Review Kenchiin 4/5 · Aug 13, 2024
Beyond the Journey
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, …
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.
