The Legend of Heroes: Trails to Azure

AO NO KAMI

I really liked this game! It takes a while to really get into the swing of things, and the Second Game Syndrome hits really hard here. Exploring the same overworld and opening the same chests again is incredibly tedious when there is very little to differentiate from the first game, outside of the story itself. The story is very good, though. You're left in the dark for such a long time until the pieces finally click, and the way its done is really cool. The motivations for the main villain is like, whatever. I don't care for the "secret twist villain" thing that this series clings to (especially after its done twice in this game) but regardless I found the way that the Main Mystery from Zero is resolved to be satisfying and good. The finale with KeA and the final few scenes were absolutely amazing and heartbreaking, I applaud them. In terms of gameplay, this one is tricky. The overall boss design is very same-y and not unique (for the most part), but there are a few standout fights that were especially good. Both of Sigmunds fights were good in seperate ways, and the same can be said about both of Arios' fights. The Arianrhod fight completely sucks because it requests you to use one specific ability (that only one character has access to) in order to counteract her gimmick of instakilling your entire team. This sucks, unfortunately, and doesn't feel like it has a place in this game due to the fact that it feels very unimmersive, especially considering it requires an amount of cheese. The fact that you aren't supposed to ACTUALLY beat her makes sense, but I still just do not like this fight. The same can be said about the Final Final Final boss, because it also has the capacity to instakill you without warning (or if there was a warning, i couldnt figure it out after 5 seperate attempts where it snuck up behind me each time). Going through the motions of doing side quests constantly is really tiring and I wish I could just skip them entirely but I can't, because they're canon. I feel as if this game's finale was too long even if I don't know how to make it shorter. It just drags a lot because it uses the same formula for the entire chapter, and the final dungeon was repetitive (even if i think it is visually stunning). I think overall the pros outweigh the cons of this game, so I can excuse my problems with the gameplay. Despite this, there is a very big elephant in the room that comes with the localization team. They reuse phrases and words so ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ often that it quickly becomes grating. Reading "Haha." over and over again does something to the brain that is not good. The localization is pretty dated and uses a lot of pseudo-modern zoomer lingo (like the term "bruh moment" or "taking dubs") and it clashes with the fact this game released 10 years before it was properly translated. Still, I like the game. I hope Cold Steel is good.

YES

As the 5th Trails game I’ve played in a row, while I am happy to give this a solid recommendation, I have more issues with the plot and story than I have with the past four games. I will not be spoiling anything but will speak in broad terms on what my issues were in game near the end of my review. Overall, it is another great entry in the Trails franchise and I will be continuing onward into Cold Steel. Trails to Azure continues in gameplay tweaks and improvements seen in the past four games. Looking back, it does feel like an overall upward trend that I hope to see continue in Cold Steel. Graphically we have smaller updates but the colours and artwork continue to bring about this vibrant fantasy world with a distinct vision into focus. The OST continues to be some of the best in video games, tracks so memorable I remember where I was ingame when I fist heard them or which characters are associated. Still not a single bad track on the soundtrack. Which of course leads us to the main course of this franchise, the story and characters. Overall, fantastic, even with my issues. Some of the new antagonists provide genuine threats, the story beats continue to make me tear up at points, and I’m a sucker for cheesy protagonist lines about not giving up. However, the final chapter falters in a rush to up the stakes and make the discovered conspiracy more contrived. One antagonist in particular gave me Kai Leng vibes from Mass Effect 3, while the two mastermind antagonists we showdown with at the very end are simply pathetic. The plot protection around one in particular had me rolling my eyes and will hopefully not show up in the games for awhile now. Again, as a whole Trails to Azure continues to uphold the overall excellence I’ve enjoyed throughout the five games. I just wish for a game that offered such intense political stakes and shakeups for the world had a smoother ending to lead us into Cold Steel. No doubt I’ll look on many of the plot points, cast and OST fondly in the future.

9

great game