If you’re reading this review, you’ve probably already played the Trails in the Sky trilogy, so I’ll cut to the chase.

The opening hours of this game feel similar to FC, but more dynamic. You’re still visiting every city in Crossbell State, but since it’s smaller than Liberl, the introduction is shorter and moves at a faster pace. You’ll be solving case after case, while the story steadily progresses.

As for the combat, some orbal arts have suffered changes. For example:

La Teara (Water, Support) has been replaced by Breath (Wind, Support).

It might feel strange at first, but you’ll quickly get used to it. Overall, the combat is very similar to Trails in the Sky, just more polished and refined.

In conclusion, you’ll have a GREAT time if you enjoyed the first trilogy. What starts as a simple adventure gradually grows into something far more sinister.

P.D Trails the 3rd is an important piece for the last part of this game, specifically Star Door 15 “Paradise”.

chest messages

We live in a world that sucks. Sorry, but that's just how it is. Everywhere you turn, you see rising prices, justice being perverted, and it feels like if you have the slightest bit of power, you have a sudden legal obligation to abuse it and use it to make the world a worse place. Politicians are cheating, the internet is screaming that every single thing in the world is going to end it, and every piece of media you see is trying its best to convince you to give up on everything around you and focus in on yourself.
Now, why am i saying this at the start of a review on a 16 year old game about police officers?
Because Trails From Zero will show you, I hope, that the world doesn't have to be this way.
Zero is my third favorite game in this series, right behind Sky the 3rd and Azure (the next game in the series). I'm reviewing this one since it's the only arc starter in my top three, and all of the arcs tend to retain their general quality between games (minus Erebonia, whose quality chart looks like you messed up the points then hit draw graph during geometry)
Anyways, Zero follows the S.S.S, a group of misfits who all join the cops and get told that they're basically politicial props for the government to try and steal some of the bracer's rep. Their first mission gets them humiliated on the news, and they don't start out in the best of spots. The setup is a traditional underdog story, and it's nice.
However, if that was all it was, I wouldn't own multiple posters, keychains, and shirts of this game and its cast. The story that Zero tells is that of family, one of expectations, one of hope and perseverance, of pain and friendship. The main plot thread from the previous arc reiterates these themes so well, and it's also done really really well.
The Crossbell arc as a whole has an eye on the politics of the nation, but it manages to retain its footing and grounding with its characters that every political plot beat feels less like "oh, the nation is in a problem!" and more "X member of the S.S.S is gonna have to make a choice here, huh. Run, or fight?"
Finally, the game manages to retain a darker tone and darker themes, yet it keeps its hope on. So many games nowadays tend towards one side or the other- dark or insanely cheery, and quite frankly, I can't stomach either. The world as it is has made me view happy-go-lucky "everything in fine" worlds with a decent bit less interest, yet completely grimdark worlds or worlds that take themselves as "morally grey" seem so pretentious, like the kid who thinks he's too cool for school (looking at you, Calvard arc...) Zero is like a hug in despair, like the friend who stays with you whenever things are going horrible and hangs out with you when you're better. Things in the story (and especially in Azure) go to places you really don't expect, and yet everything retains this theme of hope, of love, and that's why Zero is so special to me. It's walking so many tightropes, and yet manages every single one of them so flawlessly to create a game with themes that it shows you why they can be true.
There are still some problems. This game is definitely more fan-servicey than Sky (especially two specific characters), and this is where Trails' obsession with every playable female falling for the male MC starts, but I still love this game to death.
Anyways, Tio and Randy are still easy top three characters in this series