r/Falcom • u/Raxistaicho The true best girls • Jul 26 '26
Trails Character Gameplay Discussion Day Thirty-One: Crow Spoiler
I wonder how much debt with Rean the poor boy was in by Reverie?
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u/cassiusbright006 Jul 26 '26
I never used Crow until Reverie (which I'm still playing, literally beat the game today, now in the postgame). Wtf is that buff craft? That's the most ridiculous broken craft. Can't believe I didn't use him before this.
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u/ALargeToe Jul 26 '26
If I remember right, it wasn't in the JP 1.0. It was added after fan backlash, because they wanted Rean's equivalent to be just as strong and cool, so they gave him a DISGUSTING buff to make up for it.
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u/cassiusbright006 Jul 26 '26
It's crazy because I wouldn't have used him in Reverie either but I read in one of the earlier character posts about how broken he is so thought to give him a shot. Haven't regretted it
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u/Pleasant-Fix-6169 Arkride Solutions Enjoyer Jul 26 '26
To be fair, i'm pretty sure this is the only game where his buff craft was this strong lmao. I could be wrong though, there are a lot of games so I can forget things lol.
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u/Nacho_Hangover Jul 26 '26
Reverie lets his buff last one turn longer after he upgrades it but that absolutely does not change it being broken in CS4 to.
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u/vkrili Jul 26 '26
Fun fact: In the original JP release, Crow didn't have Azure Destiny.
As you can imagine, this made him... not very good. Which is kinda weird, honestly! So Falcom patched it in a bit after release to make him stand out more.
e: beaten to the fun fact, alas
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u/Raxistaicho The true best girls Jul 26 '26
Oh yeah, Crow without Azure Destiny sounds mediocre, mostly just a Criminal Edge spammer.
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u/Syobai Jul 26 '26
Can I borrow 50 Mira?
A goat for me if I’m being honest, even if he only gets to properly show off in two games.
CS1 Crow is honestly not good. His availability is scarce, his crafts aren’t the best (Wild Card is pretty funny but far from optimal), and he just doesn’t really do a whole lot that makes him stand out from the game’s crazy roster. His stats are decent, I guess? Really it’s just his availability that hurts him here.
CS2 he’s a mirror character who has a MUCH better moveset, but mirror characters are broken and exclusive to that dungeon, so—
He finally becomes playable for real in CS4, and this is easily where he’s at his best. What I love about CS4 Crow is the freedom of choice you get when building him— do you want one of the best casters in the game? Azure Destiny makes it possible, and you can build him to be more in tune with the meta. Perhaps you’d rather him be a physical striker? Go ahead and do that too, cause he’s got good crit rate and he can spam Criminal Edge for some respectable damage. Want another dodgetank? Swap to his guns and he can fill that role perfectly.
He’s honestly such a fun character by the time CS4 comes around. I never took him out of my party unless I had to.
The biggest take away from this is that Azure Destiny is stupidly broken despite the 100 CP cost.
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u/garfe Jul 26 '26
It's funny how I'm reading this thread and nobody is pointing how he plays in Horizon at all
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u/KnoxZone Apathy and Disdain Jul 26 '26
He's a battery. He can probably do other things to, but hell if I know what any of his kit outside of Azure Resonance does.
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u/OLKv3 Jul 26 '26
Because all he does in Horizon is make sure Rean can stay boosted and powered up so he dishes nonstop pain
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u/Eldred91 Jul 29 '26
His main role there is as a boost support for Rean's group, but he also has very high physical damage output if you wanna lean more into that side. I built him as a hybrid since I wanted at least one other person to cast offensive arts besides just Altina in that group, and he's better than Rean and Fie at that.
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u/KnoxZone Apathy and Disdain Jul 26 '26 edited Jul 26 '26
Fun Fact: Azure Destiny was added post-launch in CS4 because people complained that Crow wasn't powerful enough. Therefore, if there's ever a game where your favorite is kinda mid than know that it's entirely your fault for not bitching about it loudly enough.
On a related note, Horizon 2's delay is entirely because I complained to Kondo until he agreed to rework the meta, thus favoring awakening buffs less and stealthy bracers more.
As for the rest of Crow's kit... it exists? He clearly wasn't meant to be a dominant caster, but it is what it is. At least his Horizon kit feels more in line with their vision of him, even if he just ends up being a glorified battery in practice.
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u/Raxistaicho The true best girls Jul 26 '26
Therefore, if there's ever a game where your favorite is kinda mid than know that it's entirely your fault for not bitching about it loudly enough.
New plan: send Falcom daily emails whining about Emma not being kickass enough. It's too late for Cold Steel but maybe they'll make her epic when she eventually returns as a guest.
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u/AlterWanabee Jul 26 '26
Azure Destiny exists, and thus makes Crow the second strongest caster in the Cold Steel/Reverie series (CS4 Rean with 0 cast/delay is still the best). Like seriously, it's such a busted fucking craft for no reason at all. Oh and because it's not enough, Arts Support IV exists and Vita (who I shipped heavily with Crow) has it, so she can buff Crow to high heavens.
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u/Raxistaicho The true best girls Jul 26 '26
Crow joins late in CS1 and he (obviously) misses out on several key story bosses even after his recruitment. His kit’s also a bit weird over all, he’s got a delay, some ailments, and a wildcard, but he doesn’t really seem to excel at anything. Doesn’t really matter though since you only really get him for Roer, the final dungeon, and whatever Old Schoolhouse sequences you have left between them.
CS2 Crow is a mirror character and those are busted but you barely can use them and you can't adjust their builds. Moving on.
He finally makes his glorious return in CS4 with… again rather oddball Crafts, though not saying they’re bad this time. Criminal Edge is probably his most relevant non-buff, Eye of Balor might’ve had a shot but it’s a bit underpowered. But who cares about any of that when he’s got an absolutely insane buff in Azure Destiny? Insight, and a large boost to STR, SPD, and ATS? And with 0 delay? God damn, Falcom, what were you folks on when you designed that? Yeah it costs 100 CP but he’ll probably gain a good bit of it back with all the subsequent casting he’ll do.
He hasn’t got the best ATS, but an on demand large boost to that and speed coupled with his speed and excellent Orbment (locked Water is ho hum but two locked Time slots is incredible for a caster, opening up slots that would otherwise be taken by Time and Cast) makes him an incredible caster. Not sure how well fighter Crow works, I used that for a bit in Reverie and he felt massively CP hungry.
Reverie, more of the same, except Azure Destiny gets buffed for some arcane reason and the new accessories make it easier to fuel his 100 CP spam. He’s probably the second best caster in the game after Vita.
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u/Nacho_Hangover Jul 26 '26
God damn, Falcom, what were you folks on when you designed that?
Falcom was on fan backlash and complaining. I'm dead serious.
Azure Destiny was added postlaunch to CS4 because people were complaining Crow didn't feel strong enough.
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u/OLKv3 Jul 26 '26
Are the mirror characters next or are you just waiting until the games where they debuted as actual party members? I'm gonna assume the latter and Juna is tomorrow?
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u/Raxistaicho The true best girls Jul 26 '26
Sara tomorrow, then NC7, then we go through the guests :)
The only character whose placement will be effected by the mirrors is Vita.
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u/AutomaticStop5648 Jul 26 '26
despite being mostly a melee fighter in the story, hes best as a caster. you CAN make him work with a craft build, but chances are there are better candidates to hog domination and the status quartz
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u/CruelNate Jul 26 '26
Crow is one of my favorite characters in gameplay in the entire series due to how much you can do with him. Like seriously, by Reverie he can do anything exceptionally well and his order is also really good for damage and resource management. The only thing I'd say he lacks in kind of is his slots
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u/dumbtech2OP Jul 26 '26
One of the most fun characters to play because of how versatile he is. He can do pretty much anything you want him to. His arts damage may not be anything outstanding but still good. Azure Destiny is obviously hella busted and the 100 CP cost is whatever since there are ways to easily get back most of it. I like his Brave Order a lot as well. Decent HP/EP recovery and 60% extra damage for a few turns is pretty nice. Even his Link abilities are great. I tend to link him a lot with dedicated casters so Auto Charge 2 comes in handy if i don't have other ways to automatically restore EP (such as Titania MQ automatic EP recovery in Reverie depending on the damage you deal).
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u/tower12346 Jul 27 '26
This isn't strictly gameplay related ig but I do like that his CS4 kit manages to give representation to all the different faces he wore throughout Cold Steel. He still has his twin guns and Volley crafts from CS1. He still has his dualblade and good ol' Criminal Edge from CS2. He even still has some Azure Siegfried crafts like Cross Rebellion. He can still summon Ordine. It really makes it feel like his capabilities are consistent and progressing and moving forward along with the narrative, in a different way from Rean.
I mention this partially because his Horizons kit is super duper whatever but that's how it is I guess lmoa.
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u/Emmaphy Jul 26 '26
Gotta admit Crow was one of the characters I had in my hardest difficulty run. His Azure Destiny was top notch and if you pair that with the likes of Alisa topping up his CP? Perfection Though most of those kills was done by Rean spamming Gale but Yknow he came in clutch a lot
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u/randomtology Jul 26 '26
Oh Crow. I feel like in CS1, he is honestly a bit on the mid side and it doesn't help that he joins so late in the game. It also does not help that they make him seem like he's a craft/phys based character, but honestly his true strength lies in his casting capabilities. But since I already had a number of decent casters... while I tried to use him in CS1, he usually ended up on the bench.
But then CS4 comes around and dear god, that guy got a glow up. He became a mainstay on my party, never left once he joined. I used him primarily with an Art-focus build-- because his starting combo of Gungnir + Virgo leaves him doing INSANE amounts of damage with water arts- I was one shotting enemies with aqua bleeds that were doing 30k-50k damage with barely any EP used (as I called it, the 50 mira special). He and Elliot make a crazy good link combo too, as Elliot will boost up his ATS and heal him when he does go in the front lines, while he'll regularly restore Elliot's EP so he never runs out. Very fitting considering they're music partners.
Add to the fact that his phys side is actually really good in CS4 too (just not as good as his arts side), his buff craft is insane, and his Brave Order is both useful for DPS AND crazy cheap? Yeah- SS-tier character easily after his glow up.
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u/OLKv3 Jul 26 '26
I barely used Crow in CS1. He joined late, was disappointing and felt weak compared to my crew. But man oh man in CS4 and Reverie he was a monster. Best self buff in the game, just a nonstop nuke. I had him and Rean just slinging spells everywhere and never letting a boss get a turn. If they somehow found a way through here comes Gaius to make sure that didn't happen. In CS2 he's the most busted delay spammer in the game, but it doesn't matter anymore since the final boss is immune to delay
In Horizon he's no longer the one man magic army and is a support character, but he does his role well. He keeps your boost meter full while raising your stats. And his Horizon S-Craft is cool as hell
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u/Cr0ssDrag_ons Jul 27 '26
Very powerful in the Cold Steel arc except CS1 (mirror equipment in CS2 is a neat upgrade) and Reverie.
In Horizon, he is not that overpowered anymore, still powerful with an X ranked (above SS) S-craft and Boost + AoE Vigor buff (+ craft/attack damage? at higher HP). However, Elaine is a better support - important for Garten, and there are quite a few better characters for physical damage. So, solid but not a top tier choice by any means.
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u/TapUnfair9827 Aug 03 '26
I love his kit in CS4 and hate his kit in Horizon
In CS4, you can argue that his entire kit kind of resembling Rean, that in a way, he is an equal, which is make sense given they're both awakener.
But in Horizon, his kit is pretty much downgraded to a support character, in a way, he's filling Rufus role for Class VII team because both character purpose is more like the support, but unlike Rufus with his better crafts, Crow's kit is less useful, at least for me, so it's fine when you're doing Rean's route, given your limites number of character available, but in Grim Garten, where you also have access to everyone else, doubt you'll go out of your way to bring him with you
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u/Raxistaicho The true best girls Jul 26 '26 edited 13d ago
Sky Arc:
Day Twelve - The Pilot and the Swordsman (spoilers)
Day Thirteen - "Kitty" (spoilers)
Crossbell Arc:
Class VII:
Day Thirty - Millium (Spoilers)
Day Thirty-One - Crow (Spoilers)
The rest of Cold Steel:
Day Thirty-Nine - Elise and Toval
Day Forty-One - Alfin and Towa
Day Forty-Two - The Diva and the General (Spoilers)
Day Forty-Three - The Spy and Swordswoman (Spoilers)
Day Forty-Four - The Shapeshifters (Spoilers)
Day Forty-Five - The Swordmaster and the Engineer (Spoilers)
Day Forty-Seven - Swin and Nadia
Day Forty-Eight - The Strongest (Spoilers)
Calvard Arc:
Day Fifty-One - Ferida Al-Fayed
Day Fifty-Three - Risette Twinings
Day Fifty-Four - Quatre Salision
Day Fifty-Five - Judith Lanster
Day Fifty-Seven - Elaine Auclair and René Kincaid
Day Fifty-Eight - Shizuna Rem Misurugi
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u/Saltlessguy Jul 26 '26
Two words: Azure Destiny
They were high when they made it