Ubisoft talentless as ever, tackles extreme winter sports with Steep, a bastard half realistic and half arcade experience.

Snowboard, ski, wingsuit, paraglider and more, well it doesn't matter, the move list for each is so limited it feels like Ubisoft shoved a leash up players' asses. Let's take snowboard as an example, if the game does not feature the crazy tricks SSX games offered, somehow it doesn't even allow to do basic and realistic butter presses on the ground. This right here, Ubisoft's incapacity to fully commit in either realistic or arcade, is the reason why Steep is a constant disappointment, a fait accompli which can be applied to every aspect of this game.

The G force system is poorly implemented, acting like a health system and supposedly making the game more realistic. From an arcade point of view, it is merely another layer of restriction on top of an already limited gameplay. From a more realistic point of view, one can wonder why this system only applies whenever it suits Ubisoft's mood, if riders are affected by this G force system, somehow it's not really the case for the rocket wingsuit DLC, oh yeah did I mention there were DLC for this shitty game ? Oh well, not a surprise anyway.

Ubisoft obliges, players are thrown into a vast map filled with points of interest, if some areas could very well resemble actual mountains, some others make no sense at all. Not necessarily a bad thing, however when you take in consideration this game is some sort of a love letter to real life mountains, all of sudden those fantasy areas look out of place and are laughable. To illustrate this so called love letter, I could mention a mission, in which players have to follow a random NPC while listening to an eerie voice reciting a poem about Aravis which is a French mountain range, sweet, but it doesn't make sense, 2 minutes later I'll be back on some JRPG looking snowy plains.

Execution wise, everything is painfully easy regardless if the trick safety option is activated or not. Between the most basic trick and an IRL Winter X Games winning trick, the satisfaction is roughly the same : non existent.

At least it is easy to play, easy to master and easy to uninstall. Which is handy, considering uninstalling this game will be the only thing left players can do. Steep is actually one of these games which require a connection, one day, Ubisoft will probably terminate its services reminding players that, from their point of view, you might buy a game, but it doesn't mean you own it. In other words, they will redo the exact same things they have done to The Crew.

Once again, barely surprising coming from Ubisoft. At this point, can't expect much from this retarted company whose treats all its games like live services, but only when it comes to pricing. Between 2021 and 2023, only one patch note was released during march 2023, however it is so majestic and full of wisdom I want to share it, quote : Connect client update, end of quote. A grand total of 3 words in the span of 3 years, truly the ultimate form of communication, congratulation Ubisoft your vision of what should be a live service is outstanding.

This patch note is, I imagine, related to the recent problems people encountered not being able to connect to the servers, at least that's what some recent Steam reviews indicate, back when I tried this game it was already a clusterfuck between Steam and the formerly Uplay, but with patience one could eventually manage to play this game. In any cases, if you didn't play this game, rest assured, you didn't miss much anyway.

In conclusion, less fun and compelling than the first SSX released 16 years ago, less realistic than Shredder which probably had 1/1000 of Steep's budget, and a total absence of ethics, no doubts, it is an Ubisoft game.

Three Houses deviates from the usual Fire Emblem's formula, making it an original entry in the franchise, however, despite having some good ideas, execution leaves much to be desired.

With the house system, the game offers players multiple paths to follow, with different characters and stories, one can experience the whole game by playing each route available, or at least, this is what developers aimed for.

Sadly, the replay value is limited, until an advanced point in the game, the story remains the same for all houses. Furthermore, players can recruit students and teachers from other classes than the chosen one. Obviously it makes no sense, but somehow the suspension of disbelief is still intact, because one can understands this is mostly a choice in favor of players' experiences, allowing them to create their dream team, which is great no debate on that.

However, such feature should not be a thing for a first playthrough, instead it should have been one of the options players can buy/select to enhance new game plus, this way it would ensure that players would still have characters to discover during new game plus, also it would ensure the story is correctly delivered, not filled with nonsenses. Sadly, the story itself is somewhat predictable and quite frankly mediocre, to be fair this statement does apply to most Fire Emblem games, difference is, usually they do not focus that much on story, meaning it's normally easier to overlook such problem.

As for the characters, they are on the archetype side, from the reserved and quiet shy girl, to the wannabe comic relief guy whose only talk about food, to the teacher with big breasts, Three Houses has it all, unfortunately, only a few manage to become more nuanced. Sometime player don't even get the chance to witness their evolutions, and that's because the story contains a time skip, handy for lazy writing. Comedy peak for some, depressing fact for other, some main characters are so poorly written even the Gatekeeper might have better writing.

Regarding the gameplay, similar to its predecessors, to no one' surprise the casual mode is present, introduced during the 3DS era this optional mode disables perma deaths. What is new however is the absence of triangle weapon, meanwhile, Divine Pulse is now base kit meaning players can rewind time if they so desire, qualifying this game as a TPRG is a stretch, Three Houses is much more of a management game or a dating sim. A sad yet logical step for Intelligent System trying their best to target the widest audience possible, even if it means to sacrifice the very things that made Fire Emblem somewhat unique in its early days. Perma death and the weapon triangle, those two systems combined not only gave some weight to the decision making, it gave this franchise an identity.

In conclusion, Fire Emblem Three Houses isn't inherently bad, but it's a soulless experience which happen to focus on management and dating elements not due to a creative mind having faith in those systems or even for the likes of experiencing new things, but merely a marketing strategy trying to copycat the current trend of the time.

Dark Soul 3 is a flawed experience, full of contradictions, this game tries to embody a concept FromSoftware seems to not grasp, doing so, Dark Soul 3 ends up being deceiving, self convinced to be a difficult game, the reality is a bit more complex.

Starting with the good points, the level design is actually quite decent, procuring a nice feeling of adventure / exploration, despite being linear at times. The heavy oppressive atmosphere is well executed, even brighter areas to some extent, manage to capture the same feeling. Not only Boreal Valley is probably the best scenery in this game, but its introduction was cleverly thought too, after nasty swamps, dark catacombs and whatnot, the transition to Boreal Valley is even more impactful. Sadly, this is where praises end.

The supposed difficulty would come from combats, however, the vast majority of them can be ignored, the player can simply run pass by and refuse to fight. As for the mandatory fights, the rolling system is so overpowered it simply eradicates any notion of challenge. The process used to determine the number of iframe for a roll is hilariously complex for no reason, it features systems that are never explained. But it doesn't matter, by the time players realize weigh ratio impacts rolls and fatroll is a thing, they might have finished the game already, as the number of iframes is insane, in most cases between 12 and 13 iframes per roll, not only that but rolling doesn't even cost much stamina wise.

Most bosses are easily exploitable, in many ways possible, some are large enough so players can stay right under the boss and avoid many patterns this way, some bosses encourage players to stay close to them, with slow animations coupled with small cleaves hitboxes, it makes pole dancing around bosses way too easy, leading to eventual backstabbing. Bosses' patterns, rarely require more than 3 consecutive rolls at best and the move list for each boss is also quite poor, which makes for defense a very shallow challenge in terms of execution and knowledge check. Once the different patterns are learned, bosses oppose no resistances.

But in case someone struggles, it is not a problem with the existence of bonfires. Indeed, the very concept of bonfires respawning enemies also goes against the concept of difficulty.

What a so claimed difficult game should never do, is allow a struggling player to pass through a difficult spike, not by becoming better at the game, but simply by farming and having a better character. Sadly, this is exactly what offer bonfires in Dark Soul 3, because the amount of xp is not limited, it is very easy to farm in order to level up a character. Sure, it would take more time to do so, some people would say it's borderline cheating, but do not blame the player, blame the developers, it is nothing but bad game design choice, at least in the context of a difficult game.

Also, in the name of "difficulty" they end up taking questionable choices.

The idea of not holding players hand is great, most PVE games tend to backseat players to the point it becomes insulting, Dark Soul 3 isn't one of those games, so on paper it is a great point, however, its execution leaves a lot to be desired. I would say, it's not necessarily a bad thing, but when you take in consideration that combats are easy which is the core of the game really, well the absence of maps, the sometime unclear instructions, and everything else along those lines seems trivial and unnecessary. Post scriptum, I know PVP does exist in DS3, but it's not that important and the game was not designed with PVP in mind, or at least I hope so, considering how mediocre all multiplayer aspect are.

For what is worth, currently, according to steam more than 25% of the players reached the first flame ending, which is the normal ending I believe, I'm not sure about the other ones I honestly didn't bother, reaching the first ending was already a boring experience. Despite being the most common ending, 25% seems like a very high percentage, more than what it should be for a so claimed difficult game.

In conclusion, Dark Soul 3 is a sheep in wolf's clothing, a failure due to FromSoftware not understanding basic principles of what make difficult games difficult. Overpowered rolling mechanic, APM not even worth mentioning, possibility to bypass any difficulty spike by farming levels, underwhelming bosses that can be easily exploited. Obviously, selling this game as a difficult one, is also a marketing strategy, to what extent FromSoftware really believe that Dark Soul 3 is difficult doesn't really matter, the bottom line remains the same, it's just a lie.

Skyrim is an interesting case from many perspectives, not for what it is as a game, more so for what it represents. A shifting point for Bethesda, as they realize they can release an unfinished mess and still be acclaimed for it.

Mediocre writing at best, technically not impressive even at the time, AI without the I, asinine menus designed for console controllers' ergonomics but applied to PC, sneak attacks able to one shot every single content the game has to offer, both alchemy and forging system are dull and repetitive, limited bestiary coupled with horrendous spawn systems making the map feel empty, dragon encounters are so frequent you actually start thinking dragons are more common than freaking nirnroots, finally, actions with little to no consequences, you may have saved the world, reached prestigious ranks, most NPCs will still address to you like you were nothing.

And yet, none of that matters, Bethesda does not care whatsoever and the reason is simple, somebody, somewhere, will fix it for free.

The Elder Scrolls games used to be decent and could be enjoyed without mods, leaving the optional task for modders to sublime the game, if they actually liked the vanilla game and were willing to do so, that is. Skyrim is another story, Bethesda took modding communities for granted. Modders, torn between passion, generosity and a Stockholm syndrome, ended up doing what Bethesda should have done in the first place, before even releasing the game.

When searching online about legitimate flaws Skyrim possess, more than often the top answer is just a reference to some mod, this observation alone says a lot.

Back in 2011, I wished Skyrim would receive the same reception as the infamous horse armor pack for Oblivion, but I knew it wouldn't be the case.

In conclusion, this is how Bethesda's ethic died, with thunderous applauses. From this point up until today, Bethesda, like many other video game companies, strive to push gaming industry's boundaries in the wrong direction, from their point of view, players are money, modders are slaves, and both shall comply to mediocrity if not less.

Unheard is a short puzzle game based on audio, a pretty unique concept rarely seen in the video game industry. Immerged in different cases as a ghostly detective, the player is tasked of solving several questions regarding one or more unsolved mysteries. In each case, the player can move around in a map without limitations, various events and dialogues can be witnessed at different locations throughout the audio timeline, which, the player can manipulate at will.

The very nature of this game and the absence of any sort of RNG, allow players to brute force any case if they so desire. If this problem is rather common among puzzle games, what could be pointed out, is the lack of innovation throughout the cases, as all clever mechanics and setups are revealed in the second case right after the tutorial.

But beside that, the game proposes a nice experience, the writing of each case is pretty solid, the english voice acting is also decent, dictions or accents might be not realistic to some extent, but it gives a certain flair to the game and definitely help people who are not native english speaker.

Ultimately, the length of the game fits its proposition, the concept which could be polished, still manages to keep the player engaged from the very beginning until the end of the game. Without spoiling anything, the game tackles compelling themes and even offers multiple endings, and all of them are interesting in their own way.

It may not be a game for everyone, but if you're accustomed to this type of game or just curious, I would recommend this game without a doubt.

Bomb Rush Cyberfunk is filled with good intentions, it's a tribute to the well beloved franchise Jet Set Radio, the level design is decent for most maps, there are many elements to unlock and places to tag graffitis on, multiple playable characters, on top of that, in addition to the rollerblade, player can also use skate, bmx or even parkour. Despite this blatant generosity, in the end, Bomb Rush Cyberfunk is a mile wide and an inch deep.

At its core, it's a game of scoring, with a clever combo system encouraging the player to exploit the whole map, unfortunately, with only 5 or 6 tricks available, it gets redundant really fast. That statement applies to every gameplay, it doesn't matter if the player uses skate, bmx or rollerblade, there is a lack of diversity. Also, each trick is pretty much a one button command, which entails, there is no such thing as satisfaction when a trick is pulled off. There is also no switch mechanics mid combo, players are forced to use specific points of interest, in order to change from bmx to skate for instance. Each character plays the same, there is no difference, the grand total of 20 playable characters is rendered useless.

Another dreadful mechanic in this game is that, whenever the player touches the ground, the combo is lost, to maintain it while on the ground, only one solution exists : manual. So not only the move list is pathetic, but the player must use the manual every single time to travel across the map. Like the rest, the manual is brain dead, easy to perform and last forever if you know how to reset it.

The gameplay loop really emanates no single atom of challenge or fun, and somehow the thing they call story, which is mandatory to unlock maps, achieves being even more third rate. The presence of some good OST doesn't help the whole experience either, considering to play a specific song in game, you have to find and unlock it first.

In conclusion, Bomb Rush Cyberfunk proposes a simplistic and boring experience, some mechanics present so little interest that even banks interest looks more inviting. From the story, to the unnecessary cast of playable characters, to the graffitis that I didn't even feel the need to talk about, the developers wasted too much time and effort on those elements. Meanwhile, the gameplay, the most crucial part remains laughable.

Omori is a game which stands out a lot on many aspects, with a combat system turned around the emotions theme, and a story portraying anxiety, depression and so much more. It's a game which sadly, tries so hard to be psychological, deep, and horrific, it does lesser the impact of the narrative when it comes to plot twists or the ending. Similarly, Omori focuses so much on what makes it different, that it sometime forgets the essential and what makes it similar to great games.

A turn based RPG with an emotion system, sounds like a great premise, however it turns out to be more of a skin than anything else. The combat system features 3 main emotions namely : sad, happy and angry. Together, they form a classic weapon triangle, where each of them are effective against one and weak against the other one, those 3 emotions also boost or reduce statistics such as : luck, speed, defense and so on. I ought to mention, there is a 4th emotion outside this triangle called neutral which is self-explanatory.

Despite being able to further the intensity of one emotion by triggering it once more up to 3 levels (for instance the sad emotion becomes depressed and finally miserable), this system feels like an aggregate of systems most people have seen, and it's quite easy to notice, as the game's structure feels imbalanced at times, sometime throwing long sections of gameplay seemingly for nothing, just to extend the length of the game, giving players plenty time to do such analysis. In spite of the combat system being effective to some extent, I guess I expected more from it, passed the quick discovery of those familiar elements with different names that is, the gameplay loop became more of a repetitive chore, and the pacing problems amplified this sentiment.

Gameplay aside, the story left me with a bitter taste too. The narrative is constantly ominous, with a coexistence between wholesome and sinister elements, fueling a heavy and tensed atmosphere, by the time the story actually hits the player with a horrific plot twist, the player is overprepared and the impact the said plot twist has is limited. In other words, by using the same thing over and over again, it becomes less effective, and what should be something special in the narrative, ends up being less unique and more dull.

The game tackles head on dark emotions, and warn the player by all means possible beforehand, from its simplistic yet worrisome cover picture, to its warning when you actually launch the game. For the same purpose, and it is a shame, the story's threads are clearly visible and conventional for the most part, so much so any sort of dramatic event is predictable and no elements of surprise hit the mark.

Of course, the player should be informed of themes depicted in a game, however, Omori's warning message when the game is launched looks more like a spoiler than anything else. Without being perfect, the PEGI system or any similar rating systems, offer the possibility to warn players without giving too much information. Perhaps using a similar concept would have allowed Omori to find a better middle ground between warning and secrecy.

On top of a predictable story, there are multiple side quests, but I don't have any nice superlative that comes to my mind to describe them. Some side quests are repeatable and propose dreadful minigames, I let you imagine where and how a developer could decide to implement one or more achievements.

In conclusion, despite its great concepts and interesting themes, Omori's execution is mediocre for the most part, questionable for the rest. The gameplay is forgettable, it's just a combination of well known systems in disguise, changing names so they fit the theme of the game, is not enough to create something unique. The story is predictable, not necessarily bad, but definitly not great either. I think Omori is one these games that could have benefited being a visual novel instead of a traditional game, but that's just my opinion.

Sit down son, I'm going to tell you a great story.

TERA was a precursor of action based MMOs, ahead of its time, TERA said farewell to the old classic tab target system. Missing or hitting a target wasn't a result of mathematical operations between statistics anymore, instead TERA emphasized the actual skill of players. Spacing abilities, dodging manually in reaction of animations properly synced with hitboxes, using the camera to keep track of your opponent's movement, simply put everything was up to the player, a blissful feeling of freedom sublimed with the absence of GCD.

In other words, TERA elevated PVE to something more than just a knowledge check, learning abilities rotations and dungeons' strategies alone would not suffice. As for the PVP, it was hectic but a lot of fun, one could experience it through a wide variety of PVP mode, and all of them were easy to grasp yet hard to master. Among those, the Corsair's Stronghold is one of the most memorable PVP mode, a 20 VS 20 battleground with objectives and even tanks, but also had the great idea to equalize gears aka ilevel for all participants.

Like any live service which survived this long through time, TERA had multiple era.

Maybe you were a pioneer and you were there during the Argon's introduction leading to the beautiful fight against Shandra Manaya. Perhaps you had the chance to live and experience the 20 men Kelsaik raid, in which you had to switch between ice and fire debuff by purposely getting hit by the right attack. Maybe both Manaya and Kelsaik are just milestones during the main quest, and not the grand fights they used to be, instead, maybe the name Wonderholme rings a bell, I remember the days we used to bet money during the final boss fight, to see which person would fail using iframes in order to dodge the global AOEs one-shot. Maybe you were there when they added the Reaper, Ninja or Valkyrie class.

Or maybe you were more into PVP, from the Corsair's Stronghold, to the 3 VS 3 battles, all the way to the 1 on 1 dual outside Velika at the usual spot (if you know, you know). Perhaps you remember the time we used to have a region based ranking for Corsair's Stronghold, I distinctly remember the day I reached 11th on Europe ranking it filled me with so much joy, eventually they removed it and introduced the 3 alliances, which led to grand scale PVP battles with hundreds of people.

Or maybe you simply didn't play TERA, or not long enough to understand a word I'm saying right now.

The important thing to remember is that, everyone is entitled to an opinion as to when TERA chose the wrong path and eventually died, yet everyone who experienced the gem that was this game will likely be grateful forever. And that's because, talking about everything TERA did wrong would take hours, but talking about everything TERA did great would take days.

To some people it will sound stupid, but in my opinion, between an album photo and a folder full of screenshots, there is no difference. It reminisces me of places I visited, people's face I crossed paths with, looking back on those memories give me a wide range of emotion, from happiness to sadness and in everything in between.

In conclusion, despite what certain private servers or even the so called TERA Classic would say, TERA is dead, and what remains are those memories.

Farewell TERA, we will miss you.

After a horrendous Cold Steel 3, this new installment self described as the finale of Cold Steel Saga, will prove to be another disaster.

In the same fashion as its predecessor, Cold Steel 4 showcases Nihon Falcom's struggle to create anything new, Cold Steel 3 copied Cold Steel 1's formula, naturally Cold Steel 4 is a copy paste of Cold Steel 2 on many aspects, and just like its predecessor, Cold Steel 4 fails to match and replicate the original game greatness.

However, unlike its predecessor, Cold Steel 4 does have some improvements, even if it's only a few, credits where it's due. The gameplay is less repetitive than Cold Steel 3 with a sightly wider amount of possibilities. Story wise, after so much pointless hesitation in Cold Steel 3, they finally made the crossover a reality in this game, it's still badly written and was a terrible idea from the start, but at least now that Nihon Falcom achieved their fantasy, the post-nut clarity will allow them to move on, doing something maybe different than just brainless fan service, that was I thought until I saw Reverie trailers, oh well...

Cold Steel 4, is a prime example as to why quantity should never be prioritized over quality, the number of characters this game features is simply bonkers, but when there are too many people, nobody gets to shine.

This game does not do justice to any Trail cast and certainly not Cold Steel's cast which get all the developer's hate, predictable considering what they have done in cold steel 3. As if developers themselves couldn't accept Cold Steel was the one arc to make them more popular and they have the urges to tell the player : you're wrong, we do prefer the other arcs. If that statement was more subtle in the previous game, Cold Steel 4 at least is honest about it and give players a good old middle finger for playing Cold Steel 1 and 2.

How so ? Well, during the prologue of the game, Rean is still missing, and despite having recovered, the original Class VII does nothing to save Rean, no research, no planning, nothing. Instead, they wait until the new class VII's members wake up from their comas, just to talk and asses the situation.

And now quiz time, who would lead and motivate the others to save Rean, to provoke the change so they all escape their current slump which apparently justifies them to have done nothing for their leader for months ? Surely, it's a member of the OG class VII, the very people Rean shared 2 whole years with, grew up and fought during the civil war with, maybe it's Alisa the canon romance of the saga, maybe it's more fitting for Sara as their old instructor to take the lead ? Nope, Nihon Falcom went and chose Juna, the retcon character whose met Rean recently and spent her whole time insulting and belittling Rean.

The intention is crystal clear, the player is supposed to feel that the old class VII is trash, and the new one is badass, especially Juna. This is such a middle finger to anyone who played and liked Cold Steel 1 and 2, as if the hundred of hours they probably poured into those two games are worthless. Over the years, we've seen multiple instances of developers insulting their player base, but this one is a real contender.

But this middle finger alone, does not suffice to match Cold Steel 3's level of stupidity, Nihon Falcom couldn't leave at that. Heavily hinted in Cold Steel 3, confirmed in Cold Steel 4, Crow is back, revived from the dead.

It's dreadful practice to revive a dead character, doing so, the story cannot no longer be trusted, everything stated can be reverted, it nullifies any sort of stakes, intensity or tension. But Nihon Falcom doesn't seem to care as Crow isn't even the only one getting a revival.

As for the gameplay, as mentioned, it is slightly better than Cold Steel 3, however some points clearly are left to be desired. Many playable characters are actually considered guests, so you can't even fully customize them. On a similar topic, with that many characters, it would have been interesting to have some sort of ways to save an arcus setup with different quartz, and apply it with one button, in other word some sort of quality of life, but I should stop dreaming and proceed to end this review.

In conclusion, Cold Steel 4 is Nihon Falcom's fantasy, a crossover featuring an absurd number of characters. This is a game with so many characters that nobody gets to shine, with a story so badly written, it resorts to deads revivals, and abuse coincidences to advance the main plot. A game which structure is once again a copy paste of a previous title of theirs, highlighting Nihon Falcom's incapacity to create something new. Despite being ridiculed in Cold Steel 3 and 4, I ended up liking even more the original class VII, betrayed by its makers Rean Schwarzer, truly faces great adversity in Zemuria but also in our world, where he will eventually be pointed out as guilty by the mass if the Cold Steel 3/4 formula is milked one too many time.

Regardless of what happens, I have nothing but affection for Rean Schwarzer and class VII during the Cold Steel 1 & 2 era.

Cold Steel 2 was a disappointment and gave a glimpse of the upcoming disaster, Cold Steel 3 is the full display, a clusterfuck whose only achievement is a graphical overhaul but fails in every other department.

There are many reasons for this failure, one of them is that Nihon Falcom decided that the so titled Cold Steel number 3, should be an entry point for the series, meaning this game is a soft reset, what have been explained and developed in Cold Steel 1 and 2 is now obsolete. The consequences are pretty obvious, Cold Steel 3 does not have enough time to recap 2 whole games and to develop its own story. The worst part is, even with the adequate amount of time, I highly doubt this new story could even be decent. Simply put, Cold Steel 3 is a copy paste of Cold Steel 1, but a cursed one which doesn't match Cold Steel 1's greatness even on a single point.

In that regard, I will enumerate a few examples.

Cold Steel 3 begins the exact same way as Cold Steel 1, Rean once again joins a military academy in a town located on the outskirt of the capital, he arrives there on a train and despite being in a town he never visited before, guess who welcome him into the new academy ? The exact same person who welcomed him into Thors in Cold Steel 1. Rean is assigned to a class named Class VII, just like Thors this new school appears to have a remote building that serves as dungeon purpose, during the prologue in that remote building, class VII will also do an exercice which causes class VII to fall into a floor trap, and somehow 2 students fall into each other and end up in the same position as Cold Steel 1.

The game structure is also the same with an alternation of field studies which allow the plot to advance and free days allowing the player to do bonding events, some quests and use the remote building as a mini dungeon. Similar to the OG class VII this new class needs some sort of rivalry, once again it will be a bunch of nobles and the same exact pattern occurs, after an exam and the academy sharing the class ranking, the nobles defeated by Rean's class will decide to crash the party. Just like Cold Steel 1, during the middle of the year, new students will join the class, though this time Nihon Falcom didn't even bother to make that a secret as the two supposedly surprise characters are playable in the introduction section which litterally spoil everything.

Honestly I could carry on and on, but you get the gist of it, Cold Steel 3 is an uninspired mess, even its ending is similar to Cold Steel 1, and the rare things Cold Steel 3 bring to the table are horrendous.

Starting with the gameplay which now includes a break system, the typical gauge that needs to be emptied before being able to apply real damages. To be fair, Cold Steel never had a wide variety of strat or build, but this new mechanic limits the player to an even more reduced amount of possibilities, every fight look the same.

What's even more asinine is the new main cast, among a total of five new characters, only one stands out in a positive way, one is a despicable mistake, the others are unapologetically dull, bland and they go through developments so non existent that their recap might as well fit on a post-it. Irony at its finest, the only decently written character is actually not a brand new one, it was actually introduced in Cold Steel 2. As for the one qualified as despicable mistake, this character manages the inconceivable, so badly written you actually forget its a character.

Since Nihon Falcom desires to create a grand crossover, starting with a meeting between the original class VII and the main cast of Crossbell Arc namely SSS, they ruined Cold Steel 2's ending, but afraid that some people would not have played the Crossbell games to ensure players would fully enjoy this brainless fanservice, they included one character who's only goal is to promote and talk about SSS. Like a living commercial, this character follows Rean around explaining how lame he is and how great SSS are. A stupid idea, especially considering this character's backstory would suggest a different behaviors toward Rean, Falcom justifies very poorly as to why this character would hate Rean for reasons and a certain logic, but those same reasons and logic are not applied to the rest of the cast.

But a badly written character is still a character, right ? Well, cherry on top, this character is actually a retcon, meaning it actually never appeared in the Crossbell arc, the SSS don't even know who is that character, but will act as if they know because fuck the logic says Nihon Falcom. From this moment, it is hard to consider this character even canon, and yet Falcom decided that it would be the face of new class VII.

Meanwhile, the old class VII is relegated to the mere role of cameos, and despite being actual Valimar's secondary contractors, no one will get the chance to play a role in mech battles, instead they will just be caricatures of themselves, as for Rean he has now a sister complex, I guess that's comedy peak according to Nihon Falcom, ah sweet home Erebonia...

In conclusion, Cold Steel 3 is a shit show, through and through. In this title, Nihon Falcom strives into an even greater creativity to ruin everything, from a plagiarized story that do little to nothing in the grand picture, all the while mocking the very story it tried to copy without matching its greatness even once, with a new cast so badly written, you actually start thinking that any fanfiction writer would do a better job, to an impoverished gameplay. This game simply is a wretched pile of shit.

Following the events of Cold Steel 1, Rean Schwarzer is now separated from his classmates, worried about them and what happened in Trista, Rean embarks on a new adventure to reunite the class VII as the civil war rages in Erebonia. In the same manner that its predecessor, Cold Steel 2 carries on Falcom's habit, resulting with a game heavy in story, character development and world building. However, unlike the previous game, this new installment does have major problems and harbors a glimpse of the disaster that will be Cold Steel 3 and 4.

A shame, considering those problems mainly appear toward the end of the game, everything prior that is almost perfect. The gameplay is enhanced with new mechanics cleverly introduced through lore, the grimmer context is tangible both on form and substance, the new combat theme oozes with anxiety and bitterness, perfectly transcribed through the evolution the main character undergoes. Despite being classic it is well written, Falcom obliges, many details fits the narrative, such as a new in-game sprite accompanied with Kōki Uchiyama's performance, both highlighting a more ferocious and emotive Rean. A nice treatment that do not only concern the main character.

So where did it go wrong ? Simply put, Nihon Falcom's wet dream is to make the ultimate crossover, where every character from each arc would cross paths. In order to achieve that, Falcom forsook good writting to brainless fan service, doing so, they lost all perspectives of what made their own games so special.

Near the end of Cold Steel 2, after a major plot twist and as the tension reaches a new peak, Falcom, clouded by their fantasy couldn't come up with anything else but a time skip, followed by an hour section which forces you to play characters from another arc. Whether or not the player like the said characters is out of the question, the problem here is the pacing. All of sudden, all emotions and questions the player might have, are brushed off. Like a pop up commercial in the middle of a movie, or a dessert between two meat dishes, during this section ironically named divertissement, Falcom warns players that, from this point onward everything will shatter.

If that previous mistake was not enough, for some obscure reasons, Falcom decided to lock a scene behind new game plus, a short scene yet crucial story wise for both Cold Steel 3 and 4. This red flag alone, prevent me from rating this game higher than average.

It's a mess, a long game able to fit an hour fan service section, unable to fit 5 crucial minutes. Supposed to unravel at least a few questions, the narrative is even more blurry. The rule show don't tell, is not applied to the civil war context, which in retrospect isn't that bloody or devastating in consequences. Lastly, rejoice and be glad, Falcom not satisfied yet with the inclusion of one horrendous time skip in the game, decided to add another one outside the game.

In fact, between Cold Steel 2 and Cold Steel 3, a lot happens supposedly, and it somehow erased every single bit of character development Rean went through during Cold Steel 1 and 2. Do you think those events could well be a DLC for Cold Steel 2, maybe a brand new game ? None of that, instead those events are bound to a dreadful anime called Trails of Cold Steel - Northern War, which is in reality an advertisement for a mobile gacha game, and doesn't even have enough decency to answer all incoherences that later fill Cold Steel 3, which to be fair is a clusterfuck even without those incoherences, but that's for another review.

In conclusion, Cold Steel 2 is a shifting point, now privileging fanservice over good writing, Falcom prepared the ground for their so desired crossover, and the worst is yet to come in Cold Steel 3 and 4.

The legend of heroes, what lies behind this name is a legacy carried by a Japanese company named Nihon Falcom, whose throughout the years has been crafting some of the most ambitious world building. The sub serie Trail is one part of the said legacy, it abides to the simple and neat concept : every game within the sub serie must takes place on the same continent namely Zemuria. To be even more precise, Trail is made of multiple arcs, and each of them focus on one specific country in Zemuria. Doing so, different stories are interconnected, characters from different games cross path and so on. Trail of Cold Steel is the third arc, it proposes players this time to discover the infamous Erebonian Empire with a brand new main character : Rean Scharwzer. The challenge is double, Trail of Cold Steel 1 must respects its elders, and takes the first step to become one of them. And what would you know, Falcom actually does it in a pretty convincing way.

Meticulous and self aware of how some may portray their universe : convoluted, Falcom in this title outdo themselves and manage to properly introduce a main cast of 9 students, enrolled in a military school they will be tasked of traveling all around the country and accomplish various missions. This classic yet efficient setup, allows players to dive into the world through the eyes of characters that also have much to discover and learn. First thing first, they get to know each other, figuring out how to work as a team, spoiler alert : it won't be easy. There will be tension, arguments, and disputes making everything more believable. On the flip side, there are comedy moments and even some fluff, striking a balance between the two extremes.

While some games would either ignore or rush such bonding moments, Trail of Cold Steel 1 embrace this slice-of-life aspect without hesitation and that's refreshing. At last, a game which takes its time, my affection is not granted, putting some piano and violin over a wannabe sad flashback, 5 minutes after I met a character, it is just not enough for me. This deliberate slow burn coupled with good writing allows the main cast to escape typical archetypes, becoming more nuanced, deep and likeable individuals, a primal reason as to why the ending of this game is so impactful.

Regarding the quote on quote good writing, I'll try to prove my point without delving too much into spoilers. For instance, there is among the main cast a foreigner who will encounter cultural shocks, a clever way to introduce basics naturally and avoid awkward exposition scenes. Another example, early in the game Rean with 2 other classmates face a special opponent, later in the game the exact same fight occurs, this time around the player is free to choose any character. Using the same composition as the first encounter will trigger unique dialogues, showcasing Falcom's attention to details. Obviously, those examples are mere details, alone they do not do much, but there is plenty of them making the story a great, if not the greatest asset of this game.

As the story unfolds, Cold Steel 1 winks references, characters, and details that only people who played previous titles might understand. A gratification bow from Falcom to their fan base, a delicate pratice, with too many references the game would be a past worshipper, with not enough references or respect for its predecessors, it would be a no root delinquent. But once again credits where it's due, Falcom manages to balance everything making this title a great entry point for the franchise.

Without being directly related to the main story itself, an issue arises with the romance system introduced seemingly as a last-minute decision. If being allowed to choose a romance isn't necessarily bad per se, the game was not conceived with this idea in mind from the start. The main story does highlight a romantic tension between Rean and a certain girl, leading to inevitable frustration for players deviating from this "canon" route, players following the "canon" route will be left craving for more with a relationship that barely progresses. Does the main character always need to be the one and only plot device, the talk of all towns, and to possess a harem ? Well Falcom's answer is no, no, and yes. Very unfortunate, this romance system is a today defect and a burden to become.

Aside from that, there are no significant issues. The game could benefit from some more QOL, but the blissful turbo mode makes up for a lot. The combat system is a classic turn based JRPG, not the most unique system, it still offers a decent amount of character customization and strategy. There are a few fights that you cannot win, something that always gave me mixed feelings. Also dungeons are linear for the most part. To sum up, nothing but minor downfalls that cannot taint the charm of this game.

Not only charming, this game feels genuine and endearing. Maybe because of this weird blend of peculiar outdated graphics and top notch music. Maybe it's due to the vividly lack of budget contrasting with the actual result product, which by the way, put to shame a number of AAA productions in more than one department. Maybe it's because of Falcom's history itself regarding the conception of Trails games, from XSEED's disillusion and struggle facing the localization, to a prevented tragic event among Carpe Fulgur, to the unfortunate arrival of NISA into the dance. Or maybe it's just me being emotional despite being a cold cynical jerk.

To conclude, despite some flaws, Trail of Cold Steel 1 excels in its assigned tasks, a prowess later installments will struggle to replicate. There would be many things to say about this game that I've forgotten to mention, but I might as well advice anyone interested in this game or franchise to give it a try. I bet 50 miras you will enjoy this game.