LogFAQs > #947945294

Okay, some thoughts on some CS4 stuff.

Interlude:

Pretty solid. Decision paralysis is a pain, but the events aren't too exciting, so I didn't really feel the need to see everyone's. Talking to everyone in the park was pretty enjoyable. Like most of the special events. The promotion to Divine Blade was cool. The final bond events weren't as good as the regular bond events, IMO (which makes sense, since those tied into the story more). Sharon x Anton was surprisingly excellent.

Finale:

Too many locations to visit, but it somehow felt like it didn't take as long as doing so in 3-1 did? Maybe because of less stuff to do on the airship. Visiting everywhere and doing the sidequests was mostly pretty fun, but I expected more of the Diana quest than just "evil demon kidnapping women to eat them". The Hamel one was much better done. The teams for the Pales were hype, especially E-team, but then they got basically no story stuff, so that sucked. Was surprised that the war actually started, but I guess they had to wait for the war to start so they could actually do their attack? Would've been better if they'd focused on the casualties for the conflict, but eh.

Final dungeon: I like the layout with the Garden as the resting point in the middle. This is the gameplay variety I crave. Made it feel less like a long slog.

The confrontation with Lechter and Claire sucked - you beat them and they become good. This could've and should've happened a long time ago, and just feels way overdue here.

Cedric and Shirley were done much better. You actually feel some emotional impact with Cedric, though Shirley feeling totally different from how she was in Crossbell is still weird. Cedric joining Ouroboros is painful, especially his weird motivation: "I won't be fully punished if I stay here, so I'm going to go on a fun journey enjoying the world and doing more evil things" - like what?

Mariabell and Campanella - learned some interesting things here. Kinda makes it seem like they'll go for a DDLC or Star Ocean 3 twist at some point. I think their should've been something more personal with Campanella though, after the way Juna got to him in Crossbell.

Rufus and Alberich - people acting like Rufus is strong is dumb. I mean, we beat freaking Lianne, Rufus is nothing. It was nice that he at least got arrested for his crimes, even if all the Ironbloods should've.

Random comment: there was a line like "They're not the Ironbloods anymore. They're the knights of blood and iron now. There's no going back for them anymore." - I really hope this sounded less dumb in Japanese, because it's just hilarious in English.

McBurn - made McBurn a lot more interesting than before! Was nice to see him finally not feel like a joke. I think he should've shared more of the truth with us, but eh. The fight was annoying, because I crushed him, but he killed Rean with his S-Craft and I wasn't sure what to do after that the first time.

Osborne - this was all good, but it should've been better. The game needed more Osborne. They wrote the final conflict real well, I just think it should've been built-up harder. I also don't really see a point in the whole "Dreichels reborn" thing.

Normal Ending - shorter than it could've been, but had some great emotional impact!

True ending - shame about the lack of emotional impact. Reviving Millium and Crow was fucking garbage, especially since they let Alisa's dad die even though he was more alive than they were. Giving us a long explanation of everything that happened in the world was cool and much appreciated compared to the Sky 2/Azure endings. The wedding part with all the pictures was fantastic, and the best part of the ending, IMO.

Epilogue - why do you have to watch the true ending twice to see this? Very stupid. Was good though! Lots of reveals without giving us the whole story, which is fine. Was cool to see the Grandmaster for real, who looks exactly like Demiurgos from Azure. Explains why Mariabell was so happy to follow her. Fun that Nielsen and 1st Anguis have the same VA.

Overall: pretty good, but could've been better. There were some silly decisions, like making it take place in far too short a period of time. Like, even from Act 1 they're running out of food and drafting people to go to war. Do they not realize it takes months to train freshly drafted soldiers, and that you don't generally run out of food before the war even begins? Two months (or longer) would've been much better. Also, I wish the Cold Steel games had more trains, since that's kinda what they're supposed to be about. Trains have interesting limitations and give more flavor than just relying on airships again and again. They actually managed to use the giant cast pretty well - better than CS2, I think. Still it would've benefited from being more focused than it was. Running around exploring, doing sidequests, and talking to people was generally the highlight.

CS ranking: 1 > 3 > 4 > 2. The CS games don't do high stakes well, IMO. 1 has low stakes, and it's totally believable. I didn't believe any of the stakes in 4 or 2 were real. Would be better if they focused more on emotional development and such. I really didn't care about anything to do with the (early spoilers) war/curse. Fun to play a big, sprawling JRPG though.
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