As the big bro of Ironbloods and House of Albarea, what I need to advise Rean and Jusis is : Dream bigger, children. The new best waifu is the Grandmaster, not Alisa or Millium.
remember, Garrelia had a mountain of corpses in CS1, then the 2 WARS afterwards had only a handful of deaths, Vulcan and the market manager. And even less in cs 4. 2 WHOLE WARS had less deaths than 1 Terror attack let that sink in.
Cold Steel in general is the result of Falcom trying to twist their formula to fit trends that didn't really work well with the setting and the story they were telling because they were desperate for money, tbh. The school setting might have worked if they'd committed to making it fit within the setting and reduced the scale, but they wanted to both do the Trails school anime AND continue the huge civil war and Ouroboros conspiracy plotlines all while juggling an increasingly overbloated cast plagued by the stupid multiple choice romance... it was never gonna end well.
as far as i can tell it seems like Falcom actively wrote each girl s bond events in this one assuming you were going to romance the one with the heart event and writing around that alongside the development (Alisa and Emma both have imported dialogue from 3 depending on your choices too.) Pretty big proof of that is the fact that if you don´t do one of Elise s bond events then instead of Patrick egging you on to pick her, Rean gives Patrick his blessing to be with Elise and you see him planning for it in Mishelam, there s similar changed lines if you don´t do a first round of a heart event too but do the later ones. Which leads to a lot of mixed feelings on those but i genuinely still like a lot of them: Machias fully coming to terms with his old hatred of nobles by confronting his cousin s old lover, Alfin confronting Cedric about him being a shithead, the funeral for the Jaeger king with Fie, Musse s conflicted feelings and seeming conviction to commit Suicide for the lives that would die for her plan that gets stopped, plus Altina somehow having great bond events despite how yikes the setup of her being a romance option is (ends with Rean rejecting her and being proud of her for how far she s come, but i really just don´t trust Falcom.)
Definitely like that better. Rean giving his blessing to Patrick to try and romance Elise. Feels fitting given Patrick's growth from how he was as a student. Not to mention it does seem as if he and Elise get along well enough to the point it could possibly happen. Though it'd take ALOT of work on Patrick's end given Elise's feelings for Rean. Poor guy.
@@advmx3 I can trust them with good characters and a story (outside of the deaths) even with the flaws. But trusting them not to get weird with romance is an entirely different thing.
CS 4 was the first game where I actively did bonding events with the male characters. I never touched the guys in the previous games unless I had to because of a leftover bonding point. In this game, I avoided every heart event other than a handful, and I felt like I made a big mistake when I saw those events. Personally, the problem with bonding events is that Class 7 members never feel fleshed out despite hogging the screen time for 4 friggin games. Many important character moments are hidden behind this mechanic when they could instead be a side quest. Both are optional but you're not kneecapped by the limited bonding points with a side quest. I think some bonding events in CS4 had better story beats and felt more important than the majority of whatever happens in ACT 2. They 100% should have been a part of the main story imo.
@@vimaln6613 yeah i can say for sure that from the top of my head: Machias s bond event could have been a quest, Alfin s second one could have been adapted into her being part of the Cedric conflict with Kurt and also be playable (it's her twin brother Falcom c'mon), the attack in Ymir and Rescue of Altina (her second bond event i think) could have been a main story sequence instead of a bond event.
Late to comment, but what are your thoughts about revisiting Hamel in CS3 and 4 and other things connected to it, especially when it comes to Rean, Ash, and Lechter?
You know that feeling you get when you enter a museum or memorial of sorts where something terrible happened? Thats the feeling I got going to Hamel. Thought Falcom handled that well, especially in regards to Shirley even respecting Hamel and not wanting to fight there. Easily made Ash even more interesting to me than he already was.
I consider cold steel games considerable worst than the other 2 arcs ( liberl,crossbell) , but they are still good games , i just hope that in the next games they tone down all the harem cringe moments that cold steel has . And reverie does what cold steel 4 tries to do but miles better.
If harems are what bothers you, then worry not because Kuro (Trails Through Daybreak) does not have any of that. It's a much more mature game since Van is an older guy. That's not to say that some ladies don't like him (2 at most) but it's never the focus, and there's a good reason for that. I don't want to say too much so I'll leave it at that. If anyone is going to have anything to complain about though I suspect it will be the battle system. I was definitely not a fan of some of the changes myself.
@@saintfayde4438Kinda disagree with you with the battle system. In my opinion this is the best battle system i could ever ask for in trails game. Hell, even in the whole jrpg genre. The seamless transition between the action and turn based combat is amazing (no loading transition between battle and exploration) . I also really like their approach to make the battle animation and movement faster so i didnt have to press the fast forward all the time like i did before in the past trails games
@@agahafiz3914 Maybe I'm just retarded and didn't understand it better, but it seemed like the only way to steal battle bonuses was to break them just before they got it. As that is a major core part of the battle system since Sky, my experience with it was heavily detracted. I still beat it without it, but not being able to manipulate who gets what bonus when and it all just being up to luck on me just happening to break them at the right time felt pretty bad. I still loved the game, though.
@@saintfayde4438 fair point. Its kinda funny actually because I didn't really pay attention to the battle bonuses when playing Kuro and I only realized it after you mentioned it now. I started to stop paying attention to battle bonuses and turn orders (except s break) after the sky and crossbell arc, because in the cold steel arc I always made rean broken and just spamming his craft over and over again lol. Maybe because our play styles are different, that cause perspectives on the entire battle system are contradictory to one another
Anyone upset at another Trails fan is just bad form. We all love this series and should celebrate that :) Cold Steel is my favorite arc and Rean is my favorite Protag of the main 3/4. And Cold Steel is my favorite arc because of how it handles its main theme and Olivert's dream. Just to speak to my favorite moment, which I feel encapsulates why Cold Steel is so brilliant to me. The best moment in the arc is in CS4 when all of the Protags are meeting and learning about Mille Mirage. Now in Cold Steel and Cold Steel 2, we learn that Oliverts dream is to find a third way to solve the problems in Erebonia. But what is that third way? Olivert throws a ship at them and peaces out. So Class 7 is left spinning their wheels. And they lose. They never find a third way, they spend the entire game being manipulated into doing whatever Osbourne wants, and in the end, they lose Crow. Utter defeat. It's such a bad defeat that Class 7 breaks up. They leave school it's such a huge loss. Now after fighting to be back together and a unified front. They are on this ship in CS4 and presented with realistically the only realistic way of countering Erebonia or resigning themselves to the Rivalries the way Osbourne wants them to. But Class 7 along with all the other Protags stand up and announce they they are choosing another way. They find that third way. Their own way, no matter how risky or crazy it seems. They forge their own path uninfluenced by anyone but their own convictions. And the moment is so grand and so inspiring, it brings Olivert back to life essentially to celebrate that his dream, has been given form. And that is a part of the reason Cold Steel is my favorite arc in the series so far. Which is high praise for a series that has had only bangers so far.
@@TheTheoLogan898 I will always understand why it's some players least favorite arc. It does have a ton of flaws. But man, for me, what it gets right is just so damn amazing. I can't just help but smile when I think of the moments from any of the Cold Steels.
The best choice for Rean was always Crow. That 50mira really had a lot of interest over the years. Not to mention Crow wasn't gonna let Rean go alone in the normal end. Now that's a real boyfriend. Crow was the main person who headpatted Rean, Rean was smitten ever since. Crow cooking burgers and chips for Rean, instant waifu material. Rean as a character is good for a JRPG protagonist, but within the context of Trails protagonist he's alright. I think what Rean represents best is a interpretation of the Uncle Ben's 'With great power comes great responsibility'. Osborne has been built up since the very beginning of the series and man his mere presence steals the show everytime. His whole character arc and story did not disappoint one bit. Claire was so disappointing.. Lechter less so but I was waiting for him to do a betrayal at some point but it never happened. Cedric getting praise by Logan? What is this timeline. Kurt was honestly wasted potential, he was so underutilised in the story and although there was a bit with Kurt and Cedric at the end it never felt like there was any true build up to it. As for the Waifus honestly if Laura had been more consistent she would have been my pick for sure. Victor should have definitely kicked the bucket.. Imagine Laura inheriting the Galland Sharl.. The Fie character development was not 'Weak' Also an example of a father figure kicking the bucket and giving character development. To me the ranking for Cold Steel is that every game just got better sequentially. I think CS4 its quite hard to top an opener of Estelle, Joshua, Lloyd, Elie, Renne and KeA right after that Cliffhanger of CS3. Its like a reward for those that waited all those years (or for those that couldn't wait to jump in). Not to mention that the ending of CS4 is good (though definitely too neat). CS4 definitely had a large quantity of highs for many stories and they really took their time with that. Especially the final few sidequests with each group. If only Act 2 and death not meaning anything didn't exist I think CS4 would have been a clear winner.
I forgot about Crow making Rean food in CS2 (surprise, surprise). Peak Waifu material indeed! I think that’s my biggest problem with Lechter: you keep thinking he’ll betray Osborne but he just never does. He’s fine as a character but he could have had a really cool moment where he steps out of line and joins the party. Ah well.
CS4 is my favorite of the cold steel series with CS3 in 2nd. I love CS4 the best. Final bonding events there were so good ones . I went with Laura in all 4 games because to me she is the best fit for Rean. Kurt is my favorite new class member . Kurt was my evade tank . Musse is my least favorite. Jusis is my favorite i loved his character growth. Cold Steel Arc is my favorite arc. Rean is my favorite protag over Lloyd and Estelle. Hope you have fun playing Reverie . Reverie is my favorite of all the trails games.
I don’t disagree about the deaths, but I’ve just accepted it’s a feel good series tbh Now the biggest problem is your hating of alfin. Alfin Is like the ultimate bro lol. Also you didn’t mention it, but to me the end credits in this game are the best of any game I’ve ever played Thanks for streaming your journey though. It’s a joy watching go through.
@@TheTheoLogan898remember the big party where ash shoots the emperor and Alfin saves Rean from an awkward situation with dancing partner? Ultimate bro move
Your ranking of the Cold Steel games is the same as mine. I also agree 100% on the problem of bringing characters back from the dead, if you are not willing to kill Olivert don't do that scene were the Courageous is destroyed at the end of CSIII, it just lessens the effect of similar scenes for the future games.
Or, they could have even had Victor blow a hole open in the ship with his sword, allowing Toval and Olivert to escape and Victor goes down as a hero whose sacrifice emboldens those two, as well as Laura. Wasted potential.
@@TheTheoLogan898 I actually agree with this. As someone who has almost zero problems with resurrecting characters, I think Victor should have stayed dead, as a sacrifice in saving in the other two. His arc was done when Aurelia surpassed him in CS3. And yes, I think it would have helped give Laura a stronger arc also.
@@TheTheoLogan898 I very much agree with this. Its fine to bring back one or two of them, but one of the characters should have died and Victor being the one that dies valiantly almost writes itself. Laura being one of my favorite characters from CS1 and 2 desperately needed his death to stick to give her a reason to even be on screen. While I am glad that my favorite character Olivert is still alive, it came at a pretty big cost for the writing.
@@TheTheoLogan898 pulling a Loewe remix and having Victor only be alive due to the curse could work too. Laura surpasses him and gets to say her goodbyes before he fades away.
Agree with you completely about the way deaths are handled. I get that they had to bring back Olivert, but they should have had Arseid and Toval stay dead, maybe even sacrificing themselves to save his life. Angie and George should have both died, or leave Angie dead and give George some big redemption arc. Instead George never actually hurt anyone so nothing to redeem. There’s one line of dialogue in Reverie that made me do a spit take with regard to this issue (it’s really dumb). It’s just ridiculous that they can build a fun and interesting world over 20 years of games but the fear of committing to death really pulls the player out of it. It’s cheap; they want to have shocking moments but they never commit to them.
I think Toval s still alive because he s probably one of the relevant characters for whatever Arteria arc Falcom cooks up. What with his ties to Ein and all that from Carnelia, Victor should have died thought.
Your thoughts on this game mirror my own. I basically agree with everything youve said. I like to describe it as 'Trails over peaks and down valleys' because it has more highs than any other Trails game but it also has many of the biggest lows. So oppinions on this game are directly related to what you focus on, euther the highs or lows. All in all i think its a very fun game that ultimately didn't really meet the expectations of the 9 game buildup. At the moment my rankings: Azure SC CS3 Zero FC CS4 CS2 CS1 3rd Nayuta I was going to be playing Reverie at the same time as you but ive decided to keep waiting for the translation patch as there are a number of mistakes in the game. So in the meantime ive jad to play Natlyuta, Phoneix Wright JFA, and now im gonna give One Piece Odyssey a go.
@@TheTheoLogan898 Despite my ranking Nayuta last it was actually a very good game that was a great change of pace from your normal Trails game. I'm just not really an Action rpg fan. Even though Nayuta is not canon and is by far the shortest, it somehow felt like the most important game story wise. I should enjoy Odyssey since I love One Piece. It was a toss up between trying that and Fuga: Melodies of Steel which I've heard nothing but good things about.
me personally for the trails games that I've played the ones that I liked from most to least goes (also be aware of possible spoilers) (Also if you don't see any real mention or opinion of Rean in these section its because I consider him to be apart of the old class 7 group meaning if I say I'm a fan of old class 7 it means I also like Rean as a character, his arc, etc. This also means the same for Lloyd within regards to the SSS) Reverie- because in my opinion its a good wrap up for all the characters that we've grown to love since sky(for me zero and azure), It has a ton of characters to mess around with(in which by using these characters and the references that are given in the past games are what got me interested in playing zero and azure ), music is great, and the overall story around the three main characters kept me invested until the credits rolled. Cold Steel 4- a bit similar reason in terms of the amount of characters that are used, The initial progression of the story with you using mainly new class 7 was in my opinion a great idea because it made it feel more like new class 7 was able to be in the spotlight somewhat compared to Cold Steel 3 were they seemed to always play second fiddle when old class 7 is on screen (this is coming from someone who is a huge fan of the old class 7 by the way), when it comes to people calling it harem trash I personally don't think its as bad as people think sure there's the one hots spring scene but you have to deliberately go out of your way to find it and the fact that all of the girls seem to be pining for Rean (but considering the game implies that Rean's fate unless you know about the true ending is that he's going to die in the end I personally think it makes sense why the girls are acting this way) but in comparison to most harem plotlines that exist in JRPGs and animes in general Rean's is incredibly tame, again story is pretty great and the progression doesn't feel like it has to much filler, and I just love stories that feel like we are on are on an adventure. Cold Steel 2 - because I love the initial task of reuniting with class 7 and getting to really see how much they mean to each other (in fact it was in this game that really cemented the feeling that class 7's overall friendship had practically border lined to being familial love at this point for me), the divine knight battle scenarios were fun as it really felt like the tables had turned towards your favor, again I love stories that feel like your on an adventure, and the story naturally kept me invested, however although I do love the whole third faction concept I do feel like their is a little too much of it being used as filler. Cold Steel 1 - Although the game definitely feels aged especially in terms of some bosses and their balancing (one shot S Crafts) its story felt like a good starting point for the Erobonia arc, getting to see the bond of class 7 grow from just a bunch of strangers to a group of very close friends(until my opinion in the Cold Steel 2 section) was an aspect that I really liked to see progress through out the game, I also personally liked the little school sections of the game were you got the chance to bond with the characters an learn a bit more about them and the further you got into the game the more endearing they seemed to get in my opinion, however I will say that Cold Steel 1's introduction to Alisa as a character (if you know you know) really ruined her for me until later in the story in which even though I didn't hate her character she was still basically my least favorite character in the bunch until some of Cold Steel 3 and Cold Steel 4 (because of her arc there except for the initial break up romantic subplot if you were intending to romance her but that's just me). Cold Steel 3 - this game is possibly the only game where I can say that I have a weird relationship with it because although It has a lot of the opinions that I like about the other games it feels like a complete copy/paste of cold steel 1 in terms of pacing (Although you can never go wrong with the Panzer Soldats/Divine Knight fights). Also I honestly don't like the music as much all the other trials games. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Cross Bell Arc Section-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Trails From Zero- personally when it comes to Zero I would say I liked it as much as I did 4. This is because the SSS and other characters while not exceeding class 7 in my opinion are a very close second, the story is great, and it has possibly my second favorite to most favorite sound track in the trails series (inevitable struggle is a nuke when it comes to music). Trails To Azure- when it comes to Azure honestly I'd say I liked as much as Zero because its just a great sequel (even better when you have prior knowledge from Cold Steel 1 and Cold Steel 2 in my opinion), music is still great, story is great, and characters are just as good as they were in zero. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Sky Trilogy------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Haven't played them yet but I might consider playing third someday because I keep hearing that Kevin is a great main character.
"we all know it's Emma" me, an avid Emma disliker: "HAHA. NO" Nah I don't really care, personally I don't have any girl I like Rean dating but Altina is best daughter.
Since you mentioned it, I felt the same way about Cold Steel 2. For some reason the second act of that game felt rather slow/dragged out to me. I don't know why both of these games struggled during their mid-sections but that's how it felt to me. Again, I also agree on the topic of 'deaths'. I'm happy Olivert got to marry Schera, but the ending to Cold Steel 3 had the potential to be a real banger (even with it abruptly ending) with the weight those narrative choices would've brought if the writers committed to it. Usually, the writing for these games is rather good, especially when it comes to the characters, but it's their refusal to commit to certain narrative choices that leads to them shooting themselves in the foot at times and turns serious stakes into a joke.
The second act in both games feel sluggish because up until those points, you are on rails and going from one story beat to the next. Once you hit act 2 in each, you have a lot more freedom to explore. And we'll, once you're off tye rails, you want to explore, meaning the story will feel sluggish unless you focused on doing it.
@@RaifSeverence Even if you focus on just 'doing the story' it sort of drags a bit until things pick back up. To be fair, both games needed some break from the action to help transition properly into their final acts, but I feel like the story beats in said sections could have been trimmed down a bit or reworked to feel like more than just padding.
I agree: refusal to commit is the biggest issue plaguing Trails atm. The writers themselves might've realized it and be trying to course-correct with Kuro though, which is good. I can't be sure but a lot of Cold Steel's issues seem to come down to bad planning and the writers' goals shifting midway through production. We already know that Cold Steel was meant to be 2 games at first, but both of those games ballooned into two games each. Honestly, it might be that them trying to write their way around all the new characters they kept introducing to make the fans happy led to the utter mess that arc was. That's just my speculation of course, but it wouldn't be too unlikely that this might be part of what happened. After Crossbell, IIRC, Falcom was going through a rough patch financially, that's why they decided to bet on the harem trend to pander to a large audience that's known for consuming large quantities of anime and games. And it worked at first, but then they had to walk a tightrope to avoid pissing off fans and sticking to the bloated and restrictive formula of dating sim sections alternating with actual RPG sections, all while writing in the personal plotline of every single important character. Waaaaayyyyy too many moving parts, a plot that's too huge in scale and they were too afraid to kill off characters partly out of fear of pissed off fans, partly because they might've wanted to keep them around "just in case". All in all it speaks of a lack of direction and planning and the writing team winging things to play to contradictory and sudden demands from management and the fanbase.
@@antonioscendrategattico2302 I'm looking forward to playing Kuro. I haven't watched any playthroughs of the Japanese version just yet but from the trailers released it's looking good. As much as I love Juna, Kurt, and the rest of new Class 7 I think their inclusion added to some of the bloat. The older members of Class 7, even after 2 games, still lacked in development. Cold Steel 3 and 4 would've given plenty of space for them. On the other side of the coin though tightening Class 7 down to just Juna, Kurt, Ash, Musse, and Altina allowed for each of those characters to receive development between the final two games. Ultimately the Erebonia arc was just really ambitious and, for what they gave us, is still pretty good. It's just their refusal to commit to certain narrative decisions brings down the arc for me personally despite how much I enjoyed it still.
@@animesoul479 I'm happy you enjoyed it. To me, sadly, their refusal to commit just ruined the whole experience. It cheapened the tension, made the tone feel childish and the narrative cheap and all in all it felt like some soulless light novel adaptation. Doesn't help that the dialogues in the main plot scenes also really dropped in quality, most of the time it was minutes of the heroes and the villains standing still mouthing filler dialogue at each other until even more characters arrived on scene mouthing off yet more filler dialogue. It felt like everyone absolutely HAD to have a line in every scene even if it added nothing, so the amount of "yes!" or "class VII let's go!" or "hah, you will never defeat me!" and lines like that REALLY grated on my nerves.
Awesome review good sir! I jumped in a little off and on since you started Cold Steel 1. Excited for you to get into Reverie. Its honestly in my top 3 trails games so far. Enjoy the ride! Its a great one!
The harem crap in the Cold Steel arc completely distracts from the story that is being told, and even hurts character development. Not just for Rean, but also for the female characters as well. It's my biggest gripe about the CS arc. Even above the whole, "They died, but not really!" thing that happened in CS3/4. Although that was pretty bad too. The reason why I feel this way is because characters are a big part of what makes this series so great. And when character development takes a hit, the games themselves take a massive hit. Thankfully, the female characters and Rean are still likeable enough outside of the harem crap, so even though the harem crap is bad, it isn't enough to ruin the characters. In all honesty though? I still really like the Cold Steel games. They have their flaws, but they also have a lot of strengths too. And despite the harem crap, I actually find Rean's character arc to be pretty cool.
I am sort of a defender of the harem stuff because I actually don't think it harms development... until CS4. I was Alisa all the way, so the other stuff didn't really matter to me. And the relationship isn't a part of the story like it was in Sky so I never felt hedging their bets on who Rean loved really ultimately mattered. Until the Mishelam stuff before the finale. Seeing all of the male characters slowly being paired off with someone felt like life. It felt real. And I loved every second of it. Even the surprising pairings that had zero set up were awesome to see, because that is how things work when you are possibly facing death the next day. But they couldn't pair any of the women off since they had to be open for Rean to possibly romance them. So that sucked. But for the rest of the series, I never felt it really mattered or affected any growth/development.
Its bond events as a mechanic. It sorta lets the writers cope about not having to give characters attention and screen time in the main story but then you play a bond event and its like "this character likes coffee" and the next one is "this character plays chess" and thats it for the whole game. Since someone can go through the whole game while not playing the bond events they are also dubiously non canon so nothing of real importance will ever happen in them. CS overall just has massive character bloat and a big divide in story direction with CS1 and 2 vs CS3 and 4. Its pretty much 2 arcs in one that both go unfinished because they care about different things and feature different characters. I don't think any of the old class 7 members got an arc comparable to previous game party members. Even Jusis who pretty much had everything set up for him in CS4 just doesnt stick the landing. Rean's arc is just a mess kinda. You really gotta interpret a lot into it to make it make sense and that just means it was badly written and shouldve been more clear. He has an interesting duality with Osborne as Osborne is throughout the whole trails series sorta pulling a Rean "I will do it all alone and sacrifice myself" moment where as Rean finds friends to hold back from going down that path. It just sucks that they retread this development every game for him. Rean on screen is bad more often than its good and he has more games than the other protags which makes him come off as a lot worse.
Good stuff. When you get to Reverie, enjoy the music. Falcom didn't disappoint. The battle themes in each route are pretty good. Bussin', I believe is the term in youthful parlance.
Rean is actually my favorite trails protagonist because of how divisive he is but it seem like more people like him than hate him also the people who hate him really hate him
You just never know how people will react to certain developments. My favorite protag is Rean because of how broken he is. So we watch him slowly try to fix himself over the 4 games along with all his backslides. But that can easily frustrate others. For me, Lloyd is the weakest Protag, because he starts Zero pretty much fully formed. Yes he has the brother complex, but that is minor in comparison to his role in the games. So while I still absolutely love Lloyd, his arc just isn't as interesting to me.
The only thing I hate about Rean are his speeches. These started with Llyoid though, and that's the problem. Besides that, Cold Steel itself has a Persona Syndrome I wish will never be back in the trails series.
As a fan of Rean myself, his biggest problem is that he constantly has to learn the same lesson over just about every single game, which makes it feel like he isn't actually developing. His other problems including the harem protagonist status and honestly awful "student teacher" relationship things that come along with it.
really wish they just wrote 1 cohesive romantic subplot with Alisa throughout the arc and made all other bonding non-romantic, or at least do that for CS4. and I feel like the death fakeouts could've been lessened or not as implied to be death in the first place. Like 4 'deaths' weren't needed to demonstrate how George talks the talk but is a coward and can't commit. What happens with Crow is good, but I wish there was any clearer hint of divine knight pilot = undying in CS2 or very early in CS3. Millium could've just been transformed into the sword without implying she's completely dead for so long or at all, even.
long time lurker cant wait for u to play reverie, imo its the best of the cold steel arc. It saved the series for me, was thinking everything went downhill from cold steel onwards
A random dude from Texas playing Trails is definitely worth my time. And I'm just a random dude from Sweden. I dont say much but I'm lurking in the shadows. Keep it up!
Good vid. Im playing through the cold steel games (Im probably halfway through 2 rn) even though I spoiled myself for most of the story. Some of the dialogue is a little rough 💀Gameplay is hella fun though
My thoughts of CS4: (Copied from my comments in community tab's posts. It is easier to be found in here in future.) CS4 is a good game, but it is like a giant sandwich, not easy to swallow - too many romantic relationship bonding events; too many characters come back to life; too many unnecessary boss fights (especially Act 2, lots of "This is a trial, show us you strength/faith, Class 7." scenes.) Technically, CS3 is a better one, but its super huge cliffhanger did hit me hard. Summing it up, I like CS4 a little bit more. ------ In my old impression, Trails games had excellent world-building, good characters and stories, but below-average camera movement techniques (especially Cold Steel series.) The good news is, from Reverie and Daybreak, Falcom gradually steps up their camera movements, characters' motion capture and facial expressions. Glad to see their efforts rewarded.
I noticed the camera work and facial animations during yesterday’s stream. Loved seeing them working on improving the quality and pushing an older engine to its limits. Excited to play more!
Real waifu of coldsteel is crow in falcoms eyes 👀 but fr tho I really enjoyed your review!! Honestly coldsteel 4 has some of the best moments in the series as it has the worst and kinda placing it on a neutral spot for me as it was a pain to binge play compared to the other games 😭
I'm sad that most of the original English VA like Peter Beckman, Gerald C Rivers, Marisha Ray, Max Mittleman didn't repise their role in CS4. I think it was affected due to Covid-19 protocol restrictions. And some of the VA have to record in their own studios and not direct to NISA's recording studio, that's why some of the voicelines were crappy asf* But at the same time I'm glad that NISA still holding on releasing Trails and Ys Series in the West. I'm enjoying it so far, cheers to more Falcom fans out there!
Yeah, i respectfully disagree with basically most of your critics. But I feel to go into most of it is to have to talk about Reverie. Good video nonetheless.
That's a pretty hot take. Osborne is really really good don't get me wrong, but even by just JRPG standards hes competing with Pokey from Mother, Luca from Suikoden, Sephiroth, P5 Shido, Am from Rance, etc
okay, after having played all 4 cold steel games between June and October of this year, I think we can all definitively say that the best one for Rean is none of the girls, but actually Crow haha.
So just a heads up since you mentioned about Rean and his dad not being as great as Guy and his brother. i felt the same way but they kinda redeemed themselves imo in one of the Day Dreams in Reverie once you get there. Which will be a reoccurring theme since Cold Steel has so many damn characters iuts hard to fully flush out everyone's story (Reverie helps but some still felt left out). also to Answer your question on who's the best. I'd say Crow easily. dude is hella broken when you use build him for arts + his buff Pandora and Gungnir for boss fights or Pandora & Titania for anything else add in Toval brave order + Chrono Burst and he can wipe through a bunch of the content
Cold steel 4 is very divisive in general, I unfortunately fall for the short side of things perhaps due to unrealistic expectations but I truly truly hope falcom will innovate and continue to develop in their writing. Continuity is their biggest weakeness but also their biggest strength. I hope to finish the series one day and remember it for it's exceptional use of contuinity in their writing and see each of them as family
That "padding" you mentioned? It's a big problem for all of the games but especially 2 and 4. in fact, the second game was almost all filler; rescue missions of inconsequential side characters nobody cares about. It's not until the final chapter when the story finally starts to make meaningful progress again. The first game does move a bit slow but most of it seems to have a purpose and doesn't feel like lazily written filler garbage like so much of these games do. But 3 is the high point because new class seven is superior to the old one.
Yeah, as a Laura stan since CS1, I'm glad I'm not the only one that thinks that Victor should have died to give Laura her spot to shine and character development. But still, CS4 is still a good game overall. Reverie is a banger, can't wait for you to play it.
If we compare between Estelle and Rean, Notice that Estelle has a unique relationship with every other character that she meet ( love, friendship, rival, hate, etc.....) While in Rean case (because they forced the garbage dating sim persona relationship system on him) he have to keep safe distance between him and every other character around him, so that they make YOUchoose what kind of relationship you want. which the reason I think this part of cold steel story was really bad.
It (the persona style relationship system) definitely hurt the game. I mentioned in either the review for CS1 or 2 how Rean is the nucleus that all characters interact with but don’t really interact with one another (outside of maybe Jusis and Machias and a few times with Laura and Fie).
@@TheTheoLogan898 I hear this a lot but that s more of a myth, the lack of dynamic is less the fault of the bonding system and more how big Class VII is. Crossbell has romances and their dynamic turned out good, new class VII has good banter too and I've similarly heard good things about the Daybreak cast. The main issue is just that old class VII is too big for it's own good. The issue that does come up from romance is that the girls don't get canon pairings due to it.
You spend liked 80% of the video complaining/criticizing Cold steel.... I did the same thing, not because I hate it, or think it was the low point, but because it's like 'zomg everything is perfect minus these things' (in my case anyway). The way you care so much about your complaints indicate to me that my former message is mostly true. That said, maybe I'm a hot-weird take, but in... ok before the hot take. I absolutely hate the harem-trash aspect of the series/rean. I wish there was a canon pick that they didn't avoid for sales or whatever. But put aside your phobias for a second, put aside what Rean as a self-insert should pick as the 'waifu'. I truly want the cs4 canon waifu to be... Altina. Seriously, this isn't some pedo kink thing. Kiseki, often has characters with tragic background stories, but ones who rarely have loss explained during the actual game. Altina is an exception, but not in the way one would think. She never had a family or loved ones to lose pre-game, but in-game, she still has none. That's her point, she was DESIGNED to never have someone to care about her. Millium was supposed to be the sacrificial sword, but she worked with the other ironbloods, who bonded with her, and then Altina was made, then ordered to avoid bonding with anyone. She even realizes this, and feels guilt for not sacrificing herself for Millium's benefit. Rean on the o ther hand is painfully repetitive for sacrificing his self for others, Altina, was designed to never have anyone to care for her so her sacrifice will cause no grief. Is that not the perfect match? Put aside the whole hormone-driven femine-perportions, that's my argument for Altina being 'best girl', for Rean. I hope she's canon for those reasons, but know she won't be. blargh... the whole choose your own harem option in this game is trash, and the only story I can picture as deep is like the LEAST popular option. YOU ALL SUCK *runs away crying* =P.
The way I care about my complaints? I’m reviewing the game and that involves critiquing it. I did give the game its roses in parts too. I’m not really sure what you were expecting.
@@TheTheoLogan898 nah Im not complaining actually. I mean that whenever I really care about a game. I find myself nitpicking every minor flaw because I cant describe all the good things as much as I like. Well its more than that. But Im saying I think your impression reminds me of my own impressions after I first played them
CS3 is the best overall game, but the end to CS2 is so good that it almost makes up for it's pacing issues. CS1 has a special place for being the beginning, but objectively speaking, it's the weakest, even though it didn't feel like it when I played it (might just be nostalgia). I think Cold Steel 4 is my least favorite. It did so many things I absolutely hated: 1. Act 2. Constant reuse of dungeons and bosses from CS3 with the reason given of 'rescuing' characters who weren't even in danger to begin with because you were just being 'tested', even though no one else can participate in the Rivalries, and half of these people are not even qualified to test you. Spliced in between are reused minigames from previous games, and fetch quests where you talk to someone, find out what you need is out of stock, talk to someone else, rinse repeat. Act 2 needs to be studied in a lab. 2. Villains. Osbourne was antagonistic towards Ishmelga until his family was hurt and he offered his soul in exchange for saving Rean. This implies that Osbourne did not approve of furthering the great twilight of his own free will. But it is also implied that Ishmelga was never able to take over his soul because his iron will is just too strong. So what happened there? I don't know. Claire going along with the end of the world, sacrificing Altina, dragging millions of people into a war, because of loyalty? Sure, okay. Lianne's reason was that she planned on fighting Osbourne herself and for some reason decided to not join the team that was against him the whole time but also actively get in their way. Okay. The curse was also a very common reason for why people were against you. Rufus was the only one I liked since they actually committed to making him a bad guy. An inferiority complex suits him. Him killing Lianne also makes perfect sense. 3. Old Class VII. Forget about anything interesting that was going on with the female characters in previous games, they all have the same character arc now. They love Rean and want him to reciprocate their feelings, that's every bonding event. The guys actually had some really good moments, too bad that in the main story they are very one dimensional. The harem stuff would have been fine if they didn't go as far with it. If you're doing bonding events for more than one female character, it's really weird to see Rean have these super intimate moments with multiple girls. Almost makes Rean seem like he is just stringing them along and keeping his options open, which doesn't fit his character whatsoever. There's more I can get into but this comment is already way too long. All in all, I think this game was a new low for the series, and I almost fell into depression after finishing it. None of the moments in this game hit me (the coolest moments were just fanservice involving returning characters). I went through the 5 stages of grief, lamenting that Trails would never make feel the emotions I felt at the end of FC, or the end of CS2. I considered dropping the series but decided to give Reverie a shot. I won't say much on it, but what I will say is that Reverie made me feel like I was playing a Trails game again, which I thought was no longer possible. Hope you have fun in your 12 hour stream! EDIT: wrote Great One instead of Ishmelga, whoops
Reverie has definitely made up for CS4’s shortcomings in the 11-ish hours I got to play it 😅 I think another commenter said that it would have been better had Rean just had one love interest written throughout and I couldn’t agree more.
Cs4 is my least favorit trails game. Not only is this were the stupid herum element comes in full force. The curse is barone the worst plot device I have ever seen. It basically makes every character decision meaningles: o no this guy is murdering people. O wait he was effected by the curse he will not be punished or hold responsible what so ever. I hate it! It's so bad! Than you have the stupid fact. That people keep coming back from the dead. It just like the curse, it makes good moments mean nothing. Than you have the ending. And I personally don't really like either ending. In the normal one Rean sacrifyces him self. This is awful considering his entire character arc was build around self worth and learning he could make a difference by doing more than just self sacrifice. But in this ending Rean didn't learn anything becouse he just throws his life away again! The true ending isn't much better becouse that ending can only happen becouse the team just so happens to find the plot megufen that saved the day. And then they bring everyone who died back again. It's awful! About the herum : In cs1 and 2 I thought this was handled perfectly. That is to say there was no herum. Yes you could dance with every girl character in cs1. However not only did it not end in romance yet you could also dance with al the guy characters if you wanted. In cs2 it's basically the same thing. Yes you could romance al the girls but only the last bonding scenes were romantic(and you could only do it with 1 character at the time). However in cs 4 (and I think also 3) you have bonding events with a hart. Al of those are romantic. This means that is you want to see all the events with any girl character she automatically confesses her love to Rean. I hate it. This mean that every relationship with a girl always ends in love that isn't 2 sided or you don't see all the events. I think it's so stupid! In case your wondering what my ranking currently is of te games I played(which means the sky trillogy, ys vs trails, the mobile games and azure aren't included. I also excluded drama cd's, manga and the northern war anime becouse they aren't games. But if I would include it than the anime would be lower than Cs4. ) : 1: cold steel 2 2:cold steel 1 3:nayuta boundless trails 4: trails into reverie 5: trails of cold steel 3 6: trails from zero 7: trails of cold steel 4 I gladly go into more detail why my rankings are the way they ate but i wont do that here since this comment is allready quite long. Conclusion: cs 4 has very bad wrighting both character and story wise. It has a awful plot device that makes every character decision meaning les, in introducés a herum element that I hate and worst of all character deaths mean nothing!
This maybe sound weird but cold steel saga is like a fallout game, you could like it or hate it but in another way, that game gives you such great moments.
IMO some of the unresolved issues get a little bit more of a resolution in Reverie but I agree that some character was lost due to having a large cast and the lack of permadeath. I liked 3 better than 4, but I reckon the original reaction to 3 and its shocking end caused Falcom's writers to not follow through in 4 with some of the things that they could have done like the deaths of characters. In some ways Rean getting with no one seems to me the canon ending but is it wrong that I ended up thinking that Musse was the best match for Rean? I mean Musse is actually bonkers crazy enough to try and use everything she has (which is a lot) and even sacrifice herself for the greater good; basically (knowingly or otherwise) mimicking her crush's intentions to the extreme. Also after the whole Emma relationship arc, I question whether Rean is actually a really bad influence for all of these girls? - I mean he pretty much caused her to almost commit suicide for him (different from say Ries going into fight in hell for Kevin, Emma is going to take an action which sacrifices herself for him); where is the self-worth? Maybe Alisa was the smartest one to suggest they take a break?
I think you can look at Emma’s actions two ways, for sure. One is Rean is not a good influence (he clearly has an effect on every woman in CS4 😅). Another way is her care for Rean just is that deep to where she’s willing to do what she can to save him. As reckless as it was, I thought Emma was very bold. But at the end of the day, as another commenter said, they probably should have just written one romance arc with a character.
This game definetly has some serious pacing issues that made me stopped playing for a bit because of burnout. But in the end i still enjoy the game and finished it in 100ish hours. This game credits scene is definetly my most favorite scene in this series
The "isekai harem trash" troop are in my opinión littoe more than biased imbecilles. Lloyd had also the option to pick up any girl as romantic interest (there were fewer of them, thats all) and the anime troops have been there since Sky. Cold Steel is simple bigger scale and more apocalyptic in the stakes. Rean is a great charachter, many fans dont like him for the harem (that It is the same for Lloyd) and because he IS somewhat special not the "regular" cop/bracer that climbs to fight in the major leagues...Rean is the son of Dreichels resurrected, has that ogre power that is supernatural and is an Awakener of a Divine Knight, that puts him in the line of fire and has some fans rallied against him because he is not . One day you will revisit Come Steel 1 and as with Sky FC you will see what they have been doing since the begining.
I've got my issues with Cold Steel 4 and they boil down to the Curse's implementation, the harem aspect, and a minor characterization issue for Osbourne. The Curse I dislike simply because it felt underutilized and a little disappointing. I think it's because of how insulated most of the primary cast are from the effects, it just felt like this thing that made everyone war hungry and somewhat bloodthirsty was just there. We don't see it's violence really manifesting permanently against our heroes. Sure we see Millium as the first casualty of the war and later on we see the secondary student characters from CS 1 and 2 days being affected such as Alan, but it wasn't personal enough. I wanted to see scars of war, Machias losing an eye, Fie having scars all over her body from her close-mid range fighting style, Emma having burn marks from magic, Juna getting a scar on her face, etc etc. Sure we have Olivier and Victor losing an eye and arm respectively, but again this is war. If Falcom weren't going to kill of any characters permanently, at least give them permanent scars as a reminder of what they've been through. The harem aspect was mostly just this thing that I felt like too much precious manpower taken away from ironing out the story and character arcs. It's just my main criticism for Cold Steel as a series. If they cut down the romance aspects and focused on giving more life to each female character, I would have been okay with that. If you want to keep some element of the harem. Limit the character romance options to Alisa, Laura, and Emma. They all work thematically with Rean, but in different ways. Keep Elise as anime tropey incest bait comedy, with Princess Alfin remaining mostly the same as an instigator for shenanigans and comedy. Keep Sara solely as the teacher/mentor, no romance shenanigans, even what Cold Steel did was too much in my opinion. Fie should be little sister zoned, although gameplay wise she's a god tier dodge tank and this makes her story and gameplay self clash in themes. There's more but I'll end it here. Osbourne is tricky. We weren't given as much time with him as I would have liked, especially for an arc with 4 games. I'm not opposed to how Osbourne ended up being this ultimate double agent working against Ishmelga, but I think it could have been hinted a bit better. I think this stems primarily from his final lines of Cold Steel 3. Osbourne went full tropey anime villain with the whole "Let's end this story, written with ink black as despair" or whatever the hell he says. I think Falcom should have gone with a destiny/fate based speech. Something like "You stand before me now, yet your resolve is not strong enough to change fate. My son, born in ignorance, you harbor the desire to defeat me to change the course of our country, to find that third way out of the darkness. Yet you can't even defy my machinations making you dance in my hand. You are not ready to stand before me. What hope have you to defying fate? Come my foolish son, I will show you the error of your ways." Cut to black, end of Cold Steel 3. What I typed is cheesy as hell, but at least it tackles the big issues Rean was facing in Cold Steel 3. He could not find a way to defy his father through his political machinations forcing him on those missions with old Class 7 all throughout CS3, and Rean and Class 7 could not find that third path partially entrusted to him by Olivier, until Musse showed her hand in CS4. Heck if I remember correctly, Musse enacts Mille Mirage because Rean and Class 7 Old and New failed to find that third way in time. This also leaves at least some impression that at least Osbourne speaks as if he has that strength of will to defying fate AKA Ishmelga, but its layered in a way that he comes off as being that unchangeable destiny. So yeah, long comment, but these were my main issues with Cold Steel 4.
All good points. The harem aspect definitely took away a lot, especially in 4 where it’s most prominent with nearly every female character confessing their love for Rean (even Elise… gross). I hadn’t even thought about how the curse didn’t affect the main cast. How interesting would it have been had it affected characters who lost someone, like Laura? 🤔 But yes, Osborne saying what he did at the end of 3 about ending this dark fairy tale was highly dramatic and hilarious 🤣
@@TheTheoLogan898 I didn't go indepth into it, but I'm okay if some characters simply had psychological issues after the war. Alisa would be my prime pick, considering she has to deal with the fact her dad was a zombie puppet ever since his supposed death, and her mom was a state sponsored war arms manufacturer. Although Irina had no choice but to follow the government's orders, it still would've messed up Alisa in the head knowing that both her parents were key players in instigating and enabling war. I wouldn't be surprised if Alisa in the future became somewhat like her mother as a workaholic, but she does it for atonement/self-inflicted punishment for failing to stop her parents. That would have been a really compelling character arc honestly. Her romance with Rean would have had that extra layer of two children of war criminals coping together.
i kind of get where you're coming from with the first point but it's just not accurate. The main character of the game is heavily affected by the curse, to the point where it turns him into a berserker, then there's Ash too.
@@Bramhallthefifth That's still just two out of like the 20+ cast size with us. And having Rean be as EVERYONE'S struggle with the curse is a bit of a cop out. A way to justify why the writing team didn't want to write smaller and shorter character stories about their experiences with the Curse beyond Rean and Ash.
Huge cast make lacks room for development char. Cold steel should be just 2 games. cs1 + cs2 & cs3 + cs4, epilogue at reverie. Bonus : the only best protag is estelle, coz only her can pun as Bestelle 😏
Series turned to shit in cold steel, heres to hoping it can still get better. Bonding events and sidequests in cs4 were just absolute filler garbage that doesnt even fit the story in any way. Also i am not into weird boob and ass shots of every female character every time they enter the screen. People waking up from the grave left and right removed any tension that there was. I also disliked how every boss battle is extremely easy and afterwards there is the ACTUAL boss fight with mechs and a lackluster combat system derived from the good one they honed for so long. There is still some glimmer of gold here and there if you dont mind digging trough the pile of doodoo. I just cant understand why they gave up on so much of what made the games special.
Bro, you even get a line from Loewe technically, and I was like, noooo stay dead. Lol. It's my favorite series, but good news is, it seems like the calvard ark gets rid of those issues. They heard the complaints I feel.
As the big bro of Ironbloods and House of Albarea, what I need to advise Rean and Jusis is : Dream bigger, children. The new best waifu is the Grandmaster, not Alisa or Millium.
Alisa and Millium suck. Only Emma and Sara are true waifu
Trails has mountains of corpses in the backstories but they almost never kill off a human character on screen.
Just wait till Daybreak 2 comes out.
remember, Garrelia had a mountain of corpses in CS1, then the 2 WARS afterwards had only a handful of deaths, Vulcan and the market manager. And even less in cs 4. 2 WHOLE WARS had less deaths than 1 Terror attack let that sink in.
Cold Steel in general is the result of Falcom trying to twist their formula to fit trends that didn't really work well with the setting and the story they were telling because they were desperate for money, tbh. The school setting might have worked if they'd committed to making it fit within the setting and reduced the scale, but they wanted to both do the Trails school anime AND continue the huge civil war and Ouroboros conspiracy plotlines all while juggling an increasingly overbloated cast plagued by the stupid multiple choice romance... it was never gonna end well.
Def feel like Rean started out as someone who was gonna be a generic isekai protag but def didnt develop in that direction.
as far as i can tell it seems like Falcom actively wrote each girl s bond events in this one assuming you were going to romance the one with the heart event and writing around that alongside the development (Alisa and Emma both have imported dialogue from 3 depending on your choices too.)
Pretty big proof of that is the fact that if you don´t do one of Elise s bond events then instead of Patrick egging you on to pick her, Rean gives Patrick his blessing to be with Elise and you see him planning for it in Mishelam, there s similar changed lines if you don´t do a first round of a heart event too but do the later ones.
Which leads to a lot of mixed feelings on those but i genuinely still like a lot of them:
Machias fully coming to terms with his old hatred of nobles by confronting his cousin s old lover, Alfin confronting Cedric about him being a shithead, the funeral for the Jaeger king with Fie, Musse s conflicted feelings and seeming conviction to commit Suicide for the lives that would die for her plan that gets stopped, plus Altina somehow having great bond events despite how yikes the setup of her being a romance option is (ends with Rean rejecting her and being proud of her for how far she s come, but i really just don´t trust Falcom.)
Definitely like that better. Rean giving his blessing to Patrick to try and romance Elise. Feels fitting given Patrick's growth from how he was as a student. Not to mention it does seem as if he and Elise get along well enough to the point it could possibly happen. Though it'd take ALOT of work on Patrick's end given Elise's feelings for Rean. Poor guy.
"But I really don't trust Falcom"
You and me both my friend.
You and me both.
@@advmx3 I can trust them with good characters and a story (outside of the deaths) even with the flaws. But trusting them not to get weird with romance is an entirely different thing.
CS 4 was the first game where I actively did bonding events with the male characters. I never touched the guys in the previous games unless I had to because of a leftover bonding point.
In this game, I avoided every heart event other than a handful, and I felt like I made a big mistake when I saw those events.
Personally, the problem with bonding events is that Class 7 members never feel fleshed out despite hogging the screen time for 4 friggin games. Many important character moments are hidden behind this mechanic when they could instead be a side quest. Both are optional but you're not kneecapped by the limited bonding points with a side quest.
I think some bonding events in CS4 had better story beats and felt more important than the majority of whatever happens in ACT 2. They 100% should have been a part of the main story imo.
@@vimaln6613 yeah i can say for sure that from the top of my head:
Machias s bond event could have been a quest, Alfin s second one could have been adapted into her being part of the Cedric conflict with Kurt and also be playable (it's her twin brother Falcom c'mon), the attack in Ymir and Rescue of Altina (her second bond event i think) could have been a main story sequence instead of a bond event.
Late to comment, but what are your thoughts about revisiting Hamel in CS3 and 4 and other things connected to it, especially when it comes to Rean, Ash, and Lechter?
You know that feeling you get when you enter a museum or memorial of sorts where something terrible happened?
Thats the feeling I got going to Hamel. Thought Falcom handled that well, especially in regards to Shirley even respecting Hamel and not wanting to fight there. Easily made Ash even more interesting to me than he already was.
I consider cold steel games considerable worst than the other 2 arcs ( liberl,crossbell) , but they are still good games , i just hope that in the next games they tone down all the harem cringe moments that cold steel has . And reverie does what cold steel 4 tries to do but miles better.
I’m looking forward to seeing how Reverie is tomorrow!
If harems are what bothers you, then worry not because Kuro (Trails Through Daybreak) does not have any of that. It's a much more mature game since Van is an older guy. That's not to say that some ladies don't like him (2 at most) but it's never the focus, and there's a good reason for that. I don't want to say too much so I'll leave it at that. If anyone is going to have anything to complain about though I suspect it will be the battle system. I was definitely not a fan of some of the changes myself.
@@saintfayde4438Kinda disagree with you with the battle system. In my opinion this is the best battle system i could ever ask for in trails game. Hell, even in the whole jrpg genre. The seamless transition between the action and turn based combat is amazing (no loading transition between battle and exploration) . I also really like their approach to make the battle animation and movement faster so i didnt have to press the fast forward all the time like i did before in the past trails games
@@agahafiz3914 Maybe I'm just retarded and didn't understand it better, but it seemed like the only way to steal battle bonuses was to break them just before they got it. As that is a major core part of the battle system since Sky, my experience with it was heavily detracted. I still beat it without it, but not being able to manipulate who gets what bonus when and it all just being up to luck on me just happening to break them at the right time felt pretty bad. I still loved the game, though.
@@saintfayde4438 fair point. Its kinda funny actually because I didn't really pay attention to the battle bonuses when playing Kuro and I only realized it after you mentioned it now.
I started to stop paying attention to battle bonuses and turn orders (except s break) after the sky and crossbell arc, because in the cold steel arc I always made rean broken and just spamming his craft over and over again lol.
Maybe because our play styles are different, that cause perspectives on the entire battle system are contradictory to one another
Anyone upset at another Trails fan is just bad form. We all love this series and should celebrate that :)
Cold Steel is my favorite arc and Rean is my favorite Protag of the main 3/4. And Cold Steel is my favorite arc because of how it handles its main theme and Olivert's dream.
Just to speak to my favorite moment, which I feel encapsulates why Cold Steel is so brilliant to me. The best moment in the arc is in CS4 when all of the Protags are meeting and learning about Mille Mirage. Now in Cold Steel and Cold Steel 2, we learn that Oliverts dream is to find a third way to solve the problems in Erebonia. But what is that third way? Olivert throws a ship at them and peaces out. So Class 7 is left spinning their wheels. And they lose. They never find a third way, they spend the entire game being manipulated into doing whatever Osbourne wants, and in the end, they lose Crow. Utter defeat. It's such a bad defeat that Class 7 breaks up. They leave school it's such a huge loss.
Now after fighting to be back together and a unified front. They are on this ship in CS4 and presented with realistically the only realistic way of countering Erebonia or resigning themselves to the Rivalries the way Osbourne wants them to. But Class 7 along with all the other Protags stand up and announce they they are choosing another way. They find that third way. Their own way, no matter how risky or crazy it seems. They forge their own path uninfluenced by anyone but their own convictions.
And the moment is so grand and so inspiring, it brings Olivert back to life essentially to celebrate that his dream, has been given form.
And that is a part of the reason Cold Steel is my favorite arc in the series so far. Which is high praise for a series that has had only bangers so far.
You know, when you put it that way, that elevates the arc quite a bit to me.
@@TheTheoLogan898 I will always understand why it's some players least favorite arc. It does have a ton of flaws. But man, for me, what it gets right is just so damn amazing. I can't just help but smile when I think of the moments from any of the Cold Steels.
Reverie definitely helps to round out some of the character arcs.
The best choice for Rean was always Crow. That 50mira really had a lot of interest over the years. Not to mention Crow wasn't gonna let Rean go alone in the normal end. Now that's a real boyfriend. Crow was the main person who headpatted Rean, Rean was smitten ever since. Crow cooking burgers and chips for Rean, instant waifu material.
Rean as a character is good for a JRPG protagonist, but within the context of Trails protagonist he's alright. I think what Rean represents best is a interpretation of the Uncle Ben's 'With great power comes great responsibility'. Osborne has been built up since the very beginning of the series and man his mere presence steals the show everytime. His whole character arc and story did not disappoint one bit.
Claire was so disappointing.. Lechter less so but I was waiting for him to do a betrayal at some point but it never happened. Cedric getting praise by Logan? What is this timeline. Kurt was honestly wasted potential, he was so underutilised in the story and although there was a bit with Kurt and Cedric at the end it never felt like there was any true build up to it.
As for the Waifus honestly if Laura had been more consistent she would have been my pick for sure. Victor should have definitely kicked the bucket.. Imagine Laura inheriting the Galland Sharl..
The Fie character development was not 'Weak' Also an example of a father figure kicking the bucket and giving character development.
To me the ranking for Cold Steel is that every game just got better sequentially. I think CS4 its quite hard to top an opener of Estelle, Joshua, Lloyd, Elie, Renne and KeA right after that Cliffhanger of CS3. Its like a reward for those that waited all those years (or for those that couldn't wait to jump in). Not to mention that the ending of CS4 is good (though definitely too neat). CS4 definitely had a large quantity of highs for many stories and they really took their time with that. Especially the final few sidequests with each group. If only Act 2 and death not meaning anything didn't exist I think CS4 would have been a clear winner.
I forgot about Crow making Rean food in CS2 (surprise, surprise). Peak Waifu material indeed!
I think that’s my biggest problem with Lechter: you keep thinking he’ll betray Osborne but he just never does. He’s fine as a character but he could have had a really cool moment where he steps out of line and joins the party. Ah well.
The real anime is the friends we made along the way
CS4 is my favorite of the cold steel series with CS3 in 2nd. I love CS4 the best. Final bonding events there were so good ones . I went with Laura in all 4 games because to me she is the best fit for Rean. Kurt is my favorite new class member . Kurt was my evade tank . Musse is my least favorite. Jusis is my favorite i loved his character growth. Cold Steel Arc is my favorite arc. Rean is my favorite protag over Lloyd and Estelle. Hope you have fun playing Reverie . Reverie is my favorite of all the trails games.
It’s wild just how good Jusis’ progression is through all 4 games.
@@TheTheoLogan898 Imagine if Jusis was the main character of the Cold Steel Arc..I feel like he would fit right in that role
I don’t disagree about the deaths, but I’ve just accepted it’s a feel good series tbh
Now the biggest problem is your hating of alfin. Alfin Is like the ultimate bro lol.
Also you didn’t mention it, but to me the end credits in this game are the best of any game I’ve ever played
Thanks for streaming your journey though. It’s a joy watching go through.
ALFIN is the ultimate bro? Man, I don’t know 😅
@@TheTheoLogan898 You and Echo6 need to have a conversation ;) hahaha
@@TheTheoLogan898remember the big party where ash shoots the emperor and Alfin saves Rean from an awkward situation with dancing partner? Ultimate bro move
I totally agree. Once I accepted Falcom's storytelling it helped me enjoy it more 🤗
Your ranking of the Cold Steel games is the same as mine. I also agree 100% on the problem of bringing characters back from the dead, if you are not willing to kill Olivert don't do that scene were the Courageous is destroyed at the end of CSIII, it just lessens the effect of similar scenes for the future games.
Or, they could have even had Victor blow a hole open in the ship with his sword, allowing Toval and Olivert to escape and Victor goes down as a hero whose sacrifice emboldens those two, as well as Laura. Wasted potential.
@@TheTheoLogan898 I actually agree with this. As someone who has almost zero problems with resurrecting characters, I think Victor should have stayed dead, as a sacrifice in saving in the other two. His arc was done when Aurelia surpassed him in CS3. And yes, I think it would have helped give Laura a stronger arc also.
@@TheTheoLogan898 I very much agree with this. Its fine to bring back one or two of them, but one of the characters should have died and Victor being the one that dies valiantly almost writes itself. Laura being one of my favorite characters from CS1 and 2 desperately needed his death to stick to give her a reason to even be on screen. While I am glad that my favorite character Olivert is still alive, it came at a pretty big cost for the writing.
@@TheTheoLogan898 pulling a Loewe remix and having Victor only be alive due to the curse could work too. Laura surpasses him and gets to say her goodbyes before he fades away.
Agree with you completely about the way deaths are handled. I get that they had to bring back Olivert, but they should have had Arseid and Toval stay dead, maybe even sacrificing themselves to save his life. Angie and George should have both died, or leave Angie dead and give George some big redemption arc. Instead George never actually hurt anyone so nothing to redeem.
There’s one line of dialogue in Reverie that made me do a spit take with regard to this issue (it’s really dumb). It’s just ridiculous that they can build a fun and interesting world over 20 years of games but the fear of committing to death really pulls the player out of it. It’s cheap; they want to have shocking moments but they never commit to them.
I think Toval s still alive because he s probably one of the relevant characters for whatever Arteria arc Falcom cooks up. What with his ties to Ein and all that from Carnelia, Victor should have died thought.
If Toval had something of a keepsake from Ein to explain why he had no injuries I would have bought that.
Emma is best girl.
A fellow man of culture.
Your thoughts on this game mirror my own. I basically agree with everything youve said. I like to describe it as 'Trails over peaks and down valleys' because it has more highs than any other Trails game but it also has many of the biggest lows. So oppinions on this game are directly related to what you focus on, euther the highs or lows. All in all i think its a very fun game that ultimately didn't really meet the expectations of the 9 game buildup.
At the moment my rankings:
Azure
SC
CS3
Zero
FC
CS4
CS2
CS1
3rd
Nayuta
I was going to be playing Reverie at the same time as you but ive decided to keep waiting for the translation patch as there are a number of mistakes in the game. So in the meantime ive jad to play Natlyuta, Phoneix Wright JFA, and now im gonna give One Piece Odyssey a go.
I need to pick up Nayuta at some point and give that a go. I haven’t gotten to One Piece Odyssey yet. Hope you enjoy!
@@TheTheoLogan898 Despite my ranking Nayuta last it was actually a very good game that was a great change of pace from your normal Trails game. I'm just not really an Action rpg fan. Even though Nayuta is not canon and is by far the shortest, it somehow felt like the most important game story wise.
I should enjoy Odyssey since I love One Piece. It was a toss up between trying that and Fuga: Melodies of Steel which I've heard nothing but good things about.
me personally for the trails games that I've played the ones that I liked from most to least goes (also be aware of possible spoilers)
(Also if you don't see any real mention or opinion of Rean in these section its because I consider him to be apart of the old class 7 group meaning if I say I'm a fan of old class 7 it means I also like Rean as a character, his arc, etc. This also means the same for Lloyd within regards to the SSS)
Reverie- because in my opinion its a good wrap up for all the characters that we've grown to love since sky(for me zero and azure), It has a ton of characters to mess around with(in which by using these characters and the references that are given in the past games are what got me interested in playing zero and azure ), music is great, and the overall story around the three main characters kept me invested until the credits rolled.
Cold Steel 4- a bit similar reason in terms of the amount of characters that are used, The initial progression of the story with you using mainly new class 7 was in my opinion a great idea because it made it feel more like new class 7 was able to be in the spotlight somewhat compared to Cold Steel 3 were they seemed to always play second fiddle when old class 7 is on screen (this is coming from someone who is a huge fan of the old class 7 by the way), when it comes to people calling it harem trash I personally don't think its as bad as people think sure there's the one hots spring scene but you have to deliberately go out of your way to find it and the fact that all of the girls seem to be pining for Rean (but considering the game implies that Rean's fate unless you know about the true ending is that he's going to die in the end I personally think it makes sense why the girls are acting this way) but in comparison to most harem plotlines that exist in JRPGs and animes in general Rean's is incredibly tame, again story is pretty great and the progression doesn't feel like it has to much filler, and I just love stories that feel like we are on are on an adventure.
Cold Steel 2 - because I love the initial task of reuniting with class 7 and getting to really see how much they mean to each other (in fact it was in this game that really cemented the feeling that class 7's overall friendship had practically border lined to being familial love at this point for me), the divine knight battle scenarios were fun as it really felt like the tables had turned towards your favor, again I love stories that feel like your on an adventure, and the story naturally kept me invested, however although I do love the whole third faction concept I do feel like their is a little too much of it being used as filler.
Cold Steel 1 - Although the game definitely feels aged especially in terms of some bosses and their balancing (one shot S Crafts) its story felt like a good starting point for the Erobonia arc, getting to see the bond of class 7 grow from just a bunch of strangers to a group of very close friends(until my opinion in the Cold Steel 2 section) was an aspect that I really liked to see progress through out the game, I also personally liked the little school sections of the game were you got the chance to bond with the characters an learn a bit more about them and the further you got into the game the more endearing they seemed to get in my opinion, however I will say that Cold Steel 1's introduction to Alisa as a character (if you know you know) really ruined her for me until later in the story in which even though I didn't hate her character she was still basically my least favorite character in the bunch until some of Cold Steel 3 and Cold Steel 4 (because of her arc there except for the initial break up romantic subplot if you were intending to romance her but that's just me).
Cold Steel 3 - this game is possibly the only game where I can say that I have a weird relationship with it because although It has a lot of the opinions that I like about the other games it feels like a complete copy/paste of cold steel 1 in terms of pacing (Although you can never go wrong with the Panzer Soldats/Divine Knight fights). Also I honestly don't like the music as much all the other trials games.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Cross Bell Arc Section--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trails From Zero- personally when it comes to Zero I would say I liked it as much as I did 4. This is because the SSS and other characters while not exceeding class 7 in my opinion are a very close second, the story is great, and it has possibly my second favorite to most favorite sound track in the trails series (inevitable struggle is a nuke when it comes to music).
Trails To Azure- when it comes to Azure honestly I'd say I liked as much as Zero because its just a great sequel (even better when you have prior knowledge from Cold Steel 1 and Cold Steel 2 in my opinion), music is still great, story is great, and characters are just as good as they were in zero.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Sky Trilogy-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Haven't played them yet but I might consider playing third someday because I keep hearing that Kevin is a great main character.
"we all know it's Emma"
me, an avid Emma disliker: "HAHA. NO"
Nah I don't really care, personally I don't have any girl I like Rean dating but Altina is best daughter.
We can agree on that
Nobody will know he actually rode the Derflinger all the way to Sweet Home Erebonia
Since you mentioned it, I felt the same way about Cold Steel 2. For some reason the second act of that game felt rather slow/dragged out to me. I don't know why both of these games struggled during their mid-sections but that's how it felt to me. Again, I also agree on the topic of 'deaths'. I'm happy Olivert got to marry Schera, but the ending to Cold Steel 3 had the potential to be a real banger (even with it abruptly ending) with the weight those narrative choices would've brought if the writers committed to it. Usually, the writing for these games is rather good, especially when it comes to the characters, but it's their refusal to commit to certain narrative choices that leads to them shooting themselves in the foot at times and turns serious stakes into a joke.
The second act in both games feel sluggish because up until those points, you are on rails and going from one story beat to the next. Once you hit act 2 in each, you have a lot more freedom to explore. And we'll, once you're off tye rails, you want to explore, meaning the story will feel sluggish unless you focused on doing it.
@@RaifSeverence Even if you focus on just 'doing the story' it sort of drags a bit until things pick back up. To be fair, both games needed some break from the action to help transition properly into their final acts, but I feel like the story beats in said sections could have been trimmed down a bit or reworked to feel like more than just padding.
I agree: refusal to commit is the biggest issue plaguing Trails atm. The writers themselves might've realized it and be trying to course-correct with Kuro though, which is good. I can't be sure but a lot of Cold Steel's issues seem to come down to bad planning and the writers' goals shifting midway through production.
We already know that Cold Steel was meant to be 2 games at first, but both of those games ballooned into two games each. Honestly, it might be that them trying to write their way around all the new characters they kept introducing to make the fans happy led to the utter mess that arc was. That's just my speculation of course, but it wouldn't be too unlikely that this might be part of what happened. After Crossbell, IIRC, Falcom was going through a rough patch financially, that's why they decided to bet on the harem trend to pander to a large audience that's known for consuming large quantities of anime and games. And it worked at first, but then they had to walk a tightrope to avoid pissing off fans and sticking to the bloated and restrictive formula of dating sim sections alternating with actual RPG sections, all while writing in the personal plotline of every single important character.
Waaaaayyyyy too many moving parts, a plot that's too huge in scale and they were too afraid to kill off characters partly out of fear of pissed off fans, partly because they might've wanted to keep them around "just in case".
All in all it speaks of a lack of direction and planning and the writing team winging things to play to contradictory and sudden demands from management and the fanbase.
@@antonioscendrategattico2302 I'm looking forward to playing Kuro. I haven't watched any playthroughs of the Japanese version just yet but from the trailers released it's looking good.
As much as I love Juna, Kurt, and the rest of new Class 7 I think their inclusion added to some of the bloat. The older members of Class 7, even after 2 games, still lacked in development. Cold Steel 3 and 4 would've given plenty of space for them. On the other side of the coin though tightening Class 7 down to just Juna, Kurt, Ash, Musse, and Altina allowed for each of those characters to receive development between the final two games.
Ultimately the Erebonia arc was just really ambitious and, for what they gave us, is still pretty good. It's just their refusal to commit to certain narrative decisions brings down the arc for me personally despite how much I enjoyed it still.
@@animesoul479 I'm happy you enjoyed it. To me, sadly, their refusal to commit just ruined the whole experience. It cheapened the tension, made the tone feel childish and the narrative cheap and all in all it felt like some soulless light novel adaptation.
Doesn't help that the dialogues in the main plot scenes also really dropped in quality, most of the time it was minutes of the heroes and the villains standing still mouthing filler dialogue at each other until even more characters arrived on scene mouthing off yet more filler dialogue. It felt like everyone absolutely HAD to have a line in every scene even if it added nothing, so the amount of "yes!" or "class VII let's go!" or "hah, you will never defeat me!" and lines like that REALLY grated on my nerves.
I really wanted to watch the stream live but yesterday was just a busy day. I really enjoyed C's route. Hope I can catch some of the future streams.
Awesome review good sir! I jumped in a little off and on since you started Cold Steel 1. Excited for you to get into Reverie. Its honestly in my top 3 trails games so far. Enjoy the ride! Its a great one!
I’m ready for my mic to be broken 🤣
The harem crap in the Cold Steel arc completely distracts from the story that is being told, and even hurts character development. Not just for Rean, but also for the female characters as well. It's my biggest gripe about the CS arc. Even above the whole, "They died, but not really!" thing that happened in CS3/4. Although that was pretty bad too. The reason why I feel this way is because characters are a big part of what makes this series so great. And when character development takes a hit, the games themselves take a massive hit. Thankfully, the female characters and Rean are still likeable enough outside of the harem crap, so even though the harem crap is bad, it isn't enough to ruin the characters.
In all honesty though? I still really like the Cold Steel games. They have their flaws, but they also have a lot of strengths too. And despite the harem crap, I actually find Rean's character arc to be pretty cool.
I am sort of a defender of the harem stuff because I actually don't think it harms development... until CS4. I was Alisa all the way, so the other stuff didn't really matter to me. And the relationship isn't a part of the story like it was in Sky so I never felt hedging their bets on who Rean loved really ultimately mattered.
Until the Mishelam stuff before the finale. Seeing all of the male characters slowly being paired off with someone felt like life. It felt real. And I loved every second of it. Even the surprising pairings that had zero set up were awesome to see, because that is how things work when you are possibly facing death the next day.
But they couldn't pair any of the women off since they had to be open for Rean to possibly romance them. So that sucked. But for the rest of the series, I never felt it really mattered or affected any growth/development.
Its bond events as a mechanic. It sorta lets the writers cope about not having to give characters attention and screen time in the main story but then you play a bond event and its like "this character likes coffee" and the next one is "this character plays chess" and thats it for the whole game.
Since someone can go through the whole game while not playing the bond events they are also dubiously non canon so nothing of real importance will ever happen in them.
CS overall just has massive character bloat and a big divide in story direction with CS1 and 2 vs CS3 and 4. Its pretty much 2 arcs in one that both go unfinished because they care about different things and feature different characters.
I don't think any of the old class 7 members got an arc comparable to previous game party members. Even Jusis who pretty much had everything set up for him in CS4 just doesnt stick the landing.
Rean's arc is just a mess kinda. You really gotta interpret a lot into it to make it make sense and that just means it was badly written and shouldve been more clear.
He has an interesting duality with Osborne as Osborne is throughout the whole trails series sorta pulling a Rean "I will do it all alone and sacrifice myself" moment where as Rean finds friends to hold back from going down that path.
It just sucks that they retread this development every game for him.
Rean on screen is bad more often than its good and he has more games than the other protags which makes him come off as a lot worse.
Good stuff. When you get to Reverie, enjoy the music. Falcom didn't disappoint. The battle themes in each route are pretty good. Bussin', I believe is the term in youthful parlance.
Can't wait!
Rean is actually my favorite trails protagonist because of how divisive he is but it seem like more people like him than hate him also the people who hate him really hate him
I honestly don’t understand the hate for Rean. He’s perfectly fine, imo.
I love Rean my favorite too. Ithink it’s just nostalgia for old characters
You just never know how people will react to certain developments. My favorite protag is Rean because of how broken he is. So we watch him slowly try to fix himself over the 4 games along with all his backslides. But that can easily frustrate others.
For me, Lloyd is the weakest Protag, because he starts Zero pretty much fully formed. Yes he has the brother complex, but that is minor in comparison to his role in the games. So while I still absolutely love Lloyd, his arc just isn't as interesting to me.
The only thing I hate about Rean are his speeches. These started with Llyoid though, and that's the problem.
Besides that, Cold Steel itself has a Persona Syndrome I wish will never be back in the trails series.
As a fan of Rean myself, his biggest problem is that he constantly has to learn the same lesson over just about every single game, which makes it feel like he isn't actually developing.
His other problems including the harem protagonist status and honestly awful "student teacher" relationship things that come along with it.
really wish they just wrote 1 cohesive romantic subplot with Alisa throughout the arc and made all other bonding non-romantic, or at least do that for CS4. and I feel like the death fakeouts could've been lessened or not as implied to be death in the first place. Like 4 'deaths' weren't needed to demonstrate how George talks the talk but is a coward and can't commit. What happens with Crow is good, but I wish there was any clearer hint of divine knight pilot = undying in CS2 or very early in CS3. Millium could've just been transformed into the sword without implying she's completely dead for so long or at all, even.
Agreed
long time lurker cant wait for u to play reverie, imo its the best of the cold steel arc. It saved the series for me, was thinking everything went downhill from cold steel onwards
I’m starting it today!
Nice review, enjoyed the video
Thanks!
A random dude from Texas playing Trails is definitely worth my time. And I'm just a random dude from Sweden. I dont say much but I'm lurking in the shadows. Keep it up!
Thanks, Wolf!
Good vid. Im playing through the cold steel games (Im probably halfway through 2 rn) even though I spoiled myself for most of the story. Some of the dialogue is a little rough 💀Gameplay is hella fun though
1000%
Finding ways to synergize orbments is really fun! Hopefully you didn’t spoil anything from Reverie 👀
My thoughts of CS4: (Copied from my comments in community tab's posts. It is easier to be found in here in future.)
CS4 is a good game, but it is like a giant sandwich, not easy to swallow - too many romantic relationship bonding events; too many characters come back to life; too many unnecessary boss fights (especially Act 2, lots of "This is a trial, show us you strength/faith, Class 7." scenes.)
Technically, CS3 is a better one, but its super huge cliffhanger did hit me hard.
Summing it up, I like CS4 a little bit more.
------
In my old impression, Trails games had excellent world-building, good characters and stories, but below-average camera movement techniques (especially Cold Steel series.)
The good news is, from Reverie and Daybreak, Falcom gradually steps up their camera movements, characters' motion capture and facial expressions.
Glad to see their efforts rewarded.
I noticed the camera work and facial animations during yesterday’s stream. Loved seeing them working on improving the quality and pushing an older engine to its limits. Excited to play more!
how is it isekai that they never went to another world?
That’s the joke
About Osborne it reminds me to Lelouch from Code Geass(top tier anime btw), so many similarities.
I never did finish that show but good callout!
Real waifu of coldsteel is crow in falcoms eyes 👀 but fr tho I really enjoyed your review!! Honestly coldsteel 4 has some of the best moments in the series as it has the worst and kinda placing it on a neutral spot for me as it was a pain to binge play compared to the other games 😭
Crow Gang, rise!
I'm sad that most of the original English VA like Peter Beckman, Gerald C Rivers, Marisha Ray, Max Mittleman didn't repise their role in CS4. I think it was affected due to Covid-19 protocol restrictions.
And some of the VA have to record in their own studios and not direct to NISA's recording studio, that's why some of the voicelines were crappy asf*
But at the same time I'm glad that NISA still holding on releasing Trails and Ys Series in the West.
I'm enjoying it so far, cheers to more Falcom fans out there!
Yeah, i respectfully disagree with basically most of your critics. But I feel to go into most of it is to have to talk about Reverie. Good video nonetheless.
We’ll see if it changes my mind!
well, it's not an isekai sooo you're already wrong for agreeing
Haha
Osborne is probably one of the best vilains in any RPG ever
That's a pretty hot take. Osborne is really really good don't get me wrong, but even by just JRPG standards hes competing with Pokey from Mother, Luca from Suikoden, Sephiroth, P5 Shido, Am from Rance, etc
@@RunexnI can’t take you serious when you say Luca from suikoden. Sure he’s cool but is 1 dimensional
@@Runexn In what world Shido is a good villain? he's as 1 dimensional as you can be
Kuro (dawn) sky, crossbell, cold steel for me
We’ll see how my ranking changes once I get there!
@@TheTheoLogan898 i look forward to seeing your reaction for the love angle in kuro lmao im sure itll be priceless
okay, after having played all 4 cold steel games between June and October of this year, I think we can all definitively say that the best one for Rean is none of the girls, but actually Crow haha.
Amen 🙏🏼
We agree, Crow is the real Waifu.
I enjoyed CS4 in spite of its obvious flaws. Hopefully you can look past it (like me) and enjoy Reverie and future games to come out in the series 🙂.
I’m definitely looking forward to future games 😁 this series is easily in my top 5
So just a heads up since you mentioned about Rean and his dad not being as great as Guy and his brother. i felt the same way but they kinda redeemed themselves imo in one of the Day Dreams in Reverie once you get there. Which will be a reoccurring theme since Cold Steel has so many damn characters iuts hard to fully flush out everyone's story (Reverie helps but some still felt left out).
also to Answer your question on who's the best. I'd say Crow easily. dude is hella broken when you use build him for arts + his buff Pandora and Gungnir for boss fights or Pandora & Titania for anything else add in Toval brave order + Chrono Burst and he can wipe through a bunch of the content
Cold steel 4 is very divisive in general, I unfortunately fall for the short side of things perhaps due to unrealistic expectations but I truly truly hope falcom will innovate and continue to develop in their writing. Continuity is their biggest weakeness but also their biggest strength. I hope to finish the series one day and remember it for it's exceptional use of contuinity in their writing and see each of them as family
That "padding" you mentioned? It's a big problem for all of the games but especially 2 and 4. in fact, the second game was almost all filler; rescue missions of inconsequential side characters nobody cares about. It's not until the final chapter when the story finally starts to make meaningful progress again.
The first game does move a bit slow but most of it seems to have a purpose and doesn't feel like lazily written filler garbage like so much of these games do. But 3 is the high point because new class seven is superior to the old one.
Uhg. I stalled out in 4 before Ollivert came back, but I already #@$&ing knew he would. I just hope Reverie doesn't suck.
The first 11 hours I got to play of Reverie yesterday were pretty impressive!
Yeah, as a Laura stan since CS1,
I'm glad I'm not the only one that thinks that Victor should have died to give Laura her spot to shine and character development.
But still, CS4 is still a good game overall. Reverie is a banger, can't wait for you to play it.
Hopefully she is done well in Reverie. I’ll find out later today!
If we compare between Estelle and Rean,
Notice that Estelle has a unique relationship with every other character that she meet ( love, friendship, rival, hate, etc.....)
While in Rean case (because they forced the garbage dating sim persona relationship system on him) he have to keep safe distance between him and every other character around him, so that they make YOUchoose what kind of relationship you want. which the reason I think this part of cold steel story was really bad.
It (the persona style relationship system) definitely hurt the game. I mentioned in either the review for CS1 or 2 how Rean is the nucleus that all characters interact with but don’t really interact with one another (outside of maybe Jusis and Machias and a few times with Laura and Fie).
@@TheTheoLogan898 I hear this a lot but that s more of a myth, the lack of dynamic is less the fault of the bonding system and more how big Class VII is.
Crossbell has romances and their dynamic turned out good, new class VII has good banter too and I've similarly heard good things about the Daybreak cast. The main issue is just that old class VII is too big for it's own good. The issue that does come up from romance is that the girls don't get canon pairings due to it.
You spend liked 80% of the video complaining/criticizing Cold steel.... I did the same thing, not because I hate it, or think it was the low point, but because it's like 'zomg everything is perfect minus these things' (in my case anyway). The way you care so much about your complaints indicate to me that my former message is mostly true.
That said, maybe I'm a hot-weird take, but in... ok before the hot take. I absolutely hate the harem-trash aspect of the series/rean. I wish there was a canon pick that they didn't avoid for sales or whatever. But put aside your phobias for a second, put aside what Rean as a self-insert should pick as the 'waifu'. I truly want the cs4 canon waifu to be... Altina. Seriously, this isn't some pedo kink thing. Kiseki, often has characters with tragic background stories, but ones who rarely have loss explained during the actual game. Altina is an exception, but not in the way one would think. She never had a family or loved ones to lose pre-game, but in-game, she still has none. That's her point, she was DESIGNED to never have someone to care about her. Millium was supposed to be the sacrificial sword, but she worked with the other ironbloods, who bonded with her, and then Altina was made, then ordered to avoid bonding with anyone. She even realizes this, and feels guilt for not sacrificing herself for Millium's benefit.
Rean on the o ther hand is painfully repetitive for sacrificing his self for others, Altina, was designed to never have anyone to care for her so her sacrifice will cause no grief. Is that not the perfect match? Put aside the whole hormone-driven femine-perportions, that's my argument for Altina being 'best girl', for Rean.
I hope she's canon for those reasons, but know she won't be. blargh... the whole choose your own harem option in this game is trash, and the only story I can picture as deep is like the LEAST popular option. YOU ALL SUCK *runs away crying* =P.
The way I care about my complaints?
I’m reviewing the game and that involves critiquing it. I did give the game its roses in parts too. I’m not really sure what you were expecting.
@@TheTheoLogan898 nah Im not complaining actually. I mean that whenever I really care about a game. I find myself nitpicking every minor flaw because I cant describe all the good things as much as I like. Well its more than that. But Im saying I think your impression reminds me of my own impressions after I first played them
CS3 is the best overall game, but the end to CS2 is so good that it almost makes up for it's pacing issues. CS1 has a special place for being the beginning, but objectively speaking, it's the weakest, even though it didn't feel like it when I played it (might just be nostalgia). I think Cold Steel 4 is my least favorite. It did so many things I absolutely hated:
1. Act 2. Constant reuse of dungeons and bosses from CS3 with the reason given of 'rescuing' characters who weren't even in danger to begin with because you were just being 'tested', even though no one else can participate in the Rivalries, and half of these people are not even qualified to test you. Spliced in between are reused minigames from previous games, and fetch quests where you talk to someone, find out what you need is out of stock, talk to someone else, rinse repeat. Act 2 needs to be studied in a lab.
2. Villains. Osbourne was antagonistic towards Ishmelga until his family was hurt and he offered his soul in exchange for saving Rean. This implies that Osbourne did not approve of furthering the great twilight of his own free will. But it is also implied that Ishmelga was never able to take over his soul because his iron will is just too strong. So what happened there? I don't know. Claire going along with the end of the world, sacrificing Altina, dragging millions of people into a war, because of loyalty? Sure, okay. Lianne's reason was that she planned on fighting Osbourne herself and for some reason decided to not join the team that was against him the whole time but also actively get in their way. Okay. The curse was also a very common reason for why people were against you. Rufus was the only one I liked since they actually committed to making him a bad guy. An inferiority complex suits him. Him killing Lianne also makes perfect sense.
3. Old Class VII. Forget about anything interesting that was going on with the female characters in previous games, they all have the same character arc now. They love Rean and want him to reciprocate their feelings, that's every bonding event. The guys actually had some really good moments, too bad that in the main story they are very one dimensional. The harem stuff would have been fine if they didn't go as far with it. If you're doing bonding events for more than one female character, it's really weird to see Rean have these super intimate moments with multiple girls. Almost makes Rean seem like he is just stringing them along and keeping his options open, which doesn't fit his character whatsoever.
There's more I can get into but this comment is already way too long. All in all, I think this game was a new low for the series, and I almost fell into depression after finishing it. None of the moments in this game hit me (the coolest moments were just fanservice involving returning characters). I went through the 5 stages of grief, lamenting that Trails would never make feel the emotions I felt at the end of FC, or the end of CS2. I considered dropping the series but decided to give Reverie a shot. I won't say much on it, but what I will say is that Reverie made me feel like I was playing a Trails game again, which I thought was no longer possible. Hope you have fun in your 12 hour stream!
EDIT: wrote Great One instead of Ishmelga, whoops
Reverie has definitely made up for CS4’s shortcomings in the 11-ish hours I got to play it 😅
I think another commenter said that it would have been better had Rean just had one love interest written throughout and I couldn’t agree more.
Backing out of character death is by far the biggest sin the series has. Especially since some of them have finished their arcs.
Cs4 is my least favorit trails game. Not only is this were the stupid herum element comes in full force. The curse is barone the worst plot device I have ever seen. It basically makes every character decision meaningles:
o no this guy is murdering people. O wait he was effected by the curse he will not be punished or hold responsible what so ever. I hate it! It's so bad!
Than you have the stupid fact. That people keep coming back from the dead. It just like the curse, it makes good moments mean nothing.
Than you have the ending. And I personally don't really like either ending. In the normal one Rean sacrifyces him self. This is awful considering his entire character arc was build around self worth and learning he could make a difference by doing more than just self sacrifice. But in this ending Rean didn't learn anything becouse he just throws his life away again!
The true ending isn't much better becouse that ending can only happen becouse the team just so happens to find the plot megufen that saved the day. And then they bring everyone who died back again. It's awful!
About the herum :
In cs1 and 2 I thought this was handled perfectly. That is to say there was no herum. Yes you could dance with every girl character in cs1. However not only did it not end in romance yet you could also dance with al the guy characters if you wanted.
In cs2 it's basically the same thing. Yes you could romance al the girls but only the last bonding scenes were romantic(and you could only do it with 1 character at the time). However in cs 4 (and I think also 3) you have bonding events with a hart. Al of those are romantic. This means that is you want to see all the events with any girl character she automatically confesses her love to Rean. I hate it. This mean that every relationship with a girl always ends in love that isn't 2 sided or you don't see all the events. I think it's so stupid!
In case your wondering what my ranking currently is of te games I played(which means the sky trillogy, ys vs trails, the mobile games and azure aren't included. I also excluded drama cd's, manga and the northern war anime becouse they aren't games. But if I would include it than the anime would be lower than Cs4. ) :
1: cold steel 2
2:cold steel 1
3:nayuta boundless trails
4: trails into reverie
5: trails of cold steel 3
6: trails from zero
7: trails of cold steel 4
I gladly go into more detail why my rankings are the way they ate but i wont do that here since this comment is allready quite long.
Conclusion: cs 4 has very bad wrighting both character and story wise. It has a awful plot device that makes every character decision meaning les, in introducés a herum element that I hate and worst of all character deaths mean nothing!
This maybe sound weird but cold steel saga is like a fallout game, you could like it or hate it but in another way, that game gives you such great moments.
As a Fallout fan, you’re making good points
IMO some of the unresolved issues get a little bit more of a resolution in Reverie but I agree that some character was lost due to having a large cast and the lack of permadeath. I liked 3 better than 4, but I reckon the original reaction to 3 and its shocking end caused Falcom's writers to not follow through in 4 with some of the things that they could have done like the deaths of characters. In some ways Rean getting with no one seems to me the canon ending but is it wrong that I ended up thinking that Musse was the best match for Rean? I mean Musse is actually bonkers crazy enough to try and use everything she has (which is a lot) and even sacrifice herself for the greater good; basically (knowingly or otherwise) mimicking her crush's intentions to the extreme. Also after the whole Emma relationship arc, I question whether Rean is actually a really bad influence for all of these girls? - I mean he pretty much caused her to almost commit suicide for him (different from say Ries going into fight in hell for Kevin, Emma is going to take an action which sacrifices herself for him); where is the self-worth? Maybe Alisa was the smartest one to suggest they take a break?
I think you can look at Emma’s actions two ways, for sure. One is Rean is not a good influence (he clearly has an effect on every woman in CS4 😅). Another way is her care for Rean just is that deep to where she’s willing to do what she can to save him. As reckless as it was, I thought Emma was very bold. But at the end of the day, as another commenter said, they probably should have just written one romance arc with a character.
This game definetly has some serious pacing issues that made me stopped playing for a bit because of burnout. But in the end i still enjoy the game and finished it in 100ish hours. This game credits scene is definetly my most favorite scene in this series
The "isekai harem trash" troop are in my opinión littoe more than biased imbecilles. Lloyd had also the option to pick up any girl as romantic interest (there were fewer of them, thats all) and the anime troops have been there since Sky. Cold Steel is simple bigger scale and more apocalyptic in the stakes. Rean is a great charachter, many fans dont like him for the harem (that It is the same for Lloyd) and because he IS somewhat special not the "regular" cop/bracer that climbs to fight in the major leagues...Rean is the son of Dreichels resurrected, has that ogre power that is supernatural and is an Awakener of a Divine Knight, that puts him in the line of fire and has some fans rallied against him because he is not . One day you will revisit Come Steel 1 and as with Sky FC you will see what they have been doing since the begining.
I think I grasped what CS was trying to do lol the isekai harem trash thing has been a running joke from the streams.
@@TheTheoLogan898 yeah I know you dont think the same, but the joker its a minor but very vocal opinión out there
We dont care about Alfin!?!?!
Do you even know what isekai means?
Yes. That’s why the comment was funny and makes no sense.
I've got my issues with Cold Steel 4 and they boil down to the Curse's implementation, the harem aspect, and a minor characterization issue for Osbourne.
The Curse I dislike simply because it felt underutilized and a little disappointing. I think it's because of how insulated most of the primary cast are from the effects, it just felt like this thing that made everyone war hungry and somewhat bloodthirsty was just there. We don't see it's violence really manifesting permanently against our heroes. Sure we see Millium as the first casualty of the war and later on we see the secondary student characters from CS 1 and 2 days being affected such as Alan, but it wasn't personal enough. I wanted to see scars of war, Machias losing an eye, Fie having scars all over her body from her close-mid range fighting style, Emma having burn marks from magic, Juna getting a scar on her face, etc etc. Sure we have Olivier and Victor losing an eye and arm respectively, but again this is war. If Falcom weren't going to kill of any characters permanently, at least give them permanent scars as a reminder of what they've been through.
The harem aspect was mostly just this thing that I felt like too much precious manpower taken away from ironing out the story and character arcs. It's just my main criticism for Cold Steel as a series. If they cut down the romance aspects and focused on giving more life to each female character, I would have been okay with that. If you want to keep some element of the harem. Limit the character romance options to Alisa, Laura, and Emma. They all work thematically with Rean, but in different ways. Keep Elise as anime tropey incest bait comedy, with Princess Alfin remaining mostly the same as an instigator for shenanigans and comedy. Keep Sara solely as the teacher/mentor, no romance shenanigans, even what Cold Steel did was too much in my opinion. Fie should be little sister zoned, although gameplay wise she's a god tier dodge tank and this makes her story and gameplay self clash in themes. There's more but I'll end it here.
Osbourne is tricky. We weren't given as much time with him as I would have liked, especially for an arc with 4 games. I'm not opposed to how Osbourne ended up being this ultimate double agent working against Ishmelga, but I think it could have been hinted a bit better. I think this stems primarily from his final lines of Cold Steel 3. Osbourne went full tropey anime villain with the whole "Let's end this story, written with ink black as despair" or whatever the hell he says. I think Falcom should have gone with a destiny/fate based speech. Something like "You stand before me now, yet your resolve is not strong enough to change fate. My son, born in ignorance, you harbor the desire to defeat me to change the course of our country, to find that third way out of the darkness. Yet you can't even defy my machinations making you dance in my hand. You are not ready to stand before me. What hope have you to defying fate? Come my foolish son, I will show you the error of your ways." Cut to black, end of Cold Steel 3. What I typed is cheesy as hell, but at least it tackles the big issues Rean was facing in Cold Steel 3. He could not find a way to defy his father through his political machinations forcing him on those missions with old Class 7 all throughout CS3, and Rean and Class 7 could not find that third path partially entrusted to him by Olivier, until Musse showed her hand in CS4. Heck if I remember correctly, Musse enacts Mille Mirage because Rean and Class 7 Old and New failed to find that third way in time. This also leaves at least some impression that at least Osbourne speaks as if he has that strength of will to defying fate AKA Ishmelga, but its layered in a way that he comes off as being that unchangeable destiny.
So yeah, long comment, but these were my main issues with Cold Steel 4.
All good points. The harem aspect definitely took away a lot, especially in 4 where it’s most prominent with nearly every female character confessing their love for Rean (even Elise… gross).
I hadn’t even thought about how the curse didn’t affect the main cast. How interesting would it have been had it affected characters who lost someone, like Laura? 🤔
But yes, Osborne saying what he did at the end of 3 about ending this dark fairy tale was highly dramatic and hilarious 🤣
@@TheTheoLogan898 I didn't go indepth into it, but I'm okay if some characters simply had psychological issues after the war. Alisa would be my prime pick, considering she has to deal with the fact her dad was a zombie puppet ever since his supposed death, and her mom was a state sponsored war arms manufacturer. Although Irina had no choice but to follow the government's orders, it still would've messed up Alisa in the head knowing that both her parents were key players in instigating and enabling war. I wouldn't be surprised if Alisa in the future became somewhat like her mother as a workaholic, but she does it for atonement/self-inflicted punishment for failing to stop her parents. That would have been a really compelling character arc honestly. Her romance with Rean would have had that extra layer of two children of war criminals coping together.
i kind of get where you're coming from with the first point but it's just not accurate. The main character of the game is heavily affected by the curse, to the point where it turns him into a berserker, then there's Ash too.
@@Bramhallthefifth That's still just two out of like the 20+ cast size with us. And having Rean be as EVERYONE'S struggle with the curse is a bit of a cop out. A way to justify why the writing team didn't want to write smaller and shorter character stories about their experiences with the Curse beyond Rean and Ash.
Huge cast make lacks room for development char.
Cold steel should be just 2 games. cs1 + cs2 & cs3 + cs4, epilogue at reverie.
Bonus : the only best protag is estelle, coz only her can pun as Bestelle 😏
Series turned to shit in cold steel, heres to hoping it can still get better.
Bonding events and sidequests in cs4 were just absolute filler garbage that doesnt even fit the story in any way. Also i am not into weird boob and ass shots of every female character every time they enter the screen. People waking up from the grave left and right removed any tension that there was. I also disliked how every boss battle is extremely easy and afterwards there is the ACTUAL boss fight with mechs and a lackluster combat system derived from the good one they honed for so long.
There is still some glimmer of gold here and there if you dont mind digging trough the pile of doodoo. I just cant understand why they gave up on so much of what made the games special.
Bro, you even get a line from Loewe technically, and I was like, noooo stay dead. Lol. It's my favorite series, but good news is, it seems like the calvard ark gets rid of those issues. They heard the complaints I feel.
Worst depiction of war EVER. In the end of cold steel saga there was more people resurrected than dead in the entire war
みんな呪いにかかってるようでなにより
cs 4 felt like a weak ending with so many loose threads and retcons. i much prefered cs3