(c) Nihon Falcom Corporation. All rights reserved. Licensed to and published by XSEED Games / Marvelous USA, Inc.
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Posted on: August 6, 2017
Persona4367
Verified ownerGames: 87 Reviews: 2
Excellent Game
I played this back on the ps3 and found this game to be a step above most jrpgs. I have never played Trails of the Sky games so I have no comparison with them, but this game is great and shouldn't be missed
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Posted on: April 13, 2018
Dawnflower
Games: 39 Reviews: 1
A Newcomer's Perspective
As my first foray into this game franchise, I went in blind with no preconceived notions of what it would be like. I bought the game on a whim when it was on sale for a greatly reduced price, and was in the mood for a single-player RPG, and so I began the tale. My first impressions of the game were pretty negative. I initially felt that the game was unbalanced in its gear progression system. However, looking back, I feel that much of my concern was largely the result of being unfamiliar with this particular style of gameplay. I am a stranger to tactical grid-based RPGs, with Trails in the Sky being my first, with the exception of some random minigames in MMOs. Being an experienced gaming veteran though, I started out on hard mode. I think some of the initial imbalance was also due to the mode. The gameplay really picks up as you go through the game and unlock more abilities. As a tactical game, you need access to those ablities to be able to adapt and deal with the randomized elements of the battle system. However, at the start you don't have access to enough tools, making the fights significantly harder and more frustrating. By the end; however, the fights were almost too easy, even on hard mode. Overall, I think the gameplay could have benefitted from some tuning with regards to its difficulty pacing, but was otherwise quite entertaining. I can't compare it to other games with similar battle systems though, so take that with a grain of salt. Story-wise, the game does an excellent job of keeping you hooked. And the story wasn't all that predictable at times. I think if I continue the series, I will probably find it more predictable as I get used to the habits of the writers. Being a Japanese-exclusive game for a long time (according to my post-play research), the game is very clearly anime-inspired. And with that, it brings both the good and the bad. The dialogue and character interactions are actually quite good, but at times you'll see common anime tropes pop up. So if you're familiar with those tropes, you'll find a lot of predictability in them. I mentioned that the game keeps you hooked. It does this by chaining together high-tension events. There are almost never any periods of genuine down time. You can, of course, delay the continuation of the main story in order to pursue side quests. However, as soon as one tense situation ends, another tends to miraculous walk through the door behind you (often quite literally). My biggest complaint with this game, and the reason I have given it only 3 stars as opposed to 4, is actually about the way the game is marketed. My expectation from a single-player RPG of this nature is that it will be a full game. Or if not, it will at least have the duration of a full game. Since I purchased the game on a whim, I was under the impression that the game was standalone, rather than essentially one chapter in a series. This was my mistake for not having done any research. However, the actual gameplay duration also left much to be desired. I finished the game in roughly 20 hours of actual play time. That includes doing the majority of the side quests. That is pathetically short for this sort of game, and is only made worse by how the duration compares to cost. Especially when considering whether to purchase the sequels (which are likely of similar duration), is it really worth paying the price of a full game three separate times to buy the three chapters that make up the full game?
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Posted on: January 8, 2018
Gearmos
Verified ownerGames: 725 Reviews: 4
Story rich RPG
Trails of Cold Steel is a good entry point to The Legend of Heroes series, if the "old school" graphics of Trails in The Sky don't appeal to you and you prefer "fancy 3D graphics". Aside from graphics, Cold Steel games share the same flaws and virtues as Sky: They are long games, with a very slow start and an overwhelming amount of dialogues. But it's the price to pay for a rich story, detailed character development, and incredible world-building. There's a lot of lore hidden in books and dialogues, and NPCs react to the changes in the world that surrounds them as the story progresses, to the point that some will remember if you helped or interacted with them in the previous game. The combat is still turn based, and the game doesn't force you to grind to advance the story as in other rpg. The PC port is very well optimized, has lots of graphic settings (uncapped FPS, HBAO+, Draw Distance and Depth of Field sliders, etc.) and works even on old laptops. It does feature some quality-of-life features such as Turbo Mode, skipping battle animations, natively load modded textures, inmediate load last saved game without loading screeen/menus, etc.
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Posted on: August 13, 2017
tomasz67
Verified ownerGames: 506 Reviews: 2
Recommended to Trails and Persona fans
If you enjoyed the Trails in the Sky games, you will probably like this one a lot. The background characters with their own stories are back. There are several cameos, including Oliver, Bleublanc and Anton (along with Ricky). There are lots of references to things that have happened during the other games (like the big thing in SC, or Cassius's work in Erebonia). The main story revolves around the main characters, all of which are very fleshed out, just like in Trails in the Sky. You can see that the developers drew inspiration from Persona games; for instance, there is relationship building, a dungeon expanding every night... there is less day-to-day stuff, you only actually control you character several days a month, but they are quite packed with content and there is little repetition. The fighting system is a little streamlined -- for example, if you are overleveled (say, you went to a dungeon you have been to three chapters past), monsters run away from you and you can kill them without going into combat (if you so choose). There is a minor gripe: the arts system is a bit too streamlined for my tastes. In the Sky series the quartz you chose could have huge impact on combat, now it seems that status-effect quartz rule (you can stack them, unlike the Sky series), and you don't really need to use arts at all, except for some boss battles (this is normal difficulty, chapter 4). The port is very nicely done. They made a lot of graphical enhancements, added extra voiceover, and my favourite: they added a turbo mode. In the old Trails games, I would use cheatengine to skip past the more tedious parts (travelling between locations, fighting boring battles, replaying parts of the game) or just plain speed up. I was worried it would not work with a more advanced game, and I was very pleasantly surprised that it was already built in. There are minor quirks (like telling me to press square when I have no gamepad or anything with a square on it), but nothing major.
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Posted on: July 28, 2018
Pastie
Verified ownerGames: 304 Reviews: 2
A grand series + the richest JPRG world
I would preface this review by *highly* recommending people try the Trails in the Sky series. It's a prequel set in the same universe and will deeply enhance the characters, locations and themes of this game. That being said, Trails of Cold Steel (ToCS) is a JRPG unlike others. Our story is set approx. 1 year after the events in Trails in the Sky, now following a group of military acadamy students in the country of Erebonia. Unlike the setting in the first game, class and society are part of the themes to show the divide and unease between commoners and nobles. The protagonist and party are part of Class VII, a new group combined of both lower class and noble students. Together, you're tasked with studying, training and learning the greater world, with its underlying conflicts. Everything in the story will be more than it seems. Thanks to a fantastic localisation, every nook and cranny is worth seeking out. Hidden quests and genuinely great dialogue will fill your time as you seek to discover the world. I personally enjoyed the voice acting of the main cast a great deal with only a couple of NPC's standing out as a bit over-the-top. Combat is an evolution of the Trails turn-based system. Your party of 4 will have the option of attacks, Arts (Magic), Crafts (Personal skills), or moving around the field and forming 'links' to boost your other members. This can be enhanced by developing character relationships out of combat (think Persona). It flows into a natural feeling sense of group combat and story as every aspect of the game evolves together. Some themes will feel a tad trope-y, but ultimately, this is building towards a 4-game epic and setting the stage for a large amount of 3rd act plot twist and drama. The payoff is immense. Some small critisicms: Not all story ends will be tied up by this game. It's a 40+ hour 'beginning'. The graphics are dated back from when this was portable. Falcom/XSEED have truly outdone themselves. ToCS is worth every second!
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