Going into cold steel 1 honestly my outlook was somewhat bleak considering the reputation it had prior to me playing it, but after completing the game i'm happy to know that the hate for it is so OVERBLOWNNN. And i assume most of the hate for it is either unmerited or from people who got into the series with this game without prior knowledge.

I think this game is pretty solid, taking it's time to explore Erebonia and building it up which is the massive appeal of the series for me. This is a given to any intro trails game so i didn't particularly feel it was 'slow' as i'm used to the formula. Albeit at first it may seem formulaic but it works well and Erebonia is so damn INTERESTING!

I Kind of had some concerns about the cast size being so massive and how they were gonna handle 9 whole characters but i believe CS1 handled it pretty well to build up the foundations for alot of these characters. I'm actually pretty invested into Rean as a character and i think he could be pretty amazing down the line.

Besides the usual shit, Trails games always have amazing soundtracks and this game is no exception. First time hearing 'Oinaru Chikara' is an experience plus the gameplay is as fun as it's always been.

THE ENDINGGGGG UOGHHHHHHHHHH. I'm hyped for the rest of the Cold steel games man

O que falar deste jogo? Sinceramente, um dos melhores J-RPGs que já joguei, todo o envolvimento da trama e construção dos personagens trazem um ambiente MUITO imersivo, aliado a esses aspectos, a trilha sonora do jogo é impecável e me vejo escutando diversas músicas até hoje (7 anos depois de jogar). A gameplay é muito simples, pode-se dizer que não tem erro do que se fazer (o uso de quartzos e outros aspectos adicionam muito na variedade de builds e loadouts, mas é bem prático).

Fora tudo isso, o final do jogo é memorável, repleto de reviravoltas e acontecimentos que deixam impossível não querer jogar o próximo. De fato, ToCS é ridiculamente bom e recomendo a todos que são fãs do gênero, este é um ótimo ponto de entrada para todos aqueles que gostariam de começar a sua jornada na franquia!

vale, entiendo porque es considerado como el 'peor' kiseki de la saga, entiendo que es una mierda tener que jugar +50 horas a un juego el cual es un prólogo y el cual tiene un inicio lento, las misiones son repetitivas, muchas veces se siente como un slice of live genérico donde no sucede nada y el gimmic de la escuela sobra, ya que ni siquiera es bien aprovechado.

es indefendible que deja mucho que desear pero no considero que sea un pésimo juego, solo que venir de jugar Azure el cual facilmente puede estar en un top 20 de mejores jrpgs de la historia a pasar a jugar un juego que es un slice of live escolar pues si hay un gran contraste. tal vez haya sido por mi manera de verlo al jugarlo, puesto que me puse a pensar en como hubiera sido jugarlo hace 11 años, en el momento en el que salió. venir de terminar el arco de crossbell y ahora empezar un nuevo arco con personajes nuevos pero ahora en un ambiente en 3d y no solo eso, sino que tenerlo en la palma de tus manos ya que solo estaba en la vita, dar ese gran salto generacional se habrá sentido como pasar de la snes a la N64. y si, no lo negaré, el 95% de la historia es meh y la mayoría de personajes no son interesantes y los que sí son los puedo contar con los dedos de una mano, sus misiones son repetitivas e incandescentes.

no todo es malo, si bien no le llega al nivel de las entregas anteriores, el hecho de venir de jugar el arco de crossbell y ver los sucesos de Azure pero desde una perspectiva de afuera y escuchar todas las referencias que soltaban a lo largo de la historia a los sucesos o cosas que fueron presentadas en esa entrega fue ahhhh hermoso y arto fanservice para mí (lastimosamente la mayoría de personas en occidente no disfrutaron de esas referencias debido a que aquí se localizó primero cold steel antes que el arco de Crossbell, pero los que si pudieron jugar primero a Zero y Azure les encantan todas esas referencias).

al final es como la mayoría de sagas las cuales tienen entregas las cuales su calidad es inferior o es aburrida pero es obligatorio jugarlo para continuar con la saga o para entenderla mejor y si no lo haces o te la saltas te spoilearas arto o habran cosas que no entenderás, solo que con Cold Steel 1 no es que sea malo, pero comprado a los juegos anteriores si da un bajón de calidad pero es que es necesario ya que es el inicio de un nuevo arco donde nos van mostrando desde el inicio la como empieza todo y nos van preparando poco a poco para lo que se viene, ya que si, ese final se sintió como el primer Trails in the Sky el cual al verlo la historia cambia totalmente y te dan ganas de empezar la secuela de una.

Game is boring for most of its run, but the finale is good. Almost none of the characters feel properly fleshed out mostly in part due to there being so many characters that they just can't focus on a couple. The gameplay is better in my opinion cause I hate the grid from previous games and I don't mind losing the sepith value system in orbments. A lot of the bosses in the old schoolhouse are complete trash because they will just wipe the floor with you if you don't equip their specific debuff immune accessory to your entire party. In short, this game wishes it was Zero.

Es uno de los JRPG más divertidos que he jugado nunca. En las anteriores entregas apenas hice secundarias, pero aquí las he completado todas. Todas las opciones de QoL que tiene lo hace muy cómodo, especialmente el turbo. Apenas ha envejecido mal en ese sentido. El combate es bastante divertido, y farmear se siente muy gratificante. Todo está hecho para que te sientes, pases un buen rato leyendo diálogos y yendo a tu ritmo, y conozcas a los personajes y su trasfondo.

Pero también entiendo que pueda ser uno de los juegos más flojos de la saga. De historia tiene muy poco, y se nota un juego poco ambicioso. Si esperas que te vuelen la cabeza o que haya muchísimas referencias de los anteriores juegos, te va a decepcionar. Es una introducción que se basa en conocer a los personajes y poco más. Y aunque sea simple, he conseguido disfrutar de esa simpleza, y no se me ha hecho para nada pesado ni he necesitado nada más.

Creo también que haber jugado a los anteriores arcos me ha ayudado mucho a entender y apreciar este juego. Con el principio del primer In The Sky lo pasé fatal porque lo notaba muy genérico y pesado. Pero con Cold Steel me salté esa fase, porque sé que todo lo que va a pasar, por muy trivial y pasable que sea, va a tener sus consecuencias en un futuro cercano, en un universo en desarrollo compartido por todos los personajes de la saga. Algo que no habría entendido en absoluto si fuera el primer juego de la saga que jugase (de hecho seguramente lo habría dejado a las pocas horas)

Ha sido raro pasar de un juego tan intenso como el to Azure a este, pero sé que las secuelas me van a dar esa intensidad en un futuro. Por ahora ha tocado colegio, viajecitos y recados.

When I heard that Trails of Cold Steel had the weakest reception for a Trails game I was curious as to why that is. It's the first game in the Trails series that reaches AA level in terms of production quality, so you might assume that the overall experience would be better as a result. Other people probably assumed the same, as apparently it's popular to skip over the Trails in the Sky games and the Crossbell duology in favor of starting with this game.

After playing Trails of Cold Steel myself, I think the upgrade from a small-scale series to AA levels of production quality drew in a lot of unfavorable comparisons to contemporary games. Instead of being impressive for a small series, Trails is now underwhelming for AA standards. Trails of Cold Steel is a bit ugly. There's pop-in, ugly textures, way too many low-poly objects, stiff animations, and it all unfortunately gives off the appearance of a cheap looking game. And personally, I think the new presentation loses a bit of the charm of the older games. Trails of Cold Steel uses 3D character models instead of character portrait artwork to accompany its dialogue. The faces of the character models are way less expressive than the character portraits, so it sometimes feels like this game has less of a personality than the older ones. Speaking of lost personality, the treasure chests no longer talk to you when you check them twice. I'm aware that's something that was only in the English translations of the older games, but it was one of my favorite things about those games so it's unfortunate that it's not here.

The presentation is one thing, but I think the big reason why this game has a mixed reception from fans is its story. After Trails to Azure we've now reverted to a Trails in the Sky style setup game where very little happens for the majority of the story's duration. But where Cold Steel differs from Trails in the Sky First Chapter is that FC managed to have a self contained conflict that was resolved by the end of the game. The late stages of Trails in the Sky are about stopping a military coup. The late stages of Trails of Cold Steel are about putting on a school festival - with some random ass-pull final dungeon and final boss in the mix that come out of nowhere and don't push the story forward much. The climax of Trails of Cold Steel actually happens after the final boss... but there's no real additional final boss, just a series of gimmick fights before the game ends and tells you to play Trails of Cold Steel II. Don't get me wrong, the ending was actually my favorite part of the game, but I can't say this trend of making an uneventful 80 hour RPG where the ending is the only time something significant happens is something I'm very fond of. But I will say the ending definitely saved the game for me.

Trails of Cold Steel feels a bit like a Persona game, as it takes place at a military academy. There are school life segments in addition to the field studies which advance the main story. This is fine as a setup, but what I think Trails of Cold Steel gets wrong about this formula is that there's no sense of looming danger while the school life segments are going on. In the Persona games there's always a countdown until something bad happens while the school life segments are ongoing. In Trails of Cold Steel there's no danger during these parts so it just ends up feeling like a life-sim cozy game that drags the pacing of the story down. This is still the case even though the life sim elements of Trails of Cold Steel go by fairly quickly. Contextualizing the gameplay loop back into the main story is important. Also I just have to say... At this point in the Trails series I am really starting to get sick of all the busywork sidequests that are required to advance the story. It looks like the sidequest doors of Trails in the Sky the 3rd will remain unmatched.

If the purpose of this first Trails of Cold Steel game was to get the player to like the main cast, then they did a passable job. I liked how certain characters were antagonistic toward each other but became better friends due to the events of the story. But I will say that for all that effort in trying to make the characters likable, there are a number of characters that I straight up dislike. As far as first games go, it seems like Trails From Zero accomplished a lot more with its characters without any life sim elements and without a plot with the pacing of molasses. Also, because of certain characters, Trails of Cold Steel is the most cringeworthy game I've played since Xenoblade 2.

It might just be stockholm syndrome as a result of trying to play all the Trails games in sequence but I actually enjoy the combat of this game a fair bit. It's the same combat as in the previous games but the addition of link attacks is pretty fun. Combat is where the the upgrade in production values really shines. Having full character models instead of chibi sprites allows for attacks to have more impact with the increased animation quality. However, I'm not a fan of the changes to the orbment system. In previous games maximizing your orbments to get the best possible arts felt like a satisfying puzzle, but in Trails of Cold Steel the system has been dumbed down to just allow you to choose what arts you want directly. Lame.

My favorite thing about this game aside from the combat system is the music. Is it a hot take to say that Trails of Cold Steel has one of the best selections of music in the series? Every battle theme is good - even the normal battle theme, which is something I can't say about some of the other Trails games. It's my favorite normal battle theme in the series because it actually pumps you up for battle. And you can definitely tell that the sound team has gotten a lot better with JRPG town and field music since Trails in the Sky FC. I think Cold Steel I and Trails in the Sky the 3rd are my picks for best overall soundtrack so far. But I'll have to give them all another listen to be sure.

I don't hate this game. But there are a good amount of things that I don't like about it. I'd be a lot more negative if the game just ended after the final boss without the events that take place afterward. I think this could be the start of a good story arc but I'm a little concerned that the other Trails of Cold Steel games seem to have somewhat lower reception from fans as well. But one thing is for sure: don't start the Trails franchise with game. Not only does it spoil the events of Trails to Azure, but the slow pacing and uneventful story might be enough to make you disinterested in the franchise.

Heartbreaking: gamer thought 70-hour JRPG he put on a pedestal for 8 years was just "alright."

An arduously long game packed to the gills with dialogue and school simulations that feel like they add very little. Compared to the tight and witty dialogue from the Sky trilogy, and to a lesser extent Crossbell, this game's dialogue is, generously, 20% characters being lecherous toward high school girls. Feelings of comfort on that aside, that's a LOT of dialogue which is often your cast getting an anime sweat drop, then saying, "Well some things never change." I struggle to think of a single line of dialogue said by Angelica or about Emma that didn't make me sigh.

The setting is wonderful - Erebonia is a great region to explore and the political intrigue (and this game's ending especially) imply a promising future for the series, if the writing becomes more restrained.

The gameplay is also a marginal improvement still above Crossbell, featuring a more intuitive and rewarding Quartz system. I love to fidget in menus to get a small increase in power, and this game gave me tons to play with in that regard. My only complaint about this matter is that I found very few new spells after Chapter 5, which meant 20+ hours without a meaningful change to my approach to gameplay. Your mileage may vary depending on how much you value tinkering with builds as you play.

Overall, I'm saddened to say I don't recommend this game on its own, and I find it a poor showing from a series and developer I otherwise have a lot of faith in. I hope that when I play the sequel, I feel that love come back again.

This was the longest game to date, but only in favor to the biggest piece of worldbuilding seen to date with the enourmous land of Erebonia. The nation is by far the most interesting and developed with all kinds of traditions and names to familiarize. It's neat seeing how many familiar faces populate the school and even country, and the story while slow, built everything up incredibly well. It's a lot like FC, with an ending that hits equally as hard. I'm left just absorbing it all. I'm in love with this series man.

Saí direto do Azure para Cold Steel e acredito que o principal choque para aqueles que vieram dos jogos anteriores, como eu, é se deparar com um jogo em 3D. No início, foi um pouco estranho e demorou algumas horas até eu me adaptar completamente. No entanto, agora que terminei, já me acostumei com o 3D, embora ainda prefira como era antes.

Nesta mudança de ares, não vejo dificuldade de entender a trama para quem começa por ele, mesmo que fique com muitas lacunas em aberto neste caso. Felizmente, sou do caso que está jogando em ordem, onde se aproveita ainda mais. Fica evidente que o jogo está preparado para atrair novos jogadores, embora seja ainda mais gratificante para aqueles que já estão familiarizados com o universo.

Apesar das mudanças visuais, o gameplay permanece fiel, o que me deixa extremamente satisfeito, pois sou apaixonado pela jogabilidade da franquia. As novidades também foram benéficas em outros sistemas já introduzidos e aprimorados aqui, como os 'bonding points', que se tornaram mais visíveis e integrados ao próprio gameplay, permitindo que os personagens trabalhem e se apoiem mutuamente. Quanto mais você desenvolve o relacionamento entre eles, melhor eles lutam juntos. E contrário também aconteceu, outros sistemas foram simplificados, como o quartz, eliminando a necessidade de cálculos para adquirir habilidades, agora basta dominar o Master e obter as habilidades diretamente do quartz. Aqui percebi que fiquei mais dependente do CP do que das magias; usei pouco as magias ofensivas e as empreguei mais como buffs, administrando cuidadosamente o CP. Isso resultou em uma experiência de jogo com uma dificuldade notavelmente mais branda do que nos jogos anteriores. Não tenho certeza se isso se deve a não afugentar novos jogadores.

Depois de ser um 'bracer' e depois um policial, agora é hora de ser estudante, e senti uma forte inspiração em Persona. Dizer isso pode parecer como o meme "Vibes de Persona - para aqueles que só jogaram Persona". Mas não é bem assim. As semelhanças são bastante evidentes, como o sistema de calendário, o ambiente escolar, responder perguntas durante as aulas, uma dungeon que vai se abrindo em vários andares, uma espécie de ligação social com os 'bonding points', semanas de provas e toda a rotina escolar.

Tendo que seguir essa linha, o jogo parece ser bastante linear e acaba se tornando até um pouco repetitivo. Não tem a mesma qualidade nas suas missões secundárias que os jogos anteriores. Seguindo a mesma fórmula em todos os capítulos. Senti que estavam mais preocupados em apresentar a parte política da nova região do que qualquer outra coisa. Mas não julgo, já que todos os primeiros jogos de cada arco parecem ser um grande prólogo, e este segue isso à risca. Mesmo assim, não perdeu o foco no desenvolvimento dos personagens e no mundo que está construindo, o que foi excelente nesse aspecto.

Não irei dar o spoiler, apesar de ser relativamente fácil a luta final, foi surpreendente mega divertida, mas só chegando nele pra entender, haha. Moeagare Moeagare Moeaagre GANDAMU!

Cold Steel I is a game that almost doesn't feel like Trails. It's 3D now, the MC is more anime than all the others (the entire female cast wants him + Persona dating social links), a vast majority of the plot is episodic city exploration that bloats the narrative more than the previous games ever did. But the high points, especially the last part, redeem it.

The music is great (an obvious statement about a Trails game, but noteworthy nonetheless), the combat system is a step up from Crossbell's, and it just feels fun to play, with even its duller moments being pretty comfy. It doesn't have Sky's comfortable and homely vibe, it doesn't have Sky 3rd's level of themes and character writing, it doesn't have Crossbell's consistency and high points overall writing wise, but it does have one thing that it crushes the previous games in — the rule of cool.

Rean (as of this game) is no Kevin, but his struggles are quite compelling, and more importantly, he has a katana, which is the coolest weapon a Trails MC has had yet. He is a cool swordsman. And Cold Steel is very cool when it wants to be. The last act some real hype moments that rarely work for me in videogames, and they were done creatively. I immediately booted up the beginning of CS2 because I just couldn't wait.

Despite at times looking like an obvious lower budget JRPG (why replace 2D character portraits with 3D models..? it took some time to get used to), and having a worse (IMO) art style than Crossbell, CS1 definitely has a nice visual style. Despite being the first 3D Trails game, once you get used to how it looks, it's really nice seeing environments that would have been previously seen from a 2.5D, top-down view in their full glory.

Overall, it's a heavily flawed, inconsistent, almost messy (you could even say it sucks sometimes) game, but when it hits, it's very exciting, and leaves you wanting more. I can't wait to see more of this journey.

The legend of heroes, what lies behind this name is a legacy carried by a Japanese company named Nihon Falcom, whose throughout the years has been crafting some of the most ambitious world building. The sub serie Trail is one part of the said legacy, it abides to the simple and neat concept : every game within the sub serie must takes place on the same continent namely Zemuria. To be even more precise, Trail is made of multiple arcs, and each of them focus on one specific country in Zemuria. Doing so, different stories are interconnected, characters from different games cross path and so on. Trail of Cold Steel is the third arc, it proposes players this time to discover the infamous Erebonian Empire with a brand new main character : Rean Scharwzer. The challenge is double, Trail of Cold Steel 1 must respects its elders, and takes the first step to become one of them. And what would you know, Falcom actually does it in a pretty convincing way.

Meticulous and self aware of how some may portray their universe : convoluted, Falcom in this title outdo themselves and manage to properly introduce a main cast of 9 students, enrolled in a military school they will be tasked of traveling all around the country and accomplish various missions. This classic yet efficient setup, allows players to dive into the world through the eyes of characters that also have much to discover and learn. First thing first, they get to know each other, figuring out how to work as a team, spoiler alert : it won't be easy. There will be tension, arguments, and disputes making everything more believable. On the flip side, there are comedy moments and even some fluff, striking a balance between the two extremes.

While some games would either ignore or rush such bonding moments, Trail of Cold Steel 1 embrace this slice-of-life aspect without hesitation and that's refreshing. At last, a game which takes its time, my affection is not granted, putting some piano and violin over a wannabe sad flashback, 5 minutes after I met a character, it is just not enough for me. This deliberate slow burn coupled with good writing allows the main cast to escape typical archetypes, becoming more nuanced, deep and likeable individuals, a primal reason as to why the ending of this game is so impactful.

Regarding the quote on quote good writing, I'll try to prove my point without delving too much into spoilers. For instance, there is among the main cast a foreigner who will encounter cultural shocks, a clever way to introduce basics naturally and avoid awkward exposition scenes. Another example, early in the game Rean with 2 other classmates face a special opponent, later in the game the exact same fight occurs, this time around the player is free to choose any character. Using the same composition as the first encounter will trigger unique dialogues, showcasing Falcom's attention to details. Obviously, those examples are mere details, alone they do not do much, but there is plenty of them making the story a great, if not the greatest asset of this game.

As the story unfolds, Cold Steel 1 winks references, characters, and details that only people who played previous titles might understand. A gratification bow from Falcom to their fan base, a delicate pratice, with too many references the game would be a past worshipper, with not enough references or respect for its predecessors, it would be a no root delinquent. But once again credits where it's due, Falcom manages to balance everything making this title a great entry point for the franchise.

Without being directly related to the main story itself, an issue arises with the romance system introduced seemingly as a last-minute decision. If being allowed to choose a romance isn't necessarily bad per se, the game was not conceived with this idea in mind from the start. The main story does highlight a romantic tension between Rean and a certain girl, leading to inevitable frustration for players deviating from this "canon" route, players following the "canon" route will be left craving for more with a relationship that barely progresses. Does the main character always need to be the one and only plot device, the talk of all towns, and to possess a harem ? Well Falcom's answer is no, no, and yes. Very unfortunate, this romance system is a today defect and a burden to become.

Aside from that, there are no significant issues. The game could benefit from some more QOL, but the blissful turbo mode makes up for a lot. The combat system is a classic turn based JRPG, not the most unique system, it still offers a decent amount of character customization and strategy. There are a few fights that you cannot win, something that always gave me mixed feelings. Also dungeons are linear for the most part. To sum up, nothing but minor downfalls that cannot taint the charm of this game.

Not only charming, this game feels genuine and endearing. Maybe because of this weird blend of peculiar outdated graphics and top notch music. Maybe it's due to the vividly lack of budget contrasting with the actual result product, which by the way, put to shame a number of AAA productions in more than one department. Maybe it's because of Falcom's history itself regarding the conception of Trails games, from XSEED's disillusion and struggle facing the localization, to a prevented tragic event among Carpe Fulgur, to the unfortunate arrival of NISA into the dance. Or maybe it's just me being emotional despite being a cold cynical jerk.

To conclude, despite some flaws, Trail of Cold Steel 1 excels in its assigned tasks, a prowess later installments will struggle to replicate. There would be many things to say about this game that I've forgotten to mention, but I might as well advice anyone interested in this game or franchise to give it a try. I bet 50 miras you will enjoy this game.

I don't often remark on my time spent with the first Cold Steel, but I feel the need to put what little I have to say into writing.

What is Erebonia?

Oppressive might. The country your dad fought in the Hundred Days War. The military you stood up against at Haken Gate. Where the Capua's fled from. Home of the Blood and Iron Chancellor from star door 8. Stomping grounds of the Red Constellation your best friend belonged to. Hamel.

The opening hours of Cold Steel betray all expectations.

Arriving in Trista, getting settled at the dorm and attending the first classes at Thors, it was all so mellowing. A cozy, timeless town, no impending tragedy or looming threat. Spending the days and nights as you please while getting familiar with the character bloat. You run around every day making sure you spoke to each of the faces on campus, student and teacher alike, then being whisked away on a field trip to another corner of the country where you helped find a dog or changed a lightbulb, playing Blade against Fie on the train ride back. "I'm home."

Cold Steel does its best to capture the humble beginnings you fell in love with in FC, and again in Zero. And it does an okay job.