Oh man, oh maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan Cold Steel I wanted to like you so badly. I could excuse some things, but god it's just too much, but before we get to it let's actually start with the good.

The NPC's actually were a lot more memorable to me than they usually are, I think constantly going back to the school setting makes me connect with them than most. This is a constant in the cold steel arc where it's the arc where I payed the most attention to NPC's and remembered a good chunk of them even now.

This is gonna be a hot take since I see a lot of people saying otherwise but I actually really like Rean, I don't think he's SUPER engaging in CS1 in particular but overall I think he's a good protagonist. Having a protag constantly doubt himself is a good change of pace after the last 2 were uber confidence incarnate. The whole Orge thing can be kinda corny but it gets better as it goes on, but it's particularly kinda corny here.

SOME of Class VII are fun and or engaging, my stand outs were Crow, Jusis, Sara, Millium, Eliot, and Fie, so about half of them were pretty good to me.

The soundtrack is as good as always, I honestly think Erebonia arc peaks with CS 1 in terms of soundtrack. The enemy theme, school theme, boss themes, they all kinda slap. The OST isn't as strong as Crossbell but it's still pretty damn good.

The Arcus is a pretty decent mechanic, emphasizing bond points and giving the only real purpose to bonding events aside from achievement hunting, nerfing burst was also probably for the best with how busted it could be in Azure.

Alright enough stalling what don't I like? Oh boy settle down cause it's a lot.

The first thing is just the writing in general, specifically how "anime" it can be. Now don't get me twisted, Trails is an anime game and I'm not gonna be one of those people that pretends the previous games were 100% high art, the first 2 fucking games focus on the romantic relationship between adopted siblings. And this sort of stuff was already kinda sus in Azure with the romances and the REALLY weird groping scene which almost made me dock a point for it alone. But yeah Cold Steel is worse. It's no longer just weird moments I can (mostly) forget, it's entire characters and arcs. I think the Alisa scene is the easiest example, if you've played the game you know what I'm talking about. In the previous games this would have been a weird anime moment that would have been forgotten about, but in Cold Steel they have to CONSTANTLY bring it up in the first chapter for Alissa and Rean to build a relationship. The worst example of this is by far Angelica who's sole existence is for one unfunny gag that no one likes. It REALLY bothers me and there's too much of it for me to ignore like before.

On the topic of the writing, I think something this game in particular struggles with is world and character building which for Trails is fucking astounding, not to say it's bad because it's not, but in comparison to the rest of the games it's pretty sub par. I don't really remember like half the locations in CS1 and the ones I do remember aren't for fond reasons (fuckthenordplainsfuckthenordplainsfuckthenordplains) then there's the whole "literally every character has to have their problems solved by Rean complaint, which for the rest of the series I think is pretty overblow but for CS1 in particular it's pretty egregious. Every single time classmates have beef, they get it solved when Rean is ploped on a field trip with them, it makes the conflicts feel so forced and artificial. It doesn't help that half of class VII feels factory made. Laura, Emma, Gaius, Alisa, and Machias, barley feel like real people they feel like character quotas the writers wanted to check off in expanding the cast.

Then there's the pacing, and good fucking lord it's bad. I think normally slow pacing works for Trails because there's a LOT to introduce and we need time to digest all of it, but there's a lot hurting this game in particular. The first being it's inner connected nature with Zero, we know what's going to happen in the grand scheme of things so there's no suspense in what's going on in the greater world (unless this is your first Trails but I tackled these games in release order) so that conflict just doesn't matter. The second is the game's structure, it's too limiting, we know that Rean and co are gonna go to a place, it's gonna get fucked over, and they're gonna go back to school in a week, the only time this structure is broken is when the game literally ends. The third thing is, the mother fucking school house. I can not tell you how much I can't stand this thing. I GET it right? I now have the hindsight to get WHY the school house is important to the overall plot BUT when playing I sure as shit didn't care. This is the closest thing CS1 has to an isolated plot like the Intelligence Division in FC or the DG Cult in Zero, but the difference here is that we don't feel like the protagonists are growing or gaining valuable experiences when going through the school house, it's a literal chore their teacher tells them to do that just so happens to be important.

Then there's the gameplay and I'm ngl, I don't like the new art system at all. It removes any form of thinking or strategy in quartz set up. It's now just, what gives the best stats or the best moves. There's no reason to do something like use a seemingly useless overworld quartz to gain a really helpful spell, now it's just use the fight quartz to fight.

Oh but it's not like spells matter, cause in Cold Steel crafts are king, S crafts in particular are insanely strong in this game even on nightmare. They can take about a third of a boss's health with proper set up (but CS2 is where it gets REAL wacky). The CS games in general are really easy to just break in half, it's crazy to think in hindsight this was the LEAST breakable of the CS games.

On the topic of combat I want to dedicate a whole segment on the final boss because good fucking lord it's actually one of the worst final bosses I've fought in a video game. It's an entirely new mechanic introduced in the LAST 2 FIGHTS OF THE ENTIRE GAME that you have no way of customizing so it's quite literally a stat check. But not JUST a stat check because you can get randomly crit and attacked twice in 1 turn which can potentially insta kill you so it's ALSO an RNG check.

Oh fuck I forgot the villains, the ILF are lame, C is cool but Scarlet and not Scarlet are really forgettable and boring. It doesn't help that they're part of a conflict that just gets forgotten after the next game.

But I've ragged on the game long enough, I can thankfully say with hindsight that Cold Steel gets better, hell I think the next game is a massive improvement in basically everyway. But man I'd be lying if I said this game made a good first impression. I almost dropped the series all together, hell if I didn't play through the Sky and Crossbell arcs I probably would have never finished this game, since around chapter 3 I was less playing it and more so forcing myself through it.

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.

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.

Expanding the playable cast honestly hurt the series more than anything, along with the romantic bonding event feature, which is more egregious and pointless than when introduced in Crossbell. Trails excels with character to character interaction, with or without the main character's involvement, but to dumb it down to "everything revolves around Rean and only Rean" cheapens the writing quality by a lot. The locations are not as diverse- don't know how much of that was influenced by the change to full 3D- and it's funny in hindsight how little the original Class VII matters in the grand scheme of the arc. By the end of 4, they are still all empty puppets.

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.

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.

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!

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!

REAN Y ALISA ERAN CANON HASTA QUE ALGUIEN DECIDIÓ QUE HACER EL JUEGO HAREM MOLABA MÁS

Es el prologo más largo que he jugado y me refiero al juego entero.

El salto 3D le ha sentado bien, y se ha refinado la formula de los orbes pero no es tan bueno como los demás, se nota que el el prologo a algo mucho más grande.