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Favorite Games

Pokémon Silver Version
Pokémon Silver Version
Super Mario Galaxy
Super Mario Galaxy
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Xenoblade Chronicles 3
Xenoblade Chronicles 3
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC

998

Total Games Played

008

Played in 2024

041

Games Backloggd


Recently Played See More

Princess Peach: Showtime!
Princess Peach: Showtime!

Mar 24

Pocket Card Jockey: Ride On!
Pocket Card Jockey: Ride On!

Mar 16

Penny's Big Breakaway
Penny's Big Breakaway

Mar 15

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV

Mar 11

Mario vs. Donkey Kong
Mario vs. Donkey Kong

Feb 26

Recently Reviewed See More

Peach finally gets another chance to shine in the starring role after Tose’s Super Princess Peach on Nintendo DS nearly 20 years ago. Good Feel (developers of Wario Land: The Shake Dimension and Kirby's Epic Yarn on Wii, Yoshi's Woolly World on Wii U, and Yoshi's Crafted World on Switch) have been given the chance to shine the spotlight on Peach again with Princess Peach: Showtime!

Heading off to the Sparkla Theatre to watch some shows, things take a turn when Madame Grape shows up and takes over the theatre and makes all the shows despair-inducing. It's up to Peach and her new ally Stella to save the Theets (really cute new Mario universe character design that is super simple but works really well) by going through all the plays and bringing the theatre to life again. It's a simple and cute set up and it's all brand new enemies and allies that help give this game its own identity which is greatly appreciated.

With each of Good Feel’s takes on Nintendo ip, the main thing that stands out is the aesthetic design. Wario Land was like a 2D animated cartoon, Kirby's Epic Yarn and Yoshi's Woolly World were yarn focused, and Yoshi's Crafted World was more arts and crafts focused. Princess Peach: Showtime! as the story suggests is very theatrical inspired with its artistic design. Every level takes place on a stage play of sorts where you can see a lot of the background elements are 2D cutouts being held in place by string. Things like horses are also held up by string and have a crafted look to them to give that feel of a stage play element. Stuff like fires are little cardboard cutouts and some stages feature elements like the whole stage rotating round to give a new perspective and it's all really cute stuff. It might not be the mose immediate stand out from Good Feel’s aesthetic designs because Peach herself is the standard 3D model instead of a yarn version but nonetheless a lot of attention to detail has been taken in giving this the most stage like feel possible and it shows.

So what's the gameplay loop with this one? Well, each floor of the theatre is home to four different plays which Peach needs to tackle and collect Sparkla’s in to open a boss door that shows up once each play has been beaten. Stepping into the first play, say the door at the bottom left, will see Peach enter a world based on that play, like a Swordfighter play in this case. Each of the level 1s play similar where Peach starts off hearing the plights of the Theets and using Stella to bring life back into the play and the Theets before eventually getting a transformation. Yup, Peach gets a very magical girl inspired treatment and each play sees her don a costume with unique abilities to take on the Sour Bunch. In the Swordfighter play, Peach becomes a fencer inspired Swordfighter.
To keep things simple between each play and not confuse players by giving them too much to learn and adapt to, each outfit is controlled via two main buttons. A to jump and B for an action which differs for each costume. There's also a pose button on ZR which is used for finding secrets in the plays and collecting hidden Sparklas.
The goal of each play is to make your way to the end by working your way through specific obstacles unique to each costume and the variety of gameplay styles on offer makes sure things stay fresh even through the relative simplicity of the gameplay on offer. There's 10 costumes in total, each with 3 levels to beat and things get a little bit more involved in each as you go, though always remaining on the breezier side of things.

Swordfighter plays as mentioned earlier sees Peach become a Swordfighter, allowing her to cut through enemies with ease as she traverses through the stage. She has a Matrix style slow time dodge that activates if you press either action button just before getting hit whichs makes her jump over the enemy and opens them up to a counter attack. Her lives are handled by 5 hearts and if she loses all of them you lose a few coins and go back to the last checkpoint. Swordfighter is a fun costume but due to the simplicity of the combat, it's also one of the more just alright ones. It's fun but not as memorable as some of the others.

Ninja Peach however is one of the more memorable ones. This one sees Peach sneak through levels by hiding up against walls, in grass, or in water. The animation for each one is really cute, she holds up little cardboard bushes in the grass, uses a bamboo stick to breathe underwater and holds up a piece of paper where the background blends into it on the walls. So Ninja levels are more stealth orientated where you have to avoid the enemies spotlights and take them out. These levels end with an auto run sequence where you have to time your jumps and then finish with a spectacular scroll special, like Peach riding a giant wave and crashing through enemies. It's simple fun but one of the more engaging outfits and the incredible attention to detail help sell this one more.

Patisserie Peach sees her basically enter bake offs. These include two types of minigames. The first is decorating cakes by putting cream on them to match a design in the background and the second is making cookies by tapping B over and over until you hit the rainbow section to build the best possible bunch. If you over do it, the bowl explodes and wastes time which is important because these minigames are timed and you're rewarded with more Sparklas the better you do, turning this into one of the more difficult outfits surprisingly. The cookies in particular see you having work out how to time building your own cookies and when to team up with a Theet to build quicker and it can be very tight trying to hit the score that nets all 3 possible Sparklas. Again it's simple but the time and score pressure helps keep this one engaging.

Cowgirl Peach is one of the more action based ones. These plays see Peach fight enemies by lassoing them or throwing barrels at them with the lasso. You also get sections where she rides a horse which are on rails and you have to time your jumps and lasso collectibles and Theets free from the enemies. These plays are just really fun for the spectacle and Western style music is so good in these stages.

Another highlight is Phantom Thief Peach. Using a grappling hook she can swing from hooks and zip line across stages and the fluidity of the movement here is just so much fun. There's pretty simple gate unlocking puzzles to do and then the plays end with a Metroid style escape sequence where the full fluidity of Peach’s movement is put to the test and you get a small paraglider sequence to wrap it up. This one's just a ton of fun when you're chaining together hook swings and zip line dashes to move through the stages in style.

Detective Peach sees her going full Sherlock in a rather standard point and click/detective style gameplay. Basically you just investigate objects and talk to characters to try and find the answer to a puzzle and then hold B to use your intuition on something you think is suspicious to see if you're right. It's probably the weakest of the costumes, a lot of the puzzles are really basic and the answers can be very obvious at times which is a shame. It does what it needs to but is a bit dull.

Picking up the slack though is Figure Skating Peach! Here Peach gracefully skates across the ice and you'll get into little shows where you'll find icons on the ground to spin or jump on. There's a mini boss as well where you spin him around and collect the possessed Theets he has to circle around him and bedazzle him into defeat with your grace and elegance and my gosh I love it. The music here is a bop too which really helps make the skating a lot fun and the movement fluidity is great too. This is one of my favourite costumes from the game, even if the gameplay is basic, it's just a lot of fun controlling Peach in this one.

Mighty Peach sees Peach donning a sort of Power Ranger/Mech like outfit giving her super strength. The scenario for these plays is that an alien invasion is happening and Peach must save the abducted Theets and drive back the aliens. This one is more action focused and you'll get some basic action game puzzles like using a bus as shelter from falling meteors to allow Theets safe passage. There's a few good spectacle moments where Peach gets to fly and take on a mini boss by throwing it around. It's good fun and basically a more engaging take on the Swordfighter being combat focused.

Mermaid Peach is an interesting one. Here she uses her incredible voice to guide fish in the background to solve puzzles and progress through the stage. It's a little to stop/start for me as Peach stops moving to sing. These plays end with a simple musical performance and a basic rhythm mini game where you press the direction the fish come from as they get near Peach. It's decent fun but ultimately on the lower end of the scale for the gameplay styles on offer.

Finally there is Kung Fu Peach, another combat heavy one. While the combat itself remains relatively simple, the level design is pretty fun here with poles for Peach to swing around and take out dozens of enemies at once. The mini boss fights are structured like a 2D fighting fighting game but you have to time your button presses to land hits. Again it's very simple stuff yet still manages to be fun and engaging all the same.

The boss fights unlocked on each floor are very inventive and fun. Each boss is themed after a stage play prop so you get things like a projector cat or a spotlight lion which is a really cute thing. The bosses are fought with the standard Peach using the Stella ribbon to send projectiles back at bosses a few different ways. They're not going to test your reflexes that much but they're a lot of fun to fight as you adapt to their patterns. I won't spoil the final boss but I will say it is a very cool spectacle fitting for a grand finale, giving Peach her true moment to shine.

For those looking for more of a challenge, going for 100% and collecting every single Sparkla can provide that. There's extra boss challenges that require no hit runs and as mentioned earlier, some of the baking challenges can be tough to hit the score needed to. It is here where you'll find the game's biggest flaw though. While levels do feature checkpoints for dying, there's no scene select if you want to start over at a certain point if you fail to get a Sparkla and when some sequences are automatic, even dying after doing those will only take you to the point after that sequence. What this means is if you miss a Sparkla, then quite often you have to restart the whole level again to try and get it which is quite annoying, particularly in patisserie levels where you have to do a whole set of cooking minigames over and over to get to the one you need to do. Luckily the levels aren't that long but it's still a basic thing that probably should've been included.

On the performance front there's a handful of issues. While the game looks pretty good, it is prone to stuttering during cutscenes and loading screens. During gameplay itself the game mostly holds up though I did notice dips around the final boss in particular. While the Switch is showing its age into its eighth year on the market, I think these issues are more Good Feel still learning to adapt Unreal Engine 4 onto the Switch which some devs have struggled with.

As I've said throughout the review, this is a pretty basic and simple game but I don't think that's automatically a bad thing. I think there's a charm and fun to be had that's unique to games like this that can be pretty relaxing to come home to after a long week of work. Just something cutesy and chill that you can smile at as you play through the game and that can be a rewarding experience in itself. Princess Peach: Showtime! might not reach the potential highs of each of the gameplay styles it dips its toes into but it does offer enough to be a fun and engaging experience that ultimately lets Peach be the star she truly has deserved to be.

From the development team that brought us a return to peak 2D Sonic with Sonic Mania, comes Penny's Big Breakaway, an original IP and an attempt to test their skills in 3D platforming.

Well for a first attempt, this is pretty good once you adapt to the limited control scheme. There's no camera movement and the shoulder and face buttons do the same things. Playing on a Switch controller for example, you can jump with B or R, attack with your yo-yo with Y or the Right Stick, and pseudo spin dash on the yo-yo with A or ZR. The yo-yo attack can offer a spin attack or a dash if you double tap the button and that's all the stuff you get. Working with a fixed camera can be difficult at first, especially when you're trying to dash in a direction but it's clear the team here understood what they wanted first and foremost - momentum.
I'll be honest and say I picked up the game because I knew it was from the Sonic Mania devs and when I saw it in the Nintendo Direct, I wanted to see how they handled a momentum based platformer. Well the answer is really, really well actually! Once you get used to how the camera works and how the level design works, you'll be dashing and riding the yo-yo down slopes at a brisk pace. The levels incorporate plenty of ramps so when you do gather a good bit of momentum you can really feel the height difference when launching off those ramps. It's incredible stuff and done with a level of control over Penny that I haven't felt from a momentum based 3D platformer like this since the Sonic Adventure days.

Nearly everything compliments the core design theme of momentum well. Every level's main objective is reaching the end goal. There's 3 hidden honeycomb-like objects that you can usually find just off the beaten path or in a higher path reached by maintaining a good bit of speed. There's also side objectives from the citizens of the worlds but even these are usually designed with keeping you moving forward in mind as they tend to require you to collect objects or deliver an object through a platforming challenge. The only thing I personally didn't like that much was the annoying penguins who hunt you down every level, slowing you down if they grab onto you and capturing you if enough of them grab you at once. It's a pressure I don't think a game like this needs in the majority of its levels.

On the boss battle front, these are fine and do the job they need to. There's one really inventive one that stood out which I won't spoil. The final boss has the annoying two phases and if you die in the second phase you have to do all of the first phase thing that I've grown to dislike more and more as I've gotten older. Like I've proven I can do the first phase fine, just let me do the phase I keep dying on please. But yeah, otherwise bosses are mostly enjoyable here and provide a break from the platforming.

I wasn't a huge fan of the character designs when I first saw them, they didn't appeal to my aesthetic tastes but over time they did grow on me a little bit. The artistic design of the levels, especially the colour choices, really make the levels pop. And the soundtrack is very good here too, which is to be expected when Tee Lopes is involved, that man really knows how to do catchy music.
There's a light story to the game too, involving Penny being accused of breaking the law or something, it's fine for giving a background on what's happening but it's not something that really held my attention, few platformer stories do that for me however so it's not a big point against the game. There's plenty of extras as incentives to collect everything and stuff to do, time attack modes and the like to keep you playing, so all in all a very complete platformer package.

On the technical side of things the Switch version did have a couple of issues I experienced. There were two or three occasions where I clipped through the level and got stuck in some geometry, thankfully restarting from the last checkpoint is quick and easy to do if you do find yourself stuck. The Switch version also runs at a locked 30fps which is fine for me personally. There is a 60fps patch on the way at the time of writing but as long as I have a solid framerate I find 30fps to be perfectly ok to play with. Some of the backgrounds do get a bit fuzzy, particularly when there's a lot happening which seems to be a design choice as I've seen it in footage of the game running on other platforms but it's not something I particularly like. Minor issues aside, the game is fluid and responsive which are the two most important aspects of a platformer in my opinion.

All in all it's a great 3D platformer from a relatively new development studio. They managed to nail momentum based movement in a 3D environment - something that many devs struggle with to this day - to bring a fun and charming platformer. There's room for improvement here and there but Penny's Big Breakaway leaves me excited to see how Evening Star builds upon this.

This review contains spoilers

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.