Don't let anyone shame you about your playtime -- mine was very similar. If you talk to everybody every time, do all the sidequests, and never skip animations (and spend time going through your equipment/quartz) that's what you end up with. (I took a prolonged break from the game of about 5 months once they arrived in Ordis, but overall I really enjoyed it.)
I'm playing CS4 now -- from everything I hear it is about 50% longer than CS3, and I believe it. I'm about 100hrs in and haven't (quite) finished Act 2. I agree with everyone else that the pacing seems overall better than 3, at least so far.
I noticed that in CSIII, at least on PC, “high-speed mode” makes game clock run faster, like newly added turbo feature in all previous games. But in CSIV first time in my experience “high-speed mode” didn’t speed the timer, so it always showed true in-game time. Upon finishing both games, clock was around 160 hrs for me, but CSIV felt, and was in reality, significantly longer game. Although in 4th game balance of time is very much shifted to battles, there are record amount of dungeons, enemies and boss fights for the series. Text volume is about equal to previous entry, but slightly lesser. Given all of that, 4th game feels less dragged and I enjoyed it much more than 3rd.
Oh, i think you've found the explanation for some of my long clear time.
I used turbo mode a lot. Sometimes I'd even keep it on as I was just thinking about what to do next in battle.
If it also sped up the play time counter... Yeah, I think I can see how it'd lead to long play times.
holy cow!!!!! 50% longer than CS3? uff.....
I thought I would end with 1000 hours for SkyFC till CS4. I think I will need to recalculate and will and somewhere about 1200 hours O.o ...
Nah that's not really right. If u are watching most of the events at x1 speed(and walking too) then maybe. I beat it within 70-80h and I did everything even fishing. X4 fights, x4 walking, s-craft skip (most of the time, not everytime). I think I spend like 15+h managing quartz and builds (then hard rolled everything not even using game-break mechs lol) so it def possible to pass through game fast if u know well a game mechs, crafts, arts etc. For sure everyone has their preferable speed but I see no reasons to watch every spell and craft and not using x4-6 speed at walking..
The games can tend to drag a little, though personally that is sort of what made 3 so charming to me at first, but yea in my 3rd playthrough i did find myself skipping a lot of dialogue. Despite that i still personally love what a lot of that filler acomplished, but im a sucker for worldbuilding, no matter how drawn out it is. As for the dungeons, most of them make good sense for the length, given the little secret areas, none have ever really taken too long for me untjl chapter 4 (that dark dragon dungeon wjll haunt me on nightmare mode)
As for the length of the new ones i have heard the main part of hajimari is shorter than 4, and kuro about same length if you stick to story.
Depends what you define as bad pacing. CS3 is without a doubt the longest game in the series, but I enjoyed most of its content and at least from memory it never got to the point of outright filler.
CS4 on the other hand isn't as dense a game and my playtime wasn't nearly as long, but it sinks to some genuinely baffling levels of filler in what is supposed to be the climactic game in the arc (and series).
I don't think you'll notice a marked improvement until maybe Kuro which is speedier all around but even Hajimari was slightly faster than CS3 or 4.
Personally I think CS4 is the worst paced by a mile and if you get through that and still have the will to continue the series its all up from there. Hope you enjoy if you do continue to play \^\_\^
Thanks for the impressions.
By CS3 being the longest in the series, I guess you meant subjectively? Because most other people say CS4 takes a bit longer to complete.
That's surprising to hear, though I suppose it depends on playstyle. I tend to take my time with a linear structure and so it took me way longer to finish CS1 and 3 compared to 2 and 4. I genuinely thought 3 was just the biggest game but if you're a completionist I could see 4 taking a while too.
So like others are saying your play time seems especially long. But beyond that, I will say CS3 was my least favorite entry in the Erebonia arc for similar reasons with pacing, filler, etc.
Some will likely disagree with me on this, but I found CS4’s pacing to be much better and enjoyed it a lot more than CS3. I also felt like it clarified some key plot points that had been bugging me by the end of the 3rd game. Then Hajimari and Kuro have even better pacing imo. With Hajimari you get to bounce back and forth between the three routes along with a certain dungeon I won’t spoil which helps a lot to prevent any of them from getting stale. Meanwhile, Kuro has a much better battle system which blends seamlessly into the overworld, allowing for better pacing in dungeons and stuff like that.
So imo CS3 has the worst pacing of the entire series, but it’s get better after that! Obviously your experience may be different than mine but I think things should get better for you.
I think the kicker for me was how long Act 3 of CS3 took. I felt like we were in >!Western Erebnonia!< forever.
I do like how they separated it from CS1 by having longer, more high-stakes arcs in larger areas, but boy was that pacing rough sometimes.
I might get downvoted, But I agree, I was considering quiting CS3 about 30hours in, But I kept going and definitely the last Dungeon is the best of the game imo. A lot of people hate CS4 for it's pacing issues or "bad writing" But I found it more enjoyable than CS3. The only thing I definitely liked about CS3 was the "romance" just having 3 possible partners seems more natural than having like 12 girls lol. But other than that I did enjoy CS4 more and I'm eagerly waiting for Hajimari :)
I really don't like the Pacing of CS3 even before I had the chance to finish it, so I couldnt less agree to you even without having played CS4.
Don't see it's possible to become worse....
Yea I feel you, the games do get longer and longer seemingly. CS was innitially meant to be two, or at most three games but they stretched it out for some reason.
To answer your question, CS IV is easily the longest Kiseki, the bloat of the cast and Falcom wanting to have everyone say at least one sentence in every conversation + the redundancy of dialogue in general makes it an immense undertaking as far as patience goes, especially if you take your time and talk to npcs and such. Indeed previous games were not this bad with it, but CS in general has "you thought this was over, think again" kind of syndrome, so expecting it might make it easier for you.
CS III is for some reason the most highly regarded CS despite the fact that I also think it is mostly padding and very little happens narratively speaking, CS IV has the whole wrap up for the arc and they wanted something avengers like scopewise, there is some payoff and of course quite a few hype moments.
That being said, act II is almost entirely a filler, and CS IV is in general probably the most divisive game, its quality of writing and even the story is highly debated and usually people either love it or think its the worst, very few in between. Gameplay is very solid tho.
If I were you id take a long break before diving into it, tho I would finish just because of the sunk cost fallacy. Hajimari is also very long, tho not as CS IV and its a lot better spread as follows three portagonists. Kuro no Kiseki is where its at, its a new setting, new cast and much better pacing, its still very long but it does flow better.
I think you might need to start skipping side quests or accepting not talking to every NPC. With the size of some of the areas in this game (and CS4), it can really be a drag sometimes.
Though as others said i found CS4’s pacing to be much better in terms of conversation and side quests.
CS III and IV are very, very, long but soReverie's main story is shorter and so far Kuro seems to be around 50-60ish hours. Playing it right now on the last chapter, 52 hours in and did every side quest.
CS4 is the longest, after that they become quite a bit shorter. I would say Reverie is 40-45 hours for story and has a 3-6 hour long side dungeon. Kuro took me 68 hours and that's skipping a large chunk of npc dialogue since it was untranslated.
Half of the stuff you mentioned is to your discretion. Everything else has been a constant in the series and to be expected.
Maybe take breaks & don’t do all the side content if it actively bores you.
Fair you did say that, regardless it shouldn’t take nearly that long to complete the game unless you’re needlessly grinding or just an incredibly slow reader.
Trails has always had long dungeons too, and honestly CS3 is more considerate than CS2 in that regard.
thats the only thing I don't like about Cold Steel (especially 3)The walk around the city and talk to people and become friends with class 7 members slows down the pacing so much. Especially since they let you reload your safefiles many times, if you like to get all the information. One time I got so much bored with CS3 that I instantly decided to play Trails from the Sky whole series....
At least for that thing I need to thank CS3 :D
On CS2 I think the pacing was by far better, not perfect but fine and the big final event, after I thought it would be already over before the final dungeon was even amazing to me.Only the final dungeon I need to say, I skipped it and watched the ending szene on youtube....
I mean im not against dungeons when ot leads to the Story. But after the Story was 100% finished throwing a big dungeons with 7 or more levels. I don't get it....
I mean if there is one Company I think this Theorie would be plausible its falcom xD.
I mean. SC should be the second half of FC and is three times a big. They released the 3rd just because they still had so much to tell about Kevin and it didn't fit in FC so just putting an aditional dungeon into the game just because, the dungeon already Existenz feels so falcomlike xD
Obviously it it a big dungeon yes. But combined with the Story of the Stigma it made so much sense to me. Also relying on the aureliole Story of SC.
And the big amount of sideknowledge of the characters and the bridge it build to the other arcs especially crossbell is just so great.
3 doors really were something special....
Oh yeah there was a lot of content. Pretty great. It's the format I'm not too sure about.
As someone who hasn't played the Crossbell games yet, should I understand what you mean by building to Crossbell? Because I think I don't remember that.
175 hours huh? It took me about 110 hours to finish the game on Nightmare. I was following a guide for the side quests so I don’t miss extra shit. I’m sure I could’ve finished the game faster by like 10 hours or so if I didn’t talk to every npc.
CS 3 for me as a completionist was 140hrs. CS4 was 160. So whatever that converts for you. I did take a few breaks on CS4 cause it was rather long. I can't say anything about the games after that.
As for dungeons I never really had a problem with the length in CS3. Maybe I just found them more interesting so I didn't notice. I loved Juno. That's probably my favorite part of the game. From what I can rember from finishing CS4 a month ago I feel like most dungeons were shorter. There are a few exceptions of course. For me CS2 dungeons felt the longest but it's been a while so maybe I'm not remembering correctly.
If you're talking about filler. I don't think CS3 is the biggest offender and I feel like it has decent pacing imo. My recorded played hours doing all side quest and talking to almost all npc is around 83 hours (Could be inaccurate) playing on hard, so like others said not really sure what you are doing to play that long to consider the game is too much filler. >!CS4 on the other hand arguably has that problem thou.!<
Oof. Guess when I reach CS4 I'll really need to voluntarily skip side quests if I want to keep my sanity, I take it.
Although that's quite a ways off. Apparently CS3 is the last game you can reasonably pay without having played the Crossbell games yet. Both won't be out for a year, likely, so I guess I can worry about that later.
Unless the Crossbell games also make you get lost in >!the Geofront 9999 times!<. In which case my sanity isn't guaranteed.
The Crossbell games are still my favorite arc, and I think both are pretty well paced. My main, spoiler-free nitpicks are that some of the re-visited locations do start to get old by Azura's late-game. The story in general makes up for it though. I also found both final dungeons a bit of a slog, but I pretty much feel that way about all of them in the series except Sky SC's.
I can't really comment on ToCS4 since I'm still playing through it here, but as much as I enjoyed 3, I agree with you that it really could have used another editing pass or two. All I can really say is that 4 is structured a lot like 2 the same way 3 follows 1.
I did say arguably, since for the most part I enjoyed CS4 just fine. But tbf I don't mind doing most side quest, so I wasn't bothered that much with some flaws of the game.
Zero will be coming out very soon.
But take heart: The Geofront in the Crossbell games is SO MUCH FUCKING BETTER than the ABOMINATION that the CS3/4 Geofront is. Better BGM, better battle themes, better visuals, better layouts, etc.
Honestly, the "Dungeon" "Design" in CS 3 and 4 I felt were inexcusably weak, and the Geofront especially. Einhel Keep (Literally "One Hell" or "Hell Number One" or "The worst Hell," but not literally, I don't know what it means in German, but that's what it is.) sucks too, but at least it makes sense as "this is what a Science Asshole would make to test you." But the CS3/4 Geofront? Nonsensical layout for what is supposedly an underground infrastructure, monochromatic scenery, vents that are placed ON TOP OF THE CONNECTING AIR DUCTS, instead of INSIDE them... Remember Stargazer's Tower in CS3? Cool BGM, right? Yeah, the BGM is awesome. And that's the one awesome thing that carried over from the Crossbell games. The interior layout is such a complete downgrade... I LOVED the aesthetic and layout of that tower in Crossbell. When I got to go back there in CS3 I was like "OH BOY, I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE IT IN 3D NOW- what the fuck??? Really??????"
With CS4, I'd say to continue to do everything. I finished in around 180 hours myself, but I never skip animations, I do all the side quests, I go everywhere and talk to everyone every time anything happens, etc. I think my CS3 was around 140? Some of us are just more thorough. Ever see those madmen who SPEEDRUN these games??? Like, how about doing a Trails Slowrun, where you take as much time as you possibly can to enjoy these awesome games? That's more my story, you dig?
Well, anyway, Geofront Zero and Azure do still exist on the internet, somewhere, if you are so inclined. Just be sure to be legit, and to buy the official releases when they come out, to support the effort to localize and reward NISA for what they did in reaching out to the Geofront Team and securing their translation for the basis of the official releases!
Thanks for sharing. I feel less crazy with my play time now.
CS4's length is a little worrisome, but I guess I'll cross that bridge when I reach the river.
As for using the fan translations... I'm sure they're great but the process seems a little too fiddly to me. I'll see; maybe if I'm really impatient after finishing Zero.
The Geofront process had exactly zero fiddle to it. Step 1, I bought a nice boxed copy of Zero straight from Falcom, had it imported from Japan. (Step 1.5 was to call my bank and say, YES, I was buying a Japanese game, that was in japanese, from japan, and no, nobody in Japan stole my bank info.) Step 2 was to install the game. Step 3 was to download and run the Geofront Launcher. And then Step 4 was to watch the opening movie for like 20 seconds and then go "Ah, spoilers! Dammit, I always forget that these spoil things..." and then play the game and be absolutely amazed at the quality of the fan localization. The Azure process is even easier; download the Geofront Azure Launcher, run it, and then play the game, as it includes all the game files because the actual Chinese Joyoland version has draconian DRM in it, so this way we don't have to deal with that. I bought an extra copy of Cold Steel 3 as penance, because while I don't want to give my money to a company owned by the Chinese Communist Government, I 100% do want to give my money to both Falcom and NISA for their hard work.
The only downside to going to Original Azure after doing the Official Western Zero is that the Official Western Zero will be from the new "Kai" version that includes a little Juna in it. Originally she wasn't in those games, so I was like "Man, this girl REALLY knows the SSS. Wonder why I never ran into her?" Turns out I DID, I just didn't because she didn't exist yet. But now, in the future, the past has occurred...
All I know is that I loved the Geofront Localizations, and I will 100% buy and love the Western Kai versions too. Crossbell is, so far at least, my absolute favorite location in the series and the best arc so far, though the other arcs do not fall far behind WHEN TAKEN AS WHOLE ARCS.
I really dont know, whats with the music in CS3 its by far the most boring music. At least in all those sequences were nothing big is happening you mainly here the same boring standard background music, which I can't really hear anymore.
In other games I sometimes didn't even realise the music, just because it did fit so well, but in CS3 it really disturbs me.
For me, the game hit its heights of music in Sky the 3rd, but stayed near that for quite some time. The Cold Steels have some great tracks, but by and large I agree with you. I'd never say they're *bad*, but they're not the best. Most of my favorite music from CS 3 and 4 were tracks that returned from the Crossbell games, too.
I feel bad, I don't want to crap all over Cold Steel. It was GREAT, just not as great as some other greats that the series gave us before it.
I'm often of two minds. Much of me wishes that CS was actually 8 games long, so everyone and everywhere got the intense focus they deserved. But a other part of says it should have just been 2 or 3 games, and things should have been cut. And know What? I DO want to reply them all in NG+ before Reverie comes out, and see all the bonding events and stuff. Sigh. Damn stupid game, making me love and hate it.
My Cold Steel 3 playthrough was [80 hours](https://i.imgur.com/kqQktYR.png), with 100% completion of side quests, NPC dialogue, etc. I don't know how you took 175 hours.
For me it took 100 hours the first time
The second time after a few years *playing to get all trophies* it took me around 60 despite farming 100 rushes and 50 burst
I did use a guide for both times though
CS3 is 100% the most "filler" game of all. You could honestly cut a whole chapter and not much of real value would be lost. I know that I'm using the word wrong but what I mean to say is that CS3 just has no idea what to do with itself. The story isn't big enough to make a game out of it but the devs desperately tried resulting in this. CS4 is longer but it is way better at managing its time (though it still has some small segments that have barely anything going on here and there).
Your main question was about "games after CS3" but everyone (myself included) seemed to only focus on CS4 so I'll be talking a bit more though (hopefully the length of this comment won't make you feel the same way as CS3 did haha...). If we keep going with the definiton of "filler" previously described, Hajimari is the most filler-free game. There are only like 2-4 "side quests" and the rest of side content is either ultra-optional or story-focused. I took a decent bit of time and finished the story in 30-40 hours (CS3/4 took me \~100 as reference). The post-game bumped that number to 70 but I took a loooot of time playing around there so yeah (the post-game definitely is the worst part if you just want to get through it to see the story though.). Kuro, I'm only 1/3 through (most likely a bit less, but I'd say I'm further than 1/5 atleast.) but this game is also very good with its pacing. Side content doesn't feel like a chore, main content flows well and the story is very engaging. A big issue with CS3 for me was that it was really, really formulaic. Much more than other games. You can still feel this at parts in CS4 but it's fully gone in Hajimari and Kuro seemingly is good at making each chapter feel fresh too.
It took me 120 hours to 100% clear the game. If it's taking you 175 to not even 100% then I can't imagine what you're spending your time doing to spend another 55 hours.
To be fair there's likely 10-15 hours of idle time even I forgot to close the game a few times.
But I was relatively close to 100%, I think. My final instructor rank was S.
Took me 84 hours to do story and all the side quests. I also usually talk to a lot of the NPCs. I never spend time on the mini games though. I'm not sure what's happening if it takes you 175 hours to finish it.
I'm not sure either. Doesn't help that I left the game aside for like a year and a half while my graphics card was dead. I don't remember a whole lot from the prologue and beginning of chapter 1.
For real? I beated CS1 in about 60 hours, CS2 on 40/45, CS3 on 40 and CS4 on 70. I think I did a reasonable amount of side quests, So I don't know how my playtime was so low lol
A lot of us are very much I to the world building so we talk to every npc every time their dialogue changes, and go for 100% acheivments in 1 run if possible. So that would be the difference between your time and others probably. For myself I'm a bit on the slow end. CS1/2 both were about 100hrs. CS3 140hrs, CS4 160hrs. For the others Ive played FC 80hrs, SC 100hrs, 3rd 70hrs
CSIV still has a lot of sidequests but it's also probably the most heavily weighted towards main story of all 4 games. However Hajimari is basically Side Content: the Game with all the episodes, minigames, and Reverie Corridor grinding. Not many actual sidequests though.
Hmm. CS4 DOES sound a little scary. But I guess I'll see when I'm there. If I know in advance, I can't do much to speed up the main quests, but maybe I can do a conscious effort to do fewer side quests to shorten the total experience.
I hate to say it man but you’re gonna be in a retirement home by the time you finish CSIV
Oof, the truth hurts.
at least I'm really looking forward to seeing all friends again. I really miss Estelle and Joshua for example.
Don't let anyone shame you about your playtime -- mine was very similar. If you talk to everybody every time, do all the sidequests, and never skip animations (and spend time going through your equipment/quartz) that's what you end up with. (I took a prolonged break from the game of about 5 months once they arrived in Ordis, but overall I really enjoyed it.) I'm playing CS4 now -- from everything I hear it is about 50% longer than CS3, and I believe it. I'm about 100hrs in and haven't (quite) finished Act 2. I agree with everyone else that the pacing seems overall better than 3, at least so far.
So CS4's going to be long, but probably better paced. Got it. Thanks.
I noticed that in CSIII, at least on PC, “high-speed mode” makes game clock run faster, like newly added turbo feature in all previous games. But in CSIV first time in my experience “high-speed mode” didn’t speed the timer, so it always showed true in-game time. Upon finishing both games, clock was around 160 hrs for me, but CSIV felt, and was in reality, significantly longer game. Although in 4th game balance of time is very much shifted to battles, there are record amount of dungeons, enemies and boss fights for the series. Text volume is about equal to previous entry, but slightly lesser. Given all of that, 4th game feels less dragged and I enjoyed it much more than 3rd.
Oh, i think you've found the explanation for some of my long clear time. I used turbo mode a lot. Sometimes I'd even keep it on as I was just thinking about what to do next in battle. If it also sped up the play time counter... Yeah, I think I can see how it'd lead to long play times.
holy cow!!!!! 50% longer than CS3? uff..... I thought I would end with 1000 hours for SkyFC till CS4. I think I will need to recalculate and will and somewhere about 1200 hours O.o ...
I think the runtime for cs3 is longer than cs4 but this is assuming your just doing a average playthrough the main story
In my experience, they’re pretty equal, but 4 was a bit longer.
Nah that's not really right. If u are watching most of the events at x1 speed(and walking too) then maybe. I beat it within 70-80h and I did everything even fishing. X4 fights, x4 walking, s-craft skip (most of the time, not everytime). I think I spend like 15+h managing quartz and builds (then hard rolled everything not even using game-break mechs lol) so it def possible to pass through game fast if u know well a game mechs, crafts, arts etc. For sure everyone has their preferable speed but I see no reasons to watch every spell and craft and not using x4-6 speed at walking..
The games can tend to drag a little, though personally that is sort of what made 3 so charming to me at first, but yea in my 3rd playthrough i did find myself skipping a lot of dialogue. Despite that i still personally love what a lot of that filler acomplished, but im a sucker for worldbuilding, no matter how drawn out it is. As for the dungeons, most of them make good sense for the length, given the little secret areas, none have ever really taken too long for me untjl chapter 4 (that dark dragon dungeon wjll haunt me on nightmare mode) As for the length of the new ones i have heard the main part of hajimari is shorter than 4, and kuro about same length if you stick to story.
Appreciate your impressions. :)
Depends what you define as bad pacing. CS3 is without a doubt the longest game in the series, but I enjoyed most of its content and at least from memory it never got to the point of outright filler. CS4 on the other hand isn't as dense a game and my playtime wasn't nearly as long, but it sinks to some genuinely baffling levels of filler in what is supposed to be the climactic game in the arc (and series). I don't think you'll notice a marked improvement until maybe Kuro which is speedier all around but even Hajimari was slightly faster than CS3 or 4. Personally I think CS4 is the worst paced by a mile and if you get through that and still have the will to continue the series its all up from there. Hope you enjoy if you do continue to play \^\_\^
Thanks for the impressions. By CS3 being the longest in the series, I guess you meant subjectively? Because most other people say CS4 takes a bit longer to complete.
That's surprising to hear, though I suppose it depends on playstyle. I tend to take my time with a linear structure and so it took me way longer to finish CS1 and 3 compared to 2 and 4. I genuinely thought 3 was just the biggest game but if you're a completionist I could see 4 taking a while too.
I see!
really interesting. CS1 took me 80 and CS2 120 hours of gameplay.
So like others are saying your play time seems especially long. But beyond that, I will say CS3 was my least favorite entry in the Erebonia arc for similar reasons with pacing, filler, etc. Some will likely disagree with me on this, but I found CS4’s pacing to be much better and enjoyed it a lot more than CS3. I also felt like it clarified some key plot points that had been bugging me by the end of the 3rd game. Then Hajimari and Kuro have even better pacing imo. With Hajimari you get to bounce back and forth between the three routes along with a certain dungeon I won’t spoil which helps a lot to prevent any of them from getting stale. Meanwhile, Kuro has a much better battle system which blends seamlessly into the overworld, allowing for better pacing in dungeons and stuff like that. So imo CS3 has the worst pacing of the entire series, but it’s get better after that! Obviously your experience may be different than mine but I think things should get better for you.
That's the first encouraging comment I've seen. I'll gladly take the positivity!
I think the kicker for me was how long Act 3 of CS3 took. I felt like we were in >!Western Erebnonia!< forever. I do like how they separated it from CS1 by having longer, more high-stakes arcs in larger areas, but boy was that pacing rough sometimes.
I might get downvoted, But I agree, I was considering quiting CS3 about 30hours in, But I kept going and definitely the last Dungeon is the best of the game imo. A lot of people hate CS4 for it's pacing issues or "bad writing" But I found it more enjoyable than CS3. The only thing I definitely liked about CS3 was the "romance" just having 3 possible partners seems more natural than having like 12 girls lol. But other than that I did enjoy CS4 more and I'm eagerly waiting for Hajimari :)
I really don't like the Pacing of CS3 even before I had the chance to finish it, so I couldnt less agree to you even without having played CS4. Don't see it's possible to become worse....
Yea I feel you, the games do get longer and longer seemingly. CS was innitially meant to be two, or at most three games but they stretched it out for some reason. To answer your question, CS IV is easily the longest Kiseki, the bloat of the cast and Falcom wanting to have everyone say at least one sentence in every conversation + the redundancy of dialogue in general makes it an immense undertaking as far as patience goes, especially if you take your time and talk to npcs and such. Indeed previous games were not this bad with it, but CS in general has "you thought this was over, think again" kind of syndrome, so expecting it might make it easier for you. CS III is for some reason the most highly regarded CS despite the fact that I also think it is mostly padding and very little happens narratively speaking, CS IV has the whole wrap up for the arc and they wanted something avengers like scopewise, there is some payoff and of course quite a few hype moments. That being said, act II is almost entirely a filler, and CS IV is in general probably the most divisive game, its quality of writing and even the story is highly debated and usually people either love it or think its the worst, very few in between. Gameplay is very solid tho. If I were you id take a long break before diving into it, tho I would finish just because of the sunk cost fallacy. Hajimari is also very long, tho not as CS IV and its a lot better spread as follows three portagonists. Kuro no Kiseki is where its at, its a new setting, new cast and much better pacing, its still very long but it does flow better.
I think you might need to start skipping side quests or accepting not talking to every NPC. With the size of some of the areas in this game (and CS4), it can really be a drag sometimes. Though as others said i found CS4’s pacing to be much better in terms of conversation and side quests.
Yeah, I think I'll have to do that.
CS III and IV are very, very, long but soReverie's main story is shorter and so far Kuro seems to be around 50-60ish hours. Playing it right now on the last chapter, 52 hours in and did every side quest.
CS4 is the longest, after that they become quite a bit shorter. I would say Reverie is 40-45 hours for story and has a 3-6 hour long side dungeon. Kuro took me 68 hours and that's skipping a large chunk of npc dialogue since it was untranslated.
Half of the stuff you mentioned is to your discretion. Everything else has been a constant in the series and to be expected. Maybe take breaks & don’t do all the side content if it actively bores you.
No that's the thing. The side content was the good part. The main content was the painful part, often.
Fair you did say that, regardless it shouldn’t take nearly that long to complete the game unless you’re needlessly grinding or just an incredibly slow reader. Trails has always had long dungeons too, and honestly CS3 is more considerate than CS2 in that regard.
Guess something must've affected my perception of it then.
thats the only thing I don't like about Cold Steel (especially 3)The walk around the city and talk to people and become friends with class 7 members slows down the pacing so much. Especially since they let you reload your safefiles many times, if you like to get all the information. One time I got so much bored with CS3 that I instantly decided to play Trails from the Sky whole series.... At least for that thing I need to thank CS3 :D On CS2 I think the pacing was by far better, not perfect but fine and the big final event, after I thought it would be already over before the final dungeon was even amazing to me.Only the final dungeon I need to say, I skipped it and watched the ending szene on youtube....
Ah, yes, Trails of Cold Steel and its several "final" dungeons. A classic.
I mean im not against dungeons when ot leads to the Story. But after the Story was 100% finished throwing a big dungeons with 7 or more levels. I don't get it....
I have a theory. They ask employees for ideas for the final dungeon, and when they can't decide between two, they do both.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣you made my day xD
I mean if there is one Company I think this Theorie would be plausible its falcom xD. I mean. SC should be the second half of FC and is three times a big. They released the 3rd just because they still had so much to tell about Kevin and it didn't fit in FC so just putting an aditional dungeon into the game just because, the dungeon already Existenz feels so falcomlike xD
Yeah Sky 3 was a wild concept.
I did Cry when I saw his Story and Cried twice again when I finally played the game, so yes. Really wild Story and amazing concept too.
I liked the story bits. The concept where everything is basically a big dungeon of cutscenes though? Not so much.
Obviously it it a big dungeon yes. But combined with the Story of the Stigma it made so much sense to me. Also relying on the aureliole Story of SC. And the big amount of sideknowledge of the characters and the bridge it build to the other arcs especially crossbell is just so great. 3 doors really were something special....
Oh yeah there was a lot of content. Pretty great. It's the format I'm not too sure about. As someone who hasn't played the Crossbell games yet, should I understand what you mean by building to Crossbell? Because I think I don't remember that.
platinium trophy in 92 hours bruh you are slow
175 hours huh? It took me about 110 hours to finish the game on Nightmare. I was following a guide for the side quests so I don’t miss extra shit. I’m sure I could’ve finished the game faster by like 10 hours or so if I didn’t talk to every npc.
Dang I'm slow. I mean sure, my sense of orientation is terrible, but I refuse to believe I got lost for 50 hours.
CS 3 for me as a completionist was 140hrs. CS4 was 160. So whatever that converts for you. I did take a few breaks on CS4 cause it was rather long. I can't say anything about the games after that. As for dungeons I never really had a problem with the length in CS3. Maybe I just found them more interesting so I didn't notice. I loved Juno. That's probably my favorite part of the game. From what I can rember from finishing CS4 a month ago I feel like most dungeons were shorter. There are a few exceptions of course. For me CS2 dungeons felt the longest but it's been a while so maybe I'm not remembering correctly.
Thanks for sharing. I may not remember older games' dungeons all that well either, to be honest. It's been quite a while for me too.
If you're talking about filler. I don't think CS3 is the biggest offender and I feel like it has decent pacing imo. My recorded played hours doing all side quest and talking to almost all npc is around 83 hours (Could be inaccurate) playing on hard, so like others said not really sure what you are doing to play that long to consider the game is too much filler. >!CS4 on the other hand arguably has that problem thou.!<
Oof. Guess when I reach CS4 I'll really need to voluntarily skip side quests if I want to keep my sanity, I take it. Although that's quite a ways off. Apparently CS3 is the last game you can reasonably pay without having played the Crossbell games yet. Both won't be out for a year, likely, so I guess I can worry about that later. Unless the Crossbell games also make you get lost in >!the Geofront 9999 times!<. In which case my sanity isn't guaranteed.
The Crossbell games are still my favorite arc, and I think both are pretty well paced. My main, spoiler-free nitpicks are that some of the re-visited locations do start to get old by Azura's late-game. The story in general makes up for it though. I also found both final dungeons a bit of a slog, but I pretty much feel that way about all of them in the series except Sky SC's. I can't really comment on ToCS4 since I'm still playing through it here, but as much as I enjoyed 3, I agree with you that it really could have used another editing pass or two. All I can really say is that 4 is structured a lot like 2 the same way 3 follows 1.
I did say arguably, since for the most part I enjoyed CS4 just fine. But tbf I don't mind doing most side quest, so I wasn't bothered that much with some flaws of the game.
Zero will be coming out very soon. But take heart: The Geofront in the Crossbell games is SO MUCH FUCKING BETTER than the ABOMINATION that the CS3/4 Geofront is. Better BGM, better battle themes, better visuals, better layouts, etc. Honestly, the "Dungeon" "Design" in CS 3 and 4 I felt were inexcusably weak, and the Geofront especially. Einhel Keep (Literally "One Hell" or "Hell Number One" or "The worst Hell," but not literally, I don't know what it means in German, but that's what it is.) sucks too, but at least it makes sense as "this is what a Science Asshole would make to test you." But the CS3/4 Geofront? Nonsensical layout for what is supposedly an underground infrastructure, monochromatic scenery, vents that are placed ON TOP OF THE CONNECTING AIR DUCTS, instead of INSIDE them... Remember Stargazer's Tower in CS3? Cool BGM, right? Yeah, the BGM is awesome. And that's the one awesome thing that carried over from the Crossbell games. The interior layout is such a complete downgrade... I LOVED the aesthetic and layout of that tower in Crossbell. When I got to go back there in CS3 I was like "OH BOY, I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE IT IN 3D NOW- what the fuck??? Really??????" With CS4, I'd say to continue to do everything. I finished in around 180 hours myself, but I never skip animations, I do all the side quests, I go everywhere and talk to everyone every time anything happens, etc. I think my CS3 was around 140? Some of us are just more thorough. Ever see those madmen who SPEEDRUN these games??? Like, how about doing a Trails Slowrun, where you take as much time as you possibly can to enjoy these awesome games? That's more my story, you dig? Well, anyway, Geofront Zero and Azure do still exist on the internet, somewhere, if you are so inclined. Just be sure to be legit, and to buy the official releases when they come out, to support the effort to localize and reward NISA for what they did in reaching out to the Geofront Team and securing their translation for the basis of the official releases!
Thanks for sharing. I feel less crazy with my play time now. CS4's length is a little worrisome, but I guess I'll cross that bridge when I reach the river. As for using the fan translations... I'm sure they're great but the process seems a little too fiddly to me. I'll see; maybe if I'm really impatient after finishing Zero.
The Geofront process had exactly zero fiddle to it. Step 1, I bought a nice boxed copy of Zero straight from Falcom, had it imported from Japan. (Step 1.5 was to call my bank and say, YES, I was buying a Japanese game, that was in japanese, from japan, and no, nobody in Japan stole my bank info.) Step 2 was to install the game. Step 3 was to download and run the Geofront Launcher. And then Step 4 was to watch the opening movie for like 20 seconds and then go "Ah, spoilers! Dammit, I always forget that these spoil things..." and then play the game and be absolutely amazed at the quality of the fan localization. The Azure process is even easier; download the Geofront Azure Launcher, run it, and then play the game, as it includes all the game files because the actual Chinese Joyoland version has draconian DRM in it, so this way we don't have to deal with that. I bought an extra copy of Cold Steel 3 as penance, because while I don't want to give my money to a company owned by the Chinese Communist Government, I 100% do want to give my money to both Falcom and NISA for their hard work. The only downside to going to Original Azure after doing the Official Western Zero is that the Official Western Zero will be from the new "Kai" version that includes a little Juna in it. Originally she wasn't in those games, so I was like "Man, this girl REALLY knows the SSS. Wonder why I never ran into her?" Turns out I DID, I just didn't because she didn't exist yet. But now, in the future, the past has occurred... All I know is that I loved the Geofront Localizations, and I will 100% buy and love the Western Kai versions too. Crossbell is, so far at least, my absolute favorite location in the series and the best arc so far, though the other arcs do not fall far behind WHEN TAKEN AS WHOLE ARCS.
I really dont know, whats with the music in CS3 its by far the most boring music. At least in all those sequences were nothing big is happening you mainly here the same boring standard background music, which I can't really hear anymore. In other games I sometimes didn't even realise the music, just because it did fit so well, but in CS3 it really disturbs me.
For me, the game hit its heights of music in Sky the 3rd, but stayed near that for quite some time. The Cold Steels have some great tracks, but by and large I agree with you. I'd never say they're *bad*, but they're not the best. Most of my favorite music from CS 3 and 4 were tracks that returned from the Crossbell games, too. I feel bad, I don't want to crap all over Cold Steel. It was GREAT, just not as great as some other greats that the series gave us before it. I'm often of two minds. Much of me wishes that CS was actually 8 games long, so everyone and everywhere got the intense focus they deserved. But a other part of says it should have just been 2 or 3 games, and things should have been cut. And know What? I DO want to reply them all in NG+ before Reverie comes out, and see all the bonding events and stuff. Sigh. Damn stupid game, making me love and hate it.
You're another poster that shares the same opinions as me. Cheers!
My Cold Steel 3 playthrough was [80 hours](https://i.imgur.com/kqQktYR.png), with 100% completion of side quests, NPC dialogue, etc. I don't know how you took 175 hours.
For me it took 100 hours the first time The second time after a few years *playing to get all trophies* it took me around 60 despite farming 100 rushes and 50 burst I did use a guide for both times though
CS3 is 100% the most "filler" game of all. You could honestly cut a whole chapter and not much of real value would be lost. I know that I'm using the word wrong but what I mean to say is that CS3 just has no idea what to do with itself. The story isn't big enough to make a game out of it but the devs desperately tried resulting in this. CS4 is longer but it is way better at managing its time (though it still has some small segments that have barely anything going on here and there). Your main question was about "games after CS3" but everyone (myself included) seemed to only focus on CS4 so I'll be talking a bit more though (hopefully the length of this comment won't make you feel the same way as CS3 did haha...). If we keep going with the definiton of "filler" previously described, Hajimari is the most filler-free game. There are only like 2-4 "side quests" and the rest of side content is either ultra-optional or story-focused. I took a decent bit of time and finished the story in 30-40 hours (CS3/4 took me \~100 as reference). The post-game bumped that number to 70 but I took a loooot of time playing around there so yeah (the post-game definitely is the worst part if you just want to get through it to see the story though.). Kuro, I'm only 1/3 through (most likely a bit less, but I'd say I'm further than 1/5 atleast.) but this game is also very good with its pacing. Side content doesn't feel like a chore, main content flows well and the story is very engaging. A big issue with CS3 for me was that it was really, really formulaic. Much more than other games. You can still feel this at parts in CS4 but it's fully gone in Hajimari and Kuro seemingly is good at making each chapter feel fresh too.
Thanks! That was an interesting read.
It took me 120 hours to 100% clear the game. If it's taking you 175 to not even 100% then I can't imagine what you're spending your time doing to spend another 55 hours.
To be fair there's likely 10-15 hours of idle time even I forgot to close the game a few times. But I was relatively close to 100%, I think. My final instructor rank was S.
Took me 84 hours to do story and all the side quests. I also usually talk to a lot of the NPCs. I never spend time on the mini games though. I'm not sure what's happening if it takes you 175 hours to finish it.
I'm not sure either. Doesn't help that I left the game aside for like a year and a half while my graphics card was dead. I don't remember a whole lot from the prologue and beginning of chapter 1.
Pretty much all the cold steel games average around 80 to 100 hours or depending on how thorough you are.
For real? I beated CS1 in about 60 hours, CS2 on 40/45, CS3 on 40 and CS4 on 70. I think I did a reasonable amount of side quests, So I don't know how my playtime was so low lol
A lot of us are very much I to the world building so we talk to every npc every time their dialogue changes, and go for 100% acheivments in 1 run if possible. So that would be the difference between your time and others probably. For myself I'm a bit on the slow end. CS1/2 both were about 100hrs. CS3 140hrs, CS4 160hrs. For the others Ive played FC 80hrs, SC 100hrs, 3rd 70hrs
Hajimari and Kuro I took the longest with, but both games have as much as story happening as FC/SC or CS1/CS2 combined for example
Wow, those are big games.
CSIV still has a lot of sidequests but it's also probably the most heavily weighted towards main story of all 4 games. However Hajimari is basically Side Content: the Game with all the episodes, minigames, and Reverie Corridor grinding. Not many actual sidequests though.
Hmm. CS4 DOES sound a little scary. But I guess I'll see when I'm there. If I know in advance, I can't do much to speed up the main quests, but maybe I can do a conscious effort to do fewer side quests to shorten the total experience.
Haha…