The game itself is fun (Aside from the horrible killer hitboxes and numerous bugs and glitches)

Being tunneled or face-camped on first hook and on the other side of the coin constantly being flashlight stunned or having every hook sabotaged immediately and just dealing with one of the most toxic and sweaty communities in all of video games in general for both survivor and killer however is absolutely NOT fun.

Oh and I learned the hard way that you only solo-que as survivor if there's something severely wrong with your brain because you're just going to get a lobby of people who will either intentionally feed or farm you off hook or worst case scenario just let you die on your first hook. The game is practically unplayable without friends because of this.

I put 300 more hours into it on PS4 after I quit playing on PC and I'll just say that I've never done crack, but I'd imagine that this game is the equivalent of it. Fun at first for that immediate intense high and adrenaline rush, but horrible for your long term health and will cause depression after the high and you just feel so much better once you finally manage to kick the addiction all together.

Just wish I could get my 500 hours back.

A classic and still holds up amazingly well to this day.

The gameplay is super fun and challenging with lots of weapon variety and combos to execute, the cut-scenes are ridiculous (in the best way possible), I love all the characters even if they're super cheesy and over-the-top because they are in an endearing way like DMC, the boss fights are epic, the level design is great and the OST is fucking 🔥 Definitely up there with DMC 3&5 and Metal Gear Rising as one of the best character action games.

Masterpiece. There's nothing else like it. It's a mixture of visual novel and tower defense strategy.

Describing this game isn't easy especially since 90% of it is story and you'd have to be a damn mad scientist to even write a narrative like this, it's something better experienced for yourself than having described to you, but all I can say is if you're even slightly a fan of Sci-Fi mystery stories, you really owe it to yourself to experience this one.

You experience the narrative through the eyes of 13 individual protagonists who control these mechs called Sentinels and have to work together to stop a Kaiju invasion from their city and as you go through the story and past events of each protagonist you are constantly unveiling mysteries that will make you question what's real and what isn't, who can you trust and how can you survive the invasion? Sounds like a simple enough plot, but trust me...It's not.

The tower defense strategy Kaiju battle sections were a lot of fun too and definitely give the game variety from just being a pure visual novel, being able to playthrough both the protagonists story sections and the battles at your own pace was nice too. If you just want to do the story you can just focus on that, if you want to do that battles you can do that or you can alternate between the two for variety.

The 2D visuals are beautiful, the OST is awesome being a mix of hard electronic beats and more organic classical strings which really fits well for the Sentinel vs Kaiju battles and during the story segments the OST is a lot more calmer and atmospheric, setting the mood.

In the entire 40 hours I put into this game I never felt bored once due to the cast of characters being interesting and likeable and so many plot twists and revelations constantly being thrown in your face, even though most of it makes no sense for the first half of the story, you're always compelled to learn more and the way it all comes together in the end is truly something marvelous and ingenious.

I have no complaints and would easily consider this one of the best VNs I've ever played and among the best narratives I've seen in a video game and I firmly believe that everyone should experience it.

Played the game 2 and a half years ago and only played Hugo's story and didn't realize you needed to play all 3 character's stories to get the true ending.

2 and a half years later I'm a massive Falcom fanboy due to falling in love with the Trails series, so fast forward to November 23rd of 2020 and I figured I should start playing more Ys, decided to replay this one knowing I only got a piece of the story last time I played it and I have to say it was very worth it.

Ys isn't really known for being the most story focused and is more about the gameplay (Which I found very enjoyable in Origin) and exploration, but what story there was in this game was quite engaging and emotional at times and the main characters were pretty interesting and had good development too. It's a very classic J-RPG story, (knights on a mission to save their goddesses from demons who want to use their power and rule over the land), but it's a good one all the same and I'd highly recommend it.

Also the game has another masterful OST by Falcom Sound Team JDK featuring some of their absolute best tracks yet like Silent Desert and Genesis Beyond the Beginning.

I'll get this out of the way first. My ONLY complaint about the game is the localization is an absolute mess. Main story scenes are thankfully fine, but when it comes to side-quests and NPC dialogue there's tons of grammar issues, changed names (Like the Bose region in Liberl was changed to Beaus for some reason or Sieg, Kloe's pet falcon was called Zeke...) as well as so many messed up text-boxes where the text was outside of the box. NISA really needs to step up their translation game because even fan translations like Geofront are leagues above this shit.

Now that that's out of the way everything else that I have to say is positive.

Let me start off by saying that Cold Steel IV was my GOTY for 2020 and Falcom have delivered once again, not like I expected any less. Showing all other developers how to make a long-running series built upon in-depth, detailed world-building, character development and an interconnected story the goes through the entire series.

The story is fantastic as always with some moments easily being among my all time favorites out of the entire series, a LOT happened in the game, this has to be the most action-packed Trails game since Ao no Kiseki, there's plenty of shocking reveals and well thought out plot-twists and I feel that the writers really gave the Erebonia arc the finale it deserved.

The world-building is of course just as great as always, bringing back many NPCs from all previous games and arcs, showing how they are now and even making some older NPCs who felt inconsequential have a bigger role in the main story, this is just truly special and something only Trails can pull off. Plus one thing I absolutely loved was how as the main story progresses, more and more NPCs start disappearing from towns because they're being conscripted and drafted into the war effort and it really made that looming threat of the war between Erebonia and Calvard feel all the more real.

While the cast of characters is pretty massive at this point, no-one felt underutilized to me and everyone gets proper time to shine and develop. It was especially always a pleasure seeing old characters from Trails in the Sky or Zero/Ao no Kiseki meeting and teaming up with Class VII and other Cold Steel characters for the first time. Also even older characters from the Trails in the Sky or Crossbell games have moments that show they're still growing as people and it just proves to me that when it comes to character writing and development, Falcom is the undisputed champion.

The OST is incredible and one of my faves from the entire series so far. It has tons of variety with a mix of more calmer town music, bombastic orchestral pieces for the really epic moments, shreddy power metal for battle themes and tons of atmospheric, mood setting tracks. There's a lot of reused themes from past games and even some special arranged versions of older themes, but all the new tracks are fantastic.

There's TONS of content. You always get your money's worth when it comes to Falcom games and Cold Steel IV is no different. Lots of side-quests that help build the world and develop side characters even more, some fun little mini-games like the card game Vantage Masters or the Puyo Puyo styled Pom! Pom! Party! Plus all your typical Trails standards like constantly updating NPC dialogue, long cut-scenes, bonding events with teammates and in game books you can read, like 3 and 9 which apparently give in-depth backstory of 2 new characters in Hajimari no Kiseki.

The combat is just as fun as ever, taking the new elements from Cold Steel III like Brave Orders and balancing them out a bit more. Trial Chests from Cold Steel II are back and used as a way to upgrade your Brave Orders, so your starting orders are nerffed, making the earlier half of the game feel a bit more difficult. Also I really loved how some bosses had their own Brave Orders they could use called 'Disorders' and they would cancel out your own orders and debuff your characters as well.

All in all I really have no complaints about this game aside from the messy localization. It's a fantastic finale to my fave arc in my fave J-RPG franchise and my new fave game in the series. Falcom simply continues to be the best in the world at what they do and I just don't see another developer ever even coming close to matching, let alone surpassing them when it comes to appealing to my own personal tastes.

Got into this one months late back in 2020 because I binged the whole Trails series from May to October and it ate up most of my gaming time, but I finished the game back on the 19th of October 2020 and what an incredible experience.

I can totally understand why many called it GOTY. Cold Steel IV was GOTY for me in 2020, but the storytelling in Ghost was just incredible and the combat was super fun and addictive.

My only real problem with the game was exploring the open world ends up getting a bit repetitive after going through the first main area since it's a lot of busywork and checklist gaming. That being said the cinematography and scenery kept me exploring regardless of how repetitive it got because this game is seriously one of the most beautiful and realistic looking games I've ever played.

The writing though, my god it was so good. It was so dark and gritty and really showed how brutal and terrifying war is and Jin's inner-conflict with foregoing the code of the Samurai to become the Ghost was so well done. This game is an emotional rollercoaster and I'd be lying if I said I didn't tear up multiple times during it and that's just the main story. All the side arcs that your allies have were just as well written, super interesting and very emotional too.

This game gave me everything I could want from a Samurai epic and also it's not like there are many other samurai stories in video games (Especially current gen) so it's really unique IMO. If you want a dark and emotional feudal war story about honor, pride, betrayal, family bonds and coming to terms with one's identity I really can't recommend this game enough.

I loved this game when I was a teenager, but playing it again nowadays was just so boring. The combat is still a lot of fun and the weapon variety is nice chakrams are still the GOAT, but the structure of the game is just too MMO-like for my taste. Still has some pretty interesting lore at least though

Also you figured this remaster would have some form of QOL improvements, but no. The load times are abhorrent because it has to load every time you enter a new area or building and makes it almost unplayable by todays standards honestly.

Written on August 23rd of 2020

So now that I've had some time to pick my jaw off the floor I can post a bit of a review.

Trails of Cold Steel III. The culmination of everything in the Trails series so far and the end of my 800 hour journey through the franchise. It's been a journey unlike any other and it's safe to say the Trails series is my fave video game series at this point.

Cold Steel III was just absolutely incredible. I'd say the story was the most "grand" or "epic" in scope out of the entire series, especially by the ending which was just insane, easily the best in the series to me so far and the massive plot twists and reveals that happened just blew my mind. It was so bleak and dark. It was basically the worst possible outcome, every thing that could go wrong (and then some) did and you just don't expect something to end like that so it was incredibly bold and REALLY makes you want more and get hyped for Cold Steel IV.

My fave parts of the game easily were seeing so many returning faces from the Crossbell arc and the Sky arc, how they've changed, grown and developed even more since their respective entries in the franchise and of course how the struggles of the Erebonian Empire directly effected them. It was just another example of how the worldbuilding in Trails is second to none.

The new Class VII characters took awhile to grow on me (Aside from Altina who I loved from the start and loved even more as the game went on) and I still don't think they're quite on par with the original Class VII, but they get tons of character development and I definitely started liking them a lot the more the game went on. Juna especially went from being one of my least fave characters in the series to being the complete opposite due to the sheer amount of change she goes through. Kurt learning to deal with his duty as a Vander, of being a guard to the Imperial family being revoked and finding a new purpose in life and Ash going from badboy loner to learning how to trust and appreciate his fellow class and team members were also very interesting. Musse ended up being my least fave, mostly due to not learning a whole lot about her and her being kinda a one-note character, but I'm interested to seeing how she will tie into the story of the next game.

Learning more about a ton of other characters that have been in the franchise for multiple games now was great as well. Osborne, all the Ironbloods and Sara among some others got a lot more detail to their back stories and histories and that made them much more relatable and interesting to me.

That's not even taking into the fact that Rean had so much development himself from becoming an instructor and learning how to lead his students all the while dealing with the aftermath and mental trauma that was left on him due to the events of Cold Steel II and after THAT ending I can only imagine how much more he's going to suffer, struggle and overcome in CS IV. He certainly does have it worst out of all the Trails protagonists IMO.

The gameplay was just as enjoyable as all other Trails games and mostly standard aside from a couple new tricks and gimmicks like the double Master Quartz system which lets you pair up with another team member and get some special abilities from them or the Brave Order system which gives massive battle boosts for a number of turns, I enjoyed these additions to the already fun combat system which kept it even more fresh and gave more variety.

The OST was awesome too. While I think it's overall the weakest of the Trails OSTs, it had some tracks I'd consider among my faves. Some super hype guitar driven battle themes, so happy and carefree music while exploring towns and some really epic orchestral pieces. Plus I love the opening and ending theme songs a lot.

All in all I adored every minute of this game, just as I did all the other games in the series. I greatly look forward to seeing how Cold Steel IV ends this saga and if it can top the grandness and intensity of Cold Steel III. I've not been disappointed by this series yet, so I have every reason to believe it will.

The game certainly did not disappoint! I can totally see why it is so many people's favorite game in the whole series and it's def top 3 for me.

Almost all Trails games usually start out pretty slow, but Azure starts off intense and the action hardly lets up the entire game. Also it perfectly expands upon the world and the story Zero no Kiseki built up, plus the characters get even more fleshed out. I really can't go into depth about the story without spoiling, but I will say Azure has some of the craziest and best written plot twists in the whole series and there were a couple moments when my jaw physically dropped because I was just so shocked, but everything was so perfectly foreshadowed in a subtle way that you'd never notice it on your own and none of the twists felt unnatural or asspulled.

Oh and the OST is incredible as always. The Azure Arbitrator is easily one of the best and most epic boss fight themes I've ever heard and if we lived in a fair and just world everyone would know and understand this.

What an incredible journey! After spending almost 200 hours on the Crossbell arc I still think about and miss my adventures with the Special Support Section of Crossbell.

This game is kinda like the black sheep of the Trails family since it isn't structured the same way as any of the other games.

It's more like a traditional dungeon crawler mixed with a visual novel and a lot of people don't like the fact that it isn't as much of an RPG as the first two and the fact it's linear and there's no towns or side quests to really do.

Personally I don't mind this because all the story content is just as great as the first two games, especially seeing as how the main story focuses on Kevin Graham, a side character from Sky SC because he's the main character in this game and learning his whole backstory and motivations, the game is essentially a character study for him and that made me happy because I love him a lot and love him even more now after this game. One of my fave characters in the series.

All the side story content is also really great and either fleshes out other characters from the first two Sky games even more or shows some history and world events for areas we've yet to visit in Zemuria.

The gameplay in this one was probably the most fun to me since you have all the past playable characters from the first 2 games and then some extras, so there's tons of variety in team building.

Also anyone who says you can skip this game is a fool because even if you consider Kevin's story a side story and irrelevant to Joshua and Estelle, you learn so much more about events in the world that become important in the Cold Steel and Crossbell games, plus get tons of valuable character interactions and most importantly Sky the 3rd serves as the closer to the Liberl arc and you get a very touching 'goodbye' scene between all the characters at the end of the game and that's worth the price of admission alone to me.

If you enjoyed the stories and characters of Trails in the Sky and Trails in the Sky SC I highly recommend you give this game a chance too and don't let the haters persuade you otherwise because it's just as great as the first two as far as I'm concerned and my personal favorite in the Sky trilogy.

If you haven't played Trails in the Sky: First Chapter, let me STOP YOU RIGHT HERE and tell you to go purchase that and play it ASAP. The Trails series is NOT Final Fantasy, it NEEDS to be played consecutively because the entire series is one massive interconnecting story. Second Chapter is a direct sequel to the events of the first game and if you haven't played the first game before going into this one, you'll be completely lost. It'll be like starting The Lord of the Rings trilogy on Return of the King instead of The Fellowship.

Now that I've said that piece, if you HAVE played First Chapter and you're reading reviews instead of purchasing this game INSTANTLY after that jaw-dropping ending of the first game. WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU WAITING FOR? PLAY THIS GAME NOW. It takes everything you loved about the first and amplifies it 10 fold. The story, characters and lore of the world are greatly expanded upon and developed even further, the combat is even more refined and varied with extra attack options like chain crafts and 3rd tier artes and the music is just as beautiful as the first game. If you thought First Chapter was a masterpiece like I did, you haven't seen anything yet because SC surpasses it in every-way possible.

Honestly if you're a J-RPG fan and you still haven't gotten into the Trails series in 2020, you're missing some of the absolute best the genre has to offer and should rectify that IMMEDIATELY.

When your game has so much text in it that the English word count is longer than the Bible itself (Not this game, but Trails of Cold Steel III, another game in the Trails series does)

When your game has so much lore they have their own unique measurements system in Rege, Selge and Arge.

When your game series is so focused on world-building that it has one massive continent for a world that actually has multiple fully fleshed out countries (Liberl, Erebonia, Crossbell, Calvard etc) with their own unique political, governmental and militaristic systems, even their own economies and trade-routes.

When your game is so story driven that even the most inconsequential NPCs have fleshed out story arcs, backgrounds and personalities if you choose to talk to them multiple times throughout the game and see them unfold.

I can honestly see how these games can be overwhelming to the average person due to the sheer amount of detail they have in them, but I absolutely LOVE that about the series, it's like the J-RPG equivalent to Tolkien or Wheel of Time.

So if you're like me and all that sounds interesting to you, I'd highly recommend buying this game ASAP. There's literally nothing else out there like Trails, no series is as deeply interconnected and detailed and what better way to dive into the world than start at the very beginning?

A journey with realistic and relatable characters, rife with political intrigue and masked by a grand conspiracy lurking in the shadows awaits you!

If you haven't played the first Cold Steel yet you should probably stop reading this review and go do that now.

All Trails games are amazing and Cold Steel II is no different. The gameplay was improved with some fun new battle mechanics, the story was an emotional juggernaut and witnessing the culmination of all the world building the first game set up was just so incredibly beautiful. Plus there were plenty of great twists to keep me interested in what will come among the future installments as well.

Spending over 140 hours between the first 2 Cold Steel games over the course of 2 weeks in May of 2020 are still some of my fondest memories from that year and really got me so attached to the entire cast of characters, maybe because I played both games directly back to back I felt an even stronger connection to it, but seeing this chapter come to a close in the story was just so emotional for me. Before that I hadn't really cried at a game in awhile...Cold Steel II made that happen on 3 separate occasions.

And on that note, much like the first game I really can't recommend this one enough as well. Together the two form an absolutely incredible story arc rife with exciting twists and turns at every new event and a cast of truly unforgettable characters.