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The Trails of Cold Steel collection of role-playing games — released by Nihon Falcom across the past ten years — was an ambitious project, considering the number of characters and events involved. It needed the studio five games to completely flesh out these characters. The character Emma's narrative journey is developed in parallel with Cold Steel’s main story, but it's by observing the subtle change in her abilities that we truly grasp the significance of her inner growth.

Heads-up: The following content features some story reveals for the primary narrative of the Cold Steel games.

In Legend of Heroes: Cold Steel, Emma Millstein is a ordinary young woman, similar to the other members of the academy's Class Seven. As the class president, she's friendly to everyone and strives to prevent any disputes between her classmates. Even though the character treats her academy duties really seriously, she leads two separate lives. She is in fact a sorceress, a part of the magical Hexen family. Enrolling in Thors is part of her underlying objective of mentoring Rean, the key individual of the group, who is destined to call forth a ancient guardian.

In each Trails of Cold Steel title, most characters have at least one special technique, a unique skill that requires you to have a sufficient quantity of CP to use. These supreme skills are meant to be your ace in each battle. Special Crafts are additionally a way for the developers to illustrate the transformations the cast are going through. They can represent the development of a individual's combat prowess, such as Rean Schwarzer’s special ability his new technique in the fourth game, which he gains after earning the designation of Divine Blade. In other cases, for instance Emma’s, Nihon Falcom utilizes S-Crafts to express the emotional changes a character experiences.

When the conflict in the nation of Erebonia begins in Trails of Cold Steel I, the character's response to the situation is the naive but reasonable belief that battle means striking. The struggle continues to the sequel in the saga, where the dual special abilities she has are Albireon and Rain. Both are attack-oriented moves that indiscriminately hit foes on the arena.

After we have the chance to encounter Emma again in Cold Steel 3, we observe a changed young woman. She has moved on from Thors, and after honing her skills with her clan, the protagonist seems to have grasped an crucial insight about her own nature. Even though she evolves into a formidable magic user, the character comprehends that, most importantly, she’s a defender. She is ready to sacrifice herself to ensure the group — but especially the leader Rean — out of harm's way. Her desire to fulfill this position is subtly indicated by her ultimate skill, which in Trails of Cold Steel III changes to Palace of Eregion.

When you activate the S-Craft Palace of Eregion, Emma calls forth several translucent arcane structures, and magical walls materialize connecting them and enclosing the field of battle. The characters affected by this technique gain one or two stacks of damage immunity, a effect that negates damage of all types. The character had at no point been a combative individual, so she shifts to a supportive approach, echoing the nurturing demeanor she had always shown to her companions.

It’s intriguing to see how Nihon Falcom utilizes a character’s skill set to enhance the series' story. JRPGs frequently rely on dialogue or graphics to tell us what a persona is feeling. But Emma Millstein demonstrates that even a spell can add additional depth of significance.