The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel

This game takes its time setting up its characters and setting. There is a tremendous payoff for the slow pacing. Music is fantastic and the characters are all really great. Looking forward to the rest of the Cold Steel Arc!

Welcome to Erebonia, a nation of nobles, commoners and anime tropes!

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel is the sixth entry in the Trails / Kiseki franchise and I will review it as such, directly comparing it to the first games of the previous two arcs.

Does that mean I cannot start with this game, then?

Trails of Cold Steel is often presented as a perfectly valid entry point for newcomers to the franchise and while I agree that its narrative is more isolated than Trails from Zero's, I am still a firm proponent of directing people towards Trails in the Sky FC for the full experience since Cold Steel still manages to spoil certain character moments from previous games.
Not to mention, the older games are absolutely worth playing.

Story and Characters:

After two whole arcs of being bullied by the Erebonian Empire, it's finally time to head there ourselves and learn more about its society, culture and inner conflicts. As newly enrolled students at the prestigious Thors Military Academy, you and your classmates from the irregular Class VII are sent to explore various corners of the empire during field studies. Since this is the first game of the arc, a large chunk of the story feels rather slowly paced and consists mostly of world building - it only really picks up the pace during its last third.
While this closely mimics Sky FC and Zero, the individual chapters here feel especially disjointed and formulaic. There is no plot device or underlying mystery guiding you from chapter to chapter. You explore a new area, get inadvertently involved in the local conflict and then proceed to solve it. It always feels like Class VII is just along for the ride whereas the previous games' protagonists took a more active role in the narrative.
Speaking of the characters, they were all serviceable, but I had no clear favorites among them (except Fie) which is a stark contrast to the older games. While they all have different backgrounds, the academy setting pushes them into similar mindsets as the game goes on and conflicts between them are resolved rather quickly. There are also so many walking 2010s anime tropes among the cast. You have the tsundere berating the protagonist because of a misunderstanding, the goody two-shoes protagonist who puts up with it (Haha...), the mysterious member who knows more than they let on and the protagonist who completely ignores that fact even though that wisdom could be beneficial to everyone (Haha...) and the list goes on. I grew up with stuff like this, but I'm sure there will be people getting annoyed by the writing (Haha...).

Gameplay and Combat:

Cold Steel is quite similar to the previous entries. Main quests, (hidden) side quests, collectable books - you know the drill.
Combat and character customization has changed a bit, however. The turn-based battles do no longer take place on a grid, but in regular 3D space instead. You can now link characters together and as they gain more link experience, they'll support each other in battle with follow-up attacks, auto-heals and so on. Enemies can now be unbalanced by hitting them with the weapon type they're weak to.
The biggest change, however, is that your arts are no longer determined by the elemental values of your equipped quartz. Instead, individual quartz themselves now carry arts have other special effects. I do think I prefer the old system as the new one feels more brainless, but I'll reserve my final judgment until I experience Cold Steel 2.

Presentation and Music:

I prefer the sprites of Sky and Crossbell to the PS Vita models of Cold Steel. They lack the charm of the sprites and use a lot of (often awkward) recycled animations in almost every cutscene. Sometimes there's even no animation at all, for example whenever the characters are supposed to be eating a meal. They'll just sit at the table doing nothing while you hear the sound of forks and knives being used in the background. Combat is a little bit better, but still pales in comparison to the spritework of previous entries.
The music however... It just gets better with every game. How are they doing this? I have no clue. I only kneel in front of Falcom Sound Team jdk.

Conclusion:

If I had to rank all the Trails games that I've completed, I can without a doubt say that Trails of Cold Steel would sit at the very bottom of the list. Nevertheless, I still greatly enjoyed my time with it and I'm interested to see how the sequel hopefully manages to improve on it.

It's been a few years since i played this game, and I still think about it. The characters are just hugely engaging. The adventure is pretty grand. A school setting is cool. It was just a really nice experience to play this game.

Its a very good turn-based game with some feel good moments in the story. Its extremely cheezy though and some of the story bits are bit awkward in terms of pace. 8/10.

I hate Angelica.

Dungeons are pretty boring and the plot is pretty bare. The characters range from really boring to ok, and looks pretty ugly at times. Ost is pretty good, and the world building is top notch. But it really feels like a prologue then a complete story which i understand is the point, but atleast give me something to be more invested in while setting up the pieces. Fie and Towa a cute

My cousin Ryan just had a new roof installed by Las of Us roofing

Trails of Cold Steel is a must play for anyone who likes JRPGs with a lot of Political drama and anime shenanigans. it has a story that to me outshines many of it's peers and allows it to stand with them. the gameplay is a very smart combo of tactical and traditional turnbased styles with an incredible amount of customization per character. that's about all I can say without going into spoilers so if you're a fan of the Trails series or JRPGs in general you owe it to yourself to play this game!

Beat it in Nightmare Mode, Easy actually, after playing 5 games I already knew what I'm doing.

Let see, I liked the game. I liked the NPC students too, looking forward to whatever they're doing whenever I can. I liked girls that are like Knights and the air about them so Laura was already winning. I play it sub so there's inconsistent voiced acting scene here and there, but that's fine, I got used to it.

Now here's the nitpicking I have about this title.
- With every new chapter the game forcible remove RARE quartz and accessories from other Class VII that isn't part of your field study group, so someone like me who has issue with leaving empty slots around, it's a minor annoyance. The game Expects you to only use 4-6 characters but that shouldn't be a good reason to know ask 1st.

Yeah that's it really, for the 1st entry of a new arc, Cold steel 1 was weaker, Zero was better, Sky FC was good too.

*Spoiler-free review*
The first game from the Cold Steel saga that serves as a whole new story that, at least by this game and the second, is not directly connected to the previous game, ala Crossbell's games, but even less connected.
The two most important things this game offers is fully 3D graphics that gives us a whole new perspective of the Zemuria continent, the cities and its inhabitants. Let's be honest, the graphics aged poorly for the most part, especially the character's animations - they move and behave like robots, and the devs didnt care too much about making the best use of the poor animations, like better scripted scenes or something - but it's their first fully 3D game so it's understandable.
Still, the Sky/Crossbell games look millions times better and aged like fine wine.
The second important thing is a look at the Erebonia Empire and it's cities, culture and stuff. Loved everything about it, and the new protagonists are good, but not as memorable as the Sky/Crossbell ones. There is still 3 games left from this saga, so I'm sure they will get more development on the following games.
Basically, it's more Trails, but now on 3D and on a whole new region. The last part of the final chapter is amazing, and the ending is quite good, to the level of Sky FC's ending.
But this game wouldn't be as good if I hadn't played the previous games, especially the Crossbell arc.
If you are interested on playing the Trails games, DONT start with Cold Steel. Go with Sky FC.
Oh and, it took me around 75 hours to beat, dont look at my 'hours played' lol sometimes I leave the game running on background when doing stuff or just sleeping

Despite really good game mechanics, this game is a terrible disappointment.
The story is awfully boring and the characters are poorly written.
Waste of time and money.

Repetitive formula and monotonously paced, but excellent JRPG experience. It almost felt like a school sim until it wasn't, and I would say the story pay off is worth the long slog. If you hate obsessively checking in with NPC's or linear RPG's, you may not dig it.

Amazing game; graphics in cold steel 1 and 2 are somewhat outdated but honestly that doesn't take away from how fun and entertaining the games are

good story, so many plot twist

Still pretty good. MC is the worst so far (compared to sky and crossbell arcs), but I'd definitely recommend to play this and the prior 5 games.

if your looking for a game series that has extremely life like character's and personalities this is definitely a good game series to sink hundreds of hours into and that is not including the new game plus after completion will tempt you to play the whole series again just to see what cut scenes you missed out on during the first play through.

Man, never regretted playing this game. Even the graphics are not that spectacular, but the gameplay and story is just makes the game more cozy to play. Love this game. Love the character writing, even though, at first it’s kinda annoying . But at the end, every character in this game really etched into ur heart and that makes it memorable

Liked the game very much. It had a great cast of characters and a very likable protag and a great combat system and has one of the best plot twist in my opinion. This was also my first JRPG I completed as far as story. Can't wait to play the rest in this series!

Unbearable and cringe anime slop

A great 6th entry to the series.
Was a blast seeing the events unfold in parallel in Erebonia, compared to what is seen in the last game (Azure) on the Crossbell side.

Would still recommend playing this as the 6th entry as opposed to starting from this point...

Graphics is not that good so if you AAA gamer it may not be for you like most JRPGs just 3D models and monsters seem average and their designs could be better yet the story is good, gameplay is fun and the characters are varied and interesting to watch.

Great storytelling!

60% time wasted to talk to NPC and their daily life
20% to set orbment just for removed after field study
10% stuck at boss because wrong equipment

10/10 would do it again

generic shounen ahh game

The surprise gundam at the end really made the dragging start worth it. The cliffhanger makes you want to go ahead and start Cold Steel 2 right away.

Robots Fighting/10

As a fairly casual gamer who enjoys JRPGs like Dragon Quest and the Pokémon franchise, and who played Trails in the Sky in the past, this has been an absolute joy to play. Having completed my first play through I have gone straight into a second.

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.

quack quack

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.