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

See more on IGDB

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV

Remove Ads with Grouvee Gold

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV

Sep 27, 2018

Main game

4.18 average rating based on 130 ratings

5
64
4
33
3
27
2
4
1
2
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV is the ninth installment in the main Trails series, serving as a direct sequel to the events of the The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III and the ending to the Erebonia arc. The continent of Zemuria is dragged into conflict as the Erebonian Empire mobilizes the full force of its military. The heroes of Class VII old and new must unite to end the conflict before it consumes the continent.
Release Dates
Sep 27, 2018 Full Release (Japan)
PlayStation 4
Oct 27, 2020 Full Release (Worldwide)
PlayStation 4
Apr 09, 2021 Full Release (Worldwide)
Google Stadia, PC (Microsoft Windows)
Apr 09, 2021 Full Release (North_America)
Nintendo Switch
Apr 09, 2021 Full Release (Europe)
Nintendo Switch
Feb 16, 2024 Full Release (Worldwide)
PlayStation 5
Remove Ads with Grouvee Gold
User Stats
514
In Collection
162
Wish Listed
23
Playing
258
Backlogged
How Long Is The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV?
Main + extras: 123.0 hours
100% completion: 162.0 hours
Total completions: 8
LargeMoney
LargeMoney gave Mar 19, 2024
LargeMoney gave Mar 19, 2024
Jesus Christ dude what the fuck

It cant handle the cast size, it doesnt know what it wants to be, the character development beam only hits certain characters while completely avoiding others, the plot was lacking direction and then at the end we get answers for weird questions i forgot i even had cause i was too busy being mad at how absolutely stupid the gnome memoey erasure masks are, humanity being the cause of everything should have been the focus instead of literally talked about 2 times and brushed over very quickly, prologue to the beginning of act 2 is some of the best cold steel has to offer and then act 2 is some of the worst cold steel has to offer, why is some of the best character writing in this entire arc delegated to bonding events why cant you write that in. They needed to have actual stakes and have their rules actually fucking matter, and you can fucking tell they planned to kill off or shelf some of the cast but idfk man they were going for with this its like theyre trying to appeal to a certain demographic by being like we have all these characters you can choose who …

Read More

It cant handle the cast size, it doesnt know what it wants to be, the character development beam only hits certain characters while completely avoiding others, the plot was lacking direction and then at the end we get answers for weird questions i forgot i even had cause i was too busy being mad at how absolutely stupid the gnome memoey erasure masks are, humanity being the cause of everything should have been the focus instead of literally talked about 2 times and brushed over very quickly, prologue to the beginning of act 2 is some of the best cold steel has to offer and then act 2 is some of the worst cold steel has to offer, why is some of the best character writing in this entire arc delegated to bonding events why cant you write that in. They needed to have actual stakes and have their rules actually fucking matter, and you can fucking tell they planned to kill off or shelf some of the cast but idfk man they were going for with this its like theyre trying to appeal to a certain demographic by being like we have all these characters you can choose who to play, but its like they cant properly write scenes because they are accounting for everyones diffferent party makeup. FOR THE RECORD I LIKE A GOOD CHUNK OF THIS CAST BUT LIKE they are written like this is a tokusatsu for 8 year olds im losing my mind man. IF there was no act 2 and no cast bloat(as in they at least focus on a certain amount of characters and have like old class 7 do other shit) then this would prolly be my fav cold steel game. Why does everyone say nothing theres so much said that isnt anything, the side quests in this game however are some of the best in the series and at the very least the best cold steel has to offer. The atmosphere , the NPC's, the sidequests, a good chunk of the tracks, a lot of the bonding event scenes are the best part of the game and imo this game is the trails game to do the first 3 the best, but man if only the could actually write the main fucking scenario without copy and pasting the same paragraph 4 times. Also sucks that sometimes they can write the old cast well and then sometimes they fucking treat the old cast as hollow fucking call back fan service material. Anyways, sky through cs2 are some of my fav games ever, and i even enjoyed cold steel 3 quite a bit, and I LIKED A LOT OF WHAT THIS GAME HAS AND WHAT IT ADDED TO ZEMURIA but man this game just spent all of my goodwill sky-azure built up and i really hope falcom remembers they can fucking write cause ive seen em do it, dont know why theyre hellbent on writing like this but anyways. Crow altina juna 4 life, reverie time

Read Less
MudoV17
MudoV17 gave Jul 31, 2023
MudoV17 gave Jul 31, 2023
Fitting end to a great Saga
This review is for the PC (Microsoft Windows) version

The soundtrack, scenes, emotions, twists, gameplay improvements from the first to fourth game in the series. The series made me cry multiple times, and the payoff in the end made me put this series as one of my favorites of all time.

ArcaNiNe934
ArcaNiNe934 gave Oct 29, 2021
ArcaNiNe934 gave Oct 29, 2021
Final entry of an amazing four piece
This review is for the PlayStation 4 version

Wow - After a year and half i have officially completed all trails games that have been released in the west. Despite cold steel being my least favourite arc this game was amazing ending to the quadrilogy. Amazing to see our beloved heroes from other arcs return. The combat is better than ever and such amazing world building. It makes me sad to that Hajimari and Kuro won't be here in the west til 2023 but this series is so good i am considering replaying through it. This series could be my new favourite series overtaking pokemon and final fantasy.

XkillzX21
XkillzX21 gave Apr 27, 2021
XkillzX21 gave Apr 27, 2021
Fulfilling..... long journey.
This review is for the PC (Microsoft Windows) version

The trails of cold steel series was my first ever Jrpg game to play so you can imagine how wide eyed I was playing such a game and starting at school and all that. Immediately after finishing cs2 I got back to play all the previous games and enjoyed each and every one of them.

Cold steel 4 is the ending to such a big journey, 9 games to be exact from trails in the sky to Cold steel 4 and falcom managed to deliver a satisfactory ending to the saga.

Gameplay wise it's the same as cold steel 3 but there is always something I didn't particularly like about the trails series and that is dying, oh trust me I don't want a legend of Heroes: Trails of danganronpa on our hands far be it from that, what I mean is that trails just denies death in their games the only death in the whole series was Someone from trails in the sky so as not to spoil his name and from there on it just seems death isn't really something for the main characters even though the story is somewhat dark no one dies.

plot armor happens 60% …

Read More

The trails of cold steel series was my first ever Jrpg game to play so you can imagine how wide eyed I was playing such a game and starting at school and all that. Immediately after finishing cs2 I got back to play all the previous games and enjoyed each and every one of them.

Cold steel 4 is the ending to such a big journey, 9 games to be exact from trails in the sky to Cold steel 4 and falcom managed to deliver a satisfactory ending to the saga.

Gameplay wise it's the same as cold steel 3 but there is always something I didn't particularly like about the trails series and that is dying, oh trust me I don't want a legend of Heroes: Trails of danganronpa on our hands far be it from that, what I mean is that trails just denies death in their games the only death in the whole series was Someone from trails in the sky so as not to spoil his name and from there on it just seems death isn't really something for the main characters even though the story is somewhat dark no one dies.

plot armor happens 60% of the time if not more most often than not you will be fighting against strong enforcers or enemies that you can't kill but ultimately someone ends up helping you when you least expect them to be there, Enforcers always get the chance to escape even though in some fights the heroes could have easily apprehended them or forced to kill them but no it always ends with the enforcers saying I was holding back and the heroes looking tired that honestly it became somewhat tiring that the heroes can supposedly kill false gods and Sept-terrions but can't kill enforcers and not just that, many and many a times have rean faced situations where his friends almost died and EVEN WHEN THEY ACTUALLY DIE (not saying who cause of spoilers) they are brought back like nothing happened because of some unexplainable miracle.

Now again thank you trails for showing me a great story that could've used a hint of darkness to make it even stronger and emotional and for such an amazing epic long journey.

Read Less
Morcys
Morcys gave Mar 23, 2024
Morcys gave Mar 23, 2024
Morcys's review of The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV

I really enjoyed the game; it probably has the most content in this franchise. The ending was so good that it could easily serve as the franchise's canonical conclusion without any issues. It took me so long to achieve 100% completion that I now feel a strong aversion towards the RPG genre.enter image description here

Sasuke035
Sasuke035 gave Jan 22, 2022
Sasuke035 gave Jan 22, 2022
Best Game Series I Ever Played!!!
This review is for the PlayStation 4 version

So Trails of Cold steel i got the first 2 a while ago and been just holding onto them on PS3 for the longest and i waited and waited for those to come out on PS4 and it wasnt until i got it on that they finally confirmed it. It took ages for those to get localized and released in the west and than they finally did and announced 3 and 4 a long side.  I finally decided to play them once i beat Tales Of Arise and i knew since Falcom made it and i love YS 8 and Tokyo Xanadu i knew it will be good but not this damn good.

This is honestly and i say this a lot but these maybe the greatest RPG series maybe game series i ever played, even you guys are probably like "yeah whatever lol" its understandable i say that a few times with Witcher and Nier and Bayonetta 2 but Bayonetta 2 is an action game and im talking RPG but Bayonetta 2 is still the best action game ever made.  I also said it with Final Fantasy X and Persona 3 and i love those two games and they …

Read More

So Trails of Cold steel i got the first 2 a while ago and been just holding onto them on PS3 for the longest and i waited and waited for those to come out on PS4 and it wasnt until i got it on that they finally confirmed it. It took ages for those to get localized and released in the west and than they finally did and announced 3 and 4 a long side.  I finally decided to play them once i beat Tales Of Arise and i knew since Falcom made it and i love YS 8 and Tokyo Xanadu i knew it will be good but not this damn good.

This is honestly and i say this a lot but these maybe the greatest RPG series maybe game series i ever played, even you guys are probably like "yeah whatever lol" its understandable i say that a few times with Witcher and Nier and Bayonetta 2 but Bayonetta 2 is an action game and im talking RPG but Bayonetta 2 is still the best action game ever made.  I also said it with Final Fantasy X and Persona 3 and i love those two games and they were my top games for the longest but i think Trials might have exceeded that and is my number 1 game of all time as a series as a whole. Im gonna tell you why this isn't a review but there will be some spoilers.

There are certain things i like in games and anime and stuff and Trials mixes pretty much everything i love, one being the school setting. For the longest i thought Persona series was the best at it- you know 3 and 4 and 5. It had where you go to school go to class and than hang out with people and raise your social link and that was my favorite thing about it. This isn't a knock on Persona 3 or 5 i think there still great Persona 3 being better than 5 because it did different stuff and Persona 5 was the same throughout. This isn't about that this is about the school stuff and how they do it and i can honestly say Trials is the best game with a school setting maybe the peak of a school setting. The more i played Trials the more i looked back at Persona and i realized the school itself is really not all that important in the game. Persona 3 had the School turning into Tartarus at midnight so it made it some what important but the students were never all that important, like going around the school was not needed, the whole thing with Persona was you go to school after class you choose a character to spend time with. Certain characters in the school are important the ones with the social links but everyone else is not most are generic in the school.

Tokyo Xanadu which is also made by Nihon Falcom was also a great school setting and they did what persona didnt and made exploring the school important and even people outside in towns had names and were all designed and not generic looking. Trials however goes above and beyond this though and makes the school an actual character if that makes sense, with actual history behind it and a purpose behind. Trials Of Cold Steels school is a military academy people that graduate from it can join one of the armies if they so choose. The school also has a very important history in game and the person who built it which is a War hero called Emperor Drecihels and its motto is (to become the foundation of the world)

The first thing the school has is something Yu-Gi-Oh GX had of course not in the same vein but- Yu-Gi-Oh GX had classes that were seperated each class had there own unique kind of color, There was Obelisk blue, Ra yellow and Slifer Red these were based on rank how high in the class you were. The classes each have an instructor to so think Naruto the sensei's for the classes. Like Kakashi, Asama, Kurenai, Guy. The instructor for your class is reminiscent to Minato the 4th Hokage. They call her purple lighting like Minato,s name yellow flash both have crazy speed so shes awesome.

Back to the school so it has where the school welcomes people from all families, so nobles and commoners, the nobles have white, the commoners have green but theres a special class which is the class your part of and that color is Red and that is Class 7 which is a special class.  The nobles and commoners are often seperated but Class 7 being special merges the two so all kind of different backgrounds and unique characters are welcome if they are compatible with something called an Arcus unit.

The Arcus thing is the next thing that mixes something of my favorite and that is Power Ranger or Sentai in japan. Its the importance of team work. In order to utilize it to its potential the whole class has to be in sync with one another it kind of allows them to to act all in tandem and its very important for the battle system where you link up with a party member and this allows follow up attacks and others. If the class mates dont get along than the link with be severed and they won't be able to fully work 100% with one another which is what a lot of the first game is about.

The people in the school and im talking the entire school, everybody is important the student, the teachers, the staff and not just the school either the entire freaking town as well. This is where this game puts all the damn Personas to shame. The school students all are designed, they all have characters, they all have stuff there going through, they all have names and some even have problems there dealing with. See Persona a lot of the time you leave the school a lot especially in Persona 5, but Trials every day after school you can go around the school and talk to the entire school and teachers and they actually talk about important stuff and sharing stuff from there lives or talking about things they will do like shop after a school and they actually do it. Some you talk to foreshadow maybe a side quest or main quest with them. Like characters in the school might be going through something in there lives or worried about something and everytime you go and talk to them there problem might get worst and worst and you may or may not get a quest for it, or they might just solve it themselves.

They make going around the school so important because there are a lot of interesting cool characters in it, but like i said the town itself is the same way. Some in the town could look generic but some also are designed very well but even if they look generic they still have there own characters so its not a waste to talk to them. They also have names and everything to. The writing, the care about the school and the town Nihon Falcom puts into this game is incredible. They have done it as well with YS 8 to with the Island stuff characters on the Island and Tokyo Xanadu but Trials is on a whole other level when it comes to that just insane levels. Persona is lazy with this i was hoping the 5th Persona would change things but it stayed the same so it was disappointing, you know i wanted it to evolve the school but i didnt know exactly what i wanted until i played Trails now.

If you thought these characters in the school where one and done you'd be wrong because there actually in the other freaking games as well like the 2nd one put all them in different roles and stuff, now not all of them but most are, and if there not they are mentioned. Its funny cause Trials 4 there was this part where the students are all there but people were missing and im like where are these characters, but sure enough they actually got mentioned or popped up so if that doesnt tell you how much care they put in all these characters i dont know what will lol.

I never knew how amazing it is when games are just connected with eachother and not like games that switch the world everytime or put years into the next story. Since Trials basically takes place is the same world and keeps the same characters it has the best writing and world building in a game. There is so much growth in these characters between the school characters the main characters and characters you meet in the games it feels like a journey of growth. Now most things would time skip and your characters would be all powerful and different, not Trials though you are there on the journey with those characters you see there growth, you see there struggles or things there worried about, how there views in the world change, what they want to do after The Academy when they graduate and ive never seen this in a game.

The main characters didnt get along with eachother which is again a Power Ranger and Sentai element, some characters just dont agree with other characters views, or they hate the nobles or commoners so they have to learn to get over that.

Or in two female characters case she couldnt get behind how the others did things one characters is a loyal swordman and worked hard the other is not she barely tries but shes still skilled because her life is very different from the other so this causes a problem with combat because they dont trust one another so they cant link and utilize the arcus until they get over whatever there dealing with so this is why this game just masterclass because the story telling the time they take to tell the characters story you probably won't find in any other game except a japanese RPG, but not even Persona the characters didnt feel that united to me, but Trials these characters as the games go on and there bonds get stronger and stronger and you look back to the first game and so does the characters when they remember how they were its just so great.

The next thing this game has that i love is relationships and family. Its a weird thing but i like characters that have relationships and i like when they mention there family members, and there so many games that mention family like someones mom and dad or sister or grandfather but there never shown or nothing there just mentioned, well not Trials. All the characters have family members in game, main characters and also the students and some of the characters you meet as well, and you meet all of them or most of them which is freaking cool and some are designed characters some are generic but it still is good. Man in game you kept hearing about a certain characters father and hes supposed to be one of the strongest in the entire game, so im expecting never to see this guy at all because i played so many games that just mention stuff and dont show shit you know? Well to my surprise you meet. him and the daughter sees him again and its great. The main character talks about his sister alot so again im thinking im not ever gonna meet her at all im just gonna see her as a photo the characters has or someone he writes to in letters, but again you see her later. So Trials does not lie to you it mentions stuff and it always delivers and i am not used to that.

Another thing thats not in a lot of games are you just dont feel it in a lot is affection and care between characters. I really loved in Final Fantasy 15 the characters in game how much they feel like best friends and the way they were with eachother they feel thrown together they felt united. It was the same for Final Fantasy 7 Remake how much more of a team they felt however Trials exceeds this as well. The main character cares a lot for his sister and it is very well known shown a lot of touching moments with them and how much they care for one another the powerful relationship they have, so much tears shed for one another and embracing like hugging and stuff. Trials creates these touching moments that actually have feeling behind it, this ain't like Resident Evil 2 Remake with Ada and Leon how weak that shit was and rushed or RE7 with Ethan and Mia which felt like they didnt care at all about one another lol i mean Ethan didnt even cared he might have killed her at the beginning of RE7.  Like man i never seen so much hugging and embracing in a game before between characters. Theres one part where the characters get reunited and there all just hugging everybody and shedding tears.

When you romance characters since there so damn close with one another and they share all these moments it doesnt feel like its just thrown in just to have like in certain games.  Thats because the main character is so great and how everyone feels towards him and how organic and real it is. Theres games like again Persona where they just call you a leader for whatever reason and its not really organic.

Even the side characters like the Instructors get into relationships, they could have easily done the lazy thing which everybody else would do like animes and movies which is time skip but as your exploring and talking in the school you start seeing there relationships forming with somebody and you see that grow and grow and stuff its just awesome.

Now the main character he is just great, hes not perfect hes not the strongest, hes not a bad ass hes trying to find himself by Attending the academy. Hes trying to grow as a person trying to to find what he wants to do after he graduates. He struggles with a lot, he doesnt believe in his self alot and he tries to handle everything by himself all the time, he tries to protect his classmates thinking hes helping them by going it a lone, the relationship with his sister and things he wants to do for her and how he throws himself to protect her but doing so she gets hurt over him hurting himself. There are layers and layers to the main character and his story is one to remember and his growth seeing him not confident in his abilities or his Sword. The great thing is the main characters see his problems to and call him out on it and they easily learn how to read him. Than he has a comedy aspect with his sister which is a sister complex and doesn't even realize it and thats great lol he wants to murder people if they get close to his sister just some of the things that make him amazing but theres so much more.

Next is the World Building and the actual Lore in the game. The world is Zemuria and the country you in is Erebonia, this world the world building in this game is insane, the amount of stuff thats in this game is so much, so much detail in it. They got these companies and factories in game that specialize in certain things, certain tech. Theres all these miltary factions and squads and units and police squads. theres all these noble families and important figures like Emperors, Governors, Princesses. Theres different combat schools characters families run or are apart of. All the characters have hometowns you go to and even side characters in the schools family are nobles so you go to there noble houses and meet them all and they all have characters and personalities. I just never seen a game with so much care and dedication put into the world they create. Most devs do one world and thats it, than they create a brand new world with new stuff but Trials builds off all there games, all the old ones as well and well as there old characters as well its crazy.

The closest i got to this was Final Fantasy X-2 where it was the same world and locations and characters and you see the aftermath of Final Fantasy X but it time skipped like 2 years or 3 where Yuna and Rikku are now  sphere hunters but you never see her actually become it, it had already happened she already quit being a summoner and obviously we know why but it would have been cool to actually see it, to see her and Rikku become a sphere hunter. Trials you see everything you see the growth into what they become in the later games.

Moving on to the lore of the game you know books you read information you gain. I do not care at all about Lore and reading and trying to make sense of the story by reading stuff, this is what Dark Souls and Bloodborne are known for since they dont have a story, the story comes from stuff you read and characters you talk to. All the items have something about them all the people you talk to and even the bosses. Its like gathering pieces from a puzzle and trying to fit them all together i just cant be asked and its not something i enjoy, its because its not mentioned in game or in the story its just there to read. Trials however the lore of the game the books you read are even important to the current events that are happening in game. I didn't know this until later cause i saw these books and just skimmed through them, i figured eh there just there to give you something to read but theres a certain book you read about this ancient dark dragon that caused destruction years ago and you actually find the remnants of it the bones but something happens and it comes to life and you have to fight it, it shows you its name and i was like wait! Thats mentioned in that one book i actually read about a dark dragon. So i though eh maybe that book just important but than theres these books about these companies and factories in the game that specialize in certain weaponry and tech. These companies are mentioned all throughout the game. If you read these books you get knowledge about them and you also uncover new things about them as you go through the game. Even if you don't read these books its still explained in game as well, so even the actual lore is important to the game, its not just there to waste your time and thats just awesome. Its crazy how deep the story and the world in Trials is.

So now lets talk about something devs often lie about in these open world games, Trials aint open world but think about this, when devs make these open world games and there always like your choices matter and it affects the world around you and the events- its often bullshit its not really true at all they said it for Witcher 3 and it really doesnt they put all your choices together at the end when the credits roll and they will give you like a storybook kind of thing mentioning what your choices impact. It doesnt affect the game you don't ever seen the characters again after a mission or when you complete there quest or whatever, its 1 and done. Its the same for many open worlds i think the only game that to pulled your choices mattering off is Mass Effect. Your choices effect can occur in any 3 games like if you saved i think the Rachni queen in 1 she helps against the reapers in the 3rd one.

Why am i talking about this? The way Trials does there missions and side quest and characters you meet it makes everything matter to the games. There aren't any choices or anything in Trials, what it does do is it make every quest important and makes every character in those quest also important.

The Quest in Trials aren't just there to waste your time, these characters in the main quest and side quest aren't just there and than there gone. Those characters in those quest are actually very important and i mean important enough that there in multiple games! You maybe help someone and than they show up in the next game in a town and you remember that you helped them before. It gets deeper cause its like all these characters wither its side or main characters they all have a story happening with them. As you see these characters over and over again and talk to them throughout the games you hear what there up to or they may need your help again. There was a certain family you help and they lose there wallet which sounds like a lazy fetch quest but it wasn't. After you help them in that town there in, in the next game they are still there they might have another problem or you can just see how there doing, they also arent just stationary in that one town only they may go to a different town and you see them again.

Every single thing in Trials is worth doing, every single thing adds something, all these characters add something to the point your excited to see them or your excited to see what there up to and everytime you talk to them different stuff occurs with them they talk about different stuff. Okay so lets say you dont talk to them you'll miss out on there story going on in there dialogue. There was one character searching for a girl cause you set him up in a date in the 1st one, he comes back in the 4th one and hes searching for the girl again. You would only know this if you talk to him and its optional and its not even required. He shows up in different towns and everytime you talk to him you see how his search is going but it pays off later when you see he finds her, but you wouldnt have known this was all going on if you didn't talk to him in those towns.

The writing and character developement in this freaking game is unmatched i swear i have never seen anything like the writing in Trials before that i can think of. I never played a game where almost everybody in game is important and you may think they aren't but than the games surprises you when they keep having these characters pop up. Even the NPC town people some look generic but you talk to them and they all have different stuff and there connection to the main characters and how they react to them it just blows me away because it makes you like everyone in the town to lol. Like Tales of Arise people in those town i didn't care about them, they didnt have nothing important to add i didnt care to remember them. Witcher 3 i only remember the important people, same for FFX and FF X-2, Trials though you see them so much and learn about that people in the town so much you enjoy talking to them and remembering them, remembering there names.

Some characters you dont even see much of, its when you see them throughout the games it build and builds on them and they manage to become awesome characters. Even when there not in much they still are awewome. Like i said Trials isn't an open world choice based game or anything but it does things these open worlds try and fail to do time and time again and its making everything matter. Witcher 3 is still awesome in side quest and story but the issue is its one quest and its done you won't see those characters after the quest line and it effects a bit but not anything huge overall. Trials keeps those characters you help in those quest it makes them important even if its small and it creates surprising moments as well.

The villians in the game is next to talk about. So next things i love is Naruto and Kingdom Hearts and the two things i really like in that is the Naruto and Sasuke friendship and bond and Sora and Rikus. Naruto and Sasuke became friends but Sasuke betrayed him and the village and Narutos whole thing was he wanted Sasuke back and he wanted to talk and show his feelings with his fist with a fight and drag him back if he has to. Sasuke was kinda a villain and did bad stuff but Naruto didnt care he still wanted him back and that is the same with the main character and a certain character who is freaking awesome and hes like a mix of Sasuke and Riku in Kingdom Hearts. All ill say about that.

Anyway the villians in the game there freaking awesome guys. These arent Pure evil villians, these are villians that have compelling backstories in why they do what they do. There are some evil ones but the cast of enemies are very unique they are very cool, they are likable they each have there own way of doing things and there own purpose.

Its hard talking about the enemies without spoiling much cause they got different personalities and its like this big group but theres so many cool people in the group and you get to know them throughout the games and there stories build and build with the more you encounter them.

More about the Villians this game doesn't lie to you, one of the things i hate in these games or anime is when they say a certain character is the strongest in the world or whatever but the characters always overcome them when they fight. This ain't in Trials this game don't lie to you if someones strong they are strong. The game hides this by having boss fights and even when you win, the enemy wasnt using there full power they were just toying with or using a fraction of there power. Your no match for this group the main characters are inexperienced and are not strong enough but to tip the scales they get help by other strong characters in the game your allies. As you go through the games its awesome seeing the characters grow and grow and become stronger. To when there were no match for the enemies but than there are equal levels of strength. To when a monster took the whole team to take down but the characters grow in strength to the point where they can take them out single handedly, and even than the characters constantly say there still growing and there still trying to get stronger.

Back to the strongest character in the game one of the main party's father hes supposed to be the strongest Master swordman in the game world, but you think you'll only just hear about it and not actually see it but no Trials delivers on this as well and shows you his strength when he battles the strongest on the enemy team to save the party. He fights the stongest on the enemy team with ease but he wasnt using his full strength. He unleashes his full strength against him but the Master Swordman also unleashes his full strength and this duel is just an unhuman like duel they are both so powerful that there destroying the place and the pillars and walls and there evenly matched. Any other game you probably would just hear about a character and never see them or wouldnt havea chance to see them in action but Trials always delivers.

So many characters in Trials between 1 and 2 between main and side characters and allies but does it end there No. The 3rd one introduces even more characters a new cast of characters. So this means the old ones are gone right? No your wrong this games has the biggest party i think ive also ever seen! It combines the new characters with the old characters making the party huge! It even has guest party members that join you for a short time expanding that party even freaking more! You get so many surprise people that join you this was always so exciting never knew who would join next. They also do a brilliant job with the new characters as well. In the 3rd one you graduate and your older now but you become an instructor to a new school branch. So now your the teacher and you get your new class the new party, but even more new students. I was very worried characters would be just a copy of old ones but that was not the case they were all freaking awesome. Its a huge cast of awesome characters mix that in with old students and people and its a freaking massive cast of characters.

So how do they utilize all the party members? Its smart basically in 3 and 4 they give you these missions to do before you do the main mission. They have characters who will join that you can't change and guest characters but you choose the rest of your party.

Than when the main mission happens usually most of your team is choosen but you may be allowed to pick more. This is so in the story its an important plot point for those characters and it makes everyone shine and its a brilliant way to utilize every character to the fullest.

Lets talk about the failure that is Kingdom Hearts 3 and what a let down the game was, how many damn games did we play to build up to the 7 lights and 13 darknesses?

Kingdom Hearts 1 Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories Kingdom Hearts 351 days or whatever the Roxas game

Kingdom Hearts 2 Kingdom Hearts coded Kingdom Hearts Recoded Kingdom Hearts Birth by sleep Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance

8 games you can even add the final mixes cause they got new scenes like 2.8  had a thing with Aqua before 3 theres also a movie they did. All this you have to play, and you have to play these in order. All this for the big huge climatic final war, a war these games been building up to in all these games. The Keyblade War a battlefield with a war with 7 lights and 13 darknesses all these games building up to this one moment all these characters the big pay off.... You get to this part and they ruin this entirely the pay off is so freaking pointless! Why did we spend all this time building up to this moment? When Sora needed help for this War he needed 6 people with him, you get this war and the characters you spend building up to where useless. Sora by himself fights everybody when there not his battles. Theres a story between everybody in this battle, each person should had its own fight but no Sora was the center of attention.

Why am i talking about Kingdom Hearts 3? Because the finale of Trials 4 is the most epic goddamn thing ever! It is so goddamn awesome. These 3 games were building up to that moment an epic battle. All these characters had a purpose all these characters had there own stories with the opposing side and they made sure to settle it BECAUSE IT WAS ABOUT THEM!!! BECAUSE IT WAS THERE FIGHT! Now its not like a one on one fight the main character is still there or theres still a party with some people but they understands its that particular characters fight to finish hes just there to help, so the character whos battle is there own they get the time to shine ( god its so hard trying not to spoil stuff) the payoff to Trials 4 delivers, it settles everything it ends all the stories. How Kingdom Hearts 3 ruined the payoff of that war is baffling they ruined it just to add more confusing crap to the story who cares about the next saga when the Xehanort shit was a lame ass rehashed end but The Final Part to Trials 4 ugh... Think Avengers endgame all ill say.

I know this is long but i wanted to talk about some brilliant things they do setting up to the next games. When you go to certain areas you'll find you cant go there in the game, but they set that up so you go there in the next game so they think that far ahead. Some characters can get introduced at the end of the game just to set up the next game. In story they might mention something but you dont find out until next game when it becomes important so they constantly set up to stuff. Even the end of 4 theres a final epilogue game to end the Cold Steel series but it even started leaving stuff open for that last game unanswered questions about certain things they may come to play in  Trials Into Reverie

I love Trials of Cold Steel series so much all 4 games are a 10 to me i have never played any game like this before that i can think of. A game that makes its lore important every character important side quest that mean something, characters that stay throughout the series...unless they maybe die...or not lol a party of main characters like this a party that turn into a family that support each other and help each other, i never seen villians like what Trials has the moments in game are powerful. I got emotional a lot cause i never seen characters act this way in games, when they all cry and hug eachother and how the main character is with his sister and just so much stuff. A brilliant story that they took there time to, you cannot play this game and say anything is rushed. They spent so much time in all these characters in game, all this time building up, all this time figuring out how to keep making them important to the story, how to make them as important just as the main characters doesnt even feel right calling them side characters there all main characters even the instructors.

They plan ahead they know exactly what direction there going. I swear some stuff they set up could be 2 games ahead to when you look back on it your " like wow thats why this happened in this game" everything they do adds to something, it has a pay off and a purpose that is satisfying when you see how it comes to an end. At the end i was like wow... just blown away at those final moments when it all comes together.

Oh and last it has goddamn mechs as well which shocked the hell out of me but the story with the mechs is also amazing. So much stuff so many times i just kept saying " I love this game" all the moments in the game all the battles, even like the affection stuff cause thats how you get a love interest or whatever but these werent just thrown together either because it further dives into characters even more to learn even more about them and i found myself viewing them all cause you only get to view a number of them so i kept resetting to see them all. Musics great besides the 3rd one but they fix that in the 4th one.

Is it perfect? Well it is to me but im aware it takes long to build up so i can see people being bored, but once it picks up man it picks up! I can't see people hating any character to be honest.

Lets say if i was these other kinds of people... You know? The one that always look for that one game thats the peak like Red Dead 2 or Grand Theft Auto V the one game you compare everything to, and if it doesnt reach them levels than you don't care about any other game. Trials of Cold Steel 1 to 4 would be that peak for me. I would compare every RPG i played to it and none would measure up and i would be uninterested but thankfully im not like that- No RPG would measure up to its story or its characters, or its world and making everything important. Maybe Nihon Falcom is the peak, The Peak of RPG'S, The Peak of a School Setting, The measuring stick for all RPG'S, The example these devs should strive to be.

There unknown but they blew all other RPG'S out. Final Fantasy 7 Remake was awesome but even that compare to Trials world and characters it dont come close.... Of course the gameplay destroys it though like those bosses but eh.Persona 6 better do something different to the school cause if its the same man they done messed up. You know one thing i really want in these school games is when you join a club you can actually play the club, a game hasnt had that yet, where you join a tennis club and can actually play tennis or whatever in trials theres like a swimming club mini game but thats kind of it and your not really apart of the club. They also have mini games like 2 card games and a tetris like game that i could actually play

For the longest im trying to figure out what game had the affection stuff like Persona 3 social link, like it couldnt have been that game that started it. I tried to look that up and i kept seeing Tales that started it but i have no idea.

Anyway im rambling the next school game is Blue Reflection and i think its an all girls school so....lesbians lmao but Trials officially my number 1 Series of all time. all games are 10's or beyond lol was breaking my scale 20/10 Trials 4 /40/10. All these games are longer than the next as well there 100+ hours and beyond.  Whats cool is they start you off at the same level you would be in the next games so it goes beyond level 99. Some games you'll start at 50.

Read Less
Kenchiin
Kenchiin gave Mar 6, 2025
Kenchiin gave Mar 6, 2025
Celestial Coalescence
This review is for the PC (Microsoft Windows) version

Ah, the Cold Steel IV experience! How to forget it after 60 hours, lmao

I don’t really have much to say that I didn’t say from previous entries.

I think this game gives the conclusions to most of the story threads started during the series, but some parts did feel… put together with glue.

Things that I appreciated the most:

  • The freedom at strategy gameplay
  • The sidequests
  • The music
  • Some revelations at the end
  • Getting to see back most of the cast from previous games
  • Casius Q__Q my man, I missed you

What I did not appreciate:

  • Most of the dead cast coming back
  • The robot tournament arc was a stretch
  • In general I think the robots in the series are unnecessary, but anyway, I’ll get over it
  • Some plot-driven parts when you were asked to do the same thing 3 times with different parties. Just DONT.

Now… Into Reverie! Pun intended.

Girafro
Girafro gave Aug 14, 2022
Girafro gave Aug 14, 2022
It's Dangerous to Go Alone: Take Over a Dozen of Your Friends!
This review is for the PlayStation 4 version

I have finally reached the mountain top, 4 50+ hour RPGs later, I have completed the Trails of Cold Steel saga. I’ve let my thoughts marinate for a while and I think I’ve reached a definitive conclusion for myself and my investment in this series. So, here goes, this’ll be spoiler heavy so beware if you care about that kind of thing.

To begin, I think that IV is the weakest entry in the Cold Steel series. This doesn’t mean it’s a bad game by any stretch, it’s a solid game on its own, but there are a few factors that lead me to this opinion. To begin with, the plot itself.

Cold Steel I (CS1) was a real slow burn, the deeper plot about civil war only really starting to rumble in the background towards the end. The divine knight reveal gets the player fired up and ready for Cold Steel II (CS2) and more battles with these cool mecha knights. The emotional turmoil of Crow’s betrayal, the unknown plot threads threatening to enter the game, it’s a great cliff hanger ending.

CS2 has huge revelations about Rean’s origins, the death of Crow, the building climax of climbing an …

Read More

I have finally reached the mountain top, 4 50+ hour RPGs later, I have completed the Trails of Cold Steel saga. I’ve let my thoughts marinate for a while and I think I’ve reached a definitive conclusion for myself and my investment in this series. So, here goes, this’ll be spoiler heavy so beware if you care about that kind of thing.

To begin, I think that IV is the weakest entry in the Cold Steel series. This doesn’t mean it’s a bad game by any stretch, it’s a solid game on its own, but there are a few factors that lead me to this opinion. To begin with, the plot itself.

Cold Steel I (CS1) was a real slow burn, the deeper plot about civil war only really starting to rumble in the background towards the end. The divine knight reveal gets the player fired up and ready for Cold Steel II (CS2) and more battles with these cool mecha knights. The emotional turmoil of Crow’s betrayal, the unknown plot threads threatening to enter the game, it’s a great cliff hanger ending.

CS2 has huge revelations about Rean’s origins, the death of Crow, the building climax of climbing an evil castle and battling all the foes you’ve faced and being helped by all the allies you’ve made, yet again it gets the player amped up for more, what could Cold Steel III (CS3) have in store!?

CS3 ends with yet another battle through all the enemies you’ve faced, this time DOWN instead of up, so, it’s different enough, I guess. It ends with Millium sacrificing herself and Rean going berserk and accidentally unleashing the curse that threatens to drive the empire into a world ending conflict to power the reunification of a great evil. These stakes are high by now!

Or are they?

You see, the game didn’t really kill Crow, he came back. And it didn’t really kill Chancellor Osborne, he came back. And you can pretty much see it coming from a mile away when they “kill off” Prince Olivert and Viscount Arseid that they’re not going to stay dead. And this is where things turn a bit sour on Cold Steel IV (CS4).

CS4 had, by the end of 3, a lot of weight on its shoulders. A ton of disparate plots threads and characters with varying ambitions and goals. It’s a lot to have to resolve. And I don’t think it sticks the landing. The ending is the ultimate symbol of the major failure to deliver on the series’ stakes. It’s a story about war and conflict that is bloodless, at least for the main cast. CS4, in my mind, was building up to a real bittersweet ending but the writers chickened out and went for a “everyone is great, everything is good, the sun will shine forever, happy, happy, happy!” ending instead.

Character death is something that has to be treated with severe gravity, if characters keep “dying” only to survive off screen to reappear when plot convenience contrives it belittles the intelligence of the player and lowers the stakes to the point where it becomes trite. It is very disingenuous to play with the ridiculously high stakes that the Cold Steel series plays with only to have absolutely no consequence.

And that, ultimately, is why I’ve focussed on the endings here. They are emblematic of the entire series, there are smaller versions of this pattern throughout all of the games. Stakes are ramped way up, things are dire, and then nothing happens. Heroic sacrifice is meaningless, character death doesn’t happen, you know that no matter what everyone will come through and be just fine on the other side. A guy loses and arm, sure, but nothing is made of a legendary swordsman losing his arm, he just keeps fighting and after the initial reaction it’s nothing.

This pattern loses its charm by game 4. The amount of times that a big huge showdown begins to brew between out heroes and the villains and it ends in a draw and then everyone just agrees to take their ball and go home and it’s a wasted 2 hours build up to a meaningless conflict just to jam in a boss fight is beyond counting by now.

I know, I’m being particularly harsh, but this ending, after three fantastic cliff hangers, was a wet fart. Nothing happens. I think that’s the final tag line of this entire series. Sure, there’s a lot of noise, there’s a lot of dialogue, there’s a lot of events, but it all adds up to zero somehow.

Trails of Cold Steel: 200 hours for nothin’!

I’m being particularly nasty, of course. The game is still good, the battle system is still good minus a few quirks and boss fights that stretch patience. It wasn’t a slog to do quests and battles, the core of the game is still rock solid.

The fan service is through the roof here too. If you’ve played other Trails games you’ll have so many familiar faces around you might forget that none of them had anything to do with this plot and a vast majority of them never even appeared until now (outside of their respective series, obviously). This leads to the other issue.

The cast of characters is too damn much. Class VII was already sprawling and over large even when they added New Class VII to the mix. The primary issue with this is, a majority of the characters have little to nothing to do with anything anymore. Class VII was sidelined for Rean’s students, but then the new kids are sidelined and the older kids don’t really retake the spotlight either. Rean and Crow and firmly the middle of the plot, and even then it’s mostly Rean.

This leads to scenes where too many characters have input. Rean’s talking to a bad guy, trading little barbs before a fight, three or four other characters add quips and shit between each dialogue box. It becomes clunky and overwrought. Of course, if Jusis didn’t pop out of nowhere with a “Couldn’t have said it better myself” every other conversation he’d have no reason to be there or say anything until the showdown with his brother later. And I’m not just picking on Jusis, I mean all of them, there’s a few moments where a character is connected to a different person there and has a reason to speak or do something. Once that moment is up they disappear into the background again.

The disappointment here is, of course, the player has spent so much time with Class VII that the writers are really just taking your history with the cast for granted, allowing them to be perfectly pointless until the five minutes they’re needed for dialogue and then benching them again. In my mind, this is very weak but what else can they do? They made a game with over 20 damn characters, they can’t all be treated equally, the game would never end! Perhaps the lesson is to do more with less, truthfully the new students from 3 felt almost completely pointless in this game, it makes one wonder why anyone would bother to add them if they had no plan for them past the one game they mattered in?

Sadly, I feel as though CS4 squandered long years of build up and writing just to fall flat. It’s a disappointing ending to an otherwise great series. I would still recommend Trails of Cold Steel to people, but I would honestly say that CS4 should be approached quickly, just mainline the story and get the ending and see how you feel.

There are many RPG series out there that are diamonds in the rough, they just needed polish. Well, Cold Steel didn’t need any polish, it was great, until CS4 came and roughed it up.

Read Less
slashstryfe
slashstryfe updated their status Jan 12, 2025
slashstryfe updated their status Jan 12, 2025

It's a fun game but man it has pacing problems

Kenchiin
Kenchiin updated their status Jan 10, 2025
Kenchiin updated their status Jan 10, 2025

I'm around 17 hours into this and I haven't finished Act 1? I am a little bit concerned lmao. I also think there are so many plot threads going on that it feels impossible to think all of them will get a good conclusion in a single game.

Morcys
Morcys updated their status Feb 13, 2024
Morcys updated their status Feb 13, 2024

My journey through Trails of cold steel 4 has begun, I wonder how many millennia it will take me to complete itenter image description here

Girafro
Girafro updated their status Aug 1, 2022
Girafro updated their status Aug 1, 2022

Picking this back up after a bit of a break (playing through 3.5 of these games back to back ground me down) and it's crazy how easy it is to pick up where I left off.

Finally time to finish this arc and get ready for Trails into Reverie!

Xeldar
Xeldar updated their status Oct 27, 2020
Xeldar updated their status Oct 27, 2020

The end of the Cold Steel saga is finally here. I'm very excited to play it and see my favortie characters again. It's a shame that i didn't manage to finish Dragon Quest XI before the release of cold steel IV, but i'm near the end. I will end it in parallel.

shad2810
shad2810 updated their status Apr 12, 2020
shad2810 updated their status Apr 12, 2020

The awaited sequel to cold steel 3! I really can't wait for the eventual release on steam. (And then time to wait for the next arc)