Even the worst Trails game is one of the more solid modern JRPGs out there. That said, as many have said before me, this is a game of high peaks and low valleys.

Off the top of my head, I quite liked the first arc putting Juna and New Class 7 in the leadership position (even if the content itself isn't the best), I liked that this game actually does make an effort to make it feel as though there is a conflict happening around Zemuria, and most of the finale is really solid. The gameplay also remains quite fun.

I won't bore anyone with yet another series of complaints about the curse, the mechanics of the plot, or even the fanservice, but I will say I was particularly disappointed with how much this game treads the same ground structurally as Trails of Cold Steel II. More than any other title in the series I was awash for most of the game with a huge "been there done that" feel, and that made it difficult to hit those points that made it all worth it. It's also just way too long for no particular reason.

Even with my gripes, I had a solid time overall. But definitely ready and excited to move on to Reverie.

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This is probably within my top 3 worst games from a series I mostly enjoy. Everything bad about the Cold Steel saga is at its most distilled in this game. The majority of the characters stand around in a circle and do absolutely nothing, the sexual humor is at its most cringe inducing, the villains are completely forgettable, and the plot is boring at best and downright nonsensical at worst. Would be a 1 star game if it wasn't for the excellent way that act 1 kicks off the story. It was the only part of the game where I felt like meaningful things were actually happening, while the entire rest of the game was basically just going through the motions. Easily the least fun I've ever had with a Trails game.

Before beginning, let me preface this by saying you don't need to play all the past Trails games to enjoy this one, but I feel doing so enhances the experience. Anyway, this game is the culmination of 8 games worth of characters and stories coming together, where big serious things happen due to the aftermath of what happened in Cold Steel 3. I'm saying it in that way to avoid spoilers.

Seeing characters from past games is always something I like in RPGs, and in this game, that's certainly a thing, but it is, in a sense, a double edged sword. There are two primary reasons why I'm giving this game a 4/5. One is related to the characters. The roster is fairly bloated in this entry. Old Class VII is given to you throughout Act 1 where you're originally stuck with just Juna, Kurt, and Altina (I'm not saying they're bad or anything), and by the end of Act 1, you'll have all of New Class VII and all of Old Class minus Rean for plot reasons. Sure, the game does give you situations where certain characters are mandatory, which gives you chances to take certain members off the bench, but there is still the leeway to use your favorites at times. For example, Musse was a mainstay in my party because of her arts nuking potential. I almost always brought her anywhere I went.

Then you have all the returning characters, the Liberl crew (plus Tita), the Crossbell crew, and some others you get to use once or twice in Act 3. There's a lot of characters to work with, and especially early on, it makes resource management not so easy. Then again, this is a second game in an arc, so they are more generous with Sepith than in Cold Steel 3.

Speaking of Cold Steel 3, because of how unbelievably broken Brave Orders were last time, the devs decided to nerf them. Some of the OP ones in the last game, like Juna's Sledgehammer or Sara's Lightspeed Flash got either BP increases or were directly affected by changes to delay. At the same time, once again, since this a second game in an arc, Trial Chests are back, and this time they upgrade your Brave Orders. I will admit, one Brave Order I found borderline worthless got a lot more viability in this game, and that's Musse's Arts Celebration. The higher elements (time, space, mirage) are in effect in all battles like Sky the 3rd, meaning the higher elements do play a role in combat now, and being able to decrease your EP cost AND nuke something with your arts is just a great combination. Also Millium's White Decoration and Towa's High Heavens are very fair and balanced.

As for that second reason, it's more of a "the lategame is very backloaded with side content" thing. Bonding events aren't avaliable until Act 2, and even then, some events must be skipped if you want all the Profile Notes. I wanted to do Emma's Bonding Event, but I had to skip it to get a page. In the end, I ended up getting nine of the final bonding event achievements and went with Musse in my canon run of the endgame.

So, side content. Vantage Masters is still here. It exists. Use the Bard for most encounters because making sure your opponent can't play is fun. Aside from that and fishing is a returning game from Azure, the infamous Pom Pom Party. It's basically Puyo Puyo with extra steps. Tio is supposed to be the hardest opponent, but Renne tore me apart more than even Tio did.

Now, the elephant in the room, the story. Being a continuation, I was already invested in the story. I don't really like how seeing the Normal Ending is a requirement to getting the True Ending, but because Reverie addresses the aftermath of that little...problem, I can let it slide. The real final boss making use of three teams in a different way from the last non mech boss was cool too.

Overall, if you like the series, you'll probably like this game.

A good conclusion for the cold steel series. It does have its flaws like certain parts of the game dragging a bit, a bloated cast, and forgiving characters that did fucked up shit but none the less still a solid entry for the series and graphically the best one to date. Sound track is diesel and if you played the trails in the sky and crossbell games you'll be seeing a lot of old faces. The romance tbh was very anti-climatic especially if you've stuck with the same person all these games. Go for the true ending (its canon) its may still have you draking but at least its not depressing af like the normal ending. If possible please don't play these four out of order I see people all the time asking if they can skip games and stuff just don't.

Erebonians: "People can't be this mean and hostile to each other, there must be some mysterious dark force at work here!"

Me, educated in European History: "Mate, you are Germans, and this is called Prussian Militarism."

Utterly braindead and painfully convoluted contrivances bombards the entire plot, but fuck it, I can't deny the highs are so fucking high.

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.