This review contains spoilers
meh. feels like a culmination of both the best and worst to come out of kiseki as a whole.
Liberl and Crossbell coming together after so long feels satisfying while other aspects drag it down, had my fun just happy to move on now
For an experience of 9 games in the making it dosen’t feel nearly as satisfactory as it should be to be the end of an entire saga. In regards to lore I honestly think its some of the best in the entire series, from the depictions of the divine knights to Act 3’s lore reveal regarding Arianhrod’s past preserved from the Black Records, shes one of my favourites they’ve written in the franchise in all honestly and I feel it’ll stay that way. The lore itself feels like a gift to those who played all the previous games and avoided skipping any arc beforehand.
Even in ‘Fragments’, an intermission that does sensational work for Rean’s character as a whole picks up from a holy slog that was the first act and as a whole takes a while to get its framework from the rest of the franchise. Rean's character was iffy to me at first with the idea of accepting spirit unification then forgetting it in Coldsteel 3 but the idea of him becoming a teacher was probably the best direction they could've taken him and im happy they did. Its also rather aggravating when most of new and old class 7's development or character rely solely on Rean himself instead of other avenues (a select few characters do get this its just a shame its not most of them) but decisions like giving Machias development In CS1 then proceeding to completely forget about making him a character until CS4 is bizarre to me, even the idea of giving Gaius having the dominion just feels weird an attempt to add a semblance of importance to his character but I get why they did it. Some aspects that constantly way it down are the forced inclusions of characters like George (I took out the ‘G’ from ‘Gnome’ and went with that george) Angelica and then theres Black Alberich, that brother just feels like a waste of ‘Hikori Yasumoto’s’ voice and just stayed monotone 2 whole games with no change. It's funny saying this while Coldsteel holds the best antagonist in the series so far, Osborne. He’s been teased since the culmination of the kiseki series and from start to when the curtains close he delivers. It’s a damn shame we didnt get a final 1v1 duel here instead of a simple cutscene but thats just my own preference so I dont mind that much. Even as a soundtrack it's comfortably my least favourite in the series (blame singa)
I can wake up tomorrow knowing that I dont have to touch another cold steel game, and with that im at peace
Liberl and Crossbell coming together after so long feels satisfying while other aspects drag it down, had my fun just happy to move on now
For an experience of 9 games in the making it dosen’t feel nearly as satisfactory as it should be to be the end of an entire saga. In regards to lore I honestly think its some of the best in the entire series, from the depictions of the divine knights to Act 3’s lore reveal regarding Arianhrod’s past preserved from the Black Records, shes one of my favourites they’ve written in the franchise in all honestly and I feel it’ll stay that way. The lore itself feels like a gift to those who played all the previous games and avoided skipping any arc beforehand.
Even in ‘Fragments’, an intermission that does sensational work for Rean’s character as a whole picks up from a holy slog that was the first act and as a whole takes a while to get its framework from the rest of the franchise. Rean's character was iffy to me at first with the idea of accepting spirit unification then forgetting it in Coldsteel 3 but the idea of him becoming a teacher was probably the best direction they could've taken him and im happy they did. Its also rather aggravating when most of new and old class 7's development or character rely solely on Rean himself instead of other avenues (a select few characters do get this its just a shame its not most of them) but decisions like giving Machias development In CS1 then proceeding to completely forget about making him a character until CS4 is bizarre to me, even the idea of giving Gaius having the dominion just feels weird an attempt to add a semblance of importance to his character but I get why they did it. Some aspects that constantly way it down are the forced inclusions of characters like George (I took out the ‘G’ from ‘Gnome’ and went with that george) Angelica and then theres Black Alberich, that brother just feels like a waste of ‘Hikori Yasumoto’s’ voice and just stayed monotone 2 whole games with no change. It's funny saying this while Coldsteel holds the best antagonist in the series so far, Osborne. He’s been teased since the culmination of the kiseki series and from start to when the curtains close he delivers. It’s a damn shame we didnt get a final 1v1 duel here instead of a simple cutscene but thats just my own preference so I dont mind that much. Even as a soundtrack it's comfortably my least favourite in the series (blame singa)
I can wake up tomorrow knowing that I dont have to touch another cold steel game, and with that im at peace
they deleted my review because i said joshua should [TERMS OF SERVICE VIOLATION] but ultimately at the end of the day he really should [DATA EXPUNGED] so estelle and kloe can [REDACTED] in peace
A beautiful ending to the Cold Steel saga. I cried so much during this game. Act 1 was a great follow up to the ending of Cold Steel 3 temporarily taking away our Main Character leaving us emotionally empty and gameplay wise forcing us to adapt.
People hate Act 2 and while I admit it was very slow I still think it was good. Does a great job showing Rean's character after CS3 and him coping with the reality he's created. It is absolutely necessary and gives us a hint at the normal ending for the game.
Act 3 and the finale were absolutely amazing, the boss fights, lore drops and bonding events just brought so many emotions. The normal ending actually sent me into a break down but the True ending saved me afterwards. Even during Act 3 I started feeling empty and didn't want this saga to end.
This is definitely my favorite game in the franchise so far and I can't wait to see how Reverie wraps all of it up as there are a couple of loose ends to be taken care of.
People hate Act 2 and while I admit it was very slow I still think it was good. Does a great job showing Rean's character after CS3 and him coping with the reality he's created. It is absolutely necessary and gives us a hint at the normal ending for the game.
Act 3 and the finale were absolutely amazing, the boss fights, lore drops and bonding events just brought so many emotions. The normal ending actually sent me into a break down but the True ending saved me afterwards. Even during Act 3 I started feeling empty and didn't want this saga to end.
This is definitely my favorite game in the franchise so far and I can't wait to see how Reverie wraps all of it up as there are a couple of loose ends to be taken care of.
I had so much fun with this one. All the previous games in the cold steel saga didn't focus too much on the other characters present in the trails series, so seeing them all come together was a bit overwhelming but exciting. Got me hyped to play all the games that came before this arc.
oh my god Act 1 and 2 are sooo bad except for like 3-4 scenes (carried by Juna btw), Act 3 and Finale are ok even if some story choices are very questionable and the gameplay is more or less like Cold Steel 3 with some balancing changes. Sadly even on the hardest difficulty (nightmare) the game, just like its predecessor is way too easy, except for the mecha battles, those are a real nightmare. All in all I liked it, but it's probably the weakest game in the series.
Fav Char:Rean
if you were at odds with how these games tend to give up on anything interesting to go all in on anime nonsense toward the end buckle up. This whole game is "toward the end" and it's dumb anime nonsense all the way through
After letting things settle a bit I think I’m ready to talk about it. Honestly I think cold steel 4 is an impressive achievement in and of itself. How it was able to to showcase the amalgamation and build up of the entire series and showcase its interconnected nature yet again was so exciting as a fan to see. So much thought and care was taken into this series and ultimately opening other doors into what future instalments will yield is one of my favourite aspects about trails. It’s a never ending story that keeps on evolving.
I kinda view CS4 as like a benchmark as to where the series has gone after all this time and quite frankly it’s crazy. Like u have some of the series highest peaks to boot. The game isn’t “flawless” by any means with some pacing issues here and there but tbh they are pretty negligible in the grand scheme of things. You are getting some of the craziest moments in the series in this game right here.
As a guy who has been playing games all their life, I really think that we aren’t going to get another experience or universe like trails ever again. This is a once in a lifetime kinda franchise and to think a game could tackle that grandiose nature of having all these worlds, characters, lore converge onto one stage and it being done gracefully is just incredible man. All the callbacks and all the referencing being brought forth kind of makes the experience sweeter after playing everything and witnessing this journey.
I gotta talk about Rean cause man, I think he’s my favourite Trails Protag as of right now. His journey of self discovery was really great to see, him battling his self deprecating nature of his perception of self and breaking down those barriers was nice to see. A lot of the time he values what everyone else brings into his life but pictures it that he has nothing to return to others and doesn’t deserve their kindness. But over time he understands that bonds and relationships with people are two way, you’re always going to provide something special to the other person in some shape of form. I think his journey through his struggles is very organic and well done. I cannot fathom the slander Rean receives in any capacity.
I think giving it some time off after finishing it has been the best for me so that I could figure how I feel about it in the grand scheme of things. Albeit not necessarily my favourite entry in the series but as a climax game I think it’s like close to the best (Behind Azure for me personally). It’s an incredible experience worth all the hundreds of hours I’ve put into this series up until this point.
I already claimed that after azure I was gonna be a fan of this series forever but CS4 has strengthened my stance on it. My love for interconnected series is only growing by the day and Trails is no exception. The more I think about it I’m happy with this rating but over time it might change depending on how reverie paints it but I’m happy with this.
I kinda view CS4 as like a benchmark as to where the series has gone after all this time and quite frankly it’s crazy. Like u have some of the series highest peaks to boot. The game isn’t “flawless” by any means with some pacing issues here and there but tbh they are pretty negligible in the grand scheme of things. You are getting some of the craziest moments in the series in this game right here.
As a guy who has been playing games all their life, I really think that we aren’t going to get another experience or universe like trails ever again. This is a once in a lifetime kinda franchise and to think a game could tackle that grandiose nature of having all these worlds, characters, lore converge onto one stage and it being done gracefully is just incredible man. All the callbacks and all the referencing being brought forth kind of makes the experience sweeter after playing everything and witnessing this journey.
I gotta talk about Rean cause man, I think he’s my favourite Trails Protag as of right now. His journey of self discovery was really great to see, him battling his self deprecating nature of his perception of self and breaking down those barriers was nice to see. A lot of the time he values what everyone else brings into his life but pictures it that he has nothing to return to others and doesn’t deserve their kindness. But over time he understands that bonds and relationships with people are two way, you’re always going to provide something special to the other person in some shape of form. I think his journey through his struggles is very organic and well done. I cannot fathom the slander Rean receives in any capacity.
I think giving it some time off after finishing it has been the best for me so that I could figure how I feel about it in the grand scheme of things. Albeit not necessarily my favourite entry in the series but as a climax game I think it’s like close to the best (Behind Azure for me personally). It’s an incredible experience worth all the hundreds of hours I’ve put into this series up until this point.
I already claimed that after azure I was gonna be a fan of this series forever but CS4 has strengthened my stance on it. My love for interconnected series is only growing by the day and Trails is no exception. The more I think about it I’m happy with this rating but over time it might change depending on how reverie paints it but I’m happy with this.
Curse/10
I hate this fucking game
I hate this fucking game
This game is a VERY mixed bag. I enjoyed the experience overall cause it's still trails at the end of the day but man the story can drag a lot at times. It makes up for it with the game being fucking amazing at times too though so i can't complain too much. Overall it's good but has some extremely noticeable flaws
act 1 and 2 was some ASS and this game has so many bullshit but holy shit this ending was perfect it was worth everything even sky. this game made me fucking tear up. and i never thought i would like a trails game mind you.
The game is so good I bought it a second time just to replay it all over again
While I get there's a lot of missteps with this game, I just felt so good playing it. Almost every scene put a huge smile on my face, as it is finally concluding 4 game's worth of character arcs and relationships.
its peak.
GOAT
I'm still not over what they did to Osborne.
what a rollercoaster of a game
when i finished this game initially i didn't really know what to think and was mostly leaning towards being positive on it. whenever it focuses on the romance aspect of rean and most of the female characters it's a headache, but whenever the big story moments hit and you get the characters in more casual situations that do not include romance OHHHH does this game peak a lot. overall, i think this game is awesome and i'm a big fan for what it tries to do and achieves.
when i finished this game initially i didn't really know what to think and was mostly leaning towards being positive on it. whenever it focuses on the romance aspect of rean and most of the female characters it's a headache, but whenever the big story moments hit and you get the characters in more casual situations that do not include romance OHHHH does this game peak a lot. overall, i think this game is awesome and i'm a big fan for what it tries to do and achieves.