The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III: Early Enrollment Edition (PS4) EXPIRED

Thanks. I have the first two on the PS3 on my backlog, might as well round out the set.

Wish they'd do a trilogy set for $60 or something, would really love to have the whole series at a discount.

Quote from BamBamSchlam : Wish they'd do a trilogy set for $60 or something, would really love to have the whole series at a discount.

I'd love all the games on Switch, personally.

I'm playing through the first game in the "Trails of" series (Sky, so five games before this one). The writing and handling of the NPCs is very well done, better than nearly all RPGs out there.

If you have the patience for it, starting at "Trails in the Sky" and working through that trilogy helps the Cold Steel games make a lot more sense, but...be prepared for a few hundred hours of commitment if you really want to be invested in the full game lore/world.

What franchise is this like? Dragon Quest?

Trials in the Sky took time to grow on me. When it did I was treated to endearing characters, lovely art and music.

I really wish Cold Steel had a more similar visual style.

Quote from PeterL7956 : What franchise is this like? Dragon Quest?

It's difficult to compare these games since there aren't very many made like this anymore. But DQ is one of the closer ones I suppose. It definitely has some strong influences from Persona games and anime in general. Also if someone liked the school setting of Fire Emblem 3 Houses, the Cold Steel games did something similar (although they did it first and better, in my opinion).

Quote from Taikeron : If you have the patience for it, starting at "Trails in the Sky" and working through that trilogy helps the Cold Steel games make a lot more sense, but...be prepared for a few hundred hours of commitment if you really want to be invested in the full game lore/world.

As someone who has invested multiple playthroughs into all the games (even the unlocalized ones), I fully agree. These are my favorite games currently being developed.
Trails in the Sky FC and SC is defintely the best place to start for people in it for the long haul and don't mind playing a dated-looking game on steam (pc). My recommendation to people is to, if possible, at least start with CS1.

Cold Steel III is a solid entry in an amazing series of games. A switch version will be released later this year. While I'm happy that this means more exposure and more people enjoying the game, I will say that CSIII is not the best starting point. Taking the ending in account, I'd actually say CSIII is the least stand-alone game of them all. You can certainly enjoy and mostly understand the game without any of the previous games. But there will be a lot of appreciation missed since what these games do best is a detailed world setting and long-reaching character development.

Edit: I'll also add that Cold Steel 1-2 were localized by xseed while that changed with Cold Steel III to NISA. For this reason, I would not count on there ever being all the entries in one compilation (for the US at least). I would also not expect to see CS1&2 on switch at any point.

Quote from WilliamG : I'd love all the games on Switch, personally.

3rd one is coming to NS. Pretty sure they'll postpone ports for 1/2 until they gauage interest with CSIII.

Quote from Peerless_Warrior : 3rd one is coming to NS. Pretty sure they'll postpone ports for 1/2 until they gauage interest with CSIII.

Well, I'd like to play the first ones before playing this new one, so not sure how well that'll pan out.

Quote from PeterL7956 : What franchise is this like? Dragon Quest?

I'll get blown away with down votes here, but it's best compared to boring persona. I only played the first 7ish hours of the first game, but it's like they took all the charm and fun and personality of persona and wrang it out as hard as they could. What's left is a shell of the same game with a very serious and uninteresting plot line, clichéd over the top Japanese style characters, and dialog I couldn't be bothered to read.

Persona is fun for the friendships and mysterious storyline. Replace the mystery with a super dry story about military living and a caste system and you can almost imagine how boring it is.

Maybe I didn't give the series enough time to open up, but with so many good games available, waiting 15 hours for a game to interest me isn't practical.

The price is a little too high.

Do I have to play the first 2 games? Is this a continuation or new story/characters?

The world building in this series is absolutely incredible. All the games build your understanding of the world and allow you to really be invested in the characters and the events. There are many references and relatable moments from the other games, but it still manages to be fresh and new with each installment of the series. Truly an experience if you give it the time, not just a game.

Recommend you play trails of cold steel 1 and 2 prior, although not required. It gives you a much better understanding and appreciation of the events in cold steel 3 if you personally experience cold steel 1 and 2.