Trails of Cold Steel III is a Good Game that Sufferers from Certain Mechanics

Game: The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III

Developer: Nihon Falcom

Publisher: NIS America

Platforms: ps4/ps5, PC, Nintendo Switch

Reviewed on: ps5

Release Date: October 22, 2019 (North America)

Introduction

Trails of Cold Steel III is a good game that is held back by certain mechanics. I finally got around to writing about Trails of Cold Steel III. Slight spoiler warning if you have not played Trails of Cold Steel II. There is a party member that is present from the start of the game that kinda spoils a little bit of the previous game.

Story

The story for this game takes place around 1 1/2 years after the ending of Trails of Cold Steel II. If you haven’t played the previous games I encourage you to play those. I liked the story of this game, and think that them skipping ahead in time was a good decision.

Game Play

The game play of Trails of Cold Steel III is identical to the first Trails of Cold Steel. Just like the first game you’ll travel to several different locations depending on the story. You will have required quests to continue the story and side quests that you can do. There are also hidden quests that you can find like the previous two games.

The biggest change in this game is the combat. Two new combat features were added that changes the way you strategize. The first new feature added is called Brave Orders. Each character has an order, some have multiple, that help in combat in some way. One of Rean’s orders increases the party’s defense for a set number of turns.

The next new combat feature is breaking. Enemies now have a break gauge that once depleted the enemy becomes stunned and they take more damage.

Another change involves Master Quartz. Just like previous games you can equip different Master Quartz, but in this game you can equip two to each character.

Music

Just like the previous game in the series, the music is pretty good. I do feel like the music in the previous games were slightly better, but that’s just my preference. As usual don’t go to the comments of the videos as they contain spoilers.

Likes

Though it was a little overwhelming at first, I like the new combat options that they added. They allow for more strategizing and can help save you if you’re in a pinch.

I liked that they introduced some new characters. It gave some new people to play as as well as see their growth throughout the game. Them skipping ahead in time was a good decision since it allows you to see how characters have changed.

Dislikes

One of my biggest dislikes involves two characters. These two characters seem like background characters, but have important roles story wise. This knowledge is dumped on you with the expectation that you know it. The only way to have this information is to play through Trails of Cold Steel II twice and collect specific items and fight a secret boss.

Another big dislike that I had was that a good majority of the bosses had the ability to heal. This wasn’t a one time move that they do. Some bosses could heal back all of their health. Sometimes I found myself just sitting there saying, “This isn’t fun”.

I also feel like there wasn’t enough breathing room for the characters. Trails of Cold Steel has a huge cast, with new playable characters being introduced in III. It feels like they get overshadowed, even though they’re in the game the entire time.

Other Thoughts

I would highly recommend playing the first two games before this one. Even though there is a summary available for the first two games, I think it’s best to get the full context. This one is also a bit of a difficult one if you play this one first.

Conclusion

Out of all the Trails game, III is probably my least favorite. I felt as though having healing on most bosses really soured my experience with the game. Thank you all for reading! Be sure to read my review of the previous game if you missed that one.

Reach out to me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/realgamerwithg1

Support the Blog: https://ko-fi.com/H2H03GR23