BLOAT: ✔
SIDELINED CHARACTERS: ✔
MOSTLY UNINTERESTING TILL THE FINAL PART OF THE GAME: ✔
holy shit it's Trails of Cold SteelIII 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
SIDELINED CHARACTERS: ✔
MOSTLY UNINTERESTING TILL THE FINAL PART OF THE GAME: ✔
holy shit it's Trails of Cold Steel
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