Does it get better after Act 2?

[Histidine]

I finished Act 2 last night, and hoo boy, there were so many problems with the finale that I could write a rant as long as my previous CS3 one or more just on this one scene.

I need a short break from the game anyway, but I've also briefly contemplated dropping it indefinitely. Which would be a huge shame after having finished all the Sky, Crossbell and previous CS games.

So I guess I have two questions (I'd probably prefer not to read concrete spoilers, but feel free to post them with the appropriate tags anyway):

1) Does the remainder of the game actually explain why the enemies keep 'going easy' on the heroes and generally not 'playing to win' (especially Ouroboros, which has kept doing this since Sky SC)? Or better yet, does it stop doing that thing?

(I assume this issue for CS4 so far is due to waiting to execute the Rivalries, but if that kicks off and the problem still remains, I'm gonna be so mad)

2) Does it still end up being a """war story""" with zero confirmed deaths?

[DarrkPhoenix]

1) There is a bit of an implied explanation, although it's rather unsatisfying. Basically your group never really poses a threat to the plans of Osborne and Ouroboros, and your activities are generally either neutral or even beneficial to their plans, so they have no reason to want to take you out. Some of the later fights are at least cast as proper, "to the end" fights where everyone is going all out, but most still really come across as semi-friendly duels rather than a proper clash between groups with opposing goals and principles.

2) There are a couple of on-screen adversary deaths towards the end, but for the most part yes, it's a war story without any deaths. The Red Constellation attack in Azure carried a far greater sense of impact than anything around what's supposed to be a war that could consume the whole continent.

[DeathHydra]

1. There is an explanation, somewhat, if you finish the game. Whether the explanation is satisfactory or not is up to you.

2. There are a few on-screen deaths, but yes, most of the big names are still alive. You can probably already guess who they are, but just to give you a hint, they were kinda already dead anyway, so it's hard to classify that as deaths . Most of the deaths only happen to the unnamed soldier. Even most of the named NPC, if not all, are still alive.

I would suggest to just finish the game, anyway. You're already this far into the journey of Cold Steel arc, you might as well just finish it.

[Histidine]

Thanks, both of you.

I ended up continuing anyway for different reasons (specifically, I saw Thedarkkn1ght's CS3 combat guide[gamefaqs.gamespot.com] and wanted to try some gameplay stuff).

[Ogami]

There are actually a nice few revelations later, especially about Ouroboros and their goals.
The Ouroboros stuff is still the main overarching story though and they wont reveal everything already when they plan to publish another 10 games or so in the franchise for the complete story.
But there is definitely progress on that front at the end of Cold Steel 4 and especially during the next game Hajimari no Kiseki.

Act 2 in general is the weakest part of Cold Steel 4 with the characters just aimlessly meandering about with not much happening.

As for the " Nobody of any importance dies" problem, yeah, that wont change. Its just the formula by now for these games and one of the most common critics about it, even in Japan.

The newest game in the series that just released in Japan "Kuro no Kiseki" seems to be a step in the right direction in that regard with a much darker storyline and not being afraid to kill of characters for the plot development.

[Histidine]

Update: Finished the game (including second ending), and I didn't hate it, there were some parts I genuinely liked. Although large portions of the final day were a drag, and the true final boss was like, "you didn't think you were getting out of this without a one winged angel fight, did you"

but also

like

Based on the replies to my question in this thread, I was thinking of the Great War arc as "this is not a war, it is an extremely expensive LARP". But I was not expecting the Eventide chapter to validate my opinion this thoroughly.

If I wanted to give CSIV (and the whole CS arc in general, really) a backhanded compliment, I'd say that the core Trails formula is so good, even Falcom can't ♥♥♥♥ it up. Ha!

[Velorien]

Originally posted by DarrkPhoenix:

1) There is a bit of an implied explanation, although it's rather unsatisfying. Basically your group never really poses a threat to the plans of Osborne and Ouroboros, and your activities are generally either neutral or even beneficial to their plans, so they have no reason to want to take you out. Some of the later fights are at least cast as proper, "to the end" fights where everyone is going all out, but most still really come across as semi-friendly duels rather than a proper clash between groups with opposing goals and principles.

My interpretation is that Osborne is fine with you running around because he wants Rean to stop him in the end and Ishmelga is fine with you running around because by resisting, you're increasing the amount of conflict in Erebonia, which supports its end goal. Ouroboros, of course, just wants to see what humanity does with the Sept-Terrions, and if you defeat Osborne and make that decision instead of him, that's as good an answer as any.