The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel

[h1][b]Welcome to Erebonia, a nation of nobles, commoners and anime tropes![/b][/h1] The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel is the [b]sixth[/b] entry in the Trails / Kiseki franchise and I will review it as such, directly comparing it to the first games of the previous [url=https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198033206886/recommended/251150/]two[/url] [url=https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198033206886/recommended/1668510/]arcs[/url]. [h3]Does that mean I cannot start with this game, then?[/h3] 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. [h2][b]Story and Characters:[/b][/h2] 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 [b][i](Haha...)[/i][/b], 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 [b][i](Haha...)[/i][/b] 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 [b][i](Haha...)[/i][/b]. [h2][b]Gameplay and Combat:[/b][/h2] 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. [h2][b]Presentation and Music:[/b][/h2] 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. [h1][b]Conclusion:[/b][/h1] 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.

Гуд

falta uma legenda ,joguem esse jogo ele é melhor que comer trans de domingo depois do culto

I LOVE SWORDSSSSSS and robots

Афигенная jrpg

I'm starting a campaign to get the Nord Highlands nuked off the map.

peak 10/10

非常喜闻乐见的青春校园恋爱喜（？）剧，给美少女loli学生会长打工还是太舒服了，通马桶的速度都翻了一倍。 另外这作给校园里的NPC设了笔记页面，对我这种喜欢NPC对话全收集的人十分友好，看着每个人物的词条再回顾剧情还是很有趣的！虽然说3D小人不是那么精致但感觉看久了产生多余的感情了，意外的感觉很萌很可爱。 剧情依旧是传统的前期温馨小日常到最后爆了个大的，虽然说谜底不算那么难猜但最后还是会在一些小细节上出乎意料啊，七班每个人之间的羁绊也是让本人体验了一遍没体验过的美好的高中青春生活TWT，以及CP大乱炖给我吃爽了BGBLGL样样俱全了，总之很喜欢七班人之间的相处模式和日常生活。 美版感觉画质挺好的，而且挺流畅没出现啥掉帧的问题，花个五分钟上cafe打个补丁就能拥有畅通无阻的美好体验，美中不足的就是战斗里快进到时候会把情报分析的页面一起跳过（？）不过无伤大雅！ 另外第六章后特别推荐搭配特典广播剧食用风味更佳=w=

閃軌在很多方面開了很壞很壞的頭