It's not the most ideal way of playing but you should be able to follow the story, yes. Although I'd say this game references Reverie a lot more than CS4. One aspect of Calvard's economy is only explained at the end of CS4 (Erebonia's reparations) but you shouldn't be completely confused. Many people start with Daybreak and it was made so it was accessible to new players.

Originally posted by Horimboom:

So was wondering if anyone could tell me if id be able to follow the story since i never finished cold steel 4 or should i wait until I do?

Finish what you have ? CS4 > Reverie > Daybreak (> Daybreak 2)
If you were new, no problem i would have told you to go in and come back in time, but now that you have played CS nearly until the end.... commit, finish, complete it.

"Let's go from game 8 (CS3) / half of 9 (CS4) directly to 11 (Daybreak), sure nothing will go wrong LOL", it's like you are skipping one season of your show XD

Daybreak reference CS4 and Reverie, some event are taken / inspired by events from these games, and some characters exclusive to Reverie will come back in Daybreak 2, so you will NEED to have played Reverie + CS4 one day or another.
Why do you want to go CS3 > 1/2 CS4 > Daybreak > 1/2 CS4 > Reverie > Daybreak 2 ? Best way to be lost LOL

Yes, it's not heavy spoilers, it's marketed as an entry point blablabla.... I call it bs.

Don't need to skip games because the last one is out and you feel the urge to play it. The store page will not go away when you will have finish the 3 (4) games.

Depends on why you didnt finish.
If you, like me, simply do not enjoy the CS arc as much as the previous ones, just skip it and go play Daybreak, it is different enough and has more of the older games feel that if you enjoyed those, you will have a good time.
You will not know of some details but nothing is intrinsicly connected to the plot of this game, its just stuff that happened, so either look it up if you get interested or go back and play Reverie if Daybreak rekindles your passion for the series.

Going from CS IV, which is imo easily the worst in the series to Daybreak which is in my top three should make it clear whether you still like the series or not.

As for the actual questions, yea, you will be able to follow the story no problem, just wont get everything. Tho if you do enjoy Daybreak enough, I would still say go play Reverie before playing Daybreak 2 as they bring back some more characters there, for yet another bloated cast fest, but what can you do.