The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV

A boring slog. Also, one of the most ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ stories ever. Don't even bother. Even if you played all three previous games. If you are very curious how the story ends don't play it, just read a summary or watch a youtube video. What a waste of time.

Game 9/13 Highest Highs and Lowest Lows of the series in one game. A complete 50/50 split of good and bad. Some of the scenes here are literally the best in the series while some are genuinely Hitler core. Unfortunately by the end of this game, I was just done. I was just burnt out. I had to CRAWL to finish this game so much so that I didn't touch the next one for a year. And for that reason this game is one of my least favorite in the series. Everyday I thank Nihon Falcom the newer games don't have a bloated ass cast ever again.

The finale of the Erebonia arc fails to measure up to the promise of its previous three games. If you're dying to find out how the story concludes, like I was after finishing the third game, prepare for disappointment. Pros: The heroes still have some great moments, and the interactions between them are often very engaging. The gameplay itself was surprisingly challenging at first, which makes the eventual power-scaling very satisfying. The "production" quality: music, cut-scenes, voice-acting, etc., are solid. Cons: The story, including the plot, the writing, the villains (and especially the way the heroes interact with the villains) are all a huge step down in quality compared to the previous games. On the writing/villain side of things, there are several characters who get "redemption arcs" in this game. I emphasis the quotation marks because they're laughably rushed, and completely undeserved. There are several heroes from previous games who went through redemption arcs, so I know the writers can write excellent arcs for characters like that. They just... didn't this time. It didn't even feel like they tried to. An example for the plotting issues, something that that writers have historically done very well: there was a major plot element in the previous game that is mentioned only in passing exactly 3 times in this one. I honestly thought they decided to retcon it, even though it was a huge part of the finale of the last game, since the first mention is only around halfway through the game. By the end, I realized that they didn't retcon it--the heroes just apparently didn't care about it enough to react or talk about it at all, which was a bizarre choice, and just awful story-telling. I like Class VII. I think they're great heroes. But great heroes deserve great stories. Great heroes deserve great villains. Class VII wound up with a messy, rushed story, and bafflingly unsatisfying villains. I love the Liberl and Crossbell games. I wanted to love the Erebonia quartet too; and I did, up to this entry. The finale of such a long story should be its best moment. To be fair, this game had moments where there was a glimmer of what made the previous entries great, but they were few and far between. Overall, I'm sad about the downturn of quality in this entry, and I'm not sure if I'm going to continue with this series. It's a shame, as it's been one of my absolute favorites.

If Alisa has a million fans, then I am one of them. If Alisa has ten fans, then I am one of them. If Alisa has only one fan then that is me. If Alisa has no fans, then that means I am no longer on earth. If the world is against Alisa, then I am against the world.

OH OLAMAZ ÇOK FAZLA DÜŞMAN VAR NE YAPICAZ BİRİSİ ÇIKA GELİR VE TÜM DÜŞMAN GRUBU DAĞITIR BOMM SIKILMADILAR A*K ÇOCUKLARI 3 OYUNDUR AYNI SIKICI ŞEYİ YAPIYORLAR GINA GELDİ LAN NE KADAR HAYATIMDA BU KADAR KÖTÜ SERİ OYNAMADIM VE OYNAMIYACAM BÜYÜK İHTİMALLE Eklemeyi unnuttum oyunun %90 ını bomboş filler ve flashback diyalog ile dolu zamanıza yazık uzak durun cold steel den

Boring and endless. I've played every entry prior to this, Sky and Crossbell included, do not bother with this one. The Cold Steel games do not respect the players time, and Falcom has outdone themselves here in that respect. For me no possible ending could be worth suffering this slog.

slog

Trails's usual "great man theory" writing taken to unbelievable degrees with an ending that genuinely squanders everything the four games set up. The bits relating to Ouroboros and Aidios sprinkled throughout the four games are interesting, and much of the internal strife in Erebonia is also pretty interesting. There were also many main character and NPC moments I enjoyed, with one of my favorites being the conclusion to Anton's journey across Erebonia. Unfortunately, Rean Schwarzer was chosen to be the center of the universe, where all events and character interactions are caught in his inescapable orbit, eventually passing an event horizon within which only lazy shounen JRPG writing exists. A hundred hours of "our resolve!! we'll see whose is stronger!!", people inexplicably putting all their faith in one single person and deprioritizing their reasonable plans, and an ending that boils own to [spoiler]"Ah, but you see, I was not evil all along! I simply wished to contain the curse within myself so I could sacrifice myself! That makes up for the unimaginable pain and suffering I cause the countries Erebonia annexed, or the thousands of soldiers who died in my idiotic attempt at a World War, eh? I simply had no choice! This was the only possible way I could have gone about things!! I'm sympathetic, because just like Rean, I simply Take On Too Much By Myself!!" [/spoiler] One line in the ending slideshow about the events after the story perfectly encapsulates Trails's inescapably liberal writing: [spoiler]"Some argued, however, that the ten years Jurai had spent as an SEZ bolstered its economy and reduced poverty."[/spoiler] Some argue, huh? Why did you bring that up, Trails? Because knowing Trails, it's trying to say that "oh it's complicated", when in fact, no, it is not. It is simple domination. It is one super power enacting its will on a weaker nation, and then turning around and saying "But you guys benefitted from it! You have nothing to complain!" Suck my ass. ♥♥♥♥ off. Supposedly, Reverie is pretty good (sans the Rean bits), so I'll get on it eventually. For now, I place the entirety of Cold Steel one thousand leagues below Sky and Zero/Azure. May it never darken my doorstep ever again.

This is the final story of the Cold Steel arc (not the Erebonia arc as a whole, since we still have Reverie). Everyone's character development—including the NPCs—deepens, and their bonds strengthen. The world-building and story writing of this game never fail to amaze me; every small detail counts. It always has a slow-burn pace, but I enjoy it. I did all of the side quests I encountered (including some hidden ones), and they really add to the world-building. They aren't just filler, but important stories that enhance the overall experience. As for the gameplay, it's the same as CS3, so I have nothing to complain about. I've been hooked on the Trails series for about a year now and I'm happy with it. It rewards you. Go start your journey, comrades. See you again. Someday. Somewhere

An atrocious amount of problems with the story, gameplay and characters to count on a steam review. They utterly failed at making a conclusion to the overarching story lasting multiple games even before the cold steel arc started, wrote themselves into a corner while destroying all tension, rewrote past events and butchered multiple characters story wise. As such everything is a massive disappointment and a rage inducing experience. I was legitimately angry the whole time playing this.