/!\ SPOILER WARNING FOR COLD STEEL 3 AND 4 /!\
To this day I still don't understand what the vision was with this game, and how this script was somehow greenlighted.
Multiple hundreds of hours of build up for this game to deliver in the absolute worst way possible. The plot itself and it's execution is EXTREMELY wacky. Multiple characters turned into caricatures of themselves, some that don't even get their awaited character development AT ALL. Female characters don't even get the freedom to have character development by themselves in bonding events without Rean stealing their own growth and screen time, because they wanted to accommodate for romances (WHILE SOME OF THEM ARE MINORS MIND YOU) that didn't even manage to feel a little satisfying. (I would even go as far as calling it blatant misogyny)
Themes from the previous Cold Steel entries, like the class system dilemma, do not even show up ONCE, when it was highlighted as one of the core struggles of Erebonia. All because they chose to represent the history of this country through a "metaphoric" curse extremely heavy handed; that does NOT get the point across whatsoever, unless you try to read into it extensively (quite shameful for a series of FOUR GAMES to build into it). Because of that, side quest were extremely gutted and are at their absolute worst in the series, and I don't think any Trails game will ever be able to top that.
Rean, who had one of the of the most satisfying growths in CS1 and 2, and had an extremely promising setup in CS3 (in theory), becomes COMPLETELY LOBOTOMIZED. The protagonist goes through a complete regression, which could've been fine, if temporary, but lasts until the near end of the Finale. Not to mention, this game tries it's HARDEST to make this guy not take any accountability for his actions, even if he was constrained, all the Class VII characters in this game do nothing besides babysitting him and saying "Rean..." over and over again, was genuinely rage inducing. That and the fact that nothing was done about the whole regression, and that Crow, who had a way better setup for it, got completely disregarded aside from his (MISSABLE) last character note, can only leave the most painful taste in my mouth, and was frankly enough to almost disgust me of the entire character that is Rean.
The second worst character of this arc I want to talk about is the quintessential "Potential Woman" of this series by a long shot, Juna Crawford. A character with the most promising introduction of the arc, being actively hostile towards Rean and echoing the conflict caused by Crossbell's annexation, which shines, more or less, in Chapter 2 of CS3. Which amounted to ABSOLUTELY NOTHING after this very chapter, everything and everyone acts like it never happened and Juna turns from a really interesting character to a mindless bot, that always acts optimistic, and that is put "at the center of New Class VII" in the most forced, fakest way possible; and that, from this point on, does NOTHING except undermining other characters, with the most blatant example being Ash in CS4's Prologue in Hamel. Out of all characters, I think the character that represents the mediocrity of CS3 and especially 4's writing, is without a doubt Juna Crawford, that I've sadly yet found a way to enjoy despite my earnest efforts.
Ouroboros, despite how much I wanna like them, goes through their biggest credibility loss in both of those games, by doing absolutely nothing besides messing around and vagueposting for absolutely no reason besides keeping the "Fool" appearance. The only interesting thing Ouroboros related in both of those games, is Arianrhod's own plan getting revealed (and absolutely butchered in her own dungeon because of how abysmal the quality of the dialogues were), and McBurn acting rogue and mentioning what he discovered about his origins and the world beyond Zemuria (which, despite being a great scene, feels like an incredibly heavy handed lore dump if you only take into account CS4 and not the games after it.). Which for the main villain organization, and compared to a game like Sky SC SPECIFICALLY, is honestly nothing less than shameful.
But despite everything negative I have to say about every other characters there is in this game. I instead wanna focus on what this game actually managed to do right.
To me, there were 5 characters who particularly stood out in terms of writing quality : Rufus, Jusis and Ash, which quite frankly, I cannot even find a weakness in their writing in this game somehow; and Osborne and Duvalie, which despite the abysmal plot, basically fulfilled their roles as much as they could, and did it quite well.
I do also think that the final stretch (from the point of no return to the end), was really nice despite it all. And the music and gameplay we're still good besides some stinkers here and there in the music department (although that's only a recurring theme from CS3 onward)
However, I sadly did not find a single redeeming quality in any of the other moments. The other characters I didn't mention range from being absolutely horrible to passable. I genuinely think that, if it wasn't for Reverie's godlike salvaging, on top of being an awesome game altogether; and Daybreak, which was a very needed turnover from the Cold Steel arc, and one of my favorite experiences in gaming as a whole, I would've lost my passion for this series.
And the worst part is, after playing both of CS3 and CS4, I've yet to recover the same amount of passion I felt when I was playing from FC through CS2, which is nothing less than a tragedy, for a series that I was so obsessed with.
