A better Cold Steel 1 in pretty much every way, while carrying many of the faults of that game as well: an extremely formulaic structure being the main one that really wore me down after so many hours. That said, everyone in the new cast, the new areas, new additions to the gameplay and improved graphics were all great and made for the best entry in the Cold Steel games yet.
The call backs and involvement from past games were also implemented very well and made the huge investment in the series feel worth it.