Welcome students, Professor RPG here! Need help understanding the Equipment Fusion system in Tales of Zestiria? Perhaps you would like a more deep dive into the history of Ivalice? What in the world does the Intelligence stat do in that game you like? Stick around and let Professor RPG clear up the mysteries and help you in on your quest.

People may be surprised but the Legend of Heroes series has been around since the late 80s and early 90s here in the West. Dragon Slayer: The Legend of Heroes, was the first entry in the series, released on the TurboGrafX in 1992 in North America. While the series would continue on through the 90s in Japan, the West wouldn’t see another Legend of Heroes title until 2005 with the PSP title, The Legend of Heroes: A Tear of Vermillion. Two other titles, Prophecy of the Moonlight Witch and Song of the Ocean which make up the Gagharv Trilogy also received localizations in 2006 and 2007 respectively. These titles a bit rough around the edges and received mixed reactions from RPG fans.

It wasn’t until the Trails in the Sky trilogy began coming over to North America back in 2011 that the Legend of Heroes series reputation began to grow.

Originally released on the PlayStation 3 and Vita, with The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel, it’s set it in the Erebonian Empire after the events of the Sky trilogy of titles. As Rean Schwarzer, member of the newly formed Class VII at the Thors Military Academy made up of both nobles and common folk, it is your class’ job to overcome prejudice and work towards a better future.

Enhancements such as an increased resolution, higher frame rate, and an added turbo mode are available to players on the newly released PlayStation 4 Definitive Edition of the title, along with all the previously released DLC. As a welcome addition, you are able to transfer your old saves into this new version and carry on where you left off.

For newcomers though, this Primer will help get your adventure off on the right foot, and help spell out some of the more intricate systems involved with Cold Steel.

PLATFORMS:

Playstation Vita

PlayStation 3

PlayStation 4

NEW TO THE DEFINITIVE EDITION ON PS4:

4K/60 FPS support

Optimized interface

Turbo Mode (2x speed on the map, 4x in combat)

Japanese Dub option

Additional voiceover

All previously released DLC

Ability to transfer saves from PS3/Vita version to PS4 version

LORE:

Among the nations on the Zemurian continent, the mighty Erebonian Empire has been quick to outwardly stake its claim militarily; yet politically, ugly bouts of internal conflict between the upper class and commoners attempting to rise to power have been steadily intensifying day by day. The Noble and Reformist Factions have been none too kind to one another over the years, and tensions between the two only stand to worsen if compromises aren’t made in the very near future.

Enter, Class VII of Thors Military Academy. For the first time in the prestigious academy’s history, rank means nothing and skill means everything. With nine hand-picked students of various backgrounds and abilities, Rean included, Class VII readies itself to dive deep into the political quagmire that threatens not only them but the Empire as a whole.

CLASS VII:

Rean Schwarzer – The protagonist

A good-natured young man, Rean is starting a new chapter of his life at Thors Military Academy. Although often broadsided by the strangeness of the school’s student body, he takes it all in stride, proving a trustworthy friend and ally to his classmates. Trained in the Eastern Eight Leaves One Blade style of swordsmanship, Rean performs his techniques with a saber-like sword called a tachi.

Alisa R

Alisa is a friendly and capable girl who’s not afraid to hold a grudge if you get on her bad side. While she doesn’t share much of her personal life with the rest of Class VII, her knowledge of business and technology often comes in handy, and her keen archery skills make her a valuable asset in battle.

Elliot Craig

A gentle-hearted boy whose openness allows him to become fast friends with just about anyone. He has a deep interest in music and fights using an orbal staff, an advanced weapon currently in the prototype stages of development.

Laura S. Arseid

As the only daughter of the renowned Arseid line, famous for their school of swordfighting, Laura has been raised steeped in the knightly tradition. But while she’s a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield with her massive greatsword, the academy’s halls can pose just as much of a challenge.

Jusis Albarea

The second son of Duke Albarea, one of the Empire’s most powerful nobles. Jusis’ status ensures students from Erebonia’s well-to-do families will flock to him hoping to gain his favor, but he doesn’t especially seem to enjoy the attention. Jusis fights with the nimble technique of court fencing, a style favored by the country’s aristocracy.

Machias Regnitz

Machias possesses a keen and intelligent mind, making him one of the academy’s top performers. He also possesses a vitriolic hate for the Empire’s noble class and no hesitation to make that opinion known, which has a tendency of getting him into trouble. He fights with a high-powered orbal shotgun.

Fie Claussell

Taciturn and mysterious, Fie exhibits an aptitude for combat far beyond her years when she’s on the battlefield. On campus, though, she’s either uninterested in her classes or too lazy to put any effort into them. She’s equipped with a pair of gunswords which, combined with her natural agility, allow her to quickly strike enemies both up close and at a distance.

Emma Millstein

A polite and gracious demeanor belies Emma’s status as perhaps the academy’s brightest student. Not content with just the top score on the entrance exam, she regularly tops the charts on midterms as well. Emma serves as Class VII’s president, and like Elliot, fights with a prototype orbal staff.

Gaius Worzel

An exchange student from the Nord Highlands on the Empire’s northern border. Gaius came to Thors wanting to learn more about Erebonia and the world, both to discover his place in it, and to help safeguard his homeland. He wields a unique cross-shaped spear, a weapon as foreign to the Empire as he is.

Sara Valestein

Instructor and trainer of the of Class VII. While her lighthearted demeanor and her frequent proclivity to enjoy alcohol may give others the impression that she is a pushover, she is anything but. She is not one to be taken lightly and cares deeply for her students.

MECHANICS:

Arts, Quartz and lines:

For newcomers to the series, parts of the magic system in Cold Steel can be a bit difficult to wrap their heads around. So let’s break things down and make it more digestible.

Master Quartz

Each character has a single Master Quartz equipped at a time, each providing certain buffs, abilities, and Arts. As you fight, much like the characters themselves, they will gain experience and eventually leveling up, which will enhance the bonuses and unlocking new abilities and Arts. The levels gained by each Master Quartz are not character specific and will retain its level should you swap it to another character. Example: You have leveled up the FORCE Master Quartz to level 2 on Rean and decide that you’d rather have the bonus CP restoration from killing enemies that come from it with Laura. Laura has never had FORCE equipped but when you equip it to her, FORCE is still level 2. Each MQ provides a set bonus to each of the main stats (HP, EP, STR, DEF, ATS, ADF and SPD)



Quartz

By equipping a Quartz into your ARCUS unit, characters will be able to cast the spells and receive stat buffs of that specific Quartz. In Cold Steel these behave very similarly to the materia system in Final Fantasy VII. The name of each quartz will tell you what spell that character will have access to when they equip it in a slot, with additional information found in its description.

Quartz can be either found or made at engineering shops by synthesizing Septith, a crystallized element used for most devices in this world. Septith is most commonly gathered from battles, as enemies you fight will drop a certain combination of Septith types.

Quartz Lines and Slots:

Each party member is able to equip the same maximum number of Quartz at 8 a piece, how each can utilize these Quartz though, is different.

The spots in which a Quartz can be set (or equipped) is called a “Slot.”t the beginning of the game, most of these slots will be locked and you will have to spend Sepith to unlock new ones for use.

For each slot you unlock, that characters maximum EP will increase. The further down a Line a slot is, the more expensive they will be to unlock but the greater that Slot will increase the EP once unlocked.

Some Slots will have a colored symbol inside of them and off to the right. For these specific Slots, you will be able to set in them ONLY Quartz that shares the same color as the mark.

On the topic of Lines, these play an important factor in what Quartz combinations a character can utilize. You can have only a single STATUS (burn, petrify, freeze) and a single DEBUFF Quartz can be set per Line (1 of each). For each additional Line, a character has access to that many additional statuses or debuff arts.

In essence, the fewer lines a character has, the more EP they will end up having in the long run.

The more lines, the less EP a character will have, but a wider range of possible options they will have available to them.

Battle Evaluation Bonuses:

By meeting certain criteria during battle, you can be rewarded with a number of different experience point modifiers through the Battle Evaluation system. Completing things such as winning the battle without being hit or defeating multiple enemies at once, you will gain bonuses to your experience points, awarded at the end of combat.

AT Bonuses:

On the left side of the combat screen, where the turn order is displayed, you will occasionally see small icons to the right of some portraits. These are bonuses that will take effect once that enemy or ally take their turn. These can range from healing a character (this can be especially troublesome should a difficult boss be lucky enough to wind up with a HP Heal 50% bonus) to guaranteeing that a combatant’s next attack will be a critical hit.

Tactical Link System

Tactical Links, or T-Links play an essential role in the combat of Trails of Cold Steel. By connecting two characters together as a team, they will be able to have access to a number of benefits that will make life easier in difficulty fights.

If you are familiar with the more recent Persona titles from Atlus, then you can equate Tactical Links to the Social Links as they share some similar mechanics. By taking part in activities with your various Class VII members, you will be able to increase their bonds between on another, increasing their individual Link Levels. As this level increases new bonuses will become available. As this is just a beginning Primer, I will only touch on the lower level bonuses.

The most basic example of the Tactical Link is the Assist Attacks that happen when an enemy is rendered unbalanced. When this occurs, whoever attacked the enemy causing the unbalancing effect, their link buddy (the party member they are currently Tactical Linked to) will be able to come in with a normal attack of their own.

At later levels, your link buddy will be able to cover you from an enemy attack and counter-attack too as just two examples.

Unbalancing Enemies:

On the topic of causing an enemy to become unbalanced, there are two primary ways of doing so.

Each enemy is susceptible in varying degrees to the four attack types. (Slash, Thrust, Pierce, and Strike) This is displayed by the 4 symbols below the enemy’s life total with the stars to the right of them. The more stars that are next to the symbol, the more likely they are to being left unbalanced by an attack of that type. You can find what attack types each member of Class VII is associated with by going into the Status screen and looking in the bottom middle area in the “Attack Rank” box. S > A > B > C > D > None



Enemies will become unbalanced when struck with a critical hit. This includes when being hit with a guaranteed critical from an AT Bonus.

Crafts:

Crafts are the unique special attacks that each character learn throughout the course of the story as the level up. The effects of these Crafts vary wildly, from dealing damage to groups of enemies, healing and buffing allies, or debuffing and causing status effects on foes. To use these attacks, you use your CP resource, which can be replenished by using your normal attacks and by eating some types of food.

Some Master Quartzes, such as FORCE, will reward additional CP by fulfilling certain conditions, such as landing a killing hit on an enemy.

S-Crafts / S-Breaks :

S-Crafts are incredibly powerful attacks that consume all of a characters CP and are available to them once they have accumulated at least 100 CP. When used, they will deal a large amount of damage over a good sized area of the battlefield, lending themselves best in dire situations when you need to turn the tide or end things as soon as you can.

Each character can store a max of 200 CP, and S-Crafts will become even more powerful should you use them when a character is at their max CP. What makes these attacks even more of a boon in difficult fights is that once a character is able to use their S-Craft, they can do so at any time, even when it isn’t their turn. Doing so is what is called an S-Break.

Characters will receive their own unique S-Craft throughout the course of the story so be patient. Be cautious though, as should a character fall in combat, they will lose ALL of their stored CP and have to fill their gauge again. This can be done by attacking normally and eating some food. Some revival items will also restore a small amount when used.

STAT EXPLANATIONS:

Health Points (HP)

Your life, when it hits zero, your character is knocked out and must be revived. Will lose all the CP that character currently has, and will also break the Tactical Link with the other character which will have to be reset.

Craft Points (CP)

Your resource used to cast characters Craft and S-Craft attacks.

Energy Points (EP)

Your resource used to cast characters magical Art attacks.

STRENGTH (STR)

Affects how much damage your physical attacks, physical Crafts and S-Crafts do. Higher the value, the more damage done.

DEFENSE (DEF)

Affects how much damage a character takes from enemy physical attacks. The higher the value, the less damage you will take.

ARTS STRENGTH (ATS)

Affects how much damage a character does with their Arts and magical-based Crafts. The higher the value, the more damage they will do. This also affects how much healing is done with Arts as a higher value will cause a character to heal for more.

ARTS DEFENSE (ADF)

Affects how much damage a character takes from enemy magical attacks. The higher the value, the less damage you will take.

SPEED (SPD)

Affects how long between turns a character takes. The higher the value, the shorter the time it takes until they can act again.

DEXTERITY (DEX)

Affects how likely a character is to land a hit on an enemy. The higher the value, the more likely their attacks are to land.

ACCURACY (ACC+)

An added value that improves the chance of landing a hit on an enemy. The higher this percentage, the bigger the bonus to hit is.

AGILITY (AGI)

Affects how likely a character is to dodge an enemy PHYSICAL attack. The higher the value, the more likely an enemy attack will miss.

EVASION (EVA+)

An added value that improves the chance of dodging an enemy’s PHYSICAL attack. The higher this percentage, the bigger the bonus of dodging an attack is.

MOVEMENT (MOV)

Affects the distance that a character can move around the battlefield during their turn. The higher the value, the more distance they will be able to travel.

RANGE (RNG)

Affects the distance of how far a character’s attacks can reach. The higher the value, the further an attack can hit.

AILMENTS AND ATTRIBUTES:

TIPS:

You can’t use duplicate Quartz in an Orbment (ex: two Attack 1 Quartz) , so don’t waste Sepith on stat-increasing quartzes expecting to be able to set them. What you are able to do though is stack tiers of stat boosting Quartz (ex: Attack 1 then Attack 2 Quartz).

By using Crafts, your character will be slightly delayed when they can attack again. On the left side of the screen in the turn order, you will see “Delay” followed by a number, indicating how much they will be delayed for.

Don’t assume all side quests and events will appear as a mark on your map! Some quests you will have to discover on your own by talking to people!

If a character falls in combat, he will not be revived after the battle is over, even with 1 hp, so be sure to revive any party members after combat! When a character dies, the link is also broken with the other character so be sure to reset it once they are alive again!

You can change and reset your party’s Tactical Links during combat by hitting L1 during combat to be taken to the Link screen!

Use the Turbo mode to speed up walking, but just be aware in combat that it will speed up your cursor speed too. Pressing “Start” will also skip combat animations.

Break boxes! You never know what you will find inside!

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel is a fantastic turn-based RPG that fans of the Final Fantasy and Shin Megami Tensei: Persona titles should give a try. You will be able to still jump into the world even if you haven’t had experience with the series previously and have a good time. Finding a rich world full of side quests, activities, and interesting characters to fill your time with when you decide to take a detour from the story proper. With this new release of the Definitive Edition on PlayStation 4, give it a try, and if you like it, in just a few months you will get to experience the second Cold Steel game as well, and the third later this year! Hop aboard this steel train and get ready for a wild ride, with this primer as your helpful conductor.

Are there any mechanics or areas you could use more clarification on? Sound off down below or tweet @IrrationalPod #ProfessorRPG and let us know!

Follow Us Here: Twitter: https://twitter.com/IrrationalPod

Insta: https://www.instagram.com/irrationalpassions

Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/irrationalpassions

Our Discord: https://discord.gg/bSdtq9G