Jesus Christ. Completing this journey was an honor. This is the end of the Trail of Cold Steel saga. And I am so glad I was able to make it to the end of it. Shit got me left in tears and crying. It was so emotional, story-driven and just made my whole experience fully satisfied. This was fucking peak. This is the ninth installment of the Legend of Heroes franchise, and I recommend for those who want to enter this game to follow the story in order: This is pretty much got some Marvel Endgame level of lore and characters that this review will contain huge spoilers. The following games are played in order Trail in the Sky FC, Trail in the Sky SC, Trail in the Sky the 3rd, Trails from Zero, Trails to Azure, Trails of Cold Steel 1, Trails of Cold Steel 2, Trails of Cold Steel 3. There is the anime called Northern war which explains the North Ambria War and Rean involvement. You can watch it before Trail of Cold Steel 3. However there is also a mention of two specific people who are only shown prior from the Zero manga and the Cold Steel 2 Steel Drama CD. You can read them both here: Manga: https://mangadex.org/title/7145da84-8be7-4a82-8d91-4b3d872ac9d1/eiyuu-densetsu-rei-no-kiseki-prestory-shinpan-no-yubiwa CD Drama: http://www.trailsofcoldsteel.com/cs2/memoirs2.html Now where do I start. If you reading this review, spoilers. Big spoilers. This story takes place after TOCS3, where Rean is captured within the Black Workshop. He is powerless and running amok due to his curse / power. After escaping the events of TOCS3. Juna, Kurt and Altina are tasked alongside old class 7 in finding their classmates and fellow new class 7 members while finding a way to rescue Rean. This game seeks to tackles a lot of emotions, fears, reunions and barriers which you have to face while going through the story. While going through the story you will meet and reunite with protagonist from Librel and Crossbell saga. Lloyd, Ellie, Tio, Randy, Kea returns to the stage alongside them are Estelle, Joshua, Agate, Scherazard, Josette to help finish off the finale of Trail of Cold Steel. As you will see them all reunite and interact with those in the Trail of Cold Steel series. You can't get better than this, there are so much more including side characters from returning sagas who come back to bring this huge saga to a conclusion. This is probs my favourite legend of heroes game or on par with Trails to Azure. This story was so jam packed with heart wrenching, heartwarming and filled with satisfaction that you won't get from previous games. While also concluding some characters stories with full satisfaction. What a fucking game. The characters roaster for this game is fucking huge. If you really think and add it all together (You are playing about 40 different characters) like holy fuck. Some of them may have some dumb down crafts and all. But it's so good to get to play some of the returning characters again after so long. You get to use them quite a few times and some almost all the time and it's fulfilling. They brushed up on the Graphics this time around, the first time I haven't crashed so it's a big plus. You could spend hours just immersing not just the characters but also their lore they provide. While concluding their arc. Felt like a 5 star restaurant. I was eating well while hyping and crying my eyes out. The gameplay in this game go crazy. I do wish they brought the old burst mechanic from Trails to Azure back. But I can understand that is broken af lol. However that doesn't mean it wasnt good. IT WAS REALLY GOOD. Brave order this time around was diverse and absolutely fantastic. You pretty much form different strategies and builds to accommodate different ways of battle and this game goes all out. THERE IS NO SECONDARY MQ RESTRICTION TOO. What an insane change, that gave me full creativity over what to build on different characters. I haven't had this much fun with making op or dumb builds since Trails of Cold Steel 2. Although shit can get pretty busted later on and makes things annoying or easy. Which leads into nightmare difficulty being fucking annoying. There are certain requirements in getting extra AP (Academic Points) that make fighting some bosses really horrible. Sometimes I want to take my time fighting the boss but I'm scared I will lose out on rewards. It wasn't too hard but I don't know what it would be like for a casual player tackling the hardest difficulty while trying to 100%. I manage to just think a bit and use strategies culminated from previous games to push through. But at a certain point: Shit gets too easy lol. I did follow a guide so I suggest looking up one from Zoelius to go through if you need to 100% and understand some strats. Music as usual is bussin. It's not better than Crossbell saga but there are some music that just slaps. Like the overworld music is just an absolute banger. There are some battle themes and location themes that just really hit your soul at times. I just wanna fish and just chill while listening to some of them lol. You will eventually get returning music from previous saga although not the popular ones but the side themes that fit the environment you are going back to. Sidequest is VERY IMPORTANT. There are literally sidequests that conclude the story of specific characters like Renne and her real family, Ellie and her mother, Joshua and Ash . While there are some that just make funny interactions or even combine characters from all 3 sagas in jam packed sidequests. You also have to do every side quest to unlock the TRUE ENDING OF THE FUCKING GAME. I almost missed one and thank god I didn't. There is the true ending and the post credit which is (FUCKING IMPORTANT AS SHIT ALMOST IMPORTANT TO THE ENTIRE STORY). Idk why they are hiding it as you have to load an epilogue save after watching the true ending. Stupid and its important as fuck. True ending is unlocked once you have done the normal ending and have Gotten the quest called ??? from Toval via orbmail . You just load the clear before state and the true ending is yours. The sidequests are so good and amazing that honestly, I'm glad I didn't miss one. It was worth it and got me fucking emotional. Some side quests even change the way your characters are feeling and some even get characters something new to wield or wear throughout their journey. Wooo collectibles. A lot of them as usual. There is actually a book series called Three & Nine. Which spoilers It's literally a fucking true event from the next game Trails into Reverie, detailing how Swin and Nadia killed the emperor and escaped garden . Absolutely wow. It is best that you collect gifts, photos, etc throughout your journey as they can get you some god level rewards later on. Some of them are also tied to special events and secret events that can be lore and nice to watch. It's annoying but if you do it, it will be worth it. I recommend this game because it's my favourite game so far. This is the end of the Trail of Cold Steel saga. I am sad as shit that it's over but I'm also happy that I got to experience it for the first time. This game answers a lot of lore so bare with the game.It's definitely a knowledge check of a game so make sure you are up to speed / date with every lore you can think of. Everyone came back and reunited. My three favourite protagonists interacting was just all I needed to say about this game. I have concluded Trail of Cold Steel but it isn't the end. There is still one final game before we reach Calvard Arc. I am so ready to play this game as I have been holding it off until Kuro no Kiseki comes this year. The game that will sum it all up. Everything has led me to this point. I am finally going to be up to date with the series for the first time ever. I will see you all over in the latest Legend of Heroes game: THE LEGEND OF HEROES: TRAILS TO REVERIEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Read more