If you’ve spent any time in the JRPG rabbit hole lately, you’ve probably heard people screaming about the Trails series. It’s huge. It’s dense. It has enough lore to choke a library. But before Rean Schwarzer ever boarded a tank and before Estelle Bright picked up a staff, there was the Gagharv Trilogy. Specifically, there was The Legend of Heroes 4: A Tear of Vermillion (or Akai Shizuku if you’re a purist).
Honestly, it’s a weird game. It’s the black sheep of a family that already wears a lot of wool. Depending on who you ask, it’s either a masterpiece of 90s storytelling or a clunky, grindy mess that was butchered by a mediocre English PSP translation.
Both are kinda true.
The Identity Crisis: PC-98 vs. Windows vs. PSP
Here is the first thing you need to understand: the version of The Legend of Heroes 4 you play fundamentally changes what kind of game it is. We aren't just talking about a "remaster" with better textures. We’re talking about a complete identity transplant.
The original 1996 release for the NEC PC-9801 was basically an open-world RPG before that was a buzzword. It was non-linear. You’d get to a town, hit up the Request Office, and just... do stuff. You chose your party members from a pool of nine different characters. It felt like an adventure you were actually in charge of.
Then, around 2000, Falcom remade it for Windows. They panicked. They decided the open-world stuff was too messy, so they turned it into a "on-rails" narrative experience. The plot was expanded, the characters were fleshed out, but that freedom? Gone. Most Western fans only know the 2005 PSP version, which was based on the Windows remake but suffered from a translation so stiff it felt like it was written by a legal department.
🔗 Read more: Lust Academy Season 1: Why This Visual Novel Actually Works
What Really Happened With Avin and Eimelle?
The story starts with a gut punch. You’ve got these two kids, Avin and Eimelle, living in a cathedral. Suddenly, a cult of "Octum’s Apostles" shows up and starts burning the place down because Eimelle is "Durga’s Daughter."
It’s a classic "separated siblings" trope, but The Legend of Heroes 4 handles it with a surprising amount of melancholy. You spend the first half of the game just trying to find her. No saving the world. No killing gods (yet). Just a boy and his best friend, Mile, walking across the continent of El Phildin because they miss a sister.
The Mile Factor
Mile is arguably the soul of the game. He’s the "calm" to Avin’s "impetuous idiot" energy. In the beginning, they make a wish at a pond. Avin’s charm doesn't reach the center—a sign his wish won't come true. Mile immediately throws his own charm, wishing for Avin's happiness instead.
That’s the kind of writing that makes this game stick. It’s not about the stats; it’s about the fact that these two would literally walk into a volcano for each other.
The "Gagharv" Connectivity
You might wonder why this is called "The Legend of Heroes 4" but is technically the second part of a trilogy. Welcome to Falcom's timeline management. The Gagharv Trilogy consists of:
💡 You might also like: OG John Wick Skin: Why Everyone Still Calls The Reaper by the Wrong Name
- White Witch (LoH 3)
- A Tear of Vermillion (LoH 4)
- Cagesong of the Ocean (LoH 5)
A Tear of Vermillion is actually a prequel to White Witch. It takes place about 56 years earlier. The world is divided by a massive rift in the earth called the Gagharv, which prevents people from traveling between continents. If you've played the later Trails games, you'll see the DNA here. The "Request Office" in El Phildin is the direct ancestor of the Bracer Guild. The complex political ties between the Church of Bardus and the Royal Family of El Phildin laid the groundwork for the Septian Church lore in Trails in the Sky.
Why the Gameplay Polarizes Everyone
Let’s be real: the combat in the versions we got in the West is... fine. It’s turn-based, you move on a grid, and you cast spells. But in the original PC-98 version, it was "Tactical Auto-Battle." You gave general orders, and the AI did its best (or worst) to follow them.
The most "love it or hate it" feature? The Pet System.
Depending on how you answer questions at the start, you get a cat, dog, or rabbit. You have to feed it and praise it. If it’s happy, it might drop a rock on an enemy's head during a fight. If it’s mad? It just sits there. It’s a very 1996 mechanic that somehow survived into the remakes.
The Problem With Leveling
In the PSP version, Falcom (well, Bandai, who handled the port) implemented a system where EXP drops off hard if you outlevel an area. This makes grinding almost impossible but also makes the game feel like a slog if you’re trying to see all the side content. It forces you to stay on the path. For a game that started as an open-world experiment, that’s a bit of a tragedy.
The Characters You Actually Care About
Aside from the main duo, the cast is genuinely great. You have:
📖 Related: Finding Every Bubbul Gem: Why the Map of Caves TOTK Actually Matters
- Rutice: A former cult member who starts out as an antagonist but joins you after realizing her bosses are, you know, evil. Her romance with Avin is one of the better-paced "slow burns" in the series.
- Douglas: The "Lightning Sword" guy. Every Falcom game needs a cool swordsman with a big ego. He’s that guy.
- Muse: A "mysterious" girl who uses a whip. It’s revealed later she’s actually Princess Mildine of El Phildin. Her acronym name—M.U.S.E.—stands for Mildine Uriel Silvania Esmelas. Subtle, right?
Why You Should Still Care in 2026
With the recent remake of Trails in the Sky and the general "Falcom Renaissance," people are looking back at the Gagharv games. They are the bridge between the old-school "Dragon Slayer" days and the modern cinematic JRPG.
There's a rawness to A Tear of Vermillion. It’s a story about religious extremism, the loss of childhood innocence, and the physical toll of a long journey. When you finally reach the "Sealed Land" and face the Apostles, it feels earned because you’ve spent 40 hours just walking and talking to NPCs who actually have lives.
How to play it today
If you want to experience this, you have options, but none are perfect.
- The PSP Version: The easiest to find. The translation is "okay" but misses a lot of the nuance. It’s the version most people use to get into the lore.
- The Geofront/Fan Translations: There have been massive efforts by the community to bring the superior Windows versions to English speakers with better scripts. If you’re on a PC, this is the definitive way.
- The Gagharv Trilogy Mobile Remake: As of 2024/2025, there’s a mobile reimagining. It’s got flashy 3D graphics, but it changes the gameplay into a more modern gacha-style system. Good for the story, weird for the soul.
Actionable Steps for the Aspiring Hero
If you’re ready to dive into El Phildin, don’t just rush the main quest. You’ll get bored.
- Talk to the NPCs twice: Falcom invented the "changing NPC dialogue" thing here. Every time a minor plot event happens, the townsfolk have new things to say.
- Don’t ignore the Request Office: In the versions that have it, these side quests are where the world-building lives.
- Manage your party's "Action" bar: The AT (Action Time) gauge is the most important thing in combat. If you don't time your spells, the enemies will interrupt you and stun-lock your team into oblivion.
The Legend of Heroes 4 isn't a perfect game, but it’s a vital one. It’s the moment a series stopped being "just another RPG" and started trying to build a world that felt like it existed long after you turned the console off. Keep an eye on the "Bonds of Life" and "Bonds of Earth" items—they are more than just plot MacGuffins; they represent the two sides of the humanity the game tries so hard to explore.
Final tip: If you find a kitten in a cathedral at the start of the game, just know that tiny cat is going to be the catalyst for a 60-year geopolitical shift. JRPGs, man. They’re wild.