A marked improvement on Cold Steel 1 in many ways, primarily due to this game being way more gameplay focused instead of the filler that dragged CS1 down. For the most part I like the new designs for the characters, and it is an interesting direction this game takes in comparison to the standard Trails formula. That being said, the Epilogue drags this game down quite a bit as it just feels pointless.

You hit the finale and then have to play for 10 more hours beyond that (not complaining about the chapter in between the Finale and Epilogue, that was sick). Combat feels better and more challenging at times, the plot has actual substance, and the plot twists are fantastic as usual. If the music was better and this game had better pacing, it would be as good as the top Trails titles, but it was clear this game needed to wrap up what Cold Steel 1 started and setup new plot devices for the journey into western Erebonia.

I’m on RPG burnout now, I’m glad this was a good game after the disappointment of the first game, hopefully I hit CS3 before the end of the year.

EDIT: I lied, jumped into CS3 straight away