Trails of Cold Steel | Import Review

Earlier this year publisher Xseed made two announcements that left JRPG fans salivating (and more than a few confused): firstly reaffirming that Trails in the Sky: Second Chapter (the much delayed sequel to the PSP/PC JRPG Trails in the Sky: First Chapter) would finally be releasing this year; and secondly that the PS3/PS Vita sequel Trails of Cold Steel would be releasing "this fall" (with Tweets from Xseed suggesting English dub recording is already underway).

In Japan the "Trails" series is a popular sub-series of the ongoing The Legend of Heroes (Eiyuu Densetsu) series that has been popular enough to garner mainstream attention, even informing the series' design which has become increasingly mainstream (both streamlined and easier). The series' mainstreaming is embodied perfectly in Trails of Cold Steel, which drops the traditional isometric perspective and sprite artwork of the series for mass-market friendly polygonal models and a near-to-scale 3D world.

Review

I reviewed the import for Automaton a few months back saying:

At its core, Eiyuu Densetsu: Sen no Kiseki [The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel] still plays and feels like a key part of the series, and that’s even after some overzealous streamlining and mainstream-oriented shakeups. But the slow narrative is prone to leaking momentum and does nothing to answer the dozens of questions it sets up across its 90-hour playtime. Inconsistent presentation issues mire the game through its entirety and despite the humble presentation, the game still suffers from performance issues and load times which are, although entirely bearable, overly long for a modern game. Ultimately, Sen feels like a rushed setup for Sen no Kiseki II. But underneath all the cracked paint, Sen is still a solid JRPG, just not a pretty, consistently solid one... or a consistently pretty one.

Click here to read the full The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel review

[Note] This review was written prior to a 1.03 patch update which launched alongside the "The Best" re-release of Trails of Cold Steel. "The Best" series being the Japanese version of the Greatest Hits or Platinum line of PlayStation re-releases we see in the West. However the 1.03 patch only addressed minor bugs, with the lamented performance issues cited in the review being untouched.

Series Background

Trails of Cold Steel is actually the first part of the third story arc within the Kiseki series: the first arc consists of Trails in the Sky: First Chapter and Trails in the Sky: Second Chapter and the second arc  of Trails of Zero and Trails of Azure. These two arcs are then bridged by another game, Trails in the Sky: The 3rd. The third arc consists of Trails of Cold Steel and Trails of Cold Steel II. 

So far Xseed has only localised Trails in the Sky: First Chapter with Second Chapter expected later this year. In essence localising Trails of Cold Steel this year would mean leapfrogging The 3rd/Zero/Azure, much to the confusion of fans. However this might not be as odd as it first seems given that the second and third arc within the Kiseki universe take place largely simultaneously making either arc a feasible place to pick the story up from.

Import Review | Trails in the Sky: Second Chapter

Trails in the Sky is a JRPG developed by Nihon Falcom and localised by XSEED Games. Ever since the dramatic cliff-hanger at the end of Trails in the Sky: First Chapter, fans have waited, and waited, and waited for Second Chapter to arrive.

Sadly that wait is going to go on for just a few more months as Trails in the Sky Second Chapter isn't due out in English until this Summer. But this time TiTS (don't giggle!) is coming to the PC (Steam) and PSP.

Can't wait for the game? Well, why not jump into this review of the import version of the game and find out for yourself how it stacks up?

Note: This is actually the second iteration of this review. The kind folks over at Continue Play have edited this piece to high heaven and made it infinitely more readable than the first version.