Over the past decade or so there have been several JRPGs that have managed to get out of the shadows of Square Enix’s Big Three (Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, Dragon Quest) and become household names in their own right. Series like Persona, Tales of, Ys have managed to capture the hearts and attention of JRPG fans and gamers who new to the genre. As more and more JRPGs get localized and brought over to the West, there is a greater chance of finding a new favorite. For me that new favorite is The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel. First released on the Vita and the PS3, Trails of Cold Steel made its way over to the PS4 in Spring 2019 as a remaster version, boasting new features not seen in the previous ports. Does Trails of Cold Steel live up to the hype that many fans have claim it to be or does it get an F? Let’s find out.
Story
Trails of Cold Steel is the latest entry in the over arcing story for The Legend of Heroes series and is the first part in the Erebonia arc. Players take on the role of Rean Schwarzer as he attends the Thors Military Academy in the suburban town of Trista. During the school’s opening ceremony, he finds out that he is assigned to Class “VII”, an experimental class mixes the upper noble class with commoners. As Rean goes through the school year with his fellow classmates, they are exposed to the realities of the Empire as well as a conflict between the Nobles and working class Reformists is leading to civil war. As Class VII gets caught up in the events leading up to civil war they learn more about each other despite being from opposing classes and vow to save their country and the people who live in it.
For a game that has most of the stereotypical anime tropes and character archetypes that other JRPGs have (power of friendship, the tsundere, rivals, school setting), the story really good and its characters enjoyable. The game has you forge relationships with each class member, getting to know them on a personal level. This is done through spending time with them during after school activities, exploring an abandoned school building located behind the main buildings and through field studies (more on these two later). As these relationships grow not only do you learn more about them, it also affects how they do in battle (again more on that in a bit). These relationships are also intertwined with the on going conflict between the Nobles and the Reformists, as the class is a mix of commoners and nobles. This fact pops up every so often within Class VII as they struggle to remain unified. Remember even though Rean and his classmates are in a military school training to be soldiers, they are still high schoolers in a sense. They’re still growing up and having them be involved in a war that could divide them is terrible for their mentality. Luckily due to “the power of friendship” they manage to stick together relationship wise.
Gameplay
One of the game’s more unique gameplay elements is its following of a calendar system. The system consist of going to class, free time, bonding events, practical exams, field studies and investigating the abandoned school building. All of this takes place during one in-game month. Free days are on the second to last Sunday of the month in which the school closes down and allows the students to roam around campus and Trista. But for Rean, his free days have been “hijacked” by the student council as he completes tasks for them, though AP is earned for completing each task. In addition to helping out the student council, Rean can take time out of the day to hang out with one of the members of Class VII, thus activating a bonding event. After bonding with one of his friends and completing tasks for the student council, Rean and five other members of Class VII can go into the abandoned school building and explore, advancing one floor level each month. On the Wednesday after the free day is practical exams where Class VII’s battle skills are tested. And on the Friday after the practical exam, Class VII is divided into two groups for field studies. The groups apply what they have learned in school on the field and it is here where the story advances.
The game’s battle system, though a typical turn-based system, also has some unique features to it. Instead of using a grid based system, party members are able to, based on their movement stat, run around and reposition themselves on the battle field. This allows the player to be more tactical with placement of party members in gaining advantage. Speaking of placement, depending on where party members are placed and how high their bond level, party members are able to link using the ARCUS battle orbment. This lets party members to pull off additional attacks on enemies, protect each other and pull off a powerful combo attack. Each party member has their own Craft (character skills) and Arts (magic) that they can cast as well.
While the combat system is similar to most of the JRPGs that use a turn based system, Trails of Cold Steel’s combat system does enough to be not only different but fun as well.
Graphics
Trails of Cold Steel’s graphics are about average in my opinion. While everything is bright and pops, it looks like every other JRPG at least the environments do. The 3D character models are really nice looking and you can easily tell which anime trope each of the characters are. What really stands out to me is the 2D character art, though its only shown in the opening and in menus.
Music/sound
Trails of Cold Steel is a Nihon Falcom developed game, so of course its going to have a good sound track. Each area in the game that the player travels to has their own theme that really sets the mood in that particular area. My favorite tracks are the one that play during scenes where Rean and friends are in way over their heads as they delve deeper into what’s going on between the Nobles and Reformists. The battle themes are also really good as well. I especially like the way the it changes whenever one or more members of the party are downed. There’s also the typical anime opening theme which also is pretty good.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel surprised me a bit. At first I thought it was going to be a stereotypical JRPG filled with all the anime tropes (and it is), but there was so much more to it. You really feel for the students of Class VII as they go through the issues that social class discrimination brings about, falling into war. The music is the usual Nihon Falcom awesomeness and the battle system brings something new to the typical turn-based system. The graphics are pretty but nothing that you can see in other JRPGs. If you’re looking for something with a fun battle system, a good story and some rocking Nihon Falcom music, I highly suggest checking The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel out.
