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

The developer Falcom brings us this third part of the story of Rean and Class VII that comes to the West by the hand of Bandai Namco. The plan they had to reach Europe is being fulfilled and although two years ago it was released in Japan, due to the characteristics of the saga, it was necessary to have the remasters of the first two chapters of this story. Our Akeron chair has witnessed the hours we have spent enjoying to make this analysis of The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III

This delay since its release in Japan, even being a PS4 exclusive game, is due to the nature of what Trails of Cold Steel III tells. The story of Rean Schwarzer is told over 4 games so it does not make much sense that here we started with the third part, so from Falcom and Bandai Namco developed a plan to bring the remasters of the first two games and that fans who had in the West knew the full story even if they had to wait a little longer.

Following in the footsteps of Rean Schwarzer

The story of this third part starts 1 year and a half after the end of the second part. Now Rean's category has changed, although we are not going to give more details to avoid spoilers. As for the situation surrounding this new course, we see how the most powerful nation militarily, the Ereborian empire, is expanding, surpassing in territory to the republic of Calvard. In addition, the secret society Ouroboros will try to carry out its plans.

Although Rean's condition has changed, we still have the same gameplay structure. First we will have the classes, then the combat challenges and exploration and finally fights against bosses or elites.

An improved combat system

The combat system is also maintained from other installments but with the right modifications to make it much more agile and entertaining. We are presented with a combat zone, integrated into the same scenario through which we are passing and through which we can move. With the direction pad we will have actions such as fleeing or access to objects and with the right side buttons we will have the most common actions, attack, dodge, arts and crafteos.

For the enemies there are also new features, the break, an extra protection that will give us an extra layer of depth to the fights. To finish with this protection we can use any attack but the Arts are much more effective and when we get the break we will stun the enemy delaying his turn and we will do more damage, also the probability of dropping objects will increase. We must know the enemies and their weaknesses to know what arts to apply and perform successions of attacks to kill them quickly.

As in the second part we will come across enemies during our exploration that we can surprise and attack from behind to start with more advantage in combat. As in the other remasters, here we have again the turbo mode, a mode that accelerates the game in the exploration areas and in combat, a very useful option especially in the moments that we want to train and level up to make the experience more agile.

The mechas return, as it could not be otherwise, for the hardest fights but this time there will be more than one character that can control them and the customization of our Arcus II, the device from which we improve our character and unlock the arts, has also undergone improvements. Now we will be able to set up to two master quartz. All these aspects of combat that we have discussed in the analysis of The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III make it the most fluid and dynamic of the entire saga.

If you enjoyed the narrative of the previous Trails of Cold Steel this one will not disappoint you as it follows the same formula as the previous ones betting on an interesting and entertaining story, modifying small aspects of the gameplay that keep the essence of the whole saga intact but make it much more enjoyable. In addition, our Arkadia gamepad has responded perfectly at all times

Improving the graphics little by little

As for the graphics and sound section, in our analysis of The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III, it goes a little on what we have seen in the reviews of the previous parts. It is not a graphical beast, nor is it going to stand out for the originality of its designs, since the designs of the scenarios are a bit standard and the design of the characters is quite generic, although all this is in the background when the game starts, thanks to its gameplay and the amount of secondary content that we can find. Of course, fishing and card games are back, as well as a significant amount of secondary missions with which we can spend hours.

The soundtrack is again outstanding, as in the other installments, with truly epic moments in combat and video sequences giving that extra touch. The voices come to us in Japanese and English, like the texts, we miss a Spanish translation to make the game more accessible to all audiences.

To finish

As a conclusion of our analysis of The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III we found it to be an outstanding RPG, with a very interesting story and a really fun gameplay.

Strong points

• The story is still very interesting and fun and the ending leaves you wanting the last part.
• An agile and dynamic combat system
• A game that stays true to its style and stands out for it

Points to improve

• Graphics a bit outdated
• It does not come in Spanish

This review was made possible thanks to a PS4 code provided by Bandai Namco