![]() ![]() And now, twelve years and a commendable fan localization (of which I'm glad I checked out years prior) later, The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero finally makes its way West in remastered form. This, in a JRPG full of monsters, magic and McGuffin technology - which again, would only be added to in the series' third story arc - Crossbell itself, as a state built on shaky ground it's quickly revealed, is but the start of why this shorter-spanning Arc should not go unnoticed. One whose narrative themes would get further fleshed out in subsequent games, but at the time cemented developer Nihon Falcom's commitment to making their worlds rich and believable locales. And not just because its opening narrative involves an in-world crime syndicate that has its fingers in pretty much every aspect of Crossbellan society.īut this is why Trails from Zero's premise sparked such an interest to begin with. ![]() ![]() Hence the first of those name-drops: in many ways, it feels more Yakuza-esque in its delivery than any of the other Trails games. Sure, there are villages to hop to and locations that fall outside the borders of the titular city itself, but Trails from Zero is no globe-trotting adventure full of fantasy and wonder. But what makes a game like Trails from Zero - a mid-point in what would be Nihon Falcom's grand, interconnected, narrative masterplan - so interesting is that aforementioned deliberate holding-back. The Liberl Arc prior with three Trails in the Sky releases and the Erebonia Arc succeeding - the original Cold Steel an excellent entry into this vast series so far as fantastic gameplay and storytelling - were more than happy to revert back to genre traditions (and then some). But hey, the Yakuza series has managed to pull it off time after time - going one further and confining most of its expansive storytelling to that of a mere district of a city - so why not? Of course, to say the two games in the Trails sub-series, referred to as the Crossbell Arc, are solely focused on the goings-on of its central city setting alone wouldn't entirely be true. In a genre that so often relishes the opportunity to take players and in-game characters alike on a wild continent-spanning trek to decide against said vastness can seem an unusual prospect. It's often refreshing when an RPG - a JRPG specifically - finds the willingness to restrict its own scope. ![]()
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