The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV

All that hundreds of hours spent and then, when I see the credits, I immediately knew that the journey was so so worth it. I'm confident that no other games capable of something special like this.

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.

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.

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.

Trails imo, has the best world building in JRPGs. CS4 continues from the high that was CS3 with its superb ending and is what I have come to expect from this franchise that hits a lot more than its misses. While not the best in the series or as good as it predecessor, CS4 still does a lot of things that we have come to expect from this series from insane aura farming moments, brilliant lore, great characters, very good combat and to top it off prolly the best villain of the series. The only criticism I have for this game is that I think the second act drags a bit and pacing being not as good as CS3 which I think was the best game in the Cold Steel arc. Overall I would still rate this game a 9/10. Also, Rean Schwarzer may be a divisive MC in terms of audience reception in the Falcom fandom but I found his arc to be well done and relatable at certain moments. He is Mr. Cold Steel for a reason and is among one of my favourite JRPG main guys.

The Cold Steel games have been considerably worse than the Trails games that came before them but this game is impressively bad. So bad, in fact, that I decided to quit playing the game after act 1 and instead watch a cutscene compilation rather than waste any more of my time. While that no doubt means I cannot provide a thorough and complete critique, I would still like to warn people off of spending 60 dollars on a game so terribly unsatisfying. Either pick it up on a deep discount or do what I should've from the start, and watch the most important scenes on youtube. The game's impressive cast size becomes significantly less so when you realize that most of them have very little to do; Old Class 7 remains remarkably dull and one dimensional, while returning characters from Liberl and Crossbell do nothing outside of reminding you of better games. New Class 7 remains a relative high point of the Erebonia cast but still struggle to stand out among the bloated cast. While I have countless problems with the plot of this game and of the CS series as a whole, its most egregious sin is the terrible handing of Hamel. It was a showcase of the very human kinds of evil that could be committed for the sake of ambition, now transformed into part of a plot by a terribly generic evil force that leaves the Erebonian Empire (at least partially) blameless for what occurred there. The less that is said about the curse, the better. The gameplay still utilizes the solid base established by Sky, though the downgrade in quartz complexity from earlier games is sorely missed. Master quartz also trivializes thoughtful use of specific quartz, making it all too easy for every character to have a plethora of different arts without having to try. While I remain mixed upon newer systems like Brave Orders or the break bar, I can at least appreciate the attempt to add more nuance to combat, and the large cast does lend itself well to an incredible variety of combat formations. My journey through the Trails series has still been one that is overall positive, though that is almost entirely due to the quality of the first 3 games. I can only hope Reverie and the Calvard games draw more from Sky then this mess of a quadrilogy.

ЭТО ПРОСТО АХЕРИТЕЛЬНО!!! Столько эмоций в конце получил. Похер, что говорят другие, эта игра для меня теперь топ 1. Концовка настолько милая, приятная и ламповая, что я весь расплылся от милоты. Каких же классных персонажей умеют создавать фалком...

Cold sjit 4