Trails of Cold Steel is Surprise Best (J)RPG of 2015

I was on the point of posting this as a news article, but as Trails of Cold Steel is available only for console and handheld at the moment, I thought this forum might be the better place.

Over at "Oldtaku" -- a corner of the Kotaku site I haven't stumbled into before -- the game is being held up as a peer of The Witcher 3:

2015 was already a great year for RPGS … then *bang*. Trails of Cold Steel I - or Eiyuu Densetsu: Sen no Kiseki if you’re snooty - dropped out of nowhere. XSeed had already announced they were working on it, but the release date was a big surprise.

I’m not saying Cold Steel is better (or worse) than Witcher 3 or Undertale. They’re my three RPGs of the year - pointless to compare, like apple, roast pig, and kumquat respectively. All different itches.

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And hey it's got a little light visual novel stuff going on:

If you’re just in this for the combat you might be disappointed. The combat is great, but half the game is talking to your classmates and NPCs. […] And it’s not random - there are plots that unfold from beginning to end of the game, with significant character arcs for almost every named NPC

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The article is long and worth a look if this is a series you're curious about -- and having just discovered the series through Trails in the Sky, I was interested to read how the gameplay has progressed since that earlier game.

I haven't played either this or The Witcher 3, so I can't say whether putting a humble JRPG in that league is pure hyperbole or no -- anyone who's played both want to make the call?

Hexprone said:

The combat is great, but half the game is talking to your classmates and NPCs. […] And it’s not random - there are plots that unfold from beginning to end of the game, with significant character arcs for almost every named NPC

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Such stuff is *supposed* to be on PC.
I'm not surprised phonsole audience is excited they're getting it too.

Never trust kotaku.

You're right, Hexprone. A lot of the staff would lose their minds if we posted this as news. xD

Hmm…so I own both, and I'm currently playing through ToCS…I have to say that ToCS is good, but…comparing it with the Witcher 3? Kotaku has some serious hyperbole going on. The Witcher 3 goes far, far beyond ToCS in every category. There's no comparison.

Still. ToCS is classy, it's fun, it's a great JRPG. I find combat to be more satisfying on easy mode, since on anything higher, it doesn't feel harder so much…it's just that the mobs have more HP and you do less damage against them, dragging every fight into a longer, more sluggish grind. And it lacks a bit in atmosphere. Not, like…as bad as something like Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;birth 1, (which has none at all), but…it could have done slightly better in creating atmosphere.

But it's got nice enough graphics and an absolutely gorgeous interface, not to mention the same magic system you've become familiar with in Trails in the Sky. And Cold Steel's music is slightly better than Sky's. I'm still working my way through, so I can't review it officially yet, but…it's fun.

7.8/10 so far.

And I agree with Elel. Trails in the Sky is still better.