Info about The Legend of Heroes: Sen no Kiseki IV -THE END OF SAGA-:

Official game description:
THE LEGEND OF HEROES: SEN NO KISEKI IV -THE END OF SAGA, the final chapter of the story-driven RPG series SEN NO KISEKI, is finally here!  
The Erebonian Empire is covered with a curse due to The Great Twilight. As it plunges headlong into a great war with the Republic of Calvard, what will the remaining members of the old and new Class VII do? And what fate awaits Rean Schwarzer, the "Ashen Chevalier" who has lost himself after being swallowed up by his rampaging ogre powers?  
High-speed Skip Mode and Auto Battle Mode are featured from THE LEGEND OF HEROES: SEN NO KISEKI IV Super Price version, which was released in Japan. In addition, the Steam® version allows you to switch between events, fields, and battles at up to 6x speed, making gameplay even smoother than ever!  
All the characteristics of the Trails series - new areas, cameos from older series, lots of mini-games, expansive quests featuring loads of characters - are packed into the final game in the series.

Release date: Dec 22, 2021

Categories: Turn-based RPG, Character Progression, Story-driven Gameplay, Multiple Endings, Mini-games, Character Customization, Equipment Customization, Narrative-driven Gameplay


- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price: No data
- Playtime Metrics:
  - Game completion: 90.0h
  - Story completion: 45.9h
  - Session length: N/A
  - Endgame: N/A
  - Reasoning: The evidence provides several direct references to playtime metrics. The first quote mentions a total playtime of 45.9 hours for completing the game, which aligns with the game completion metric. The second quote discusses specific battle mechanics and their duration, which can be indicative of session length and endgame content. The third quote provides a detailed account of a player's total playtime for achieving full completion, which supports the game completion metric. The fourth quote aggregates the total playtime across multiple games in the series, reinforcing the game completion metric.
- Time-to-fun: No data
- Player Archetypes:
  - Series Veteran (sale)
    - Motivation: Nostalgia and series completion
    - Playstyle: Comprehensive playthrough with attention to story and character arcs
    - Experience: veteran
    - Purchase stance: sale
    - Labels: 老玩家; 系列粉丝
    - Reference games: 英雄传说：空之轨迹; 英雄传说：零之轨迹; 英雄传说：碧之轨迹
  - Critical Newcomer (deep sale)
    - Motivation: Story and gameplay quality
    - Playstyle: Casual playthrough with focus on main story
    - Experience: newcomer
    - Purchase stance: deep sale
    - Labels: 新人
    - Reference games: 其他RPG游戏
  - Nostalgic Fan (buy)
    - Motivation: Emotional connection and series completion
    - Playstyle: Comprehensive playthrough with focus on story and character interactions
    - Experience: veteran
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: 老玩家; 系列粉丝
    - Reference games: 英雄传说：空之轨迹; 英雄传说：零之轨迹; 英雄传说：碧之轨迹


Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category.
Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews.
What players like:
- Emotionally impactful storyline (weight 0.72): The game features a highly emotional and engaging storyline that immerses players and creates a strong attachment to the characters. The story progression and development are praised for their depth and impact.
- Satisfying conclusion (weight 0.5): The game offers a satisfying story conclusion, including a true ending that provides emotional resolution. The ending scenes are well-received for their emotional impact and satisfying nature.
- Character development and interactions (weight 0.39): Players appreciate the character development and growth throughout the game. The interactions between characters are enjoyable and add depth to the overall experience.
- Returning characters and cameos (weight 0.37): The inclusion of previous protagonists and characters from earlier games is a highlight. Fans enjoy the cameo appearances and the return of familiar characters, which adds to the emotional connection.
- Enjoyable combat and mini-games (weight 0.35): The combat system, including turn-based combat, is praised for being balanced and engaging. Mini-games are also highlighted as enjoyable and fun.
- Improved gameplay and pacing (weight 0.18): The gameplay experience is noted for its maturity and improvements. The story pacing is tighter compared to previous installments, making the overall experience more engaging.
- Recommendations for new players (weight 0.1): The game provides recommendations for the playing order, which is helpful for new players. This guidance enhances the overall experience and enjoyment of the story.
- High-quality character models (weight 0.1): The character models are significantly improved compared to previous games. The handling of returning characters is also well-received.

Common complaints:
- Shallow character development (weight 0.42): Many players noted that the character development in the game is lacking and shallow. Some characters are underdeveloped, and the main character's development is particularly criticized for being insufficient.
- Repetitive dialogue and gameplay (weight 0.41): The game suffers from repetitive dialogue and gameplay elements. Players find the dialogue unconvincing and the repetitive nature of the content tiring.
- Overwhelming number of characters (weight 0.19): The game introduces too many characters, leading to fatigue and management difficulties. This high volume of characters can be overwhelming for players.
- Story feels padded (weight 0.15): Players feel that the story is padded to increase playtime, making the game feel dragged out and tedious.
- Combat issues (weight 0.15): The game has issues with combat, including excessive combat, difficulty imbalances, and combat being too easy.
- Unresolved story elements (weight 0.11): The game leaves several story elements and character arcs unresolved, which can be frustrating for players.
- Side quests are boring (weight 0.1): The side quests in the game are expanded but are often found to be boring by players.
- Slow pacing (weight 0.1): The pacing of the story is slow, particularly in the first half, which can make the game feel sluggish.
- Poor optimization (weight 0.1): The game has poor optimization, leading to high CPU usage and performance issues.
- Bonding system issues (weight 0.09): The bonding system in the game is poorly implemented and unsatisfactory, affecting player engagement.
- Criticism of later story (weight 0.09): The story in the later parts of the game receives significant criticism for its quality and execution.
- Unnecessary plot elements (weight 0.09): The game includes unnecessary and similar plot elements that do not add value to the story.
- Childish and clichéd story (weight 0.09): At times, the story feels childish and clichéd, which can be off-putting for some players.
- Save file issues (weight 0.09): There are issues with save file compatibility and folder management, causing inconvenience for players.
- Attribute imbalance in combat (weight 0.08): There are imbalances in combat attributes, with certain attacks not breaking weaknesses as expected.

Gameplay feedback:
- Rich Story-Driven Gameplay (weight 0.37): The game emphasizes a strong narrative focus, with players highlighting the story-driven gameplay and progression. This includes the main storyline as well as side quests and subquests that add depth to the overall experience.
- Character Progression and Customization (weight 0.33): Players appreciate the detailed character progression systems, including equipment management and customization. This allows for a personalized gaming experience and adds depth to character development.
- Engaging Battle Scenes (weight 0.26): Players enjoy the battle scenes, particularly the boss battles, which are noted for their strategic depth and increased difficulty. The use of defense is crucial in these battles, and the overall battle system is well-designed.
- Variety of Gameplay Mechanics (weight 0.26): The game features a variety of gameplay mechanics, including turn-based combat, map movement, and mini-games like fishing and card games. These mechanics add depth and variety to the gameplay experience.
- Emotional Impact and Investment (weight 0.19): The game creates a strong emotional impact and investment in characters, with themes of war and peace adding to the narrative depth. Players become emotionally attached to the characters and their stories.
- Multiple Endings (weight 0.15): The game features multiple endings, encouraging players to engage in multiple playthroughs to explore different outcomes and enhancing replayability.
- Collection and Exploration Aspects (weight 0.14): The game includes collection aspects and encourages group exploration, adding to the overall engagement and replayability. The game requires a significant time investment, around 200-300 hours, to complete fully.
- Large Roster of Characters (weight 0.11): The game offers a large number of playable characters, providing variety and allowing players to choose from a diverse set of characters.
- Innovative Systems and Mechanics (weight 0.11): The game features interesting systems and mechanics, such as the magic system and strategic depth, which add to the overall complexity and enjoyment of the gameplay.
- Achievement and Experience Systems (weight 0.1): The game includes an achievements system and an experience system that reward players for their progress and accomplishments, adding an extra layer of engagement.
- Interconnected Game Series (weight 0.1): The game is part of a series with multiple interconnected games, suggesting a rich and expansive universe that players can explore across different titles.

Performance notes:
- Performance and Optimization Issues (weight 0.23): The game suffers from poor optimization, leading to slow loading times, high CPU usage, and lag during loading. Some players noted that disabling the shader cache improves performance.
- Various Sound Issues (weight 0.19): Players reported multiple sound-related problems, including glitches, stuttering background music, echoing sounds, and delayed or missing audio.
- Frequent Crashes and Bugs (weight 0.12): The game is plagued by frequent bugs and crashes, which significantly impact the player experience and game stability.
- Save Bugs (weight 0.07): There are issues with the game's save function, which can impact player progress and overall satisfaction.
- Performance Issues in Key Scenes (weight 0.06): The game experiences poor performance during critical scenes, particularly the final battle, which affects the overall gameplay experience.
- Scene Transition Freezing (weight 0.06): Players reported issues with scene transitions freezing, which disrupts the flow of the game.
- Graphical Improvements Noted (weight 0.06): Players acknowledged improvements in the game's graphics compared to previous iterations, highlighting visual enhancements.
- Technical Skills Recognized (weight 0.06): The game's technical aspects were praised, indicating a recognition of the development team's technical skills.
- Specific Battle Bug (weight 0.06): There is a noted bug with the battle against Roselia, which affects gameplay during this specific encounter.

Recommendations:
- For series fans only (weight 0.34): The game is primarily recommended for deep fans of the series or those who have completed the previous parts. It is not considered accessible or enjoyable for new players.
- Play earlier games first (weight 0.23): Reviewers suggest that new players should start with earlier games in the series for a better understanding and experience. Playing the entire series is recommended for the full experience.
- Wait for discounts (weight 0.05): Some reviewers suggest waiting for discounts to reduce the cost of entry, indicating that the game might not be worth the full price for everyone.

Other player notes:
- Poor event trigger documentation (weight 0.07): The game lacks clear documentation on the specific conditions required to trigger certain events. Players have expressed frustration due to the lack of information.

Emotions:
- Frustration (weight 0.22): Players are frustrated with various aspects of the game, including storyline issues, character development problems, and repetitive gameplay mechanics. Performance issues such as frequent crashes, bugs, and high CPU usage also contribute to this frustration. Additionally, the repetitive story structure, excessive dialogue, and tedious side quests add to the overall dissatisfaction.
- Satisfaction (weight 0.16): Players express satisfaction with the game's resolution of the war crisis and the emotional farewell, which provides a sincere conclusion. The overall gameplay experience, including the battle system, character designs, and story conclusion, is well-received. The smooth gameplay experience and the resolution of issues in later updates also contribute to this satisfaction.
- Disappointment (weight 0.13): Players feel disappointed due to unimpressive characters and story segments, as well as unsatisfactory endings for certain characters. The repetitive gameplay and poor physical gameplay mechanics, along with various aspects of the game not meeting expectations, contribute to this disappointment. Frequent bugs and crashes also affect the overall experience negatively.
- Nostalgia (weight 0.11): Players feel nostalgic about the story conclusion and cameo appearances, reflecting on their long-term experience with the series. The emotional impact of returning characters and certain scenes, as well as the inclusion of previous protagonists, evoke a sense of nostalgia.
- Joy (weight 0.09): Players experience joy from the emotional storyline and character growth, as well as the engaging gameplay and story. The satisfying ending and overall positive experience with the series, along with enjoyable art, music, and combat system, contribute to this joy.
- Disappointment (weight 0.03): Players express disappointment with the storyline and character development.
- Anger (weight 0.02): Players are angry due to poor story and character development, as well as game crashing issues that result in lost progress.
- Excitement (weight 0.02): Players are excited about the engaging story progression and are looking forward to the next game in the series.
- Happiness (weight 0.02): Players are happy with the perfect ending and personal enjoyment of the soundtrack, as well as the positive aspects of the gameplay and story.
- Engagement (weight 0.02): Players are engaged by the immersive and emotionally engaging story, as well as the emotional impact of certain scenes.
- Frustrated (weight 0.01): Players are frustrated with unresolved story elements, over-reliance on a single plot device, and excessive and repetitive dialogue.
- Satisfaction (weight 0.01): Players are satisfied with the ending of the game.
- Fatigue (weight 0.01): Players feel fatigued due to the exhausting story and tedious daily life segments, as well as the story structure being too similar to previous installments.
- Hopeful (weight 0.01): Players are hopeful about hearing the original 'I Swear' at the end of the second game.
- Disappointed (weight 0.01): Players are disappointed with the repetitive dialogue and overuse of certain tropes in the game.
- Nostalgic (weight 0.01): Players feel nostalgic about the emotional payoff for long-time players and character reunions.
- Overwhelmed (weight 0.01): Players feel overwhelmed by the large number of characters, making equipment setting and leveling up difficult.
- Satisfied (weight 0.01): Players feel satisfied with the emotional resolution at the end of the game.
- Accomplished (weight 0.01): Players feel a sense of accomplishment after completing the series.
- Bored (weight 0.01): Players feel bored due to the story padding to increase playtime.}