|OT| The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV - The End of Saga

prudis

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The Ultimate Class Reunion – Boasting the largest roster in series history, heroes from all over seek to join the cause! The heroes of Class VII unite with Crossbell's Special Support Section and even the heroes of Liberl.


Battle Most Refined – New and returning systems join the already polished combat of The Legend of Heroes series, including the ability to summon giant mechs to the field for devastating attacks, use Auto Battle for more expedient combat, and utilize Lost Arts, the most powerful Orbal magic capable of turning the tide of battle.


Pursuits of the War Weary – In between epic battles, catch a breather with a number of mini-games including returning favorites like Vantage Master, fishing and puzzle games! And introducing new pursuits like Poker, Blackjack, and the Horror Coaster.


The Erebonian Empire is on the brink of all out war! Taking place shortly after the ending of Trails of Cold Steel III, the heroes of Class VII find themselves with the full force of the Empire on the path to domination. Further, the hero of the Erebonian Civil War and Class VII's instructor, Rean Schwarzer, has gone missing.


Now, the students of Class VII, old and new, must unite with heroes from all over the continent to create the only chance the world has to be spared from total destruction.


Beware trailer is quite spoilery!!!!

PC version is done by Durante's studio
 

Mivey

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Well, currently it's not so great, but we have a bit of time left ;)
So is the game very different in its technical elements from CS3? Like, how much of what you have done there translate over? By your response I figure not a whole lot, but it's kinda surprising given that it's the same engine, and was developed very shortly afterwards
 

SaberVS7

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Cool, so that gives me about a year to replay the entire series on Nightmare.
 
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Kvik

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I hate to be a downer but hopefully, they'll treat NPC dialogue with better care this time since the scenario script size probably won't be as large as CS3.
 

Durante

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So is the game very different in its technical elements from CS3? Like, how much of what you have done there translate over? By your response I figure not a whole lot, but it's kinda surprising given that it's the same engine, and was developed very shortly afterwards
It's mostly the same, except for scene- and effect-specific fixes we did in 3 (of which there are more than I'd like). So stuff does transfer over, but we still need to do that transferring ;)
 
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prudis

prudis

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As the shadow of war continues to loom over Erebonia, a devastated Class VII desperately clings to the dying embers of hope. But despite the trials ahead, they must rally together and fight on. The fate of the empire rests on their shoulders!




The students of Class VII will need all the strength and determination they can muster to face the imminent threats ahead. Utilize unique Arts and Crafts, cunning tactics, and powerful team attacks to overwhelm the enemy!

Coming October 27, 2020 to PS4, and to NSW and PC in 2021.


Heroes from across the land must unite in Trails of Cold Steel IV! Who will stand alongside Class VII to stand against the approaching threats? Find out in our newest trailer!
 
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Kvik

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These trailers sure have ruined us all who hasn't played Azure onwards.

Nevertheless, it's an exciting time for Trails fans just in a few short years.
 
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QFNS

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Lossless Audio? BETTER QUALITY MUSIC? HELL YEAH.

Time to download this IMMEDIATELY 🕺🕺
 
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Kvik

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Played through maybe half an hour of the Prologue.

I enjoyed playing as Estelle again. It hasn't been that long since I've played Zero where she was a playable character, but Estelle rendered in full 3D is uh, quite something. Also Elie. Falcom made sure those triangle budget goes somewhere.


I probably won't play more until the weekend but seeing more of the Crossbell characters they've left out from CS3 sure is a treat.
 
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Kvik

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Completed Act 1 over the weekend.

As far as setup goes, I like it a lot. In a way, this is the Cold Steel I was waiting for. We still have a free day > explore area > dungeon loop, but with a less rigid format. No bonding points spending on free days is liberating, although I'm sure it'll make a comeback at some point. Plot-wise, it started off fine, I guess. It's pretty obvious that it's going to be a rescue mission in the next chapter. I must say revisiting the areas from CS3 and finding out how life in Erebonia has changed since then is probably the highlight of this chapter. There's a fair bit of modern social commentary in here, especially about the misinformation campaign, and how Erebonia is going to war under a false pretence (sounds familiar?) And of course, the trigger of the first world war is a regicide, so the inspiration is there.

The hard difficulty is slightly harder this time around. Looks like they improved Vantage Master this time around, the opponents are much harder to defeat. Looks like they have more cards to collect too. We can even fight Mishy in MWL. I chuckled a bit when imagining the ridiculousness of the situation. Imagine Mishy setting up a table there in the middle of the park to play a quick game of VM in the midst of entertaining kids and their families. Mech fights are much harder, although I think this may be because we're not using Valimar for the time being.


Two whole weeks to complete the first act is perfectly in line with how my CS3 playthrough went with its first chapter, so I still have another 150hrs to look forward to.
 
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Kvik

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Completed Act 2.

I'm beginning to see why some people were getting disillusioned by the way Cold Steel (or Kiseki at large) was going. I never liked the bonding points system in the first place, and the "Special Memories" bonding events takes it even further into Rean-worshipping territory that I feel is hurting character development. In CS3, I paired Rean with all his possible romance options, thanks to Cheat Engine. I felt it was balanced enough in terms of choices, even though I still feel that Falcom should've only one character only as Rean's romantic interest. In CS4, Falcom in all their wisdom decided to add more romantic options into the mix, which I feel is unnecessary, since I feel their growth is inextricably linked to Rean for the sake of options.

It's very much in contrast when compared with the men in Class 7. For example, the bonding event with Machias has them confronting Machias' family member who has been requisitioning properties from Erebonian Nobles under pretences of the new Erebonian Conscription Law. In this event, Machias did most of the talking and he was able to convince the family member that what they were doing is wrong, even though Machias hates Nobles when he was a student. Rean may have contributed to Machias' character growth during their student days but in this event, his character growth feels organic and it's his own ethics and conviction as an adult that plays a big role.

Let's take a look at one of the women's bonding events. During Fie's bonding event, there's a battle event in which she was trying to measure her own capabilities to suppress Rean's ogre power in case he goes berserk again. After the battle, she confesses that she has feelings for Rean, despite the fact that they barely spent time together either in CS3 or until that point in CS4. There is nothing after the conclusion of CS2 which indicates that Rean has affected her life in a major way. The development seems very artificial, at least to me. I feel there is a much better way to develop Fie's character without involving romance.

For example, we can have Fie solve a bracer case together with Rean, during which she can talk about her experiences and places she's been, and how being a bracer has shaped her as a person since graduation, and what kind of bracer she wants to become in the future. I feel this approach is much better in expanding Fie's character, instead of just being yet another romance option.

Let's talk about the main plotline for a little bit. It's not that I didn't like it when Olivert's voice can be heard in the skies when Cedric/Ouroboros seems to have the upper hand near the end of Act 2. It's thrilling, but at the same time, in a series in which "letting go of the past" is a recurring theme, I couldn't help but think "what if the people who are dead, stay dead?" Rean and the rest of class 7 must go on, with or without Courageous II. Isn't it more rewarding when --against all odds-- they managed to push back against the attack? Obviously, Olivert is well-loved, and as much as I am happy to see him back, there is a certain "finality" in killing off one of the supporting cast which I think will make plot progression more interesting. How people deal with loss and how it affects them as individuals can make an interesting growth. But perhaps such darkness has no place in modern Trails. Tio, Randy or Wazy's backstory is probably the last time we'll ever see Falcom tackle this difficult theme.

Now, let's hope Falcom isn't going to be a coward and let Millium stay dead.


Act 3 will probably delve further into Rivalries. I haven't grown bored of the game yet or burned out by it. Pomtto and Vantage Masters have increased their difficulties in an interesting way. I'm always looking forward to playing these minigames whenever a new opponent appears. Sometimes I wish there's a character development tied into these minigames. Anyway, I'm looking forward to yet another 100 hours of Trails~ :flare_mogu:
 
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I did it with III might as well do it with this. Let me express some thoughts after finishing the game.

There are a couple of circumstancial things that I want to point out. I've been playing this games in english and the fact that they had to change some VA felt weird but it's what it is (then again after 120h you get used to it). The second is that for some reason the game decided to randomly (as in I can't reproduce it) lock itselft at 47 fps I get why the number (1/3 of 144) but not why it was happening (nothing was even close to 100% usage and I even locked the game at 60).

Now, as far as the game goes. The first half of the prologue is basically fanservice land (the good kind), let's show you all those characters from other games that you know and then even use some of them. It's also a spoiler fest for the crossbell games (even if somethings don't make that much sense if you haven't played them). At the moment it felt awesome, but them going from This Rean guy seems to have brought the end of the world to let's trust this guys who failed miserably. The second half is mostly getting up to speed and learn what happened after the end of the third game.

Then Act 1 solves one of my biggest problems with III the super rigid structure. Sure it's basically the same structure: Free days - go some place to move the plot (keep finding returning characters) - conclude with a fight that has extra conditions (Win in X amount of turns), then do a Mech battle and then be rescued at the last minute for the umpteenth time (look I know that this series is Tropey as hell, but how many times can I be saved at the last moment). And it also solves my othe problem with the series as a whole, no bonding events, albeit only temporary. I think this part of the game is fine, we start seeing the aftermath of the events of the previous game and how it's affecting people in the lead up to totally not WWI It didn't dawn on me until half way into the game on the fact that their excuse is the shooting of the emperor, because someone mentioned that it was the "Great War".

Then we have the fragments/intemission. Which to be fair is probably my favorite moment of the game. Infiltrating the black workshop to save Rean and concluding with a boss rush (where you have to defeat the final 2 bosses at the same time to get extra AP) It kept going so much that I had to stop and try again the next day. But it also starts one of the big problems with this game Angie was alive, I admit I suspected she'd be but ....

Then Act II feels like im retreading CSII (it's even doing the let's compress the plot in a few weeks vs months even) . Let's go to places and rescue people. And it also brings back the bonding system, after 4 games I still think that it just doesn't work and then you add the "special memories" that remove so much agency from the characters. But for the most part is the same loop as before: Free day - go rescue people - also have a mech battle - and then a final fight. This all leads to the last part of act 2. Fanservice fest part 2 I admit having all those chracters interacting in one place after so many games has it's charm. But then after another boss rush the fact the the last fight requires you to defeat enemies in certain order of extra AP, but the last one is actually not the one with the most HP and your area of attack is very small can lead to mistakes can get annoying, another big problem with the game comes getting saved at the last minute, again, by characters who were supposed to be dead ... .

Worth pointing out that Act II includes a cool QOL improvement. If you're the kind of guy who likes to speak to NPCs, the game quick travel menu will show you the areas that get new dialog (which considering to how many places you can fast travel at this point it makes live way easier).

And Act III is just again a loop of Free day - exploration - Mech fight. However the first part of act 3 (that could have been an intermission) well ... the idea that osborne wasn't evil all along and is controlled, sure it's a trope and all, but is so cheap trying to redeem him at this point, I mean he's been presented as a villian for like 7 games at this point.. .

And then the eventide part, I could have done without it really.

The final chapter is again one section to do side quests One of which needs to be completed to get the true ending and then the final dungeon well, we're back to loooooooong final dungeons. I admit I liked the first part a lot playing as all those guest characters was pretty cool. We're also back at actually defeating the enemies in the final dungeon and most of them getting redeemed.. I admit that I didn't see coming the end of Cedric's story ... I didn't see that final twist coming. The ending (the real one that is) is the most anime shit I've seen in a while but at this point I should have expected that. But did they really need to keep Crow and by extension Millium alive?.

It's funny tho. That this is the first Cold Steel game that has a happy ending, it's weird but it kind of have to happen at some point.

And then after like 9 games the snakes an organization that bleeds talent faster than any gaming studio are as crypic as ever, we barely know nothing about them. Sure, the post-post credit scene finally shows us the grandmaster and that there's still ANOTHER event coming... but that's all . And Mcfirebro having and enlighment and then going sorry, ok, bye ... felt like a total copt-out.. It feels like a mystery box that keeps adding more things but at some point it will have to be opened. And then is the first Anguis who I think (Nielsen) or is it sheer coincidence that they share the same voice, tho that would explain why he appears at the right time at the right places and had the convinient black record.

Also for a Great War that was going to ravage the world we only see the beginning and then are told that it was stopped, but we see nothing... sure it lasted a day but it might as well not have happened. It feels like the build up was to nothing, Sure we get a scene of everything starting and the game shows us portratis of all those characters that have been mentioned the whole game but don't even appear but that's it.

Leaving the story, combat starts a bit more difficult but mostly because the orders start nerfed but since you can do trial chest to make them even more broken, I mean if you wanted you could turtle nearly all the bosses with Rean's order ... I like systems that are broken but I there should be some way to counter it. I mean sure some bosses (like 4) can uses orders against you and stop you from using them but it's a very small number.

As for minigames I liked the return of Pom Pom Party, even if eventually I found a more or less stable strategy. And vantage masters forced me to change my deck a few times which is nice.

Finally I liked the music more in this game, I think it's mostly for the fact that you are constantly moving places so I notice more the change.

I'll be there for Hajimari (althought to be fair I'm intrigued in how they're gonna connect them with S & N who you can see in the screenshoots of the steam page) , but after that I don't know if I'll still be playing this games.

There's probably more I could say but I'd circling around the same ideas.

PS: I'm quite surprised that about 50% of players (if steam global stats are to be trusted) have, finished the game. Then again, if you're getting this game you're in to finish it.
 

Ascheroth

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Just finished the game.
I have conflicting feelings, but I think overall I leave disappointed.

The game and overall Cold Steel arc has hype moments and good character stuff.
But frankly, the overarching grand story is crap.
The antagonists are crap.
The deaths that would have been satisfying are unsatisfying because people don't stay dead. But the deaths that do happen are unsatisfying as well (Rufus just backstapping Lianne is just bullshit among other things).
It feels like there are no stakes at all and the main cast has no agency. Sure, Rean and the gang win but if they'd lost Osbourne would have just done the same thing as Rean in the normal ending and sacrificied himself. Ultimately the game presents everything that happened according to Osbourne's plans as correct and ultimately the only way to get a "good" outcome, so Rean and co struggling against him rings hollow.
The romance is crap and drags many other characters down with it.
The games are insanely repetitive and could have been much shorter.

I'm actually not excited to jump into Reverie at this point. I guess I will play it since I already have it, but I dunno man. I've lost trust in Falcom to actually write a good story.
 
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Mivey

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Just finished the game.
I have conflicting feelings, but I think overall I leave disappointed.

The game and overall Cold Steel arc has hype moments and good character stuff.
But frankly, the overarching grand story is crap.
The antagonists are crap.
The deaths that would have been satisfying are unsatisfying because people don't stay dead. But the deaths that do happen are unsatisfying as well (Rufus just backstapping Lianne is just bullshit among other things).
It feels like there are no stakes at all and the main cast has no agency. Sure, Rean and the gang win but if they'd lost Osbourne would have just done the same thing as Rean in the normal ending and sacrificied himself. Ultimately the game presents everything that happened according to Osbourne's plans as correct and ultimately the only way to get a "good" outcome, so Rean and co struggling against him rings hollow.
The romance is crap and drags many other characters down with it.
The games are insanely repetitive and could have been much shorter.

I'm actually not excited to jump into Reverie at this point. I guess I will play it since I already have it, but I dunno man. I've lost trust in Falcom to actually write a good story.
The biggest thing that CS IV did for me, in addition to wrapping up the Cold Steel arc itself, is the additions to the lore you get at the ending. From what I understand, most of that stuff is pretty crucial for the next arc of the series, Daybreak and will likely play into the finale of the Trails series itself.
The rest that you are calling out (quite rightfully) has been an issue with the series since day one. It's an Anime story that doesn't want to commit too much to hard consequences and go for very saccharine story endings, where everyone is happy and so on. In that respect, I really liked the death of Lianne. It's the perfect evil thing to do for Rufus. Notable here that she was already dying, so it's really just about him getting her power. She was very likely going to die either way as an immortal once Ishmelga had been defeated.

For what it's worth, I really liked Reverie, at least some of its three Routes. It's biggest strength for me is again in the world building, more than anything else, but there are at least some new characters that allow Falcom to finally write character dialogue that doesn't involve the same exact characters you have seen for multiple games already.
 
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Durante

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The rest that you are calling out (quite rightfully) has been an issue with the series since day one.
I don't fully agree with this. It does apply to some of the issues Ascheroth listed, but not all of them.

I.e. the "The romance is crap and drags many other characters down with it. " doesn't really apply to TiTS at all, and only applies to Crossbell to a far lesser extent than CS. Also, I'd argue that "The games are insanely repetitive and could have been much shorter." is also more of an issue in CS than ever before.

Personally, I'm not as negative on the overall story in CS since I think the worldbuilding does have its charm, but those 2 things in particular were grating. Especially the former -- as mentioned, for the (in my opinion) completely overrated "feature" of letting Rean get romantically involved with 80% of the female party members, the game fundamentally stymies not just the writing of all those characters, but also entire sub-story arcs involving them. It's deeply annoying.

All that said, I still enjoy both the gameplay and the overall worldbuilding aspect a lot, sufficiently so to have had a great time overall with the game despite the clear issues. I actually had to resist a bit to stick to my plan and not jump into Reverie right away :p
 
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rickyson33

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I really wish instead of the bonding system the Cold Steel games had used something more like the skit system from the Tales series where instead of all of them having to involve Rean they could also just be between the other characters sometimes

that's one of the reasons I like the doors in 3rd/Reverie so much, because they allow for stuff like that

aside from that my main issues with the Cold Steel games were mostly that 4 long games was too much and I got burned out on it while playing 4, and
a lot of the "death" stuff really rubbed me the wrong way, i'm not someone that necessarily even needs deaths in something like this but fakeouts really annoy me and Cold Steel had a LOT of them
 
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Ascheroth

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I don't fully agree with this. It does apply to some of the issues Ascheroth listed, but not all of them.

I.e. the "The romance is crap and drags many other characters down with it. " doesn't really apply to TiTS at all, and only applies to Crossbell to a far lesser extent than CS. Also, I'd argue that "The games are insanely repetitive and could have been much shorter." is also more of an issue in CS than ever before.

Personally, I'm not as negative on the overall story in CS since I think the worldbuilding does have its charm, but those 2 things in particular were grating. Especially the former -- as mentioned, for the (in my opinion) completely overrated "feature" of letting Rean get romantically involved with 80% of the female party members, the game fundamentally stymies not just the writing of all those characters, but also entire sub-story arcs involving them. It's deeply annoying.

All that said, I still enjoy both the gameplay and the overall worldbuilding aspect a lot, sufficiently so to have had a great time overall with the game despite the clear issues. I actually had to resist a bit to stick to my plan and not jump into Reverie right away :p
The difference between side characters, Sky characters and male class 7 characters vs. female class 7 characters is incredibly frustrating.
Estelle and Joshua, Kevin and Ries, Olivert and Schera, Toval and Ein, Anton and Sharon(!), Bridget and Alan, Vincent and Margarita, Gaius and Linde, Elliot and Mint (at least something seems to be starting?), Ada and Sidney (with Maya maybe bein jealous?), Ash and Tatiana, Kenneth and Annabelle, and probably a bunch I'm forgetting.
But none of the Cold Steel girls can have any sort of romantic development or even agency, because everyone needs to "available" all the time in case the player wants Rean to "get" one of them. And since you can switch "who you want" every game, and they even new options, none of it commits.
It's incredibly frustrating.
Especially since the Cold Steel gang is probably going to show up in the future again and I doubt Falcom will commit to a canon choice, so effectively a whole bunch of characters are doomed to forever be limited in their characters development, relationships and interactions in the future games.
 
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Mivey

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I don't fully agree with this. It does apply to some of the issues Ascheroth listed, but not all of them.

I.e. the "The romance is crap and drags many other characters down with it. " doesn't really apply to TiTS at all, and only applies to Crossbell to a far lesser extent than CS. Also, I'd argue that "The games are insanely repetitive and could have been much shorter." is also more of an issue in CS than ever before.

Personally, I'm not as negative on the overall story in CS since I think the worldbuilding does have its charm, but those 2 things in particular were grating. Especially the former -- as mentioned, for the (in my opinion) completely overrated "feature" of letting Rean get romantically involved with 80% of the female party members, the game fundamentally stymies not just the writing of all those characters, but also entire sub-story arcs involving them. It's deeply annoying.

All that said, I still enjoy both the gameplay and the overall worldbuilding aspect a lot, sufficiently so to have had a great time overall with the game despite the clear issues. I actually had to resist a bit to stick to my plan and not jump into Reverie right away :p
I missed the line about romance. That's true, and a pretty big weakness of the games. Only made worse as Cold Steel dragged on for four games, with an ever increasing cast and the "feature" you mention.
I'm hearing pretty good things about Daybreak on that front at least. Though you might know more about that than me 👀
 
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Kvik

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Downunder.
I've lost trust in Falcom to actually write a good story.
FWIW, Reverie in my opinion is more or less a return to form. The new main characters are endearing, some of the old class 7 crew had a well-deserved development, and the hook for Daybreak is pretty damn good. It's not perfect, of course. But it's a step in the right direction.

And while I can certainly agree on how badly the romance is handled (especially when you consider Alisa --which I consider the “canon” romance partner-- doesn't have any significant development), I think I'm more disappointed when it comes to the primary motives of Osborne as the main antagonist. I always thought that it would've been amazing if Osborne is just a normal person with grand ambition and political finesse to match, and the only way he can be beaten is because Olivier is actually smarter than him (and the rivalries are just a secondary plot happening in the background). Like, what if the most heinous things he did is because he loved his country and want to see it prosper? And he's willing to achieve all these things without caring about little people and their ordinary lives. The end justifies the means, etc. I think that kind of “evil” is the most interesting to me.

In any case, they try to smooth things over in Reverie regarding this thing, so I'm looking forward to your thoughts then.
 
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rickyson33

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FWIW, Reverie in my opinion is more or less a return to form. The new main characters are endearing, some of the old class 7 crew had a well-deserved development, and the hook for Daybreak is pretty damn good. It's not perfect, of course. But it's a step in the right direction.

And while I can certainly agree on how badly the romance is handled (especially when you consider Alisa --which I consider the “canon” romance partner-- doesn't have any significant development), I think I'm more disappointed when it comes to the primary motives of Osborne as the main antagonist. I always thought that it would've been amazing if Osborne is just a normal person with grand ambition and political finesse to match, and the only way he can be beaten is because Olivier is actually smarter than him (and the rivalries are just a secondary plot happening in the background). Like, what if the most heinous things he did is because he loved his country and want to see it prosper? And he's willing to achieve all these things without caring about little people and their ordinary lives. The end justifies the means, etc. I think that kind of “evil” is the most interesting to me.

In any case, they try to smooth things over in Reverie regarding this thing, so I'm looking forward to your thoughts then.
this is why Richard is one of my favorite characters in the series, there's still some magical influence there but it's playing off of something similar to what you describe

....it also helps that 3rd is probably my favorite game in the series and he's a completely broken playable character in that
 
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