This review contains spoilers
Trails of Cold Steel III starts out incredibly strong. The New Class VII is a breath of fresh air following the well-intentioned but largely bloated cast of Cold Steel I and II, being a tight-knit group where each member serves a distinct role. Juna provides a unique perspective to the cast as a Crossbellean who was there during the occupation, now begrudgingly living in Erebonia. Kurt is the most level-headed character in the entire series up to this point, providing a much needed grounding factor to this otherwise extremely over-the-top anime cast. Altina has a fairly similar arc to Millium, but their personalities are different enough that the arc takes on a unique flavor, and her pre-existing connection to Rean enhances her dynamic with him and the rest of the group. Ash took a little while to grow on me, but once he joined the party proper it became clear that there was a greater depth to his character, even if his motives were initially unclear. The only character I wasn’t really vibing with was Musse, mostly due to a lack of a development, though her one joke not being funny didn’t help either. That being said, they’re clearly setting up something with her for Cold Steel IV, so I would wager a guess that she has more screen time there.
Then slowly but surely, Cold Steel III loses its mind.
Playing through the first two chapters, it seemed like the game was setting up a conflict between Rean and Juna. Juna’s home had been colonized, and Rean had helped colonize it. It makes perfect sense that she would hold a grudge against him, and the fact that he’s her teacher only enhances the drama. Then there’s Rean himself, who at the end of Cold Steel II was clearly expressing doubts about his own role in Crossbell’s occupation and his general cooperation with the Imperial Government. I thought the game was going to use their dynamic as a way for Rean to work through his colonizer guilt and develop alongside Juna. Imagine my surprise, then, when towards the end of chapter 2 it’s revealed that Rean actually saved the lives of Juna and her siblings, Juna harboring no ill will towards him whatsoever. In fact, she had wanted to thank him this whole time, but she kept on getting in her own way. In one fell swoop, the writers had missed an opportunity to develop Rean and Juna’s characters by writing out the need for them to reach a mutual understanding. This wasn’t the first time the writers had failed to develop Rean’s character by not following up on seeds of character backstory they’d planted earlier either.
I use this moment as an example because in spite of my melodramatic musings earlier, I still enjoyed Cold Steel III more often than I didn’t. I’m just disappointed, because there are moments where you can see that if they took things in a slightly different direction, Cold Steel III could easily be among the best in the series.
I think the biggest problem Cold Steel III suffers from is being a direct sequel to Cold Steel I and II. Juna is an infinitely more interesting protagonist than Rean from the get-go for reasons already established, and if this was the start of the arc, the game could’ve zeroed in on its worldbuilding strengths by making the conflict center around Erebonia’s apparent attempts at world domination. Instead, Cold Steel III is the third game in the arc, and thus Rean has to be protagonists, the game has to follow the repetitive structure of the field studies, and the writers have to build upon all the set up with the witches and the Gnomes from the first two games. I was never a fan of the witches and Gnomes to begin with, because in concept alone I dislike the idea of magic separate from the Orbment system and the Sept-Terrions existing in Zemuria. It doesn’t contradict canon per se, but the Liberl and Crossbell arcs never alluded to the existence of such a thing, so to me it seems out-of-place. For that reason, the game kind of lost me at the very end when it revealed that the whole of Erebonia was literally cursed. What does that mean? What are you talking about? The Erebonia arc is collapsing under the weight of its own lore, and Cold Steel III is an innocent victim.
Cold Steel III is a lot like Persona 4 where I’m inclined to call it a good game in spite of its glaring flaws. If the Erebonia arc is Trails’ attempt at a more character-focused story, this is the first game where they more or less succeed in doing that. The New Class VII absolutely saves this game. It’s just a shame that they couldn’t save the plot.
Then slowly but surely, Cold Steel III loses its mind.
Playing through the first two chapters, it seemed like the game was setting up a conflict between Rean and Juna. Juna’s home had been colonized, and Rean had helped colonize it. It makes perfect sense that she would hold a grudge against him, and the fact that he’s her teacher only enhances the drama. Then there’s Rean himself, who at the end of Cold Steel II was clearly expressing doubts about his own role in Crossbell’s occupation and his general cooperation with the Imperial Government. I thought the game was going to use their dynamic as a way for Rean to work through his colonizer guilt and develop alongside Juna. Imagine my surprise, then, when towards the end of chapter 2 it’s revealed that Rean actually saved the lives of Juna and her siblings, Juna harboring no ill will towards him whatsoever. In fact, she had wanted to thank him this whole time, but she kept on getting in her own way. In one fell swoop, the writers had missed an opportunity to develop Rean and Juna’s characters by writing out the need for them to reach a mutual understanding. This wasn’t the first time the writers had failed to develop Rean’s character by not following up on seeds of character backstory they’d planted earlier either.
I use this moment as an example because in spite of my melodramatic musings earlier, I still enjoyed Cold Steel III more often than I didn’t. I’m just disappointed, because there are moments where you can see that if they took things in a slightly different direction, Cold Steel III could easily be among the best in the series.
I think the biggest problem Cold Steel III suffers from is being a direct sequel to Cold Steel I and II. Juna is an infinitely more interesting protagonist than Rean from the get-go for reasons already established, and if this was the start of the arc, the game could’ve zeroed in on its worldbuilding strengths by making the conflict center around Erebonia’s apparent attempts at world domination. Instead, Cold Steel III is the third game in the arc, and thus Rean has to be protagonists, the game has to follow the repetitive structure of the field studies, and the writers have to build upon all the set up with the witches and the Gnomes from the first two games. I was never a fan of the witches and Gnomes to begin with, because in concept alone I dislike the idea of magic separate from the Orbment system and the Sept-Terrions existing in Zemuria. It doesn’t contradict canon per se, but the Liberl and Crossbell arcs never alluded to the existence of such a thing, so to me it seems out-of-place. For that reason, the game kind of lost me at the very end when it revealed that the whole of Erebonia was literally cursed. What does that mean? What are you talking about? The Erebonia arc is collapsing under the weight of its own lore, and Cold Steel III is an innocent victim.
Cold Steel III is a lot like Persona 4 where I’m inclined to call it a good game in spite of its glaring flaws. If the Erebonia arc is Trails’ attempt at a more character-focused story, this is the first game where they more or less succeed in doing that. The New Class VII absolutely saves this game. It’s just a shame that they couldn’t save the plot.