The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II

 PlayStation 3
User Score
8.2

Generally favorable reviews- based on 119 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 96 out of 119
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 119
  3. Negative: 17 out of 119
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  1. OwtDaft
    Feb 14, 2020
    6
    + Great battle system returns.
    + Still has great characters.
    +- Lots of revisiting old locations from the first game. - First game ended on a climax. The 2nd game starts by killing that intensity. - The game some how has worse pacing than the first game. - Large part of the story is simply finding your class mates. - More open world this time, but it it's easy to miss stuff as a    + Great battle system returns.
    + Still has great characters.
    +- Lots of revisiting old locations from the first game.
    - First game ended on a climax. The 2nd game starts by killing that intensity.
    - The game some how has worse pacing than the first game.
    - Large part of the story is simply finding your class mates.
    - More open world this time, but it it's easy to miss stuff as a result and slows pacing.
    - Mech battles are too basic and easy to be fun.    … Expand
  2. karmic_devil
    Jul 18, 2019
    7
    Love the world. Love the story. Love the characters. Love the combat system. HATE the difficulty curve.
    Sadly this game is a cakewalk. Even on the nightmare setting.
    If you played the first game, yes you should play this one. It continues the story and introduces a couple new characters and that is very cool - the narrative elements are a huge reason why we play JRPGs after all. On    Love the world. Love the story. Love the characters. Love the combat system. HATE the difficulty curve.
    Sadly this game is a cakewalk. Even on the nightmare setting.

    If you played the first game, yes you should play this one. It continues the story and introduces a couple new characters and that is very cool - the narrative elements are a huge reason why we play JRPGs after all.

    On the other hand, if you found that about halfway through the first game there was no more challenge in combat, you will get there even faster in this title and that is a real disappointment.

    Magic is very powerful in this game. We nicknamed Emma "the finisher" because she basically only needed 1 turn to wipe out any group (yes group!) of non-boss enemies.

    The boss battles were more satisfying but still often felt procedural after using spells/abilities that protect the entire party from a magic attack and a physical attack. At that point you are in something of a lather, rinse, repeat cycle for the next 30 minutes until you bring that big guy down.

    I shouldn't be so down on this game - honestly it is the best JRPG you are likely to get these days. It has a good story and likable characters and fortunately has stuck with a turn-based combat system instead of trying to convert it into an MMO (RIP Final Fantasy). The problem is just that with a little more effort it could have been so much more than it is.

    If this games combat had scaled to be appropriately difficult throughout the game it would be an easy 10. The fact that a lot of the game just made me feel like I was going through the motions, however, really brought the whole experience down.    … Expand

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
90

Universal acclaim - based on 4 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 4
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 4
  3. Negative: 0 out of 4
  1. Meristation
    Nov 16, 2016
    88
    The Legend of Heroes Trails of The Cold Steel II It arrives demonstrating that the formula of Falcom continues working almost to the perfection.
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  2. Digitally Downloaded
    Sep 21, 2016
    100
    Just like Trails of Cold Steel before it, The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II is an excellent game, and a fitting second act after the first game’s exquisite setup. I can’t recommend it highly enough – just make sure you play Cold Steel first, otherwise you’ll miss so much of what this game has to offer.
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  3. We Got This Covered
    Sep 10, 2016
    80
    The Legend Of Heroes: Trails Of Cold Steel II is a content-rich adventure that mixes excellent JRPG mechanics with wonderfully scripted character relationships. For those unfamiliar with the series, though, it may be best to start with the original.
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