So I played TRAILS FROM ZERO For The First Time...

My Trails journey throughout 2022 has been nothing short of fantastic, but Trails From Zero is on another level. A grounded JRPG drowning in political figures and gangs scheming throughout the dark underbelly of Crossbell City. The difference maker is that Zero is now available to everyone despite being the fourth entry in the series. While a good starting point in some respects, my time spent in the Sky trilogy absolutely paid off here.

#Nintendo #JRPG #TrailsFromZero

[writer]

Even if Kea is kind of just relegated to a cheerleader a lot of the time, I will always love and respect Lloyd for the moment when he finds her trapped in a box, doesn't understand what's going on and is like "this kid is in major danger and needs my help. I'm GOING to save her" and just books it with her as fast as he can. Like, major top tier good guy points.

Trails games are peak JRPG now. People need to start investing into this

[CCKaraoke]

I love the Crossbell duology. Especially Azure, how every single story beat including the side quests felt important. Incredibly satisfying. Easily one of my favorite games.

[andrewstencel]

Yeah, this series is just amazing. I am currently playing CS3 as well, and it was absolutely worth it, dare I say essential, to play every previous game before, in order. Not only for better understanding the overall story and context, but for the pure joy that is seeing all those characters you knew and cared about, meeting each other and being once again relevant.

[TyandOnGoing]

Zero and Azure imo is peak trails imo glad you're enjoying your experience. The story telling, the cast of characters, and the world building is so stellar.

[Cyrus_Bright]

As much as I love the Sky Trilogy, the Crossbell games just hit different. The storytelling is fantastic and the character moments hit so hard. Plus I don't think I've ever grown to love a fictional city much like Crossbell, which also helped me love a certain character from Cold Steel 3 that much more. She embodied my feelings perfectly lmao.

[DeadP]

Thank you for talking about the series, it's awesome

[ichigo]

I have been waiting for this video all summer. crossbell is by far one of the most at home settings in a game I've ever played. i still remember the NPCs around town. Kuro's Edith has gotten close tho.

[whydoistillusethissite]

while it's kinda sad that the most impactful moment in Zero doesn't even focus on the Zero characters, I still love the game for giving such a heartfelt redemption to the character that needed it the most.

Seeing where Renne has come from, the stuff she had to do, the people she surrounded herself with to getting the loving family she always wanted is genuinely heartwarming. Because at the end of the day she's just a lost, confused child that wants people to love her like anyone else would. It's probably the first time I've teared up to fiction in a REALLY long time.

[countryboyred]

I can’t believe I slept on this series for so long. These games are right up there with final fantasy and dragon quest as kings of the JRPG genre. I blazed through Zero, Azure, and now I’m on cold steel 1 and totally addicted. Haven’t felt this way about a jrpg series since the golden days of the ps1 and snes.

[Synthpopper]

I used to watch you talk about Fallout a decade ago, and now I'm watching you talk about one of my favorite niche JRPGs. It's a funny old Universe

[hinotama.ryuuka]

The scene where Renne hides in the closet and hears her parents speak the truth really hit me hard.

When I completed Star Door 15 in Sky 3rd, I had the assumption that Renne's parents are terrible people. Renne truly is very unfortunate to have parents like that (on top of the Paradise tragedy).

But, in Zero, when I hear them speak the truth about how they actually lost Renne, a big wave of relief washed over me. It turns out Renne's parents are actually good people, and she was truly loved. This is one of the very few good things that happen to her.

Renne, who is hiding in the closet, also gets to hear the truth. She might already know it and choose to ignore it, but now hearing those words directly from her parents makes it impossible for her to run away from it anymore. I also feel very relieved and happy for Renne.

Then Renne comes out of the closet, in tears. Saying that one of the reason she came to Crossbell is now gone (probably to get rid of her parents). This scene made my eyes tear up too, there are so many emotions here. There's happiness because Renne learns that her parents didn't abandon her so she don't have to take revenge on them, and sadness because Renne knows she can't easily return to her parents even if she wants to due to her current position. And also, her crying face and voice is just too heartbreaking for me.

Whoever directed this scene deserves all my respect. They had to think of a way for Renne to learn the truth, but if Joshua/Estelle, or the SSS told her, it wouldn't be as impactful as hearing it directly from her parents. Hence, the "hides in closet" scene. Beautifully directed, hands down.

Sorry for my very long and probably grammatically awkward wall of text. The scene made a huge impact on me, so I couldn't resist sharing my thoughts on it!

Also, thanks for the video!

[alasdepegaso]

Bruh... i love trails from zero. One day i wanna be as chill as chief Sergei

[Revanxbone]

The zero & azure OSTs especially are sooo full of bangers 😤

[PeteOliva]

The Trails series has become my favorite JRPG series of the modern era. Right up alongside FF and DQ. Simply unparalleled narrative connectivity and writing. The gameplay and battles never get old either. So addicting.

[Kryptick_]

I started the Trails series through Zero and just finished Azure last week. Though admittedly there are some story context fly over my head sometimes but I don't regret starting from Zero. I fell in love with the city of Crossbell and it's people, and it felt so bittersweet how Azure ended but all together satisfying. The SSS had to do it for the sake of a loved one. You can't burden one person for the sake a whole city on my opinion. Going through Cold Steel now so far Erebonia is very interesting.

[Zakemaster]

In terms of Combo Crafts:

Technically, the beginning of that system was created in Sky SC, but they weren’t that special because they were generic combos that were similar no matter who used them. And I think that’s key to why they haven’t come back. Since Crossbell focuses on a much smaller team of heroes, it’s much easier to design unique combo attacks for the pairs. But if they were to do unique combo attacks in CS, for instance… just for Class 7 alone, even just the *starting* members of class 7, you’d have to design 36 unique combo attacks for them. Yeah, it just isn’t feasible. That’s part of why the link system exists in CS. They’re just generic combo attacks. It’s just a more involved version of the SC system, in a sense.

[cranesalvation]

This is what I’ve been waiting for. Insane how you’re already on CS3

[itsAphelion.]

This is like my 7th video on the trails series. Got a trip to florida coming and was looking for something to play on the ride. I think ill start with the trails in the sky

[IronJoeHorn]

playing through it after all the sky and cold steel games.... it might actually be my favorite of the series im kind of surprised by how great it is. I kind of wish it had english voice acting though