The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel

So I'm still combing through all the games I've played, in the attempt to write reviews for them all, and not really paying all the much attention. Then I come across a random click in my library which leads me to the words: "Write a review for The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel" ... What a daunting task. How? That's almost impossible for me to fully articulate my thoughts on the matter but I'll try to keep it as brief as possible. This game single-handedly got me into Falcom, the company, as a whole. It was borne off a random recommendation from a friend years ago which spurred a crazed crusade over a very long-standing franchise over years and millions of words of text since then. I wouldn't say that this is a perfect game, nor is the franchise as a whole, but it is certainly one to play if you need something different from Japanese RPGs as a whole and this was a fine entry point, regardless of what you might be told from some that suggest that Trails in the Sky is mandatory or some other place in the series. In terms of the gameplay, I largely prefer this one over the older titles in the franchise (Sky, Crossbell) and think this to be one of the nicer systems in the franchise when they converted over from 2D into 3D. The models certainly got better with each new entry after this one, but it does a good job for its time period. The fights don't get too terribly same-y and they do hit a nice challenge point once you start understanding the mechanics a lot more. After playing the older games after this series, I think this handles depth and strategy quite a bit better - they let you go with some of the combinations you can do with quartz setup that got better with each new entry. I actually think that the newer ones with Daybreak take a step back in comparison. Sky's remake, the newer entries in the series, actually use Daybreak's formula and, while it's a bit more polished, I still don't prefer the hybrid fight style it represents. Maybe I'm just too used to where my roots are but this feels the most balanced system of them all so far to me. As for the story itself, well...I'll not spoil. There's a lot there. Don't write it off as some cutesy Persona 3-5 high school cliche RPG, though. That would be unwise. Lastly, I will say that by playing and enjoying this game, you forfeit the right to stop here. You will want to seek out the rest of the series and play everything that you can get your hands on. It will consume a very large amount of time, far more than the hundred or so hours I've carried over multiple devices including this segment on Steam. The story is just that good, deep and engaging overall, and you'll want to know the rest of the lore by the time you're done with the four games in this section of the series. If you have the time and the want, I wholeheartedly endorse taking the plunge. You'll not regret it.

This game features a blonde girl who is an artifact of when she was the protagonist, you will loathe every moment she appears beyond a certain point, she is not canon, Reans canon lover is his motorcycle. this game is absolutely trivial in terms of difficulty and should only be played on new game nightmare this game features Rean Schwarzer who has the fortunate or unfortunate aura of making all women within a 4 feet radius of him fall madly in love with him, while being completely unable to understand women, there are no exceptions to his power. the nord highlands can ♥♥♥♥ off this game will "FC you" do not buy it without buying cold steel 2, this game will spoil events from 1-5, if you have not played them, you cannot start here. It stands well enough on it's own like most first starter games, it's cast is admittedly too big and due to players being likely to prioritise female party members (due to all of them being superior to their male counterparts in battle bar REAN) you are unlikely to develop any sort of feeling to any of the male party members due to the horrific, forced new game + infinite bond points aside the 2 guys they actually want you to give a ♥♥♥♥ about (though mostly everyone does have fine enough time in the spotlight in the story, except gaius, poor guy). again you can't start here, play 1-5, come in on a sale and watch the erebonia party boat go.