Cold Steel 3: Beginner Guide for those New to Series?

Cold Steel games tend to want to start with a bang but it can be so jarring for someone new to the series.

Cold Steel 1 starts with a mid-game fight. Cold Steel comes after the Crossbell arc so the very first thing they show you is a threat that Crossbell will be fired at and destroyed. Very cheap, game already has a good tutorial dungeon, so it's overall just bad and annoying.

Cold Steel 2 doesn't start with a mid-game fight but it's more of a spoiler thing and isn't too hectic. I'd say the ending to Cold Steel 1 is the bang, and 2 just starts with calming things down and giving you an objective to go forward.

Cold Steel 3 starts again with a mid-game fight with you getting to play with some of the original members because otherwise, the story takes a long time till you can play original members again. It's bad, but not Cold Steel 1 bad.

Cold Steel 4 promised players that they'll get to play with protagonists of the other games, but the story takes way too long till you could do that, so they decided you'll start the game by playing a small section with a party that includes the protagonists of the other games. Not the worst, but still cheap and creates some bad pacing. Cold Steel 4 should have been like 2; the previous game ended with a bang, this one calms things down

/r/Falcom Thread