Very solid RPG serving as a sort of epilogue to both the Cold Steel and Crossbell (Zero/Azure) games. Obviously pass on this if you haven't played those
Compared to the Cold Steel games this was shorter and better paced in part due to its unique structure of juggling three different main characters stories meaning certain aspects of the game are not as present or in a different form. Just the few times you have to proceed in the special dungeon for this game interrupts the plot but at least that gives access to interesting things like the side stories. Overall took me 36 hours to beat this and get/see all the side stories compared to the 60-70 Cold Steel III and IV took me.
The Sky the Third type side stories are nice to see return and do have a few things setting up future games but overall they felt weaker then the side stories from Third in that area. Only the final one really rose to the level of Thirds better ones in terms of interesting set up for the future but I say this having been able to see the hints from third play out already. That said, they're still enjoyable and give a nice look at the games cast after the end of Cold Steel 4.
The turn based combat is as good as the last few games and really hasn't changed enough to talk about in depth. Its nice to have access to most of the characters from the last games and some new ones for one last run.
As far as the main story goes, Lloyds route is kinda bland to me which is disappointing as the Crossbell games are my favorite. C's route is the stand out and its a shame he gets a bit less time then the other routes. Really would love to get more time with that specific cast, C makes for a more interesting main character the Lloyd or Rean. Other stuff I don't want to get into for spoiler reasons but I'm glad this wrapped up some stuff left over from the last games and I'm ready for when they eventually translate the Calvard ones.
Compared to the Cold Steel games this was shorter and better paced in part due to its unique structure of juggling three different main characters stories meaning certain aspects of the game are not as present or in a different form. Just the few times you have to proceed in the special dungeon for this game interrupts the plot but at least that gives access to interesting things like the side stories. Overall took me 36 hours to beat this and get/see all the side stories compared to the 60-70 Cold Steel III and IV took me.
The Sky the Third type side stories are nice to see return and do have a few things setting up future games but overall they felt weaker then the side stories from Third in that area. Only the final one really rose to the level of Thirds better ones in terms of interesting set up for the future but I say this having been able to see the hints from third play out already. That said, they're still enjoyable and give a nice look at the games cast after the end of Cold Steel 4.
The turn based combat is as good as the last few games and really hasn't changed enough to talk about in depth. Its nice to have access to most of the characters from the last games and some new ones for one last run.
As far as the main story goes, Lloyds route is kinda bland to me which is disappointing as the Crossbell games are my favorite. C's route is the stand out and its a shame he gets a bit less time then the other routes. Really would love to get more time with that specific cast, C makes for a more interesting main character the Lloyd or Rean. Other stuff I don't want to get into for spoiler reasons but I'm glad this wrapped up some stuff left over from the last games and I'm ready for when they eventually translate the Calvard ones.