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The Cold Steel series of RPGs — developed by Nihon Falcom throughout the past ten years — was an grand endeavor, accounting for the quantity of personas and events featured. It needed the developer a quintet of games to mature these protagonists. Emma Millstein's character development is revealed in conjunction with the series' main story, but it's by observing the gradual evolution in her powers that we truly grasp the depth of her personal transformation.

Heads-up: The following content contains minor spoilers 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 regular student, just as the other members of Thors Academy's Class VII. As the representative, she's approachable to all and aims to avoid any disagreements between her classmates. Even though the character approaches her studies very earnestly, she has a secret identity. She is in fact a practitioner of magic, a member of the Hexen Clan. Joining Thors is one step in her true goal of assisting Rean Schwarzer, the key individual of Class VII, who is meant to unleash a ancient guardian.

In every Trails of Cold Steel title, the majority of party members have at least one ultimate ability, a powerful move that needs you to have a certain level of CP to execute. These supreme skills are designed to be your key advantage in each battle. These ultimate skills are additionally a method for the narrative to narrate the transformations characters are undergoing. They can represent the advancement of a character’s combat prowess, such as Rean's ultimate move the skill Breaking Dawn in Cold Steel 4, which he acquires after earning the title of Divine Blade. In different instances, for instance Emma’s, Nihon Falcom employs ultimate abilities to express the emotional changes a individual experiences.

When the great war in Erebonia starts in Cold Steel, the character's reaction to the events is the naive but logical notion that combat means striking. The struggle spills over to the sequel in the series, where the pair of ultimate skills she wields are her first S-Craft and her second S-Craft. Both are damage-dealing skills that indiscriminately hit foes on the battlefield.

After we have the moment to meet Emma a second time in Trails of Cold Steel III, we witness a transformed girl. She has moved on from Thors Military Academy, and after training with her clan, the protagonist appears to have realized an important insight about who she is. While she becomes a impressive magic user, Emma understands that, above all else, she’s a guardian. She’s ready to give up her own safety to protect everyone — but most notably Rean Schwarzer — secure. Her goal to fulfill this responsibility is hinted at by her special ability, which in Cold Steel 3 changes to Eregion.

When you activate the ultimate ability Palace of Eregion, she summons several semi-transparent pillars of magic, and barriers appear linking them and surrounding the field of battle. The characters under the influence of this skill gain one or two charges of total reflection, a buff that prevents harm of every form. She had not once been a aggressive person, so she transitions to a supportive style, echoing the caring demeanor she had consistently demonstrated to her companions.

It’s intriguing to see how the developers utilizes a protagonist's skill set to complement the game’s story. RPGs frequently rely on storytelling or visuals to inform players what a protagonist is thinking. But this character proves that including a spell can add another layer of meaning.