Man these 2 games are some of the best JRPG's I played. It hit all the right spots. While Lloyd individually doesn't stand up against Estelle, Kevin or Reverie C. He is one of those characters that really enhances the cast around him. Also the world building in these games is done very well even if these 2 are your first games. But if you played Sky that shyt just takes it to another level
Also it is the last games in the series to pose a challenge. Cold Steel Saga difficulty is a joke. Reverie and Kuro were better, but they were the type of games that ask you to break the game.
Now that these games have come to the west I feel like people can enjoy the series as it was intended. Since each game is meant to build upon the next. Tho I will note don't wait for Sky to get ported to consoles. XSeed holds the translation rights to it instead of NISA. A potato PC could run the sky games adequately. Hell it played well on my '15 Mac book Pro on Bootcamp.
Easily the best JRPG in terms of world building. The amount of dialogue is overwhelming and if that might be an issue don't try the series it is a giant time sink.