Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel

My wife wanted to get me Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel, so we rushed to Gamestop before they closed. For whatever reason, they didn't have the plain version, so she ended up getting us the Lionheart Edition:



It comes with an artbook, a pin, and room for the sequel that's planned later.

I obviously don't have a full review yet, or anything close, just some early impressions. If you love anime, you'll love this. It has a number of similarities with Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky, namely the anime intro and recurring elements like orbments, sepith, rest spots in dungeons. But the feel is totally different. This game takes place in the Erebonian Empire, namely around a military academy, and it's a lot more serious than Trails in the Sky, which was really lighthearted. But it's got a great, energetic soundtrack, and the battle system is totally different. The turn-based battles are more reminiscent of Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;birth, but way more traditional; each character can only target one enemy at a time, though characters in close proximity to others can jump on with support attacks to take enemies down faster. I can't help but be reminded of Final Fantasy VII when I fight the machine-gun wielding enemies in the intro dungeon.

I'm already really happy with it, and I can't wait to play more of it.

I already said that in PM, but I didn't notice the topic, so I'll say it here for everyone to know. Although Cold Steel is alright as a jumping in point into the series, in reality you're supposed to have played Trails in the Sky and other previous games before it.

The Trails series is not like Final Fantasy and many other series that feature games disconnected from each other. It's a continuous series and the games are all connected: some are direct sequels that happen literally next morning, some (like Cold Steel) are set with another cast of characters in a different country and can be played standalone, however, you'll be missing out on references and spoiling some previous games if you play out of order.

Basically, it goes like this:

Liberl Arc
1. Trails in the Sky
2. Trails in the Sky: Second Chapter - a direct sequel
3. Trails in the Sky: the 3rd - not a direct sequel, different protagonist (well, not entirely different, he's a party member from the previous game), and you're supposed to know what happened in previous games; the game was skipped for now and remains untranslated

Crossbell Arc
1. Zero no Kiseki (Trails of Zero) - indirect sequel, set in a different country with different characters, but some of characters from previous games make a return; you're supposed to know what happened in Trails in the Sky; kinda spoils what happens in Trails of Cold Steel; chronologically set to happen in 6 months after Trails in the Sky
2. Ao no Kiseki (Trails of Blue) - direct sequel; and worst news ever - although these two games are considered the best in the series by many, they haven't been translated yet

Erebonia Arc
1. Trails of Cold Steel - chronologically set to happen simultaneously with Kiseki no Ao\Zero; indirect sequel, different country, new cast of characters; spoils what's happening in Ao\Zero, but less than vice versa; technically you're supposed to know what happens in previous games or you aren't getting references and stuff, but the company swears it's a good entry point into the series; they kinda forced the translation company to localize this game ahead of others that they haven't yet translated
2. Trails of Cold Steel 2 - direct sequel, English translation to be released in 2016
3. Trails of Cold Steel 3 - not released yet

Wow, Elel. That's an awesome reference sheet…thank you for that!

I was gonna say it to you elsewhere but I'll just say it here - I'm playing Trails in the Sky right now but I'm not very far in. I'm just far enough into the game to know the basic geography and a little bit of the political climate. It sucks so bad that the very middle of the series still hasn't been translated, and it kinda forces non-Japanese speakers to jump a huge content gap. Though I'm guessing XSeed will eventually release those in NA and Europe. The series has been really successful.

As for me, I'm not all that worried about spoilers, and I'm sure the context will fill itself in for me eventually. I can't allow myself to miss out on an RPG like Trails of Cold Steel, can I? XD

Sure, how can you miss the new game? It's a bit different in gameplay, so it's interesting to see how it plays. Some people welcome it, and some don't. I think school setting is an attempt to make the series more accessible and popular, it reminds one of Persona games suddenly, but I can see why some people are disappointed with it instead.

I haven't started to play it yet myself, but I'm looking forward to it.

EDIT: As for translations, I heard that XSeed worked on Cold Steel without announcing it for a while, so we might see translations of previous games sooner than expected. They probably don't announce they're working on them, either.

I heard similar things on the PlayStation Blog yesterday

Doesn't look like you really need to have played the others in the different arcs, and Trails of Cold Steel is the start of this particular arc.

As I mentioned in the other thread, I have the standard edition coming next week from Amazon … Looking forward to playing!

For some reason I find myself really patient about this game. I still have two other games to finish before it. Hmm. How strange, I was counting days till it comes out. Maybe it has something to do with wanting to make the pleasure last longer, by laying the game aside. Or maybe it's about savoring the best for the last.

Today on the Trails forum someone asked:

DustyStarr, on Today, 11:38 AM, said:
Quick question that I apologize if it has already been asked before:Can I play CS 1 before SC or would CS1 spoil SC?

Since CS is a sequel to SC, it reveals and discusses whatever happens in SC.

That one is from the thread by people who've already played all 6 games in the series (they know Japanese) and can answer questions in a more informative manner. So I guess while it's totally ok to start with CS, the events of SC (that's Second Chapter from Liberal Arc) will definitely be spoilt. And I know that it spoils the Crossbell games as well, so… maybe it's a bad idea to read the newspaper? I heard that the newspaper is pretty much one big spoiler, it basically describes what's happening in Crossbell Arc.

These guys could just release games in normal order, goddamit!

slightly off topic, it say the game is available for PS Vita, does this mean it will work on the PS TV? I don't have PS Vita but got PS4 and PS TV .

Originally Posted by lostforever
slightly off topic, it say the game is available for PS Vita, does this mean it will work on the PS TV? I don't have PS Vita but got PS4 and PS TV .

Not as far as I can tell … It doesn't show up on the 'works on PS TV' list.

Originally Posted by txa1265
Not as far as I can tell … It doesn't show up on the 'works on PS TV' list.

Ah just as I thought since I couldn't find it when I searched for it.

On the official forum they say there's a delay, as far as PSTV is concerned. They're putting out some kind of patch and the game should be available in a day or two.

I can vote for Elel. The Crossbell Arc are the best two of the Trail series IMHO.
The setting and the political situation of Crossbell are more serious and intriguing.The plot and the character are also more engaging.
It even give me the impression that the Trail series is more apt to the western RPG style and less the JRPG style in this Arc.
I strongly recommend everyone the Crossbell Arc, especially if you like a detailed and convincing world setting and story line.

So far, the Erebonia Arc is not so well received as the Liberl Arc and the Crossbell Arc.So, i think it is highly likely we will see the English translated version of the Crossbell Arc.

BTW, i will give the Liberl Arc a score of 8.5 out of 10 and the Crossbell a score of 9.
The Erbonia Arc, however, will just get a 6.5 score in my opinion.

Originally Posted by Elel
I already said that in PM, but I didn't notice the topic, so I'll say it here for everyone to know. Although Cold Steel is alright as a jumping in point into the series, in reality you're supposed to have played Trails in the Sky and other previous games before it.

The Trails series is not like Final Fantasy and many other series that feature games disconnected from each other. It's a continuous series and the games are all connected: some are direct sequels that happen literally next morning, some (like Cold Steel) are set with another cast of characters in a different country and can be played standalone, however, you'll be missing out on references and spoiling some previous games if you play out of order.

Basically, it goes like this:

Liberl Arc
1. Trails in the Sky
2. Trails in the Sky: Second Chapter - a direct sequel
3. Trails in the Sky: the 3rd - not a direct sequel, different protagonist (well, not entirely different, he's a party member from the previous game), and you're supposed to know what happened in previous games; the game was skipped for now and remains untranslated

Crossbell Arc
1. Zero no Kiseki (Trails of Zero) - indirect sequel, set in a different country with different characters, but some of characters from previous games make a return; you're supposed to know what happened in Trails in the Sky; kinda spoils what happens in Trails of Cold Steel; chronologically set to happen in 6 months after Trails in the Sky
2. Ao no Kiseki (Trails of Blue) - direct sequel; and worst news ever - although these two games are considered the best in the series by many, they haven't been translated yet

Erebonia Arc
1. Trails of Cold Steel - chronologically set to happen simultaneously with Kiseki no Ao\Zero; indirect sequel, different country, new cast of characters; spoils what's happening in Ao\Zero, but less than vice versa; technically you're supposed to know what happens in previous games or you aren't getting references and stuff, but the company swears it's a good entry point into the series; they kinda forced the translation company to localize this game ahead of others that they haven't yet translated
2. Trails of Cold Steel 2 - direct sequel, English translation to be released in 2016
3. Trails of Cold Steel 3 - not released yet

Swapoer, how lucky you are! To have played all the games…

Anyway, recently I was browing a page with rankings by fanbase and saw an interesting fact. It would seem that best-liked characters of the whole series are from the Liberl Arc, and the all-favorite game is the second one in Liberl Arc. The characters even happened to be those I liked best. And the Cold Steel game wasn't raking up any rankings, indeed.

Can't find the page now, but I think it was somewhere at the http://www.esterior.net/.

Well…I'm starting to learn Japanese?? haha…? Maybe I'll still eventually get to play these if they don't translate them.

And wow. If I'm enjoying ToCS this much, I can't imagine how much I'm gonna enjoy the Crossbell arc. I did really, really like Trails in the Sky…a lot. Though, hey, for me personally, ToCS is amazing because it's got lesbian characters in it. Representation feels so good.

My copy arrived today (2 days earlier than Amazon said ) and so far I like what I am seeing!

That's awesome!! Have you finished the prologue yet?

Originally Posted by Aubrielle
That's awesome!! Have you finished the prologue yet?

I did - quickly got through the opening but haven't started the 'real game' yet.

Just as an update for this … at the end of January we went to visit my older son in NYC, parked at a garage in Jersey City NJ we'd used ~10 or so times before … but this time my car was broken into and loads of stuff - including basically everything of mine - was stolen. Including my PS Vita with this game that I had already completed Chapter 2. Ugh.

Insurance fun, waiting, making sure we replaced all the important stuff … and eventually I grabbed myself a new Vita … and a new copy of this game. Just about to finish Chapter 1 again. Surprisingly I really don't mind replaying. Excellent game.

Sorry that happened to ya Mike, I can relate, I remember losing a nice stereo back in the day while parked on a street in a decent neighborhood in Baltimore. Sucks that there are that kind of people around, I hope the insurance comes through for you. At least you are getting to replay a great game!!

I didn't know where to say this, but if anyone is interested, another game in the series is being translated - Trails in they Sky: The 3rd. Naturally this is a continuation of Trails in the Sky rather than Trails of Cold Steel. I'm surprised they decided to go for it, I thought the franchise would die in the West. But I guess since they're translating next Cold Steel games they can't avoid translating older ones, since they're all connected and the series would be incoherent otherwise.