On the final chapter of CS4 and this s*** is PEAK As with this series' tradition, seems like the Intermission-esque chapters have some of the best moments in these games. This one had me DUMB excited the several hours I spent in it. Really makes me appreciate these characters so much more than just about any other franchise This game might be the all time favorite; just gotta see how it ends. Also makes me realize just how much f***ing better these games are than most JRPGs

Rean is MY MC

Been taking my time trying to 100% the game since I don't want this s*** to end. Though I'm pretty sure this chapter is LONG and Steam is telling me I'm at 100 hours so I'm curious to see where I end the game at

It's so good

Enjoy CS2 man, I really really enjoyed it.

Idk if you're on PC or PS, but you definitely wanna either use Cheat Engine or save scum for those events in CS2 onwards. I have no idea why they put these scenes behind a limited amount of bonding points because they offer some pretty significant character development/building (they're some really good events in general as well). CS4 feels a bit more lenient with the points, but they're still limited.

Damn, was kinda hoping the bonding points would be gone

I havent really checked but I hope hajimari and kuro no kiseki doesnt have this bonding point system

Not sure about either of those tbh. Doesn't make much of a difference to me since I'm just using Cheat Engine to give myself infinite, but it'd be nice to not have to use that. I did get my Hajimari limited edition pre-order in on PS5, so I might be out of luck if they keep it

@wes man every party members new fit is extremely f***ing hard

You was right about CS2 cause I'm f***ing with Class VII a lot more this game; game just been more enjoyable in general. I like how you are only in the hub area (Ymir) for a short amount of time too unlike CS1 where you spend a f*** ton of time in school. Seeing students of Thors scattered around the world is also cool

Shoutout to Vivi cause thats my fav NPC; need to get her reunited with Linde

@redtruth bro I legit opened up KTT2 since I was going to type up a post about CS4 since I just finished it and saw the @.

Man... I'm in shambles right now. CS4 definitely my favorite game of all time. What a perfect f***ing ending to this saga. S*** had me in tears several times

You aren't lying about the fits. Seeing new ones in these games is one of my favorite things

I think CS2 definitely flows better as a game as well. CS1 is structured as hell and if you don't love it, it can be annoying lol. How far are you into it now?

Vivi and Mint are the best NPCs

You basically caught up now (kinda)

How would you rank all the games so far? You gonna play hajimari and kuro through a patch or just gonna wait?

Also yeah the CS1 structured really just took me out of the whole game man, it feels like we have an actual purpose for travelling to all these locations in CS2 right now. I'm currently in Barehard; just got reunited with Emma and Laura

Also shoutout to Mint as well I love her

Without thinking too much about it: CS4 > Azure > CS3 > Zero > CS2/Sky 3rd > Sky SC > Sky FC/CS1.

Despite FC and CS1 being on the low end, I really enjoyed both of them. Regret just holding forward as much as I did with the Sky games, but oh well lol.

I really want to boot up Hajimari, but I'm going to do my best and try to wait I've read the translation is actually pretty decent for it. I just figured it was just "OK", which was the main thing kinda holding me back. I don't want to get a "lesser" experience out of it, especially with how much text is in these games. Didn't realize both that and Kuro had actual patches and not just being forced to use an overlay. I guess I'll see how I'm feeling lmao.

CS2 is nice because you get a good bit more freedom and aren't shackled to whichever place you have the field study at. Not an actual spoiler, but I'll tag it anyways towards the end, I really felt like it was a "final" game like SC and Azure since there was so much you could do. Definitely didn't expect that for just being halfway through the CS arc.

Mint and Makarov are funny as hell man. Stuff like that makes me really appreciate these games so much more than any other game series. I get genuinely interested in the stories of these NPCs

Bout to toss on the 2 hour CS4 King Recon vid

One final thing, Rean beat Lloyd as my favorite MC

Damn that last spoiler , Im liking Rean more in CS2 but hes still nowhere near Estelle/Lloyd for me; guess I gotta wait and see

Got me looking forward to CS3/4 with those rankings tho

My ranking probably like this right now

Zero>Azure>3rd>SC>FC>>>CS1

Yeah, it took a bit to come to that conclusion lol. I'd still say Lloyd has the most likeability, but Rean's journey is somethin else

Since you're rating Zero above Azure, would you say that's your all time favorite game/JRPG? Seems like we more or less have the same opinion though

Also not sure if you know, but there's an extra scene exclusive to NG+ (for some reason) after collecting certain records, so I'd just look that up after you finish the game because it is very critical to CS3 and CS4.

I actually heard about the NG+ scene, very strange that they decided do that; honestly feels like Falcom has progressively started experimenting with locking things behind NG+ for replayability with that decision and the introduction of bonding points (thank god for cheat engine)

Zero is def one of my fav JRPGs oat, kinda hard to rank them and say its 1 on the list since theres quite a few that left an impact on me and its also kinda hard to compare them since the games are tryna accomplish different things

Nier Automata, 13 Sentinels, Yakuza 0, FFXIV is what instantly comes to mind tho

I ranked SC a bit low on the list because of the amount of backtracking but I’m very fond of that game too to the point that I would include it on that oat list as well that Loewe fight with Silver Wings Arranged is just legendary

If anything Kiseki in general is one of my fav JRPGs

Yeah, I really don't get it. Guess you can count on em to make things interesting with each game

All of those games are some of my favorites as well. Really can't go wrong with any of them

A friend of mine has the same issue with SC. He immediately started it up after finishing FC, but really wasn't enjoying sticking around in Liberl, and the backtracking doesn't do it any favors lol. The Loewe scene/fight is still one of my favorites. Honestly it's still probably the best choreographed cutscene in the series, though it being lower budget than the future games probably helps lol.

And yeah, same here. I felt like it was #1 prior to CS3 and 4, but after having those completed, it's easily #1 for me.

Also man... after finally watching the English trailer for Hajimari... I need this. Looking a bit more into it, and seeing that 95% of the NPCs have been translated and the translation is actually comparable to an official release. I might fold

I'm still hyped as hell like 5 hours after finishing up CS4. I love this s*** so much man

Am also now realizing how early the Heimdallr theme/leitmotif actually started in Sky 3rd with the Olivier and Osborne scene in the sky and how it's used in so many of the CS songs (which happen to be the best ones).

You 100% right about the Loewe and Joshia fight being the best choreographed fight in the series, something about seeing Joshua and Loewes 2D character sprites moving was just magic lmao, there was also some real emotional impact behind that fight too knowing their backstory; the more I think about it the more I realise it might be my favourite fight scene in a JRPG.

I didn't even catch that about the song in the 3rd thats crazy

@redtruth folded and copped Hajimari on Steam. First cutscene nearly had me in tears from hype alone

The port is pretty trash though. Game seemingly doesn't want to run at 4K or 1440p, and the anti-aliasing options also barely work (if at all), so all the lines look pretty jagged. Guess it isn't that bad, but it's pretty disappointing.

Part of me wants to just refund it (I have 119 minutes played lol) and wait for the official release and another is telling me the issues aren't that big at all and I should just play it; plus it's the finale of everything thus far so the wait is gonna be rough.

I already know I'm not gonna wait for Kuro & Kuro 2 to come to the west since I imagine that's another 2-3 years out for both of them, so I might just bit the bullet and knock these games out now.

I don’t blame you for folding

I think I’m gonna wait but you never know I might fold too; if I catch up to Kuro before NISA I feel like imma be waiting forever for a fan translation of Kuro 3 lmao. If anything I appreciate thr NISA releases because PH3 is working with them and they do amazing work on PC ports.

Idk man I really hope NISA somehow can work with Falcom one day to bring the games to the west quicker

No kidding lol. I know there's some group working on translations for Kuro 2 since Zerofield got shutdown, so we might be in luck with Kuro 3 Still sucks that we're in this situation though. Having to wait several years to get a game that's already out in another language blows. I do really wish we could get these games faster, but seems like that's a pipedream atm

Fortunately in the bit I've seen in Hajimari, the translation seems pretty solid. If it weren't for the port being subpar, I'd be DEEP into the game. I'll probably end up playing it this week then replaying when it comes out in the west. Started playing Ragnarok, but I'm not really feeling it so I'll maybe get back to that eventually lmao.

Legit one of the first tracks you hear in game and it's so good

PH3 does a great job with Trails PC ports, so regardless of whatever f***ery NISA pulls, at least the actual products will be good.

Hajimari is f***in great man. I already know I'm gonna download Kuro right after I finish it up

Think I'm like 7 hours in and the translation is actually pretty good. I don't really feel like I'm reading a fan patch besides the occasional typo here and there. Overall, the characters still feel like themselves so I'm more than fine with it.

The cutscene direction/quality is also a huge step of from the previous games. Definitely looks much more modern and more dynamic.

Early game also hard as hell on Nightmare, which is a very nice change of pace over pretty much all of the CS games being a joke on Nightmare. No way I'm doing a run on the new Abyss difficulty though lol.

Can't wait to play more of it

I’m still gonna be patient with Hajimari and wait for the release once I'm done with that I’m guessing a lot more work will be done on Kuro 1 so imma hop right into that tho

Hope the one with KeA wins

EDIT: Just looked at the results and its an easy sweep

Unfortunately, I do not have that much self control I'm definitely going to replay it when it gets localized though.

From what I gather, the Kuro translation somehow has more done than the Hajimari one, so I'd imagine you'll be good to go by the time Hajimari gets localized next summer.

Finally gonna give trails in the sky the actual chance it deserves

New characters in Hajimari have been really great and I really wish I could just get an entire game focused on them lol (honestly CS3 onwards has been stupid good with the characters). The new protagonist is also the GOAT

Overall, the game really feels like a more modern Sky 3rd so it's an auto 10/10 for me.

Pretty sure this game is shorter than the others by a decent margin, but there's a ton of optional/postgame content so I gotta dive into all of that at some point.

Gotta pick up Kuro on Steam since it's like 35% off

Also still can't get over how good CS4 was

I have a link in OP but you can add Voice Acting to that game through the EVO mods as well as some other enhancements if you want