The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel

it takes a lot to trick me with a plot twist, but when the villain's true identity was revealed I was just as shocked as rean. Excellent world building, outstanding gameplay, just an overall 9/10 tutorial that happens to be the size of an entire game. I highly recommend trails of cold steel to anyone willing to experience the world's longest prologue!!!
Also instructor sara is my ideal woman.

Не самая лучшая часть трэилс, ставлю 7/10 и пока что тащит только немног за счет концовки И ТО НЕ ДО КОНЦА
Типа, в первом скае у гг хотя б был один романтический интерес, а тут тебе на выбор как минимум 3 (3!!!!) поэтому в конце не так уж и эмоционально, но геймплей тащит, поэтому в целом 7/10 идеальная оценка
DeadP47 пошел нахуй

After a break I decided to return back to the TLoH series. After finishing Trails of Zero and Azure, The Cold Steel establishment felt quite refreshing. The game is not too hard on new players and has a low Skill curve. It took me around 80-90 hours of on and off gameplay to finish the game without full achievements (From what I read and experienced, is that NG+ is needed to get full achievements).

COMBAT 8/10 - The game showers you with new quartz and gems so you never feel hopeless or weak against new enemies. Plus the introduction of link styles was a great addition to the game. (Felt like the combat was more close to Trails in the Sky versions, After the Zero, Azure).

STORY 8/10 - Sometimes can be extremely slow, but has the usual TLoH formula sprinkled all over it (It does keeps reminding you stuff that happened in Trails of Zero and Azure along the way).

ART 8/10 - Really like the new designs and graphics definitely a refreshing sight after the previous games.
MUSIC 7/10 - Sometimes you don't notice it, but there are some great gems here and there if you stop and listen. (Trails of Sky still has my heart regarding this grading).

OVERALL 8/10 - It was a great experience and everyone should give it a try.

i think it is actually quite good.

Fantastic game. Though the graphics have aged a bit, the complex story itself is wonderfully crafted. There are elements in the story that I don't like but they are few to mention. Not gonna nitpick. This is actually a decent place to start the series since there is little spoilers to encounter (as far as I'm concerned). A good set up for the rest of the series, the best I could say without spoiling anything is that its just the very tip of the ice berg (and it is a vast iceberg). Will play CSII to see how the story unfolds.

Great game, lot's of fun

really fun dont like all the characters or the setting as much but the game is super fun.

only recommended for story continuation

most boring starting chapter of an arc.

nothing interesting until the final chapter.

dated graphics even if it is the first 3d title. same boring combat gameplay, even with more added mechanics

Great game!

This game is good. Like really good but mostly if you are a fan of jrpgs. So let me try to pitch it to you.

The Story:
This is part of a larger story. There are other games set in the same world at the same time. You'll even hear about stuff going on in Crossbell which is where Trails from Zero takes place. I have not played those games. I plan on playing Trails from Zero in the future.

That said. This game and it's sequel more than stand out as their own stories. This game in particular may be one of the most compelling jrpg stories I've experience and that's because inspite of the magic and other fantasy tropes, the story is surprisingly grounded.

It's about students, learning more about their country and how it's on the brink of fracturing. They grow, they develop, all while exploring this places and facing enemies that threaten their way of life. It's incredibly compelling and I love the way it builds up to the final moments where everything hits the fan.

That's the best I can say about the story without spoiling too much.
That said their is one con, and it's a con that a majority of jrpgs suffer from: a slow beginning.

This game's beginning is exceptionally slow because it starts with a fast forward that acts as an ill omen then shows you what happened in the 6 months leading up to this moment. The only issue is that this is entirely unnecessary. The actual moment doesn't lead to any world shattering reveals or moments. It almost like it's there to keep the player invested, though I would argue it only serves to confuse new players by throwing them into the deepend with mechanics they don't understand.

It doesn't help that the actual opening, entering the school and exploring the old school house with classmates you just met. Is a much better opening (though it does introduce too many important characters at once).

Gameplay:
I really like the combat in this game and part of why is because everything feels important in a meaningful way. You have roughly 5 options in combat: Attack, Arts, Crafts, Move, and Tactics. (There's also flee but fleeing is for cowards, especially when most normal enemies can be take out in like a minute tops, there is even an in-game timer).

Attack: Attack the target enemy. Melee characters need to be in melee range, range characters can attack from a distance, and certain characters can hit groups of enemies.

Arts: Arts are magic spells that use the ATS stat instead of the Attack stat. The catch is that any character can have any spell. This is because of orbs that you can equip or unequip on each party member at a time.

Crafts: These are entirely character specific and have a lot of variety. Some are wider attack areas, ally buffing skills, movement skills, etc. These are what gives each party member their own identity.

Move: You reposition your party member.

Tactics: This menu I mainly use for switching out party members. You have 6 in battle: 4 for battling and 2 in reserves.

All of these are useful and it's up to the player to know when to use them. Even something like crafts which are effectively better attacks can't be spammed because they use CP (craft points). You can earn craft points by damaging the enemy with your attack. You may want to save your craft points so you can use you ultimate move (called an S-Craft). Move can also be useful as the only means to escape a dangerous situation.

So yeah. This game has a real good story and really good gameplay. Though there are two cons.

Con 1: This game flows seamlessly into the sequel game (though you don't keep all your stuff between games.) While I think the story stands out on it's own, you're pretty much expected to buy the sequel to receive closure.
Con 2: This game was allegedly release in 2013 for the Playstation 3. I personally think the game looks like a playstation 2 game and the overworld movement was clearly not meant for mouse and keyboard.

This game is the beginning of 3rd arc of the "Trails Series", so you may miss some of the exciting feeling at some part of the story. Imho, this is my first game into Trails Series and I still amazed by it.

Realy love the the game because of the story and its lore. It start simple but keep expanding its lore and characters.
The story is anime-ish, but the expanding of the lore give you a serious tone and keep you engaged.

Easy recomendation

Quickly Became one of my favorite games ever. 9/10

- Great Lore and World Building. (World Building dates back to trails of sky)
- Amazing Characters and Character Development.
- Awesome plot and storytelling.
- Good turn-based combat & challenging (at least from my experience).
- Great Plot twist!
- Ending is Meant to be follow up quickly in Trails of cold steel 2

an underrated jrpg

Lots of yapping about food but the combat and characters are OK.

10/10

Good

This game is long as all hell but the story is good and I like all the characters. I'm definitelly getting to a point where I don't really want to partake in the combat anymore but I'm looking forward to how the series improves in the next 3 games. The cutscenes can certainly run a little long without you being able to save and the game 100% needs an auto text function. Hoping that comes in the next game. Pretty late in the game and my characters are still unlocking new abilites, which is nice. Wish there was drastically more customization in the apperances to keep things interesting. From my understanding, the game used to not be voiced at all, so kudos to what they have voiced in the game. It starts off with a lot of it being voiced and later in the game you can go so long without hearing voices that you actually forget its a thing until it randomly pops back up. Like you can be getting through a whole conversation in utter silence and then boom, the rest of it is voiced. Really throws you off sometimes but the voices, when they do appear, are very well done. Hoping for more of that moving forward and just more engaging combat....has to be more than jus...nothing for a very long time until they finally unlocked one new ability. Overall tho, considering the game is old and still holding my interest this long...I give it a 8/10 in the hopes that the next 3 games drastically improve upon this formula.

What

Man I have had this game on all kinds of platforms. I always buy it.
It's one of those games you play to get to the next one. It's really good game but II stepped it up and 3 is like peak for this specific entry.

It's the empire lore expansion I love the most.

The Trails (or Kiseki) series began in 2004 on the PSP with Trails in the Sky. While technically part of the Legend of Heroes franchise, the Kiseki series has its own universe and interconnected stories across multiple arcs. Each entry is set on the same continent, Zemuria, but takes place in a different nation.

I have played all the previous games up to this point (Trails in the Sky trilogy and Crossbell duology), and I can confidently say that the first game in the Erebonia Arc takes the cake as the best in the series so far—at least for me.

Story: In traditional Trails fashion, Trails of Cold Steel, as the first game in a new arc, sets the stage by introducing us to another part of an already familiar world. It establishes the key players in this new nation and lays the groundwork for how events will unfold in the next chapters. The game immerses us in the almost lifelike culture and traditions of the Erebonian Empire, making it feel like we’re exploring another living, breathing part of Zemuria. What it sets out to do, it does exceptionally well—just like every other game in the series so far. And, as with every first Trails game in an arc, it delivers a mind-blowing finale that leaves us hanging.

Graphics and Art Style: PhyreEngine is a significant upgrade over the previous engine (whose name I don’t recall) used in earlier entries. The world feels richer, the characters are more expressive, and the battle animations give the impression of watching a high-energy shonen anime. However, even for its time (Trails of Cold Steel was released in 2013), the graphics feel somewhat dated compared to other titles from the same era. That said, this has always been the case with the Trails and Ys series, and I doubt anyone plays these games for their graphical fidelity.

Music: Well… Falcom music is best music. What more can I say? Just listen to the OST of any Trails or Ys game—absolute masterpiece.

Gameplay: Like every other game in the series, there are no random encounters—cool. There are also no overly complex, convoluted, labyrinthine, maze-like dungeons—super cool. Exploration is straightforward and enjoyable. The combat remains turn-based and tactical, with both allies and enemies able to move freely on a large grid—no surprises there.

Battle System: Trails of Cold Steel took everything the previous games did—and did it better. The Orbment system is more streamlined and easier to understand, making character builds and theory crafting more accessible. Master Quartz, first introduced in Trails to Azure, return and add even more depth to party customization. While the animations for Crafts and Arts (essentially combat techniques and magic spells) are visually stunning, they can take a while to play out—but thankfully, they’re fully skippable, keeping combat fast-paced and addicting. To top it all off, characters can form links and attack in unison, unleashing devastating strikes under the right conditions.

Voice Acting: For the life of me, I couldn’t stand the English voice acting. While the cast consists of some incredibly talented voice actors whom I deeply respect and admire, it just didn’t click with me. I couldn’t listen to it. Maybe I’ve grown too accustomed to anime-style performances and the sound of Japanese voice work, but after a couple of hours in English, I switched to Japanese and never looked back.

One odd thing I noticed—something I’ve seen in other RPGs as well—is that some of the protagonist’s lines aren’t voiced. There are moments where Rean speaks normally, fully voiced, yet in other scenes, every other character has voice acting while he remains text-only. I don’t get it.

Another thing that has started getting out of hand in the Trails series is the sheer amount of dialogue. The series is infamous for its overwhelming number of lines, which is one of the main reasons why older entries took years—sometimes even decades—to be translated and localized for the West. But my god, in this game, it’s overkill.

In every single scene, every single character (and there are a lot of them) has something to say. Most of the time, it’s nothing important—just minor comments on the silliest things for no real reason. Fortunately, you can skip through it all with the press of a button. The problem, however, is that you never know when that one crucial, game-changing line will suddenly appear—the kind of moment that plays a major role in the story.

That said, the series boasts some of the most interesting, well-built, well-developed, and life-like characters in any RPG I’ve ever played—and that remains true in this game as well. Maybe I’m being too harsh, and all those seemingly unnecessary lines actually add to the overall charm and depth of Class VII’s members. I’m not sure.

All in all, this is my favorite Trails game to date. I’ve loved every single entry that came before it, but this one stands above them all. I’m irresponsibly hyped for what comes next!

Modern JRPGs be like:
"The resonator archon has disilluminated the sphere of quantia- we must go and reverse polarize the wavelengths to save the kingdom of Chyrelias!"

Trails be like:
"Holy crap someone just shot the president."

Immediate 1000000/10. Actually, no. Let's be more realistic. I rate this game a Millium out of 10.

The characters, world building, story, combat and even more are just INCREDIBLE. This game is one of my favourite games of all time, hell, this franchise is one of the best franchises in the universe. I love Rean as a protagonist, be it his mentality and struggles, his amazing combat skills, or even just his monologues (Uh oh...), he never fails to become an extremely likeable and solid protagonist; most of which are either shallow or "wanting to impress" the players nowadays by doing stupid things. I have fallen in love with these characters, the world, the combat, and the game itself.

For all the time I've played this, (and i'll probably do more new game pluses) every second, every glance at the screen, every view of this vast, astounding, beautiful game, it just... Fills me with an inexplicable sense of joy and happiness. This goes for the rest of the games in the franchise too, especially cold steel. Absolute cinema; a true masterpiece of a game. Just seeing class 7 going on with their lives at the academy and creating new bonds with each other, is such an incredible sight to see. All the members of class 7 are amazing in their own ways too, and the setting of the academy makes me love this game even more since i love the whole "fantasy academy" thing.

The field trips and story progression is great too, i mean, i made sure i took ages to complete this game because i wanted to savour every second of it, and boy, do i regret that. It should've been every millisecond instead, NO, SCRATCH THAT, EVERY NANOSECOND!!! All in all, this ga-, no, masterpiece of art and story itself, is an enjoyable ride; a long one, but trust me, you won't regret it if you stick around and find out...

When will this game be over? It cannot come a moment too soon in my book. I don't normally leave a review on a game I have not finished but this game is not going to improve so here it is - this game sucks! I have played the whole series up til this one and I do love the characters (for the most part) but the lack options in the dialogue and this beating around the bush romance going on got old. The homosexual innuendos have went from humorous in the early series to outright cringey in this one. And let's draaaaaaaaaggggg itt oooooouuuutttttttttttttt aaaaaaaasss loooooooooooonnnnnnng aaaaaaaaaaaaaaasssss weeeeeeeeeeeee caaaaaaaaaannnnnn.....the last series was designed to drag the game out BUT the story I felt was worth it. This one is all the annoying parts from all the past games just in a loop over and over...and no area art healing anymore - lame.

Sample - we need to go from point A to point B:
char 1 - Well, we need to get ready to leave
char 2 - yeah, its gonna be a tough trip
char 3- yeah
char 4 - i concur
char 5 - do we have to walk all the way?
char 1 - hehe, well char 5, it will be good for you
char 5 and char 1 go back and forth a few times
char 1 - gives a pep talk
char 2 - ok, we should stock up
all chars - RIGHT!

char 1 - well, we are setting off now
char 5 - groan, my feet already hurt
char 2 - stay alert
char 1 - yeah guy, monsters will be tough
char 3 - will they attack us?
char 1 - yes they will
char 2 - and we might run into rain on the way!
char 4 - is rain wet?
char 1 - you bet it is, char 4. I remember this one time back in my home town.... (char 1 goes on this LONG story)
all chars - WOW!
char 2 - you are lucky to be alive!
char 1 - ok, let's set pick up the pace, we got 10,000 arges to walk

while walking -
char 4 - man, my feet hurt
char 2 - mine too
char 3 - I can hardly keep up
char 1 - that reminds me, my uncle told me once.....


AND ON AND ON IT GOES!!!! Needless and unnecessary dialogue that is so blatantly obvious existing for no other reason than to extend playtime. Just blah blah blah blah....man, I cannot WAIT to get done with this game! I have already bought Cold Steel 2 but I am probably going to wait to get into it. The 1st couple of games in the series were epic, I just don't know why each game has gotten worse. I am very interested in some the characters but it is not enough for me to give this game a thumbs up. As I can see it now, this game is a necessary evil in the whole series, I just hope this whole arc does not turn out this way....

Amazing game. Wonderful characters. Good story. Engaging gameplay.

Despite being older than the newer Persona games and Metaphor, I enjoyed it significantly more. It's very slow paced if you talk to everyone, but that's not really a negative. I personally really enjoyed the chill atmosphere in-between the dungeons. The combat is also pretty deep and interesting. Took me a couple (or a couple dozen) of hours to wrap my head around it, but now that I know how it works it's probably the best turn-based rpg combat I've seen in a game.

9/10 - not enough anime pseudo-incest.

The only JRPG I had played before this was Persona 4 Golden and I thought that was the peak of storytelling and character development. Trails blew my mind on just how intricate the story is and how you form these close bonds with each character. Every character felt so full and believable and each opportunity to see more about where they came from was amazing. Towards the end, the social links contributed more to the battles as well, even though the last dungeon was a bit of a grind.

Overall, this is 10/10 and if all the trails games are anything like this, I'm motivated to start at the beginning with Sky FC and then continue with the others. That is going to take years (lol), but totally worth it. I also want to mention how this game is perfect for short 30 minute stints (as long as you don't leave it when you're grinding in the middle of a dungeon) and the pacing is actually great if you like to savor the story slowly and watch it unfold. And the ending, wow. Excellent game.

The game did end (surprisingly) in a way that makes me want to continue onto the second game in the series, but the 43 hours leading up to it had me thinking about calling it off from the series even after playing all of the Liberl and Crossbell arcs beforehand and absolutely loving them. The characters in this game were really flat for a long time, the orb mechanics changed into a way that wasn't as interesting to me personally, and I hated how the new battles looked (stop rotating my gd screen!!!). Get the mod where you can keep fast mode toggled on and use the in game run to get through faster - the environment is pretty flat and sparse.

If you just want the story to continue onward you can win 99% of fights by just spamming auto attacks; there were times I would get to the boss of a level and realize my characters didn't have any orbaments or equipment because it simply didn't matter in most fights. The linking mechanic/swapping out members was interesting, thought it was really mostly only applicable in boss fights.

Play Liberl and Crossbell arcs first. The game features incredible world-building, memorable characters, and an amazing plot twist at the end.

I haven't written a steam review in 9 years, so the fact that I felt compelled to leave a review alone should tell you how good this game is. If your anything like me, you probably saw this game on sale or recommended based on other anime games/RPGs and wrote it off as another 2000s school centered JRPG; but boot this game up and you'll experience the start of what I personally believe to be one of, if not the greatest JRPG series of all time.
Few pieces of media, let alone video games, have ever been able to get me as emotionally invested in its story and characters as Trails of Cold Steel. The story is captivating with some actually smart writing, as well as plot threads that string you along even past the ending of the game. The characters are all memorable and incredibly fleshed out, so be ready to get attached to Class VII, hell even most of the minor NPCs are named and have their own stories and lives going on in the background, so you might as well prepare to get attached to them too. As for the gameplay, its some the most fun I've had in a JRPG, the emphasis on manipulating turn order combined with a free movement system that incentives positioning creates an awesome combat system. The art direction, character design, and world building add to the experience really enhance the experience. And to top it all off the score is a joy to listen to, reminiscent of classic JRPGs in the best way. The only criticisms i have of this game are very minor, a couple of unbalanced combat encounters and some PC port jank that isn't hard to fix (if it even gives you problems in the first place).
Trails of Cold Steel has stuck with me more than 99% of games I have played in my life, so please, do yourself a favor and buy this fucking game already.

Great entry in the "Trails" series. A start of a new story arc with excellent improvements to the turn based combat and interesting characters. The story is a bit of a slow burn since there are 4 entries in the Trails of Cold Steel story arc. I'm looking forward to playing the remaining 3 games.

I'm enjoying it so far!

holy ultra peak....

I recently discovered this series, and while I can't quite pinpoint why, there's something incredibly addictive about this game. I absolutely love it and would highly recommend it to any JRPG enthusiast.

I originally played this and all the other Trails games on my Playstations and gotta say the performance is actually smoother here then on there.

Great evolution on the Trails formula. Good cast of new characters and a large new country to explore

A fun start to the Erebonia arc, a large cast of characters that are all fun and/or interesting in their own ways. The change to 3D makes the combat look more vivid and action packed then before. The story of Erebonia and the individual characters is fun to experience, well worth a play-through!

Amazing jrpg.

A solid start to a long series. I don't have a ton to say on Cold Steel 1, it's fairly basic but the good kind

so slow... yet so good!

(Thank Aidios for Turbo Mode!)

good no flaw

An incredible Japanese role-playing game from Nihon Falcom.

Sure, it has PS Vita/low-level PS3 graphics, but it doesn't need the most advanced graphics. The artistic style and scenes are very good.
The narrative is very well-done. It has political drama mixed with student life. I also really appreciated the characterization of the cast.
And the gameplay is very solid. It has a well-done turn-based battle system, and also has some social simulation mechanics like the Persona series.

My rating: 4.5/5, or even a 5/5.
Great Japanese RPG game, and I find this and the rest of the Trails of Cold Steel titles to be the most accesssible. I recommend it for Persona fans, Trails series fans, and JRPG fans.

The best!

Very good JRPG, tho the school sections drag a bit.
It should be played together with the second game, as the two make a whole.
Knowledge of previos Trails games is recommended, but not necessary.
Recommended!

Started with Sky FC last year and Cold Steel 1 made me consider dropping the series. They tried keeping the same structure as previous Trails games, but the 3D traversal makes everything take longer so the game is stretched too thin. I actually felt bored in the last main section of the game, which I never experienced in Trails before. The main character Rean is a stereotypical anime reluctant cool good guy, which I really dislike in this game. The villain is
a bunch of things I don't like about Trails combined into one character. I really really hope Trails gets better again from here.

Probably my favorite 1st game of any of the arcs so far, gameplay is better than ever and the ost remains fantastic. The story is a bit of a slow burn but by the end I found myself loving the game. Highly recommended.

I played this after beating trials in the sky 1 and 2. This is a big shift graphically since the first 2 games use the 2D art style of most tactics games. Despite that the game play and systems are very familiar to the first 2 games. This game had a whole new set of characters and a great introduction to the new characters. The story is very good and seeing the character growth of the entire cast in this game alone was really well done. I would definitely recommend this if you are looking for an rpg that is not too demanding and you enjoy a great mix of story and combat. Cant wait to check out the remaining cold steel games

Pretty slow burn, but it kicks up around midgame and goes kinda nuts, and it's great. I love this, can't wait to start ToCS2

It sad to See Legend of Heros trying to be Persona.

Started here on my Trails journey. I have since backtracked and continue onward to each game and this game just holds a special place in my heart.

Good game, its interesting seeing what led up to the Erebonian Civil War. And it ends on a nice little cliffhanger, very excited for the next game.

This is my first game of the entire The Legend of Heroes umbrella of games. I was looking into starting with Trails in the Sky, as that was the first game and fans of the series recommend that as well. I decided against it as there was a remake announced coming sometime in 2025. So I decided to start with Trails of Cold Steel, the next chapter after Trails in the Sky.

I adore this game. Excellent turn based gameplay. Excellent soundtrack. Excellent characters. The narrative is a grind however. It is incredibly slow paced, and has some pacing issues in general. It can feel like a slog to get through as it feels like one big prologue, which it really was. That ending was an insane cliffhanger, and thankfully I have 3 more games already out, so I don't have to wait to continue the story. I could imagine when this game first came out, fans must've felt a little antsy to get to the sequel.

I highly recommend this game if you can have the patience to get through a lot of text and reading. It is voice acted for the most part, and it's excellent I must say. The voice actors seem to fit the characters really excellently, none of them felt off for the way a character looked.

A fantastic JRPG, and highly recommended when it goes on sale! I can't wait to continue the adventure!

P.S. I highly recommend modding/patching the game with the latest SenPatcher, and the HD Texture Pack to have a much better experience. It has some great quality of life fixes and bug fixes. It's really simple. On Steam's community tab, there is a pinned discussion thread regarding this.