit the climax with the Aristocratic Coalition Forces taking over the imperial capital, Rean Schwarzer fought against but was defeated by his senior and the terrorist group leader Crow Armbrust, who had just shot dead the Iron Chancellor Giliath Osborne. Against Rean's wishes, his robot Valimar took him away from the battlefield after receiving commands from Celine, leaving his friends and everyone else behind.

The sequel begins with Rean waking up in the Isengard mountain range. Despite desperately wanting to get back to his group in Trista, he finds out from Celine that currently Valimar is not operational and that he's already been unconscious for a month and only survived thanks to Valimar. As Rean makes his way down the mountain, he soon confirms that he's been to the place before with his teacher Yun Ka-Fai, the famous Sword Sage. Rean tells Celine that his hometown, the hot spring village Ymir, is just a few hours away. Before they can get moving however, they are confronted by Demonblaze Soldier Ortheim – a golem from the Dark Ages – and Rean decides to take on the giant despite Celine's warnings. After some struggle, a worn-out Rean realizes he's not doing any real damage. Celine tries to raise a barrier to block the golem's attack but Ortheim effortlessly destroys the barrier and knocks Celine aside. Just as Rean is about to give up, a familiar voice casts a powerful spell which disintegrates the ground under Ortheim; Rean watches as the golem falls to the mountain valley below. Catching his breath, Rean follows the voices calling out to him and finds Tovar Randonneur, Princess Alfin and his sister Elise Schwarzer. Ever worried about her brother, Elise rushes to Rean's side. Seeing that she's safe and sound, Rean is relieved but quickly loses consciousness from exhaustion.

Rean wakes up the next day in Ymir. He learns from his father Baron Schwarzer and Tovar that most major cities in the empire have been seized by the Coalition Forces, under the leadership of Duke Cayenne. Tovar tells Rean that the town of Trista and his school too have been occupied, but apparently a number of people from the school have escaped. Celine says that she knows for certain that Emma Millstein – Rean's class representative and a Hexen Breed – is safe thanks to the connection Celine shares with Emma as a familiar. Tovar reassures Rean that his classmates won't fall so easily. Rean's folks suggest him have a rest in his hometown for now. He doesn't get much of a break however, as Ortheim has followed him and is moving towards Ymir. Rean leaves to fight against the golem with Tovar and Elise, but Ortheim proves too powerful for the three as it instantly regenerates and grows two extra arms after being defeated. Feeling that the time's finally come, Rean summons Valimar and destroys Ortheim for good. The sudden appearance of Glianos – the bird familiar of Vita Clotilde the Blue Abyss – cuts short Rean's group's celebration. Vita reveals that she and the Coalition Forces have been looking for Rean and Valimar, and that Crow, now dubbed the Blaue Ritter, has been busy as the Coalition Forces' trump card. Sounds of gunshots from the distance interrupts Vita and she tells Rean that Duke Albarea has hired Jägers to come and secure Princess Alfin. Rean's group rush back to Ymir and upon seeing his mother collapsed on the ground and his father in a pool of blood, Rean loses control of himself and is consumed by his Ogre Power. He makes short work of the mercenaries before coming back to his senses. Glianos has followed them to Ymir and Vita says she's not exactly related to the attack since Duke Albarea acted on his own. She chants her Lullaby and hypnotically orders the Jägers to leave and give false reports to Duke Albarea. Rean's not sure what to make of Vita's seemingly sudden act of kindness but Celine yells at him not to be fooled by the witch. Altina Orion appears and snatches Alfin and Elise away from Rean.

Aboard the Coalition Forces' flagship, the Pantagruel, Duke Cayenne discusses the current situation with Chief Adviser Rufus Albarea. Duke Cayenne gloats over Osborne's death and says they will bring the empire back to the way it once was. He tells Crow to think about getting Rean to join their side and leaves the bridge. Rufus says that things aren't going to be easy and Crow agrees, but neither is too concerned as the Coalition Forces have got quite a group of special individuals on board. Rufus says that he will be counting on them for taking care of things behind the scenes – opposing the 'children' aboard the Red Wing and the 'courageous young lions' – during the reenactment of the War of the Lions.

What awaits Rean and the others on their path are trials and tribulations that they must overcome to uncover the truth and get back their lost bonds. This is the story of Class VII, played out on the backstage of a civil war whose effects will be felt beyond Erebonia.

Crow, the real heroine of Sen no Kiseki II

Players who come in expecting to actually experience an Erebonian civil war are going to be sorely disappointed. Partly because Rean and friends are supposed to be a third force that seeks a path different to both the aristocrats and the reformists, despite their actions almost always end up helping the reformists; partly because our protagonists are more concerned about getting their friend back than putting an end to the civil war, however you may argue that the two aren't mutually exclusive; the story is heavily focused on the individual characters and one may be forgiven for sometimes forgetting that there is actually a sizable conflict going on.

That's not necessarily a bad thing, in fact I think going in with that kind of expectation would be a little unreasonable. Similar to how the prequel only scratched the surface of class segregation issues within the empire, Sen II never intended to wholeheartedly deep dive into the civil war and it's a story about the 'young lions' and their adventures from the very beginning. What I did find lacking though was the idea how Rean's group, commanding the Courageous, were meant to be a power that adheres to neither the aristocracy nor the reformists. Basically the group run around doing their own things and go off to help the reformists when the time comes. There are always some convenient excuses for the party to act the way they do like a family member getting kidnapped by the Coalition Forces. Rean can claim he's not directly interfering with either side all he wants, never mind that their actions always effectively thwart the Coalition Forces' plans one way or another and give the other side an advantage. It's hard to stay neutral when one side is actively pushing you towards the final stage.

Surely even a Jäger would feel cold dressed like that in winter?

Gameplay-wise, the battle system has improved and flows even better than before. It helps that the game itself runs more smoothly than its prequel. While the system may not be as balanced as it could be due to a variety of factors, the fights can finally be enjoyed in its proper pace. The introduction of Over Rise, a mechanics similar to Burst in Ao no Kiseki, is a nice touch and adds some more excitement. AT delay attacks are still broken and any boss who is vulnerable to AT delay can kiss their turns goodbye because they are never going to get a chance to do anything. The increase in the number of characters available to join the party is very much welcome too and the latest patch does wonders to my body. Now if only we could use Dubarry as well, my life would be partially complete.

Robot battles on the other hand are monotonous at best and could use some adjustments. The repetitiveness and slowness of these battles detracts from the fast pace set by normal fights, which also enjoy some added spices thanks to the AT bonuses. Rean's ability to summon Valimar in battle for a maximum of three turns feels like an afterthought to be honest, and that lack of some real customization on Valimar was a little disappointing too.

Outside the battles, Sen II allows players to fly around most of the empire and take their sweet time exploring and completing quests. While this does give the freedom I've long waited, in the end it doesn't really feel like there's a whole lot of interesting things to do besides fighting optional bosses and hidden quests on the second playthrough. Personally I think a couple of optional dungeons would be quite nice and give players more incentive to explore the vast world of Zemlyan.

No doubt that as a game, Sen II plays really well and might even be the best in the series so far. If this were any other game, everything would have been fine and everyone can say cheers and go home, but this is the seventh entry in the Kiseki series after all and not many were willing to let it off the hook so lightly without some serious scrutinization. The grandmasters at falcom made a very bold move and cornered players with more questions than the game could possibly answer.

This ends up being a big deal because Sen II is essentially a fan service game in the sense that it owes much of its enjoyment to the connection it has to other titles in the series. While this certainly applies to almost every other Kiseki game, Sen II feels even more so and benefits greatly from having six games worth of world building behind it, or some might say it actually suffers from being burdened with so many unresolved mysteries left by its predecessors.

Rean's determination or obsession rather to bring back Crow and have him graduate as a student of Class VII is a major driving force of the group for most of the game. No one ever talks about the criminal charges Crow would have to face if they brought him back though. If Alisa Reinford, Laura Arseid and Emma are the main, sub and hidden heroines respectively, then Crow must be the true heroine because Rean can't stay quiet about him the same way Elise can't stop talking about her brother. This would be fine and all, it's not as if Crow were unlikable, except that it's difficult to care about Crow as much as Rean does. More difficult is understanding why Crow is so awfully important to Rean without needing to do Crow's bond events. This is perhaps what hurt both Sen and Sen II the most - the bond system.

Ideally, it would have been a well-meaning system that was supposed to provide players opportunities to gain insight into the characters and grow more attached to them, but instead it undermines character developments as it shoves key character interactions to the sidelines. It's pretty hard to make Rean sound convincing every time he talks about taking back Crow with the few scenes the two shared back in Sen. I get that Rean is the kind of person who values and cares about his family and friends a lot, but it makes more sense why he would do so for the original members of Class VII since they have spent a longer time and been through more challenges together. It would have really helped Rean's cause if more important developments were incorporated into the main storyline, instead of having all of them as optional events and forcing players to choose between characters.

The main girl halo over Alisa's head is so bright I think I'm going blind

Ultimately, the system ends up being somewhat pointless and mostly serves to fulfill players' own fantasies by advancing Rean's relationships, romantic or not, with his friends and associates. Particularly hilarious is how by loading my save file from Sen, Rean thinks of Laura when he was losing against Ortheim but once he meets up with Alisa, everything about Laura is thrown out of the window. It's quite amusing because Laura barely has any reaction at all to seeing Rean again when they meet up later in the Lohengrin Castle. Even Machias Regnitz had a somewhat awkward but heartfelt reunion with Rean. The good thing is that I like Alisa and it's always been obvious that she's the main girl, but without doing her events it does make one wonder when she became so love-struck with Rean. What's worse is probably the fact that Rean can just waltz off and pursue romantic relationships with other women instead; nothing about Rean and Alisa is ever brought up again.

The irregular at military high school

Elise adds so little to the overarching story of Sen II that I wonder why they even bothered kidnapping her, since Rean would have done everything almost the same way and rescued the royal family regardless. She's also outshined by Princess Alfin in the cuteness department, having the status of a younger sister alone isn't going to cut it these days it seems; at least not against a princess. Although to be fair Alfin did get more screen time and development than her best friend, and my guess is that Elise will likely have a much bigger role in the next game. I could use a vacation from all that grating 'nii-sama' though.

Speaking of cuteness, Dubarry got a lot of special treatment and stole the spotlight every time she appeared. She gave me a good laugh when she tried to tease Laura, whose ancestors served under the Spear Saint Lianne Sandlot who is almost definitely Dubarry's master Arianrhod, about her unit whose name sounds the same as Lianne's Ironsides; only to become flustered when Laura reacted nonchalantly. Her almost manzai-like interactions with her more eccentric and indolent companions were great too. She also gets a chance to finally show Rean's group exactly why she is called Dubarry of Divine Speed too by completely overwhelming them with her lightning-fast attacks. The chess master himself has admitted in interviews that the development team put a lot of love into Dubarry, and it really shows. I'm very much looking forward to seeing her again in the future, hopefully with Ennea and Ines too.

Like Rufus said, the civil war is meant to be a reenactment of the War of the Lions, which happened some 200 years ago and concluded with the then Prince Dreichels defeating his brother Orthrus. Rean parallels Dreichels and there are many similarities between their groups (though if this is the reason for creating Gaius Worzel, then I think we should have a moment of silence for the poor guy). As it turns out, Duke Cayenne is a descendant of Orthrus' and plans to use the war as a revenge against the current royal family who are descended from Dreichels, as well as to make himself the ruler of the empire. Unfortunately for him, Ouroboros and its apostle Vita have a different objective in mind – for Valimar and Ordine to duel atop the Blaze Demon Castle. Everything they have done in the game is to guide Rean to the final stage. Although Crow being bested by Rean comes as a surprise even to Vita, she professes to a frustrated Duke Cayenne that Ouroboros has no interest outside the showdown between the two robots.

Duke Cayenne is visibly more than just a little annoyed and uses Prince Cedric to awaken Testa Rossa the Scarlet Knight God and revive End of Vermillion – the ill-famed Demonic God with a Thousand Weapons who annihilated Prince Albert and Prince Gunnar's forces and felled Prince Lucius' Indigo Knight God in the War of the Lions. Vita shields everyone from End of Vermillion's immense spiritual pressure and says its revival was the one thing she did not want to happen. You'd think she would have placed some safety measures in place just in case things go awry. Crow creates an opening for Rean with Vita's help and Class VII rush in for two rounds of fights against End of Vermillion. Rean and Crow then team up in their own Knight Gods and have one last clash with the crimson giant.

Lancer and Saber face off against Gilgamesh

At this point the game is pretty much pure fan service. Rean notices the core inside Testa Rossa containing the unconscious Prince Cedric, who is serving as the power source for the robot. Crow says he will open a path for Rean to save the prince and thus putting a stop to End of Vermillion's rampage. The two of them charge ahead and Rean successfully takes the core, but Ordine is stabbed and seriously damaged by End of Vermillion's tail in the process.

You should know where this is going. Crow is badly hurt and on the verge of dying. Emma tries to treat his wounds but Vita admits that Crow can't be save even with the witches' healing magic. Crow apologizes to Rean that he can't keep the promise to graduate with his senior friends. He has one last conversation with his classmates and says that his journey stops here but Rean must keep moving forward no matter what. With a peaceful smile, Crow dies with in Rean's arms and everyone cries. Duke Cayenne, who is obviously too caught up in his own little agenda to get an accurate reading of the atmosphere in the room, takes out his knife and holds Prince Cedric hostage. He speaks disrespectfully about Crow and an angered Vita tells him to let the prince go before she gets really mad. However, Rufus suddenly appears and ambushes Vita, slicing Glianos in half on his way. Duke Cayenne is delighted to see Rufus and asks if the young man is here to save him, but Altina shows up and pins the duke down with her mechanical doll Claíomh Solais. Rufus laughs and reveals that he's here to arrest both Duke Cayenne and Vita. The witch says she had her suspicions about Rufus when he brought Altina from the Black Atelier, one of the Thirteen Ateliers belonging to Ouroboros, and asks if he's been waiting for this chance all this time. Millium Orion realizes Rufus' true identity as one of the Iron Breed – individuals handpicked by Osborne to serve as his special agents. Captain Lecter Arandor and Claire Rieveldt, who are Iron Breed themselves, confirm Millium's hunch and Rufus confesses that he's actually the head of the Iron Breed, though up until this point that has stayed a secret between him and Osborne. Duke Cayenne is outraged that the eldest son of one of the Four Great Prestigious Noble is an Iron Breed and asks Rufus what purpose they could possibly have now that Osborne is dead. Then a deep voice we all know too well resounds through the hall.

Rejoice, Rean Schwarzer

Osborne explains to a dumbfounded Duke Cayenne that how he's still alive is hardly a pressing issue now and that Rufus succeeded in his assigned task – manipulating the aristocracy and decisively weakening their power and influence. A despondent Duke Cayenne mumbles to himself that this must be a bad dream. Vita says Osborne's survival was within their expectations as Ouroboros knew that he's a dangerous opponent from previous incidents, namely the Tragedy of Hamel and attack on the Bracer Guilds that took place in Liberl during Sora no Kiseki. However, Vita admits that they did not think Osborne would be able to seize one of the Thirteen Ateliers and questions just what he's planning. Osborne tells Vita that he will be taking over Ouroboros' Phantom Flame Project. He says he will let Vita go this time and declares war against Ouroboros. Vita apologizes to Rean for causing them lots of trouble and asks him to take care of Crow before vanishing in her magic circle. I can't even tell who is supposed to be the bad guy here now.

Congratulating the Iron Breed on a job well done, Osborne asks Rufus, whose nickname is revealed to be Rook of Jade, to wrap things up in the empire within a week's time and entrusts him with the mission of suppressing Crossbell. Still coming to terms with Crow's death, Rean runs up to Osborne and grabs him by the collar. Rean angrily asks Osborne why he's alive as it renders Crow's life, who lived to exact revenge on Osborne, meaningless. Rufus says that the chancellor too has a lot on his plate and that Rean may not be unrelated. Startled, the boy finally recalls the face of the man who left him as a child. Osborne smirks and drops the nuclear bomb on Rean by revealing that he is the boy's father.

Cue the ending song.

Of course, there would be riots if the game actually ended there. The stage shifts to Crossbell right after the empire's occupation and we are treated to a side story featuring Lloyd Bannings and Rixia Mao.

In his efforts to resist the imperial occupation, Lloyd plans to back up everything stored on the Crossbell central terminal onto a device created by Tio Plato, which is designed to initialize the system (i.e., delete all data) after the backup so the empire won't get their hands on all the critical information about Crossbell. He tells Rixia that they can't just destroy the terminal as it's useful for their future operations. Lloyd gets the device going but has no time to kick back and relax thanks to the arrival of two unexpected guests.

痴女ふたり

Well I guess neither Rean nor Lloyd has the right to comment on the way their partners dress. The two sides clash and seem to be evenly matched. Rean and Lloyd praise each others' skills. Altina says that the time is running short and asks Rean to get serious. Rean prepares to awaken his Ogre Power but is interrupted by the voice announcement that the system initialization is complete. Following the orders given to him by Lecter, Rean summons Valimar and destroys the central terminal. Rean tells Lloyd to leave as their arrest warrants haven't been issued yet, though not before the two protagonists have one last talk and introduce themselves to each other.

"Tell me one thing.

You probably know already, I'm Lloyd Bannings, a police investigator.

What's your name?"

"Thors Military Academy Class VII, no...

Crossbell Provisional Military Officer, Rean Schwarzer."

Lecter calls Rean and the young officer, now nicknamed the Graue Ritter and hailed a hero in the empire, says he's fulfilled his duty and will be returning to Trista. Lecter tells Rean that he might as well take the Eisengraf train with Osborne as the father and son haven't spoken to each other since the incident at the Blaze Demon Castle. Rean doesn't want to hear about it and hangs up. Altina bids Rean farewell and says she looks forward to working with him again should the opportunity arises. Rean asks her if she has any message she'd like him to relay to Millium. Altina says that she and Millium do not have any sisterly bond as they are just 'tools'. Rean pats Altina's head, something he does to various female characters throughout the game with an alarming frequency, and tells her to be careful as she has many dangerous missions. Altina doesn't quite understand Rean's concern but he's just done setting up more flags for the next game. Rean looks pensively at the gate through which Lloyd and Rixia escaped and says that he envies Lloyd.

Arriving back in Trista, Rean is greeted by Claire who thanks him for his hard work. Rean says that he did nothing, it's all thanks to Valimar's power and Osborne succeeding in his objectives. The boy's cold reaction prompts Claire to ask him if he's angry about what they did. Rean says that he thinks ending the civil war swiftly is a good thing and it's not his place to comment on the events surrounding Crossbell. He asks her if she really didn't know anything about his 'father'. Claire replies that she had a hunch about their relation as the two share some similarities and Osborne showed an unusual interest in Class VII. Rean then politely but still coldly excuses himself and leaves. A sad-looking Claire quietly says to herself that she can't tell Rean it's not the only reason why she's worried about him.

Outside the station, Rean feels bad about treating Claire the way he did but eventually cheers up as his friends come to welcome him back. The game returns to the school mode of Sen as Class VII spend the final days of their time together. The old school building goes crazy again and Class VII take on their last challenge of solving the incident.

Traversing through the Corridor of Reveries, Class VII arrive at the Cathedral of Vacancy and is greeted by Loa Luciferia whose voice has been guiding Class VII. Loa Luciferia explains that he is part of the hidden test and should have not appeared under normal circumstances as Loa Erebonius is in charge of testing potential candidates for Valimar. He says that he's here due to the disturbance caused by the Blaze Demon Castle, which made the already finished test start again. Loa Luciferia then tells Rean that there is no reward for defeating him, but Class VII decide that they must overcome the colossal shadow here and now so they can have a grand finish to their story. What an unlucky final boss.

Loa Luciferia dissipates upon being defeated. Filled with emotions, Class VII celebrate their victory. Millium cries. Everyone cries, or tries their best to hold back tears. Others watch on as Class VII share a tender moment together. Fast forward a week or so, the rest of Class VII are leaving Trista and returning to their homes to fulfill their duties. They bid Rean farewell and the whole class thank Sara Valestin, who is moved to tears, for teaching and looking after them for the past year.

The true end. Sort of.

With the conclusion of Sen II, the story of Class VII comes to an end. The story of Sen no Kiseki however, continues and supposedly we are about 60% done. Quite a ride, even if barely any question got answered at all and we ended up with a mountain of new ones. I actually felt a bit empty after playing because when I sat back and thought about it, nothing really happened in the game. It was a bit of a letdown too that Class VII didn't go through some serious struggle or ordeal like Lloyd's group did. The game isn't not going to impress anyone visually or technically but improvements, though small, have definitely been made since Sen. Overall, it's a solid entry in the series with good gameplay, music and a decent story. I like how I said Sen II might redefine the series when I wrote about the first game, because it is a bit hard to say that now since we are getting a trilogy of sorts. Judging by how polarizing the game has become, I guess one might say it has redefined the series in ways unexpected to many. Either way Sen III is going to be pretty exciting and I can only hope that we will finally be getting some definite answers.

Until next time.