The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel

I finally reached the first Cold Steel game. Coming into it I wasn't expecting to like it as much as I did, because it seemed it was low ranked for many people who are into the Trails series. Having finished it now, I can safely say I do not agree with a lot of things those people say. What's more, I legit don't even understand how you can rank this game low, unless I'm missing something coming in the future. The amount of improvements in gameplay over the previous 5 games is insane, so much that I don't even know if I'll ever go back to the previous ones unless it's for the story (which is amazing in those games for sure!). I had a phenomenal time, an engaging experience pretty much all thoughout, and the story was great. Pretty much a perfect setup game. Here are some more thoughts I wrote down: - Transition into 3D. The graphics are pleasant and have a non generic art style. Rudimentary but nice to look at with good colors and lightning. The environment and world design is good and cozy. - The combat feels like a BIG upgrade! It's more engaging due to Link attacks and C Skills being more interesting. Status effects are not useless anymore (every boss in most of the previous games were immune to everyting, which made half your moves useless...) as now enemies/bosses have % based resistance to those effects instead of only 0 or 100% resistance. The movement Grid is removed allowing for full movement which honestly felt great. Combat was FUN! Loved it. - The Quartz system has been revamped with Master Quartz having a bigger role due to it also giving arts in itself. The Elemental Jewel Art System is removed. Characters don't all have the same arts anymore or useless arts either. - The new cast is great and fun to get to know. Like them more than the previous arcs cast already. - The fast travel system is improved, and together with the fast forward mode, it makes for a smooth gameplay experience. - The 3D movement looks and feels awkward, due to the move left and right buttons (A and D) forcing the camera to turn with the character, as well as clunky running. This is not a problem in battle, just when exploring. Honestly it was more annoying at the start, you kinda get used to it. - The Persona series has definitely influenced the game, as there's now bonding events, day/calendar cycle, and the main cast are highschoolers. I'm not even a Persona 5 fan (I liked 4 way more), but still will admit all these elements feel like a + to what Trails already had to offer, and improves variety. - Feels like there's way less voice acting overall, and it's mostly reserved for main story important cutscenes. That the player has to do a lot of reading without any voice over is a shame. - The music is some of the best music so far for a Trails game, a collection of everything from chill town tracks to epic battle tracks. - Overall a great first game to setup the story. The story is good, and the overarching plot thickens. - Important if you are playing with keyboard and mouse, turn off camera auto adjust in the Launch Settings for the game, as it even says there it's recommended. --- Here is my current game tier list: S- Sky SC A- Sky 3rd, Cold Steel 1, Azure B- Sky FC, Zero C- D- Honestly, this game is WAY over hated for some reason, maybe just because it was the most popular idk. People say "the game is a slow burn" but then they somehow rank other slow games at the top, games were doing sidequests is way slower, and also the speed up button does exist here, maybe they played without it i don't know. I guess this is the game that makes me realize everyone values different things in these games and that's why community rankings are all over the place, which is not a bad thing. For my own preference, playing Cold Steel 1 made me realize how little I missed the Zero-Azure cast, compared to how much I missed the Sky cast when starting Zero. The gameplay of Cold Steel 1 made the game way more fun than any other game in the list so far, and the story and characters were very good. It's the first game of several in the arc, but a great game on it's own! --- Next up is Cold Steel 2, more of the same I hope!

While not as good as the previous 5 entries, this is still a very good game and a wonderful introduction to Erebonia. Cold Steel 1 probably has the best soundtrack in the series from what I've played so far. The combat system is solid as always, and I really had fun experimenting with the Quartz system. Cold Steel 1 can however be very repitive in structure, but the characters and writing are so good, I really didn't mind it. Before going into the game, I read online that there are way too many party members and main characters to keep track of, and while this is true, I surprisngly didn't face much difficulty learning about them, as they're likable and memorable in their own ways. This game (and franchise in general) really has such a unqiue and comforting aura that has remained consistent 6 games in (Sky 1, Sky 2, Sky 3, Zero, Azure and now CS1). I've never seen actually interesting political intrigue integrated this welll into a dark yet somehow wholesome narrative at the same time. It's hard for me to recommend the Trails series to any adult with a full time job and a family, purely because of how time consuming it is to get through each entry. With that being said however, if you have enough time to spare, this franchise is a really unqiue mix of interesting politics, a dark yet wholesome and sometimes very funny narrative, with really cool and lovable characters, and an incredible soundtrack. The writing is phenomenal as always.

Note: Trials of Cold Steel is the first game in the Cold Steel arc (there are a total of 4 games) and can serve as an entry point to the Trails saga, although my personal recommendation would be to start with Trails in the Sky, especially with the remake of the first game being out and the second coming soon. Game Overview: As an intro game in a Trails arc, the first playthrough of the game will probably feel like things are moving slowly as the game must introduce the setting and all the new characters. In this case, it’s introducing the Erebonian empire, which is massive so there’s a lot there. The game does this by splitting things into two alternating sections that cycle until the end of the game – there are days where you spend time in the anime school of the arc (Thors Millitary Academy) and there are days where a part of the class goes on what are called Field Studies which introduce a new location in Erebonia. Both have their highlights, although field studies were more interesting of the two for me, especially on repeat playthroughs. Story/Setting: The setting and the story are intrinsically connected since Cold Steel is really presenting a chunk of the story of the Erebonian Empire. The basic premise of the story is that the Empire is experiencing a great deal of change due to technological progress and changing political dynamics. This in turn is putting a great deal of pressure on the existing class system within the country which divides people into nobles and commoners. You see this play out through the eyes of our resident MCs – Thors Military Academy Class VII or Class VII for short. This is a special class which contains both commoners and nobles allowing the player to see the perspectives of both sides via the impact of characters in our direct cast. This is the more grounded/realistic part of the setting which is important but there is another more fantastical part of the story that is being set up as you play through the game that won’t be apparent until later on in the game. The merger of the realistic and fantastical throughout the cold steel arc is my favorite part of the games. Characters: The game introduces a ton of characters, and my thoughts are somewhat split between the main characters and the side characters: Main Characters: Cold Steel 1 has the widest consistent cast of main characters/playable characters (Class VII) in these games so far. It also introduces a persona style bonding system where you can select which of the main characters you want to get to know better, although on your first playthrough, the number of bonding events you can do is limited so you have to make decisions on who you interact with. I personally dislike this system since it felt like it split off character development for Class VII behind these events and limited the development to interactions between Rean (MC) and other class members outside of certain story driven interactions between certain characters. It does seem like the bonding system was popular enough though since it’s here to stay in the remaining games in the series. Side Characters: The bonding system does not apply to side characters so you are able to interact with them throughout the entire game and although they don’t necessarily get as much development as some of the MCs, they were generally more consistent and memorable for me. Gameplay: Cold Steel brings changes to the Trials formula but it is in an iterative rather than a revolutionary basis. The gameplay is a turn-based battle system with a lot of depth which although Cold Steel moves to simplify and speed up some of the gameplay. This is done primarily through the Arcus link system which allows two characters to link up and perform bonus actions whenever an attacking character meets the requirements. You can also save up points from each follow-up attack and then use a more powerful combination once you have enough. The quarts system returns but now stats and spells have been largely separated, which removes some of the complexity around customizing certain characters to unlock spells at various stages of the game. This removes some of the customization from previous games but probably smooths out the difficulty a bit as well. Overall, the gameplay is a lot of fun and Falcom keeps iterating on it in every entry in the series, leading for it to feel familiar but still fresh. Music/Soundtrack: It’s got a bunch of bangers. 10/10 Overall, I would recommend this game if you are looking for an interconnected story, fun turn-based gameplay with depth and a great soundtrack. It does come with it’s fair share of anime tropes and those are a mixed bag overall so your tolerance of those will probably impact how much you enjoy the game.