Cold Steel 1, being the first Trails game I have played thus far, was a very good time and left me generally impressed.
Since i do not have other games in the series to draw comparison to, I can't really say how i feel about it as a member of this series. That being said, I quite enjoyed my time with this game. The combat's movement point based system is a fun twist on the turn-based gameplay that so many JRPGs have, although it does admittedly still have some of the same pitfalls when it comes to enemies and boss fights. it's generally solid- but it certainly starts to get tiresome towards that latter third of the game.
Gamplay aside, the story, characters, and world, are very much the meat of this game (as they are in many rpgs) and I personally feel like all of these things hold up pretty well in this game. I liked a majority of the main and sidecast- although admittedly i can't say i love any of them either. One thing that did greatly impress me about Cold Steel is its dedication to worldbuilding. The universe of this game is very detailed and filled with believable politics of a massive early modern world, as well as a great effort put into its in-world locations. It's rare to see the same level of worldbuilding in many JRPGs, most of which opt for a more straight forward approach. That said- one thing that does hurt the world building in this game is the visual design of enemies- there are lots of very odd and unusual creatures and ghosts which really feel out of place in the world, often reminding me of a the kind of enemy design seen in Dragon Quest but less comical and cartoony. I'm personally not a fan of this, but it obviously isn't a deal breaker.
The soundtrack of this game is also very good- with a pretty nostalgic assortment of synth and traditional instruments that resembles the early 2000s era of game music.
As for the story of this game itself, I definitely enjoyed it as well as the setup for conflict later on in the plot. That said, the story of cold steel greatly overstays its welcome- it makes you think you are finished like 3 different times only to keep on going. To make this worse, the story definitely spirals out of control in near the end. The last several hours of this game is a mess of tropes and twists and cliche dialogue, only to end on a cliffhanger anyway. It certainly dampened the experience, but i still enjoyed it for what it was.
Overall, I come out of this game happy that i played it and looking forward to the next one, but Its flaws hold it back from making it into my top games.
Since i do not have other games in the series to draw comparison to, I can't really say how i feel about it as a member of this series. That being said, I quite enjoyed my time with this game. The combat's movement point based system is a fun twist on the turn-based gameplay that so many JRPGs have, although it does admittedly still have some of the same pitfalls when it comes to enemies and boss fights. it's generally solid- but it certainly starts to get tiresome towards that latter third of the game.
Gamplay aside, the story, characters, and world, are very much the meat of this game (as they are in many rpgs) and I personally feel like all of these things hold up pretty well in this game. I liked a majority of the main and sidecast- although admittedly i can't say i love any of them either. One thing that did greatly impress me about Cold Steel is its dedication to worldbuilding. The universe of this game is very detailed and filled with believable politics of a massive early modern world, as well as a great effort put into its in-world locations. It's rare to see the same level of worldbuilding in many JRPGs, most of which opt for a more straight forward approach. That said- one thing that does hurt the world building in this game is the visual design of enemies- there are lots of very odd and unusual creatures and ghosts which really feel out of place in the world, often reminding me of a the kind of enemy design seen in Dragon Quest but less comical and cartoony. I'm personally not a fan of this, but it obviously isn't a deal breaker.
The soundtrack of this game is also very good- with a pretty nostalgic assortment of synth and traditional instruments that resembles the early 2000s era of game music.
As for the story of this game itself, I definitely enjoyed it as well as the setup for conflict later on in the plot. That said, the story of cold steel greatly overstays its welcome- it makes you think you are finished like 3 different times only to keep on going. To make this worse, the story definitely spirals out of control in near the end. The last several hours of this game is a mess of tropes and twists and cliche dialogue, only to end on a cliffhanger anyway. It certainly dampened the experience, but i still enjoyed it for what it was.
Overall, I come out of this game happy that i played it and looking forward to the next one, but Its flaws hold it back from making it into my top games.