It’s hard to explain the sheer scale of the Erebonian Empire to someone who hasn't spent 300 hours living in it. Most RPGs give you a kingdom, a villain, and a credits roll. Then you move on. But The Legend of Heroes Trails of Cold Steel isn't most games. It’s a massive, four-part political epic that refuses to let you go. Honestly, it’s less of a game series and more of a playable novel that happens to have giant robots and a turn-based combat system that ruins other JRPGs for you.
When Rean Schwarzer first steps off the train at Trista to join Thors Military Academy, it feels like a cozy school simulator. You’ve got your classmates in Class VII, your student council chores, and your occasional dungeon crawl. It feels safe. It feels familiar. But Falcom, the developer, is playing a very long game here. They spent four full entries—and arguably three previous games in the Trails in the Sky and Crossbell arcs—setting the stage for a continental war that actually feels earned.
The scope is terrifying.
The Politics of Erebonia Are Way Too Real
Most fantasy games use "the empire" as a lazy shorthand for "the bad guys." In The Legend of Heroes Trails of Cold Steel, the Empire is a living, breathing, bureaucratic mess. You see the tension between the Noble Alliance and the Reformist Faction not just in cutscenes, but in the way NPCs talk to you. If you talk to a merchant in Bareahard, they’ll complain about the provincial army's taxes. If you visit the capital of Heimdallr, you feel the industrial revolution pushing the old world out.
It’s about the friction between tradition and progress.
The series handles this through the eyes of Class VII. They are a social experiment. You’ve got Jusis Albarea, the son of a high-ranking Duke, sitting next to Machias Regnitz, the son of the Reformist Governor. They hate each other. Initially, their bickering is annoying, but watching that animosity turn into a genuine, hard-won respect over the course of the civil war is some of the best character writing in the genre. It's not just a "power of friendship" trope; it's a "we have to find a third way because both of our parents are destroying the country" realization.
Combat That Actually Respects Your Time
Let’s talk about the ARCUS system. JRPGs often fall into the trap of being "press X to win" or requiring mindless grinding. Cold Steel avoids this by making positioning matter. You aren't just standing in a line. You’re moving characters around the field to maximize Area of Effect (AoE) attacks and Link Levels.
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The Link System is the heart of it.
When you attack an enemy and unbalance them, your partner jumps in for a follow-up. It creates a rhythm. By the time you get to Trails of Cold Steel III and IV, the Brave Order system turns the difficulty on its head. You can manipulate the turn order, break enemy guards, and unleash "S-Breaks" that feel like a literal tactical nuke. It’s fast. You can high-speed mode through the animations, which is a godsend because, let’s be real, you’ve seen Rean’s "Termination Slash - Dawn" five hundred times. You still want to see it, just maybe at 4x speed.
The NPC Problem (Or Why You Should Talk to Everyone)
Here is where the game gets "obsessive." In most games, an NPC says one line of dialogue and stays there for 40 hours. In The Legend of Heroes Trails of Cold Steel, the NPCs have lives. If you talk to a student in the library during Chapter 1, they might be studying for an exam. In Chapter 2, they’re stressed about their grades. By Chapter 4, they’ve started a relationship with someone from the gardening club.
If you ignore the "green exclamation point" NPCs, you’re missing half the game.
Take "The Orbal Gear" obsessed kids or the various members of the school's many clubs. Their subplots mirror the main story's themes. When the war eventually breaks out in Cold Steel II, seeing these civilian characters you’ve grown to know get caught in the crossfire hits harder than any scripted death of a main hero. You care because you watched them study for history midterms.
Why the "Trails" Timeline Can Be Intimidating
The biggest barrier to entry is the "Where do I start?" question.
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Technically, Cold Steel I was designed as an entry point. It works. It introduces the world well. But if you haven't played Trails in the Sky or the Azure/Zero games, you will eventually feel like you walked into a party three hours late. By the time Cold Steel IV rolls around, characters from every previous game show up. It’s the Avengers: Endgame of JRPGs.
- Sky Trilogy: Estelle and Joshua’s journey in Liberl. Essential for understanding the "Ouroboros" organization.
- Crossbell Dilogy: Lloyd Bannings and the SSS. This happens simultaneously with Cold Steel I and II.
- Cold Steel Tetralogy: Rean’s story. The backbone of the modern era.
Is it a lot? Yes. Is it worth it? Absolutely. There is no other series that rewards your memory like this one. A passing mention of a character in a book you read in the first game might become a major boss fight three games later.
The Rean Schwarzer Controversy
People have opinions about Rean. Some call him a "harem protagonist" because, yes, every female character in the game eventually develops feelings for him. It can be a bit much. If you play the games back-to-back, the "bonding events" start to feel a little repetitive.
But Rean is a more complex protagonist than he gets credit for. He’s someone who deeply hates himself. He fears the power inside him—the "Ogre Power"—and his arc is essentially a long, painful struggle to accept that he is more than a weapon of the state. He isn't a "chosen one" who is happy about it. He’s a guy who keeps getting forced into the spotlight by a father who is the primary antagonist of the entire region. It’s a heavy burden, and the voice acting (shout out to Sean Chiplock in the English dub) sells that exhaustion perfectly.
Navigating the Middle-Chapter Slump
I’ll be honest: Cold Steel II and Cold Steel III have some pacing issues.
Cold Steel II has a "search and rescue" act that feels like it could have been ten hours shorter. Cold Steel III basically resets the status quo by making Rean a teacher, which is cool, but it repeats some of the structural beats of the first game. You visit a new town, do some quests, explore a "Gnostic" dungeon, and move on.
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But the payoffs? They are nuclear.
The endings of these games are notorious for "The Falcom Cliffhanger." You will finish a game at 2:00 AM, staring at the screen in total shock, immediately reaching for the next installment. The ending of Cold Steel III in particular is one of the most audacious "to be continued" moments in gaming history.
Practical Tips for Your First Playthrough
If you’re diving in now, don't play on "Normal" if you’ve ever touched a turn-based game before. Go "Hard." The systems are so deep that you'll quickly become overpowered if you don't have the enemies pushing back.
- Quartz Management: Focus on "Delay" early on. If you can keep the enemy from ever taking a turn, you win. It’s a bit broken, but satisfying.
- Talk to Everyone: Seriously. After every major story beat, NPC dialogue resets.
- The Books: Collect the in-game novels (like Red Moon Rose). They provide lore that the main cutscenes don't have time for.
- Transfer Saves: If you play on the same platform, your choices and levels carry over in various ways. It’s worth the consistency.
What’s Next for the Series?
The Erebonia arc officially ends with Cold Steel IV, but the story continues in Trails into Reverie, which acts as an epilogue for both Rean and Lloyd. After that, the series moves to the Republic of Calvard in the Daybreak games.
The beauty of The Legend of Heroes Trails of Cold Steel is that it is a finite piece of a much larger puzzle. It’s a massive investment of time, but it’s one of the few series that treats its world with actual reverence. It doesn't reboot. It doesn't retcon. It just builds and builds until you feel like you’ve actually lived through a continental crisis.
Your Next Steps
- Check the platforms: The entire Cold Steel series is available on Steam and PlayStation 4/5. The Switch has some entries, but availability varies by region (NIS America vs. XSEED publishing).
- Decide on your entry point: If you can handle older graphics, start with Trails in the Sky FC. If you need modern 3D visuals to stay engaged, start with Cold Steel I, but keep a YouTube lore summary handy for the references you'll inevitably miss.
- Manage your time: Each game is 60-100 hours. Don't rush. The joy is in the slow burn, the political maneuvering, and the small moments between classmates in the Thors dormitories.
The Empire is waiting. Just make sure you're ready for the emotional damage when the music starts to swell and the "To Be Continued" screen hits.