#The Legend Of Heroes: Trails Of Cold Steel 3

[akiizayoi4869]

I need to talk about one of my favorite video game villains of all time for a minute.

This guy. The one who I'm pretty sure a lot of people who played The Legend Of Heroes: Trails Of Cold Steel 3 and 4, probably ended up hating for how much of a dick he was in those two games. His change in behavior and attitude in the later games didn't make me hate him, though. In fact, it made me like his character even more because it was pretty easy to understand why Cedric ends up like that when you consider the events of the finale in the second Cold Steel game:

He was kidnapped by Duke Cayenne during the Civil War in Erebonia and was forced into one of the seven divine knights, Testarossa, which went completely berserk since Cedric was unable to control it's power at the time. As a result, he was forced to fight against Class VII, who ended up saving him, but at a great cost to one of their own classmates. Crow ends up dying, trying to break Cedric free from Testarossa. Cedric saw all of this happening before his eyes and couldn't do anything to stop it. So it's really no wonder that, when we see him again in Cold Steel 3, his demeanor has changed entirely, and he's obsessed with obtaining power. He goes from the sweet, innocent boy whom we are introduced to in the first Trails of Cold Steel game into someone who is pretty much unrecognizable and with his own little crew.

His sudden change was a shock to me at first. I really wasn't expecting it at all, especially since when he first appeared, he spoke politely. It wasn't until his conversation with Rean on the school rooftop later on that day that we see just how much he's actually changed. The conversation starts out well enough, with Cedric thanking Rean for saving him in the last game. We can clearly see what happened back then really took its toll on Cedric, and that it still weighed heavily on him.

He tells Rean that during the summer after that incident, he got very sick and, as a result, was unable to start school at Thors Military Academy until the following year. Nothing seems odd... until Cedric proposes that Rean should transfer to teahc at Cedric's school, the main campus of Thors Military Academy. This is when we see his demeanor start to change. He talks down about the branch campus and says that someone like Rean is better suited for the main campus, which Cedric holds in high regard in comparison to the branch campus. Rean's students eventually find them on the rooftop, and Cedric is cold towards them, especially to Kurt. He then leaves, but not before saying that he'll be back to hear Rean's response to his demands another day.

Over the course of the game, we see just how much Cedric changed. He's competitive, thinks that power is everything, and absolutely hates weakness. He constantly talks down to others and doesn't care how he makes them feel as a result. The end of Cold Steel 3 really showed just how far Cedric was willing to go to get what he wanted.

He attempts to kill another one of Rean's students, Altina, so that she could become the sword of the end, which was needed to bring about the Great Twilight. He was also completely ok with having his older brother and two other people killed to accomplish this goal (even though as we saw in the 4th game, he was relieved to see that his brother has survived). These two acts really shocked me, because not only did it show a stark contrast to who Cedric was before versus who he was now, it highlighted just how much the events of Cold Steel 2 really changed him, and not for the better.

Cedric becomes one of the main antagonists of Cold Steel 4, and he proves himself as a strong enemy to take down. He was way more of a jerk here than in Cold Steel 3, and it has really seemed as if he has gone off the deep end for good. Then we get to the final chapter of Cold Steel 4, where Cedric is one of the final boss battle fights. He's still the same condescending jerk that he's been for a while now, but everything changes when Juna asked him one question: "What are you so afraid of?" Then all of a sudden, the truth comes out: Cedric was being controlled by the influence of Ishmelga, thanks to Chancellor Osborne and Franz Reinford. Now, this certainly doesn't excuse what Cedric has done up to this point, but it certainly explained why he was willing to go so far all of a sudden, when he hadn't been like that before. It was as if Juna asking him that question had suddenly opened a dam though, because this was what finally made Cedric return to how he used to be. What I absolutely loved about this is that he doesn't try and use Ishmelga as an excuse for the things that he did. He owns up to his actions and sets out to atone for them.

What he eventually chooses to do though was shocking, but it made sense: he decides to join Oroboros, leaving his friends and family behind.

Just as he says, if he stayed with all of them, he knew that he would be forgiven in spite of everything and he wouldn't really have any consequences for his actions. So joining Oroboros as a way to atone for what he did was the right call imo. Cedric's arc is probably one of my favorite ones in Cold Steel 3 and 4. It was very well done and Falcom handled him really well, and I can't wait to see more of him in future games.

[gzeidraws]

CS2 and 3 Rean-mashup, wielding a variant of Noah's Lucky Seven!

A commission for @crispytp (thank you!!)

[morgenstern16]

[marsaovo]

still so salty i didnt get to see them in cold steel 3

[inkedmyths]

The full con crew this time!

[they-have-the-same-va]

Legion from Mass Effect 2 and 3 shares a voice actor with Rufus Albarea and Valimar from the Legend of Heroes series.

Voiced by D.C. Douglas

[reveriecorridor]

Trails of Cold Steel II >> Reverie Corridor

[rehncohro]

My top 5 most played Steam games.

[fantasygamer93youtube]

Principal Le Guin's Bold Welcome Speech Trails Of Cold Steel 3 #ColdStee...

[datcloudboi]

List of Video Games turning ten (10) years old in 2025

Alone in the Dark: Illumination (if you thought the AitD game from last year was bad, check this shit out).

Angry Birds 2 (yes, there was a 2).

Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer

Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival (two AC games from 2015 and neither of them were what people wanted).

Assassin's Creed Syndicate (the Bri'ish one).

Atelier Shallie

Axiom Verge

Batman: Arkham Knight

Battlefield: Hardline (the last game from Visceral Games, the guys who made the Dead Space series).

The Beginner's Guide (the second game from the creator of The Stanley Parable).

Bloodborne (anything for the 10th anniver-- no. Never gonna happen).

Broken Age

Call of Duty: Black Ops III

Chibi-Robo! Zip Lash

Cities: Skylines

Crypt of the NecroDancer

Devil's Third (one of the rarest Wii U games ever).

Disgaea 5: Alliance of Vengeance

Disney Infinity 3.0

Dragon Ball XenoVerse (the first one. not the second).

Dying Light

Evolve (these guys would go on to make Back 4 Blood).

Fallout 4

Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water

Final Fantasy Type-0 HD

Game of Thrones (the Telltale game)

Guitar Hero Live

Halo 5: Guardians

Hatred (a game so edgy and terrible that it got itself kicked off of Steam).

Helldivers (the first one).

Heroes of the Storm (the Blizzard MOBA).

Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number

HuniePop (for all you pervs out there).

I Am Bread

Just Cause 3

Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes (the quintessential VR game)

Kerbal Space Program

Kirby and the Rainbow Curse (one of the few Wii U games that hasn't been ported to the Switch. And probably never will be).

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D

The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes

Lego Dimensions (a crossover game with about a billion different franchises).

Lego Jurassic World

Life is Strange (controversial opinion: I sacrificed Chloe and felt nothing).

Mario Party 10 (the only MP on the Wii U)

Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate (back when the 3DS was single-handedly keeping MH alive)

Mortal Kombat X

Need for Speed (the reboot)

The Order: 1886

Ori and the Blind Forest

Pillars of Eternity

Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon

Prison Architect

Rainbow Six: Siege

Rare Replay

Resident Evil: Revelations 2

Rise of the Tomb Raider

Rock Band 4

Rocket League

Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell (RIP Volition. You were too good for the modern day).

Shadowrun: Hong Kong

Skylanders: SuperChargers

Soma (the best horror game ever made. Play it if you haven't yet).

Splatoon

Star Wars: Battlefront (the EA reboot).

StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void (RIP StarCraft. You were too good for modern day Blizzard).

Steven Universe: Attack the Light!

Story of Seasons (the very fight one)

Super Mario Maker

Tales from the Borderlands (the best thing that Telltale EVER made).

Tales of Zestiria

Tembo the Badass Elephant (published by Sega and developed by Game Freak... the Pokemon guys).

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5

Total War: Attila

Transformers: Devastation (RIP PlatinumGames. You... kinda started sucking after Astral Chain).

Undertale (yep, it's happening).

Until Dawn

Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (just in time for the 4th game)

Wolfenstein: The Old Blood (remember, kids: Nazi lives don't matter).

Xenoblade Chronicles X (finally escaping the Wii U this year).

Yakuza 5

Yo-Kai Watch

Yoshi's Woolly World

[akiizayoi4869]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: 英雄伝説 閃の軌跡 | Sen no Kiseki | The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel Series (Video Games) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Alisa Reinford/Rean Schwarzer Characters: Alisa Reinford, Rean Schwarzer, Juna Crawford Additional Tags: Sen no Kiseki III | Trails of Cold Steel III Spoilers, Not sure if I should use the spoiler tag, Since I'm sure everyone has played the game at this point, But I'll use it anyway Summary:

Rean notices that something has been bothering Alisa ever since they returned from Stargazer's Tower, and decides to confront her about it.

[smash-64]

2023 Game of the Year Countdown #1 The Legend of Heroes: Trails into Reverie Nintendo Switch, 2023

For a fourth time since 2018, a Trails game takes my #1 for the year.

Breaking from tradition, this Trails game has no sidequests. It has a very linear story, although technically there are three linear stories and you can jump from one to another for most of the game. In many respects, this is the “Trails in the Sky the 3rd” for the Cold Steel series. Not only is the story more linear, but we get redemption arcs from past villains, and we also get an absolutely disgusting amount of playable characters. Chrono Cross has 45 playable characters, and people often say that’s too many. Well…Reverie has 50. And each of them gets at least a little time in the spotlight. It’s fantastic for Trails fans, and I adored it. I put 150 hours into this game and I’m not sure I could have put less time into it.

Playing the game on Switch, there were definitely a few times the game chugged, so I can’t give the game a perfect 10. Many of the cutscenes in Crossbell City were bogged down by the sheer number of NPCs, and was noticeable to me, a person famously unconcerned with performance. I can see why people advocate for playing this on PC or PS4, but the portability of the Switch trumps all else in my mind. This is really the only downside I experienced with the game, although it did not affect my enjoyment at all.

Having three linear storylines to follow in any order you want is phenomenal. You can keep going with characters you love, and are never forced to stick with the ones you don’t for very long. And with having a linear story, the pace of the game is potentially sped up a little bit from the traditional Trails experience where sidequests can often lead to very long delays in the main story.

The story itself offers a ton. Obviously I can’t spoil a game that is the 10th in an interconnected, on-going series, but I’ll just say that once the main story is over…the postgame story is equally as interesting and gives fans a peek at some of the series-long questions and issues brought up in previous entries. 

Combat is fairly standard as far as the Cold Steel games go. I love Trails combat and this game tweaks little, as nothing was broken. It’s perhaps a little bit more difficult than CS3 or CS4, since the Break mechanic was pretty OP in those two games and it has been toned down slightly, but you can still take full advantage of it if you’re smart and plan well. I also like how some of the accessories drastically increase specific stats, so min/maxing is actually fun in this game. I was able to get Tita Russell’s attack and HP to absolutely absurd heights in this game. She is no longer baby; she wants power!

As previously stated, almost every single character gets their time in the spotlight. Some more than others, of course, but the fact that we get 50 playable characters, yet every one of them gets a chance to shine is a wonderful piece of work by the developers and writers. I’d say that perhaps Musse gets very little, but she had more than enough focus in CS3 and 4. Even Machias gets his own episode, and he is so often forgotten that even I forget about him at times.

Music is good as always when it comes to Falcom. I appreciate some of the battle tunes, like Elegant Prowess, and the game has its own unique sound that sets it apart from CS3 and 4. Maybe not to the same extent that Sky the 3rd sets itself apart from FC and SC, but the tracks unique to this game sound different enough that they are easy to pick out. There are dozens of returning tracks as well, since we revisit quite a few places from previous entries. 

My favorite character is Estelle Bright, and I was glad to see a focused effort to put her in the spotlight more often. She wasn’t in CS1-3, and played a more supporting role in 4 than anything else. Meanwhile, Lloyd and Rean ran the show. Estelle is not one of the main storylines in this game, but it’s nice to see her back with some of her famous one-liners.

Overall, I can’t really say enough about the game. It’s an amazing JRPG experience, but one that requires playing the 9 previous games in the series. Maybe that’s a daunting task to some, but the good thing about trying out a Trails game is that there is always another one to play afterward.

[morgenstern16]

love when trails has a fake out climax so you can spend hours and hours waiting for things to go horribly wrong after having fun with all your buddies

[marsaovo]

Food :)

[inkedmyths]

Assorted dump of silly Trails AU nonsense

[fiabex]

Dreamwidth Roundup

Nominations are now closed, and our closing posts are up! We have final clarification posts, and we have the post about tag set clean up!

Mods will be going through the tagset, but we also welcome your input! If you see an issue with tags already in the tagset, please comment on the tagset cleanup post, but if you think that a tag you nominated didn't make it into the tag set, please send that comment to clarification post 4!

More details about the fandoms that are parts of the clarification posts below the cut:

Nominations Clarification Post 3

Nominations Clarification Post 4

Tagset Cleanup

Nominations Clarification post 3:

Fandoms with Queries

+Anima (Manga)

Crossover Fandom

DCU (Comics)

Dimension 20 (Web Series)

Dredge (Video Game)

Dungeons and Dragons (Cartoon)

Elden Ring (Video Game)

Fairy Tail

Gary and His Demons (Cartoon)

Gundam 00

Imperial Radch Series - Ann Leckie

Magic Kaito

Nantucket Trilogy - S.M. Stirling

Original Work

Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series)

QSMP | Quackity SMP

Red Dwarf (UK TV)

Ride Kamens (Video Game)

Shadow and Bone (TV)

Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types

Transformers Generation One

Westworld (TV)

Xenoblade Chronicles (Video Game)

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (Video Game)

少年白马醉春风 | Dashing Youth (Live Action TV)

Fandoms with Rejections

A Date With Death (Visual Novel)

Crossover Fandom

Disco Elysium (Video Game)

Dungeons and Dragons (Cartoon)

Earth Girls are Easy (1988)

Exordia - Seth Dickinson

Gothic (1986)

Hazbin Hotel (Cartoon)

Persona 4

Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series)

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon

Warframe

방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS

人渣反派自救系统 - 墨香铜臭 | The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù

少年白马醉春风 | Dashing Youth (Live Action TV)

Additionally, we have some updates about In-Universe tags and the umbrella tags that reference them (example: "Medium Opt-In: Any - Any Nominated In-Universe Medium")!

Nominations Clarification post 4:

Fandoms with Queries

Barely Lethal (2015)

Batman Beyond

Benjamin January Mysteries - Barbara Hambly

Books of the Raksura - Martha Wells

Chicago Fire

Crossover Fandom

Digimon Adventure Zero Two | Digimon Adventure 02

Doctor Strange (Movies)

Fallen London | Echo Bazaar

Fire & Blood - George R. R. Martin

Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling

In Nomine

Mapp & Lucia Series - E. F. Benson

Monster Prom (Video Games)

Murdoch Mysteries

Original Work

QSMP | Quackity SMP

Sanders Sides (Web Series)

Schmigadoon! (TV)

Stellar Firma (Podcast)

Stellaris (Video Game)

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes - Suzanne Collins

Thor (Movies)

What If...? (Cartoon 2021)

僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia (Manga)

英雄伝説 閃の軌跡 | Sen no Kiseki | The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel Series (Video Games)

龍が如く | Ryuu ga Gotoku | Yakuza (Video Games)

Fandoms with Rejections

A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin

Biggles Series - W. E. Johns

Chicago Fire

Chicago Med

Children of Time Series - Adrian Tchaikovsky

Compilation of Final Fantasy VII

Crossover Fandom

Digimon Adventure Zero Two | Digimon Adventure 02

Fallen London | Echo Bazaar

Friends at the Table (Podcast)

John Wick (Movies)

Ladyhawke (1985)

Original Work

Stranger Things (TV 2016)

The Expanse Series - James S. A. Corey

The Fall of the House of Usher (TV 2023)

The Long Earth Series - Terry Pratchett & Stephen Baxter

The Saint of Steel - T. Kingfisher

Voltron: Legendary Defender

Welcome to Night Vale