Seeing Crossbell in 3D was amazing, especially seeing all the NPCs like Bennet, Oscar and Mimi have 3D models; out of all the cities I probably spent the most time there

Didn't know that the curse is actually the main element that people don't like about the cold steel series but I can understand it since out of all the issues I have with the game this is probably the biggest one; though to be real its really actually an accumulation of all the smaller issues I previously mentioned and adding this curse thing on top of it was just a bit too much

They did mention that the curse is basically amplifying the negative thoughts but its still something I wasn't a fan of. The conversation with Rean and the emperor was also kind of implying that Hamel, the civil war and all these other tragedies wouldn't be a thing if the curse didn't exist. If the curse is really amplifying peoples negative thoughts to cause them to commit terrible acts such as Ash shooting the emperor then at this point you could argue that Duke Cayenne wasn't actually a bad person and was also a victim of the curse just like Ash was. It just feels like a pointless element to add to the story and somewhat removes all accountability for people's actions which is another issue I had with this story. Crow is literally a terrorist and no one cares; maybe he is also a victim of the curse so that makes him innocent idk

I went ahead and read some peoples thoughts on this element after reading your post and it does seem like a very divisive element of the plot; To be honest I do think the writing was disappointing this arc (which is due to the smaller issues just constantly piling up on top of each other until I couldn't ignore it anymore) but it definitely didn't kill my enjoyment of the series with how good the turn based gameplay has been improved; some people have straight up dropped the series after CS3 from what I read tho

Yeah, I really can't disagree with you. The main thing that kinda bothered me compared to others that relates to this is (act 2 "spoilers", not sure what you saw when you looked at others' thoughts) people like Elliot's dad and Vandyck in the military and STILL helping out Osborne?? Like, it doesn't seem like they're very affected by the curse (Elliot's dad might be, but regardless you beat him in a fight and stops it, can't remember? lol), but they still are like "we trust you can put an end to this", yet they still follow along with their orders. Again, the loyalty thing is just weird. I guess it's kinda similar to Noel in Azure where she just has THAT strong of a connection to Crossbell where she sided with the CGF, and even then, I still rolled my eyes at that. I've seen some people think CS is completely awful, yet think Noel's betrayal is some crazy good writing. Guess it really is all just down to preferences lol. On that note, I'm still annoyed they tossed Grimwood in as the big bad of Azure with so little development. THAT somehow bothers me more than most of the stuff in CS.

The Ironbloods (especially towards the end) I can understand a more, but still don't like the idea of it very much.

Once I read your post when you finished up CS3, I knew you'd have some problems with CS4, but didn't want to say anything

Though like I said, fortunately I don't really care all that much about the faults in the whatever reason. CS4 still has my favorite ending, with Hajimari right after that. Couldn't imagine dropping the series like that, but I can get it if you really don't like what's going on in the story.

On a somewhat related note, Kiseki """fans""" f***ing hate this series. I'll hear a song in game and be like "damn this is gas!" so I'll look it up, see that Singa was the composer and all I'll see in the comments is "Singa needs to kill himself", "he's awful", "Falcom Sound Team is dying", etc. I've just so much complaining about such minor things and it blows my mind. I figure since it's a much more niche series than others, there'd be less complaining, but it's prob the worst I've seen in a fanbase in so long

I can’t click on the spoiler since I literally just started Act 2. Also just wanted to say that the Osborne and Airanhod fight was insane; getting that AP bonus was a b**** on nightmare I really had to come with the right setup

I have to agree with you that the Kiseki fanbase is absolute garbage and one of the worst fanbase I have ever seen; for some strange reason it seems like this fanbase has decided to split themselves into groups depending on arcs. i have seen Crossbell fans say that there is nothing redeeming about Cold Steel and Cold Steel fans say that Crossbell is complete trash. Not sure why but seen some weird arguments on evolution version of songs in comment sections, people still holding a grudge over the NISA thing and telling people to pirate every single one of their games and useless gate keeping about where to start in the series. Overall just a bunch of hella obnoxious people lmao

I was SHOOK during that fight man Somehow got it first try on Nightmare. Altina and Kurt came in crazy clutch for me. The Osborne cut-in with the follow up attack looked menacing as hell too.

The song that plays is so good

You are 100% right though, it does seem like people just have their own factions based on which arc they prefer None of these games are perfect, but the nitpicking/complaints gets so unreal. It's always putting down one arc and calling it terrible lol; no real nuance or anything to it either. When I was looking stuff up, I was always expecting every game to be bad because I'd see so much negativity no matter which game I was looking for info on. I really try not to put too much stake into what people say on this series for that reason. It honestly just reminds me of the drama when AOT ended, but instead of one single story, it's that for literally every single game in the series

You're also right on the NISA stuff too. Saw people saying to boycott the games and I can understand it, but I'm getting my physical LE copy of Hajimari (and Azure if it goes back in stock lol)

I was not expecting to fight Osborne that whole situation seemed like I was in the final stretch of the game lmao. That song + this song playing for the Rean boss fight was crazy I was not expecting the vocals to come in

Also from reading the comments this is actually the opening song; I actually didn’t know since I skipped the OP since they spoil a bit of stuff in those

And yeah no way im passing the Hajimari LE the box art with everyone in it looks insane

That fight is about as endgame as it gets The Rean fight was really good too. Anytime a game plays the OP/theme song, it's gonna be a good ass fight lol. Normally expect stuff like that for the final boss

Realistically, I'll probably end up getting whatever special edition they put out for Kuro and other future games. Can't pass up on that, especially with how good they look.

Hope you enjoy Act 2 though. Besides my "issue" with what I brought up before, that was the part of the game where I was just cracking a smile for like two hours straight. Of course I looked it up after I finish it and see people say it's the most awful act of the series

July 7th This game was so f***ing good man

Crazy spoilers in this though

Man I don't even watch the OPs anymore nevermind a trailer

No kidding lol. I caved with the Kuro 2 one because that's about the most I can get without playing

I'm pretty sure CS3's OP spoils something in CS4

edit: seeing they changed the name of a mechanic (that was already in English) to something else, and of course you have people b****ing over it this community sucks man lmao

Some more thoughts on Kuro.

The Zerofield/4chan translation is actually great. Much better than Hajimari's, which was definitely good, but there's a lot less typos in this. Definitely helps that it's basically being updated daily.

Cast is really f***ing good lol. Van is already up there with Lloyd and Rean (honestly he's better, but I need more time with him). Crazy how two of my favorite MCs are voiced by Daisuke Ono Battler and Van are actually pretty similar characters, so you know Van's gotta be the GOAT MC. I really enjoy all the party members as well. Aaron is probably the funniest character in a Kiseki game since he says and does some wild s***.

Kuro also introduces another top 3 character

Story is really solid as well, especially for it being the start of a completely new arc. Hell of a lot darker than any of the previous games. Seen it compared to a mix of Sky 3rd and Zero, and I think I can agree with that. Characters actually die (not just for the sake of dying either, fortunately). S***, the antagonist nukes an entire village.

From what I can tell so far, it seems like the villains are pretty reprehensible whereas a lot of the previous antagonists aren't just blatantly evil (which I think I prefer since there's generally more to it than characters being evil to be evil, but these guys aren't one note, so I like em). The main villain probably has the coolest looking S-Craft in the series, it's insane

As for the music, big fan of it. The jazzy tracks are probably my favorites and really all of the city themes are some of the best in the series imo.

Sucks being "caught up", but I'm seeing there's people that'll be translating Kuro 2 whenever it drops on PC (pretty sure it just got rated too, so hopefully soon). Once that patch is out, I'm hopping on that immediately.

Overall thoughts on the series is that it's been by far the best experience I've had catching up to anything. Did not think I'd be nearly invested in this as much as I am. Between Umineko and Kiseki this year, I f***ing ate. Definitely my best/favorite year of gaming, period. Don't think anything will ever dethrone those two + Fata Morgana as my favorite pieces of media.

I have literally seen so much fan art for Shizuna that I actually feel like I know her character despite not playing the game

We pretty much had the same year with Kiseki/Fata Morgana and Umineko

Actually finished CS4. Gonna write more about it later but I really wasn't a fan of it to the point that I just ended up setting the difficulty to Very Easy and just rushing through the game to get it over with.

Also the Kuro no Kiseki Super Arrange came out a few days ago idk if you listened to it yet

Damn man, that's unfortunate At least you're basically passed what I'd imagine would be the "low point" of the series for your case, so it's probably only gonna be better from there lol.

Only part of Hajimari I didn't like was one of the routes because it was just treading the same stuff that we've seen a few times already. Other than that, I can't say I can think of anything that's nearly as divisive as the CS arc. Same goes with Kuro, but it's just the beginning of a new arc, so can't stay that for sure with what's to come.

I've only heard a couple tracks off of it. Still gotta give it a full listen through.

And yeah, Shizuna goes crazy. Her Kuro 2 design

Gonna give Mahoyo a read next?

I think despite the many issues I had with the Cold Steel games I still enjoyed them with the exception of IV where I just really disliked the writing and plot in that game and was also burntout so i'm kinda glad its gonna be a while till I get to Reverie.

Shizunas character design is actually fire

I would give Mahoyo a read but I still haven't got my physical copy yet; hopefully its here this week

Currently playing Ys Origin and Tactics Ogre. I was gonna start Higurashi but I want to finish Mahoyo first

Thoughts on CS IV since I forgot to post this

Finished Cold Steel 4; didn’t think I would say this but its in the bottom of the rankings with CS2 when it comes to Kiseki games. Despite the gameplay being at its best I believe the writing is also at its worst.

The whole curse element of the story really just killed any form of enjoyment I would get from the story; it got worse as the story progressed because its used so inconsistently. First it amplifies negative emotions and then it can transform a horse into a Cryptid which Elliot can somehow revert its effect via the power of music. Falcom has made the curse vague enough that people can defend it by speculating what it actually does but in reality the curse just does whatever is required at the current point of the story to move it forward I honestly think its one of the worst plot devices I have ever seen in a video game

Already talked about the lack of consequences/accountability but on top of that it seems that Falcom also really doesn’t want to make literally anyone a villain. Everyone is literally being controlled by the curse or is somehow being manipulated; which works in Falcom’s favour because if you are being manipulated then I guess you can’t be held accountable for your actions. I already wasn’t a fan of McBurns as an opposing character but the moment in the final dungeon where he goes “Oh my bad guys I was actually being manipulated by Campanella” was actually insane. Ouroboros just feels like Team Rocket in the Cold Steel games; they show up annoy the f\*\*\* outta the player and then just leave without doing anything that would make them irredeemable in case they need to be forgiven in the future. Actually throughout the game it feels like the majority of characters serving as obstacles for the main cast have very weak reasoning/motivations for being obstacles; example being the Ironbloods or the teachers fighting you for almost no reason in Chapter 2.

My favourite moment in the game was probably the Pantagruel scene at the end of chapter 2 when the characters from the previous games came back; I know its just fanservice asf but I really don’t care lmao, I loved seeing everyone interact with each other. Also the moment when Cassius Bright came in with Kloe I was actually losing my mind. I love Kloe so much man

Overall, I gotta say that by the end of Act 2 when Olivier came back riding the Courageous I was completely burnt out of the game; I think I recall saying to myself “this is where Falcom reveals that Olivier isn’t actually dead”, the whole Ouroboros sequence in the Pantagruel being that predictable just exhausted the f\*\*\* outta me. Going to probably replay the game again from Act 2 before Reverie since I just skipped all the bonding events and side quests after that but that being said; even the bonding events in Act 2 weren’t that great (particularly any events involving a female character). Review might have seemed more like a rant/too nitpicky but thats just how I felt about the game; don’t think I felt this strongly about a game since FFXV I think

@wes are you going to play Nayuta no Kiseki? I'm finding it hard to believe that its not related to the main series considering the girl from that game looks exactly like the Grandmaster. Also read comments on the trailer and people are theorising that McBurns is actually Nayuta from that game; which kinda makes sense considering McBurns saying he was from a different world or something at the end of CS4

I actually haven't looked too much into it. You plan on checking it out? I did not realize how similar she looks to the Grandmaster; it's basically the same damn character lmao. You might be onto something with all of that. Def interested to see where all of that goes. If that actually is the case, it'd be some Nomura-tier f***ery and I'm 100% for it

Also very interesting to see that Nayuta has the same last name as Towa. I'm sure it's just an easter egg type thing, since they have Towa in Tokyo Xanadu as well.

Doesn't seem like theres a release date for it yet but I'm probably gonna cop once its out since I seen people say it's a good game regardless. Didn't even realise the easter egg with the last names since I only watched the trailer.

I could definitely see some Nomura s\*\*\* going on lmao, just from watching that trailer and what Mcburns said at the end of CS4 (How basically nothing exists past Zemuria) has me theorising that the Grandmasters plan is actually related to restoring whatever it is that is beyond Zemuria. I didn't realise it before but what Mcburns said at the end of CS4 is actually insane for the world building

Actually had no idea it was getting localized. Thought the only way to play it would've been in Japanese or with an English patch I'll pick it up whenever it drops for us.

Yeah man, that info dropped at the end of CS4 was nuts lol. Goes crazy in terms of worldbuilding and it's really got me thinking what in the hell is going on with the story + whatever Ouroboros is planning. Think you might be onto something with that theory because I cannot think of literally anything else even though I'm almost caught up. We've still got like 6-7 games left according to Kondo's estimates, so we're gonna be waiting a bit regardless lmao.

Finally got to the last chapter of FC, pretty solid game and will probably finish it out in like 2 days

Enjoy, I loved FC really cozy game

And finished, it was ok. That SC teaser kinda got me pumped when I get to it

@redtruth

dunno if this is legit, but wouldn't be surprised

I have seen this and yeah i'm not too sure on it.

The source is 4chan and there is no way to verify if the person who posted that was working on a TL or if they are just rage baiting since people hate NISA

I guess we will see when Kuro 2 PC port releases this month assuming some people were already working on it

Yeah, it could literally go either way, especially with it being on 4chan

Definitely wouldn't complain if they got a patch working within the next year. Not sure how viable it is since I guess with Kuro 1 they used a cfw PS4 to get the JP script translated, then ported to PC like week 1 of release. Don't think they were able to do it with Kuro 2 for whatever reason. Whatever the outcome is, I'm sure we'll get something sooner than an official NISA release lol.

@wes whats the Kuro 2 TL situation looking like?