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The Cold Steel collection of JRPGs — published by the developer Falcom throughout the last decade — was an large-scale project, considering the multitude of personas and events involved. It needed the creator five games to mature these protagonists. Emma's personal narrative journey is developed in parallel with the series' main story, but it's through the gradual evolution in her skill set that we truly grasp the extent of her emotional journey.

Warning: The following content features some story reveals for the central plot of the Cold Steel series.

In The Legend of Heroes: Cold Steel, Emma Millstein is a regular student, just as the rest of the students of Thors Military Academy’s Class Seven. As the class president, she's friendly to each person and aims to prevent any disagreements between her fellow students. Although she takes her student life with great dedication, she lives a double life. She is in fact a sorceress, a member of the magical Hexen family. Enrolling in the academy is part of her true goal of guiding Rean, the central character of her class, who is meant to awaken a ancient guardian.

In all Trails installment, the majority of characters have at least one S-Craft, a powerful move that demands you to have a certain level of CP to use. These ultimate abilities are intended to be your trump card in all fights. S-Crafts are additionally a mechanism for the narrative to depict the evolution the cast are experiencing. They can symbolize the advancement of a individual's fighting style, like the protagonist's S-Craft his new technique in Trails of Cold Steel IV, which he unlocks after earning the title of master swordsman. In some situations, for instance Emma’s, Nihon Falcom employs special moves to convey the personal growth a character undergoes.

When the conflict in the empire begins in the first game, Emma’s approach to the circumstances is the naive but logical notion that combat means attacking. The conflict continues to the second game in the saga, where the two S-Crafts she wields are Lord Albireon and Rain. Both are offensive techniques that target all foes on the field.

When we have the moment to see Emma again once more in the third game, we observe a different girl. She has completed her studies from the academy, and after training with her family, she seems to have grasped an important insight about herself. Although she grows into a impressive sorceress, Emma realizes that, primarily, she is a protector. She is ready to put others first to keep all her friends — but particularly Rean — out of harm's way. Her wish to occupy this responsibility is subtly indicated by her special ability, which in Cold Steel 3 transforms into her new defensive S-Craft.

When you use the S-Craft Palace of Eregion, the character calls forth a quartet of semi-transparent magical towers, and magical walls materialize joining them and enclosing the combat area. The party members benefiting from this technique gain several stacks of damage immunity, a status that blocks injury of all types. The character had not once been a combative character, so she moves to a supportive approach, reflecting the protective attitude she had always shown to her companions.

It’s compelling to see how the developers utilizes a character’s powers to complement the game’s story. Role-playing games frequently use storytelling or graphics to show what a protagonist is experiencing. But Emma proves that right down to a skill can contribute another layer of significance.