The Legend of Heroes' Trails Series is a pretty intimidating one for new players. At the time of this review, there are thirteen main titles, an unannounced sequel, and a remake of the very first entry on the way. It is a lot to take in, and those looking for a place to start often struggle with picking the perfect game. Well, to be perfectly blunt, Trails of Cold Steel 3 is not the place to jump in if you are new to the series, but it is a game that may very well be worth your time.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel 3 is the eighth entry in the series, and it falls within a unique placement overall. While the previous arcs featured self contained stories that connected to the overall world, Trails of Cold Steel 3 does not follow this pattern, and rather than being a direct follow up to Cold Steel 2, it is actually a sequel to everything that came before it. While gameplay mechanic wise it is in fact a successor to the first two Cold Steel titles, and although it shares many similarities with the first Cold Steel, it is in reality a combination of everything the series has done up until this point.
That being said, it is a great eighth entry in the series, and the game has a lot to love on its own, but it is not where newcomers should begin their journey. Despite featuring some "new" characters as a main focal point, each of them has strong ties to the past, with one of them actually appearing in previous titles. The game assumes players are already familiar with the world, characters, and the key events that lead us to this current state, and it does little to truly catch newcomers up to speed. Because of this the game does contain major spoilers for the entire series, with many of the major Earth shattering plot twists themselves being revealed as if they are nothing.
For the sake of this review I will be avoiding divulging complete details, but there are specific events that cannot be ignored. So spoiler warning ahead, as this is Trails of Cold Steel 3.
The Story
The story of Trails of Cold Steel 3 picks up a couple of years after the ending of Trails of Cold Steel 2, and sees our main character Rean Schwarzer facing a completely changed world. His home country of Erebonia is still recovering after the events of the civil war, society has restructured due to major changes within the government, and even rival nations have found themselves being annexed to Erebonia. Needless to say, tensions are high, the future is uncertain, and Rean is standing at the crest of this new age brought on by the events of the previous games. Unlike back then, however, Rean is no longer a student at Thors Military Academy, but a teacher himself at the newly established branch campus.
After spending recent years of his life working for the government, which officially gave Rean the title of "the Ashen Chevalier," he decides to follow in his ex-teacher's footsteps and train a class of his own. This class becomes known as the New Class 7, the class Rean himself was previously from. Thors itself has restructured to follow in the original Class 7's footsteps. Rather than simply keeping students at the school, the entire academy now has mandatory field studies, allowing students to go out and see the world, and they are required to learn how to pilot Panzer Soldats—giant mecha robots that were weaponized during the previous civil war.
Upon entering the school, Rean discovers he is not the only one to choose the path of an instructor, as his friend Towa has also joined up with Thors Branch Campus, along with a few other familiar faces. In addition to his acquaintances, which includes former enemies, Randy from Crossbell's Special Support Section has joined the academy as well. While he and Rean had never met in person, the two are familiar with each other's history, with Rean himself crossing paths with the SSS during his military days. Despite initially being on opposite sides, the two quickly become comrades in arms as they work together to shape the future generation of graduates.
Like previous entries in the series, Trails of Cold Steel 3 has a massive focus on the story and its ever-evolving world. There are hundreds of characters in this series, and each one of them is unique, with countless connections to others. Characters, both main and side, introduced in Trails in the Sky, continue to be a part of the story to this day, with each new title teaching players something new they didn't know. Rean himself trained under master Yun Ka-fai of the Eight Leaves One Blade school, which is a school that also trained many other prominent characters throughout the series. This connects Rean to Cassius Bright, the father of Trails in the Sky's protagonist Estelle Bright, his granddaughter Anelace Elfead, and more. Estelle herself traveled the world with Agate and Tita, with Tita herself now attending Thors, with Agate supporting her while working as a Bracer. Rean's ex-instructor Sara is also a Bracer, with her story tying in with events that surrounded Cassius Bright back in Trails in the Sky.
This is just one tiny web that ties multiple characters together, with hundreds of other points branching out from within it. It is this amount of world-building and lore that makes Trails so appealing to its players, and Cold Steel 3 is a major step in the overall narrative, and one that can be difficult for newcomers to follow. It isn't a story that can be fully taken at face value, and even the newcomers are characters with a deeper history than one might initially realize. This world of Zemuria has shaped them into the people they are today, and things are about to get even crazier.
The Sequel to Three Separate Arcs
While the main plot of Cold Steel 3 follows Rean's adventures as an instructor, this is only a small part of what the game actually sets out to achieve. The core school-based story does follow many of the same beats and patterns as the first two Cold Steel titles and directly follows the events of Cold Steel 2. However, the vast majority of the game is actually spent on tying up plot points introduced in the rest of the series. This is due to the unique situation of the "field studies" the students undertake, all of which contain their own stories that tie into the overarching narrative.
For example, the first field study focuses more on Trails of Cold Steel events, but after that, the game completely shifts toward Trails in the Sky and Zero and Azure, which make up the Crossbell arc. Rean's student Juna herself appeared in Azure and is originally from Crossbell. Upon visiting Crossbell, the story shifts toward her life and serves as a direct follow-up to everything that happened during the Crossbell titles. Despite still playing as Rean, this is the moment where the game feels like it has transported players back in time, and some much-needed "closure" is provided. It's not necessarily an actual ending to the Crossbell story, but a homecoming that finally lets fans see what Crossbell is like today.
Meanwhile, another early story focuses on major events from Trails in the Sky and once again sheds new light on things. Not to mention that Trails in the Sky characters are featured more prominently in Cold Steel 3 compared to the first two, but it really is this early story that finally delivers on something fans had been waiting years for. These surprising new turns of events not only change Cold Steel 3's plot moving forward, but they also cause players to question what they once thought they knew.
As for the Cold Steel cast, characters from Rean's class do join in throughout the game, but more in side roles that eventually develop into individual plotlines that further help tie everything together. They are not the main focus this time around, but players do get to see just how much they have progressed in the years since graduating from Thors, and there are some surprising revelations along the way. Still, the main Cold Steel focus is mostly on Rean's new students, who remain front and center throughout the entire adventure.
The General Gameplay Loop
Cold Steel 3 follows a standard gameplay loop that borrows elements from the first two titles, as well as older Trails entries. As an RPG, the game is broken up into towns, world exploration, dungeons, turn based combat, character customization, party building, and challenging boss fights, but it also includes special mecha fights, a mini relationship system, and a story progression based calendar system. The game doesn't feature life simulator elements in the usual sense, but it is a game that allows you to "live the life" of the characters you play as. It is one that asks you to fully embrace this world, and make as much as you want out of it during your linear ride to the end. There is no back-tracking as every chapter is a point of no return, but there is plenty to do along the way, and the school does remain a constant.
Similar to the first two games, every chapter begins with Rean at the school, but this time he is teaching students rather than being one himself. His days consist of teaching class, exploring the campus to interact with students and faculty, and helping those in need through side quests. After his day ends, he heads into the town of Leeves to do more of the same and eventually returns to the dorms. There are activities such as a card mini-game to play, and every single character in the game features unique, constantly changing dialogue. This part of the game is always a much more relaxed and slower experience, all about taking in the world and watching the story unfold. After more time slots that are similar, the students eventually engage in mock mecha battles to test their skills and are then given a "free day."
During free days, more side quests open up, more characters are available to speak to, and specific events need to be completed to advance the plot. Those who played the first Cold Steel will be completely familiar with this format, as it also ends with a quick trip through the game's "main" dungeon, a training ground overseen by Professor Schmidt. Here, players are not limited in their party and can freely bring any member of Rean's class with them. These are short dungeon runs with limited puzzles and treasure to find, but they offer valuable experience for the chapter's upcoming field study.
After everything is said and done at the school, everyone eventually gets on Thors' private train, which offers more conversation opportunities during the ride, and then the field study officially begins. This is where Cold Steel 3 uses a similar setup to Cold Steel 1 once again; however, it is also where more of the past titles' influences come into play.
Field studies in Cold Steel 3 are massive and, similar to games like Trails in the Sky Second Chapter, feature a more open style of play. Rather than having a main town with some field areas and a dungeon like in the first two Cold Steel games, field studies typically consist of multiple towns of different sizes, large open fields that strongly encourage the use of bikes or horses, dozens of enemies and extra bosses to fight, and side quests hidden throughout the entire region. There are a lot of characters to talk to after every story event, and plenty to explore before eventually being led to a main dungeon or conflict.
These field studies can sometimes last over 20 hours on their own, and each one leaves you feeling like you just completed a game on its own. Once you take care of all the required quests and have had your fill of extras, Rean and his class get to take on the chapter's main challenge and then return home to do it all over again. This makes for a very long game with a repeated pattern, but each field study is also unique enough, and the freedom seen in non-Cold Steel titles is a very welcome addition to help keep it from getting stale.
The Combat and Customization
Following in line with the rest of the series, Trails of Cold Steel 3 features an upgraded version of the turn-based battle system and customization options as seen in previous titles. At its core, battles are triggered by either running into or attacking enemies on the field. You can then select your attacks or moves for each character. Unlike the previous titles, Cold Steel 3 uses a modernized menu system for battles, where different actions are assigned to buttons rather than being listed on a single menu. This speeds things up considerably in the long run.
As for battle actions themselves, characters can use basic attacks. Juna is unique and can swap between ranged and close-ranged hits. Special Crafts can be used, magical Arts are always an option, and a repositioning move allows you to change a character's position on the battlefield. Crafts require CP (Craft Points) to use, which recharge as you get hit and deal damage yourself, while Arts require the use of EP (Energy Points) and have a charge-up time. This is where the game's battle timeline comes into play, showing which characters or enemies will take action when and if there are any special effects applied to their turn, such as being recovered or being guaranteed to land a critical hit.
The game also features a Break System, which will stun enemies and open them up to stronger attacks, and a team-based Link Attack if you land a critical hit. Each critical hit gives you one Brave Point (BP) and allows your character's linked party member to attack the enemy as well. By spending Brave Points, you can perform even stronger team attacks. This system is a returning one from previous Cold Steel titles; however, this time around, an extra element is added: Brave Orders.
Rather than spending Brave Points to land extra hits in battle, Brave Orders are a set of passive abilities that can be applied to the entire party and activated at any time as long as you have the required points. These passive effects only last for a set number of turns, but they can provide attack bonuses, defensive bonuses, or other unique properties to help the team. Every character in the game has their own set of Brave Orders they can issue, so the party structure itself determines which ones are available.
Additionally, characters like Rean can activate his Ogre Form for added effects, and there is the ever-spectacular S-Craft each character can use for massive damage. This requires the use of 100 CP, or 200 CP for its maximum effect, and can be activated at any time to break turn order. As long as the ability is used before an enemy's turn actually starts, you can use it to jump ahead of them and possibly steal their turn order bonus.
All of this plays into the overall strategy of each fight in the game, with many battles requiring perfect planning to overcome. Simply having the wrong team or wrong build can quickly spell the end for your characters, but thankfully the "Weaken Enemies and Retry" option ensures you can never truly get stuck. Technically, players can even go up against the final boss with no armor, the weakest weapon, and poor customization and still win, simply by dying repeatedly and weakening the boss each time. This means it is impossible to fail in Cold Steel 3, and the entire series as a whole, but it is also the player's choice whether or not to use this option.
With the party itself and the customization options, Cold Steel 3 offers plenty of ways to build the team, and it can become overwhelming for someone who is new to the franchise. The main form of customization comes from the Orbments that can be equipped to each character and the effects they apply. This customization is done by attaching the Orbments to the character's ARCUS Unit and arranging them to receive added bonuses. This is done by equipping Orbments of a specific color into specific lines, which in turn unlocks different and unique Arts for that character to use. These Orbments also provide stat bonuses and can apply passive abilities to each character. Of course, the game does feature an auto-equip option to automatically handle this side of the game, but using it completely can mean missing out on having healing Arts or other much-needed abilities, as the game will focus more on stats than strategy.
Master Quartz are a different type of Orbment and control each character's default abilities and stats. Each character can initially set one Master Quartz, which also levels up and gets stronger as EXP is gained. Later in the game, they also unlock the ability to equip a Sub-Master Quartz. These secondary Quartz are shared between all characters and can be equipped by everyone for the same bonus. For example, the main Master Quartz Rean has equipped can also be used as Juna's sub at the same time. If you really want to, the entire party can use that same Master Quartz as their sub, but each member would be required to have a different main one. This means that the party can share some of their power and be similar, but they cannot be completely identical due to their main Master Quartz being unique.
In addition to Orbments, each character can equip up to two accessories and different armor sets and weapons for additional bonuses. This allows players to further build characters in a way that fits the current situation and asks them to change out at least the accessories quite often. On the plus side, the game only contains a handful of "core" party members, with the others being guests that often come with exactly what is needed when they join.
As for the party itself, the game features a large cast overall, but it's not until the end that everyone comes together. Until then, the main party is Rean and his direct class, with additional guest characters joining in each chapter. These characters include Rean's friends from previous titles and some unexpected newcomers. Sadly, the game doesn't give you too many options to play around with these playable fan favorites, but their sections are memorable, and players will likely find themselves wanting to use them over their actual main party. Thankfully, the game does a great job distributing experience and keeping characters at the correct level, so not using your main team isn't something you need to worry about.
With all of this coming together, Trails of Cold Steel 3 features a much-improved version of the classic Trails series battle system while also incorporating new features all its own—and this is all without even considering the giant robot fights.
Mech Battles:
Similar to Cold Steel 2, Rean once again has the ability to summon his giant mysterious knight, Valimar, while his students can use their very own Panzer Soldats.
When this happens, the battle system shifts to a game of rock-paper-scissors, as different parts of the enemy's body become a weak point based on their current stance. The goal here is to constantly hit the ever-changing weak point and eventually use finisher attacks to deal additional damage. Each mech can use crafts and arts to deal extra damage, with linked non-pilot characters providing additional magical and recharge support. This recharge option is what allows you to get your mech's energy level up to continue using special attacks, and it can also be used to recover your own HP.
Ultimately, it becomes a balance between attacking, using special attacks, recharging, and healing, with smartly placed attacks being the key to winning. Eventually, the Panzer Soldats and Valimar can be outfitted with their own Orbments for additional power, but the reality is that these mech battles are more of a puzzle than a standard fight. But that doesn't make them any less cool or fun!
Should you play it?
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel 3 quickly became one of my favorite entries in the series. The jump from the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita to a modern home console brought a very welcome visual and audio upgrade, and the game's performance greatly benefited from the shift as well.
Rean himself is a character who has undergone much growth over the years, and seeing the world in a completely different state is an interesting change. Watching him as a teacher is a nice contrast to his own days as a student in the first two titles. While the game has throwbacks and references that play with your nostalgia, it’s clear that time has moved on. Even though things may be similar, Rean’s "good old days" as a student are long gone. It’s a strange feeling that not every game can capture, but with a long-running series like Trails, such moments are perfect.
As for the gameplay, Cold Steel 3 is an upgrade in nearly every way, introducing a few new systems to further expand on what we've seen before. The core cast works great together, and the large number of guest characters is great fan service for players who have stuck with the series this long. While some of the attack animations can be a bit slow, the game does offer a speed-up button and a way to skip attacks if you’re in a hurry. Considering the game can last over 100 hours without using these time-saving boosts, it wouldn't be surprising if some players opt for faster battles and movement.
Overall, The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel 3 is a solid RPG with a great cast of characters, addictive tactical turn-based combat, and a story filled with twists and turns from start to finish. The game is a direct sequel to the previous three arcs and does little to help newcomers catch up. It is a game fully intended to be played after everything that came before it, with most of the plot points being follow-ups to story lines that were started previously. The game does have a handful of original plots, but even these have strong ties to the past, which might make it hard for a new player to follow. This is why those hoping to jump into the series may want to think twice before choosing this as their entry point, while long-time fans will see it as a title they won't want to skip. This is where a lot of the payoff from the previous titles finally happens, and it is a game that will never be forgotten by those who experience it.
VERDICT: Recommended
Reviewed on PlayStation 4
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