The End of Saga

Before I begin this review in earnest, I need to disclose the fact that before playing through the English release of Cold Steel 4, I have already completed it in Korean when it was released for that region more than a year ago. I think my actions to import and play through Cold Steel 3-4 as well as the recent Hajimari no Kiseki should speak to how big of a fan I am of the series, given the costs involved. However, this being a re-play, it may color my experience in a different light so I felt it best that I put it out there first and foremost.

This review may include light spoilers of the previous titles.

Picking up only a few weeks after the dramatic conclusion of Cold Steel 3, class VII faces a looming world war, the likes of which could spell the end of Zemuria as they know it. With their ever-reliable friend and instructor outside of their reach, their first course of action is to gather up those who are willing to fight and look to end the war before it can truly begin.

Those who have completed Cold Steel 3 and have patiently and, most likely, painfully waited after that cliffhanger ending can be safe in knowing that they’re in for a wild, satisfying ride. However, if by some chance you are one of those individuals that refuse to start something until you know for sure that it ends well (I too have been hurt by Game of Thrones), I can guarantee you that it does, so feel free to start Cold Steel 1, or better yet, Trails in the Sky!

As the Legend of Heroes games are unique in the fact that it’s one continuous story spread through the course of a handful of years in different parts of the continent, it has been able to build up characters, plot points and much more, which allowed for a level of meticulous world building that’s unparalleled in the genre. It allows for this final entry in the quadrilogy to shine with moments that puts even the Avengers to shame.

Also, the protagonist ReanSchwarzer’s growth from a rather generic stand-in character for the player to someone all his own with deeply rooted convictions and desires was a pleasure to see.

It’s a true culmination of a story I was first introduced to more than a decade ago and even though there is still plenty of room for exploration, this entry felt like a satisfying end to a very long chapter.

Old and new heroes band together for the final showdown to end all showdowns.

Outside of the story, the combat remains mostly iterative with its turn-based encounters remaining relatively unchanged from the previous entry. Focusing on eliminating the enemy’s turns by delaying it, using status elements or a S-Craft to interrupt their actions still remains a key to success.

However, there was more flexibility in terms of building my team as there are more playable characters than ever, and now more than one character could equip the same Sub-Master Quartz, which can lead to some ridiculously powerful teams capable of decimating most encounters before enemies even have a chance to attack.

The fact that I could spend an hour on the menu screen fine tuning different aspects of my team and have a great time doing so speaks volumes, not only to the amount of customization available, but to the enjoyable challenge of the fights as well, as I felt that it was necessary for certain difficult boss fights.

One of my favorite builds revolved around increasing the damage that I dealt while using critical attacks, which is normally difficult to utilize as crit rates are harder to increase than other stats, but deploying the right order and trading in for the most effective accessories and quartz allowed my damage dealers to have 100% crit chance on their most powerful attacks while under the effect of an order.

Still, it can get a bit repetitive after a while so when I felt in the mood, I would use the built-in option to enter high speed mode by tapping on the left side of the DS4’s touchpad, which would speed things along at lightning speeds, and while I don’t feel the function is a necessity, it was nice to have the option all the same.

The combat remains mostly the same with some additional options to make things more flexible.

Despite my glowing impression of the story and combat, there is one aspect that is severely lacking in Cold Steel 4- the localization effort.

There were a lot of doomsayers when NISA took up the mantle of localizing The Legend of Heroes games from XSEED, pointing to their various failings in the past, but I was one of those that were hopefully optimistic, knowing for certain that when they really put the time and effort in they can do the job right, and I was proven correct with their solid work in Cold Steel 3.

However, this time, it’s very much a different story.

I took note of the blatant spelling and grammar mistakes that I just happened to catch as a counter on a notepad during my playthrough and I have discovered over 20 mistakes, and that was with me not actively looking to catch them.

If that wasn’t bad enough, there were also many instances of lines where the text would extend outside of the speech bubble. Also, Various combat statuses would show the opposite information, for example, when it should say -50% delay, it would say +50% delay instead. There were lines spoken by characters that had the wrong subtitles associated with them, and the list goes on. While none of this was game breaking, it was certainly at the very least immersion breaking, which was a terrible shame.

Whether any of this is going to be addressed in a day 1 patch is unclear, but it simply screams rushed and lack of polish and I can only review what is presented to me now, not what it might become later.

I understand that Legend of Heroes games are infamous for their long scripts, and I can only imagine the grueling process for the localizing during these unprecedented times, but at the end of the day, NISA knew what they were signing up for and they know as well as I do that this game deserved a better result than it received.

Lastly, the franchise’s worst tradition of using voice overs for certain characters and not for others continues, and it is still just as jarring as ever. I get that they’re staying true to the original version of the game which does the same, but it saddens me to see that the overwhelmingly positive response to the PC versions of Cold Steel 1 + 2 with their added voice lines wasn’t enough of a hint to change things around for the better.

It wouldn’t be a Trails review without me plugging the amazing ost!

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel 4 is a true culmination of an epic journey filled with unforgettable characters in a world that has become as familiar and inviting to me as my own hometown. If not for the lackluster localization effort and continuous implementation of uneven voice acting, this could have been the perfect send off for the members of Class VII, Thors military academy.

Fun Tidbit – The original title of this game is “The Legend of Heroes: Sen no Kiseki IV – The End of Saga”. While “The End of Saga” sounds admittedly goofy for native English speakers, I can’t help but feel that it’s pretty fitting. Also, Emma best girl, don’t @ me.

Review copy of game provided by publisher.