Why I have a feeling that Class 7 is more powerful than the SSS?

[L0KisT3r]

What's your opinion?

[nff21]

class 7 as a group? yeah i mean there is rean, laura, gaius, fie and the others

[Alex]

SSS is by far the weakest team in the whole series. Nevertheless, they play a major role.

For Y, take Estelle-Joshua pair, not even taking support. Joshua is former enforcer and is OP'd AH. Estelle trained under Cassius, so she's not a pushover either.

Then take Kevin-Ries pair. Obvious huh? Dominion rank is not to be trifled with.

Then take C7. Rean is OP'd AF...
NC7 I don't consider separately, their formation does feel being a filler as the main cast still remains Rean & OC7. So they basically fit into C7 group, powering it even more. Even skipping Rean, C7 as whole may still be overpowering both groups above by sheer quantity over quality.

SSS has only 4 members, all 'normal' with Tio featuring a bit of non-combat proficiencies and Randy being highly combat proficient, upping the average. Raw power wise, this team is mediocre at best. That's probably also why Zero/Ao are mostly focused on Lloyds exceptional intelligence and not the team combat ability other games are revolving around.

[dmsephiroth]

Originally posted by Alex:

SSS is by far the weakest team in the whole series. Nevertheless, they play a major role.

For Y, take Estelle-Joshua pair, not even taking support. Joshua is former enforcer and is OP'd AH. Estelle trained under Cassius, so she's not a pushover either.

Then take Kevin-Ries pair. Obvious huh? Dominion rank is not to be trifled with.

Then take C7. Rean is OP'd AF...
NC7 I don't consider separately, their formation does feel being a filler as the main cast still remains Rean & OC7. So they basically fit into C7 group, powering it even more. Even skipping Rean, C7 as whole may still be overpowering both groups above by sheer quantity over quality.

SSS has only 4 members, all 'normal' with Tio featuring a bit of non-combat proficiencies and Randy being highly combat proficient, upping the average. Raw power wise, this team is mediocre at best. That's probably also why Zero/Ao are mostly focused on Lloyds exceptional intelligence and not the team combat ability other games are revolving around.

At first ya, but the SSS is improving a lot during Azure.
Think bout who they face on later. Some divine blade :) , the +uncle+, the sword-maiden e.g.

But still: Some bracers (not only the S-RANKS) are stronger in my opinion. But the SSS is still important and i like them :)

[Village Idiot]

The SSS is meant to be weak. They're the underdogs of the series. Well, except Randy, but he holds back nearly all the time.

Of course Bracers are stronger. They're combat specialists after all.

[Exor]

Class 7 is the strongest since they have 2 sword geniuses, 1 grailknight, literal magic user not one of those phoney orbs art users and a catgirl.
Bracers and SSS never stood a chance..

[pho5enix]

I mean, let's be honest: the Cold Steel games leaned hard into a lot of tropes you'd find in harem and shonen anime. Rean was the only guy the girls had eyes for. Yes, they did a similar thing with Lloyd, but at least it was usually played for laughs, and unlike in Cold Steel we still saw other male characters have interactions (even flirtatious ones) with the female cast. Cold Steel...I can't remember any significant interactions between the non-Rean male and female members of Class 7. The most painfully obvious moment was the OC7 reunion party, where the guys are grouped with the guys and the girls with the girls....and you never see people from those groups really intermingle.

Then there's the fact that Rean is basically the all-powerful chosen one, destined to save Erebonia, blah blah blah. Yeah, he doesn't necessarily start out superpowered, but consider the fact that he's a waffling swordsman who has stalled out at the beginning of CS1, and by the end of CS4 he's a Divine Blade. In two years he goes from novice to master, younger than both Cassius and Arios.

There's also the fact that every member of Class 7 was basically a Super Exceptional Person (TM). They were the children of rich business people, sword masters, noble elites, politicians, generals, jaegers, fabled covens.....there wasn't a single "normal" member of the class. Compare that to the SSS where half of the OG SSS were just normal people with a job (Lloyd and Elie). Randy could be OP, but he holds back, and most of Tio's exceptional abilities come from the experiments and the Aeon system.

I say all that to point out that of course Class 7 is stronger than the SSS, because the cast feels more like a walking collection of tropes than the cast from any of the other games. I'll probably get hate for this because of how popular the Cold Steel series is, but that's just how I feel about it. I still enjoyed the games, but of the three individual series it was definitely my least favorite.

[dmsephiroth]

Originally posted by Exor:

Class 7 is the strongest since they have 2 sword geniuses, 1 grailknight, literal magic user not one of those phoney orbs art users and a catgirl.
Bracers and SSS never stood a chance..

Well go on...play Reverie/Hajimari and enjoy the postgame +story+ content...;)))

Some bracers esp. S-Rank can indeed match rean/surpass him maybe. We will never know! Because cassius would never battle rean to the death e.g.
And there are other people (don t wanna spoil people but another +swordsman @ hajimari postgame, cough cough) are also very powerful! !
+Hello Kuro guys..there are also some very strong people ^^

That is the positive aspect of the trails-world...there are ALWAYS people who are stronger/equal.

[Alex]

@pho5enix

A bit offtopic, but well...

Actually there are clear bonds in ToCS that make Rean the only possible center of attention...
Elliot <-> Fiona (yeah yeah)
Jusis <-> Millium (surprisingly strong bond, even if Rean still is capable of something)
Machias <-> Patiry
Gaius devotes himself to the church, so probably has no affair in mind
Crow is Crow, forever alone

Also besides the canon Alisa pairing, only Laura pairing is viable for Rean given compatibility, and the best case pairing which is not exploited in any game is Claire. Alas. Reverie (if I'm correct) gives us a wonderful scene, but alas, not exploited as well.

[Dregora]

Irrelevant, considering the SSS is simply the best and most relatable group out there and Lloyds personal story is 10x more interesting than any other MC, also in terms of development.


But let's be honest. The powerscaling isn't exactly logical. Everyone is as strong as they nee dto be.

[afterthought.btw]

Originally posted by L0KisT3r:

What's your opinion?

Well, obviously. SSS are the weakest in the series both in terms of strength and writing. You can really tell that Crossbell wasn't initially going to be written until they realised that Osborne needed to be introduced and seen to be a devious, dangerous beast. So much recycling of tropes from Sky and lazy harem writing.

I mean, I'm not a big fan of how Rean becomes the object of affection for lots and lots of female characters, but at least it only really starts once he becomes the hero of the country and/or the Class VII group as a whole has known him for a year or two of his personality type making him constantly putting themselves ahead of himself, making it seem like he's super interested in them personally. There are genuine reasons why people might legitimately fall for Rean - most of which involve understanding his neural makeup, the decisions he makes and why he makes them; and the rest involving how a certain type of women goes completely crazy for an attractive celebratory. I struggle with some of the mental health stuff that he clearly struggles with, and your coping mechanisms can actually lead to some traits other people find attractive... (It's also why Towa should be the canon pairing because she actually is able to see these things, and how they affect him, and gets to know the real Rean in a way that none of the other girls do. Their relationship by the end of IV is easily the most solid in the 'harem'.)

For Lloyd it boils down to "Oh he's so adorable, not one women could possibly not want to throw themselves at him at first sight - other than Mariabelle who views him as the most dangerous rival that she could ever have because he is so irresistible to women from just a single glance in his direction.

And the scary thing is that I'm not really exaggerating when I say that.

I don't hate SSS. It's a fun game with some incredibly cringy scenes, and a plot which borrows heavily from TiTS. I also think that bad decisions were made (largely about ensuring that every favourite girl got to be with MC rather then building real lasting relationships between the rest of class 7) in the CS series, but if I talked about the Crossbell games the way some of the most voluble proponents of it talk about CS, I could utterly bury a lot of its writing. The final confrontation is pure unintentional comedy for much of the way through.

It would just be nice if some of the CS hate from fanatics of SSS didn't concern themselves on things that the SSS stories abuse far more.

[Hikaru]

Originally posted by Alex:

Gaius devotes himself to the church, so probably has no affair in mind

Linde begs to differ

[YUBI YUBI tax collector]

Originally posted by pho5enix:

There's also the fact that every member of Class 7 was basically a Super Exceptional Person (TM). They were the children of rich business people, sword masters, noble elites, politicians, generals, jaegers, fabled covens.....there wasn't a single "normal" member of the class. Compare that to the SSS where half of the OG SSS were just normal people with a job (Lloyd and Elie). Randy could be OP, but he holds back, and most of Tio's exceptional abilities come from the experiments and the Aeon system.

Juna ? And Eliot learn nothing about his father, then his family is really not important for his character. And Mathias ? Same. And Alisa ? She build her strenght by herself. Gaius ? Lot of class 7 member build their character by themself and not because their family.

[Ceriss]

Originally posted by afterthought.btw:

Originally posted by L0KisT3r:

What's your opinion?

Well, obviously. SSS are the weakest in the series both in terms of strength and writing. You can really tell that Crossbell wasn't initially going to be written until they realised that Osborne needed to be introduced and seen to be a devious, dangerous beast. So much recycling of tropes from Sky and lazy harem writing.

I mean, I'm not a big fan of how Rean becomes the object of affection for lots and lots of female characters, but at least it only really starts once he becomes the hero of the country and/or the Class VII group as a whole has known him for a year or two of his personality type making him constantly putting themselves ahead of himself, making it seem like he's super interested in them personally. There are genuine reasons why people might legitimately fall for Rean - most of which involve understanding his neural makeup, the decisions he makes and why he makes them; and the rest involving how a certain type of women goes completely crazy for an attractive celebratory. I struggle with some of the mental health stuff that he clearly struggles with, and your coping mechanisms can actually lead to some traits other people find attractive... (It's also why Towa should be the canon pairing because she actually is able to see these things, and how they affect him, and gets to know the real Rean in a way that none of the other girls do. Their relationship by the end of IV is easily the most solid in the 'harem'.)

For Lloyd it boils down to "Oh he's so adorable, not one women could possibly not want to throw themselves at him at first sight - other than Mariabelle who views him as the most dangerous rival that she could ever have because he is so irresistible to women from just a single glance in his direction.

And the scary thing is that I'm not really exaggerating when I say that.

I don't hate SSS. It's a fun game with some incredibly cringy scenes, and a plot which borrows heavily from TiTS. I also think that bad decisions were made (largely about ensuring that every favourite girl got to be with MC rather then building real lasting relationships between the rest of class 7) in the CS series, but if I talked about the Crossbell games the way some of the most voluble proponents of it talk about CS, I could utterly bury a lot of its writing. The final confrontation is pure unintentional comedy for much of the way through.

It would just be nice if some of the CS hate from fanatics of SSS didn't concern themselves on things that the SSS stories abuse far more.

Feel free to "bury" the plot for us anytime.

Pretty curious to see how you compare Crossbell to Sky more than other entries and find it merely a copy. Their tones are completely different for one.

[pho5enix]

Originally posted by YUBI YUBI tax collector:

Originally posted by pho5enix:

There's also the fact that every member of Class 7 was basically a Super Exceptional Person (TM). They were the children of rich business people, sword masters, noble elites, politicians, generals, jaegers, fabled covens.....there wasn't a single "normal" member of the class. Compare that to the SSS where half of the OG SSS were just normal people with a job (Lloyd and Elie). Randy could be OP, but he holds back, and most of Tio's exceptional abilities come from the experiments and the Aeon system.

Juna ? And Eliot learn nothing about his father, then his family is really not important for his character. And Mathias ? Same. And Alisa ? She build her strenght by herself. Gaius ? Lot of class 7 member build their character by themself and not because their family.

I was really only thinking of OG C7 when I made my initial post, but even if you compare old and new, most of them still come from exceptional backgrounds. Juna and Gaius are the only ones who don't have a family that is super influential in some way, shape, or form, and Gaius is at least somewhat arguable because his father is the chief of their village (that fact just doesn't matter outside of Nord). I wasn't saying that their connections are what made them powerful, just that unlike with the SSS where most of the MCs had unremarkable backgrounds, almost all of C7 come from families with some sort of power that a normal person's family wouldn't.

The point I was making was about how relatable the two groups of characters are. Lloyd is more relatable than Rean, for example, because he's just a normal dude who became a detective to follow in his deceased brother's footsteps. There's nothing supernatural about him, he's just an every day dude with a specific life goal, which is a core character element that most people can relate to (before you get into all the supernatural stuff the story revolves around). Compare that to Rean who is the adopted son of a noble, biological son of the influential reincarnation of a legendary king, wielder of an otherwordly power, and possessor of a giant robot that makes him more powerful than most people in the series.

In short, I feel the characters in Crossbell were just better written. The fact that Cold Steel decided to have such a large cast (and then give every cast member a personal struggle and story that had to be worked in around everything else) probably didn't help. There just wasn't as much time to devote to everyone individually.

[Alex]

I like SSS team personally. It's a well patched team that stays together throughout almost the whole deal, much unlike OCS7 (not PSTN one x-D) that spreads far enough too often. But yup, power wise they still are inferior to any other team.