The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel Reviews
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel is a great RPG that any fan of the genre will enjoy.
This is a game with a long, arcing story that takes some awkward, colourful teens through their turbulent teenage years with a fun and vibrant world to explore, charming characters to befriend and a turn-based combat system with a surprising amount of depth once you look beneath the surface.
In short, the game is really held back by subpar storytelling.
Trails of Cold Steel looks very nice indeed thanks to its colourful and well-designed character and enemy models as well as a consistently smooth framerate, although you can’t say that it makes the most of the handhelds power
It is a really slow one to get going, but no argument can be made against how much care Falcom has put into building and developing the world and characters throughout the opening stages of Trails of Cold Steel. It very much hits the typical JRPG checkboxes, but with solid and safe customisation, and a great tactical turn-based battle system that adds a little something extra to the standard formula, this is a title that JRPG fans cannot afford to pass on - especially PS Vita owners - and will most definitely last right up until the sequel hits Western shores.
While 'The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel' is definitely a good game, and one that JRPG fans are likely to get a kick out of, I do wish it could've been a little more noteworthy. The combat system is excellent, and the game has some really fun side activities that serve as nice distractions (the playable card game, Blade, is a major highlight) from the central adventure. Still, the wonderful gameplay mechanics don't gel perfectly story format, which leads to pacing issues that hurt both aspects. 'Cold Steel 2' is due out next year, and if that speeds things up just a little bit, it'll absolutely be worth your time, but as it stands, 'Cold Steel' is a pleasant game that I really wish I could've fallen in love with. It's worth a look, but there are a few hurdles to get over before things really start to get moving.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel is one of the best RPGs of the last few years, with an amazing story and very well-developed characters, as well as a great combat system, being this the perfect chance to not let this marvelous game goes by unnoticed.
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If you want to get into the Trails series then Cold Steel is a great first game that we can't recommend enough, as I mentioned earlier just put in the time and you'll be glad that you did.
All in all, Trails of Cold Steel is a very solid experience. It takes the groundwork from other popular series in the genre, and although it doesn't do anything outstanding with that, it's still a great game.
In the end, Trails of Cold Steel is a game made for specific fans of the JRPG genre, but it also succeeds in nailing down all of its tropes and mechanics, rather than try to appeal to everyone with a bunch of pieces that don't fit cohesively.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel had my attention and lost it.
While it does take its time to really get going (the story doesn’t feel like it properly kicks off until about 15-ish hours in), The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel is a really fun game to play. The story moves slowly, and can take a while to get through, and while not much about it feels new, it does a good job of taking already established elements and making them into something fun.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel is hands down the best JRPG this year — and that’s saying a lot considering how many great ones have come out in the past twelve months.
If you like JRPGs (and maybe even if you don’t), you’ll want to find time for this game, though. Falcom haven’t tried to reinvent the wheel, because they wheel doesn’t need reinventing. Instead, they’ve set out to make the most magnificent damn wheel they could, and have succeeded with flying colours.
This is without a doubt the definitive version of Trails of Cold Steel.
If you're looking for a JRPG on the PC, this one is certainly an option, but it would not be my first.
A worthy follow-up to the PC release of The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC that we received years ago.
While it takes some time to get started, the combat and writing in this game help push it beyond its boundaries.
If you like traditional JRPGs but Trails in the Sky was a little too dated for you, Cold Steel is exactly what you've been looking for.
In many ways, Trails of Cold Steel’s JRPG trappings and gameplay struggle to remain relevant in an evolving genre. Yet, paradoxically, it’s the game’s conventional approach that makes it appealing, a reminder of the formula that has made JRPGs so popular, with several ease-of-use additions here and there to make it more accessible in the contemporary milieu. If you’re looking for something new to play on your Vita or PS3, you’d be hard-pressed to do better.