Review for The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel. Game for PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita, the video game was released on 26/09/2013 The version for PC came out on 30/09/2017 The version for PlayStation 4 came out on 08/03/2018
It is no mystery that, from time to time, the European versions of Japanese titles take a long time to be published, forcing fans to wait even years before having the much desired title in their hands. It belongs to this family The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel, a JRPG developed by Nihon Falcom Corporation, a veteran software house in the development of role-playing games. Trails of Cold Steel (first chapter of a trilogy) was released in Japan in September 2013 and consequently, we Europeans, we find ourselves with a product dating back almost 3 years ago: was it worth the wait, therefore, so long? Let's find out together!
Black shirts? No, red uniforms!
Rean Schwarzer is certainly not the first character in the videogame world to want to enroll in a military academy, indeed, this idea turns out to be a bit of a cliché. As well as his first meeting with the careless blonde-haired girl, complete with an awkward bump: everything foreshadows the fact that she will be our companion in adventure, which will be confirmed shortly after when we come to discover that the Thors Academy it is divided into various classes, each having its own color of belonging. The red uniforms of Rean and Alisa (the girl mentioned a little earlier) belong to the VII class, completely different from the other five, so much so that there is the number seven to remark it. Normally, in fact, nobles and plebeians are sorted into different classes within the Academy, but this does not apply to class VII where this rule is totally canceled.
Do you remember now the clichés we mentioned earlier? As for the plot, remove them: in fact the narration, going forward, takes on more and more compelling traits with a plot that will reserve many surprises and will only stimulate even more the desire to continue playing, thanks also to the style of the title that turns out to be a mixture of the "old-fashioned" spirit of the JRPG mixed with the innovations introduced by Falcom.
In fact, there will be some small goodies such as: the development of the bonds between characters, in Persona style; in fact, depending on some choices, the bond between two characters can be strengthened, which will have consequences even in battle as we will see later; or the passage of time, while we play in fact the days and months will pass, complete with seasons, which will also be reflected visually, from cherry trees in bloom to snow.
More beating, more experience
The combat system of Trails of Cold Steel blends innovation with classicism. The monsters will be visible on the map and, as is now almost the rule, if we can attack them from behind we will get small advantages by entering the battle. The active party can be composed of a maximum of 4 members who will be able to chain their attacks: depending on the order of the combo, the damage inflicted on the enemies can be more or less high, this due to the ties between the characters we talked about in previously, so the more two characters are similar, the more damage they will inflict (with the probability of stunning the enemy) if they attack one after the other within the combo.
The experience attribution system is also interesting: like any self-respecting RPG we will be able to attack enemies with both single-target and multiple-target attacks. In the second case, if we manage to knock out more enemies with a single shot, the experience received will also increase, raising the value of the multiplier imprinted on the screen during the clashes.
Each character will also have spells, called Arts, which will be learned through the ARCUS mechanism, which winks at the matter system of Final Fantasy VII. This is nothing more than a tool in which it will be possible to insert quartz, objects that will allow the learning of the aforementioned Arts. In addition to these, the characters will also have Skills, characterized by a master quartz. Whenever we use the Arts, we will use EP points and earn CP points. The CP are the points that will guarantee us the use of the Skills. These prove to be really powerful in the combat economy as they will allow us to have great advantages such as the inability to attack by the enemy for a certain time or inflict negative statuses (about twenty-five in total) on the enemies. We can also decide to keep the CPs to be able to use the powerful finishing moves of the characters: once we reach a hundred, in fact, we can unleash them on the enemies, not to mention the fact that if you reach the maximum CP, that is two hundred, the effects will be doubled. This mix of features regarding the battle system will be a bit complicated to chew at first but, once learned, it will prove to be really satisfying.
In some ways bright, in others less so
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel has a noteworthy graphics sector, considering that we are still talking about old gen (between PS3 and PS Vita). The models are clean and the attention to detail is not lacking, not to mention the bright colors that animate the world of Erebonia. The animations, on the other hand, turn out to be a bit woody at times.
Also noteworthy is the soundtrack of the title that can be listened to with pleasure, adapting perfectly to the rhythms of the title and reflecting step by step, with its cadences, the events of the plot. The dubbing, entirely in English, on the other hand turns out to be flat enough for a good slice of the characters, as the voices turn out to be quite out of tune with respect to the rhythms of the speech.
► The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel is a JRPG type game developed by Nihon Falcom Corporation and published by NIS America Marvelous for PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita, the video game was released on 26/09/2013 The version for PC came out on 30/09/2017 The version for PlayStation 4 came out on 08/03/2018
