BLOAT: ✔
SIDELINED CHARACTERS: ✔
MOSTLY UNINTERESTING TILL THE FINAL PART OF THE GAME: ✔
holy shit it's Trails of Cold Steel III II I IV!!!!

Once again I am quite let down for what it could have been. Hidden between all the bloat there is a story that has been running for like 6 games, here they finally converge to a grand crossover and it decides to utilize the bare minimum. The characters from previous arcs sure are here but it feels like they are consistently not. This is a problem I think applies to everyone in the C7 cast too (once again); everyone is present but they're sidelines to contribute the bare minimum apart from their one or two character bits then let Rean do everything. Like sure here, at least, I will cut it some slack because this is a Rean game and by the end he finally gets his conclusion with his dad, his sword master, and the central plot point. Which is good looking at his own character perspective but I just wish he wasn't so damn involved with every.single.character. Every single person somehow has to involve Rean in their dialogue even if the main focus seems to be someone else and it gets really grating after seeing his name pop up what feels like every other speech bubble. This continues to be true because the best thing about these games is whenever something DOESN'T involve Rean; examples like: Ash, Olivier, Jusis with Rufus, Fie with Rutger and Juna wanting to represent the SSS and few more but these moments stand out to me because their own character comes on display and that is what I value in these type of games and it's a shame they didn't do this for more characters.

On the positive side, the final portion of the game was good and exciting. We got some well deserved fanservice. The gameplay is still fun; They give you so many tools to break the game which is always appreciated, and choosing your favourite in the last cast to build is cool. The game also looks really good at some portions and they at least tried to make the dungeons look somewhat different. Now, the ending even though sappy and safe, I enjoyed it.

Adding another negative, the music in this totally blows which is sad because I enjoyed CS3's the most.

TL;DR
+ Fun gameplay still
+ Fanservice
+ Graphix
+ Really good when it's good

- Rean
- Bloat n pacing
- Sidelined characters
- Really bad when its bad

Overall: 3/5

Sloppening the 3rd: The Hundred Hour War (of MID)


SLOP III is a really strange one because it had every recipe to be an absolute giga-banger; graphical upgrade, soft-reset, new cast, time-skip and at times it is GOOD but it seems to be set on fighting against itself in the attempts to be consistently GOOD. The new cast is great (minus 98% of Musse) and so much easier to care about, but they're constantly sidelined because the story has to be structured to where 2 old cast members return to save the day woo! It rips them from their deserved utilization and slaps you with the "oh you remember this character!!! they were your favorite right!?" which got really annoying especially after being repeated 6 times simply because I only really care for 3 reappearing cast members (Fie, Jusis and Emma) and just don't like Rean. Not that this a new concept either, Trails SC did the same and while nothing inherently wrong with this structure; the fact it was so repeated and the returning characters adding bare minimum of additional value other than to increase the runtime is what irks me (clocked 70 hours by the time all of old C7 returned out of 110 total). The game did get better after everyone returned and from the end of chapter 4 uptil the end, it was actually GREAT. The plot point utilisation, lore-drops, twist, rising stakes, tension, action, simple final dungeon and most importantly no filler. It was EXCITING. Shame because this is what the game could've been throughout.

On the positive note; the graphical improvement is fantastic, few models look a bit wonky but are good, the environments look modern, sledgehammer is great, I love the button set actions, music is more enjoyable than previous games (imo), and once again the new cast is great.

TL;DR
+ Graphix
+ New cast
+ Better gameplay
+ Great final chapter
+ Good final dungeon

- Pacing issues
- Old cast
- Too much padding
- Rean (he just sucks)

Overall: 3.5/5

Trails of Cold Steel II recipe:
½ Cold Slop + ½ Cold Stakes (holy shit this games story has stakes)

As a follow-up game to Cold Slop 1, it is almost every way an upgrade. The story has things happening throughout, which kept things interesting. The characters, although still meh, got more mileage out of them than before. And again, things were happening which is already an upgrade from Slop 1. But unfortunately, after every good bit comes random 2 hour slog that ends up not achieving much till the next interesting event. The conclusion portion once again was great where they dropped a bombshell of a reveal and even more set-up for later. They even gave us a taste of what's to come with the "Divertisement" side story which was great and almost made me forget I'm playing Trails of Cold Slop 2, and then it reminded me I AM playing Trails of Cold Slop 2 by a random final final dungeon (fr this time) jumpscare.

TL;DR
+Better than Slop 1
-Still a part of the Slop series of games
+½ Trails bias (surely it'll get better)

Overall: 3.5/5