Noisy Pixel reports that the western sales of The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero exceeded expectations:

Trails from Zero & Trails to Azure Western Sales Have Exceeded Expectations; Ys Western Sales Remain Strong

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“Sales of the Ys and Trails series in North America, Europe, and Asia remained strong. In addition, sales of the English versions of Trails from Zero (released in September 2022) and Trails to Azure (released in March 2023) exceeded expectations. As a result, net sales, operating income, ordinary income, and net income for the first half of the current fiscal year exceeded the previously announced figures, respectively.”

[...]

Thanks Couchpotato!

JRPG Jungle reviewed The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero:

Review: Trails From Zero (Reviewed on PS4, also on Switch and PC)

The J-RPG The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero will be released today:

The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero

Lloyd Bannings returns to his hometown to follow his late brother's footsteps and join the Crossbell Police Department. However, he finds himself assigned to a ragtag new division called the Special Support Section, which performs odd jobs and helps people in need. But he and his new teammates slowly discover that their vibrant city hides a dark criminal underbelly...as well as a few terrible secrets.

Experience Crossbell in this exciting chapter from the renowned The Legend of Heroes series! The site of an ongoing territorial struggle between the Erebonian Empire and the Republic of Calvard, Crossbell has developed into a prosperous city-state and one of the continent’s leading economic centers.
After three years away from his hometown, Lloyd Bannings returns in order to follow his late brother's footsteps and join the Crossbell Police Department. However, when he arrives, he finds he's been assigned to the Special Support Section, a new division that handles odd jobs and minor requests. He meets his new teammates, which include Elie MacDowell, the granddaughter of the city's mayor; Randy Orlando, a womanizing ex-soldier; and Tio Plato, a young tech genius.

Though their department is mocked by the media and looked down on by the rest of the CPD, Lloyd and his friends continue to fight to make their city a better place. As they do, however, they slowly come face-to-face with the criminal corruption gripping their city. Little do they know just how deep the shadows of Crossbell City go...

Key Features
Welcome to Crossbell: The beginning of an exciting story arc in the Trails universe is about to begin in this iconic city-state! Experience a rich and refreshing game world that is teeming with secrets and adventures.
Polished Tactics: Strategic combat has been refined, resulting in rich, satisfying tactical gameplay. Harness powerful skills and teamwork to overcome your adversaries!
Your City, Your Story: Features such as High-speed and Skip mode allow you to cater your gameplay experience to your preferences and enjoy battles quickly to focus on the surrounding story and events.

RPG Site has reviewed the upcoming J-RPG The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero:

The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero Review

At long last, English-speaking Legend of Heroes fans can (officially) experience the first entry of the Crossbell Arc of Falcom’s legendary series with The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero. While franchise superfans are probably already familiar with the game’s history, Trails from Zero was originally released in Japanese back on the PSP in 2010, and it has seen a number of rereleases since then, including an enhanced version in 2012 for the Playstation Vita known as Zero no Kiseki: Evolution, which would later get a remaster on PS4 known as Zero no Kiseki: Kai in the spring of 2020, but none of these versions received English localizations at the time. For those keeping track of the series timeline, Trails from Zero takes place after the events of Trails in the Sky: The 3rd, while featuring a new primary cast and setting.

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Considering its availability on modern platforms, The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero is potentially the best and easiest starting point currently for players to easily jump into this behemoth of a series. With this release, it is the easiest of the games to play while spoiling the least amount of events from other games and also having a solid and slightly more modern feel to it. I fell even more in love with the SSS after finally being able to see their beginnings and experience the start of their stories together and their home of Crossbell. I loved exploring the hills of Amorica and the mines of Maize, heading off the goons of Revache while befriending the gangs of the Downtown district. I loved reading every witty response from each treasure chest I opened (seriously, after opening a chest, check it again for some great messages and puns), and each new reveal I uncovered. Having primarily played this on my Steamdeck, it led to many late nights and hushed gasps as I tried not to wake my wife after a shocking twist, a feeling that Falcom seems to have mastered.

Falcom’s Legend of Heroes: Trails series deserves to be held in the same high regard, if not higher, as other AAA RPG studios out there today. The wait for Trails to Azure, releasing next year, will be rough, but hopefully, this extra time will let NIS America release all the versions of the game to the high standard it deserves.

Score: 8/10

Gamesasylum reviewed The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero:

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.

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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

GamingBolt checked out the upcoming RPG The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero:

The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero Review - The Final Verdict

The Turn Based Lovers checked out The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero:

The Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero Review

It wasn’t that long ago since I played my first Legend of Heroes game: Trails of Cold Steel IV. From there, I wasn’t sure where to go with the series. Do I go back and play the third game in the Cold Steel series? (the only one available on the Switch), or do I wait for Trails From Zero, the first game in the Crossbell arc, which has had a complicated history of its own before finally being released in with English subtitles? Luckily, I didn’t have to make that choice, as NIS America was kind enough to provide me with my very own review copy.

Story
The Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero follows three months after the final game in the Trails in the Sky trilogy and follows Llyod Bannings, a rookie police detective and the appointed leader of the newly formed SSS (Special Support Section) of the CPD (Crossbell Police Department). Along with three other new recruits, Llyod and his team are put in charge of renewing the police department’s reputation, which has been lost due to the local guild showing them up and doing a better job of handling monsters and more.

While the SSS may seem like any other guild doing odd jobs here and there to up the CPD’s reputation. It isn’t long until Llyod, and his team finds themselves in the middle of a war between two crime syndicates fighting for control of Crossbell.

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Conclusion

I know this might be controversial to say, but I almost want to say that I prefer Trails From Zero more than Cold Steel IV. While Cold Steel IV is the better game in most aspects, Trails From Zero is more accessible to new players. Whether that is from the grounded story, which is the beginning of something bigger of the tight-knit team that we grow to love or the ability to speed up the gameplay, it is all here.

Trails From Zero shows that even an old game can feel new and rewarding even if most gamers have only experienced the later games in the series. If you are looking to start The Legend of Heroes games, I would highly recommend starting here and working your way forward.

Here's a new gameplay trailer for The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero:

The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero - Gameplay Trailer (NSW, PS4, PC)

RPG Site interviewed Nihon Falcom's president Toshihiro Kondo about the upcoming localization of The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero and the whole series:

Trails from Zero Interview: Toshihiro Kondo on the Crossbell Problem and Beyond

The last time we had a chance to talk with Nihon Falcom's president, Toshihiro Kondo, was back in 2019 - and a lot has changed in the years since, such as with Trails from Zero's localization announcement. Now, with the Crossbell Duology's imminent western release starting in September, we've once again had the chance to ask him about the series' as a whole, with a focus on the upcoming localization.

Unfortunately, our interview this time around was only possible through email correspondence, compared to our in-person interviews with Kondo in the past - we were limited in the scope of the questions we could ask, naturally. If you're interested in some other upcoming Trails titles, feel free to read up about our impressions on Trails into Reverie's Japanese release, as well as our thoughts on the currently Japan-only Kuro no Kiseki/Trails Before the Dawn.

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.

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A new trailer:

The Legend of Heroes: Trails to Azure - Character Trailer

The western release of The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero is set for September 27 - here's a new trailer:

The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero - Character Trailer

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Introducing the Special Support Section! Meet the protectors of Crossbell and see what each member brings to the team!

The PC version of The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero will be released on September 27:

The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero - Story Trailer (NSW, PS4, PC)

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The J-RPG The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero from 2010 gets a western PC release in 2022. The other part of the Crossbell arc Trails to Azure and the new Trails into Reverie (Hajimari no Kiseki) will follow in 2022/2023:

The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero (Zero no Kiseki)

Lloyd Bannings returns to his hometown to follow his late brother's footsteps and join the Crossbell Police Department. However, he finds himself assigned to a ragtag new division called the Special Support Section, which performs odd jobs and helps people in need. But he and his new teammates slowly discover that their vibrant city hides a dark criminal underbelly...as well as a few terrible secrets.

Experience Crossbell in this exciting chapter from the renowned The Legend of Heroes series! The site of an ongoing territorial struggle between the Erebonian Empire and the Republic of Calvard, Crossbell has developed into a prosperous city-state and one of the continent’s leading economic centers.
After three years away from his hometown, Lloyd Bannings returns in order to follow his late brother's footsteps and join the Crossbell Police Department. However, when he arrives, he finds he's been assigned to the Special Support Section, a new division that handles odd jobs and minor requests. He meets his new teammates, which include Elie MacDowell, the granddaughter of the city's mayor; Randy Orlando, a womanizing ex-soldier; and Tio Plato, a young tech genius.

Though their department is mocked by the media and looked down on by the rest of the CPD, Lloyd and his friends continue to fight to make their city a better place. As they do, however, they slowly come face-to-face with the criminal corruption gripping their city. Little do they know just how deep the shadows of Crossbell City go...

Key Features
Welcome to Crossbell: The beginning of an exciting story arc in the Trails universe is about to begin in this iconic city-state! Experience a rich and refreshing game world that is teeming with secrets and adventures.
Polished Tactics: Strategic combat has been refined, resulting in rich, satisfying tactical gameplay. Harness powerful skills and teamwork to overcome your adversaries!
Your City, Your Story: Features such as High-speed and Skip mode allow you to cater your gameplay experience to your preferences and enjoy battles quickly to focus on the surrounding story and events.