PSA: Play Crossbell! *Mild Spoilers*

[CFW Magic]

(Disclaimer: I got CS III and IV on GOG. If it looks like I don't own it, that's why. I still have I and II on steam though.)

So, I'm just about finishing CSIII and ... I really wish I would've played Crossbell arc first. Unfortunately, I don't think I have it in me.

SSS was introduced very awkwardly in CSII, which went right above my head since I didn't play Ao or Zero no Kiseki.

And then Juna completely killed any interest I had in Crossbell at all. I've googled it a bit to see how other people received it. Consensus seems to be that Juna is mostly annoying for people who didn't play/didn't care about Crossbell arc.

From a perspective of someone who started with CSI, Juna, and to a lesser degree the divertissement from CSII, is a huge turn off from the Crossbell arc, it's cast and any Crossbell characters as a whole.

From the Erebonian perspective, Crossbell becomes an enemy once they basically fire an ion cannon at Garellia. Not a reason to hate Juna but, with the theme of the games, it makes sense that the Empire and Crossbell aren't exactly friendlies.

Watching Rean's actions hits home because on the one hand, we ARE the invaders. We serve the antagonists. On the other hand ... That IS war. And we took as good as we give with that ion cannon blast at Garellia.

So when Juna cracks and breaks into a well intended rant ... The moment which makes her that much more likeable to people who played Crossbell annoys me even more. Having no connection with Crossbell myself it goes right above my head.

Juna's questions about why we're invading and taking over her country are just as swiftly responded with: "Because it's war." Makes you wonder why Juna simply doesn't ... Leave. Rean himself doesn't like what is happening, but he either follows orders or, if he's done, switches sides.

Juna's motivations and feelings however don't hit the mark. She seems to be ignoring Crossbell firing the Ion Cannon. More importantly, there's no reason for her to even enlist with Thors in the first place. In that respect, Randy is dealing with it much better, similar to Rean: Either follow orders and leave emotion behind, or do what you must do but don't cry on your "enemy's" shoulder about it.

---

Conclusion: Without playing the Crossbell arc, connecting with any of the Crossbell cast, caring about Crossbell as a state or going out of my way to help Crossbell in any shape or form just doesn't happen.

Since CSI, Rean has been shown the "realities of war", first with terror and a little bit of Calvard, then with a Civil War and ultimately direct conflict with Calvard. The games seem to push you to "Accept your orders, like them or not. Do what you must."

Which, when it eventually becomes time to disregard those orders for the sake of Crossbell ... Without any connection to it ... One is simply left with a question: "Who are you and why should I care? I have enough issues on my own. Why should I care what a person who views me as an enemy soldier thinks?"

I get a feeling that a lot of this would be resolved if I played Crossbell arc first. But ... After the CSII Divertissement and CSIII Juna ... I honestly don't want to. Maybe I'll revisit that later after finishing CSIV but ... It'll still feel like "playing as the enemy".

---

TL;DR: I ruined the Crossbell Arc for myself by playing Cold Steel first. If you ever want to play Ao/Zero no Kiseki, might be a good idea to hold off on playing CSIII.

[NisseDood]

There was no war.
You miss a lot of information on what actually happened to the point your explanation sounds more like some Erebonian propaganda book that leaves out most information.

[CFW Magic]

Originally posted by NisseDood:

There was no war.
You miss a lot of information on what actually happened to the point your explanation sounds more like some Erebonian propaganda book that leaves out most information.

Probably because I didn't play the Crossbell arc. But yeah, CSII and CSIII does mention a war between Erebonia and Calvard on Crossbell territory. Crossbel DID also use an ion cannon on Garellia. Unless I'm misunderstanding something? I pretty clearly seem to remember there being Airship vs Soldat conflict during the occupation of Crossbell.

Still, that's exactly my point and the point of this PSA. Play Crossbell before Cold Steel, otherwise you'll miss a lot of cricial information. And at the point where I am ... Honestly, I simply can't even bring myself to care or like Crossbell at all.

In the end, what happens is that ... The Divertissement in CSII was frustrating gameplay wise, while not giving me anything of value story-wise, dampening my interest towards the SSS. And then CSIII Juna just kills it completely to the point where ... Not only do I not want to know more about Crossbell. I actively want to know LESS.

That's how it feels looking from the outside in. Really wish I played Crossbell before I played CS. Now however ... I don't think I will in a long time. Took me a while to realize too. I genuinely wondered while playing: "I'm not having fun ... Why is this not fun?" and then it hit me. I realized that I didn't care about any of the Crossbell characters.

And while CSIII started off a blank slate with a lot of other characters ... Juna and the SSS are the only ones which didn't grow on me by the end. The only ones I still didn't care about. To the point that ... I felt more interested in Valerie/Gustaf/Pablo running their club than anything related to Crossbell. I can only assume it's because I didn't play Zero/Ao though.

TL;DR: Yeah. I pretty much ruined Crossbell for myself by not playing it first. But ... I just can't seem to force myself to enjoy it.

[NisseDood]

Originally posted by CFW Magic:

Originally posted by NisseDood:

There was no war.
You miss a lot of information on what actually happened to the point your explanation sounds more like some Erebonian propaganda book that leaves out most information.

Probably because I didn't play the Crossbell arc. But yeah, CSII and CSIII does mention a war between Erebonia and Calvard on Crossbell territory. Crossbel DID also use an ion cannon on Garellia. Unless I'm misunderstanding something? I pretty clearly seem to remember there being Airship vs Soldat conflict during the occupation of Crossbell.

Still, that's exactly my point and the point of this PSA. Play Crossbell before Cold Steel, otherwise you'll miss a lot of cricial information. And at the point where I am ... Honestly, I simply can't even bring myself to care or like Crossbell at all.

In the end, what happens is that ... The Divertissement in CSII was frustrating gameplay wise, while not giving me anything of value story-wise, dampening my interest towards the SSS. And then CSIII Juna just kills it completely to the point where ... Not only do I not want to know more about Crossbell. I actively want to know LESS.

That's how it feels looking from the outside in. Really wish I played Crossbell before I played CS. Now however ... I don't think I will in a long time. Took me a while to realize too. I genuinely wondered while playing: "I'm not having fun ... Why is this not fun?" and then it hit me. I realized that I didn't care about any of the Crossbell characters.

And while CSIII started off a blank slate with a lot of other characters ... Juna and the SSS are the only ones which didn't grow on me by the end. The only ones I still didn't care about. To the point that ... I felt more interested in Valerie/Gustaf/Pablo running their club than anything related to Crossbell. I can only assume it's because I didn't play Zero/Ao though.

TL;DR: Yeah. I pretty much ruined Crossbell for myself by not playing it first. But ... I just can't seem to force myself to enjoy it.

The Ion canon thing was a thing used by the president by using Kea so it wasnt a thing they just had.
The airships where Calvard airships because both Erebonia and Calvard want to control Crossbell.
Crossbell isnt even allowed to have an army and only got a local military police force that only got military Apc with machine guns and normal jeeps.
If any country actually invaded them they would get completely steamrolled.
Also Crossbell was never its own country, it was an autonomous state like Hong Kong is.
Crossbell ark is the best arc because it got the smallest cast that do everything together so they really feel like a group and when I played Cold steel 3 I was really disappointed how half assed the chapter was.

[Israly]

make yourself a favor and play crossbell...its the best this series has to offer.

[NisseDood]

Originally posted by Israly:

make yourself a favor and play crossbell...its the best this series has to offer.

Im still sad how the series could just get better every game until crossbell and suddenly take a complete nosedive with cold steel.

[CFW Magic]

Originally posted by NisseDood:

The Ion canon thing was a thing used by the president by using Kea so it wasnt a thing they just had.
The airships where Calvard airships because both Erebonia and Calvard want to control Crossbell.
Crossbell isnt even allowed to have an army and only got a local military police force that only got military Apc with machine guns and normal jeeps.
If any country actually invaded them they would get completely steamrolled.
Also Crossbell was never its own country, it was an autonomous state like Hong Kong is.
Crossbell ark is the best arc because it got the smallest cast that do everything together so they really feel like a group and when I played Cold steel 3 I was really disappointed how half assed the chapter was.

Makes more sense. Still, Juna disgusted me so much and CSII Crossbell part frustrated me so much that ... I really just don't want anything to do with Crossbell. Part of it because Juna really made an extremely bad impression of it, part of it because I disliked both Lloyd and Rixia parts in CSII.

I tried to force myself to give Crossbell a chance but ... I don't know. After CS, it just doesn't click. I just can't seem to care about the cast.

Originally posted by Israly:

make yourself a favor and play crossbell...its the best this series has to offer.

I should have yeah. But ruined it for myself. After CS ... I just can't force myself to enjoy Crossbell at all. I literally forced myself to sit down and play a fan translation of Zero .. And the only thing I could think was "I want to go back to Class VII".

I hope less people make this mistake and play games in the right order. But yeah ... I just can't seem to enjoy Crossbell at all. Juna ruined it. And then Lloyd and Rixia were very poorly introduced in CSII.

In retrospective, it makes sense, because in JP, the original releases, you get the crossbell characters first, so you don't need the introduction. Unfortunately, for some reason, Zero and Ao weren't oficially translated, so my first introduction to Lloyd and Rixia had a lot to be desired.

As it stands ... I just can't come to care about Crossbell. Everytime I try to invest myself with SSS, the best thing that happens is that I get a head-ache. The worst thing that happens is that I get annoyed.

Originally posted by NisseDood:

Im still sad how the series could just get better every game until crossbell and suddenly take a complete nosedive with cold steel.

Complete opposite in my case. I actually liked Trails in the Sky, but ... I really can't enjoy Crossbell at all. I tried to force myself to play it but ... I just can't enjoy it. Lloyd sounds like a pompous dimwit, Rixia sounds like the most annoying parts of Alisa and Juna crossed over ...

And the most annoying part of it, is that I know all it takes is just forcing myself to play a few hours. Learn to know and enjoy the characters. Play through the storyline and immerse myself. But ... I just can't. After CS, Crossbell arc makes my head hurt at best and seriously annoys me at worst ...

Thus the PSA. Play Crossbell first, otherwise you end up stuck wanting to enjoy a game but being unable to because you were spoiled by all the eyecandy CSIII has to offer.

[Israly]

welp, thats really unfortunate, i dont know how far you got in zero, but my recomendation is to give it a chance, though i get from where you are coming from (this comes from someone that made the same mistake than you, i started with cs1 and cs2 then sky then crossbell), but by the end of azure, it had become my favorite arc. but i guess everyone has diferent tastes haha.
for me what did the crossbell arc so good was that the team development felt much better than cs (specially than cs3), it felt like having a team of people focused on solving the issues, where cs is too focused on rean, and on my opinion, makes the terrible mistake of introducing too much characters (specially on 3 and 4), and that takes a lot from the main team cast that was on cs1 (yes, you can imagine i dont like cs3 cast too much haha, i feel like its worse than the original class vii in every aspect).
on crossbell you play with the same guys on both games and thats awesome as you get invested in them. (the little screentime that the original class vii got in cs3 made it really dense for me).
but anyways thats just my opinion, crossbell was really good, you should still give it a try if you still have the energy for it, cheers.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Crossbell is not necessary and is overrated.

[CFW Magic]

Originally posted by Israly:

for me what did the crossbell arc so good was that the team development felt much better than cs (specially than cs3), it felt like having a team of people focused on solving the issues, where cs is too focused on rean, and on my opinion, makes the terrible mistake of introducing too much characters (specially on 3 and 4), and that takes a lot from the main team cast that was on cs1

Actually you may be onto something here. The focus on Rean is probably what actually helps me connest with CS better than Zero. It's much easier to project oneself onto Rean than onto Lloyd.

Same thing with introducing more characters at once. Having many, many characters as well as a very sizeable team actually gave me that vibe that I'm part of a living, breathing world, while Zero so far seems to do the opposite, the world existing only as a stage for characters I can't make a connection with.

I'm with you on liking CSIII cast much less than CS I / II, but that focus on Rean is really pulling it through for me. Rean doesn't necessarily want to be in the place he finds himself in, and that actually helps me connect with him better. All Rean wants is, ultimately, reconnecting with old Class VII, and that feeling is mutual, letting me invest myself into him that much more.

But, you're right. I need to give Zero more effort. Maybe once there's an official translated release of it I'll look into it again. Not to denigrate the fan patches, mind you, but maybe it's taking it's toll too, I don't know.

So far, I managed to force myself to play until Zero's Chapter 2 beginning, at which point I just couldn't take it anymore. I noticed myself dreading to play it and finding exuses to play literally anything else, so I stopped.

I'll force myself to give it another look eventually but .. So far, after experiencing the CS party systems, it's eyecandy and connecting with Rean as I did, Crossbell just .. Isn't fun.

Part of it is Juna's character always being in my mind when I think of Crossbell, part of it being personal distaste towards Lloyd and especially Rixia and part of it being me missing the CS game mechanics.

For now I won't push myself though. If playing a game feels like a chore then taking a break until I freshen up my mind and can look at it with a different perspective is probably the only viable solution.

[Histidine]

I found that not playing Crossbell arc before CS3 was indeed a mistake.

Under this scenario, there's no emotional impact to the Crossbell chapter of CS3 (I did play Sky before, and the difference between the tie-ins to the games I haven't played and the ones I have is pretty telling). The SSS are just a bunch of namedrops that have way too much relevance to the plot; at least with CS1 and 2, if you didn't get the previous-game references it didn't really matter.
(Also Rean is a ♥♥♥♥ for taking over someone else's story like that, the Crossbell chapter shoved the actual Crossbell team to the side)

Then I started CS4, saw that the first gameplay section has one person I barely know and two I don't know at all, and realized it was definitely time to fix my mistake. My girls Estelle and Joshua and Renne can wait for a bit.

Currently working through chapter 1 of Zero.
It's not great or anything but I don't hate it, if nothing else it hasn't managed to actively annoy me like a bunch of parts in CS did. I like Elie even though she's got a real bad case of Obvious Love Interest Archetype, and Tio makes a cool enough Quiet (robo-cat)Girl. Lloyd is a generic everyman protag and Randy is a meme, but eh, could be worse. Comparing the city to its CS3 depiction is kinda fun too.

[NisseDood]

The thing that I hated with chapter 2 of CS3 is that they kept hyping this operation birdcage where most of the crossbell gang was held but did absolutely nothing with it, instead it sent me to that dumb tower that I ran a gazillion times in crossbell already and then just released them all at end of chapter.
All I hoped for was some was a infiltration and break out part like in Sky FC with Tita's Granddad.

The good thing with Crossbell is that all your party members get good character development over the games since they are always together doing everything.

[webcider]

Coppe is very sad about this

[Entelechia]

play crossbell if you want to play crossbell, not because you want to play cold steel. don't if you don't want to though I guess most people that are like that will just ignore these kinds of promotional topics to begin with.

CS is its own story and Crossbell characters are really only 'impactful' if you're already invested in them to begin with aka a fanservice for old timers. if you don't care about playing old school games like sky and crossbell, you don't have to force yourself.

[RAMChYLD]

On the topic of Crossbell, I wonder if anyone noticed that Clouded Leopard has put up the Crossbell arc on Steam in Chinese but with English descriptions with a stated release date of Summer 2021. Hope this means an English localization is also coming. They also have the entire Cold Steel tetrology in Mandarin listed tho.

[OnlyOffensive]

Originally posted by NisseDood:

Originally posted by Israly:

make yourself a favor and play crossbell...its the best this series has to offer.

Im still sad how the series could just get better every game until crossbell and suddenly take a complete nosedive with cold steel.

Well, they had to make some kinda of finale for the whole arc, so you cant expect all games to be comfy and prologue-like.

This whole series is kinda unique and honestly idk how they could've written cold steel 3+ better. Definetely 1-2 felt sluggish, but 3d CS is pretty good condsidering its scoping the whole zemuria arc.