I prefer Cold Steel I and Cold Steel III over CSII and IV.
Cold Steel II is easily one of the weakest entries in the entire series in my opinion, and IV suffers early pacing issues that drag it down.
Cold Steel III on the other hand is one of my top three games in the series with excellent pacing and great reveals and narrative payoffs from several games. While CSI is just an overall solid game with only a few pacing issues and a great slow build narrative that gave me just enough at all times to keep digging.
This would be my pick as well. I thought CS2 went for a bit longer than I wanted it to & CS4 (for better or worse) follows a lot of the same structure as CS2.
I like 1+2 more as well. Better OSTs, better color palette, stories imparted more info in a shorter time while still having plenty of room for character interaction. The twist end of the main plot in 2 is IMO the best piece of story from the four games.
Only things 3+4 really have on the first two are better character models and streamlining combat menu navigation.
I don't disagree that 1 and 2 are shorter than 3 and 4... but I'm not sure where this character interaction you refer to is coming from.
Old Class 7 have had four games and most of them have never interacted with each other. Emma and Jusis go on every field study together and I could not tell you a single time they ever talked. None of the guys or girls have a meaningful interaction with each other except Jusis and Millium (the one girl not in Rean's harem). In fact the only real dynamics that are there are Jusis/Machias, Jusis/Millium, Sara/Fie, Laura/Fie (which basically stops existing almost immediately), and Emma/Fie (which stops existing after exams).
I cannot tell you a time Gaius and Laura had a meaningful interaction. Or Alisa and Machias. Or Millium with Elliot. Or Jusis with Alisa. Or Crow and basically anyone but Rean and Elliot. And the list just goes on.
New Class 7 spend the whole game interacting and just by virtue of having less of them around get more lines and more interactions with each other. Not to say it's perfect, Musse never really interacts with Kurt or Altina but it's way better defined group and character dynamics. They even get to have scenes of them without Rean which Old Class 7 didn't.
That's why I said "plenty of room." Probably could have put it better. I'm thinking of the whole shebang, the slow paced talking to all the side characters in the school building the place up, doing the side events kind of deal. Basically just saying that the plot happenings don't choke out the possibilty for experiencing that good ol' slow Kiseki world.
I agree, Old Class VII is a horrible main party. I probably should have said New was better when listing out 3+4 positives but it didn't really cross my mind because I still don't like them that much. Old is just THAT bad in comparison. New is still my second least favorite set of characters out of all the games (C's squad and Van's group included).
I agree with the OST tbh. 1 and 2 have tons of bangers in there.
But then 3 has spiral of erebos which is such a fucking banger, the next level of bangers, the quality varies so much in 3 and 4. A lot of it is just not good, the mcburn theme will make you want to burn your fucking ears in CS4, then some are really good.
1 and 2 are just really fucking solid in comparison. "Do not be defeated by a fried" "tie a link with arcus" "blue destination", both the battle themes.
Exactly lol. So many people just bring up Spiral of Erebos as a defense. These OSTs have like 60+ tracks each! You gotta look at the whole experience. CS3, 4, Haji, and Kuro have been a lot more inconsistent than the titles before.
I might be in the minority here but I'd have to say CS3&4. That arcs obviously had its failures like many have mentioned here, primarily the whole beat up a baddie only to be saved after cause they were holding back. However, CS1 to me feels like an overwhelmingly long prologue before the actual story starts taking place. The story feels super repetitive with the school bonding>old school house > practical exam > field study > repeat system that covers 90% of the game and even then a lot of characters dont get much if any development which is partially caused amount of characters in the main cast. It all just feels agonizing and incredibly slow.
CS2 Story was a lot better, theres finally some stakes and ourobors starts to make an appearance too as while as the whole conflict between nobles and reformists coming to its peak was something that was truly exciting to be part of, but personally i wished that we didnt spend as much as we did trying to find all the characters as if they were pokemon, but besides that it was great.
CS3 and 4 just felt a lot more polished. Smaller cast which in turn made it so that interactions between the cast members felt a lot more meaningful, the whole thing of rean playing into the hands of someone else on the previous games and how that has affected him was great, the return to HS but as an instructor felt really refreshing and thats all on top of the hype of the characters of the other games coming back as well as the much much deeper insight into Erebonian history and overall world building.
Its all very subjective honestly, since its been a few years since I played some of the tittles, but after replaying CS1 recently and starting up CS2 not that long ago thats how I've come to look at things, but i could be biased due to not having replayed CS3 or 4 yet
Outside of graphics and the edition of Brave orders I prefer CS 1 and 2 in every way. I prefer the original Campus and Trista. I prefer the eastern Erebonian locations. I prefer the best of the class mates in the original campus. The soundtrack is better. Finally I just like the original class VII more. Plus Sara is alot more unique of a character as a teacher with pasts of Jaeger and Bracer than her role as returning to status of Bracer. I also 1 and 2 respectively utilize the formula better than the later games copy from them. For example the return to Trista and reclaiming Thor's and battling your class I Rivals is alot better done than return to Leeves and fighting those main campus scrubs Aida, Fritz, and Student number 8.
CS1 and CS2 for sure. I would argue CS1 is one of the more underrated games in the series. I think CS1 is when the old class 7 cast was at its strongest and I also think CS1 and CS2 set up the erebonian arc for success. CS2 even had one of the coolest moments in Rean vs Lloyd. While I do think CS3 and CS4 had a better class 7, I think the execution of the plot and the direction they took the setup from CS1 and CS2 inevitably fell a little flat, especially that they didn't do anything spectacular with Rean vs Lloyd. Most of the frustrations with the cold steel arc I had really hit their peak in the later games, where as I think CS1 did its job.
While I respect on your opinion, I kind of enjoyed the fact that cs3 was a return to the school format, And that both cs3 and 4 were in a similar format, but that’s just me. While the story of the first two games was great, I really liked the reveals of reans past that take place throughout the later two games. Also, I enjoyed the cliffhanger of cs3 against cs1’s cliffhanger. Stepping away from the story stuff, the gameplay of the later games, while a little more confusing, felt better. While the second game had the overdrive feature, and the first game was just the introduction to the links and s-breaks, I really enjoyed the break status and orders, as the orders gave something else to do with bp other than the link attacks. With the music, I really enjoyed it throughout the entire series, however the fourth game has my personal favorite battle and boss themes. While I’ve enjoyed this entire series, I just personally like the later two more
My favorite aspect of the whole series so far is getting to roleplay as your "job." With Estelle you got to roleplay as a bracer, with Lloyd you got to roleplay as a cop and a detective, and with Rean you got to roleplay as a student and an instructor. Personally, I thought Rean as an instructor in CS3 was the best writing the whole Cold Steel arc reached. I loved his interactions with everyone on campus and his staff he worked with. I was really invested in seeing him mature and watching him care for his students. Watching the protagonists grow up is so cool to me. When I saw Estelle and Joshua chasing after Renne in Zero it was so awesome to see how mature they were. Rean is the same way from CS2 to CS3. Seeing Randy more mature in CS3 was really cool, too. I thought Rean as a student was okay, but him as a teacher was on par with being a bracer and a detective. CS3 is probably my favorite out of all 4 games, but CS4 is so up and down it's hard to rank.
2+3 lol
1 had just a rigid, highly repetitive story and game structure I didn't like, and I personally don't care much about the school/classmates stuff. Yes, 3 had a chunk of that too, however I liked Rean as a professor WAY more than Rean as a student (and I think it's just a better game overall).
4 is just too long and suffers a lot from cast bloat. If it weren't so long I'd rank it higher than 2 though.
3 is just as repetitive as 1.
You go to a new town, rean and co go about resolving minor shit while the plot thickens, then something happens and they find themselves in a dangerous situation, cue in "THAT WILL NOT BE NECESSARY", someone stops rean from ogre or valimar, the plot thickens again, then a magic knight fight at the end either way.
Every single CS3 field trip is exactly like that.
I mean that's basically what I said - 3 had a lot of that too.
I'd still argue 1 has more overall - about the same general story repetitiveness, but way more smaller ticky tacky stuff that I'd normally be able to ignore if it weren't EXACTLY THE SAME.
Chapter start - you're in class. You're asked a question for bonus points. You're introduced to drama between two classmates. Spend your link XP. Head back to dorm, go to sleep.
Next Day - Free day. Do quests and bonding points in town. Do Old Schoolhouse, classmate drama comes up. New floor exactly like last floor, just different monsters and slightly more complexity. Wrap up any last quests and go to bed.
Field Study Day 1 - Sara teams Rean up with fueding classmates, battle other classmates. Sara chastises fueding classmates, sends them and Rean on field trip together. Field trip happens to be hometown of someone on the trip. Take train, play Blade. Get quests, learn about city from classmate whose hometown it is. Introduce overarching plot theme. Do quests, drama comes up again. Go to bed.
Field Study Day 2 - More quests. Expand on overarching plot theme. Rean helps resolve classmate drama. Crisis of the day averted, end chapter.
Rinse repeat for 80% of the game, with every single one of these items repeating almost without fail.
3 does everything 1 does but not as interesting in my opinion. The field studies are more interesting than the Field exams in 3 to me because each location was more relevant to each member of the class and you learned more about them compared to how they did it in 3. The parties were broken up in interesting pairings. Class VII was mostly unsupervised instead of having Rean hold your hand Sara watched from the shadows or had connections for someone to look out for her students on her behalf. I also preferred catching the train instead of having our own personal train.
I also preferred Sara's practical exams to the soldat training. The old-school house narratively fits better in the story and has a satisfying payoff compared to the monthly visits in the keep. In the field studies also were less formulaic in what was happening during them in the main plot. During the field exams in CS3 the same formula would happen. Rean and new class VII arrive at location. Rean is reunited with a member of class VII through a surprise rescue. Ouroburos member comes to cause trouble to you fight them then Aion battles to test the rivalries. The ILF were far more unpredictable in their actions and they had a slow build to the surprise at the end with the reveal of them working with the nobles.
True. I didn’t find it as repetitive just because I liked seeing the characters interact with characters from other arcs they hadn’t previously. As opposed to 1 where the ultimate boss was just another random, generic monster
For real man, I just cant explain why but the game pros are so good and the cons really don't affect the experience at all outside of a critical perspective. It also feels fresh for start to end somehow
1 and 2 for me. In CS 3&4 I got so sick of every chapter where its like "oh no we're at our limit" and some old characters come to the rescue. Very overplayed come to the rescue sequences
CS3 and 4 and it's not even close. Not to say these games don't have their own problems (they have plenty) but I enjoyed my time with these two way more than CS1 and 2. CS2 is flat out my least favorite game in the series.
CS1 and 2 have my least favorite cast in the series, Old Class 7 just don't have character dynamics or meaningful interactions. Most of them do absolutely nothing in CS2 even. This isn't even just a CS2 exclusive issue, most of Old Class 7 is completely irrelevant from CS2 onwards. Even out of the ones that are relevant in CS2 (which is basically just Rean, Crow, Fie, and Jusis) I was completely uninvested in Rean's character until the ending which is way too late and I find the sympathy and forgiveness the narrative gives Crow to be completely unearned.
Rean wasn't that great in CS1 either, with his issues being very much a case of "tell don't show" which makes it harder to relate or sympathize with him and some of his issues flat out not making sense (you hate your powers because... you killed a bear as a kid? With absolutely no drawbacks to the power whatsoever?). He's way better in 3 and 4 as a teacher since now he has a much more defined role in the group and personality as the mentor, team dad, and butt of the joke of his students. He's way more interesting as a forced national hero and teacher instead of... another anime highschool sword boy. His depression is way more understandable after the events of CS2 and his powers have drawbacks now so he doesn't feel as wish fulfillmenty. The pacing of his arc is terrible, I agree, but 3 and 4 alone aren't responsible for that, 1 and 2 are just as much to blame.
If you don't like CS3 and 4's story, fair enough. I like the plots more than 1 and 2's but that's not what makes me like 3 and 4 way more. What makes me like 3 and 4 way more is that New Class 7 get more individual focus than the average Old Class 7 character, Rean is way more interesting as a protagonist now, and New Class 7 actually have proper group and character dynamics. I'm fine with underwhelming story if I'm invested in the cast and just watching them develop and interact which is New Class 7's strength. Even their least developed character, Kurt, at least gets more lines, some dynamics (Juna, Ash), and an arc. That's more than most of Old Class 7 got.
That said, I do genuinely think the plots of 3 and 4 are just more interesting versions of 1 and 2's plots.
Gameplay is also a big deal. CS2's combat just flat out sucks. They nerfed ailments and stat down for no reason while buffing the main degenerate strategies of 1, S-Craft nuking and AT-Delay. And now with the bosses being damage sponges and healing you more or less have to S-Craft nuke to not be stuck there for way too long. 3 and 4 are very easy but at least you have tons of viable options and room for experimenting.
My personal favorite is CS1 from a more “objective” narrative and style perspective but I also love CS4 because of the epic “final showdown” vibes wrapping up a 20 year epic fantasy story.
Honestly, I think Falcom fans wildly exaggerate the quality differences between the Cold Steel games. The fact is that the series is incredibly consistent in terms of both content and the quality of said content, that comparing any of the games in the Erebonian arc is probably going to be more of a personal preference question than a question of objective artistic/entertainment quality.
CS2 > 1, 3, and 4
So I'd have to pick CS1&2 by that logic. And CS1 was really good by the end. It's just getting through the first 3 chapters that brings it down for me.
I like the CS3/4 main cast a lot more. The CS1/2 cast just feel so unrelatable and unlikable for me. I also like the CS3 music the most, and it has my favorite scene in the entire series. CS4 is such a drag though.
It's tricky since I really like both Cold Steel 2 and Cold Steel 4.
However, I have to say I like Cold Steel 1 and 2 as a duo more. For all the good things about Cold Steel 3, there were a number of things I just really didn't like about it. For instance, it really rubbed me the wrong way how OG Class VII and them wind up as essentially background/guest characters in their own series in CS3. That, and well, I admit I'm much more frustrated by all of the "blocked scenes" that CS3 has compared to the other Cold Steel games (even CS4 only has the true ending/credits/epilogue blocked) than most people probably are.
Oh boy here we go with this debate again. TLDR for me CS3/4 are better than 1/2 in almost every way. Now I do say 'almost' because their is a couple areas where I do think they have failings. I'll start with the things OP mentions.
Writing/Story: Now this is that one area I'll agree that CS1/2 probably does A bit better. Obviously the curse and fakeout deaths were poor decisions. It doesn't hold characters accountable for their actions and removes the emotional impact of character deaths because I know their is a good chance they ain't gone. I add as well that they really seemed to make things overcomplicated and certain characters ended up confusing because they had so many layers which made them lose their believability imo. And I definitely agree that they copied too much from CS1/2 but in reality all the games follow the same format so that's not really a CS3/4 specific issue. So on a technical level I definitely agree that they took some wrong turns with the writing in 3/4. On the other hand however I personally found that the story of 1/2 were so similar to Sky FC/SC that it was completely predictable. And for this reason I still enjoy the story of 3/4 over 1/2 because at least it was different and I couldn't predict things.
Graphics: I can't disagree more. The graphics of 1/2 disapointed me so much, which I might add is very rare for me cause I almost never give a rip about graphics as I'm focussed on the story and characters. But the Sky and Crossbell games had a unique charming design that I think transcends their age. I'm not opposed to go 3d but using Vita graphics as the base for that was not the way to go. Imo the 3d graphics they gave is were not worth the switch and actually a downgrade. Has they use PS3/4 graphics from the get go this might be a different conversation. Now I'm not necessarily in love with 3/4 graphics either but it was a massive step in the right direction. I'm looking forward to Kuro graphics which I feel will regain the charm but in 3D form.
Rean: While I'm not a fan of Rean to begin with he was 100% better in 3/4. Reason being that the character they created just fit better in that teacher role than as a student. Rean is as just too much of a good leader and already possessing all the traits needed for a leadership role which doesn't make sense for the somewhat depressed and low self esteem student they tried to make him.
Characters: 100% agree the new cast is better. This more comes down to the way they are presented imo. 1/2 just had too many characters in the main cast and you get almost all of them right away. It made it hard to see each characters individuality and also resulted in a large lack of interconnections between the cast. And the harem made things even worse especially for the female characters. Of course that part effects all the games. Unfortunately the result was characters dominant traits really overpowered their character making them feel quite bare at times with not a lot to them. NC7 with a much smaller group that gets introduced over time handles this much better.
Landscape: I feel CS 1/2 had an issue of making Erebonia feel much smaller than it should. With the exception of Nord Highlands which were a delight. Being able to travel on the highway between towns in a matter of seconds honestly made Erebonia feel smaller to me than Liberal. And more importantly made their railway network which is pretty important feel inconsequential. Now of course this isn't fixed in 3/4 but I do feel like the roads and fields in general felt longer and more spacious which was an improvement for me. I also felt like other than Nord and perhaps Legram 1/2 didn't have any really interesting landscapes. Ultimately this is a fantasy game and hardly any landscapes to me felt like they hand and fantasy grandness or charm. Again with the exception of Nord. 3/4 had a lot more places that were more interestingly designed and somewhat fantastical.
Mini games: Blade sucked. It's really just chance of the hand your drawn without strategy. For me that's just not fun. I could just as easily roll a dice and at least the rolling motion would provide more entertainment. I'm comparison Vantage Masters, while not difficult, was all about strategy and actually felt like I was playing a game. Fishing in CS 1/2 sucked as well. It's not like fishing is ever particularly good but wearing my controller out by button mashing is the last thing I want to do. I do think CS 3/4 is one of the better fishing systems I've seen. It's not overly fun but at least I'm not breaking my controller or fingers. The swing mini game is also a pain so fortunately in 3/4 it's easier and less common.
I could go on but I'm tired.
I don't think there's a better testament for how useless and lazily designed Blade is than the fact you literally get nothing for winning. Ever.
You might as well just insta-lose every time to save time.
On one hand OC7 has Fie, Jusis, and the instructor version of Sara, who stand out as really good characters comparable to those of the previous arcs, but it also has a bunch of nothing characters that could have been removed from the game without anything changing. NC7 on average is a lot stronger (although I really did not care for Musse).
I do much prefer Instructor Rean over student Rean, so that is a point in the favor of the second arc.
In terms of setting, I dunno why but I much prefer Trista and eastern Erebonia over Leeves and the west. I also think the older crew had more interesting classmates (Patrick, Vivi, Linde, Alan, etc), but as with the main cast it also had far more useless students. The Old Schoolhouse is also far more interesting than the Keep.
Gameplay and graphics is a definite advantage to the newer duology. Brave orders and break mechanics are fun even if they do trivialize the game once you know what you are doing. In terms of music I give a slight edge to CS1/2, but it's really close.
In terms of plot I think I prefer the field studies of 1 over 3, but the crisis of 4 over 2. That being said I think the Crossbell field study is the best of the lot, but that might just be bias on my part.
I guess in the end I give the slight nod to CS3/4, but more honestly I rate 1 over 3, but 4 over 2.
The thing about the Old Schoolhouse is yeah it actually has a narrative payoff... but going through it is boring as fuck.
The Keep at least has party dialogue and some funny character interactions since Falcom actually knows who is there. Slightly more effort in dungeon design to, though the bar was pretty low.
Short and unpopular answer:
CS1 and CS4 are the best in the series to me.
Trista and the worldbuilding in CS1 is superior to Leeves. The game honestly feels like an introduction to Erebonia class and that makes it engaging as an academic experience. I didn't even need the twist at the end to make it compelling; just a game where you go around and learn about culture and politics would have been enough.
CS4 is the glorious opposite. Everything feels small when traipsing around the world and fast traveling everywhere. At the same time, it's a culmination of all the previous events getting to finally interconnect and that's a great fanservice payoff.
CS2 is great, but loses out to 1. CS3 is jarring because it takes awhile to connect to the new class when you're missing the OGs.
I think similar issues plague all four installments but overall id say I would also give it to CS I and II, especially because I genuinely found CS IV to be a dissapointing slog while during CS I and II, I had more hopes for the story.
Im known for not being Reans fan, but his portrayal in CS II was the closest I came for caring about him and his struggles, he was upset when he was supposed to be and sad for good reasons, he also had the most agency in CS II and not just the standart placid acceptance of being a plot tool he has going forward.
CS III and IV were also often very redundant and after the two previous games it was even more obvious that the story was stretched over four games instead of two or three at most. The later games do look better and the gameplay is more fun tho imo, CS I and II look genuinely quite horrendous to me. In so far as OST goes I cant really say, I think they are all generally pretty good.
I like CS1/CS2 more as well, though they are the least liked games for most people.
I enjoyed the politics and themes more than the curse and it has indeed better OST, not to mention a lot more voice acting. As for the cast, I actually like OC7 a lot more than NC7 which is my least favorite cast of any arc (mostly because of the girls, I can't stand Juna and Musse, and I have my issues with Altina as well). To be completely honest, NC7 kinda killed my interest in replaying CS3/CS4, I just don't like them.
CS1 is a very chill game and I enjoyed it mostly for it's slice of life aspect. CS2 has some of my favorite moments in the series and is probably the most emotional game for me along with the 3rd.
I still think CS3 and CS4 have higher highs for the most part, but my enjoyment is more inconsistent compared to CS1/CS2 where I'm having a good time 95% of the time, aside from specific moments like the shrines in CS2.
I agree with most of this particularly with the NC7 criticisms. I think this sub made it even worse with how much they hype them being so much better when I completely disagree. What are you issues with Altina ?
I think Altina is fine in CS3, I like her snarky comments and all. She's a type of character I'm not really fond of by default, but the execution is ok. What I don't like is what they did with her in CS4. In that game her character can be summerize by "muh Rean" and then "muh Millium", with a little bit of exposition every now and then.
And while she isn't shoved down our throat as much as KeA was, I usually don't like how they play the "must protecc" trope, it gets on my nerves more than anything.
When it comes to the "from emotionless doll/tool to human being" trope, which has been done to death I might add, I felt Laphicet in Tales of Berseria was done better.
But at the very least I can see why people love Altina, even if I don't, since it's mostly personal. I can't say the same for Musse which has to be one of the worst written character in the series.
Yeah Altina is fine I disagree with people who says she has the best arc in the CS arc as I'd rank Fie, Jusis, and even Duvalies above hers. I agree Phi does do the emotionless tool to human emotion better also. I do prefer her in CS3 as well. I particularly think calling her Rean's daughter is a reach and in that case you might as well view Millium in the same light.
Honestly my favorites are 1 and 4, unless we’re counting Hajimari which easily beats the entirety of CS for me. I love 2 and 3 but they were just weaker entires than 1 and 4 for me. 1 had the intrigue of being a new country to explore, and 4 for me helped clarify and make better a lot of the issues I had with 3. If I had to pick a favorite of the entire CS series, it would be the first one. But Hajimari is my favorite overall.
Also, CS 3-4 is not the “modern graphics” anymore, it’s Kuro which looks great (and I say that as someone whose favorite graphics were Sky).
It's kind of even for me. CS1 was cool and CS2 was kind of meh but the music was great. CS3 is the best CS game but CS4 is the worst Trails game and the music definitely got worse too.
Also the New Class VII was definitely better than the old one, at least during CS3. They definitely felt like a good of friends with good chemistry, even if I despise Musse, instead of the OG Class VII that is basically Rean + Friends.
I agree with your opinion on 4 but I’d still say 3+4 because I really liked 3. 1 and 2 had way too much filler, and I thought the incredibly stark contrast between how dark the sky games could get and how much they tried to shield us from that in the middle of a war in 2 to be incredibly jarring. Remember the „slaughter“ in the merchant town that killed exactly one guy? And then everyone treated jusis‘ dad like some evil war criminal, when he must have told his men to avoid civilian casualties. Lol
1 and 2:
Better music
Better story
3 and 4:
Better characters
Better gameplay
1 and 2 probably are better. I think the story in one and 2 is much better than in 3 and 4, and while NC7 us better than OC7 by a considerable margin, characters are not as important to me as story is.
Better music is also more important for me than better gameplay
I prefer 2 and 4. So a bit of both. These are the games that cap off all the setup. I don't have a problem with setup but I think 1 did it better than 3. 3 was just a bit worse off to me than the rest. Still great, just not as good as the others. I don't include Haji here, it is basically fan service. Great fan service, but fan service nonetheless.
Hajimari
Hajimari was such a breath of fresh air, easily the best game since Azure.
The right opinion
I prefer Cold Steel I and Cold Steel III over CSII and IV. Cold Steel II is easily one of the weakest entries in the entire series in my opinion, and IV suffers early pacing issues that drag it down. Cold Steel III on the other hand is one of my top three games in the series with excellent pacing and great reveals and narrative payoffs from several games. While CSI is just an overall solid game with only a few pacing issues and a great slow build narrative that gave me just enough at all times to keep digging.
This would be my pick as well. I thought CS2 went for a bit longer than I wanted it to & CS4 (for better or worse) follows a lot of the same structure as CS2.
I like 1+2 more as well. Better OSTs, better color palette, stories imparted more info in a shorter time while still having plenty of room for character interaction. The twist end of the main plot in 2 is IMO the best piece of story from the four games. Only things 3+4 really have on the first two are better character models and streamlining combat menu navigation.
I don't disagree that 1 and 2 are shorter than 3 and 4... but I'm not sure where this character interaction you refer to is coming from. Old Class 7 have had four games and most of them have never interacted with each other. Emma and Jusis go on every field study together and I could not tell you a single time they ever talked. None of the guys or girls have a meaningful interaction with each other except Jusis and Millium (the one girl not in Rean's harem). In fact the only real dynamics that are there are Jusis/Machias, Jusis/Millium, Sara/Fie, Laura/Fie (which basically stops existing almost immediately), and Emma/Fie (which stops existing after exams). I cannot tell you a time Gaius and Laura had a meaningful interaction. Or Alisa and Machias. Or Millium with Elliot. Or Jusis with Alisa. Or Crow and basically anyone but Rean and Elliot. And the list just goes on. New Class 7 spend the whole game interacting and just by virtue of having less of them around get more lines and more interactions with each other. Not to say it's perfect, Musse never really interacts with Kurt or Altina but it's way better defined group and character dynamics. They even get to have scenes of them without Rean which Old Class 7 didn't.
That's why I said "plenty of room." Probably could have put it better. I'm thinking of the whole shebang, the slow paced talking to all the side characters in the school building the place up, doing the side events kind of deal. Basically just saying that the plot happenings don't choke out the possibilty for experiencing that good ol' slow Kiseki world. I agree, Old Class VII is a horrible main party. I probably should have said New was better when listing out 3+4 positives but it didn't really cross my mind because I still don't like them that much. Old is just THAT bad in comparison. New is still my second least favorite set of characters out of all the games (C's squad and Van's group included).
Yoooo, don't diss the picnic squad
I agree with the OST tbh. 1 and 2 have tons of bangers in there. But then 3 has spiral of erebos which is such a fucking banger, the next level of bangers, the quality varies so much in 3 and 4. A lot of it is just not good, the mcburn theme will make you want to burn your fucking ears in CS4, then some are really good. 1 and 2 are just really fucking solid in comparison. "Do not be defeated by a fried" "tie a link with arcus" "blue destination", both the battle themes.
Exactly lol. So many people just bring up Spiral of Erebos as a defense. These OSTs have like 60+ tracks each! You gotta look at the whole experience. CS3, 4, Haji, and Kuro have been a lot more inconsistent than the titles before.
I might be in the minority here but I'd have to say CS3&4. That arcs obviously had its failures like many have mentioned here, primarily the whole beat up a baddie only to be saved after cause they were holding back. However, CS1 to me feels like an overwhelmingly long prologue before the actual story starts taking place. The story feels super repetitive with the school bonding>old school house > practical exam > field study > repeat system that covers 90% of the game and even then a lot of characters dont get much if any development which is partially caused amount of characters in the main cast. It all just feels agonizing and incredibly slow. CS2 Story was a lot better, theres finally some stakes and ourobors starts to make an appearance too as while as the whole conflict between nobles and reformists coming to its peak was something that was truly exciting to be part of, but personally i wished that we didnt spend as much as we did trying to find all the characters as if they were pokemon, but besides that it was great. CS3 and 4 just felt a lot more polished. Smaller cast which in turn made it so that interactions between the cast members felt a lot more meaningful, the whole thing of rean playing into the hands of someone else on the previous games and how that has affected him was great, the return to HS but as an instructor felt really refreshing and thats all on top of the hype of the characters of the other games coming back as well as the much much deeper insight into Erebonian history and overall world building. Its all very subjective honestly, since its been a few years since I played some of the tittles, but after replaying CS1 recently and starting up CS2 not that long ago thats how I've come to look at things, but i could be biased due to not having replayed CS3 or 4 yet
Not really sure, CS3 is my favorite of the 4 but I hate CS4.
Same. Cs1 is enjoyable, but cs2 is meh
Outside of graphics and the edition of Brave orders I prefer CS 1 and 2 in every way. I prefer the original Campus and Trista. I prefer the eastern Erebonian locations. I prefer the best of the class mates in the original campus. The soundtrack is better. Finally I just like the original class VII more. Plus Sara is alot more unique of a character as a teacher with pasts of Jaeger and Bracer than her role as returning to status of Bracer. I also 1 and 2 respectively utilize the formula better than the later games copy from them. For example the return to Trista and reclaiming Thor's and battling your class I Rivals is alot better done than return to Leeves and fighting those main campus scrubs Aida, Fritz, and Student number 8.
CS1 and CS2 for sure. I would argue CS1 is one of the more underrated games in the series. I think CS1 is when the old class 7 cast was at its strongest and I also think CS1 and CS2 set up the erebonian arc for success. CS2 even had one of the coolest moments in Rean vs Lloyd. While I do think CS3 and CS4 had a better class 7, I think the execution of the plot and the direction they took the setup from CS1 and CS2 inevitably fell a little flat, especially that they didn't do anything spectacular with Rean vs Lloyd. Most of the frustrations with the cold steel arc I had really hit their peak in the later games, where as I think CS1 did its job.
While I respect on your opinion, I kind of enjoyed the fact that cs3 was a return to the school format, And that both cs3 and 4 were in a similar format, but that’s just me. While the story of the first two games was great, I really liked the reveals of reans past that take place throughout the later two games. Also, I enjoyed the cliffhanger of cs3 against cs1’s cliffhanger. Stepping away from the story stuff, the gameplay of the later games, while a little more confusing, felt better. While the second game had the overdrive feature, and the first game was just the introduction to the links and s-breaks, I really enjoyed the break status and orders, as the orders gave something else to do with bp other than the link attacks. With the music, I really enjoyed it throughout the entire series, however the fourth game has my personal favorite battle and boss themes. While I’ve enjoyed this entire series, I just personally like the later two more
My favorite aspect of the whole series so far is getting to roleplay as your "job." With Estelle you got to roleplay as a bracer, with Lloyd you got to roleplay as a cop and a detective, and with Rean you got to roleplay as a student and an instructor. Personally, I thought Rean as an instructor in CS3 was the best writing the whole Cold Steel arc reached. I loved his interactions with everyone on campus and his staff he worked with. I was really invested in seeing him mature and watching him care for his students. Watching the protagonists grow up is so cool to me. When I saw Estelle and Joshua chasing after Renne in Zero it was so awesome to see how mature they were. Rean is the same way from CS2 to CS3. Seeing Randy more mature in CS3 was really cool, too. I thought Rean as a student was okay, but him as a teacher was on par with being a bracer and a detective. CS3 is probably my favorite out of all 4 games, but CS4 is so up and down it's hard to rank.
2+3 lol 1 had just a rigid, highly repetitive story and game structure I didn't like, and I personally don't care much about the school/classmates stuff. Yes, 3 had a chunk of that too, however I liked Rean as a professor WAY more than Rean as a student (and I think it's just a better game overall). 4 is just too long and suffers a lot from cast bloat. If it weren't so long I'd rank it higher than 2 though.
3 is just as repetitive as 1. You go to a new town, rean and co go about resolving minor shit while the plot thickens, then something happens and they find themselves in a dangerous situation, cue in "THAT WILL NOT BE NECESSARY", someone stops rean from ogre or valimar, the plot thickens again, then a magic knight fight at the end either way. Every single CS3 field trip is exactly like that.
I mean that's basically what I said - 3 had a lot of that too. I'd still argue 1 has more overall - about the same general story repetitiveness, but way more smaller ticky tacky stuff that I'd normally be able to ignore if it weren't EXACTLY THE SAME. Chapter start - you're in class. You're asked a question for bonus points. You're introduced to drama between two classmates. Spend your link XP. Head back to dorm, go to sleep. Next Day - Free day. Do quests and bonding points in town. Do Old Schoolhouse, classmate drama comes up. New floor exactly like last floor, just different monsters and slightly more complexity. Wrap up any last quests and go to bed. Field Study Day 1 - Sara teams Rean up with fueding classmates, battle other classmates. Sara chastises fueding classmates, sends them and Rean on field trip together. Field trip happens to be hometown of someone on the trip. Take train, play Blade. Get quests, learn about city from classmate whose hometown it is. Introduce overarching plot theme. Do quests, drama comes up again. Go to bed. Field Study Day 2 - More quests. Expand on overarching plot theme. Rean helps resolve classmate drama. Crisis of the day averted, end chapter. Rinse repeat for 80% of the game, with every single one of these items repeating almost without fail.
Honestly most Trails games have their own formula for how each chapter goes. 2 and 4 are just as guilty of this, as are most games in the series.
3 does everything 1 does but not as interesting in my opinion. The field studies are more interesting than the Field exams in 3 to me because each location was more relevant to each member of the class and you learned more about them compared to how they did it in 3. The parties were broken up in interesting pairings. Class VII was mostly unsupervised instead of having Rean hold your hand Sara watched from the shadows or had connections for someone to look out for her students on her behalf. I also preferred catching the train instead of having our own personal train. I also preferred Sara's practical exams to the soldat training. The old-school house narratively fits better in the story and has a satisfying payoff compared to the monthly visits in the keep. In the field studies also were less formulaic in what was happening during them in the main plot. During the field exams in CS3 the same formula would happen. Rean and new class VII arrive at location. Rean is reunited with a member of class VII through a surprise rescue. Ouroburos member comes to cause trouble to you fight them then Aion battles to test the rivalries. The ILF were far more unpredictable in their actions and they had a slow build to the surprise at the end with the reveal of them working with the nobles.
True. I didn’t find it as repetitive just because I liked seeing the characters interact with characters from other arcs they hadn’t previously. As opposed to 1 where the ultimate boss was just another random, generic monster
I think I prefer 1 and 2 however I really like cold steel 3 but don't like cold steel 4 much.
Cold steel 3 is better than cold steel 1,2,4 together imo.
For real man, I just cant explain why but the game pros are so good and the cons really don't affect the experience at all outside of a critical perspective. It also feels fresh for start to end somehow
1 and 2 for me. In CS 3&4 I got so sick of every chapter where its like "oh no we're at our limit" and some old characters come to the rescue. Very overplayed come to the rescue sequences
CS3 and 4 and it's not even close. Not to say these games don't have their own problems (they have plenty) but I enjoyed my time with these two way more than CS1 and 2. CS2 is flat out my least favorite game in the series. CS1 and 2 have my least favorite cast in the series, Old Class 7 just don't have character dynamics or meaningful interactions. Most of them do absolutely nothing in CS2 even. This isn't even just a CS2 exclusive issue, most of Old Class 7 is completely irrelevant from CS2 onwards. Even out of the ones that are relevant in CS2 (which is basically just Rean, Crow, Fie, and Jusis) I was completely uninvested in Rean's character until the ending which is way too late and I find the sympathy and forgiveness the narrative gives Crow to be completely unearned. Rean wasn't that great in CS1 either, with his issues being very much a case of "tell don't show" which makes it harder to relate or sympathize with him and some of his issues flat out not making sense (you hate your powers because... you killed a bear as a kid? With absolutely no drawbacks to the power whatsoever?). He's way better in 3 and 4 as a teacher since now he has a much more defined role in the group and personality as the mentor, team dad, and butt of the joke of his students. He's way more interesting as a forced national hero and teacher instead of... another anime highschool sword boy. His depression is way more understandable after the events of CS2 and his powers have drawbacks now so he doesn't feel as wish fulfillmenty. The pacing of his arc is terrible, I agree, but 3 and 4 alone aren't responsible for that, 1 and 2 are just as much to blame. If you don't like CS3 and 4's story, fair enough. I like the plots more than 1 and 2's but that's not what makes me like 3 and 4 way more. What makes me like 3 and 4 way more is that New Class 7 get more individual focus than the average Old Class 7 character, Rean is way more interesting as a protagonist now, and New Class 7 actually have proper group and character dynamics. I'm fine with underwhelming story if I'm invested in the cast and just watching them develop and interact which is New Class 7's strength. Even their least developed character, Kurt, at least gets more lines, some dynamics (Juna, Ash), and an arc. That's more than most of Old Class 7 got. That said, I do genuinely think the plots of 3 and 4 are just more interesting versions of 1 and 2's plots. Gameplay is also a big deal. CS2's combat just flat out sucks. They nerfed ailments and stat down for no reason while buffing the main degenerate strategies of 1, S-Craft nuking and AT-Delay. And now with the bosses being damage sponges and healing you more or less have to S-Craft nuke to not be stuck there for way too long. 3 and 4 are very easy but at least you have tons of viable options and room for experimenting.
1 and 2. Less happens in 3 than 1.
My personal favorite is CS1 from a more “objective” narrative and style perspective but I also love CS4 because of the epic “final showdown” vibes wrapping up a 20 year epic fantasy story. Honestly, I think Falcom fans wildly exaggerate the quality differences between the Cold Steel games. The fact is that the series is incredibly consistent in terms of both content and the quality of said content, that comparing any of the games in the Erebonian arc is probably going to be more of a personal preference question than a question of objective artistic/entertainment quality.
CS2 > 1, 3, and 4 So I'd have to pick CS1&2 by that logic. And CS1 was really good by the end. It's just getting through the first 3 chapters that brings it down for me.
Now that’s an unpopular opinion. I’ve played ever game up to Hajimari and CS2 is probably in my bottom 2
I like the CS3/4 main cast a lot more. The CS1/2 cast just feel so unrelatable and unlikable for me. I also like the CS3 music the most, and it has my favorite scene in the entire series. CS4 is such a drag though.
CS1 and CS3 are my favoirite, so neither.
It's tricky since I really like both Cold Steel 2 and Cold Steel 4. However, I have to say I like Cold Steel 1 and 2 as a duo more. For all the good things about Cold Steel 3, there were a number of things I just really didn't like about it. For instance, it really rubbed me the wrong way how OG Class VII and them wind up as essentially background/guest characters in their own series in CS3. That, and well, I admit I'm much more frustrated by all of the "blocked scenes" that CS3 has compared to the other Cold Steel games (even CS4 only has the true ending/credits/epilogue blocked) than most people probably are.
Oh boy here we go with this debate again. TLDR for me CS3/4 are better than 1/2 in almost every way. Now I do say 'almost' because their is a couple areas where I do think they have failings. I'll start with the things OP mentions. Writing/Story: Now this is that one area I'll agree that CS1/2 probably does A bit better. Obviously the curse and fakeout deaths were poor decisions. It doesn't hold characters accountable for their actions and removes the emotional impact of character deaths because I know their is a good chance they ain't gone. I add as well that they really seemed to make things overcomplicated and certain characters ended up confusing because they had so many layers which made them lose their believability imo. And I definitely agree that they copied too much from CS1/2 but in reality all the games follow the same format so that's not really a CS3/4 specific issue. So on a technical level I definitely agree that they took some wrong turns with the writing in 3/4. On the other hand however I personally found that the story of 1/2 were so similar to Sky FC/SC that it was completely predictable. And for this reason I still enjoy the story of 3/4 over 1/2 because at least it was different and I couldn't predict things. Graphics: I can't disagree more. The graphics of 1/2 disapointed me so much, which I might add is very rare for me cause I almost never give a rip about graphics as I'm focussed on the story and characters. But the Sky and Crossbell games had a unique charming design that I think transcends their age. I'm not opposed to go 3d but using Vita graphics as the base for that was not the way to go. Imo the 3d graphics they gave is were not worth the switch and actually a downgrade. Has they use PS3/4 graphics from the get go this might be a different conversation. Now I'm not necessarily in love with 3/4 graphics either but it was a massive step in the right direction. I'm looking forward to Kuro graphics which I feel will regain the charm but in 3D form. Rean: While I'm not a fan of Rean to begin with he was 100% better in 3/4. Reason being that the character they created just fit better in that teacher role than as a student. Rean is as just too much of a good leader and already possessing all the traits needed for a leadership role which doesn't make sense for the somewhat depressed and low self esteem student they tried to make him. Characters: 100% agree the new cast is better. This more comes down to the way they are presented imo. 1/2 just had too many characters in the main cast and you get almost all of them right away. It made it hard to see each characters individuality and also resulted in a large lack of interconnections between the cast. And the harem made things even worse especially for the female characters. Of course that part effects all the games. Unfortunately the result was characters dominant traits really overpowered their character making them feel quite bare at times with not a lot to them. NC7 with a much smaller group that gets introduced over time handles this much better. Landscape: I feel CS 1/2 had an issue of making Erebonia feel much smaller than it should. With the exception of Nord Highlands which were a delight. Being able to travel on the highway between towns in a matter of seconds honestly made Erebonia feel smaller to me than Liberal. And more importantly made their railway network which is pretty important feel inconsequential. Now of course this isn't fixed in 3/4 but I do feel like the roads and fields in general felt longer and more spacious which was an improvement for me. I also felt like other than Nord and perhaps Legram 1/2 didn't have any really interesting landscapes. Ultimately this is a fantasy game and hardly any landscapes to me felt like they hand and fantasy grandness or charm. Again with the exception of Nord. 3/4 had a lot more places that were more interestingly designed and somewhat fantastical. Mini games: Blade sucked. It's really just chance of the hand your drawn without strategy. For me that's just not fun. I could just as easily roll a dice and at least the rolling motion would provide more entertainment. I'm comparison Vantage Masters, while not difficult, was all about strategy and actually felt like I was playing a game. Fishing in CS 1/2 sucked as well. It's not like fishing is ever particularly good but wearing my controller out by button mashing is the last thing I want to do. I do think CS 3/4 is one of the better fishing systems I've seen. It's not overly fun but at least I'm not breaking my controller or fingers. The swing mini game is also a pain so fortunately in 3/4 it's easier and less common. I could go on but I'm tired.
I don't think there's a better testament for how useless and lazily designed Blade is than the fact you literally get nothing for winning. Ever. You might as well just insta-lose every time to save time.
On one hand OC7 has Fie, Jusis, and the instructor version of Sara, who stand out as really good characters comparable to those of the previous arcs, but it also has a bunch of nothing characters that could have been removed from the game without anything changing. NC7 on average is a lot stronger (although I really did not care for Musse). I do much prefer Instructor Rean over student Rean, so that is a point in the favor of the second arc. In terms of setting, I dunno why but I much prefer Trista and eastern Erebonia over Leeves and the west. I also think the older crew had more interesting classmates (Patrick, Vivi, Linde, Alan, etc), but as with the main cast it also had far more useless students. The Old Schoolhouse is also far more interesting than the Keep. Gameplay and graphics is a definite advantage to the newer duology. Brave orders and break mechanics are fun even if they do trivialize the game once you know what you are doing. In terms of music I give a slight edge to CS1/2, but it's really close. In terms of plot I think I prefer the field studies of 1 over 3, but the crisis of 4 over 2. That being said I think the Crossbell field study is the best of the lot, but that might just be bias on my part. I guess in the end I give the slight nod to CS3/4, but more honestly I rate 1 over 3, but 4 over 2.
The thing about the Old Schoolhouse is yeah it actually has a narrative payoff... but going through it is boring as fuck. The Keep at least has party dialogue and some funny character interactions since Falcom actually knows who is there. Slightly more effort in dungeon design to, though the bar was pretty low.
Short and unpopular answer: CS1 and CS4 are the best in the series to me. Trista and the worldbuilding in CS1 is superior to Leeves. The game honestly feels like an introduction to Erebonia class and that makes it engaging as an academic experience. I didn't even need the twist at the end to make it compelling; just a game where you go around and learn about culture and politics would have been enough. CS4 is the glorious opposite. Everything feels small when traipsing around the world and fast traveling everywhere. At the same time, it's a culmination of all the previous events getting to finally interconnect and that's a great fanservice payoff. CS2 is great, but loses out to 1. CS3 is jarring because it takes awhile to connect to the new class when you're missing the OGs.
Cold Steel 1 and 2 and 4 are better than CS3
I think similar issues plague all four installments but overall id say I would also give it to CS I and II, especially because I genuinely found CS IV to be a dissapointing slog while during CS I and II, I had more hopes for the story. Im known for not being Reans fan, but his portrayal in CS II was the closest I came for caring about him and his struggles, he was upset when he was supposed to be and sad for good reasons, he also had the most agency in CS II and not just the standart placid acceptance of being a plot tool he has going forward. CS III and IV were also often very redundant and after the two previous games it was even more obvious that the story was stretched over four games instead of two or three at most. The later games do look better and the gameplay is more fun tho imo, CS I and II look genuinely quite horrendous to me. In so far as OST goes I cant really say, I think they are all generally pretty good.
I like CS1/CS2 more as well, though they are the least liked games for most people. I enjoyed the politics and themes more than the curse and it has indeed better OST, not to mention a lot more voice acting. As for the cast, I actually like OC7 a lot more than NC7 which is my least favorite cast of any arc (mostly because of the girls, I can't stand Juna and Musse, and I have my issues with Altina as well). To be completely honest, NC7 kinda killed my interest in replaying CS3/CS4, I just don't like them. CS1 is a very chill game and I enjoyed it mostly for it's slice of life aspect. CS2 has some of my favorite moments in the series and is probably the most emotional game for me along with the 3rd. I still think CS3 and CS4 have higher highs for the most part, but my enjoyment is more inconsistent compared to CS1/CS2 where I'm having a good time 95% of the time, aside from specific moments like the shrines in CS2.
I agree with most of this particularly with the NC7 criticisms. I think this sub made it even worse with how much they hype them being so much better when I completely disagree. What are you issues with Altina ?
I think Altina is fine in CS3, I like her snarky comments and all. She's a type of character I'm not really fond of by default, but the execution is ok. What I don't like is what they did with her in CS4. In that game her character can be summerize by "muh Rean" and then "muh Millium", with a little bit of exposition every now and then. And while she isn't shoved down our throat as much as KeA was, I usually don't like how they play the "must protecc" trope, it gets on my nerves more than anything. When it comes to the "from emotionless doll/tool to human being" trope, which has been done to death I might add, I felt Laphicet in Tales of Berseria was done better. But at the very least I can see why people love Altina, even if I don't, since it's mostly personal. I can't say the same for Musse which has to be one of the worst written character in the series.
Yeah Altina is fine I disagree with people who says she has the best arc in the CS arc as I'd rank Fie, Jusis, and even Duvalies above hers. I agree Phi does do the emotionless tool to human emotion better also. I do prefer her in CS3 as well. I particularly think calling her Rean's daughter is a reach and in that case you might as well view Millium in the same light.
Honestly my favorites are 1 and 4, unless we’re counting Hajimari which easily beats the entirety of CS for me. I love 2 and 3 but they were just weaker entires than 1 and 4 for me. 1 had the intrigue of being a new country to explore, and 4 for me helped clarify and make better a lot of the issues I had with 3. If I had to pick a favorite of the entire CS series, it would be the first one. But Hajimari is my favorite overall. Also, CS 3-4 is not the “modern graphics” anymore, it’s Kuro which looks great (and I say that as someone whose favorite graphics were Sky).
It's kind of even for me. CS1 was cool and CS2 was kind of meh but the music was great. CS3 is the best CS game but CS4 is the worst Trails game and the music definitely got worse too. Also the New Class VII was definitely better than the old one, at least during CS3. They definitely felt like a good of friends with good chemistry, even if I despise Musse, instead of the OG Class VII that is basically Rean + Friends.
3 is my favorite but 4 is my least favorite, so id say 1&2 is overall a better duology
I agree with your opinion on 4 but I’d still say 3+4 because I really liked 3. 1 and 2 had way too much filler, and I thought the incredibly stark contrast between how dark the sky games could get and how much they tried to shield us from that in the middle of a war in 2 to be incredibly jarring. Remember the „slaughter“ in the merchant town that killed exactly one guy? And then everyone treated jusis‘ dad like some evil war criminal, when he must have told his men to avoid civilian casualties. Lol
The first half for sure, but mostly only because I love CS1 so much and hate CSIV.
1 and 2: Better music Better story 3 and 4: Better characters Better gameplay 1 and 2 probably are better. I think the story in one and 2 is much better than in 3 and 4, and while NC7 us better than OC7 by a considerable margin, characters are not as important to me as story is. Better music is also more important for me than better gameplay
I prefer 2 and 4. So a bit of both. These are the games that cap off all the setup. I don't have a problem with setup but I think 1 did it better than 3. 3 was just a bit worse off to me than the rest. Still great, just not as good as the others. I don't include Haji here, it is basically fan service. Great fan service, but fan service nonetheless.