The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero

The first of Zero-Ao games comprising of the finest arc in the Trails series: The Crossbell Arc. Must play for any JRPG fan.

I do not exaggerate when I say that Trails from Zero is not only one of the best JRPGs I've played but also one of the best games period.

Even I was playing the Trails in the Sky games back in 2020 and absolutely enthralled with the setting, characters, story, and world building, I had heard from longtime members of the community that Trails from Zero (and Azure) were the absolute height of Trails, and it had me very excited but also skeptical. I absolutely loved the Sky games (Second Chapter and the Third in particular) and I just really didn't know how the series could only get better as it directs its narrative towards the small city state of Crossbell and the Special Support Section. And finally playing Trails from Zero (with the hard and passionate work of the Geofront), I was absolutely blown away by Zero, but not in ways I would have originally thought.

Falcom really outdid themselves with this game, the setting in particular. Saying that Crossbell City is one of my favorite settings in any video game is no understatement. The city itself is so well realized and developed with the game's narrative that I would consider it almost emblematic of everything that makes Zero as a game work. That makes Zero as a TRAILS game work. You will almost all of your time in the city, and while that may seem boring to some, the way the people and the city itself are fleshed out, it really makes you care about the going ons, the people living their daily lives, the new and developing technology, and the intense struggles for political power that go on behind the scenes.

Moving on to the characters and the main cast in particular, they are great. I love the dynamic of the SSS, and the four of them will be your main party for most of your journey. This is a bit of a departure from Sky where you'll have a good handful of companions outside of Joshua and Estelle who join you in your journey, and VERY different from the upwards of 10+ members of Class VII and their allies in the Cold Steel games. But I gotta say, less is more. By focusing on the four in the SSS and how they grow with one another, it really makes me care about each and everyone of them and I feel they are well developed (especially by the end of the arc's conclusion in Azure).

I could honestly say a lot more of this game. I could honestly ramble on because I love it that much. Crossbell is the height of the Trails series in my opinion. And while BEST experienced, with Sky in mind, I still think there's a lot to enjoy even if you haven't played a Trails game.

While the game is a solid JRPG telling an interesting story, its pacing is probably the worst I've seen so far. For some reason the devs have decided to let every interaction in the game be accompannied by at least 20 speech bubbles, with at least 1. childish jokes 2. fan service 3. rambling on and on 4. explaining stuff in ways that makes you wonder if theres a upper age limit here.
Ive played a lot of JRPGs but this is definitely the worst in the way it presents its story and characters and thats not only a side-effect of the pseudo-retro graphics style, but a complete lack of show-dont-tell which makes this impossible to play for anybody who is an adult even when you turbomode and skip half of it.
Which is sad, because in the moments that you can peak beneath the millions of lines of talk (a lot of which to my surprise are actually voice acted and that not even badly) its actually a cute game that even manages to immerse you in it here and there.
Still though, if youre looking for a great JRPG experience, I'd rather suggest you check out Ys, or immediately go Dragon Quest.

Everyone should play this.

There's not much to say, this is for me one of the best jrpg ever made. Although to grasp the full experience we'll have to wait for Trails To Azure next year this first part is solid.

Solid in everything and every aspect.

Top Notch story, even if it need quite a bit to reach the climax but it builds exceptionally.
Awesome characters, there's only love for all of them, even the baddies.
Memorable music soundtrack.
Well done, although a bit simple and linear, gameplay and battle mechanics.

Everything is created and fit perfectly into the Legend of Heroes world.

Keep in mind isn't perfect there are a lot of little things that could be better overall, but honestly you are so caught into the story and the pace that you won't mind too much. I know isn't for everyone due to the insane amount of text bubbles, travels to do, monster to battle but even so I can't stop recommending it to everyone.

It's really one of the game that a real rpg and jrpg fan should own and play.

I played this and Azure on an emulator several years ago. While the translations were somewhat botched overall, I managed to tread through both games so I could see how everything interconnected.

I'm not exactly the best at extensively and expansively writing out my thoughts, but I believe Crossbell arc's the absolute best out of all of them. Of course, Sky and Cold Steel were also amazing in their own ways, but Crossbell is special and holds dear to my heart.

I'm also pleased to see Geofront's efforts weren't in vain and recognized by NISA; I also look forward to Azure for a 2nd time, too.

This JRPG combines simple graphics with sophisticated combat exercises and an intriguing story line. That said, if reaction speed is your thing, you may not find this type of game to your taste.

I've played Trails in the sky 1-2, Cold steel 1-4, Zero is like visiting an old friend. The towns feel so familiar, the faces and names are all there. Crossbell feels warm and welcoming. This game that I just started already is like family. Graphic wise it looks good. Combat wise its what you have grown to expect. If you enjoyed the other games you will enjoy this one. Its not the first title you should play if you have a choice but even on its own all the resources to learn about the world are located in the prologue so you wont feel lost. This is one of those games where talking to all NPCs multiple times is rewarded and visiting places over again you find new dialog as the world moves along with your characters. Things that your party discover and uncover changes what people say and what the topic is. So much fun. Love it.

Have you ever wanted a game to take things slow, focus on world building and lore, have low stakes, and have a small core team that they try to flesh out through that? This is that game. It is very different from the Sky and Cold Steel arc, and goes all in on taking its time to set things up. It is basically a cop drama, and you are going around doing a case, and questioning people. And these can often takes 15-20 minutes, sometimes even happening back to back. The cut scenes are long, they are meaty, and it goes to great lengths to build up people and organizations and what they do in the city.

Does taking huge chunks of game time just talking to people with no fights in sight, while building its story sound interesting? This is for you. Don't feel bad if you bounce off it because it is thick it dialogue, this is not for everyone. You will go long stretches without a fight or a new dungeon.

Does it pick up? Yes. But thats after the halfway point when it really does enter another gear and more important story and setting events happen. Its a slow burn of a game till then, made more obvious when the prologue is several hours long, they really should have just called it chapter 1 if it was gonna be that long.

Don't worry about playing this first in the series or not. This game is very stand alone and Crossbell is the main focus. You will see things from other points in the series, but you will be completely find jumping in here. The characters care about Crossbell, its people and its problems. The other places are a distant problem, and the focus is taking care of smaller local threats.

Combat is fine. Better than Sky at this point, but missing some features that Cold Steel has that make it better. I liked it, You are actually building spells with the amount and type of quartz you use, make sure you read the detective manual to learn the combinations for good spells, its all there.

But once again, for most the game it will live and die on if you can sit through the long dialogue and like the small cast. I liked it, but I can recognize that its not for everyone.

A worthy successor to the phenomenal Trails in the Sky series which are among the best JRPGs I've ever played.

I just started this game again on my steam deck, and had to immediately write a review. I have completed the first 3 trails games, and about 15 hours of trails from zero on PC before this official localization was announced. The geo front port was already incredible on PC, but what Falcom has done has taken it to the next level. All the text, cut scenes, character portraits, and in game world have all been touched up and sharpened. The game looks great, I dont know how the could have done it any better. Cant wait to complete this one and but Trails to azure next year day one.

Trails from Zero is a first game of Crossbell Arc and great continuation of Trails in the Sky.
While i love all Trails games, i like that Zero have a nice "family" feel.
Limited selections of characters, slightly evolved mechanics from Trails in the Sky - perfect!

Wonderful entry of the trails series.

I was wondering if it would hold up, being an older game, but I got totally convinced.
The characters are awesome, the dialog is great as usual, and the graphical presentation went up after sky the 3rd, which i did not see coming. They are making great use of camera angles and movement, it´s very charming and fun to look at.
Could gush on, but I´ll refrain. You can tell how much effort went into this one, if you like trails, you´ll love this.

Super good story so far, and the game-play is solid, I like the cast and the setting of the game a lot and now I can hardly wait for Trails to Azure! This play-through was so much fun! Thank you to PH3 as well for handling the pc port, they always do amazing stuff, and they're awesome imo

+ Phenomenal story and music
+ Looks and feels good although it is an old PSP game
+ Absolute great port (thanks PH3!)
+ Thanks to the Geofront Team for the base translation work and Nisa for bringing the game to the West
~ Spotted a few localisation errors (text in japanese, misplaced translation like Wind 2 instead of Water 2 etc.)

The bar(rier) has been set high for Azure (the second game of this duology / fifth game overall) but I am sure they will get over it :>

É difícil não amar a série Trails, e mais difícil ainda não amar Trails from Zero. A saga em Crossbell é a que tem o elenco mais bem amarrado, e jogar esse jogo foi uma delícia. O difícil vai ser esperar o ano que vem pra gente ter o Trails to Azure em inglês, mas super recomendo esse capítulo, que funciona sozinho assim como uma continuação direta do Trails in the Sky the 3rd

Pra quem já jogou outros jogos da série, recomendo não jogar no normal, porque o jogo pode ser um pouco fácil se você já conhece os sistemas bem

Trails from Zero is definitely one of the best Trails games out there. You can hop into it as your first trails game just fine, however for the best experience, I would put high recommendation to play the Sky series first.

However, do note that as of version 1.3.7, there are several localization issues, such as grammatical error, typo, untranslated text (so far I've only notice 2 text box untranslated).

Aside from those issues, Trails from Zero is a wonderful experience. Lovable characters, great world building, story, and music. If this is your first time experiencing Zero, you are in for a great experience.

I've played the Geofront version before, but I'm glad I'm able to support this series financially. I just wish the rest of the series would be available in English faster...

The game is great and is basically similar to the Trails in the Sky arc, game-wise. You do side quests, main-quests, beat up mobs and bosses, craft Quartz, optimize your gear, etc. Not much has changed. It's of course rather sad that we don't get English audio, but I can live without it. Spotted a few typing errors here and there, but it's really negligible. Maybe 1% or less of the whole text. I do prefer Azure a bit more thanks to what it brough, rather than this game, but it's still quite good. ^^ Recommend you play it if you like turn-based JRPGs. (And ofc, check out the other Trails games! They will allow you to understand some of the things that happen across the series)

Played the original with the Geofront patch. Extremely pleased that they localized this to provide more access to western gamers. This series is amazing!

Top tier Trails game

Excellent story and likeable characters.

I wish they would have gotten some actual dog sounds for the wolves. They sound like the Baha Men.

Highly recommended.

Been waiting a long long time for this. An amazing game and a must play for fans that never tried the geofront translations. I am so happy i can financially support this game and show Falcom the west loves Trails. Now i have to beat Cold Steel for once. Thank you NISA and thank you Falcom.

I don’t get all the love for this game. Technically, a great port. Best looking PSP game ever. But story is low stakes and boring. Characters are bog standard JRPG tropes.

Accidentally played past point of refund tho, so all I can do is hope it gets better.

Trails from Zero Didn't Break RPG Barriers But Proves The Classic Formula Still Works Today

8.5/10

STORY
Trails from Zero is the first game of a duology series for the Legend of Heroes saga so players experience half of the overarching story until its sequel, Trails of Azure, is released in 2023. In this game, players are introduced to the cast of the Special Support Section or the S.S.S. and side characters from Crossbell City who may appear in the later installments of the Legend of Heroes saga. Trails from Zero excels in storytelling by introducing memorable characters with dark histories and foreshadowing future events through the S.S.S.’s investigations and overworld locations and dungeons. For example, without spoiling too much of the story, players can deduce the identity of an alleged suspect in the game by paying attention to their clothing and background during one of the cases taken on by the S.S.S. By the end of said chapter, their identity is revealed and players who caught on are rewarded with the satisfaction or shock that their hunch or deduction was correct. However, even though players roleplay as being part of a police force, Trails from Zero is not a full-blown detective or investigation game like Ace Attorney. RPG and fantasy elements still cover half of the overall plot. In addition, there are returning characters from the Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky series, the first three games or prequels to Trails from Zero. A sub-story from the Trails in the Sky concludes in this game, but it may not impact the player’s experience as much if they have not played the games that came before Trails from Zero. Nevertheless, the game explains their backgrounds, so players won’t be confused with their role and importance to the Crossbell arc and the Trails saga. By the end of the player’s journey, the final chapter ties all the plot twists and mini storylines into one satisfying end.

GAMEPLAY
Trails from Zero’s strength and weakness comes from its simple gameplay. Players are tasked with completing non-mandatory side-quests called Requests every chapter which would either fund the player Mira, the currency used to buy weapons and Quartz, or increase their Detective Points (DP). When players earn enough DP, they rank up their Detective Class and receive bonus accessories that can be equipped to the characters, enhancing their stats and resistances significantly. Afterwards, there’s the main quest that would progress the story of the game. This gameplay loop will eventually burn out the player because most of the non-mandatory requests are fetch quests that aren’t memorable and monster exterminations with minimal challenge. In short, the game offers boring experiences for the purposes of leveling up characters in-between main quests, although it does add depth to the lore and backstories of NPCs inhabiting Crosbell City and the villages found in the overworld. Another gameplay mechanic are Quartz and orbal arts. Quartz are equipped to characters and unlock powerful orbal arts, elemental or space and time magic, to damage and defeat foes, or they can use Crafts, a separate gameplay mechanic where characters gain Craft Points (CP) each time they damage or are damaged in-battle and spend CP to unleash powerful attacks or buff their party. The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel have since improved the battle system of the Trails saga, the arc that came after Trails from Zero, but the addictive gameplay loop of using varying orbal arts to exploit enemy weaknesses or initiating flashy S-crafts never gets old.

MUSIC
Any individual can appreciate the work that goes into the Trails Saga’s soundtracks, but it is more apparent in Trails from Zero. “Way of Life,” the opening soundtrack, encapsulates the vibe or theme of the game’s plot. This classic rock OST sets up the romanticism and ideals of Lloyd and the gang’s story as they throw out cheesy lines before rocking the enemies with attacks. The original soundtrack fit perfectly to each location and fight whenever it is played in the background. More importantly, one musical piece stood out amongst the rest, and it's an OST called Inevitable Struggle. The synth and guitar used in Inevitable Struggle is played during intense boss fights, and it is easy to get goosebumps when it plays. This musical piece is reminiscent of Shonen themes played when protagonists of an anime are about to win after a motivating experience which perfectly describes the scenarios that play out during boss fights.

Overall

The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero is by no means a revolutionary game that broke barriers in the RPG genre, but its intricate use of foreshadowing and charming characters, simplistic albeit tedious gameplay, and hair-raising soundtracks are examples of why Falcom, the video game company that created the Trails saga, is still going strong in the video game industry today.

This may be the perfection of the classic JRPG

A game made by people who view their work as fine art. The rendering of hand-drawn work in 3d environments is very creatively done. The characters are large sprites that animate at 144hz making the whole thing feel like an intensely souped up ps1 game. It looks beautiful and retro at the same time as looking like a manga.

Playing the game, like any Legend of Heroes, is a lot like reading a good manga. You have to be in for a lot of plot. The characters in this particular game snap harder than most LoH games too. They feel more real and developed than the kids you get in Trails in the Sky or Cold Steel. I am very excited to see how their story plays out.

The soundtrack bangs like most Falcom games. You won't be disappointed there.

A Fantastic game as expected form The Legends of Heroes series!
This game is a Second Entry point. If you played The Trail in the Sky Trilogy this is your next stop!

And for new players, This game or The Legends of Heroes is a Deep Storytelling JRPG! Thats mean there will numerous time you must reading like 5-10 minute, so if that scared you then its not for you, but of you are Story Enthusiast you have one if not the Best Storytelling and its Woldbuilding in JRPGs!

First, the time played here lies. I have over 90 hours in the Geofront version,

I love the Trails series. I started Trails in the Sky at the beginning of covid, Cold Steel about mid-2020. You don't NEED to have played the previous to enjoy any of the series, but the experience is only enhanced by doing so. I was able to get in on the Geofront version of the Crossbell Arc (by a week in the case of Azure). And they did not disappoint.

If you love story driven turn based RPGS - this is well worth your time.

If you have played Trails in the Sky, you know what to be expect. Great combat, the orbment system, well written characters, an interesting story that fits into the grand scheme of the unprecedented world building of the Legend of heroes series. Absolutely fantastic game

If you haven't played the Sky games, leave this page and go play those first

if i had a nickel for every time this game had an overpowered attack that had two words in its name and the second word started with R, i'd have two nickels, which isn't a lot but it's weird that it happened twice

Just like with the other trails games this one has a really good story , pacing , battle system and characters. you cant go wrong with any of the games but this is where things really start to heat up!

Localization issues aside, this is a good entry into the series. Other entries have hit a bit harder in the feels than this one for me but seeing the end of one story arc in particular was worth it. Also, if you're a seasoned vet, just play on nightmare. Hard is baby mode here as I discovered.

Oh boy, the legendary Crossbell Arc, how long have we waited for this one to be translated... and it pays off. Superb history, pacing, lore, personalities, characters development, and classic JRPG combat-grind formula. A wonderful game (and saga) to invest your time, you will not regret... now lets just wait for Trails to Azure

Very good game! It's a great remaster and localisation and I rarely came across any problems. Some of the QoL options are great to have and the game itself is very good with a nice story :)

This release was long overdue. It still needs some polishing here and there, but the spirit and splendour of the first Crossbell game shines through. Geofront and NIS America have my utmost gratitude for finally bringing this modern classic to English-speaking audiences.

Falcom nerds don't need to be told to buy this game, they already have it lol

So to those who aren't in the Falcom nerd club; the two Crossbell games have taken the longest to get localised, which is a shame because they are absolutely fu***ing amazing (Azure, the other game, is coming out March 2023). If you haven't played the Trails in the Sky trilogy (which you really should), it's not essential but will help make some moments in this game from "who dis?" to moments of pure joy or tearing up.

As with just about every Falcom game the world-building, characters, gameplay, story and music are genuinely awesome, and they have some of the best turn based combat of any jrpg.

10/10 100% recommended even if you're not a Falcom/JRPG nerd.

This is a Trails game, what can I say?

Definitely having some bias here,but here we go..

Eventhough this was literally a 12 years wait for western audience, Trails from Zero is the 4th installment of the LONG story rich JRPG series. This game focuses on the journey of a young uprising detective named, Loyd Bannings, and the very diverse melting pot state of the continent of Zemuria, Crossbell.
Loyd and his gang in the CPD go around this beautiful city of Crossbell and do police work and solving cases. A very black sheep in terms of theme of the Trails games, but still somehow work the same mechanics of its other titles. The events take place after the Sky trilogy and before the Cold Steel saga. Recommend you play in order for overall story purposes since eventhough Loyd has his own story, but still has content from the other titles. I deeply enjoyed Loyd and his crew along with the other figures of Crossbell. World building is still top tier Trails quality, and the story of Zero is probably one of my faves in the series now.

Fantastic game, there is some achievements locked behind ng+ like exclusive chests that prevent you to gat all the loot in one playthrough, which annoyed me. Not a big issue though. Overall this Trails game gets a 8/10 from this Kiseki fanatic. Difficulty is prob the best in the series if you want a brutal game on hard plus diff. Gameplay and boss theme is chef's kiss. Mmwah!

PS. Randy best boy!!

I'm so happy they ported and translated this! I'm very very eagerly awaiting the next two in this trilogy!

Completionist Review

Introduction

This review will look at the game through the lens of its Steam Achievements, and so is primarily targeted at those that strive for 100% completion, or otherwise enjoy achievement hunting. Are there any particular barriers of note, whether engaging challenge or boring grind? Are the achievements designed well enough to elevate the game-play experience? Or are some poorly designed enough that you'll be forced to choose between a miserable slog or stopping just shy of 100%? If this all sounds like pointless nonsense to you: you are probably objectively correct, and there's plenty of other reviews for you. For those of you that embrace the madness like me, I hope this will be helpful!

Review

Overall, I rate the achievements for Trails from Zero as neutral: not particularly challenging, nothing particularly interesting, but not generally anything that should stop you from enjoying the game. There are, however, three major caveats to this that I will focus on.

Guide Requirement: 'Requirement' is a slightly strong word, but as with the Trails in the Sky games that come before this in the series, it is incredibly easy to miss things linked to achievements playing blind. The situation is slightly improved in this game in some ways -- areas generally stay available until the Point of No Return at the end of the game instead of being Chapter locked, a 'treasure radar' ability is available very early on -- but ultimately it's still highly recommended to use a guide. There is one other arguable silver lining, but it takes the form of the next issue:

New Game +: Trails from Zero has achievement-linked content available only in a second run of the game, and so requires at least two complete runs through the game. As mentioned above, a silver lining to this is that it can free up playing the first time unburdened by following any sort of guide whatsoever, and saving that for a second play-through. This game also comes with a Turbo feature, which can make getting through a second time relatively quick, especially when combined with NG+ bonuses. 'Relatively' does a lot of heavy lifting there, though; this is a JRPG after all, and you'd still likely be looking at ~8 hours. Of course, arguably all of this pales completely when considering the final caveat issue:

Play For 100 Hours: There is an achievement to get 100 hours played on a save file. The most charitable read I can give this is that it's meant to encourage really diving into and engaging with the game world and its minor characters (admittedly something that is arguably this series' greatest strength) without explicitly putting in some sort of "Trigger X00 Unique Conversations" achievement. Even if that is the intent, however, it is poorly tuned. I did engage with the game on that level on my first play-through, combing the world for every possible interaction after every plot beat, as well as letting voiced lines play out fully. On top of that, I then rushed through the game two more times to clear up all other remaining achievements. After all of that, my play-time on file was still only at ~85 hours. In short, depending on how much you would otherwise engage with the game, this achievement will likely be a nuisance at best, or an unforgivable slog at worst.

Feedback

If the concept of this review was relevant to you -- whether it was helpful, or if it seemed like it could be helpful but ultimately wasn't -- feedback is very much welcomed! This is my first such review, but it's something I've thought about for a while, as it's something I know my own achievement-poisoned brain would sometimes really appreciate knowing ahead of time. Even simply knowing whether there's any interest in this sort of thing would do a lot to encourage me to do others or, conversely, to drop the idea.

Another great game in the trails series
Good plot, great characters and immersion

As someone who has played both the sky and cold steel games
you certainly notice both what had come from the former and
the beginning of some of the latter's new ideas

for trails in the sky fans the return of estelle and joshua is very welcome,
as is the the conclusion of renne's arc

unlike many trails series games this one does not end on a cliffhanger

A worthwhile play for series fans, and while i would say you should start with trails in the sky
new players could start here without missing too much

After having completed the "Trails of Cold Steel" quadrilogy as well as the "Trails in the Sky" trilogy, I was looking forward to FINALLY officially getting to play the "Crossbell arc duology" (which takes place between those two collections), starting with "Trails from Zero" and thankfully, this game turned out to be a pleasant experience overall. Its main strength lies in its deep story-telling as well as the lovable main characters of the game. If you value "story-telling over combat", then I can tell you that you will have a great time playing this game.

However, having said that, as someone who actually cares more about the "combat/battles over the story", there have been a few "missteps" that kind of "disappointed me" with the game (especially when compared to say Trails in the Sky SC or Trails in the Sky the 3rd). In more detail, the following are the main points that I think could've been handled better IMO:

1) Monster Boss Battle Music: As a "boss battle music" enthusiast myself, one of the MAIN things I look forward to in these types of games are the EPICNESS AND INTENSITY of boss battles (both in terms of music AND in terms of the boss itself) and so, my problem with this game is that the music chosen for majority "monster" boss battles (named "Arrest the Criminal") was very underwhelming and NOT befitting as a "boss battle theme" which this franchise is normally famous for. In fact, this particular boss theme sounded very goofy and very circus-like and so it was very hard for me to take any of those monster bosses seriously as the music itself didn't convey that sense of threat vibe which is CRUCIAL to make for "memorable" boss fights.

2) Monster Boss Battles themselves: To add to point 1 above, the monster bosses in this game themselves didn't look or feel "epic" at all as none of them "stood out" to me at all throughout the game, and with the lame "Arrest the Criminal" boss theme to go with it, I really didn't come out of this with any lasting "memorable" monster boss battles at all after finishing the game (even the "Demonic Drive" battle theme that played for certain monster bosses didn't sound that great or make for memorable monster boss battles at all too IMO).

3) Number of "Human" Boss Battles: Unlike monster battles, the human boss battles had GREAT boss themes (such as "Formidable Enemy" as well as "Inevitable Struggle" boss themes) and were overall very memorable and satisfying to go through (goes to show how much "EPIC boss themes" matters when designing boss battles that will be remembered for years to come after finishing the game). However, having said that, my only issue with this is that it felt like the number of human boss battles was lackluster overall, especially compared to previous games like "Sky SC" or "Sky the 3rd". I guess what I'm trying to say is, the absence of Ouroboros Enforcer Boss Battles in this game is DEEPLY FELT as those battles are really the pinnacle of epicness with the amount of battle toughness and INTENSE boss themes that that group of individuals bring to the table, so while the available human bosses in this game were "good" overall, they don't live-up to or match the epicness of human boss battles that were present in previous games that took place before this game chronologically speaking.

4) Final Boss Battle: Comparing this to say "Sky the 3rd" final boss battle, the "Trails from Zero" final boss battle was extremely disappointing. The final boss theme (named "Arrival Existence") doesn't hold a candle the EPIC "Dreamy and Boisterous Holy Land" final boss theme that played at the end of "Sky the 3rd" nor did the final boss battle itself feel remotely memorable or as epic as the final boss battle in "Sky the 3rd". It's a combination of final boss battle theme, in-battle combat as well as the "appearance/attack animations" of the final boss itself which wasn't as menacing or impactful as the final boss in "Sky the 3rd".

5) Missable Items/Side-quests: Unfortunately, there were many MANY items/side-quests that were tediously hidden in such a way that it is near impossible to get them all on a first playthrough without the use of an online guide as some of them required you to "backtrack" IN THE MIDDLE of a main mission, while others expected you to go talk to a certain individual (sometimes in FAR AWAY places) who have no relation whatsoever to the current main mission to get those items/side-quests and therefore it is very easy to permanently miss them if you don't get them in the small window of opportunity given for each of them. This is especially frustrating as managing to actually get all of them earns you highly valuable rewards (items/gear/quartz) that will be of great help to you and your party when approaching the end-game and so, I feel this aspect could've been better handled in a way that avoids heavily punishing the player for missing a single item/side-quest that could permanently cost them those rewards and thereby forcing them to "start over" again to get them all in a single playthrough.

In the end, despite all the points I mentioned above, "The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero" is STILL a good game that deserves to be played and now I absolutely can't wait to play its sequel, Trails to Azure, when that releases early next year!

Final Rating: 7.5/10.

Summary Ratings:

(Note: I only compared "Trails in the Sky" trilogy with "Trails from Zero" because it felt fairer IMO as those games are more comparable from a "graphics/combat/story" point of view than the more advanced "Trails of Cold Steel" quadrilogy)

I have played this game already and plan to get all achievements in this version, so please do not take my current "time played" into consideration.

This is one of the best Trails games IMO. I played the Geofront version last year and it was an absolute blast to playthrough. The improvements I have seen so far and the overall experience of getting to play it again on Nightmare mode is incredible.

If you are a fan of the Trails series, this is a must and I'm so happy this and Azure are finally getting localized. Highly, highly recommended!

Long live KeA!

I have a LOT to talk about this game, most of it good. And some of it it's more of a rant from other games released from the company here on Steam.
So let's go to the obviously bad:

Lack of English dub: That's not a bad thing to me, I always thought the english dub for Cold Steel was lacking at best, horrible at worst. But a lot of people like it, and when we lose content it feels bad. We want improvements both in the technical and in the gameplay values for the game, and removing something that was present for four games in a row is sad. That being said: If having a dub would mean this game would cost MORE than what's costing on launch, then thank god it's not here. I'm not fond of spending 60 bucks on a 2010 game.

The PS4 differences: That's more on Falcom than NIS, but then again, Nis was on fault for NOT warning buyers beforehand. Never do that again, Nis. Never.

This is a nitpick now, but during certain battle screens, the grass MOVES left to right, and I'm not saying it animates like a normal grass, it litterally changes the position from one point to another, and it feels like a bad simulation that could just be removed. XD It may not be noticeable on PSP or PS Vita but it is on 1080+ resolutions.

Now, The good:

There's a lot of good stuff here, the game itself is awesome, the OST is amazing and if they ever get the license for the EVO OST I would totally buy it as a DLC.
I really like the UI improvements, and the enhancements to the black spots on the edge of the sceens, a thing that plagues the Sky seris and some older YS titles. They did an awesome job, and so far I haven't found a single issue that broke my immersion with the game.

The UI improvements are just incredible, there's not a single menu that is pixelated, every artwork looks sharp, the text looks sharp, there's an option for scaling certain things (mostly battle menus) to be bigger, but I do prefer the normal resolution, I love space in the screen. I love that this time, instead of doing a visual and gameplay downgrade from the PS4 version, Durante's team decided not to mes with there's no need, and they left the original High-Speed beautiful icon animating that Falcom puts on their games since Cold Steel 3 (Instead of downgrading it to that small cog from CS1-2), they let the tOGGLE function intact and just added the option for it not to be a toggle, but frankly I have no idea why you would want to keep a button pressed all the time and they left the PS4 prompts Falcom added to the game instead of, for no reason at all, downgrading it to worse looking buttons (I'm still having bad chills whenever I look at the buttons on CS3-Pc version).

The Log menu is a god-send, and finally, after at least seven titles of this series, they decided to create the option menus INSIDE the game instead of outside. NOt only those are beautiful menus, I can change everything while in-the-game. And that would be awesome in a more graphically demmanding game such as COLD STEEL III or IV, but I doubt they will ever bring this feature to those games.

It's actually ironic that this old game has more modern features than the other ports in that sense.

And yes, it annoys me way more when design choices are made that make my life harder or that makes the game uglier, for no reason at all than not having graphics enhancements like the PS4 version suffers from. This game especifically doesn't need these touch-ups, they make the game look cleaner, but these are older games, and I'm fine as long as I can play them.

That being said, I don't know what happened, if Durante's team love these games especifially, if the lack of English Dub gave people more time and resources to invest more in other aspects of the game, more technical aspects, or whatever. But looking at it on the technical side and on the UI side of things, this game particularly received a lot more care than Cold Steel III and IV received.

I think this is an awesome game. But please, if you wanna buy it, go fro the sky trilogy first. No matter what Nis says, these games NEED to be played in order. You won't lose a lot, but what you lose is taken away from you forever. xD

Even though as of now, the regional pricing for Trails from Zero is absurd compared to other Falcom titles at the same or even higher prices, I had to support this excellent release with its superb PC port and localization, aside from it being one of the best Trails entries and best JRPG games out there. My wallet took a hit, but supporting Falcom games is a mission I'll never abandon. I have already played the Joyoland version with the GeoFront patch, so I don't plan to replay the game for the time being. If this is your first time playing an entry from the Trails series, Trails from Zero can be a great place to start!

Trails From Zero and Trails To Azure together are probably my favorite or second favorite RPG of all time. Highly recommend it.

If you are not going to play the entire saga (tip: you should), then at least make sure to play this one (and its follow-up Trails to Azure).

Fantastic game. Really glad to see its finally coming over here. A must play for anyone who enjoys the Trails series.

Great port with many improvements: Redesigned interface, improved graphics. Adjusted the resolution to modern platforms. Appeared a turbo mod. Added voice acting characters from the EVO version.

What to expect from the game (Play for the first time, but judging based on my experience with the Trails in the Sky trilogy): Great story and gameplay, thorough characters development, excellent world building, divine soundtrack from Falcom Sound Team jdk.

What should scold NIS America for is the regional price. In my region(Russia), Trails from Zero costs twice as much as it should, and this is depressing because the company has previously set adequate prices for its games. Seriously, why is a twelve-year-old game costs more expensive than Trails of cold steel 3 and 4? It is better to wait for discounts. especially that who live in Argentina and Turkey - there the game stands five times more expensive (NIS, everything is OK?) I couldn't resist and bought it on the release.

Bonus is okay but could be better. Good artbook and soundtrack (only ten tracks unfortunately). It would be better if there was a ten percent discount in the first week (it is worth stopping thinking about the impossible)

This game is among my top 5 JRPG/turn base games. To me this is the 2nd best Trails game after its sequel Azure. The story is great, the music is phenomenal, and the battle system is one the best in JRPG games. Even though the game is old the graphics and the aesthetics of the game are charming and beautiful. I love this game so much

Alright, so I played the fan translation of this for.. let's see... 87 hours. That was a work of absolute love and devotion towards the game and the series as a whole. NISA, to their credit, took the work the Geofront did both on a technical level and on a localization level, and made every part of it better; even pulling Durante in to make what is 100% the ultimate version of one of the best games in the series. I may not finish it a third time, but I was more than happy to financially support this game and the people involved in bringing this masterpiece to an official release.

Not as great as the Sky arc yet but... I mean I'm only just starting, plenty of time for it to grow on the solid bones it has.

I have played this game previously via fan-translations, so I feel I can speak to the quality of the game as of right now.

This game is, in my opinion, the best start of an arc in the Trails series.

For those who don't know what Trails is, it is an ongoing series of RPG's set within the same universe (somewhat like the MCU.) This game was trapped in Japan for over 10 years, finally getting an official release with the help of the Geofront, a group of fan-translators. This game is part one of the "Crossbell arc" which runs at the same time as Trails of Cold Steel 1 and 2. This also takes place after the Trails in the Sky Trilogy.

Gameplay-wise though, this game is basically where Sky meets Cold Steel as far as mechanics are concerned. It has a lot of great systems and gameplay, while also being the most streamlined region in the series. In a very good way.

This game is set in the Autonomous State of Crossbell, the smallest region in the series up to this point. However, there is a lot to do, and the smaller size severely cut down on the actual time spent backtracking that existed in the Sky trilogy.

The story of this game is basically an underdog story as the heroes try and root our corruption in Crossbell as things gradually escalate. There is a mystery angle to this story I absolutely love, and it really keeps you engaged. The game also doesn't waste as much time with the plot as Sky FC and Cold Steel 1.

One things that should be kept in mind though is that a prominent subplot from the Sky games returns in this game, and gets a lot of focus. This subplot will probably be enjoyable to a newcomer but will mean everything to a Sky player. So keep in mind playing the Sky games will enhance your enjoyment of this story.

The Soundtrack is also one of my favorites in the entire Trails series. I love pretty much every song in this game.

Overall, if you play this you are in for a really fun time. Let's Get Over the Barrier.

Great port of a classic game. There's a lot of features and I haven't noticed any bugs. Works well with Freesync too.

Amazing port with controller support. The price is steep but its worth it if you love trails of series

It's a great entry in an already stellar series, and many impossible barriers had to be overcome in order to get this game officially released in the West. Get it if you have any interest in jrpgs.

Trails from Zero, Steam version: NISAmerica did a worse job than Geofront's fan patch they based the translation upon

Played for less than 2 hours so I can refund if I want. With fast forward, it's enough to finish the tutorial.

Best settings:
-Anti-Aliasing FXAA
Second option, preserves the graphics' edges better than the more advanced ones)
-Anisoropic Filtering: High 16x
If you're going to depend on filters for better textures, might as well use it on the highest setting.

Despite NISAmerica using Geofront's script and list of improvements to the steam version of Zero no Kiseki, they still did a worse job!

Geofront's fanpatch upgraded the first game code, texture and assets using Ao no Kiseki (the sequel)'s vastly better ones (NISAmerica uses Trails from Zero older assets). Geofront also introduced new ideas, some of them NIS copied on their port.

Now, NISAmerica's version (Steam) is made on top of Zero no Kiseki: Kai assets, meaning there's no "retro-improvement", there's no newer and better assets. Instead they applied "dumb" texture filters and anti-aliasing. The anti-aliasing actually ruins the graphics' edges; you need to change it to the "worse" option on configuration if you want to see the drawings as intended. Mind you, it's an isometric game.

The only 2 reasons for buying Trails from Zero on Steam:
1- It's waaaay more accessible than buying the original port for PC and patching it;
2- Tio don't shows her butt on her S-Craft anymore. (this is an improvement, RIIIIGHT?)

Missing portrait (and later the wrong one being called): https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxuI8GAEOhwJa8w73g0qMATuTNEvgXVa37

Ideal graphics options:
https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxuH2ZFx6GRbRoin3g0x0G2KfZLk8E6WuH

I originally reviewed this product negatively because it wasn't dubbed in English and I didn't think it stated this anywhere on the page. I was correct on this and will change my review to positive but only a little positive. I still feel like this game should not have been priced at 40 dollars without an English dub. 30 Seems more appropriate. I enjoy the tales series and am enjoying this game so far.

good

i played the psp bad translation copy and i can say for sure this is better AND theres a lot of love put into it from the pc dev team

Only a little way into it, but it seems like everything I had hoped for. The simple 2D graphics are cute and it runs smoothly on high res. The turns based battle system is tight and refined as expected for the second arc in the LoH series. Voice acting (Japanese only) is the best I've heard in a trails game so far. Recommend to those wanting a turns-based RPG to play casually.

An utter masterpiece. Thank you for this absolutely fantastic game! Loved Trails in the Sky 1-3 but this takes the cake!

I am a trails fan and i am so glad to finally be able to play this game its great and all the things that make trails games great its also a great jrpg in general and i am having a blast thanks again nisa and falcom for the amazing games

It's set in Hong Kong if China and Germany fought a cold war over control of it and the industrial revolution happened, like, yesterday. It's part police procedural, part character drama, part action adventure. It's probably overpriced at 40$ for a port of a PSP game (despite the graphics upgrades) with no English language dub.

But....it's still one of the best JRPGs I've ever played. The story pulls off a feat by being both self-contained (mostly) and satisfying while also leaving just enough breadcrumbs to keep you hooked for the sequel (releasing next year). The combat is fun without being too exhausting (tho you do spend a lot of the time with the Turbo button held down in between the interesting fights). The world is charming and colorful and the characters are sweet and well written, with layers. The central mystery is compelling.

I say grab it if you've never played it before but like JRPGs or played Trails in the Sky or Cold Steel and want to see why the person who got you into this series has been screaming for you to buy this for weeks.

Early impression: Despite being released way later than its original release. The wait is worth it. The game is so good it cured my gaming burn out.

The game originally released in 2010 never receiving official english translation until 2022. It's intended playing order is after Trails in the Sky the 3rd. While the best experience would be to finish Trails in the Sky trilogy, this game is a good entry point because this is a start of a new arc just like the first Trails of Cold Steel game.

This game really lives up to my expectation. I love everything in it from story, setting, characters, music, and the combat system. I can't really say much other than telling you to join the train that is Trails series and be one of us.

don't worry, I've played and watched weaponsci's videos on all the trails games, including Zero, so I know what I'm talking about when I say this is the best "prologue" game in the trails series(personally I'd say the crossbell arc of the now 4 arcs is the best overall arc that could reach out to new players, namely since it's just 2 fairly short games compared to cold steel 4 and hajimari/reverie lol)

I'd just get out of the way that my main actual complaint of the official release is that (low key spoiler), your party were investigating a statue, and the goodest boy Randy delivered a slightly memey but still valid line of, "If this ain't a BRUH moment, I don't know what is" (Why am I so upset over such a relatively trivial thing? Hard to justify it, but it's not like I'm saying its removal is hurting the game, it's just hurting my crossbellan heart xD)

Anyways the non spoiler version of the story goes that you're playing as an new found underdog division in the police department of Crossbell State called the Special Support Section(I mistaken their abbreviation for a Nazi group during most of my first geofront experience xD had to look it up, and you just have to remove one S to make this game get canceled.) honestly, the progression of the group mirrors most versions of Spider man I know, with being a joke to everyone around you to literal National heroes by the end.

Anyways you get a 4 party main cast of characters in this group(side tangent, as cold steel 1 was my first trails, I will stress that i do prefer smaller main casts lol sorry old class vii. just feel the characterization especially in main story is just a good bit stronger for me, plus group chemistry. Anyways lol...). Your MC is lloyd, typical harem protag with a detective badge. Tho I don't care for harems, he's basically like how I'd imagine Bruce Wayne would of been if his parents didn't die yet became a detective(been watching some of that harley quinn show, but I'm seriously digressing lol)

You also get Randy(thebittersweetgamers description of him and lloyd seem real accurate in their cs 3 playthrough lol, saying to show some of my previous experience especially with this franchise I love lol). Basically he's... I guess I can't say what he is for sake of minor azure spoilers, but he hides his violent background with the guise of a failed playboy who loves gambling. Like geofrint's "bruh moment". I think community wise, Him and Tio-tot are the fan favorites of the SSS(speaking of her...)

Tio is the child genius of the group. She's fairly monotone and gives sarcastic remarks, usually to randy. Her tragic backstory(both her and randy have the most tramutizing backgrounds of the 4 in the overall crossbell arc(dubbing cb in my head now lol)) is heavily tied into the story, so i'll leave that mostly unmentioned, but man... tio and randy(tho low key her more so) needs a hug and probably therapy, not being technically a part of the police xD.

Lastly we got Ellie, Basically they make it real obvious as soon as you can explore the city that she is secretly really tied into the political side of crossbell, or atleast her family is lol. I think most people consider her one of the most boring wauifus in trails, and.... someone got to get last place, but she's as likable as the cast, she just needs the SSS to bounce off everyone's personality.

In the first half of the game, the group feels like coworkers, but after a shadow thing at basically the black market, they develop a new family dynamic I fairly like.

For the skeptics of "this can be the first game" newcomers, the only thing to be aware of is that you will meet the characters estelle and joshua, and a girl named renne. they're very vital characters from the sky trilogy, and finishes up their long and very heart wrenching conflict in this game (out of context spoiler, but azure really knows how to ruin a potentially pure self contained story xD). and with that in mind, they explain their postions very well, and I'll say most people will be fine as the emotional weight without the 80 or so hours of context is not really hindered, that's the main "lore blemish" to hardcore fans(I view myself as medium core lol I am a young adult working a full time job,yet I feel this game series is more intresting than just watching football games lol)

I'd say to end things off, I'm gonna share my least fav moment currently, then vice versa

as i only experinced geofront's version currently, I really hate the fishing minigame, I followed their weak instructions yet I constantly always failed it.

My favorite moment is kinda spoilery, so i'll just say i love the tension the last time you explore the city listening to "afternoon in crossbell", before the final chapter really takes off.

to think i haven't mentioned the combat yet lol, I'll ironically leave it at it's very good(need a nap lol). the amt. of costumization options you get is fairly impressive for a 2010 title lol.

Last thing I'll say is thank you falcom for finally translating the best overall arc you have in this beloved series(i wished we didn't get cold steel in comparison despite me loving cs 3 the most of the 3d games currently lol). And thank you geofront team for both your orginal fan translation, and more importantly showing to devs that it's all really just a form of flattery lol. I hope you guys nail translation jobs elsewhere after azure is done with.

Anyways... whoever's still reading all this, you're a real one, I'll leave the comments open despite me doubting anyone use them lol I love discussing trails, just be warned in the comments, I consider that a area to discuss spoilers as I doubt anyone come to steam for the comments of reviews xD Have a good day/morning/evening/and goodnight complete strangers.

p.s i might have spelling errors in the reviews, if that's not your cup of tea, my bad? xD just know nis is known to the trails community to suck in their published games compared to xseed in that regard lol

One of the best games (along with Ao, of course) of the Trails series....yet. I have high hopes for Kuro no Kiseki ;-)

But back to Zero no Kiseki: Don't let the play time fool you. This is my 4th playthrough already and is doesn't get boring. Great soundtrack, great Quality of Life changes! The starting point of a great story arc.

If you are a classical JRPG fan don't hesitate to buy this gem of a game. This is a game from times where harem protagonists weren't annoying af.

Another great game in the Trails series (played the Geofront version, and have now purchased this one), and well worth your time if you enjoyed the Sky or Cold Steel series, or indeed JRPGs in general.

I personally much preferred the Sky trilogy to the Cold Steel series, and feel the writing and characters in here are much more up to Sky's standards than Cold Steel's. So if, like me, you found the Cold Steel series a bit of a letdown compared to Sky, this should be up your alley. The follow-up to this game, Azure, is one of my favourite games ever, and perhaps my personal favourite of the Trails series - so if nothing else, it's worth playing this so you can play the sequel!

I'd advise playing the Sky games before you jump into this one, as some characters and story threads carry across. You could start here if you really wanted to, of course, but you might get a little confused now and then, though you shouldn't be completely lost by any means.

Finally, the PC port itself is another excellent effort by PH3, with a great variety of options for all setups, and optimised superbly for low-power systems such as the Steam Deck.

awesome jrpg wish they had english voices but other than that been waiting forever to play this fans of the series say the crossbell arc is the best

This game is another amazing entry in the trails series and I am so glad that I am able to finally play it!

POSTED: SEPTEMBER 27
The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero is the best set-up game in the entire Trails series. No cliffhanger endings, a perfectly good story on all its own, yet with deep connections to Azure that are impossible to see within your first playthrough, and unsolved leads that make you wonder just what is going to happen to Crossbell.

Starting with the setting, the City of Crossbell is the absolute greatest setting in all of media. Situated between and always being fought over by the two major powers of the Zemurian continent, the Erebonian Empire and the Calvard Republic, the Autonomous State of Crossbell is in one of the absolute worst scenarios for a country to be in. The political situation is essentially just damn near a proxy war between Erebonia and Calvard, which drastically screws over the citizens, with a majority of the tax revenue just going to either side. Despite this, however, the citizens still enjoy much prosperity due to Crossbell City being, essentially, the trade capital of Zemuria. Countless mira flows in and out of the city, all governed by the watchful eye of the International Bank of Crossbell (which, despite its name, has many branch offices in other countries). Department stores, high rises, and other such features of a prosperous city dominate the streets and skyline. But it is all a veil drawn over the eyes of tourists and citizens, for Crossbell has a much seedier underbelly.

Nearly everyone in the government is corrupt and allies with one of the two major powers. Anyone who tries to make a change for the benefit of Crossbell is immediately tossed out. Not only this, but ties run deep with the Crossbell mafia, Revache. They pay off politicians in order to get away scot-free with all of their crimes. Yet nothing can be done about it, as those politicians are backed by the powerful benefactors of Erebonia and Calvard. It seems as though Crossbell's fate is to be stuck within an endless cycle of no progress.

This is where the Special Support Section comes in. This newly established unit essentially seeks to emulate the Bracer Guild, which is much more popular than the Crossbell Police Department due to them actually being able to protect citizens, and having the A-rank bracer Arios MacLaine. Because they emulate the Bracer Guild, they can gain popularity with the citizens, and under the lax eye of chief Sergei Lou, they are essentially free to do what they think is best. With the backing of the citizens, the CPD will be hesitant to axe the unit. But this all comes with time, and Zero shows us how the Special Support Section rises to fame.

Back to the Crossbell City itself, the city is littered with at least two hundred unique NPCs whose dialogue makes them feel as though they really are a live person living within the city, and not some generic no-name spouting either slightly plot-relevant lines or completely irrelevant nonsense. You will not forget these NPCs.

As for the gameplay itself, it builds upon everything established in Trails in the Sky and makes it even better.

All in all, the Crossbell duology is the best piece of media I have ever consumed, and you will absolutely love it to pieces. Just make sure you play the Trails in the Sky trilogy first.

I'm devastated that chest Mcclure didn't survive the script adjustments from the original Geofront translation.
On a more serious note the porting and localization job is generally as solid as the previous work by the Geofront team, if still with some flaws here and there (I've seen at least 2 typos and 2 instances where the text displayed in japanese) that'll hopefully be patched down the line, with just about every QoL aspect you'd come to expect from previous Trails ports to PC (dialogue logs and skip, speed up animations, battle retries, save anywhere in the field, etc).
Zero is a fantastic beginning to a new saga as well, while I liked the cast of the Sky trilogy a lot, there's something more personal about the SSS with how there's a more consistent cast of 4 all living together and Crossbell being a central hub at all points, and the writing it's also very solid all around, with the games plot really picking up somewhere around chapter 4.
I have a few gripes with how unsubtle this game is on the series more or less heading into the direction of a harem protagonist, but Lloyd is at the very least nowhere near as grating as the lead of the following saga, having at least more likeable traits and a better motivation.
I feel this was the last great Trails game all around, Azure is still good, but there's some aspects that felt rushed that made it suffer in comparison to Zero.

Pretty nice prequel to Cold Steel 2 and 3 starring those games' breakout star Randy Orlando. Also answers some of Cold Steel's burning questions, like who the white kid at the end of 2 was. No Rean unfortunately, but you can't win em all.

At long last it's here. Definitly worth the wait. If the game piques your interest, get it. The only question left is: Are you ready to get over the barrier?

Trails from Zero is one of the best games in the series. Amazing characters, amazing soundtrack, and amazing game.

I have played all of the Trails in the Sky and Trail of Cold Steel games available in English. I was very excited to get to start the Crossbell Duology and have not been disappointed :)

(I'm coming at this from the POV of someone who has Trails in the Sky/SC in their top 20 games of all time, but bounced pretty damn hard off of Trails of Cold Steel for several reasons [mostly related to the transition to 3D]. There will be no spoilers, & the focus will be on what it's like entering the world of Crossbell as a Sky veteran. While you can play Zero before Sky, in my opinion, you'll be doing yourself a huge disservice if you do, as the discussions of Sky's plot points, along with recurring characters, make Zero a lot more enjoyable overall).

From the get go, Zero demonstrates many of the same qualities that make Sky as charming as it is; colourful, well-illustrated, meaningful conversations with even the most random NPCs, & a level of attention to detail that'd make most game developers blush. It's as close to a living world as you can expect to see in a JRPG, & the amount of dedication it must take to put a world like this together cannot be understated.

The leads in Zero are all well-written, with each character having developed backstories that lead perfectly into their position within the game. The protagonist, Lloyd, is perhaps a bit more of a regular character than angry staff bashing nutcase Estelle (who is no doubt my favourite of the two), but he still manages to shine in a world full of great characters. The playable cast is quite a bit smaller, which on the one hand leads to more potential for deeper storytelling, but on the other, potentially limits the replayability if gameplay/narrative differences are you main motivator.

The story develops slowly, starting off with mostly menial chores & odd jobs, but thanks to the quality of the writing & the charm of the characters, it flew by as I found myself engrossed with the world of Crossbell. It really ramps up towards the end however, & delivers a finale that's both satisfying in the short term, while leaving plenty of questions to be answered in Azure next year. Side content is great, with tasks varying from monster extermination to deeper, more meaningful content that adds to the story the further into the game you progress.

While not a criticism by any means, Zero feels like less of an adventure than Sky; while Sky has you travelling the world from city to city in a manner perhaps similar to Pokemon, Zero instead prefers to focus its attention on a central hub, with a few paths that branch out into surrounding areas for quests & story development. This change in pace, along with the detective theme/deduction moments, make Zero feel like a game that, despite feeling very true to the franchise, stands alone as its own unique experience.

Combat is as enjoyable, & there's plenty of variety to be had despite the limited pool of playable characters, but if you do a lot of the side-content & understand how to prepare yourself, be prepared to find some of the latter fights noticeably easier than some of the earlier encounters.

Durante's efforts, most notably arbitrary resolutions/refresh rates, are a welcome inclusion, & the included high-speed mode is borderline essential. I used it throughout for combat & character movement, & if I had to ponder how much time it saved, I'd have to say 20 hours+, based on me completing the main story & all the (obviously available) side quests in around 30 hours on normal difficulty, while HLTB has the game's main story alone at 41 hours, & 63 hours with sides included.

Overall, Zero delivered pretty much everything I hoped it would; strong characters with defined histories & motivations, a masterfully built world, political intrigue, & more charm than I know what to do with. The change from a globetrotting adventure to a more centralized tale results in something that feels both unique & incredibly familiar at the same time, & now the setting is established, I'm expecting big things from Azure in 2023.

Nothing to say about this that hasn't already been said. Amazing game in an amazing series, perhaps one of my favorite JRPGs of all time. Play Trails in the Sky FC, SC, and 3rd before this if you can. It's not the end of the world if you start here, but you'll be missing some context for certain things, and absolutely play those games before Azure releases next year.

The Crossbell arc is a good contender for the best entry in the Trails series.
And this version of the game is the best way to experience it.

I am buying this game only to leave a positive review. I have played the KAI version on PS4 last year. Liberl arc and Corssbell arc are the best in this franchise. While there are a lot of retcons related to DG Cult in Kuro 1 and 2, it may be good to experience the Crossbell arc again.

"you thought we forgot?"
I WAS LEGIT UPSET! good one Nisa, good one! x)

This is my second time buying this game (first one was on dlsite, played with fan translation) and I have to say you did good work, I'm loving it so far. Hope to see Trails of Azure as well!

Currently playing two trails games at a time.. one is english and one is Japanese... but both are japanese XD (voices)
I rather Japanese voices anyways
Playing this plus Trails of Dawn at the same time. One on My PC and the other on my Steam Deck
What a time to be alive!

I fondly remember starting with Trails of Cold Steel 1 during the pandemic in 2020. Had a lot of extra time on my hands and fell in love with the Legend of Heroes franchise. To any considering, I'd say some of the key points to consider:

- This is a time commitment. It isn't meant to be rushed and you will gain little from it if you are just trying to speed through.
- Compared to the other two arcs, this one has just as good if not better of an overall story and the characters bonds will grow to matter in the future arcs as well, it rewards the effort you put in to getting to know your team.
- It's a visual novel, more or less. You will read a LOT of dialogue, but it is very endearing and pulls you in if you can enjoy that type of format. The stories are intricate and keep you going and make you feel involved in the plot. There's also just enough combat mixed in at times to keep you thinking about your current build of the team.

All in all, Trails from Zero is the most recent release, but it sits right in the middle of both of the other localized arcs. I'd highly recommend it as a starting point as it retains the nostalgic character sprite model of gameplay, but also has a nice modernized polish to it for newer fans. While Zero has it's own contained story, know that it will tie in HEAVILY with Trails to Azure which releases next year and will be an even greater experience to enjoy if you end up loving this title.

To fans who have played the fan translation or PSP ports, this is my second full time playing through and I am enjoying it as if it was the first, the turbo option allows you to run through any parts you don't want to pay attention to, while you can also leave it off and coast through if you care to. Multiple options for veteran fans and newcomers alike!

WE'VE OVERCOME THE FIRST BARRIER BOIISSSS

ANYWAY, after around 12 years, trails from zero finally overcome the barrier and got an official english version in west. i became trails fan since 2020 and im so thrilled to play this. tbh i already watch zero & ao on youtube in order to play CS3 LOL. (you can play trails to your liking.)

despite the outdated graphic and some minor bug, trails from zero is a MASTERPIECE. Story? really good and i like the flow. Music? BANGER. Character and jp cast? damn,every single one of the SSS member are SOOO
good and memorable. the jp cast really did a great job (especially randy and tio). but i hope this come with Eng voice but.... ouh well, at least lower the price since there is no eng voice. there is no reason this game is more expensive than CS4.

long story short, this is my review:
- Story = 9/10
- Music = 9,5/10
- Character and cast = 9/10

One of the best games in the Legend of Heroes series. Waited years to play this and it hasn't disappointed!

First and foremost, if you haven't played the previous 3 games (Sky FC, Sky SC and Sky the 3rd), I very much recommend you do so before playing this one as there are huge amount of major spoilers for those games and they're worth it.

Instantly purchased the game at launch and have zero regrets, while there are some people that have a problem with the price point given the games age, I still wholeheartedly recommend purchasing the game, if the price point is a big issue 100% pick it up on sale.

The game itself was absolutely fantastic and completely worth the price, I finished my first playthrough with 102 hours played (87 hours ingame) having went out of my way to TRY to find all the hidden quests, monsters, recipes and fish as well as trying to talk to all the NPCs for more world building, but even if you ignore the those aspects and focus solely on completing the story and requests the game is still PLENTY long with extra content in new game+.

Music wise, it absolutely blew me away, of the games I've currently played (the 3 sky games, zero and CS1&2) Zero has by far my favourite collection of OSTs, and I've already held the other games in very high regard in this aspect.

Gameplay wise, I'm happy to return to a combat style more akin to that of the Sky trilogy with some evolution on it, certainly felt like a mix between sky combat and cold steel combat, but it still leans a lot more onto the sky games way of doing combat, especially considering the orbment system is identical to sky. Difficulty wise I played my first playthrough completely blind on Hard and I found the game to be quite easy, I felt that all 4 characters were extremely powerful and had a good stat balance, most fights were fairly easy to exploit given the vast arsenal of tools each character has and how most enemies are easily dispatched by either a weakness to a certain element or status ailment.

The port was very pleasing, I never had the game crash on me, the options menu was surprisingly robust for an old game and the speed up function is an absolute god send, the only problems I've found with it were some translation errors and (that I can recall) 4 speech bubbles that were left untranslated in japanese, however none of these were on the main story so it has absolutely zero impact on the experience.

All in all, I would 100% recommend this game, the port is fantastic and even though the game is old, it's quite large and for it being the first time it arrives in the western market officially I would say it justifies it's price point as I feel it's important to support the devs and show there is a market for this series in the west.

I just finished the three Trails in the Sky games recently, and it was mostly coincidence that I finished them so close to this one's release. TL;DR, Trails from Zero is a phenomenal JRPG and a top-notch entry in the Trails series, and you should stop reading this review and play it ASAP.

I love JRPGs. If you love them, you're doing yourself a disservice by not sitting down and playing the Trails games until your eyes are bloodshot and your pants are fused to your chair. The characters, story, sidequests, and worldbuilding are honestly some of the best in any game series I've ever played, and the fact that I can play four of these sons of guns in a row without playing anything else in-between should speak to how special they are. The sidequest design honestly reminds me a bit of The Witcher 3's, if not quite in terms of writing in terms of their effect on the characters you interact with. Gameplay's fun too, but fast-forward mode and art/SP skip button will definitely be your best friend once you've been in a few battles. Seen one "Ore no ban da na!", seen them all.

If you don't like JRPGs, Trails won't change your mind. If you do, even a little, you owe it to yourself and the hardworking fans and developers to play these games by whatever avenue possible. Zero is maybe not the best way to start because of how much it references the Trails in the Sky trilogy and in some ways serves as something of an epilogue to stories from those games, but you won't be missing anything absolutely crucial to the plot if you start here. I was a bit disappointed by the lack of a dub as I've heard the Cold Steel dubs are fantastic, but the Japanese voice acting is excellent, and the lack of Vita-exclusive sidequests means we'll probably never see a Zero release with those quests in them officially in the west, which is by no means awful, more slightly disappointing.

In conclusion, 0/10, not enough Olivier.

In short, it's a direct sequel to Trails in the Sky trilogy. I don't think there is any reason to play this game before the Sky games since the game mechanics and visuals are of quite similar. There is a major subplot and a ton of references that rely on knowing the events that transpired in the Sky games.

That being said, if you have played the Sky games you should already know what to expect as far as game mechanics, level of worldbuilding, storytelling, etc. A good chunk of the game feels like an introduction to the new setting and characters. However, there are a ton of parallel plot threads moving along which need knowledge of the Sky games for full context (especially Sky the Third).

You finally get a conclusion for Renne's character arc: her full backstory and how she ended up in the situation we saw in Star Door 15. In a way, half of the goal of Zero felt like it was dedicated for this purpose. I thought that was merited after the bombshell that was Star Door 15 and it was satisfying seeing how things unraveled. The ending actually feels complete to a degree (unlike the major cliffhanger between Sky FC and SC) while leaving open questions that I expect will play a major role in Azure.

The port itself is AMAZINGLY done. There are too many things worth pointing out that it's easier to suggest looking through his technical posts about the state game released over the months prior to release. Then again, I expected no less from Durante based on his track record with ports and even mods he has done in the past.

Overall, although it serves as an introduction in many ways, it's another awesome entry for any Trails fan and I look forward to Azure!

I play RPGs for a looong time, love a good story/background and the immersion it provides and this game does it well, although a bit clichéd. I am also a fan of turn based games, which is a concept that unfortunately seems to be dying with RPGs nowadays and this game also seems to do it well enough (nothing spectacular, though).
Now the main reason I didn't enjoy the game: unfortunately, in my ~6 hours of gameplay I fell asleep at least 3 times and got myself skipping lines after a while (which I hate doing). I'm not sure if the pace of the game speeds up later, but at least the beginning is so freaking slow that I couldn't stand it. After 6 hours I'm still in the starting city doing sub quests and have no idea of what the plot is going to be (a 'special police force' charged for running tasks that the so called Bracer Guild already do?).
This game simply doesn't get my attention enough to keep me interested in what seems to be an endless struggle to advance the plot.

I understand folks apparently love this game and series and I respect that. I can see the love the devs and designers put on this game and I would really like to enjoy it. Maybe I will in the future, I don't know.

Disclaimer: I only played one Trails game on my PSP about 12 years ago and at the time I enjoyed it, although it wasn't particularly remarkable. With that said, I read on the community forums that I didn't need to play the previous games to get a grasp of what was going on and literally everybody had only high praises for this one.

Zero focuses exclusively on Crossbell, instead of having you explore most of a country like the other Trails games, and the trade-off is that there's less actual places in exchange for probably the most attentively curated setting in the series. In particular, the game loves to explore how Crossbell has experienced both a mix of prosperity and loss of culture from the proxy war attempts of the two political powers the state is sandwiched inbetween.
The Orbment system from Sky returns, and combat has taken a snappier, fast paced approach where you want your party to deal with enemies pretty quick, in line with the feeling of being a police unit. The only issues I take with the tweaks going on from 3rd are the reworked Advantage system requiring you to hit enemies, and escaping battles being a dice roll (which stuck moving forward). Sky's 100% flee chance was ahead of the curve in terms of QoL, needing an item/quartz to do that feels redundant.
The actual port changes are pretty handy. There's a handful of hiccups here and there where some Japanese wasn't scrubbed away, but it's nothing outrageous. Having a speed up button for an older JRPG is always nice. A few bugs and softlocky scenarios in the original game are patched out. Not having an English dub is understandable even if it's a letdown, but the Japanese dub is still good. Being able to play the game nearly completely with the mouse, like the Sky trilogy, is incredibly convenient. The strand of Talking Chest Disease spread from Liberl to this game too.

oh also theres this orange cat named marie who uses antoines sprite but in hd theres antoine in hd pelase release an antoine standalone game falcom

Let me start by saying that i have played every single Trails game released in the west to date. The Sky series was one of the best games i ever played in my life and i cherish those games.

Then i played CS and liked them until the end of CS2 when things got kinda stupid with the whole "Lol, they didn't REALLY die!" bullcrap. I pushed myself through CS3 and CS4 because i was invested in the story and the characters, even if i hated just how formulaic the storytelling and game structure had become. The ending of CS4 left a VERY bad taste in my mouth, even with the good ending where Rean doesn't die at the end because none of the antagonists learned from their mistakes or even suffered any consequences for their actions. CS4 had turned into a soup opera.

Fast forward to this game. Now i know that it's not a problem for a lot if not most people, but there is no English dub for this game. There was English dub for all the other games but this one gets the shaft for some reason. I realize that it's a personal thing but without understanding what they are saying, i actually found their Japanese voice lines very irritating. I had been hearing that this is "The best one in the entire series." But i'm already starting to see some of the same problematic writing in this games story. Couple this with some baffling design choices for some things and the no English dub and knowing where the story ends up ultimately at the end of CS and i just can't enjoy this game anymore.

TLDR:
People, just because a game is in the same series of some other games you enjoyed, don't assume it'll be for you. Do your research before you spend way too much money on it.

Amazing! If you're a Trails fan it's a must and long awaited play! If you're not a Trails fan, you should be!

I waited 6 years for the English Release of this game and it did not let me down. I spent all of my free time completing the game since release. Combat is an upgrade from Sky but keeps all the core elements that make the game fun. The characters are amazing, and it is easy to connect with their stories and personalities.

Yet another masterfully crafted tale in the saga. Nihon Falcom worldbuilding is second to none. The way all the games and characters complement each other never fails to amaze me.

Excellent continuation of the Trails of series. Game builds so well on existing stories. The new cast members are all great and its fun learning about them and the city of Crossbell.

Amazing port, probably one of the best i've seen in terms of QoL and added/ restored features, as expected of Durante and his team. So far it's living up to the hype and seems to be on a similar level to the excellent Trails in the Sky trilogy. Play those games first if you haven't yet!

Fantastic story and gameplay, can't wait until Azure gets released! My personal favorite so far tied with Sky SC.

Finally on Steam! An awesome, awesome game. And Durante has done a terrific job with this by bringing together the best bits from various platforms.

The only minus in my book is that I'd hoped for an english dub.

One of the best soundtracks in all of gaming, and one of the best games in the series. There were some unfortunate changes to the Geofront script (replacing a certain controversial line that upset the most annoying jerks in the fandom with a long and convoluted paragraph was definitely not a bruh moment), but the improvements in visual quality are very noticeable and the ability to modify saves from the Geofront version to be compatible with the official release was a very nice surprise. I didn't think Crossbell would ever get official Western releases. I'm very glad I was wrong.

This is my 2nd favorite Trails game (only behind Azure, the direct sequel and my 2nd favorite game of all time behind Persona 4 Golden.) For context I played both games with the Geofront patch before they came to Steam.

It has my favorite cast of characters; Lloyd is my favorite main character in any game I've played, Tio is one of my favorite characters in anything period, every character has an insane amount of personal growth (as is tradition for a Trails game)

If you played through Cold Steel before playing these games, a lot of staple mechanics in those games started in these two. Field attacks and battle advantages? Cooking with characters? Master Quartz (in Azure)? To an extent even character bonding, all started in Zero and Azure. These are also the last two game that use the (arguably) more fun line-based Arts system compared to the ones just tied to the quartz itself in Cold Steel.

Outside of the game itself, the team that worked on the game did a great job adding so many extra features and even things I didn't think were possible. Graphical improvements, native controller recognition, message log, BGM information, even an option to make encounters only trigger if your leader hits the enemy so your giant snake trail doesn't proc an enemy advantage while running away, and of course, the chest messages.

Overall, these two games are some of my favorites of all time, and I'd gladly recommend this series to anyone.

after all these years
we can finally get what happened at the other end
freed from localization hell and get to see what sky the 3rd expands upon
its nice

bought this for a replay in the future, I love the crossbell arc and the SSS

I LOVE INEVITABLE STRUGGLE

Already played this game before, bought this to leave a review. An absolute classic and a must play for JRPG fans