The thirteenth installment of the ever popular Trails series can finally be enjoyed by those who don’t speak Japanese and wish to get ahead of the curve instead of waiting for a localized release.
The Trails series, also known as The Legend of Heroes, is a renowned collection of turn based role-playing video games developed and published by Nihon Falcom.
Set within the vast and interconnected continent of Zemuria, the series is known for its deep storytelling, character development and immersive gameplay, hence why there are thirteen total games in the The Legend of Heroes series, with several titles continually expanding with their own sequels such as Sora no Kiseki and Sen no Kiseki.
Sort of like Atelier in a way with many game installments based in the same universe with spin-offs and sequels galore but with a sort of Persona quality to it.
Considering how Trails essentially spawned off into its own mainline series having originated as apart of the Dragon Slayer series, it’s all quite interesting and confusing actually.
Kuro no Kiseki II otherwise known as The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak II is a direct sequel to the first game in the Kuro no Kiseki sub-series, continuing the story of a group of characters in the fictional country of Calvard.
The game follows the adventures of the protagonist, a detective named Van Arkride, as he uncovers a conspiracy involving powerful organizations and political scheming, overall Kuro no Kiseki II offers an immersive and engaging RPG experience, much like any other Trails game with its blend of compelling storytelling and true to form RPG gameplay mechanics that not even Final Fantasy held onto.
But sadly, while Kuro no Kiseki I and II are both available to purchase on PC via Steam, however neither game has an actual English localization option, meaning that those who opt to buy or acquire the game through alternative means is forced to play through the game the way it was naturally intended, in the Japanese language.
Though considering the vast amount of additional DLC costume content for both games, perhaps you’d prefer to download the game from an “alternative” storefront, either way, for gaijin like myself who cannot speak Japanese they’ve been shit out of luck regarding the ability to actually play through the latest couple of Trails installments as 2020’s Trails into Reverie had only just received a localized English release back in July.
While Nihon Falcom might prioritize the notion of pushing consumers into buying “season passes” for its Trails series, while unleashing a metric fuck load of tiny costume DLC items, I don’t want to be too bashful towards them.
Especially when considering how they are among the few game developers remaining in the world who haven’t toned down their games in favor of appealing towards the non-existent western “wider audience” or haven’t bent over for ESG bucks by making every character black, trans, gay or non-binary alongside whacking female characters with an ugly stick.
To put it bluntly, Nihon Falcom haven’t “cucked” to western sensitivities with several revealing swimsuit outfits (that aren’t DLC items) featuring so called “problematic” designs that would certainly result in a Twitter smear campaign when western feminists got wind of it. Nihon Falcom know what their audience wants and I respect them for that.
While the English localized release of Kuro no Kiseki is set to come out halfway through next year, fans will more than likely be waiting even longer for an official English release of Kuro no Kiseki II.
However thanks to the mysterious hacker known only as “4chan” anonymous individuals have wrapped up their unofficial English translations modifications for both Kuro no Kiseki installments.
Here’s the unofficial English patch in action for Kuro no Kiseki I
And here’s the patch in action for Kuro no Kiseki II
This comes as a massive surprise given how poorly fan translations for the Trails series had gone over with western publication outfit, NISA or NIS America who oversees western releases for many Japanese titles including The Legend of Heroes seemingly had a massive stick up their ass to shut down “Zerofield”, a fan translation website for the Trails series.
So for these Chat GPT English translation patches to come out right now for both Kuro no Kiseki and Kuro no Kiseki II is quite a big deal and a massive middle finger to those fucking pricks at NISA.
Obviously the translations are not perfect given that they were compiled together via Chat GPT, but given how most publications outlets deploy similar techniques for their articles you can rest easy knowing that the unofficial translations will be “good enough” and possibly provide greater authenticity and accuracy than a genuine localized release.
You can download the English translation patches below:
