Thors is not really a military academy

[Adunsavior]

A while ago, I read a thread saying Thors is not impressive as a military academy, but after thinking about it, it's because Thors is not really a military academy.

It is only being called a military academy because Erebonia is culturally very militaristic.

Let's take a look at the student who attend Thors. Children of the four great houses. Son of the imperial governor. Son of an army top brass. Daughter of the chairman of the largest coorportation on the continent. Children from assorted noble families and business owners. The prince himself is an alumni.

The purpose of the place is more of a place where children from the upper classes make connections than to actually train officers. In this sense, it is reasonable that Thors places less emphasis on military training than actual military academies.

[Keio]

They do have combat training as part of their curriculum though, just not really focused on screen. It has been mentioned many times during the course of the game, unfortunately were not shown all that much. We were only given small glimps of it in the form of Class VII's practical exam, but in other times, they definitely did have proper military training happening off-screen. The same is true for students in the other class as well, each of them are capable fighters and artes users.

[ZWabbit]

How exactly does having nobility or royalty attending Thors make it not a military academy? It's been common throughout history for noble scions to attend such institutions. For that matter military academies of old and even today exist partially as a place to establish social connections.

[Monterossa]

It's similar to senmon in Japan, tech schools where graduated highschoolers attend for 2 years and then they're ready to get a job.

Real military academy in my country takes 4 years to graduate.

[LrdDimwit]

Even if everything the OP said is true - which it isn't quite - that line of reasoning would apply equally to West Point.

Thors is clearly a military academy. They teach the arts of war, there's regular combat drills as a part of your grade, and most graduates go on to join various armies. The game just doesn 't really get the feel of a military academy right. Falcom added in far more of the "generic Japanese high school" setting than they should have.

I mean, I know why they did it - it's the same reason the aliens in Hollywood movies always invade the US, while Godzilla always attacks Japan. It's familiar to the target audience and makes the story more relatable. It's also easier for authors to write.

But they went a little too far. They also, I feel, cut too much out. Aside from the culture of the place being off, most of the things that are "missing" aren't really missing, they just happen offscreen. Almost all the time spent actually at Thors is glossed over.

Persona games are careful to show the MC's school life - you periodically see class lectures, you meet people after school, you join the clubs, there's exams. Cold Steel hardly does any of that, glossing over almost all the time you spend there in time skips.

Even something as simple as showing Elliot having a tough time at the firing range (because everyone has to at least know the basics of how to shoot), or Class VII drilling combat arts, would have helped. Because this kind of thing definitely happened; we just didn't see any of it.

[Sugoi]

Originally posted by LrdDimwit:

Persona games are careful to show the MC's school life - you periodically see class lectures, you meet people after school, you join the clubs, there's exams. Cold Steel hardly does any of that, glossing over almost all the time you spend there in time skips.

Even something as simple as showing Elliot having a tough time at the firing range (because everyone has to at least know the basics of how to shoot), or Class VII drilling combat arts, would have helped. Because this kind of thing definitely happened; we just didn't see any of it.

You nailed it. All they really needed to do was add maybe two or three dozen little "daily life" scenes that happen during the big time skips to flesh out the feeling of what their classes and training is composed of.

Now personally I don't have any difficulty filling in the blanks and don't mind too much, but you're right that this is something Persona does exceedingly well and CS1 kind of drops the ball on. If you stop and think about it, it's honestly a bit surprising given that kiseki in general goes out of its way to do that kind of worldbuilding.

[Tiasmoon]

Originally posted by LrdDimwit:

E

Even something as simple as showing Elliot having a tough time at the firing range (because everyone has to at least know the basics of how to shoot), or Class VII drilling combat arts, would have helped. Because this kind of thing definitely happened; we just didn't see any of it.

Definately agree. A visual novel like Muv Luv shows it much better, with firing/physical practice and more in-detail theoreticl classes. The practical test is also much more in detail.

[Gambio]

Here's my take on it.

When Thors was founded over 200 years ago, it was indeed a Bona Fide Military Academy. But 200 Years is a long time, it's focus shifted eventually

Thors is without a doubt the most prestigious School in Erebonia. Not only the Children of the four great Houses attend there but also the Princes of the Imperial Family.

If you talk with the various NPC's you noticed that a lot of them couldn't care less about the Military or a career in such a field. In fact the only one i can think of the top of my head who ever made such a remark happens to be Rean.

Taken this in account it wouldn't surprise me if only a very select few graduates actually join the Military(we never get a number about that, right?) thus it stands to reason to the Schools curriculum would adapt to that.

Furthermore, if they graduates do join the Military it obviously won't be as Grunts. They will directly obtain a officer class type of Rank.. In that case the reason for Drills, the use of a Firearm and other similiar classes diminishes even further.

At this point Thors Military Academy is an extremly prestigious private School with a slight Military Bend. The Reason for it's name is primarly because of Traditions

[That's ich!]

Originally posted by Sugoi:

Now personally I don't have any difficulty filling in the blanks and don't mind too much, but you're right that this is something Persona does exceedingly well and CS1 kind of drops the ball on. If you stop and think about it, it's honestly a bit surprising given that kiseki in general goes out of its way to do that kind of worldbuilding.

tbh, because a school setting doesn't fit Trails, as we said before. It would've been much better if Trista + School was just a chapter in the game, kinda like the Royal Academy in Liberl.
Then we could've seen the whole school thingy without repeating or skipping days.

[Sugoi]

Originally posted by That's ich!:

tbh, because a school setting doesn't fit Trails, as we said before. It would've been much better if Trista + School was just a chapter in the game, kinda like the Royal Academy in Liberl.
Then we could've seen the whole school thingy without repeating or skipping days.

Eh, I don't think there's really that much of a problem with CS1's setting or structure. I just think the lack of "daily life" is a missed opportunity for immersion/world building. Nothing more, nothing less.

While I was initially quite hesitant about turning the series into HIGHSCHOOL HIJINX, the central location worked far better than I had hoped; having an excuse to keep Trista a central hub with so many NPC lives in close proximity to you made it feel extremely alive.

[LrdDimwit]

Originally posted by Gambio:

Taken this in account it wouldn't surprise me if only a very select few graduates actually join the Military(we never get a number about that, right?

We do, actually. Not any explicit numbers, but we are told that "most" of the students go on to join one of the various armies. When we are told that some graduates don't join any army at all, it is relayed in a way that makes it clear this is unusual.

So we don't have any firm numbers, but we have got enough of an estimate to have a pretty good idea.

[Gambio]

Originally posted by LrdDimwit:

Originally posted by Gambio:

Taken this in account it wouldn't surprise me if only a very select few graduates actually join the Military(we never get a number about that, right?

We do, actually. Not any explicit numbers, but we are told that "most" of the students go on to join one of the various armies. When we are told that some graduates don't join any army at all, it is relayed in a way that makes it clear this is unusual.

So we don't have any firm numbers, but we have got enough of an estimate to have a pretty good idea.

Whelp i digged a bit and i go the number

Claire provides us with it at the Bonfire scene

Only 40% join the Military

Well, looks like we are both wrong, its not the majority anymore but still more then i anticipated

[Vladislak]

Originally posted by Gambio:

Only 40% join the Military

That's still quite high, chances are it still ends up being by far the most likely occupation. Other occupations probably sit at no more than 5% each, those 5% or less occupations simply add up to 60%.

I'd say that still makes Thors qualify as a school that specializes in training members of the military.

[Play Metaphor]

https://www.reddit.com/r/Falcom/comments/6kee7u/for_a_military_academy_thors_really_isnt_all_that/

[Oddness]

We see like 0,01% of the actual school stuff happening so it is all speculation.

[pibedetorres]

The midterm exam shows a military tactics question involving battle formation for troops, tanks and whatnot, so we can easily guess that Neithardt's classes are indeed what we would expect from a military academy.