The 3rd entry to the Trails of Cold Steel series was released last month in Japan, exclusively for PlayStation 4. Check out the trailer for the game down below to get a feel of the game & story. *BEWARE. If you haven’t finished Trails of Cold Steel II, you might see some spoilers in the trailer.

The trailer was intense and I seriously thought that this game will be the last of Cold Steel series, but I was wrong. This game will leave us hanging just like Trails of Cold Steel I. So now, let’s get into the in-depth review of the game!

• Story
  The game continues the story of Rean Schwarzer, 1.5 years after the ending of Trails of Cold Steel II. He is now known as a “Hero” / “Ashen Knight” for clearing the problems in Erebonian Empire. He finally graduates from Thor’s Academy and his next step is to become a teacher to the 2nd Branch School of Thor’s Academy in Leeves. Little did he know that he will be in charge of the new Class VII.To be honest, the story is a little bit hard to follow if you are new to the series, and also if you only play the Cold Steel Series. I have played all 8 games from the Trails series, so this game is the answer to all of my confusion from the previous series. I won’t spoil anything but the game has the explanation of Rean’s origin & Olivier’s past, a direct connection to the Trails in The Sky, and also some kind of a direct sequel to the Crossbell Arc that has never been translated into English. And because of that, you might see some familiar faces in the game. Some of it was announced by Nihon Falcom before, such as Agate, Tita, Tio, & Randolf.The story flow of this game is basically kinda similar to Trails of Cold Steel 1. This time not as THE student, but as the teacher. The new class VII members are:
  Kurt Vander, the half-brother of Muller Vander (Playable Character in Trails in The Sky SC & 3rd). Yuna Crawford, A cheerful girl from Crossbell who used to study at the Police Academy in Crossbell. And also Altina Orion (The Black Rabbit), a girl who used to be on the enemy side in Trails of Cold Steel II. Rean will be their homeroom teacher and help them in every aspect of the school, including the field study. You will go into a region in every chapter and will solve the problem in that area as you play the game. For some people, the first half of every chapter might get boring, because basically, you are just running around the school helping students, or going around a town to help the townspeople (Sub-quests). And by the 3/4 of the chapter, everything will escalate and you will find yourself in an intense battle. Sometimes you might find yourself wondering what’s happening in the game, but on the last chapter, everything will make sense to you.

  9/10 for the story. This is kinda subjective because I already played every game in the series. The story in Cold Steel III really answers some of the questions left from the previous series. It will be awesome for people who follow the story from Trails in the Sky. But probably not so much for people who are new to the entry.
  

• Gameplay
  As for the gameplay, nothing is much different from the previous game, except the battle. Everything is controlled by a button. Check out the image below.

  

You will see that Attack is O button, Craft is △ button, & etc. So you won’t have to go through the selection screen anymore. It makes the battle much faster & much more responsive. They also added a new feature called “Battle Order”. Battle Order is a new command that will activate buffs for your characters for a certain period of time. You have to use BP to activate it, which you can get by hitting the enemy with their weakness. So now you can use BP for Rush, Burst, and also Battle Order.

The Mecha battle is getting more intense. Now every member of Class VII is getting their own Robot to help Rean & Valimar. We can only use Valimar in CS2, but not anymore. This time the mecha battle is up to 3 characters & 1 reserve.

What’s new in the battle system is that the enemy now has a “Break Gauge” under the enemy’s health bar that will go down as you keep attacking them. Once the Gauge is completely depleted, you enemy will go into the Break Mode and can’t move for some turns. It’s your chance to do a great deal of damage to them when they are in that state. In order to master the game, you need to use Battle Order and Break your enemy at the right timing.

Card game & Fishing also returns to this game. The card game has turned into something much more complex called Vantage Masters.

If you ever know a card game called “Vanguard”, then this is quite similar to it. You will play and damage each other “Master” until their HP is down to 0. Much more complex, and you need a good strategy to defeat your opponent. To be honest, the A.I. for the Vantage Masters is pretty dumb so you can easily win the duel.

Kizuna Event returns as well. Although you can’t load your previous game data for it, you can start a new relationship and choose who you want to be friends with or in love with. The romance options are only between Alisa, Laura, & Emma. So choose carefully.

9/10 for the gameplay. It’s a good thing that they didn’t change anything that is already good. Battle is much faster, the card game is more complex, so there’s no big change to the game which is good for returning player & new player as well.

• Graphics
  The graphics are much much better on PlayStation 4. They used to have the limitation because they have to release the game on a handheld platform & console as well. But this time it’s a PlayStation 4 exclusive title so it is so much better, even better than Tokyo Xanadu eX+ & YS VIII. You can see character’s expression much better in the game, and also details in their wardrobe like shadows or wrinkels.

Not to mention that the game is in 60FPS which is awesome. Everything is smooth, even the transition between field & battle is just like a split second. But the character movement feels a little clunky from time to time. But this is still so much better than their previous games, which means they are getting there with their game engine. I hope to see a much smoother movement in their next game.

8/10 for the Graphics. With the limitation of cartridge size out of the way & the power of Next-Gen Console, Trails of Cold Steel III is looking better than ever. Although the movement on the field, horse-riding, & motorcycle feels a little clunky from time to time, the game still looks awesome.

• Sound & Music
  Every important character in this game is fully voiced. The Japanese voice acting has a very high quality. It’s really good to hear Tita, Agate, Randolf, & Tio voices again.The Legend of Heroes series is famous for their awesome BGM songs and theme songs which are performed by Falcom JDK Band. Check out some of the songs & BGM of the game on the video down below.

The music fits every scene of the game. Making intense battle much more intense. Falcom JDK Band did a great job with the music in the game. Including the new version of “Hoshi no Arika” from Trails in The Sky. Can’t wait for the Full Soundtrack to be released on 15 November 2017.

10/10 for the sound & music as Falcom JDK Band did another great job with this game. The selection of Seiyuus is just perfect for each character. 

• The Verdict
  The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III is a worthy sequel to the Cold Steel Series, but it’s hard for newcomer to follow the story. Especially when each series are on different platforms (PSP, Vita, PS3). But I assure you that this is another RPG that’s worth playing. And I have to remind you guys once again that the game will end in a cliffhanger and leave you craving for the next game.

The Score: 9/10
Now, my score might be a little bit biased because I’m a fan of the series, but it’s really that good. If you are looking for game that is story oriented, intense battle, in-depth characters backstory, then this is the game for you.

Erhanz finished the The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III with every subquests in 102 hours of Gameplay. This review is made based on his experience in the game.