While there are other games after Cold Steel 4, this feels like the culmination of all the previous arcs. You will know what I mean when you see the character selection screen at the end. Actually insane.

Overall a fantastic ending to the Cold Steel saga. It was worth to play all games up until this point, there is nothing quite like Trails.

Let me preface this by saying that I loved the Trails in the Sky games and the Crossbell games, they are some of my favorite RPG games. Trails of cold steel 1 and 2 were just OK, 3 was better.

This game took me 3 years to finish. The first third of the game was truly great, but everything from that point went down hill.
Every single boss fight against a human character was meaningless. It was either "I support you, but I want to test my strength" or "the devil made me do it" or some other stupid tropey excuse. 99% of the people you fight are not real enemies, just like children playing make believe with sticks like the end of the world isn't happening, we have time, you can't get hurt, no biggie. Truly the most stupid plot I have ever played in an RPG.

So why it took me 3 years?
Because the stupid plot broke me and I dropped it for long periods before giving it another chance.
Why did I ultimately finish it?
1. I already put in almost 100 hours at this point, doing most of everything, and I wanted to see how this arc ends.
2. More games in the series were announced (that are reviewed better) and even a remake of the first sky game was announced and it gave me the push.

Some positives:
1. Music pretty good.
2. Combat not changed much, but still fun.
3. Even more characters from previous games appear, you can play as some and learn about what they've been doing.

Ultimately, I enjoyed the ending, I didn't enjoy most of the way to the ending, which is why I don't recommend this game.
Will the ending have the same impact if you just watch it on youtube? Probably not. Is it worth the ~140 I put into this game, probably not. Take this as you will.

This is the worst downgrade in writing quality I have ever seen in a series.

3 had me hopeful for what was to come. 4 crushed that hope with endless speeches and monologues about resolve and friendship for every single major fight in the game. All the time. Where every character gets to say something. This is not an exaggeration, it is literally every single time. Half of the games runtime is this and nothing else.

They completely undermine all the stakes set at the end of 3, all the hopelessness, all the potential for character growth, by just resolving every single problem with asspull after asspull because these character's aren't allowed to overcome any adversity in any logical manner.

Character agency is fully removed as a plot device is blamed for everything, further obliterating any chance for good character development, as well as giving a lazy excuse to redeem any antagonist. Also, they all love Rean very much because he is perfect in every single way and any flaw can be blamed on something else. Your favourite trails characters? They have heard of him and also think he's very cool and awesome and amazing.

I refuse to believe that this is the same series as Azure and Sky. It is a fanfiction pretending to be an entry.

Do not play 4. Just watch a summary somewhere, because that would be better than playing this frustrating waste of time.

masterpiece

Let me just start by saying PHEW...that was a long one.

And so Trails of Cold Steel reaches its end. And the arcs of the Liberl and Crossbell games come to a head here as well. While the story isn't quite as strong as its predecessors, it did keep me engaged throughout my play through. It's...definitely a bit longer than I would have liked it to be...and I think that length does hurt it in some places overall, but I'd rather not get into spoilers here so let's move on.

Gameplay is about you'd expect. If you got this far...nothing has changed. Well, except for the ginormous cast of characters you're going to have to level up and equip. Thankfully inactive party members still get XP, and Sepith is pretty plentiful with the right setup to build everyone's Quartz. My personal recommendation for those worried about keeping everyone up is to just focus on the party the story wants you to use at that moment. It saved me a lot of hassle in my run. Aside from building your party...it's just the same as ever. Complete quests, fight using the same system these games have had since Sky FC, and occasionally get in the robot.

Overall, it's a pretty satisfying conclusion to a long running story. There is technically an epilogue in Reverie...so I'll probably play that down the line...but for now...I need some sleep.