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The Trails of Cold Steel saga of role-playing games — developed by the developer Falcom during the last decade — was an large-scale undertaking, given the quantity of characters and storylines involved. It needed the developer five games to fully develop these protagonists. The character Emma's character development is revealed in conjunction with the series' central narrative, but it's through the subtle change in her skill set that we truly grasp the depth of her inner growth.

Note: Our discussion includes minor spoilers for the main storyline of the Trails of Cold Steel series.

In The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel, Emma is a regular teenager, just as the rest of the students of the academy's Class VII. As the class president, she's friendly to all and strives to avoid any conflicts between her peers. Even though the character approaches her studies really seriously, she lives a double life. She's actually a witch, a initiate of the Hexen Clan. Enrolling in Thors is a component of her underlying objective of guiding Rean Schwarzer, the leader figure of Class VII, who is destined to awaken a ancient guardian.

In each Trails title, the majority of playable personas have at least one S-Craft, a unique skill that needs you to have a minimum amount of Craft Points to use. These supreme skills are intended to be your trump card in all fights. S-Crafts are additionally a mechanism for the narrative to narrate the transformations characters are going through. They can symbolize the development of a character’s combat prowess, like Rean Schwarzer’s special ability his new technique in the fourth game, which he unlocks after reaching the designation of master swordsman. In different instances, such as the witch Emma's, Falcom utilizes S-Crafts to express the emotional changes a persona undergoes.

When the war in Erebonia erupts in Cold Steel, Emma Millstein's approach to the events is the idealistic but understandable idea that fighting means engaging offensively. The conflict spills over to the sequel in the franchise, where the two special abilities she has are her first S-Craft and Zodiac Rain. Each are damage-dealing skills that indiscriminately hit opponents on the field.

Once we have the opportunity to see Emma a second time in Trails of Cold Steel III, we observe a changed character. She has graduated from the academy, and after honing her skills with her clan, she clearly to have understood an important revelation about who she is. Even though she evolves into a powerful sorceress, the character realizes that, most importantly, she is a guardian. She’s ready to sacrifice herself to ensure everyone — but most notably Rean Schwarzer — out of harm's way. Her desire to fulfill this responsibility is shown by her special ability, which in Cold Steel 3 changes to Eregion.

When you activate the ultimate ability Eregion, she calls forth several glowing arcane structures, and barriers form linking them and enclosing the combat area. The party members affected by this technique obtain one or two instances of total reflection, a effect that prevents injury of every form. She had never been a combative character, so she shifts to a protective style, reflecting the protective demeanor she had always extended to her companions.

It’s fascinating to observe how Nihon Falcom employs a persona's skill set to complement the game’s narrative. RPGs typically rely on storytelling or graphics to tell us what a character is experiencing. But Emma demonstrates that including a ability can contribute another layer of significance.