The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III (2017)

I can’t believe I’m already at the 8th game in this saga, what a rollercoaster of emotions. Cold Steel 3 is a direct continuation to the events of Cold Steel 2. Time has gone by and now the protagonist is playing a new role in this school-life formula videogame. And yes, the cast expands once again.

In terms pf strategy/JRPG, there’s been a huge step since the early years of Trails, with many of its mechanics improving game after game. Same goes for the graphic aspects, which might not be hand in hand with games from the same era, but show a lot of improvement from previous entries. I also noticed good decisions in how it is directed, that made the game a lot less awkward visually than its predecessors. For example when you talk to a NPC in the Academy the view will switch to first-person close-up. Same goes with camera angles in dialogues, or the S-Break powers choreography.

When it comes to the story, if you are familiar with the series you know what to expect story-wise: Very anime trope-ish characters, with a big mix of long-dialogue exposition. At the same time, all of this is part of a bigger narrative that began back in Trails in the Sky.

So, the good stuff. Certainly, great ambience, good music, and I appreciated the return of characters from previous games. This series has really turned into a dedicatedly-crafted strategy game with a lot of small of options that can make one fight be completely different from another, based on your equipment set up.

Bad stuff. I couldn’t connect much with the new cast, hopefully CS4 goes more into that. There were some headache-ish moments when the game tried to force you to use specific characters from other entries, since it meant reviewing the equipment/Arts for each of them and ensuring these made sense for the upcoming fight. Some chapter parts also needed big edit. The chapter happening at the capital almost makes you go the same d*mn dungeon like 3 times (more if you do side quests). And the dungeon at the school… yeah, let’s not get into that. At least in the previous game it made sense plot-wise, this time it is just there for the sake of making the game longer in a cheap way tbh.

Recommended for fans of the series.

I took a slight break from this game to watch the anime The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel - Northern War which supposedly takes place between Cold Steel 2 and Cold Steel 3 – and my goodness, what a waste of time that was!

I went in expecting something that would fill in the time skip between games, and instead got NOTHING.

Being put in a different position - from student to teacher - really makes Rean's development nice to see from my perspective. His self sacrifice habit makes sense because he wants to protect his students, despite him suffering from all the things that he had to do on top of being their teacher.

The buildup that starts relatively small, that then exposes a massive plot, I'm a fan of that in stories and Cold Steel III does that really well.

This one's gotta be my favourite of the lot. And this is despite the fact that I'm not the biggest fan of a few of the new additions.

There's something about the amount of time I've spent with these characters now over three games that makes them really stick. Juna is a great addition. Kurt is kind of like wet cardboard but inoffensive. Ash is good too. Musse is annoying as hell and Altina is fine. Beyond that, the rest of the students are entirely forgettable, but I didn't put in much effort for them anyways.

That aside, the returning cast are all great and since the relationships are already established the game can cut straight to the point and get the plot rolling. And what a plot. I don't want to say too much as this is certainly a game where you don't want to know too much in advance but folks who've cleared it know that unlike the previous two entries this game's advancement of the plot pulls no punches.

Excited for game four! Hopefully I'm through before the next game, these things take forever!

Getting into Chapter 3 and I think my only major complaint about this game so far is a change that seems little baffling to me...

Why do I need to keep walking back through dungeons every time I finish one? It feels like padding, especially when the last two games had teleports to get you out of finished dungeons quickly. Seems like a weird change to me.

That aside, this game is really good. I can see why some people say it's the best in series, the story moves at a nice, quick pace!

Well At the moment I am at chapter 3 which is nice but I am one of few that is not feeling this game but I think it is just me. So much talking and too many characters. The story is so complicated I am now skipping most of it Battling is the thing I love most of this game.

The problem is I have bought more games like this one like: Tokyo Xanadu The Lost Child Star Ocean First Departure

I guess my problem is that I have constantly been playing games like this one with lots of talking and I am in need of a game with less chit chat and more battles. No idea which game. Maybe I need to replay one of my older games?