So I swear I wrote this when I finished CS4 more recently, and looking back at the forums don't see it.. wut.. noo. Honestly, I doubt I can convey 1/4 of my overall feeling for this game, or the series' arc.

I want to begin with though, that while I can't remember when I last graded each game individually to the series, and can't remember the logic behind it, I do have fairly consistent opinions over my lifetime, and I would say that I would put CS4 one rank above CS3, which I believe I put pretty high in the series in general... probably around CS1 (not 2). Point is, I don't think CS was a 'mistake', and I loathe the 'professional' opinion that says such that I feel has manipulated many people into thinking otherwise. I don't think CS was a mistake, and frankly, on average (CS2 excluding, which I know many people love, but is still my kiseki low point), is probably deserving of the better half of or equal to the series as a whole, which in of itself, I have no complaints about when it comes to its length, its length is what makes it special IMO, and I would never want that taken away.

sooo.. uhh. I loved FC, and SC was bliss in how it started from FC's end. But after the first chapter, it really didn't resonate with me, but the final chapter was bliss once again, maybe even my favorite part of the entire series, and the motivating factor of me playing the series as a whole front to back, again, and again, and maybe even again. I do intend to play the whole series  from start to finish when it's complete in the future. I hope I can for every game at that point.

I see why people like Zero/Azure, and I do think Zero does a really good job of making the story higher-stakes without making it unbelievable, I do think Zero is great for that, compared to FC, but I simply don't know how to value the game without being biased towards FC's established lore. I think it's just a step less, but.... like I said, I'm not trying to think about it in this essay.

Azure on the other hand, seemed more like an effort to listen to the criticism from fans who didn't actually want an 'epic' despite throwing the word around, and continue off of zero in ways of making it more 'grand' (in as believable a way as possible to earn those 'epic' points.). It's still good, nay, even great, in terms of RPG averages in that regard. but my point is, it's just not the right position in the true 'epic' that is the series in general.

Bah, Moving on to Cold steel....

Sunnofa. I wrote a bunch and then hit undo to fix a typo for a word, and it removed like 6 paragraphs.. ugh... will write more later, sorry, but it's late and don't want to re-effort. g'night.