RPGWatch Feature - Death by Exposure: Trails of Cold Steel

Myrthos

Myrthos

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Aubrielle has her own column now on RPGWatch, in which she will discuss JRPGs. As you know the focus of RPGWatch is on western CRPGs, but there are also players out there that do like to play jRPGs as well. To cater to those readers and those who like to learn about them, Aubrielle starts this semiregular column.

In this episode Aubrielle start with an unofficial review of Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel is the third volume in the widely-acclaimed Legend of Heroes series. That makes it an odd place for NIS to go, since they haven't launched the second volume (the "Crossbell" story arc) for a western audience. Still, Trails of Cold Steel is a standalone game; playing the second story arc helps your understanding of what's going on, but it's definitely not required. Cold Steel is a solid RPG that can very much be enjoyed on its own.

Trails of Cold Steel takes you to the Erebonian Empire and enrolls you as a student of the prestigious Thors Military Academy. As a member of the newly-formed Class VII, you'll complete tasks to help the student council, all while building relationships with your classmates that will translate into bonuses in combat. The questing system will look familiar if you enjoyed Trails in the Sky; you're presented with a log and the game keeps track of the quests you finish and the ones you ignore. That log will also tease your inner completionist, since it keeps track of the books and newspapers you've read, as well as the recipes you've collected.
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More information.
 
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Here is the first entry of the semiregular column of Aubrielle (where semiregular means that we don't know when we'll see the next one yet).
Thanks Aubrielle.
 
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Thanks Aubrielle! I've already been sneaking silently around and had a little peek at your first column :blush: Great work, looking forward to reading more ^.^
 
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Great review Aubrielle! :)
 
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Thank you all so much! I feel like this one was a bit flat. My writing will be better next time…I promise. :)

And Myrthos, I'm working on another review now for Persona 4 Golden. Since I know our western PC gamer audience probably won't want to be inundated with these JRPG articles, we can publish it in a few weeks, if you want. :)
 
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Good article! Thanks for writing it, Aubrielle! :)

I got a little confused around the part where you describe the combat system. Orbal arts, master quartz, I didn't understand what any of that meant. I guess I had to have played the first game, huh?

Anyway, hope it does get a PC release sometime but I still have to play the first game which everyone raves about. :)
 
Aubrielle,

Were these games released for PS3? If so, what's their names (since this one you reviewed is the third in the series)?
 
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Trails of Cold Steel is available on PS3 (and at discount now due to Big In Japan sale). I've been playing that version recently, and whilst graphically its a little basic, it still looks great, and of course plays great too.

Trails of Cold Steel is the first of this series of Trails games (I believe there's a part 2 and maybe a part 3 in the far east), so requires no prior play/knowledge.

Trails in the Sky 1/2 are a separate series of Trails games available on Vita/PC. They aren't as graphically advanced, but are really good stories.

I don't think Persona 4 Golden is on PS3, just the beat-em-up spinoff "Ultimax Arena".

PS, liking the inclusion of console RPGs on RPGwatch too. I don't like it when sites insist on being PC elitist when there are good games of the genre on other platforms. PC is almost always the best place for the multiplatform or native RPGs, but there are some really nice console exclusives too (ChronoTrigger came up recently, but I'd also like to mention Lost Odyssey as another classic, and the Xenoblade games).
 
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Irien explained it really well. :)

Sorry about that…lemme clarify. Yeah…Trails in the Sky was volume 1. Volume 2 was the Crossbell Arc, and Volume 3 is Trails of Cold Steel.

Orbal arts is basically magic in this universe…it was the discovery of orbal arts that moved these societies away from the Middle Ages and into a sort of steampunk industrial revolution. The "master quartz" is basically a unique orb that you can give to a character that affects their other orbs (materia, basically) and gives that character a single unique ability. "Arts" in the combat menu is like another way of saying "spells".

So, Fluent…you might think of orbs as materia, and this universe's whole magic system is based on the use of these orbs. ^.^
 
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Thanks for the great review Aubrielle! I LOVE this game, had an absolute blast playing ... I got bogged down as I had about 20 hours into it before my PS Vita and a bunch of other stuff was stolen from my car when my family was visiting our older son at college in NYC in January ... but after slogging through the replay it was a real blast once again!
 
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txa1265 said:
Thanks for the great review Aubrielle! I LOVE this game, had an absolute blast playing … I got bogged down as I had about 20 hours into it before my PS Vita and a bunch of other stuff was stolen from my car when my family was visiting our older son at college in NYC in January … but after slogging through the replay it was a real blast once again!
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Oh my god!! Your Vita and a bunch of stuff got stolen?? I'm so sorry to hear about that! :-x

God, that's horrible...

But I'm at least glad that TOCS is as replayable as it is...:)
 
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If anyone is interested, the game works on PSTV as well.
 
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lostforever said:
If anyone is interested, the game works on PSTV as well.
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Oh cool, I heard they were working on that ... next time there is a mega-deal I will pick one up (since it is discontinued now)
 
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Yeah, PSTV seems sweet. Gives you access to most of the Vita collection, or at least games that don't use the touch-screen. I am going to get one, too, and play all those sweet Vita RPGs on my TV. :)
 
Just thought of a good example for western RPG players regarding the Trails series…

Bethesda's Elder Scrolls series all take place in the same world (Tamriel) at different points in time, and in different places. You don't need to have played any previous Elder Scrolls game to get full enjoyment out of the current one, but you'll notice small details shared between games.

It's the same here - you'll see occasional references to kingdoms or events in other games, which will make fans smile, or nod in recognition, but if someone didn't point it out, you'd probably never know!

Since Falcom also make the Ys series, I believe there are also very minor links or "shout outs" to that series too, but I can't recall actually noticing any myself.
 
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