Search the Community

Welcome to my Spoiler Free Review of The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel. Within this longish review, you will find mostly my general thoughts, I will not spoil any serious parts of the plot as this franchise is very much connected to one another through very strict continuity, Cold Steel takes place 1 year after Trails in the Sky Second Chapter in the country of Erebonia, for those of you familiar with Trails in the Sky. I just recently finished this game myself, and i'm waiting for my copy of Cold Steel 2 to come in the mail. What is the Legend of Heroes series? Well, its a long running JRPG series made by Falcom starting in 1997, the creators of other such series as Ys, Xanadu, Brandish, and one off games such as Gurumin, Popful Mail etc. The Legend of Heroes is known for a number of things, one of which being the aforementioned strict continuity, you do not want to pick up a game in a particular arc thats in the middle, you pretty much have to start with the first game in a particular set to fully enjoy the arc in particular, and this is the first game of such an arc. It's also known for having really solid writing & characters overall, the series is actually quite popular on Serenes in particular, so much so I gathered most of them into a Falcom Discord, and fellow members of this forum like @DodgeDusk and @eclipse had a strong hand in getting me into these wonderful games, more than a year ago. I should probably begin with how the game plays, this game is available for both PS3 and PSVita. The battle system would be best described as a Position-heavy, turn-based JRPG that uses a "magic" system similar to FF7's Materia system. Combat On the left is the turn order, you may do one of these actions per characters turn, there are varying factors as to who goes when, a speed stat, whether or not a character has been AT Delayed (Doing actions in general also delays your next turn, but you and the enemy can use certain techniques to change the turn order quite rapidly on top of that). There are also turn bonuses that can appear next to a characters head, these range from HP restoration to guaranteed critical hits. Attack is self explanatory, attack with your current character depending on their weapon they may have slight AoE properties. (Movement is a stat which can also determine if you can reach an enemy in a turn or not). Crafts: These are special moves unique to each character and use "CP" or "Craft Points" which are regained by using certain moves, attacking, getting hit etc, once you have 100 CP an S-Craft (Read super move) can be used if the character has one, when a character has 200 CP their S-Craft becomes even more powerful, however your crafts are very important so just blindly using S-Crafts can actually be detrimental. There is also S-Break which is when you interrupt a turn to use your super, your reasoning could be for various things, this is also a way to steal turn bonuses you may want for yourself. Crafts are very good in this game in particular, quite a number of characters have absolutely ridiculous ones. Arts: Magic, which is determined by what Orbs your character has equipped, and also have a casting time, which is always shown to you before you actively start casting, there is no instant casting unless you get the Turn Bonus "Zero-Arts" and spells range from nuke spells, to buffs, debuffs and other such things. Move: Move to another part of the map, be warned this eats up your turn. Items and Running are self explanatory. Links: Two characters can link up to assist each other in battle, each character has a particular weapon attack type, and if you strike a monster with one they are particularly weak to, it makes it all the easier for a Link attack to display, giving you the ability to have the character linked to the character you attacked with, to do a follow up strike instantly. Among other such bonuses. Swap: Later in the game you tend to have more than 4 people at once, so you have reserve members you can switch out with if you need to. The combat is very fluid, quick and satisfying, The game isn't super challenging (unless you're on Nightmare mode), but you do need to pay attention or you will get blown up every now and again. Also, there is no random encounters, you see enemies in the field. Outside of Combat You travel around, talking to NPCs (I should note Trails NPC's are actually super interesting because they have mini plotlines going as the games go, and their dialog always changes after story events happen, its almost a tradition for most players to constantly talk to most of the NPCs). You generally get a number of quests to do when you have control, or you can freely roam and do stuff you want, typical buying stuff, fishing, find potential hidden quests. Trails games usually aren't very heavy in terms of required quests, however its highly recommended you do every quest you can just to get more enjoyment out of the world at large, because these games are reaaaaaaaaaaaaaally well written and do world building on an A-Tier level. You also have access to quick travel options, if you dislike just running around. Although you also have a quick run button, even in dungeons! Which helps if you want to move the pace along a bit more briskly Speaking of A-Tier Level, the music of this game is spectacular, ranging from the epic to the more calm moments. I'll share a personal favorite track of mine before we continue onward. The World & Relationships Let's touch on relationships of the main group. These 9 characters are your main party, with occasional rotations, so you're most likely using them all at least once. They are all students at a military academy called Thors Academy. I see you already trying to leave, don't worry about this being a "school" setting, beside a few moments it isn't really typical anime fare, Falcom doesn't usually stoop to that, the way this game is structured works a fair bit like the Persona franchise however (more so 3). You have some scattered school segments, but they are few and far between, and you also get the chance to bond with your fellow students & certain NPCs, again like Persona however you don't have the time management to worry about, you just get a limited amount of "Bonding" Points to spend in a particular chapter of the game, to see particular events with characters who may have events that period of time in the game. This helps do more for "Link Attacks" as was briefly touched on earlier. This also goes into some relationship values and unlike most JRPGs this group of games pretty much allows you to decide who Rean is romantically interested in, although it doesn't go too far (As of CS1 that is). But the choice is very appreciated and it actually alters some scenes and I've been told it alters a few things in the sequel as well through transfers. Something I appreciate about this game is that the entire cast doesn't instantly get along, a good chunk of them have issues with people in the party and it takes a decent chunk of time for them to develop and get past those tensions. Lets introduce the main character really quick. Rean: The main character, generally friendly and helpful to most people he comes across, a skilled leader and swordsman. He finds himself at Thors for reasons even he isn't sure of. Wields a Tachi. Jedi's thoughts on Rean: He's a fairly standard RPG protagonist, which gets him flak from a number of Trails fans who really love Sky's protagonist Estelle, but Rean is pretty cool, and has some of the absolute best lines in an RPG i've seen. He's fairly vanilla sure, but he at least has character to him despite that. A very good "PoV" character overall. The other characters shine around him, and the cast isn't very typical besides him, (which is why some people have issues with him). In Combat he's a monster and potentially one of the most broken protagonists I've seen in an RPG, with the right setups you can delay the enemies turns to oblivion. I honestly wish I could go over the writing in general, but I'd be at the risk of spoiling anything in the game, which alone might sour the experience for you. Witty writing abounds however, and every character even the NPCs feel like full out characters, a few examples without any plot related stuff. As mentioned earlier, everyone in the game world always has new things to say or do, while Rean and co are out doing their stuff, the world of Erebonia and as a whole Zemuria are always awesome to learn about. Every chapter brings with it more complications & awesome things with the plot, it'll have you on the edge of your seat by the end. For those of you who have played Trails in the Sky, you will be happy to hear that there are quite a number of references to events that happened in those games, and thats not all. But to say anything more would be criminal and rob you of the chance to experience it yourself. Liberl is not forgotten at all in these games so you can rest easy on that. Visuals Gonna be blunt here, ToCS looks late PS2, and is animated similarly, Falcom has always been fairly low budget, however this did improve in the later games, BUT I have to address it here. While there are some spectacular scenes, attacks and such. It's not anywhere near the quality a typical PS3 game should be bringing to the table, but the games strengths are enough to outweigh its lackluster graphical flare and subpar character animations. The character designs however are top notch, while the main cast generally share a similar school uniform, they all have their unique aspects they bring to em, plus the red jackets are really cool regardless (I've even considered getting one, but damn are they expensive!). The designs aren't like anything too over the top, and are down to earth, which is refreshing in an RPG these days. Pros & Cons of the game Pros Strong Central Storyline - A Trails Staple by this point Strong Worldbuilding - Another Trails Staple Very likable characters Really great combat system, that gives you alot of free reign, while not feeling overly complex. Amazing Soundtrack 60 to 70 Hours await you, and this is just the beginning of this particular trilogy! Along with replay value, due to its NG+ and limited event choices during the chapters Cons Outdated Visuals and Animation A slightly slow start The school setting may turn off potential players 60 to 70 Hours await you, and this is just the beginning of this particular trilogy! Along with replay value, due to its NG+ and limited event choices during the chapters Jedi's Thoughts Trails of Cold Steel now ranks among my favorite RPGs, alongside the two Sky games, I can't wait to play the 2nd game and of course the upcoming 3rd game for the PS4 when it hits, I'm so glad that SF allowed me to get into the glorious ranks of the Falcom fans of the world, so I could experience all the gems it has to offer. Highly recommend the Trails series at large to anyone looking for a really solid experience in both the writing and gameplay departments.

I decided to do this, in honor of finishing 3rd, now warning there are some potential spoilers in this so, open at your own risk. Also I plan on doing boss S-Crafts down the road.

I was bored so I decided when doing my NG+ on Nightmare mode, I'd record the harder boss fights of the game, which have a chance of killing you even on NG+ Beware there are spoilers here so, just a fair warning. So far 3 fights are up, 4th is going up and the rest will be put up at my own pace.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/436670/The_Legend_of_Heroes_Trails_in_the_Sky_the_3rd/ The 3rd installment in the Trails in the Sky trilogy is set to be properly localized & released today on steam, although we still have to wait around 8 hours time. Figured i'd make this for people who aren't in my Falcom Discord server, because I know some of you just plain dislike Discord or whatever. Whos hyped?

It's time. Don't be misled by that banner, though; TitS 3rd has a different protagonist, Estelle and Joshua are support characters now. NOTE: DON'T PLAY THIS GAME BEFORE FINISHING FC AND SC Features: - Dungeon crawling - Worldbuild and foreshadowing - Nearly every playable character in SC (guests included), and a little more - Kevin's story - Several sidestories and minigames like: Agate's first encounter with Tita's parents; arena battles against unlikely parties; an ominous Ouroboros meeting; and a quiz game hosted by Campenella in a chinese dress Also, apparently Cold Steel is getting a PC release too. What a time to be alive, etc.

I'm a couple of weeks late on this... but in commemoration of the release of the Second Chapter, I'll be doing a playthrough of Trails in the Sky! Not just a regular old playthrough, of course; that would be far too simple! Instead, I'm going to attempt a Nightmare difficulty, no carry-overs (NG+ bonuses), low level perfect game! Sounds like a lot of fun, right? Anyway, let me define my goals more clearly: 1) Nightmare difficulty, no carry-over (duh) 2) Maximum BP 3) Open all treasure chests 4) Complete all sidequests, recruit all characters, get all recipes, etc. 5) Maybe fill out the monster book. I'm not sure if I'll do this at all, or leave it until late game, or how it will fit in the context of LLG, etc. Unlike my Persona 3 playthrough, I won't be posting videos of the entire run, as that would be far too tedious in a game with this kind of length. Instead, I'll just be providing videos of the battles. And here is the first one! In case you are worried about me abandoning my other playthrough(s), don't worry; equal time will be spent on both this and the Persona project for now