Spoilers for Trails: FC, SC, (maybe The Third, I forget), Zero, Azure(I think), CS1, and of course, CS2.

If you're reading my review of a game that you haven’t played yet because you like my reviews, or because you’re just going to skim through it, I ask you don’t read any further- and especially, please do not like the review unless you’ve read all of the review. The entire franchise is worth a playthrough, and this review especially is tailored to people who have played the entire franchise up to this game. This review is not worth getting a bunch of cool moments spoiled for yourself.

Cold Steel 1 is a game that is mostly panned by the fan base, and one that is usually staunchly at the bottom of trails ranked lists. With such low expectations, I was blown away with how much I enjoyed it. I hadn’t been so immersed in Trails at that point(nor for any JRPG since I first played Persona 5 nearly 5 years ago. It was exactly what I wanted, a cozy slow burn that had a great ensemble cast.The field studies that the game operated on provided all the characters ample screen time, each with their own struggles. Jusis the bastard child, Alisa and her poor relationship with her mom, Elliot with being forced into Thors, even Rean, not knowing where he belongs, what he should be, all beneath a veneer of superficial trope characters. This was not to mention the plot, either. The civil war between the Noble Alliance and the Reformist faction that was brewing, alongside the events of Azure playing out at the same time, it all sets a stage for a great ride. It might not be the most exhilarating adventure ever, but when I look back on it, I just find myself in love with the adventures Class VII went on, the struggles, all of it. Hence it is my favorite Trails game.

With all this in mind, I had been banking on Cold Steel 2 for a while. It’s a running joke in my group about how I’ve never started it, after many points, even in reviews stating how it would be next. And other games just kept getting to me faster than Cold Steel 2 could. Took me forever, but I finally did it. Not sure where to even start. There’s so much to go over. You know the drill. New added section this time: aesthetics.

Characters: Fun fact, about 6 phantom thieves voice in this game! The best characters here are definitely Rean and Crow. Seeing their relationship evolve over the course of the game, how much Rean really cared for Crow, it was a great time. Especially while he’s dying, I don’t know what it is about Crow but he’s always been so wise, got me to tear up while he told Elliot to keep pursuing music and for Alisa to patch things up with her mom. Elliot’s been super relatable to me throughout the entire Erebonia arc so far. Initially he didn’t really want to attend Thors and only went because he didn’t really have any other choices, since his dad’s an extremely decorated military captain. Throughout the game Eliiot realizes just how important Class VII and Thors is to him. This hit me hard, cuz two years ago I also felt forced into the college I attend, but as I look back at it two years into my program, I’m incredibly grateful for all the people I’ve met and opportunities I’ve had. I somewhat related to Emma’s arc as well, though not as much. I mentioned it in my last review, but the strength of Class VII as a cast is how diverse their problems and flaws are, you can find a piece of yourself in every character. And while this clearly isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, compared to the tight familial bond of the SSS or Estelle and Joshua covering each other’s weaknesses, I think it’s a great approach to the story it’s trying to tell. Class VII feels like one big group of friends more than anything else. And while there is less development for each character than in CS1, I still am more than satisfied with what I got. It’s more so Class VII flexing their character development muscles from how they developed in the first game rather than further developing, which I’m okay with. I love McBurn, Duvalie and Vita Clotilde as well. pls step on me Vita

Music: There’s a lot of great themes here, especially the battle theme, boss theme, Blue Destination, and of course To Gamble All or Nothing. God, that song is so fucking raw. I love Blue Destination too, perfect melancholy vibes that fit the Crow Rematch as well as that fight. Has the exact same vibes as Silver Will. Aside from these few themes though, the CS1 OST definitely beats CS2. Tons more memorable Town and dungeon themes, and frankly better boss themes too, with the exception of Blue Destination. I don’t like saying it, but most CS2 exclusive tracks are mediocre.

Aesthetic/Vibes: I never mentioned it in the CS1 review, but the aesthetic these games have is gorgeous. Something about the art style has a distinct low budget charm to it that makes it really pretty. It pops in areas like Nord and the Vermillion Apocalypse Castle. The character models are also very 2000s anime which I find really cool. Trails seems to have had a really good transition from the spritework of the first 5 to this style, and from the few screenshots I’ve seen of the PS4 era games, it transitions there well. I don’t know what it is about these PS3/vita entries but they're straight up breathtaking.

Gameplay:As for gameplay, many things remain the same from CS1. A few additions I liked were more frequent Divine Knight battles, since that battle theme is goated and the spectacle is always super fun. That being said, I found the game relatively easy on normal mode. Being that this is the second game in the series with a battle system I liked(due to the nature of the orbments in previous games, see those reviews for more detail) I'm surprised I found myself thinking the game was too easy. So I guess I’ll be graduating to hard mode with CS3. Most bosses are easy on normal too unless you go in with less than 200 CP, which I didn’t find myself doing. That is with the exception of 3 bosses. The Crow/Vita fight was quite hard, took me about an hour of tries to get through and was exhilarating seeing everything fall into place. That’s what I love most about Trails’ battle system, when everything falls into place it gives the greatest dopamine rush, trying to find the best turn buffs to use your s-breaks in, saving up CP and banking on it. I even found myself enjoying building my orbments near the end of the game. My Laura, especially, was goated and incredibly strong. Another fight that was difficult was that fight, still took me about 30 minutes of retries and even grinding out some sepith. There was one more fight that was incredibly challenging, with no other fight in the game getting to this level of intensity. This fight being none other than Loa Lucifera. The amount of rebuilding and strategy I had to do was not simply incredibly fun, but perhaps the most fun I’ve had with the series’ combat system so far. Everything from fine tuning my party’s orbments and quartz, what party members would be best, and even what moves to use and when. All incredibly fun and a worthy finale to an incredible game. I wish I could say the same about the story that’s featured in this section.


Story/Lore:God… If not for the ending being overly extended, it might have been my favorite Trails story so far. So as anyone who’s played both Sky and Cold Steel would know, the parallels are strong between both games. With FC/CS1, there was the same story beats of travelling across the continent with a political uprising playing out in the background. Not to mention both have characters with mysterious pasts who are eventually revealed to be not who they were meant to be, as well as ambiguous relationships between two leads. In SC, this was Joshua and Loewe. In CS2, this was Rean and Crow. Before I go any further with this, though, I’d like to talk about the rest of what I liked prior to these parallels. First off, I loved the operation mission structure, something I was dying to have back after the mediocre opening hours. The operations were reminiscent of field studies and always gave me such hype moments. I talk more about the gripes I have with this game’s structure in the next section though. Other than that, I thought a lot of the Reformist vs Noble faction struggles were handled well, and Class VII’s motives equally so. The slow technological advances continue, in this game we see more and more characters get access to phones. The tech evolving in these games is definitely one of my favorite parts. Anyway, I’d mentioned how I was flabbergasted that C was revealed to be Crow, when in hindsight it was completely obvious. The same can be said for Crow’s death, I was so hung up on if they would be able to give him a proper sentence in prison or not that it flew right over my head, even with the parallels to Loewe so blatant. So again, it took me by complete surprise when Crow ended up dying, because characters rarely die in this series. At least those introduced in “modern times”, any characters a character was related to in the past have about a 50% chance to be dead lol. Illya didn’t die, off the top of my head. Rean’s Dad didn’t die. And yet, they killed off Crow, the rare occurance makes it powerful. I think it was a beautiful ending. Especially ending on the reveal Osborne’s death was for a fakeout, and that Rean is his son. The credits animation was also really emotional.. That goddamn 50 mira coin, and god the song, too. My vita didn’t show the ending credits tho, so I had to actually watch it on youtube lmao. Except… that’s not the end. That’s right, we’re back in Crossbell, baby! God, the way they drip fed this sequence to you after the ending was pure genius. From the voiceover slowly getting the player to realize who’s talking, to the camera pans that just barely miss the SSS building, to eventually landing in the Geofront. From there, you take control of Lloyd Bannings… and my god, when Get Over the Barrier played as the battle theme, I lost my shit for a good few minutes. It made me realize how much I miss Crossbell and its characters. Lloyd being voiced by Robbie Daymond feels perfect to me as well, it’s almost exactly how I imagined him. I wonder if this is what partially got him the role as Akechi lmfao. Anyway, the realization slowly dawns on you that you’re actively fighting against Rean and Erebonia, too. It’s all masterfully done, and especially the final fight, dude… where Blue Destination plays and you fight against Altina and Rean… the way it tugs at my heartstrings dude. Both Lloyd and Rean are some of my favorite protags, and yet they fought. The whole sequence is a masterful reintroduction to Crossbell in HD and I’m glad it’s in the game. I also absolutely adore the way Rean is characterized, you see how much pain he’s in, how angry he is… god the Crossbell Interlude is probably the most thankful I’ve ever been that I played these games in order. If the game had ended here, it would be a 10 in my book, and definitely my favorite Trails game. I’ll expand on why the true ending fumbled the game for me in a bit. That being said, I did like the ending that took place after Loa Lucifera’s fight, it definitely made me cry, however, that whole bit’s existence muddies the game’s mood thematically. I think the game would be better off without it.




Biggest Gripes: I feel like my biggest problem with the game is that it does not know where to end, to its detriment. I think, despite the challenge and satisfaction Loa Lucifera provided as a final boss, the game, thematically, and logically, had a much better stopping point after the Rean boss fight, with the final scene being Class VII walking back to the academy after Rean gets back from Crossbell. It would have been perfect. After the death of Crow, the wonderful ending track I’ll Remember You plays, and curiously, someone unfamiliar starts speaking. “What?” you think, as you wipe your tears. Suddenly you’re thrust into the shoes of Lloyd once more. The game tugs at your heartstrings with all the references to Crossbell, name drops of other SSS members… and then it pits you against the protagonist of the Erebonia arc. Blue Destination plays, you reluctantly fend off this god long enough, only for him to summon an ancient machination you or Rixia have never seen before… Utterly decimating the computer you fought your hardest to protect, you must run away. You ask him, what is his name? And he stutters, no… he’s not Rean of Class VII anymore. He’s Rean Schwarzer of the Provincial Army, fighting against the free state you desperately want. Then it cuts again, Rean snaps at Claire, and Rean is reunited with Class VII. Excuse the somewhat long recounting of events, but this ambiguity, this melancholy, not knowing what to do with anything you’ve learned… Rean is the enemy, now. It would have all been the perfect note to end on. And yet, the game insists on continuing. I rolled my eyes when the Old Schoolhouse opened up again. CS2 had a perfect ending, but it just… threw it all away. Yes, I cried again when Class VII split up, and yes, I liked the challenge of Loa Lucifera, but the extra, unnecessary dungeon and boss does ruin the ending thematically. I also feel like reuniting Class VII was rushed. Everything after you get the Courageous is perfect, but before that, I was really struggling with it. It was just one person after the next, reunions never felt earned. I feel it would have been better to lean harder into SC parallels and have you travel on foot to find them, rather than using Valimar to do a 5 hour jaunt that didn’t really feel earned. It felt like they were rushing to the part with the Courageous because that’s what they really wanted to tell. Another gripe I have is the party system. For 95% of the game your party isn’t forced like it was in CS1. Not only does this lead to less character development and interconnectivity between Class VII, but it also makes gameplay really a breeze. A lot of the challenge(and fun) in CS1, for me, came from being forced to use certain party members. Like, when I don’t have my boy Elliot for half the game, I have to figure out how to heal without him since I can’t fall back on Resounding Beat and Holy Song. But in CS2, especially the latter 75% of the game, where you can choose 6(of 11 characters) as an active party, your strongest never have to leave, which breaks the game. By endgame my Laura was doing 200k damage per S-Break and with her build, and I guarantee that could’ve easily surpassed 500k if I minmaxxed even more. There were some attempts at characters being forced tagging along, but it was a single character, and the same character was rarely forced during that Part’s operation. Even then, they were more a nuisance being forced than anything else because their build was not as good as the others since I rarely used them. Overall it’s not the biggest problem, that still goes to the Old Schoolhouse integration. Also, Angie. Still one of the worst characters in the series.


Final Thoughts:So I'm at an impasse. On one hand, Cold Steel 2 is everything I’d hoped for and more. Great emotional peaks, and even unexpected parts like Crow’s death and playing as Lloyd again. On the other hand, the ending is thematically ruined for me because it didn’t end after the Crossbell portion. It reminds me of Zero a lot, where everything was peak after peak after peak, and then it missed the mark by recycling the Weissman archetype with Joachim as a villain. Cold Steel 2 pains me, it was going to stick the landing gracefully, but at the last second decided to jerk the proverbial plane upwards and then bumped a bit. It was a fine enough ending, but the ending would have been so much better if it cut off beforehand. I don’t know, maybe I can ignore that portion and give it a 10 like I want to. But my heart doesn’t have it in me, if it doesn’t have the perfect ending like CS1 did. I think I’m going to need to give CS2, unfortunately, a 9. I’ve seen CS3 is a toss up depending on who you are. Could be a 10 or a 1. Whatever CS3 brings I don’t want to overhype myself and I’m sure I’m in for a good time regardless. Stay tuned for that one!