Game Commentary: Trails of Cold Steel 2

Aside from God of War, I have also recently finished Trails of Cold Steel 2! Finally! It took a while mostly due to work, playing God of War and being a functioning member of society. But it's done now! And I can talk about it!

If you haven't yet read my Trails 1 or Tokyo Xanadu posts, I recommend you should. You would know from that that I am a major fan of the series and I have been looking forward to the sequel for so long. And while I did pick it up day 1 and sink in tons of hours, I had to prioritise certain things over others. One of it being the fact that if I did not play God of War early, I will have a higher chance of being swamped by spoilers. So, I had to get that out of the way. I did, however, make it to the end of Trails right before. It's just that I did not finish the epilogue until after.

Trails 2 plays almost exactly like Trails 1 aside from some new additions to the gameplay such as the expanded Knight battles and a new Overdrive system. If you've played Trails 1, you can directly pick off Trails 2 without any worries. Which should be the case as Trails 2 starts EXACTLY where Trails 1 ended with your retained levels and skills. I won't go into spoilery stuff but you should know that if you're playing this game, you must have played Trails 1. I would say don't do it any other way.

The Knight battles are relatively fun although in their simplicity (you can't possibly lose), it might detract some players from it. What I really enjoy though is the Overdrive system where you choose two characters and allow them to take 3 turns in a row that guarantees a crit on every hit and insta-casts arts. My staple two would be to Overdrive Rean and Laura and completely DESTROY the enemy with physical strength.

The soundtrack for Trails 2 also retains the same elements from 1 but changes just a little to make it different enough to pass as a sequel. Other than that, there is no upgraded graphical fidelity or performance boost. It looks and plays exactly the same. You get access to the bigger world of Erebonia and the plot flows quite similarly to the previous game but know that this is a direct sequel, almost like an expansion of the first game.

I'm not saying there isn't anything awe-worthy to be considered though. I mean, this is Nihon Falcom we're talking about. And they're building a massive world. The ending for this game is nothing short of jaw-dropping and the epilogue just gives it that final boost. I really appreciate what Falcom is doing and if I was a game designer, this is the de facto move I'd make to set things up for the sequels.

And yes, the sequels. If you have not see the Trails of cold steel 3 trailer, you have to. Right after you finish Trails 2 of course. I was star-struck and completely nerding out when I saw it. I almost cried tears of joy. This is what a grand epic of a video game series can do. And man, do they understand how JRPGs factor into this.

To conclude Trails 2 is an amazing game, just like Trails 1 but the lack of changes/improvements mark it down a tad bit in terms of progression through the game but reaching the finality and conclusion of it made it all worthwhile. Trails 3 is going to be an epic I am so looking forward to. Considering it's also built specifically for the PS4, I might even pick it up on the console if I can't wait. And I certainly cannot.