The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III Reviews
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III is overall a great game and a good port.
It doesn’t matter if it’s the first, second, or tenth time that I’m playing this game; my opinion of this game is always going to be the same. Building upon an already impressive legacy, The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III continues to live up to—and in many cases—exceed my expectations of what a contemporary JRPG masterpiece aught to be.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III is among one of Falcom's strongest JRPG games yet. The story of Rean Schwarzer heats up while bringing past characters into the present story, setting up an epic conflict across the world of Trails. Coupled with an excellent soundtrack, fun combat system and insane story twists, Trails of Cold Steel III is a shining example for JRPGs going forward.
Trails of Cold Steel III is a fantastic RPG with deep gameplay mechanics and a dense world to explore, but not one I’d feel comfortable recommending to those unfamiliar with the series.
Apart from the typos and framerate issues near the end of the game, I don’t have any other grievances. Well, besides Millium’s voice actor being recast, but no one likes a recast voice actor when it comes to their fave characters. Overall, I adored Trails of Cold Steel III. Even without any experience with earlier story arcs, as a Cold Steel fan, this game felt like it was just for me. All of the characters are overflowing with charm and personality and the continuation of Rean’s journey one-hundred percent sucked me in. Honestly, I think this is the most well paced title in the Erebonia arc so far. It didn’t feel like it dragged on forever in the beginning and it kept a good pace the majority of the time. CS3 is around a hundred hours long when doing optional quests but rushing through battles. It’s just as long if not longer than CS2, which I admittedly complained a bit too much about in my previous Cold Steel review. In the end though, I had a ton of fun and suddenly realized that I’ve found myself having to wait for the next game, which is going to be quite agonizing. I only hope I get the chance to play it eventually and then I can finish this series of Trails of Cold Steel reviews. Don’t let the change in localization companies scare you away. While it isn’t ideal, if you’re a fan of The Legend of Heroes, or Cold Steel alone, I highly recommend picking this one up anyways.
Trails of Cold Steel III was a very fun RPG, containing all the good parts from II which I loved, with better pacing thanks to the Turbo Mode, and a story that sets up the next entry rather well. The story’s the main draw for returning fans, and newcomers are better off starting from Cold Steel I, but if you can only join in on this entry due to the Switch exclusivity, then you will still be able to get tons of fun from this game. Just be absolute sure to beat this before starting Cold Steel IV, as that’s definitely not a game to make your first under any circumstance, recaps be dammed. Thankfully, Cold Steel III is well worth a full playthrough, even if it’ll take you quite a bit to do so.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III is one of the best entries in the long-running series. It has a very good, complex and balanced combat system. It continues the epic and massive story of Erebonian Arc and will be an experience with lots of references to previous installments. Despite the very beautiful art design, the technical aspect of the visual is outdated and doesn’t look very good. At all, The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel 3 is a must-buy for the series fan but if you didn’t play previous games, to completely enjoy the epic and complex story of this franchise, I think it is better to start with them.
Review in Persian | Read full review
Trails of Cold Steel III is a phenomenal RPG that genre fans need to play. After completing it and watching how it ends, I absolutely cannot wait to play the fourth and final game in this incredible series.
Trails of Cold Steel III is an excellent game that, once again, takes the foundations of the previous ones and builds on them a better, more mature and refined experience. Its main problem is the plot barrier with which you can find yourself if you are new to these leaders. Nothing, of course, that is not solved with a good afternoon of Wikipedia. So, for the third time, I have no choice but to recommend it as strongly as possible. If you like the genre and have no problems with English, The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III is a game that will have you dozens of hours diving in one of the best built universes and with greater continuity and coherence that I remember. See you, for the third time, at Thors Academy.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
The Legend of Heroes - Trails of Cold Steel 3 is the perfect continuation for the series. With the first two chapters telling their story to completion it could be hard to see where things go next with the same protagonist but with his new direction in life? It works really well. From learning in the classrooms and the battlefield to teaching students about both, the only thing left is to wait for Trails of Cold Steel 4 and not spoil it for yourselves as it was released last year and it could be some time before we get our hands on it.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel 3 is an excellent role-playing game of classic style, absolutely unmissable for the veterans of the saga. Everyone else may find themselves overwhelmed by excessive references, compromising the experience.
Review in Italian | Read full review
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III is a narratively rich role-playing game, with deep and well-drawn characters and stories ranging from epic to tragic, without dwelling too much on stereotypes, an almost physiological element of this genre. Too bad for the absence of the first two chapters in Nintendo Switch's game library. Though exhaustive and rich in detail, in fact, the various summaries in the start screen can not make up for the lack of "playful experience" that only a direct use can return.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Falcom did it again: The Legend of Heroes Trails of Cold Steel III is probably their best work up to date, and on of the best JRPgs available for Playstation 4 and PC. The only downside is that you'll need to have played both Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 to better appreciate the writing and story.
Review in Italian | Read full review
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III may not be a good place to start for the newcomers but it is a great JRPG title nonetheless. The story takes some time to get in a good rhythm but when it really starts it hits the ground running, the visuals may not be the best thing out there but the developers have made some improvements compared to the previous titles in the series and the gameplay is better than it has ever been.
Review in Persian | Read full review
With its solid gameplay mechanics, excellent world-building and character development, The Legend Of Heroes: Trails Of Cold Steel III is an excellent Japanese role-playing and a more than worthy new entry in the long-running series. Some small flaws like slow pacing do not impact the experience as much as the lack of knowledge about the entire series do, which lessens the impact of several events and plot development. This makes Trails of Cold Steel III a game that must be played only after the previous two entries in the series have been completed.
Graphics aside, The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III is a story-driven experience that delivers that in spades. It's more than enough to make up for some of the shortcomings and is a more intricate story than you'd probably expect. That being said, if story isn't your thing, gameplay and graphics are nothing special. Nothing about them ruins the experience, they're just not on the same level as the story. So if you want to get sucked into a fascinating world, it's hard to say no, though if you're just in it for the gameplay, you might want to look elsewhere.
Whether you’ve been a fan from the beginning or you’re starting out now, The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III is a fine JRPG. It may have an overwhelmingly rich history, but there’s plenty of elements in place to help newcomers.
Trails of Cold Steel III is a must for all fans of the series. Despite some improvements on the more powerful systems, the graphics can no longer impress as much as on the small Vita screen, but it is technically solid and again a top RPG in terms of content. But be careful: interested players should definitely play at least the two direct predecessors beforehand, and ideally even the sister series Trails in the Sky. The more you get to know the world and characters beforehand, the more you can enjoy Cold Steel III.
Review in German | Read full review
Trails of Cold Steel 3 is launching after a long wait between the first two entries and while the game manages to deliver on expectations, there are a few blemishes that hold it back from becoming the best chapter in this epic saga.
Trails of Cold Steel III marks another school year full of adrenaline-pumping battles, interesting new faces, and unexpected hardships amidst political turmoil