Ultimate Skills Are Personal Growth in the Legend of Heroes: Cold Steel Series

The Trails of Cold Steel saga of RPGs — developed by the developer Falcom during the 2010s — was an ambitious undertaking, accounting for the number of personas and storylines included. It required the developer five games to mature these characters. Emma Millstein's story arc is developed in parallel with Cold Steel’s primary plot, but it's via the subtle change in her abilities that we truly grasp the depth of her emotional journey.

Heads-up: The following content contains some story reveals for the main storyline of the Trails of Cold Steel franchise.

In Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel, Emma Millstein is a regular teenager, similar to the fellow pupils of Thors Military Academy’s Class VII. As the class president, she's approachable to all and aims to avoid any conflicts between her peers. While the character approaches her studies with great dedication, she leads two separate lives. She is in fact a witch, a part of the Clan of Witches. Enrolling in the academy is a component of her true goal of guiding Rean Schwarzer, the central character of her class, who is meant to awaken a powerful mech.

In all Trails of Cold Steel game, the majority of playable personas have at least one ultimate ability, a special attack that demands you to have a minimum amount of skill points to use. These supreme skills are designed to be your ace in each battle. Special Crafts are also a way for the game to depict the evolution protagonists are undergoing. They can epitomize the advancement of a character’s combat prowess, like Rean Schwarzer’s special ability his new technique in Trails of Cold Steel IV, which he gains after earning the designation of Divine Blade. In other cases, such as the witch Emma's, Nihon Falcom employs special moves to express the emotional changes a persona experiences.

When the conflict in Erebonia erupts in the first game, the character's reaction to the events is the inexperienced but understandable notion that battle means striking. The struggle spills over to the next installment in the series, where the pair of ultimate skills she wields are her first S-Craft and Rain. These two are damage-dealing skills that target all foes on the arena.

Once we have the opportunity to see Emma again once more in Trails of Cold Steel III, we see a different girl. She has moved on from the academy, and after training with her witch community, she appears to have realized an important revelation about her own nature. Although she evolves into a formidable sorceress, the character comprehends that, most importantly, she’s a guardian. She is willing to give up her own safety to protect everyone — but especially Rean Schwarzer — out of harm's way. Her wish to fulfill this position is subtly indicated by her S-Craft, which in Cold Steel 3 transforms into her new defensive S-Craft.

When you execute the ultimate ability Eregion, Emma calls forth four translucent magical towers, and barriers appear linking them and surrounding the battlefield. The characters under the influence of this technique obtain one or two instances of total reflection, a buff that negates damage of all types. She had at no point been a belligerent individual, so she transitions to a protective style, reflecting the protective demeanor she had invariably shown to her friends.

It’s fascinating to observe how the developers uses a protagonist's abilities to enrich the game’s story. Role-playing games typically employ storytelling or cutscenes to tell us what a persona is feeling. But this character shows that even a spell can contribute additional depth of significance.