The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel Reviews
Though it can be incredibly slow in both combat and story, the surprisingly active combat system keeps things interesting.
The repetitiveness of the school life portions is the greatest offender – the game really comes into its own when you’re out of the school environment and exploring Erebonia. Still, if you’ve been on the fence about giving this game a shot, the PC port is easily the definitive version.
There might not be as much payoff as some may like but Trails of Cold Steel does a lot more than just setting up events for the sequel. I found myself immersed in an interesting industrial setting with a rich history, exploring the motivations behind a likeable bunch of characters and mediating the conflicts between the nation’s social classes. It's a lengthy game, especially if you feel compelled to talk to every NPC, but Trails of Cold Steel does a great job of rewarding this kind of obsessive behaviour.
With this entry into The Legend of Heroes saga, Falcom created something truly special. The believability of the world and characters, the attachment to the people of the empire, and low key storyline build a memorable experience.
There are games where 30 hours seem to fly by in an instant, and there are games where I'll be playing for what seems like days upon end, only to find that I've only put in 10 hours. At the risk of sounding more negative than I'd like, The Legends of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel has mostly fallen in the latter category for me.
Trails of Cold Steel gets off to a slow start in order to find its bearings but once it gets going it delivers a solid experience. While taking a different direction from Sky which centered on Estelle and her journey, Rean and the rest of his class’ journey was just as enjoyable. With the second chapter coming out next week, there really isn’t much time to wait in order to continue on this newer tale of the Legend of Heroes.
Honestly, I could get Trails in the Sky 1+2 on Steam for that price and have a way better and longer time. For a game, that needs so long to develop into something hooking, yet never lives up to previously set standards, this price tag is just bad. In my opinion The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel is worth 29.99, if you completed the Trails in the Sky trilogy, making a recommendation of this let-down a pretty hard one.
Overall, Rage 2 is a fun game. Surprisingly a bit short for an open world experience as I was able to beat it at below 14 hours. But it is still worth playing if you are a fan of Doom.
Trails of Cold Steel is a superb game best experienced by those who’ve already immersed themselves in Trails’ lore. So while the game is still enjoyable without playing Trails in the Sky, I’d still wholly recommend picking those games up and finishing them before moving on to this one. You don’t need to, but doing so makes this good game great, and it’s a more affordable method of knowing whether this is the series for you.
It's a title that may not call you because of its graphic aspect, which may result slow, very Japanese rhythm if I'm allowed to leave, during the first bars, and obviously, it puts a barrier for anyone who does not have the time or inclination to immerse yourself in all this that he proposes in perfect English.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
For a simple remaster, The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel looks and plays great. I say ‘simple’ because there’s not been that many enhancements outside of the visuals. Sure, we get a perfect 60fps, a crystal clear 4k, and the heavenly ‘turbo mode’ which makes traversing the world so much more satisfying, but there’s no extra content, no new chapters, no enhanced backstory, or platform-specific dungeons/areas to visit. However, a game isn’t as good as it looks, it’s as good as it plays; The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel is a bloody brilliant JRPG game which I’m quite ashamed I’ve never actually played before grabbing it on the PS4. The story is very interesting, with lots of separate stories and events going on which all combinate into an intriguing and exciting narrative, combined with very satisfying and strategic combat. The combat itself may look generic and simple from the outside, but once you’ve cranked up the difficulty to eleven, it’s time to turn on your little grey cells as you swap your students on the fly and link them together in order to maximise their efficiency.
The game as a whole is still great. If you’re like me and have played the original release but missed out on the PC release and need a refresher for what’s to come this fall by all means, transfer your PS3/Vita save right over for some extra bonuses. If you’re new to the franchise, this is a great place to start.
The game is a triumph in world-building and character-driven storytelling, and its combat system is versatile enough to support it through its mammoth eighty-plus-hour runtime.
With more than 60+ hours of JRPG fun, The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel has a lot to offer. Whether it's the added depth to character growth, a slow-burning story that will eventually begin to come to a burning hot conclusion or the meticulously crafted world; Trails of Cold Steel is a diamond in the rough.
From a technical standpoint, the port to PlayStation 4 that supports 4k textures, is excellent; it is smooth (minus the wooden, garbage-like animations), bright, and full of intense colors and detailed hand-drawn textures, but a new paint job is not enough to fix what is wrong with The Legend of Heroes: Trails Of Cold Steel … and that is that it is old.