The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV Reviews
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV is an exceptional title in the series. The cast of characters is immense and interesting while the story follows it up with bombshells. An already great turn-based combat system is refined and enhanced. This is a must play for RPG fans who have already played Cold Steel games.
Despite the slow start, Trails of Cold Steel IV delivers a conclusion worthy of the series' 16-year legacy.
Anyone who’s invested time into playing the previous games in the Trails series will know exactly what they’re in for. Satisfying combat, impressive world-building, and deep characters are all part of the package. It does have pacing issues, and players may get lost if they didn’t experience the arcs in Liberl and Crossbell. The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV is still a solid game though, despite the stumble in the second act, and is a viable option for those itching to play an epic, immersive JRPG.
Closing out the tale of The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel saga has certainly been one of the most enjoyable gaming experiences I’ve had in my life. Seeing how far everyone in Class VII has grown and remembering all the trials they’ve had to overcome to reach this point in their lives has been an incredibly amazing journey. They are characters that we’ve grown attached to and we wanted to see how their journey plays out and how it’ll end and we got just that in this final game and one can’t help but probably become a bit emotional over that. While the saga may be over, they still have a part to play in the grand scheme of things which we can definitely see more of them in the next Trails series.
A fantastic conclusion to the Trails of Cold Steel series, a highlight in the ever-impressive The Legend of Heroes franchise, and a must-play for JRPG fans.
On its own, Trails of Cold Steel IV is far from being the best game in the series, but as a conclusion to an epic story with characters that have long since won us over, it's a fitting finale. Class VII remains one of the most endearing groups in gaming, and although they demand so much of your time across four whole games, both the journey and the eventual payoff has been worth it. When packaged together with Cold Steel I, II, and III, this is easily one of the most engrossing RPG sagas of our time.
I appreciate that The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV is here. I'm glad this is finally over and having this sense of resolution. It's a sense of finality, and it does an admirable job of bringing everything together and to a close. But it also very much is more of the same, only on a much grander scale and with an overwhelming amount of characters and exposition. This is a game for those who have been following along for the last five years and understand it is more about concluding a story than offering major innovations. While it can be exhausting and overwhelming, I would say it is worth it.
Trails of Cold Steel comes to an end in episode 4, after seven years of story, by bringing a satisfying conclusion to fans of the saga and bringing together dozens of characters we know throughout the games. Despite maintaining the same combat system with some balancing on specific things, the gameplay is fun and consistent. The game is a beautiful service to fans, delivering dozens of hours of content to end the story in a dignified way.
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Overall though, and without too many other spoilers, I enjoyed, laughed, cried, and damn near yelled at the TV over the course of sixty plus hours for the normal ending before even starting to head back for the true ending and conclusion to Class VII’s adventures as we await what comes up next in The Legend of Heroes: Hajimari no Kiseki which released this year in Japan.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV is a great finale to what has been a memorable four game journey. It’s got so many great moments throughout and many of the characters we’ve grown to love get to shine. It could’ve done with a bit better pacing though as I felt like I was just doing busy work quite a bit of the time. I can’t say much else other than if you’ve been invested in this story so far, you’ll be very happy with the payoff and if you haven’t yet jumped into it yet then you’re missing out on one of the best JRPG franchises out there.
Though it may feel like a case of "more of the same" as opposed to some grand, fourth-and-final leap forward, Trails of Cold Steel IV just about manages to achieve success in maintaining that kind of familiar yet high standard the saga has satisfied long-time fans with.
Ultimately, if you are an existing Trails of Cold Steel fan and you want to finish the story, you have no reason not to pick this game up. This is the ending you’ve been waiting for and more of what you love. If you’re only a returning Cold Steel III fan, you also might as well finish the story and see where Class VII ends up and what happens next. Despite not surpassing the greatness that was CS3, I had a fun time with Trails of Cold Steel IV. It’s a ton of content for the money and well worth playing at least once.
Really enjoyable in some respects, but very disappointing in others, Trails of Cold Steel IV is overly long considering the story it wishes to tell.
Really, the Trails of Cold Steel series is like one of those favourite fantasy books that you can read and re-read over and over again. Whether that be Lord of the Rings, Magician, Thomas Covenant, Drizzt Do'Urden's novels, Earthsea or Game of Thrones, they (and Trails of Cold Steel) all share a quality that makes them eminently relatable and comfortable. There are some excellent themes scattered through the game with regards to the impact of conflict, political and moral relativism, individual heroism and the strength of the group. Unfortunately, all the strengths of this series are tied up with its narrative, and we're at the point where it's hard to discuss the narrative without giving important moments away, so my review can't really reflect just how enthused I really am about Trails of Cold Steel. All I can say is that the fourth chapter is, if anything, even stronger than what came before and so while you should play all four in order, this is the one to look forward to the most.
As a whole, Trails of Cold Steel IV’s repetitive nature and weaker writing made this grand JRPG series end on a bit of a disappointing note.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV is a rather bloated blockbuster crossover event that's shaped like a JRPG. If you're a die-hard Trails fan with a deep love of the franchise, then seeing your favorite characters interact will probably make up for the somewhat disappointing story. Anyone else should stay far away until they've played the first three Trails of Cold Steel main games in the series, and looking up the other games in the franchise couldn't hurt. I had fun with ToCS4, but it's a bit of a mess, and your enjoyment will depend on how much that mess appeals to you. I still have a soft spot in my heart for the series, but I can only hope the next game is more focused than this offering.
While The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV brings an epic conclusion to the saga, it's not without faults. The fantastic newer elements from the third entry return while this entry refines it into an ultimately better system. It also continues the use of a lot of strange presentation choices that feel almost archaic in 2020. Despite this, players will have an extremely large cast of heroes to work with in a fun setting. It's sort of like the Avengers: Endgame of JRPGs.
A finale that only exacerbates the faults of the series up till now but the sheer audacity of the storytelling, and the goodwill built up over so many years, pushes it over the finishing line.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV builds off of the previous three entries and finally brings a conclusion to the long-running Erebonian Arc.
Trails of Cold Steel IV is a solid JRPG that entertains, throwing a great cast of characters with strong story arcs your way, and worth every second of your time.
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