The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero review
Nihon Falcom Corporation celebrated its 40th anniversary last year, making the Japanese developer one of the longest-running in the business to date.
Unlike its peers, Falcom has avoided many recent industry trends: It has retained its independence from mergers and acquisitions, it has staunchly decided to develop its own game engine rather than adopt a third-party solution like Unreal Engine, and it still makes games primarily for Japan in an increasingly global market.
Falcom marches to the beat of its own drum, then, and you can see some of that character in its long-running, most popular series of role-playing games: The Kiseki series, known as "Trails" outside of Japan. Gentle evolution on top of a solid foundation is the recipe behind such steady success, and this latest release, Trails from Zero, is no exception.
[...]
While Trails from Zero is, predictably, another high-quality release in a long-running series of RPGs, it is clearly not devoid of surprises. With this older game, Falcom has delivered a tighter, less formulaic adventure when compared with its newer, shinier descendants, its unique and interesting setting putting a refreshing spin on the tried and tested.
Score: 8/10
