The Legend of Heroes continues in this newest installment with Trails of Cold Steel II! Come check out our The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II review to see why this is one of the best JRPG you gotta to have in your collection!

 

Despite the best efforts of military student Rean Schwarzer and his friends, forces much greater than they have swept the land of Erebonia into a full-blown civil war. After a terrible struggle, Rean awakens in the mountains near his hometown, uncertain what fate befell his classmates and comrades.

Though the road will not be an easy one, Rean decides to take up his sword again, in search of his friends and a way to end the conflict before its price becomes far too dear…

– Clear data from Trails of Cold Steel carries over, granting bonus stats, extra items, and personalized conversations.
– Bonding with allies continues to pay off with the Combat Link System, while the new Overdrive mode allows linked characters to attack up to three turns in a row.
– Find and recruit dozens of fellow Thors attendees to gain exclusive shops, goods, training modes, systems, and colorful dialogue.
– Travel the world on horseback, bike, or airship!

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II – Launch Trailer

Last year EdEN and I had the opportunity to review The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel. It was a deep RPG that reminded us of gems in the Final Fantasy and Persona series while also being able to stand on its own overall. Back then we knew the sequel was already available in Japan and that it would eventually make its way here, hence why I’m doing this review for you today.

I’m sure one of the main questions people will ask especially is: “Can I jump into this one without playing the first?” The answer to that is: yes! This is easy to do since the game has a menu with backstory on the first game’s chapters and characters. But those of you who DID finish the previous game will be able to use your clear save data from that in the sequel and this will give you some bonuses and different dialogue choices as you play the sequel, so there is that too. It’s the best of both worlds!

As the story is a direct continuation of the first game, which ended on a cliffhanger, I don’t really want to go into the specifics of what happens with Rean and the rest of Class VII. Just be prepared for a very different story due to the events of the first game and it separating itself well from the original.

The gameplay is very similar to the first title which was to be expected. Enemies are visible on the maps, and you can wait and choose on how to attack them, gaining a valuable advantage in combat. Once in combat, you have turn based combat with the enemies the game will show who attacks next on the side of the screen allowing you to plan your attacks.

Character Linking is back as well, allowing you to pair your characters on the field to gain extra attacks. This brings us to one of the new big additions in the sequel: OVERDRIVE attacks. When your linked characters fill their OVERDRIVE meters, you can get three consecutive uninterrupted turns for attacking, a CP and a health boost, and all of your attacks will be followed by a chance for your partner to attack too. Do this at the right time and it will completely change the course of battle.

Other facets of the first game still exist including using Quartz to power your ARCUS devices, thus gaining new abilities and spells. You can choose to save your CP for a big all out attack with your S-Crafts for big damage or use them for smaller attacks throughout the battle. I found myself saving them for bosses, as bosses had an annoying habit to heal a big portion of their health back when almost dead.

As a PS3 game, this one looks great, but the engine is showing its age – the character models are noticeably stiffer and more polygonal than games from the PS4 generation. But the worlds are big and distinct. The enemy types are very different, and the boss fights generally bring a huge amount of scale to the game making it feel more epic than it already is.

The game has a Platinum trophy which we were expecting. It also has two Gold and ten Silver trophies, with the rest being bronze. As with most RPG, obtaining all the trophies is very grindy, requiring a huge investment of time and two full playthroughs. If you have the time for this, good luck!

One final note about the game, as I have spent most of the past few years playing games on PS4, I have come to love the Dual Shock 4 controller over the Dual Shock 3 with the PS3. The Dual Shock 4 can be setup to work with the PS3, but not all games are compatible. Unfortunately, Trails of Cold Steel II is not Dual Shock 4 compatible. This was a bit disappointing for me. It’s not a deal breaker, but something to consider.

Final Thoughts

We are getting another strong entry in The Legend of Heroes series thanks to Trails of Cold Steel II and a strong follow up that takes everything the first one did right and making it better. I’m really excited to see where things go in the next entry, because after writing my he Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II review I’m certainly ready for more!

[review
pros=”Battle System
Character Growth
The World and Lore” cons=”Engine is starting to its show age.” score=90]

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Cost: $39.99

PSN Game size: 4.5 GB

You can purchase The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II from the PSN store

Disclaimer

This The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II review is based on a PS3 copy of provided by XSEED Games.

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