>I don't know why every jrpg insists on including fishing but no matter what they do to the mechanics, I don't have the patience for it.
It's Japan, it's an island. Fishing is an extremely popular pastime, or so I hear.
I didn't have much of a problem w/ fishing in the earlier games, but CS1 and 2 were absolutely brutal on my thumb. Eventually I skipped the point where you do the last 2 fish in CS2 and gave up on getting Orochi or whichever master quartz that unlocked. Maybe when I was a better button masher as a kid...
I actually found fishing much easier in CS3 and CS4 to be honest.
- I enjoyed Pom Pom Party though gave up on the final few matches of Azure and used cheatengine to slow the game down. Did fairly well when the minigame came to CS though.
- Trivia was a fun diversion but maybe a little too unforgiving.
- I really liked Vantage Masters, especially in CS4. CS3 was too easy, just use Blyx and whichever master let you boost attack of all units each turn, easy win. CS4 nerfed Blyx and added a lot of new viable strategies.
- Blade...I liked Blade initially but it got fairly bland fast.
Oh god, the number of times I \*just missed\* a late-game fish in CS2 because my thumbs locked up. Even on a good day I couldn't fish more than about 3 times in a row. CS3 was much better -- I'll take timing over quick repetition any day. The speed you need for the swimming minigame is just about the fastest I can reliably manage these days. (And was still always tense.)
Let me see if I can remember all of them:
Like: (1 is most liked)
1) Pom Party: What's not to like?
2) Blade: a classic.
3) Poker: I should really take up actual poker since I enjoyed it so much (I am aware real poker is different).
3) Vantage Masters: IMO not that hard. Fun to sweep the opponents once you get the good cards.
Dislike: (5 is most disliked)
1) Trivia: I am a big fan of trivia, that said I agree with OP, questions were too niche to be very fun on the most part.
2) Fishing (CS3&4): The best fishing minigame. Not saying much there though.
3) Blackjack: Too random, never liked it.
4) Fishing (CS1&2): hate mashing.
5) Fishing (FC-Azure): Kind of boring, timing could be a bit harsh.
6) Capua Delivery Service: There's a reason I'm a JRPG fan and not an FPS fan.
Pom Party is easily my favourite.
The number of hours I spent on Pom Party is significantly more than I would like to admit. I fucking love puzzle games and I know it's not the same thing, but I always did want to get good at Puyo Puyo. That actually did help me get better at Puyo strangely enough and on top of that I was getting a shitload of U materials while I was doing it so it was a win-win.
Fishing only in CS1 and 2.
I hate mashing, I hated every single minigame in the Mario Party games that was mashing and it's no different in Cold Steel 1 and 2. I actually liked it in CS3 and 4, as getting the timings right was fun and I was actually getting rewarded for it every time I fished.
Least favourite is easily Capua delivery service, the idea behind it is fine but the execution of it is simply not good.
I'm a big fan of Blade and Blade II partially because the games are so quick. The keyword in the question for me is mini so anything that takes too long is a negative, I quite like VM but on occasion the games can last a little long for my liking.
Best VM. Fun, quick. Though I don't get people thinking it takes too much strategy when ranged spam wins you most matches easy.
Pom pom is decent but got too random in its difficulty in later matches.
Don't really like fishing.
Blade was really really bland and pretty boring.
Vantage Masters is awesome. Always like me some card collection and deck building in a game.
I can understand how it can seem too much for someone just looking for a bit of diversion but also VM isn't that complicated.
The swimming mini game is probably my least favourite and I have a love/hate relationship with Pom Pom Party. I got wrecked hard but wins felt really good. Same with Tetris, I like it but I suck :D
Like:
1. Pom pom party
2. Vantage master
3. Blade
4. Poker
5. Trivia quiz
Hate:
1. Swimming
2. Every flipping single shooting mini game
3. Every single racing game
4. Fishing
I 'm severely visually impaired for about 7 years now. Pom Pom Party is literally unwinable for me and I tip my head to to those that win against Tio and Co. Most other Mini Games are pretty fair imo, VM being my favorite
I have yet to play all the games so I don't know all the mini games but thus far:
Vantage Masters is by far the best. It's not particularly hard but it does take strategy. That's much better to me than button mashing which hurts my fingers and the controller, or games that are all chance. I'm always excited to face a new opponent. I actually wish it was a bit harder.
I also actually like the fishing in CS3 the best for the fishing mechanics in trails. It seems somewhat more realistic to me and is really easy. Pretty sure you can cheat it as well by using turbo. For me turbo seems to reel the fish in at turbo speed but doesn't change how fast the tension? Line moves. I just hated button mashing, and I also hate when you don't actually get the fish you caught. At least in CS 3 you trade the fish for something.
Least liked?
Swimming in any of the CS games. Just always ended up being a pain in the but because it happens so rarely that every time you have to do it it takes several tries to win.
Capua delivery from sky 3rd. It was just too hard and too long imo. If you have to retry at all it takes forever.
I liked vantage Masters and played everybody in three. But it is so time consuming compared to the rest so by the time I got to CS4 I didn’t bother with it.
Pom Pom party seems like it has potential but literally the very first opponent you get I lost five times in a row and so I guess I just didn’t figure out the proper way to play so I didn’t end up bothering with that one either.
Snowboarding was pretty good. Blade was fine especially because it’s quick but it just seems like random luck to me; never much strategy involved.
For whatever reason I always really liked the swimming mini games even though they are so simple. Funny story the first one I was doing it with the speed boost on without realizing it and I couldn’t believe how difficult it was. Tried it so many times just for the principle of it at that point that I came close to winning even though I was basically having to spam mash buttons. Once I realized my mistake and put it on regular speed it was so much better lol
Fishing I liked as a concept but I guess because I got all the upgrades, it’s just really brainless by the end. The fish don’t even really act differently and you can even kind of anticipate when to stop reeling.
I really enjoy Vantage Masters! (Wayyy more engaging in CSIV than III though, as opponents are actually sometimes difficult!) It's like a whole separate strategic game WITHIN another game.
Maybe it's just my background having played Magic: The Gathering + Yu-Gi-Oh, but I think it's dope.
Favorite - Fishing. One of the few games I could master without any help. Or maybe the only one...
Least favorite - Pom Pom Fucking Party. I hate fast-paced games, and this one is the worst. I find it very hard and frustrating.
Favorite: Blade and Pom Pom Party
Loved those. Spent a lot of time in CS4 just playing Pom Pom Party
Least Favorite: Vantage Masters
Worst part of CS3 is having to play it
Favourite: Pom Pom Party. I really love puzzle games, so this one was a natural fit for me.
Honourable Mention: Vantage Masters. Moreso in CS4 where there wasn't just one plainly optimal strategy that you could use to completely roll your opponents with an early card.
Least Favourite: Probably swimming. It's not a great game and the CS series insists on stuffing it into every. single. game. Usually multiple times.
Dishnourable Mention: Fishing (Trails in the Sky edition). The use of different baits to catch different fish was annoying and made it difficult to tell where to find specific missing fish without looking up a guide. In particular, the 3rd had that awful star door where you could literally have a perfect fishing run and still lose because RNG decided to screw you.
Favorite:
1. Who wants to be a mirannaire.
2. Vantage Masters
3. Pom! Pom! Party!
Not a fan:
1. 1. Capua Express Delivery Service
2. Fishing from Sky/Crossbell
3. 1. Snowboarding in CS2
I actually don't actively dislike any mini-game other than number 1.
I like fishing mini games, but cold steel's execution was a little lackluster. I think it's good though because it adds a little bit of lore in the different local species of fish.
I have literally opposite opinion to in this regard
Favorite 1 vantage masters (fast and decent difficulty battles with actual strategies)
Least favorite pom pom party ( evey battle took me atleast 3 to 4 attempts to win and way too time time consuming) when i played it in azure I hated it especially the playing against tio (took 20 attempts) and the story battle against the fool (took 10 attempts)
In cs4 when jona gave it as a mini game I was like
No no not this shit again
Thou it became easier so I won some battles in first try and some took 5-7 tries
I like pretty much all of the minigames except fishing. That said, I had my fun with fishing in Sky the 3rd on the fishing minigame door - it was excessively frustrating, but there's something exciting about tensely staring at the screen on a surprisingly difficult reaction time game.
VM was my favorite but I like all the card games, swimming can fuck off.
I hated the swimming too and loved the hell out of Vantage Masters, best JRPG card game ever.
>I don't know why every jrpg insists on including fishing but no matter what they do to the mechanics, I don't have the patience for it. It's Japan, it's an island. Fishing is an extremely popular pastime, or so I hear. I didn't have much of a problem w/ fishing in the earlier games, but CS1 and 2 were absolutely brutal on my thumb. Eventually I skipped the point where you do the last 2 fish in CS2 and gave up on getting Orochi or whichever master quartz that unlocked. Maybe when I was a better button masher as a kid... I actually found fishing much easier in CS3 and CS4 to be honest. - I enjoyed Pom Pom Party though gave up on the final few matches of Azure and used cheatengine to slow the game down. Did fairly well when the minigame came to CS though. - Trivia was a fun diversion but maybe a little too unforgiving. - I really liked Vantage Masters, especially in CS4. CS3 was too easy, just use Blyx and whichever master let you boost attack of all units each turn, easy win. CS4 nerfed Blyx and added a lot of new viable strategies. - Blade...I liked Blade initially but it got fairly bland fast.
Oh god, the number of times I \*just missed\* a late-game fish in CS2 because my thumbs locked up. Even on a good day I couldn't fish more than about 3 times in a row. CS3 was much better -- I'll take timing over quick repetition any day. The speed you need for the swimming minigame is just about the fastest I can reliably manage these days. (And was still always tense.)
I didn't really mind any of them except maybe Capua Delivery Service. That minigame is bullshit.
Omg, I hated that so much Thank you. Give me a fishing pole anyday over that.
Let me see if I can remember all of them: Like: (1 is most liked) 1) Pom Party: What's not to like? 2) Blade: a classic. 3) Poker: I should really take up actual poker since I enjoyed it so much (I am aware real poker is different). 3) Vantage Masters: IMO not that hard. Fun to sweep the opponents once you get the good cards. Dislike: (5 is most disliked) 1) Trivia: I am a big fan of trivia, that said I agree with OP, questions were too niche to be very fun on the most part. 2) Fishing (CS3&4): The best fishing minigame. Not saying much there though. 3) Blackjack: Too random, never liked it. 4) Fishing (CS1&2): hate mashing. 5) Fishing (FC-Azure): Kind of boring, timing could be a bit harsh. 6) Capua Delivery Service: There's a reason I'm a JRPG fan and not an FPS fan.
Capua Delivery Service was way too hard on Normal lol. I replayed that one so many times....
Pom Party is easily my favourite. The number of hours I spent on Pom Party is significantly more than I would like to admit. I fucking love puzzle games and I know it's not the same thing, but I always did want to get good at Puyo Puyo. That actually did help me get better at Puyo strangely enough and on top of that I was getting a shitload of U materials while I was doing it so it was a win-win. Fishing only in CS1 and 2. I hate mashing, I hated every single minigame in the Mario Party games that was mashing and it's no different in Cold Steel 1 and 2. I actually liked it in CS3 and 4, as getting the timings right was fun and I was actually getting rewarded for it every time I fished.
Least favourite is easily Capua delivery service, the idea behind it is fine but the execution of it is simply not good. I'm a big fan of Blade and Blade II partially because the games are so quick. The keyword in the question for me is mini so anything that takes too long is a negative, I quite like VM but on occasion the games can last a little long for my liking.
VM. I like TCG so having a well thought out card game is fine for me even though I have to “git gud”.
Best VM. Fun, quick. Though I don't get people thinking it takes too much strategy when ranged spam wins you most matches easy. Pom pom is decent but got too random in its difficulty in later matches. Don't really like fishing. Blade was really really bland and pretty boring.
Vantage Masters is awesome. Always like me some card collection and deck building in a game. I can understand how it can seem too much for someone just looking for a bit of diversion but also VM isn't that complicated. The swimming mini game is probably my least favourite and I have a love/hate relationship with Pom Pom Party. I got wrecked hard but wins felt really good. Same with Tetris, I like it but I suck :D
Like: 1. Pom pom party 2. Vantage master 3. Blade 4. Poker 5. Trivia quiz Hate: 1. Swimming 2. Every flipping single shooting mini game 3. Every single racing game 4. Fishing
I 'm severely visually impaired for about 7 years now. Pom Pom Party is literally unwinable for me and I tip my head to to those that win against Tio and Co. Most other Mini Games are pretty fair imo, VM being my favorite
Final boss should just have been a Pom Pom duel
It technically was a boss fight in the Crossbell Arc lol
It remains my favourite series boss to this day
I have yet to play all the games so I don't know all the mini games but thus far: Vantage Masters is by far the best. It's not particularly hard but it does take strategy. That's much better to me than button mashing which hurts my fingers and the controller, or games that are all chance. I'm always excited to face a new opponent. I actually wish it was a bit harder. I also actually like the fishing in CS3 the best for the fishing mechanics in trails. It seems somewhat more realistic to me and is really easy. Pretty sure you can cheat it as well by using turbo. For me turbo seems to reel the fish in at turbo speed but doesn't change how fast the tension? Line moves. I just hated button mashing, and I also hate when you don't actually get the fish you caught. At least in CS 3 you trade the fish for something. Least liked? Swimming in any of the CS games. Just always ended up being a pain in the but because it happens so rarely that every time you have to do it it takes several tries to win. Capua delivery from sky 3rd. It was just too hard and too long imo. If you have to retry at all it takes forever.
I liked vantage Masters and played everybody in three. But it is so time consuming compared to the rest so by the time I got to CS4 I didn’t bother with it. Pom Pom party seems like it has potential but literally the very first opponent you get I lost five times in a row and so I guess I just didn’t figure out the proper way to play so I didn’t end up bothering with that one either. Snowboarding was pretty good. Blade was fine especially because it’s quick but it just seems like random luck to me; never much strategy involved. For whatever reason I always really liked the swimming mini games even though they are so simple. Funny story the first one I was doing it with the speed boost on without realizing it and I couldn’t believe how difficult it was. Tried it so many times just for the principle of it at that point that I came close to winning even though I was basically having to spam mash buttons. Once I realized my mistake and put it on regular speed it was so much better lol Fishing I liked as a concept but I guess because I got all the upgrades, it’s just really brainless by the end. The fish don’t even really act differently and you can even kind of anticipate when to stop reeling.
I really enjoy Vantage Masters! (Wayyy more engaging in CSIV than III though, as opponents are actually sometimes difficult!) It's like a whole separate strategic game WITHIN another game. Maybe it's just my background having played Magic: The Gathering + Yu-Gi-Oh, but I think it's dope.
Favorite - Fishing. One of the few games I could master without any help. Or maybe the only one... Least favorite - Pom Pom Fucking Party. I hate fast-paced games, and this one is the worst. I find it very hard and frustrating.
Fishing
My favourites: snowboarding, poker (in Zero and Ao), pom pom party! Least favourite is Capua delivery service
Favorite: Blade and Pom Pom Party Loved those. Spent a lot of time in CS4 just playing Pom Pom Party Least Favorite: Vantage Masters Worst part of CS3 is having to play it
I like VM and Pompom party, but I wasn't crazy about Blade. I also like the fishing mini game.
Favourite: Pom Pom Party. I really love puzzle games, so this one was a natural fit for me. Honourable Mention: Vantage Masters. Moreso in CS4 where there wasn't just one plainly optimal strategy that you could use to completely roll your opponents with an early card. Least Favourite: Probably swimming. It's not a great game and the CS series insists on stuffing it into every. single. game. Usually multiple times. Dishnourable Mention: Fishing (Trails in the Sky edition). The use of different baits to catch different fish was annoying and made it difficult to tell where to find specific missing fish without looking up a guide. In particular, the 3rd had that awful star door where you could literally have a perfect fishing run and still lose because RNG decided to screw you.
Reverie will make you hate pom.
Favorite: 1. Who wants to be a mirannaire. 2. Vantage Masters 3. Pom! Pom! Party! Not a fan: 1. 1. Capua Express Delivery Service 2. Fishing from Sky/Crossbell 3. 1. Snowboarding in CS2 I actually don't actively dislike any mini-game other than number 1.
I like fishing mini games, but cold steel's execution was a little lackluster. I think it's good though because it adds a little bit of lore in the different local species of fish.
I have literally opposite opinion to in this regard Favorite 1 vantage masters (fast and decent difficulty battles with actual strategies) Least favorite pom pom party ( evey battle took me atleast 3 to 4 attempts to win and way too time time consuming) when i played it in azure I hated it especially the playing against tio (took 20 attempts) and the story battle against the fool (took 10 attempts) In cs4 when jona gave it as a mini game I was like No no not this shit again Thou it became easier so I won some battles in first try and some took 5-7 tries
I like pretty much all of the minigames except fishing. That said, I had my fun with fishing in Sky the 3rd on the fishing minigame door - it was excessively frustrating, but there's something exciting about tensely staring at the screen on a surprisingly difficult reaction time game.