If you have been following this site, you know that I recently became a huge fan of the Trails series. That being said, there were a lot of games I missed just because I didn’t have the platforms they were on or didn’t live in the region.
While Trails from Zero isn’t a new game by any means, it’s a pivotal one that should absolutely be played and treasured. Sporting a few new upgrades to the original PSP release, let’s take a look at whether this is a game you should play.
*all screenshots are from early game to prevent spoilers
Welcome to Crossbell
We start our journey in Trails from Zero entering the city of Crossbell. A big change from Liberl of the previous games. We get to meet our protagonist, Lloyd and find out we are being recruited to a new and mysterious Special Support Section division for the city’s police.
Crossbell is filled with lively NPCs who will give you quests or fill you in on important details of the story. Through certain events their dialog may change or they will offer something new to your cause. Overall, Crossbell feels big and alive. With events happening throughout the entire city, you can head to each location and find something new practically every story beat. It’s really refreshing as oftentimes an RPG will describe a major city in text but will be only a few buildings when you’re actually there. Crossbell is filled with shops, apartments, entertainment districts, and plenty more.
Though you’ll spend most of your time here, it never really becomes dull or repetitive as it starts to feel like home. You really start to care about Crossbell and get involved personally in the politics of the world around you. It has the strength to remain as a memorable RPG city that is for sure.
We Are The SSS
Not to be confused with the Bracer’s Guild, we are helping to build a new group, the SSS. Alongside Ellie, Randy, and Tio, we joined up in Crossbell to flesh out this new division and help out the police who have been struggling to keep things civil in the underbelly of the town. With rival gangs and mafia on the loose, Lloyd heads up the team to clean up the streets.
We accept requests from civilians across the town. These can range from something simple as finding lost items, to more menacing tasks as eliminating big ole monsters in the sewer areas. Regardless of the tasks, you’ll take them head on.
The majority of requests are optional, though. If you don’t feel like completing these, you do not have to. You can just progress the story as you see fit. You’ll miss out on valuable Mira (money), XP, and increasing your Detective Rank though if you skip them.
Each character you come across in your party adds their own narrative, strengths, weaknesses, and gameplay to the mix. You’ll see full character development with nearly each member and start resonating with their motives. This is something I look for and love in RPGs. Trails from Zero absolutely delivers here.
The story does have a build up, of course, but it picks up fast right after the prologue. There is a deep political adventure surrounding Crossbell and the region/cities around it. Like I mentioned, it takes its time but it all comes together in a deep and engaging way.
Let’s Battle
Combat is turn-based (yay!). You’ll never have a random encounter, but instead, you’ll run up on enemies and give them a whack in the back to stun them. Once they’re stunned, you can start your battle. Alternatively, they can catch you by surprise as well.
You’ll select from standard attacks, arts (magic), or crafts (techniques), to defeat the enemies. Playing previous games in the series does help here in terms of how you navigate upgrading and enhancing your characters but it is also not needed. Tutorials will show you the Quartz and Orbal systems required to beef up all your characters. It’s been a good and rewarding system throughout the series and is prevalent here.
You’ll analyze enemies to discover what they are weak against and start knocking them around. You can even trigger the whole party to pummel your foes if you have a stun advantage at the start. Each enemy is unique and feels different rather than a reskin of Slime A the whole time.
I feel the combat is always pretty fun and even challenging at times as I had to retry a few boss fights in different ways to make sure I really got the edge. You won’t be spamming a single button to get through most battles. I really enjoy that.
Through story events, you’ll have an opportunity to explore different builds, setups, and tactics for your party which adds more depth and options for your experience. There were quite a few times I thought I was going to build Lloyd in a specfic way and ended up tweaking him into several different roles. It’s fun. That’s what matters.
I Can See Clearly Now
The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero that I played came with a slew of upgrades to make the game have a little bit more ease of access. A text log (review conversations), high speed mode, and 4K enhanced textures.
The presentation itself is great. You can definitely tell this was an older Sony PSP game, but, it keeps its charm. It’s not trying to be flashy or reinvent itself. A sharper image with a crazy 120 fps makes it really easy on the eyes. The character models, buildings, and environments all have their own and awesome style.
The upgrades are welcomed for someone like me who loved this style of game but could use a little bit more than what it originally came with.
The Trails Problem
I think the biggest question here is whether you should play Zero without playing the other Trails games first. Nihon Falcom is doing a great job bringing the first few chapters back to life and into existence with Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter (and 2nd coming this month!), but it still remains sort of confusing on if you should play through them all or not.
With my experience, having played the previous ones helped with lore that is already built within the universe but I don’t think it’s necessarily required. Zero does start it’s own arc and playing this and then Azure right after that would get you a great experience in their own rights. But having the knowledge of previous titles definitely enhances the whole thing.
In all honestly, if you’re looking to have a good time playing detective in a fun and lore-rich world, I’d say you could play from here if you’d like.
Case Closed
The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero is a fantastic RPG. A fun story with some really cool connections kept me wanting to play more. Some requests may feel sort of same-sy and it may not be the most appealing to modern RPG enthusiasts, but to me, that is what I liked about it. It feels like an RPG I’d play as a kid and get lost in the world. While the overall tone of the game can be pretty adult and serious at times, it also gives you moments of humor.
If you never had the chance to play this previously, now is the perfect time to do so. Trails from Zero isn’t really an RPG you’d rush through. It’s one you settle in and immerse yourself into. After spending all this time in Crossbell, I am pretty glad I did so myself.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero AND it’s sequel: Trails to Azure are available right now in 4K on Nintendo Switch 2 and Playstation 5.
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