Board 8 > The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV Review Zone

(+) Yeah! (+)

Trails is more about the group than the individual in general, personally. Estelle is the only real standout character of the franchise to me. Well, Renne too after Zero.
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Yeah that's not true for me personally. I could count nearly the entire Sky main cast among my all time favorite characters, and there's definitely a good number from the other arcs also.
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Personally I didn't have a problem with the huge cast, although I can also see how it would have been nice if the game had written out characters who had undergone closure in their arcs in the last game. Like, unless you're going to actually give Sara something to do, go have her be doing Bracer stuff rather than just taking up space in the menu.

Then again, I admire it for the sheer spectacle of having 90% of the playable casts over a decade plus of games.

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I think the series has several standout characters. Cold Steel really opted for an ensemble cast more than Sky or Crossbell did, so I think it has more underdeveloped characters, but even that one has some good ones.

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My boy Jusis and also Fie being disrespected here. They have had outstanding character arcs that have basically carried throughout all 4 games so far.

Like, sure, end of the day I'm taking Estelle, Joshua, Kevin, and Randy but even if OG Class VII spreads itself a bit thin there are still some stars there.

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Yea Jusis, and Fie are definitely the two stand outs of the Original Class VII. I think it's hard to argue that. I think Machias experiences a lot of growth too but he still feels really extra. (mostly due to not really fitting with the theme the rest of OG Class VII has where like 2/3 of the class is directly related to a major player.)

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colliding posted...

Personally I didn't have a problem with the huge cast, although I can also see how it would have been nice if the game had written out characters who had undergone closure in their arcs in the last game. Like, unless you're going to actually give Sara something to do, go have her be doing Bracer stuff rather than just taking up space in the menu.

You know who Sara reminds me of? Quistis from FF8.

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The thing is that these character developments mostly happen in one of the games 150k scenes of "everyone meets up in a big room and 90% of the characters present don't say anything" scenes, or they happen in missable optional events. I'm honestly kind of shocked just how many pivotal character moments have been in these bonding events.

There's very little in the way of character progression in the minute to minute gameplay and cutscenes. Everyone is just "there". But as I said, kind of inevitable since with the absurd cast size. This series could have SERIOUSLY shined with Tales style skits. Occasionally you get some on the field chatter, but it's typically not of value and generally you don't even hear it all unless you stand there and wait for it to finish, since it's always before a map transition.

Also, while I'm venting gripes, it kind of erases all the tention of any scene where things are looking bad for your group when literally every single time, EVERY TIME, a surprise character or group launches an attack from off screen out of nowhere before coming in to push them back or hold them off. It's overused to the point of parody here.

Like, I'm just waiting for everyone in your party to be kneeling in the ground surrounded by Soldats, when all of a sudden, "Maximum Spider!". Oh shit, it's Spiderman! Also, Phantom Thief B is there too, who it turns out was Batman all along.

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UshiromiyaEva posted...

generally you don't even hear it all unless you stand there and wait for it to finish

yeah but who doesn't do that

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UshiromiyaEva posted...

Occasionally you get some on the field chatter, but it's typically not of value and generally you don't even hear it all unless you stand there and wait for it to finish, since it's always before a map transition.

You can check it in the backlog too.
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I'd put a good handful of Cold Steel characters among my favorites - certainly Sara and Altina, and honestly Aurelia too although that's less about depth and more about just sheer force

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Another issue I'm running into...I really like this game I swear!

Male bonding events: meaning advancements and closure to their various loose ends.

Female bonding events: Rean, I know you're making out with all the other girls, but please make out with ME TOO.

Like, Fie and Juna wanting to mack Rean? Not interested, this really didn't need to be here. You're making me NOT want to do their bonding events. Sara? Come the fuck on. If she had any, I'd fully expect Angie to be all up in this.

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Yeah, I think most of the western fans seem to hate the harem aspects of the bonding events. (Although a lot of people like Fie and Sara - I'm more turned off by Altina/Elise/Alfin. )

It would be one thing if they could be optional. Like if I could do a bonding event with Altina and not have the relationship go all weird. But the game doesn't give you a choice. And the bonding events are actually good in this game too, which adds to the tragedy. Like you should be able to choose to "turn on/off the heart" before you commit to a bonding event. All the game would really need to do is take out some dialogue boxes.

You might say "but no one complains about Persona?" Actually people did complain about this a lot in Persona, but even so, it handles it way better than Cold Steel in that 1) it normally gives you a chance to friendzone/have a platonic relationship with them, or 2) in a game like P3, getting into a social link with a character doesn't normally go against all previously built-up characterization (debatable I guess).

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Yeah I ended up doing Musse's special events even though I think it's a dumb ship just because the events themselves are good. (Though the first one isn't really romantic at all.)

tbh I would argue Juna's terrible harem-y bonding events are actually consistent with her character but I also soured on her impressively quickly in the Prologue so I'm probably just not giving her enough credit

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I'm doing Juna's just because I like Juna, but it's a double whammy of this awful romance attempt and the events themselves just sucking.

Everyone else's events at this point are pivotal character changes often connecting back to hundreds of hours ago in game time, and Juna's are...lets go boating....come watch me play tennis...


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Rean just lit one up though, so Fie's is worth it.



Can't take actual screenshots in cold steel because it pauses the game lol

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I still hate Fie and Alisa's CS3 & 4 designs. i'd say really the only original class 7-er who looks better is Elliot. Crow too if he counts.

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The 3D characters look kinda off for a few characters. Their 2D designs in the menus are usually better. Elie is notable in this regard.
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agreed. let's just call it what it is: their trails in the skies are too huge

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Man,

If I didn't hate this fucker already...!

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That is such a vague post. It could literally refer to any of the characters at any given time. I'm going to assume its about Towa because it's funny to hate Towa.

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I'm guessing it's (End of Act 3 spoilers) Rufus for what he does at the end of the Act.

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Yes that's correct lol.

Also their VA has been having a ton of fun this game going into a more maniacal direction.

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UshiromiyaEva posted...

Yes that's correct lol.

Also their VA has been having a ton of fun this game going into a more maniacal direction.

D.C. Douglas is fantastic.

Complete. Zemurian. Saturation.

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That scene made me realize the game wanted me to care about the character on the receiving end a lot more than I actually did D:
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I imagine playing Crossbell helps in that regard.

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That scene just made me think the writers suck because of how they went on and on about experience with the Divine Knight making a huge difference.
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colliding posted...

I imagine playing Crossbell helps in that regard.

I did play the Crossbell games.
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Mac Arrowny posted...

That scene just made me think the writers suck because of how they went on and on about experience with the Divine Knight making a huge difference.

I mean Cold Steel II already told you this was crap!

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Game, you don't have to specifically call out that I'm breaking off some date with Elise that I never signed up for to try and guilt trip me. That was never in the cards. I refuse to let you Beyond Two Souls me into a relationship here, I'm annoyed enough that I can't mack Duvalie.

Patrick deserves a win anyways.

And Laura I've literally done this romance sequence with you for 4 game in a row now why are you fucking surprised??

We've kissed multiple times? Why are you talking about how you are stunned we kisYOU LITERALLY KISSED REAN IN YOUR OWN BONDING EVENT ALREADY IN THIS GAME LIKE 2 DAYS AGO.

Just no consistency at all, I swear! Bioware this ain't.

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Dump Laura bone sister

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Well they could've organised the finale of act 2 better. Having 4 fights in a row with no back up to call on was a bit crap. Especially when they force the new class 7 into the teams and only allowed you to pick 2 guys and only 1 woman to make up the rest.

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the boss rushes are dumb yes
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Every end of act so far has been plagued with exciting events hampered by poor gameplay decisions.


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I really don't like the forced girls/boys split team thing. It just doesn't make sense? Small complaint though.

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They have done it multiple times in this game!


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I feel like the new class 7 members didn't really deserve to be in that act 2 finale personally.

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The new class 7 get forced into events all the time. It gets kinda annoying in general and makes me like them less.

That being said there was a huge power gap between the guy and girl teams. Hardest fight there was definitely Enea/Ines/Kreuger meanwhile the other fights were stomps.

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Everyone else has been fighting for years at this point and they've been at it a few months and suddenly they're just as good and important as everyone else...yeah i don't think so. Musse is the most important character and she wasn't even involved! Actually i'll throw Altina a bone at least she's been about longer and involved more.

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SythaWarrior posted...

That being said there was a huge power gap between the guy and girl teams. Hardest fight there was definitely Enea/Ines/Kreuger meanwhile the other fights were stomps.

I've seen a lot of people saying the Mariabell fight was the hardest but i only had trouble with the first. I ended up putting Joshua, Agate, Ash and Jusis in that team. The latter 2 weren't really set up probably and it felt like i was never getting any turns. Joshua pretty much carried the fight.

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Zoelius' guide isn't done yet (half way through final day sidequests), so guess I gotta take a break!

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Why would you not just use the amazing GameFAQs guide?
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I have been faithful for 5 games now, I can't cheat on him in the home stretch!

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I have started up Tokyo Xanadu again in the meantime.

Looking forward to Juna and Rise Kuchikawa's lovechild gracing my screen again.

OH GOD I FORGOT ABOUT THE FAKE PERSONA 4 SCHOOL MUSIC

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better game than CS4 tbqh

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It was a decent amount of time ago before CS was even twinkle in my eye when I played it (I remember starting a trial of PS NOW to play the first area of CS1 soon after finishing Xanadu, well before the PS4 version was announced), but I THINK I do in fact prefer Xanadu to Cold Steel in general.

Not going to actually get past the prologue of Xanadu before beating CS4, though.. Just felt like getting a feel for what it was like again.

Rion best girl. That includes Trails.

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I enjoyed XS's story, but the combat never did it for me. Hurry up February gimme dat Ys IX

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