Overall, this was a highly satisfying finale to Rean and Class VII's adventures.ġ13h 10m PlayedFinally! The end of Trails of Holding Back a.k.a. Still, this isn't necessarily unique to JRPGs and isn't necessarily a knock against the game's quality. But the breaks let me return refreshed, and I finished it. It didn't help that I recently finished Cold Steel III, itself another very lengthy game. Pacing posed a slight problem for me, and I took a couple breaks around 60-80% of the way through the game. Voice acting is sparse, but not surprising given Falcom's generally smaller budget. The few lyrical songs are particularly touching. Music has always been a strong point of Falcom, and doesn't disappoint here. Combat continues the turn-based yet engaging gameplay of the series, plus the various additions in recent titles like Brave Orders and the Assault Gauge. Of course, it's not at the levels of a modern AAA game like FF7R, but the visuals impressed me, considering the rest of the Trails games. Graphics finally qualify for the "very good" level, a step above the always middling to decent levels from the rest of the series. I noted occasional typos and phrases that didn't make sense, eg from switching the subject and object of a sentence. Localization is a bit iffy but overall workable. The true ending finally puts a neat bow on the overarching plot, undoing the damage from Cold Steel III's deeply unsatisfying cliffhanger ending. Even the Liberal and Crossbell teams have their moments to shine in the plot, not to mention connections to Class VII like Tita for Team Liberl, or Juna and Randy for Team Crossbell. Character development has always been strong in this series, and this game definitely upholds that. Cold Steel III introduced the second-gen Class VII, students of Rean, and Cold Steel IV tries to better integrate them into Class VII as a whole. I felt proud seeing the immature freshmen of Cold Steel 1 come into their own as full-fledged warriors and tight-knit comrades of Class VII, all working in their own way to make Erebonia a better place. This title served as a great capstone to the Cold Steel Arc, satisfactorily tying up the vast majority of the myriad plot threads from not only Cold Steel, but also many left over from the Sky and Crossbell arcs (at least as far as I can tell without having played Ao and Zero quite yet).
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |