Yeah it is just that good.
MGS3 improves a lot with the overall level progression and level variety in a huge way. the bouncing back from forest, enemy camps, and buildings is great. It does drag a bit in the mountain section but the quality of variety and story between all of it is some of the finest game experiences you will get. The ps2 was a might console.

MGS2 is still my favorite cause the aesthetic of the colors and more shell shading with the environments is just, idk more appealing to me. And the solid/Raiden combo rules. However, that does not stop 3 from being an insanely well crafted game front to back. Insane shit that holds up so well.

This review will contain spoilers for Trails of Cold Steel I and II.

The best way I can sum up my feelings about this game is that I played all the way through to the final boss with only a mild interest in the events, but as soon as Lloyd from the Crossbell duology popped up on screen I instantly became ten times more invested. It was like if you were to watch an amateur comedian's standup set only to see Robin Williams walk onto stage as the follow-up act. Sure, you can find things to appreciate about the amateur comedian's performance, but there's just no comparing to the effortless brilliance of a master of the craft. This comparison applies to how I feel about Rean versus Lloyd as characters, yes, but it also applies to my feelings about the first two Cold Steel games versus the Crossbell duology in general.

The story of Trails of Cold Steel II isn't bad but there's a large difference in how interesting it is versus the Crossbell games, for example. In those games you were constantly working towards solving the mysteries of Crossbell city, which kept the story interesting the whole way through. Trails of Cold Steel II is more of a war story, but it doesn't commit to the bit. A story about a civil war of all things is going to leave little impact with so few on-screen casualties. The main characters inherit the attitude of "let's incapacitate our enemies and then leave them behind" from previous games, although it doesn't make sense here. Sure, that attitude makes sense for a policeman like Lloyd, but for active participants in a war? Not so much. It's like a civil war fought with nerf guns, which is just one of the numerous ways in which this game's story feels compromised.

Trails of Cold Steel I and II are effectively prequel games. They take place before the end of Trails to Azure, so Cold Steel II has to arrive at the same conclusion to Azure. As you might be aware, writers run into various problems while creating prequel stories. Prequels frequently end up feeling like stories told unnaturally. The situations aren't allowed to unfold as they normally would in non-prequels because of predetermined story events that have to happen. And while it's subtle, I think this game falls into that trap. During this game's second half there are plenty of events... but very little of them actually move the greater plot forward. A typical mission in Act 2 would consist of saving one of Class VII's family members from the royal alliance, which allows the imperial army to gain some more territory. These are certainly events, but they don't feel like they're leading up to a conclusion and building on each other. For a comparison, think of the way that Trails from Zero revealed nuggets of information in order to slowly build to a conclusion of the mystery. The events of this game's second half don't feel like they're building to anything, rather just filling space until the finale. Even the first Cold Steel game had a better build up. It feels like they had a hard time bridging the gap between the story of Cold Steel II and the ending of Trails to Azure. It's weird that the parts of the story where Rean is an active participant in the war are the least interesting, but I would have to say that I did enjoy the first half where Rean is just a fugitive more.

Even though I'm critical the story, I actually did enjoy the game's finale. Crow is a really enjoyable adversary for Rean because he's always challenging him to improve. He genuinely cares for Rean and the rest of class VII which makes him a refreshing antagonist. And Chancellor Osbourne is looking to be an absolutely monumental villain. He comes back from the dead and reveals that Class VII was just playing into his hands all along, while also revealing that Rean is his son, and then proceeds to annex Crossbell. A villain who can outsmart the heroes at every turn is a force to be reckoned with. I really like how they built up Osborne as a villain over the course of multiple games. I just wish Trails to Azure hadn't spoiled the fact that he was still alive.

On the combat front, Trails of Cold Steel II is EXTREMELY easy for the majority of the game. There are so many powerful combat options that you'll rarely feel like you have to use anything except for those overpowered tactics. There are the S-Crafts, Rean's white-hair power, Valimar, overdrive, special arts you get from defeating cryptids, and overpowered normal arts like Chrono Burst that can give you infinite turns. I was just spamming these moves a lot without even reading what the normal crafts do. There was just no point, because better options were available. The game ramps up in difficulty at the finale, which showed that the game could have been more fun if it was this difficult throughout. Having a lot of powerful options is fun if the enemies are powerful enough to match. But even so, I still didn't find the finale to be as challenging as previous games. And the option to use chrono burst infinitely is always there, so to some extent it feels like any challenging parts of this game were self imposed.

The music is a step down from Cold Steel I due to the annoying new battle theme. It's not a bad track overall, but being forced to listen to that intro over and over again is genuinely grating. The developers have to recognize that some songs don't lend themselves well to being a normal battle theme.

Another thing that the developers have to recognize is that putting an entire pointless dungeon after the finale isn't cool. This game ended up going for like 10 hours after the story reached its conclusion, which is absolutely ridiculous. Just let me roll the credits and put the extra dungeon in a side mode if you really want to include it. There are plenty of games I like more than this one where I never even bothered playing the extra content, so the developers shouldn't assume I actually want to do that. I just want to see the conclusion to the main story. The fact that the extra boss tells you how pointless the act of defeating him is indicates that maybe this part of the game didn't need to be mandatory.

Trails of Cold Steel II is an improvement over the first game, but it's still a pretty low-tier game for me. If I had to choose right now I'd say that the Cold Steel arc is my least favorite vs. Crossbell and Sky, but I know Cold Steel III is going to be a huge change so I'll wait and see. I'm excited for all of the Crossbell stuff to come back into play in Cold Steel III. I enjoyed Cold Steel I & II for what they were. They're not my favorite story ever and don't contain my favorite cast of characters, but they work fine enough for an isolated story within this grander universe. But I do hope that these two games stay as the lowpoint of the series and that there's nothing worse on the horizon.