The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III

The gameplay of Trails of Cold Steel III is similar to the previous two Trails of Cold Steel games, being a traditional Japanese role-playing video game with turn-based battles. An emphasis was made on speeding up battles, including making transitions into battle scenes more seamless, and being able to map out more battle commands to specific buttons rather than various menus, though battles are still primarily menu-based.[1] The game contains a new system called "Brave Order" which lets players expend a new resource built up during battle called "Brave Points "to get special effects such as buffs or heals.[2] The new "Break" system was also added, which adds a "Break Gauge" bar to enemies. Attacking an enemy depletes its break gauge bar, and when fully depleted the enemy is weakened for one turn.[3]

The game is a direct sequel to the prior two Trails of Cold Steel games, picking up one year after the events of Trails of Cold Steel II and after the Northern War in between the Imperial army of Erebonia and the Northern Jaegers of North Ambria. The story is centered around main character Rean Schwarzer, now a military professor, as well as his students, and the rest of his military school friends from the prior two entries, exploring subjects such as the mysterious origins of Rean's birth, and what the others have been up to since the events of the prior games.

While training his students, the new Class VII, Rean is ordered by the Imperial government to resolve numerous conflicts arising all across Erebonia (Mainly Ouroboros, who are trying to 'retake the Phantasmal Blaze Plan', stolen from underneath them by Chancellor Osborne in the previous game's finale) as part of the campus's field exercises, assisted by his former classmates in the old Class VII...

...But Rean and Class VII (New and Old) better not let their guard down, as Ouroboros and the Chancellor are plotting something that could engulf the entire continent in war, or something far more sinister...

Intentions to create a third Trails of Cold Steel game were announced as early as December 2015, at Nihon Falcom's 2015 shareholder's meeting.[4] Initial planning began in early 2016, though the development team was divided on which platforms the game should release for.[5] On one hand, the PlayStation Vita was preferred, due to its larger installed base in Japan, and prior entries in the series being released there. However, the team also wanted to consider using the much more powerful PlayStation 4, which would greatly help with the game's scope.[6] Full-scale development began around mid-2016.[5] Like the previous Trails of Cold Steel entries, it was developed using the PhyreEngine game engine.[7] The game was officially revealed in December 2016.[8][9] Unlike the previous two entries, no Vita or PlayStation 3 versions were developed.[10] It was mentioned in the shareholder's meeting that a deciding factor in developing the game for the PS4 was to help ensure higher international sales for the game as the PS4 had a much larger userbase in most countries outside of Japan at the time.[10][11][12] This premise was reiterated by Falcom president Toshihiro Kondo:

"Foreign sales have reached a point with both the Trails and Ys series and where we can't ignore them from a development angle anymore. Ys: Memories of Celceta, for example, sold more outside of Japan than it did inside of Japan. Because Vita has kind of been on the decline for a while outside of Japan, and because the PS4 userbase is pretty established elsewhere, we have begun shifting toward PS4 development".[12]

The Japanese release was initially scheduled for Q3 2017 for the PlayStation 4.[13] It was released in Japan for the PlayStation 4 on September 28, 2017.[14] Localization into English and French was handled by NIS America rather than Xseed Games, who localized the first two Trails of Cold Steel games.[15] The announcement that NIS America was taking over caused some concern among fans, due to the issues with the initial localization of Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana.[16] Initially set for a September 2019 release for PS4 in North America and Europe, it was later delayed to October 22.[17][18][19] A Nintendo Switch port by Engine Software was released in Japan on March 19 2020;[20][21] it was released in North America and Europe on June 30, 2020, and in Oceania on July 7.[22] A Microsoft Windows port by Engine Software and PH3 Games was released worldwide on March 23, 2020.[23] A Stadia version was released on April 1, 2021.[24]

After the positive reception of the first two Trails of Cold Steel games, journalists were generally enthusiastic for the prospect of a third entry, though many lamented the lack of a Vita version.[8][10][33][13]

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III received "generally favorable" reviews according to review aggregator Metacritic.[25][26] Reviewing the North American release, Nintendo Life called it an "excellent addition to the series", although they said it had slow pacing at times.[34] NintendoWire praised the "naturally brilliant" soundtrack, but did say it wasn't the easiest game for those unfamiliar with the storylines in prior games.[35] Frontline Gaming Japan praised the "strong narrative and exhaustive worldbuilding", as well as a "fun battle system" and payoff for long-term fans. They criticized the dated graphics and thought previous soundtracks in the series were stronger.[36]

• Official website
• NIS America portal