Trails of Cold Steel IV is a Great End to this Saga of Games

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

Developer: Nihon Falcom

Publisher: NIS America

Platforms: ps4/ps5, PC, Nintendo Switch

Reviewed on: ps5

Release Date: October 27, 2020 (North America)

Introduction

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV marks the end of the Cold Steel saga. I honestly have enjoyed my time and will definitely be playing the previous games, like Trails in the Sky. Before I begin my review, a spoiler warning is in effect. I will be discussing major story spoilers for the Trials of Cold Steel saga. You have been warned.

Story

The story of this game picks up right where the previous one left off. I believe the story picks up around two weeks after the events of Trails of Cold Steel III. I think that this game wraps off the story of this saga nicely, but there are some questions left to be answered.

Game Play

The game play is very similar to the previous entry, Trails of Cold Steel III. The break gauge is still present, but has been altered a little bit. Brave Orders also return with some new ones as well as some familiar ones. Just like Trails of Cold Steel II, your characters will not start at level 1. They’ll start at a set level with the same skills they unlocked from the previous game.

Orbments function exactly how they did in Trails of Cold Steel III. Just like the previous game, you can equip two Master Quartz to a character.

Music

The music in Trails of Cold Steel IV is probably my favorite of all the games. I think the battle themes as well as the boss themes are great.

Likes

I enjoyed being able to more freely choose the team I used in this game. The previous games have been quite restrictive when it comes to team composition, but this game eases up. The music as always is good.

Dislikes

This might be a bit of an out there opinion, but I disliked how interconnected this game was with games from the other series. The only reason that I say this is because I expected each game to have their own stories and to be loosely connected, but not fully connected. I thought Trails of Cold Steel would have its own self contained story and not overlap with other games like Trails in the Sky.

The main reason I put this down as a dislike is because I didn’t understand the references that were made that were tied to the story. I felt just a little left out. I was kind of in a tough position because if I wanted to get the full context I would have had to play at least four other games.

Major Spoilers Beyond this Point for the Entire Cold Steel Saga

Other Thoughts

One thing that I found odd was Osborne being the reincarnation of Emperor Driechels. It would not be so odd if there was some sort of explanation offered up, but it never gets explained. There isn’t any mention of any other characters being reincarnated that I know of.

Another thing I found odd was the constant death fake outs. I honestly wish that some of the characters that were believed dead actually were dead. I feel like it adds more to the story and raises the stakes, rather than everybody gets a happy ending.

Something odd about this game that differs from the other three in the saga is that there is a true ending. Normally each of the games just have one ending, but Trails of Cold Steel IV has two. In order to get the true ending you’ll need to do some extra quests and fight some optional bosses.

Conclusion

I think that Trails of Cold Steel IV was a good ending to the saga. I think I’m going to start playing some of the earlier Trails games, like Trails in the Sky. What did you think of the Cold Steel saga? If you want to hear more of my thoughts let me know. Thank you all for reading!

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