This was the first Trails game I've played and while I consider this to be the weakest Trails game, it's still overall a worthy JRPG to play and a great entry point into the series.
While I think the cast starts off as painfully generic anime cliches and Class VII already started off as a huge group (which will become larger as the Cold Steel arc progress) it gives plenty of room for the characters to develop, find their own identities, and take part of the social themes of Erebonia hierarchy and government during field trips.
Gameplay also has notable improvements with new features such as brave points to have a linked character follow up with additional attacks when the other paired character hit a weak spot with different weapons.
Cold Steel 1 also decides to switch up the format from past Trails games and give off a more pseudo Persona feel with the school settings and spending down time with bonding points with your fellow classmates. Whatever or not that is a good thing depends on the player but it does provide additional details for the characters.
Like Trails in the Sky and Trails from Zero, Trails of Cold Steel is no exception of starting off slow but compared to later games, this could be a plus since it's a much more relaxed atmosphere establishing the country of Erebonia in great detail while conflict and danger soon rise up more and more as the game progress.
While Cold Steel 1 has notable cliche anime writing at times that holds back the game from ever truly being amazing, the series' stapes in world-building and character relationship is still strong in this game. If someone a more modern Trails game to experience first with 3D graphics and better gameplay, then Trails of Cold Steel is a great starting point in the series (even if I highly recommend to play the Sky and Crossbell arcs eventually before Cold Steel 3)!
While I think the cast starts off as painfully generic anime cliches and Class VII already started off as a huge group (which will become larger as the Cold Steel arc progress) it gives plenty of room for the characters to develop, find their own identities, and take part of the social themes of Erebonia hierarchy and government during field trips.
Gameplay also has notable improvements with new features such as brave points to have a linked character follow up with additional attacks when the other paired character hit a weak spot with different weapons.
Cold Steel 1 also decides to switch up the format from past Trails games and give off a more pseudo Persona feel with the school settings and spending down time with bonding points with your fellow classmates. Whatever or not that is a good thing depends on the player but it does provide additional details for the characters.
Like Trails in the Sky and Trails from Zero, Trails of Cold Steel is no exception of starting off slow but compared to later games, this could be a plus since it's a much more relaxed atmosphere establishing the country of Erebonia in great detail while conflict and danger soon rise up more and more as the game progress.
While Cold Steel 1 has notable cliche anime writing at times that holds back the game from ever truly being amazing, the series' stapes in world-building and character relationship is still strong in this game. If someone a more modern Trails game to experience first with 3D graphics and better gameplay, then Trails of Cold Steel is a great starting point in the series (even if I highly recommend to play the Sky and Crossbell arcs eventually before Cold Steel 3)!