The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III
Developer(s) Nihon Falcom
Publisher(s) Nihon Falcom
Series The Legend of Heroes
Platform(s) PlayStation 4
Release
  • JP: September 28, 2017
Genre(s) Role-playing
Mode(s) Single-player

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III (英雄伝説 閃の軌跡III, Eiyū Densetsu: Sen no Kiseki Surī) is a role-playing video game by developer Nihon Falcom. It is the thirteenth separate entry in Falcom's long-running The Legend of Heroes, and a direct sequel to the prior two entries, Trails of Cold Steel and Trails of Cold Steel II. The game was released on the PlayStation 4 video game console on September 28, 2017. No plans for an English region release have been announced, though the series shift to PS4 has been described by Falcom as due to the platform's large worldwide userbase. A fourth and final entry in the subseries, Trails of Cold Steel IV: The End of Saga, has been announced for a late 2018 release on PS4 as well.[1]

Gameplay

The game plays as a traditional JRPG with turn-based battles, similar to Trails of Cold Steel and Trails of Cold Steel II. An emphasis on speeding up battles is being made as well, including making transitions into battle scenes more seamless, and being able to map out more battle commands to specific buttons rather than various menus, though the battles will still be primarily menu-based.[2]

Story

The game is a direct sequel to the prior two Trails of Cold Steel games, picking up one and a half years after the events of Trails of Cold Steel II.[3] The story will be centered around main character Rean Schwarzer, now a military professor, as well as his students, and the rest of his military school friends from the prior two entries,[4] notably exploring subjects such as the mysterious origins of Rean's birth, and what others have been up to since the events of the prior games. The game will also feature appearances from Tita and Agate, characters from Trails in the Sky, a separate meta series within The Legend of Heroes series, as well as Tio and Randy, characters from Trails to Zero.[3]

Development

Intentions to create a third entry in the Trails of Cold Steel meta series were announced as early as December 2015, at Nihon Falcom's 2015 shareholder's meeting.[5] Initial planning began in early 2016, though the development team was initially divided on which platforms the game should release on.[6] On one hand, the PlayStation Vita was preferred, due to its larger user-base in Japan, and prior entries in the series being released there, but the team also wanted to consider using the much more powerful PlayStation 4, which could greatly help with the game's scope.[7] Full-scale development on the title began around mid-2016.[6] The game was officially revealed as a PlayStation 4 exclusive in December 2016, at Falcom's 2016 shareholder's meeting.[8][4] Unlike the prior two entries, no Vita or PlayStation 3 versions will be developed.[9] The game was initially scheduled for a release window of Q3 2017 in Japan,[10] later narrowed down to September 28, 2017.[11] While no official plans have been announced for an English language release, some websites reported that it was mentioned in the 2016 shareholder's meeting that a deciding factor in developing the game for the PS4 was to help ensure higher international sales for the game,[9][12] with the PS4 having a much larger userbase in most countries outside of Japan as of 2016.[13] This premise was reiterated in July 2017, with Falcom president Toshiro Kondo stating:

"Foreign sales have reached a point with both the Trails series and "Ys" where we can't ignore them from a development angle anymore. Ys: Memories of Celceta, for example, sold more outside of Japan than it did inside of Japan. Because Vita has kind of been on the decline for a while outside of Japan, and because the PS4 userbase is pretty established elsewhere, we have begun shifting toward PS4 development."[13]

Reception

Pre-release

After the positive reception of the first two Trails of Cold Steel entries, journalist were generally enthusiastic for the prospect of a third entry, though many lamented the lack of a Vita version of the game.[8][9][14][10]

Sales

Trails of Cold Steel III debuted as the best selling game in its week of release. According to Media Create, the game sold 87,261 units.[15] This was a significant drop from the 151,781 units Cold Steel II had sold in its first week.[16] Media Create attributed this decline to the lack of a PlayStation Vita version.[17] Despite this, Dengeki's sales reports still estimated that approximately 80% of the game's physical stock was sold at launch,[18] and Falcom announced that the title had the highest digital game sales in the series as well.[19]

References

  1. ↑ https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2017-12-20/falcom-announces-the-legend-of-heroes-trails-of-cold-steel-iv-rpg/.125529
  2. ↑ "Falcom Working On Seamless Battles And Divine Knight Fights For Trails of Cold Steel III". Siliconera.com. 20 December 2016. Retrieved 23 September 2017.
  3. 1 2 "The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III set a year and a half after Trails of Cold Steel II - Gematsu". Gematsu.com. 20 December 2016. Retrieved 23 September 2017.
  4. 1 2 "The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III Releases In Japan In Fall 2017 Exclusively For PS4 - Siliconera". Siliconera.com. 19 December 2016. Retrieved 23 September 2017.
  5. ↑ "The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III Production Announced". Siliconera.com. 15 December 2015. Retrieved 23 September 2017.
  6. 1 2 Williams, Mike (26 July 2016). "Trails of Cold Steel III Under Consideration as PS4 Exclusive". Usgamer.net. Retrieved 23 September 2017.
  7. ↑ "Falcom CEO thinking about making The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III a PS4-exclusive - Gematsu". Gematsu.com. 26 July 2016. Retrieved 23 September 2017.
  8. 1 2 Williams, Mike (20 December 2016). "Trails of Cold Steel 3 Is PS4 Exclusive, Coming Fall 2017 in Japan". Usgamer.net. Retrieved 23 September 2017.
  9. 1 2 3 "Trails of Cold Steel III will be exclusive to PS4". Destructoid.com. Retrieved 23 September 2017.
  10. 1 2 "Legends of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel 3 is PS4 Exclusive". Playstationlifestyle.net. 21 December 2016. Retrieved 23 September 2017.
  11. ↑ "The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III launches September 28 in Japan [Update] - Gematsu". Gematsu. 2017-05-09. Retrieved 2017-05-09.
  12. ↑ "The Legend of Heroes Sen no Kiseki III Exclusively for PlayStation 4 in Fall 2017". Esterior.net. 20 December 2016. Retrieved 23 September 2017.
  13. 1 2 Bailey, Kat (6 July 2017). "Why Trails in the Sky Developer Falcom is Embracing the PS4, and Their Thoughts on the Switch". Usgamer.net. Retrieved 23 September 2017.
  14. ↑ "Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III Announced - Hardcore Gamer". Hardcoregamer.com. Retrieved 23 September 2017.
  15. ↑ "「英雄伝説 閃の軌跡III」8万7000本，「FIFA18」合計6万8000本，「ファイアーエムブレム無双」合計約6万本の「週間販売ランキング＋」". 4Gamer. October 4, 2017. Retrieved October 8, 2017.
  16. ↑ "「英雄伝説 閃の軌跡II」合計15万1000本，「絶対絶望少女」7万本など新作多数の「ゲームソフト週間販売ランキング＋」". 4Gamer. October 1, 2014. Retrieved October 8, 2017.
  17. ↑ Nelva, Giuseppe. "Lack of PS Vita Version Hurt The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III According to Media Create". DualShockers. Retrieved October 8, 2017.
  18. ↑ http://www.siliconera.com/2017/10/05/legend-heroes-trails-cold-steel-iii-sold-80-initial-shipment/
  19. ↑ http://www.siliconera.com/2017/10/06/legend-heroes-trails-cold-steel-iii-far-digital-sales-series/
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