Trails of Cold Steel 1 Review

A SPOILER FREE Tldr/ review for those wanting to play, entering the series with no prior knowledge: 

If you are new to the Trails series, you may want to play ‘Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter’ (+2nd & 3rd Chapters which are not out yet) first, instead as you will have a better investment for all the games after.

Series Story order: 1.Trails in the Sky (1,2,3) > 2.Trails from Zero & Trails to Azure, > 3.Trails of Cold Steel (1,2,3,4) > 4.Trails into Reverie, > 5.Trails through Daybreak (1,2,+ Beyond the Horizon)

Recommended Entry Points: Trails in the Sky Remake 1st Chapter OR Trails of Cold Steel (1) 

Context: I played Cold Steel 1,2,3 and 4 first and then Reverie and have not played Sky, Zero/Azure or Daybreak. Trails of Cold Steel 1 and Trails from Zero are also intended entry points. I have just purchased Sky 1st Chapter. The first Cold Steel is a great jumping off point (as intended) however you will feel out of your element more and more past the 3rd game and when you reach Reverie if you don't play the prior series, Zero+Azure first you will feel very detached from the other half of the characters. 

TRAILS OF COLD STEEL:  8.5/10 

Cold Steel 1 is a really solid game and in my personal opinion, my favourite of the Cold Steel Arc. Despite that fact, I cannot recommend the Cold Steel games. Later in this review I list and detail some serious problems this series faces. One of the main reasons the first game is my favourite is because it has the least amount of these problems. This game and its series has so much potential and so much going for it that's just absolutely plagued and ruined by unnecessary over-sexualisation, infantilisation and even incest. It is so disappointing and while I have an inhuman amount of patience and tolerance to eye-roll, ignore and look past all of these things, I could never expect others to. I do not want people to play it on my recommendation and think I enjoy or condone any of it when they inevitably have to sit through all these cringe worthy, grating scenes. I often thought how incredible this series could have been if these preventable, chosen issues weren't present and it saddens me. This game alone would be a 9.5 if it didn't have those aspects and a 10 with some quality of life improvements present in the future games. The gameplay is addictive and relaxing, the world is so in depth and alive, the story and its characters have complexity and intrigue. It has so much of a good thing going that I put up with the nonsense. If you read on about the issues I have, and think you can tolerate it AND are still curious to play it, then I recommend you to. You are left with an addictive franchise that you can become excited to see a new release from over the years. But don't say I didn't warn you. Remember, Cold Steel 1 has the least amount of these problems. 

A note for completionist's: 

I played and then went through again and platinumed (100%’d achievements) Cold Steel 1,2,3 and 4. I have not done so for Reverie. The first two games are slightly harder to 100%, as side missions are often hidden and character notes only get filled during very specific days and sometimes only after talking to someone 2-3 times. The later games show icons for side quests but day specific character notes remain a problem if you aren't using a guide. Reverie is a lot more forgiving on character notes and has a lot fewer side quests overall however with all of the mini-games and grinding specific requirements, it is less enjoyable to try 100%. In all games, certain requirements (aka difficulty + some battle qualifiers such as turn limits) mean that a second play-through is likely needed to 100%. You could go through the first time on the hardest difficulty and achieve all specific goals, however some achievements are still locked off to a second play through and it is quite unenjoyable to try. 

I wouldn't even bother with some achievements on your first playthrough (difficulty, all chests and all character notes) and simply plan to finish those the second time with the aid of a guide. 

I would recommend playing the first time without a guide and aim for all side quests, and try for all enemy analysis on your first playthrough (especially as a few filling in the gaps on the second playthrough is easier then lots missing). 

SPOILER ZONE; FULL REVIEW: for those who wont play or already have: 

The visuals…

This game hits a particular soft spot in my heart, I think it's lovely to look at; handmade/painted textures and a lower poly style that still fulfils the 3D requirement which I prefer and am more comfortable with. Even down to details like the menu screen which begins with just Rean in the train but as the game goes on, more characters get added. A small, often overlooked detail that does get noticed by people.

Trista as a “home base” location quickly became cozy, especially at night in the dorm. The same is to be said of the trains, with realistic time spans of events and travelling bringing a reminiscent to life feeling. After replaying Cold Steel now 4 games on, it has become warm and nostalgic and has joined the pile of games I call “comfort games”. They (dev's) did a brilliant job of environmental art, truly capturing the very specific IRL feeling for locations. This is in part also the responsibility of the music which is equally as charming, though a little odd at times with the electronic sound instrument choices. In the case of Trista, it especially gives that warmth and cosiness intended. 

The character designs are just fine. Very inconsistent though and pushes some hair colours too bright which makes characters like Elliot and Millium stand out in a bad way. I actually like both of their designs, but not when they stand next to everyone else. I’m not big on hair “costumes” either as if I change Millium’s or Elliot's hair colour, it's no longer them and it bothers me which just means I end up changing it back. The improvement would have been just toning that saturation down a bit, using a more complex texture for the hair to try make it look natural such as darker roots and lighter ends with saturation in more selective places. (I would further that by lowering the incredibly high metal/spec value applied to everyone's hair in 3 and 4, a bit distracting). Clothing is obviously limited to uniforms in 1, of which individualism is well done to match their personalities; however a ‘jaunty hip belt’ has been overused on 7 of the 9 characters. (Plus I don't like the girls having visible underwear as it has been done purposefully to be up-skirted in certain cutscenes, I'm looking at you, Orbal Bike.)

Bonus points for the physical copies reversible game cover and art extras in the insert book, I LOVE that in my physical media. <3 

New game plus options are completely customisable whilst continuing previous play data which is great as you as a player can choose what you do and don't want to re-do the next time, something a lot of games don't give. 

Accessibility options are relatively basic with nothing added to be more inclusive (console), and while that is “a product of its time”, I argue that shouldn’t be a reason we keep leaning on and to just call it as we see it.

A short talk on the beginning of the game… 

They start with a prologue sequence, using it to grab your attention and to introduce the world setting straight away. They suggest the overall conflict and garner your intrigue as to when these events occur quite successfully. Almost immediately you are shown a bloody scene which is used to inform the player that the game is more serious and consequences do involve death. While Cold Steel 1 keeps this going with darker consequences like terrorists killing themselves and soldiers dying in a bombing, the future games don’t, and eventually it feels like nothing ever has any consequences, especially as the cast becomes overtly bloated. I feel as if Cold Steel 1 gave me false expectations.

When the combat begins, again no tutorials are given but it is easy enough that you don't really have to worry. What you do have to worry about though is how slow these animations are. My. God. What is with this series and everything being as if they're moving through goop?! If they didn't have a “Turbo Mode” where it speeds everything up I would not have made it through playing these games. I know some people hate Turbo and it does look equally as odd but it’s better than wasting 3 times the amount of time watching the artificial padding of the same animations playing. To even have a “Turbo Mode” suggests the dev's saw this as an issue, so I don't understand why animation speed (even menu selection speed) wasn't adjusted, at least for the future games. Holding circle fast forwards dialog so it cannot be truly argued the turbo mode is specifically only for speed-running with that also there as a speed-running feature. 

To note: in Cold Steel 1, 50 lines of dialog are recorded in the notes tab in case you accidently skipped something, BUT that doesn't work for cutscenes of any kind. You go to your notes to find gameplay lines such as “Hey look, a chest!” Which makes the feature quite useless. (Later games fix this.)

After a character based montage the game properly starts. The game starts off with realistic dialog and interactions amongst characters and the world but it gets lost slightly as the game goes on (unfortunately much further in future games). This is a real shame as it's something that I immediately noticed and really enjoyed in the first Cold Steel as not typical of Jrpg’s. 

An additional, miss-able scene with Gaius plays out if the player explores enough to enter the church, which is a nice little reward, establishes immediate affirmation to the types of players who take their time. Moving further on into the beginning, I have gripes about the Rean and Alisa scene, wherein she just so happens to fall chest first into him. I will admit if they didn't play it out with further conflict to be resolved, I may have stopped playing. The only redeemable aspect of this unnecessary event is that it causes actual social conflict, however I cannot stand this stupid and immediate sexualisation. 

Orbments… 

I love this system, it's complex, unique and refreshing. The only downside (aside from missing the additions of future games) is the organisation of it, wherein searching through a large list of them becomes tedious (and by the time of Reverie with an enormous cast, almost falls apart at the seams). The orbments system works perfectly on the scale of the cast of Cold Steel, but simply wasn't adjusted to handle numerous casts. I spent hours twiddling and tweaking my quartz setups and loved that level of detail I could go to, especially when I finally understood it properly, which wasn't until later games as I do feel it wasn't explained very thoroughly in the first Cold Steel tutorial, (mainly the delay and turn delay mechanic) more leaning to players already experienced in the franchise. 

(My process consisted of starting with their unique type specific quartz, so Rean had 2 time quartz and 1 fire which I would fill first, for all characters when available with the strongest possible. Then I would fill in the rest, playing by strengths/covering weaknesses. A solid process to keep characters even, minus Rean who always being present received favourite treatment. The problem in this game is that everyone apart from Rean is constantly un-equipped of their quartz, which is not ideal as you have to keep re-making their setup. They solve this in later games by making everyone at all times adjustable instead of locking people off when they are and aren't around. I understand they did it for realism, however since it is purely a gameplay mechanic, there is little reason to and the quality of life improvement in later games is well welcomed.)

The AP system…

The “Academy Points” score system is solid, rewarding players for paying attention, exploring and going out of their way to do things thoroughly. However it falls through a little when some AP fulfillments are secretive such as side quests that aren't marked on your map or if failing to meet a battle requirement but being unable to retry straight after the fight but instead having to go through the post battle cutscenes first to reload and try it again. Future games fix both of these things however for Cold Steel 1 these quality of life improvements are not present yet. This is where using a guide is helpful, if not a bit detaching though. 

In a similar strain, achievements like for example books and character notes are locked to a very specific time and day and are without a map “flag”. I would not have gotten these reasonably without the guide and would have (and did) immediately lock off that achievement and in game reward. More prominently is the character notes that require a second play through to achieve due to limited bonding points. That sucks, I really dislike that. Replayability should have no forced aspects in my opinion. I should want to replay it to see the optional events I missed because I simply want to, not because I have to for any reason. They should have offered enough points to see all content necessary to 100% in one play through, even if it's very difficult or specific it should be do-able, however the ability is not there at all. 

Nord Highlands…

Some really atmospheric nighttime life scenes during this trip, however due to the scale of the land traversal, gameplay suffers from lengthy repetitive riding sequences over the same areas of land. This otherwise is the first drop in the pacing of the game. The gameplay sequence repetition of Trista time/Old schoolhouse > field study > Story was well paced, gradually increasing appropriately, with it only being too long during this specific area. Not too bad, but noted by myself and most other players.

The Red Trial Door…

This piece of story felt notably sloppy. They needed a way to 1. Introduce Elise. 2. Show the player and other characters of Rean’s unique Ogre ability (by putting him in a protector situation with Elise) and 3. Trigger the first awakener trial. Logically they combined them into one event but it was a very forceful way of writing it all in, with so many criteria as to how it worked being added that it barely makes sense outside of “its fate”. I like the other aspects of it with Patrick but the door timing being entwined felt too convenient or perhaps poorly executed, I'm not entirely sure. I think the solution would have been: (if they even need to keep the red door at all because I don't see how any prior lore in the franchise demands it existing) The red trial door happens within the normal cast going through the old schoolhouse and some other risk was posed to Elise to cause the Ogre reveal; such as when it happens anyway during the festival terrorist kidnapping/dragon fight. That would have been much cleaner and more realistic, however it's not like the series doesn't just dive off the deep end with extreme fantasy later anyway. I feel the problem truly lies in that it starts off grounded and slowly drops that for drama, whereas I feel the more successful aspects are within its grounded parts. But that I know is personal taste.

About the ending…

This game has to be treated in the knowledge that it's a setup for further story/games which makes its ending pretty solid. If you treated it as a wrapped up package of a story and its characters from start to end then the ending would not suffice. It isn't so much special treatment as it is the scope of the story and what it wants to achieve. I do not mind investing in a series however it is hard to recommend to people on a time investment basis. 

Smaller Notes:

On minor characters who have names... 

I do like recurring NPC's, it gives realism and groundedness to the world, but very few are memorable enough to properly recognise. Rex, Beryl, Mint, Vivi & Linde, Munk, Becky, Rosine, Vincent, Patrick and Margarita are all memorable, who have side quests that help build memory and association, however in equal measure are those who I could not recall and yet future games interact with them on a strong recall basis leaving me often second guessing if I missed something. Obviously, visual distinction is playing a major part here as all memorable NPC's have unique design features compared to the forgettable ones, but the solution cannot be that all NPC’s have unique features since this would leave no characters standing out. Unfortunately some NPC’s need to be forgotten and for the sake of gameplay all these characters luckily only have a singular note to acquire. While this isn't a specific problem in Cold Steel 1, this is a game that establishes itself as a setup for more after and so it is partially responsible. Cold Steel’s further games don't drop them efficiently enough to retain that natural/realistic selectivism and Cold Steel 1 spreads itself too thinly with them. Rean in future games treats them all as if they were close friends irrelevant of their recognisability which I feel leaves the player a bit confused- feeling as if they haven't invested enough into them back in Cold Steel 1 because they can't remember who Monica, Colette, Friedel ect. are, all of which are literally designed to be forgotten. 

On character dialog… 

Characters will often have internal thought dialog written in brackets which gives a small insight to both sides of the exchange without the unrealistic, purely spoken relationship progression. I love when I get to see what characters are thinking inside the conversation, unfortunately this doesn't last and becomes much less frequent as time goes on. This isn’t a problem so much  as it is simply missed.

On “Dynamic” voice lines…

Something I find impressive is the character dependent dialog when picking party members. A small detail, but one that took a lot of effort and time to get working correctly and on such a scale as multiple games with increasing character choice. For example if you pick Alisa, Gaius, Fie with Jusis and Emma as support, they will reply interconnectedly to the short exchange that happens before entering/during/after the dungeon. It doesn't feel disconnected from each other either. While I've not tested it thoroughly, I assume the dialog is not dependent on the others there, that they chose the dialog well enough to work interchangeably in the short conversations. These small details that Trails pays attention to is what brings that special life and immersion to the world. 

On what is deemed “cool”...

 “Gotcha” moments happen frequently in the trails series. What I mean by that is when the developers force a reaction of character dialog that gives praise, surprise or respect to the speaker. While much less prevalent in Cold Steel 1, I can still give an example: During a practical exam of class 7 fighting Patrick and the nobles the characters argue about classism between themselves, of which Gaius suddenly joins in, questioning the importance of class at all since he's foreign. For whatever reason, Gaius has everyone stunned, like he said something profound and unarguable, to which the nobles crumble. It makes no sense as a reaction, beyond Gaius not speaking before. It feels like forced coolness and I wrote it off at the time, being one of the first, and very minor hiccups in this department, but unfortunately it happens a lot more in later games. 

On the 'RSI speed-run minigame' (Fishing)…

I am so glad they changed this in later games because repetitive clicking to reel in a fish was both stressful and literally painful. 

The Major Issues I have…

“It was different in… 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020”

In Cold Steel 1 we have 9 main characters, 2 are underage girls (Fie (15) and Millium (13)) with an additional 2 important side characters (Elise (15) and Alfin (15)). That is 4 underage girls. 

But we do have Prince Cedric (15) who is in 1 cutscene for approximately 2 minutes. Elliot is the youngest playable male main character at 16 (*age of consent in Japan at the time of all these games was 13 years old and adulthood marked at 18/20 years old). 

*The age of consent in Japan legally changed from 13 to 16 in 2023.

In Cold Steel 2 we introduce another underage girl (Altina (12)). 

In Cold Steel 3 we bring back an underage girl (Tita (16), who is also already in a 10+year age gap relationship) and introduces 3 new ones (Jingo (12), Roselia, an 800 year old who takes the form of an underage girl and Celine a cat girl who also appears more underage (16)). 

In Cold Steel 4 we bring back another 3 (Renne (15/16), Kea (500yo who is 10) and Tio (15)). That is 12 underage girls (by Japanese standards), 10 of which are playable characters. 

Now how many playable underage male characters are there? If we go by Reverie, when they're all at their oldest in the arc’s, we now don't count Elliot who becomes 19 by Reverie, Swin is the youngest male at 15 and the only one under 18. That is 1 playable underage (by Japanese standards) male character! 

Simplified: Without Swin, 100% of male characters would be adults whereas only 50% of females are. [48% of the females are underage but only 4% of male characters are.] You don't need to explain it, we all know why and it needs to change.

18/29 Of Playable female characters (62%) are 18 or older (Claire, Elise (18), Juna (18), Sara, Emma, Laura, Fie, Ellie, Noel, Estelle, Sharon, Towa, Alisa, Duvalie, Angelica, Alfin (18), Aurelia, Vita).

21/22 Of Playable male characters (96%) are 18 or older (Swin (15), Ash (18)).

Total Sin Count: (27) (A.k.a. Icky Counter)

Alisa/Rean accident, 8 separate counts of Angelica’s “libido”, Fie comments on Emma’s Chest size in game, At least 2 counts of Elise explicitly crushing on her brother (and way more of others implying it), Alfin (a child) teasing Elise (a child) about lingerie, Alisa’s grandad being perverted about Alisa, Alfin teasing her brother Cedric about not behaving like a “man” at 15, Sara teasing Alisa to give a CPR demonstration, Alisa making comment on Emma’s chest size, 16 year old girls make their “debut” in society, Towa’s skimpy “strappy” band outfit, Crow suggesting sexualising women explicitly x2, Sharon being explicitly inappropriate towards Rean (a 17/18yo), Millium commenting on Emma’s chest size, Alfin encouraging Elise towards incest. 

Bonus sins: Margarita and her weight as a running joke. Rex’s photography of unaware girls (+ it being used as a story beat). Sexualising “jokes” in the physical media insert book comic.

About these sins…

Some people may read the list of sins and agree that all these small, unnecessary happenings bring down the game massively. Some people may simply not care or feel that it doesn't worsen the game for them. And some people may love this stuff and completely disagree with me, probably believing me to be prudish and nit-picky. While I would love to change people's minds on these common “trends” in Jrpg’s, I know that is a fruitless endeavour. The people who like these kinds of things will never change their minds (feel free to prove me wrong). 

Angelica is insufferable…

What an awful excuse of a character made to entertain open sexual harassment. Angelica is female for one reason, to get away with it. Even down to her tomboyish, faux lesbian traits. Either you can praise the gay representation and then realise that it doesn't paint gay people in a positive light, or you can see it as a masc. female created to behave as the realisation of male fantasies which hey, doesn't sound great either. Third option of “it isn't that deep”, I argue then why would it have been created at all? If nothing is ever “that deep” then the creators have no reason to include it to begin with aside from sheer entertainment's sake, and I would sincerely hope you don’t find that kind of “joke” funny. The same extends to Alisa‘s grandad, who is within the exact same trope but this time excused by his age instead (note how I didn't count his flirting with Sharon as a sin, as she is a fully grown woman who clearly has not before and does not care). The more you see these things in your media, the more you will think it is normal and acceptable, “product of the time” is no excuse. 

Not blood related…

If it wasn't obvious already, I do not care that Rean isn't “technically” related since he's adopted, it's gross and uncomfortable. At the end of the day he's a brother figure to Elise and this trope should never have been played out so continuously in this series. The adoption aspect is there as an excuse to obviously argue and distract away from the fact incest is entertained within the games. It changes nothing that you can have Rean reject her time and time again, it is completely unnecessary and unrelated to the game's universe and purpose. Media designed specifically to handle/raise certain topics are not the same as casual entertainment media and it should not be normalised. If you didn't like it in Cold Steel 1, you are going to be disappointed when I tell you it doesn't stop for any of the future games. Japan has a real problem with incest and when we see it in Jrpg’s we roll our eyes and try to ignore it because we enjoy what the rest of the game/media offers us. That sucks. I hate that I have to do that to play otherwise great games.