The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II

 PC
Metascore
81

Generally favorable reviews - based on 5 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 5
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 5
  3. Negative: 0 out of 5
  1. Hooked Gamers
    Feb 23, 2018
    70
    I’ll keep playing because the story is engaging and I want to see what happens to Class VII, but the battles and exploration don’t hold the same spark that they did in the first. So if you are considering playing this, without having played the first, don’t. The first is a far better game and includes very similar content. If you play that and find that you are sufficiently interested in the story, then I’d recommend getting this game as well. But this is a game I would only recommend to JRPG fans or to players engaged with the ongoing exploits of Class VII.

User Reviews

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User Score
8.3

Generally favorable reviews- based on 102 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 81 out of 102
  2. Mixed: 11 out of 102
  3. Negative: 10 out of 102
  1. Ryall
    Feb 18, 2018
    9
    Trails of Cold Steel 2 is a direct sequel to the 1st Trails of Cold Steel It would be best to play that 1st.
    As Trails of Cold Steel 2    Trails of Cold Steel 2 is a direct sequel to the 1st Trails of Cold Steel It would be best to play that 1st.
    As Trails of Cold Steel 2 Expands on the 1st game. Together thay are one of the best JRPG currently available.    … Full Review »
  2. Risax
    Apr 22, 2018
    8
    WARNING THERE ARE UNMARKED SPOILERS TO TRAILS OF COLD STEEL IN THIS REVIEW!

    A direct sequel to The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel,    WARNING THERE ARE UNMARKED SPOILERS TO TRAILS OF COLD STEEL IN THIS REVIEW!

    A direct sequel to The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel, leaving off a month after Rean and his newly aquired Divine Knight escaped Thors as it was attacked by the Noble Alliance. I enjoyed this game quite a bit more than the first game let me tell you, but there were also plenty of things that dialed my enthusiasm back a bit.

    First of all, it FEELS like you have a bit more freedom than in the first game since you can go back to old areas to revisit them and you aren't tied to the school. You DO get a sort of homebase eventually, but I won't spoil it.

    The Divine Knight battles, which were only introduced at the end of the first game, are also handled much better and are a lot more fun to do. I also enjoyed finding other students of Thors and unlocking more shops and stuff for your "homebase" but I've always been a sucker for building villages and the like in the Dragon Quest games too. So that might not be everyone's cup of tea.

    Just like the first game and the Trails in the Sky games, Trails of Cold Steel II is also quite long with loads and loads of NPCs, quests and minigames. But doing quests often felt less like a chore than it did in the first game. Perhaps because you're tying to help citizens in a country at war.

    Anyway, now for the bad...

    The sprites still look stiff, leaving some "animated fighting scenes" look awkward. And the dumb anime clichés I mentioned in my review of the first game are still around. Especially in Rean's goal to return Crow to the academy despite the fact that the guy is the leader of a terrorist organization that is probably directly or indirectly responsible for quite a few deaths. He also doesn't seem to show a lot of interest in actually returning.

    The game also feels more "padded" than its predecessor. Finding and recruiting students, doing sidequests and minigames are optional. But there comes a point where you must forge a weapon for you divine knight. Which is cool. But in doing so you have to go through four shrines which kind of feel like "mini old schoolhouses" from the first Trails of Cold Steel. (And doing that on every free day already felt like a chore).

    Worst is the ending, however. There is "Finale", "Divertissement" and "Epilogue". The Finale is just you going through the final dungeon, nothing wrong with that. I also like Divertissement which takes place after. I won't spoil what happens.

    ...but Epilogue is just another free day of doing tasks for the Student Council and, yes, going into the Old Schoolhouse. The dungeon is 17 floors long. Which are all randomly generated. And. There. Is. No. Point. To. It.

    Even the Epilogue's Boss says its a "Hollow Trial". There is no cliffhanger, no hints to what Trails of Cold Steel III might hold in store. Nothing.

    After that, Class VII says goodbye to each other and it might pluck at the heartstrings. But for me, it felt a bit "too little, too late".

    I would still rate this about as good as the first Trails of Cold Steel, with several things improved. But it could have been so much better if they've cut out some of the fat...

    That being said, I am still looking forward to Trails of Cold Steel III!    … Full Review »
  3. Luigichief
    Feb 18, 2021
    9
    This review contains spoilers, click full review link to view. Even though it had a good amount of highlights and those were very good, this was the first Trails that had several things that I really didn't like. But even so, many moments managed to impact me in some way, which really impressed me.

    The first arc is the 'introduction' of the game basically, you meet your colleagues while the script introduces new concepts, characters, mechanics and 'works the world' in the background. Then the climax of the 1st arc arrives and the thing really grips, despite having very slow moments still in the 2nd arc, I felt the history and the war really advancing. This story has a peculiar and even innovative rhythm, however, despite its several high points and they are of excellent quality and the one with the most 'low' points, but which would not necessarily be low if the story was different (confused, I I know, this was one of the most difficult and complex games I've ever analyzed).

    The prologue is very interesting and the end of it, when Rean's village is attacked and there is the scene of his father bloodied is too good and completely unexpected, and the beginning of his development in the outdoor bath was something very important in his personality of Rean, that he sees no value in himself. The first part of arc 1 is okay in general, with some high points. I thought the second part was better, the reunion of Rean and Alisa was very good and it was not forced, the climax is good and I really like the inhabitants and the land of Nord so it was a plus. Part 3 is okay, since Jusis 'duel' and mini arc I really liked. But the really good part was the end of the arc, you probably wondered why the guys just don't call the whole troupe, invade Ymir and put the stick in the protagonists, after all, they were well exposed. And that's exactly what happened, I loved it. I didn't find it exciting or anything, but from a narrative point of view, it was very unexpected and interesting. I just didn't like the little tension relief in highly tense moments (like this ending), if it is to be tense it is to be tense and you knew how to do it Falcom.
    The intermission between arc 1 and 2 is really great in many ways. It is quite interesting how the 'villains' (Noble Alliance) are not 'evil' and want the bad of the nation, quite the contrary. And all the allies have their reasons for being there, except that the climax is very good, despite the slight unwanted comic relief.
    The second arc starts off taking an interesting turn to the story, but part 1 in general is just okay, except for the climax which is cool, but nothing too special. Part 2 was really good, from the quests to its climax, and the consequences on Roer made it seem like the story really progressed. Part 3 surprised me a lot, I didn't imagine that the Celdic tragedy would affect me so much. Part 4 / end of arc 2 is very good in general too, the climax of winning back the Thors academy is absurd and has a much more emotional than tense atmosphere. Although dragged, I found Arch 2 as a whole good in general and with some very high points, but not seeing the war in West Erebonia was something that disappointed me. It is worth mentioning that the final bonding event is also very good (at least that of Jusis and Alisa, which were the ones I saw).
    Final Arc is very good and has a great rhythm (very good dungeon ending), the game's 'ending' is full of twists, Crow's death, Rufus Albarea being an Ironblood and Osborne being alive, having totally manipulated the war ( Class 7 inclusive), he stole the Sept-Terrion’s Ourobouros plan, will conquer Crossbell and on top of that he’s Rean’s biological father. But these twists were a bit 'confused' (I don't know the right word here but I'll try to explain), how Osborne manipulated the war is a little implicit and implied, how he survived too, we hardly know what this stolen plan is, he doesn't show it attaching Crossbell (even if you can swallow it) and we have no idea why he left Rean. The story of the 'real' game ends here, but not the game, more or less.

    After the Final Arc, when the game or better the story 'ends', a chapter begins as a certain continuation of Trails to Azure, which is interesting and has a very nice ending, but even though I played Zero and Azure I found some dialogues very confusing and I have no idea which direction the story / Crossbell will take.

    Regarding the Epilogue, I have mixed feelings. Despite several hopeful and light moments, this story is actually very dark, at least until the epilogue, for me the game should have ended at the Divertissement. It would have been perfect, Rean seemed changed and very affected by the events at the end of the game, it seemed that he had lost some of his naivete and maybe and his essence (which would make sense to me considering everything he went through).    … Full Review »
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