The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV (2018)

If the main continuous story is the primary reason you want to play The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV, then I’m afraid it doesn’t live up to its own hype. I get the sense Falcom bit off more than they could chew with this arc, dragging far too many plot threads into this already big game and not finishing many of them in a fulfilling way. Much of the story’s tension is manufactured by one incredibly frustrating plot device that did substantially more harm than good to the narrative. Despite this, I enjoyed this game a surprising amount for everything else it has to offer. Plenty of great scenes and character moments can be found outside of the main story. A lot of the bonding events and optional events in this game are genuinely, surprisingly good. While not my favorite game in the entire Trails series in terms of systems, it is still the Cold Steel title I most enjoyed in terms of gameplay sections. Several combat aspects were tweaked enough from III for me to feel like I was genuinely engaging with its systems. This game is noticeably imperfect and unlikely to be enjoyed by someone who isn’t already a fan of the series, but there’s enough to enjoy if you’re willing to spend the time to do so. The lows are among the lowest in the series, but the highs are high enough to salvage a decently enjoyable JRPG for me.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel 4 rises above some of its story and pacing issues to deliver a compelling end to the Erebonia saga.

Trails of Cold Steel IV is the grand finale of an epic series, which spans over a decade. As with Marvel movies, the more games you've played from the Trails, the better the experience. That's not to say new players won't enjoy it, as it is a good start to the series. The fans, however, would get way more out of it.

At 'The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel 4', the chaotic era of Erebonian Empire was finally gone. Even though the main story was less persuasive and villains' characterestics was plain, the main character 'Rean Schwarzer' has grown significantly from his past work to achieve a successful conclusion. So, the ending is much more sweet and wonderful than ever. Let have the toast to the Trails of Cold Steel Series greeting its great finale.

This is the grand finale of the Trails series. To represent that extra icing on the cake, there are plenty of content to explore and numerous characters will appear as if we’re at an all-star game. The long and extended stories which bloomed from the Erebonian empire will come to an end, and some of the deeply rooted histories behind some of the important individuals will also be covered with their back stories. Other than Trails of Reverie, this final game packs the most amount of volume and convenience to a comparison. If you’re a loyal fan of the series, you do not want to miss out on the finale to the story.