• Light/Dark
  • Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.

Trails of Zero's PS4 version will have substantially worse graphics than the Switch and PC versions.

Arubedo

Arubedo

Unshakable Resolve
Member
Dec 24, 2018
1,081
Morocco

Choosing which version of Trails from Zero to buy is an overcomplicated mess | RPG Site

What should be a simple decision for Trails fans is anything but, thanks to some curious version differences
www.rpgsite.net www.rpgsite.net

PS4:

The-Legend-of-Heroes-Trails-from-Zero_PS4-Comparison_01.jpg


Switch:

The-Legend-of-Heroes-Trails-from-Zero_PS4-Comparison_02.jpg



There is more comparison shots in the article from RPG Site.
It's really scummy that NISA didn't have a disclaimer about that.

NISA basically didn't bother to ask the company porting the game into Switch and PC to update the PS4 version that was already out in Japan.
 
Dest

Dest

Has seen more 10s than EA ever will
Coward
Jun 4, 2018
14,039
Work
Switch is more powerful than the PS4 you heard it here first.
 
JigglesBunny

JigglesBunny

Prophet of Truth
Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
31,097
Chicago
"Whoops, we uploaded the Switch version to the PlayStation store and the PlayStation version to the eShop. Should we fix it?"

"Nah, let those Switch owners have one."
 
Dolce

Dolce

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,235
uh i don't know about that, if the smoothed version is PC and stuff, the smoothing is really disgusting.

edit: ok yes it is, images were not loading.
 
Primus

Primus

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,830
So NISA contracted with Durante's company to do the PC and Switch ports, but said "fuck it" for the PS4 version?

Good lord.
 
purseowner

purseowner

From the mirror universe
Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,444
UK
tbh, not a fan of the cleaned-up textures

but yeah, this is daft, nisa
 
BassForever

BassForever

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
29,918
CT
As someone who's primarily played all of these games on portable consoles, I'm happy the Switch isn't getting some gimped version at least.
 
Strings

Strings

Member
Oct 27, 2017
31,381
Soooo... I'm guessing the Switch and PC versions were ported by Durante's company and probably have all the improvements of the fan translation, while the PS4 version is Falcom's Kai port?

EDIT: Yeah.
Long story short, while the PC and Switch releases of Trails from Zero will come with a number of Quality-of-Life and graphical enhancements courtesy of PC modding legend Durante's studio PH3, the PlayStation 4 release will remain largely the same as the "Kai" version that was released in Japan a few years back.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
 
Lowblood

Lowblood

Member
Oct 30, 2017
5,180
Uhh what the fuck

Well, at least it came early enough for me to swap my preorder. Jeez.
 
CloseTalker

CloseTalker

Member
Oct 25, 2017
30,582
i actually prefer the look of the PS4 version. The "upgraded" version has that weird too clean vibe that some of Square's mobile ports do
 
dom

dom

▲ Legend ▲
Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
10,445
Other than the text. I prefer the more pixel look
 

Mudo

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,115
Tennessee
NISA strikes again.
Been a bummer since they got Ys and Trails. These games deserve so much better than…whatever you want to call NISA.

Guess I'll get this on PC…
 
Mullet2000

Mullet2000

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,896
Toronto
NISA is the worst publisher out there, bar none. Nothing comes close to their track record.

Let's not forget that they released NIS Classics Vol 2 with one of the two games on it (Makai Kingdom) with a 100% unprogressible game-breaking crash in an unskippable cutscene about one third into the game.
 
808s & Villainy

808s & Villainy

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
42,700
I think this is the second time I've ever heard of a Switch version looking better than a PS4/XBO version of a game, and other time was IIRC one of the Ori games
 
icecream

icecream

Member
Oct 27, 2017
701
This is not even NISA's fault (more like Durante's overachievements with the ports retroactively makes the original look bad) but sure everyone go off at it.
 
oni-link

oni-link

tag reference no one gets
Member
Oct 25, 2017
16,015
UK
I only have a crap mobile screen to compare these pics atm, other than the floor what else is much worse on the PS4 pic?
 
AniHawk

AniHawk

No Fear, Only Math
Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,141
Tohsaka said:
NISA should have told people ahead of time that the PS4 version they were releasing was just Falcom's Kai release. They love to commission their own superfluous ports for so why couldn't they have done it again this time for parity's sake?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

in short, you can't go in and just mess with an original company's original programming. they have to do the work. and if schedules don't work out, then it won't happen. so if nisa went to falcom with the request (because parity would be something any publisher would want, as much as possible), and falcom didn't implement it (because falcom is clearly not working on the pc or switch versions), then falcom would be the ones to say no, most likely due to a strict need to keep resources focused on the localization effort, but mostly their internal projects.

and yeah, this could have been communicated earlier. there were hints of it in blog posts and apparently in some customer service replies, but i am not sure how this gets explained without it coming across as moving blame.
 
Last edited:
Zafir

Zafir

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,009
Pretty frustrating when I can't change the version of the CE I pre-ordered without cancelling and losing a discount....
 
Tohsaka

Tohsaka

Member
Nov 17, 2017
6,792
I find that hard to believe, either way my point stands that they should have said something ahead of time.
 
Theswweet

Theswweet

RPG Site
Verified
Oct 25, 2017
6,404
California
It doesn't matter if it was Falcom's fault, or NISA's fault, the lack of communication falls squarely at NISA's feet here. I wasn't trying to be mean with putting this PSA out - simply letting folks know, as clearly most people were entirely unaware.
 
Vic20

Vic20

Member
Nov 10, 2019
3,270
Switch texture work is way too clean, like all of the nuances of the original texture work is lost.
 
BassForever

BassForever

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
29,918
CT
oni-link said:
I only have a crap mobile screen to compare these pics atm, other than the floor what else is much worse on the PS4 pic?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
The issue is more the qol improvements that the ps4 version of Zero and Azure will likely be missing. A lot of bug fixes and the ability to retry some minigames without penalty were added in Geofront's patch that will likely be applied to the Switch and PC versions of Zero & Azure.
 
Lowblood

Lowblood

Member
Oct 30, 2017
5,180
Man, the Trails series can't catch a break.

Play Sky on the PC.
Play Crossbell on the Switch.
Play Cold Steel on the PS4.

Somehow Kuro will end up best on Xbox. :P

(Yes, I know, you could just do all of them on PC. I like consoles)

CloseTalker said:
i actually prefer the look of the PS4 version. The "upgraded" version has that weird too clean vibe that some of Square's mobile ports do
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

The graphics are subjective, but it looks like there's some QoL stuff too, like some UI options. I definitely want those updates.
 
Dolce

Dolce

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,235
BassForever said:
The issue is more the qol improvements that the ps4 version of Zero and Azure will likely be missing. A lot of bug fixes and the ability to retry some minigames without penalty were added in Geofront's patch that will likely be applied to the Switch and PC versions of Zero & Azure.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

if you can turn off these smoothed textures, it would make the choice easy, because if not the choice is between having a game without smoothed textures, or having a game with smoothed textures qol and such.
 
Natec

Natec

Member
Oct 25, 2017
160
Fucking NISA. They never said anything about this and are charging the same amount for an inferior product. Really tempted to cancel my PS4 limited edition order.
 
oni-link

oni-link

tag reference no one gets
Member
Oct 25, 2017
16,015
UK
BassForever said:
The issue is more the qol improvements that the ps4 version of Zero and Azure will likely be missing. A lot of bug fixes and the ability to retry some minigames without penalty were added in Geofront's patch that will likely be applied to the Switch and PC versions of Zero & Azure.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Ah that does suck. I'm getting this on PS4 so this is a bit of a bummer

Also I'm glad this article and thread were made cos I had no idea about this
 
Kapryov

Kapryov

Member
Oct 27, 2017
10,131
Australia
oni-link said:
I only have a crap mobile screen to compare these pics atm, other than the floor what else is much worse on the PS4 pic?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
It looks like all the textures had an AI upres, or something like that. You can actually clearly read the text on the map and station sign now (zoom in on the word Station under the compass on the top right corner), but it also makes everything a little too squeaky clean looking at the same time.
 
AniHawk

AniHawk

No Fear, Only Math
Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,141
Theswweet said:
It doesn't matter if it was Falcom's fault, or NISA's fault, the lack of communication falls squarely at NISA's feet here. I wasn't trying to be mean with putting this PSA out - simply letting folks know, as clearly most people were entirely unaware.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

it should have been communicated. the issue is that the clarity would have implied, from nisa, that the issue would land at the feet of falcom, which could potentially be damaging to their relationship with falcom, and is also unfair to the workload of falcom's programmers/coders who are working the two crossbell games and reverie almost all at once or at least in one long uninterrupted timeframe. and on top of that, they have their own games. kuro no kiseki ii is out a the end of this month. it's possible they had to release their newest entry in their flagship series at the same exact time the west was getting trails from zero for the first time.

still would have been the right thing to do. there are ways to thread that needle. but probably the better business+marketing move would have been making a super-good pc version and just a straightforward switch port because that's how things are supposed to be.
 
Last edited:
shimon

shimon

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,578
It doesn't matter whose fault is this, NISA is releasing the game and they should inform potential customers that there are differences between some platforms.
 
LossAversion

LossAversion

The Merchant of ERA
Member
Oct 28, 2017
10,662
Nice effort! I'll put the same amount of effort into my support of this release!
 
Kyrios

Kyrios

Member
Oct 27, 2017
14,622
Theswweet said:
It doesn't matter if it was Falcom's fault, or NISA's fault, the lack of communication falls squarely at NISA's feet here. I wasn't trying to be mean with putting this PSA out - simply letting folks know, as clearly most people were entirely unaware.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Really appreciate you saying something so thank you.

Regardless I think I'm still sticking with the PS4 version because after reading someone saying the PC and Switch enhancements make it look like a sterile mobile port, that's all I can see now lol
 
Ekid

Ekid

Member
Dec 21, 2017
1,638
Long story short, while the PC and Switch releases of Trails from Zero will come with a number of Quality-of-Life and graphical enhancements courtesy of PC modding legend Durante's studio PH3, the PlayStation 4 release will remain largely the same as the "Kai" version that was released in Japan a few years back.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Missing a Geofront mention here.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.