[EN] Lostbelt 6.5 - Traum: Life and Death of an Illusion

[Noa]

How do you guys feel about the official translation of the realms? While revenge is still the same, the choice of Reinstatement Realm instead of Restoration Realm and Righteous instead of Via Regia Realm. Personally, I like the change

I like that Via Regia to Righteous means all of them start with R now.

[Comun]

I like all realms becoming RR and dislike the loss of the reference to the Via Regia of Charlemagne. Righteous is indeed a currently used meaning for 王道, so there's nothing wrong in the grammar department even if they're ignoring (one part of) the word's (very convoluted) etymology.

[Dark Squirrel]

I'll say, there's quite a lot of typos this time around.

[Noa]

Finished. Pretty middle of the road chapter I think, not a lot was really standout but nothing I really disliked either. Couple of scattered thoughts, just kind of rambling:

Spoiler:

I'm glad Vlad, Siegfried, and Astolfo got to do stuff. Siegfried especially had a really good showing despite not having that much screentime, his scene with Kriemhild at the end was very nice and a surprise highlight.
On the other hand Charlemagne did surprisingly little despite having front billing on all the advertising. Good talk with Johanna about fiction though.

Johanna was extremely cute and I liked what we saw of hers and Constantine's relationship, but I wish it had gotten more time devoted to it before Constantine died. Felt undercooked, as much as I did enjoy it.

Sancho trying to just keep Quixote alive and Quixote done being a coward were definitely a favorite part, but I knew about them in advance.

As I said earlier Kadoc's addition to the main cast was a brilliant decision. He brings a freshness to the Chaldea banter as well as an enjoyable new dynamic with Fujimaru.

I had read the rayshift TL of Holmes' ending and the cliffhanger so they didn't really catch me this go around since I knew about them already, but I remember being absolutely captivated two years ago.

[Kratosirving]

Finished earlier this morning myself. Storywise, not the strongest chapter I've been through, but definitely not one of the weakest. Some really fun characters, some more meh, some I just didn't care about, some I wanted to know MORE about, stuff like that.

[Gelious]

I dislike most of the names in official translation.

Restoration sounds a lot cooler than Reinstatement. Same goes for Via Regia.

Also, I wonder if they are saving any mentions of Foreign World for LB 7, since the word wasn's used here.

[Dark Squirrel]

Done as well. I think it's probably my favourite non-Nasu chapter, if only unlike other Higashide chapters (with the exception of Russia) I wasn't forced to bear with a Servant that I loathe and could instead punch her in the face repeatedly.

Thoughts I guess

I knew a good part of the story beats (the three Realms, Kriem/Siegfried, Don Quixote/"Karl", Charlie/"Seton", Holmes & Moriarty, Johanna & Constantine, Tametomo & Astolfo, Roland), but seeing it for yourself is something else. And I'm happy they didn't ditch trying to do more stuff with their VN interface between LB6 and LB7.

I liked the fact the fights were story-heavy, and not in a "forced frontline class disadvantage level 70 Servant" way.

Don Quixote was as expected a delight, but I didn't expect Vlad or Xu Fu to be that enjoyable, so another win in my book!

Charlie as Seton was silly but fun. It's kinda disappointing he was just there after his big reveal but oh well.

I meant what I said about Astolfo being the sanest of the Paladins (Charlie included). I didn't want to believe it but there we are.

Sadly, Moriarty Lily was just... there. The Holmes scene was very good, but Lily was a letdown. Which is the point considering he is meant to be a cringy try-hard that embarasses his much cooler older self. /bias

Kadoc was the undisputed highlight of the chapter, which is really really nice. Another highlight was the various unnamed Servants, be it the rescue team or the Assassin. Higashide struck gold with both the idea and the execution there.

And the banter is something I appreciated a lot, so that helped too.

All in all, this chapter ticked pretty much all of my boxes, so I'm happy.

- - - Updated - - -

Oh yeah, is there a list somewhere of new voiced lines added to existing (not new) Servants with the release of Traum?

[pinetree]

This was a great chapter, among the best in the game simply because it almost everything it tried to do was well executed.
The setting was fresh, the story moved at a good pace and most of the characters got as much screeentime as they needed.

Constantine and Johanna spoilers were fine enough as a pair, but she stood out much more as a character and I loved it. Joahanna is very fun as the pope with the crass personality but the implication that she was also in love with Constantine was really weak. His dedication for her does work and his love is believable because he's such a simple character, he's good natured and protects people and that's pretty much it. She is portrayed as much more complex though, struggling with her own biases against Proper Human History, the influence of her Master, her role as the pope, how her personality clashes with that image, etc etc. There's just a lot more going on with her for me to believe such a simplistic, underdeveloped love with Constantine. It would have worked better if it was one-sided on his part.

Don Quixote was an absolute joy and I'll have to break my saving streak to roll for him, there's no way I'm not getting this guy in my Chaldea. Just a great execution of everything you would expect from a Don Quixote Servant with plenty of surprises thrown in, especially his ties with the main story and regret towards what he did. Just great charismatic stuff.

Kriemhild was also great. spoilersI always had a soft spot for Siegfried and liked him even in Apocrypha, but that pretty much faded away as he became more and more borign and forgettable each time he appeared. His relationship with her brings in a much needed internal conflict and allows him to display a different side. Kriemhild gets the same benefit while also just being a much more interesting character by herself. I think the genius here was keeping her so collected despite being a Berserker and still being a believer of love despite her hate. Those aspects do a lot to make her a more well-rounded character that escapes the obvious paths they could have taken her characterization. Her resolution with Siegfried, at the end, felt very well-earned despite her hatred. The miscommunication that started it all lended itself very well for the very simple solution of him just being honest.

Holmes spoilerswas a disappointing end, honestly. While this chapter executed pretty much everything well, this is where it failed. There's just no excuse to make Chaldea so lacking in emotional response. They give two or three justifications for why that is, but that simply doesn't matter. Holmes has been with us for years and not having Chaldea despair and cry over their loss is a mistake. Like, literally not a single crying sprite? No words of regretful goodbyes? No screaming his name as he falls? What a let down, Holmes deserved better.

And the mysterious Master is... spoilersTest Subject E? Except I'm 100% that's my GOAT David Bluebook there on the ground. They said before how the Master is the representative of humanity and how he had no choice but to take on this role, which makes sense if he was the last survivor. They also try to throw us off with Xu Fu divining very differet thoughts from the Master of each Servant, but that can be explained by the fact that he is standing in for every person who was killed, and they have different levels of animosity towards humanity because of that.
The weird part is that their animosity is towards Proper Human History and that the alien was supposedly tampered with for a 100 years. First of all, they should be from PHH, and were killed by the Alien God — unless that's not the case as we were led to believe, which could explain how the alien suffered for a 100 years when we know that it started in 2018. Now I have read parts of GUT before so I'm aware of the theory of Chaldea being swapped with real Earth to explain all this, but I'm really interested in how David is really going to factor into all this.

Also Higashide might be my favorite main story writer now (after Nasu, obviously). The success streak of Shinjuku, Anastasia, Atlantis and Traum is so good. He's pretty much the only writer besides Nasu who has chapters in my top 10.

[Noa]

Regarding your points on the Master at the end, Moriarty also says something curious about the location:

Spoiler:

Moriarty calls Area 51's technology cutting edge, but Bluebook's diary called it out of date

[Dark Squirrel]

Regarding the ending points:

Spoiler:

I am very much on board with the fact the Master is the tree root/branch thing on the operating table. The circulatory system is a misdirection.

Also the corridor leading to the room being similar/identical to what Kadoc saw when he made his contract with the Alien God.

Every Master being different despite being the same would fit with all a Chaldeas Humans gestalt, a being that is multiple in one, somehow.

And the cutting edge/outdated part does fit with Chaldeas being a projection of a 100 years away future.

[pinetree]

Spoiler:

How would you explain the branch being the Master though? Even if it's just representative of Subejct E (Olga?), why would it stand in for that side's humanity, it's presumably the reason they all died. I'm pretty sure David is the Master and his long-gone peers are mad at PHH because we (or rather Olga aka the tree alien) killed them all.

I also clocked Kadoc recognizing the Alien God as just the glowing light coming from the door at the end of the path. So pretty much "that whole place" is what contacted him.

[Dark Squirrel]

Spoiler:

That's the thing, I don't know. It has to have something woth the Trees descending that Bluebook saw, in answer to the distress called it sent.
I'm really sure the circulatory system is a red herring.
But I can't connect all the dots.
And LB7 just... basically ignoring that from what I know doesn't help.

[mami-kouga]

I'm done with Traum and while I'm too tired to write my detailed thoughts now the summary for the time being is that it's written like a play- this is both a compliment and my biggest criticism of it

- - - Updated - - -

I think I probably liked Heian Kyo slightly more even though it does more things "wrong"

[Norayd]

Got to the part where you can play Moriarty, I can't believe no one is talking about his NP being translated as Mathemalignancy: Annihilation

Fucking Mathemalignancy

[mami-kouga]

And I'm done with Traum. This is gonna be a long one. How to put this, if Atlantis is Higashide polished to a tee, Traum is Higashide at his most expected. The progression of events in the story almost feels like a play, plans go awry at hour 1, characters step up to fight at hour 2, here's your declarations of love and heroic sacrifices. In that sense it feels more fully realized in its ambitions than Heian Kyo was (I'm not comparing it to a nothing main interlude like Tunguska) but in that sense it kind of just ends up a bit....bland as a result. I don't know how exactly to explain it concisely since some characters fall under both stuff I loved and things I wasn't hot on so I'll just put everything in a numbered list:

Spoiler:

Don Quixote and Sancho- these two were great! Sancho prioritizing him over all else and Don being turn between his very human fear and his desire to still save the people around him really hit my heart strings and now I'm really excited to get them while I roll for Mori Mori. I don't think I have any criticism on their handlings

Constantine and Johanna- I already touched upon this in an earlier comment but now that I'm done I can say definitively- Johanna is a great character with an interesting struggle with her sense of identity but after her very nice talk with Charlie it was pretty de emphasized by the plot (despite the convo implying that Guda was going to try and do something to alleviate her bitterness but then they just did nothing) and while some of their banter is charming I actually just think that the way her and Constantine's romance was handled kind of just makes both characters worse. When she had to have Bradamante explain that the two were in love to her I was just kind of "?????????" And while Constantine redirecting his hard coded ruthlessness into a more noble cause wasn't necessarily a bad choice I just considering IRL Constantine did the some ruthless shit the game avoids mentioning it kind of ends up making him feel more like a prop for Johanna's more interesting character arc

Kriemhild and Siegfried- Truly, love is war. These two were fun! Kriemhild in peak murder everything widow rage was neat, while the core of her issue was the anger that her love was one sided despite all she sacrificed for the sake of it even then her grievances with her husband are very justified and Siegfried's way of bouncing off her and making her blush was cute especially in contrast to how Bryn and Sigurd are lovey dovey

Kadoc- We should uncomad him ages ago, I love this dude! He's snarky, sullen, and it's really fun to see him be a bit more relaxed now. The moment when Viy's spectre saved him and he had to hold back his tears and his insistence that Anastasia was the only servant for him, oh Kadoc what the man you are I could kiss you on the mouth (please let me kiss him on the mouth)

Charlemagne- I'm going to be honest, Charlie was kind of disappointing. His grand reveal saving Don was hype but he was so absent from the plot it felt like we never truly had time to bond with him. On that note, it felt like we never truly had time to bond with ANYONE, I don't think characters are beholden by their connection with Guda and I always rip the heroine of the chapter arc to shred but I don't know how to say it but the bonds of closeness between Guda and the other characters felt more....weak than usual? Not to mention he never even used his 3rd ascension and even his presence by the end just kind of felt....there. Like "please refer to fate/extella link to enjoy this character more!"

Sherlock- On that note I wish we had had more one on one moments with Sherlock than we got in this chapter considering this was his grand Goodbye even if it's telegraphed to be only temporary. I especially wish he had been the one who had a fun summer vacation event instead of Da Vinci Lily considering she's still well and kicking. I'm torn about his handling regarding young Moriarty because on one hand the story does basically make it seem that the reason he couldn't properly figure out how to handle him was because it would entail him releasing the mental block he had about his true identity but also young Moriarty is just so non threatening that him constantly going "what could this guy be planning???" was just kind of eh to me. I did cry when he fell over the river, wish the characters didn't turn it into a gag about self defense ten minutes later

Young Moriarty- He sat on a chair, monologued, won lost then died. He kind of utterly fails as a serious threat because he doesn't even really do anything, but it does make him ten over ten comic relief because Jesus Christ nobody likes this dude. I can't remember if Mash is nice to old Moriarty but I'm fairly certain she's at least nicer than she was to this one. He doesn't even get the grace of Guda being his friend even if he got a pity "open sesame" at the end. Fighting his boss at the end was kind of funny because I went in with a team that I was fully expecting to lose with only for Arjuna Alter to buster face card him to death lol.

The "I liked you a lots honestly"- Salome, Roland, Astolfo, Zhang Jue, Tametomo and Xu Fu. Salome's mini arc was nice, Roland and Astolfo are just good fun (God, enjoyable Astolfo writing, it's been so long), Zhang Jue was actually more neat as a threatening antagonist than I thought, Tametomo regaining his autonomy via the power of raw spite made me laugh my ass off and Xu Fu just being an absolutely fucking shit truly a queen I Stan I can't wait to get her later. Also a shout out to all the nameless servants thank you for all your services you wonderful bastards!!

The "You were okay I guess"- Bradamante and Sabermuid were both mostly just there for me, the former more than the latter but they fulfilled their roles at least and had some gags I actually liked so I don't mind them

The "literally what purpose did you have besides being goddamn plot devices"- Why did Kiyohime exist in this chapter? Why did Sugitani exist in this chapter? The former was such a pointless addition and her shallowness really gets highlighted when contrasted with her fellow Berserker Salome and the latter just does nothing then suddenly Deus ex machina's us a win with a betrayal where the closest thing we got to foreshadowing is that they didn't target us in the forest, only Salome. Such weird writing choices.

So yeah overall could have been worse, could have been better, interesting choice to end on a cliffhanger that won't be followed up on for over 6 months, until LB7 I guess

[pinetree]

Agree completely on the romance making them both worse, I'd rather have seen more on her own struggles than the focus on her loving him during her final scenes.
She gets enough good content though that it ends up dragging Constantine down way more than her.

[mami-kouga]

Honestly I think maybe I'd have enjoyed it more if Johanna had been travelling with Charlie during the chapter though it would have meant there would be no point in the reinstatement realm

[Paulie25]

Got to the part where you can play Moriarty, I can't believe no one is talking about his NP being translated as Mathemalignancy: Annihilation

Fucking Mathemalignancy

Comun called it a Yugioh Archetype name and I have to concur

[Ismail2002]

It isn't the first time the Yu-Gi-Oh fanbase and Fate's fanbase collided I mean How many Blue Eyes White Dragon Meme do we have with Sigurd having Kaiba Seiyu or Dobrynya Nikitich because her mount can be seen as a blue eyes white dragon? I have Lost count of how many times I watch the Accel Synchro Summon Edit with Melusine or heck though just minor there were some memes with the new Hassan having the same VA as Judai from GX. So what's wrong with one more YGO meme being thrown in there.

[Norayd]

I don't want fucking Mathmech support in my FGO chapter man, it's gonna be one of those wonky "Mathm" kinda deal

I also don't think shortening it like that was a good idea. I guess combining words to sound cool is a brand of tryhard that is more understandable to the average english speaker, but when you can clearly listen and hear that Moriarty's saying three words and none end in -y, I feel it falls flat. I feel like they could have kept it as is and this is a bit of a silly overtranslation