The more I think about Cold Steel 3, the worse it actually is especially coming from Cold Steel 4 and Reverie, with the former being one of the worst JRPGs experiences ever, while the latter being a massive redemption arc for Trails and a apology letter for Cold Steel 4 incompetence as well being my personal favourite Trails game.

It started off strong, but slowly got worse by every chapter.
While I do enjoy instructor Rean, Ash, Musse and Altina as characters, the game unfortunately had to bring Kurt and Juna with the latter being one of my most hated JRPG characters ever.

The game just unnecessarily drags and barely gets straight to the point, until the finale where we get introduced to arguably the worst evil plotline I've seen in the JRPG genre, which ultimately plagued Cold Steel 4 pathetic existence.

A masterful return to glory for the Tekken franchise after how mediocre the previous 2 number entires were (barring Tag Team Tournament 2 which I adored, despite balance issues)

Tekken 8 just hits the rights notes for both story and gameplay.
Plus, phenomenal visual desgin and music.

One of my favourite games of 2024.

This is a review for both Inazuma Eleven Big Bang and Supernova since I played them both.
Honestly what a great and fun game.
Controls were surprising responsive, the graphics for a 3DS game was fantastic and it's arguably one of the best looking 3DS games I've seen.
Palpacking wasn't too bad for me, and while it can be painfully grindly at times, at least your characters, especially will level up fast.

Story while not great, was still entertaining to experience.
The main thing that hold this hidden gem back from being a 5 star game was how frustratingly underpowered the Earth Eleven is, in terms of stats and movesets. Aside from the main 3, Terry/Ibuki and maybe Trina for TP reasons, there's very little reason to use the other Earth Eleven characters, especially almost all of them need Totems to function and Totems aren't that great in general.

Various Sliver and Purple coins scouts that you can recruit from Chapter 3 as well the 11 Earth Eleven additonal characters that you can recruit at the end Chapter 5 will make sure make that almost every Earth Eleven player will be glorified bench warmers, when you can recruit characters like Goldie, Bailong, Durual, Nathan, Beta, Fei, Tori, Gabi, Soul, Gamma, Simon, Wolfram etc.

Such a shame as I grew to like most of them, but their kits and stats are underwhelming and they completely fall off in the post game.

All and all, Inazuma Eleven Go Galaxy BB/SV is what I label as a hidden gem as well being one of the best 3DS games that we never got officially released.

My greatest disappointment of 2024.
This was my most anticipated game of 2024, if not ever and Capcom managed to screwed it up badly.

The original Dragon's Dogma, despite being one of my favourite games, wasn't perfect, but it has charm and passion which is squeal is mostly devoid off.

Lack of enemy variety, uninspired side quests, poorly written half fast main story, the game despite being unfortunately running at 30fps barely runs consistently, some of worst difficult management ever as you either overpowered or a weakling that gets bodied regardless of level, poorly realised post game content.

The music, visuals and to a lesser extent gameplay were fine, but they don't save the game from being a subpar mess.

Stuff like this is the main reason why I don't preorder games anymore.

Pros:

- Endearing character interactions
- Gust Music
- Passage of time on returning faces
- Misc gameplay improvements

Cons:

- Disjointed level design (I felt like the map was a little too disconnected, it doesn't help that progression doesn't really feel that earned unlike the first game)
- Severe backtracking (Picking up "lore" in ruins after having already traversed said ruins is honestly a chore)
- Too reliant on "Tell don't show"
- Gatekeeping the truth until the very end
- Very short endgame
- Lack of secret super bosses (in the first game there were 2 available without needing to be in Post game, on the second game, there is no single super boss available, and actual hard content is behind a paywall, lol)
- 200 basket capacity (too little in contrast to how much items you can gather, especially as you unlock gathering upgrades, which is pace breaking when you're trying to explore)
- Mild Pacing Issues

This game is still very enjoyable, but there were too many things the first game did better that were lacking on this sequel, and that heavily hindered my enjoyment, there were also some other mechanics that were tediously overwhelming that felt like playing the anime version of Skyrim.

While I do respect the revolutionary legacy of this game, it doesn't save it from being a frustrating nightmare that ruined my experience.

Lack of checkpoints when dying.
Fragile and hard to control vehicles.
Insufferable brutal police AI.
Bad to straight up unfair mission design.
Forgettable story and characters.

Thank God I played Vice City and San Andreas first.

I genuinely have no words. This game has become my favourite video game of all time, with the exception of a single visual novel. It set a new standard that I think I'll have to readjust quite a few of my ratings now. It's honestly difficult to even begin describing how I feel about this game, but I'll try.

Reverie is both a love letter and epilogue to the first three arcs of Trails, as well as the prologue to what comes next.

From the homely Liberl, to Crossbell's history of oppression and melting pot of a culture, to Erebonia's oppressive yet fascinating existence. From Estelle and Joshua's journey, to Lloyd's unyielding determination, to Rean's saga. All of that was already settled in Cold Steel IV, but unlike the bombastic, massive battles where everyone (well, almost — sorry, Kevin) from every possible side joined to end the conflict once and for all, Reverie decides to focus on a smaller amount of characters and make them go through incredible character development. That's not to say the stakes are low, though — this is still a JRPG. And so, the game, before the finale is split into three routes (actually just POV chapters but whatever), between which you can usually switch at will.

Lloyd's route, despite being the weakest of the three, is something that his character definitely benefits from. We have seen the SSS fight tooth and nail for Crossbell so many times that they, and other people, have forced expectations onto them. The land of Crossbell has been under constant threat of dictatorship and occupation by multiple parties. They just don't want to leave them alone. In spite of that, though, our guy Lloyd, who would face down the sun falling from the sky onto him and would still get back up, is still Lloyd, and it's hard not to love him for it.

Rean's route is a fitting after-story for the completion of his arc in CS4. While that arc may have ended, having doubts after everything is said and done is natural. It feels very organic and fitting as a character study.

C is a newcomer protagonist, and compared to the other two in this game, is more morally questionable. As someone with a dark past, he bonds with other misfits with complicated backgrounds. It's honestly really difficult to talk about this any further without spoilers, so I won't. But I'll just say that he's incredible.

Making a shorter Trails game split into three routes does wonders for this story's pacing, while at the same time having a wealth of side content. This is probably the best paced Trails game since Azure, and possible ever.

Falcom is at its peak with the technical (or at least until Daybreak/Kuro, wow that game is phenomenal), visual and sound aspects here. This is a very stylised game, with probably my favourite Trails soundtrack, which is saying a lot. Every route gets their own battle themes in a fitting style, such as having the spiritual sequel to Zero's Get Over the Barrier! and Azure's Seize the Truth! in Lloyd's route and Crossbell, as well as C's route's tracks, which blew me away. Not to mention the wonderful OP track. The gameplay is pretty much the same as CS4, but no complaints at that front either, especially since I enjoyed the fights in this one more. Trails was already my favourite JRPG turn-based combat of all time, and this just further cemented it.

While playing this series I was wondering what about it works so well for me. Before starting Trails, I was wondering if a 500+ hour series can even be worth it. Seemed like a series that would not be amazing enough to justify such a lengthy commitment over shorter, yet acclaimed JRPGs.

Trails, when it wants to be, is a masterclass on what you can achieve with characters and world building in a JRPG. Well, of course the several hundred hour long series would have good world building, but it is impressive nonetheless, especially if you're a completionist. I'm not one myself, but it would be a perfect fit if I was. The amount of dialogue NPCs have after any given story event is crazy. And then there's the in-story lore and world. The regions in every game feel completely different, and if you go back to a previous region in a future game, it feels like coming home. Different musical styles, viewpoints, vibes, etc. It's not like Falcom made a carbon copy of Tolkien's world or something — to me, Zemuria is one of a kind. This variety extends to the characters, too. The protagonists of the games so far (Estelle, Kevin, Lloyd, Rean, C) couldn't be more different. Despite being a series with plenty of tropes, it has enough diversity to feel fresh every time. That includes thematically. It's impossible for me not to look forward to what they'll show me next, especially with this behemoth of a buildup. Trails is just special to me. This review I'm writing is longer than my usual ones, but it feels like I can always say more.

It's also impressive but kind of funny how this game doubles as damage control for people's issues with CS4. If you liked CS4, there's little doubt you'll like this a lot. And if you hated CS4, you will probably enjoys this a lot more. This game is as much Cold Steel 5 as it is Crossbell 3, and as someone who's greatly enjoyed both sagas, I couldn't be happier. I will probably do some side content in this game for some time, or maybe I'll take a break. Or maybe I'll just boot up Kuro 1 (Daybreak 1) ASAP. Who knows.

This game marks the end of one thing, but the beginning of another. Liberlian Bracers, Kevin, the SSS, Class VII, it's been a pleasure to witness your journeys. This is goodbye for now, but I'm sure I'll see you again... Someday, somewhere.