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Plenty of people will try to tell you that you can't play this one without playing other games, but there will also be people that will tell you they've only played this one and were fine.
So I'd lean towards it being fine as well if you're not too fussed about the story. CS3 does kind of soft-reboot in many ways and repeats the same beats as CS1 also with reintroducing every character as if you're new to the series.
You cannot rename any character.
No, it's not enjoyable if you don't want to play for the story. 90% of the content of this game consists of talking to NPCs and/or watching cut-scenes.
Talking to NPCs can mostly be skipped other than for when they are part of a main quest, but the game is still designed in such a way that hearing what the NPCs have to say is intended to be a main part of the experience.
These games are very similar to VNs in a lot of ways, even though they also have gameplay too, unlike VNs. But they are the same in that reading dialogues is the primary form of content in both cases.
As for your ideas about it being a "harem," no, that's not correct: these are not truly harem games.
The idea that it's a so-called "harem" gets spread solely because many Puritan-minded players use the word "harem" as a derogatory insult against these games, as a means to "virtue-signal" how outraged they are at the fact that almost all the females in the game are attracted to the main character (even though there is really nothing at all wrong with and/or to be outraged by about that whatsoever).
However, the "harem" elements of the game (and also the other games in the series) are actually very minimal and barely even existent.
There are very few "romantic" scenes, and the vast majority of the so-called "bonding events" have no romantic aspects to them at all whatsoever.
So the so-called "harem" is in actual fact, like a tacked-on afterthought that the devs hardly put any time or effort into developing.
These games are not a dating simulator, nor do they have any mechanics that even begin to scratch the surface of what dating simulator games would & do have.
As for the characters changing from game to game or not: in CS3 (and I think also CS4), other than the MC, all the characters from CS1 and CS2 who return again become temporary guest characters who only join your party briefly for certain story sections, and then leave again after a short while.
And you cannot customize those returning characters' clothing in CS3 (and you also cannot customize a lot of their battle gear either)...which seems to indicate that even the devs themselves didn't take those characters seriously any more as of the time of CS3, and also relegated them to another tacked-on afterthought type of thing.
Dragon says it doesn't have a harem, then goes on to explain exactly what a harem is and the fact that the game does feature a harem, and finally admits it has harem elements right after.
You're contradicting yourself there bud.
Either it has harem aspects or it doesn't... and as you stated, it very well does. Practically every female wants the male leadtherefore it's a harem by the very definition of harem, no ifs or buts about it.
It's not even about attempting to degrade the series by saying it, no, it's simply stating the facts.
I'm wondering if Cold Steel 4 has all the characters fully playable then? I'm looking at some of the DLC or costumes for it now, and it seems like there's a lot of swimsuits for way more girls.
I don't know if any of you have already played Cold Steel 4, but maybe I'll just wait and play that game (wish we knew when it was coming though). Since it's "The End of Saga" maybe it has more battles and combat in it, along with some nice fanservice stuff?
Yeah, just kind of torn on this. You got some people who say there's enjoyment to be had on it's own, but others who say the opposite. It's hard to tell what's all fanboy nonsense here or not. I don't doubt there's a connecting story here, but to make it seem like it's this super deep story that you need to play over a half-dozen games to fully enjoy is probably hyperbole.
Even with all the games being on sale right now, it's still a very expensive series to get into. Just this game alone is only 40% off, and when you add on the DLC which I would want to get it's even more expensive.
Didn't NISA give away the Premium Cosmetic set for free if you bought this on day one? Maybe it was only with the digital limited edition, but seems like the best deal would have been to buy that on release.
Maybe I'll just wait for Cold Steel 4 to come out and buy the best version of that on release, and if I like it enough I can always go back and play the earlier games.
Because buying it in the first week included some extra DLC, plus they had the Deluxe edition on sale which also included DLC... so the base Limited Deluxe Edition was $61... And that was like 51 of the DLC bundled. The remaining 30 or so DLC had it's own separate bundle that was on sale for about $20 at the time.
I hope I find them as good as most people claim they are. I do wish they were a bit cheaper, as even on sale it was a significant investment to get into the series. I guess because XSeed has 1 & 2, while NISA has 3 & 4 means that there was never gonna be a nice bundle package...
Was slightly tempted to grab the Trails in the Sky games, but it was just too much for me to shell out. If I really like Cold Steels I will go back and look at those after IV comes out.
Anyways, do you guys think it's reasonable to be able to complete all three without rushing before IV comes out?
If you play them normally (no rushing, no skipping cutscenes, do all quests, etc)... you'll spend around 100 hours give or take in each of them. On my first playthroughs, I spent like 105 hours in CS1, 85 hours in CS2, and 135 hours in CS3.
Yeah, if they're that long then I doubt i'd be able to do it then. I might need to get a different kind of game in between each one to give it a break also. Got a CRPG I'm in the middle of now, so it'll be a bit before I'm even ready to start them.
I'll still pick up IV whenever it releases since it seems that's buying on day one gets you the best deal for all the DLCs, as you detailed in your previous post. No word yet on when it's even coming though, huh?
PC later from what ive seen so far
Oh well, Sega / Atlus get no money from me until they actually have a confirmed release date on PC for Persona 5 Royal. I'm not even thinking about that though. It is what it is, and if it comes it comes. It's their loss if it doesn't. I might not even care about it by the time it does, because they seem insistent on playing games with the PC audience.
An actual good studio like NIS America will get my money whenever Cold Steel IV and Ys IX release. I just bought Cold Steel 1-3 from XSeed and NISA the other day, so I'm pretty excited to start them up soon. Still in the middle of Pathfinder: Kingmaker though, so it might be another week or two.
That was almost exactly what my play times show. 103 on CS1, 88 on CS2, and 140 on CS3.
But yea, I really had a good time with the games, and I'm glad I bought them. So I just wanted to say thanks again to Koby, and Dragon for answering some of my questions.
I did end up buying the three Trails in the Sky games last week, but I don't think I'll play those until after I've beaten CS4 once or twice.
The Steam page for Cold Steel 4 literally says April 9 for its release date, though.