I played this in my own time. While the gameplay isn't as good as the Cold Steel games I played before this, the story really drew me in with an amazing main cast of characters and the actual plot feeling very well done as well. The soundtrack might be one of the best out there as well. It also makes me excited for the sequel as well.
Its very good.
While I've been generally positive about the previous Trails games, they were typically a mix between good and bad aspects that averaged out on the positive side. Zero manages to break from the crowd with its consistent level of quality across all the entire experience. I think this is the first Trails game I can recommend without any hesitation (though I would still advise playing the Sky games first thanks to the context they offer).
Combat and gameplay, while still largely the same as previous games, has enough improvements that it feels noticeably better. Balance to enemy health and damage numbers make the fights much more engaging and limited the number of encounters that felt tedious or boring to get through. Meanwhile changes to how orbments and arts are composed gave a much greater variety and complexity to the builds which was further emphasized by the smaller cast of main characters encouraging depth and complexity unlike the huge ensembles of prior titles.
As for the story, I'm largely positive. Crossbell feels much more cohesive, more believable, and more interesting than anything Liberl offered. And while its hard to judge much of the content here since a lot of it seems to be setup for the sequel, I think Zero did a pretty good job of giving us the backdrop for its events while still showing meaningful progress in the world rather than leaving the resolution of events entirely to the next game to wrap up.
Considering how much of this game is supposed to be setting the stage for Azure, I'm very excited to play it. And while Azure's quality doesn't directly influence whether Zero is a good game or not it does mean I'm willing to overlook some of its weaker points since many of them seem to be planting the seeds for future plot points to take advantage of.
So overall, I really liked Zero. Even after spending nearly 200 hours playing the previous three Trails games this still managed to feel fresh and engaging. Definitely worth giving it a shot.
While I've been generally positive about the previous Trails games, they were typically a mix between good and bad aspects that averaged out on the positive side. Zero manages to break from the crowd with its consistent level of quality across all the entire experience. I think this is the first Trails game I can recommend without any hesitation (though I would still advise playing the Sky games first thanks to the context they offer).
Combat and gameplay, while still largely the same as previous games, has enough improvements that it feels noticeably better. Balance to enemy health and damage numbers make the fights much more engaging and limited the number of encounters that felt tedious or boring to get through. Meanwhile changes to how orbments and arts are composed gave a much greater variety and complexity to the builds which was further emphasized by the smaller cast of main characters encouraging depth and complexity unlike the huge ensembles of prior titles.
As for the story, I'm largely positive. Crossbell feels much more cohesive, more believable, and more interesting than anything Liberl offered. And while its hard to judge much of the content here since a lot of it seems to be setup for the sequel, I think Zero did a pretty good job of giving us the backdrop for its events while still showing meaningful progress in the world rather than leaving the resolution of events entirely to the next game to wrap up.
Considering how much of this game is supposed to be setting the stage for Azure, I'm very excited to play it. And while Azure's quality doesn't directly influence whether Zero is a good game or not it does mean I'm willing to overlook some of its weaker points since many of them seem to be planting the seeds for future plot points to take advantage of.
So overall, I really liked Zero. Even after spending nearly 200 hours playing the previous three Trails games this still managed to feel fresh and engaging. Definitely worth giving it a shot.
A grand story about facing impossible odds from absolute rock bottom, the city of Crossbell is twisted and yet these good people keep pushing forward to forge a new path of what is right. Seeing the payoffs to previous games and linking it with Sky was really rewarding, and it's a joy to see a new perspective of this giant world that still has more to show.
We got friggin CARS
We got friggin CARS
Coming off of Sky I was very worried about a whole new cast in a whole new setting but by the end I was completely invested. SSS and Crossbell had a very strong introduction. The way they all complement each other in combat and in dialogue was perfect.
We also got the conclusion of Sky's last remaining plot line with the Bright family which had me tearing up. I finished it in like a week but I'll never forget it.
We also got the conclusion of Sky's last remaining plot line with the Bright family which had me tearing up. I finished it in like a week but I'll never forget it.
Its peak...
Having a smaller main cast compared to the sky trilogy made me get attached way quicker to the characters. The writing is just as good as it was before they really don't miss. The liberl stuff was just too good it was so worth the build up. I really appreciate the changes in game design on caves/dungeons, they don't feel as linear as they used too. Please don't start the trails series with this game, you'll get more from the story if you start with FC. Overall a great game with a good cast, still miss Oliver tho.
Having a smaller main cast compared to the sky trilogy made me get attached way quicker to the characters. The writing is just as good as it was before they really don't miss. The liberl stuff was just too good it was so worth the build up. I really appreciate the changes in game design on caves/dungeons, they don't feel as linear as they used too. Please don't start the trails series with this game, you'll get more from the story if you start with FC. Overall a great game with a good cast, still miss Oliver tho.
The wait to get over the language barrier was worth it.
Sky the 3rd is my favorite Trails game from a narrative point and it's only matched by the Crossbell duology, with a tight cast, unexpected moments and an incredible soundtrack.
Sky the 3rd is my favorite Trails game from a narrative point and it's only matched by the Crossbell duology, with a tight cast, unexpected moments and an incredible soundtrack.
Renne
On it's own this game is decent, the gameplay is kind of mediocre and the story takes a bit of time to pick up. It benefits from providing payoff to a sky arc early on and only being enhanced by it's sequel. Ultimately it's mostly setting up for Azure but the story it presents is still good. Peak goated raw fire.
Hello based department? I'd like to order a claim.....
Anyways the Crossbell arc makes a damn good first impression with Zero. I was worried since I adored the Sky cast and was sad to leave them, but while it took a bit the SSS did eventually win me over. I will say the prologue and first chapter are kind of nothing burgers, in both character and narrative. The game starts to pick up in chapter 2 and goes full steam chapter 3 onward.
I love the SSS's group dynamic, I think the bracer squad takes them in terms of individual characters, but as a group unit I for sure like the SSS more. I love the found family thing they have going on and their personalities bounce off one another really well. Their status as underdogs in society makes them easy to root for, and there general wanting to do good attitude makes you want to see them succeed. The city of Crossbell is one of the more well fleshed out locations I've seen in any video game. Everything in and around this city exists for a reason, every person has a reason to be there and be prideful, it's constantly evolving as the story goes on and the SSS find out more about it.
On the gameplay end Zero adds a few new things, the first being able to attack enemies from the overworld. It's neat it's nice getting a full turn before the enemy can act, and I like that I don't have to worry as much about positioning anymore. Team bursting is alright it can be helpful or agitating sometimes though it's not nearly as annoying 3rd's statuses. I know Combo crafts started here but they're such a non factor in this game compared to Azure since only Lloyd can use them, I'd rather just talk about them in the Azure review. Assists are pretty sick but I found myself only really using a select few since others were nearly useless. This was also the start of bonding events, uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugh, actually they're fine here. There's only 3 routes so they're all pretty doable and it's not like crucial character development is locked behind them haha... (foreshadowing).
Overall like Sky FC before it, Zero has a bit of a slow start but I'd say getting through that is totally worth it.
Anyways the Crossbell arc makes a damn good first impression with Zero. I was worried since I adored the Sky cast and was sad to leave them, but while it took a bit the SSS did eventually win me over. I will say the prologue and first chapter are kind of nothing burgers, in both character and narrative. The game starts to pick up in chapter 2 and goes full steam chapter 3 onward.
I love the SSS's group dynamic, I think the bracer squad takes them in terms of individual characters, but as a group unit I for sure like the SSS more. I love the found family thing they have going on and their personalities bounce off one another really well. Their status as underdogs in society makes them easy to root for, and there general wanting to do good attitude makes you want to see them succeed. The city of Crossbell is one of the more well fleshed out locations I've seen in any video game. Everything in and around this city exists for a reason, every person has a reason to be there and be prideful, it's constantly evolving as the story goes on and the SSS find out more about it.
On the gameplay end Zero adds a few new things, the first being able to attack enemies from the overworld. It's neat it's nice getting a full turn before the enemy can act, and I like that I don't have to worry as much about positioning anymore. Team bursting is alright it can be helpful or agitating sometimes though it's not nearly as annoying 3rd's statuses. I know Combo crafts started here but they're such a non factor in this game compared to Azure since only Lloyd can use them, I'd rather just talk about them in the Azure review. Assists are pretty sick but I found myself only really using a select few since others were nearly useless. This was also the start of bonding events, uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugh, actually they're fine here. There's only 3 routes so they're all pretty doable and it's not like crucial character development is locked behind them haha... (foreshadowing).
Overall like Sky FC before it, Zero has a bit of a slow start but I'd say getting through that is totally worth it.
Representative of two games for convenience. This part of the arc has a great police procedural before it enters the main meat of the conflict, but it starts to tread into the annoying anime tropes.
Had the biggest grin every second I was playing
My first experience with The Legend of Heroes series and damn, what a game.
If you're looking for a fresh JRPG with some of the best writing, this is what you want. Literally every NPC has thought-out dialogue that changes throughout the game, making the world that much believable. No more ignoring every person because they blabber on about nonsense. I made an effort to talk to everyone to make sure I didn't miss a thing.
I also think this has some of the best character development in JRPGs when it comes to the party. Learning about small details of the crew and seeing them bloom and grow in a playthrough made seeing their individual growths and journeys that much more impactful. I'm also finding it hard to pick a favorite character as I've grown to love them all.
As for the story, obviously can't say much, but starting as a lil rag-tag group of people helping around the small town to evolving into the final moments in the game is batshit crazy.
Anyways, go play this. It's far worth the sixty hours-ish. I promise 😘
If you're looking for a fresh JRPG with some of the best writing, this is what you want. Literally every NPC has thought-out dialogue that changes throughout the game, making the world that much believable. No more ignoring every person because they blabber on about nonsense. I made an effort to talk to everyone to make sure I didn't miss a thing.
I also think this has some of the best character development in JRPGs when it comes to the party. Learning about small details of the crew and seeing them bloom and grow in a playthrough made seeing their individual growths and journeys that much more impactful. I'm also finding it hard to pick a favorite character as I've grown to love them all.
As for the story, obviously can't say much, but starting as a lil rag-tag group of people helping around the small town to evolving into the final moments in the game is batshit crazy.
Anyways, go play this. It's far worth the sixty hours-ish. I promise 😘
Glory to the Autonomous State of Crossbell yessir
boutta go take a shit ton of percs and other narcotics now
Loved how intimate Crossbell was and loved the tightknit characters
This review contains spoilers
three and a half corny speeches out of five
it's trails. a weird series whose style and philosophy of character and plot writing fundamentally disagrees with me, a series so frequently unbearably dorky that i find myself rolling my eyes playing it so often that some day i think i'll sprain an eye muscle and go blind. are eye muscles a thing? can you sprain them? that's no doubt one of the unsolved mysteries of the universe. no, no, stop googling it; i'm on a personal quest to find out!
because i also can't stop playing these frigging games. despite my seething but ice cold hatred for the cold steel sub-series, i've played 1-3 from beginning to end, and i've restarted 4 multiple times--that's like, a 400-hour-old baby's worth of gaming hours! a big, fat, ugly baby, who just can't decide what it wants. i've also played the first two sky games multiple times, despite finding the main duo pretty annoying (i have nothing bad to say about sky the 3rd--that boy good). they are such a unique beast in the world of japanese rpgs that i very well can't just ignore them, can't not play them, and if that means i'll have to occasionally rant about them and my issues with them online, to a no doubt thoroughly captivated audience...
whhops, doing it again. moving on!
i was excited to finally jump into the officially localized crossbell games, as i've played them before with the (very rough) fan translations and found myself having a genuinely really good time--they are, as far as i'm concerned, easily peak trails, both in the good ways and in the... no, actually, peak trails in just the good ways.
the central cast is nice, tight and balanced. lloyd is a bit of a dweeb, but he gets teased for it adequately, so i can't hate on him too much. the other three are great, with randy probably being the highlight for me--despite his thorougly tired and unfunny womanizing shtick, he gets the best moments in the game in my opinion. the supporting cast is varied and colorful too--there's a lot to love there. but everyone gets plenty of screentime and good scenes and lines and moments.
the plot is.. well, it's good. it's a really slow burn, and in all honesty, i did end up dropping the game for a while after the first couple chapters cause i was just so bored with it. but, in all fairness, i did come in with the wrong expectations--i was just thinking about azure and how exciting that game gets, that i forgot that the first half of the duology is there to lay a TON of groundwork. and it definitely gets more exciting later on! i was actually surprised how self-contained zero really was, i totally remembered there being at least one very end game plot twist to hook you, but it seems i was wrong.
ultimately more or less the only bits i did not care for were any when the sky characters popped up--i frankly do not give a single shit about estelle or joshua or renne. mercifully those were fairly minor in the end. neither was i a huge fan of tio's backstory and how it was handled in the present narrative, but relegating the actually dark (and in this case, very dark) bits of the human existence to the background and then either basically just sweeping that stuff under the rug or even resolving it in the most unsincere, saccharine (relatively) feeling way in the narrative is nothing new to trails and is, in fact, one of my biggest frustrations with the series. heavy flashes of this with randy too, actually. the dude murdering hundreds or thousands of people in the battlefield over the course of 15 years, starting when he was literally four years old (according to him), is handled like it was just a neat bit of added flavor to this character, he's just a cool guy with some secret depths, a bit of darkness to him, but hey, who amongst us isn't like this? you just talk it through and it's all good. very relatable.
the combat is really good, it's fun, it's snappy, it feels good to mess around with the timeline mechanic (i forgot how strong the speed buff and debuff were in this), it offers just the right amount of variety in combat and outside of it to feel like you have plenty of options at your disposal, but without feeling like any mechanic is superfluous or encumbering or just worthless. it's like the sky games but with interesting accessory and quartz itemization, or like the cold steel games without the ridiculous systems and cast bloat.
i have found the official localization to be a bit of a mixed bag, however, to my disappointment. it's fairly breezy and casual most of the time, but on the occasion it pulls out the absolutely clunkiest possible lines that sound like they were just straight up machine-translated, like nothing a real person would ever say, not even tio, the lil' robot girl herself. those really stick out. i hope azure is better on this front. though, in fairness to nisa, this has also seemed like a staple of the series to me, even under xseed, so maybe it's mostly due to the source text.
all in all, i had a really good time thoroughly steeping myself in the slow and meticulous worldbuilding and politics of crossbell, the big and the small side quests, the npcs and their daily lives, the interesting character progression and the engagingly simple but varied combat. i'm more than ready for the shit to hit the fan in azure.
it's trails. a weird series whose style and philosophy of character and plot writing fundamentally disagrees with me, a series so frequently unbearably dorky that i find myself rolling my eyes playing it so often that some day i think i'll sprain an eye muscle and go blind. are eye muscles a thing? can you sprain them? that's no doubt one of the unsolved mysteries of the universe. no, no, stop googling it; i'm on a personal quest to find out!
because i also can't stop playing these frigging games. despite my seething but ice cold hatred for the cold steel sub-series, i've played 1-3 from beginning to end, and i've restarted 4 multiple times--that's like, a 400-hour-old baby's worth of gaming hours! a big, fat, ugly baby, who just can't decide what it wants. i've also played the first two sky games multiple times, despite finding the main duo pretty annoying (i have nothing bad to say about sky the 3rd--that boy good). they are such a unique beast in the world of japanese rpgs that i very well can't just ignore them, can't not play them, and if that means i'll have to occasionally rant about them and my issues with them online, to a no doubt thoroughly captivated audience...
whhops, doing it again. moving on!
i was excited to finally jump into the officially localized crossbell games, as i've played them before with the (very rough) fan translations and found myself having a genuinely really good time--they are, as far as i'm concerned, easily peak trails, both in the good ways and in the... no, actually, peak trails in just the good ways.
the central cast is nice, tight and balanced. lloyd is a bit of a dweeb, but he gets teased for it adequately, so i can't hate on him too much. the other three are great, with randy probably being the highlight for me--despite his thorougly tired and unfunny womanizing shtick, he gets the best moments in the game in my opinion. the supporting cast is varied and colorful too--there's a lot to love there. but everyone gets plenty of screentime and good scenes and lines and moments.
the plot is.. well, it's good. it's a really slow burn, and in all honesty, i did end up dropping the game for a while after the first couple chapters cause i was just so bored with it. but, in all fairness, i did come in with the wrong expectations--i was just thinking about azure and how exciting that game gets, that i forgot that the first half of the duology is there to lay a TON of groundwork. and it definitely gets more exciting later on! i was actually surprised how self-contained zero really was, i totally remembered there being at least one very end game plot twist to hook you, but it seems i was wrong.
ultimately more or less the only bits i did not care for were any when the sky characters popped up--i frankly do not give a single shit about estelle or joshua or renne. mercifully those were fairly minor in the end. neither was i a huge fan of tio's backstory and how it was handled in the present narrative, but relegating the actually dark (and in this case, very dark) bits of the human existence to the background and then either basically just sweeping that stuff under the rug or even resolving it in the most unsincere, saccharine (relatively) feeling way in the narrative is nothing new to trails and is, in fact, one of my biggest frustrations with the series. heavy flashes of this with randy too, actually. the dude murdering hundreds or thousands of people in the battlefield over the course of 15 years, starting when he was literally four years old (according to him), is handled like it was just a neat bit of added flavor to this character, he's just a cool guy with some secret depths, a bit of darkness to him, but hey, who amongst us isn't like this? you just talk it through and it's all good. very relatable.
the combat is really good, it's fun, it's snappy, it feels good to mess around with the timeline mechanic (i forgot how strong the speed buff and debuff were in this), it offers just the right amount of variety in combat and outside of it to feel like you have plenty of options at your disposal, but without feeling like any mechanic is superfluous or encumbering or just worthless. it's like the sky games but with interesting accessory and quartz itemization, or like the cold steel games without the ridiculous systems and cast bloat.
i have found the official localization to be a bit of a mixed bag, however, to my disappointment. it's fairly breezy and casual most of the time, but on the occasion it pulls out the absolutely clunkiest possible lines that sound like they were just straight up machine-translated, like nothing a real person would ever say, not even tio, the lil' robot girl herself. those really stick out. i hope azure is better on this front. though, in fairness to nisa, this has also seemed like a staple of the series to me, even under xseed, so maybe it's mostly due to the source text.
all in all, i had a really good time thoroughly steeping myself in the slow and meticulous worldbuilding and politics of crossbell, the big and the small side quests, the npcs and their daily lives, the interesting character progression and the engagingly simple but varied combat. i'm more than ready for the shit to hit the fan in azure.
this series is so good
this game has a really strong early-mid game, but towards the late game you will get a "oh we're doing this again" feeling. just feels a bit too similar to the late games of sky SC and sky 3rd for my liking. it also drags a bit and doesn't have an extremely satisfying conclusion (except for estelle/joshua/renne which even that felt a bit rushed and anti-climactic)
i love the SSS, the fact that the main cast is so much smaller than in sky/cold steel makes it way easier to get attached as the characters get much needed screen time and development. but admittedly, the supporting cast and antagonists are weaker than in sky and cold steel. the main antagonist, albeit with slightly different ambitions, is just weissmann 2.0 to the very end
this game has a really strong early-mid game, but towards the late game you will get a "oh we're doing this again" feeling. just feels a bit too similar to the late games of sky SC and sky 3rd for my liking. it also drags a bit and doesn't have an extremely satisfying conclusion (except for estelle/joshua/renne which even that felt a bit rushed and anti-climactic)
i love the SSS, the fact that the main cast is so much smaller than in sky/cold steel makes it way easier to get attached as the characters get much needed screen time and development. but admittedly, the supporting cast and antagonists are weaker than in sky and cold steel. the main antagonist, albeit with slightly different ambitions, is just weissmann 2.0 to the very end
The new characters took some time to grow on me, and it felt a bit jarring after the high of the crossbell arc. However, after getting used to the shift it is really fun
Zero is a very good experience. I love the SSS as a group (when overly repetitive jokes aren't ruining the conversation) and this game flows at a decent pace. It's slow from time to time, but what isn't. My faults come with the story and character development. Story isn't a good starter and if your name isn't Tio Plato you aren't getting shit bud. Lloyd tries to gaslight you into thinking he gets real character development, but it's false. All of the character development in Zero more resides in how the SSS gets a lot closer to each other and how they solve each case they need to.
Beat: 5/30/23
Beat: 5/30/23
Zero turned out to be quite mid. SSS squad feels like budget bracers. Lloyd is a hetare Gary Stu protagonist who has the other squad members orbit around him. People will say this game had the advantage of a small group to focus on, but Sky's party members aside from the main duo had ambitions, goals and lives of their own. You can't really say that of Elie, Randy and Tio. Speaking of them, Elie really got shafted, being tacked on as a love interest as if that'd make her a more interesting character.
On the topic of characters, lots of them feel like carbon copies of beloved Trails in the Sky characters, like KeA and Renne, Tita and Tio, Cassius and Arios, Lechter/Randy and Olivier, and so on. With Arios, his backstory is even copied from Cassius's, but not as developed. He certainly does win worst dad of the year award, tho.
Certain tropes get repeated, like dramatically being saved last second when you're about to get owned (happens about 4 or 5 times during the game). At the end, the main questions aren't resolved and you're basically told "lol play the sequel."
Getting on spoiler territory, I didn't vibe at all with the last chapter throwing nothing but brainwashed, mind controlled enemies at you. It's a silly plot device that removes their agency, and is not fun to interact with. It feels low effort. The same plot device is thrown at main antagonist at the last second, as if to absolve their guilt. Where have I seen this before, hmm?
Joshua and Estelle show up again but as supporting characters. It feels pretty odd considering their power level by the end of Sky 3 would be nearly godlike. However, here they're almost like rookie bracers, fading to the backstage. Having them act as small-time helpers by the end of the game cheapens them and your efforts growing them across the first trilogy.
I have to admit, the scenes with Renne and getting to the root of her backstory was fantastic. I just wish they existed in a different scenario.
I completed this on Nightmare and did the "finish the game under level 40" challenge. It was quite fun to challenge myself and try different strats, even ones not even mentioned on top guides (for xp conservation). At the same time, it forced me to not interact with a big portion of the game by not allowing me to engage in optional battles, which is a bit lame.
I'll probably play the sequel. I'm sure there will be good payoff from having played Zero. I just won't jump into it so soon.
On the topic of characters, lots of them feel like carbon copies of beloved Trails in the Sky characters, like KeA and Renne, Tita and Tio, Cassius and Arios, Lechter/Randy and Olivier, and so on. With Arios, his backstory is even copied from Cassius's, but not as developed. He certainly does win worst dad of the year award, tho.
Certain tropes get repeated, like dramatically being saved last second when you're about to get owned (happens about 4 or 5 times during the game). At the end, the main questions aren't resolved and you're basically told "lol play the sequel."
Getting on spoiler territory, I didn't vibe at all with the last chapter throwing nothing but brainwashed, mind controlled enemies at you. It's a silly plot device that removes their agency, and is not fun to interact with. It feels low effort. The same plot device is thrown at main antagonist at the last second, as if to absolve their guilt. Where have I seen this before, hmm?
Joshua and Estelle show up again but as supporting characters. It feels pretty odd considering their power level by the end of Sky 3 would be nearly godlike. However, here they're almost like rookie bracers, fading to the backstage. Having them act as small-time helpers by the end of the game cheapens them and your efforts growing them across the first trilogy.
I have to admit, the scenes with Renne and getting to the root of her backstory was fantastic. I just wish they existed in a different scenario.
I completed this on Nightmare and did the "finish the game under level 40" challenge. It was quite fun to challenge myself and try different strats, even ones not even mentioned on top guides (for xp conservation). At the same time, it forced me to not interact with a big portion of the game by not allowing me to engage in optional battles, which is a bit lame.
I'll probably play the sequel. I'm sure there will be good payoff from having played Zero. I just won't jump into it so soon.
carefree dumb guys are my weakness
It's Trails but with a new cast of characters and now you're playing as police officers instead of bracers.
The police in this game have a sort of friendly rivalry with the bracers. This is a fun way of incorporating characters from previous games without their presence overshadowing the main cast, but it does help point out that classic Trails characters overshadowing the main cast is a potential issue. In the story, the main cast of Trails From Zero don't want to be outdone by Estelle and Joshua. And even though they address that problem narratively, I do think there was a part of the game where Estelle and Joshua being present could potentially overshadow the main cast. I'd prefer that classic characters have a smaller role in a game that's establishing a new cast of characters. Otherwise the new characters never get their moment to shine. Luckily there were many moments in this game that let the new characters shine, but I do think they could have dialed back Estelle and Joshua's involvement for this particular game.
Trails from Zero is only half of a story, so I don't have the full picture on the main cast yet. But I enjoyed the seeing characters' stories so far. I do think that the main cast gets along together too well though. It may have been more interesting to have their friendships develop over the course of the game than have them become friends immediately.
The plot of this game is a bit on the insane side, but I enjoyed it the whole way through. It's neat that this is a JRPG that is initially about policemen taking on the mafia within a crime-infested city. That's not something you see often, so it's enjoyable even just for the novelty. And while the story takes a wild left turn toward the end, I enjoyed the direction the story ultimately took. But there's a part of me that wishes that the story continued to be about the mafia instead of changing course when all the setup for the mafia story had been done.
My biggest issue with Trails From Zero is that the main villain of the game is kind of lame. This is a game with a bunch of interesting and well developed characters, so when the villain was revealed my reaction was "THAT'S who it is??" There's not even anything necessarily wrong with how the character was written. It was just a weird-ass choice to make the character a villain. I think the villain being a character who fits the role better would have made for a more compelling finale.
The combat is Trails combat. I pretty much know the drill by now, but I enjoyed it a lot more this time because there was a built-in speed up function. Granted, the game shouldn't have needed a speed up button to be fun. The biggest flaw with Trails combat is how slow it is and that remains true, because it's actually pretty enjoyable when sped up beyond what was originally intended. I played through most of the game on speed up mode. I feel like this game is easier than the previous ones, but that's probably because I know what I'm doing with the combat system now, as well as the fact that attack animations don't take 2 years to complete when sped up.
The music is good, although Trails in the Sky the 3rd is still the highpoint of Trails music from what I've played. This game takes second place for music. There are some nice non-combat tracks here but some of the combat tracks sound a bit generic or low energy. They delivered on the boss themes though, as they tend to do.
The last thing I'll bring up is that the support requests are a pretty sizable step down from the side stories in Trails in the Sky the 3rd. The support requests can occasionally lead to some amusing scenarios, but I'd much much rather learn more about the extended cast of characters than do a bunch of fetch-quests. But narratively it makes sense for the main characters to do fetch quests, so I ended up completing a good amount anyway.
I like this game. It's my second favorite behind Trails in the Sky the 3rd so far. The story isn't over after beating Trails from Zero so I can't make my full judgement on the Crossbell arc yet. But what I really appreciate about Trails from Zero is that even though it's a new story it still follows up on unresolved plot points from the previous games. And I think for that reason alone it's worth sticking with this series even if not every game ends up being a winner.
The police in this game have a sort of friendly rivalry with the bracers. This is a fun way of incorporating characters from previous games without their presence overshadowing the main cast, but it does help point out that classic Trails characters overshadowing the main cast is a potential issue. In the story, the main cast of Trails From Zero don't want to be outdone by Estelle and Joshua. And even though they address that problem narratively, I do think there was a part of the game where Estelle and Joshua being present could potentially overshadow the main cast. I'd prefer that classic characters have a smaller role in a game that's establishing a new cast of characters. Otherwise the new characters never get their moment to shine. Luckily there were many moments in this game that let the new characters shine, but I do think they could have dialed back Estelle and Joshua's involvement for this particular game.
Trails from Zero is only half of a story, so I don't have the full picture on the main cast yet. But I enjoyed the seeing characters' stories so far. I do think that the main cast gets along together too well though. It may have been more interesting to have their friendships develop over the course of the game than have them become friends immediately.
The plot of this game is a bit on the insane side, but I enjoyed it the whole way through. It's neat that this is a JRPG that is initially about policemen taking on the mafia within a crime-infested city. That's not something you see often, so it's enjoyable even just for the novelty. And while the story takes a wild left turn toward the end, I enjoyed the direction the story ultimately took. But there's a part of me that wishes that the story continued to be about the mafia instead of changing course when all the setup for the mafia story had been done.
My biggest issue with Trails From Zero is that the main villain of the game is kind of lame. This is a game with a bunch of interesting and well developed characters, so when the villain was revealed my reaction was "THAT'S who it is??" There's not even anything necessarily wrong with how the character was written. It was just a weird-ass choice to make the character a villain. I think the villain being a character who fits the role better would have made for a more compelling finale.
The combat is Trails combat. I pretty much know the drill by now, but I enjoyed it a lot more this time because there was a built-in speed up function. Granted, the game shouldn't have needed a speed up button to be fun. The biggest flaw with Trails combat is how slow it is and that remains true, because it's actually pretty enjoyable when sped up beyond what was originally intended. I played through most of the game on speed up mode. I feel like this game is easier than the previous ones, but that's probably because I know what I'm doing with the combat system now, as well as the fact that attack animations don't take 2 years to complete when sped up.
The music is good, although Trails in the Sky the 3rd is still the highpoint of Trails music from what I've played. This game takes second place for music. There are some nice non-combat tracks here but some of the combat tracks sound a bit generic or low energy. They delivered on the boss themes though, as they tend to do.
The last thing I'll bring up is that the support requests are a pretty sizable step down from the side stories in Trails in the Sky the 3rd. The support requests can occasionally lead to some amusing scenarios, but I'd much much rather learn more about the extended cast of characters than do a bunch of fetch-quests. But narratively it makes sense for the main characters to do fetch quests, so I ended up completing a good amount anyway.
I like this game. It's my second favorite behind Trails in the Sky the 3rd so far. The story isn't over after beating Trails from Zero so I can't make my full judgement on the Crossbell arc yet. But what I really appreciate about Trails from Zero is that even though it's a new story it still follows up on unresolved plot points from the previous games. And I think for that reason alone it's worth sticking with this series even if not every game ends up being a winner.
This review contains spoilers
Hoo boy. Easily my favorite Trails game yet. I loved the characters of the Sky trilogy but damn something about the Special Support Section really just hit for me. The characters are great and everything feels a bit more tailored to them perhaps because they're the only main characters to play as, so there's no half-assing a bunch of different combinations of dialogue lines. Crossbell itself is a great setting. Liberl is cool and really does a good job of nailing the "JRPG adventure" feeling, but getting to know Crossbell and the people who live there for the entirety of the game reminded me a bit of Persona 4 Golden with Inaba. It helps that the SSS is varied in their backgrounds (with only two of the four even being from Crossbell) so there's always a different take on a situation or place. I also like how Crossbell is a front runner for showing us how technology is advancing in Zemuria, with cellphone capabilities, cars, and even a very local (for now) internet.
The combat is slightly improved with the ability to hit enemies in the overworld in an attempt to daze them and get a maximum advantage or even just bump into them from behind for a slight advantage. Other games have done this before and many have done it since, but it's still a welcome addition. We also have "Team Rush" now which is basically an all-out attack from Persona except you actually get to see them attack the enemy instead of just silhouettes or a dust cloud. Besides these new additions and the new orbments (always a new orbment. The Epstein Foundation never stops making money by coming out with a new model, I swear), the combat is essentially the same. Not bad, not amazing, just there.
The music is fantastic, my god. I don't get how they keep just making better and better tracks but I guess I shouldn't be surprised. It IS Falcom after all, one of the biggest names in pushing the boundaries of video game OSTs. On top of this, we finally have game settings INSIDE of the game and not in a launcher. It shows that this is the latest game to be released (being a remaster and western localization) with both this small mercy as well as some fantastic looking visuals on any size display.
I loved this story, it was great. It definitely benefited from the fan localization team, Geofront, working on this game in my opinion. Joshua and Estelle came back, doing their own thing on the side to find Renne, which I loved. But I didn't love the game because they were back (with new snazzy art); they were just the icing on top. The SSS and the lower stakes story (until the end maybe) really got me. I'm always a sucker for street level stuff and I ate all of it up here. Some twists were expected but some actually got me. The Japanese voice acting being retained for this release was also a plus. I obviously don't understand any of it, but I get the feeling for who people are and how they feel and that's just as important (when I have the English text to know what's going on too of course).
This game made me want to jump straight into Trails into Azure just a couple of hours after rolling credits, and I don't even regret it. It's gonna be tight though, finishing it before Persona 3 Reload in February. No regrets. I can't end with the open-ended questions now. I must finish this duology so that when I come back, I can jump right into Trails of Cold Steel.
The combat is slightly improved with the ability to hit enemies in the overworld in an attempt to daze them and get a maximum advantage or even just bump into them from behind for a slight advantage. Other games have done this before and many have done it since, but it's still a welcome addition. We also have "Team Rush" now which is basically an all-out attack from Persona except you actually get to see them attack the enemy instead of just silhouettes or a dust cloud. Besides these new additions and the new orbments (always a new orbment. The Epstein Foundation never stops making money by coming out with a new model, I swear), the combat is essentially the same. Not bad, not amazing, just there.
The music is fantastic, my god. I don't get how they keep just making better and better tracks but I guess I shouldn't be surprised. It IS Falcom after all, one of the biggest names in pushing the boundaries of video game OSTs. On top of this, we finally have game settings INSIDE of the game and not in a launcher. It shows that this is the latest game to be released (being a remaster and western localization) with both this small mercy as well as some fantastic looking visuals on any size display.
I loved this story, it was great. It definitely benefited from the fan localization team, Geofront, working on this game in my opinion. Joshua and Estelle came back, doing their own thing on the side to find Renne, which I loved. But I didn't love the game because they were back (with new snazzy art); they were just the icing on top. The SSS and the lower stakes story (until the end maybe) really got me. I'm always a sucker for street level stuff and I ate all of it up here. Some twists were expected but some actually got me. The Japanese voice acting being retained for this release was also a plus. I obviously don't understand any of it, but I get the feeling for who people are and how they feel and that's just as important (when I have the English text to know what's going on too of course).
This game made me want to jump straight into Trails into Azure just a couple of hours after rolling credits, and I don't even regret it. It's gonna be tight though, finishing it before Persona 3 Reload in February. No regrets. I can't end with the open-ended questions now. I must finish this duology so that when I come back, I can jump right into Trails of Cold Steel.
Crossbell is one of the most vibrant and immersive feeling cities in video games. The characters are great, and it sets up amazingly for Azure.
The Crossbell duology might be the strongest part of the entire Trails series so far - the characters are interesting, and have personalities beyond anime tropes, and the Sky-style combat is improved even farther. As was true in the Sky series, Zero starts out focusing on realism / political conflict, before introducing some more mystical elements towards the end (setting up Azure). Like most of the games in this series, there are some frustrations where a lot is missable if you don't know where and when to look for it and/or use a guide, but whether or not you try and see all the content, the game is fantastic to play.
Lloyd Bannings in Germany on November 9th, 1989 be like: "Looks like I have a job to do" (he's helping people to break a barrier)
I'm so surprised how great this was man. For an introductory type game, this was so well done.
I love the SSS alotttt bro, if zero was this GOOD then the sky is the limit for azure and i cant wait.
I love the SSS alotttt bro, if zero was this GOOD then the sky is the limit for azure and i cant wait.
Ao/Azure
The Legends of Heroes: Trails to Zero: Zero x Zero
Honestly, how the fuck do they keep getting away with it? God damn it's a straight Zero all the way through! Well, we've finally advanced to a new point in time. A new era has begun, and we're here to understand! It is important to note that this is the first time Falcom has used "to" something in their titles. Trails in the Sky was about being IN something, implying that the characters were already INvolved in the story around them. This time, the story is Trails TO Zero, Where are we going TO? Well why don't we find out?
Trails from Zero (henceforth referred to by its review score) is a Strategy RPG by Japan Falcom, with a very sexy PC port created by deliciously juicy dedicated fans. After nine agonizingly long years of fan effort, 0 is playable in non-Eleven thanks to the Geofront. How exactly does the underground base from Evangelion translate a video game? With great justice, take off every zig.
0 is the 4th (3rd canon) game in the long running Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu no Zelda series, and is the Swirl of Akasha (origin/root point) of the franchise. With all new graphics, characters, buildings, character models, strippers, and battle mechanics, 0 is an EVOlution of the currently existing Trails Of formula, and it does a great job of perfecting it. Although the characters, world, story, and music is all new, it all feels very familiar and instantly memorable, harkening to days of old when video games were still on discs, Girls were still attainable by the average Lloyd, and Shark Tail hadn't covered Car Wash.
Moving away from the country of Liberal to the vibrant city of Crossbell, 0 moves away from the generic and boring setting of the first game to something as equally generic and boring, but with POLITICS. Those worried about the presence of politics need not be worried, as the politics are superficial and not at all important in the slightest, this isn't Gundam (yet). Now, all great creators copy, there's no shame in that. And here in 0, there is a load of copying from much larger and successful franchises. Copying from Persona 5 for instance, there's gangs, garages, shopping malls, jazz clubs, and even a secret underground network connecting the entire city together. There's even monsters you fight inside of it! And the music is fantastic, just like in Persona 5 as well. Truly, Persona has a large influence on Falcon's business plan and 0 is not afraid to wear it's heart on its sleeve (which will be taken henceforth by the phantom thieves!). There's even a goddamn mafia, just like in Makoto's arc in Persona 5! Falcom really did allow Atlus to go hog wild on them, but it ends up working out for both of them. Atlus gets to keep a rabid fanbase of seething monkeys, while the Kiseki fandom... what kiseki fandom?
The battle system is near unchanged. You slot Djinn into slots and become more powerful, somehow wielding the most powerful of elements with just a tiny crystal, must be inspired by Crash Bandicoot. Taking place on a gridded surface, Fire Emblem meets Persona in this fantastic rendition of JRPG Combat. You have access to ARts and Crafts, which allow you to make all sorts of cool things to show your mom, especially if you get two Water sepiths and unlock Ice, that'll be really cool indeed. One of the biggest Persona influences is the existence of tag-team and crossover attacks. Your whole party beats the living crap out of whatever you're attacking, and you get some sick bonuses for doing so. You also have more personal combo attacks that look cool but are ultimately kinda weak. The rest of the combat revolves around Lloyd using Tiger Charge and Randy spamming his Craft Dinner with his Red button attack, which he can charge just by getting very mad, like our pal Quartze from the last game. It's honestly a pretty decent combat system, even if a bit simplistic. You can even inflict elements! and there are plenty of goofy looking monsters to fight as well, so make sure you fight them all!
Characters
The characters in Falcon games are so memorable they're often hard to forget.
Our protagonist is named Lloyid Irving, a rookie cop and recent hire at the Crossbell Police Department. As one of the founding members of the Smile Support Section (Bracer's Guild 2.0), Lloyd is a fresh and interesting take on what it means to have a mecha pilot as your protagonist, without any mecha. His mecha is the bonds he forms with his friends, and together they Gattai into a Sentai-Rider of Sugoi-desune incredible power!. Armed with dual swo- tonfa's, his obsession with crossing bridges and overcoming barriers makes him very grounded, as well as his obsession with a dead brother. As most of us have dead brothers, they just died and were absorbed by us in our mother's womb. It takes guts (and your brothers) to have a goal like that. He's not quite as nuanced as Estelle from the prior game or as BASED as Kevin from 3rd, but he's decent enough that the rest of the cast builds up on him.
Elie McDonalds is the game's token romance interest, and god damn is she pretty. She's basically every single refined lady trope pushed into a single character, complete with the non existent character development that only becomes worse and worse as the game goes on. I'll be honest, Elie isn't the most interesting character of the bunch, but she does have some nice assets, and an even bigger pair of titties. Her Holy Bullet ability turns the entire party undead for a split second, and she then shoots them, restoring their HP. This is the best healing skill in the game, and will be used over and over. Much like plain white panties, she is quite plain but there is elegance and beauty in even the whitest pairs of undergarments, especially when wet.
Tio Puto is unfortunately not a reference to the old Greek man Plato's allegory of the cave, a story of which men who live in caves are tricked by shadows into believing everything is real. Unlike those shadows and that cat, Tio is very real or at least, as real as a fictional manga character can be. Stemming from the cave, she has a dark past (like the shadows) and relies on the others to feel emotions. She's a precious cinnamon roll from Skyrim to be loved and cherished, not sold to a group of nobles and turned into a..... real life dakimakura, that's just no good! As the token Cuumdere of the game, Tio is one of those "tsunberry" characters that takes a while to grow on you, you take the first bite and it's bitter and gross but turns into something with a sweet smell later on. As the game's primary magic caster, she's very powerful and is capable of sending the enemy Around Noah many times over.
Randolphin Orlandeau is the game's certified chad, womanizer, and sex-haver. His hair is as bright red as his women's bed sheets, and his special button is always ready. Taking many properties from Agate in the prior games, Landy Borlando is a fantastic character and is your certified "bro" of the game. He's such a bro, you really wish he was your bro. He apparently also has a flaming hot sister, we're talking like a god-damned fireball of a lady, oooh baby she's a star, a goddamn Constellation! Randolph's biggest addition to the battle is making everybody blind every turn he has! He has a seemingly endless supply of flash grenades, enough to turn Resident Evil 4's village into a ghost town! He even has an obscure backstory, and characters seem to know him far better than the SSS does, but surely they're just joking. Haha that's our Randy..
I should further mention that the entire game is playable, with voices! Unfortunately, if you lack the information, you may be shit out of luck.. Regardless however, the cast of characters is by far the most balanced of the franchise so far (consisting of two guys and two girls)
Other supporting cast include: Sergei Vodka Burzhememov, the leader of the Crossbell police department. Very cool dude, nice. Wazy Heimlichshpier: a power-top who dresses like a bottom, with cool green hair and a hatred for garage-rock (he also looks really cool, and has strong guilty gear vibes. Testament ftw!!!) France Eeker (pronounced e-care): A cute receptionist at the Crossbell Police Department loved by Noel Seeker: The best ass in crossbell, and a powerful military commander. Not much else to say, other than she's a temporary party member with some quality assets, and an even bigger orbal net. God I wish I could be caught in it, just for a little bit ;_; Yin: Yang's Sister ....and many more to catch and sniff!
As like the prior games in the Tales of, the music is incredible this time around, like you have no idea. Masashi Hamauzu of FF7 Remake fame is believed to have been one of the kings who influenced this fantastic soundtrack, along with Apple Inc.'s Garageband application, Fruity Loops, and 009 Sound System. It is an absolute criminal that Masanori Osaki decided to wipe himself off the face of Zemlya, but if he decided to ascend the astral plane and become one of the many delicious jukebox heroes ( stars in the sky), all power to him. Seriously. Takeshita aint got shit on this guy, holy Bruh moments. Standout tracks include Inevitable Struggle, Terminal Room (catjam.gif), To Those Who Fight Further Beyond the Barrier, and Silver Will.
Perhaps the best part of the entire game is Crossbell City itself. The city acts as your main hub of operations, and much like the roads in Gran Soren, all roads lead to Crossbell. The City is very clearly an idealized version of Hong Kong, where it is conquered by the British (Erebonians) from the neighbouring Chinese (Calvard). Life in Crossbell City is very interesting, there's a super fancy department store, a mysterious dark alley full of Moofia Bosses, A totally 100% secure 0-chance-of-ever-being-robbed-honest-to-aidios Bank, and many other places. Even the Geofront, a hidden underground network of tunnels and technology, is a very interesting place. Possibly because it borrows from Evangelion, straight down to the name. There are even monsters inside, which represent that there are monsters beneath us, even at this very moment. It's a very interesting mix of The West and the East without the fucking * ruining everything, god bless the Eastern Roman Empire.
Final Score: 0(1/0/10)/10
The Legends of Heroes: Trails to Zero: Zero x Zero
Honestly, how the fuck do they keep getting away with it? God damn it's a straight Zero all the way through! Well, we've finally advanced to a new point in time. A new era has begun, and we're here to understand! It is important to note that this is the first time Falcom has used "to" something in their titles. Trails in the Sky was about being IN something, implying that the characters were already INvolved in the story around them. This time, the story is Trails TO Zero, Where are we going TO? Well why don't we find out?
Trails from Zero (henceforth referred to by its review score) is a Strategy RPG by Japan Falcom, with a very sexy PC port created by deliciously juicy dedicated fans. After nine agonizingly long years of fan effort, 0 is playable in non-Eleven thanks to the Geofront. How exactly does the underground base from Evangelion translate a video game? With great justice, take off every zig.
0 is the 4th (3rd canon) game in the long running Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu no Zelda series, and is the Swirl of Akasha (origin/root point) of the franchise. With all new graphics, characters, buildings, character models, strippers, and battle mechanics, 0 is an EVOlution of the currently existing Trails Of formula, and it does a great job of perfecting it. Although the characters, world, story, and music is all new, it all feels very familiar and instantly memorable, harkening to days of old when video games were still on discs, Girls were still attainable by the average Lloyd, and Shark Tail hadn't covered Car Wash.
Moving away from the country of Liberal to the vibrant city of Crossbell, 0 moves away from the generic and boring setting of the first game to something as equally generic and boring, but with POLITICS. Those worried about the presence of politics need not be worried, as the politics are superficial and not at all important in the slightest, this isn't Gundam (yet). Now, all great creators copy, there's no shame in that. And here in 0, there is a load of copying from much larger and successful franchises. Copying from Persona 5 for instance, there's gangs, garages, shopping malls, jazz clubs, and even a secret underground network connecting the entire city together. There's even monsters you fight inside of it! And the music is fantastic, just like in Persona 5 as well. Truly, Persona has a large influence on Falcon's business plan and 0 is not afraid to wear it's heart on its sleeve (which will be taken henceforth by the phantom thieves!). There's even a goddamn mafia, just like in Makoto's arc in Persona 5! Falcom really did allow Atlus to go hog wild on them, but it ends up working out for both of them. Atlus gets to keep a rabid fanbase of seething monkeys, while the Kiseki fandom... what kiseki fandom?
The battle system is near unchanged. You slot Djinn into slots and become more powerful, somehow wielding the most powerful of elements with just a tiny crystal, must be inspired by Crash Bandicoot. Taking place on a gridded surface, Fire Emblem meets Persona in this fantastic rendition of JRPG Combat. You have access to ARts and Crafts, which allow you to make all sorts of cool things to show your mom, especially if you get two Water sepiths and unlock Ice, that'll be really cool indeed. One of the biggest Persona influences is the existence of tag-team and crossover attacks. Your whole party beats the living crap out of whatever you're attacking, and you get some sick bonuses for doing so. You also have more personal combo attacks that look cool but are ultimately kinda weak. The rest of the combat revolves around Lloyd using Tiger Charge and Randy spamming his Craft Dinner with his Red button attack, which he can charge just by getting very mad, like our pal Quartze from the last game. It's honestly a pretty decent combat system, even if a bit simplistic. You can even inflict elements! and there are plenty of goofy looking monsters to fight as well, so make sure you fight them all!
Characters
The characters in Falcon games are so memorable they're often hard to forget.
Our protagonist is named Lloyid Irving, a rookie cop and recent hire at the Crossbell Police Department. As one of the founding members of the Smile Support Section (Bracer's Guild 2.0), Lloyd is a fresh and interesting take on what it means to have a mecha pilot as your protagonist, without any mecha. His mecha is the bonds he forms with his friends, and together they Gattai into a Sentai-Rider of Sugoi-desune incredible power!. Armed with dual swo- tonfa's, his obsession with crossing bridges and overcoming barriers makes him very grounded, as well as his obsession with a dead brother. As most of us have dead brothers, they just died and were absorbed by us in our mother's womb. It takes guts (and your brothers) to have a goal like that. He's not quite as nuanced as Estelle from the prior game or as BASED as Kevin from 3rd, but he's decent enough that the rest of the cast builds up on him.
Elie McDonalds is the game's token romance interest, and god damn is she pretty. She's basically every single refined lady trope pushed into a single character, complete with the non existent character development that only becomes worse and worse as the game goes on. I'll be honest, Elie isn't the most interesting character of the bunch, but she does have some nice assets, and an even bigger pair of titties. Her Holy Bullet ability turns the entire party undead for a split second, and she then shoots them, restoring their HP. This is the best healing skill in the game, and will be used over and over. Much like plain white panties, she is quite plain but there is elegance and beauty in even the whitest pairs of undergarments, especially when wet.
Tio Puto is unfortunately not a reference to the old Greek man Plato's allegory of the cave, a story of which men who live in caves are tricked by shadows into believing everything is real. Unlike those shadows and that cat, Tio is very real or at least, as real as a fictional manga character can be. Stemming from the cave, she has a dark past (like the shadows) and relies on the others to feel emotions. She's a precious cinnamon roll from Skyrim to be loved and cherished, not sold to a group of nobles and turned into a..... real life dakimakura, that's just no good! As the token Cuumdere of the game, Tio is one of those "tsunberry" characters that takes a while to grow on you, you take the first bite and it's bitter and gross but turns into something with a sweet smell later on. As the game's primary magic caster, she's very powerful and is capable of sending the enemy Around Noah many times over.
Randolphin Orlandeau is the game's certified chad, womanizer, and sex-haver. His hair is as bright red as his women's bed sheets, and his special button is always ready. Taking many properties from Agate in the prior games, Landy Borlando is a fantastic character and is your certified "bro" of the game. He's such a bro, you really wish he was your bro. He apparently also has a flaming hot sister, we're talking like a god-damned fireball of a lady, oooh baby she's a star, a goddamn Constellation! Randolph's biggest addition to the battle is making everybody blind every turn he has! He has a seemingly endless supply of flash grenades, enough to turn Resident Evil 4's village into a ghost town! He even has an obscure backstory, and characters seem to know him far better than the SSS does, but surely they're just joking. Haha that's our Randy..
I should further mention that the entire game is playable, with voices! Unfortunately, if you lack the information, you may be shit out of luck.. Regardless however, the cast of characters is by far the most balanced of the franchise so far (consisting of two guys and two girls)
Other supporting cast include: Sergei Vodka Burzhememov, the leader of the Crossbell police department. Very cool dude, nice. Wazy Heimlichshpier: a power-top who dresses like a bottom, with cool green hair and a hatred for garage-rock (he also looks really cool, and has strong guilty gear vibes. Testament ftw!!!) France Eeker (pronounced e-care): A cute receptionist at the Crossbell Police Department loved by Noel Seeker: The best ass in crossbell, and a powerful military commander. Not much else to say, other than she's a temporary party member with some quality assets, and an even bigger orbal net. God I wish I could be caught in it, just for a little bit ;_; Yin: Yang's Sister ....and many more to catch and sniff!
As like the prior games in the Tales of, the music is incredible this time around, like you have no idea. Masashi Hamauzu of FF7 Remake fame is believed to have been one of the kings who influenced this fantastic soundtrack, along with Apple Inc.'s Garageband application, Fruity Loops, and 009 Sound System. It is an absolute criminal that Masanori Osaki decided to wipe himself off the face of Zemlya, but if he decided to ascend the astral plane and become one of the many delicious jukebox heroes ( stars in the sky), all power to him. Seriously. Takeshita aint got shit on this guy, holy Bruh moments. Standout tracks include Inevitable Struggle, Terminal Room (catjam.gif), To Those Who Fight Further Beyond the Barrier, and Silver Will.
Perhaps the best part of the entire game is Crossbell City itself. The city acts as your main hub of operations, and much like the roads in Gran Soren, all roads lead to Crossbell. The City is very clearly an idealized version of Hong Kong, where it is conquered by the British (Erebonians) from the neighbouring Chinese (Calvard). Life in Crossbell City is very interesting, there's a super fancy department store, a mysterious dark alley full of Moofia Bosses, A totally 100% secure 0-chance-of-ever-being-robbed-honest-to-aidios Bank, and many other places. Even the Geofront, a hidden underground network of tunnels and technology, is a very interesting place. Possibly because it borrows from Evangelion, straight down to the name. There are even monsters inside, which represent that there are monsters beneath us, even at this very moment. It's a very interesting mix of The West and the East without the fucking * ruining everything, god bless the Eastern Roman Empire.
Final Score: 0(1/0/10)/10
Last well written game of the franchise
As a fan of the sky games this was liberating to say the least.