I’ve been fortunate enough to have played a few above-average free-to-play gacha RPGs and the long-running and extensive The Legend of Heroes: Trails series (the latest title of which, Trails through Daybreak, I enjoyed immensely). I was also pleasantly surprised by the anime series The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel – Northern War, a side-story spin-off to the Erebonian arc depicted in the four Trails of Cold Steel games. What the anime lacked in decent animation budget, it ultimately made up through solid character writing and world-building that could stand toe-to-toe with the Trails RPG series.
Imagine how pleased I was to discover that The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel – Northern War got adapted into an RPG, and even more so that an English version was in the works! Sadly, The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel – Northern War is not of the same caliber as the mainline Trails titles, nor does it reach the same storytelling and presentation heights as its anime predecessor. Northern War is painfully average compared to other free-to-play gacha mobile RPGs I’ve played.
This lackluster gaming experience is a shame because the plot and characters of Northern War could help hold up in a decent RPG if given a chance. Northern War is set in North Ambria — a region often discussed in the mainline series — during the interim period between Trails of Cold Steel II and Trails of Cold Steel III. The tale centers on a small four-person unit of Northern Jaegers, professional soldiers who essentially form the bulk of the impoverished and beleaguered nation’s military. Our protagonist, Lavian (or “Lavi”), is the granddaughter of a famed hero amongst the Northern Jaegers who joins their ranks to find herself. Lavi’s party consists of the cheerfully flirty sniper Iseria, the diligently dutiful soldier Talion, and their relatively lazy but surprisingly strategic-minded superior Martin (aka “Marty”). The group begins to gather information about the encroaching Erebonian Empire’s mysterious soldier known as the “Ashen Chevalier” as tensions between the two regions escalate. However, hidden and nefarious forces might be closer to home than they realize, with vested interests in the conflict’s outcome. Can Lavi’s party and their potential allies keep the North Ambrian people safe when all hell threatens to break loose?
The narrative seems promising on paper, and the anime adaptation spins it into a compelling yarn. Unfortunately, a lackluster and horrendous script translation in the mobile RPG Northern War diminishes any of the plot’s strengths. Frustratingly, it isn’t uncommon to see routinely misspelled characters and place names. For instance, “Duvalie the Swift” gets tagged as “Dubarry” at specific points, and North Ambria is often called “Northumbria.” Grammar and typographical errors are frequent and inconsistent. In addition, Lavi gets misgendered quite a bit as a boy during story scenes. These errors are so bad that they become detrimental to the overall enjoyment of the story. The game also uses cutscenes ripped straight from the anime, though with the original Japanese voiceovers and no option for subtitles. So, unless you understand Japanese or have watched the anime, you’re out of luck in deciphering the dialogue. With the game version being based on the anime itself, there’s a lot of filler between progressing the main storyline and keeping it going in as slowly a narrative crawl as possible.
Much of the padding stems from the several battles you must fight before progressing to each unlocked story scene. Fights in Northern War play like the gacha game Street Fighter: Duel in that your party of up to five characters is controlled via AI unless you opt for a manual approach. You select your characters, leveling them up as you see fit so long as you have the prerequisite items and currency. You equip gear to bolster stats, and supply them with quartz and orbments to grant them special Arts moves. You can also “Awaken” a character, allowing you to further strengthen them by sacrificing others in your roster. Once you initiate a fight, the game takes over as you watch your party duke it out with their foes until one side emerges victorious. You repeat this process until you reach the point where you hit the “wall” your current levels and characters can’t surpass. Then, you repeat leveling and gearing up your characters for battle. You might reach a two-minute visual novel dialogue progression scene or a fifteen-second anime cutscene every so often in between. That’s the main gameplay loop in a nutshell.
Of course, this wouldn’t be a gacha game without character pulls. You start the game with Lavi, Marty, Iseria, and Talion already in your roster, but you can expand your ranks with several characters from throughout the Trails series’ history. My first pull was swords master extraordinaire Laura, but I soon had the likes of Julia, Gareth, Kevin, and even Aurelia joining my forces. The main party I’ve continued to use throughout my playtime is a fully Awakened Marty, Tita, Lechter, Tio, and Elie (mainly for the healing factor). Pulled characters are not story-relevant, and no rhyme or reason attempts to explain why they’re present. Even pulling a character like Rogan from the anime does nothing for the plot, as his appearances in the story make him seem separate from the goings-on of Lavi’s group. There’s always that initial bit of fanservice delight in pulling a favorite character when it happens, as I recently experienced when I managed to get Crow to join my fighting force. However, that enthusiasm doesn’t last long after you see their S-Craft animation for the thirtieth time.
Beyond the “rinse, repeat” cycle of the main story progression, there are other gameplay segments to focus on. Infinity Tower is what you can assume from its name: a tower where you progress through floor after floor of battles of increasing difficulty and potential extra items and rewards. Later, you uncover a dungeon exploration option with you-as-Lavi progressing through an area fighting hostile forces while solving simple switch press puzzles to advance. This exploration option isn’t horrible but doesn’t hold a candle to the dungeons found throughout the Trails series’ main installments. The Forest of Trials is the optional gameplay area where I spend the most time. You must decide between two choices presented on a map to advance to the next stage. Often, it’s a choice between two battles, but sometimes you can heal your party or revive fallen characters since you fight until the last man drops. Sometimes, you can even choose to have a temporary character join the party for the duration you’re in the Forest of Trials, which will most likely entice you into trying to gacha pull for them later. For example, the last time I played, I had a Michel, several levels higher than my party, join me for my forest run. These extra portions aren’t inherently terrible to play through, but they have the same “padding” feel as the strings of fights during the main story progression.
Visually, The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel – Northern War is not a bad-looking mobile game. The 3D graphics used for combat, particularly the S-Craft animations, are lovely. I even like the visual novel-style art used for story scenes. As one of my main complaints about Northern War’s anime was the lack of an animation budget, seeing expressive and high-quality artwork and renders for its characters is a highlight. Unfortunately, this is circumvented by the use of the anime for cutscenes, as it does remind you of that seemingly minimal animation budget. Sound-wise, the music comes from the anime and other Trails games, so it does the job. I genuinely enjoy the anime’s opening and the fact that they also use the track for the game. I also love how passionate and dynamic the Japanese voice acting is throughout.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel – Northern War is a mobile game with mindless, monotonous fun in short gameplay bursts. I wouldn’t recommend playing it for long periods simply because you start feeling the drag pretty quickly. It’s disappointing that the entertaining Northern War side story is such an average game. Lavi and company’s journey deserves the proper treatment of getting a mainline The Legend of Heroes: Trails game. Given the script’s lackluster translation, it’s difficult to recommend this title to anyone because, aside from the Trails fanservice and high-quality new character art, this story has been presented better in another media format. I suggest watching the anime adaptation first, as you’ll get the same story but with actual subtitles that make sense! It’s still the ideal way to experience The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel – Northern War.
