Special Support Section, assemble. We know you're new to the job here in Crossbell, and some of you have never even seen this city until just recently. We also understand that as Trails from Zero is technically a work of fiction and a JRPG, players assuming the role of the SSS are going to be just as curious as the game's protagonists to poke around every corner of the capital.
We're here with the latest report from the Crossbell News Agency in this developing story on six relatable things every Special Support Section recruit (and by proxy, every player) does when playing Trails from Zero. Listen closely, and know you're not alone.
At ease.
6 Underestimate Sepith Requirements
Among Chapter One's request-based sidequests is an offer from Crossbell's bank to nab a fair number of sepith fragments from each element, at which point IBC will henceforth permit the exchange of sepith for cash at a premium payout relative to every other shop in the game.
Make no mistake, this is far and away the best way to earn money in Trails from Zero. On the other hand, it's easy to fall into a hypnotic state with all this, forking over entirely too much sepith out of sheer amazement. Has gearing up been tough until now? No longer. Did Emelda's fancy-sweet accessory prices scare you earlier? That 25,000 Mira fee can get knocked out in no time.
As new players, we might not know this, but a little later on, you'll be able to begin trading in similarly large sums of sepith in order to upgrade everybody's Quartz slots. Building these up at Genten Orbal Factory will allow the party to equip higher-tier Quartz, increasing their elemental totals. You're going to need a lot of Mira for this.
Did you sell it all? Unfortunate. But relatable. Now, go build your stock back up, recruits.
5 Mess Up The Music
Here's a minor one, but it would take some real dedication to something awfully unimportant to prevent it from ever happening.
Trails from Zero's modern ports come packaged with a bunch of bells and whistles, but by far the savviest is the ability to speed things up. By either pressing a button toggle or holding down the assigned key, you can speed up your fights, your wanderings, and even your character interactions. Traversing the city was once arduous. Now, it's easy-peasy.
One downside, however, is that music isn't sped-up to sync. This can result in some hilarious little bits, like the resting and sleeping track continuing on well into your return outdoors from the SSS building, That might not sound like a belly-rumbling good time on paper, but it's pretty funny in practice... and we're positive you'll be hearing it several times.
4 Request Zeit's Aid... Just Because You Can
So. There's a dog. A wolf, really, but he masquerades as a dog. If you're reading this article rather early into the game, you might not want to know every detail about how this comes about, so we'll keep it short and sweet; this mystery wolf-dog makes himself at home at the SSS building from a certain point forward.
It's a given that you'll talk to the wolf-dog at every opportunity, because he's a wolf-dog, and it's cute when he growls, and this is pretty much what people live for, is talking to wolf-dogs in video games. We get it. But since you can also request Zeit's aid in combat, there's a good chance you're going to be doing that a lot as well.
Is Zeit the best approach to most fights? Nah, but he can help. Do we summon him a bunch just because we can? Uh, yes?
3 Look Forward To Treasure Chest Messages More Than Actual Treasure
There comes a time in any player's life when discovering yet another Tearal Balm just doesn't hold the same thrill anymore. (Often, this occurs the very first time.)
Trails from Zero's treasure chests might not always sparkle on the basis of their contents, and in any other series, that would be the end of that discussion. But the Crossbell games, much akin to the Sky trilogy which preceded them, have done something brilliantly bonkers: they've made it so that interacting with every treasure chest a second time, after acquiring the item, will lead to a secret message.
More often than not, these messages are laugh-out-loud funny. Many of the treasure chests themselves a sort of sentience, filling you in on what is almost certainly fake lore about "chestfolk." Others lambast you as a thief in relentlessly creative ways. Some tell poetry. It is, as they say, a whole thing.
2 Wish The Casino Dealer Had More To Say
Maybe you're playing lots of poker, blackjack, roulette, and slots to pile up tokens for some good gear. Maybe your goal is something else that's caught your eye. Or maybe, just maybe, for whatever reason you have decided that Trails from Zero is your singular venue for playing these popular casino classics.
Whatever the case may be, for a game from a series that prides itself on so much NPC dialogue diversity (more on that in a moment...), you'd think the dealer would have more than three things to say in each of the card games. One quote for congratulating you, one for recognizing ties, and one for admonishing you for losing. (What is up with that, anyway?)
Give this guy some flavor, right? Surely, we all think this around our 89th or so poker hand. Don't place the blame on us for playing 89 and more hands of poker, by the way. That's just commitment, you know.
1 Make It A Point To Talk To Every NPC; Give Up
The Trails series is wonderfully ambitious for updating every NPC's dialogue in each game after every event. This can often mean even the most superfluous-seeming city-dwellers can prove remarkably complex by game's end. Even department store receptionists and wandering neighborhood kids might have dozens of new things to say over time.
As impressive as this is, it also makes for what can be a notoriously painful experience for completionist players, who may find themselves interacting with secondary, tertiary, and even outright fluff characters for hours every chapter.
Maybe your goal is to rise to Falcom's challenge. You're going to do it. You're going to talk to everybody, after every story-related mission, likely bloating your playtime by another 15 to 20 hours out of sheer stubbornness and/or serious curiosity.
But eventually, something happens to all but the most outstandingly stalwart of conversationalists — we give up. Corners are cut. Have you spoken to that guy who's always been seated at that bench in IBC? No? What about the prep cook at the restaurant on Central Square? Nah? Best to stick with every second NPC now. Maybe every third. Maybe every...
If you can make it past even just the second chapter without this hitting you hard, you have our admiration. And our sympathies.