{"id":14210,"date":"2020-06-26T22:29:00","date_gmt":"2020-06-26T16:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/themakoreactor.com\/?p=14210"},"modified":"2021-03-10T22:37:52","modified_gmt":"2021-03-10T17:07:52","slug":"trails-of-cold-steel-iii-nintendo-switch-review-docked-vs-handheld-resolution-frame-rate-dlc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themakoreactor.com\/reviews\/trails-of-cold-steel-iii-nintendo-switch-review-docked-vs-handheld-resolution-frame-rate-dlc\/14210\/","title":{"rendered":"Trails of Cold Steel III Nintendo Switch Review \u2013 One of the Best JRPGs on Nintendo Switch"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Just like with Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana<\/a>, Nihon Falcom’s newest localised game sees a late port to Nintendo Switch in the form of The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III<\/a>. While Ys VIII wasn’t a great conversion, the team behind Trails of Cold Steel III on Nintendo Switch is Engine Software who ported Ni No Kuni<\/a> to the hybrid console. Trails of Cold Steel III was originally built for PS4 and it has been interesting seeing how a game that runs at 4K 60fps on PS4 Pro scales down to Nintendo Switch both docked and handheld.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are a few groups of people who likely have been waiting for Trails of Cold Steel III on Nintendo Switch. The first is Nintendo Switch owners who have only heard about this series and never had a chance to try it. The second is PS Vita owners who wanted to continue playing the series on a portable. The third group is the hardcore Falcom fans who just want an excuse to replay this fantastic JRPG. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In an ideal world, the first two Trails of Cold Steel games would be on Nintendo Switch so this would feel perfect following those. Despite being a good entry point to Trails of Cold Steel thanks to various flashbacks and summaries, this isn’t the ideal place to get into Falcom’s long-running series. If you’re not willing to play Trails of Cold Steel and Trails of Cold Steel II on any other platform, hopefully this game makes you want to go back because the Trails series is worth the hundreds of hours you will put into it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For PS Vita owners who are wondering about the port quality, Engine Software did a great job with Trails of Cold Steel III when played handheld. This is way better than Trails of Cold Steel and Trails of Cold Steel II were on PS Vita with a smooth frame rate, fast load times, and a ton of extra content included for free. If you held off on buying Trails of Cold Steel III on PS4, the Switch version will be a joy for you when played portable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For everyone who just wants to know how the port is, Engine Software did a great job with the game for portable play but the experience docked isn’t great. When handheld, Trails of Cold Steel III on Nintendo Switch runs at a target of 720p at 30fps. When docked, the resolution and frame rate targets remain the same but there is antialiasing added with better shadows. Other than that, I didn’t notice any big differences across both modes. Not bumping up the resolution of even the interface when docked is disappointing because even the portraits and some cut-ins during skills in combat are blurry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n