Trails To Azure (Zero No Kiseki + Ao No Kiseki)
- Thread starter cm2
- Start date
At least we're finally getting some of the games over here.
Indeed been too long!
I think they will do a restock later on, or get the digital download version?
Durante posted this on the PC port, nice!
Hi everyone!
The release date for Trails from Zero is inching closer, and we want to share more about the development of this new version of the game. I initially just intended for this to be a one-off post like we did for a few other releases, but there's more to cover here than there ever was before so instead this will be a multi-part affair.
In this first part, I'll primarily talk about
new in-game features
, while future parts will focus on the improvement to in-game assets, bug-fixes, some platform support information, and maybe even more minor features I can't get to today.
Background
For both this look at features and future discussions of assets, it helps to have some background knowledge of the release history of Trails from Zero.
The short of it is that the most recent Falcom version - PS4 Kai - is the source for this port.
Aspect Ratios, UI and Mouse Support
One of the more significant challenges when porting a game from console to PC is dealing with aspect ratios, especially in older games with lots of hand-crafted UI. In a similar vein, fully supporting mouse input in such games frequently requires a lot of work on individual menu screens and UI elements.
I'm happy to report that we were able to tackle this challenge
in full for Trails from Zero.
Aspect Ratios
In games with a fixed camera perspective such as Trails from Zero, supporting ultrawide aspect ratios can be particularly difficult. Often, the original game optimizes level assets by not including anything which can't be seen by the original (16:9) camera. In our previous release of The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails, we tackled this issue by trying to constrain the camera, per-level, to areas that are visible.
For Trails from Zero, we re-implemented this approach -- as you can see above -- but also managed to go one step further in many situations. We created some tooling to extract and edit the original level geometry, and one of our wonderful QA testers was able to fix many smaller geometry issues in maps with this tool.
Aspect Ratio and UI
This takes care of the 3D rendered aspect of aspect ratio support, but still leaves open the question of UI. Here, we opted to keep a letter- or pillar-boxed layout for menus, while adjusting the implementation of all floating HuD elements to anchor them to a screen location which make sense for each element. This allows us to support anything from the venerable 4:3 to ultrawide, of course including 16:10 as found on the Steam Deck.
Mouse Support
Mouse support in Trails from Zero is very complete. In fact, the entire game could feasibly and rather comfortably be played using only the mouse! Even the mini-games are fully supported. To this end, we've implemented the following:
Other UI Options
We have implemented some more UI options to make the game more configurable to your preferences, and to better support different output devices or play styles:
The screenshot above shows the large UI setting - if you look at it in full screen you might see how it can be overbearing on a standard modern monitor or TV setup, but it's great for smaller screens.
The Message Log
Modern Trails games and many other JRPGs frequently feature a message log, which allows you to see previous dialogue and in-game messages, and re-play voice lines. No previous official release of Trails from Zero had this feature, however, the fan community added it in the Geofront release.
We couldn't re-use this implementation directly, but the feature was really popular with fans and one of the more frequent questions about our release was whether it would include a message log.
So far, I had to tell people not to concern themselves with this for now, but that only made them more curious. Now, I'm happy to confirm that we implemented a message log feature from scratch, with all the expected functionality. You can see it in action in the screenshot above.
Talking about messages, we also backported a new feature which was added in Trails to Azure later which allows you to hide dialogue with a button press.
Rendering and Graphics
Unlike later full 3D games, where there is a lot to improve regarding the rendering quality of existing assets and effects, the most major improvements in a game like Trails from Zero must come from improvements in the assets that are used. We'll provide more information on that topic in a future post, but for now there are still a few technical improvements to discuss.
Increased Draw Distance
Everyone who follows our ports knows that draw distance is a recurring topic. Personally, I'm always saddened when I play a PC port (or new console remaster) of an old or relatively low-tech game, and still encounter pop-in that should be easily rectified on the newer hardware.
The image of Crossbell Square above is cropped from the far background of two screenshots - so don't pay too much attention to the overall environment - and shows how two NPCs are being distance culled in the left case and not on the right. To make things clear, those NPCs are there in both versions, but in any previous release they pop into (graphical) being if you move backwards a few steps.
In short,
distance pop-in is completely eliminated
in our release.
High FPS Support
The PSP version of Trails from Zero was designed for and ran at 30 FPS, and the later Kai release increased this to 60. While the Geofront fan release allowed for higher FPS settings, it could not circumvent the basic design of the game expecting a fixed framerate, and thus slowed down unless the FPS target was maintained consistently.
We went in and fully made Trails from Zero compatible with
variable framerates With our release up to 144 FPS will be fully tested and supported, which also included fixing several smaller issues related to collision and animations. Interestingly, some of these already existed in previous 60 FPS versions, but none of them were critical or widely reported.
Anti Aliasing and the Rest
Regarding the basics, we support MSAA (up to 8x) and FXAA, as well anisotropic texture filtering. Refresh rate and frame limiting can be configured independently.
Conclusion
I think that's enough for now - in fact, if any of you made it through this entire post I salute your dedication. Before the release, in some subsequent posts, we'll talk about other facets of the PC version, including game assets, some platform features that didn't make it into this part, perhaps some bug fixes, and even - surprisingly - optimization.
Until next time,
Peter "Durante" Thoman, CTO, PH3
Hi everyone!
The release date for Trails from Zero is inching closer, and we want to share more about the development of this new version of the game. I initially just intended for this to be a one-off post like we did for a few other releases, but there's more to cover here than there ever was before so instead this will be a multi-part affair.
In this first part, I'll primarily talk about
new in-game features
, while future parts will focus on the improvement to in-game assets, bug-fixes, some platform support information, and maybe even more minor features I can't get to today.
Background
For both this look at features and future discussions of assets, it helps to have some background knowledge of the release history of Trails from Zero.
The short of it is that the most recent Falcom version - PS4 Kai - is the source for this port.
Aspect Ratios, UI and Mouse Support
One of the more significant challenges when porting a game from console to PC is dealing with aspect ratios, especially in older games with lots of hand-crafted UI. In a similar vein, fully supporting mouse input in such games frequently requires a lot of work on individual menu screens and UI elements.
I'm happy to report that we were able to tackle this challenge
in full for Trails from Zero.
Aspect Ratios
In games with a fixed camera perspective such as Trails from Zero, supporting ultrawide aspect ratios can be particularly difficult. Often, the original game optimizes level assets by not including anything which can't be seen by the original (16:9) camera. In our previous release of The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails, we tackled this issue by trying to constrain the camera, per-level, to areas that are visible.
For Trails from Zero, we re-implemented this approach -- as you can see above -- but also managed to go one step further in many situations. We created some tooling to extract and edit the original level geometry, and one of our wonderful QA testers was able to fix many smaller geometry issues in maps with this tool.
Aspect Ratio and UI
This takes care of the 3D rendered aspect of aspect ratio support, but still leaves open the question of UI. Here, we opted to keep a letter- or pillar-boxed layout for menus, while adjusting the implementation of all floating HuD elements to anchor them to a screen location which make sense for each element. This allows us to support anything from the venerable 4:3 to ultrawide, of course including 16:10 as found on the Steam Deck.
Mouse Support
Mouse support in Trails from Zero is very complete. In fact, the entire game could feasibly and rather comfortably be played using only the mouse! Even the mini-games are fully supported. To this end, we've implemented the following:
- Mouse Menu Navigation
, which includes the ability to naturally select elements such as tabs in menus and characters in the equipment screen by clicking their portraits. It also includes mouse wheel scrolling in item menus -- actual scrolling, not moving your cursor (a distinction I need to mention since it's a pet peeve of mine). - Mouse Movement
, implemented as click-and-hold, similar to earlier PC Falcom games, or most mouse-driven PC ARPGs for that matter. This includes lots of customization options, which should be sufficient to make it feel right for almost everyone.
Other UI Options
We have implemented some more UI options to make the game more configurable to your preferences, and to better support different output devices or play styles:
- A
UI Scale
option. The default setting, which is what you've been seeing in the screenshots so far, is more suitable for playing on a PC monitor or large TV. There is also a "Large" UI setting, which mimics the original PSP layout and sizes more closely and is great for portables such as the Steam Deck. - We've added the ability to
hide the status display
depending on your characters' current state. You can choose to e.g. hide the status information when every party member has full HP, or only if all of HP, EP and CP are full. - We also included the option to only show status condition icons for the currently selected character in battles, a setting which was originally only available in Trails to Azure.
The screenshot above shows the large UI setting - if you look at it in full screen you might see how it can be overbearing on a standard modern monitor or TV setup, but it's great for smaller screens.
The Message Log
Modern Trails games and many other JRPGs frequently feature a message log, which allows you to see previous dialogue and in-game messages, and re-play voice lines. No previous official release of Trails from Zero had this feature, however, the fan community added it in the Geofront release.
We couldn't re-use this implementation directly, but the feature was really popular with fans and one of the more frequent questions about our release was whether it would include a message log.
So far, I had to tell people not to concern themselves with this for now, but that only made them more curious. Now, I'm happy to confirm that we implemented a message log feature from scratch, with all the expected functionality. You can see it in action in the screenshot above.
Talking about messages, we also backported a new feature which was added in Trails to Azure later which allows you to hide dialogue with a button press.
Rendering and Graphics
Unlike later full 3D games, where there is a lot to improve regarding the rendering quality of existing assets and effects, the most major improvements in a game like Trails from Zero must come from improvements in the assets that are used. We'll provide more information on that topic in a future post, but for now there are still a few technical improvements to discuss.
Increased Draw Distance
Everyone who follows our ports knows that draw distance is a recurring topic. Personally, I'm always saddened when I play a PC port (or new console remaster) of an old or relatively low-tech game, and still encounter pop-in that should be easily rectified on the newer hardware.
The image of Crossbell Square above is cropped from the far background of two screenshots - so don't pay too much attention to the overall environment - and shows how two NPCs are being distance culled in the left case and not on the right. To make things clear, those NPCs are there in both versions, but in any previous release they pop into (graphical) being if you move backwards a few steps.
In short,
distance pop-in is completely eliminated
in our release.
High FPS Support
The PSP version of Trails from Zero was designed for and ran at 30 FPS, and the later Kai release increased this to 60. While the Geofront fan release allowed for higher FPS settings, it could not circumvent the basic design of the game expecting a fixed framerate, and thus slowed down unless the FPS target was maintained consistently.
We went in and fully made Trails from Zero compatible with
variable framerates With our release up to 144 FPS will be fully tested and supported, which also included fixing several smaller issues related to collision and animations. Interestingly, some of these already existed in previous 60 FPS versions, but none of them were critical or widely reported.
Anti Aliasing and the Rest
Regarding the basics, we support MSAA (up to 8x) and FXAA, as well anisotropic texture filtering. Refresh rate and frame limiting can be configured independently.
Conclusion
I think that's enough for now - in fact, if any of you made it through this entire post I salute your dedication. Before the release, in some subsequent posts, we'll talk about other facets of the PC version, including game assets, some platform features that didn't make it into this part, perhaps some bug fixes, and even - surprisingly - optimization.
Until next time,
Peter "Durante" Thoman, CTO, PH3
A lot of settings 
New Kondo Interview from Rpg Site:
Q. Trails from Zero was the first title in the Trails series which wasn’t originally released on PC back in the day. Though we’re over a decade away from the original Japanese release, is there anything specifically that stood out when switching to developing the series for a handheld console?
Toshihiro Kondo: At the time, we took the opportunity to review the Trails series and how to adjust it to the PSP market. The results of that were things such as the world setting and art concept being greatly revised. I remember that some people internally who were against the idea and said, “Why would you deliberately change things when the ‘Trails in the Sky’ games went so well?” In the end, both series fans, as well as newcomers, accepted the changes, so the result of this experience is that we found a special cycle for the series of having new locations and main characters while keeping the same overall world setting and always revising the systems and graphics. I think this title taught us the importance of knowing what can be changed and knowing what to leave alone in a long-running series like this.
Q. While Trails from Zero’s Switch and PC versions are being handled by NIS America and PH3, one thing that stood out to me a few months ago was learning that Falcom was behind the Switch port for The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails themselves. Assuming the port is successful, are there any plans for Falcom to branch out to even more platforms on their own terms, like PC or Xbox?
Toshihiro Kondo: I think the number of in-house versions we do will increase, but that isn’t to say all titles will be done in-house going forward. I’d like to be flexible in our approach depending on the situation. We have many titles and series, but we don’t have that large of a development staff. Furthermore, those members who are in our development staff are mainly focused on creating new titles. In order for as many fans around the world as possible to be able to play our games, it’s necessary that we rely on the help of those around us.
Q. While many western players have met the Special Support Section before – there’s always still the chance that players will be meeting Lloyd and company for the very first time with Trails from Zero’s localization. Is there anything specifically you’d like fans to consider heading into Crossbell, whether they’ve been with the series for a while, or if this will be their first look at the franchise as a whole?
Toshihiro Kondo: Those who start at the series at Zero might be surprised at the game’s graphics or systems. However, the game’s story and how everything unfolds still possess a special charm that hasn’t lost a fraction of its original appeal even today. I would like players to be able to experience this. As for the fans who have waited years to play these, I definitely feel like we’ve kept you waiting! There are characters and events that become relevant in the Cold Steel games and Kuro (editor's note: Kuro no Kiseki), so I feel like we are finally delivering the missing piece of the puzzle.
Q. Out of all of the “main” cast for the Trails series, it feels like the Special Support Section are the most directly intertwined with the country their arc takes place in. While it goes without saying that every arc escalates to that point eventually, is it possible to explain the thought process Falcom went through when deciding to center the Crossbell duology around a section of the state’s Police department?
Toshihiro Kondo: The Special Support Section was born from the existence of this city called Crossbell, which is a place that has its own particular problems as a financial hub. While the game is still fantasy, it was necessary to have the location setting be somewhat close to modern times as well as the main characters being in a relatable position to the players. This is why we had them in the police force. The police force itself has structural issues as well, so these people that come together who don’t really have a place anywhere else must form bonds. I think this creates a very home-y atmosphere.
Q. There’s one thing that I’ve been curious about with Trails from Zero and Trails to Azure’s re-release – why a remaster instead of a remake? Going through Trails of Cold Steel III & IV, and the currently Japanese-only Trails into Reverie, I was struck by just how much of Crossbell had been remade in 3D already. Were full remakes for the Crossbell duology ever considered on Falcom’s end?
Toshihiro Kondo: I think perhaps you personally might have been hoping for a 3D remake, which is where this question came from. I always think myself that I would love to play fully 3D versions of Trails in the Sky and Zero/Azure. However, with the release of Kuro no Kiseki, we are finally at around 60%-70% of the story we want to tell and we are currently developing the next game in the series. In order to finish everything before the staff retires, we must continue forward. We might be able to make a team dedicated to remakes if we were to increase staff members, but it would need to be in a way that made sense for both the players and our needs as a company.
Q. While there have been new arranged albums for Ys titles in recent years, it feels like Trails has been getting the short end of the stick. I’m sure there are many issues that might prevent this from happening, but is there any hope that any of the more recent The Legend of Heroes titles might see something akin to a Super Arrange album in the future? I can only speak for myself, but their presence is sorely missed.
Toshihiro Kondo: While there aren't any current plans, if we receive enough requests, I think it’s entirely possible.
Q. Now that Trails from Zero/Trails to Azure and The Legend of Nayuta are finally being localized, are there any other games Falcom are considering re-releasing, whether from the Trails series itself or otherwise? When last we spoke in 2019, you mentioned that it wasn’t just Trails titles that were up for consideration when it came to re-releasing your back-catalog. Is that still the case?
Toshihiro Kondo: There are many older titles that are not playable on modern platforms, and we’d like to come up with a way to ensure that they are available to be played well into the future. Of course, we are always thinking of remakes and remasters as a way to do this. Our thoughts have not changed from the last time we spoke about titles aside from the Trails series games. In order for the Trails series to continue, it’s very important that our staff challenge and stimulate themselves by working on other titles as well.
Q. Trails from Zero was the first title in the Trails series which wasn’t originally released on PC back in the day. Though we’re over a decade away from the original Japanese release, is there anything specifically that stood out when switching to developing the series for a handheld console?
Toshihiro Kondo: At the time, we took the opportunity to review the Trails series and how to adjust it to the PSP market. The results of that were things such as the world setting and art concept being greatly revised. I remember that some people internally who were against the idea and said, “Why would you deliberately change things when the ‘Trails in the Sky’ games went so well?” In the end, both series fans, as well as newcomers, accepted the changes, so the result of this experience is that we found a special cycle for the series of having new locations and main characters while keeping the same overall world setting and always revising the systems and graphics. I think this title taught us the importance of knowing what can be changed and knowing what to leave alone in a long-running series like this.
Q. While Trails from Zero’s Switch and PC versions are being handled by NIS America and PH3, one thing that stood out to me a few months ago was learning that Falcom was behind the Switch port for The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails themselves. Assuming the port is successful, are there any plans for Falcom to branch out to even more platforms on their own terms, like PC or Xbox?
Toshihiro Kondo: I think the number of in-house versions we do will increase, but that isn’t to say all titles will be done in-house going forward. I’d like to be flexible in our approach depending on the situation. We have many titles and series, but we don’t have that large of a development staff. Furthermore, those members who are in our development staff are mainly focused on creating new titles. In order for as many fans around the world as possible to be able to play our games, it’s necessary that we rely on the help of those around us.
Q. While many western players have met the Special Support Section before – there’s always still the chance that players will be meeting Lloyd and company for the very first time with Trails from Zero’s localization. Is there anything specifically you’d like fans to consider heading into Crossbell, whether they’ve been with the series for a while, or if this will be their first look at the franchise as a whole?
Toshihiro Kondo: Those who start at the series at Zero might be surprised at the game’s graphics or systems. However, the game’s story and how everything unfolds still possess a special charm that hasn’t lost a fraction of its original appeal even today. I would like players to be able to experience this. As for the fans who have waited years to play these, I definitely feel like we’ve kept you waiting! There are characters and events that become relevant in the Cold Steel games and Kuro (editor's note: Kuro no Kiseki), so I feel like we are finally delivering the missing piece of the puzzle.
Q. Out of all of the “main” cast for the Trails series, it feels like the Special Support Section are the most directly intertwined with the country their arc takes place in. While it goes without saying that every arc escalates to that point eventually, is it possible to explain the thought process Falcom went through when deciding to center the Crossbell duology around a section of the state’s Police department?
Toshihiro Kondo: The Special Support Section was born from the existence of this city called Crossbell, which is a place that has its own particular problems as a financial hub. While the game is still fantasy, it was necessary to have the location setting be somewhat close to modern times as well as the main characters being in a relatable position to the players. This is why we had them in the police force. The police force itself has structural issues as well, so these people that come together who don’t really have a place anywhere else must form bonds. I think this creates a very home-y atmosphere.
Q. There’s one thing that I’ve been curious about with Trails from Zero and Trails to Azure’s re-release – why a remaster instead of a remake? Going through Trails of Cold Steel III & IV, and the currently Japanese-only Trails into Reverie, I was struck by just how much of Crossbell had been remade in 3D already. Were full remakes for the Crossbell duology ever considered on Falcom’s end?
Toshihiro Kondo: I think perhaps you personally might have been hoping for a 3D remake, which is where this question came from. I always think myself that I would love to play fully 3D versions of Trails in the Sky and Zero/Azure. However, with the release of Kuro no Kiseki, we are finally at around 60%-70% of the story we want to tell and we are currently developing the next game in the series. In order to finish everything before the staff retires, we must continue forward. We might be able to make a team dedicated to remakes if we were to increase staff members, but it would need to be in a way that made sense for both the players and our needs as a company.
Q. While there have been new arranged albums for Ys titles in recent years, it feels like Trails has been getting the short end of the stick. I’m sure there are many issues that might prevent this from happening, but is there any hope that any of the more recent The Legend of Heroes titles might see something akin to a Super Arrange album in the future? I can only speak for myself, but their presence is sorely missed.
Toshihiro Kondo: While there aren't any current plans, if we receive enough requests, I think it’s entirely possible.
Q. Now that Trails from Zero/Trails to Azure and The Legend of Nayuta are finally being localized, are there any other games Falcom are considering re-releasing, whether from the Trails series itself or otherwise? When last we spoke in 2019, you mentioned that it wasn’t just Trails titles that were up for consideration when it came to re-releasing your back-catalog. Is that still the case?
Toshihiro Kondo: There are many older titles that are not playable on modern platforms, and we’d like to come up with a way to ensure that they are available to be played well into the future. Of course, we are always thinking of remakes and remasters as a way to do this. Our thoughts have not changed from the last time we spoke about titles aside from the Trails series games. In order for the Trails series to continue, it’s very important that our staff challenge and stimulate themselves by working on other titles as well.
new interview:
First off, please introduce yourself! Who are you, and what is your role in The Geofront?
My name is Whittington Wiman, also known as Zerker online, and I had the pleasure to act as the Project Lead and Lead Editor on Trails from Zero and an editor on Trails to Azure. It fell to the editing team to take the translated scripts and to bring that style and prose that the Trails games are known for back into the games, so dialogue was my wheelhouse for these humongous projects.
How did you get started on localizing the Crossbell titles? What were your inspirations, goals, and motivations for doing so?
My work on the Crossbell titles started during my first summer after starting college. I had always been interested in localization and had been enamored with the Trails series for a few years. So when I heard that fans in the online community were going to retranslate and edit the existing fan translation [for Trails from Zero], I thought I’d offer my help in the editing department. At the time, I had no idea what kind of rabbit hole I’d thrown myself into. It wasn’t long before our tiny team started calling ourselves The Geofront and began posting regular progress updates as we chipped away at the script (which is gigantic, mind you). The Geofront was small at first, but soon grew as we began to find people we desperately needed, like graphics editors, translators, and more testers.
From the start, though, our main inspiration was simply to provide a method for people to play the Crossbell games in a state that they deserved. For us, that meant creating fan patches and localizations that were at least comparable to the superb treatment shown to the Trails series over the years. We never thought the games had much of a chance to be officially localized back then, especially due to rocky PC ports and being native PSP games, so we decided to give it our best shot. Fortunately, our hard work paid off and the fan patches were received very well by the Trails community. We can’t say enough how much it meant for people to download our patches and play our localizations.
Why are the Crossbell chapters important to you personally? What is it about Trails from Zero and Trails to Azure that made you feel it was necessary to go through the trouble of localizing them?
For me, I was always drawn to the setting and cast of the Crossbell games. I adore the centralized setting, focusing all of the events around the happenings in Crossbell City, and the smaller cast of characters to follow during the games. The SSS is a wonderful group that’s so interesting to follow as they grow from (what many citizens consider) jokes to a force for good in a corrupt city. This is a nice change of pace from what happens in the Trails in the Sky games, particularly FC and SC, which follow your cast as they traverse Liberl and solve issues for the diverse kingdom’s inhabitants. In the Crossbell titles, though, you really get to know the Crossbellans that you can talk to whenever you’re back in the city. Like the guy who’s obsessed with trains, or the guy who hands out balloons to everyone!
Everyone in The Geofront felt that these games deserved the quality localizations that the series was known for, so we decided to give it our best shot. We seemed to have done a half-decent job of that, judging by the humbling response to our work.
NIS America's localization of the Crossbell titles is currently using The Geofront’s localization as the base. How does it feel seeing your work being supported and brought into an official capacity?
It’s a dream come true, really. None of us ever expected something like our work with NIS America to happen, and it was never on our minds as we worked on the games over the years. Most importantly, The Geofront is thrilled these beloved games are going to be more widely accessible for fans of the Trails series. That, we think, is the really amazing thing about this collaboration.
What highlights stand out to you about NIS America’s process and treatment of The Geofront’s localization? What are they doing that is different or surprising to you?
You know, we never expected everything to be exactly the same as our patch. Of course, their team is going to make decisions that we might not totally agree with, but that’s the magic of localization. Different teams are always going to have different ideas about how to treat certain things, like terms, names, speech patterns, and so on—and that’s fine. NIS America was kind enough to allow some editors to join a Slack server to discuss different choices made, which was generous of them. Overall, we’re just excited that the Crossbell titles are getting the love, care, and professional release that they deserve.
How does it feel to know that the Crossbell titles are being localized not just for PC, but also for consoles?
Like I mentioned before, our entire goal was to make these games accessible for the fans that wanted to play them but never had the opportunity. NIS America localizing the Crossbell titles for consoles is something that The Geofront never had the ability to do, so we’re thrilled that console-only players are going to be able to experience these games now. I still remember reading the occasional comment from people without PC’s talking about how they were bummed that they weren’t able to use our fan patches, but there wasn’t anything we could do for them. Now those people are finally going to be able to play the Crossbell titles on their console of choice, and I think that’s just neat.
If someone asks “Do I NEED to play the Crossbell titles before other games in the series," what would you say to them?
Well, do you need to eat that chocolate cake sitting over there on the counter waiting for you to devour it? That about summarizes how I personally view this kind of question, and it’s a totally valid one! With a big series like Trails, there are always going to be people asking where they should start with it. Do I think Crossbell is a good starting point? Eh, maybe not. But should fans of the Trails in the Sky trilogy or the Trails of Cold Steel games play the Crossbell titles? Absolutely. You really owe it to yourself to play these wonderful entries. Plus, I would definitely make sure to play the Crossbell titles before Trails into Reverie comes out. Now’s the perfect time to play them, people!
What specifically about NIS America’s release of the Crossbell titles should fans be looking forward to the most?
One thing that we’re extremely proud of with our fan patches, aside from the fan localizations themselves, are the amount of quality of life additions we could add to the games. The older PC ports of Trails from Zero and Trails to Azure were quite barebones when our programmers got their hands on them, but they were able to work miracles. We were of course thrilled to hear that Durante was going to continue working similar miracles for the official PC and Nintendo Switch releases on the programming end of things. Now, Trails fans are going to be able to experience the Crossbell titles with ultrawide/16:10/4:3 support (PC only), frame rate independence, texture upscales, and even UI scaling from what we hear. One of the most popular additions in our fan patches, the message log, is even going to be included! The Geofront is indescribably excited for fans to get their hands on these games.
First off, please introduce yourself! Who are you, and what is your role in The Geofront?
My name is Whittington Wiman, also known as Zerker online, and I had the pleasure to act as the Project Lead and Lead Editor on Trails from Zero and an editor on Trails to Azure. It fell to the editing team to take the translated scripts and to bring that style and prose that the Trails games are known for back into the games, so dialogue was my wheelhouse for these humongous projects.
How did you get started on localizing the Crossbell titles? What were your inspirations, goals, and motivations for doing so?
My work on the Crossbell titles started during my first summer after starting college. I had always been interested in localization and had been enamored with the Trails series for a few years. So when I heard that fans in the online community were going to retranslate and edit the existing fan translation [for Trails from Zero], I thought I’d offer my help in the editing department. At the time, I had no idea what kind of rabbit hole I’d thrown myself into. It wasn’t long before our tiny team started calling ourselves The Geofront and began posting regular progress updates as we chipped away at the script (which is gigantic, mind you). The Geofront was small at first, but soon grew as we began to find people we desperately needed, like graphics editors, translators, and more testers.
From the start, though, our main inspiration was simply to provide a method for people to play the Crossbell games in a state that they deserved. For us, that meant creating fan patches and localizations that were at least comparable to the superb treatment shown to the Trails series over the years. We never thought the games had much of a chance to be officially localized back then, especially due to rocky PC ports and being native PSP games, so we decided to give it our best shot. Fortunately, our hard work paid off and the fan patches were received very well by the Trails community. We can’t say enough how much it meant for people to download our patches and play our localizations.
Why are the Crossbell chapters important to you personally? What is it about Trails from Zero and Trails to Azure that made you feel it was necessary to go through the trouble of localizing them?
For me, I was always drawn to the setting and cast of the Crossbell games. I adore the centralized setting, focusing all of the events around the happenings in Crossbell City, and the smaller cast of characters to follow during the games. The SSS is a wonderful group that’s so interesting to follow as they grow from (what many citizens consider) jokes to a force for good in a corrupt city. This is a nice change of pace from what happens in the Trails in the Sky games, particularly FC and SC, which follow your cast as they traverse Liberl and solve issues for the diverse kingdom’s inhabitants. In the Crossbell titles, though, you really get to know the Crossbellans that you can talk to whenever you’re back in the city. Like the guy who’s obsessed with trains, or the guy who hands out balloons to everyone!
Everyone in The Geofront felt that these games deserved the quality localizations that the series was known for, so we decided to give it our best shot. We seemed to have done a half-decent job of that, judging by the humbling response to our work.
NIS America's localization of the Crossbell titles is currently using The Geofront’s localization as the base. How does it feel seeing your work being supported and brought into an official capacity?
It’s a dream come true, really. None of us ever expected something like our work with NIS America to happen, and it was never on our minds as we worked on the games over the years. Most importantly, The Geofront is thrilled these beloved games are going to be more widely accessible for fans of the Trails series. That, we think, is the really amazing thing about this collaboration.
What highlights stand out to you about NIS America’s process and treatment of The Geofront’s localization? What are they doing that is different or surprising to you?
You know, we never expected everything to be exactly the same as our patch. Of course, their team is going to make decisions that we might not totally agree with, but that’s the magic of localization. Different teams are always going to have different ideas about how to treat certain things, like terms, names, speech patterns, and so on—and that’s fine. NIS America was kind enough to allow some editors to join a Slack server to discuss different choices made, which was generous of them. Overall, we’re just excited that the Crossbell titles are getting the love, care, and professional release that they deserve.
How does it feel to know that the Crossbell titles are being localized not just for PC, but also for consoles?
Like I mentioned before, our entire goal was to make these games accessible for the fans that wanted to play them but never had the opportunity. NIS America localizing the Crossbell titles for consoles is something that The Geofront never had the ability to do, so we’re thrilled that console-only players are going to be able to experience these games now. I still remember reading the occasional comment from people without PC’s talking about how they were bummed that they weren’t able to use our fan patches, but there wasn’t anything we could do for them. Now those people are finally going to be able to play the Crossbell titles on their console of choice, and I think that’s just neat.
If someone asks “Do I NEED to play the Crossbell titles before other games in the series," what would you say to them?
Well, do you need to eat that chocolate cake sitting over there on the counter waiting for you to devour it? That about summarizes how I personally view this kind of question, and it’s a totally valid one! With a big series like Trails, there are always going to be people asking where they should start with it. Do I think Crossbell is a good starting point? Eh, maybe not. But should fans of the Trails in the Sky trilogy or the Trails of Cold Steel games play the Crossbell titles? Absolutely. You really owe it to yourself to play these wonderful entries. Plus, I would definitely make sure to play the Crossbell titles before Trails into Reverie comes out. Now’s the perfect time to play them, people!
What specifically about NIS America’s release of the Crossbell titles should fans be looking forward to the most?
One thing that we’re extremely proud of with our fan patches, aside from the fan localizations themselves, are the amount of quality of life additions we could add to the games. The older PC ports of Trails from Zero and Trails to Azure were quite barebones when our programmers got their hands on them, but they were able to work miracles. We were of course thrilled to hear that Durante was going to continue working similar miracles for the official PC and Nintendo Switch releases on the programming end of things. Now, Trails fans are going to be able to experience the Crossbell titles with ultrawide/16:10/4:3 support (PC only), frame rate independence, texture upscales, and even UI scaling from what we hear. One of the most popular additions in our fan patches, the message log, is even going to be included! The Geofront is indescribably excited for fans to get their hands on these games.
Read from gematsu, the PC and Switch versions are the superior ones:
PlayStation 4 version will not have the various Durante implementations. The most significant inclusions that Switch and PC players will benefit from comprise UI scaling, a custom text log, increased frame rate, mitigated distance pop-in, updated sprites, and cleaned-up textures.
PlayStation 4 version will not have the various Durante implementations. The most significant inclusions that Switch and PC players will benefit from comprise UI scaling, a custom text log, increased frame rate, mitigated distance pop-in, updated sprites, and cleaned-up textures.