LogFAQs > #951498642

3.) Trails of Cold Steel II (PS3, 2014)


Trails of Cold Steel II is a game that I honestly don't think I will ever be able to quite replicate the experience of. The game takes place at the crossroads of a lot of lore that I would need to take some time to explain. But essentially the big overarching plot of the franchise set up in the background of the exciting goings on in Trails in the Sky begins to finally see some real pay off in Cold Steel II. Oh sure there are hints of it going on in Trails in the Sky 3 and in Cold Steel I of what's to come but Cold Steel I is all precursor. Its showing you what Erebonia is like and what its social structures and societal problems are. And during the grand climax of the game...that status quo they spend the whole game showing you is shattered and that nation plunged into civil war.

What's more there's a final dungeon after that, completing the tartarus-like endless old schoolhouse dungeon that had been a recurring theme throughout the game and you come to discover...there is a giant Magic Knight that is basically an intelligent Gundam and what's more the main character Rean Schwarzer is the man meant to pilot it. And in the chaos of the end of the game and all that is happening, Valimar the Ashen Knight takes Rean to safety and away from Class VII. Now it is up to Rean, his classmates, and a few well-placed people who know what's really going to try and prevent the civil war from devouring the country.



Thanks to the introduction of Valimar big Gundam battles now play a central role in the game's more epic moments and enough lore and characters are built up that there can be huge character moments playing out at any given time in the story, which lends the game a unique feel. The battle system for the gundam battles is different enough to feel special but not SO different that it ends up like Xenogears where its a huge pain in the ass. And the main game play is still really fun - executing a blend of FFX's turn cards with tactical maps and with a few innovations, like effects that go off on specific turns. The result is that Trails of Cold Steel II is a well-oiled machine that truly builds on what was going on in Trails of Cold Steel I replacing the school days plot with something so much more intriguing and fun to play through.



And of course, the plot and characters and the character of the setting all play major roles. Our comedic messages come back on the insides of chests and each character is to me pretty memorable. In Cold Steel I, each character had a foil and we get to see all of those relationships evolve beyond the basic foiling they were left at in Cold Steel 1.





In the end, this game just really fulfills the JRPG itch better than anything else ever has. Everything is big, everything is worth exploring. There are countless little collectables that bring the game to life, everything from landscapes and lithographs on down to newspapers and light novels that you can read that are set within this world. It feels every bit as alive as the streets of tokyo in Yakuza, only on such a large and entire fantastical scale.

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Board 8's Voice of Reason
https://imgur.com/AWY4xHy