Going to be overly harsh with this one as the novelty of these games are starting to wear off. Cold Steel 3 is a fun experience, a much improved game over Cold Steel 2. Visually it is a MASSIVE upgrade from the previous two games, the music is great and there’s also an abundance of quality of life improvements. I could go over all the positives, the fan service is plentiful here, it is so refreshing to jump into after CS2. The game is so fun to break once you get brave orders after the first hours.

BUT

And it’s a big but, after 7 games, you would think Falcom would maybe be able to change the structure of their games. Every single chapter before the finale in Trails games without fail has a boss fight at the end where the enemies don’t actually fight you and they get a monster or lackeys to fight you instead, or you fight them and you lose in the cutscene. I’m also seeing a trend where they will dump endless lore on you in the last hour (that might just be a Cold Steel thing, I think Crossbell’s games were structured pretty much perfectly) which annoys me to know end as it just ends up making you feel like you aren’t following along. Don’t get me started on a certain type of character who has ended up becoming a villain in each arc so far…

I’m not saying this game isn’t good as it was, but the more I see the same patterns and the same structures within these games the more I feel like I will start to hate future entries, and I don’t want that.

Credit where credit is due, this is still a good game, yes I will be playing Cold Steel IV immediately, or at least starting it, but I hope at some point Falcom change these things as the further along this series goes I’m worried they won’t ever hit the heights of the Sky and Crossbell arcs ever again.

Decently interesting puzzle game but either I have a brain the size of a pea, or the game’s logic gets too complicated, as after the first hub level is complete, the levels get exponentially harder.

This game is very promising but I think (without having played Baba yet) it tries to copy Baba but without the good difficulty curve I’ve seen from that game. This game introduces new mechanics without any explanation and a lot of the time there is a VERY specific way to beat levels which take too much to work out.

Not a game I can recommend but one I’m at least glad I attempted as it is a nice change of pace from my usual genres.

Sadly not as good as the first game. This game is a lot longer, with more levels, longer levels, worse vehicles and worse level design. The only good thing here is the bosses which are fun again, but Ogura steals the show. His second phase is really really fun and I like the theme.

No translation for this game, I used this guide: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/gba/917608-densetsu-no-starfy-2/faqs/49807

Shoutout to Moe for being an idiot