Looking back this really is the game that solidifies Trails as my favorite franchise of all time. Everything from the tension, stakes, characters, emotional moments got me jumping from my seat and breaking my heart. The game that changed everything about the direction of the story which wouldn't hit as hard if they did not characterized and made me as attached to the main cast than I did. Gameplay is great and the story is phenomenal, Crossbell really is one of my favorite locations in media for me. I may like a few other Trails games more but Azure still always got a special place for me.

While I did not like this game as much there were still quite a few positives and I can see why many like it, but personally it's just not really my thing. The game has a clear focus on what it wants to be and I think having Kiryu as a father role was a brilliant direction for his character. There were also some genuinely heartfelt moments but the stories itself feels generally uninteresting, in the end I never really got attached to any of the kids or Rikiya (his substories were good but as character he is lacking) to fully immerse myself in some of the events that happen towards the end even though I really tried to and wish I did. It might also be due to the fact that I was not as engaged in the substories or minigames because it felt quite crusty and a slog to get through. Idk man Okinawa just didn't do it for me as a setting.

Onto the things I like though, the yakuza stuff towards the second half of the story was pretty great and what really bump this game up for me. While the plot itself wasn't as good as the previous games but I still did like how they showed the dire states of Tojo clan and it was pretty fun seeing some of the previous game characters again. Mine again is another awesome antagonist for this series. He is another character dealt a bad hand in life and I love how Kiryu is a reflection of what he could never become due to his distrust of others and the conclusion is honestly the most emotions I felt in this game lol.

The gameplay in this game just infuriates me, the blocking is one thing but the thing I hate the most is how little damage you do, Kiryu is extremely weak so when I want to beat the shit out of assholes like Tamashiro and Kanda it gives me no satisfaction just rage, I was in a bad mood throughout some of these fights. The chasing events are fucking cancer.