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The Trails of Cold Steel collection of RPGs — developed by the developer Falcom across the past ten years — was an ambitious endeavor, considering the multitude of individuals and events featured. It took the creator several games to completely flesh out these protagonists. The character Emma's narrative journey is unfolded in parallel with Cold Steel’s central narrative, but it's through the progressive shift in her powers that we fully understand the extent of her personal transformation.

Heads-up: The following content contains light plot details for the central plot of the Trails of Cold Steel games.

In The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel, the character Emma is a typical young woman, just as the fellow pupils of Thors Military Academy’s her class. As the student leader, she's kind to each person and aims to avoid any disputes between her fellow students. Even though Emma treats her academy duties really seriously, she leads two separate lives. In truth, she is a sorceress, a part of the magical Hexen family. Joining Thors is a component of her true goal of guiding the protagonist Rean, the key individual of the group, who is destined to call forth a powerful mech.

In every Trails series game, nearly all party members have at least one ultimate ability, a powerful move that needs you to have a sufficient quantity of Craft Points to execute. These finishing moves are intended to be your trump card in every encounter. S-Crafts are furthermore a way for the game to illustrate the evolution the cast are experiencing. They can represent the advancement of a persona's technique, such as Rean Schwarzer’s special ability his new technique in the fourth game, which he gains after reaching the title of Divine Blade. In different instances, like Emma’s, Falcom utilizes special moves to express the emotional changes a character goes through.

When the great war in Erebonia erupts in Cold Steel, Emma Millstein's response to the events is the naive but logical idea that fighting means engaging offensively. The war extends to the next installment in the series, where the two ultimate skills she wields are Albireon and her second S-Craft. These two are damage-dealing skills that affect every enemies on the field.

Once we have the moment to encounter the character Emma once more in Cold Steel 3, we observe a transformed character. She has moved on from Thors Military Academy, and after practicing with her family, the protagonist appears to have understood an important insight about herself. While she grows into a impressive spellcaster, the character realizes that, primarily, Emma is a defender. Emma is willing to put others first to keep the group — but particularly Rean — out of harm's way. Her goal to fulfill this position is subtly indicated by her special ability, which in the third installment changes to Eregion.

When you execute the ultimate ability Palace of Eregion, the character calls forth a quartet of semi-transparent arcane structures, and magical walls appear connecting them and encircling the field of battle. The party members benefiting from this ability obtain several charges of total reflection, a buff that negates injury of all types. She had never been a combative person, so she transitions to a protective approach, reflecting the nurturing look she had invariably demonstrated to her friends.

It’s intriguing to witness how the developers employs a character’s abilities to enhance the series' plot. RPGs frequently use storytelling or cutscenes to tell us what a character is feeling. But Emma Millstein demonstrates that even a skill can add another layer of insight.