Trails of Cold Steel 3+4: PS5 Port Review - Fine but with some confusing problems

[@Themperror1]

Hey, by pure coincidence I stumbled on this video. I'm one of the devs who worked on these ports (along with Ys8 and Ys9), I'd like to address a few points :) I can't remember all the details as vividly as it''s been quite a while already but let me start with saying the port was definitely not based off the switch version, We used the PC codebase as our starting point. The stuttering issue you mention, weirdly I never noticed this myself, its odd that it got past our QA as well, stuttering would definitely be on our to-fix list had we known about it. Another odd thing is the audio, you mentioned it specific lines, which likely explain why we never noticed it (We usually only test parts of scenes & scenarios ourselves, its quite a big game after all), I don't believe we touched any sound files at all so it's likely a bug in our audio backend. I also never knew of that color issue between resolutions you mention at the start, very strange! Lastly I'd like to say I backported the SSAO from ToCS4 to ToCS3 as a bonus which seemingly not a lot of people noticed, it helps quite a bit with the groundedness of everything. If NISA ever asks us for another update we'll probably fix it all if we can, but I don't deem the chances high right now.

[@Kraftium]

Oh thanks for chiming in I appricate it, its interesting to see a professional actually talk about it (I'm just a hobbiest who's learnt everything via osmosis so its nice to get some more concrete info) Apologises if I came off as a bit nitpicky I just wanted to be as thorough as possible I didn't realise OG CS3 didn't have SSAO thats surprising so kudos to back porting that stuff thats really cool

[@Themperror1]

​@@Kraftium its totally fine :) When you release a game to millions of people they tend to find stuff you missed, especially in large games such as these!

[@stealth0n]

The camera hitching in cutscenes is really noticeable unfortunately. It happens in a regular gameplay too, but it's much more distracting when the camera moves in a cutscene. Also, the shadow aliasing is noticeably worse than in PS4 versions, perhaps there's a story to it? I understand that your position as a dev means you don't make any business decisions, but it would be great if you could somehow ask your managers to contact NISA and offer to make patches based on player feedback (similar feedback could be found on Reddit and even on Amazon's comment section for the games' listing)

[@femto8402]

@@stealth0n Man the shadows looks so bad I can't believe they left it in the final release. Same for the framerate and sound issues, these problems appear from the beginning of the game. And I really don't understand why there is still no anti-aliasing at all on Ps5. I wish Nisa asked ph3 to do the conversions, these guys never disappoint.

[@sextonj87]

I'm sure you probably can't answer this, but any chance or rumblings heard of a dual release of Cold Steel I and II for PS5 like III and IV had?

[@Blaze1101]

I can confirm it’s 2 discs in one case 👍🏻

[@alumlovescake]

I am surprised NISA keeps doing these. Now scare Digital Foundry into doing the next trails game

[@Kraftium]

Competition is good for everyone

[@LaserGlow]

Thank you for blessing us once again with a Port Report oh mighty Kraft.

[@Kraftium]

any time my dood

[@NeoArashi]

4:30 I confirm, games come in TWO discs when bough physically. One for each games.

[@PeterHuynhGaming]

Great review/analaysis! Honestly I love anything Trails, so this was an easy buy for me. I just received mine today, and there are 2 discs in the box.

[@Kraftium]

ey glad you enjoyed it and thanks for letting us know about the discs

[@felixcomgeass]

The English voice cast had some covid issues. Maybe they tired to reddit it in this port.

[@Desumundo]

Yeah because during that time the protocols was super strict some of the original VA didn't comeback such Osborn, Laura, Leonidas etc. Glad that we got Mcburn/Lechter VA in Reverie again.

[@perlaskowato]

Thanks for the review and mentioning the frame rate issue which I find really irritating and it ruins the game for me a little. I specifically bought the PS5 version, wanting to buy a physical copy, thinking it would be the most issue-free one and I'm disappointed and my "day is ruined". For anyone wondering, the hitching problem IS NOT resolved, at least not in CS III, lowering the resolution in PS5 's menu is not solving it either.

[@100Servings]

I never really appreciated quality anti-aliasing until I played Alien Isolation. On the PS3 it was atrocious to the point that your character breathing makes the environment look like it's moving all the time, even when you're holding still. In that game, it's a real problem, because everything looks like the xenomorph sneaking up on you in the dark. On PC, this can be fixed with a mod hilariously called "Alias Isolation". Your ability to be bothered by the most minute details will always amuse me. I guess it's because I grew up with video games in the early 1980s and thinking Pitfall on the Intellivision was at one time the pinnacle of good graphics. Still, your port reports are accurate. Well done! Looking forward to DMC 2!!!

[@Kraftium]

The truth is when the ports themselves are kinda basic i gotta justify doing more than a 2 minute break down, so the solution is to go through it with a fine tooth comb for the nitty gritty, end of the day alot of this stuff is pretty negligible Funny you should bring up anti-aliasing and alien isolation actually. Digital foundry did a pretty interesting videon on the switch port when it came out and how it arguably looks better than the ps4 release since its a raw 1080p 30fps on ps4 and 900p 30fps but with a pass of temporal anti-a Screw 4k a really high quality 1440p or 1080p is way better most of the time

[@Kerthal]

Do you know if they fixed the Master Quartz named "Pazuzu" instead of "Zephyr" in Trails of Cold Steel III? It is the one that Fie is equipped with.

[@madkaiser4887]

More Wife :) Also good video and yep, Kraftium strikes back at DF!!!! 😂👌

[@Kraftium]

Towa my beloved I would die for her

[@Solus1994]

Wish the game didn't pause when i hit the screenshot button

[@PrinceAlain94]

Appreciate this review. Imma stick with my ps4 versions of the games. Gonna use the money for the next game coming in July. ❤🎉

[@Kraftium]

good shout, the age of Van and his car is upon us

[@PrinceAlain94]

@Kraftium I'm ready fam. July needs to hurry up. 😵‍💫

[@Oggre]

What do you think of the switch versions of Cold steel III-IV and Reverie please ?

[@Kraftium]

I only played a bit of the demo for CS3 back when it dropped and from what I remember they're fine if its the only option available to you or if you really want to play it portably Personally I'm not a fan of how they end up looking on a tv even at a slightly higher res, they're ok on the small portable screen honestly tho you can just try out the Cold Steel 3 demo to see for yourself

[@Oggre]

@@Kraftium I already tried it alredy and yeah it was very bad on a big screen but I wanted to play them for portability only because these games have a lot of dialogues and for that I prefer to play them on the go but at same time I also tried them on ps5 and the experience is way more prettier and smoother but I hate getting stuck in front of the tv with these games because the pacing is so slow...

[@Kraftium]

@@Oggre steamdeck would be your best option since the PC ports are very good, but that'd be a whole other purchase so, its not really an option

[@modestyblaise4167]

As it’s turned based, would you say it’s worth selling off my Switch carts giving up portability for the better visuals/frame rate for this new PS5 double pack?

[@Kraftium]

oof thats a tricky one, personally I can't stand how it looks on switch (atleast on the tv, the smaller screen in handheld mode looks fine-ish) but if I'm perfectly honest the main draw of trails is its narrative and characters and theres alot of reading which really isn't effected that much by the switch your choice hombre

[@oldschooldogy316]

I'm a little upset because I'm 35 hours into Trails of Cold Steel IV on my Switch, but since I see they have Trails of Cold Steel III and IV in a combo package on the PlayStation 5 for $69 and Trails Into Reverie for $39.99 so I'm about to purchase it all of them on my PlayStation 5 and then start at Trails of Cold Steel III since Trails of Cold Steel IV was my first Trails game ever. It's almost like I wasted the 35 hours that I played the game on my Switch, but since I've read that the visuals and performance have been improved on the PlayStation 5 I think I would enjoy it a whole lot more than I do on my Switch because the visuals are horrible on the Switch. I absolutely love and Trails of Cold Steel IV on my Switch OLED in spite of the poor visuals. In fact it's my favorite Japanese rpg on the Switch and one of my favorite RPGs of all time. The only jrpgs that I can think of that I've enjoyed more than Trails of Cold Steel IV are Dragon Quest 11 which is my all-time favorite jrpg, Yakuza Like a Dragon, Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth, and The Witcher 3 which is favorite western rpg and my favorite rpg of all times.

[@Saru245]

Nice! Now even more people will get to see/experience the GOAT that is Rean Schwarzer! Oh and experience the best game in the series so far in Cold Steel 4(imo)! Also, 8:37😏 Also x2, More Wife.

[@Kraftium]

at the end of the day the more people who experience the goat that is rean the better (that being said reverie and sky3rd are at the top) also down boy no getting horny for asstelle in my comment section also x2 MOAR WIFE

[@Saru245]

@@Kraftium Lol, but true but that could be said about any of the games of the series. The more who get to experience how great they are the better. ^_^ Hey, it's not my fault I got asstelle butt scare out of nowhere lol Maybe one, there'll be even MOAR WIFE. xD

[@ENDIR0451]

Is super sample back down the correct way to describe that? I've been calling it down sampling and people have no idea what I'm saying. Genuine question.

[@Kraftium]

I think they're basically the same thing (their might be a slight technical difference) it is typically refered to as SSAA (super sample anti-aliesing) but you are physically downscaling/sampling an image to a lower resolution when you do it so who knows lol as for why people have no idea what you're saying I think its cos most people don't know theres a difference between rendering and display resolution

[@7kurgand]

Want to say am been enjoying all your Nihon Falcom game reviews. As you mention 7:17 mark the frame rate half sec drop in certain area is so annoying. Its does take you out of moment. Bit off topic... trails through daybreak on ps5 has that same problem too. For CS 3&4 and daybreak I play ps4 ver on ps5 system. Thats the way to do it if your sensitive to small frame rate drops like me

[@Kraftium]

yeah daybreak PS5 has a simular but slightly different issue CS3-4 ps5 is a stuttering issue, there something up with the game under the hood daybreak is just falcom went "we can hit 4k" and they should of probably left it at somewhere between 1440p and 1800p and I'm glad you're enjoying the falcom stuff, I wanna tackle some of the older more obscure stuff like gurumin and the gagharv trilogy at some point

[@wotdat7983]

Great review, really appreciate the technical side, especially since it doesn't seem that there are all that many people reviewing this. Just to ask, do you feel like there's an aliasing issue in the CS4 port? I've got a 1080p TV, and while CS3 looked fine, CS4 looks as if there's no aliasing, or perhaps it was similar to what you described in CS3 before the patch where the outline was lower res. Really odd stuff

[@Kraftium]

ey thanks glad you enjoyed it, I definately feel like this side of stuff isn't reported on enough on youtube or games news sites outside of digital foundry and they can only do so much so I do like giving these games a bit of a deep dive Your issue with CS4 on a 1080p screen is rather perplexing, the PS5 if anything should still just render the game at 4k and downscale it to your tv essentially giving you 1080p with 4xSSAA, I had no real issues with CS4 when I toyed around with it, it was a pretty simple 1800p to 4K, I think tipping off NISA might be a good shout cos that seems like a real problem

[@claudiegarnier4560]

Thanks ! Did u test the switch versions ?

[@Kraftium]

I played the demo for CS3 a little while back if I remember right its 720p both docked and handheld looks very good in handheld mode on a smaller screen but has the occasional frame hiccup more stable on a tv but it looks a tad ugly

[@claudiegarnier4560]

@@Kraftium thanks a lot

[@buttertoast1146]

I noticed reverie ps5 was sharper than the ps4 version. Are these sharper than the previous?

[@Kraftium]

there is a 20% res boost from 1800p to 2160p (ie 4K) but its pretty minor and theres few problem areas unlike hajimari which had a mostly perfect, if a little basic ps5 port from what I can tell

[@jcoop8]

Are the clear save files of the PS5 ports even compatible with Reverie?

[@felyorsari]

Does it comes with more voiced lines? If not that's just lazy :/

[@mondaiji679]

Its a Port... They tend to be lazy

[@link6705]

I was hoping they will treat these games like Cold Steel 1 and 2 for PS4. Back then they added a lot of new voiced dialogues.

[@JackLim927]

I personally stay away from eng dub so im alright with the audio, but yea the stutters does appear really randomly and it can be a bit annoying

[@wertywerrtyson5529]

I already have the physical PS4 versions and sounds like the upgrades are minimal. I was hoping for something more. But I guess that means I don’t feel bad about skipping this port.

[@Kraftium]

oh absolutely skip them, they're really made as an excuse to market the game to more people and are not designed to be a "remaster" or anything think of it as a "game of the year edition" that just happens to be on a new console

[@elvinr6207]

@@KraftiumWhat if I want to get into Trails series? Should I get PS5 or Nintendo Switch.

[@pascalspellerberg]

PS 5 i think. Only Switch if you move a loot like a train and can play ​@@elvinr6207

[@leatherwolf7481]

I just wanted to an upgrade but they expect me to pay for a new version completely with no upgrade at all. Kinda sucks since they pulled that with the other ports they've done such as ys 9.

[@Kraftium]

yeah these PS5 ports are definately not aimed at double dippers (ys8 *kinda* is) They are realisically just an excuse to remarket and resell the game to people who hadn't picked it up yet which while it sucks for us, isn't something imma hold against them

[@champdancer19]

I got the NIS America collector's edition. When it arrives, I'll let you know if its 1 or 2 discs.

[@acebreaker7]

It’s 2 disc

[@jollama]

Don’t you look dumb now

[@link6705]

If there is no more voiced dialogues then it's a shame (especially for Rean who often tends to be silent in dialogues with his friends)

[@Kraftium]

I feel ya but the only reason we got that shit for the PC and later PS4 release of cold steel 1 and 2 was cos the localisation lead was a kiseki super fan who did it partly for her self like it ain't anywhere near industry standard and isn't something you should expect

[@246Rennie]

@@Kraftium As far as in know NISA as only done extra english VA once and it was for Ar Tonelico Qoga, mind you that was 13 years ago.

[@jogymogy3691]

Can you port the save data from the PS4Games?

[@frste26]

Oh no I've already triple dipped. Admittedly getting this dual pack for the limited edition. Since I ordered it and Daybreaks limited edition at once I get to wait til summer though!

[@tylercook9127]

1:09 "cast of colorful and endearing characters" while you've got the rainbow hair on everyone lol. I know it's done in-house, but does Daybreak's PS5 version have any notable technical issues?

[@Kraftium]

Not that i know of Only played the demo on ps4 and like 25 minutes of the full game on PC The PC port is fantastic but does have a bit of a draw backs with the facts that high settings for volumetric lighting have a huge pref hit and also while its anti-a solutions solve jaggies pretty good, they are not great for specular detail so you get some pretty bad internal shimmering Ps5 version from what ive heard is just a better looking and running version of the ps4 version, falcoms new engine really helps them alot

[@Sandersonis14]

Has It ever been patched yet?

[@shubhpatel619]

The ps 4 version of cold steel iv cost me 2400 bucks more tthan this so will definitely buy this over the ps 4 version

[@Kraftium]

That sounds crazy expensive, you must be in an area with a considerably limited printing

[@shubhpatel619]

@@Kraftium i mean it does have to be imported so that probably majorly where the cost comes from also funnily enough reverie also cost about 199 more that PS4 version cold stell and doesn't even get me started on much the switch version of reverie

[@muhammadhamiz7318]

Hopefully it will be available in ENGLISH for region 3

[@Cure_Gorgeous]

Does it include ALL the DLCs or some are missing?

[@Kraftium]

all cosmetic DLC, its only got some of the "recovery item pack" DLCs but that stuff is so unimportant and lame its paying real world money for some ingame potions you could get by grinding for like 2 minutes

[@Cure_Gorgeous]

@@Kraftium All DLC cosmetics is all I wanted, couldn't care less for some items I can get later in the game. Thank you.

[@cursedcrow1033]

If i have ps5 version of Cold Steel 4 does the ps4 dlcs work with it ?

[@Kerthal]

No, you will need the DLCs of the PS5 version.

[@jrgenervik9977]

Did they rewrite some dialog at all? To take away cringe moments or bad written lines

[@Kraftium]

can I have an example?

[@jrgenervik9977]

@@Kraftium i only read it in coments elsewhere so not sure how acurate it is and where comenter got the info from.would guess from someone else playing and seeing it

[@Ahmed-xx4xp]

Does it allow to transfer save data from the ps4 versions?

[@teamhebi13]

it should?

[@Kraftium]

I mention it a little ways into the video but no with 1 exception being using a CS3 (PS4) save to transfer over your choices and bonuses to CS4

[@jollama]

@@teamhebi13Don’t spread misinformation if you don’t know

[@Snzn_7]

sorry, I turned the 69 likes up to 70

[@cosbusta]

6 months later, the stuttering every few seconds is still there and in my opinion makes these ports absolutely terrible in terms of playability. I dropped it and bought the PS4 versions and they are perfect in comparison.

[@fabiof.8152]

"Cold Steel IV has an overly bloated cast due to it being the culmination of the 8 previous games' story threads converging together" *cry-laughs in Trails Into Reverie*

[@Kraftium]

I actually think reverie handles the even bigger cast extremely well all things considered having the cast split across 3 main stories that while tied together are their own seperate things does alot to help the pacing of indivdual scenes doesn't fix the bloated cast problem but it does remedy it slightly

[@jelitejbzzz]

No cross saves is a deal breaker

[@femto8402]

Those ports are so bad and all the issues are still there months later. From a technical standpoint it's a downgrade compared to the ps4 pro versions. Worst shadow rendering (they forgot to apply the shadows filtering wich result in more pixelated shadows), framerate issues, sound issues and still no anti aliasing, even a fairly simple fxaa should be possible on ps5. The only good thing about the ps5 ports are the dlc included on the disc. It's pathetic, Nis should have hired ph3 to do the job.

[@wertywerrtyson5529]

Thanks for letting me know. I desperately tried to find info online if it was fixed. Guess I’m sticking to not buying the PS5 versions. Shame since I heard the load times are a lot faster than playing the PS4 versions.

[@femto8402]

@@wertywerrtyson5529 Well yeah they didn't fixed anything and they don't plan to unfortunately. The load times are already very short with the backward compatibility so it's not a big deal imo, but if you want a better version than the ps4 version your only option is the pc port, it's an amazing port.

[@marcusbartholomew7340]

Back off bro Towa is mine.

[@Kraftium]

Then why am I married to her? :> Checkmate marcus

[@Hyuga_Xeno]

I already married her and took her away to my private island 🏝️🎉😊

[@MsSaskue360]

i only use superior Japanese voice acting so i wonder if that issue is in the superior Japanese voice acting for these ports, got to give a dislike for hearing shitty dub

[@RetroNerdyGamer]

ok weeb

[@tillow9511]

Comment made me throw up

[@azureknight729]

Who in the hell describes it as “superior Japanese voice acting” like what in the actual fuck is that 😂😂 im a sub person myself as well but my god dude, that was pretty cringe 😂

[@Kraftium]

sorry dude but its a compression problem and your "Superior Japanese Voice Acting" is still a .mp3 file on the disc

[@jollama]

Cringelord