The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero Review

12 years after releasing in Japan, The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero finally has an official Western release. There are many who thought this day would never come (myself included) and resorted to looking up the plot online to fill in the blanks of The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV. Thankfully we now get to experience the first part of Lloyd Bannings’ journey, and the second story arc in the series. But was it worth the wait? Is the story just as engaging as the rest of the series, or is Trails from Zero showing its age?

Beginning a few months after the end of The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky the 3rd (although you don’t need to have played this arc before starting Trails from Zero, it’s a great trilogy well worth investing the time into!) you take control of rookie police detective Lloyd Bannings, who’s just joined the newly created Special Support Section. Teaming up with other members of the squad — Ellie, Randy, and Tio — they’ll take on simple missions to help the people of Crossbell in order to improve how the public views the police department. Things like collecting items and slaying monsters to aid the town soon turn to more serious threats, and it’s up to the SSS to uncover the truth behind some shady goings-on in Crossbell. Whilst the opening sections of the game can feel a little too narrative heavy, the overall pacing of the story feels a lot better than other games in the series and quickly becomes yet another engrossing tale set in the Legend of Heroes saga.

The characters are very well-written, thanks in part to only having a small cast of main heroes, allowing each of the four playable party members to be fleshed out and given meaningful backstories and time to develop. They do fall into some clichéd archetypes however, although these certainly aren’t the worst I’ve seen in a game, and each character will definitely grow on you as you continue on this journey with them.

Trails from Zero still looks quite nice for an older game, it’s vibrant and colourful, with the static character images looking especially well done. Playing the PlayStation 4 version, I wasn’t able to see how the upgraded visuals and various quality of life improvements altered the game (these were only added to the PC and Nintendo Switch releases) but this version looks good enough for a port of a 12-year-old PlayStation Portable title. The environments are detailed, making Crossbell City especially feel alive, although character sprites — despite having some good looking animations — can look slightly stretched or out of proportion, with very little difference in height between them.

The music is fantastic, with some familiar themes recognisable to those who’ve played other titles in the series. The voice actors also do a great job; although not every scene is voiced, and there isn’t an English dub which can be a little jarring after already seeing some of these characters pop up in other games fully voiced in English.

During your time taking on missions for the SSS, you’ll travel the relatively small state of Crossbell, spending the majority of your time inside the main city itself. When exploring dungeons or other dangerous areas you can expect to fight countless turn-based battles.

Thankfully then, these battles are a blast to play. Each character has a standard attack, a range of magic attacks known as Arts, and the always flashy looking Craft moves. A rather useful mechanic is the HUD that shows you the turn order of attacks, allowing players to strategise and effectively plan several steps ahead. Arts aren’t instant use attacks, and can take several turns before being cast, using these to potentially bump adversaries lower down the turn order can very quickly turn the tide of battle.

Outside of combat, you’ll be talking to various NPCs and learning more about the fascinating world around you. Many of these characters will provide you with sidequests (although many of them are pointless busywork that offer little substance) should you feel like taking a break from the main quest line. If you’re anything like me, you’ll also spend a considerable amount of time in the menus, altering the party's set-up of Quartz (gems that alter what Arts a character can cast) to see what new attacks can be uncovered. Luckily the menus are slick and easy to navigate, handy for changing things up after a particularly heated battle!

The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero is another great game in the series that’s worth investing your time into its story, as long as you don’t get bogged down with tedious sidequests that very rarely provide a decent pay off. Perhaps avoid the PlayStation 4 version if possible in favour of one of the other, more improved, versions.