The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV

 PlayStation 4
User Score
8.6

Generally favorable reviews- based on 174 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 147 out of 174
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 174
  3. Negative: 20 out of 174
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  1. Kurosu
    Nov 12, 2020
    5
    The game was unavailable for download for 38 hours after release for all pre -orderers. The developer team laid on their backs and said they wont do anything and put it all on Sony.This was done by a few tweets/facebook posts during office hours the day AFTER release. People were also said their collector editions would be delivered mid November. That announcement was given AFTER the gameThe game was unavailable for download for 38 hours after release for all pre -orderers. The developer team laid on their backs and said they wont do anything and put it all on Sony.This was done by a few tweets/facebook posts during office hours the day AFTER release. People were also said their collector editions would be delivered mid November. That announcement was given AFTER the game was released while leading them to believe everything would be ok until that very moment.

    The game is good ( thus the score) and nicely wraps up the story and Falcom deserves praise for their writting.
    NISA on the other hand has shown unacceptable and non proffesional behaviour regarding the games release. It felt like they did it just because they had to. There are also translation errors in the game ( especially on item/quartz/recipe descriptions) and various typos. Makes you wonder if they even checked their work after they finished it.

    Lets hope that Hajimari and the upcoming 2021 Trails game will be localised by a company that actually cares about both their product's quality and proper communication with their customers    … Expand
  2. OhNoItsSenpai
    Dec 7, 2020
    6
    Sadly this is the weakest entry of the ToCS series. I'm a very big fan of this series so you may take that however you want. The game is the easiest one in the franchise giving you a way to raise your characters stats infinitely within either the second or third chapter, and there is actually nothing new to this game other than a puyo puyo rip off, in a game with already too many sideSadly this is the weakest entry of the ToCS series. I'm a very big fan of this series so you may take that however you want. The game is the easiest one in the franchise giving you a way to raise your characters stats infinitely within either the second or third chapter, and there is actually nothing new to this game other than a puyo puyo rip off, in a game with already too many side activities. Literally no one in this series can die. It's just a thing that if someone dies you will see them later on or in the next game, this is one of the most infuriating things, and I found myself literally staring there with "seriously" face any time they tried to be dramatic only to fall over later whenever they tried to make it a dramatic reveal that they were just fine. they spend a good 60 hours explaining the entirety of the story you've already played through like you're the idiot no lie, It was hard for me to even keep playing because of this. Whenever I played through the series I always felt number 2 was the weak link, because most of the game was devoted to just finding the characters you had from the start of the first one, and this game starts you out repeating that formula except now there's much more meaningless characters. The most exciting promise of this game was everyone being a part of it, I mean the previous two protagonists are all over the advertisements for the game, however you only get to play with the characters from the other games a total of three times for about 10 minutes each, and you can't change anything on them. The ending was very lack luster, almost acting as if the entire story was about your Speechless (90% of the time) robot instead of the actual characters you spent so much time pretending were worth a damn. It was very sad to end the story this way and I truly hope the next game will fix these issues of being the same game with an hour of new story. It's not all incredibly bad though. Whenever the story finally picks up (literally after the halfway) It's actually quite interesting and if you enjoyed playing through the first few you're going to of course love playing with the characters still. My main hang ups with this game are there's just too much everything. They never pay enough attention to the story about the characters and even at times when they do they really slop on it. The ToCs series could be squashed down into two games with a focus on the story and they would be excellent. As a closing remark I really was dissapointed with this entry which hurts all that much more knowing that the first game is one of my favorite RPGs. It's a shame they decided to end things like this, but it doesn't defer me from playing the next ones. If you're a fan of the series you owe it to yourself to see it through to the end, but if you've had trouble getting through any of the previous games maybe just go watch a YouTube video that sizes up the story.… Expand

Awards & Rankings

39
#39 Best PS4 Game of 2020
43
#43 Most Discussed PS4 Game of 2020

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
81

Generally favorable reviews - based on 33 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 26 out of 33
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 33
  3. Negative: 0 out of 33
  1. Shindig
    Mar 10, 2021
    100
    The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV is the dramatic conclusion to a grand epic that’s been almost a decade in the making. It’s another chance to spend time with a bunch of characters that have become like family across three prior games, and the culmination of a nuanced exploration of the many faces of war. Most of all, it’s the sort of payoff that only hundreds of hours of meticulous, thoughtful worldbuilding can lead up to.
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  2. GameMAG
    Feb 14, 2021
    70
    If you already invested more than 500 hours to the previous instalments of Trails of Cold Steel series, you would definitely enjoy seeing familiar faces and you would love the overall experience. But as a newcomer you should probably try earlier games first, just to see if you want to get invested in the whole franchise.
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  3. TheSixthAxis
    Dec 9, 2020
    50
    Does The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV have a great story that's a worthy capstone to a ten-year JRPG saga? No, it doesn't. As a standalone experience, it's an impenetrable mess of fizzled out character arcs and bloated cutscenes. Despite all that, Trails of Cold Steel IV has addictive gameplay, dope music, and gorgeous character designs. If you want a fun and grind-heavy JRPG with a wild amount of options and battles, but don't mind turning your brain off to ignore the story and glaze over poorly-written cutscenes, then this is one's for you.
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