Senaste recensioner av GenmaTheSamurai

Disclaimer: I received a free code for this game from NIS, though I had every intention of buying it anyway and judging the game on it's own merits.

I just finished the main story of the game, and am currently in the post-game. While I do have my issues with the game, (long-term writing quirks of the series, a messy launch by NIS, and some game-specific issues) this is one of my favorite games in the series. The recency bias might affect that, but I had so much fun with this game.

Now first, I need to give the very obvious disclaimer that this game is not friendly to newcomers to the series. This game is a payoff to the last six Trails games (Trails From Zero, Trails to Azure, and Trails of Cold Steel 1-4.) This game very much expects you to have played all of them, and even pushes you towards reading the in-universe novel 3&9. Also Trails in the Sky 1-3, but that's to a lesser extent I will admit, but you definitely should play those. If you're wanting to start the series, I think starting from Trails in the Sky 1 is ideal. Though i think Zero and Cold Steel 1 are alternative starting points, I personally recommend Sky or Zero.

That said, as a fan who's been off-and-on binging this series since 2019, I loved this game. Despite having some narrative issues, I think this was a great sendoff to the last 6 games, while trimming a bunch of the fat, and using a really cool multi-route story structure, while also taking heavy inspiration from Sky the 3rd as well.

The combat is insanely fun, and I played on nightmare mode for this game, and while it provided challenge, it also made me not feel bad about really using the mechanics to their fullest. In general this game also has an extra dungeon called the Reverie Corridor that is where most of the side content is, and can be accessed practically any time. You also have full control of your party in that dungeon, and can unlock orbs to get character episodes, minigames, and even playable characters. In terms of gameplay and content, I think this is the DEFINITIVE game in the series. I love it so much, and I see myself replaying this game many times over.

This is a glowing recommendation from a Trails superfan.

While I received this particular copy for free, I played this previously using the Geofront fan-translation. I also purchased the collector's edition of this game for Switch, so if that reduces the bias in any way, then hey, neat.

Alright one last disclaimer, this game is a direct sequel to Trails From Zero. However, it is also the 5th game in the Trails series (which started with Trails in the Sky 1-3). Characters from the Sky games do appear in this and influence the plot, so if you want to get the most out of this game, you'll want to experience the others. It's daunting but worth it imo. The other games are also amazing, so giving those a glowing recommendation.

Anyways, going to go ahead and say it. This is my favorite RPG of all time. For a while, Golden Sun 2 held that position, but this game is just incredible. Now this is not to say this game is perfect, no game is, and I want to hype responsibly lol. But this was not only a satisfying conclusion to the Crossbell arc, but is just one of the best gaming experiences of my life. Let's get into why.

Trails' combat has always been one of my favorite aspects of the games, and this is where they refined the system to it's best. There are features from CS that were created in this game that works excellently in tandem with the mechanics of Zero. There is so much freedom of customization, and with new game+ I am actually wanting to do some runs where I get to really mess with party loadouts from the get-go.

As for the story, it hits the ground running early on, and slows down as is usual for Trails, but the story is easily the most intense of the series so far. With lots of twists, turns, and clever setup for the Cold Steel arc after this. It also feels like the most full experience, as the Cold Steel arc hit similar beats, but this game manages to pack it all into a single game and it just makes an epic experience by the end.

The characters are all very likeable, if only very anime. If you hate anime, I feel this series in general probably isn't for you, but as far as anime-styled characters go, I like pretty much everyone. Some characters do some stuff that makes people cringe which is fair though, I'll just leave it at them being touchey.

The music in this game is incredible as always from Trails, with the final boss theme of this game being my favorite song of all time. I listen to it multiple times a week, and I first played this 2 years ago, send help.

I will also note NIS did a really good job localizing this behemoth of a game alongside the Geofront team. I noticed maybe like 4 typos, and considering how much text is in this game, that's impressive.

If I had to pick any major negatives: This game does require you to play it more than once to see everything it has to offer. You can easily YouTube some scenes, but it is worth mentioning. I did the math and if you want every single combo Craft upgrade you'll have to replay the game 5 times, BUT that is not needed to get every achievement, so you're fine with one playthrough. The most you'll miss out on is a few optional monster fights.

Get this game, just play Zero first.

Received this as a Christmas gift from my friend. I personally think this is worth the price after playing the game, but if that makes you think less of my opinion then that's fair.

As a fan of the original Crisis Core, I want to go ahead and say that (in my opinion) this is a remake ala the Crash Bandicoot trilogy. The original game is a game I have a personal soft-spot for, but it had a lot of issues that kept me from ever replaying it. The main thing being that the DMW in the original was extremely obtrusive and interrupted the game constantly with both cutscenes and dud rolls. On top of that, the game speed was kind of slow and clunky.

Crisis Core Final Fantasy 7 Reunion totally revamped the control feel and the DMW. Now the DMW only interrupts the gameplay during small flashback cutscenes (That can now be skipped.) Otherwise it is a mechanic I actually enjoy now since you can get a lot of fun bonuses during fights.

The combat speed now is much closer to FF7 Remake and that is huge praise from me. If you liked FF7R you will probably enjoy this, though you only play as Zack in this adventure.

The story is actually good in my opinion, but it does have a bit of corny tone (though I'd argue that is something it inherited from the original in places.) The comedy early on is actually pretty on point imo.

There is a lot of discourse about the replaced voice cast, but I think they all do a really good job across the board, including Zack. I'll be honest I did cringe at Zack's voice at first, but as the game progressed he really grew on me.

The remade soundtrack keeps faithful to the original OST, but adds extra instruments in places to add extra flourish. That said, the soundtrack overall is not one of my favorites. It fits the game well, but compared to Takeharu Ishimoto's work on "The World Ends With You." it lacks a lot of variety.

The visuals probably got the biggest overhaul across the board. While it doesn't look as good as FF7 Remake and the animations behind the visuals are still like the original PSP game, I think the game incredible still visually. They went for an art-style that seems closer to Kingdom Hearts 3 which is something that i don't think the PSP engine could ever handle. As a long-time fan of this game, it's incredible to see.

The missions are pretty repetitive, but I personally like them a lot. Though they do get old after a while, with the game's current pace it's kind of addicting clearing a bunch of missions in a row. It's neat. But I could see someone not being as into them as I was.

If you have never played Crisis Core before this is the version you should play, and if you want to replay Crisis Core, this is the definitive version. Game also features New Game+ making it much more accessible to completionists. Give it a play, all the improvements definitely make it worth the price.

Disclaimer: Reviewed on release, at the time because I had played 60 hours of the Geofront version, opinions are unchanged after 130 hours and 5 playthroughs here on Steam :)

This game is, in my opinion, the best start of an arc in the Trails series.

For those who don't know what Trails is, it is an ongoing series of RPG's set within the same universe (somewhat like the MCU.) This game was trapped in Japan for over 10 years, finally getting an official release with the help of the Geofront, a group of fan-translators. This game is part one of the "Crossbell arc" which runs at the same time as Trails of Cold Steel 1 and 2. This also takes place after the Trails in the Sky Trilogy.

Gameplay-wise though, this game is basically where Sky meets Cold Steel as far as mechanics are concerned. It has a lot of great systems and gameplay, while also being the most streamlined region in the series. In a very good way.

This game is set in the Autonomous State of Crossbell, the smallest region in the series up to this point. However, there is a lot to do, and the smaller size severely cut down on the actual time spent backtracking that existed in the Sky trilogy.

The story of this game is basically an underdog story as the heroes try and root our corruption in Crossbell as things gradually escalate. There is a mystery angle to this story I absolutely love, and it really keeps you engaged. The game also doesn't waste as much time with the plot as Sky FC and Cold Steel 1.

One things that should be kept in mind though is that a prominent subplot from the Sky games returns in this game, and gets a lot of focus. This subplot will probably be enjoyable to a newcomer but will mean everything to a Sky player. So keep in mind playing the Sky games will enhance your enjoyment of this story.

The Soundtrack is also one of my favorites in the entire Trails series. I love pretty much every song in this game.

Overall, if you play this you are in for a really fun time. Let's Get Over the Barrier.

So much like I'd say about Cold Steel 3, if you are thinking of playing this as your first Trails game, this is absolutely the least accessible game in the series (story-wise.) Despite being called Cold Steel 4, this game is the ninth game in the overarching Trails story.

Now this game is mainly wrapping up the plots of the Cold Steel games, but several key characters and locations from previous games are referenced and even included all over the place. This is very much like Avengers Endgame if you chose to watch that without watching the rest of the movies.

So if you are okay with being confused, go ahead, but I'd say it's best to start with Sky, Trails from Zero, or Trails of Cold Steel as starting games.

So this game, subtitled "End of Saga" in Japan wraps up the entire Cold Steel story, picking up after the ending of the third game. The stakes in this game are arguably the highest the entire Trails series has seen, and with those stakes is a MASSIVE cast of characters, playable and otherwise. We have officially hit the point where the amount of playable characters adds up to being around the amount that a Fire Emblem game has.

Now, if you are a fan of the school sim stuff in Cold Steel 1 and 3, this game doesn't have that in this at all. Though bonding events are present, and often do a lot of the heavy lifting in regards to character development. That said, I don't personally like the school in those games, and found that this game is much more similar to Cold Steel 2. I kind of wish they didn't borrow so much from Cold Steel 2's structure early on, but in my opinion they executed this far better than Cold Steel 2 narratively.

The new Class VII gets a huge chunk of time in the opening hours to develop, and quickly became my favorites of the entire Cold Steel cast. Though of course the old Class VII from the first two games are very present and while they don't get as much development, I think what they've gotten over the course of this entire arc has me pretty invested in them at this point.

Now I mentioned this earlier but several characters from Sky and Crossbell get quite a bit of screen-time in this game. While I think you might like them if you played just the Cold Steel games, you really won't be getting that much with them in comparison to the main cast. For a long-time fan, that's fine since you know them and their journey already, but a newcomer won't really get the same impact from their appearances.

Once again, this game's story is very much for the fans. So what do I think of it, as a fan? Well, I can't speak for everyone because I guess this game is divisive, but I personally loved it. I didn't love everything it did, I definitely raised my eyebrow at more than a few moments, but I think this did a very good job of wrapping up many plot-lines that have been developed since Trails in the Sky the 3rd which was about six games ago.

That said, it doesn't wrap up everything. The series is going to be continuing past Cold Steel into the Calvard arc and beyond. So this game still has some mysteries. However, in regards to Cold Steel's villains and arc, it is very good.

Now for gameplay:
The game uses the same combat changes as last game, but did some major rebalancing. There are more Brave Points available, Orders are nerfed immensely, but can be upgraded, and the Shield break balancing has been redone and is not as easy to abuse as in CS3.

Now something to consider with this game, is that there are a LOT of characters you can play as, ending the game at around 39 (to my count.) Which is...Pretty bonkers honestly. Now, for most of the game, you only have around 20 available, which is still a lot. Because of this, there is a bit of character management going on, but personally I'm impressed every one of these characters have their own unique utility. Towards the end, I was faced with a huge roster, and actually had a hard time picking my team because I liked everyone.

The music in this game, is really good as per usual from Falcom. Though, I feel like while I loved this sound-track, I personally prefer their work in the first two Cold Steel games and Crossbell. BUT, what they created here does a good job of elevating the tone of the game, and there are lots of intense and epic music in the second half.

In fact, I'd say my favorite parts of the game are the first fourth, and the second half. I think both do a great job of balancing gameplay freedom with a high-stakes narrative.

I've also praised Trails for this in the past, but if you talk to the NPC's in the towns regularly, it does a great job of reinforcing the stakes. There is a massive ticking time-bomb element to the narrative, and you really get a sense of dread and a feeling that your goals are important. I like that.

Overall, this game is my favorite Cold Steel game so far, and probably my fourth favorite Trails game. It is darn good in my opinion.

Trails of Cold Steel III and IV are probably the least-accessible Trails game to newcomers, despite how it's been advertised. Cold Steel 3 is the eight game in the "Legend of Heroes: Trails" series, and despite being called Cold Steel 3, I'd argue it is more accurate to call it a sequel to the Crossbell arc (Which itself was a sequel to Sky.)

Despite that, I think the game does make efforts to make it more accessible. While it still follows Rean from the Cold Steel games, it introduces a new Class VII as his students. One of these new students being a resident of Crossbell, allowing them to explain things fairly naturally.

No matter what though, here is a lot of stuff in this game that not only spoils earlier titles, but you would get the most emotional impact if you played the others first. They more or less completely recreated a decent chunk of Crossbell in this game (including most of it's NPC's.)

I am someone that did play all of them in release order, so going to give my perspective on this game. That said, if you are absolutely committed to playing just the Cold Steel games, I'll go ahead and try to pitch this.

To begin, if you liked Cold Steel 1, basically this game returns to the school format from the first game, only with Rean as a teacher this time. This game largely is structured like the first Cold Steel, but with a major difference. There are less chapters, but they managed to greatly expand the writing and length of both the school and Field study sections.

Despite being a soft-reboot in some areas with this game, you will be gradually introduced to characters both from the previous Cold Steel games, as well as the aforementioned Sky and Crossbell arcs. This game's plot continues to escalate to a level of intensity that even the previous game didn't go to. Ouroboros, the villains of the entire series, take center stage for most of this game, throwing a dream team of lots of villains that you've fought in games prior. Because of this, there are some crazy boss fights that really mean a lot to someone who is a massive fan of the series.

Now, to talk about my personal opinions. I didn't like the school sections in Cold Steel 1, and I don't really like the school sections in this game either. These school sections, like I said are very very long. Not to mention, it is largely faithful to Cold Steel 1's structure, featuring a combat fort that is basically this game's abandoned schoolhouse.

But the field studies were all pretty amazing in my opinion, with the plot escalating in scale fairly early, and only continues to do exciting things chapter to chapter. Chapter 2 being a huge highlight for any fan of Crossbell. But, they also do go on for a little too long too. With each chapter altogether taking around 20-30 in-game hours for completionists.

The combat also got a lot of changes since the last game. Newly added are shield meters on enemies, putting them in a break state if you manage to deplete them. This delays their turns, and makes it so enemies cannot act when their turn comes. Alongside this are Orders which use brave points to give temporary boosts to your party members. I actually like both of these additions a lot, and add options that increase the amount of strategies you can employ.

That said.....These new features seriously have balancing problems. Most notably, you can kill entire bosses and never give them a turn if you have the right orders. It is incredibly unbalanced, but I think most players won't figure out how to do this. Cold Steel 4 uses this same system, but rebalanced it to not be so much in the player's favor. Still, I do like the additions.

All in all, I feel the simplest way to sum up this game is Cold Steel 1 but bigger, more intense, while setting up a high-stakes finale in the sequel. Wish it wasn't so easy to break, but hey that's what challenge runs are for. I think every Cold Steel game gets better with each game, and I hope you enjoy it :)

First above all else, if you are playing this for the story, do not play this before Cold Steel 1. This game is part of the ongoing Trails series, and the second game in the Cold Steel games. (This game is actually the 7th one chronologically.) That said, I think technically, all you would need to play is Cold Steel 1 for this game.

Anyway, this game picks up immediately where the first left off. The stakes have been raised, and the situation is pretty dark. I think personally, this plot is the more interesting half of the first two Cold Steel games. There is a fair amount of dramatic moments, and the higher stakes feel much more exciting than the school in the first game.

That said, if you played the first game and really liked the school simulator aspects, this game is not about that. There are still bonding events, but this game is structured a little more like your normal Trails game. The main difference being that this gives you much more freedom of exploration than any previous game.

On the flip-side, if you didn't care much for the school (like me), this game will definitely keep the interesting stuff in the fore-front. I have heard some say that this game does still have a fairly repetitive structure (much like the rest of the Trails series), but personally I loved this game.

As per the Trails formula, you are returning to areas from the previous game. That said, rather than being locked in regions, you are gradually opening up the world as you play. Meaning that there is significantly less missable content for completionists (though there is still plenty.)

Also if you are a fan of the abandoned schoolhouse in Cold Steel 1, there are plenty of smaller dungeons sprinkled around the areas that you can choose to tackle early for points and little story bits. The combat also got a very nice addition in the form of the overdrive meter. (Basically an adaptation of Burst from the second Crossbell game.) You can use it to get some immediate turns featuring instant spell-casting. It's a great way to save yourself from a corner.

In general, as someone who played every single Trails game fairly back-to-back, it really felt like CS2 was a massive breath of fresh air. But I also know it has plenty of detractors. You also have plenty of guest characters, and I think in general this game offers a lot of freedom in terms of both exploration, and party building. Especially by the end of the game. This has lots of content, and personally I don't think the game wastes your time any more than you choose to put in. I think it is a very fun game, I personally like it much more than Cold Steel 1. Probably the Trails game I'd like to replay the most.

Speaking of which, there is some content exclusive to new game+, which is important to Cold Steel 3. It is explained enough there, but it might be worth knowing about. Worst case scenario, just look it up.

Tackling this series feels kind of difficult. I've done reviews for the other Trails games before this on steam so I might be kind of vague here. I'll approach this game from two perspectives. The First is a newcomer to the Trails series (Which I was not.) And someone who has played Sky, and someone who has played Crossbell.

So first let's talk newcomers: I have heard many say this game is a good starting point for the Trails series, and other people saying you might like this if you like Persona, etc.

I'll say this first, as a whole, the Trails series really isn't much like Persona, and 2 out of the 4 Cold Steel games do not feature a school. What the title doesn't communicate, is that Cold Steel 1 is the 6th game in this long-sprawling story. Will you be able to follow this fine? I think so, in a sense.

This game happens at the same time as the currently (as of writing this review) Japanese-only Crossbell games. The first of which is finally being localized later this year. There will be certain details you won't have context for, and a few plot points could likely be spoiled for the Crossbell games. Overall though, lots of people played this game by itself and enjoyed it a lot. This game is definitely the most standalone of the Cold Steel games, as the sequels find themselves increasingly connected to the other titles as it goes along. I personally think Trails in the Sky is a better starting point, but lots of people did still enjoy this one plenty.

If you are a fan of the Trails series going into this, this game is a shift in direction, but still keeps the soul of the franchise. The School sections are a breather of sorts between field studies where the game is structured a bit more like other Trails games. You have a expanded bonding event system, where you can choose to get close to whatever characters you want. There is a fair amount of dating sim elements added to the Cold Steel games, which has left some old fans divided, but I think it's a relatively harmless addition.

If I had to speak personally for a moment, this is probably my least favorite Trails game, and I think the Cold Steel series just gets better as it goes along. I did like the story, and the characters were actually really likeable, albeit not as eccentric as earlier titles. The cast feels grounded in it's anime-ness lol. But I did not really enjoy the school sections. It made the game feel very repetitive, and made the start of every chapter a slog for me. But I really liked the field studies, I think that is Cold Steel at it's best. During Field Studies it was structured much like a normal Trails game. This game also takes a weird swerve at the end but I personally really liked the swerve.

But personal enjoyment aside (because I did still like this game) I do recommend it. I could see people not hating the school as much as I did, and for a lot of the game, it did make me connect with the random students a ton too. The combat also got a number of really great tweaks such as party swapping and a new link attack system.

In conclusion this is a very good game, I don't personally recommend it as your first Trails, but it is a very solid game, and is probably the second-best starting point. The gameplay is as fun as previous Trails games, but refined. But if you've played Sky FC, SC, and 3rd, please wait for the Crossbell games (Trails from Zero and Trails to Azure) before jumping into this one. Those two are very much needed to fully understand this game. Whichever type of fan you are, I hope you enjoy the series.

Trails in the Sky the 3rd is a bit of an interesting title. If you found yourself getting a bit burnt out exploring Liberl in the previous two games, this game changes things up quite a bit. To begin, the main character shifts away from Estelle and Joshua, and instead focuses on Kevin and Ries. Kevin got a decent amount of screen-time in the last game, and gets even more development in this game.

As for the gameplay though, this is where we get into the crazy stuff. So the last couple games you spent exploring Liberl, however this game takes place in a pocket-dimension of sorts. This leave you trying to escape it while figuring out the mystery of the place. During this adventure you are joined by the heroes of the last three games.

Because of this setting, this game has much more of a level-to-level structure, with each level constructed from places you had been to in the last couple games. On top of that you get these doors that allow you to experience small snapshot moments of events in character's lives all throughout the timeline leading up to when 3rd begins. These doors are where the primary optional content is, and essentially serve almost as slice-of-life filler episodes where you get deeper exploration of the characters and their pasts.

This game also spends a good amount of these plots subtly setting up events in the following Crossbell (Zero&Azure) and Erebonia arcs (Cold Steel.)

The story of this game is also very good, and Kevin's character quickly goes from a quirky member of the cast, to one of the best characters in the series. The writing is very well done, as with the previous games.

In regards to gameplay, the basis is basically the same as Sky SC, however in this dimension the higher elements are present. If you are familiar with later Trails games, you know what this means. Basically this entire game, there are some extra status effects on the turn-wheel, and they add much more to the game in the way of strategy.

You also get a massive cast of characters to play as, featuring every playable character from the last couple games, as well as a few newcomers. This is easily the Sky game with the most freedom from a gameplay perspective. This game also surprisingly manages to end off on just as much of an emotional high as the previous game which really impresses me. It had me in actual tears if I were to be honest. I definitely recommend this game, especially if you are a fan of Sky's characters. It is a beautiful send-off to the most character-focused arc in the Trails series, and I think you will love it. It's not my favorite Trails, but it is a great experience.

This game is one of my favorite RPG's of all time. I am absolutely biased, but I can definitely say few RPG sequels managed to follow up on their predecessor and pay off their plots and themes as well as this game did.

It's not perfect though. This is where the series pretty much established the series' fairly repetitive structure, and will likely be initially jarring coming off the first game. Since this game takes place in the same country as the first, and that ground was mostly covered, you will be returning to most of the same regions, and therefore feels very much like the same game. There are some small improvements in some dungeons designs however, and the combat is refined and tested much more than the first. This game feels all around better to play, and if you had issues with the first game's slower pacing, the pacing is much faster.

This game is also where the character-work and development hit their peak for the entire Trails series, making all of these characters as beloved as they are. The story is just as focused on as in the last game, however, since most of the world-building was set up in the first, this one gets to focus on doing the more interesting stuff. In fact there is much more story and, and even more characters in this title, leading it to have much more story than than the first.

The music in this game, while still comprising most of the music from the first game, also has a much improved amount of battle themes and area themes that still resonate with me to this day.

The combat is not a huge improvement from the last game, but what it does change is meaningful.

This probably goes without saying though, but play the first game before this one. This picks up immediately where the first left off, and will not only spoil the first game, but you'll probably be confused. This game is very much the second half of the story, so you should approach it as such.

Overall, a must play if you played the first, and if you liked the first game you will love this one. Hope you all enjoy it!