Trails of Cold Steel III Coming To Australia This Spring
PS4
Thanks to Bandai Namco Entertainment ANZ and NISA, fans of Falcom’s long-running Trails series can breathe easy following confirmation that Trails of Cold Steel III will be released in Australia sometime during Spring 2019. My love of the series is well documented on Player2, so be sure to expect further coverage later in the year.
Following on 18 months after the events of Trails of Cold Steel II, the political landscape of Erebonia has shifted once more. Protagonist Rean Schwarzer has graduated from Thors Military Academy and now works as an instructor at the recently established Thors Branch Campus where he must lead a fresh-faced Class VII against the ongoing machinations of the Ouroboros organisation. With new characters to discover and landscapes to explore, Trails of Cold Steel III will also include an interactive recap to help new players understand the events of the first two titles and dive straight into the action. While I would recommend those interested in starting the series pick up the first two games in preparation, time constraints are a factor for many people and saving 120-150 hours might make this feature quite useful for some.
As the series has moved over from Xseed, who were responsible for localising the Trails in the Sky trilogy and both Trails of Cold Steel I and II, some fans have expressed concerns about the English translation maintaining the same high quality set by prior entries. While NISA did have some issues with their release of Falcom’s Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana, these were eventually remedied via updates and I would expect that NISA will not make these same mistakes again. In a move that acknowledges the quality work done on the Trails series by Xseed in the past, NISA have actually hired a number of former Xseed staff to presumably maintain consistency across all entries. Having played Ys VIII after the release of a few patches on the PS4, I found it a stellar experience and am confident NISA will pull out all the stops to ensure Trails of Cold Steel III launches spectacularly.
While two Limited Edition releases have been confirmed for both Europe and the United States, there has been no word as to whether these versions of the game will reach Australian shores. The Early Enrolment Edition might yet make it Down Under, but the larger Thors Academy Edition has been confirmed as a NISA Store Exclusive thus far.
For those who have yet to play Trails of Cold Steel I or II, a remastered PS4 release of each title is coming very shortly courtesy of publisher Marvelous Europe. While there is no word yet about Australian distribution of these titles, both can be ordered from ozgameshop.com.
