Trails of Persona

First ten-hour dive into 'The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel'.

The Legend of Heroes/Trails/Kiseki series is one of my favorite video game series, and I have been on record singing praises for Nihon Falcom’s JRPG magnum opus. I enjoyed the series so much that in my article about whether or not video games can be art, I used Trails from Zero as a positive example.

But far be it for me to claim to be a superfan. After all, I’ve only just played two games in that series: the aforementioned Trails from Zero and its direct sequel Trails to Azure; these two games form what I call the ‘Crossbell duology’ because they took place in the same setting (Crossbell) and centered around the same cast of characters.

I love these games. The story is memorable, the characters are enjoyable, and the gameplay is satisfying. But the strongest part of the series is easily the music. I’ll be honest, I’ve played the Trails soundtrack so many times I lost count. I’m pretty sure I’ve spent more time listening to these songs than playing the actual games.

So once more I returned to this series. I try to space out when I play these games because I don’t believe “binging” is a good way to enjoy media (it certainly isn’t a good way to enjoy food). I played through Trails from Zero in 2023 and Trails to Azure in 2024. This year? The awkwardly named Trails of Cold Steel¹.

From what I know, this is a mix of soft reboot and sequel to the previous games. It’s a little complicated, I hope to talk about it more in a future article. I haven’t gone too far into Cold Steel. So I’m not doing a deep dive into the game. I’m just giving my impression as someone who is currently doing a blind run² through the game. So far, I’m around 10 hours into the game. I have finished the Prologue and Chapter One of the game.

Knowing the Trails series, I’m sure I’ve barely scratched the surface of this game. But let’s get to it.

Cold as Steel

Here’s the premise for Trails of Cold Steel: You’re Rean Schwarzer, a student who had just enrolled in Thors Military Academy, the finest military academy in the Erebonian Empire (think fantasy Napoleonic era Germany undergoing a magical version of the industrial revolution).

Also, you’re skilled with the katana. Because swords are cool, especially Japanese swords³:

But for some reason, you were put into Class VII, an experimental cohort that doesn’t take into account social class nor background, an unprecedented thing given the feudalistic nature of Erebonian society.

Your classmates are:

• Elliot Craig: a timid and musically inclined boy who is kind of your best friend. He reminds me of Syrus from Yugioh GX.

• Gaius Worzel: a foreign exchange student and all around chill guy. If there are questions the player would ask about Erebonian society, he’s the most likely to ask them.

• Alisa R⁴: the female lead and the the game’s primary love interest. Kind of a tsundere⁵. More on her later.

• Machias Regnitz: the brilliant son of a powerful governor. Hates nobles for being arrogant but is an arrogant S.O.B. himself⁶.

• Jusis Albarea: A scion of a powerful noble house. Snooty and standoffish but has a good heart. Also likes to instigate if his initial relationship with Machias (one of mutual antipathy) is any indication.

• Laura S. Arseid: A knight’s noble daughter. Skilled with the blade.

• Emma Millstein: The bookish nerd girl.

• Fie Claussell: A reclusive girl who says very little (and for some reason seems younger than everyone else in the main cast).

So far, I found that these characters played their roles fairly well. Not that I find them particularly deep as characters (yet). I don’t really hate them nor do I particularly love them either. If I have to pick a favorite character so far, I guess it would be Fie⁷. Personally, I find myself relating to her very well; like her, I never care for high school. Not the studying and certainly not the social aspects.

This brings me to the premise of the story to which I alluded to in the title of this article: Trails of Persona. And yes, this game gave me strong Persona vibes. And as someone who once gave Persona 3 a try and never got very far, I wasn’t looking forward to this aspect of the game. If this game was not a part of the Trails series, I would not have picked it up.

My feelings on the whole “high school” vibe comes down to “it is what it is”. Personally, I’m not a fan of it at all. Then again, I also hated school, especially high school. So I never found the high school sim genre of video games to be appealing in the slightest.

Thankfully, Trails of Cold Steel doesn’t go too deep into the high school aspect the way the Persona games do. At least not as far as I can tell 10 hours in.

Unfortunately, the “high school” vibe did bleed into the character dynamics. This brings me to Alisa and her interactions with Rean. At first glance, Alisa is the main girl of the story. Even the cover of the game shows her sharing the main screen with Rean (as shown above). Naturally, the game pushes her to be the “main love interest” for Rean⁸.

Rean and Alisa from Trails of Cold Steel

Ok, cool. So how does the game show us that Rean and Alisa are meant to be a couple? How about having our hero accidentally pushing his face into the heroine’s… *ahem* “Victoria’s secret compartment”?

My reaction to that scene.

Afterwards, Alisa slapped Rean for being a “pervert” (of course). And then Alisa held a grudge against Rean for weeks on end (of course). But thankfully, the two eventually made up with one another, somewhat awkwardly.

I know it’s “anime” and it’s supposed to be funny, but I was not laughing. I guess I’m just not that part of the demographic. But this is what I mean by “high school”.

From Crossbell to Cold Steel

Compare this dynamic to that of the Crossbell duology/series and how they handled the “main couple”: Lloyd and Elie. Their first significant interaction was shortly after the party’s first mission. While shooting the breeze together, Lloyd learned how Elie, the President’s prim and proper granddaughter, was able to push her way into becoming a member of the Police Department despite not having gone through the proper training.

Lloyd and Elie from Trails from Zero

Lloyd was impressed by Elie’s skills and ingenuity, to the point where he felt that she was simply out of his league. But Elie saw differently; she in turn was impressed by the fact that Lloyd have already gotten his detective’s certifications at the young age of 18 (which showed Lloyd’s hardworking nature). Despite having only known each other for a few hours, there was already respect between the two.

It’s not a particularly explosive interaction and chances are, most players won’t remember it⁹. But this understated exchange laid the foundation for how their dynamic would develop. When later on Elie fell for Lloyd’s awkward (and unintentional) charms, it was believable because there was already a rapport between the two.

So far, this “vibe” is the biggest difference I can tell between Zero and Cold Steel. The premise of Trails from Zero is that you are police officers. The characters there are adults; young adults sure, but adults nonetheless. The premise of Trails of Cold Steel is that you are high school students. Basically kids who are not old enough to drink. And that’s not me saying it, that’s the game saying it through Instructor Sara of Class VII, the game’s authority figure who seems to spend more time getting drunk than actually teaching. Speaking of, let’s compare her to her counterpart in Trails from Zero: Chief Sergei of the Special Support Section (SSS).

On the surface, Sara and Sergei are very similar. They are both easygoing unconventional authority figures who prefer to take a “hands-off” approach with the people under their charge. Their purpose in their respective games is to give the main party a semblance of direction and otherwise get out of the way. But while Sergei is a grizzled hardboiled detective (right down to his smoking habit) who wouldn’t be out of place in a noir novel, Sara is a flirty young woman who likes to drink. She is a character who can only exist (as least in the way she is presented) in anime. If Trails of Cold Steel wasn’t an anime video game, I’d shudder to think what might have happened if she was left alone with Rean for an extended period of time.

That’s right I went there.

I’m sure there are hidden depths to Sara’s character, just as there are also hidden depths to Sergei’s character. But the point is in their first impressions; both games give off different vibes based on how their respective primary authority figures are presented.

Now this isn’t me criticizing Trails of Cold Steel for being “anime”. After all, the Crossbell games also have “anime tropes”. In fact, I’d say the entire Trails series makes heavy use of anime tropes. It’s far from my favorite aspect of the series. But you know what? I’ve made my peace with it.

Wrong video game series, lol.

I suppose it’s a matter of expectations. I came in hoping for a continuation of the Crossbell series, if not in story then at least in spirit. While it certainly does that, it also diverges enough that I can’t help but feel that something was lost along the way.

Closing

All that being said, I don’t want to give the impression that I hate the game. Far from it. I’m enjoying the game right now. If I’m not, I wouldn’t be spending 10+ hours on it. So far, I found the gameplay loop to be satisfying enough to keep going. The graphics, I found them serviceable. While I still prefer the 2D look of old Trails, I don’t mind “3D Trails”.

And of course, there’s the music. The normal battle theme alone makes the whole experience worth it:

So that’s the article right there. Obviously as I keep going through the game, my assessment of it will change. But until then, I stand by this post.

-Michael P. Marpaung (AKA Germanicus)

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1. Yeah I know what you’re all thinking:

In defense of Falcom, the title sounds cooler in the original Japanese (Sen no Kiseki)

2. Well, as blind as I can manage given that this game is over 10 years old.

3. So technically the below video is from the sequel, but I can’t find one that just shows his special attack from the first game. Also, I figured this one isn’t a spoiler at all.

4. If you play the game, her real last name is obvious early on even if you come into the game completely blind. But I’ll keep it “anonymous” for now since I haven’t gotten into the part where it was revealed in-story.

5. An anime character trope. Just look it up. Google it, Chuck!

6. Ironic.

7. Jusis the absolute troll who just knows how to press Machias’ buttons comes in at a close second.

8. As far as I can tell, the game has a “harem setup” where all the girls are viable love interests for Rean.

9. I honestly didn’t think much of it until I started playing Cold Steel.