Ah yes, the Trails series; one of those famous JRPG franchises that made it to the West. I haven’t played a lot of them since I suck at them – so I got that out of the way. I do enjoy them, but I’m just not good at them. They often ask you to put in 20-30 hours before grasping the game’s main concept, and since I’m a father of one daughter (with another one on the way), I have little time to game. Hence, I skip over most of these JRPGs; and I said most. For the PlayStation review of said game, look no further.
Cold Steel IV.. III II.. I?.
Quick reminder – Cold Steel IV is not the game you should start with if you play a Trails game. Why do you ask? Cold Steel IV is a culmination of everything that’s happened over the entire Cold Steel quadrilogy. It even incorporates many characters and plot points from previous The Legend of Heroes games — some of which haven’t even been officially localized outside of Japan. For complete newcomers (like myself), this is a near-impenetrable release. But it’s this density that makes Cold Steel so unique and engrossing. Like an anime that spans hundreds upon hundreds of episodes (looking at you One Piece), Cold Steel IV rewards those who have stuck with the series – or those who know their way around the Wikias of the world.
The main problem with having a huge overworld and large vast is that the first parts of the game are primarily story scenes. These can start to feel bloated as each character gets at least one line of dialogue, and preparing a party of over 20 heroes — complete with their own equipment and abilities — can be overwhelming. But thankfully, these flashes of frustration are few and far between. For most of Cold Steel IV, Falcom does an admirable job of breaking things down into more manageable chunks. Indeed, Cold Steel IV has some of the best, most inspired moments in the whole saga (or so I’m told – I haven’t played the other extensively). Granted, it’s had three games’ worth of world-building and character development to use as a springboard, but that doesn’t diminish the impact. As a conclusion to a tale that’s hundreds of hours in the making, Cold Steel IV delivers for the fans of the genre — and that’s really its greatest achievement.
Rough sea’s ahead!
Sadly it’s not all smooth sailing. Without spoiling anything specific, fans will know that Cold Steel III ends on one hell of a cliffhanger. And while Cold Steel IV picks up the story almost exactly where it left off — beyond the prologue, at least — it does take a while to get back into the swing of things. The early hours are glacial as systems and mechanics are reintroduced, and it’s not until much later that the plot rediscovers its relentless momentum. For someone out of the loop who focuses on gameplay elements, this took a heavy toll on my patience with the game. My colleague Timmy reminded me it was worth it, so I kept pushing forward, through what’s arguably the most like a traditional JRPG that Cold Steel has ever been, as the party adventures from town to town, dungeon to dungeon. Again, it’s a slow start, but work past the pacing, and there’s a surprisingly pleasant journey to enjoy here.
After working myself through the prologue and first chapter, the story starts to feel a little stretched. Locations are reused, and some side quests are unbelievably tedious, to the point where you can’t help but wonder whether there’s some serious padding at play. Fortunately, this is also where the game opens up, which helps alleviate many of the chapter’s more annoying aspects. You’re free to travel between several locales, all while taking on optional bosses and powering up your ever-growing party. It’s addictive and makes the grinding you find in other games of the genre-less tedious.
Combat
As for combat, Cold Steel IV is mostly identical to Cold Steel III on a system level — but according to the fans, there has been some balancing. Simply put, Cold Steel III had some overpowered mechanics, and Falcom has clearly tried to scale them back a bit. For example, break damage has been dramatically reduced, meaning that you can’t just stagger enemies into submission over and over again like you could in the previous game. Likewise, Brave Orders — which grant party-wide buffs — have been toned down. The combat reminded me a lot of the Digimon games and felt familiar at a glance. Luckily there is always the auto-battle option (sorry) since some of the fights needed a very tactical approach which I could not figure out.
Conclusion
When writing this review, I have not finished the game itself, and I’m not even sure I will do so since I haven’t played the first three. Since the game was already released on the PlayStation 4 last year, I read many people were disappointed with the overall ending. I’m not sure if I want to invest 100+ hours in something I don’t understand when it ends. So I’ll grade Cold Steel IV as a loose entry instead of summarizing the other titles. As a loose entry, it’s a fine JRPG with deep mechanics and a well-thought-out combat system, but it lacks a story-feel, and the whole ‘let’s put 20 characters in a party’ gimmick is just not my cup of tea. I’ll stick to the I Am Setsuna kind of games; they are do-able and don’t ask fans to invest >600 hours in finishing all other entries. If you’re a fan of the genre, this might be the ending you have been waiting for. If you’re a fan of the JRPG genre, finish the others first.
