For a long time I thought this review would never happen. Originally his 2010 PSP title, Trails from Zero, never left Japan despite much campaigning by Western fans. Demand for Zero only increased after the Trails boom a few years ago when the sequel series Trails of Cold Steel was localized on his PS3, Vita, and later his PS4. Considering Falcom’s long-running The Legend of Heroes franchise features an overarching story that ties all the games together, it’s easy to see why die-hard fans would want to get their hands on every installment.
Thankfully, with NIS America responsible for the publication, Western enthusiasts’ dreams are finally coming true. long Time to get here — yet long It’s been a long road, but Trails from Zero has been worth the wait. This PS4 remaster has some issues, but not enough to distract you from the great Japanese RPG.
Trails from Zero comes from an era when Falcom was still dealing with character sprites and fixed camera angles. If you’re jumping from the aforementioned Cold Steel game (fully 3D) to Zero, you might find the graphics downgrade uncomfortable. But despite its obvious technical limitations, the Zero has an old-school charm that’s hard to ignore. With art direction and expressive character portraits, Falcom is able to deliver an engaging experience.
You play as Lloyd Bannings, a newly certified detective who has returned to Crossbell, the city-state he grew up in. But Lloyd’s goal of becoming a top-class instrument of justice was quickly derailed as it was pushed so subtly into the newly formed experimental police division known as the Special Assistance Section, or SSS for short. .
The story of Trails from Zero is about the rise of this unbranded organization. It soon emerges that the SSS are a ragtag group of newcomers to begin with, at the mercy of Crossbell’s criminals, as rampant corruption in the police department and government threatens to jeopardize the city-state’s already uncertain future. I notice.
As one would expect from Falcom at this point, the game does an amazing job of establishing stakes. The Japanese developer’s world-building talent is undeniable, and Crossbell itself is one of the property’s most memorable settings.
In fact, the entirety of Zero takes place in and around a technologically advanced city.Over the course of this 50-hour adventure, you’ll get to know the streets, shops, and surrounding landmarks like the back of your hand. As is the case with Kamurocho from the Yakuza/Like a Dragon game, Crossbell can pretty much be considered the star of the show.
But, for us at least, it’s the characters that grab attention in Zero. prim and proper Ellie MacDowell, 14-year-old prodigy Tio Plato, and laid-back rogue Randy Orlando. Lloyd himself resembles a classic anime protagonist. He’s righteous, he’s friendly to his mistakes, and he’s definitely a little bland. However, his allies bring out his best qualities as a leader and as an effective detective.
The main cast bounce off each other very well. Compared to those found in Cold Steel games, this is a relatively small party, but it allows each character to have a meaningful say in every story beat. So there’s a subtle nuance to the writing of dialogue that’s probably lost in the cacophony of Cold Steel’s characters.
there is many of dialogue in Trails from Zero. It’s nothing new for Trails titles, of course, but again, if you’re coming from a Cold Steel game, the lack of dynamic camera angles during cutscenes means that a static character has a lot of his sprites. means that you’re just watching it spit out the text of minutes at a time. Especially when police investigations are long-running and away from dungeon exploration and combat.
In fact, boring side quests are probably Zero’s biggest problem. Quests that revisit previously cleared dungeons are also annoying. The purpose of these options starts to feel like padding, but skipping them leads to unique dialogue, additional world-building, and You’ll be missing out on rare gear, thanks to the option to push L2 to speed up gameplay. This makes backtracking much more bearable.
But once you’re immersed in the game’s main story, you’ll forget about side quest frustrations. The plot is a bit of a stop-start in the first few chapters – mostly because the game is so intent on establishing the setting, characters and concepts within the universe – but once the groundwork is laid, it’s really In particular, the final story arc of the title is Barnstormer, which brings it all together for a frantic finale.
Similarly, Zero’s combat system gets better as the game progresses. Turn-based battles start out fairly basic, with Lloyd and the gang only having access to a limited pool of crafts (character-specific abilities) and arts (elemental magic spells), but increasingly rare quartz. (Arts – grant equipment), level up the hero.
Trails combat has a tactical edge, and Zero’s take is no exception. Each craft and art has its own area of effect, and you’ll always have to think about how to get the most out of your attack, whether it’s catching multiple enemies with a single attack or doing the most damage to a boss. Hmm. Also, buffs, debuffs, and status effects should be considered. All of these add a much-needed spice to your system. Otherwise, the enemy will hit you harder than you.
Fights are mostly fun if the enemy presents the right threat. There is satisfaction in beating them in the most efficient way possible. But it’s the boss fights that stand out, especially in the second half, with a more cautious approach and more reliance on all-out supercraft that can be used to even the odds. Attractive, if not.
