The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III Review (jmporkbob)
A solid step up in presentation and visual fidelity, now that they finally left handhelds behind in the original design of the game.
The combat system gains new additions that further add to the enjoyment of decision making and build making. It is however incredibly broken with fairly little experimentation needed—I'd recommend playing on Nightmare if you're a series veteran.
This is the game where all 3 arcs finally start being woven together. If the giant red flag at the end of the last game didn't grab your attention, about being familiar with the previous games—then take it from me that your experience will be greatly enhanced by intimately knowing the events and characters from previous games. This is one of the better aspects of CS3 to me. Of course it is not necessary to get enjoyment from the game.
I know there are people who say the soundtrack starts falling off with this game and continues with the next games, but I simply don't see that at all. It's not as leitmotif focused as the series once was, and is definitely taking a different approach perhaps partly due to the greater visual fidelity or perhaps due to the more cinematic type feel. The music is still excellent though, imo. If you're the kind who says "Oh it just doesn't stand out to me", then I think if you revisit the game in a year or two, hearing the songs again will grab you more than you thought they did.
The lore is still great, and the new reveals I enjoyed as much as always, particularly in how they build off the older lore. Characters too are also almost entirely a hit. Falcom clearly learned that the main cast was just too big in CS1/2 and so trimmed it down, and this definitely works. I prefer this main cast to the first half of CS. (Although in the end it is still just adding yet more new characters so isn't a perfect remedy.)
While the entirety of Cold Steel is its own arc, you can definitely see where the two halves are effectually their own arcs. It does kind of become a second refrain, reiterating a lot of structure and events that already happened in the first half. We have left the OC7 arc and gone into the NC7 arc, which I consider leaning a bit more into a blockbuster movie feel. It definitely makes some dumb blockbuster movie choices, for better and for worse. Still a great and fun game overall.