The Legend of Heroes: Trails to Azure

Disclaimer: This review is based on the Geofront Fan Translation patch on the Joyoland PC copy of Ao no Kiseki. While in the middle of my playthrough, a western release was announced by NISA. Instead of waiting until 2023 for that release, I decided to finish my playthrough on the fan patched version and review that experience.

Trails fans rejoice! An English version of Ao no Kiseki or Trails to Azure with modern gameplay improvements is finally here. Trails to Azure is an important game in the Trails universe. Not only is it the final game in the Crossbell arc, but it also fills in the gaps in the Cold Steel Arc. Compared to its predecessor: Trails from Zero, Trails to Azure is a bold piece of work that is much wider in scope, scale and story. The game cleverly utilizes the characters and environments in the existing Trails universe to deliver an exciting narrative that works. One major gripe I have with the game is that it unfurls many unresolved plot threads. They are not as bad as the cliffhanger variety that some Trails games are infamous for, but they are more like a “wink and a nod” by Nihon Falcom that the Trails saga still has some gas in the tank. Another issue is that the game is fairly padded with several in-game days worth of world building and unnecessarily long dungeons. Even with those flaws, I still think Trails to Azure may very well be the best game in the Trails saga and should not be overlooked.

Trails to Azure is a direct sequel to Trails from Zero and the opening minutes of the game will immediately spoil the events in the previous game. There are also multiple references and cameos from the Sky arc, so I would also highly recommend playing or watching a recap of the Trails of the Sky series before you play this game.

You yet again play as Lloyd Bannings, member of the Crossbell Police Department and leader of the Special Support Section. The SSS is no longer a laughing stock, but a respected division due to their accolades of stopping the assassination of the mayor, arresting the Revanche crime syndicate and defeating a cult developing a drug that turns people into superhumans. Crossbell is in a rebuilding phase. The members of the SSS have temporarily parted ways to help support the state. Lloyd is not alone as two new, yet familiar faces join the SSS. The first is Noel, a firearms and automobile expert from the Crossbell Guardian Force who assisted the SSS in their investigations. The second is Wazy, leader of the Testaments and who has also helped the SSS in some tight occasions. Things are not going to be easy on Lloyd and his new teammates, as the West Zemuria Trade Conference, the real world equivalent to the G7 summit, is about to take place in Crossbell. Plenty of foreign dignitaries are expected to arrive in Crossbell and security will be very very tight.

Trails to Azure plays similarly to Trails from Zero albeit with minor differences. Instead of actively investigating conspiracies and crimes, most of the time is spent preparing and reacting to events. There is a massive tsunami of people that the SSS is expecting to arrive at Crossbell and their job is to do whatever they can to prepare for it. Most of the content, like the character and enemy designs are recycled from Zero. The map of Crossbell State is nearly identical as well. To make traveling easier, the SSS is rewarded with a car which enables them to fast travel. All of the other Trails gameplay mechanics remain intact. There is still cooking, fishing and a LOT of talking to interesting NPCs.

There are two new gameplay mechanics in Azure. The first is Burst Mode. In some dungeons, the SSS will gain the ability to Burst, granting them uninterrupted turns within a time period. The Burst gauge is charged by successfully landing attacks and avoiding blows similar to a combo meter. The Burst mechanic trivializes most combat encounters as it removes the risk and reward of using a powerful Art or S-Craft. Normally using these high powered moves penalizes the player by drastically delaying their next turn, but the Burst Mode nullifies this and makes it easy to spam these moves.

The second mechanic is the introduction of Master Quartz which some TCS players are already familiar with. Master Quartz are quartz that grant passive bonuses and level up the longer they are equipped. When fully leveled, the Master Quartz unlocks a Master Art that grants the party a huge boon. The Master Quartz mechanic is a good idea in theory, but because they take so long to level up, you will most likely stick with the same Master Quartz for the entire game. None of these gameplay changes will dramatically impact your enjoyment of the game but you may find Trails to Azure slightly easier than Trails from Zero.

The Geofront Fan Translation patch is yet again a remarkable achievement. Every piece of dialog feels professionally written and perfectly captures a character’s nuances, accent and vocabulary. The translation in Trails to Azure just seems a tad sharper than Trails from Zero, the zingers have more punch to them and the back and forth banter sounds more natural. Of course, the patch does not only just localize the game to English but also brings the same improvements found in Zero, like the ability to fast forward, a message log, improved graphics, controller support and quick resume. However the quality of the PC port itself is a bit suspect.

The Joyoland PC port of Trails to Azure is buggy and tricky to obtain. There is no Japanese PC port of Trails to Azure because the PC port of Trails from Zero sold very poorly in Japan. The only way prior to the NISA announcement to legally obtain a copy of Azure and apply the Geofront Fan Translation patch to it, is to purchase a license through the Chinese Joyoland website. The Joyoland executable of Trails to Azure is laden with DRM-ware and I had to disable my Anti-Virus software because it was identifying the executable as a Trojan virus. Even after installing Trails to Azure (on my hopefully non-infected PC), I noticed the game didn’t run as smoothly as Trails from Zero. I cannot confirm whether it is patch related or not, but I experienced a couple of bugs. There are odd frame rate issues where the game temporarily slows down everytime you enter a new screen. The GUI would occasionally flicker for a few frames, especially when using the fast forward button. And a specific mini-game is impossible to complete if the frame rate is set higher than 30 frames per second. I did not experience any game breaking bugs fortunately but wanted to point these issues out for those who are not patient enough to wait for the official western release.

The world building and incredible narrative that Nihon Falcom managed to deliver in Trails to Azure dwarfs the storytelling in other well known AAA JRPGs, let’s say of the “Fantasy” variety. However I had problems with many characters and plot points that felt lazily explained or seemed to overcomplicate things with no justification.

Spoilers ahead...

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My biggest pet peeve is Ouroboros. They are a complete red herring in this game. They show up, spread some chaos, pout about their “Phantasmal Blaze Plan” and then peace out. Nothing is explained about them except a scene with the Rosenberg doll maker Joerg. Similar to TCS2, you can never defeat these monsters, as they always make it out or are too inhumanly powerful to be defeated. It is obvious that Falcom has provided them plot armor so that they can show up in future Trails games. I vastly preferred theTrails of the Sky SC rendition of Ouroboros as the mysterious figures that seemed overwhelmingly strong at first but the organization is vulnerable and can be beaten.

My second qualm is how the game explains the drug Gnosis. In Azure, a new professor named Professor Seiland comes to Crossbell and takes over the role that Professor Joachhim once resided. One of the tasks the SSS undergoes is to investigate how Gnosis works by surveying the people who took the drug and reporting the results to the professor. Turns out little is gained from doing this. Professor Seiland explains that Gnosis draws out the latent abilities of an individual, but can’t explain things like where one user had extraordinary amounts of luck or how other users turned into mindless zombies. Later on you learn that Gnosis also transfers the knowledge of its users to KeA somehow. It’s rather annoying how the game tries to explain the drug and ultimately gives up with a shrug and suggests that it is all Aidios magic or something.

My last problem with the game is it feels unnecessarily padded. The most egregious example is the final dungeon. It took a whopping six hours for me to complete. The dungeon is not too difficult, but there are so many different levels and lack of break points that it becomes mind-numbingly tedious. The game does provide a shortcut to get back out, but the shortcut itself is a long and monotonous walk. It boggles my mind why the devs couldn’t have introduced a teleportation device instead. Chapter 2 is also padded out with very little main plot content. I’ll give that chapter a bit of a pass because the optional requests are interesting and help flesh out the world.

Spoilers are over.

Trails to Azure intelligently picks up from where Trails to Zero ends and never lets off. Characters who you thought you knew inside and out are presented in a new light. Towns, temples and other places are revisited with a fresh perspective. The stakes are higher this time around, as the SSS are now handling affairs on an international scale. And Crossbell City itself once again becomes a pivotal character that drastically transforms throughout the game. Trails to Azure is not flawless as its large body of work makes it easier to scrutinize. I can overlook these faults because the narrative of the game is strong and most chapters are substantive and unique. Trails to Azure is a joy to play and is especially rewarding for Trails fans.