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12 years ago, Nihon Falcom released the fourth mainline entry in his kisekic series, Paths of Zero. It is the successor to the original Sky trilogy that has since become known as one of the most important JRPGs of the 2000s. At least that’s how it went in Japan.

In the west most people have never heard of it kisekic and even less Paths from scratch. Despite his universal acclaim at home, Paths from scratch was not released outside of Japan and China. The best we got was a fan localization by Geofront, which wasn’t ready until 2020, but that’s changing now. More than a decade after its original release on the PlayStation Portable, Nihon Falcom has finally given The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero an international edition.

Paths of Zero follows the story of Lloyd Bannings, a young police detective who has joined the Special Support Section. The SSS is a newly created branch of the police force responsible for addressing the requests of the citizens of Crossbell. The group was formed in response to the ever-popular Bracer Guild outperforming the police, causing the public to lose faith in the police and relying on the Bracer Guild instead. The authorities hope that the SSS can surpass the Bracer Guild and regain the trust of the people.

A great entry point

It’s no secret that the kisekic series is notoriously hard to get into. His greatest strength has always been his world building and character development, but that comes with a price. Starting from scratch with no prior knowledge of the series can be overwhelming. The story will constantly reference and introduce recurring characters, and there’s fan service in the form of callbacks everywhere you look.

although Paths from scratch continue this trend, it is not as common as with the Cold Steel entries. The SSS is treated as an independent group with its own trials and difficulties to overcome. Aside from the occasional nod to the Bracer Guild, you can very easily get by without knowing anything about the earlier games.

Trails From Zero Lloyd Bannings SS Officer Protagonist Dialogue

You might miss some nice references here and there, but they’re not important to the overall story. Even if you feel like you’re missing something, it doesn’t really matter because you can always go back to the Sky trilogy to fill in the gaps. Those games and Paths from scratch are mechanically quite similar, so you will feel right at home.

Really, the only hard part to get into Paths from scratch is that it is an old fashioned JRPG. It never holds your hand and never makes much effort to point you in the right direction. Usually you have to figure things out yourself. This fits well with the detective subtheme of Paths from scratch, but some players may find it frustrating. It all depends on what kind of RPGs you personally enjoy playing.

Raise your weapons!

While similar, the battle in Paths from scratch is easier than it was Sky. The main difference is that encounters feel much more honest. Proper preparation and a fair amount of grinding will set you up well to conquer most battles. It helps that Elie MacDowell, a member of the SSS, has access to Holy Bullet, a contender for the most broken vessel in the series. When used, it restores everyone’s HP and CP, undoing most of the damage you take.

Those looking for a more challenging experience can increase the difficulty, and it ranges from Easy to Nightmare. Easy makes most encounters very simple and is aimed at players who just want to enjoy the story. Nightmare, on the other hand, requires near-perfect knowledge of: Zero‘s mechanics, with even the game describing it as “almost impossible on a first playthrough.” Both the normal and hard difficulty levels are in between for those looking for a more balanced playthrough.

Trails From Zero Combat Chapter One Craft

attack in Zero are divided into normal attacks, orbal arts, crafts and S-Crafts. To summarize, crafts are unique abilities, orbal arts are spells, and S-Crafts are ultimate attacks. It’s not that hard to figure out when to use each type of attack, such as: Zero does a good job figuring out how combat works during the prologue.

Like Skyeven Cold Steel, Paths from scratch offers a perfectly usable turn-based combat system. It’s by no means extraordinary by JRPG standards, but it doesn’t hold up the game either. Combat has never been the focus of this series, and if that’s what you’re looking for, I recommend alternatives like Octopath Traveler and Brave Standard 2.

What Crossbell has to offer

Although it is not necessary to know the story and knowledge of each game to play or understand Paths from scratchthe real focus of the kisekic spell is the story. I have said in the past that I believe that the kisekic games showcase the best world building of all video game franchises ever made. The sheer depth of the series’ lore goes far beyond anything I could justify in a few paragraphs. I doubt there are many people who know all about the story because there is so much in it.

That’s the whole charm of these games, Zero including. When a character from another game appears or you pick up a small reference, you get the feeling that you are part of something bigger. There is a sense of community and shared knowledge that few other franchises can match. With each new entry you play, you’ll discover more about the past entries and begin to see the bigger picture.

Trails From Zero Chief Roberts Tio Relationship Secret Event

What makes for me? Paths from scratch so impressive is that it maintains this power without isolating newcomers. That’s not easy to do, and it’s not something that the Cold Steel games are doing well. The fact that a series newbie or a franchise veteran can both jump in Zero and having an equally enjoyable playthrough is something special.

Of course, I’m not going to go into detail about the story by ruining big moments. Considering that the story and world building are by far Paths from scratch‘s biggest selling point, it would be a mockery to screw it up. What I can say, though, is that if you play JRPGs primarily for the stories they tell, there’s no better game to play right now than Paths from scratch.

More of a refresh than a remaster

Since it is a 12 year old PSP game you can imagine Paths from scratch is not perfectly outdated. To counter this, Nihon Falcom has given: Zero a fresh coat of paint. However, this is not a remaster or even a remake. Instead, the biggest difference is that this release of Paths from scratch benefits from visual upscaling that makes everything look sharper.

Trails From Zero Improved Visuals Upscaling PC Release Steam

This visual upscaling comes with support for resolutions much higher than the PSP ever dreamed of, unlimited frame rates, and anti-aliasing. Aside from performance improvements, this new version also adds some nice quality of life improvements. For example, there is now a chat log where you can review the dialogue and replay it if you missed what a character has said.

Not surprising, Paths from scratch is not a demanding game. You can add all the improvements in the world, but when the core product is built on a 12 year old handheld game, pretty much any PC can run it. On the three devices I tested Zero on, it worked perfectly at the highest possible refresh rate with no performance drops.

Another sensational entry

As expected, The Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero is a wonderful game. The story it tells, the world it takes place in and the characters you play couldn’t have been executed much better. Like most of the other entries in the kisekic series, Zero is a love letter to gamers who want to immerse themselves in a beautiful world. In fact, this particular item manages to overcome the series’ biggest weakness by being a surprisingly accessible entry point.