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.

Basically the problem is that this game is way too slow at having anything significant happen. In the 12 hours I played we went on a field trip an arrested a crime gang, then went into a haunted house a little bit. Dag, that's not much. I could have watched 2.5 seasons of anime with that 12 hours. All the characters take way too long to say way too many words that don't really matter anyway, and then the camera will pan slowly over to something, and then someone else will say way too much stuff, and it just goes on and on. All the scenes move at a snail's pace. The RPG fights are pretty neat, but the small encounters as you go through the maps get repetitive quickly. There should probably be like 1/4th as many small encounters that just give 4x as much experience, so that you can smack around just a few birds or wolves and then do a boss fight.

Trails of Cold Slop
Trails of Cold Slog
Trails of Tears n Sorrow (me atm being sad what did they do to my series beloved)

Baffled how badly they dropped the ball on a "set-up" game. FC was a set-up and Zero was a "set-up" yet these 3 nothing alike. Both FC and Zero were able to set-up the region and introduce a cast of really interesting characters where in a combined playtime of 80 hours. This was 60 hours, 3/4ths both games combined and it told us a mostly nothing burger of a story with a flat cast that basically doesn't exist without Rean, who even then are the most basic and non interesting group apart from 3 of the playable characters. But oh it wasn't too bad, the story finally got interesting in the end, yes it did, but the 60 hour runtime sort of soured the experience.

TL;DR
Too much useless fluff, boring cast, too long, only interesting last hour. Personally, a 4/10 but since the last segment was good and series bias.
Overall: 5/10

6/10.

yawns

É cold steel é ok.
É sky first chapter só que um pouco pior e melhor ao mesmo tempo.

Não tô com saco pra falar muito, serei breve.
Trilogia sky muito boa, consistente de boa.
Duologia crossbell é deveras um ponto de picos e algumas descidas que doem, mas é o ponto bom.
Quadrilogia ou quintologia de erebonia, primeiro jogo de um novo arco sempre é meio parado, ao que me dizem, kuro é o melhor nesse quesito, amém.

A escrita parece de light novel, certeza que a tradução n ajuda, mas não é como se no jp fosse absurdamente bem escrito, fui checar com um amigo, embora seja melhor.

A prosa é mais fraca, cede a contexto político de worldbuilding que já estava sendo buildado antes, agora vamos ter um avanço significativo no plot... E QUE COMEÇO CHATO PQP, QUE PERSONAGENS DESINTERESSANTES, seja em design e personalidade, mas foi só no começo até o ch 4 (nessa parte eu tava com 25 ou 29 horas.) Deu uma melhorada, mas ainda não o suficiente, vou cobrar de cold steel 2 algo.

O que brilha nesse jogo, o combate.
Ele é fácil dps de um tempo, joguei no hard, mas no ch 5 tava só spammando s craft e matando tudo quando tava sem saco.
As master quartz nesse jogo são quebradas pqp, as craft tbm, é divertido mas bem fácil tirando 2 ou 3 bosses.

Os bounding event aqui são mais compreensíveis de existir que em azure e zero, isso me incomoda.
No fim gostei ou tenho esperança de melhora em um total de 5 ou 6 personagens.

Cold steel é um jogo inflado e são 7 chs, como faço tudo levei 55 ou 60 horas pra terminar, normalmente num jogo introdutório de arco nunca é tanto tempo tirando o sky fc que pode realmente chegar às 50 horas.

Uma narrativa fraca, um texto truncado, promete demais, espero que pague em suas sequências.
Não vou exemplificar os problemas ou falar deles, por que não quero escrever muito.

Mas assim, a trilha sonora desse jogo..... JESUS CRISTO!
É ÓTIMA, ela combina perfeitamente com todas as cenas, cenários, paisagens e etc, falcomm aqui cozinhou na ost, parabéns.

Quando toca a ost belief é hype.
Quando toca don't be defeat by a friend é delícia demais
Exceed é uma ost que eu gosto até o minuto 1:10, mas cresceu em mim.
Tie arcus link é bem bom mesmo
Atrocious raid é empolgante.

A direção musical ficou melhor, parabéns.

Os gráficos e animações eles são feios pkrl, pqp que jogo feio, eu não me importo tanto, mas as vezes incomoda o quão feio esse jogo é, to exagerado? Talvez, mas e o que sinto.

No fim gostei das sides, algumas são proveitosas, outras só engraçadas, mas maioria que fiz foi interessante.

Tem referências a jogos passados, arco de crossbell aparentemente se passa ao mesmo tempo que os 2 jogos iniciais de cold steel e tem sentido, tô interessado na sequência.

A vita cantando whereabouts of light foi bonito.

Oliviert aqui, salvou demais.

Antes de eu terminar eu gostaria de dizer, a escolha de dubladores foi precisa e ficou caprichada, joguei a dub japonesa.


No fim esse jogo tem soul ainda, foi uma experiência afável, mas longe de ideal ou boa, mas foi ok.

What awaits you in Cold Steel:

Quality worldbuilding that effectively connects the two previous arcs and Cold Steel

Well-developed characters with distinct personalities that assert themselves multiple times

An outstanding and generous OST, maintaining consistent quality from start to finish without any roller coaster fluctuations

A strategic and dynamic combat system with some spikes in unjust difficulty, but it's okay

A gut-wrenching twist and an unexpected turn of events in the final chapter

Cold Steel 1 isn't a bad game, but it is a rough one.

The gameplay and combat have been simplified in ways that noticeably reduced the skill ceiling and the potential for interesting and creative team building. The visuals are awkward with the series' first foray into 3d. And the story, while it does have some interesting plot beats, goes on for longer than needed and is way too heavy on setting up future games at the expense of providing a satisfying experience here and now.

But its not all bad. The way the game handles its changes to party composition are a step up from the Sky games and its characters, while a mixed bag, have enough bright spots that I'm pretty positives on the game in that respect. They get enough texture to their personalities to shed the anime archetypes they start out as and actually feel like well-rounded individuals with a life that doesn't revolve around being the main character's friend/love interest.

If you're interested in the Trails series, I'd still recommend starting with Sky. Cold Steel is not a great introduction to the series despite its attempts to make the experience smoother for newcomers. And while I can still see somebody playing this and still deciding to continue with the other games, its a much more awkward foundation compared to previous entry points. And for those who have already played the other Trails games, Cold Steel 1 is still decent enough to be worth getting through.