The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero

Fantasic rpg however the 100 hour achivement is a pain point i had to leave the game afking for a full day once i finished everything else

As much as this game is good and is able to stand alongside the previous Trails games in terms quality of story and gameplay, the progression of this series strays away from what made the sky trilogy special. To me, the sky games excel because of how they capture so idyllically the atmosphere of being on an adventure to explore the world. Perhaps to its credit, Crossbell feels more cold and clinical compared to the warmth presented in the more rural Liberl. Perhaps the role of police officers causes diversions to feel more transactional; or the pace is hurried along faster without the presence of such an easily befriending character like Estelle. This results in the game lacking what made it stand out compared to other jrpgs; the simplicity of it all. Going forward, it seems as the main goals of this series is to place an emphasis on government and political struggles, which while also unique, is separate from the charm of FC along with SC and 3rd to lesser extents. If the purpose of SC and Azure are to pay off the setup in their prior games, Zero succeeds, but does so with much less charm than FC. Instead, it opts for a more story and plot driven game closer to SC, while also priming the player to the new setting and characters which is not necessarily a bad thing. To its credit, the main characters are all quite fun and interesting, the plot is unique and fresh and the gameplay is improved once more, resulting in this game feeling faster in terms of pacing compared to FC. However, in doing so, it lost what made the sky trilogy special to me.

Trails from zero имеет вайбики первого trails in the sky, когда вся игра это один большой пролог к ещё более глобальной истории в сиквеле. Новые персонажи довольно харизматичные, мне все они понравились, и что удивительно нет чувства повторения с трейлсом при учёте всего многообразия персонажей. Ну и про старых не забыли, закрыли арку Эстель, Джошуа и Ренны из третьего трейлс, и даже развили сюжетку Антона (который вообще сайд перс, про которого кроме меня вообще никто не вспомнил бы) Музыка как и всегда ахуй, уже лежит в спотифае, а вот к дизайну есть вопросоки, особенно к артам персонажей. Если бы я не знал, что игре 16 лет, я бы подумал что это нейронка из-за их какой-то всратости, хз. В скае арты поприятнее были 8/10, большие надежды на Азуру

Thoughts on Trails from Zero Pros: Story good. Characters good. I like how it's in a "smaller" zone than Liberl. Themes in the game are great. The plot near the end of the game ramps up so hard it's actually nailbiting! The story is more engaging than the first 2 sky games. The bosses in the games have cool cinematic S-Crafts. Cons: Character bonds being limited can't finish in one run unless you follow a guide. My issue too much yapping on Day 3 (which is my own problem) [spoiler] Intermission: KeA not being taken to the hospital when she was in a suitcase and has amnesia ASAP (after laying low from Revache) is kinda dumb. You would take anyone to the hospital to get checked on. [/spoiler] There is a lot of anime bs that you have to just accept and move on. eg. [spoiler] Chapter 4 Day 1 stopping the bell resonance by holding on the bell firmly (Randy,Lloyd,Noel) was dumb. I would buy a magic ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ explanation or a staff waving magic than just holding it on. Do they have magic hands??! At the end of the game, it is kinda implied that Guenter left evidence for his involvement and Revache's involvement in the atrocities in Crossbell for Lloyd to find? like wtf[/spoiler] The detective portions of the game where you have to make a choice; some are hit and miss. Some fights where I fight a higher level enemy I get little to no exp? not sure if it's a level gap so I get less. The inconsistency bothers me more tbh. I wish there was a minimap for dungeons in this game. I assume the sequel doesn't have a minimap -_-. Personal Gripe: I hate time limited stuff to get in the game. Eg. getting books by going to a NPC out of the way of a story quest. Maxing bonding hearts in the record does not necessarily mean maxed points. The bonding events in this game are lame where you need multiple playthroughs or save scum to view them all unlike the first two sky games where there are no bonding events. I heard later on that the bonding requirements and viewing events are much more lax in the later games but I hate this trend and rather see everything in one run. [spoiler] I know Trails is an anime game but the trope of a little kid defending her friends and no one stopping the kids even when supervised is dumb. In the final dungeon, there is too much backtracking. Lloyd opening the jail cell for Revache members fits his actions but it's still dumb. The CGF would arrive at some point and would free them and send them to prison. It is insane that Trails in the Sky the Third introduced the cloak quartz but it doesn't exist in this game. So there are constant fights in the final dungeon. What would alleviate this frustration would be a minimap. When they beat Ernest, I would think Lloyd would cuff him at least. Game also goes full anime with Lloyd overcoming the barrier by Guenter with his burning spirit! [/spoiler] Conclusion: I recommend this game despite the large cons because I like the game so much I would nitpick some things but some are pretty valid. I hope this game gets a remake similar to 1st Chapter however keeping the original localization is way better. It sucks that 1st chapter had some things changed for the worse when it was just fine.