The Legend of Heroes series: My history and perspective

My history with the Legend of Heroes series is, admittedly, rather limited so far. The first entry I played was Trails in the Sky on the PS Vita, but I only ever progressed about 3 or so hours in before dropping it. It wasn’t for lack of enjoyment or interest in the game or series, but rather a prior knowledge of the herculean length and breadth of the series and each title in particular that held me back. This and finding out that the PSP version I was playing was actually the lesser version compared to the better version available on Steam. And, I might add, the initial slowness to the opening hours of the game didn’t help in terms of drawing me back in.

Fast forward to a year or so later (sometime around 2012) and I had just finished playing through Persona 3 Portable and Persona 4: Golden on my Vita. I had adored these two games in large part for their stories, modern settings, soundtracks, turn-based combat, and characters — but most of all for their inclusion of social sim bonding gameplay with romantic options for the protagonist. Never had I played any other series that allowed me to choose who the main character would spend their time with, choosing dialogue options, and picking which love interest they would pursue. I loved it and I wanted more.

Several years passed, Persona 5 had not yet released in the States, and I was desperate to play another JRPG that would offer me similar social sim bonding gameplay. That’s when, upon searching on google for “similar games to Persona” I discovered that the Trails of Cold Steel series (I and II) included this very feature alongside heavy character interactions, story, and turn-based combat. Vita titles had yet to shoot up in price, but I had a feeling that these lesser known titles would eventually do just that, so I purchased both physically on Amazon and anxiously awaited their arrival.

That year, I believe in quarter 4 of 2017, I dived head first into Cold Steel I and immediately found myself immersed in Class VII, the world of Erebonia, the catchy soundtrack by Falcom JDK, the charming PS2-ish graphics, the main protagonist Rean and the unfolding of a grand sweeping story. I loved getting to spend time during free days choosing who I’d have Rean spend time bonding with — I struggled to choose his romantic interest between Towa, Laura, and Alisa. And I absolutely LOVED the ability to “retry and weaken enemies” when I’d hit insanely difficult boss fights in order to continue to progress the story at my own pace. I knew this series was for me, but towards the end of the game I had began to become a little burned out on the repetitious gameplay loop of field studies back to exploring the old school house. And despite taking the cliffhanger ending bait, hook, and sinker, I knew I needed a little time off before I continued my journey with the fledgling bracers, err… military academy students. Ultimately, I still put Cold Steel II in and played through the initial opening hours (because I couldn’t wait to see what happened to Rean and the rest of class VII) but other games won over and I set it aside, promising I’d pick it back up again at some point.

It’s the end of 2021. I’ve just completed my 25th game for the year with Persona 5 Strikers, and I’m thinking it may be best to spend the last several weeks of the year jumping in and out of whatever games *strike my mood. However, the discipline I’d been practicing all year in committing to playing through one game at a time (as opposed to juggling several titles and failing to see them through to the end) was strong and I couldn’t shake the idea of attempting to wrap up one more title before the years end. As I was contemplating several of the games I’d previously put some time into, I kept thinking about how much I wanted to play my physical copies or Cold Steel III and IV. I picked Cold Steel II back up and never looked back. After hitting the 10-15 hour mark, the game opened up and the gameplay loop felt fresh and exciting. I found myself entirely absorbed yet again in the meticulously crafted world, exploring the deepening bonds between the main and supporting cast, following Rean and the Divine Knight, Valimar on their quest to save the land from the threats of war and an ever looming darkness. Upon hitting the closing credits, 2 days before I would wake up to the year 2022, I knew which game I’d pick up next — Cold Steel III. And despite every elitist Trails of fan demanding everyone “play the Sky trilogy and Crossbell duology before playing Cold Steel III and IV” I chose to semi-respectfully ignore that and instead press on. And I couldn’t be more thankful I did. So far, 10 or so hours in, I’m loving Cold Steel III even more than II. And, if anything, to the contrary of the elitist demand, I’m actually finding myself more excited to eventually go back to play the Sky and Crossbell games and to discover, in retrospect, the events that led to where and when those characters make their appearance in the Cold Steel arc. This has been my journey with the the Legend of Heroes series so far. And I couldn’t be more thankful that I still have so many more games to play over the next several years before I’ll officially be caught up. With the officially announced western releases for the Crossbell duology later this year and in 2023 for Azure and Reverie, and my Steam Deck reservation stating I’ll get mine around quarter 3 (to play the Sky trilogy on handheld in their best versions) the future is looking very, very bright. One might even venture to say “Estelle Bright”…