This review contains spoilers
More peak Crossbell. Trails to Azure is the sequel to the highly regarded Trails from Zero (I'm the one highly regarding it). More characters, more banger music, more locations, more lore, more enemies, more everything! Although not personally one of my favourites, it probably lies in the middle of Trails games for me, and now let's start with the story.
To put it simply, this game has the highest of highs, but the lowest of lows. Let's start with the highs. I think the raid on Crossbell city just represents how contested and corrupt Crossbell truly is, and the fact that the IBC building gets completely obliterated shows exactly this. The turf war between the Red Constellation and Heiyue is great. I think Azure end-game is really strong, and I love how we had the cavalry dealing with the aions in the Liberl crew, Kevin and Ries, it just was the cherry on top for the Liberl arc. The West Zemuria Trade Conference was also great, showing the brutality of Giliath Osborne in response to terrorists. The first dungeon is cool, having a party of Lloyd, Noel, Dudley, and Arios, and then shortly after gaining Elie and Wazy. It was slightly annoying that two of the fan favourites from Zero were locked till the ends of Chapters 1 and 2, but it made the SSS reunion even more great. However, this game has certain things that really kill the payoff at the end. Ian Grimwood being the surprise 'villain' was okay, it seemed random but I was so sure that it would have a good pay-off. Turns out Lloyd's speech was able to quickly get him to defect.. Are you kidding me? That made no sense and it just really kills the finale for me. They honestly should've just honed in on Mariabelle being the main antagonist of the game, but nope. Honestly, other than that moment, I don't think there were any other misses in Azure that completely come to mind. Maybe KeA being manipulated by Mariabelle, but it makes sense considering she's essentially a child.
Now the characters, I loved the development Randy got during the raid on Mainz, probably sky-rocketed to one of my favourites. Finding Olivier in the Downtown District during the West Zemuria Trade Conference was great, and I loved how Kloe, Olivier, and the SSS got to talk aboard the Arseille, it reminded me of SC. Noel and Wazy were great additions to the SSS, and Lloyd telling Noel that she's his was probably peak Lloyd banter and being blissfully unaware of what was coming out of his mouth. Probably unpopular opinion, but I probably love Lloyd as much as I love Estelle, maybe even a little more? I can't exactly put my finger on it but I think he's exactly the leader that the SSS needs, calm-headed but also tough when he needs to be. Elie still seems pretty meh to me, I wish they explored her relationship with Mariabell more and her turn-coating on them. Shizuku and KeA must be protected at all costs, they're too precious. However, while there are a lot of characters I love, there are probably two that are complete misses in my book. Wald and Shirley. Wald just makes no sense to me, he wants to be strong enough to beat Wazy, sure I see why he became a monster because Wazy has been holding back this entire time. I just don't understand why he attacks his gang members and just randomly trauma dumps on us? Maybe I'm biased because my favourite character in the game is Wazy but idk, I just don't get him. I don't know about others but Shirley sexually and physically assaulting everyone was just a huge red flag, do people actually like her? Now, I want to talk about Wazy. It was interesting that he joined the SSS. Being a member of the Gralsritter was definitely a surprise, but now that I think about it, his gang was literally called 'The Testaments,' clearly I'm blind to the obvious. I love hiw witty banter with Randy and Lloyd. Doesn't help that he was a beast in combat for me. Overall, loved the characters in this game.
Gameplay wise, I love the inclusion of Master Quartz, made building people even better. I was finally able to make Wazy the ATS Nuke that he was always meant to be. Other than combo crafts between the new members of the SSS, there really wasn't much of a change. I do want to say however that the fight with the Silver Maiden is probably the most dope thing ever, solely because of the fact that her helmet had it's own HP bar. The fact I had to drag her into a corner with Lloyd's craft and spam arts against her on Nightmare really speaks to her strength.
Music, it's peak. I say this everytime, but it's true. The big standout for me is definitely the Thaumaturgical Sector theme, it's just such a bop. Others are great, but that was probably the one that stood out to me the most.
Final thoughts: Don't let people hyping a game up get to your head, it probably sours your experience if you don't agree. Personally, it's middle of the road for me, but it definitely has a strong case going for it as a fan favourite.
Alas, it has Wazy Hemisphere, so I feel that I'm obligated to give this game 5 stars anyways. Who's kidding, it's a trails game, so it's automatically getting 5 stars.
To put it simply, this game has the highest of highs, but the lowest of lows. Let's start with the highs. I think the raid on Crossbell city just represents how contested and corrupt Crossbell truly is, and the fact that the IBC building gets completely obliterated shows exactly this. The turf war between the Red Constellation and Heiyue is great. I think Azure end-game is really strong, and I love how we had the cavalry dealing with the aions in the Liberl crew, Kevin and Ries, it just was the cherry on top for the Liberl arc. The West Zemuria Trade Conference was also great, showing the brutality of Giliath Osborne in response to terrorists. The first dungeon is cool, having a party of Lloyd, Noel, Dudley, and Arios, and then shortly after gaining Elie and Wazy. It was slightly annoying that two of the fan favourites from Zero were locked till the ends of Chapters 1 and 2, but it made the SSS reunion even more great. However, this game has certain things that really kill the payoff at the end. Ian Grimwood being the surprise 'villain' was okay, it seemed random but I was so sure that it would have a good pay-off. Turns out Lloyd's speech was able to quickly get him to defect.. Are you kidding me? That made no sense and it just really kills the finale for me. They honestly should've just honed in on Mariabelle being the main antagonist of the game, but nope. Honestly, other than that moment, I don't think there were any other misses in Azure that completely come to mind. Maybe KeA being manipulated by Mariabelle, but it makes sense considering she's essentially a child.
Now the characters, I loved the development Randy got during the raid on Mainz, probably sky-rocketed to one of my favourites. Finding Olivier in the Downtown District during the West Zemuria Trade Conference was great, and I loved how Kloe, Olivier, and the SSS got to talk aboard the Arseille, it reminded me of SC. Noel and Wazy were great additions to the SSS, and Lloyd telling Noel that she's his was probably peak Lloyd banter and being blissfully unaware of what was coming out of his mouth. Probably unpopular opinion, but I probably love Lloyd as much as I love Estelle, maybe even a little more? I can't exactly put my finger on it but I think he's exactly the leader that the SSS needs, calm-headed but also tough when he needs to be. Elie still seems pretty meh to me, I wish they explored her relationship with Mariabell more and her turn-coating on them. Shizuku and KeA must be protected at all costs, they're too precious. However, while there are a lot of characters I love, there are probably two that are complete misses in my book. Wald and Shirley. Wald just makes no sense to me, he wants to be strong enough to beat Wazy, sure I see why he became a monster because Wazy has been holding back this entire time. I just don't understand why he attacks his gang members and just randomly trauma dumps on us? Maybe I'm biased because my favourite character in the game is Wazy but idk, I just don't get him. I don't know about others but Shirley sexually and physically assaulting everyone was just a huge red flag, do people actually like her? Now, I want to talk about Wazy. It was interesting that he joined the SSS. Being a member of the Gralsritter was definitely a surprise, but now that I think about it, his gang was literally called 'The Testaments,' clearly I'm blind to the obvious. I love hiw witty banter with Randy and Lloyd. Doesn't help that he was a beast in combat for me. Overall, loved the characters in this game.
Gameplay wise, I love the inclusion of Master Quartz, made building people even better. I was finally able to make Wazy the ATS Nuke that he was always meant to be. Other than combo crafts between the new members of the SSS, there really wasn't much of a change. I do want to say however that the fight with the Silver Maiden is probably the most dope thing ever, solely because of the fact that her helmet had it's own HP bar. The fact I had to drag her into a corner with Lloyd's craft and spam arts against her on Nightmare really speaks to her strength.
Music, it's peak. I say this everytime, but it's true. The big standout for me is definitely the Thaumaturgical Sector theme, it's just such a bop. Others are great, but that was probably the one that stood out to me the most.
Final thoughts: Don't let people hyping a game up get to your head, it probably sours your experience if you don't agree. Personally, it's middle of the road for me, but it definitely has a strong case going for it as a fan favourite.
Alas, it has Wazy Hemisphere, so I feel that I'm obligated to give this game 5 stars anyways. Who's kidding, it's a trails game, so it's automatically getting 5 stars.