Legend of Heroes: Trails Of Cold Steel III Review (PS4)
Ok, allow me to start off by saying that the Trails of Cold Steel series may not be for EVERYONE. Not many games are, however, if you are craving for an excellent fix of consistent and unique storytelling, a group of playable characters that is simply impossible to dislike, hundreds of quests and hidden quests to discover & get graded on, and last but not least, one of the best jobs I think I have ever seen on a game getting localized for the west, then this game should already be in your library. While it is HIGHLY advised to play these Trails games in the order they came in, it is still possible to play without having played the others, but I would NOT recommend this, as you will remain clueless to some VERY big events that happened in them.
Many people worried whether this game would be as creative and captivating as the first 2 games due to some personnel changes being made at the start of this ones production. This may be noticeable from the fresher character models (which look more updated & fresh than the 1st 2 titles did). Allow me to purge that thought from your conscience because this 3rd title is more Trails of Cold Steel both in spirit and in gameplay than any other before. Offering up around 60 hours worth of content (very easily could go up to 80 if you do all the side quests), there is tons of stuff to be proud of for this one finally making to the western shores. It has been available in Japan for a couple of years now, and while the wait was agonizing, I HAVE to give super props to the localization efforts by NIS America! This may seem like a small feat, but I assure you, this is ALWAYS a massive task in a Trails game. With over 500 NPC's and MILLIONS of possible lines of dialogue spoken, the amount of work put in to bring this game to our shores IS IMMENSE!! Anyone who plays this game will appreciate the level of quality the team ensured this 3rd title carried with it.
Ok, now that I am done rambling about random things, I will take the time to offer information about the superb story being told this time around without giving away any spoilers. The main hero of the games is of course, once again Rean Schwarzer and his very close friends, the elite Class 7 of Thors Military Academy, that they all attended and graduated and working together with other key members of the game, ended several major crises that threatened the safety of their empire. The games setting is once again, Erebonia, a nation that in recent years, has developed an almost foreboding & forceful image. Erebonia is a well thriving country, with vast resources in multitudes, and a sizeable, well-trained military presence as well. It is this military that is seemingly doing these behind the scenes activities that are questionable and ruthless, and as a result, Erebonia has been thrown into several small scale wars with neighboring provinces. At the end of Trails of Cold Steel 2, Rean & his former enemy, Altina aka Black Rabbit, are hesitantly pivotal in helping this cut-throat government invade Crossbell, a once independent state, and joining it with the empire, despite throwing all Crossbell's citizens into a state of despair & rage. Events similar this invasive show of force are what brings us to the beginning of part 3. Overcome with regret & shame, Rean & Class VII all vow to continue fighting for what THEY believe is right for their home country they so dearly love. Each student goes their separate ways at the end of part 2, so this is in a sense, a fresh new start. Rean has went on with Towa, an upperclassmen of his who also attended Thors, to a small town outside of the capital where a new branch campus has been established bearing the Thors Military Academy name and crest, and both of them are just starting their new jobs as Instructors to a new batch of student and recruits. This is a turn of events that I did NOT see coming, as for the first time, the game is now mainly focused on Rean & his students instead of Rean & his classmates. So, it doesn't take long for the game to start getting interesting, and a new Class VII is established with Rean as it's official Instructor. From this point onward in the game, players will mostly either be at the campus teaching lessons, in the town, Leeves, where Rean has officially moved to for his employment, or you will be wherever your field study activities may take you. This is an interesting & fresh new perspective, as we are introduced to a whole slew of new characters, and some very key characters joining Rean's Special Operations Class VII. While I could go on for days about this, I will say this, the new characters may take some getting used to at first, but just like a few of Rean's old classmates of Class VII, after progressing through the games brilliantly laid out development, they will undergo HUGE improvements not only to their skills in battle, but their personality traits and quirks as well. Juna Crawford is a very good example, at the beginning she can come as very rude and cocky, but by the end of the game has developed a funny, outgoing & easy to love personality to her. She is not the only new addition to the games main characters that I fell in love with, but among one of my favorites.
Ok, so the improved visuals and graphics are very easy to notice, right? Whereas the 1st 2 games were developed with an older engine running on PS3, this game has undergone a much needed facelift, resulting in some very nice scenes and locations to explore. Oh, and speaking of locations, whereas the 1st Trails games confined you to the southeastern side of Erebonia to explore, this games has MANY new locations never shown in the last games. You will finally be able to see the names of all those towns that dotted the hemisphere of Erebonia on the previous games, while Rean & friends rode their train to their field excercises. You will get to see the beautiful port city of Ordis, which is a very big trade town in the western side of Erebonia, as well as many others. Each location has been given plenty of depth & activities to discover. There are tons of little pieces of lore & character backstory hidden throughout the locales too. It is well worth mapping out every inch of the dungeons & streets of these new locations. There are so many different characters to meet, both new faces and old, and the sheer amount of time & hard work put into this project only pushes this title to higher standards as far as I'm concerned. The sprawling world at your feet is only matched by it's consistent & story beats & excellently versed dialogue.
I will now briefly talk about the games combat, which is like the other 2 games, easy to understand and pick up even for first time players or those unfamiliar with JRPG's. Like before, the quartz are the backbone of your teams skills and abilities, but the most important factor behind the Trails style of turn-based combat system is the Linking system and the newly introduced Order Abilites. The Link system allows users to synchronize their thoughts & skills with another member, basically being in the mind of one another and able to read their every thought and move ahead of time and working in unison like this to defeat enemies. Your links with different characters will level up as before, and it is A MUST to 100% of the time have your links set up. The new Arcus II's introduced in this games start also are brought along with a new feature for its users in combat. The ability to give their party orders which are a HUGE beneficial source of power in this game, because they all offer varying buffs and special perks. Rean, for example, will always be able to give his 2 orders, Raging Fire which gives players CP & more damage dealt for 6 turns or his defensive order which negates all damage received for the next 6 turns while raising defense of the party members. What orders are available to give depend on who you have in your party, so it's important to take advantage of this feature, even if the member is only a temporary guest member, who is not going to be with you for very long. I found this new Order feature to be extremely helpful and needed, and is a nice new strategic update to the games fun combat system. It will need to become your go-to weapon in the harder boss fights.
Between the moving relationships blooming between our favorite characters in the game, to the many quests to be had hidden throughout the world, to the consistency of events that unfold, there is a LOT to love about this 3rd title. I loved what it brought to the series decorated history and simply cannot wait to see how it will all end in the fourth and final saga! May you enjoy it as much as I have!!