So I've hit chapter 7... *major spoilers*

[Iido]

Wow, I was not expecting those plot twists. I was expecting the Lord of Phantasma to be Campanella honestly. It never crossed my mind even once that it could possibly be Rufina. And the whole thing with Kevin wanting to be punished, and the whole of Phantasma being his own personal (and literal, in the case of plane 7) hell. Then the truth about his mother, not to mention Rufina herself...

Needless to say, I haven't felt so blindsided by plot twists in an RPG for quite some time. Talk about impact. I feel like all of these chests with messages simply saying "This chest is empty" are driving it home even further. There's not even chests jokes in this part...and I'm kinda glad they didn't try and lighten the mood with them. Honestly never expected anything this dark!

Well, time to get outta here. Really liking the battle music in this place, too.

(PS, if anyone wonders why the heck I tought the Lord of Phantasma would be Campanella, it's because long ago I saw a video of the ending, which IIRC featured him in it. Of course it was all in Japanese and I had no idea what was going on, but...yeah xD That was back when I never thought the game would release in English...I saw the final boss, too, but thankfully I know nothing about how to actually fight the thing.)

[Jindujun93]

And now mentally prepare yourself for Renne's backstory. It's optional since it's behind a Star door (don't worry as you didn't miss it yet - it becomes available in an optional dungeon in the final chapter), but that one is rather heavy as well.

[Iido]

Originally posted by Jindujun93:

And now mentally prepare yourself for Renne's backstory. It's optional since it's behind a Star door (don't worry as you didn't miss it yet - it becomes available in an optional dungeon in the final chapter), but that one is rather heavy as well.

I already heard about what happened with Renne before, but I don't know any real details on it. I just know why it's controversial, and yeah, that's gonna be a heavy side story.

[Missilepom]

Originally posted by Kyubey -Iido's Gaming Den-:

Originally posted by Jindujun93:

And now mentally prepare yourself for Renne's backstory. It's optional since it's behind a Star door (don't worry as you didn't miss it yet - it becomes available in an optional dungeon in the final chapter), but that one is rather heavy as well.

I already heard about what happened with Renne before, but I don't know any real details on it. I just know why it's controversial, and yeah, that's gonna be a heavy side story.

Yeah take a deep breath before you enter that door. It focuses a lot more on the psychological aspects of the character without resorting to anything gratuitous, but that just makes it all the more disturbing since your mind is filling in all the details left undescribed.

I really respect this door for making a character with such ridiculous design and behavior actually make sense in-universe

[That's ich!]

Honestly, i tought Lord of Phantasma was Weissmann, because of what happened in SC and stuff. Didn't expect it to be Ms.Chocolate Kiss hehe

[kraidy117]

It's pretty much at this point that 3rd (which was already blending MegaTen with Trails)) blends SH2 with it and I loved it. You have the best final dungeon in the series to look forwared to soon too.

[Iido]

Yeah, Kevin's story REALLY reminds me of SH2. I forgot to mention that earlier.

Well, just hit the final chapter. Time to go finish up the doors, methinks. Once I depart for the final dungeon, will I still be able to buy things, at least? Or am I stuck with whatever I've got/can farm from enemies at that point?

[Missilepom]

Originally posted by Kyubey -Iido's Gaming Den-:

Yeah, Kevin's story REALLY reminds me of SH2. I forgot to mention that earlier.

Well, just hit the final chapter. Time to go finish up the doors, methinks. Once I depart for the final dungeon, will I still be able to buy things, at least? Or am I stuck with whatever I've got/can farm from enemies at that point?

There are still glowing monuments in the final dungeon, but this is your last chance to get your ultimate weapons with Zemurian ore.

It was actually the other way around for me with these two games: SH2 was the one that reminded me of a darker and more subtle version of the 3rd (which I first played back in 2009), and I loved it even though I disliked the gameplay. Lord of Phantasma was basically a fusion of pyramid head and Maria I wouldn't be surprised if Falcom took some inspiration from that game

[Erpy]

The Lord of Phantasma being Rufina WAS something I suspected before the unmasking. The game frequently points out how focussed the Lord was on Kevin personally. Given how present Rufina was in the game artwork and intro, I figured it was her behind the mask. Weissmann IS brought up as a possibility before the party enters the golden/silver roads, but Kevin rightfully points out that Weissmann is too much of a ham and showboater to hide his face behind a mask while having his fun and the same is kinda true for Campanella. If you bring Kevin to the battle with Loewe in SC, he mentions Rufina and speaks respectfully of her. Seeing that Schwarzritter is extremely obviously Loewe, that again points to Rufina.

[Lame Lothar]

I actually didn't believe that the Lord of Phantasma was Rufina even when she dropped her mask. I thought she was just another copy (like the Schwarzritter and the guardians in chapter 6) whose strings were pulled by the true final boss.
Or that the Lord of Phantasma was impersonating her, like Ries said (she yells something like "You're not her, you're just wearing her face!" if I remember right).

[Kyle G]

I thought it would either be Rufina or Kevin's mother.

[Dark]

It was really obvious that it would be Rufina. Foreshadowed since the opening cutscene, and many many times throughout the game. Really heavy handidly pushing her to the forefront. Hell, the entirety of chapter 6-7 is completely predictable from the getgo.