Introduction

Many who know me would assume my favorite RPG franchise is Persona and Final Fantasy, which isn’t fully untrue. I love those famous RPG franchises with my heart and soul. Yet, if we did a top 3, Final Fantasy would be number 3 and in number 2 I would have The Legend of Heroes franchise on it. I have played most of these games to completion in both the import versions, which was quite difficult and was mostly me using guides, and when they released in the US. One particular story from The Legend of Heroes franchise that I think doesn’t get enough love is what we are reviewing today. The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero and Trails to Azure are the entry points in the more recent games such as Trails of Cold Steel and Trails through Daybreak, focusing the story to the town of Crossbell and how that ties into those later games. We were granted by NIS both Trails from Zero and Trails to Azure and figured to review both of these incredible titles together. Here is our review of The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero/Trails to Azure. Big thanks to NIS for the review codes!

Gameplay

Now, reviewing two games might be considered tough, but this duology plays very similar to one another so it isn’t that hard to combine the review. Players take control of the newly created SSS (Special Support Section) Crossbell team. Lloyd Bannings, who has just passed the police academy, is assigned to Crossbell City and unknown to him is placed in this experimental division alongside various others like Elie MacDowell, Randy Orlando, and Tio Plato. Their goal is to undertake dangerous missions together using their various skills. Now how does one take control of such a powerful mishmash of characters? Simple, turn based combat!

Like most of the traditional Legend of Heroes games, The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero/Trails to Azure both play in typical turn based fashion. You move around characters, attack with weapons, skills, or magic (Arts) and pray you beat them before they make their move. Where The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero/Trails to Azure both appeal greatly to my nostalgia JRPG gamer is these titles both make use of equipping characters correctly, moving them around for best advantage, and being smart about exploiting enemies’ weaknesses. Yeah, the gameplay is very simple by comparison to many of the recent The Legend of Heroes games, but it works for what it offers.

When you aren’t taking down foes you run into on a map or enemies thrown at you after a story segment, you’ll be exploring Crossbell and various other cities and locations. Fans of the franchise will love seeing their favorite locations in a new light and might even run into some characters from later games as they were younger or not yet involved in dangerous world saving events.

The big problem with The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero/Trails to Azure is, again, these are classics in every sense of the word. Both games came out over 10+ years ago on the PSP, I played their imports because I loved the franchise despite knowing no Japanese, and they can feel dated. Menus, equipping items, and navigating dungeons all feel like classical JRPG fan fare, and is that bad? No, but I will say it took me a few hours before I was back into the swing of things after just having played Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter. The reason I can even review these games together is they both play almost exactly the same, Trails to Azure does add a few mechanics but nothing noteworthy, and again, if you like older JRPGs this duology is fantastic. Plus, both games are meaty, offering tons of quests and story sections to add up to 100+ hours if you do almost everything. Set aside some time if you plan on diving into these games!

Graphics

Just because Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter had a complete overhaul remake doesn’t mean you should expect the same from this duology. Both Trails from Zero and Trails to Azure do look significantly better than their PSP counterparts, but they still look like PSP titles. Yes, the sprites and backgrounds have been given a nice coat of HD upscaling so they have more defined looks and are visually more appealing, but even as I wander around dungeons or fight various bosses, I am reminded of how old these games are. I will say, if you have never experienced either game in their original PSP format, The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero/Trails to Azure are best played on the PS5 for their enhanced looks.

Sound

Without a doubt I have never played any game in the The Legend of Heroes franchise that has had bad music, and these two aren’t changing that any time soon. The music is phenomenal, with each track capturing every scene from grandiose battles to just chilling with the SSS team and dealing with their absurd different characters among the group. The voice acting, which unlike the more recent Trails games is in Japanese only, is also great to hear and helps the game immensely. I do wish there was an English voice option, but I get it, NIS is already taking chances by re-releasing these two games to the west for the now third time and that extra price could be more risky than beneficial.

Story

Why I have always said The Legend of Heroes stories are some of the best JRPG narratives ever written is because of games like Trails from Zero/Trails to Azure. Despite them being set in very fictitious worlds where magic and technology collide, these stories capture the essence of people and story better than some triple A games do. Lloyd is a lovable MC who is strong, determined, and just a tad ignorant due to his background. Then you have Randy being like an older brother who I can see being the support any team needs when the morale is depleted. I also love seeing younger versions of characters we know from later Trails games make an appearance and see how their involvement in both The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero/Trails to Azure plays out in the bigger story. The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero/Trails to Azure is probably the one duo of games I hear most fans skipping over and that is a criminal action if you consider yourself a fan of these games. Both titles do tie in greatly into the Trails of Cold Steel games and are noted quite heavily even in Daybreak’s trio of titles. Do not sleep on either The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero/Trails to Azure as they might be a bit dated but their stories are fantastic even now.

Overall Impression

The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero/Trails to Azure as a fan of the franchise are the two lower end games, not because they are bad or dated, but just because I’ve played them all and I find these easy to nitpick. However, just because they are lower on the totem pole doesn’t mean they aren’t great in their own ways. Both games are great turn based titles and each story is pivotal in learning more about the world within this long running franchise. Even if the game can be considered more classical compared to modern JRPGs, The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero/Trails to Azure are both solid games nevertheless.

Conclusion

Both The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero/Trails to Azure are great games and I am so happy I got the opportunity to play them again, in English, and relive my good memories. Yeah, I can say it might be hard to switch from the more recent Trails in the Sky or even Trails of Cold Steel to these games, but if you can, it is worth it. I would love to see maybe a remade version of these games in the future, highly doubt it will happen, but for now those who slept on The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero/Trails to Azure should pick these games up and see where Crossbell’s finest came from!