Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel (Trails Series Inclusive)

If it's a video game it goes here.

Moderators: LawBeefaroni, Arcanis, $iljanus

User avatar
Scraper
Posts: 2711
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 4:59 pm

Re: Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel (Series Inclusive)

Post by Scraper »

Jaymann wrote: Thu Mar 16, 2023 9:59 am Ha! I picked up TOCS since it was 50% off on Steam. More to tide me over until BG3 comes out. Love the combat but thank goodness for the turbo mode for the long winded speeches.
Yeah all of these games are a slow burn, but all of them pay off towards the end. Cold Steel 1 is no different. And yes Turbo mode is a god send.

Cold Steel 1 is definitely the slowest of all the Cold Steel games though, part 2 actually starts of fairly fast paced and strong.
FTE
User avatar
Scraper
Posts: 2711
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 4:59 pm

Re: Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel (Series Inclusive)

Post by Scraper »

Here's a review for Azure from RPGamer. I usually agree with their reviews on this series.

https://rpgamer.com/review/the-legend-o ... re-review/
FTE
User avatar
Scraper
Posts: 2711
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 4:59 pm

Re: Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel (Series Inclusive)

Post by Scraper »

Trails to Azure gets bonus points from me. There's a mandatory storyline part wherein you have to play and defeat an NPC at the "optional" Pom Pom game (It's a game within the game a lot like Dr Mario that the characters play against each other). A huge pet peve of mine in games is when these "optional" games are required to earn good gear or get trophies. Anyway in Azure if you lose the optional game in the storyline they give you an out and let the story keep progressing anyway. Which is nice since I have no desire to ever become good at the optional game.
FTE
User avatar
Scraper
Posts: 2711
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 4:59 pm

Re: Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel (Series Inclusive)

Post by Scraper »

Just a friendly reminder that Trails into Reverie releases today. Here's a review from IGN https://www.ign.com/articles/the-legend ... rie-review . Needless to say I will be playing it as soon as I wrap up FF16.

I know not many of you have played this series but it really is the pinnacle of the classic style JRPGs for me. No other series is even close.
FTE
User avatar
YellowKing
Posts: 30126
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 2:02 pm

Re: Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel (Series Inclusive)

Post by YellowKing »

I got about 2/3 through Trails of Cold Steel 1 before abandoning it; I liked the game but the slow parts in town really killed the momentum for me. I'l finish it eventually because I have heard the sequels are much better.

It sounds like Reverie really counts on players having played the previous games in the series, so I'm hesitant to jump right into that. I think I'll just start at the beginning and pick up Trails in the Sky on PC ($10) and see how it grabs me.
User avatar
Baroquen
Posts: 4709
Joined: Fri Oct 22, 2004 12:45 pm

Re: Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel (Series Inclusive)

Post by Baroquen »

I'm currently 1/3 of the way through Trails in the Sky SC and enjoying it. I thought the first one was smooth but with a so-so story until the end. I like these game enough that I'll play through more if not all of them. Not sure I'll ever "catch up" but definitely on the to-do list.
User avatar
ChuckB
Posts: 1510
Joined: Mon May 16, 2005 5:36 pm

Re: Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel (Series Inclusive)

Post by ChuckB »

Someone mentioned in the Final Fantasy XVI thread that the "Trails" games are really good, so I read more about the series that I had never even heard of and got Trails from Zero on the Switch. I'm not a JRPG fan at all (I enjoyed playing the first Octopath Traveler a bit but never played a FF game prior to XVI) but I'm now 10 hours in and I really like it. The whole series seems somewhat intimidating but even I, who had not heard about the series a week ago, have no trouble following the story (so far) or understanding the setting. The Switch seems to be the ideal system for these types of games.
User avatar
Scraper
Posts: 2711
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 4:59 pm

Re: Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel (Series Inclusive)

Post by Scraper »

For those new to the series and wanting to start, Zero and then Azure really are great places to start. Definitely do not start with Reverie. And as YK said, Cold Steel 1 is a bit of a slog, but trust me, get to the final act and then judge the game, as it really sets up what the rest of the Cold Steel games are like with its finale.
FTE
User avatar
YellowKing
Posts: 30126
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 2:02 pm

Re: Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel (Series Inclusive)

Post by YellowKing »

I bought Trails in the Sky just to see if it would grab me enough to maybe hit the whole series, and I'm having a great deal of fun with it. The lore and mechanics were instantly recognizable from Trails of Cold Steel. I was going to hit Solasta again after FFXVI in prep for Baldur's Gate 3, but this one has me hooked.
User avatar
Baroquen
Posts: 4709
Joined: Fri Oct 22, 2004 12:45 pm

Re: Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel (Series Inclusive)

Post by Baroquen »

I missed Liberl News - Issue 3 and it's really throwing my obsessive tendencies for a loop. My most recent save back into previous region/chapter has a cave/dungeon to re-do, and I don't feel like slogging through that again. From what I can read, there is no achievement for reading the newspapers in SC so I think I'm just going to grumble and move on. :D Still have all the available BPs so far, along with the Gambler books and have already hit a blackjack/4-of-a-kind at the casino. A little concerned about completing all of the fishing but I'll worry about that later.
User avatar
Scraper
Posts: 2711
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 4:59 pm

Re: Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel (Series Inclusive)

Post by Scraper »

Baroquen wrote: Thu Jul 13, 2023 11:31 am I missed Liberl News - Issue 3 and it's really throwing my obsessive tendencies for a loop. My most recent save back into previous region/chapter has a cave/dungeon to re-do, and I don't feel like slogging through that again. From what I can read, there is no achievement for reading the newspapers in SC so I think I'm just going to grumble and move on. :D Still have all the available BPs so far, along with the Gambler books and have already hit a blackjack/4-of-a-kind at the casino. A little concerned about completing all of the fishing but I'll worry about that later.
I've played and finished every single Legends game except Reverie and Sky 3 and I haven't completed the News issues in any of them. I also don't feel like I missed anything by not obsessively reading them. There are so many storylines, sub plots and characters to keep track of in this series that the News articles seem unnecessary to me. So my suggestion is to not worry about the missed issue and keep going. The series gets really good after the Sky trilogy.
FTE
User avatar
Baroquen
Posts: 4709
Joined: Fri Oct 22, 2004 12:45 pm

Re: Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel (Series Inclusive)

Post by Baroquen »

Scraper wrote: Thu Jul 13, 2023 1:26 pm
Baroquen wrote: Thu Jul 13, 2023 11:31 am I missed Liberl News - Issue 3 and it's really throwing my obsessive tendencies for a loop. My most recent save back into previous region/chapter has a cave/dungeon to re-do, and I don't feel like slogging through that again. From what I can read, there is no achievement for reading the newspapers in SC so I think I'm just going to grumble and move on. :D Still have all the available BPs so far, along with the Gambler books and have already hit a blackjack/4-of-a-kind at the casino. A little concerned about completing all of the fishing but I'll worry about that later.
I've played and finished every single Legends game except Reverie and Sky 3 and I haven't completed the News issues in any of them. I also don't feel like I missed anything by not obsessively reading them. There are so many storylines, sub plots and characters to keep track of in this series that the News articles seem unnecessary to me. So my suggestion is to not worry about the missed issue and keep going. The series gets really good after the Sky trilogy.
Oh I know it's a trivial thing. I like trying to get most achievements in these games but I will ultimately skip things if I feel it's not worth the trouble (like the very end of Octopath Traveler). This was just an unusual instance where I missed something and saved over the most recent save slot that could fix it. Doesn't happen often, and I'm pretty much over it.

I'm at the point where
Spoiler:
Zin joins up with the party. Glad to see him back - he was a favorite from Sky FC
. Overcautious spoiler tags, just in case.
User avatar
Scraper
Posts: 2711
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 4:59 pm

Re: Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel (Series Inclusive)

Post by Scraper »

I started up Trails into Reverie over the weekend. It is very much a direct sequel to both Cold Steel 4 and Trails to Azure. Joshua and Estelle make a cameo in the opening hours and it's really hard to believe that this series somehow still has storylines that are playing out from Trails in the Sky 1 (9 games before Reverie).

Anyway I'll give my thoughts on the game once I get a bit further into it.
FTE
User avatar
Scraper
Posts: 2711
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 4:59 pm

Re: Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel (Series Inclusive)

Post by Scraper »

I'm about 15 hours into Reverie now and the game is scratching my traditional JRPG itch I had after playing through Devil May Cry 16 (shoot I mean Final Fantasy 16). Much like other games in the series this one is a slow burn and at 15 hours the game is still setting the story up. In fact the prologue section takes about 6 hours alone. Suffice it to say there is a lot of catching up with old characters and world building going on in the first 15 hours.

However at this point in the game I can say that if you enjoyed any of the other Trails games then this one is a no brainer. It's the most refined of the bunch and has the most robust combat of them all, all of the fighting mechanics from prior games are present and new ones are added. So strategically it's probably the most diverse in the entire series. I think the devs knew it too because I'm playing on the normal difficulty level and it has been challenging. I've wiped at least 10 times now and even standard mobs can pose problems at times. This is also a nice change of pace from the less than challenging FF16.

I'll update more as I get closer to the end.
Last edited by Scraper on Thu Aug 10, 2023 8:36 am, edited 1 time in total.
FTE
User avatar
Scraper
Posts: 2711
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 4:59 pm

Re: Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel (Series Inclusive)

Post by Scraper »

I'm about 45 hours in now and I read a review online that described Reverie as the video game equivalent of Avengers End Game and I couldn't agree more. The amount of playable characters is staggering (well over 50 at this point in the game), but what's amazing about it is that each character is unique and has their own personality along with their own storyline moments scattered throughout the game. Reverie takes the conclusions from the Sky, Crossbell and Cold Steel series and brings them all together into one game and gives all of them a proper send off. I haven't finished the game yet (and I'm not ready for it to end), but so far I give the game a big thumbs up.

At this point Japan has two more sequels that start an entirely new storyline with all new characters in a different location and I can't wait for those games to be localized.
Last edited by Scraper on Thu Aug 10, 2023 10:20 am, edited 2 times in total.
FTE
User avatar
Baroquen
Posts: 4709
Joined: Fri Oct 22, 2004 12:45 pm

Re: Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel (Series Inclusive)

Post by Baroquen »

This is one of the few series where I look forward to talking to NPCs, as so often they're either unique characters that I've encountered before or they have something interesting and/or new to say. And while I remember the combat in FC to be easy throughout (probably because of the whatever difficulty setting I chose), SC has been a challenge but not discouraging. Though I've been sidetracked by finishing Tactics Ogre, I'm still playing and really enjoying these games.
User avatar
Scraper
Posts: 2711
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 4:59 pm

Re: Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel (Trails Series Inclusive)

Post by Scraper »

I finished up the main story yesterday. It clocked in at about 50 hours. The ending was very satisfying and somehow managed to use most of the playable characters in the final stretch.

One thing this game has that other Trails games don't is a Dungeon Crawler feature (Called the Reverie Corridor). It is essentially a tower that is separate from the game world that you can travel to freely and work your way up the tower floors. All the while gaining experience and loot. It also rewards you with Reverie Points which can be used to upgrade various party abilities. It's a really cool addition that I wasn't sure about at first but the more I explored it the more I liked it. The game doesn't fully unlock all of the floors until the post game so it sets up a lot of stuff to do after the credits roll if you still haven't seen enough at that point. It also hosts all kinds of mini games as well as about 20 side stories that flesh out what the characters were up to in between Cold Steel 4 and Reverie.

All in all Reverie is a very satisfying conclusion to the first half of the Legend of Heroes saga.
FTE
User avatar
Baroquen
Posts: 4709
Joined: Fri Oct 22, 2004 12:45 pm

Re: Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel (Trails Series Inclusive)

Post by Baroquen »

Just finished SC a couple days ago. 99 hrs. Did use a walkthrough, but finished 100% of the game with all achievements. While I'm sure I played on the easiest (or one of the easier) difficulty levels, it was mostly easy with some fights being challenging. It was a pleasant level to play at - not frustratingly tough, but not too easy either.

While I thought the game didn't have the narrative punch that the first game had, I enjoyed the characters and the continued development of the world around them. Though honestly, I'm getting sick of Joshua and Estelle. Well, really, just Estelle. But on the other hand, the game had expanded fishing. Always a plus.

I'm looking forward to the third game though I'm taking a break from the series and playing something else first. (At the moment, I'm Trying Live A Live. But if that doesn't stick, I might just go right into the next Trails).

Still really enjoying the series much more than I thought I would.
User avatar
Scraper
Posts: 2711
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 4:59 pm

Re: Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel (Trails Series Inclusive)

Post by Scraper »

Every time I see a Best of RPG article for 2023 I get pissed that they leave out Trails from Reverie and Azure. They were easily the best RPGs I played last year, so much better than most of the dreck that gets media attention (Sea of Stars I'm looking at you).

Don't get me wrong BG3 was the best RPG from last year, so at least most of the sites get that one right. It's just maddening that the Trails series continues to get overlooked when each game is so good, there literally isn't a bad one in the 10 main line releases.
FTE
Post Reply