History VideoGame / SenNoKiseki

The latest arc in Creator/NihonFalcom's long-running ''[[VideoGame/KisekiSeries Legend of Heroes]]'' series of {{Eastern RPG}}s, ''Trails of Cold Steel'' and its sequel ''Trails of Cold Steel II'' are a game changer for two reasons: The story moves to the Empire of Erebonia, whose conflicts have simmered in the background since ''[[VideoGame/LegendOfHeroesTrailsInTheSky Trails in the Sky]]'', and the game itself is in full 3D for the first time ever. The game stars Rean Schwarzer, a new student at the Thors Military Academy in the small college town of Trista, who finds himself placed into a special group, Class VII. There, he faces not only classes and tests but a student body fractured by the political divisions in Erebonia, a willful teacher with an unorthodox approach to education, and his own insecurity. And in the background, the rumor of war....

''Trails of Cold Steel'' is the third arc in the series begun by ''Trails in the Sky'' and takes place in roughly the same time frame as ''VideoGame/ZeroNoKiseki'' and its sequel, ''Ao no Kiseki''. The first game in the arc was released on December 22, 2015, courtesy of Creator/XSEEDGames under the title ''Trails of Cold Steel''. XSEED will also be bringing over the second game roughly a year after that. In December 2015 Falcom formally announced the development of a third game in the arc.

'''As the third arc in a series with a continuous narrative, expect spoilers for previous games'''

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!! This game provides examples of:
* AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil: The Thors student council, or rather StudentCouncilPresident Towa, takes on many duties that should really be done by the teachers themselves.
* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer: Heimdallr is riddled with underground waterways dating back to the Middle Ages, including secret passages allowing one to cross between districts and occasionally pop up in unexpected locations.
* [[spoiler:AceCustom: Scarlet and Vulcan pilot Spiegels, which are customized versions of the basic Draken, as do the currently nameless former Zephyrs. Scarlet uses a large sword, one Zephyr uses a lance and Vulcan and the remaining Zephyr use twin hammers.]]
* ActionGirl: More or less the entire female cast, given how they're students or instructors at a military academy. The most standout examples are [[HeirToTheDojo Laura]], [[PrivateMilitaryContractors Fie]], [[BareFistedMonk Angelica]] and [[BadassTeacher Sara]].
* AcademyOfAdventure: Thors Military Academy is designed to educate the future leaders of the Imperial Army. The Headmaster is an ex-Marshal, the school doctor was a field doctor, at least one instructor(for the military subjects) is on detached duty, classes include all the standard subjects you'd expect of a high school plus combat skills, strategic planning and tactics on the field and the use of [[MagicFromTechnology Tactical Orbments]], Class VII goes on Empire-wide field drips and one of the buildings on campus is constructed over ruins from the Middle Ages and is unsurprisingly haunted. [[spoiler:It's also an EldritchLocation and the ''final dungeon'']]
* AdultsAreUseless: Completely subverted, as Sara is ridiculously powerful, Neithardt is quite impressive for what we see and [[spoiler:the entire faculty has no hesitation about engaging a squad of [[HumongousMecha Panzersoldat]] on foot]]. Oh, and the Train Police put on a good showing every time they appear and most of the cast has a parent or elder sibling who is a highly effective leader of some kind or another. Class VII gets a lot done, but not because the adults couldn't handle things if they needed to. They are however deliberately giving Class VII space, as part of their training.
* AffectionateGestureToTheHead: Sara likes doing this to Fie, who puts up with it but tells Sara how annoying she finds it. Laura's father also does this to her when they see each other again for the first time in months. Laura is more embarrassed that the gesture is seen by her classmates than by the gesture itself. Rean also does it to Alisa at one point, who doesn't comment on it until she's leaving the room, at which point she gives Rean a Significant Look.
* AggressiveCategorism: Machias and Jusis both display this at first, unable to see past their anti-Noble and anti-Commoner prejudices respectively. To be fair, in [[CrapsackWorld Erebonia]] this isn't an uncommon attitude and both have reasons for holding it. Some clever maneuvering by Sara and time spent with Rean (who straddles the line between the classes) and the other members of Class VII helps them get over it.
* AllMythsAreTrue: The 'Myths and Legends of Erebonia' books you can find in Thors' library exist to [[LampshadeHanging hang a lampshade]] on this trope. When you see the final volume, it will mention several legends that the player ''knows'' to be true because they've recently fought and killed ([[TheUndead for a given value of killed]]) those legends. Other myths the books mention serve as foreshadowing, playing the trope straight to one degree or another.
* AlwaysInClassOne: A very obvious aversion, the protagonists were all specially placed in Class VII, which leaves a missing number between them and all the other classes. Class I and II are for the Nobles, III through V are for the Commoners. The lack of a Class VI just underscores how different the protagonists are meant to be. It also serves as a nice nod to the ArcNumber for the franchise.
* AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: [[spoiler:If Alisa is the person whose dance event you saw, she'll start to give Rean one of these right before the [[BolivianArmyCliffhanger ending]]]].
* AntiFrustrationFeatures: ''Cold Steel'' allows you to purchase missing volumes of Rose of the Red Moon from Micht's shop so if you missed finding an issue you can pay to make it up later and still get a Zemurian Stone at the end of the game. The Zemurian Stone Fragments also return from ''Ao'', allowing you to get up to three [[InfinityPlusOneSword ultimate weapons]] in your first playthrough and an infinite number once you're in NewGamePlus, provided you're fine with lots of U-Material grinding.
* [[spoiler:AntiVillain: If the story had started several years earlier and focused on Crow, the audience might well have been cheering for him and not Rean. Well, most of the time. He's fighting against TheEmpire for the freedom of his homeland, one of his subordinates also lost a home to Osborne's expansionist plans and one lost ''everything''. He's also genuinely concerned for his subordinates and at one point or another comes to the rescue of all of them, even though doing so sometimes risks his cover. His friendship with Class VII is also genuine enough that his ARCUS [[ThePowerOfFriendship resonates with the others]] before entering the Old Building for the final time. Yet he's still the BigBad of ''Cold Steel'']]
* ArchaicWeaponForAnAdvancedAge: When Orbal technology allows you to turn one arrow into a SpamAttack WaveMotionGun, you would use a bow too.
* AristocratsAreEvil: The rallying cry of Osborne's reformist movement. He's not ''entirely'' wrong either.
* ArtShift: The move to 3D allows for more dynamic cinematography than was possible with the sprites used in previous games.
* [[spoiler:AuthorAvatar: ''Cold Steel'' reveals that Micht is the author of the Carnelia books so he wrote himself into his own story (translated as Matthias in XSEED's localization). [[FictionAsCoverup This might explain why his character (and 'Carnelia') both die over the course of the story]]]]
* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: Don't underestimate the Thors school faculty. Or the top brass of the military. Or the best Bracers... Basically, if someone has a rank in this game, it's quite likely they earned it.
* BadassTeacher: Thors is a military academy and most of the faculty are current or ex-military. It comes with the territory.
* BashBrothers: Laura and Fie become this after sorting through their differences.
* BishieSparkle: Crow gets these sometimes. Also, Machias and Eliot whenever they meet Vita Clotilde and try not to act like the fanboys they are. Miriam also gets them on occasion.
* BladeOnAStick: Gaius' spear is a conventional example while Vandyck's ''zanbatou'' is a BFS on a stick. [[spoiler:But Ordine takes the cake with a double-ended glaive-on-a-stick that's probably ten meters long]].
* BoardingSchool: The students live just off campus in three dormitories. The Nobles get a big fancy one with servants, the Commoners get a rather less fancy one and Class VII has the least fancy of them all, at least at first.
* [[spoiler:BolivianArmyCliffhanger: ''Cold Steel'' ends with Celine forcing Valimar to retreat against Rean's wishes, rather than continue a hopeless fight against a fully powered God Knight and a pilot who knows how to use it. The remainder of Class VII engages Ordine from on foot to buy Rean time, despite having no hope of winning. Ordine draws its weapon back to strike and then the game ends...]]
* BraggingRightsReward: The Radiant Medal is the reward in ''Cold Steel'' for maxing out your Academic Rank and it's fittingly the best accessory in the game, giving big stat boosts and complete immunity to status conditions, status downs and AT Delay. It's also only possible to earn the necessary Rank ''after the final dungeon'' so it's generally only useful if you plan to play New Game Plus with item carryover but not level carryover.
* ClassRepresentative: Emma and Machias.
* CallBack: Legram is full of references to the Eisenritter, a legendary group of warriors from 250 years ago. There is a prominent statue of Lianne Sandlot and some of her followers and her ghost is said to haunt Lohengrin Castle. [[spoiler:Since Lianne is alive and well and going by the new name of [[ThatOneBoss Arianrhod]] fans ears perked up as soon as this was revealed. The game did not disappoint]]
** The game also features a few purely musical examples. When watching maneuvers at Garelia Fortress, [[VideoGame/ZeroNoKiseki Steel Roar -Verge of Death-]] plays, a sidequest in Heimdallr requires the player to find a record of [[LegendOfHeroesVI Amber Amour]] and Emma's solo in the concert is the ending theme 'I Swear' from ''SC''.
* TheCameo: [[Franchise/{{Ys}} Pikkard]] and [[NayutaNoKiseki Noi]] dolls are on sale in Celdic. A smaller [=PenPen=] doll can also be seen in Miriam's room, doubling as a callback to both ''Ao no Kiseki'' and ''Zwei II''. And that's just the out-of-universe examples. ''Cold Steel'' also features an inordinate amount of references to the Gagharv Trilogy, giving more fuel to the theory that the two series might [[WildMassGuessing occupy the same world]]
* ChekhovsClassroom: The subjects everyone is cramming for at the beginning of Chapter 3 just happen to be the subjects you're going to be asked about during the interactive portion of the Midterm Exam. You can't see all of the events without SaveScumming but doing so will help you get a better overall score.
* ChekhovsGunman: Literally, as the identity of the sniper who [[spoiler:shot down the Imperial Liberation Front's ship]] is a major reveal during the WhamEpisode at the end of the game. [[spoiler:It's Crow, who also turns out to be the person who shot Osborne, as previously foreshadowed in ''Ao'']].
* ChickMagnet: Rean it helps that he can bond with npc must have learned from Adol and Lloyd.
* CivilWar: What Olivier and his third way faction are trying to prevent.
** [[spoiler:[[ForegoneConclusion They fail.]]]]
* ClassTrip: What separates Class VII from the rest of the school: every month, they're sent on an educational trip to a different area of the Empire.
* CliffHanger: The first game's ending, which arguably surpasses ''Trails in the Sky FC'''s.
* CompanyTown: The Reinford Group owns a lot of the property in Roer as well as the largest stores. Since the town is technically also the seat of the [[BlueBlood Rogner family]], they don't completely control the town but it's very obvious that Reinford dominates the landscape.
* ContinuityNod: As with every other game in the series, these are all over the place, starting from the opening sequence making a nod to concurrent events in ''Ao'' plus a CallForward to events that ''will'' happen shortly afterwards. The calendar system makes it very easy to date events in the previous arc since there are nods to just about every major incident.
** When entering the Reinford Building, the camera lingers on models of the Lusitania from ''The 3rd'' and a limosine of the same model used by Dieter in ''Zero''.
* CoolAirship: Olivier managed to convince the ZCF and the Epstein Foundation to help him build a second Arseille, which he then customized extensively. Dubbed the Courageous, it isn't as fast as the original model but it's larger, more heavily armed and armored and is still faster than anything else Erebonia has. It's Class VII's transport, eventually.
** Also, the Penthagruel, which is [[spoiler:the flagship of the Noble Faction. It's built on the exact same scale of the Glorious and has similar stylings....]]
* CoolOldGuy: Headmaster Vandyck (two meters tall, wields a BFS) and Claus (not even winded from fighting at four to one odds and able to diagnose problems with Rean's swordsmanship while doing it). Alisa's grandfather is also pretty cool, though not in a Badass way.
* ColourCodedForYourConvenience: At Thors, the Common-born students wear green uniforms and the Nobles wear white uniforms. Class VII has students from both groups and they all wear red uniforms.
* ConcertClimax: The climax actually occurs in between final preparations for a concert (the one Class VII is putting on) and the concert itself. Of course, this being ''Cold Steel'', it manages a DoubleSubversion. The subversion: The Concert technically follows the Climax. The subversion of the subversion: [[spoiler:There's another hour of game left and the ''real'' climax is at Osborne's public address a week later]].
* ContinuityNod: All over the place; the game runs in parallel to ''Zero'' and ''Ao'' and Falcom took every opportunity to let players know what happens concurrently, such as having an NPC mention that he just came from Crossbell's Founding Day celebration, another discussing how construction on the tallest building in western Zemuria is nearing completion and so on. [[spoiler:And of course, Thomas mentioning alchemy in connection with Crossbell's past, everything to do with Red Constellation, the end of Chapter 5, the Final Chapter...]]
* CrapsackWorld: Erebonia has been presented as something like this since the first game. As with Crossbell, it's not ''quite'' as bad as it was made out to be (in both cases, our prior exposure has been through parties with reasons to accentuate the negative) but it's definitely one of the most troubled realms on the continent. For example:
** The country still possesses a feudal power structure which is only slowly granting more power to the Commoners... and the person behind those changes is [[EvilChancellor Osborne]]. And by "still", we mean that it's pretty clear that Erebonia is the only true autocratic monarchy left on Zemuria, with it being ringed by states that are more or less democratic, and all of them, including fellow major power Calvard, distrust Erebonia due to its autocratic nature.
** Relatedly, tensions between the social classes have been simmering for years, decades really, and are just waiting for a spark to turn things into a very nasty civil war.
** Lingering disputes with Calvard over the disposition of Crossbell, resentment from recently annexed territories (and relatedly, the underlying sting of [[VideoGame/TrailsInTheSky having been humiliated on the field of battle by tiny, independent Liberl]]) and a new terrorist movement are only making things worse.
** To cap things off [[spoiler:Ouroboros isn't just working behind the scenes, they're supporting ''both sides'']].
* CrossOver: The game's focus remains on Rean and his friends, but references are made to the Liberl and Crossbell games, and some characters from previous arcs in the series make cameo appearances.
* CurbStompBattle: The fights against Sara and Victor will end with your character(s) defeated, at best you might annoy them slightly. Of course, one is your combat instructor (Who according to the Battle Notes is level 49 at a time when the party is roughly level 15) and the other is the best swordsman in the Empire so the result was something of a foregone conclusion. The fight against <C> in Heimdallr's catacombs will end after a few turns, though if it continued it would have become this.
** Turned around at Legram when you have a match against the students, who don't even get the dignity of an actual battle before they're shown to be defeated by Class VII.
** [[spoiler:The Panzersoldats utterly and completely wreck the First Armored Division (the Imperial Guards no less), destroying even the most advanced of tanks with a single blow each]].
** [[spoiler:Crow inflicts one of these on Rean while both are operating their respective God Knights, with Crow pointing out that he's had three years to learn how to pilot his machine while Rean has only had a few minutes]].
* CustomUniform[=/=]NonUniformUniform: Sort of. As noted, Class VII gets red uniforms that set them apart from the other students... except that these are basically just red-colored jackets, and the actual design is pretty much the same as the standard Thors uniform. None of them really deviate too wildly from the actual uniform, either - the guys wear the jacket and dark slacks, the girls wear the jacket and a short, pleated green skirt. The guys get an option for a vest-style jacket instead of the full jacket, which Elliot and Gaius take.
** The real variation comes in with the shoes on the girls - apparently Thors just doesn't care what the ladies wear below the hemline, so each of the heroines wears whatever shoes they like, with no effort made to match. Also, while Gaius does wear the standard "vest" option, he wears his open-breasted rather than buttoned.
** Angelica also has a "custom uniform" in the sense that she doesn't actually bother ''wearing'' her Thors attire, instead going around in her biking suit. Nobody really complains because she's the daughter of one of the most powerful families in Erebonia.
* DarthVaderClone: <C>, the leader of the Imperial Liberation Front.
* DefeatMeansFriendship: Done twice. Miriam first becomes playable after you defeat her in a fight and in the previous school year, Angelica essentially [[OffscreenMomentOfAwesome punched Crow into becoming her friend]].
* [[spoiler:TheDogWasTheMastermind: Your friendly upperclassman and honorary Class VII member Crow is <C>, the terrorist leader responsible for most of the events of ''Cold Steel''. The popular radio idol Misty and the glamorous opera singer Vita are the same person and she's the mastermind who is pulling ''Crow's'' strings]].
* DoorOfDoom: The enormous door found at the beginning of the fourth level of the old school building, with a strange red design engraved on it and no obvious means of opening it. [[spoiler:It contains a 'test' in the form of an enormous suit of AnimatedArmor with a really big sword.]] There's an even bigger and doomier door [[spoiler:on the hidden seventh level and a [[UpToEleven still-bigger door]] beyond that which serves as the final trial, before it opens up to reveal [[HumongousMecha Valimar]]]]
** Another identical door is found in [[spoiler:Lohengrin Castle]]. It's implied there are more still.
* {{Dracolich}}: Zolo Agruga, important enough to make it into the opening movie and game trailers.
* DrivenToSuicide: A suicide in the past is responsible for [[spoiler:Machias' hatred of Nobles and his father starting to work for Osborne]].
* ElaborateUniversityHigh: Thors Military Academy. The elaborate angle probably can be explained by the fact that Zemuria doesn't really ''have'' higher education so Thors and similar schools are as advanced as it gets.
* [[spoiler:EldritchAbomination: Loa Erebonius, the Ashen Power. It's an enormous, misshapen but vaguely humanoid clawed and winged monstrosity with parts of its body flickering in and out of existence. It's also described as being only a fragment of a greater power.]]
* EldritchLocation: The ruins beneath the old school building change form as you progress through them. Quite a lot of the decorative elements seen in the ruins resemble designs from Phantasma. [[spoiler:The entire structure appears to have been created to test anyone who would seek to awaken Valimar and there is an EldritchAbomination lurking in the lowest level]].
* ElementalPowers: Because of the way Orbments work, all characters have two Slots restricted to one of the seven types of Quartz (and for the first time, a Slot restricted to a ''second'' element), giving them a natural inclination towards one element or another. Despite this, actual specialization is still largely a matter of player choice.
** [[DishingOutDirt Earth Element]]: Machias (Primary) and Gaius and Miriam (Secondary)
** [[MakingASplash Water]] [[AnIcePerson Element]]: Laura (Primary) and Eliot and Crow (Secondary)
** [[PlayingWithFire Fire Element]]: Alisa (Primary) and Rean, Laura, Emma and Sara (Secondary)
** [[BlowYouAway Wind]] [[ShockAndAwe Element]]: Gaius, Fie and Sara (Primary) and Jusis (Secondary)
** [[TimeMaster Time]] [[CastingAShadow Element]]: Rean and Crow (Primary) and Fie and Angelica (Secondary)
** [[SpaceMaster Space]] [[GravityMaster Element]]: Eliot, Jusis and Angelica (Primary) and Alisa (Secondary)
** [[LightEmUp Mirage]] [[{{Lunacy}} Element]]: Emma and Miriam (Primary) and Machias (Secondary)
* EnemyMine:
** Rean gets Machias and Jusis to agree to a truce by framing their field exam as a competition with the other half of Class VII, and telling them that their squabbling is the reason the group those two were in lost last time.
** [[spoiler:Sharon is Legion IX of Ouroboros. She teams up with the faculty to fight off the Panzersoldats sent by the Noble Faction, even though her organization is behind the Nobles and their ultimate goals coincide right now... because even if she is a Legion, she's also Alisa's [[{{Meido}} maid]] and wants to keep her safe. Whether this cooperation will last once all the stops are pulled out on Phantom Blaze is another matter...]]
* EveryoneMeetsEveryone: The Prologue of ''Cold Steel'' (after the flash-forward) is all about how the members of Class VII arrive at Thors on the first day of school and meet one another. This being [[MilitaryAcademy Thors]], their meeting involves literally being dropped into a dungeon and having to cooperate to make it out.
* EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses: Princess Alfin is adorable, beloved by all, and quite mischievous... as you would expect from that family.
* EvolvingCredits: When you first start up the game, it's just Rean riding alone in the train, with more people added on once you go on the field studies. By chapter 2 or 3, the train is now filled with everyone from Class VII.
* ExactWords: When blatantly noble-hating Machias asks his classmates what their social rank is, Rean says that "there isn't a drop of noble blood in my veins". This is technically true, but glosses over the fact that while Rean is common-born, he's also the adopted son of a Baron, making him low-end nobility despite his lack of pedigree.
* ExplainExplainOhCrap: [[spoiler:Claire is thinking aloud about motives of the terrorists who attacked Reinford's factory, then suddenly realizes that the provincial soldiers haven't arrived, ''then'' has this reaction when she concludes that the incident at the factory must have been a distraction. Five seconds later, she's proven correct]].
* FalseFlagOperation: The Imperial Liberation Front pulls one of these by simultaneously attacking bases in Calvard and Erebonia in an attempt to start a war between the two powers while making it look like the other side was involved.
* FalseReassurance: During orientation, it becomes clear that Machias hates Nobles. When circumstances lead him to team up with Rean, Eliot and Gaius, he asks them if they're Commoners like himself. The latter two are. Not wanting to antagonize Machias, Rean claims that 'I'm like them, I don't have any fancy bloodline or anything like that'.This is [[MetaphoricallyTrue technically true]] but conveniently avoids having to answer the ''actual'' question, which would require explaining that he is the adopted son of Baron Schwarzer of Ymir.
** Machias doesn't notice the dodge but Eliot does, though he doesn't say anything about it. Rean at least feels bad about the lie and it does come back to bite him later.
* [[spoiler:FakingTheDead: You didn't really think the Imperial Liberation Front would be defeated that anti-climactically, did you? Of course not, but making everyone in-universe ''think'' that they were dead was all part of The Plan]].
* FetchQuest: It wouldn't be a Kiseki game without lots of these, this time given to you as homework.
* FightingYourFriend: The once-a-month class tests start off as battles against robots but quickly turn into practice duels between members of Class VII.
* FinalBoss: [[spoiler:Two in fact. Loa Erebonius is fought at the end of TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon and is effectively the last time you can use the regular combat system. However, after all is said and done the ''real'' final boss of ''Cold Steel'' is Ordine, the Blue God Knight]]
* FiveBadBand
** TheBigBad: [[spoiler:Vita Clotilde]]
** TheDragon: [[spoiler:Crow Armbrust]]
** TheEvilGenius: Mikhail Gideon
** TheBrute: Vulcan
** TheDarkChick: Scarlet
* ForeignExchangeStudent: Despite the purpose of the school being to train future officers, Thors accepts at least a few non-Erebonian students. Gaius is seen as one by most of the other students even though Nord is technically (a distant) part of the Empire. He sees himself as one too.
* FullNameBasis: Machias and Jusis tend to refer to each other by their full names until they start defrosting.
* FunWithAcronyms: The new ARCUS model Tactical Orbment. It's an acronym for All-Round Communication and Unison System.
* ForegoneConclusion: ''Ao no Kiseki'' ends with a timeskip and a description of events taking place in neighboring Erebonia. ''Cold Steel'' starts months before that point. Thanks to what we saw in ''Ao'' we know that by the end of the game [[spoiler:Garelia Fortress will be destroyed, war will be declared with Crossbell and the Empire will fall into a nasty civil war]]. Guess what happens?
** Even extends to ''Cold Steel II'' to an extent because ''Ao'''s ending also told us that [[spoiler:Osborne's faction ''wins'', even though ''Cold Steel'' ends with the Noble Faction appearing to have an unbeatable upper hand.]].
* GameChanger: Acknowledged in universe is [[spoiler:the introduction of the [[HumongousMecha Panzersoldat]] which is capable of curb stomping Erebonia's most advanced tanks, the backbone of the Imperial Army.]]
** For a meta example, [[WordOfGod Falcom's president]] stated in a Dengeki interview shortly after ''Cold Steel'' was released that the sequel would be one of these for the franchise.
* GameplayAndStorySegregation: As usual, avoided as much as possible. At one point, Machias and Jusis' [[spoiler:and later Laura and Fie's]] inability to get along even leads to the Tactical Link system ''breaking''. Rean and Alisa's dispute doesn't break the Link system because they get over their issues before they end up in the same party.
** The story makes a huge deal about how important and battle-changing combat links are but they hardly even make a difference during actual gameplay battles, especially during early and mid game.
** The story also makes a big deal about how much more powerful Laura and Fie are compare the rest but in gameplay, (barring overpowered skills like Rean's Arc Slash) they aren't too different from any of the other physical-based characters.
*** This is most exemplified during the battle where you play as Fie and Laura vs Rean and Machias, which is arguably one of the hardest, if not the hardest, battle in the game, especially on the higher difficulties.
*** Perhaps as to try to make this more consistent, both Laura and Fie are the only ones to start the game with an S-Craft.
* GetOut: The girls dismiss Crow's idea of having them in bikinis for the School Festival with that statement.
* GoLookAtTheDistraction: In one of the sidequests which has Rean trying to bust Rex for selling candid photos, he corners him at the Old Schoolhouse. Rex then distracts Rean by asking what Alisa's doing in a swimsuit. Rean soon realizes he fell for the oldest trick in the book!
* [[spoiler: GoodWitchVersusBadWitch: Emma and Vita]]
* HardWorkHardlyWorks: Emma and Machias both subvert this, particularly Emma who won a scholarship to Thors by acing a national exam, despite not having the advantages the Nobles get (access to extra tutoring, more leisure time and so on) and she manages to be the top performer on the Midterm Exam. Machias, who is equally dedicated but for different reasons, scores second.
* HateAtFirstSight: Given Erebonia's extremely strong class differences, it was practically inevitable that this should happen to Machias and Jusis when they met. One is the son of a champion of the faction that wants to overturn the current Noble-led political order, the other is a son of one of the Four Families and brother of the champion of the faction trying to maintain the status-quo.
* HauntedCastle: Lohengrin Castle is popularly believed to be haunted by the ghost of Lianne Sandlot, who died under mysterious circumstances shortly after the end of the Lion War. When Class VII visits it, it is indeed apparently haunted by ghosts and animated suits of armor and weaponry. [[spoiler:Not by Lianne though, which would have been difficult since she's not actually dead]].
* HeroOfAnotherStory: Everyone assigned to Group B for the Field Exams gets to be the hero of a story the player only hears about after the fact. They always seem to get sent to locations the player has heard about in previous games (Palm and Saint Arc) or which are probably going to be important later (Brionia Island),
* HiddenDepths: He doesn't get much of a chance to show them off in ''Cold Steel'' but Patrick clearly does have ''some'' redeeming qualities buried beneath his jerkassery.
* HiddenInPlainSight: [[spoiler:Micht's shop is the same one described in the Carnelia novels, just located in Trista instead of Heimdallr. Disguised as a curio shop, it's really a front for his business of selling information to Bracers and the like]].
* HopelessBossFight: You can't beat Sara in Chapter 2, you can't beat <C> in Chapter 4 and you definitely can't beat Victor in Chapter 5. Then, because the game wouldn't be complete without one more you can't beat [[spoiler:Scarlet's Spiegel while on foot]]. All of these are justified by the plot.
* HumongousMecha: A series tradition. There are returning Overmuppets like the export-model [[MechaMook Tri-Attacker]] and enhanced versions of previous machines such as the Zephyranthes (a refined Liore Gun-EZ). [[spoiler:Then you have two new types of machines. The centerpiece of the games are the God Knights, machines from Erebonia's distant past. Rean is chosen as the Raiser of Valimar the Ash God Knight at the end of ''Cold Steel'' while Crow is the Raiser of Ordine the Blue God Knight. There are also the Panzersoldat manufactured by Reinford's Fifth Division, with help from Ouroboros, which are implied to be based on the God Knights, using Ordine as a model]]
* IdenticalTwinIDTag: Linde and Vivi are virtually indistinguishable aside from the fact that they have different hairstyles. The two occasionally adopt the same style in order to mess with people, like when Vivi takes advantage of this to pull a prank on Rean.
* IdiotBall: [[spoiler:Emma doesn't realize she's holding it until the very end of the game but... if she had just listened to Abend Time ''once'' in the six months she was at Thors, she would have possessed absolutely vital information. The fact that she never saw Misty in that same period can be explained by the woman avoiding the one person who could identify her but never once listening to the radio program that everyone is talking about? To Emma's defense, Vita put a curse upon herself(not Emma) so that her information will not be leaked to Emma and possibly also to Celine(confirmed by Celine), so until she diliberately stopped the curse from happening, Emma would not think of listening to Abend time at all.(And her over dedicated studying in both Thors subjects and extending her own ability as a witch) Not only Emma never heard of Abend Time, Celine, being a cat that hangs around town for a pretty long time has not met Vita at all. The curse of Vita distorting recognition of others from telling Misty is her also helps a lot, Rean can tell only because of his mixed powers let him pick up more info than others.]]
* IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight: [[spoiler: Rean challenges Crow with the explicit intention of making him come back to Class VII. It doesn't work in ''Cold Steel'' and most of ''Cold Steel II'', finally worked in front of the Red God Knight, but death after redemption, Crow does a HeroicSacrifice to let Rean get close enough to safe the day.]]
* InMediasRes: ''Cold Steel'' begins on 8/31/1204 as Class VII, Sara and Neithardt fight terrorists attacking Garelia Fortress. The next five Chapters are spent explaining [[HowWeGotHere how they got there]].
* InternalReveal: Lots of them (and extra lots if you include things the audience didn't explicitly know but could guess with high accuracy based on [[{{Foreshadowing}} past games]]), including Alisa revealing what the 'R' in her last name is short for to the entire group and [[spoiler:Emma revealing to Rean just how she's able to do some of the stunts she's performed over the course of the game]]. Some of these are limited to Bond Events while others occur during the normal plot.
* InstantExpert: [[spoiler:Played straight and then almost immediately subverted. While being chosen by a God Knight grants a Raiser the knowledge of how to operate one, that doesn't mean you'll know how to operate it ''well'', as Crow points out that his three year head start gives him an overwhelming advantage over Rean (including the knowledge of how to use Ordine's SuperMode), just before he kicks Rean's ass.]]
* ISurrenderSuckers: <C> drops his blade and appears to surrender after you fight him for the second time. Rean realizes very quickly that it's a ploy but <C> only needed that second's distraction to arrange his escape.
* JurisdictionFriction: The regular Army and provincial forces tend to ''really'' resent it when the Train Police use their authority to intervene 'to ensure the safety of the transportation system'. Claire couldn't care less.
* KnowledgeBroker: [[spoiler:Micht's real profession]]
* LawOfChromaticSuperiority: Class VII members get [[RedIsHeroic red uniforms]] while everyone else is divided by noble/commoner status into white and green respectively.
* [[spoiler:LetsFightLikeGentlemen: Played straight when Crow tosses Rean a sword so he can fight at his best, even asking him to bear with the fact that the Spiegel's sword isn't the equal of Rean's own sword but he doesn't have a HumongousMecha sized katana available. Then subverted after Rean appears to win, when Crow activates Ordine's SuperMode, which Rean doesn't know how to activate on his own machine]]
* LimitedWardrobe: The first game in the series to completely justify this is also the one to avert it. The members of Class VII obviously wear the same outfit because it's the uniform of Thors Military Academy. The leap to 3d also allowed Falcom to make alternate costumes so everyone has a few opportunities to change their clothes, more so with DLC casual clothing.
* JapaneseSchoolClub: It's a JRPG with a MilitaryAcademy setting, so of course, this is going to come up. Everyone in Class VII eventually joins one. Alisa (Lacrosse), Eliot (Music), Laura (Swimming), Machias (Chess), Jusis (Riding), Emma (Literature), Fie (Gardening) and Gaius (Art). Rean is volunteered into the 'help the Student Council President with her work' club, aka the Sidequest Club. Other clubs include Cooking, Fencing and Occult Studies. When Miriam joins Class VII, she technically joins the Cooking Club, though mostly so she can eat the food.
* LethalChef: Played with. Every member of the party has some recipes that they're good at and some that they're terrible at. For example, Jusis can make an incredible herb chowder but can't make edible tomato sandwiches. This is important because the specialty dishes made by those party members who are good at them are excellent healing items, while there's an unofficial subquest in which one of the faculty members will trade items for examples of peculiar dishes (The ones made by those who don't know how to prepare that recipe).
* TheManBehindTheMan: [[spoiler:Count Caien]] is supporting the Imperial Liberation Front. [[spoiler:In turn, [[AncientConspiracy Ouroboros]] is supporting ''everyone'', as they've been aiding Osborne's Reformist Faction for some time and they're the real power behind the ILF. They also have at least one agent keeping an eye on both Class VII and the Reinford Group and they're providing resources and know-how to Reinford]]. The ultimate example would undoubtedly be [[spoiler:Vita, who seems to be running this part of the Phantom Blaze Plan and who helped Crow obtain Ordine]]
* MarathonBoss: Typically, each Chapter will end with one of these. Chapter 6 is particularly sadistic since you have to fight [[spoiler:Vulcan and <C>]] back to back. [[DroughtLevelOfDoom Hope you saved some items and CP]].
* MarshmallowHell: Poor Rean can't catch a break in the prologue. He gets a faceful of Alisa cleavage, and she proceeds to spend the better part of a MONTH pissed off at him. Her being a Type-A {{Tsundere}} doesn't help matters either.
* MeaningfulName: The Iron Breed are followers of the 'Prime Minister of Blood and Iron'.
* MegaCorp: The Reinford Group makes almost all of Erebonia's military hardware and almost all Orbment-related technology (like luxury limousines and passenger airliners), aside from goods made by Epstein or the ZCF and imported. The primary check on their power is the fact that the Sachsen Mines that provide the bulk of their raw material are owned by the royal family rather than the company or the local nobility.
** [[spoiler:Their Fifth Division is revealed in the Final Chapter to be a supporter of the Noble Faction and its proxy the Imperial Liberation Front. By implication, it's also likely to be a satellite branch of Workshop Thirteen]]
* MerchantCity: Well, Merchant Town at any rate. Celdic is famous for its open-air market which attacts merchants from across Kreuzen Province and customers from across the Empire.
* MilitaryAcademy: Thors is historically meant to train soldiers, but recently many graduates have worked in civilian fields instead.
* MindScrew: For anyone who played the Crossbell arc [[spoiler:the appearance of Crow and Miriam at Garelia when they ''weren't'' there during the ColdOpening, since the last time something like this happened it was a sign that [[RealityWarper the Zeroth Treasure was involved]]]]. For that same reason, [[spoiler:the bells at Lohengrin and Thors]] although WordOfGod says they're unrelated.
* MinigameZone: The Academy Festival during the final Chapter includes an equestrian obstacle course, a Blade tournament where you can challenge an otherwise unplayable opponent and whack-a-Michey.
* MomentKiller: Patrick develops a fairly obvious crush on Elise. Rean seems to enjoy ruining any chance Patrick might get to act on that crush.
* MultipleEndings: Well, sort of. There will be a special scene with whoever's dance event you saw, just before the end of the game. It doesn't affect the ending in any significant way but it's a nice touch.
* MysteriousBacker: The Imperial Liberation Front is said to have one, which keeps it supplied with Mira and resources. It's heavily implied to be [[spoiler:Count Caien of the Noble Faction, which is more or less confirmed in the epilogue but ultimately Ouroboros is behind them both, to the surprise of precisely nobody. The [[HumongousMecha Overmuppets]] were a bit of a giveaway]].
* NewTransferStudent: Wouldn't be a school story without one!
** Specifically, two students transfer into Class VII over the course of the game. One is Crow, who is making up for missed work in his regular classes and the other is Miriam, who isn't actually eligible to attend Thors (she's too young) and only gets in because ''someone'' is pulling strings. Also, both of their stints in Class VII are meant to be temporary and both were well known to the player and characters before they appeared. All in all, it's almost a subversion of the usual trope.
* NotSoDifferent: [[spoiler:Jusis and Rean, as quasi-outsiders in their own family, Jusis for being illegitimate and initially raised as a Commoner and Rean for being a Commoner adopted into a Noble family.]] On a similar note [[spoiler:Jusis and Angelica, who both belong to one of the Four Families and call themselves the unworthy son/daugher of their respective fathers.]]
* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: Actually, a scene that made an implied one of these from a previous game even more awesome, while still leaving it offscreen: [[spoiler:The battle between the Jaeger King and the War God lasted ''three whole days'']].
* OhCrap: In-universe, the gate of Lohengrin Castle slamming shut behind the party and a strange barrier appearing, preventing them from leaving, just as they realize that the castle is well and truly haunted. Out of universe, [[spoiler:everything about the castle reminds one of Phantasma in ''The 3rd'' and the barriers are virtually identical in both form and function. Also, [[VideoGame/ZeroNoKiseki the bell]]]].
* OneGenderSchool: St. Astraea, a prestigious school for rich girls. Rean's younger sister Elise attends and is good friends with [[EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses Alfin]].
* TheOrder: The Eisenritter, a group of knights from the Legram region who supported Prince Dreichels during the Lion War 250 years ago. The Arseid family are the descendants of one of the leaders of the group and watch over Lohengrin Castle, which was the headquarters of the order and the seat of [[JeanneDArchetype Lianne Sandlot]].
** [[spoiler:Also, while we don't know much in the way of details yet, the Witches seem to be a more covert order. Emma describes them as 'the opposite of the Church' and she clearly knows much more about what's going on than anybody else.]]
* ParentalIssues: A significant portion of the main cast has some form of family trouble or another. Of Class VII, the only student with a completely normal family life is [[FunnyForeigner Gaius]]. Rean is mostly happy but has some issues stemming from his adoption and all the other characters are missing at least one parent, have a poor relationship with a parent or a combination of both:
** MissingMom: Eliot, Laura, Machias and Jusis all lost mothers, mostly to illness.
** DisappearedDad: Alisa
** RaisedByGrandparents: Implied of Emma.
** ParentalAbandonment: And Fie doesn't even have that much.
* PassiveAggressiveKombat: Elise is a master of this, Alisa gets a few moments and every single time Olivier and Osborne are forced to interact with each other when other people are present, their conversations are riddled with this.
* PowderKegCrowd: At the start of the game, tensions between the aristocracy and the commoners are at an all-time high and Prime Minister Osborne is fanning the flames. Celdic features a lesser version of this, as people are unhappy about the new tax measures and people are just waiting for an excuse to snap.
* ThePowerOfFriendship: The ARCUS system weaponizes this through the Tactical Link feature.
* PrivateMilitaryContractors: As with all the past games, you have regular mercenaries and you have Jaegers. For the first time, the series really shows the difference between the two by introducing members of the mercenary group Bugbear, who are not particularly impressive when compared to Jaegers we've seen. The two most prominent Jaeger groups in this game are [[CallBack The West Wind and The Red Constellation]], continuing to develop the plot from ''The 3rd'' through ''Ao''. [[spoiler:Fie's adoptive father-figure was the head of the former group before his death]].
* ProductPlacement: An amusing in-universe example: As Alisa pokes around with the engine of a damaged vehicle, the logo of the Reinford Group is clearly visible on the side. This reinforces her dialogue during the scene (naturally Alisa ''Reinford'' knows a thing or two about Reinford-made products) and to foreshadow the next my ajor plot development [[spoiler:which is that the man staying at Lake Lacrima is her grandfather]].
* QuestGiver: Towa gives Rean all the non-hidden quests at Thors/in Trista as delegated Student Council work. Each Chapter also has one or two people filling this role while you're on field training.
* RRatedOpening: The game opens with Class VII attempting to stop a group of terrorists from capturing one of the Railway Cannons at Garelia Fortress and using it to start a war. The base is full of the corpses of the soldiers on duty by the time the party arrives and one character remarks on the scent of blood and gunpowder. [[spoiler:Players of the previous games know that while Class VII will succeed here, the cannon they're trying to protect ''will'' ultimately be fired later and help start the very war they were trying to prevent]].
* RealityEnsues: Two very prominent examples at the end of the game: [[spoiler:First, after Class VII manages to disable a [[HumongousMecha Draken]], Scarlet reminds them that she is in an armored machine many times their size and they are not, as her [[AceCustom Spiegel]] effortlessly defeats the party, deflecting any attempt at damaging it in the process. Shortly afterwards, Rean piloting Valimar manages to disable Crow's Ordine... for about ten seconds, at which point Ordine stands up, [[SuperMode transforms]] and Crow asks if a complete amateur like Rean ''really'' thought he could beat someone who had three years to learn how to operate a God Knight. Then he [[CurbStompBattle kicks Rean's ass]].]]
* RedBaron: A series tradition, continued here.
** Lianne Sandlot: The Spear Saint [[spoiler:aka ''Arianrhod'']]
** Dreichels Reise Arnor: The Lionheart Emperor
** [[TheUnseen Yun Kafai]] the [[PunnyName Sword Hermit]][[note]]He's still an offscreen presence but ''Cold Steel'' revealed his title.[[/note]]
** Victor S Arseid: The Sword Artisan of Light
** Red-haired Olaf Craig
** One-Eyed Sechs Vander[[note]]Technically introduced in ''SC'' but he plays a larger role here. [[/note]]
** [[spoiler:Professor Beatrix]] the Reviver.
** [[spoiler:Vita Clotilde/Misty: The Azure Abyss]]
** [[spoiler:Sara Valestin]]: Eclair
** Miriam Orion: White Rabbit
** Lechter Arundel: Scarecrow
** Claire [[spoiler:Liebert]]: Ice Maiden
** [[spoiler:Fie Claussell]]: The Fairie of the West Wind [[spoiler:aka Sylphid]]
** [[spoiler:Sharon Kruger]]: The Liminal[[note]]Literally 'the point between life and death', plus a Japanese-only pun relating to her razor wires[[/note]]
* RedHerring: Lots of them, at least half of them aimed squarely at everyone who has played ''Zero''/''Ao'' and which would go over the heads of anyone who hasn't.
** [[spoiler:A big deal is made about Roer's Orbal Generator with lots of lingering shots and the main story concerns a terrorist organization... but nothing happens to the reactor at all and the real conflict happens elsewhere]].
* RelationshipValues: You can choose to spend free time with party members and a few [=NPCs=] to gain their affection and trigger a special scene at the end of the game.
* RhythmGame: Swimming operates like this, with the player alternating the pressing of two buttons to make Rean swim faster, with the beats coming quicker as he speeds up.
* RichBitch: Patrick Hyams is a male example. He's cut down to size by the even richer but slighly less bitchy Jusis. He does eventually display some redeeming qualities.
* RunningGag: Rean being mistaken for Alisa's boyfriend by the people of Roer.
* SceneryPorn: Nord Highlands are ''gorgeous'' and are treated as such in-universe as well.
* SchoolSwimsuit: There is a swimming club and associated minigame so these appear.
* SempaiKouhai: Class VII gets a lot of behind the scenes support and teasing from a group of second-year students, Towa and Crow in particular.
* SchoolFestival: Thors holds one every year. It's the setting for [[WhamEpisode the final Chapter]].
* TheSevenMysteries: Being a school in a JRPG, of course Thors has them. Beryl asks you to investigate them for her. All have disappointingly mundane explanations, like the 'hole in the field containing a corpse' is just the place where students buried failing exams. [[spoiler:Afterwards, Rean asks why she doesn't count the ''definitely'' mysterious [[EldritchLocation Old Building]] as one of the seven mysteries. She implies that of course it's included... in the ''real'' [[CrypticBackgroundReference seven mysteries of Thors]]...]]
* SequentialBoss: ''Cold Steel'' is in love with this trope and it happens at least once per Chapter.
* ShadowArchetype: Patrick to Jusis. Both are privileged sons of the Four Families, are proud, are skilled with a sword and look down on Commoners. The difference is that one is a Jerkass with very few redeeming qualities and the other becomes a valued companion.
* ShipTease: Rean and Alisa get lots of moments of this. Chapter 6 also includes quite a bit of Rean/Towa teasing and some Laura/Rean teasing.
** Rean gets it with much of the cast do to Relationship values even some teachers.
* ShootTheRope: Sara is unimpressed with Fie's cunning attempt to avoid the mandatory orientation.
* ShoutOut: A trio of villains consisting of a short-haired male planner, a hulking man with a huge weapon and a stripperiffic female mage, Gideon, Vulcan and Scarlet or [[Franchise/{{Ys}} Guruda, Gadis and Bammy]]? For extra points, the Imperial Liberation Front's motto is written in Latin while Guruda and co were aligned with the [[FantasyCounterpartCulture Romun Empire]].
** The [[spoiler:fake final boss]] in ''Cold Steel'' is a massive one to the Gagharv Trilogy and one fans have been wondering whether Falcom would make ever since ''FC'' [[spoiler: regarding whether there was a connection between Erebonia as the name of the Empire and Erebonius, the Spirit of Darkness in Cagesong's summon magic system]]
* [[spoiler:TheShowMustGoWrong: If you are even remotely GenreSavvy, you can tell a mile away that attempting to put on a performance act during the final Chapter of a Kiseki game (in a known EldritchLocation no less) is just asking for things to go ''spectacularly'' wrong. Fate obliges.]]
* SigilSpam: The Imperial Liberation Front leaders have the organization's logo somewhere on them: <C> has it on his helmet, Gideon has it on an armband, Scarlet has it tattooed onto her left shoulder and Vulcan has it on his shoulder armor.
* SignatureTeamTransport: While it doesn't see much action in ''Cold Steel'', the Courageous is intended to serve this role for Class VII. It even shares their [[RedIsHeroic colors]].
* SoMuchForStealth: Rean betrays his presence to [[spoiler:Emma and Celine]] during an optional scene by stepping on a twig.
* SoundtrackDissonance: [[spoiler:The ending song I Miss You is set to an upbeat tune which is totally at odds with the [[WhamEpisode scenes that take place]] immediately beforehand. This is deliberate since the [[LyricalDissonance lyrics also don't match the tone either]] but are very appropriate to the situation and Falcom does all its music in-house so the song was 'made to order'.]]
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: As always.
** Rean can cause a little trouble; it can be tempting to read his name as "Re-ahn", but the actual kana pronunciation is more like "Riin"; it rhymes with "lean", basically. It's clear what Falcom was going for, but the unconventional nature of the name catches some people.
** Fie runs into the problem more seriously; looking at the given English spelling, you might think it's pronounced as in "oh, fie!" (rhyming with "pie") or, if you know a little kana, you might go "aha, it's pronounced 'Fi-eh', isn't it"? Nope and nope; the actual pronunciation is closest to "Fee", as in the sort you pay. This one actually does lead to debate as to how to best spell it, since going with "Fie" leads to new or casual fans consistently mispronouncing her name.
** Place names don't escape, either; after five solid games of consistent spelling as "Erebonia" and "Zemuria" (when they do come up in English characters in the Japanese versions), all of a sudden ''Cold Steel'' is very insistent about calling the two ''E'''l'''ebonia'' and ''Zemlya'', respectively. This one is likely to be ignored by any future Trails releases in English, as the place names were already established as the former in ''Sky FC'''s English release.
*** "Erebonia" was actually later ''corrected'' on ''Cold Steel'''s promotional webpage... except the page [=URLs=] ''still'' have the "Elebonia" spelling. "Zemlya" persists throughout.
*** What's even worse is that [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novaya_Zemlya it's not impossible that Zemlya was always the intended spelling]], but between a ''decade'' of "Zemuria" being previously used and Zemuria appearing prominently as a word in one official English release, it's likely the term won't be "corrected".
** There's also a little debate as to whether the capital of Erebonia is Heimdall or Heimdall'''r''', even in official sources. This gets bonus points for the fun of trying to stack three l/r sounds together in Japanese (which the kana doesn't even remotely do, leading to the debate).
** A particularly funny one involved one of the organizations in the game, as its official badge graphic read "Train Milita'''l'''y Police". ''This'' one was caught by even the Japanese fans the instant it went live on the website.
* SphereOfDestruction: [[spoiler:Aion Type-Alpha erases Garelia Fortress and its Railway Cannons from existence using one of these. The remains of the Fortress are seen in ''Cold Steel II''.]]
* [[spoiler:SuperMode: Rean has one that causes his hair to turn silver and his eyes to turn red. He's afraid of [[AxeCrazy what it does to him]] but Victor helps him get over his fear and tap into the power more constructively. He tries to do this during the final battle (with everyone suspecting that doing so [[DeadlyUpgrade will kill him]]) but fortunately Valimar awakens and gives Rean a second option.]]
** [[spoiler:Then after their fight appears to end in a victory for Rean, Ordine stands up and Crow reveals that it possesses a SuperMode he wasn't using. It's implied that all the God Knights have one of these.]]
* TakeAThirdOption: What Olivier is inspired to do after the events of the [[LegendOfHeroesVI Liberl Arc]], to the point that he plays the Thors Board of Directors like a lute in order to form Class VII, builds the Courageous and draws its crew from both the Nobles and the Commoners.
* TemptingFate: [[spoiler:Practically everyone in the Empire shrugs off Crossbell's declaration of independence, frequently pointing out that while the city-state has enormous financial influence, it also ''has no military'' so they aren't a threat. This contributes to the sense of impending doom if you've played ''Ao'' and eventually it comes to bite the Empire in the ass when [[SuperweaponSurprise Aion Type-Alpha]] shows up to erase Garelia Fortress from existence, right on schedule.]]
* ThanksForTheMammary: When Sara drops the students into the ruins during Class VII's special orientation, Rean leaps in front of Alisa to keep her from being hurt when she lands. He succeeds but in the process, Alisa lands on top of him [[MarshmallowHell with her chest right in his face]]. She is not amused.
* ThereIsOnlyOneBed: During the first field exam, there are plenty of beds, but they're all in one room, which makes things awkward given that the party is of mixed genders (And Alisa is still getting over the whole ThanksForTheMammary incident).
* [[spoiler:TronLines: Ordine develops these when Crow releases the full power of the machine]].
* UnexpectedGameplayChange: While still using a turn-based format and the basic mechanics, [[spoiler:the final battles of ''Cold Steel II'' with Rean piloting Valimar operate on a slightly different system where you'll find yourself needing to target specific parts of the opposing mecha, you have no Arts and counterattacking is Craft-based]].
* TheUnfought: Just like ''FC'' and ''Zero'', being the first game of an arc there are characters who will undoubtedly be seen in battle eventually but who aren't fought in ''Cold Steel''. This includes [[spoiler:Sharon, Vita, Vulcan's Panzersoldat, the former Zephyr members and their Panzersoldats and probably Count Caien and Rufus Albarea]]
** On the 'allies likely to fight with us but not yet seen' side we have Towa, Neithardt and Toval. The last has already been confirmed to appear in ''Cold Steel II''.
* TheUnreveal: ''Cold Steel'' ''runs'' on this trope, starting with the fact that major elements in the Erebonia Arc were foreshadowed in ''Ao'''s ending so going in, everyone expected ''Cold Steel'' to be a countdown to particular events. The game ended more or less exactly where ''Ao'' did so most of the unanswered questions from there remain unanswered. [[spoiler:Does Osborne survive the assassination attempt? Uncertain. What does Ouroboros specifically want out of the Empire? Next game. How did Lianne Sandlot become the person we know today? Sorry, wait for the next game there too.]]. There are also plenty of unreveals from ''Cold Steel'''s plot alone. [[spoiler:Where does Rean's power come from? No answer. Emma promises to tell everyone what she knows about, well, everything. She doesn't get the chance to before the game ends, despite having about a week between promising to do so and everything going straight to hell. [[LampshadeHanging If you saw her dance scene, she'll apologize for this right before the game ends]]]]
* UnrevealAngle: The camera is carefully positioned to not show [[spoiler:who fires the shot that takes down the Imperial Liberation Front's airship]] because that becomes important later.
* UpperClassTwit: Some of the Nobles qualify.
* UrbanSegregation: Enforced for gameplay reasons in Heimdallr, where you can only visit (parts of) less than half of the city's various Districts. However, there's very little in-universe that prevents anyone from catching a tram from Ost to Garnier and walking around, or vice versa. About the only thing you can't do in the areas you're able to access is loiter around the Imperial Palace. The guards don't like it when you try doing that.
* VendorTrash: Like the rest of the series, monsters do not drop money, they drop sepith crystals. But along with the elemental sepith that can either be traded for cash or used as currency directly to make quartz or upgrade orbments, there is now a new type called the sepith mass, which is only useful as a trade good that can be exchanged for money, which makes it possible to grind for money without complicating any efforts to upgrade orbments.
* TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon: The Territory of the Great Shadow [[spoiler:aka the hidden seventh level of the Old Building which houses Valimar. Despite being the final dungeon, it's not the end of the game, which continues for another two hours or so afterwards with several more boss battles]].
* VideoGame3DLeap: ''Cold Steel'' is this for the franchise.
* VillainousRescue: Well, for a given value of villain considering who we're talking about but [[spoiler:Arianrhod saving the party at Lohengrin Castle]] definitely counts.
** Also, <C> regularly comes to the rescue of his subordinates.
* [[spoiler:WasItAllALie: Asked of Crow at the end of the game. He has to pause for a second before answering that yes, it was a lie. Rean still isn't buying it and believes that at least some of their friendship was genuine. One [[CurbStompBattle ass-kicking later]] and the game ends before anything more can come of this.]]
* WhamEpisode: Chapter 5 is meant to be one, though it's a bit zig-zagged: Anyone who played ''Ao'' will know what has to happen [[spoiler:i.e., the cannon can't fire on Crossbell because it's going to do that a few months ''later'']] but they threw in another wham moment specifically to mess with people who already know that: [[spoiler:Namely, the fact that Crow and Miriam are present, when they weren't in the Prologue sequence, which reminds one a great deal of the beginning and end of ''Zero'' and the [[RealityWarper explanation we got]] for that...]].
** The end of Chapter 6 [[spoiler:when the surviving Imperial Liberation Front leadership is apparently killed when their airship is shot down, followed by the revelation that Sharon really is a NinjaMaid... working for Ouroboros]]
** And it just wouldn't be a Kiseki game if the Final Chapter wasn't a long string of these, starting with [[spoiler:the ominous sound of a tolling bell (shades of Crossbell) and the barrier appearing around the Old Building, prior to the final dungeon and the 'Final Trial' at the end]], then continuing with the [[CallForward inevitable]] [[spoiler:destruction of Garelia Fortress]], followed by [[spoiler:the paired whams of Crow revealing that he is <C> and Vita revealing that she is the Second Pillar of Ouroboros]], leading right into [[spoiler:Osborne being shot, as per ''Ao'']], followed by [[spoiler:the reveal that the Imperial Liberation Front has been working for the Noble Faction the entire time and possess a massive airship, which proceeds to drop mass-produced God Knights into Heimdallr which then tear up the place]]... and then [[spoiler:Scarlet and Vulcan show up on Thors' doorstep in Panzersoldats of their own, Sharon reveals her secret to everyone, Rean awakens Valimar, Crow arrives in Ordine, the two fight and... Rean loses. Then the rest of Class VII pulls a YouShallNotPass to buy time for Valimar to carry Rean away, leaving them to an uncertain fate.]] Cue credits. Easily the Whammiest Episode in a series ''full'' of Wham Episodes.
* [[spoiler:WhereItAllBegan: The game begins and ends in Trista and the first dungeon is also the final dungeon]]
* YaoiFangirl: Dorothy, the president of the Literature Club. She immediately latches on to the idea of Jusis and Machias as a couple and her writing for the Festival plays on that. When Machias' neighbors stop by the club room, [[CrowningMomentOfFunny they have absolutely no idea how to react to that]].
* YourSoulIsMine: One of the annoying abilities possessed by the boss Nosferatu is its ability to steal the soul of a party member, taking them out of the battle and [[EnergyAbsorption draining HP from them]]. You can force it to release the soul by beating the boss up for a bit. [[spoiler:Loa Erebonius]] can also do this.
* YouShouldKnowThisAlready: It wouldn't be a Kiseki game if this wasn't in full force. The most obvious example is [[spoiler:that 'Olivier' is really Prince Olivert]], which Falcom hasn't even pretended should be a surprise to anyone for years.
** Beyond that, the plot of the game basically runs on countdowns to events foreshadowed in ''Ao'' and major backstory events are very briefly alluded to on the assumption that the player already knows the details and their significance, like the significance of North Ambria and what it means when the three higher elements are activated in a region.

* GameplayAndStorySegregation: As usual, avoided as much as possible. At one point, Machias and Jusis' [[spoiler:and later Laura and Fie's]] inability to get along even leads to the Tactical Link system ''breaking''.

* GetOut: Te girls dismiss Crow's idea of having them in bikinis for the School Festival with that statement.