With The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero, English-speaking Legend of Heroes fans may finally play the first game in the Crossbell Arc of Falcom’s illustrious franchise. Trails from Zero was first released in Japanese on the PSP in 2010 and has since undergone a number of rereleases, including an improved version in 2012 for the Playstation Vita under the name Zero no Kiseki: Evolution. This version would later get a remaster on the PS4 under the name Zero no Kiseki: Kai in the spring of 2020, but none of these versions at the time had English localizations.
Trails from Zero, which has a new main cast and location, takes place after the events of Trails in the Sky: The 3rd, for those keeping up with the series timeline.
The first cases and early years of Crossbell’s Special Support Section, a brand-new unit akin to Bracer under the Crossbell Police Department, are the main subjects of Trails from Zero. Many of these characters, like the detective Lloyd Bannings, the marksman and well-spoken Elie MacDowel, a young prodigy from the Epstein Foundation named Tio Plato, the playboy Randy Orlando, and their stern boss Sergei Lou, will be recognisable to fans of the Cold Steel video game series.
They are tasked with enhancing the public’s perception of the police by responding to common requests from the public and carrying out community service projects that the rest of the force avoids.
The bustling streets of Crossbell may seem innocent and peaceful, but things aren’t exactly as they seem. Crossbell is in a hazardous position of attempting to keep their independence and preventing their country from becoming a battleground for their neighbours, sandwiched between the antagonistic nations of Erebonia and the Calvard.
Throughout the 60+ hour game, the SSS will deal with their fair share of “find this” and “kill this scary monster” requests, but they will also come up against rival gangs, contain the city’s evil mafia group of Revache & Co., and solve mysteries from the past that will endanger the very freedom of Crossbell itself. To survive, Lloyd and company will have to rely on the friends they make along the road, and in classic Legend of Heroes form, players can anticipate a tonne of jaw-dropping twists and surprises that will have far-reaching effects for Zemuria as a whole. Long-time players of the Legend of Heroes games might recognise some of the supporting cast.
A lot of similarities exist between the Trails in the Sky and Trails of Zero series in terms of presentation and gameplay, which may come as a surprise to those who have only played and come from the Cold Steel games that were later released. Trails of Zero was first released on the PSP not long after the Trails in the Sky arc concluded. The majority of characters and monsters are rendered as 2D sprites from sophisticated 3D models that travel across 3D settings that have simple geometry and a rudimentary appearance. Most versions of this release do an excellent job of using vibrant textures to bring life to those plain, boxy items and structures.
Combat also takes place on a grid rather than in the open arenas of Cold Steel, much like the Sky trilogy. Quartz (basically material) and Arts (the Legend of Heroes form of magic) are back, and you must socket your Quartz into your own Enigma gadget. Each Quartz you equip will have variable concentrations of the various elements found on the planet. You can unlock a variety of Arts that are based on those element totals by raising them to a particular point. Depending on which, if any, other games in the series you have played, it can be a bit of a pain to figure out, but by using the lists of Arts in the detective guidebook, the system should soon click.
There are lots of entertaining side activities to engage in if you’re getting a little burned out on missions and don’t feel like grinding levels. For those of you Fishermans Guild members out there, the series’ go-to side trip of fishing is back with a brand-new roster of species to find in the area’s many fishing sites. Fishing is a peaceful and advantageous activity because each fish you catch will net you either Sepith or goods.
If money is tight, you could always visit a casino in the entertainment sector and play some blackjack, poker, slots, or roulette. You could then cash in your wins for cash or valuable stuff! Once you’ve finished fishing and gambling, you may focus on honing your culinary skills by creating scrumptious (and occasionally hazardous) delights that will come in handy when you return to the game and have to face adversaries once more.
Unfortunately, Trails from Zero’s English release for NIS America also feels like a missed chance or two for the PlayStation 4 edition, despite the game’s many positive aspects—and it is a terrific RPG. To begin with, the great features of the PC version (and Switch version, from what I understand) are the product of ardent Trails fans’ labour of love and dedication. This includes Durante’s copious quality-of-life port enhancements as well as the wonderful translation work from the Geofront group, from whom NIS America purchased the script. These updates include the addition of a conversation log, UI scaling choices, customizable High-Speed mode settings, and more. All of these additions are featured in the PC and Switch editions exclusively; the PS4 version does not have any of them. Zero no Kiseki (also known as Trails from Zero in Japan) PC players can download and install all of these updates for free, including the fan translation.
Aside from the lack of new features and enhancements, the PS4 version’s visual details are noticeably inferior to those of the Switch version. The vivid textures I stated earlier are hazy and smudged for PlayStation users, which is evident from the very beginning of the game. In contrast to the versions on other systems, which look clean and clear, character sprites on this platform appear much more jagged and rough.
There aren’t many situations where a game’s Switch release outperforms its PlayStation counterpart by such a huge margin. The PS4 release is still very much playable, but it is not by any means the best way to experience this amazing game, so I would only suggest it if that were your only option.
The fact that NIS America decided not to bring back the English voice actors to repeat their roles is what has caused Trails from Zero to feel somewhat flat, even though so much of what they have used is the result of previously published fan projects. The Japanese voice cast does a fantastic job, but the absence of the English voice cast just made this release—a game that fans have been pleading for years and is crucial to this series’ timeline—feel more like it was made out of convenience and necessity than out of a burning desire to tell this story.
After I was finally able to experience the SSS’s origins, the beginning of their stories together, and their home of Crossbell, I fell even more in love with them. While fending off the Revache goons and making friends with the gangs of the Downtown neighbourhood, I adored exploring the highlands of America and the mines of Maize. I really should examine a chest again after opening it to find some amazing notes and puns. I enjoyed reading every clever response from each treasure chest I unearthed. The majority of the time I played this on my Steamdeck, it resulted in many late nights and whispered gasps as I tried not to wake my wife following a surprising twist—a feeling that Falcom seems to have mastered.
