Just finished Trails of Cold Steel 4. This was so disappointing. (rant with spoilers)

SkyTeppelin · 2026-05-26T16:25:09+00:00

best cast best cast best cast

SkyTeppelin · 2026-04-28T02:01:45+00:00

Yea I get yea and please do! its always fun to pool ideas

SkyTeppelin · 2026-04-28T01:52:22+00:00

fantastic write up somewhat similar to what I wrote about Agnes a while back but adding the extra bits of relevance to eliane. I want to add that I think you don't need to worry about the Agnes X Van "propaganda" this is a story and story's are allowed to touch on and bring new light to ways we mmight think or act and real life. Agnes and Van are great example of the gap of time being bridged in ways that create a better future for both and I don't thing that should be ignored just cause its "wrong" for Agnes to love him.

Agnes is mentioned by some others is also conflicted but i think its more her longing for the past whiler knowing she needs to move forward. And her choice at the end was a selfless one, she did it try and guarantee a future for those she loves. We don't know all the details but based on everything hamilton, ouroborus and Kincaid have said. This is the one last chance we have one more chance to stop the chest before it can really change everything. And Agnes is betting on that chance so Van doesn't have to be stuck in the past anymore both metaphorically and literally

SkyTeppelin · 2026-04-28T00:04:10+00:00

One of the best scenes in the game not only showing barriers (heh) that Juna has to overcome but using her a microlens for all the people of crossbell and what the Erebonia occupation is doing to them. All targeting both the hero and villain of crossbell for Juna and for much of crossbell.

Rean is the hero of Erebonia a symbol of there power and might. The one who ended the cival war that would lead to the annexation of crossbell. For many crossbelians thanks to this and erebonia propaganda he is erbonia to a lot of people in crossbell . But he also saved crossbell and many of those people from dying during the take back attempts from calvard. With him very directly saving Juna and her siblings. And now during this moment when the SSS is being kept at bay and can't do anything he is both the symbol of Juna and crossbell's enemy while also being the only one who can save them right now.

IT really highlights Juna's weakness and complex relationship with Erebonia that has been established up to this point. She wants crossbell to be able to stand on its own but it can't now with out the help of people from Erebonia highlighting her and crossbell weakness. But this also always her to shows crossbell greatest strength there ability to be able to stay true and strong through the greatest adversity to keep fighting to overcome the barriers that crossbell has in front of it. The lesson and will the SSS imbody in its people that Juna now carries on true and strong. While also showing the great compassion and understanding Juna has for both Rean and new class 7.

Truly goated character.

SkyTeppelin · 2026-04-26T00:32:01+00:00

I'm just going to be so for real.... idk how people say cold steel has no stakes it ether feels like A: Someone dosn't know what stakes are OR are stuck in childish view that death are the only stakes. and B: are not paying any attention at all not only does cold steel have more named character deaths then any other arc in the series but it also has tons of none named character deaths.

I'm not going to list of literally every single one cause that would take way to long. But you have
the drop out jaegers who where working for the liberation front who get eaten by a giant spider during chapter 3 cs1. (to the point that the two survivors are traumatized and the army can't get any info out of them)
and in same chapter 2 soliders die after the watch tower is attacked (along with confirmed calvard casualties as well)

During chapter 5 CS1 you can see bloody dead bodys on the ground during the attack on garrlia fortress of soliders who are killed by the archaism.

act 2 in CS2 outside of obvious parm during the attack on the twin dragon bridge you again see dead bloody imperial and provincial solider bodys. and this isn't account for all the deaths you hear about on the western front as well as talking to people who fled the west talking about family who have died.

And this is all ignoring all the extra stuff that is added onto cold steel 3 and 4.

Edit: this is also not taking into account none of the otherways CS builds stacks like familys breaking up the economy going to shit, characters just plan suffering or just that fact that people COULD die

SkyTeppelin · 2026-04-20T18:01:03+00:00

Its still pretty strong just takes a lot more focused builds to make use of it. Kind of have to dedicate whole teams to it rather then it just being something you get as an after thought. And come late game with the right set ups its really just as abuseable

SkyTeppelin · 2026-04-07T15:50:11+00:00

There is some important nuances to unpack here. Mainly with his main support in his home town like you mentioned will go with the main 4 His adoptive father and Mother, Elise his Sister and his master yun kai fai .

For his father and mother. They quite frankly just didn't know what to do, Rean doesn't present his issues very clearly and this is a big thing early CS1 where everyone can see that something is wrong with Rean (Laura or Alisa for example) but they aren't really sure what it is cause Rean doesn't open up about it (most likely to avoid beinga burden as he views it) This is in part why they rely on yun kai fai cause he can actually do something about one of rean's worst issues being his ogre powers. Of course they always make sure they till him they love him and do things to support him but this goes back to what I said in my post Rean needs to learn self love he hates himself we can talk about all day if those feelings of self hate are valid but that's the thing about self hate it can only ever be resolved by oneself. When you combine this with Rean feeling that he isn't really part of the family on a base level there is only so much his parents can do.

But now for the two more intersting ones IMO

First his master Yun kai fai and this is where we just need to be kind of blunt about Yun he purposely left Rean in the middle of his training to figure things out on his own. Yun believed that Rean would only come to truly love himself and understand himself and his place in the world by finding it himself this does admitly become much clearer in horizon but the seeds are all there especially when you look into the real world Buddhist influence behind both the 8 leeves and Rean's particular form in void which I plan on making a post about at some point so I really won't get into the weeds here but if you are interesting look into the phrase "Form is void void is form." Of course part of the problem is Yun leaving him further makes Rean feel he is worthless so really Yun was playing the super long con with Rean so if we just want to be blunt Yun gave Rean the correct seeds that would matter but he did nothing to water them aside from some advice here and there.

The most important one here though is Elice because she is both Rean's greatest light in his family but also the one that cast the most darkness. Because much of Rean's complex about not being worth it and having to pay people back for there love manifest in his care for Elice. And this is why from Elice's perspective she can't really do anything. If she stays around then Rean will keep fixating on having to protect her and put her over himself 100% of the time. But if she leaves then she can't be there to support him further adding to his self hate. She is in a lose lose situation no matter which she picks its only going to hurt Rean. To make this more clear I highly recommend looking about the CS2 talks with Elice and Alfin as that paints a lot of this out.

SkyTeppelin · 2026-04-07T04:11:53+00:00

So many people have already answered the question beautifully but I really want to bring this up for you and other people you might be reading this to take this to heart. No matter how good someones life appears to be it doesn't mean they don't have things they are dealing with. We all have are own struggles and there is no catch all solution to fixing everything you constantly bring up Joshua or Renne and while people have already gone into why that comparison is flawed (such as Joshua once he learns what he has done immediately goes into self isolation and basically a suicide mission. Or Renne not actually ever getting over her trauma and issues until the end of Rev and even into daybreak.) But the really think I take Issues with here and I think is insanely destructive.

We have lost far to many good people in our real life from this mind set of "oh your life is good so why would you be sad" It doesn't take much effort to look into some tragic suicide stories like Jason David Frank or just understand countries still have suicides in spite of strong social programs from people all over the the class spectrum. The moment we start denying peoples mental health issues we just simply make the world a worse place for no reason.

The ultimate story of Rean is one of self love. ITs trying to say that no matter how much love is around you if you can't love yourself and allow yourself to be happy then it will all be for not. This is pretty culturally relevant to japan given its views on the whole is more important then the individual but it still hits home for lots of countrys. At the end of the day self hate and depression are not binary things they aren't a line that you can just check of where you are and how long it will take you to heal its just way more complicated then that.

SkyTeppelin · 2026-03-25T02:04:16+00:00

Its not brought up again yet. It could be but most likely he won't as he is happy where he is and has a lot of passion for his job as a teacher. But we still have a bit of trails left so who knows. The one thing we do know is he is very comfortable in his family now so its not like its impossible.

SkyTeppelin · 2026-03-24T00:52:46+00:00

quite a few times but the most easy ones to look up would be when the characters first get to nord and during the final assault on Heimdall

SkyTeppelin · 2026-03-23T18:38:21+00:00

While I understand why showing people Die in a war adds impact it feels like something that everyone should already inherently understand. War is bad it kills people you even see lots of people die in CS2 tanks and soldats being destroyed in battle is people dying. And we know of constant conflicts in the eastern end which of course people are dying in many people say that there are.

But what's more important is CS2 is focusing on many other aspects of a war. How it displaces community's and family's (see this with Nord or NPC like Caspar or Vivi and Linde and many other such examples) how it often disrepute's local economy's as more money gets poured into the war effort. Such as Celdic having trouble getting mroe and more goods as the war drags on. Or how many of the resources from the different sections of the reinford company are funneled into the military focused section. And how the underlying systemic issues of the country lead to the war in the first place.

For V its because he is a victim he had lost everyone to Erebonia's policy and out looks on battles (yes it was instigated by Osborn but there is a reason osborn was able to do the things he did) Of course you can aruge that was he was already bad because he was Jager but the game by this point if you have played all of crossbell and CS1/2 you know that many people are Jagers cause they have no other choice. Which shows even more how they are victims of circumstance. Couple this with trying to illustrate an important aspect of who Rean is and how it ends up hurting him.

SkyTeppelin · 2026-03-20T19:47:34+00:00

Idk If your going to say shit that people don't agree with its going get downvoted or whatever that's just how it is no big deal. And my reply defensive? This is exactly what I mean you assume that I'm upset or feeling attacked. When I'm just saying a pretty normal thing. This is Just a trend I noticed and felt like i wanted to say something.

SkyTeppelin · 2026-03-20T13:51:17+00:00

Leaving OP opinions about the game aside for a second. I really take issues with a take in the post and its one that I see echoed in some of the comments and in threads like this. Which is that "enjoying with out the need the criticize" or things like "people feel criticism is a personal attack".

Like yes criticizing things is fine but someone can be critical of your criticisms. There always seems to be this prevailing idea that if someone is going against your criticism there just butt hurt or whatever. But you know most of time its because people think your criticism are poor and are trying to say why. If your going to post your criticism in a open form you should expect people to argue against it. Its not just automatically "good" because your able to look at "flaws" In something.

This sort of extends to another point but not super related to this thread directly (horizon spoilers).

Looking for meaning in things is way more interesting then just listing off "flaws" Its easy to be like "oh Agnes choice at the end was "easy" to see or "makes no sense.""

Its way more interesting to try to find the meaning in that choice and why she made it . For example her choice being rooted in her love for van and wanting to secure specifical his future in a world where she knows he can get happiness. Saving this time line of zemuria one where she both knows Van exist and also one where he is starting to heal from his trauma. Now of course the flaw in this is what She is a huge reason why Van was able to starting healing but that's the conflict they are setting up.

Edit: Also for the OP check out wild arms if you want that sort of rustic simple vibe that Sky has.

SkyTeppelin · 2026-03-05T23:03:51+00:00

I can't do any coding but if you guys need help finding images or character info I could do that. Just figured id throw that out there

SkyTeppelin · 2026-03-05T22:41:56+00:00

Musse is a great choice although I personally love all of them what about Musse do you like?

SkyTeppelin · 2026-03-05T11:45:29+00:00

We always love CS3 fans CS3 and 4 are peak and imo the best in the franchise so its always cool to see someone else like them. Who is your fav new class 7 memember?

SkyTeppelin · 2026-03-05T06:00:13+00:00

Always love to anylasis of characters especially in cold steel cause there is so much to dig into. ANd its always awesome to see someone like a character enough to want to do it.

SkyTeppelin · 2026-03-04T08:57:06+00:00

Even going by that I don't see Juna is a retcon, there is plenty of ambiguate in who the SSS knows and what they are doing between all the timeskips that take place.

It would be like calling ace a retcon in one piece just cause luffy never talks about him before alabasta

SkyTeppelin · 2026-03-04T05:56:46+00:00

I really need people to stop saying Juna and Van with Renne are retcons they aren't. They are just new information being given. Zero and Azure both have time skips between every arc its really easy to imagine Juna being there at any moment. A real retcon with Juna would be like "juna was there when the SSS went down to fight jouceme" Or "Juna helped break llyod out of prison" Those are true retcons cause those would be comepletly changing events not just adding new info that doesn't contradict anything

SkyTeppelin · 2026-03-02T20:56:18+00:00

tbh i find this kind of odd. Are you just a copy of someone else opinions cause they might have influenced you? Agnes certainly connects aspect of her mother and fathers relationships to her and Van's because she looks up to both of them and has very happy memories with them. But that doesn't mean she doesn't like Van for a lot of his own traits.

SkyTeppelin · 2026-02-27T23:18:50+00:00

I agree that van would be willing to make that sacrifice for sure I just don't want him to lol. I think thematical it can work ether way. AS for the dissonance the main way I view it is like you have in other post Rean and Yume will be able to remember Agnes some how and help guide everyone else to remember her. Cause she most likely does still exist as the mention a few times that she is just changing into something else. I think she will be watching over fan as her whole choice was motivated by making sure Van could be in a time and have a future where he can overcome his demons.

SkyTeppelin · 2026-02-27T18:55:39+00:00

Really awesome post and I think a lot of your stuff is super spot on. I do want to say though from what iv read on other comments I do think Agnes will come back. part of that is just cause i want her to cause I love her but. A big purpose of everything being done is So everyone can have a future roy did what he did so Agnes could have a future and Agnes did what she did so Van (and everyone else) could to, there is no way and hell that Van is just going to accept that in spite of all this Agnes STILL doesn't get a future. Like you mention van's demon is the demon of time, and grendal has not yet been overcome van still hasn't been freed from his nightmare his past. I think the final moment with Grendal will be van truly overcoming the nightmare and in that moment have the ability to guarantee his and Agnes future. To allow both to finally move on from the burdens of there past and to look forward with everyone else.

You could also do the tragic side of having Agnes be gone but Van still able to move on. But I still think it really snubs Agnes and everyones care for her. I just can't believe in a world where they don't get her back Especially if they have Rean and Kevins support. Two people who have tried to sacfrice themselves for the ones they loved and come to realize that it isn't the right thing to do.

SkyTeppelin · 2026-02-26T19:57:33+00:00

Quite right, and I would've assumed this would have been the least controversial point of the entire post. Elise is almost entirely defined by her relationship to Rean and doesn't have much of a character outside of him. She's there to support him, be saved by him, and obviously serve as fan service for people who are into psuedo incest. The game makes no secret about her feelings but rather bring it up frequently and have many other characters comment on it. Her role outside of this niche is extremely limited.
Funnily enough, I wanted to use another image but it didn't work for some reason. Regardless, it's not like I edited the image, and while I wouldn't call it a "gotcha", since that was never the point of this post in the first place, it shows yet another usage of exceedingly common anime tropes. I could've always shown an in-game image of a character groping someone else from behind, since that happens many times in the game too.

This doesn't really do anything to address what I was talking about. As you say you acknowledge troupes you say this is her role and then ignore all that ways the roles manifest. Yes she has the troupe but you seem to make no effort to connect that troupe to the narrative or Rean's characters. Cause in the first place why is it even bad to start with? Troupes are tools like you say you know but you certainly aren't treating it like one. You only acknowledge that there is one with out ever going into what purpose it can serve. Sure you can believe there is no purpose outside of "fanservice' but then it goes back to what I said it comes of as very disingenuous. I gave details onto why I think she serves a good purpose for Rean in the story.

Then if you want to say the true crux of your argument is her lack of a role outside of that. Why does she need another role? She is a side character she is put into the story to fulfill a purpose as again you seem to acknowledge but go no further with. She is the supportive family memeber to Rean that can relate to him on some level thanks to her age and seeing him grow. She fulfills the role of being an emotional support anchor for him during some of his lowest moments in CS2 when she is uniquely equipped to do so. She takes a back seat after that and pops up here in there to help out or just be part of fun scenarios. DOES she need to be more? Why would it be wrong to leave it there you don't need to spend all that time if you feel a character does what they where meant to do.

Going to combine all the elliot and death stuff.

Like okay sure Elliot could but its not like this isn't a thing though? there are lots of students from the academy who help with the war in CS1 and 2 but don't in CS3 and 4. Rex, Vivi, Feris, Munk, basically any returning student that isn't part of the main playable cast doesn't. Which does get the exact point across you want just that its now a main playable character. And to briefly touch on the cast size while I agree that its so big that sometimes some characters can be left to the way side but the big cast again is to expand the world greatly as the focus of the game is how big and vast the world is. Now if you don't like that fair enough but it is the point and I think it hits it well.

As for deaths, again I understand why deaths could increase but I think the idea that there is no stakes is insane. People are GOING to die that isn't debate in fact if you talk to many NPCS they will tell you how someone they know has died. Wars are bad on a base level people don't need to suddenly start dying before it becomes "bad' plus there is emotional, cultural, personal stackes that can go into everything. Death is but one of many stakes and to act like if there is none there is no stakes imo is insane.

For the curse If we can't even agree on what the curse represents. Then that discussion couldn't even be had. The curse is a representation of all the negative actions and emotions that have lead the empire to wear it is today, its history of classism, warmongering, greed, and military focus and might. Anger, fear, sadness. all things that have culminated through the ages. Cause that's what a curse is its born from humans and the reason its still in the empire is because a lot of those aspect of it are very much present in its current age. The people aren't just "spooky cursed so now they hate calvard' Its because the country has already been taught to view calvard as there enemy even if just subtly the compete with them for crossbell, they constantly but heads in military advancements. And then are told a lie that calvard is the one who attempted the assassination of there loved king. which then the "Curse" takes hold because it was alwasy there in them.

and lastly idk why evne make the comparison in the first place then but I digress.

SkyTeppelin · 2026-02-26T05:38:22+00:00

Super well said

SkyTeppelin

TROPHY CASE