Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero

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Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero

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Anyone who has followed my Cold Steel thread knows that I'm a huge fanboy for the Legend of Heroes series. Trails from Zero gets released tomorrow and I am super pumped. It's currently getting great reviews with the biggest oddity being that the Switch version is graphically superior to the PS4 version (This is due to the Switch version being newly ported and the PS4 version being a lazy port of the old Japanese only release). Either way anyone who likes old school JRPGS should check it out. If you've been intimidated by the Legends series size then this is also a good jumping on point as Zero and it's direct sequel, Azure, are stand alone tales within the overall story and you won't be lost if you didn't play the previous games. Zero actually takes place after the Sky series but prior to the Cold Steel series and introduces all new main characters.

Here's a link to the official website https://thelegendofheroes.com/crossbell/ and here's one of many positive reviews https://www.inverse.com/gaming/legend-o ... ero-review
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Re: Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero

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I'm in (on PC so I can watch sportsball while playing). I was looking for a good stand alone.
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Re: Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero

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Hmmmm... maybe I'll try this after my latest Dragon Quest game wraps up. Though I own a couple of the Cold Steel games already. Might be financially smarter to play one of those first. Either way, this is intriguing.
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Re: Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero

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Baroquen wrote: Mon Sep 26, 2022 9:18 pm Hmmmm... maybe I'll try this after my latest Dragon Quest game wraps up. Though I own a couple of the Cold Steel games already. Might be financially smarter to play one of those first. Either way, this is intriguing.
FYI, Zero takes place before Cold Steel. But I don't think it would matter that much which one you play first.

I was really hoping the game would go live this morning so I could download it and play some before work, but as of 7:30 am eastern it still wasn't live on both the Switch and PSN. Hopefully I can get some time in with it later today. After reading some more reviews I'm definitely going with the Switch version.
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Re: Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero

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Steam says it goes live at 12pm Eastern, so hopefully the others follow suite.
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Re: Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero

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Available on Steam for $39.99 as of 10 AM Pacific/1 PM Eastern.

Lol, text is in English but voice acting all Japanese. Suppose it would be great if you were trying to learn the language. It was like 15 minutes before I gained control of my character.
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Re: Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero

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It went live on the Switch at 1 as well. I put in about 2 hours already and I can tell that it is going to be good. It has all the elements of the other Trails games. One thing to remember is that this is a remaster of a PSP game so dont go in expecting incredible graphics. However, this isn't a bad looking game and in fact it looks better on the Switch than I thought it would. It's too early in the game to really comment on anything else.
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Re: Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero

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So just curious - especially since it's probably not my personal preference: Scraper - what in the reviews made you decide to go with the Switch version?
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Re: Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero

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Baroquen wrote: Tue Sep 27, 2022 9:09 pm So just curious - especially since it's probably not my personal preference: Scraper - what in the reviews made you decide to go with the Switch version?
I would have preferred the PS4 version personally because I have played all of the other Trails games on a Sony device. But long story short the Switch and PC version is the superior version of the game due to those versions being developed by a PC Modding Studio. Whereas the PS4 version is just a straight port of the Japanese Playstation version released several years ago.

Here's a link with some more details and some screen shots to show the difference. https://www.rpgsite.net/feature/13212-c ... cated-mess A lot of it comes down to much clearer textures and more defined assets. There are also other quality of life improvements, like the ability to enlarge the font.
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Re: Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero

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Here's a better link with all of the changes between versions

https://themakoreactor.com/features/the ... of%20this.
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Re: Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero

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I've developed a strategy of sorts. After every major battle I go back in the sewers and beat up on weakies until all my characters have full CP points. Then horde them until the next big battle.
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Re: Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero

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Jaymann wrote: Wed Sep 28, 2022 11:55 am I've developed a strategy of sorts. After every major battle I go back in the sewers and beat up on weakies until all my characters have full CP points. Then horde them until the next big battle.
That's a good tip. I'm about 5 hours in now and can leave the city, which also opens up the ability to grind levels and CP. Here are some other tips for those who may not have played another Trails game:

1. The Turbo function is a god send and speeds up the game in a positive way, use it liberally.

2. Always try to enter boss fights with at least 100 CP so you can use your S-Breaks.

3. As for S-Breaks, you can use them any time during a fight and not just during a characters turn, so the best way to use them is to have your character attack and then immediately follow it up with their S Break.

4. Unlock orbament slots as soon as you can and buy orbs to put in them.

5. Don't sell your elemental Sepith, instead use them on the above tip.

6. Once you get the cook book you can memorize recipes by eating prepared food. So don't be afraid to spend money in the restaurants and bakery on prepared food items. In the long run this system will save you a ton of money on healing items, etc.

7. This game, like all Trails games, starts out slow, but give it time I promise the story will continue to build and get really good by the end. Also, talk to as many people as you can, the amount of dialogue in this series is insane and everyone tends to add to the overall story.
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Re: Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero

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4. Unlock orbament slots as soon as you can and buy orbs to put in them.
Can you please elaborate on how to do this and which orbs to use.
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Re: Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero

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Jaymann wrote: Wed Sep 28, 2022 12:24 pm
4. Unlock orbament slots as soon as you can and buy orbs to put in them.
Can you please elaborate on how to do this and which orbs to use.
There's an Orbament store on the right side of the main square. Go in there and talk to the clerks at the counter. From there I usually get orbs that reflect the character's skill set. For instance I got Randy a red orb that raises his Strength and Lloyd an Orb that raises his Defense.
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Re: Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero

Post by Jaymann »

Thanks.

What's the story on those chests I see around town with no way to reach them. Will the story take me to them eventually, or am I missing something.

Also be sure to do the IBC side mission as you get a card that allows you to change Sepith into Mira.
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Re: Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero

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Jaymann wrote: Wed Sep 28, 2022 5:05 pm Thanks.

What's the story on those chests I see around town with no way to reach them. Will the story take me to them eventually, or am I missing something.

Also be sure to do the IBC side mission as you get a card that allows you to change Sepith into Mira.
No idea on the chests yet, i assume you can unlock them later. Also, around 6 hours in or so you get a map to the city and the ability to warp around it, which is nice.

For the life of me I could not find that IBC building, i think because it's owned by a different company in the Cold Steel series so i didn't bother to look up there.
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Re: Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero

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How do you warp around?

IBC is north of the Harbor district.
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Re: Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero

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Scraper wrote: Wed Sep 28, 2022 10:31 am Here's a better link with all of the changes between versions

https://themakoreactor.com/features/the ... of%20this.
That's great. Thanks so much!
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Re: Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero

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Jaymann wrote: Wed Sep 28, 2022 6:15 pm How do you warp around?

IBC is north of the Harbor district.
Theres a part in the game where an NPC gives you a map to the city. Once you get that you can open the city map and select the area and warp to it.
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Re: Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero

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I'm about 9 hours in now, playing a lot of it on Turbo, and the story still hasn't taken off yet. This series is famous for slowly setting the stage and introducing all of the players and then revealing the actual story. This game is no different. Several characters have been introduced but I have a feeling the true antagonist still hasn't appeared.

The dialogue in this game is top notch as well. If you haven't made it to the Hospital yet you are in for a treat when they meet Lloyds "sister". It may be an old school style JRPG but the writers aren't shy about including modern social issues in the dialogue.
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Re: Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero

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I'm at the hospital now, but am doing some level grinding there before going in. I also found out you can feed fish to the cat (once per chapter).
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Re: Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero

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My advice earlier about food recipes was off. This game is slightly different from others in the series in that you get recipes by talking to food vendors rather than by eating their food. If they have a recipe for you they will just give it to you for free. So it's worth it to talk to all of the vendors.

Also, to clarify a little on the magic/sepith system. Each Orb that you slot corresponds to an element. They also allocate elemental points. Having more elemental points on a particular character allows them to cast more powerful spells in that element. So it's a good idea to try and limit a character to 3 elements to maximize their spell power. With that said I still make sure that Lloyd and Randy have the highest bonus to attack orbs that I have available.
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Re: Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero

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I like the orb system and the combat, but am growing increasingly frustrated with the rails. I understand story-rich, but c'mon! Forcing you to scroll through endless dialogue for an hour or more is ridiculous. I watched a whole quarter of football while hitting enter repeatedly. When I finally get control of my character I find a spot to grind exp and sepith until everyone gains a level. Will not be playing any more entries in this series.
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Re: Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero

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Jaymann wrote: Wed Oct 05, 2022 11:10 am I like the orb system and the combat, but am growing increasingly frustrated with the rails. I understand story-rich, but c'mon! Forcing you to scroll through endless dialogue for an hour or more is ridiculous. I watched a whole quarter of football while hitting enter repeatedly. When I finally get control of my character I find a spot to grind exp and sepith until everyone gains a level. Will not be playing any more entries in this series.
The dialogue is one of the best parts about the series so if you're just skipping through it and not paying attention to it then you're missing a large part of what makes the series great. Also, if you don't like a dialogue heavy RPG then yeah the series isn't for you.
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Re: Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero

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Jaymann, out of curiosity how far along are you in the game?
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Re: Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero

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I am wrapping up chapter 3.
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Re: Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero

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I have a new favorite thing:

Lifting orbs and equipment from temporary team members and putting them on my permanent squad.
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Re: Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero

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Jaymann wrote: Tue Oct 11, 2022 6:13 pm I have a new favorite thing:

Lifting orbs and equipment from temporary team members and putting them on my permanent squad.
Lol, I'll have to look at that the next time I get one. By the way I'm currently in Chapter 4 and the items sold by the back alley vendor are easily the best equipable items up to that point and it's well worth selling Sepith material to get some of them.

As for my ongoing thoughts on the game, this one is definitely slower on the overall plot development than the Cold Steel series. While I'm enjoying it I would definitely rank it below Cold Steel 2-4 at this point. I think by the end of Chapter 4 the story should start to focus more, but we'll see. I also think playing the other games in the series would help a lot with the enjoyment of Zero because there are so many one liners and small events that happen that directly correlate to other games in the series and if you haven't played them then you would have no idea that you missed the cross reference. Literally 90% characters in this game show up in the Cold Steel games and I assume the 10% who don't will die at some point (This includes the random city and village characters).
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Re: Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero

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Yeah, I just got those items from the back alley shop. All my slots are upgraded and all orbs level 3 or other specifics. I got to the end of Chapter 4 and got the warning not to go through that door because there is no turning back. I saved and went through to check it out. What I found out is there were new side missions available that expire, so I went back to my pre-door save.
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Re: Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero

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I finished the game at level 45.The guide I was reading said not to level up (even to the extent of letting some characters get KO'd) because there is an achievement for finishing without going over level 40. Screw that noise, I want to be OP not weak. I liked the final dungeon, since I was able to keep HP and CP topped off. Also there were chests that had equipment that was still an upgrade. What didn't make sense is chests with Sepith and Mira with no place to spend them. Maybe they carry over to the next playthrough? I'll never know. Also, what was with the rising detective ranks for no payoff?

If I were designing such a game I would have a traveling vendor just before the final boss, with a few choice items to reward you for finding everything.

Final grade: 6/8 blue pills.
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Re: Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero

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Jaymann wrote: Fri Oct 14, 2022 12:30 am I finished the game at level 45.The guide I was reading said not to level up (even to the extent of letting some characters get KO'd) because there is an achievement for finishing without going over level 40. Screw that noise, I want to be OP not weak. I liked the final dungeon, since I was able to keep HP and CP topped off. Also there were chests that had equipment that was still an upgrade. What didn't make sense is chests with Sepith and Mira with no place to spend them. Maybe they carry over to the next playthrough? I'll never know. Also, what was with the rising detective ranks for no payoff?

If I were designing such a game I would have a traveling vendor just before the final boss, with a few choice items to reward you for finding everything.

Final grade: 6/8 blue pills.
The Detective ranks are in every one of these games, they're just called something different in each one. The only two real payoffs are the items each rank gives you and trophy unlocks for gaining the last rank. For most part I don't focus on the ranks.
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Re: Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero

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I finished this up today. I'll post my full thoughts on Monday when i have a computer. But there was a vendor and an orbal vendor in the final dungeon, you had to talk to the guys you free from jail. They don't sell weapons or armor. But they offer just about everything else.
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Re: Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero

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Scraper wrote: Sun Oct 16, 2022 1:42 pm I finished this up today. I'll post my full thoughts on Monday when i have a computer. But there was a vendor and an orbal vendor in the final dungeon, you had to talk to the guys you free from jail. They don't sell weapons or armor. But they offer just about everything else.
Wish I had seen that. At least the chests make more sense.
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Re: Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero

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Final Review:

I would rank Zero below all of the Cold Steel games, but above the the Sky series (Above Sky mostly because of technological advancements). In terms of story the game feels like a side story in a long novel series. Think New Spring in the Wheel of Time series. It's not a proper book with Rand in it, it's still in the Wheel of Time series, but it's not really necessary reading to enjoy the series proper.

With that said I think Chapter 4 and the final chapter really went a long way to pull this game together and redeemed an otherwise slog of a mid section.

Still, I liked the game and it contained everything that makes the Legend of Heroes series so great. The combat system was spot on, the characters were all unique and interesting and the writing was top notch as usual. The fact that they could blend this game's story into the overall much larger Legends story was impressive. I will definitely play its sequel when it comes out next year.

I would give Zero an 8/10. For comparison sake I would give all 4 of the Cold Steel games between an 8.5 to 9.5.
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Re: Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero

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On a side note next year will be a great year for Western Legend of Heroes fans because we will see the release of both Trails to Azure and Trails into Reverie.
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Re: Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero

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I looked at my Library and I played Trails in the Sky years ago. I don't remember it being anything like Zero.
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Re: Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero

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It's very similar in terms of gameplay, story presentation, combat, orb system etc. You have to remember that Sky 1 is essentially Legend of Heroes part 1 and Zero is part 4. So Zero has a lot of improvements technically, just like Cold Steel 4 has a ton of improvements over 0. But, the overall story in Sky carries over into Zero.

minor non specific spoilers for those who haven't played zero.
Spoiler:
Estelle and Joshua were the main protagonists in the Sky series and anytime they mentioned Ouroboros that was a nod to the overall story in Legend of Heroes.
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Re: Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero

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For anyone who is interested Gamingtrend has a brand new review for Trails in the Sky 1. It's here https://gamingtrend.com/feature/reviews ... nd-crafts/ I had nothing to do with this review, but my thoughts line up with almost everything he said in the review. I imagine the game would look good on the Steam Deck as well, I played the PSP version on the Vita and it looked fine, but the Steam Deck should be the best version available.
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Re: Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero

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I just noticed that Amazon has this on their Luna streaming until Jan. 1. If you have Prime, you can play it through this link: https://luna.amazon.com/detail/B0BGJMZB ... ay=1&r=web

I tried it out. The streaming seemed rock solid, but it's not exactly a visually demanding game.
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Re: Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero

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This is back on Luna. It did keep my save data from last time. If it keeps coming up like this, I should finish in 2027. :D
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