My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined. Qué grandes recuerdos guardaba del primer título, uno de mis títulos más queridos y recomendados durante mi etapa adolescente. Esperar 10 años para jugar su continuación no ha sido precisamente la mejor idea.

Pros:
- Se nota que Nihon Falcom se preocupa por sus personajes, tanto principales como secundarios. Cada estudiante random de la academia tiene un desarrollo personal a lo largo de toda la saga.
- Por y para fans. Este título te permite controlar a casi el triple de personajes que el anterior, aunque sea en puntos concretos.
- El combate tiene muchísimo potencial, y existen grandes posibilidades de personalizar los poderes de cada personaje. El poblema principal a este respecto lo digo posteriormente.

Contras:
- El combate es cheeseable de forma extrema. No hay un solo boss final que me haya durado más de una ronda pese a jugar en difícil.
- El argumento y el ritmo son de un nivel muy muy bajo. Lo que en el primero era perdonable por centrarse más en conocer a los personajes, en este no lo es. Una historia debe avanzar de forma progresiva en 70 horas, y no que haya dos momentos contados con cierta relevancia en todo el título.
- Me ha parecido incluso cómica la repetición de estructuras narrativas. He perdido la cuenta de las veces en las que tras vencer a un enemigo, resulta que este ocultaba un poder interior y tiene que salvarte algún aliado. No es broma si digo que este esquema se repite no menos de 10 veces.

Trails of Cold Steel II is a direct sequel to the original Cold Steel game and as usual with these Trails games reviews, talking about the story without spoiling elements from the first game is nigh on impossible so if you haven’t played Cold Steel I to the end, the best avoid reading this review for now.

Right with that out of the way, Cold Steel II (CS2) is the second Trails entry originally released for the PlayStation Vita. Its story picks up directly from where CS1 finished and in typical Trails fashion, this game heavily reuses assets and elements from the first game and builds on top of that with a few things to keep the game interesting and change things up a little.
The regular battle system now has the Overdrive mechanic, similar to the burst mechanic from Azure where once you build up a gauge, you can unleash a series of attacks without response. In CS2 it also guarantees unbalancing the enemy and allowing a follow up attack to happen as well as eventually giving you two Overdrive gauges to fill.
For those who finished CS1 you’ll know about a special kind of battle introduced right at the end of that game and here in CS2 we get to experience a lot more of them! Divine Knight battles sees Rean piloting a giant mech and clashing with other giant mechs in battles that are pretty simple in nature but something I loved because I am weak for giant mechs. Divine Knight battles basically boil down to figuring which part of your opponent to hit depending on what stance they’re taking. You can target the head, body, arms and if you pick the right part you can unbalance the enemy and hit a follow up attack but if you choose wrong you can end up missing and being hit with a counterattack. Eventually you’ll gain access to having a character assist you by using Arts and powering up your mech, Valimar, with his own unique Orbments but ultimately as I said, the battles are pretty simple and basic in nature.

Other new aspects include new towns like Rean’s hometown Ymir (a place where an event took place during the first game but only covered in a Drama CD and referred to multiple times in this game), plenty of new and well crafted dungeons to explore, and the best thing of all - A SNOWBOARDING MINIGAME! No joke, I beat every course for it because it’s probably one of my favourite minigames in an RPG ever. Aside from that, this game is more about continuing the narrative they built from CS1 than doing a bunch of new things.

So story, after C revealed his true identity, killed Chancellor Osborne, and occupied Thors Military Academy by kicking Rean’s ass so bad he had to flee for his life, the tensions in Erebonia have boiled over into civil war breaking out. The Noble Alliance led by Duke Cayenne has teamed up with the Imperial Liberation Front, Ouroboros, and Jaeger group Zephyr in an attempt to wrestle control of Erebonia from the Reformist Faction and in the month that Rean has spent out cold after fleeing Thors, the Noble Alliance have managed to occupy a large portion of eastern Erebonia as well as take the Imperial Royal family hostage.
It’s a very interesting set up to the story and one that sees many of Class VII’s families on opposing sides and leading to our characters having to make tough decisions. Jusis in particular has it tough with his brother being one of the key figures in the Noble Alliance and his father pushing his luck in trying to become the leader of the group.
As for Class VII themselves, they’ve ended up split up after having to flee Thors and the first portion of the game is centred around regrouping with Rean’s classmates. This is where the very long build up of the first game started to pay some dividends for me as I found a lot of the reunions to be very touching because of how much time I had spent with Class VII. Seeing Rean bear hug Machias put tears in my eyes and Alisa pouring her heart out to Rean was such an emotional moment. It’s also nice seeing Class VII out of their school uniforms and in unique clothing, being free to show off their own styles and personalities a bit more.
Aside from gathering all of Class VII, Act 1 of the game shows off a few clashes between the two armies at places like Garrelia Fortress (spotting a lovely new destroyed look after Crossbell annihilated it) and the Nord Highlands, and Ymir village gets attacked by some Jaegers. We also get to have some clashes with Ouroboros and the Noble Alliance as the game spends time introducing a lot of new characters like Ouroboros Enforcer McBurn who exudes a massive amount of power and Zephyr’s Xeno and Leonidas who are part of the Jaeger group that Fie was once a part of.
After the whole of Class VII have reunited we get an Intermission chapter which serves to let us find out a little more about the many people working with the Noble Alliance as well as get Rean to a point where he can control his unique power the game lovingly dubs “ogre power”. We caught a glimpse of it in the first game but it’s more prominent here. Ogre power basically changes Rean’s appearance to have white hair and red eyes and essentially it gives him a few turns of having boosted stats in battle.
Act 2 of the game focuses more on gathering up all the other students from Thors Military Academy and liberating places like Celdic and Roer from the Noble Alliance. These missions were my favourite part of the game as it was great seeing characters either rescuing their families from being held captive or standing up to their families for the atrocities they’ve been causing. It’s not perfect, the clashes with V and S sum up the Imperial Liberation Front as the biggest set of underwhelming villains I’ve seen so far (C is the only interesting about that group for me) but ultimately the freedom introduced from being able to go anywhere in the east of the country and liberation missions made this portion of the game a lot fun for me. I also really liked that the game allows you to walk from one town to another if you want to. You could see that the world was designed to be connected in CS1 but the field trip limitations meant the world felt disjointed while in CS2 as you progress further and further, the limitations on where you can travel are loosened and it really starts to make Erebonia feel a bit more like Crossbell and Liberl when you can walk (or use the motorcycle introduced as a transport option in this game) from place to place.
It ends on a high note with a great set of battles between Rean and C as the two fight for their ideals and we have to deal with Duke Cayenne’s mischief as he ends up feeling a little bit left out because he’s another kinda meh and backgroundy villain. The revelations and twists in the finale are once again fantastic and memorable for the most part (though I’m still struggling to take the revelation of Rean’s biological father seriously right now) and it quickly rearranges the whole civil war and the whole point of it in one fell swoop.
On top of that there’s a pretty meaty post game section that is a delightful treat for long time fans that have been playing the games in release order. The Epilogue is a nice send off for Class VII as they go their separate ways but that portion of the game drags on a bit longer than it needed (I’m not sure why they felt the need for a bunch of quests and another dungeon). By the end I had a few moments where tears had filled my eyes and when games can do that to you, they are a bit special. I loved my time with Class VII and I will miss seeing them all together as a group.

So the broad strokes of CS2s story on the surface is pretty solid and one I largely enjoyed but once you dig a little deeper there’s a lot you can pick apart here so this section is going have a lot of complaints about things that do kind of matter but at the same time didn’t stop me from loving the game.
CS2 is about a civil war but for the most part it feels kinda of…. Like a background thing? In the east of Erebonia the Noble Alliance have so much already under control that aside from a few skirmishes, there’s little to actually indicate a war is happening. One burning down of a town results in a grand total of 1 fatality and ultimately does little to sell the fact a war is happening. The Noble Alliance end up letting Class VII liberate so much of the territory they’ve claimed with no retaliation that it’s unbelievable until the bigger picture comes into view at the end. The war is apparently much more violent in the west of Erebonia and a few of the more powerful characters are off fighting over there but like CS1 that is something more interesting happening somewhere else that we don’t get to see. It’s just incredible how out of the way the game goes to limit the fact a war is happening.
Cast bloat. CS2 like CS1 has a cast of important characters to the point it doesn’t know what to do with them. Bardias and Le Guin are introduced in Act 1, leave a strong impression on Class VII and then don’t show up again until near the end of the game by which point you’re like who are these two again? Cedric, an Imperial Prince is almost completely forgotten about by the cast and even his own sister Alfin, as no one seems to care that he potentially needs to be rescued all the while Duke Cayenne is getting him ready for his schemes. Laura fades so much into the background in this game that she’s basically a talking sword. It’s just too many characters for the game to deal with.
Olivert, someone who is a very important character to Erebonia and plays a large part in the Liberl arc, is so underutilised here to the point he barely shows up in the game at all which is shocking to me. He spends most of his time fighting in the west off screen and has a couple of dramatic appearances but in a game with 17+ playable characters, HOW IS HE NOT ONE?
Class VII are supposed to be a third faction in this war but that only works if both the Noble Alliance and the Reformist Group are factions that need to be opposed, instead the Noble Alliance are the aggressor force in this war and as such Class VII is almost always working alongside the army to stop them that the whole third faction thing holds so little weight. We’re working alongside characters like Claire who has direct ties to Osborne while claiming to be neutral and having no one from the Noble Alliance side helping us outside of Rufus using us to help him deal with out of control members with the Noble Alliance.
For all the build up and importance given to the liberation of Trista and Thors Military Academy it is probably the most underwhelming moment in the game.
I understand Crow being a classmate and friend to Class VII but there's nobody wanting to hold him to account for his terrorist actions while Rean makes a big deal about trying to save Vulcan and Scarlet to make them atone for what they've done.
The story does well with what it explores and the cast of characters are fun enough to help carry it through the cracks that appear throughout. Yes, I have a lot of issues with how certain aspects were neglected but ultimately it didn’t detract from the fun I was having with the game.

On the soundtrack front this is largely the same OST from CS1 returning with a handful of new battle themes and a new opening song. The vocalised ending song was very powerful and was subtitled when it played to help drive home the emotions it was portraying.

So all in all, despite a few missteps with its story here and there, Trails of Cold Steel II was a step back up in quality after Cold Steel I for me. It manages to keep its narrative exciting and engaging throughout as well as throw in some really nice surprises for the long term fans. It manages to carry off its emotional moments well and use the foundation that Cold Steel I left for it to push most of its characters in interesting directions and leave an impact on the player.

I'm always floored when a Trails game ends. It's a similar pattern for each of them. Community quests, teasing of something grimier and sinister-er under the surface and then the final act is E S C A L A T I O N. They always nail it too for the most part. Where most entries in the genre fall apart near the credits, the Trails games come alive. Halfway through each of these games I go, man what am I doing? It's save a cat, it's cheesy speech about the power of friendship and community, and just a crumb of intrigue to pull along. And then the final act starts and falcom's pulls out the electric guitars and whatever else other instruments make the good noise and I'm queuing up the next download because I'm all the way in.

Trails of Cold Steel II recipe:
½ Cold Slop + ½ Cold Stakes (holy shit this games story has stakes)

As a follow-up game to Cold Slop 1, it is almost every way an upgrade. The story has things happening throughout, which kept things interesting. The characters, although still meh, got more mileage out of them than before. And again, things were happening which is already an upgrade from Slop 1. But unfortunately, after every good bit comes random 2 hour slog that ends up not achieving much till the next interesting event. The conclusion portion once again was great where they dropped a bombshell of a reveal and even more set-up for later. They even gave us a taste of what's to come with the "Divertisement" side story which was great and almost made me forget I'm playing Trails of Cold Slop 2, and then it reminded me I AM playing Trails of Cold Slop 2 by a random final final dungeon (fr this time) jumpscare.

TL;DR
+Better than Slop 1
-Still a part of the Slop series of games
+½ Trails bias (surely it'll get better)

Overall: 3.5/5

While I'm not the biggest fan of CS1 I really enjoyed my time playing CS2. It delivers on some mysteries the first game set up and makes more at the same time. Which makes me very excited for the next game. (mild spoilers) The biggest problem I had with the story is that we already new too much before Erebonia started. The story bits at the end would have been better if we didn't learn about them in azure. At this point I'm just going to assume every trails game is going to have pacing issues. Its inevitable on games this long so I'm just accepting it as the norm. The main story was good but what really got me was the epilogue. I got hit with the same emotion I felt at the end of sky the 3. Its crazy how good they make you get attached with these characters, might be the strongest thing about the trails series. Overall I was left satisfied and I want to see more.

I did enjoy this game over the first. The first was too repetitive. While this RPG is linear in direction, it felt more open. You have tons of items, orbments for magic and skills, and equipment to customize how you want to play.

They pushed more mech battles in this game than the first and I did not enjoy that gameplay. It felt uninspired. Just hit and heal over and over. It was either frustrating or not even a challenge. But the characters, voice acting, music, and story are wonderful. This was a memorable experience.

Game #122: The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II

Worst Trails game I've played to date. They constantly give boring and long speeches about friendship and acceptance. On top of that the civil war concept wasn't really well done. A huge letdown for me but still it's above some level because it's a Trails game.

7/10

---{Graphics}---
☐ You forget what Reality is
☐ Beautiful
☐ Good
☐ Decent
☑ Bad
☐ Don‘t look too long at it
☐ Paint.exe

---{Gameplay}---
☐ Masterpiece
☑ Great
☐ Good
☐ Not bad
☐ Meh.
☐ Playing with anything is more fun than that.
☐ Just no

---{Audio}---
☐ Eargasm
☐ Very good
☑ Good
☐ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ Earrape

---{Soundtracks}---
☑ Masterpiece
☐ Very good
☐ Good
☐ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ Terrible

---{Audience}---
☑ Kids
☑ Teens
☑ Adults

---{PC Requirements}---
☐ Check if you can run paint
☐ Potato
☑ Decent
☐ Moderately Fast
☐ Spoiled-Rich boi
☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare Comp.

---{Difficulty}---
☐ Just press "W" for Win
☐ Easy Peezy Lemon Squeezy
☐ Requires some Brain Cells
☑ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☐ Difficult AF
☐ #1 Player of Dark Souls Speed-runner

---{Story}---
☐ There is a Story?
☑ Text or Audio floating around
☐ Background Check
☐ Good Enough
☐ Lovely
☐ Masterpiece
☐ It‘ll replace your life

---{Game Time}---
☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee
☐ Short like your 8=D
☐ Average like mobile game
☑ As like Trails series :D
☐ To infinity and beyond

---{Price}---
☐ It’s free!
☐ Worth the price
☐ If u have some spare money left
☑ Not recommended
☐ You could also just burn your money
☐ A Scam just like Gambling

---{Bugs}---
☐ Do you mean the insect?
☑ Minor bugs
☐ Some but it's funny
☐ Can get annoying
☐ Goat Simulator
☐ Unplayable
☐ The game itself is a bug

-[THE GOOD]-
Advanced orb crafting system and more orbs
Advanced item crafting system and more items
Advanced reward system and more rewards
Falcom soundtrack quality with new soundtracks
Fun turn-based combat system
Fleshing npcs and awesome world building
Second s-crafts are awesome
New crafts and old crafts that can be upgraded
Advenced link system and more combinations
Mini-games are fun
Each character has a unique gameplay
Possible to make different character builds
Mech battles are good designed
Lost arts are awesome
Pacing is better than CS1
Fixed unfinished animation moves
Art design is pretty good, especially mech designs and character outfits
Some hard bosses are good choose for the battles
The corridor-based open world system works well
We can use horse and vehicles
Mobile base system is good idea
Decent dungeons design

-[THE BAD]-
Writing quality worst than previous games but better than CS1
Generic anime cliche problem is still continue
Bonding system terrible idea for characters development
Poor story presentation quality is still continue
It focuses too much on the main protagonist problem is still continue
Too many cast problem is still continue
Some pacing problems
Animation quality is bad
Cutscenes have some long and weird camera angles problems are still continue
Useless epilogue dungeon
Useless harem consept

---{Score 7/10}---

Edit and Note: I love the Trails series, but I changed my review from positive to negative for the entire CS arc. Falcom still making the same mistake in Kuro 2. CS has its own charm, but it's not like it's the worst arc. The thing is that the CS arc is damaging the Lore of the entire Kiseki universe. This is such a big loss that it seems very difficult for Falcom to recover it. I hope this doesn't turn into a Star Ocean 3 disaster. I'm sorry to say this, but now it's time to react to Falcom. Falcom, I'm disappointed. Give us back the old Kiseki! I want to play masterpieces like Sky and Crossbell games. Not your mid games like CS and Kuro.