[code]Trails of Cold Steel III serves as a decent “in-between” game to build up the finale of the Erebonia arc, that achieves what it sets out to do but struggles along the way[/code]
To begin on a personal note, my experience playing through the entirety of [i]Trails of Cold Steel II[/i] [url=https://steamcommunity.com/id/dreamylotus/recommended/748490]ended up so badly[/url] that I paused my ongoing playthrough of the entire franchise for two years. As such, I went into [i]Trails of Cold Steel III[/i] with more than just mixed feelings, fearing that the game would do little to address my previous criticisms. However, even though I can’t say that the third game in the Erebonia storyline has managed to elevate my opinion of the overall story arc so far, it thankfully offered a decent enough time that it didn’t make me drop the franchise entirely – although there’s still lot of room for improvement left.
The reason I mention all of this is because [i]Trails of Cold Steel III[/i] is a game that one should only be considered by those who are – at least – familiar with the characters and events of [i]Trails of Cold Steel I & II[/i]. Even though it has been occasionally marketed as a new drop-in point for newcomers by the publisher, it’s really not: [i]Cold Steel III[/i] is a game that only serves one purpose, and that is being the build-up between the mid-arc finale of [i]Cold Steel II[/i] and the end of the tetralogy, [i]Cold Steel IV[/i]. It’s not a game intended to stand on its own, with a heavy reliance on previously introduced plot details and characters, and with much of its payoffs left for the next game to deliver. Therefore, the only reason one should play [i]Cold Steel III[/i] to begin with, is to experience the entirety of the Erebonia arc, as the game wasn’t built to stand on its own.
That said, [i]Cold Steel III[/i] could’ve managed to be much more of a standalone affair, with the plot initially placing returning protagonist Rean Schwarzer in an instructor role, overseeing a new cast of students at a branch campus of Thors. Thankfully, the new members of Class VII are far fewer in number than the eleven members introduced before, allowing for more fleshed-out backstories and better team progression. While some of the new students have more interesting connections to the plot and character developments to show off than others, the new cast is a welcome addition overall, with one caveat that will be mentioned later. Changing Rean’s role from student to teacher could’ve been a great gameplay twist as well, though unfortunately the campus life remains pretty much unchanged, with most elements returning from the previous games.
This does not only extend to the campus life, unfortunately, as [i]Cold Steel III[/i] loves to reuse the formula already seen in the other Erebonia games. This leads to each story chapter being downright predictable in terms of overall gameplay as well as the plot developments, with the familiar structure of “build-up → small crisis → small victory → teasing big consequences for later” being repeated throughout. In fact, it almost becomes downright comical to see how some scenes keep reappearing at the same point of each chapter, like Rean’s call for his Ashen Knight getting repeatedly interrupted by the appearance of certain characters. While [i]Cold Steel III[/i] is by no means entirely devoid of story surprises, the overall plot structure would’ve benefitted a lot from a less formulaic approach instead of being chained to a repeated campus procedure.
That is not to say that the story structure of [i]Cold Steel III[/i] doesn’t work well enough to achieve the overall build-up it’s aiming to perform, even though it’s predictability does become somewhat tiring or even exhausting at times. In terms of worldbuilding for example, [i]Cold Steel III[/i] continuously builds upon previous mysteries and events, establishes new connections and most noticeably invests a lot of effort into tying the previous arcs and characters of the franchise to the ongoing events in Erebonia. While [i]Cold Steel III[/i] does deliberately avoid delivering any huge payoffs, which are likely left for the sequel, it does set a lot of the gears in motion that are required for a huge finale. In that sense, it does really well for an “in-between game” in terms of results, even if the way it got there can be quite uneven.
Due to review space limitations, only the two biggest story faults should be mentioned in particular. For one, [i]Cold Steel III[/i] keeps getting worse at the already bad way the franchise, the Erebonia arc in particular, handles its villains. Even for an “in-between game”, the already apparent stalling in terms of dealing with the now absurdly large cast of enemies needs to stop. This ranges from character developments that suddenly go nowhere to clashes don’t feel meaningful at all, as the franchise keeps avoiding having to deal with actual consequences.
The second one is about the franchise increasingly leaning into “anime tropes”, with the Erebonia arc in particular featuring them heavily. Specifically, it needs to be pointed out that [i]Cold Steel III[/i] features some gross ones that may not be perceived as such in Japan but may be in the rest of the world and at least for me, continue to be a blight on the franchise. As with the two previous games, protagonist Rean continues to be the dream of almost every woman in the game, including his adoptive sister and his students (!), with one of the new class VII members (!!) specially making constant advances “as a joke”. In addition, previous sexpest characters also make an unfortunate return and continue their shtick, and there’s also a whole “running joke” about an underaged character and her guardian being in love. Everyone feels differently about these tropes of course, and it needs to be mentioned that there’s nothing explicit happening here, but personally speaking, these “tropes” are only detrimental to the game.
Overall speaking, the plot of [i]Cold Steel III[/i] could certainly be improved in various ways, but even with its faults, it does feature a great setup for [i]Cold Steel IV[/i] and introduces (mostly) great characters to the ever-expanding cast – which was likely to goal to begin with.
In terms of gameplay, I’ll keep it short, as most players should already be familiar with the basic systems in place: I really enjoyed QoL additions such as some hidden quests finally being marked on the map and the additions to the combat system, such as “Brave Orders”, which really round out the already quite enjoyable turn-based fights. Turbo mode continues to be a godsend for the game, as it makes the dungeons a lot more bearable, which unfortunately continue to be designed in the most basic way, featuring mostly corridors and almost no unique puzzles or other gimmicks. Considering how enjoyable the combat system is, improvements to the dungeon design would really elevate the game to new heights.
Concluding, [i]Cold Steel III[/i] is a massive (60+h) “in-between” game for those who want to see the Erebonia arc through its end. Not being able to stand on its own, it’s a must play for everyone who wants to play through the entire [i]Cold Steel[/i] tetralogy – and due to its nature a mustn’t play for everyone else.
