Title: The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Developer: Nihon Falcom/Engine Software (Switch version)
Publisher: Nippon Ichi Software America
Release Date: June 30th, 2020 (NA)
File Size: 7.3GB
Review copy provided by NIS America
It’s that time again! Not only do I have yet another review of a game published by NISA, but it’s also a game that for quite a long time seemed like it was a pipe dream of ever coming to Switch. Right around two years after the release of Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of DANA (which I also reviewed), Falcom and NISA reunited to bring The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III to Switch. How does this game fare? Will it steel your time, or will it leave you cold? Let’s find out!
A battle at the beginning of the game.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III is, naturally, the 3rd entry in the current Trails (or Kiseki as it’s more commonly known) series. However, it’s part of a larger span of games, with just prior to the Cold Steel games being the The Legend of Heroes: Trials in the Sky trilogy, and before that the never localized two “Crossbell” games. These are very story-heavy games that 99% of people highly recommend playing in the proper order. Naturally this is no easy task when you’d need multiple platforms (though PC has most if not all of them) to play them.
From my experience when playing Cold Steel III as a first-timer to the world of Kiseki, I find that yes, there are NUMEROUS occasions where you’ll see characters and such that are deliberately meant to reference events from the past games, so a lot will fly over your head. However, I was more than able to enjoy the story and characters of the game itself and enjoy the gameplay it had to offer. Hopefully XSEED (who published Cold Steel 1 and II in the west) will consider porting at least those two entries to Switch so you can experience the current story ark in full. Note that Cold Steel III does contain a summery of the two games in the main menu you can read right as soon as you boot up the game. I’d recommend waiting for the (IMO likely) possibility of those two games coming to Switch someday. But you decide!
An in-game cutscene at the beginning of the game.
Now I will be trying to avoid spoilers as much as possible for the review. In case you just want a general opinion and not worry about spoilers at all, I’ll sum it up here first. It’s a VERY well-done port by Engine Software. I think the turn-based gameplay is fun. The mechanics are really neat once you understand them. The side card game you can play is also fun, as is the fishing mechanic. I think the method of earning money in the game (Mira) is flawed where you exclusively obtain it via selling items and not in battles at all. In-game cutscenes drag on for WAY too long (upwards of a half hour I think at points?). All-in-all I had a wonderful time and I absolutely give it a recommendation, even for first-timers. Just understand what you’re getting into and what you’ll be missing out on. Any potential spoilers will begin with the next paragraph.
The game begins with the new Class VII (no, not the Naruto one) moving towards the top of a castle that’s under attack. After a brief cutscene that sort of conveys what the hell’s going on, the game then lets you freely move your character (changeable with the L button). You then move up some stairs and see a robot, and a battle begins once you run into it. The battle transitions are shockingly instant as in a flash you’re fighting right where you were. Anyway, the game doesn’t really give you much of a tutorial here at all. You’re supposed to just wing it. The game will get to the proper combat tutorial… it’s just going to take a long while.
Rean exploring the little town. It’s a quiet village.
To keep it simple, you have the face buttons (ABXY) for attacking, using an Art, or a Craft (arts and crafts anyone?). An Art is usually a technique that uses a turn to charge and then use, also they are one of four elements that damage the enemy based on their tolerance to said element. Craft is more weapon-based and instantly usable. Crafts also use CP which every character has up to 200 of, where as Arts use EP instead (basically like Mana). When using your default attack, your character will regain some CP, same goes for when you get hit by an attack (and your CP stays at the current amount after the fight ends). A big bonus is the S-Craft which is your super move, and the more CP you have, the more damage the attack does. Make sure you have full CP when fighting bosses. You’ll need it, trust me.
The d-pad buttons on the other hand are your general buttons. You can press up to use an Order. These use Break Points and can give you a turn-timed bonus. One example is the Fire Rein order (should’ve been Fire Rean), which gives all of your attacks a 20% damage boost for 6 character turns (so your 3-party team will use one of these turns each for example). There’s no turn penalty, so you can use an order and then go back to choosing your action. Break Points are earned when you get a get a “break” on an opponent which will give you options to follow-up. Using Rush will do a sometimes team attack with your linked partner, and also give you a break point. However if you get the option to Assist, you’ll instead use up two Break Points but do much more damage to more enemies.
Rean’s S-Craft attack; 7th Slash – Fallen Leaves.
Linking characters is a sort of mechanic where for example, the main character Rean will sometimes take a hit for his partner. And of course both characters will attack during the aforementioned breaks. What’s cool is that these team attacks have the characters speak with one another in name (most of the time), which is a really cool detail.
Onto the side content, you can do things such as talk to virtually every person you come across. During times where you roam around, your teammates may allow you to gain a higher bonding rating with them by doing a favor for them or just help them out with their troubles. Trouble is that you only get 1 or 2 bonding points in each evening of these occasions before time moves on in the story, so you have to choose wisely who to use them on. Now I don’t know how many points you need or if there’s even enough for everyone by the end of the game. An FAQ might help.
A look at fishing in the town and the tutorial screen introducing it.
Another side bit is fishing. You’ll need Fishing Bait (bought or gained from enemies fairly far into the game) and you cast with the A button, and then a round meter pops up, and if you land it on yellow, the smallest bit, you’ll get the bigger fish. But that’s not the end of it, you’ll then do a mini-game where you reel-in the fish by holding A, and letting go if it starts to fight against it. You have to keep the marker from hitting either side of the bar before you finish reeling the fish in. If you succeed, you’ll get a size rating, and a bonus item. Fun fact; if you miss hitting the round meter, you won’t use up any bait. Also, whichever character gets the biggest catch keeps the record in the event of a tie, so keep that in mind. If he or she has the biggest size possible, you’re stuck with that name in the record for the fish!
Graphically, the game is legit solid. Not the best looking game on Switch mind you, but compared to Ys VIII and The Caligula Effect Overdose (the latter also ported by Engine Software, here’s my review on it), it’s a much more faithful and stable port than either game by a long shot. Engine Software took great care of this port. They even were able to use an asset compressor developed by Durante himself (a big wig in PC port development) developed for the PC port for the Switch port. It runs at a very smooth 30fps. However the resolution is 720p in both modes. The one visual critique is the lack of anti-aliasing which is a bit of an eyesore in docked mode. There’s also a funny thing with the texture filtering where the flatter and further the side of an object is to the camera, the lower-res the textures get. Still, super solid.
Now she just needs sharks with frickin’ laser beams attached to their heads!
Audio-wise it’s fantastic. Music is quite nice, and the game is nearly fully voice-acted in both English, and in Japanese via a free optional download. The English voice acting was VERY nicely done. A number of the voice actors from the prior games did reprise their roles, including Sean Chiplock as Rean, the main character. Honestly I wish every NISA game had this good of a voice cast and acting. Same goes for the writing and localization. Honestly you could mistake this for an XSEED localization (a number of ex-XSEED folks did work on this after all). I absolutely want this team to stay at NISA on every game they localize from now on. Do it. Now!
Another note is the bit of DLC. In certain retail copies (via a code) and on the eShop, you can get a collection of cosmetic DLC. Luckily I was given a code for said DLC as well. This DLC includes a host of costumes, stuff such as costumes from prior games, to more humorous outfits, to more… umm… low-brow outfits (particularly for Juna Crawford). Yes, Juna gets to wear nothing but a two-piece bikini. The funny thing is that these are all in effect during cutscenes. So if you want to see Juna wear next to nothing in serious cutscenes… well you got it (Example (NSFW)). Just make sure no sensitive eyes are watching, okay? Good! Another cute thing are the return of chibi characters that can attach to your left arm. My fav is having Cold Steel II Altina attach to the current Altina. So she has her own Mini-Me everywhere she goes! They even blink, so they’re kind of alive!
A look at the Vantage Masters card game.
Overall I loved this game. Naturally I’m aware and have to sort of bear with the obvious “HEY REMEMBER THIS THING?” from time-to-time, but it’s not that bad and I was more than able to enjoy the story and the characters, and of course the gameplay. I absolutely recommend this for anyone to play on Switch, veterans and newcomers. I say ignore the naysayers telling you that you shouldn’t start here. Just be aware of the circumstances, hope that maybe the first Cold Steel and Cold Steel II will get Switch ports someday, and you’ll be fine. Definite top recommendation.
You’ll Love:
+ Very solid turn-based gameplay with mechanics that are easy to understand in time.
+ Very nicely written and voiced dialogue. Most of the dialogue is fully voiced in English and Japanese (via a free download).
+ Graphically solid. Smooth 30fps and native 720p in portable mode.
+ The world you can explore when able is fairly dense. Lots of folks to talk with. Bonding events are also fun.
+ The card game is fun as well. You can play with another able character as often as you want during the current period (though you only win cards once).
+ Fishing is very easy and fun. Plenty of upgrades you can buy for your rod if you need them.
+ Has screenshot and video capture support.
You’ll Hate:
– Cutscenes often drag for a LONG time. Be prepared to take breaks during them (via sleep mode and what not).
– Earning money (Mira) is only done via selling items. Luckily enemies provide plenty.
– Speaking of, it takes a LONG while for you to get to your first outdoor area with monsters. You only get two dungeon areas with monsters in between. So grind in those when possible. During these, you can respawn monsters by leaving and re-entering an area back and forth.
– The obvious fact you need to have played the prior entries (and to an extent, the even earlier games) to fully “get” the whole story. Luckily that’s not as bad with this one, as most say Cold Steel III and the upcoming Cold Steel IV are sort of… a pair of games.
Score: 9/10
