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The Trails of Cold Steel series of role-playing games — released by the developer Falcom across the last decade — was an grand project, accounting for the number of personas and events involved. It required the studio five games to completely flesh out these cast members. Emma Millstein's story arc is unfolded in conjunction with Cold Steel’s central narrative, but it's via the subtle change in her powers that we comprehend the significance of her personal transformation.

Heads-up: Our discussion contains light plot details for the central plot of the Trails of Cold Steel franchise.

In The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel, the character Emma is a ordinary teenager, just as the rest of the students of Thors Military Academy’s her class. As the class president, she's kind to everyone and aims to avert any disputes between her peers. Even though the character treats her academy duties really seriously, she has a secret identity. She's actually a practitioner of magic, a initiate of the Clan of Witches. Joining the academy is one step in her real mission of mentoring Rean, the key individual of her class, who is meant to call forth a powerful mech.

In every Trails title, nearly all characters have at least one special technique, a unique skill that demands you to have a certain level of CP to activate. These ultimate abilities are meant to be your trump card in each battle. Special Crafts are furthermore a way for the narrative to illustrate the evolution protagonists are going through. They can epitomize the development of a character’s technique, such as Rean's special ability his new technique in Cold Steel 4, which he acquires after attaining the rank of Divine Blade. In some situations, such as the witch Emma's, Nihon Falcom uses special moves to convey the internal transformations a persona undergoes.

When the war in Erebonia erupts in the first game, Emma’s response to the circumstances is the naive but reasonable notion that fighting means engaging offensively. The struggle continues to the second game in the franchise, where the two ultimate skills she wields are Lord Albireon and Rain. Both are damage-dealing skills that target all enemies on the field.

When we have the moment to encounter the character Emma once more in Cold Steel 3, we see a changed character. She has graduated from Thors, and after practicing with her clan, Emma seems to have grasped an vital truth about who she is. Even though she becomes a formidable spellcaster, Emma realizes that, primarily, she’s a protector. She’s ready to sacrifice herself to keep everyone — but especially Rean Schwarzer — secure. Her desire to take on this responsibility is hinted at by her special ability, which in Trails of Cold Steel III changes to her new defensive S-Craft.

When you execute the S-Craft Palace of Eregion, she conjures several semi-transparent arcane structures, and barriers form joining them and encircling the field of battle. The allies under the influence of this technique obtain one or two stacks of Absolute Reflect, a status that negates harm of all types. The character had not once been a aggressive individual, so she moves to a supportive approach, reflecting the caring demeanor she had always demonstrated to her allies.

It’s intriguing to see how Falcom utilizes a character’s abilities to complement the game’s narrative. JRPGs frequently employ dialogue or visuals to show what a persona is thinking. But Emma shows that even a ability can contribute another layer of meaning.