The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel

 PC
User Score
8.0

Generally favorable reviews- based on 143 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 108 out of 143
  2. Mixed: 21 out of 143
  3. Negative: 14 out of 143

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  1. GreenMenace
    Sep 28, 2022
    7
    The first Trails of Cold Steel introduces a game that is clunky at times, but still solid.

    Pros Tuned up replayability Fresh start and great new soundtrack Story Cons Character Involvement Pacing Bland Stereotypes Trails of Cold Steel has implemented a new system that rewards players for replaying its game, allowing players to push past the slower parts of the game much    The first Trails of Cold Steel introduces a game that is clunky at times, but still solid.

    Pros
    Tuned up replayability
    Fresh start and great new soundtrack
    Story

    Cons
    Character Involvement
    Pacing
    Bland Stereotypes

    Trails of Cold Steel has implemented a new system that rewards players for replaying its game, allowing players to push past the slower parts of the game much faster. The turbo button is a new feature that I didn’t take advantage of at first, but regretted not doing so later. The soundtrack is enjoyable, and the story introduces plot twists the player can’t see coming. There are some glaring issues though. At any given point in the story, EVERY character comments on it. Its painful, but that problem is fixed in future entries. The game does its best to create a climax for the player—but it does so by slowing down the game. You will feel it.

    Trails of Cold Steel gives you fun “bonding” moments where you get to know a character better. Your time is limited though, so you have to pick and choose who to interact with. Some moments are better than others, and some moments are absolutely cringeworthy (as a piano player, I hated watching characters play the piano).

    I’ve never been big on the main character of this series, but I’ve enjoyed the characters of Trails of Cold Steel as a whole. The characters don’t do much to surprise you (aka they’re two dimensional)—instead you grow to be comfortable with them over time as you progress through the story. Trails of Cold Steel is a four game series, so that’s important to keep in mind. Like a book, this game isn’t going to resolve everything inside the game which is intended to leave you curious about what the heck is going on. Bear in mind that if you haven’t tried a Falcom game like this, then it will be a new experience.

    Trails of Cold Steel—should you try it?

    A Trails game is like a weird hybrid of a book, movie, and video game. There’s story elements involving many characters, and you get to watch the characters interact. This game is LINEAR. It doesn’t get carried away with making the game challenging (as the game focuses on delivering a fleshed out story and challenge could interrupt that), but it offers several difficulties to players. You have to manage your resources to prepare for a simple—yet fun combat system. Players should not worry whether this game will be “too hard”. Put in the time and you’ll beat the game no problem.

    For the next series, I’ll be playing on a console. Trails games also go on sale fairly regularly, so if you’re uncomfortable paying full price, you can wait. I took the risk on the Trails in the Sky series and loved it. I haven’t enjoyed this series as much, but there are absolutely moments where Trails of Cold Steel meets or exceeds its predecessors.

    Best of luck finding your next JRPG!    … Expand
  2. Dubeau
    Oct 22, 2017
    7
    The game by itself is well done. Interesting RPG with cooking, upgrades for weapons and equipment. The story is quite political in it's core and the game shows us events with dates. It's a nice sens of moving forward. However the dialogues are very annoying, not because they are bad but there is so many of them and they state the very obvious almost 75% of the time. Do we have to knowThe game by itself is well done. Interesting RPG with cooking, upgrades for weapons and equipment. The story is quite political in it's core and the game shows us events with dates. It's a nice sens of moving forward. However the dialogues are very annoying, not because they are bad but there is so many of them and they state the very obvious almost 75% of the time. Do we have to know every single feelings, every single though. Many, many sequence are very arduous...so be prepared to skip a lot of dialogues in the like you never seen before. The fighting is well done but again in the last chapter you are hit with an impossible boss to handle. The graphics are to the level of a PS3 game. The 3D models are quite basic. Overall it was a fun JRPG but the dialogues skipping can be a long exercise of patience. I give it a 70%.… Expand
  3. BlackLotus
    May 28, 2020
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Going to cover the negative first. Horrible ending, just know If you want any type of closure you must buy multiple games. Am some what new to school part of a game, but am not the biggest fan of being put on a schedule to do things and I can only use certain characters at certain times, so I often find myself stuck with characters I do not like.

    Plus side, I really enjoyed the combat and level system.    … Expand
  4. VG_Alex
    Apr 5, 2022
    7
    I have a lot of curiosity and value of in-depth research on this type of works. It is also worth trying for players who have not tried this kind of game,JRPG are rarely to play nowdays so I give it a good review for my first 'THE LEGEND OF HEROES'.

    Review of "The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Steel:Kai" Graphic/Art: 7 Music/Sounds: 7.5 Narrative/Performance:7 Gameplay:7    I have a lot of curiosity and value of in-depth research on this type of works. It is also worth trying for players who have not tried this kind of game,JRPG are rarely to play nowdays so I give it a good review for my first 'THE LEGEND OF HEROES'.

    Review of "The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Steel:Kai"

    Graphic/Art: 7

    Music/Sounds: 7.5

    Narrative/Performance:7

    Gameplay:7

    Score:7.2    … Expand
  5. SaintVulcan
    Jun 20, 2019
    6
    整体上非常生硬的一部作品。剧情方面由于过场动画太多，密集地穿插于战斗与自由时间之中，难以展开叙事，导致虽然故事内容尚可，但全程都遍布令人吐槽不能的虎头蛇尾和自圆其说。战斗方面继承了前作成熟的系统，依旧能体验到可以沉浸其中的节奏感，但在本作中存在感太低。结尾单独设计的机神战也过于鸡肋，不明所以。总的来说，本作为了展开新系列的故事而太过仓促，质量差强人意。整体上非常生硬的一部作品。剧情方面由于过场动画太多，密集地穿插于战斗与自由时间之中，难以展开叙事，导致虽然故事内容尚可，但全程都遍布令人吐槽不能的虎头蛇尾和自圆其说。战斗方面继承了前作成熟的系统，依旧能体验到可以沉浸其中的节奏感，但在本作中存在感太低。结尾单独设计的机神战也过于鸡肋，不明所以。总的来说，本作为了展开新系列的故事而太过仓促，质量差强人意。
  6. hileger
    Dec 11, 2022
    5
    Пустая графомания , хуэта хуэт . Пук пук школоло избраный , пук пук какой ты хороший такой всем нравишься ,пук пук друзббэ спасет мир ,пук пук.
    нахуй мне 200 часов в надежде вдруг трахну пучеглазую куклу без эмоциий ,пойду лучше трахну своего друга примерно эффект тот же ( сюжет для японошкольников) и грезы вот накачаюсь и раздам пизды всем ненавистникам. ( боевка    Пустая графомания , хуэта хуэт . Пук пук школоло избраный , пук пук какой ты хороший такой всем нравишься ,пук пук друзббэ спасет мир ,пук пук.
    нахуй мне 200 часов в надежде вдруг трахну пучеглазую куклу без эмоциий ,пойду лучше трахну своего друга примерно эффект тот же ( сюжет для японошкольников) и грезы вот накачаюсь и раздам пизды всем ненавистникам. ( боевка стандартная пошаг жрпг)    … Expand
  7. slothjaw
    Feb 5, 2023
    6
    I see why people like this game. It's true that the game spends a lot of time world building and it has a lot of dialogue but that doesn't mean it's quality stuff necessarily. I'd say it's average quality. While it tries to tackle some deep topics it just doesn't do a very good job covering classism in real depth. The politics are not covered in depth. The characters sometimes have depth,I see why people like this game. It's true that the game spends a lot of time world building and it has a lot of dialogue but that doesn't mean it's quality stuff necessarily. I'd say it's average quality. While it tries to tackle some deep topics it just doesn't do a very good job covering classism in real depth. The politics are not covered in depth. The characters sometimes have depth, but more often the game tries to disguise their tropiness with superficial details like "this character likes swimming" or "this character likes napping." In general I'd say the problem with the story here is that it fails to say anything interesting or new about society. Saying "classism exists" or "classism is bad" just isn't enough to earn my praise. When it tries to achieve more it just fumbles the ball. This game really just isn't worth the time, in my opinion.… Expand
  8. Jajooka
    Jul 22, 2023
    7
    Trails of Cold Steel Series in general:

    Combat: I picked up Trails of Cold Steel as a tactical turned based rpg fan, and as such my main focus is challenging interesting fights and playing around interesting builds. I played through 1 to 4 and from the combat perspective it was generally fun, and most of the time adequately challenging (choose Nightmare dif, don't belive the    Trails of Cold Steel Series in general:

    Combat:
    I picked up Trails of Cold Steel as a tactical turned based rpg fan, and as such my main focus is challenging interesting fights and playing around interesting builds. I played through 1 to 4 and from the combat perspective it was generally fun, and most of the time adequately challenging (choose Nightmare dif, don't belive the description that sais its for NG+). I would recommend the series from this aspect if you have already finished the stronger titles of the genre.

    Story:
    One of those stories that makes sense on the surface until you start to think things through, but this is part of its charm for some as fans nontheless enjoy theorizing about obvious logic flaws and holes in the plot. It has vast world-building for sure, with a couple of interesting characters and ideas. If you are the type who doesnt get too worked up on details, you probably won't have problems with this story arc either. For me it was mostly annoying and ridicolous.    … Expand
  9. Reuve
    Apr 20, 2022
    6
    I want to like this game, I like the first one. But, God, I hate how this game represents war. The princess and the protagonist's sister just got abducted by the enemy, but then the protagonist strolling around in the enemy airship trying to learn their back story lol. this is a worse way to introduce the villains and their story!

    There's just no sense of urgency and no grim realities    I want to like this game, I like the first one. But, God, I hate how this game represents war. The princess and the protagonist's sister just got abducted by the enemy, but then the protagonist strolling around in the enemy airship trying to learn their back story lol. this is a worse way to introduce the villains and their story!

    There's just no sense of urgency and no grim realities of war. The protagonist also spare every enemy he defeated and help keep the enemy's rank intact.

    I like the art direction, the characters and the mechas, but the way it represents war really turned me off and I had to dropped this game. Obviously this game was aimed at young teen demographic and not for me.    … Expand
  10. Wondux
    May 23, 2023
    7
    As the first game of an arc in "The Legend of Heroes", this game was very slow. However, I still loved running around cities, interacting with characters, and completing tasks given to me by the folk. I also loved the school feeling of the game, as a Persona fan. The social sim mechanics were also great. I absolutely love the world-building of this series and this arc does a great jobAs the first game of an arc in "The Legend of Heroes", this game was very slow. However, I still loved running around cities, interacting with characters, and completing tasks given to me by the folk. I also loved the school feeling of the game, as a Persona fan. The social sim mechanics were also great. I absolutely love the world-building of this series and this arc does a great job showing the Erebonia part of the story.… Expand
  11. BiancoBoii
    Oct 11, 2021
    7
    I think it's a very good game, but the mechanics are a little worn, and the game itself is very repetitive, however a great place to start in the series if you're looking into the trails series. Overall I think if you like turn-based JRPGs, it is definitely worth the money

Awards & Rankings

76
#76 Best PC Game of 2017
68
#68 Most Discussed PC Game of 2017

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
80

Generally favorable reviews - based on 10 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 10
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 10
  3. Negative: 0 out of 10
  1. RPG Fan
    Oct 9, 2017
    90
    In case I haven't said it enough already, the PC port of Trails of Cold Steel is quite simply the best version of the game you can get at the moment. It's also an excellent port on its own that brings many improvements and scales well between a dedicated gaming rig at max settings and an ultraportable laptop squeaking by on low. If you're a fan of the series, this is a no-brainer. If you've never played a Trails game before, this is an excellent place to start.
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  2. DarkZero
    Sep 5, 2017
    80
    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. Its emphasis on character development and skill trees prove that it has placed its priorities in the right areas, rather than blow its budget on visuals or other superfluous aspects. What it lacks in innovation, it more than makes up for in polish, and the result is bound to leave many fans hungry for the next two installments in the trilogy regardless of whether they play through the main story or follow every side character’s journey to completion.
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  3. GameSpew
    Aug 18, 2017
    70
    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.
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