The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel

[Ziggiy]

not sure what you mean by epic. its.... you play your part in shaping events that all play a part in a much greater overarching story until Cold Steel 4

no animated cutscenes

there are romance elements but they're pretty bad, persona tier stuff really.

i don't think Persona's gameplay is all that special really, but I'd put Trails above the gameplay above it either way

Gameplay doesn’t really matter to me honestly. I’m a story guy. As long as the battle system isn’t god awful I can make it through if the story is worth it.

By “epic” i meant a sprawling story that transverses across different cities/towns with the main character at the heart of a struggle for the fate of the world. You know just regular anime trope type stuff lol.


The reason I bring up Persona 4 Golden is because to me its the PERFECT story. I literally felt like I was playing a dope ass 26 episode anime. I loved the characters and their development, the story, the music, just the overall presentation is astounding to me.


Trails Of Cold Steel looks like it could give me that feeling. The only thing with Persona is that the action all took place in that small town. So i’m looking for something a little more “expansive” in the world building hence the “epic” part.




I appreciate you and @winb83 taking the time to answer my questions. I think i’ma go ahead and buy the first Cold Steel game based on what you guys have said. Hopefully I can buy it digitally on my Vita because on Amazon physical copies are going for $100 bucks

 

[42 Monks]

Gameplay doesn’t really matter to me honestly. I’m a story guy. As long as the battle system isn’t god awful I can make it through if the story is worth it.

By “epic” i meant a sprawling story that transverses across different cities/towns with the main character at the heart of a struggle for the fate of the world. You know just regular anime trope type stuff lol.


The reason I bring up Persona 4 Golden is because to me its the PERFECT story. I literally felt like I was playing a dope ass 26 episode anime. I loved the characters and their development, the story, the music, just the overall presentation is astounding to me.


Trails Of Cold Steel looks like it could give me that feeling. The only thing with Persona is that the action all took place in that small town. So i’m looking for something a little more “expansive” in the world building hence the “epic” part.




I appreciate you and @winb83 taking the time to answer my questions. I think i’ma go ahead and buy the first Cold Steel game based on what you guys have said. Hopefully I can buy it digitally on my Vita because on Amazon physical copies are going for $100 bucks

Its probably exactly what you're looking for then. Give it time, let it set itself up, and it almost always pays off.

My biggest problems with the Cold Steel series happen waaaaaaaaaaaaay further down the road.

 

[Grand Conde]

It's exactly what you are looking for but it is also extremely long and drawn out.

 

[Grand Conde]

The Trails In The Sky games are really good btw and you can play the first two on the Vita.

 

[Ziggiy]

Its probably exactly what you're looking for then. Give it time, let it set itself up, and it almost always pays off.

My biggest problems with the Cold Steel series happen waaaaaaaaaaaaay further down the road.

So Trails Of Cold Steel Part 2 is available on Vita’s PSN store but NOT part 1




I looked on Ebay and can get part 1 for about $40 used. Will probably pull the trigger

 

[bigdaddy88]

Part 2 is soooooo boring too tedious to get through

 

[Ill-Mind]

So Trails Of Cold Steel Part 2 is available on Vita’s PSN store but NOT part 1




I looked on Ebay and can get part 1 for about $40 used. Will probably pull the trigger

Part 1 is on there, I have it and I'm looking at it on Vita's PSN right now

 

[bigdaddy88]

all games are on sale in the psn store, am tempted to just buy part 3, and youtube part 2, everybody says 3 is infinitely better and i believe em, but good God part 2 is too slow

 

[42 Monks]

all games are on sale in the psn store, am tempted to just buy part 3, and youtube part 2, everybody says 3 is infinitely better and i believe em, but good God part 2 is too slow

I still think 3 is the worst by far.... but to each their own. Hell it took dozens of hours for 4 to turn the corner too.

 

[Ziggiy]

I still think 3 is the worst by far.... but to each their own. Hell it took dozens of hours for 4 to turn the corner too.

My copy of part 1 came today.


Just finished the Prologue.


shyt is FLAMES so far. Feels like i’m playing an Anime. Just what I wanted




I’m already gonna try to hook Rean up with Laura or Instructor Sarah

 

[42 Monks]

My copy of part 1 came today.


Just finished the Prologue.


shyt is FLAMES so far. Feels like i’m playing an Anime. Just what I wanted




I’m already gonna try to hook Rean up with Laura or Instructor Sarah

 

[winb83]

Warning if you get into Trails space the games out. The temptation will be to play the next game right after the previous game because most of the games end on brutal cliffhangers but I strongly advise against it. Playing Sky 1 and 2 back to back might be ok but by 3rd it's gonna be too much. I played the Crossbell games Zero and Ao back to back and it was too much too fast.

Definitely don't marathon the Cold Steel games. The one thing you'll discover when playing these games is they are very structured. The story typically unfolds in a very rigid way and playing such a massive series too fast will cause burnout.

Again I strongly suggest starting with Sky doing the Crossbell games then going to Cold Steel. If you play the modern games first you're probably not wanna go back and the older games actually have a better story than the Cold Steel games. If you skip Ao no Kiseki you'll miss out on the West Zemuria Trade Conference which outside of Cold Steel IV's events in Act 2 aboard the Pantagruel is probably the crowning achievement of this series in terms of GOAT moments.

 

[winb83]

I still think 3 is the worst by far.... but to each their own. Hell it took dozens of hours for 4 to turn the corner too.

Trails of Cold Steel 3 is to me the best game in the CS series. It's basically a do-over of Cold Steel 1 but with a smaller main cast of 6 characters, a better focus, a more eventful plot, It also makes Rean into a tolerable character. He was born to play the role he played in that game. Lastly it elevated Kuro Usagi a virtual nobody at the end of CS2 into the best character in the entire CS series. Kuro Usagi's story arc in both 3 and 4 especially with how 3 ends as well as Jusis development is the best thing about Cold Steel series as a whole.

 

[Ziggiy]

Trails of Cold Steel 3 is to me the best game in the CS series. It's basically a do-over of Cold Steel 1 but with a smaller main cast of 6 characters, a better focus, a more eventful plot, It also makes Rean into a tolerable character. He was born to play the role he played in that game. Lastly it elevated Kuro Usagi a virtual nobody at the end of CS2 into the best character in the entire CS series. Kuro Usagi's story arc in both 3 and 4 especially with how 3 ends as well as Jusis development is the best thing about Cold Steel series as a whole.

Maybe it’s because i’m at the very beginning but so far I see nothing wrong with Rean

 

[winb83]

Maybe it’s because i’m at the very beginning but so far I see nothing wrong with Rean

It's because I'm assuming you skipped Trails in the Sky and missed out on one of the better protagonist in JRPGs Estelle Bright. Rean is mostly insufferable until CS3. Through the series the cast mostly felates him undeservingly so.

Rean isn't completely horrible but he is by far the worst protagonist in the Trails series.

Rean is a poor man's Lloyd Bannings. He completely lacks Lloyd's charm. He's a inoffensive doormat that spouts corny power of friendship speeches and is default elevated to leader and most important character when for the most part he does nothing except get stuff handed to him.

Much of that doesn't start happening until the end of CS1 through CSIV though. CS1 is the most ensemble cast of the whole sub-series. From 2 on everything orbits around Rean.