RPG
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III
Give it 1 hour
Gets good by 1h almost every game dips in hours 2–3
Fully opens up by 20h rated like by long-time players
Reach the ending 72% of players who started
Started playing 74% of owners
Steam reviews 91% positive of 3,271
What the data shows
- In the first 2 hours 1 in 4 reviews are negative (26%); after 20h it's 1 in 14 (7%).
- Fully opens up by hour 20.
- Few early reviews, so this is a rough estimate.
- 72% of players who start reach the ending.
- The biggest drop-off is between “Spring Once Again” (Completed the prologue) and “Reunion” (Completed Chapter 1): from 98% to 86% of starters.
- 74% of owners got the first achievement.
When it gets good
Share of positive reviews by how many hours the reviewer had played when writing the review.
before it gets good opening up fully opened up
Based on all 3,278 Steam reviews in every language. Median playtime in a sample of 299 reviews: 88h for positive, 65.3h for negative. Almost every game is rated lower in the first 2–3 hours: that window includes refunds and quick first impressions. What matters is how deep the dip is and how fast the game recovers.
Where players quit
Share of players who started the game and reached each story milestone. 100% is the most common achievement (74.3% of owners), so people who bought the game and never launched it don't count.
- Started playing 100%
- Class VII Begins Anew! Completed the orienteering exercise. 100%
- Spring Once Again Completed the prologue. 98% −2
- Reunion Completed Chapter 1. Most players quit here 87% −11
- Conflict in Crossbell Completed Chapter 2. 81% −5
- Pulse of Steel Completed Chapter 3. 76% −5
- Radiant Heimdallr Completed Chapter 4. 73% −4
- For Whom the Bell Tolls Completed the final chapter. 72% −1
story milestone ending biggest drop-off
Story milestones were labeled by AI from achievement names and descriptions; mistakes are possible.
All achievements (53)
story milestone ending side
- Class VII Begins Anew! Completed the orienteering exercise. 100%
- Spring Once Again Completed the prologue. 98%
- Combat Exercises Won 100 battles. 89%
- Arundel Seal of Approval Won a battle with a tactical bonus of x3.0 or greater. 87%
- Reunion Completed Chapter 1. 87%
- Conflict in Crossbell Completed Chapter 2. 81%
- Love to Break it to You Inflicted Break over 800 times. 79%
- Otherworldly Jewel Raised a master quartz to level 7. 79%
- One-Two Punch Used over 500 follow-up attacks in battle. 78%
- Pulse of Steel Completed Chapter 3. 76%
- May I Take Your Order? Used Brave Order in battle over 100 times. 73%
- Radiant Heimdallr Completed Chapter 4. 73%
- For Whom the Bell Tolls Completed the final chapter. 72%
- Top-Class Class Earned an S-Rank on any chapter. 68%
- Ultimate Power Used 100 S-Crafts in battle. 67%
- Links Awakening Raised any two characters to Link Level 5. 63%
- The Royal We Forged a strong bond with Elise & Alfin. 61%
- Landscape Legend Took all landscape photos and reported them to Vivi. 60%
- Cross Your Heart Forged a strong bond with Juna. 60%
- Allie-oop Forged a strong bond with Altina. 57%
- Rushing Around Used Rush in battle 100 times. 57%
- Bursting with Teamwork Used Burst in battle 50 times. 56%
- The World is a Battlefield Won 600 battles. 55%
- Reinford Groupie Forged a strong bond with Alisa. 54%
- Teacher of the Year Achieved instructor rank S. 54%
- Beat 'Em to the Punch Initiated 300 advantage encounters (including double and triple advantage). 54%
- Hot for Teacher MKII Forged a strong bond with Musse. 53%
- Faculty Romance Forged a strong bond with Towa. 52%
- Talk of the Town Collected all radio material and reported it to Munk. 49%
- Teach a Man to Fish... Completely filled the fish section in the notebook. (All 25 types of fish + Rod Lv. Max) 48%
- Lauramour Forged a strong bond with Laura. 47%
- The Ultimate Academy Achieved an academy grade of Prestigious. 47%
- High Fie-delity Forged a strong bond with Fie. 45%
- My Funny Valestein Forged a strong bond with Sara. 45%
- Emma Enchanted Forged a strong bond with Emma. 43%
- King of Games Completely filled the cards section in the notebook. 42%
- Ash & Chevalier Forged a strong bond with Ash. 41%
- Food Warrior! Completely filled the recipe section in the notebook. 40%
- Extra Curricular Activities Completed all quests, both at the branch campus and during field exercises. 38%
- Your #1 Vand Forged a strong bond with Kurt. 38%
- Walking Library Completely filled the books section in the notebook. 38%
- Instructor Rean QUARTZ-er Gathered all 28 varieties of master quartz. 37%
- Run of the Millium Forged a strong bond with Millium. 33%
- Found with the Wind Forged a strong bond with Gaius. 30%
- Jusis & Me-sis Forged a strong bond with Jusis. 29%
- Heart Strings Forged a strong bond with Elliot. 29%
- Just Us Forged a strong bond with Machias. 26%
- Full Scholarship Acquired over a million mira. 25%
- School Directory Completely filled the character section in the notebook. 20%
- Chest Quest Opened every treasure chest. 16%
- Monsterology 101 Completely filled the battle section in the notebook. 16%
- Conqueror of Nightmares Completed the game on nightmare difficulty. 15%
- A Flash of Light Mastered Trails of Cold Steel III and earned every achievement. 8.1%
Steam page Updated: 2026-10-19.