

The biggest problem with the villains is the typical anime game trope of defeating them in the battle, but losing in the cutscene, constantly. This whole series just loves to blue ball you. You are constantly getting teased, never getting a payoff. Nothing you do matters.
spoiler
Until finally in CS3, the big mystery is revealed, and it’s a wet fart. Just a massive let down. 8 games, 500h of time wasted on that garbage. Jokes on me though, since Falcom got all my money already, and I eventually plan to hate-play the rest of the series, just to see the conclusion of this train wreck. I’m in too deep at this point.
That’s why I said almost. I remember being pretty disappointed at the end, because the ties to the rest of the series got more prominent.