The perspective that we all inevitably meet the same fate, but the journey there varies from person to person is something I’ve always enjoyed seeing explored in fiction. The meaning of life is what we make of it, even if all of our outcomes are the same. The universe in all of its entropy and impartiality simply is, and conversely we and the choices we make, the struggles we endure, and ultimately what we make of ourselves… we simply are. Is there not beauty in that? Is there not meaning? We’re all on our own journeys and we all have the same destinations, and yet sometimes our paths cross; we intersect, intertwine.

What a moment of love.

What a moment of love to stare into the endless, abyssal, all-consuming void knowing you’re not alone. That you were never alone; to have your fingers interlaced with the hands of all the people you have met… have loved… have lost. To stare into the eyes of your own reflection one last time, and to leave the world with no regrets.

In fewer words, this essentially the wisdom Acheron imparts on Aventurine, whom is racked with the gnawing regrets of his childhood. He spent his life desperately seeking the answers to questions no one could ever answer, only to hear a new perspective on the brink of annihilation from an Emanator of Nihility. To have her take him deathly seriously… to have the patience to share her thoughts with him… to give not just him, but Kakavasha relief…

Another moment of love.

After taking Acheron’s words to heart, Aventurine stared into the endless shroud of darkness before him. The still waters gently lapped at the shores of nothingness, as he unfurled Dr. Ratio’s note. The note was the doctor’s parting gift that he instructed the gambler to open in the jaws of death… To call this note a request would be an understatement: it’s a plea. A plea to live, and live, and live, and that Ratio wished him good luck in his endeavors. He doesn’t tell Aventurine to rely on Gods… on Aeons… From one human to another, he wished him “the best of luck.” A firm reminder that not even the Gods can intervene in the inevitability of death, but humans can make the journey there easier on each other. We inspire hope and a passion for life in one another in ways that deities cannot. Aventurine takes his unfathomably risky gamble in stride, reassured with the fact that no matter what, at least one person will be in his corner… at least one person will want to see him again. At least one person wants him to fight against the overwhelming gravitational pull of death. At least one person wants him to live.

Yet another moment of love.

At the end of it all, when Aventurine bids Kakavasha farewell after their final prayer together, he leaves behind his hat. He leaves behind a memento, something his father, mother, and sister have all done before. Material goods have no value in death — no, but they have value to those they leave behind. Cherished belongings that remind us that we do not fight our struggles alone. That when we reach the black, shapeless gates of eternity, we have not done so alone. That in the swirling darkness we will rejoin them in nothingness. That our paths will cross in finality, even if we do not have the consciousness to acknowledge it. Aventurine entrusts his hat to Kakavasha as a show that he ventures forth with no regrets; instead, he places his trust in his gamble. Either he lives, allowing the Trailblazer to solve the mystery while also carving a path for the IPC, or he returns to the embrace of his family. Either way he cannot lose, and either way he has nothing to regret.

I love the Penacony story. I love what’s being said between the lines. I haven’t even touched on Welt’s patience and solemnity in his conversations with Acheron, but it makes me feel the same way Aventurine’s story does. I cannot wait to see where the story takes us next.

This is going to be a spoiler filled review so be warned. Trails of Cold Steel IV is not only the end of 4 games worth of storytelling in the Erebonia arc, but also the culmination of 9 games worth of plot threads and story arcs, with many returning characters in what is subtitled “End of Saga” in the Japanese title. With all that weighing on its shoulders, I think it's incredibly difficult to give Cold Steel IV a proper review without going into full spoiler territory and as such, spoilers will be throughout this whole review as I go through the rollercoaster ride that is Cold Steel IV.

To begin with I'll do my usual and go through the gameplay stuff first. As the follow up in the typical Trails pairs of games, Cold Steel IV builds upon what came before. Orbments get their second enhancement slots again, BP is now capped at 7pts, Lost Arts make a return from Cold Steel II and you've got all your usual Cold Steel battle system in place with combat links and follow up attacks, and master quartz and all that fun stuff that has kept the combat engaging throughout the many hours these games take. The Brave Order system from CS3 also returns and thankfully seems to have been adjusted to try and balance things a bit better because I wasn't cutting through enemies like paper this time round which was much appreciated.
Divine Knight battles haven't changed much and honestly, as much as I love mechs, I definitely felt like these battles had outstayed their welcome by this point. It's the same core “target the right weak point for the stance to get a follow up attack” and once you find the weak points, they seem impossible to lose. Over the course of all four Cold Steel games I have never once had a Divine Knight or Soldat lose all its HP on me. The battles just seem kind of stagnant compared to the core battle system and once the spectacle has worn off, they become a little too formulaic, which is a problem when the game has a plot point that sees you taking on 6 Divine Knights throughout the game with little differing up the fights other than how many partners you get with you. It's a minor gripe in the grand scheme of things but I wouldn't have minded if they had tried a more action oriented approach to Divine Knight battles, just to try and freshen things up a bit.

On the location front, it's the usual handful of new areas within the familiarity of the previous game. There's the witches village Eryn, and a few more areas of Crossbell modelled now, as well as plenty of new dungeon areas to explore which is nice. They even bring over some CS1/2 locations for a few scenes (though not playable in) which is nice. Ambition and scope certainly outpaced time and money because there's stuff happening in areas like Liberl, Jurai, and North Ambria but because these areas don't have full scale 3D models done for them, you only get to see them on the map as events are talked about. It's a shame but at the same time, I can commend the sheer scale and scope of what they're doing, especially for a company the size of Falcom. I can always appreciate ambition even if it doesn't quite hit the mark.

On the technical side of things, I played this on Switch and there's a handful of unfortunate issues to report. Positives first, there wasn't any time the game got stuck loading at a point like CS3 did for me, and for the most part it runs consistently and looks good enough. Unfortunately there are times where the large amount of characters on screen at times drags the framerate down and load times here are kinda long. I don't know if the in game clock tracks the loading screen times or not but my playtime on my save file was around 5 hours less than the playtime my Switch was tracking so I can only assume that was load times being added up throughout my whole 90+ hour playthrough which uh….. yeah, the 10ish seconds per load screen really adds up. There's a handful of other issues carried over from CS3, like the incredibly tiny text in some areas.
Aside from the load times, these issues didn't bother me too much but everyone has different tolerances to these things so it's important to note.

Right, let's get into the wild highs and lows of the story side of things because wow, there is a lot to go through in this one.
Following on directly from CS3 where Rean lost control over himself after seeing Millium die in front of him, he finds himself captured and restrained in the Gnomes Black Workshop having slayed the fallen Holy Beast and released the Black Twilight upon the world, giving the curse of Erebonia even more strength than before. On top of that, following the shooting of the Emperor by Ash, Erebonia had declared war on Calvard. With not only the future of Erebonia at stake but the world, we need heroes from all over to pitch in and help and CS4 begins things off on an excellent note by giving you control of Estelle, Joshua, Renne, Lloyd, Elie, and KeA - heroes from the Liberl and Crossbell arcs of this long running narrative. They've taken it upon themselves to invade Orchis Tower in Crossbell to try and get some idea on what exactly is happening in the world. It's a great way to kick off the game, putting you directly into the action without resorting to the old “play a later part of the game at the beginning” thing that's been done a few times before in this series. It also gives them a chance to introduce our new Third Anguis of Ouroboros - Mariabelle Crois - friend of Elie and daughter of the man who had seized Crossbell’s independence through his own less than savoury means. She's replaced the fallen Third Anguis - Weissman - who was killed by Kevin at the end of Sky SC and this kind of stuff is why Trails is such a cool series. The world is continuingly moving forward and characters are finding themselves in new roles and positions as they grow and seize their own ambitions in the ever changing world they live in.

Following on from the Prologue, Act 1 takes us back to Class VII, who having lost Rean and split up from a few other characters after the events at the Gral, they find themselves waking up at the hidden village of Eryn, a place that witches have kept hidden in Erebonia. Having lost Millium through her sacrifice to become the Sword of the End and lost Rean to the Gnomes, Class VII are understandably dejected and lost on what they want to do. Alisa has found out that not only is her father still alive, he's Black Alberich, the leader of the Gnomes. Jusis had become especially close to Millium, forming a sibling-like bond with her and losing her has hit him hard. Laura has watched the airship her father was on get blown to pieces and is grieving the loss of her father. On the new Class VII side of things, Ash has disappeared after shooting the Emperor and Musse has vanished too, the loss of Millium has also hit Altina hard as the pair were like sisters and Kurt is struggling with seeing what Cedric has become. With so many people lost and crushed from the events of the Gral, it takes someone special to snap the group out their funk and that someone special is Juna, carrying the pride of Crossbell in her veins as well as her experiences in Erebonia, she knows just how important it is to pick yourself back up, and so, with the absence of Rean, Juna takes the role leader and gives a rousing speech, not pulling any punches, to inspire Class VII out their funks and to kick their butt into gear for a rescue mission unlike any other they've done before. It's a brilliant start to the game and I loved seeing how all these different losses hit each character but also seeing Juna pick up everyone was really cool. She was my favourite member of New Class VII from CS3 and she does an incredible job taking the role of leader here in uncertain times.
The bulk of Act 1 sees Class VII and allies searching through Erebonia to find the location of the Black Workshop as well as trying to find Musse and Ash. Of course, we see the likes of Ouroboros showing up to impede their progress too. Ash finds himself going back to visit his hometown of Hamel as he struggles with what he's done while Musse has all of a sudden become one of the most powerful people in the world, gathering people like Vita and Aurelia to her side and having the absolutely ludicrous skill of being able to predict literally everything that's happened and she's putting together a counter operation to stop Osborne's Operation Jormungandr (his plan to swallow the world whole through war) with Operation Mille Mirage, essentially a plan that while would be able to stop Osborne, it would do so at the cost of many millions of lives. Uncomfortable with her plan, Musse decides to re-join up with Class VII to search for Rean and another way to bring a stop to the strife that is about to engulf the world.
Act 1 ends with a spectacular trek through the Black Workshop with the cast split up into two teams working together to save Rean and help bring him out of the curse’s grasp. Along the way we see the culmination of Duvalie’s doubts about the path she's been following as she joins up with Class VII and Crow manages to shake off the Azure Siegfried persona that had been forced upon him. It's all great stuff and on its own would've been an excellent game but there's so much more to this fairytale.
Act 1 does have a couple of issues mind you. Roselia becomes the latest character to take part in the extremely disgusting boob groping trope this series is increasingly becoming marred in and annoyingly the first of many death fake outs is confirmed with Angelica coming back under the Gnomes control. It doesn't help that Angelica is a character I personally don't like seeing her come back after being led to believe she was dead was a personal annoyance.

After the relatively consistent high of Act 1 we bridge into Act 2 with the Rivalries being introduced. The Rivalries are a series of battles between Divine Knights where the winner absorbs the other Knight and once all 7 are merged back into one, the Great One can be reformed. Rean and Crow get the jump on this and duke it out to try and figure out what exactly a Rivalry is. As the Ashen Knight begins absorbing the Azure Knight, we find out that Crow is an Immortal whose life is tied to his Divine Knight and losing his knight would mean he dies again. I don't mind revivals like this because it's a special circumstance and his life is tied to something he could lose at any moment. Having to go through a second death scene for Crow though, only to have Valimar restore Ordine and take him as a squire, thereby saving Crow is a little bit more annoying. Well the second death scene anyways, I like Crow knowing he is living on borrowed time and doing all he can to help before his time is up.

Act 2 is where the game suffers a massive dip unfortunately. They remember that this is a Cold Steel game and as such it must have Bonding Events and so they bring them back but decide to implement in the worst way yet. You see, nearly every single female character now has “special memory” bonding events with Rean where if you do that Bonding Event, you unlock a heart towards Rean becoming romantically involved with that character. What's worse is that these events tend to be ones with character notes unlocked through them, meaning that you are probably missing out on important character stuff if you skip them. So wanting to see what Fie’s first event was like to find out what I could be missing out on by skipping most of them, I did Fie’s first bonding event and was rewarded with some of the worst character assassination I've seen as Fie just compared herself to the other Class VII girls in hopes that Rean liked her over all the others. It was awful seeing this ex-jaeger, now bracer, pining for the affection of a man she's shown zero romantic interest in previously. So with that I decided to skip all special memory bonding events with the exception of Alisa as that's who I've picked in every Cold Steel game so far (her first event is actually pretty cool because she decides to break up with Rean as she tries to deal with everything else going on in her life, realising she isn't able to give Rean the relationship he deserves and not wanting to be selfish and drag him into her problems. She still ends up getting back with him anyways which honestly I would've preferred if they had waited until the end of this game or did in a future game, once everything was resolved with her family)
The biggest issue with Act 2 is just how much of it feels like a waste of time. The core of it is going from place to place to rescue characters like Towa and Tio who went missing after everything went down at the Gral. They're being held hostage by characters like General Craig and Neithardt only they aren't really hostages though. No they're under protection and are free to go but instead of handing them over to Rean, these characters instead want to “test your resolve” by making you go through dungeons and fighting them even though at this point, everyone's resolve should be clear. Main Class VII fought in the Civil War and now contain people like Gaius (member of the Gralsritter), Fie (a high ranking bracer), and Emma (a powerful witch capable of lowering the strength of McBurn’s flames), I think their resolve is clear by now, especially with Rean back. On the new Class VII side, THEY HAD JUST STORMED THE BLACK WORKSHOP AND RESCUED REAN, whose resolve is needing to be tested here??? WHY DO THEY NEED TO BE TESTED THREE TIMES??? I would've understood it more if General Craig was like, “I'm sorry but as a General of Erebonia I must follow orders and I cannot allow these people out of our custody” or something because at least that would make a bit more sense.
At least it ends on a higher note with the full reveal of just how big Operation Mille Mirage actually is, bringing together characters from Liberl, Remiferia, and Calvard in a bid to stop the Empire by fighting them head on in what would be a war on a scale like no other. Our heroes from Liberl, Crossbell, and Erebonia however choose to find a third path, one that honours the late Prince Olivert, in what is an incredibly touching moment. Of course the Pantagruel ends up being invaded by Osborne's group of villains and we get another cool team split dungeon sequence as both teams work together to make their way to the deck of the Pantagruel to face the enemy. It's all thrilling stuff, it's going so well and then the wheels start to fall off again. Our heroes end up with their backs against the wall with the sheer numbers that Cedric has brought with him and so to bail them out at the eleventh hour is none other than the new Courageous II, with a few crew members who were supposed to be blown up on the original Courageous. Yup, the very Act that had characters honouring the legacy of Olivert sees Olivert and Toval both come back from what should've been certain death. Turns out George is just an absolutely useless character with zero conviction and so he delayed the bomb and gave Olivert's crew a warning before the bombs could detonate. On the cooler side of things, Blueblanc did not want his rival to die so he helped in saving them which is a cool character moment for him but yet again, characters not actually dying and getting fake out deaths is a problem because it kills the tension in the conflicts. If there's no risk or sense of belief that the main characters can lose or be killed if they mess up then the fights start to feel predictable and less dramatic. Even more frustrating in this sequence is the amount of characters hopping over to whatever side they feel like with little consequence. The RMP’s Major Michael Irving had switched from the Branch campus of Thors to aid the Main Campus with Prince Cedric and Shirley only to hop right back over to Oliverts side as a member of his crew. Professor Schmidt does whatever he likes and helps whoever benefits his research which was annoying in the first place but he also hops over to the enemy for a bit along with Alisa’s mother Irina. Then we have Victor Arseid who dons a mind control mask, claims he's acting of his own free will, then characters claim it's the curse affecting him, on the side of the enemy because??? It's just too much side swapping at such a late stage in the plot with little to no build up and it's more annoying than exciting or interesting. At least the likes of Duvalie and Bleublanc get a build up where the payoff is them finding the conviction to follow their beliefs and ideals.
But yeah that is the mess that is Act 2 that felt like a giant waste of time, started building a good climax and then lost the plot for a bit.

Act 3 starts to get things back on track with lore revelations detailing what exactly the curse is and how Dreichels had resisted it for many years. We get a bit silly again with reincarnation being brought in out of nowhere to make Osborne the reincarnation of Dreichels for some reason but it did clear up some issues I had with the curse and got me to understand it better. The curse is the Ebon Knight Ishmelga and he likes to take advantage of people when they're at their weakest. Osborne losing Rean, Rean seeing Millium sacrifice herself, Ash giving into his desire for revenge for Hamel… those moments allowed the curse to take hold and amplify the darkest desires of those people. Rean completely loses his mind and seeks revenge against those who forced Millium into sacrificing herself, Ash tries to assassinate the Emperor for his part in the Hamel tragedy. These actions are merely the darkest desires of those people amplified by the curse after having lost their will to resist it. Dreichels resisted the curse for 250 years, even through reincarnation until as Osborne he lost his son and wanted him back. That shows that with enough willpower, you can resist the curse and that while the curse plays a part in amplifying the dark desires of the people of Erebonia, those desires and actions are ultimately still the responsibility of those people. The frustrating things with the curse is some characters using it as an excuse to shift blame off people, like Class VII with Ash, and how unsubtle it can be with its influence at times. Characters like Ash who were under the influence of the curse though do recognise it was their own weakness that allowed them to do the things they did and that goes a long way to making the curse a much more digestible plot point than it was when it was getting the blame for literally every atrocity Erebonia committed. It's still an overall messy plot element and I can understand why it rubs people up the wrong way.
The core of Act 3 is the countdown towards September 1st and the beginning of the war with our heroes deciding to try and knock out a couple more Rivalries in hopes of getting Rutger and Lianne on their side like Crow. Before you get to challenge them however, Black Alberich decides to put up barriers surrounding their locations so you get to have fun going through more dungeons and boss fights. Oh and remember all those characters like Schmidt, Irina, and Victor whose side swapping felt out of nowhere and pointless? Guess who ends up swapping sides again :) Victor is the most egregious here because for someone apparently acting on his own will and not under mind control from the Gnome mask, he sure does join up pretty fast after you knock that mask off his face. At least there's a good side swap within it all with Alisa finally getting through to Sharon that she is a loved and valued member of the family. The better part of Act 3 is the Rivalry battles that while unfortunately didn't quite pan out the way I expected, they did give some great character moments. Fie and Rutger getting a proper father daughter bond moment was incredibly heartwarming and Rufus coming in to kill steal Lianne just as we had convinced her to stay alive a bit longer, further emphasising just how much of calculating bastard he is and showing why he is the best of the Ironbloods.

Before the war and the finale begins we get a moment of respite as the gang decide to go to Mishelam together to spend one last evening of peace before the world descends into war. It's a moment to put the fears of the unknown to one side and spend time with loved ones and it makes sense to have something like that here. The highlight is Olivert proposing to Schera, another great thing that shows just how cool it is watching these characters grow together through multiple games spanning multiple years. There's other cool stuff like Rean gaining mastery over the seventh form of the eight leaves one blade school and you get a silly quest with Sara inviting a bunch of women into having a drinking contest together.

Ultimately there's still a finale to get through and with Black Alberich bringing 5 Salt Pales and the Empyreal Fortress into Erebonia to set the stage for the final few Rivalries. Trails does the cool thing Trails can do and gives you FIVE different party setups to explore each of the pales, including a lot of first time playable characters like the rest of the Stahlritter and Zephyr, making for a really cool final set of dungeons before the actual final dungeon with Class VII. The Empyreal Fortress is a suitable final dungeon with not only the final Rivalries to get through but a few other boss fights with high importance.
The first battle is against Lechter and Claire who have both fallen so far from where I expected them to be. I understand that the death of Millium has hit both of them hard and they've lost a lot of their conviction but man, Lechter came in at Sky the 3rd, talking a big game, telling Osborne that he will surpass him. Claire since Cold Steel I has been showing unease about the path she's been on, doubts about following Osborne… to see both of them like this is just sad and disappointing.
The Rivalry against Cedric is pretty cool as you see an unlikely bond has formed between Shirley and Cedric which works surprisingly well for both characters. Cedric himself has a lot of issues to work through and nearly falls into the trap of using the curse as an excuse for his actions before Shirley hits him with a few home truths.
Mariabelle and Campanella show up and do what Ouroboros does, say some vague crap and leave as Juna puts it. Juna gets another moment of badassery though as she tears through them with a ton of questions. Of course we don't get many answers from them, the focus being the Phantasmal Blaze Plan and why they stopped trying to take it back (which I feel like it was obvious to put together that Osborne was enacting the plan anyways so it made sense for Ouroboros to join up with him?) More interestingly though they go into what Vita was trying to do which gives some insight into why she left and drop some vague stuff about the “truth of the world” itself as well as insinuating that Professor Epstein is aware of the truth. There's a post credits scene with Ouroboros that alludes to what their goal might actually be and with some theorising, a lot of their actions and condemnation of Weissman start to make a bit more sense. On the surface the organisation seems like a huge mess with members free to do what they want and leave without much consequence but underneath it all there does seem to be some method to their madness.
After that there's the penultimate Rivalry with Rufus who seems to be the only one who understood what it meant to be an Ironblood. His goal is basically to amass power until he's able to surpass Osborne and he'll do whatever it takes to get there. He actually has strength in his convictions, knows what he wants, and isn't afraid of being an asshole to get there and that makes him such a fantastic character. The fact his voice actor fits him so well only further enhances the aura surrounding him and it's magnificent. Having a character you love to hate makes it so much more satisfying for when you do take them down and Rufus fits the bill perfectly.
Before the final Rivalry though there's still McBurn to take care of and honestly at this point, the amount of times you've fought him only for him to be like “next time I might have to unleash my true power” does make going into this fight feel a bit like a chore at first but he's finally in the mood to give you some answers and hoo boy, there are some wild implications about Zemuria itself. You see, McBurn isn't even from this world and upon his arrival to this world, he became mixed with some sort of devil creature and has been holding back in his fights so that he can find out exactly what it is he has merged with by pushing himself against tougher and tougher opponents so that he can awaken his devil side without burning the entire world to cinders. What's even more interesting is that the church and the witches are aware of the truth of Zemuria, that no one seems to be able to leave the continent and that people are restricted in what they know by following the teachings of Aidios. Then there's the fact that the DG Cult who came up with the Gnosis drug in Zero are pretty close to the truth themselves and all of a sudden you have a lot of implications about the religion and state of Zemuria that is going to be really interesting to explore in the future. It makes so much more sense why Phantasma was being brought up so often throughout the game and why there were a couple of late game quests with devils popping up like they were cryptids. Really interesting set up for the future of the series. Back to McBurn himself, yeah his true form is some sort of giant devil creature which is more sorts of crazy added into the mix. Reaching that form allowed him to rediscover his lost memories and it seems he's realised that Campanella and Ouroboros were using him but what exactly they told him remains up in the air. Again, a lot of good intrigue built up from that encounter with McBurn that does a lot of good for the lore of the world and his personal character development.

Finally we meet with Osborne and the stage is set for the final Rivalry. Osborne is the epitome of my biggest issue with the Cold Steel arc - building towards something interesting and doing something way less interesting instead. For the bulk of 8ish games, Osborne has been built up as this magnificent mastermind, grabbing power and leading Erebonia towards dominating the world through a political masterclass of annexing nations by both economical pressure and outright warfare. His technique of backing nations into a corner by self sabotaging the Empire's own property and people and staging it as the work of others has backed many a nation into a corner, forcing them to give up their independence and become a part of his Empire. He wormed his way into Jurai’s favour by economically manipulating them, ousting Crow's grandfather in the process which created a terrorist organisation with the goal of assassinating him. He took Crossbell by force, using his own son as a pawn to drive Calvard out of Crossbell. He took North Ambria by force, yet again using his own son as a pawn in the process. The whole set up to this game's war is Osborne pinning an assassination attempt on Calvard and forcing conscription upon his citizens. This man has done so much damage to Western Zemuria so when we get the big reveal that um actually, no he was just playing the villain in order to bring about the chance of destroying the curse, I'm just like wow… way to undermine over a decade of set up for such a vanilla outcome. The parallel with Rean and throwing his life away to become the ultimate self sacrifice is cool and all but man, to take a political mastermind who had been built up to be the perfect final villain for this arc, and throw it away to make Ishmelga the typical “I'm humanity’s desire for growth through strife given physical form” instead is just so much missed potential. It could've been so much cooler if Osborne was just using Ishmelga’s curse to further expand his goal to conquer Zemuria or something rather than the whole Emperor Dreichels reincarnated hero nonsense. Credit where it's due, the boss fight against Osborne was a pretty tough fight and I was on the ropes for most of it (partially because I was lazy and hadn't sorted out my set ups for most of Class VII but hey, the game just about punished me for it so it's cool) The Divine Knight fight against Ishmelga carries the usual Divine Knight fight issue of all spectacle, little depth, made worse by an item that McBurn gives you that can fully restore your full party if you do end up in a pinch.

But yeah after winning the fight the game ends with the curse becoming too strong for Rean to hold back anymore and so he, Crow, and Millium decide to take it up into the atmosphere and blow it up in the ultimate self sacrifice move. I actually like this ending for Rean himself as even though he gives intl to his tendency to put his life on the line to save everyone else, this time he at least lets Crow and Millium help him, no longer taking the burden on himself all the time. Other than that though, this ending is kind of flat and lacking so good news that there's actually a true ending!
Yup, I believe if you do every single quest in the game you'll gain access to the ??? quest that gives you the Earthen Prison item and if you load your save file after beating the game and having that item, you're given the choice of another ending if you so please. It's one of those true ending flags that is kind of a cool reward for doing quests. Anyways the true ending sees Franz free from control of the Black Alberich persona (I haven't even touched upon that plot thread because to be honest, there's too much shenanigans surrounding what Ishmelga is capable of and reincarnation and stuff so I kinda stopped caring about trying to understand the whole Black Alberich situation) come up with a way to destroy the curse for good. You see, that Earthen Prison item can trap Ishmelga on their plane long enough to give our heroes a chance to kill it. And so we get our giant final boss as per Trails tradition and everyone comes back for the final fight. There's a whopping 39 characters you can sort into 3 teams of 8 as Trails flexes its cast size muscles on the rest of RPGs. It's a cool boss fight where Teams A and B destroy parts of Ishmelga to lower its shields to allow Rean's team to damage and kill the boss. Not that difficult but it's a much more fitting spectacle for the game dubbed “End of Saga”.
With the curse gone for good, and Crow's and Millium’s time coming to an end, Franz decides to ass pull out some thing he's figured out as ancestor to the Earth clan or something and Roselia joins him as they ramble on and the Divine Knights do a “one and only time” miracle that revives Crow. Yeah through the whole Cold Steel saga, Crow has literally died 3 times and has been brought back every single time. I didn't mind the Immortal one because it had rules to follow and a few others got the same deal. The Valimar squire revival was fine because Crow knew he was on borrowed time and that he was done after everything was over. To bring this guy back from the dead 3 times though…. Just let him rest in peace man, his work here was done. There's also the asspull to revive Millium because Franz has somehow had time to control his body long enough without Ishmelga realising to create a new body for Millium's spirit to be transferred in. Sure yeah, whatever. And with all these revivals guess what happens to Franz after Alisa finally has her dad back? He reveals that he was somehow an Immortal too and unlike Crow he's been one for too long now and can't be revived so uh…. Happy reunion Alisa yay! Genuinely do not know what she did to be screwed over by the writers so much but damn.
Anyways Rean goes into narration mode to explain a few events that happen post this story. Stuff like how despite freeing itself from the curse, Erebonia has a lot of rebuilding to do as well as grovelling to the other nations, especially Calvard, for the damages it's done. There's a bit about how the Bracer Guild has been reinstated in Erebonia, how Rufus has gone to prison to allow Lechter and Claire to help out in the rebuilding of Erebonia, and how the Royal Family eventually wins back the trust of the people. All that stuff is very good, a nice framing of how the balance of Zemuria has shifted since the Great Twilight. A little bit disappointing is the explanation of how Crossbell won its independence back. I would've been more annoyed about that if I didn't know Reverie existed and that it probably deals with that event but I can imagine Crossbell fans being let down by this resolution when CS4 first came out. North Ambria also gets shafted. Rean explains that after Crossbell won its independence back, the question naturally arises in Jurai and North Ambria. Jurai gets a little explanation stating that they've enjoyed their economic prosperity as part of the Empire and that the question of independence would pose some issues, North Ambria however just gets completely blanked after its first mention which sucks when Sara and the Northern Jaeger's had a lot of history being from North Ambria.
The credits are really sweet, we get to see Olivert and Schera get married and a bunch of characters celebrating, even those who unfortunately didn't make it into CS4s main story like Kevin, Ries, Wazy, and Noel. It's a nice send off and despite CS4 not pulling at my heartstrings as well as Sky SC and Azure did, the credits did get me to tear up a little seeing everyone so happy.

There's one last post credits scene you only get if you reload your save and skip through all the final scenes again. A little bit more insight into Ouroboros is given with them happy that the Sept-Terrions of Earth and Fire are no longer in reach of humanity’s hands. We also get to finally see the Grandmaster for the first time who states the world may have expanded its lifespan a little by driving back the Great Twilight but it still has around only 3 more years left. On top of that she announces the move to the next plan - the Eternal Recurrence Plan. It's a really intriguing set up for the future of the series and some of the wording used can lead to some theories of what Ouroboros is trying to do and I love that. It has me excited for the potential of what's to come and where things might go from this point.

So CS4 overall is a great game with a heavily flawed story where its highs are really good but its lows drag things down a wee bit. And I know I've had a lot of complaints throughout the story section here but a lot of it is more frustration at the missed potential and the way things went despite how they had built up my expectations. I can completely understand why CS4 seems to be such a divisive game but at the same time, for all its flaws, for all my issues with it, I still had a good time. The coming together of heroes to take down a world threat, seeing Estelle, Joshua, and Renne again, seeing the whole core of the SSS back together again, seeing Juna step up to the plate and inspire Class VII into action, Rufus being the best villain in a game where no one wants to be a villain, Crow paying his respects to each of his former comrades and pushing forward despite his limited time, Bleublanc going on a redemption arc I didn't think was possible, the way the game manages to utilise a huge cast and gives you reasons to use nearly every single playable character at least once…. For all its flaws, there are a lot of memorable and fantastic moments in CS4 that shouldn't be overlooked either. Yeah, it's messy at times and it can be frustrating too but it's also ambitious and full of the charm that makes the Trails series special and it's important to recognise that too.